Startup Founder Fitness Routine: Gym, Open Water Swims & Mental Clarity Hacks

0:00Morning all. Well, I thought I would do

0:02a slightly different vlog this week. And

0:06I'm always talking to you. Typically in

0:08the mornings is when I get most of my

0:09shots in. And I'm usually doing some

0:11level of uh I guess sporting activity of

0:14some sort. And I thought I would

0:16actually go over kind of what I do and

0:18why I do it. Now, I do a lot of physical

0:22activity. And I'm a big believer in um I

0:25don't think it's a concept, but we'll

0:27call it a concept. concept of this

0:28corporate athlete. A corporate athlete

0:31being someone who just generally

0:33basically takes care of themselves and

0:35pushes themsself both in the kind of

0:38corporate space but also physically as

0:40well because it's so incredibly

0:44important that you know to go far in

0:47work you are physically and mentally at

0:50the best and the peak ability that you

0:52can be. And so it really comes down to

0:55like how are you then looking after your

0:56mental health and how are you looking

0:58after your physical health? Because if

1:01the two aren't aligned, I can certainly

1:03tell you that whether you run your own

1:05business or whether you just are working

1:07another business in some shape or form,

1:09it won't be good. You won't be at the

1:13best that you can be. And so I believe

1:15that you have to treat yourself like a

1:17corporate athlete, i.e. just like an

1:20athlete. and really start to think about

1:23your routine when it comes to physical

1:26activity. And so what I tend to do is I

1:29tend to basically work out every morning

1:32and that comes in many different shapes

1:34and sizes. Typically though for me it's

1:36either going to the gym and doing a

1:39level of uh kind of functional fitness

1:41workouts. So there's a combination of

1:43like high rocks and uh general Olympic

1:46weightlifting. Fun fact, I used to do

1:47Olympic weightlifting uh for Wales back

1:51in the day. And the other is swimming

1:54and triathlon stuff. So, I'm obviously

1:55training for Iron Man is the long-term

1:58plan. And so, I get a lot of cycling and

2:01swimming in in the morning and the

2:03evenings as well. So, join me on this

2:06adventure this week where I'll show you

2:08some of my training clips. Um, but

2:11really think about that. How can you

2:13position yourself as a corporate athlete

2:15and are you looking after yourself the

2:18utmost uh in that regard?

2:25[Music]

2:39Morning everyone. Another bright and

2:41early start to the day. We are 5:45

2:45to at the moment. It's a Wednesday

2:47morning and the training continues. This

2:51corporate athlete mindset continues. And

2:54today we're going to the sea. Um we're

2:56going to a place called Bud where

2:58there's a sea uh which is just like a a

3:01naturally made pool by the sea which is

3:03pretty epic. Um and we're going to swim

3:05about a kilometer today. I twinged my

3:08back recently in the gym, so we're going

3:09to take it a little bit easy. Typically,

3:11I'm trying to go flat out on this K

3:14front crawl. Um, but today we're going

3:16to be just doing kind of breaststroke

3:18and uh probably a little bit more of a

3:20chilled 1k swim. And I think what's

3:23really cool about doing this is it like

3:25it sets you up so incredibly well. Like

3:28nothing really for the day. Swimming

3:31beats going to the gym in my opinion. um

3:34for like just feeling like refreshed and

3:35like uh invigorated. But my general kind

3:39of process which you'll see from this

3:41video is Monday, Tuesday gym, Wednesday

3:44swim, Thursday, Friday uh gym, Saturday

3:47swim, Sunday rest. And that's kind of

3:49like the um kind of training philosophy

3:52that I adopt. Sometimes the gym is

3:54switched for a run. Typically on the

3:57weekends I'll also get a run in as well.

4:01[Music]

4:11So, I live in North Cornwall, which

4:14basically means that the sea, as you can

4:15see behind me, is super rough. So, it's

4:18really good for surfing. Uh, so you can

4:20come here surfing on the weekends and

4:21stuff like that. But when you're wanting

4:23to get some just kind of general fitness

4:26in, you swim some lengths, it's a little

4:28bit challenging to do like proper open

4:30water swimming. It's not hard, but it's

4:32annoying sometimes when you're just

4:33getting nailed by waves. And so this is

4:35why the sea pool, let's have a look, is

4:37really really handy because from here to

4:41there is just shy of 100 m. It's about n

4:45I think it's like 93 m. So basically,

4:48we'll just go back and forth, get a K

4:49in. What have we got in the bag? Let's

4:51go through my my bag of like sports

4:53equipment goodies. Well, first of all,

4:56we have this thing which is pretty cool.

