Lessons From the Edge: Inspirational Tales of Surviving, Thriving and Extreme Adventure

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The military-grade workout was masterminded by ex- Royal Marine and explorer Aldo Kane, who swears by bodyweight programming to burn fat and build muscle wherever he is in the world. With that in mind, we tapped-up Kane once again to give you another taste of what you can do with just your bodyweight and the right mindset. He doesn’t mind admitting he’s nervous about its publication. “I suppose it’s a bit of imposter syndrome, like why would anyone want to read about what I’ve done? But I have done quite a lot. In fact, I had too many stories. It was basically volumes of boys’ own adventure stories, which we had to whittle down, but it’s been a timely project because it means I’ve laid bare my life up to the point where Atlas is born,” reveals Kane who grew up in East Kilbride on the outskirts of Glasgow before moving to Kilwinning in Ayrshire when he was 11. Yes, they’re going to earn it. Effectively, I’m the puppet master pulling the strings on the challenges. It’s one of the biggest cash prizes in TV at the moment, so it’s pretty full on. The winner must be worthy of it and will have to work hard for it.

In his debut book, Lessons From The Edge, Aldo will inspire readers with his jaw-dropping stories and show them how to survive and thrive through sheer strength of mind and sharp decision-making. It will reveal how this tough military man was able to cope with suddenly feeling worthless, how he overcame doors literally slamming in his face, how he came to realise that you can't wait for things to happen and instead how he rediscovered his identity and harnessed his emotions to his advantage to find determination, purpose, and a renewed sense of belonging. And how, to use his own words, he became the captain of his own ship. For me travel is education – travel and adventure are an education of what’s going on in the world, and what I think about it and how I interact with it. BBC Studios Natural History Unit produces the world’s most iconic natural history programmes, such as Blue Planet II and Planet Earth II, which have been watched by more than a billion people globally. Ranging from technically challenging live shows and super-landmarks to long-running series and children’s content, The Natural History Unit programmes include Seven Worlds, One Planet presented by Sir David Attenborough, Primates, Earth’s Tropical Islands, Dynasties, Blue Planet Live, Springwatch, Bears About the House, Andy’s Aquatic Adventures and third-party commissions for Discovery, Apple, NBC, Quibi, National Geographic and BBC America. In his book Lessons From the Edge: Inspirational Tales of Surviving, Thriving and Extreme Adventure, Aldo shared his jaw-dropping stories of how to survive and thrive through sheer strength of mind and sharp decision-making.

Aldo Kane Family

Away from the limelight, Aldo runs the company Vertical Planet providing technical safety consultation & risk management for TV and Film crews operating in remote, hostile and high-risk environments around the world. A Fellow at the Royal Geographic Society, he shares his unique experiences from some of the world’s most dangerous, extreme, and remote locations. He went on to gain rope and inspection certificates, worked offshore on an oil rig, read business books, made plans, and then in 2010, got a call from someone who’d heard he was an ex-Marine and “handy with ropes” asking if he could get a film crew into an active volcano. It opened a door he never knew existed, he recalls, and through word of mouth, one job led to another. National Geographic Explorer and marine biologist Asha de Vos ( @ashadevos) – Devoting her life to uncovering ocean mysteries and inspiring young people around the world, de Vos initiated the Blue Whale Project to study and protect blue whales and co-founded Sri Lanka’s first marine conservation research and education organization, Oceanswell.

Continuing National Geographic’s expansive legacy of partnering with the most iconic natural history documentary filmmakers in the world to deliver ground-breaking stories about Earth’s oceans, National Geographic announced the start of production of its upcoming global, six-part series OCEANXPLORERS. Pairing a dream team of the world’s greatest ocean storytellers with the most advanced combined exploration and media vessel ever built, the cross-platform event will begin filming this February in the shark capital of the Atlantic—the West Indies. The research team’s first mission is to study the great hammerhead’s hunting behaviors and solve one of the ocean’s most pressing mysteries: What makes this critically endangered species the ultimate predator, and why is it rapidly disappearing? The teams are set challenges, can you tease what some of those are and how much harder it makes the competition? I just can’t get away from Glencoe. It’s one of my favourite places on the planet from all the places I’ve been to all over the world. Lessons From The Edge is the story of my life up until this point,” he explains, “and all the various different expeditions I’ve been on and what I’ve learned from them now. All the things that happen in these strange environments, the lessons from that can be transferrable into everyday life.

