Meet Joe. One of the boys, an ever present no matter what we are up to. Funny, witty, takes the mick out of himself, gives stick back, full of banter, a great friend, plays football, enjoys boxing training, lifts weights. A family man, two kids, married and doing well in his career. Yet there is a slight difference with Joe - he will never be able to climb a mountain and experience the view from the top, he will never run a half marathon, he would never be able to compete in a fitness event. Joe has a disability and from the age I knew him in school he was wheel chair bound. His determination and pure stubbornness meant he would remove himself from the wheelchair and use his crutches to get around instead. Did this lead to regular knee dislocations? Yes. Does this mean he will require a hip replacement? Yes. But he cracks on.

So how did this impact me and help to shape my views, my outlook, my attitude and my behaviours. If you can, do. Let me repeat - if you can, do.

I feel grateful, blessed, extremely fortunate to have a fully functioning, fully able human body at my disposal. And I am extremely aware that not everybody is afforded the luxury. The, without doubt, most complex and most valuable thing in existence should not be taken for granted so therefore if given the choice I will choose not to pollute, not to abuse and make the most of it. If I can do something then I am going to do it.

I DIDN'T REALISE AT THE TIME...

At the time (in my school days) I didn't know it. On reflection having Joe as one of my best friends was shaping me. I used to run home instead of walking like everyone else, I used to take cross country seriously whilst everyone else messed about because there was no teacher supervision, I was the one who would run to get the football because there was no net to catch it as we used jumpers as goal posts when no one else wanted to go and fetch the ball. I was the one not parking up in a car park to sit in a weed filled car as the others passed a joint round in a circle to get high. I was the one becoming isolated due to my appreciation of the human body. Be like everyone else? F**K that, if it means walking down a path solo then I'll take that path, and I'll run it instead.

HOW IT TRANSLATES TO NOW...

I was having a conversation this week about how prominent school days are. It is a tiny portion of your life yet is referenced a lot. So in my personal experience those 5 years of school days has helped me to become the person I am today. With the compound effect over many many years, building and developing habits, going against the grain, thinking differently, getting after it and years and years and years of consistency.

So today I am more passionate than ever about maximising potential, doing whatever is in your capabilities to become the strongest, healthiest, most value giving version of yourself. Why? To look after the people you care about, to be there for them in the best way you can, to ensure you can climb mountains, go on bike rides, get out to see the sunsets and get up looking forward to the day ahead.

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

Progress. How do we know we are making any? I feel too many people place their progress report on the biggest scale alone and neglect all the amazing wins along the way. Ultimately if you are a competitive athlete who enjoys competing in any kind of events then it will be the performance on the day you are looking to improve on. However don't neglect looking at the other small stuff which can keep you highly motivated and driven.

A RECENT EXAMPLE...

I like the data, the numbers when it comes to training and viewing progress. The great thing about fitness goals is that nearly all of them have numbers attached - weight, body fat percentage, running a 5K in a certain time. All are numbers orientated. I actually really like the the no numbers one, the question of "how are you feeling?" and if you've committed to the nutrition, the training, the recovery then the answer to this question can more often than not be positive without attaching a number because you know you are being true to yourself and committing to personal progress.

Like I say I do like the numbers and I also know that anything in terms of fitness progress takes time to achieve. The journey and the pursuit is a great part of the bigger picture. I regularly use the bike erg as part of my training, it offers great aerobic capacity building whilst being easy on the body in terms of little impact. Around 3 months ago I wanted to see what sort of power I could hold for 90 minutes. When it comes to any erg the power is measured in Watts, and this is especially prominent on the bike erg and in the cycling world. So how many Watts could I hold for 90 minutes? At the beginning of January I held 212 Watts for the full duration - average heart rate was 144 bpm. April 1st I held 230 Watts for the full duration - average heart rate was 143 bpm.

MY APPROACH...

Start cautiously, I didn't want to attempt my first effort and crash out after 45 minutes, so I almost knew the 212 Watts was achievable. I did however still use this a bench mark and only increased my a couple of Watts each time I performed this session. The results are clear to see and what I like about this is that it shows me that my aerobic power and leg power is improving without my body coming under further demand in terms of energy consumption - my similar heart rate suggests this. I will continue to perform this session, slowly build the Watts and be patient as I build.

HOW THIS COULD HELP YOU...

Most people understand what they need to do in theory. Train consistently, eat well, recover properly, sleep enough, and stay patient (this one is probably neglected!) The challenge is rarely knowledge, it is applying those basics often enough for them to produce measurable change.

A very hard session once a week feels productive. A perfect meal plan on Monday feels disciplined. An early morning run after a weekend of missed sessions feels like progress. But fitness, and your goals and targets, does not respond to isolated moments of effort. Consistency and patterns are key. As we know the body is remarkably honest in that way. It does not react to what we intend to do, only to what we repeatedly do over time.

Of course, consistency does not mean perfection. No one trains perfectly every week. Everyone has days when energy is low, schedules change, or life becomes demanding. The important thing is understanding that one imperfect day does not remove progress, just as one excellent day does not create it. A missed session matters far less than disappearing for two weeks because one missed session became an excuse.

The same applies outside the gym. Nutrition is rarely undone by one meal, but it is often affected by repeated habits people barely notice, inconsistent protein intake, poor hydration, and the mysterious ability for calories to multiply at weekends while somehow never being counted!

Proper training creates the stimulus. Recovery allows adaptation. And as always, consistency is key!

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

It all came down to this, the whole reason for the Thailand trip was to finish with the competition in Bangkok. We geared everything towards performing; the correct intensity, the heat exposure, the recovery protocols, the nutrition, the taper, the travel. Everything was thought out and planned with one thing in mind - performing when it counts!

HYROX BANGKOK...

I am fortunate enough to have competed all over the world in this sport, I have raced in stadiums and multiple convention centres. I think the stadium feeling will be my favourite setting as an event however as far as convention centres go Bangkok wiped the floor with anything I have seen. The venue was enormous, multiple live DJ's, food stands, all the obvious HYROX merch stands and lots and lots and lots going on. Pretty spectacular.

Our team were racing over the three days, some Friday, some Saturday and some (including myself) on Sunday. If you have ever been to a HYROX event to spectate then you will understand that it is pretty draining in itself, so for me I had to plan when I would be there and when I wouldn't. I was in the venue a lot on the Friday and then two stints on the Saturday with a 2 hour gap in the middle. I didn't head back Saturday night as this was time for me to start the imminent preparation for my race on the Sunday.

GO TIME...

Competition, when you take it seriously, always throws up the same questions. Have I done enough training? Is the taper too long? In this case I knew I had put the work in, being on a dedicated training camp leading into the event I had planned it pretty well so yes I had done the training. Sometimes however when I am tapering I feel like I should be pushing paces and intensities, I feel like I am losing fitness. I also know this is ridiculous and need to trust the process, which I do, however the mental side of it gets me every time!

Warmed up, focussed, primed, ready. It was time to execute. I wanted to exit the sandbag lunges before 50 minutes as I wanted my result to be sub 58, that was the target. I felt in complete control the whole way around, huge contrast to how I felt in Katowice a few weeks ago. My running was good, my stations were strong, my recovery to settle my heart rate was good. In terms of heart rate I can operate at a sustained pace and intensity at around the 180-182 bpm anything above this I am at risk of burning out. I was exiting most of the stations with my heart rate higher than this so used the runs to settle it back down. This doesn't mean I jog slowly to recover it as quick as possible, it means I run at a pace which I know I can hold which is still fast yet my heart rate will slowly drop.

My sandbag lunges time was 2:55 the fastest I have ever done them and when I ran out onto the run course I was at 49 minutes, it's on I thought, 57 is mine today! My wall ball game in Katowice was strong, 70 reps, little break 30 reps with a total time of 3 minutes 40 seconds. I needed a repeat of this. I got into the wall balls and began the 100 reps, I hit 70 and stopped, it was getting very tough, time was ticking, I picked the ball up and started again, at this point I was accumulating too many no reps, I was missing the target and not achieving the squat depth - 13 no reps in total! I broke twice more and as the wheels fell off I was at 96 reps, one last break and finish this thing. 4 clean reps and I crossed the line - 58:07, second place overall and first place in my age group. A very good day at the office. 8 seconds quicker and it would have been an exceptional day at the office!

On reflection there is zero disappointment, I immediately put everything into context. Our whole team had an amazing experience in Thailand, and in their individual races, with 5 of us hitting the podium. It really was the icing on the cake for what had been a brilliant couple of weeks which will be etched in the memory for a long time!

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

A woman was waiting at an airport one night, with several long hours before her flight. She hunted for a book in the airport shops, bought a bag of cookies and found a place to drop.

She was engrossed in her book but happened to see, that the man sitting beside her, as bold as could be. . .grabbed a cookie or two from the bag in between, which she tried to ignore to avoid a scene.

So she munched the cookies and watched the clock, as the gutsy cookie thief diminished her stock. She was getting more irritated as the minutes ticked by, thinking, “If I wasn’t so nice, I would blacken his eye.”

With each cookie she took, he took one too, when only one was left, she wondered what he would do. With a smile on his face, and a nervous laugh, he took the last cookie and broke it in half.

He offered her half, as he ate the other, she snatched it from him and thought… oooh, brother. This guy has some nerve and he’s also rude, why he didn’t even show any gratitude!

She had never known when she had been so galled, and sighed with relief when her flight was called. She gathered her belongings and headed to the gate, refusing to look back at the thieving ingrate.

She boarded the plane, and sank in her seat, then she sought her book, which was almost complete. As she reached in her baggage, she gasped with surprise, there was her bag of cookies, in front of her eyes.

If mine are here, she moaned in despair, the others were his, and he tried to share. Too late to apologize, she realized with grief, that she was the rude one, the ingrate, the thief.

MY INTERPRETATION...

I love this poem because for me it sends messages. Through the womens eyes she was convinced she was in the right and doing no wrong. Have you ever been in a situation where you were convinced of something only to find out later you were mistaken? It's a tough pill to swallow. Having said that in a situation where you believe to be doing no wrong (like the women in the story) shouldn't you say something instead of allowing tempers to boil and internal frustration rise?

Through the mans eyes he was so cool, calm and collected. He found the whole scenario amusing. I wonder if he knew she had made a genuine mistake or he was simply astonished at her attitude of willingly helping herself. Either way there is usually enough to go around for everyone and after all sharing is caring.

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

I have a very strong personal affiliation with Thailand, to be more specific - the island of Koh Samui. I spent two incredible years on the island and my daughter was also conceived there. The place means a lot to me. I have seen the island in full economic flow and thriving and then toward the end of my tenure there it was the start of the Covid era so I saw no tourism aloud and locals who were running businesses were all of a sudden out of business. Hotels were closed, cafes, restaurants and other establishments turned their lights out for good, it was a very very sad time. As the world does, it continues to move and tough times don't last but tough people do. I was running my own retreat business in Thailand but from day to day I was working in Koh Fit, one of the leading gyms on the island. The owner is English and we both hold an unbelievable passion for fitness, he has a very strong military background and it's safe to say he is one of the highest people on my list who I have the utmost respect for. His work ethic, determination, ambition and making things happen is unrivalled. I saw him and his business go through some very tough times during Covid but like I said tough people last and now Koh Fit is no longer one of the best gyms on the island, it will be up there with one of the best in the whole country.

MY INITIAL RETURN...

My brother got married in October 2024 in Dubai, as I was in attendance and pretty close to Thailand I flew over to train for 5 days and have a catch up with some old friends. The moment I landed and moved back into the old ways of doing things I remembered why I love the place so much. The sun, the laid back attitude, the friendliness, the welcome, the lifestyle - all just so good. As I was there alone I wondered to myself could I put it out there to the ACE community and entice anyone to come out for a training camp - coinciding with HYROX Bangkok. A thought to ponder, to germinate, to put into action...

MARCH 2026...

As I write this piece you may or may not have noticed that it is in past tense. Time to flip it into present tense. I am currently listening to the pouring rain bounce off my hotel window, by the time I have finished writing it will have stopped and dried up because myself and 12 others from the ACE community are here on the island of Koh Samui preparing for HYROX Bangkok and although early in the morning it's 28 degrees!

What started with a thought, is now a reality. And a few days into our trip and all the old yet amazing feelings about the place are flooding back. We are doing the majority of our training at Koh Fit and the facility is next level. Absolutely everything is catered for; training, recovery, nutrition all exceptional. We are exploring the island, going on excursions, taking some down time on the beach, sipping fresh coconuts and topping up the tan. As the business owner and organiser of the trip my top priority is to ensure all of our guys have the best experience and everything is catered for, nothing is too much trouble.

Training in the heat is intense, my heart rate for a tough session is about 10-15 beats higher at the same effort level. My power output on the bike is around 50 watts less with the same heart rate for a longer zone 2 effort. There will be an adaptation phase, we won't be here long enough for it to occur, so we adjust everything accordingly. Taking in more fluid, more electrolytes, training both smart and hard and recovering well.

I am documenting the trip which will be available to watch on YouTube and having said that I will be putting together a little series of YouTube clips all the way up to HYROX world champs in June if you are interested in following the journey!

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

Ever heard of Altruism? Don't worry I hadn't either until I Googled "doing something that benefits someone else but also makes you feel good" and it came up with altruism. Google also offered a layman's term of "helpers high" which I found a little more relatable! It continued to educate me by explaining the release of hormones contribute towards the feeling of happiness and satisfaction of seeing others succeed with you having assisted in the victory.

A RECENT EXAMPLE...

We have recently welcomed two new comers into the ACE community, two females who have trained on a regular basis for a long time but have never received that coaching that most people need to unlock new levels, to raise the game, to properly progress, to start to believe you are capable.

During Tuesday mornings Metcon class I included box jumps in the session, I always offer an alternative of box step ups as an option. I was intrigued to see what option would be picked by the two females I refer to as I know they both have the ability to perform the jump over the step.

As they approached the box without a thought or any hesitation it was straight into box step ups. That was my cue to offer the coaching tips and advice some people need to unlock the next level...

MINDSET & CONFIDENCE...

I asked the question of why a step up had been chosen over a jump, the response was the same one I hear most of the time regarding this exercise - I'm scared. I can see that both ladies have the potential and ability to perform a jump, they just needed to realise it themselves. A few bits of advice offered, and most of all an injection of self-belief. Boom they both performed a box jump! One of the ladies told me that in all the years that she had been training she had never once performed a box jump and had always reverted to step onto the box when given this exercise. Enter ALTRUISM! I was buzzing for them, this is a great exercise for power and dynamic strength however when performing it for the first time it is definitely more about mindset and instilling confidence that you can do it. Ever walked to the edge of a high diving board and gotten to the edge and then backed up? The box jump is like that, if you don't fully believe and fully commit to the jump then it isn't happening. I received a message later on that day off one of them saying she was proud of herself to have accomplished that task, that is what it is all about. Little wins, little victories, no matter where you are on your journey, no matter your ability level the little wins along the way and improving not only physically but mentally and building the confidence that you are capable, realising what the human body, your human body can do when we channel our thoughts and put things into practice.

I COULDN'T HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT YOU...

As a personal trainer and coach I am happy to say that I have had this phrase spoken to me many times - it means I am doing my job, However I also want to point out here that when I hear this my response is always the same "you could have, just probably wouldn't have". Meaning that the potential is always there, with training, with correct nutrition, with the mindset to succeed then you can do whatever you want to do. It's the negative self talk, the limiting beliefs that prevent people from even taking something on. Starting is what stops most people. And that is what I mean when I say you probably wouldn't have. Most people see others running marathons and think to themselves they could never do that, flip the mindset to "how can I do that?" And allow that mindset to grow, to develop to be your default way of thinking. Your potential is limitless!

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

Another weekend, another HYROX event - this time in Katowice, Poland. In this newsletter I am going to take you through my process of an event, I would like to say my typical process however no event is the same so things change and alter each time. From the day you compete, to the time you start your race, to the travel arrangements, to the country you are racing in. There are lots of moving parts!

SATURDAY MORNING...

The way things worked out for this race meant that I would be leaving the house at 5:20am on Saturday morning to get me to Manchester airport, parked up, through security and ready to board a Ryanair flight for an 8am departure. My race was starting at 18:40 the same day and as we were sat on the runway my Instagram feed showed me that the first waves of HYROX Katowice had already started, it was crazy to think that the event had already began and I wasn't even in the country yet!

I was travelling with a friend who was also competing later on that evening. Upon landing in Krakow (note the event is in Katowice) we had a discussion and instead of navigating our way to the train station and getting the train across we decided to jump in an Uber and go directly to our hotel. We first found a cafe to sit down in and take on some fuel. I always take food with me so I am in control of what I am putting into my body and after this quick pit stop we made our way to the Uber pick up point. The journey was around 60 minutes and we checked in and got into the hotel room around 14:45.

