The Foundations of Fitness

From the strict confines of private education to conquering the inner turmoil of OCD, Edd's story is one of resilience. 

This episode isn't a mere recount of physical triumphs; it's a deep-dive into the evolution of a soul and the fitness industry alongside it. Edd discusses the innovative business models that have shaped his success, the importance of fostering a supportive community within his gym, and the profound role of mental health in personal growth. As we move through his eclectic ventures—from co-owning the trendy Sunrooms in Southend-on-Sea to facing down the gauntlet of lockdowns—Edd emerges not just as a fitness coach, but as a beacon of continuous self-improvement and mental fortitude.

Closing out, we take a moment to appreciate the collective struggle and potential for reinvention that the pandemic has unfurled across industries. Edd reflects on the importance of mental health practices and the power of community. His journey, punctuated by personal growth and collaboration, pulses with an infectious energy that invites listeners to consider their own paths to success. Join us for this stirring episode that stitches together creativity, community, and personal development—all through the lens of a personal trainer's relentless pursuit of excellence.

You can follow Edd on Instagram here - https://www.instagram.com/rangeofmotioncoach
You can follow Edd's gym on Instagram here - https://www.instagram.com/romgymessex

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Chapters

• 0:00 Personal Trainer's Journey to Success
• 7:30 Navigating Privilege, Work Ethic, and OCD
• 11:26 Overcoming Obsessive Behaviors and Personal Growth
• 14:19 Journey Into Fitness Industry
• 21:10 Career Evolution Through Various Ventures
• 33:41 Evolution of Fitness Industry and Training
• 41:10 Personal Trainer Philosophy and Evolution
• 47:43 Gym Evolution and Community Building
• 58:41 Personal Growth and Reflection During Pandemic
• 1:03:52 Personal Growth Through Self-Exploration
• 1:14:49 Success and Creativity in Community
• 1:21:03 Mum's Closing Question

Transcript

John Hawker: 0:00

Did you grow up with Thundercats? Yeah, that used to be my jam mate.

Edd Hyde: 0:04

They keep threatening that they're going to do a new film, a brand new film with.

Edd Hyde: 0:07

Thundercats. I used to love it, John.

Edd Hyde: 0:09

Thundercats love it. That's it. I grew up on that shit. Yeah, I did. Jobsworth, season 2, episode 6. The Foundations of Fitness. Welcome to episode 6 of Jobsworth, season 2.

Edd Hyde: 0:33

Today I'm speaking with Ed Hyde, an Essex-based personal trainer and owner of Rom Gym, based in Lyon C. I first met Ed when I became a client of his back in 2021. It would have been easy to turn this conversation into an hour-long testimonial dedicated to the changes I've seen since training with him, but I'm conscious that no one really cares about my bad back, dodgy knees and unrealistic ambitions to dunk a basketball. Instead, we start by talking about Ed's life before entering the fitness industry, covering his experience of private education, the pressure of parental expectations, his battle with obsessive compulsive disorder and how he worked for years to overcome it.

Edd Hyde: 1:11

We also discuss Ed's earlier career, from his time studying at Central St Martins, pursuing his passion for art, to how he harnessed that creativity with jobs in jewellery, design and fashion, whilst even making time to co-own a once iconic spot in Southend-on-Sea the Sunrooms.

Edd Hyde: 1:30

Ultimately, it was his experience working in hospitality and the realisation that his lifestyle wasn't viable longer term that led him to move into the job he's been doing for the past 10 years. Ed and I discuss how the fitness industry has evolved in that time his approach to standing out with clients for the right reasons, why he wants to support people with more than just the physical aspects of health and well-being, and what motivated him to set up his own gym. We also explore what it's like running it with his older brother, the community they've built over the past five years, as well as touching upon the challenges he and the business faced during lockdown and the life-changing experience Ed had in Mexico during a holiday with his wife, bex, in 2020. So, without further ado, let me introduce you to the man that keeps this podcast host and half of Leon C moving just Ed Hyde.

Edd Hyde: 2:14

I do start with an opening tradition, though, ed on the podcast, which is to ask you when you were younger, what did you want to be when?

Edd Hyde: 2:20

you grew up, I wanted to be a vet.

Edd Hyde: 2:23

Really, I've had that a couple of times up I wanted to be a vet. Really, I've had that a couple of times. Actually I wanted to be a vet. Yeah, okay, what why what?

Edd Hyde: 2:28

was it inspired by Always a love of animals, like all animals.

John Hawker: 2:35

Yeah.

Edd Hyde: 2:36

I don't know where that came from. I think probably from maybe my mum Right. We're very similar me and my mum Right, okay, maybe my mum Right, we're very similar me and my mum Right, okay, fairly sensitive. You know what I mean. Like everything's, you know. You see an animal in distress. You're like, oh, it's pulling on the heartstrings straight away. Yeah, you make everything, kind of I mean it's my biggest problem.

Edd Hyde: 2:56

You make everything about kind of you. Do you know what I mean?

Edd Hyde: 2:57

Yeah, yeah, yeah okay, yeah, anyway, so that what I wanted to yeah to be did you ever no, no kind of movement down that route?

Edd Hyde: 3:05

was that a? Was that a? Very short lived, I don't know.

Edd Hyde: 3:08

I mean I think that it's typical for, like, being at school. You just kind of you all, I mean. I grew up in a in a fairly relaxed household, but then I didn't right. So my dad was ruled with an iron fist yeah and iron fist, yeah, um and down to where you know he was kind of like had most of the influence over the subjects I took.

Edd Hyde: 3:28

Right, okay, yeah he had like direction over it. So what was your dad doing for a living then?

Edd Hyde: 3:32

did he have quite, uh, my dad's a very successful self-made man, right? Uh, didn't grow up in an easy um background, as in like very well loved, but um was you know he's not a load of money and no, yeah my, my nan, um, you know she was a dinner lady, had two jobs, worked to keddy's as well.

Edd Hyde: 3:50

Um, my, his dad, my, obviously my grandfather left them at an early age so they were all. They didn't have a lot, which kind of spurred my dad and my and his brother on, both two successful guys, independently and self-made. My dad, you know, open university, put himself through open university, badly dyslexic but studied at home. Yeah, um, qualified as a chartered surveyor and did that for his whole life and was probably the most successful surveyor in the area.

Edd Hyde: 4:18

Wow, you know, built a great business and and you've always been in around lee as well yeah, I've been six, 41 years I've been living here. Yeah, okay, yeah, you've never moved so nice so it's strange, isn't it, how parents kind of shape that drive, yeah, a lot of the time, and your dad going through his prior experience growing up. I guess that's sort of trying to push you in a certain direction so you didn't have to go through yeah, I think I think for him he wanted what he didn't have for his kids.

Edd Hyde: 4:44

Yeah, which we all, which which I do, I know as a parent, I, I want the same sort of thing.

Edd Hyde: 4:49

I think sometimes it came out wrong because he obviously didn't have much and he was driven and we were given from an early age, not, you know, we weren't spoiled, but we were kind of we didn't want for anything as kids, um, and that kind of.

Edd Hyde: 5:02

I think that takes you through teenage years as well and maybe you don't know any different so therefore it kind of it snuffed the flame a little bit of really striving to be something like a vet. Yeah, yeah, understood, because you know you're like you've got hot dinner, you've got shoes at school, you've got everything you want, you've got holidays, you know, in the year it didn't really make you very hungry, right yeah especially when I was a teenager yeah like I was the typical team.

Edd Hyde: 5:31

You know what I mean. Like even now it's still in me. You know, I was a skateboarder. I was smoking weed all the time. I was just that guy that was. I was good time, charlie, yeah, yeah, always, yeah, um, and I don't really know when I'm jumping ahead here, but I don't really know when that the switch flipped.

Edd Hyde: 5:50

Do you feel like you were rebelling a little bit against what your dad was, the path that he was suggesting you go down?

Edd Hyde: 5:56

I think it was a bit of rebellion. I think, um, I think it was the kind of culture I was into and it was the music I was listening to yeah, I was always into rock and roll heavy metal, bit of hip-hop. Yeah, you know, long hair when I was sort of 10 years old to my shoulders, yeah, you know, bit of an attitude.

Edd Hyde: 6:13

Baggy trousers, you know just basically being that I think rebelling, yeah, probably against. Maybe I didn't want to see myself john, as I would say, middle class yeah, yeah, okay, I didn't want to see myself as like this. You know this sort of posh kid. Because, I don't think we were as a family, but certainly when I was growing up, because we went to private school, it was very much that atmosphere, being at Brentwood right, Right yeah.

Edd Hyde: 6:38

So Brentwood, you know you're almost like a small fish in a big pond. You know we were, were like I said, we wanted for nothing. But then you're elevated into a, an environment where people are on the next level, yeah, kind of wealth, and I get what you mean. You see what I'm saying, so it's like, and even that makes you rebel more, because you're like I'm not like that fucker over there yeah, you know, so it's you know you almost kind of you.

Edd Hyde: 6:58

You withdraw a little bit more, you get a little bit more alpha, I think yeah, I get that.

Edd Hyde: 7:03

I get that completely. I think it's a question I wanted to ask. Yeah, just because I don't know anything about your history, really, and even your career history. Yeah, up until the point where you got into fitness. Usually I can jump onto linkedin yeah and do like a bit of research, but there's nothing about you. So this is I wanted to ask about the whole rebellion thing, or rebelling against maybe this path or this journey that your parents want for you, because I think a lot of people go down that route.

Edd Hyde: 7:30

Um, but yeah, sticking two fingers up to this kind of I don't know. There's a stigma around private education that it's an elite thing and it's a privileged position to go down the private route. But I I can appreciate, knowing what I do know about you. Maybe there was that tendency to stick two fingers up to that.

Edd Hyde: 7:45

I think you know, if you'd have said to me it was a privileged position to be in three years ago, I would have said fuck you, john. Yeah, I was a product of my environment, yeah, but no, it's not, it's a complete privilege. Yeah, you know. So it was something I did take for granted. I don't have any regrets. But also, you know, it was laid out for me almost on a platter, because my dad said, you know, it was almost hinted at at any one time, the family business is going to be the family business, essentially right. And I was like, no, it's not, because that's not what I want to do. I want to. On one hand, I want to cut my own path. On the other hand, I want to be a bit of a lazy git. Yeah, do you know what?

Edd Hyde: 8:20

I mean, that looks like hard work, yeah, and I don't want to be associated with that. I respect what you've done, but it's not me as a person.

Edd Hyde: 8:26

I found school particularly not difficult, but I certainly didn't fit in to your what I would call your regular education sort of system.

Edd Hyde: 8:37

Yeah, it didn't align with the way you needed. Maybe support nurturing being taught in, probably not, yeah I mean certainly not now.

