Automatically transcribed, so expect the odd wrong name or word.
Hey legends welcome to another episode of the Virtus Performance podcast now being week 53 we're officially over the hump of all the all the fun stuff and we're done with the done with the culmination of the first 52 episodes or the first 12 months of podcasting so now that we've hit that milestone much like life we stop we reassess we we have a think about what we want to achieve and we set another one so I have set the goal of getting to 100 I figured 52 was a good number but 100 sounds better so
I'm going to keep on this journey I'm going to keep catching up and talking to legendary people over the next 48 weeks my plan is and I'd love to hear some feedback on this plan if you think it's rubbish please let me know my plan is to do a little bit more open discussion podcasting so I'll keep getting rad humans on to talk about their story and talk about why they do what they do but one of the areas I've really enjoyed I guess dipping my toe into with a few of the other guys is
just open open slather podcasting where we pick a topic we pick two and we talk about it and dive into it or we might even just talk for the sake of it like I've done a few times so that's the plan I guess the the only way I'll really measure the success of that plan it will be we whether or not we're adding value as first and foremost we want to make sure that we're adding value or at least entertainment to the people that are listening and then second of all are we enjoying it or
are we not because that's a it's as simple as that for me my life is finite in terms of the time I have so I want to make sure I spend as much for doing the shit I love doing so that's the plan with the podcast it has been from the start as long as well as a lot of learning enjoyment is probably the key thing so that's the plan for the next 48 weeks I hope you guys can stick around I hope you can continue to share and pump up the podcast and and get
all kinds of around it because yeah I love doing it and I like to think my guests love love being on it it's yeah it's something that's a lot of fun and it's become a really important part of my life over the last last 12 months today's guest rabbit on for a few minutes today's guest is Steve Roberts he's a great man he's someone I've known for for a long time back in the days of doing some running training down at St. Leonard's with our coach Mike Davis since then we've played football together at Frankston
YCW unfortunately Steve ended up doing a couple of knee injuries which we spoke about at length on the podcast and now he is running Infinite Fitness Peninsula with one of the other boys we used to play with Benny Teles and these are two guys who I guess are very similar to us in the way they they look at health and fitness it's it's a journey it's not a it's not a quick fix it's something that we want to be doing for the rest of our lives working towards improving and things like that and it's nice
and nice to have other fitness professionals who are following the same messages and pushing the same messages and making a real difference in their communities like we are trying to do so yeah enjoy the next hour or so with Steve we Steve's also been on a decent sized trip to South America this year so you'll have plenty of value added if you're thinking of planning a trip or thinking of or wondering why you might spend a month overseas as a business owner we talked about balance and filling your cup and looking after yourself along with
all the other stuff that comes with running a business and being a high-level athlete and having a bunch of injuries and stuff like that so without further ado let's get stuck in my personal and business goal is to be just a little bit better every day I believe everyone especially normal people have a story to tell the vertice podcast exists to help us all find small ways of consistent improvement by discussing the journey and experiences of each of our guests Steve mate welcome to the podcast thank you mate thank you good to be here this
is your podcast number number one yes nice one yes this is this is my first appearance so I had a little bit a little bit nervy but um don't be nervy just be excited yeah excited I am very sorry I am on the drive up here a long way from st. Kilda and I thought yeah this is gonna be good fun good to see you mate good for you first question for you yes what gets you out of bed in the morning it's a good one man look I think that so obviously with the job
that I do in the fitness industry and whatnot it's all about helping people and I get a kick out of helping people daily and then you know just just seeing people just achieve goals and me being a part of that is really special and then second to that is I've always been pretty driven as to where I want my life to go and how to end up so I've always got that big picture in my mind of what do I want to achieve and what I want to look like when I've got a little family
running around and and a house and whatnot so I'm driven towards my goals as well so that definitely drives me day in day out see talk to us about your current role in the fitness industry what do you do yeah so myself and my business partner Benny tell us set up I've yeah yes Benny we set up IFP look we essentially we've been up and running about 18 months yeah but in terms of the actual start-up of the business it was probably two to two and a half years ago and I can still remember sitting
down with him and saying you know we do something special and we've got a following we need to we need to get it out there to a to a broader broader market yeah so yeah I guess IFP is in Cranbourne West and we're set up kind of specializing in semi-private personal training so more of a group structure that we that we specialize in and you know a bit of a mix between high-intensity strength I guess we're finding a middle ground in between I guess CrossFit and f-45 yeah you could say we still the reason why
we cap it at six is purely for quality reasons and we can use heavier weights however we don't use the heavier weights to the extremity of what CrossFit does yeah and then I guess the f-45 we we use a lot more weights than that and it's it's not as circuit based as that so definitely so yeah that's where we sit at the moment I guess we sit on on your side obviously when we talk about the fitness industry that we we there's certain there's certain elements of the fitness industry that are just yuck like it's
just a disgrace so we don't do any of the the fast fixes the quick fixes so we're against all that the six eight twelve week challenge stuff we hate it all so you know we're in it in terms of kind of making you know creating creating you know just just a lifestyle for people to continue with it for their whole life not just for it to be for the next six weeks good good so more that long term health while there might yeah yeah yeah I think like I've obviously known you for a long time
but like it's cool that we're now in the same same area of the fitness industry and we can sit here talk all day about how shit it is but we may as well talk about all the good stuff that we're doing yeah I agree and actually wanting to see people make a difference long term because yeah no that's no short term stuff works yeah talk me through the this starting it up and getting it moving because it took a little while to get into gear yeah yeah it was tough going so we were we we
we you know we sat down with the the owners of the building before it had started build started to build yeah so look we got we got a we got a really I guess you know a bit of a luxury because we designed it like we wanted it yeah however we quickly learned that commercial buildings doesn't go to plan yeah it was a nightmare to be honest it was an absolute nightmare we you know they'd tell us that it was the walls were going to be up one day we'd go down three weeks later and
