EP 39 ­ Royal Marine Commando to Dubai personal trainer (interview with Anthony White)

In today´s episode Matt speaks to Anthony White.  Ant was a Royal Marine Commando for 8 years and is now a personal trainer and business owner in Dubai.

In the episode Ant discusses the mental and physical challenge of passing the 32 week training course and becoming a Royal Marine Commando plus the ongoing demands once you have secured that green helmet.

 Ant discusses the experience of serving all over the world in different conditions including Afghanistan and the skills he developed and now uses as a coach to inspire change in others.

 The conversation moves onto his philosophy on training and how his company Level up is inspiring woman to strength train safely and develop lifelong skills that will ensure long term health and vitality. 

 If you are interested in knowing more about Level up or working 1 to 1 with Anthony details are below. 

 
Instagram 

@antwhitecoach 

@levelupwithantwhite

 
Email 

antwhitecoach@hotmail.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:20

Hello, welcome to episode 38 of the Mat Money Fitness Show. I hope you've had a good week, guys. In today's episode, we talked to Anthony Want. Ant was a raw marine commando for eight years and is now a postal trainer and business owner here in Dubai. I talked to Ant about the process of getting into the Marines, the 32-week training process. Yes, three to 32 weeks. We talk about the mental and physical challenges that involved. Also speak to Ann about his time in the Marines, including two tours of Afghanistan and how these experiences shaped the type of person and trainer he is today. We then move on to talk about Ann's work here in Dubai. He's worked with pre- and post-naval clients and how this led to the formation of his company, Level Up. Level Up is a good exercise class with the focus and attention of personal training. All clients are taught how to strength train under the Watch Fuller band, but this was a really interesting conversation talking to someone who's walked the walk in terms of physical and mental resilience. And it was really refreshing to hear that with all that experience of training, being beasted, doing cardio, how well programmed and thought out strength training is still the key to leading a happy, healthy life in joy. And welcome to the Matt Miley Fitness Show. How are you, sir? I'm good, thank you, mate. Thanks for having me on.

SPEAKER_01 1:40

It's a pleasure to have you here, sir. So, um, yeah, what have you been up to today, mate? You've been busy? Uh I've had a couple of level up classes this morning. Um, all was good. We progressed the programme a little bit and they felt it, and then I trained myself. I did uh did a pretty tough training session.

SPEAKER_02 1:54

I mean, those you can't see, this is audio. I'm sitting opposite Anna. He's in a vest top at the moment and he's looking a bit swell. I'm slightly intimidated, isn't it? So you trained yourself, cool. Um so actually, we we're gonna have a chat about a few things today, but before we do, why don't you just a brief introduction, mate? Your kind of your your journey and uh how you got to Dubai as a PT.

SPEAKER_01 2:15

Yeah, sure, mate. So um I had a very average growing up, but then I joined the Raw Marines Command I was at 25, um, served for seven, eight years, and left when I was 32, 33, um and then flew straight out of Dubai. And I've been here for four years now working as a PT, and I'm the founder of the women's group strength programme level up.

SPEAKER_02 2:36

Nice one. Um straight away when you left, you flew straight out of the biggest.

SPEAKER_01 2:39

So I I left in I left in the late June, around my birthday, late June, and then I flew out here in August. I started a little business on the side. So when I first left the Marines, I I left to establish my own business because that was my my dream, that was my next sort of ambition. And I started this business in um trying to help like youths. So I'd go to schools and I'd say to the headmaster or headmistress, give me ten of your naughtyest kids, or ten of the kids that didn't have any direction, and I'd sit down with them, I'd write CVs, I'd help them find employment, I'd suggest the forces if that was kind of a better option for them. Um, and then I'd do like team building exercises, general fitness. Um, so just got them hopefully in a better place, and it worked really well. Um, but then after two months of it, I was like, I joined the Marines to travel, and now I'm just back in my hometown with the same people in the same environment, and I needed a change.

SPEAKER_02 3:35

Alright, that's cool. So let's rewind that child because I'm I'm really interested in sort of the your journey in the Marines as well. So kind of like what what made you join the Marines?

SPEAKER_01 3:45

So uh so growing up, I was kind of like the academic one out of me and my brother. And my brother was like, he was not. So he went he joined the forces at 16. Um, and I went down the recruitment office and I went through the whole the whole process with him. Um, and of course, I was sitting in the recruitment office, and while he was having his interviews and his chats, the the blokes would come outside and they'd chat to me and say, Is this something you've thought about? And yeah, it it was, but it I wanted to try and make a go of it on Civvy Street as it were first. And I did, I went to university, I went to Canada and I lived my life. But I always knew in the back of my head that if I hadn't found my calling by 25, if I wasn't in a happy place by 25 years old, then I'd I'd go back there and I'd join the military.

SPEAKER_02 4:32

Wow, so so you decide you're 25 years old and you say, right, I'm gonna join the Marines. So just for the so the Marines are not your standard army, it's not the standard army because we've got listeners all over the world that listen to this podcast. So what what's the difference between the Marines and say the standard army?

SPEAKER_01 4:50

Um the Royal Marines are are more elite, so they're sort of the next step up.

SPEAKER_02 4:57

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_01 4:58

Um the the army, the navy, the air force, they're all very good at what they do, but the Marines are just that next step up. Um so yeah, and I knew that when I joined, I really wanted to push myself and find out what I was capable of. Uh and as Anthony White, what was I what was my potential? So I knew that I wanted to push myself and go for the hardest thing I could possibly do.

SPEAKER_02 5:19

Right, so so with the Marines, you can you obviously you applied straight off Civy Street. Do you get people in there in the army, regular army, who say, I'm gonna I'm gonna go for the Marines.

SPEAKER_01 5:29

Yeah, totally, yeah. Um so when I was in training, there was like 60 of us in the initial initial uh group, initial troop, um, and I'd say about yeah, about 10% of them were from other branches of the forces. Right. One guy was actually from the South African Special Forces, but he wanted to join the Royal Marines because of the um the credibility and the the status of being able to have that flash on his shoulder that says Royal Marines Commando on his jacket or his shirt. Um it's quite an attractive prospect. Right. So, and we had uh guy from the rifles, we had guys from uh REMI, all sorts of branches of the army.

SPEAKER_02 6:07

Right, so so you you kind of say, right, I'm gonna join the Marines, you fill out a form, you post it off, and then what's the process from there? How does it work?

SPEAKER_01 6:14

Um so you have to you have to go down to the recruitment office, you have to have your interviews and have your chats. Um there's a few sort of mental tests where you have to do like little exams, but then there's the fitness tests, and the fitness tests are I I guess quite taxing, they are quite quite cheeky. Um I think it's I can't remember the actual data, but I think it's one and a half miles on a treadmill to be done in ten and a half minutes. Um, and for me at that time, I was a big lad, but big in the wrong way, right? So I was a little chubster at 25.

SPEAKER_02 6:51

Oh, I didn't know that was a little chubster.