Edd Hyde: 8:44

If you look at how we approach things now, oh yeah which is you know, I think, more sensitive than obviously it was um, which is kind of good and a bad thing, I think, uh, but what it did do was enabled me to certainly get a work ethic. So I went to like I do now. I went to school six days a week, right. So because it was um a boarding school, I didn't board, I was a day boy.

Edd Hyde: 9:04

But we had Saturday school Right, so Saturday school was half eight in the morning until 1 pm, yeah, normal lessons, six lessons, and then I was in the football team so I would then travel around the country, you know, and we'd play football, so I wouldn't get home until 6 p. So what that's done is that's kind of built in this almost autopilot, to become a bit of a workaholic. Yeah, it's conditioned me a little bit. My dad was a workaholic, is a workaholic, meant to be retired, but he's in his 70s and he still works like a dog. You know, so it's. And that's come on to me. And, as you know, you know being self-employed, you know there's never you don't really want that opportunity of saying no, yeah, and because if you close doors then you know you in your own head you're thinking those doors are always going to start, or keep shutting one by one.

Edd Hyde: 9:50

It's a domino effect, isn't it?

Edd Hyde: 9:51

um, you know, so it's. It's a weird one because I'm a creature habit. I'm a creature routine. Yeah, I hate routine, but the habit side of things has always been in my life.

John Hawker: 10:03

Yeah.

Edd Hyde: 10:04

All right. So I was like as a kid, um, I had obsessive compulsive disorder, like so bad Really.

Edd Hyde: 10:12

Yeah, yeah, so bad. How did that manifest? I don't know yeah.

Edd Hyde: 10:15

I mean so looking into it now as an adult, they say it can be, it can come from like a trauma, not not like an emotional trauma, from actually a physical trauma. And I jumped into a swimming pool when I was a real like little nipper yeah, I was all. I love water, so I was always swimming and obviously being told not to dive in somewhere. You're like it'll be all right and it literally was like ankle deep and I smashed my head.

Edd Hyde: 10:35

I was, I was, yeah, I was pretty bad. Just imagine you crumple, don't you at that point? If it's ankle deep water, this is it you are.

Edd Hyde: 10:40

I mean, I was seeing, I was like, wow, I got checked out, but not in a way where I had like a brain scan or anything like that. Right, yeah, yeah. And I don't know if that did something, you know, because it can do and it kind of it was almost after, not a direct timeline after that. But I started to just get very anxious about certain things, right, that I didn't nothing could be explained. I didn't nothing could be explained. I mean, I picked up this like what you call a condition. I guess, like as long as I can remember, john, so what?

Edd Hyde: 11:07

so when you say ocd, that will probably trigger a lot of people to be thinking about. You know, examples I think of are always ensuring that all the the doors are locked in your house multiple times absolutely the light switches on and off things like that, that, but like to kind of warp speed really yeah, so like it would be like you know all my.

Edd Hyde: 11:26

It got to a point where I isolated myself so much at school that I would just became massively introverted, right because I was embarrassed about it.

John Hawker: 11:34

Yeah, that's the only way I could handle it, yeah because I would.

Edd Hyde: 11:37

I don't know, like I said, I don't know where it came from, but I would. I'd like there'd be certain like school shirts and school trousers that I'd want to wear and I'd know the difference between the two and I'd refuse to wear one pair. And if my mum was like, what are you playing at? Yeah, you know, I don't understand what you're doing here, then I just get the dirty ones out laundry, because I know that day my good might have happened.

John Hawker: 11:55

Ah, right, and it was that it was always trying to.

Edd Hyde: 11:58

It was all I guess it. Maybe it was feeling a little bit powerless about something in my life and taking control of exactly and that giving me some sort of control back. And, john, you know, to be completely transparent, it plagued my life up until about two years ago really. Yeah, well, I've just started to get a hand on it.

Edd Hyde: 12:14

Yeah, just it creeps in yeah you know every sort of now and then you kind of have to be very strict with yourself, not to. It's almost like scratching a nap bite. You know you do it once. You're going to be doing it all day. Yeah, yeah, if you kind of like just sit tight, breathe, yeah, leave it alone, it's not going to affect you and usually something will happen to take your mind away from that.

Edd Hyde: 12:36

Sure, but you, you, you can become obsessive about that, and we're using the analogy of a nap, but yeah, that's a good it's a good example okay, that's

Edd Hyde: 12:44

really interesting because, you know again, mate, like being, you know, transparent.

Edd Hyde: 12:48

I think the biggest difference not difference, but the biggest change for that for me was probably like the whole covid era, I guess, because it sent me down a different journey with my whole life and my almost like my philosophy with how I train clients and how, in fact, I look at my whole life and my almost like my philosophy with how I train clients and how, in fact, I look at my own life and look at it as a like I said to you like a holistic approach to to training.

Edd Hyde: 13:12

Not, yeah, I was always I mean, I'll probably jump in the head again, but you know, I've been in industry for 10 years and I wanted to have a different approach to how I presented myself and my style of coaching to my clients, yeah, which was always from, uh, what I would say, an endurance background. Right, I was a triathlete, yep, um, you know, and anyway, sort of. So over those 10 years I've seen a lot happen in the industry, yeah, and there's certain things I didn't like a lot of any industry and certain things I loved, you know, and then when it all kind of came crashing down during COVID, it obviously gave me time, gave me some valuable time to reflect on my life, my business and the way I wanted to take my own um, I guess, coaching style and re-educate myself and things like that. Um, and then what that did is it kind of took me down different rabbit holes and looking into more internal work yeah, you know what I mean.

Edd Hyde: 14:01

The intrinsic side, the less maybe superficial side of that kind of like, literally again, the stereotypes that sometimes we'll talk about that in a bit, but the stereotypes that are associated with the fitness industry, yeah, and then you know, and that's it with that, it took me on a little journey like to wherever I went at that point, which was mexico.

Edd Hyde: 14:19

Funnily enough, like you know, and I, because of the, because of the routine of my life with clients, it it unfortunately sort of spills over into my personal life as well so everything is still routine. Yeah, it still take the dogs out at 7 am. It still go for breakfast at8 am. Yeah, it still go back to take the dogs out at midday, because then everything becomes that hour slot which is obviously how my life's governed.

John Hawker: 14:41

That's gonna say yeah, and everything's an hour, hour, hour, hour and everything has to be a military operation.

Edd Hyde: 14:46

So when we were going out to mexico, which was literally it was after the first or the second lockdown, we were still in between them, but they were quite flexible about traveling. Yeah, um, and bex and I, my wife, we wanted to get away and I said so on the plane. I'm gonna say yes to everything this holiday right, which isn't like me. I'm like, I don't like crowds. Fun, you know, and I'm with people all day and I'm in a crowded gym.

Edd Hyde: 15:06

We'll talk about that. Yeah, so I'm the opposite of what I look like on the gym floor. Yes, yeah, understood, in my personal life anyway. So, and that took me down this weird little journey. Super exciting that I did there and by saying yes to things, it changed my whole life right from that point.

Edd Hyde: 15:22

That was a real pivotal moment, transformational moment yeah, yeah, big time we're gonna. We are gonna take it back a little bit because we talked about school, which I think is just an interesting. Again, I would never I don't know what it is, I never knew that about you that you've gone through the private education system. I can see how that that sort of shaped your views on certain things. As you say, instilled a work ethic in you. I think you realize, six days a week at yeah private schools are things.

Edd Hyde: 15:45

So doing it on saturdays as well, going for your teenage years doing that hard man yeah, I can imagine so you go through this route? Your dad is obviously, or your parents maybe have got very clear ideas of the the path they want you to go down yeah if you fill the gaps in.

John Hawker: 16:01

For me, this is usually linked where LinkedIn will take over.

Edd Hyde: 16:04

But you finished school, I'm assuming you finished secondary school. So take me from a potted history of you finished secondary school. And then what leads you into the fitness industry? Because a lot of people have very squiggly ways of getting into fitness, I guess. What was your path into?

Edd Hyde: 16:19

it Always active at school. Always I was either doing athletics for school, very high in my age group, for what was it at the time? It was probably 70 metres sprint, okay, yeah, yeah and hurdles, because I was quite tall, loved it, very competitive as a child, like absolutely like throttled at the mouth with stuff like that. Love football, love rugby. I played pretty much every sport. So that was up until the age of yeah, I was at Brentwood until I was what? 18. It was secondary school. I did my A levels. I didn't do anything, funnily enough, sport related at school as in educational Was that again a bit of a push from parents?

Edd Hyde: 17:00

Yeah?

Edd Hyde: 17:01

Yeah, I think so. I mean, funnily enough, john, I was, you know, looking at all your artwork. I was, that was me. I was an artist, I was a creative. I went to St Martins, which was probably one of the best art colleges in the world.

Edd Hyde: 17:11

So once I left school, I took a bit of a gap year to try and get my head straight. In that gap year I worked on my portfolio for St Martins. Wow, because I want to do fine art. So I worked on a fine art portfolio. Everyone's like you'll never get in. It's like especially for fine art. And I was like, fuck you, I will get in. And I spent a year working a portfolio and I got in. And so that was timeline wise, I guess, 19 years old, okay, yeah, unfortunately, if you're within a certain boundary, you can't have the facilities of like dormitories, right, okay, a certain boundary, you can't have the facilities of um like dormitories, right, okay, because there's so many international students. Yeah, yeah, understood, so they save it for that. So it's a lot of commuting and I wasn't really about that when I was 19, right, because I almost wanted to live the uni life, which I wasn't yeah, it was what I wanted back home every day.

Edd Hyde: 17:58

Yeah, yeah you weren't going out after with your mates and having a good time because you've got to get home. You know, there was no one really living in London who I was pals with because they were in the same boat. Yeah, yeah, so it was a lot of commuting.

Edd Hyde: 18:09

And then once I drifted away from fine art because I was getting more and more interested in jewellery design wow, okay and I went into jewellery design for a year and when I was doing my jewellery design I again was just becoming a little bit more, not elusive, but just wasn't turning up as much as you should have been.

John Hawker: 18:27

Yeah, you know what I mean. Yeah, yeah, so.

Edd Hyde: 18:29

I thought at that point I was like you know what, I've had enough of this now. I've had enough of education, I want to get into work, right. So at that point I worked, I did a bit of an apprenticeship with a massive uh, costume jewelry company. Right, it was just a year of me kind of almost just shadowing people and seeing what was going on. Um, again, still immature, still kind of like thinking that I was owed this more than me really wanting to do it.

John Hawker: 18:56

You know what I mean.

Edd Hyde: 18:57

Like like whatever I'm at work, I'm getting paid a nominal check in a box. Almost it was, it was keeping the parents happy because I got a job. I left university you know they were proud of me for doing St Martins, but I kind of almost you know negotiated leaving there to jump into this job. Right, yeah, even though it was, you know, an apprenticeship wage which was bugger all.

