Lee Mullins is one of the most sought-after personal trainers in the world and the co-founder of Workshop Gymnasiums, which are located at Bulgari hotel properties around the world, including Dubai. His clientele include business leaders, senior executives and VIPs.
Workshop is one of the fastest growing health and lifestyle companies in the world, focused on offering clients pioneering health and wellness expertise. A fully integrated methodology allows clients to make meaningful, long-lasting changes to how they look and feel.
2020 is a ‘big number’ year, with many individuals using its arrival as a motivator to effect changes and introduce improvements. Is the beginning of a new year a good time to look at goals and set targets?
This is really based on the individual and their own personal circumstances. For some people the start of a new year is the most motivating time and they should throw themselves into healthier routines and habits. For some, the new year can be one of the most hectic times of the year, and so for these individuals I would recommend the slow and steady approach, introducing smaller, easier to action changes so as to not overwhelm them, while moving in the right direction and not setting them up for failure.
There are challenges that are particular to executive lifestyles in making space for fitness. What are common hurdles that you see and how do you guide your clients in overcoming these?
The common hurdles I have seen with our CEO and executive clients across the globe is the constant travel and jet lag. This tends to throw their exercise and healthy eating habits up in the air (no pun intended).
The leadership trait I see that allows for successful results is a concept of “Win the morning, win the day”. How I see this translate into health and fitness routines is that these individuals all have some sort of morning routine that they follow and do not compromise or deviate away from.
For some, this may be that they wake up and train every day at 6am no matter what, for some it may be that they fast until 12pm, for others it may be a 10-minute stretching routine they perform every morning. The clients who I have successfully been able to assist in managing the demands of running a business, staying in shape and balancing all the other demands that come with personal and business life, have morning routines that set them up to perform their best throughout the day.
Getting in the right mindset to effect change – what are your top tips for this?
Identify your “Why”. I’m not the first person to say this and I certainly won’t be the last but you have to identify your “Why” to stick to lasting, effective change, and more often than not, it has to be something bigger than you, whether it’s your family, your kids, a specific cause etc, but identifying your “Why” is one of the most impactful motivators for change.
For those who are a little older, beginning a new wellness routine can seem like a daunting task. What do you advise more senior clients to do when considering meaningful and lasting lifestyle changes that may intimidate them?
Go to Youtube and see the thousands of people over 50 who change their health every day. It is never too late. If you’re reading this, would you ever say to your kids that it’s too late? That they’ve run out of time to change or learn something new? I assume you wouldn’t, so why would you be the exception?
The sad reality is a lot of the life-changing transformations that happen to those over 50 more often come about due to a health scare to themselves or to a loved one, and sometimes this can be a blessing as it leads to much healthier habits and routines.
How does Workshop Gymnasium tailor its programme offering to busy people and their schedules?
By understanding their reality and providing easy to implement routines that set clients up for a win. What I mean by that is when providing training, nutrition and recovery recommendations, we take into consideration as much information that the client can disclose, including their travel schedule, jet lag, recent training frequency, and ultimately their likes and dislikes.
This is where Workshop differs from more of the bigger group training offerings like a Crossfit, which will have the WOD (workout of the day) which everyone following that system would follow. The limitation of this is that it doesn’t take into consideration all of the other lifestyle components mentioned earlier.
This approach works every time if you’re training robots, but we are working with humans who have to manage jet lag, time limitations and so on.