DJ Locksmith is known for sharing fitness tips and positivity through his social media and now the Rudimental frontman hopes to inspire other young black people to run a marathon.
Locksmith, real name Leon Rolle, is training for the Virgin Money London Marathon on April 26, 2020, and admitted: “This is my first marathon. I don’t know what I have let myself in for.”
The 33-year-old from Hackney told the PA news agency: “I said no five times. I don’t know if I’m capable of doing it, if my body is up to it.”
He added: “I’m all about jumping out of my comfort zone. It’s not something I would have gone for, not something my fans would associate me with.
“I need to go for it and prove myself wrong and others wrong.”
Locksmith, who regularly posts videos of his training regime on Twitter and Instagram, added: “I’m generally fit. I train quite a bit.”
After previously concentrating on strength training and shorter runs, Locksmith admitted his legs felt “absolutely destroyed” after early marathon training runs.
“I come from a football background. I played for Arsenal. As an adult I didn’t quite make it,” said the musician who played with the London club between the ages of eight and 14.
“Football is short sprints. I’m used to having a rest at some point on the pitch.”
Locksmith said football “was the dream”, adding: “It’s the dream for so many young people – football and music.”
He remembers watching the London Marathon on TV but said he never really aspired to take part himself.
“Growing up, gaining experience with life, you notice there hasn’t been that much diversity in the London Marathon. I don’t think it’s any fault of the London Marathon. I don’t think there are many young black kids thinking I’m going to run a marathon,” he told PA.
“Maybe me taking part there is a bigger push to make the average boy from east London give it a go.”
Finding time to train around live dates will be “a challenge” he said but added: “I’ll be taking my kit with me wherever I go and if I have an hour or a half hour spare I’ll make the most of it.
“It’s easy that way, probably easier than doing the bodybuilding.
“That’s something I really, really love about running. I can go out there. It’s my time, my own personal time, get my thoughts together. Sometimes I set off on a run and I’m in a negative head space and, by the time I have finished, I’m positive.”
The Londoner also hopes to be an inspiration to his 10-year-old son Leonyedus and his newborn daughter whose name has not yet been made public.
He said becoming a father was “one of the best things I have done in my life”.
“All adults are kids until they have children because they have to turn into men or women. He turned me into a man,” he said of his son.
“He aspires to be a professional footballer one day. I just want him to have a passion.”
Locksmith added: “I think what is lacking in kids is having a passion. If you are going to work in McDonald’s be passionate about it, if you are going to work in Tesco, stack those shelves, be passionate about it.”
He said people needed to have an “end game” in mind even if they were currently working in a job they did not feel passionately about.
“If you train hard you see immediate progress and that’s not the same for life,” he said.
“You can go at something as hard as you like for a good couple of years before you start seeing some results.
“If you stick at it and you are consistent enough, you’ll get good results. That’s the message I want to give my son.”
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