#5 Dan Sutcliffe : The World Champion mindset

0:01 guys welcome to be on the muscle I'm really pleased to welcome our next guest to the show Dan sliff so Dan is a natural bodybuilder he's a Coach and he's had quite the season in 2024 it will take me a while to go through his list of accomplishments but we'll we'll give it a go so Dan started off the season at the bmbf southern where we met and he won the middleweight title best wheels and the overall with a great

0:26 showing he also won the heart of UK dfba heart of England a few weeks later and in the short class was that is it short and tall that one yeah short class and then back to the bnbf so Dan took the first place in the bmbf British finals becoming British champion and taking best wheels again and then he finished second in the UK dfba international finals in a really close battle and I believe that went down to a

0:53 split decision if I'm not mistaken and yeah then to cap off an amazing season Dan finished second sorry he finished first that my mistake at the defac worlds to cap off an amazing year so yeah how how was the season from for you D from your perspective yeah incredible can can really have gone any better I sort of at the start of the Season you have a you know kind of a list of

1:24 goals that you sort of want to sort of take off and every single one I I sort of managed to tick off so yeah it was absolutely amazing season really enjoyed it from from start to finish to be honest and yeah certainly my most successful but also most enjoyable one yet so great great yeah and yeah it was just a really sort of memorable season to be honest yeah yeah no you absolutely smashed it because you last competed was it 2021

1:55 was that right 2021 so 2018 was my sort of first competitive season took a couple years off then did 2021 took another couple years off and then obviously last year so so your third your third competitive season third competitive season and yeah it's I've I've sort of tended to favor like a two-year offseason it seemed to sort of work well the first time seemed to sort of work well last time as well and yeah

2:30 it's it's I I love I love competing I love the I love prep but I also I I also really enjoy the the offseason and feel like the sort of two years in between actually sort of helped me kind of level up my physique and and was really beneficial yeah that makes a lot of sense because a lot of athletes kind of just leave one year in between and yeah obviously if you double that you're going to yield some some better results

2:55 I curiosity what how do you feel your physique has changed since 2021 I I feel like I've grown in terms of muscle like maturity and sort of density I think initially when I first sort of started competing I had quite a quite a sort of IM IM immature not the right word quite a young looking sort of physique fully developed in terms of sort of that that sort of grainy sort

3:27 of hard dense muscle and feel like that's only sort of improved with each season each season that I've I've done conditions improved season on season yeah I I think that that sort of comes with experience as well MH and probably just a little bit more overall balance to my physique I think I think I yeah initially when I first my first season I was very sort of bottom heavy right right you know sort of legs were

3:58 never an issue but upper body I I was my feedback was always you know you need to bring up your upper body you need to bring up your arm you need to have you know wider lats bigger doubts and yeah that was always a bit of an issue and I think I've sort of address those kind of imbalances somewhat yeah yeah no that makes sense you've definitely i' say you've got a lot of balance to your

4:21 physique now for sure to have some seen some pictures of your 22 on physique and there's definitely been yeah yeah a good yeah there's like I said a lot more more balanced there which is which is good to see and yeah you have a lot of muscle density as well how many years have You' been training Dan of curiously 15 years I'd say okay sort of I'd say I started yeah training properly when I was about 19 I'm 34 this

4:50 month so yeah all I've always sort of trained like a bodybuilder and didn't well start competing until I was 28 so I'd say sort of nine years of of sort of good training before I actually decided to step on stage yeah yeah now that's interesting yeah I funny I was speaking to obviously your your coach Darren yeah on the last episode and he was the same he actually waited a long time as as did I before stepping on

5:17 stage and yeah like I said he was a bodybuilder before a bodybuild I think yeah it must be the same for you before you actually realize you're a bodybuilder you're you sort of being told you're a bodybuilder and you sort of been told you should compete and you should you should try that bodybuilding lck and you should get on stage it's oh no I'm not you know that's not me yeah but you know in reality you've been training

