Using exercise to help your Mental Health #22

Find your voice - Episode 21 "Using exercise to help your Mental Health" Michael Hayes #22

Tagline: "What's for you, won't pass you" - Michael Hayes

Michael Hayes, is one of the most positive, infectious people I have been fortunate enough to have connected with during my time as a Podcaster. A genuine individual who focuses in his own time on promoting positive links between mental health and exercise and whilst spreading authentic, honest and tangible messages through his social media platforms.

Michael does not do this for any monetary reasons, but since seeing those close to him suffer with mental health he made a choice to use his expertise in health and fitness and promote a positive link of enhancing not just your physical well-being through exercise but also improving your overall mental health.

Our first Irish/Aussie on the show who proves that real messages and honest advice is the same across the world and if you want to ensure you get genuine advice his story is definitely worth following. Michael also admits to having suffered little adversity in his life although when you finish this episode you would probably agree that even if he was, or had, he would not have seen it as a burden or adversity and likely just smiled his way through it.

All the links to follow Michael's journey are below and a final note before you go check that out, which I think is worth mentioning and came from his mother is: "What's for you, won't pass you".

I urge you all to follow his journey and support him on making a positive difference in the world of fitness and mental health.

Thanks for listening

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Links to guest:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mentalhealthfitnesscoach/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mentalhealthfitnesscoach/

RU Okay: https://instagram.com/ruokday?igshid=r9o8sro81bv3

Have an awesome day & #JustDeuit & #FindYourVoice

[Music]

