The KEY to Turning Your Dreams Into Reality with Louise Hazel

Summary

Balanced Black Girl Podcast
Episode: The KEY to Turning Your Dreams Into Reality with Louise Hazel
Release Date: February 4, 2025

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Introduction

In this inspiring episode of Balanced Black Girl, host Les delves into the transformative power of mindset and discipline with special guest Louise Hazel, an Olympian and entrepreneur. Entitled "The KEY to Turning Your Dreams Into Reality," this conversation explores Louise’s remarkable journey from a young athlete to a gold medal-winning Olympian, and her seamless transition into building a successful fitness empire. Packed with valuable insights, actionable advice, and motivational anecdotes, this episode serves as a beacon for anyone striving to achieve their dreams.

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Louise Hazel's Journey to Becoming an Olympian

Les opens the discussion by highlighting Louise Hazel's impressive achievements and her unique expertise in helping women unlock their inner athletes. Louise recounts her athletic beginnings, vividly describing how she knew from the age of ten that she was destined for greatness.

“I was 10 years old and I knew I was an athlete. I was fast, I was boisterous... I tried rugby once, it was crazy. I played tennis, I did hockey, netball... I really excelled.”
[02:32]

Louise specialized in the heptathlon, a grueling seven-event track and field competition that includes high jump, long jump, shot put, javelin, 800 meters, 200 meters, and hurdles. Her dedication led her to win national championships by age fourteen and compete internationally for England and Great Britain, bringing home accolades and establishing herself as a formidable athlete.

However, her path was not without challenges. In 2008, Louise faced profound personal loss with the passing of her father, which derailed her Olympic aspirations for that year. Despite the emotional turmoil and financial struggles that ensued, Louise's resilience saw her bounce back. By securing sponsorships and self-funding her training, she not only regained her footing but also won her first major gold medal at the Commonwealth Games and eventually competed in the Olympic Games.

“I knew that part of the game of becoming an elite athlete is staying in there long enough and then like not getting injured and doing the daily training. But part of it is literally just being in it to win it.”
[24:34]

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Transition into Entrepreneurship

After retiring from competitive athletics, Louise seamlessly transitioned into the world of entrepreneurship. Her initial foray into television, including appearances on shows like Ninja Warrior and MTV's The Challenge, provided her with invaluable exposure and experience. However, her true passion lay in empowering other women through fitness.

In 2019, Louise founded the Slay Athletic Club in Los Angeles, a women-focused athletic club designed to help women tap into their inner strength and athleticism. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic posed significant challenges, forcing the gym to pivot to an online model. Despite these hurdles, Louise leveraged her tenacity to maintain a supportive online community, eventually reopening the physical gym with her husband, Eric, as co-founder.

“I transitioned very smoothly over into the world of entertainment... and then I decided that I needed to dip into personal training and set myself up and, you know, and figure it out. And I started the slay gym in 2019.”
[34:29]

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Mindset and Mental Toughness

A recurring theme throughout the episode is the critical role of mindset in achieving success. Louise elaborates on the distinction between exercising and training, emphasizing that athletes train with intent and purpose, consistently putting in effort to achieve specific goals.

“Exercise is moving your body. Training is being intentional with the type of movement you are doing. It has a goal.”
[06:05]

She dispels the myth that athletes give 100% effort every single day, explaining that sustainability is key. Instead, athletes maintain a high level of discipline by giving consistent effort, typically around 80%, allowing for recovery and long-term progress.

“Everybody thinks that athletes go absolutely balls to the wall, you know, 365 days a year... we show up every single day and we give it 80%, no more, no less.”
[07:13]

Louise also shares her strategy for peak performance during competitions, highlighting the importance of remaining calm, confident, and enjoying the moment. This mental state enables her to surpass her training performances when it matters most.

“When competition comes around, we'd probably get injured, we get ill... I would always produce more than my training sessions when it came to competition.”
[07:34]

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Advice for Everyday People

Drawing parallels between elite athletics and everyday life, Louise offers invaluable advice on cultivating consistency and resilience. She advocates for identity-based work, encouraging individuals to see themselves as the types of people who achieve their goals. By laying claim to their aspirations, individuals can simplify their decision-making processes and stay motivated.

“You lay claim to the thing that you want. You don't wish for it, you don't hope for it. You already know that that's what you want.”
[28:31]

Louise emphasizes the power of habits aligned with one's identity. For example, a client aiming to lose weight might focus on enhancing her protein intake and improving mobility, thereby addressing areas that do not come naturally.

“Get out there, go do it. Do what you came to do.”
[53:05]

She also highlights the importance of appreciating one's privileges, such as the ability to exercise and maintain physical health, often overlooked aspects of wellness.

