I had a really interesting discussion with a good friend of mine the other day at the gym. It started when he approached me for some advice about starting a lean muscle building phase. He told me that he had spent the past few months eating in a calorie deficit in order to support his fat loss goals and now felt lean enough to begin the process of increasing his calories to start adding some muscle to work towards his long-term goal of doing a fitness photoshoot. I was really pleased to hear this and I was delighted to see that he had dropped a lot of body fat and was looking really lean and healthy as a result. He really was in a fantastic position to begin working on this process and start reverse dieting. During our conversation that night, something popped up that I felt were really worth talking about. The first thing was the term ‘bulking’. I hate this word as it implies eating excessive amounts of food and adding unnecessary amounts of body fat in the process to gain muscle tissue. It made me realise that some people are still of the belief that you have to get fat to gain muscle. This is complete nonsense and couldn’t be further from the truth. Muscle tissue and fat tissue are two completely different things which are independent of echoer and one can not magically turn into the other. The ‘bulking’ approach is the worst possible way that you could go about gaining lean muscle tissue as when your body fat increases guess what else happens? Your testosterone levels decrease and your estrogen levels increase. This is not what you want to happen when looking to add some quality size given that testosterone is one of the king muscle building hormones in the body and increased estrogen levels will cause you to hold on to body fat. Also, it’s really not healthy to gain large amounts of body fat for any individual and you won’t feel good about yourself no matter how jacked you appear in a t-shirt. It will affect your energy levels, mood and confidence to name but a few and make cutting down the next time around a long and painful process, especially when you end up quite disappointed at the end of it when you realise how much of the weight gain was actually muscle… So instead of going on an all-out ‘bulk’ you would be much better served to go about increasing your muscle mass in a more strategical and beneficial way by eating in a moderate calorie surplus slightly above your current maintenance calories to allow you to grow at a steady and consistent rate. These calories could then be reviewed weekly and increased or decreased depending on your progression and how you have reacted to them. Ideally, you should be looking for a moderate weight gain of somewhere in and around half a kilogram per week in order to maximise lean muscle tissue gain whilst at the same time minimising unnecessary fat gain. By going about it in this way you will also be able to spend much more time eating in a calorie surplus and focusing on adding more muscle as opposed to having to diet down again after a few short weeks or months due to body fat levels increasing too rapidly or getting out of control. So, although it is a process that does require a lot of patience, hard work and consistency, you will end up gaining more muscle at the end of the day. My best advice to anyone looking to make noticeable improvements to their physique in terms of muscle gain would be to invest enough time in it. Building quality muscle tissue requires you to spend a long time eating in a calorie surplus and progressing your training over time, not just a few short weeks or months as a lot of people seem to think. I see way too many people with muscle building goals spending far too much time dieting down, not investing enough time in improving and being in the very same position the next year. If you aim to spend the majority of the year in a surplus, your physique, health and metabolism will thank you the next time you decide to diet down and you will notice some nice changes. I just felt that this was a taught that was worth sharing as I see it happening quite a lot. Have a great Wednesday! :) — Kev #TeamGoBeyond #PersonalCoaching

A lot of people only use the scale as a method of assessing progress where in reality it never tells the full picture! As an example, take my client that I've worked with for the past 8 weeks. She is down 20lbs, however for two weeks over these 8 weeks she completely stalled and stayed the same weight. For most that would discourage them and would have them say "fuck it" and order a takeaway, saying "what's the point, why am I putting all this work in for no results". Which to be fair, is a fair statement to make if you feel like you are spinning your wheels. This client, in particular, had full trust in myself when I reassured them that it was just water retention. Which may seem like a small task, but when you're a woman that's frustrated with the progress that they've made for the week it can be very very hard to see. Especially if it's early on like the first week or two where most people claim they "should be losing the most weight". Managing client expectations at times like this can be very delicate. It's important to