A surfer turned soldier found that years in the water built the strength and mental toughness that made basic training easier than expected. Pull-ups and push-ups came naturally; his father, who had indigenous heritage, taught him the discipline that stuck.
Chapters
I think that the advantage I had going into the military, maybe on other soldiers, I'd already had that mindset there of the physicality of it, of course, and just that real mindset of surfing, you know, every day and the competing. And I think I went there thinking that I was maybe going to be one of the more unfit people there because I wasn't doing much running and things like that. But I soon realized when I joined the army that I was actually, I was fitter than most of the people around me. Just from that natural core background of that upper body strength and, you know, pull ups and push ups and that sort of stuff, I found quite easy because it was years and years and years of conditioning. Yes. And, and there's something even to this day that I've just retained. It's like a muscle memory that I've retained, you know, so it's. Yeah, it's a. But it definitely had a big impact. And, and, and like I said, learning from my father, who was a great, great man, and, and of course, with my dad's side, my dad's indigenous on his side of the family.