It is said that no pill comes close to what exercise can do to one’s body but fitness and lifestyle coaches are equally responsible for impressive physiques and good health of most people coupled with a healthy diet. Mr. Wellington Benjamin Ojobo popularly known as King Wellz, CEO, Empire Gym, a certified fitness professional with over 16 years of experience is someone who makes you feel comfortable enough to lower your guards and to expose your biggest flaws through your fitness journey.
The dark and dandy IREP member known among many as the Bishop of Fitness and Miracle of weight loss hails from Kwale, Delta state, South-South Nigeria. In an exclusive interview with THERESA MOSES, King Wellz talks about his challenges, what a person’s fitness is based upon, reveals why optimum fitness and wellness, stay fit, stay alive, train hard and eat green are his watchwords and more
Excerpts from the interview:
It’s your 16th year in the fitness industry, how has the journey been?
Yes, it was so challenging; at a point in time you will think you really want to give up but because of the passion I have, I stood still and God gave me the grace to continue the race.
What motivated you to become a fitness and lifestyle coach?
First of all is passion. Then number two, I want people around me, my community to be health conscious because I realize that what kills people most is because they are not mentally and health wise fit. Diseases kill so many people, but you can actually stop disease killing people by exercising. You could distance yourself from the hospitals, the doctors when you exercise regularly.
What was your vision when you started? Is it different today?
First of all the vision has not changed at all. The vision is still there, standby and it cannot change. The challenge that comes with it most times is capital but with God, we are over seeing some things. God has kept me so strong but the vision has not changed, the vision is to make sure that at a point in time, everyone in my environment; because I can’t change the whole world is health conscious. They want to do the right thing at the right time.
What made you want people around you to be health conscious; did you lose anyone to an illness?
No, I haven’t lost anyone based on health issues but the passion is just there. I didn’t start with fitness from the onset, I did Economics in school but at a point, I just discovered that the passion I have is fitness. I developed it, went to school, did human anatomy then developed myself because I want to set a standard for myself in this field. I got a particular standard and I pursue it.
What is the impact of exercise to mental health?
Basically, most people come to the gym because maybe they want to enlarge their hips, have a flat tummy etc but they forget the fact that even fitness helps mentally. It kills depression. If you come to the gym, you act like a baby. You want to do some workout routine that’s very tactical, some obstacle routine and at a point in time divert your attention to what you’re doing, trying to get focus. By then the rate of you getting depressed will fall down to zero level. It helps in mental health.
What are the top three fitness lifestyles that you feel are most beneficial and why?
One is exercise. I’d advise you to do cardio without machines. Another is for you to have proper rest. At night you have to have quality sleep. Do you know you can sleep for 5 hours and wake up tired but sleep for 2 hours and wake up strong? It depends on how quality your sleep is. Have a quality sleep which is called quality rest. Rest properly; I am not saying you should rest in the office when you’re supposed to work but at night try to rest. An hour a day even if you’re in the office or wherever you’re trying to be alone, mediate and brainstorm; let this natural thing come. Third is diet. What you eat will either destroy you or grow you. Basically, it is exercise, rest and diet.
Your clients are mostly ladies, how do you cope with temptation?
(Laughs) Am very used to women my dear. When I was growing up, I had 6 women in my house, most of them changed in front of me and am the last born child. I see a whole lot of them and it doesn’t get to me at all. Women will come in different categories, shapes, oral and perceptions. But based on the fact that I’ve been in this field for a long time, I’ve seen a lot of them. I don’t know the kind/type of women I’ve not seen. The truth is for me to caution myself and put myself on a pace and be professional about what I am doing. They will come, in fact the ones I will like will come but because of the fact that I am a professional in my field and I like money, I won’t want anything to come in between my business life and my professionalism. I try to stay on point.
No doubt you like money but how do you escape if one of your billionaire clients wants to get down with you?
Who says I’ve not gotten that offer! The truth is; the profession where I found myself is full of women, the good, bad and the ugly will evenly happen. Yes, those offers will come and have come in the past and could still come now but there is a way I handle them because I really don’t want to lose them. I still want to keep them on a page so that they will understand that this is business and it’s formal. I still make sure I am friendly with them, still call them just to make sure that I keep my own state of maturity.
How do you change the perception about married men not wanting their wives come to the gym so they don’t lose their wives to fitness coaches/instructors?
