Protect The Asset E12 - Jason Ahipene - Creating the capacity to do the things you love.

My guest this week is Jason Ahipene.

Jason is the head gymnastics strength and mobility coach at movement co in Perth, Western Australia. 


Jase was working an unfulfilling office job, when he found Calisthenics. 


He started training himself in the playgrounds around Perth learning to do muscle ups, back levers, front levers, and more his passion for body weight training led him into coaching. 


He started out at a 24 hour gym and teaching handstand in gymnastics rings classes at a yoga studio. 


In the beginning, Jase was working with an array of different clients who had different goals. 


Although his passion was Calisthenics. It took him some time, but Jason ended up finding his tribe and working with more and more clients who wanted to learn body weight skills. 


We speak about Jason’s transition into personal training, the long hours, the low pay and the grind. We also talk about the launch of movement Co and some of the valuable lessons Jason and his colleagues learned as the gym business started to grow. 


Jase is certainly a passionate coach who loves the analytical side of coaching. He's all about the details, finding the next challenge and learning new skills. And boy, does he have some skills, an inspiration to all of us in our forties. 


He'll love me saying that. 


Anyway. It's nice to finally connect with Jason and hear more about his story. 


So I hope you enjoy this episode with Jason. Ahipene 


[00:01:32] Jason Ahipene: it's a funny one because every time I'm asked my occupation, I sort of pause for a moment and think, how do I answer this? I mean, yeah, I'm a personal trainer. But I don't think of myself in the view that most people probably think of a personal trainer. 


[00:01:50] As in the short answer would be, I teach like recreational strength. Gymnastics and mobility training to people. And then people go, okay, so what does that mean? And that's when I sort of talk about like gymnastic rings and and like calisthenics with bars and, and, and handstand type stuff, you know? 


[00:02:09] And then just mobility being, you know, people are saying, you might guess go particularly do splits and, and things like that. It's never really a completely short answer because it always comes loaded with questions after that. 


[00:02:21] Stretch: yeah, I can, I can resonate with that mate. When we introduce ourselves as coaches and trainers, people generally have those follow up questions about what they should eat and all these other things come with 


[00:02:30] Jason Ahipene: that isn't. 


[00:02:31] Oh trying well 


[00:02:34] Stretch: yeah, that's it mate. And you're also a dad and got some kids or how many kids 


[00:02:38] Jason Ahipene: are you? Look, I've only got the one presently. Yeah. However she is 14 and eyeballing me these days. So, you know, like she's wonderful. Like all teenagers come with their own unique challenges. Let's say, yeah. 


[00:02:53] Kids challenge you in every way throughout their entire life. 


[00:02:56] Stretch: I'm sure if we could re rewind then and talk about, you know, maybe what you were doing before you became a coach and what got you into, you know, coaching in the first place. 


[00:03:06] Jason Ahipene: You know, like it's a funny thing. 


[00:03:08] Like I, I sort of, I was working in corporate sort of offices. It was originally federal government behind the scenes sort of stuff for CentreLink. And then I moved into the resources sector into what's called like document, document control or information management which is as exciting as it sounds And I did that for a while. 


[00:03:31] I'm like, Hey the resources sector and Perth, it's you get great income, you know? It, it certainly has its benefits and its advantages, but it wasn't exactly very fulfilling. I'd always had that thought about, you know, I, I enjoyed physical things like sports and training and stuff from when I was a kid, I did a little bit of gymnastics did karate for about seven years. 


[00:03:56] Then after I sort of got my black belt and at the age of 13 and started to want to do some other things that did like touch rugby, play rugby at school you know, and then out of school, it was, did a bit of body building style training because. Really when I started going to gym, that's all anybody ever knew about as well? 


[00:04:16] Like, you know, just like chess day back day, you know, arm day, like went back to playing rugby became a dad, ended up doing a marathon. Oh, some half marathons in marathon after realizing that I didn't wanna keep playing rugby anymore. And then there was a bit of a period of time. I did the marathon, I just went, what the, what am I gonna do now? 


[00:04:41] Like, I, I wanna, I wanna keep training. I didn't wanna go back inside the gym. I enjoyed being outdoors with the running stuff. But I just knew that Running marathons and trying to get just faster. It wasn't gonna sustain me. Long term I needed something that I actually had to like really challenge me. 


[00:04:59] And as then that I was, I was still working in the, the office job, came across some Calis stuff online. I think it was like Frank Madrano, and Hannibal, K it Richards and like the Alba Danica alow, those sorts of guys. I saw these guys doing really cool stuff and they were, they were all adults as well. 


[00:05:18] So it wasn't like I was watching some gymnast kids, you know, training. And they were just training in like random looking playground park sort of areas. So I thought, you know what, I'm just, I'm just gonna try that out. You know, I'm gonna run down to the park in the morning before anybody else in the family's up and I'm gonna try and do some pull-ups and dips and, and what have you, because I didn't know anywhere else I could do it. 


[00:05:40] There was no gyms. There was you know, no, no places that had just single solitary bars to work on. You know gyms were very much machines, so, and it kept me outdoors and it meant that I was, you know, Out and about early in the morning, got my training done. Then, then you could go to work and be dead afterwards. 


[00:05:59] Stretch: You're starting to show your age, your age now, mate. 


[00:06:01] Jason Ahipene: Ah, mate. Yeah. Yeah. I'm no, no. Sapling here been around for a while. 


[00:06:07] Stretch: Your, your story's very similar to mine. I was I was busy training for marathons before I came, you know, into the idea of becoming a personal trainer. 


[00:06:14] And I was working in corporate at the same time as I was doing the marathon training. And I think off the back of, you know, marathon training, I was like, wow, this health and fitness stuff is to me. Or I wanna go down this path. I probably stuck at the endurance sports a little longer than you, but yeah, it didn't, it didn't keep obviously rewarding me. 


[00:06:30] Like it sounds like it didn't for you. So anyway, you, you you've started training Calisthenics. You've got down to the park, you you're doing all this sort of stuff. How did that lead to, you know, becoming a coach. 


[00:06:38] Jason Ahipene: So initially for probably most of the first year, I was sort of just training in random parks playgrounds actually. I'd be there at like 6:00 AM in the morning, or like earlier than that, like 5:00 AM in the morning if it summertime. And so that way I, I wouldn't be that weird old guy over playground while a kid, you know, trying to kick the kids off there. 


[00:07:02] And so like, I, I sort of, I went through, I taught myself how to do some muscle ups and some levers and stuff like back levers and flags. I really, really, really wanted to always do that, the human flag but then like, you know, with social creatures and it got to this point of, so. It would be nice to actually be doing this with other people. 


[00:07:23] And then I just started meeting people who were sort of interested whether turn to crap. It started raining in Perth and I was like, well, I can't train outdoors very much. So I went and joined a gym that actually had a setup where I could go and train flags on and stuff like that that had a functional training zone. 


[00:07:37] And of course back then as well, you know, this is, this is a while ago, nine or 10 years ago. Now people would turn around and be going, what is that guy doing over there? And then some people would just think, okay, that's weird. I'm not interested in that. And then you get other people would go. I've seen that. 


[00:07:54] I'm starting to do it too. You know, you start to build a little bit of a community from there. And I don't know, like this, as you would know, this type of training is It's heavily skill based and it takes quite a bit of analysis. And, and if you don't have somebody there actually teaching you the finer aspects of it, you go through a lot of periods of time where you're just sucking at something to try and figure out how it works, you know? 