explain, advise and adjust accordingly. In this particular scenario, I requested that we start to take measurements and explained the various reasons why water retention may be taking place. Reassured the client that it is totally normal and to not worry at all... Next week will be a different story. I find that if you educate clients along the way and explain to them what is happening, even if you are not 100% it increases their trust in you which increases adherence tenfold! Next week, like clockwork, 4lbs down. Not only that but measurements also reassured the client that progression was happening regardless of the scale. This is important because you're educating the client for their own long-term success after the time that they work with you. Below I attach a graph of the weight over the past 8 weeks, you can see for Week 3 weight remained the same as the previous week, and after that, they were followed by consistent drops each week, besides on week 8. Because I had already explained, advised, adjusted and managed the client expectations, the second time that it happened they weren't as concerned. What followed the week after was a 6lb drop. From the cyclical nature of her water retention were able to identify at what point in her menstrual cycle that we can expect that she will retain water, so that in the future it is "business as usual" when it happens. The reason why I brought you through all of this is to show you that watching the scales will frustrate you if you don't have someone able to identify why you may be experiencing water retention or many other reasons why the scales may not be dropping. There are countless different reasons why it could be, so it's important to educate along the way too instead of giving clients a "definite" reason - because with anything nutrition or even fitness based, nothing is definite. The body is a constantly changing, adapting system with hundreds of negative feedback loops that doesn't work in absolutes. Said client has also been out at the weekend, has enjoyed meals off of plan, has been to a wedding and is going for wings (to celebrate doing so well), and out for a meal at the weekend. We have accounted for everything in order for her to be able to enjoy a sustainable, realistic plan. I have also educated the client every step along the way so that they have all of this knowledge to take with them when they are finished working with us.. but not yet! They have signed up for an additional 12 weeks to bring them right up to January, and I am sure they will enjoy having a life in the process too. In their own words, "I cant believe in the 8 weeks im down 20lbs its crazy im delighted. Im now complaining things are gone too big for me. I tried on so many tops at the weekend and there all just too big & baggy....they dont show off my weight loss." So the next time you step on the scales, get frustrated, have a think about the above. Stay consistent, trust the process and as long as you are putting in the work the results will come. Happy Tuesday everyone! Hope ye are all having a great week! :) — Dave #TeamGoBeyond #PersonalCoaching

Most people are looking to lose fat these days where as others struggle with gaining lean muscle tissue. A lot more uncommon, but certainly does exist. Hard to know why you aren't gaining weight when you're following the generic "eat less, move more" advice. Surely that works for everyone right...? Unfortunately not! Had a lot of fun working with Aoife and Ciara Tabb last year. So much so that they're working with us again this year. Always fun working with these two! We've identified weaknesses and started to focus on what needs to be improved... Follow along on their Instagram where they share what tasty food they're eating and what adjustments we make along the way. @aoifetabb1 & @ciaratabb1

So as many of you already know, I worked as a PT in a commercial gym for a number of years before joining Dave as a nutrition coach at Go Beyond. During that time, I trained clients on a one to one basis every day and would spend a lot of the time in between sets talking about the client's nutrition and giving them my best advice as to what they could be doing differently to improve on it. This was something I really enjoyed doing. I wanted to make sure that each and every client that I trained was eating to support their goals in order to maximise their results and to improve their overall health. Also, I wanted to educate the clients enough about their nutrition so that they could continue to get results and make progress towards their goals by themselves long after they had finished their personal training packages with me. I wanted them all to be able to adopt training and nutrition as a sustainable lifestyle choice going forward to enable them to live happier and healthier lives with a sound knowledge behind them. The majority of the clients I chatted with were making really big efforts with their nutrition, cutting out what they considered to be "junk" foods, staying clear of weekend drinking sessions and 'cleaning up' their diets by making better overall food choices. Some clients had even begun tracking their caloric and macronutrient intakes