How Carrie Was Able to Balance A Busy Career, Family, and Fitness to Achieve Her Dream Physique
Meet Carrie
Carrie is a busy professional, a devoted family member, and someone who wanted to approach her 50th birthday feeling stronger, more energised, and confident.
Despite her best efforts, Carrie felt stuck. She wanted to make a change—not just to tone up and feel good in her clothes but also to have the energy to be present for her family.
But like many others, balancing life, exercise, and nutrition felt overwhelming.
Her Biggest Challenges
- Inconsistency with Exercise and NutritionCarrie found it tough to stay consistent. Life and sickness would often throw her off track, and weekends became a time of overindulgence, undoing progress made during the week.
- Balancing Enjoyment with GoalsCarrie didn’t want a restrictive lifestyle. She wanted to enjoy life—especially weekends—while still making progress toward her fitness and energy goals.
- Lack of a Clear PlanWithout a clear, tailored approach, Carrie struggled to navigate the ups and downs of busy days, leaving her feeling unsure of how to reach her goals sustainably.
The Turning Point
Carrie reached out after seeing someone she knew achieve great results working with us. She wasn’t sure if online coaching would work but decided it was time to try something different.
She wanted guidance that would fit into her lifestyle without sacrificing her weekends or family time.
Here's How We Helped
- Customised Nutrition and Exercise PlanTogether, we built a sustainable plan that worked for her busy weekdays while offering flexibility on the weekends. This eliminated the guesswork and made it easier for Carrie to stay on track.
- Simple, Repeatable HabitsBy focusing on clear, repeatable habits, Carrie learned how to make healthy choices consistently without feeling overwhelmed or restricted.
- Ongoing Support and AccountabilityWith regular check-ins and tailored guidance, Carrie stayed motivated and had the tools to keep going, even when life got hectic.
Her Results
Carrie’s transformation is nothing short of inspiring.
- Weight Loss: She’s down over 19 lbs and has completely reshaped her physique.
- Increased Confidence: She’s approaching her 50th birthday feeling strong, energised, and proud of what she’s accomplished.
- Visible Results: Carrie can even see her abs—something she never thought possible before!
- Lifestyle Change: Exercise, nutrition, and healthy habits are now a natural part of her life.
Creatine Monohydrate: What It Is and Why You Should Consider Taking It
When it comes to supplements that deliver real results in performance, strength, and overall fitness, creatine monohydrate stands at the top of the list. Whether you're new to the gym or a seasoned athlete, you've likely heard of creatine. But what exactly is it, and should you be considering it as part of your routine?
Let’s dive into why this supplement is highly recommended and how it could be the missing piece in your training.
What is Creatine Monohydrate?
Creatine is a natural substance found in muscle cells, playing a key role in producing energy during high-intensity exercise. Creatine monohydrate is the most researched and widely used form of creatine supplementation. It's naturally occurring in foods like meat and fish, but the amount you'd need to consume to match the benefits of a supplement would be quite high.
By supplementing with creatine monohydrate, you're ensuring that your body has an optimal supply of this energy-boosting compound to enhance your workouts and recovery.
The Benefits of Creatine Monohydrate
- Increased Strength and Power. If you're looking to lift heavier, run faster, or just improve overall athletic performance, creatine can help. By increasing the availability of ATP (your body’s energy currency), creatine provides that extra push during intense exercise, leading to strength gains and better performance in both anaerobic and aerobic activities.
- Improved Muscle Mass. Creatine helps with muscle volumization—meaning your muscles retain water, making them appear fuller and more defined. But beyond the aesthetics, it also supports muscle growth by increasing workload capacity, helping you push through those extra reps that lead to gains.
- Better Recovery. One of the underrated benefits of creatine is its role in muscle recovery. Creatine helps reduce muscle cell damage and inflammation following intense exercise, allowing you to bounce back quicker from hard training sessions.
