Rnt Fitness Radio

In part two of this three-part listener Q&A, I dive into topics such as the void, my bodybuilding endeavours, what staying in shape really entails, what to remember on this health and fitness journey, dealing with social stigmas, and how I finally started getting results with women. “In a journey, it’s impossible to have a done-for-you solution.” – Akash Vaghela Timestamps: 00:00 – Intro 02:10 – What are you thinking about before and after you enter the void? 07:23 – Why did you compete in bodybuilding? What drove you to do that? 11:30 – What mistakes and bad habits have you had in your fitness over the years? How have you overcome to be a ‘well oiled machine’? 14:05 – What are the 3 most important things to remember during the journey? 16:45 – What are the elements that clients need to improve and work on the most, and what do they struggle with the most? 24:05 – What keeps the drive / motivation going in long term transformation? 29:30 – What compels people to criticise and belittle others’ ef

In part one of this three-part listener Q&A, I dive into topics such as my internal drivers, bodybuilding, the example I hope to set to my children, what personal and business growth looks like to me, what systems I use to deal with problems, and what to look for in a company when your goal is true holistic body transformation. “I do what I do because I want to impact people directly.” – Akash Vaghela Timestamps: [00:00] –  Intro [04:50] – What’s your why in fitness? [14:50] – What’s your why in business? [21:30] – I know you’re a big fan of the growth mindset. What does growth look like to you on both a personal and business level? [29:50] – What example do you hope to set to your future kids? [37:00] – What are the highs lows and lessons you’ve learnt from being an entrepreneur? [1:02:50] – Do you have a set system to overcome your problems? Eg mental strain, business, personal? [1:08:20] - How should one go about choosing the right ‘coach’ or ‘school’ in transformation for life? Thanks so much for

One question I get on a regular basis is: will it always be this hard? Will every time you try to tighten the ship or get into even better shape be as hard as the first time? The answer is no, if you do the first time properly. The time you start your journey is always hard because you have zero foundation in place. No education on training, nutrition, mindset, and no structure or lifestyle solutions to make it seamless. That’s why it can feel so restrictive at the beginning, because you are using a lot of bandwidth and thinking, trying to get it all done. The good news is, if you do the first time properly, the second, third or fourth time is always exponentially easier. I know each time I’ve dieted for a competition or photoshoot, it’s been easier every time. Why? Because I’ve got the foundations in place. That means I can be flexible, eat more intuitively and not even think about what I’m doing – it just runs as a way of life. This takes time, effort and lots and lots of learning about what works for yo

I started training at 17 years old as the skinny fat kid with moobs and a pot belly, weighing 58kg. It is the worst of both worlds – you are skinny with no muscle, and you’re not in shape. My 100m time was 17.3 seconds, so I had no strength or power either. So, you could say, I did not draw the best genetic card when it came to body composition. That being said, if it wasn’t for this, I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing now, because my transformation made me realise the power of physical change to be the vehicle for so much more, and it’s been my mission ever since to spread this message around the world. Being skinny fat, I’ve tried and tested every single method to find the optimal way to build a real physique that’s now competed in powerlifting, won bodybuilding shows and is in reasonably good shape year round. It has taken me over ten years of experimenting and mistakes. The good news is I’ve figured out what other skinny fat people need to do to get the body of their dreams too, and this episode covers

On this episode of #RNTFitnessRadio the team and I are joined by Dr. Shonella Singh, to discuss the best practices around managing our cancer risk, and all the determining factors behind it. The medical science behind this all can often go right over our head, so we invited Dr. Singh to come on the podcast to break it down to basics, and tell us exactly what factors lead to cancer, what we can do to lower our risk, what are the myths, and the importance of regular screening. This is an episode for all ages, as we discuss how lifestyle changes early on can compound into the future, and why what we do at RNT is so beneficial for overall disease prevention. If you’ve got loved ones who may be at risk, this is an important episode to listen to, share, and implement. “If there’s any change in your normal pattern, then you should see a doctor.” – Shonella Singh   Timestamps: 00:00 – Intro 00:38 – Genetics and Cancer 02:10 – Is cancer predictable? 03:35 – Can we work against cancer risk? 07:20 – Generational

