The School of Greatness - 2 Bob Harper: Host of the Biggest Loser Discusses Habits and Success

Episode Date: January 28, 2013

Ready to get into physical and mental shape? If so, you're in for a treat with today's guest as the second episode of The School of Greatness is with the host of The Biggest Loser, Bob Harper. I'm constantly connecting with inspiring individuals and I love hearing their story about how they've achieved greatness. That's my main […]

Hello everyone and welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes. I'm an author, lifestyle entrepreneur, former pro athlete, and world record holder in football. My goal with the School of Greatness is to share with you stories from the most inspiring business minds, world-class athletes, and influential celebrities on the planet to help you find out what makes great people great. So please leave us a review over on iTunes and join us on the web at schoolofgreatness.com

to be notified of each episode when it comes out. Now let's get after it. So I literally went into battle with my next guest during the day of our interview. You might recognize him from the hit show, The Biggest Loser. He's also a personal trainer in Hollywood and is the number one New York Times best-selling author of The Skinny Rules, the simple, non-negotiable principles for getting to thin. PETA even voted him the world's sexiest male vegetarian of the year in 2010. Now, he's become a good friend of mine outside of the gym, but in the gym, I consider him my CrossFit nemesis. This interview was taken in the middle of the Brick CrossFit Gym in West Hollywood and right after a brutal workout.

So I hope you enjoy this raw and real interview with the man, Bob Harper. How's it going, brother? Good, Lewis. You worked hard today. I worked super hard, man. And I was impressed because I feel like I should be better than you at this stuff, but you smoke me at everything. Wait, why are you supposed to be better than me? Well, one of my ten years younger than you.

That's true. And I'm like, I used to be a pro athlete, so I'm like, I should be able to do this stuff. But you've been a trainer for how many years now? I've been a trainer for about 20 years, but I've only been doing CrossFit for a year. A year? A year. Oh, my gosh. And get this.

I've always been very much cardio oriented. I've been like the guy that gets overweight people thin, right? That's what I've been doing for a really long time. So now all of a sudden getting into CrossFit

was a real eye opening experience because I mean, these workouts really handed my ass to me every single time I walked in. And, of course, it gave me an objective. I'm very task-oriented. Nice.

So tell me how you got started. Your fame to claim is the biggest loser. So tell me how did you get started? How did they choose you? How did you get into it? Was there an audition? Yeah, it was a really long process. I remember, let's see, the show's been, we're about to start its 14th season.

That's amazing. I'm the only one that's been there since the very beginning. And you've been there the whole time? The whole time. Wow. Every single season. And it started with an audition process. I've been a trainer in Los Angeles for a long time, worked with a lot of celebrities.

And then all of a sudden this idea of this show, The Biggest Loser, came about, and they were auditioning trainers. And when I first heard the title of the show, I was really skeptical of it. I was thinking, you know, I'm not going to be a part of some show that's going to make fun of fat people. It's just not going to work. But when I went in and I saw what the idea was, I thought, oh, okay, this could be a really good project.

And it was a six-week long audition process. What? Dude, I had to train everybody, every executive over at NBC. I remember finally I was getting so annoyed by the fact that I was having to train so many different people to try to get, like, you know, they were trying to get an idea of all these trainers. I got this one executive. She came in one day, and it was like 7 o'clock in the morning and I buried her. She was puking outside the gym and I was just like, you're just so angry. You're like, let's get this done. I know, I know I'm the guy for the job, so let's do this. Now, did you ever think in all your

years as a trainer, you've been training celebrities for years out here in LA. Did you ever think that you would get on TV for a show like this for an opportunity like this? No, I, I never came to Los Angeles to get on television. Right. It was never my objective. You know, it's like I figured this is the funny, this is the interesting thing about me. Like I, um, I've been given a really big opportunity. I have a big platform now. I get to, I get to reach a lot of people. I have been a trainer for a long time and I really like this kind of gym environment. I like, I like working out. I really walk the walk, but I also like, I like working with people one on one. That's why I enjoy doing the show. And I know that

after long after the show, I'm going to just be going back to like owning my own box like this and just like being a trainer. I mean, that's, that's what I like. Right. Nice. Now I'm, I'm want to, I'm really curious. And I'm so glad I was better than you in this workout. Well, I did lift heavier than you in the beginning. On the strict press, you did. I was sore from my week, but yes. Well, I did a double workout yesterday. I did the section, and then I pushed the prowler and then sprints and everything else.

