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This is my first post – so I’d like to start by giving you a real good idea of who I am and what I’m about.

My passion is personal growth, striving to achieve results I’d never thought possible and helping others do the same. It wasn’t always this way…

I’ve had a pretty interesting, varied and privileged upbringing. My family have always lived outside of the box; doing ‘risky’ things. Being brought up in Spain for most of my teenage years gave me access to a completely different culture, way of life and way of thinking.

I never really fit into team sports – I always enjoyed doing my own thing. I was an avid skateboarder for 6 years, leading onto sport quad-biker for 4 years. Both of these sports taught me a lot about comfort zones, and the importance of repetition for skill development (I didn’t know this at the time, I just loved doing them both).

As a teenager I was known in the family as the resident ‘lounge lizard’ – flopping around the house not really being much use. I couldn’t help my Dad with physical work for longer than about 5 minutes before a 10 minute time out with a full sugar coke. I had my long hair, lanky limbs and general lack of motivation to do absolutely anything apart from obsess about my skateboarding, quad biking and my small head (yes, I thought I had a really small head for my body) – odd child.

I am the opposite of ‘balanced’. I’ve always teetered on extremes and obsessions of one thing to another for better or worse. I’d be striving to drive my quad fast as possible from throwing it over the largest jump I could to racing it around a corner at the point of crashing.  I’m either completely in or completely out. I’m a stubborn bugger – growing up listening to others proved very difficult (I generally just didn’t) and did my own thing regardless.

For my 18th birthday my parents bought me the hit single – ‘I’m wicked and I’m lazy’, by Xpress 2 and played it on repeat literally all day. They thought it fitting of my personality! This was actually pretty funny and still cracks me up.

I was a very skinny kid; 17 years old, 6 foot 1 at 61 kilos. I looked like Mr. Tickle. This never bothered me until I got pushed around by other people who were bigger than me – this leaves you feeling pretty helpless. When push comes to shove and you feel powerless your self-esteem as a young adolescent man takes a severe knock. Was I bullied? No, but altercations always left me feeing inferior and weak because physically, lets face it, I was.

This was the beginning of my path into cultivating my strength through training my body. I stepped foot in the school gym and trained my ass off. I was instantly hooked on it. I didn’t have a clue what I was doing and followed no nutrition or lifting program but loved the feeling of growing stronger. Strength was my new obsession.

Eight years on and I have done more than just work out. I’ve learned a lot about myself. I went to university, became a door-to-door salesman, sold photocopiers and sold property. I’ve struggled with insecurity, anxiety, loneliness and self – doubt throughout this entire process. I know what it’s like to lose a job which (you think at the time) defines you. I know how difficult it is to climb out of a destructive mental rut, only to fall right back into it again. I know what it’s like to question your very identity. I also know how it feels to be completely lost on this planet not knowing what the hell you’re doing or what your purpose is.  I’m being open with you because I’ve come to realise that it’s these very factors in life which shape and define your real strength. I wear the ‘issues’ I’ve dealt (and currently am dealing with) with pride and I believe everyone should. Every day you deal with a problem external, or internal… you are progressing. It’s these issues which have shaped my mind-set, drive and passion today. Issues you deal with FORCE you to change and adapt into a stronger version.

Fitness and life are intrinsically linked. From smashing Personal records in the gym to hitting that extra mile on the pavement you’re going to feel great and motivated doing so. If you ensure progress with your fitness which is 100% in your control – then translating this progress into other areas of life is the next step. Replicate and apply the fundamentals of what gave you that progression!

I’m all about physical and mental strength progression. Stay posted and I sincerely hope you enjoy my blog. I’m aiming to give you meaningful original content which is aimed at fitness, fat loss and mental keys for being the best you can be.

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