Mat Lock
Jacob, welcome back to the podcast for the third time. fantastic to have you here. How you doing?
Jacob Hohua
Good, man. Thanks for having me again, bro. This has been a blast,
Mat Lock
though not at all. Our pleasure. And I have to say we could probably get to Episode 10 and have to call time on it. But for now, let’s focus on today. For those who are not familiar and haven’t listened to the last episode with yourself, I strongly recommend that you do but the plant based gorilla is who I’m talking to 113 kilos of awesome colonists all around thoroughly good guy and look, the last two episodes, we’ve focused heavily on a transition for yourself both in terms of what you eat, but also how you train, go from strongman, bodybuilding, strongman and CrossFit, CrossFit style sort of functional training and so on. But one of the, one of the more more recent, I’m not actually sure when it was, but it’s one of the more recent notoriety, as for yourself, of course, was through the publication of the production of it all. Was he featured on Australia Ninja Warrior?
Jacob Hohua
Did man Yeah, I did. I was really fortunate to get selected to run that course. And it was a great experience.
Mat Lock
No, it looks amazing. How do you call it five out of interest? What’s the process look like?
Jacob Hohua
So basically, you got an online application and you send in a video, so you got to sort of be ready to be confident talking into the camera. So you know, just hold your phone up talking to the camera, explain who you are, what you’re about what you do, sort of what your story could be, and then your attach. So, you know, obviously, you might need help with someone making making the video for you. And you attach little bits of your training so that they can see what you what you can do fill out a bunch of forms and then send that in. And if they like you, they call you up and tell you to come to the physicals, which is which for me was in Brisbane. So I went into the physical and then once you sort of pass through that, and that’s it like I guess you know, because at the end of the day as a TV show, so if they like what you’re sort of bringing across, then away you go, you’ve made it to the show and start training and getting ready for
Mat Lock
fantastic you did that did involve a big change in your training. Did you shift gears to focus more on that style of workout? I guess?
Jacob Hohua
I mean, I did, and I didn’t. So it was around the time that sort of COVID was sort of starting to sort of, you know, get around, you know, people more and more. Really, yes. Yeah. So it was actually filmed in March, when when COVID was actually yet you know, sort of just beginning to they were sort of talking about possibly locking down and stuff like that. So I remember being at the airport and my partner was like, you know, there might be locking down so just make sure you sort of don’t muck around when you’re getting home. And I was like well, but I’m training for it was just when I was sort of still fooling around so um, I was trying to go to like a ninja gyms and stuff like that, but it just never seem to really work out. So I got in to ninja sessions, which were was ninja specific. And it was a trainer, they showed you how to Lecce and how to, you know, grab bars and stuff properly. But pretty much I went flashy, flashy. You swing to the to the next class or you swing from one bar to the next bar. When you’re actually going to let go, and then you grab the other basket. Okay, that’s your last shot. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I actually just learned that as well. So I should have I should have specified that but yes, so I went to two of those. And then they actually sadly closed down. So basically, I went to the first session and he said, Look, man, it’s gonna be sort of, you know, around you, you know, this will be the last basically session and luckily, I was able to squeeze one in and then they shut down. So training for it pretty much this turned into me doing a lot of pegboard, a lot of rope climbs, a lot of pull ups just things that I sort of was trying to simulate what they did. But to be honest, I didn’t really get a good run at training footage, worry about items and stuff in you
Mat Lock
know, sure enough. And so just where I’ve looked at last a while we were talking and it’s when you use your body has momentum to swing release of an object. There you go, who
Jacob Hohua
is my turn, you swing and let go of a bar and grab another bar.
Mat Lock
That’s exactly what it does. It does what it says on the tin. Yeah, certainly, um, that was Sunday. I watched him. I’ve watched the last one he did. And you know, the commentator was in a very nice way, talking about you being the heaviest ninja there. And yeah, you were 104 I think they said at that point.
