Danny Copeland | Online Fitness Coach & Filmmaker

It’s NOT me instructing you to unflatteringly teabag a webcam whilst I critique your squats over Zoom! That wouldn’t have got my client Chris anywhere near the 14.5kg / 32lbs he’s lost in the last 6-months. As an Online Coach, I get this question a fair bit, especially from my fellow filmmaking, nature-loving, neurospicy and nerdy brethren. You’re familiar with what an in-person personal trainer does but...online 121 coaching? How dafuq does that work? Well I’m glad you asked. Please enjoy my explanation, inspired by some of my favourite video games when growing up (the original PS1 and PS2 were my first consoles, if we discount the GameBoy for a moment). My coaching gang are the main characters in the video game that is their life. They’re on a quest to improve their fitness - typically by losing fat, building muscle and strength, or both! As an Online Coach, I can’t grab the controller and complete their game for them - I can’t force them into the gym, or stop them inhaling certain foods. Nor would I if I could, because they’d never learn anything that way. Instead, I am their sidekick - their guide - helping them traverse difficult levels and boss-battles along the way, entirely remotely. I support many types of players, but particularly those where the nature of their life sees them moving around a lot with disruptive work, or an unconventional career that set their fitness journey to Hard Mode without them realising it. Filmmakers/photographers, biologists/conservationists, scuba divers, explorers...and more! By working solely online, I have a level of flexibility that better fits into the weird and wonderful lives of these types of people, far more than your typical in-person coach. If that sounds like you, well...hello there! We have much to discuss... Namely, whether you were more of a Spyro vs. Crash Bandicoot kind of person growing up. Canon vs. Nikon vs. Sony? Ocean vs. mountains? (...and probably some fitness stuff too, whenever you’re ready). So press (A) to continue into my DMs, and let’s take it from there. #scubadiver #ukdiving #wildlifephoto #nerd #filmmaker #biologist #travellifestyle #conservationphotography

Resistance training like you’ve never seen it before. Join Big Dave Lattenbro as he explores the strange and wonderful act of lifting weights and putting them down again. Using the latest science and decades-old filmmaking technology, Lifts On Our Planet reveals the not-so-extraordinary techniques and exercises that are so often ignored, but remain crucial to all human life. Each lift offers novice gym-goers challenges and opportunities, to not only survive...but thrive, in an increasingly sedentary, desk-bound world. Now streaming on @dannyunderpressure + Follow for future episodes of natural, history-making fitness tips 💪🏼😂 #naturedocumentary #wildlifefilmmaking #naturalhistory #davidattenborough #wildlifefilmmaker #filmmaker #scicomm #wildlife #wildlifephotography #planetearth #cameraman #camerawoman #springwatch ##wildlifedocumentary #documentary #scuba #scubadiverslife #ukdiving #paditv #divetogether

Resistance training isn’t just picking up heavy shit and putting it down—it changed my life, and I know it can do the same for you. Growing up, I was a massive nerd at school, but I sucked at P.E. Couldn’t kick a ball, couldn’t land a lay-up. It was a source of shame, making me believe fitness wasn’t for me. As I got older and my career in the underwater world took off, my fitness and body composition fell apart. I had zero clue how to manage nutrition or build muscle. Sure, my below-average fitness made diving and camera work harder, but my self-esteem sat deeper than any dive I’d logged. My body confidence sucked, my inner voice was brutal, and I’d feel guilty for even feeling bad in the first place. Something had to change. I made a deal with myself: show up at the gym, learn about nutrition, and stay consistent—no matter how confusing it got or how many mistakes I made. Not easy for a chronic over-thinker. Progress was slow, setbacks plentiful, and becoming veggie/vegan made things trickier. But I kept ticking the boxes—tracking, learning, adapting. Slowly, everything changed. First my body. Then my mindset. Then how I carried myself in the world. Today, fitness isn’t just about looking good—it’s a foundation for my mental resilience. To me, it’s character-building, not just bodybuilding. I’ve come a long way since 2019, and I know for a fact it can change your life too. If you’re not happy with how you look or feel—if you’re ready to take control but don’t know where to start—slide into my DMs. Let’s talk about how I can help you begin your journey.

