Latest / The R4R Podcast: Road to Zero / Ben Alexander & Rich Peil: Anytime Fitness Australia founder
Transcript
- 0:00At Lonsdale St Studio, we believe in the power of
- 0:02storytelling to connect people and create change.
- 0:05That's why we're proud to be the production partner for this
- 0:08Running for Resilience podcast. Hi, Benny here filling in for
- 0:12Brady this week on the Running for Zooids podcast.
- 0:14And I'm here with the great Rich Appeal.
- 0:16Rich, welcome. Thanks mate.
- 0:18For those who don't know, Rich is obviously father, husband,
- 0:22Incredible Jess, who's a massive Afro legend, chairman of former
- 0:27chairman of the Central Coast Mariners and Co founder of
- 0:30Anytime Fitness. And I just want to kick off
- 0:33with, I don't know if you remember the first time we met,
- 0:36it was probably a year and a half ago.
- 0:38I'm at the dock and I came in after half an hour.
- 0:40I was sort of rushing around just trying to, I was trying to
- 0:42get someone something. And you're sitting you're having
- 0:45dinner with Jess and you go, excuse me, mate, can you put the
- 0:48Mariners on and I go I go Seattle Mariners, the baseball
- 0:52and you go Nah, the the soccer Central Coast and I go might
- 0:56what a league. Who watches the a league?
- 0:58I was just saying jokingly. And you go I do I'm the chairman
- 1:01and I oh shit, sorry, mate, rushed around got the remote.
- 1:05But mate, so I guess why you're well, how we've gotten an HL a
- 1:10bit a lot better since then, and it's probably only maybe two or
- 1:13three months after that. You pull Brainy and I aside and
- 1:18with with an idea of formalising R for R and maybe take it to the
- 1:21next level. Like let's talk us through that.
- 1:24What? Like one, why did you pull
- 1:26Brandy aside that night? And two, what do you see in R
- 1:29for R that can make a difference?
- 1:31Well, it's it is a great question and it was a bit of a
- 1:38impromptu grab, you guys. I hadn't planned to do it.
- 1:43I've been coming to R for R for a few weeks and Jess obviously
- 1:46runs everywhere, runs every day. She'd taken me to a few park
- 1:50runs and I enjoyed that and I turned up to R for R and I could
- 1:57just see what you guys were trying to achieve.
- 2:03And like, I like park run, but I go to a park run and I don't
- 2:10talk to anyone. I I'm fairly introverted at at
- 2:15heart, you know, you know, I'd love to go along and just talk
- 2:17to me and Jess. But as you know, and people know
- 2:19Jess, she talks to everyone there.
- 2:21She knows everyone talks to everyone but at Parker and I
- 2:24just go along and and do my run, enjoy it.
- 2:28What I saw at Farrar, though, was I guess the purpose behind
- 2:33the brand, behind the name. There was really clear to me
- 2:36that people were turning up and I, I found myself doing this and
- 2:41I still do it now. You know, I turn up because of
- 2:44the purpose and the speech you give it at the start.
- 2:47And you know, I do my run and I do cheat a little bit.
- 2:50I you know, I don't go all the way and it's not time now they
- 2:52had. To fall, start you a couple of
- 2:54times. Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely.
- 2:55Heads out early. It makes me feel good when I'm
- 2:58at the pointy and coming back, but I could tell at the end and
- 3:02and I do it myself that, you know, cost of the purpose of the
- 3:06brand, You're actually looking around for people.
- 3:09People come there because they might be struggling.
- 3:14So, you know, I, I look for people after the run and try and
- 3:19pick people out that I think look a bit out of place.
- 3:22And I don't do that at park run because that's not the purpose
- 3:25of the brand. But that's what I saw in our
- 3:28Farrar and I know absolutely no. The one thing that frustrates me
- 3:34a little bit about our Ferraris, I know our Ferraris saved lives
- 3:40and I know you and Bernie spoke last week that you know you, you
- 3:44don't. The suicide statistics in the
- 3:47ICT are actually trending very much in the right direction.
- 3:51And you said, you know you, you're not sure if you've had a
- 3:54lot to do with that. I'm convinced that you guys have
- 3:56had a lot to do with that. And the wider we can spread that
- 4:00by doing more, more sites. And that's really what the
- 4:03funding that Jess and I put in for was to allow you guys to
- 4:07actually have the opportunity to work on the brand full time and,
- 4:11and spread it out throughout, throughout Canberra.
- 4:15Because I know absolutely know that it saves lives.
- 4:19And what I was saying, what frustrates me is you can't
- 4:22measure it. It's really hard to measure
- 4:23that. But when you see.
- 4:25Our actual impact. Yeah, you can't, because you
- 4:27don't know. You don't know who's turned up
- 4:30that week and who was on the edge, happened to, you know,
- 4:34just have 5-10 words with someone that changed their
- 4:37mindset because it doesn't take a lot to get someone back on the
- 4:43right side of that, you know, that ledge I feel, Yeah.
- 4:47And yeah, I agree around the purpose of something It gives.
- 4:50I said last week like I've got, you know, tremendous purpose in
- 4:53my family. I love my family and then fill
- 4:54my life full of purpose. And and that really helped me in
- 4:57my darkest moments. I think probably my at my worst
- 5:01year, it was just I wanted to get better for my family because
- 5:04I know I knew a part of me, even though I was tired and just
- 5:08going, maybe people are better off without me.
- 5:10I knew deep down now it's not true.
- 5:12It's not true. My kids will be better off for
- 5:14me having seen obviously my not obviously, but like a lot of
- 5:19family affected by suicide some generations above me.
- 5:22My grandmother lost a brother, my mother in law lost a father,
- 5:25and seeing the impact that's out of my mother in law and that's
- 5:28passed down that intergenerational trauma that
- 5:31comes through suicide. But mate, you, you mate you.
- 5:39And I've spoken about it, but I think it's important for the
- 5:41people to hear that story. And I think what really drives
- 5:44you can you can hear it in your voice.
- 5:45How much is like you believe in the purpose and the mission and
- 5:49what we're trying to do. Do you want to?
- 5:50Yeah, for the listeners, tell that story about you look your
- 5:54best mate. Yeah, yeah.
- 5:56Really more about that. Anyone who see me running shorts
- 5:58knows I've got a tattoo, a big tattoo on my right lower leg
- 6:03which is a tribute to my best mate who committed suicide about
- 6:0726 years ago now. And this is a guy that we, we a
- 6:14very tight group of friends growing up.
- 6:16And in fact, we're all still great mates.
- 6:20And Pete was the life of the party.
- 6:22He was the guy that sort of the glue that held us all together.
- 6:27And, you know, I moved out, we moved out of home together.
- 6:30The first person I moved out of home with, we got a flat, we
- 6:36made. Well, I think we had five or six
- 6:37fishing boats together. We spent a lot of time together.
- 6:39And I never knew he was struggling because he was always
- 6:42the life of the party. And yeah, for me, out of the
- 6:46blue, he he took his own life and, and what came out of, you
- 6:51know, that is very sad story. You know, he had a six year old
- 6:55son at the time. You know, he, you know, Pete had
- 7:02set everything up and planned to take his life.
- 7:07He had gone and tried to get help at three different
- 7:10hospitals the weekend before he took his life.