welcome to an episode of find your voice

a movement led by yours truly

Aren do a guy who has overcome

crippling anxiety adversity and

difficulty like so many of you in life

whose main goal now is to help you

combat your excuses take control of your

life write your own story and most

importantly find your voice so now

without further ado I welcome the host

of the show himself mr. Aren do what's

going on people thank you for tuning in

to another episode of find your voice my

name is Aren and as always I am the

host of the show so I am delighted to be

able to bring to you today Michael Hayes

otherwise known as the mental health

fitness coach now Michael is irish-born

but now living over in Australia and

what he has done is he's taken a passion

of his ie personal training but he's

linked it very very closely to something

that we can all relate to mental health

now the way he links mental health and

fitness is fantastic and it's probably

not what you're gonna expect especially

from somebody who now operates on

Instagram not quite the influencer that

he will be one day but Michael's

messages are incredible and I certainly

urge you after this episode to engage

with Michael and follow him on his

journey because alongside he's worked

with mental health and exercise Michael

is also just a very very positive person

in fact he's probably the most positive

person I've had on the show and I say

that after interviewing so many

incredible guess he's infectious he's

got a great aura about him and all he's

trying to do is make you guys feel

better both physically and mentally so I

think without further ado let's jump

straight into this interview okay

firstly I'd like to start by welcoming

Michael Hayes to today's show and I want

to thank Michael for taking time out of

his day to come on and share his story

and secondly Michael I just want to know

how are you doing today my friend yes

really good yeah just back from work so

settling in for the night now how about

you how's your day been yeah my day has

been good so it's early more I say early

morning is 10 o'clock here so my day is

kind of starting

for anyone listening you can probably

tell from Michaels voice straight away

that he's not got this amazing Brummie

accent that I have he's actually from

Australia so it's our first Australian

guest on the show so again I'm very

grateful for that

I think to get this started Michael if

you wouldn't mind if you can just kind

of tell our audience a little bit about

yourself a little bit about your story

because hopefully that way you'll give

them an insight in relation to yourself

and also give them an understanding as

to why I reached out to get you onto a

show yeah absolutely and I'll just start

off by saying that I'm actually Irish so

I've I've been in Australia for the last

seven years so I'm after getting a bit

of a twang since I moved here so I like

it I get some serious grief up everyone

from home when when they hear just what

anyway yes

yeah I've been living in Australia the

last 7 years so I guess I run a an

Instagram page and a Facebook campaign

type thing called mental health fitness

coach so I'm pretty much peachy turned

into just someone that's trying to get

people to exercise for for all the right

reasons I guess so for your your mental

health is sleep for your mood to reduce

stress and to not look at it from you

know I want to get a six-pack or I want

to you know the quickest way to look

good on the beach or things like that

just getting people to take a step back

and say you know this is more there's

more to exercise and to and to fitness

and just how you look or you know the

material things it's there's a lot more

to it a lot more deeper things that

people should be focusing on that

unfortunately in this day and age they

don't tend to be so that's where where I

am and that all came about for me I was

true my work I was doing this 30 days of

exercise and for 30 minutes for 30 days

of exercise for your improved mental

health and through that process I was

doing just my own Instagram post and

putting things up this was before the

time of mental health fitness coach so I

was just posting things off about my own

30 minutes of exercise each day and

putting little snippets up about the

benefits of exercise your mental health

and putting some bits up also about

encouraging conversations around mental

health and through that 30 days I got

lots of feedback from

my own friends and some really close

friends as well as my family and some of

my immediate family about struggles

they've had with mental health and this

was things that I had never known so it

was a big wake-up call and surprise to

me at the time when you know I was

putting these things I would thinking oh

yeah you know it's it's great for people

to exercise remember heads but meantime

I was going on not realizing that a lot

of people close to me had suffered or

were suffering with their with their

mental health so that was at the

beginning of it all for me you know it

was a real big eye-opener and from there

I just kind of thought at the time I was

a PT and looking after a gym and kind of

I look I'm in a good position here where

some people look to me for that fitness

advice and I'm sorry my former top looks

at me for that fitness advice and this

is a time where you know I'm a person

that yeah that people look to and I'll

just put that positive message out so I

started to mental health fitness coach

and it was all about just exercising for

the right reasons and it's about three

years ago now and you know back then the

the fifties and all those things were

you know at the big thing now it's booty

bends and all that and you know it's

just it's just not the reason that

people need to be exercising like you

know it just just do it for it for

yourself and for your mood and your

relationships that's that's the big

message that I try to just send out to

