Stepping outside and plunging into ice baths while braving the sub-zero Scottish weather might not be everyone’s idea of a great Saturday afternoon.
For some though, it was the perfect way to motivate each other while building bonds.
Beyond Brotherhood are a new group striving to create a safe space for men to connect, challenge themselves and feel supported.
They hope to offer different experiences each month, free of charge, and their first meeting culminated in a post-workout plunge.
Thomas Starmore created Beyond Brotherhood with fellow personal trainer Derek Elder and spoke to the Reformer about their initial event at the Tempo community centre in Rutherglen.
He said: “The goal is to give men a gateway to improving their mental health through physical and mental activities and creating a sense of brotherhood. We’re not weekly meetings or somewhere to offer professional help, but we want to be the stepping stone for men to find these avenues.
“We’re putting on mental health experiences for men, so the first one was two Saturdays ago, the idea being that we are kind of a bridge for men to either just feel good, feel better about themselves, or then get the confidence to go and find an actual men’s mental health group or professional help, so trying to be a gateway between those two things.
“We’re going to move about, each experience is going to be a little bit different, a little bit unique, So the first one was in Tempo, we did strength and fitness first, because I’ve got a studio and some gym equipment there, and we moved onto some ice baths. It was minus one that day, so very cold, and then there was a good area there for some food and some chat afterwards, to let the guys get to know each other for the first one.”
You can watch a video on Beyond Brotherhood’s Facebook page of the men supporting each other while they do the ice baths, and Thomas added: “You do feel great after it. The theme of that first one was building strength and resilience, so it looks nasty but the worst part is probably just looking at it before you go and do it.
“Ideally it’s about three minutes, three to six minutes is usually the best. It makes you feel amazing, it’s a good way to start the day.
“We did the ice baths outside in front of Glasgow Road as well so we got a lot of people looking with interest at what was going on and we had a couple of people just see us when they were driving past and then pulled over and had a look at what was going on.”
Around 25 men showed up for the first meeting and there are over 70 in the group ahead of their next meeting in Rutherglen on Sunday, February 16.
Thomas said: “We’re going to be doing it from Revival barbershop, just on Rutherglen Main Street, and we’re hopefully going to be doing a run club or a walk, and then some food and some other stuff going on in the barber shop afterwards.
“We want to offer different experiences, so the aim is still to have something physical and then something mental, and then bring guys together just to chat afterwards after they’ve built up this kind of brotherhood and confidence in each other.”
Beyond Brotherhood was established last month from a desire by Thomas and Derek to build a support network for men.
Thomas continued: “We both have our own coaching businesses, I used to manage the gym in Cambuslang main street so he [Derek] came in as a PT and we kind of followed each other since then.
“I put the feelers out on the community page about these sessions and he reached out. He focuses more on providing emotional and therapy support to his clients and then I’m more fitness and getting into families and how to stay fit with families, so we link up quite well and cover a lot of the issues that men are facing just now.”
Thomas’ own experience of mental health is behind the desire to support others in their journey, and he said: “I had my daughter just after lockdown and when she was about six months old I was really, really struggling, and I just didn’t want to find help, and I think a lot of men are like that.
“You just want to focus on your family, it’s about their problems, you’re the caregiver, you’re the provider, you want to just kind of truck on, and it just made it worse and worse to be honest.
“But I feel if I had something that wasn’t as, scary isn’t the right word, but not as intimidating as going to a group and setting my feelings out loud, I had something to ease into, and then Derek, I had actually worked with him a few years ago in Cambuslang and I had posted the idea on a Facebook group and he had reached out and then we put this all together just before Christmas and the first experience was a couple of Saturdays ago.
“We’re both fitness coaches so kind of lean into that background.
“The thing that stood out for both of us is that most men just don’t have the confidence to go and open up and let everyone know how they feel.
“I mean there’s stigma obviously there, but I think in our own minds we say that other people’s problems are tougher and we should just get on with our own responsibilities.
“I know that in myself, I couldn’t have just walked straight into therapy or into joining a mental health group and just opening up, so kind of hope to revive that, the gateway to doing that.”
Thomas said feedback from the first meeting was “really, really positive” and added: “I made sure it was like a circuit, so I put everyone in twos, so you could motivate each other, try and keep each other going, and especially a lot of the older guys who came, they said they didn’t really have this kind of outlet, they felt maybe they’ve got their family but they didn’t have anyone else to connect to and that was one of the main takeaways.
“The guys, once they had done the physical part, they felt really comfortable with opening up about how they were feeling, how they were getting on. The people who came down said they just felt a bit better, they felt really strong.”
Beyond Brotherhood will meet on Sunday, February 16, at the Revival barber shop on Rutherglen Main Street.
You can find ‘Beyond Brotherhood’ on Facebook for more details, while Instagram is the best place to contact Thomas using @thomasstarmorept and Derek can be found at www.facebook.com/derekeldercoaching
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