“It’s definitely the best shape I’ve been in, and it feels freaking awesome. My wife gives me compliments daily.”
Steve is heading into his 40s in the best shape of his life – with a six-pack and a sculpted body all thanks to his personal trainer at Ultimate Performance.
He’d trained in commercial gyms with his friends for years. But as he reached middle age, Steve found the things that kept him in shape in his 20s and 30s were no longer working.
He felt unhealthy, despite going to the gym; his clothes weren’t fitting right, and he felt tired and lacking in energy staring at a screen all day as a financial analyst.
Steve’s ‘final straw’ moment came when he hit the heaviest bodyweight of his whole life on the scales. So he sought professional help from Ultimate Performance to rein in his diet and sharpen up his training.
By trusting the process and being held accountable by an expert PT, he’s lost almost 10kg and hit the ‘magic’ 10% body fat level with visible abs.
But it’s feeling on-point, waking up with a ‘spring in his step’ every morning, and the daily compliments from his wife and workmates that are most satisfying.
In this Q&A with one of our expert trainers, Steve discusses the challenges he has faced and the rewards he’s reaped along the way…
I’ve been training at the gym on my own for the last 20 years and as I’ve progressed into my forties, the things I was doing in my twenties and thirties weren’t really working anymore. For the first time in my life, I figured I might as well invest in a personal trainer and why not go to the best?
Before I started U.P., physically I kind of felt unhealthy even though I was still going to the gym; the pants weren’t quite fitting right. I was kind of getting tired. Work was frantic so I never quite had enough energy, and I knew my diet was wrong. I needed some help with that, and I needed help to train without getting injured, which was a common occurrence for me. So yeah, physically, ‘okay’, but not the best. Mentally, I was pretty fatigued, so I decided to jump in.
The lightbulb moment was when I hopped onto the scale and reached my all-time high in terms of weight. I figured it was time to address it, bring in a professional and learn the skills required to make meaningful change as I approach middle-age. This was the motivation I needed to kick-start the journey to getting back in shape.
Definitely. I had been going to the gym since I was 18. I also played competitive and then social basketball in my 20s and early 30s and that certainly helped maintain a base level of fitness. I tried my hand at CrossFit and quickly realised I lacked the co-ordination that most of the CrossFitters have and moved away from that back to more traditional circuit-based training.
I always believed I ate relatively healthily. For the most part, I was by-passing the traditional takeaway options and fried foods. A typical day was usually oats or toast for breakfast with a black coffee. Lunch would really be anything quick and easily accessible before eating at my desk – sandwiches or rolls mostly, and dinner would again be whatever was quickest to cook. Usually a protein (salmon, steak or chicken) and some vegetables. The odd chocolate bar and protein shake would find its way in there most days.
During the transformation, my trainer from Ultimate Performance laid out clearly my daily calorie limit and macros. This was definitely eye-opening! A typical day would be oats for breakfast with a black coffee. Lunch was light and consisted of rice cakes with tomatoes and tuna. In between meals I’d have a protein shake or protein bar. Dinner was usually poached chicken breast and vegetables, or one of those pre-made meals with the macros labelled – which made tracking far easier.
The biggest contributor to the change is two-fold. Firstly, utilising a PT for the first time made a significant difference. Having someone there with the expertise to alter your training regime and specific exercises to cater to your age and injury history was critical. Having them also show you how to train and lift properly for the best overall results was great. As someone who has been going to gym for 20+ years, as I moved through my late 30s, I realised what I was doing in my 20s was no longer working. Keeping in shape became far more challenging. So, learning how to train more effectively was a difference-maker. Time-under-tension and form-over-weight became the norm, and I found the results started to follow.
The whole process has taken around five months. The first week was pretty tough because your diet changes pretty rapidly. But physically I probably started seeing results in about two to three weeks to be fair. So, a fairly quick turnaround I would say.
I’d train four times a week. Twice with my personal trainer and twice on my own. All four sessions were quite similar – consisting of one compound exercise (e.g. squat or deadlift), chest press (alternating between flat and incline), dead-hang pull-ups, seated rows and leg-press.
Bringing in the time-under-tension focus was brutal at first. Slowing down the deadlift and focusing on never losing the slack in the bar was transformational. You have to quickly put aside any thoughts of ego-lifting, because the weight had to drop a fair bit in order to slow the movement right down and hit the 12-rep count per set. This was probably the most beneficial I found.
Having said that, the toughest exercise was definitely the pendulum squat. I didn’t realise how much I was resting at the top of the rep to catch my breath – the pendulum squat essentially took that away and you were load bearing the entire set. That machine easily became my nemesis.
The most life-changing part about training with Ultimate Performance is the way I feel on a daily basis. Without sounding cliched, there’s a spring in my step. I feel on point, I feel healthy, I feel fit. Going about my daily job, which is frantic, with just that extra bit of energy just makes all the difference.
How I feel now versus how I felt when I first started training at U.P.? I guess I would say strength is definitely a big thing. I’m a lot stronger now. My energy levels have significantly improved and I’m sleeping a lot better. I’m still as sore today after a session as I was back then; the training regime doesn’t get any easier. The trainers at U.P. don’t really take it easy on you as you progress. It kind of just gets harder as your fitness level progresses, which is a good thing.
I think from a knowledge point of view, I always thought I’d learn how to train properly. I expected the trainers at U.P. to be on point and they were, but that new knowledge made all the difference. Just hearing the voices of your trainer in your head when you’re out there, training by yourself, keeping that with you as you go through that journey makes all the difference.
It’s definitely the best shape I’ve been in, and it feels freaking awesome. My wife gives me compliments daily and I’ve encouraged her to pursue her health goals as well which is cool. It feels awesome to walk around and see a six pack for the first time in my life, I won’t lie. I lost almost 10kg in weight over five months, but the compositional change was substantial. I went from 24.5% body fat down to 10%. At the very start of the process, I said 15% was my target, but thankfully Tom suggested we give it a proper crack and aim for 10%. I’m very happy he did.
Could I have done this and had the results I did without U.P., no. And I could definitively say that because I’ve been trying to do it for the last 10 to 15 years on my own. Why not? Well, I mean I guess having someone there in your corner holding you accountable helps. I wasn’t able to train to failure like I can with my trainer there and having that person next to you holding you accountable, not just in the gym, but when you are sitting in front of the TV at night and you’re staring at your cupboard about to pull out a block of chocolate and all of a sudden you get a message from them asking how your food’s gone today; it kind of makes you think twice. So just having that person in your corner I think is the main reason why I couldn’t have done it before and why I couldn’t do it now. Just almost having a buddy along for the ride with you, keeping you accountable.
I started going to the gym at 18 with buddies and then started training on my own. What I was achieving back then, I just couldn’t achieve anymore. I decided to invest in my health and fitness because I’ve never had a personal trainer in my life. And I figured, well, why not just pay a professional and go to the best in the business? The feedback I got from people that actually trained here correlated that. So I figured, well, why not do it? Why not invest in myself and hire a professional? And I wasn’t disappointed with it. The stuff I learned training here was amazing, I think.
Where do I start? My U.P. trainer (shout out to Tom) built my training from the ground up. I relearnt multiple exercises I had been cheating myself on for years. Slowing movements down, focusing on training to failure and forgoing the ego-lifting were probably the key takeaways. Also, getting into the daily habit of weighing and tracking macros was critical to my progress.
If you really struggle for motivation or not sure where to start, my advice would be to book in with a professional. Having a trainer that knows what you’re going through, knows how to motivate, knows how to adapt your training to your specific needs is incredibly useful.
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