E142 - Matt Morsia: How I Reinvented My Life (Money, Media, Burnout & Family)

0:00Unless you are top, top, top level, TV money is terrible. If you're trying to grow a brand or monetize something, it's so much easier and better to do it on. Multi-millionaire fitness expert.

0:12Matt Morsia:Extremely good body. Built one of the best training apps on the market. Super good looking. It is, of course, Matt does fitness. When you aspire to get something, then you get it. Sometimes very quickly, you just become accustomed to it. I've had it in the past where I've gone all in on one single thing. and then if that thing isn't going well, you just feel like a failure. It's good to have, you know, three, four, five different things to be doing because then if one's not going so well, you've got something else to get excited about. Because things were going well, I was just chasing viral videos and making videos that I thought were going to do well rather than videos that I wanted to make.

0:41And you get caught in the cycle of doing that. I think being a gladiator, that for me, that's as good as it gets. I did a photo shoot. This photo caught the attention of a pretty big time author in the erotic novel world. And then she actually flew me out to New York to do a book signing.

1:00just a quick one guys we have an offer running on the thirst app right now and for those who don't know this is an app which i built to give you everything that you could possibly need in order to get yourself in shape so this is everything which i've learned over the past 18 years of training speaking to all of the experts and coaching thousands of clients since the launch of the app we've helped over a hundred thousand people to get one step closer to achieving their goals so those people no longer were wasting time in the gym trying to figure out what exercises they should be doing how many reps how many sets when they should rest what meal plan they should be following that's going to be best suited for them no more of that you can get access to over hundreds of programs to help you build strength power and size along with meal plans to help you build muscle lose fat and optimize your health and well-being whilst also allowing you to have some degree of flexibility in your life so now's the time to get in shape make it easier for yourself with a system that actually works with minimal input and the absolute maximum output.

1:59Let's get into the video. What's up guys and welcome back to First Things Thirst. We are back once again with my boy Matt Does Fitness but unfortunately as you can tell we're not together in person. Spoiler alert, you haven't looked. Go and look in the door to your right quickly because you're in for a surprise. I've mocked up my office in your house. I came over two days ago yeah a little prank you're gonna go and look or just leave me in there can you check if matt's in the other room also why i'm actually i'm not tan but i know this moment i'm not too bad why do i look literally the same color as my teeth why do i look so much base in the news so is it actually is it sunny it's been a bit it's been there's been some sun at times yeah guess so yeah well how the hell are you buddy we haven't seen each other for ages i know i would have seen you it was when i came i came stayed stayed over at your place very nice uh place by the way remember that's the last time i saw you stayed in was that last year i think i i was the first i was the first guest i think no was i the first guest to stay at your place that is a sweeping statement how are you going to say that the first well i think that's fair it's fair you were the i don't even remember i don't remember and i feel like this has not given much value to the listener isn't it realistically what i think about this you were one of the earlier visitors yeah yeah how's it going with the house because last time we did the podcast i don't think it was even completed uh it's good mate yeah it's i mean i'm kind of used to it now but it is cool every so often i mean i i feel like as with most things in life when you you try and you aspire to get something that seems like the maddest thing ever and then you get it and then you sometimes very quickly just become accustomed to it do you mean i have to try and remind myself not to be complacent because it is a really cool house it is like a dream house but like obviously i just live in it so i'm very used to it but when we go away like we go away a lot when we come if you've been away for a week or two weeks and you come back then you kind of appreciate it more and it's it's like what it's in school you know what i mean yeah same thing with me i just moved into a new place i think you saw my old place i moved into it like two weeks ago what are you so you're in there right now yeah yeah but like you can't this is a very similar about but also this is a very if you move like one door down because it's exactly the same backdrop as your why have you done that because i'm scared to leave i'm scared to leave my area yeah but i mean why have you moved but they just moved right next to where you were because basically i saw this this building get built and i was like i want to live there because it looked absolutely sick and then uh many things happened in my existing building they were renovating it it was a complete mess and then just so happened that one of the places came on the market here and i was like let's have a look around and there was a good deal to be had because of the whole situation in the middle east and uh here i am so you've taken advantage of people's misfortune and snatched up a new apartment a fraction of the price that is that's disgusting so hang on it's a new building it's a new building that's that's good i thought i thought you i thought it was literally just down the hallway okay so it's new building that's good that's more justified yeah yeah nice but yeah it's uh it's good but as i said like you kind of when you first move in it's like absolutely amazing and then you very slowly become accustomed to it and i hate the fact that that's happened yeah i think what you know what i try and get i get excitement vicariously because when we have people around you know like their kids and stuff like the first time then they're excited and do what i mean and you forget they'll be like oh you got a slide you're like oh yeah i've got a slide like it's kind of cool because it yeah it kind of reinforces the yeah you know the excitement and the fact that you live in a cool house how are they how are the boys doing good mate they're Massive, mate.

6:00Luka is nine, Maurer is five, and yeah, they're both absolute, they're both absolute genetic freaks, mate. They're going to be, I'm excited. I'm excited to witness their continued development and ascension into greatness. Do you have any career path that you would like them to go down? Oh, no. Like, as long as it's not mental, as long as they're not going to become like a, like a serial killer, I don't mind. no i think like i would obviously encourage them to do like the biggest thing at this point is just to do things that they find fun obviously i would advise them you know if if luca was like oh i want to get into this and i thought that's probably not a good idea i might advise him that maybe it's not a good idea but i think in my experience nine times out of ten when the parents of a child really try and force their child into a certain activity tends to not end well do you know i mean and then like even when it does end well you know in some instances like if it's a you know certain sports appreciate certain sports you've got to start really early right but then i think when that person gets older they just resent their parents and have a weird sheltered childhood so i think like yeah i'm gonna like encourage them to do stuff and support them but like just if they want to do stuff let them do it do you mean and i'll try different stuff i mean i think it's really important to like not put all your eggs in one basket and just try different stuff and have different things on the go i think i've had in the past where i've gone all in on one single thing and then if that thing isn't going well you just feel like a failure in your life shit do you mean so it's good to have you know three four five different things to to be doing because then if one's not going so well you've got something else to get excited about yeah i remember when i was young i was basically i tried literally every sport that there was and I was okay.