Edd Hyde: 19:19

Yeah, you, or maybe at all. No, not really.

Edd Hyde: 19:22

And you're kind of almost just sort of. I think what it was was kind of like just being a little bit nomadic about what, like trying different things. I mean you can see where the pattern's going. You know, it was like school A-levels to Martins work. You know I didn't have that like locked on crosshairs onto a target, thinking I'm aiming for that aiming for that.

Edd Hyde: 19:45

So I was moving about trying to kind of almost fact find for myself what I kind of wanted to do interesting blend, though again, never knowing this about you before that you've gone to st martin's to do fine art, yeah, and then, and then there is a transference of that creative, artistic side in the jewelry design. Yes, and then, even with the apprenticeship, you're still in a very creative space as opposed to I was, I would.

Edd Hyde: 20:03

I would definitely class myself even still, was more of a creative, and I think you're allowed to you work in the fitness industry.

Edd Hyde: 20:08

It doesn't mean you are fitness, it doesn't mean you are. You are intrinsically a personal trainer. Yeah, you can still have low. You can be multifaceted. It's weird though right, john.

Edd Hyde: 20:17

So when I, when I started being a pt, I mean you're looking at me. Now you know what I look like. I'm not your atypical PT yeah, you know.

Edd Hyde: 20:24

Yeah, exactly. Do you know what I mean? I had long hair. We share pictures when we put the podcast out, but yeah, you're not.

Edd Hyde: 20:29

I'm covered in tattoos, I don't. I'm not your like bronze gymshark, white tooth, like wearing kind of dude with a. You know the Essex stereotype and really a bit of a stereotype of the industry as a whole. I think I'll probably get. Someone will sort of pick up on that.

Edd Hyde: 20:49

Oh, they always will, they always will, and I don't mind it, but you are going against the grain of what most people have in their heads. If you ask 100 people on the street, what do you envisage when you see a personal trainer?

Edd Hyde: 21:02

You're not going to be the model of what that looks like to most people yeah that's more articulate.

Edd Hyde: 21:05

Yeah, exactly, yeah, that's exactly what I'm trying to say, yeah but um, and I, you know, I think you know we're going back to then. So I was at my um apprenticeship, left there and went back to college again, did a graphic design course just like a b-tech, I think that's what it was called um for two years, qualified again, didn't enjoy it. Um, didn't really see myself as doing that full time. So where am I now? I'm probably age-wise, 23 now, maybe a bit older 24.

Edd Hyde: 21:38

When I left there, just went into kind of what I would say odds and sods jobs doing labouring, roofing or whatever just to get money in the pocket, get my hands dirty and enjoy. I've always enjoyed a graft, manual labour. I've loved it, and we've talked about that before when you did your scaffolding, but you know. So I was doing that and I still was totally confused about what I wanted to do. I had no idea. And this is when it took a real wild card. You know, grew up with my old pal, best mate henry burgess, and, uh, he was in hospitality and obviously I knew nothing about it and we had some harebrained idea that we should, you know, basically borrow money and buy the place that we used to drink in being the sunrooms.

Edd Hyde: 22:18

Wow, oh wow yeah, yeah so we bought the sunrooms, yeah, with a lot of help, yeah, of course, uh, financial help, and we had this again, the creative sort of part of me creeps back in here, trying to sort of almost create a brand, because I think that's what I've always tried to do with what I've done now with fitness. And, yeah, we gave the sunrooms our kind of stamp, which pushed a lot of the old clientele away, which was shame, but we kind of wanted to drag it into a little something a little bit more modern. And henry and I did that crikey for quite a while, I would say six years, wow, um, and john, that's what turned me into becoming a pt that quite a leap, so.

Edd Hyde: 22:59

So there's a lot going too hard, maybe the whole point being complete lifestyle change.

Edd Hyde: 23:04

I was ruined. Do you know what I mean? Like because it's very antisocial. Hours, of course, yeah, but not just that, the the kind of drinking with um. You know your clients clientele punters.

Edd Hyde: 23:16

Yeah, probably doing other things you shouldn't do as well you know, um, being young and, yeah, carefree, really, yeah, invincible, exactly started to feel a little bit, just a bit tired and like probably feeling older than I should have been. Um, and then I started to do a bit of martial arts in my I think I was about late 20s then, okay. So I really started to enjoy that, sink my my teeth into it and then me being me an obsessive person, you know, I took that to the nth degree, right, completely stopped drinking everything, never used to drive to work because obviously I could have a beer, yeah, so I would just get a taxi or whatever Then started driving to work so I wouldn't allow myself to drink, yeah, and just became really obsessive about training. Like John, I was excuse me, sorry, I was an absolute nightmare.

Edd Hyde: 24:08

You know, I was training as much as I possibly could. I was on a serious calorie deficit. You know, I was the leanest I've ever been, you know, like, really like, really lean, like scarily lean, because I wasn't eating enough, yeah, yeah. And then if I was going to be in company and if you'd have been like Ed, should we go for a pizza, I'd be like, yeah, I'll come for a pizza and I'd eat it and I'd make myself throw up.

Edd Hyde: 24:32

Really, that's how bad it got, wow yeah, so you know, again became obsessed, and you know, the whole obsession with that took over my life, yeah. And then I became a little bit more kinder to myself and fueled myself. Well, and the only reason why I started doing that is because I shifted away from boxing because I hurt my neck, yeah. And I went into triathlon, right, I started running, yeah, I was like, oh, this is fun. And then I thought, oh, I'll start swimming. Yeah, you know, that's cool as well. I enjoyed that as well.

Edd Hyde: 25:04

I enjoyed that and this was going back 11 years, this is. Triathlons weren't really that popular then. Yeah, they definitely. I think I did my first triathlon about 11 12 years ago.

Edd Hyde: 25:09

Ironically yeah, but yeah, they, they would, they've definitely now become almost like a little subculture and for sure, in their own right, sure. And then I picked up a bike and then I thought, oh, I can do all three now. I absolutely loved it. You know I love triathlon and I think it was. I would always almost put it down to seeing how far you could push yourself, but also, on the same page, it's like full self-loathing. Yeah, because you're ruining yourself, you know what I mean Because I wasn't like doing it to compete.

Edd Hyde: 25:36

I was doing it to always beat my like. Previous times it wasn't to go. Hey, everyone, I've done a triathlon I previous times.

John Hawker: 25:43

It wasn't to go hey, everyone, I've done a triathlon. I didn't care about that.

Edd Hyde: 25:45

It wasn't the internal mental thing, it was to almost give myself a bit of a you know hard time and see how far I could push myself. And then I just started doing more of them, um, and then did like half iron man. They never did a full one. Yeah, the half one put me off enough to be like come you know, this is just. I don't hate myself that much.

Edd Hyde: 26:02

yeah, yeah, yeah exactly, but it took the fun.

Edd Hyde: 26:04

I like the shorter kind of efforts. I enjoyed the sprint kind of vibe more than the long.

Edd Hyde: 26:09

It was the different disciplines that maybe attracted you, rather than the ultra distances that some people get a sadistic kick out of. This, is it?

Edd Hyde: 26:18

And it's funny, john, because then from that point, after the sunrooms, henry and I parted company. He went to ibiza. I just had enough, really, yeah, um, we still kept it kind of running silently in the background, but there was obviously a get out plan. And then, going back onto my creative side, I was always one of my modules at art college was fashion. I love fashion, right, so I almost wanted to have my toes in that kind of industry as well, yeah, and then I I think it was my grandma passed away, I can't remember, it was a relative left me some money, yeah, and one of my good friends at the time was in the fashion industry and we wanted to start doing like a menswear website, right, and just sell menswear clothing. And we worked on like a brand strategy for that and then launched the website. And then we launched a shop, a physical store as well. Yeah, wow.

John Hawker: 27:08

Yeah, where was?

Edd Hyde: 27:09

that, ed, that was. We started actually with a little. Our little hub, funnily enough, was at home to start with, at my house. We nicely asked my dad if we can use his garage to store it. So we kitted out the garage and that's where I worked from and things were looking good to begin with and we kind of outgrew that and then we went uh, you know the skin yard? Yes, yeah, I took the place above there because they, the boys, moved downstairs. I knew them well. Yeah, so I took upstairs and that would become our first like mini dip into the store, the skin.

Edd Hyde: 27:41

I have to mention this, the skin yard for anyone that has no idea what we're talking about now. And it might apply to the sun rooms as well, but we'll move in on that.

Edd Hyde: 27:48

But the skin yard is a tattoo shop that's still going strong today it's actually where I had my first tattoo done, so I know that upstairs space incredibly well yeah, so, like you said, I'm sorry listeners, it's like an old coach house house yes, yeah, really cool space super cool space, like you know, sort of almost dropped in the middle of south end interesting surroundings interesting surroundings but the space itself but I thought it really suited what we our aesthetic yeah so, yeah, we started there.

Edd Hyde: 28:16

It was great. Unfortunately, um, people got wind of what we were doing, burgled us just before christmas. We had all of our stock literally most of it, and because, in the industry, when you're buying for new season, john, you've already put your order in. So therefore, when the order came in for the drop of, I guess, spring summer, we had no money because we had all of our.

Edd Hyde: 28:37

You just can't sell anything that you bought on the last one we got insurance for cost of goods stolen, which is uh, which is a cost, not rrp, and obviously your profit buys your new stock really otherwise you're just spinning wheels, yeah so we were like it was almost dead in the water, to be fair, and we tried to reinvent ourselves by moving into lee. So we actually took on a shop two doors down from uh.

Edd Hyde: 29:00

10 green bottles, yeah okay, yeah, I had a shot there, yeah um, things started to pick up again.

Edd Hyde: 29:05

But then when I started looking at you know more behind the scenes about the money and the financials on paper, it just wasn't working. It wasn't working. I was stressed because, you know, I just wasn't earning. I was in, I was 30 now, so I was like, okay, things are starting to take a turn where it needs to be a little bit more serious.

Edd Hyde: 29:25

There is that point, isn't there, I think, societally. You turn 30 and you feel like, do I need to have my shit together now? And I think for most people there is that just an innate pressure. I think you look at what everyone else is doing around you. I'm not saying you're governed by that, but 30 seems to be the milestone where people go probably need to start taking life a bit more seriously now yeah and getting something behind me.

Edd Hyde: 29:44

I'm not saying it's right, but it happens to a lot of people and that's it, john.

Edd Hyde: 29:47

And it was like 30 years old and thinking I need to sort my shit out, yeah, yeah, but what? And then, funnily enough, as we do, moving around, I mean, so by that point, john, I was still locked into the fitness industry, but as a, you know, as a gym goer, let's say right, as an amateur athlete that enjoyed triathlons and you're a service user, not a service provider.

Edd Hyde: 30:08

So you're going to gyms, you're doing the event. Do my thing.

