David Turner Hotseat

David Turner, a qualified chartered accountant, joins the Progress Project to improve his fitness and accountability. He had been going to the gym but lacked structure and proper nutrition. With the program, he gains accountability, structured workouts, and personalized calorie and macro targets. He also learns the importance of goal-setting and incorporating fitness into his social life. These changes lead to immediate progress and improved results. Hello and welcome to the next episode of the private member's podcast within the progress project. Today, we have another hot seat, and it is David Turner, who is going to be chatting through his journey in the programme so far. I am very excited to dive deep into this chat. First, David, how is it going, mate? I am good, Jordan. Thanks. How are you? Had a nice weekend? Good, mate. It was good to see you as well. Absolutely great. I know you will know quite a few people in the programme already, but just a bit of an intro to yourself, mate, in terms of general info on what you do, your time, how long you have been in the programme, just various different things like that. Yeah, sure. So, yeah, I am David. I am 32. I am a qualified chartered accountant. I am saying to some of the guys on Saturday that you and I both went to uni together and trained together at Ernst & Young. So, we have all been, well, we have both been there, worked the crazy hours, got the T-shirt. Thankfully, now, I work at a whisky company, so work-life balance is a bit better. I joined the programme. It was initially for a couple of reasons. It was initially for the half-marathon prep last year, so it was around about July time, I think. So, I have been coming up for nearly 12 months in the programme. I have always been quite a keen gym-goer. I think since the age of 16, I went to the gym. I have always had, like, a membership, but I probably did not really start taking it serious, if you like, until I was kind of in sixth year at school or start at uni. I think that is when I started to really get more involved and really start to enjoy the kind of muscle-building process and all that kind of stuff, but similar to yourself, probably. When I look back now, I really did not have a clue what I was doing, you know, particularly when I was at uni. All I thought about was I just need to keep eating, and then as long as I keep eating and lifting heavy weights, then I will be fine, but, you know, it is scary to look back and think that if I had got a coach maybe ten years ago at that time, just how much progress could have been made or how much time I could have saved. I mean, I do not know how many three-hour-long arm workouts I have done, and I still do not have any biceps to show for it. So, yes, definitely a lot to learn from those early experiences. Gym has been a big thing for me and just keeping healthy and fit, and I think there was a real struggle during Covid when the gyms shut, but yes, that is kind of an intro to me. Yeah, no, excellent, mate, and definitely I think a lot of people listening will be able to agree there with when you first started the gym and things that I did as well, just thinking, like, fair enough, I was going to the gym, but what I was doing, like, the nutrition side of things, like spending two hours, like you say, just doing needless workouts that were not really getting us anywhere, probably ego lifting as well, where, like, form was just terrible, but just because I was trying to get 100 kilos in the bar, just, oh, mate, so many mistakes, and it does, you do think that, like, well, if I had got a coach five years before I did, then it is like what progress could have been made, but it is just that hindsight is a wonderful thing, but, no, in terms of, like, as you mentioned there, like, you have trained regularly, like, before coming on the programme, it was as if you were, like, overweight, struggling, did not have any motivation to the gym, you trained a lot, mate, but what would you say was your main, kind of, struggle and what made you want to come on board the programme? Where were you at when you were first, kind of, coming on board? Yeah, I mean, I think initially when I reached out to you, like you say, I mean, I have always been, like, oh, I have always, you know, wanted to keep healthy and keep fit. I think at that point in time when I reached out to you, I think you posted up a lot of good progress you have had with your clients, some of the results were remarkable, and I felt as if at that point I was really struggling with, like, a lack of accountability, so although I was going to the gym, I, kind of, found myself just going through the motions a wee bit, and, you know, turning up at the gym, not having planned what I was going to do, just going with how I felt, or what I felt like I wanted to do, so I really just, you know, yeah, I did not feel as if I was putting, like, all my effort into the gym, and certainly from a diet perspective, like, I was nowhere near it. I mean, I did not have a horrendous diet, I normally eat quite well Monday to Friday, but then at the weekend I would just go to pot, but even midweek I was not tracking anything, so I was not really keeping on track of, like, calories in, calories out, and my protein target, and making sure I was hitting all that, so the biggest thing for me was just getting that accountability back, and also, you know, I had seen some of the progress you had made yourself, like, through the running, and, you know, that was starting to become a big focus of mine, and I have really gotten into running, and, you know, one of the main goals when I joined was, obviously, to get a PB, the Glasgow Half Marathon, so, yeah, I mean, I think the underlying kind of reason for joining the progress project was just to get that accountability back, and have somebody to hold me accountable. Yeah, definitely, I can relate to that a lot as well, and, like, even though you do go to the gym, see if you are not following a structure, see if you have not got that accountability, yes, you