So I didn't tell you about that. I didn't tell you about that. I just hear what you're doing now. So now what I'm really curious about is the mental side of things when you're dealing with. So you see a lot of people that drop 200 pounds in a show or 100 pounds. It happens all the time in a six-month period, right? Now what do you think is kind of like the emotional things that hold people back to get that far out of shape? Let's say physically, but also this could be towards business, you know, getting out of shape in your business, out of your relationships, but getting out of shape in personal.

But then how, first off, why do people get that far, lose themselves that much? I'll let you answer that one first. Okay. There are three words that come to mind. Complacency, laziness, and depression. I mean, these are the three things that kind of come up for me when, uh, uh, when I've worked with the people that I've worked with. Sure. I I've, I've worked with guys that are 500 pounds that just love to eat mass quantities of food, right? I mean, there is that certain demographic of people, but a lot of times it's people's emotional response to food.

It's their relationship with food. It's how they perceive themselves. It's like, you know, you look at somebody and if they are not happy with their life, they're going to act out in some way. And like a lot of times the people that I deal with, their addiction goes into, um, uh, overeating. Right. Right. Right. And so what about, I feel like you're probably have a, you're a better, uh, psychologist than a lot of people because you've dealt with people losing a lot of weight and then gaining it back. I think sometimes a lot of people gain it back after they lose it. Right? So why do people, what does it take for them to keep it off? What's the shift in their mind in order to lose the weight and keep it off? People have to realize that when, especially if you are dealing with weight issues,

they are never, ever going to go away. You are never going to be cured. This is not something that you've taken a pill and now all of a sudden it's like this. I'm fine now. I've lost all this weight and I can just do whatever I want to do. You have to think about it every single day. I have to focus on what I'm eating every single day. I've got to think about my workouts.

I've got to think about what my lifestyle is. And that's what I really try to tell people all the time. It's not about losing the weight. Losing the weight is easy. It's about keeping it off. It's about changing. It's about changing your life. And it's about divorcing yourself from the past.

Ooh, divorcing yourself from the past. I like that. Because in business, there's a lot of people that come to me a lot of times to say, I don't know how to grow my business. I don't know how to get more leads. I'm stuck at this level. But how do I break through this level? And I think a lot of people, it's the same mental aspect in business and life and health, right?

Yeah, I think that like, you know, I would think when it comes to business, with me, I think you got to kind of like put your balls out there, you know? It's like you got to, if you're scared of doing something, chances are you probably should do it, right? It's like, you know, I think that that's what I tell people all the time. It's about fear is really comfortable. You know, it's like people can like get very stagnant and get into a very neutral lifestyle because they're just afraid of like what, uh, afraid of the success or afraid of like, you know, failure. And it's kind of like, how, how do you know what you can do unless you just try to do it? Right. You know what I like is some people become really addicted to working out. They have to work out every day. They get into this mindset.

It's like, I'm addicted. I feel great. I feel energized. My body looks awesome. People also are addicted to eating. So they eat a lot. They're overeating. Their body looks fat, everything.

But what I just came to mind is if people started becoming addicted to facing their fears and doing their fears every day, they'd be having breakthroughs and nothing right. Right. Every day facing your fear and going after and being addicted to like feeling scared, but going after it. Wouldn't that be kind of cool? Absolutely. It's like, you know, put a fear wad together. Exactly. Exactly. So how do you motivate yourself to keep fighting for people that don't believe in themselves? I battled with that, uh, in the very beginning because I used to think I've got enough, I've got enough hope. I've got enough like, you know, strength to just like carry you to the finish line.

Right. And I realized that I can't do that. And I think that like for me, unless you're willing to meet me halfway, there's an absolutely nothing I can do for you. It's like, uh, I can tell you every plan tell you every plan, I can put you on any workout plan, any diet plan and get you to lose weight, but unless you're willing to meet me in the middle somewhere or at least take that first step, there's nothing anyone can do. How many people do you work with that say they're committed to meeting you halfway,

but then don't? Yeah, I've worked with, it's interesting when I work with the athletes on the show, they come in very motivated, right? You really try to find out what is motivating them. It's like, are they motivated by the money? Are they thinking, okay, you know what, I could win $250,000 right now if I win

this, so I'm going to devote all my energy to this. You've got to really be able to spot that and be able to get them to change that. Because I've seen the people come on to the show that have won and then they put all their weight back on. Really? And for me it's like – It's just because of money.

