I'll good a. Welcome to another installment the You Project, Craig Anthony Harper. This today is different. Today is a little bit of a different angle episode. This lady's never done a podcast. In fact, there's probably a fair assumption, Lily Sarah Ricta, that you may only do in your life one podcast, and this might be it. Do you think that's a fair assumption.
It is a very fair assumption. But you never know, Craig Harper, I might just be loved after doing this podcast, so I may want to do more podcasts after this. Who knows.
This could I mean, you could overtake me by the middle of the year, and then they'll be saying, Craig, who fuck him. Let's listen to Lily. You might have your own show very soon.
Let's listen to that old duck Lily.
Yes, yeah, let's do that. Let's have I mean, the world needs more, Lily. So thank you for doing this, Thank you for doing this. How do you feel? Are you okay? Are you good?
I am really good. Yes. Not sure what we're going to talk about, but I am really good. Yes.
Have you taken a sedative or anything, or perhaps the opposite, some kind of stimulant.
No stimulant, no sedative. It's raw and real me on the other side of this microphone.
Okay, so it's twelve fifty three in Melbourne, it's Tuesday. I am just in case you're detecting and everyone, it's a good thing. This is virtual and where you're not sitting in front of me because I'm I'm chock a block full of snot You're welcome. So let's make it about me for a moment. Little. I woke up this morning at three My teeth hurt, my face hurt, like I don't get sinus stuff, but I think I did have sinus stuff, and so I got up at three fifteen,
took a pana doole. I don't really take panadole, and then I had a hot.
Shower like three fifteen morning.
Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, like a big baby that I am. And then I went back to bed. I couldn't sleep because my entire nose was blocked, and I'm when I sleep, nobody needs all of this, but fuck it. When I sleep, I slept. I breathe through my nose, not my mouth, and so it was just I couldn't sleep. I reckon I had sixty minutes sleep. I got up at four o'clock and I was meant to meet my mate at the gym, not at the gym, at the cafe, n Vincent.
Shout out to Vincent and now I walked for about an hour and a half, got to the gym, the fucking gym, the cafe, and hung out with him for a while. Clearly my cognitive function has dropped. But after one hour of sleep and a lot of snots and a sore head, I don't know why I feel so good, but I still feel pretty good.
You're pumped and excited about talking to me. That's why you're feeling so good. By the way you know, by the way you know all this lingo, is it all due to you? I never used to speak like this. I was a prim and proper lady, but I'm no longer a prim and proper lady. The conversation, the retric it's all you.
That is that is funny, all right? So why don't you tell people? Now? The reason, part of the reason that I'm doing this is just I mean, this could be dogshit. I said to Lil Wow, if we have a good time, we'll put it up. If we don't, we won't, but I wanted to talk to you because I feel like you and I are a little bit the same in that you probably disagree, so I feel free to disagree, but like neither of And this is not me throwing you under the bus. And we've already
I've already cleared this with you. But neither you or I were particularly particularly genetically gifted, you know, neither of us. You're kind of almost the female version of me. It's like you were never a super athlete like me. Correct were decent human beings, though, So tell people when you came into my orbit and how that happened, and maybe yeah,
what year was that, What was that like? And what was happening as much or as little as you want to tell us, of course, with your body, your health, and what was what was it like coming to Harpers Harper's was my gym, my very uncreatively named Jim. Give us that story.
Okay, So it was around nineteen ninety seven, a long time ago, that a girlfriend of mine suggested I go and do some personal training. So yeah, I thought, why not, let's give it a go. You know, three children down and it's time to look after myself and get healthy.
So I went along with my girlfriend to Harper's in Bluff Road and the first couple of sessions were interesting to say the least, and I was very self conscious, but I knew that it was something I really wanted to do, and after the first couple of sessions, it was something that I was definitely committed to doing. So long story short, I met Craig Harper and he introduced me into the world of wellbeing. He introduced me into the world of getting fit. Yeah, strength training, exercise, and
I fell for it. I felt for it big time. And after training at Harper's and training with Craig for a number of years, the guru in the industry, that's you. Craig said to me, lil why don't you go and put the theory behind the prack? And I thought, yeah, why not? So in nineteen ninety nine I went and did the Certificate three, Certificate four course in personal training in fitness and then the personal Training course, and twenty five years later, I'm still personal training and loving it,
absolutely loving it. Love my work, yeah, don't see it as work, just absolutely love being in the industry.
Do you remember what you thank you you did miss out a few bits and pieces that I'll just bring you back to do it. Do you remember do you remember what you weighed when you rocked up to the gym? Yeah, look at you, looking at me. You don't have to answer. But here's why I wanted. I mean, I've said many times I weighed one hundred and seventeen at my heaviest. I've weighed seventy nine as an adult, one hundred and seventeen. I'm about eighty four at the moment. We're not going
to ask you your current weight. I'm not that dumb, but it's fair to say, all right, why don't you tell me this? How much weight did you need to lose? Perhaps when you started.
With me thirty kilosk and I lost the thirty kilos and thoroughly enjoy the journey and thoroughly enjoyed being thirty kilos later.
