Latest / Atomic Rambo Podcast / From Bobsleigh to Hyrox: Building Resilience After Every Reinvention | Brian Stokes

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From Bobsleigh to Hyrox: Building Resilience After Every Reinvention | Brian Stokes · Atomic Rambo Podcast

• Dan: and this is the Atomic Rambo podcast and today's guest is Brian Stokes. Thanks for coming down, dude. Alright, Dan. It's my pleasure. Yeah. Great to catch up. ⁓ so we met, I think, in 2013 on RMR Juniors. Yeah. Fucking years ago. Long time. Seems like a long time ago now, ⁓ Yeah. Distant memory at least. Yeah. And I, although we haven't actually run into each other, because obviously I left the Marines. you carried on military career for a long, long time. And ⁓ but I've been following you the whole time and you're a serious dude. Like Iron Man's, ⁓ Traflons, anything height yeah, anything fitness. That pushes my limits, I think. Yeah. That's always been something that I think since I was a kid, I've always had that drive to try and put myself in the in the locker. Yeah, so do you wanna s just give us a bit of a intro to yourself and what you what you've been up to? Yeah, so ⁓ yeah, from f from an early age, I my grandad took me to the Royal Tournament when I was six and it was the Navy's year, so there was Marines Absal in and they were doing all the Arctic stuff and it looked amazing. I was six going, I I'm gonna be that when I'm older. And everyone's like, Yeah, it's just a kid saying that. And then as I went through school, then I was there was 10 when the Falklands kicked off. And then it was like the Marines was like big in that. And again, that sort of drove my passion towards it. And then I was in the cadets at school. And funny enough, loads of lads went off to join the Marines. And then like at 17, I was like, well, I'm I'm I'm in. So I went through there, joined the Corps at 17. What year was that? 1990. 1990, yeah. So Yeah, so obviously off the back of the Falklands, the Marines and the Paras were like. Huge, yeah. Everyone's like, that's that's where you want to be. It like seven and a half thousand Marines at the time when I joined, so it was it was big. Yeah, it's a lot less. I did just over eight and a half years, so I had a great time in the court. I loved I mean I really enjoyed it, but towards the end there, I mean it was at the point, you know, where you everyone sort of it's either I'm gonna go SF or I'm gonna leave. ⁓ and I I went on selection and I'm one of my those selections which was a bit bit odd. ⁓ with some really good people who didn't make it who have done some phenomenal things since. So I knew it was the wrong the right time. So I left and got into the fire service pretty much within three or four months. And then just did 20, 21 years in the fire. Just did 21 years in the fire. And then joined the reserves sort of I was like I was I had that itch all the time and then obviously Afghan kicked off and like the you know the second sort of Iraq. So I tried to get back in but I got told I was too old originally. And then everything was changing. I was like, but I'm I've been a regular, so it took me a long time. It took like over six years to get back in. I remember you. All the knockbacks. Yeah, and that's when we met, wasn't it? Yeah. So loads of knockbacks. You know, again, just that drive to say, fucking no way. So I got back in the reserves and then I was doing the reserves was like my sort of you know, my second job within the fire service. ⁓ so did it like I went to go on here at 18 actually and then it got shit canned and then we went and did something else. But then I went and did Another juniors. I did a full juniors after that. Yeah. ⁓ at the end of that. And then as I come away from that, I went back to reserves again and I was doing a lot of work in reserves at the time with ⁓ Jimmy Clutton's there at times. I was working there quite a lot. And then did my twenty one years. Obviously in the fire service, you know, the bit of strikes going on. I love the job and it I I you know, I miss that job, you know, quite a lot still. You know, loads and loads of stuff went on inside that job, but I had this itch to scratch back joining police. So One night shift. You are like you are a glutton for punishment, isn't it? One night shift, I was like applied. And then as the application went on and on, and the more and more I couldn't lose street cred then I like, I've got to go and do it now. So I had to go and join. So I ended up joining the police. You are wild. And then just found out. So Marines full career in the fire service, back in the Marines. And then the police And then and then the police. Got told I was too robust for suspects. Too robust. I got speeding tickets. I know exactly what that means. Yeah. Too robust for suspects. They'd be like, we need you. And you go there and do it and they go, You're a bit robust. Now we don't need you. Yeah, so I was like, you know, it was all right. And then I got told to grow up and I was like, hmm, I don't think that's kind of what I'd be being told at like fifty two to grow up. So I was like, right, I'm out. And I'd heard ⁓ Mark, do you know Mark Stucky? No. So Stux was saying there's a role going in as an F TRS full commitment with a cadets. And I was like, Well, that's my way out. So I I did that and and like that's where I am now with that. But when I left originally, I did my resettlement in personal training. Yeah. So back in ninety eight. So I've been a level three PT since then. So I'd been doing coaching, rugby coaching, a little bit of personal training, but nothing much. But this last couple of years I started triathlon coaching and then The HIROCS thing's become big, so I've done the Hig Rocks performance coaching. Yeah, so I've really that's the main thing now, really, isn't it? Yeah. That's what you're passionate about. My drive is now, yeah. And and I think, you know, I don't want to give away too much about my marine career and whether I'm gonna re-sign my contract or not, but that's one for off the air. But ⁓ yeah, I'm at that stage now where, you know, I'm close to that point of You've got give up some point with it and it's been a long time. I think you know that that that bit where you needed to s scratch the itch where you joined the Marines again. Yeah. I think that's coming around again. ⁓ yeah, no, yeah. I think a lot of guys are thinking, ⁓ I could give it one more stab. Now now that there's talk of war, yeah, yeah, all kinds of things. La I've I've heard from so many sources people being like, I wonder if I could still get here. I've been out running with a backpack on. People always ask me, ⁓ Do you know how if I could get back in? Do know who I've got to speak to? And I'll just go, well, yeah, speak to this bloke. But it's yeah, it's the mate, honestly I have no the weapon systems and the other stuff they have to learn is you you you yeah, you can you might well well get back in, but you have a like it blow your mind what they are learning and what their their skill development is. Well it's just changed a lot. It's different, yeah. It's a different it's no different to our when we did, when we joined, it's just their skill set is different. Different types of what our school set was. ⁓ so it's still a good job to be in, but I think yeah, people are be shocked at what they'd have to relearn. Yeah, fair. So Royal Marines, Fire Service, Police Service, ⁓ fair play. ⁓ and still ongoing somehow. Yeah. So triathlons, so competitive wise, you and correct me if I'm ro wrong, rugby, yeah. Bob Slay. Yep. ⁓ triathlons, then high rocks. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, pretty much. Okay. So rug beams always been in my life since I was at school. And then when I joined the Corps, I was always told I was too small, you know, for like rugby union and stuff like that. I mean I did play for the units and stuff, but I was never good enough to make it to the core team or anything like that. So then when I went to four five, rugby league developed and we started playing Rugby League in Scotland and we were s smashing everyone. And then the Navy were like, ⁓ I better jump on this. So they formed the Rugby League side, and I was in the inaugural Royal Navy Rugby League team. Okay. And we played Great Britain. That was our first game, like as a Navy side. ⁓ with some like some proper legends there as well. Yeah. Some great players. I mean, and a lot of those lads who in Great Britain probably went on to play Super League. So the standard was decent. So I played for the Navy for a few years. And then when I left the Corps, the coach in the Navy had gone to St Albans. So I went and played there for a few years. And then they went semi-pro and I played four years. for the for the for them, but bef prior to that I was doing the bob sleigh as well. So for a little bit of time, especially when I was at Warrior, I was doing Bob Slay all winter and rugby league all summer. Yeah, so I I'm interested in Bob Slay. Yeah. I think it's great. I also know a guy that was on the ⁓ G B team. Yeah. He's he was an amazing sprinter and then got into Bob Slay later on. And ⁓ he used to where my tr old tree yard used to be, he used to work there as a carpenter. Anyway, like monster but superpower. Yeah, so what so what was that like being on the Bob Slay team? Awesome mate. Like so I I I was at Warrior at the time and ⁓ signal came out, you on What's Warrior? ⁓ it's just Warrior, so it's NATO headquarters. So ⁓ it's basically you know, this secret place, not so secret, but it's ⁓ Yeah, Googlable. Yeah, Googlable. Yeah, exactly. ⁓ so ⁓ signal came out and it was ⁓ a little People wanted for Bob Slay go to this event down at ⁓ Thought Park. So me, Chase Dobbs went and ⁓ Lee Johnson, who ended up to being you know Bob Slay legend for Great Britain, and went down there and it was like a little little trolley thing you had to push down this hill and see I got it. So I wasn't super fast, but that's ⁓ and art obviously and not I'm not a great bill. And so at the end of it they were like, Yeah, you you could probably come and j have a go for the Navy. Do you want to go to Bob School, Bob Driving School? And was Yeah, cool. So got sent to Lillehammer. And ⁓ this is how this is how they teach you to drive Bobsley. You go to the they teach they talk about the track and they get to the bottom, you put these ice bikes on, you walk up it, and they go, right, when you come into here, you need to steer like this. You basically get taught how to like do that walking up, and you walk backwards up the track, get to the top, and they go, off you go, mate, and they just shove you off like that. I mean, to be fair, that surely that is the best way to look at Inevitably you just crash. Yeah. And you so you soon learn the second time, you soon learn to like. Yeah. You know, you're literally on two bits of string and two D rings. ⁓ and you're just you know, it's It just seems so cool. I think I think 'cause I 'cause I grew up watching cool run ins. Yeah. I've always had that was a navy team. Massively. I've always had this thing of like, God I'd love to do Bobsay. ⁓ it was so good. I did it for like four years in total, I think. And ⁓ so Inter services and British champs were the same thing at the same sort of time, 'cause it was very heavy military at the time, the British British Bobside team. ⁓ did that, yeah, for for About four years in total. Yeah, mega. It was great fun. Yeah. I mean, it's such a buzz. Again, like you say, it's just yeah, something that's just cool, isn't it? Yeah. And it's cool, yeah. Yeah. so the thing that I've followed you for, mainly over the years was triathlon. Yeah. Because I always wanted to do an Iron Man. Yeah. Which I did eventually. Of course you are. but you you'd you were taking it pretty seriously. So I like I don't even tra I don't train. Yeah. I don't train for the obviously I train, but I don't train for Iron Man specifically. I just I basically do a little bit of training and I go and do it and then have a good time and see how my mind is. But you were taking it pretty seriously. It started off with there was a lad on my watch who was an ex-parer. ⁓ and he was doing it and he was decent athlete. You know he's a he's a he's a really in good shape, but ⁓ really quite posh for para to be fair. But it was me and him would always challenge each other at everything on station, whether it was drinking, fighting, whatever, it was just a challenge between me and him. It'd always be me and him. So he just started doing a trifling. I like, I'll do a triflon and I'd probably beat you. So we just we had this thing going from the start. We just started with little sprints, you know. So that's you know the sprint being Never grow up, Brian. Yeah. A sprint being, you know, 400 meter swim, 20k bike, five K bad. started doing those and then we thought, ⁓ let's go for G B ⁓ qualification. And we did. We we we we got G B qualification like way way back in two thousand and seven. And it was in Canada but there's no way we could have wanted to go. So we kinda just didn't go. And then we just kept doing them and then it just spiraled out of control. And the next thing you know we were doing like the Olympic distance and then we challenged each other to seventy point three. My first one I did was in Austria. And then the first ever marathon I'd ever run I was on the back end of a Baltimore Iron Man. Yeah. The first UK Iron Man. And I'd never run a marathon before. Because I I don't mind running. I just No, you just at that point I thought I think that happens to a lot of people. And then yeah, wait a completely different concept. Yeah, I'd debate a fast marathon is is is probably one of the most painful things I've ever done. So I'd done that done done the Iron Man there and then I'd finished it and I it's funny enough I was speaking to someone listen about the other day and my mum less