On this episode of RNT Fitness Radio I’m honoured to be joined by Nilesh Dosa, who is the Founder of icanyoucantoo, a grassroots social enterprise tackling social inequality in non-privileged communities within London.   He started his career as an accountant, spending 15-years in finance, banking and consulting. However, driven by a deep personal desire to change the narrative – because of his own lived experiences of growing up in poverty – he left ‘the city’ to follow his passion for making a real difference to young people by setting up a grassroots mentoring initiative. This has now expanded into a formal programme for 16-25 year olds, alongside a portfolio of growing humanitarian efforts.  In this episode, we dive into the purpose and mission behind his work, the side of London and other metropolitan areas we don’t often hear about, what the change he’d like to see in education and schools, and lastly, how anyone listening can help fulfil his big mission.    Akash Vaghela    Timestamps: 00:00 – Intro

On this episode of RNT Fitness Radio, we’re joined by Greg Potter, who comes on to dissect everything you need to know about optimising, improving and understanding sleep. Greg helps a range of individuals improve their health and performance, from elite athletes to CEOs. Since he did his PhD on sleep, circadian rhythms, nutrition, and metabolism, Greg spends much of his time helping individuals sleep and eat better. Greg is also co-founder and Chief Science Officer of Resilient Nutrition, a nutrition and supplement company that makes performing better simple and delicious. Highlights of Greg’s career include coaching a sprinter to four gold medals at the European Championships; having his research featured in dozens of international news outlets, including the BBC, Reuters, and The Washington Post; working with the US Naval Special Warfare Command; helping to prepare two men to break the Atlantic rowing World Record; and being the sleep expert in a Channel 4 documentary on sleep and weight loss. If you’re in

Mark Deeks, otherwise known as #ThatPianoGuy, is on a mission to get one million people playing piano. He’s a best selling author, piano coach and mental health advocate. He has spent more than 20 years working as a musical director, pianist, arranger and teacher, and has built a really diverse group of musicians as a client base. From artists such as Faye Tozer of Steps to black metal bands Winterfylleth (a band Mark ended up joining!) and Drudkh. He has given Lenny Henry piano lessons, and written versions of songs by metal stars Sonata Arctica for symphony orchestra and choir.And on this episode of #RNTFitnessRadio, Mark comes on to describe why playing the piano can be a vehicle to improving so many aspects of your health, fitness and wellbeing, and all the surprising benefits that come with it. “We like to make a living out of something we enjoy.”. - Mark Deek   Timestamps: 00:00 – Intro  00:10 – History of Piano  02:28 – What’s the world of music to Mark  06:25 – The joy and the element of surpris

On today’s episode of #RNTFitnessRadio, we introduce and discuss Mark Manson’s recent article titled, “Social Media Isn’t The Problem, We Are”. I’ve linked it in the show notes for you to read, and would recommend doing so as a follow up to this podcast. We use it as a springboard to discuss whether social media is really as bad as we often think, what’s really happening when you are triggered, or feel worse when on social media, and how to manage and improve any feelings of body dysmorphia, which is often associated and can be exacerbated by social media use, if you don’t take health education seriously. This is a big one with lots to take on board and implement, and remember, learning is nothing without action. So listen, take notes, then make the changes you need to make to start improving your life. “Start living to what you think your life should be looking like.” Ivan Gavranic   Timestamps: 00:00 – Intro about effects of social media 03:40 – Psychological effect by social media 06:30 – People to fo

On this episode of RNT Fitness Radio we discuss wearable tech, and it’s application to sleep, health markers and training readiness. With how much the wearable tech industry has grown over the past couple of years, we wanted to dissect the pros and cons of them, and whether getting a Fitbit, Oura or Whoop, as some key leading examples, are worth the money. Where we spend a great deal of time discussing is at the start, its application to sleep, and towards the end, whether its energy expenditure predictions are worth looking at!   “Just remember what you’re doing it for, and make sure it’s for the good reason.” - Akash Vaghela   Timestamps: 00:00 – Does lack of sleep lead to more body fat? 03:30 – Waking up at night and change in routine 06:50 – The use of wearables 08:30 – Sleep trackers 10:38 – Subconscious adherence to the tracker 13:40 – Benefits of wearable tech 17:3 ]– How to know what to improve on through tracking 20:40 – Uncertainty with the data collected 23:25 – How wearable tech increase