- 7:13And they all offered him Valium and sent him away.
- 7:16And bear in mind back then. Hey, when we how many years ago,
- 7:20sorry, did you say 26? Years ago, 26 years ago, like
- 7:23you didn't talk about that sort of stuff, Benny.
- 7:26Like I can talk very openly, you know, but when I, when I have,
- 7:29we all have down days, I can talk about it very openly.
- 7:32I can talk about it very openly with my kids, with my sons, with
- 7:35my daughter. You didn't talk about it back
- 7:38then and he didn't talk about it.
- 7:41And I absolutely know one of the reasons why I am passionate
- 7:43about helping our for our expand is I know because of his, you
- 7:49know, he was an exerciser. If he'd have had R for R back
- 7:53then, I'm I'm convinced he'd still be here today because he
- 7:56tried to get help. He actually went out and tried
- 7:58to get help. Did he get the right help?
- 8:00Didn't get the right help, You know, they offered him
- 8:03medicines. He wanted to be checked in.
- 8:05He wanted to. And even when he committed
- 8:07suicide, he actually drove out to a point and down South of
- 8:12Wollongong and slashed his wrists and then realised he'd
- 8:15made a mistake and tried to drive himself to hospital and
- 8:18actually had a car accident and crushed his Larry necks and
- 8:21broke his neck when he on his way trying to drive him to
- 8:25hospital. He was desperate for help and it
- 8:28just wasn't there. And you know, moving forward
- 8:32that that shouldn't someone like that type of death, if someone's
- 8:38desperately looking for help, it shouldn't, it shouldn't happen
- 8:43moving forward. And our Ferrari is a very, very
- 8:45big part, in my opinion, of, of providing an outlet for people
- 8:49that are struggling like that. A lot to say and I feel a bit
- 8:54uncomfortable listen like that's such a rough, sad story.
- 8:58So if any of the listeners please hope, hope you're all
- 9:01right like that's but I think I totally agree.
- 9:03It's so important that we talk about this stuff.
- 9:05It is so important that we can't just keep sweeping it under the
- 9:08carpet. Why do you apart from it is just
- 9:10a hard thing to it's like a really sad thing to hear.
- 9:15And I think about my mate Vicks, Dan Vickman I play with and I,
- 9:18I, I often think about how, how sad I, I'm so just for how he
- 9:22was feeling in the, in the months late, maybe even the
- 9:24years leading up to when he took his life.
- 9:26How like just what he was thinking and how much pain he
- 9:31would have been in. Because when I got depressed, it
- 9:33was only probably about 2-3 months.
- 9:35But if that always in it was, it's painful.
- 9:37If anyone's been depressed, it's painful.
- 9:39Like your nervous system, your brain is, is hurting, you're in
- 9:43pain. And if for that to have
- 9:45continued for years, that's what like, oh, it's, it still scares
- 9:50me like, and hopefully I feel I've got the tools now to
- 9:52prevent myself getting back to that state.
- 9:54And if I ever do, I feel I've got the support.
- 9:56I've got friends, family who who've proven it that they help
- 9:59me when I'm doing tough. But why?
- 10:01Why do you think it's so hard to talk about or not spoken about
- 10:05then and that, and why do you think this tide is shifting?
- 10:09I think it's just general society back then.
- 10:11Like, and just to make that story clear, like probably 14
- 10:18years before he took his life, he actually checked himself.
- 10:21You know, we're in our late teens.
- 10:24He checked himself into a hospital in Sydney and we found
- 10:29out later it was something to do with mental, mental health.
- 10:33He's there for a couple of weeks and it has, I mean, I'm, I'm
- 10:39definitely not, I'm embarrassed to say this, but when he came
- 10:43back, I mean, we were, we didn't ridicule him, but we're like,
- 10:46you know, what's wrong with you? Toughen up.
- 10:48Mate, Yeah. It was just a different time,
- 10:51different conversations. You were, you know, guys in
- 10:56particular weren't supposed to, you know, you were supposed to
- 10:59just battle on with that sort of stuff, you know, Whereas now I
- 11:03think the knowledge behind, you know, mental health, you know,
- 11:07if you're struggling from depression, that's not just you
- 11:10feeling sorry for yourself. There are.
- 11:12Neurochemical reasons you're in, you feel.
- 11:15That way yeah exactly. It's like having high blood
- 11:18pressure or candidly it's like having, you know, hip
- 11:21replacement Yeah, which I've just had it is a medical
- 11:24condition that needs treating and I think people we recognise
- 11:28the signs a lot more now and people seek seek help for it.
- 11:36I, I don't, I, I think in another 1520 years Benny, we'll,
- 11:41we'll be at a whole new level where I don't think drugs will
- 11:46be as bigger. As relied on or.
- 11:49Relied on down the track as they are today, I I feel like there
- 11:53is too many. I think the unbalancing of brain
- 11:59chemicals to me is created by candidly by industrialization.
- 12:05The. State we're in now from
- 12:07industrialization? Yep.
- 12:08Well, the body's meant to move more than we move it today.
- 12:10And in fact, you know, in the last year and a half is the
- 12:14first time in human history where obesity has caused more
- 12:19death than famine. So think about that.
- 12:22There's more people dying today because of obesity related
- 12:27disease than starvation. It's the first time in history
- 12:31because we're simply eating too much sugar and we're just not
- 12:35moving our body enough. It's as simple as that, which
- 12:37is, you know, as well as our, for our people ask me why I'm
- 12:41still, you know, after 38 years at the coalface of the fitness
- 12:46industry, because I've got a lot more work to do.
- 12:49We've got a lot more work to do to get people moving.
- 12:53And the World Health Organisation, World Medical
- 12:55Organisation, their number one concern for the human race today
- 13:01is lack of movement. You know, it's, it's, it's not
- 13:06heart disease, it's not pandemics, it's lack of movement
- 13:10is their number one concern. And I believe that when we get,
- 13:14we entrench this into the school systems a lot better than we do
- 13:17today. Earlier, I hope and believe that
- 13:20in 1520 years time, people will understand that they have to
- 13:24move their body the same way as they brush their teeth, the same
- 13:27way as they go to the toilet. You have to move your body.
- 13:32Yeah, couldn't agree more. And I think one thing after all
- 13:36what we're doing, well hopefully in our messaging, it's that
- 13:40doing moving with friends. So it's not just lack of
- 13:43exercise, lack of connection is with people.
- 13:46They're like the two things I think like obviously food, 100%
- 13:49agree on the food, but the connection and that's the thing
- 13:53I missed when I retired and I thought a bit more like, so park
- 13:58run massively helped me when I first retired.
- 14:00Was feeling awful during the week, tight chest, brain fog, no
- 14:04energy. But then going to park run on
- 14:05the weekend with mates and I did a run to do the exercise.
- 14:08We didn't do it together. We'd all Sprint and try and beat
- 14:11each other. But then going for the coffee
- 14:12after I felt so yeah, just felt like old me again.
- 14:17What? So I want to ask you a different
- 14:20question and it's about your mate because we had on Wednesday
- 14:22night we had our first volunteer training session.
- 14:25So for volleys to help them learn to spot red flags, yellow
- 14:29flags in people and with the Medicare Mental Health Services
- 14:32Centre, which we'll partner with and we'll talk more about them
- 14:35in future episodes. But actually just raised an
- 14:38interesting question that the guy actually couldn't answer.