- Enhanced Brain Function. Creatine isn’t just for the body; it can also benefit the brain. Studies have shown it can improve cognitive function, particularly in tasks requiring short-term memory and quick thinking. This can be a great bonus, especially if you're a busy professional trying to juggle work, family, and fitness.
- Convenient and Safe. Unlike some supplements that come with long lists of side effects, creatine monohydrate is one of the safest and most studied supplements available. It's easy to use—just mix it into water or your favorite drink—and you’re good to go. It’s also very affordable, making it a great value for what it delivers.
How to Take Creatine Monohydrate
Unlike some supplements that require complex dosing strategies, there’s no need to “load” creatine by taking a high amount at first.
You can start with the recommended daily dose of 3-5 grams per day from the beginning. Taking this amount consistently will raise your creatine stores in your muscles over time, and you’ll start seeing the benefits without the need for a loading phase.
You can take creatine at any time of the day, although many people find it easiest to take post-workout or mixed into a shake.
Who Should Consider Taking Creatine?
- Strength and power athletes: If you're into weightlifting, sprinting, or any high-intensity activity, creatine can help you improve performance and get stronger.
- Endurance athletes: Creatine isn't just for power; it can also enhance recovery, helping endurance athletes push harder in training and recover faster between sessions.
- Busy professionals or parents: Creatine supports both mental and physical energy, helping you stay sharp and focused through your workouts—and your hectic day-to-day life.
- Anyone looking to improve body composition: If you're aiming to lose fat while building muscle, creatine helps preserve muscle mass during periods of caloric deficit.
Final Thoughts
Creatine monohydrate is a solid addition to your supplement routine, especially if your goals include building strength, improving recovery, or boosting overall performance. It’s backed by science, affordable, and safe for long-term use.
In the accompanying video, I’ll walk you through my personal recommendation on when and how to take creatine, and how it’s worked for both myself and my clients. As always, it’s important to listen to your body and consider consulting with a healthcare provider before adding any supplement to your routine.
Feel free to reach out if you have any questions or want help dialing in your nutrition and supplement strategy!
Fitter, Faster, Stronger.
1% Better.
Luke
Your Coach for Health & Performance
Back To The Gym Basics: Tips On Pushing Too Hard & Coping With Muscle Soreness.
This is all totally subjective and dependent on the person.
And that’s exactly what I say to my clients.
Assess how you subjectively feel and listen to your body.
Am I pushing too hard? Do I need to pull back?
Struggling with muscle soreness after the first few sessions back?
Be mindful of when you need to ease off and channel your energy into the basics.
Get good quality sleep.
The foundation of life.
A non-negotiable for me and essential for your recovery and ability to repair and build muscle.
Sleep also directly influences my motivation, mood, and energy when it comes to training so it’s something I don’t compromise on.
Active Recovery.
Keep on top of your steps and don’t be completely sedentary.
I would recommend some stretching or yoga in between sessions.
You’re built to move so don’t underestimate its power on your body.
Get a good amount of protein in your diet and stay hydrated.
I’m open to argument but if you want to move in a direction that is healthy, happy and feels good I would focus on the above regardless of whether you go to the gym or not.
Tips On Pushing To Hard.
Generally speaking, there are exercises in the gym that can be pushed harder than others.
I would ease into the bigger compound lifts, don’t dive headfirst into putting a heavy bar on your back (squats) or picking up a weight from the floor (deadlifts)
The risk of injury is likely to be higher with these exercises and the last thing anyone wants is an injury after so long out of the gym.
Now is a great time to focus on what you can feel, control the weight you’re lifting, create a stable body and contract through the muscles you’re trying to challenge.
Personally, it feels so great being back in the gym, lifting weights, building muscle, and feeling awesome.
It’s empowering.
Always listen to your body and get good at knowing when to ease off.
Thanks for reading & have a great day.
Luke
Retrain Your Core And Bullet Proof Your Body.
