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The Pirate Nutritionist We help men and women become Elite Performance Athletes by building Structure, Capability, and Resilience into their performance nutrition.

21/10/2026

Stop cramming so much carbohydrate down that before you know it comes out both ends

Fuelling for endurance events requires one thing above all else

Carbohydrates (if we want to be a little bit fancy more accurately glycogen)

Your body powers through it’s available glycogen pretty quickly when producing long bouts of endurance

And replenishing this glycogen lost with inter fuelling strategies is obviously incredibly important

The Who, the what the when and the how become so individual that it requires more than just one single solution

And one prevailing theme is becoming commonplace in the sport

More is better..

more carbs

More feeding windows

Trying to get to 10 g/kg kilogram of body weight in a day

But people do this with no real thought about how that is going to make them feel

How their stomach reacts in this situation

Have they practised enough with different food sources?

Can they actually take on board that amount of fuel?

What happens when they can’t?

People don’t think about these things they just concern themselves with hitting that magic number

And I suppose in this world, we all want a target to aim for

But they’re in lies the problem

People believe that they have to hit that target to perform

The reality is that’s probably not the case for you

The people you see shoving down carbohydrates like there’s no tomorrow at endurance events have probably trained themselves to take on board that amount of fuel over a long time so much so that it becomes second nature

Not some guess work to try on the event day itself

Because for most people starting at the far lower end of the scale is likely the best way to increase your performance

Because there are more than likely other limiting factors that will stop you performing at your best rather than if you crammed in enough carbohydrates at every waking moment

Yes there are people who need that amount of energy to perform

But please give yourself a break and don’t force it so much so that you end up completely falling apart because you’re vomiting everywhere and it’s coming out of the other end as well

This is something I’m notoriously bad at.. showcasing who I am I knew from a very early age that I wanted to join the mi...
20/10/2026

This is something I’m notoriously bad at.. showcasing who I am

I knew from a very early age that I wanted to join the military.. I used to steal recruitment books from the library and hoard the Commando comics

Where eagles dare was my favourite movie as a young lad and I treasured time spent looking over pictures of my fathers and grandfathers service

So I joined as soon as I could.. I wanted to join the RMP (a choice a lot of people won’t get) but to me, my father served in the RMP and my grandfather before him served in the pacific during WWII with the guards

I spent the next 15 years doing as much as I could.. deploying to Afghanistan within a year of finishing training and the wheel kept turning throughout my career

One thing stands out to me now.. I took almost no photos.. genuinely what you see in these slides is what I have

No photos of Afghanistan, minimal photos of anything else

At the time I didn’t want to be seen as the guy hoarding loads of photos like I was trying to show off.. only now do I realise how wrong I was and that hurts.. just another regret to add to the list

Since leaving the army almost 2 years ago I make absolutely no bones about this.. I have struggled every which way I can imagine.

A lot of it is to do with my own lack of action, or burying my head down a wrong path

A lot of it is to do with the fact this is the first time in actually adulting in real life, without the military’s safety net over me

I know really great people who adapt easily and find no real struggle in it.. I am not one of them

I feel a huge weight on me to make this a success, to deliver the life I want to for my incredible daughter and wife

If I look at the lofty goals I have set for myself I get incredibly overwhelmed very quickly. So I’m just going to focus on the next grain of rice I have to move.. forget about the million others

Despite all this I am still incredibly grateful I get to follow this life

Helping people navigate the absolute s**t show that is the world of nutrition is a burning passion of mine

So I’ll cut this short here and say this

No matter how far or how hard you fall, you are never out of the fight

🏴‍☠️

19/10/2026

Not everyone needs the same big stack of supplements

Because quite frankly everybody’s needs are individual and require far more than just a blanket five product list that people think will solve every problem

What happens if that person is already getting far more than they need from food alone of a certain vitamin or mineral?

Does this blanket recommendation that everybody should take a certain product cause more harm than Good by tipping the scales into dangerous dosage?

