My 2022 Summer Shredding Routine

What's going on guys, welcome back to another video. The sun is back out in Marbella, everyone is training their ass off here. You can feel there's a good energy in the gym leading up to summer. So today, just about to hit a session myself. I'm feeling great, actually slept 8 hours last night, so I'm in top form right now. I'm also going to talk about what my diet and training is going to be like leading up to summer. So give video a thumbs up, subscribe if you're new here, let's get into it. Started off on the leg press that I love so much. The plane of motion is just amazing. Actually feels better than squats. I know, blasphemy, dare I say it. We did 4 sets of that. The rep range today was 8 to 12. Then after that, we went on some landmine squats. Really good movement to just change things up. Something that I don't think about doing a lot. You just use the T-bar row. You jack it into a corner, or if you have an attachment, use that, and then and you kind of hold it here like just if you're gonna do a landmine press. So it's kind of similar to a goblet squat. Really good movement, really good variation. After that, okay, we went on to the Pit Shark machine and this is my variation for stiff leg deadlifts, okay? Just absolutely insane contraction and something that I kind of find difficult to get a contraction on is stiff leg deadlifts with a barbell. I'm better at them with dumbbells but just with that machine, amazing. And my mental cue here is Imagine there's a light switch on a wall behind you and you're trying to turn on the lights with your ass. Think of pushing your glutes to the wall behind you. That's like pretty much the only way I can get a good contraction on my hamstrings and glutes with that variation. Afterwards, we went on some leg extensions, some seated hamstring curls, and of course calf work. And when I'm cutting down, I try to pay a little more attention to my ab work. I usually do about 3 exercises, 3 sets of 20 in each one. I find this actually does make a huge difference and to just make your abs more prominent. With my diet, okay, so there's a couple of levels that I've figured out over the years of kind of how lean I want to get or if I want to gain weight. These are like my numbers, tried and tested, of the levels of calories that I eat at depending on goals. Now, through trial and error, I figured out that my maintenance around 3,000 calories, which is nice and sustainable for me. So if I want to cut down and lose fat at a good rate, 2,500— this is what I'm currently on now— is pretty good for me. If I want to get shredded, I will go to— let's see if we can even get like a chart over here with different levels of calorie intake— if I want to get shredded, I drop it down to about 2,200 to 2,300 calories. And the lowest I've ever gone, I think I only stayed here for maybe 3 weeks, was in competition prep. It was 2,000 calories daily, and I was also doing cardio. Pretty much 5 days a week. And of course I competed and won my show. Crazy conditioning, vein running from my quad to my chest, okay? Disgusting, right? Super lean. So then if I want to gain weight, I roughly, I'm a bit conservative with bulking and being in a surplus. So I usually do about 3,200 calories to just gain weight really slowly. Again, I haven't done that kind of bulk in many years because I just don't think there's much point for me. I'm more about main gaining now and staying lean, but they are my kind of different calorie levels that I use and that I go to depending on my goal. So right now we're at 2,500. Maybe I'll drop it down to 2,200, 2,300 as we get closer to the summer. With cardio, as you saw there, we did some conditioning work. And what I love about this is that it's just so fun to do and also looks cool for the camera. I'll just be honest, that's a big reason I do it. Just looks cool, okay? It's interesting. But most of the time I just do 5 sessions post-workout, 30 minutes, this. Okay. The only thing is I can't record that. Blaz would fall asleep at the camera if he was recording me on the StairMaster for 30 minutes at the same pace. But I do emails, I listen to podcasts, and it honestly feels like 5 or 10 minutes. So that is my current plan coming up this summer. And now I've also got a lot of questions here on Instagram that I'm going to go through. We're just going to have a little chat and drink a coffee as well. So hope you're enjoying this laid back video. Oh, it's good coffee. Oh, it's a very good coffee. Let's put some carcinogen powder in. It's a sweetener. People get upset about this now. A fitness YouTuber drinking sweetener? Oh my God, how could you? That coffee isn't a plain black iced coffee. How are you drinking milk? I'm estimating this to be about 150 calories. It's not going to break the bank. Not drinking black coffee because I love myself. Main source of income. People, like, they don't even ask me training and nutrition questions anymore because I've answered all of them. People always just ask, especially with the house and stuff, just ask business questions. But main source of income would just be everything that just revolves around fitness, such as coaching, the app, and sponsorships. So they'd be kind of, you know, just the bulk of what I do. And then any other projects, I kind of usually reinvest them. Miami or Marbella? Marbella, hands down. Miami is the most expensive place I've ever been to. I'm gonna put a receipt on the screen so you know I'm not lying, okay? Me and Linda went out for lunch, we got salads, and it was just under $100. It was $90. It's honestly— it's the most expensive place I've ever been