Dan Roberts, CSCS

Strength, Conditioning & Performance Coach

Nearly 40,000 hours of coaching experience spanning more than three decades.
Founding Director of The Dan Roberts Group.
Creator of MX™, NUK SOO™ and The Dan Roberts Academy.
Internationally recognised for training elite athletes, Hollywood actors, pop stars and top fashion models, and for developing long-term wellness strategies for three Royal families.
Trusted advisor to luxury hotels, wellness brands and major film productions.
Educator, mentor and business advisor to coaches and wellness entrepreneurs.
Featured in international media for more than 20 years as an expert in fitness, performance and wellbeing.

For those of you who have stumbled across this page by accident while scrolling in bed, a potential client doing their due diligence, or a stalker (he’s had a few!)… welcome.

DAN’S STORY

Fun Facts

Childhood: Born: Manchester. Grew up in glamorous Stockport.
Age: Old enough to know better.
Home Life: Lives in a house with wifey (a Classical Musician) and pet (an Iguana).
Fave Book: Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson.
Fave Films: Lost in Translation, Fight Club, Big Lebowski & Wild at Heart.
Fave TV Shows: Sense8, Homeland, Mighty Boosh
Sporting Heroes: Eric Cantona, Bruce Lee & Kenny Powers
Favourite Snack: TruFru Frozen Dark Chocolate covered Blueberries.
Favourite Exercise: Barefoot Jogging on a long sandy beach
Character Flaws: Too many to mention

Overview | A Life Dedicated to Coaching

Dan Roberts completed his first coaching qualification back in 1993. Over the past three decades, he has devoted his career to understanding and teaching human performance at the highest level, refining movement, physical transformation, wellness and athletic development across the worlds of sport, film and fashion.

During that time, he has delivered more than 2,000 hours of group coaching and well over 35,000 hours of private one-to-one coaching.

His work spans human performance, movement, physical transformation, rehabilitation, athletic development and long-term wellbeing. At the heart of his philosophy is Athletic Living—a synthesis of exercise science, Zen philosophy, holistic wellbeing, mental discipline, intelligent adaptation and.. most importantly playfulness – all designed to create lasting change in both body and mind.

His coaching journey has taken him around the world, with professional residencies in New York, Sydney, Rio de Janeiro and London, where he is now based.

Key Experiences & Achievements in 30+ years of Coaching

An Athletic Life

Dan’s competitive sporting life began at university, where he captained both the Tennis and Lacrosse teams, founded the university inline-hockey club and was awarded university colours for his contribution to sport.

In his twenties and thirties, he could be found playing tennis tournaments, representing England at the World Lacrosse Championships, climbing mountains, competing in martial arts fights in Asia and running ultramarathons — among other adventures while living and travelling in different parts of the world.

In his forties, he became increasingly obsessed with strength and movement disciplines, including powerlifting, gymnastics and martial arts weapons training, alongside a growing interest in long-term physical health and performance longevity.

Dan continues to learn, train, experiment and play with movement… and still takes frisbee embarrassingly too seriously on holiday.

Early Coaching Years

Dan’s coaching journey began at the age of 15 when he completed his first coaching qualification. A year later, he was working as an assistant tennis coach at his local club in Manchester. He loved it. It was here that the seeds of two lifelong passions were planted: helping others learn new things, and exploring the relationship between movement, performance and human development.

While studying for a Business degree at the University of Kent, Dan supported himself by coaching tennis and lacrosse at The King’s School, Canterbury and Christ Church College. During the university holidays, he travelled to the Catskills in upstate New York to coach at Kutshers Sports Academy, gaining valuable international experience while working with athletes from a wide range of backgrounds.

By the age of 21, he had already accumulated more than 1,000 hours of group coaching experience – laying the foundations for what would become a lifelong commitment to the art and science of coaching.

Travelling, Partying, Monks, Wars & Philosophy

After graduating in the 1990s, Dan suffered the consequences of reading too much Hemingway and Kerouac and spent several years travelling the world — a long, bohemian chapter that would go on to shape his worldview.

