BEARING IT ALL
Bear Grylls says ‘I’m the scrawny kid who had to fight the school bully… I’m not naturally fit’
BEAR GRYLLS is on a mission to get the nation fit – and he would start with Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
The telly adventurer, who today calls for Brits to take a 40-day challenge to get in shape, says there is “room for improvement” in the PM’s efforts to shift his tum.
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Bear, 46, says: “Good for him, having the strength of character to say ‘I was too fat’. But when I see him running with a personal trainer it looks a bit soulless.
“I admire his spirit and he’s doing his best. He’s doing well but there’s room for improvement.”
Today Bear is launching a series of online fitness videos for YOU, Sun readers, based on Be Military Fit, the outdoor group exercise company he co-owns.
And he says he would love to see Boris getting stuck into one of his classes, which are run by ex military personnel.
Bear adds: “He’s a people person, so I’d love to see him in a BMF class. He’d love the banter and the fun.
“We all need a bit of help and I think we could help him, and millions of other people, to feel empowered and get fit.”
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As the nation emerges from lockdown, Bear says it is more important than ever to get active and healthy to beat the virus for good.
Outdoor group exercise starts on Monday, and with gyms still not due to open until April 12, and indoor group exercise not allowed until May 17 at the earliest, he is urging us to get outside instead.
Bear says: “Training outside is going to be better for your physical and mental health than being stuck indoors in a gym on your own.
“You get the fresh air, the vitamin D and that little bit of grit.”
A super-fit ex SAS trooper, who scaled Everest aged 23, Bear says many people assume he is naturally motivated.
But he reckons the opposite is true and that being “Bear” doesn’t come naturally.
‘You have to go through failing’
He says: “I am not one of these people who is naturally fit, naturally super-positive. I never have been.
“But for me, I have learned to just choose the good stuff.
“I know I need motivation and encouragement.”
Some days that means feeling like he can’t be bothered to get up and get moving.
The TV adventurer adds: “I can’t remember when I didn’t have a day like that. I had those days all through the military. I had them all through expeditions.
“Life is hard, but that’s OK. I’ve learned to choose the good stuff and put it on like clothes every day.”
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Chief scout Bear first decided to get fit and strong when, as a “small and scrawny” eight-year-old, he was regularly beaten up by the school bully.
He recalls: “There was one bully at school, a really big kid, who would target a whole bunch of us.
“Eventually I thought, ‘I am going to get smart’. I took up karate and decided to keep going to classes for as long as I needed before I stopped getting thumped around.
“I became the second youngest black belt in the country.”
Bear says he is now grateful to the bully for “getting me started on my fitness journey”.
It was a path that would lead him into the military, following in the footsteps of his beloved father Sir Michael Grylls, who served as a Royal Marine and was a Brigadier in The King’s Royal Hussars.
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Bear, whose dad died of a heart attack in 2001 after serving as a Tory MP between 1970 and 1997, said: “Because my dad had been a commando I always thought I would love to do that.
“It was a real aspiration for me growing up and I didn’t do university. I left school and joined the Army as a soldier, not as an officer, and it was the best thing I ever did.”
Bear spent three years as a soldier in the British Special Forces, as part of 21 SAS Regiment, first as a trooper than a survival instructor. He was trained in unarmed combat, desert and winter warfare, survival, climbing, parachuting and explosives and was posted twice to North Africa.
A free-fall parachuting accident in Africa ended his military career, as he needed months of rehabilitation after breaking his back in three places.
But while he is now known as one of the toughest blokes on telly thanks to his SAS background, Bear reveals that he almost didn’t make it into the Special Forces.
He says: “I failed SAS selection the first time round. People don’t often realise that. I was really devastated because I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, I gave up so much for this but still I’ve failed’.
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“But I went back and did it again and passed. You have to go through failing, it builds resilience.
“Now when I look back the pain and fatigue and fear is long gone. You just feel proud of a job well done.”
After the SAS Bear took on a series of daring expeditions, from breaking a world record by hosting a dinner party at 25,000ft suspended from a balloon to rowing naked along the Thames in a bathtub with his pal Charlie Mackesy.
Then he found telly fame bringing his survival skills to the wider public, and hosting wild weekends with celebrities from former US President Barack Obama to his latest guest, England rugby union world cup hero Jonny Wilkinson.
While a lot of his more extreme tips — from sleeping inside a dead camel to surviving a desert sandstorm to making a good breakfast from worms — won’t apply to most of us, Bear says it is important to know what to do if the worst happens.
He says: “Survival skills are another weapon in the arsenal of life. Most people who have been through horrendous scenarios, like a plane crash or tsunami or avalanche or whatever, never thought it would happen to them.
‘Make good choices’
You don’t have to go overboard but some simple survival knowledge is as important as having good physical fitness.”
While shows such as Wild Weekends and Running Wild take up a lot of his time now, Bear says a bit of his heart will always belong to the military.
Hence his investment in Be Military Fit, with an ex Army pal.
BMF sees former service personnel run group classes in parks across the UK, and is now the biggest outdoor fitness company in Europe.
But if you think it involves slogging your guts out in the mud while being yelled at by an angry Ant Middleton type, think again.
Bear confirms: “I think initially people were nervous of being shouted at, but we stripped all that away and kept the positives of the military environment, the sense of camaraderie and spirit.
“It’s great to see how it’s struck a chord with all sorts of different people. Women, older people, even kids all getting involved.”
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A keen follower of the programme himself, Bear says he spent lockdown joining the online versions of the classes from his home in Wiltshire, where he lives with wife Shara and sons Jesse, 17, Marmaduke, 14 and Huckleberry, 12.
Now he is itching to get going again with the real deal — and hopes YOU, our army of Sun readers, will join in with the exclusive BMF videos he is sharing on our website.
He says: “You have to make good choices for your life. It doesn’t have to be dramatic, crazy things, just simple good choices, little building blocks that lead to a stronger, happier, healthier, fitter you.”
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Not that Bear can claim not to ever make occasional bad choices himself. He says he’s “made a ton of them” and that he is a “work in progress”.
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So what is his No1 bad habit? His answer might surprise you.
He said: “I eat my toenails straight off my foot into my mouth — and that’s just the tip of a very big iceberg!”
Get a free video session
BE Military Fit classes focus on pushing you to your limit – or what you think is your limit – to burn calories and hit your goals.
Expect exercises that will improve cardio, strength and tone – such as lunges, burpees and push-ups with a salute.
The ex military trainers are all about motivating you to push yourself – but you can have fun at the same time.
Sun readers can claim a free session at bemilitaryfit.com/the-sun.
And if you’d prefer to work out at home, head to mcb777.fun to try Bear’s exclusive series of videos – for FREE.
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