Above: Dan Hunt, Marshall Officer, and Nathan Barnes, Anvil Strength Founding Members, 2019
What is Anvil Strength Co?
Anvil Strength Co is an Australian Veteran Owned and Operated company. We believe in a growth mindset supported by continuous learning, smart physical training, and mental health support, in pursuit of lifelong personal development.
Who Are We?
Anvil Strength was founded by three young Australian Veterans who all served together in the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, in Townsville, between 2011 and 2017. They wanted to provide mental and physical strength education, and high quality training equipment - both by Aussie veterans and for Aussie veterans. This now comes in the form of articles on our website, posts on our Social Media accounts, and our online training equipment and apparel sales.
Owned and Operated By
Nathan Barnes
Nathan left the Army with 7 years of experience: five years in Infantry, one year as an Administration and Finance Clerk and one year as a Command Support Clerk. During that time, he deployed with Force Protection Element-2 to Afghanistan in 2014-2015, and held various team management positions later in his career. He has had years of experience in businesses, taking on every role of business including online website design, social media management, marketing and advertising, research and development, design and manufacturing, administration, customer service, business development, warehousing, fulfillment and international business relations.
Nathan is primarily responsible for everything Business and Technology. He has a passion for innovation, combined with a desire to help as many people as possible. If there is a tech solution to making our work easier, other people's lives better, and keeps us providing education for free, Nathan makes it happen.
Founders
Daniel Hunt
Dan left the Army in 2017 with 5 years experience. He was promoted to Corporal with over a year’s experience leading and training soldiers in complex operating procedures, techniques and tactics, and deployed with Force Protection Element-2 to Afghanistan in 2014-2015. He has also spent over a year in an immigration role working in a welfare and security context. Dan dedicated most of his time with Anvil to ensuring the articles were high quality, entertaining, and worth reading. Dan has since moved on from Anvil to pursue a degree, and future career, in engineering - we wish him the best of luck!
Marshall Officer
Marshall left the Army in 2017 with 6 years experience, where he was promoted to Corporal and deployed with Force Protection Element-2 to Afghanistan in 2014-2015. This included 1 year as an Instructor at the School Of Infantry. After leaving, he completed his Post-Graduate Certificate in Cyber Security, Policing, Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism at Macquarie University, Sydney, as well as a Cert IV in Fitness, multiple yoga instructor courses, and the Epic Strength Coaching Course. He was always obsessed with strength and conditioning, and was primarily responsible for the Training side of Anvil - coaching multiple veteran clients through injuries and on to powerlifting competitions in Brisbane. Marshall has since left Anvil to further a career in cyber-security - a field he has become extremely passionate about!
The Extended Family
Charlotte Officer
Charlotte is the primary editor for all articles published on the Anvil website. With degrees in psychology, clinical medical science and her Doctor of Medicine (completed 2022) - Charlotte is passionate about the integration of mental and physical health, and positive change in mental healthcare. Charlotte is a published author, and her professional experience in healthcare is continuously expanding - making her an excellent form of quality control for our articles.
Dr Kevin Kraushaar
Dr. Kevin Kraushaar is a trauma specialist who works with veterans with service histories ranging from the Second World War to modern day conflicts. He is passionate about mental health, and using his education and years of experience to improve the quality of life for those affected by their traumatic experiences.
The diversity of Dr. Kraushaar’s clients means he has witnessed first-hand the vast array of components that may negatively impact mental health. Using his experience, he’s able to provide insights into issues of which many people may not be aware, due to the ‘hush-hush’ stigma surrounding open discussion of mental health concerns and proactive awareness. At Anvil T&D, we value that information, and we’re excited to bring Dr Kraushaar’s knowledge through articles and other services as often as possible.
Friends of Anvil
Balance to You
The Anvil Training team work closely with Trent and Chris at Balance to You, a Boutique Training Facility in Stafford, Queensland. Trent and Chris have been kind enough to provide an excellent space for the Anvil team to run Veteran Group Therapy 3 times a week, and we expect to be working more and more closely with them as time goes on!
Team Invictus Australia Powerlifting
Team Invictus Australia is a Powerlifting team coached by Dr Matt Stewart, an experienced powerlifting coach, competitor, and Physiotherapist with a background helping law enforcement and military recover from load carriage injuries, and Mauro Soto, an experienced coach and powerlifting competitor holding multiple records. The Anvil Training Team are working closely with these two excellent coaches to take our own strength, conditioning, coaching, and education to the next level. Check them out on Instagram: @fortislevare and @the_strengthphysio
Shaun Kober - Performance Functional Training
Shaun is a former Australian Army soldier and was awarded a “Commendation for Gallantry” for actions under fire in Afghanistan. Shaun is currently the head strength and conditioning coach at the world-renowned MMA and Muay Thai camp, Tiger Muay Thai in Phuket, Thailand, and works with high-level athletes and general population clients alike. Petr Yan, Antonina Shevchenko, Yana Kunitskaya, Danyelle Wolf, Damir Ismagulov, Movsar Evloev, and Aussie boxer Tim Tszyu, are a crop of recent athletes that Shaun has worked closely with, preparing these high-level fighters for bouts in the UFC, Bellator, ONE Championship, and other world-class combat-based organisations. Our work with Shaun includes collaboration on physical and mental health training and educational content, as well as working together face-to-face whenever the opportunity arises!
Facebook: performancefunctionaltraining
Instagram: @kobes_pft
YouTube: Performance Functional Training
Swiss 8
We have begun to work quite closely with the Swiss 8 team, and will continue to do so in the future. They're another group of Australian Veterans, using innovation and technology to help Young Veterans anywhere and everywhere.
Train Smart. Train Hard.