“There are so many people out there who don't get to do that. Why they might be six feet under, why they might be ill... If you're a person that doesn't see the privilege that it is to go to the gym, you're really kind of missing the beauty and the trick and the privilege that is before you.”
[56:58]

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Future Plans and Goals

Looking ahead to 2025, Louise shares her ambitious plans to enhance the Slay app, aiming to create a more robust and functional platform tailored specifically for women’s strength training. She envisions the app as an innovative companion that supports women in their fitness journeys, whether they are new to the gym or seasoned athletes.

Additionally, Louise discusses her upcoming personal milestone of starting a family, drawing parallels between building an app and navigating motherhood. She expresses excitement about balancing entrepreneurship with family life, illustrating her unwavering commitment to growth both professionally and personally.

“The two things: Slay app and motherhood. To me, this is like I'm just having twins this year.”
[59:07]

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Key Takeaways

• Mindset is Fundamental: Cultivating a strong, purpose-driven mindset is essential for achieving and sustaining success.

• Consistency Over Perfection: Regular, intentional effort trumps sporadic, intense effort, allowing for long-term progress and resilience.

• Identity-Based Habits: Viewing oneself as the type of person who achieves goals simplifies decision-making and enhances motivation.

• Appreciate Your Privileges: Recognizing and valuing the ability to pursue wellness and fitness is crucial for maintaining a positive outlook and dedication.

• Transferable Skills: The discipline, resilience, and strategic planning honed in athletics can seamlessly translate into successful entrepreneurship and other life endeavors.

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Conclusion

Louise Hazel's story is a testament to the incredible things that can be achieved through unwavering dedication, a resilient mindset, and strategic planning. From overcoming personal and financial challenges to building a thriving fitness community, Louise embodies the essence of turning dreams into reality. This episode of Balanced Black Girl not only celebrates her achievements but also provides listeners with actionable insights to harness their own potential and achieve their aspirations.

For those inspired by Louise’s journey, you can connect with her through the Slay Athletic Club in Los Angeles or join the online community via the Slay app. Additionally, check out her Slay Podcast for more empowering conversations and fitness tips.

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Note: This summary excludes advertisements, intros, and outros as per the podcast's non-content sections.

Transcript

[Effy]

The following podcast is a dear media production. So before we get into today's episode, I have some pretty exciting news. Balance Black Girl is actually nominated for a 2025 NAACP Image Award under the best podcast for lifestyle and self help category. Now this is an incredible, incredible honor and I would appreciate your vote. We are with some amazing shows in the category that I'm honored to be nominated beside and I would just really love to see you all turn up and turn out to support Balance Black Girl. So we will leave a link in the show notes or you can go to the NAACP Image Awards website and you can cast your vote there. Again, I would really appreciate your vote for Balanced Black Girl under the best lifestyle and self help podcast category. Thank you so much for your support.

[Les]

Thank you for tuning in to Balance Black Girl. My name is Les. I'm your host and I really appreciate you tapping in. So a few months ago I did an episode about embracing an athlete's mentality to help you reach your goals. It was called how to win at life the mindset shift that you need. And that episode actually ended up being a favorite in our community. People really love talking about the principles of being an athlete and how they can apply that to their daily lives and how to be kind of an athlete of life. And I thought, okay, that initial episode was me chatting with my thoughts of what I think that means, but your girl is not an athlete. Okay, maybe in high school, but that was a long time ago. And I was like, we have to bring real elite athletes to the show to talk about ways that we can apply these principles to our lives. And so I'm really excited to be doing that today. In today's episode, I'm joined by Louise Hazel, who is an Olympian. She is a gold medal award winning track and field athlete. She is incredible. She is also the founder and CEO of Slay, which is an amazing women focused athletic club in Los Angeles. She also hosts the Slay podcast and has an incredible workout app and she really specializes in helping women tap into their inner athlete. So I knew that she was the perfect person to have this conversation. Get ready to be inspired. Inspired to get in shape and reach all of your goals in 2025. Because this conversation with Louise will help you do just that. So Louise, welcome to the show.

[Louise Hazel]

Pleasure. Thanks for having me, Les.

[Les]

Well, I'm so excited to chat with you again. I was on your show Slay podcast last year, so I'm really excited to have you here on mine.

[Louise Hazel]

Super excited. You can ask me anything.

[Les]

Oh, I'm getting into so many things. First of all, I introduced this concept on the podcast last year, talking about kind of being an athlete of life and applying athletes mentality to the different areas of our lives. And the audience really loved that episode. And I was just kind of riffing my thoughts about it. But as I saw the reception to that episode, I was like, we need to talk to real athletes. You need to talk to people who have performed at that level and have been able to transfer those skills to other areas of life. And you were the first person that I thought of because not only are you an Olympian, this amazing decorated elite athlete, but that's also what you do. And so I'm just so excited to have you here.