SPEAKER_01 6:53

Oh yeah. Right, okay. Uh so at 25 years old, I did all my press-ups, did all my pull-ups, I love lifting weights, but fitness, like CV, that was just not a bit of me. So um I passed that through the skin of my teeth. When I actually joined the Marines, I was by far the most unfit, slowest recruit. Wow. By far.

SPEAKER_02 7:17

So this this treadmill test, you go into the Marines and and it's part of the on test day.

SPEAKER_01 7:22

Yeah, so when once you do that, that treadmill test that I mentioned, that's something you can do at any sort of like fitness first or any other at any gym in your hometown. But then when you the the next step after that would be to actually go down to the training centre in Limpsdon, near Exeter, and and spend a weekend with them and really get put through your paces, and that's when they really test your fitness, um, and and more to the extent of testing your mental capacity and testing your mental robustness, right? Um, and that's tough. That's that's quite a naughty little weekend. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:55

So this is kind of is this before training starts? So this is like part of the interview process. You do your mental stuff, you have you have a chat, here's some fitness stuff that you've got to prep for.

SPEAKER_00 8:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:06

And they say, Right, all right, fatty, you're in. Yeah. Um, so you're into the right, then training starts.

SPEAKER_01 8:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:12

Okay, how long's how long is that process?

SPEAKER_01 8:14

Well, it it's known as the the longest and hardest training for a Civi to undertake in the world. Um it lives up to reputation. But it's I mean that they have that slogan, don't they? 99.99% of people need not apply. And it is true, I mean, when it comes to fitness, yeah, you have to have and and build up to quite an exceptional level of fitness and strength, and but it's it's the the mental side of it. It's the it's the really taxing, uh arduous, just slog that is training where you're constantly made to doubt yourself. And how long does this training last? 32 weeks.

SPEAKER_02 8:53

30 we're gonna do it.

SPEAKER_01 8:56

Jesus Christ. And that's if you don't get injured or if you don't fail a part of the training or the tests. So I mean I did. I I failed the um the rope climb. So I think it's around week 21, you have to do what's called bottom field. So bottom field is like this assault course near the estuary um in Limpsdon, and it's just the most disgusting place where where you're you're broken repeatedly. And part of this bottom field test is where you've got the assault course, you've got the fireman's carry, um, and one of them is is the rope climb. It's a 30-foot rope. Of course, you're in your all your fatigued, in your in your all your fatigues, and you've got your I think it's 30 pounds of webbing round your waist, and you've got your rifle on your back, and you've got to climb this 30-foot rope. And uh for love nor money, could I get up that rope? I'd get up maybe 25 foot and I'd freeze. I got I couldn't move, I couldn't, I couldn't reach up one more shift. Wow. Um so I failed that, and then when you fail it, you get put into what's called Hunter Company, uh, where they put all the injured or failures in my case um to kind of rehabilitate you or to indeed build you back up to the state that you need to be in to pass these tests. Because they don't there's no exceptions, you have to pass every single test, every single test you have to pass to to earn your green lid at the end. So I was in there for about four weeks, um and like I say, they build you back up again. So in my instance, for example, they first first week they made me climb the rope with no kit on me, and then the second week they put a little bit of kit on me, third week a little bit more kit on me, um, until you're back up to the standard that you should be.

SPEAKER_02 10:40

Right.

SPEAKER_01 10:40

Now it I was just to elaborate on this story further, I was a little bit naughty, so they were building me back up, but I knew that if I didn't pass this test on this particular day, that I would have to wait another two months to to go for it again. And of course, my my sole aim, my dream, my ambition was to just get back into training and pass out and earn my green lid and and serve as a Royal Marine. So I didn't want to wait another two months. So on this particular day, I was supposed to have can't remember the numbers, I was supposed to have maybe like 10 pounds of web of weight in my webbing. And then you go down to bottom field, you tell the instructor, yeah, I've got 10 pounds of webbing, sir, wherever, and then you climb up the rope. But knowing that this was my last opportunity, I put the whole allocation of weight in my webbing, like do or die kind of thing. So I put all of my weight in the webbing, I lied to him, told him I had 10 pounds, and then I climbed the rope. Now, the reason I was able to climb the rope on this particular day was because, like I say, Hunter rehabilitates you and it does everything it can to get these lads through training, and it might be through remedial um physical training, or it might be through like mental training and just trying to sit you down and talk you through what it is you're having a problem with. So I was sat down by this guy literally that morning, and he said he was an older guy, and he said to me, he was a sergeant major, and he said, Look, uh recruit white, you just need to close your eyes. When you get hold of that rope, close your eyes and don't open them again until you get to the top. He said, It's all in your head. And he was absolutely right because I had all that weight in my webbing, rifle on my back, closed my eyes, and I got to the top. I closed my eyes, I kept climbing and climbing and climbing until I thought I must be there by now. Opened my eyes, and sure enough, the top of the uh rope was literally the front of my face. Wow, touched it, came back down, celebrated, had no composure whatsoever. And then the the uh the instructor was like, What are you so happy about? Um, and I told him the truth, I said, Look, I'm really sorry, but I've got the full allocation of weight in my webbing. And he was like, So you lied to me. I was like, Yeah, but but but didn't matter. Like to lie in the Marines is like rule number one, you you don't do that. You your integrity is everything. So I got smashed. I was on that bottom field assault course for like the next two hours. I went through my lunch, like they just I think he even brought mates down to kind of like do shift work with me. So you got beasted. So I got beasted for like two hours, they were making me run around. I had to go around this whole assault course on my belly. I got smashed, but I didn't care because you know what, I'm back in training now, and he knew that. And after this whole like evolution had finished, he came up to me and he explained the importance of telling the truth in the Marines and was like, you don't do that. If you want to be a Royal Marine, you don't do that. And I was like, look, I'm really sorry, but he was like, No, on the other hand, good job, well done on your way. So he was they he wanted to punish me, but at the same time, he was like, good effort, Royal.

SPEAKER_02 13:41

Um yeah, well, so I mean the training itself, how many were in the how many made it to the end and actually got their their green lid, as you called it?

SPEAKER_01 13:51

Uh yeah, so I think you start off with 60 and we finish with 16.

SPEAKER_02 13:57

60 and only 16 finished.

SPEAKER_01 13:59

And of course, that was 16 lads from like that. Because obviously I passed out with a different troop. I didn't pass out with my original troop because I got back trooped. So I had to so when I passed out with these other 15 lads, um, all 16 of us were kind of like a mishmash from some had been in training for like nearly two years. Do you know what I mean? If they suffered an injury, they were at Limston for two years. So we had all sorts of, I think it was maybe like five originals, and then the rest of us were like just odds and ends.

SPEAKER_02 14:33

Wow. I mean that that's not uh that's a small percentage that actually enroll on this course. Now, yeah, why do you think the training's that tough?