are going to stay relatively healthy, but there is a lot of potential that you are missing, because you are just going through the motions, and whilst you are not, you are still achieving something, you are still going to the gym, you are not achieving what you really can do, which is, when you reached out, I was delighted, because I was like, yeah, if we can get you back just on it, like, increase that intensity level in terms of just having that accountability and that structure, then you are going to see incredible results, which we have done, and we will come on to that, but in terms of, like, when you came on board, what is the kind of biggest changes that you started to make, so you missing one there, it was potentially just cracking your foot again, things like that, what sort of changes did you make coming on board that allowed you to really start seeing the progress again? I mean, I think, luckily for me, obviously, the changes were quite instant, because straight away, I had the accountability back, so straight away, I knew that, you know, from day one, I was going to have to check in with you or with Raymond at the end of the week, and just having that accountability back really just made me dial in and focus. I think the other thing that was massive was, like, having my workouts all planned for me, you know what I mean, like, I just mentioned there that I was going into the gym, I actually had no plan of what I was going to be doing that day, but the fact that, you know, as part of the Progress Project, you put the app, which is super convenient, you just go straight into the app, and there's your workout detailed for you, you know, not only the exercises, but the sets, the reps, the amount of rest time, so it just, it takes all that decision fatigue away from you, and all of a sudden, all you need to focus on is getting the workout done, and you can put a lot more effort into that, rather than thinking about, oh, should I do bench press today, or should I do, I don't know, tricep dips, or something like that, so it just makes it so much more convenient, and a lot more effective as well, because you're using your energy to perform the exercises, rather than to having to think about what it is you actually want to do. And then it goes without saying, having the calorie and macro targets as well, all set out by yourself, again, just takes away the kind of, the ambiguity about, okay, what should I be eating, when should I be eating, and, you know, I know some people within the Progress Project actually follow meal plans, which make it even more prescriptive, and just kind of, again, take away that decision fatigue. But probably one of the biggest things, which is something that I had never actually done before, was actually setting goals, which sounds really, really stupid, but, you know, I think one of the first kind of catch-ups we had was just about, right, okay, what are your goals, what do you want to achieve, and why are you here, sort of thing, and it's like, not until you actually take a step back and reflect on that question of, you know, what is your why, or what is it that you're actually wanting to achieve, and until you do that, you know, you will just pause, you will just go through the motions, you'll probably not actually give it your all, because you don't have a commitment to anything, and you're not putting something down in pen and paper, and I like your approach to it, because you always said, get yourself a scary goal, whether you achieve it or not is a different question, but the fact that you just go after it, and even if you shoot for the moon, or shoot for the stars, and, you know, fall into the clouds, that you still have achieved something remarkable, so, yeah, that kind of goal-setting progress is something that I had never even considered, you know, with my health and fitness, and it's silly, because I do it with my career, I do it with my job, so why not do it with your own health and fitness, so, yeah, I think that was a pretty big change for me, and then more, most recently, what I've been trying to do is just trying to incorporate my kind of health and fitness along with my social life, so that at the end of the day, you're kind of ticking two birds with one stone, and, you know, you're getting your workouts done, but you're also catching up with friends, and you're not having to lose out from that perspective, so that was what, kind of, some of the changes that I've made, and then, obviously, meal prep, like, meal prep's a massive one, personally, I do it, kind of, at the start of the week, and I set myself up for the full week, and again, just having all your meals ready for you, breakfast, lunch, dinner, and even your snacks, it certainly, you know, saves a lot of time in the long run, but it also means that you're, kind of, adhering to your meal plan and your calorie and macro targets. Brilliant, mate, and so many good takeaways there. I think one of the big ones as well, and this is maybe not a, kind of, tip or change that maybe a lot of people have mentioned before, but was that just combining the social aspect with fitness, and that's something that I've been really trying to get big on recently as well, like with Run Club, for example, that's, like, a social activity for some people on a Saturday now, and it's like, they'll come, we'll combine a run with meeting people, with them getting a coffee, and, like, because it's quite often, especially in the west of Scotland, like, the social occasion is going to the pub, drinking beer, whatever, or eating out, and that's, like, that's all that you do, so it's like, I always see these people when we go to the pub and drink pints, and it's just always associated with that, so it's just about trying to think, if you can actually associate some social occasions, that's what comes to a lot of people's problems, it's like, oh, at the weekend I go to the pub, because that's when I meet my friends, it's like, okay, can we change that, can we change that, actually I'm going to meet my