Brian Keane is a Personal Trainer, certified Strength and Conditioning Coach and Sports Nutritionist.
Once a primary teacher, Brian is now schooling the nation on all things health, fitness and nutrition. As one of Ireland’s thought leaders on health and wellness, he has become something of a social media star and popular podcaster.
His online fitness programmes help people reach their weight loss, fitness or body composition goals. Sustainable fitness programmes alongside essential mindset work is key to his programme’s success. His food philosophy is all about finding a nutritional plan that works for you as an individual and how focusing on your mindset can be game changing.
In the summer of 2017, Brian published his first book The Fitness Mindset, which spent 16 weeks on the Amazon best seller list. In December 2019, he published his second best selling book Rewire Your Mindset and his most recent book, The Keane Edge: Mastering The Mindset For Real, Lasting Fat Loss was published in 2021. Here, Brian gives us an insight into his work and a taste of how he inspires so many people to live healthier lives.
Why do you think so many people fall into negative health habits to begin with? “I think most of it happens by accident. Very few people wake up and think ‘I’m going to start a new bad habit today’ it just kind of happens automatically. Bringing awareness to any bad or unsupportive habit is the first step towards changing it.”
How can we rebuild daily habits that change our approach to health? “Firstly, I’d list your habits into two categories. Supportive habits – those that move you closer to your end goal and unsupportive habits – those that move you further from your end goal. This includes your food choices, sleep quality, your exercise routine, etc. Now you decide which ‘bad’ habit needs to be fixed first. If your goal is fat loss for example, addressing your nutrition will probably give you the best bang for your buck, so you start with that.”
What’s the one change that can make a big impact and we all can embrace but rarely do? “Focus on your sleep quality vs quantity. Six hours of high-quality uninterrupted sleep is probably going to benefit you more than eight hours of low quality and broken sleep. Some ways to stay on top of your sleep hygiene is to have a set bedtime every night and set wake up at the same time every morning. After that, you can look at minimising screen time in the evening or add some supportive supplements like One Nutrition Ocean Mag (magnesium) to help relax muscles to help you fall asleep quicker and stay in a deeper sleep for longer.”
Do you believe failure is a part of future success? “I think it’s a key ingredient. Failure is feedback on what didn’t work in the past. You can use that feedback to not make the same mistake in the future, it’s a crucial component.”
In your opinion, how important is your inner circle in helping to embrace healthy habits? “It definitely helps but not everybody has a supportive inner circle. If you’re lucky enough to have a good network, then great. If not, don’t let it stop you from making a positive change in your life.”
Where do supplements fit into your health and mindset programmes? “It depends on the extent or timeline of the goal. If you are serious about your health, wellbeing and performance I believe that supplements are a must. If you want to hit a goal faster, then supplements can speed up your progress; but they’re not a panacea, and they don’t replace good nutrition or sleep quality. Use them to ‘supplement’ what you are missing in your nutrition, and you won’t go too far wrong.”
What supplement do you take? I have suffered from IBS in the past. I take Udo’s Choice Super 8 Gold Microbiotic every day. With 102 billion friendly bacteria per capsule, it’s the highest strength microbiotic on the Irish Market. It contains lacto and a high level of bifido bacteria. Bifido bacteria are found in the lower bowel.”
Confidence plays a part in self-esteem - how can we build confidence if it’s already at a low ebb? “Confidence is built from repeatedly keeping promises to yourself. That’s it. If you say you are going to do something, and then you don’t do it, you gradually erode your own self confidence over time. Thankfully, the same works in reverse. Set small goals for yourself, like going for that walk after work or getting a morning workout in and then condition yourself to do it regardless of how you feel. That’s how you build self-confidence.”
What inspired you to write your books and dedicate your life to health and fitness? “I wrote all three of my books for different reasons. My first book The Fitness Mindset was trying to get people to see the connection between how you think and your fitness levels. My second book Rewire Your Mindset was a book I wrote for my daughter, Holly, about how to live her life in case anything ever happened to me. The Keane Edge is everything I’ve learnt over the past ten years working in the health and fitness industry.”
What has your work in the health sector taught you that you most want others to know? “Square pegs fit well into square holes. Square pegs don’t fit so well into round holes. That’s how you need to look at health and fitness. The same diet or training program doesn’t work for everyone, you have to experiment to find what works best for you. If one type of programme or plan doesn’t work, maybe it was just a square peg in a round hole. Don’t give up on it. Try something else and eventually, if you use that failure as feedback, you’ll eventually find what works best for you.