At the end of each year i write up what went well, what i would have done differently and what my plans for the next 12 months are.
Looking back on 2013 i dont think i could have ever have predicted what happened, the up's and down's and the steep learning curves i had to overcome. Overall though i look back on the year as being one where i accomplished nearly every challenge i took and exceeded even my own expectations. So here's a recap of my year...
January -
I was supposed to be in India and Thailand over Christmas and New Year, however, my New Years Eve of 2012 was spent in Fuerteventura working with Kell Brook in the lead up to his rescheduled World Title fight for 23rd February against Devon Alexander, i was in bed by 10pm as was the rest of the team, due to 6am training sessions. So 1st of January i was up at 4.45am to prepare and make breakfast for Kell and other members of the team, sort out the days supplements and ensure Kell was ready for an early morning gruelling pad work session with Dominic Ingle and a few of the other Ingle gym fighters. Giving up nearly all of my Christmas and choosing to spend my New Year like this was just part of doing the job i loved. One mistake i did make was not taking any new clients on through the New Year rush, i put all my eggs in one basket so to speak and this cost me over the course of the year in terms of lack of client work and variety, something i absolutely love.
January 4th saw Sky Sports arrive to film part of their promotion show 24/7, a feature of this was an interview i did discussing the dietary requirements needed for an elite level boxer as well my role within the team. Here's a photo taken from the filming, a cheeky plug for S1 Supplements in there!
Looking back, January was a tense month but the mood was improving and everything was falling in to place. As a team we were working well together and the results were beginning to show.Working with people such as Dominic Ingle, Dave Hembrough, Ian Grant and Alan Ruddock makes you realise just how elite a level we are operating at, this was a team that in my opinion could make good fighters in to great fighters, it was a privilege to be involved with such a team and i owe many thanks to them all for helping with my own professional development. Mid January we flew back to the UK for 2 weeks before heading back out to Fuerteventura. The set up out there was one of the best i've been involved with in terms of training camps. Unfortunately i have been involved in some terrible camps. Big shout out to Adam Bailey, who simply couldn't do enough for us while out there, a real unsung hero of the team too.
February -
The beginning of February was very exciting, with Kell Brook we'd hit a very good run of consistency with his training, skill work and his diet. The result was Kell weighing 11st 1lb three weeks before his fight date, a weight he nor any of his team thought possible. The below photo shows him in peak condition, post training, hydrated and on a high carb day. I'll admit, at this point the £20k i had riding on him winning was pretty much being spent! We all knew he was good, we all knew he was destined to be a world champion but this moment it all felt like just a formality.
2 days after the above photo was taken we were notified that Devon Alexander had pulled out of the 23rd February fight due to a bicep injury. The whole team was distraught but we concentrated on keeping Kell motivated and awaited the rescheduled fight date. I'll be honest, being so close to a bunch of guys and working so close with Kell, this was one of the hardest moments of my professional career thus far, i truly felt for Kell, having watched him train so hard and having to stick to a diet for so long it was hard to see his dream slip away from him in such a fashion. However, i was back in my home working at S1 Supplements, advising the customers on their diet and training and enjoying being sat behind the till again. I also had time to go on a date and meet a woman (on valentines day!!) and fall in love, but that's not training or nutrition related so we'll leave that one there! During my time away i had also tweaked and perfected my accelerated fat loss programme, a few more tweaks on test subjects and i would be ready to roll it out, it was tough though, more details in the link 2 week accelerated fat loss programme
February also saw our offer go in for Nourish, 8 months hard work developing the business plan and we were now at a point of making an offer on our preferred location.
March -
The new fight was scheduled for 19th of May and having had a few weeks off we were now back in training, during the first part of March i had met with Lee Freeman and had decided to work with him. It takes a lot for me to work with someone on a 1-2-1 basis, they have to be committed and 100% trust me. I want results and i'm not the kind of trainer who will tell you everything is going well when it's not, 4 sessions in and i told Lee if he was late once more then he would be sacked, luckily he took it on board and was never late again, fortunately so as the journey we embarked upon was a highlight of 2013. Below is a photo of Lee the first day he turned up for training.
At the end of March while away on a stag do in a very cold Dusseldorf (don't go for a stag do, it's very average) i was notified that Kell had sustained an injury to his foot. On my return to the UK it had been decided to seek out a professional opinion.
April -
By the middle of the month and despite conditioning work in the pool, on the bike and rower the team met with a specialist who confirmed that Kell had suffered a broken metatarsal and he advised him not to fight. Those that chose not to believe he was genuinely injured, i wish they could have witnessed the atmosphere at the hospital when we were notified. Once again all our own feelings were nothing compared to what Kell was going through. I'll never believe anything but a win would have been the outcome for Kell and i was sure he would come back and prove anyone who doubted him wrong.
