Coach Si

FULL BODY WORKOUTS Full body workouts are key, the more muscles worked means more calories are burned at rest. Include weights as a part of your training to help build up that muscle too. WORKOUT 3X PER WEEK Rule number 1 on our program is to come and see us 3x per week minimum. 1-2 sessions is not quite enough as a structured workout routine. EAT FOR MUSCLE If you're eating a healthy balance of different fruits, veggies, proteins, and whole grains, not too much sugar or processed stuff, you're in a good place. If you want to avoid losing muscle as you age, it's worth making one vital tweak. Increase your protein, aim for around 1 gram of protein per lbs of bodyweight and you will be having the correct amount of protein for your bodyweight. Protein shakes are great for topping up your protein requirements when on the go. 1-2 shakes a day is ideal. RECOVERY IS KEY A lot of blokes that I work with come to me with a dicky shoulder or knee from the past. Regular stretching, using foam rollers and going for a monthly sports massage is key to keep your muscle lose and free from injuries. Getting your nutrition right is key for recovery too. If your trying to lose weight and go too extreme on super low calories your setting yourself up for injury, as your muscles will be in a constant state of under recovery from exercise. Get the balance right with your calories so that your feeling full and recovered to avoid injuries. NEAT (Daily Steps) I talk about getting you’re steps in all of the time, even if you do workout 3x per week that’s still a tiny portion of your week. Hitting 70k steps per week is great for speeding up fat loss. I hope you found value in this short blog. Coach Si

I'M STILL PINCHING MYSELF SAYS ANDY RUIZ JNR AFTER BEATING ANTHONY JOSHUA... WEHN IT COMES TO FITNESS (or anything in life) There are going to be many bumps in the road. Just so you know this is normal, it’s life right? You HAVE to accept this. Theres only one thing can do. Theres only one thing you should do. Get back up and go again my friend. STOP WAITING for the ‘perfect week’ Where your sleep is optimum. Your workload is less stressful. When the kids are being good. When you have more time. I’ve got news for you, life don’t work that way. If your seeking perfection your going to be forever disappointed. Forever, using any of the above or any other obstacle in your life as an excuse and it IS an excuse. If it came to paying the bills or doing extra work for your boss YOU WOULD FIND A WAY TO MAKE IT WORK. It’s just that your not taking your health and fitness as seriously. (that’s a whole other topic) You’ve got to learn to make this work whilst rolling with the punches. Accept this. Instead of striving for perfection strive for progress. Coach Si

USEFUL TRAINING TIP FOR MEN OVER 30 WHO SIT DOWN AT A DESK ALL DAY Sitting on a bike or row machine as a part of your regular exercise routine is not a good shout if you already sit down 8-10 hours everyday as a part of your job. If your training on the bike/row machine specific to your sport thats cool, however, if your going for a workout to lose weight & get fit I would avoid any piece of kit that limits free movement. Most over 30 men that I work with come to me with some sort of niggle or injury, usually bad back, knees, hips etc… Sitting for long periods of time puts additional pressure on your back and limits the mobility of your hips and pelvis which has a negative impact on the rest of your body. (everything is linked) It also puts pressure on the discs which can cause lower back pain, you know that dull ache feeling that you experience in the lower back after long bouts of sitting, that’s your back telling you off. To then sit your in your car to go to the gym and sit again on a bike is a bloody bad idea!!! When I moved away from a desk job to become a Coach, my job involved moving a lot more and less sitting, my long term knee and back problems went. We all want to be strong right, limited flexibly makes us weaker lads. - We don’t want that!! It makes sense that my performance improved in powerlifting as soon as I started getting more mobile from less sitting. I also avoid any exercise machines too, that machine cannot possibly be designed for mine and your body, functional training using free weights/bodyweight moving your body how it’s meant to move naturally and not restricted by a machine is the best way forwards and has MASSIVELY benefited my clients who sit at a desk all day. When I used to be a PT in a gym I would purposely avoid using ANY machines. for this very reason. This is why, when I did HIIT workout on holiday I avoided anything that involved sitting down because most of the time on holiday I was sat on my ass anyway grabbing a beer. When you go to the gym or have a workout try avoid any equipment that involves moving in a rigid way either Sat on your bum or using a machine. You will notice an improvement in your strength and flexibility in no time at all. Coach Si