SPEAKER_01 14:43

I mean, is it just to make sure you're fit to run around as soldiers or yeah, so um you do, like I said, you have to be you have to have an exceptional level of fitness. And when I passed out of training, I looking back, Jesus, I was fit. I was really fit. But that's kind of not that's not the sole intention of the training. They want you to be fit, they want you to be strong, they want you to pass all the tests that they put in front of you, but more than anything else, they want you to have that mental robustness, that resilience to just get through anything. So, like me, me eventually climbing that rope is a good example because they don't care if I can climb a 30-foot rope. Do you know what I mean? Like, there's no instance in Afghanistan where I had to climb a 30-foot rope. Like, there's not not a single like instance of any ever having to do that, right? Or running around an assault course, or doing this, that, and the other. But what climbing that rope, what it meant, was I'd I'd I'd found something within myself to to climb that rope. And every time you do that, and every time you have that sort of knockback in training or in life, and you overcome that, you beat it. Well, then every single time you do that, you're hardening yourself up. It's like it's like in the gym, innit? You know, you you test yourself with a set of squats, you know, or you're trying to lift the deadlift bar and it's it scares you. But you know what? You do it, you somehow you do it, you set yourself a PR, happy days, or you manage to beat your 5k runtime. And every time you do it, you start to believe in yourself a little bit more.

SPEAKER_02 16:18

Self-believement, yeah, resilience.

SPEAKER_01 16:20

And then that's the thing. Like, if you want to build physical strength, you put yourself in physically demanding situations. If you want to build mental strength, you put yourself in mentally challenging situations. So all these tests and challenges and whatever that they throw in front of you, yeah, they're trying to build physical strength, but more than anything else, more than that, they're trying to build mental strength, and they do that by putting you in really demanding, challenging, tough, horrible situations. For 32 weeks, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:50

In some situations longer. Wow. So you've you've you've become a marine, and I mean what what sort of places uh did the training's ongoing, I assume, with with Marines.

SPEAKER_01 17:03

So you get in different places and so when I when I got out of training, my first sort of task was to go up to to Catarick, one of the army bases up in Yorkshire, and I was given the the job of learning the Afghan language. So I was put on this 12-week course to learn obviously in 12 weeks you can only learn the bare minimum, but it was like a nine to five course every day, Monday to Friday.

SPEAKER_02 17:31

For 12 weeks.

SPEAKER_01 17:32

For 12 weeks. And and it was a it was a great 12 weeks, I learned I learned a lot. So of course I knew that my first I knew that my first tour was coming up, because I knew then the year after I was going to Afghanistan, that's why they sent me off to learn the language, right? Um so that on patrols I could like have a little bit of a conversation with the locals, or if we were with the Afghan army or the Afghan police, I could kind of liaise with them and you know just have a little bit of intermediary between the two forces. So um that was my first thing, and so I did that, and then I went back to my unit. And like you say, the train doesn't end. In fact, it gets harder, physically, it gets harder because you've got this uh you've got this status now of being a Royal Marines commando, and you can't just let that, you can't just sit on your laurels, you know, you can't just let that be and just rest. You've got to maintain that now. The hardest thing about anything that you achieve is then trying to maintain that achievement. So you have to live up to that, and you have to like we did, we did what we called it fizz. So when when we had our exercise, we'd called it fizz, and I'd do fizz three times a day. We'd get up in the morning, we'd go for a run as a as a troop or a or a company, we'd go for a morning run. At lunchtime, I'd go down the gym with my mates, and then in the late afternoon, we'd probably have some more troop fizz that was laid on, maybe a circuit or whatever. So we would we were training all the time.

SPEAKER_02 19:00

There was no there was no overweight boys in in were there any over boys that were carrying a bit of timber? I mean, were there any yeah because genetics, I suppose, but you can be this is the whole argument of fat and you know, you can be fat and fit.

SPEAKER_01 19:13

And that's the thing. So yeah, there was a few few chubsters, but they they were all they were the ones that liked a beer as well. Gotcha. So, I mean, as you know, like you you can be as fit as hell, but if your diet's not in place, you're still gonna be a little bit overweight, right? Yeah, so there was a few guys who were yeah, carrying a bit of extra timber, but they'd smash me at a 10k run. Right. Like they were they were brilliant. I mean, everyone was super duper fit, not everyone looked super duper fit.

SPEAKER_02 19:40

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_01 19:41

Um, and that's the thing, right? That's the thing in in Civvy Street where you see people and you're like, oh you can't run. Actually, you can, and vice versa. You see someone with a six-pack and you think, oh, he's fit. No, he's not, like, absolutely not. Yeah, it all comes down to your diet. So, yeah, there'd be a few chubsters, but these are the guys that weren't afraid of going out every evening on the beers.

SPEAKER_02 20:01

Um could you order a beer in Afghan, just out of interest? You couldn't. Of course you couldn't, you wouldn't order a beer in Afghanistan. Neither, there was nothing.

SPEAKER_01 20:09

Um yeah, I can't can't tell that story, I'm afraid. No, no, I've got one, but I'm gonna um but no, so I mean, I that's not in my nature anyway. I mean when I when I joined the Marines, I had to have mates. I mean, I didn't I didn't have any mates or family that thought I'd ever pass. I mean, when I did pass, I was um I was named recruit of the troops, so I I finished as the top recruit um who came out of training. So this tubby boy from Bedford that went into the Marines came out and was top you but you finished topping your troop? I finished topping the troop, yeah. I know I was I was the absolute unfittest at the start. Um but I finished not the fittest, but certainly in the top sort of 10%. Um but yeah, I vote I was voted top recruit by the train team. Um but yeah, well before I joined, I had no friends or family that thought I could do it. It was just, and I think that's what urged me on to actually do it, because I was just like the middle finger to all of you, I'm gonna do this, you watch. Um but that none of them thought I'd do it because I I I wasn't a stereotypical Marine. No, I think they think that Marines are all tattoos and skinheads. Um but when I joined, of course, I was the kind of guy that did my exercise at well. Quite an intelligent bloke, um, and I didn't change at all. So I joined the Marines and I was still that same person. But the the good thing is, is I wasn't alone. Like the Marines was kind of changing. We were kind of like a new generation of Marines. Oh, really? Where is that kind of that stereotype might have been there before? Um I remember the Sergeant Major coming round to see us lads because we'd all like all the lads would live together, obviously. And he'd come around, it was like, it's changed so much. He said, It's a Tuesday night, and you're all sitting around and just got back to the gym drinking protein shakes. He said, In my in my in my generation, we'd be out every single night, like getting into fights and getting boozed up and then being hung over for the first 5k run the next day. Um Do you know what's interesting?

SPEAKER_02 22:10

It's almost like with sport, when you look at football, you look at professional football, professional rugby. It's like there has definitely been a change we learn, don't we, as we go. But like even footballers now. But that's really interesting to you in this genre. Now we will uh we will talk about sort of like your time in Afghanistan, not the details, but just the experience. But were there any other places uh that you any other training bits you did prior to going off to Afghan or uh any sorry, any training bits I did before going to Afghanistan?

