Sam and Ben trace their exercise habits from childhood—Ben's speed discovered in a primary-school sprint, Sam turning to the gym at 16 during a tough time—and how their competitive rivalry became mutual support. As business owners, they now use running, gym sessions, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu to manage stress and boost performance.
Chapters
One shot. Today, Ben and I are going for a run. You ready?
Yeah. Let's go. Hey, wait for me! So something you should probably know about both of us, we have always been pretty fanatical about exercising. My love of exercise really started many years ago in primary school. I was running on a sports day, my first ever 100-meter sprint, And I realized for a little blonde kid with tiny legs, I was actually pretty fast.
And for me, it started a little bit later. I was 16 years old. I had just left school, only had a couple GCSEs to my name. And if I'm being honest, it was a pretty tough period of my life.
I felt lost.
I had no direction. So I started going to the gym. I went every single day, religiously, sometimes twice a day. Oh my God, how much is that now?
15, 20 miles, maybe 30, I'm not sure.
Yeah, I feel good.
Yeah, let's go to the coffee shop.
Yeah, let's go.
Part of the reason why Sam and I love exercise is because we're quite competitive. Competitive by nature. Back in the day though, that would turn things sour pretty quickly. When Sam and I played against each other, it would always end in arguments. But I'd like to think we've become a little bit more mature since then. You got a hole under your fucking knee.
So fast forward to today, and Ben and I are doing more exercise than ever, especially as we run our own business. If you're a business owner, you'll relate to this. It's extremely stressful, time-consuming, and it can take up a lot of mental energy. Ben and I just need one gym session or Brazilian jiu-jitsu session on a stressful day and it completely resets us. Keeps us happy, it grounds us, and it makes us perform better the next day.
Mate, I'm knackered.
Oh God, it's been a long day.
So look, I know we said that we're fanatical about exercising, and we are, but we've walked like 5 miles today, so we're driving home. Let's go, Sam.
Remember, keep exercising. Okay, what's the quickest way home? This way?
Yeah, you can go up this way. Basically, you want to go up towards Highgate.
What do you say, Brooke?
Oh look, they got— they got a balls cover. If you have a look. Where? Just over here. I think there's like a day— I don't know what is going on, like a party or a— oh, I love balls. Remember we used to play it back in France?
I do remember.
It's really actually quite a tough game, harder than it looks.
Yeah, I remember the days of playing football back in the day. Keepy-uppies, red arse.
Oh bloody hell, red arse, that was so bad.
One bounce. So whoever doesn't know, red arse is Basically one bounce, you have to keep the ball up in the air. Whoever drops it has to line up on their own and get the ball smacked in their bum. It's not very pleasant, is it?
We played against someone called Ben B, who had a mad shot, just like ridiculously powerful. You just never wanted it, it was terrible. For those of you that don't know, this is called a side shot, and this is what me and Sam are preparing right now. A side shot, basically we want to pretend that we're running a lot when we're actually not.