Nourish was starting to pick up steam too, we realised by the end of April that it was getting very real, negotiating rent on the premises was getting very intense and i knew a deal was there to be done
May -
As we came in to May my own work picked back up, i'd turned down 2 big consultancy contracts early in the year due to my commitment to working with Kell 24/7, everything seemed strange, going back to my real life. I'd worked out that from October i'd spent only 35% of the time in my own bed! I was still missing client work, that being working with many clients as i really buzz off working with new clients and achieving results with them. By now Nourish was really gathering pace too, the dream i'd had of making a difference and taking on the big fast food boys was starting to become a reality, one which i wasnt sure i was the right man to lead! I also took a holiday at the end of May, for the first time in a long time i really switched off and detached from work, it felt great, for about 5 minutes!
June -
The month of June seemed to fly by, i was focussed on working with Kell in the lead up to the Carson Jones fight and although my online coaching work was going, i really was starting to miss working with a variety of clients. At this time i'd only worked with 7 people all year, usually it would be 15+. June also saw meeting with various potential stakeholders for Nourish, a trip to London for research as well as working in S1 Supplements, overall a good month!
July -
Training with Lee had really picked up, he was moving much better around the bar and his strength was rocketing, his progress was great to watch, the more he made the hungrier he got for it. Lee was also undertaking my mentor programme, his aim was to learn the why's of the diet and programme. Details of my mentor and coaching programme can be found here 12 month coaching and mentoring programme
Mid July also saw Kell Brook take on Carson Jones in a rematch of their closely fought match up the year before. A lot was said about Kell's fighting weight being set at 10st 12lb, however the people who questioned this really dont understand the modern day aspects of the sport. Kell was coming back from a serious foot injury, to push him on his fitness drills to make weight would have meant risking damaging the recently healed bone. As it was Kell dropped from 13st to 10st 11lb weigh in day weight in only 5.5 weeks, he also went on to obliterate Carson Jones in 8 one sided rounds. Proof if needed what a difference the whole team had made in a short space of time.
The end of July also saw the completion of the solicitors work for Nourish. The keys were imminent!
That concludes part one, as you can see a lot of time was taken up working with only a few clients, the latter part of 2013 was all about making a difference to many more people on a much bigger scale!
As always if you have any questions or would like any advice then please email me Email link
Thanks for reading!
David
Looking back on 2013 i dont think i could have ever have predicted what happened, the up's and down's and the steep learning curves i had to overcome. Overall though i look back on the year as being one where i accomplished nearly every challenge i took and exceeded even my own expectations. So here's a recap of my year...
January -
I was supposed to be in India and Thailand over Christmas and New Year, however, my New Years Eve of 2012 was spent in Fuerteventura working with Kell Brook in the lead up to his rescheduled World Title fight for 23rd February against Devon Alexander, i was in bed by 10pm as was the rest of the team, due to 6am training sessions. So 1st of January i was up at 4.45am to prepare and make breakfast for Kell and other members of the team, sort out the days supplements and ensure Kell was ready for an early morning gruelling pad work session with Dominic Ingle and a few of the other Ingle gym fighters. Giving up nearly all of my Christmas and choosing to spend my New Year like this was just part of doing the job i loved. One mistake i did make was not taking any new clients on through the New Year rush, i put all my eggs in one basket so to speak and this cost me over the course of the year in terms of lack of client work and variety, something i absolutely love.
January 4th saw Sky Sports arrive to film part of their promotion show 24/7, a feature of this was an interview i did discussing the dietary requirements needed for an elite level boxer as well my role within the team. Here's a photo taken from the filming, a cheeky plug for S1 Supplements in there!
Looking back, January was a tense month but the mood was improving and everything was falling in to place. As a team we were working well together and the results were beginning to show.Working with people such as Dominic Ingle, Dave Hembrough, Ian Grant and Alan Ruddock makes you realise just how elite a level we are operating at, this was a team that in my opinion could make good fighters in to great fighters, it was a privilege to be involved with such a team and i owe many thanks to them all for helping with my own professional development. Mid January we flew back to the UK for 2 weeks before heading back out to Fuerteventura. The set up out there was one of the best i've been involved with in terms of training camps. Unfortunately i have been involved in some terrible camps. Big shout out to Adam Bailey, who simply couldn't do enough for us while out there, a real unsung hero of the team too.
February -
The beginning of February was very exciting, with Kell Brook we'd hit a very good run of consistency with his training, skill work and his diet. The result was Kell weighing 11st 1lb three weeks before his fight date, a weight he nor any of his team thought possible. The below photo shows him in peak condition, post training, hydrated and on a high carb day. I'll admit, at this point the £20k i had riding on him winning was pretty much being spent! We all knew he was good, we all knew he was destined to be a world champion but this moment it all felt like just a formality.