THE PREPARATION BEGINS...

And by this I mean the immediate preparation. My race was 18:40 meaning my last meal would be around 15:00/15:30 and I would want to be in the venue around 17:15 meaning we would have to leave the hotel at 17:00 with it being a short walk away. So there was around 75/90 minutes to spare before having to start to get ready, quick nap I thought/hoped for. If I was successful with a power nap that would mean I need to eat just prior to it as it would be a little close to the race if I ate upon waking up. Fuel goes in, head on the pillow. I can't say I slept but you know that phase where you don 't know if you are asleep or awake, I probably achieved that so at least I relaxed a little.

Leaving at 17:00 means getting things laid out, checking, double checking and triple checking I have everything at 16:00. Music goes on, jump in the shower, prepare my pre-workout drink, take the nitrate shots, get dressed and it's time to go!

THE RACE AND THE AFTERMATH...

Enter the venue, register, head to the course to check the layout, see some familiar faces and final preparation phase begins. And when I say familiar faces - my wave is stacked with world class athletes, the best of the best are here in Katowice, it's going to go off!

I like to be in the warm up zone around 50-60 minutes before I start, I find a bike and sit on there for around 20 minutes whilst sipping the pre-workout. The seriousness levels are creeping up now, the caffeine kicks in, the race strategy is getting played over and over in my head. The testosterone levels in the warm up zone are high. Everyone going through their own personal preparation rituals. Usually in this moment I have tunnel vision, the blinkers are on, talk only if necessary to talk, I forget how to smile. However I have a break in concentration, my mind wanders to the fact I was in Manchester only a few hours ago, I have travelled the same day, have I had enough rest I question myself...

In the start tunnel and I take position at the back of the pack, I am usually in the mix on the start line however this time I am going to start conservatively and build through the race. GO! First run was very controlled, ski-erg was very controlled too, second run also. I hit the sled push and here we go, heart rate jacks, breathing heavy, it's started! After this station each run felt hard, I didn't feel great, I felt I was struggling a tad more than normal. The stations didn't feel too good either (analysing my results afterwards tells a different story) however whilst in it I was never firing on all cylinders. I exit the lunges at around the 50 minute mark, I know if I want to break 60 minutes I am going to need a great wall ball performance. I enter the wall balls and split them into a first set of 70 reps, took a quick break and finished with a set of 30 reps and only being penalised with 2 no reps. I cross the line in a time of 58:41 - absolutely delighted. Considering how I felt.

My friend racing was still on the course so I got to see him in the final stages of his race and cross the line in a fantastic time of 66 minutes. A new PB for him which shows unbelievable progress and is testament to his continued pursuit and dedication to his training.

My result got me 2nd place in my age group and we had a couple of hours to kill before the podium ceremony so found a place to re-fuel, analyse, chat, dissect and go through each of our performances. I absolutely love this part, we both had a great result, we are both flying high on adrenaline, we are sipping on Pepsi, eating Cannoli's and loving life! We make our way to the podium, I gratefully pick up my 25th HYROX career flag which has a very proud number 2 on it. We make our way into the crisp, fresh Polish air and take a slow walk back to the hotel.

It's pushing towards midnight now, sleep isn't even an option yet. Some further dissection of our races whilst waiting for our burger and chips to arrive from the Polish version of Uber Eats. The food arrives at last - burgers on our beds, conversations move from topic to topic, from fun to serious, when eventually at around 3:00am it's lights out - I never sleep well after HYROX, the cocktail of adrenaline, caffeine, post race hype, constant exchanges of messages keeps me awake and disturbed.

6:00am and the day after the night before begins, the flight home isn't until 1:00pm so with time to spare we instead opt for a walk to the train station and stumble our way back to Krakow via two trains. A brief delay means sat on the runway for a short period before take off. Land, get through border control, locate car, drive home, sit down. 5:00pm. What a whirlwind. What a buzz. When's the next one!?

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

I have been training since I was 16, that's 25 years! In that time frame I have moved my priorities yet my training has always included strength work and cardiovascular work as a foundation. If I was just starting out now, or even just starting out regardless of age, I would ensure to include some key principles.

In my early days I was ultra focussed on building as much muscle mass as possible, I loved to lift weights, feel strong and fill out my t-shirts! So I immediately looked at the guys who were at the top of their game in this field and basically followed what they did. Yet this is where potential problems lie. Let's fast forward to today - the big emphasis is functional fitness and training like a hybrid athlete, to be more specific the big boom is HYROX. So what will regular gym-goers do; exactly what I did when I was lifting all those years ago, look at the best people in the world and follow what they do. BIG MISTAKE!

BUILD YOUR PYRAMID...

The girls and guys who are at the top of their game haven't taken any shortcuts to get there. They have years and years banked which is why they are able to perform at such a high levels by pushing their bodies to extreme levels. They have laid a huge base in order to build their personal pyramid. So this is exactly where I would be starting, and by starting here I am also going to vastly improve my chances of staying clear of injury.

Foundational strength work, build muscle tissue and connective tissue strength. It is important to realise what training actually does to your body. It breaks down tissues, when provided with the correct stimulus, which then rebuild to an enhanced state in order to handle the new demands which you place upon them. If you try to place too much demand on the tissue too quickly guess what is going to happen!? Another important factor to realise, you can not build your pyramid base in a few weeks or even a few months, this takes a lot of time. Again I point out the guys at the top of the game, when I say time I mean years and years and years.

In addition to the foundational strength work you should think about training the inside before the outside - what do I mean by this? I mean that everything that you can not see is way more important than everything you can see. The deep lying muscles which support your spine, pelvis and hips. The muscles, tendons and ligaments which will support your running journey. Your heart, lungs and blood vessels. As opposed to thinking you should be working on your shoulder muscles or triceps to try and have sculpted arms. Trust me if you are taking your training seriously, supporting it with a nutrition plan to compliment your long terms ambitions then all the external work will be well looked after as a glorious by product.

THE CARDIOVASCULAR JOURNEY...

I want to get into running - here's a great idea - let's see how far I can run and how fast I can run. Why is this the common thought process and why oh why do people think it is great idea?

If your relatively new to this and/or just starting out. The slow build process absolutely applies to running too. More so than a lot of cardiovascular activity. The reason being is because running is load bearing, it is going to be breaking down the tissues in order for a rebuild to occur. Where as cycling, rowing, swimming are all non-load bearing activities so the body doesn't have to work as hard in the recovery phase to repair the body. So if running is on the radar once again you should be looking to lay the foundations of the pyramid, so what does this involve? A lot of not running! Allow me to make sense of this. Hip strength, mobility and stability - this needs to be built through strength work. Achilles tendon (and other tendons/ligaments) strength to cope with the demand needs to be built and once agin this will be done through strength work. A slow adaptation phase needs to be applied so your muscles can get on board with the process and adapt accordingly, and a slow adaptation phase also needs to be applied for your heart and lungs to cope with the demand. The physiological occurrences need to be respected just as much as the physical aspects of a running journey. Lay the base work, bank the base work, you'll be glad that you did.

LONG TERM THINKING...

Think about why you are starting on the journey, hopefully you are starting on a lifelong one. So therefore what is the rush? Wouldn't you rather have a progressive journey ticking off small wins a long the way, seeing the progress occur? For me this would be the approach I would want and therefore take rather than becoming too over excited from the get go and enforcing a lot of breaks in the journey due to set backs from injury from neglecting the foundational work.

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

I'm sat on the bedroom floor of a house I have just agreed a 6 month rental on which I will be moving in to in the next week or so. I am on the phone to my supplier of all the gym equipment in which I am going through the final details of delivery dates and installation dates for all the kit as I embark on my new venture - ACE Performance. My 1 year old is in the next room with her Mum and starts to cry. The man on the other end of the phone asks me if that is my baby he can hear in the background? I reply yes. His response is to inform me that having a baby and starting a new business are two of the most stressful and life changing things that you can do. He continues, and adds in a jokingly way, that all I have to do now is move house and I will have hit the hat-trick of stressful situations. I sigh and tell him where I am sat.

6 MONTHS LATER...

The business is barely even born. I can't make the commute any more from Liverpool to Warrington every day leaving super early and arriving home late. It's time to move house again and move my family closer to my work. I am closer now which is good however we only have one car between us and my little girl and her mum need it more than I do. I succumb to the fact that I am going to be getting to know the Uber drivers very well overt the next few months!

The first session of the day at the gym is 6am, I usually arrive at 5am to hoover, clean and set up. To get there for 5am that means searching for an Uber driver at 4:30am and hoping that one is available. That means waking up at 4am to shower and get ready. Once I am at the gym I am there until the last session of the day which finishes at 7:30pm. After a little tidy up and convincing myself it's a better idea to hoover and clean up in the morning I search for an Uber and arrive home at 8:30pm. If my little girl is awake I get to see her. I climb into bed and repeat this the next day.

Whilst at the gym all day there are pockets of time where there are no classes running and I don't have PT sessions. I use these pockets to train, eat, catch up on admin, reply to the million messages I receive and due to the exhaustion I lay the stretching mats in a pile to create some sort of mattress and collapse in a heap in an attempt to recharge the ever draining body batteries.

I am determined to make a success of this, I am loving the journey, finding out about how to run a fitness business, learning on the job, growing as a person. All at the same time my mind is becoming more callas, I am developing a siege mentality and I don't know if this is a good or bad thing.

Business relationships are being made, member numbers are increasing, this is very motivating for me and I will always be the most professional fitness coach you will meet. So even if I am exhausted and don't feel like being at the gym no one would ever know, I show up and switch it on when I need to. Although professional relationships are on the up, personal relationships begin to crack - I can see and sense it but I don't know what to do. I am a private person, I don't show emotion so I just do what I know and continue to work hard on building my business, my mindset and my body. These days it's all about sharing, talking through challenges, going to therapy - I agree all of these are good things however there is still part of me which is of the old school way - just get on with it.

3 YEARS LATER...

Things look very different. I have a great team of coaches at the gym, I no longer have to coach every single session. I have more time away from the gym, I get to pick my little girl up from school twice per week. I have the most amazing members who train with us at ACE, who I will never take for granted. I no longer feel like I am wading through mud and am amongst the reeds, I feel like I have somewhat of a birds eye view of the business. I no longer sleep on the floor between sessions.

As a business we are still in the infancy stage, and I am as motivated as ever to keep on providing the very best coaching experience for our members and leading our team of trainers to be nothing but excellent in all aspects. What we do at ACE is different - we help, we educate, we improve technique, we coach. Having more time to focus on the development of our entire team inclusive of coaches and members is very important to me. I want people to receive extreme value when they are in the building and also to take that away with them and apply it to other aspects of their life.

I share a tiny snippet of the journey so far, there is still way more to come. More ups, more downs.

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

It's way easier said than done. I mean way easier. However it really doesn't matter what others think and the only opinion that counts towards your self-esteem is yours. As long as their is no malice, no harm, no purposeful drama then you and your actions, beliefs and opinions can sleep soundly at night.

I raced HYROX Mumbai last year, little did I know I was being followed around the course by a videographer who later published a video about my performance. It was all very positive and I didn't mind at all. Fast forward to today and the video has had 2.8 million views, 94,700 likes, 303 comments and 22,500 shares. I still get notified of all the comments, and when something blows up as much as this video has you can guarantee a lot of the comments will be negative with little digs being thrown.

I glance at the comment when I get notified of one, I don't dissect it, view the persons profile and all that as I really don't care what people are saying. And the thing is the negative ones come from the people who are no where near my standard, everyone who is on my level and above right the good things, everyone who is below my lev el write the bad things - interesting isn't it?

The latest one I saw said "dude flew all the way to India just to get a podium". Lol. My split second thought was to respond and say "yes flew to all the way to Chicago to claim the World Championship too". My thought immediately after that one was "who gives a f**k" and I just cracked on with no emotion attached to it. I won't look back at it, I will let it go, let it slide. It's his opinion, and it's none of my business what he thinks. I honestly don't really care. The only reason I am sharing this is to highlight the fact that others will choose to think what they think about your actions, not knowing the circumstances, not knowing the reasoning behind them. And that is absolutely fine.

YOURS & YOURS ONLY...

The only persons opinion of you that matters is your own. You know when you are being truthful, you know when your intentions are innocent and when it feels right. Similarly you also know when there is a little hidden agenda too, you also probably have some skeletons in your closet - but guess what, that is life. And the more experienced you become at life the more you may collect and the more you learn how to deal with these things.

The man or woman looking back at you in the mirror. That's what counts. Are you happy with the reflection, is that a true reflection?

DO IT FOR YOU...

Keeping in the best possible shape you can, eating the very best nutrition you can and staying fit and healthy can and will only be done for yourself. No one else. There will be little snippets of motivations driving you forwards, for example wanting to be there for your children, however if you don't have and posses that inner want to succeed you aren't going to do it for anyone else. You have to find it, channel it, allow it to become habitual and part of your life. And then when it is so engrained if anyone else try's to wobble you, try's to sabotage you (and yes this happens!) then you can be big and strong enough to say no this is my way, this is how I am doing things, so either get on board or get off the train!

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

If you read my newsletter last week you'll know that me and my doubles partner were attempting the world record for the 40-44 age group open category at HYROX Manchester. If you follow me on social media the likelihood is you'll know what happened, if you don't then here's how it unfolded...

The race started fast, we blew everyone in our wave out of the water. The wave win was captured before we hit the ski-erg. I knew if we wanted to run this record close that we had to be out of the burpees before 25 minutes. On exiting the burpees I glanced at my watch and it read 24 minutes, it's on. We raced hard and well, we came into the lunges on track and then I made a costly mistake. I broke one of the rules and the judge asked for my race number so she could apply the penalty to our time, I pleaded with her but to be fair she was doing her job and enforcing the rules, which I completely understand and agree with. I asked her how much time the penalty time was expecting an answer of 15/30 seconds - her response "2 minutes". The world record attempt was over, I had cost me and my partner. I didn't tell him in the moment, instead I channelled my disappointment and finished the race like a champion - we crossed the line in 51:56 which was 36 seconds quicker than the current record. It was at that moment I grabbed my partner and broke the bad news. We had done it. Yet we hadn't. The 2 minute penalty was added to our time giving us an official time of 53:56 and to add salt into the wound this wouldn't even be enough for first place on the day either, we had to settle for second place.

THIS IS SPORT...

The more you play, the more chance you have at poor results, probability goes up. This was my 26th race and it is safe to say I have learnt something from every single one of them. This one cost me a world record yet it was the easiest lesson of them all to learn as it wasn't performance based, it was a momentary lapse in concentration, and in this game you can not switch off for a second. Lesson learnt, it won't happen again.

I have a fair bit of experience in HYROX now, I am the reigning world champion for my age group, I have ran the fastest ever British time for a pro solo race for my age group and I have just unofficially broken the world record for my age group in the open doubles division. And do I let a race define my mood? For a few minutes, maybe half an hour, but after that I am back to a level playing field. Poor results, yes I have had them but I am fine soon after. Good results, yes I have had them but I am level headed soon after. I do this for the love of competing, for the love of living like a true athlete and for the love of being able to push myself to the limits. And just as important to me is seeing my friends, clients and colleagues push themselves too. That's why I was dancing around the convention centre all week, seeing people race, it's a true pleasure.

I also raced in the mixed doubles on Saturday in which we placed 1st in our age group, this was my first time racing a mixed doubles and it was so much fun. We also punched our ticket to the world championships in Sweden in June so I will be there racing twice - solo and mixed doubles!

RECOVER & GO AGAIN...

Just as much as I learn from each race, I am always learning when it comes to post race and recovery. It is something that you can not rush back, everyone is different but I know that for me it takes a good 5/6 days to feel any where near normal again. I have tried to fight it in the past but I know if I ride it out I will feel much better for it in the long run. This comes down to nutritional choices too, obviously it's optimal to eat clean all of the time, however if I am going to have a few treats I find that it is in the recovery phase when it serves me best, then when my training clicks back in to gear and my nutrition is back on point I can double down and start the preparation for the next event - which in this case is Katowice in just over 3 weeks time!

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

It's become a ritual, an annual occasion. When HYROX comes to Manchester at the end of January then we line up and we compete. I say we as I made my HYROX debut here in 2022, a crazy experience as I had no idea what was going on. A year later I was back, this time with one other person who has become part of the fabric of the ACE community. Fast forward 3 years and we now have over 50 athletes representing ACE and it's been this way for the past couple of years now. It really does grab a hold of you, and sometimes it chews you up and spits you out. Other times you're in control and things go to plan - very soon I'll find out which of these outcomes are realised.

A BIT DIFFERENT THIS TIME...

I'm very structured with my training and racing, I certainly believe that you can not rush the process of becoming fitter, stronger, more efficient and an improved athlete. Too many people have unrealistic expectations of themselves with relatively little work they have put in. So for this years rendition of Manchester HYROX I will be competing in the mens open doubles and the mixed doubles - with a days rest in between.