Edd Hyde: 30:11

Yeah, nothing else wasn't giving advice, didn't have the right to do that, yeah, and then I really really enjoy this. You know this, I fucking love this. Actually, like, hmm, maybe I should think about doing this. And then at that point I'm like coming in like you've done the fashion thing, you've done the the bar thing, like like what you're just trying to sort of, is it another get out clause? Are you just trying to buy more time? Yeah, so I said to myself I'm not going to spend any more money. And then, funnily enough, you know, as luck has it sometimes, uh, a scholarship came up for a learning provider that I was told was one of the best in the uk, right? So at that time they were called premier training international. Um, and they had a tell us why you should become the next pt. You know what? I've got nothing to lose here. Who gives a?

Edd Hyde: 30:56

I'd still love to read this.

John Hawker: 30:58

Uh, and I, and I and I applied for it, you know I didn't tell bex, my wife now not wife.

Edd Hyde: 31:03

at the time I didn't tell my dad, didn't tell anyone like no, my wife now not wife. At the time I didn't tell my dad, didn't tell anyone, like no one knew. And I thought I'd do it and I my angle, my pitch was let's sort of dive more into the sustainable lifestyle, the longevity. Let's look at fitness not just as six week abs nonsense. Let's look at it with like more, with more legs. Legs like provide you with information that's going to carry you through your life, not just like a six-week block kind of thing which would have stood out because most people getting in for exactly john.

Edd Hyde: 31:33

I didn't know anything.

Edd Hyde: 31:34

Results you know, obviously I was effectively just selling myself, you know, not really knowing, but that I knew that's where I wanted to be. I knew that was my identity perhaps. And also I mentioned my triathlon background and they were really eager with that because when I and I got it so which I was a bit taken aback by, and at that time, you know, 11 years ago, it wasn't like a one week course online. I had to study, I think it was for eight months and it was a four day a week for eight months right so I had to make a difficult decision, obviously to step away from the shop.

Edd Hyde: 32:05

Yeah, um, you know, which was a bit of a conflict between me and my business partner, but he already had a job so I was running it and he was kind of almost like a silent partner.

John Hawker: 32:13

Yeah, certainly active.

Edd Hyde: 32:15

Yeah, did a lot of the weekends, but I thought you know what. It's my turn, it's my time now. Yeah, like this is what I'm doing, and I was very selfish and looking at it now I don't think it was selfish. I've got the ability to walk away from something, john, that doesn't work. I walked away from something that didn't work. I lost a lot of friends over it. Same with the shop. I was like it doesn't work. I'm walking away from it. I've got the ability to cut ties and be really bloody minded and just move on and just move on. Yeah, and that's what I did with the as soon as I started doing the, the, the um, the pt course. Yeah, I was traveling to chelm uh, no, colchester four days a week, um, which was hard because I wasn't earning any money yeah and I wasn't.

Edd Hyde: 32:55

I wasn't in a, I didn't want to ask anyone for any favors, so you know it was kind of just like trying to do what I could at weekends at the shop to get a bit pocket money. Yeah, bex and I were living together at that time, so you know there was an income in the household and she fully supported me and that's it.

Edd Hyde: 33:10

So I went from from that, literally overnight, into the education of trying to become a personal trainer yeah and then, yeah, it's so different and I think maybe the fact that you got into it a little bit later in life I say later in life, like it's 30s ancient, but I I mean it's it's very different to my experience working in the fitness industry, which was literally out of college, my stepdad saying to me you like going to the gym, why?

John Hawker: 33:33

don't you try to make some money out of that?

Edd Hyde: 33:34

yeah, going like 19 years old 18, 19 going up to top mccourt road for six months, a few days a week, yeah. Week on, week off, working in fitness first, doing some sort of apprenticeship thing, yeah, um, and kind of I aged out of it in terms of I realized this isn't what I wanted to do because at the time, say my mid-20s.

Edd Hyde: 33:53

By the time I really sort of fell out of love with it. I was focusing all the quick wins. I didn't think about longevity, because I didn't think about it personally. I was invincible. All I wanted was um to be able to take my top off and look good. I wanted a six pack, which I never got, like all these things. They're just very quick, superficial wins. It's as you get older you start to realise longevity, sustainability. How do I work to protect this amazing body that you've got For the future?

John Hawker: 34:21

Yeah.

Edd Hyde: 34:22

But at 20,.

Edd Hyde: 34:23

I wasn't thinking that, no, and I wouldn't have done, john, and if I, you know, I think I wouldn't be talking to you right now if I had done it out of school because I wouldn't have stayed the course. Yeah, because I would have got. My head would have been turned left, right and centre, yeah, okay.

Edd Hyde: 34:37

So we won't go through your career of working in gyms? No, because in gyms. No, because you've worked in. How many gyms did you work in once you qualified?

Edd Hyde: 34:45

mate, I mean my, I mean I've been, I've been qualified for 11 years.

Edd Hyde: 34:48

Yeah, two gyms, two gyms that's it, so it was evolution, evolution okay which was kind of like a mainstay on london road for a long time. I mean, you know the listeners.

Edd Hyde: 34:58

It's uh, it was an institution yes, it was the best and biggest gym in the southeast, bar none you. It was over three floors. It was 12,500 square foot spread out over to three floors, so massive yeah wow, huge, yeah. And the guy that owned it was a ex-Mr Universe like second runner-up. Wow, yeah, I think I might be wrong, but very, very, very highly regarded in the bodybuilding industry.

Edd Hyde: 35:23

Yeah, which I didn't really know a lot about yeah, as in as a, you know, like a, what I would say like a stage kind of yeah, presence, as it were.

Edd Hyde: 35:35

Um, and yeah, I worked there, man, and that was it really until I've got what I've got now yeah yeah, that's pretty incredible actually for someone in the fitness industry, definitely working in gyms. I I probably I haven't, I didn't work in it anywhere near the amount that you did and I worked in maybe four gyms before I decided oh screw this, I don't like having a boss.

Edd Hyde: 35:49

I'm gonna go and set up my own little pt business maybe that's what it was yeah because, as in screw this, I don't want a boss, because brendan was very aloof, right, we we were. We were very close, like we, you know, we respected and liked each other a lot. And I came with him at a different approach then, john, I said to him at that time he said I want X amount of money per month, rental. I said give me an opportunity, give me six months. If I can get this many clients on paper which I kind of almost made it up in my head if I can convert them into membership, that's going to get you about £1,200 to £1,500 a month. Yep, I'll happily give you £500. Yeah, or whatever it was. Yeah, but would you rather £1,500 as memberships? Yeah, yeah, he's like I'd rather that. Okay, there you go, just give me six months.

Edd Hyde: 36:39

And that's how I didn't pay him a pound worth of rent in 10 years. That's amazing. Yeah, because I was determined to get the membership in the gym because it wasn't coming out of my bottom line.

John Hawker: 36:50

Yeah.

Edd Hyde: 36:51

And then, at that point, I was very focused on creating a living which I never had done I was always trying to create a living. Now I was in it and I knew I wanted to stay in it. Now it was right, buckle up. I'm going to fucking do this.

Edd Hyde: 37:07

Yeah, it's a great approach to take, actually, without boring people about the standard model that PTs have to pay, but you do pay rent for the space usually and then even a percentage of fees from each session that you do to work in a gym, I think like most self-employed John hairdressers, tattooists you know that there's always going to be someone paying the rent yeah you know, and you know, and I have to do it at rom because of the way the environment is.

Edd Hyde: 37:28

Um, you know, you know we we come to an arrangement with, with our pts, whatever that might be classes or something. But you kind of need a little bit of um give and take just to help.

Edd Hyde: 37:40

Yeah, man, a desk for an hour, or you know what I mean like, and it makes people a bit more invested in the gym rather than just seeing a bricks and mortar space for them to bring their clients. They've got investment in that community that you're building too. Yeah yeah we'll talk about the community side of things at rom, yeah, in a bit, because I think that's one of the biggest draws of of of the space that you've created. I think the community aspect of it, which is amazing um.

Edd Hyde: 38:04

So you've worked in the industry for 11 years.

Edd Hyde: 38:06

Yeah, so I'm 41. I think I qualified, god, just sort of approaching 30 11 years.

Edd Hyde: 38:13

So what? What is the evolution you've seen during that time?

Edd Hyde: 38:17

when I qualified I didn't touch a client for about a year. I did more education, I looked into. I didn't feel ready to go to Joe Bloggs or whoever. This is what you need to do. I was at that point again the key word here becoming obsessed with bettering myself. Yeah, as a coach. So I did loads of little courses. You know, spending money on all different kind of see what they CPD or whatever they were called at the time. So I was doing that up until I felt confident I could kind of give my clients the knowledge that I was, you know, buying into myself as well.

Edd Hyde: 38:53

Yeah. So, going back to your question, have I seen the evolution, change or evolve? Social media, I guess, was one of the biggest catalysts, for I wouldn't even say progression guess was one of the biggest catalysts, for I wouldn't even say progression. I don't see the fitness industry as something that's hugely progressed in the time I've been there. Yeah, I feel like a lot of information's regurgitated but, like most industries, obviously there's been an evolution in science, which is amazing. You know, I kind of I was more interested in that side of things, not being a science nerd myself, but enjoying looking at numbers and the whole strength conditioning side of things, which was, again, a different conversation. But that's why I started studying to become a strength conditioning coach, because I was enjoying the science-y bits a little bit more than the general kind of stuff.

Edd Hyde: 39:39

So, anyway, you know, so social media has given people the opportunity to spread a lot of good information, a lot of, obviously, misinformation. You know, whether they want to do it or not, you know, it's just, it's the world we live in, um, and I kind of knew that I wanted to carve my niche in the industry with, like like we talked about, john, the kind of holistic approach to looking at fitness as physical and mental, yeah, so looking at as something that's gonna not not add to the stress of life, you know, because life's so stressful anyway. You know, I think that how it's really difficult for me to explain, john, if you came to me and I knew you're what you do because I train you, but if I I would, I think you and I developed a relationship where I understand what makes you tick, okay, and I and I know if I gave you something, a program, that was going to add more stress to you, then why on earth would I possibly do that?

John Hawker: 40:33

Yeah.

Edd Hyde: 40:33

And this is what I think I've. I've set my my kind of um, my roots in industry. It was never about me, it's not about my ego, and that's my problem with industry. A lot of coaches, it's about them. You do what I say, therefore, you get those results. No, it's complete bollocks. It's all about you. You are the brief. You're my client. What can you do, ed? I can only do two days a week. Well, I've written you a four day program. Well, I can't do that. Well, don't be lazy, buckle up, it's bullshit. You know what I mean. That's. You know.

