Latest / Hurdle with Emily Abbate / Episode 45: Luke Milton, Celebrity Trainer & Founder Training Mate

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Episode 45: Luke Milton, Celebrity Trainer & Founder Training Mate · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

0:00
Speaker 1: What's going on? Guys. You are listening to episode forty
0:03
Speaker 1: five of Hurdle, a podcast that talks to everyone from
0:07
Speaker 1: entrepreneurs to top CEOs and athletes about how they got
0:10
Speaker 1: through tough times hurdles of sorts by leaning into wellness.
0:14
Speaker 1: My name's Emily Body, and your girl is fresh off
0:17
Speaker 1: the plane from Barcelona. Man, I just love coming home
0:21
Speaker 1: today's episode. I'm going to be chatting with Luke Milton.
0:24
Speaker 1: You might recognize him from Revenge Body with Chloe Kardashian.
0:28
Speaker 1: He's a celebrity trainer and founder of Training Mate, a
0:32
Speaker 1: high intensity interval training studio based in Los Angeles. Before
0:36
Speaker 1: we get to it, quick shout out to my sponsor,
0:38
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0:42
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0:44
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0:48
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0:53
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0:58
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1:19
Speaker 1: head on over to Athleticgreens dot com slash hurdle to
1:22
Speaker 1: claim it. Now, let's chat about Luke. He is awesome.
1:27
Speaker 1: That's like the biggest understatement of the day the second
1:30
Speaker 1: you meet him. He's the most bubbly friendly person. And
1:34
Speaker 1: of course that's pretty typical because he's Australian. It's no
1:37
Speaker 1: wonder why he attracts great celebrity clients, including Chloe, as
1:41
Speaker 1: well as Elle McPherson, Rachel McAdams and Terry Hatcher. In
1:44
Speaker 1: today's episode, the former professional rugby player tells me about
1:49
Speaker 1: how his life changed forever late one night in twenty
1:52
Speaker 1: eleven when he was involved in a hit and run
1:54
Speaker 1: car accident, landing him in the hospital and temporarily making
1:58
Speaker 1: him unable to walk. The frightening Hurdle moment made him
2:00
Speaker 1: reevaluate his life and his goals, and soon after he
2:03
Speaker 1: proposed to his wife and the couple relocated to the
2:06
Speaker 1: United States, where he would open his first studio. Luke
2:09
Speaker 1: talks to me all about setting a solid foundation for
2:12
Speaker 1: better health and the things that you should do if
2:14
Speaker 1: you're just looking to be one percent better every day,
2:16
Speaker 1: and he also shares his biggest regret in launching his company.
2:20
Speaker 1: This is really interesting, great stuff. We recorded this episode
2:24
Speaker 1: when I was back in Los Angeles and trust me
2:27
Speaker 1: getting back home to New York right now with the
2:28
Speaker 1: snow that's happened outside, wouldn't mind to be back there
2:32
Speaker 1: right now. As always, hit me up Twitter, Instagram, Facebook
2:38
Speaker 1: at Hurdle Podcasts. I love it when you guys share
2:42
Speaker 1: your thoughts, your feelings, your favorite takeaways from the pod,
2:45
Speaker 1: So please if you do that over on Instagram, I'll
2:48
Speaker 1: make sure to repost him from the Hurdle account. Also,
2:50
Speaker 1: if you have a Hurdle moment to share, you just
2:53
Speaker 1: want to say hi, whatever the case may be, feel
2:55
Speaker 1: free to come at me. It's Emily at Hurdle dot
2:58
Speaker 1: ussly love hearing from all of you. On that note,
3:02
Speaker 1: when you're done listening today, head on over to the
3:04
Speaker 1: iTunes store and pretty please leave Hurdle a quick review
3:08
Speaker 1: highlighting one today from m SOF They write, I'm so
3:12
Speaker 1: glad I came across this inspirational and optimistic podcast. We
3:17
Speaker 1: could all use some inspiring words in every podcast leaves
3:20
Speaker 1: you wanting to better yourself and reminds you that anyone
3:23
Speaker 1: can accomplish their dreams no matter where you are in life.
3:27
Speaker 1: Thanks for tuning in. I think that's it with that,
3:32
Speaker 1: Let's get to hurdling today. I'm sitting here with Luke Milton,
3:43
Speaker 1: he's the founder of Training. Mate. I'm excited because you're
3:48
Speaker 1: Australian and of course what always cracks me up is
3:51
Speaker 1: I feel like any Australian I meet, whether it's in
3:54
Speaker 1: la or in New York, you all know each other.
3:57
Speaker 1: So you know Dan, Dan Churchill who has been on Hurdle,
4:01
Speaker 1: so a friend of mine. It's like you walk around
4:04
Speaker 1: New York and it feels like a small city just
4:05
Speaker 1: by there being so many people there. The United States
4:09
Speaker 1: is a small place for Australians.
4:11
Speaker 2: There's not many of us, Sam, so we've got to
4:12
Speaker 2: stick together. It's funny when someone actually mentioned that Manhattan
4:17
Speaker 2: on a packed day when it's at full utilization, actually
4:21
Speaker 2: has a bigger population than the entire of Australia. So yeah,
4:25
Speaker 2: the entire population of Australia. So Manhattan on a busy day,
4:29
Speaker 2: you just beat the population of Australia. That's why we
4:31
Speaker 2: all stick together, that's why we all know each other,
4:33
Speaker 2: not many of us.
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Speaker 1: It's not a bad thing, okay. So founder of training Me,
4:37
Speaker 1: tell me off the gat girl, what is training me?
4:41
Speaker 2: So training Mate is a hit fitness studio, so basically
4:44
Speaker 2: high intensity, innimal training. But with training Mate, we really
4:48
Speaker 2: put a fun spin on it. We really believe in
4:51
Speaker 2: the sense of community and really believe in the sense
4:53
Speaker 2: of family and what's in our name or half our
4:57
Speaker 2: name mate, we believe in matship. So I really wanted
5:00
Speaker 2: to create a place where people felt like they belonged
5:03
Speaker 2: but didn't have the same intimidating factors that's so synonymous
5:06
Speaker 2: with the group fitness industry. So training Mate is a
5:09
Speaker 2: fitness studio, but more than that, as a place where
5:12
Speaker 2: everyone can feel welcomed and feel like they belong.
5:14
Speaker 1: I think that can be a really big barrier to
5:16
Speaker 1: fitness for a lot of people is that you feel
5:18
Speaker 1: super alone. That if you're just trying to get into
5:21
Speaker 1: it yourself. And the good thing about fitness in general
5:23
Speaker 1: is that you don't need a lot to get started,
5:25
Speaker 1: but to stick with it. Sometimes it's definitely easier to
5:28
Speaker 1: do it with a friend.
5:29
Speaker 2: Oh, you nailed it right. So the whole point is
5:33
Speaker 2: not letting a mate down. Just human nature. We'll let
5:36
Speaker 2: ourselves down before we let our mate down. So training mates,
5:39
Speaker 2: providing those mates, and through the building of communities, we
5:43
Speaker 2: really make sure that everyone has plenty of mates that
5:46
Speaker 2: they want to go there and look forward to seeing.
5:47
Speaker 2: It's not just about the workout. I've always said that,
5:50
Speaker 2: you know, the workout's one part of it. You got
5:52
Speaker 2: physical health, but you need the social health and the
5:54
Speaker 2: mental health as well. Now I think training mate really
5:57
Speaker 2: addresses all three characteristics.
5:59
Speaker 1: So when somebody comes into one of your three studios
6:01
Speaker 1: here in Los Angeles, what's the format.
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Speaker 2: So the format basically usually there's nine exercises split up
6:08
Speaker 2: into three different circuits. So we do three exercises in
6:11
Speaker 2: one circuit three exercise and another circuit three exercise in one.
6:15
Speaker 2: After that we all come together for communal ab and
6:17
Speaker 2: core work at the end, which is a really good
6:19
Speaker 2: way to bring people together. They're usually teamed up with
6:22
Speaker 2: up to three to four other people in their little group.