I had planned on completing the Valencia Marathon in December therefore my training leading up to that race was all running based. Very very little HYROX specific work, this coupled with the planned fatigue of completing a marathon then I would have been no where near ready for a mens pro singles this weekend. As it happens the marathon didn't go to plan but due to my current level in December and not wanting to rush anything back I wanted to move forward the the races I had planned. Plus the fact I haven't raced an open doubles in years and never raced a mixed doubles so two great opportunities to have a lot of fun!

WORLD RECORD ATTEMPT...

My mens open doubles partner is an extremely talented runner. He is rapid! He is also my age category so therefore we will be competing in the mens open doubles age group 40-44. As I am lead to believe the world record currently stands at 52:32 for this division.

My doubles time in the pro division with another very talented athlete at the World Championships last year was 52:08. Therefore I believe that when I race today we have a genuine chance at breaking the current world record.

By the time you are reading this email I will already know the outcome, and the likelihood is, so will you.

SPECTATING & SUPPORTING...

The HYROX community is bouncing. It is buzzing. I was in the venue on Wednesday night to watch some of our guys from ACE and to also watch some of the very fast athletes out on the course do their thing. The support is fantastic, everyone is in a great mood, more often than not the music is pumping and the vibes are amazing. It really has shifted so many peoples thoughts and feelings about what can be achieved, what fitness looks like, what training can look like.

I can't wait to race! It's go time!

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

I have this innate feeling of belief in people. I can see their potential, most of the time, way before they can. My role is to help them realise it, unlock it, nurture it. A prime example; we recently ran a HYROX simulation at the gym, one of our members delayed signing up to it despite the fact they have their very first upcoming race. They needed a little push, a little encouragement and a little dose of self-belief, they needed to commit. I could see and sense the nervousness upon their arrival at the gym, all completely normal. Off they went and once they had crossed the finish line (after completely crushing it) I could see and sense their immense pride in doing what they had just done. A huge confidence booster and a huge win for them. They had realised some of that potential that I can see in them, the great thing is that there is way more to come!

THOUGHTS BECOME WORDS ...

It all begins with the thoughts you have, it all starts in your own head, the conversations you have with yourself. If these are negative, if these tell you that you are incapable of doing something then they will translate into the words you speak so when you eventually voice your thoughts to your peers, friends, family members they will be that of a negative nature. That's why your inner voice, your inner dialogue, has to be worked on and has to be trained to think of the positives instead of the negatives as your thoughts will become your words.

WORDS BECOME ACTIONS...

Or inactions. Once upon a time when I had my very first PT studio I started to build a community of like minded people and after a month or two of welcoming a new member to the group they said to me that one of the reasons they enjoyed being part of the community is that "you do what you say you are going to do". We have all been in that situation where a group of friends are discussing going away for the weekend, or planning a day out somewhere and then nothing happens, nothing gets organised and nothing gets done. Be the difference maker, make it happen, follow through with what you say you are going to do.

ACTIONS BECOME HABITS...

And whatever actions you start ensure that they are of a positive nature that will benefit you, and even better, others too. If you start actioning getting up 30 minutes earlier in the morning and going for a walk or stretching then after a patch of time this will be a habit. If you go into the supermarket and your go to aisle is the confectionary aisle then you will have to fight to break this habit and force yourself into the fruit aisle, but after a while of actioning this it will too become habitual and you'll be walking out eating a pear rather than Aldi's own brand chocolate bar (or whatever you go to chocolate is!)

HABITS BECOME CHARACTER...

A habit practiced enough times becomes automatic, the other options are no longer options as you have engrained it that much into your psyche that this is now who you are. Once again you must make sure this stage is benefitting you, it's positively affecting you, and once again hopefully positively affecting others. Your gym routine, your running routine, your nutrition is now auto-pilot and you can't even picture life without them in place. Your characteristics, your traits shape who you are.

CHARACTER BECOMES DESTINY...

Everything is now in place and channelled in such a way that if you continue on the same path, the same evolutional journey, then your destiny looks extremely bright, extremely happy. You are fit and will continue to get fitter, you are strong and you will continue to get stronger, you are healthy and will continue to get healthier, you are confident and your confidence will continue to grow. Remember how you got here, it started with the thoughts, in order to continue to develop on the right road you must still control these thoughts, learn from the negative ones, flip the negative ones, grow your self-belief, grow your confidence consciously.

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

The comeback from an injury can be very frustrating. You can't do what you want to be doing in the gym, you feel like your losing fitness and you feel like you're in regress mode rather than progress mode. The same can be said when coming back from a very stressful event such as an Ironman or Marathon. Or so you are lead to believe - it doesn't have to be frustrating at all.

MINDSET...

It's all about mindset and this will only improve with experience, you have to go through the frustration, you have to push yourself too early, you have to risk the injury flaring up again (or in fact re-injuring yourself) to gain the experience and to improve your mindset about the comeback.

I refer to my recent injury/lay off/rebuild after the Valencia Marathon experience. Quick recap; I injured my foot a week out from the race, my preparation in terms of mobility, strength and nutrition had been mediocre at best, I lined up for the race but pulled out at 7km. So what happened next...?

From December 8th to December 15th I did absolutely nothing in terms of training and absolutely everything in terms of eating. I completely switched off and made sure I was mentally at peace with this decision. December 16th to January 6th I trained every day, 21 days straight. Now this seems to go against what I said earlier and seems I was trying to rush back. Instead I was very very cautious for the first week, I did lots of easy bike work, I re-introduced the row and ski after nearly 4 weeks of no use of them, I lay on the floor and stretched, I worked with resistance bands, I performed basic strength movement patterns and the most important thing; I made a decision with my food intake to screw the nut, knuckle down and get back on it. In a nutshell I made a choice, a decision to lay some foundational work and NOT rush back.

MY FIRST RUNS...

Bringing the running back into the program, I had to ensure I started cautiously and my first run back was on Christmas Day which was a 12km very slow and steady effort. I ran with a couple of friends and it felt great. Someone in my situation, making their comeback could have gotten giddy and gone out again on boxing day or the 27th and immediately started picking up the pace, experience has taught me this can not happen, my next run was New Years Eve - so another 6 days later in which I had kept up the strength and rehab work - which did involve more intensity, but nowhere near up to the levels I am capable of, more about thorough warm ups, consistent pacing and relatively working to a level that my body can handle at that moment. I have no right to think I can bounce straight back in to where I was 2 months previous, it doesn't work like that.

MOVING FORWARDS...

This week will be the first week I am following my same structured routine, with 3 or 4 runs per week and following the easy day/hard day protocol. I have enjoyed the mid-season lay off, exploring new exercises, new training sessions, not putting any pressure on myself, working on different elements which would usually be down the pecking order that have moved up the priority list. Excited for what's to come for 2026 and excited to keep learning about myself. Use a lay off or injury as an opportunity.

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

Friday the 2nd of January 2026 - a brand new start to a brand new year. Who will you meet? Who will you forget? Who will add value? Who will you out grow? Who is there for the journey and who's journey are you influencing?

IT'S YOUR DESTINATION...

Stay true to it. What feels right? What does your intuition say? What is your gut telling you? When the gut talks it often talks loud, it's a combination of hormones and emotions which is sometimes hard to describe - you just know it's there. Cortisol spikes, serotonin release, a dopamine surge. All of these are talking to you, sometimes good, sometimes bad. It can be very challenging and hard to feel settled. The same can be said if you are on the right path, if the right people are in your life. If it feels right it often is, if it feels wrong it often is. Your job, your career, your friends, your relationships all can have an effect and and impact on your decision making. Do ensure however they are not altering your destination station, they may jump on and off the train to teach you lessons however your platform awaits for you to disembark when the time is right.

YOUR LIFE IS THE JOURNEY...

Do you believe that people are put in front of you for a reason? Do you believe people exit your life for a reason? To use the train journey analogy - you are sat in your seat in your carriage, your train arrives at a station and passengers jump on, you connect with some but not all, the train stops at the next station, some who you liked get off - what did they teach you? What did you learn? Some you didn't like also get off, what did they teach you? The journey continues. Some will stay for a long time, others will stay for a short while, the ones who are there for the shortest time may be the ones who add the most value. The ones that are there for the longest time, are they comforting? Familiar? Annoying? Eventually everyone gets off.

MAKE IT COUNT..!

So with all that how is 2026 shaping up for you, have you got the right people in your life to succeed to excel.

It's often a time when people begin their health kick or start their diet or gym membership. If you are new to the journey, welcome aboard and please allow for some patience, some habitual changes to take a while to stick and for some short term discomfort for a guaranteed long term feeling of fulfilment. If you are already on your journey, lets make it is comfortable as possible for the new passengers jumping on - welcome aboard your 2026 train.

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

2025 moves ever closer to its final days - a great time for reflection, a gathering of your thoughts and emotions about the different situations, experiences and challenges you had this year, planning how you can approach 2026 and then BANG when January is here it's time to execute!

REFLECTION...

A tradition of mine at Christmas is to read and watch The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse, I like the book and slightly prefer the animation even more. It's a short story about life, lessons, adventure and attitude. During an initial conversation between the mole and the boy the mole says "most of the old moles I know wish they had listened less to their fears and more to their dreams". I like this. I like this because, my interpretation of it is, that too many of us are restricted by our own thoughts and preservations, our fear of failure, our fear of rejection, our fear of being different. When, in reality, if you take that chance, take that (calculated) risk, accept things might not go your way, celebrate your own uniqueness and most importantly be true to who you are then at the very least you can be happy knowing you are aligned with your values and that no on else is making the moves for you. So on reflection of 2025 have you lead the way you want to lead? And what can you do in 2026 to ensure you are in the driving seat?

GATHER YOUR THOUGHTS...

What have you learnt? What have you liked? What have you disliked? Who has added value? Have your non-negotiables changed? One of my oldest mentors (not hat I have ever met him!) is Jim Rohn and a great bit of advice I learnt from him is that sometimes you need to stay in touch, but out of reach. Meaning that as you evolve, grow, mature that not everyone is going to be on your journey with you. Some people will be on a different journey - no better, no worse, just different. It doesn't mean you don't have to speak to them anymore, it's just they don't share your morales and what matters to you doesn't necessarily matter to them - and vice versa. So therefore you keep contact, you check in from time to time but the physical time spent together becomes less and less, you like them however there is a fork in the tracks ahead.

PLAN...

Making a plan of action, setting goals and targets and doing things with purpose instead of going with the flow like a piece of drift wood floating down stream. How will 2026 be different, what choices will you make, how can you feel more morally aligned with who you are? Listening to that inner voice is usually the best call. It's great to set goals however you must also set the plan of action to get there. And guess what, it is very rare that you won't encounter a bump in the road and things will run smoothly the whole time. Grow from the challenges, evolve from the lessons.

EXECUTE...

And now it's time to execute! It doesn't have to be on January 1st, it doesn't have to be a new years resolution, but you do need to take action. Goals won't be met unless you get up and get out the door, sitting on your ass hoping things will change will not make change occur. Action is needed. Do you want the things you say you do enough that you are willing to make the changes to see them become reality? The people doing the things that inspire you, that you would like to be accomplishing, are you willing to to do what they do in order to achieve what they are achieving? To use an athletic goal analogy - you say you want to run a marathon? You've got to do the training...

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

6 days until Christmas day, and as we are all lead to believe Christmas is the best time of the year. When families come together, filed with joy, filled with laughter, giving and receiving lots of presents, over indulging in glorious food and drinks. I think it's important to see the situation from both sides and be ok with people who maybe have a different outlook or opinion about Christmas. You have Christmas your way, allow others to do Christmas their way. No judgement, no labels.

I ELABORATE FURTHER...

I know lots of people, many of whom are in my close circle, who won't put up a Christmas tree, who won't have a Christmas dinner, who won't give or receive any gifts. And they all have their own reasons, I write not speaking about anyones direct situation but blanketing many reasons for why people do Christmas like this.

Losing someone who is close to you around this period and seeing everyone else have the "perfect" Christmas can bring back memories that are hard to face. Financial worries or struggles can lead to things having to be prioritised which does not include spending hundreds of pounds on a Christmas tree, decorations and over priced Turkeys. Seeing Facebook and Instagram posts with families in their matching pyjamas, setting up the elf on a shelf, with the introduction of Christmas Eve boxes can be very triggering and put the pressure onto families to keep up with what looks like becoming the social norm.

Personally I completely understand all of this and respect everyones approach to Christmas no matter how much or how little they celebrate it. Each to their own.

DON'T UNDO THE GAINS...

You may have done this before, when you have trained well for the last 3, 6, 9, 12 months then Christmas comes and you forget how to tie your running shoes, you forget how to pedal a bike or you forget how to cook a healthy meal. If you have been there and done it and felt crap in January before then are you going to repeat the same behaviours again?

It's nice to have a little indulgence, to enjoy some of the "sometimes" foods that are on the shelves around this time of the year and don't worry too much about gaining a few extra lbs. But there's no need to go crazy, put on a stone, totally forget about what made you feel so good in the first place. Allow your healthy habits to stay in tact with just a little bend in the rules for a week or two. If you want you can take the pressure off your usual targets, training program and structure and just move for the love of moving your body. However you want to do it. If you completely fall off the wagon it's much harder to get back on, but you already know this.

However you approach the next week or so then do it with joy, understanding and empathy. Your way is your way, my way is my way, their way is their way.

Merry Christmas!

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

It doesn't happen often but it's a tough pill to swallow when it does. The Valencia marathon did not go to plan and although a negative experience for me in terms of the race itself I have to focus on the positives and look at what I can take from the whole experience.

INJURED AND ILL PREPARED...

If you read my newsletters you'll know that on my training run the week before the marathon I had to cut it short with what was diagnosed as a stress response to my heel bone. I did as the physio advised and rested it all week until race day where I would put it to the test. A 5km shake out run the day before left me confident it would be ok although it didn't feel 100%. My warm up was good, and I took to the start line, as soon as I put any real pressure and pace through my body things just did not feel right. My lower back was seizing up from the first 500m onwards, my heart rate was pushing relatively high for being so early in the race and my foot just did not feel right. At the 7km mark I slowed my pace down and dropped out of the marathon jogging the same route back to the start line. It was a tough, but the right, decision.

I have to be brutally honest with myself, I just didn't prepare the way someone wanting to run a 2:45 marathon should prepare. I wasn't good enough on that front. If you want to operate at the level I want to operate at that no stone can go unturned and truth be told I left some stones alone. No excuses, only facts - I have had to navigate a massive overhaul with my business, migrating over 100 people onto a new system was always going to have a few little mishaps. At the same time I had to squeeze 25 hours of manual labour into a 3 day period in order to totally refurbish the gym, alongside moving house and supporting a family then something had to give. And it did. My nutrition and recovery work took a massive nose dive, my training was still good, I was happy with how that went but again to hit my targets I can't afford to be taking shortcuts and this is where I failed. Poor nutrition affects my sleep which affects my energy which affects my training which affects my mindset. It's a tough sloping spiral to get off once the wheels are in motion. If I had stuck to every single thing the way I wanted to would I have still picked up the injury? My self cynical self will say no however I will never know the answer to that question. All I can do is learn...

WHAT I DID, WHAT I LEARNED...

Once I had picked up my bag from the bag drop area I made my way to the start of the finishing chute in time to watch the elites come firing past. I was in awe of these men (to begin with) and women. The grit and determination on their face as they fought for every second as they powered towards the finish line. The pace, the power, the strength was a very impressive display. It made me feel happy for them whilst rubbing it in further how poorly I had prepared for this race. I must learn the lessons.

From there I made my way to some of my team mates on the course, I caught them at 16km, 25km and then with 400m to go. I was so impressed with how they looked, they absolutely crushed it and I am happy to report one of them hit a 4 minute PB whilst the other hit a huge 42 minute PB. Delighted! I have been on every step of the journey with these guys so I took huge pride in witnessing their victories, it makes me proud to be part of their journey.

I have learnt that I can't spin as many plates if I want to strive for relatively high success. I am not a professional athlete, I have to make a living, I have a business to run, I have other commitments that are also of such high priority. In hind sight I could have postponed the business overhaul and gym refurbishment until the new year, this would have certainly given me unwavering focus and more time to dedicate towards each aspect of my preparation for the marathon IE recovery protocols and not feeling those emotional pangs to head for the snack cupboard when feeling stressed or under pressure. I have to own this and take responsibility, next time I'll know what to do, what doesn't need doing at the same time and what needs to be done to succeed.

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

It's here. It's time. 21 weeks of focussed dedication and training. And I might not be able to run!

A LITTLE NIGGLE...

