Experience. The Greatest Guru.
My whole life has been centered around fitness. This statement drives the passion behind the vision but it’s not where the story begins…
Hi! My name is Himanshu but I’ve been better known as “Himmy” for most of my life. I’m a South Asian - Indian boy, born and bred in Sydney, Australia. I was born in 1990, 6 months after my parents migrated here from India. My parents both endured unbelievable adversities so that they could come to Australia and provide the life they did for my younger brother, Divy and I.
My Parents & Life in Australia.
My Dad at the age of 13 left his family home in the city of Rudrapur, Uttarakhand. He went solo because he refused to get stuck running the family shop. Against all odds he ended up living in Delhi, where he studied Hotel Management and became a Chef.
My Mum, born in Delhi, (the oldest of 5 siblings - 4 Girls and 1 Boy) lost her Dad to a planned attack when she was 11 years old. He was the sole breadwinner of the house. My Grandma hadn’t completed her high school studies and struggled to find a job to support her 5 kids. At one stage my Grandma had found herself begging at peoples houses just for food. The most probable outcome to survive poverty and potentially worse at that stage was to marry all 4 girls off even though they were all aged 11 and under. When my Grandma had started to look for suitors, my mum made a decision. This wouldn’t be their fate. My mum ended up knitting clothes, tutoring kids and cleaning houses to make money for the house AND at the same time, educated herself. She taught all of her siblings to do the same and in that way, they bested fate.
My parents worked incredibly hard here in Australia, my Mum as a Nurse and my Dad as a Chef. Eventually they opened up an Indian restaurant which allowed for them to give us a pretty cushy home life growing up on the North Shore, sending my brother and I to private schools.
That was merely on the surface though. Throughout my schooling years, growing up in a predominantly Caucasian environment, (I think there were maybe 3 other “Brown skinned” people in my high school grades), I never felt like like I fit in. I found myself feeling a deep connection to my Indian roots at home and around my family but no one to connect to at school on that level. I started accepting the role of being a “people pleaser” just to feel a sense of belonging.
“The People Pleaser”.
The “people pleaser” role was by far the biggest teacher in my adolescent years. I found that as my belief system and actions were commonly dependent on the value I got from the people around me, I developed a lack of self worth, and self importance. This led me to a point of feeling a lack of purpose and lack of direction which I ended up confusing with a lack of motivation or “thirst” for life.
Education.
During my high school years, I never felt like I had a real passion for anything. The greatest value in it I found, was validation from my parents that I was doing the “right” thing.
I quickly found myself fitting the “South Asian” mold. and before I knew it I was doing a Civil Engineering degree at the University of New South Wales, which came with it’s own struggles of identity and perseverance.
It took me 6 years to complete my 4 year degree, and by the time I managed to scrape through, my beliefs around my impact in the world, my value and self-worth were at an all time low. I found myself jumping from job to job, trying to feel some sort of purpose in what I was doing.
Health and Fitness.
My teenage years saw me as a “naturally gifted” athlete. My parents had always invested in that aspect of my life from the start which I’ll be forever grateful for.
I played Soccer for 10 years from the ages of 5 to 15; I was a state championship runner in the 800m with a personal best time of 1 minute and 57 seconds; and I played amongst varying representative Basketball teams from the ages of 17 to 27 years old.
Here’s the kicker though. I was “naturally gifted” in sports and athletics; but this combined with my developing lack of self worth and the “cushy” life that my parents were able to provide us, determined that we didn’t struggle like them, meant that I valued and prioritised the opposite things. I started believing that it was more important to live life without struggle. I never grasped the idea that it took HARD WORK to develop your talents and so took a lot of my achievements and results, for granted.
The Turning Point.
My brother, Divy, and I always had a close relationship. He was only two and a half years younger than me, and we had gone to the same schools. We had very different trajectories though.
