Fitness guru and TV personality Zack George, aka STEEL from Gladiators, will bring joy to children in Hull next week as part of a health and fitness initiative.

On Wednesday, October 16th, Zack will surprise around 390 pupils at Anlaby Primary School in First Lane, Anlaby. His inspirational message on physical and mental health, fitness and hydration, as part of his Zactiv programme, will be shared with children at the school aged from 3 to 11 years old.

Gemma Greer, headteacher at Anlaby Primary School, said:

“I am very excited to meet STEEL, and I know the children will be too.”

Friends of Anlaby Primary School, the Parent Teacher Association for the school, reached out to Zack after seeing and hearing good things about his visits to other schools. The educational messages he delivers appealed to Anlaby Primary School as they fit within the curriculum.

Mrs Greer added: "Zack’s visit will help and inspire our primary school students to learn about healthy diets and exercise as part of their daily routine from a young age. I’m looking forward to the children taking on board his advice and implementing it into their lifestyles.”

Zack, who was named the UK’s fittest man after winning the UK CrossFit challenge in 2020, launched Zactiv in June this year and it is already proving popular with demand surging from schools and sporting facilities across the country.

The project champions Zack’s personal mission to supercharge health and well-being amongst UK school age children. It is supported in part by sponsorship from businesses that are keen to align their corporate social responsibility programmes with the future health of our nation.

As well as focusing on nutrition, Zactiv is designed to help boost children’s confidence. It is a programme founded as the direct result of Zack’s own journey to fitness. At the age of six, Zack was severely overweight and as a result had a huge lack of confidence, mentally struggling with how he looked. He also had a bad relationship with food and binge eating.

Benefitting from a dose of tough parental support in his teens, combined with his own nerves of steel, Zack embarked on a mission to get fit and healthy. He completely changed his lifestyle and his hard work paid off. Within years he was crowned the UK’s fittest man – among a host of other accolades in the world of fitness.

The real-life superman, from Sileby, Leicestershire, now has more than 230,000 followers on Instagram but has become a major household name this year for appearing in one of BBC TV’s prime-time Saturday night entertainment programmes. Zack said:

“When I go into schools and sports facilities, the children just go insane. Seeing someone in their school or club who they may have seen on TV just the weekend before... they just lose their minds."

“I want to use that current fame for the greater good, as this is an extremely personal mission. I want to use my story and profile to inspire children and young people to take charge of their own health and show every single kid that anything is possible."

“Armed with the knowledge of what is healthy and how to stay active, they, like me, can achieve great things physically and mentally.”

Statistics show that one in five children leaving primary school in the UK is obese. Less than one-third of children take part in the recommended levels of activity for their age, and obese children are four times more likely to develop diabetes – a disease that has increased in children by 50 per cent since 2006.

Teaming up with sports hydration brand Actiph, Zack’s workshops recount his own story, offer health and nutrition advice, answer questions and share mindful breathing exercises and confidence-boosting tips.

He said: “I want to give back and I hope that my story will inspire any of those children struggling with their weight or fitness and show them just what can be achieved.”

He added: “I’ve been in a fortunate position to do some amazing things as a result of turning my fitness and health around. If I can make a difference and help even one child to become fitter and healthier it will be an absolute privilege.”

Delivering the workshops with his current partner firm, Actiph has allocated 30,000 water bottles to be distributed to school children as part of the emphasis on the importance of hydration.

In order to take the scheme to as many schools as possible, Zack is offering businesses the chance to join him on his mission. Zactiv is actively looking for health-conscious commercial partners with aligning principles, to sponsor the programme and help get the nation’s children fitter and ready for the future.

Photo credit: Matt Melling