On my final long training run (relatively to the marathon it's not actually that long) I was 8km in and I felt a sensation in my heel. I gave it 30 seconds to see if it was a temporary blip and to see if it would subside, turns out it got slightly worse. I slowed the pace down to see if it was something to do with the speed I was running, it wasn't as I could still feel it. I stopped and began to walk. My initial thoughts were how do I get back to the gym in time to take the morning class, seconds later the realisation that I might not be able to line up on the start line for the Valencia Marathon hit me. I was close to a McDonalds so I made my way inside and asked a staff member to call me a cab and I was back at the gym well in time to prepare for the session at least.

WHAT TO DO..?

I had the session to coach, from there I was taking my daughter swimming so for the next few hours at least I had to forget about me as an athlete. I had to be me as a professional coach and the best Daddy I can be, I would worry about the injury later. Later eventually arrived and the good thing was that I couldn't feel anything whilst walking, I scheduled massages, physio appointments, tweekd my final weeks prep and training and would hope for the best.

With all of my athletes who I coach and program for I always say to focus on what you can do as opposed to what you can't do. When injuries and niggles occur use it as an opportunity to work on other areas of your game which need improving, look at the positives. I needed to also adopt this mindset however having had a very good training camp and to feel this just 7 days before the race is a slightly different situation as I can't focus on anything else as all the work has been done. What I can do though is remain positive, do everything in my capability to prepare and give myself the best chance of running on Sunday.

THE PLAN FOR VALENCIA...

After seeing the physio it seems I have a stress response on the heel bone. If you have ever had shin splints before it's the same kind of injury as that where potentially a stress response can advance into a stress fracture. This is not where I will even flirt with going so what do I do with the race looming...

I have not ran since Sunday, my next run will be with my team mates on Saturday morning - a very light 30 minute shake out run. I am very hopeful I don't feel anything in my heel, if I feel anything at all I won't line up on the start line on Sunday. If I don't feel anything during the shake out run I will line up for the race on Sunday and I will start the race however if I feel anything during the race I will stop and pull out; for two reasons.

The first reason is I certainly don't want this niggle to turn into anything worse, I don't want a stress fracture which will potentially put me out for a sustained period. The second reason is that I am solely focussed on achieving my goal time for this race, on this occasion for me it's not about the completion it's about achieving the objective which is running the marathon in 2 hours 45 minutes or less. If I feel anything which forces my pace to slow slightly I simply won't achieve the goal so therefore there is no point pushing through anything just to get to the finish line. If I don't feel anything until around the 32km mark and I am on target to hit the time, I will have a huge decision to make!

Regardless of what happens to me this weekend I am going to enjoy the experience and support my team mates as they embark on the marathon adventure. The training has been done, it's time for the victory lap!

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

With life going on around us it's not always the easiest to get everything done that we would like. We aren't professional athletes, our days and lives can't always revolve around trining and all the protocols which count towards peak performance. Achieving a framework that works for you, one that you are happy with, one which allows for you to still run the house, pick up the kids and walk the dogs (let alone working a full time job) is key to your success.

IGNORE THE GRAM...

Instagram is a great place for inspiration, to see the people hard at work who you look up to and sometimes to take ideas from. However when "busy" people try to follow the same type of training routine that some of the pro athletes on Instagram follow then it's a potential disaster waiting to happen. What you don't see, or certainly don't account for when seeing the highlight reels of peoples daily routines, is the interrupted sleep due to new born babies or poorly kids keeping you up in the night, the rigidity of the workout routines, the time it takes to prepare for training and actually get the training done. And what this can do is make you feel like you are failing when you can't tick off every part of the routine. Apply to your life what you can achieve, focus on the things you can get done, focus on what is under your control and follow a routine which will both generate results and be adhered to.

AUTOMATIC NUTRITION...

With your life being busy why add to the stress and worry about nutrition. What enters your mouth will have a huge impact on how you do everything else. I can not emphasise enough just how important nutrition is. Not only influencing your physical gains, but for mental clarity too. You know it, I know it that when we eat well we feel good, so don't choose the contrary, make nutrition an easy win and allow it to positively influence the busy lifestyle. Make this the solution instead of part of the problem. Create "default meals", still tasty but easy to get done. Prepare when you can, don't have a treat cupboard, have a cupboard of snacks which compliment your nutritional habits. With nutrition many people think it will all fall into place, this is wrong, it requires effort, so make the effort initially and set routines that work which become automatic.

PLAN AND EXECUTE...

Communicate with the family, your partner, your support network and create the framework that you can stick to. If this means you do the school run one day whilst your friend or colleague or sister gets their stuff done and they can reciprocate so you can get your stuff done then that's a great plan. Plan when you can train, and let's say something out of the ordinary occurs instead of the 90 minute run you had in your schedule go get 45 minutes done instead - this is still a win.

You don't need the perfect plan. You need a liveable one. This is how busy people - workers, parents, everyday humans get and stay fit and generate their desired results.

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

We are in an era where everyone wants things done fast! Instant results, instant gratification, no process just the desired outcome. Google, You Tube, Chat GPT is making this possible in a lot of circumstances. One thing which won't come quick though is athletic success, and for this I am glad about. I am glad we have to work for our success, I am glad that there is no shortcut on this topic, I am glad that it takes months and months years and years to achieve the desired progress. The problem isn't the process, the problem is the education people need to realise this and the sooner you realise just how much is needed the sooner you can enjoy the journey, the ups and the downs. Oh and by the way there are no failures, only learning cues.

PHYSICAL & MENTAL...

Patience, if you can apply it, is developing your mental strength, your mental fortitude. Your training and your nutrition are preparing you physically, however every champion has the added ingredient of unbelievable mental strength. You won't find a champion who lacks this. So therefore by knowing and realising that patience is required is working on your mentality, and this is where the progress happens, with mental toughness. Patience is the willingness to embrace the process.

ADAPTATION TAKES TIME...

Muscular strength, muscular endurance, neural efficiency improve with consistent progressive overload. This means applying the correct forces, the correct pressures, the correct stimulus on the body at the correct time of your journey. And then allow for the recovery process to do its thing by building the body up, making sure the adaptations occur and avoiding burnout. By rushing the process, training through pain, ignoring the signs and symptoms you will only become ill or injured - Rome wasn't built in a day and we have to lay the foundations upon which progress is going to be built.

TRUST IT - ENJOY IT...

With a strong mental attitude towards your training, knowing that patience is key will help you to manage your emotions and deal with setbacks on your athletic journey. It is almost inevitable that injuries will occur, did you think you would never become injured? And when it happens, by trusting the process and having a strong mentality will allow you to focus on what you can do and not what you can not do during that time. You can see this time as a chance to focus on other areas of your training, potentially areas that sometimes get neglected. It is all part of the long term journey. And by trusting and enjoying the process allows you to stay present and enjoy your training instead of becoming fixated on the outcome. One session, one day at a time.

And then when it comes to competition, when it comes to the point of putting all of your training into practice things might still not turn out how you wanted them to. Do you think you can perform to your very best every time? Ask any champion if they have achieved that! What they do is learn and use it to their advantage, so should you.

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

Last week it was all about the build up to the race, this week it's all about post race reflection and post event reflection. Post event reflection because we had near 50 ACE representatives who took to the dance floor, a fantastic representation of our amazing community of athletes. All different shapes, sizes, experience and ability levels, all pushing themselves. Just like with any large number of people coming together, some will be happy, some will be very happy, some will be a little disappointed, and some will be very disappointed and the odd injury thrown in too. All in all a brilliant event for the ACE team.

HYROX...

The juggernaut just keeps on gathering momentum. The athlete registration experience is better, the warm up area is better, the judging is better, the participation numbers are better, the community spirit and vibes have not been diluted with their enormous growth. Fair play, it really is a brilliant event from start to finish.

MY RACE...

I am one of the fortunate ones who come away from the event very happy with race. I ran a 58:35 which positioned me 9th in the overall standings and 1st in my age group. A good day at the office.

After working Saturday morning, spending the afternoon chasing my daughter around then travelling to the event you could say my prep could have been a little more fine tuned, but that's the way it is. Once in the arena I did all my usual preparation, said my hello's to some of the crew and congratulated them on their performances then it was game time.

My race went well, I have been focussing a lot on the upcoming Valencia marathon so could tell that I have neglected a bit of specific work however with the running volume at a high level my runs were fast and consistent. I had a good battle with some of the other athletes and when I left the lunges I had said to myself pre-race it needed to be around the 51 minute mark, when I checked my watch it was 51:06 so I knew I was on for my target time. I finished with a solid 70/30 split on the wall balls and crossed the line. Happy.

All the attention turns to the marathon now in 5 weeks...let's go!

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

I have a very strong personal affiliation with Thailand, to be more specific - the island of Koh Samui. I spent two incredible years on the island and my daughter was also conceived there. The place means a lot to me. I have seen the island in full economic flow and thriving and then toward the end of my tenure there it was the start of the Covid era so I saw no tourism aloud and locals who were running businesses were all of a sudden out of business. Hotels were closed, cafes, restaurants and other establishments turned their lights out for good, it was a very very sad time. As the world does, it continues to move and tough times don't last but tough people do. I was running my own retreat business in Thailand but from day to day I was working in Koh Fit, one of the leading gyms on the island. The owner is English and we both hold an unbelievable passion for fitness, he has a very strong military background and it's safe to say he is one of the highest people on my list who I have the utmost respect for. His work ethic, determination, ambition and making things happen is unrivalled. I saw him and his business go through some very tough times during Covid but like I said tough people last and now Koh Fit is no longer one of the best gyms on the island, it will be up there with one of the best in the whole country.

MY INITIAL RETURN...

My brother got married in October 2024 in Dubai, as I was in attendance and pretty close to Thailand I flew over to train for 5 days and have a catch up with some old friends. The moment I landed and moved back into the old ways of doing things I remembered why I love the place so much. The sun, the laid back attitude, the friendliness, the welcome, the lifestyle - all just so good. As I was there alone I wondered to myself could I put it out there to the ACE community and entice anyone to come out for a training camp - coinciding with HYROX Bangkok. A thought to ponder, to germinate, to put into action...

MARCH 2026...

As I write this piece you may or may not have noticed that it is in past tense. Time to flip it into present tense. I am currently listening to the pouring rain bounce off my hotel window, by the time I have finished writing it will have stopped and dried up because myself and 12 others from the ACE community are here on the island of Koh Samui preparing for HYROX Bangkok and although early in the morning it's 28 degrees!

What started with a thought, is now a reality. And a few days into our trip and all the old yet amazing feelings about the place are flooding back. We are doing the majority of our training at Koh Fit and the facility is next level. Absolutely everything is catered for; training, recovery, nutrition all exceptional. We are exploring the island, going on excursions, taking some down time on the beach, sipping fresh coconuts and topping up the tan. As the business owner and organiser of the trip my top priority is to ensure all of our guys have the best experience and everything is catered for, nothing is too much trouble.

Training in the heat is intense, my heart rate for a tough session is about 10-15 beats higher at the same effort level. My power output on the bike is around 50 watts less with the same heart rate for a longer zone 2 effort. There will be an adaptation phase, we won't be here long enough for it to occur, so we adjust everything accordingly. Taking in more fluid, more electrolytes, training both smart and hard and recovering well.

I am documenting the trip which will be available to watch on YouTube and having said that I will be putting together a little series of YouTube clips all the way up to HYROX world champs in June if you are interested in following the journey!

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

Ever heard of Altruism? Don't worry I hadn't either until I Googled "doing something that benefits someone else but also makes you feel good" and it came up with altruism. Google also offered a layman's term of "helpers high" which I found a little more relatable! It continued to educate me by explaining the release of hormones contribute towards the feeling of happiness and satisfaction of seeing others succeed with you having assisted in the victory.

A RECENT EXAMPLE...

We have recently welcomed two new comers into the ACE community, two females who have trained on a regular basis for a long time but have never received that coaching that most people need to unlock new levels, to raise the game, to properly progress, to start to believe you are capable.

During Tuesday mornings Metcon class I included box jumps in the session, I always offer an alternative of box step ups as an option. I was intrigued to see what option would be picked by the two females I refer to as I know they both have the ability to perform the jump over the step.

As they approached the box without a thought or any hesitation it was straight into box step ups. That was my cue to offer the coaching tips and advice some people need to unlock the next level...

MINDSET & CONFIDENCE...

I asked the question of why a step up had been chosen over a jump, the response was the same one I hear most of the time regarding this exercise - I'm scared. I can see that both ladies have the potential and ability to perform a jump, they just needed to realise it themselves. A few bits of advice offered, and most of all an injection of self-belief. Boom they both performed a box jump! One of the ladies told me that in all the years that she had been training she had never once performed a box jump and had always reverted to step onto the box when given this exercise. Enter ALTRUISM! I was buzzing for them, this is a great exercise for power and dynamic strength however when performing it for the first time it is definitely more about mindset and instilling confidence that you can do it. Ever walked to the edge of a high diving board and gotten to the edge and then backed up? The box jump is like that, if you don't fully believe and fully commit to the jump then it isn't happening. I received a message later on that day off one of them saying she was proud of herself to have accomplished that task, that is what it is all about. Little wins, little victories, no matter where you are on your journey, no matter your ability level the little wins along the way and improving not only physically but mentally and building the confidence that you are capable, realising what the human body, your human body can do when we channel our thoughts and put things into practice.

I COULDN'T HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT YOU...

As a personal trainer and coach I am happy to say that I have had this phrase spoken to me many times - it means I am doing my job, However I also want to point out here that when I hear this my response is always the same "you could have, just probably wouldn't have". Meaning that the potential is always there, with training, with correct nutrition, with the mindset to succeed then you can do whatever you want to do. It's the negative self talk, the limiting beliefs that prevent people from even taking something on. Starting is what stops most people. And that is what I mean when I say you probably wouldn't have. Most people see others running marathons and think to themselves they could never do that, flip the mindset to "how can I do that?" And allow that mindset to grow, to develop to be your default way of thinking. Your potential is limitless!

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

Another weekend, another HYROX event - this time in Katowice, Poland. In this newsletter I am going to take you through my process of an event, I would like to say my typical process however no event is the same so things change and alter each time. From the day you compete, to the time you start your race, to the travel arrangements, to the country you are racing in. There are lots of moving parts!

SATURDAY MORNING...

The way things worked out for this race meant that I would be leaving the house at 5:20am on Saturday morning to get me to Manchester airport, parked up, through security and ready to board a Ryanair flight for an 8am departure. My race was starting at 18:40 the same day and as we were sat on the runway my Instagram feed showed me that the first waves of HYROX Katowice had already started, it was crazy to think that the event had already began and I wasn't even in the country yet!

I was travelling with a friend who was also competing later on that evening. Upon landing in Krakow (note the event is in Katowice) we had a discussion and instead of navigating our way to the train station and getting the train across we decided to jump in an Uber and go directly to our hotel. We first found a cafe to sit down in and take on some fuel. I always take food with me so I am in control of what I am putting into my body and after this quick pit stop we made our way to the Uber pick up point. The journey was around 60 minutes and we checked in and got into the hotel room around 14:45.

THE PREPARATION BEGINS...

And by this I mean the immediate preparation. My race was 18:40 meaning my last meal would be around 15:00/15:30 and I would want to be in the venue around 17:15 meaning we would have to leave the hotel at 17:00 with it being a short walk away. So there was around 75/90 minutes to spare before having to start to get ready, quick nap I thought/hoped for. If I was successful with a power nap that would mean I need to eat just prior to it as it would be a little close to the race if I ate upon waking up. Fuel goes in, head on the pillow. I can't say I slept but you know that phase where you don 't know if you are asleep or awake, I probably achieved that so at least I relaxed a little.

Leaving at 17:00 means getting things laid out, checking, double checking and triple checking I have everything at 16:00. Music goes on, jump in the shower, prepare my pre-workout drink, take the nitrate shots, get dressed and it's time to go!

THE RACE AND THE AFTERMATH...

Enter the venue, register, head to the course to check the layout, see some familiar faces and final preparation phase begins. And when I say familiar faces - my wave is stacked with world class athletes, the best of the best are here in Katowice, it's going to go off!

I like to be in the warm up zone around 50-60 minutes before I start, I find a bike and sit on there for around 20 minutes whilst sipping the pre-workout. The seriousness levels are creeping up now, the caffeine kicks in, the race strategy is getting played over and over in my head. The testosterone levels in the warm up zone are high. Everyone going through their own personal preparation rituals. Usually in this moment I have tunnel vision, the blinkers are on, talk only if necessary to talk, I forget how to smile. However I have a break in concentration, my mind wanders to the fact I was in Manchester only a few hours ago, I have travelled the same day, have I had enough rest I question myself...

