"Your training should work around your life—not take it over"
My own fitness journey has included navigating injuries, my own inconsistency, parenthood, long working weeks and the challenge of starting over again.
I understand that most people aren’t training in perfect conditions. You have work, relationships, responsibilities, setbacks and days when motivation simply isn’t there.
Your training has to work around your life—not take it over.
I don’t believe fitness should only make you better at the gym. It should help you move confidently, stay resilient and feel capable of doing the things that make life enjoyable.
My role is to take away the guesswork and help you build an approach that is realistic, purposeful and suited to you. Whether you want to become stronger, return from an injury, perform better in your sport or simply feel more confident in your body, we’ll focus on progress that carries over into real life.
I was the skinny kid and, if i'm honest,
insecurity was the reason I began my
fitness journey...
I started training at 14, doing long-distance runs and press-ups in my bedroom. I wanted to look bigger, feel stronger and become more confident in myself.
That led to a lot of chicken and bread, heavy weights in my parents’ garage and plenty of trial and error. Despite the cramped setup, I made good progress. By 18, at around 80kg, I had achieved an 85kg clean and jerk, a 130kg squat, a 150kg deadlift and a 105kg bench press.
At the time, I thought being fit was mostly about lifting heavier and looking stronger. My experience since then has taught me that there is much more to it.
When the pandemic hit, I rediscovered running...
I had completed a few 10K races before then, but never taken it particularly seriously. With little else to do, my friend Luke and I started spending our weekends running 10–20 miles around Cannock Chase. I loved the freedom of being outside, moving through the landscape and seeing how far my body could take me.
Over the next three years, I completed at least five half-marathons, two marathons and a 50-mile ultramarathon.
But running became my only focus. I stopped strength training, lost around 10kg and began suffering from recurring pain in my hips and knees. Eventually, the discomfort became bad enough that I stepped away from long-distance running altogether. I had become very good at one thing, but I hadn’t built a body capable of handling everything I was asking it to do.
Then life became busy...
I was working 50-hour weeks, raising my daughter and dealing with all the usual pressures of everyday life. I stopped running, hardly trained and rarely made it to Brazilian jiu-jitsu. I spent most of my working day driving or sitting behind a desk—and developed a dangerous appreciation for the Lidl bakery.
As my activity levels dropped, I began losing muscle, gaining body fat and feeling increasingly unlike myself. I know how frustrating it is when fitness feels like another demand you don’t have the time or energy to manage. I also know that getting back on track rarely begins with a perfect programme or a complete lifestyle overhaul. For me, it started with improving my diet and moving whenever an opportunity appeared—even if I only had time for one set of press-ups and squats. Small actions rebuilt my momentum and eventually helped me return to jiu-jitsu.
Then life became busy...
I started Brazilian jiu-jitsu at 18 and quickly discovered that being strong didn’t automatically make me good...
For the first few years, BJJ was just a hobby while I balanced work, university, becoming a Dad. When I graduated, I stepped away from long-distance running and got back into BJJ. I have since competed several times. I won gold at my first white-belt tournament, finishing every match by submission.
I then had some humbling experiences at blue belt before most recently winning a local gi tournament, securing both victories by submission. Jiu-jitsu exposed the weaknesses in the way I trained. I picked up several injuries and tried to solve them with sporadic workouts, online programmes and whatever methods I could find on the internet. I was putting in effort, but without a clear plan, I never felt as though I was making lasting progress.
Over the past year, with invaluable guidance from Jake Mahal at Whole Life Health, I have transformed my approach to training, nutrition and recovery.
Today, I can move through everyday life and hard jiu-jitsu rounds without the pain or physical limitations I had accepted as normal. I can maintain a demanding pace in training and competition, and I feel stronger, healthier and more capable than ever.
I have started Personal Training in Stafford out of Gym and Tonic Stafford located at 120 NEWPORT ROAD, STAFFORD ST16 1BA
“Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.”
- Churchill