During this time, he lived, worked and partied in more than 50 countries, funding his travels through an impressively random collection of shitty jobs — from cleaning toilets (no pun intended), working on farms, washing dishes and selling things door-to-door, to selling mobiles, hosting pub crawls, cold-calling for a B2B software company, cleaning windows and eventually becoming General Manager of the Lake Taupo Youth Hostel for a few months while temporarily stuck (i.e. broke) in New Zealand.

There was also a fair amount of random stuff: catching what is considered to have been the last true Full Moon Party in Goa in the 1990s, getting lost in a desert, being caught up in a civil war in Bolivia and spending months writing an astonishingly bad, predictable and self-indulgent script while living in the Cook Islands.

There was, clearly, no grand plan.

Alongside his travels, Dan became increasingly interested in philosophy and Eastern thought. This eventually led him to live, work and study at a Tibetan Buddhist monastery, and to visit His Holiness the Dalai Lama at his home in the Himalayas.

In his 30s, he took things a little more seriously and began an MA in Philosophy. He then quit three months before graduation to move to Asia and become full-time fighter.

Coaching Fitness in Sydney, New York & London

Returning to Sydney, he began building his coaching practice, working with competitive triathletes while also creating his first running club at Bondi Beach.

He then returned to America to work as a Strength Coach to athletes. Time spent in New York exposed him to the world of high school and collegiate basketball and American football.

After relocating to London, Dan worked at LA Fitness in Holborn as a specialist sports and exercise coach. By the end of 2002, he was a self-employed Personal Trainer with a fair amount of international experience under his belt — along with a growing collection of ideas and a newly discovered work ethic.

Those early experiences would eventually evolve into the Dan Roberts Method and, in one way or another, pretty much everything we do at The Dan Roberts Group today.

Training Pro Athletes

Between 2003 and 2007, while based in London, Dan threw himself into the textbooks and specialised in the one-to-one physical preparation of professional & full-time athletes across a wide range of sports.

His clients included athletes from American football, skiing, basketball, boxing, wrestling, mixed martial arts, tennis, surfing, athletics and dance

He also worked internationally, including designing and implementing the very first national strength and conditioning programme for the India Tennis – working with their top-ranked players and national coaches in Mumbai.

These years sharpened Dan’s approach to strength, movement and performance — principles that would later become central to his work with athletes, actors, models and private clients.

Learning – teaching – leaning – teaching…

Around 25 years ago, Dan made a conscious decision to dedicate his working life to becoming the best coach he could be. Since then, he’s never really stopped learning.

Alongside well over 35,000 hours of hands-on coaching, his education has included deep study at the NSCA, CHEK Institute, AIF, ACSM and YMCA, as well as specialist study in Olympic lifting, athletics, nutrition, NLP, stress resilience and life coaching.

Much of his learning, however, has happened outside the classroom — through workshops, travel, experimentation and working alongside practitioners across sport, medicine and human performance.

And he’s still at it. In 2026, his continuing education included advanced study with the Weck Method Institute™ and Westside Barbell™.

Educating New Coaches & Teaching the Educators

In 2006, Dan was invited to join a London-based coaching education provider as Head Lecturer and Assessor, delivering nationally accredited Active IQ qualifications in Level 2 Fitness Instruction and Level 3 Personal Training.

Alongside teaching aspiring coaches, he designed and authored two nationally accredited qualifications of his own — in Kettlebell Training and Muay Thai Fitness — and went on to train the lecturers and assessors who delivered them.

Since then, education has remained a major part of his work, from developing the Methodology X™ Group Instructor Certification to delivering specialist workshops and masterclasses on coaching, communication and the business of being a coach.

Coaching Fashion Models in Brazil

In 2007 and 2008, Dan lived in Rio de Janeiro, where his coaching career took a rather accidental turn. Being a rather sociable fellow, he knew quite a few Fashion Models. One thing led to another and he became the recommended Fitness Coach for one of Brazil’s leading modelling agencies. He worked with some of the countries top fashion models and discovered that coaching for photoshoots and the runway required just as exacting an approach as working with elite athletes.

Models, particularly in Brazil, need that elusive quality of looking incredible in very little clothing… but looking good in Brazil doesn’t necessarily equate to what works on the catwalks of Europe. Just like with professional athletes, models need a long-term plan built around their unique body type, circumstances and ambitions.