friends because we're going to do a run, it doesn't need to be a run, it can be anything, it can be a walk, whatever, and it's like, can we combine a, kind of, healthy social occasion that's going to work well, and that's why we've created the groups, in terms of, like, the running group and things, we can kind of facilitate that, because that is something that makes a massive, massive difference, if you can combine that, as you say, and change that, make that change where it's like, okay, I'm not just meeting my friends to drink in the pub or go out, I'm actually meeting them to do something that's actually, you get a proper catch-up and you're actually benefiting your health as well, and you're combining it, which is unreal, mate, and as a result, mate, of the changes, so that's like, those changes that you've just really dialled in with everything, with meal prep, with setting goals, setting challenges, like, what results have we experienced, may I let you go through, because it's just been incredible over the last full, kind of, nine months. Yeah, nine months, yeah, I know it is, it's not until I was thinking about it that, you know, in the space of nine months, I managed to hit a half-marathon PB, so that was my, you know, within, sort of, 12 weeks of joining, took five minutes off my previous time, which I never thought I would do, you know, I kind of went for a go of sub-1.30 and actually managed to beat that by nearly three minutes, which I was absolutely delighted with, and it wasn't just the PB, it was the whole process, you know, the whole process was a lot more manageable, I mean, if I had been, sort of, planning that out myself on my own, I probably would just have kept running, like, long distances and tried to do it faster and faster and faster, not really, you know, taking account of, you need to do your, kind of, interval runs as well as your long runs and then your tempo runs, you know, that was all new to me, so it was great to see that side of a process and, obviously, to get the PB at the end with the icing on the cake. I think, following that, I went into quite a heavy muscle building phase, so started to, obviously, dial back my cardio and start to increase calories and I noticed quite a quick, you know, growth in size and I managed to build quite a decent amount of muscle, you know, and it was ideal because it, kind of, fell in line with Christmas time and all that, so it was perfect timing and it actually helped because only a couple of weeks ago I went on holiday, so it then meant, when I came back in January, it was just a case of getting myself ready for that holiday and I started a bit of a fat loss phase and the good thing was, because of the muscle that I had built, I think, you know, the condition that I got to, I think I was probably about a kilo or a kilo and a half heavier than I had been, you know, during that previous fat loss phase, just because, obviously, I had managed to build that muscle and it made the fat loss phase a lot more manageable because your calories are a lot higher and stuff like that, so I was absolutely delighted with the fatigue that I took on holiday and, yeah, that was a nice wee goal to go after post-Christmas. Then, upon returning from holiday, I had an impromptu 10k PB, which I really wasn't going for or hadn't planned to go for, but I think, similar to how we were chatting about it last week, you know, it just, kind of, shows that if you consistently put in the effort and you consistently, you know, work on things, then, you know, these, kind of, gains do just come. They kind of, you know, if you just follow the process and just make sure that you're ticking as many boxes as you can, you're not going to do it 100%, but, you know, if you can aim for 70 or 80% of the time you're on track, then these, kind of, wins will come through. I think probably the biggest result for me is probably more the small wins, so it's just, you know, having that accountability week in, week out, having somebody in your corner to turn to when you're needing a wee bit of advice and, you know, help when things maybe aren't on track, and then just similarly from, like, from a mental, you know, kind of, aspect, you know, just having exercise as an avenue to de-stress and relax and use that as a tool. Don't see, like, exercising as, like, an enemy, do you know what I mean? Use it as something to, kind of, de-stress and, yeah, Rachel will probably vouch for me that I'm a much happier man once I've done my exercise than when I don't, so, yeah, I mean, I must say kudos to you, Jordan, because there's been a lot of, a lot of wins over, like, the last nine months for me and, you know, they wouldn't have been possible without the support from yourself and Raymond, so thank you. No, it's been amazing to see, mate. It's, like, see, when somebody like you comes in, who's already in a good spot, you initially think, like, what can we still achieve? Obviously there's always loads of potential and it's exciting, but it's, like, you're already in a great place. It's just about trying to take you from a great place to a phenomenal place and that's what we've done, because, like, already your half-marathon PB was, what, 132, so it's still a really, really quick time already, so it's, like, right, can we beat that? We smash it by five minutes and that's, like, within the first 12 weeks and then just to see the, like, you'll see your transformation picture when we start with the initial kind of half-marathon and what your physique was like and then the muscle building phase, like, the muscle regain and then, like, straighten it down and the physique change, mate, is, like, it's been unbelievable and then just to top that off with that 10k PB last weekend, it just shows that, like, as you say, the consistency every time you're doing a workout, every time you're doing a run, you're just laying bricks, mate, you're just laying bricks and bricks and bricks and bricks and it's, like, in the background, your body is just, like, and this is for everybody even just starting