Jake Darcy Personal Training

31/10/2024

12/10/2023

Understanding an individual's barriers to exercise and encouraging them toward better habits is something that I try my absolute best to do every single day. In the most discerning and respectful way, it's something that, especially nowadays, I can’t just turn off and let slide when I know it may help someone’s life for the better in the long run. This is especially not limited to just 'Clients’ Which is why I want to give you more context as to why this Transformation has been the most rewarding so far (Suppose I have to say that) I've found that the biggest changes happen on a personal level when someone can master the perfect balance of challenge:enjoyment. If it's too easy the novelty fades and the payoff stagnates, if it's too difficult, it just creates frustration and resentment. For females especially, the biggest challenge of all is to step into a male dominated gym environment for the first time, block out all distractions and somehow find what works best when all they’re encouraged to do is either bulk up and focus solely on glutes or starve themselves silly for holidays. Being a partner first and a Pt second is very difficult for me when I know just how much one’s health is undoubtedly a mental battle before a physical one, especially for creatives and individuals that demand much more from exercise than merely the superficial. I can’t even begin to explain how proud I am to see you become stronger and even more resilient in every way. Proving that it IS possible to change behaviours and habits, that even someone that wasn’t inherently sporty or competitive, now cannot go a full week without mithering me to go climbing. A year ago you probably would have cringed at the thought of hanging off the edge of a wall by one hand, now it’s one of our favourite things to do together. Anyways, YES Tallulah is my partner, and spends a lot more time with me then a typical client would, but everything here is resultant of what can be achieved when you A. LEARN to enjoy pushing yourself hard enough. B. Don’t get suckered into the quick fixes and b***y programmes out there. Even after a full day of work she still goes and trains after 8. TRUE Motivation ❤️💪

06/09/2023

PROGRESS- Muscle build
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Starting weight
71kg March ➡️
Now 78kg ⬆️
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Jordan came to me at the beginning of the year determined to build a solid foundation of lean muscle mass and not just pile unnecessary weight on for the sake of it. He already had a pretty good idea of his current macro targets and I made it clear that we were going to push carbs around heavier blocks of the programme. That of which his strength and performance has responded well to especially in the last few months. We've focused on fixing core areas of his training that have been hindered by desk pain, implementing a failsafe stretching protocol to undo long working hours especially in the legs and back, which now means he can lift heavier every week pain free and without a belt. Hitting up the bigger compound lifts which demand a lot more energy have further enabled him to put a lot more food away, and actually absorb it rather than pumping up mirror muscles and just getting fat. This is all while I've not told explicity that he can't have a life and enjoy himself, enjoying holidays and plenty of nights out... but has, without fail, and with multiple other valid reasons to miss sessions still continued to applied himself no doubt. Prepping all his own food and never missing a planned session... These two things are absolutely underrated. Great work again for a great lad who I look forward to seeing every session and know we've got 1st Pull-up in the bag next time despite being a stone heavier than we started 😂 Gradual progress is progress that you'll continue to make without things having to be extreme, all/nothing... But does require...
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🔨 Consistent application
🔨 A willingness to learn
🔨 Dropping your ego + actually being coached
🔨Sacrificing the necessary habits for progress
🔨 Not expecting the result but making it happen 💪
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Class work again well done mate 👌
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04/09/2023

'You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink'

THE most important core unit of my coaching programme is teaching people how to become more intuitive with their training. A common theme is feeling sometimes like they haven't 'done enough' or 'as much' when the reality is, they've done even more than what is required. To me this is when we are over-compensating for either: a short time frame, inclusion of bad habits or trying to jump steps to justify commitment. So, how much is enough and when can we safely say we've given what is NECESSARY? Finding the perfect alchemy of difficulty to enjoyment. How hard do you need to train to see progress and KEEP making it? If you're eating the right foods, not as much. If you eat what you want, VERY. Everything is down to energy balance. See appendix a. Position of openness and understanding to right cmon let's get on with it then ➡️ If you wan't something hard enough, you'll find a way to make it happen. Follow up your words with the actions and the rest will follow 🔮 Not every session will be 100% and it's during those times that you learn the most about your reasoning, at least if you are at 70/80% the one thing you do ensure by showing up is proving it to yourself. It all adds up. Everybody is looking for the quickest, most effective, 'perfect' programme that will keep bringing in results if you hold yourself to hitting numbers session to session.. But this is the quickest way to burnout. We miss the power of swinging and missing, getting choked, the impending doubt, the frustration, the overwhelm, feeling lost. Things that seem only worth striving to pursue IF there's at least hope that you'll get there eventually, but this is never linear or reassured. 'If it's hard, it should serve the biggest payoff' but if its too hard straight away you are just going to quit. So choose the correct measure of energy and means of resistance wisely. Confront your weak points and gaps in your understanding to challenge yourself differently or just keep getting the same outcome every time. If you want to learn how to become more intuitive with your training, DM me your current programme for a free audit 💪

14/07/2023

ONLINE TRANSFORMATION-

‘Despite consistently training for around 3 years, I have never seen and felt so much progress over the last 7 months working with Jake. I had reached a slump in my training and wasn’t progressing with weights, feeling more lethargic during workouts and overall lacking motivation.