- 14:40So we're talking about red flags and yellow flags, learning to
- 14:42spot them in people that come to Afra and in themselves making
- 14:45sure because you can't help other people unless you're in a
- 14:47good state to help others. And you and your better half
- 14:51said, how do you spot the people that the life of the party that
- 14:56are putting on that mask, that everything's OK, that they're
- 15:00fine, But obviously your mate wasn't OK for a long time
- 15:04leading up to it. And I guess what I'm trying to
- 15:07say is what looking back, did you spot?
- 15:11Did you notice anything now looking back?
- 15:13Or you were still like, what, what is it?
- 15:14What what was a flag now looking back that you'd spot in your
- 15:18mate? Because I hope people listening
- 15:20might be able to spot it and just put not, you know, fix
- 15:22their friends, but just be looking out for them.
- 15:24What? Yeah.
- 15:25What for the people that are really good at masking?
- 15:27It's a really good question, Benny.
- 15:29And look, I'm one of my best mates today is his brother, 2
- 15:34years younger than him and we and another of my best mates,
- 15:39and we've all just been away to Hawaii together and we talk
- 15:42about Pete every time we're together.
- 15:46And one of the things that I it, it's not an obvious sign, Benny,
- 15:52But when I look back when we were out fishing and when we
- 15:55were living together, there were times when and OK, it's hard to
- 16:01explain, but I just could tell that he wasn't there was like a
- 16:07like a the shape of his forehead.
- 16:09I know that sounds ridiculous, but swelling or something, but
- 16:13he just, I could tell by the, the, the shape of his eyes that
- 16:19when I look back and I can see him now like that, he wasn't, he
- 16:25just wasn't in a good place. And I, and I actually think when
- 16:29I look back that I knew he wasn't, but it was like it
- 16:34wasn't my it. Was your place to say it was my?
- 16:38Place to ask, but it was I should have been but like I say
- 16:42different time different situation and and and I I think
- 16:47now because I've got to you know, I think everybody has days
- 16:50that are bad Benny you know. Weeks.
- 16:53Weeks that are bad. Yeah, of course, Yeah, yeah,
- 16:54yeah, yeah. And I've had a couple of, you
- 16:57know, bad, bad, everybody does. But I, I think the difference or
- 17:03the advice that I would give to to people and I've done it with
- 17:07you a couple of times when I've just actually rung you, you.
- 17:10Checked it? Yeah, you checked.
- 17:10It Hey mate, I'm just just saw the other day you're you're
- 17:15good. Do you know do you want to go
- 17:16it? Was last year.
- 17:17I'm trying to remember what happened.
- 17:18I was, I was last weekend. I was just rundown.
- 17:20I don't remember what it was, but I do still really appreciate
- 17:22that. Message I and and what What I'm
- 17:25getting at is I think people should ask even if you have the
- 17:29slightest inclination. Inclination of what you'll
- 17:34offend them or. The no, no slightest inclination
- 17:36that they're. They're not.
- 17:37They're not great. Yeah, ask.
- 17:39Just ask. I'll just wish I'd have been
- 17:42more mature, smarter and just said to Pete, like, what's going
- 17:46on? Why talk to me?
- 17:48You know what? What's going on in here, like?
- 17:51And I never did that. Are you OK with that?
- 17:55Like I5 with VIX, I like last time I saw him at the dock, I
- 18:00think I said last week and he looked like he hadn't exercised
- 18:03and then and he like stared. He couldn't even talk and look
- 18:06at him. VIX hadn't seen him for a few
- 18:08years and then I know there's nothing I could have done like
- 18:11but it did something I that's not haunted me, but I I do think
- 18:14about a lot that last time I saw him and that could I have said,
- 18:17I said, Hey ya mate, and it was obvious he wasn't going well,
- 18:19but could I have asked him asked him something more useful that
- 18:24would just would have I don't know got him to open up, but.
- 18:27Yeah, I look, I, I'm at pace that I wasn't.
- 18:33I shouldn't expect myself to know what I know today back
- 18:37then. So I'm at pace with that.
- 18:40I mean, me and Pete were supposed to go skiing like 10
- 18:41days after he took his life. And I, and I just, yeah, I
- 18:49wonder. I don't know.
- 18:53I don't think when I look back, Benny, that there was anything
- 18:56that I could have done different.
- 18:58I it's just sad now. It's just sad because like we're
- 19:01all in Hawaii a couple of weeks ago and four best mates, he's
- 19:05the one that was missing And, and we talked about him quite a
- 19:08bit. In fact, I think we talked about
- 19:09him every day. You know, when we do something,
- 19:12we go up. Imagine if Pete was here, we
- 19:15call him Yemen be we imagine if Yemen was here, like he, he'd
- 19:18have loved doing that because we went fishing and that he was, he
- 19:20was a great fisherman. So yeah, just sad.
- 19:23Yeah, I'm glad you like, yeah, sharing that.
- 19:26And hopefully, yeah, like, well, people, I've been trying to be
- 19:30stressed, riding, sharing, going through rough patches.
- 19:32It's fucking normal. Even I hope that if we can
- 19:35normalise when you're going through a rough patch, we'll
- 19:38make it easy for people to speak up when when someone asks.
- 19:41So I think we're getting a lot better at society thanks to you.
- 19:43Are you OK Day. And hopefully you're doing
- 19:45training to helping people get better at spotting the signs
- 19:47when someone's struggling. And then hopefully as a society
- 19:50and through conversations like this that we can make people
- 19:54open up and then we got to get them to the right support.
- 19:57So like we said, Pete wasn't getting the right support we
- 20:00need and that's a big thing AFRA has to do is getting people to
- 20:04then go to the Medicare Mental Health Services Centre, which
- 20:07will then triage them and get them to the right support.
- 20:11And you did mention another great organisation.
- 20:13Are you OK? I mean, I love organisations
- 20:16where you can get what they're the purposes from the from their
- 20:21name, you know, run for resilience.
- 20:24Are you OK? I think it's, you know, it's a
- 20:26great organisation that just in its name, you know, we it's got
- 20:30people asking that question and, you know, it's just it's yeah.
- 20:36So the more. Shifting the conversational
- 20:38society like that, it is checking in matches a total
- 20:41normal thing, which then have to make a total normal to say no,
- 20:43I'm not OK. And it's why we why you know,
- 20:45Anytime Fitness is one of the major funds fundraisers for are
- 20:49you OK? And and as you know, we just not
- 20:52personally a right behind run for resilience because I've been
- 20:57blessed to be in the position that I mean in business and I'm
- 21:05determined to make a difference moving forward and help as many
- 21:10people as you can avoid that that stress.
- 21:12You said something earlier, Benny, that that, you know, I
- 21:14look back on, you know, the effect that the ripple effect
- 21:19that it has is just immense, you know, and anyone who's going
- 21:23through that brain chemical imbalance and thinking that the
- 21:27world would be better off without them, that's just wrong.