In the start tunnel and I take position at the back of the pack, I am usually in the mix on the start line however this time I am going to start conservatively and build through the race. GO! First run was very controlled, ski-erg was very controlled too, second run also. I hit the sled push and here we go, heart rate jacks, breathing heavy, it's started! After this station each run felt hard, I didn't feel great, I felt I was struggling a tad more than normal. The stations didn't feel too good either (analysing my results afterwards tells a different story) however whilst in it I was never firing on all cylinders. I exit the lunges at around the 50 minute mark, I know if I want to break 60 minutes I am going to need a great wall ball performance. I enter the wall balls and split them into a first set of 70 reps, took a quick break and finished with a set of 30 reps and only being penalised with 2 no reps. I cross the line in a time of 58:41 - absolutely delighted. Considering how I felt.

My friend racing was still on the course so I got to see him in the final stages of his race and cross the line in a fantastic time of 66 minutes. A new PB for him which shows unbelievable progress and is testament to his continued pursuit and dedication to his training.

My result got me 2nd place in my age group and we had a couple of hours to kill before the podium ceremony so found a place to re-fuel, analyse, chat, dissect and go through each of our performances. I absolutely love this part, we both had a great result, we are both flying high on adrenaline, we are sipping on Pepsi, eating Cannoli's and loving life! We make our way to the podium, I gratefully pick up my 25th HYROX career flag which has a very proud number 2 on it. We make our way into the crisp, fresh Polish air and take a slow walk back to the hotel.

It's pushing towards midnight now, sleep isn't even an option yet. Some further dissection of our races whilst waiting for our burger and chips to arrive from the Polish version of Uber Eats. The food arrives at last - burgers on our beds, conversations move from topic to topic, from fun to serious, when eventually at around 3:00am it's lights out - I never sleep well after HYROX, the cocktail of adrenaline, caffeine, post race hype, constant exchanges of messages keeps me awake and disturbed.

6:00am and the day after the night before begins, the flight home isn't until 1:00pm so with time to spare we instead opt for a walk to the train station and stumble our way back to Krakow via two trains. A brief delay means sat on the runway for a short period before take off. Land, get through border control, locate car, drive home, sit down. 5:00pm. What a whirlwind. What a buzz. When's the next one!?

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

I have been training since I was 16, that's 25 years! In that time frame I have moved my priorities yet my training has always included strength work and cardiovascular work as a foundation. If I was just starting out now, or even just starting out regardless of age, I would ensure to include some key principles.

In my early days I was ultra focussed on building as much muscle mass as possible, I loved to lift weights, feel strong and fill out my t-shirts! So I immediately looked at the guys who were at the top of their game in this field and basically followed what they did. Yet this is where potential problems lie. Let's fast forward to today - the big emphasis is functional fitness and training like a hybrid athlete, to be more specific the big boom is HYROX. So what will regular gym-goers do; exactly what I did when I was lifting all those years ago, look at the best people in the world and follow what they do. BIG MISTAKE!

BUILD YOUR PYRAMID...

The girls and guys who are at the top of their game haven't taken any shortcuts to get there. They have years and years banked which is why they are able to perform at such a high levels by pushing their bodies to extreme levels. They have laid a huge base in order to build their personal pyramid. So this is exactly where I would be starting, and by starting here I am also going to vastly improve my chances of staying clear of injury.

Foundational strength work, build muscle tissue and connective tissue strength. It is important to realise what training actually does to your body. It breaks down tissues, when provided with the correct stimulus, which then rebuild to an enhanced state in order to handle the new demands which you place upon them. If you try to place too much demand on the tissue too quickly guess what is going to happen!? Another important factor to realise, you can not build your pyramid base in a few weeks or even a few months, this takes a lot of time. Again I point out the guys at the top of the game, when I say time I mean years and years and years.

In addition to the foundational strength work you should think about training the inside before the outside - what do I mean by this? I mean that everything that you can not see is way more important than everything you can see. The deep lying muscles which support your spine, pelvis and hips. The muscles, tendons and ligaments which will support your running journey. Your heart, lungs and blood vessels. As opposed to thinking you should be working on your shoulder muscles or triceps to try and have sculpted arms. Trust me if you are taking your training seriously, supporting it with a nutrition plan to compliment your long terms ambitions then all the external work will be well looked after as a glorious by product.

THE CARDIOVASCULAR JOURNEY...

I want to get into running - here's a great idea - let's see how far I can run and how fast I can run. Why is this the common thought process and why oh why do people think it is great idea?

If your relatively new to this and/or just starting out. The slow build process absolutely applies to running too. More so than a lot of cardiovascular activity. The reason being is because running is load bearing, it is going to be breaking down the tissues in order for a rebuild to occur. Where as cycling, rowing, swimming are all non-load bearing activities so the body doesn't have to work as hard in the recovery phase to repair the body. So if running is on the radar once again you should be looking to lay the foundations of the pyramid, so what does this involve? A lot of not running! Allow me to make sense of this. Hip strength, mobility and stability - this needs to be built through strength work. Achilles tendon (and other tendons/ligaments) strength to cope with the demand needs to be built and once agin this will be done through strength work. A slow adaptation phase needs to be applied so your muscles can get on board with the process and adapt accordingly, and a slow adaptation phase also needs to be applied for your heart and lungs to cope with the demand. The physiological occurrences need to be respected just as much as the physical aspects of a running journey. Lay the base work, bank the base work, you'll be glad that you did.

LONG TERM THINKING...

Think about why you are starting on the journey, hopefully you are starting on a lifelong one. So therefore what is the rush? Wouldn't you rather have a progressive journey ticking off small wins a long the way, seeing the progress occur? For me this would be the approach I would want and therefore take rather than becoming too over excited from the get go and enforcing a lot of breaks in the journey due to set backs from injury from neglecting the foundational work.

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

I'm sat on the bedroom floor of a house I have just agreed a 6 month rental on which I will be moving in to in the next week or so. I am on the phone to my supplier of all the gym equipment in which I am going through the final details of delivery dates and installation dates for all the kit as I embark on my new venture - ACE Performance. My 1 year old is in the next room with her Mum and starts to cry. The man on the other end of the phone asks me if that is my baby he can hear in the background? I reply yes. His response is to inform me that having a baby and starting a new business are two of the most stressful and life changing things that you can do. He continues, and adds in a jokingly way, that all I have to do now is move house and I will have hit the hat-trick of stressful situations. I sigh and tell him where I am sat.

6 MONTHS LATER...

The business is barely even born. I can't make the commute any more from Liverpool to Warrington every day leaving super early and arriving home late. It's time to move house again and move my family closer to my work. I am closer now which is good however we only have one car between us and my little girl and her mum need it more than I do. I succumb to the fact that I am going to be getting to know the Uber drivers very well overt the next few months!

The first session of the day at the gym is 6am, I usually arrive at 5am to hoover, clean and set up. To get there for 5am that means searching for an Uber driver at 4:30am and hoping that one is available. That means waking up at 4am to shower and get ready. Once I am at the gym I am there until the last session of the day which finishes at 7:30pm. After a little tidy up and convincing myself it's a better idea to hoover and clean up in the morning I search for an Uber and arrive home at 8:30pm. If my little girl is awake I get to see her. I climb into bed and repeat this the next day.

Whilst at the gym all day there are pockets of time where there are no classes running and I don't have PT sessions. I use these pockets to train, eat, catch up on admin, reply to the million messages I receive and due to the exhaustion I lay the stretching mats in a pile to create some sort of mattress and collapse in a heap in an attempt to recharge the ever draining body batteries.

I am determined to make a success of this, I am loving the journey, finding out about how to run a fitness business, learning on the job, growing as a person. All at the same time my mind is becoming more callas, I am developing a siege mentality and I don't know if this is a good or bad thing.

Business relationships are being made, member numbers are increasing, this is very motivating for me and I will always be the most professional fitness coach you will meet. So even if I am exhausted and don't feel like being at the gym no one would ever know, I show up and switch it on when I need to. Although professional relationships are on the up, personal relationships begin to crack - I can see and sense it but I don't know what to do. I am a private person, I don't show emotion so I just do what I know and continue to work hard on building my business, my mindset and my body. These days it's all about sharing, talking through challenges, going to therapy - I agree all of these are good things however there is still part of me which is of the old school way - just get on with it.

3 YEARS LATER...

Things look very different. I have a great team of coaches at the gym, I no longer have to coach every single session. I have more time away from the gym, I get to pick my little girl up from school twice per week. I have the most amazing members who train with us at ACE, who I will never take for granted. I no longer feel like I am wading through mud and am amongst the reeds, I feel like I have somewhat of a birds eye view of the business. I no longer sleep on the floor between sessions.

As a business we are still in the infancy stage, and I am as motivated as ever to keep on providing the very best coaching experience for our members and leading our team of trainers to be nothing but excellent in all aspects. What we do at ACE is different - we help, we educate, we improve technique, we coach. Having more time to focus on the development of our entire team inclusive of coaches and members is very important to me. I want people to receive extreme value when they are in the building and also to take that away with them and apply it to other aspects of their life.

I share a tiny snippet of the journey so far, there is still way more to come. More ups, more downs.

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

It's way easier said than done. I mean way easier. However it really doesn't matter what others think and the only opinion that counts towards your self-esteem is yours. As long as their is no malice, no harm, no purposeful drama then you and your actions, beliefs and opinions can sleep soundly at night.

I raced HYROX Mumbai last year, little did I know I was being followed around the course by a videographer who later published a video about my performance. It was all very positive and I didn't mind at all. Fast forward to today and the video has had 2.8 million views, 94,700 likes, 303 comments and 22,500 shares. I still get notified of all the comments, and when something blows up as much as this video has you can guarantee a lot of the comments will be negative with little digs being thrown.

I glance at the comment when I get notified of one, I don't dissect it, view the persons profile and all that as I really don't care what people are saying. And the thing is the negative ones come from the people who are no where near my standard, everyone who is on my level and above right the good things, everyone who is below my lev el write the bad things - interesting isn't it?

The latest one I saw said "dude flew all the way to India just to get a podium". Lol. My split second thought was to respond and say "yes flew to all the way to Chicago to claim the World Championship too". My thought immediately after that one was "who gives a f**k" and I just cracked on with no emotion attached to it. I won't look back at it, I will let it go, let it slide. It's his opinion, and it's none of my business what he thinks. I honestly don't really care. The only reason I am sharing this is to highlight the fact that others will choose to think what they think about your actions, not knowing the circumstances, not knowing the reasoning behind them. And that is absolutely fine.

YOURS & YOURS ONLY...

The only persons opinion of you that matters is your own. You know when you are being truthful, you know when your intentions are innocent and when it feels right. Similarly you also know when there is a little hidden agenda too, you also probably have some skeletons in your closet - but guess what, that is life. And the more experienced you become at life the more you may collect and the more you learn how to deal with these things.

The man or woman looking back at you in the mirror. That's what counts. Are you happy with the reflection, is that a true reflection?

DO IT FOR YOU...

Keeping in the best possible shape you can, eating the very best nutrition you can and staying fit and healthy can and will only be done for yourself. No one else. There will be little snippets of motivations driving you forwards, for example wanting to be there for your children, however if you don't have and posses that inner want to succeed you aren't going to do it for anyone else. You have to find it, channel it, allow it to become habitual and part of your life. And then when it is so engrained if anyone else try's to wobble you, try's to sabotage you (and yes this happens!) then you can be big and strong enough to say no this is my way, this is how I am doing things, so either get on board or get off the train!

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

If you read my newsletter last week you'll know that me and my doubles partner were attempting the world record for the 40-44 age group open category at HYROX Manchester. If you follow me on social media the likelihood is you'll know what happened, if you don't then here's how it unfolded...

The race started fast, we blew everyone in our wave out of the water. The wave win was captured before we hit the ski-erg. I knew if we wanted to run this record close that we had to be out of the burpees before 25 minutes. On exiting the burpees I glanced at my watch and it read 24 minutes, it's on. We raced hard and well, we came into the lunges on track and then I made a costly mistake. I broke one of the rules and the judge asked for my race number so she could apply the penalty to our time, I pleaded with her but to be fair she was doing her job and enforcing the rules, which I completely understand and agree with. I asked her how much time the penalty time was expecting an answer of 15/30 seconds - her response "2 minutes". The world record attempt was over, I had cost me and my partner. I didn't tell him in the moment, instead I channelled my disappointment and finished the race like a champion - we crossed the line in 51:56 which was 36 seconds quicker than the current record. It was at that moment I grabbed my partner and broke the bad news. We had done it. Yet we hadn't. The 2 minute penalty was added to our time giving us an official time of 53:56 and to add salt into the wound this wouldn't even be enough for first place on the day either, we had to settle for second place.

THIS IS SPORT...

The more you play, the more chance you have at poor results, probability goes up. This was my 26th race and it is safe to say I have learnt something from every single one of them. This one cost me a world record yet it was the easiest lesson of them all to learn as it wasn't performance based, it was a momentary lapse in concentration, and in this game you can not switch off for a second. Lesson learnt, it won't happen again.

I have a fair bit of experience in HYROX now, I am the reigning world champion for my age group, I have ran the fastest ever British time for a pro solo race for my age group and I have just unofficially broken the world record for my age group in the open doubles division. And do I let a race define my mood? For a few minutes, maybe half an hour, but after that I am back to a level playing field. Poor results, yes I have had them but I am fine soon after. Good results, yes I have had them but I am level headed soon after. I do this for the love of competing, for the love of living like a true athlete and for the love of being able to push myself to the limits. And just as important to me is seeing my friends, clients and colleagues push themselves too. That's why I was dancing around the convention centre all week, seeing people race, it's a true pleasure.

I also raced in the mixed doubles on Saturday in which we placed 1st in our age group, this was my first time racing a mixed doubles and it was so much fun. We also punched our ticket to the world championships in Sweden in June so I will be there racing twice - solo and mixed doubles!

RECOVER & GO AGAIN...

Just as much as I learn from each race, I am always learning when it comes to post race and recovery. It is something that you can not rush back, everyone is different but I know that for me it takes a good 5/6 days to feel any where near normal again. I have tried to fight it in the past but I know if I ride it out I will feel much better for it in the long run. This comes down to nutritional choices too, obviously it's optimal to eat clean all of the time, however if I am going to have a few treats I find that it is in the recovery phase when it serves me best, then when my training clicks back in to gear and my nutrition is back on point I can double down and start the preparation for the next event - which in this case is Katowice in just over 3 weeks time!

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

It's become a ritual, an annual occasion. When HYROX comes to Manchester at the end of January then we line up and we compete. I say we as I made my HYROX debut here in 2022, a crazy experience as I had no idea what was going on. A year later I was back, this time with one other person who has become part of the fabric of the ACE community. Fast forward 3 years and we now have over 50 athletes representing ACE and it's been this way for the past couple of years now. It really does grab a hold of you, and sometimes it chews you up and spits you out. Other times you're in control and things go to plan - very soon I'll find out which of these outcomes are realised.

A BIT DIFFERENT THIS TIME...

I'm very structured with my training and racing, I certainly believe that you can not rush the process of becoming fitter, stronger, more efficient and an improved athlete. Too many people have unrealistic expectations of themselves with relatively little work they have put in. So for this years rendition of Manchester HYROX I will be competing in the mens open doubles and the mixed doubles - with a days rest in between.

I had planned on completing the Valencia Marathon in December therefore my training leading up to that race was all running based. Very very little HYROX specific work, this coupled with the planned fatigue of completing a marathon then I would have been no where near ready for a mens pro singles this weekend. As it happens the marathon didn't go to plan but due to my current level in December and not wanting to rush anything back I wanted to move forward the the races I had planned. Plus the fact I haven't raced an open doubles in years and never raced a mixed doubles so two great opportunities to have a lot of fun!

WORLD RECORD ATTEMPT...

My mens open doubles partner is an extremely talented runner. He is rapid! He is also my age category so therefore we will be competing in the mens open doubles age group 40-44. As I am lead to believe the world record currently stands at 52:32 for this division.

My doubles time in the pro division with another very talented athlete at the World Championships last year was 52:08. Therefore I believe that when I race today we have a genuine chance at breaking the current world record.

By the time you are reading this email I will already know the outcome, and the likelihood is, so will you.

SPECTATING & SUPPORTING...

The HYROX community is bouncing. It is buzzing. I was in the venue on Wednesday night to watch some of our guys from ACE and to also watch some of the very fast athletes out on the course do their thing. The support is fantastic, everyone is in a great mood, more often than not the music is pumping and the vibes are amazing. It really has shifted so many peoples thoughts and feelings about what can be achieved, what fitness looks like, what training can look like.

I can't wait to race! It's go time!

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

I have this innate feeling of belief in people. I can see their potential, most of the time, way before they can. My role is to help them realise it, unlock it, nurture it. A prime example; we recently ran a HYROX simulation at the gym, one of our members delayed signing up to it despite the fact they have their very first upcoming race. They needed a little push, a little encouragement and a little dose of self-belief, they needed to commit. I could see and sense the nervousness upon their arrival at the gym, all completely normal. Off they went and once they had crossed the finish line (after completely crushing it) I could see and sense their immense pride in doing what they had just done. A huge confidence booster and a huge win for them. They had realised some of that potential that I can see in them, the great thing is that there is way more to come!

