James built muscle for his wedding at 38 (and was even mistaken for a PT)

With his wedding day six months away, 38-year-old James had a clear goal in mind.

He wanted to walk down the aisle in the best shape of his life – and enjoy pool party celebrations with his wife and wedding guests.

James had already done much of the hard work in a fat loss phase with his trainer at Ultimate Performance. Now he wanted to build more muscle.

Together with his bride Michelle, who also signed up for a personal training program at U.P., he worked towards his wedding day goals.

With targeted training and nutrition to gain muscle and the accountability and expertise of his U.P. trainer, James lost 9.5kg (20lbs) of fat and added nearly 4.5kg (10lbs) of lean mass.

Not only that, his health improved measurably with 20% improvements in sleep scores and his ‘metabolic age’ dropping to around 30 years old on his WHOOP tracker.

Here James explains why his program was so effectively and how he still managed to enjoy drinks and meals out while getting in shape in the run up to his wedding:

After your first transformation, how did you keep making progress toward the wedding?

So I spoke to my PT after my first transformation, knowing that I had a wedding half a year ahead. And I sort of said, ‘look, I’m in a really good shape because I’m really happy where I am. But I’d like to be putting a bit more muscle.’ And my PT straight away put together a plan and said this is more than achievable. She broke down what I need to be hitting each month and where she thought I could get to by the wedding. At the start, I probably didn’t really fully believe I could get to that point, but I have.  I’m surprised by how much more I’ve achieved in the second block (of training). But I came in with so much more knowledge and so much more commitment and so much more belief in the U.P. system. 

Why did you refer your wife to U.P.?

I referred my wife to U.P., because she’s been on every diet under the sun, tried so many different exercise routines, and she was getting close to our wedding. And I know she was a little bit insecure about how she was looking, and starting to stress. I just sort of suggested U.P. She came in and met the guys, and was more than happy to join.  I think referring her was the best thing I’ve done because she’s completely changed. She’s so much more confident. And that was all visible on our wedding day.

How did your trainer work around your injury and still keep you progressing?

So I picked up an injury outside of U.P., about 6 or 7 months ago. I hurt my shoulder playing different sport. My trainer took time to help me work out what the injury was. We then changed a plan to make sure that I wasn’t putting any more pressure on that. And then we started doing some exercises to strengthen the shoulder. Since then, I’ve had no problems with it.

Why have you stayed with your trainer for two years?

I’ve stayed on my trainer for two years because she knows exactly how to motivate me. She knows what exercises work best for me. She knows when I need a change. She’s just completely in the detail of me as a person and as a as a client. But also, she holds me accountable to a level that I’ve just not done before. And I think the attention to detail actually shows whilst I’m working out in the gym. I’m just not going to get that myself or with any other PT really.

You were recently mistaken for a personal trainer – how did that happen?

I was in a changing room and someone had issues with their locker, and I was actually mistaken for one of the trainers here at U.P. Which is obviously a pretty nice feeling after a lot of hard work. It’s nice to know that other people are noticing that. So yeah, that was a great feeling.

Are you proud of your wife’s progress?

I’m really proud of what my wife and what she has achieved, because I’ve seen her constantly want to lose weight, get into exercise, and to learn more about how to do the gym properly. I’ve been really proud of how far she’s come, and how she’s really thrown herself into it. She’s tracked really well. She’s held herself accountable along with her trainer. She’s learned so much at the gym. Even when we work out together away from the U.P. gym, she’s a 10 times better gym partner.

Could you have achieved this without your trainer?

I couldn’t have got to where I am now without my trainer, I think, like I’ve always gone and done the gym. I did a gym before U.P. I’ve done the gym alongside U.P. And just the intensity isn’t there for me. The my form will go pretty quickly. I wasn’t tracking my weight properly. I wasn’t progressively overloading properly. And the whole side of accountability around diet, getting steps in, and sleep. I just wouldn’t have done that without having a trainer  to hold me accountable.

What has your WHOOP shown you about the impact of training with U.P.?

So, obviously it tracks my sleep, as well as all my other metrics like stress levels and calories. It showed me that the more I’ve trained U.P., the better my sleep has gotten. There’s no doubt about it. My sleep performance is consistently 10% or 20% higher than what it what it was pre U.P. which I think is down to training and changing my diet. I think probably most impressively for me is that it has an age tracker to track your metabolic age. I’m 38 years old, but it’s got me down as just under 31, which shows that my current habits and training plan are actually having me age at a slower rate than the standard age. So, it’s all really positive.

You had a party at the pool before your wedding – how did you feel being in great shape for that?

Just super confident. I’m not a I’m not someone that lacks confidence as a person day to day. But, you know, to be at a pool party and feel like I was the best I ever could be in. And, you know. Yeah, it just makes you feel super confident, and just makes you enjoy the day more. It’s one less thing to worry about.

What was it like peaking for the wedding together?

Yeah. So obviously we both we both felt we were in the best shape that we’ve ever been in for our wedding. Obviously it was going to be for the wedding, so we were outdoors and in our in our swimwear a lot of time. It just felt great. I think we were both more confident than we’d have even expected on our wedding day. And it was just a massive sort of weight off our shoulders to know that with everything else going on, we were in the right shape, and we were where we wanted to be physically.

How did friends and family react to the change they saw in you?

Yeah, I’m speaking for both me and my wife. All of our friends and family couldn’t believe the change that they’d seen. Obviously, I’ve done a couple of phases at U.P., so they saw a significant change in my first transformation. But they all mentioned that that it was probably a bigger transformation in my second block. And even more so for me, because they’d obviously seen me at the start of U.P. and then four months later. Yeah. They couldn’t believe the difference. And a fair few people were asking how it how it’s happened. 

Anything else you’d like to add?

I think it was a real surprise to me. I thought the first block of U.P. training was tough. I achieved so much and I thought I’m not going to be able to better where I am at that point. And the second transformation has been even more visible. And probably easier to do. I’ve found that balance between still be able to go out and enjoy myself, have drinks when I want to go out for nice meals, and still be able to improve my overall physique. It’s something I just didn’t think was possible.

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