At first Divy and I were both absolutely killing it in the world of athletics. I did long distance, he did short distance. At the age of 14, Divy was diagnosed with an autoimmune condition, “Ulcerative Colitis”. Even though we were close, as any teenage kid, I was so invested in my own life that I never really shared that journey with him through the high school years. However seeing my brother quickly drop off from athletics, and start struggling just maintaining his energy levels doing normal things, meant that I started experiencing the duality of life from a young age.
Things took a drastic turn when Divy was diagnosed with Stage 3 Kidney Cancer at the age of 23 years old. Initially we had all been led to believe that the cancer was localised in his Kidney and that removing his Kidney would cure him. However at his 6 monthly check up PET scan, we got the devastating news that he had Stage 4 cancer in his lymphnodes and had 6 months left to live.
This was the moment that defined my health journey.
Personal Training and Fitness.
When my brother was given his Stage 4 diagnosis, he and I made a pact to go on his health journey together. Divy convincingly stated his truth, that he didn’t believe the doctors prediction of “6 months” and so we emersed ourselves into discovering the depths of “Health and Wellness” with an all around holistic approach, determined to cure my brother of his illness.
I had been going to the Gym since the age of 23 years old, but only once we reached the “turning point” did I take it seriously. I started creating a strong work ethic, listening to motivational podcasts, and at the age of 27 years old, I completed my Cert III and IV in Personal Training from the Australian Institute of Personal Trainers.
In the Health Journey with my brother, I spent about 3 years on a strictly vegetarian diet. During that time, we also underwent lockdown protocols due to Covid and so I had to amend my training routine to bodyweight and calisthenic exercises.
The results I was able to achieve on a Vegetarian Diet without having access to a gym surprised me but more importantly it opened my eyes to the diverse ways that each and everyone of us can meet our ideal health goals if we just have the right focus, direction and information.
After 3 years of being on a Vegetarian diet I reintroduced Chicken into my diet to see if I could unlock new and greater levels of body composition. Since this point, nutrition and training became hobbies of mine which I thoroughly investigated and researched in all of my free time.
A crucial aspect of learning that I went through during my brother’s health journey was that of understanding the importance of “Mindset”; “Power of Thought”; and the impact of our “Focus & Attention”.
My brother was a living example of this in his 5 years battling his cancer. Doctors were continuously shocked at how he was able to persevere year after year when they thought that he would only have “months” left at each occurrence that they met.
My brother passed away at the end of July, 2022. May his soul rest in peace and find oneness with our creator.
In the 2 years after my brother passed. I regressed quickly into old unhealthy habits, in trying to deal with the grief. I was overwhelmed with the responsibilities of being there for my parents, whilst trying to be a dad to my 1 year old (at the time) and a husband.
In May 2024, my grief found me hitting an all time low in my headspace. On the surface everything seemed fine. I was working my 9-5, was present with my family but deep down I knew I was slowly becoming a shadow version of my true self.
Photo above:
2009, Age 19
Photo above:
2024, Age 34
Photo to the left:
My progress after 3 years on a strict vegetarian diet and mostly body weight workouts due to Covid Lockdowns.
Proving what is possible!
My brother, looking over me, brought me in contact with an old friend of mine who runs an incredibly successful Men’s Life Coaching business. Undergoing this process allowed me to do deep emotional healing and reignite my spark.
In the process I found myself qualified as a “Neuro Transformational Therapy” practitioner. I realised the significance of being able to use practices to transform our neuro chemistry, our brains “neuro pathways”, so that we can stay motivated and keep ourselves aligned with our goals without being impacted by others around us. In my experience being impacted by our environment ends up being one of the biggest reasons people feel a lack of motivation as we spend our whole lives subconsciously living out this “human race” basing our entire worth on the what the world around us is doing.
Now, I’m ready to bring my life’s experiences in their entirety to everyone. I know that life has equipped me in such a way that I provide a holistic approach to training, with an ultimate focus on mindset, so I can empower YOU in your journey towards your goals.