THOUGHTS BECOME WORDS ...

It all begins with the thoughts you have, it all starts in your own head, the conversations you have with yourself. If these are negative, if these tell you that you are incapable of doing something then they will translate into the words you speak so when you eventually voice your thoughts to your peers, friends, family members they will be that of a negative nature. That's why your inner voice, your inner dialogue, has to be worked on and has to be trained to think of the positives instead of the negatives as your thoughts will become your words.

WORDS BECOME ACTIONS...

Or inactions. Once upon a time when I had my very first PT studio I started to build a community of like minded people and after a month or two of welcoming a new member to the group they said to me that one of the reasons they enjoyed being part of the community is that "you do what you say you are going to do". We have all been in that situation where a group of friends are discussing going away for the weekend, or planning a day out somewhere and then nothing happens, nothing gets organised and nothing gets done. Be the difference maker, make it happen, follow through with what you say you are going to do.

ACTIONS BECOME HABITS...

And whatever actions you start ensure that they are of a positive nature that will benefit you, and even better, others too. If you start actioning getting up 30 minutes earlier in the morning and going for a walk or stretching then after a patch of time this will be a habit. If you go into the supermarket and your go to aisle is the confectionary aisle then you will have to fight to break this habit and force yourself into the fruit aisle, but after a while of actioning this it will too become habitual and you'll be walking out eating a pear rather than Aldi's own brand chocolate bar (or whatever you go to chocolate is!)

HABITS BECOME CHARACTER...

A habit practiced enough times becomes automatic, the other options are no longer options as you have engrained it that much into your psyche that this is now who you are. Once again you must make sure this stage is benefitting you, it's positively affecting you, and once again hopefully positively affecting others. Your gym routine, your running routine, your nutrition is now auto-pilot and you can't even picture life without them in place. Your characteristics, your traits shape who you are.

CHARACTER BECOMES DESTINY...

Everything is now in place and channelled in such a way that if you continue on the same path, the same evolutional journey, then your destiny looks extremely bright, extremely happy. You are fit and will continue to get fitter, you are strong and you will continue to get stronger, you are healthy and will continue to get healthier, you are confident and your confidence will continue to grow. Remember how you got here, it started with the thoughts, in order to continue to develop on the right road you must still control these thoughts, learn from the negative ones, flip the negative ones, grow your self-belief, grow your confidence consciously.

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

The comeback from an injury can be very frustrating. You can't do what you want to be doing in the gym, you feel like your losing fitness and you feel like you're in regress mode rather than progress mode. The same can be said when coming back from a very stressful event such as an Ironman or Marathon. Or so you are lead to believe - it doesn't have to be frustrating at all.

MINDSET...

It's all about mindset and this will only improve with experience, you have to go through the frustration, you have to push yourself too early, you have to risk the injury flaring up again (or in fact re-injuring yourself) to gain the experience and to improve your mindset about the comeback.

I refer to my recent injury/lay off/rebuild after the Valencia Marathon experience. Quick recap; I injured my foot a week out from the race, my preparation in terms of mobility, strength and nutrition had been mediocre at best, I lined up for the race but pulled out at 7km. So what happened next...?

From December 8th to December 15th I did absolutely nothing in terms of training and absolutely everything in terms of eating. I completely switched off and made sure I was mentally at peace with this decision. December 16th to January 6th I trained every day, 21 days straight. Now this seems to go against what I said earlier and seems I was trying to rush back. Instead I was very very cautious for the first week, I did lots of easy bike work, I re-introduced the row and ski after nearly 4 weeks of no use of them, I lay on the floor and stretched, I worked with resistance bands, I performed basic strength movement patterns and the most important thing; I made a decision with my food intake to screw the nut, knuckle down and get back on it. In a nutshell I made a choice, a decision to lay some foundational work and NOT rush back.

MY FIRST RUNS...

Bringing the running back into the program, I had to ensure I started cautiously and my first run back was on Christmas Day which was a 12km very slow and steady effort. I ran with a couple of friends and it felt great. Someone in my situation, making their comeback could have gotten giddy and gone out again on boxing day or the 27th and immediately started picking up the pace, experience has taught me this can not happen, my next run was New Years Eve - so another 6 days later in which I had kept up the strength and rehab work - which did involve more intensity, but nowhere near up to the levels I am capable of, more about thorough warm ups, consistent pacing and relatively working to a level that my body can handle at that moment. I have no right to think I can bounce straight back in to where I was 2 months previous, it doesn't work like that.

MOVING FORWARDS...

This week will be the first week I am following my same structured routine, with 3 or 4 runs per week and following the easy day/hard day protocol. I have enjoyed the mid-season lay off, exploring new exercises, new training sessions, not putting any pressure on myself, working on different elements which would usually be down the pecking order that have moved up the priority list. Excited for what's to come for 2026 and excited to keep learning about myself. Use a lay off or injury as an opportunity.

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

Friday the 2nd of January 2026 - a brand new start to a brand new year. Who will you meet? Who will you forget? Who will add value? Who will you out grow? Who is there for the journey and who's journey are you influencing?

IT'S YOUR DESTINATION...

Stay true to it. What feels right? What does your intuition say? What is your gut telling you? When the gut talks it often talks loud, it's a combination of hormones and emotions which is sometimes hard to describe - you just know it's there. Cortisol spikes, serotonin release, a dopamine surge. All of these are talking to you, sometimes good, sometimes bad. It can be very challenging and hard to feel settled. The same can be said if you are on the right path, if the right people are in your life. If it feels right it often is, if it feels wrong it often is. Your job, your career, your friends, your relationships all can have an effect and and impact on your decision making. Do ensure however they are not altering your destination station, they may jump on and off the train to teach you lessons however your platform awaits for you to disembark when the time is right.

YOUR LIFE IS THE JOURNEY...

Do you believe that people are put in front of you for a reason? Do you believe people exit your life for a reason? To use the train journey analogy - you are sat in your seat in your carriage, your train arrives at a station and passengers jump on, you connect with some but not all, the train stops at the next station, some who you liked get off - what did they teach you? What did you learn? Some you didn't like also get off, what did they teach you? The journey continues. Some will stay for a long time, others will stay for a short while, the ones who are there for the shortest time may be the ones who add the most value. The ones that are there for the longest time, are they comforting? Familiar? Annoying? Eventually everyone gets off.

MAKE IT COUNT..!

So with all that how is 2026 shaping up for you, have you got the right people in your life to succeed to excel.

It's often a time when people begin their health kick or start their diet or gym membership. If you are new to the journey, welcome aboard and please allow for some patience, some habitual changes to take a while to stick and for some short term discomfort for a guaranteed long term feeling of fulfilment. If you are already on your journey, lets make it is comfortable as possible for the new passengers jumping on - welcome aboard your 2026 train.

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

2025 moves ever closer to its final days - a great time for reflection, a gathering of your thoughts and emotions about the different situations, experiences and challenges you had this year, planning how you can approach 2026 and then BANG when January is here it's time to execute!

REFLECTION...

A tradition of mine at Christmas is to read and watch The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse, I like the book and slightly prefer the animation even more. It's a short story about life, lessons, adventure and attitude. During an initial conversation between the mole and the boy the mole says "most of the old moles I know wish they had listened less to their fears and more to their dreams". I like this. I like this because, my interpretation of it is, that too many of us are restricted by our own thoughts and preservations, our fear of failure, our fear of rejection, our fear of being different. When, in reality, if you take that chance, take that (calculated) risk, accept things might not go your way, celebrate your own uniqueness and most importantly be true to who you are then at the very least you can be happy knowing you are aligned with your values and that no on else is making the moves for you. So on reflection of 2025 have you lead the way you want to lead? And what can you do in 2026 to ensure you are in the driving seat?

GATHER YOUR THOUGHTS...

What have you learnt? What have you liked? What have you disliked? Who has added value? Have your non-negotiables changed? One of my oldest mentors (not hat I have ever met him!) is Jim Rohn and a great bit of advice I learnt from him is that sometimes you need to stay in touch, but out of reach. Meaning that as you evolve, grow, mature that not everyone is going to be on your journey with you. Some people will be on a different journey - no better, no worse, just different. It doesn't mean you don't have to speak to them anymore, it's just they don't share your morales and what matters to you doesn't necessarily matter to them - and vice versa. So therefore you keep contact, you check in from time to time but the physical time spent together becomes less and less, you like them however there is a fork in the tracks ahead.

PLAN...

Making a plan of action, setting goals and targets and doing things with purpose instead of going with the flow like a piece of drift wood floating down stream. How will 2026 be different, what choices will you make, how can you feel more morally aligned with who you are? Listening to that inner voice is usually the best call. It's great to set goals however you must also set the plan of action to get there. And guess what, it is very rare that you won't encounter a bump in the road and things will run smoothly the whole time. Grow from the challenges, evolve from the lessons.

EXECUTE...

And now it's time to execute! It doesn't have to be on January 1st, it doesn't have to be a new years resolution, but you do need to take action. Goals won't be met unless you get up and get out the door, sitting on your ass hoping things will change will not make change occur. Action is needed. Do you want the things you say you do enough that you are willing to make the changes to see them become reality? The people doing the things that inspire you, that you would like to be accomplishing, are you willing to to do what they do in order to achieve what they are achieving? To use an athletic goal analogy - you say you want to run a marathon? You've got to do the training...

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

6 days until Christmas day, and as we are all lead to believe Christmas is the best time of the year. When families come together, filed with joy, filled with laughter, giving and receiving lots of presents, over indulging in glorious food and drinks. I think it's important to see the situation from both sides and be ok with people who maybe have a different outlook or opinion about Christmas. You have Christmas your way, allow others to do Christmas their way. No judgement, no labels.

I ELABORATE FURTHER...

I know lots of people, many of whom are in my close circle, who won't put up a Christmas tree, who won't have a Christmas dinner, who won't give or receive any gifts. And they all have their own reasons, I write not speaking about anyones direct situation but blanketing many reasons for why people do Christmas like this.

Losing someone who is close to you around this period and seeing everyone else have the "perfect" Christmas can bring back memories that are hard to face. Financial worries or struggles can lead to things having to be prioritised which does not include spending hundreds of pounds on a Christmas tree, decorations and over priced Turkeys. Seeing Facebook and Instagram posts with families in their matching pyjamas, setting up the elf on a shelf, with the introduction of Christmas Eve boxes can be very triggering and put the pressure onto families to keep up with what looks like becoming the social norm.

Personally I completely understand all of this and respect everyones approach to Christmas no matter how much or how little they celebrate it. Each to their own.

DON'T UNDO THE GAINS...

You may have done this before, when you have trained well for the last 3, 6, 9, 12 months then Christmas comes and you forget how to tie your running shoes, you forget how to pedal a bike or you forget how to cook a healthy meal. If you have been there and done it and felt crap in January before then are you going to repeat the same behaviours again?

It's nice to have a little indulgence, to enjoy some of the "sometimes" foods that are on the shelves around this time of the year and don't worry too much about gaining a few extra lbs. But there's no need to go crazy, put on a stone, totally forget about what made you feel so good in the first place. Allow your healthy habits to stay in tact with just a little bend in the rules for a week or two. If you want you can take the pressure off your usual targets, training program and structure and just move for the love of moving your body. However you want to do it. If you completely fall off the wagon it's much harder to get back on, but you already know this.

However you approach the next week or so then do it with joy, understanding and empathy. Your way is your way, my way is my way, their way is their way.

Merry Christmas!

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

It doesn't happen often but it's a tough pill to swallow when it does. The Valencia marathon did not go to plan and although a negative experience for me in terms of the race itself I have to focus on the positives and look at what I can take from the whole experience.

INJURED AND ILL PREPARED...

If you read my newsletters you'll know that on my training run the week before the marathon I had to cut it short with what was diagnosed as a stress response to my heel bone. I did as the physio advised and rested it all week until race day where I would put it to the test. A 5km shake out run the day before left me confident it would be ok although it didn't feel 100%. My warm up was good, and I took to the start line, as soon as I put any real pressure and pace through my body things just did not feel right. My lower back was seizing up from the first 500m onwards, my heart rate was pushing relatively high for being so early in the race and my foot just did not feel right. At the 7km mark I slowed my pace down and dropped out of the marathon jogging the same route back to the start line. It was a tough, but the right, decision.

I have to be brutally honest with myself, I just didn't prepare the way someone wanting to run a 2:45 marathon should prepare. I wasn't good enough on that front. If you want to operate at the level I want to operate at that no stone can go unturned and truth be told I left some stones alone. No excuses, only facts - I have had to navigate a massive overhaul with my business, migrating over 100 people onto a new system was always going to have a few little mishaps. At the same time I had to squeeze 25 hours of manual labour into a 3 day period in order to totally refurbish the gym, alongside moving house and supporting a family then something had to give. And it did. My nutrition and recovery work took a massive nose dive, my training was still good, I was happy with how that went but again to hit my targets I can't afford to be taking shortcuts and this is where I failed. Poor nutrition affects my sleep which affects my energy which affects my training which affects my mindset. It's a tough sloping spiral to get off once the wheels are in motion. If I had stuck to every single thing the way I wanted to would I have still picked up the injury? My self cynical self will say no however I will never know the answer to that question. All I can do is learn...

WHAT I DID, WHAT I LEARNED...

Once I had picked up my bag from the bag drop area I made my way to the start of the finishing chute in time to watch the elites come firing past. I was in awe of these men (to begin with) and women. The grit and determination on their face as they fought for every second as they powered towards the finish line. The pace, the power, the strength was a very impressive display. It made me feel happy for them whilst rubbing it in further how poorly I had prepared for this race. I must learn the lessons.

From there I made my way to some of my team mates on the course, I caught them at 16km, 25km and then with 400m to go. I was so impressed with how they looked, they absolutely crushed it and I am happy to report one of them hit a 4 minute PB whilst the other hit a huge 42 minute PB. Delighted! I have been on every step of the journey with these guys so I took huge pride in witnessing their victories, it makes me proud to be part of their journey.

I have learnt that I can't spin as many plates if I want to strive for relatively high success. I am not a professional athlete, I have to make a living, I have a business to run, I have other commitments that are also of such high priority. In hind sight I could have postponed the business overhaul and gym refurbishment until the new year, this would have certainly given me unwavering focus and more time to dedicate towards each aspect of my preparation for the marathon IE recovery protocols and not feeling those emotional pangs to head for the snack cupboard when feeling stressed or under pressure. I have to own this and take responsibility, next time I'll know what to do, what doesn't need doing at the same time and what needs to be done to succeed.

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

It's here. It's time. 21 weeks of focussed dedication and training. And I might not be able to run!

A LITTLE NIGGLE...

On my final long training run (relatively to the marathon it's not actually that long) I was 8km in and I felt a sensation in my heel. I gave it 30 seconds to see if it was a temporary blip and to see if it would subside, turns out it got slightly worse. I slowed the pace down to see if it was something to do with the speed I was running, it wasn't as I could still feel it. I stopped and began to walk. My initial thoughts were how do I get back to the gym in time to take the morning class, seconds later the realisation that I might not be able to line up on the start line for the Valencia Marathon hit me. I was close to a McDonalds so I made my way inside and asked a staff member to call me a cab and I was back at the gym well in time to prepare for the session at least.

WHAT TO DO..?

I had the session to coach, from there I was taking my daughter swimming so for the next few hours at least I had to forget about me as an athlete. I had to be me as a professional coach and the best Daddy I can be, I would worry about the injury later. Later eventually arrived and the good thing was that I couldn't feel anything whilst walking, I scheduled massages, physio appointments, tweekd my final weeks prep and training and would hope for the best.

With all of my athletes who I coach and program for I always say to focus on what you can do as opposed to what you can't do. When injuries and niggles occur use it as an opportunity to work on other areas of your game which need improving, look at the positives. I needed to also adopt this mindset however having had a very good training camp and to feel this just 7 days before the race is a slightly different situation as I can't focus on anything else as all the work has been done. What I can do though is remain positive, do everything in my capability to prepare and give myself the best chance of running on Sunday.

THE PLAN FOR VALENCIA...

After seeing the physio it seems I have a stress response on the heel bone. If you have ever had shin splints before it's the same kind of injury as that where potentially a stress response can advance into a stress fracture. This is not where I will even flirt with going so what do I do with the race looming...

I have not ran since Sunday, my next run will be with my team mates on Saturday morning - a very light 30 minute shake out run. I am very hopeful I don't feel anything in my heel, if I feel anything at all I won't line up on the start line on Sunday. If I don't feel anything during the shake out run I will line up for the race on Sunday and I will start the race however if I feel anything during the race I will stop and pull out; for two reasons.

