JACKed Radio Jack Curtis

This week, I caught up with my good friend Paul Warrior. 



For those who know Paul already, you probably came across him through the world of crossfit, but Paul has so much more to offer than his input into that world alone. 



I first met Paul when he came to the gym I used to work at to speak with us about the way he approaches training and programming and I could tell that his approach was unique. What I found really interesting was how Paul thinks about training and programming much like an architect thinks about a project, with the end in mind and any number of tools at your disposal...it's about choosing the appropriate tool at the appropriate time and not limiting yourself to what you can choose from. 



We spoke about Pauls background and his journey into the fitness world from skateboarding as a young kid to discovering the renegade punk rock esque side of fitness through mark twight and to where Paul is right now with the projects and businesses he runs. 



Paul offers a really insightful view on how lockdown has impacted him too and how he has taken a lot of positives from this time in taking a step back and evaluating what is really important to him and where he wants to move in life. 



This is going to be the last episode of JACKed Radio for a while now, as much like Paul I'm stepping back to think about the next step for all of this. If you want to find more of Paul, you can head to Instagram and follow @paul_warrior__ @fendforyourself___ @campfire___ and @warriorprogramming to see the awesome work Paul and those around him are doing right now. 



So I would like to say a massive thank you to everyone who has liked, shared, followed, downloaded and given feedback so far! This is far from the end of what I've got planned, but for now it's time to recharge so we can come back with another set of fantastic conversations in season 2! 

This week, I am speaking with my good friend Dr. Emilie Bourke. 



Emilie is a clinical psychologist and over the years I have known her we have had many conversations about mental health, psychological wellbeing, practicing self care and looking internally to develop habits that help us to pursue values that mean something to us in a positive and productive way. 



Emilie provides a wonderful insight into breaking down how we can better take care of our mental health in this episode, despite me doing my best to put her on the spot with some pretty big questions (sorry Emilie!). 



We discussed ways in which we can take a step back and review the big picture of our mental health in a time when some of the ways we pursue the values we hold dear have been taken out of our lives by something external (e.g. no access to gym facilities during the coronavirus pandemic), ways in which we can look to build more resilience when it comes to our own mental health and how we can tie this all together in being kinder to ourselves more often so that when times get tough we are prepared with multiple ways of managing it. 



It was an absolute pleasure to have Emilie on the podcast and an episode I took a great deal from and have implemented since. I really hope you enjoy it too and as always please like, share, subscribe and review! 



Enjoy. 

Just over 3 years ago, Salman Abedi detonated a home made shrapnel bomb in the Manchester Arena in the deadliest attack since the 2005 London bombings. Martin Hibbert and his daughter were standing 10 metres away from the explosion when this happened. 



I am truly honoured to welcome Martin to the podcast today. I thank my mum for putting us in touch and I am thankful for Martin being so welcoming in speaking to me and being so open and honest about his experiences. 



Having only spoken a handful of times, I  am already in awe of what Martin has achieved and done since the incident. Martin has not only defied all the odds and learned to stand unassisted, with the help of Ken Ware at Neurophysics, but also raised over a million pounds to help those also recovering from spinal injuries. You can read more about Martin on the Spinal Injury Association page here: https://www.spinal.co.uk/martins-story/



We discussed Martins journey from the hours leading up to the explosion, the immediate aftermath and the ups and downs of his journey since then in a journey that has been both psychological and physical in achieving what some people told him was impossible.  We also touched on some of the unexpected friendships Martin has developed through all of this too. 



His attitude towards life is infectious, as is his determination in overcoming obstacles. The thing that struck me most while we spoke was how Martin applies himself to each situation he is in, focusing on the task at hand, finding a way and trying to find the positive side of things. 



I am certain this won't be the only time I speak with Martin on the podcast, although I've already said next time we do this it will have to be over tea and cake instead of zoom once we are on the other end of the Coronavirus Pandemic! 



I am truly grateful to be able to welcome Martin on to JACKed Radio. Please enjoy, follow and share this truly inspirational mans story around with those around you. 



You can find Martin on Twitter at: @MartinHibbert and on Instagram at: mr_martin_hibbert 

This week I spoke with one of my wonderful clients, Dr. Sarah Platt. I have had the pleasure of training Sarah for nearly 4 years now so it was fantastic to get her on the podcast to talk about what she does, especially considering the current circumstances. 