[00:08:21] And because I've been doing it for a bit longer than some of the people that I was coming across, I, I tended to just try and help them where I, where I could. So they could prosper from the mistakes I'd already made and believe me I've made many. And then I realized well, it made me remember actually as well, when I was doing karate at such a young age, I used to teach quite a bit of the classes as well. 


[00:08:41] And. Strangely enough for somebody who's usually a bit more towards shy side, particularly when I was younger. Now that changes as you grow older. Right? I, I realized that the, the side of me that it always likes to help and, and, you know analyze things was really good with movements and analyzing how a movement works, how it should be working, what somebody's being able to spot, what people are doing. 


[00:09:10] And I ended up just sort of like teaching friends how to do stuff. And then from there I was like, well, I'm really starting to get sick of being desk bound. Maybe I should do my, you know, personal training course. Get that done sort of while I've got a, a well paying job do a part-time. You know, get qualified and then maybe see if that takes me somewhere else. 


[00:09:31] Even if it was just teaching people part-time while I was still working at least it would be an outlet from what I was doing. But then it sort of just became a thing that actually sort of took over to the point where I went, you know what, I'm gonna, I'm gonna make the leap. I I've met other people who are interested in this and at the time body weight started to become this thing that more and more people were getting interested. 


[00:09:51] I think CrossFit actually had a lot to do with that as well. Got people into the the gymnastics style of training as well. And it just sort of, it seemed like the right time to, just to take a chance. 


[00:10:01] Stretch: Yeah. Awesome mate. 


[00:10:02] Yeah. With that Calisthetics training, it sounds like you were pretty much self taught or just YouTube videos. 


[00:10:07] Is that how you learn yourself or did you ever invest in a teacher? 


[00:10:10] Jason Ahipene: Tutorials? Pretty much. And just watching things over and over to try and pick up. Where, how people were making those movements possible? I I'm pretty obsessive when it comes to that sort of thing. And I will watch things obsessively until I can figure it out and put it into practice. 


[00:10:30] I did, you know, so because there was nobody else around and I, I took a while to meet people. The, the first sort of period of time, the first year to two years was me just training and training with other people. And then when you start watching other people, you start to recognize a few more things. 


[00:10:49] And as you know, as a, as a coach, the longer that goes on the quick you spot spot different things. I think that it just, after a couple of years of training, I did go and do a calisthenics course with the Cabela brothers when they were in Melbourne. A and Danny Kavalo and, and that was really cool, but what it actually solidified for me was that I actually did have some idea of what I was talking about. 


[00:11:15] Most of the stuff they were teaching, I had already had some aspect of, or I could actually do the thing. But it was just a great way to get out there and meet more people as well. Yeah. You know, community is a big thing when it comes to friends. Yeah. And, and getting people into a community. 


[00:11:29] Stretch: Yeah, definitely made a hundred percent agree with that. 


[00:11:31] You know, I think at that time that's when I was going through the CrossFit stuff as well, and CrossFit was what introduced me to gymnastics as it was as well. So I'd always struggled to keep up with the bigger guys when the barbells and the heavy weights came out. But when it was body weight workout, leave them in the dust. 


[00:11:46] Jason Ahipene: Definitely plays a part, you know, like, you know get a big dude. He can curl some, some metal around very easy, you know? But it might struggle, you know, keeping up with somebody more explosive and smaller. 


[00:11:57] Stretch: So talk to us a little bit about this transition. 


[00:11:58] So you've, you know, you're working in the office, you've got a young family at the time. You've got this passion for calisthenics and body weight movement. You're exploring the idea of becoming a coach. Was this transition quick? Did you just go, okay, I'm gonna jump in this and find out what happens or was it a slow transition and starting to ramp things up? 


[00:12:15] Jason Ahipene: It's it started sort of slowly. I so I was pretty fortunate in that. One of the parks that I used to train at was actually attached to my, my daughter's primary school. So. As you start to know parents and stuff, being, you know, being a parent, you know, in the local sort of community, people would see me training and a lot of them actually used to attend like a step into life class. 


[00:12:38] And so I sort of got to know the, the owner of that sort of that area. And I ended up teaching a few classes, you know, sort of running along their script, but I was given a little bit of leeway to try and improve general strength as well. Which meant that there were some people a little bit unhappy when I was correcting them on their pushups, finding out that they were going from 20 to zero on their toes. 


[00:13:03] But, and, and then gradually I sort of met the guys at air yoga. Now. They were pretty much the first, I guess, movement type studio that was in Perth. We've got quite a few now. And they taught gymnastic rings handstands, and they taught aerial yoga. I didn't teach aerial yoga stuff at as such. 


[00:13:22] But I did teach gymnastic rings and handstand with them, but they mentor mentored me a bit through handstands and, and gymnastic rings as well, because most of my training had been on the bars and the park and stuff like that. So rings were a new thing for me at the time. And definitely something that was reasonably humbling as well. 


[00:13:41] You know, you, you think you're great at one thing, and then you jump up on a set of rings and you can barely stay still. Because your stablizers aren't there, you know. 


[00:13:48] Just to probably finish off that question. I was, so that, that was just, I started teaching those classes part-time I did that for a while. And then it started to one of the projects that I was working on was starting to wind down in the resources sector. And there had been a gym that had opened up a jet gym that had opened up directly across the road from my house. 


[00:14:09] And so I'd started training in there as well, and talked a bit to the owner and She was, she was great. She was really onboard with trying to get people to do something different. They had like a functional bar set up in there, but nobody really used it or really knew the things that they could utilize it for. 


[00:14:28] So she was very encouraging about getting me on board as a trainer over there. So when the project that I was on wound up, I just, I thought to myself, I don't, I don't, I can, you know, like resources was quieting down a bit. I thought this, if I'm gonna make the jump and it's a bit of a scary jump going from a way, well paid salary where you're, you know, earning thousands of dollars a week for not a hell of a lot of work, to be honest not, not particularly stretching you anyway to having to go well now I need to make money. 


[00:15:03] Just by offering my experience and, and coaching people. And that's not a given. Mm. So I had the classes there already that I was teaching part-time and then I just started quitting hours. And before I even left the the resources sector. So that way I could start. Being known. Yeah. As fortunate I was already training there anyway. 


[00:15:21] So you train at a place, people see what you're doing, they start getting interested. So, yeah. 


[00:15:26] Stretch: That brings up an interesting point, mate, cuz like we say like right now Calisthenics the handstand, the movement sort of culture, everything that's happening in the industry, you know, it's pretty well known and there are a lot of people, a lot of coaches, you know, working in this area right now, but that back then it was definitely something new. 


[00:15:42] So how did you find you know, your clients, were you just teaching them this style of training or were you also doing body composition and weights training just to get enough clients or how did you start to introduce, you know, this Calisthenics and handstands idea to, you know, jets in the gym that you are working in? 


[00:15:58] Jason Ahipene: So I mean I think like everybody, you, you have some clients who, who are really just interested. I wanna do something new, I'm bored with what I'm doing. I want to do what you are doing. It looks interesting. It looks fun. And it looks like a challenge, you know? And then I, I did have the other people, I, I, who I would just take through like sessions where I'd just pad up for 'em and do boxing sort of stuff. 


[00:16:22] Or I'd just take them through some weights training or just the general sort of, I guess what we think of when we think of the personal trainer in most commercial gyms in that you would be trying to get them a little bit fitter, trying to get them, their body composition, to something that they are more comfortable with. 


