Lately, my motivation for fitness has become solely revolved around combat readiness.

Perhaps it’s the constant geopolitical and “gun-tuber” content that constantly updates itself on my social media feed, but there is a niggling concern in the back of my mind about the state of the world.

As a child of refugees, there is always this small anxiety that lives in the lizard part of my brain. It’s the fear of losing everything due to human conflict.

Security. Comfort. Possessions. Home. Friends. Family. Lover. Country.

It happened once to my parents. Why can’t it happen to me too?

In what seems like back to back years, I’ve seen the eruption of warfare in two different regions of the world.

Ukraine & Gaza.

These two conflict zones are indicative of a strong change in the winds of warfare.

Drones rule the battlefield now. Whoever has the ability to command cheap disposable drones and use them to maximum combat effectiveness, now control the area of operations.

From using them in kamikaze attacks, conducting small, immediate searches of dangerous areas, to precise, minute by minute reconnaissance, drones have made the modern battlefield an uglier fight than it already is.

In what seems like a bizarre twist of irony, despite the advances of technology, weapons that were common in World War 1, are now being fielded again to use against drones. Fixed machine guns, rapid shotguns are now being used to take down drones, instead of their ancient counterparts (balloons and biplanes). Those same weapons are also being fielded in the trenches of Ukraine, or the tunnel systems of Gaza.

Warfare it seems has regressed and advanced at the same time. It’s bizarre, fascinating and horrifying to see history repeat itself.

All this knowledge about the state of contemporary warfare has left an undeniable mark on my psyche.

My paranoia about the world has been subtly increased due to all the information I am processing about wars and geopolitical clashes across the world.

This paranoid mindset has created a very dark motivation for me to get fitter and stronger.

For as the man in the photo above is often fond of quoting …. if you don’t get fit, you die.

Being functionally strong isn’t enough though. I need to be able to run long distances, possess good reflexes, sharpen my hand-eye coordination and be able operate my mind in high-stress situations, whilst trusting or overriding my body’s natural reactions.

It is about being as well-rounded a person I can become. Improving everything overall, not just focusing on one element.

That is why I do circuit training. I like to hit everything at once, and really push my limits. I never know when I need to push something, run somewhere, drag an object, climb an obstacle or exceed my mental limits. But the point here, is that I am ready to activate the proper muscles when I need to.

And I push myself even further, because my body weight isn’t enough. Yes, I’m already a heavy individual, but adding on the extra 6kg plate carrier that stimulates the normal weight of plates, is just a small taste of the things I need to do when shit hits the fan (SHTF).

After all, if society does truly collapse, there is no point in me being able to just push myself with nothing on me. No, I need to prepare my body in getting used to extra weight, whether it’d be body armour, the hand of my partner and child, or hauling extra supplies across vast distances.

These are important factors that really stick with me, every time I go out to train now. I’m motivated by a paranoid desire to protect those around me, by being strong enough to take care of myself and them.

To invest in my fitness, is to invest in my survival and future.

Even though, I live in a country that has is far away from anything, a city that is beautifully pristine and a house in a safe neighbourhood, I’m always aware that everything can be stolen from me, because of a bully, a dictator, a psychopath or a truly desperate individual.

And it is those desperate people, that I fear the most, because they are the ones who will do absolutely anything to survive, even if it means walking over my corpse.

Where once I was focused on getting lean and fit for a race-car, the motivation now is about being physically strong with a strong emphasis on stamina.

If there is anything I’ve learned about the men who serve in special forces, is that they all possess a freakish level of endurance and pain tolerance.

They come in all shapes and sizes, tall, short, muscular, skinny, lean or having a bit of survival weight on the belly.

But one thing is true amongst them all … they have an unholy amount of willpower to tough it out in the most extreme conditions. That incredible willpower is boosted by an individual’s operator high level of fitness.

In other words, the fitter, tougher and stronger you are, the more willpower you can put aside for when things get really shit.

It’s a performance booster.

Where once, when you were not the fittest, you could only push to a certain limit, now, at the height of your physical prowess, you can exceed and outpace that previous limitation.

This is why most of my exercise lately have been revolving around circuits. I don’t just do the exercise in isolation anymore. Instead I combine them, so I never quite get a rest.

Jump Rope for 2 minutes

x20 Bench Dips

x20 Incline Push Ups

Dead Hang for 1 minute

x5 Chest Dips

x20 Incline Sit Ups

x20 Squats (Bodyweight)

Run 500 metres.

Rinse and repeat for a total of x5 circuits.

Cardio, strength, core and stamina. They are all targeted ferociously in my workout, and I do my utmost to keep all these exercise within a 10 minute window.

The part I hate the most, is the run. It’s uphill, and never fails to rob me of my breath after all the exercises I’ve done before.

But running is the most crucial skill I need to learn. Running will help me run away from drones, artillery, and anything else I need to face in a modern war. Running will keep me alive to fight another day. Running will let me see my family again.

This is why I always throw it in and the distance will continue to grow in the coming months. Soon, it won’t be 500 metres up a hill once, it will be 1 kilometre up a hill twice.

Because there is no point in staying stagnant. If I want to be fighting fit for a war, I need to destroy my personal limits and reach deep for something truly inhuman inside of me.

That is the only way I can protect my partner, my family and my friends.

This motivation to get fit has never felt so sustaining. It’s such a deeply personal reason, that it marries both the caveman brain inside of me and the rational mind that is living in the 21st century.

And nothing will frighten me more to get fit, than the thought of losing everything I hold dear.

To make the record clear, I’m not doing all of this training to fight a war in another foreign land.

I’ve made peace with the fact that I’m too old to enlist, and the fact that I’ve never felt comfortable fighting people who have never done me wrong personally, on behalf of a government who never really had my best interest at heart.

I will never pick up a gun to get into a fight that isn’t on my home soil. If someone comes here, to my home, then I will fight with everything I have.

But to fight overseas and potentially die there, isn’t and will never be on the cards for me.

I’ve got my own home to protect, as do the supposed foreign enemies of the “state.”

No, I’m getting fit, getting strong, getting tough for my own selfish reasons.

I’m here to protect what I have, and that’s all that matters to me.

Life can be simple when we want it to be, and I’ve decided to cast aside all the useless factors that used to cloud my thinking.

The mantra is simple:

Get fit, to protect yourself and those who you holds dear.

That’s the mission. That’s the motivation.

That’s the endgame.

So let’s get strong for those around us. They’re depending on you to do your part.

~ Damocles.