It's because of money. So you've got to find – The shift in their mind. There has to be a shift in the mind because you cannot sustain a lifestyle like this unless you are completely motivated to. And it's like thinking about it every single day. I always tell people, go up to a guy that looks like you and go, what do you do? I mean, you have to think about what you're doing. You've got your protein shakes that you're drinking right after a hard workout like that.

You're pushing. It's like you think about it. You're constantly in the game. And it's like I'm trying to get people in the game. I like that, in the game. ultimately in the game. And it's like, I'm trying to get people in the game.

I like that. In the game. Now, when you have a huge goal as an individual who's 200 pounds overweight or a hundred pounds overweight, um, or they're in debt or whatever it may be, they're in a bad relationship. What is the best approach to take on a huge goal?

It's like seems so big. It's like years away. What's the best approach? I mean, I think that it's, it's almost like that, um, AA mentality. You got, you've got to just take it one day at a time. I really believe that if I'm going to look at a guy that's got to lose 200 pounds, or if I'm looking at a guy that is just like in debt for a hundred thousand dollars or however much, uh, you've got

to look at what you can do today to change your future. Because if you're living in the past, you're fucked, right? It's like in the future and the same thing, you got to like, do what you can do today to change your future because if you're living in the past you're fucked right it's like in the future and the same thing you got to like do what you can do today here and now so it's like the guy that's got to lose all this weight i can't get you to focus on you're gonna lose 200 pounds i gotta be like you know what let's get the first 10 off let's see how that's gonna feel and all of a sudden that first 10 comes off and you're like okay i'm motivated i'm willing to keep going It's the same thing in any aspect of your life. Whatever you want to change, no matter how big that goal is, you've got to take those small steps toward it. It's too overwhelming and daunting to just take it all on in the first day. That's where I see failure happen with a lot of people.

I see failure happen when people decide, today's the fucking day that I'm going to just, I'm going to do it all. By Friday, they're done. You're screwed. So it's really having a plan and sticking to little baby steps each and every day

and following through the entire plan. Yeah, it was like, when you say baby steps, it makes me think of that movie a long time ago, What About Bob?

with Bill Murray. It's like where he's in therapy and it was like these baby steps. He's like, baby steps to the elevator, baby steps to the car. And it's like, I think about that all the time when I work with Bill Murray. He's in therapy and it was like these baby steps. He's like baby steps to the elevator, baby steps to the car. I think about that all the time when I work with the athletes that I work with.

Do you think that fitness and success in any area of your life go hand in hand? Do you think you have to be fit in order to be successful? I think that to be a well-rounded individual you've got to have a healthy lifestyle and to have a clear mind and a clear head. I mean, I think that I always try to get people to look at the full pie of their life, right?

How's their relationship? How's their business? How's their personal life? How's their health? And it's like when you have a balance of all that, that's when you are pretty much living the dream, right? you are pretty much living the dream, right? And I think that that dream is a real hard, hard, uh, uh, hard and, uh, can be, uh, can be unattainable for a lot of people. But I think that if you really kind of take those small steps toward every aspect of your life being, being the way that you want it, then you're going to be able to achieve it. I think

that I really do believe it's like we live in a country that anything is possible. Yeah. You know, it's like you can do anything that you put your mind to as long as you have faith in yourself and give yourself a chance. Yeah, exactly. You know, one of the things I talk about is health, wealth and relationships balance. There's some entrepreneurs who sell a company for a hundred million dollars, but they're a hundred pounds overweight or no one likes them. And for me, I don't feel like that's success. I feel like you've got to be well-rounded in all areas of your life to be successful,

but that's my point of view. Right. I think you're on that track. I think that I'm on that track. So what's the best way to train your mind on a daily basis to put you on the right path? God, this sounds like an Oprah Winfrey episode, but, um, I really think that you've got to be able to find something that you're grateful for every single day. It's like, I tell people that are like in the darkest time of their life.

