Dan Roberts. BSc, CSCS, Dip.Phil

Dan is a Fitness Coach based in central London. He helps people live more athletically, move better and feel good. He’s also the Founding Director of the Dan Roberts Group, a Writer, Speaker, Podcaster. Educator and thought-leader in mind-body wellness.

Where it all started: Dan began coaching back in 1993. He has since conducted nearly 30,000 hours of 1-2-1 training in Body Transformations, Strength & Conditioning, Rehabilitation, Athletics, Holistic Wellness, Sports, Life Coaching, Martial Arts, Stage Combat, Pilates, Olympic Lifting and Movement Coaching. A keen athlete, Dan captained two varsity sports teams, competed at a county level in Tennis, represented England at Lacrosse, ran Ultra-Marathons, competed in Martial Art fights, trekked countless mountains, and had many adventures. A lover of sports, fitness, martial arts, and playing, he sees ‘athletic living’ as both a meditation and just a cool way to live one’s life.

Random Jobs & Training Athletes: From the age of 16 until 22, Dan taught Tennis & Lacrosse part-time at schools, universities, and academies in the UK and USA. After graduating with a Business Degree from UKC in 1999, he did random things, including chilin’ on various Polynesian Islands for a year, running a Hostel in New Zealand, living/working in a Buddhist Monastery and setting up a Beach Volleyball League in Lombok. Then in 2001, while living in Brisbane, Dan qualified as a Strength & Conditioning Coach and then moved to Sydney to set up a successful running club/athletic Bootcamp over at Bondi Beach. He then got a job as an Assistant Strength Coach at an American Football Training Facility in New York and, in 2002, moved to the best city in the world (London). After a stint working as a Sports & Exercise Specialist at LA Fitness in (Kingston & Holborn), Dan set up his Personal Training consultancy. For the following five years, he focused on 1-2-1 physical conditioning of professional/full-time athletes. He helped his clients succeed in all kinds of sports, including American Football, Ski Racing, Basketball, Ballet, Boxing, MMA, Wake Boarding, Tennis, Rock Climbing, Surfing and Athletics. He also worked with various teams and sporting organisations, such as India Tennis – where he worked in Mumbai creating and installing a Strength & Conditioning program for their top-ranked Players and their Coaches.

Qualifications and Training up Coaches: Dan has always been a big believer in studying the technical side of coaching and has earned over 25 coaching qualifications, including the prestigious Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) award via North America’s National Strength And Conditioning Asociation. Dan is also qualified in Pilates, Athletics, Nutrition, Massage, Stress Resilience, Life Coaching and Sports Psychology. In 2006, he was hired to be the Head Lecturer & Assessor for a London Coaching Education company which included teaching the Active IQ/Premier L2 Fitness Instructor & L3 Personal Trainer qualifications to students. At this time, Dan also devised, authored and taught advanced nationally accredited coaching qualifications in Kettlebell Training and Kickboxing Fitness. He also taught other Educators how to coach Personal Trainers. More recently, Dan created the nationally accredited Methodology X™ Group Instructor certification and will soon launch a groundbreaking Strength & Conditioning Coach accreditation (launching late 2022).

Training Supermodels. A fan of new adventures, Dan moved to Ipanema in Brazil in 2007/8. Another chapter of his career began as he started training Fashion Models and became the in-house trainer to the top Modeling agency in Rio. He enjoyed the new challenge of helping non-athlete clients precisely sculpt their bodies while also helping them feel fit and athletic. Roberts has since formed a close working relationship with TESS models in London and has personally trained many top fashion models from all the major agencies. (FYI: Dan’s award-winning Methodology X™ workout brand which has 1000’s of online members, in-person group classes in 7 countries and popular Podcast – grew from his understanding of the unique needs of fashion modelling).