people and I've been doing that now for

the last yeah coming on three years now

a mental health fitness coach and it's

not really anything that I'm doing for a

good monetary sense it's just trying to

get that that message out there and so

far I think of impacted quite a few

people just through my own post if I can

have a positive impact on a few people

and that's great and if it means someone

goes out and does it hurt him in a walk

every day where they wouldn't have done

anything before and that that helps

their their daily life then you know

that's fantastic and that's kind of what

I'm hoping to achieve through all of

this that's fantastic mate so we're

first I just want to acknowledge you for

that as well because I think it's an

incredible thing that you're doing

you're encouraging people to exercise

for the right reasons so I was a fellow

PT I similar to yourself I share the

same

views that we shouldn't necessarily

exercise for that six-pack or how we

think we should look I the Instagram

model life and it is again it's my kind

of way of releasing my tensions

throughout the day it helps with mental

health myself so I think I love that

message about it but I also love and

what you touched on is that you've

managed to encourage conversation

between your friends and family who have

suffered with this mental health in

their own personal lives and I think

that's that's a testament one to

yourself that people can obviously come

out and speak to you and feel openly

comfortable about that but I think it's

something that as a society across the

world in Australia England wherever we

are

is that we need to encourage that

conversation about mental health and I

just think that's a fantastic thing and

this is one of the actual reasons that I

reached out to you specifically I seen

your messages and I just thought this

would be like a really good person to

come on and the fact that you don't do

this for the monetary sense it is to

give back it is to get value I really do

urge my listeners at the end of the show

to jump on your Instagram page and see

the messages that you're having on that

no I just wanted to ask a bit of a

personal question if you wouldn't mind

as well is Michael have you suffered

yourself from depression or are you

simply doing this because you see the

value in helping other people around you

yeah good question no I haven't and I'm

one of the lucky people who yeah I've

never had any any issue really with any

mental health whether it be depression

anxiety mood swings

anything at all so I've been I suppose

quite privileged in that sense and

that's where I'm a really really

positive person and always have been and

any because of that when I did this 30

days of exercise for 30 minutes for 30

days and I got all this feedback for my

friends and family that was when I

thought oh shit like you know I'm living

this this great life thinking it's all

good and you know I've always really

just exercised for myself and in my own

mental health how I'm feeling but all of

a sudden I was like this is actually out

there it's real and you know people are

suffering cos I've gone through my life

thinking you know everything's great you

know everyone's happy yeah nobody's okay

just like uber positive almost at a

point where I was unable to see that

this could be

happening in other people because I

suppose my own positivity blinded me to

what might be happening to others and

and I would always I would always look

to the well neither no they must be fine

that they I'm sure they'll be okay and

tell myself the good happy story but and

yeah it's really just the last few years

since I started this and moved to

Australia and I've really started to

notice this and you know thank God I've

noticed they could you know now I I'm

much more conscious of my own mental

health so when I do go through any modes

or anything like that I understand

what's going on and yeah so no luckily

for me I've never never been impacted by

any mental health things fantastic and

hopefully continues that way and you

just said yeah thank God that you

noticed it and I think definitely thank

God or whatever you believe in that you

have noticed it because now you're in a

position where you're able to help

people learn almost lift them out of

this very dark space and I say very dark

space because my mom suffered with

chronic depression for the best part of

the last eight years and prior to that

again probably similar tell you when you

first started I didn't understand mental

health it was like what have you got to

be sad about got this to look forward to

it was only recently over the last eight

years I've really kind of tried to

understand men to help myself and it's

funny that you're almost doing what I

wish I had the time to do which is

linking one of my passions which is

fitness and the other one which is I

hold very close to my heart mental

health because obviously it's affecting

my mom and you link in the two together

so that's kind of why I resonate towards

your story a lot because I'm like in

another life if I had a bit more

flexibility and a bit more time and may

if I could live in Australia as well

that would be an added bonus I would

literally be doing the same kind of

things as you so I want to ask just on

something else that you touched on there

if you wouldn't mind yeah you've always

been this happy positive person now

before we've had this show we spoke for

the best part of a minute and within a

second of seeing your face on on skype

you were you were smiling you were happy

and I was like this is gonna be a good

interview I knew straight away because

you were good vibes off almost instantly

what are the careers and stuff have you

done throughout life or what do you

think is the reason that you've always

just been happy or is it just literally

your mindset has just been programmed

