Daniel Luke: My Transition From Bodybuilding to CrossFit

First of all, can I start off by thanking My PT Hub for asking me to write this article, It still amazes me that anybody actually cares what little old me is doing, but for some reason not known to me, people are interested.

For those who don’t know me, my name is Dan and I’m a 27-year-old online body composition coach. What that means is I help educate people about fitness and nutrition and as a result, they lose weight, a lot of it!
I also help people compete in men’s physique and ladies bikini categories. I’d say that’s what most people would have known me for until recently.

After competing in multiple bodybuilding and fitness competitions over the years, earlier this year I reached a point where I just said enough was enough. I decided to quit competing and make fitness fun again and transitioned to CrossFit!
I’d like to take a brief minute to say I don’t dislike bodybuilding because as a matter of fact I love it. It’s given me a passion, a career and it’s allowed me to work and help hundreds of clients which has taught me a level of self-discipline I don’t think anything else could have.
That being said, in 2017 whilst prepping for what was to be my last competition I decided I wanted to be fit, not just look it. I decided I wanted to be healthy, not just look it. I didn’t want to advertise a false perception so I set out with the intentions to change my mind and my business and help people live healthier lifestyles without necessarily sacrificing as much as I had over the years.
Now my focus is being healthy. It’s not about how lean I am year-round, and I certainly don’t value myself on my own body fat percentage anymore. Now, it’s more so how good of a person can I be and how good of a service can I provide to others; making them feel better, look better and perform their best!

But why CrossFit? Why not powerlifting or something?
The thing that fascinated me about CrossFit initially was their level of conditioning. I remember being at body power and seeing guys I could have literally applied a layer of tan too and placed them on stage that very day. But that wasn’t even their goal, their goal was their competition and their ability to perform. Their physiques were just a byproduct of their hard work. I remember being stood there thinking –

“Wait a minute. These guys look amazing, they can run, perform for hours on end and lift heavy weights all at the same time? I’m in!”.

I was sold!
I loved the idea of being strong, fit and enjoying something new each day working on something specific. You see, the way I look at cross fit is very much like MMA. There’s not just one discipline you need to master, there’s a number of things you have to commit yourself to like weightlifting, gymnastics, conditioning and more.

With that being said, I saw my goal through and I competed in my last bodybuilding show and began my journey to becoming a more functional bodybuilder. I will admit, CrossFit looked a lot easier when I was watching the guys at body power do it, I thought having some muscle and experience in weightlifting surely puts me in good stead but how wrong I was! It’s like I’ve started all over again when I do these classes, I’m seeing guys half my size lift the same weights as me and girls lap me when it comes to runs, box jumps etc…
I still train like a body builder time to time, but a lot of my training now is also focused on improving my mobility, health & fitness. No longer just the aesthetics and so far, I’m loving it.

I won’t lie and tell you I don’t get impatient or frustrated because I do. I hate not being good at something, and I have just kind of spent the past 4 years of my life getting good at building a better body. I also found it difficult having a goal other than aesthetics, but the sooner I realised it’s not all about how I look that makes me happy or who I am, the more I progressed.
Now I plan on becoming a better athlete, businessman, boyfriend and coach – continuing to learn new things from different disciplines other than bodybuilding so I can, in return, help others. I plan on showing people how they can achieve their aesthetic goals whilst being fit, healthy and not sacrificing their lives carrying around tupper wear to the cinema or weddings and make their fitness goals suite their lives, not the other way around!

You can follow me and my journey on Instagram by following @disciplinedbydanielluke

I’d love to hear from you guys, how you found CrossFit starting out and what sporting backgrounds you came from or anything else you feel may help me get better sooner!

Dan.

DanielLuke, My PT Hub, CrossFit, DisciplinedFit, Daniel Luke Online, Discplined.Fit, Online Coaching