EP 224: How To Build Athletics and Aesthetics, & Creating A Successful Coaching Business w/ Gareth Sapstead

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Apr 6, 2026

Gareth Sapstead, strength and performance coach, author, and founder of EPT Lab with 20 years coaching Olympians and high performers. He discusses why he left a lucrative online model to open a gym, his protect-clients-first assessment approach, the conjugate model for power, strength and hypertrophy, time-saving contrast pairings, and how he structures staffing, onboarding, and local marketing.

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ANECDOTE

From Teen Gym Jobs To Running A One‑To‑One Gym

Gareth started coaching as soon as he could, working gym floors, internships and degrees while building real-world experience alongside his MSc in strength and conditioning.
By his mid‑20s he pivoted from elite S&C to private clients and online coaching to earn more and enjoy varied work, later opening a one‑to‑one focused gym.

INSIGHT

Treat The First 30 Days As An Experiment

The first training phase is partly experimental: Gareth admits the initial 30 days of programming and nutrition are a 'shot in the dark' used to test pain, tolerances and responses.
He refines long‑term plans by identifying each client's trainable menu from assessments and regressions discovered early on.

ADVICE

Program Everything With A Conjugate Template

Use a conjugate model to include power, strength, hypertrophy and conditioning in every program and adjust time spent in each based on client goals and phase.
For general population show power as warmup primers, keep strength for bone and muscle, hypertrophy for physique goals, and condition with short finishers or zone‑2 depending on recoverability.

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Gareth Sapstead is a strength and performance coach, author, and the founder of EPT Lab.

For 20 years, Gareth has worked with Olympians, world champions, and high-performing professionals who all had the same problem: plenty of drive, but no margin for guesswork.

His work focuses on building strength, health, and physiques that don't fall apart when life gets busy, because results that can't be sustained don't count.

He is an author, writer, and international speaker whose work has been featured in The New York Times, Muscle & Fitness, Men's Fitness, and Men's Health.

IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN:

=> How Gareth built up his personal training career over the last 20-years and 3 big things you can learn from it.

=> Why Gareth got bored with a very successful online coaching business and opened up his own gym.

=> What can you learn from “the educational era” that Gareth and I went through in the early 2000’s

=> What is the #1 priority when training athletes, that many coaches miss.

=> What the assessment process looks like with a client offline and online (since online is significantly harder).

=> Why the first 30-days is a training and nutrition “shot in the dark” even though most coaches won’t admit it.

=> How Gareth uses the conjugate model for different clients from pro athletes, physique athletes, executives, or other general population clients.

=> The weekly program design breakdown and template Gareth uses with different types of clients.

=> Why contrast training makes sense for general population for saving time.

=> The high low model, power, strength and muscle building training, and also conditioning; how to put it all together in a training day and training week.

=> The structure of how Gareth runs EPT Lab, from leads to assessment, sales, to giving clients to their coaches, and the onboarding of each client.

=> Why did Gareth choose to lose $10k/month from online coaching to do what he is currently doing.

=> Being a person of value and getting your foot in the door with opportunities requires getting around people you want to be like.

=> Finding your Yoda and finding your peers that make you better is still one of the most underrated things you can do to get ahead.

=> How to get eyeballs on your brand, and how to create content as a coach to get the most effect for your business.

=> How Gareth published his first book and the BIG lessons you can take from it.

LINKS & RESOURCES:

Gareth Sapstead Website: https://thefitnessmaverick.com/

Gareth Sapstead Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thefitnessmaverick/

Book: 100 Of The Best Physique Workouts https://us.humankinetics.com/products/100-best-physique-workouts

Super Coach Mentorship https://lukahocevar.com/super-coach-mentorship/

Luka Hocevar YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@Luka-Hocevar/videos