From accountancy to personal fitness, with a musical interlude...

Tuesday 02 January 2024

He’s known to many for being part of the Buffalo Huddleston ensemble, or for teaching others how to play guitar. He might also be known to you for being a personal trainer, using the outdoors as his gym helping his clients get fit.

Or maybe you remember Mike Meinke from his days as an accountant, before he took on a challenge that changed his life.

“I used to work in office. I was an accountant, so my life has completely changed,” he explains.

“I got really drunk in the pub after work and my mate bet me that I wouldn't do this ultramarathon across the Sahara Desert. It was 160 miles across the Sahara, and I said yes.”

I was surprised to hear of Mike’s background as an accountant, and much less surprised to learn he had completed the Marathon des Sables, a challenge which to me seems unachievable but which Mike says absolutely is. 

He took two years to train for it and says simply: “I think anybody could do it if I can, because I wasn't a natural runner.”

His reputation now as the man behind ‘Machine Like Me’ - promising fitness for your body and mind – seems at odds with the image of an accountant, so used to a sedentary lifestyle that his friend thought he’d never be able to complete the Sahara challenge

In the decade since completing the Marathon des Sables he has built up a career as a personal trainer and life coach, alongside his continuing music interests.

“I guess, the way I got into the Marathon des Sables was part of the reason why I got into personal training,” he recalls.  

Pictured: Mike Meinke on a training run.

“A lot of it was actually to understand myself in a way. I've always been fascinated with psychology and how you can implement change in the easiest way possible.

"So a lot of it was kind of trying to unpick how I work so that I can help other people, and I've always been passionate about that. So it was a no brainer really.

“I just thought, I really want to try and make this work.”

One aspect of personal fitness that Mike really enjoys is seeing the different benefits each person gains, with everyone needing help in different areas. 

"I'm not a psychologist, but I qualified as a life coach so some of the sessions do tend to veer into coaching and, and at least trying to change perceptions of the way we work.

“For me it's a question of reframing. You can get stuck on anything in life and I think that having discipline physically is an incredible anchor from which to be able to propel yourself into anything.

"If you can be disciplined physically, then the mind follows. I've found that personally, with the Marathon des Sables. 

“I spent a lot of my twenties in a bit of a dark place but as soon as I started moving, everything just kind of flows, for everything to work.”

It was 2012 when Mike took on the Marathon des Sables, and in 2013 he started work as a personal trainer. 

He fancied a change a few years later so he packed up his belongings and moved to France where he lived for three years working as a musician. Covid forced a return home and brought him back to work as a personal trainer.

Buffalo Huddleston still perform together, and Mike teaches other budding musicians how to play the guitar. 

He’s also launched a website – guernseyentertainment.gg - with fellow musician Kiya Ashton, to help the booking process for bands and soloists as well as their clients. 

He can manage to work on all of these projects because of the “element of freedom” he describes that comes from being one’s own boss.

But Mike insists he’s not a fan of the gym, so it may seem surprising that he has made so much progress in his career as a personal trainer. 

Pictured: A client at work under Mike's supervision.

"I was never a fan of the gym and I've always loved being outside in nature. There's something called biophilia, which is this idea that nature has a profound impact on us.

“It's been proven to lower blood pressure and reduce feelings of anxiety.”

This theory is the basis for Mike’s outside classes. 

"People go to the gym but I think a lot of people can be put off or overwhelmed by the gym, it has its own culture. 

"I use quite secluded spots, so you're not being watched while you're working out, you know.

"I love using different locations which inspire different workouts as well.

"At Vazon we can use the steps and the sands present different workouts, and being around the reservoir or out on a route I think is quite stimulating.”

These various settings lend themselves to both one-on-one or one-on-two sessions or group classes, with more of those to come including some based around traditional hunting techniques.

"I have family in Canada. My brother-in-law used to do what I did, and he gave me a paper to read on the physical activities of our ancestors.

"I was just captivated by this idea that a vast majority of their exercise would have been hunting so I started to unpack what goes into a hunt and it just makes a really interesting workout.

“We've trialled it a couple of times, we'd walk a bit as if you were tracking your prey and then into a jog to catch up to it, and then when it's in sight you'd do some isometric holds and things like stalking and then you'd sprint after it, attack it and then you carry it back.

“It's like a game after all.

"I think if you can develop a community around exercise and if everybody's having fun, then it doesn't feel like you're exercising.

"I think fun in exercise is really important. I have such a laugh with all my guys and sometimes I'll give them a little general knowledge quiz and if they get a question wrong they get burpees.”

Mike’s work tends to keep him busy from early in the morning with private and group sessions from first light and then more later in the day.

It’s all a far cry from the slower paced lifestyle he used to lead.

"When I was growing up, for example, I wasn't the most active, I wasn't sedentary, but I wasn't the most active.

"That was part of what I was trying to unpick in becoming a personal trainer because I always had a battle with it, like ‘I know I should be moving, but I can't find the energy or the motivation to do it’. I think if we're not moving a lot in our formative years then it becomes a lot more difficult now that we need to actually do it.

“I'm really interested in understanding that, and I’ll be taking it back to some beginners’ sessions soon as well, whereby I want to take the intimidation and the fear out of it.

“There's a lot of people who don't want to go to an exercise class or anything because it can be quite scary if you've never done it.

"I want to take that out of the equation so it’s really simple.”

Giving us a brief taster session of his personal training sessions, Mike explains how his classes vary from others meaning there’s room for all of the fitness businesses in the island. 

"I started working a little bit with Andrew Jackson of Lighthouse Fitness, and he's been a huge inspiration and really supportive.

"We're kind of on the same page, and it was really important for me to work with someone a little bit because I've been working outdoors.

“I don't see any other big teams, and I think it's really important to have the inspiration and to see what other people are doing because there's no point in being in competition with each other.

"I think it's beneficial to everybody so there is room for everyone.”

This article first appeared in Connect which can be read online HERE. 

The next edition of Connect will be available online and at select locations across the island from 1 February.

Pictured top: Mike Meinke at work on the cliffs.