Getting to know you: David Hogan

David Hogan

What do you currently do?

I’m currently a Personal Trainer and I have been for the last ten years. During this time, I have dealt with numerous clients with a wide range of goals and conditions, ranging from elite sports performers to the complete novice.

In my current role at GHOGY, I provide people with guidance and support, helping them become happier and healthier. I do this by creating exercise and meal plans that are suited to our clients unique needs and goals. Each day I provide constant support and am always available to answer any questions that clients have along their fitness journey.

What was the inspiration behind your business?

As a personal trainer, I was always trying to get my clients to eat better and monitor their own calories. Often I found it to be a bigger ask than it should be. I’ve always found monitoring calories to be easy, as I knew what I needed to eat, healthy calories, protein etc. I thought to myself how could I make it easier for my clients and I decided to just do it for them. I would work out a daily calorie target based on their current lifestyle and weight and I would then create a spreadsheet of different healthy ingredients, broken down into proteins, fats and carbs. I would then add the correct nutritional information for each ingredient and create meals for breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks. This is when I realised I could help more than just my clients. By creating a database so big, I could cater for anyone!
When it comes to nutrition, you need to be disciplined, but you must also be consistent. By working out all the nutritional information for meals, clients no longer have to scan food labels or calorie count which makes following a nutritional plan a lot easier and helps clients eat healthier.

What defines your way of doing business?

Be passionate, keep pushing and believe in what you are doing. I love the fact that I work in a business that improves people’s health and makes them more happy and confident in life, it’s very rewarding. My passion and drive pushes me to work harder and I constantly strive to improve and find new ways of making living a healthy lifestyle easier for our clients.

Who do you admire?

When training my clients, I would see a lot of different personalities. Some would always arrive late and were very hard to motivate, often moaning that they didn’t want to do the exercises. On the other hand, some clients just turned up and just got on with it and did it. Sometimes these were the most unlikely of clients, the ones that were unfit at the beginning, but their drive to not give up was impressive. They would always give it 100% and their progress showed. These are the people I admire.

Looking back, is there anything you would have done differently?

I think we were very excited at the start, thinking we could do everything and anything all at once and we suffered because of it. Its important to take your time and not rush anything. Rome wasn’t built in a day

What advice would you give to someone starting out?

Planning is everything. Set yourself short and long term goals and make a plan of what you need to do to achieve them. Networking is also very important. 
 
I would also say, never be afraid to ask questions, be aware of your weaknesses and always look to improve on these areas. Asking people for advice on how to improve will only benefit you in the long run. 
 
Finally believe in yourself and what you are doing. You will have bad times but its about overcoming them, staying positive and keep pushing forward.