I come to come to watch. And at the end, she's like, I was like, is that it? I'd done all that training for that. And I I did such a I was so deflated from it. From Iron Man. Yeah, from the f my first Iron Man. And I was like, that doesn't compare to getting my green lid. And that's how I'd how I'd compared it in my head. And I was like, pfft, that's just nothing for what I think. So I literally that night signed up to Iron Man Niece for the next year. And that then once I'd finished Iron Nice, then I'd got that I'd got that feeling because Okay, yeah, challenge harder, I trained harder, the challenge was there for me. I mean it's a a lot of climbing and knees. The marathon's brutal along that up and down the promenade d'anglais and it's dead hot. ⁓ but yeah, that so I got the I got the I got the feeling back from that. That's why so one of the reasons I do Iron Man Wales is just 'cause of the It's tough. Yeah, 'cause it's tough. Yeah. And I thought, well, if I do that then I'll get a good idea yeah of what a hard Iron Man's like. But then there's no such thing as a hard or easy Iron Man really. Because because you just go faster. Yeah. And if you're on a fast course, I know people that have suffered more on a fast course than they have dropping it a level on it. Yeah, that's even when you drop down back down so I I drop back down to seventy point three just 'cause the time consumer and I was doing a lot of bike racing. I'd gone back to bike racing, like circuit racing. I spent a year in a Velodrome doing ⁓ No indoor racing in the vets got absolutely owned on that sport. Yeah, because guys are absolute beasts. I mean, I went to the ⁓ like a a vets race and people breaking previous world records in my heat at like forty-five, and I was coming seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, so slow compared to these guys. They were like being four or five seconds. That's what I was explaining off airs. Like my granddad was a time trialist that he was doing like twelve hours and twenty-four hours. Yeah, brutal. Just just sitting there on dual carriageways hammering, but it But in his mid forties and you know, like super powerful and super quick and and maintaining, you know, high mile per hour. And you know the whole day. You get like obsessed with like you think, ⁓ I'm I'm actually quite fit. And then I'd I lent bike races in the vets category, like you know, crit racing, and just get spat out of the back. Yeah. These guys are st that's all they do. Whereas, you we're we've probably the same as we've liked to try a load of different stuff. But they're just on it all the time and then they're going up the category. So I did that. Then went into sort of triathlon, sprint triathlon decided to have group racing. Yeah. Within it. And I like a bit of group. I don't mind getting the others out and being in that tight bunch. Yeah, like competitive. So I love I loved that. And it then that helped me qualify for G B age group stuff 'cause Brilliant. And when was this? ⁓ so we're looking around sort of two thousand probably eighteen, nineteen the first time. And then I was qualifying in the sprints like 'cause my swimming's not great. But I'd get out, I can get on the bike, if I got into a group, I could catch up. Yeah, you could and then I could be all right on the run. I mean I'm ne I'm not I was never winning these things, but I was doing all right, you know, I was doing top twenties, top twenty. Yeah, but just to get in it's super competitive. Yeah, I like just to get in to GBs. I was still playing rugby. So I was battered from rugby and I'm still doing triathlon. And then I'd race the seventy point threes, and like I say, seventy point threes are again They're brutal 'cause you go hard and fast. And like in Bahrain, I did a four thirty-seven, I think, o off a bike that was rapid, yeah, ⁓ and hot. And that that was with an avi so 'cause I drifted away from it a little bit and went into ultra running, like you do, because you just thought, I'll do something different. What can I do that's a bit more different? Let's do some ultra running. Instead, so I was, you know, doing How how was your ultra running? Well, it started off with the core doing a thing called Iron to Steel. So it was an Iron Man distance triathlon. Started at Blackpool Sands at like four thirty in the morning, pitch black, you know, silumes in your in your float, that swim and the tide was coming in, so it was like I was brutal that swim. And then four laps around pretty much around Dartmouth. So a lot of climbers, lot of climbing Everest on the climbs, and then a marathon along the coastal path. Yeah. So it was about fifteen hours. Which is like a roller coaster. Yeah. It it was absolutely brutal. Started in the dark, finished in the dark. ⁓ and yeah, that was a brutal. So then after I was like, ⁓ I'm gonna do some ultras now because I quite enjoyed the run, really. I thought it was a bit easier, you know, take running a bit easier. You can slow the pace down. And then when and then all of a sudden you're doing fifty K training runs, aren't you, for a hundred K race? And you're like, ⁓ my god, this is I I took I take it quite differently. Yeah. I do I do a lot of back to back stuff. Yeah, we were doing that, but building up to that 'cause we're doing a hundred when we come to a hundred, I we need to do Did you do a hundred K, did you? Was that the longest you did? Yeah. Yeah. But it was a it was a back to back loop. So it was a out fifty K. Yeah. And then back the same route. Yeah. I love an A to B. It was horrible. I like going from one place to the other. 'Cause lapser. If I would do it again. It reminds me of it bro I I really suffered doing cr I I used to run when I was younger and do cross. country and stuff and the laps on cross country were just absolute killer. yeah, you know, it might only be eight K or ten K or something the race. Yeah. But the laps, like two K laps and stuff like that, is just horrendous. I don't mind that now. Like in sp in triathlon in now, yeah now. You don't mind that now because you know once you've done that first lap and you know where everything is, you can pick your landmarks reference points, yeah. That if you're going fast, it makes sense. And if you train on the track. If you're going long. Yeah, like like Yeah, yeah. So I race I will race a hundred K. Yeah. But anything over that, I'm just doing it for myself. Yeah. Yeah. Like because it Yeah, you've done some big ones, haven't you? Yeah. I mean a hundred K is a long long way anyway, but Yeah, so a hundred K I will I will go out of my way to attempt to race it. I say attempt 'cause you never know what's going Well, yeah, no, yeah. ⁓ but anything after that I think you're Really, there's so much that can go wrong, it's so long that you're more in a battle with yourself than you are actually racing. Yeah, yeah. Personally. Well we did it I mean we did it in all right at the time, we did like twelve a half hours. That's good. ⁓ was it f what was the course like? Hilly, like it's Hilly in Surrey, yeah in Hazelmere, so it starts off. Yeah, I know, I did I did the North Downs Right, yeah, so you know what it's like. Fifty mile are there or fifty K and came second, but that was killer. Yeah. Brutal climbing. Some like short and sharp. They're super steep. And it doesn't prepare but it it helps it does help you prepare for stuff 'cause even cycling around there helped me prepare for doing things like the Marmot and and cycling in the Alps and stuff. It just and and even for Iron Man Niece, it does help just repeatedly, you know, doing those roads. I know some people that have been spat out of Iron Man Niece. Yes. You know, gone in gone in with sub ten hours or whatever and then thinking people have died. On a bike. 'Cause they they literally 'cause you ca you on the some of the downhills it's if you're not a bit. It's rapid, yeah, you need to learn how to descend, yeah. So and that's something I'm I'm all right at is descending. 'Cause you're nutcase. Yeah, yeah, very much, yeah. ⁓ so triathlons then so but you're also training people in triathlons, right? Yeah, so that only started probably about three years ago. So the people I I got coached for a bit and then I was like, actually I could think I could be quite a good coach because I'cause I've done the rugby coaching and stuff and I think I'm quite good at I've got a lot of skills and experience from sport and and from from life experience and I just thought I maybe I'll give it a go. So I did it through ⁓ Total Tri Training and yeah it's my Yeah, who I've seen all over the Yeah, because it's the pink and blue. ⁓ and and it's been great. And so I still coach for them with the with dry fleets. So that's why I drive on my trifling training for via those guys. Yeah, 'cause when when I come on your podcast you said don't listen don't don't don't listen to this guy about I'm drinking. Yeah. Yeah. Which is fair. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Whatever you do, do not listen to this guy. Any of my coaches do not listen to this guy. So ⁓ yeah, so I've been d I trained through them. So I've been doing that for like three years now, roughly, with those with those. And it's good triath on coaching because I've had some really good results this year. And some of the athletes I've got are doing really, really well. And I I love that when they do that because it's so remote, you know, it's yeah, different in the fact that you have to have you've got to hold people accountable, you know, you've got to, you know, stay on top of them. So like getting there one to one, we I think we talked about this before, yeah, getting the feedback is so important. I mean, you don't get that. Yeah, checking in regularly. You can let each other down, I think. Mate, yeah, because from the limited amount of trial on training that have done, it's you you have quite a a few bad days, don't you? And it's getting people to understand that. Why? That it's part of it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, 'cause not every day can be a great day. No God. ⁓ and like I said earlier, you know, with with the boring training, you know, the boring, tedious parts of training, not the jazzy parts. Are like 80% of what you're doing. Yeah, I was trying to explain this to myself the other day when I went, when I I went I went mountain running in that 30-odd degrees. ⁓ did you? Alright, yeah. And ⁓ so slow. I was going down as well. And ⁓ I was saying to myself, like, this will be the day that that you remember when you're when I'm 150 miles into a race or something, and go, you remember that though? Yeah, yeah. That was horrendous. This is why we're doing it. And but those days are I've found. are are really important. Like I've had some bad days out on the bike. Yeah, yeah. I'm not, you know, I don't do enough time on the bike. And subsequently, my bike time's always the worst out of everything. Right. And because I don't train it. Yeah. And it's the biggest bit as well. and yeah, the but the reason I know I can do it is because I've gone out and done those shit days on the bike. Yeah. All the shit days in training. Even you've gone out and you feel great when you get up You go out and then something goes wrong in that day, you just have to like shut it off straight away and go, look, that was a shit session, so what? It's not gonna affect you can't dwell on it because if you do, the next then your next session, you're carrying that into that next session and then the performance is not going anywhere. It's just you know, just petering like this and it won't improve 'cause you're like, ⁓ I didn't do this right. But no one f no one cares about what's happened. You've got something in the tank, just back off, you know, and keep that next positive section. The next day where you need it to be positive. The one thing I wanted to get out of talking to you particularly was that ⁓ people ask me a lot about ⁓ I really want to do an Iron Man. And I've noticed a big difference in people that do have coaches and people that don't have coaches. Doing Iron Man. And if and this is coming, this isn't coming from like my perspective. I'm gonna grind an Iron Man or whatever. But a lot of people. it could be and probably is gonna be the biggest thing they ever do. Yeah. And if you think you're only gonna do it once, you probably may as well get a coach. Now am I right on that? Yeah, I mean e everyone's talking about the expense of it, but if you the price of coffee now, if you don't have a one coffee a day, every day of week, you can pay for coach quite easily. And what you're getting from your coach. So for me personally with coaching I'm not just about here's your sessions, go and do ⁓ I wanna know everything how you're feeling. I I mean, I know some of my clients inside out. I know everything about their life. I know I've got clients who I've got personal information of theirs that is so important to both of us to build our relationship so that I can understand exactly how they're feeling whenever they're whenever they're having a bad day training or a good day training. You know, so we can talk about that. And I think if you don't have that and you want to go and give it your best shot, you could go and and do them like you do every day away and get a cookie cut program off the internet, you can look at all the stuff on social media and go, yeah, I can follow this and do that. But what you're not getting is the personal so when you've got life, family, everything else going on top, your other stressors and then you've still got to train for an Iron Man, you know, when you when you put it into concept, it's not a lot of money at the end of the day. So if you're on your deathbed And someone said to you, Would you spend a little bit more money on extending your life? You go, Yeah, of course I would. So have a little bit of investment at a period of your life. When you