Gloucestershire fitness enthusiast Kieran Bevan is using sport to encourage men to open up about their mental health, creating a community where exercise goes beyond physical fitness.
Combining weightlifting, gymnastics and cardiovascular exercise, CrossFit is a demanding form of fitness that challenges athletes across a range of disciplines.
“Men just need a space where they feel safe and comfortable to open up,” Bevan explained, having seen first-hand how sport can provide an environment for men to share their struggles.
For the 26-year-old, it’s about providing a platform to raise awareness of men’s mental health through his involvement with Movember and his own fitness initiatives.
“I don’t know why I had this epiphany. I was just like, I want to start doing charity and I think it just so happened to be like October or September. Obviously Movember was coming up and I thought, you know what, it kind of links to my own struggles.”
He added, “Something I’ve learnt over the years is a lot of men in my life also have had similar struggles.”
Bevan has combined his passion for CrossFit with his charity work. He’s organised the Mo Games, which bring together athletes in mixed-sex pairs, competing across a series of workouts designed to raise awareness of men’s mental health.
The Movember initiative is inspired by mental health statistics, revealed Bevan. “So, we will take key statistics and basically make that the structure of the workout, which I don’t think a lot of people know.
“I think last year we had one workout which everyone absolutely hated, so I have removed that. There is not any workout I think anyone will hate. I think they’re all pretty nice, fun workouts to do and I think this year we’ve definitely made it more accessible to different levels of athletes.”
In his personal journey, he managed to run and cycle a total of 60 kilometres a week for Movember and raised over £600.
Bevan commented, “I loved doing it and I just thought it was nice to see people get involved in it.”
His dedication was recognised when he was invited to become a Movember Sports Ambassador, a role he has embraced by taking on increasingly demanding challenges.
“I started doing even worse challenges. I started doing 24 Hero Awards in 24 hours, one every hour where you work from 8am until 9am the following morning.
“Then, I did the Great North Run for Movember. Each time, my yearly total, my fundraising, is going up and up,” said the fitness enthusiast.
Keen to reach an even wider audience, Bevan is determined to get his message out there. “I’d love just to do more of these interviews, try and share the story, try and get more people reading about it and get more people interested in it.”