Yes, and what for you? Because it's like it's fair to say, right that, like a lot of people have said to me over the years. And I'm sure you, I mean, you've been a trainer for over a quarter of a century. You realize that ninety nine and nine, you've been a trainer for more than a quarter of a century, and might I say respectfully, you were the least likely trainer of all the people that came through
my door because you in a loving, caring way. You weren't a princess in that you were precious, but you know, you were very very much part of your community, your Jewish community, and very much like you didn't hang out with people like me. I was like a fucking well, I don't know what, but it didn't dawn on me until sometime later what a fucking wild man I was, or what a unicorn or what a weird old I was in the context of your day to day life.
Actually, Craig, I didn't know that somebody like you actually existed. So it was an eye opener, meaning somebody like you. You definitely didn't dot your eyes, you definitely didn't cross your teas, you said what you thought, and and myself and my training partners, we all absolutely loved it. So yeah, what was the part.
By the way, I'm not trying to get my ties pumped up today, everyone, I'm just trying to what was the thing that, like, why did you stay? Because there, you know, like with personal trainers, and you stayed for a long time. You lost the weight, you transformed your body. You stepped into personal training, but you know, and you trained with me for a long time and got in amazing shape. What what was it about? Not me, but just about.
That the journey? That journey, Yeah, like.
What kept you doing it?
Well? First of all, Achieving results makes you want to continue doing it. Feeling good makes you want to continue doing it. Achieving goals you never thought you'd be able to achieve kept you doing it. So I never thought that I could run five hundred meters, and you know, learning to run was hard. It was hard, yacka, but I did it. And I'll remember one of the highlights of my training experience was ending up in Sydney and doing the thirteen k All Women's Female Fun Run, something
I never thought I would do. So, you know, training, exercising it was euphoric. It is euphoric no matter what stage of life you're in, no matter where you're at. When you can't do some when you perceive yourself as not being able to do something and then you can achieve it and do it makes you feel wonderful, makes you feel like wow.
Now I'm only asking this to provide context for seventy five percent of my listeners are female. Seventy seventy five percent. Seventy five percent of my followers I don't know why on Instagram are female. So I don't know. I think I just talk about stuff that perhaps resonates more it seems to anyway. But for my lady listeners who are going, oh, yeah, but I'm this old or I've got these genetics, so we know that you're not genetically gifted as am I not.
We're both endomorphs. We both will a donut now ask it's bigger, right both of us. How old are you at your next birthday?
I am going to be sixty five in May.
Wow, that's a minute away. And what I so that's next month now because it's April one today. What a And I'm not just saying this because it's a nice thing to say in the show Lily Sarah Richtor. But I reckon your brain and your mind and your mental energy and also your emotional state is as good as it's ever been. Like I still do a little bit
of coaching with you. Full disclosure. I see little once a week or once a fortnite, which is essentially a coffee in at chat and I'll give it a fucking family, right. I got to tell you she's getting the deal of a lifetime. We need to we need to review that because fuc andell mum's got a hip operation coming up. She doesn't really But you know what I loved was I reckon, Now you're almost in a better place than
when I met you. When you were I don't know whatever, you were, like thirty something years.
Old, thirty eight years old. Do you know how I know that I was thirty eight years old? Actually you met when I was thirty seven years old, but I'll tell you how I know I was thirty eight years old. So when you told me to go and suggested, not told that I go and put the theory behind the prack, I thought, great, I'm going to do this, and I went and did the course. At the end of the course,
you've got to do forty hours work experience. So I thought, given that I trained with Craig five days a week, train with the best, who else can possibly teach me anything that I need to know about personal training. I went up to Craig and I said, look, I've completed my course. I need to do forty hours work experience. Can you sign me off on the work experience, and Craig looked at me aghast and he said, I don't think so go out and get yourself real work experience.
And I looked at him and I said, and tell me who is going to give thirty eight hours? Who's going to give forty hours of work experience to a thirty eight year old chip with a fat ass. He said to me, well, if you don't go and get the work experience, you don't get your certificate. No certificate, You're not going to be a personal trainer. So I walked away and I thought, who am I going to call?
How do I even start? Where do I call? Which one of the mainstream jims would even entertain the thought of taking somebody who doesn't have the typical personal trainer's body. Who's going to want to take somebody at the age of thirty eight. But I cold called and I got somebody to take me, and it was an incredible catalyst for change.
Is it funny now, when like at nearly sixty five, you look back like you must think thirty eight year old you now is like a fucking teenager, But at the time you were thinking how old this old married woman with in your words, a fat ass and three kids and a husband who's an accountant.
It doesn't I was a spring chicken, then, absolutely spring chicken.
Yeah, tell people about your Tell people about the time that you lap pulled one hundred kilos. I've told this story, but I'd like them to hear it from you and how it transpired and what you won.
Okay. So I was training many times a week at Harper's, predominantly with Craig. Sometimes he would pown me off to another trainer when he got a better offer. But I wanted to do exactly what all the men in the gym were doing. I didn't quite get, and I didn't want to get that the female body is not built the way a male's body is built. I didn't want to hear about it right, And I just decided, if everybody in here, all the males in here, can lap pull the stack, I want to lap pull the stack too.
So I said to you, I.
Don't know if you remember, tell everyone how much the stack wise two hundred and twenty pounds, Yeah, one hundred kilos.
Yeah, two twenty pounds. And at the time I was not lifting to twenty pounds at the time, I was not pulling that. I know we talk in kilos, but there are certain pieces of equipment in the gym that I still only can think of in pounds. Anyway, So I was lap pulling and I decided I wanted to lap pull the stack the two hundred and twenty pounds. And I said to you, I don't know if you remember,
I want to be able to do that. And you looked at me and said, I'm going to give you a year, a year of training and a year of trying to lap pull the stack on them. And on the last day in December before we close harpers for Christmas, you're going to sit down and see if you can do it. And if you can do it, lil, I'm giving you one year's worth of personal training for free.
