The Health Huns
The Messy Side of Health and Fitness!
Your favourite amateur athletes keeping it real, discussing the messy side of health and fitness
The Health Huns
EP.26 How to level up your gym game and confidence
Think everyone at the gym knows exactly what they’re doing? Here’s a secret: most people are focused on themselves, often unsure about their own form. We dig into how to turn that insight into confidence, so you can train harder, smarter, and actually enjoy getting stronger without letting fitness take over your life.
We start by breaking the “permanent beginner” mindset and move into clear, doable progressions: swapping lunges for split squats, testing assisted pull-ups after lat pulldowns, and using short, focused sessions when time is tight. We talk honestly about effort, explaining why growth happens when your last reps slow down and burn while form stays solid. You’ll hear how filming sets, using reliable online resources, or booking even a single PT session can unlock safer mechanics and quick wins that compound over weeks.
Fuel and recovery anchor the whole plan. We cover practical protein targets across simple meals, pre- and post-workout basics that support quality training, and why sleep turns hard sets into real adaptation. We separate building muscle from getting “shredded,” unpack expectations shaped by social media, genetics, and assisted physiques, and help you choose your own path: aesthetics, strength, or a balanced blend. Most importantly, we offer goal frameworks you can start now—adding a few kilos to your lifts, mastering an exercise progression, or committing to two to three sessions a week—without counting every macro or living at the gym.
If you’re ready to stop second-guessing and start progressing, hit play, save this for your next session, and share it with a friend who needs a nudge. Subscribe for more straight-talking health and fitness chats, and leave a review to help other listeners find us.
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Hello and welcome to the Health Huns, the pod where we discuss the messy side of health and fitness.
SPEAKER_00:From gym fails to newfound communities.
SPEAKER_02:We're here to help you feel like less of a failure and find your place in the messy world of health and fitness.
SPEAKER_00:Hello, and welcome to episode 27. No, I got it wrong last week. I was saying 26, 26, but it was only 25 last week.
SPEAKER_02:Welcome to episode 26.
SPEAKER_00:26. And should we introduce ourselves to our new people listening?
SPEAKER_02:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:I'm Ree, the personal trainer. I'm Amber, the participant of health and fitness.
SPEAKER_02:Participant of health and fitness, yes.
SPEAKER_00:And we're here to talk to you about all things health and fitness, and we don't take things too seriously. We're just two normal huns trying our best.
SPEAKER_02:On a bit of a health and fitness journey, in whatever way that goes. Sometimes we're really on it, and sometimes we're having a nap. But we're recently, we've been really on it, haven't we? We've been really on it. You've been doing faster, fitter, stronger.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, FFS.
SPEAKER_02:I've just been doing it. Although I haven't until I came to see you today, I hadn't been to the gym since last Friday, so I had had a bit of a rest. Um just because life has been too busy, and if you're too busy and you actually genuinely can't make time for it, that is alright.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it is what it is. It is so what are we talking about in this? Oh wait, how's your week been?
SPEAKER_02:Oh yeah. It's only been a week since we've done this, and uh forgotten what we do. My week's been alright. This week, why was my week a 10 last week?
SPEAKER_00:I don't know.
SPEAKER_02:Billy Allen's album.
SPEAKER_00:Uh yeah, that's it.
SPEAKER_02:Uh my week this week has been probably about a seven or an eight. It's been pretty good. Um, in terms of fitness, I haven't done a lot, but I went and cheered on Raffi Green doing a 50k. Then we went to Yarmouth and cheered on some friends doing a 10k. Um, I went to the Moon Sanctuary last night and had a sauna, watched some fireworks. Then I went to Zach's and had a vegan hot dog, so that was great. Sounds like a lovely evening. Watched the bake-off final. I'm not gonna do any spoilers in case anyone hasn't seen it yet.
SPEAKER_00:No, Meg's been watching that sporadically, so I'm sure I'll get to see that soon enough.
SPEAKER_02:I love it. I'm sad it's over.
SPEAKER_00:I just think they should be better than they are.
SPEAKER_02:Well, I think the thing is they're they're under pressure and they don't they're on a time limit.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I guess so. I guess it's not Master Chef, is it?
SPEAKER_02:No, uh it's just the great British bake-off. They're not professionals, they're not allowed to be professionals.