- 21:30It's never the case. It's never the case like the
- 21:34the, the effect, you know, I'm, you know, like I said, I think
- 21:38it's 26 years later on, we still talk about this guy, you know,
- 21:43every week, every week. That's the impact he had on our
- 21:46lives and. I actually don't think, and this
- 21:49is just reflecting on my own experience when I was at my
- 21:51worst, it was not that I thought people would be better without
- 21:55me. It was that I'd lost faith in my
- 21:57own, but lost belief in myself that I could fix it.
- 22:02That was what really made me feel super hopeless.
- 22:05I was like I've been trying to eat well, I've been exercising,
- 22:08I've been trying to sleep well and I still was in a bar without
- 22:12just an odd lost like belief in myself and maybe I don't know
- 22:15that's hopefully then I don't know what I'm trying to say but
- 22:19it's that yeah that loss of belief and if anyone's listening
- 22:24is going through rough patch anyone you can turn it around
- 22:27like that. I have yeah.
- 22:29We've, we've heard plenty of times at bar for our people in a
- 22:33bad way and losing hope. But there is someone around you
- 22:36that can help. Just ask.
- 22:38And you don't know how quickly things can turn around because
- 22:40it was me, yeah, telling my wife that she was the first one I
- 22:43told. Then she said go and chat to
- 22:46your dad and dad said go and chat to a mate and then mate
- 22:49said chat to Brumbies. And then Brumbies put me in
- 22:51touch with the right psychologist and that was the
- 22:54and I feel as good as I've ever felt my whole life.
- 22:56And I didn't comment on what you said before, Benny, but around
- 23:00the connection, like having connection with people like I'm
- 23:04a massive advocate for exercise and I am in an introvert.
- 23:09I have a very small group of the friends.
- 23:13The older we've got, the closer we've got because we can speak
- 23:17about anything. And it's really important what
- 23:20you say like one thing. So eating well and when I say
- 23:27eating well, predominantly cutting out too many complex
- 23:30carbs and sugars, which. Is processed food.
- 23:32Processed food, cut out processed food, move your body
- 23:37every day. And my theory on movement is,
- 23:40you know, it's not probably as extreme as what most people are.
- 23:43I believe you should carve out 20 minutes every day and whether
- 23:49that's a brisk walk, doing some weights, yoga, bike ride,
- 23:54whatever it is, you know, 20 minutes.
- 23:58I think you need to lift weights twice a week.
- 24:00Doesn't need to gain to be excessive weights, but you need
- 24:04so two of those 20 minutes would be put towards weights and try
- 24:12two to three days a week to get a second session in.
- 24:15And if you can't, it doesn't matter.
- 24:17But you got to move your body 20 minutes a day and it's got to
- 24:20be, you know, unless there's medical reasons why you can't do
- 24:24it or your doctor tells you not to do it.
- 24:28You know, it has to be fairly brisk for that 20 minutes.
- 24:31And I want to spat rich he's man of his way over the 20 minutes.
- 24:33So we went to the Brumbies. We met on Saturday night and we
- 24:36went to the the pub before met at the pub before.
- 24:39But you go mate. I just gotta go to the gym any
- 24:42time to sat there from the house.
- 24:43Gotta go to a quick 20 minute workout.
- 24:44Can you get order me a beer? I'm like what?
- 24:46Order me a beer and you're like, you're going to the gym.
- 24:48Yeah, mate, I'll just be 20 minutes.
- 24:50I'm all right. So go down.
- 24:51And I didn't know whether to, like, hold off the food order
- 24:53and the beer order, but, mate, lock clockwork 20 of minutes, He
- 24:57comes straight hobbling down with your crutch.
- 24:58And I was like, all right, yeah, 20, he's fed income 20 minutes.
- 25:01Yeah, yeah, look, sometimes I'll spread that out to 30, some that
- 25:05says I'll do 40. But that 20 minute workout mate
- 25:09is, is gold. So I'd done 25 minutes in the
- 25:12morning on the exercise bike, some only 8 days.
- 25:16I was 8 days and then 20 minutes up a body weights mate.
- 25:21I'm as good as gold and I can afford to go and have two beers
- 25:26and enjoy the Brumbies. What a great win give.
- 25:29You up down the tower. Sorry Samer, if you listen to
- 25:32this. Yep, Yep.
- 25:33So yeah, look, 20 minutes, try and double up twice a week,
- 25:37maybe a third time, but don't like, and you and I've spoken
- 25:42about this, you know, be careful of all the Super 6 pack
- 25:48influences out there that say you have to be extreme with your
- 25:51training. It's just not the case, mate.
- 25:54You need to move, you need to move your body.
- 25:56But as well as that, so cut the sugars out, cut processed food
- 26:02out, move your body 20 minutes a day and develop connections with
- 26:07with people, Talk and listen. You know, it's and I'm not going
- 26:12to mention the name, but I spent a fair chunk of time this
- 26:16weekend with a good mate of mine from Canberra and I gave him
- 26:20some pretty tough love this weekend.
- 26:22You know, he he's in a situation where he again, I could see it
- 26:29in his head, his forehead, like he was just.
- 26:33Not what he's like. He's like, he just got a way out
- 26:36here. Yeah, I don't know what it is,
- 26:37Benny, but I I reckon it's my between.
- 26:40People, my forehead's pretty big.
- 26:42It's decent mate, it's. Decent.
- 26:44Sell that for advertising on the podcast I think.
- 26:47Anytime Fitness sponsor on my forehead.
- 26:50But yeah, I spent a good chunk of time with him this weekend,
- 26:54spent made sure I saw him every day this weekend.
- 26:57And he I saw him earlier today and he said, mate, thank you for
- 27:01being honest with me. And I'm not going to tell you
- 27:02what the topic was, but he was, he needed some tough love.
- 27:07And I it wasn't the case where he I needed to send him to
- 27:11someone. He just let a particular
- 27:13situation get on top of him. And was that why is that because
- 27:17he wasn't making the right hard decision, he just avoiding a
- 27:20hard decision? Avoiding a hard decision, mate.
- 27:22So but yeah, that's not really a mental health situation.
- 27:25I guess what I'm getting at though is that you need to what
- 27:30I've become better as I got, as I get older is is listening and
- 27:35caring about what other people have got to say.
- 27:38You know, when you 20s and 30s, I think I was terrible, you know
- 27:43that listening to my mates, whereas now I actually actively
- 27:47seek a man and want to listen to him.
- 27:49So developing those real connections with someone you
- 27:53know, whether it's your partner, mates, some people get it from
- 27:57animals, you know it's. Toto Lons, we're here.
- 28:00We're at Lonsdale Studio Toto, the dubbed beautiful border
- 28:03collie here before. Yeah.
- 28:05Amazing studios. Yeah, that's awesome.
- 28:07Yeah. But some, yeah, they're, they're
- 28:10some of the key components I think to having, you know, good,
- 28:13good. And then understanding the signs
- 28:16yourself of when you're getting into that, you know, your
- 28:19chemicals are probably unbalancing and and hopefully
- 28:22finding ways of proactively, proactively stopping them
- 28:27getting really deep. I do believe that there's and I
- 28:31haven't got the solution today, but I am very actively
- 28:36experimenting, self experimenting with a wide
- 28:41variety of supplementation natural supplements.
- 28:44For brain chemistry. And I absolutely, you know,
- 28:49hopefully in the next 12 months, Benny, I can come on here and
- 28:51give you a list of things that I 100% believe in that can help
- 28:57balance brain chemicals because I know they're out there, but.
