It is the first month of the year and everyone has made resolutions to “get their bodies” back, gym memberships have been signed and we see the posts on social media. There is someone who may just help you in taking your fitness to the next level and that is Dylan Labuschagne.

Dylan is a CrossFit coach, a personal trainer and nutritionist currently working out at CrossFit Cyprium in Randburg. Now in his late twenties, Dylan’s love for sports quickly turned into a passion to helping others reach and achieve their health and fitness goals. He lives an active and healthy lifestyle and loves sharing new tips and tricks with people as he learns and grows into himself. When not training people or himself, you will find him active outside, this often includes tennis, slack lining and hiking, there is so much more to being healthy and fit than just the gym. 

Currently in his ninth year of coaching, Dylan studied personal training and sports conditioning right after school and started his first coaching role in 2015.

A kind, observant and fully involved coach in all his clients’ training sessions, Dylan believes that one has to first identify that one thing they are into when it comes to any kind of training. ” I always suggest that you find an activity that you enjoy, it makes it a lot easier to stick to (it) and do regularly. If you hate running but choose to run as your choice of training you are going to be much more likely to skip sessions and eventually give it up.  Secondly, I recommend that you start slow. Many people want to go from doing no training at all to training 5 days per week, rather start with 1-2 sessions per week, get into a good routine and build on that. 1-2 sessions per week is still better than none.”

It is without a doubt that in his line of work, he will meet people who want to be much stronger and gain muscle, he advises those people to do more resistance training which includes body weight strength exercises, free weight or machine-based resistance training.

“As you progress, getting stronger and more experienced, you will need to gradually increase the amount of weight you are lifting to continuously see results.” he says.

Dylan believes that a good diet has to be made up of mostly whole, natural and minimally processed foods. Whole foods are generally characterized as foods that have not been processed, refined or had ingredients added to them. Whole foods include fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds, whole grains, meat, fish and eggs.  

A good diet is important in many ways, depending on ones goals. The main thing he always emphasizes with his clients is that healthy living is a lifestyle. One’s diet plays a massive role in that lifestyle. “You can do everything else right in terms of getting to the gym regularly, keeping active throughout the day, but your diet could still quite easily hold you back from reaching the goals you are looking to achieve.”  

While many people want to build muscle and get bigger, some want to lose weight and are always seeking easy hacks and trying out new diets, all in hope of shedding excess weight. Dylan is too familiar with this as some of his clients come specifically to seek help in losing weight. He stresses that there are no specific foods that will miraculously aid in losing weight or gaining muscle. He advises managing ones’ calorie intake as well as macronutrients (protein, carbohydrate and fat) intake for both gaining muscle and losing weight.

Living in the age of social media where everything is content, this is also how we see many post their meal preparations. We ask this remarkable nutritionist on whether this is a real thing or a scam, and this is where he introduces us to “intuitive eating”. “Meal prepping is a thing and it is commonly used. I think it’s a great way for people to get started with a healthier way of eating and instill new nutritional habits. It however is not the be-all and end-all of nutrition, meal plans and meal prepping are simply nutritional tools that one could use but I always urge people to educate themselves and towards an intuitive way of eating.  

Intuitive eating is a way of eating that empowers you to make better nutritional decisions and improve your relationship with food. Intuitive eating no longer relies on set meal plans, food tracking or a specific diet protocol, but rather becoming more in tune with your body and understanding what foods will best serve your health and goals.”

I am curious about fitness but I know I suck at eating. At a recent house party I was invited to, a visibly gigantic body builder mentioned that they eat about nine times a day and there they were having a burger at 23:15. I knew from that moment that I would not pass that test. Dylan believes that meal frequency and even timing is far less important than people believe, with regards to managing weight, first and foremost one needs to ensure that their daily calorie intake is correct and from there, the number of meals they consume per day should be determined by what best suits their schedule and lifestyle and what leaves them feeling the best throughout the day. This can look very different individual to individual.  

He focuses a lot on strength training, specifically squatting, bench pressing and deadlifting. “For this reason I have a bit of a bias and get a real kick out of seeing others achieve new personal bests and lifting the heaviest they have ever lifted before.  

But beyond that I love to hear how the gym has benefited people outside of the gym. I once had an elderly client that after a few months of training told me she no longer needed help carrying her heater gas cylinder to her flat. For her this was massive as it gave her back some independence.”  

Dylan does not believe in time as a limitation to ones’ fitness goals. He encourages anyone to use whatever time they have in being active and making it effective. 

When asked whom he would like to train with, in the world, Dylan is at first hesitant to answer. “This is a tough question! It would be hard for me to single out one individual, there are a number of great coaches and athletes I would love to train with, to not only pick their brains but get a sense of the energy in their sessions.  

If I had to pick one, I may join Sebastian Oreb, “the Australian strength coach”. He has coached a number of world class strongmen, powerlifters and athletes. I would love a session with him to learn more about his training philosophies and coaching techniques.  

As any good coach would tell you, rest is important for one’s fitness and recovery. Dylan believes that the most important rest of all is sleep, ensuring quality and adequate sleep. On top of that, making sure that you are managing day-to-day stress, not over doing your training and following a diet in accordance with your goals will all aid in helping you recover and perform at your best.  

Dylan works as a coach at CrossFit Cyprium and also offers personal training out of the same facility as well as an online nutritional coaching program. Work with him, email: Join@coachdyl.com