to. I absolutely love it, it's so much fun, it's beautiful, there's great people there, but, um, It's just so expensive. I don't know if I could see myself living there. Best chest exercise for a solid session? My all-time favorite chest exercise that I've seen kind of the most results with is incline dumbbell press. Just the stretch you can get on it, it's a compound movement, you can go heavy, you can do different variations. Incline dumbbell press, king. USA or Europe? So before the pandemic, I don't know if many of you guys know this, I was actually I pretty much got an O-1 visa to live in America. And then, of course, pandemic happened. Travel between Europe was shut down. So I called it off. You know, I kind of just, you know, forgot about it. And then I realized how much I actually love being in Europe, how we can just travel an hour and you're in a different country, entirely different city. I can get home. I can go to Spain. You can get the sun, you get the snow, you can get anything. So I do love Europe and there's just such a nice laid-back vibe to it. So As much as I love visiting America, I think I'll always probably base myself in Europe. How often do you journal and what do you write? I journal every single day, and most of the time I write out the main things that I want to get done that day, and I also write out what I'm grateful for. That's it, nothing excessive. It takes a couple minutes. I usually do it in the morning or I do it in the evening before I go to sleep. And yeah, it's one of the best habits that I've ever built up, and it's just so easy to do. Just jot down your thoughts, what you're grateful for, and the main things you want to get done. I usually put them in order of importance, and let's say I write down 6 things, I'll just obviously concentrate on the first 3. And let's say I don't complete something, it just falls onto the next day. So that's how I get shit done. Best place to train in Marbella? So I think it kind of depends on the season. Right now at this time of the year, I train a lot in Paddle Club, but during the summer, not only does it get just so hot it gets insanely busy because it's like a tourist attraction. Like, you know, people come here to just like see it, you know, because it's like a circus. It's crazy. So then last summer I trained in UP the most and the IO as well. How is Marbella in May? I think May is one of the best times of year to go. June, July, and August. So me and Linda, we actually— there's a hotel in Marbella that we stayed in, Ibiza, and we wanted to try the Marbella one this summer, and we went and it's booked out every single day. Monday to Sunday, it's booked out for June, July, August. Literally, that's how busy Marbella will get in the summer. So May and September and actually October are great times to go. Current split. So when I'm training, like, you know, at my best, 6 days a week, legs, push, pull, legs, push, pull. Let me know actually if you want me to film a complete kind of tutorial, like, you know, day 1, day 2, day 3, day 4, day 5, day 6. Like I did many years ago of my famous legs push-pull workout. It's just a split I love. My clients love it too. I've seen a lot of good results on it. So let me know if you'd like that series. We can film it in a week, you know what I mean? And like release the videos day by day. So that'd be really cool. And then I could also do my 5-day program, which again, if I know I'm not going to make it to the gym 6 days per week, legs push-pull upper lower. Also an amazing split that you still hit every body part twice a week. 5 days a week is a lot more realistic. For most people. They're the main splits I follow. 3 days a week full body is what I do if I'm super busy. How can I start coaching/personal training like you? What do I need to do? Well, get yourself a certification first. There's a lot of people like kind of doing it without one, and I would really not recommend that. Just adds a lot more credibility to you. That was another question, and it's like, it's a gray area because you can obviously give like advice in YouTube videos if you're not certified. Like, you don't have to be certified to like vlog your fitness journey. But if you want to like coach people, then definitely do get a certification first. And then really, um, just kind of develop a process or a software that flows, that you can manage your clients via email, Google Drive, whatever kind of system you want to use. Just make it flow well with check-ins and how you can give replies and feedback quickly as well. And even hire people in time to help you manage it better. That's what I do now as well. And again, I take on about 5 people that I work one-on-one with every single month. So, you know, I'm not, you know, inundated with too many people. So if you want to be one of those 5 people leading up to summer for this month, I'm currently taking in April applications. So just hit the first link in the bio, fill out the form, and if we're a good fit, I'll send you a WhatsApp and we have a call, talk things through. How do you stay motivated and positive when you feel burnt out? When I feel burnt out and if I'm negative and I start complaining, guess what? I feel more burnt out. That doesn't help me at all. So if I start, you know, even if I, if I really don't want to feel positive and I don't want to put on a brave face and smile, if I start looking at the glass half full, guess what? I feel better. So to answer your question, when I feel burnt out, it just makes me feel worse if I start complaining. You know, when people start saying things that make them weak It's not good. You're just going to