which was quite pleasing to see given that this side of things can be a little confusing and quite daunting for people, especially when starting out on their fitness journeys. It was really encouraging to see that they were taking the necessary steps towards achieving their body composition goals and making such an effort. Others had even taken the step to invest in nutritional plans specifically tailored to them and their goals which was fantastic to see. This was all great to hear but all of the clients that I had chatted with had one thing in common… None of them were taking a multivitamin supplement. It made me realise that a lot of people don't actually recognise the importance of vitamins and minerals in their diets and the vital roles that they play. Most of the clients that I spoke with had fat loss goals so they would have been in caloric deficits following nutrition plans geared towards their goals of fat loss with restricted calories. Not all of the minerals and vitamins that we need are present in the majority of people's diets, especially those in caloric deficits, on strict plans or those who don’t eat enough vegetables so we really need to be careful and take a good quality multivitamin supplement as an insurance policy to make sure we get enough each day. So here are some really good reasons to take a multivitamin supplement to keep in mind: - To make up for vitamin and mineral deficiencies in food. - To ensure consistent nutrient intake and prevent diseases. - To support activation of enzymes essential to cellular function. - To ensure essential nutrients responsible for metabolic reactions are present. Hopefully this was helpful guys. Have a great Sunday 😊. — Kev #TeamGoBeyond #PersonalCoaching

I had a discussion today with a client today. They had the thought that they'll be happy when they have abs. Then when they got abs, that they'll be happy when their arms are a small bit bigger, then when their arms got a small bit bigger they'll be happy when...and on and on. Or similarly, for women, they'll be happy when they reach a smaller dress size, and suddenly when they do reach it they now want to be the next smaller down dress size. A lot of people are unhappy with how they look, so they think, "I'll just fix how I look and I'll be happy". Simple, right? Unfortunately, it isn't that simple because we always want more, to be better, to do better, to constantly improve (I am extremely guilty of this too). The problem with that is that the goal posts are always changing. You never take a second to sit down and appreciate what you have accomplished. As a result, we are constantly chasing something to make us happy when the reality is we have to learn to be happy with ourselves how we are right now. These days I ask a lot of people that I work with a very simple question... "What is wrong with the way you are right now?", which, as someone that helps people improve their body composition and life may sound a little silly, but the truth is we get fixated on what we must constantly improve so much that we forget to realise what's important... Living in the present and BEING HAPPY. I don't know about you, but it feels like this year has gone so fast already, so when I see people running around in circles thinking they'll be happy when they lose a stone, trying to follow something that isn't realistic or sustainable, so they fail and then they're even unhappier it saddens me. When you start to learn that your happiness is not tied to how you look you will live a happier life because you won't be constantly feeling bad because you're unhappy with how you look. You also won't obsess about what food you CAN'T have so that you never get these crazy cravings or binges as a result. You will also find getting in shape a whole of a lot easier as you won't be dealing with your frustration each and every day when your body doesn't react the way you want it to (ladies, scales going up ring a bell?). You can be happy and accept that you still have work to do in relation to your health and fitness. We all do and we all will constantly be able to improve, just that doesn't mean we can't be happy in the process. In short, be careful what you associate happiness with, and of all things, you should definitely not tell yourself you'll be happy when you reach a certain fitness goal because anyone that's been there (myself included) can tell you that it just simply doesn't happen. Just a few, simple thoughts this morning that I think we could all be reminded of from now and again. Truth is, life is short and we're really lucky to be here. Let's not spend it unhappy. Hope you are all having an amazing weekend! :) — Dave #TeamGoBeyond #PersonalCoaching

