We have more than 30 years of coaching experience between us but we still made mistakes that stopped us getting lean and staying there.

The problem wasn’t that we didn’t understand calories, protein or training.

It was the smaller, less obvious habits that kept undoing our progress: destroying a week’s work over the weekend, trying to out-train poor nutrition, overlooking hidden calories, overcomplicating our meals and neglecting recovery.

In this episode, Simon and James reveal the five mistakes that held them back, what they learned through their own transformations and the practical systems they now use with their clients.

We also explain what it means to become “lifestyle lean”: building a strong, athletic and defined body you can maintain while still enjoying meals out, holidays and a normal social life.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why being perfect Monday to Friday won’t save an uncontrolled weekend
• How to enjoy meals out without sabotaging your entire week
• Why more cardio isn’t always the answer to fat loss
• The hidden calories quietly erasing your deficit
• How simple, repeatable meals make consistency easier
• Why poor sleep leads to worse decisions around food and training
• How to recover from a bad day without punishing yourself
• Why your environment could be making staying lean unnecessarily difficult

The goal isn’t to become as shredded as physically possible.

It’s to become lean, strong, fit and confident and create a lifestyle that allows you to stay that way.

If you’re successful in your career but frustrated that your body doesn’t reflect the standards you hold everywhere else in life, apply for coaching below.

▶APPLY FOR COACHING: https://forms.gle/mZciTEXtqtagFBHw5

▶ Follow Simon on Instagram: @simonjohnsonfitness

Most people think they have a nutrition problem.

They do not. They have an awareness problem.

Chris has a Masters in Sports Nutrition and spent nearly a decade as the nutritionist for Wasps Rugby and Hull KR. He has worked with elite athletes across rugby, endurance sports, combat sports and power sports at the highest level.

And in this episode he sat down with me and shared everything.

We cover:

• Why most people think they are eating well but are nowhere near as accurate as they think.
• The one habit that fixes 90 percent of nutrition problems no matter who you are or what level you are at.
• Why tracking your food is not a burden but the most powerful education you will ever give yourself.
• How elite athletes approach nutrition differently and what you can steal from their approach right now.
• The truth about carbohydrates, fuelling performance and why most people are not eating enough of the right things at the right time.
• Why habits beat discipline every single time and how the best athletes in the world remove emotion from the process entirely.
• What Chris would tell anyone who wants to get leaner, stronger and perform better starting today.

If you have ever felt like you are doing everything right with your nutrition and still not getting the results you want, this episode will change how you think about food forever.

📲 Apply for coaching → https://forms.gle/RBKcgoazqTzaLkCF8

📲 Follow me on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/simonjohnsonfitness/
📲 Find Chris on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/chrislowenutrition/

He was on the living room floor playing with his six-year-old son.

When he tried to get up, he could not do it easily.

A former rugby player. A national-level rugby coach. A man who had always been active his whole life. And in that moment he thought this is not right.

Guy Gibson is 42 years old. He works two weeks on and two weeks off on oil rigs in Aberdeen. He had tried to sort things himself for years. He kept going round in circles.

Then he lost 15 kilos, ran his first half marathon, and booked a cycling race in Mallorca.

In this episode Guy sits down with me for a completely unscripted, raw and honest client hot seat covering everything. The moment on the floor. The back pain.

The snapping at the people he loved most. The night shifts. The rugby career that defined him and then ended. And the journey that changed everything.

We talk about:

• Why stepping away from playing rugby left a gap he never expected.
• How his weight and mood were quietly affecting everyone around him.
• What he tried before and why it kept failing.
• What finally made him reach out and what shocked him about the process.
• How he lost 12 kilos working night shifts and two week oil rig rotations.
• What the half marathon finish line felt like and what Mallorca means to him now.
  

If you have ever been the fit one, the sporty one, the active one and then looked up one day and thought how did I get here, this episode is going to hit differently.

📲 Apply for coaching → https://forms.gle/RBKcgoazqTzaLkCF8

📲 Follow me on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/simonjohnsonfitness/

Most people are not out of shape because they lack discipline.

They are out of shape because nobody ever gave them the right rules to live by.

After 30 years of coaching between us and thousands of transformations, me and James have seen every mistake, every breakthrough and everything in between. And when we strip it all back, the people who get in incredible shape and never go back all live by the same five rules.

Not habits. Not hacks. Rules.

The kind you do not negotiate with. The kind that survive a hectic week, a holiday, a bad month or a life that looks nothing like the plan.

In this episode we share them all. What we do ourselves. What our best clients do. And the one at the end that nobody ever sees coming but changes everything.

If you have been starting over for longer than you want to admit, this is the episode that ends that cycle.

📲 Apply for coaching → https://forms.gle/RBKcgoazqTzaLkCF8

📲 Follow me on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/simonjohnsonfitness/

Kirsty tried personal trainers. She tried group classes. She was showing up, putting in the effort, and going nowhere.

Then she lost 12 kilos, 27 pounds, overcame binge eating, completely transformed her relationship with food and training, and got her confidence back in a way she never expected.

But that is only half the story.

In this episode Kirsty comes back as our first ever returning guest to talk about what happened after the transformation. A new house, a new job, financial pressure, and the decision to try and go it alone. What happened next is something so many people will relate to.

We talk about:

• Why personal trainers and group classes were getting her nowhere and what was actually missing.
• How she lost 12kg and overcame binge eating for good.
• What happened when she tried to go it alone and what she learned from it.
• Why getting results is only half the battle and what long term maintenance actually looks like.
• How to spot your personal warning signs before a wobble turns into a full derail.
• Why her baseline never went back to zero even when things got tough.
• What it actually takes to make this stick for life.