want to do something big like an Iron Man or any goal you've got, it doesn't matter if it's counts to 5K. Whatever you Yeah, that's what I say too. Yeah, whatever your goal is, it's worth having a coach for a period of time. And if it doesn't work, you can turn it off. It's not you know a forever thing. But to get some really good advice, and this is for any coaches out there, like in you know, sports coaches. ⁓ dry floor and high rocks, whatever it be, one-to-one coaching, any anything like in the gym, if you get the right coach, you're always gonna make adaptations, you're gonna get changes, because you're gonna get that personal interaction and you're gonna feel good about just deliver developing a relationship with someone who's got your back and and helping you develop in what you want to do. Yeah, the I've had I've got some mates that are really quick, like ⁓ marathons. Stuff like that and they've been looking for coaches and say, ⁓ Dan, do you know any coaches and stuff like that? And a lot of them have gone to people and like they've just been given a training peaks plan or whatever. And that but that is it. Yeah. And they're like, I'm not paying for that. Like I'm you know, I need what you're talking about and that's why I like what you do. Yeah. Because you you give it more of a personal edge. And I know me and you spoke about checking in every week, seeing how they're doing because it's because there are ups and downs. Yeah, of course. And I think For people and if there's any coaches listening to this, this is a good point. Like you need to be more interactive with your clients because they want it. Like they're paying for it and they want it and they want the scene. You need to really hold them accountable because I've put it as a non-negotiable in my in my clients' training peaks. I don't care how it comes back. Voice note, ⁓ WhatsApp text, just training peaks, just give me something. I d if it's Even if it's a one liner, give me something. I I can't do anything if you're not giving me the feedback. Yes. Because I don't know because it's remote coaching, I don't know. Yeah, you you can only respond to what you know. Yeah. Yeah. Like with my hybrid version, when I Yeah, we'll get want to see my clients twice a month, I get more feedback 'cause I can see ⁓ and I build a better relationship with them. But the relationship's more important than I think sometimes the relationship's better than the coaching. Yes. Because the coaching the coaching regardless of where you get it from is all pretty similar. All right? Yeah, and and people can pretend it's not, but the reality is most bullshit. Especially with Ironman's it's very structured and there's only one way to get from A to B, right? And this the eighty twenty thing and all the training aspects have been around for years and years and years. Yeah. They go full circle. We know this from like stuff that has happened in the core. Definitely. It goes full circle and then we're back to doing it and then it's a new fad again. ⁓ yeah, let's do this, let's do that. But at the end of the day, the training side of it is practically the same. There will be different adaptations for individuals, you know, heart rate training, ⁓ lactate training, VO2 max training, all the ⁓ all the really Gucci scientific stuff and all the data. Brilliant. I'm not I'm not dissing any of that. But But the fundamentals are exactly the same. The fundamentals are exactly the same. You know, a push up is a push up. Yeah. Regardless of how you do it. Up down, what I mean? Yeah. A squat's a squat. You know, it is don't matter how you how you skin it and how you judge it up, it is what it is. The movement's the movement. ⁓ but the other side of it is you delivered a plan and then you have to go in and be like, Why are you doing that? Why are you overtraining? What what possessed you to go above what you think me as a professional or yeah as a someone who I feel f as I feel like a professional has said this will be your session. Why do you think you've got to overtrain? What have you achieving? Apart from junk miles. In the long run, you're not just junk miling, but in the long run you're hitting down an injury path. Yeah. Or you're the adaptation of your training for the rest of the week, you're not gonna reach because you've gone too hard too early and now you can't reach your full potential at this point. Simplifying things. Yeah, yeah, I mean kiss. Yeah. Yeah, you know, it keeps it simple, stupid, doesn't it? Yeah. ⁓ and you know, the seven P's, you know, the n the normal stuff. Like went on about this in the podcast recently, you know. apply planning preparation prevents piss pool performance and that might be just getting your bag ready. But if you're not having someone help you deliver that, I mean, it as a classic with someone said to me about, you know, ⁓ going c swimming, right? She's so nervous about going swimming in open water. You know, quite comfort in a pool. So I said, come with me, then I'll come with you. We'll meet you then the lake. We'll just get in the lake together, we'll go to waist height and then we'll get into it gradually. We'll splash your face and then we'll go in and submerge. And then come back up, let yourself settle. Yeah. Then come back down to the shoulders, resend again. Yeah, we'll just go back and forth. Did that in a little session, and then she's done ⁓ trifron since, and then she did one the weekend, and she said I had the moment where I was like, and then I thought back to the session we had, and I just went back to that and went for that. Yeah, because you know, you spend a bit of time with someone saying Yeah, it's why the the the swim at the beginning of Iron Man, my first Iron Man. I got a hundred metres out and a woman swam over me. She cut the back of my neck with she had long nails. ⁓ right. Cut the back of my neck and ripped my goggles off. Nightmare. Yeah, nightmare. I found my goggles. Thank God for that. That was a result. Yeah. Fact they were literally right there. And I literally was looking at the beach and I'm a hundred metres into my first ever Iron Man and I was like, Don't DNF, Dan. So it's ⁓ it's time to get back to the part as well, isn't And which is a Yeah. Bloody brutal carnage, yeah. And I remember being like, don't DNF. This is not you. Like the this is, you know. And anyway, the first lap of the swim was horrendous. And the second one I got into it. Yeah, it was fine. But the reason that I got my mind for it is because I surf a lot. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And and surfing's calm. You're just getting battered. And you're like, I was like, yeah, all right, the weather's bad. There was a bit of swell. It was whi. Like the people throwing out, there's people putting their hands up, getting a boat and everything. And I was like, You've been in worse than this. But that's my point, the lived experience. Of course, yeah. I mean, like, like because I've experienced savage big waves. Yeah. You know, I was like, come on, mate. I some I some proper beatings. I've got a real bad beating in Tenerife ⁓ in where we were in Tenerife? Yeah, in Tenerife. Just off the point La Santa. I got smashed into the reef and came out of there, stepped on an urchin. Yeah. I was like hovered in like refresh. It was just yeah, and like you say it's brutal, isn't it? Yeah. So I man swimming, yeah, it's brutal, but once you get a bit of space, you're alright, and yeah. Yeah, and I then then the second year I spent a load more time swimming. Yeah. And I just absolutely cruised it. And because the first time I'm just like battling, the second time I'm just drafting behind people, I'm just overtaking, just going through the crowd like this, and it just felt completely different. It just There was no panic because I was so in control that people doing crazy things just wasn't anywhere near me. I just I find it frustrating to swim because I'd always train hard at it and then I always it's always my worst one. And that's because when you try and develop swimming the later in life, you're never gonna be as good as someone who's been swimming their whole life. You just have accept that and deal with it and come out of there the most efficient you can and then get onto what you're strong at. Yeah, the funny thing is though that I know like the pace that you swim is pretty good. You say you're not good. Like I I did really well in that Iron Man swim, like age group wise. ⁓ and I'm not a good you know, I'm not a great swimmer or anything, but but I learnt, you know, really late. You know, I just some of them swimmers are phenomenal, aren't they? Like ⁓ yeah. I mean Yeah. Yeah, I mean but but that's the difference. Like the people I know so I know some people that done done the whale's Iron Man swim and then I've overtaken them on the bike. ⁓ and I'm not great on the bike, but their swim was like fifteen minutes quicker than me. Yeah. Which is nice. ⁓ no no most of the time they don't. The best runners. But a decent runner will always catch up on a marathon than a decent biker. Yeah, because the Yeah, because the difference in the speed isn't as much. I mean someone good on the bike doesn't. Yeah, something like I yeah, but you you've you got to look at the professionals. Yes. And you see sometimes, you know, the really, really, really phenomenal runners can pick their way through the pack. Can and that back end. Yeah, they can just turn the screw, can't they? Yeah, and it's and it's developing to all sports now. Look at runnings like like quite problem and a lot of rate. I mean, look at the marathon r you know, record, you know, running's changing. Yeah, running. It's not just running anymore. It's just it's a whole new thing in it. Yeah. It it it yeah, I I've spoken about this quite a few times recently, but I know me personally, like the short stuff is hard. It is odd. Very odd. Like when you're breathing out of both both ends. ⁓ yeah. Yeah, that's 'cause I used to race when I was younger, I know how painful it is. And people are like, How do you run how do you run? at like one twenty five. And I'm just and yeah, it's painful and it takes a lot of mental strength. It's not as like and but like I did to Chester half marathon a couple of weeks ago. And and and and it was fine but I didn't go I didn't go crazy or anything like that. I took I took it relatively easy. But I was blow like it's just it's just an absolute hangout, isn't it? Yeah, definitely I my f I love I love running and I like I like fast running. I I did a I did it a Kafflon once. Just you know, just for something different to do, you Yeah, that's cool. What you do. ⁓ and being s doing being shorter, mate, the a hundred and ten metre hurdles were a nightmare, pole vault, anything jumping wise, long wise, you know, but I still got battled through it. but it was a great thing to do. But like running f like the my running's developed so much in the last I'd say eighteen to twenty four months, I've really focused on on running. Why? How? Because I spent a lot more time doing functional strength work. Okay. Like, you know, unilateral stuff. Yep. and not running the volume I was running before, and just being more specific in my intervals and running easier the rest of the time and giving myself the chance to recover properly before hard. That is the big thing for me. So I'm talking I've got a guy called Dave coming in at the end of the week and he's doing like five. Do you know come out ⁓ Civy to commando. ⁓ yeah, I've seen Yeah, Dave, yeah. ⁓ right, I've seen it, yeah. And he's done he's done like five he's doing like five ultra marathons in a row and I think he's got a hundred miler coming up. Right. And he's he's hurt his toe. I think he's had to have an operation to sort his toe out. And he's like, ⁓ you know, I don't know how it's gonna go, I'm not training. I'm like, forget it. Yeah, it's irrelevant. What matters is your recovery. Yeah, exactly. Just get yourself 'cause he's got such small gaps between each ultra. I'm like, dude. Like no amount of training you're gonna do now is gonna make any difference to a hundred mile. You're going so slow, but all you need to worry about is your legs being okay before you start. Yeah. Bang, bang, bang, all the way through that next month. Yeah, and that's what I'm learning. I c I I took three weeks off before the Arctic spine. Yeah, right. And people were like, Well, are you tapering? And I'm like, I'm I'm not doing anything. I'm eating out. Yeah. I'm eating. I'm going to my physio. ⁓ yeah, I'm doing a little bit and stretching and stuff like that. That's quite essential for what you did. Yeah. And then when it came to the day, yeah, I missed out on three weeks of fitness, but my legs were solid. Yeah. Like really good and ready to go. Yeah. ⁓ obviously that's a bit different mileage wise and stuff, but I think the recovery piece is what people are not Not getting into. I mean it it's 'cause it's not jazzy. And we mentioned this to you earlier. Like Instagram's full of look at me. I mean, I I we're all into that. I get that. I get why you've got to do that, especially if you're trying to sell a business and promote yourself or or elite athletes or anyone that's enough influencer. Yes, you've got to be jazzy jazzy, but That's why it's all fat loss. Yeah. The boring stuff's not in there. Yeah. You know, a zone two's a big topic at the moment. But what about sleep? What about Yeah. You know, I mean it is becoming more and more prevalent. Sleeping Massage, making sure, you know, you're looking after your body, you know, eating well, spending time with your family, you know, something that I probably don't do enough of and get moaned at a lot about and they and you know so I'm quite selfish 'cause I'm always training, yeah, but ⁓ or I'm I'm gonna train some or I'm training some other people now. But it's that part in it of like let's recover well to be better at