5:40 like a bodybuilder for years did you have any aspirations to complete like much sooner on or not really no not really like I say it was something that sort of a lot of my friends said that I should do and I'd be good at I sort of got into training when I was at University and you know qu I'd have sort quite a few comments from from just sort of random gym goers and random members and they would sort of

6:08 say oh you got a great physique you should step on stage you should try bodybuilding and I was like no not for me not for me right and then yeah I sort of only only it was only sort of like I say 2018 when a couple of my sort of close friends who were also sort of pts said to me you know you should really take this this bodybuilding thing more more seriously and and you know try your hand

6:36 at you know a body wood and competition let's go for it see what happens and I literally gave myself 12 weeks I I hadn't really done an offseason I was sort of spinning my spinning my wheels I sort of training but you know not with much intent or with much purpose just more so for enjoyment and sort of like General kind of like maintenance literally gave myself a 12we prep before the the bmbf sub in 2018 yeah on stage nowhere near

7:09 conditioned enough like absolutely nowhere near entered a a novice qualifier and came fifth in what was a absolutely stacked novice lineup and yeah I got the bug then that was it I I loved it absolutely loved it so yeah oh cool yeah that's that's interesting you've definitely come along way since since then that's for sure yeah that was my first show as well the bnbf southern as well yeah great show AB yeah was it still Leatherhead then or

7:37 was it some yeah Leatherhead yeah so yeah Leatherhead was my my first ever show and then obviously it was the Leatherhead last year wasn't it for the B as well so yeah great memories yeah yeah no for sure same for me love that venue venue great yeah obviously I want to talk about your you actually coached some clients as well this year how was it from from your perspective like actually being an athlete and a coach at

8:03 the same time did it actually have come with some added pressure or did it kind of alleviate things in a way I I thought I thought it was going to add a lot more pressure but what it actually did I think was inspired me a lot more and also sort of coaching people who you know you're very sort of like sort of empathetic towards to towards them because you know exactly you know exactly how they they feel at

8:30 any any given moment and so you're sort of sharing the experience with them and I I sort of really enjoyed that aspect of it it's the first time I've done it it's the first time I've prepped clients to the stage whilst also prepping myself and yes it added another layer of pressure especially on show days because you're sort of looking after those clients and also sort of thinking about yourself as well but no I really enjoyed it I I sort of I I

8:59 enjoy enjoyed having that extra sort of responsibility and it also acted as a bit of a distraction as well so that I wasn't piling so much pressure on myself which I tend to do and I sort of tend to get in my own head and I tend to overthink everything and on show day it was it was a much more sort of enjoyable experience because I had that sort of distraction as well yeah that's interesting yeah I did I did wonder if

9:25 it did come with some some positives as well like that and in terms of alleviating pressure yeah that's that's interesting I think if I you know obviously I I listened to your last episode with with Darren and I mean he's a obviously very experienced prep coach now he's been doing it for years but you know he's had shows where he's had sort of like eight clients competing in the same show as himself and I think that would be

9:52 different you know a hell of a lot of pressure and I think again that would sort of you know you you learn to deal with that with with experience don't you but you know I had three clients competing last year all of them were sort of competing in similar sort of shows to to to what I was and it was just great to to to sort of share that experience with them and share the day with them and you know the

10:21 night before sort of staying in staying in the same hotel and and sort of checking in with them face to face that kind of stuff it was just yeah it was it was nice to to to do it with them yeah that's great and like Becky as well she had an incredible season didn't she in her first first year it was Unreal yeah insane yeah she's a you know she's I've been sort of training her for

10:43 years she's she's a PT client and I've sort of been sort of training her for years and sort of similar to myself she just sort of decided one day that she wants to compete and she's she's destined she's been destined to do it for years and and she won't mind me saying but she's you know she's not getting younger she's sort of late 30s and and it's it's her first last season was her first show and

11:06 she AB absolutely cleaned up yeah yeah yeah she's got one of those phys eaches you look at and you think how is this your first season as you look like you've been doing this for yeah like so much muscle density and maturity incredible but again been training for sort of 20 years you know has always trained not always trained you know with bodybuilding in mind or or like a bodybuilder but you know very athletic and and and sort of has always done sort