Raw, honest and real. If you have ever felt like you are putting in the effort and getting nothing back, or if you have got results and then lost them, this one is for you.

▶️ Go back and listen to Kirsty's first episode for the full picture.

📲 Apply for coaching → https://forms.gle/RBKcgoazqTzaLkCF8

📲 Follow me on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/simonjohnsonfitness/

Between me and coach James we have been coaching for over 30 years. These are the questions we get asked the most.

In this episode we answer all of them. Honestly. Including the ones where our answers might surprise you.

We cover:

• How to ditch the all or nothing mindset for good and why it might actually be a superpower
• Whether you actually need to track your macros or if there is a smarter way
• How much you actually need to train in your 40s and 50s to get real results
• How to stay on track when you are travelling or eating out constantly
• How to still enjoy alcohol and social occasions without wrecking your progress
• Why you keep quitting even when you genuinely want the results
• The biggest mistakes we both made in our own fitness journeys

No fluff. No textbook answers. Just two coaches getting honest about what actually works in real life.

📲 Apply for coaching → https://forms.gle/RBKcgoazqTzaLkCF8

📲 Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/simon_transform360

No tactics. No framework. No lesson plan.

Just me and coach James getting real about life.

In this episode we talk about what is actually going on in our worlds right now. James is growing a mullet, getting into gardening and learning to DJ. I am navigating life in Dubai, battling doom scrolling and having what I can only describe as a 30 percent life crisis.

But somewhere in the middle of all of that we get into some stuff that I think will genuinely hit home.

We talk about why hobbies outside of fitness actually matter, the relationship between phones and stress and why most of us are losing hours every day without even noticing, what it really means to want something versus actually going to get it, why fitness is not really about the abs or the marathon time, it is about who you become in the process, and the number one way to build confidence that nobody talks about.

We also get into our big goals right now, how our training is going, what is coming next for APEX Health, and the honest reality that nobody has it all figured out. We are all just winging it.

If you have been enjoying the more educational episodes, this one is a bit different. Raw, real and probably one of my favourites we have done.

📲 Apply for coaching → https://forms.gle/RBKcgoazqTzaLkCF8

📲 Follow me on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/simonjohnsonfitness/

Mike served five years in the Marines. He was deployed to Afghanistan. He got hit by an IED.

When he got out, his body fell apart. Within six months he'd gained 60 pounds. Old injuries caught up with him. He ended up in a wheelchair for seven months showering outside with a hose because he couldn't get upstairs.

At his heaviest he was over 300 pounds.

Today, he's more muscular, more capable, and more fit than he was in the Marine Corps. His son asked for a pull-up bar for Christmas because he saw his dad doing pull-ups. His wife calls his biceps her emotional support biceps. And last week he hit the pavement for a morning run at 7am, birds singing, 30 seconds faster than the week before.

This is one of the most powerful conversations I've ever had on this podcast.

We talk about:

• What life really looks like when you leave the military and nobody tells you what comes next
• How Mike went from wheelchair to losing 70 pounds
• The mindset of a man who never missed a session, even working night shifts with three kids
• Why the scales stopped mattering, and what he focuses on instead
• How getting in shape changed his kids
• What lead, protect and provide really means when you're a father

If you need a kick up the ass today, this is it.

📲 Apply for coaching → https://forms.gle/RBKcgoazqTzaLkCF8

📲 Follow me on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/simonjohnsonfitness/

This is part three and the final episode of the series on how to go from 25% to 10% body fat.

If you have not listened to part one on training and part two on nutrition, go back and start there first. This is the icing on the cake.

In this episode head performance coach James and I break down the lifestyle habits, sleep strategies and supplements that take your results to the next level.
We cover:

👉 Why steps are one of the most underrated fat loss tools you have
👉 How only 10% of your daily calorie burn actually comes from exercise
👉 The simple daily step strategy that removes all the guesswork
👉 Why sleep is the first domino and what happens to your results when you get it wrong
👉 How to optimise your sleep environment and routine for better recovery
👉 Zone two cardio explained and why it builds your engine for life
👉 The only five supplements worth your money, creatine, vitamin D, omega 3, magnesium and whey protein
👉 And why everything else is mostly a waste of money

This series has been everything you need to lose 10 to 20 kilos, build lean muscle and perform at your best. No fluff. No fad diets. Just the stuff that actually works.

📲 Want it all done for you?
Apply here → https://forms.gle/RBKcgoazqTzaLkCF8

📲 Follow me on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/simonjohnsonfitness/

This is part two of the three-part series on how to go from 25% to 10% body fat losing 10 to 20 kilos, building lean muscle, and performing at your best as a busy man in your 30s, 40s or 50s.

In part two, head performance coach James and I break down exactly how to set up your nutrition. No fad diets. No cutting out food groups. Just the stuff that actually works long term.

We cover:

• Why you need to track your calories — and why most people avoid it
• The exact rate of fat loss you should be aiming for per week
• Calories vs protein — which one is actually king
• Why "eating healthy" doesn't automatically mean losing weight
• The scrambled eggs and avocado trap most people fall into
• How to build a custom meal structure around your life
• Calorie planning vs calorie tracking — and why one wins every time
• The hunger scale — and why ignoring it is setting you up to fail
• How to still enjoy food, weekends and social situations

This is everything you need to get your nutrition dialled in — for free

📲 Want it all done for you? Apply here → https://forms.gle/RBKcgoazqTzaLkCF8

📲 Follow me on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/simonjohnsonfitness/