[00:16:41] But I, I generally started to skew more towards having clients who wanted what I was doing. And it, that just sort of continued to grow the more that some other clients would see. Oh, well, you know, he's been teaching that, that person there and. All of a sudden, they've now got a muscle up or I've seen that they're starting to, you know, get pretty close to actually doing a flag, for example, or a handstand. 


[00:17:07] When, when that starts to happen, it starts to build by itself without you having to push, push for it or walk around trying to bring clients into what you're doing. Yeah. Yeah. It takes a little bit of time. 


[00:17:20] Stretch: Yeah. So, so like right now I talk to a lot of coaches about nicheing down and choosing a niche and the specific type of clients that they wanna work with. 


[00:17:27] For you, it sounds like that was just a natural progression. Maybe the niche chose you instead of you. Yeah. Choosing the niche, obviously you enjoyed, you know, training those clients more like that's where your passion lied. 


[00:17:40] Jason Ahipene: Yeah. 


[00:17:40] Stretch: Did, what was the ratio? Did it start quite low and then just overtake it? 


[00:17:44] Or did you find that? Okay. Cause people knew what you did. You sort of started 50, 50, or how did, how did it sort of begin in terms of, you know, your clients and what they wanted? 


[00:17:52] Jason Ahipene: I'd say you were probably more likely 30/70. Like 30%. And you gotta think like this is a, a jets gym, which is, you know, people pay a small amount of money to have the convenience of a 24 hour gym that they can almost go to feel better about themselves for having gone, but not even really actually put in the huge effort. 


[00:18:17] So I guess a lot of people are a little bit shy about doing something in a space like that. That seems a bit different or, or fear of failure as well. So I think it was about 30, 70, 30% people who just came directly to me going, I wanna do that, that that's what I wanna do, what you are doing right now. 


[00:18:35] That's interesting to me. And then the rest of them were sort of general training. You know or, or like boxing set of training, just stuff that keep fit feel good. Yeah. Yeah. And that's fair. This type of, training's not for everybody. 


[00:18:48] Stretch: It's very patient, isn't it? It takes a lot of time. There's not that ins instant gratification sometimes. 


[00:18:52] Jason Ahipene: No. 


[00:18:53] Yeah. It might be good. It something reasonably quickly, but then all of a sudden, as soon to go to the that next step for you, it's just a grind. 


[00:19:01] Stretch: Did did personal training live up to your expectations? Like you've left this corporate job getting paid? Well, you stepped into this, you know, this career and you know, you talk a little bit about the finances and the money situation, but what about the enjoyment of the job? 


[00:19:16] Like, did it live up to your expectations? 


[00:19:19] Jason Ahipene: Enjoyed the job? I mean, and like, I guess this happens to all. Face to face trainers. Definitely. And, and probably look trainers at any stage, or particularly at the beginning stage of their career is that you are doing a lot of work and not necessarily being rewarded in the same financial way that you would at some other occupations. 


[00:19:39] There's a, there's a lot of having to try and just meet some or create some sort of demand that actually will mean you'll get rewarded. And, and also just burning the can both end, you know, like you end up working some pretty in-hospital hours you know, or doing the, the morning shifts, the evening shifts. 


[00:20:01] And then you spend your time alone by yourself in the middle of the day. Either trying to catch up on sleep or catch up on food or, or prep yourself or what's happening in the afternoon. And then you see your family or people that you care about after that. So it's, you know, you, there's those factors to weigh up there and they can weed down. 


[00:20:21] I think it'd be pretty hard to just do that forever, in my opinion, just having a family and, and those sorts of things. And in the first, well, in the first few years, and even when we opened up with movement code uh, you, we just, we were working six days a week. Mm. You know, and, and lots of hours and mornings of nights. 


[00:20:44] And sometimes you'd feel like you're a bit of a zombie and then your your, your profession as well is very much. Based upon your physical skills that you also possess and being able to give those pH, like help guide people towards those physical skills that they, that they want. So I probably I'd say for the first few years I was, I, I really loved what I did, but there were times where I just found it incredibly draining as. 


[00:21:11] Stretch: I think it's a common story for a lot of coaches, the, the adrenaline and the, and the excitement about the job carries us through you know, maybe it's 12 months, maybe it's two years, but you know, like you say, the long working hours, the unsociable hours, the little pay, all these things start to add up over time. 


[00:21:25] And, you know, every coach I talk to it's, they they've they've experienced burnout or been close to burnout, or it's been multiple times, you know, where, where they've burnt out because of the way, you know, the industry is set up and it doesn't really support the health and wellbeing, you know, of it staff which is a real shame. 


[00:21:41] How many years were you at jets? And then let's start to maybe talk a little bit about, you know, the birth of movement co and how that came all about, 


[00:21:47] Jason Ahipene: Look, I actually, I wasn't At jets for an incredibly long time, really, by the time that movement co actually started to open up I'd say it was probably only a little bit shy of a year actually. 


[00:21:58] Then movement co arrived and I, I continued doing some amount of classes at air yoga, but then eventually just became working in the one space, which is, you know, for a lot of coaches in this sort of arena is probably a rarity that you just work in one space entirely. Often people are jumping around from, you know, two to three places or teaching in park and teaching over here and then teaching a little bit there as well. 


[00:22:26] But we tried to create a, a place where it was. More of a salary for the main coaches with incentives to try and incentivize the business to grow as well. Having said that, I mean, as I've mentioned to you before, like we made lots of mistakes, we did all the things that everybody, you know, goes through, giving away stuff for free and finding out that people who get stuff for free often just to then go to the next place, expecting something for free as well. 


[00:22:55] They don't really invest takes a long time to work out those, those things that either help you grow or, or basically will see you ultimately fail. There's a lot of burnout in this industry and with good reason, it's a tough industry to actually make things work. Hmm. 


[00:23:11] Stretch: Did, did you, did you have any business coaching or was someone in the staff, in the staff at movement co were they like business mind or were you just like a group of trainers, love training, wanted to get, you know, this style of training out there and were like, let's open a gym. 


[00:23:24] Jason Ahipene: So initially I met Jacob, so Jacob's the, the CEO of movement co he's really the guy that actually made it all happen. I met him when we were doing our training certifications. He started coming along like, you know, I was teaching some of the guys that were on our course how to do muscle ups and stuff. 


[00:23:44] And, and Jacob likes to do some triathlons. He went and did some parkcore did some calisthenics. But he also has a bit of a, a bit of an engineering brain actually. So. Love spreadsheets loves calculations all that sort of stuff. 


[00:24:01] He met a couple of guys who were teaching adult gymnastics Harry, who was very much on his way to becoming one of her first one arm hand balances. And who was really passionate about that came from a yoga slash skateboarding background, which is interesting in itself. Met and park core coaches, climbing coaches and Jacob had done quite a bit of weightlifting. 


[00:24:22] So it was just this amalgamation of ideas and we just sort of said, well, wouldn't it be really cool if you could actually take. Weightlift and parkcore and Calisthenics, gymnastics, handstands, and, and climbing which are all these separate disciplines, but have some interpersonal things going on there and, and put them in one big space. 


[00:24:42] So it was just this idea of, I guess, wanting to be able to do all of the things that any of us were interested, but altogether and teach people how to do that. And so he, he had business coaches he sort of left us guys to try and make sure that the classes were were the people that were in the classes were being engaged and learning and, and creating like the class content. 


[00:25:07] But he was sort of the driving force behind. Making sure the business actually operated you know, we had, you know, quite a few meetings beforehand spoke to friends friend who was an accountant, like, you know, look, if this is something that we put ahead, is it a feasible option? Anything's feasible as an idea. 