The first reason is I certainly don't want this niggle to turn into anything worse, I don't want a stress fracture which will potentially put me out for a sustained period. The second reason is that I am solely focussed on achieving my goal time for this race, on this occasion for me it's not about the completion it's about achieving the objective which is running the marathon in 2 hours 45 minutes or less. If I feel anything which forces my pace to slow slightly I simply won't achieve the goal so therefore there is no point pushing through anything just to get to the finish line. If I don't feel anything until around the 32km mark and I am on target to hit the time, I will have a huge decision to make!

Regardless of what happens to me this weekend I am going to enjoy the experience and support my team mates as they embark on the marathon adventure. The training has been done, it's time for the victory lap!

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

With life going on around us it's not always the easiest to get everything done that we would like. We aren't professional athletes, our days and lives can't always revolve around trining and all the protocols which count towards peak performance. Achieving a framework that works for you, one that you are happy with, one which allows for you to still run the house, pick up the kids and walk the dogs (let alone working a full time job) is key to your success.

IGNORE THE GRAM...

Instagram is a great place for inspiration, to see the people hard at work who you look up to and sometimes to take ideas from. However when "busy" people try to follow the same type of training routine that some of the pro athletes on Instagram follow then it's a potential disaster waiting to happen. What you don't see, or certainly don't account for when seeing the highlight reels of peoples daily routines, is the interrupted sleep due to new born babies or poorly kids keeping you up in the night, the rigidity of the workout routines, the time it takes to prepare for training and actually get the training done. And what this can do is make you feel like you are failing when you can't tick off every part of the routine. Apply to your life what you can achieve, focus on the things you can get done, focus on what is under your control and follow a routine which will both generate results and be adhered to.

AUTOMATIC NUTRITION...

With your life being busy why add to the stress and worry about nutrition. What enters your mouth will have a huge impact on how you do everything else. I can not emphasise enough just how important nutrition is. Not only influencing your physical gains, but for mental clarity too. You know it, I know it that when we eat well we feel good, so don't choose the contrary, make nutrition an easy win and allow it to positively influence the busy lifestyle. Make this the solution instead of part of the problem. Create "default meals", still tasty but easy to get done. Prepare when you can, don't have a treat cupboard, have a cupboard of snacks which compliment your nutritional habits. With nutrition many people think it will all fall into place, this is wrong, it requires effort, so make the effort initially and set routines that work which become automatic.

PLAN AND EXECUTE...

Communicate with the family, your partner, your support network and create the framework that you can stick to. If this means you do the school run one day whilst your friend or colleague or sister gets their stuff done and they can reciprocate so you can get your stuff done then that's a great plan. Plan when you can train, and let's say something out of the ordinary occurs instead of the 90 minute run you had in your schedule go get 45 minutes done instead - this is still a win.

You don't need the perfect plan. You need a liveable one. This is how busy people - workers, parents, everyday humans get and stay fit and generate their desired results.

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

We are in an era where everyone wants things done fast! Instant results, instant gratification, no process just the desired outcome. Google, You Tube, Chat GPT is making this possible in a lot of circumstances. One thing which won't come quick though is athletic success, and for this I am glad about. I am glad we have to work for our success, I am glad that there is no shortcut on this topic, I am glad that it takes months and months years and years to achieve the desired progress. The problem isn't the process, the problem is the education people need to realise this and the sooner you realise just how much is needed the sooner you can enjoy the journey, the ups and the downs. Oh and by the way there are no failures, only learning cues.

PHYSICAL & MENTAL...

Patience, if you can apply it, is developing your mental strength, your mental fortitude. Your training and your nutrition are preparing you physically, however every champion has the added ingredient of unbelievable mental strength. You won't find a champion who lacks this. So therefore by knowing and realising that patience is required is working on your mentality, and this is where the progress happens, with mental toughness. Patience is the willingness to embrace the process.

ADAPTATION TAKES TIME...

Muscular strength, muscular endurance, neural efficiency improve with consistent progressive overload. This means applying the correct forces, the correct pressures, the correct stimulus on the body at the correct time of your journey. And then allow for the recovery process to do its thing by building the body up, making sure the adaptations occur and avoiding burnout. By rushing the process, training through pain, ignoring the signs and symptoms you will only become ill or injured - Rome wasn't built in a day and we have to lay the foundations upon which progress is going to be built.

TRUST IT - ENJOY IT...

With a strong mental attitude towards your training, knowing that patience is key will help you to manage your emotions and deal with setbacks on your athletic journey. It is almost inevitable that injuries will occur, did you think you would never become injured? And when it happens, by trusting the process and having a strong mentality will allow you to focus on what you can do and not what you can not do during that time. You can see this time as a chance to focus on other areas of your training, potentially areas that sometimes get neglected. It is all part of the long term journey. And by trusting and enjoying the process allows you to stay present and enjoy your training instead of becoming fixated on the outcome. One session, one day at a time.

And then when it comes to competition, when it comes to the point of putting all of your training into practice things might still not turn out how you wanted them to. Do you think you can perform to your very best every time? Ask any champion if they have achieved that! What they do is learn and use it to their advantage, so should you.

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

Last week it was all about the build up to the race, this week it's all about post race reflection and post event reflection. Post event reflection because we had near 50 ACE representatives who took to the dance floor, a fantastic representation of our amazing community of athletes. All different shapes, sizes, experience and ability levels, all pushing themselves. Just like with any large number of people coming together, some will be happy, some will be very happy, some will be a little disappointed, and some will be very disappointed and the odd injury thrown in too. All in all a brilliant event for the ACE team.

HYROX...

The juggernaut just keeps on gathering momentum. The athlete registration experience is better, the warm up area is better, the judging is better, the participation numbers are better, the community spirit and vibes have not been diluted with their enormous growth. Fair play, it really is a brilliant event from start to finish.

MY RACE...

I am one of the fortunate ones who come away from the event very happy with race. I ran a 58:35 which positioned me 9th in the overall standings and 1st in my age group. A good day at the office.

After working Saturday morning, spending the afternoon chasing my daughter around then travelling to the event you could say my prep could have been a little more fine tuned, but that's the way it is. Once in the arena I did all my usual preparation, said my hello's to some of the crew and congratulated them on their performances then it was game time.

My race went well, I have been focussing a lot on the upcoming Valencia marathon so could tell that I have neglected a bit of specific work however with the running volume at a high level my runs were fast and consistent. I had a good battle with some of the other athletes and when I left the lunges I had said to myself pre-race it needed to be around the 51 minute mark, when I checked my watch it was 51:06 so I knew I was on for my target time. I finished with a solid 70/30 split on the wall balls and crossed the line. Happy.

All the attention turns to the marathon now in 5 weeks...let's go!

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

If you want something, if you want a better looking physique, a better performing body, to be stronger, to be fitter then there is no short cut. It takes time, persistence, hard work, eating correctly, training when you could be drinking beer, running in the rain, feeling the burn, going all in.

Now this shouldn't be confused with someone who is happy to not put on a lot of fat, lift some weights as it makes them feel good, eat well most of the time and still burn the candle at both ends so to speak. All of this is absolutely great if you realise your results reflect your effort and commitment level. If you are happy then that is the most important thing.

I am talking about those who want more...

TO REALLY IMPROVE...

Then it takes living the life to the best of your ability. Living the life of an aspiring athlete who's sole purpose is athletic improvement and performance. I say to the best of your ability because most of us have full time jobs, lots of us have kids, a few of us have a social life (lol) and everyone single one of us occasionally has "one of those days".

So to go all in on this, to really push the envelope and commit 100% to athletic performance improvements is very very challenging, both mentally and of course physically when a lot of our time is taken up by energy zapping tasks and commitments.

IF YOU'RE NOT WILLING TO COMMIT...

Then don't be upset by the results you achieve, as they might fall way short of your hopes but in reality is your expectation level too high compared to the commitment level you are willing to show. To achieve real top end improvements in athletic performance, including hybrid fitness racing, running, triathlon etc then it is going to take over 10 hours per week of dedicated training time. Full time, professional athletes competing at the top end of Ironman triathlon are nearer to 30 hours per week. This is a lifestyle commitment and all the other factors play a part too - are you looking after your nutrition? Your sleep? Your recovery protocols? Are you eating crap and drinking beer or wine on the regular? Do you stay up late on the weekends because there's no work the next day? When was the last time you received a massage, took a stretch class, spent time in the sauna? All of these things add up and are necessary for the improvements to happen.

If you are still hungry for improvement after reading this then that is superb, you are ready to go all in. If you think it's too much and you are happy to still see results in terms of body composition improvements and slight performance improvements then that is superb too. As long as you are happy with your commitment level to health and fitness and as long as your perception of potential results matches your commitment level then happy days. Win win all round. But don't be upset by the results you don't achieve due to the work you didn't do - that just makes no sense.

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

Simply put; getting in shape and then staying in shape requires you to push heavy objects to produce resistance (this also includes your body weight). It requires you to get mildly out of breath by taking stairs, swimming, walking up hill, cycling. It requires you to sometimes partake in vigorous activity like sprinting, boxing, circuit training. And it requires you to fuel your body correctly. Nail these 4 points and you'll be in shape for life. Reject these points and you'll be out of shape for life. It really is that simple!

HOW COME MOST PEOPLE ARE IN SHIT STATE THEN..?

Because although the process is simple, it is not necessarily easy. It is easier not to push heavy things, it is easier to take the escalator or crab a taxi, it is easier to sit on the coach, it is easier to grab junk food. However with a shift in mindset, a shift in attitude, a shift in actions those who are not in good shape can be. It's a simple decision, one that lies in the palm of your hands and one that you have complete control over. Make the right one!

If you don't push heavy things your muscles move into a state of atrophy which is literally the muscle tissue breaking down. If you don't move around and get out of breath you won't burn a lot of calories and you won't instruct your heart and lungs to be fit and strong. If you don't eat healthy and nutritious foods you won't serve your body with the vitamins and minerals it requires and you'll be much more likely to over consume in calories which will result in fat gain.

Choose the simple path, and make the not so easy choices your non-negotiables which will become that little bit easier every time you do it until it becomes your lifestyle and being fit, healthy and strong is just the way it is for you.

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

I am 10 weeks out from the Valencia Marathon and it's time to dial in and leave no stone unturned. Why? Because the goal is to run it in 2 hours 45 minutes. This is a test...

I will be required to hold an average pace of 3:54/km and like with any marathon I have ever ran (all 14 of them) the last 8/9km is going to hurt and I will have to dig in to ensure I reach my goal. My training is in a good place, I believe I am in a strong position to execute this, but time to really lock in and do everything to ensure I achieve this.

HOW WILL I PREP..?

Like I spoke about last week a lot of my training will be in zone 2. Building my aerobic base, building my endurance, building the leg strength to keep going for this amount of time.

As of this week I have increased my running volume to 4 times per week.

Run 1 - Interval work

Run 2 - Tempo effort

Run 3 - Recovery run (very slowly)

Run 4 - Zone 2 run

Not only will the amount of times I run increase but so will the amount of hours running and the amount of distance covered. At the start of the training program as we begin to build then the interval work may consist of 1km efforts and the tempo run could be 20 minutes. However now the interval work will increase to 3km or even 5km intervals with the tempo effort up to 40 minutes. This is also alongside the fact that the zone 2 run is now pushing up to the 3 hour mark and the added recovery run (60 mins performed very slowly) is also adding that volume.

WHAT ELSE IS KEY..?

Nutrition of course! This is so important when prepping for a marathon, I also want to reduce my weight by around 4kg over the next 10 weeks to improve my running economy and so I don't have as much tissue to feed oxygen to during the race. Therefore I will be adhering to a slight calorie restriction for the next 7 weeks or so to ensure I am losing weight cautiously and correctly. The most important factor here though is ensuring I always have enough nutrients to fuel my sessions, fuel my day and properly recover. I would never compromise those important factors to drop weight.

Not only this but nutrition to prep for long runs and during long runs. I will be using the SIS BETA gels throughout, these contain 40g of carbohydrates per gel meaning I will consume one gel every 30 minutes on race day. During my longer runs during training because I won't be moving at a high intensity the need for gels to energise me isn't that important however I will use them to get my body used to taking them so I am fully prepped come race day.

Another huge factor is strength work and recovery work so these will both be a priority for me over the next 10 weeks.

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

Zone 2 training is becoming more and more prioritised as it grows in popularity and also the reasoning behind why we do it becomes more clear for the everyday athlete.

A simple explanation of what it is could be that this type of training refers to cardiovascular exercise performed at a moderate intensity, where your heart rate stays within a specific range. This range is typically 60-70% of your maximum heart rate (MHR) and therefore it is important to know what your MHR is. During Z2 your effort level would be where you can still maintain a conversation without gasping for breath. It’s not a stroll, but it’s nowhere near the intensity of a sprint.

The challenge most people face is that during moderate to low intensity training they tell themselves that they are not working out hard enough and if they don't feel exhausted after a session they think they haven't pushed themselves hard enough - this couldn't be further from the truth so therefore it is important from a performance and athletic standpoint to adopt a more mature approach and also become more educated in how training your body actually works. And this is where the likes of myself and other coaches come in; to educate and teach people about proper training.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT..?

The numerous benefits of Z2 training include;

The enhancement, function and number of mitochondria (the energy-producing engines of your cells). This in turn results in more energy availability and utilisation.

Laying down the foundation for all endurance activities. Whether you're a runner, cyclist, swimmer, or just trying to stay fit and healthy, a well-developed aerobic system is crucial. Without it, you’ll tire quickly and struggle with longer-duration efforts. This is commonly known as building your aerobic base.

Zone 2 is the sweet spot for training your body to preferentially use fat as fuel instead of glycogen (carbohydrates) and you'll become more efficient as using fat as energy. This becomes especially useful in endurance sports and for overall metabolic health.

And very importantly you lessen the risk of overtraining because unlike high-intensity training, which can stress the body significantly, Zone 2 can be performed frequently without burning out. It's sustainable, gentle on the joints, and can form the bulk of a year-round training plan. Side note; high intensity training is also a very important piece of the puzzle which we'll discuss another time.

HOW TO DO IT...

Pick your modality and lock in. You can run, cycle, row, swim, walk at a brisk pace or whatever you want. As long as your heart rate slowly climbs into your specific Z2 and then you maintain this for a long duration, 30 minutes minimum and potentially up to 90 minutes or more.

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

I am sat in Mumbai airport, I finished the race approximately 7 hours ago. My movements since crossing the finish line have been to collect my bag, be presented with my winners flag, somehow manage to order an Uber by joining one of the security guards hotspots from his mobile to allow me to get online and order one - which cost me £1.50 for a 15 minute ride, showered, packed, back in a taxi to the airport and now I am sitting in terminal 2 waiting to board my flight home to the UK via Dubai. Whirlind. And by the way Mumbai is top of the list for the most mental, craziest place I have ever visited.

Anyway I am writing this piece whilst all the emotions are still fresh. I came into this race feeling pretty damn good, my running has been in a good place; although not much speed work has been getting prioritised my threshold pace and threshold work has been positive and my zone 2 pace is increasing without the consequent heart rate increasing, which is a positive. I am also still on the confidence train after my triumph at the World Championships in Chicago a few months back plus with thanks to the sponsors SIS this all became a possibility so I took the opportunity. My point being that realistically I was expecting 58 minutes something, I would have been happy with 59 something but honestly I wanted to drop into the 58’s so when I crossed the line and I saw I had ran a 60:30 my initial emotion was one of disappointment. I came out of the burpees in 28 minutes, I came out of the Farmers Carry in 43 minutes and felt in complete control the whole way around. In heinseight due to the fact that I had a 7 minute lead over the next competitor could have worked against me as I may, just may, of eased off when I should have been attacking. I did start to tire after the lunges and my wall ball split this time was 73 and 27 instead of my now non-negoiteable of 100 unbroken. So again when I saw the number pop up on the finishers board, despite knowing I had placed first I was a bit gutted.

I sat down had a drink and had a little 3 minute sulk before climbing to my feet and having a little wonder around the finishers area giving out fist pumps and congratulating everyone. By this point my mood had lifted, I remembered what I had set out to do - win and qualify for the World Championships in 2026. Mission complete. I remembered how fortunate I was to even be here in the first place, I remembered how I love competing and pushing myself and I realised that now I get the chance to knuckle down, work hard and improve once more. A massive positive for me was just how well I felt on the course, I have been in the same situation in the past and been in a world of pain, I am learning how to cope and how to pace the race, my race management is much improved, my training, my knowledge, my programming is much improved. I am a stronger athlete for it and the results will show up in the races I have planned over the next 6 months.