SPEAKER_00:And it would be boring if they were really good.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, there used to be a programme, I think, I don't know what it was on, maybe Netflix. It was called Nailed It, and it was people who were really shit at bacon. And it was American. They should have done a UK version, and the people would make these really terrible things, they'd fall apart, they'd taste disgusting, and at the end they'd reveal it and they'd be like, Nailed it. I'll start laughing.
SPEAKER_00:God, so out of ten, what was it? Eight, seven, seven. Right. That's nice. I literally cannot believe how fast this last week has gone.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I haven't had a second. I have like not been because I've been so busy, it's just like whooshed fast. Um, actually, the weekend is really body busy. I had a lot of community-based events to attend over the weekend. But my coaching clients went to Badminton. We did yoga on Saturday with Gate5K, we had a Gate to 5K run. I was in the gym a lot filming exercise tutorials for my online clients. We've all seen your thirst trap reels. And I'd argue they're working. They're working. If you got it, flaunted, you know what I mean? I was blessed with these giant shoulders. I might as well make some fucking money off them.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so if you want to go see that, check out my Instagram, R R T underscore coaching. And if you are a mask lesbian, a butch, or a trans king, and you want to get some big juicy shoulders, hit me up. I can help you. But yeah, my week's been fine. Just busy, so probably like a nine out of ten.
SPEAKER_02:Wow, you you almost got haunted this week, didn't you?
SPEAKER_00:Buzz Lightyear. So, middle of the night, one o'clock, two o'clock in the night, in the morning, whatever you call it, I don't know, in the AMs. And I'm just drifting off to sleep, and all of a sudden, this Buzz Lightyear toy that my kid has starts going off, and it's the one that you press a button and it's got like three or four different sayings that Buzz Lightyear says. The thing is, this toy was across from his bed in a toy box, and it was in the middle, so it had toys at the bottom, then buzz, and then toys at the top. None of my cats were around, one was outside, one was sleeping on our bed, and this thing doesn't go off. Like we've had it maybe a year now, and I've never heard it go off on its own, and it hasn't gone off since, which makes me think it's not the batteries. Anyway, I I was shit scared. So I woke Meg up. My wife was like, if I'm gonna go and see a ghost, you're coming with me because I don't want to do this on my own. Nothing else happened, but it was a little bit spooky.
SPEAKER_02:Well, you do know the whole premise of Toy Story is the toys come alive at night, so that's exactly what my dad said.
SPEAKER_00:Well, me and Dave were on the same page, yeah. But you'd hope that they'd be a bit more subtle about it.
SPEAKER_02:Well, maybe maybe you'd had a few drinks and you know, like forgot that he was supposed to be quiet.
SPEAKER_00:But that was after my mum came to my house and like came into this room that I'm recording right now, and was like, I can feel something down here. My chest is tight. And I was like, for fuck's sake, she's woken up the spirits in my house now. So I had a word of them last night, and I was like, Look, you can live here, do your thing, but I don't want to hear and I don't want to see you. Did you sage your house? No, I just felt it's a bit rude to the spirits.
SPEAKER_02:I I've remembered this recently because I I think I said last week how people had said how they thought they'd seen things in here, and someone brought me some Paolo Santo, it's like this wood stuff. Yeah, I did actually um cleanse my house with it, and uh I it was I I like it was after my dad died, so I was a bit like you can go now because I didn't know if it was him or if it was my old dog or whatever. So I did directly speak to my old dog, my dead dad, and any other spirits in the house. And you know what? It did feel a bit calmer, it's stunned.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I don't know. Hopefully, nothing else happens, but maybe my dreams will come true and I'll capture a ghost on camera. Yeah, you'll be terrified. I will be absolutely oh, it terrifies me, but yeah, it interests me. Okay, so what are we talking about today on the podcast?