[00:25:25] It's whether you are, you know, willing to make it work. And thankfully we have, I mean, it's seven, we're coming up to seven years in now. But it's by no means there's completely simple thing where we're like, you know, it's just, it's all gonna continue to work from here. It's a constant evolution. 


[00:25:44] You know, and, and trying out things and, and implementing the things that we have tried out before that we know that work. Yeah. And avoiding the ones that we know that don't. 


[00:25:53] Stretch: Yeah. 


[00:25:53] Awesome. Awesome. So how feasible, let's say, was it at the start? Like you guys have all come together, it sounds like you've got some different backgrounds there, some different experts and different things. 


[00:26:02] And you're trying to teach such a variety of different things. How did that initial uptake go with members and how did the business sort of grow? 


[00:26:10] Jason Ahipene: Well, so we sort of quickly figured out that there were some things that were very sellable to the adult, recreational, you know, fitness, public handstands gymnastics and calisthenics which really, when we had two different titles, we were teaching the same thing. And weight lifting was already something that people were already interested in. It wasn't really the thing that people came to us for so much. It was really about body weighted handstand initially parkcore and climbing like climbing we couldn't really compete with climbing gyms. 


[00:26:42] There's quite a lot of really big, great climbing gyms around here. And we only had like, you know, a few walls set up. So we, we sort of found that that wasn't really something that we continued to grow as a main discipline. We kept it on for a little while as just a smaller aside and parkcore for adults. 


[00:27:00] Like the, we sort of found that, that interested a few people, but it wasn't everybody. It certainly wasn't something where we could go, let's throw in a 6:00 AM parkcore class. And expect anybody to actually show up because half the time nobody showed up and if they did, it was like one or two people and you're paying a coach to coach one or two people. 


[00:27:23] And, you know, there's a very, there's a real difference between when you join up somewhere to go to a class environment, when you're expecting to be surrounded by like-minded people and you get to enjoy that atmosphere and going along, and there's one coach who's tired and cold and thinking, why have I only got one person with me here? 


[00:27:43] And, okay, great. I've created a class, but now it's a personal training session. It, it's not the same environment. And we sort of found that adults parkcore or wasn't really a big thing. So we could maybe have one class of that a week or two. But kids. Kids, absolutely love parckcore kids love to run and jump. 


[00:28:02] And if you think about it, like parents love to see their kids running and jumping and, and learning how to roll and fall and, and doing these things. So that was one thing we hadn't planned on initially. But when we realized that parkcore wasn't something, we were gonna be able to sell as an adults program, but then we tried as a kids program and it took off that, that probably pulled us out of a pretty tough place at the time, actually, where, you know, you're trying to grow something that you all love. You're being paid salaries. Your overheads are really high. But you're not necessarily making the inroads that you need to, to, to start to balance the books, you know? Yeah. You're gonna go on so long without making a change, address a change. 


[00:28:41] Stretch: I think it's common mistake, you know, on paper we can sit down and we can plan this business or we can write a program and we can set up these sort of templates or ideas about what we think our clients want. And then the reality when we release it, it's like there's crickets or, you know, people aren't turning up to classes like we've missed it there haven't we, but it's also to see like you guys adapted and evolved. 


[00:29:02] And like you say, you know, park core is not something maybe that a lot of adults wanna be involved in, but the kids obviously love it. Like, you know, it's like an obstacle course for them. I'm sure they have a great time running around the gym, swinging on things and jumping on things. Sort of like you say, what other things you know, where else do you think you made, you know, mistakes and what have you learned in the process? 


[00:29:21] Jason Ahipene: Oh, look, there there's, there's been many mistakes. Sometimes it's just personality things, you know, you, you don't have quite the right personality fit for the actual job. Certainly, you know we were trying to create an environment where and you've probably seen this stretch where you see in some gyms, some of the trainers almost cannibalize, the, the population that's in there and they they're so competitive with each other, that it creates an environment that's actually not a great working environment. 


[00:29:48] And often customers will start to pick up on that at some point. And, and we had this sort of environment where we tried to create you know, paid salaries, the opportunity to earn more for those people who were more about the financial side of it. And but then sometimes you've got. You know, we had, we've had this from time to time. 


[00:30:08] We've had like one or two other coaches for whatever reason, very competitive. And they really start trying to push forward to just try and draw more money from the business towards them. And look, that's, that's not an issue unless it starts to affect your membership base or you start to get one coach who starts to say, well, all of you, people should be taught by me because I'm the best at teaching this sort of thing. 


[00:30:38] And I'll keep you the safest and they start trying to pull people in from other people's classes. We're not trying to create a a space where everybody has to gravitate towards one person. We're trying to create a space where everybody feels free to actually do whatever it is that they're interested in time. 


[00:30:55] But so for one client, it might be that they're really into weight lifting for a while, and then they go, you know what, I'm, I need something different. I'm gonna get into handstands now. And just because they're no longer attending your class, doesn't mean that they're dead to me now because they now do handstands. 


[00:31:14] You know? It's the same. Like I, I push people sometimes towards other parts of the gym because I recognize that they've probably done as much as they can with me for a while. And if they really want to be able to do handstand pushups, then they need to go actually work on getting a handstand for a start. 


[00:31:30] If that means that they attend my class one or two times less per week, but they go and learn that thing and they might get really jazzed on it and stay over there. It's not a problem, you know, I'm still gonna get to see them. It just, we wanna look at an environment where it was a community and sometimes some coaches don't fit that mold. 


[00:31:50] So we've had those sorts of things, you know, giving waste too much stuff for free or giving it away too cheaply from time to time, like, you know with this type of training, unless somebody invests in it, they're not gonna stay cause it'll get hard really, really quick. So, you know, there's those sorts of things. 


[00:32:07] We don't give out as much stuff freely as much anymore, but we're still happy to try and teach people stuff online, even if they're not paying us. In terms of maybe something that we put up on Instagram, which shows how to do some sort of movement or a little tutorial or something like that. You know, it's not like that. 


[00:32:23] We wanna keep all the secrets, but we don't want to have people just coming and gym hopping because they're getting free memberships, every. 


[00:32:31] Stretch: I totally get it. You know, you brought up some really good points there. I think, you know, a lot of coaches are stepping into the role of becoming gym owners or, you know, launching a business or employing staff under them. 


[00:32:40] And it's taking on those extra responsibilities. Like now it's not you just managing your own business and your own PT clients. You've all of a sudden gotta manage staff. You've gotta manage schedules. You've got this growing number of customers and this admin, everything that you've gotta do. How did you guys sort of split that up? 


[00:32:57] Was that just given to one person or were you a part of that? And, and how did you manage that? 


[00:33:02] Jason Ahipene: Look, so Jacob sort of as the, the manager and like he ended up employing one of the guys as the manager for a while. But he's now stepped back into that role. We sort of trimmed down staff numbers because it did expand a bit too much at one stage. 


[00:33:17] But generally what happened is we had head coaches. So I'm a head coach of body weight and mobility. And you sort of tended to look after that area, make sure that the schedules are created for your program. Make sure the programs created, make sure that the guys who might be teaching a few classes in it are aware of the movements that they're teaching and how we teach. 


[00:33:41] And generally just make sure that we are monitoring like the attendance of classes and that sort of stuff and, and signing people in. So we try and keep that role pretty, pretty simple. Jacob really as the owner and sort of managers slash CEO of the business, he sort of tended to look after all of the like recruitment sort of side of things. 


