With our Natch Focus series, we try and bring you people we admire and respect. This top bloke has been a longtime pioneer of meditating, journaling, discipline and being authentic. He churns out hours upon hours of free content with his successful podcast, is incredibly generous with his time and leaves you wanting to better yourself.   

Natch Fam, please meet Danny Kennedy. 

Danny, introduce yourself to the Natch community...

I'm a 27 year old former athlete who grew up in country Victoria, eventually moving to Melbourne for basketball full time for 2 years. After 2013 I finished up basketball due to an ankle reconstruction, and then transitioned into building my fitness business, which is both in person and online. Since 2014 I've competed at an international level as a physique competitor, have ran a half and full marathon, completed 2 x 24 hour sled pushes to raise money and awareness for mental health, competed as a professional boxer and continued to challenge myself physically outside the sport of basketball. I now run a weekly podcast, work with hundreds of people across the world online, work with a large number of clients in person (gen-pop, athletes, celebrities, influencers/models etc) and work as the head trainer at Keep It Cleaner (KIC).

Wow, sounds as though you're twiddling your thumbs! Tell us why you got into such a profession, how you got started and your journey to where you’re at now. 

I got into this journey because I experienced a lot of training and eating mistakes in the early stages of my fitness journey after starting in the gym to build size and strength for my sport, which lead me to find my purpose of helping others by sharing content, continuing to document my own journey and hopefully help as many people as possible. 

Being a successful PT involves building a brand and being business-savvy. We’d love to know of any lessons, mistakes or advice you've learned and would pass on to someone else wanting to get started in business.

Where do I start... I've made all of the mistakes, but also been very fortunate to learn from some extremely smart and successful people along the way. My advice would look something like this...

• Be REAL and authentic
• Be extremely consistent
• Continue to learn (growth mindset)
• Ask for help
• Share as much valuable and relatable content as possible with your target audience
• Learn how to network
• Get vulnerable with your audience and be honest with yourself
• Get outside of your comfort zone

Danny the Mental Health advocate

You’re outspoken about the power of meditation and gratitude which we LOVE! How did you come about meditating and practicing gratitude?

I needed it. I wasn't taking care of myself mentally and I finally just reached a low point or hit a wall. This led me to begin meditating daily since Jan 1st 2017. Since then I have really dove into the world of personal development which has been incredible. On this journey I've learnt the power of gratitude, mindfulness, goal setting, self-awareness.. the whole deal. My friend Hugh Van Cuylenburg, the author of 'The Resilience Project' really gave me a good insight on the importance of gratitude. 

How is your Mental Health doing at the moment? 

Great! I still have some bad days/moments, but I have a hell of a lot more tools in the tool kit which allows me to deal with stress or anxiety much more effectively.

Share with us your morning routine - what sets you up for the day? 

This is non-negotiable for me...

1. Cold shower

2. Meditate

3. Gratitude journal

4. Daily goal setting

5. Coffee

6. Win the day

Do you have any favourite personal care rituals that you physically or mentally benefit from? 

Meditation and journaling. Alongside the obvious answer of taking care of my physical fitness also.

We're huge advocates of what you put onto your body is as important as what you put into your body with about 80% of products you use being absorbed into your bloodstream. What are your thoughts on natural products? 

My honest answer is that I haven't done enough in this space, but I want to do more. Natch was the very first product I've really used and it's a winner for me, I loved it and it's really made me open my eyes to trying more natural options where possible. 

Finally, I’d love to know how you overcome adversity? 

By going through it. Every setback or failure is a lesson. I think focusing only on what you CAN control is the key to moving on quickly from adversity and constantly looking for the positive in absolutely every situation, no matter how bad it seems at the time. I also do a lot of meditation, journalling and have some great people around me.

Danny, I'm going to use your favourite word, legend, to describe you and thank you for sharing your insights with our community. 

Want more? 

You can scroll through Danny's instagram here and you can listen to his Fitness and Lifestyle podcast here (over 250 episodes!).