the walls still went up we went down one day but he had a bit of a background in roofing and we went down in the roof the roof had been laid and he said I don't like the insulation I don't know what they're doing my don't worry about it you know you've been out of the game too long and then anyway we found out they had to rip up the whole roof and then lady insulation yes so it was a bit of a nightmare getting in there and then we were one of the first in
the actual estate so which meant that it was a little bit of a slow start in terms of you know people actually realizing that we were there and also I guess that myself and Ben you know in terms of learning business we're learning as we go along so we didn't get in there and and you know the whips weren't cracking it was more built off of a base that you know we knew yeah yeah so in terms of you know just just going in there and launching it didn't quite happen like that as such just
for you know just for those reasons that I mentioned but in terms of getting set now and learning things along the way we're um it's nice it's nice to look back like some days where you probably have I haven't every three days but you have those days where you're like far out we're not we're not doing anything we're not going anywhere we're not moving forward then you stop take a breath look back and you're like okay we're actually doing pretty well yeah that's where you're at yeah you spot on like you know and I walk
away from work some days and it's just a rollercoaster man like you walk away from some days and um it would be the same or small small business owners I'm guessing would have the same days and I think to myself you know on top of the world doing so well yeah then the next day for some reason something goes wrong the computer pikes it and you lose everything and it's just like this is this is tough going you know I'm doing really badly and whatnot but you know when you when you do when you do
have the time to sit there and look back it's it's pretty amazing and yeah I'm pretty happy with where we are yeah when you can be picture stuff and actually look back at like like you're why helping people yeah and driving towards something like yeah you're doing that every day yeah it's cool and like I had the thought a couple of months ago sitting there like a couple of bills in front of me and stuff and like like all this stuff going on I'm like this is why people stop running small business yeah and it's
just like yeah when you can lean on other people and like actually enjoy what's around you it makes it so much easier to deal through it all that hard stuff yeah great hundred percent like it's it's um it is a tough game it is a tough game I think I mentioned to you before and myself and Ben were sitting in in the gym last week by the by the computers at about 730 I think on Friday night and he looked across at me and we just had a meeting and he goes it's pretty fucking hard
isn't it and I just look back and just small and said yeah this is this is tough going like and you know that's still it's a dating months into a business into a start-up business and look I don't envision it getting any easier quickly however you know like in terms of what we're working towards you know it's it's all for the right reasons and I'm sure that we'll keep progressing in the right direction that's it I don't think I don't think it gets easier I think you just get better at dealing with all the other
stuff yeah you start to like you're growing your team at the moment you start to find other people to lean on and help with how important is that partnership with Benny Bing look it's huge yeah you know in terms of in terms of that I was actually having to think about that on the way up because you think to yourself like it's good we work we work well together so Benny Benny over things things things where is on the opposite so I'll come up with an idea and it's gonna get into this you gotta do
this I'm more like you yeah and he'll just sit there and go hang on have you had a think about it and I'm like my of course I've thought about it and he's like how deep have you thought about rattles off these ten things and I'm like probably haven't thought about that so look that's really important you know just in terms of just sometimes just having a laugh man yeah you know just it's really important for us all our staff you know if they're there to make sure that they're happy and you know we had
a lunch the other day and just looking around and seeing everyone smile and having a good time it's important yeah it's important so and having the support we all have our days right so Benny's getting pretty close to a holiday which is which is cool for him and you know we all we all need holidays right you just went on oh yeah yeah so in terms of supporting each other when when times are tough it's it's really important yeah and it's good to have that team you can share all the wins with as well yeah
yeah like that group of people who were all like in it for the same reason they all want to help people they all want to drive towards something yeah yeah what's been what's been the best part that you found about I guess building a team yeah that's that's a really good one I think that you know that was probably one of the first things that drove me towards business in terms of kind of leading a team and having employees and whatnot it was really exciting in terms of you know the best thing about building a
team I think it's the actual buying that those guys have so like just looking at them weekly and and the way that they carry themselves around the gym and the care that they have for all the members I think that's really it's just amazing man you know we've said it a number of times to the guys that we wouldn't be where we are if we didn't have them yeah so I think that's the most rewarding thing and then you know you look at you know functions you have a mid-year function and any of you function
and those guys just love being around yeah you know us and IFP and they love what they're a part of which is special man yeah it's cool yeah so I think that's the best thing nice what are you most looking forward to business-wise in the next like 6 12 18 months yeah look I think I think that you know I feel as though that we continue to make inroads alone and I think that we're getting to a stage now and I hope that in the next 12 to 18 months that we're at a stage that
we can sit back a little bit more and just you know I guess oversee things that are happening and delve into those smaller things that happen within the business rather than just being on the floor and grinding out sessions yeah I think you know and in with that is is learning about those things as well so how the how the business actually ticks over how do we continue to grow and what not instead of I guess a trade that I've done for a long time now in terms of coaching people I guess just learning more
about the little intricacies about business and growing it so yeah I'm looking forward to that hopefully it's really it's really cool to see it's like like we have maybe like eight ten months ahead of you I think and you guys are going through this stuff now that I was going through like six six eight months ago so it's kind of cool to see the the similarities and like we're going the same path like yeah like my first year first year obviously with JB and then the second year by myself like we're completely different years yeah
