It was 2016, and UFC champ Michael Bisping had lately posted a photograph of a rooster burrito to his Instagram, together with the caption:
“…by order of my nutritionist Dan Garner….”
This was simply the most recent shoutout from the world of MMA, the place an rising variety of fighters have been saying that Garner’s lab-based diet protocols might velocity restoration, unlock energy, and assist them win.
Not everybody was impressed.
‘In all probability one other man who doesn’t know what he’s doing,’ thought Andy Galpin, PhD, professor of kinesiology at Cal State Fullerton and sport efficiency coach identified for his work with boxers and blended martial artists.
A skeptical particular person by nature, Dr. Galpin figured Garner was a pseudo skilled who cherry picked findings from tiny, poorly-designed research and introduced them to athletes as “ground-breaking efficiency enhancers your physician gained’t inform you about.”
To substantiate his hunch, he checked out Garner’s bio.
Certain sufficient, there was no point out of a PhD, MD, or perhaps a grasp’s diploma.
‘Yup,’ Dr. Galpin concluded, ‘wackadoodle.’
Issues modified when Dr. Galpin listened to one among Garner’s podcasts.
Quickly Dr. Galpin was taking part in The Garner Report for college kids within the graduate degree programs he taught at Cal State Fullerton. Then he was messaging Garner, “Dude, why aren’t we working collectively?” Ultimately Dr. Galpin introduced Garner onto his crew at CSUF as an advisor.
At this time Garner’s roster contains superbowl champs, Olympic medalists, PGA stars, hall-of-famers, the mega rich, and Hollywood celebs, akin to actor and comic Bryan Callen, who credit Garner with curing his psoriasis.
So how did a man with no superior levels earn recognition as one of many go-to diet and power coaches for professional athletes, celebs, and the rich?
And what are you able to be taught from him?
On this story, you’ll uncover…
▶ how Garner leveraged social media to draw high-profile purchasers
▶ the precept he makes use of to catapult athletes to the following degree
▶ how he overcame academic gaps (and how one can, too, particularly in case you lack superior levels)
However first, a caveat:
Although you’ll hear from just a few purchasers who agreed to speak about their experiences with Garner, don’t anticipate numerous identify dropping. On this enterprise, privateness is necessary to many purchasers and, as Garner notes, his job is to serve his purchasers, not the opposite manner round.
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That is Garner’s origin story
The common cruise ship hosts extra individuals than Dan Garner’s hometown.
Lambeth, Ontario’s two largest points of interest embody corn and the hockey enviornment the place Garner discovered to skate and, finally, compete.
He found bodybuilding at age 14 when his father lugged residence a dinky weight lifting set and assembled it within the storage. Although he poured his consideration into health websites and magazines, in class, he did the naked minimal, incomes 50s and 60s—simply sufficient to go.
“I had no concept what I wished in life,” Garner says. “I used to be misplaced.”
Upon commencement, Garner landed a job as a machinist at a manufacturing facility that made airplane components. There he labored in an enormous hangar, surrounded by the scents of chemical compounds in addition to tons of of sad coworkers.
As he operated a machine that sliced by steel, Garner secretly learn health and diet articles, periodically glancing on the reflections in a chunk of damaged glass to see if his supervisor was developing from behind.
“I used to be a fairly depressing dude,” he says. “The top of the day couldn’t come quickly sufficient.”
Turning into “Bodybuilding Dan”
His coworkers observed his physique, lit-from-within vitality degree, and the rooster and avocado he packed for lunch. Quickly they have been asking questions.
“What ought to I eat for breakfast?”
“What ought to I eat after a exercise?”
“How do I lose fats?”
Garner turned the machine store’s unofficial private coach.
“Being valued… that was new for me,” says Garner. “They have been so receptive and grateful. That helped me acquire extra confidence and function.”
When the machine store laid off half its workforce, Garner bought the possibility to construct a profession he loved.
In 2010, he bought accepted to Mohawk School, roughly an hour’s drive away.
Throughout his commute, he listened to well being and health lectures he’d burned onto CDs. After class he visited his professors to talk about muscle progress, and did further studying to deepen his understanding. Within the evenings, he studied for and earned a number of sports activities diet and power coaching certifications.
He not solely bought the most effective grades of his life, he additionally turned a sought-after mentor for different college students, who referred to him as, “Bodybuilding Dan.”
He graduated with a bachelor’s diploma in well being, wellness, and health.
His first job submit commencement: private coaching at a Gold’s Health club.
To draw purchasers, Garner commonly posted content material to social media, in addition to constructed and maintained a hockey coaching web site referred to as hockeytraining.com. For this web site, he wrote weekly articles and filmed YouTube movies about diet, mindset, and health.