SPEAKER_02:This week we're talking about improving your confidence in the gym. So earlier on when we started recording this, we talked about being a beginner in the gym. Yeah, but at some point you move from being a real beginner into wanting to go a bit more and wanting to gain a little bit more confidence, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and I think um people stay in that beginner mindset for quite a long time because they always have almost like have imposter syndrome, yeah, and they see all these other like really serious quote unquote athletes and stuff seemingly doing all the things and knowing exactly what to do, and just because they're not quite there, they feel like they're still don't belong in the gym or they don't know enough. But actually, I've worked with a lot of people who've come to me and be like, Oh, I've only worked out a few times, or I had a PT a few years ago, or blah blah blah. And they've got a lot of knowledge and a lot of ability, and they're a lot stronger than they give themselves credit for, they've just got to start believing it. Um, and I reckon if I sent you into a gym, Amber, you'd know how to I think you you'd know mostly what to do.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I feel like I've been stuck in the beginner stage for ages and not having very much confidence.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And it's not always well, it is confidence because I sort of know what I'm doing, but I'm scared of doing things wrong and people judging me. Um, but recently I feel like I have taken a bit more of a step into feeling more confident, yeah. And I still I don't particularly know anymore, but I have got a bit more confidence and I care a bit less about what other people think.
SPEAKER_00:I think that's a massive thing. It's like take taking risks, maybe is a bit a bit extreme, but you've got to try things out.
SPEAKER_02:Half the time it's things I've already done before. So it's not like it's not like I'm rewriting the book.
SPEAKER_00:Exactly. And I th a lot of the time the people you're seeing in like a commercial gym, like everyday gym goers, they won't be able to tell you whether you're doing something right or wrong. Like they don't necessarily know themselves. You could know inside out how to do your exercises that you're comfortable with and your workouts. Like, even me, I could see someone doing something in the gym. Maybe it's a catastrophenic body weights thing. I don't I don't know if they're doing that right or wrong because it's not my area of expertise. Yeah, just like Linda from down the road, who's squatting next to you, probably couldn't look at your squat and go, that's right, that's wrong. Yeah. So no one else has a fucking clue, really. No matter how good or impressive they may look, they probably don't know that much more than you.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, exactly. And actually, from going to a big commercial gym recently, people don't really know what they're doing. No. And a lot of people are just standing around, not even actually doing anything.
SPEAKER_00:And you know, sometimes as someone who I would like to think I know a decent amount about the gym and exercise and that kind of stuff, even if I do see someone doing something that I maybe wouldn't do that way, I don't care.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I'm like, okay, cool, you're here, you're doing that, like, fine, you're not bothering anyone, you're not hurting anyone. Like, I'm not standing there like sniggering at them. I literally don't give a flying fuck what they're doing. I'm just there to do my stuff.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Yeah. And so as a woman, I feel like men just have a bit of an air of confidence about them. As a woman, I've definitely not recently, but I remember when the gym group in oh, she's changing her life. It was a golden glow.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I was trying to, I looked a bit dead.
SPEAKER_02:I remember I had a PT. So when the gym group opened in the city, I had a PT there, and she gave me a programme, and I actually felt quite confident. And I was in there one day and I was on the rower, and another PT came over to me and was like, Oh, you should do it like this. And that totally threw me because I was like, There's nothing wrong with how I'm doing it. I'm literally sitting on a bloody rowing machine, but I mean, I guess they were probably trying to like tout for business or something, but it they should never have spoken to me because I wasn't doing anything wrong, wasn't doing anything dangerous, and I did not need someone to speak to me, and then that made me think people are looking at me doing exercise, but now I do care less. Yeah, something has just finally happened.
SPEAKER_00:And I don't know what exactly the magic recipe for caring less is. I think it's age, maybe, I think it's experience, I think it's just going and getting it done and spending more time in that environment. Um but getting back to how do we now gain what was the original question? Like gaining more confidence or leveling up your gym ability?
SPEAKER_02:Well, I think we were just gonna do like gaining more confidence in the gym. So the next up step from being a beginner.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. So let's look at it in terms of the exercise you're doing. Lots of people um will start off on a well, if you're a beginner to the gym and you've got a program from somewhere, or maybe you've worked for a personal trainer for a little while, you will probably be all doing a very similar beginner set of workouts, and they're probably like the fundamental foundational movement. So some sort of squat, some sort of lunge, some sort of back exercise, shoulder exercise, core, um, chest, legs, you know, you're hitting your body parts. Yeah, if you're looking to kind of up your game, I would be looking at the exercises you're doing and looking to ways you can progress them. So maybe you're doing a body weight lunge or you're doing lunge with weight, you could try a split squat. So that's a bit of a progression from a lunge. If you were doing a lap pull down, maybe you could try and do an assisted pull-up. So I'd be looking at how can I progress the exercises I've been doing into something that's a little bit more harder, a little bit challenging. That's a very practical, tangible way, I think, of pushing yourself out of your comfort zone and then giving yourself more exercises that you can cycle through and stuff like that.