and now it's it's more like dropping back a little bit of coaching like still love coaching more than anything but dropping back a little bit of coaching being a little bit more of like a helicopter over the business rather than being stuck in the bubble just being reactive to all the shit that happens yeah so it's really nice to be able to and like you guys all like you guys all love that transition as you move into it the ability to look at things and not just fucking react because you go oh shit something's gotta
be done it's now like a bit more a bit more Benny tell us about you yeah yeah go all right cool so we've got three weeks to plan for this to happen or we've got yeah this is a process we're gonna go through over the next month let's make it happen as a few as efficiently and effectively as possible yeah it's cool and it has to do with the same problems that you've been dealing with but you do it like that yeah look I look forward to that time because at the moment it's kind of
like you know it like you mentioned you feel as though at times that you just spinning wheels so it's like I'm not getting anywhere here and it's purely from a point of view that you you stuck in a bubble right yeah so it's it's tough going so I'm looking forward to the next 12 to 18 months and just continuing to grow my that's pretty cool you want a holiday earlier I did yeah South America no it's my it was that was amazing you know travels being I guess a big part of what I've done in
terms of you know I started out as a sparky and then in the end of the term when I was when I was fully qualified I thought that's it packing up shop and going overseas for about a year a year and a half but my South America I've said to a lot of people since I got back I mean terms of how different it was it was just amazing a whole other world it was unbelievable so they're five weeks time yeah and I've been asked that question a lot last couple weeks I know how hard
it is to answer yeah yeah yeah so look the the one stand out for me was the much picture so the Inca trial yeah it was amazing man in terms of I guess I guess it was so amazing for me because it had that mix between I guess fitness and pushing and whatnot and then just the feeling of being out there just alone being able to think on the second day I think it was it was a pretty solid day I got the chance to kind of take off and be by myself for a good
you know six seven hours yeah which was really cool and you know I just look back a few times and I thought fuck how good is this this is it's amazing and you know like a number of times throughout the trip like I've always been lucky enough to travel with beautiful fiance Rach and and also my my best mates and you just think sometimes like you're sitting in a pub or wherever it is and just having a few beers it's 12 p.m. in the day and you like so lucky yeah I'm sorry and that's the
part about trouble that I guess I'll probably love the most like you get to take it all in recording a rat race back here right so now fortunately we quickly forget about those things when we get home I wish we didn't but it's just a way of life but when you are overseas it's it's amazing so how long dragon it takes you to get like stuck in some of those same patterns when you get back cuz I find it now like three weeks I think we've been back two and a half weeks yeah feels like
fucking forever since I've got back yeah and I'm getting stuck in the same patterns I'm finding myself like trying to be mindful of what the fuck you don't stop doing that yeah let's actually listen to the things you told yourself you weren't gonna do when you got back yeah it's it's look it's a funny one I've reflected on in the past and you know I'm not saying that I just give in to the fact that we do return to those those things I guess it's just like I've mentioned you know small business and and the
things that we do and the traps we fall into it yeah it happens so quickly and sometimes it's just we can't you even notice you know I'm sorry but I reckon probably literally I know the day after I got back I went into the gym and I think me and Benny Benny sat there for about six hours in a meeting and I was like wait easy and he had about 30 things on the list to go over so yeah look man it didn't take me long at all it's it's normal what what you guys do
in two weeks you've probably done well to stick it out that long to be on yeah well it was uh it was two weeks of being you know what I'm doing pretty well this and this week I've just been ratchet I just not sleep like just staying up too late doing work yeah answering emails and all the hours I'm just like I just gotta stop doing this yeah another reality check over the last couple of days but yeah what what does travel teach you about like you as a business owner and the importance of what
you're doing back home but also you as a person yeah look the the person one it's it sprung to mind a number of times and that's it like how lucky I am you know in terms of being able to do what we do and and wake up every day in a warm house and whatnot it's we're blessed so in terms of actually sitting back sometimes and saying to myself you know in the same with business you know how lucky are we like I'm doing what I love day in day out sure I've got to pay
these 20 bills that are stacking up on the end of my bench but you know we're still lucky so it teaches me that and it teach you know it just it teaches me about how important the people are around me as well like I said I've always traveled with mates and Rach and whatnot and those people are so special to me so it's always taught me about that in terms of business I reckon when I travel I've got like more of a creative side to me so I'm not a creative person you could ask anyone
that so in terms of when I was away though like I'd be going for a walk or doing whatever going for a run I ain't having a few beers it could be anything I think to myself that could be really cool at work you know like right down quick get out my notes and write something down so I reckon you know in terms of that it just taught me you know it makes me be more creative yeah in terms of kind of thinking of new ideas and whatnot and then you know again the importance of
a team well I do think that is why do you think it helps you be okay oh look I think it's it you let yourself unwind don't know when you're overseas and that in it takes time again like I don't reckon until at the end of the week one I stopped looking at my email so I was looking at my emails every night and yeah I think it was right joy was one of the boys said to me what are you doing on your phone mate I was like I'm checking emails what are you checking
email you're overseas what are you doing yeah so I guess it's just being able to unwind and then just being able to kind of let you let your mind unleash a little bit right instead of again being stuck in that bubble and worrying about getting a bed at bloody 1030 at night waking up at 4 a.m. and whatnot oh yeah yeah I think it's I think it's because you you don't you're not thinking about we have to do you're just thinking about what you're doing yeah and I think that's why we have good ideas and
shower right yeah yes you just in the shower and you're not thinking about well shit but this is this is the emails we've got to do here's a work I've got to do yeah and you actually allow yourself to disconnect from that like having to be on yeah yeah cuz I got found I wrote so many notes in fucking little iPhone no it's just going bang bang bang bang well it's away I mean I've actually looked look through them yet okay I know I need to take half a day and just like start riding them
out yeah I wanted to make sure I didn't just come back and be like alright guys so we're doing everything yeah yeah that's important that's really important important now talk to me about you tell me about your training and competition and sport cuz like I met you through sport yeah and I know it's a huge part of your life yeah talk to me about it yeah so it seems like a while ago now doesn't it definitely so look I've always come from an AFL background so obviously you met it Frank's my CW great club yeah
