David Campbell Personal Trainer

First post in 2 years 👋

I don’t rely on social media to run my 15+ year personal training business. This can be seen as a weakness that I’m missing out on social media business I personally don’t look at it in that way and I’m happy with what I do.

Thanks always to my clients over the decades 😂💪✅

But I thought since it’s half way through the year it’s time to share what’s been happening behind the scenes.

As always busy training my one to one PT clients but I’m still grafting away regardless of set backs to health and or injuries!

Always practice what I preach…

This year my own schedule has been tight but consistent:

4-6 hours per week structured bike training.
3 weight sessions per week 1 legs, 2 upperbody.

No excuses, no “off-seasons” from strength training. At 85kg bodyweight I’m still adding or holding strength in the gym while building the engine on the bike.

The results?

New personal best power for 5min, 30min, 45min, AND 1hr on the bike this year. Proof that you can get stronger and more powerful at the same time if you’re smart with programming and recovery.

Big test so far this year was Étape Loch Ness- 104km, 1000m + climbing. Finished 30th over all my Best time I’ve ever ridden the course, cramping last 10k meant I couldn’t go sub 2.50 but proud I suffered all the way to the end 😂

For me, coaching isn’t about being the fastest or strongest human in the room. It’s about showing what’s possible with consistency, effort , and a plan.

Rest of the year I’ll continue to try and get better on the bike and eek out some strength gains in the gym 💪✅

Training update nobody asked for or needs to hear 😂 but you’ve heard it all before always try to block out the outside noise of social media and other humans! As let’s be brutally honest as I’m infamous for, it’s mostly full of utter nonsense.

Simply compare yourself to yourself, are you progressing towards your goals, I’ve always found having personal goals the best thing for my own physical and mental health.

Current Week overview;

Monday - AM - full body weights 💪
PM - spin class zone 1 recovery
Tuesday - longer zone 2 ride
Wednesday - Vo2 max intervals
Thursday- AM - spin class zone 1 recovery
AM-Full body weights 💪
Friday - OFF
Saturday - zone 2 or threshold work
Sunday - zone 2 or threshold work

Will keep this going over the summer and hopefully progress my fitness on the bike whilst maintaining strength 🤞💪

Well it’s been a couple years since my last post 😂 Etape Loch Ness 2024 completed yesterday in a record time for myself but more importantly a decent jump in the power I am able to produce.

The increase in fitness as shown from my training data is simply from consistent graft, the most consistent I’ve been with this type of training and the most I’ve stuck to proper structure.

First 3 months of this year I stuck to between 4-6 hours of specific structured training per week split over 4 weekly workouts.

I reduced weight training to 2 full body workouts per week keeping everything ticking over except calfs obviously I still forget to train those 🤪

Posting this to try and keep myself accountable going forward and stick to this schedule over the summer to keep myself progressing. As always no nonsense advice here just honest work 💪

First time back on the bike for a while, due to a recurrence of my nemesis injury the left hamstring of which this time my adductor joined the party 🤦‍♂️😂 this time i flared it up hill walking on Skye. Mr glass strikes again! 🤬

Didn’t feel great on the bike today and physio letting me know be a long road back, my legs are now the size they were about 15 years ago reminiscent of tooth picks but on a positive note my jeans haven’t fitted better in years 😂

Hopefully get Back to some proper leg training asap 🤞💪

Still don’t like cycling but it’s the cardio I hate the least and it’s good for my mental health and a bit of sun never hurts 🏝

Find the training you like if you are lucky or do the training you hate the least, I’m hoping to actually start trying with my training and nutrition after my birthday obviously 🤪💪 hope you’ve had a good weekend in the sun ☀️

First Etape Loch Ness yesterday and what a shift I had to put in 🤦‍♂️😂 legs not too bad today but the immune system must of taken a hit as the old sinuses are blocked up to the max today 🤢😷

I still don’t enjoy cycling but I do like having a goal and trying to better myself, I did it with weight training for over a decade and now I’m trying to get better with the hateful cardio 😂

Weight training is still in 3 times a week but I really need to focus on better structured training on the bike going forward.

Train anyway you like to keep your physical and mental health in a positive place.

Easy week this week and I’ll get back to it ASAP 💪

Hey folks back for one of my biannual posts then I’ll be out.

Lots going on in the world at present but I’ll stick to my field with this one.

One of the main focuses a PT should have is teaching clients the safe and correct ex*****on of exercises, sounds quite simple but the amount of absolute madness I see posted on social media is genuinely baffling to me!

Training clients and NOT correcting poor technique is not the clients fault... we all remember the ‘boom time’ fiasco that went viral years ago.

This unacceptable behaviour from so called PT’s reminds me of those humans that go on the Xfaxtor and are so delusional believe they sound like a prime Whitney Houston when in fact they sound like that noise cats make when fighting with each other.

