Jack

On his first ever food diary he was eating 100g of jam and peanut butter on toast for breakfast, steak pies or fish & chips for lunch and galaxy ripples for snacks.

He was riddled with anxiety, struggling with low confidence, had no energy, poor sleep and a number of digestive issues. He was just getting over an ACL reconstruction and had done some work with a physio but generally didn’t have a clue what he was doing in a gym. He didn’t like the way he looked or felt and was in desperate need of some help.

This hasn’t been a magical 12-week transformation, he’s had his fair share of struggles.

When he hasn’t been getting hit by cars or prolapsing disc’s he’s been eating half of America on 3 weeks holidays or anxiety has reared its ugly head. This is real life. It’s how you deal with what happens that will determine the level of your success.

He’s had patience, he’s been persistent and had a whole lot of honesty to open up when things have been tough mentally. These are three traits which all successful coaching clients share. He’s lost in excess of 4 stone over the last couple of years and now those abs or finally starting to poke through.

Pioneer Performance Coach James McGreevy

What were your expectations and motivations when starting Personal Training?

Expectations were just to take training and physique to the next level and get to a goal that I was struggling to get to on my own I had always had a bit of a 1 step forward 2 steps back relationship with training and nutrition. 

Main motivations were purely to do with physique. I’ve been overweight my whole life sometimes just a bit, others very, and I always wanted to get in shape (beach body look). 

But the more superficial stuff was taken over by a need to improve sleep and energy levels and mental health.

What was your lifestyle and nutrition like before starting?

I’ve always been quite active either by playing a sport or going to the gym or a combination of both but my knowledge base wasn’t great and I probably followed to many gym myths.

Nutrition was terrible I had no real idea of what the right approach was and would do what a lot of people I think do and guess at calories set them way too low not be able to stick to it and then binge. 

I also ate a pretty beige diet and would normally only have a substantial portion of veg on a roast dinner once a week. 

How has your diet and lifestyle changed?

It’s all changed massively, I’ve realised that routine is a massive key for me so through the week I find everything pretty straight forward, meals prepped, work, home, pre-workout meal, gym, post workout meal, shower, bed. 

The weekends are often harder as you are faced with more choice and more free time and social situations arise but I’m able to make sensible choices and keep progressing. 

What was the hardest “bad habit” to kick during this process? 

I think the hardest thing to change was a lack of consistency and a change in the mindset of not to give up when things are difficult and that’s in and out of the gym.

How has the change in nutrition and training impacted your lifestyle and energy levels outside of the gym? 

It’s no exaggeration to say that it’s massively changed every aspect of my life. 

Before I started training with James at pioneer, I had no energy, was tired pretty much all the time had crippling anxiety, was on medication for anxiety and antidepressants was overweight, unfit and physically weak. I was pretty much going through life with no goals and no real purpose.

I’m now the strongest I’ve ever been, as fit as I’ve ever been no longer on any medication, have a much better handle of my anxiety/depression and have pushed myself further in training than I ever thought was possible which has had a massive knock on effect to my life outside the gym. 

I’ve pushed myself to develop new skills at work and I’ve taken driving lessons with a test coming up soon these might not seem like big things but they are to me. 

I’m constantly setting myself new goals.

What have you learned since working with your coach?

I and James talk about it quite often about how the body transformations and weight loss pics that you see are great and they are definitely important but the biggest thing is the mental health relief that training and nutrition and sleeping properly and taking time to reflect and goal setting all contribute towards. 

It may sound cliche but the biggest thing I’ve taken away from working with James and training at Pioneer, in general, is that there’s so much you can achieve if you put the work and effort into it, you don’t have to settle for where you are at. 

If you’re inspired by Jack’s story, speak to us about our Personal Training Services and start your journey today.