The Uneducated PT Podcast - #29 Niamh O Donovan - Running your first fitness event.

Episode Date: May 15, 2024

In this episode we speak to online & in person PT Niamh O' Donovan about how she got into the fitness industry, running our first fitness event together, dieting down for a photo shoot, the rise of running clubs and much more.Buy Ticket to train your brain fitness event

We're speaking on an event, well you're speaking on the event later on in about 10 weeks from now. Yeah, about that. What are you going to be speaking about? I am... Without giving away too much. Okay, so generally it is talking about how exercise is important for so much more than your physique, what you look like, fat loss, getting huge. And obviously I'll go into more detail about why it's important. but yeah

all of the other reasons why to do exercise and how it makes you feel good not just looking in the mirror Are these lessons that you've learned along the way from obviously your fitness journey? Yeah absolutely I'm lucky enough I started

in kind of exercise I started exercising from a young age in a sports sense so I did gymnastics from when I was four to about 12, 13 so exercise has always been like a kind of stress relief performance

and things so I never thank God got into the kind of obsessive about image side of things in saying that obviously I grew up as a female in South County Dublin and I was very much aware of we should look this way we should eat like this because we want to look like this

so I could see that kind of world around me yeah well that could definitely start to happen from gymnastics as well because I presume gymnastics is a lot like there's a, I know speaking to a lot of dancers who ended up with like eating disorders or disordered eating because you know it's a

it's a sport where you probably have to be light on your feet and there's probably an encouragement to weigh less. Absolutely like I was actually like told what to eat and stuff from a young age and but then like it was more I saw it as if I don't eat enough food I'm going to be wrecked and can't train properly you know

again I'm so glad that I did have that kind of view of things now I did obviously have my days of bad body images like came into teens and stuff but for the most part I'm really really grateful that I had gymnastics and for more things just like outside of like the mindset side of it the strength flexibility my drive all comes from gymnastics I'd say so so when did the introduction of the gym and white training on that come into it then? So I quit gymnastics. I finished up because of just, I was falling apart, like, it's so intense on your body. Really? And yeah, so I have dodgy knees, dodgy different things here and there. So I quit gymnastics when I was like 13 or 14, did nothing for three or four years. And I just

became like the Antichrist. Like going from about 12 hours of training a week for 10, 12 years to nothing was just, I was like, my school put me into anger counselling. like, you know, out. Yeah, like, I just, I was cracking up and I was like frustrated. Did you not, were you not aware of why this was? No, not at all. No. Like, my mum was like, oh, she's just a teenager and like, but like we had, every single day was a battle. I'd get up and I was like, I'm not going to school.

Not doing this, not doing that. And I could, like, inside, I was like, I know I'm a nice person. Like, it wasn't that I was angry. I was just like built up energy. so then about 18 I'd say my mum was like right you're going to the gym she was going to a gym and she thank God she paid for me to do one-to-one personal training from the age of 18 which is like honestly a lifesaver like I don't know that's so funny that she dragged you to the gym and now you're dragging her to the gym

I literally drag her out about at 6 a.m but yeah so it was about 80 I think I was doing the leaving series so maybe 17 or 18 started going to the gym just I was dragged into the gym basically. From session one I was like, yeah. Like, you know, straight away, you enjoyed it? Yeah, because the PT was like, okay, we're going to do a squat. Have you ever heard of that before? Obviously, like, I was strong.

I had mobility and everything. And he was like, okay, how did that feel? I was like, good. He was like, we're going to try heavier? And I was like, yeah, cool. Going to try heavier, heavier. And he was like, right, this is, this is cool. So I saw, he was impressed by me.

