https://linktr.ee/Davebrockwaycoaching

Dave Brockway Coaching, Basingstoke (2025)

14/02/2025

South Midlands @ Elite Bodyworks Spring Powerlifting Competition

Sunday 18th May, at Elite Bodyworks Gym.
Unit 10 Bessemer Park, Bessemer Rd, Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG21 3NB.
This facility has parking available.
Ideal comp for beginners through to more experienced lifters trying to obtain a QT or GL.
You must have a current membership of British Powerlifting to enter this competition.
First Weigh-in 8:00am-9.30am/Lifting starts at 10.00am, Second Weigh-in times and lifting groups/schedule to be announced once entries have closed.
Entries are limited to 60 lifters with priority given to South Midlands Division lifters first (lifters from other BP divisions welcome 1 week after entry), closing date for entries is Sunday 4th May, no late entries will be accepted and competition entries may close earlier if capacity is reached.

General enquiries to info@davebrockwaycoaching.com
Entry Fee £40
Entry Form Here - https://form.jotform.com/250357300117344

29/12/2024

Protein Quality Vs Quantity
Randomly increasing protein is certainly better than under eating protein. If you aren’t looking at the Protein & how many amino acids are required and your ability to digest it you are missing a big piece of the 🧩 . More isn’t always better. Your ability to utilise the protein you eat is far more important than the amount you consume.
One way to check this out is through the Protein Digestibility Correct Amino Acid Score (PDCAAS). This looks at the amino acid profile of individual foods and after digesting it provides 100% of indispensable amino acids (complete proteins).
Let’s take a closer look at Muscle Protein Synthesis (MPS). This is the process of building muscle through signalling called a Mechanistic Target of Rapamycin Complex-1 (mTORC1). This is stimulated by an Amino Acid called Leucine. Then we build muscle. I’m grossly over simplifying it.
We also need to make sure we get more MPS to Muscle Protein Breakdown (MPB). Both processes are integral for building muscle 💪. This is especially important for athletes in a sport with a high energy demand or aging athlete who get a bigger MPB which is part of the aging process called ’Sarcopenia’,
This is especially more significant when losing weight in a calorie deficit or if you are a vegan or older athlete. Vegans can get the same effects of protein as omnivorous but they might need to be more mindful of protein quality & type over quantity. Pea protein would be a great supplemental option and contains Leucine & contains all Essential Amino Acids (EAA). It’s generally easier to digest than Whey (Dairy protein) especially if you are sensitive to dairy products.
Generally we recommend training populations 1.6-2.2g of protein to kg of bodyweight. 1.6 recommendations are far better if the protein has a better digestible score.
If you are an endurance athlete then your Carbohydrate (CHO) intake is significantly higher. Then your protein may need to be reduced. This is a good time to look at protein quality over quantity & digestible score.

24/12/2024

The Calorie Bell Curve
The ideal situation is balancing the calories to sit on the peak of the ‘Bell Curve’.
This is also dependent on what your nutritional needs are. A female 60kg marathon runner in the peaking phases of training could require 600g of carbohydrates (CHO) and around 3000 calories per day just to have the energy and recovery powers required to perform optimally for her sport. Yet a Male IT executive working out 3 times per week and wants to improve his body composition might only need around 2000 calories per day to achieve his goals.
Ok, if that’s true why not give the marathon runner 4000 calories and 1000g of carbs per day to improve her performance. Also we can give the IT executive 1500 calories per day to speed up their fat loss? Sounds plausible?
My policy is the least restriction to get the best results. By this I mean if I’m setting up a nutrition plan for someone I will make the least adjustments to make progress. The only time I will adjust the plan is if progress stops.
Some things you need to take into account to adjust calories when setting up a nutrition plan.
HUNGER - “Embrace the suck”. This is the quickest way to fall off the wagon. The reality is nutritional improvements take weeks, if not months and a nutrition plan that includes favourite foods and a minimal energy debt will increase long term adherence. I also include diet breaks and daily treats. A common thread is if people don’t feel like they are suffering they don’t think the plan is working. The reality is if you are smart with your planning you can avoid a miserable dieting experience.
DIGESTION - The reality of eating 3000 calories as an endurance athlete can be a pretty grim proposition. You might have to offset ‘OPTIMAL’ to adjust to ‘REALITY’.
NUTRITIONAL PRINCIPLES REMAIN THE SAME - Nutrition principles are just a framework. Individual foods don’t have magical properties that increase fat loss, make you move faster or build strength. The way you frame your nutrition should take into account preference, how you feel, how it fits into your busy schedule and offset suffering as long as you obey scientific principles of nutrition.