11:31 of you know compe competitive Sport and and and dancing and stuff like that so yeah amazing athlete yeah it really is yeah yeah that's great yeah back to like you to your own like coaching well your own like prep Journey rather obviously you were coached by darham this year so yeah last year was like the first year I kind of did my own or didn't go down the self coaching route and yeah from my perspective it definitely made a big

11:59 difference just having someone there like in my in my corner I can kind of really relax and just yeah enjoyed I enjoy prep a lot more so how was it from your perspective going through like a coached like a a prep being coached by someone and then just doing it yourself what were the differences like for you I've never done it well no I haven't done it myself oh sorry right yet you didn't do it yeah

12:21 so no so first season I I I had a coach not Darren but a different coach and SE so 2021 I was coached by Darren 20 and last year I was coached by Darren and I wouldn't have it any other way I I'm sure I I could coach myself but I just feel like the the the level of accountability and

12:52 also taking the pressure off myself and and just and and not doing the thing thinking and just and giving someone you know the Reigns and sort of saying you know you do all that for me I'm I would I would do exactly as you say and and that's that's the way you know that's always the way for me that I like to work in that I'm sort of very sort of robotic

13:24 and you know as long as you've got trust in that coach and you've got trust in that person then which you know you should do obviously if if you're going through a competitive you know bodybuilding prep with them you know that just having that level of you know that accountability where you can just sort of follow follow the instructions and to me that just takes the pressure off and I don't even have to worry about it or I

13:52 don't have have to think about it it just completely takes the stress away from me yeah that makes a lot of sense yeah I've I've done it myself so I wouldn't recommend going down the self coacher personally I did it for my first season and yeah your mind definitely plays tricks on you and you can just be very reactive to like little changes in you know skull fluctuations things like that and yes it's a bad idea

14:14 because you don't have that objective eye that second eye and I don't think I'll do it again yeah you get in your own head don't you and and you sort of question you question your own sort of decision making you question your own thoughts you know the way we're sort of wired as as competitive athletes as well is that we always want to do more and sometimes that's not the right thing and some you know a lot of the time Darren was sort

14:41 of saying to me you know do less do less you need to do you know stop stop working so hard stop trying to do more stop you know it relax stop stressing and just having that that that sort of experienced second eye I suppose that assurance that that you're you're doing enough you don't need to do anymore yeah is is absolutely it's worth it's weai in Gold no it's it's so true because it does it

15:12 seems so counterproductive doesn't it to take your foot off the gas yeah yeah sometimes more is not more and yeah and kind iose that's one of my sort of biggest lessons from from last year is that you don't have to you don't have to suffer 247 you don't have to be doing you know hours of cardio and and thousands of steps and extra sessions and you know eating less food and it doesn't always have to be like that and and I think if

15:43 I was a coach myself I would it would it would be like self- sabotage yeah I just always i' be I'd be just pushing and pushing and pushing and pushing yeah I've made a mistake and yeah it leads to really bad things I can I can tell you that it's it's not good don't you yeah yeah no definitely how was your like transition into the offseason then this time round pretty good I sort of I've learned from previous

16:12 previous mistakes first my first competitive season I really did not know what I was letting myself in for to be fair we were in Miami and that was after the worlds and obviously you know you know what it's like in America with food and and and that kind of stuff and I ended up binging and you know it was absolutely crazy the amount of food consumed over like a five-day period postor in in 2018 and then that sort of continues again then

16:42 when you get home and it sort of becomes a little bit uncontrollable and food focuses through the roof and it was it was pretty bad the first time round Second Time Around in 2021 I was probably too conservative coming out of it I think probably because of the because of the 2018 season when I sort of went overboard postseason I was too cautious and too conservative and and I don't think I sort of increased

17:13 my calories sort of fast enough in 2021 right and so my recovery was slower I think it was it I was way too concerned about sort of like gaining weight too quickly and gaining and gaining body fat too quickly so this time I feel like it's been a pretty good sort of transition pretty good we had a we had a plan sort of down and I to sort of increased calories pretty quickly after the after the worlds and I've obviously you