- 29:00What can we do apart from like, I mean, yeah, that'd be great
- 29:03because I mean, yeah, having a gummy or something, but what are
- 29:08some other, you said exercise, nutrition.
- 29:12I mean, the one thing I don't think people talk enough about
- 29:14is sleep. The two things like that give me
- 29:18the most energy is sleep and self compassion and purpose.
- 29:23They're like the well, I guess and you, you.
- 29:26And when I think when we first caught up for breakfast, you
- 29:28tell me about the anytime mission.
- 29:30It's like a million people to What's the mission again, if any
- 29:33time? You want to get a million people
- 29:34involved, you know a million members is what we're after in
- 29:37Australia where it's 732,000 currently.
- 29:42Not just a million members, a million people.
- 29:44So it was in your LinkedIn by what's the coming of the exact
- 29:47word and get, you know, fit and healthy and enjoying life or
- 29:49something. What can you expand on that?
- 29:52Like what, how did you come to that?
- 29:53Like what's the well, how does that drive you?
- 29:56Because you said about purpose. Yeah, for our purpose really
- 29:58gets you going. So, so Benny, I have had that
- 30:01million number in my head for about 10 years and this was back
- 30:06when we were 300,000 members. Don't ask me what it is, it's
- 30:09just a, it's just a number that I've had in my head with, you
- 30:13know, back then 25 and a half million people, I think 20,
- 30:16nearly 27 million people in Australia.
- 30:19Now if I can be effect positively affecting the life of
- 30:22a million of those, I think that it's, that's what my purpose is
- 30:26here is to try and help 1,000,000 Australians with their
- 30:31exercise routines. And now we're getting close to
- 30:36that. It's become our mantra at
- 30:38Anytime Fitness, you know, to help a million people live a
- 30:42happier, healthier life. So, and now we've just bought
- 30:47Anytime Fitness UK and we're at 217,000 members and I, you know,
- 30:53I said to my business partner Justin, when we settled, I said,
- 30:55OK, we need to get this to half a million people in the UK.
- 31:00So that's, that's purpose many and it is a good, good.
- 31:04So let's come back to sleep. But again, you know, finding
- 31:09your purpose and having something that you wake up in
- 31:11the morning and want to get out of bed for.
- 31:14I think it's important. Obviously you've got young,
- 31:16young kids. My kids are a bit older some
- 31:20days, some days I could lay in bed, but you know, I know that
- 31:24I've got to get up because I've got to keep driving the business
- 31:27towards, you know, 800 health clubs at 12150 members each and,
- 31:36and edge our way towards that million members.
- 31:38That's, that's my purpose. So having a purpose and whether
- 31:41that purpose is, you know, helping your son or daughter
- 31:47with their with their kids, you know, being the best grandparent
- 31:50that everyone has to find what their purpose is and define it
- 31:54for themselves and remind themselves as to what that what
- 31:58they're striving for. So, you know, that's purpose is
- 32:02massive. If you don't have purpose it, it
- 32:04is very easy, I think to slip down, start eating rubbish,
- 32:09exercise less. What's the point?
- 32:11What's the point? I've got nothing to work
- 32:13towards. Yeah, and then the other one,
- 32:15big one, Benny's sleep. And you and I do compare you.
- 32:18Know sleep stats. Yeah, yeah, there's, there's
- 32:20Whip and there's auring Apple Watch.
- 32:23There's plenty of things out there now that can help you
- 32:26understand sleep patterns. And, you know, as individuals,
- 32:34everybody, one of the things they need to work hard towards
- 32:37is understanding what helps them sleep better.
- 32:40You know, you asked me the other night, we were at the footy the
- 32:43other night and I said, is there any chance to get in the coffee?
- 32:46Then you say, won't that stop you sleeping?
- 32:48I'm lucky enough that caffeine doesn't seem to affect, you
- 32:52know, my sleep. That's that's my biochemistry
- 32:55there. I know other people that if they
- 32:56have a coffee after tea. Oh, look at it after 10:00 AM
- 32:59and. Stuff and it'll stop them
- 33:01sleeping so everyone needs to work.
- 33:03What natural supplements? And there are plenty of natural
- 33:06supplements out there for people to help them.
- 33:09What is it like? I love it.
- 33:10Your take on what you think, specifically sleep is related to
- 33:13mental health. Like I think it's just about
- 33:15giving the brain a bloody rest and the brain can just just
- 33:19recharge. Do that regularly.
- 33:21What is it that you think? I'm not a sleep scientist, but
- 33:23I, I, I know I've read a lot of stuff around getting into that
- 33:30deep sleep and REM sleep that allows you, your body to switch
- 33:35off. And like you said, just take
- 33:39yourself out of that stress response that happens to the
- 33:44body. And some people use what they
- 33:48call heart rate variability to understand how their body's
- 33:52performing. I like that.
- 33:54I know there's some sports scientists that question that I.
- 33:57Actually, that's what we used at Brahms was was HIV for like
- 34:01readiness, how hard they'd push us based on the group's HIV.
- 34:04So the the thing that's heart rate variability, which is
- 34:08confusing is the the closer and the more regular your heartbeat
- 34:13gets. More stressed you.
- 34:14Are more stressed you are yeah, whereas the wider the gaps and
- 34:18more. Heart rates all over the place,
- 34:20which is good thing. Yeah, good things you in a more
- 34:23relaxed state and understanding that sort of stuff and and
- 34:26allowing your body to get full recovery again.
- 34:30I reckon we probably know 30% of what we 30% about sleep that
- 34:35we'll yeah, we'll know a lot more in 10 years time.
- 34:38I I think we're still scratching the surface surface of that.
- 34:43I just wanted to see the conversation.
- 34:44We're trying to then thing as a Brandy like I want to like I
- 34:48want to start sleeping for resilience because that's the
- 34:51number one things that like for me, more than exercise and
- 34:53eating well, it was getting a good.
- 34:55I mean, if I eat well and exercise, I end up sleeping
- 34:56well. So it's all like interlinked.
- 34:59But I know I got quite a lot of crap from my mates about like, I
- 35:03don't know, bloody hell, mate, you're sleeping all the time.
- 35:05Like what are you doing parenting or and I used to get
- 35:07called sloth while we were playing, but that's because I
- 35:10actually used to be in bed for a long time, but I'd actually not
- 35:13sleep very well and I'd always be tired.
- 35:16And that was, and I'm really grateful that I now sleep better
- 35:19with three kids and a desk job than I did as a professional
- 35:22athlete with none. So I think anyone like like I'm
- 35:26still struggling or still getting there articulating that
- 35:28story and trying to convince people.
- 35:30And I think society, like you're saying before we didn't talk
- 35:32about mental health. It was something just swept
- 35:35under the car. But I think sleep, it's kind of
- 35:37the same thing that a lot of society thinks sleep is weak and
- 35:41it's an inconvenience and it's actually a waste of time.
- 35:43Whereas I think you were saying hopefully in 1020 years down the
- 35:47track, I forgot what you said about down the future, but I
- 35:50think 1020 years down the track, we'll look back and think the
- 35:53notion of sleep is weak. Is thinking like we used to
- 35:56think smoking cigarettes was a good thing For sure as as we
- 35:59learn more. Yeah, yeah.
