Brendon Birch - Personal Trainer and Athlete Ambassador
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Please tell us about sporting events you have taken part in or have coming up.
I have come from a background of endurance sports mainly cycling, running and triathlon. Within these sports I have competed in 10km cross country county championships through to a 50km ultra marathon, multi distance cycling time trials and sportives, super sprint triathlons through to middle distance British championships and iron distance triathlons. I have also undertaken two fairly mammoth challenges, in 2012 completing a 365 day running streak covering 3000km and in 2014 cycling Lands End to John O'Groats in 2014 covering 956 miles in under 4 days.
During 2020/2021 COVID and the subsequent lockdowns and cancellations of races I took the decision to compete in the British triathlon Zwift racing series, Red Bull timed laps and the Lazarus Lakes 30,000 miles circumpolar Race around the world with a team of 10 that we completed on April this year taking 242 days.
Tell us about your journey to fitness? Where did it all start?
As a child I was always part of the sporting teams, including Cricket, Football, Rugby and Cross Country. I particularly enjoyed Cross Country and so threw myself into this eventually competing in the county championships. A serious knee injury while at university pushed me towards the bike during rehab and I fell in love. With the rehab on my knee involving the bike and swimming once I had the strength back the logical step for me was to dip my toe into triathlon with a local Nottingham club, and I haven’t looked back since. Competing in my first Iron distance race (Nottingham Outlaw) in my second season and then completing my British Triathlon coaching badges. The next step from this was to gain my fitness training qualifications, first my gym instructor and then my Personal Trainer qualifications. This enabled me to start my own Personal Training business, Athletic Endurance Personal Training, thus allowing me to pass on the love and benefits of health and fitness to others.
If you're interested in starting your own fitness journey, Sundried's Activewear is suitable for people of all abilities.
What are your training goals now?
Currently my goals are to get back to full fitness following a month ill with COVID and restart Middle distance Triathlon racing in 2022.
Tell us one unusual fact we wouldn’t know about you:
I lived in the South of France for 18 months teaching beginners surfing.
What advice do you wish you'd been given when you first started out?
Love the person looking back at you in the mirror.
Do you follow a specific nutrition plan? If so, what/when do you eat?
I follow a Plant based diet (Vegan) and try and just eat a balanced healthy diet.
What do you do to keep your clients motivated? Do you have any top tips to keep motivated?
I keep my clients motivated by making every session as fun as possible (damn hard but fun), because if you are having fun doing something why would you not want to do it? I also make sure that they are not hyper critical about themselves if they have a bad day or if they even struggle to get a session done. The guys I coach and train are not professional athletes they have home lives and work that intrudes on their training, that’s life. We draw a line under it and move on.
Talk us through your training regime.
My current training regime is:
Day 1 50km Tempo bike & evening 5km Tempo run (usually on zwift)
Day 2 Brick session day 30km bike 5km run 30km
Day 3 Structured run session 800m x 400m treadmill repeats
Day 4 Morning 50km Bike and afternoon Upper body strength & Yoga
Day 5 10km Tempo run & Afternoon structured swim session
Day 6 Brick session day 30km bike 5km run 30km
Day 7 Structured run session 800m x 400m treadmill repeats
Day 8 Morning swim & Afternoon Lower body Strength & Yoga
Day 9 recovery
Day 10 recovery
How do you keep your fitness knowledge up to date?
I am a member of CIMPSA and so have regular updates and CPD training from them I also keep in contact with a network of local, national and international trainers both gym based and Triathlon based constantly bouncing ideas.
What are your top 3 trainer tips?
- Consistency – Don’t look for quick fixes or a magic pill it’s not out there. Consistency is king
- Focus – Stay focused on what you are doing right now and how its going to get you to that end goal
- Knowledge – read around your chosen field of sport and /or fitness
If you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Bean chilli Burrito – everything you need Carbs, Protein, healthy fats and damn delicious too.
Why work with Sundried?
The ethical standpoint that Sundried take is massive for me and is the main reason why I would want to be associated with them plus the kit is pretty cool too.
Favourite fitness quote:
Park your ego at the door.
To hear more from our ambassadors and get free tips on workout plans and more, connect with the Sundried Personal Trainers on our app.