And I thought, by the way, the best bet I've ever made. There's zero chance that you should have been able to do that.
But go on, you never thought that I could do it. That's why you offered it to me. You never thought I could do it if.
I'm going to give away, And.
I thought to myself, Gee, this guy's costing me a fortune every week. Can you imagine if next year I get a whole week's worth of personal training every year and every week, and I don't have to pay for it. Anyway, Long story short, I trained and trained, and I don't even know how I did it. I remember it was
just so funny and so weird. But some last day of December, I think it was the twenty third, and I sat down and I said to Craig, I'm going to do it, And yep, you helped me down with the first one, and I was able to pull down the next one all on my own, and I lacked Paul the stack, and you owed me a year's worth of personal training, and I cashed in on that year's worth of personal training. I felt so guilty. I felt so guilty every week not handing over the money that
you deserved for training. But well, I.
Wish you felt a little bit more guilty. But anyway, no, I'm joking. I do you know what you deserved it? You absolutely deserved that year of free training. I'd like to tell how much. I'd like to tell everyone how much that was worth, but I won't, and then translated into day's dollars. Fucking hell that was. But anyway, you absolutely I made the offer. I put out the bet, you took up the bet. And you know, for a however you old you were then late thirties, early forty.
How old were you then when you did that? Do you know, give or take.
It would have been I would have been forty.
Yeah, yeah, you know it's like you didn't come from an athletic background at all. It's not like, oh, yeah, but Lily used to be a gymnast. No, Lily used to eat fucking cake for breakfast, like like, Lily is
the furthest thing from an athlete. And I mean that lovingly and so for you to but and this is what I love about your story, right because I so many people go, oh, I could never do a business because I'm this or that, or my I don't have or I couldn't write a book, or I couldn't do a degree, or you know, I couldn't change my body like or I couldn't run a marathon, or you know, it's like wow, and you, I mean, you didn't even realize how much you taught me about of course, of
course genetics are a factor, of course, but even now, you know, the general thinking is that you know how that how well we function and strength and performance and longevity and health span, lifespan, all of those things is about fifteen to twenty percent genetics, but eighty eighty five percent behavior choices, behavior, training, lifestyle, food, booze, sleep, all of the shit that's in our control. And I mean, I can honestly say that you got every ounce out
of your body. We talk about a thing that you'll remember called perceived rate of exertion. You remember that, correct, correct, And we've spoken about it recently on the show, and it's essentially how hard you think you're working. And I've spoken many times in fact about the reality that people think they're working near you know, nine or ten out of ten, when in actuality, you know they're working in terms of what is humanly possible for them, they're really
somewhere down around three to five. And that's not even being critical, that's just and I've done that myself a lot, where I think I'm working at an eight or a nine, and then i realized I'm actually working at a five, and I'm bullshitting myself. But unequivocally, you pulled out a ten. You pulled out a ten out of ten on the right day, at the right time, with the right financial incentive. Your husband must have been happy when you got home with.
But actually, let me just say something. That whole year of training was really an eye opener for me. It was an opportunity for me to look at around the way other people were training on the gym floor. You know, there were a lot of people there that were doing exceptional things. There were people that were working against the odds. There were people that you know, for whatever reason, could not excise, or could not lift, or you know, didn't their bodies were just not allowing them to do the
things that they wanted to do. But they found a way. They worked, they worked around it, they found a way. I also found that year really interesting because you were not going to coach me to help me lap pull that stack. So I had to talk to a lot of people. There were body builders on the floor, there was the average Joe blow on the floor. There were people, you know, not only people at Harpers, there were people
out of Harpers. I was talking to everybody about their advice on how to get you know, how to achieve this goal, this thing that I wanted to achieve. And so, you know, to me, everything is learning. Education is just I'm hungry for education. That's another reason I just love being in this industry and love having the opportunity to train people of all ages is that I am constantly being challenged to learn, challenged to ask questions and to
rediscover things. One of the lovely things about the I mean, I've been now working as a personal trainer for twenty five years, and I would say that I don't know a handful a don't even know what the quantity of clients are that I've had since I started training. We're growing old together, you know, we're going through the same stages of life together, the changes in life together and learning to work around those changes. Injuries. Shoulders not performing
the way we want them to perform. Every second person in a year has got a nee that isn't doing what they want them to do. But it's all about showing people that they can do things even when there are limitations, showing people that you can feel good, that you can benefit from exercise even if your body's not doing what you want it to do.
Yeah, it's so true. It's so true, and it's so true. How you change, you know, the way that you think and the way that you know. If you had have said to me when I was thirty, you're going to go outside and walk for an hour every day, I would have gone a see if I'm going to fucking walk when I could run, you know, It's like to me walking going for a walk was a waste of time. I wouldn't have done it. I would have gone for a run. I would have done an interval session on
the bike. I would have hit the bag, have run some stairs. I would have done something that was a bit more in my mind, Alpha male Warrior or whatever fucking bullshit story I tell myself. And it's funny, Like I told you, I got up early this morning and I just went for a big, long walk in the darkness of suburbia, suburban bayside, like fucking no one was out it was. It wasn't dark ish, it was pitch black.
