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Raise Your Game: Your role?

Gareth Thomas: I'm a member of the Armed Surgical Training Corps. I joined the Royal Welsh Fusiliers 19 years ago. Then I transferred to the Army Surgical Training Corps in 2004.

I've been involved with Army rugby ever since. I was involved as a player between 1990 and 1992. I played rugby in South Wales, for Cross Keys and Abertillery. I coached the under 20 and under 21 army teams back in 2000. I was asked to come on board in 2003 as a conditioning coach. I currently work at the Royal Academy, Sandhurst. I'm one of the remedial instructors who deal with the rehabilitation of officer cadets.

RYG: Is their fitness good or do you have to do a lot of work with them?

GT: You can have a problem because when they're on operations you've got no physical contact with them. We have to maintain their fitness by email. We've got an Army Rugby Union website. We put the training and education manual on the website. The players can go on there to get the information they need, no matter where they are. I've also got direct access to the webmaster and they can tell me who's downloaded the information and who hasn't, so I can keep tabs on them (laughs).

All of the guys are naturally fit and combat fitness is very similar to rugby fitness. It's about mental toughness and endurance. If you look at rugby teams like New Zealand, they do a lot of agility work with logs and tyres. We've been doing that in the forces since the 1950's.

Our main job is to motivate the guys and work on their agility. We also make sure they recover properly between sessions and we test their urine before and after training to ensure their hydration levels are at optimum levels. We also use active recovery swimming pools and stretch them off to make sure we get it right. When they've played on a Wednesday for the Army they'll travel up to North Yorkshire and Scotland, so the recovery has got to be right.

RYG: What advice would you give to young people who want to improve their fitness and join the Army? How fit would you want them to be before they join?

GT: We encourage actual rugby players or sportspeople into the Army. Sportspeople make good soldiers. They naturally work in a team, they are fit, they are enthusiastic and they are motivated. That's the type of soldier the army wants.

Fitness wise, you have to be able to pass our personal fitness test (PFT). That includes press-ups, sit-ups, and a mile and a half run. We expect soldiers to carry out a minimum of 42 good press-ups in 2 minutes, 50 sit-ups and a mile and a half in under 10 and a half minutes. That's the sort of fitness standard we expect them to be at, which is quite a high level.

In the Army we use the motto 'Mens sana in corpora sano,' which means 'A healthy mind in a healthy body.' Whether you're a soldier or in clerical work, we want people to be fit so that they can work on optimum levels.

RYG: Any tips for people who want to get fit?

GT: Try and enjoy it. If you enjoy it, it becomes a lot easier and you get into a habit of doing it. Once you make fitness a habit, it becomes part of your daily routine and lifestyle.