I speak to men everyday and have done in the past 7+ years who say the following: “I’m eating healthy and it’s just not working” or something other statement very similar So here are a good few examples you can be self aware of and most IMPORTANTLY if you resonate with any of this PUT INTO ACTION. Knowledge is only power when you take action! ONE You drink 1-2 high calorie cappuccinos or lattes everyday. - Each of these drinks contains 300-500 kcals as much as a small meal, and guess what, they are not filling either. You can drink these drinks, just make sure you track it, it takes 2 secs to track it on myfitnesspal, after the first input the info will be saved for the next time you have that coffee. TWO You eat a “healthy snack”, a small handful of nuts for example however, your not taking into account the amount of kcals that are in those nuts. Just because a food group is healthy DOES NOT mean it’s going to help you get in shape. Nuts are fats which means they contain 9 kcals per gram compared to protein and carbs that contain 4 kcals per gram. Even if a food group is healthy is still needs to be tracked. THREE Salads are healthy too right? Same rule applies here, track EVERYTHING that goes into the salad! FOUR Most folk don’t track there sauces and condiments, it takes 2 secs to stick your plate on the scales and squirt some ketchup in and record it. Every time you add mayo and other condiments etc you could be adding 100-200 kcals per each meal. FIVE Having a beer or a chocolate bar (something unplanned) and not tracking it. Look, you might have forgotten last weeks Yorky bars but I am 100% certain that your stomach remembers. What I like about tracking your food is that it takes the guilt away from unplanned/treat foods. because as long as you track the food it’s NOT going to hinder your progress. Not tracking is going to hinder your progress. SIX Not tracking at the weekends, this is the most stupidest thing you could do, if you’ve invested time, money and effort to get in shape through the week just to throw it all away at the weekend is crazy. Here’s a quick tip which will help you tackle the weekend. CALORIE BANKING. Let’’s say your daily allowance is 1,750 kcals per day. Monday to Friday your only going to consume 1,600 kcals saving 150 kcals everyday. (750 per week) Saturday comes and you have saved 750 kcals which you can enjoy on top of your 1,750 allowance. you now have 2,500 kcals to play with on Saturday and still be on track. The message here is simple, if you want to consistently lose weight and get in shape you have to keep track of everything. Try and blag this and the results will blag you back. It may sound like a proper ball ache, I reckon I spend no more than 5-8 minutes a day weighing and entering in my food. 8 minutes less scrolling on Facebook & instagram to look and feel good is a great trade off. Period. Just “Eating Healthy” is not enough. You have to keep track, if you want to save money for a new car, you can’t just go around spending money you have to keep track. In this day and age it’s almost effortless to do this with great reward. Coach Si

For one person progress could be turning down cake in the office at work to stay on track. For someone else progress could be saying yes to that same cake and tracking it as a part of their daily kcals and not self sabotaging after, writing the day off because an unplanned slice of cake. For someone else it could be turning up to training even though they’ve just had a massive internal argument how they are tired and “deserve a rest” Progress should not ALL measured in terms of fat loss and fitness and if it is, your setting yourself up for failure and hardship. Look to change your mindset and focus on mental progress too. When you start to have daily wins such and turning down cake or not having a few beers after work (saving it for Sat) this is going to carry over the the physical goals your looking to achieve. Dropping clothes sizes. Shrinking the belly. Getting fitter and stronger. Feeling happier. If you don’t focus on the MENTAL side of progress the PHYSICAL side of progress will massively suffer. Trust me, I’ve done this for a long time! Coach Si

