Dan Leatham was worried about putting on weight in Zante so he went to the gym and ended up badly injured
11:20, 13 Oct 2026Updated 15:30, 13 Oct 2026
Dan Leatham and his dad on holiday (Kennedy News and Media)
A personal trainer who feared piling on weight during an all-inclusive Greek holiday was hospitalised after ‘hitting the gym too hard’ and cracking his head open. Dan Leatham went on the £4,000 14-night getaway to Zante, Greece, with his dad.
The 45-year-old says he wanted to make the most of the four-star hotel’s gym as he was worried about becoming ‘lazy and putting a load of weight on’. But after doing a 45-minute upper body workout he returned to his room and collapsed – cracking his head open as he hit the ground.
Dan was rushed to hospital where his head was stitched and a CT scan revealed a blood clot, believed to have been caused by hitting his head on a racked weight months earlier. It’s believed overtraining in the heat with the blood clot may have contributed to his fall and subsequent head injury.
Dan in the gym (Kennedy News and Media)
The fitness fanatic said he pushed himself in the gym due to his ‘big fear’ of gaining weight after shedding a whopping 8st since 2020 – halving his body weight from 16st to 8st. Dan admitted he was ‘gutted’ to be forced to stay in hospital for four nights and miss out on the all-inclusive food and drink he’d forked out on.
When discharged, 5ft 3in Dan says he was under ‘strict instructions’ to avoid physical exertion or eating and drinking too much for the rest of the trip otherwise he’d risk being unfit to fly home. Now he’s warning people about the importance of not rushing back to the gym after an injury.
Dan, from Warrington, said: “It ruined my holiday a bit. I wanted to keep my training regime while I was away otherwise I would get lazy and put a load of weight on. I’m scared that if I get out of the habit I’ll put that weight back on, that’s my big fear.
Dan’s head injury (Kennedy News and Media)
“In the morning I went to the gym and I’d been doing push or pull [workouts] and an ab workout. I went upstairs back to my room and had a couple of hours’ kip and started watching videos on YouTube.
“Then I decided to go to the balcony and just fell, I think I pushed myself a bit too hard. I cracked my head open and there was blood everywhere, it was a bit of a blood bath.”
After going to hospital a CT scan revealed Dan had a blood clot in his head, which they suspect was caused by knocking into a barbell at the gym. He says he was given ‘strict instructions’ for the rest of his trip so he could heal properly and be fit to fly back home.
Dan said: “It’s likely […] the barbell could’ve caused the blood clot. I didn’t know that I actually hurt myself. It was the end of a 20kg barbell already racked up. I was picking some weights up and swung my head back being forgetful that it was there and cracked my head in it.
Dan before his weight loss (Kennedy News and Media)
“Exercising with the head injury I got from the barbell led to this. I think the workout didn’t help because of all the heat and the sun, which we’re not used to, overtraining in the heat and a bit of dehydration contributed.
“I was a bit fuming to miss out on those four days. My dad was pretty gutted and he came and stayed with me doing crosswords and having a natter. I was gutted because everyone was sitting at the bar and I was stuck in the hospital. I was just like ‘get me out of here’. It was horrible.
“I had to take it easy the rest of the trip and was under strict instructions to follow. I was meant to take it easy with no physical exertion, not too much sun, not too much food and no alcohol and just relax.
“I was gutted but I knew if I didn’t follow it I’d have to go back in and nothing would heal. The doctor said that normally you’d have to have so many days after a head injury before you’d have to fly back. We literally just scraped that mark. We pestered the doctor that released me and he gave us a certificate to fly back otherwise we’d have had to stay there.”
Dan after his weight loss (Kennedy News and Media)
A personal trainer since 2023, Dan is urging people to ‘take it day by day’ with training during their recovery so they don’t make an injury worse. Dan said: “It’s way more important to not rush yourself back to the gym. You can easily keep up your exercise just by walking and watching what you eat.
“That’ll help more than going back to the gym and running 5,000 miles. There’s less chance of getting re-injured or hurting yourself again just going for a brisk walk. I’ve taken a load of exercises out of my training until I know what’s going on with the head and how that’s going to feel because I don’t want too much blood rushing to the brain.
“I’m just taking it day by day and seeing what it’s like.”