David Laid
Fitness YouTuber and Gymshark’s first creative director of lifting, known for the teen transformation videos that made him one of the most copied physiques online.
Fitness · Instagram · Updated Oct 21, 2026
David Laid is a fitness creator who grew up in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and became known online for transformation videos that tracked his training from his early teens. In February 2023 Gymshark named him its first creative director, lifting, per FashionUnited. Between 2018 and 2022 his channel carried a run of rehab and spine videos, and in April 2023 he talked through what he called a humbling back injury on Modern Wisdom. As of October 2026 he still trains on camera and promotes Gymshark, but he posts far less often: one full YouTube video so far in 2026, on YouTube, where he has about 2.3 million subscribers.
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Questions people ask
Who is David Laid?
David Laid is a lifter, fitness model and YouTuber. He was born in Estonia, per Famous Birthdays, and grew up in Atlantic City, New Jersey, where MEL Magazine profiled him in February 2016 as a teenager posting his progress online. He started with Gymshark as a sponsored athlete, and in February 2023 the brand made him its first creative director, lifting, covering product, creative direction, athlete recruitment and events, per FashionUnited. He sells a training program on davidlaid.com and a pre-workout called Euphoria.
What happened to David Laid? Where is he now?
As of October 2026 he is still training, still tied to Gymshark and still posting, just much less often. His most recent YouTube upload, “Autonomous Intelligence - part 1” on June 18, 2026, carries his Gymshark discount code in the description, per his channel. In August 2025 BarBend listed him among the athletes and influencers at Gymshark’s LIFTLDN event in London. Most “what happened” searches trace back to his back injury and the rehab years covered in the next answer.
What happened to David Laid’s back? Why did he get injured?
He has talked about a back injury on the record. His channel shows the arc: “Rehabilitation..” on August 19, 2018, a video with spine researcher Stuart McGill titled “REMASTERING The Spine” on March 23, 2022, and “I’M BACK” on June 9, 2022, all on his YouTube. In April 2023 he spent a chapter of Chris Williamson’s Modern Wisdom interview, titled “David’s Humbling Back Injury” at 34:42, on what the injury taught him. We could not confirm from a source we opened exactly how it happened or what the diagnosis was, and we do not guess.
Why did David Laid stop working out? Why did he stop posting?
He did not stop working out. He has kept training on camera, including “Bulking Updates” in February 2024 and “Training To Failure” in April 2025, which passed a million views, per his channel. What did change is the pace: two full YouTube videos in 2025 (April 14 and November 9) and one so far in 2026 (June 18). He has not explained the slower schedule in anything we could source. His Instagram is still his biggest account, at about 6 million followers.
Why did David Laid leave Gymshark?
He did not leave the brand; his role changed. On February 14, 2023 he posted a video titled “No Longer A Gymshark Athlete” on his channel, and two days later Gymshark announced him as its first creative director, lifting, per FashionUnited. Laid said in the announcement that Gymshark is the lifting brand and has been a massive part of his life. The Drum reported he would report to chief brand officer Noel Mack. We found no announcement that he has left Gymshark since, and he still promotes it in 2026.
What happened between David Laid and Dylan McKenna?
On the record, they were training partners on camera. Dylan McKenna appears in David’s videos from that era, including “Bloody Chest Workout w/ Dylan Mckenna” on July 1, 2017, which tags his Instagram handle, per David’s YouTube. We found no reported falling out between them in major or trade press, and neither has explained it in anything we could source.
Why did David Laid start working out, and why is he so popular?
He started lifting as a skinny teenager and quit hockey to train full time, per MEL Magazine in February 2016. The popularity comes from the transformation videos: his “6 Year Natural Transformation 13-19” has passed 10 million views on his channel, and when Gymshark promoted him it cited a transformation video with 49 million YouTube views, per Retail Gazette. A clear before and after, posted year after year, gave a lot of young lifters a template to copy.
Why did David Laid never compete? Is he natural?
He has built his career on YouTube, Instagram and Gymshark rather than on stage, and we found no report in major or trade press of him entering a bodybuilding show. He has not explained why in a source we could open. On whether he is natural, we only repeat his own words: he titles his best known video a natural transformation, his site pitches his program to the natural lifter, and in 2016 he told MEL Magazine he planned to build his body without illegal aids.
How old is David Laid, how tall is he, and what is his real name?
He is 28, born January 29, 1998, per Famous Birthdays. He performs under his own name, David Laid, and no other name has been published. He has not published a current height or weight in a source we could open, so we do not list numbers from third-party sites.
Where can I watch David Laid, and what is his pre-workout?
Long vlogs and training videos are on YouTube @DavidLaid, and day to day posts are on Instagram @davidlaid. His pre-workout is Euphoria 2.0, which its site says was designed by David Laid; his November 2023 upload linked it as “my Pre-Workout.” His strength and hypertrophy program is on davidlaid.com, and his Gymshark collection page is here.
What is David Laid’s net worth?
He does not publish a number and neither do we.
What about David Laid’s dad, family or personal life?
Not something we cover.
Who represents David Laid?
We found no agency or management named on his public channels or in trade press; his YouTube descriptions point to Gymshark, Transparent Labs and his own site. Ames Create does not represent him; we cover him because people keep asking what happened to him after the back injury, and most of the answer is in his own videos. If that changes, this entry will say so.
Our read
Ames Create does not work with David Laid. This is our view, from a team that works on creator brands for a living.
The format. Cinematic training vlogs with heavy music and very little talking to camera, built around one long running story: the skinny kid who kept lifting. Each upload is a chapter in that story, which is why viewers still come back years later to see where it went.
Why it travels. The before and after is the shareable unit. His transformation videos became a reference point that other lifters cite, copy and react to, and Men’s Health profiled a reader who built his own start on Laid’s push, pull, legs split. A slower upload schedule has turned each new video into a small event rather than routine.
Brand fit. Apparel and supplements are the proven lane: he helps design Gymshark product and has his own pre-workout. Brands that want volume should know he posts a handful of YouTube videos a year now, so a single integration in a long vlog, or an Instagram placement, is the realistic shape of a deal.
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Sources: David Laid’s YouTube and its video feed, Instagram, davidlaid.com and Euphoria; Famous Birthdays; Modern Wisdom, April 2023; MEL Magazine, February 2016; FashionUnited, February 2023; The Drum, February 2023; Retail Gazette; BarBend, August 2025; Men’s Health, October 2019; Gymshark. Follower counts read from YouTube and via Social Blade for Instagram, October 2026.
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