Anthony Dalzell Personal Training

03/04/2026

She’s just an absolute belter.

01/01/2026

Two things for 2026 to remember as you venture into your 2026 exercise journey.

1. Fun>Optimal. If you have fun by optimising, great. But your exercise programme doesn’t need to be perfect to be productive. If you’re having fun while exercising, you’re winning.

2. Something is better than nothing. You’d be surprised at how little exercise you actually have to do to see a benefit. One session a week over a year makes a huge difference. Consistency trumps everything, so don’t think that just because you can’t do three or four sessions a week that there is no point in doing anything. Fit exercise into your life and be realistic.

Enjoy it!

09/12/2025

Fitness and health aren’t guaranteed.

Work to improve them whenever you can. If you’re able to do more, do it—you won’t regret it.

If you can’t do much right now, that’s okay. Just do your best and enjoy what you can do.

As cliché as it sounds, you never realise how good you’ve got it until it’s gone, so appreciate your health while you have it.

A huge part of this journey is learning to enjoy the process instead of obsessing over the result.

And if you hit a personal best soon, or the scales show a little lighter, celebrate it fully—don’t rush to think about the next goal.

24/11/2025

.meganhewittpt and I attended our first conference on Saturday.

It was brilliant. Great venue, great food, great people, efficient organisation and superb content. The weather was dreadful.

Listening to true experts speaking on current hot topics in the field of nutrition is always exciting and I’ve already been trying to recount the information (as best as I can) to my clients.

I was going to try and do a one post summary but that’s probably too wordy for instagram as people get bored. So I’ll do some basic summaries of my takeaways for each talk on a different day.

Personalised Nutrition - Dr Nicola Guess

Do not waste your money on “Personalised” Nutrition packages sold on novel data such as Glucose monitors, DNA testing and gut microbiome.

The research just isn’t there to support it well enough despite HUGE investment in this field.

The research studies cited by certain companies to sell their products are designed and manipulated in a way to sell. It’s “garbage science made to sound good.” Remember, people will do anything to sell you stuff. Don’t be fooled into thinking that an association with a reputable name or an influencer with a high follower count makes a product legitimate.

“Personalised nutrition” does exist but only currently in the form of your tastes and preferences and standard clinical factors e.g diseases, gastrointestinal issues, allergies etc.

There may be use for novel stuff like glucose monitors in things such as endurance sports in the future but for the general population at the moment, they are a terrible investment and you’re best focusing on a balanced and healthy diet.

12/10/2025

Training for events doesn’t always go to plan. Sometimes you feel like you’re invincible and sometimes it feels like life just has other plans. A lot rides on a particular date and some things you just can’t control.

One thing that you can control is the people that you surround yourself with. At 4am this morning, I wasn’t going to even run this half. By 9:30am I was on the start line.

The only thing that changed was the interactions that I had with people in that time. Conversations with my wife (who I firmly believe is the most awesome person on the planet), encouraging and supportive text messages from my friends and family, and the presence of my awesome clients both running and supporting.

Some highlights:

My Dad: “Enjoy the occasion - not everyone gets the chance… Running with so many people in a great city is a wonderful experience.”

Chase: “the running gods have done everything to sabotage your manc half, tell em to do one and show em who’s boss!”

The insistence of one particular client to wave a homemade sign telling me to not s**t myself.

The sheer positive energy of Simon Howard who smashed this run.

Surround yourself with the right people and you’ll be amazed what you can do.

21/09/2025

10/09/2025

If you are someone who is training for an upcoming event, don’t be frustrated if you’re not hitting PRs every time you train at your chosen sport or event. If you’re training consistently, progressively, and hard, you should feel tired!

Ever wonder why athletes “deload” or “taper” off their training to make it easier before a competition? It’s because during hard training you accumulate fatigue, which masks your ability to properly express your performance potential.

Don’t underestimate the importance of tapering your training off if you’ve got an upcoming event. Follow a proper plan to drop the fatigue and you’ll see what your body is really capable of!

08/09/2025

People run for all sorts of reasons—you certainly don’t have to chase speed or time goals!

But if you are trying to improve your time over certain distances and you don’t have your “average pace” visible on your watch, you’re making things harder than they need to be.

I strongly recommend using average pace as one of your data fields as it gives a consistent measure of how you’re performing across the entire run, not just at a single moment. Here are some of the benefits:

Pace Consistency
Current pace and km markers can fluctuate a lot due to GPS lag, terrain, or short bursts. Average pace smooths these spikes, helping you stick to your target pace.

Goal alignment
If you’re aiming for a specific race time (say, a sub-2:00 half marathon), your average pace tells you if you’re on track overall, even if individual miles feel faster or slower.

Effort management
Runners often go out too fast; average pace can help you to rein it in if necessary and prevent early burnout.

Motivational feedback
Seeing a steady average can be encouraging—if you’re holding target pace despite hills, fatigue, or weather, it confirms you’re running efficiently.

Average pace acts a bit like your “true north” for performance, keeping you aligned with training or race goals when instant pace is too noisy to trust.

06/09/2025

Last Week’s Training Recap

Monday
• AM: 90 mins Bike
• PM: Pull Strength Session

Tuesday
• AM: 2k Row
• PM: Push Strength Session

Wednesday
• 5k Run (planned 6k, but rolled my ankle 🤕)

Thursday
• Leg Strength Session

Friday
• 35 mins Bike + 3k Row
(Planned 60 mins on the bike, but the Wattbike Hub app kept disconnecting—super frustrating 😤)

Saturday
• Planned: 18k Long Run
• Actual: 90 mins Bike (ankle still not happy)

—
Not everything went to plan this week—three sessions got disrupted. It’s annoying, but it’s part of the process. The key is to keep perspective, not dwell on it too much, and focus on what you can do.

02/08/2025

A perfectly imperfect run on the Wirral.

A little one with Chicken pox sent all of our sleep, and my planned run, completely out the window. So I opted for a slower mini tour of the Wirral instead. Sometimes you’ve got to accept that something easier is a more sensible option than following the plan rigidly.

What a place to live. Woods, water, fields and beach, all in one run!

12/06/2025

What a Wednesday morning!

Yesterday morning, a client came in and shared the results of her most recent DEXA scan and the news was amazing.

For those who don’t know, DEXA scans assess bone density, and hers showed something incredible. She is effectively reversing the effects of osteoporosis. It’s honestly hard to describe just how huge this is and as her coach, I couldn’t be more pleased for her.

Over the last 2 years, she’s committed herself to making real, sustainable changes with the goal of improving bone density. One big part of this has been the introduction of strength training into her exercise routine, and she would be the first to tell you just how important it has been.

If you, or someone that you know, is concerned about or is susceptible to osteopenia or osteoporosis, safe and progressive strength training could make a world of difference to their life. 💪