2 days after the above photo was taken we were notified that Devon Alexander had pulled out of the 23rd February fight due to a bicep injury. The whole team was distraught but we concentrated on keeping Kell motivated and awaited the rescheduled fight date. I'll be honest, being so close to a bunch of guys and working so close with Kell, this was one of the hardest moments of my professional career thus far, i truly felt for Kell, having watched him train so hard and having to stick to a diet for so long it was hard to see his dream slip away from him in such a fashion. However, i was back in my home working at S1 Supplements, advising the customers on their diet and training and enjoying being sat behind the till again. I also had time to go on a date and meet a woman (on valentines day!!) and fall in love, but that's not training or nutrition related so we'll leave that one there! During my time away i had also tweaked and perfected my accelerated fat loss programme, a few more tweaks on test subjects and i would be ready to roll it out, it was tough though, more details in the link 2 week accelerated fat loss programme
February also saw our offer go in for Nourish, 8 months hard work developing the business plan and we were now at a point of making an offer on our preferred location.
March -
The new fight was scheduled for 19th of May and having had a few weeks off we were now back in training, during the first part of March i had met with Lee Freeman and had decided to work with him. It takes a lot for me to work with someone on a 1-2-1 basis, they have to be committed and 100% trust me. I want results and i'm not the kind of trainer who will tell you everything is going well when it's not, 4 sessions in and i told Lee if he was late once more then he would be sacked, luckily he took it on board and was never late again, fortunately so as the journey we embarked upon was a highlight of 2013. Below is a photo of Lee the first day he turned up for training.
At the end of March while away on a stag do in a very cold Dusseldorf (don't go for a stag do, it's very average) i was notified that Kell had sustained an injury to his foot. On my return to the UK it had been decided to seek out a professional opinion.
April -
By the middle of the month and despite conditioning work in the pool, on the bike and rower the team met with a specialist who confirmed that Kell had suffered a broken metatarsal and he advised him not to fight. Those that chose not to believe he was genuinely injured, i wish they could have witnessed the atmosphere at the hospital when we were notified. Once again all our own feelings were nothing compared to what Kell was going through. I'll never believe anything but a win would have been the outcome for Kell and i was sure he would come back and prove anyone who doubted him wrong.
Nourish was starting to pick up steam too, we realised by the end of April that it was getting very real, negotiating rent on the premises was getting very intense and i knew a deal was there to be done
May -
As we came in to May my own work picked back up, i'd turned down 2 big consultancy contracts early in the year due to my commitment to working with Kell 24/7, everything seemed strange, going back to my real life. I'd worked out that from October i'd spent only 35% of the time in my own bed! I was still missing client work, that being working with many clients as i really buzz off working with new clients and achieving results with them. By now Nourish was really gathering pace too, the dream i'd had of making a difference and taking on the big fast food boys was starting to become a reality, one which i wasnt sure i was the right man to lead! I also took a holiday at the end of May, for the first time in a long time i really switched off and detached from work, it felt great, for about 5 minutes!
June -
The month of June seemed to fly by, i was focussed on working with Kell in the lead up to the Carson Jones fight and although my online coaching work was going, i really was starting to miss working with a variety of clients. At this time i'd only worked with 7 people all year, usually it would be 15+. June also saw meeting with various potential stakeholders for Nourish, a trip to London for research as well as working in S1 Supplements, overall a good month!
July -
Training with Lee had really picked up, he was moving much better around the bar and his strength was rocketing, his progress was great to watch, the more he made the hungrier he got for it. Lee was also undertaking my mentor programme, his aim was to learn the why's of the diet and programme. Details of my mentor and coaching programme can be found here 12 month coaching and mentoring programme
Mid July also saw Kell Brook take on Carson Jones in a rematch of their closely fought match up the year before. A lot was said about Kell's fighting weight being set at 10st 12lb, however the people who questioned this really dont understand the modern day aspects of the sport. Kell was coming back from a serious foot injury, to push him on his fitness drills to make weight would have meant risking damaging the recently healed bone. As it was Kell dropped from 13st to 10st 11lb weigh in day weight in only 5.5 weeks, he also went on to obliterate Carson Jones in 8 one sided rounds. Proof if needed what a difference the whole team had made in a short space of time.
 |
| Kell Brook weighing in at 10st 11lb, dropping from 13st 1lb in 5.5 weeks |
The end of July also saw the completion of the solicitors work for Nourish. The keys were imminent!
That concludes part one, as you can see a lot of time was taken up working with only a few clients, the latter part of 2013 was all about making a difference to many more people on a much bigger scale!
As always if you have any questions or would like any advice then please email me Email link
Thanks for reading!
David