And I was like, that gave you good feedback. This is my thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, yeah. And then I went pretty much, like, again, I just went into, more performance. I was doing like deadlift squat kind of one or M from a young age. So I again used it as something that I could work towards. It kept my head straight. It kept me feeling physically good. Yeah, big thanks to my mum. That's so funny because most people end up getting into the gym

or into fitness for the wrong reasons and then they come full circle to what you essentially started on whereas a lot of people will go into the gym because they don't like how they look, they want to lose weight, etc., etc. But then they kind of figure out along the way what keeps them there and actually gets them the results they want is what you actually went in for, which was stress relief, you know, a performance,

actually enjoying, actually becoming a better quality person because of it. Yeah, yeah, and again, I'm so grateful for how I came into it. But then again, like, I did then reach a point where I was like, okay, okay to want to do this for my body, to look good, and to look in the mirror and be like, I built this. I was never extremely self-conscious about my body. But I did have a switch then to be like, actually, that can be a goal. Yeah. You know, it's not egotistical to want to look good.

No. And we're going to talk about that. We actually will move straight into that then because I think that's important that first and foremost, like the fact that, okay, you understood that you had a good relationship with exercise, you know, training for performance and then being able to be like, okay, now I want to challenge myself with an aesthetical, which I think is a really good way to do. I think it's dangerous when it goes the opposite way. So obviously you prepped for a photo shoot only. How long ago was it now? I started my prep August or September of last year. Yeah. So nearly a year. Nearly a year now. How challenging was that? It's interesting.

Like, it was obviously a huge challenge. Like, I had to completely change my life for the last couple of weeks. But it's a weird thing when you're in that zone and you've made the decision. It's just like, wake up, do this, do this, do this. Like, you don't even question. Yeah. You have to get into that minds of, like, a photo shoot prep or, like, an aesthetic, like, bodybuilding would be, like, obviously, 10 steps ahead.

I can't even imagine. But when you set out with that goal and you're like, right, I've set up, the circumstances around me to make sure I do this well. You just wake up every day. You take the boxes, take every single box, get back into bed and do it again. It's only after I look back. I'm like, how the fuck did I do that? Like, it's wild.

Like, I wanted to do it. Number one for an aesthetic goal, but also I wanted to show myself that I could hit a goal and like, like, I didn't do great. No, I didn't do badly in school, but I didn't really try that hard. in school. I fluked my way through it and did quite well. I fluked my way through a lot of things and did quite well. I wanted to be like, right, this is my goal and I'm going to do absolutely

every single thing I need to to get there and to finish it and say, yeah, I ticked every box. Well, to get down to that level of leanness, I think probably, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, like to do that it takes that you have to be all in on it and if you're not, you're not going to

achieve that level of leanness because you have to almost sacrifice 90% if not. everything around it to do that. Yeah, exactly. And that's why when you're in it, it doesn't seem that challenging. Yeah, but you have to make the decision first. Because you've made a complete, it's a black or white, I'm doing this or I'm not. I've come like seven weeks in. I'm not going to stop now. So get over it. Keep going. Now I did like, God bless my coach, Grace. She got the most wild voice messages, voice notes, like text. Like I remember one of the days, in the morning,

I told her I didn't want to die anymore because I'd gotten two. lean. I was in gym. I was like, I look too lean. This is freaky. In the evening, I was doing a dance class with people who were quite like petite. I text her, I was like, I'm fat, I'm huge. And she was like, let's just take a step back. This morning you were too lean. This evening you're too big. She's like, you got this. I'm here. Keep going. So yeah, thank God. I think, well, I needed a coach. Like, I needed a coach for the photo shoot. But I think it would be very, very difficult to do it without a coach. Even though obviously I am a coach and I know all the right things,

it's so important to have that someone outside, just checking in with you, allowing you to take a step back, see it from a reality point of view, because you just get so, as you said, 90% of 99% of your world is like shut out. It's just prep. You need an outside perspective

because you can't really trust your thoughts at that stage. Absolutely. like yeah it was bizarre and I think about like another thing like it's I think it's so important well for me it was so important to have a good

community right like the people around me like although it is my decision and I can wake up and be like right I wanted to do this and I have to keep doing it for myself you are going to get on people's nerves you are they're going to get on your nerves

you're going to get snappy everyone's going to think you're crazy but my mum, my dad, like everyone at home knew what I was doing. They put up with me and I'm so, like I'm so grateful that I had those people. My best friend used to just go and do steps with me because that's the only way we could really hang out. I wasn't going drinking, wasn't going, whatever. Sean, my boyfriend was so good and then he actually went to Dubai for the last five weeks.

