Q&A with Dylan Rivier – Celebrity Trainer
Celebrity trainer Dylan Rivier of BuiltByDylan has trained fashion icons, international models and celebrities as well as the ‘weekend warriors’ looking to improve their fun run time and individuals wanting to lose weight, gain endurance or put on muscle. Dylan draws from a wealth of experience to create a unique and tailored training environment to help his clients achieve their desired goals. He is a regular feature writer for Men’s Health Online, Women’s Fitness, Women’s Health, Body and Soul, NinemsnCoach and Huffington Post.
What’s your philosophy when it comes to helping people achieve their goals?
I guess my philosophy is that everyone should be strong. Whatever your goal, if you’re stronger you’re going to get there faster.
Should distance runners cross train or should they just run?
Absolutely they should cross train. Nothing is going to prepare a distance runner like running, however if they’re stronger, they’re not only going to be more efficient in their movement, they’ll also be less likely to suffer injury.
Will doing strength work just make me bulky and slow my running down?
Unlikely. Most guys in the gym are trying their hardest to achieve that bulky look – and failing! To put on serious size requires a serious amount of heavy lifting and volume in the gym combined with a huge caloric intake. Distance runners are not likely to be doing either of things. Oh yeh, they also run a shit ton – ask any bodybuilder and if they run to the bus stop they call it a cardio session.
Do you utilise a lot of HIIT with your clients? Can it benefit runners?
Absolutely. I find it much more effective than steady state cardio, as well as more time efficient and less boring for my clients. I think anything that conditions your cardiorespiratory system is going to benefit a runner so the answer is yes provided you’re not putting the runner at risk of injury.
I’m a few kilos above race weight at the moment but can’t increase the amount of training I’m doing, can you give us some nutrition tips to get the weight down?
I think most people are already aware of what they need to do, it’s just doing it that’s the hard part. Two very simple ways of cutting weight safely would be to:
- check and adjust portion sizes
- cut out refined sugar
I can’t commit a lot of time to cross training or lifting weights, can you give us a 20-30min home based session I could do to help keep me injury free and fast fit for my running:
It’s really too specific to the individual and their goals and background. People will have to book a consult for that sort of info!
You can find Dylan at