Again then, simply two individuals hit the “like” button: His mother and his spouse.
“It was a grind,” he says.
Because the months handed, Garner collected greater than 20 certifications, together with each Precision Diet Degree 1 Diet Coach and Degree 2 Well being Coach in addition to one from Useful Medication College, which, he says, taught him easy methods to use lab work to grasp people on a mobile degree.
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The e-mail he’d been ready for
Over time, Garner’s shopper checklist, on-line following, and revenue grew.
Nonetheless, after a number of years, one thing was lacking.
He wished to educate professional athletes.
What Garner didn’t know: a efficiency coach for dozens of execs— together with members of the NHL, NFL, UFC, and CFL—was studying his content material.
His identify was Scot Prohaska.
Sooner or later, in Garner’s inbox, there was an sudden e-mail.
Prohaska wrote: “Hey man, would you be all in favour of working with a goalie for the Anaheim Geese?”
Garner sat again in his chair, his palms in opposition to his cranium.
After all he was !
From one professional athlete to dozens
By hockey requirements, at 15 % physique fats, the goalie was a hefty man. But after 12 months with Garner, the goalie’s physique fats was down to eight % and his recreation had dramatically improved—a lot in order that the Toronto Maple Leafs supplied the goalie a $25 million contract over 5 years.
Quickly after, Prohaska invited Garner to fly to California to assist coach NFL and NHL athletes throughout the 2015 low season. The referrals got here in from throughout after that.
It’s been seven years since Garner broke into the professionals.
He’s traveled the world, educated dozens of elite athletes, and taught seminars.
He now works from a house workplace in London, Ontario.
He solely takes on a small variety of purchasers. Folks pay 1000’s for a session.
Earlier than Studying On, Know This
You’re about to find out how Garner makes use of lab work to uncover hidden stressors. Consequently, you may marvel: “If Garner makes use of lab work and PN is that includes Garner, is it okay for me to make use of lab work, too?”
Not until you’ve got extra coaching or credentials that provide the expertise and authorized skills to take action. A diet teaching certification alone will not be sufficient.
(BTW, as we talked about within the story, along with his diet teaching certification, Garner has earned many others, together with one in purposeful drugs. It’s this certification in purposeful drugs that, he says, offers him the experience to order and perceive lab work.)
If you happen to’re ever not sure about scope of observe, we encourage you to use this worksheet in addition to evaluate our code of ethics.
What Garner learns from poop (sure, poop)
If you happen to speak to Garner, his purchasers, or the consultants who refer individuals to him, you’ll finally hear tales.
Particular person A suffered from a power drawback that different professionals hadn’t been capable of resolve.
Garner was their Hail Mary. Their final shot. Their “I don’t know what else to do.”
Upon Garner’s request, Particular person A tracked their meals consumption, stuffed out a number of questionnaires, and trotted off to their closest lab to deposit the requisite quantity of blood, hair, urine, and stool.
Garner loaded the lab outcomes and different data right into a software program program.
Then, for hours, he’d stare at color-coded charts and graphs displaying Particular person A’s sleep, weight-reduction plan, physique comp, hydration standing, micronutrient standing, emotional stressors, inflammatory markers, intestine micro organism ranges, and hormonal profile, amongst many different variables.
He observed elevations within the stress hormone cortisol, bilirubin (a waste product), and magnesium and puzzled how these associated to the dips within the hormone melatonin and elastase-1 (a pancreatic enzyme) he was additionally seeing. After hours of plotting, pondering, and scribbling, all the pieces got here into focus..
Particular person A then acquired an in depth report coupled with an hour-long video from Garner that defined what was happening and why a particular protocol—a combination of dietary supplements and personalised diet—would assist.
Particular person A adopted Garner’s recommendation. Their drawback cleared up.
Sections from a report that Garner created for one shopper. BTW: “X-Issue” is a catch-all for seen or hidden stressors that don’t match into the opposite classes.
What the doubters are saying
These Hail Mary tales can sound like fodder for made-for-TV guru land.
That’s partly as a result of the emphasis on lab testing is rooted in purposeful drugs, a comparatively new subject that has attracted its share of critics.
Began within the early Nineties by Jeffrey Bland, PhD, purposeful drugs emphasizes personalised dietary and way of life modifications that focus on “the basis trigger” of somebody’s well being points.
A number of years in the past, the Cleveland Clinic elevated the sector when it opened a Heart for Useful Medication, and launched a handful of research to check the tactic’s effectiveness.
Nonetheless, the career’s picture has been marred by a number of physicians who misplaced their medical licenses for prescribing dubius remedies and misdiagnosing their sufferers.