I'm lovely. I didn't force them to go, but it actually, like... It worked out well from audience. See you. But again, like, he understood, like, we're not going to be going out for dinners. We're not going to be whatever every day. Like, things are going to change. And it's so important that you kind of have a chat with the people around you,

but like, right, I'm going to be maybe a bit of a nightmare for the next two weeks. And they really carried me through as well as Grace, my coach. Yeah. And, like, you know, as coaches, we always talk about, like, this all-or-nutting mindset around getting people a result and, you know, helping them to incorporate a healthy lifestyle and so on and so forth. but like when you're looking to get to that level of leanness and do a challenge like that it essentially is like all or nothing because you can't really miss a meal you can't really you know

go out every weekend and do what you want like it has to be very rigid yeah yeah and it's it's important i think it was good to see myself do that to then come back to being a PT back to being a coach and be like this is not health and fitness you know no this is a a bodybuilding goal or like a physique goal. And that's an all in all or nothing thing. And then it's good to know that to then go back to my clients, be like, that was a goal, whatever. But for general health, like, I'm going back to like,

I want to feel good. I want to enjoy my life. I want to see my friends. Well, that's why I even said, like, it's good the fact that, like, if you're going to take on a challenge like that, you already have the foundations before that in terms of, like, you have a healthy relationship with food, you have a healthy relationship with exercise,

you were already in good habits and behaviours to then give you the platform to be able to take on a challenge of actually getting that lien and it not turn into something where someone who has a poor relationship with food turns into a huge restriction binge cycle or something like that. Which happens so often

with photo shoots and stuff but then when you look at like say bodybuilding world the bodybuilding world it's a great sport and I think I'm so I'm in all of people who do compete, but I think some people go into it not really, maybe, I think going into, well, even with the photo shoot, going into it, having the right reason, having like an intrinsic goal. So I wanted to show myself that I could follow through on things, the discipline, that side

of things. I think some people maybe go with like extrinsic goals, which is like, I want people to see me looking good. Stand up on edge lane. Yeah, and like it's all things from the outside. which only go so deep, which will only carry you through to so far. When they start to fade away, you're left there with, like, possibly obsession. Dangerous. Yeah. Yeah.

So, here's a question. So let's say someone is in a situation where, like, you know, they do want to do something like that. They're in a good mindset. They've, you know, a good relationship with exercise. and they actually want to challenge themselves to do something like that where they get down to an extreme level of body fat. What do you think are some of the main things

that they need to do in order to achieve that in terms of their day-to-day routine? First of all, I would, as I said, get a coach. No matter what level you're at already, if you are... Well, I wouldn't recommend a beginner to go into a photo shoot prep or any sort of prep.

So number one, have a good bit of training behind you. Get a coach. And I think it's important to look around for coaches, have consultations with different coaches, see what questions they're asking you. If they're asking just, what's your body fat percentage, what do you want to look like, what do you eat now? And that's it, alarm bells.

Like I know with my coach, it was like, what does this mean to you? what what in your life has led you to this like kind of searching deeper for why I wanted to do it and asking like how my setup is around me

what's my relationship with food like do I train often already do I enjoy training those kind of things so shopping around for your coach is important then once you have your coach being so honest with them allow them to know exactly where you are now. Don't say, oh yeah, I train five times a week anyways. That's fine.

I can just keep doing that. Say, okay, look, I'm actually, I only trained twice a week at the moment. Can we start from there? They'll know then where you are to set a realistic plan. Yeah. If that means the prep is going to be 20 weeks, or if the journey together is going to be 20 weeks, that's okay. How long was your prep? It was a 12-week prep. Yeah. So we, I think we spent... What did you start? What did you start at that white was? 74. And what did you get down to? 62 or three.

