It’s Not Just Me – Why Client Proof Matters More Than Coach Results
It’s Not Just Me – Why Client Proof Matters More Than Coach Results Over the last few weeks I’ve shared my own data. 8 weeks. 1.9 kg of fat lost. Muscle gained. Waist down 3.2 cm. At 40. And I know what some of you are thinking: “You’re a coach. Of course it works for you.” Fair point. So this week I’m sharing what happens when you apply the exact same system to someone who isn’t a coach. The Result One of our members just finished a 6-week block. 4.5% body fat lost. Over 2 kg of bodyweight down. Training performance improved, not declined. Not a coach. Not an athlete. An adult with a full-time job, a busy schedule and all the normal constraints that come with being over 35. What They Actually Did Trained 3 to 4 times a
5 Mistakes Keeping Former Athletes Stuck After 35
5 Mistakes Keeping Former Athletes Stuck After 35 After coaching a lot of former athletes through the same pattern, the same 5 mistakes come up almost every time. Nobody’s doing anything dramatically wrong. That’s the frustrating part. These are small things that compound over time until the body just stops responding. Mistake 1: Measuring progress with the scales The scales can’t see body recomposition. I lost 1.9 kg of fat and gained muscle in 8 weeks – the scales said I lost 0.6 kg. If that was my only metric, I would have quit. Better markers: waist measurement, how your clothes fit, how you look, how you perform and how you recover. If any of those are improving, you’re progressing – regardless of what the scales say. Mistake 2: Under-eating protein by about half The target
Why Your Body Can Still Change at 40 – If the System Is Right
Why Your Body Can Still Change at 40 – If the System Is Right I was training hard. But my body wasn’t reflecting it. That’s a pattern I see every week with adults who used to be fit, still train fairly well and feel like the body should be responding better than it is. They’re putting in effort. The return just isn’t there. That was my situation eight weeks ago. I scanned myself on the InBody at Templetown. 12.6% body fat. Waist at 77.6 cm. I wasn’t in bad shape. But the numbers didn’t match how I was training. So I tightened the system. Same approach I use with clients. Structured, not extreme. And the data moved. The Problem Was Not Effort Most adults who feel stuck assume the issue is they’re not working hard enough. It almost never is. The issue is usually that the effort is being applied to inputs that don’t match the body’s current needs. You’re doing
Why Your Body Stopped Responding After 35
Why Your Body Stopped Responding After 35 Most former athletes don’t stop progressing. They stop adjusting. You’re still training. Still showing up. Still putting in effort. But nothing changes. That’s not age. That’s mismatch. The Real Problem You’re running a 22-year-old’s programme on a body that’s fundamentally different now. Same effort. Wrong inputs. That’s why nothing moves. Three things changed after 30 and most former athletes adjusted for none of them. 1. Your recovery capacity dropped At 22 you could train five days hard and bounce back. At 38, that same approach just accumulates fatigue. Recovery is where adaptation happens. If you don’t recover, you don’t progress. Three to four structured sessions you can actually come back from will outperform five that wreck you every time. Less volume. More progression. 2. Your protein requirements went
5 Things I Tell Every Former Athlete in Their First Week of Coaching
5 Things I Tell Every Former Athlete in Their First Week of Coaching Most former athletes think they know what they need to work on. Usually, they don’t. After coaching dozens of men and women through the same drift – the belly, the stiffness, the quiet acceptance that they’re just getting older – the same 5 principles come up in every single first week. None of them are complicated. But the combination is what most former athletes are missing. 1. Soreness Isn’t Proof Soreness isn’t proof that the training is working. It’s interest on a loan your body can’t afford to keep paying. If you’re walking out of every session feeling destroyed, that’s not your training working. That’s your training breaking you down faster than your body can repair itself. Good training builds capacity. Bad training just creates
Why Most People Stop Training at 37 (And How to Know If It’s Happening to You)
Why Most People Stop Training at 37 (And How to Know If It’s Happening to You) Nobody quits training in one day. There’s no dramatic moment. No single event. It’s quieter than that. You miss a week… Then two. You tell yourself you’ll get back to it Monday. Monday passes. A month goes by. Then three. Then six. And somewhere around 37 – give or take a couple of years – you stop saying “I need to get back training” and start saying “I’m just not that person anymore.“ That’s not a decision. That’s drift. And if you’re a former athlete between 35 and 45, there’s a good chance you’re either in the middle of it or closer than you think. The Three Things That Quietly Disappear Between 35 and 40, three things fade so slowly you barely