7:53Just failed all of them. Not so good. Failed all of them. The only thing that I was good at was basically running. That was the main thing. If you could pick, right, at any point in your life, so you can choose Mike from any point from being born till now and a particular sport, what would it be? So you at a certain time and a certain sport, what do you go for? To be, you've got to compete in some aspect. So you at your best in a certain sport, you've got to choose one right now. Three, two, one, go. oh to be the best of the best so like what have you one time in your life specializing it the thing you've been best at at some point in your life you mean what's the time in your life when you've been this is the best i've ever been at a certain thing and what would that thing be i would probably say when i was early teens athletics sprinting that's pretty good at that Hmm, interesting.

8:46Didn't quite have the triple jump like you, but I had the speed, but then everybody else kind of like developed and then I was late to develop and then like they all had longer legs than me. You were late to develop? Oh, what do you mean? Like, yeah, but you were jacked when you were younger. What do you mean you were late to develop? Yeah, no, no, because my birthday was in August. So like I was like the youngest of my year and then everybody had like a growth spirit. And I was like the, I witnessed being the same height as everyone to everyone being bigger than me me being the smallest kid in class and then it like evened out a little bit if you never see mike with another person he's actually five foot four it's just misleading because you just typically see him images of him by himself yeah alexander mcqueen's got a great editor he's able to kind of just like photoshop everyone so it's it's quite even you saw this guy's quite funny because my business partner is like six foot fucking 10 or something.

9:41How tall is Vadim? He's so tall. Anytime I get a picture with him, it's just like, okay, we're going to have to sit down now. Six foot 10. It's just a bit silly. Hang on, what do you mean business partner? What business? The Bionic guy? Yeah, the Bionic guy. Six foot 10. And I think six foot 10 would be six foot like... You've taken so much Bionic. Bionic works, guys. You're really, really tall. It used to be 5 '11".

10:08how's uh how's your how's your training doing your biceps looking juicy so i i assume it's juicy mate yeah it's good mate do you know what like so i i detached this this bicep came off it was literally detached um and i had surgery and it sounds dramatic but on the spectrum of injuries that require surgery this is like bottom tier do you mean like i've done my achilles that's a thousand times worse this it's obviously not ideal but it's a very simple repair they literally just make an incision there they find because my bicep was like up here so they go in find the tendon pull it down and just reattach it to the bone like exactly as it was and actually they put in mine they put two anchors because i'm such a monster so this is actually now a stronger it will never it's impossible to go it's like literally indestructible at this point so i was doing i detached my bicep and i had surgery to repair it and i was doing assisted pull-ups five weeks later damn did you have anything to like speed at the recovery do you do the stem cells or peptides or anything no i just same with my achilles so achilles you're meant to they typically say like oh i was told 11 months before i'd be sprinting and i was sprinting at like five months i think like your healing capabilities are as with a lot of things are primarily determined by your genetics you know i mean and i just think i'm a quick healer like mauro my son broke his leg like i don't know february skiing like literally spiral fracture of his tibia so his tibia was in two pieces it went the whole the fracture went the whole way down and he was out of a cast after like four and a half weeks he was like jogging around after five weeks after a full fracture of his tibia that is ridiculous i'm telling you just it's just the morse genetics we heal quickly.

11:52Fuck. You had no major injuries until those two things happened? Until I got to the age of like 30, literally I was invincible. And I did triple jump. Triple jump is the stupidest, most like, if you want to destroy your spine and joints, become a triple jumper. Like it's such a horrible, strenuous thing to do. And I never, ever got an injury. And then I got to the age of, I think it was like 30 slash early 30s. And it just like, boom. everything started happening yeah uh to be to be in my defense doing gladiators obviously it kind of you are more susceptible to get an injury because you're doing stupid stuff like on a regular basis well yeah well you know the the funny thing is inside of the gym because i've been doing it for so long and everything is like you've seen the way i train it's very like meticulous i don't do anything too stupid slow reps control the moment i do anything outside of the gym like i'm doing these like you know like the videos where you're trying a different type of sport or activity that's when the risk of injury is absolutely maxed out i remember i was doing one thing it was like athletics with this chick and i was doing the hurdles and i like i took a jump over the hurdles which is obviously like the wrong way to do it and then i landed and i just rolled over my ankle i was like sick like that was cool but it wasn't like anything majorly serious but that was pretty fucking nasty and then just anything else that involves like just like doing a sport is too risky now yeah it's just unpredictable stuff in it like you said you're i think you in particular above most other gym goers and bodybuilder type people you are extremely like everything you do is very like you said very methodical and like you know in one plain and deliberate and you know and like controlled and so as soon as you then go and do like you said there something that is more unpredictable with other variables the risk is just massive i feel like you're doing more i feel like you're doing more non-gym stuff now than you i feel like unless you're just lying but i feel like i see you do more random shit now like you mean i don't know functional stuff and like i don't know running and various bits of videos and whatever yeah a little bit i know it's definitely something i should be doing but like i feel like there was a point when you were literally just lifting weights that's all you did right and then i think at that point you would that would have been peak risk for like doing something else and getting hurt whereas like now you're slightly more exposed to doing things like you know outside of the gym which means that in theory you're less but then you're getting older so as you're as you're getting more accustomed to doing stuff you're getting older and therefore there's like a the risk is still high i think yeah i i gave the whole uh long distance running thing a try but then i just just fucking lost so much size in my legs well you said you gave me a try what do you did like run we did one run what do you do how much how much of a try did you give it the 5k i was doing a 5k every week and i was i was getting like the the first 5k i did it was fucking horrible like the second half of it was like absolutely destroying me but then though as your body adapts to like a certain sort of stress or stimulus you throw at it like every week i was getting better and better at doing it and this was this was not this year but the year before where i was doing it for a couple weeks and then yeah i just noticed that like my legs were just shrinking and losing strength and i was like well this sucks it's kind of like you kind of have to choose you want to be like a really good runner or do you want to have like jacked legs and i kind of wanted more jacked legs to be honest but then the running was really good for my cardiovascular health and endurance so it's like which one yeah i think like I'm sure there's a balance.