Completely change how you train your core and bulletproof your body.
Typically, ‘core’ training has always involved lots of Sit-Ups, Crunches, Russian Twists and so on. These exercises require a tonne of movement especially through spinal flexion which when done repeatedly can actually end up being quite painful.
The key is understanding a little bit about how the body functions and how we can maximise our training to improve how it functions and ultimately feels.
Our ‘core’ muscles in fact play a big role in resisting motion and this workout is designed to challenge your core is exactly this way.
Throughout the workout I want the focus to be on the position of the pelvis and maintaining a partial posterior pelvic tilt or thinking about slightly tucking your tailbone.
Imagine wearing a belt and trying to tilt the belt buckle up towards your chin.
It’s the tuck where the magic happens, prevents the lower back from arching or going into extension. If you lose the tuck rest, regroup and go again.
Focus on your breathing, inhaling and exhaling down into your abdominals.
These become increasingly more difficult so listen to your body if you struggle with any.
Exercise 1: Deadbug ISO Hold
Almost all of your back will be in contact with the floor other than your shoulders. Reach to the sky and pull the shoulder blades apart (protraction). Lightly bring just your toes to the floor and hold breathing down into your abdominals. The deeper and longer the breath the better. Remember toes just lightly on the floor, keep the chin tucked, reach to the sky and don’t let your shoulders drop.
Exercise 2: High Plank | Knee To Elbow
Start by stacking the shoulders directly above your hands keeping your arms straight and push away from the floor. Aim to get your knee as close to your elbow as possible and hold keeping the back leg fully extended.
Lots of focus on breathing and keep your shin bone elevated away from the floor or your thigh on your body.
In addition to the hold. You could slowly alternate the knees to the elbow.
3 sets / 45 to 60 seconds each side.
Exercise 3: Single Leg Hollow Hold
Key here is resisting extension in the spine in other words preventing your lower back from arching/extending whilst maintaining a braced midsection. Keep a partial posterior tilt, breath down into your stomach and pull your belly button down into your body. Reach towards your feet if reaching over your head compromises your hip/back position, fully extend one leg and bend the other into the body.
3 sets / 45 to 60 seconds each side.
Exercise 4: High Side Plank | Reach
This exercise will bring balance and length to your body but also challenge it. Keep the supporting arm below the shoulder keep the hip elevated away from the floor and again that slight tuck of the tailbone. I prefer not to stack my feet on top of each other and might bring you more stability doing the same. Reach over the head with your arm and hold.
3 sets / 45 to 60 seconds each side.
Exercise 5: Single Arm High Plank
Start in your high plank position, main difference here is to go wider with your feet to help with a more stable base. Once you feel stable, lift the arm and extend down the side of your body. And with the supporting arm push away from the floor. Again, keep that tailbone slightly tucked and breath.
3 sets 30 to 45 second holds each side.
Exercise 6: High Side Plank knee to elbow
Start with both legs extended on the floor and your shoulder above your supporting arm. Slowly draw your knee to your elbow and hold. Focus on breathing and maintain that slight tuck of the hips. Create more tension by applying pressing into the leg and vice versa.
3 Sets 45 to 60 seconds each side.
This workout has been featured in both Men's Fitness & Balance.
Why Making Your Goals Important To You Will Increase Success.
When we start out on a journey to a more confident us do we stop to take time to figure out why we are doing it in the first place?
It's a step so many of us miss or don't give enough thought.
Especially given how difficult dieting or changing our body can be. Let's give ourselves every opportunity we can of success.
Most people are like 'yeah I want to lose weight' or 'I want to look and feel more confident about myself'.
If this is the case why are so many of us not where we want to be or really struggling getting there?
So if you find yourself giving up, or get a couple of weeks in and can't be bothered don't worry.
We just need to get more out of what your goals mean to you and how much different your life might be if you achieve them.
Make it really worth it.
So I want to share with you a process I use when I first speak to someone that enables me to establish where someones mindset is initially at.
