I have tried every sport I was half good at.

Rugby, Tennis, Football, Squash, Badminton, Table Tennis, Golf...

They were all fun and kept me at certain level of fitness (yup, table tennis can be sweaty when played right).

I have been a member of several gyms, cheap and cheerful, fancy and exclusive. Nothing stuck.

There was something singular about most of them, and the community ended up in the pub.

Nothing wrong with the pub, even now I enjoy them more than I used to, but just because you’re a golfer doesn’t mean you like other golfers, just because you play tennis doesn’t mean you like other tennis players and there are always 2 or 3 knob heads on the rugby or football teams (just being honest...)

In December 2022, 5 months before my wedding, I thought I needed to get in shape.

So I got a PT, 2 or 3 times a week and played football and tennis as my cardio. I still ate what I wanted and made some modest physical improvements, and I always remember saying that the 2 hours playing football every week are the only times I really switched off from my business and the outside world.

I was speaking to a (now good) friend at the gym and was openly talking to him about wanting more, to go to the next level.  Tennis wasn’t doing it for me, the football had got less ‘close everything out’ and the gym was enjoyable but not getting me anywhere outside of feeling my t-shirt fit a little better, or worse, I didn’t know. That's when he said to me

"have you heard of Hyrox? I think you’ll like it, what I know about you, your company, growth mindset"

In September 2023, I found functional fitness.

I went to my first class and seeing all the different shapes, ages and demographics in the room I started the class at 6am thinking I was fit. I ended it knowing I wasn’t.

That isn’t meant to scare anyone because I had a long term plan, it wasn’t meant to be easy but the size of the task was humbling.

The best bit was yet to come. Everyone in that class knew exactly how I was feeling at 7am. Nearly all of them came over to say "well done/you did great/it’s hard isn’t it"

11 months on, we train together in classes, run together, do interval sprints together and I have made genuine friendships because these people are all going through the same things I am from a training perspective. It’s meant to be hard.

If it was easy, everyone would do it and I wouldn’t form the friendships I have. I went to Edinburgh recently and met two guys who have done the same fitness races as I have and there was an instant respect between us, an instant sense of community.

All ages, shapes, sizes, colour, demographics and natural abilities take part in HIIT / functional fitness.

If you decide to do some racing that’s great but the community and inclusive nature of the exercise, pushing and pulling your body weight and occasionally adding weight to your body via different forms is the most accessible wherever you are in your journey.

That's why it’s our chosen weapon of choice.