that way I reckon yeah it's just my

said and it's yeah it's just the way

I've always been you know I had

extremely good parents and a really

great family there's five kids in our

family and you know I'm the youngest so

I was always supported and you know

showing Sean the right road and yeah I

guess it's just how I've always been

like I don't know any other way than to

put a smile on and have a chat to people

that I don't know and you know if

there's a top conversation that's needed

to be had with like say my staff or

someone's going through a hard time like

I'm always happy to get in and and not

things I would people but yeah I think

it's just the way I've always been it

it's not any one particular thing that

happened that you know maybe this

positive person it's just yeah lucky for

me I had a really good upbringing and

it's just the way I've been that's

fantastic man and long may it continue

because the world could definitely

benefit from more people like yourself

just to kind of spread a bit of sunshine

so yeah that's also to hear okay so

what's a general day-to-day life like

over there in Australia for yourself

yeah and I'm the same as you I love

habits and I think the biggest thing of

me is just trying to be consistent

around the good things that I do so and

I suppose I might actually answer it on

a week-to-week

that's all right yeah absolutely the

more relevant to what I do and so really

like usually on a on a Sunday or

Saturday our leader have a mental think

about what's going to happen in the week

after and I've got a spreadsheet that

I've been working off now for the last

year and a half where I scheduled my

training for the next week and so I know

exactly what I'm gonna do

Monday true to Sunday but one of the

things that I found really good for

myself to keep myself consistent with my

exercise and I'm a runner so I love to

run and so one of the things that I did

wanted a very very first thing that I

did was started pack run and I know you

guys have Perricone you know the weekly

x 5 kilometer runs yeah so that was that

was one of the first things that I

started to do me My partner and fiance

know we started doing Park run and for

me I know every Saturday at 8 a.m. on

that pack run and I'm running and that's

that's what I'm doing I think

that's a tenner 11 over in the in the UK

and I was like a little bit sleepin

create a in there but for me I know that

that's what that day is so I've tried to

build my my exercise and my running

around just habit and consistency so

Saturday is always packed on Tuesday I

run with a run Club in in part and W a

called frontrunner sports performance

and I do a Tuesday 6:00 a.m. every

single week with those guys and then I

do what R is a fight in every single

week with those guys so I kind of know

like whatever happens in life unless

something goes completely pear-shaped

Tuesday Thursday Saturday I'm running

and that's what I'm going to do so

that's one of the things that has helped

me get that consistency for probably the

last almost going on a year and a half

now probably but running in the last

year with the front runner guys on

Tuesday and Thursday and and obviously

massive improvement in my running from

that and I'm not a person that you'd

look at that would say yeah he'd be ok

at running but because of the habit that

I have of doing it every week I've just

gotten a little bit better every single

month throughout the last couple of

years and now I'm a decent runner

whereas people would look at me and go

oh he he can't run that faster he can't

do that or a lot of people always get

the question you know how have you

improved so much it's literally it's

consistency like I started to go in once

a week to Peregrine's and that's what

probably did that for three or four

months it was just once a week and then

think I sure would choose to era wins

they ran them session in there and then

it became that the Tuesday Thursday and

they're just ingrained in my daily or my

weekly routines now and so that's a big

thing for me as part of every week and

then the rest of the week from a month

at Friday I'm full-time job on my health

and fitness coordinator for local

governments in parts so and that's what

my general nine-to-five so I look after

the gym and our group fitness programs

in our community classes and I actually

love that and one of the very very very

lucky people that can say I actually

enjoy money learning and getting up and

going to work and there's

you know obviously everyone get sick at

work at time from time to time but

there's very occasions that I'm actually

not happy to go to work or be at work so

and that's my job and through the week

and the rest of the week is family my

fiance and the dogs and that's that's

her yeah that's brilliant man I suppose

you've almost found what many of us are

trying to find and you know we always

hear people getting sad on a Sunday

evening and they got work in the morning

and you've almost kind of found your way

so it's nice to see that you're having

that and you also touched on some

brilliant points again which was it's

all about consistency and one of the

things I always say is obviously we our

resort of our habits so I think that

going back to your 30 minutes a day

there I mean it's a day in the grand

scheme of things I thinking we're

excited to like two percent a day if we

can just get people to do that as a sort

of habit initially and then if it has

the effects of improving your mental

health on a long-term scale I think

we're on to a winner so on that point

alone have you got access to a sort of

30 day plan or is it's just something

that people would need to kind of go

back into your Instagram and follow into

my Instagram and follow and you know I

don't have any 30-day plans or anywhere

that I suppose that the main thing for

me with people and I've had with the gym

that I work at I've had many many