[00:34:00] And you know, there's a couple of us that are shareholders. We meet Harry and, and Jacob. So we meet sort of regularly just to discuss things and, you know, it's at that point in time that will go, do you think we need to implement this or do you think we need to step back and, and bring somebody into, into this role? 


[00:34:20] But it's largely been this sort of thing and you can probably, you can probably guess it from how we sort of started like a bunch of guys going. This is really, really cool. Let's just do this. It's largely been a thing that's had to evolve over time. It's like all of us went in completely green. 


[00:34:36] Yeah. None of us had had a gym before. Most of us had different backgrounds, you know, a lot of the times, you know, we weren't specifically even coaching as a career beforehand, but we had the necessary skills that we could pass on to people had teach. So the early days were a bit of a, like a sucker and sea experience that thankfully managed to work out. 


[00:35:00] Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was one of those scenarios where we didn't have the best laid plans. And, you know, as we all know, sometimes with this stuff, best laid plans, you've got everything worked out. And then you realize none of your plans are gonna be the thing to use anyway. 


[00:35:16] Stretch: I think we had the same momentum in, in London where we had the gym, there were three of us business partners and, you know, we just all loved to train and the best parts of it was teaching the classes, working with members. 


[00:35:25] And we didn't really think about, you know, managing the staff, managing the accounts, taking care of all the business stuff on the side of that. So in a sense, we've turned a bit of a blind eye to it and we've just sort, it'll sort itself out. But like you say, in the long run you stuff that you're really gonna start to look at aligning your staff, like you say, getting the right teams together, the business mission, the business values, the direction, all the things that are, are very important to growing the business. 


[00:35:49] Cuz you'll only get so far before you obviously start to hit these limits or things start to break. So it sounds like you've been through that experience as well. 


[00:35:57] Jason Ahipene: Yeah. 


[00:35:57] And we sort of, we sort of learned as well that because we had Jacob doing the ownership role and weightlifting as well. And weightlifting was one of our main disciplines and we realized that you couldn't have the guy who needed to do all the recruitment to, to run all the meetings, to do all the numbers, pay all the bills and, and look after all of those things running a full-time program as well, because it's just too much full-time program is it's a lot to take in it's a lot, you have to think about. 


[00:36:26] And too so gradually Jacob sort of moved out of the teaching role and he sort of just jumps in and teaches a class here and there when required, if you know, we're a short notice sort of thing. Because he, he knows all the different things that we do and he can sort of jump in, but it's just more like if he can facilitate rather than the full time courage. 


[00:36:46] We also ended up outsourcing admin. That was one thing that made a big difference because as you know, like you get to get so many emails and like trying to just get back to everybody and, and, you know, there's, if you're the focal point of everybody's, you know, fitness life and, you know, trying to deal with just putting all the memberships on hold for people who are going away and stuff like that, that's a job. 


[00:37:12] That's a whole nother job. It takes time. So outsourcing was actually really, really useful for us to free up Jacob's time. So he also, didn't just one they, you know, just explode. 


[00:37:23] Stretch: It's it's one of those things you look back on, isn't it like, what could have we outsourced at the start? And I think at the start, we're just like, okay, we've gotta make this business work. We've gotta do everything. And like you said before, you know, you're working six, seven days a week and you're working long days and it's just trying to get the business in the black or get it to a point where, you know, it's turning over money before you outsource. 


[00:37:41] Admin's outsourced. Is there anything else that you guys have outsourced in this journey or at the moment you you've, you've found the right people to do certain things. 


[00:37:49] Jason Ahipene: Look, so we've sort of, we, we've got this model where we've got three sort of head coaches for our, probably what our main adult disciplines, and then the kids park core actually runs separately as well. 


[00:38:02] So they've got their head coaches who runs that, and then they've got their coaches who a lot of the time they're like, they're, you know, they're teenagers, you know, because they're the people who actually do parkcore as we found out. And so, you know, you've got casual kids, coaches teaching park core, you've got your head park or coach who oversees that program. 


[00:38:21] Then you've got myself, you've got, how are you overseas handstands? And then we've got another coach Joel who oversees the weightlifting side of thing. So like they, all of those things are now they're running pretty smoothly. Everything's pretty busy all the time. We do have casual coaches who sort of fill in between the different parts for like, particularly for like body weighted handstands, but we also run like a, a fundamentals class, we call it, which is like a beginner's intro to body weighted handstands. We found that we tried to, to use that for weightlifting as well, but the thing that's great about weightlifting is that you can take somebody new into a class of experienced lifters and just go, right. All you are working with is this barbell, or even the stick until we can get the things working correctly, you can only downgrade handstands and body weight training, particularly highly specific skills, body weight training so much you know, you can elevate a push up for example. You can have somebody doing feed assisted pullups, but then when half of your class is about doing something upside down, And the person is struggling with being upside down. You really need a coach. Who's gonna have less students in a class and able to give more time to people as beginners. 


[00:39:34] Some people do one beginners class and then go, cool. I'm I'm done. I'm ready for the other ha classes. I'm raring to go. Some people were stick in there for months, you know, and we just let people find their own time that they feel comfortable within that. Yeah. So yeah, so we have those, a few coaches who sort of foot in between those, the fundamentals class, the body weight and handstands class, but their guys who trained the stuff all the time there all the time. 


[00:39:59] You know, they've, they're teaching their own personal clients in there. And really that sort of, we make sure that that keeps them fed financially as well. You know, allow them to prosper at the same time as being part of the community. . 


[00:40:15] Stretch: So you've got coaches teaching the classes, there's personal training there as well. How does the personal training work at Movement Co? 


[00:40:22] Jason Ahipene: So it's generally the guys that are already teaching classes with us. And they might, they might get fed clients from some, some somewhere else. Or we might have people that come in and ask about personal training and think, you know, what Rob or born, Louis, like they're a great fit for this person. 


[00:40:38] We we'll pass them over to that person. So we do get inquiries about it. But we tend to try and feed our classes first because that's what keeps the gym open and, and community. And then we also have a once a month thing for all of our unlimited members where they get to just choose a one on one session with the coach of their choice and organize it between the coaches. 


[00:40:58] And so those guys can do those as well. Sometimes. It will turn into something more because the person will go, you know what, I, I really like the way that they coach, I wanna do a bit more with that person that whether they just have a program from that coach that they do and check in with them or whether they actually start their own personal training, like we want our people to have that freedom to feel like they can move and do things in their own terms. 


[00:41:26] Yeah. In terms of the financial side of it, we don't really take much from one on one sessions. That's not the thing that actually our business is built on. Anyway, our business is built on having the classes and the memberships keeping the place alive. So it's, we don't charge a, a weekly rent or anything like that. 


[00:41:45] Yeah. Because we also don't want them to have to try and meet this demand of things. Quiet, you know when, when you're thinking about coaches that we have, like, you gotta be highly skilled, withed handstands in order to be able to teach that to clients. And so the people that we, that we do have, who are capable of doing that, and also, I mean, guess you need to think about the fact that some people might be great athletes, but not great coaches. 


[00:42:12] You know, like some people are, could do everything like, wow, that guy's amazing, but you'll never learn anything off them. Yeah. Just because they don't know how to impart something in a way that other people understand how to, to put it into practice. So those people that we do have, like they're gold for us. 


[00:42:31] Stretch: I'm curious off the back of that. Like, how do you go with coach retention? Like, you know, how do you keep your coaches motivated? How do you keep them, you know, keen to keep coming back? Or like you say, they're highly skilled coaches. What's stopping them from going away and doing their own thing. 


