I was onboarding a new trainer recently who is about to start working with us at Transformation HQ.
He had worked at one of the big UK fitness chains before, so we got onto the subject of consultations.
The good ones.
The awkward ones.
And some of the rubbish people have been told by trainers over the years.
You hear some mad stories.
People come in sceptical because they have already paid for help before.
They turned up.
Did the sessions.
Tried to eat better.
Then their weight loss slowed down.
So they asked their trainer what they should do.
“Why don’t you do some burpees after your weights?”
“Try twenty minutes of skipping when you finish.”
“Maybe go for a run on your days off.”
No target.
No pace.
No distance.
No proper check-in.
Just more exercise.
That is usually what happens when a coach cannot be bothered looking under the bonnet.
It is much easier to say, “Do more,” than sit down and check what someone is actually eating, how much they are moving, how often they are training and what the rest of their week looks like.
Burpees take thirty seconds to prescribe.
A proper food review takes time.
That is the difference.
To be fair, the extra exercise might work for a bit.
If you suddenly add twenty minutes of skipping, a couple of runs and a load of burpees to your week, you will burn more calories.
The scales may move.
Your coach might even take credit for cracking the case.
But then what?
Are you honestly going to skip for twenty minutes after every 45-minute weights session for the next year?
Probably not.
Are you going to keep adding more runs every time the scales slow down?
Again, probably not.
At some point, work gets busy.
Your knees ache.
You are shattered.
You get bored of skipping around the garage like a boxer in a training montage.
So you stop.
Then your activity drops.
Your weight starts creeping back up.
And now you are confused.
You think the results disappeared because you stopped doing burpees.
So you add them back in.
Then more skipping.
Then a longer run.
The whole plan becomes harder and harder to keep up with.
Meanwhile, the real problem may have been sitting there the whole time.
Your calories have drifted up.
Your steps have dropped.
You are missing sessions.
Your weekends have become a free-for-all.
Your sleep is poor.
You are stressed and picking at food every night.
But nobody checks that because everyone is too busy adding another finisher.
That is what happens when you focus on the little rocks and ignore the big ones.
The burpees are not the main thing.
The run is not the main thing.
The skipping rope is definitely not the main thing.
The big rocks are your food, your daily movement, your strength training and your recovery.
Get those right first.
When someone at Transformation HQ hits a plateau, we do not automatically throw more exercise at them.
We start by asking what has changed.
Have they actually turned up for their three sessions that week?
Not booked them.
Done them.
Are they still doing their steps?
Or have 10,000 a day quietly become 5,000 because work got busy and the weather turned?
Are they still tracking their food properly?
Or are they logging breakfast, lunch and dinner while forgetting the oil, sauces, drinks, snacks and weekend extras?
That is not accusing anyone of lying.
Most people under-report food without realising it.
A couple of biscuits disappear from memory.
A handful of crisps while making tea does not feel worth logging.
The latte does not count because it is a drink.
The meal out gets guessed at.
By the end of the week, those little things can make a big difference.
That is why a seven-day food log helps.
Write down everything.
The good days.
The messy days.
The drinks.
The snacks.
The “just a bite” bits.
Then you can see what is going on instead of pretending the body has suddenly stopped obeying the laws of physics.
A rough calorie target can also give you somewhere to start.
Take your body weight in pounds.
If you have a fairly inactive job, multiply it by ten.
So if you weigh 180 pounds and work in an office or spend a lot of the day sitting down, that gives you a rough starting point of 1,800 calories.
If you are more active at work, perhaps as a roofer, mechanic or labourer, multiply your weight in pounds by twelve.
That same 180-pound person might start nearer 2,160 calories.
It is not a perfect formula.
It is a rough guide.
Track it for a couple of weeks, see what happens, then adjust.
Food does not need to be overcomplicated either.
Aim for three proper high-protein meals each day.
Eggs or Greek yoghurt for breakfast.
Chicken, tuna, cottage cheese, lean meat or beans at lunch.
Fish, meat, eggs, tofu or another decent protein source with your evening meal.
That will normally fill you up far better than grabbing snacks all day and wondering why you are starving by 8pm.
Then get your steps up.
This is usually the one people are most in denial about.
They train three times a week, so they think they are active.
But a 45-minute session does not cancel out sitting down for the other 23 hours.
Check your average.
If it is low, build it up.
For many people, aiming towards 12,000 steps a day can make a big difference.
Do not jump from 3,000 straight to 12,000 and then complain your feet hurt.
Add 1,000 or 2,000.
Walk after meals.
Go out at lunch.
Park farther away.
Stop driving journeys you could easily walk.
Get another ten minutes in during the evening.
Boring?
A bit.
Effective?
Yes.
Then keep your three full-body weight sessions in place.
Train your legs.
Push.
Pull.
Lift properly.
Try to improve over time.
The point of those sessions is to help you hold onto muscle, keep your shape, stay strong and improve your fitness.
It is not to burn every calorie you have eaten since Christmas.
You do not need to leave each session feeling like you have been hit by a bus.
You need to train well enough that you can come back and do it again.
Then check your sleep and water.
Aim for seven to nine hours of sleep.
(Although I broke my own rule last night and stayed up until 4am watching England from the sofa. Today is doing a fine job of reminding me why I usually tell everyone to get seven to nine hours.)
Drink around two to three litres of fluid each day, depending on your size, activity and the weather.
Neither of those things will burn fat by themselves.
But being shattered and dehydrated makes everything else harder.
You train worse.
You move less.
You feel hungrier.
You make poorer food choices.
You stop caring by Friday.
This is the stuff a decent coach checks.
Not because it sounds clever.
Because this is usually where the answer is.
Extra cardio can still have a place.
But it should have a reason.
They should not be thrown in because your trainer is busy and has run out of questions.
When progress slows, do not keep adding more small rocks.
Check the big ones.
Your calories.
Your protein.
Your sessions.
Your steps.
Your sleep.
Your stress.
Your water.
Fix the bit that has slipped.
Then give it time.
That is proper coaching.
Not telling someone to do more burpees and hoping they stop asking questions.
-Ryan