Welcome back to RNT Fitness Radio and today we start off by discussing one of the biggest mistakes we all made earlier in our training careers: excessive warm ups. I personally used to spend up to 45 minutes foam rolling, stretching and all sorts, before I’d even lift a weight, and on this episode, we discuss the best strategies to effectively and efficiently warm up so you can maximise strength, mind-muscle connection and the reason why most warm up, to minimise injury. “Strike a balance and perform at your best.” - Ed Pilkington   Timestamps: 00:00 – Intro 00:05 – The complete guide to warm up  02:55 – Convincing information online  06:00 – Human need for quick fix  08:50 – Focusing on the wrong things  10:30 – How Ivan and Ed warm up  17:20 – Akash’s best warm up   20:24 – Benefits of warm up sets  23:00 – Treadmill as a worse way to warm up  26:30 – Things to pay attention to  28:30 – Fatigue brought by deadlifts   30:40 – Grip training  33:10 – Strength balance to perform at best  35:18 –

On this episode of RNT Fitness Radio, Ed and I decide to put Ivan Gavranic under the spotlight, where we have a fascinating discussion about his early experiences of failures and childhood expectations, that ultimately led to him down the path he travels on now, where he lives and breathes our mantra: the physical is the vehicle. If you want a glimpse of what true transformation, inside and out, is all about, and how you can reframe setbacks – no matter when they may have happened, into opportunities, this is going to be a big one for you. “If you have a passion for something, you will educate yourself on it.” - Ivan Gavranic   Timestamps: 00:00 – Intro 00:10 – All about Gavranic Family 05:00 – Encouragement from parents 06:40 – Ivan as an athlete 09:20 – Handling pressure at a young age 13:30 – Being reluctant to feedback 17:00 – Love for perfecting things 20:50 – How Ivan when he was schooling 22:30 – Insecurities with having labels 25:30 – Passion and education 29:48 – Getting attention for ha

“How does he do it?” That is what Vikram wanted his loved ones around him to think at the start of his journey in Sept 2020. As a serial entrepreneur and cardiologist, his purpose in life is strong. But he was worried that one aspect was running behind and pulling him back from his potential: his health. With heart attacks and conditions rife in his family, Vikram did not want to let his health get in the way. For decades he had been trying to work on it, but a mix of priorities, and most of all, a lack of a proper structure, strategy and system meant he had spent most of his time spinning his wheels. He was fed up, so started his journey with the goal of getting into the shape of his life, being a superhero for his two sons, having an abundance of energy, and continuing to impact millions through his work. Now Vikram has reached the first checkpoint towards his dream, he is shifting gears to investing in crystallising his habits so he can use the physical as the vehicle to 10x everything else in his life.

It’s RNT’s fourth year anniversary today, and I want to kick this off by saying a massive thank you to everyone who has supported this incredible journey so far. It’s an honour to serve everyone who enters our world, and I can’t wait to see how our impact continues to grow as we head into our fifth year. In this episode, I talk in depth about the evolution of our mission, work and methodology, and how we’ve changed from an online personal training to body transformation, to total transformation, and what exactly that means in reality. “Year four taught me the need to see the bigger picture.“ - Akash Vaghela   Timestamps: 00:00 – Intro  00:25 – RNT a year ago  04:09 – Health Crisis as a modern problem   05:26 – Our body as a scoreboard  07:05 – Body as a tool for service  08:24 – Our team and the value we live by  09:46 – Letting go of the muck  11:10 – How RNT started with a promise  12:10 – Transforming one person at a time  Thanks so much for listening! If you like this episode, please subscribe

With so much talk around macros, calories and training, what’s often forgotten is that transformation is holistic, and encompasses shifting your behaviour, mindset and identity with everything. How we are now is a result of our behaviour, mindset and identity in the past. It’s a cumulation of action, positive and negative, that leads us here. To change this is hard. It requires introspection – to identify the muck, then action – to work through it and cause the shift. For Bijal, she’d always struggled with food, and her relationship with it. With it came diminishing confidence and a struggle to find her own identity. Since starting her journey at the start of 2020, Bijal’s been able to reclaim herself. She found her why, she started to generate the strive from within that was previously so difficult, and she wanted to use the physical as the vehicle to achieve something great for herself. In a recent reflection by her, she said: “Whilst the grind had been one of the toughest mentally, physically and emoti