what we want to do. Yeah. And I really, really this has only really become tonight now since I've got developed with the Aphib. Yeah. Do you wanna explain about that? So I did Hyrux Manchester in January and the whoop, funny enough, pulled up an AFib detection because it gives you an AFib sort of What is an AFib? So it's arterial fibrillation. So it's basically a build up of like sort of scarring and or electrove issues in your left atrium of your heart. So it gives you an irregular heartbeat in a in in simple terms. Yeah. And it can come on at any time. It doesn't have to be at a h high rate of exercise, it could be at rest, it could be at any anytime. It can happen anytime. But I was so I'd had that and I just thought, ⁓ it's because I had a shit night's sleep. I raced late. I so I ignored it. And then I thought, actually I shouldn't ignore it. I need to go and speak to the doctors. Went to see a doctor, had ECG, ECG was fine. So put me in for another another ECG. And then I raced again and during a race my heart rate went to 230. Wow. And 'cause I always run a heart rate on Hyrux. Yeah. So I looked at I like, two thirty and was like, I was only the second again and my my doubles partner that day was on fire. She was running really well. And we've done ski erg, gone out of there, run another done another lap, come into sled push, done that and I felt pretty gassed. And normally I'm pretty decent at it. And I came out and I was like, ⁓ that was hard. Then my heart rate was two thirty. She she'd just gone. She was half a lap ahead of me. She was like waiting at sk sled pull. She's You're right. I like, I think my heart rate's a bit funny, I'll just think but I'll be right now. Did the sled pull and it dropped to one sixty. I was like, okay, I'm I'm fine, I'm back I'm back in now 'cause you know the my race is generally around one eighty that average for the hour. And then come out of there and it's gone back up to two ⁓ five and we're having a quick discussion. She's like, You you sure you can go and I'm like, yeah no it's fine. It drop again a minute and it didn't and she was like I index. So we stopped and then my heart rate Good idea, Brian. I know yeah then I went I was like no I'd be fine I was carry on. But my heart rate then settled at one sixty. It didn't drop. It stays at one sixty for like fifteen minutes. Which is for me is unusual. Usually it drops like, you know, down down to a hundred quite quickly. And so I went to the doctor then. So I've had since then I've had ⁓ I've had on it, ECG, spoke to a sports like sports cardiologist and everything else. But it just made me it just made me realise now that I was doing back to back hit, you know, like back to back one seventy plus heart rate days. You can't do it. And obviously with endurance. The intensity's too high. It's in this thing, because the the problem with it is the the stroke risk is high because you're fitter. Because what happens is you can get blood pool in the top of the heart when you you heart's rate's going up and down. So then that can cause a clot, which that's a short distance to there. Yeah. And if you're fit, your your your arteries might not be so blocked. So it's a quick route. So your risk is even though it's low, it's high in that category with Afib. Got you. So You gotta be careful. You gotta be careful. So yeah, I've had to completely change my train like and how I recover and that's become so important. But I I did notice the last time I raced, we changed 'cause I I I had to make sure I could race because I didn't w I didn't want to stop racing just yet. I'd rather just crack on and see what happens, but I know I shouldn't think like that, but it's just being smart with your training and it and smart with your racing and we we we downright became third in our in our race in Malaga. Yeah, amazing. Because we changed our racing. Strategy. Yeah. You know, we still ran well. Yeah, we'll talk about Hyrux properly in a minute because it's all the rage, innit? Yeah, it's big time rage at moment. Yeah, it's nuts. Okay, so the heart thing then, so you're now actively managing it, shall we say? Yeah, so it's still ongoing. ⁓ and I've got high cholesterol like from the family, so as fit and healthy as I am, nothing I could do about cholesterol level. So I'm lucky, you fit and Yeah, 'cause I'm on the statins now, which is something I didn't want to go on to. So I've got that issue, this heart issue. So it was kind of all connected in a way. So in a way you're like, ⁓ it's great to be a fit, isn't 'Cause just get more more things happen next thing and I'll be g I'll be told I'm diabetic next, I guess. But you know, you've always got to be and I think as as men, we don't tend to go to the doctor a enough. Yeah. So being I mean, now I'm like over at the top. I like blood tests every six months, like full blood tests. ⁓ you know, protect myself as much as possible, get any advice. I mean, I someone did say to me it's worth that money, that money you pay to speak to someone a specialist about your heart, it's gonna be so you go and buy a new pair of trainers for like that money. So why will you not see yourself right? So I so I did and it's been important. It's been invaluable, yeah. I mean it definitely changed how I train and how I train other people as well. Yeah. So it's definitely helped on that front. But it is a little bit of a worry, but you know I think I'm just being a bit smarter with a bit. We'll Good to meet. Good. I like it. Yeah. okay then let's talk about Hyrux then. Because f for anyone that doesn't know what Hyrox is, which most people do now, especially if they're listening to something about coaching and do you wanna explain what HyROX is? So it's basically eight one K runs and eight functional stations in between. So the first you start off with a run and then you go into the ski erg, thousand metre ski erg, then you've got ⁓ A 50 meter sled push, 50 metre sled pull, then you're into burpee broad jumps, which everyone loves, then you're into the roerg, and then it's on to farmers carry, sandbag lunges. Farmers carries, as in yeah, kettlebells, yeah, and then sandbag lunges carrying a sandbag and then ball balls at the end to finish. So it is just functional, but it's for us, it's just that battlefield PT in effect. Yes, so someone said this to me the other day 'cause it was their first time doing it and they like, ⁓ Dan, it's just it's just circuits from Marines. And I like, I got it. It kind of is. And that's why that's why I love it. Because it's It makes sense and I know I would love it. Yeah, yeah. And the same why I'm staying away from it. With Sando, you know, same sort of thing. It's just that what we call dirty PT, isn't it, in effect? ⁓ but yeah, I love it for that. And I know it's the same station and the the the the crossfitters, you don't in their own they are superb at what they do. I mean the stuff they do that's more technical though, right? The rope climbing, all the other stuff, and they are absolutely, you know, phenomenal humans. But CrossFit's But it's not inclusive. It's not inclusive, no. Hyrux has become inclusive and it's it's simple and it's the same thing every time. You know what you're training for. I mean there are different standard weights, like you know, so you know the the men's pro weight on the sled's two hundred and three kilo push and a hundred and fifty three pull. That's a lot. It's a lot. ⁓ and running the eight Ks in the in in a you know, in between, it should be your recovery, but you know, you're you're gunning it. You know, and the elite athletes are absolutely smashing it now, you know, they're running like absolutely absurd. And from what I can see, I'm guessing because money and sponsorship started to get into it, people then start taking it seriously. And now people are grown so big. And a lot I think the End of last year, as in the last year of competing, so June's kind of the end when the World Champs is on, so it's the last that's the part the end year end. It was at six hundred and sixty thousand participants last year. Yeah. I think this year alone they're looking at one point six six million already. You know, and the end of the season's not even there. Yeah. And it's growing, it's going into more cities. ⁓ I think they're trying to align with Triflon to sort of make it an Olympic sport. So they've going down that route of trying to get it into the Olympics of in the future. Yeah. ⁓ an elite sport. I don't see how that works. ⁓ Yes. In the environment. Yeah. With the way that that they've got it set up. And if you watch on YouTube, it's actually like actually it's actually not a bad sport to watch because it's quite Well I suppose that's the same as triathlon, isn't Yeah. But triathlon you don't get to see no the whole bike segment or you only see single. I mean you do on the technique. Yeah. But if you're live No, you're just like Yeah, I mean in an arena you're there, but if you go in like Iron Man, you can't watch a whole Iron Man, can you? 'Cause you're like No. I'd be here for like three hours waiting for them to go out on the bike or rather two half and a half hours whether they're on. But ⁓ Yeah. Yeah, it's a different different sport. Yeah. ⁓ I don't know anyone that's done it that didn't enjoy it though. Yeah, it's n it's enjoyable 'cause it's inclusive. And like say, yeah, everyone has have their own goal and you've always it's like trifling the fact you get time, you know, at the end of it, you just go and out and beat your time regardless. And now with the relays and the doubles, again I I love doubles racing because the team the team aspects. Team aspects. Do you know what I Like that that we have all the time. And that's talking about time. It's like when I race with Sam, I don't want to let her down. She doesn't want to let me down. And like me and Sando are just two boonets, go, ⁓ you know what I mean? We just get on with it and like absolutely bury ourselves and the strongest parts of our race, we just bury ourselves for that part of the race. But you know, that's what makes the team work. Yeah, of course. ⁓ even though we've both kind of got a bit of injuries here and there, you know, but that's just an album. My observation of it was that so my mate, ⁓ who's a good marathon runner, got injured. Yeah. And he's supposed to be racing. He's like a two forty marathon runner. He's actually quicker than that. He just hasn't had a good block like he he'd probably be early two thirties. Right. Now he ended up going down the gym and just doing some high rush. Right. And he trained for like a month or something. Then he went and did high rocks and destroyed it. Yeah, yeah. Now, that to me just shows that really if you want to go fast, it's a running event, right? It's a running event. Because you can make up so much time. So I think if you look at the fastest time on each station and you compare that all the way through. Yeah. If you're a decent enough athlete, you can get close to that. Of course. But you cannot get close to the running speed then running. Yeah, so you need to be a fast runner. If you want to perfor if you want performance to be because he got in the world champs like straight away. Yeah. Without but but but I'm saying like he d he basically did no training for it. I so then because if you're running anything around you know I'd I'd say anything quicker than three thirty. Yeah, which he'll he'll you are you'll just you're taking minutes and minutes and minutes off of time. Yes. And the stations, if it takes you twenty minutes to do the stations, yeah it won't matter because you won't matter 'cause your running's absolutely killing it. You know, and the ball balls generally are the most brutal thing at the end for like the runners, especially because you know, if they're not used to that functional S muscular and heat type of thing. This is the other thing though. He's probably a bit of a He's tree surgeon. He's tree surgeon. So he's strong. He's not big and he's not muscle or you know, He's just super strong but also light enough to run a marathon. Yeah. So the the speed element of it is yeah, it's gonna He's got that muscular endurance. Yeah, and that's what's the I think it's key for the for the sport and yeah it's and it proves it. I so I've got a client who could not run a K she started with me in October and when she did her Hyrux in ⁓ when was it an hour? March, she did an hour and a half. Which is pretty decent, you know, average time for a first timer w who couldn't run before, couldn't run a K. Yeah, that's that's that's awesome. And now she loves running because just the way we've developed, yeah slowly, slowly, slowly build up even though she's still like, ⁓ how can I improve my running? And the same with like a lot of my clients, how can I prove my running? But it's it's just getting them to slow down a bit and just not always gunning it. Yeah, I did a p I I went running last night and put a story Which is ⁓ upset not upset. I I put I'm purposely slowing myself down and I was doing six minute K's. Alright. And and that for me is quite it's really yeah. It's not slow. I don't mean it like that, but I'm purposely slowing myself down so that I can train for a two hundred and twenty mile race. Like but people are like, That's my fucking fast pace blah blah blah and I'm like, ⁓ that's not what I meant. No, but it's it's your it's your slow pace and it's yeah, it's and their slow pace is different. Yeah. And ⁓ yeah, I just need to work on how I communicate things maybe. But then that's that's an example. So you that you that your example to them is well my threshold pace is this. So comparative. And I'm not joking, you know, my my average heart rate was a hundred and twenty two. Like I'm I'm cruising. I'm the same. I if I've run a slow run, if I go for if I go for a thirty minute easy run, I'm looking around six to six fifteens. Yeah. So I mean I don't wanna be