00:00What turned into Thursday, Friday, Saturday was all I lived for really.
00:03Sole idea of getting as much down my neck as we could.
00:05It's an addiction that's far more commonly accepted, isn't it?
00:12I'm Kevin Lamb, I'm 47.
00:14We're talking today about some issues in the past and some of the changes I've made to
00:18get my fitness back really and get back up and running after a few dodgy years in my life.
00:23I think where I grew, kind of like a working class area, everyone's the same.
00:32We all just got into drinking right away and then when I went to university,
00:36I just carried that on.
00:37I've always kind of like had an issue really with binge drinking, you know,
00:40but I've never kind of quite got to grips with it until the last few years.
00:48Good times you have a drink, bad times you have a drink, celebrations you have a drink,
00:53funerals you have a drink, everything's related around having a drink, isn't it?
00:56What turned into Thursday, Friday, Saturday was all I lived for really.
00:59Sole idea of getting as much down my neck as we could.
01:02It's an addiction that's far more commonly accepted.
01:08My favourite tipper was Jack Daniels.
01:09I used to drink bottles of Jack Daniels, no problem at all,
01:12and wash down with a few cans of Heineken.
01:14I used to sit there, you know, if I had friends around or something like that,
01:16I'd be sat around there long on my own.
01:18I didn't need any encouragement whatsoever.
01:21It's just identifying them behaviours.
01:22Requires quite a lot of self-reflection,
01:24but I can't turn around and pinpoint something where I thought,
01:26I wish I should have stopped there.
01:31I never really labelled myself as an alcoholic,
01:33and, you know, it went from socially just to problem drinking.
01:36Any kind of relationships I've had, any arguments or any fallings out with anyone
01:40I've ever had over the years has been through, you know, drink.
01:43Majority genuinely my behaviour when I was drunk, you know,
01:46when you're in the middle of it, it's, you know, it just feels tricky to get out of.
01:50Friday, Saturday, Sunday, every week hung over.
01:52I realised the shape I was getting in, but I wasn't interested, you know,
01:54I was like, no, I didn't think it would happen to me.
01:57When I was in hospital then, I was in there for 12 nights,
01:59obviously as I was up in Scotland, a couple of friends came up and visited,
02:02but the majority of the time I was sat on my own.
02:05I realised then there was an issue, but then I got out of hospital,
02:08I had a bit of a spell off it, and then went back to it just as bad as I was.
02:12You know, the rest is what I've said to you, that's when I joined the gym.
02:15Getting up and coming to work is not a chore, you know,
02:18the way as it used to be, you know, coming on a Monday and I'd just be that
02:22tired and still hung over from the weekend that you'd just be watching the clock ready to go home.
02:26Comes to the weekend, I have a big run planned,
02:29that runs in place deliberately at the weekend because it keeps me from,
02:32I can't, you couldn't do that hung over, you know.
02:34I think this training now and having a coach, that's kind of like helped me,
02:38helped me along a number of things, you know,
02:40I think this training now and having a coach, that's kind of like helped me,
02:44helped me along and worked, the two of us are now,
02:47you know, we're doing motivational speaking on the topic.
02:49Thanks to my work I do with Tony, I can see the product of where that's got me to.
02:54I'm feeling better, stronger, fitter than I've ever been.
02:57I mean, I'm 48 in two weeks, I'm fitter than I was at 21.
03:00I just turn up at the gym now and do the programmes that he's planned for me
03:03and it keeps me on the straight and hard.
03:05I've lost about four and a half stone altogether here.
03:11The biggest thing I took away from it was,
03:13was kind of like put my energy into going to the gym
03:16and I've met people at the gym now who are some of my best mates to acknowledge it.
03:20I think it's the fact that that's my biggest mistake, I wouldn't acknowledge it.
03:24I had people saying to me, you know,
03:25I didn't think you're drinking too much, you didn't think this,
03:27and I was like, no, no, not really, I'm only 40, you know,
03:30and then it comes and hits you with a bang,
03:33but listen to people and don't be scared to hold your hand up, really.
03:37I think it's the fact that that's my biggest mistake,
03:40I've met people at the gym now who are some of my best mates to acknowledge it.
03:43I've met people at the gym now who are some of my best mates to acknowledge it.
03:46I've met people at the gym now who are some of my best mates to acknowledge it.
03:49I've met people at the gym now who are some of my best mates to acknowledge it.
03:52I've met people at the gym now who are some of my best mates to acknowledge it.
03:55I've met people at the gym now who are some of my best mates to acknowledge it.
03:58I've met people at the gym now who are some of my best mates to acknowledge it.
04:00I've met people at the gym now who are some of my best mates to acknowledge it.
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