[00:42:45] Jason Ahipene: Oh, look, we actually have no issue if they do do their own thing as well. Like some of them really are starting to create and, and you'd probably appreciate this online coaching careers, you know? Yeah. And we give them a space that actually probably actually helps them facilitate that. Cuz you know, during time between classes, they can train, they can coach clients, they can record videos cuz we've got all the equipment, we've got all the things that are really super helpful for creating, you know, the content that you need. 


[00:43:12] And. You know, like, look, there's quite a few movement places in Perth, weirdly it's Perth is really taken to that culture, which is great, which is fantastic place to be. So there's a couple of other places that teach, you know I think we've got about four of our coaches actually teach classes at another gym inspired movement. 


[00:43:33] Mm-hmm which is a bit more of a studio than size than what we are. Like, we are a big space, we're close to a thousand square meters. Mm-hmm and we have no issue with that whatsoever. They they only continue to grow coaching more, you know? Yeah. And it is one of those things. Like, I, I do things so differently myself and what I did eight years. 


[00:43:56] Like, I think sometimes I occasionally come across all little programs that I've written for classes of, for clients. And I look at it, just go, oh my God, what, what was I thinking? I guess we all go through that. But you just like, look and think why, why, what is even, what, what even is that? 


[00:44:12] Stretch: Yeah. I think if you don't look back at that stuff and, and question it and go, why, what was I thinking back then? 


[00:44:18] I think it's a sign that you've stopped growing and like yeah. To look back and sort of say, okay, that's what I was like back then. And to see how far you'd come now, it can be quite rewarding in a sense of like, wow. 


[00:44:27] Jason Ahipene: I actually find it really funny. I like, sort of like, look at it, have a giggle. And I go, oh, sometimes you pick up a gym and you go, I'd forgotten about that. 


[00:44:34] That actually that's actually a good drill. I'm not gonna look again at the rest of the 90% of our program, but I will take that back again. Yeah. You know, cause there is so much, so many things it's so complicated, so complex to figure out ways to make them simple too. 


[00:44:49] Stretch: Financially, how's it all going for you guys at Movement Co you started to talk about, obviously there's some competition, there's more movement gyms popping up around Perth. 


[00:44:56] Like how are you guys going with that? And maybe a little bit in terms of like, what's the future look like ? 


[00:45:02] Jason Ahipene: Yeah, look, you never want to just completely settle for what you are currently because you know, over the coming up to seven years, we've sort of every year, there's been a bit of a change in how we operate. 


[00:45:16] I know like on, probably on a personal level, but it's also like, sort of affecting some of like other coaches and clients as well. Like, I mean, I Perceived that we may have a little bit more circus style training, maybe, maybe happening in the future. Like, I mean we do have a lot of equipment. 


[00:45:34] I mean, as you know, I'm straps performer these days, which was never in the original plan. And one of like one of the other coaches Louis has an amazing hand balancer. I'd probably say he's the best hand balancer I know of in Australia. And he's already performed in some circus shows and, you know, well, I'm sure at some stage he'll probably further that career and go on to become something huge internationally. 


[00:45:56] Is it just. Just outstanding. And he is only what, 20 years old. Wow. Much better than trying to turn into a circus performer at the age 45. 


[00:46:04] Stretch: It's never too late. Jas never too late. 


[00:46:07] Jason Ahipene: Well, yeah, no, it's not actually, as I found out, I, I actually thought it probably would be, but once again, another thing I fell into by chance really. 


[00:46:13] It's so I guess maybe there might be a little bit more of that. We certainly want to keep growing the program that we have and expanding it. I mean, we've had some people that have been training with us for years now. In some cases probably like five, six years, you know, and as that continues to, to go on and these people continue to get better. 


[00:46:35] Like you find that we we're starting to teach things that I never thought would actually even broach as a subject, like things I've training for the iron cross, for example, sort of always looked at that and just spent that's a professional gymnast. Thing that, you know, maybe one of two very, very talented adults might be able to get. 


[00:46:55] But as it turns out, it it's probably achievable for more people. If they're prepared to put in the length of time and training and you know, smart about it. 


[00:47:04] Stretch: Off the back of that. Like that's quite a specific like movement in terms of, I suppose, people that want to get that iron cross, but also, like you say, the number of members in the gym who are probably gonna get to that level. And it's a question I wanna put to you in the sense of like, you know, you talked a little bit about it before about, you know, people being ready to handstand or people being ready to, you know, join a certain class and directing them this way or that way to sort of progress to that class. 


[00:47:27] How are you finding that? Because obviously in the early days, you've got a lot of members that are pretty new. Everyone's sort of going at the same level, but now you've got guys and girls that are probably up here and you've still got new members walking in the door. How do you juggle this with these sort of classes? 


[00:47:40] Jason Ahipene: yeah, I, I try, I sometimes. Look the fundamentals thing is actually the thing that bridges that because and, and then when, you know, the, that person who's a little bit shy does eventually graduate into the, the big bag, scary body, weight class, or the, the handstand class or the weight class, you know? 


[00:47:58] And, and they gradually move in and then they they talk to somebody next and the person goes, oh yeah, I remember not being able to do that. yeah. And they're like, oh wow. Because you're just flying up there on the rings at the moment. And then you, you talk about how, when you got your first one yeah, it, it is one of those things. 


[00:48:15] I, sometimes I look around while I'm training as well. And I'll look around and I'll think, okay, you've got me and a couple of other people doing straps here, which, you know, we're doing one arm switches and, and stuff like that, which seem to define. Logic to people. And then there's another guy, two or three people over there holding one arm handstand. 


[00:48:37] And then there's somebody over there working on a, for on the iron cross or another person working on a Mexican handstand. And it would be a hell of an intimidating place to walk into if your previous experience had been running a marathon to say, or using the lap pull down machine at the local jets. 


[00:48:56] It's, it's one of those things that you, that would, that would be really intimidating. I, I, you know, and you can sometimes see it with some people you think. Okay. I don't, I don't know if they'll they'll really come back because that might have just looked too far gone for them. But it's just letting them know that, Hey, look, you know, there is a fundamentals program. 


[00:49:17] And that all of those people that are doing those amazing things over there, they've been doing it for years. They started out the same way as you, they walked in, they looked at what was happening, went, oh my God, that's pretty insane. But I'd like to be able to do some of that. I don't even know where to start. 


[00:49:33] And you just tell them it's a journey and, you know regardless of how long it takes and, and what path that looks like for you and and how fast it happens. It just, just a personal thing. Yeah. Yeah. You know, we, we've got a very welcoming community. People, if they see a new person will walk in, will often say, Hey, how are you doing? Which is what we wanted. That, that's what we really wanted in the first place was we wanted, well, we wanted a place where people would actually just come in and hang out and people would do. People spend hours at the gym, you know, it's not like a I'm, I've got 30 minutes. 


[00:50:06] I'm here to jump on the treadmill. People will literally come in and bring their lunch , you know, have at the end of their training so they can sit around and hang out with their mates, you know, and whether those mates half the time, they're actually their, their teachers too. There's not this you're a student and I'm a coach and you are down here and I'm up there because unfortunately funnily enough, actually in our space, a lot of the time, you know, you'll get people who end up. 


[00:50:32] There's lots of people in there that handstand better than I do. You know, handstands are a pretty small part of it for me these days, but, you know, then there's some of the students and I go, oh, wow, that person's just held a two minute handstand. And now they're making shapes and I'm like, their shape's better than mine and their handstand line looks better than mine too. 


