Stort Fitness

Great weekend with friends that know what size slice of cake I’d like ➡️

WOW 🤩 what a change great effort 👏🏼

I have known Jo for over 15 years now, meeting back when I first got into personal training. And since I introduced her to weight training she’s never looked back, she’s even gone on to become a personal trainer herself! But it’s not always plain sailing.

Jo had been struggling to lose body fat around her middle for a while, and as you can imagine being a PT her training quality was pretty damn good… and not only because I programmed it!

Being over 50 we talked about the effects of the menopause on body shape, energy, sleep, training quality and ability to change her body shape. But neither of us wanted to use that as a get out of jail free card, so we changed approach.

Jo decided to take a step back and assess her nutritional habits, be more accountable with what she was and wasn’t eating (snacks however healthy still add up if you’re eating them with any frequency!) and follow a plan that really focused around increasing the protein she was consuming to build and sustain muscle and tone up 💪🏼

By doing this and maintaining her already excellent training habits she’s managed to lose over 7kg in 4 months and shift 10cm from around her waist! That’s insane! 🤯

Great work Jo, look forward to seeing where this journey goes from here

Girl done goooood! 🤩

and me have been talking all things fitness since she started working here 3 years ago.

2 months ago she made the decision to ask me for some help and these are the results. In which time we have had 6 weeks of school holidays, which as a mum of two has a massive impact! She’s had friends and families birthdays. HASNT given up alcohol. And still has the occasional take away.

So what have we changed?

The main change we made was in having a plan around her workouts. This is what I need to do. At this intensity. For this duration. And logging it held her accountable. Beyond that, we have tweaked a few things with nutrition but the main implementation has all been around planning and accountability.

Great work Bex. Look forward to the results now the school holidays are over 😉

What do these photos represent for me? Aside from the fact I got a tan!

I’ve never done a ‘diet’ or a cut before, I’ve always been the guy that struggles to gain muscle/weight. So this represented totally new territory for me and a chance to experience what/how my clients feel when they’re trying to achieve the same. But with a beach holiday for a family wedding approaching I decided that was the right motivation to try and lose as much body fat as I could over about 6 months (giving myself plenty of time to keep it sustainable and not panicking and trying to do it in 6 weeks!)

So what did I take away from the process?
• I got HUNGRY in the opening weeks. I didn’t track calories because I’ve built up enough knowledge of what foods contain what over the years. But I knew how many calories would put me in a deficit and may have gone a little hard in the opening weeks. A few tweaks and swaps later made things a lot more sustainable!
• My workouts didn’t need to kill me! Just because I needed to be in a deficit to lose fat I didn’t need to stay down the gym for 2 hours and crawl out the gym after. It’s much easier to swap a few food groups, for me it was cutting down on sweet treats!
• Increasing general activity. Personally I did this via trying to run 15-20km a week which was 2x10km runs by the end of the program. This was quite rewarding seeing the fitness levels increase and times coming down and is something I’d like to keep going with now.

Also want to say a thanks to .bitesback for providing coaching/programming over the last two months of my journey when I wanted an extra level of accountability…. And someone to tell me to do Bulgarian Split Squats when I’d never do them myself

Haven’t posted an update about my own training for a long time so here we go!

Started the year sat at about 97-98kg which had been a goal of mine for a while as I’ve always struggled to gain muscle/weight.

However I started the year a little aware that my muscle gain may well of turned into a little more fat gain having lost my mojo with training and over enjoying the freedom created by a muscle growth goal. So felt a little change was needed to get a bit of confidence back.

I am a huge lover of food though. Especially all things sweet. So how did I create a sustainable calorie deficit without giving up everything I love?

1️⃣ Recommitted to training but made it more sustainable and not so much of a chore by doing 4 sessions a week and not 5.

2️⃣ The gyms situated right next to M&S and it’s a little too easy to nip over the road and get a sweet treat. Knocked that on the head!

3️⃣ Committed to more activity. Not training in the gym. Started to run, cycle or swim during the week. As well as starting to play 6 aside football again. Anything to make activity a bit more enjoyable and different.

4️⃣ Cut back on what I have to eat around the evenings. I’d become a little guilty of having dinner. Seconds. And probably heading back to the fridge for a sweet snack after that too.

I purposefully didn’t set a time frame for any of my goals and I would only check in with the scales 2-3 times a month. But once the ball started rolling and you notice progress that always makes things feel a little easier?

Are you struggling with your training mojo? Finding it difficult to gain muscle or lose body fat? Share your experiences and questions in the comments.

🤯🤯🤯

Mad progress over the last 3.5 months from my client . He’s barely missed a session apart from to go on holiday and having had no/very little gym experience before this he’s been a joy to work with! Taken everything on board really put it into practice.

His goals started out as weight/fat loss but after dropping 2kg and 2% body fat we tweaked his goal to be more strength/muscle focused and he’s smashed it! You can see in the first photo his back/waist ratio is looking sick now! Not to mention those popping shoulders. He’s now dropped down 3.5% body fat since we started.

How did we manage this?
1️⃣ Explained the importance of regular protein in your diet
2️⃣ Tweaked snacking habits whilst working (involves a lot of driving)
3️⃣ Implemented regular strength training between 4-5 times per week focusing on progressive improvements week by week (progressive overload!)

Well done mate. Cracking work 🙌🏼

What a weekend taking time out with friends and family! (Added bonus of the result! 🧡)

Much needed time out to make the most of the weather this morning 🚲

Fantastic Easter weekend away with family

Fortunately my family all share my love of cakes! So there were plenty of Easter treats to celebrate this years birthdays, weddings anniversaries and more.

Sometimes I socialise, there’s even a beer in the photo!
Happy birthday welcome to your thirties! Great to celebrate with you 🍺 🎉

I entered this weekend almost fearful for my life! James was seen with a full suit of armour on ready to go Downhill Mountain Biking, and when we turned up so we’re 60% of the other cyclists!

I left this weekend thankful for an awesome group of friends after thoroughly enjoying myself for two days and catching up about all manner of things. It’s an added bonus that all limbs are still intact!