SPEAKER_02:And I guess you could Google or wherever you choose to do your research, like, I like doing this exercise. What is a different but similar equivalent one to do?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Yeah. Or like most PTs are so desperate for business that if you message them online and you say, I have a question, they will be more than happy to answer your questions online. Not saying this is fun. Like, no thanks, I'm busy stuff, thank you. But like most fitness professionals will, if you've got a little bit of relationship with them, or if you've followed them for a while, just ask them. Yeah, that's not exactly information they need to keep to themselves.
SPEAKER_02:And quite a lot of them often, especially if they're trying to build an online presence, will have question boxes, stories. Like, anybody got any questions? Anybody want to know anything? And I guess use those question boxes.
SPEAKER_00:And if you're really unsure, look at YouTube, look at TikTok. Like, we have a plethora of resources out there, and most of the time they're all saying the same thing. Like, it's not like there's that much difference in what the instrument, like people are telling how people are telling you to do something. Um, and if you've got a foundational knowledge of how things are supposed to feel and how to do those kind of more foundational exercises, you'll figure it out, you know, eventually what feels right and what feels wrong.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I've been a bit obsessed with getting my deadlift form right recently. Yeah. Um, so I have been on TikTok and I've looked at reels on Instagram, and they do pretty much all say exactly the same thing. But then when I was in with you today, I got you to check it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Because I like it's hard. Like, I am then trying to look in the mirror to see what I'm doing, which obviously is then not the correct form because you have to have your head down, as you told me. Um, I guess if you're on your own, you could record yourself and get somebody else to look at it. But it was, you know, it's easy for me because I had you there, so I got you to check it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I'm always like I'm always recording myself in the gym. No, but like even the things I don't post online, like I'll always record my deadlifts because I want to see how I can improve. And sometimes you just can't feel that you're out or this needs to work or whatever. Um, but it's also it's also important to remember that whilst there is a set of kind of parameters for most exercises in terms of how you should do it. We also have to take into consideration that everyone's body type is different and the structure of their body. Some people have super long femurs, some people have shorter femurs. So there will be adaptations that you can make to suit what feels comfortable. Like that isn't a one-set absolute rule rule for how you do an exercise, it can be adjusted slightly. So that's where it is really useful to get um, even if you have a one-off session with a PT and you go, I want to go through this, this, this, and this. I want you to tell me how to get better at this, better at this. But I've had people come to me and do that, and I've never seen them again, but that's what they need from me. So you don't have to be paying like hundreds of pounds a month for sessions, you can just go and be like, I need this from you. And most of them will do it. Like I said, we're all desperate.
SPEAKER_02:You're yeah, I yeah, and like, I mean, I guess that is like if people ask me questions about nails, like I'll always reply to them. And actually, I've made some really good friends from like people who like I've got this one friend, she lives in Canterbury, and she's a nail tech, and she messaged me when she first started and um asked me some questions, and I don't want to gatekeep, like you know, she's I'm so I just sent her some voice notes, and now we're friends, yeah. Like, so actually, we might make a friend, you might not, but you might exactly.
SPEAKER_00:I think, in terms of like getting more confident up in your gym game, like stepping outside that beginner level than and taking a step up, there is gonna be an element of you having to take things a little bit more seriously.