6:26
Speaker 2: Thirty six to forty people in the class and we
6:28
Speaker 2: just have fun. You're going to hear some of the
6:30
Speaker 2: worst jokes you've ever heard in your life. And just
6:32
Speaker 2: taking that intimidation again out of the fitness industry. Because
6:38
Speaker 2: I was a professional athlete, I still walk into some
6:40
Speaker 2: of these studios and I'm blown away with how intimidated
6:43
Speaker 2: I feel. Am I going to be able to live
6:45
Speaker 2: up to this workout? What am I going to look
6:47
Speaker 2: like compared to other people as instructor crazy? You know,
6:50
Speaker 2: there are so many factors that go into whether or
6:53
Speaker 2: not you will participate in a group fitness class. They
6:57
Speaker 2: can be intimidating places. So yeah, we took.
7:00
Speaker 1: You're also the second person I've ever sat down with
7:02
Speaker 1: that's worked with Chloe Kardashian. I had Gunner on the show.
7:05
Speaker 2: Oh gun is a legend.
7:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, legend. He's a legend. I know I was. I
7:11
Speaker 1: was speaking with him last week. He's wonderful and I
7:13
Speaker 1: feel like it's always interesting when you sit down. I
7:16
Speaker 1: love to like demystify the idea behind a quote unquote
7:19
Speaker 1: celebrity trainer, because people sometimes have this perception that you
7:23
Speaker 1: do things differently than a standard athletic trainer. But if anything,
7:26
Speaker 1: I feel like the things that you happen to do
7:29
Speaker 1: with these A listers are amplified. So it's a thousand
7:32
Speaker 1: times more attention to detail, so much more like being
7:35
Speaker 1: on your gain, making sure that if things are going
7:38
Speaker 1: out into the world and millions of people are seeing it, Like,
7:40
Speaker 1: let's talk about form, let's talk about process, let's talk
7:42
Speaker 1: about just like doing it right and doing it well.
7:45
Speaker 2: Yeah. Sure, And I think the big thing is too
7:48
Speaker 2: I'm glad you brought that up because it's so many
7:50
Speaker 2: times people get confused about celebrity tryinas and celebrities. I
7:55
Speaker 2: have celebrity clients, yeah, who required just as much attention
7:59
Speaker 2: as every day people. I think that what happens is
8:02
Speaker 2: we exactly what you said, we really blow it up
8:05
Speaker 2: because usually a celebrity trainer or as a celebrity client sorry,
8:09
Speaker 2: needs to be in specific shape for a specific role
8:13
Speaker 2: for a specific time, whether it be hypertrophy program, whether
8:17
Speaker 2: it be breaking something down, whether it be you know,
8:20
Speaker 2: a lot of the time, it's a real transformation if
8:23
Speaker 2: you're getting someone ready for a specific job other than
8:27
Speaker 2: just a general everyday health I mean, gunner is the
8:29
Speaker 2: best in the business, you know. And that's what I'm
8:32
Speaker 2: so lucky to work with Chloe, as you mentioned on
8:34
Speaker 2: the show Revenge Body, because you get access to people
8:37
Speaker 2: like Gunner and Harley, who I've always looked at as
8:40
Speaker 2: a sort of mystical sort of beings, have always been
8:44
Speaker 2: the high profile guys of the industry, and just the
8:49
Speaker 2: appreciation I've got to be able to have access to
8:51
Speaker 2: them and their knowledge and Gunner. Both of those guys,
8:54
Speaker 2: Gunner and Harleah, they've both been so open with their information,
8:57
Speaker 2: knowledge and experience because this industry, to tack onto someone's
9:02
Speaker 2: brain who's been there, done it, seen at a million
9:05
Speaker 2: times is invaluable as far as progressing as a trainer
9:08
Speaker 2: and involving as a trainer.
9:09
Speaker 1: Totally, totally. I actually I've connected with Harley like two
9:12
Speaker 1: handfuls of times now. We actually both traveled to Hong
9:16
Speaker 1: Kong Free Bach at the end of last year and
9:19
Speaker 1: he put me through like a quick workout in the
9:21
Speaker 1: in the hotel gym, and I feel like we did
9:24
Speaker 1: three moves the entire time, and I was just dead
9:27
Speaker 1: for three moves.
9:28
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah from three moves.
9:30
Speaker 1: Okay, So let's talk a little bit about your background now,
9:32
Speaker 1: because obviously you have a background in training and physical fitness.
9:37
Speaker 1: You played rugby growing up, and you grew up in Australia.
9:41
Speaker 2: That's right, so I can't hide this accent. But basically
9:43
Speaker 2: a little bit about my past. Grew up in the
9:46
Speaker 2: suburbs of Sydney, working class family. Dad was a cop,
9:49
Speaker 2: mum's dental nurse, and basically just had a pretty normal
9:52
Speaker 2: upbringing the Australian lifestyle. We're very lucky to experience childhoods
9:57
Speaker 2: in Australia. Grew up on the beach, playing sports and
10:00
Speaker 2: really just being naturally active playing outside, whether it be rugby,
10:05
Speaker 2: whether it be cricket, whether it be just running around, surfing, running,
10:09
Speaker 2: whatever it may be, which evolved into a career in
10:12
Speaker 2: professional sports. I was really lucky that I turned professional
10:16
Speaker 2: age of eighteen the sport of rugby, played for the
10:18
Speaker 2: Sydney Roosters and luckily went on to play for Australia,
10:22
Speaker 2: and really really grateful for that experience. It exposed me
10:26
Speaker 2: to some of the best trainers in the world, some
10:28
Speaker 2: of the best nutritious in the world, some of the
10:29
Speaker 2: best training forms and basic concepts in the world. So
10:35
Speaker 2: I feel very fortunate that when I got into my
10:38
Speaker 2: mid twenties, I started getting sick of waking up in
10:42
Speaker 2: hospital and dislocating joints and having concussions and splitting all
10:47
Speaker 2: sorts of parts of my body. So basically I developed
10:51
Speaker 2: a natural just addiction to the nutrition and the fitness
10:55
Speaker 2: side of things, even more so than the game. So
10:57
Speaker 2: basically where that led me into was just this real
11:02
Speaker 2: first for knowledge as far as the fitness community was
11:04
Speaker 2: concerned in Astrow. At a time, fitness was a lifestyle.
11:08
Speaker 2: It wasn't there was no there were no big players
11:10
Speaker 2: in the industry. It was a couple of personal trainers
11:13
Speaker 2: around obviously, So as I evolved out of rugby, out
11:17
Speaker 2: of professional sports, I started what them was training mate
11:22
Speaker 2: and it basically worked out really quickly. In two thousand
11:26
Speaker 2: and nine, that was worked out really quickly that there
11:29
Speaker 2: was a real need to bring people together. So I
11:32
Speaker 2: worked with people from JP Morgan, from SARChI and SARChI
11:35
Speaker 2: Credit Suite, a bunch of these big companies who they
11:39
Speaker 2: weren't used to coming together. So my philosophy and bringing
11:42
Speaker 2: people together and being that mate brought the CEO to
11:45
Speaker 2: a first year intern together in the one group but
11:50
Speaker 2: slapping each other for you know, getting people really going
11:53
Speaker 2: and really working through that energy, high energy, taking that
11:57
Speaker 2: intimidation factor out of it again, but bringing people together
12:00
Speaker 2: to work hard and get results.
12:01
Speaker 1: They call that in New York City, and I mean
12:04
Speaker 1: outside of New York City's sweet working.
12:06
Speaker 2: Yeah, there you go. There's a whole new industry now.
12:09
Speaker 2: I haning soul cycle develop that, right, There's no more
12:12
Speaker 2: cocktails after work and so go and go and have
12:15
Speaker 2: a group clients, which is great. But from there, I
12:19
Speaker 2: just became addicted to learning more about nutrition. And I
12:23
Speaker 2: think that I always thought there was a way to
12:26
Speaker 2: casualize science. And the more I learn about nutrition and
12:30
Speaker 2: I did my nutrition studies, and then the more I
12:33
Speaker 2: learn about the body and not just performing as a
12:35
Speaker 2: professional athlete, but helping other people get the best out
12:38
Speaker 2: of their day because maybe they don't want to commit
12:42
Speaker 2: ten hours a day to their physical you know, physical endeavors.
