Prerna, Dubai

Mel in one word is ‘fun’! He makes you WANT to train! 

I had been obese for a good 15 years. Losing the weight has been major part of my life to date.

I was a typical example of a fitness newbie, I tried gym, yoga, crossfit, high protein diet, no carb, GM, atkins, paleo… you name it, I have done it.

I have been obsessed with it, switching from one program to another – thanks to the information overload on internet.

Needless to say, I never really had sustainable results, and in fact I ended up gaining more weight.

So, one day I agreed to get in touch with with my friend’s trainer. I wasn’t expecting much but decided to give it a shot anyway. What followed next is what I call a life changing ‘learning and unlearning’ process. I have since unlearned a great deal of crap (magical diets/training programs suck), and what I have learned from Mel will stay with me forever.

I am not exaggerating when I say that he is one of the best Trainers in the world. “There are many personal trainers out there, but few Personal Trainers who have as vast an amount of specialised & diverse training, knowledge, experience sensitivity & dedication to his clients as Mel.

He takes his profession seriously; his workouts and nutrition programs are backed by science. He is always learning new ways to train his clients so that sessions are never the same, nor boring, or at the risk of causing injury.

He is constantly surprising and challenging his clients. If you are limited to do a certain exercise, he finds variations specific to your case and if doesn’t know about something, he makes it a point to research and come back to you with solutions. 

I have been training (on and off) with Mel with for over two years. I have lost over 23kg, I am down 4 dress sizes, and I now can do exercises I couldn’t pronounce names of!  It has been a long journey, so it’s difficult to write about everything that Mel has taught me but here are some of my major learnings.

• Biggest lesson – ‘trust the process’. Don’t be impatient to get results. You didn’t put on the weight overnight, so you aren’t going to lose it overnight either. 

• Have fun! Mel is just the perfect combination of hard and warm. He knows when to push you and when to cut you some slack. The reason he does this so effortlessly is because he works with the whole person – mentally, emotionally and physically. 

• Moderation is the key, perfection is overrated (so is cardio!). You don’t have to start with a perfect plan – be it training or diet/nutrition. Success depends on your ability to act, adapt and course correct along the way. 

• You don’t have to force an exercise if you can’t do it. Listen to your body and adjust and progress slowly. For example, there was no way I could do deadlifts when I started. So, Mel made me start from scratch to get the posture and technique right, then gradually moved to kettlebells and barbells.

• You don’t have to force a ‘fad’ food item down your throat if you don’t like it. Again, ‘adjust’ as long as your macros right.

•  ‘Life happens’ – when the going gets tough (horrible office, personal issues, periods/endometriosis/adenomyosis attacks!) – take a break, cut off. But, don’t make it a habit or an excuse to stay out of action for long – come back and train harder. 

Thank you, Mel. You are the best and I would recommend you to anyone wanting to get fit!