Jacob Hohua
Yeah, so I was I was around a sort of 107 110 but they sort of were like, you know, that just seems a bit unrealistic. So I think they sort of pushed it down to like 105 because just because you know, I don’t really look that heavy. Though they were sort of like, you know, we’ll we’ll say 105. And then we’ll sort of keep the crowd happy. So, yeah, they were saying I was about 105, which honestly, at that time, because I was training so much my weight was fluctuating from 105. Then I bumped to like 107. So I did, you know, didn’t do as much endurance training that weekend, because all my weight fluctuates heaps anyway, so I was happy for them to round it down to 105. But yeah, man, I was definitely one of the the big images, which sort of, I guess I was trying to prove that, you know, I’ve always been a big guy. So I’ve always been told, you know, I shouldn’t be able to do this, or I can’t do that. So I guess I was just trying to prove that. And I would just do have a good crack. And obviously, I didn’t make it as far as some of the ninjas. But um, yeah, we will give it our best shot. And the thing that I fell in on fell in on was, um, you know, I think it was one of the hardest obstacles, you know, that any of those ninjas had ever been through, you know, once we were out the back and we were all talking about it, you know, there was like a veteran ninjas there. And they were like, That thing was just horrible.
Mat Lock
Yeah, sure. Yeah. It’s funny about the whole week thing, isn’t it? Don’t let the truth stand in the way of a good TV production. Yeah. But the, the, the Newman that got you, I guess it’s funny because they, they thought, when you climbed your way along sort of sideways from the water line, doorknobs let’s call them that. And, by the way, going upwards, and the only way you got to the end of this or tilt down and you know, there was saying, Oh, this will be the hardest part when it lands in the bottom of that and but that you made Yeah, that seems to be pretty straightforward for you, it was a transition over to the next one, that you had to sort of twist and turn and grab and reach. And at that point, probably being 40 kilos lighter, and a rock climber would have stood in good stead.
Jacob Hohua
Yesterday, well, they weren’t literally going up. So they were it was called the door not drop. So there were literally doorknobs that went across and then went up and from, I believe there’s a person holding a rope. So as they dropped, they, you know, give resistance. So when mine dropped obviously been heavier, mine literally went back, shut it down with I think a lot of the other athletes that was sort of a nice smooth drop, and when might hit I just slipped onto my fingers and was like, so you know, as I was trying to regroup, you getting sweaty hands are sweaty, they don’t let you use any chalk or anything like that. And yeah, once I sort of turned around, I couldn’t really see where the doorknobs behind me where I was trying to look if you if you watch the video back, I’m sort of looking out and trying to figure out where they are. And then I just thought I’ve got to go for it. And then by the time I let go this, you know, this hand wasn’t strong enough to hold, hold my weight. So for some I went,
Mat Lock
we did a great job. And the way they were talking, I guess they were they were definitely saying, Oh, you know, this next one is going to be tough because you got to be quick and nimble on your feet. And you just smashed it like you made it really required. Yeah, they were they were obviously surprised, given your size. They were surprised it seemed like they were surprised that you got to where you did. So I mean, congratulations for being there. And the for flying the flag lab and proud my friend.
Jacob Hohua
That’s it, man. It was. Yeah, I mean, I was all stoked, he almost went off saying the course that we were running because um, you know, he runs a different course and I was when this is all the stuff that I would didn’t want to do, you know, was like the trampoline, it was the net. That was the, the blades, you know, when we hit one, they start turning and it was all the things that I just didn’t want to do. You know, the things that I had the very small amount of training with was like I said, bless Shane, it was the seven letter and it was things that was kind of a bit more brute strength. So yeah, getting there and seeing that I don’t think I’m going in on that trampoline. To get past that. I think I got through three obstacles and fell in on the fourth. Yeah, I was pretty stoked, man. Like, I wasn’t I wasn’t upset at all so funny because you know, my partner sort of looked into it and if I was in any of the other heats and made it that far in any of the other heats I would have made it to the semi finals, but it was just because of the heat I was in had all these super quick, you know, veteran ninjas and I just I didn’t make the cuts. We all fell in on the same thing. I think only like two or three ninjas made it through that one. But but because I got there slower than them that the time cut off, you know? Yeah.
Mat Lock
Yeah, well, you’ve played the smart game. I thought you were you were thinking about the next obstacle clearly you were drawing your hands with a towel to be ready for and so on. And that’s the smart game, right?
Jacob Hohua
Yeah, well, I know being bigger that I’m not you know, I’m not this isn’t my forte and I’m not going to rush through it. I don’t really know what to expect. So I just slowed it down. And you know, like I draw my hand draw my shoes and that really stressed me at this time you might as my main focus was to make it fun because you know, no one really, if you fell in on the second obstacle, but you still made it through to the seams because your time people still kind of like that you still fell in you know, it’s I was just wanting to make it as far as I could go.
