zakgriffithspt

Meet Mark 👋🏻

I’ve had the pleasure of working with Mark for just over a year now. Our initial goal was to keep him fit, maintain his current physique and making him feeling confident as he underwent a hefty shoulder surgery.

With the help of , who regularly kept him moving and feeling good with routine MOTs, my role was to help guide the rehab process, manage any issues that came up during our sessions, and increase his strength in specific areas. Alongside rehabbing the shoulder, we mainly focused on building strength particularly the legs to prepare for the London Marathon 2026, making the return to running feel that much smoother. With two jackets to prove he did it, he crossed the line on his first marathon 🏁

With his charismatic words and encouragement, he’s solely responsible for peer-pressuring me into doing the Plymouth Half again next week…on short notice 😂

It’s been a pleasure and an honour working with you, Mark, and I look forward to seeing you at the finish line.

He is a great example of staying consistent, trusting the process, putting up with trainer and getting s**t done physically challenging time 👏

Having not met my personal targets, I reached out to .2.live . With a new, refreshing approach and goals, it allowed me to focus on different aspects of my lifts using set structures and movements by Gareth.

Lifts ➡️↗️
Squat 145KG - 162.5KG
Bench 105KG - 125KG
Deadlift 150KG - 172.5KG
Shoulder Press 60KG - 75KG

Super happy with where I am right now and still with a lot of room for more growth, time to shift my focus and lock in for half marathon training 🙏🏻

The new face of the Assistant General Manager 🚨

I've been very quiet within The Gym Group as I’ve been prioritising class instruction but that's about to change!

For those who don’t already know my position from FT has changed to now AGM. So that means the regulars, you’ll unfortunately be seeing a lot more of me. For poteintal personal training clients don’t worry, my services are still available so please get in contact 📲

Everyone meet Alan! 👋🏻

Alan and I have been working together since March. Our main priority was to help with a surgical procedure he had received, with resistant base exercises. The process has definitely been a life changing experience for Alan , and I’m proud to be able to work along side someone like him!

With a drastic approach to nutrition, Alan has not only lost weight, he has also gained a piece of his old life back! Along the way from the initial goal, we set other sequencing goals that he thought couldn’t achieve so soon. Incorporating more leg based resistant work, walk long distances and run for an extended period of time.

Alan has regained a piece of his old self back… and I’m very glad about that because he was certainly miserable…

Alan has lost 18+ kg
Gained 6.5% muscle mass
Lost 6% body fat

Certainly has been a win for numerical scales, but most importantly visual and mental scales too! 🔥

🚨Some exciting news🚨

I am now officially a coach and personal trainer here at

I will still be working at , but now I have the facility train current and future clients here.

So if you fancy a change of coaching environment and want to use of some amazing functional equipment now is a great time to do so. Current and future clients that are interested in training 1:1 here with me let me know by dropping me a message as there is no fee to train here.

🚨 CLIENT WIN 🚨

Venner came along to one of my taster sessions at the start of the year. Upon speaking to Venner about his goals we created some new and exciting goals he thinking wouldn’t be possible. He was finding it hard to balance his job which is running a kitchen, his family’s lifestyles and personal factors.

His main goal was to lose weight, build his confidence up in the gym, especially in the weight section, developing his understanding within free weights and identify then remove any bad habits in his workplace.

Venner managed to loose 25KG so far! 📉

Another BIG milestone that was set was to be able to drive his car without a medical license. We are expected to be given the green light and be able to drive his car without a medical license!

Venner is a great example of being surrounded by an environment with temptations, but you still can develop a dedicated mindset and smash his goals. His goals started off in the gym but now has had a massive impact on his daily life. His strength continues to rise and his work rate always surprises me as we smash new and old goals together.

Want to share a similar success such as Venner, get in contact! 📩

🚨Not much to write about this quote as it speaks loud and clearly for itself🚨

You have to keep showing up and keep hammering at the rock, whatever that rock may be. Failure will remain a failure until the very moment you succeed.

