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The Rise of Dan Garner

by | Jun 29, 2022 | Health Blog | 0 comments


It was 2016, and UFC champ Michael Bisping had not too long ago posted a photograph of a hen 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 may pace restoration, unlock energy, and assist them win.

Not everybody was impressed.

‘Most likely 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 combined martial artists.

A skeptical particular person by nature, Dr. Galpin figured Garner was a pseudo professional who cherry picked findings from tiny, poorly-designed research and introduced them to athletes as “ground-breaking efficiency enhancers your physician received’t let you know about.”

To verify 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 in all Garner’s podcasts.

Quickly Dr. Galpin was enjoying 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?” Finally Dr. Galpin introduced Garner onto his workforce at CSUF as an advisor.

At the moment Garner’s roster consists of superbowl champs, Olympic medalists, PGA stars, hall-of-famers, the mega rich, and Hollywood celebs, resembling actor and comic Bryan Callen, who credit Garner with curing his psoriasis.

Photograph of nutrition coach Dan Garner sitting at a desk in front of a laptop computer.

Dan Garner is a energy and diet coach for athletes in 13 completely different sports activities, together with superbowl champs, Olympic medalists, PGA stars, hall-of-famers, and Hollywood celebs.

So how did a man with no superior levels earn recognition as one of many go-to diet and energy coaches for professional athletes, celebs, and the rich?

And what are you able to study 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 subsequent 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 a number of purchasers who agreed to speak about their experiences with Garner, don’t count on a number of title dropping. On this enterprise, privateness is vital to many purchasers and, as Garner notes, his job is to serve his purchasers, not the opposite means round.

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That is Garner’s origin story

The common cruise ship hosts extra folks than Dan Garner’s hometown.

Lambeth, Ontario’s two largest points of interest embrace corn and the hockey enviornment the place Garner realized 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 cross.

“I had no thought what I wished in life,” Garner says. “I used to be misplaced.”

Upon commencement, Garner landed a job as a machinist at a manufacturing unit that made airplane components. There he labored in an enormous hangar, surrounded by the scents of chemical substances in addition to a whole lot of sad coworkers.

As he operated a machine that sliced by way of metallic, Garner secretly learn health and diet articles, periodically glancing on the reflections in a bit of damaged glass to see if his supervisor was arising from behind.

“I used to be a reasonably depressing dude,” he says. “The top of the day couldn’t come quickly sufficient.”

Changing into “Bodybuilding Dan”

His coworkers observed his physique, lit-from-within power degree, and the hen 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 achieve 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 speak about muscle progress, and did additional studying to deepen his understanding. Within the evenings, he studied for and earned a number of sports activities diet and energy 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 publish commencement: private coaching at a Gold’s Gymnasium.

To draw purchasers, Garner usually posted content material to social media, in addition to constructed and maintained a hockey coaching web site known as hockeytraining.com. For this website, he wrote weekly articles and filmed YouTube movies about diet, mindset, and health.

Again then, simply two folks 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 Vitamin Level 1 Nutrition Coach and Level 2 Health Coach in addition to one from Practical Drugs College, which, he says, taught him how one can use lab work to grasp people on a mobile degree.

Over 150,000 health & fitness professionals certified

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The e-mail he’d been ready for

Over time, Garner’s shopper listing, 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 title was Scot Prohaska.

At some point, in Garner’s inbox, there was an sudden e mail.

Prohaska wrote: “Hey man, would you be desirous about working with a goalie for the Anaheim Geese?”

Garner sat again in his chair, his palms towards his cranium.

After all he was !

From one professional athlete to dozens

By hockey requirements, at 15 p.c physique fats, the goalie was a hefty man. But after 12 months with Garner, the goalie’s physique fats was down to eight p.c and his sport 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 through 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. Individuals 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 would possibly surprise: “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 except you might have extra coaching or credentials that provide the expertise and authorized skills to take action. A diet teaching certification alone is just not 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 medication. It’s this certification in purposeful medication that, he says, provides him the experience to order and perceive lab work.)