Had my headphones on, listen, listening to a book on audible, just the best, the best, and all the shit that I wouldn't have done. I fucking love it. And I mean, apart from the fact that I'm you know, I'm just getting a fair bit of cardio each day, but the psychological, emotional, and cognitive benefits, like my brain feels so good because like I'm not sitting like I used to. I'm so you know, I think I told you the story though, where my phone basically told me I was fucking lazy
about five months ago. It said you'll walking hardly any steps, and it was like four and a half thousand steps a day on average I've done for like the month before, which is fucking terrible. And I just went, all right, well that's it. I'm going to do ten thousand minimum from tomorrow and that day until as we record, I haven't missed one day, and most days I kind of average around average thirteen to fifteen thousand, and some days it's higher, some days it's lower. But that you know,
you just you improvise, adapt, overcome and survive. You know, you figure out what's going to work for you. And you know you've been doing that with your body and your genetics and your strengths and your weaknesses for you know, since.
We met, right, correct?
Was it a big psychological and emotional or tell us a bit about and I don't necessarily mean in relation to Craig Harper or Harper's but whatever you want to, because you came out of a really particular, as did many of your friends, right, Like, we had a really big base Jewish clients for a long time, and I was like this fucking almost like this little cult leader for all of these people who are like Crake up
is like just this weirdo. But I don't know what it's why it seemed to work, right, But tell me about coming out of that. Like you used to talk about the bubble, and I like ripped you out of the bubble by your hair and when batten down the hatches. Let's get into it was that psychological and emotional shift and sociological shift out of a very kind of particular environment and group and lifestyle. Tell us about that.
So I was brought up, yes, in quite an insular community, and meeting the likes of you and the type of people that go into a gym, I mean I never went into a gym. Meeting people from all walks of life was interesting, eye opening and a breath of fresh air. It's just yeah, it was wonderful to meet people who weren't brought up the same way as me and to learn again, to learn from people and to experience from people.
It brings me to an interesting story Craig. I remember that you would encourage me to go for a run around Colfield Park, and I was so excited when I managed to do that two point two k's around Corfield Park, and I would run into the gym and I would tell you I did the two point two k's and you'd say to me, okay, and on Friday, you're going to do four point four k's and I would think, oh, no, I can't do that. I mean, I just could not
do that anyway. There was no coming back into training weights with you unless I went out and did the four point four k So I managed the four point four k's and I came back elated. Anyway, long story short, every Friday for I can't even remember how long I would be doing ten k's around Corfield Park and Sunday eleven eleven, correct eleven case. Honestly, I don't know how I managed to do it, but I knew if I didn't do it, I didn't get to do what I
really wanted to do, and that was weight training. So I had to do the cardio in order to get the backsight leaner and the legs leaner. I had to do the cardio. So I remember one day doing it and I rang you at the end of the run, and I was bawling. Everybody else is walking around Corfield Park and enjoying themselves, and you're forcing me to do five laps of Corfield Park anyway. Reality check. The next morning, you took me to Duncan and mckinnanoble and no one
there was walking. Everybody was running. So it just highlighted to me that what I thought was not the norm was only not the norm in my environment, in an environment that I, you know, was exposed to expose yourself to a different environment, to a different group of people, and you realize that your norm is just your norm. And I also quickly realized that my ability was much greater than what I thought it was.
Yeah, you know, and what I love about you, know, your story is that like you kind of got reprogrammed. You know, you became more resilient, You became more open minded, you became more aware, you became more educated, you became fitter, stronger, leaner, healthier, Like you improved in so many ways, and all of that stuff was a byproduct of you getting uncomfortable all of it.
That's right, and being comfortable with being uncomfortable. That's another thing, right, I mean, no one wants to be uncomfortable, but learning to sit with discomfort and learning to appreciate that discomfort will eventually hopefully lead to where you want to be or where you want to go, is one of the one of the good lessons in life.
Learned to be sorry? Sorry? Sorry? Do you think that? How do I ask this? Like, Okay, I'm going to premise, preface what I'm going to ask you with something that I've So I feel like some people relate to me more deeply than say, you know, some guru or some expert, because I'm so fucking at rich.
Right.
It's not like, oh, yeah, but Craig you are in the Olympics, or Craig you're a fucking genius, or Craig you're a physiological Marvel, or Craig you know you've won an oscar, Right, No, just an ex fat kid from fucking Latro Valley having a crack and falling down and
fucking up and getting up. Right. So, I feel like part of if there's any appeal to me, that's arrogant, But part of the perhaps appeal is that people go, well, if he can do it, I can do it, and I feel like with you maybe, And by the way, I want to talk about your current situation and how much work you're still doing, which is crazy, but I feel like you've got you've got a level of credibility that some people don't have because well, one, you've been
doing it for a very long time, you've been qualified, and you've been at the coal face for a long time, and you've trained fucking a million people now and you've answered a million questions and learned a million things. But also, as you to say to me, not my words, everyone, you know, you're just a fat chick from your or you were just a fat chick from Corefield or whatever like you used to say to me all the time, which you're not now. But that that you know, that relatability. Oh,
she's not spectacular, she's not she's not genetically gifted. She can't run a kilometer in three minutes, she's she's not doing fifteen chins and she doesn't have abs, and you know it's yeah, I think that. Plus also you're a good communicator and people love being around you and all of that. But do you think the fact that you are kind of for one, of a better term normal regular, that people trust you and connect with you more some people.