interactions with people about you know

what are they going to do to get

themselves fit and healthy and I went

through a period of weight gain where I

didn't realize I was gaining weight but

I got up to like 115 or 16 kilos but

over the last three or four years since

I started running I'm back down to 90 so

I've had a big weight loss and period

and a lot of people asking me about you

know what should they do and you know

what exercises should they do for for

this muscle and you know should I be

going how many times a week should I be

going to the gym and how many reps did I

do and how many said should I do this

exercise and I always say to people and

even when people come to a gym like do

you enjoy going to the gym and if the

answer is yes then it's like yeah yeah

okay in you go it doesn't matter what

you do pick exercises you like thick rep

ranges you like it accept ranges you

like and do that

because you're only going to be

consistent at the things you like and if

someone comes into our gym and says oh

you know I actually quite like working

out in groups send them straight to

group fitness like if someone came into

my gym and said I hate gyms

I hate group fitness classes I'd send

them straight back out the door and tell

them do something else because there's

no point in them coming towards to do

something that they're not going to

enjoy and they're not going to say

consistent that because you know you

can't sign up for a gym or an exercise

program or sports team if that's not

something that you actually enjoy like

anyone who wants to get fish you need to

do something that you enjoy and that you

can keep doing for me it's running and

occasionally lifting weights so I do

lots of running and a fair amount of

weightlifting and that's what I love

doing and so for for people like you

know if you're looking for a 30 day plan

or whatever it might be that are looking

for they need to just look into

themselves and go what I like to and

I'll you know we live done living in

Australia so there's lots of outdoor

activities you can do so someone loves

stand-up paddleboarding or golfing or

gardening or whatever it is you know so

that wasn't it that and see that and you

know make the most of that because

whether or not it's 2 percent to your

day or however long of your day it is

that you're doing this exercise for you

want to be doing something that you

enjoy and yeah it's there's too many

people and this especially with gyms and

group fitness classes and things like

that

they do it because other people do it

not because it's something that they

want to do they see someone else getting

results doing that exercise or they god

forbid they go on Instagram and they see

the top six exercises to get awesome ads

and they do those exercises and realize

that they haven't been it's really about

having a thing to yourself of what do I

enjoy doing and if you don't know what

that is just go and try a few things go

to the gym go to an outdoor class join a

sports team join a join a running club

you know try things out and whichever

one it is that you you think you enjoy

that's what you'll be consistent at so

go do that Michael I love that answer so

two things I want to point out firstly

this is why I want people to follow your

page two

learn from yourself and all these little

nuggets that you just thrown in there

but another reason that actually love

the answer is because you're confirming

everything I've been preaching myself

for the last time right so mainly

because you agree with me because I have

four pillars that I always say are my

sword when I work with my clients I

would say if we can add a to these four

pillars and they are enjoyment

sustainability consistency and hard work

and I think as long as you have a

mixture of all of those so the enjoyment

side which is literally exactly what you

explained so I think that's a really

really important point you said their

consistency we've already touched on

sustainability again if your enjoyment

and consistency are on point it's going

to be sustainable if they're gonna keep

it going

and obviously I think there is an

element that people think they don't

have to work hard and you touched on

their this the ABS exercises get abs in

three weeks by doing this it doesn't

really work like that because there's a

bit more science that goes behind it but

great answer mate and again I'm

consistently plugging your channel

because it would be nice to get the

audience to see it from a different

perspective somebody on the other side

of the world almost doing the exact same

thing and making such a positive

influence so I appreciate that answer me

thank you yes

okay so the next question is are you

gonna be quite an interesting one

because a very happy positive person but

what I want to touch on is adversity and

I use adversity in all of my episodes

because I want people to look at things

or change the perception of things and

just know that whatever situation you're

going through however difficult you may

feel it is in that particular time is

there's always a way out of it if you're

willing to persevere through it so I'm

hoping you've been through some

adversity and I mean that in the kindest

way possible me because I'm not smiling

now on the other side of it but could

you maybe take us back to a time where

things were going as well as you maybe

hoped or you went through some adversity

and how you overcame that and then

finally the lessons that you learned

from that if you wouldn't mind yeah

absolutely and yeah I haven't gone

through a massive amount of adversity in

my life would that's it I you know I've

had plenty of tougher harder times that

I've had to go it was the one for me

that

so tis so obviously I'm living in

Australia I'm came here from lard and so

about three years into when I was here I

was am working in a job and this job was

going to sponsor me to stay in the