Hello, hello, hello, yes, yes, I’ve heard this lot of times, the perception cannot change; it depends on your belief. I heard a lot of people say ‘I don’t want my wife to come to the gym; I will get the facilities in the house so that she can do whatever she wants to do’. Hello, you take alcohol, why don’t you buy them to the house, why do you go to the bear parlour or a hotel to drink? Hello, you go to the cinema to watch movies, why can’t you buy the movie CD and watch it at home? You want to be in a comfort zone whereby you see people like you, movie freaks that want to watch movies with you. You go to the match view centers or a bar because you want to watch football and drink with your friends that love drinking and watching football too. That’s why people want to come to the gym. Basically, the reason why I want people to come to the gym is because I can push you beyond your limit, I can motivate you. If you are in your house, you won’t do what I’d ask you to do because when you do what you want to do and when you’re tired, you intend to stop. And I wouldn’t want you to stop but I can actually allow you to observe a rest.
If married men will not allow their wives come to the gym, it’s a personal thing and I don’t have a problem with that. The perception you don’t want them to come to the gym because one person there is sexy, is not it. I want you to trust your wife/spouse. When you trust your spouse, then it will be fine; that’s the truth. It’s not a gym problem, it is a you problem. The problem is between you and your spouse because if there’s trust then you can do anything. I have a wife, she’s a professional, she goes out, she goes far to do her job. The fact that she’s my wife, I wouldn’t stop her because she has to pursue her career. You limiting your wife to achieve what she’s supposed to achieve is actually wrong. What you need to do is put a trust on her then let it be. Let me tell you the truth, the gym center is not a place they fornicate. Fornication takes place everywhere, in the church, mosque, everywhere but with trust, you can allow your wife to go far.
Was there a time in your career when you felt frustrated, challenged and wanted to give up and what did you do to move past it?
Aside from capital, the economy is not helping us. We don’t have light to power our equipment, no light to workout in a convenient environment. We want the government to help you in that area, give us electricity lets do workout in a very conducive area. Another challenge is when some clients come around with their personal issues from their house and want to vent it. I understand that fact and most times, I play along, I try to pet them, make them understand that they should calm down. I had an issue with a client sometime; I was trying to pet her, trying to talk to her because she walked out of the class which is not normal. I went to her and asked ‘madam, what happened, please come back’ my kind of style and she said ‘are you mad?’ I smiled because it was not a regular thing for her so I just walked away and she went to the car park. I went back to her 5 minutes later, she was in the car, and she hasn’t driven off. I just knocked the car and she opened, I said what happened and she started crying. I asked her one or two questions and I understood the fact that she had issues with her husband before she came to the gym. The issue I have has to do with the fan base or clients’ base bringing issues from the house to the gym and it eats them up. I’d advise when coming to the gym, please drop those issues in the house, come refreshed let refill you.
What exercises enhance sexual performance?
Generally all exercise helps but squats, leg programmes particularly. There’s a squat you can do on the squat machine, there is a programme you can do a chin-up machine. It actually increases your libido. Exercises generally increase your libido and am not saying you should take that as an advantage and don’t come to the gym because you want to increase our libido.
What are the latest trends in the fitness and lifestyle industry?
Latest machines, basically latest concepts, routines, cardio’s etc. Right now we don’t stay back like those days and do regular aerobics anymore. We try to create concepts, add one or two together, do combo routine etc. Right now creativity is what makes sense, nothing latest. Whatever you do that’s very new is latest to you. You have to sit back and look at what every other person is doing, add or subtract to it. So, it’s based on creativity. When you can sit back and surf the internet, fine, I surf the internet too because I have people I follow and I add flavours to routines, garnish it and make it come out well. That makes it the latest.
How do you plan to keep your knowledge of fitness and health up to date?
I am a member of Institute of Registered Exercise Professionals (IREP), IREP Certified, am a member of Association of Exercise and Fitness Professionals of Nigeria (AEFPN). I still go to school for fitness. I’ve done three courses that cost me lots of money and I still want to develop myself. The next course I want to do will cost me N600, 000, so am still chilling. Aside, I still do a lot of courses outside the major ones just to boost my ideas and skills.
What does it take to be a fitness and lifestyle coach?
