About
I work with people who have demanding schedules and no particular interest in spending their lives in a gym, and I help them become leaner, stronger, and able to maintain it.
@jakobmcdowell
Background
I came to coaching by first correcting my own training, slowly and with a good deal of trial and error. What became clear along the way was that most of the advice available is written for someone whose circumstances bear little resemblance to those of the people reading it.
Working as a personal trainer means early mornings and late nights, so my own week is rarely the tidy one the textbooks assume. Living that is what taught me to build training around a realistic week rather than an idealised one, and it is why the clients I work best with tend to describe themselves as too busy for structured training.
In most cases they are not too busy. They have simply never been given a plan that took their actual schedule seriously.
That is the work. Training that fits the days you have available. Nutrition that survives a Friday evening. A structured review every week examining what genuinely happened rather than what was scheduled. And at the conclusion, a documented plan for maintaining the result rather than starting again next January.
Away from coaching I cook, I am into music and I DJ, and I spend as much time as I can with family and friends. That matters here more than it might sound: a plan that leaves no room for any of it is a plan you will resent by week three.
Approach
The most theoretically optimal program is worth nothing if it assumes two spare hours and no competing commitments. I would rather build something marginally less efficient that you will complete every week for a year.
Reducing someone's body fat over eight weeks is not difficult. The skill lies in what follows: establishing maintenance intake, defining the training you continue with, and preparing for weeks when adherence is not possible.
Restriction works until it does not, at which point it tends to work forcefully in the opposite direction. Intakes are built with flexibility included, because a plan with no flexibility has a limited lifespan by design.
The objective is not for you to require a coach indefinitely. Every adjustment comes with an explanation, so that in twelve months you are able to manage your own training without consulting anyone.
Suitability
I am not the appropriate coach if you are working toward a scale figure by a date that is not realistic, if you want a plan delivered with no subsequent contact, or if you are looking for confirmation that a supplement is the missing component. I will decline that work and explain why during the consultation, rather than accepting payment and hoping for the best.
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A concise guide covering the factors that make the greatest difference when training time is limited. You will also receive a short weekly email on training and nutrition. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Applications take approximately two minutes to complete. Places for new clients are limited each month.