On route to the airport I was definitely in a good mood and a happy place. We learn from the setbacks and not the victories. Mounting the rower I didn’t check the foot straps, they were too tight to fit my feet in. In a little panic I grabbed the rower handle but quickly remembered if you start rowing without your feet in the foot positions you get penalised therefore I put the handle back in the holster, loosened the foot straps, got my feet in, grabbed the handle and began rowing. This cost me about 7 - 10 seconds I imagine. Next time I’ll make sure they are loose enough for me to get going straight away. And a few other areas of the race I should know with my experience how to manage better, I knew the first run was short however this gave me a false sense of security that I was on for a fast time disregarding the fact the all the other runs were going to take me a lot longer, I should have known this and pushed the gas pedal accordingly. All in all it was great event and great experience.

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

For people who train regularly and watch what they eat can face a bit of a dilemma when going on holiday. It can become a bit of a stressful internal fight, this is definitely not what you want. It should be time to relax when going away. Do you pack your training gear? Do you give in to the all inclusive buffet? Don't fight it, make a decision, stick to it and enjoy your time away. That's why you booked the holiday in the first place, to enjoy yourself...

OPTION 1...

Forget everything there is about training and healthy nutrition and just let it all go. If you go away with this mindset then just make sure you don't come back feeling guilty about your decisions, just make sure you don't come back moaning that you have put on weight and that "getting back into the gym" is tough. If you go away and don't do anything then you will feel sluggish and a it will probably take a week or two to get back in the swing of things. As long as you totally enjoyed yourself when you were away and you're content that it will feel like a bit of a struggle when you get back to it then you've made the right decision for yourself. In my opinion (remember just my opinion) I feel like this option is a bit of a shame to adopt though. I feel this way because when you are away you are essentially taking time to de-stress and unwind and concentrate on things that you like. If training and exercise doesn't fall into that bracket and you want to take a break from exercise as you see it as a chore in your everyday life then that's a real shame. You know exercise makes you feel good so why wouldn't you carry on feeling that way when you're on holiday?

OPTION 2...

Still workout, eat pretty well but totally enjoy the guilt free indulgences. I feel like this option is the probably the best and most suited to the majority of people who regularly train and are conscious about their health.

Because exercise, training and eating nutritious foods are part of your lifestyle you'll want to carry this on even though you are on holiday. Being on holiday in the first place makes you feel good so when you add your exercise and clean eating into the mix you've got a pretty damn good "feel great" cocktail. In my opinion if you are training when away the best time to do it is first thing in the morning, either in the hotel gym, going out for a run or exploring where the best training hubs are and heading there for an hour or two. Once you've trained, had a shower, hit the breakfast buffet all by 10am then you now have the whole day to relax and basically do what you like, and if that includes an ice cream, a few mid afternoon cocktails or a 3 course meal at sunset then you can relax and forgive yourself as you know you've trained and you'll be doing the same thing tomorrow morning.

By choosing this option you may gain a few extra pounds and you may not have hit the intensities that you usually hit in your gym routines but you have kept in tune with what's important to you and have kept your foot on the gas slightly for when you return.

OPTION 3...

Nothing changes. Your training stays the same or even increases due to having more free time on your hands. You walk around the buffet of an evening and pick out the protein sources which will help you recover, you pick out the carbohydrates to fuel your training and you have a vast selection of micronutrients from foods that you don't always have access to at home.

With this option you can still absolutely enjoy being on holiday, you can enjoy wherever you are in the world by exploring and soaking up the culture however because training is so engrained in you that you plan your session(s) and they become the priority for no other reason that it makes you feel good, it makes you feel like you're winning and it keeps you sharp.

Option 3 would certainly be the minority approach. As long as you are happy with how you holiday then that is all that matters.

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

An opinion is entitled to anyone, an opinion is also allowed to be dismissed by anyone. So if, in someones opinion, you are branded as boring because you refused a drink, you said no to a piece of cake or rejected an invitation to a night out then remember that is only their opinion and you are allowed to completely dismiss it without ever giving it a second thought.

In the majority of society's eyes I would 100% be categorised as boring, that is only because the majority of people think if you haven't got a drink in your hand or you you would rather have a quite night in as opposed to hitting the bars, then you are boring. I wear the boring tag loud and proud and am completely content, happy and emotionally detached from anyones opinion of what the definition of boring is. How do you feel about this? Do you like being "boring"? Do you ridicule people for being "boring"?

IT'S PERSONAL...

It all comes down to personal choices, and it's a great thing that everyone isn't the same, that people enjoy different situations and different occasions. So the next time you are labelled boring or you are labelling someone as boring just remember how boring it would be if everyone did the same things all the time.

You, I, and everybody else can do whatever pleases us. And if displeases someone else (as long as it's legal and not causing any harm!) then that is not our problem, in fact it is their problem which means we don't have to deal with it, they do. So be content with your choices and don't worry about someone else's choices.

A lot of what I am talking about here is in reference to drinking alcohol. I have written and spoken about this subject on many occasions and I still hear so many examples of how people are scared to say no to their friends, stay true to their morales and then go against their gut feeling to please other people. A true friend will support your decision and more to the point won't actually care if it's a cup of tea, pint of beer or a pina colada in your hand. They just want to be in your presence.

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

What does cultivate mean? To nurture, to develop, to grow. When you cultivate something you work to make it better. So to cultivate a winners mindset takes development, it takes time, it ultimately takes failure to learn from mistakes and to grow.

THE PROCESS...

If at first you don't succeed, try, try and try again. You are actually better off not succeeding at first as this can lure you into a false sense of security that things worth achieving and working for come easily. They do not. So to cultivate a winners mindset is never about not losing, it is about building mental toughness and resilience to bounce back from set backs, to be able to push through the hard periods, to respond well to pressure and stress in order to reach higher levels of relative success. You do this through repetition, you do this by developing habits, you do this by forcing yourself to do the things that you know you should do even though you don't want to do them.

HOW THIS MIGHT RELATE TO YOU...

If you ever wonder how some people just seem so disciplined, you think that some people can do anything they set their mind to, you think to yourself that you could never be that way - then just know that no one is born that way. Including you. The disciplined people, the achievers, the ones that look like they know what they are doing have struggled, have failed, have not turned up to training sessions, have slipped up on their diet hundreds of times. But amongst the key things that separate these folk is they allow their mistakes and mishaps to develop their mindset, to use the failures as fuel and not dwell on them. So if you want to cultivate a winners mindset can you start doing this? Can you be disciplined to not hit the snooze button at 6am, can you lace up your trainers and head out in the rain? Can you say no to the desert menu? Do it once and it gets a little easier each time. But be careful because the first time you quit is also the hardest time and it gets easier to quit the more often you do that too.

What it comes down to is knowing what you want to achieve, be it ambitious or be it not so ambitious and then matching that ambition with the mindset and approach to make it happen.

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

With training and nutrition it can be a confusing minefield out there. So much information being shared and so many opinions being put out there on the internet for anyone to consume! As I have matured as an athlete over the years and become more and more knowledgeable around nutrition and training subjects I feel like I have made plenty of mistakes throughout my journey which, If I had known better at the time (or more to the point listened more), I would be in a stronger and more athletically capable position than I currently am.

SOME NUTRITIONAL MISTAKES...

Once upon a time I would check every food item to see if it contained fat. And of course most foods do and of course dietary fats are extremely beneficial for optimal health. However I would choose the foods with the least fat content as possible and as a consequence was putting my body under a lot of stress as fats are extremely important for multiple reasons including hormone production and protection of vital organs. Lesson; make sure you are consuming a great blend of all macronutrients (carbs, fat and protein) and a delightful mixture of micronutrients (vitamins, minerals) - all should be consumed in a manner which is conducive to your goals.

SOME TRAINING MISTAKES...

Go hard or go home! I was under this impression for every time I entered the gym, I would need to be pushing my body to the limit every time, completely out of breath at the end of each workout and if I was out for a run it would always end with a sprint finish! In essence I was never allowing my body to fully recover, I wouldn't allow myself to see progress because I was never training in a relatively fresh state. I would commence training fatigued and finish the session even more fatigued therefore never achieving the stimulus in order to drive and generate change. I was still in good shape, and I was still fit but was. nowhere near my potential.

I remember training for one of my earlier marathons, I had the support of a 2:10 marathon runner yet I was adamant I will do this on my own. My training plan was to run once per week increasing each run by 1 mile every week! Absolutely crazy! Learn how to train effectively, learn how to nourish and fuel your body effectively - you'll be doing things differently from the majority of people, but you'll be doing things a million times more effectively.

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

Want to change but keep finding that you are quickly in the same situation over and over again? Habitual changes are key, and often tough to to begin with. Changing habits to become healthier starts with small, intentional steps that gradually lead to lasting improvements. By identifying unhealthy patterns such as poor diet, lack of exercise, or inadequate sleep and replacing them with positive behaviours, you can improve both your physical and mental well-being.

Consistency is key: simple changes like drinking more water, adding a daily walk, or choosing whole foods over processed ones (this is a big one) can make a significant difference over time. Developing healthier habits also requires work, patience and self-compassion because setbacks are natural parts of the process and it's important to recognise these setbacks as part of the journey and not the reason to stop. Ultimately, the goal is to create a sustainable lifestyle that supports long-term health rather than relying on quick fixes or extreme measures which is so often the case and when they do not work you think "well what's the point?"

Time, like anything, is what it takes. You have to remember though that improvements don't happen by chance, improvements happen through change.

BORED OF YOUR SAME OLD BS..?

You tell yourself it will be different this time, you tell yourself that this is the last time you will feel like this - yet you sound like a broken record...

Changing the narrative about healthy living means shifting the focus from restrictive rules, dieting all the time and unrealistic body standards to a more empowering approach to well-being and not focussing on the social media fitness influencers and comparing yourself to them. Instead of viewing health as a temporary goal tied to appearance or perfection, it's more beneficial to embrace it as a lifelong journey rooted in self-respect, balance, and sustainability. Take one day at a time, don't think about the person you want to be or look like in 12 months time, just take one day at a time making those healthier decisions and watch as you slowly but surely morph into the better version of yourself. This new perspective encourages you to listen to your body, prioritise mental and emotional wellness, and celebrate progress over perfection.

Healthy living should feel supportive and flexible and yes from time to time you'll feel the urge to slip back into your old habits however this is where the discipline has to prevail which will prove how much you want to change. By redefining what it means to be healthy, you make room for more inclusive, compassionate, and lasting lifestyle changes.

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

Once upon a time I worked very closely with a professional boxer, helping him with his general strength and conditioning work as well as nutritional advice. I was emotionally invested in his journey and results of his fights. We used to talk a lot and he would share that he felt some of his closest friends would probably like to see him lose! I found this extremely bizarre that he would think such a thing but I fully understand now where he was coming from. I have experienced similar experiences and emotions during my journey too. The most recent being the HYROX World Championships triumph and although I was inundated with positive and congratulations messages there were some very apparent absentees. I thought these people had my back but turns out they obviously don't. Which is completely fine by the way, I am not complaining, rather just being very observant. I don't know if it is simply human behaviour and humans acting in different and innocent ways or it's intentionally done? Anyway, have you ever felt this way?

POSITIVITY RULES...

Positivity holds immense power in shaping our experiences, influencing both our mental well-being and the world around us. I feel if we pumped each other up instead of tearing people down we would all prosper. When we choose to focus on the good, even in challenging situations, even when we go through the dark places and even when we feel like throwing the towel in we build resilience, improve our mood, and strengthen our relationships. A positive mindset doesn’t ignore difficulties and challenges - it reframes them as opportunities for growth and if we use these experiences to learn we can only benefit. An optimistic outlook can lead to better physical health where we value what exercise and a great nutrition plan can do for us, increased motivation leading to increased discipline and habit formation, and greater success in achieving personal and professional goals. Ultimately, positivity acts like a ripple, spreading encouragement and hope to others, creating a more supportive and uplifting environment for everyone. Your circle of influence is massive. Be the reason someone wants to join your circle, not the reason people want to exit your circle.

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

We all know how big Instagram is these days. On one of my stories this week I posted what I had done one morning which was, run, into the sauna and then into the ice bath. Someone who follows me sent me a message saying "wow Adam you must feel great all the time". My reply was "by design though right?" they came back to me saying how they feel great when they train but it is regularly ruined because of the spontaneous drinking episodes. Interesting. Do I feel great all the time? Nope, no one does. But I know for an absolute fact that I feel better for having exercised, fed my body with the correct nutrition and implemented the recovery methods (sauna, ice bath, stretching) all of which are choices. As of course is the aforementioned persons spontaneous drinking episodes resulting in them feeling terrible. A choice, choosing to feel terrible - the mind boggles.

LIFE'S TOO SHORT...

Life's too short. How many times have you heard people say this when they choose pizza and beer over salad and water. It is a complete cop out and a lousy excuse. I refer back to the title of this email - You only live once - another BS excuse people use when they tell themselves this to make themselves feel better for making sub standard choices. Because the truth is you don't only live once, you live every day. You do however die once and this will be brought forward by making the "you only live once" choices.

And life is too short for what? Feeling great? Seems a little odd that the in the same breath people would suggest the sub standard choices are the way forward because you only live once yet these choices make you feel bad. Wouldn't it be more accurate to suggest that if you do only live once then it would be better to make great choices and reap the rewards by feeling great everyday? Something to ponder...

HECTIC DAY, EASY SOLUTION...

A rival for the number one excuse out there for making poor choices in regards to their food is that they have had to grab something on the go, or they are so busy they had to order a take away. If you are indeed that busy, which everyone is, and stopping for food is difficult then why add to the stress of having to go and grab your lunch and/or dinner? Would it not make at least one thing easier by having something with you that you prepared? I had this conversation with someone one time and they told me with the stress of moving house they had to pop into Sainsburys and grab a pizza that they could stick in the oven - do Sainsburys not sell pre packed salad (and you don't even have to pop this in the oven)!

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

Last weekend, this weekend and later in July the team at ACE Performance are conducting VO2 Max testing, but what does this mean and more to the point why is it important?

WHAT IS VO2 MAX..?

VO2 max stands for maximum oxygen uptake and utilisation. The result answers the question; how efficiently does your body use oxygen during intense exercise? The higher your VO2 max, the more aerobic power you have meaning the fitter you are. Your VO2 max is measured in ml/kg/min (milliliters of oxygen used per kilogram of body weight per minute). And the higher the number the better the result.

It is best measured on a treadmill or bike erg which is controllable from an outside source (the person conducting the testing). And it is effectively a test to see how hard you can push yourself to the point of exhaustion and the point where you have no choice but to give up. A mask must be worn which is in place to measure the oxygen and carbon dioxide being transferred in and out of the lungs and from the results your score is calculated.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT..?

A higher VO2 max signifies more efficient oxygen utilization by the body, leading to improved endurance, energy levels, and a reduced risk of chronic diseases. It's not just for athletes; maintaining a good VO2 max is vital for a healthy and active lifestyle so it should be important to everybody to have as high as score as possible. In fact it has recently been suggested that VO2 max is the number one metric to focus on if you want to be disease free and live longer.

If you don't have the means to conduct an actual VO2 max test then your goal should be to become as fit as you possibly can. In relative terms of course this means vigorously exercising frequently and especially taking part in some sort of interval training as part of an overall fitness plan.

SPECIAL SHOUT OUT...

To Stuart Fisher and his team at Endurance Peak who are conducting all of our testing.

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

Are you a goal setter? I believe everyone wants to achieve something with their health and their fitness. No matter how big or how small the targets are it always helps to have a framework in place to help you achieve it.

SPECIFIC...

Your goals should be clear and precise. I have worked with people who say they want to lose 1 or 2 stone. The difference between 1 and 2 stones is a massive 14lbs so I ask the question well is it 1 stone or 2 stone you want to lose? You need to be clear with your targets. You also need to establish why this particular target is important to you, how will you feel if you quit and don't accomplish it?

MEASUREABLE...

It is always better and advantageous to track your progress, how do you know you are on the right path? How can you tell that your methods are working? Again if we use the weight loss example, are you going to weigh yourself daily? Are you going to take weekly measurements? Are you going to take weekly photos? What gets measured gets managed.

ACHIEVEABLE...

It's amazing to set big and bold targets however your targets should also be achievable and realistic in accordance with your ability, knowledge and resources. Let's stick to the weight loss theme - if you are going on holiday in 3 weeks it isn't realistic to say you want to lose a stone before you go. Tell me you want to lose a stone in 3 months then I am fully backing you as procedures can be put in place to sensibly achieve this. Repeat this process throughout the year and all of a sudden you've shed 4 stone. Nice work.

RELEVANT...

Do your goals align with your life and current lifestyle? Do your goals align with your values? Ask the question is it the right time for me to go after these targets? Are there too many distractions? And arguably the most important thing to realise and ask is that am I doing this for myself or someone else? It has to be meaningful to you.

TIME-BOUND...

Goals should be attached to a timeframe. This sets a deadline and creates urgency. If there is no timeframe attached then you are likely to keep putting the goal off and the old "I'll start next week" excuse begins. When there is a date in mind and set in stone you are much more likely to take the necessary footsteps in order to achieve your targets.

Have a great week and thanks for reading!