I think a couple of things. I think, first of all, because I'm a work in progress all the time, I think that you know that appeals to a lot of people. And when I say a work in progress, I mean that life deals you medical issues, health issues, time issues, all sorts of issues that you have to navigate. And
I'm very transparent with my clients. So because you know my clients, not that your clients are your friends, but you spend so much time with your clients that you tend to have this relationship, this real, honest relationship with them, sometimes more honest than with your real friends, because they see you on a daily basis or a twice a week basis or three times a week basis, so they share in your lifestyle, they share in what's going on
with you, and they know that you're constantly, like them, working against whatever's being thrown in your path. And even if it's not being thrown in your path, something like just you know, time constraints, you know, an aging mother or you know, wanting to help out with your grandchildren. All sorts of things limit the time you have for yourself.
My clients can relate to the fact that I'm constantly working around those not constraints, They're definitely not constraints, but those life issues to continue doing the things that I'm doing, so whether it be working or whether it be training.
So yeah, you know, my clients know that I get up every day at five o'clock in the morning, five days a week, have done since nineteen ninety nine, and I rock up to work not because I necessarily have to, but because I genuinely want to and I love every opportunity that I have to work with my clients to help them create the change that they want to create.
And not everybody wants to create the same change. So whatever it is that they're hoping to achieve for themselves, whatever it is that they wish however they want to better their daily lives, I'm happy to be part of that journey for them.
Yeah.
Did that answer your question?
By the way, Yeah, yeah, yeah, No, that's good. What's interesting about or there's a bunch of interesting things, But one of the interesting things is, you know, like you said, in a minute, you're sixty five, your husband ready has a good business. He's successful. Shout out to Renny who'll listen to this, get a champ and all the boys of course. But like you don't have to work, but not only, not only do you choose to work, you really want to work. And I know because we sit
together once a week. You really want to work because you love it. I mean, I've never met anyone who I've never met a trainer anyway who loves their job more than you. I might have met someone or two who love it as much. But after a quarter of a century of training, you know, you've got three boys, You've got a few challenges here and there with things, just normal human things. You've got a mum who's old, bless her. Hello, Marla, you old fucking love you know, you've got grand.
Shit Igdores you Craig by the way, she will be drilled at your Heartburt.
I love you, Marla, and I'm available, so I mean, you know, just hit me up. And you know, but in the middle of all of that mayhem and looking after grandkids and you know, doing a million things, you still work full time as a trainer and also so just to enlighten people. So for quite a few years you and your business partner had a pet studio called Revive Right.
I have that for two thousand and two to twenty and twenty and the only reason we closed in twenty and twenty is because COVID hit and we realized that for a long time we're not going to be able to do things the way we were comfortable doing things, so we close the facility.
Yes, and now you have what is probably Australia's best equipped double garage. I mean essentially you've got a small commercial gym in your I think it might be in a two and a half garage. Your garage is big. You've also got an area out the back. But it's hilarious because people have a bit of gym equipment in their garage. Do not picture that like this. This is like, I don't know, there's got to be the best part of one hundred grand worth of equipment. But it's bloody
amazing And and you don't have what to do. You don't have you don't market, you don't for advertise, and you're booked out, you're booked out, and you do you know, like I spoke to you, and it's obviously we're not going to talk about money or anything, but you train a lot of people, and it's fair to say that you do okay working out of the old garage.
I do okay working out of the old garage. I just want to say, first of all, when I decided to relocate to home, it was very much because of what happened because COVID broke out, But I also felt that it could possibly end up being the place I stay now because it's actually really comfortable for me and
it's very comfortable for my clients as well. I didn't want to short change my clients by not having the equipment that they were used to using when I had a much bigger space, So I tried to make sure that I mean, I had to consolidate. You can't put everything I had in that bigger space into this space. But I really didn't want to short change my clients. I wanted to have the same, you know, the good equipment that I've got, and also because of COVID, I
needed to create it. I needed to create an outdoor area because there were times that we really wanted fresh air, outdoor spaces training because we weren't allowed to work in doors. And today I just love it, absolutely love it.
And what I love also is, you know, and I don't take any credit for anything you've done, obviously, because I didn't do any of it. But I'm going to take a tiny bit of credit because I reckon one thing that you learned at Harper's was how to create an environment that people want to be in, or at the very least, the importance of building a space, a culture,
a family, and energy. And I've been at your place when people are training, and you've done it, like You've got this little space and everyone knows everyone, and everyone talks, and it's like it's a really nice like people look forward to going to that place other than the workout and the physiological benefits, but you've just built a little almost a club that people want to be in.
I think that's true. You know, I was training a couple of ladies this morning. One lady is in her seventies and one has just turned forty, and there was a lot of chatting going on, and I said to the two ladies in here, I said, tell me something, Are we achieving what we want to achieve by being in here this morning? Or is there too much chatter going on? And one of them turned around and said to me, you know that the physical and the mental
go together. And I said, that's true, they do. I said, but I want a little more physical and a little less mental and we'll all be happy. So continue your chatting, but no pregnant pauses with your exercise. Chat away, but keep working. And so we got them working. They continued working. They walked out the door, and instead of hopping straight into their car to go home, they stood outside here.
I really should have a coffee machine outside. You don't know how many people don't want to leave after their session. I'm sure they just want to continue talking.