Please for the love of humanity learn how to coach clients correctly before posting it up on social media, not only is it bad for the client but it will poorly inform beginners watching the videos believing this is correct technique as surely a so called fitness professional surely wouldn’t post up incorrect training techniques 🤷🏻‍♂️👀🎣💪

On a positive ending there are plenty good trainers and training courses available so we can turn the tide of this worrying trend 🤞🤞

Have a good weekend 💪

It’s January again and I’m sure a lot of people will be looking to drop some festive weight, unfortunately it’s also when most of the social media marketing fad diet nonsense comes out in force as well.

Annoyingly these types of companies and or reps are fully aware that this can be a vulnerable time of year for people but sell them the sh*te anyway!

I advise you to think on the following instead, you may have just ate and drank an unbelievable amount over the last 2 weeks but please don’t go from that to licking a plain chicken breast and staring at broccoli. This will not be sustainable at all and I always promote long term sustainability for clients.

Aim for a small calorie deficit, workout maintenance calories using a online calculator or pay me to tell you 😜 create a deficit that will suit your own goal and current lifestyle in order for you to lose weight safely and effectively.

Increase daily movement slowly if 0 is on the sofa all day watching Netflix maybe up it to like a 5 by adding in some daily steps, a lot of fitness tracking watches nowadays and everyone loves to quote the 10k steps per day goal.

Increase your protein intake which helps in many ways but it’s great for keeping you fuller for longer.

Add in portions of fruit/veg to your diet maybe in place of all the Christmas chocolate you’ve got stock piled in the cupboard. Humans this shouldn’t be much of a task but simply increasing your fruit/veg intake will help you.

Weight/Resistance training will help you build muscle and in my opinion is superior to cardio for long term sustainable fat loss. If you are struggling to known where to start then get advice from a reputable trainer.

Have a good weekend folks 💪

Happy new year folks and a big thank you at all my clients past present and future.

I’ve been doing this a long time so long in fact I can’t remember if this is my 11th or 12th year 😂 anyway this is my first post in 6 months and most likely be another 6 months before you have to read my nonsense again.

My feelings regarding social media I’ve made clear in the past but to summarise I like the honesty and accountability of one to one training, the amount of lunacy posted by humans in my field never fails to amaze me so I try to avoid it and focus on helping my own clients as best as I possibly can.

Time off over Christmas and new year has been amazing with friends and family I’m very lucky ❤️ a common misconception about us trainers is that we love training so it’s easy for us... I’ll be very honest here I’ve not enjoyed training since Paul Scholes scored that absolute all time classic goal against that prime Barca team in the champions league semi final 😂 and I’m dreading a return to my own training.

Never feel alone on this topic I’m sure a lot of you reading this will be feeling similar thoughts regarding your own returns to training.

The only relevant advice I have and I hope it’s helpful as for me training is a must as even though I don’t enjoy it at the time for the most part it’s a miracle for my mental health and I can’t recommend it enough to everyone especially this time of year so get back to it!

If anyone is looking for training please don’t message me unless you are serious about a 2022 comeback on par with Tiger Woods 🤪

Have a great year folks 💪

Hey folks hope you’ve all been keeping well, I’m back again briefly for an update then I’m out.

Recently turned 34 👀 and along with that some chat in my private client accountability group had me thinking.

Perspective as I’ve discussed many times before is something very important to long term sustainable success in anything we do.

If during my mid twenty’s you told me at 34 you’d only be doing cardio (I’ll get to why in a minute) I’d of laughed my head off at you as lifting was everything at that stage of my life. Amazingly doing nothing else for a decade pretty much got me very strong at everything (except lying hamstring curls 😂)

The last year more so than usual even for my bad luck and terrible genetics I’ve been ravaged by injuries which I’ll admit has been hard to take (complete first world problems) but I’m doing everything the physio is telling me to do and the last 6 months I’ve lifted little to no weights at all instead I’ve walked, cycled and done whatever rehab physio stuff they gave me.

The point of this drivel is even though I had a good sulk about it, I then got practical and have done what I can do even though I always have disliked cardio 😂 motivation is a temporary thing you must get disciplined to do it anyway even when you don’t want too those are the people who sustainably get better!

Even though I don’t really like doing it and I don’t really like lifting weights anymore 😂 I do it for the simple challenge against myself to get better and push myself to do so.

Fingers crossed I’ll be back pain free and moving properly ASAP have a great week folks 💪

Hey folks hope everyone is excited about the gym opening again next week, I know I am.

I just wanted to come out of social media hibernation with hopefully a positive and motivational post.

I’ve always ran an accountability group of some kind with my clients over the years and the last year it’s proved to be a source of help and encouragement not only for my clients but myself. Clearly you can see from the examples shown it’s not just about the simple things of posting up, walks, food, training and the dogs (my favourite part 🤪) it’s about a group of humans just all trying to get a bit better regardless of what life throws at them.

All the ups and downs and in between they stuck together pitching in with help from all the wide variety of experiences they’ve had over the years. It’s not about the perfect life you see these clowns posting on Instagram and the spreadsheet life it’s about people going through all manner of mental and physical issues and treating them all as individuals in order to get them the specific help they need.

I would like to thank my group of clients for helping each other out through tough times mentally and over some very tough illnesses and treatments. I’m proud of you all, although some more than others 🤪🎣💪❤️

I will always try to get the best out of you all 💪