WHY EATING FAT WON’T MAKE YOU FAT For fat loss to occur a calorie deficit must be present in your diet. This basically means a shortage in the amount of calories consumed relative to the amount of calories required to maintain your current body weight. Simple. Low-fat diets or low-fat food products will not help you in any way with your fat loss goals unless they are included and eaten as part of a dietary protocol with a caloric deficit being implemented. There is simply no such thing as a ‘magic macronutrient’, this means that there is no one macronutrient that will make you gain fat, lose fat or build muscle. What there is are carbohydrates that carry 4 calories per gram, fats which carry 9 calories per gram and protein which just like carbohydrates also carry 4 calories per gram. A combination of all three of these macronutrients that make up the foods that we eat are absolutely essential in a healthy balanced diet and none of the three should be severely restricted or completely eradicated from the diet as they all have vital roles to play. So basically, whatever your goals may be, fat loss, muscle gain or performance oriented, your diet should consist of all three, tailored towards your own individual needs and how your body reacts to certain macronutrients and timings of them relative to your goals. The main thing is that they add up to contribute towards a set number of calories that will allow you to achieve your goals effectively at the end of the day. The total number of calories that you consume is what is going to determine whether you lose or gain weight, not the fat content… This is why I hate it when people demonise fat and carbohydrates when it comes to dieting for weight loss. Eating fat is not going to make you fat. Fat is essential for normal growth and development. Also, dietary fat provides us with energy, protects our organs and helps the body absorb and process nutrients. So the next time that you hear someone demonising fat, keep in mind that it is the total caloric content of the person's diet that needs to be looked at rather than the actual fat content. Foods like fish, avocados, nut butter, seeds and coconut oil contain tons of nutrients and aid in removing LDL cholesterol (the bad type of cholesterol) from your arteries and promoting a healthy heart. The type of fat that you should be aiming to eat should come mainly from unsaturated sources, both monounsaturated and polyunsaturated. Fat actually plays a big role in helping you to feel full and satisfied after a meal due to the omega-3 fatty acids creating a greater feeling of fullness. It takes the body a while to digest fat as it stays in the digestive system a little longer than the other macronutrients, so it comes as no surprise that people who follow low-fat diets are much more likely to fall off plan and binge eat than people who consume moderate to high levels of fat in their diets. The result is greater fat loss over time due to consistency for the moderate to high-fat dieters. :) Omega-3 fatty acids can also boost serotonin levels (the happy hormone) which in turn helps to improve your mood. This means that you will be less likely to partake in emotional eating and your motivation levels will be increased as a result of being happy. Many of the nutrients and vitamins (A,D,E and K) that we consume are fat soluble which means that the body can’t absorb and utilise them without fat and without these vitamins. Without proper absorption, this can lead to vitamin deficiencies which is quite serious given that these vitamins are crucial for energy, focus and maintaining your metabolism. Serious deficiencies could even lead to issues like abnormal blood clotting, blindness and brittle bones. So the next time you add vegetables to one of your meals just remember that all the nutritional goodness and benefits that they offer would be absolutely useless to you if it wasn't for the fats in your diet helping you to absorb and make full use of them. Another point that I feel is worth mentioning before I finish up is that supermarkets and food companies will do their very best to target people who are uneducated and associate dietary fats with being fat by marketing their ‘low fat’ products towards them. Just keep in mind that when the fat is removed from the foods by the manufacturer, they often add in loads of sugar and salt to increase flavour which would have been lost from the removal of fats… Hopefully, this has opened your eyes a little and shown you that fat is not something to be avoided, no matter what your goals are. :) — Kev #TeamGoBeyond #PersonalCoaching

I am so happy to finally get around to sharing this! I have been working with Harriet for the past 16 weeks, 2 of which were a diet break after the first 8 week block. It has been such an enjoyable time working with Harriet as at the start she literally had no idea how it was going to go, new to anything like this, and as time went on I could see her confidence and self-belief grow! Telling me each week that her clothes are completely falling off of her and she needs to buy a whole new wardrobe. Not only that but she kept telling me how amazing her mood was. How much happier and positive she was, as that was something she had never experienced trying to lose weight. That to me was much more rewarding than ANYTHING else as a coach! There were weekends off of plan, festivals, and loads happening because it was over summer! I always encourage this on plans and tell them how to deal with it and to not feel guilty and enjoy it. Because what's the point being on a diet plan if you are going to feel deprived?? Especially over summer. Harriet has achieved