country and just before my sponsorship

went through I reckon two weeks before

my sponsorship was all gonna go true and

everything was going to be sweet or

Center closed down and yes so the

sponsorship went out the window pretty

quick unfortunately was not sure any

fault of the employer that's the way

things went down so and yeah just just

when I thought I was yeah I'm said I'm

gonna be in Australia nothing to worry

about

got my sponsorship that'll get me my PR

we're good to go

everything kind of just set out out of

nowhere literally out of noise but I

honestly don't look back now on that

time as a time of adversity or a time

where I was under massive stress because

for me at the time I was just alright

well this has happened no matter what I

do I can't really change the outcome of

what's happened to and to the center

it's that's just the way it is so the

the first thing that I was doing was

looking for I would I need a job so I

went and saw myself some work and I went

back to construction work and that was

fine and and then it was just playing

the waiting game to see when when this

Center was going to get back opened up

see if that sponsorship was still on the

carriage and and I've had a think I

think I had four months until I had to

go home legally the contrary so yeah and

I it was it was going to be a little bit

more time until they got the centre open

and they had some roof issues that they

had to sort out so there was a lot of

construction to go on and like just but

true luck that whole period I just kind

of kept on to them and said you know

when can I get back in is it going to

happen isn't it going to happen and

there for a while there wasn't a whole

lot of talk backwards and forwards so I

just kept doing my construction stuff

away and and eventually I got back into

work and I got this I got sponsored bush

I suppose the big thing for me through

that whole

time was well look if I get sent home I

get sent home and that's just the way

it's gonna be in and I always had in the

back of my mind that it's going to sort

itself out one way or another whether

it's through work or whether something

else comes up or you know whether I get

it I think there was the option of a

partner a partner visa with my partner

at the time so you know there there was

options there and I kinda just didn't

let myself get too stressed to the

census you know I was worrying about it

all the time and just kind of got on

with things as best I could and and

luckily it all worked out and yeah I'm

just I'm still here now but it was yeah

I just kind of keep it that positive

attitude towards this and then yeah it

worked out in the end but uh I think a

good a good quote and I'm gonna call my

mom of all people in the world yeah for

this was a sudden my mom sold me heaps

of times Trudy years Witter is going for

a job or it's going to interviews or

anything that I'm racing or whatever I

was doing she'd always say what's for

you won't pass you so you know if at

that time if it if it was for me to stay

in Oz and you know to go on to be where

I am now then that's what it was going

to be if that's not what how it was time

to work out then something else will pop

up that would be you know just as good

or better

so really it's you know anytime we do a

job interview or anything like that or

especially if I don't get a job

I always think well that clearly wasn't

for me so if it was I would have got it

kind of yeah on to the next thing

that's fantastic me then it's funny you

said that quote and I resonated with

this straightaway because my nan so she

doesn't speak English but she speaks

Punjabi but these direct words that your

mom says she says the same quote so

she's a very religious person and she's

always had that philosophy sure but

actually she's starting to remind me a

little bit of yourself and I mean that

with utmost respect because she's always

smiling she's always happy and she's

been through a hell of a lot of

adversity in life but she's always

saying you know whatever's meant to be

is meant to be if you meant to have

something come in your life will happen

if you're not you're not so I think

that's a brilliant way and it's probably

what

kept her going so long so very wise

words from my cause mom so appreciate

that me do you have that do you have

that quote in your grandma's words I

you're testing my Punjabi haha yeah yeah

maybe one for our line may I try and get

you a translation I don't wanna

embarrass myself live online yeah yeah

huge you won't be too happy with my

pronunciation but yeah if it is exactly

the same but I think that's brilliant I

think it's a testament to the way that

you think always got that positive

outlet you're always looking at things

as in just the way that I wish

everybody's in it rather then me if I'm

completely honest five years ago would

have seen that as oh my god the whole

world's falling down I'm so close to get

my sponsorship it's almost falling their

minds I would go through the rephrase

you're just kind of got that in the back

of your head so consciously you're

thinking it's all gonna work out and I'm

really glad it has so in this current

situation now things are going well for

you what scares you in life do you have

any fears and do I have any serious it's

a good question and I don't think I do

like you know I if anything I'll worry

about other people more than I worry

about myself so I'd you know I kind of

want to make sure that I was good with

with my close mates and my fiance and my

family and you know some of my sisters

are pregnant at the moment so you know

it's the only things I worry about her

are all those guys and you know checking

in and then to make sure everything's

going okay but now personally for myself

I don't really uh kind of hold strong

similans

mums advice of you know if it's for you

won't pass you and kind of keep keep