On May 2nd, Will Smith broke the Internet when he posted a picture of himself looking a little less than his normal self. In a flamboyant “belly out” pose with a pair of boxers, slippers and unzipped windbreaker, he captioned it.” This is the body that carried me through an entire pandemic and countless days grazing thru the pantry. I love this body, but I wanna FEEL better. No more midnight muffins… this is it! Imma get in the BEST SHAPE OF MY LIFE!!!!!”Off the back of this, he started something new: The #BigWillieChallenge. The rules are simple: Post a picture of your body now   Take 12 weeks to get into the shape of your life   Post a picture of your body after   The challenge has sparked a craze amongst a number of rappers, musicians and male celebrities in Will Smith’s circles, and it’s a fantastic message, incentive and movement to be pushing out there on such a wide platform. There are probably thousands, if not millions, of people who may be on this challenge, so we thought we’d put together a podcas

Amisha had always struggled with self-confidence, inadequacy, and self-esteem, and as a result, made decisions that often went against her true authenticity. After a major chnage in her life at the end of 2019, she decided to take back control and make a promise to start doing what she wanted to do. This meant using the physical as the vehicle and putting in the work to make serious changes for life. Outside of incredible physical progress, Amisha has now developed more confidence in all areas of her life: her work, relationships and plans. Her journey has been one of education, internal focus and total ownership of her actions, and in this episode, we dive into the story behind her incredible transformation.   “Look amazing on the outside and feel amazing in the inside.” Amisha Patel   Timestamps: 00:00 – Intro 02:05 – What’s the deal-breaker? 03:55 – Amisha’s marriage 09:28 – Questioning oneself 12:00 – Hearing insecurities 13:57 – Years of Journey 16:10 – What made the trigger 18:40 – How changes

Today we tackle a big question that has been growing in popularity of late: can you really be healthy at every size? After the wildly popular Cosmopolitan magazine ran a massive feature on how there is no ‘one size fits all’, and how every size can be healthy, we thought it’d be good to address why such advertising may be dangerous, what the realities of obesity are, and the future repercussions on it. This segues into a discussion on BMI, child obesity, nutrition for children, and all the science and application poured into it! Stay tuned for a big episode here! “Whatever size you are, try not to link your self-worth to it. “ - Ed Pilkington   Timestamps: [00:00] – Intro [02:50] – Thoughts on being overweight [07:17] – Anorexic vs Obese [11:05] – Why education is more empowering [13:09] – How transformation allows a lot of functions [16:00] – Metabolic health [19:55] – Acceptance as an issue [23:25] – Success or failure on weight loss [27:20] – Keeping the weight long term [29:50] – Child Obesity [32:40]

At the end of 2019, Atish was told by his wife, you need to make a change now. With two kids and a growing business, Atish’s lifestyle was holding him back in every aspect. Fueled with too much alcohol and poor food choices, Atish had never valued the power of self-care in making him a better father, husband and entrepreneur until he started his journey at the beginning of 2020. Ever since, he’s shocked he never started it earlier, because he’s in the best place he’s ever been across the board. In the episode, Atish talks about defying the odds since dropping out of college, his battle with the male ego, and going deep to the core of who he is, while finding his deeper purpose and mission in life. My favourite sentiment from the episode was when Atish said that if everyone did this journey at 18, there would be a massive difference in society, whether it be in their future relationships, or in their growth in creating real meaningful, impactful work. “It takes a lot of positivity to be on the journey.“  Ati

On this episode of RNT Fitness Radio, Ivan and I decide to put Ed Pilkington under the spotlight, where we ask questions about his upbringing, his early years in sports coaching, the differences in passion projects and careers, and why and how he lives and breathes our mantra: the physical is the vehicle. “Go along and do some work experience, then see what it’s actually like. “ - Ed Pilkington   Timestamps: [00:00] – Intro [00:05] – Ed’s Family background [02:54] – Ed as a sportsman [04:40] – Training Practices [07:15] – Correlating wins and team cohesions [09:35] – The element of giving harsh feedback [11:57] – Having body images [13:40] – Body composition focus [15:40] – Ed’s performance shift [17:00] – Things he wishes he knew before his career [18:35] – Advice to people who consider fitness as a career [22:11] – How do you know if it’s your calling? [26:40] – Things that Ed is interested outside fitness [31:25] – Experience working in Dubai [32:50] – Ed and Uni’s story [36:52] – Few people who inspir