12:45
Speaker 2: It was more about developing a program that addressed physical health, absolutely,
12:51
Speaker 2: social health, and mental health. And I've always been big
12:53
Speaker 2: on that since eight nine and we still are training mates.
12:57
Speaker 2: Still bases everything off those foundations points.
13:00
Speaker 1: So you started this in Australia, This is two thousand
13:02
Speaker 1: and nine, it's starting to form into the training meet
13:05
Speaker 1: that we know today. You said that when it began,
13:07
Speaker 1: it was a lot of more personal training exactly.
13:09
Speaker 2: So basically in two thousand and nine, it started off
13:12
Speaker 2: as personal training, which was fantastic, then just accidentally evolved
13:16
Speaker 2: into group training, whereby a couple of my clients were like, hey,
13:19
Speaker 2: I got to bring a couple of buddies. They can't
13:21
Speaker 2: afford your rate. Can we work out something where three
13:24
Speaker 2: or four of us train together? And effectively that's how
13:27
Speaker 2: I evolved training. Mate. So I would set up these
13:30
Speaker 2: programs for three people, one person in each group, and
13:34
Speaker 2: then we would run through three exercises three times, and
13:37
Speaker 2: that's effectively how training may evolve. Then the group's got bigger,
13:41
Speaker 2: and the group's got bigger, and before I knew it,
13:43
Speaker 2: there was thirty and forty people in a park in
13:46
Speaker 2: Sydney overlooking the harder and I just knew that we
13:48
Speaker 2: had something from there. So I knew that my philosophy
13:51
Speaker 2: and my method worked obviously physically, but I think that
13:55
Speaker 2: that should be that should be an expectation. Now, you know,
14:00
Speaker 2: there's a lot of really good products around, so I
14:02
Speaker 2: think that it's a given that the physical attribute should
14:05
Speaker 2: work of a programs. A lot of great trainers around,
14:07
Speaker 2: there's a lot of great studios around. But what I
14:10
Speaker 2: really wanted to identify and pay close attention to is
14:13
Speaker 2: that people were getting way more out of a training
14:16
Speaker 2: mate session than just the physical benefits, because that was
14:19
Speaker 2: so we should you know, we're paying you know, twenty
14:22
Speaker 2: thirty forty bucks for a class with twenty thirty other people,
14:25
Speaker 2: so you should get physical attributes, and so you should
14:27
Speaker 2: improve your physical conditioning. Where I wanted to specialize was
14:31
Speaker 2: getting people to be just as socially healthy who may
14:34
Speaker 2: not have been before and huge one just as mentally healthy,
14:39
Speaker 2: because I think that that's something we've neglected in the
14:41
Speaker 2: industry as we've evolved so fast, and that really needed
14:45
Speaker 2: a bit of attention. So once I worked out that
14:47
Speaker 2: I was actually good at getting that, then we decided
14:50
Speaker 2: to bring it, bring it out to the masses, and
14:52
Speaker 2: bring it over to LA and here we are.
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Speaker 1: Wow, you don't just show up in LA and Openbury
14:57
Speaker 1: studios every night. I am proving to the information that
15:01
Speaker 1: you had a little bit of a hurdle moment that
15:04
Speaker 1: kind of made you realize how much you cared about
15:07
Speaker 1: your craft. So let's talk a little bit about that.
15:10
Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely, Look, it's no secret that I was involved
15:14
Speaker 2: in a pretty bad accident where I was actually pronounced
15:16
Speaker 2: dead for a little second, but they got that wrong,
15:18
Speaker 2: thank goodness. But I got I was involved in a
15:21
Speaker 2: hit and run car accident, so effectively, it was early
15:24
Speaker 2: hours of the morning. I was actually doing a bit
15:27
Speaker 2: of work for my dad. This is y eleven, eight
15:32
Speaker 2: years ago. Now. I got a hit that they estimated
15:35
Speaker 2: about about seventy kilometers an hour, so that's going to
15:38
Speaker 2: test my math around about forty forty five miles an hour.
15:43
Speaker 2: Got hit. I was found forty meters away forty feet away, sorry,
15:48
Speaker 2: from my vehicle, face down on the road. Huge laceration
15:52
Speaker 2: in my head sort of basically split me from the
15:54
Speaker 2: front of my head to the back of my head,
15:55
Speaker 2: and I was unconscious for a long, long, long time, unfortunately,
15:58
Speaker 2: so I remember. Unfortunately my dad found me. Woke up
16:02
Speaker 2: in a pool of blood and couldn't fill my legs.
16:05
Speaker 2: So anyway, we sort of fast forward through that a
16:08
Speaker 2: couple of couple of minutes and the ambulance come stabilizes me.
16:13
Speaker 2: Really funny, how quickly you go back to your first
16:16
Speaker 2: aid training and emergency responses. I was just like, Dad,
16:20
Speaker 2: You've got to stop this bleeding right now. Like I
16:22
Speaker 2: could feel the tingles coming like really deep, couldn't feel
16:25
Speaker 2: my legs, as I said, and just had to stop
16:28
Speaker 2: that bleeding. There was so much blood coming out with
16:30
Speaker 2: my face, my head and a couple other little parts
16:33
Speaker 2: of the body. And I got to hospital and they
16:38
Speaker 2: did the x ray and found a couple of fractures
16:41
Speaker 2: up in my cervical spine, so really high up, which
16:44
Speaker 2: is obviously pretty dangerous that well, curvature fractures. So luckily
16:48
Speaker 2: the vertebrate itself didn't collapse or I didn't have any
16:51
Speaker 2: sort of spinal core damage. But one of those things
16:55
Speaker 2: where you just think you're lucky stars and how much
17:00
Speaker 2: you just take your life, take your body, take your
17:02
Speaker 2: health for granted. And I don't want to harp on
17:05
Speaker 2: about the negative, but it's like I realized in that
17:07
Speaker 2: moment that everything could have been over for me. I
17:10
Speaker 2: would never have experienced what we would consider the simple
17:15
Speaker 2: joys of being married, of starting a business. I always
17:18
Speaker 2: wanted to be entrepreneurial and go out and endeavor that
17:23
Speaker 2: traveling more. And it's so funny how all of my goals, objectives,
17:28
Speaker 2: or probably at the time just dreams, became a reality overnight.
17:34
Speaker 2: And I think that that was really evident to me
17:36
Speaker 2: that you've just got to start. You just got to
17:38
Speaker 2: go and do it. And it's never going to be
17:40
Speaker 2: the right time to propose, it's never going to be
17:43
Speaker 2: the right time to whatever, start a business, move, take
17:47
Speaker 2: a risk, but you just have to do it. And
17:49
Speaker 2: I think that like a life changing moment, like the
17:52
Speaker 2: accident for me, was that hurt a moment, as you said,
17:54
Speaker 2: but was that was that real sort of bam moment
17:59
Speaker 2: for me where I just and did everything that I'd
18:01
Speaker 2: sort of had in my head. I literally ordered a
18:03
Speaker 2: ring as soon as I could walk again, ordered a ring,
18:08
Speaker 2: propose my wife. And some of the most powerful words
18:12
Speaker 2: I ever heard from the surgeon was he literally touched me.
18:15
Speaker 2: He goes, I have no idea how you're sitting in
18:18
Speaker 2: front of me, he said, He said, to make no mistake.
18:21
Speaker 2: If you weren't as physically fit as you are, we're
18:24
Speaker 2: not having this conversation. And your parents, who are a
18:26
Speaker 2: lot more upset right now than they are, you know,
18:28
Speaker 2: it's a miracle. You're here to not take your health
18:31
Speaker 2: for granted. The fact that you were in such good
18:33
Speaker 2: shape is why you're alive. And to me, I mean,
18:38
Speaker 2: it just became way more than looking good aesthetics. He goes.
