Ben Turner is a real-life man of the mountains. Since starting his outdoor career as a Physical Training Instructor in the Army, Ben’s been passionate about physical fitness and exploring the world’s extreme mountain environments.

As well as winning international military competitions, he has led mountaineering expeditions in remote and dangerous places including South Africa and the Himalayas. Ben has also completed a series of impressive endurance challenges including a 3373-kilometer solo bikepacking trip around Iceland and 16 marathons in 16 days in all 16 National Parks in the UK. During his travels, he developed a keen interest in exploring the limits of what the human body can do. The most important lesson Ben learned is that exercise should be a celebration of what the body can do, and he set out to learn how to adapt the body to not only become adventure-ready and expedition fit but fit for life.

Now a Level 4 Personal Trainer and MNU Certified Evidence-Based Nutritionist, Ben is on a mission to change the way fitness and nutrition are taught. We dig into the juicy deets and how you can transform your own fitness, prepare for adventure and get fit for life, just by starting from where you are.

Be prepared to be inspired to up your game!

Dan Yates has been passionate about white-water kayaking for over 30 years. He’s travelled to some of the wildest and remotest landscapes on earth and has had some incredible adventures, including being lost on the Tibetan Plateau with no food or water! He has a boatload of first white-water descents under his belt and kayaking has taken him to some seriously epic places where no human has ever been before.

During the last decade, he has become more focused on the environment and the need to protect these beautiful landscapes. A plan to dam and divert the Fairy Glen Gorge in Snowdonia led to him co-founding Save Our Rivers in protest, and after a three-year campaign, the plans were dropped.

Since then, Save Our Rivers has successfully campaigned against plans for dams in protected areas and fought changes to legislation that would remove protections of our most beautiful landscapes.

Listen in as we dig into Dan’s kayaking adventures, his work with Save Our Rivers and the need to protect our wild rivers and National Parks for future generations to enjoy.

Laura describes herself as a wild swimmer, ‘waterlogger’, adventurer, environmentalist, company director, artist and a mum – sounds like an awesome job description to us!

She wasn’t always a passionate advocate of wild swimming though. In her previous life, she worked in a senior position in teacher training in Llandudno. It was a very busy and stressful career that eventually led to burn-out and Laura becoming extremely unwell with fibromyalgia, even needing a full blood transfusion at one point.

To help relieve her stiff joints a doctor suggested taking cold baths, which didn’t really appeal to Laura. She took her treatment into her own hands by swimming in the nearby sea and noticed it had a positive effect on her symptoms.

Laura soon became hooked on wild swimming, loving the sense of freedom and the beauty of her surroundings. Eager to help others experience this, she founded We Swim Wild, a not-for-profit that promotes open water swimming coupled with environmentalism.

Laura has taken part in various environmental research projects and is currently partnering with Bangor University, collecting water samples from the UK’s National Parks for testing for the presence of microplastics.

Listen in as she discusses burnout, her recent ADHD diagnosis and the importance of protecting what you love.