Don’t run before you can walk

It’s great to see everyone wanting to become fitter, stronger and healthier, but we need to prioritise the right things.

When I speak to members in the gym or in the initial consultation with my clients, I like to ask what they are currently doing to allow them to improve and work towards their goals. Far too many times they worry about the finer details rather than the basics.

People stress over and will argue that; the exercise’s range of motion recruits more of the muscle compared to others, what is the best cardio: fasted, fartlek or HITT for fat loss and what food items are better for protein or carbohydrate intake.

Without no solid foundation you cannot build a house.

So…

🧠 THE BIG 3 things to remember:

- Sleep
- Nutritional intake
- Progressive overload and training intensity

If these points aren’t solidified as your core values, all the minor details you research and stress about will be ineffective.

Get the basics right before you look at how to maximise your training’s effectiveness.

Email - [email protected]
Facebook and Instagram - zakgriffithspt 

Get in contact for sessions, programming nutritional advice and online coaching ✍🏻 💻

This week’s motivational quote goes nicely with this month's aim of promoting mental health awareness.

This quote SHOULD resonate with a lot of you, and if you don’t agree with the quote you should evaluate your outlook. You should be able to hold your head up high and be proud of the work you are making. In the fitness industry, it is very common to see everyone striving for what they deem is perfection. But the reality is even the people you class as peak perfection, they aren’t happy with themselves and they are in a battle with themselves striving for what they deem is perfection also.

So the cycle of always finding perfection will repeat, and the cycle will never be broken.

You should always try to be happy with where you are at and it's healthy to always seek improvements towards your physical and mental health, but take time to reflect on the journey you have endured and give yourself the credit you so well deserve.

Win the small battles of progression and improvement, otherwise you’ll be in a constant losing battle trying to strive for perfection.

Now that I’ve got your attention...

What if we had a conversation about your goals and aims within our first session and we then discover that you want to be able to drop down a size to fit into the jeans you bought some while ago.

What would you say if I told you, that I NEED you to eat more... sounds counter-intuitive, right?

Well, you are wrong and let me explain why.

When done correctly, ’walking’ your calories up slightly from the total you consume now, you will see an increase in energy expenditure as you essentially have more fuel to do more.

BUT…

This doesn’t mean you can now go and eat poorly. What this is trying to state is that now you have additional energy to use within your training, you can take your training intensity to the next level. You may find your basal (calories? activity? Basal what?) increases; therefore, the calories you burn at rest grows or your ‘NEAT’ grows (non-exercise activity thermogenesis) further adding to that calorie bank.

Those who aren’t fitness acronym savvy, NEAT is the unconscious effort to increase calories burnt, without exercises in your day to day life.

As a coach, if you increase you calories by such a small amount, and you are true to what you say you eat, but you gain a lot of weight, this shows that your body is crying out in need for those additional calories. This means that your relationship with your nutritional intake needs to be addressed.

To keep things simple, as I could include so much science behind this…

Slight increase in calories + Increase in daily energy expenditure = more calories burnt at rest and/or increase calories burnt due to increase of physical activity intensity

Email - [email protected]
Facebook and Instagram - zakgriffithspt 

Get in contact for sessions, programming nutritional advice and online coaching ✍🏻 💻

How valuable is your health to you?

You invest in your financial future, work hard, provide for your family and the lifestyle you wish to lead, but do you put energy and time into your wellbeing?

The importance of our health often takes a back seat until illness arises, when those symptoms rear their head and we get stopped in our tracks. Then all of a sudden we become aware that the lifestyle we are leading is out of balance and that we need a course correction.

Prioritising your own health is a gift not only to yourself, but to your family, friends and even your workplace. If you’re burnt out, stressed and have no energy, you won’t be productive in the office, or have time for the people and activities you love, and this doesn’t benefit anyone.

Dont let the end of your candle burn out or wait until you sickness in health, invest in yourself