18:42
Speaker 2: It was way more than that to me because it
18:43
Speaker 2: literally saved my life. And I didn't even know that
18:47
Speaker 2: I was preparing for that moment, you know what I mean, Like,
18:49
Speaker 2: I had no idea that moment was going to come,
18:51
Speaker 2: but I did, Thank goodness, I was. I took care
18:55
Speaker 2: of myself physically so that I could recover. Now a
18:59
Speaker 2: little bit of kink in my neck every now and then.
19:01
Speaker 2: Other than that, I'm good as gold.
19:02
Speaker 1: I was going to ask you, so, what was the
19:04
Speaker 1: recovery like from that?
19:06
Speaker 2: Tough? Because I went from being a professional athlete who
19:10
Speaker 2: effectively you just get things right. It's just like if
19:14
Speaker 2: I want to play golf, I play golf. I might
19:16
Speaker 2: not be a professional golfer, but you can just pick
19:19
Speaker 2: it up, you know. If I want to go for
19:21
Speaker 2: a run, I go for a run. I took those
19:23
Speaker 2: things for granted, because for the next couple of weeks,
19:26
Speaker 2: I couldn't walk. I got the feeling back of my
19:27
Speaker 2: legs really quick, by the way, so I just want
19:29
Speaker 2: to make sure that that's noted really quick. It was
19:32
Speaker 2: a bit of an impingement, but I remember about a
19:36
Speaker 2: week after it, I can't stand being in hospital.
19:39
Speaker 1: So many people that are like.
19:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I know, right, can't but yeah, I know. Yeah,
19:47
Speaker 2: that's the best part of it. I got released, so
19:51
Speaker 2: I went back to the house and had a nurse
19:53
Speaker 2: come over and check on me. Anyway, there was one
19:56
Speaker 2: day the simple task of I went down to pay
19:58
Speaker 2: a bill at the bank. Now where we're living at a time,
20:01
Speaker 2: Rush Cutters Bay in Sydney, or an apartment building. So
20:04
Speaker 2: I get in the lift, I go downstairs. I got
20:07
Speaker 2: the bravery to sort of, you know, go for a
20:09
Speaker 2: bit of a walk. Now, this would have been three
20:12
Speaker 2: hundred feet to the bank. I literally went to walk
20:16
Speaker 2: out the lift and felt my legs start to go,
20:19
Speaker 2: grabbed the reception desk where our bell was. I'm like,
20:22
Speaker 2: I'm done, So turned around, got back in the lift
20:26
Speaker 2: and went and laid on the lounge, and it was
20:29
Speaker 2: it was depressing. It was depressing to not be able
20:31
Speaker 2: to move my body because my mind knew my body
20:34
Speaker 2: could move, and I knew all these things that only
20:37
Speaker 2: days or a couple of weeks beforehand, that wasn't even
20:40
Speaker 2: you know, it wasn't even almost a challenge to get up,
20:42
Speaker 2: and I just checked it for granted. So that to
20:45
Speaker 2: me was the biggest, the biggest tick of like, just
20:49
Speaker 2: don't take it for granted anymore. And almost ten years later,
20:53
Speaker 2: I still really appreciate being able to go for a run,
20:56
Speaker 2: being able to go for a swim, do a training
20:58
Speaker 2: mate class.
21:00
Speaker 1: I think about that all the time, though, this idea
21:02
Speaker 1: that we're so lucky to be able to have the
21:05
Speaker 1: opportunity to move our bodies to run, and it is
21:08
Speaker 1: really frustrating for someone like you and I who do
21:12
Speaker 1: it every day. It's part of our like almost a
21:15
Speaker 1: spiritual practice. Not everyone is going to be super indefitness,
21:18
Speaker 1: that's okay, But I just sometimes so badly wish I
21:23
Speaker 1: could instill that feeling that I get when I'm running
21:26
Speaker 1: and it's early and people are like, how do you
21:28
Speaker 1: do it? And in my mind I'm like, how could
21:30
Speaker 1: I not know?
21:32
Speaker 2: I mean, you just summed that up so so great, right,
21:35
Speaker 2: I Mean it almost becomes yea, how can I not
21:38
Speaker 2: do this? For me? I really just want people to
21:43
Speaker 2: understand that you don't need a six pack, you don't
21:46
Speaker 2: need an eight pack, you don't need to have six
21:48
Speaker 2: percent body fat, you don't need to follow a specific
21:51
Speaker 2: diet or that you've just got to do the general
21:53
Speaker 2: things right. You need to move your body, you need
21:56
Speaker 2: to eat well most of the time. Now, this doesn't
21:59
Speaker 2: have to be a jail settings, and I think that
22:01
Speaker 2: that's been the that's been that, in my opinion, issue
22:05
Speaker 2: with the industry. There's been no gray areas. It's black
22:08
Speaker 2: or it's white, you're healthy or unhealthy. I don't agree
22:10
Speaker 2: with that. I think that there are improvements to make,
22:13
Speaker 2: but I think that if we make them too quick
22:15
Speaker 2: and too forcefully, then human nature does not want to
22:19
Speaker 2: do that to sort of like disobey it. I think
22:22
Speaker 2: that what I specialized at in a trainer and still
22:26
Speaker 2: do is finding what you're good at. Now. I don't
22:32
Speaker 2: think many I think a lot of trainers. There's an
22:35
Speaker 2: ego is involved in the physical health space, right because esthetically,
22:39
Speaker 2: usually people are going to look a little bit better
22:40
Speaker 2: than others because it's your job, so you should. My
22:44
Speaker 2: problem with that is that that doesn't counter balance any psychotherapy.
22:48
Speaker 2: It doesn't counter balance what skills are associated with other
22:52
Speaker 2: attributes of life. So I've worked with a lot of
22:55
Speaker 2: bankers that can do a formula in a heartbeat that
22:57
Speaker 2: I wouldn't even know how to start. Journalists that can
23:01
Speaker 2: write the most or inspiring report, review, interview, and get
23:07
Speaker 2: information out of people like yourself that I wouldn't know
23:10
Speaker 2: where to start. So I think acknowledging that everyone's got
23:13
Speaker 2: a greatness somewhere is tapping into that greatness and then
23:17
Speaker 2: bringing that into their training or into their lifestyle or
23:21
Speaker 2: whatever that may be. I think that there's way too
23:24
Speaker 2: much negative association with the fitness industry. It's all about
23:27
Speaker 2: breaking down, whereas I think that we can build up,
23:30
Speaker 2: and that's what I've got so much respect for people
23:31
Speaker 2: like Gunner because he's that guy. He's a positive guy,
23:34
Speaker 2: jokes laughs, you know what I mean, doesn't take himself
23:37
Speaker 2: too seriously, and we need more of that in the
23:40
Speaker 2: industry because I think that by hitting people with a stick,
23:46
Speaker 2: it doesn't encourage them to keep that consistency. And we
23:50
Speaker 2: all know that consistency is what builds results, not a
23:53
Speaker 2: two week program, four week program, six week program. It's
23:56
Speaker 2: a lifestyle that we need to live and that does
23:59
Speaker 2: allow for or a cupcake or a beer or a pizzaaaa,
24:05
Speaker 2: Chioni's last night, Oh my god, and enjoy it. You know,
24:09
Speaker 2: what's the point in having it if every article that
24:12
Speaker 2: we read tells us how bad of a person you
24:14
Speaker 2: are for enjoying something outside of our normal you know,
24:17
Speaker 2: like normal life, or or outside of our keto diet
24:20
Speaker 2: or paleo this or it's just there are too many
24:24
Speaker 2: labels on things. Now, we've got to get back to
24:26
Speaker 2: living a healthy lifestyle. And to live a healthy lifestyle,
24:29
Speaker 2: you've got to have physical health, social health, and mental health,
24:33
Speaker 2: not one more than the other. They've all got to
24:35
Speaker 2: be addressed equals.
24:36
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I also think it's about celebrating the small winds. Yeah.
