U Perform Ambassador Spotlight - Paul O'Neill @ Pro Nutrition Clinic

We had an amazing response last week as we introduced Kim Loney aka @theultrarunningmum so we are really excited to continue featuring our brilliant team of U Perform ambassadors. This week, it’s the turn of Paul O’Neill, founder of Pro Nutrition Clinic. We are thrilled to say that he has joined the team and has chosen U Perform nutrition products to help support his athletes.

 

Take it away Paul…

 

 

Paul: My name is Paul O’Neill, I’m a sports nutritionist and owner/coach of Pro Nutrition Clinic.  I specialise in nutrition for boxing and currently look after the fight camp nutrition and weight management for several professional boxers in the UK.

U Perform: The field of sports & performance nutrition is vast. What encouraged you to specialise in the sport of boxing?

 

 

Paul: I first fell in love with boxing as a 10 year old kid when my Dad took me to a local club in Walthamstow, London, he patted me on the head and said I’ll be back in an hour to pick you up. Battered, bruised and completely exhausted from my introduction to boxing, the only words I could utter to my Dad were “can I come back next week”?

 

Boxing is a very unique sport where the highest level of performance and physical exertion are a necessity all while losing weight to be able to fight in your weight category, two things that do not always blend well together, but is just one of the challenges I love with boxing.

 

U Perform: Did your interest in nutrition come quickly when you started boxing yourself or did that develop later on?

Paul: Professionally, my passion for nutrition came later in life after embarking on my own weight loss journey, dropping close to 60 pounds and feeling great doing it. This extraordinary journey led to me study nutrition and ultimately the start of Pro Nutrition Clinic. It was inevitable that my love for boxing and passion for nutrition would merge.  

 

 

U Perform: For anybody who is a little unsure – can you tell us a little more about your work at Pro Nutrition Clinic. How can nutritional support benefit active people & athletes?

Paul: At Pro Nutrition Clinic as well as looking after the performance and wellbeing of our athletes, we also have several programmes ranging from free advice to fully tailored plans on fat loss, gut health, metabolic repair, detox and more. Health and performance is at the heart of what we do and what we strive to deliver with every programme.

 

U Perform: Here at U Perform, we understand and are incredibly passionate about the power of optimising nutrition to optimize performance & quality of life. That’s why we are so excited to partner up with someone who believes in and practices the exact same!

In your own words, what motivated you to join the U Perform family?

Paul: I have been a fan of collagen supplementation for a while now due to its benefits in aiding recovery and injury prevention. I had been on the lookout for a company that is as passionate about the nutritional science as delivering a great product. U-Perform fits that bill perfectly.


U Perform: This is always a tough one…favourite U Perform product & why?

 

 
Paul: Has to be the Active Collagen Gel sachets. So convenient to use and packs a massive punch when it comes to tendon and soft tissue health, as well as its support for strength and flexibility.

 

 

U Perform: Excellent choice! We are going to mix things up a bit now and pick your expert brain for a second. Do you have a top tip or nutrition fact that you think everyone should know but perhaps doesn’t?


Paul: Nutritional science has come a long way in the last decade but there is still a dogged determination from so many people that a good diet and weight management comes down to simply calories in verses calories out, when the truth is that the quality of your food trumps the calories in, calories out hypothesis.

 

If more people concentrate on eating quality real food than just playing a numbers game with calories, we would see a vast improvement in the nation’s health!


U Perform: It’s hard to forget that we are living in challenging times. Looking ahead, what does the future hold for you? What are you and your athletes planning in the months or even the year ahead?

 

Paul: With one eye still on COVID, boxing is slowly returning and my schedule is starting to build up. I am hoping for some big fight nights to close out the year especially from our two WBO European Champions Hamzah Sheeraz and Archie Sharp and my personal goal for 2021 is to fuel my boxers to world titles!

 

 

U Perform: You got this! Great to have you on the team Paul and thank you for sharing your story with us!

 

 

Are you an active person? Do you share our passion for fitness, exercise and nutrition? Personal trainer, Physiotherapist, Coach or Nutritionist? Yes to any of the above - then you can join the team as one of our Ambassadors too! To find out more and apply - head to the 'Become an Ambassador' page on our website!