Utrinque Paratus - Ready for Anything!

There is a groan, there is sweat all over your t-shirt and you feel like the pain is never going to stop. You have me shouting and pushing you to do one more length of the sprint track with the weighted sled. You have two options...stop and fall to floor while gasping for breath and give up the fight, or pull yourself together and push yourself past the pain threshold with your head held high, knowing that this is what it takes to achieve superlative results. Which option will you choose?

My name is Glenn Parker and I am a senior Personal Trainer for Ultimate Performance London. Before becoming a Personal Trainer, for five years I jumped out of planes in dangerous places for a living, serving with British Army with the parachute regiment. To enable me to be able to wear the elite maroon beret I had to develop and constantly delve into my own resources of courage and determination.  This has proven to be a massive advantage in my work with personal training clients as I pass on my own energy and vigour to help all my clients, from middle-aged housewives to hungry young rugby players, achieve their own unique personal bests.

My experiences in 3 Para took me to hostile places like Sierra Leone as a peacekeeper in extreme situations and having to deal with active combat whilst prioritizing the safe removal of casualties and civilians.  Serving my country had been my life’s goal as a young boy and I got to achieve my dream.

Much like a personal training client starting the daunting process of dropping 3 stone and regaining their youthful physique, the road to becoming a fully fledged Paratrooper was not for the faint hearted. To be selected as a soldier in the parachute regiment requires 60 weeks of relentless training.  One particular week is worth telling you about.  I was based in Harrogate and Catterick in North Yorkshire and at week 56 I completed the pre-para selection course also known as P-Company or “Hell Week”.  You may have seen this on the various TV documentaries that track Para training.

On this week’s course we received points on how much courage and determination we showed.  One task in particular was a 20 mile bergen march while carrying all my survival kit, my webbing, my weapon and ammunition placed along my neck. You could say that I was a little bit weighed down, and at the time I was less than 10 stone dripping wet. The march had to be completed in driving snow and high winds over the hills of the Brecon Beacons in Wales. We started in a pack of about 32 trainees and after the first 10 miles I was already shattered and cursing the blisters on my hands and back where the weapon was held and the bergen was carried.  I was sweating and very dehydrated, my feet were bleeding and I was being shouted at constantly. There were so many times when I wanted to stop and just say go home but one voice inside me said keep going and you can achieve your dream. One week later I was walking around with the beret of a parachute regiment soldier. I had achieved my goal.

Now training to be a Para and starting a personal training programme is not the same in execution, but like myself you will have to go through a psychological change and start thinking about yourself differently. All of our personal training clients who achieve spectacular results have one thing in common – they force themselves outside of their comfort zone and change ingrained eating and exercise habits that have held them back for a lifetime.

Now let's go back to my question at the beginning of this article, what way do you choose. To give up or sit down and say you can't do no more or carry on that 1 more length of the track and take a step to achieve what you have set out to do. It is your choice but I know if you are reading this article you will make the right one.

I hope by reading about my own experiences will give you a little bit extra encouragement. You will require courage and determination  but by working with us here at UPFitness we pride ourselves on knowing we will help you along the way to success.