Edd Hyde: 41:03

That kind of side of things I hate. Yep, you know it's. It has to be flexible and it has to work for the person that's standing in front of me. And if I and again, you know I'm kind of dipping in and out of different conversations here, but you know, going into nutrition side of things, I I always said from day one I'm not a nutritionist. Because what pissed me off in industry is charlatan pt saying that they can write you nutrition plans, things like that. Well, of course I know how to construct a meal, like most people do. I don't have the right to tell you how to eat because that's not my skill set. Yeah, you know, it's like a banker doing someone insurance, so it's completely different.

Edd Hyde: 41:38

Yeah, yeah you know, it's a five-year very, very intense course really to become a, a very it disrespects that as a specialism in itself if you start chucking that in as an added service.

Edd Hyde: 41:50

So what I would?

Edd Hyde: 41:50

do is, then my, my philosophy would be create an ecosystem about around me as a, as a coach, with other like-minded coaches. So, pulling the best nutritionist I could find, pulling the best physiotherapist I could find, pulling the best physiologist I could find, pulling the best cycling coach I could find, all of a sudden, my little ecosystem isn't just about me. It's about offering the best service to my client, but also which I think, which makes the world go round helping other small businesses.

John Hawker: 42:22

Yeah.

Edd Hyde: 42:23

Right. So it is pushing and it wasn't me just trying to. I would only take on um other coaches into my kind of little system that I believed in and I saw what they, what they could offer, um. So anyway, that became my evolution and as as a personal evolution, as a coach, trying not to do do everything, to be everything, specializing one thing really, um, and then offer services externally and just I didn't you know it wasn't almost.

Edd Hyde: 42:53

It was silly really because it wasn't part of my um plan that I would skim off the top from the other. It would just be like go and see that guy. If you've got an issue, he's the best of what he does. You know that was no business relationship, it's just because I've had experience with them and I think that they could help the person they did help in as you say, it's a client first mindset as opposed to I need to feed my ego.

Edd Hyde: 43:16

I've shot myself in the foot by doing it. Really yeah, because you know I've probably lost out out on some income.

Edd Hyde: 43:22

It's easy to bring it under the um the rom umbrella or the, the ed hyde umbrella, and then start making a bit of, as you say, cream and something on top, make a bit of a profit. But again, it's thinking beyond that to. Maybe that's something that happens in the future to bring in a holistic service, who knows? But it just shows that you've got that client, that approach, yeah, I think the evolution I've seen yeah, in fitness I'll go back to the point you made on social media is that there's now so many like fit fitness influencers that are out there, um, giving very prescribed as you mentioned, very prescribed sets of workouts, sets of training, preaching a lot about the way that people should be living too.

Edd Hyde: 44:02

There's no one size fits all, john exactly, and you know that you're someone that's got historic injuries. Yeah, so you know again, let's go jump ahead or dial back. What do I think of the online coaching, um sort of domain.

Edd Hyde: 44:15

I think it's obviously brilliant because it brings a huge amount of uh um benefits to people that might not have access to local good coaches. Yes, yeah, but I also think it smells like shit as well, because you don't have the individual benefits to people that might not have access to local good coaches. Yes, yeah, but I also think it smells like shit as well, because you don't have the individual, the individual approach. It's all cookie cutter. Yeah, you know, if you, I would never, ever, give you the same program as another client because because of your knees, yeah, or your lower back, don't call it that that's our shit, but you know what I mean and that's what pisses me?

Edd Hyde: 44:47

off, I think beyond the you've labelled two of my injuries there. I think, the other thing that I enjoyed that wasn't prevalent when I was a PT as well. The other thing that I enjoy about training with you and this isn't just to sell you as a PT, but it's mentally, I think, the mental side of training.

Edd Hyde: 45:04

You have to be mentally engaged to come into a gym and do something and I think that aspect of it knowing that if I come in and you look at me and have an honest conversation and you know mentally I'm not where I need to be you try and affect that I think that's part of the job of a good personal trainer. You can try and draw someone through. The worst thing you do is just let someone sit in a corner, go. You don't fancy doing press-ups today. Well, that's okay. You sit there, you're fine, but it's.

Edd Hyde: 45:29

It's not all the physical stuff, sometimes it's the mindset approach and that's what you've been. That's that's been a game changer for me. Yeah, having someone that feels that makes me feel heard when I'm saying I've had a like real shit week. For sure you kid. Yeah. But also someone that can say all right, okay, we'll take that into account, but let's get you through this.

Edd Hyde: 45:48

Yeah, and there's never been a workout where I feel worse for having my knees might feel worse, but my mindset hasn't been altered in the best possible way if I'm doing 60 minutes of hard graft.

John Hawker: 45:58

Yeah.

Edd Hyde: 45:59

And that I don't think you'd have that with most of the PTs out there.

Edd Hyde: 46:04

Yeah, I think they'd be very linear. I think again, it comes down to ego, John. Yeah, it comes down to what they want out of the session, yeah, and not what you really try. Because I mean again, mate, I think my approach has definitely it's been malleable over the years and it's certainly been more malleable as of late, yeah, more malleable as of late, yeah, because the more I do, the more work I do on myself, it spills out into my again, I guess my philosophy yeah, so I, you know, and again, someone like you you know, is completely different to someone else I might see who is still a in their early 20s or mid-20s or early 30s job in a city.

Edd Hyde: 46:42

Single guy wants to look ripped on the beach. Yeah, different, brief, happy with that, can't wait to do that, let's, let's do it together. Um, so there is definitely the look. I've got the polarizing clients, you know. I've got the 65 year old guy. That that's not what he's interested in. He wants to be able to bend down and put his socks on without hurt you know, sounds like me, ed, but same as me though, john but it's true, we joke about this a lot.

Edd Hyde: 47:05

You know, it takes like five minutes to prepare yourself to walk down the stairs in the morning right so that's real life.

Edd Hyde: 47:11

Yes, that's real life you you've. You're very clearly passionate about what it is you do yeah and and that methodology, that philosophy behind what it is you do yeah what makes you at the the tail end of your time with Evolution. Then decide Because working in the fitness industry and not owning or not running someone, that's bricks and mortar is very different from then going to being a gym owner.

Edd Hyde: 47:34

So what inspired you to be a gym owner? Because they're slightly different labels. You can work in a fitness industry and never own your own bricks and mortar place. So what was the?

Edd Hyde: 47:45

move from there. My hand was forced a little bit. Evolution with Jim was closing down. Okay, no one wanted it to including me.

Edd Hyde: 47:52

Yep, I remember at the time there was a big movement.

Edd Hyde: 47:54

Yeah, because Brendan never owned it. Unfortunately, he leased it right and the guy had got planning for flats. He'd been applying for planning for six years, right?

Edd Hyde: 48:02

so you kind of knew the end was we did to a degree we were all kind of ignoring the fact it was ever going to happen. And brendan finally said ed, it's happening. Then he said, and I said right, let's you and I, let's go out for some food, and why don't we do something together? He's like 100, you know, I would love to do that with you. Unfortunately and this is not me, you know, speaking out of school here Brendan had a bit of a problem with alcohol and drugs, right, and was very elusive, couldn't, wouldn't see him from one month to the next, right, and it got to a point where I know that he just wasn't in it anymore, right, and it was really hard for me because it's it's what I wanted to do. I wanted to do it with him because we had we both brought two different demographics. Really, I brought my kind of guys in, he brought his bodybuilders in.

Edd Hyde: 48:48

It's great, because that's what it should be right a mix of everyone anyway, long story short, we couldn't do that together for those kind of reasons and I was. I just thought to myself I'll just go to another gym.

Edd Hyde: 49:00

So I went to to one of the local gyms and they offered me a position there and I was like, oh, I don't really want to do this, really, I want to carry on what I'm doing, but I don't want to be here and I thought to myself I wonder if what it would be like take my own space on. And, funnily enough, like I'd almost given up on the idea and, as we do, just rattling through, right move, thinking what's available that's down the road from evolution gym, that's in leon c. We don't have many gyms in leon c, this could be an opportunity found the hq where we are now and it was just an empty. It was a basically john, like a ground floor um unit, double unit that was built, I think, about 11 years ago but has never been occupied, right? Uh, so we took on.

Edd Hyde: 49:43

Once the offer got accepted, we took on the space and, you know, I just thought to myself I've got enough clients really to almost, if it doesn't work as a gym, take it into as a studio format, right? Um, and I thought, looking at the ground space, there's enough ground space for it to become a gym. And that was it really. We, again, we got some financial backing and, you know, within sort of looking at the space and putting an offering was a matter of weeks, wow, yeah, and then we're where we are now so when you say we, is that you and your brother.

Edd Hyde: 50:19

Yeah, yes, yeah okay, it's fair to say that alex probably was a big influence on my interest in the industry from a different perspective, because he you know him, he's a big guy. You know we're chalk and cheese, it's hard to believe your brothers if I'm honest to look at you, Very different body types.

Edd Hyde: 50:36

I would say I'm the lean, tall guy athletic he's very, very broad, like naturally broad. You know, not not on steroids, anything like that, he's just a big unit. Even when we were kids it was like jesus christ, like he's a chunk. You know what I mean, and he's always been a chunk and but now his arms are bigger than my legs but he's just got that ability to just pack muscle on. Yes, so anyway he was. He was a big influence of me because he took me to my first gym when.

Edd Hyde: 51:04

I was a nipper Old Linda's Farm, which is long gone, but it was great. It's an old health club in.

John Hawker: 51:10

Westcliff. It was amazing.

Edd Hyde: 51:12

And you know, alex then introduced me to Brendan at Evo and said my brother's a PT. He was very supportive, kind of hooked me up almost pretty much, got me the job at Evo really. And yeah, we kind of decided to do it together, even though alex isn't a pt he's got no interest in doing that either. Um, thought he wanted to be it for a while but just yeah, not really something that I think he's always want to pursue. And you know, we just sort of thought let's do it together as a brother project and see what happens so what's that like?

Edd Hyde: 51:41

what's it been like managing it with alex?

Edd Hyde: 51:43

it's hard because I think it's the same as doing anything with friends. John, like you're, there's kind of things you kind of don't want to say. If someone upsets you, you kind of bite your tongue, um, and we are. We have a different approach to how we treat people and I don't mean that in a way where, you know, being aggressive or anything like that, but I'm a little bit more relaxed and alex is a little bit more um, eager to pounce kind of thing. You know what I mean? He was, I'm, he was I'm a bit of a puppy dog. He's a bit of a like that sort of scary kind of monster looking guy. So it was, like you know, we had to kind of be in alignment with how we dealt with the public. But I was used to that with the bar, yeah, you know and those sort of people front of house kind of you have to be right.

Edd Hyde: 52:26

The customer is always right, whether you like it or not I think, from what I see of you and alex and I think it's fair to say that alex has got another yeah, he's always been in construction it does construction as well. So, yeah, I think you complement each other really well and it's a really. And, as I said, I think what you've built with ROM is a really lovely community, and I'm starting to realise now that a lot of that is probably inherited from your time at Evolution. I think so a fair few of your client base came from Evo some and I think that kind of DNA that you've got.

