Philip Morris

Phil came on board early 2022 with the aspirations of competing in masters mens physique. Having had his previous prep be cancelled due to Covid you could certainly tell he had unfinished business going into his first ever season on stage.

After our initial consult call we mapped out the journey and picked our shows. The only thing that Phil had a concern over was a cruise for a wedding roughly 6-7 weeks out from his first show. That being said we pushed hard in the early stages and got him well ahead of the game. This allowed him to enjoy the day, not have to worry about calories and when he returned from the cruise he was actually leaner!

From the outset you could tell Phil was invested into every single part of the journey. He communicated often, sent over countless training videos, took constructive feedback on board and always came back better. As a coach, when you get athletes that are as ‘on it’ as Phil is, it truly does make your job that much easier.

Phil entered three shows in his first season, two of which I was able to attend. In that time frame he grabbed: 1 x🥇, 2 x🥈and 1 x 4th. I felt incredibly proud to see him take to the stage and smash his first season. In each show, he was by far the leanest on stage, which makes things super exciting moving forward. We have some big goals, and they will be ticked off after a long off season.

Here is what Phil had to say about his journey:

“I wanted to compete in men’s physique for a few years and had been working towards that goal once I turned 40 in 2016. After my initial attempt in 2020 when I was planning to compete in May and was halfway through prep was cancelled because of Covid I wasn’t sure if I would go back to it. I carried on training and decided at the start of 2022 to compete that year in September. I started my own prep but was quickly apparent that it was not going to be an easy task to go it alone and decided to look for a coach. Never having worked with a coach I didn’t have a go to so spent some time researching online coaches who specialise in competition prep. I kept being drawn back to Vaughan and VW physiques and decided to get in touch.

Vaughan was quick to respond to my initial request and we had a lengthy conversation regarding my aims. I was impressed from the outset and felt that Vaughan would be a good match to help me achieve my goal. I was 16 weeks out when I started with Vaughan and had a cruise planned 7 weeks out for a family wedding which I was concerned about, however Vaughan was able to design a prep tailored to me which included the cruise, and I was able to enjoy the wedding day and relax on the cruise whilst staying on track.

Having never had a coach I was a bit apprehensive, but I have to say signing up with Vaughan was the best decision I could have made. The service that I have received and the attention to detail offered by Vaughan to his clients is second to none. Vaughan is there for his clients literally 24/7 and super responsive to all communication.

It was fantastic having the support of Vaughan being at a couple of my shows and really does make a difference and he is truly committed to getting too as many of his clients shows as possible. Going through prep with Vaughan was a great journey and I learnt a lot about myself and the process, which I have been able to carry forward into my off season training.

The journey so far has been the best experience and following prep it was the easiest decision to make to stay on with Vaughan to work towards my future goals within bodybuilding. I plan to compete again in 2024 returning to the stage with a bigger better package and my sights on a natural masters British title and I truly believe that with Vaughan guiding me through this is achievable and I couldn’t imagine doing it with anyone else.”