Courtesy of Simon Doyle/Adam Enaz
- A 35-year-old man says he burned fat and built muscle without more hours in the gym or a strict diet.
- He changed his workouts to focus on full-body exercise and time-saving supersets to maximize muscle.
- To lose fat, he switched to smaller portions and set a protein goal while leaving room for treats.
A 35-year-old man says he transformed his body in a few months by switching to full-body workouts and smaller portion sizes with a protein goal.
Dr. Simon Doyle, a GP from London, had a consistent fitness routine until a shoulder injury left him out of the gym for more than a year, during which he started to feel out of shape and struggled to bounce back.
"It happens gradually. You don't notice until you think 'I don't look like myself,'" Doyle told Business Insider.
Doyle wanted to build strength and muscle while also burning body fat for a leaner, more defined physique.
In February, he started working with Adam Enaz, a personal trainer who specializes in helping men in their 30s and 40s build muscle and lose fat.
Enaz helped Doyle structure his workouts and diet over three months without adding more hours in the gym or strict food rules.
"I was replicating my usual routine but getting more out of it," Doyle said.
With a few simple changes, he said, he was able to cut his body fat from an estimated 19% to 10% (measured via a smart scale).
Full-body workouts can save time
Doyle said he already had a habit of hitting the gym for about an hour Monday through Friday before work, but his workout split was wasting time on individual muscle groups.
Instead, he started focusing on more efficient full-body workout sessions.
Doyle also incorporated a technique called supersets — performing two exercises back-to-back without full rest, such as dips and chin-ups or chest presses and rows.
"It's important for me to be able to get the workout done in 50 minutes," he said, given that he has limited time for the gym before his busy workday. "I'm using my rest time to work different muscle groups."
Increasing weight is key for muscle gains
Doyle said tracking his workouts boosted his progress by adding more weight to his lifts.
His typical session involved three sets per exercise and no more than 12 reps per set. If he hit all 12 reps, he would increase the weight to make it more challenging.
This technique of progressive overload, gradually putting more stress on your muscles, is a well-established fitness technique. That's what prompts muscles to build back bigger and stronger.
In the past, Doyle said he would get stuck at a certain weight. Recently, Enaz helped him break through a plateau by increasing the weight on the first set, even if he couldn't lift heavier for all three, until he was able to adapt, Doyle said.
"You really track that to make sure you're not plateauing," he said.
Smaller portions and a protein goal to burn fat
Doyle said that before working with Enaz, he was working hard in the gym but struggled to change his physique. Now he believes that's because he hadn't paid much attention to his diet.
"I always focused so much on the workouts, and they're essential but completely pointless without nutrition," Doyle said. "What was missing was that I was getting the portions all wrong."
Burning fat and building muscle come down to how many calories and how much protein you eat.
Despite making healthy food choices and meal prepping consistently, he wasn't tracking how much he ate.
Doyle said he started measuring his food to make sure he was in a calorie deficit, consuming fewer calories than he was burning.
He also set a goal to get 138 grams of protein daily, about 0.9 grams per pound of body weight, right around what researchers recommend for optimal weight loss and muscle gain.
A typical day of eating for Doyle included:
- Breakfast: overnight oats, banana, peanut butter, and kefir
- Snack: protein bar
- Lunch: mixed veggies and chicken with marinade
- Afternoon snack: Greek yogurt
- Dinner: Chicken fajita bowls with brown rice
Doyle said the consistent routine allows him to indulge on occasion while staying on track overall.
"I'm not the most adventurous for midweek meals, but I do treat myself on the weekends," he said. "I just think it through a little more rather than deny myself."