Traditional bodybuilding and endless cardio were certainly better than extreme dieting or the latest fitness fad classes, but it didn’t provide the full answer. As Dan began delving deeper into the real needs of his model clients, he soon realised that having a body that looked obviously built in a gym could actually be detrimental to a model’s career.

More importantly, he felt that these women shouldn’t have to sacrifice feeling fit, strong, athletic and capable simply to meet the aesthetic demands of their industry.

Dan began running popular model-only training sessions on Ipanema Beach while also coaching models privately. As his experience grew, he refined his methods, moved back to London and became the recommended model trainer for TESS and, subsequently, many other agencies around the world.

Dan has since coached hundreds of professional fashion models, preparing clients for Vogue covers, international campaigns and Fashion Weeks in New York, Paris, Milan and London. Over the past 15 years, many of his clients have shared their training and wellness routines with the UK and US fashion press, and Dan has consequently been regularly cited in global media as one of the world’s leading coaches for fashion models.

What the Hell is MX™

MX™ — originally known as Methodology X — was created by Dan Roberts in 2013 as a concise training guide for developing lean, balanced and performance-ready physiques.

It grew directly from Dan’s experience coaching professional fashion models. TESS, a boutique London agency, commissioned him to create a mini fitness guide for their talent. It became surprisingly popular with models in London — perhaps a little too popular for its own good — so Dan decided to create something bigger and better.

At the time, model training around the world tended to swing between ineffective and, frankly, pretty unhealthy. Dan wanted to do something different: develop elegant, athletic physiques while still achieving the measurements and look required for runway, editorial and campaign work.

MX combined ideas from strength training, athletics, ballet, Pilates, yoga, movement drills he developed in Brazil for Victoria’s Secret models, and even exercises Dan had previously used with American football players and cage fighters. He also had one fairly firm rule: the biggest sin in fitness was making exercise dull.

Over the years, MX evolved through several iterations into a comprehensive fashion-model training system and holistic philosophy. Today it exists as an international online membership platform and live group training programme, with its own podcast, MX-themed retreats in Miami, MX™ certified instructors and an expanding community around the world.

It has also become one of the signature brands within The Dan Roberts Group — and, appropriately, the first of Dan’s Signature Programmes.

Becoming a Fighter in Asia

While continuing to coach clients in London, Dan was studying for a Master’s degree in Philosophy and developing a growing fascination with the martial art of Muay Thai.

In 2009, he decided to take a break from coaching clients and writing essays — and constantly explaining to his straight male friends how it was, apparently, possible to get bored of being paid to train Victoria’s Secret models on Ipanema Beach every day. He moved to Thailand for a year or so to try his hand at living, training and competing as a full-time Thai boxer.

Training under former champions, his days revolved around roadwork, pad work, sparring, conditioning and the disciplined routines of a traditional Muay Thai camp. During the year, Dan competed successfully in several fights across southern Thailand — learning, among other things, that there is a simple solution to the “fear” of getting punched in the face… you can probably guess what it is.

The whole experience profoundly shaped his approach to training and coaching, reinforcing the value of a curious mind and a hard body — along with the discipline, resilience and humility required when you genuinely want to master something new.

It also taught him a fair amount about discomfort. Sharing a tiny, sweaty room, surviving largely on Pad Thai, Oreos and Red Bull, and getting beaten up every day will do that to you. Dan had no interest in partying while he was there, so committed to a year without alcohol. His evenings were spent studying for his Thai Massage certification instead.

Following his final fight, Dan was invited to Abu Dhabi to become the private Muay Thai and kickboxing instructor to a senior member of the Emirate’s Royal Family, marking the beginning of another rather distinctive chapter in his coaching career.

Dan also learned an important life lesson: spending your days hanging out with a Princess in a Palace is more fun than being repeatedly kicked in the face every afternoon in a loud, smelly, blood-soaked Thai gym.

Luxury Fitness Concierge

Following his time in the Middle East, Dan’s coaching evolved beyond traditional personal training into a more holistic, long-term fitness and wellbeing concierge role, supporting individuals and families around the world.

Since 2011, he has worked privately with high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients, providing bespoke coaching, wellbeing advice and long-term physical development. Over time, this has expanded beyond training sessions to helping clients create the right environment, people and systems to support their health and performance — whether Dan is there or not.