15:38You think there are guys that are in decent shape that run, but I guess you're at the far end of the spectrum in terms of you're carrying a lot of muscle mass. So that's obviously the opposite to optimal as a runner. Do you know what I mean? So there probably is going to be some kind of trader. I just think, I don't know about you, I just hate it, mate. I don't run anymore. I don't do any long-distance running anymore because my lower back is just... when did you ever do long distance running oh because there was a point where so when i first started gladiators i was like right let's get let's get more you know let's improve my cardiovascular endurance as well as i'm gonna start running so i was running a couple times a week and i got to a reasonable level but it's just the the trade-off like my back my lower back i've done triple jump almost 10 years my lower back is like not not great so like i have to it's fine with most things it's just impact it doesn't like impact and obviously running especially when you're heavy it's just do you mean repeated like hit hit just so many contacts and it's just the impact so high it's just not worth it plus just fucking sucks you don't think it's just so the it's the worst thing ever i would rather yes i would rather do you mean just like a set of 10 squats something that's like horrible but it's just over with in 30 seconds or a minute i can't handle like i did a 5k once and i think i think i don't know it was like whatever 25 minutes it felt like about four hours it was the worst thing i've ever done do you mean it felt like i can't know people that do like run for six hours and stuff i cannot get my head around that i can't comprehend i just can't tolerate you know that low level discomfort and just boredom cut my brain i can't handle it it's like my worst nightmare i hate it so much yeah i remember anytime you would call me up to do one of those army challenges and there was like the endurance section of it i was like fuck's sake yeah it's just the worst and you know you don't want to look bad on camera yeah but you know it's coming you know i mean you just yeah the whole time because that would generally be the last thing it'd be like four tests that'd be the last one you know it's coming and it's just that or hate that feeling just knowing it's going to be horrible yeah that's the worst how is uh how's life changed since going on gladiator how many seasons you've done though so we are gonna film series four soon we're like i don't know i forget seven weeks out or so from filming series four which is mad it's gone quick but like yeah we're already at four series which is pretty wild uh things have uh yeah yeah things have i mean it's still similar to the house thing like i think i forget and when you're when you're doing something you get caught up in it and you don't it's i don't know i mean i almost have to remind myself to step back and just appreciate what you're doing but um it's mad like my life is i mean in some way the thing is we film it for a month once a year right we're doing the live tour now as well which is a couple of months but you know it's only maybe a third of the year that we're doing gladiators the rest of the year is just my normal social media stuff and other tv bits but when we're doing it it's like it's wild okay it's still i don't know i feel like a lot of people unless you if you grew up in the uk like in the 90s, I feel like you'd appreciate it.

19:00Yeah, I used to watch it. Yeah. And so even five years ago, if you said to me, what would be like, what is top tier, as good as it gets, life aspiration? I think aside from maybe being like a mega movie star or playing for Arsenal, I think being a gladiator, for me, that's as good as it gets. Literally, like I said, I'm doing it now, so it's hard to really appreciate it. but at some point when it stops I think I'll look back and be like that is you mean for me is pretty much as good as it gets like it's nuts it is the best thing ever it's so good well I feel like you were kind of born to do that I mean you're literally that's what I feel like yeah yeah you uh it's like if you just took all the things I like and all the things I'm good at it just converge in yeah yeah that's what I feel like and it's not like it's not staged it's like legit what happens happens yeah yeah yeah and it's also it's like i thought it would be more produced in the sense that you know you'd because we we film it in an arena so there's like thousands of people watching and you've got contenders on who are they're desperately trying to win right so they're not they're not fucking about but i thought it would be more like you know you do something like oh can we get that again it's like once it starts you're in do you mean the game because it's like there's rules and stuff and they're trying to win so you do i mean it is it is um it's real and it's like the contenders get better every year and because of my character they all just want to do me over as well so I've got a massive target on my back but it's like I mean there are a lot of injuries contenders get hurt, gladiators get hurt but I think you kind of need that because that's what makes it so good is that it is like just watching John from Bristol getting absolutely pummeled by a 6 foot 6 140 kilogram guy pretty funny do you find that most people are getting the legend character or they they don't understand that that you're not being like fully serious you partly are but then you're taking a piss yeah yeah so series one yeah it was like very divisive series one you've got a mix of people that are like people that are you know average or above intelligence kind of cotton on pretty quickly but a lot of people aren't right so a lot of people were like really like you know who the fuck is this guy what was he doing and i think by now like this point everyone knows even the people that didn't like me they're like oh okay i get it it's like a thing do you mean it's a bit he's doing but to be honest you know what yeah series one i got booed more like now i get cheered most of the time and there's times i'm like oh do you know what i actually actually prefer it's actually funnier being booed like i i spend a lot of time like when i'm thinking of things to say and stuff to, yeah, that I'm going to do.