24:39
Speaker 1: Maybe you do go out and you do get the
24:42
Speaker 1: ricatta and instead of ordering two pizzas with your friends,
24:46
Speaker 1: you order one pizza and a salad. Yeah, you know,
24:49
Speaker 1: Like it's just it's just finding balance in a way
24:51
Speaker 1: that's whole authentic to who you are. And I mean
24:54
Speaker 1: another example, I'm sure you have people that come in
24:57
Speaker 1: that can nail out push ups all day, and then
24:59
Speaker 1: I'm sure you have people that come in that are
25:01
Speaker 1: working on a more modified push up, but then maybe
25:03
Speaker 1: after three weeks there are two regular push ups in yeah,
25:07
Speaker 1: And it's just small victories like.
25:09
Speaker 2: That, And success is relative. The person that can do
25:13
Speaker 2: infinite push ups may want to do that and may
25:15
Speaker 2: be driven to do that. The person that can do too,
25:18
Speaker 2: it's all the same success. You know, one's not better
25:20
Speaker 2: than the other because they can do more push ups
25:22
Speaker 2: or more squats or more whatever. And I think that
25:24
Speaker 2: goes back to my point is find what someone's good
25:26
Speaker 2: at infiltrate that into their training program. So just touching
25:30
Speaker 2: on those almost psychotherapy sort of points is really getting
25:34
Speaker 2: that out and getting the best out of people and
25:36
Speaker 2: making them feel good about themselves instead of making them
25:39
Speaker 2: feel like they're not good enough to be in a
25:41
Speaker 2: room or not good enough to be in your presence
25:43
Speaker 2: because someone can run a bit faster or guess what,
25:46
Speaker 2: we're all going to get to that point where we
25:47
Speaker 2: can't run as fast as a year see right, So
25:50
Speaker 2: it's a matter of building a lifestyle and not a program.
25:53
Speaker 1: Also about the things that you enjoy, like five the
25:55
Speaker 1: things that you're good for sure, but you could be
25:58
Speaker 1: a great runner, but not like running, which is fine.
26:03
Speaker 1: But say you're a great runner, but you actually love
26:06
Speaker 1: doing god knows dance cardio with your friends. Go do
26:10
Speaker 1: some f and dance cardiole man.
26:12
Speaker 2: I am, I am with you. I say this ever
26:14
Speaker 2: I do. I dance like a newborn giraffe. But anyway,
26:19
Speaker 2: it's good. But it's like it's one hundred percent. Just
26:23
Speaker 2: move your body. It's really not that hard, you know,
26:26
Speaker 2: Like I would love everyone to become a training mate.
26:27
Speaker 2: If you don't like training mate, go for a walk
26:29
Speaker 2: on the beach, go for a hike. If you want
26:31
Speaker 2: to get outdoors, go run through a trail through the
26:34
Speaker 2: middle of Oregon or whatever. If you don't have access
26:36
Speaker 2: to that, do a couple of push ups in front
26:38
Speaker 2: of your TV at home, sit up and down or
26:41
Speaker 2: stand up and down off your couch, jump, do a
26:43
Speaker 2: couple of dips on your dining room table chairs. But
26:47
Speaker 2: your body is the best gym you'll ever have. You
26:50
Speaker 2: don't need a multimillion dollar fit out to walk around that.
26:53
Speaker 2: You are walking around with the best gym you could
26:55
Speaker 2: ever have, and it's your body. You can do whatever
26:57
Speaker 2: you want. Drop into a couple of squads in the
26:59
Speaker 2: middle of the street. Do not work for friends, But
27:01
Speaker 2: you're going to be good. Your body doesn't realize or
27:04
Speaker 2: doesn't know if you want to twenty thousand dollars treadmill
27:08
Speaker 2: or whether you're running up and down the streets of
27:10
Speaker 2: wherever you're at. You know you don't need all those
27:13
Speaker 2: things that media wants to make you think, or marketing
27:17
Speaker 2: campaigns want to make you think. Go and move your body.
27:20
Speaker 2: Eat a healthy lifestyle that has Majoritayly had a life
27:24
Speaker 2: of its own. It grew out of the ground, swhen
27:26
Speaker 2: around an ocean, whatever it may be. Get all of
27:28
Speaker 2: those nutrients in your body. It's really simple. Marketing campaigns
27:31
Speaker 2: want to confuse you. Science does not. It's really really simple.
27:36
Speaker 2: You know, it's not hard to live a healthy lifestyle.
27:38
Speaker 2: And I think that if I ever have one thing
27:39
Speaker 2: that I really want people to know, it's that the
27:42
Speaker 2: minute you work it all out, you find it's common sense.
27:46
Speaker 2: Move your body, eat well, you're good.
27:55
Speaker 1: Taking a quick break from today's episode to give my
27:57
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28:01
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28:03
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Speaker 1: slash Hurdle. Let's get back to it. You grab a ring,
28:54
Speaker 1: you propose to your girlfriend, who's now your wife, and
28:58
Speaker 1: that the two of you who have a little conversation
29:02
Speaker 1: about coming to the United States.
29:04
Speaker 2: Yeah. So basically, my wife's from New York, born in
29:07
Speaker 2: the city, grew up in Buffalo, went back to the city.
29:10
Speaker 2: So basically she came out lucky in love. I retired,
29:15
Speaker 2: moved to New York chasing love and found it and
29:19
Speaker 2: then she moved back to Australia, so she was in
29:21
Speaker 2: Sydney with me, not back to she moved to Australia.
29:25
Speaker 2: She was in Sydney with me for three and a
29:26
Speaker 2: half years. Basically got to the point where she missed America.
29:30
Speaker 2: She wanted to get back, she wanted to see a friend,
29:33
Speaker 2: she just missed. She just missed America in general. So
29:35
Speaker 2: it's like, babe, you know, we were we weren't married
29:39
Speaker 2: by this stage, were engaged and married by this stage,
29:41
Speaker 2: and she was just like, I want to I want
29:45
Speaker 2: to move, I want to I want to go back.
29:46
Speaker 2: I'm like, let's do it. Let's just make this work somehow.
29:49
Speaker 2: So with five suitcases and not much else, not much more,
29:53
Speaker 2: we made the move.
29:55
Speaker 1: So how long after your accident is so.
29:58
Speaker 2: About a year and a half, I've round. So the
30:00
Speaker 2: accent happened. Then we got engaged in Hawaii and then
30:05
Speaker 2: we made the decision. That's when we made the decision
30:07
Speaker 2: to sort of go. So then we basically prepared for
30:09
Speaker 2: that over the next six to eight months. Got married
30:12
Speaker 2: in DC in Georgetown, that's where she went to college,
30:15
Speaker 2: and then went back to Australia. Packed our five suitcases
30:19
Speaker 2: and moved to LA That's awesome. Yeah, yeah. And we
30:21
Speaker 2: turned up to LA with literally nowhere to live, no
30:26
Speaker 2: idea of where we were gonna be, and we had
30:29
Speaker 2: friends in town at the time. We always thought we're
30:31
Speaker 2: going to live by the beach, just just being Australian.
30:34
Speaker 2: Friends at the time lived in West Hollywood, up in
30:36
Speaker 2: the hills, and they were like, no, you have to
30:38
Speaker 2: be around this area, Like, come and stay with us
30:40
Speaker 2: for a week. And then we literally stayed with them
30:43
Speaker 2: and drove around and found an apartment on King's Road
30:48
Speaker 2: in between Santa Monica and Fountain, and then we just
30:50
Speaker 2: lived in the middle of it. By the end of
30:53
Speaker 2: that year, I'd found the building which we still have
30:57
Speaker 2: West Hollywood Training Mate, and we opened Training Mate. Wow.
31:00
Speaker 1: Wow, talk about the learning curve. I'm opening a business
31:04
Speaker 1: here and being, you know, new to the United States,
31:06
Speaker 1: new to California, a whole new area where you and
31:08
Speaker 1: your wife are trying to grow some roots.
31:11
Speaker 2: Look. Absolutely, I think that I'm still learning every day.