SPEAKER_01 22:35

Yeah, um so I went to was that before? Yeah, it was. I was so I went to uh California before I went to Afghanistan. I worked with the US Marines, we all worked with the US Marines for I forget how long we were there. I think that was three months. Um yeah, three months in the Mojave Desert.

SPEAKER_02 22:53

And the Arctic, the Arctic stuff you told me about.

SPEAKER_01 22:55

Yeah, yeah, that that came afterwards. Oh, okay, yeah. So we we did all our live firing and like and that was that was pretty good. I mean, because for what we would be getting prepared for, desert warfare, yeah, like being in the Mojave Desert, working with US Marines, yeah, doing live firing, you don't get much better, especially when it's finished with the Las Vegas booze up at the end.

SPEAKER_02 23:16

Um and then so you you the US Marines and the British Marines training together, obviously, with a with this joint operation in Afghanistan, right? Yeah, gotcha.

SPEAKER_01 23:24

So yeah, that was that was really good. And then the year after, that's when I went to Afghanistan for six months. Um but then when I got back, the tours didn't end. I did Albania, I did Jordan, I went to Norway, and I did Arctic warfare in Norway, which was just disappointing.

SPEAKER_02 23:43

Arctic warfare. So you're in you're in freezing conditions, you're in.

SPEAKER_01 23:46

Yeah, I mean, it's it's exactly as bad as it sounds. It's just horrible. It's just the worst thing. It's the worst most challenging thing that I did in the Marines, for sure.

SPEAKER_02 23:55

Oh, this this arc how long did this Arctic training last?

SPEAKER_01 23:58

Uh I was there for three months. Uh three months? I was there for three months, and it's it's just horrible. Because like the hardest thing about sort of warfare, as it were, is just it's not the the bang bang shoot shoot, it's the it's the living. It's the you know, you to live in the Arctic, or you know, to survive in the Arctic, particularly as a soldier, it's tough. You've got to carry around, I think it's about 60 kilos a kit. You've got all your water and all your food, and you eat you need to eat 4,000 calories a day. If you don't eat 4,000 calories a day, you you suffer, you go down.

SPEAKER_00 24:31

Right.

SPEAKER_01 24:32

Um you need to because your body is burning an extraordinary amount of calories just to survive. It's it needs to burn in order to keep you warm, yeah. And of course, if you're doing all that yomping around and trudging with skis through the through the snow all day, every day, you're burning a hell of a lot of calories. So you need to eat 4,000 a day minimum.

SPEAKER_02 24:51

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 24:52

So you've got to carry that around, you've got to carry around all your tentage and all your ammo and all your weapons and radio equipment. It's it's tough, it's really tough. Um and yeah, but a good experience nonetheless, you know. Yeah seeing all the northern lights when you're out there and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_02 25:07

Didn't you say didn't you say you bought an igloo or something?

SPEAKER_01 25:09

Yeah, yeah. So um on one of the little exercises we did, you had to we stopped. Well we got stopped about two o'clock in the afternoon, I think it was, just as it was getting dark. Um and we'd had no tentage or anything, we were told to build an igloo. So I think it was four of us in each like little fire team. So our my fire team and and I, we had to build an igloo. So we built this igloo, it took us hours, and we got in there finally and got our heads down. Um well if there's four of you in there, three of you can sleep, whereas the other one has to be on what we call candle watch. So you light a candle and the fourth one has to stay up and ensure that the candle doesn't go out, right? Right. It's pitch black in Norway, obviously, at night. Um, and one of you has to stay awake for obviously sentry reasons, you know. So one person's wide awake looking at this candle, the other three are getting their heads down, and we we must have got about an hour and a half asleep before the training team then decided to bump us, um, which basically means that we've been caught by the enemy and we had to get the hell out of there. So that was that was nice to know that we spent all day building this igloo and then we got like an hour as an hour and a half sleep in it before we had to go skiing again for another 24 hours.

SPEAKER_02 26:25

Um, so yeah, that was and living in Dubai is a useful skill to have being able to build an igloo now. So all the time, mate. You I can't move for Igloo. But now I know if I'm gonna go somewhere cold, I'm gonna go with you. Now, obviously, we weren't looking into too much details, but obviously you did spend time uh in Afghanistan. How long was that? There was six months.

SPEAKER_01 26:43

Yeah, six months.

SPEAKER_02 26:44

I mean, without going into too much detail, uh how just how was that experience for you? I mean, physically, mentally.

SPEAKER_01 26:51

Uh well, one one good thing that comes out of it is well, a couple of good things come out of it is you do get closer to the guys that you go out there with, you know. Um one of the big things in the Marines is um that shared hardship. So if you've got a company, what it's probably about 90 men strong, maybe yeah, 90 men strong. So if all nine of you are going out and you're doing the same thing and experiencing the same things and you're all going through the shit together, then all nine of you are gonna get closer, you know, you're gonna have those bonds because nobody else will know what you went through apart from the other 89 blokes. So um that was good. That was one of the good things that came out of it, and of course, that life experience of of just going through that kind of stuff, you know, it does it does build character and you you do learn more about yourself than what you what anyone else could ever learn about themselves. Um but yeah, it was tough, and I've got to go back to the this what I said about Norway is the the tough stuff isn't all the what you'd normally expect and all the sort of firefights and the whatnot. It's just a living, you know. After these things, after the patrols, you're you're then you're you're still there. Do you know what I mean? Like so in Civic Street, you have a tough workout, for example, it doesn't matter, you know that afterwards you're gonna have a nice shower, you're gonna go home, you're gonna have a nice meal, you're gonna go to bed, you're gonna go to bed with the wife or the girlfriend, whatever, and it's it's all fine because you there's that light at the end of the tunnel. But when you're in Afghanistan and you go out on a patrol and you know that when you get back, you've got to clean your weapons, disservice your equipment, then you're gonna have to prepare for the next patrol, you have to go on sentry, it doesn't stop. Like that there's no respite. You're just there all the time, and it's it's literally 24-7 for six months. Like, I think I slept on about I survived, sorry, in about three hours of sleep every night for six months. And that's that's not an exaggeration. It was and that was three hours of broken sleep, so an hour here, an hour there, an hour maybe later on.

SPEAKER_02 28:57

For the whole tour.

SPEAKER_01 28:58

Yeah. It was just it was it was tough. And that's what I mean. It's it wasn't necessarily the the going outside of the the PB and the patrol base and doing all the patrols and stuff, it was the it was just the relentless, never-ending hardship of actually just trying to live there.

SPEAKER_02 29:15

I mean, I'm just thinking now off the top of my head, mate, that's like permanently being a sympathetic state. You know, we talk about fight and flight, you know, sympathetic, parasympathetic state. Your boys are like you're in that sympathetic state for six months with sleep deprivation.