21:46I don't know why I just love it so much. The thought of just, some people get so annoyed. Like I'll do, I'll say something, I'll insult someone or like the crowd or the audience. And I'll just clock like a middle-aged woman that's just furious. And I just, I don't know why. It's like, I've got a problem. I just love it so much. And so when I'm thinking of things to say, it just makes me, it makes me laugh so much. The thought of just really, I don't know why, but it's like the fact you can get under someone's skin so much. You know what I mean? I almost prefer it just to wind someone up because some people get so annoyed.

22:17I think especially in the UK, it's a thing. People don't like confidence and arrogance. Do you know what I mean? And I'm like, particularly when I'm in character, I'm the most arrogant person on the planet. So I think some people, it just really annoys them. I just love it so much. Yeah, I enjoy it so much. How do you find, because you got invited to go on all these talk shows for like the BBC, ITV, what's that been like? Is it like as you thought it would be or is it pretty weird? Yeah, I mean, I think like, I think it's, you know, you'd be the same. It's not massively, ultimately, if you're doing stuff on a camera, it's all fairly similar.

23:00I mean, generally, obviously, it's bigger production, it's bigger sets, there's more people involved, but it's ultimately just, you know, saying stuff, doing stuff on camera. So I think that's one of the reasons why I've done well on the show and maybe kind of been more comfortable straight away than some of the others because I've done this for so long. I mean, before the show, like some of the other guys, that's the first thing they've done. Whereas I've been making videos for 13 years. So I think I was already, it's different, right? It's obviously higher stakes and it's bigger, but the underlying skills are the same.

23:32You mean talking to camera, like being, you know, having a character and being personable, it's the same thing. So I think those skills transfer. But yeah, no, it's cool. Do you know what? Like I've done YouTube, I think, yeah, I think 13 years. And when Gladiettes came about, it was good timing because I was, I was kind of, I got a point where I was just with YouTube. I just kind of, I don't know, it felt a bit, sounds very cliche, but I just felt a bit burnt out. I had done it for so long and particularly the last couple of years, I just been making, I got to the point where I was making, because things were going well, I was just chasing viral videos and making videos that I thought were going to do well rather than videos that I wanted to make.

24:12And you get kind of caught in the cycle of doing that. And so I think I just started to kind of resent it and just almost dreaded making videos. So when Gladius came about, it was just the best thing ever. Because not only is it like my dream to do that, but it's just very, it's a different thing. Do you know what I mean? It's just not completely novel. Like, yeah, like I said, there are similarities, but there's also massive differences. so doing all the tv stuff it's just it's really cool it's just something different it's like you know it's fun to do things that are at your comfort zone it's fun to like try different things so it's been a really cool like um like a breath of fresh air do you know what i mean doing doing that yeah yeah i remember you know the days when you're when you were doing everything yourself this is when your youtube was like absolutely flying you were doing like i don't know if you're doing two videos a week but you would go you would film everything yourself and then that day you would sit down with your laptop you'd put all the footage onto your your computer and then you would literally just start editing it and you would like delete all the files as well immediately and you needed to get it done you did the thumbnail all by yourself as well yeah yeah i'd never seen anything like that was wild it's like a blessing and a curse i have a i don't know my kids have it as well i've notice it in Luca Maro.

25:23I have a thing where once I start a task, I have to finish it. It's this overwhelming compulsion to finish something. Do you know what I mean? Say it's like my wife. She can just do three things at once. She can start something and do something else, which can be really useful for me. Once I start something, I have to finish it. So with YouTube, when I used to film by myself, I would start filming and I'd want to not only would I want to finish the video and just get it done, also I'd want to know. I couldn't handle the thought of like, I film a clip like some people can just film and be like right i'll leave that footage for later i needed to see it immediately and just know that it was good and like yeah so my videos back in the day were like i was editing as i was going so i literally you know we go on holiday and we'd go and film a shot on the beach i feel my time lapse that's not gonna but now i'll just get my i'll be on my laptop in the corner on the beach just editing the thing i'd just done like it was my videos were such a misrepresentation because i was just literally film a clip and then edit film a clip edit and i stay up till i was done which was like you know that made it way more stressful and way longer.