their journey, maybe we're just only, I think we put some people in the programme that are not long into getting into their fitness journey, trying to build up running, trying to build up the gym and it's just a case of, like, just remember it takes time and time and time and consistency and, like, before you know it, you're just, like, you're in a place now where if somebody says to you, oh, let's go out and run a 10k quite quickly, right, no worries, you want to come and do, like, a heavy gym session, right, cool, we can do that, like, you and your mates have been going out 32k runs for each other's birthdays, which is just off the back enough, just like, like, it's your 32nd birthday this weekend, let's go out a 32k run, not many people can do that, mate, and it just shows you that it's, like, the fitness is there but that's just due to hard work over years and years and years and what we're doing now is just, like, using all that and really dialing it in so that we're seeing not just great progress but, like, phenomenal results and so, yeah, I've been absolutely delighted with how things have been going and in terms of all that, mate, and seeing these results, what's been your biggest lesson since joining the programme that you can really share with others? Yeah, I think probably just what we've been touching on there, I mean, it's, like, consistent, as cliche as it is, consistency is key and it's really not about the short-term quick fix, you know, you see a lot of people that go on, kind of, six-week diet plans and, you know, follow fad diets and all that and, yeah, you get results and you can get quite good results but they're short-lived and the, kind of, progress that we were talking about there, the, kind of, longer-term progress, you're not going to get that with these, kind of, quick fix things so I definitely think, you know, consistency is key, you've got to trust the process and, you know, focus on the long-term rather than, you know, long-term sustainable results rather than fast, you know, results by the end of the month sort of thing that just aren't sustainable where you're cutting your calories in half and all that, kind of, nonsense so I think, yeah, definitely consistency and being open to the fact that you aren't going to be 100% every single week but it's acknowledging that and moving on from it quickly, you know, don't let that hold you back, don't just think because you've had one bad week that's you, you know, a lot of the time I don't feel up to speed but sometimes doing something is better than nothing but then in other times you do need to listen to your body and take that rest but ultimately don't give up on anything, you know, just because you've had a bad day doesn't, you know, one day is not going to absolutely ruin all the progress you've made over a month, say, so, yeah, I think consistency for me. Yeah, no, definitely and I think it's just, yeah, zooming out, mate, like a lot of people can be hard on themselves after a bad day or a bad week but it's like if you zoom out like one week out of a six-month period or something, it's like that's not going to have any issue whatsoever in terms of your overall progress. When it does have an issue is if you start to let that get to you and then you have a bad two weeks, a bad three weeks, a bad month, like it's just a case of drawing a line under it, like last week as you said you were ill, your sessions maybe weren't as good as they would have been but you still got the boxes ticked. Again, was that going to be the best week of your training career? Absolutely not but had it caused you to lose progress? No, you've continued, you've maintained that consistency and momentum and it's just about just doing that, showing up week in, week out and the results will come, it's like it's guaranteed as long as you're doing that, so that's a brilliant lesson to share mate and I think just now going on to this year, so we're three months in really already, as I said we've discussed progress made so far but what's in the pipeline for the rest of this year mate, it's a busy year for you? Yeah, a pretty busy year, as you know I've signed up to the ultramarathon in July so that'll be 50k which will be the longest I've ever run so yeah, really looking forward to it actually and it'll be interesting to see what the training plan looks like for that but I think like I mentioned earlier I'm actually really enjoying my running at the moment and we're coming into the brighter nights, the brighter mornings and just nicer weather overall so it's quite a nice thing to do at this time of year. Then after that, so that's July, then in August I'm getting married so once to be in a similar shape to what I had a few weeks ago if not even better so I will try to balance my running with my weights because I don't want to lose a lot of the muscle throughout so I'll just need to touch base with you on that one and see what the best plan of action for that is, probably just making sure that I'm also eating and refuelling enough to maintain that muscle mass. Then in September I was successful for the Great North Run ballot so I will be doing the Great North Run half marathon at the start of September which again I'm really looking forward to because it always looks fantastic in the telly whenever you see it, it looks good fun and I know a few guys from inside the Progress Project done it last year and enjoyed it so I'm looking forward to that and then that's the kind of last confirmed goal I've got, I think though I could be tempted to do another marathon in October, I've been thinking about maybe doing the Inverness one so still TBC but yeah I think that's the plans for the rest, well not for the rest of this year but for the next kind of six months. Yeah definitely some big goals again, that's another thing that we're setting a big target with the ultra marathon on Chocolate Territory and looking forward to that as well, I'm doing that as well with a few other guys in the programme so yeah really excited to get involved in that and you