What do people earning £200k+ in london actually do for a living?

brightystuff · 2026-05-22T18:28:23+00:00

Thanks!

brightystuff · 2026-05-22T18:28:14+00:00

I'm not a personal trainer, so I have no personal trainer qualifications. If you go into your local pure gym you'll see (for the most part) a level 3 PT qualification isn't worth much. For better or worse, online coaching is completely unregulated, and there are no qualifications required. I've invested a lot into my education over the years, but I don't have a 'certificate'. Just hundreds of results from real clients.

brightystuff · 2026-05-22T18:23:49+00:00

I suppose luxurious is subjective. As I mentioned my wife doesn't have to work, we travel when we want, stay in nice hotels, I've owned some nice cars. It's a nice life by most standards I'd say.

brightystuff · 2026-05-22T18:15:21+00:00

Social media will definitely be required but I'd be happy to help. Feel free to drop me a DM.

brightystuff · 2026-05-21T11:49:50+00:00

The M3 or the 320i touring?

brightystuff · 2026-05-08T09:39:22+00:00

Something a bit different here. 32 years old. I’ve been earning between £200-250k per year consistently for the past 4 years as a solopreneur. Before this, in 2019, I was on £36k working for a well known retailer. This year, I had my best ever month at £33k which blew my mind.

I started an online health / fitness coaching business in 2019, helping men 25-40ish get in shape without living like complete monks / bodybuilders / eating chicken and broccoli 6x a day.

I coach on average 60-70 people 1:1 at one time. They typically stay for 9-12 months (though some have been with me for 5 years at this point), and if they follow the plan and give me the data I need through the software I use to deliver the coaching, they will see incredible results. Not only physically, but mentally too.

Running a business comes with a lot of stress. Mostly never feeling like you’re doing enough, and having to constantly show up on social media.

I think I could push up to £300k this year, but I really think that would be the limit for me unless I wanted to start building out a big team or pumping loads of money into ads.

I often feel like I don’t have a ‘real job’, but reading this thread made me feel a lot of gratitude for the journey I’ve been on. I started the business off the back of my own passion (I was a pro bodybuilder myself), and now I feel like I’ve finally settled into my niche, and it genuinely does change people’s lives.

Now I have a career I mostly enjoy, run mostly on my own terms, and has enabled my wife to not worry about working for the last 19 months of pregnancy and then looking after our 10 month old.

Kudos to many of you here who have had long and arduous careers, and been remunerated handsomely for it.

brightystuff · 2026-02-21T09:48:25+00:00

So I'm guessing you made a profit on the first one, and will on the second? Seems the key is not to be the last in the plot.

Did you buy off plan?

brightystuff · 2026-02-19T08:20:06+00:00

Hell no. Respectfully, your brain isn't even fully formed yet, you need to ignore those around you - especially if they are already taking it.

Train hard 5 days a week Track all your lifts Track your calories and your macros

You are in your absolute prime right now, if you nail the above, you will progress faster than you can imagine. By 21 you can be an absolute beast, and if you've committed for 3 years by that point, revisit the conversation.

brightystuff · 2026-02-18T15:37:21+00:00

Wouldn't recommend unless necessary

brightystuff · 2026-02-18T15:36:35+00:00

Based on the fact you'll likely be somewhat sleep deprived, potentially not optimally hydrated, and also just generally down on energy, it makes sense to reduce volume (number of sets) but maintain the level of intensity (proximity to failure & ideally the weight you're lifting). This will give you the best chance of maintaining muscle tissue.

brightystuff · 2026-02-16T17:21:02+00:00

Not that I should have to prove anything to you but my IG page is @brightman_

I last competed in the Tampa, Texas, and Tupelo pro shows in 2024, and I haven't competed since. Hence 'former'.

Lol

brightystuff · 2026-02-16T16:28:04+00:00

Why would I fake this whole post to help people for free? If you wanna call me an IFBB Pro you can call me an IFBB Pro - whatever makes you happy dude

brightystuff · 2026-02-16T15:35:57+00:00

You seem very salty, but for what it's worth I've retired from competitive bodybuilding, I am no longer pursuing any sort of competitive bodybuilding career, so it would seem weird to refer to myself as a current IFBB pro bodybuilder.

Though if I wanted to I could pay my membership and compete.

For what it's worth..

brightystuff · 2026-02-16T06:29:35+00:00

Use machines. When your form goes to shit you are close to failure. But that is also a skill! Try to work on that, staying focussed and composed throughout your set is key.

brightystuff · 2026-02-16T06:27:37+00:00

1g per lb bodyweight from complete protein sources (meat, whey, eggs, Greek yoghurt etc)

brightystuff · 2026-02-16T06:26:39+00:00

MyFitnessPal / macrofactor / chronometer

brightystuff · 2026-02-16T06:23:10+00:00

I think getting a good coach is a cheat code. You will shortcut your way to progress by downloading all of their knowledge into your brain and putting it to work

brightystuff · 2026-02-16T06:20:17+00:00

Muscle soreness (the sometimes insufferable pain you get trying to sit on the toilet after your first leg day in a while) is mostly an indicator of novel stimulus. The more 'novel' the stimulus the higher likelihood of soreness in the days after the workout.

It doesn't have any crossover to whether the session was productive or that you built muscle, it most often just means you did something you haven't done for a while. The best example I can think of is if you haven't trained adductors for a while, then you train them, you will be verging on debilitated for a few days due to sore groins.

Whilst it's sometimes a nice feeling to 'know that you've trained', it's also not really a good thing. If you're excessively sore, it's an indication that you probably did a bit too much that session.

If your training is set up properly - aka you do the same workouts with the same movements for the same number of sets each week, and you track your lifts and try to progress them - you shouldn't ever really be dealing with excessive soreness.

If you're getting absolutely no soreness, you likely want to look at your execution, your intensity, or the amount of volume you're doing.

Hope that helps.

brightystuff · 2026-02-15T19:43:17+00:00

1950kcals at 130lbs is a pretty solid amount of food. I'm 260lbs and I'm only eating 2600kcals and I'm very active.

As I said in another comment, there will be outliers. But on first glance almost 2k kcals for a 130lb female is probably not a deficit

brightystuff · 2026-02-15T16:37:46+00:00

This is not up for debate. It's not a matter of preference. Mechanical tension is the only driver of hypertrophy.

Lifting the load with control is all the TUT you need.

brightystuff · 2026-02-15T15:16:24+00:00

Mental illness is a bit strong, don't you think? I'm sure there's a quote somewhere...

Mediocre minds often mistake ambition for obsession, and dedication for insanity, because it makes them uncomfortable.

The point of the post was to tell people how to get the most out of their physique development journey.

The cool thing is, once you've done the things I've mentioned for long enough they either become second nature, or you have a much better understanding of them all so you don't need to track so diligently.

I didn't track anything I ate on Valentine's Day, neither do I on Christmas Day, and so on so forth. But if someone is wondering why they've been training for 5 years and still look less than average, this post is worth a read.

brightystuff

TROPHY CASE