and I guess my my personality has always been competitive like the only way that I've known is just winning and if I'm not winning then there's something wrong so it's just look I'm just I'm just driven towards that that competitive edge I just need that in my life so obviously started there I fell and we won a few flags at Frank's my study lucky enough to my which is great and then yeah the injury plague hit me so ended up with the two near reconstructions and I currently don't have an ACL so look there's been
a few years there where I've just taken a backseat in terms of sport business might have had something to do with it however I think I I lost I lost a certain element of the edge after after my injuries yeah and I I was searching for something yeah it's an interesting one it's an interesting one I've had some kind of dark times when I've watched all the boys kind of win flags and me sitting on the sideline and thinking you know look it's not very often that I would have sat there and said you know
why me I'm just not that kind of person you know I've developed that myself but now I'm lucky enough to have found something that I'm loving doing at the moment which is triathlon so it's just that competitive edge just back in my life and it's I guess again you know it's something that I've always been good at I've always come from a running background I think yeah yeah or back in those days yeah we've been say way back there yeah so you know I've always come from there and I've always looked at the sport and
amazed at it in terms of you know it's three sports in one and you know the athletes like they're just super athletes like you look at and they're laying there most of them at all you know they just they just glide almost yeah so I've always been in awe and yeah it was it was actually it was actually Elise when when she was working at IFP she actually said to me I'm gonna do a triathlon and I was like I've always wanted to do a triathlon I was like you know what I'm gonna do one
as well and generally speaking when I get something in my mind I stick to it and make sure I get it done and yeah I competed at Port Arlington a few months back which is my first one terrible condition I hadn't done an ocean swim so I was just looking at they go my just don't let this boat come out there and say yes sorry yeah but since then I've kind of cracked in and got myself a coach and yeah and and I'm really mad I'm loving it at the moment in terms of there is
there's there's a bit of balance that I've got a way up at mine I'm getting in about 10 to 12 hours a week I'm training wise and that's just still building so you know I've got to make sure I fit it in around all the business stuff and whatnot because yes it's a part-time job yeah when you're trying for sport like that yeah yeah you'll have to the podcast to do with Mark Simpson when he was like 42 or something I got a really interesting talks about it like he runs a business and it was
really cool to see how like triathlon was most important and then it shifted to business eventually and yeah it was really cool transition yeah cool let me jump on that one how do you like do you know where you want to take it do you want to do you want to really push it or is it something you're just enjoying at the moment and just see what happens yeah so that's a good one because I was asked that by the coaching company when I first called and in quite about it Josh Kaiser put me on
to them and said mate I wouldn't recommend anything but these guys and they're quite a leading in terms of that and the question I guess was asked when the first conversation and it put me on the back foot a little bit because I guess the ones that I've done were quite short and they were still I guess in that you know get it kind of like fun almost yeah and then it was almost like I was on in the conversation and I thought to myself I generally don't do things in hard so if I do
something I do it properly I'm all in my like it's just go and I thought to myself now fuck it like I'm gonna do it yeah I mean this so look in terms of how far I've said to the coach already you know what length am I gonna be best suited for you know age group obviously I'm quite old going into a new sport but in terms of you know our aerobic base we're not peaking until we're kind of 30 32 35 so I think probably at the moment if my knees can withhold it I'll
probably be looking to a half Ironman length to compete at how far that can go oh mate I'm not too sure at the moment yeah yeah not too sure my swim is quite weak yeah my bikes getting better in my run it just takes care of it yeah yeah so look I'm excited I'm excited I I look forward to it hope look I really hope that I can compete at an elite level but I still look at those guys in door and think to myself look I'm not there at the moment so look it'll take
me a number of years but like I said I'm all in so yeah yeah yeah on the on the other side of things like obviously coming from those two I see others yeah what did that do to your I guess mindset and how did you like overcome it to get to this point because I think two ACLs is something that no one wants to go through three three so three three ACLs yeah how yeah talk to talk me through that I guess I'll process so so the first one the first one I was still pretty
young I was only I think I was 21 or 22 and it came more as I guess of a shock yeah and I guess I didn't really understand what it meant I was I was young I was naive I was bulletproof yeah and I can still remember the the night that I did it I sat on the edge of my bed with my jumper and shorts on and I thought to myself like this is this is um confronting yeah you know I probably wasn't young enough to understand it and just being young and naive probably
sheltered me a little bit so it was more more effective than everyone that asked me you know will you go back to footy or whatnot and it was always yes it was just yes yes yes yes yes and that's just what I drove towards and then I guess throughout the process so I actually probably started growing up a little bit and actually realizing that it's a serious injury and I almost I almost conceded the fact that I might not not ever be able to compete at the same level that I was which was scary because
footy was everything for me so it literally was everything like if you spoke to anyone family friends whatever it was just footy yeah yeah so I guess that that was kind of scary and then coming back was was also really really daunting because I never quite felt that it was right so I went overseas and my rehab my rehab was good until I left for overseas which was probably at about the 8 to 12 8 8 to 10 month mark and it felt good and then there was a number of incidents overseas where it just
didn't feel good like I'd get some swelling or and the boys would be like what's going on and I was like look at you know it's probably just normal and whatnot again just being young yeah and yeah and then came back and I actually did it my first first game back yeah yeah it just something just went straight away and then I went to a different surgeon and actually found out that the surgery was done incorrectly so that was it was devastating but at the same time it was almost like a little bit of reassurance
I guess because I thought to myself well you know it's not supposed to feel like that yes you know it's it's supposed to feel better yeah anyway coming back from the second you know I I decided to switch clubs just purely from a point of view that I needed something new I just couldn't go around that circle again it was probably starting to really get to me at that stage because I knew that I was losing control of the situation yeah which was killing me which you wouldn't do well with no I wasn't dealing well