17:46 know enjoyed some Off plan meals we've we've been to Sri Lanka and we had a sort of two we holiday where obviously that was you know we yeah enjoyed some sort of like lovely lovely food that you as you do when you're on a holiday and then you know Christmas and New Year as you know can be can be a bit of a sort of a a challenging time sort of post post competition season when your sort

18:10 food food focus is higher and and all that kind of stuff but no it's been it's been good apart from a couple of illnesses that you know I've picked up but it's there's loads of stuff going around isn't there but yeah yeah no that's that's that's good to hear yeah it sounds like you've transitioned out of the yeah prep phase into the offseason nicely which I know that can be real tough for for people but yeah it's definitely you know it's a bit

18:36 of a mental mental battle isn't it I I think the more times you you do it the the sort of the better you become at it yeah I think it really is the case that experience isn't it yeah yeah definitely yeah I'd like to get an and an insight into kind of your mindset and head State Bost in prep see you definitely strike me as someone who's like very levelheaded during prep like laser focused and you just kind of

19:03 get the job done so I'm curious to know so what's going through your mind in those in those like deep stages of prep like just before a final do you do any like kind of visualization techniques for being on stage what's yeah what's it what's it like inside your head during those stages so you said there about being level-headed I I think anyone who's close to me sort of Might disagree with you really right yeah I I tend to I'm I'm a big overthinker

19:32 and I I get my and I you know that there's there was a couple of shows last year where I sort of looked at the the lineups as you do and you sort of see you know you some absolutely stacked classes last year and you know the standard across the aboard across the board was absolutely amazing as you know and you sort of see these names and you know you know a lot of these compe and

19:59 and you think I've got no chance I've got absolutely no chance so there there was definitely some self-doubt and and that's despite you know having you know won shows and and and had some success I I do tend to get in my own head a little bit and and okay I'm I'm laser focused and I I'm very sort of like when I'm you know on in in the lead up to show day and I I I

20:32 tend to just sort of follow the plan I don't let anything sort of I don't let anything sort of derail me in that in that respect yeah but the the mental battle for me is has always been like my my biggest kind of obstacle yeah I I I guess it's just you know a bit of self-doubt and and maybe that's that's prep brain sort of just yeah you know playing games you know play sort of mind games but again this is where

21:03 I think having a coach and having a great support sort of network and a great support system is again worth its weight in gold and I think absolutely imperative yeah in a in a bodybuilding sort of prep yeah no that's that's so true yeah that's interesting about the self-doubt because yeah I mean when you get you know when let's say you get a really good result and you've had many this year you win a regional ITT a

21:29 British title how much does that does it quieten those self-doubt voices for you yes yeah it certainly did last year I mean first the first show last year couldn't have gone any better and I think and because like it was such an enjoyable day as well and you know having all my sort of friends and family there to to come and support me and all that kind of stuff and just having that kind of like you know that that sort of

21:55 validation that you know actually I did do well and I can be proud of myself and and you know you you sort of Yeah you sort of gain confidence from that from that first show definitely yeah the only problem is then it then adds or for me anyway I then put more pressure on myself because I'm then sort of thinking well anything less than first place next time a failure yeah reality in reality that's not the case

22:25 yeah but that's kind of the the way my mind works in that moment you're sort of thinking okay right now the next one's coming up in two or three weeks time I need to that one as well yeah I failed otherwise you know I haven't done as well as the previous time so yeah there is that kind of I do sort of put probably unnecessary pressure on myself yeah yeah yeah that's that's interesting and yeah I suppose once you've

22:53 reached a certain level yeah it makes sense anything less than that is just in your head at least just not acceptable get them yeah which I suppose is is the competitive nature of me which is yeah has its pros and cons doesn't it but yeah yeah well yeah yeah you definitely had an incredible season so and yeah you had a very loud I remember the first show you had a very loud group of supporters as well

23:16 absolutely safe yeah it was brilliant yeah yeah because I had a really loud group as well I had maybe 12 13 people come to see me on that first show and yeah we were maybe rivaling yours but we weren't quite at your your group's level but we were close it's incredible isn't it it's yeah amazing it makes all the difference on show isn't it it does hearing those you know hearing those voices when you're sort of on stage and

