If you want to get ripped, your first port of call is normally the gym.
You buy a copy of a muscle magazine, start nailing protein shakes and get repping out on the bench.
With enough dedication, consistency and hard work you can transform your physique and the way you look.
But Tim Shieff is a different beast. Building the perfect body with endless reps of bicep curls in an old school gym is the furthest thing from his idea of fitness.
He has proved there is a different way to get functionally fit and shredded at the same time without going near a dumbbell in the gym.
He doesn’t deal in reps and sets. His training plan isn’t set in stone. His sole aim is use his body to become the fittest and strongest athlete he possibly can whether its running, climbing or urban Parkour.
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Shieff is a machine in every sense of the word.
His impressive physique was forged on the streets of London, in the hills of Wales and at the summit of obstacles at races like Toughest.
The former breakdancer-turned-Parkour athlete won the World Freerunning championships in 2009. He then used his athleticism, fitness and core strength to win UK Ninja Warrior and head up the European team that took on the might of America and Japan.
Now he’s hell-bent on conquering the world of obstacle course racing. Oh, and did we mention he’s vegan?
JOE wanted to talk to Shieff to find out just how he got in such incredible shape without ever setting foot in a conventional gym.
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How did you take this incredible path into fitness?
I was actually a breakdancer. I enjoyed that. Is aw a doc on freerunning on Channel 4 back in the day called Jump Britain and I thought ‘F**k! That’s like breakdancing but on multi levels.
I got bored of breakdancing and thought I’ll try that It’s just like being a kid really. As a kid I always used to jump off roofs anyway. It evolved from that and I learned it was much more than just jumping off roofs.
It just satisfied a part of my soul. We’ve all got that child spirit within us and it sort of fed that.
To explore, climb, jump, push yourself and learn your limits. Because a lot of people will look at jumps and think ‘I reckon I could make it’ but they don’t trust their bodies enough. But this is learning where your limit actually is.
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You’re in very good shape. Is this consciously something that you’ve sought to achieve or is it just a by-product of what you do?
It’s purely a by-product. I do the training to enjoy it. I enjoy every session I have. When I go rock climbing, when I’m running at the track, when I’m doing Parkour, I’m going out because I want to, not because I feel I should.
Then the result of that is you get into shape. I get healthy and I get an aesthetic looking body.
Whereas most people they go backwards and they go ‘I just want to get the aesthetic looking body. What’s the short cut to get that?’ They will just go to a gym and try and follow that route. There’s not as much substance behind the body. It’s not as developed for a purpose of movement. It’s developed just for the aesthetics
If you do it because you enjoy the movement, then you can get both.
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Had you done traditional gym work or always just functional stuff?
Just calisthenics and bodyweight stuff really. I’m not against gyms at all. I think you can definitely develop and further your skills. Something like CrossFit – if I had time in my day, I would definitely add that to my training, because it’s good for posture, if you do it right, and especially with strengthening the legs – you need to add some weight.
I think you need to find the right balance of adventurous outdoor stuff with that to compliment each other.
Your training protocols are very different than most people. Do you even see it as training? Do you think ‘oh god, I’ve got to do an hour of running three times this week?’
Occasionally. I was running in Wales. I thought I’d go rock climbing, because I’m enjoying rock climbing at the moment. I’m progressing so I want to keep going. I was driving there and stuck in traffic and though ‘man, I could have stayed at home tonight.
I ended up having one of the best sessions I’ve had in ages. Some times you don’t feel like showing up, but then the rewards you get from it make you remember why you do it in the first place.
There are days when I’m not psyched to train. But when I’m in the moment I’m like ‘this is why I do it. This is the sport for me.’
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It sounds like your training has really evolved over the years. But how has each different discipline benefited your fitness and physique?
When I was a kid at school at seven or eight, I was the fastest kid in school and I won every sports day. I was a runner. Then I got to 10 or 11 years old I started walking on my hands because there was a natural fascination to do handstands.
Then I got into breakdancing at 13 or 14 and my sprint speed went down, because I wasn’t really focussed on that.
Then I got into Parkour and I kept my upper body strength and got some legs too. I started jumping about and then now I’ve started running and doing less power upper body, athough I still do strength with climbing.
I’ve become a leaner athlete. Before I was quite swollen and bulky then and now I’m a lot leaner.
I feel like the most well-rounded athlete I’ve ever been. I can still do the handstands and things like that, but I look leaner and I can run up mountains now as well.
Within six months of running, I did a 100km race from London to Brighton in 12 hours and 4 minutes. I got really hooked. I’ve got that child mentality where if I enjoy something I do it to death.
If I’m really passionate about something I just wake up and do it.
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Are these kind of things stuff that people can incorporate into their own fitness plans or training?
Parkour is the one. There are places all over in Manchester and London where you can learn and train.
You enjoy the workouts. You don’t even think you’re working out, you’re just enjoying the climbing and balancing. Then you get home and you’re like ‘oh my god there’s muscles worked there that I didn’t even know you could work out.’
In the conventional gym everything is very fixed. You’re just working sets and reps and working isolated muscle groups like the quads or the glutes or your chest.
But with Parkour, when you’re moving through a motion with the body. The workout is so much more than the foundation muscle you think you’re working.
A great way for people to get into it is to look into Parkour or calisthenics or even rock climbing. I thinking climbing is one of the most underrated sports you can do as a hobby.
Especially with the gyms and centres they have now. You can go with people of any level. I go with my girlfriend and she will climb a different difficulty to the one that I am, but we’re both climbing up the same wall – just on different holds.
There’s something really natural in it as well. It’s a lot of strength and balance – like a lot of the sports I do, it’s your body vs the environment.
Tim Shieff will be taking part in Toughest on April 23. To join him please visit www.toughest.se