feel worse. Okay? Like when you put something out there, when you say something, it becomes real. So if you start all this negative self-talk when you're feeling bad, you're going to feel even worse. So, you know, look yourself in the mirror, give yourself a little pep talk, smile, smile at yourself in the mirror like a crazy person and see if it makes you feel better. I know it makes me feel better. Maybe I'm just crazy. Do you recommend cheat days? No, not necessarily. Cheat days. Okay, even that word has a kind of negative connotation to it. Cheating is a bad thing. You're already setting yourself up to feel guilty about it. And if you're on a flexible nutrition program, you shouldn't need to have these like massive blowout days. Like, let's say you want to have some pancakes, some frozen yogurt. You know, that can fit easily into your plan and you don't need to like go completely off the rails. So I don't really recommend cheat days. If you want to have a day where you don't track, eat a little bit more and go back to maintenance, then you can just be conscious of that and just do that. Or if you're craving something, just work it into your plan. So no, I don't recommend big blowout days. They're just gonna— they're kind of bad for you mentally as well, and they're gonna throw off your progress too. Tips for cutting: number 1 is just pick a plan, a program that you can sustain. It's just the most important thing. You're better doing things 80% right for 16 weeks instead of 100% right for 2 weeks. Have you had COVID? Any ongoing effects to cardio or strength? I'm really not sure. I've gotten tested many times with travel and it's always been negative. There was some time, it was like at the beginning of 2021, where I had like, I think it was a flu for like 3 days, but it was fine. It was just like a headache. So I don't know if that was it or if it was just the flu. But no, nothing bad anyways, thankfully. Dream car? The older I get, the less I care about what car I drive. You know, when I was like younger, I was always like, "Oh, I want an R8, yo, I want a Ferrari." And now just, I kind of care less and less. But a G-Wagon would be amazing at that, or an R8. Maybe I do still want it. How long stay in a deficit for? I think a general guideline, a good one, is 12 or maybe 16 weeks. And then after that, I would add in a diet break. That's where you bump your calories up to maintenance. Don't be so rigid on tracking. And it's a good kind of, not only a physical break, and it's a good time to recover some of the performance you may have lost while you're in the deficit, but it's also a mental break as well. So 12-16 weeks is a good time until I would add in a diet break, which I do for 2 weeks. Any new business ventures lined up? So nothing extreme. I'm like, right now I'm still just trying to perfect everything that I'm doing right now. But one thing, there's another question on this as well, when I do have the villa set up, I would love to do a little fitness retreat, which I've done many times before, so I'm not sure if it's really a new business venture, but I'd love to do a little retreat in Marbella, maybe get about 10 to 15 people to come out for a long weekend. I'd probably have a few lads here, maybe Louis and Mike, and we'd all just train, we'd do some cool activities, like climb the big massive mountain, go to all the good gyms, get a night out in, have like a little mini seminar or something. So I think that'd be pretty awesome. Good old barbecue in Villa Lipsett too, and a party. So yeah, comment down below if you'd be interested in that. I think that'd be a lot of fun. Do you ever plan on buying in Dublin? When do you think the market might be right? So if you're from Ireland, you probably know how bad the property market is. It's just extremely overpriced. I haven't a clue when it'll be right again. I, I don't think anyone really does. And there's definitely some other people who give a better estimate than me. You know, I'll give you fitness advice, property not so much. But yeah, that is definitely the next thing I do want to do. But right now I'm just focusing on getting the villa finished. Your best simple but high protein meal. Okay, this is like the easiest way to just pretty much learn how to cook. Okay, just get a meat source like chicken, beef, lean pork, turkey mince, whatever it may be. Okay, get a carb source— brown rice, white rice, brown rice, white rice, you know, pasta, whatever it may be. Okay, and get some— chop up some vegetables, right? Get some seasoning and just put it all in a pan. Okay, that is it. That is all you have to do. It's just like a stir fry, whatever it may be. That is just what I eat like 80% of the time. That's probably what I'm going to eat now. So it's pretty much like a stir fry every single time. Okay, that is just the easiest meal you can cook. You can't mess it up. Did you ever doubt yourself about beating the 9 to 5, mate, and doing something you enjoy? Absolutely. You doubt yourself constantly. I doubt myself every week, you know, but you just got to snap out of it, pull yourself together. And just stay the course. There was no way that I could just keep doing the previous job that I worked as. I just hated it so much. I was so miserable. And that just drove me to pretty much breaking point where I said, I don't care even if I failed this, I'm just going to go out and just give it my best shot. So I doubt myself constantly a lot. I did back then, still do sometimes, but just got to stay resilient and just keep on going. So that's it. Hope you enjoyed this video. I'll see you guys in the next one. Keep it real, man. Real.