This has included designing private training spaces, coordinating trusted networks of coaches and health professionals, and working with multiple high-profile family offices, including four Royal households, through long-term relationships built on trust and discretion.

Alongside this private work, Dan has designed and led immersive one-to-one and small-group fitness retreats across Miami and Europe, several of which have been featured in How to Spend It and The Times Travel.

Today, Dan’s private clients are based around the world. Much of his coaching is delivered remotely, with regular international trips for intensive in-person “private bootcamps” — a few days of concentrated coaching, training and, occasionally, reminding people that having a trainer who will fly across the world to see you is probably a sign that things have got slightly out of hand.

Launching NUK SOO™

Following his return to London in 2011, Dan began integrating the lessons he had learned through martial arts more deliberately into his coaching. Years of studying combat sports, traditional martial arts, movement, philosophy and athletic performance — combined with his growing work training actors for Hollywood action films — gradually led him to develop a training system of his own.

He wanted something that went beyond simply changing the body: a programme that demanded discipline, focus, resilience and a certain amount of mental toughness too.

That idea eventually became NUK SOO™ — a 90-day body-and-mind transformation system inspired by martial arts, structured performance training and Dan’s belief that developing the body and developing the person should never be completely separated.

Launched in 2019, NUK SOO™ continues to evolve as an online training programme and membership community, combining physical training, martial arts, mindset development and the principles of Athletic Living.

Ring Ring… Hollywood Calling

In 2011, Dan was invited to physically prepare the lead cast of his first major studio production, Snow White & the Huntsman, marking the beginning of a long-running career working behind the scenes in film and television.

Preparing actors demanded a different kind of coaching. It was no longer enough to simply transform a physique — every movement had to feel authentic to the character. Dan began combining body transformation, athletic conditioning, movement coaching, screen combat and performance psychology to help actors not only look the part, but move like it too.

Working alongside actors, directors, producers and stunt teams, he has since prepared performers for physically demanding roles across film, television and theatre.

The Hollywood work inevitably brought more attention, but becoming well known was never particularly important to Dan. If anything, he became increasingly protective of the privacy of his clients and deliberately kept a low profile. He set himself a few rules to stay grounded — including never discussing his private clients with the press and continuing to make time for professional athletes alongside his work in entertainment.

When The Wall Street Journal and The Sunday Times later profiled his work and wanted to verify his roster of high-profile clients, Dan required them to sign NDAs before confirming who he had worked with.

He has continued to work across both worlds, including more recently with Team GB track athletes, BJJ world champions and at least one person whose day job involves considerably more secrecy than we’re allowed to discuss here.

The emergence of the Dan Roberts Group

By 2012, Dan was leading a team of eight full-time trainers from his coaching facility in London’s West End. Not wanting to run a private gym, he made the decision to actively grow smaller in terms of employees, but bigger in terms of reach. He began working with a select group of partners across fashion, film, hospitality and wellness.

MX™ and NUK SOO™ (his two signature workout) launched and evolved into fully developed training systems, eventually reaching clients in more than 60 countries. His work also expanded into mentoring, consulting and advisory roles, while his collaborations with film productions, luxury hotels and international partners continued.

Along the way, he also created The Library — a growing collection of complimentary articles, guides, tools and educational resources designed to make some of the ideas behind the Dan Roberts Method accessible to anyone interested in living a healthier, longer, more capable and, hopefully, more interesting life.

Mentoring, Media & Consulting

Alongside his coaching practice, Dan has mentored coaches and wellness entrepreneurs since 2007, helping them develop their coaching, leadership and business skills.

His work has also expanded into consulting for media organisations, film productions and wellness brands, advising on physical preparation, movement and performance.

Away from coaching, Dan has written for Men’s Fitness, Women’s Running and Men’s Running, hosted two podcast series, worked as a business mentor for Virgin Start-Up and spoken at schools, businesses and national wellness events. He also serves as a judge for the annual TPP National Wellbeing Awards and has featured in the press/tv /radio constantly for the last 20 years.

He is currently writing his first book and is represented by Dorie Simmonds Agency Ltd.

The Story Continues

Dan still coaches. Still studies. Still trains. Still experiments. Still gets things wrong. Still forgets his body needs to stretch and sleep more than he wants to.

Because Athletic Living was never supposed to be a destination…