with it right now I wasn't dealing well with it all and in the midst of all that there was probably three two to three flags that I missed out on that I knew that I would have been a part of yeah so that was killing me and then going to the different club was really refreshing and whatnot I did you know I would I would say in terms of my professionalism and whatnot I did everything that I possibly could have done yeah and I I got through the whole preseason no dramas to be honest I
never I never reached what I thought I could in terms of kind of the level of performance and it was just purely from a fact of you coming back from two new Rico's and I just never had the confidence near Rico's and then time as well yeah yeah it was huge man that long of anything and you yeah you know struggle it was huge and oh look I wasn't happy with where I was and then yeah so ten rounds in and did it again and I went home and I've never been to the surgeon so
really yeah I've never been so I went to my physio had a scan and he said look it's been done again there's no other damage yeah and look I like I've mentioned I'm really driven in terms of you know where I want to go and whatnot and what I want to achieve and in terms of going to a surgeon I thought you know what's it gonna do where's it gonna get yeah that's really interesting at the moment I'm probably thinking tossing up the idea of probably maybe going and seeing a surgeon and just making sure
that it's it's all pretty cool and yeah I'm sweet like I'm doing a fair few K's on at the moment yeah I'm not getting any issues coach knows about it and everything like that so the coach part will take over in your wheel like your coach part I need to just make sure that's all good yeah look and then there's an element of that but you know again like people you know when I say I'm doing triathlons they look at me and go oh my god you know how you get knees gonna we stand that
and I'm like so we'll work through it yeah so I guess you know the whole time of the knees and whatnot I I learned how to create a process for myself and I learned how to create a structure around getting to the end to the end which is important and everything that I do and the way that I coach and the way that I get people through I guess that's a positive to come out of everything that I've gone through you know in the aspect of that is that you know day in day out I
deal with people that are struggling whether it be mentally whether it be physically you know but I can I can relate to it for starters and then second of all I can create a structural process for them to get through that problem which is you know you know yourself it's important for what we do but it's incredibly important and it's really like it's cool to be able to take something as shitty as like three knees to to go you know what like that's a part of my life the goalposts have moved from footy goalposts to
now triathlon goalposts and you're able to utilize those experiences to get your clients and the people around you to achieve the things they want to achieve so yeah like it's it's hard and it's tough and it'd be fucking great to have you back out in the footy field with this but it's um it is what it is as well. Yeah that's right mate yeah and that's that's the end game like people ask me about it you know often you know how do you deal with it and I'm like mate you know it is what it
is yeah it is you know like if I if I if I got stuck in the trap of really beating myself up about it then I probably wouldn't be doing what I'm doing I'd probably be yeah I'd be depressed and whatnot so look I'm glad I've got the support to be able to to get through it and just say to myself it is what it is and that's probably you know I don't I don't sit back in and look at that often but that's probably part of the reason how I got through it right you
know family friends and everything like that yeah so when you when you when you did that did it the third time as soon as you did it did you know? Yeah yeah yeah news straightaway it was actually it was actually quite a sad day for Devon Meadows we we lost one of our players that week Bo Miller which was you know really really challenging and when I did it in the incident it was that day that we were kind of I guess remembering Bo and whatnot yeah and when I did it in the incident I
thought fuck like that's that's my needs definitely gone heard it again and kind of just tried to put it to the side as much as possible because I knew that the day was was about someone pretty special and it wasn't it wasn't about that so yeah you know it was it was that night where a few of the boys were saying to me that knew me pretty closely they were like you've done it again haven't you and I was like yeah I've done it again but by that stage I guess that I was oh look
I'll throw around the word content but you know I was content that I'd tried so hard to get back to where I wanted to be and you know like we've said it is what it is right like yeah that's that's just the way it is that's life so you know as hard as it is to like give up that control like it yeah yeah so you knew that night that you were probably not gonna play for you yeah yeah I knew that night and you know like like I said to you before in terms of
you know like footy and what not and being out of it that long yeah I always remembered when I when we were playing footy at YC and how much I loved it yeah and whatnot and I'd almost lost a bit of it yeah so I just lost that passion for it which it was it was devastating right but at the same time when I did it that night it was it was almost like a bit of relief yeah you know I was on that kind of person that if I say I'm gonna do something I'm
gonna do it yeah but yeah it was always my worst own enemy because I at the same time I knew that I wasn't I wasn't performing the way that I wanted to yeah and whatnot so yeah it was it was it was okay and that's it you just move on yeah yeah that's it that's really interesting enough like it's funny these like I think going from being an athlete and playing football and then for me definitely like you fall in and out of love with footy anyway and like you've been forced to fall out of
love with footy for obvious reasons but then you get to that you get to shift that energy and that time that love to something else and like you're obviously doing it now with triathlon but business as well yeah like it's funny how you start getting that competitive spirit comes out with all your work stuff is like yeah I'll get up early every morning yeah I'll put it in the actual work and yeah I'll sit there for a six hour meeting on a Friday night just because well fucking love it that's it yeah and and you
know I've thought about it a number of times because if I actually was playing footy at the level that I was playing in in 2010-11 yeah I wonder if I would have started the business maybe I maybe I wouldn't have so maybe maybe it's meant to be you know and you're right like you know all my all my passion and work goes into into work and triathlon yeah but I'm glad that I've had that little time where I where I wasn't competing as such and it was competing at business or well I've found that shift
like I've found it really hard to to give up VFL but like both were suffering like I wasn't spending enough time at footy and I wasn't spending enough time at work and I'm like one of them's got to give yeah and well business isn't gonna go anywhere so yeah so that's gonna be the one and like now it's just like I'm so excited to get up every morning at work it's cool it's cool that we've both found something we love yeah and like I can see it in your face like you're talking about work and