results in such a short space of time that she hasn't been able to do in years... That for me, means the world. Anyway enough from me, have a read of what she had to say below... :) "First of all i literally can’t recommend Dave enough and I'm so glad i went for it and signed up!! I’d been tempted to sign up for ages but never dared actually do it, i was worried the work outs would be too difficult, or i wouldn't like the food, or i wouldn't have the time to do it…. but eventually i just took the plunge and signed up… One of the best decisions I've ever made. I had always gone to the gym on and off and been quite active and i’d always ate reasonably healthy but i never seemed to get anywhere. Id either do loads of cardio and just ended up being skinny with not a lot of shape to me, or id attempt to do weights, get tired and sore and then not do them again for ages. I would eat healthy but always end up starving and then wouldn't see results so go back to eating out etc… When i first got my plan through from Dave, i wont lie, i panicked. I thought there was no way i was going to be able to do the work outs, but i was surprised by how much food i could eat. The meals weren't what i thought they'd be, i thought they would be tiny boring and bland but they weren't at all. I got to eat lots of lovely food and whenever i got bored of something or wanted to switch something Dave changed it straight away. I started the workouts and straight away i enjoyed them, it was amazing to see how quickly i could see weight dropping off and started to build little muscles! Literally seeing results almost straight away and i wasn't tired! And then all of a sudden all of my clothes were hanging off me and when i was going out shopping to replace them i was able to wear all the lovely summer clothes i’d been looking at and felt comfortable in them which felt great! Trying on a bikini and feeling confident is such an incredible feeling!! The biggest change i noticed was how much energy i had all the time and how much happier and positive i felt. Something that i hadn't ever experienced before when trying to lose weight. Seeing my body change was obviously amazing but the way it has made me feel is even better. It has brought my confidence back no end and i feel happier and more like me than I've felt in a long time! I tried to stick to the plan 100% but obviously life happens and events/occasions etc come up, this was when i would get worried about ‘ruining’ what id worked hard for.. but Dave was on hand to advise the best way to still enjoy these things without going too far off plan. As i said before i have tried on and off for years to get in shape and never really got anywhere, yet in such a short space of time i have seen better results than I've ever been able to achieve on my own. Dave has been such an amazing help and I'm so happy i signed up, he's been so helpful and encouraging in getting to where i am now and i couldn't of got to this point without him. His knowledge is amazing and he's such a lovely person and i’ve really enjoyed working with him! I will 100% be working with Dave again in the very near future! :-) Thanks again for all your help, you've been amazing and i've really enjoyed it and i'll be in touch really soon to sign up again!" Blessed to be working with such amazing people. I've said it before and I'll say it again, if it wasn't for everyone following along and supporting us there would be no Go Beyond so thank you!! — Dave #TeamGoBeyond #JoinTheTeam

A lot of people claim that if they even look at food they’ll gain weight. On the other hand, lots of people can seemingly eat anything without any consequences. What’s going on here? Our body aims to maintain a constant level of homeostasis. What this means is that our body aims to keep all the systems that make up our body nice and stable, and does this by adapting to our environment (food, sleep, activity, and so on) every day. Our body also likes to down regulate (slow down) various metabolic hormones in case our body senses a lack of food coming in. This safety mechanism dates back to thousands of years ago where food wasn’t so readily available. We would go days without any food and to survive our body had to adapt to living in such an environment. These days we no longer have to hunt to survive, we rarely go through periods where we don’t have access to food. Evolution hasn’t caught up with how available food is these days which has caused a number of issues. Firstly, I’d like to go back to where I said that our bodies like to maintain a constant level of balance. As a result, when we go through a longer period of time where we haven’t consumed food, as soon as we consume food our body likes to hang on to every single bit of food and store it as body fat in case we go through another period where food isn’t as available. Even though body fat is seen as such a negative thing in society, our bodies see body fat as a way to store food for later in order to survive through periods where food isn’t as available. Now, I’m not going to turn this into an article about how you “have to eat 6 times a day in order to stoke the metabolic fire”, but eating regularly