Introducing Ben

Ben is an ultra-running, audio-book listening, beard wearing coach. 

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He's a corporate accountant escapee, who traded in the 9-5 in pursuit of a brighter, more exciting life.

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And he found it - under a different array of titles. An avid learner, Ben is a Personal Trainer, Strength & Conditioning Coach and Co-active Personal Growth coach.

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He loves nothing more than having races in the calendar and a clean kitchen!

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Ben's story:

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I was born in London in May 1982 where I lived out my first few years.  Mum used to take me on endless walks around various city parks convinced that I needed the newly filtered air from the surrounding plants and trees. Mum and Dad didn’t want to raise me in the city and following some changes with Dad’s work we moved to Oxford briefly and on to Wokingham where I spent the bulk of my childhood. 

 

I left school having had a short attempt at Economics, Maths and Politics A-Levels.  Eventually deciding that driving a forklift for £800/month was a much better idea.  I slowly worked out that wasn’t enough to live the life I wanted especially if I wanted to not live with my parents forever.  So, I moved up to various other slightly more skilled jobs until one day just before I turned 21 my Mum told me that once I turned 21, I would be considered a mature student if I still wanted to try going to university.  I looked around the car park and one of the best cars in the lot was the accountants, combining this observation with my natural ability at maths I decided to go the finance route. 

 

Having worked through some open university accounting courses and gained various character references I secured a place at Bournemouth University to study Accounting and Finance.  I secured a 1st class degree and a spot in the graduate scheme at Intel.  They sponsored me to continue my studies and over the next 3 years I gained finance experience and the designation of certified accountant with ACCA.

 

Finally, after another few years of various corporate jobs I realised that I had been working on someone else’s dream.  I was getting to work early and finishing late, giving my best energy and hours to a corporation for their gain not mine.  I was getting well paid but then spending that on things I didn’t really value to try and cheer myself up.

 

I also ballooned in weight to well over 100kg (~16 stone) and a lot of that was fat.  I wasn't particularly happy with the situation and eventually went and got myself a personal trainer.

 

The two things started to weave together; I had the idea of becoming a personal trainer.  Which evolved into a dream to help other people to lead a life of health and happiness.

 

Today I am a fully qualified PT with level 2,3 and 4 qualifications, fully qualified strength and conditioning coach as well as a Co-active trained Personal Growth Coach.  I am married with 2 wonderful, infuriating, amazing children.  I work daily to balance the joys of parenting and family with those of running my own business. 

 

I still work on my own habits daily to improve my health and happiness.  I love my physical training; it's always been the easier side of things for me. 

 

Over the last few years, I have fallen in love with running - and now I run Ultra distances. In 2021, my goals were to run 100 mile races, and in 2022 my goal is Project 200 - 4 x 50m races to achieve the 50 mile Grand Slam from Centurion Running. 

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You can follow Project 200 by clicking here.