On prime of that, trade watchdogs have closely criticized purposeful drugs practitioners for prescribing “reams of ineffective checks.” The phrase “quackery” will get tossed round, too.
And but, one wonders:
If purposeful drugs’s lab-based strategy helps purchasers really feel higher—and doesn’t hurt them—does the criticism actually matter?
Be just like the owl
The skepticism about purposeful drugs can poke at Garner’s imposter syndrome. It additionally stirs up remorse over not incomes a PhD.
That mentioned, he sees purposeful drugs as no completely different from different professions.
In any given subject, he says, you’ll discover superstars and quacks, pearls of knowledge and slices of baloney.
(Instance: Conventional drugs docs as soon as swore by bloodletting.)
Garner provides the analogy of an owl, which can swallow a complete animal entire. A number of hours later, the owl regurgitates the bones and different substances that it could possibly’t digest.
“That’s the way in which I’ve approached my profession,” Garner says. “Each skilled sector has one thing to say. It’s as much as me to curate it, maintain the great, and take away the unhealthy.”
A self-taught skilled
Whether or not you purchase into the purposeful drugs strategy or not, it’s onerous to argue with Garner’s grasp of physiology.
That’s what attracted Dr. Galpin to Garner within the first place.
“He’s utterly obsessive about the sector and virtually nothing else—far more than I’m,” Dr. Galpin says. “His grasp of the analysis literature and high-detail physiology, regardless of him having no superior levels, would problem lots of people with doctorates.”
Pushed by a relentless curiosity to be taught, Garner spends as much as two hours a day studying medical analysis. That day by day homework permits him to rattle off research references and describe complicated organic processes with enviable ease.
If you happen to take heed to him reply stay viewers questions, you’ll perceive why one YouTube commenter referred to Garner as “a strolling encyclopedia”—in addition to why Olympic bronze medalist Chris Knierim describes him as “hella sensible.”
“Simply from listening to him, you may inform he is aware of what he’s speaking about,” says Knierim, who lately posted a collection of images to Instagram to point out how his physique remodeled with Garner’s steerage.
“He’s legit. He’s seen and performed what he’s speaking about,” Knierim says. “He’s not simply regurgitating stuff another person mentioned.”
Along with his day by day immersion into the Nationwide Library of Medication, Garner additionally leans into what he’s discovered from the questionnaires, meals logs, and the greater than 1,000 labs he’s analyzed.
“I deal with proof from expertise with equal worth as I do from Pubmed,” says Garner. “I’ve bought metrics of every shopper over time, so I can see what labored and what didn’t,” he says. (Get our information on easy methods to learn scientific research.)
Why athletes belief him
There’s one thing about Garner that makes individuals suppose, “I would like what he’s having.”
Like many trainers and coaches, he’s match.
However what actually units him aside: His gusto.
It’s virtually as if the easy act of being awake fills him with pleasure.
This high-energy vibe is partly what helps athletes put their belief in him—as a result of he clearly takes his personal recommendation.
After all, referrals from different athletes in addition to shout-outs on the Joe Rogan Expertise don’t damage.
MMA fighter “Sugar” Sean O’Malley sought Garner’s experience in 2019, after listening to Bryan Callen telling Rogan that Garner helped clear up his psoriasis.
At the moment, “I knew I might’ve felt higher,” O’Malley says.
He’d by no means undergone lab evaluation earlier than—and hoped Garner might give him an edge.
After finding out O’Malley’s lab outcomes, Garner designed a meal plan tailor-made to O’Malley’s distinctive wants, together with a complement protocol for intestine well being and stress restoration.
Inside two weeks, O’Malley messaged Garner: “I really feel like a machine!”
“I might kill a exercise and my physique recovered a lot quicker,” O’Malley says.
O’Malley went on to win his subsequent UFC match by knocking out his opponent within the first spherical. He’s labored with Garner ever since.
Lauren Murphy, presently ranked #4 within the UFC’s flyweight division, additionally observed a dramatic change in vitality, sleep, and restoration after working with Garner.
“Fortunate” Lauren Murphy
“I might maintain a better tempo for an extended period of time and I used to be much less sore afterwards,” she says. “I might prepare tougher. My temper was higher. I might sleep higher. If you’re making an attempt to realize a share of enchancment, issues like which are huge offers.”
Introducing the Principle of Constraint
A diet or well being teaching certification doesn’t provide the {qualifications} to order and analyze lab work. Until you’ve undergone extra coaching, creating meal plans to deal with a situation can also be out of scope.
That mentioned, there’s rather a lot you may nonetheless be taught from Garner.
To pinpoint issues and nil in on options, Garner makes use of one thing referred to as the idea of constraint.