FIRST ANSWER IS DON’T (if you can’t be assed to read on) You cannot undo all of your progress from going on holiday, so you need to get over this anxiety of “losing all of your results” mindset. Eat and drink what the hell you want and do what I like to call proper f*ck all. Do the bare minimum when it comes to exercise and activity. If you want to eat healthy and stay on track cool If you want to exercise cool. If you want to go for long walks that’s cool too. I have holiday’s where I do nothing and just eat, the last holiday I ate what I wanted but still trained because I have a comp coming up soon, if it wasn’t for the comp I would not have bothered. Remember this, training on holiday did not stop my trousers from feeling tighter and having to open up my belt to another notch. but guess what… 7 days later my body composition returned back to it’s pre holiday state. Trousers fit fine and back to my normal belt notch. and it always does. So why on earth would stress about nutrition and exercise when enjoyment and family time is MUCH more important. when all you have to do is jump back on it for 7 days after the holiday. If your on holiday right now, have an extra drink if you want too, and if that chocolate crepe tasted so good you could have another, HAVE ANOTHER!! When your on your death bed you will look back at happy memories that you made with your family and friends, you won’t look back and remember the time that you tracked your food and went to the gym on holiday. Coach Si

Regardless of how much information you have or how motivated you are to lose weight and get in shape it can still be REALLY hard when doing this alone. It’s most certainly possible, but bloody hard to keep your head in the game for a long enough to see big results. However, every bloke I’ve spoken to have tried doing in on their own and they failed due to the lack of TWO KEY THINGS that we all need to succeed. Sometimes the new it was missing and sometimes they didn’t. Accountability & Support. Without having these two things to back you up when the going gets tough it makes it easy to quit and give up. (been there before too?) which just makes it even harder to get started the next time round. A HUGE part of our program includes both. We even do attendance checks and directly message those who may be potentially slowing there session frequency down to give them a KICK UP THE ASS! We email our lads on a regular basis to find out what their currents goals are and offer support to help them achieve their personal goal. It’s like having a Personal One To One Service without the £45 per hour price tag attached. £45 per hour was my PT rate before starting this program, and that only included the 1 hour session. Anything on top such as nutrition etc was at an extra cost. This is why if you speak to any of our men they will happily share their personal success story and they usually do to any new lads joining to give them extra motivational boost. Our men never fail BECAUSE we don’t let them!! If you want to finally get in shape and STAY in shape for good to improve your own life which will impact EVERYTHING from your family to your career respond and email me at simon@smythfitness.co.uk and I will set up a strategy call. Coach Si

I’ve just come back from 10 days of eating EVERYTHING in sight and enjoying a beer when I damn wanted! 
Back to it now though 
but of course, sitting on my arse for 10 days and starting my day with a pain au chocolat every morning instead of porridge and berries is going to make those trousers feel tighter!!  
The advice is simple really. 
Just get back to your pre-holiday exercise and nutrition routine. 
You will find from getting back to normal your pre-holiday shape and fitness will return within 7-10 days. 
Thats it! 
Once your back to your pre-holiday body, set a new goal and move forwards. 
Remember, if you not moving forwards your moving backwards! 
You won’t undo all of your hard work from 10 or 14 day break, no matter how hard you try. 
You have to consume in excess of 3,500 kcals ON TOP of your maintenance kcals for each pound of fat added to your body. - It takes months and years to do this. 
You don’t have to come back hitting it harder to catch back up. 
Just get back on it. 
Set some new goals and move forwards! 
Simple is best. 
 Simple IS affective. 
Coach Si 

I was watching this mini film on youtube and it mentioned a study based on a thousand elderly people asking them 1 question as they were drawing their last breath, they were asked to reflect about their lives biggest regret Nearly all of them said they did not regret the things that they DID do it was the things that they DIDN'T DO that they regretted the most. A lot of men that I speak to before joining our program talk about there situation and it sounds to me that a lot of them are merely just existing, mainly focusing on supporting their family, they most certainly are NOT LIVING Waking up early Work your ass off Working long hours Coming home Sitting on the sofa with a beer Staring at the T.V because your trying to switch off from the world Not fully engaged with your family The ones that your doing this for Finishing of emails when it should be family time Telling the kids you will take them to the park tomorrow. Tomorrow comes and you truly are too exhausted to take them because you just don't have the energy. I hear this kind of stuff everyday, it's no longer just about losing the beer belly, it runs much deeper than that. The beer belly is just a by-product of their current situation. Every person is built to live not JUST to go to work pay bills and just EXSIST.  That's quite frankly depressing. Taking time for yourself to look after your health and fitness is not selfish its necessary in order for you to thrive and enjoy life My job, my mission is to help men get off the sofa and start living again. Enjoying life everyday.  Waking up with the spring in their step. (Literally) Having a great relationship with your wife. Having the energy to take the kids to the park everyday after work. Often when we are anxious, stressed and feeling burned out, it's because your thoughts and actions are not aligned with your deepest desires in life. You can take control of this, but it starts with putting yourself first and looking after yourself. Getting off the couch and going out for a run or a power walk with your favourite tunes will help kick start you back into fitness. Do this 2-3 times a week for 15-20 mins and before you know it you will feel like making better food choices things will start to feel better, it all has a positive knock on affect. It's getting hardest that can be the hardest part. We are here to help