SPEAKER_00 29:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:30

And it's really interesting when you say that because I I worked on exercise referral schemes for years, and I met a few people, quite a few people that had been had served and been in the forces. Type 2 diabetes really common in X forces. And think about it now, we talk about stress induced diabetes, you know. Uh Jesus, like from a nervous system standpoint and your endocrine system, like your adrenal glands are just on for six months. I mean, what was there any like when you finish something? Like that. I mean, I've just it just when you describe that lack of sleep, you know, we talk to our clients about lack of sleep, and everyone's banging on about you know fight or flight, sympathetic, parasympathetic meditation. When you boys finish your tour, I mean, do you do you do any rest and digest stuff as well?

SPEAKER_01 30:16

So I mean like and and that goes back to like maybe the positives that I could bring out of it is is you learn to appreciate the little things in life that you take for granted. I mean, I I did a winter tour as well, so it was I mean, Afghan everyone thinks of Afghanistan as a hot desert, and in the winter, it's far from that. It's there's snow on the ground. I mean, my my idea of a shower for six months was a bottle of water, like not a big bottle of water, like what you'd normally carry around, like one of those little how big are they, like 330. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So one of those small bottles of water, that was my shower. That was what I had to put over my head every morning and shower with it, and it was frozen. So the first thing I had to do is smash it against the wall to try and break the ice up, yeah, and just try and get a little bit of water out of it. Um like my bed was just one of those cots with a sleeping bag on it, and more often than not, with two mice like in the sleeping bag. Jesus Christ. Um I mean I'm not laughing, it's just you when you describe this, it's like wow. Oh, it's yeah. I mean, I think it was Christmas Day, there was a mouse a mouse in my sleeping bag again.

SPEAKER_02 31:23

You shared Christmas Day with a mouse, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:25

Um so I just I picked it up and launched it over the PB. Um I just I'm just sick of it. Um absolutely sick of it. So um so you you spend the whole six months just daydreaming about what it's like to have hot running water coming out of a tap. I mean, just imagine that, or a kettle, or like a nice, comfortable bed. It's just unreal. I mean, that these little things that we take for granted are like I I don't take for granted anymore.

SPEAKER_02 31:53

So you've taken away, even though we talk about the you know, nervous system endocrise, yeah, your levels of gratitude for stuff you have in life now after that experience.

SPEAKER_01 32:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:00

And most people, most people in life never experienced that. Not in the Western world, you know, not in this nice civilised world we live in in the West. No one really experiences that.

SPEAKER_01 32:09

Yeah, even little things like I wore boots for six months. I mean, I can't tell you how nice it was to put on a pair of trainers when I was back on Civy Street, or just to walk around in flip-flops, or to to not wear my rig, just to wear jeans was just a luxury.

SPEAKER_02 32:22

Um now, in terms of the the uh being in the marines, uh your decision to leave and obviously come out to Civy Street, and we're gonna talk about what you do now and the great work you do here in Dubai as a PT, but but what what was that what was that decision based on? Had you had enough? Why did you decide to leave?

SPEAKER_01 32:38

Um so for the same reason that I joined, really. So I joined the Marines because I knew it was tough, I knew I was gonna find out what my potential was, what I was capable of, um, and yeah, like I say, push myself. Um and I knew that after Afghanistan, the only thing that I could really think about doing was joining going SF.

SPEAKER_02 32:57

Um Special Forces. Yeah, special forces, right, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:01

So and I tried, and like with everything that I do, I put my heart and soul into it, and I I really went for it 100%. I still came up short. So um I did all the beat-ups and I did all the all the training that I could have done. Um I did all the revision that I needed to do, and I was I was all over it. I was very well prepared. But I went on the course, and the first thing that happened was I twisted my ankle. Um so that was very gutting because I was 32 at the time, and that was to say disappointing would be an understatement because I'd spent the last 18 months of my life just working towards this, and to see it just fizzle out because of something that was out of my control, it was um extremely hard to a bitter pill to swallow. Um and I remember when I f when I failed, um I sat there and there was a few other guys there, and one of them was like he was near in his 40s, and he was saying how his wife's gonna be really angry with him because he's basically put his career on hold. He was an army guy, he'd put his career on hold for about 20 years, um and he he wasn't at the rank that he should be or earning what he should be, or getting all the luxuries that he should have been getting because he'd been persevering with joining the special forces. And I was like, that was kind of like a wake-up call for me. Not a wake-up call, but it made me realise that I couldn't do this again. I couldn't I couldn't put another 18 months of my life on hold just to go through it again and run the risk of it happening all over again. I mean, and that sounds quite defeatist, but I also knew that another 18 months and I'd be nearly 34. And it's it gets harder every single year that passes. So knowing that kind of that that was it for me, I wasn't willing to give it another go. Um I I kind of looked around and thought, well, what next then? There's nothing else that I really wanted to achieve in the Marines. Um so I thought, well, what could I do? So I wanted to leave and I wanted to start my own business. I want to be my own man and um and like I say, just work for myself and try and build something as my next ambition and my next goal.

SPEAKER_02 35:12

Yeah. Yeah, so you you obviously you you you did your pitchy qualifications on leaving the army and uh you did your brief stint with I didn't know that either before you said with the kids in Bedford, and then you moved out to Dubai. So you just you got a ticket and you flew out and you started the job again.

SPEAKER_01 35:29

Yeah, so um knowing that um knowing that my next sort of journey was going to be outside of the Marines and sort of in this PT world. And the reason that I chose the PT world was because on this special forces course that I was going on was of everything that took I mean, I always try and take some positives like I did with Afghanistan, like I did with Norway, I always try and take some positives out of the worst experience I could possibly have. You know, there's always got to be some sort of little benefit of having gone through that. And the benefit of me having gone on that course and failed that course was that one of the blokes who inspired me was the PT who was actually on the course and trying to train us lads to pass. And uh he was very inspirational and he knew what he was talking about. Um, and I thought to myself, you know what, if I can't be SF, then I want to be him and I want to be a PT because that looks awesome, and like to be so knowledgeable about what you're talking about and to die and to deliver that in a really informative way to people who actually want to aspire to be better, I couldn't think of anything more rewarding. So when I came off that course, I under I got all my qualifications, I did all the necessary ones, but I got exercise referral, I even got uh pre- and post-natal qualified. Um I did them all. And then yeah, and then I left and came straight to well not came straight to Dubai, but didn't take long for me to realise that what I wanted was further afield and to come abroad to Dubai.

SPEAKER_02 37:03

And I know you spent time in a gym here, and but you know, uh what I really want to talk about what you're doing now because it's it's very impressive. But what I found most impressive when I first met you is I met I met you and you're you're in good shape, you were an ex-marine, and that you were you were training regularly training pre- and postnatal classes, which is so rare. I mean I'm pre- and post-natal qualified, yeah, and I get the odd you know, pre- or post-natal client in a reformer class, but you were actually so inspiring, a raw marine teaching a pre- and post-natal class. Yeah, I know.

