Adaptive Health

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Adaptive Health

I help people become healthier, happier, fitter and stronger!

14/07/2025

Something that draws me to individual sports, like combat sports, is the impact that your own choices have on your outcomes.

You’ve got training partners and coaches, but the responsibility and opportunity lies with you to look after your inputs (like nutrition, sport training, S&C, sleep) which then dictate your outputs (performance).

In a team sport you can do everything right in your preparations and perform well, but you’re still counting on others to perform too.

In an individual sport if you do everything you can to prepare, and still come up short on the day, your mind can often rest easier knowing you just weren’t good enough on the day, yet.

Everything is on you. For some, that can be off putting. For others, it can be recognised as an opportunity to do the work and look after the seemingly small factors, that add up to have a big impact on performance.

Ownership is rewarded. You either do the work, or you don’t.

03/07/2025

Cutting weight is pointless if you can’t perform.

Remember it’s a combat sports competition, not a weight making competition.

Cutting weight can be a necessary evil to level the playing field if your opponents are cutting too.

But it’s certainly not always the case that the more weight cut the better, especially if it stops you from being able to perform at your best or takes your focus away from the fight or comp.

Not always the case, but I’ve often seen the person who has cut less or no weight, having a performance advantage or winning against someone who has cut more weight.

Cut some weight if needed.

But generally, the less time you spend in a deficit in the weeks leading in to a fight, and the less weight you cut on the fight week itself, the better.

30/06/2025

“I can’t eat before training”

I used to think that too.

Now I can have 120g oats, 60g whey, some fruit and start training and hour later 😂

The problem is, most athletes will try out eating close to training once, have a bad session and then never try it again.

Now, if you’ve got a shorter / lighter session, or if you’ve eaten enough earlier in the day or the night before for a morning session, you might get through ok.

But there’s no doubts about the fact we can improve performance by having the right amounts, of the right fuel in the tank, at the right times.

Your total daily calorie and carb intake will be the main drivers of your performance from a nutrition perspective. But if you fade early in sessions, can’t hit your top gears, lose focus easily or feel you don’t recover as well as you could, this could be the difference.

We just need to be open to experimenting and giving it some time for the gut to adapt.

Started lighter / smaller / further away from training - half a banana, a slice of white bread or 250mls sports drink, 30-60 mins pre training.

Find what sits well for you in the stomach, then gradually increase your quantities.

This is not just for pro athletes - everyone can benefit from better fuelling before training.

Try it, stick with it for a while, see and feel the difference 🥊🥋

22/06/2025

So happy for to be back in the cage, making his pro debut look easy with a first round stoppage.

Liam was actually the first MMA fighter I worked with, as well as a good friend and training partner, so it’s a massive buzz to see him back in there and starting his run to the top of the pro scene!

with a lovely crispy striking display too for another win. Colm was halfway through his fight week weight cut when his opponent (and ruleset) was changed for a much heavier fight so we had to switch for an emergency carb load. Seeing the amount of output from Colm, the carbs were put to good use 😂

A lot of past clients fighting last night too, some wins, some learnings, some missing out due to last minute pull outs, and even 2 past clients fighting each other 😅 But all with a serious amount of hard work and heart to be getting in that cage, regardless of outcomes.

Another great show 👏

20/06/2025

Buzzing for this man to be getting back in the cage tomorrow!

Weight made smoothly and ready to rock 🕺

Eyes on for some other clients and past clients in action too!

19/06/2025

“Can’t you just do me up a one off meal or gym plan instead of us doing ongoing coaching and check ins?”

Well I could but…

That’d be like me handing you a rough map while you’re steering this ship, without accounting for the weather conditions, ocean currents or obstacles along the way…

and without giving you life vests, a support crew or any navigation systems on board 😅

A one off plan might point you in the right direction…it might work for a while, for some people…

But will it get you all the way to your goal?

Will a one off plan adapt itself for you when life stuff happens?
Will it hold you accountable?
Will you know how to adjust it when progress stalls or if progress never even starts properly?
Will it teach you how to manage your own training or nutrition long term?

For most people, the answer is no.
And that’s exactly why I don’t offer them.