31:17
Speaker 2: I think the biggest lesson I learned was to just
31:20
Speaker 2: do it, and that no one had some miracle pill,
31:24
Speaker 2: no one breathed different oxygen to me. Everyone's bones are
31:27
Speaker 2: made of the same thing, right, So I was kind
31:29
Speaker 2: of like I always my biggest problem. I went from
31:32
Speaker 2: professional sports, where I knew what I was doing, I
31:34
Speaker 2: knew what line I had to run, I knew who
31:37
Speaker 2: I had to tackle, I knew I just knew it.
31:39
Speaker 2: I really knew my stuff, Whereas in business, I was like, oh,
31:44
Speaker 2: this is uncharted territory, like I'm going to go on
31:46
Speaker 2: you know Lisa Building in the middle of California. You know,
31:49
Speaker 2: a country that I don't really know that well, and
31:53
Speaker 2: a society that I don't know well. And opening taught
31:57
Speaker 2: me that so many things we can't do is literally
32:02
Speaker 2: just the thought you can do anything. Bill Gates doesn't
32:06
Speaker 2: have some special pill that he takes at night to
32:08
Speaker 2: make him smarter than everyone else. He had a passion
32:11
Speaker 2: for Microsoft, and he grew an enormous company. Warren Buffett
32:14
Speaker 2: does not have some information that none of us can't get.
32:18
Speaker 2: All these people are human beings. And I think once
32:21
Speaker 2: I learned that in business as well as sport, that's
32:24
Speaker 2: when I just really set my sights on really creating
32:27
Speaker 2: something that I'm really proud of. And that is the
32:31
Speaker 2: anxiety a little bit. But there's still those days and
32:34
Speaker 2: still go through it. Now we are You're like, oh
32:35
Speaker 2: my god, Oh my gosh, this is going to work.
32:37
Speaker 2: What's happening. But we just built the community of West
32:39
Speaker 2: Hollywood and then Studio City and now Santa Monica. It's great.
32:43
Speaker 1: Was it a slow start or did it catch fire
32:45
Speaker 1: pretty quick?
32:46
Speaker 2: It was a slow to start because I didn't understand marketing.
32:49
Speaker 2: I didn't understand at the time you just open your doors.
32:53
Speaker 2: There wasn't these fitness platforms there are now where there's
32:55
Speaker 2: so many bloggers coming in every day or social influencers
32:59
Speaker 2: in quotation, and really making sure that we got the
33:04
Speaker 2: product right. And still to this day, I've been very
33:06
Speaker 2: disciplined in our growth and making sure that the product
33:10
Speaker 2: of training Mate is always the number one thing. We
33:13
Speaker 2: didn't go and build out twenty thousand training Mates when
33:17
Speaker 2: I could have. I want to make sure that the
33:20
Speaker 2: product is exactly what I promise it to be. And
33:22
Speaker 2: that's you know, a fun family as well. And yeah,
33:26
Speaker 2: so when I opened, it was just we opened the
33:28
Speaker 2: door and just hoped people coming, and it was friends
33:34
Speaker 2: and family at the start, and then we started to
33:36
Speaker 2: build up like one of the morning classes and about
33:38
Speaker 2: three or four months into it. Once the words started
33:41
Speaker 2: spreading a little bit, then we started to get some
33:43
Speaker 2: real traction. And at the start I taught every class.
33:46
Speaker 2: I'd work the front desk end of the training and
33:48
Speaker 2: work the front desk end of the training, and then
33:51
Speaker 2: just from there really just grew it out really organically.
33:54
Speaker 2: To this day, we still haven't spend a cent on marketing.
33:57
Speaker 2: It's all organic growth. It's all word of mouth, and
34:00
Speaker 2: people challenge me on that all the time, but it's
34:02
Speaker 2: like Training Mate is a very authentic and or getting
34:05
Speaker 2: business and company.
34:06
Speaker 1: Now, So what would you say was one of the
34:09
Speaker 1: biggest challenges right when you started? And when did you
34:13
Speaker 1: and when did you know after opening that West Hollywood
34:16
Speaker 1: studio that you were ready to expand me on that,
34:19
Speaker 1: because you must have been doing quite well to have
34:21
Speaker 1: the thought that, yeah, we're ready to get bigger.
34:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, the biggest challenge is always getting people to believe
34:28
Speaker 2: in the company as much as the founder does. And
34:33
Speaker 2: that's always and still to this day, is always going
34:35
Speaker 2: to be. We have some great people. I hangd in
34:38
Speaker 2: my heart. The staff at Training Mate a family. We
34:41
Speaker 2: all are. We all did it. And that's not to
34:43
Speaker 2: say I haven't had a couple of people that have
34:46
Speaker 2: done the wrong thing along the way. I think the
34:48
Speaker 2: biggest challenge was working out that not everyone has your
34:51
Speaker 2: best interests at heart. I had, you know, a guy
34:54
Speaker 2: I considered a very close friend, steel and you know,
34:58
Speaker 2: do a whole over things, which is really really just pointing.
35:00
Speaker 2: But I also chose to go down a brighter path,
35:04
Speaker 2: and I believe in you know, whatever position he was
35:07
Speaker 2: in life where he had to do that, then I
35:09
Speaker 2: feel horrible for him, and I actually have some empathy
35:12
Speaker 2: and some sympathy for him. But that was the biggest challenge.
35:17
Speaker 2: Was understanding that there's a lot of work goes into training,
35:27
Speaker 2: grooming and allowing people to take on your baby, because
35:32
Speaker 2: it really is. It's something that's been in my mind forever,
35:35
Speaker 2: planning and working and sleepless nights and early mornings and
35:39
Speaker 2: late nights. The biggest challenge for me was giving over
35:43
Speaker 2: a little bit of control where someone could teach a
35:44
Speaker 2: class that I was teaching, or do the front desk
35:48
Speaker 2: that I was doing, well, you know what I mean,
35:49
Speaker 2: and really like allowing people in that would be and
35:53
Speaker 2: to be honest, that would still be my biggest challenge.
35:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's scary. I mean, this is like such a
35:57
Speaker 1: different thing. But for me, I at it the part
36:00
Speaker 1: podcast myself. I produce the podcast myself, and people all
36:02
Speaker 1: the time are like, you could just hand that over
36:04
Speaker 1: to someone else, and in my head, yeah I could.
36:08
Speaker 1: But A I love listening back to it and editing
36:11
Speaker 1: it because I feel like I get double as much benefit.
36:15
Speaker 1: I listen to you right now, I sit here with you,
36:17
Speaker 1: I listen to it again, I edit it. I feel
36:19
Speaker 1: like I get all I get to reap all the
36:20
Speaker 1: benefits all the time, but I mean to get hours
36:24
Speaker 1: back in my week that I could be doing something
36:26
Speaker 1: else with. What's the benefit I don't know. I don't know,
36:29
Speaker 1: but I think about it, and it's just relinquishing control
36:32
Speaker 1: from something that you're so passionate.
36:33
Speaker 2: About percent And I think that that's the key fact
36:36
Speaker 2: that there is passionate and I'm so passionate about training.
36:38
Speaker 2: I'm so passionate about creating healthy lifestyles for people, and
36:41
Speaker 2: I think that that's the biggest thing, right It's like
36:44
Speaker 2: being able to appreciate that. I don't want to appreciate
36:46
Speaker 2: that from some remote island somewhere on my laptop. I
36:51
Speaker 2: want to be in the mix. With people, and I
36:53
Speaker 2: want to selfishly. I get so much out of walking
36:57
Speaker 2: into a training Mate studio and high fiving people, getting
37:00
Speaker 2: new people while seeing people that have literally been there
37:02
Speaker 2: since the first couple of months we open. We've got
37:04
Speaker 2: multiple members still at West Hollywood who have been there,
37:08
Speaker 2: like well over a thousand classes were there when we started,
37:11
Speaker 2: when there was like three and four people in a class,
37:13
Speaker 2: and it was like, it's just I don't know. That
37:16
Speaker 2: to me just fills my heart with joy every single
37:19
Speaker 2: time I see them because they're genuine It's genuinely like
37:22
Speaker 2: a family and being a foreigner in a different country,
37:25
Speaker 2: friends become family very quickly, and that's what Training Mate
37:29
Speaker 2: was for me. I when I first moved here, I
37:31
Speaker 2: was desperate for a place like Training Mate. So I
37:34
Speaker 2: basically just created something that I thought that I needed.