Which was bizarre. I remember on the call. What was your calories by the end of it? Oh, I won't even, low. They were low. They were low. And my steps were high. Here's a question for you then.

So how, what do you think were the main levers that were able to help you to be able to maintain such a low deficit? What do you mean? Like, was it routine in your food, sleep, you know, the contents of your meals? Like, how are you able to manage that? Without deciding that, I'm just going to scoff a big fucking pizza. Well, that's the, probably eight weeks of the start of the prep was getting all of that in the right place, if you get me. I wasn't on crazy low calories at the start in any sense. It was like figuring out what's going to work for me.

figuring out what meals I can eat every day pretty much because that's probably a big thing as well it's like okay if when you're trying to get down to that level of leanness there's probably going to be a bit of brain fog you're probably not going to want to make too many decisions so having routine in terms of structure of I'm going to eat the fucking same meal every day

even if it's a little bit born because it works for me and I don't have to think about it. And like yeah exactly routine in the last few weeks it's pretty much groundhog day every every single day same breakfast same lunch same dinner eight hours sleep uh same amount of steps pretty much into the gym at the same time home from the gym at the same time literally routine was 100% necessary but like i'd perfected that for weeks so the last few weeks was just wake up tick boxes go to bed yeah

like no get me wrong like it was I actually every single meal tasted like heaven yeah because you're because I was so I never felt that like hungry hungry like my until obviously

the last maybe week or two when I was like genuinely hungry maybe I had cravings here there but it was it was so cemented in that like I was waiting for my dinner like oh my god this is going to be the most it was probably like looking at it now I probably wouldn't even taste the food that's so funny

it's like it's the same thing like all right if I have fucking pizza every night for dinner, I don't, I'm not going to have the same satisfaction in my taste buds as maybe if I just have pizza maybe once a week. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. Like you start to sensitize to the food that, or

desensitized to the food that you're eating. But like when you're having, when you're on such low calories and apple tastes, unbelievable. Yeah. Yeah. Like sugar in anything is like, so sweet. Yeah, yeah. Like, part of prep was really enjoyable.

And just when I woke up, I felt so awake. Because I was so light, my body was physically so light. I was like jumping around the place. My cardio felt easy because there wasn't much, like I'm not stocky, but I have a lot of muscle on me and I'm like, I'm heavy-ish.

So when I got down to pretty much just muscle and skin, I was like, literally like it felt like if I fell over, it wouldn't even hurt me because I was like, ta-ta-ta. My sleep was so, so deep because I was so tired. But that when I woke up, I was like, awake.

Like, let's go. So routine and just like, like you said, Groundhog Day, rigidness is probably the key to all that once you figure that out, what that looks like. Yeah, I think like obviously routine in the last while, but the only reason I got that routine was because I spent so much time leading up to the last few weeks. Yeah, yeah. Again, starting where I was at, trial and hour for a few weeks,

locking in the best kind of workouts, like the what days worked best for workouts, what timing for meals, all of those little things kind of accumulate. And it's not that I was like, right, now this week I'm going to perfect my this. I'm going to perfect. It just kind of builds up together, taking it slow and steady for whatever amount of weeks,

getting what works for you, and then knuckle down, head down for, I'd say the last three weeks I was aggressive. Aggressive. And before that, it wasn't too difficult because I was pretty easy on myself. and I had a coach that I was completely open and honest with. I think, again, that is huge to just be like,

I'm really struggling today, and they might just be like, right, let's up your calories for a bit. That's fine. I was honest. I wasn't hiding anything. I knew that if I went over on my calories, I'd tell my coach and we'd figure it out over the next few days. I wasn't going over, feeling scared, pulling back on my own,

and then feeling guilty, feeling scared. actually judged me. It was trial and error, honest, open conversation the whole way through. Yeah. And like, it sounds like, all right, you had all the foundations in place then to put yourself on that aggressive deficit, but you don't want to stay there too long. So it is about like, all right, go aggressive and then get out there after the photo show. Yeah. Why would, how could you, why would it be better then, all right, for anyone listening who is like, oh, I'd love that, I'd love to be that level of leanness. Why would it be, what are the benefits of being a couple of kilos heavier?