It’s no coincidence that the clients who commit to the coaching process and stick with it for 6–12+ months are the ones who I’ve most often seen get the results that they really want. As well as becoming better equipped to maintain those results and having the skills to manage things better by themselves in future.

You’ll still have to put the work in of course.

But coaching can provide the ongoing support, guidance, and accountability that’s missing from a one off plan you download online or get an influencer.

So no, I won’t do up a one off plan.

But I can coach you.

16/06/2025

⚠️NB: I do not recommend to attempt the higher %’s of weight cutting through these methods without professional guidance!

When it comes to fight week, any weight loss from fat loss is already done.

Any further weight loss to help make weight, will be via manipulating the bodies water, glycogen and stomach content.

Surprisingly for many athletes, we can actually keep calorie intake quite high on a fight week while we do this, as we simply are manipulating the composition of the diet.

Here are the methods we can use to achieve acute weight loss, along with the risks to performance of each (these will change depending on how close your weigh in is to fight time), possible % of bodyweight lost through each method, and a quick “how to” for each.

It’s important to note that this is just a brief overview and as mentioned, if you’re unsure or are aiming to / need to utilise the higher % ranges of acute weight loss in order to make weight, it’s best to consult with someone who knows what they’re doing.

You don’t want to put your health and performance at risk.

11/06/2025

Daz got in touch back in March needing to get back into fighting shape and ready for the Portimão Box Cup last weekend.

Just a week in to our training and nutrition plan, he managed to break his hand😅

But we adapted training to suit, working around the break with lower body, single arm and cuffed exercises, bike work and whatever boxing work he could do, all while managing his nutrition and gradually dropping weight. We then brought back in running and use of the broken hand as and when able to with some daily rehab exercises in place for it once the initial break healed.

With this being a 3 day tournament, progressing to the next day with a win and needing to make weight on each day, we had to have him close on weight coming into the tournament week, with a few easy tricks done on the last few days to have him easily on weight.

Strong win in the quarter final for Daz and an unfortunate loss in the semis, but a massive effort put in from him in the build up and plenty gained from it 🫡

05/06/2025

We all fool ourselves at times when it comes to nutrition. By doing something as simple as noting down everything you eat and drink for a few days (including the oils, the sauces, the nibbles, the alcohol, etc!), it can bring more awareness to where your nutrition might be tripping you up in regards to these issues, and what needs to be changed for the outcomes that you want.

I’m not saying nutrition is always the root cause of either, there can be several other factors at play.
But it’s often a major piece of the puzzle, and sometimes the one people overlook the most.

✅ Can’t lose body fat?
You’re probably averaging out at calorie maintenance or in a surplus most weeks.

✅ Struggling to gain muscle?
You might not be getting enough protein, or just not eating enough overall.

✅ Low energy?
Could be poor hydration, micronutrient intake, or excessive added sugars.

✅ Poor recovery?
Often a mix of low calories, low protein, poor hydration, or lacking micronutrients.

✅ Performance not where you want it?
Undereating carbs or overall calories can hit hard here and meal timing plays a role too.

✅ Digestion always off?
Could be poor hydration, eating too quickly, meals too high in fats, too much or the wrong kind of fibre, or foods that just don’t agree with you.

✅ Always getting sick?
Again, calories, hydration, and micronutrients all support immunity.

I’m not a believer in the phrase “food is medicine.”
That’s a load of nonsense.

Medicine is medicine, and it’s very important in a lot of cases.

That said, nutrition massively impacts health, performance, and body composition.
It can also be one of the easiest variables to assess and, with some simple adjustments, improve on.

02/06/2025

Big work from client who’s been on a huge run of competitions over the past year.

In just the last 8 weeks of working together on his nutrition and S&C he’s picked up:

AJP London Grand Slam 🥉
AJP Milan 🥇
AJP Abu Dhabi Grand Slam 🥈
AJP Georgia 🥇
Ranked #1 globally in AJP Tour for his category.

With training, travelling and competing so much, we have a lot to consider when it comes to managing his weight for competition while keeping his recovery, performance and health in a good spot.

Constant work and effort from Jorge and exciting times ahead as we build for the AJP Worlds in November!

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