SPEAKER_02:I was gonna say, I think so. Recently, I mean I have got more confidence, so I guess this is relevant, but like I've had to think when can I go? I'm not just I'm not just gonna stay in my comfort box of seeing Ree once a week and having a few, and I think this is why I got into running because I was scared to go to the gym, but I wanted to do more, and I am trying to keep up running and I don't want to stop it, but like I am actually really quite enjoying going to the gym now and like getting stronger. So it's like, what do I want? Like, what do you want from this? Yeah, do you want big shoulders? Do you just want general strength all over? Like, do you want really strong legs? And then working, you you've got to find the time and like you say, take it more seriously.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, unfortunately, you know, one if you're just beginning to move your body and you just want to get out there one time a week in the gym is great, you know. We're not saying that's not worthwhile at all. I completely see the value in doing that. But if you're like, I really want to get stronger now, like you said, there's this specific body part I want to grow, you are gonna need to be in that gym. I say always believe a sweet spot is like three times a week, you know, and I think not for everyone, but for most people, that is a hopefully an achievable amount of time. I'm a little bit deluded when it comes to that because I spend because I've got so I'm so lucky to be working a gym that I have a lot more opportunity. But hopefully, two to three times a week, most people can get done. Yeah. Um, and not all sessions have to be super long. Like again, this is why I say it's quite useful to be working with a coach who can program you stuff. If you've got half an hour to do it, I could program you a full body, an effective one still. So there are different ways to do things, but you need to probably be in the gym two to three times a week. You then are gonna have to look at your nutrition, and this isn't about weight loss or weight gain or anything like that. I'm not talking really about your calories here, but you are gonna have to be eating a decent amount of protein. If your goal is to be getting stronger and building muscle, okay, this is with a specific goal. You are probably gonna have to consider a little bit more what you're eating before you go to the gym, what you're eating after the go to the gym. You're gonna have to probably work on your sleep a bit more as well. So we're not saying it has to take over your whole entire life, but there are gonna be things you're gonna want to consider to make the most of your time at the gym and for things to be effective. Yeah, you can't it, you know, it really does depend on your goals. And you can you don't have to take it super seriously, but you'd need to put a little bit of effort in.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I think ultimately, if you want to get stronger and see a you know, I'm not saying people want to be bodybuilders, but if people want to see a little bit of muscle definition and feel the difference that they're getting stronger and see that they can, you know, gradually go up in weights, but you have you do have to do those things. Yeah, like I have started eating better, I'm taking creatine every day. I'm gonna steroids. I am taking steroids every day. Um but I'm not. Um, although you looking at my arms, you would think maybe I would think that, yeah. Yeah. But yeah, I like I have since I've had a bit of a like, what am I doing? I have tried to kind of put all those things into practice, not in a really like strict or restrictive or like crazy way, just in a like, um just trying to be a bit more intentional myself. Yeah, the other day I had 125 grams of protein.
SPEAKER_00:Wow, I know I think it is hard to because we see the extreme so often on social media, it is really hard to find the balance that works for you, but you don't need to be living in the extreme to see really good progress. But also, if you I've and I've said this before, if you are someone who wants extreme results, you want to get shredded, you want to have massive muscles, you want to be running, you want to be doing Ironmans and ultramarathons and participating in athletic competitions, such as hierarchs, for example, you're gonna have to take extreme measures if you want to do well in all those things. But if you are someone who just wants to get stronger and build some muscle and actually like you know, start seeing a bit more progress, you need to make some changes probably, but you can still live your life, you can still have fun, you can still have a pint at the weekend, have your takeaway. You don't have to count every single macro, like I'm never gonna count macros.
SPEAKER_02:I'm never gonna count macros.
SPEAKER_00:I can't be bothered, it doesn't fit in in my lifestyle, but I've got to now accept that what I'm not willing to do will ultimately dictate the results I get. Yeah, and I've got to be okay with that, and I am, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, and like I really, really do not want to be because food has always been a thing in my life. I definitely do not want to be, I don't want to be restrictive, I just want to have a really normal relationship with food. Yeah but I like so macros and things for me. I I don't want to be like, you know, an elite athlete. I'm never gonna be. I just want to be somebody who is strong enough to and like has enough fuel and energy to go to the gym and do the things I want to do. Yeah, and I do really enjoy going to the gym, so you know that is something that is important to me, and also I know that if I don't eat properly, I'm tired.
