Coach Spotlight - Sam Parker
When did you start your fitness journey?
My fitness journey sparked into life at the age of 16 when I started using my older brothers’ weights. All we had was a set of dumbbells and bodyweight exercises. I quickly fell in love with how it made me feel and soon after joined my first gym!
What is your greatest achievement in fitness?
After 8 years of training, I reached an all-time low in myself. I Struggled massively with body dysmorphia and never felt big enough. I hated the way I looked and was in a negative space with this mentally for some time. My biggest achievement is overcoming this space I found myself in and making that decision to change. I lost 70lbs over 12 months and changed my whole perspective around on training and my fitness journey. I am grateful to be where I am now but not one part of it came easy.
How has fitness helped you in other areas of your life?
My fitness journey has helped me with every part of my day-to-day life. Whether that’s through
- Discipline
- Resilience
- Accountability
The fitness journey has a lot to show us about ourselves and can bring out parts of us we didn’t know were there. It is now a lifestyle and flows over in our mindset to everything else going on in our lives.
What do you bring to the Physique Academy?
I bring 10 years of life experience from my fitness journey so far. I understand what it takes to achieve amazing results and what’s required to help make a positive impact on someone else’s journey. I understand there will be struggles and obstacles along the way, I’m here to help people break through and overcome to achieve their dream goals.
Why should people join the Physique Academy?
Physique Academy is more than just getting people into great shape. Its building discipline, its building a mental resilience and becoming confident in who we are and what we can achieve. Most people are held back by their negative self-talk and low self-belief. At Physique Academy we care about every client and help grow them mentally as well as physically so they can thrive across all areas of life.
What advice would you give people starting the fitness journey?
Enjoy the process and understand there is no magic pill to get you the dream body. It takes consistency over time, so learn to be happy with where you are at, whilst always striving to be better each day. Everyone must start somewhere.
What is the best thing about being a part of the Physique Academy?
I get to use everything I know to help and bring out the best in others. I am surrounded by coaches and clients who are all on the same journey of bettering themselves and working towards goals.
What is your favourite style of training?
I have always been into bodybuilding and for the first 8 years is all my training consisted of. When I decided it was time to lose all the weight I was holding onto, I got into CrossFit. CrossFit helped me change my life around and pushed my mind in a completely different way than I was used to. It gave me something to focus on which would help drop my weight. I hated it at the start, now I love it. CrossFit/ conditioning workouts are now my favourite style of training.
Why is routine and discipline important to you?
Having a routine and being disciplined is everything, it allows us to get everything done we need to in the day, regardless of whether motivation is there. It takes discipline to create new habits and to create a routine that will bring out the best in us. Without discipline we end up floating round in life and not doing what’s required to achieve our own greatness!
Have you ever had a setback in training and how did you overcome this?
I suffered an injury to my lower back which held me back for the better part of 12 months. Restricting what exercises I could perform and taking a massive blow mentally. I overcame this by training in the gym just as much as I would normally but adapting exercises where needed and continued to progress in myself.