A real quick one today. You do not own fitness, you rent it and that rent is due every damn day" The Rock quotes this all the time and it's perfectly fitting for most aspects in life. There’s not a better way to put how to be in shape and stay in shape. This is the mindset that that you should have when it come to business, career, fat loss and fitness. This is not something you do for 2 months and then you are done. It has to be done consistently. Everyday. Forever. This is exactly why you need to find something that you enjoy, that fits in with your schedule and something you can do for years to come. This is why most diets don't work. Most gyms don't work. And its why most people regain the weight. So go pay your damn rent! Im really looking forwards to our next 6 week program, showing our fellas how simple it is to be able to get in shape around being a Dad and having a busy demanding job. We will provide you with structured workouts, get your nutrition sorted and track your progress to keep you motivated throughout. Coach Si

IN SOCIETY IF IT’S NOT COMPLEX IT’S NOT EFFECTIVE RIGHT? If your dog gets fat what do you do? Give it less food... Less snacks... Take it for an extra walk around the block... Get it to move more... Simple right? Use humans work in the same way too! Your welcome

You need to focus on 3 things to get in shape and STAY IN shape. Exercise, Activity and Nutrition . There’s 2 other things that I discuss in this pod cast that a LOT of people get wrong and this is why they fail!

So I'm just getting over some good old classic man flue. and yesterday I was feeling like PROPER SHITE My head was pounding Couldn't think straight Glands were up Feeling stressed and overwhelmed I had a hard Powerlifting session booked with my Coach  and I thought the LAST THING my body needs right now is to go and get hyped up and bust out a 4 hour session I also new that my coach wanted me to hit some PB's as I have a comp coming up soon too! half the reason for feeling like this was because of my shitty mindset and my shitty attitude I dragged my self to the session anyway, hit a nice personal best but the BEST thing I took from that session is the amount of stress and anxiety it took away from me. My throat felt 10 times better, my glands were down and I could think straight again. if I just carried on working and being in my own shitty head space I would not be on a buzz today. Do not under estimate the power of exercise when it comes to stress relief. If you run your own business or your senior manager within your company  YOU HAVE TO PERFORM!!  if your work is consuming you so much so that your health and your personal relationships are not  where they should be its time you start investing in your health and actually take it seriously in the same way that you do when you invest in a new business deal  If your falling to bits so will everything else around you. Coach Si 

Hi Lads, I have a tried and tested the Flexible Dieting System which tracks your calories and macros for fat loss  it's so easy to get your head around, it's idiot proof Theres many ways of doing this but it has to work for our fellas that are working long hours driving to business meetings and entertaining clients in the evening etc. They also still want to be able to let their hair down at the weekend too

The advice in this pod cast is what we get all of our lads to get cracking with straight away. It’s simple easy and affective for your average busy bloke.

True behaviour change is indentity change. You might start a habit because of motivation. But the only reason you will stick with you be is because of a change of identity. Any one can convince themselves to eat healthy and go to the gym once or twice. But if you don’t shift the believe behind the behaviour then it’s hard to stick with the long term changes. the results will only temporary until they become a part of who you are The goal is not to joint a gym and go on a diet. The goal is to become the person who goes to the gym 3 times a week. The goal is to become the person who watches what they eat. Until you make this shift in mindset you will forever be in this yo-yo dieting trap Feeling unsatisfied about your health, fitness and body shape. Become the person you want to be. Your behaviours become a reflecting of your identity.