23:35 you can yeah it's it just makes the days just so much more enjoyable and it really does make a difference having that support I don't think the audience realizes how much of a difference it really makes I think yeah it's insane yeah that's great yeah I'd like to delve into your training history a little bit Dan so yeah g like where it all began I'm quite curious to hear this so yeah from my own perspective I

23:59 remember when I first started training like way back in like 2001 long long time ago I was definitely like a maybe not a hyper responder but I responded very well to to weight training and I yeah transformed my physique after a few months of of lifting like being that you carry a lot of muscle tissue I'd love to know like did gains come really quickly for you when you first started or was it more of a slow

24:21 process initially yes they came very very quickly to the extent where I when I first started train training I was I just finished my first year at Uni and I basically went went home and I was I had three or four months basically of of dead dead time essentially and I was I was bored so I went to the gym and yeah okay I I I I trained pretty much non-stop for three months in between sort of University

24:53 years but when I when I went back for my second year people were just at absolutely Gob smacked by how my physique had changed in like 3 months you know I was getting sort of accused of being on steroids and yeah all sorts it was it was crazy and I actually gained in that time about stone and a half in about 3 months and it wasn't you know I wasn't like fat I I hadn't gained significant

25:21 amount of body fat you know I was I was eating well and I was eating in a surplus and I was eating enough protein and all that kind of thing but that was pretty much three months of like sort of solid solid training and I my physique sort of blew up in that of time so yeah I would say I'm a sort of a hyper responder I'd say I've always been sort of athletic and I've always

25:45 sort of played Sports football rugby that's that kind of thing but when I actually sort of when I was actually sort of committed to building muscle in in those early stages when I was sort of 19 years old yeah it sort of happened very quickly for me yeah yeah interesting yeah I had a feeling that' be the case yeah you've got yeah a very kind of 3D look about your your physique you know it sort of slows down

26:12 after that sort of you know after that initial kind of three to six months it does sort of start to slow down you you think a you know what am I doing wrong you know I I got M I got massive in the first three months why am I not getting you know why am I not sort of making those sort of gains you know in my next sort of three months but yeah those newbie gains they're you know they're

26:36 they're amazing aren't they and yeah absolutely yeah the combination of yeah high testosterone levels naturally and then yeah you know good genetics and yeah doing the right things I think I was the same I basically stumbled across the idea of a high protein diet and lifting heavy early on I thought yeah that's that's the way to do it and yeah yeah you just do the right things and you don't need to do much when you're when you're that young either happen

27:00 pretty easily yeah it's novel stimulus isn't it just yeah and I didn't really know what I was doing either you know I sort of just following a a sort of a random program that I found in a in a magazine and yeah I was training six days a week and oh wow quite a lot I was probably not tra not even training that hard and probably wasn't training anywhere near failure and you know my my my training probably it certainly wasn't

27:26 optimal at that point and my my diet you I wasn't sort of tracking calories or anything like that I was just making sure to eat eat enough and eat enough protein and yeah the gains in the sort of early stages were pretty quick yeah yeah yeah know that makes sense what's your current training like Dan in terms of like volume and frequency what's it like currently so I train I do five sessions five sessions a week my i'

27:53 say my volume over the years has reduced overall G like generally speaking across sort of most muscle groups I tend to try and apply more volume to my weaker muscle groups so over the last s couple of years I I've sort of had a dedicated arm day just because I feel like my arms are my sort weakest area so I sort of

28:25 will apply more sort of frequency to them as as well so I have like a dedicated arm day where I might do sort of you know 8 to 10 sets of biceps 8 to 10 sets of triceps for example on on that specific day but then I might you know sprinkle some some biceps onto my pull session or my my push session or something like that but recently I say recently sort of since the the end of prep I've been following

28:50 like a push pool leg split mainly for enjoyment purposes because I sort of I wanted to train with a little bit more Freedom when I when I finish prep and I've actually I've really sort of enjoyed this this pushpull leg split but over the last i' I'd say since I started competing I've sort of followed more more of like a traditional sort of like bro split but I would I would it's