26:22I also think that made my videos better because when you're, if you just film for a day or two days or three days and you don't look at any of the footage as you go, it's a bit of a stab in the dark, right? You're kind of hoping you're going to have what you need. Whereas when I'm editing as I go, I'm like, right, I know I need more of this. I know that we need, we've got enough of this. We now need to get some shots. I mean, it kind of, and you know, the narrative is there and you can follow it along. So I think it makes it easier. Oh, sorry. It makes it, it makes the end product better it's just a very stressful experience doing it in the when you're in the moment yeah i know sometimes when it especially if i've if i've filmed something myself with osmo i know if i edit that video i can edit it like exactly the way i want it to be and it will it'll be a good video but i just do not have the time to do that anymore but i still will depending on the type of video it is every now and then i'll just edit it because i kind of enjoy doing it and i want it to go out like exactly the way that i want it to go out like i still like being the director of it but sometimes it just doesn't make sense anymore it's like you fucking just you sat down all day to do this video when somebody else can do it for you maybe it's not gonna be as good but yeah also that that as well but also i think so that was the thing for me like obviously i haven't i haven't edited a video now one of my videos for i don't know like four over four years i think maybe maybe five years um and the reason for that was like firstly i'm just a control freak i don't like the thought of handing that that was really hard to hand that because that was that that was my my whole career my whole business was all based around my videos right so it's like handing a huge responsibility to someone else which is terrifying and also just for me i'm like if they're doing well i'm good at it why would i do that someone else do i mean but not only has it just you know did it alleviate a huge amount of stress and freed up more time like you said but also there are people that even though i don't like to admit it there are people that are better than me at editing do you mean like my my guy now fab who's been editing he's my you know editor videographer producer has been for two two years he's good he's ridiculously good like do i mean i can't do what he does so not only does that free up all of that time you know because a video for us now is weeks the edit is like weeks you know i mean we go back and forwards but the quality is drastically improved so i think not only was it a no-brainer in terms of like time and stress but also the the quality of my videos is now significantly better so i think even though it took me a long time to get my head around it and to kind of come to terms with doing that it's it's like a it's just a logical course of events you know i mean i think realistically if you're growing at some point you've got to hand over elements of it because it's otherwise it's just not sustainable yeah you mean your your channel's still really strong pulling in like very decent views like what's your approach to the long-form content now is it are you giving it like as much thought as you were or is it you kind of now have a team who's helping you with that so i mean a team so like my team is basically me fab and says like we're like and bed my brother as well like where says is like a big she's the big kind of ideas man fab like i said produces and he's also massively across because that's a good thing with if you have people that are helping with your content particularly like the editing and the videography you typically or you can get people that are good at the objective skill but maybe don't fully understand what it is and what they do i mean whereas fab he's been he's done content himself for years and years so i think that makes a big difference when someone not only is good at doing it but they understand what works and the difference between YouTube and other platforms and stuff.

30:00Yeah, I think, like you said, things are going pretty well now. When Gladiator started, this is going back almost four years, I was ready just to bin it off. I was, you know what, I'm done with YouTube. I didn't film for a few months. And I was at that point, I was honestly, I was like, I'm done. I'm happy just to leave this now. I've done it. Now what's happened? I think that was more just, like I said, I'd grown to resent making videos. I've done it. I just worked myself into the ground doing it over and over and over and over again. And like I said, making videos I didn't really want to make.

30:34So I think I had that kind of, I don't know how old my period was where I really didn't like it. What's happened now in the last year or so, the novelty of doing TV and stuff has worn off. So, you know, I still love it, but it's like, it's more normal now. It's, I mean, it's like, I'm kind of in the, in my flow with that stuff. So I've slowly got back into YouTube and now I kind of love it again. Like it's going really well. like we're like i said fab's been amazing we put a lot of time a lot of thought into our videos and i think like what i've realized as well this was very interesting like tv so tv right unless you are top top top level tv money is terrible like compared to social if you're top tier tv versus top tier social media you're making a hundred times more i mean social media the money is not comparable so not only am i like i said i'm kind of enjoying YouTube again and I'm I've got over that period but I didn't didn't like it it's also just the realization that it's just a sensible thing to do like I've I've got my you know my audience to where it is I've got my platforms to where they are it would be stupid just to not continue that because it's just such a great the opportunities to make money are just there's this there's nothing comparable to me so it's just why would you not continue that so now that I said now I've got my foot in the door and I'm kind of establishing TV I know what I'm doing and it's all going well i've been able to go back and spend you know uh allocate more time to social media and just continue kind of pick up where i left off basically um yeah and i said it's just that you'll see now as well you see what you see right is a lot of the top guys on tv are going the other way like i've gone from social media tv a lot of those guys are going they're trying to grow their social platform because they've made the same realization that you know i can kill myself do five tv shows a week but i could just go and grow a social following and make more money so they're all trying to do that and they're starting podcasts stuff because that's where the that's where the money is do you mean there no there are guys in tv making mega money but there's not many do you mean there's not many like it is it makes sense to to grow a social because that's where the money is well and the social thing if you have the the social media followings well first of all it's in your control and then secondly it opens a load of different doors and You can kind of pick and choose how you want to potentially monetize it.

32:50I guess the problem with the TV stuff is you've got to kind of follow the guidelines of the production and the channel is going to be on. It depends on the broadcaster and what show it is and stuff. But yeah, generally speaking, even people that have their own shows, they're not necessarily in control of it. Like you said, with YouTube, I do whatever the fuck I want. Do you know what I mean? I do what I want, when I want. I have complete control over it. Whereas with TV, it's unlikely you're going to get anywhere near that same level of control. So yeah, you're right. If you're trying to, you know, grow a brand or monetize something, it's just so much easier and better to do it on social media.

33:31Yeah. And that control is definitely one of the reasons for that. You know what? The favorite piece of content, which I like to make now, it's usually, it'll be like a travel vlog. so I'm going somewhere doing something cool but on top of that there's like a good squad of people so like probably my most favorite video this year has been Cape Town because that was just like we did like loads of cool stuff Louis and everybody was there had like kind of everything you needed for like the the perfect trip and it was like brand new loads of people didn't really know about Cape Town at least people are watching so it was sick and then I think about like ones i've done in the past like remember the one we did in malta that's just like one of those evergreen videos that just keeps accumulating views and it was a sick trip and then that's the dream right that's that's the dream if you can get a video that is like really fun to make and there's a sick video that's that's the dream in it that's all that's all you can ask for in it do you mean like i said i've i know because i've spent so long making videos that i not that's an exaggeration i've made some videos i didn't want to make i I'm making them because I know they're going to perform well rather than I want to make that.

34:42If you can get to a point where you're making videos that you want to make, that you actually enjoy, that are going to do well, that's the dream. That's what you want to be. What's your favorite one that you've done over the past couple of years?