One, passion has to lead you. You don’t just fall into it because you want to make money. Passion has to be the lead. Number two, you have to know the basic routines aside from jumping jacks, flutter kicks, scissors kicks that every other person will know. All my clients, if I mention all these they will do it but there’s something skeptical and that’s when you develop yourself. I used to think that I was the boss until I went to school of fitness and they taught me a whole lot of things. Though in the class I was A1 but I still learnt a lot. You need to develop yourself in whatever area that you find yourself in.
Who are your mentors in the fitness industry?
Bran, a U.S guy, he’s fantastic. What actually gave me the drive to take him as a mentor is because he’s not the machine type, he does his physical fitness majorly with cardio programmes and he’s strong. Another female I fall in that’s a mentor to me is Britney. She’s superb, I follow her because she has this drive, and she stimulates me. I watch her and am like wow! She’s strong, she’s just the bomb. I watch her every day. I follow her nutritional plan, workout plan not because she’s a lady but because she knows what she’s doing and she hasn’t even gotten there yet She’s a whole lot of greatness, she’s so awesome. You can follow Bran @bodybybran and Britney.
How did you come about the name ‘the miracle of weight loss’?
Actually that name didn’t come from me. There was a time I posted that if you want to lose a whole lot of weight in a month, I just need 20 people and 55 people signed up. I chose the 20 because I asked them questions and I saw zeal, focus, discipline and commitment. Afterward, in a month the client that lost the least weight lost 25kg, the one that lost the most weight lost 35kg. The name came about by one of them and it just stuck. That’s what I’m saying, if you have the zeal, commitment, courage and focus, discipline, you can get whatever you want to get in your fitness journey, trust me.
How is the fitness industry rated by the government?
To be frank with you, I don’t like the way the Nigerian government takes the fitness industry. They don’t recognize this body and they forgot that if you don’t learn how to swim you don’t need a life guide. If you don’t come to the gym to keep fit, that hospital will be empty because if everyone is health conscious, the hospitals won’t have patients. So you need a trainer that will train you how to swim so that you don’t need a life guide to save you from sinking. That’s the truth, they don’t regard us. Government doesn’t regard us at all. During the Covid-19 lockdown period, we have to go in groups to go and solicit with the government before they could actually allow us to open. They opened eateries; bars, canteens, everywhere and we went as a forum – AEFPN, though we went there late but still they couldn’t recognise us. At the end of the day, they gave us consent to open in September (2020) from March. They opened the gym late, as a matter of fact, the gym, spa were opened late. I want to beg, let me use the Bible language, I beseech the government to see us as important people playing an important role because if you get to the hospital one day and they tell you to come back to the gym because you need healthcare and fitness care, and we will bounce you. We need to be recognised as important as we are in this society. Please the government, see us as one of these bodies that you see on your A-lists. Please, I beg, recognise the fitness body, we are so important to society.
What effort has the association done to get the attention of the government?
We have made a lot of efforts, we’ve written letters, and we’ve gone in person. You know how the government thing is, if you don’t know people you can’t even knock at their doors not to talk of getting to the gate. We’ve written letters for them to respond to it so we can come as a body but when they were not responding, we have to go in person and that was during the lockdown period where we took that major move. The bosses in the industry came up and they went out. When we got there and had a one on one talk with them and frankly, they (government) actually said it, this body wasn’t recognised. We made efforts to make them understand that this body should be recognised even more than the bar and cinemas they opened first because this is about health, about you living. Without health you can’t enjoy your wealth. Most of them will spend their time gathering wealth and at the end of the day spend the wealth regaining their health. We have made moves and are still making moves and are here to stand and to stay. The voice must be heard.
A lot of people come to the gym for social media, others for butt enlargement, flat tummy etc. Why should people come to the gym?
The reasons why you should come to the gym are not because you want 6 packs or the butts, hips. Major reasons are because you want to have sound health. Your wellbeing is top notch. What we preach is optimum welling and fitness, I didn’t say optimum body shape and butt enlargement. Listen, optimum fitness and wellness majorly. You exercise because you want the fluid in your body to have adequate flow. You can look slim, fine, handsome, beautiful and you’re not healthy when I can be chubby and be healthier than you. Major reason you have to come to the gym is because I want you to look fit and well inside than the outside. That’s the truth; it comes along with the abdominal muscles (abs), hips, toned up arms, firm arms etc and you looking so good. The dream target should be you want to be healthy inside first the outside. Coming to the gym with the drive to do something for social media will make you lose concentration, you will lose the fitness journey all through. Come because you want to look good inside first then outside, let every other thing don’t divert your attention or focus. I want you to be focused, that’s the truth.