- 36:00And it's sleep is an interesting one, Bernie, because there's
- 36:04also there is definitely oversleeping and and I know that
- 36:08for me to get. Lying in bed or actually being
- 36:11asleep. I think being asleep, being
- 36:15asleep, yeah. Full.
- 36:16Out. Yeah, Yeah, I do.
- 36:18And I know myself that around my sweet spot is around 7 1/2 to 8
- 36:22hours if I edge over, unless like now, I'm recovering from
- 36:27surgery, I'm sleeping probably a little bit longer than that at
- 36:29the moment. And if I have, you know,
- 36:31stressful periods, I'll probably sleep 8 1/2.
- 36:34But if I drift into that 9 hours 9 1/2.
- 36:38I had 945 last night but I was only as erect from like not
- 36:41getting much sleep on the weekend.
- 36:42But yeah, I it didn't make I get up and I'm worse, you know, I
- 36:46need to make myself get up at that 8 hour mark on a regular
- 36:50basis or at least wake. Up.
- 36:52Yeah, it's good. That's when I'm in a good
- 36:54rhythm. I'm seven and a half eight.
- 36:55But one other thing, as I said before, the two things that give
- 36:58me the most energy is good night sleep and self compassion or
- 37:00like self care looking after myself.
- 37:03This is just a question I really want to know is how you Yeah,
- 37:05apart from obviously the 20 you said with the exercise at 20
- 37:08minutes at least once a day, non negotiable and eating well, what
- 37:13are some other things that you do to look after yourself when
- 37:16you are I mean, how many gyms your your thousand gyms globally
- 37:20now? Well, now in Australia, but
- 37:22you're managing you got a lot mentally like going on and and
- 37:25doing you're. Weighing in on 800.
- 37:28So what are some other things that you do to look keep rich
- 37:30Peel well outside of sleep and exercise and nutrition.
- 37:33What is some for me, it's been cut learning to cut myself some
- 37:36slack. Like I I think in sport, you you
- 37:40learn to like suffer and and push yourself and and you to
- 37:45push through physical pain. But it's something I've really
- 37:48was with some work from psychologists working to cut,
- 37:53learn to cut myself a bit of slack sometimes and that things
- 37:57can be going better for me. And a lot of it has come from
- 37:59learning when to just go, mate, ease up on yourself.
- 38:01Like you, I learned about doing recovery as an athlete, but I've
- 38:04never learned to do the mental recovery.
- 38:07I'm not pushing myself all the time.
- 38:08What? As someone you just do.
- 38:11You do so much, so much going on.
- 38:13What else do you do to fit into? Yeah, keep Rich Rich well
- 38:16upstairs. Good question.
- 38:18Well, first of all, I'm a massive believer in saunas.
- 38:24So I've got both a steam room and a sauna at home.
- 38:26So an infrared sauna and the traditional steam room.
- 38:29And I'm not allowed to at the moment, but I would do five days
- 38:33a week. Some of that.
- 38:35I did contrast therapy with cold therapy in between short periods
- 38:38of cold and the mental clarity and the science behind heat
- 38:44exposure is made it stuff visible anymore.
- 38:47Yeah, it's, we know the benefits that you get from that.
- 38:50So I, you know, I recommend everybody should be doing some
- 38:54heat exposure two or three times a week.
- 38:59And I'm a massive fan of the contrast.
- 39:01But yeah, some people don't like that, but that's fine.
- 39:05The other thing that I've done in the last probably 5-6 years,
- 39:11Benny is as well as my support office in Sydney and we, we have
- 39:17about 70 people working for Anytime Fitness supporting all
- 39:21our franchisees. Very, very highly skilled group
- 39:26of, of people that, that work for us up there.
- 39:29I also have my own team that work for my family companies and
- 39:35I have a couple of people in there that just, I'm not a very
- 39:40organised person Benny. I'm a look, I've, you know,
- 39:44ADHDI, didn't finish high school, that sort of stuff.
- 39:48Not the smartest guy. I'm not great on computers.
- 39:51Wasn't gonna say mate, but mate. I'm not, but I've got smart
- 39:56people around me that help me do all the stuff that I'm poor at.
- 39:59And whereas I used to, you know, just stress about and be really
- 40:06hard on myself because I wasn't, you know, keeping up with the
- 40:10bookworks and the. The bookkeeping or the
- 40:14administrative work for my for my companies, I beat myself up
- 40:18on it. Now I have really, you know,
- 40:20skilled people who? Who smash it?
- 40:23Who are? So doing that sort of stuff, I
- 40:24have a full time lawyer slash business administrator who
- 40:28works. He lives in Tasmania, Georgia.
- 40:31Georgia, Great man, the great man.
- 40:32Amazing. Extremely smart, extremely
- 40:35organised. You know, he'll keep me, you
- 40:38know, focus and helps me, helps me maximise my ADHD brain that,
- 40:45you know, he's all over the place.
- 40:47And and so putting a good structure of people around
- 40:51around me. Now, you might say, oh, not
- 40:53everybody's capable of doing that.
- 40:54True. But the size of my business
- 40:57allows me to have people in those positions.
- 40:59But everybody can put resources in those positions.
- 41:02Like there are things that you know if you're not good at
- 41:06something, there are. Certain.
- 41:08People that can do it. And that's one thing that that
- 41:12has made my life happier, like better.
- 41:14And he's the last five years or so really understanding what I'm
- 41:19good at and what I'm not good at.
- 41:20And I just don't try and do the things that I know I'm not good
- 41:24at anymore. I focus on the things that I
- 41:26know I'm good at. And believe it or not, this is
- 41:28going to find really strange actually fitting out gyms like
- 41:33deciding, you know? Where the squat rack should go?
- 41:36I'm not good. At it, you'd think after.
- 41:38You're not good at it, no. You'd think after 48 gyms that
- 41:42I've owned personally and you know, 38 years that I'd be an
- 41:45expert at it, but I'm actually not.
- 41:47But my nephew's a genius at it, so I don't waste my time trying
- 41:51to. I don't.
- 41:52I can't visualise well. What's something?
- 41:54What's something you look? Is it like putting the most like
- 41:57that at the at a supermarket? They put the milk at the back,
- 42:01the bit that it that everyone needs to get to that.
- 42:03Is there any little secrets if anyone's setting up their own
- 42:05gym that you want to share that like how do you?
- 42:08Don't ask me that's. Where your nephew?
- 42:11Your nephew. Yeah, no, look, honestly, mate,
- 42:14it's I can go into a gym and tell you this doesn't feel quite
- 42:18right, you know, like, you know, that's what Rex should probably
- 42:20do. Too close to that.
- 42:22Or why is that? Why are those 4?
- 42:24Pieces safety or just. Yeah, safety and convenience and
- 42:27flow of workout that I can do. What I can't do is get an empty
- 42:31box and go OK how are we going to fit this out for maximum I
- 42:36need? I can I can fix it up when
- 42:38everything's in there, but I just can't visualise.
- 42:40Do you design gyms feel like connections?
- 42:42That's something with the pub. A big part.
- 42:44I only realised the other day, the word pub is from the word
- 42:47public house. Youth pubs are always the place
- 42:49in the in the UK where people come together.
- 42:51So when the DOC would design, we thought a lot about out is it,
- 42:54you know, people, some people like the high tables.
