Grant Mayo on Men's Health, running a successful business and being a great father!
Switch Nutrition were lucky enough to interview Grant Mayo, the founder and CEO of Nutrition Warehouse and former competitive body builder for his advice on supporting your physical, mental and emotional wellbeing this Men’s Health Week. Read on, or watch the video for his tips on being at the top of your game!
Who is Grant Mayo?
Well, first and foremost, I'm a proud father of two beautiful kids, Ruby and Max. I'm engaged to my beautiful partner, Lara. I’m a friend to many and a foe to a few. And I happen to be the CEO and founder of Nutrition Warehouse. Nutrition Warehouse was founded in 2008 and it’s 14th birthday is coming up this month.
What’s the Nutrition Warehouse Mission?
Our mission is simple; to help others achieve their own individual health and fitness goals. Not my goal. Not your goal. It's their goal. It's what they want to achieve. And people come from all walks of life to Nutrition Warehouse and have different goals. It's our job to make sure that we can give them the supplements that suits their goal.
What’s the key to your success in bodybuilding?
I was 21 years old when I found the sport of bodybuilding. I was a young kid and going to the gym, my muscles started to change. I had purpose. I had drive, determination, and I just thought, ‘Hey, maybe I can compete’. And one day I competed and that set me on a path of setting goals and I had a vision to be one of the best bodybuilders in Australia.
Not professional or not in the world. But hey, I think I can probably be one of the best. And I just set clear goals. Each day, each week, each month, what I wanted to do. I turned up at the gym every day. I was just fully passionate about bodybuilding. If we were having a conversation 25 years ago, I'd turn that into bodybuilding somehow.
And I just loved every part of it, the whole process. So I think being consistent and being passionate about it was the key to my success.
How did you decide to open a supplement store?
Coming from bodybuilding or fitness lifestyle, when I found and had the idea to open up a supplement store like Nutrition Warehouse, it was an easy correlation because I was already immersed into the fitness arena.
And now I'm opening up a supplement store to help others achieve their own individual health and fitness goals. Not mine as a bodybuilder, but theirs. It was an easy transition for me to go, ‘Hey, this is something that I think I could really love’. I was never a businessman. I never really thought about supplements in that environment of selling to other people. Until I thought, ‘this could be good’.
Are there any books/podcasts/people that inspire you?
The first book I ever read, and the reason I started Nutrition Warehouse was Rich Dad, Poor Dad. So anyone who hasn't read that book, I highly recommend it. It's a phenomenal book, and it set me on a path that I'm still on today. Other than that, Tom Bilyeu - Quest founder, he's phenomenal on podcasts.
Tony Robbins is another, phenomenal guy that you can follow on podcasts and YouTube. He’s obviously a world-renowned speaker on mindset. So any time I'm searching to try and better myself, whether it's personally, whether it's business, whether it’s relationships, I always go to these guys first and see what they have to say. And a lot of it's free and on YouTube and podcasts, and it's great to listen to.
Normally on my trip to work, which is about a 30 minute commute each way, I'm not listening to music. I'm not a big music guy. I'm a podcast guy, or something that can teach me something, a new skill. I guess I've always tried to learn from an early age to better myself, and I'm still doing that today.
Describe a day in the life of Grant Mayo
Wake up at 6:30 a.m. Without an alarm. I just get up naturally. Take Charlie for a walk - if he's lucky and it's not raining like it has been lately. Come back, feed the kids, feed myself, get the kids ready. I normally drop one of the kids to school - we take turns Lara and I. Then I try to get to work by 9 a.m.
There's always a wealth of things happening at Nutrition Warehouse, from strategy meetings to marketing meetings to having coffee with team members to see where they want to go within the brand. Looking at new products. I still enjoy coming in to Nutrition Warehouse after 14 years, it’s still so much fun. After a hard day's work, I like to get to the gym if I'm not picking up the kids from school and do a workout.