Because, because, like, this is, we do with clients who think to themselves, if I was that lean, I'd be so happy. Or if I was, you know, 60 kilos, that's, then I'd be happy, you know what I mean? So, convince someone why they might be a little bit happier being two or three kilos heavier. Burgers, pass it. Now, food enjoyment, food variety. Yeah. Huge.

Flexibility. Flexibility. having a social life like being nice to your family as like my family just kind of got on with me I was insufferable like I'd wake up and like check my abs and they were like just get over

and get like I was boring like I was really boring I'm a social person I'm chatty I'm baincy whatever I wasn't any of those things anymore I was just like I'm going to the gym steps walk home so like you lose your spark you lose your energy. I was getting

injured. I never get injured. I never ever, since I quit gymnastics I'm pretty much plain sailing. The backs of my heels every time I walked on them it was sending pains into my glutes from just wrong shoes but so many steps like all of that stuff

my body couldn't keep up if I there's no way I would have been able to go even a week or two longer than that. No you wouldn't mind either. Although yeah I looked great and I'm so happy with the photos and I'm so happy that I showed myself I had that discipline. I love feeling good.

Like obviously I felt, I felt light and whatever, but I had no variety in my life or like socialising. I love socialising. Well, I think that's the problem is that like, okay, it's a really good challenge to set

and you are in a position where you can set it. But I think the problem is a lot of the general population who don't have them foundations in place think that that's the pinnacle of fitness and then they go from one extreme to the other whereas you're trying to find that middle ground

where, okay, you know, you train, you eat well but you also enjoy yourself, you also have a little bit of flexibility and try to find that. Yeah. And it was difficult to come out of that, like, mindset of, like, solid, rigid routine. See, that's what I was going to ask you that next.

I'd say it probably took a couple of weeks to give yourself that little bit of more freedom and flexibility. Like, you're not just going to jump straight from okay I was in a rigid routine for so long and now I'm just going to do what I want yeah I uh the first so after my shoot Sean came home that day and we were like yeah let's enjoy platform

and I was like um greasy tasty food I had felt awful I'd say I had like three chicken boneous chicken wings and I my stomach completely seized up I had I think three or four drinks and I've never been so hung over in my entire life,

like didn't get out of bed for a whole day. So after that I was like, right, I can't just bounce straight back. So like I was still pretty strict. Not, I wouldn't say strict, but my diet, my meal time stayed the exact same for a while. I was just really slowly increasing calories. A really slowly decreased step. So I actually, like basically reverse diet. I was slowly, slowly, slowly, slowly getting.

back to normal and it did take I'd say four or five weeks to not obsess over food anymore but that's like I kind of expected that I went into it knowing okay the photo shoot day isn't end game if I see that as like absolute end I might lose myself the next few weeks so I treated the next few weeks as continuing on with the prep just taking steps back back yeah people the people don't realise that there needs to be a plan after the plan. Oh, 100%. And even more honesty with your coach. Yeah, yeah. Since then, obviously, you've been able to eat more food, probably be more productive, have more energy, all this stuff. And that's probably translated in terms of business and so on and so forth. So you're doing a lot of different things. Obviously, we've this event

coming up. You're also running a run club. Tell me a little bit about that and what the idea was behind that. So I actually kept joining run clubs. I kept texting places being like, I'm going to start this weekend and then just been like, right, Phoenix Park on a Saturday morning, no way. So I said it to one of the girls and we kept saying, oh, we'll join and we'll join and she was like, make

your own. I was like, could I? So yeah, I did. I was like, right, I'll get a few people together whatever Saturday it was. And initially it was genuinely just for me to run on the weekend and for other people to be there so I'm accountable, they're accountable.

