I’m a 37 year old Dad to Drake – a boy – who is two and Derek – a dog – who is six (going on sixty).

Here we are. A motley bunch, huh?My Life Story

Originally I’m from a small village in the Midlands in England called Frisby-on-the-Wreake but I now call the Eastern suburbs of Sydney, Australia, home.

By day I’m a corporate desk-jockey, working as a fraud & identity consultant for Dun & Bradstreet in the Central Business District of Sydney. Somewhat nerdily, I enjoy crunching data, the power information, and investigating cases of fraud so enjoy what I do.

However, I’m also passionate about fitness & working out which is how Super Fit Dad came about:

a mission to remain as fit as possible under the time constraints imposed by a new family and a baby.

I’ve always been active. I grew up playing football (soccer) and tennis, both to a representative level and my choice of university was determined by the tennis program (I ended up going to Loughborough, a leading sporting university in the UK).

In my twenties, gym training took over along with casual football games and competitive club tennis, as well as a liberal appreciation for bars and nightclubs, until a ruptured ACL put all  sporting activities on hold.

It was during this period that running piqued my interest, specifically marathons and ultra-marathons (especially if they could be combined with a great holiday or weekend away).

Maybe it was an early mid-life crisis, maybe it was an inspirational book (Ultramarathon Man by Dean Kanarzes), but I became obsessed with testing my newly rebuild knee by running a marathon before my thirtieth birthday.

From a running base built solely on five-a-side soccer, it wasn’t easy and I remember well one of my early runs through a couple of neighbouring villages ending with me making an SOS call to my Mum from the village phonebox.

These were the days before Strava and Garmin but I assumed I’d covered a fair distance, in the region of 8-10 miles, perhaps. The odometer on the way home told a different story – a measly 3.2 miles. This was going to be hard work.

But I persisted and have completed 12 marathons and ultra-marathons on roads, trails and mountains on three continents.

Moving to Sydney in 2010, primarily driven by a deep-rooted desire to live a more active lifestyle, provided the catalyst to really ramp up my fitness endeavours. The running schedule was maintained but exposure to Crossfit, bootcamps and HiiT kept things varied, and it was this combination that really intrigued me.

Being ‘Super Fit’, for me, means being able to tick a range of boxes reasonably well.

I want to be perpetually ready to run a half marathon (at least) on any given day without any specific training; I want to deadlift double my bodyweight; I want to be able to crunch out 50 burpees in less than three minutes; And I want to walk on my hands for 10 meters.

Having these weapons at my disposal means I’ll be able to keep up with #superfitkid in whatever escapades he gets involved in. It also means I’ll look my best in and out of clothes, which, let’s face it, as a Dad is crucially important, whether it’s impressing your current spouse or someone new.

But, most importantly, the fitness journey – the act of committing to a schedule and working at it – and the discipline that it requires, but also the amazing rewards it returns and the mental benefits this offers is why I’m so passionate about training as much as I do. Earl Nightingale’s definition of success applies perfectly when it comes to Super Fit Dads:

Success is the progressive realisation of a worthy ideal.

I’m continually striving to learn new training modalities that will keep me ultra-fit and improve me as a person and a father. I’ve been lucky enough to have trained with some of the best and most innovative coaches in Australia and globally in disciplines such as:

Crossfit – Chad Mackay, Ben Garard, Andrew Stowe

Bootcamps – Chief Brabon

Long-distance running – Sean Williams (SWEAT Sydney)

Kettlebells – Steve Maxwell

Zuu / Ankorr – Andrew ‘Pap’ Papadopolous

Calisthenics – Keegan Smith, Primal Sydney

I figure if I can surround myself with experts like these and soak up even a tiny amount of their knowledge and skills, then my own fitness journey will continue to be exciting and interesting, and I can develop into a good role model for Drake.

[optin_box style=”15″ alignment=”center” email_field=”email” email_default=”Enter your email address” integration_type=”mailchimp” double_optin=”Y” list=”6302d88197″ name_default=”Enter your first name” name_required=”Y”][optin_box_field name=”headline”]Join The Super Fit Tribe[/optin_box_field][optin_box_field name=”paragraph”]PHA+SSdsbCBzaGFyZSB3aGF0IEkgbGVhcm4gd2l0aCB5b3UgdG8gaGVscCB5b3UgYmUgYSBmaXR0ZXIgRGFkLjwvcD4K[/optin_box_field][optin_box_field name=”privacy”]We value your privacy and would never spam you[/optin_box_field][optin_box_field name=”top_color”]undefined[/optin_box_field][optin_box_button type=”0″]I’m In – Send Me Useful Stuff[/optin_box_button] [/optin_box]