It's like this fine, fine. One thing, one thing in your day. And then the rest, you can just like fucking go to, you know, you can just go to the darkest place. day and then the rest you can just like fucking go to you know you can just go to the darkest place but as long as you just like plant that seed every single day and not get wrapped up in the the misery of whatever your situation is looking for a job going you know bankruptcy whatever like major huge issues that so many people have to go through. If you're able to just like start to plant that seed of change, you will be able to change. I like that. So what's your daily routine like when you wake up? Do you plant those seeds? Do you talk about what you're grateful for in the

morning? It's not, uh, it's not the first thing in the morning, but it's at some point during my days, it's like I get up in the morning and it's one of those things where it's like, I take my dog out. I go for a walk. I have my coffee. I'm just like taking in what my day is going to look like, what I want to achieve today. Like when my workout is going to be, I plan out my meals. I'm very kind of anal retentive about things like that. But I also just like what am I going to do fun for myself today.

Right, right. That's cool. Now, tell me about your book. It's been in the New York Times bestseller list for how long? God, it's been, um, like almost four months now. Wow. Consistently. It hasn't broken the list. It's been in the, uh, it's been in the top 10. It was top, it was, it was number one for, uh, like 10 weeks. Wow. And, uh, it's, it's a great book. I mean, I got to tell you what I really wanted to do was this. book, I mean, I got to tell you what I really wanted to do was this. So many people are always just like, Bob, just give me a set of rules. Just tell me what to do. And that's what I go on to

the show every single season. And it's like this, here's your things to do list. You check this off at the end of the day, and then everything's going to work out. And that's why I decided I'm writing, um, writing this book. I'm going to put these 20 simple yet non-negotiable rules together that are going to give you the tools that you need. And the best thing about it, it's not some quick fix. I mean, it's like, it's things that we all know, but I'm here to remind people about it. Right. Exactly. But everyone wants a done for you plan and they want the things to be done for them. They want to take all the thinking out of it and just like, all right, take action. Just tell me what to do. I'm like, all right. I love telling people what to do. So here

you go. You like being the boss, right? I like being the boss. I've got major control issues. So, uh, so what's happening with the next season? This is going to be your four 13th, 14th, 14th season. It's going to start soon. What can you tell us about this or what are you excited about or what are you excited about? I'm really excited. Jillian's coming back, Jillian Michaels. She's been my counterpart on the show since the very beginning, and she's gone for the past two seasons.

And I really believe that the show took a hit by not having a combination of Bob and Jillian. I love that I want to talk about myself in third person, but you know, it's like Jillian and I really have a chemistry together and we have a lot of fun together and we have really maximized the good cop, bad cop mentality. And it's like, it's going to be really,

it's going to be really exciting to like get back to work with her. How many more years do you expect this to continue? That's a really good question. I think that, uh, I knew from the very beginning that this show had legs. Everyone was just thinking, Oh, this show is going to be, you know, one season. And I remember like that first day when I met those contestants and I saw the whole, um, idea of this and I saw the passion that Jillian and I have for the jobs that we do, I knew that we were going to be here for a long time.

And I remember looking at her and I said, you and I are going to be working together for a long time. She was like, this show is not going to last more than one season. And I was like, you are wrong. Wow. And now here we are. I think as long as Americans, or what is it, 30% of Americans obese, or one every three years, children obese.

Americans or what is it? 30% of Americans obese or one every three years. Yeah. The, the, the obese rate now is, um, God, it's like reaching, it's ridiculous. It's reaching like over 40, almost 40%. So, uh, Josh, yeah. As long as that's happening, this show is going to continue. People are obsessed with weight loss. You know, people are always looking. And I think it's interesting in the very beginning, it was a show that, uh, overweight people watched. And now it's like fam, the family show. People want to watch it with their families, fit people,

watch it to get to us. Now that I brought CrossFit into it, it's like, it's turned into a, it's turned into a whole other ball game. Yeah. Awesome. It's so nice.

Now tell me about your business outside of the show. What have you done, um, for yourself to grow aside business? You've got products. You've got DVDs. You've got now a membership site. What are you doing to leverage the media that you get from the show for your own business?

Well, what I've done now is I've kind of created this corporation where not only are my DVDs doing really well, I also have my book series now. I've got my online club that's really starting to take off. I do a lot of speaking across the country. I go around, and that was something that I got into during my second book. I think that when you have the gift of gab, I like to talk, as you can probably see. I remember the first time I got up there and started speaking to people, I was really excited about the fact that

I had something to say and people wanted to listen. I love that I've just taken over your office. We're almost done. You've got the neon shirt, the neon shoes. We were talking about the attention. Yeah, it's Bob's brick. We're changing the front door today. We are.