everything lights up and yeah yeah yeah it's a dream yeah yeah what do you what do you find the hardest part about I guess raining in that excitement and that passion and not just going overboard and destroying yourself yeah that that's that's a hard one that that's a tough one man I think that in terms of look rage probably keeps you pretty level-headed like that which is really important so you know in terms of if it was me or unless it was the boys going on a holiday and whatnot I'm lucky enough for a mate
to be getting married in Bali in a couple of weeks we're just going to create a break yeah but I guess certain breaks throughout the year in certain times that almost forced upon me by by Rachel or mates yeah have a break is really important because I've just got that kind of just go like mannerism in terms of like I'm just going to get it done and no matter how long it takes me or you know no matter how much less sleep I'm gonna get I'm just gonna get it done yeah so I guess she
keeps me in line there which is which I'm lucky yeah yeah yeah which is which I'm lucky when's the wedding next July it's time yeah yeah yeah July yeah July 1st yeah yeah which is very exciting so it's super exciting yeah yeah like I said before one big party with all the favorite all of you yeah yeah yeah look like I mentioned to you me and Rachel pretty easygoing and you know in terms of I you know not weddings overall but I guess you know love and whatnot it's not my arm it's not my it's
not my go-to that's for sure so you know in terms of you know just having a laid-back day and a big party with with the people that you love the most is really special very cool way of looking at it yeah yeah so I'm looking forward to it in that aspect um right you're still talking about me riding my own beer so I'm not like that you have 30 months surely by surely can plagiarize something in that time I put your own put your own spin on it we're talking here like we're not writing I
struggle with writing I'm alright with talking so would you just wing it would you just like no it's too much of a reason just use the the dictation thing on your phone and just talk into it yeah you know it'll write it down for you don't have to write you can understand one there you go mate you'll take that you're absolutely welcome um I want to talk a little bit more a little bit more about travel and like why you think it's so important to have those breaks like obviously Benny's going away pretty soon where's
he going he's going to Greece and Russia for the World Cup Russia yeah that'll that'll be an experience yeah definitely I'd love to get there I reckon yeah yeah that'll be very very very interesting yeah one of the things I said to my staff after I booked my holiday was that I want them all to book a holiday yeah next five months yeah why do you think what do you feel is so important to have that break and to give yourself that time off mate it's just it's literally like rest so it's and it's and
it's it's reigniting a passion yeah so we can we can you know we're passionate people right we love what we're doing however there's there's a there's a line in the sand where that passion gets lost if you just drowning yourself with it definitely so oh it's it's imperative that we have breaks and and whatnot because if we don't we will just we'll lose it the business will will fail and people start hate being around us right so you know we turn into horrible people so it's it's important that and that's any kind of break like
I see travel is a really important part of growing up and becoming the people that we become later in life it's a huge part of that but yeah in terms of like business life and employees and whatnot they need a break we all need a break we're all humans it's important to get away and have a thinking and look back in and hopefully be able to look back in and think to yourself how lucky we are like we were talking about before on so you put yourself over in South America and you look at the
the condition some people live in yeah and you think well I'm probably not gonna need a winter about that one yeah things just become well you have that gratitude for the things that we take for granted yeah every day so I um I was lucky enough on my big trip five five six years ago and had to to finish off in India nice which was one of my favorite places that I've ever been to and and that just strung home like that man there was one day and we were down south and me and Rachel
walking past a school and these kids were loving life they were just loving life running around they had one ball between about 50 of them yeah they had no shoes on the school was like sticks and stones and oh man I just thought to myself I was like this is amazing like these people they they have nothing and then like they're just smiling like and you know some people like you know at times like I do it myself as well I mope around and I'm all bullshit go my way or something it's like fuck yeah
yeah and I think it's just look you know in terms of when the day comes that I've got a family and whatnot I'll be forcing travel upon them and just go out and just say the world and and experience things you know experience is the main word there aren't lucky experience understand it's just everything you know and I think it it'll help in so many different ways so in terms of getting you through tough times and then making you just sit back in and you know just relishing in the good times as well so that's
cool if you're listening that's Steve's permission to go book a holiday I can't get out of here go and look all fill your cup a little bit yeah I got a bunch of questions for you yeah they're quick questions but you can go as long as you want with the answers yeah okay this one have you had a defining moment no I wouldn't say defining moment I am I'm not the most spiritual person so in terms of I guess mindfulness and whatnot I I go into meditation a little while back but I'm very it's almost
like I've got ADHD right so I've almost got to be doing something all the time yeah so at the moment I'm only I only meditate for five minutes and it's more about it's on a business level it's about so taking listening about things taking things in and then coming back with the right answers instead of just not taking anything in and then just spitting out something in return just reacting yeah yeah yeah that's right so it's more about that in terms of spiritual and having a moment where I kind of found myself or whatever of
I've never really never really had any I like that and I like that you've just like you figured out what works for you in terms of meditation yeah a lot of people get turned off it because they say go I can't clear my mind fucking no one can clear their mind no I can't see there for 20 minutes cool do it for 10 like yeah it doesn't really matter no no but you bet you're giving yourself five minutes yes yeah and you know what it's it's cool that I'm that I'm able to do it like
you know I think you know we're even speaking about earlier before about having your own space and just sitting there and doing that and yeah just doing that and that's five minutes of the day that I've got to do that whether I you know fall asleep or whether I I you know have a million thoughts coming to my head and then think about them and then you know again go to sleep and whether it's whether it's actually helping me a whole lot I don't care like it's just something that I'm doing and it's something that
I'm working on getting better at so yeah that's cool every morning routine yeah man yeah I am what time you up look I'm up anywhere between 4 10 and probably 5 yeah probably generally speaking my the most time that I work up is probably 4 30 so yeah my every time get out of bed so I set one snooze button only I'd see it jump out out of bed and I've got all my clothes set up in the same spot every day my bags set up in the same spot every day I do the same