Fighting & Martial Arts: Dan moved to Thailand for a year in 2009 to train, live and fight as a full-time Muay Thai Fighter. He then then worked in-house teaching the art to a Middle Eastern Princess. (He now has long-term coaching relationships with four different Royal families). Dan returned to London and integrated martial arts into his fitness coaching practice. A keen student of hand-to-hand combat and movement, Dan has also formally studied Wing Chun King Fu, Karate, Kendo, Kempo, Tai Chi, and various weapons techniques. His personal experience fighting and love of the Martial mindset inspired his popular NUK SOO™ program.

Hollywood came a calling!: 2011 was another pivotal year as Universal Pictures Hired Dan for what would be his first of many film projects. Dan was hired to physically prepare the lead cast for Snow White and the Huntsman. Since then, Dan (with his coaching support team) has trained the lead talent of over 30 different Hollywood Films productions and has worked with the Old Vic, Netflix, Amazon Studios, Warner Brothers, Sony Pictures & Universal. Roberts has gained a lot of experience working closely with Actors over the years, has helped several Oscar-winning Actors transform their bodies for notable roles and is regularly hired by Actors/Studios to help prepare individuals for physically demanding movie roles. Dan specialises in Body Transformations, Movement Coaching and Martial Arts/Screen Combat.

Clients as projects: As a 1-2-1 Personal Trainer Dan has looked after the fitness & wellbeing of many different people. He is at his best when the stakes are high, a significant change or lifestyle transformation is needed and when there are additional complications that require patience and empathy. He has experience working with clients with spinal injures, people who are morbidly obese and getting athletes back to competition after ACL tears. He has helped different personalities reach their goals while also navigating (and often directly or indirectly helping) hormonal irregularities, nerve damage, disordered eating, disabilities, depression, anxiety, major health conditions or injury. Dan is also very experienced in coaching neurodiverse clients, particularly those with ADHD and Autism.

Regarding gender identity, the Dan Roberts group was one of the first Personal Training companies in the UK that signed up to the international TransFriendly Business Register. As an organisation, we are liberal and have worked with enough rock stars not to be judgemental about whatever wild and wonderful ways you live your life!. We choose to operate from a place of kindness and acceptance while doing our best to help you be all you can be.

Gaining a world-class reputation: Since his coaching career began, Dan has been based as a full-time Personal Trainer in New York, Sydney, Rio De Janerio, and London, and has also travelled all over the globe with VIP clients and through his Signature Retreats. He’s had his own gyms and experimented with different ways to help people get amazing results and live a more athletic lifestyle. His life experiences, expertise, holistic approach, innovative methods, track record of dramatic transformations, media exposure, and popularity amongst an eclectic range of clients, including CEOs, Actors, Models, Popstars, Dancers, TV personalities, YouTubers, Champion Athletes and various Royal families; and his popularity as Educator and Mentor to well-known Coaches in the USA and UK have helped to consolidate his reputation as one of the leading personal trainers & fitness experts working today.

Coach Mentoring: Dan has been mentoring Personal Trainers since 2007, helping them on both the technical and business side of coaching. In addition, as a hobby, he has been a Business Mentor for Virgin Startup since 2018 (Roberts was awarded Mentor of the Year for 2021). The Dan Roberts Academy was established as a new company within the Group in 2021 to consolidate the continuing education and mentoring services he provides to coaches.

Media work: For the last 16 years, Dan has regularly appeared in the global media as a trusted expert (see Press Office). To help share his message; he has written many articles while serving as a columnist for various fitness magazines, appears on expert panels, gives talks and is pretty active on social media, including hosting the MX Podcast and the Business School Podcast (which he set up during the pandemic as an excuse to have long and interesting conversations with friends, peers and celebrated experts).

The Dan Roberts Group: The corporate structure around Dan has grown organically from his first training consultancy in 2002 to what is now the Dan Roberts Group of companies. The Group is simply a platform to share Dan’s methods and philosophy with more people and positively impact the global fitness & wellbeing industry.