going five forty five if it's Like my heart saying yeah and it's not going where I don't want it to go. If as soon as it jumps above my zone two, I just bring it back down and then just slow down, yeah. Even if it's six thirty, it but it doesn't matter. Yeah. It's about conditioning your body for that. And if you're if your six thirty is that and someone else is is seven thirty, it shouldn't matter. Well it doesn't matter, yes. That's their it's that's relative to them. Yeah, yeah, that's what I think. Yeah. ⁓ social media. Yeah, it is a problem with so people getting upset, yeah. Yeah. No offence, man, whatsoever. Yeah, no, yeah. When it's So if someone's looking to get into high rocks then, do you think you need coaching or do you think because what I've seen is people like gyms are like set up for it now, right? And they do like circuits and circuits, it's all over social media. Yeah. You could get by without having a coach. Yeah. If you wanna be good at it, or you wanna be same as anything. You wanna be I'd say not not just good, because if you wanna be good you need a coach. If you wanna do decent time and you wanna learn the stations correctly and you wanna prevent injury, get a coach. It's not again, it's not expensive. You don't have to have a million sessions. You don't have to have monthly stuff. Depends on what you want out of it. But if you don't know the movement standards and you're picking up injuries and you're not being the most effective you wanna be for an hour, an hour and a half, even two hours, whatever you wanna be, then you're not gonna get the most out of it and then the longevity of it will disappear. If it's a one off, then don't you know just go do one off. No. But if you wanna do it, the problem with it is very addictive because it seems it you enter the place with full of anxiety and this is like everyone I've who's done it, unfortunately for f like for us, I don't know whether you get it, but I don't I get the normal like I don't get anxiety such, I get that, ⁓ I'll make you know I'm excited to race. I get that feeling. Don't feel nervous about shit. I'm not worried about I'm like my heart rate's usually around seventy or eighty in a starting tunnel. Yeah. Whereas Sam's is like one forty 'cause she's anxious about the heart. She's anxious, yeah. I I think because of our experience and things. Yeah. ⁓ just doesn't you know, I've run into y well, sadly. Yeah. Yeah. So I mean, yeah, exactly. So I think the most nervous I've And I was actually I would call that excitement, it wasn't nerves, was Iron Man. Yeah. Right. I think that's the most the first Iron Man, not the second one I was blase as anything. Yeah. But the first one I was like a little bit of anticipation with the swim. Yeah. Because that, you know, I've I've done no swimming, like ⁓ with loads of people. So that needs training. So for someone who's never reading Definitely, yeah. But I yeah. You can train that in someone. No cuff too tough. You can help them do that in training. Definitely. Yeah. And By having a coach and learning the fundamentals of it, you'll you'll get good really quick. But that's what I like about you because you're and that's what I mean by I think your coaching is is is really good and quite unique and that's why people do well because you're thinking of it from you're not just giving them a plan, sticking to the plan. And it's not just about the sport, it's about it isn't it's about personal personality let's think about I had a six I've got six some six year old ⁓ females who I coach. Carrying bags of shopping is heavy. Carrying two kettlebells at 16 or 20 kilograms is just preparing them for, you know, it's keeping them fit for everyday life. It's not just about the sport. So Hyrox is good in developing fundamental skills and in training. That's why I think it's good for longevity in everyday life. Yeah, that's why I think it it's done really well because it's one, it's like functional and the stuff I would say the that's what CrossFit, you can get injured quite easily. With Hy Rocks, you get injured but it's you're less likely. Yeah. Then there's a community aspect. Community aspect. Then it's short enough to not take up your time. So if you're a parent or because that's the problem with Iron Man, is the problem with Iron Man is it takes up so much training time that that you it's it's a struggle to work, have kids, all that. Whereas High Rocks in an hour you can get it all done early morning or whatever. And like Triathlon, the way it's developed, you can go city breaks wherever you want. You know, so we're going out to Stockholm in a couple of weeks. Awesome. It's just somewhere different to go, isn't it? That's great. Malaga. A great place to go. Cheap to get to, great environment, the community side of it. There's I like like Triathlon, when you go to these events, you'll speak to like all loads of people through the day 'cause everyone's there's great just to have a good time and it's you know Yeah, I stand by Iron Man for me was just amazing. Yeah. My my my boy is always banging on, ⁓ look at them, got their tops off, blah blah blah, right? And he was like, ⁓ that's so shit, Dad. I don't wanna go see it. I took him to like do some videoing for one of my races. And he walked in in and the first person you saw didn't have his top on, he's like, told you that all like this. And then the next thing you know, he's like, actually, you know, the music had gone a bit, he watched it a bit, he's going, Does d so I've never been to one. Does music play whilst you're doing it? Yeah, it's like full on, mate. It's like you don't even notice it half time 'cause you're so engrossed in what you're Yeah, you blow an out. But you you don't really notice it. But like Luke's actually dad's pretty cool. Actually, I didn't think it would be as cool as it is. Fair enough. And that's you know, from that that the generation of Luke is like being twenty five, it's like it's like actually yeah, it's actually quite a cool thing, actually Dad. And I'm quite like surprised how good you are. Apart from the name. Yeah, I that again, that's is that propaganda. Is it propaganda? Whatever way that worked. It worked. So it whether it was spread for that reason, you know, it's it's it's great. And yeah, I mean I like it for that whole c the community aspect of it's really good. And you know, I I I went to go and support it's easier to support as well for the home races compared to triathlon. So I went and supported all the kids that raced last time and and some of my athletes. And at the end of the race You know, sometimes it felt quite like I I don't know, I I felt weird for me that but the athletes would walk past their family members to like give me a hug first and they'd be like 'cause you coach. Do your family thing first. Yeah, they were here too. But 'cause it meant so much to them individually. It's great. Yeah. You know, I've had someone do it to, you know, celebrate, but to, you know, for his dad who had died recently. That whole Yeah, that's Sort of the whole thing of it. It's just like it's like trifling. It's like any sport. It's like whatever you do, you've got a reason for it and that's your reason, that's your why. Then who cares a shit what other people think? ⁓ no, it's irrelevant. Yeah, I don't just Yeah. Yeah. And that's what I wish people. I only really see good in it. Yeah, and that's what I think about it. I you only see good in it. People are getting fit, you know, they're getting stronger, they're staying healthy, they're having a good time. You know, it's their money, they can do what they want with it, you know. And let let people enjoy it. Why we do why are we being so negative about it? I think I will I think I will do it. Just for just for a lot of deserves. 'Cause I actually class mys I class myself as I would say I am a hybrid athlete. Yeah. Well yeah, you yeah, definitely. But just not for that. You would have a lot of fun doing it, mate. Like the first one I did, it's an absolute blower. You're blowing out your backside. But yeah, you're gonna the first one. It is f it is fun because of the our mentality and the way we've been in like through the military and whatever and you know, we we weren't we didn't l we didn't develop our mindset in the military, we just expanded it 'cause we had the mindset before we joined. Yeah. Otherwise we wouldn't joined. Agreed. But the yeah, to carry that on from now, you just you're like, Yeah, it's a buzz it's a buzz. So So obviously you're coaching people for that, but the thing I think's more exciting from your perspective is the HyROX for kids that you do. Yeah. Which looks amazing. And I and I can see how that's one, good for you. Yeah. Just seeing kids come up and doing hard things. But do you wanna explain a bit more about that? Yeah, so I had an I well, Hy ROX Young Stars is now the kids event from eight years old. right through to 16 when they start doing adult weights. And they started the high rocks ⁓ last year and then they again this year and that's become a big thing. So like it's loads more races on. Yeah, brilliant. ⁓ so I thought, all right, to get the kids prepared, I need to start a class. So I did a I offered it out to my clients' kids and I had two kids turn up for the first session. And I was like, actually this this could work. So I tried to get it in the gym at work out and it was quite hard to get it going. But eventually got the classes going. First class I had ⁓ three kids and then a week later the class was full. And then yeah, all of a sudden the words got around and there's like now I've do three classes a week. I mean I need more coaches space and more space to be able to develop it 'cause it's it's massive. I mean I have classes of fifteen now and and to manage fifteen people is or fifteen children is difficult. But again I just Yeah you know I mean I've I've I've had to give them a few volleys lately and it's been it's been Good, but then I you can change you can make the circuit work hard to change their attitude within the session. But the feedback's great learning. I love it. I so every week ⁓ I start off a word and no Higher Rocks does this, they've got their champions thing, but I use basically ⁓ you know, the core's core values. Values of standards. So I start off with things like courage. Yeah. And then I explain what courage is, determination, brilliant, teamwork, you know. All that stuff, commitment, cheerfulness and the face. Cheerfulness and the face of And write the word on the board and then we have I just write out what we're gonna do in the session so they can see what's coming. And then we just do the session for an hour. And I've got like I say I've got from eight to thirteen roughly, but a few seven year olds. Yeah. But some of these kids are like pushing some phenomenal weight on the sled and you know, in training. And and they want to do it, their drive to want to be able to make themselves better and learn the standards and I it's it's exciting to watch. And some some of them look like elite athletes already. Already, yeah. Their mentality, their infusion always smiling. And I come away from those sessions absolutely buzzing. And then I do a back to back one on the Saturday morning. It's like two hours long, you know. And and it's i it's it's exhausting to be fair. But it is Absolutely a joy to do and I I I love I love the kids that are in there. Yeah, I just think it's great because learning those key motor skills at that age will help with so many things. Even if they don't carry on doing high rocks or whatever. Like like the transferable skills are massive. Well we're missing it from school. So school PT in schools is not enough for like kids, all right? So they do maybe two or three weeks. Yeah. Two or three weeks if that. ⁓ Learning how to squat correctly, you know, we don't have to not not everyone needs to do burp like the kids love buppies, right? Weirdly they love buppies. Adults hate ⁓ Kids love it. They love it. Because they're jumping and they're getting up and down and they're expending that energy that they've built up through the day, you know, through the whether it's a school day or th and they're ex so I've got two twins that absolutely love racing each other and they are so brutal at racing each other that it is It's it's for it it's exciting to watch, you know, because yeah when they develop, you know, these kids are now twelve, thirteen, time they're sixteen and they go to open age hierarchs, they're gonna their movement standards gonna be so good. Their fitness is gonna be good. I'm not doing any running with these kids at the moment apart from just within the gym environment. No, and I'd say you probably don't really need to. The functional motor skills, like I say, I play games with cones. Yeah. You know It's just get them, you know, having that awareness when they're running around, that other people around them, ⁓ you know, they're not picking up heavy weights, they're not doing anything above the head, they're not putting the muscles under strain, they're just doing functional movements that is making them fitter and healthier. And and not only that, they're building a team. Like I've now d you know, I call it the no kids, the no BS Kids crew. Yeah. And they love it. They love the t-shirts and now some of them are like, Are there any new people here? I'm like, no, because I've been away from a holiday. I don't want to feel like I'm the new kid now. So they've they've got an end identity with it. The parents are buying into it. They love it. You know, it's that it's it's a massive talking point. And it's just how so you planning on expanding that then, Bri? I love I my dream is to expand it. Yeah, amazing. I've I think it's great, isn't I've asked a couple of the mums if they want to get involved. assist him with a coaching and then hopefully the gym will let us expand our classes because unfortunately in the gym