The simple answer is we don’t know.. and just to recommend the same five supplements to every single person would be a disservice and quite frankly dangerous

Yes, of course there are products that we know will have a positive impact on almost every person on the planet

But that doesn’t mean you should just randomly start taking five supplements because somebody ONLINE told you you should

It’s like taking your car to a garage after hearing a squeaking noise and without the mechanic even looking at the vehicle says that you need an oil change and four new tires

You would more than likely call him a cowboy and leave.. but for some reason when it comes to supplements people believe that the same five Will do everybody good

This couldn’t be further from the truth

Which is why I always focus on understanding what an individual person needs are with a food fact finding mission first.. we dive deep into your food to identify where the gaps may be and what potential supplements could assist

Supplements are exactly that a supplement to a diet not a replacement

They do an incredible job where needed and can be incredibly powerful at solving specific issues

Of course we know things like creatine have almost universal application, I am not saying otherwise in this post

What I am saying is that not everybody needs the same five things regardless of who they are

A Family run through our little shire I honestly can’t state how much this means to me, I get to spend time with my fami...
18/10/2026

A Family run through our little shire

I honestly can’t state how much this means to me, I get to spend time with my family and be truly present as a father and a husband

No fluff, No BS.. because quite frankly neither of them would stand for it and that’s grounds me..

I am trying to remind myself that I need to stop spending so much time worrying whether I’m a good father and husband and just be one

Be present, caring and playful every opportunity I can get..

Because there was a time when I didn’t prioritise this..

I turned away from the things that I knew would be of benefit to our relationship for one reason or another and I’m not proud of that at all

It is my responsibility to fill my daughter’s upbringing with activities like this..

Not to make her an elite runner.. but to be there with her along the way as she grows up

So she has memories of me being there

So she can try her hand at anything she wants to..

Because as a family we make things like this a priority…

(thats an aspirational statement, rather than a factual one.. I’m not preaching here)

And then there’s my wife who I am walking this journey with..

Most of you don’t know just how talented and incredible a Ballroom and Latin dancer she is…

So much of that has been put on hold over the past decade.. and that is something I hold a lot of guilt over..

So that’s been a focus we have had over the past couple of months and I’m excited to support her on the competition floor on 2027

In short.. without these two awesome people by my side.. none of this has any real meaning

Dream big little one

16/10/2026

Dillon already had a solid level of fitness

He had build a solid engine with a big level of strength that carried him through anything he wanted to turn his hand to

But his nutrition always seemed to let him down

His body was more than capable, but he couldn’t quite get the nutrition side of the coin on point

Over time we worked on his individual fuelling strategies for events

Trialling, testing and adjusting.. using the data gathered to inform what direction we took him in

And now, Dillon compete at events with absolute confidence in his fuelling capacity

He knows what works

He knows what doesn’t

Because he put in the hard graft

Hours and hours of it

Until fuelling effectively was second nature

And that is the real win here

Now we just need some small tweaks every time he comes to an event

Nutrition dialled in

No more ‘what ifs’

Just confidence and awareness of what unquestionably works for him

Be like Dillon..

Leave no doubt

The founders meeting has been a mainstay over the past six weeks in my calendar Great CoffeeNotifications turned offA sp...
15/10/2026

The founders meeting has been a mainstay over the past six weeks in my calendar

Great Coffee

Notifications turned off

A specific time to properly reflect on how I’m performing

Not just cheerleading about anything good I’ve done

But holding up a mirror in what I’m failing at - there’s a lot, just like everyone

I feel calmer for this time in my diary

I get to ramble to myself and not have to present it to anyone.. even though that’s exactly what I’m doing here..🤦‍♂️

I have fallen HARD for the analogue journaling game.. it brings me such joy to be tangible on pen and paper

The PIES check in is something that I have learned over the past 12 months and it’s been really impactful

Physical - how am I feeling/performing physically right now? Am I sticking to the strategy I’m following with my training, is there anything out of sync

Intellectually - I dedicate this part to business.. what is actually happening in my business and am I performing like I want to be, if not, why not?

Emotionally - how am I actually feeling, am I connected well with the people around me that matter the most? Am I dropping the ball anywhere?

Spiritually - this isn’t something I ever talk about on here (in fact this is the first time) but am I connected in my faith? Have I spent time trying to build that connection?

The rest of the founders meeting is designed to do one thing, force me to move forward and take action

I like most, can mentally ma******te FAR TOO MUCH.. not moving until the plan is perfect.. with little colour codes and action plans as well as emergency actions..