Is there anything you spent more money on?
(Laughs) My gym shoes
Is there anything you spent less money on?
(Deep thoughts) I won’t say luxury but I spend less money going out to the bar, hanging out. I invest more in fitness, new productivity; new machines even if I can’t afford the industrial one, but get something that will make my clients do well.
If we want to take fitness as a lifestyle, what should we do considering the fact that we don’t have an eating culture, everything goes?
Basically, if you want to start working out or take fitness as a lifestyle, number one you have to work on your diet. Less carbs, more vegetables, more fruits and other things but less cabs. If it’s not working again, you will have to change your diet routine. Most times you could be eating healthy and still not getting results. There’s something called plateaued. Yes, it happens, what you need to do is change your diet and change your routine. My client told me 3 weeks ago that Wellington; I’ve been working out, putting in more effort yet no results. I told her to change her diets and routine and we started. In 2 weeks she called me and said Wellington you a boss, this is just magic. At times your diet that you think you’re doing that’s very right and nutritious might not be working for your body system any more. You need to change your diet and routine. First and foremost, before you start working out, you need to change your diet routine. Don’t eat spaghetti in the morning, rice in the evening and yam at night, it’s wrong.
If you were not into fitness, what would you have done?
I would have played football. That was my first passion. I played football till one wicked boy removed my knee and was out of play for a year then I lost interest kind of. While I was sitting back for that year, I developed a love for fitness. If I wasn’t doing fitness, I would have played football professionally, trust me.
Will you allow your son to pursue his career or make him follow your line of business?
My son is three years; I will not overshadow his dream or over shadow what he wants to do in life. I will allow him to choose what he wants to do or desires to do but I won’t take fitness out of it. Fitness has to be his lifestyle, every other thing can come. In fact, fitness is his lifestyle now.
What’s your advice to Nigerians who are fitness and non-fitness enthusiastic?
My advice to you is to make fitness your lifestyle. The lifestyle we live in Lagos generally might not give you the opportunity to hit the gym because for a banker or someone who works on the island that wakes up at 4:00am and gets back home by 11:00pm, how does he workout. What you need to do is at your break time, even if it’s an hour, do something that will improve your lifespan. Do your exercises, cut your eating habits, reduce your cabs, eat healthy. I won’t lie to you, 80% of humans in Nigeria are on the street hustling, and they don’t have that time. Trust me; you will always have time to eat. How will you eat 30 times a day and eat wrongly and expect yourself to not have heart disease. You would dear, so spend a few minutes, even at your place of work at your break time to do something that will make you burn. Most people say they don’t want to come to the gym because I stress myself a lot. Do you know how many staircases I will get to my office, that’s part of stress? Some will say I washed, I’ve exercised, and that’s part of stress. Don’t tell me washing clothes in the house is exercise, don’t tell me using the staircases in your office is exercise, and don’t tell me when you walk to your office is exercise. No, I tell you no, you’re doing it because you’re going to work not because you want to exercise. Do exercise programmes because you want the benefit of exercise. Look for a time, just do it anyhow, it might not be at your convenience. When you get to the house, you might do 45 minutes before you snack on your fruits, not you doing 45 minutes and at night you still swallow eba. Eat healthy even after exercising, trust me you will be fine.
Nigerians try to look for time even in your busy schedules to do something for 45 minutes or an hour. An hour workout is just 4% of your whole day and you’re doing it for yourself. So, sketch out time to do that, you owe yourself that. You owe yourself to be healthy, you owe yourself to look good, and you owe yourself to live long. My dear, that money you want to make today, spend it in good health, don’t spend it on a wheelchair or having rheumatism, heart disease. Spend it and you’re looking good even at your 70 and at your 80.
What’s your advice to those looking up to you as a role model in the industry?
(Laughs) For those looking up to me as their role model, number one, is focused. Number two don’t put money first, number three be disciplined then be zealous. Have the courage over everything, try to put your best even if your best is not the best for other people but your whole best, put it in front of you. Don’t give up. If you fall, stand, if you stumble, stand up, if you’re crawling, move, don’t crawl and stay on a spot. When you fall, stand up, keep walking. Above all, please be disciplined, don’t put money first, let your passion drive you.
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