environment if you haven't got the right gym environment people like to moan about kids being in the gym. Difficult with the space yeah. Yeah so you you've got to really sort of ⁓ massage that to keep that keep everyone sweet but that's still expanding the classes. That's business and yeah making things grow working it out isn't it? You need to the good thing about kids being in the gym is that and especially for young girls They develop a confidence and the ability to be able to be in a gym and not feel uncomfortable with you know other people being around them. Because whether that's them feeling comfortable from men staring at them, women staring at them, you know, everyone goes to the gym for their for their own purpose. You don't know what's going on in that person's mind. You don't know if they've got an injury, you don't know what their mental health state is. And you can look at you can see some funny stuff going on in the gym, but you don't know what's Going on that position. Let them let them do whatever they're doing. If they haven't got a coach, they want a coach, then they'll get the correct stuff. And like if I see it in the gym, I'd say, ⁓ have you tried this? But with the kids, you've got the captive audience. So you can develop that. So all the way through now, when they get to 14 and they can go to the gym on their own, you know that they can go into that environment in a safe way. confident that they know what they're doing and that they don't have to feel it's ticking a lot everyone's location. It's ticking a lot of boxes, isn't it? And it's just that young person self development bit in a And it doesn't but it's not just for high rocks. This can develop the classes help them develop in all their sports. And I've got a of gymnasts come, you know, and they're strong. Yeah. You know and they're flexible and everything. So they're just developing str their strength within my sessions for when they go back to gymnastics or when they go swimming or football, whatever it is. They they're and they're and their team bond they're bonding. You know, we've got some Hyrux races coming up in Birmingham in October in London, which hopefully we'll go to a mass and there'll be loads of kids wearing and no no ⁓ no BS no kids crew. I like it. ⁓ and it'll be great to see him when I watched the last the last race at London there was four racing all girls. ⁓ I'd never been so excited in a day. Like my boy was filming and I was running around so it's like going He's like, Dad, slow down. I like, ⁓ we've got to get to this point. Yeah, you're in your element, aren't you? Yeah, I really am. I really am. Yeah, I love it. I love it. Yeah, I I I love it more than and not that I don't love all my other clients, by the way. They're all great. But the kids is is But there's something cool about the you know, about watching that progression, isn't there? Yeah. And also it's measurable, right? Yeah. They they inspire me to they inspire me to learn more to be able to help all my clients, you know, and that's one thing that I do do is ⁓ I've I one of my clients had ⁓ relative energy deficient syndrome and high molecular thermia aminorrhea, which means she's done periods. So I did so much research on that. So I could help her and you know, and and we I helped her as I think in quite quite a lot and she's been so thankful to me for that for that period. But that's what I mean, you're a different type of coach. Because yeah again it's down to that coaching and that and with the kids I get to see it from that whole angle from that age up. Now, as they're developing through that through puberty, through as long and I hope they stay for a long time and I and I think a lot of them will, you know, it as it gets that difficult, boyfriend, girlfriend age, yeah, drinking, all the other stuff that's distraction. But if I can keep and it's not so big for the younger people now more, gyms are the new nightclubs. Agreed. So yeah, if we can keep So you're getting them in there earlier, yeah. Yeah, we're getting them earlier, so we're giving them better chances throughout the rest of life to avoid going down the routes we went with Yeah booze and alcohol. And if and you like we I think we've discussed this before. If we were gonna say, ⁓ I've got a new drug, alcohol, do you do you wanna like do you want to legalise it, you go, ⁓ Yeah. Not a chance in that Yes. Well I mean yeah spoken it's spoken about a lot but yeah drinks because it's so accessible as well. It's Well at supermarket it's like straight walk in, it's right on the floor, isn't First thing you see smoke today, it's just like booze. Yeah. And I and I'm really pleased that things do seem to be there's plenty of people still drinking. Yeah, no th there's nothing wrong with it. That's it that's absolutely the messaging around it is different. The fact that me and you, two people that were in the military who definitely boozed a lot in the past, ⁓ are saying that shows that there's been some progression. I'm not like you, but I mean I haven't drunk since December. Yeah. ⁓ and it doesn't it's not Yeah, you're just not bothered, yeah. It doesn't I'm not like, ⁓ I need a drink. Yeah, or you know, I need to have that taste 'cause I actually don't like the taste of it. So it it's fine to me, you know, to not have it. You know, I'm not saying that I would never drink again, but at the moment I don't need it in my life. You don't need to. It's just not it's not Well So it's the health thing. Yeah, well exactly. Well, with everything 'cause if you go on a massive bender and the next day you get those palpitations in your heart, that's tick that is practically A fib how AFib would feel. Yeah. So Yeah, it's not good. You think about all that stuff all that damage I've done previous to my life, then why would I wanna keep doing that when I want to try and you know, extend my life. Yeah. For as long as possible around for my kids, for on my own kids, let alone my own my hierarchs kids, 'cause they're now my my little hierarchs family there, you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. The one thing I wanted to make a point on the coaching, which is ⁓ d one of the reasons I love what you do. Is I know with my coaching, like someone comes in and say they are in a high pressure job and we're working on their mindset and working out their life and things like that, and then they come in for anxiety or depression or something and we end up working on like something completely left field. But that's the point. Like you come in and we're working on this and they think we're just doing this. And reality is we look at all aspects of their life. we end up over here somewhere that they didn't even know and then that that's actually what gets them back on board. Yeah. and I love that about it. And that and that's why my coaching I I feel is it's not there's plenty of people that work like us. Yeah yeah no like but it is different because I care. I I want them to improve. Yeah I mean it's it's it feels like with me and at my I would probably say my family would say this or That I put more effort into my clients than I do my own family, which I don't think is true. I just think it's a different way of- You mean they say that? They say that. Yeah, but I and I think that it's just how they feel. I'm it yeah, I'm not around enough as I wanna be because I'm trying to grow a business and I'm trying to, you know, make something positive happen so I'm protecting their futures, like like my own kids and stuff. So yeah, I'm busy, but I think I put a lot of effort into Every single one of my clients. If that regardless of where they've come from, what they do, how much money they've got, how much money they haven't got. Of course. They're all the same to me and I want ⁓ to succeed. And they can't succeed if they don't let me know it's gone. I think in a in plain terms, we're the new hairdressers. Yeah. I mean, I know so much stuff about like nearly like everyone in our class. We're talking a lot, yeah. We're talking a lot and like with the hybrid training and I get to see them a a lot and now the like as the community grows with the kids and the you know, I've got parents who I train whose whose kids are train and parents who are trained as well. So like whole families in the fence. Brilliant. It I know the whole fa I'm starting to know the whole family and the kids are like, ⁓ is they'll ask is like when I found out about the AFib, some of even the kids were saying to their parents, Is Brian all right? Is he gonna be okay? And the last time I race, some of the kids went, Well Brian's heart would be okay when he races. So you are building that and they so people know about you. Make sure you're all right, Brian. So you yeah, you've got to be open to be able to let other people be open with you. And like you say, sometimes we go down some rabbit holes, don't we? Yeah. And it's nothing to do with ro it' nothing to do with high rocks. But it will improve your high rocks because I might be able to take a bit of that away from you. Me for a problem and I know what the problem is, but we've got a get there and they don't like it. Yeah, yeah. And and and that could have been drink, for example. It's why I train to help people quit drink. Yeah. Because they're they're struggling with PTSD or struggling with issues with relationships and things like that. And and the elephant was in the room. It's just getting them to that in a nice way. Not necessarily nice, but not super direct, so that they understand that actually if you change that one thing. It would make it help you to change that properly. And that would probably be the same for me in a way, because I'd probably say fizz is my massive vice that without it I'm like in a like world of like in a way. It's like it's your outlook. I've only just got better at that in the last probably six months. But before that I'd be at six and sevens like like if I was having a rest day, I'd like, right, at what point in this day can I get a session in? Okay, yeah. Yeah. ⁓ like overly absorbed. So it's an issue in itself, yeah. Issue in itself, yeah. And and and again, that probably leads to something else that happened for forty years ago. Yeah, definitely. So Yeah. Yeah. But that button. Well the awareness of that is what's important. Yeah. You you are now aware that if you don't train, yeah you've got some issues. Yeah, yeah, exactly, yeah. And Yeah, there's probably some work you wanna do around it, like mentally. But then at the same time, if that's working for you, then that's all right. Yeah, but I think I've I think I've accepted that now and I've done it and now I when I say it to my clients, I'm saying it from from a proven point. From lived experience, yeah. Exactly, yeah. Again, and that's just like, you know, I know exactly how you're feeling 'cause I've been there. Yeah. And I know how to get better now. And you know, I I still think you know, I some of the like if Hyrox would have been around twenty years ago, it would and it it would have been my sport, it w I'd have been a whole different level of it. You know, I think I'm still doing doing well at You know, I'm not saying I'm the best at it, but I'm still doing you know, last year we were nineteenth in the world in our age group in Sando. Yeah, not bad and hopefully we'll be we'll do better this year. So Yeah I'm waiting to tip over forty and then So you still got yeah, you still got some to hold some credibility in and I think that's why I like still competing and being as best I can so that I can say to my clients, like if I can still do it and I'm fifty-four, then well tomorrow I'm fifty-four. But then you guys can do it because Yeah, it's why I it things will change over time and we're constantly adapting, right? And it'd be the same for me. Like at the moment I'm doing long races or mountains and things like that. And I'm sure that'll change as life changes. but I think it's important for me to be doing things. Especially around the mindset stuff to show that what I do actually works. Yeah, exactly. especially with P like not with PTSD, but because I'm training in EMDR therapy. Yeah. And I have a bit of a different take on how you can recover or improve than say the mainstream with fitness and exercise and how you treat yourself and stuff like that. and if I wasn't living by that example. I would find it hard to actually deliver that if you see it. I mean like excusing the pun, like especially like from stuff you've done, but it it's a mindfield, mate. It is Yes. It is you just don't know when that one thing's gonna like do something to the mind or whatever. It's gonna have a trigger point. So anything you can do to prevent that or prepare yourself, prepare yourself for that happening, then the better you can you can handle it. Yeah. It's why I think building a flexible mind's important. Yeah. That's what I'm really going down at. And I like we know we go back to it. I I'd like to know and I I know I go on about it to my clients sometimes. I'm like, you need to let me know what's going on. If I don't know, I can't help. Yeah, awareness is key. It's the first step. Yeah, yeah. And that sometimes you I mean I've lost a few people recently because they you know they've ⁓ they they might To the end of their journey or they've decided to go another coach or whatever, but in a way their feedback hasn't been enough for me anyway. So But also and I know this, sometimes you're not the right person for someone. Person for someone. And that's that's very nice. That's fine. And that and that's I yeah, I learned from that. And I think by having by being mi by being open, then people know that at the start of their journey I need need to have that. You know, and it's difficult for the online because it's a separate thing, but you know, I try and make it that it's not as interactive as the hybrid and the one to one stuff, you you're getting, you