So that's three or four times a week. And then home, see the family, spend time with the kids, have dinner with them. Max is only 4 so he’s always “come play with me dad’. It's a special time and moment at that age with kids, put them to bed and then I sort of have a big sigh of relief and go, ‘Oh the serenity, the quietness’, I have my Adrenal Switch and sit down and watch a good Netflix movie.
A lot of people say, you shouldn’t be watching TV. There's more things to do. I think it's beneficial. It sort of takes me away from the day to day of life and lets me sort of get lost into the movie.
What supplements do you take regularly?
Look, it's changed over the years. When I was bodybuilding, I would take anything that could make me be bigger, stronger, faster.
Now, longevity, health and fitness is what I'm all about. So I take supplements to fuel that. So a lot of it's vitamins these days. Vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin K, magnesium, Adrenal Switch, I back that up with some Collagen for protein. That’s about it.
What’s your favourite Switch product?
My favourite Switch product is definitely Adrenal switch. And the reason I use Adrenal Switch is that it's just a phenomenal product. Greg, the founder of Switch put me on to it.
I'm not saying that because I'm getting interviewed by you guys, it's something that helps me relax at nighttime. I’ve got a pretty high stress day from the moment I get up until I get home. It's pretty full on for me. So one hour before I go to bed, I have a nice hot chocolate with Adrenal Switch or I put it on my Weetbix at night time for a little snack, with my collagen. It just helps me relax and have a really good night's sleep.
Most of the adrenals are capsules. The adrenal in the powder is so much better. The hot chocolate is just amazing. I've been taking that since its inception, so that's three or four years.
How do you support your physical, mental and emotional wellbeing?
Supporting my physical, emotional, and mental fitness is a tough one for me. Physically, it's easy for me. I've been going to the gym for 30 years, so it's something I really love.
It's therapy for me going to a gym. I normally like to train the afternoon after a hard day's work. I can go there and de-stress before I go home or pick up the kids. Emotionally, I'm still working on lots of things, like I think many people are, but I have a bit of a rule now. As I've matured, I've found that I'm not so explosive in how I react to things, and I try and stop, savour the moment. I have a little system. I count to five if something's not going right for me, like count to five and try and reset my mind. And that really centres back to a place where I can understand what's happening rather than just reacting to it.
Other than that, I'll just make sure that I take time for Grant. Catch up with friends, catch up with family, make a phone call. If I'm not feeling 100% talk to someone that will care and listen. A close friend, a relative, my mom, my partner, Lara, my kids If they listen. It's very important to reach out and to your support network and talk to someone that I can listen to you.
And sometimes you might just need to get stuff off your chest and talk about something that they're not really interested in. Sometimes they are, but sometimes getting off your chest is the best thing. I think the most important thing is just talking to somebody.
What I try to do now is come in for one meeting on a Friday morning and then go do something for Grant. That may be go to the gym, get a massage, go watch a movie by myself, go for a walk on the beach, go for lunch with a close friend or relative I haven't seen for a while. I could just do nothing. Just go home and just relax because I'm always busy with business and life and I'm just starting to realize I need to have a bit of time out, even away from my partner.
How do you manage personal life with business?
I don't know anyone who manages it perfectly, and if they say they do, I think they're probably not being honest with themselves. I think juggling a family, a large business like Nutrition Warehouse, it's a juggle. It's a constant battle trying to balance your time between family, Nutrition Warehouse friends, teammates. Being present and turning up each day and remain passionate about each one of those.
Some days I struggle and some days I'm full of energy. Like most humans we have good days and bad days. I do my best - some would say I'm doing really well, some would say I'm not. I think that's great not to put too much pressure on yourself. And when you know that you're struggling or you need some time out, to take a day or two off to go do nothing. You can just go get lost in something that takes your mind away from whatever is giving you a bit of pressure. I don't know if I manage it successfully. I just do my best and that's all I think anyone can expect.
Grants mission for Nutrition Warehouse is to help you reach your goals, because their passion, is your passion. We love this mission, at Switch Nutrition we use only premium products to help others live healthier, more active lifestyles. For more tips on Men’s Health Essentials download our eBook.
