Dave Watkeys

Unstoppable 😮‍💨🚀

Bloody heck Gerdoux Le Roux has been a remarkable client and a true honour to work with.

As I told him this week, a coach will get a small handful of clients like himself in a 20-year career.

Someone who is extraordinarily driven in all areas of life, does not lose focus, is not distracted by the new and shiny, gives you enough time, has a deep mutual respect for one another, and commits to the process of truly changing who you are and building a formidable physique.

I still remember my first consultation with Gerdoux and he was completely scattered. I could see the frustration and disappointment. He had been let down by his previous coach and he was very skeptical of me🤣

It then took another year before Gerdoux hired me and now here we are🚀

A new man physically and mentally.

Losing this much body fat and gaining this much muscle over the years does not happen by accident or by winging it.

Clear intentional phases, clear strategies for long-term planning, trust, patience and constantly moving forward month by month.

Many don’t know that Gerdoux immigrated by himself, works an unbelievable amount of hours AND has studied extensively in our time together, attaining new qualifications.

He has always found a way to get it done, he has always delivered and he should get all the credit for the man he has become.

With Gerdoux and I both being a similar age and both making a huge shift in our lives trajectory over the last few years, I’m immensely proud of him and this has been a special journey for both of us!🙌

I am taking on only TWO more new clients in September with my exams to complete.

If you’re ready, complete an application form and I’ll be in contact ASAP🫡

Addiction

6 years ago I almost lost everything to addiction.

For years I lived in shame and embarrassment about who I was and at one point, I felt I was never going to make it out.

Somehow, someway I managed to pull myself out.

The last few years have been far more manageable but addiction never leaves you.

When Odette and I started discussing wanting to start a family of our own, I knew I had to seek professional guidance and not enter that new chapter of my life without answers and clarity.

For the past 8 months I’ve been routinely undergoing counseling for addiction and it’s genuinely been one of the most empowering and liberating experiences I’ve ever had.

I finally have answers to why I am a certain way.

Everything about me and my life makes complete sense now.

People close to me have commented on how calm I have been this year and I have found a new level of peace, purpose and gratitude.

Huge thank you to Tim from addiction recovery Pretoria for helping me through this entire process.

And the biggest thank you to my wife Odette, who has stood by me, supported me and been the love that I have always needed.

Here’s to the rest of my life being sober, taking care of myself and being grateful for this journey of life.

A short story about Odette Watkeys 🤣

Educational post on body composition vs endurance based activities✅

I’m using Abdul Junior as a great reference and example of the difference between pursuing body composition goals vs his recent venture into some long distance running.

In March 2026, he was at a photoshoot level of conditioning after a 6-week prep of advanced fat loss (just remember Abdul spent years building muscle before that, going through multiphasic dieting).

The most recent pictures on the right are after continuing to still strength train consistently but with the addition of some half and full marathons.

Fortunately for us, Abdul is incredibly consistent, driven and adherent, therefore we have a fairly accurate display of how the body adapts to different stimuli and the way it changes visually, as a result of that.

Body composition pursuits and endurance based pursuits are very different, particularly from a nutritional standpoint.

In endurance based activity, you can’t be in an energy deficit. You must much your input with your output. If you attempt to be in a deficit to lose body fat, it will impede your endurance based activity performance, it will be extremely hard to manage your hunger regulation and it is highly likely you will lose muscle, as your body deprioritizes muscle, as it deems it not necessary for the endurance based stimulus being applied.

Put simply, body composition pursuits and endurance based pursuits work through different pathways and require different approaches.

If you look on social media at the moment, there is a huge popularity in jacked, lean individuals, also doing endurance based events BUT they were jacked and lean BEFORE making that transition (much like Abdul).

But to the general public, they can often make the assumption that they can pursue cross interfering goals all at once.

What generally happens when someone does that, is that there is a weak stimulus in all departments, not much progress is made, the individual then starts to lose interest, adherence drops and things fizzle out.

I am not discouraging any pursuit of any endeavour but it’s important to understand the mechanisms behind each one, and get RESULTS✅