[00:50:51] You know, Keep it humble, you know? 


[00:50:53] Stretch: Yeah. That's it, mate. It keeps you honest, 


[00:50:54] Jason Ahipene: let people know you get good at what you do, what you practice, you know? 


[00:50:58] Stretch: That's a great message mate. And I think it's one thing that we've gotta try and do, you know, with with the fitness culture and how things are obviously evolving. There are a lot of advanced sort of stuff coming out, and I think the, the whole culture's changing quite rapidly and it can be intimidating for new people who walk into that, but to have a journey or to have a foundations program or to have certain structures set up is definitely sort of helpful along the way. 


[00:51:19] Yeah. I'd like to talk to you about your training a little bit. I mean, if you've got some time left, I know you've gotta run it quickly, but uh, oh yeah, yeah. Cool mate. Yeah. So the gymnastics staff, the Calisthenics, you know, you've got an impressive Instagram with, you know, some of the movements that, you know, you were doing. 


[00:51:34] That's what initially attracted me to, you know, you as a coach and yeah. You know, us working together for a little bit there. What led you to straps and how did that still come about? 


[00:51:42] Jason Ahipene: It's funny cuz look, I. I I'd gone to a lot of circus shows, really enjoyed seeing, you know, what people did. And we also had you know, people like who were circus performers training at the gym, like most of them, you know were sort of, you know, they they'd only come in once a week and stuff, but I already sort of knew then from that background. 


[00:52:04] And look, I was like, I'm pretty, pretty strong on rings. But I, I also sort of looked at what I was doing and thought I'm at this point where now, if I, if it, if rings is the thing, I literally need to become an actual gymnast which is I I'm, you know, I'm, I'm in my forties. 


[00:52:23] And I, and I love rings training. But I thought it's probably about time to just give myself another challenge. I, I, the thing I love about the stuff is that it's actually about learning, you know, it's learning new pathways, learning new patterns, analyzing how your approach is skill and a thing. 


[00:52:41] That's why a large part of my training, particularly at the beginning and, and even still through a lot of this has been a lot about learning by myself or just training with friends and learning from what we were doing because I actually love to obsess over it. Absolutely obsessive. And my fiance actually said to me, she goes, I think you should try straps. 


[00:53:03] And I'd seen straps before, before. And I was like, yeah, that look, that looks pretty badass. You know, like, and, and I also thought there was some carryover between straps and, and gymnast rings, you know, you can do the cross and planters and levers and pan sand and straps. So like there is that carrier of already things that I was getting good at onto straps, you know, so I was like, yeah, yeah, why not? 


[00:53:27] It became quite apparent to me that very good at holding straight body shapes was helpful just for the two arm strength stuff, but not helpful for one arm movements. So I bought some straps put 'em up at the gym. Found out that holy shit, I'm, I'm really far back from where I thought I was gonna be like the first time I hopped on some gymnastic rings and I, and that was probably what hooked me there. 


[00:53:53] And then, and then I had, like, I had a couple of PTs with some performers slash coaches. But there wasn't a many people around that you could learn off or many people actually even training it. And I did a coup a few programs online with coaches and stuff as well. And, and, you know, like when you start out doing something, as you, as you know yourself stretch, you know, you you'll start some sort of new discipline. 


[00:54:15] You'll go. I really want that handstand push up. And for me it was, I really wanted to be able to switch from what's called a meathook into what they call in straps, a flag or where you've got your arm twisted behind your back in your you know, horizontal So because I'm obsessive and because there was that challenge and that thing about learning and analyzing I just threw myself in, you know like before with training, you know, Calisrthenics for the start and lots of things made lots of mistakes. 


[00:54:46] You learn from mistakes. Just try not to continue to repeat them. Found out that also like you've done some Ido Portal stuff before, right. That the methodology that he had gymnastics sort of strengths training, you know, sometimes maybe doing 20 single one rep max repetitions didn't actually work very well with the circus stuff. 


[00:55:09] yeah, because the, the steel component was so high that you would literally just destroy yourself. Stuff had to adapt training again. You know, and, and that's great because you learn so many things. I had to get more mobile. So mobility became a big factor again, like, you know, it had to improve from where it was. 


[00:55:26] So therefore then, you know, you start to learn more about that. I've been doing some of the range of strength stuff and it's great, you know, it it's really, really helped and it's opened up pathways and, and then all of those things that you do and you invest, you know some sort of money in, and, and time, particularly the big thing being time it helps your clients, you know? 


[00:55:46] Stretch: Yep. If you, if you are, if you're teaching your clients that doesn't have to be the same thing that you are doing. That's something that involves some similar movement patterns you know, understanding. Okay. Right. Your hips need to be in this slightly elevated position in an anterior pelvic tilt right now. 


[00:56:03] As opposed to prosterior pelvic tilt. That that's, that's like absolutely game changing when it comes to complex body weight movements. Yeah. 


[00:56:11] Yeah, yeah. That's awesome, mate. I love the your excitement around obviously training. I can see the passion that you've got for that. Yeah. And definitely that love of learning and the curiosity that you have around training. 


[00:56:22] And I think, you know, it sums up our conversation today, like a lot in terms of like what you're doing in your training and how you are trying to learn new things, how you're exploring failure and getting back on the wagon and, you know, just keep going with it. Progressing is very much tied into the whole approach with our business as well. 


[00:56:37] You know, we trial and error with business, try new things, see what works, be willing to fail, be willing to accept that. And just not giving up which is really, really good. 


[00:56:45] Jason Ahipene: Sometimes you gotta suck. You know, that's all done. Sometimes you really suck for a long, long time. 


[00:56:50] Stretch: And finding those weaknesses and then obviously finding the way around it, you know, you're talking now about mobility being your limitation. 


[00:56:56] Well, it's definitely my limitation with a lot of stuff that I do in my gymnastics training as well, but finding the right people that can help you, like, you know, Lucas range of strength or approaching those people and not being afraid to, to ask for help. Cause it just saves you so much time in the long run. 


[00:57:10] Jason Ahipene: And look, and I'm really, I feel like I'm really fortunate to do what I do, you know? I mean, we worked ridiculous hours and ridiculous days at the start. But I'm in this space now where I'm, I only teach three mornings a week, but I really enjoy it. So I don't get burnt out within times it gives me a bit more time to be a dad. It gives me a bit more time to put a bit more thought into our programming. It gives me more time to like train and explore, you know? And it also means that those things like where you're, if you're a time for PT, who's trying to handle 60 to 70 hours worth of clients, or maybe trying to manage a hundred clients online. 


[00:57:50] Sometimes when you, their time pressures on you, you just, you don't give what you should when you should. Definitely feel a bit more freed up these days and, and then at capacity to do those things. 


[00:58:01] Stretch: And that's like the big thing I'm trying to work with coaches on it's like, you know, a happy, healthy, rested, you know, personal trainer is gonna deliver so much more value. 


[00:58:12] Then a tired, burnt out, stressed, anxious, personal trainer. And unfortunately the way that industry is set up more trainers are in that second state of being burnt out and working too hard. And it has a downstream impact. Like it's affecting their business because they're not delivering a service to a certain standard. 


[00:58:30] But it's a tricky game because, you know, like you say, we all go through that grind. It's all about, you know, getting there in there, figuring out, you know, your path and the direction you wanna take. And then somehow being able to, you know, step into that role and take yourself down that path and have success with that. 


[00:58:46] Yeah. You know, it sounds like you've put in the work, you've found your niche. You've found the area that you you're good at and what you wanna teach. And, you know, it's worked out for you in the long run Jas, which has been epic to hear about. So thanks for sharing that story with us. 