Should you’re ever not sure about scope of observe, we encourage you to use this worksheet in addition to assessment our code of ethics.

What Garner learns from poop (sure, poop)

Should you speak to Garner, his purchasers, or the specialists who refer folks to him, you’ll finally hear tales.

Individual A suffered from a power downside 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, Individual A tracked their meals consumption, crammed 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 information right into a software program program.

Then, for hours, he’d stare at color-coded charts and graphs displaying Individual A’s sleep, food regimen, 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 questioned how these associated to the dips within the hormone melatonin and elastase-1 (a pancreatic enzyme) he was additionally seeing. After hours of plotting, considering, and scribbling, the whole lot got here into focus..

Individual A then obtained 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.

Individual A adopted Garner’s recommendation. Their downside cleared up.

Graphical depiction that shows color-coded bars for visible and hidden stressors. Visible stressors include sleep, diet, hydration, body composition, physical, emotional, psychological, and X-factor. HIdden stressors include gut health, micronutrient status, immune function, inflammation, cellular health, hormone profile, toxic load, C02 tolerance, and X-factor. Graphical depiction that shows color-coded bars for visible and hidden stressors. Visible stressors include sleep, diet, hydration, body composition, physical, emotional, psychological, and X-factor. HIdden stressors include gut health, micronutrient status, immune function, inflammation, cellular health, hormone profile, toxic load, C02 tolerance, and X-factor.

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 medication, a comparatively new area that has attracted its share of critics.

Began within the early Nineties by Jeffrey Bland, PhD, purposeful medication emphasizes personalised dietary and life-style modifications that concentrate 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 Practical Drugs, 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 high of that, trade watchdogs have closely criticized purposeful medication practitioners for prescribing “reams of ineffective assessments.” The phrase “quackery” will get tossed round, too.

And but, one wonders:

If purposeful medication’s lab-based method helps purchasers really feel higher—and doesn’t hurt them—does the criticism actually matter?

Be just like the owl

The skepticism about purposeful medication can poke at Garner’s imposter syndrome. It additionally stirs up remorse over not incomes a PhD.

That mentioned, he sees purposeful medication as no completely different from different professions.

In any given area, he says, you’ll discover superstars and quacks, pearls of knowledge and slices of baloney.

(Instance: Conventional medication docs as soon as swore by bloodletting.)

Garner affords the analogy of an owl, which can swallow a whole animal entire. A number of hours later, the owl regurgitates the bones and different substances that it may possibly’t digest.

“That’s the best way I’ve approached my profession,” Garner says. “Each skilled sector has one thing to say. It’s as much as me to curate it, preserve the great, and take away the dangerous.”

A self-taught professional

Whether or not you purchase into the purposeful medication method or not, it’s laborious to argue with Garner’s grasp of physiology.

That’s what attracted Dr. Galpin to Garner within the first place.

“He’s fully 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 study, Garner spends as much as two hours a day studying medical analysis. That every day homework permits him to rattle off examine references and describe advanced organic processes with enviable ease.

Should you hearken 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 good.”

“Simply from listening to him, you may inform he is aware of what he’s speaking about,” says Knierim, who not too long ago posted a collection of images to Instagram to indicate how his physique reworked with Garner’s steerage.

“He’s legit. He’s seen and carried out what he’s speaking about,” Knierim says. “He’s not simply regurgitating stuff another person mentioned.”

Along with his every day immersion into the Nationwide Library of Drugs, Garner additionally leans into what he’s realized 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 how to read scientific studies.)

How to read scientific studies: A free guide.How to read scientific studies: A free guide.

Why athletes belief him

There’s one thing about Garner that makes folks assume, “I need 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 may’ve felt higher,” O’Malley says.

He’d by no means undergone lab evaluation earlier than—and hoped Garner may 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 may 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, at present ranked #4 within the UFC’s flyweight division, additionally observed a dramatic change in power, sleep, and restoration after working with Garner.