People come to me for a variety of reasons. It'll often be to lose weight which essentially means drop body-fat, 'tone' up which means add muscle, get healthier, stronger, and so on.
There is usually an outcome of some description in mind.
All of these 'goals' are good and have their merit.
Don't we all want a little bit of that in our life?
Personally, I think wanting to 'lose weight' is very uninspiring and if anything a little boring.
These all fall into the 'I should' category.
They're generic and probably driven by other external factors.
Let's see if we can do better and find a goal that is personal and meaningful to you.
Grab a pen and paper. Trust me on this.
First, ask yourself this and go deep. Let's use 'weight-loss or Fat-Loss' as an example.
Right now, why is losing weight important to you? How do you currently feel about yourself? If you lost x amount of weight how would life be different for you? How will losing weight impact you socially and professionally?
Now write down at least 20 answers to these questions.
If your goal right now isn't weight-loss it's the same process.
It's all about the quality if the questions we ask ourselves.
I believe the quality of the questions we ask ourselves can really influence the probability of success we experience.
The whole point of this process is to dial down a little deeper and get something meaningful behind our actions and getting it all down on paper allows to get inspired.
Why is this important? Because motivation changes and the motivation you have at the start wont be the same in 3/4 weeks time and certainly not 3/4 months time.
Il share mine and hopefully they’ll help you get started.
Why is my training important to me?
I love feeling fit and running around playing sport.
I know when I feel confident I can really be me.
I want my girlfriend to find me attractive, and it feels great receiving compliments from her and others.
I feel a little more manly. Yes, dam straight. I went there. Having muscle on my body makes me feel good about myself.
Feeling good helps with my mindset. I feel healthier, happier, my energy and productivity improve, I sleep and rest better.
I feel empowered. I feel fit. I feel young.
I want my body to inspire the people I train. I want to show them that you can enjoy life, exercise, work hard and excel professionally and personally.
I want to live a long healthy life and know that training will help support this.
And of course, I still live with insecurities with my body, confidence, and meeting new people still scares the shit out of me sometimes.
But can you see how important training is for me?
Thinking about how important it is to me helps when putting my trainers is more effort than it should be or I am doing my absolute best to look for an excuse to not get off the sofa.
It doesn't work all of the time and it doesn't need to.
It just needs to work more often than not.
And don't confuse this with validation, narcissism or being egotistical.
Give yourself permission to want to feel good.
We have one life to live and so many of us deserve to feel better.
Give it a go and see if it conjures up some fire deep within you.
If you struggle, take more time to think and get it all down on paper.
It's all about the quality of the questions you ask yourself.
I hope today has given you a slightly different perspective on goal setting and why this part of the journey is so important.
Thanks for reading, Luke.
Mobile Personal Training Update
I have for years been training from a private facility in central London and it looks like with no immediate opening of gyms I won’t be returning any time soon opening up the door to mobile personal training.
Being honest, although I miss the gym and everything the environment offered including my training and the structure I am not missing it as much as I thought I would.
As a result, new opportunities has risen from the current situation. Mobile Personal Training.
I didn’t think I would ever be a mobile personal trainer but here I am on my bike riding from park to park, garden to garden, and finally doing the job I love again, training people 1 to 1.
I have been doing this for several weeks now and thought it might be best to put an update here.
Areas I am currently covering include Finsbury Park, Stoke Newington, Highbury Fields, Tufnell Park and I can travel further.
I have equipment including rings and bands and my sessions are still very much geared towards my philosophy of building stronger more mobile bodies.
I will also update my instagram story board with some 1 to 1 training which will give you an insight into sessions
Please do get in touch if you would like to book a free consultation or have any questions about personal training on a 1 to 1 or small group training, accessible locations, safety, or social distancing.
And I will get back to you as soon as I can.
Stay Healthy. Stay Strong.