certainly has some benefit. In my opinion, instead of looking at how many meals you should eat a day you should instead look at how regular is your eating is on a bigger scale. Do you eat at the same times every day, every week, and every month? Because if you do, you are effectively training your body to expect food at these times which allows your body to not worry about a lack of food because your eating periods are like clockwork. However, if you have days where you skip breakfast, work through lunch because you’re highly stressed and forget to eat (which in most cases is down to stress hormones blunting your appetite) and as soon as you’re home you’re starving (your body massively raises hormones that are responsible to increase appetite after a stressful period), so you decide to order a high calorie convenient meal like a takeaway which you also over order because you are so hungry. This is where our evolutionary survival mechanisms kick in and store every bit of food that you eat because it simply does not know when we will be getting food again. Your body also keeps your metabolism down-regulated because it is unsure of when food will be available again. Above is the case in which people believe that if they even look at food they’ll gain weight. So what do these people need to do? In order to overwrite these inbuilt survival mechanisms we need to eat with some regularity and portion control. We need to reset our eating pattern and get used to getting hungry at regular periods throughout the day. By correcting our eating habits we reap a lot of benefits (like increased energy, sleep, mood, etc) but most importantly we reverse our down-regulated metabolism which slowly gives us more freedom with how much food we can consume without accumulating body fat because our bodies aren’t worried about periods of time where food won’t be available. My advice is start by eating every 4–5 hours. Have breakfast in the morning, have lunch and have dinner. Control your portions so that each sitting you only eat till you are satisfied (and not overly full). This will be hard at the start because you are used to finishing everything that’s on your plate and more, which is quite an emotional way of eating. Get used to listening to how you feel when you eat food, consciously chew every single bit of food and don’t just swallow it mindlessly. By putting this into practice over time you will start to feel your appetite to become a lot more regular, and it will increase over time. As it does, very slowly increase the amount of food that you consume at every meal (or how often you eat, for example every 3 hours). If the next meal comes around and you’re still not hungry, it’s possible that you overate at the last meal. If it’s an hour or two before your next meal and you’re ravenous, chances are you didn’t eat enough so you’ll know better for the next time. Over time you will slowly retrain your body to be able to consume more food on a regular basis without suffering the consequences. This is largely what reverse dieting is based on. Slowly increasing food to reverse the down-regulated hormones that have happened over a period of reduced calories. There is a lot more than can be taken into account to speed up the process, but the above process should get you started and on your way. Get used to listening to your body, more often than not it is telling you exactly what you need to know ;). — Dave #TeamGoBeyond #PersonalCoaching

New iPhone X is ridiculous. €1179 entry price. To do the exact same thing that your current phone does. Bet you'll still see the same people saying they "cant afford to eat healthy" right after they stroll in and purchase their new iPhone. Truth is it's down to priorities. It's also a lot easier to make that excuse when you have a preconceived notion that eating healthy is boring and bland, when it really doesn't have to be. The alternative is also a lot more appealing. On a constant day to day basis you'll be seeing photoshopped pictures of fast, convenient and cheap food which lets be honest is pretty tempting, especially if you're stressed. Eating healthy food that will make you FEEL better (which in my opinion is the most rewarding) does not have to be boring or bland. We've all been there before, finding an excuse for everything we really want to do but we have self doubt about our own ability. It's more common than sliced bread when I speak to people about their fears. What makes the people that you follow on Instagram or wherever these days that are constantly in shape is not that they're perfect all of the time, but that they aren't afraid to fail. When they inevitably fall off of plan they get right back on it straight away without beating themselves up. Because all that happens when you beat yourself up is tell yourself that you're not good enough, which reinforces the belief in your head that you're never going to get in shape. Moral of the story, you WILL fail along the way. Maybe even every day. What will ensure that you reach your goals is simply to just brush yourself off and start again. It's not glamorous (which is why nearly no one you follow posts about it), but it's one of the main reasons why so many people cannot for the life of them get in shape. So with that in mind, make Wednesday what you want it to be. Don't be afraid to fail 😀🤙🏽