Developed by Israeli physicist Eliyahu Goldratt, it goes like this:
Each course of is restricted by a constraint, generally additionally known as a bottleneck or weakest hyperlink.
Eradicating the constraint provides the best and quickest path ahead.
The speculation is commonly utilized in enterprise settings, as a strategy to enhance manufacturing output or productiveness.
“I have a look at physiology by this lens,” says Garner. “That’s how I’ve made a reputation for myself. It’s not a precise macro depend that I’m utilizing. It’s not a precise calorie depend or hydration or complement protocol. Sure, I’ve these issues in place. However none of my athletes can attain their potential with out eradicating their weakest hyperlink.”
The issue behind the issue
Typically, in line with Garner, that weak hyperlink is a stressor—akin to a meals sensitivity or a gentle deficiency—that’s taxing the immune system, making it tougher for somebody to get better. Blood work and different labs permit Garner to seek out these weak organic hyperlinks with precision, however common people can do one thing related, albeit rather a lot much less excessive tech: Search for limiting components.
Ask your self: What’s working in opposition to you (or your shopper)? What weak hyperlinks are stopping you or your shopper from shifting ahead?
Let’s say you’re working with somebody who desires to train, however feels too drained to do it.
What’s the issue behind that drawback? In different phrases, what’s the basis reason for “too drained”?
To seek out the reply, you’ll wish to begin with a great preliminary evaluation that asks purchasers about their way of life, well being limitations, mindset, and bodily operate and capability. (Get the consumption kind we use with purchasers right here at PN.)
Perhaps, within the consumption, you discover that your shopper is a vegetarian who’s been recognized with a GI subject.
Nice, now you’ll wish to dig into that, doing a little analysis to higher perceive how each components may have an effect on your shopper’s well being. Maybe you uncover that their GI situation might intervene with nutrient absorption, particularly of B nutritional vitamins. There’s a clue.
And perhaps, throughout your conversations, you glean that relationship issues are holding your shopper up at night time. Might lack of sleep be siphoning off the vitality wanted for exercises? And inflicting them to eat extra?
Now you’ve bought a path to analyze.
Greetings matter
If you happen to get caught, Garner suggests altering the way you greet purchasers originally of your periods.
If you happen to ask, “How are you?” your purchasers will more than likely reply, “okay” or “positive”—even when they really feel fairly crummy.
As an alternative, Garner begins conversations with this query: “Hey, what’s the story?”
The open-ended query nudges purchasers to supply what’s actually on their thoughts. Says Garner, “Their reply to that query usually leads proper to the constraint.”
When the cat will get in the way in which
In lots of instances, the limiting issue has to do with not sleeping, not recovering, or not managing stress.
“Typically the issue is true in your face,” says Garner, who provides the story of a fatigued shopper who, Garner observed from an consumption questionnaire, was sleeping in the identical mattress along with his cat.
After getting the cat to sleep some place else, the shopper’s sleep improved, leading to extra vitality for train and meal prep.
“All I did was take away a cat. Typically it’s actually that easy,” says Garner.
You might marvel: How are you aware in case you’ve zeroed in on the true limitation?
Garner suggests utilizing vitality as a gauge. “In case your physiology is responding nicely to this system, your vitality goes to go up,” says Garner. “That’s how you’re heading in the right direction.” (Get our worksheet to assist determine your (or your shopper’s) liming components.)
You gained’t at all times get it proper
Even with all the pieces he’s discovered, Garner admits he makes errors.
That’s as a result of human biology is the alternative of straightforward.
“I’m not proper one hundred pc of the time, however I’m at all times studying,” he says.
Right here’s the factor: Even in case you’re unsuitable a few shopper’s final drawback, they’ll possible nonetheless make progress. That’s as a result of most individuals profit from the identical repertoire of behavioral modifications: extra veggies, protein, stress administration, and sleep.
“If I don’t nail it, I’ll nonetheless get you from a two to a 5,” he says.
“But when I nail it I’ll get you from a two to a ten.”
For Garner, a ten means somebody has excessive vitality, a wholesome intercourse drive, and the wherewithall to pour their consideration and energy into reaching their targets. They’re, as he places it, “vibrating at a distinct depth.”
“That’s what individuals come to me seeking. That’s the place I personally wish to be—and that’s what I do. I take them from good to nice.”
If you happen to’re a coach, otherwise you wish to be…
You may assist individuals construct diet and way of life habits that enhance their bodily and psychological well being, bolster their immunity, assist them higher handle stress, and get sustainable outcomes. We’ll present you the way.
If you happen to’d wish to be taught extra, think about the PN Degree 1 Diet Teaching Certification.