Thanks
Luke
Quick Mobility Floor Routine. Take A Break.
A great mobility floor routine | warm-up you can add to your day to give the body some freedom and space.
Taking a few minutes out of your working day can have such a positive accumulative effect on your body especially now many of you are working from home. You get what you repeat. If you feel stiff and tight and don't do anything about it you'll stay feeling like that.
A few minutes each day can help keep your joints lubricated and healthy, but also revitalise the body and give you a knew lease of energy.
Simply put we aren't structured nor have we evolved to be sat down hunched over a desk all day staring into a screen. I appreciate most of us need to work so the very least you can do is to take a few minutes out to move and stretch.
I challenge you to give yourself a few minutes and practise this mobility floor routine.
There is almost no excuse and in times of uncertainly creating good habits will go a long way to making you feel good.
When you feel a little stressed, restless or have been staring at the screen too long kick off the slippers and stretch.
If you struggle with ideas or would like specific help please get in touch because I would love to help.
Combat Sitting with the Squat | Stretch.
It’s probably fair to say that most of us know that sitting down on our bums all day isn’t great for our body’s however we all need to earn a living and it just so happens that this living requires us to be sat at a desk for large parts of the day. For most of us anyway.
So, what can we do to combat the negative effects sitting down all day has on our bodies? Well, the answer is lots. And before I show you a super-effective movement lets quickly why sitting sucks.
So why is sitting down so bad? Let’s assess our body’s when we are sat down and if you aren’t sitting now have a look around and assess others who might be sitting. Limp right? Shoulders rounded? Spines flexed? Almost weightless and slumped. Seats, sofas and chairs made for comfort a deceptive comfort because I know that living with tightness and back pain isn’t comfortable.
Our muscles completely switch off, muscles around our hips the muscles supporting our trunk our spine collapsing our shoulders almost in front of our ears. We just aren’t built to spend hours in a 90-degree position with our muscles shutting off leading to severe tightness and chronic weakness.
Your ability to move, walk and run can become inhibited. Hip mobility and function become severely impaired which will affect balance and stability and the health of your spine Your abdominals that play a crucial role in keeping you upright become weak and shut off. Enough already…the list is honestly endless, and you should by not get the point.
So, what is the Squat Stretch and why should you be doing it?
Humans for thousands of years have been able to squat and crouch down without an issue. The ability to be able to squat low in my opinion is a good indicator of not just your flexibility, mobility but also your health. I cannot stress enough the importance of being able to squat down low with your feet flat. If it feels restricted, uncomfortable and you can’t get low start practicing.
Tip #1 – Squat and hold in the lowest position you can get into. Hold for as long as you can. Start with maybe 30 seconds holds and then on 1-minute holds. Repeat 3 to 4 times each day.
Tip #2 – Hang and hold. Fully straighten your legs and hang similar to of you are trying to touch your toes. Keeps your legs locked out, take deep purposeful breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth. Hold for 1 minute and repeat 3 to 4 times.
Tip #3 – Try the Squat Stretch. Don’t worry so much about the range and where you can and can’t get to. You might not be able to fully straighten your legs and you might not be able to squat down. Work your range and I assure you it’ll improve if your practice daily.
Give your body space and freedom it deserves and if you have any questions please do get in touch.
Stretch. It feels good. Your body will thank you.
Exercise Education: How To Plank?
The moment you realise that 5 minute plank you hold is actually ineffective.
The plank is a great exercise for building strength throughout the entire body but hanging out in your lower back or your lumbar is completely counterintuitive.
Okay so next time you set up imagine pulling your hip up towards your ribcage or tucking into a posteria pelvic tilt. It'll essentially be the complete opposite of having your ass in the air with an arch in your lower back.
If you want to go TURBO PLANK imagine trying to slide your elbows down and dragging your feet up and closing that space below you. Your body shouldn't actually move a great deal other than your facial expressions when you feel everything switch on.
Let me know how you get on