Guest story · Two-week stay
Rory had lost his routine and gained weight he couldn't shift at home. So he stepped away for two weeks on the Wild Atlantic Way. On his last days here, he sat down to talk about the training, the food and the plan he's taking home.
Jump to a moment
Rory's two weeks
01Before
After selling his business, Rory lost the structure his days used to have. Food choices and exercise got scrambled, and with a young daughter at home the weight kept creeping up.
He'd tried, in his words, probably every personal trainer in Dublin. What he needed was a proper break from everyday life: somewhere to work out what he was doing wrong and change it in a controlled environment.
“There needed to be a stop.”
02The training
Four training sessions a day sounded like professional athlete territory. In practice it's a 20-minute cardio block, then 45 minutes of weights, then a long walk through the countryside — tightly controlled, and always a little further than you'd go on your own.
Five or six different trainers keep it fresh: yoga and stretching with Bernie, conditioning, different gyms, different parks. "It's not just five of the same person coming in and giving the same thing."
“It doesn't allow you to sit at your own pace. It helps you find what your own pace is.”
03The house & the food
Rory rated the accommodation "A1": double bedrooms, good showers, a massage recliner and a jacuzzi. Dinner together as a group around half five, then the evening is yours. Not a military-style boot camp.
The food was the surprise. A beautiful breakfast, lunch and dinner, plus fruit in the evening, and it adds up to about 1,300 calories. His only suggestion: show off the cooking even more, because it's that good.
“The food is just unreal.”
04Favourite day
His highlight was a Saturday walk the length of the beach on a clear day: coffee at the far end, the walk back, then straight into the sea.
“It was five kilometres of bliss. Jumped in the sea afterwards — it was just beautiful.”
05 · Taking it home
“If you don't plan what you want to eat the next day or exercise the next day, you'll make excuses.”
He spent his last two days at the counter with Seamus writing down recipes — not just ingredients, but step one, step two, step three.
Meals he can cook in bulk and freeze, so there's always the right thing ready instead of a shop sandwich.
The exact eight exercises, weights and reps, so Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday are already planned.
Guests leave with written material as a reference point once they're back home.
06 · Would he recommend it?
If you're stuck on repeat
“If you feel you are going day by day, week by week, you should definitely come here. Something like this will help you reset.”
If you're an employer
“I would pay for them to come here. You will get so much more back from those employees.”
“My head for work, or for anything, is so much clearer than it was two weeks ago.”— Rory, on his last day
Your turn to hit stop
Choose a 7, 14 or 21-day stay, with training paced to where you are now.
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