And then we've just kept it going and it's more, now we're kind of training towards a 10K in May. So that's a little bit more, like, a bit more structure, a little bit more pressure on some people that have been coming for ages. But at the core of it, it is still just like a social group. You get to come and meet people. You don't really talk to you during the week. You talk about stuff that isn't work-related.

You're not gossiping about people in your friend group. It's completely people you'd never really talk to. and you're moving like it's so much easier to open up to people while you're moving and like just that kind of repetitive and like a rhythmic thing is like you get that with running and you then go for a coffee after you then go to the sauna after and it's like a therapy session

it's so nice what I was going to ask is why do you think that they've become so popular because like they are shooting up everywhere like when I was in Austin there was run clubs and I mean there was about 150, 200 people at them Why do you think they've gone so popular in recent years? I think I was only saying when I was driving around to my mum earlier

there's so many people out on the weekends cycling, running, walking their dogs like nowadays than I think pre-COVID. You just didn't see that pre-COVID and I think we all were so squashed in during COVID and claustrophobic and like rubbing off our partners and our family and our parents that once we were allowed

go do the things we were are we naturally want to do we're like I'm not going back to how I was before and we tasted that little bit of freedom and I think a lot more people did get into being active for the right reasons. Mental health yeah

mental health because it was taken away from us and yeah I think it's just building from that yeah I completely agree that's what I was going to say I was going to say I said COVID definitely had a huge impact on it I also think because of COVID, it transitioned a lot of people who used to work in offices to working at home. And like a lot of people spend most of the day sitting at a desk at home, not really interacting with anyone. So then like the thing with the run clubs of what I see is like it's community.

Like a lot of people getting to interact with people and go out and just see people in the flesh. I think that's a huge part of it as well. Yeah. Just being part of something. Yeah. Yeah. Other than work. Yeah.

So in terms of actual performance, let's say there's a couple of people who want to join the run club but are worried that they can't run or would struggle to run. Do you have any kind of strategies or systems in place to help them people? Yeah, so there are two kind of groups,

not two groups, but there's two options. We do a shorter option and a longer option. Now, the longer one is now up to nearly 10K because we're training towards something specific. But then the slower, shorter option just has a different, not as long a route. And then I just stay at the back with whoever is, like, sometimes I just like to stay at the back

because I'm tired. But like I always say if you want to come and like walk off of it, jog half of it, we can cut across, like if they're doing a big loop around, we can just cross the road, meet them when they've come back down. It is, like it's about the social aspect. of it and just getting out, getting to talk to people. So yeah, I stay at the back with whoever needs to stay at the back and then go for coffee.

Yeah, and I think that's really important. Like even seeing other people who are just maybe walking half of it or walking up to the end of the beach and back down, like that also encourages other people to want to get involved because they're like, oh, they're not all fucking Olympic athletes and I can join in as well. Yeah, and I've honestly grabbed so many people from that. They just see us, like, a few people down the running club were like, who are those people? And I just like, I saw them talking and I was like, well, hello. I was like, we're here every Saturday.

And they're like, oh, I've always wanted to join something. And we always see you here. So, yeah, so many people are joining from just seeing us, seeing that we're not, like, dicks, just being like, run club, like crazy intense. They just want to do something different on the weekend that's not just getting locked. It can feel, it looks and feels inclusive, whereas. sometimes trying to get people into the gym and so on and so far can be a really intimidating thing to get people into as well

obviously as you know. It's a low barrier. Just put your runners on and show up. Yeah, 100%. Speaking of, obviously, work obviously, so run club event, but also you made the decision recently to work with Dan Hancock.

Tell me a little bit about that. Yeah, so it's an awarding mental health and exercise coach. well I will be a mental health and exercise coach. What was the reasons or wants to sign up to something like that? I think like I've always I've always coached people through like better men, to better mental health. It's all like it's just an absolute no brainer as a personal trainer for me. And like help them with any struggles they're going through maybe in their own life or whatever.