know, sometimes a personal two, three times a week or you're getting two or three times a month. So you're getting a lot more personal interaction. So it works a lot better. ⁓ I've got some questions for you. Yeah. Performance and resilience. What's the difference between the people that do well and the ones that don't? again, I think trusting your instinct, you know, on like performance it your performance is gonna be the best you can do on that on that day. Yes. All right, it doesn't matter how you're trained, on that very day, you can only perform to what your body or your mind will allow you to train that day. So if you're gonna perform to that standard all the time you're never gonna achieve that fine balance because you're always gonna be Yeah if you're expecting this all the time. And it's happened recently with my doubles partner Sam. We were PB PB PB drop. There's gonna be right. It's gonna to be good, we're in a top five percent of our age game. You've got to learn to lose. If you want to be in top one percent you've got to learn to lose and you've got to accept it and you've got to evaluate and go, what could we have done better? How is our preparation? Yeah blah blah blah. You know So yeah, that part of it. And then that builds into the resilience part of it of you've got to go, accept the loss, who cares? When I was playing rugby and I was losing, I was like, it's a loss, so what? What ⁓ what can we do better next time to win? Exactly. And the same with Hyrux for for like me and Sam, especially when I have to now be guarded about the heart thing. It's how do I get the best performance myself to have the better performance overall? Yeah. So performance is key. I say best loser wins. True. And but but performance is everything. It's not just that one day. It's everything you do to get it's those shit days and training. It's the shit days and training. It's the food, it's the family time, it's the work. The other stresses that build into that that you've got to take away to let the performance rise. Yeah. And then this leads on to the next one, which is what defines a good leader. Because I believe the best leaders, I personally believe, are the ones that learn to to adapt. who have losses, who adapt to them. Well, I had a good discussion about this last week. I think a good leader has the ability to do a lot of listening. Yeah. Less talking. Active listening. A lot of active listening. And then being able to, like I say, constantly learn, and that's something I love doing is learning, but you be able to stand up and be accountable for yourself. Yeah. And say, This is what I do to make myself do this. And I'm only doing this small part. But if you do this part, Then I can help you do that. And I'm not I'm not telling you to do it. I'm guiding you. So I'm more of a guider than you know, you just leadership comes it's natural to some people when some people have to work at it. I find that just being open and communicating and listening is the easiest way to be a good leader. Yeah, listen. I've always found, you know, and I and I've been a leader in the fire service This is my point, you've been in multiple places with different types of leaders. I've gone through the core now to W two, you know, which a lot of my mates were like, There's no way you'll make it there. But I did. Stokesy as a W two. Exactly. I love that. And but I've all I don't ever I've never been a shouter. I'm not shouting mate. And in the fire service it di it's smaller teams, so you know, you're in a four person crew or a five person crew, you know times or maybe eight or ten going into a into a house fire. If you haven't got like that calmness and to be able to listen and adapt to everything that's going on around that situation, how can you lead someone into it, especially if you haven't experienced it? So you need to be able to experience it. Develop it, listen and communicate. Yeah. I think that's it. Yeah, yeah, I think I I think that's spot on. And ⁓ and you are in a unique position because you have been in all the services which is is interesting. It's funny, when I was in the police ⁓ you know, they put it they probably won't like it, but I don't care. Because I'd go into a I'll went into like the into the the briefing room at the start of shift and the inspector could be saying something and I'll be like that why are we doing that? Because I'll question him straight away. And then people would say, Well, they'd be looking at me, waiting for waiting for me to sort of make a decision about something. And I would make decisions as a probational police officer on the ground, like if I went to a like a house fire and the fire service are there, I'd be straight over to them chatting to them and then the sergeant would be like, Bri, do you mind just taking control of this and really because I had the ability to talk to both services. Yeah, that's and people look looked up to you 'cause they not one 'cause I'm older, but because you know how to carry yourself in a certain situation. So yeah, it did happen in the place without even being a leader. Yes, and but I mean you don't need ⁓ rank is in my eyes irrelevant irrelevant. Not always. Like there is a rank structure for a reason. But it's Relevant if you can't if you can't hold that rank, correct and you you've met probably some of these people in the core who've been absolute tools. Yeah. Who should have never held that rank. Yeah, and you'll get a Lance Jack who could run everything. Yeah. So it agreed. It's just about characteristic the person, determination. Some of the best leaders I've seen in like a war sense were ones that could actively communicate with everyone. Well, I you you've probably a good example at yourself. Like and you know, you know, you talk about the Probably the main two incidents that happened to you. Yeah. You took control and ⁓ acted as a leader there. Yes. You had that natural ability to be that good at it anyway. You never feel like that at the time. But I'll take it. Yeah, yeah. I'll take it. Yeah. Yeah. And that yeah, it's in it's it's mad. You're a W O two and we were on juniors together. Yeah, that's funny thing. I left obviously. I've I've been like some of the lads I was in training with are like it's still in still in the core, you know, W ones. And I was I think I was on my when was I on my I went back when I went back to do the regular juniors ⁓ in 2014. Yes, that was a year after was. Was it a year after I was talking to it? It might be the year after. And ⁓ one of the lads I was in training with was a W one of CTW. And I was fell in as a large jack with all the people and he'd come walking out and goes What what what you d you were doing? I was up on the journey and just went, ⁓ so I was in train with this bloke. Yeah, he's like And everyone. So everyone's like But that shows that shows when people think like maybe you're a specific maybe you're a a different example, I don't know. But when people think they get older and they think ⁓ I can't do that, you are living in Like you like I mean, how old was I? Like I I I'd won a medal at war, done all sorts of things and you're there with me, you know, I got I don't know what our age difference is. Yeah, what are you and you're there and I'm on my junior and you're on your junior. Yeah, it doesn't if you apply yourself, you can do some pretty crazy things. What I say to my eldest is that it doesn't matter when you change careers, what career you you can change careers as many times as you want. I mean, I've been lucky that I've only really had, you know, the I've I don't If I discount the police you've you have operated in a long careers. Yeah. I've been in and around a course since nineteen ninety and I did twenty one years in the fire. And so it's given me like, you know, that thirty six years of career within like them environments. So Which are good environments to for coaching too, I'd say. Yeah because you because it's that like mindset and Yes being able to develop, you know, being in tough situations and being able to make the most out of it. Yeah. Yeah, good mate. Coaching philosophy and mindset. If someone wants to improve, how best can they adapt to build a better mindset? Firstly I think you need to look at yourself and and and think and the the small changes, you know. Am I what am I what do I want to achieve today? Right, first of all, when I get out of bed, am I making my bed? Right, or am I just leaving it there? You know, do I have a do I have a shower first? You know, when do I do I even have breakfast? Because if I if I'm not fueling myself, I'm I'm already on the wrong foot. ⁓ when I'm gonna fit my training. So just just planning your day. Night before, bagpacked. You know, like for me, if I'm going for a run, all my running kits you know, ready even if it's just on the floor there in a bundle, I know when I wake up, I'm getting in it and doing a run or I you know, I'll of I'm gonna eat first, depending on if I'm doing a faster run or whatever, but it's The preparation I think is is so key in everything you do, not just in your like some I think with me having the whole picture to be able to make you achieve that small goal that you have, which is fitness. Yeah, it's ⁓ it's all life balancing. It's all life balancing. Yeah. You know, it's it's the full circle. And you know, balancing your whole day around For me, it would be around when am I gonna do fizz. Regardless if I was on a shift. Yeah. It'd be what point am I doing fizz. It's about being in control of your in your environment and saying, today it's gonna be this, tomorrow it's gonna be that. It doesn't and this doesn't work, so what? We just move on. Yeah. We move on in the positive mindset. 'Cause if it becomes a negative, that's when it that's when it starts to eat into you and that's why think I found that was happening to me quite a bit in the last couple of years with training especially. Yeah. So I think it's just having the good ability to be able to keep an open mind, you know, be confident and ask questions. You know, if you aren't sure about something, ask the question 'cause that's the only way you're gonna learn. Yeah. Yeah, and it's that ⁓ learning from failure thing, isn't it? And yeah. The only reason you know people say, ⁓ how do you keep your mind together when you're doing really long stuff? It's only because I've experienced so much stuff. You the shit days are the shit days. Yeah, the shit days. And you know, I've you know, like if I think back about stuff that happened in the fire and in the police, to be fair, there's some horrible things that you see. Yeah, of course. But it's you know, it's probably up there somewhere. But I've got my own little demons with my kids, for example, who've got brittle bones. What they go through is far worse than what I will ever go through in my life. So it's gratitude. So yeah, again, gratitude. So when I'm racing I and I'm feeling a bit of pain, I'm like, my kid's broke his leg, like theme Tib and Fib at eleven doing a cartwheel and just cracks on. Yeah. I'll be out of breath for like another half an hour. What's the problem? Yeah. So yeah, it's about putting things into perspective, isn't it? It's what I was explaining about Darren Edwards coming here. Yeah, exactly. From the chest down. You know, and peop people moaning about their lives and the guy's dragging himself. And I'm you know, and he's like the most positive outlook guy going in your life. I think about my kids honestly, mate, and I've touched wood like ⁓ I've never broke like a bone. Yeah, major bone, yeah. Thumbs, nose, yeah, y toes, fingers and that. Noah's broke probably thirty odd times. Zebsha's come out of a cast where he's broke his elbow in two places. Carried on like life was nothing the same. You know what I mean? Running, climbing, doing all kinds of stuff. Like, not letting it define them. Just like keep that childhood. Yeah. And that's why I love coaching the kids. Keep that childhood mentality of about there's not really a lot to there's nothing to worry about, you know? Yeah. Life will be fine. Just go and enjoy yourself and be happy. good. Yeah. ⁓ one question I try and ask everyone if I remember, Brian. Yeah. Is what's the one thing that you have changed that's had the biggest effect on your life? And I always say this, mine was quitting alcohol, had a had a huge effect on my life. I ⁓ it's it's cut off on that. 