Notice much difference? Nah, me neither. On paper there’s a slight bump in my body weight that I expect to settle over the next week or two, now I’m back into my home routine. But otherwise, no notable changes to report… …and that’s exactly what I wanted after being away on an underwater dive shoot with the BBC for the last two weeks. Prior to the shoot, I was cruising along in a maintenance phase, slowly edging up my calories week-by-week in search of my maintenance-calorie “ceiling”. I did not want this shoot to fuck that up. I wanted to head away, hold my ground, come back and pick up where I left off. Mission accomplished if you ask me. That’s despite; + A huge reduction in workout frequency (free time is scarce on a shoot), and reduced exercise options on the occasions I could train. + Regular, daily meals that were impossible to accurately calorie track. + Sometimes limited food options, with the only veggie dishes being low/zero protein and high calorie. + Far less sleep than usual, including multiple sub 6 hour nights. The worst was 3hrs 20 mins. + Reduced step count, courtesy of 8-10 hours on a small, busy boat every day. + 3-4 hours per day of drysuit diving in heavy kit. It’s a cruel reality that scuba diving can be super knackering, yet an astonishingly crap way of burning calories. So what did I do? I controlled and monitored what I could (which, let’s be real, always amounts to more things than you think is possible). And I adapted the rest where needed. Same approach as always. It’s served me well on the last 6 years of film shoots, big trips and general periods of life disruption…and this shoot was no different. Now I’m back to my usual routine. I’ll let the data-dust settle for another week, and then carry on pushing my maintenance phase up to its limit, before reassessing my schedule and choosing my next phase. Either a short, sharp mini cut to get extra lean for summer. Or push onward to a building phase early, summer-shmexy-leanness be damned. Regardless, there’s a plan. There’s always a plan. And if another shoot or disruption comes up out of nowhere, I’ll adapt the plan as required. Because this is the way. 💪🏼

The day I’ve been waiting for since nabbing the last one at my local M&S about 3 weeks ago 😆 (Yes I could have eaten it at any point….but I’ve been very busy sampling decadent hot cross buns and testing lesser basic-bitch Easter eggs instead). Overall, I think this is egg-cellent. Bonus points for creativity without going OTT on flamboyance. Bit spenny, but not egregiously expensive either (those £25+ eggs, I’m sorry but wtf). Anyway… Happy Easter folks! May you also face-smash some egg shaped chocolate on this fine day, as Jesus intended.

Still processing the whirlwind of last weekend’s @godivingshow . I’ve been going to these annual shows almost every year since at least 2011. Despite being socially knackering, they always leave me re-energised about diving. I may be an online fitness coach and love lifting weights, I may love films and making documentaries, but the sea will always be the core interest connected to it all. Every event like this I come away stoked to be a part of the ocean-loving community, and extra motivated to get underwater and play whatever role I can in its conservation. Last weekend’s show was especially cool and a little nerve-wracking. I finally revealed a sneak preview of some of Guardian Angel - the passion project film I’ve been working on for yeeeears alongside @jdscuba and his colleagues at @projectsiarc . We’ve got a long way to go before we eventually release it later this year, but it felt so right having members of the dive community be some of the first to see what we’ve been working on. As always, I have a shocking lack of photos with the friends and colleagues I caught up with…but it was so good to see so many of you guys! I hope you had an awesome weekend. Now time to spend two weeks under a rock being massively introverted to replenish the social battery 😆 here’s to next year!

This isn’t the first time I’ve been feeling the heat. It won’t end any time soon, and it won’t be the last time either. Frankly, if you’re passionate about your work or have multiple interests, this kind of pressure feels baked-into the lived experience. But that doesn’t mean your health should just constantly take a back seat to accommodate it. It pains me thinking back to pre-2019, when I used to ignore that advice. I’d spend like 16 hours glued to a desk, for days or weeks on end, slogging away trying to hit ludicrous deadlines or levels of output. My back would seize up, I’d feel sickly and gross. Yet some part of me saw it as a badge of honour….or felt some kind of shame and guilt if I dared pause the grind to take care of myself. If you work for a nonprofit cause, you know that last part all too well. I’m grateful to have eventually learnt from those mistakes, even if I need to regularly remind myself of the lesson. Anyway, I hope this ramble resonates with some of you out there. In short, stop skipping the gym when things get crazy. Future You will thank you for it. Happy Sunday, folks!

Sun and scuba meet weights & wonderous amounts of puddings! Here’s a cheeky photo dump from the recent, much-needed holiday with @gainswithgoosecoaching and the Hill Clan to Soma Bay, south of Hurghada in Egypt. Like a lot of my friends and peers, especially the self-employed ones, I am awful at taking any downtime…even when every warning sign is saying I need it. It’s daft, given we all know how valuable and important it is - that we are overall more productive and happier when taking regular doses of it. 2025 was a lot, and 2026 shows no sign of turning down the temperature either. With the house sale & purchase, editing a documentary, planning its distribution independently, juggling some freelance media work, long-term prep for working remotely overseas, building the coaching business whilst supporting my current gang, and a cascading waterfall of countless little tasks that never end…it’s been an intense several months off the back of an already disruptive few years of big life changes. Admittedly, some cracks have started to show, and my head has really needed a bigger wobble than my usual gym sessions can provide. So it was a blessing to have some time to decompress and actually do sweet fuck-all, except my favourite things…chill with good company on a beach, scuba dive, lift weights, and inhale a medically-alarming amount of puddings and pastries in between. I am feeling so much better for it. So here’s to actually having regular days off going forward, consequences be damned and more little adventures, to help keep my feet on the ground, my [massive] head on my shoulders, and some perspective on wtf we’re all doing in this silly ol’ thing we call life 💪🏼