I've instinctively done it I've had my own troubles and struggles as most people have I've like it's there's been mental health issues in my family so I've always kind of been able to help people but I wanted to do it with integrity

and have structures in place and say I know this is the right step the right way to bring this person through whatever they're going through and yeah I had so many calls with different like business coaches

and like fitness industry business courses and stuff and it just felt it wasn't what I was looking for really like I wanted to to help people with their an array of problems and circumstances

and yeah I actually spoke with Dan himself one to one on our Zoom call and I was like he has the right idea. It's a complete client first approach and yeah, honestly I'm enjoying it so much. I love it. One thing that I notice about you even in terms of, okay, I've seen you've worked with business coaches. I've seen like you don't have an ego in terms of you'll hire a coach to help you with your training performance. Obviously you're working with Dan now as well to

improve your skills as a coach even more. So like self-development in your coaching is obviously a important and integral part of what you want to do. Absolutely. So my question would be, what do you think are some of the most important lessons you've learned so far on your fitness journey as a coach in terms of coaching clients and helping them to improve their health and fitness goals? What's...

What do you think? As a coach or from a client's point of view? As a coach trying to help a client to improve all aspects of their life through fitness. What do you think you have learned along the way in terms of helping them clients? yeah um leave your ego to the side i wish i learned it day one of is that something you so good there yeah a little bit i think well yeah definitely i i i was too i was trying to be too ahead of myself from the day i finished my course i was like right i'm a pt now i need to be like a really good pt i have all the answers oh some of the things like in like

group fitness classes like that i just like turn on the spot i'd be like oh well uh try this trying to like show off as a coach. But yeah, I had to pair it right, right back and simplify everything and be like, people come to me because they want to feel good. They want to maybe get a little bit stronger, maybe they want to not be as scared in the gym. What is the simplest way that I can help them?

I'll give them a really simple plan. I will ask them what they eat now, make that a little bit better, and I'll just stay with them on the journey. I spent so much time. say two or three years of trying to learn the perfect programming and like get the perfect systems and all that like which is important to an extent but I just I needed to take a step back and be like right how can I help people ego side yeah you were you were over complicating for yourself

thinking that that would make you a better coach when doing a better yeah yeah yeah which I think Which I think everyone does. Yeah. Like I know for myself personally, I think like I'm very, I'm much more comfortable now. If someone asks me a question saying I don't know or referring them on, whereas at the start of my career, I would always try to give the answer. Yeah. Even when I didn't have the answer. Yeah.

Yeah. And I also think, yeah, it's like, what did I say? It's like, you know, beginners overcomplicate and, you know, people who are advanced simplify things. And I think it's like 80% of the population. all they need to do is actually just get in and do something. Yeah. Rather than having the most optimal plan. Increase their steps.

Yeah. Yeah. Drink one more glass of water. Yeah. And then just to have someone on the other side be like, you're doing a good job. Yeah. Keep going. So you would say then one of the most important lessons you've learned coming full circle is just be there to support them and not overcomplicate it.

Simplify things for people. Yeah. And just be there for them. Yeah. I think a huge thing with beginners, well, not even beginners, anyone coming to me as a coach or to any coach is they see this like portrayal of exercise or health and fitness as like they just see like bodybuilders or like whatever perfection on the internet. And they come to you being like, oh God, like this is going to be such a huge thing. I'm going to have to count all my calories. I'm going to have to do all these things, blah, blah, blah.

and just to completely simplify it for them and say, right, this is like what, this is my general guideline. Let's just touch base every week. You might go like way off a week, two weeks in a row, but know that like you can come back and just be like, right, I'm just going to keep moving forward. Being, being there for them to allow them to realize that you absolutely don't have to be perfect. No.