19/09/2024

Looking forward to this. Been watching all the other episodes. Honour to be asked.

27/02/2024

An eye opening moment for me was when I first started at the gym. I would read bodybuilding magazine with articles like ‘Blast your biceps’ & ‘Melt your belly fat in 6 weeks’. I was a young guy who would pester other guys in the gym asking them “how do you get a six pack?”, “How do I grow my quads?”
As annoying as I must of been most of them would smile and say “Good form & do it consistently for a long time”. Obviously not the answer I wanted to hear 🤣🤣. I wanted the magic secret ” 🧙.
One day I saw the biggest guy in the gym. I asked him “how do I get big & shredded like you?”. Don’t try this at home kids 🤣.
I was 15 at the time. Cut me some slack. He said “I’ve watched you train in this gym for months. I like how hard you work but have you noticed you do 3 x as much work as me? Have you also noticed I start my work out after you and leave before you? Have you also noticed you actually lift similar weights to me? I might add with horrible technique (he wasn’t kidding). Why do you think I’m bigger & far more athletic than you? (He was right, I looked like Kermit the Frog 🐸). “
I answered “Tell me?”
He said “stress➡️recovery➡️adaptation”. “You stress enough to recover and repeat 🔁 the cycle again”. “This is done with good form & it takes years. You want me to tell you there’s a short cut. The quicker you except that. The quicker you can get better”
“Recovery is good nutrition, you need to learn about that. Good sleep 💤 & the right level of stress in the gym. Too much and you don’t progress. Too little & you don’t progress”.
My next question was obviously “How much should I do?”
Guess the answer? “A barrow load less than you are doing now. Learn the exercises properly”.

06/02/2024

Some food for thought. 🤣

When people talk about cutting or bulking. My first question is ‘What’s your maintenance calories?’

22/11/2023

Structure & Planning
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Wanting something badly isnt enough. Ha. The thing that has always kept me ahead of my competitors is I can tell you every set, rep & rest period every one of my clients has done in the past 10 years.
How their nutrition was periodised through to session notes & client feedback. Correlating data points to make sure the system is working.
Why the attention to detail? That’s how I’ve achieved everything myself. I describe writing a training or nutrition plan like storyboarding a screenplay. Character development ➡️ Plot development ➡️ through to the pay off.
In the age of the iPhone & app there’s absolutely no excuse not to do that. We have the tools 🧰.
Any fool can get sweaty with burpees & box jumps. Understanding how to progress & sometimes to regress to progress takes a structured approach based on sound scientific principles. 💪

22/11/2023

Structure & Planning
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Wanting something badly isnt enough. Ha. The thing that has always kept me ahead of my competitors is I can tell you every set, rep & rest period every one of my clients has done in the past 10 years.
How their nutrition was periodised through to session notes & client feedback. Correlating data points to make sure the system is working.
Why the attention to detail? That’s how I’ve achieved everything myself. I describe writing a training or nutrition plan like storyboarding a screenplay. Character development ➡️ Plot development ➡️ through to the pay off.
In the age of the iPhone & app there’s absolutely no excuse not to do that. We have the tools 🧰

20/04/2023

Nutrition
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I decided to compete at a heavier body weight. You know the ‘weight moves weight cliche’. This isn’t the first time I’ve tried this and the research is clear on this topic. Weight is only useful to strength if it’s come from contractile tissue (muscle). That doesn’t happen quickly. Although it can create some mechanical advantages adding some adiposity (fat). Does this mean I should drop weight and be shredded 🤣. The answer sits somewhere in between. This is where I periodise nutrition. Before I start going into detail. I will say I have years of data on how my nutrition works for me. It’s an ongoing project not a 12 week shred or macro split.
My primary concern is energy, health & performance. At 50 my resting heart rate should always be health as is my blood pressure. This is a juggling act. This is why I use a cyclical approach to both weight loss and muscle gain. No matter what anyone tells you there are health benefits & detriment to both gaining & losing weight. I’ve been a bodybuilder and there’s nothing healthy about being at starvation levels of Bodyfat. It should be very temporary.
First of all my experiment didn’t make a significant enough difference to my performance to justify looking at stepping up a weight class. My resting heart rate went 🆙 although my bp remained stable. Getting into a deadlift position became more challenging & even my brace I had to change. I also had to change my squat technique to enable me to hit comp standard depth. Plus I generally sit between 82-85kg so I felt I had to force feed myself to enable the weight gain. I’m not someone who generally does have a problem adding weight. Which effected my digestion. It also effected my work capacity as my cv went down. I’m not saying this is a disadvantage to everyone. But this is my experience. Continues below ⬇️ in comments