They're on the way. Yeah, try not to steal any of my stuff. I'm bringing in the rest of my stuff today. So, yeah, that's what I've really done. I've just really kind of branched out, but still staying in the health and wellness arena because that's what I love and that's what I do. But my speaking engagements have been a lot of fun. It's been a lot of fun and extremely lucrative.

What do you see as the most lucrative thing for you to capitalize on with the media attention, with the show? Is it the membership site? Is it speaking? Is it the books, the products? What do you think long-term is going to be the best for you? I mean, of course, I think that the show has been the most lucrative for me and other show deals that have come to me, other producers that have come to me with different kinds of ideas. I know that Jillian and I have really been going back and forth with putting a show idea together.

I think that it's funny because this job and my career has made me a lot of money. And I'm really, really fortunate for that. But it's never, ever been my objective. Just like it's never been my objective to be on TV. You know what it is? It's a really great byproduct. All of a sudden I get to do all these other projects. And I do have all this brand that's this, this brand that's out there and

it's really building and getting, getting stronger, but I never lose sight of why I do what I do. And it's like, I like working with people. I like coming into a box like this. I want to be able to, uh, just interact one-on-one or, um, or help as many people as I can. And now it's kind of like, I've been given this platform to, to reach out to a lot of people. And even with my social media, uh, well, it's huge. You got like half a million people on Twitter or something. Yeah. Like, and like, yeah, like together we got like, you know, I'm reaching, I'm reaching well over a million, a million people that I just kind of like talk to on a daily basis about like what I'm doing and what I find is

like every single day when I just post my workouts or post a picture of that push press that you, uh, that you gave me that picture of that one day that when we worked out, I mean, the people that just get motivated from that because they see that you're working hard and I'm working hard and it's like, this is something that I've got to do. So it's like, it's a good way to just kind of reach out to people. Right. So what's, what's next for you then? Well, I think what's next for me is my third book. That's what I,

I'm going to meet. I'm working on it right now. I'm writing it with my, my partner. And that's, that's my next thing. I've got another DVD series that's coming out. I'm going to,

I'm really getting into the CrossFit community even more with, uh, Greg Glassman and Dave Castro and just like, uh, uh, finding projects that I can do with them. And, uh, because I think that, I mean, as you know, you're, you're, you've been bitten by the CrossFit bug too. It's like, it's, it's, it's an addiction and, uh, it's, it's one of those things that I want to give it to the masses. You know, I want to give it to, I want to give it to the people that aren't like the Rich Ronings and the Graham Holmbergs.

It's like I want to show middle America that they can do their scaled-down version of Fran and feel just as good as we do afterwards. With lightweight and yeah. It's all about scalability. Now what is the thing you're most passionate about that people don't know? Photography. Really?

I'm a photographer. Well, you do use Instagram a lot. I like your Instagram. I do use Instagram a lot. I'm a big, I love photography. I just bought a little beach house in Laguna

and I've been, this project right now is printing all these photographs that I'm going to be putting all in and the house is going to be like all my photography. I don't know if that's narcissistic. We've got this photo right here. You just took two. Oh yeah. That was on his birthday.

That one out there with the girls on their hands. Yeah. But yeah, so that's what I'm, that's what I'm really passionate about. I love it. It's like, it's a,

it's a good outlet. It's a good outlet. It's a good creative outlet. It just kind of puts my brain someplace else. Right. I love having a camera in my head. That's cool. So where is the best place people can find you online? BobHarper.com.

Okay. That's cool. That's where I am. That's where I am day in and day out. Okay, awesome. Yeah. Bob Harper, man of the myth, the legend. Thanks, man.

I'm strong. I was stronger than you today. You were stronger than me. So I hope you guys enjoyed that interview. And make sure to head over to BobHarper.com to learn more about our guest. He's definitely an amazing guy. to bobharper.com to learn more about our guest. He's definitely an amazing guy,

and if you're looking to improve your level of fitness, I couldn't recommend his membership site, his books, and his DVDs enough. I hope you guys are enjoying the School of Greatness podcast so far, and any feedback you have would be very much appreciated. Make sure to head over to schoolofgreatness.com to be notified of our next episode, and please stop by iTunes and leave us a five-star review.

Until next time, thanks for listening and do something great. សូវបានប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រ� Outro Music