Mat Lock
Now he did a great job. I had an interest in that style of I mean, this year’s competition, but that style of Training. I mean, I imagined it to be a lot of fun. And if you think about, you know, we talk about functional training, functional fitness, which you know, is everything we advocate for the everyday athletes, I can’t help, it makes me wonder whether the indoor rock climbing, the ninja gyms just helped to make the whole story even more fun, and relatable, and realistic and making life ready. And all of those things. I mean, when we’re kids, we love all of that stuff, right. And at some stage, we stopped doing it. But with with your clients, for example, is that something you’d advocate for, you’d encourage them to, to mix things up, add some more variety to it all.
Jacob Hohua
100% I’m, you know, a bit of a motto that I like to use as train for performance not to look. So and by performance, I don’t mean, you know, you don’t just have to be the top athlete as performance is also fun. And I’d learned trying to learn new skills and learn new things, you know, don’t just train to get home or look in the mirror, because it’s going to be a very mentally challenging journey. But if you’re sort of trying to hit a new PB on your squad, or if you’re trying to build your grip strength, so that when you go to, you know, a rock climbing course, you you’ve got a bit of grip strength. If you’re training for fun, and for performance, you’re definitely going to get a lot further with your training. And it’s not going to seem like this never ending journey is going to be excitement. And I think that’s what drew me to CrossFit so much was when I rocked up, and there was you know, muscle ups and handstand push ups and things that I couldn’t do. I was like, well, it’d be really cool to be able to do that. You know, let’s keep going. And let’s progress. And let’s see if I can eventually get to do those things. And yeah, once you get that done, I mean, it’s just so much fun, man. But like you said, it’s the ninja gyms. And the whole experience was very fun. It was you just surrounded by a bunch of adults who just don’t want to grow up, you know, and it was literally and that’s, that’s always been how I started about CrossFit. So you know, I did a bunch of posts about that saying, you know, for me, cross it was just like a playground built for adults, you know, you got ropes, you got monkey bars, you got, like I said, handstand push ups, you’re doing all these crazy fun things in a fitness aspect. So ninja was definitely very similar.
Mat Lock
to rip off with Jimmy Carr joke and make it relevant to you. So you know, when I grew up, I want to be a ninja warrior would be both.
Jacob Hohua
Yeah, 100% man, I’m happy to not grow up, man, I like just having fun and, and try new things. And for me, I’m really big on seizing opportunities. So if something comes my way that, you know, is something that could be fun, I definitely will leave at it and jump at it. You know.
Mat Lock
That’s, that’s awesome. That’s very motivating. I have to say, looking. As we said on one of the other episodes, you know, you’re a big guy, you’re a big strong guy, you’ve got the beard going on, we’ve got a fair bit of income here. I can’t imagine how many hours and dollars have gone into the ink. Good everywhere. you’re rocking it, you’re rocking here, you’re the dude and carry it all nicely. And what I really what resonated with me a lot was when I was introduced, I looked into you and I found out a bit more about you. You need to scrub and scrub. You’ve described yourself before, you know being very much the teddy bear on the inside. And you know, you’ve got your young daughter, Arlo, you’ve got your partner, and you’re all about it. And you’re very open with your emotions. Is you I think you said in the first episode, you don’t sort of you bought yourself down. You just kind of Yeah, you show your emotions, and you share those. And there was one piece in particular that I thought was great. And there’s obviously quite recent as in this year, that we’re recording this because you were making reference to when you discovered you are non essential non essential workers. And COVID was sweeping the world and shutting things down. And he talked about we’re all warriors inside. And yeah, maybe talk to us a little bit of that video in particular where talk us through that there’s not an I’ll put a link for sure in the show notes so people can watch it. But if you maybe just describe, describe the actual videos and a couple of minutes long, but what the motivation was behind that and what the underlying messages at the end of the day. That would be great to hear.