34:57I always forget. I'm really bad. My memory is so bad. How come you never made a Gladiator-related video? You're not allowed to do that. mate there's so much that's one of the biggest frustrations with with tv it's more so like bbc there's just lots of restrictions like gladiators mgm own the rights to gladiators so straight away you can't just i can't just put on my legend costume and start rocking up like i mean you can't do that because they own they own the image rights to that right but then also because it's bbc there's like editorial policy you know it's like a family audience there's lots of boxes you got a tick so it's frustrating i mean it's a trade-off for me right there's a trade-off if the show was an itv you could you'd have more freedom you better monetize it and do more stuff but it's itv there's ads it's a bit shit whereas bbc like where bbc one saturday night that's as good as it gets that is do you mean that is like crime time top tier that's as good as it gets for tv so although there are frustration frustrating elements it's still i wouldn't change it because it's just that's just do you mean it's just absolutely top tier yeah so if you had it your way you'd basically get the costume on and just run around causing mayhem all over the place there's so many there are so many videos that i could make that i wanted to make do you mean from day one i was like oh we could do all these things but you just it's just it's almost just like it's not worth i can't be honest it's just not worth it it's just so much red tape it's just it's just not worth even trying to pursue it but with that said isn't that like now we're doing the live tour right which is different that's like you know the tv show you film it but it's filmed for tv the live tour is just you're in an arena we did we did like wembley the o2 and stuff it was sick the last year and we're going again this year but that's a lot we have a lot more freedom there so i think there'll come a time in the future where i will be able to film that because if i had fab come to one of those shows it would be the best like netflix documentary you've ever seen like behind the scenes like it'll be so sick like there's so much cool stuff and funny stuff and like stuff that goes on between us like it'll be yeah it'll be mad yeah I was gonna say like all the interactions you'd have like not only we'd get cancelled to be fair but it would be good while it lasted yeah didn't you have there was red tape with the the energy drink yeah it's just energy drinks it's like a bit of a taboo isn't it like in this again in this country it's this weird thing people just have a weird thing about energy there was the thing about energy drinks for kids right like kid obviously it's like oh they're so bad for kids straight away if your child is buying energy drink then you're a shit parent i mean just don't let him do that control your kids better that's the first thing but yeah it's just you know basically as a family essentially a family entertaining like a tv star for families it's just an energy drink is not it's not an ideal product and if you own an energy company that's even worse what did you uh but but to be honest right to be honest that was that there were other that wasn't even the big the that the biggest reason i stopped doing it was just i just didn't have the capacity to do it anymore like you know right yeah with any product particularly like an energy drink you any energy drink company like look at newtronic now you've got not only have you got a poor money into it you've got a poor time into it it needs to be that needs to be at the forefront of your mind that's got to be your thing you spend most of your waking hours thinking about that and planning how you're going to grow it and filming content for it and putting money into it i started morse your energy and then i built a very expensive and time-consuming house and then i got cast on gladiators so i immediately lost the financial desire to do it and then i immediately lost all of my time and mental capacity i'm if i'm a gladiator why do i care about growing in energy drinks just not doesn't interest me anymore do i mean so i was already thinking because i got to a point where we out of stock we had to go that for mortar energy the minimum order quantity was 750 000 cans so i'm like am i gonna go and order three quarter of a three quarters of a million cans if i'm not sure i want to carry on doing this and the answer was obviously no so yeah the bbc thing was just to be honest it was it was the last straw i was already kind of thinking do you know what this is run its course oh fuck i didn't know it was 750 000 yeah that's the problem when you start your own product like this the especially if it's a physical product that never mind if it's like online or tech but like a physical product you have to pump so much money into it like even with my with my clothing brand like if that was the only thing that i was doing like i woke up every day i was like i want to have this clothing empire and i all i care about is fashion i would have thrown everything into it one i like i wouldn't have done a podcast one about time to do a podcast that probably wouldn't even i would struggle to you know maintain one channel let alone like four and then pretty much everything that you're earning just needs to get thrown back into it and you got all the issues with like getting it around the world you got the import fees you got people getting the wrong sizes they want to return it and then because you're the face of the brand they're dming you like mike where's my shit and you're like i don't fucking know like don't message me like oh it's it's people like the idea they love the idea of like having their own business having their own clothing brand whatever it might be but one thing i've learned from doing the podcast is those people who are super successful and have these like huge companies is they they really don't have a whole lot going on in their life outside of their business like it's literally their business all day every day and that's how it's got to be isn't it that's how it's got to be if you want to if you want it to be a massive if you want that company to grow and be huge you've got to be and even then it's no guarantee right but at the very least you've got to do is commit everything commit 100 % of your time and capacity to that and yeah like and also for me i'm like if i do something i want it to be the best thing do you mean if i like when i started more sure energy i wanted it to be the best energy the best pre-workout out there right i'm not interested in doing something that's just okay like it doesn't do me it doesn't excite me like i'm not going to spend my time money doing that so it's just not worth it do you mean the decision i had was like am i gonna i could continue it and it would be fine it would be okay do i mean you'd sell reasonable numbers you make a bit of profit but the amount of time that that would require it's just not it's not do i mean i don't care it's not fun enough i mean for it to be exciting and fun i want it to be massive i want it to grow and we could have we like we maybe could have made it huge and sold millions of cans but it would sort of taken so much i didn't like i said in a parallel universe where i didn't build this house and I didn't um get gladiators then maybe I would have pursued it and it would have got good but yeah I just didn't have the ability to do it I would have had to have another me I'd have had to clone myself but another business avenue of writing books you're able to do that though that's okay Ryan books mate because Ryan I mean Ryan by the way Ryan books is a massive ball ache.