things brekkie coffee water it's exactly the same it's pretty um I guess I'll use the word alarming and you know what that's that's another thing here so when I go on holidays in terms of travel I like not to do that yeah so I allow myself to really relax so I can remember a client of mine went away a little time ago and I said to him make sure you relax make sure you go out to dinner make sure you have have some beers drink wine yeah and then when I got back from overseas he
asked me and he said you know did you drink beers did you eat shit food not my every single day yeah and he's like I didn't expect that from me and I was like you can't be so highly strung all the time otherwise you're not gonna enjoy what you're doing right your brain explodes yeah yeah yeah so there's an element of that of traveling as well where I I enable myself just to switch off and do whatever I like that yeah what's your favorite fun fact oh fun fact no come on that's a good question
fun fact if you don't have one just make one up yeah that's true um skip it come back to it one come back to me think what are you grateful for this is me oh my everything love yeah well I've spoken about my area it's so lucky literally so lucky you know it's it's ridiculous to think how lucky we actually are so yeah everything you know family friends well the most thing that I'm grateful would be for family and friends they're just it's amazing awesome yeah if what advice would you give 15 year old you
yeah good one I I probably needed to listen a little bit more when I was younger so I would say the top of my list would be listening and taking a little bit more in I guess I like I almost did been around a footy club and having mates at work a little bit older I reckon that I matured earlier which is you know what a great thing about free clubs and I've been involved in a sporting team and whatnot however I think when I was probably you know 16 17 I could have I could
have listened a lot more than what I did and it could have been about a number of things you know in terms of finding a passion back then and running with it and looking to what I would could have done you know what I'm doing now yeah I almost wish I had started it earlier and probably getting off the busily yeah yeah that's amazing that's cool what's your most memorable sporty moment oh my 2010 flag unbelievable yeah you know in turn the the club hadn't won a flag for a long time and I can just
remember the the preseason that year with Rick Mirabella the great man and running up Oliver's Hill just thinking myself there's something special going on here and I was only young at the time and you know you're around just super athletes like you know yourself Bundy Benny Benny tell us yourself you know just all them boys Ash Eames Benny pool you look around absolutely yeah amazing football hi that reunions gonna be a next level evening yeah ridiculous you know knackers the great name as well so you know like at the end of that year the achievement
was just insane it was crazy and I guess probably at the time I didn't realize how lucky I was and now I look back on it and just think to myself that was that was so good no I don't think I I seriously could probably say that I wouldn't think that anything could ever be that in my sporting life that's cool yeah that was amazing man I get to Kona or yeah oh look I'd love to do that stuff however you know I mean it I mean individual realm at the moment yeah different yeah it
is different and I reckon mental strength comes down to a lot of when you're in that individual mindset but yeah back then just sharing that with all them boys yeah it's yeah fantastic so good yeah if money was an issue wasn't an issue and you couldn't fail what would you do with your life so I we said this earlier as well in terms of coaching we all love coaching and I love I love dealing with people day in day out yeah would I be doing 70 hours of the week no but I'd still have an
element of that in my life yeah but going back to when I was in India I I plan to one day go over with somewhat of a charity and if money was an issue I'd like to make my own charity and I want to build a school nice so I know there's a few charities out there I've got some some names of some that I know that they're 100% you know legit and the money goes to the right places but the plan is to over the next five hopefully within the next five years head to
India and build a school for those amazing kids over there so yeah if if money was an issue I'd set up my own where I was building things in in countries where they where they needed it good yeah that would be cool very good on the trail on the travel front yeah so you've been most of the way around the world yeah where's one place you haven't been that's top of the list yeah hey there is I still see the world is such an untouched place so like you know even the places that I've been
and I guess that was a cool part about South America not a lot of I guess not a not a huge amount of people have done certain parts of South America which is amazing to experience it which countries you go to we did Peru yeah Columbia Peru and Columbia yeah yeah they remain - yes we decided to spend a bit of time at my I'd love to go back and just I'll definitely be on back yeah yeah Brazil and so much got ah amazing man so in terms of in terms of that or there is
the the list is never any I want to see the Northern Lights yeah I also would love to do something down in Antarctica oh yeah so yeah there's there's bucket list items everywhere but I'd probably say that those two are actually South Africa yeah so I want to do a safari yeah I was talking about doing a safari today well yeah one of the boys yeah yeah my when you go just amazing yeah meet me okay yeah maybe I've thought about that as a honeymoon that would be a cool honeymoon but the way there's no
good so that time of the year yeah so just go a couple months after yeah we could do that you probably have to work down for the wedding anyway yeah that's true I'm working the day off do some of your best work yeah that's right that's right so yeah yeah that's three like it you'll be remembered in one sentence what would it be yeah oh just always smiling always happy and just willing to do anything for the people that he loves and respects most good really what are you most proud of hmm yeah that's well
but I'm probably I am I'm super super proud of family and friends so I look around at what people have achieved around me and and and just what they do day in day out you know like even right she got home from work at 930 last night and I just thought that's good you know just doing what she needs to do and just going about it so just people that are really close to me and just what they do day in day out and then on the flip side to that also what I've been able
to achieve with Benny it's fucking awesome so you know I think there's got to be an element of you got to be proud of yourself don't understand yeah family friends and myself I like it flip side of that question what are you most ashamed of yeah it's shamed it's shamed is an interesting word that I don't know if I'd link back to to this but in terms of things that I've done in the past lucky at times in the past I've found myself to be almost judgmental yeah which disappoints me so I look back on
that and I just think to myself you know like you just give people a go a little bit more and I wish I probably have done it from a younger age yeah ashamed I probably wouldn't go that yeah that I've that I've had a time that I've been really really ashamed apart from a few party incidents but in terms of yeah in terms of that problem probably not a shame but you know that that one of being judgmental to be self-aware of it yeah back and now go I'm not gonna I wouldn't act like that