Jacob Hohua
So yeah, man, pretty much, my friend is a really good videographer. And he does a full time his name’s Jay Godfrey. So he, he’s a videographer. We always wanted to link up and you know, it was before pre COVID we’re always talking about linking up and doing like a gym workout video and all this kind of stuff. And then obviously COVID hurt. And we both had Tawana. And so we thought, let’s do a video. So I said, Oh, look, let’s just go to the beach and we’ll see what happens. So I think intentionally at first he sort of was thinking more along the lines of doing a meditation video and we’re going to sort of get this, you know, very chill sort of video happening and I and we both I’ve just got there. And, you know, we’ve both been through so much. Like we said in the video, you know, becoming non essential losing our jobs, you know, not knowing what the future holds. And we both looked at each other, and we had so much emotion bottled in that I just had moments of, let’s just see what happens, you know, let’s just you start filming, you sort of give me a few cues. But apart from that, we’re just gonna see what happens, then. That’s exactly what happened. We just started walking down to the beach, and he just let me do my thing. And, you know, I’m very, very connected to nature in a very open person. So I’m standing there looking out in the ocean, and I just started undressing. And he was just sort of he just rolled with it, you know, he just spill me and I started on dressing and putting my clothes down on it obviously seems to me rather cool if I go on the water. And he said, Yep. And he’s, he’s very young. He knows about all these practices, you know, Primal Scream, and meditation and whatnot. So I walked into the water. And that was it, man, once the wave sort of hit me over my head, and I come out of the water and just started screaming. And it was at a pretty public beach, too, you know, so there was sort of people around and they got what the hell, but yeah, just let it out, man. And then we sort of finished up and he was just like, Man, that was, that was cool. And he made the video, obviously, which was, which was great and go to an attraction. And he sort of put the emotion behind it by adding in, you know, a lot of like, the biking drums and singular walking things like a Viking woman singing in the background, and edited and animals and whatnot. And then a few weeks later, we decided to do a video and break it down. And that’s where we spoke about United States, you know, we’re all worried on the inside. And, and when we all found out, we were non essential, or something that we didn’t really get prepared for, and we didn’t get told what to do. And for me, I guess my message was to just let that emotion out in any way that you want, you know, whether that be crying. For me, it was more of a, you know, obviously, a scream, a primal scream, which is basically, you know, thinking about when you’re a baby and how you scream when you when you have something wrong, and, you know, we just get taught to hold all that. And so that’s what I decided to come across with was the primal scream, but like I said, you know, everyone’s got different ways of doing it, it might be crying, could be anything could be singing, you know, whatever, it helps them get their emotion. And that’s, that’s what what it was, man. And it was just about acknowledging that we’re warriors. And we’re going to get through these these crazy times. Like, as we have, you know, now sitting on sort of the other end of it, obviously, it’s, it’s kind of still a crazy place. But um, you know, it definitely made a lot of people realize what, what they’re made of, and what’s really important to them. So that was the message we were trying to get across.
Mat Lock
Now, if you should also, look, you’re clearly the real deal. And so even though there was a camera there, and yes, it became a pretty awesome video, I have to say like, it was very moving. The The plan was the philosophy and the actual Primal Scream that you were delivering to the ocean that wasn’t staged for the camera that was you scream, performing a primal scream to Did you mean liberate yourself to just release the frustrations or the stresses or the lack of certainty, the lack of control that we all have over this situation, that’s, that’s what it was, right? Of course, 100%
Jacob Hohua
you know, it’s like I explained in the video, it’s like a fizzy drink being shaken up. And now it’s just really to explode and, you know, kind of explode eventually. So you can either do it in a controlled setting where you, you explode through emotion and you let it all out. And you know, an ocean or nature is a great place to do that. Because, obviously, you know, you’re very grounded and you’re connected to, you know, Mother Nature, but I’m sort of a believer, you know, it’s gonna explode eventually. So I’d rather do it in that setting, and then you leave and you just feel great. Like, honestly, what, you know, all these practices, like I said, meditation, breathwork, cold therapy, screaming, crying anything, you feel good, but it’s what resonates with you. And the first time I ever did a primal scream, it was just crazy. Because you just you just living it was like, it’s like when you’re training, you know, and you let a lot of stuff and you leave feeling really good. It’s like that, but you can do it in a matter of minutes. So like you said, that was definitely a real raw emotion you know, we kind of rocked up expecting to do like I said, a nice little meditation video and we’re going to try and calm everyone down and I was doing but no one wants to see that with none of us feel like that right now. We’re all pretty good stuff. You know, we don’t really know what’s going on. So let’s see what happens and I think he sort of knew that that because you know, it turned into that very like warrior feeling. You know, I had I had on my arm, my arm Tom around, which is like a Rolling Stone and I had my crystals on and I just, you know, not to get too too heavy on people. But you know, I just I had a lot of emotion and I just, we got there and it had that rural feeling and I was quite a cloudy sort of eerie day. You know, the sun was just sort of peeking through and it just yeah, that’s how it ended. The water was was Hold and it was funny, it was quite deep. You know, I went deep really quick. And it just, that’s what sort of made the video so sort of powerful.