- 42:57So we got sit down, we got the low tables.
- 42:59So the oldies who got bad backs can sit down and connect.
- 43:02Is there anything? Yeah.
- 43:03Like 100% mate. And it's, you know, it's people
- 43:08ask why anytime which we started after jets in Australia and why
- 43:13are we at 700,000 members. One of the things.
- 43:18That's market leader, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- 43:20By quite a way, the founders of, you know, Chuck and Dave, the
- 43:25guys that started this in the US, again, stronger a lot of
- 43:30things, not great at other things, but one of the things
- 43:33they've always been ahead of the curve on is understanding the
- 43:36importance of creating connections with inside the gym
- 43:39walls. And it's something that we
- 43:42continue to focus on. And we've got a full team that
- 43:45look after that side of things. But we've got a lot of work to
- 43:50get better at it. There's still a lot of
- 43:52improvement we can make in in that space and AI is actually
- 43:56helping us break new ground in that area.
- 44:00And we've got a lot of work to do in the UK on that.
- 44:02Like we're OK at it in Australia, but that's one of the
- 44:05weaknesses of the Anytime Fitness UK currently.
- 44:08So great question and yeah, it's very important.
- 44:12Very, Yeah. I want to dig in the other part.
- 44:17If you're a big part of your life in the last few years and
- 44:19it was your time as chairman of the Central Coast Mariners, you
- 44:21obviously would have taken a lot from your experience, Anytime in
- 44:24your business experience that you took into the Mariners and
- 44:26turned them around, where were they on the table when you
- 44:28stepped up as chairman? Mid Mid to low.
- 44:32Table, yeah, yeah, mid table that it's.
- 44:37And well, that went on one back to back titles and the Asia Cup
- 44:40and the minor premiership for rugby people.
- 44:43But it's called the Premiership. What's it called?
- 44:44It's the league. That's what it's called in
- 44:46soccer. Minor premiership, Minor
- 44:47premiership won that as well, so.
- 44:50With the smallest budget. On the smallest budget.
- 44:52The youngest team. With the youngest team, what did
- 44:55you take out of your time in the Mariners and sport that you
- 44:58you'll take into business? So you obviously would have
- 45:00taken tonnes around getting the right people in the right roles
- 45:02and sports a great metaphor for that, especially rugby, Like no
- 45:05point putting a prop on the wing or a proper half back if they
- 45:08don't have the right skills. Yeah.
- 45:09What's something that you take away from that two years at the
- 45:12Mariners that you like? Well, that anyone else?
- 45:16Yeah. What did you take away from that
- 45:17you'll take into any time or after I could learn from?
- 45:21I took a lot back into any time Benny, so when we one of the
- 45:26reasons that I handed the lot the licence back to the previous
- 45:32owner at the Mariners. Well, first of all, the late
- 45:34cut, $2.3 million of their funding, which made it extremely
- 45:39tough, but I really needed to step back just and I needed to
- 45:47step back into any time. We were going really well, but
- 45:50we could see that our competitors were starting the
- 45:55catches and we needed another, another quick boost.
- 45:59And the one thing that I learned from sport, because when I went
- 46:04to the Mariners, there was so much going on.
- 46:08You know, they were doing so many, trying to do so many
- 46:13public appearances, but it, you know, not targeting what was
- 46:17most effective and tiring players out doing that stuff.
- 46:21And, you know, they had all these programmes going on.
- 46:25They had a massive Academy that lacked structure.
- 46:30Like there was a lot of, it was just a big mess.
- 46:33And Jordan and I just sat back for the first six weeks and just
- 46:36talked to people and listened and observed.
- 46:41And we sat back after six weeks and we just went, OK guys, we're
- 46:45going to cut this, this, this, this, this, this, this.
- 46:48We cut so much peripheral noise out of the business and said
- 46:54we're going to focus on two things.
- 46:55We're going to focus on developing the best athletes we
- 46:58can because we knew we could. That was, that's my background,
- 47:02your strength. Yep.
- 47:04And giving the coaches the best support that they can get so
- 47:09that they can just focus on coaching players because they
- 47:13were doing so much stuff like that wasn't really a coach's
- 47:16job, you know, expected to do, you know, so much administration
- 47:22type stuff. So.
- 47:23It's not coaching stuff. No.
- 47:25So when we came back into any time, the what we did was make
- 47:29sure that people were in the jobs that suited their skill set
- 47:34and that they knew very clearly what their job was and what they
- 47:38were meant to achieve. And secondly, we just cut, cut,
- 47:43cut stuff out. You know, we just, and I sat
- 47:46there and we said, OK, what do we really need to do over the
- 47:48next two years? And we need to stop our
- 47:50competitors gaining honours. We need more clubs, more members
- 47:55and more profit for our franchisees.
- 47:57That's it. Those 3 buckets, we looked at
- 48:01everything underneath that we were doing and if it didn't
- 48:03contribute to one of those 3 buckets, we scrapped it.
- 48:06I think we scrapped like 40 different, you know, projects or
- 48:10components of the business really, really quickly and it
- 48:14allowed people clarity on what we were we were focusing on and
- 48:21allowed them, what allowed them to know what success looked like
- 48:25for them and allowed them. We find we've got a really
- 48:30skillful and happy workforce there at the moment because
- 48:34people are achieving. They know what they've got to
- 48:36achieve and they're achieving it.
- 48:38And they have the belief that they can do it as.
- 48:39Well, yeah, 100%, yeah. Which is the other thing, you
- 48:42know, like with the coaches at the Mariners and, and there's a
- 48:47documentary, it's called The Greatest Little Club.
- 48:49On Paramount. On Paramount and you know, one
- 48:53of the scenes in there, you know, we, we won the, the grand
- 48:57final year one and then we lost our coach in that offseason.
- 49:00I brought a guy over from England called Mark Jackson, the
- 49:02amazing human being, great coach and we had the worst start to an
- 49:07A league season by defending champion in history.
- 49:10We lost our first four games. Knives were out, people.
- 49:14Knives were out. In fact we lost our first five
- 49:16because we were in Asia and we lost our first game in Asia and
- 49:19we I think we drew one pre season game.
- 49:21So I think we lost like 8 out of nine games in pre season and it
- 49:25started the competition. I could just see some of the
- 49:29players starting to doubt, you know, what was going on and
- 49:33there's a scene in the documentary where we close the
- 49:36the door I think was after the Brisbane loss around 4 of last
- 49:40season. So with the potty mouth, there's
- 49:42a bit of potty mouth, Yeah. Isn't that one of those scenes?
- 49:44But so we close the door and I, you know, I get it on on the
- 49:48microphone. We didn't let the cameras in.
- 49:50We stayed in there for an hour. Jacko talked, the sporting
- 49:53director, Matt Simon, the great Matt Simon talked as well.
- 49:57And then and I finished off and you know, I did get pretty
- 49:59passionate and I said, if any of you guys are effing doubting
- 50:04Mark Jackson, come and see me after this meeting and I'll get
- 50:08you a release from the club. And you know, we we all shook
- 50:12hands after the meeting and players went their way and the
- 50:15coach and the sporting director looked to me and went, what the
- 50:18fuck have you done? I.
- 50:20Care what mate, they'll be out the door.