So the next part of the founders meeting directs me to take action.. because the next time I sit down.. if it’s not been done, we’ll put comes the red pen.. and we don’t like that

I’m not trying to shove ‘the perfect journal system’ down anyone’s face here, I’m genuinely just showing something I do and how it helps me

The bonus of being analogue about it and putting pen to paper.. well that just makes me happy

14/10/2026

Taking caffeine as a pre-workout training boost is well documented:

-Reduces feelings of fatigue
-Enhances mental sharpness
-improves strength and power out
-improves reaction time
-increases motivation

These are all great for improving training sessions, but timing here is absolutely key

Nailing a can of monster as you enter the Gym isn’t going to improve performance

The only thing you improve there is your performance as you walk out

Yes you can talk about the placebo effect …

but the reality is the effects of caffeine are only really felt 30 to 60 minutes after indigestion

A range between 3 to 6 mg per kilogram of body weight is the most often research dose and shows really positive effect effects for training

But only when taken before with adequate time for your body to absorb the caffeine

And of course, don’t get me started on doing this if you train later in the day or even late in the evening

And to top it all off, despite them being called energy drinks they don’t actually create energy

There is only one thing that does that… carbohydrates

Training early in the morning is something a lot of us doIt’s often the only time we can get the session in.. That means...
13/10/2026

Training early in the morning is something a lot of us do

It’s often the only time we can get the session in..

That means a really early start, rolling out of bed straight into Gym gear and heading on over to the gym…

Ready to begin a session and get that box ticked off for the day

But you and I both know that the thought of getting up earlier to eat some food so you are fuelled for the session isn’t exactly an idea that appeals

So you end up just smashing down a coffee and get through the session on grit and determination alone

And no doubt about halfway through that session you feel like you’ve got nothing left in the tank with plenty still left to do

But you grizz it out to the end of the session and look forward to your first meal of the day afterwards

Then after awhile, you start to see that your training isn’t getting any better

You’re not getting fitter

You’re not getting faster

You’re not getting stronger

No matter how hard you train

The likelihood is not fuelling prior to your session is harming your body’s ability to perform at his best level levels

But as we’ve said, getting up earlier to eat isn’t an option, not if you like sleeping anyway

That’s why liquid carbohydrates are an absolute godsend when you train early in the morning

The cycling Dextrin from Combat Fuel is the Absolute gold standard in liquid carbohydrates

Incredibly useful for pre-and intra training fuelling

It spends a little time in your stomach and minimise the risk of any bloating or cramping

Which we all know would absolutely derail any session

So if you’re an early morning trainer, implementing cyclic Dextrin will be really powerful to increasing your performance

12/10/2026

The difference between good and great has Ben and will always be down to one thing

The consistent adherence to the basics

Day and day out, regardless of what is going on in your life

There is no secret hack, magic supplement or five hour morning routine that will move you closer to your goals quicker than following the fundamental basics 90% of the time

Are you getting enough calories?

Is your protein intake high enough?

Are you hydrating enough every day?

Are you fuelling your training adequately?

Do you eat the rainbow across your week of food? (and no I do not mean a bag of skittles)

Does your diet reflect single ingredient whole food as much as possible most of the time?

These are the questions you need to ask yourself

And not just yeah, I’ve done it for a week…

Are you consistently doing it?

Again and again day and day out so the foundations are so strong it stops being a choice and just is your life

And with that the 2026 competition season has come to an end Feeling incredibly grateful to share the floor with Charles...
04/10/2026

And with that the 2026 competition season has come to an end

Feeling incredibly grateful to share the floor with Charles Price at ATHX GAMES Liverpool today

We had a game plan.. some of it worked and some of it didn’t..

the big takeaway is that the main focus of both our training over the past 3 months paid off in a big way.. Dean Hammond | The Catalyst Project nailed everything we asked of him, thank you brother

There are of course things to work on and build from but all in all I am filled with an overwhelming sense of gratitude

One massive feeling is in my head right now and I don’t know who needs to hear it other than me..

The absolute animals you see at these events are quite literally extra-ordinary

You know who i’m talking about..

The jacked, shredded, Strong AF.. Fast as F*ck.. no holes in their game.. carbon shoe wearing, nose strip donning phenoms that show up and dominate..

They really are the top of the field and I will openly say…

I am not in that bracket.. and I probably never will be…

And that’s fine…

I’m a husband, father, coach, business owner and dreamer who tends to spin far too many plates for far too long until they come crashing down

The athletic ability that I have is quite simply.. average…

I’m a really good try-er and I’ll give everything I’ve got when called upon..

I’m show up at competitions because I enjoy them.. not because I’m going to win..

And the icing on the cake? Today I competed in front of my wife and daughter for the first time and it filled my heart with joy..

Yours sincerely…

A true everyday Afflete

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