pushing forward and yeah if that's a

good answer

no not absolutely my absolutely

definitely so are you telling me you're

not scared of all the again I'm speaking

as a Brit here we hear all the stories

of the snakes and the spiders in

Australia

does anything like that ever scare you

or ever hear of a red back a red back

spider not very little that little

spiders with a red back they're pretty

fierce looking they're they're small

small little things we get lots of

around my house we get tons of them so

there's lots of and he has brain spray

red backs around here but no of my hair

funny the way my brother-in-law was is

scared and worried about coming over

here and sitting on a toilet boner and

water being underneath it when he catch

you for the yeah look lovely that's them

it's pretty unlikely and I've never come

across too many snakes any more a rod I

guess if I was to say one thing I

suppose on on fear and it's not really

fear for me but it's just for again for

other people it's the current age of

social media and the influence that

social media influencers have you know

so many people are drawn in by these

influencers and you know they take what

they're saying for fur gospel almost and

you know they they you have people

buying these fit tees and you have

people buying to these 30 day programs

and all these detoxes and you know

there's lots of people that are preying

on people's fears and emotions and

getting to sign up to these programs and

to be honest it's a real big issue and

it's what is one of the main reasons as

I said in my page was just to have an

alternative option of the the quick

fixes and things like this because

there's so many people that and

especially at our gym and and you know

friends of mine and I see other people

putting things up like everyone thinks

that these things work and that there's

you know there's something to it pushes

you know a quick quick thing gonna so

ferrets it's it's a worry the the

current state of the fitness industry

online you know that I think the fitness

industry in Australia on the ground

level is really good and really positive

and there's lots of people doing great

things but the the online influence of

people who have no experience in health

and fitness is yeah extremely worrying

hopefully with people like you and

things that I'm doing you know it yeah

the common sense approach will will win

out in the end

absolutely may I think you just hit

something that again I resonate with is

find it so annoying that these

influences are in a position where they

have so much impact and they're just

been unethical and they're not being

authentic in their message and they're

selling these cookie cut programs or

they're saying you can look like me if

you do this in six months and I'm

looking at him and I'm like you're

obviously on something that's not

natural for example you've been doing

this for 15 years and you're just trying

to almost manipulate people and to

believe in it and it's not just the

fitness industry to be honest so I'm

involved as a property investor as a

full-time occupation and even within

that there is a massive massive market

of people and the shame is is that they

have so much influence who prey on

people who are in an almost like a

desperation phase and when you're

desperate you're almost clinging on to

anything and it's just reassuring to

know that there are people like

yourselves out there who have this

amazing energy about you and you just

honest and authentic and this is a

reason I do my show it's to give people

a voice who aren't influences who I

genuinely believe can make a positive

impact on the world because I genuinely

believe if my audience however smaller

is or however big it grows follows you

they're gonna get authentic information

information that and I don't mean this

because I say similar stuff I mean it is

because we understand the basics behind

it and it's nice that you're trying to

make an impressive but it's funny isn't

it because on one end we're looking at

these influences and thinking that the

way Instagram and Facebook and stuff is

it's it's almost damaging to people's

self-esteem Ament to half but at the

same time we also need it to preach our

message and to get our voice heard to

try and help people absolutely so yeah

yeah it's a funny one so what is your

motivation then moving forward for your

business is it to enhance your voice to

get out there to impact more lives or do

you have another underlying motivation

behind the word that you do yeah look I

just want to keep doing what I'm doing

you know every one person that I thought

I impact positively is you know it's for

me that's that's the ultimate goal is

just to have a small little impact on

people's lives whether it's someone

starts doing it you know a tiny bit of

exercise that they've never done before

or whether it's someone else has a chat

that I made about the mental health who

they think isn't doing so well you know

I just want to keep pushing the message

out there and

as far as I'd like to get a little bit

more active on social media given your

full time job and this is just something

I do on the side I'm probably not as

active or putting out as good a content

as I'd like to at the moment but I just

want to keep keep growing the the

audience and make sure that the message

is reaching as many people as we can and

you know maybe one day start podcasting

or doing something similar to what

you're in here and chatting to people

about their own experience of mental

health and Howard are our only

experienced mental health exercises has

positively impacted that and which yeah

for now it's kind of keep going as we're

going yeah absolutely

I think you'd be an amazing advocate for

both mental health and fitness so if you

do get the time and capacity later on

absolutely doing if I can help in any

way in terms of like setting up a

podcast or anything please do reach out