Aldo Kane Girlfriend

It’s only once I have done the job and come home that I then try to decompress by talking about my experiences with close friends who understand the stresses. Talking is the biggest help that I have had. Yeah, she would do. It was great to work with AJ. It was the first time we’d met but I’d watched her on SAS: Who Dares Wins and knew she’s hard as... She’d do well on this show. We had quite a few moments discussing what we’d do in the teams’ shoes, she’s very competitive and I’m much more about get everyone through and everyone’s alright. It was a very cool project to work on, AJ and I had quite a laugh. Profession: Former Marine, climbing instructor teacher, mountain pioneer, Author, TV Presenter, and medic. It’s not about the money, it’s about life because at best it’s brief, so it’s about collecting experiences rather than things.”

I’ve been 1,000m down to the seabed, which was utterly mind-blowing – and night diving in a shoal of millions of jellyfish. I still don’t take any of it for granted, at all.” At 12, he joined the Air Cadets and remembers seeing a man with swaggering confidence place a green beret down on a shop counter in front of him. After informing him that he was a Royal Marines Commando, the man told Kane he couldn’t touch the beret – “you have to earn it” – leaving a transfixed Kane determined to do just that. Every challenge they face is designed to get to the core of the person or the team’s reason for being there. Some of them are financially motivated, some of them want recognition or some are there to escape and to learn. Some of the challenges are incredibly physical, then there are mental and emotional tests that test the very moral fibre of every single person there. Individuals may be asked to do something that basically allows them to profit early on, but the others won’t and the others won’t know about it, so there are some very moral questions.Despite now residing in Bristol, Kane retains close ties to his homeland. He says: “It [Scotland] never leaves you. The last tune on my phone is probably The Corries. The more I travel the more I listen to Scottish music. Aldo joined the Royal Marine Commandos at the age of sixteen and went on to become one of the youngest Elite Commando Reconnaissance Snipers in the UK armed forces. While completing active service in countries from Northern Ireland to the Middle East, he became a survival expert across the different environments he found himself in. He is a skilled mountain leader, skydiver, bodyguard, medic, and a professional climber. He also endured the toughest infantry training in the world at just 16 years old. Hard man? Yeah, he's a hard man.

I’m probably a bit more measured with my emotions,” muses the adventurer. “But whether I’m abseiling off Angel Falls, or exploring a cave system no one’s seen before, I’m there to do a job. I have people to keep safe, kit to sort out. In his debut book, Lessons From The Edge , Aldo will inspire readers with his jaw-dropping stories and show them how to survive and thrive through sheer strength of mind and sharp decision-making. It will reveal how this tough military man was able to cope with suddenly feeling worthless, how he overcame doors literally slamming in his face, how he came to realise that you can't wait for things to happen and instead how he rediscovered his identity and harnessed his emotions to his advantage to find determination, purpose, and a renewed sense of belonging. And how, to use his own words, he became the captain of his own ship. It's a circuit that follows a logical oder until everything has been completed," says Kane. "It's strength, endurance and cardio in one hit. It keeps me going for about an hour." Clothes are just clothes and cars are just cars, however expensive they are. No one has ever been on their death bed and thought ‘I didn’t do much. But at least I owned some lovely trainers’ But people will reflect on the amazing adventures they had, or regret that they didn’t have more’’ OCEANXPLORERS is co-produced by BBC Studios’ Natural History Unit and OceanX Media for National Geographic. For Earthship, Cameron and Maria Wilhelm are executive producers. Roger Webb and Orla Doherty are executive producers for BBC Studios. Brian Catalina is showrunner from Brian Catalina Entertainment. Ray Dalio, Mark Dalio and Joe Ruffolo are executive producers for OceanX Media. For National Geographic, Kevin Tao Mohs is executive producer; Alan Eyres is senior vice president, production and development.

Aldo Kane Career

What was it like working with AJ? She’s quite competitive, do you think she’d make a good contestant?