Oh, when I go and train with a crab, even if we're there for an hour and a half, I do twenty minutes of training and we're talking for an hour and ten minutes because I just want to catch up with a friend twenty minutes, though, is scintillating that I do? Do I just go?
Can I just add something? I have one session a week runs for an hour where anybody who trains during the week who hasn't been able to make their normal time slot can make up their time slot in this one hour. So sometimes I can have you know, I mean, I don't train elite athletes, but in my my atmosphere of my world, those that are lifting really heavy and wanting to be, you know, elite athletes, and then just the lady who wants to move a little better and
function a little better. I have these people all at the same time, and everybody enjoys that one hour the banter, watching the other person doing what they're good at doing, watching the other person struggle to achieve what I've asked them to achieve. It's just a I don't know. It's a really nice hour. And not only did the clients
benefit from it, I benefit from it. I benefit from watching people interacting with one another who come from totally different walks of life and working out together.
Do you ever think about if you hadn't been encouraged to go to doesn't matter that it was Harper's, but you hadn't had that experience of going into an environment that you felt safe and embraced and inspired, and then yourself made a decision and you went and studied, and then this bastard made you go and do field work somewhere else because he wouldn't give you the hours, and
then you went through all of that shit. And imagine if you had to turn left instead of right when you were thirty eight and none of this had to happen. Do you ever think about that slow doors reality of I wonder what my life would look like as an almost sixty five year old if I hadn't have gone down this path.
I do look at that, and I am so grateful that I walked through the door that I walked through. But I'm also really grateful that I understand that things are not often easy, but you've just got to push through it and keep practicing it something. You know. I'm also not the sort of person that will dive into something I like to I like a soft launch into things. So I remember, even when I started personal training, I didn't give up teaching. I was a school teacher before
I became a personal trainer full time. So to me, you know, the whole concept of soft launch was also a really good thing. But I'm glad that I did, I did pursue it, and I'm lad that I am where I am today, and I feel blessed. I feel grateful. I feel grateful that it's through resistance training and it's through cardiovascular training that I have an opportunity to be with the people that I'm with and to help them be a better version of themselves. Whatever that means.
Do you reckon you're going to be training people when you're seventy.
I do not see myself retiring. I see myself growing older with my clients. That doesn't mean I don't get new young clients, because I do. By the way we mentioned before, I don't advertise, and everything's word of mouth. I do have what I would consider to be a full book. But I don't say no to clients because you know, I'm not saying people come and go because the client. I've had clients for over twenty years that
are still here. But people work gives people, makes people leave their time slot for a certain period of time. People travel for a bit. So even though I don't actively go out there getting new clients, I never say not or client because I just enjoy it. I enjoy it. I enjoy being with people.
You know what's interesting about you or many things, Lily Sarah Erector.
But so.
Here's this grandmother of two who trains people in her garage, who doesn't advertise, who doesn't promote, who wouldn't know what fucking Instagram was if it bitter on the ass, Who's you know, never been an athlete, blah blah, all of that stuff, and you are busier than ninety nine percent of trainers in Australia, like, hands down, because I know because I talk to trainers all the time and wherever I go, wherever I travel, even in the gym that I work at, I know how many sessions you do
a week, and I know ballpark how many sessions you know? And the trainers where I train, they're great, they're great. But yeah, it's a credit to you that you are so great at what you do, and not that it should matter. Of course, it shouldn't matter how old you are. It shouldn't matter at all, but sometimes it does matter because people want to be with a trainer who looks a certain way or has done a certain thing, or has got a certain brand or got a certain profile.
But do you ever think how like you're not just doing well for you And not that it's a comparison, but compared to most people in the industry, you're in the one percent. Have you ever thought about that?
No, I've never thought about that. But Craig, do you remember we recently had a conversation about retiring and you use the words retiring from what like, I don't see myself retiring. I love what I do. I enjoy getting up every morning. I don't ever remember a morning getting up and saying, oh shit, I've got to go to work this morning. Oh you know, so and so is going to walk in the door. How am I going to manage that? Never every morning is I want to go to work. I want to interact with the people
that I'm interacting with. I want to challenge them, I want to show them new exercises, new things that I've learned to discussed new things with them. Every day is you know, it's an enjoyable workday for me.
And I think also back to your I love it. You know the idea of retirement, which generally is held in high regard in Australia, where retirement's a good thing, which the idea and the reality and not the same for many people. I will say that because there's anyway it doesn't matter. But retirement doesn't work. I'm not talking about financially, but psychologically, emotionally, socially and physiologically. For quite a decent percentage of the population, retirement is the beginning
of the end. It's where the rapid decline starts. But you know that that whole idea of retiring is well, you're moving away from something not good and moving towards something better. It's like yep, but in you like but what I'm but oh yeah, you People say to me a lot, you work too much. I'm like, based on what? But like, what are you basing that on? Because I'm not anxious, I'm not sad, I'm not depressed. I'm not unhealthy. I fucking love my life. I love the people I
work with. I love talking to crowds and groups. I love podcasting, Like right now I'm chatting to you who we've been friends for decades. This show is going to be sponsored. I'm partnered with Nova on the nov Entertainment Network. Right now, technically I'm working. Well, that's a fucking scam because this is nothing like work. You know, like you and I sit together on usually on a Sunday morning, at an undisclosed location, surrounded by security guards, drinking coffee.