42:26Oh, it depends. Ryan books is a Ryan books is a massive ball ache. If you are like a control freak, like, because of the way my, you know, me, right. Because the way my brain is, I, there were lots of people in my position who have written books and they've had a ghost writer and they, what happens is you speak to the ghost writer. You have like a few hour long interviews of a ghost writer. They write a book and the, and the person's like, cool, done that book's done. right it's literally zero work for them really like i can't do that a i can't do that because i'm i'm just like i can't like i need to i need to know everything in that book is exactly what i want to say and it's like my wording but i think also when you make long-form content like you'd be the same if you did a book and someone wrote it for you your audience would know that do you mean like my audience would immediately know that i haven't written that book it'd be immediately apparent.

43:22So you couldn't get away with that. There are some people, if you're only on Instagram, or maybe you're like a singer and people don't get a chance to really hear you speak and converse, you could get a ghostwriter to have a little go at your tone of voice and no one would know. But I can't get away with that. So I just spent weeks locked in my office writing it, but it's done now. It's done and it's the greatest book in history of mankind how is it different for the first one so like what was the idea by the first one and then why did you want to do this one so my first book 24 7 body right that was like that was more i guess like ideas based and like theory based like that was all of the things that all of my experience and my thoughts about training and and diet and everything else that comes with like you know having a physique i think the not the mistake i made but i guess the the the thing the thing that i i in hindsight realize is that people a lot of people want to be literally spoon-fed right so with my first book if you if you are if you have a loose understanding of training and or you're you know an intelligent person with good comprehension skills you would take a lot from that right but a lot of people they could read it and they're like oh that's That's kind of cool, but I don't really know what should I physically go and do.

44:50Do you know what I mean? Whereas my new book, right, it's called Fitness Unlocked, which is quite a cool name, isn't it? It is literally a physical step-by-step guide. There's like training plans in there. It's literally, you know, right, what is your goal? I am this old. My goal is to lose fat. I have two kids. I can train four days a week. This is literally what you're going to do. You're going to go to the gym and you're going to do this exact series of exercises. and just literally explains it still has like the underlying reasons for stuff and you know dispelling myths and everything else but the key thing is that i literally tell you exactly what you need to do to get in shape so i think it's more applicable to the average person and for women as well for everyone mostly for men everyone okay everyone everyone everyone which is like that's part of the thing right that's kind of part of the misconception is that I think women think their training should be drastically different to men's, whereas in reality it shouldn't.

45:51I mean, it's guided by preference. Like obviously, you know, if you typically, typically in my experience, the average woman doesn't want to get massive arms, they're more focused on like their glutes and their hamstrings and their quads, right? So that would guide like the way, you know, the exercises you do, your exercise selection and how much time you spend on different body parts. But in terms of the underlying way you train, is no different. A woman and a man have the same underlying physiology. They're literally human. There's not a magic secret way of training for a man versus a woman.

46:26It's just down to what are your goals. The thing that determines what you want to do in the gym is what are your goals. If I said, right, I want to grow my glutes and my hamstrings and quads, I'd probably maybe hit a more female-focused plan. Not because I'm a woman, because my goals are more you know, in keeping with what you typically find in a woman. But like, it's the, you know, women and men, that is a huge misconception. It's something that people, as with a lot of these kind of misconceptions, it's like people that are being deliberately misleading to try and sell you something. Do you mean, you'll see like, uh, you see ads and this woman's like, are you a 40 year old lesbian?

47:05If so, I've got the perfect plan for you. And you're like, well, hang on a minute. I'm fairly sure a 40 year old lesbian doesn't need to do anything different to me. They still have two arms and two legs and all the other soft tissue that I have. So there's no secret recipe depending on who you are. It's what your goals are. That's what determines what you should do in the gym is what are your goals. Yeah. All right, guys, quick pause here. I've got a question for you. Are you in shape? Are you not in shape? Is there work to do? Most likely. If so, I have the tool for you, which is going to help you out massively.

47:42it's the thirst app this is something which i personally use myself when it comes to my training and my nutrition i have all the programs in there which i use on a regular basis and for those who are just looking to lose a bit of body fat the same thing goes for women as well a lot of people don't realize that i used to coach for a large chunk of my life so all of my coaching experience has been put inside of this app i want you to learn as much as possible about how to get yourself in shape there's exclusive videos in there telling you how to do it how to execute exercises properly the foods which i eat and a newly added nutrition section where you can track your meals and your daily macros is pretty much this pocket-sized version of myself which i'm going to carry around with you all day every day so if there's something which might interest you which it definitely will do i highly suggest to check out links description head over to the thirst app get it downloaded you will not regret it let's crack on with the episode i've got we both have our own apps you've got the more to your app i've got a thirst app i have female programs inside of my app and still to this day like i have members of my female audience just being like is this going to be all right for me and i'm like yes yeah it's like this it's the same thing but you've got the advantage of you've obviously you've got sairs and sairs has gone through her own transformation and she's like looking sick now so she you're literally like look she's following the programs on the app She's doing what I've told you to do in the book.

49:12And she's had two kids and she's still, she's looking like that. Yeah. And she's a good advocate for it because she was like, you know, before up until, well, up until we met, she'd never stepped foot in a gym in her life. I mean, she was the opposite to her. She'd never go to a gym. She'd never, you know, have the desire to do that. And she would have been the same as other, you know, it's very common where, like you said, women are, the big thing is that women are terrified to lift weights, right? Women are terrified to lift weights because they think, and I hear this all the time, and it's the most stupid, infuriating thing.

49:44It's like, I don't want to get too big. Do you know what I mean? I don't want to get too, I'm scared I'm going to get too muscular, I'm going to get too bulky. Like, there are men, bearing in mind straight away, like as a woman, it's significantly hard to build muscle because your hormones are not, you know, nowhere near as optimized as building muscle as a man's hormones are, right? But there were men who go to the gym three days a week for 10 years and still in a hoodie look like they never trained in their life. Do you know what I mean? If it was that easy to build muscle, every man on earth would be absolutely jacked.