[00:58:57] Jason Ahipene: Oh man. Thanks having us on board. It's it's been great to actually chat with you in right. 


[00:59:02] Yeah, no, thanks having me on board. Like, you know, we've got a massive turnover rate in this industry, you know? And the thing about this industry is that you can get your qualifications, but that's only the start, you know, like that's the start of when you start learning those qualifications are just the part that actually gets you to be able to start learning about your job. 


[00:59:23] And yeah, try, I guess, trying to find a way that helps people when they're particularly in those early years of trying to be experienced enough to, to really be able to help people define their passion, find their niche those things that will enable them ultimately to actually continue to have a career in the fitness industry. 


[00:59:42] That's a, that's a big task, cuz we, we are, we aren't set up for success more often. I think we're set up to fail. 


[00:59:50] Stretch: I couldn't agree more Jas just before we finish up, we've got three, three little questions I'd like to like to ask you. So these are the yeah. Three little questions that I'm starting to ask all coaches at the end and just to get a bit more of an insight. 


[01:00:01] So number one is like if you could gift a book or let's say it's a, a video or it's a maybe it's a Ted talk or whatever, to a personal trainer who wants to build, you know, a sustainable career, what would that book be or what would that resource be? 


[01:00:14] Jason Ahipene: Wow. Okay. That that's, that is a big one. If it was a book, I, I dunno if I've, I've read a book that would really answer that question completely. 


[01:00:24] My first probably suggestion would be to actually find a mentor. First and foremost if there was somebody that was interested in this type of training Because it's specific to me, it would probably be oh God, some name of it. Gymnastics book. I'm trying to remember. I haven't read it for a while. 


[01:00:41] Stretch: It's not like overcoming gravity or something like that. 


[01:00:43] Jason Ahipene: Yes. Overcoming gravity. Yeah. Because it it's, it's a bit robotic, but it, it teaches a pathway. So if you're a trainer wanting to learn how to do body work training, I would recommend that book. I haven't read a book that would successfully tell me how to have a sustainable fitness career, really, to be honest. 


[01:01:03] So I've been so fortunate in that I haven't really had to go down that. But maybe that could be a project for you stretch . 


[01:01:09] Stretch: Yeah, definitely. I like the idea of mentors mate, and I've had a chat, you know, I think it just about all my guests have spoken about their mentors along the way. And I think we can all look back and think about, okay, the most I've learnt that's helped me get to where I am in my career has actually come from working closely with a mentor over any course over any book, over anything, any other resource I've had the time I've spent with coaches like yourself, or, you know, different mentors has definitely helped me grow in my career. Like you say, the more you learn, the more you practice, the more you do what you preaching, then, you know, the easier it becomes to help your clients and share that knowledge. 


[01:01:44] My second question is like, what advice would you give to a younger version of yourself? 


[01:01:50] Jason Ahipene: Oh gosh. Start doing this earlier. 


[01:01:52] Maybe, maybe not gymnastics as a kid actually. Cause may I actually think if I, I I've seen many ex gymnasts who just burned out because they did so much at a young age. But I would probably suggest, and to be honest, I mean, maybe I wouldn't have been able to actually recognize and selfly, and, and self-regulate things enough to be good at coaching when I was younger anyway. 


[01:02:16] But it probably would've been just to Start this sort of stuff a bit earlier, rather than thinking I was gonna be a rugby player when , when, realistically at the time, like I enjoyed it, but I, I was, I was never gonna be a great rugby player. 


[01:02:31] Stretch: It funny looking back isn't it like the journeys that we've had, like, you know, we go back to marathon days and all that sort of stuff. 


[01:02:36] Yeah. Yeah. What was I doing then? 


[01:02:38] Jason Ahipene: Like what did I great marathon? 


[01:02:41] Let's be honest. Yeah, not quite built the, the right way for it. 


[01:02:45] Stretch: Yeah, exactly. All right. My last question mate is if you could have dinner with anyone being dead or alive, who would that be and why? 


[01:02:52] Jason Ahipene: Oh man. Geez. Wow. Okay. This is one of those things that you answer and then you go later on. 


[01:03:00] Oh. That person's living better. Okay. 


[01:03:01] There's so many people that you can think of. Like, there's amazing intellectuals that you could think of that I might not be able to keep up in conversation. You know what, like probably talking to the people that actually stood up for, for something that actually really went through things. I mean, I feel like I've led a pretty blessed life. I've never really had the struggle, you know, against anything too much, you know? But then you've got those people, I guess like a, like a Martin Luther king who, who basically decided to stand up for an oppressed people in, in a country that was incredibly divided. 


[01:03:38] Or somebody like a Muhammad Ali who, you know, he. He went to jail. He you know, he, but he, he did it for the things that he believed in, you know changed his name. Like he went through many things in his life. No, if we, if we're gonna say something, let's, let's go with Martin Luther king. 


[01:03:58] Stretch: It's it's excellent to sort of think about how lucky we are. You know, we do look at the struggles and we do look at the hard times and it can be easy to focus on the negative, but being grateful and having that appreciation for, you know, what we have got and reflecting on, you know, some of the struggles and the hard times that, you know, other people are going through really can put, put things in perspective. 


[01:04:16] So yeah, definitely would be an interesting conversation with someone like that at the table, mate. 


[01:04:21] Jason Ahipene: Yeah, I guess actually there's one thing I sort of add to that. Cause I mean, we live in the day, internet social and that sort of stuff. Everybody puts their, their best face, you know, and that's all we see. 


[01:04:31] It's that thing about being grateful about where we are, which is hard in a day and age, where we just see people doing all of these things and I get it as well. Like I sometimes look at social media and I look at this circus artist, who's doing something I'm like, why can they do that? And I don't think I'll ever be able to do that. 


[01:04:48] And wouldn't it be amazing to be them, but the grass is not always green on yet. Mm. And we never really see the trials and tribulations that people are going through. Because that's, that's not the life that we see. We, we often see just the facade of when things are successful. You know, but every time everybody has crap to deal with. 


[01:05:08] Yeah. Regardless of how great their life is. And I have no desire to be famous that people worship celebrities, you know? Yeah. That fame is a trap as well. You know, mm-hmm be grateful for what you got. It's it's the most important thing, I think. 


[01:05:23] Stretch: Yeah. Powerful words, mate. Love it. Love it. Where can people find out more about you Jas or find out more about Movement Co?. 


[01:05:28] Jason Ahipene: Ah, look, so movement co are pretty easy to find on Instagram movement CO. Yeah. Yeah. Me my, my surname's not exactly easy to spell. But it's just me like Jason, a, a H IP, E E on Instagram, on Facebook. You know, like it, it's funny. I used to have like a different name, you know, we change all our, our names. 


[01:05:50] So like things like, yeah, I'm really into this, so that's my name. And then after a while I just went, you know what, it's just me, what I do will change. I don't need to have something that changes with me because I, I just am who I am. Yeah. 


[01:06:02] Stretch: Stay authentic, 


[01:06:03] Jason Ahipene: mate. Stay authentic. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's one of those things you try to be in a day and age where it's not exactly. Always the thing that's done. Yeah. 


[01:06:12] Stretch: Yeah. Awesome. Jas, but great to chat to you, mate. Thank you for making the time we're carving out the time to share your story with us. 


[01:06:18] Jason Ahipene: Thank you stretch. Yeah, it's been great. Absolutely great. Thanks for having us on. 


[01:06:22]