How did you get involved with Gladiators?
As a child, I was overweight, and I didn’t have any confidence. But I started getting into health and fitness after watching Gladiators [the original 1992 series]. When I was ten or 11, I started to think about healthy food and eating less. By age 16, I was really into fitness and sport. In my twenties, I started doing a programme called CrossFit, and I went on to do that professionally for ten years. I became the UK’s fittest man, and Gladiators called me.
What’s it like to be a Gladiator?
It is literally a dream job! There aren’t many shows that the adults enjoy as much as the kids, and that’s why it’s been such a big hit. Families sit together; they watch the show for an hour, and they all enjoy it. The games are amazing, the live shows are great, and the nation loves it. I dreamed of becoming a Gladiator, and I want to use that platform to inspire and motivate as many people as possible.
What do you eat now, and how much exercise do you do?
I train twice a day six days a week for an hour in the morning and longer in the afternoon. I eat about 4,000 calories a day. Although I eat lots of different foods, I always have the same thing for breakfast: a bowl of porridge, two bagels and six eggs!
Why did you launch Zactiv?
For my whole career, I’ve wanted to inspire people, so I created Zactiv. Being a Gladiator opens up doors, and I wanted to go into schools, meet children face-to-face and really make an impact. The team worked on Zactiv for about four months and then released it in June 2024. In our first year, we won an East Midlands Business Masters Community Impact award.
Zactiv focuses on five core values: healthy and balanced eating, exercise, confidence, mindset and hydration. I spend three hours at each school. The first hour is an assembly, followed by two hours of going around the classrooms, answering questions, signing pictures, having photos taken and talking to the children. Each child gets a free water bottle to help promote hydration. We also give them a leaflet to take home, inviting their family to a private Facebook group, where we aim to build a community around health and fitness. They get a Zactiv sticker too! Some 90 to 95% of our bookings come directly from PTAs. We’ve been to about 150 schools so far, and we are booked until September2026. So it’s super busy.
What’s next for Zactiv?
The workshops are just one part of Zactiv. If a kid goes home inspired and motivated but the parents don’t know how to feed them well or exercise, they come up against a bit of a barrier. So, we’re working on a few different things. There’s a PE app for schools and a Zactiv family app with workouts and nutrition plans. We’re also developing something called Zactiv School Day, an interactive library of videos to help children navigate their day, from videos to energise them in the morning to quick workouts for throughout the day and storytime videos for the evening. I want to inspire all families to examine every angle and find the best and healthiest lifestyle that’s right for them.
- Visit the Zactiv website.
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