29:23 not just a case of doing sort of chest legs back arms I I sort of will add more volume to certain days for example I'll add more sort of side belts to a like an arm session or like a a a pool session because I feel like I need to bring up that area so I I I'll sort of apply a little bit more I'll sprinkle a little bit more volume for certain muscle groups onto onto certain

29:55 sessions okay yeah that's that's yeah that makes sense and yeah it's interesting what you said about the lower volume as well yeah I find certainly the way I've trained I suppose to Darren as well and I think he said the same thing about kind of prioritizing like quality over quantity and has that been the same for you for sure I I think again only in the last sort of four or five years have I kind of

30:25 realized that you know in my early stages of you know early phases of training I was I wasn't training with as much intensity as I could I wasn't sort of going as close to failure as I could I was sort of leaving reps in reserve leaving rep you know I wasn't training as as hard as I really should have been and I think be because you're not training with the same intensity you're not training anywhere near as close to

30:56 failure as as you could be you sort of you're you're able to do more volume you're you're you're you're able you can do more sets you can do more exercises and a lot of it is or was sort of junk volume and yeah you know I was I was doing I I was doing sort of some sessions I was doing sort of 30 35 sets per per session and you can't tell me that I was I was training with the same

31:28 intensity as as what I do now yeah and you know there's some sessions now where I might need do sort of 10 or 12 10 or 12 sets across the whole s but they are you know they are you know I'm going to failure I'm I'm absolutely like not leaving anything in reserve not leaving tank yeah and the you know your recovery capability when when you are when you are training like that with higher

31:59 intensity is is is you know it takes a lot longer to recover from these sessions and Recovery capacity is nowh near as high so yeah I think over the years yeah qu sort of quality over quantity in terms of volume and even you know with certain muscle groups I I don't train with anywhere near as much volume as what I used to you know I used to sort of train legs twice per week and like I say some of those sessions i'

32:31 I'd be doing sort of 20 to 30 sets right nowadays I train legs once per week and yeah yeah I sort of do half the amount of volume yeah interesting would you have tribute those kind of early days of lots of lots of sets to legs like would you attribute that to your like you're known for your leg development would you say that's a factor or is it more genetic in origin both both I I've always loved training legs and I

33:00 think there's definitely an element you know to you've got your sort of your stronger muscle groups the ones that you enjoy training right I think I think there's definitely an element of that I've always loved training legs I've loved the challenge of it but in my early years I yeah I train legs twice per week and religiously for years and you know it was it was the big compound exercises you know was squats deadlifts lunges you

33:31 know it was all the big compound nasty heavy stuff I did it twice per week every week for years and I never missed a leg day and it cliche but you don't skip legs and yeah yeah I I've definitely got you know I'd say good genetics for for for quads especially you know both my parents were were sprinters both my parents did Athletics so I've definitely got sort of their their genes with you know in

34:02 terms of sort of like you know good lower body genetics yeah but I've also over the last 15 years I I can handle my heart say I've never missed a leg day right right okay you just love yeah you love leg train absolutely love it so so a bit of both for sure yeah interesting yeah I mean obviously you're known for your leg development but yeah it's clear to me you've got a lot of you know balance to your physique as well

34:29 and symmetry what areas do you feel you need to work on like for your for next time for me it's always been biceps I've always like I've always had this thing like and again it's it's like partly genetics and partly insertions and and you know or Origins insertions of the of certain muscle groups you know there's you're sort of you know some people have just got absolutely massive arms haven't they you know and Great Peak you know and all and

35:01 I I don't so I really have to I really have to work to sort of build any kind of like real Mass on my arms right hence the the arm day and hence you know increasing volume and frequency for that particular area other than that I I I feel like I I could have some more back thickness and width I don't think you can ever have

35:31 lats that are too wide naturual body I don't think you can ever have delts that are too round you know more caps delts sort of like sort of more of like an x x frame sort of yeah and I've always had like a I suppose not not a massive waste but I've always I've been sort quite blocky as a bodybuilder I've always I've never sort of had like a you know a

