Evolution of man has Evolved…

“What the hell happened to Evolution of man?” I’ve been asked this many times over the past year.

Well, cool your boots, be seated, and uncle Lee will explain all.

When Tim and I started working together with ‘Evolution of man’ we knew we were onto something good. With a shared interest of turning men into gods with hardcore, old school methods, we found we were gaining momentum. Many new warriors came on board thanks to Tim’s marketing skills with the media and we thrived  (Some of which still train with us to this day, the EOM originals, you all know who you are, heroes one and all) we had some awesome transformations and news began to spread, this was the beginning, our path to becoming the best.

I look back fondly on those days at ‘On Point’ in Shoreditch, we had good people around us and a fantastic atmosphere, but all good things must come to an end. Unfortunately the studio had to close due to the development of the land in the area and we had to find a new home.

We moved to a studio around the corner with some other trainers we had worked with to ‘Bodystudio’, a poncy garden centre looking studio with wooden ‘don’t drop the weights’ floors, a poorly positioned sled track, an inconveniently placed boxing class, surrounded by broken, milky, lackluster “industry professionals” or jokes as otherwise known, and a management/reception team constantly trying to stamp some sort of plastic authority over EOM’s ever growing success. Now I couldn’t give a bollocks but I’m not here to offend anyone (just yet)  so long story short, we got thrown out.

Next we dragged our loyal client base to ‘Pure Fitness’ just up the road, a perfectly nice gym if a little small, no bad blood here just a bit of a mission to get to, resulting in us losing a lot of business.

We made a decision, something we had both wanted for a long time, and we began the hunt. The hunt for our own gym, a gym where we make the rules, where jealous management couldn’t throw us out, a gym where we could drop the weights, bark when we’re lifting without being judged, play hardcore rock when we train, basically do what the fuck we want, the EOM way.

 

Well, that’s what we did, and that’s where we have been. So from the guys that brought you EOM we’d like to introduce our gym, EVOLVE. The biggest private PT studio in central London, squat racks, free weights, plate loaded kit, 25m sled track, strongman kit, a separate group training and boxing room, I’ll be honest, it’s pretty fucking awesome!

Not only have we got a great space, our family has grown too. We have 4 A-class trainers working with us, a reception team, another business partner to help with the.. Well you know businessy stuff, let’s face it, finance and computery things aren’t my strong point. Our roles have fallen into place quite nicely, Tim working more with marketing, running of the business and general overlording and me more of a snuffling Igor type character laying floors, painting walls and anything that requires general Dad skills and then occasionally piping up when I’m not happy about something.

So there it is, 2 years in and EOM has Evolved… Which brings me to the point of this blog. Evolve is our gym, our gladiatorial arena, it’s where we do battle every day. To be successful in business I believe you have to have a niche, a corner of the market where you specialize, where no one does what you do better, which I believe we are. Evolve has so much potential to be huge we decided to open up that market, we have now actively taken on female clients under the same 12 week transformation program, we have the world’s first group 12 week transformation program, the ‘Warrior Tribe’ where 8 warriors go through the 12 week transformation together, we’ve even trained some Vegans! I know, we’ve come a long way haven’t we!

As we continue to grow, I’d had some reservations. I didn’t want to lose what EOM stood for, what this business was about when we started it, what is was at its core. So here we are, flying both flags, with two champions EOM and EVOLVE.

With Evolve now up and running and growing nicely, this allows us to show EOM some love, so I’ll be taking over the instagram and blogging more regularly, considering we now have two branches to our empire this also allows us to go ever more hardcore with EOM, you’ll be happy to know.

Now enough about us, and let’s talk about me.

As some of you will know starting a business kicks the shit out of you, after the last two years I have so much respect for anyone who takes a chance to start a business, and then to make it successful, I take my hat off! That’s pretty much what happened to me, business has kicked me in the dick, 4:45am get ups, long ass days, pretty much 6-7 days a week, the stress, staying on top of your clients, your work, as well as the responsibilities to step up and get all of the other shit done on top of that.

I got in pretty good shape for our bi-annual photoshoot last year, I’d trained hard and eaten well, probably the best shape I’d been in for a long time. This last year, 2017, has possibly been one of the hardest years of my life, business, personally, physically and probably mentally. It’s no secret that I like a drink, and with everything going down this year, it became a bit of a problem. I booked a holiday with a friend of mine to get away and sort my shit out, 2 weeks in mexico (I recommend) and thank fuck, it worked pretty well. Being mentally exhausted is a big issue with people who work a lot in London, time management and making sure you have time for yourself is so important, I’ll definitely make sure I learn from that.

People always say, “You own a gym, you’re a PT it must be easy for you to train” Naa, when I get an hour to myself during the day, my brain says you can train now for 45 mins or you could fit a nap in, nap wins everytime. I always called bullshit when my clients or potential clients said I just don’t have time to prep my food or to train, now after 2 years of running this business I understand that, but, I don’t necessarily agree. Make fucking time!

So to kick off the return of EOM, follow us on Instagram eomfitness, over the next 10-12 weeks I’ll be documenting my own personal transformation, training, food, cheat meals, all the good shit, but this time it’s a little different. While I was in Mexico, full of Corona and Jack Daniels, I had a lot of thinking time. I came to the conclusion that something was missing from my life, and that something is competition. Now i don’t want to compete as a bodybuilder again, I’ve already been British champion and competed at a world championships, I’ve already ticked that box, so I’ve decided to pursue another passion of mine before I get too broken and old, Fighting. So, I’ll be documenting my fight training on instagram as part of this transformation which is sure to be either inspiring or hilarious to watch, let’s see how rusty I am! After a few months back in the game I’ll make the decision to see if we can line up an amateur fight and see where the fuck that gets me, hopefully not hospital.

To end my transformation i’ll be taking a break away in Thailand for a few weeks, so if I’m ready I may look for a knock about at one of those Thai boxing shows. My face will never forgive me for this!

Words by Lee Bennett

Co-founder EVOLUTION OF MAN – EVOLVE FITNESS and WARRIOR TRIBE