The Red Bulletin September 2019 (UK)

Do it
Fitness
Tractor Tom: Kemp is convinced of the benefits of the farm workout. “Anyone willing
to burn up energy outdoors can give it that extra 10 per cent,” he says
FARM FITNESS
SOWING THE SEEDS
OF STRENGTH
Brought up on a farm, Briton Tom Kemp came up with
a barnstorming idea for a new workout regime
One’s origins and the recipe
for success rarely coincide
as they have for Tom Kemp.
The personal trainer was raised on
a 2.43km 2 farm in Stansted, Essex.
“My life played out almost entirely
in the open air. There was always
something going on,” he says.
Exercising at the gym didn’t
appeal to Kemp while growing up,
which is how he came to create
his own form of circuit training
on his parents’ farm – there was
plenty of heavy equipment, after
all. Much of the stuff in a farmyard
is ideally suited to Kemp’s hybrid
of strongman, bodybuilding,
calisthenics and cardio. He
launched Farm Fitness in 2016.
Within only a year, the concept was
being feted by fitness experts as one
of the world’s best gym workouts.
Professionals including Olympic
canoeing gold-medallist Joe
Clarke and rugby league champions
Wigan Warriors have trained
at Kemp’s farm, lifting sacks of
grain, pushing and pulling huge
tractor tyres from A to B, and
rattling long metal chains.
“You don’t need highly
complex equipment or intricate
training plans to be fit,” explains
Kemp, 26. Back to basics is his
motto; simple exercises to reap
maximum yield. But you must
slog until you can slog no more.
farm-fitness.co.uk
“You don’t need
a whole load of
complicated
equipment to
burn up a whole
load of energy”
Tom Kemp, founder
of Farm Fitness
TIPS
WORK OUT
ANYWHERE
Had enough of
sweating it out in
the weights room?
Fitness farmer Tom
Kemp tells us how you
can easily turn your
garden into a gym
WEIGHTS
Anything you can lay your
hands on will do, whether
it’s a sandbag, a six-pack
of water bottles or just
a heavily laden rucksack.
Be creative!
EXERCISES
Raise the weight from the
floor to above your head
five times. Next, walk 25m
forwards and then back
to where you started
while carrying the weight
in your arms. Do this
30 times and then end
with 10 burpees.
REPS
Perform as many sets
as you can manage in
15 minutes, and also
squeeze in a 100m sprint
between sets.
Tyring work: Kemp leads daily bootcamp sessions at his farm
CHRIS PARKES FLORIAN STURM
90 THE RED BULLETIN