and I'll try my best to help you buddy

not a problem that a stress so we're

actually at the the fun part of the show

now this is the part where I'm gonna ask

Michael all sorts of weird and wonderful

questions let me know when you're ready

and we're gonna hit the time wrap then

we're gonna get started it's not okay

we're gonna go in three two one

okay Michael what did you eat for

breakfast nothing if you could really

live one day again what day would it be

oh the day I met my partner the ability

to fly or be invisible invisible who do

you admire most in the world and oh god

that's good question I've no idea

do I admire most in the world oh geez my

mom I love it when your fame mmm money

your proudest moment

dropping on one knee your favorite food

hates it speak or languages will be able

to speak to animals or speak to animals

100% if you could abolish one thing in

the world what would it be

oppression what some best describes your

life there is a song that I can't think

of it don't worry be happy whatever that

song got made that is a hundred percent

you

okay if you had an extra hour a day how

would you spend it with my partner

Netflix or YouTube Netflix your

number-one goal this year have a

positive impact if you could sit with

one person in the world for an hour who

would it be

rock your worst fear as a child these as

being too tall I'm 6 4 but I've been

think forces I was around 6 Wow okay

what is your biggest addiction Netflix

and finally buddy read minds or predict

the future read - love it ok that's the

end of the quickfire round so we got to

know especially when you've got like no

time to think as well so I was just

interested yes it but yeah some good

choices there everyone loves pizza and I

think I haven't found anyone yet who

doesn't like the rock ok but it's all

we've got fine or 2 questions now we're

coming towards the kind of end of the

show and the next thing I like to always

ask my guess is more about reflection so

I am a firm believer that hindsight is a

wonderful thing in terms of it teaches

us a lot he teaches us how we can get to

places quicker easier or with less

heartache now knowing you now as a

person you're very positive and you

haven't been through I suppose that much

adversity but if you could perhaps go

back to a younger michael hayes knowing

everything you know now and whisper

something in that may be uncertain young

version of yourself what would you say

and mental health is real I'd like to

have known a lot more about mental

health and being able to make an impact

earlier I think yeah absolutely I think

the world would have benefited so much

as well if you knew but I'm just

grateful I'm sure people listening to

this are as well that you're making an

impact now and on that note we are

actually on our last question of the

show and the last question again I

always like to ask all of my guess it's

about legacy and if science fails to

save us all and all that is left is a

book and that book is about Michael

Hayes and everything you've achieved in

your life and all the great weird and

before things that you've accomplished

firstly what would the title will say

and secondly what would the blurb at the

back tell us about you and the title

would say keep it simple stupid the back

would probably go along the lines of and

this bloke managed to convince everybody

that the simple things done consistently

and with a little bit of hard work make

all the difference I love that I love it

mate thank you thank you for sharing

that I think just that title alone would

definitely make me pick up the book just

to kind of think about the last

fantastic okay Michael so just before we

end the show I want to give again I've

been plugging it all the way through

this episode I want to give the audience

a chance to follow you on your journey I

think you're a very infectious positive

person I've really enjoyed this

conversation

you've got me out of my seat I was a bit

lethargic this morning had two cups of

coffee but I'm thinking about the rest

of the day so if you could tell us where

our audience can find you and what I'll

do is I'll play all of that together and

I'll put it into the show notes because

I believe you're gonna do incredible

things and you already are so far away

mate oh my cheers thanks for that and

yeah so on Instagram it's at mental

health fitness coach and Facebook just

searched mental health fitness coach and

I'll pop up on both of those I'm

actually on YouTube as well as mental

health fitness coach and there's a few

interviews that I did in the past and

one of them was with the CEO of are you

okay which is a company - an Australian

company that's are encouraging

conversations around mental health and

that's quite a good one to go and look

at and that's actually a really good

resource for anyone in the UK as well

and who are you okay just the letter are

you and then okay and that's that's one

that yeah it's probably one of the best

ones that we have in Australia so for

starting conversations and how I start a

conversation with a friend and what to

say

and it's a unbelievable resource so I'd

go check that as well be a bit

mental health fitness coach everywhere

else is where you'll finally fantastic

and we spoke I think earlier this week

you've also got another podcast so I

don't normally plug another podcast into

this but I think it'd be really nice for

people to get to know even more so what

I'll also do is I'll put that in the

show notes as well or are you okay in

there as well because again this is

something that I'll follow personally

Michael it's been an absolute pleasure

thank you for your time today and for

everyone else at home thanks for

listening today thank you and remember

this podcast is absolutely free so all

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awesome day

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