50:15Do you know what I mean? The truth is, it is a painstaking, very, very long methodical process that requires a huge amount of work to build a significant amount of muscle. So to think as a, you know, a 35 year old woman who's never trained, but you're going to go to the gym you know pure gym three days a week and suddenly blow up like it's just it's a ridiculous again it just comes it's just a misconception and it's like i think it stems from again it's people being deliberately misleading online because you'll see you'll see a woman with like a you know a desirable physique and she'll be doing a ridiculous hip workout and the insinuation is oh i built my body doing this hip workout and it's like you didn't didn't you lift weights you lift weights but the thing that people see is that market that's not very marketable do you mean going and doing four sets of ten on a whatever a leg extension isn't very fun to watch so they make it more marketable more glamorous and more salesy and then the audience of women that see that think oh that's what i've got to do i've got to go and do you know i mean loads of star jumps and and and starve myself and go on loads of long runs but the reality is you are not going to build the body you want doing that you're going to build the body you want from lifting weights and you will never ever ever get too big so it's not a that's not a concern it shouldn't be a concern when is that going to be out the book fourth of june this podcast coming out soon isn't it let's go yeah fitness unlocked everyone go and get it on amazon it will train if you have ever tried and failed to get in shape or you just don't know where to star i'm telling you right now fitness unlocked will make a massive massive i literally guarantee you if you get the book and you don't get in better shape i will drive to your house and personally refund you and give you a massage there i've said it that's a guarantee did it did a publisher help like get it in the stores and like in people's faces as well yeah yeah yeah so i'll do like so you do like promo so like where this week after next will be like the launch the press week so i'll do like a book sign and then go on some like i'll go on like some tv shows and stuff talking about it um and then they put it in you know it'll be in like book you know supermarkets and waterstones and wherever else but to be honest with a book you kind of want especially early on you want to sell it on amazon realistically like if you're going to buy it go and buy on amazon because it's like an algorithm like if you know let's say you sell 100 books and you sell five in sainsbury's five in tesco's five in waterstones you don't and you spread it everywhere.

52:46There's still book sales, it's fine, but there's no kind of cumulative benefit. Whereas if you sell 100 books all on Amazon, Amazon's like, oh, this guy's book selling well, let's push it higher up all the charts. Do you know what I mean? Then people start leaving reviews and it's the same with social media. It's like an algorithm, do you know what I mean? So if you sell a bunch of books, particularly now, so go and buy it now, right? Because if you buy it before it comes out, if you buy it as a pre-order, then when it goes live, all of those pre-orders are like, boom, they all come out in one go.

53:14and so Amazon like holy shit this book sold loads and it goes my last book was like number one in the you know the hot new bestsellers or whatever hot new whatever the charts call where it's like the new books I mean new releases it was number one for like a week or so because I had all the pre-orders so it and then when it's there people see it more do you know what I mean Amazon push it more like it's a kind of a positive cycle so if you're going to go and buy it do it on Amazon please Mike just did it before this call Mike literally on Amazon you brought like seven copies so you should do the same i did yeah i think the only existence of me being on amazon is being on the front cover of a erotic novel called taint whoa why do i why do i not know this if you have you is that a new is that a new revelation this is an old thing this was this was like 20 fuck when was this 20 uh it was a long time ago this was when i was still in Newcastle.

54:13If you told me that, I would have made more of that. Hang on. What is it? Is that an erotic novel? If you search for the... Just type in Taint. On Amazon? Yeah. Please be on there still. I'm buying it right now if it's on there. Taint. Book. Yeah, that was... I did a funny story. I did a photo shoot with this guy. Is it there? yeah but that's not you though is there another one right there is there different versions of it it's by Sarita Jennings nah it's a different one why is there another if you type in Tain I'm going to find it yeah I've got I've put in Tain I'll be getting loads of other weird shit to be honest oh there we go I think I've got it I've got it no is that it no that's not god damn it there are two other books there are two other books called there are two other books called taint with another muscular guy that is weird that is a weird coincidence yeah they copied the original taint was me okay so anyway yeah i did this i'm gonna commit to finding it i did a photo shoot and then this photo caught the attention of somebody who's following me who was friends with a pretty big time author in the erotic novel world and she reached out and she was like i want to buy this photo and put it as the front cover so then i had to speak i spoke with a photographer and they're like look this is this is a thing and i think it was it wasn't the first time that he landed a picture on the front of a book so um yeah she paid for it we split the earnings and it was on this book and then it did pretty well and then she actually flew me out to new york to do a book signing and then i went there And it was full of like all these mostly, it was 99 % women, middle-aged women who were like really into the erotic novel book world.

56:16Very interesting experience. You've definitely deliberately not told me that in the past because you know that that would have... Now that I'm older, I'm more calm. If you told me that five years ago, there would have been all kinds of repercussions. It was because I didn't know you then. that's mad there it is buddy oh yeah it's a nice it's a good photo to be for that it's a nice photo it was a good photo but yeah um what's it about what's it about give me the quick just give me a quick summary of the plot it's filth pure filth oh really well like a 50 shades of gray kind of vibe like kind of thing yeah so basically the idea is as women were reading the book they think of the front cover image me nice nice pretty weird but anyway that was like my first little um i wouldn't call it fame because it wasn't really fame but it was like oh something's happening here thanks to social media 21 22 years old i think so yeah i think now after that it's probably a few people have said to me you should write a book but i don't know what the fuck i'd write about oh you definitely could you could write a book about I think like the reality of Dubai.