And what I love about you is at at You know, twenty five years, twenty six years into your PT career, you still come with questions every week, and they could be business questions. They could be you know, training stuff, food stuff, that could be about how to have a particular conversation You've got to have and every time, and this is what I love. One of the things I love about you is you bring and usually you bring
an a four spiral bound book. You bring your pen, and we talk and you write notes, You write notes, write notes, write notes, and you come with really specific questions. And I won't say what about. But like the other day, before I met you, or before I met Lily, everyone she sent me a video, doesn't matter what it's about. But anyway, I watched this video and she's like, watch the last seven minutes because you wanted to have a conversation with somebody, but you wanted to hear what I
thought about this particular topic. But I watched it, and then you went, what did you think? And I went, And I love the fact that rather than you just going in guns blazing, having this conversation being you know, you wanted to get another opinion that's not yours. You wanted to hear from somebody else, and you didn't set me up, You didn't preface it with anything. You just said,
could you watch this please? And then I want to talk to you about it, and I watched it when we spoke about it, and I love that you know you're still In fact, I think you're more curious now. I think you're learning more now than when you were younger. Maybe because it's easier to learn now, let's be honest, because we've got access to so much shit. But two,
maybe you're less fearful. You know you're less You're less worried about asking a question that you think you should know the answer to, whereas you know, it doesn't matter if I know it or don't know it. And also, by the way, Craig might might not know the answer, and that's okay too.
Also, you know, we only know what we know, and there is so much out there to learn. The more questions you ask, the more knowledgeable you're going to get. I had a client in here last night that asked me a question that I really don't know the answer to, but I know that somebody in my industry will know the answer to it. And it's not only the answer to that question is how do I take that answer
and relate that answer to my particular client? Because everyone is different, and so I love being asked questions and I don't you know At the age of thirty eight, I would have hated to have to say I don't know the answer to something. I would have thought, you need to know the answer. Why don't you know the answer? But today I know that I don't know the answer
to all things, And ask me a question. If I don't know the answer, I will source the answer and I will make it relevant to you, or try and make it relevant to you.
What do you think? What do you think it is about you? And I know this is a hard question to answer because your self effacing and self deprecating, and you don't have a big opinion of you. But you've got a lot more confidence, I think than you used to. But what do you think it is about you that people come back for twenty years? I mean it's not like they need you in inverted comments, but they want you.
They want to train with you. Like when people are paying a fair bit of money every week for twenty years, I mean that's almost fucking unheard of. Like, what do you think it is about you? And I'm not saying this because I want to praise you. I want to give other people an insight into because if I was listening this, I would think, what the fuck does this woman do?
Like?
How does she do it? I want a little bit of an insight, because you can have twelve degrees and you know all the stuff, and your clients drop off after two weeks because it's not only about knowledge. So what is it that seems to work so well that you do well?
I think that I've created a great rapport with my clients. I listen. I'm a really good listener, so when somebody's got something to say, I know how to listen. I know now that I don't have to have all the answers. Sometimes just listening is enough. I also know how to read my clients. I know that for some people, just
rocking up is congratulations. I don't say that to them, but I know that for some people walking through that door when they've had a really shitty night for whatever reason, or a really bad day at work, thank you rocking up. I don't thank you for me, I thank you for you, and they know that I thank them for them. I'm thrilled for them. And you know, Craig, I still write programs with a pen and paper. My clients laugh at me for using whiteout. They think Honestly, that whiteout is
as old as I am. And I can write a program for a client they walk in the door, I can sense immediately that that program is not going to work for them for whatever reason, and I will change it. I'll change it to accommodate their frame of mind. Now, that doesn't mean they're not going to work. They are going to work. They're here to work. I'm mindful of the fact they're paying me to get a workout. They're not paying me for coffee and cake or a psychological
appraisal or whatever. They're paying to do a workout. But I read them, and I know what's going on, and I know what they're capable of doing today, and I think that that's what endears people to me. I had a client that sms'd me in July of last year. Haven't seen her for about four years, and she said, just saw you walking down Church Street, Brighton in your Lulu lemonngear, wondering whether you're still training people. And I wrote back, yes, still training people. And she said, would
you take an old client back? And I said, of course, I'd take an old client back anyway. She sent me an SMS and said, please don't get the fright of your life. When I walk through the door, I'm certainly not. I don't look like the girl you trained pre COVID. Anyway, she walked in the door, and I embraced her and made her feel comfortable straight away, and we discussed what she needed to do, and we discussed the timeframe she thought she could do it in the timeframe I thought
she could do it in. And I just created an environment where she she felt safe and comfortable, and she's achieved her goals.
If I can say, what did she what's the outcome? We want to know what'd she lose?
So she came in weighing one hundred kilos in July, the eleventh of July last year, and she's sixty six kilos today. She trains twice a week every week, and she's embraced a little bit of cardio while she's out of here. So you know, she was never a walker or even a jogger. And yeah, she's embraced exercise out of here.
And do you how much input do you have into Well, let's talk about her her diet, like does she track her food? Do you look at it? Do you do you have her in the background or do you talk specifics? How does that work?
So again, when she came in, we discussed what would be good for her. So she felt that she needed to be weighed every week, so we agreed to weighing every week. She felt that talking to me about food and what she was eating would benefit her, so so we did. We agreed to that. You know, we worked together to help her get where she wanted to go. And yeah, she kept a food diary for a while.
