Episode 232: From Bodybuilder to Hybrid Athlete: Jonny Abbey on Strength, Endurance & Stoicism

Jonny Abbey on feeling good over looking good, training smarter and controlling what you can

TL;DR

• Book the event in. You don't need to know how you'll get to the finish line yet.
• Jonny now values how he feels over how he looks, and says looking good is just the icing on the cake.
• Beginners should focus on full-body training and perfecting the basic lifts.
• Keep nutrition simple and unprocessed, and make sleep your foundation.
• Stoicism, breathwork, meditation and journaling helped Jonny through the hardest time of his life.

Introduction

I've known Jonny Abbey pretty much since I moved to Melbourne. We used to train our clients in the same PT gym, and I learnt so much from watching how he coached. Jonny has been a PT for almost 10 years. He trained in bodybuilding from about 15 until his late twenties, competed in men's physique and now trains as a hybrid athlete, lifting weights and running.

This was one of those conversations I knew would be good, and it covered everything from training splits to ego, emotions and resilience.

Lesson 1: Just book it in

Insight: Jonny had got comfortable doing the same training for so long that he'd lost his love for it a little. The furthest he'd ever run was about 5k, and even that was a push. So he booked a 50k ultramarathon. His thinking was that you don't need to know exactly how you'll get to the finish line, you just need to book it in.

He trained for around six months, running four or five times a week. Then, four or five days before the race, he pushed too hard and injured his calf. He'd raised money for charity and felt like he'd let people down. He felt down for a few days, then told himself it was done and he couldn't change it. The week after, he booked in another one, did another six months of training and completed it.

He says booking an event commits you financially and gives you a date and time to work back from. It doesn't have to be a marathon. A 5k or 10k that's slightly outside your comfort zone works too.

Action: Find an event that feels a little out of reach and book it in this week.

Outcome: You give your training a deadline and a reason to show up.

Lesson 2: Value how you feel over how you look

Insight: Like a lot of young guys, Jonny started lifting for superficial reasons. He felt skinny and wanted to put on muscle. He went on to compete in men's physique and placed third and fourth, but says he sacrificed his social life and his mental health to get there. He got down to around 5 to 6% body fat, tracked every calorie and became obsessive. On stage, he felt weak and terrible, even though he looked strong.

He's glad he did it, but he wouldn't do it again. In his twenties, he valued the way he looked over the way he felt. In his thirties, being fit, healthy and strong matters much more. He believes that when you focus on feeling good, you'll look good anyway. That's just the icing, and the cake is feeling good.

He also reminds people that social media isn't reality. Photos are edited and well lit, and most influencers don't look like their photos day to day.

Action: Ask yourself honestly why you want your current fitness goal, and whether it's about how you'll feel or how others will see you.

Outcome: You build goals you'll actually enjoy chasing.

Lesson 3: Train smarter with the basics

Insight: Jonny sees a lot of people jump on fad diets or training styles because their favourite influencer promoted them. He suggests talking to a coach about your goals instead.

For beginners, he recommends training the whole body with a full-body or upper/lower split rather than one or two muscle groups a day. He used to spend two and a half hours on chest and triceps. Now he calls a lot of that junk volume. If you're getting close to failure on a couple of sets, that's often all you need. When I switched myself and my clients to full-body sessions with some cardio, the results came much faster.

He also says to perfect the basic compound lifts, like the squat, bench press and deadlift. It took him four or five years to perfect his technique. Track your weights and reps because it keeps you accountable, but don't beat yourself up if you're not stronger every single week.

Right now, he does two full-body weights sessions and three runs a week.

Action: If you're on a body-part split, try three full-body sessions a week for a month.

Outcome: You get more out of less time in the gym.

Lesson 4: Keep nutrition simple and unprocessed

Insight: Jonny says nutrition is just as important as training. If you're not eating enough protein and recovering properly, you won't build the muscle you want. His advice is not to overcomplicate it. Get protein, carbs and fats in each meal. Protein comes from foods like meat, eggs and Greek yoghurt. For carbs, stick to whole foods like oats, rice and potatoes, and avoid processed and sugary carbs. If it grows from the ground or a tree, it's good.

Because he got so obsessive about tracking, he recommends it but cautions against letting it take over. I usually suggest clients track for a day or two, just to see what they're actually eating. For supplements, Jonny keeps it simple with creatine and a basic whey protein.

Action: Track what you eat for one or two days, then use what you learn to add protein to each meal.

Outcome: You understand your eating without becoming obsessed with numbers.

Lesson 5: Make sleep your foundation

Insight: I asked Jonny what one thing he'd get every Australian to do. His answer was sleep. It's something he's really focused on in the last few years, and he says it affects his interactions with people and makes his whole day better.

He aims for seven to eight hours with a consistent routine. He tries not to look at his phone for half an hour before bed and reads a book instead. In the morning, he gets out of bed as soon as the alarm goes off and does a set of push-ups. He says it's a small win and a bit of discipline to start the day.

Action: Put your phone away 30 minutes before bed tonight and don't hit snooze tomorrow.

Outcome: You start and end your day with small wins.

Lesson 6: Control what you can control

Insight: Jonny's ability to move on from his injury came from reading about stoicism. He explains its main concept as separating what you can control from what you can't. When a close family member was diagnosed with a terminal illness, he couldn't control that. He could control his attitude and whether he let it make him stronger.

He recommends starting with Marcus Aurelius' Meditations and Ryan Holiday's books. One quote that stuck with him is: "The closer a man comes to a calm mind, the closer he is to strength." Around the time of the diagnosis, in his late twenties, he started journaling to get what was in his head onto paper. His routine became breathwork, starting with the Wim Hof method, then a mindfulness meditation, then five to ten minutes of journaling about what he noticed.

He says people get stoicism wrong when they think it means having no emotions. For him, it's about becoming aware of your emotions and creating a gap between a trigger and your response.

Action: Write down one thing worrying you right now, then split it into what you can and can't control.

Outcome: You put your energy where it can make a difference.

Lesson 7: Discipline builds resilience

Insight: Jonny says motivation gets thrown around a lot, but it won't carry you for long. As the saying goes, discipline eats motivation for breakfast. To him, discipline is doing the things you don't want to do, because you know they're part of the process.

His tip for building discipline is to start very small. If you want to meditate, commit to one minute a day, then add 10 seconds. Same with cold showers. Let it compound. If you need a motivational speech to get you out the door at first, use it, but don't rely on it.

Over time, discipline builds resilience, and he believes resilience is incredibly important because life is hard. After his injury, it was discipline, not motivation, that got him back. After years of training, a few days off just felt wrong.

We also talked about self-worth. Jonny shared a paraphrased Alex Hormozi idea: you don't build confidence by talking to yourself in the mirror. You build it with an undeniable stack of proof that you are who you say you are.

Action: Pick one habit and commit to just one minute of it every day this week.

Outcome: You start building proof that you follow through.

Quick wins

• Book an event that's slightly outside your comfort zone.
• Do a set of push-ups when you get out of bed.
• Swap one body-part session for a full-body session.
• Build meals from foods that grow from the ground or a tree.
• Journal for five minutes about what you can and can't control.

Closing insight

Jonny's final advice was the same as his first: just book it in. Commit to a date, work back from it and figure the rest out as you go. Don't overthink it.

Connect with Jonny Abbey

Follow Jonny on Instagram, where he shares his training and online programming.

Listen to the full episode

The full conversation is on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube, or press play at the top of this page.

Related episodes: Lessons on Health, Growth and Longevity Plus Listener Q&A and What Is Fitness, Really? With Tom Rock