Working Out With My Dad, Papa G!

My Dad or Papa G those who follow me on here, over on FB or YouTube will know him as, is a real character. Charismatic, funny, smart, silly, people always gravitate towards him and he’s taught me a lot about business, being an entrepreneur himself.

He’s also taught me a lot about food and cooking being a multi-award winning chef. You might have seen us cooking together on Facebook Live or over on my YT channel-the guy’s got skills!

It always warms my heart when I read your lovely comments about him too. So many of you love him as much as we do!

Now his passion for food has certainly rubbed off on me and whilst he’s taught me a lot in life in the kitchen and generally, recently it was my time to return the favour and teach him a few things as I set up a work-out session for us both where I showed him hoe to box and do some weights using a kettlebell, both things he’d never tried before.

He goes to the gym twice a week but only uses the machines there, so this was a chance to show him other ways to work out.

Oh and to have a laugh whilst we were at it. Sport should be fun, right?!

And it was all part of an exciting new campaign.

WE100 is a new global initiative from Merck Consumer Health that aims to prepare society to live 100 healthy years.

WE100 hopes to inspire people of all ages to try something new for the first time, and in doing so, support their mental and physical health into old age. They believe that consistently trying new things aids longevity.

I’m from a long line of family members who have lived to a ripe old age with my Great-Great-Grandmother living until she was a whopping 110 (Dad says some relatives say 108) but either way, hello and WOW! My Great-Grandmother was 92 when she died and my own Grandma was 96. All amazing, fearless, intelligent and loving women who had pretty great innings.

I was very close to my Grandma Vikentia, below (I’m named after her) and fondly remember her hilariously telling me that her job was to worry about her grandchildren and children, worrying was ironically her main concern. She was tiny in stature yet was incredibly strong by nature and she was one of the most caring people you could hope to meet. I loved taking Oliver at 6 months over to Cyprus to meet her and I miss her everyday. Just looking at this photo makes me cry as I ache to hug her and kiss her rose scented cheeks (he used rosewater as a toner).

My Dad is so like her (he has such a huge heart) and I’m sure he’ll touch wood, live a long life as she did, too.

So back to the session…After a quick warm-up and run, we had a boxing session and did some weights which really saw Dad get into the swing of things (literally)!

You could have been a contender Papa G!

He loved every minute working out and I actually can’t believe it’s the first time we’ve had a session together. We’ve pledged to go for a run together again soon so not only did this campaign help him Papa G try something new but it’s also encouraged us to exercise together and keep each other on track when it comes to fitness.

Dad felt energised after the session and said that he hopes this post and our video encourages others to try something new like he has.

Growth really does come at the end of your comfort zone and it was touching to see Dad enjoy something he’d never even thought of trying before. He thought boxing was for the ‘young people’. Well, you proved it certainly isn’t Dad!

Check out the video I made to see what we got up to:

If you want to get some more inspiration to help encourage your own folks to try something new then please head to www.facebook.com/WE100.

This is a sponsored campaign.

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