'Cause I tried to change a lot of stuff, mate. ⁓ like like you, my childhood was like pretty shit in effect. And I don't think it I mean the course saved me from going down a criminal road Yeah. I was in. It happens a lot. Yeah, I was in a lot of ship. And the first two years in the core I was in front of the CO a lot for fighting. And no, I was dragged off on snipers course because I was on a six month warning still. Yeah. You know, and I I feel that I was a you know, a decent soldier but let myself down with alcohol and fighting and all that other stuff that probably dragged that from my childhood. But and I've always tried to change I always think how can I be a better person? Because I always feel like I'm letting the people close to me, like I've had two failed like proper relationships, you know, with with my kids' parents and stuff. And I feel like I'm always letting myself down on the fact that I'm like uber selfish in the sport environment and how I want how how I'm so driven to make things happen. ⁓ my aunt said to me once, Why are you pursuing this career this police thing? I'm like, Because It's an a sc something I've wanted to do. If it hadn't been in the fire I have got gone to police. But so I'm gonna make it happen. And she's like, But but why What what are the costs? Yeah. I'm like every cost is happening. And it did. And obviously it was a mistake. But you know, and I love I loved policing itself and like the jobs that I had within the police, I'd enjoyed it, but the environment was wrong for me. So Yeah, I can imagine. I'm just yeah, I'm just picking And I think now that's where I've switched again now. I'm like so focused on my end goal and making this happen, like the kids stuff and the coaching and developing my business to be something that it should be, that I kinda let everyone else around me just. So you trying to improve your self awareness potentially. Yeah. I fight that's what I need to still do. Okay. So the one thing that you need So the one thing that you've changed that's gonna have the biggest effect on your life is the thing you're working on at the moment. I'd say the self-probably is mate, I probably is and I I I about what I would say the one thing I probably have changed is the need to absolutely thrash yourself till your eyes bleed. Okay, that is good training in the right environment. And like when I was in the core back in the nineties and we had four vets just thrashing us all the time through basic training, we learnt nothing. Agreed. We got fit, yeah, but we learnt nothing. Yeah, you end up being just fit civvies or so I I've always gone down where I've been happy to fresh myself all the time. Always fresh, fresh, fresh, fresh. It's only really in this last year I've gone, why? Because I'm actually all I'm doing is hurting my I'm hurting every day. I'm like over fifty now, everything hurts, you know I mean? Like my thumb hurts, 'cause I I broke my thumb blame rubbing, it's never been probably fixed. Every day it hurts. Your body hurts when you wake up. Why? Because I'm just freshing myself all the time. Now my heart's saying, mate, you've got to chill out a bit. Yeah, there's ⁓ there's warning signs, aren't they? So there are warning signs. So you got like I've I've had to pay attention to it and go, okay, right. Yeah, yesterday, for example, right, I was like, I've got a train today. It didn't happen. But it's like, so what? That's a that's a pucker pucker recovery day. Yeah. I mean tonight tonight I'll get home and I train. That's that's great because it's it fits into the day. Yeah. But yesterday was like, wow, that was good. And I know that people live off these like things now, but I check it. No. I check it and go, actually yeah, say my autonomy system's good to go. So yesterday was a perfect day. Yeah. Yeah, mentally I was like, ⁓ 'cause you're changed, you're not trained. But yeah, I'm learning to do I've I've gotten much better at that, I think. Yeah. Yeah. And that's probably what helps my clients. Maybe slowing down a little bit. Yeah. To speed up. It is that I think, yeah. Yeah. I have found I've been questioned quite a lot about the amount of training I do. Yeah. Yeah, not a lot, but I don't do the ⁓ the mileage some people do because I maybe because I'm in pain quite a lot. I have quite a few problems and I and I'm I I prioritise my per performance on the event over killing myself on the training. Yeah, yeah. So That's the way you and I have to find a balance. That that's the way to be though, I think. It it is an yeah, it is, but then sometimes because of other things I do, then I'm in pain quite a bit and I won't train. Right, yeah. Which means I do miss quite a portion of training sometimes. But I'm also functional for everything else. So there's there's such a balance. I mean, and I think that's as we all get older, that's I mean I'm Quite good with my older athletes and my female athletes, especially around the menstrual cycle, of course, understanding when to push and when not to push. Yeah. And I've only got better at that where I was pushing myself all the time. I'd I'd say only up till this happened, I'd be pushing myself back-to-back days, high, high intensity, like 160, 170, 180 days, heart rate days. Yeah. Yeah. I couldn't, I couldn't do that. That's now kick this into position because this was always there because of the endurance things that happened. You know, for it's quite keen in in endurance athletes because of the longevity in that all that triathlon training and cycling and running that I've always done since I was seventeen. Yeah. It just comes back and unfortunately it's just one of those things you have to sort of get on with. But again it's a warning sign you go, actually yeah I mean I mean to change this and I have changed it and I and actually feel a lot fitter at the moment than I did probably Twelve months ago. Yeah, and I'm I think I'm my level of honesty has just got better. Yeah. So so I I'm coming in now. I'm coming in. I know like I'm about to ramp my mileage up. I can hammer it. Like I can feel it. It's coming right, yeah. But it wasn't right before. Yeah. Because I come off the back of two hundred and ninety-three miles dragging forty kilos and it really took a lot out of me for a long time. Yeah. And I just couldn't push. Yeah. But I was alright with it. Yeah, yeah. I'm just like it's alright. Like the legs are good for it. They'll they'll will eventually come in. And I think it's allowing yourself to be like that and being patient for me is is a big thing. Yeah, no, I think you're right, mate. ⁓ 'cause everyone wants to go, go, go. Everyone. And I and I do, but I know it's not good for me, man. I've I've got a couple of clients, I have to tell ⁓ like why. Yeah. And I'll give like ⁓ you know, my doubles partner is one like why you doing the extra sessions, why are you pushing yourself so hard? Because just not ready to do the next big session. But I'm guessing because she doesn't have the lived experience from before. Well she's trained with me since the ⁓ that the iron to steel thing. She's trained me since then and she did the ult she did the ultra with me, I trained her for that. I just think she is so determined to be not let me down in a race that she feels she needs to train more. To be at a level to meet me. She's already there. Yeah, I know, yeah, she can already do it. She can already do it. I just need her to be in control of her mind more than anything. Is there anything you want to add about your we'll plug your business properly in a second. But is there anything you want to add about training? coaching? I think you like putting putting put it there in in there earlier, is that everyone thinks coaching is expensive, right? ⁓ it doesn't have to be expensive. Like if you sacrifice a coffee a day or you know, you put it's not No chance, bro. No, no, yeah. It's not a great deal of money in the in the grand scheme of things when you think about, you know, your h lifestyle and health span into the future, it's not a great deal of money. No, no. ⁓ cookie cutter programs, Instagram, Facebook, whatever, TikTok is full of Do this, do that, race strategies. There's loads of it. Try ⁓ But if you want a personal experience, someone who's gonna like really look into every aspect of your life, yeah, then it's worth just getting in and having a chat. Because what do you lose by having a 15-minute chat of me? Yeah. Nothing. You either come on board and you join in the community and you'll find the rest of my community community is really supportive. The whole group of people in in the WhatsApp group are so supportive and we don't have any nonsense chit chat in a group, it's just support. Like if you're doing a race or anything else that well done, good effort, yes. It's no there's no other there's nothing else going in there. Yeah. And and it's and then when people meet each other, like for example at the kids events or in the gym, just crossovers of of clients. But they're they're actually building relationships. Of course outside of outside of their normal family Friendship group just by being in a community of like minded people and they've got different goals, completely different goals, different sexes, different like lifestyles. Yeah, from different places. Everything different about ⁓ And they all finding it that I just think, yeah, it's worth just Trying coaching because I I was the same, I never had a coach. And then when I got coached, it was it was an eye opener. And I was like, wow, I why am I not doing this to people? 'Cause I can do this easily. I'm I'm trained in it, you know what I mean? Why have I not been doing it? And when I was doing rugby league coaching and I was developing people that way, it's just now it's more personal and I think. Yeah, I'm not gonna pr like I don't have a coach. 15 minute chat of me. Yeah. Yeah. If I was to do an Iron Man again, I would like to go quick and do it properly and I would I would want a coach or I'd want Brian. ⁓ but the quickest I've ever been and the most competitive I've ever been was when I had a coach. When I but I was a lot ⁓ like a lot, a lot younger and it's different, but but I know I know it works. Like Yeah, it it does work and like say that there's like I said earlier, there's a lot out there, especially with social media now, it's everywhere, every day. You can learn high rocks off social media right now. Of course. Will it will it make you good? No. And when I ⁓ when I decided to sort my life out and get back into fitness and doing s the first thing I did was hire a P T and I had a P T for a long time. I don't now just 'cause I've moved and life's a bit different. I do and I I I also would argue I now don't need one because I don't need the motivation. I don't need the accountability. That's a big thing about you know, that some people do need. Yeah, I'm very driven. If y you you don't have that and Like there are people that don't need that, but there are people that need their planning done for them. Definitely. They need to be held accountable and they need to be motivated massively. Yeah. Even in the session itself. Yeah. Even out of the session. They need that. And without that, some I've got people say to I would never have done this. Of course, yeah. I've got a client, right, who'd done his first pull-up, 48 years old. You know, to us, we're like, well, first pull-up. We've been doing them all our whole life. He done his first pull-up. I was so proud of it. Good effort, yeah. Yeah. And he was so proud of himself. Yeah, I bet he was. And then we came into the next session and he done one pull-up and then he did assisted pull-ups. Then he did another pull-up, more he'd done five now he's like individual push-up pull-ups. Yeah. And he was like, I've just done five pull-ups. You know? And it's just But that's the di that is the difference for someone. That is having that that because I've you know, I'm helping him develop that all the way to that point. And I I got as much I I felt as proud as him as as I would do of of one of the kids. Yeah. You know, because it's just about seeing someone achieve like a really tiny part of the Yeah, and what they thought wasn't possible, what they wanted to be when they were a kid. That's the big thing for me. Yeah. It's it's getting people to do the things that they disregarded as they got older and a job and family and they like, ⁓ there's no way I'll ever do it. Yeah. Like, you can do it. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. All right, plug your company then. ⁓ right, so It is as simple just Brian Stokes Coaching. So the websites are under that. ⁓ my Instagram is Brian underscore Stokes underscore coaching. And I do You've got a podcast people coaching. ⁓ yeah, I've got podcasters. Podcasters and no BS performance podcasts. And I've had a guests there. You've been a guest with the Yeah, I've been on there, yeah. ⁓ I've had some I've had quite a few good guests on there. I do a lot of individual stuff now. They don't they're short, sharp, twenty minute as really, just basically it's me venting sometimes. Yeah. ⁓ and my Instagram is becoming a l bit like that now. So a lot of my Instagram is about the kids now and then it'll be it won't be event as such, but it might be something less topical that I'll just be on my phone just spouting about and I've become quite happy not to be worried about p what people think now. You know. I'm I'm happy to just if you don't like it, don't don't follow me. I'm not really bothered. Yeah. But if you do w if you do want to learn something, ⁓ or just get some inspiration from stuff that I do, then yeah, just follow give me a follow on there. Yeah, and you you are impressive. I I you know, like I was saying, I followed you doing triathlons for years and and me watching you do that was one of the things that was like for me, I was like, I can be f yeah, Stokesy can do that. And you know, I ended up within a year, I'd done Iron Man and I doubled up the next year and you're like, Well Yeah, I think not all it's all I never really I never really tell my story, mate, you know, I think and that's what I started to do slowly and think you know I could just see it from results. Yeah, a lot of the stuff that happens, you know, in in the background, you don't really and it's not like people didn't know I bobsled, you know. Yeah. And it was only when I was speaking to John who, you know, you know, we remembered the first time we actually did it and you know, where he went on with his journey and yeah, so it's yes it's unusual to talk about yourself a bit. Yeah. I think the big thing for me is don't give up when you get older. Look after yourself. Yeah. ⁓ recovery is As important if not more important than frashing yourself. And communicate with people. Communicate if you need any advice, just ⁓ again, ⁓ if that comes back to like my my Instagram's open very much all the time. If you want to fump me a message on there, just go for it 'cause I'll I'll always answer within about thirty six hours generally. Yeah. I'm I'm all over that stuff and I think it's important to respond and and I'm not one of not for not responding. So yeah, yeah, if you want if you need a message about anything, you know, even if it's nothing to do with sport, you just go find out something. Thanks for coming down. Thanks for spending the time. Well done, dude. That was good. Thanks, mate. Legend. Cheers. Thanks, bro. Cheers, mate.