SPEAKER_01 37:35

And when I was getting all my qualifications, like I was I was looking left to right and seeing the other blokes that were getting the qualified, and they were all just like, oh, I want to help other blokes get jacked. And uh I was like, it's it's more than that, you know. I mean, like, it's got to be about health, it's gotta be about improving someone's health first and foremost. And and then I was looking at the different niches and what what qualifications were out there, and I saw pre- and post-nate, and I thought, that's perfect. I mean I wanted to do this because I f I find it so rewarding to help people, um, and I can't think of anything more rewarding than to help a pregnant lady maintain a good level of fitness and strength, and after baby become rehabilitated to become again a fit, strong, athletic woman. Um I I couldn't think of anything more rewarding. So when I came to Dubai, I I really leaned into that. Um I was the head coach of this program called Mama Be Fit, and and that was an award-winning program, and I think it was voted the best programme in Dubai. Um, and it was an honour to be the head coach of such a program to help these ladies. And there was we had hundreds of ladies come through that program that come to the program pregnant, have the have a healthy, strong baby, and then come back to us wanting to get sort of rehabilitated and and back into like the best shape of like the best shape of their life and beyond. And some of these ladies who I've I've now been training now for three plus years, um, and they're some of the most incredible women that I've ever met, let alone trained. They're phenomenal. Um so yeah, it's that's really rewarding. I love it.

SPEAKER_02 39:13

Yeah, it's definitely a USP, and uh you know, an ex-marine who trains.

SPEAKER_01 39:18

And that's the thing, like, and the reason that it was, like you say, a USP was because I don't wrap them in cotton wool, and I think that's what you see a lot of these days, particularly with the the pre and post-nate. When I understand it, because you want to make sure that they're safe and they're you know, they're safe, first and foremost. Let's make sure they're safe. Yeah, and I get that, but you can overdo it with really sort of nambi pamby exercises, it's too gentle, it's too light, it doesn't they're not getting anything out of it other than not getting hurt. Well, it in which case just stay at home. If if your sole ambition from a from a workout is to just not get hurt, then don't train.

SPEAKER_00 39:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:00

So I push them and I don't I stay within the um the frameworks of yeah, I'm the same as so strength training, strength training is so incredible. I don't I don't take it too easy on them. I I ask for their for their RPEs, their rate of perceived exertions, and I make sure they're not too high. But they still squat, they still deadlift, they still press, they still row, they still pull, push, they lunge, they do all these things, but just to a degree or an to an intensity that a pregnant lady or a postnatal lady should be doing them to. Um, and of course, when it comes to core, make sure that we're doing appropriate core exercises.

SPEAKER_00 40:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:39

But it's still it's still challenging. They still leave with sweat on their forehead and feel like they've done something. Yeah, um, and that's that's the reason that Mama Be Fit and the YI was quite successful, was because that's what these ladies wanted. They didn't want to be just treated like a fragile young woman. They were they were strong, capable, robust women, and they wanted to be treated as such. Um, just because they're pregnant, it doesn't mean that they're not capable of training to just as high an intensity as anybody else.

SPEAKER_02 41:11

Exactly. And it is all based around uh we had Rihanna Adams on the podcast a few weeks back, and uh we were discussing just this. And it, you know, what does training look like for a uh for ladies when pregnant? What's your current fitness levels? If you're an absolute beginner, train like an absolute beginner. If you're someone who's experienced, you train you know, until you know there may be a latter stage of pregnancy where you adapt stuff, but fundamentally it's the same. So I want to shift gears slightly and start talking about your your existing company because you moved on from this gym and you set up as a freelancer and you have um your own your own company now, uh Level Up.

SPEAKER_00 41:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:45

Um tell the listeners a little bit about Level Up because it's it's uh it's a great organisation and you're doing some great work. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 41:51

Uh um appreciate it. So Level Up is it kind of it kind of uh mutated from Mama Be Fit. So I would train these ladies, these pregnant ladies, and then postnatal ladies, and I was training them at like 9am or 10am. And they got to a stage where they were like, well, I'm going back to work now. Like, have you got anything either side of these work hours? And I didn't. So I started something that did, and I started level up. So it was it's group strength training for women. Um predominantly women. We do have a few men in there, a few husbands, a few boyfriends, and then they come along and it it's it's just um just as appropriate, but it's predominantly ladies, and it's it's group strength training for women, and the reason I started it, the the kind of the the mentality that I approach it with is I would see all these, I'm not gonna name any names, but you know, you see these circuit classes or boot camps in Dubai or the world, and they would just just shout at people harder, faster, and they'd run around and they just just batter people into the ground, um, normally playing on their phones or flirting with the other instructors or trainers, not caring about form or technique or why they're advocating why they're advocating. It was just that sense of as long as they're in a in a puddle on the floor afterwards, mission accomplished. Um I never understood it because if I've got a PT client, the way that I would train that PT client is well, it's the correct way. It's using big compound lifts, it's improving posture, it's working with progressional overload to ensure that their body continues to adapt. And it's I ask them about their diet and their nutrition, I'm asking for feedback, like rate of perceived exertions, and I'm taking note of how much they're lifting and how many reps and how many sets, and it's all done meticulously to ensure that we continue progressing. And yet it seemed to me that when you've got a group of people, all that got thrown out of the window in favour of just making sure that they swear.

SPEAKER_02 43:57

Mate, it's no programming at all. I mean I've I've taught group X for years, and I used to teach circuit classes, and I've I've gone myself. You're right. Just you know, it doesn't matter about the individual, that station is burpees. Yeah, you're doing burpees for one minute. Uh that person's not starting after doing burpees, they're gonna end up injured, their forms all over the shop. There's no programming, it's just you know, it's just a stressful experience. Yeah, and this is why this is what this podcast is about, is getting the message out that you know there is a formula to training. Totally. You know, put the program above the or the individual above the program, and that's all these hit classes are. Yeah, yeah. Not saying they don't have a place, some people get loads from it, but this whole harder is better, and how are you measuring what that is? Well, what does that mean? Even mean. Sorry, I was buttoning it because yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 44:43

You that's that's exactly my sentiment. I mean that there's no programming, and I see these some ladies come in for a trial, and I'm like, so do you do anything? They're like, Yeah, I do this G46 or whatever, right? And uh and uh okay, alright, so and then I see them squat and I see them press and row, and I'm like, Jesus, I mean, and they're letting you get away with that sort of stuff. Um, and I'm like, okay, so what would you normally squat? And I'm like, I don't really know because it's different every single time I go, and and it's like well, your body's not going to change, like you're you're sweating and you're burning calories, yeah. But the the aim of you going to the gym should be to become healthier, build muscle, improve your posture, and move better. And you're not doing any of those things just by running yourself into the ground, and that's the that's the mentality of these these circuit classes and and stuff. It's it's that break, destroy, and annihilate your body. And really, training should be very much the opposite. It should be build, progress, and evolve. And if more people adopted their training with this kind of build mentality rather than this destroy mentality, well, first of all, they'd find it more enjoyable and they'd get a hell of a lot more out of it.