Whether we like to admit it or not it’s something that we’ve all been guilty of at one time or another… It is after all only human nature to compare ourselves to others, but is it beneficial in any way? Just like a lot of things in the fitness industry…it depends. If you are someone who is motivated by the success and achievements of others then it could be… If you can use another person's progress or achievements as motivation to push yourself to train harder, dial in your nutrition, to learn more or to better yourself in any way, shape or form then you can use that person's success in a positive and beneficial way. Of course to do this effectively, you would have to take into account the amount of time, consistency, hard work and dedication it has taken the individual to get to where they are and realise that you aren’t going to get to where they are overnight so that you don’t set unrealistic expectations for yourself and end up being very disappointed a few weeks down the line when you aren’t 100kg and 8% body fat. Some people can really use this approach as a driving force for their own success which is great and if it works for you that’s fantastic. However, if you are someone who can become quite discouraged, demotivated or overwhelmed by the success and achievements of others by thinking that you will never be able to achieve what they have, then the chances are you will grow frustrated with yourself and your efforts before you have really even started on your journey as a result and you could even end up resenting the other person for doing well in the process. So in a nutshell, comparing ourselves to others can either have a very beneficial and empowering effect if done in the right way or a very negative and demotivating effect if looked at in a negative or discouraging manner. It really does depend a lot on your individual mindset and how you look at things… You can let others accomplishments fuel your efforts and inspire you or you can let them frustrate you and bring your own progress to a grinding halt. Personally, I like to focus on myself and what is important to me, I try not worry or buy into too much of what is going on around me or what other people think. I’m not going to lie, this is difficult at times and took me quite some time to get to this point. I find comparing myself to where I used to be very motivating and I think that it is an approach that lots of people should look to take rather than comparing themselves to others, I know I’ve been much happier in myself and far more productive since I started doing that. :) Social media can often paint a very false picture of other peoples reality so don’t fall into the trap of comparing your life to someone else highlight reel because at the end of the day, nobody is going to post a picture of themselves that they aren’t happy with and nobody is going to post about their bad days, shortcomings, struggles or failures. So just keep that in mind the next time you think about comparing yourself to someone that you saw on social media… It’s not real life. — Kev #TeamGoBeyond #PersonalCoaching

Achieving your goals honestly does not have to mean you have to be unhappy in the process. It REALLY doesn't. You may have had a bad experience with fitness in the past but we aren't all the same, so please don't paint us with the same brush :). There are amazing people out there doing amazing work. Receiving the lengthy testimonial below honestly made my week... One of the reasons why we constantly strive to deliver a service that we're proud to be behind. For someone to notice all the small details that can easily go unnoticed means the absolute world. So thankful for the amazing people that we get to work with on a daily basis... "I emailed David as I had heard such amazing reviews. I also had an upcoming holiday which I wanted to be the best version of me for. These reviews certainly did not disappoint. David is very knowledgeable and is able to bring an individualised, one-on-one, element that can be missing from other programs. David works with the whole person - mentally, emotionally and physically. In order to achieve there must be trust. I felt there was so much I could be open about as David is super understanding and extremely easy to talk to. David did not restrict any food groups. He looked at the questionnaire which I had filled in detail and made an individual plan for me with the food that I love the most. If I had any questions or asked for any changes there was never an issue. If David felt otherwise he explained in detail why he would not make a change and this increased my knowledge re the food I was eating, when and why. He explained how to keep calories higher and exercise instead of cutting everything and being miserable which some people associate with dieting. It was hard to believe how I was achieving the results I did as I enjoyed the plan so much, not only physically but also emotionally. The food that I was eating was all the food I loved which made it so easy to stay on