I’m not what you call a ‘genetically gifted’ athlete but I am an athlete nonetheless. I’ve achieved moderate (by my standards) success in the arenas and endeavors I’ve decided to invest time into. Achieving numerous blackbelts and winning local competitions, becoming a martial arts instructor for one of the largest martial arts organizations in the world in the martial arts and through the illusion of bodybuilding, looked better in a t-shirt than as a teenager. All of these accomplishments, I clawed for. Training twice as hard and 4 times as long as my gifted friends and training partners.
I thought I’d be happy just making it this far given where i had come from – a skinny kid who generally sucked at sport at school and had attention issues which made me annoying to my school teachers to say the least! It was when i was hit with a life threatening illness so severe that within 5 hours of the first symptom that nearly killed me and had the doctors saying I’d be lucky to ever walk again yet alone do any of the things I loved. It was then i made the decision to not only prove them wrong and not only do the things I loved but excel in them! More than I ever did when I was ‘healthy’.
I poured all my effort into researching sports science, applied kinesiology, scouring the country then the globe for the best instructors coaches and mentors in their respective fields. After sleepless nights reading and learning, crashing in gyms in different countries and training an extraordinary amount of different training protocols on myself and my student and clients i rehabbed myself. Got better, creating and achieving new goals daily, weekly, monthly. I started small, with beating personal bests in the gym, competing in national and international martial arts bouts eventually winning national titles. Then I began working my way up to Master of Sports numbers in sport kettlebell lifting, obtaining qualifications in various health systems from CHEK (corrective health exercise kinesiology) to kettlebell certs to most recently and importantly CST (circular strength training) Head Coach for the UK under RMAX international.
After seeing what is possible when you won’t let the world break your spirit and free yourself of the shackles of the ‘naysayers’ and the ‘can’t do-ers’ who are too busy imposing their limitations on to you instead of shooting for loftier goals of their own, I’ve become hungry. Hungry too see how far I can take this whole journey through physical, mental, emotional and spiritual culture. And to see how many people i can help directly or indirectly to do the same.
These are exciting times ahead and i want to share this excitement with others – it’s the only way I’ll feel truly fulfilled in this endeavor.