SPEAKER_02 46:00

It's this whole approach, mate, and I uh you see it a lot. You ask 90% of people at these, you know, H32 classes, you ask them why they're there, they're going there to lose weight, they're burning calories. It's like if you're you I say this a lot, if you're using cardiovascular training as a means to lose weight, you're setting yourself up for failure. Absolutely. It's a tool, but for me, when I prescribe cardiovascular work with clients, it's about you know health improvements. Cardiovascular fitness is important. Absolutely. But using a class just for energy, what are you gonna burn in a HIIT class? What if you're lucky? You're also gonna put yourself in a really stressful situation. You might be full of cortisol anyway, you're a type A personality, you're running on caffeine and stress all day, you're sympathetic all day. Yeah, all of a sudden you walk into a class, you stress your body out more, you don't recover. If you're not recovering, you're not gonna adapt. You know, when cortisol is present, you're not gonna be burning fat. And and yeah, you're so right. So going back to what you were saying about PT, so what can people what does a level up class look like?

SPEAKER_01 47:06

Um so it's a it's a six-week program. So we start the it's normally a six to eight-week program, and the the program is is well designed in a way that it's a full-body session. So we work with three full-body strength training sessions a week. Um, and when they come in, they would do those initial lifts. I'd ask for feedback, how much they're lifting, how many reps did they perform, how hard did they find it, because that's an important one to take a note of that a lot of people don't. Because if you can if you can squat 60 kilos per 10 reps one week, but it's like that tenth rep is everything you've got. And the next week you're doing 60 for 10 reps, but you know why you had three more in the tank, well then that's progress. And you you don't see that on the pen and paper if you're not actually writing it down. So I always ask for RPEs, which is exactly that. And I make sure that everyone in the class is progressing, and it doesn't necessarily need to be more weight on the bar or whatever else, it could just be we're doing more sets this week, ladies, or I'm gonna ask you to do two more reps, please, Deb, or I'm gonna ask you to do one more rep, please, cat. And I'm always asking for that one percent extra, because that's how they need to approach it. That one percent extra every single day, every single week, every single month, that leads to big things. I mean, the the um Olympic cycling team, the UK, the British cycling team, I think it was the it's the aggregate of marginal gains.

SPEAKER_00 48:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 48:28

Um, and that's exactly how we approach our training. You know, it's um I I liken it to trying to get a suntan. You don't get a suntan by just going out there for like six hours without any lotion on and just going burn me. Yeah. Because all that's gonna happen is you're gonna suffer sunstroke, heat stroke, or just really, really bad sunburn, and then what's gonna happen after that? You're gonna go red, you're gonna peel, and then you go back to square one. So it's not about one big workout, it's about just improving gradually, little by little, over time. You go out there for maybe half an hour, lotion on, go back there the next day, go back the next day, go back the next day, by the time that you you've got a really good tan. So it's that thing about just trying to improve little by little, time after time. Um, we use the big compound lifts, so squats, lunges, deadlifts, presses, pushes, rows, pulls, um, and yeah. Um, and the ladies, there's normally about eight to ten ladies in a group. Right. And it's a six-week programme, and so after six weeks, they're booking again for another block. Yep, so then um we then shake it up. I ensure that everyone does a D-load week because that was one of my questions I was gonna ask you, Mr.

SPEAKER_02 49:31

White.

SPEAKER_01 49:31

Yeah, yeah, I was gonna ask, is there a D So the all these principles that I would do with a one-on-one client are all the same principles that I do with every single member of Level Up. So if I've got a PT client and they need to work on this, this, and this, and I'm gonna ensure that they do a D-Load week, I'm gonna ask them about their nutrition, I'm gonna ask them to eat so many, so many cannabis a day, proteins, I'm gonna inquire about their sleep, I'm gonna inquire about their um lifestyle habits, their 10,000 steps a day. I'm gonna do all of those things, all of those things with every single person in level up because they're all just as important. And just because you're doing a group class, it doesn't mean that they go out of the window. So, yeah, I I say to like newbies who come along for a trial, just think of this as PT, because that's essentially essentially what I'm gonna do for you.

SPEAKER_02 50:18

And it's really it's really unique, mate. And I have to say, because you I see a lot of footage on social media, you put the videos up of the girls on Instagram, and I have to say their form is spot on. Yeah, like they're all and and I you can almost see it only from the videos you show, but you can see that the confidence, and I mean, I know as a personal trainer, teach someone to lift, male or female, teach them to deadlift correctly, teach them to squat, teach your overhead press, the confidence that you build. Now I think it is worth mentioning that this looks different to to CrossFit. Now, not knocking CrossFit, but you've kind of got the hit cardio boot camp, yeah, harder is better, and then you've got CrossFit almost, it's got an element of conditioning to it, but there is there is weightlifting, but it's a different type of weightlifting, and it is there is a lot more skill-based, and obviously there's a variation. But this is somewhere kind of in the middle, isn't it? This is you know traditional strength training. And do any particular reason why you you you chose to go down this route? Why you you value strength training so much?

SPEAKER_01 51:18

Um because I believe it's undervalued by the general population. I think it's I think when people think about being healthy and being fit, all they think about is how fast can I run a 10k?

SPEAKER_02 51:29

Yeah, exactly. And it's like exactly.

SPEAKER_01 51:31

Um I mean when I went on my my um special forces selection course, the the guy there, he wanted us, he wanted us all to pass, he wanted us all to excel, and he wanted us all to sort of get through the through the course. And he said, by all means, do your running, do your cycling, do your swimming. But three things that I'd fully recommend are overhead press, a strict overhead press, squatting and deadlifting. Because he knew that those three things would build a strong core, build resilience, and get you through the course uninjured. Um and if it's good enough for if it's good enough for us guys, why aren't everybody doing that? So that so that's a special forces PT telling telling us who want to be the best of the best of the best, to lift weights. Right, and and if it's good enough for us, or if it's good enough for those guys, it's good enough for everybody. Because people when people think about unhealthy, somebody unhealthy, they just think of having too much body fat. But I would I would say that for every overweight person there is, there's just as many, maybe if not more, people who have too little muscle mass. And in fact, you know, you know what I'd I'd even say is those people who are overweight are probably overweight for one of the reasons that they have too little muscle mass.