Hi Lads, All these different methods of diets and alike have 1 thing in common. A calorie deficit. Pick one system that works best for you and your lifestyle and boom your doing the right thing. Once you've found what works for you stick with it. Don't give up when the slightest bit of  adversity arises. stop being a snow flake and keep going. Tough love Coach Si 

Men have a lot on their shoulders, their children rely on them, their other half often relies on them. Men are usually the bread winner for the family under enormous amounts of pressure in their career for the reasons above. Putting your self first is NOT a luxury, it’s NOT selfish...... it’s essential lads

I used to personal train a 62 year old bloke. His goal was to be able to walk back from the shops with a bag of shopping in each hand. He was old school, her never exercised and never took his nutrition seriously. He needed his wife to help him off a chair otherwise he would pull his groin out. He was only 1-2 stone over weight, not a huge guy. Just someone who is now paying for it BIG TIME.

Two common problems I see: Setting long term goals without setting any short term goals. And Chasing a quick fix. Let’s put some perspective on this, have a listen!

I ask the same question to each bloke I speak to. "What stopped you from achieving your goals in the passed" Answer: "I got bored in the gym after not seeing results" Everyone knows how to fit and in shape, theres thousands of different solutions on google 5 common things will come up every time: Exercise NEAT (Daily activity) Nutrition Hydration Sleep however, theres two things missing and without those two things your going to find it very hard to succeed.

A short and sweet podcast today about how screwed up the fitness industry actually is right now. I firmly believe thanks to social media and the ability to be able to call others out this will eventually stop. I hate companies that sell promises to the desperate. When in actual fact losing the belly and getting in shape it REALLY simple. Eat Less + Move More.

.... and stop being so neurotic. Yesterday I was scrolling through a fitness thread and some chap was asking the usual question... "whats better for fat loss weights or cardio" this private chat had 10.4k people in and he had 133 responses with so many different answers not many of them mentioned nutrition by the way!

We all seem to be programmed to focus on perfection and beat ourselves up when things are not 100% perfect. Personally I think this is damaging to your mindset, confidence and self belief. It's time to start making a habit of focusing on success instead of failure. Celebrating small wins is the way forward to achieving big goals. Coach Si 

Hi Lads, It's important that you don't rely on motivation to keep you turning up to the gym and eating the right for your health. (Follow the 80/20 rule! with nutrition ) Motivation will come and go like the wind especially if your a busy Dad and have a high pressured job as the main provider for the family. You need a goal that inspires the f#ck out of you something that's MUCH MORE deep routed than, I just want to lose my belly. 9 times out of 10 when I have proper chats with our fellas their deep rooted goal is to become a better Dad, an inspiration for their children, have your partner lust after them like they used to before they let themselves go. I hope this gives you something to think about. Coach Si 

Today I talk about the importance of self development and how it can pull you out of a shitty situation and help you get back that zest for life. I now use it to keep me focused and become an all round self improved version of myself.

Coach Si talks about progress and how to keep the momentum going. It’s easy to fall into the trap of coasting along hoping for new results when in reality you must be self aware and know when the time is right to push things forward.

I got an email on Monday morning asking for the best diet to lose belly fat, quickly!! You will notice my answers will be very much the same for certain questions, this isn't because I'm a broken record or don't know any other ways, it's because I'm not going to magic up some bullshit answer to make it sound cool ...Or offer some magic pill solution, when I know there isn't one to offer. I offer straight to the point no bull information based on the last 7 years of experience helping busy men/dads over 30 get back in shape. Coach Si 

Back when I was a salesman selling platform lifts, I had no routine accept for grabbing a beer as soon as I walked in the door on Friday night. I was always wondered why my progress was so damn slow and sometimes nonexistent. I know love the feeling of waking up on Saturday morning feeling refreshed & ready to go instead of feeling even more tired and groggy.

Today I talk about the importance of training structure when it comes to building muscle and burning fat fast and efficiently.

My mission is to not only give men over 30 the knowledge they need to get in shape.... I want to dispel a lot of rubbish information that’s out there and show you how easy it can be.

Christmas is 5 days away and it’s definitely not time to down tools yet.