You just need to make small improvements. Yeah. Like fucking Jenny who's 40 who has an exercise in the last 10 years doesn't need to know all of our macros. That's the perfect train and split. She probably just needs to go for a walk. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

What do you think people need to do to become more consistent with their health and fitness goals? Even if we simplify that to like, you know, them getting out for a walk, going to doing a train, some sort of a train and split, whatever it is. What do you think people need to become more consistent? I think, well, I think a huge thing that, like, most of the most of the thing that, like, most of the time. Most of us as a population of like myself as a coach, everyone, before trying to perfect anything is managing your stress levels and expectations of yourself, which will also help with stress levels. Because when you're, most of us are stressed or we deal with stress. It doesn't mean that we're anxious people or we have anxiety. Stress is natural. We all,

we all experience stress. But so many of us go into things, adding more stress to ourselves. And then if you're like, God, I have to get to the gym, blah, like everything becomes harder. So to start by maybe getting a little bit more sleep, meditation is unbelievable. And I feel... That's something you're really big into as well. Hugely. And I think it's becoming less woo-woo. Yeah.

You know? People used to like, oh, meditation go up into the Himalayas and close your eyes. Like, it's not that meditation can be colouring. Yeah. Anything to bring you out of 150 kilometres per. hour a day from start to finish. Anything that can allow you to step back, having a bath, just spending more time maybe at home, chilling. Doing those things

will bring you out of a stress response and will make life changes so much easier. So I'll check in on my client's stress levels. I'll look at that on their check-in form before anything else. If they are really stressed, their eating is going to be harder. Their sleep isn't going to be as good. It's going to be harder to get to the gym. So just managing your stress levels alone has a huge effect on everything else. What's a misconception you had about health and fitness when you were younger that you no longer hold? I think about the industry that it was for physique only. And I think that's one of the reasons

why I found it quite difficult when I became a coach because I spent all of my years both in gymnastics and with my PT, all of that. It was all performance to me. And then I had this idea of when you're a PT, you're like a fitness influencer physique coach kind of thing. So I had to deal with that. Walk and business card.

Yeah, exactly. So that's why I was like trying to become the perfect whatever coach because I thought that the fitness industry had to be trying to like, I don't know, this mad Instagram place or like image place. So yeah, I think that was what I saw of the fitness world. I knew that exercise,

I knew intuitively because I'd done so much movement and stuff growing up, I knew that exercise was good for you and could make you feel good. But I felt like when I stepped into the fitness world that it had to be different, had to be about. Yeah, you forgot, you forgot Neve who actually enjoyed exercise for that reason when you became the coach

who was actually coached Neve. Exactly, yeah, I stepped away from what I actually believed about exercise because I had to now be a coach. And that was my journey to come back to... Yeah, you come full circle, essentially. 100%. Yeah, that makes sense.

Lastly, we're obviously going to be running this event in July. Why should the people come to this event and where can they get tickets? Why not? So they should come to the event if they are in any way interested in their health, in their mindset,

in their mental health, which I think everyone should be. It's maybe the most important part of your life. If you don't have those things, most other things become unimportant. So if you're in any way interested in knowing how to live healthier, be more confident

and maybe get some tools about like how to manage so many different we have so many amazing coaches that I'm so excited about like I'm still a little bit nervous to be standing with these people and the information and knowledge they have

so yeah if it works that would be that would be in something when you were younger when you were starting off your journey in the gym to be able to go to an event like that and kind of you're almost getting information that short cuts your way to success almost.

Because you've obviously been there and done it, you know, come full circle. So rather than people making all their own mistakes, they can literally just learn from yours. Absolutely. Yeah. So many a array of coaches with different experience, they can give you tips

on everything. You'll get to meet people who are also interested in feeling better. Yeah, I think it's going to be unreal. Where can people get tickets off you? Text me. DM me DM Carl

Where can they DM you? Instagram At Nivo Dunavan Yeah And I'll pop you on the link We are still Early Bird Price And they are flying

Yeah Early Bird price 30 quid For now Which is a steal Because we have Seven main speakers Seven main speakers

Yeah I wish I had one of these things When I was younger Because of the years of Craft That I learned And unlearned And everything

Yeah It'll be it'll be deadly. Thanks for watching. If you like that episode and you want to see more content like this, make sure you're subscribed and I'll see you on the next one.