Well… I can certainly tell my wedding has passed, I finally have some time back to be able to connect with my mind and also re install the fingers for tapping out blogs/articles just as I use to. It’s been sooooo long, I’ve gone from writing heaps for magazines and my website to literally NOTHING, I really do miss writing as geeky as that sounds. Well that aside and I’m back, I’m back to share information and most importantly to HELP anyone reading my stuff… whether that’s on a very small scale or much bigger… I have a lot to share and feel it is very much needed especially in this so called “World of Fitness”.
Its amazing to see such a great expansion of the bodybuilding world and so many people that are getting in to their own fitness journey. We are becoming a much more active world of people BUT equally there has been a BOOM in “gurus”. It’s funny… I studied at University Health and Exercise Science and then became a PT yet STILL there was NO WAY I was willing to give Dietary advice, that was something I didn’t feel confident doing even though I was in good health myself at the time and also knew a fair bit from studying for 3 years on the subject and well-read in nutrition. Peoples health means a lot to me and until the day came and I felt EXTREMELY confident in giving nutritional advice it just wasn’t happening. These days’ people do a show or two and feel they are qualified to give out nutritional knowledge by using the plan their coach gave to them who most likely did the same… moreover… People out there are giving nutritional plans and charging clients with ZERO qualification for this and better still ZERO knowledge, literally just passing on a plan they were once given.
What most people may not know is I didn’t just come from Bodybuilding background and done “a show or two” as I once heard someone say, I am from a background of health and nutrition. After completing my degree and working as a Sports Lecturer also giving nutritional support to Crewe Alexandra Football Club; I had a very keen interest in maximising performance through nutrition. I helped many youth lads turn their game around and injury recovery through their diet. At around the same time I began my journey with Bodybuilding, I loved the Science side of things….. this lead me to learn from some leading experts in the field of nutritional performance; hormonal expert Dr Eric Serrano, Phil Richards and Menno Henslemans. These guys I learnt from over a 5 year period, I expanded not only my nutritional knowledge but has lead me where I am today; having a great passion for health. Though the whole career in Bodybuilding I questioned so many things, I tried to understand Why?... One thing that I keep coming back to is HEALTH… a huge sacrifice that people are making to get in shape.
I have a little theory…... Bodybuilding comes from bit of an underground culture… the origination of bodybuilding was WAY before it was fashionable to dress in bling and before it became mainstream through social media. These guys needed FOOD… they needed large quantities of food… having luxury items in their shopping cart to make up their Kcals would not quite work. Quite frankly… they couldn’t afford it… the sport DOESN’T PAY…. My theory sort of makes sense BULK BUY… SIMPLE PREP… BIG KCALS… LOW COST…. This kind of stands to why the main staples of their diet being Oats, Chicken, Rice, ONE veg (usually broccoli) and Protein powder and maybe some nuts. This is where I feel this style of diet has filtered through generations… “old skool” bodybuilding methods… this doesn’t mean that this is the only way and I’m also not saying it didn’t or cannot work… but I do beleive this isn’t the healthiest way particulary when given from people with no knowledge… back in the day “it just worked”… so then what happens….
Bare with me on this…. Its technical but makes pure sense…..
Bodybuilder A gives advice in local gym to bodybuilder B (these guys wouldn’t have charged for plans… they did it for the love of the sport) Bodybuilder B then passes this info on to magazines, Magazines print this info, bodybuilder C copies this plan and passes on the info to bodybuilder D who then becomes coach A… coach A then passes this on to another bodybuilder E who gains the “knowledge” and begins as a coach B… who then passes this info on for a fee (still NO QUALS) who then gets one person to look SHIT HOT who then becomes a marketing tool…. Then the flocks follow…. You get my gist….
We then have a million coaches doing more or less the same thing only changing a few things to make it look “unique” BUT there is an issue… health gets lost along the way because people don’t have the knowledge to recognise issues they are causing, thyroids they are knackering, drugs they are prescribing because it worked for Johnny or Sally in the local gym… therefore begin as a Dr telling all their clients to take X,Y and Z.
All along my career I have sat back and watched, listened and tried to fix… I always said I would NEVER do drugs, I would NEVER take anything that would sacrifice my health and I did just this. I see clients all the time who are sick… or see people on social media thing king “oh no…. I see what’s coming” Mental health equally as physical. Digestive issues, hormonal fuck ups and quite honestly a very worrying state of affairs; considering this is all meant to be for “health”.
So recently my new journey has begun to expand on the knowledge I have already gained… Holistic, Naturopathy and Herbal medicine. I believe that there are more answers than a protein shake… I fat loss pill and a health risk diet. Why the hell should you have to live off 6 items of food to get in shape, this isn’t sustainable and will sure as hell further down the line lead to cravings and binges… I’ve seen it Oh so many times… part of the reason we don’t diet people this way….. I am beginning this journey to help the muscles of my mind, go back to traditional medicine and try to help those on a health journey to look and feel amazing to do it correctly… I have been doing this 8 years and got some amazing results but the things I feel most passionate about is helping those who have “tried everything” and feel like giving up.