SPEAKER_00 52:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 52:59

Um and yet it's something that's completely neglected. And you can do all these circuit classes and these boot camps and these age 47s, but your goal should be to build muscle. And if you're just running yourself into the ground and starving yourself, you're not doing either of those two things. You're not building muscle and you're not building a healthy body. Um, and that's what I'm trying to teach. And and you know what? The the ladies who have been in level up for about a year, two years, they look they look phenomenal. I mean, I'm not just saying it either, that they are like dream clients. I mean, they're so incredibly strong. I've got I've got one lady that's like deadlifting over 100 kilos for reps, I've got one lady that's squatting 80 kilos for reps, ladies that are walking lunging with 65 kilos on their back. I mean, these ladies are phenomenal, and as a result, they look phenomenal because I'm a big advocate of training for health rather than just training for what you look like, because you can look in the mirror and see exactly what you want to see, but it doesn't necessarily mean you're healthy or even happy. Um you see these these comparison photos or these before and afters, and the after photos, yeah, they're great, you've got big arms, you've got a six-pack, but you're desperately unhappy. Because to get like that, you've had to make sacrifices in your relationship, you've had to make sacrifices with your work life, you've had to make sacrifices in your social life. Like your wife's annoyed with you because you can't go to any social events because you're on a diet, she's annoyed with you because you're starving yourself so much you've got no sex sex drive. Yeah, like these these men or these women in these transformation photos in the second one, they might look great, but it doesn't mean they're happy.

SPEAKER_02 54:44

And I think it's so important. I mean, I'm I bang on about this a lot, mate. It's you know, muscle is the fountain of youth. Totally. It's like if you want to age well, and the bottom line is I say this to clients as well. So a lot of clients I trained in their 40s and 50s, and they're still obsessed about reducing, losing body fat, that number on the scale going down. And my approach, and I say this a lot to him, is like, tell you what, how about you weigh exactly the same as you do now in 10 years' time? Yeah, that'd be good, wouldn't it? And they go, oh, okay. Maintain muscle mass so you can move around the world. Because if you lose muscle mass, yeah, and your joints are not stable, you're setting yourself up for osteoarthritis.

SPEAKER_00 55:20

Totally.

SPEAKER_02 55:20

Arthritic knees, yeah. It's kind of like you know, ligaments, tendons, loss of stability in the hips. So building muscle is so important, but as you say, build it correctly, and I take it you, you're and I love the fact that you're doing a you know, three times a week, full-body programme. Yeah, and the skills that you're teaching these ladies as well, these are skills they have for life. Yeah, they understand the value of lifting, they've been taught by yourself, and you know, and that's it.

SPEAKER_01 55:45

And what's what's great that's come out of it is these ladies that have really embraced this this journey are like my mini PTs because they're asking me questions like, why is the program designed like this? Why is today's workout the way it's laid out? Why are we doing this exercise with this tweak? Why are we doing it with this adaptation? And they want to know more because they they've fallen in love with the process, and as soon as that happens, that's that's it, that's the dream. Um, that's when they look phenomenal, that's when they can perform phenomenally, and that's when they're at their happiest and their healthiest.

SPEAKER_02 56:21

Um it's amazing what you do. Now, in terms of you know, you were you were you were in the Marines and you've experienced some stuff physically, mentally. With the knowledge that you've accrued since you left the Marines, you know, so you've got probably got a different lens on training, you've learned stuff. Is there anything you'd you'd change? Because I've I've lots of my powers that are ex-forces, they're medical discharge. Yeah, they you know, they were tabbing and their knees were wrecked, and I met them on PT courses. But is there anything you would change now with the training? They said, alright, Anne, right, you come check the Marines. Top brass said, Gonna get involved in the training now for the Marines. Is there anything you'd change with the programme based on what you know now?

SPEAKER_01 57:03

If if my ambition was to go in there and get these 60 recruits to be the 60 fittest, strongest recruits, then there's a hell of a lot I'd change. A hell of a lot. I mean, we know that yeah, you've got to train hard, but you've also got to recover hard, and you you don't do that in training. So, would I change anything to create 60 of the fittest, strongest recruits? Absolutely, I change probably the whole thing. But if I were to create 60 of the best Raw Marines commandos, I probably wouldn't change anything. And and that's the thing, it's not about how fit or how strong you are at the end of it, it's about what you can do in your head and like what you're capable of in your mind.

SPEAKER_02 57:45

And in terms of skills that you transferable skills, now we talk about this a lot, don't we? What are the transferable skills that you bring from your last career? What sort of transferable skills do you think you you bring into your role now as a PT? So that all that experience you has a role with your mind, though.

SPEAKER_01 57:59

A couple of things spring to mind. So I've been around injuries, I've been around a lot of injuries, I've been around a lot of so my my last position was to work alongside guys that would drive a lot. They'd drive the tanks, they'd drive the lorries, they'd drive all the time. That was their job. They were drivers. And these guys who were sat down for extended periods of time, they'd all have all sorts of problems: knees, hips, backs, a lot of go. So I I became fully aware of the issues caused by inactivity, right? So, and I'd become very good at spying that and fixing that. So that's one thing that's come out of it. I know how I know how important your glutes are, your hamstrings, I know how important all that is. Um, but the other thing is of course, me just being a Royal Marines commander and working alongside Royal Marines, I know what intensity looks like because I've been pushed to like the brink and beyond. Um so I know what intensity looks like. So I know if someone's putting it on. I and I know that if I can get an extra 1% out of someone, that I know who they are. So if I've if I've got more-to-do deadlifts and or squats or whatever, and then I'm asking for the RPEs afterwards, and someone says to me, Oh, that was a 10. And I'll look at them and be like, No, it wasn't a 10. I know what a 10 looks like, because I've been there, I know what a 10 looks like. You've got nothing, you've got nothing left. It's you going to absolute failure, complete exhaustion. It's it's very fortunate that you were able to rack that bar back up afterwards. I've been to a 10, I know what a 10 looks like. That was a seven at most. So um I know when to push people, I know when not to push people, um, because I also know when people are maybe going too hard. Um, so I know I know what to look for.

SPEAKER_02 59:46

Yeah, fantastic. Now uh we're coming up on your time, man. So we've come up until an hour already. If uh someone is interested in getting involved in this uh level up program, um we'll put stuff in the show notes. They do these.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:00

There's websites and yeah, so um my website's being built currently, but they can find all the information they'd need to um on my Instagram or my Facebook, both have the same handle that's uh level up with ant white, and or they can just go to me directly and that's ant white coach.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:15

So now uh are you doing you do one-to-one training as well as a PT also, so people can do that. Um if someone was listening in another country and they fancied a bit of Ant White online, do you is that something because it's it's now part of our industry. Is that something that you can offer as well?

SPEAKER_01 1:00:30

Yeah, it is. I I don't I don't advertise it too much. Um I've only got a handful of online clients, but um I can write programs and I can online train someone. So um again, they can um hit me up on the same the same uh contact information, just go to at Anwhitecoach and they'll find me there.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:48

Amazing, mate. Uh I've I've really enjoyed talking to you, mate. I've known you, I've known you a while since I came to Duby. Our our you know, our partners work together. Um, but no, it's it's been really, really cool talking to you, mate. You're a top lad, and the work you're doing with level up is amazing. Thank you for your time.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:02

Thank you, Matt. Thank you.