Holderness Health

Roda Ireland stepped on stage at Natural Bodybuilding Australia for her first ever bikini/bodybuilding competition.

🥇 1st Swimsuit Novice
🥈 2nd Swimsuit First Season
🥉 3rd Bikini Over 30
🥉 3rd Bikini Mums
4th Bikini First Season
4th Swimsuit Open

Six divisions, six placings, and a gold medal in her first show.

15 weeks of prep as a busy mum juggling family life. Every check-in on time, every session done, every meal weighed. Even with getting sick during peak week, she just kept executing.

Really proud of what you achieved Roda. Onto the next 💪

Roda Ireland
jackson ireland
WORLD GYM BURPENGARY
N i k
Natural Bodybuilding Australia

A good program should evolve, not constantly restart.

Progress is not always exciting or obvious. Some weeks feel strong, others feel flat, which is why one session should not decide whether a program is working.

Track the bigger picture: load, repetitions, technique, effort, recovery and consistency.

Variety has a place, but it should support the plan, not replace it.

Don’t confuse a lack of novelty with a lack of progress.

Injuries are often spoken about like there has to be one obvious reason behind them, one bad rep, one weak area, one mistake in technique or one thing the person “should have done better.”

Sometimes there is a clear explanation, especially with direct trauma. But a lot of training-related injuries are more complicated than that. What matters is the full picture: the demands someone has been exposed to, how prepared they were for those demands, what had changed recently, how their training was structured and what state they were in at the time.

That doesn’t mean technique, joint position, load, recovery or programming don’t matter. They do. It means none of them should be looked at on their own and treated like they automatically explain the injury.

Good coaching isn’t about trying to make someone completely injury-proof. It’s about building capacity, progressing exposure properly, managing recovery and making better decisions based on the person in front of you.

We can’t remove every injury risk, but we can understand it better, reduce the chances and help people become more prepared for what they’re asking their body to do.

4 weeks out Roda Ireland 👊

Coming in really well!

Roda came to me 11 weeks ago and we jumped straight in. I usually prefer an offseason or a few months with a new client before prep. Not always for size, but to actually understand how their body responds to training and nutrition and to make sure health, habits, sleep, digestion and recovery fundamentals are consistent. Makes prep decisions easier down the line.

First time working together AND doing it in prep haha.

She’s made it work, asked the right questions, trusted the plan, stayed consistent and only had 2 mini freak outs when weight didn’t drop - which it always did days later lol 😜

First show with NBA in 4 weeks. Proud of her and excited to see her up there 👏🏻🔥

Roda Ireland
Natural Bodybuilding Australia

Tracking macros often gets a bad rap.

I get it. For some people it feels annoying, time-consuming, or something only bodybuilders need to do.

But I think a lot of people write it off before they’ve actually given it a proper chance.

Tracking isn’t a rule. It’s just a tool.

And when it’s used properly, it gives you something most people are missing with nutrition, which is clarity.

A lot of people genuinely don’t know what they’re eating. Not because they’re lazy or lying to themselves, but because it’s hard to judge food accurately by eye.

Oil doesn’t look like much.
Sauces get forgotten.
Snacks don’t feel like they “count”.
Weekends can undo a lot without feeling that different.

So when someone says they’re in a deficit but the scale isn’t moving, or they’re trying to build muscle but protein is inconsistent, tracking gives us something to actually work from.

As a coach, that matters a lot.

If I can see what’s happening, I can make better decisions.

Is protein too low?
Are calories creeping up?
Are weekends the issue?
Is it actually a plateau, or has consistency dropped off a bit?

Without that data, I’m guessing. With it, we can adjust properly.

That doesn’t mean everyone needs to track forever. It doesn’t mean everyone needs to track perfectly. And it definitely doesn’t mean it’s the right tool for every person.

Sometimes calories and protein is enough.
Sometimes full macros are useful.
Sometimes a portion-based approach is better.
Sometimes we don’t track at all.

The point is using the right tool at the right time.

The goal isn’t perfection. It’s clarity.

Nutrition coaching isn’t one-size-fits-all 🍽️

Different clients need different levels of structure depending on their goal, experience, lifestyle, food confidence, training demands, and how much detail they can realistically stick to.

For some, that means tracking calories and protein.

For others, it means full macro tracking.

For clients who need more detail, we can also track all macros, fibre and electrolytes.

Some prefer recipe-based meal plans with portions, cooking steps, grocery lists, meal swaps and snack options built in.

Others need a detailed meal plan. For that, I use a formula spreadsheet I built myself to calculate calories, macros, micronutrient and electrolyte targets, structure meals across the day, set up 7-day carb cycling where needed, and check the plan against those requirements before it’s finalised.

Other clients do better with my Meal Plan Builder system, which uses protein, carb and fat serves to give more flexibility without tracking every gram.

The point isn’t to force everyone into one method.

It’s to use the right tool for the right person, so nutrition feels easier to follow, flexible enough for real life, and specific enough to drive results.

If you’d like me to take a look at what you’re currently doing with your nutrition and give you some guidance on what I’d adjust, simplify or structure better, DM me or comment “NUTRITION” below 👇🏼

2008 → 2011 → 2016.
72kg → 98kg (natural) → 118kg.

Do I miss being big? Yeah.
Do I miss eating 7 times a day, being out of breath tying my shoes, sweating through every meal, and never being able to sit comfortably anywhere? Not really 😂

Loved every minute of it though. Still do, just differently now 👏🏻

Why exercise alone might not lead to weight loss.

Most people assume more training = more weight loss. The reality is messier — the body is good at quietly compensating for the calories you burn.

Two big reasons:

Appetite goes up. Hard training increases hunger, and most people unconsciously eat the calories back without even noticing.

NEAT goes down. After a tough session you sit more, move less, take the lift instead of the stairs. The calories burned in the gym get clawed back across the rest of your day.

Swipe through for the full breakdown ➡️

The shortcut to remember: diet drives weight loss. Training drives body composition. You need both — and the bridge between them is protein.

I’ve put together a free Protein Guide that covers how much you actually need based on your goal, what it looks like in real food, and the myths to ignore.

Comment or DM me “PROTEIN” and I’ll send it over.

Most people don’t fail at nutrition because they’re lazy or unmotivated.

They fail because every meal becomes a guess, and the guessing wears you down long before the training does.

The way I approach nutrition with clients is built around taking that guesswork out, while teaching you enough that you actually understand the why behind it. Because a plan that works for 6 weeks doesn’t help you in month 7.

Depending on what suits you, it might look like macro tracking to learn what food really contains, habit-based work with no tracking at all, personalised meal plans built into your app, nutrition education, or a mix of all of the above.

The approach fits the person, not the other way round.

Less guesswork. More structure. Practical, non-restrictive strategies that fit real life.

If you’re not sure what would suit you or want to know more, DM me and we can chat 👊