"The strongest poker players don't just train their minds. They train their bodies too."

The first time Robbert called me, he was in Rio de Janeiro, travelling the international poker circuit and preparing for his next tournament.

As a professional poker player from the Netherlands, Robbert spent much of the year moving from one country to another, competing against some of the best players in the world. During that first call, he wanted to know one thing:

Could I help him improve his performance?

My answer was simple.

"If you're competing with your brain every day, then you need to train like a brain athlete."

That immediately resonated with him.

Robbert told me that many of the world's top poker players weren't just brilliant strategists—they were also strong, muscular and took their health seriously, because they understood that sustained mental performance depends on physical health.

When he later arrived in Kuala Lumpur, we only had four weeks together, so every session had to count.

The first priority wasn't lifting weights.

It was helping his body recover from constant travel. We focused on overcoming jet lag, improving his sleep, introducing the right nutritional habits and gradually exposing him to strength training without pain or excessive soreness.

Once his movement quality was established, we shifted our attention to building strength before progressing into body composition and finally maximal strength.

The transformation was remarkable.

I still remember Robbert's very first bench press.

He struggled with 20 kg, and every repetition followed a different bar path as he learned the movement.

Just four weeks later, he was confidently pressing 55 kg for 5 repetitions with solid technique.

But the biggest changes happened outside the gym.

His sleep adapted quickly with a personalised recovery and supplementation strategy, and he consistently told me that he felt sharper during tournaments. He was making fewer poor decisions, maintaining concentration for hours and noticing that his mental performance stayed high even during long days of competition.

Physically, he became stronger.

Mentally, he became more resilient.

When Robbert first walked into Peak, he carried himself like someone who had never believed he could become physically strong. Four weeks later, he left with the confidence that comes from discovering capabilities he never knew he had.

At Peak Human Performance, we believe the world's best performers aren't only athletes on the field. They are executives, entrepreneurs, surgeons, pilots and professional poker players. Different arenas. The same principle: optimise the body that powers the mind.