Quotes from Ant Middleton

I don't stick to a routine, because I like to mix things up, which stops training becoming boring and helps shock muscles into firing up.

I'm from a generation of Iraq and Afghanistan. Our battleground was where we learned. It's not like the old generation where they used to train and train and train, and then suddenly an operation would come up, and they'd go on it.

I want to see you use your brain. Get the job done efficiently. I want to see an intelligent operator at work. And apart from that, to stay on my good side, just do as you're told.

When I left the military, I thought I would not have any problems with the transition - I'm very adaptable and very versatile - but I was wrong.

One minute, you're dropping your teenage son off to a festival, and the next, you're changing a nappy, but I love the versatility and challenge of being a father.

Don't try to be me. No one but me can be me. But you can be you. Look inside yourself and get to know who the real you is. And then be that person. The best version of you.

In Afghanistan, getting shot at was a regular occurrence. I viewed survival as a numbers game. As point man, every time I entered a Taliban compound first, I played the odds in my head.

You come on my course and enter my world - I don't care who you are or where you're from - you're a number until you prove yourself otherwise.

When I took on Everest, I'm not there for the views.

When I was younger, if I got into arguments, I'd become aggressive and violent, but I learnt the hard way that was only going to end negatively.

The Special Forces is an aggressive and violent organisation. I wouldn't want to see a woman going through that and getting shot at.

The lowest point for me was ending up in prison after a violent event. I realised I was way out of my depth.