SPEAKER_00:And you're not recovering well. I think recovery is a massive thing as well. I think if you're increasing your overall volume uh each week, so doing more exercise, going to the gym more, you need to like make sure you are getting the good sleep, you are refueling properly, and refueling properly really does mean just a good balanced diet. Yeah, you know, you're not having to really think too hard about things. Um but you're also gonna, I think another big thing people get stuck on, maybe scared of, is is just working that a little bit harder when you're in the gym. Is getting to those uncomfortable reps where normally you it starts to burn a bit and you stop. There is an element of having to push those next couple of reps where you really want to stop. Not to the point where it's unsafe and you're gonna get injured, but to the point where that last rep is an absolute drag and you're it's very slow and it's tough and your muscles are burning. You also, if you want to up-level your gym game, is get used to being in that uncomfortable zone at the end of most of your sets.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. And one thing that helps with that is if you haven't had one, having a PT, they will push you, or just having a good gym friend who will, you know, count your reps and you know, just be like, one more, and things like that.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Well, there's research to show that I can't remember the exact statistics, but it was with people with a person trainer and people who uh didn't have one, or maybe it was they did a training session on their own and they did a training session with a PT and they lifted like substantially more weight when they had a PT session than they did when they were on their own. Yeah. And no time had really passed and nothing had really changed in their life. So you are probably a lot lift heavier weights as well. I think, especially for women and men, actually, I've seen men do it, they're a bit apprehensive to pick up that next weight and they get very comfortable with just doing the same thing every time they go to the gym. I maybe this week, if you're listening to this a challenge for you, go a couple of kilograms heavier on whatever you're doing and see, and just to prove to yourself that you can do it.
SPEAKER_02:Because we are going to have to do a couple of reps, maybe yeah, to find out if it's too much or not.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Um you need to start lifting a bit heavier as well. Probably, I'm gonna guess, just from my experience.
SPEAKER_02:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:Anything else on this particular area?
SPEAKER_02:What was this area? Because I feel like we've just gone off on a tangent about everything.
SPEAKER_00:Well, we just we haven't I think it's hard to encapsulate what do you mean like what upping your gym game means.
SPEAKER_02:I mean, I think look getting a PT is always gonna up your gym game. Um even if you have one session with them. Yeah so that is, but if you can't afford that, there are a lot, you know, like if you want to improve your form or look at some different things, there's so much stuff on social media. You can look at YouTube, you can look on TikTok, Instagram reels, improving your form. Um, like you said, staying, you know, getting a bit more serious, speaking to people. I I've got one here about building muscle.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. How do you do it? How do you build more? Well, lifting heavier, lifting heavier, getting your protein, pushing to failure, like I think that's the biggest thing, even before is increasing the intensity, increasing the the stimulus you're giving to a muscle. So you can do that in loads of ways. But what we want to be doing is in the rep range that you're working within, say oh now that's maybe that's between anywhere between six reps to 12 reps, right? If you are stopping at the last rep, say rep 12, and you're just like, okay, that was easy, you need to go heavier. You need to push on that 12th rep, sorry guys, on whatever rep you're working towards, you want those last two reps to be a fucking struggle. Not to go, yeah, like you're not to the point you're gonna get injured, to the point where you can maintain the form, but it's struggle city, and you're trying to push that weight, squat that weight, pull that weight, whatever. And it's hard, you're sweating, you're out of breath, your heart rate's gone up. You need to be doing that pretty much every single session. Pretty much, okay. Um, obviously, what you can recover from will differ from person to person. This is very generalised, please remember that. That is probably gonna be your biggest thing you're not doing already. Because people who are in their kind of first six years of training and weight lifting properly can build a lot of muscle quite fast and will see a lot of improvements if you're training hard.
SPEAKER_02:Well, and this is what I was gonna say as well like. Actually, as just a regular person going to the gym, it's probably going to take quite a long time to see a significant kind of you'll start to notice it and you'll feel stronger, but like you know, if you want to get ripped, it's gonna take a long time to build that muscle.
SPEAKER_00:Well, if you want to get ripped, and I'm like, and I'm and I'm talking lean, visible abs, vascular, you know, veiny, whatever, that's gonna be your diet. Because me right now, if I did my diet properly, right, and I was I had my protein at a good level and I was in a calorie deficit, not that I like talking about weight that much, but what I'm saying is the reality of getting fucking dick thin shredded is diet.
SPEAKER_02:So it's low body fat as well.
SPEAKER_00:It's low body fat. Even if you've never really worked out that much, if you got that shredded, you'd you'd have you'd look like you had toned muscles and arms. That's all you'd have on your body.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I don't know. But I think it also like a bit more body fat, to be honest.
SPEAKER_00:Exactly. Managing your expectations is quite important. Like, what kind of muscle are you looking to build? Are you looking to looking to look like a jack bodybuilder, or maybe something more along the lines of like a Hyrox athlete, like a female Hyrox athlete who tend to carry a little bit more body fat because they need it, because they're eating to recover and to fuel themselves from all the training they're doing? Like they're not super super shredded, a lot of those women who are doing higher rocks.