You don't really get much closer to the coal face of Coronavirus than working in Intensive Care right now, so I wanted to get Sarah's insight into what work has been like before, during the peak and where we are right now. I've found talking to Sarah nothing but reassuring through this entire thing (much like speaking with my mum and Julian, both previous guests on the podcast - it would seem that a lot of those in the NHS working against this share a view of both realism and pragmatism). 



We also spoke about what Sarah has been doing to take care of herself outside of work through this too. I think this would have been an interesting topic to speak about regardless of the current global environment, as Intensive Care by its very nature is...well....pretty intense from an outside perspective anyway. So given the fact that they've had an entirely new disease to deal with right now, this has come to the forefront of conversation even more. The contrast between working in full PPE gear compared to a quiet cup of tea was something I was really interested in speaking with Sarah about in this episode, so that's exactly what we did. 



Oh, and I forgot to mention...Sarah can also deadlift double her bodyweight for reps, knock out sets of 15+ press ups and has recently nailed chin ups too. Does your Anaesthetist even lift, bro? 



This was a fantastic listen for me, especially to hear how mindful Sarah has been about both her approach to work and self care and I think this is something a lot of us can get bags of value from. 



Enjoy. 

This week I had the joy of interviewing my mum, Dr. Ally Field. 

For those who haven't followed me for very long, me and my mum both went through a pretty transformative weight loss journey nearly 11 years ago now which led us down a path that today we are still exploring (albeit in very different ways!). 

My mum has also spent her career to date working as a General Practitioner (and a bloody good one at that!) in various NHS practices as well as other positions and continues to work in the field during the coronavirus pandemic. 

We discussed what it is like to work as a GP at this time, how work has changed and perhaps may well change for good and how this has impacted on her personal life too. It is a time of reflection for many of us, so we couldn't help but talk about where we may well find ourselves coming out the other side of this whole experience and how life in general might change too. 

After we got the Covid stuff out of the way, we decided to talk about what I mostly wanted to share with you all which is my mums amazing journey into improving her health and ultimately changing her life. After a tough few years for us all, mum made some big changes in her life and found herself pursuing a healthier way of living through mindfulness, taking care of her mental health and exercise. Me and my mum share a common trait when it comes to things like exercise though, in that once we get our teeth into it the cogs begin to turn and we begin to think about what the next level might be. For mum, that was her first marathon 2 days before her 50th birthday as well as more recently her first triathlon - both of which were to raise money for fantastic causes very close to her heart. (you can follow her friend Martin Hibbert who was a victim of the manchester bombings here: https://twitter.com/MartinHibbert?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor and I would highly recommend you do so as he is a fantastic, inspiring human being!) 

It was also a chance for me to ask my mum the big question that I have wondered on occasion, seeing her with tears of pain in her eyes at mile 19 of the London Marathon and lap 3 of Leeds city centre at the triathlon....why and how do you keep doing it?

This was a real pleasure for me and I feel very privileged to be able to share my mums story with you, as she was a massive rock for me going through my own life changing journey into fitness. 

Enjoy! 

And please pass it on to anyone else who you think would also enjoy it too! 

This is one I've been excited to do since I booked it. 



I've had the pleasure of knowing Jack for nearly 5 years now and have looked up to him from the early days in my career. I'm also lucky to call him coach these days and I can tell you from personal experience this man knows a thing or two about Strength. 



I wanted to share Jacks story with you, from his early days of sport as a youngster playing in national sides all the way to competing at Worlds Natural Strongest Man competitions all over the world as well as winning Britain's Natural Strongest man twice too. He told me about his inspirations and motivations through his Strength sport career and how these people and his experiences have influenced his life too. 



We spoke about how his experiences in Strength sports have shaped his life and career, as well as his ethos as a coach and how this all feeds in to his gym Spartan Performance. The environment at Spartan is like no other and we spoke about how that has come to be through the passion and dedication Jack has put into developing it over the years. 



Last year, Jack also published his book 'Spartan Strength' which I cannot recommend highly enough. I can speak from personal experience, not only from being coached by Jack but also from the time I've spent learning from him during various trips to Spartan over the years, that this book is absolutely packed with value. If Strength is your goal, Jack is your man. 



You can get your copy here: https://spartanperformance.co.uk/spartan-strength/



Jack goes in to how he has taken the Coronavirus Pandemic head on when it comes to his Spartans, leading from the front and still making sure it is business as usual for his members when it comes to their goals. 



I wrapped this up by asking Jack what advice he would give to those pursuing their own journey of strength....and to find out his words of wisdom you'll have to take a listen ;) 



Enjoy.