“Fortunate” Lauren Murphy

“I may maintain a better tempo for an extended period of time and I used to be much less sore afterwards,” she says. “I may prepare tougher. My temper was higher. I may sleep higher. Once you’re attempting to realize a share of enchancment, issues like which are large offers.”

Introducing the Idea 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 be out of scope.

That mentioned, there’s lots you may nonetheless study from Garner.

To pinpoint issues and 0 in on options, Garner makes use of one thing known 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 affords the simplest and quickest path ahead.

Graphical depiction of a bottleneck. The graphic shows a tube with a narrower section in the middle of it. An arrow points to the narrower section with the text: "An improvement here yields the biggest result."

Graphical depiction of a bottleneck. The graphic shows a tube with a narrower section in the middle of it. An arrow points to the narrower section with the text: "An improvement here yields the biggest result."

The idea is commonly utilized in enterprise settings, as a technique to enhance manufacturing output or productiveness.

“I take a look at physiology by way of this lens,” says Garner. “That’s how I’ve made a reputation for myself. It’s not a precise macro rely that I’m utilizing. It’s not a precise calorie rely 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

Usually, in response to Garner, that weak hyperlink is a stressor—resembling 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 of us can do one thing comparable, albeit lots much less excessive tech: Search for limiting components.

Ask your self: What’s working towards 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 downside? In different phrases, what’s the basis reason behind “too drained”?

To seek out the reply, you’ll wish to begin with a very good preliminary evaluation that asks purchasers about their life-style, well being limitations, mindset, and bodily perform and capability. (Get the intake form we use with purchasers right here at PN.)

Get a free client intake form.Get a free client intake form.

Perhaps, within the consumption, you discover that your shopper is a vegetarian who’s been identified with a GI subject.

Nice, now you’ll wish to dig into that, doing a little analysis to raised perceive how each components would possibly have an effect on your shopper’s well being. Maybe you uncover that their GI situation may intervene with nutrient absorption, particularly of B nutritional vitamins. There’s a clue.

And possibly, throughout your conversations, you glean that relationship issues are conserving your shopper up at night time. Might lack of sleep be siphoning off the power wanted for exercises? And inflicting them to eat extra?

Now you’ve bought a path to analyze.

Greetings matter

Should you get caught, Garner suggests altering the way you greet purchasers initially of your periods.

Should you ask, “How are you?” your purchasers will almost certainly reply, “okay” or “effective”—even when they really feel fairly crummy.

As a substitute, 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 best way

In lots of instances, the limiting issue has to do with not sleeping, not recovering, or not managing stress.

“Usually the issue is correct in your face,” says Garner, who affords 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 other place, the shopper’s sleep improved, leading to extra power for train and meal prep.

“All I did was take away a cat. Generally it’s actually that straightforward,” says Garner.

You might surprise: How are you aware in case you’ve zeroed in on the true limitation?

Garner suggests utilizing power as a gauge. “In case your physiology is responding effectively to this system, your power goes to go up,” says Garner. “That’s how you understand you’re heading in the right direction.” (Get our worksheet to assist identify your (or your client’s) liming factors.)

Use this worksheet to identify limiting factors.Use this worksheet to identify limiting factors.

You received’t at all times get it proper

Even with the whole lot he’s realized, Garner admits he makes errors.

That’s as a result of human biology is the alternative of easy.

“I’m not proper 100% of the time, however I’m at all times studying,” he says.

Right here’s the factor: Even in case you’re fallacious a few shopper’s final downside, they’ll seemingly 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 power, a wholesome intercourse drive, and the wherewithall to pour their consideration and energy into reaching their objectives. They’re, as he places it, “vibrating at a special depth.”

“That’s what folks come to me in quest of. That’s the place I personally wish to be—and that’s what I do. I take them from good to nice.”


Should you’re a coach, otherwise you wish to be…

You’ll be able to assist folks construct diet and life-style 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.

Should you’d wish to study extra, think about the PN Level 1 Nutrition Coaching Certification.



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