Trainer - Daved Gillyard

My Story

To be totally honest, I wasn’t born ripped with muscles and six pack abs!  I wasn’t always a personal trainer, and fat-loss expert.  I certainly wasn’t always a fitness model doing photo shoots.

At first, I was just a chubby little kid.  I was raised in the southern part of the United States, so culturally; I wasn’t brought up with a great health and fitness conscience.  I was never obese, but by the 8th grade, I was a bit over weight and teased and called “tubby” during PE class.  LOL, I remember the turning point was in high school freshmen Spanish class.  We had to record a restaurant skit and watch it back in class on VHS (LOL, remember video home system?).  During the playback I realized I nailed all my lines perfectly, but there was only one problem.  I had MAN BOOBS!  Like I said, it was my freshmen year of high school, so puberty was in full blossom for me.  I told myself I couldn’t have two struggles, pimples and being fat.  I had to pick a struggle, so since the weight was easier for me to control and lose; I choose to keep the pimple struggle.  LOL truth of the matter is, I totally tried to get rid of acne struggle also, but that was an epic fail, so fitness became my thing.  I was a freshmen, so I had no money for a gym membership, so I started with push-ups, sit ups, and running laps around the block.  Then my mom and I joined a health club and I gained access to a weight room and cardio equipment.  I remember it so clear!   By the end of freshmen year I had transformed.  My confidence and self-esteem skyrocketed (I still had the Rocky Mountain size zits on my face though). But the results got me hooked.

However, in college, I stopped lifting weights and shifted my exercise towards just playing basketball and jogging. That kept me in good enough shape even though I didn’t eat healthy at all. Four hour sessions of full-court basketball tend to erase a lot of bad dinner choices. At this time in my life I didn’t know anything about healthy nutrition.  It seemed that I was allergic to salads, fruits and vegetables!! However, I was addicted to pizza and wings (Still have a weak spot for the two!!), it’s the life of a college student. I kept a slight six-pack throughout my college years; but a few years after graduating, I stopped playing basketball as much due too time constraints and countless high ankle sprains.

Soon after that, I stopped hitting the running trails and treadmill on a regular basis also.  Of course, the bad eating habits I had in college continued; and the pounds packed on.  All the while I’m thinking, if I just got back into the gym, my abs would magically re-appear.  So I would fluctuate back-and-forth into the gym for weeks, then not go again for months.  So as you can guess, my abs never came back like I wanted them.

Looking back, I had no clue what I was doing in trying to get my abs back (I didn’t have my nutrition plan in order). From high school to college I just had abs without working for them (as my friends would describe, I had abs for the low… Not really paying for them!!, well my younger, faster metabolism paid for them without me knowing at the time).

One winter evening after a long day at work, and a corporate Christmas party, I felt discouraged because when sitting in traffic, the seatbelt was tight, and I had to unbuckle my pants to even fell comfortable.  That night I was flipping through the stations eating pizza and I saw the movie “Conan the Barbarian” was on staring Arnold Schwarzenegger.  I was like DAMN,  Arnold was swoll!  I was like I kinda want to get to that level!  I figured I could no longer have “abs for the low” because my metabolism had slowed down, and I was eating like crap.  I would have to be dedicated and work for the Arnold body with proper nutrition and workouts.  So like anything in life, I knew if I wanted to be great at it, I had to study it.  So that’s what I began to do; I read, watched, and listened to everything about bodybuilding, fitness/nutrition.  I took nutrition classes and became a certified personal trainer, along with becoming a credentialed fitness nutrition specialist.  In my journey, I’ve trained with professional bodybuilders, and worked my but off to get into the best shape if my life.

I learned so much from my studies and experiences.  Now, I want to share that knowledge I’ve gained during my fitness journey so that I can help others so they won’t have to go through the same pitfalls and cycles I went through before I saw the light.  Becoming fit and eating healthy is all about changing your lifestyle.  I know it isn’t an easy choice and cheat meals/drinks become very tempting.  But my goal is to be the best trainer, health coach and motivator, providing realistic and timely results to all my clients.  My journey and studies has shown me that everyone is different, and some clients need something different …both in the mental and physical arenas to get the results they want.  I’m just about that “results” action boss!!

Training Philosophy

1. Build Muscle, do not lose it! – What good is it to lose a lot of “weight” if half of it is lean body mass?  When most people want to lose weight, they go straight to the cardio machines and over do it.  They compound the problem with  crazy starvation diets and burn off all their muscle!  I tell my clients, don’t just focus on losing “weight” but instead, focus on losing fat, and gaining muscle.  This is what transforms your body.
2. Think “habit” not “diet” – You can only achieve permanent  results by adopting new habits that you can maintain for the rest of your life.  These habits include your nutrition, your mental thought process, and the way you move.  Diets are a temporary change in your eating behavior.  When you say you’re on a diet, you’re implying that at some point you’re going to hop off it!
3. Be patient, and cut calories conservatively – The smartest, safest, and healthiest approach for permanent fat loss is to start with a small deficit, and add exercise, then continue to cut calories if necessary as your results dictate.  Do it slowly and progressively in stages, not all at once.
4. EXERCISE!! – You would think that goes without saying, but far to many people are too focused on cutting callers and removing all types of foods, and do not workout or exercise at all!  Keep your metabolic rate up by working out and build muscle, and gain strength and improve fitness.
5. Become a “body sculptor” – If you want to achieve fat loss and muscle building, then model yourself after those who do it best — Bodybuilders.  Quit buying fat-loss devices and trying fad diets, instead, listen to who does it best.  No, you won’t become a bodybuilder, or bulky/manly if you’re a woman.  But you build strength, health, energy, discipline, and self-confidence along with LEAN MUSCLE.  Transform your body without losing muscle and without starvation, drugs, or diet gimmicks.