Edd Hyde: 52:57

As you know, it's one of the most kind of welcoming gyms and I've been in a lot of gyms over however many years. I've trained One of the most welcoming inclusive spaces that I've been in. That's what we wanted John.

Edd Hyde: 53:07

Yeah, Honestly, no bullshit. That's exactly what we. We both wanted it as well. Yeah, Even though we both had different takes on what training looks like.

Edd Hyde: 53:15

You can't have the. You're not.

Edd Hyde: 53:18

I was about to say you're not twins, You're, I'd rather have the bigger guy in there, yeah, and I'd rather have the athlete in there, yeah, you know.

Edd Hyde: 53:25

I would rather have and there's a good mix. I'd say there's a good mix. There's a good demographic in there.

Edd Hyde: 53:29

There's a bit of both, where you can learn from everyone. Yes, so it's a good space and you know, what we try and advocate massively at the gym is start, you know, early and hopefully educating them. I mean, let's be honest.

Edd Hyde: 53:40

John most of them are quite educated anyway because of TikTok and things like that. Yeah, not saying that they can program for themselves, which is not rocket science, but you know, they can at least look at form of exercise. Yep, and it's lucky because it's not the biggest gym, so I'm always in there like a hawk and if someone's doing something silly it's a. You know guys, what are you doing? Come on, blah, blah. So, point being about being inclusive, we do want to make everyone in there feel comfortable, special and, like you said, welcome, and I think, because it's a community style kind of project that we try to do, most people do know each other. Do you know what I mean? Like you know, we don't have a huge membership number, but when you're in there, john John, you probably know 90% of people, right?

Edd Hyde: 54:27

Yeah, I've never been in a gym where you can walk through and, whether you're in the mood to say hello to people or not, you've got people coming up to you saying hello. They're not dragging you to the side for five, 10 minutes for a chat, which is the most annoying thing in the world. But, it's just something really welcoming, inclusive. Everyone's happy enough to share their knowledge, their experience, whatever it is, I'd say most gyms are just not like that.

Edd Hyde: 54:52

In my experience yeah, and that's probably coming from my experience as well of gyms and especially dialing it back to when I first went to a gym the tall, skinny guy You're like oh, I don't belong in here at all. You know what I mean. These guys are massive, I'm this streak of piss.

Edd Hyde: 55:06

Yeah, I remember that was very similar to my first experience at 16, like 6'4, walking in, didn't have any muscle, and like standing next to my stepdad, who was like big and very, very strong and I was going.

Edd Hyde: 55:17

This is an alien environment for me and yeah, really terrifying and a lot of my philosophy definitely trickles down from my relationship with my wife, you know, and how sort of we are, how close we are as a couple. Yeah, because she was. She gives me the kind of A, she gives me reality check often, but B helps me look into making it a comfortable space for females.

John Hawker: 55:41

Yeah.

Edd Hyde: 55:42

You know which I'm a big advocate for, and Bex is definitely a feminist, you know, and I support that a lot. And you know, again, before I met bex, probably not, I probably didn't have that kind of like mindset at all, but you know, the way that we've developed as a couple gives me, you know, the confidence that I know that her opinion on that side of thing is is really important and it's important for both of us because really it's our business together. You know we're married, so you know, so she has a lot of input on that side of thing is really important and it's important for both of us because really it's our business together.

Edd Hyde: 56:05

You know we're married, so she has a lot of input on that as well, making it that community vibe yeah, and if you think again because my partner, sophie, trains with you guys too and her approach, I think the stigma, the stereotype, is that that kind of gym you'd walk in so you've got your big gym chains most independence would be associated with predominantly men, meatheads going in yeah, low testosterone, not the most string, vest nipples hanging out.

Edd Hyde: 56:32

Yeah, but, but again, that mix of and this isn't, this isn't the whole, the whole podcast is not to sell no, not at all.

John Hawker: 56:39

No, no, no, this is not for everyone really well, no, it won't be because you're gonna.

Edd Hyde: 56:42

You need to filter people that will work for and others that won't. But when we're talking about that split of men to women, it's even I think so, but it's again still welcoming and you've got so many men training with women. These are people that have met over the years of training at the gym and then they just pick up skills experience from each other.

Edd Hyde: 57:00

You know what, john, I don't care about the success of what I've built on a kind of financial aspect, because it's the there's no such thing in the minute because of how hard the economy is. But the beauty and the joy for us, as as ROM, is the things like looking on social media and seeing 15 members who they never known each other before ROM and they're going out on a night out together. Yeah, like as women. Yeah, they're going to go and sit in Ugo's or something. Have a pizza yeah and that's amazing.

Edd Hyde: 57:28

You know it happened at christmas. We went out for our staff do and we welcomed all the members or whoever wanted to come and seeing everyone together and seeing all these friendships develop, yeah, that's amazing.

Edd Hyde: 57:38

Yeah, you don't get that in in other gyms I've never seen it beyond beyond revenue, beyond the money making aspect of it.

Edd Hyde: 57:45

That must be a really lovely thing when you're kind of like thinking man, times are fucking hard, yeah, but you see snippets of that. You're like, okay, now I know why I do it you know, like I do it because I need to pay the bills, but I also do it because you know to see things like that yeah and that's, and that's really that's cool because that the confidence of some of the people that have been in a gym who are really introverted and they've come out themselves like so much.

Edd Hyde: 58:09

Yeah, and I've seen those transformations I put that down to everyone, just you know.

Edd Hyde: 58:14

And just having a nice customer base, yeah, that's lovely.

Edd Hyde: 58:18

Yeah 2019. Then you take the gym on yeah 2020, the pandemic happened, yeah. You take the gym on yeah 2020. The pandemic happened, yeah, and it's safe to say that the fitness industry yeah was literally one of the hardest hit yeah around.

Edd Hyde: 58:30

That was a tough pill to swallow yeah, yeah, that fucked my head up, like it did most people's head. Yeah, yeah, it was in. It's a very interesting time of my life. Yeah, it was the worst time of my life, but also potentially the best. Okay, it gave me an opportunity to actually sit back and look at what I was doing as a, as a husband, as a, as a just as a human really, and I knew that I was working too much, definitely too much. I was permanently in a state of fatigue and stress and probably wasn't communicating as like I should have done my with my wife at the time, and who still is now, but at that time, you know. So it gave me a lot of things to reflect on. And the best thing about it, john because I don't like being bored is I must have done four or five courses over the pandemic.

John Hawker: 59:14

You know what I?

Edd Hyde: 59:14

mean, and that was great for me because it really helped me get through it. I approached a lot of these international mentors that probably would never have done before because they would have been too busy because, their gyms were shut as well, and these are like big S&C coaches in America.

Edd Hyde: 59:29

I was like what have I got to lose? Approached a guy I wanted to work with, I said this is what I want to do. He's like oh, I never thought of doing this before let's go. And that opened the doors for me on not being a as a mentee, not a mentor, um, and which was great for my career and the way that I wanted to slowly start taking it. I could almost, um, what do you call it? Uh, reinvent myself a little bit during that space. Yep, but, yeah, difficult time, man.

Edd Hyde: 59:56

The gym was shut, um, should the gym have been shut? In my opinion, absolutely not. Like no way, I mean, should a country be in shock? No, of course not. But you know, because otherwise we wouldn't be in the position we're in now. So it was. I had a huge, huge amount of anger and I had a huge amount of gratitude as well for being able to reflect on what I was potentially becoming and just being able to do a little bit more, you know, on my on myself, on my own journey and my education, with work as well, was there a point where you thought shit, this is it, this is the end of it, and we've only really just got started.

Edd Hyde: 1:00:35

When we first got locked down, I broke down, Like literally probably a lot of people did. I was in fits of hysterics. You know what I mean. I was really bad because I just couldn't quite understand it and that might be coming because of, like we talked about earlier, the whole control thing, about being obsessive, Maybe. Yeah, I had no control and I was like shit, what am I going to do? But it's funny because the first thing I thought of you know it flips a switch in my head, Like it only took a day to realise that.

Edd Hyde: 1:01:02

Which you've done a few times. I think there's a few examples during your previous work experience where you've done that.

Edd Hyde: 1:01:07

I almost thrive on it, man. You know I almost thrive on it. If anyone asked me. I'd say I loathe it, but I think I love it. I love the hunger of trying to prove something wrong.

John Hawker: 1:01:17

Yeah.

Edd Hyde: 1:01:19

And reinventing myself, like that's always been. It's always been a can-do attitude. But it's been a can-do attitude externally, but internally it's been like massive imposter syndrome, right, massive negative self-speak, always putting myself down internally. Um, so the covid era, let's call it, enabled me to do this work on myself that has been needed to be done since I was a fucking child. Yeah, that I had never done and I would now say that's the biggest part of my life, as in what I do on a daily basis for me. Yeah, um, you know just how I even start my day.

Edd Hyde: 1:01:58

You know, meditation is what I cannot go a day without it. Like it centers me, it makes me grateful, it without with all the people really listen to this, potentially going it's all hoodoo, voodoo. Well, it's not, you know, because it's having that ability to take time with myself and just be. You know what I mean. Like moment by moment, and just be like, not thinking about the past, not thinking about the future, just being in that moment. And I never, ever, john, had that ever all right presence for me. If you said to me what does it mean to be present, ed, two years ago, I don't fuck you talking about john. Well, I'm here now talking to you, aren't I like that I'm present? Yeah, but you know I I probably wasn't, because I was probably thinking about 7 000 different things.

Edd Hyde: 1:02:41

That was going on your mind's being drawn, pulled in a million different directions and you know the mind does need to be trained, you know it has to be trained, obviously not from an educational standpoint, you know, but for just training ourselves, you know, really just to be like let's keep going on about being kind to yourself and like being nicer to yourself and stop bringing yourself down all the time and being able to actually sit with sadness, happiness, laughter, whatever it might be, because that's just another moment right.

John Hawker: 1:03:11

That's going to pass yeah.

Edd Hyde: 1:03:13

And that is for me the biggest takeaway of the journey that I've been on, on, a spiritual journey which has changed my life.

Edd Hyde: 1:03:19

And it's such an eye-opening conversation to have with so many people that went through a similar kind of story during the pandemic. Not everyone worked for the fitness industry and I spoke to Chuck Cordean, who owns Mango the barbers in Leigh and they were particularly hard hit during the pandemic too, but it was that period enforced for reflection and whether you used it for that or not, it sounds like you did a lot of development during that period.

Edd Hyde: 1:03:44

Yeah, I think it was fairly organic. Yeah, okay, it was fairly organic Because it needed to happen.