4:57This isn't for today, but it's like a

5:00portable like scuba tank. So, I do a lot

5:02of this stuff on the weekends. I'll go

5:04and do some fun like uh snorkeling and

5:06things like that with that. And then,

5:08let's just open this up here. Hold on.

5:10Taking you closer to the wall. Okay,

5:13we've got this towel robe thing, which

5:16is super handy for when I get out. Just

5:18hang that on this peg here. We have a

5:20swim cap because I have long hair and so

5:24I find it really hard to swim without

5:25that. And then we have some goggles and

5:27I'm one of those people that wears a

5:29swim cap. So I look like a giant condom

5:32on top of my head, especially because

5:34it's gold. Look like a bald condom. Um,

5:37and then we have what else do we have?

5:39We also have like these more kind of

5:41professional goggles or snorkel mask,

5:44whatever you want to call it. That's

5:45when I'm doing the scuba stuff. So yeah,

5:48there we go. Anyway, I'm going to go get

5:49at it. Let's go for it.

5:55[Music]

6:10Okay, guys.

6:12Session done. It was all right. I I've

6:15had a week off. So, I always find that

6:17when you have a week off and get back

6:18into it, you feel a bit

6:21One thing that actually did get me

6:24thinking in that session just now was

6:25with swimming in particular, you're just

6:27staring down into kind of this dark blue

6:30abyss. And it really made me think, I'm

6:32not a one for meditating. I don't really

6:34do that. Tried it, but just find it

6:37hard. And uh I think sport in itself is

6:40like a form of meditation.

6:42It's really interesting that like when

6:44you're doing this, you realize that you

6:46just get kind of get lost in your

6:47thoughts as you're working out, as

6:50you're running, as you're swimming. And

6:53it's I think that's why sport's so good

6:56for mental health is it's like a natural

6:59form of meditation and whatever really,

7:04I guess. Uh, and so if you're not into

7:06that type of thing, like meditating and

7:08stuff like that, then sport is an

7:10excellent release. And I was just

7:13thinking that now, like I was getting

7:14lost in my thoughts, thinking about

7:15things, and I feel so good for it, you

7:18know? So do it. Do it.

7:41Right. So, this week we have covered a

7:43few things. We've covered going to the

7:45gym. We've covered swimming. Did a bit

7:47of running. I don't think I filmed that.

7:49And this weekend we're going to do some

7:51cycling as well. So, we've covered a lot

7:53of the basis. Now, let's talk about

7:54something else that I also focus on and

7:56that's nutrition and supplements. Okay.

7:59So, I take these also really really

8:00seriously. The first thing is I buy very

8:03high quality food. I'm pretty passionate

8:06about that. I definitely think it makes

8:08a massive impact and you are what you

8:10eat. In particular, I focus a lot on

8:13fermented food because it's super good

8:15and gut health is incredibly important,

8:18more than most people realize. The

8:20second is let's focus on supplements.

8:22Like what do I take? It's not actually

8:24that crazy. We have multivitamins, we

8:26have magnesium. You got to be particular

8:28in the type of magnesium that you're

8:29taking. And we also take creatine and

8:34some uh protein as well. That's

8:37typically what I take. Sometimes we go

8:40through some stuff called like ashander

8:41if we wanted to. Um sometimes we have

8:44some stuff called Tongar Ali if we

8:46wanting to really push the uh workouts

8:49and what I'm doing. And I also take some

8:51more stuff to help with gut health and

8:53things like that as well. But nothing

8:55massively crazy and untoward uh there.

9:00So that is like an overview on this

9:02week's kind of health and well-being

9:05focus. I I don't meditate really or

9:08anything like that. I do journal. Um

9:10that's quite a big one for me. Like I'm

9:12quite I quite quite like to get lost in

9:15kind of my thoughts. So I do a lot of

9:16journaling. Meditation I find pretty

9:19hard to to do. So yeah, eat well, work

9:22out, do a bit of journaling, and you're

9:24going to be absolutely grand and you can

9:26kind of push through most things that

9:28these uh tough jobs these days kind of

9:30throw at you. So, I hope you enjoyed

9:32that. Bit of a weird one this week. A

9:34little bit different. Not much on

9:35triggery. Uh but I actually enjoyed this

9:37one quite a lot.

9:44[Music]