36:02 really tiny waste and and and in that respect I think you you can sort of gain more width in your delts and in your lats then that's prob always going to benefit you in terms of shape and sort of giving that illusion of like a smaller waste for sure yeah that makes yeah that makes sense there yeah and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing when you when you next get back on stage when will that be but out of

36:26 curiosity have you got any plans or is it yeah next year is the goal next 26 yeah yeah 2026 so like I said to you before I've sort of usually gone with like a two-year offseason but yeah had a chat with Darren and I I feel like I'll be ready to go and ready to go again next year I think yeah my recovery from last year's prep was very good and pretty quick whereas previous years it's definitely taken

36:55 longer it's taking me sort of months to recover rather than weeks and I've never felt ready to go again even with like a year off season right whereas I already feel like I'm I'm sort of excited at the prospect of competing again next year oh great so if all the stars Al line then and all all goes well and I and I feel like I've made enough improvements then definitely definitely want to go again next year

37:24 yeah that's great and you've got some more best wheels trophies to win as well I guess colle now right yeah that great how many have you got now four you got four right right okay yeah amazing so yeah I am yeah really very proud of those they like almost my my favorite trophies to be honest my most my sort of most coveted trophies so yeah they are great I won one of my first show actually and I haven't won one since

37:49 unfortunately you you Pi me to that but it's it's a great trophy but they haven't changed it since mine one over there is is the same as yours the gold one is pretty cool I must say yeah yeah no I love it I I love that the bmbf do that I think yeah and you know when when you sort of Love training legs as I do it's like and you know just again it's sort of validation isn't it

38:14 all that all those hard leg sessions over the years have paid off no exactly I was going to say as well like you obviously you're very experienced in terms of your your training what would you say are some of the biggest mistakes that bodybuilders make during a prep and it doesn't have to be like dieting it can be training just broadly speaking what would you say trying to do too much okay too much too much cardio too many

38:45 steps not resting enough not you know rather than thinking you know yeah I need to take a rest day and I need to recover and I need to actually you know follow follow the plan deviating from that plan and thinking oh I need to train today because I need to I need to get leaner I need to I need to burn more calories I need my expend needs to be higher need to do more and and and burning

39:14 out and not and for that reason not not stay in the course and and and as a result the physique actually deteriorates as the season season goes on so sort of PE peing too soon and not sort of treating the the the season you know as a you know as a as a season and sort of they sort put all the eggs in one basket

39:46 towards that first show and then after that after that point their sort of physique starts to deteriorate because they haven't sort of mapped out their their timeline with that sort of end goal in mind and that that end goal if if you're doing a competitive season that end goal should be you know you should be aiming to sort of qualify for for later shows which might be 8 10 12 weeks later and so you have to sort of you have to

40:18 factor that in when you first start a prep is is you know if I if I qualify for this this last show in however many weeks time am I giving myself is is that Runway like feasible and is that is that going to end with my me bringing my best physique to that last show and and not that first show which you know if you're if you're doing a

40:49 qualifier the goal really is to qualify it shouldn't really be going in at 100% and absolutely Peak and absolutely shredded M then planning on sort of competing at sort of later shows in 8 10 12 weeks time yeah that's that's great advice yeah yeah I I'd agree completely with that actually yeah it's a tough one to get right as well I think to get that balance how that first that's having a coach can coach yeah and

41:17 obviously that that experience as well but yeah not not sort of peing too early and yeah that would be my my sort of biggest thing I think I see with a lot of yeah a lot of a lot of sort of competitors they don't unfortunately end up sort of staying the course or bringing their best physique or their best sort of package to their sort of the most important shows at yeah CU if

41:49 you've got like eight weeks between the first and the last show that's a long time it's a long time to be really lean as well it's a yeah it's best to kind of EAS into it gently really it makes sense yeah for sure yeah let's say you could like hypothetically like teleport back to meet your younger self who's like just getting into weight training and bodybuilding what advice would you give to them to help or to Young to