SPEAKER_02:What is people's goals? What do they want? Do people know what they want?
SPEAKER_00:I don't think it's necessarily about looks anymore. I think it's about achieving an identity when it and building an identity of like I think that's what people actually, a lot of people see, they see the influence of the matching kit with the really nice supplement bottles and the routine and the and all that, and the people they're hanging out with and the opportunities they're getting and their whole lifestyle. I think people kind of have that in their head a lot of the time.
SPEAKER_02:Well, and it's like we say before, isn't it? Like, you know, you look at these people on social media and they're at the gym all the time and they're doing this and they're wearing this, and like that is their job.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and nothing wrong with wanting that.
SPEAKER_02:No, but it's gonna take a lot of work, and you know, it's gonna be much harder if it's not your job. If it's your job, it's it's easier.
SPEAKER_00:And genetics. Let's not forget about genetics. Some people get really muscular really fast, some people will grow a bum really quickly, other people grow shoulders really quickly. Some people are top heavy, some people are bottom heavy. Like genetics play a massive thing as well. But back to the question of building muscle, yeah, you're gonna have to work fucking hard every single set. You're gonna have to start pushing those weights up, okay? You are gonna have to look at your protein intake and make sure you're hitting, do your own calculations. There's a million different calculators online, work out how much protein you need to build muscle, and maybe you're gonna need to eat a little bit more if you if you're struggling to you're doing all those other things and you're still not putting them on muscle, maybe you need to eat a little bit more. But I'm not gonna go too much into that because it's very personal, like and individual that advice.
SPEAKER_02:So is there anything that you did that made you I mean, I guess it's different for you because you're a personal trainer. Did you go to the gym much before you were a personal trainer?
SPEAKER_00:No, it was my journey in the gym was really quite odd. I um the reason I got into personal training was A because I I lost a lot of weight, but I actually didn't do that health like in a healthy way at all. I was smoking, smoking, drinking coffee, had a really active job, and I was doing drugs all the time. And I was so I just wasn't responsible I just wasn't looking after myself. But obviously, when you're 19 and you've been bigger all your life, now I look back, I was like, wow, I'm amazing. Like every I'm like I need to be a PT. I actually got into personal training because I was much more interested in the self-development, personal development mindset side of things, and fitness just offered that world where I could talk to people about it and help them. Yeah, because you know I was a toxic bro, absolutely, um, but I never had I've had a couple of personal trainers on and off, but nothing more than maybe a month at a time because I don't like being told what to do. So everything I have learned is through qualifications and most of and not even that much, and just learning online and applying it.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Because I'm interested in it, it just seems to sink in my brain, and then I just can do it. But there's a put so many resources out there for you.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. If you don't want to pay for someone to tell you, yeah, and you'll know if someone's good or not by like looking at the sort of people that follow them.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Like we've like when it comes to people that are in the health and fitness world, the sort of people that we follow, they tend to follow and shout out each other. They're those kind of people do tend to be a little bit connected.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:I think you can tell who's toxic and who isn't.
SPEAKER_00:I think the non-toxic ones are the ones that aren't giving you a simple solution. Like, as in they're not trying to sell you supplements, they're not trying to say solve this, solve all your problems with this one solution. Then they're real, they're being like, Yeah, this might work, this might not, or yeah, take this with a pinch of salt. You can just tell who's genuine and who's not. I think all if it's got too many fashion lights and they look a bit grifty, follow your listen to your gut.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Can I just say I am so bloody freezing? Are you? My fingers are cold. I'm gonna put my heating on when we come off here because I'm cold.
SPEAKER_00:Have we got any other questions? Have we got any questions in?
