Welcome back…

No training info this week, just a short eulogy.

On Thursday last my best friend, someone I called brother, even though we weren’t, passed away at the age of 41. Daran Pratt was, and is, the exemplar of the standard to which Personal Trainers should be judged against. From a background of chronic substance abuse that lasted for decades from his early teens, Daran overcame all that life through at him until the very last.

Daran & Trinity

At the time of his death Daran was a published author (check out his bio & book at www.onthepath.com.au ), professional speaker, lead singer in a rock band( www.satyrico.com ) life coach, Martial Artist, knife aficionado and a Personal Trainer who had just sold the gym he & his wife Trinity had built up to the best ‘alternative’ gym in the area. With Trinity by his side; they worked as a team that saw them go from broke to comfortable in a few very short years. God knows they deserved it given where they started from and how hard they worked for it all…

Daran loved to train, a skilled CSSD/SC, Muay Thai, MMA & Krav Maga exponent & trainer, he loved to spar, kettle bells & ropes, sandbags & clubs, tyres and barbells  – in fact anything that fitted his philosophy of functional fitness. He eschewed chronic cardio, the typical big gyms, their results and their ethos. He preferred to train people in a way that was fun, challenging and delivered results in a short space of time. More than a few of his clients credit him and his methods with saving their lives and getting them off expensive & financially draining medications.

Likewise his life coaching clients also achieved goals and dreams with his guidance & insight.

He was a big kid, whose restless mind saw him start many projects at the same time, often moving on before they were completed, and then coming back to them for a second go round. Some his favourite moments came from kayaking or paddle boarding on Brisbane waters or at the Haven near Terrigal.

No – he was not a saint. He was a man of great & varied passions; who also had an explosive temper could sometimes be petty and on the odd occasion cruel, callous and thoughtless.

Told you he liked functional style training...

More often than not though, he was caring, empathetic, patient and loving. And strong.  Really strong in character, beliefs and body. Daran proudly took no crap from anyone. A wide eyed dreamer with vast energies, he had achieved many of his dreams and goal and was working on the next set – including a drug rehabilitation centre – at the time of his passing.

He was larger than life, loved sake, hated cider and was the ‘glue’ that held a diverse group of people together. He will be missed sorely by those that knew him and, unbeknowingly, by those who did not.

I loved this man as a friend & brother and, like so many others, miss him already.

For those that knew him no further explanation is necessary, for those who did not, no explanation is perhaps possible.

Vale, Daran