Edd Hyde: 1:03:50

from the sound of it, it did need to happen.

Edd Hyde: 1:03:52

But it's funny, john, because always a bit of a sceptic. You know what I mean. Like and like I said, the whole Mexico trip without being like, oh, I went away and found myself man there for two weeks on holiday.

John Hawker: 1:04:01

I'm not bullshitting anyone.

Edd Hyde: 1:04:02

But what the why? By saying to to bex on that plane. I made that decision in my head at that point to open myself up. And I'm not an open person because I said I'm very introverted in an extrovert environment. Yeah, um, and I just connected with these people. I'd never met random strangers and you know, talking about certain things. I was like, what's this person talking about? But i'm'm going to give it a go. Yeah, and God, I'm so glad I did.

John Hawker: 1:04:27

Yeah.

Edd Hyde: 1:04:27

Because it's just been an absolute life changer for me.

John Hawker: 1:04:30

Yeah.

Edd Hyde: 1:04:31

That's really great to hear. I like the. Have you seen the film yes man, yeah With?

John Hawker: 1:04:34

Jim Carrey.

Edd Hyde: 1:04:44

Yeah, yeah, go. What's this about? Like cause we were in like some sort of like. It wasn't even I wouldn't even call it like a yoga camp, because we didn't, we'd stay in the hotel, but we went to this nice place every day, yeah, and they had a big stage and everyone was doing yoga on the stage and doing all that kind of vibe and it was little bit and and enjoy it yeah and all these people just start coming up to us and like, hey, what's your name?

Edd Hyde: 1:05:08

you've got some real, got some serious energy around you. I'm like what's the fucking person talking about? But do you know what I mean? And then developing like okay. Then, um, then asking what, what do you mean?

Edd Hyde: 1:05:18

yeah, I don't understand what you're talking about being closed off. You're like all right, yeah.

Edd Hyde: 1:05:21

Whatever man like fuck off, yeah it was like, oh, actually, like, can we have a chat, which I would never have done? Yeah, and I like conversation, but when I'm a holiday, it's my holiday and with my wife, leave me alone yeah my time, but I wanted, I was almost seeking it and I went into like a.

Edd Hyde: 1:05:37

The thing that flipped on his head, john, was a. I had a shaman. Right, I was at the hotel, they, they, they arranged something for us and, long story short, again going against, pushing against this massively, because it was an underground sauna and I'm massively claustrophobic, right, and there was a shaman there, uh, and there was five of us, all strangers, and they were like so it's a ceremony, basically, and it's about two hours in a sauna, underground, pitch black, with a guy and a drum, basically taking you back to your mother's womb, right, wow.

John Hawker: 1:06:08

Heavy shit, he said to me.

Edd Hyde: 1:06:10

I'm not going to go into it too deeply, but he actually came around and stood next to me and pointed at me in front of me and went you need this the most. And I went, right, okay, let's go. Yeah, man, and it was the most harrowing two hours of my life. Yeah, man, and it was. It was the most harrowing two hours of my life. I was from even been in there from, I think. After about two minutes I was just crying uncontrollably for about two hours straight, until the point I said I've got to go. He went no, you can't go, you need to stay here and finish it. So I stayed a bit longer and I said his name was edward. I said edward, enough's, enough. Like this is really like, this is messing me up a little bit.

Edd Hyde: 1:06:42

Now, anyway, I came out, I settled myself a little bit, but the whole night I was literally eyes open, staring at the ceiling, like, and it was like all these memories and all these kind of things were just like freight trains hitting me and and that gave me an opportunity to reflect on certain things and almost not compartmentalize it at all, but knowing what I wanted to work on, yeah, and then the next day I text my friend who's a yoga teacher in south end. I said, josh, I need your help, what do you mean? And I was like. And I just said he was like cool, come and see me when you get back. And that was it. Rest is history. So yeah, not saying I'm like a big yogi, because I'm. I do yoga from a mobility sort of thing to help me in the gym, but it's more of the let's call it like the spiritual mindfulness side of things that I really want to explore more than anything yeah, more than anything, that sounds mad.

Edd Hyde: 1:07:31

It was fucking mad. So before that trip, though, your view, if you were sat in my position and and were being told about this story of going underground for two hours in a cave. I would say you john, so what an amazing thing to have happened. That has now kind of just shifted your perspective.

Edd Hyde: 1:07:50

It is crazy, right, and it is a shift a huge shift.

Edd Hyde: 1:07:53

It's some way to go, isn't it, Dude?

Edd Hyde: 1:07:55

it's still a work in progress and I have to work on myself every day like everyone should Like everyone should.

Edd Hyde: 1:08:01

There's not one day where I don't catch my and I one should. There's not one day where I don't catch my, and I think the whole point is now I catch myself doing it. Yeah, I catch the negativity, I catch the naysaying, I catch the imposter in me and I just give it space and I let it do its thing and then I move on to the next moment. Yeah, and that for me, has been the most powerful tool to come out of probably the last. Well, hang on a sec. My whole life my whole life.

Edd Hyde: 1:08:27

Yeah, yeah, that's a big statement, I think, and being so driven by ocd even when I was in mexico, like still had my, my rituals, just managed to kind of pull it back a little bit, didn't change it, never kind of got away from it until recently, where I can safely say that I'm pretty much living a normal life now without it controlling me and that's only up until about six months ago but again, it's all a process, right, and I think the same.

Edd Hyde: 1:08:57

This goes back to training. It's stacking, it's building a pyramid. It's like saying to people that does not say you cannot go to gym, it does not mean that you don't have the right to be in there. You know, build the pyramid, start small and stack. You know, don't go, I'm going to be in calorie deficit. I'm going to do 5,000 kilometers a day on the bike.

Edd Hyde: 1:09:18

Fast for 17 hours a day. Yeah, exactly.

Edd Hyde: 1:09:21

You know, it's all about just building these little blocks and then create that pyramid. Create your own pyramid. Fuck what little blocks, yeah, and create that pyramid.

Edd Hyde: 1:09:34

Create your own pyramid. Fuck what I think and what you think. Just do your own one and you know and I think that's what life is. It's just like it's building blocks. Yeah, it's, it's really. It's really interesting. So much of what you say there about identifying those thoughts and feelings, accepting them and letting them pass. They're, they're tools that I feel like I've learned through therapy over the last four or five years too. And, um, you definitely pick up things along the way if you're open to it, but you've got to be open to it, dude. You have man, that's such a point, perfect example.

Edd Hyde: 1:09:55

You've got to be open to it, yeah, and if you push against it, you're not ready to do the work. Yeah, you, I think everyone knows when they're ready. There has to be a penny drop moment. I don't know what that looks like. Was mine the sauna, or whatever it was? I don't think it was, it was just the. You know. Yeah, I was just a bit fed up with being me, I think. Yeah, or maybe not being me, not being my authentic self yeah, you know, good point in the mask on, you know and this is me stripped bare like and that was it.

Edd Hyde: 1:10:21

It was like enough's, enough. I need to be more vulnerable and be kinder, and I get that impression.

Edd Hyde: 1:10:25

Having met you post, I know I might met you before you went to the sauna no, no, not before the pandemic so I get it. I get the impression that you are kind of unapologetically, you yeah, and I don't mean that in a negative way in a really positive way, yeah, so yeah, not like very stripped back, very raw, not going to be putting a front on to I don't know I think I was always a people pleaser.

Edd Hyde: 1:10:50

Yes, and I still am right.

Edd Hyde: 1:10:51

Yeah but you've got. I think there's an element you have to be in the industry you operate in yeah, but I definitely have learned to say no.

Edd Hyde: 1:10:58

That's been a really powerful tool, not just to clients, obviously. No, I'm not doing 6 am anymore which is, I've lost out on a lot of revenue I can, imagine.

Edd Hyde: 1:11:06

Yeah, so but you know I needed to do it. For me, um, it's the ability to say no to just things that don't align with you anymore, john. I mean, I my I've got a very small friendship circle, yeah, and it looks completely different, sort of post covid to pre-covid, because if things don't align with me I cut people out, yeah, and I think that's a really it's a hard thing to do, but I think all of us need to do it. But. But how we do it is up to the individual right.

Edd Hyde: 1:11:31

But, I just it was that environment was very toxic for me Again using that word, but it was and I knew that things had to change. And the way I am now, with way less, I would say, kind of close friends, I'm so much happier, so much happier.

Edd Hyde: 1:11:46

Yeah, just quickly, like COVID did a number for a lot of people in that way. I think it really sort of separated the wheat from the chaff for a lot of people. When you start to filter out people that were really there, yeah, so kind of similar thing. For me there was friends. I'd always had a big group of friends, but definitely the ones that really came through and stood out. I think you were left with that. They sieved through. It does a bit, isn't it?

Edd Hyde: 1:12:11

yeah, for sure. It's like mining gold in the water. You know, there's a couple of little nuggets at the end and that's all you need. That's all you need, dude but, I think, john it's a testament to my relationship with Bex right, you know us as a couple like we're best mates she you know, because we do everything together and that's what I enjoy, you know, and if you'd have asked me that 15 years ago as a serial head turn you know what I mean. Like did not have like I wasn't a one girl guy.

Edd Hyde: 1:12:39

Yeah, yeah, you know, monogamy was not at the forefront of your mind, was not at all, john.

Edd Hyde: 1:12:43

But now it's like I don't need anything else. Yeah, you know, and I think that's put again other things in perspective as well from a friendship standpoint, cool all right, a few more questions and then we're done.

Edd Hyde: 1:12:54

Yep, we we've got. There's one. I wanted to ask you that might be slightly deep to ask, please what is your definition of success? Good question bloody hell.

Edd Hyde: 1:13:04

Uh, what is my definition of success? Again, you'd have asked me this four years ago. It would have been a Rolex, a Ferrari, a five bedroom house, the material stuff. What is it now? It's the complete opposite of that. I mean, I'm in a process now of just trying to not that I've got that, john, but I'm in a process now of trying to declutter my life from. It means nothing to me. It actually makes me feel a little bit sick, to be honest.

Edd Hyde: 1:13:29

Um, and not knocking anyone that does that, because hats off, you know. I mean, if I was offered a fry, would I take it? Yeah, I probably would. You know. But that was my idea of success. Um, you know, having the kind of the materialistic things to show off. Yeah, now, success is, christ, being happy with myself. That's, for me, the sign of success. Like that I can. I know that I am authentic. Now, you know what I mean. I've kind of, of course, I'm successful, I think, in my business, um, but that doesn't define me at all, you know, because you know, obviously it's the biggest part of our life work. But do I want that to be my kind of? You know my, what people know me as or remember me as just like range of motion coach or whatever. It is no, not at all. Just. I think success is can mean a number of things to a number of people, but right now, sitting here in front of you today, at this moment, success is understanding myself more?