This has become a love-hate tradition 😆 On the one hand, it’s a fun way to manifest a hard reset at the close of the year…a time when I’m feeling super reflective, excited-yet-unsure of the road ahead. On the other hand, sweet Jesus it’s fackin’ colddd! 🥶😂 Someone pleeease remind me next year to invest in some beach shoes, to spare my feet the chilly torture they endure every single time. Anyway, I hope you’ve been doing something warmer with your Boxing Day and time-off over the holidays! 😉

Thank GAAAWD, the festive, fat-loss finish-line is in sight...and honestly, it can’t come soon enough! After 7 months of losing fat at a fairly gradual pace, the prolonged calorie deficit is starting to bite hard. Part of the reason I chose to go slowly with this most recent fat-loss phase was to minimise the impact it has on my head. With a major house move fully underway, growing a new business and serving the folks I already coach, setting up plans for some extended work trips overseas, and then filming, editing, and planning the release of my most ambitious independent documentary yet...2025 has been a year of spinning a lot of big plates and keeping my head above water. I have a pretty solid history of handling a lot of uncertainty and chaos in life, but this year has been pushing me right to the edge of what I can deal with. Not an ideal time to also lean-out after a multi-year bulk. 😅 I didn’t want the added mental fatigue that can come with dieting aggressively, even if it meant finishing this fat-loss faster. And for 6 months, going slow and steady worked wonderfully. But even the most personalised and gradual approach to fat loss hits a point where you just need to flex some willpower and remember why you’re doing it. In the last 2 weeks, that point well and truly ARRIVED, as suddenly and shockingly as a firm, echoey trout-slap to the face. The urge to pick at things without tracking them has been invasive-AF. On the other side of the equation, the desire to move has really nose-dived. I’ve been leaving it later and later in the day before I force myself onto the walking pad to get my steps up to the 10-12K target. Despite the unavoidable discomfort, I haven’t stopped. I’ve fallen back to my systems and data, and the accountability of showing y’all my progress, in the exact same way I coach my own clients. The result? Two weeks ago, I was 83.7kg. Now, I’m 82.3kg....down 1.4kg (0.7kg per week). Right on track and frankly, better than I expected. The planned finish-line, where I pause, reflect and take stock...is just 3 weeks away. It’s not going to be pretty, but the result will be worth it in the end.

Yesterday, a little bit of faith in humanity and hope for our ocean was partially restored. Some big news was announced via my old friends from @mantatrust and other marine conservation nonprofits….news that many shark and ray species were “upgraded” to Appendix I of CITES. For the non-policy nerds amongst you, I’ll try to explain wtf that means. CITES is like the UN for endangered species. It’s a convention where countries get together to determine whether it should be illegal or not to trade in the meat and body parts of endangered species of animals, based on whether those trades can be done sustainably without driving the species to extinction. The conference only happens every 3 years, and species need a biiiig majority to get any form of protection. Appendix I basically amounts to the best a species can get…that all trade based on that animal is illegal, and countries are legally bound to enforce it. As you can imagine, it’s bloody hard to get a species onto this list. But if successful, it makes enforcement a lot easier to manage, and excuses for govts not trying fewer in number. The law is clear and simple. So yesterday, a lot of hard working folks helped push a bunch of the ocean’s most charismatic species onto that list - whale sharks, manta and devil rays amongst them. And I couldn’t be happier! These species have been a huge part of my life, and why I became obsessed with the sea. I’ve felt a lot of disenchantment with conservation in recent years…it so often feels like trying to empty water from a sinking boat whilst a storm AND tsunami are smashing into you. I’ve been to a CITES conference before, and seen the brown paper bags being exchanged….the corruption, the lobbying and blatant bribing. Meanwhile the people fighting for a biodiverse world have to play by the rules and smile in the face of the immense bullshittery at work. There’s still a huge uphill battle ahead. But with this news, the future feels just a little brighter for some of the most magical animals in our underwater world.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS that you should also bring if you have space for them; (1) A travel-friendly yoga matt - because sitting in dirt gets old really fast. (2) A dedicated towel - mini gym towels are ideal. If you’re going somewhere where laundry is infrequent...take a linen towel instead and thank me later. (3) A mini travel barbell for the resistance bands - it’s an add-on that can broaden the range of exercises you can do with your resistance bands. They disassemble into two pieces and are surprisingly light weight. (4) A mini speaker / decent headphones - so you can blast Sleep Token if you’re working out solo, or keep your big philosophical podcasts to yourself if surrounded by others. (5) A skipping rope - I said not to rely on cardio, not to cut it out entirely! It’s ideal if you can’t easily go for a run, and endless burpees / star-jumps kills your soul. Every trip requires a slightly different approach, but the bare essentials should come with you wherever you go. If you’ve got a work trip, expedition or adventure overseas coming up, and you’ve had enough of just letting Jesus take the wheel with your nutrition and training…then reach out and I can show you how to bring some evidence-based planning and science into the equation.