SPEAKER_02:Uh so we got obviously we had one from our dear friend Rachel, which had nothing to do with the podcast. So we don't need to go through that. No. I don't think she even listens to the podcast. I don't think she does. Rachel is obsessed with a certain Baker. Baker from Norwich. You'll know who he is. Um and yeah, so she's says that. Yeah. Um, and then we had one question which I kind of broke down into the poll that we had today. So, you know, how do you how do you improve your form? Um setting goals, building muscle, and how to stay consistent. So we have a whole podcast on consistency. Um you can go back through our archives and listen to that because we talk about it extensively, and we do talk about it really in a lot of the things we say, don't we? Like, you know, so um we're not gonna go over that. We've just done building muscle, we've done about form and setting goals. I mean, what do you want? Yeah. When I worked in my old job, um we and I think this is used kind of like across everything, but we used to so I worked in education, so we had students that you'd have to set targets and goals for. So we used to do it like the smart way, so it's specific, measurable, is it achievable, realistic, and in a time frame? And that is kind of a good way to look at it, like you know, what is it? Can you measure it? Can you actually do it? Is it achievable? Is it realistic? And when can you do it by?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, but if even if you can't think of something like a specific goal like that right now, your goal could simply be right, I want to level up in my gym game for the next six weeks of sessions. I'm gonna put in a hundred percent to every single set I do, and I'm gonna challenge myself to go up in weight in all my exercises and kind of step out of my comfort zone a bit.
SPEAKER_02:That's a goal. Might just be to try one new exercise a week.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Or to go to the gym, you know, like me when who I was only going to the gym to do weights and strength like once a week, go twice a week. Yeah. Like it can just be really easy, can't it? Like, you know, if you are a fairly new beginner wanting to gain more confidence, it could just be to watch, you know, watch more bodybuilding videos. Yeah, I I was gonna say Netflix, but I meant TikTok videos of people that are, you know, showing things.
SPEAKER_00:And just manage your expectations, like building lots of muscle is a long, grueling, harder task. And a lot of the people you're seeing online, they are assisted, and by assisted I mean they are taking steroids of some form to enhance their ability to grow muscle and all that kind of stuff, right?
SPEAKER_02:You might still need to watch that documentary on iPlay Robots.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, don't bother. Is it bad? It's it's not even really about steroids, it's about the the criminal gang that started like selling them. Oh. It's just this like father and son duo and oh, okay. Yeah. I mean, watch it if you want. I started watching, I thought.
SPEAKER_02:I mean, I do love a good drug gang, so Yeah, I mean, by all means if you've got a spare three hours.
SPEAKER_00:But how long is it? I think it's like inter-episodes, yeah. Oh, okay, yeah, no, I'm not into that. Um have we have we pretty much covered how to level up your gym game? I think so. I mean Yeah. I think so. Go a couple more times a week, push yourself a bit harder, eat a bit more protein and sleep a bit more. And you should research research and you should be well on your way and just don't expect loads of change really quickly because that's just not gonna happen, unfortunately. It's boring, building muscle, getting stronger, like the actual process is just long and boring. Yeah, but you will look like a strong daddy when you've finished, absolutely, or a muscle mummy, yeah, which is kind of cool.
SPEAKER_02:It is like I am so proud that I have got some muscles now. Yeah, exactly. You keep getting your guns out, everybody's I know, because actually, like I've always had quite strong and like quite muscly legs, but I've never had any kind of definition in the top part of my body, and like now every time I go out, I'm like, oh yeah, look at this.
SPEAKER_00:It's not even about all about like actually looking stronger. Sometimes, like, like look at strong people who do the strong man stuff. If you actually looked at them, like they they don't necessarily have the most defined muscles and stuff, but they are so strong, they're probably stronger than most bodybuilders.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Because actually, like muscular, like hypertrophic building muscle is different to strength training. So decide what it is you want. Is it just purely being as strong as possible? You don't really care, you know, if if your arm, your biceps are big or not, or is it aesthetic for you? Neither's right, neither's wrong, it just is what it is.
SPEAKER_02:I mean, I do want big shoulders and a back and arms now. There we go. I do also want to be strong. Yeah, I like I don't I don't want to be a strong man because I don't care about lift I don't want to I I don't care if I never want I never care about like deadlifting 150 kilos. Like I'm not that impressed by how heavy someone can lift she's like what but like you know I don't I don't if I can lift a hundred kilos great but like I I'm I'm not I'm just I don't know You're not about the numbers I'm not about the numbers about how you feel yeah yeah I am about how I feel and you know I need to be able to carry two pugs at the same time I need to be able to take every single bag of shopping from the big shop in on both arms at once because I will not go two trips to the car and there we go that's it that's it well fantastic right then should we round off yes thank you for listening make sure that you like follow subscribe review because it does help us share yeah engage with us talk to us tell us what you want if you liked this all of those things um what episode was this 26 yeah and uh next week we'll be back with episode 27 wow we're heading towards 30 look at us go right then see you next week bye