Edd Hyde: 1:14:20

yeah, do you feel like you're on the path towards it? Have you achieved?

Edd Hyde: 1:14:23

it. No, I never will, yeah at all. I don't think anyone ever will. But it's a, it's a. It's a work in progress every day, but that excites me.

John Hawker: 1:14:30

You know what?

Edd Hyde: 1:14:30

I mean it's going before coming here to walk my dog on the beach with a lovely sunrise and enjoying that moment. That's for me, that's success, because I've rescued two dogs that were on the streets. I'm with my wife. It's amazing.

John Hawker: 1:14:43

Like you know, it's brilliant.

Edd Hyde: 1:14:45

Like that's for me, it's a successful accomplishment. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Edd Hyde: 1:14:48

Nice. I think the point maybe you can infer from that as well is enjoying the process. It's not all about where you're heading, it's about how you're getting there in the day to day of that, and I think we need to.

Edd Hyde: 1:14:58

We think we need to come away from the aggressive nature of how we kind of live, of looking at I mean, I think social media has got a lot to answer for in a really good way, but also, obviously, in a bad way as we all know, because we don't have the ability to look further than what that person's saying.

Edd Hyde: 1:15:15

You know, like this looks amazing, this person's life looks incredible. We don't see the closed doors. You know it's behind the closed doors, even so it's. You know, it's a very difficult way to manage success in your own head now, I think, with all those sort of all the stimulation around you, and that's why I think it's really important that you're you're comfortable with, with you as a person.

Edd Hyde: 1:15:34

Yeah, no, I love that. I love that answer. Okay, one of the common themes between most people that are coming in for season two is that they are based in and around leon city, so we've got creatives, which I would now label you, ed I wouldn't have done before this podcast. But we've got creatives, we've got entrepreneurs, we've got business owners. For me, it's just an interesting point that Leon C seems to have been like this magnet for so many people that have started up on their own and are aspirational figures.

Edd Hyde: 1:16:04

Do you think there's any? First off, do you think I'm mad for thinking that? And do you think there's any particular reason why Leon C specifically attracts so many people?

Edd Hyde: 1:16:13

I don't think you're mad thinking that at all. I think Leon C is quite an exceptional place, for I think it's got I think there's two arms to the area. Let's use just Leon C as an example, not South End on C. Yes, yep, I think it's got two arms. I think one arm is. It's exciting. It's got two arms. I think one arm is. It's exciting. It's. It's nice to see this entrepreneurial spirit. I think there's a certain aspect to it which is quite sad, because it's all about plagiarism. You know, if there's one burger restaurant pops up, another one pops up next door. Yeah, same with pizza, same with this, same with that, same with hairdressers, tattoos. I think you know we do. We are a little bit afraid to think outside the box. Yeah, to some respect in the area, um and but again, I think that's the way the world works, right, because if you see a model that works, then you try and emulate that try and emulate the model you know.

Edd Hyde: 1:17:04

So I'm not knocking it at all, but I think that we are very fortunate in the area that we live in and privileged, like you said, because you know we are surrounded by the things that you might aspire to. You know, if that's where you want to be in your life, with the big five detached house, ferraris on the driveway, you can get that in lee, because there's going to be someone you can talk to that's going to give you a step on the ladder at some point.

Edd Hyde: 1:17:27

Um, so yeah, I think that with. I never really looked at it like that, john, to be honest, but looking at the, not from the creative background, but from just a community background, in how people could have the ability to make a success of themselves. Now, 10 years ago, 11 years ago, I would have said it was way more creative way more.

Edd Hyde: 1:17:46

Yeah, a few people have said that actually because you know, when I had the summer rooms, john, you know we, there was so much going on, there was a vibe you know, I mean, there was a great music scene like I love my music.

Edd Hyde: 1:17:56

Now it's sterile. There's nothing like that. You know there was like you go to like the royal hotel, into like a dingy little basement and and experience all different kind of types of music and all different walks of life. You know, you can go to a sax underground, you know, and go on one night you can listen to like 70s rock, the next night blues, the next night heavy metal, the next night drum and bass, same as the sunrooms. That's what we try to do.

Edd Hyde: 1:18:18

So, yes, there was way more creativity 10 years ago. You know, produce some big artists like you know, musicians like the horrors, people like that, you know, hugely successful. Um, so what I think is now it's just become a little bit more sterilized. Yeah, and maybe you, maybe that leads us into the conversation of where it is all a little bit about money. Yeah, you know, and it's about that's more than, or it's just natural development and it's evolution. And yeah, the nightclubs are going, aren't they? The music venue got, I mean, the music industry was hammered by COVID. So are we just a creature of the current climate?

Edd Hyde: 1:18:55

Yeah, the byproducts of that change. Yeah, I mean, it's just been something that's really interesting to me, Having grown up in Raleigh born and bred in Raleigh, for-. Pink.

Edd Hyde: 1:19:04

Toothbrush.

Edd Hyde: 1:19:04

Yeah, Pink Toothbrush, which is still going strong now toothbrush, which is still going, amazing.

Edd Hyde: 1:19:11

Now we are speaking about it's big toothbrush the other day. Um, we, I just think the volume and the number of independents and creatives in that stretch and I I'm including south end, but specifically you got lee road, lee broadway and and the anim, like literally the animosity that is felt when chains try and come into the area too, oh yeah, true, like there are like, yeah, picket lines against costa coming in or whatever that looks like. And then when it did come in, everyone hated it for however many years it was there and it's now gone, funnily enough and all which is cool, right, still carrying on.

Edd Hyde: 1:19:39

That's cool, it's like we're sticking two fingers up to that, because that's what I'm trying. There's. That's why I asked the question and maybe by the end of these conversations I'll have a better of it. But I'm just wondering if there's something about the area or about the community that we have that has forced a kind of entrepreneurial spirit.

Edd Hyde: 1:19:56

I'm not sure, I don't know. I think that we're close to London enough to invite a lot of money into the area.

Edd Hyde: 1:20:04

Yeah, that's a good point.

Edd Hyde: 1:20:05

Yeah, 40 minutes outside and I think we were classed as like a, really, I think some sort of press release of how happy we are as a.

Edd Hyde: 1:20:11

We've won that a couple of times like happiest place to live or something like that, I mean, if you live here we all raised the quiz quite high.

Edd Hyde: 1:20:18

But you know, that brings in different, I guess, different attitudes, different mindsets, different approaches to things, and that's maybe why we have that space now where yeah we, we, we, we. Lee is is, I guess, as a, as a community, fairly successful?

Edd Hyde: 1:20:33

Yes, yeah, yeah, it's a hard question to answer.

Edd Hyde: 1:20:36

It is.

Edd Hyde: 1:20:36

It's tough, I'm sure I'm.

Edd Hyde: 1:20:37

I'm, I mean, I'm still trying to collect my thoughts on what the uh, what the answer really is, but maybe I'll never get to the bottom of it, Ed closing question on the podcast yeah okay, man, I won't put you on the spot and ask you if you ever listened to these episodes before, but there's a famous podcast I can't name it but their end question is always left by the previous guest for the next one. Now, I don't copy that. I get my mum to ask you a question. Oh cool, now I don't listen to the question.

Edd Hyde: 1:21:04

I like that.

Edd Hyde: 1:21:05

She knows who you are Roughly. I give her a rough bio. Okay, mum leaves me a voice note, and then I'll go play it Down the mic, so I don't know what it's going to be. Hi Ed, how do you manage To keep constantly Motivating people when some people have Shall we say Unrealistic Expectations? Thank you, that's a great question. That's a great question.

Edd Hyde: 1:21:27

God John's mum, that's a great question.

Edd Hyde: 1:21:29

That's a great question. Some of them are shit. I'll be honest with you.

Edd Hyde: 1:21:31

So it's Lisa if you wanted to address your answer to Lisa. That's a brilliant question.

Edd Hyde: 1:21:34

I would imagine that's put you on the spot, but I'm not sure it has put me on the spot.

Edd Hyde: 1:21:37

But it hasn't put me on the spot because I have to think about this daily really and to be honest with you, lisa, that particularly difficult sometimes. So if I, I think I almost look in the mirror and it helps the work I've done on me to see what could be going on in the background of other people and, again, trying to treat everyone as an individual and trying to create a relationship. Not just, you know, you pay me money, I give you a service, bye, bye, thanks very much, develop a relationship. So I do think I treat all my clients individually, so I know sort of almost inherently how to motivate them.

Edd Hyde: 1:22:22

Yeah, which is going to be different to how to motivate the other person.

Edd Hyde: 1:22:25

That might look in client a, client b yeah, so but to keep people motivated when they've got unrealistic expectations.

Edd Hyde: 1:22:32

I think we have that initial conversation about expectations to begin with, and we look at timelines and we look at what we can achieve and what we want to achieve as the ultimate goal and kind of reverse engineer that and work backwards because everyone's goal is different someone might. All they want to do is just perform a pull up, which is a great goal to achieve. So you know we work towards that, so the motivation comes with. It's definitely a daily work in progress, yeah.

Edd Hyde: 1:23:00

I mean, I'll use my own anecdote as an example. If I said one of my goals this year is to dunk a basketball, if I said Ed, I want this year is to dunk a basketball, yeah. If I said ed, I want to do that in four weeks, yeah, like the whole thing, is that um setting?

Edd Hyde: 1:23:14

realistic expectations at the very start of the journey. So, and I think what was great and what I think a lot of good people working in fitness industry will do is part of the consultative approach to to training someone is identify the goal and then start to put sort of targeted yeah and I yeah Training towards it, isn't it If you?

Edd Hyde: 1:23:34

said I wouldn't go, I wouldn't burst your bum and go. John, that's not happening in four weeks, but every X amount of cycles that we do, or training you know, is about kind of just gearing you towards that and using you as an example.

Edd Hyde: 1:23:47

it's to get you to start with being able to use your knees, walk down the stairs without having to warm up for five minutes, but again you know.

Edd Hyde: 1:23:54

And then you know, let's, just before we close shop, the motivation for that for you isn't, it is. You might come in and go oh man, my knees really hurt today but then we still have that little kind of cherry at the end about the dunk. You know that's still in the forefront of your mind and my mind throughout the whole process yeah so we just have to keep sort of pulling that in and reminding you about that to keep you on track.

Edd Hyde: 1:24:19

Yeah, exactly that, but it doesn't mean say you can't fall off track because we all do yeah, you know so, yeah, that's a good answer.

Edd Hyde: 1:24:26

That's my mum's mum's nailed it, keening them down this this season because they were light and fluffy on the first season.

John Hawker: 1:24:32

She's really digging in a lot cheers for that, mum ed thank you so much for getting up your time on a sunday. You've been a legend for doing this. I really enjoyed it a lot. No good, good man, cheers thanks for listening to jobsworth.

Edd Hyde: 1:24:44

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