37:37
Speaker 2: And hence, with the success, it's come that other people
37:42
Speaker 2: need that too. We need a sense of belonging, we
37:44
Speaker 2: need a place where we feel is a home. We
37:47
Speaker 2: need a safe place too, And that's why I continue
37:51
Speaker 2: to push the positivity and continue to push that it
37:53
Speaker 2: is a place for everyone, whether you're an Olympic athlete
37:55
Speaker 2: or a first timer, it is a place that everyone
37:57
Speaker 2: can come to, because I think that that was missing
38:00
Speaker 2: in the fitness industry.
38:01
Speaker 1: Why do you do to chill out?
38:02
Speaker 2: My daughter, ye, who got my energy? So she's always going, going, go.
38:07
Speaker 2: She's three and a half now, so and it's just
38:10
Speaker 2: I think for the first time, I'm like, my wife's great.
38:13
Speaker 2: My wife knows me better than anyone in the world.
38:15
Speaker 2: So knowing where you can push, where you can't, where
38:19
Speaker 2: you've got to delegate a little bit. And that's still
38:21
Speaker 2: to this day really really hard for me. But not
38:24
Speaker 2: getting so immersed into the behind the scenes stuff and
38:30
Speaker 2: knowing my values, knowing what I stand for, And I
38:33
Speaker 2: think that that's been a huge training. Make's been a
38:36
Speaker 2: growth as a company, but it's also been a growth
38:38
Speaker 2: for me as a person. Understanding the values of being
38:41
Speaker 2: a mate, understanding integrity, understanding doing the right thing no
38:45
Speaker 2: matter what. And I think that that's a really big thing.
38:48
Speaker 2: As a company, I'm in force that we do that. Yeah,
38:51
Speaker 2: And as a person I make sure that I absolutely
38:54
Speaker 2: do that. Every day you wake up, stick stick to
38:57
Speaker 2: your values, do the right thing, just stick to your integrity,
39:01
Speaker 2: and everything works out. There's going to be people that
39:03
Speaker 2: come along that don't have the same values. That's absolutely okay,
39:06
Speaker 2: that's on them. It's not a you can't bring that
39:09
Speaker 2: into your own life, but it's it's been a real,
39:13
Speaker 2: real lesson and evolution for me as well, just living
39:18
Speaker 2: a personal training mate and you know, a company that's
39:21
Speaker 2: so fixed on values, integrity and family, that's what's become me.
39:25
Speaker 2: So I don't know I speaking circles, but going back
39:28
Speaker 2: to my daughter and my wife, that's how I really
39:31
Speaker 2: sort of not switch off that deviate from training, make training,
39:35
Speaker 2: make training mate. It's like, oh my god, I'm in
39:37
Speaker 2: love with my wife and I love our life and
39:39
Speaker 2: my daughter is just the biggest joy there ever is.
39:43
Speaker 2: And challenging being a parent. There's you know, like learning
39:46
Speaker 2: that you know you're not perfect at that as well,
39:48
Speaker 2: so you've got to learn those things. And I think
39:50
Speaker 2: it's learning along the way and evolving that's what drives
39:53
Speaker 2: me to wake up tomorrow.
39:54
Speaker 1: I also would think that you're talking about everyone kind
39:57
Speaker 1: of having an opinion on what you're doing and coming
39:59
Speaker 1: back to why you started in the first place. I'm
40:01
Speaker 1: sure when you did the whole revenge body thing, you
40:05
Speaker 1: probably got a lot of feedback. Obviously A lot of
40:07
Speaker 1: it that was unwarranted and just came out of a field.
40:11
Speaker 2: My philosophy is really different than a lot of people.
40:13
Speaker 2: It's not the norm, and I don't apologize for that.
40:17
Speaker 2: I do believe you can have fun and get fit.
40:20
Speaker 2: I don't believe you can you burn more calories because
40:22
Speaker 2: you're training as a douchebag. You know, there's no there's
40:25
Speaker 2: no science that has told me that you have to
40:27
Speaker 2: yell and scream at someone to get them results and training. Mate,
40:30
Speaker 2: And my own philosophy in my one on one clients
40:32
Speaker 2: as well, is not that yelling and screaming, breaking people down,
40:35
Speaker 2: making them feel like they aren't good enough at something.
40:38
Speaker 2: To try and be good something, it just doesn't make
40:40
Speaker 2: sense to me. So I will tell terrible jokes, I
40:44
Speaker 2: will dance around the Speta, I'll do the things.
40:48
Speaker 1: I expected, unexpected thing that you're just going to throw
40:52
Speaker 1: into the met On Instagram you'll see all about that.
40:54
Speaker 2: But it's just like, you got to have fun. I was,
40:56
Speaker 2: as I said, I was a professional athlete in ugly,
40:58
Speaker 2: one of the toughest sports in the world. It's not
41:01
Speaker 2: eating raw meat and yelling and screaming each other. It's
41:04
Speaker 2: having fun as a team, being there for the wins,
41:06
Speaker 2: being there for the losses. A mate to me is good, bad,
41:10
Speaker 2: and otherwise. And that's what loyalty is about. And that's
41:12
Speaker 2: what integrative is about. And that's what training mate's all about.
41:15
Speaker 2: Training mate is giving someone a bum slap and telling
41:18
Speaker 2: them that they did a great job and fantastic, or
41:20
Speaker 2: encouraging someone that wants to go to the Olympics. Or
41:22
Speaker 2: we have professional athletes all the time, and the Dodgers
41:25
Speaker 2: or NBA players or NFL guys come in and they
41:28
Speaker 2: will get just as good of a workout as the
41:31
Speaker 2: guy or girl that got off the couch and go, yeah,
41:33
Speaker 2: I'm going to start a new fitness campaign this year.
41:35
Speaker 2: It's all it's for everyone, but it's absolutely staying true
41:40
Speaker 2: to having fun, yeah, and consistency.
41:42
Speaker 1: I've got to ask you, are you ever a starstruck?
41:44
Speaker 1: Like has anyone ever walked through your doors and you're like, holy, you.
41:47
Speaker 2: Know, I've been really ludym because that's obviously been a foreigner, right,
41:51
Speaker 2: like coming into a Hollywood and it's like it's just
41:53
Speaker 2: a place where inevitably you're going to end up if
41:56
Speaker 2: you're good at what you do. You're going to train celebrities.
41:58
Speaker 2: I'm very fortunate to training a lot of celebrities now
42:01
Speaker 2: I get. I get. I absolutely respect actors and entertainment
42:05
Speaker 2: people who have got a profile. I just respect that
42:08
Speaker 2: they're good at what they do. I think I get
42:10
Speaker 2: a bit more starstruck from big business guys or big executives.
42:14
Speaker 2: I think that I really believe in that's where my
42:18
Speaker 2: passions lie now lies with that and providing and building
42:22
Speaker 2: companies and building cultures, building movements. I had Julie Rice
42:25
Speaker 2: from Soul Cycle coming to one of my classes. I
42:27
Speaker 2: think that's that's about as nervous as I've been in
42:30
Speaker 2: a class. And we've had you know, I have a
42:32
Speaker 2: lot of Hollywood A listens come in that I respect.
42:36
Speaker 2: But I remember when Julie came in. I was like,
42:37
Speaker 2: blah blah blah blah. I started stuttering. I'm like, look,
42:40
Speaker 2: pull it together. You've done this a million times. And
42:44
Speaker 2: we had a full glass. It was amazing, it was great,
42:46
Speaker 2: and she's such a sweetheart. But that was that was
42:50
Speaker 2: the most starstruck I've been. Because I'm a huge fan
42:52
Speaker 2: of the brand of Soul Cycle, I'm a huge fan
42:56
Speaker 2: of what Elizabeth and Julie did with that company, and
42:59
Speaker 2: I think that they are responsible for creating a group
43:03
Speaker 2: fitness movement than the one that we see today. And
43:05
Speaker 2: I think that we're all benefactors of the vision that
43:08
Speaker 2: they had.
43:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure, for sure, you obviously look to Julie
43:12
Speaker 1: as a role model. Who else are people that inspire
43:15
Speaker 1: you on your day to day?
43:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, my dad just from the hard work that he did,
43:20
Speaker 2: you know, it was a cop growing up, but would
43:23
Speaker 2: always make sure that we never went without. He would
43:25
Speaker 2: work nights, he would work early mornings, he would go
43:28
Speaker 2: and do all sorts of things to make sure that
43:30
Speaker 2: his family never went without. So that is a huge
43:34
Speaker 2: inspiration for me to be that guy and to really
43:37
Speaker 2: make sure my family and greater family of training mate
43:40
Speaker 2: have the best of whatever we can provide. My father
43:43
Speaker 2: in law was a totally different type of mentor. Father
43:46
Speaker 2: in law is really well respected orthopedic surgeon out of
43:50
Speaker 2: New York, Yeah, out from Baltimore, practicing in Buffalo. He
43:56
Speaker 2: exposed me to some of the nicer things in life,
44:00
Speaker 2: like dressing well and speaking well and education and all
44:03
Speaker 2: of that. In Australia, believe it or not, we don't
44:05
Speaker 2: put a whole heaven of mints on education, so like
44:11
Speaker 2: continuing to read and go back to school and learning
44:14
Speaker 2: all that sort of stuff. Ken was really instrumental in
44:17
Speaker 2: my life of that. My wife's a huge inspiration for
44:20
Speaker 2: me every day, just seeing she comes from a very
44:22
Speaker 2: different set of values than I did. Right, So for me,
44:26
Speaker 2: it was always about sport. I had to play sport,
44:28
Speaker 2: I had to achieve in sport, we had to win,
44:30
Speaker 2: and it was win allers. She went down there, she
44:32
Speaker 2: went to Georgetown. She's insanely smart. She just does She's
44:36
Speaker 2: just good at everything she puts in mind. She she's
44:38
Speaker 2: very organized, she's got great leadership, She's all the things
44:41
Speaker 2: that I would like to be. And so she inspires
44:44
Speaker 2: me every day. And she just puts my crazy big
44:47
Speaker 2: picture ideas into step by step processes to be able
44:50
Speaker 2: to achieve. And she's had a huge influence on training
44:53
Speaker 2: Mate and how we've been able to expand and the
44:55
Speaker 2: organization behind it. And so they're the people that really
44:59
Speaker 2: inspire me. And then I'll do business leaders all the time.
45:02
Speaker 2: Richard Branson, my gosh, I think he's the only person
45:04
Speaker 2: in the world i'd leave my wife for. He's just
45:09
Speaker 2: a rock star, you know, and he proves a million
45:12
Speaker 2: times over a billion times under that you don't need
45:16
Speaker 2: to you don't need to be the smartest guy in
45:21
Speaker 2: the room. Right. He's focused on customer service and does
45:24
Speaker 2: customer service better than anyone else in the world. The
45:26
Speaker 2: Virgin Brands is insane and from being the underdobin, from
45:30
Speaker 2: being the quote yeah quote unquote small guy, he's the biggest,
45:35
Speaker 2: you know, and and they just created this amazing movement
45:38
Speaker 2: that value staff. Actually looked at one of these quotes
45:41
Speaker 2: the other day. It was like, everyone says that the
45:43
Speaker 2: customer is always right, and it's not that way at all.
45:45
Speaker 2: It is look after your staff and provide them with
45:47
Speaker 2: the best environment they can be or something like this
45:50
Speaker 2: un quote look up your staff, make sure that they're
45:52
Speaker 2: in an environment where they can be the best they
45:54
Speaker 2: can be, and the clients will always be looked after.
45:56
Speaker 2: And I think that's so true. Creating that family, having
45:59
Speaker 2: that family that can then put on to other people, clients, customers,
46:03
Speaker 2: whatever it may be the best part, then I think
46:06
Speaker 2: that that's a really good thing, really good way to
46:08
Speaker 2: run a company. Totally.
46:10
Speaker 1: Okay, so we're winding down here. What I want to
46:12
Speaker 1: know from you is if you look back on the past,
46:17
Speaker 1: how long has.
46:17
Speaker 2: It been now six and a half years.
46:19
Speaker 1: Of training that have there been any big missteps that
46:24
Speaker 1: have actually ended up teaching you a really great lesson?
46:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, huge, Do your homework on people before you invite
46:33
Speaker 2: them into your business. Know your values. No, that's the
46:38
Speaker 2: biggest one. And anyone that's going to be in your business,
46:42
Speaker 2: make sure they share the same values. The biggest mistake
46:45
Speaker 2: idea was I let someone into the business who didn't
46:49
Speaker 2: share the same values. And fantastically I've learned from that.
46:53
Speaker 2: And training mate is what it is because the values
46:57
Speaker 2: we have, I.
46:58
Speaker 1: Think that's really a good life. And though for like
47:00
Speaker 1: life as a whole and the people that we surround
47:02
Speaker 1: ourselves with, right because I think sometimes you could be
47:06
Speaker 1: really excited to meet someone and then you get to
47:08
Speaker 1: know them and it's okay if not everyone is your person.
47:10
Speaker 2: Exactly, and it's and it's okay that not everyone shares
47:15
Speaker 2: your philosophy on life. It's there's going to be people
47:18
Speaker 2: that do. Trust the process. If you're if you wake
47:21
Speaker 2: up every day and you say, I want this to
47:22
Speaker 2: be positive, I want this to be active. I want
47:24
Speaker 2: to leave the world a better place then you're good
47:28
Speaker 2: follow your heart with that and and that's the thing.
47:30
Speaker 2: So it's still just my wife and I that are
47:33
Speaker 2: in Training Mate, and it's a good place to be at.
47:37
Speaker 2: You know, we're going to expand and we're going to
47:38
Speaker 2: build it all out, but it's going to be with
47:40
Speaker 2: people that share our values and share our vision for
47:43
Speaker 2: what training Mate is.
47:44
Speaker 1: Definitely, definitely okay. The last question you hear me. You
47:49
Speaker 1: have an opportunity right now to offer the look who
47:53
Speaker 1: just got in his car accident and is reevaluating his
47:57
Speaker 1: entire life and instantly thinking about buying a ring and
47:59
Speaker 1: spend all this money and moving to the United States.
48:02
Speaker 1: You have an opportunity to give him a little bit
48:04
Speaker 1: of advice. What do you tell him?
48:06
Speaker 2: Looking back on it now, don't take life so seriously,
48:08
Speaker 2: and it's all going to work out just fine.
48:10
Speaker 1: It's all going to be just fine.
48:12
Speaker 2: I love Thanks so much for having appreciate it.
48:16
Speaker 1: Please take a moment to leave a quick review by
48:18
Speaker 1: clicking the link with the description to this episode. We
48:21
Speaker 1: all face multiple hurdles in life. I want to hear
48:23
Speaker 1: about yours. Reach out to me at Emily at hurdle
48:26
Speaker 1: dot Us. Connect with the podcast on Instagram and Twitter
48:29
Speaker 1: at Hurdle Podcast. Where do they find you? Where do
48:32
Speaker 1: they find training me? Give me the lowdown.
48:34
Speaker 2: So if you want to burn your eyeballs, I'm on
48:36
Speaker 2: Instagram at MILTS one m I l t S one.
48:39
Speaker 2: You can find me on Revenge Body training People with
48:42
Speaker 2: Chloe and also Training Mate training mate dot com.
48:45
Speaker 1: Wow, that was really well done. I am at Emily
48:50
Speaker 1: Abadi another hurdle conquered. Catch you guys next time you