42:13 Young Dan sft to help maximize your results good question I the biggest thing for me is is to train with I wish I trained with the same sort of intent and intensity as I sort of do now the same sort of focus and the same sort of the same sort of purpose I was sort of you know for years I was really going through the motions

42:45 and you know I I enjoy training but I didn't love training and I I now ABS I I love training and I I love you know even even when I'm even if I'm not competing even if I'm in sort of like deep in my offseason like it's the most you know might sound a bit sad it's most enjoyable part of my day I absolutely love it and it's it's that sort of I think you really have

43:10 to learn to to love the the process and sort of that almost like that delayed gra gratification and just sort of training to look good at that specific moment and and and also to to embrace you know gaining a you know gaining a little bit of body fat and not being lean all year round and and not being sort of like you know having ABS all year round and and I think that was in

43:41 my early years I was too fixated on you know having a you know a beach body or you know having ABS or looking you know looking good in the summer you know having big chest big arms you know it was that classic sort of you know when you first get into the gym that's all you really care about isn't it you know you not do it really in the first stages yeah yeah so more it would be to sort of you know Embrace if

44:08 you if you're looking to really sort of do this take this seriously you know Embrace a bit of fluff Embrace a little bit of extra body fat you know in favor for gaining some more muscle getting stronger and just generally just you know enjoy the process enjoy ride yeah that's that's great advice yeah I I wish I could have told that to my younger self as well to be fair yeah you don't think about a delay

44:35 gratification when you're 18 19 but yeah you want it all now don't you you want results like you know instantaneously yeah I think guys they either get too big too soon and then have to cut and then they go bulk they cut they bul they cut yeah yeah or they just try and stay lean and I think neither are conducive to yeah long-term gains really yeah no really really good advice there want to do some quick fire questions next and I'm going

45:00 to stick with the same ones as we did with Darren so favorite film Step Brothers right with Will Ferell is that yeah Will Ferrell yeah Danny McBride no it's not Danny McBride is it don't know guy I know the guy there yeah great film though yeah I love it yeah yeah anything with Will feral to be fair Step Brothers I love Gladiator as well but I'm a bit of a sucker for a comedy be fair so

45:27 same yeah yeah every was great did you watch Elf over Christmas I take it yeah yeah love Elf yeah favorite Christmas film yeah yeah okay favorite dieting food oats yeah classic yeah yeah when when my oats get reduced in a prep it is it is a sad day a sad day day how many grams of Oats what was like your your go-to amount with oats well it started off about 25 g at the start of

45:58 prep which is a lovely amount is that's what I'm on now how much I'm eating now towards the end it was like 60 gr oh yeah yeah literally less than half like nothing does it you you know when you sort of right the right in the depth of prep and right at the end you just feel like you're you're eating nothing 60 grams yeah that's what my eight-year-old son you briefly met as he interrupted that's what he has of a

46:25 morning with protein of course but good lad yeah no that's that's not much especially when you're that hungry as well on prep it never feels enough you know never feels after that but you could have 200 grams it still wouldn't feel enough at that point what are your hobbies outside of bodybuilding then I was thinking about this before you know and I was thinking I'm quite I'm I'm I'm clearly quite boring because I don't have I think because of

46:55 you know as you know as a because I'm a PT and and Coach as well it like my my life is kind of training bodybuilding coaching and it's it's all it's quite you know all consuming in that respect but I I love sport I love football I I go and watch I go and watch football when I when I can my local team yal town you probably won't even I've heard of them yeah go watch football when I

47:25 can yeah just sort of I suppose quite outdoorsy you know doing doing quite a bit of walking and and stuff like that any anything that involves sort of like outdoor activity stuff like that but I need to broaden my Horizon a little bit because it is very sort of like training and bodybuilding Focus well you're still young you got you got plenty of time yeah that is it you've you've given us some really really good you

47:52 know good pie pieces of advice there and yeah it's been great to get an insight into your your 2024 as well and yeah this has been amazing so yet honestly thanks so much for your time Dan I've really really enjoyed this no thank very much you for having me on it's been great yeah no you're welcome and yeah we'll see you guys next time cheers