Simon
When Simon joined the service, I had only been coaching online for a few months.
Looking back now, I was still finding my feet. I certainly wouldn’t have believed that two years later I’d be standing in the New Forest, watching one of my own clients cross the finish line of his first marathon.
But that’s exactly where this journey led.
The starting point
When Simon came on board, he knew something was off.
He was working full time, raising a young family and living on a farm, with animals to care for before and after the working day. Life was full, demanding and relentless.
His health had slowly slipped down the priority list and it was starting to show.
Energy was low, consistency was hard to maintain and everything felt more difficult than it needed to be.
Simon didn’t come in chasing perfection.
He came in recognising that if he got himself into better shape, life would be easier for everyone around him.
Getting the order right
From the outset, one thing was clear: Simon is a family man.
What stood out was his awareness that to be the best dad, partner and son he could be, he had to look after himself first. Not out of selfishness but responsibility.
That mindset shaped everything we did.
We worked through clear phases, learning along the way. In fact, working with Simon played a big role in developing what later became our Plan, Protect, Perform process.
The plan phase
We started by stripping things back.
The goal was fat loss but never at the expense of family life. Everything was balanced, sustainable and realistic. When holidays arrived or Christmas rolled around, we pulled the handbrake.
Family always came first. As it should.
Despite that flexibility, the results were significant:
Just under 55lbs of body fat lost!
More importantly, Simon felt lighter, more capable and back in control.
The protect phase
Next came the work that really mattered.
The aim here was to make Simon’s new weight his new normal. We locked in habits that would protect the progress he’d earned.
Simple changes made a big difference:
🚴 Riding to work instead of driving
🚶 More daily movement
🍽 Better structure around food
😴 Greater awareness of recovery
Nothing flashy. Just habits that fit his life and supported it.
The perform phase
Then came the sentence that changed everything:
“I’m thinking about doing a marathon.”
That was our cue.
Training shifted, purpose sharpened and the performance phase began. The goal wasn’t just to run 26.2 miles but to prove what was possible when health became a priority again.
The bigger win
Crossing the finish line in the New Forest, two years after joining the service, symbolised far more than the miles Simon ran that day.
It represented a complete shift in how he looked after himself.
A commitment to health that created the environment for him to be the father, partner and son his family deserves.
Here’s to becoming our best selves, not just for us, but for the people who matter most.