Jake has taught me the beauty of simplicity in training and nutrition, that you don’t need to be restrictive to see results, as long as you are fuelling yourself with the right, nutrient dense foods. His online progress tracker highlighted there is so much more to fitness than just aesthetic changes: energy levels, cravings and recovery have all massively improved since following Jake’s advice.

I had doubts that an online programme wouldn’t be as effective as having a trainer in person but any questions I had on form, tempo or exercise substitutes was answered promptly if not already provided in his programme.
I would highly recommend Jake to anyone needing that extra boost in their fitness journey whether you are a beginner or experienced.’

Ladies, here's an example of someone who doesn't come desperately looking for a quick fix, big bum programme or drop as much weight as possible before a holiday... But DOES want to

🧲 Build better habits,

🧲 Make decisions which align with their goals and requirements for LIFE! Not just satisfy someone else's unrealistic 'beauty' standards
.. and finally,

🧲 FEEL GREAT! Knowing that you've worked your arse off for everything that you deserve!

Nothing in life worth having is ever done, easily, it is always earned, NEVER given.

Even the best business owners, athletes, and everyone you'd think would know better... Tend to get stuck in this blinkered mode of result result result but often overlook just how much the process teaches us about ourselves. We always revert back to the fundamentals 📜

I gave Helki a basic nutrition and training programme to keep her on track during quite a stressful time at Uni. Didn't really pester her about weight or get too full on with her progress as I knew she was already self motivated with a lot on her plate. She cracked on with exactly what I gave her down to a T 💪

05/06/2023

ALCOHOL vs none

BEING CONSISTENT vs not 

TRACKING STEPS vs not

CARDIO vs none

DOMINOES PIZZA vs none

WEIGHING FOOD OUT vs ‘just eyeballing it’

There’s no better feeling when you’re on a roll, back on track, seeing progress week to week. I’ve tried and tested both, and I know which one I prefer. This doesn’t mean that I don’t also love going to gigs, eating out and not having to carry a weeks worth of food around on my person, BUT, I know when its time to relax and WHEN to get back to work. If I didn’t take the decisions outside of the gym seriously, I simply accept that the progress I expect for the effort I put in will be down to a coin toss. I might get stronger, I might recover in time, I might see results, but… its going well enough so let’s settle for that… BANG. Just like that. Just when it was all going great. Back to the drawing board. If this is you, simply listen to the words you are omitting. I could do that, I should do this, I NEED TO… If there is a single speck of possibility to choose the easier option than a route or decision much less favourable, guess which one you choose everytime? Now, you’re back where you started. 

You might eventually get there if you keep slogging away, but believe me, I’ll save you some time.

So what are you prepared to sacrifice in order to see some results?

Well, if you want to take ownership of your physical health, make consistent progress and master self-discipline for LIFE… I have a huge opportunity for two people to join my online coaching programme over the summer. Recently I’ve been experimenting with various training methods across multiple disciplines, hand-picking exercises that test clients in different ways and builds a long-term foundation. As someone who has done this for most of my life, I want people to FEEL this for themselves and come away with even more reasons to make this a permanent asset for a better lifestyle.

If you want to learn more... DM me the word START, to make your first commitment to yourself.

12/05/2023

5 YEARS AGO... to this day, I took the first significant break from weight training in almost 10 years. I gave myself 5 months off from the gym, went on a trip to the other side of the world and just lived. Before this point, I had only ever really cared about my physical appearance first, health, second. I would train for hours, most days, sometimes everyday, for months at a time... but even with all the effort in the world, my expectations were so high that to come even close to where I would have been satisfied was clear to be at least a lifelong pursuit. When I arrived in Caye Caulker, I was handed a beer and told to 'Go Slow'...which after years of thrashing myself with exercise, was hard to get my head around at first, but soon realised I was trying to force where I was, with where I wanted to be. I had just fell out of love with the process and was too obsessed with the result. All the pressure suddenly disappeared, and when I returned to Manchester I trained harder than I've ever trained in my life, consistently, ever since. If I knew this when I just started out, I would definitely have a much better relationship with my body in terms of recovery. Embrace the marginal improvements. All progress is progress, no matter how small. Now that I have committed to understanding this and the ways in which I achieve my own version of success at my own pace, I think, what was the rush? How could I not enjoy the process. I still have to remind myself often of this and not to say that I've cracked this side of training completely, but this is where most people are failing before they even get started. It is great at the beginning of the progress when you're first starting out, but hard not to get frustrated when you hit plateaus and burnout. So how do you overcome this?
Well, once you become
more aware of your vision, set out exactly what you want to achieve that year and what you expect from your body, the way to do it soon becomes available to you. Do you want to nail your first pull-up this year? Hit a certain number on one of your compound lifts? Your first marathon? Let me know in the comments and the best one will receive a free PT session 😎 DREAM BIG 💪