now yeah no yeah and arms I'm so cautious of it and I think you know I think the industry that reads help that so like actually delving into people and many people that are really yeah yeah it's a fucking awesome baby yeah and and and you know what you know somebody being just judgmental like I have been in the past to that person could fucking hear them apart yeah 100% like and that's that that kills me to think I realize that pretty quickly yeah yeah yeah and and you know it's small things right you know
like about what somebody said to them the day before it's not even actions and that's it's alarming like it's just so yeah it's it's pretty scary me it's it's scary that unfortunately that yeah I think it's it's a good reminder like of how how powerful our words can be on a negative front but also on the other side like you give someone a pat on the back in my pump up and tell them if I can do any good job and it like it does it's the opposite of that effect it's all positive yeah yeah
yeah I agree 100% do you hear it oh probably me mom good I'm just super good answer do you have a mantra not not really yeah I wouldn't I wouldn't say so little saying that I've learned off one of my mates and that's been passed on from a family member of his as well that you know if you don't laugh you go stupid oh that's good so I like a lot I did I tend to use that a lot in terms of you know mantras and whatnot oh yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah steal it mate
just make sure I just get my initials yeah you get there don't you I'll have to put me mates initials on it as well and you have to put his family members on it so yeah yeah it's an important one mate if you can invite three people to dinner who would they be and why famous people or whoever you want me whoever anyone in the world dead or alive let's let's let's go we'll go we'll go famous people sorry mom yeah yeah I get to have mom dinner with mom weekly man so that's wrong probably
Chris Judd oh yeah he's uh you know already read his book and when I was reading I was like this book is a phenomenal phenomenal levels yeah yeah yeah and you know just the way that he speaks in very intellectual and then you know his performance on gameday was just phenomenal so I'd love to delve into his mind a little bit business-wise probably probably Richard Branson good just to just to see you know had different ways it's amazing yeah so that would amaze me another book that I've read in terms of that and just understanding
where he's come from you know it's good yeah oh that's easy one is it yeah yeah beautiful yeah I have to get on to it so yeah just you know just picking his brain just understanding a little bit of how he's like can execute just figures out what he wants and makes it happen yeah right yeah crazy and then my this is this is throwing a curveball out there but while we're on the topic of South America Pablo Escobar all right that would be how good with that conversation in Columbia so yeah well we went
to his mansion and whatnot visited his mansion and it's just like you just look at what that country was going through at that time and what he created like one person since I can't I can't even begin to understand like how could that one person have so much power like what kind of person was he so that would make for an interesting dinner yeah that's for sure it's always like you don't have three different dinners yeah yeah that's right yeah yeah a couple of favorites finish off that book what I'm an autobiography person so I
reckon Judy's book really captured me and the way that he spoke about certain things so I would have to go that good favorite sport apart from football and triathlon interesting I'd have to go I'd have to go cricket cricket oh yeah nice yeah we won't get into it what's going on no we won't go there no fair movie I'm not I'm not actually massive on on on movies yeah I'm a bit of a shocker on movies all the boys always bagging through going through like you know bits of movies and I've got no fucking idea
what they told me I saw actual reach not long ago yeah and that stuck in my head yeah that was a ripper that that'll rank him in hey yeah just an old go-to yeah I like it favorite way to spend a Sunday afternoon with rage oh chillin at I might do nothing yeah I'm a sucker for you know the last couple of Sundays have been lucky actually Todd's have been playing on Sunday so I've got all the jobs done in the morning good and I've just sat on the couch with the carpet already or a
red wine or a beer or whatever and just sat there yelling at the TV for about so many people that are like really high performers just get to Sunday arvo and just want to sit yeah yeah that's that you know sometimes I need it I need to pull myself back a little bit I'm a bit of a hermit and I think maybe it's because of you know what we do day in day out I think speaking to people and whatnot so but might I love nothing more on a Sunday everyone's I love nothing more than on a Saturday night when everyone's going out just go home and sitting down hey what it's 7 p.m.
bedtime on Saturday night to me now if we function last week and it was all it was really really good yeah and like at the Saturday night I'm just living in KPM so I just wanna go to bed I feel you mate it's uh it's crazy like in terms of the what I used to do back in the day compared to now yeah yeah favorite piece of advice you've been given interesting one just be be be present be present good so whatever I'm doing you know be present with with that don't try and be yeah
don't try on me someone else you know be yourself and just make sure you're actually you're actually giving off yourself in you know in terms of you know don't try and be someone else man don't try and hide the person that you are so I like that yeah present what's the favorite your favorite piece of advice that you give may I I would go along the lines of that again be be yourself yeah and I also um as we spoke about I'm huge on on process and structure yeah so again it would depend the kind
of person that I are but if they were very similar to myself I would you know you got to have structure about what you're doing definitely you've got to have a process you've got to be prepared and if you're prepared then you won't fail right like it last one favorite quote oh if you don't laugh to go stupid fresh every second is an infinite value good yeah yeah it's one that's stuck in my mind for for a long time and makes makes complete sense to me beautiful how can people get around IFP and you and
what you're doing and follow your story and all that kind of stuff yeah so yeah obviously we're on Facebook and Instagram so infinite fitness Peninsula check us out you know we're located in Cranbourne West so if you're around the area where we're just off the South Kippy highway there so it is accessible for people that are in calm down slang wine cranburn sandhurst so we're pretty pretty centralized and in terms of you know a service and a premium service that we offer and the the quality assurance that we offer then you're not going to get
anything but the best when you when you're into IFP so we'd love to have you down beautiful what do you think camel my old biceps McIver is the thickest human in the world I don't know how we let him back for this doubled up yeah maybe that's why he's brain so big maybe for his head maybe his head his head's big I don't know if it's super full ask you ask him about he's a pre-workout some pre-workout he's growing by the second I actually walked in yesterday and caught him in the action mid bicep curl
oh fuck you're looking good man he would love that nice oh yeah it's a camel one about four interns yes right what a king mate thank you for that that was a lot of fun beautiful thanks for having me right