- 50:21But. The club might come to you after
- 50:23this and say yeah, we want to release, but no one did, no one
- 50:25didn't. And we, I think we, I, I think
- 50:30we only lost two out of the next 37 games throughout Australia
- 50:35and grand final series in the Asian Cup.
- 50:37So it was an amazing turn around.
- 50:39And I'm not saying that speech, but that.
- 50:44Point. That was a turning point, but
- 50:45there there all the people spoke that night.
- 50:47Jack Howard only 9 for a couple months then, and he knew from
- 50:50that point on, man, this guy's got my back.
- 50:53And that's an important point in business.
- 50:55You know, when you put people into positions that that you
- 51:00believe that they're going to thrive in, you've got to give
- 51:05them the confidence that you've got to give them the confidence
- 51:10that you believe in them, but also that you know they're going
- 51:13to make mistakes. And I was saying my team, you
- 51:16know, if you're not, if you don't make mistakes, it's
- 51:20because you're not pushing the boundaries.
- 51:21And I want you to push boundaries.
- 51:23You're going to make mistakes. OK, let's talk about it.
- 51:25When you do it, hopefully you don't make the same mistake
- 51:28twice because I'll probably have a limit.
- 51:30You're not learning, or you're not learning from.
- 51:31If you do it a third time, then we've got a little bit of a
- 51:33problem we're gonna have a talk to.
- 51:34But I want you to make mistakes. And I used to say when I coached
- 51:37junior kids at soccer, you know, did any of you make a mistake at
- 51:42half time? They go, no.
- 51:46Why? You're not pushing the
- 51:47boundaries. Boys push the boundaries.
- 51:49Life is about pushing boundaries, seeing which side of
- 51:56the fence you land on. And yeah.
- 51:59Apologising if you need to. If you've knocked the fence
- 52:01over, you probably need to fix it for it.
- 52:03They'll ever own the fence. You know better than anyone,
- 52:05Benny. You learn more from your
- 52:06mistakes than you do from your successes.
- 52:08You know, but accepting the mistakes are part of life.
- 52:12And a classic example, my daughter's an elite gymnast.
- 52:16She had the first comp of the season yesterday.
- 52:18She was on the uneven bars and twice the handstand on the bar,
- 52:25you know, where they're supposed to spin back around and do the
- 52:27giants and then unload. She actually flipped over twice
- 52:29and she's she never does that. And you know, I could see her
- 52:33after the because you only get one.
- 52:35Go see her throwing her wraps off and that.
- 52:38And just because of the stuff that I've talked to her about,
- 52:42you know, about resetting and stuff like that, I could
- 52:45actually see within about 30 seconds, the smile come back on
- 52:49her face. And I hope I haven't had a
- 52:51chance to speak to her. I hope she realised, OK, the
- 52:55straighter they get, the more points they get and it's a fine
- 52:57line of going over and she was pushing her boundaries.
- 53:00Unfortunately it didn't work for on that one, but she's got four
- 53:03more comps coming up and I'm sure she'll know those.
- 53:05So, you know, I think it's important for everyone to
- 53:08understand you're going to screw shit up.
- 53:11And sport, if there's one thing I learned about sport, sport is
- 53:13not about winning and losing. It is about trying and learning,
- 53:17having a crack. If you come up short, just
- 53:20learn, go again, and then eventually you might get that
- 53:22result you want. But just finally, Rich,
- 53:26everything you said that really resonates for me with not just
- 53:29this, but a lot of our for our stuff.
- 53:31What do you think our for our should be doing in the next few
- 53:33years like? Spreading.
- 53:35Spreading in what, just more events more like you know, you
- 53:38said obviously not doing too much.
- 53:40You cut at any time and then after it's not a business, but
- 53:42you cut a lot of stuff. Well, it is still got to be
- 53:45traded. Lost.
- 53:45Still got to be. Well, they're not.
- 53:46Yeah, it's not for profits as a legal entity.
- 53:48Still got to, you know, break even, all that stuff.
- 53:50But what, yeah, what do you, what do you think like that we
- 53:55need to do? And I think a big thing we spoke
- 53:57with at our border, if any of you are listening, we want
- 54:00everyone trying more things, having cracks, following your
- 54:02instinct because we've done a lot of things that haven't
- 54:05worked, but we have done some things that have worked.
- 54:07And it like, so yoga for resilience was an example of
- 54:10something we've tried. And then people are loving it,
- 54:11if not more than the running. So, but what, what are the last
- 54:15bit of advice for anyone in our for our community?
- 54:17What advice would you have for them to help grow out and make
- 54:20Canberra suicide free? First thing I would say is we
- 54:23need more volunteers. We need more people to come
- 54:25forward, do the training so that when you bring more venues on
- 54:33you and Brenny and and the amazing board that you've got
- 54:36can't go to all these events. So there needs to be another
- 54:38level of volunteers that are trained in the way you guys do
- 54:42things so they can make sure that when you do, when you
- 54:47expand how many sites you've got, the same standards ethos is
- 54:53pushed out through. The last thing you want to do is
- 54:56grow too quickly and lose control of the the brand and the
- 54:59product. You don't want people to.
- 55:00Start. Timing, you know, or making it
- 55:03more about the run than it is about the, the the talk
- 55:07afterwards. Like you need to keep the, the,
- 55:11the, I guess the promise that the brand is there to deliver.
- 55:16You want to keep that. The more it goes, but the
- 55:19quicker you can expand while keeping those standards, the
- 55:22better it is. And like Jess and I have said,
- 55:24we'll continue to support the brand financially to help it do
- 55:28that as long as we can see that the, the quality is still being
- 55:34maintained and, and that and, and that it's not losing its
- 55:41soul. I guess it'll be a shame if it
- 55:43ever, ever lost its soul. But I do believe this with a bit
- 55:48of luck, I do believe that our for our in five years time may
- 55:54even be overseas. Like I do think that it's a it's
- 55:58very different to anything else out there.
- 56:00Benny, like I said, the big thing is that people go along
- 56:04and know it's run for resilience.
- 56:06It's about running with a mate or coming along if you're
- 56:09struggling to a community that's going to support you and that's
- 56:14not out there anywhere else. So I think there's a big
- 56:17opportunity for us to be the global leader in this space.
- 56:21So the time for the top. Mate, why not?
- 56:26Why not? Rich, thank you for all your
- 56:28support there for our. Thanks mate.
- 56:30Glad, very glad to call you a friend.
- 56:32So thank you for your time. Hopefully we'll have you back
- 56:34again. This has been awesome and we'll
- 56:36get Jess. We'll get you better half on
- 56:38soon before we get. You back but I didn't know there
- 56:40was cameras. I thought it was a like a
- 56:41podcast. I thought it was asking for a
- 56:43paper. Bag.
- 56:43Yeah, paper bag like my wife. Fuck, you know I'm well and
- 56:46truly. You and I are both a part of a
- 56:47certain club, yeah. Punching above our white clubs
- 56:50for sure. Yeah, 100% Brothers in arms.
- 56:52Lifelong members, may that be. But yeah, thank you mate, your
- 56:56good friend. For more information, yeah, head
- 56:58to running for resilience.com. And if there's anyone you want
- 57:01us to interview, yeah, on the pod, leave a comment below.
- 57:04But thanks everyone and just keep moving.