Mat Lock
Yeah, sure, by the way, um, I wouldn’t have taken it as hippie at all, I think you’re just being entirely authentic, clearly in touch with yourself with your emotions, and I think there’s a lot of people on this planet could learn a lot from it.
Jacob Hohua
That’s it, man. I think it’s, I think I need to stop saying that, because I do like to sort of go, you know, understand a lot of people, it’s so foreign to them. So for me, it’s always like, Oh, this is my hippie side. And then but it’s true. You know, it’s not, it’s not for me, it’s not a, you know, obviously, I don’t do it for foot logs or anything. It’s something that has always been called to me, and I’ve always tried to live that sort of lifestyle, you know, and that’s obviously, the whole plant based eating is helpful to that as well, you know, being, you know, a lot more in tune to what I’m eating and feeling a lot lighter and in every aspect. So yeah, man, but yeah, the The video was incredible. And it resonated with a lot of people and let them know that, you know, we’re all worried and we’re gonna get through this, if we all stick together was it was a pretty cool message that Jay and I were fortunate enough to get across to, you know, 1000s of people.
Mat Lock
Absolutely. And I think young Arlo will grow up and one day realize how fortunate she is to have you as a dad to be so in touch with yourself and the planet. I can only imagine that your partner Bev is the same way. Let’s see. Yeah, I haven’t met her yet. But yeah, Lucky, lucky. Allah was all I can see. And
Jacob Hohua
the man hope, yeah, we’re gonna we’re, you know, we do our best. And we want her to be raised knowing that, you know, she has loving parents, and she can show emotion, as well and tell us and talk to us. So hopefully, that’s what we get across, we’re going to, we’re going to, we’re going to try from what
Mat Lock
you described is only seven weeks old, from what you’ve described, and what your shade is a future Ninja Warrior.
Jacob Hohua
Oh, man, she’s always strong for her age, and she’s so emotionally connected and advanced. It’s just, it’s just not you know, she’s already making noises. And I said to be like, I honestly feel like she kind of spit out a word. So like, the way she’s trying and in, like, a sort of noise comes out, you know? And like, she’s gonna talk it like funny 10 weeks or something.
Mat Lock
Until then she’s clinging to the primal scream, right?
Jacob Hohua
Literally, she seems good at I should have taken some point. And
Mat Lock
that’s awesome. I’m Jacob, I’m conscious of time. For those who want to reach out and get in touch with you, and pick your brains and just maybe get to know you. What’s the best way for them to do this?
Jacob Hohua
Definitely, my Instagram is the best route to sort of get in touch with me and see what I’m about. I do most of my posting on my Instagram, which is literally just my name, Jacob obor. But if you want to sort of, you know, I’m on Facebook as well, but a Facebook page, which is Jake and Paul who are fitness. And then I’ve got a couple videos on YouTube, but they’re quite, quite funny because they’re sort of from back in the day. So pre pre beard pre long hair. So if you want to sort of see when I was in that strong male bodybuilding phase, you know, jump over onto YouTube, but yeah, man definitely um, Instagrams the easiest place.
Mat Lock
Well, that’s awesome that you’ve been very generous with your time you’ve been generous with your learnings, your life lessons and so on so far, and I look forward to Yeah, staying in touch and getting hold of more of you in the future. And hopefully, one day we can get you down here for the bay games and watch you have a lot of fun in jervis Bay.
Jacob Hohua
Oh, definitely man that some after talking to you and hearing about those, the bay games it’s something I definitely wouldn’t mind starting to train for and then went over some COVID stuff is over. I’d love to get down and have a crack.
Mat Lock
See, take home the trophy, the boss of the bay trophy. Let’s see that would be nice. We just need to get COVID out of the way. But thank you so much for your time, Jacob. I really appreciate great chatting with you. Thanks for having me on bro.
