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Hello, my name is Daniel and I am the Coach of “Team Carnage” also known as Captain Carnage!
I was 17 when I first started to take an interest in health and fitness having always struggled with weight and health issues from a young age, I wanted to get things sorted.
I’ve experienced both ends of the spectrum first hand; having gone from being fat as a young teen to being skinny and very unhealthy as I got older. All I focused on between the ages of 13 -16 was losing weight. However, due to doing this in a very unhealthy manner I felt worse than I ever had when I was fat. I couldn’t concentrate, I was constantly tired, I developed skin issues and my mood had dipped massively… So I spent a lot of my teenage years not being in a good place either physically or mentally purely through putting pressure on myself to weigh less…
Once I left school I was determined to do something about it before I started college. There was only one problem; I had absolutely no idea what I was doing…
So… Despite not knowing what I was doing, I went about designing the “ultimate training routine” that was going to transform me from a skinny teenager into the next Mr Olympia… It consisted of a range of body weight exercises and a run every day. Needless to say Phil Heath (Bodybuilder and current Mr Olympia) had nothing to worry about.
After following this for a month or two and getting nowhere fast… I started to join the dots when reading various fitness publications and I soon realised where I was going wrong. I started resistance training in my garage and began to see some results and this was enough to motivate me to keep learning. When Christmas came around I knew exactly what I wanted, a gym membership. After months of researching dieting, supplementation and programming I was ready to start training properly for the first time in my life. I started with a simple bodybuilding routine and stuck to my diet religiously. The results were massive and people had started to notice. Within 8 months I’d gone from a skinny fat 168lb to a strong and lean 200lb.
In September 2013 I started Northumbria University studying Mechanical Engineering. However, I began to wonder whether I was doing it for the right reasons when I was spending more time reading about training and nutrition than I was studying for my actual degree. Once I’d completed my first year I began to ask myself some serious questions as to whether I’d chosen the right path and in the end I came to the conclusion that I needed to change. I made a bold decision and in September this year I enrolled on to a sports science degree.
As part of my degree I’m required to do a work placement and I sent RT Fitness an email, never really expecting much to come from it. Here I am a year later as Head Coach of Team Carnage and still loving every minute of it. I had hoped that by helping out around the gym and learning from Ross I would gain a better understanding of what it takes to coach people effectively. It would also allow me to see how theoretical aspects of my degree can be applied in a practical environment… I’ve learned so much more… Whilst I am still working through my degree I am privileged enough to help so many people on their journey.
I am very proud of how far I’ve come in my own fitness and knowledge. I think it’s important to ask for help when you need it and in the future I hope to be able to help young teens starting out on their fitness journey so they go about it the right way. It’s such an important time of your life and it can cause such a stress if you aren’t happy with your physical appearance, especially with so much social pressure to look a certain way…
I pride myself on educating myself further and further, my passion is lifting weights, strength and conditioning and educating others on training and nutrition. Here at RT Fitness I hope to continue to help others reach their goals.