Steve Denby is the founder of Primal Roots, a social enterprise that believes in the restorative power of fitness and nature as a tool to achieve more than just improvements in health and wellbeing. We talk about training in the woods, the joy of burpees, the benefits of nature and fitness for people struggling in life, as well as cocaine addiction, adoption, racism and meditation.
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SHOW NOTES
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- www.primalroots.org.uk
- Steve also teaches meditation classes
- If you say you’re too busy for something, that means it’s not a priority to you.
- He hasn’t met anybody who won’t benefit from meditation
- If you get 1-second of emptiness in a 10-minute session that’s successul
- Headspace – https://www.headspace.com/
- He has spent a lot of life working both in gyms and outdoors
- You wake up in a box, you go to work in a box… and eventually they carry you away in a box
- Linear muscle-building in not functional in any way
- Humans are designed to pull, climb, push, roll, lift awkward shapes
- For 51, I’m a fit young man
- Deadlifting logs, leaping over logs, push-ups, running in the woods
- Your body goes back to its roots, goes primal
- Groups – competitiveness, camaraderie, conversation
- No judgement – a big mixture of fit people and unfit or overweight people
- Primal Roots target unfit people
- Taking mirrors away would help more people feel comfortable in gyms
- Primal Roots is a social enterprise. It attracts paying customers who go towards supporting non-paying customers
- They support vulnerable adults caught up in addiction and repetitive behaviours. Also homeless people.
- Porchlight, Homeless charity – https://www.porchlight.org.uk/
- Do training sessions in prisons as well
- Appreciates the benefits of barefoot exercise
- All the sessions are together, a mixture of paying and non-paying customers
- Push to the edge of the comfort zone and emotional things happen – people start to open up and connect
- Primal Roots are not the solution, but they are part of the solution
- People like to belong to something
- Was a functioning cocaine addict for many years
- We talked about the barriers to the outdoors Steve faced as a non-white man
- Noticing an increasing number of black people joining Primal Roots
- Promoting well-being, fitness, fun, community, healthy eating, feeling good (and by the way you’ll lose some weight too)
- The Scouts were Steve’s intro into the outdoor world. The Scout leaders were his inspiration
- Used to use a projection of wealth to impress people. Now his ambition is to leave a legacy for his children to say “Dad, I’m proud of you”
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