09/04/2023

The Highlight Reel 🎞️
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The past few months has been a bit ‘bumpy’. Unfortunately that’s life. Very often my job as a coach is adapting the training & nutrition to REAL LIFE PROBLEMS. It’s be a hard lesson in the use of auto regulation. Which is a posh word for making adjustments to how training is on the day. It’s great having a program. It’s a guide not set in stone. The velocity tracker has helped as an early indicator of how training might go. I’ll still take the lift but if it doesn’t move well I’m not so hard on myself.
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I’ve been suffering from insomnia for the past few months. Some night I can’t sleep 💤 at all. My GP has helped & it’s been a lot better over the past 3 weeks, so fingers crossed. I’ve also been trying to periodise my nutrition to improve performance. Unfortunately sleep deprivation can affect hunger both positively and negatively. The way I’ve adapted to this is on days I have low appetite I drink my nutrients by liquidising foods and easily digestible foods. Maybe some junk food . On the days I feel like I have an uncontrollable hunger I’ll add a fasting window and up my protein and fibre intake to subside hunger.
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Then about 2-3 months ago I started getting some pain in my shoulder blade which made squatting and deadlifts really painful. I’m the back of my mind I was hoping it wasn’t my old nerve damage returning. It returns every 3-4 years. I would manage it with regular massages & mobility drills. Unfortunately my worst fears were realised when I lost significant power in my right arm. I lost 30kg from my bench in a week. My right arm started atrophying. Obviously I threw the toys out my pram. Unfortunately thing like that are out of my control. With professional help I’m slowly getting back on track. It’s also not deteriorated to barely being able to press the bar.
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Although this I’ve still pushed as hard as I can. If it’s out of my control I can’t do anything about it. 💪. I didn’t want this post to be negative. I want you all to look at everything positively no matter how things unfold. Stay 💪

01/08/2022

The Not So Rocky Training Montage
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Some training footage of the past 5 weeks since covid. Some RPE 8 singles of the main lifts and some boring accessories that no one should see. I do do them 🤣
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Today I had to train tired with 4 hours sleep and very humid conditions. Admittedly not ideal. If you’re waiting for ideal it may never happen. Having a stretch of time that’s free of work, home and relationship stress is rare. Not to mention training around injury, busy gyms, not ideal nutrition and poor sleep 🛌.
As someone who competes very often the competitive environment isn’t ideal. Someone who’s good at training can adapt to anything. Look at all those people who walked out of lockdown in better shape. That to me is an amazing athlete.
Very often clients will avoid the stuff they are bad at because they just accept they are bad. Also avoiding having to reduce weight or perform a regression to improve technique.
One bad session means nothing. It’s like blaming Christmas Day and boxing for weight gain. If you haven’t looked after things the other 363 days. 2 days aren’t the the end of the earth 🌍.
Everything we do should be laying the foundation of what’s to come next. The better we do at adding good bricks in good formation means when we are ready to finish the product our construction is stable. It’s ok to lay a brick badly and replace it a week later. Its not ok to continually stack on 💩supporting structures.
Training results are the accumulation of good practices like good sleep, excellent recovery, fuelled with good nutrition & ever improved training practices.
@50

19/07/2022

“ I know what diet works, I’ve done it 7 times before”. Obviously you aren’t looking at sustainable plan if you need to do something 7 times.
“I know how to get stronger. I’ve use it every time until I get an injury”.
I think people think my job as a coach it to give them answers or confirm their biases. Most people have the answers to their own questions. My job is to find a way to integrate it into their lives to get the best possible outcome available.
I’ve talked about emotion vs logic before. It’s more emotionally demanding for someone to change their behaviours than stick to what they know. Even if that decision is going to achieve the best outcome. It’s like the myth that Diet Coke makes you fat. Even if I showed you 500 research papers that disprove that point and asked you where you got that information from and you couldn’t tell me. You now will never drink Diet Coke. Why?
Remember “Eat a balance diet, move well & reduce stress” does sell a lot of products. “ Eat what you want, high impact exercise till you vomit 🤮 & Go hard or go home does”.

Dave Brockway Coaching

14/02/2025

29/12/2024

24/12/2024

19/09/2024

27/02/2024

06/02/2024

22/11/2023

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20/04/2023

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