plan. I did have some nights out and eating out occasions during the plan and was completely honest about these come check-in time. There was never any issue and all positive words and advice came in return. Adjustments and measurements of food were tailored quickly to ensure I made the most out of the eight week plan. David is always on hand over the course of the plan for any questions or advice. Check in once a week insures you are accountable because a week comes around very quickly. There is a reason why I achieved the results I did. It was with the help from David who is skilled in what he does as well as being thoughtful and a pleasure to work with and talk to. He knows just how and when to encourage and when to push, though never too much. I told David my goals and he gave me a plan to reach those goals while gaining knowledge on the way. I am thrilled to be able to say that I worked with him and hope to work again with him in the near future." Not only that but the results that we achieved in such a short space of time is out of this world. You DO NOT have to be unhappy achieving whatever goals you set out, as long as you do it in a sustainable, realistic manner. Not only that but ANYONE can achieve them. It may be intimidating and daunting but trust me when I say we all start somewhere. It is that simple. Absolutely buzzing! Happy Monday people! :) — Dave #TeamGoBeyond

Training legs should be a vital part of your gym program whether your goals are to build muscle, lose body fat, improve your performance in your chosen sport or to increase your overall body strength. Love it or hate it, leg day is pretty important and needs to be treated with the respect that it deserves… Legs are quite often a muscle group that get neglected in favour of their upper body counterparts and this is especially true more so in the case of some guys who often prefer to focus more on their ’t-shirt’ or ‘show’ muscles as I call them, often completely forgetting about the other half of their bodies in the process. Also, there is no escaping the fact that leg training is pretty tough when done right with intensity in comparison to training the upper body muscles and the DOMS experienced in the following days are defiantly much worse hence all of the leg day memes you come across on a daily basis whilst scrolling through Facebook feed. If you are someone who doesn’t pay as much attention to training your legs as you possibly should do then hopefully this post will have you prioritising them after reading some more about the benefits. For anyone with goals of achieving a more aesthetic looking physique, the last thing you want is a physique with poor proportions and symmetry due to regularly skipping leg day or not training them with the same intensity as you would your upper body. This doesn’t mean that your upper body has to suffer, quite the opposite actually… Let me tell you the good news guys, training your legs can actually help with adding lean muscle tissue all over your body. Yes, you heard that right… When you train your legs you stimulate some of the largest muscles in your body which helps to create a metabolic state favorable to muscle growth throughout the body. When you partake in heavy resistance training you break down muscles fibers by placing stress upon them. Satellite cells are needed to repair the muscle fibers in order to make them thicker and stronger so hormones in the body signal the activation of theses satellite cells within the muscles thereby stimulating muscle growth. Because the legs are such a big muscle group, training them stimulates growth hormone and testosterone and in turn this benefits muscle growth throughout the entire body due to the heightened state of these anabolic muscle building hormones. Training your legs is also hugely beneficial when it comes to fat loss. When you train your legs you are essentially training an entire half of your body and because of the size of the muscles being worked this results in quite a high calorie expenditure. Your heart rate will be elevated for longer making it much like a cardiovascular workout as well as resistance training workout when compared to training your upper body. Also when training legs we tend to use a lot of multi-joint compound exercises like squats which offer a high calorie burn and will contribute to increased fat loss when coupled with an appropriate caloric deficit. The hormone response to training legs that I spoke about earlier in regards to gaining muscle will also help with fat loss results. In terms of sports performance, training legs can result in you being able to sprint faster, jump higher and aid with prevention of common lower body muscle strains/ injuries associated with weak or imbalanced lower body muscles. The strength of your knee, hip and ankle joints will also be improved as a result of participating in lower body resistance training so all kinds of athletes can benefit. Hopefully, this has given you an idea of the wide array of benefits that training your legs has to offer. Make sure to include them in your training program and watch your body composition change for the better. :) — Kev #TeamGoBeyond #PersonalCoaching