Love Muscle Max – Dan Thomas

Strength and Confidence Coach

I’d love to introduce you to: Pleasurable strength training! Together we’ll discover strength workouts you enjoy – ones that centre your mental-wellbeing, fuel your confidence and make you feel at home in your body. I believe that punishment creates diminishing returns, it is never a positive driving force, whereas…pleasure is!

Do you wish you had the confidence and knowledge to cross the threshold of the gym? Do you feel like your body shape, size, age, gender or that being a person of colour is othered, excluded or missing in the space? Do you feel disconnected or not tuned-in to your body? Are you worried about injuries or health conditions that impact your training?

If any of the above resonated – these are very valid feelings and thoughts that unfortunately too many of us experience. I’m here to help you shatter those limiting beliefs that keep you from going to the gym! When we work together you’ll grow your confidence and knowledge to train safely, you’ll get to know your way around the gym and have accountability for consistent training.

Focussing on our bodies can feel vulnerable, it can bring up insecurities, concerns, self-judgement, frustration, sometimes even grief. I therefore focus on kindness, accessibility and encouragement within our sessions – I’m also proud to be a neurodiverse-friendly coach.

Tuning into our bodies through strength training can feel extraordinarily good and affirming! And where better to train than at the Commando Temple? Where we have so many wild and wonderful toys to play with, I like to think of it as the punk gym I wish I’d stumbled upon earlier! If you’ve ever felt out of place, intimidated or unsafe walking into a commercial gym, or turned off by diet and toxic ‘fitness culture’, you’ve landed in the right place!

In my teenage years aggressive skating (inline skating on ramps) and various outside-of-the-box sports became my outlet and escape, helping my mental wellbeing and neurodiverse brain. These deeper benefits were unknown to me then, so entering my twenties, and going to film school I’d stopped altogether. My body also didn’t fit in male-dominated spaces, which likely added to my retreat.

At 34 years old I rediscovered movement! Strength training, with the help of a brilliant trans coach, helped me tune into my body and shape my gender expression – my masculinity.

I’m trans and queer and that’s how Commando Temple came to my attention – with an annual Queerstrong competition, and regular workshops taking place – there’s an incredible community who train here and visit the gym.

Now I train people from all walks of life in the best gym in London! I coach the Beginner Strength Class at The Commando Temple – for those wanting to learn the fundamentals of strength training, build confidence and break barriers along the way.