Bear Grylls needs you …T O I M P R O V E YO U R L I F E . T H E W O R L D ' S G R E AT E S T A D V E N T U R E R I S AT P E A K P H Y S I C A L F I T N E S S — A N D H E ’ S F E E L I N G I N S P I R AT I O N A L .
Bear Grylls, it’s fair to say, is a man who makes things
AGE OF ADVENTURE
These days, Bear Grylls is a global megabrand. His TV shows have been seen by more than photoshoot during a tight window between his regular a billion people, and his biography was voted “Most Influential Book” in China in 2012. morning workout (more on that in a minute) and all the other But he’s also a father of three sons who hasn’t daily commitments that come with being a successful lost his love of adventure, and being in shape businessman, a best-selling author and one of the most is a top priority. How does he get that done? That’s what we’re here to talk about. recognisable TV stars in the world. Ten minutes later he’s “I’m itter now, at 41 years old, than I’ve ever in front of the camera, improvising poses, making suggestions been,” says Grylls, in between doing Turkish and joking with the team. This is someone who knows how get-ups with a 16kg kettlebell. “When I was training with the military, it was mostly about to get things done. endurance, so I never felt as strong then as I do now. After that it was climbing stuf, which was all endurance That’s not surprising: Bear Grylls has been getting things done for again, and then I did that classic male thing where I went to the most of his life. He learned to climb and sail young, got a black belt gym but never felt very it. Then three or four years ago Natalie in shotokan karate as a teenager and went hiking in the Himalayas and I started training. I’ve totally changed in shape, in itness level, after leaving school. He failed his irst try at SAS selection — too slow in basically everything during that time.” on one of the marches — but was invited back and made it second Natalie is experienced personal trainer Natalie Summers, time around. In 1996, he crushed three vertebrae in a parachuting who was training Olympians and rehabilitating athletes when she accident and was in danger of never walking again; a year later, started working with Grylls’ wife Shara. “It was actually Shara who he summitted Ama Dablam, a peak Edmund Hillary once described arranged it,” says Grylls. “And I thought it would be a girly workout, as “unclimbable”. After that, he climbed Everest, circumnavigated which was my irst mistake. I thought, ‘How can you train in half the British Isles on a jetski and crossed the North Atlantic in an hour?’ But it was revolutionary.” an inlatable boat. Grylls’ new training plan combines kettlebells, bodyweight Then he started really getting things done. moves and primal stretching in short, high-intensity workouts that 56
MEN’S FITNESS
APRIL 2016
Wo r d s Jo e l Sn a p e Ph o to g ra p hy Jo e l A n d e r s o n A r t d i r e c ti o n Pe d Mi l l i c h a m p
happen. “OK, who’s in charge?” he says, striding into our