There was a time that she was semssing me what she ate at the end, you know, at the end of the day, what she ate, and together we made it happen.
So unlike the dictatorship that you grew up in at Harpers, you've created a collaborative experience.
A collaborative experience exactly right, chatting, negotiating, working out what might work for them, and yeah, together together making it happen. You know, you don't want to take the power away from people. You want to encourage them to have the power and just to use you when they feel that they have that power or they don't have that knowledge, to use you as the crutch to help them get where they want to go. But yeah, getting back to
why people come back. I also feel I also know people well enough to have put people together for training. So you know, a lot of people used to train one on one, and I was able to create time for me, more time slots for me to take on clients by speaking to people about training together at certain times, slots, knowing who would want to be with who. And sometimes I've got clients in here that I have to shout over them so that they can hear what I want
them to do. And again, like I said before, allowing them to talk, allowing them to engage because interaction is so powerful, but also making sure that they do what they came here to do.
We're about to wind up. You're doing great, by the way, beautiful debut. What do you think some of the most valuable lessons that you have learned in your journey since you know, just you know, from when you were thirty eight till now, Like, what are the things that you think, I'm glad I know that, or I'm glad I did that, or you know something that for you has been really powerful to know or to create.
Greg, I think that I've got a lot of strengths and I know what they are, but I've also got a lot of weaknesses, and learning to liaise with the right people for me to help me overcome my weaknesses was a very good thing for me. There was a time where I thought asking questions or going to mentoring or even having you know, my own coach physical and mental coach, was a sign of weakness. But it is definitely not a sign of weakness. It's a find of growth.
I think that we know what we're capable of doing, but we don't know how capable we are. We don't actually know what we can achieve. And sometimes eating a bit of humble pie, sometimes just you know, being courageous, putting on your big putting on your big boys pants like somebody used to tell me, and getting out there and just learning, experiencing and not being afraid, not being afraid to try.
Do you remember you and me going for runs in the dark around where you and I would go and run through the streets. We'd run through suburbia in the dark. Do you remember that?
That was My favorite favorite part of my training was the dark was great because you couldn't see you, and you didn't worry about other people seeing you. You just you just ran or you walked, or you the dark was good when you're not full of confidence, the dark was good, you know when I was.
Yeah, wow wow. How do you feel about your body now?
Well? I still think that I'm constantly striving to achieve something. There's times I've been fitter and times I've been leaner and healthier. But I know that I know a couple of things, Craig. I know that movement is king. I know that we need to lift for muscle mass. We don't want to atrophy as we get older. I'm getting older and as many of my clients, I want to move better, I want to perform better. I want to
be a better version of me every single day. And some days are easier to be that better version and work towards that better version. Some days are harder, but I keep trying, and my clients can see. My clients can see that I try just like they try.
Last question, I think, so people who are listening, who go I want to get into some strength training, which I mean, you know, flexibility and cardio and balance and coordination and bit of aerobic and muscular endurance all important, But maybe if we had to, I think probably the biggest the most neglected component for a lot of people, say fifty to fifty five onwards, is the fact that they don't do anything to consciously get strong, build muscle,
build function, improve bone density, or if they do, they do it periodically spasmodically, they stop and start. How often do you think for any guys and girls, but maybe primarily ladies who are listening to this, who want to get into some strength training, what would you recommend? How often? How long? Fucking how hard? What's the lily recommendation?
So, Craig, I'll tell you many clients come to me and say to me, how long or what do I have to do in order to do this? And I say to people, doing something every day is fantastic. So if you can go for a walk every second day, if you can lift weights every second day, you're doing the right thing for yourself, for your body, for you. But I also tell people that if you can only give yourself one hour a week, one hour a week
is better than no hours a week. And people who tend to give themselves one hour a week eventually want to give themselves more because they feel better. They feel better for walking, they feel better for lifting some weights, they feel better. You know some people say to me, well I can't come to you more than once a week. Say well, you don't need to come to me more
than once a week. Doesn't cost anything to go for a walk, It doesn't host anything to ask me during one of your sessions, what sort of body weight stuff, Lily, do you think I can do once a week at home? So you don't need to be with a personal trainer five six, seven days a week. You need to find what's good for you financially, time wise. You need to find what's good for you and work with that or
build on that. So there is no formula. There is no exact answer for you really depends on who's asking the question.
Oh I love it well, Lily. That was your debut, your bloody amazing, and you've inspired me a little bit, even though you did rip me off a year of training and financially set me back years. But that's okay.
I think I made up for it, Craig. That year finished and I continued training with.
You, so it's true.
That's and also remember the gifts I used to want to give you, the Selene on disc that you looked at me when I gave it to you once and thought, jeez, she really knows me by buying me a Selenity on disc.
I could say so many things, but I feel like I'm going to alienate people if I comment on that Seleniti on disc. So I won't say, but thank you for that disc, Lily, I use it all the time. I won't tell it capacity congratulations on your debut on the U project. We may even get you back. If you've got any questions for Lily, just go to the group and leave them there. We might get it back and do a Q and A. How do you think you went? Did you enjoy it? We're still rolling.
I absolutely loved it. I loved talking to you. I've always loved talking to you, Craig. I could continue talking to you for hours.
All Right, everyone, I'll say go buy you off here in a moment a little but for now, thank you and to the rest of you, see you next time.
M