can hit the nail on the head there with the nicer weather coming in, running is starting to pick up again, we've had a couple of big weeks of running with people in the programme so very excited for that and then as you say mate not much bigger a goal than getting married in terms of this year so a big year ahead already, the progress that we've made and we've still got plenty of time to continue that so absolutely buzzing. And then just finally mate, what would be your biggest piece of advice, of everything you can think of, would you have one piece of advice to give to the rest of the members of the programme, what's your biggest piece of advice that can help with their long-term progress? I think probably don't be afraid to say no, so you know I think in a lot of environments that you're in socially or with work colleagues and stuff like that you're often put under a lot of peer pressure to maybe go for drinks or if there's cakes in the office people are offering it or taking sweets or whatever and a lot of people tend to feel obliged that they need to go to all these events or they need to drink at them and eat all the bad foods but one thing that I've probably really tried to do over the last 12 months is just think about yourself a wee bit more, don't think about pleasing others all the time and at the end of the day if something is really important to you then you shouldn't let it get in the way of you achieving that. So for example if it's like cakes in the office and at the end of the day you've got a photoshoot coming up, quite frankly if you've been working hard the last 12 weeks or whatever it is to diet and giving up making sacrifices at the weekend but then somebody comes into the office with cakes, you should just be knocking it back, you shouldn't be afraid just to say no and not to go all monk mode or anything, you don't need to absolutely cut everything out but it's probably just about picking and choosing exactly when and what events you want to maybe go to or what ones you want to go and maybe just take a car or whatever rather than drink. So people shouldn't let peer pressure get in the way of achieving any of the goals you've set because I think at the end of the day you're going to feel a lot better having achieved your goals and after 10 pints of a hangover so definitely you're not going to look fondly back on a hangover the way you are about achieving a TV or a photoshoot or something like that. So that's been I think one of the biggest things of advice I could give somebody, just try to be yourself first a wee bit more and then don't be afraid to say no to certain things. Yeah, massive mate, I think that's something that we can all be guilty of and it's just one of these things like, oh this person's been good and they bought cakes and stuff but see realistically, you've experienced it as well mate in the office, when you say no maybe people are like, oh come on, just have a wee bit or just live a little and stuff but realistically when you say no, later on that night they're not going to be thinking oh, Jordan and David never took a cake, it's just forgotten about. Yeah. Just say no, I'm all good, there we go, a wee giggle from whoever it is and then that's it. You don't need to end up eating stuff you don't want to do or going out to drink because you feel you need to because it's a client lunch or something like that. Like you say, you can still enjoy yourself but put your goals first and think like, what is most important to me right now and then it just stops you from going, is this aligned with my goal right now? No, okay, that's fine but then maybe you've got something that's your friend's wedding coming up, that's a good event, I want to go out and enjoy that, have a few drinks, enjoy the food, the cakes or whatever. Really, okay, I've done that and it's back to it but things like that, like you say, things that just aren't really aligned with your goal, it's not really a big occasion, definitely be picking and choosing and if you can do that, you're going to see good progress. It's not, if you think you can go out every weekend, drink, eat out constantly, eat all the cakes in the office and still make progress, it's not going to happen. So you do need to be, as we said, we're not saying sacrifice everything but it is, you do need to be a bit more sensible with choosing as and when and saying no, so brilliant mate, brilliant piece of advice Yeah mate, that's really everything for today's hot seat and it's been a great chat mate and I'm sure there's a lot of value that the guys can take when we share this later today but anything else you want to add just before we finish up? No, nothing in particular, I think just thanks to yourself, thanks to Raymond and also the rest of the guys within the progress project, obviously I'm not based in East Kilbride but a lot of the team are but any time I go to an event they always make me so welcome and it's just a nice community that you've managed to build, Jordan, everyone just seems to muck in, root each other on, there's no competition, no bad competition, obviously we have wee games at the end of our conditioning workouts or anything like that but it's just a really healthy atmosphere amongst the group and it's just a nice environment to be in and I think that's something that not many other coaches probably have so yeah, thanks to you guys for building such a nice environment to be in and to thrive in, so thank you Brilliant mate, cheers for those kind words and that is one of the reasons we are so big on the community side of things and just try to bring everybody together because it is, it's like bringing like minded people together who are pushing towards similar goals, it's only going to result in one thing and that's everybody growing together and thriving so that's excellent to hear and I feel we must share time mate and if anybody has any questions off the back of this for David or whatever, just feel free to message us or comment in the Facebook group and we'll speak to you soon. Thanks guys, cheers.