[Louise Hazel]

This is a great topic. It's really timely because something really special happened in the gym today, which is. I'll tell you all about.

[Effy]

No, tell me now.

[Louise Hazel]

Okay, straight up. So, yeah, I think we throw around this kind of notion that everybody is an athlete. We throw it around really, really loosely. But when somebody walks into the gym for me, I'm sizing them up and I'm like, what kind of athlete are they? And having, you know, competed at the highest level in the heptathlon. For those of you at home that don't know, that's track and field, it's seven events. It's high jump, long jump, shot put, javelin, 800 meters, 200 meters. In the hurdles, I've competed against the best in the world across all of those events. And that's crazy. Like, I've competed against the best shot putters. And even though shot put was just one of my seven events, I've competed against the best hurdlers and I've trained with them too. And so if there's one thing I know, it's athletes and it's bodies. And so I say that to say whenever anyone comes in, I'm just looking at them, the way they move and I'm like, what type of athlete are you? What type of training have you been doing? What type of nutrition have you been having? Why are you not seeing perhaps the results that, you know, you think should be on par with the level of effort? And I say it's a really timely conversation because one of my clients texts me at 6:00am this morning. It was actually, I think about 6:04 she was in yesterday for her session. I said to her, so we see each other Monday, Wednesday, Friday, three days a week. I'm like, what are you going to do tomorrow then? Are you going to, like, are you going to Come into the gym here. I've invited her in to come and walk and, you know, try and set up a schedule for herself this year that really gets the job done. Or she's like, I think I'm going to go spin. I was like, okay, I'm amazing. I'll see you on Wednesday. She texted me this morning and she said, can I come to the gym and get on the treadmill? And I was like, absolutely, I'll be there in like 30 minutes. But you know, my husband's there. Go, go on in and I'll see you in a bit. And then I text her another message and by also, what have you done with my. Who is this? And what have you done with my friend? And I say that to say that this year she's showing up as an athlete. Last year she was showing up as a person who exercised. This year she's committed and she's made the decision to show up as an athlete. And as I walked into the gym at like 6:30 this morning, I was like, wicked, let's go. I was like, I went straight up there, high fived her. She was already doing her session. And I was like, that's how you get it done.

[Les]

I love that. Can we talk about the distinction between a person who exercises and an athlete? What's the difference?

[Louise Hazel]

Yes, exercise is moving your body. Training is being intentional with the type of movement you are doing. It has a goal. Athletes train. But also the difference between exercising, you can exercise every day to absolutely very little result or you can train to a specific outcome. But the difference with athletes is they show up every single day and they don't show up and give it 100%. This is the misconception. Everybody thinks that athletes go absolutely balls to the wall, you know, 365 days a year, Christmas Day included. We don't. We just don't. It's just not sustainable. We're human like everybody else. And you know, if we were to do that, we'd be injured, we would, wouldn't recover, we wouldn't be our best. When competition comes around, we'd probably get injured, we get ill. We are, you know, breakable just like everybody else. We show up every single day and we give it 80%, no more, no less. But we do that for 10 to 15 years. And if we're lucky, after 15 years, maybe we rise to the occasion and get a medal and take a medal home. That's the difference.

[Les]

Yeah, I love that. That example of showing up consistently giving 80%. One makes it sound A lot more doable for the everyday person, anyone. But also that distinction between the kind of practice or rehearsal training at 80%, but then when it's time to really compete, that's when you kick it up to 100, 100%.

[Louise Hazel]

You know, I had, and I would watch a lot of my teammates, you know, going balls to the wall every single day and never being able to produce more when it came to competition. This is, as an athlete, something that I really excelled in. I would always produce more than my training sessions when it came to competition. I would always, you know, put my best performances on the day and not in training. And that's what matters the most. And that's what makes you a gold medalist. And I have only ever won maybe like three meaningful gold medals in my career. And I could say on the day I knew that I was going to win them, there was no doubt about it in my mind. And that's simply because your preparation and everything that you've done up until that point determines that it is. So the thing that determines it otherwise is you getting in your head.

[Les]

So how are you able to lock it and ensure that when it was time to really perform, you were able to do it?

[Louise Hazel]

First and foremost, I think it was just that on those days where you know you're going to win, everything seems calm. There's utter peace and confidence because you know that there's nothing more in your power that you could have done. And so there's no concern and there's no worry. There's actually a great deal of enjoyment in what you do. And so if you're walking into the room and you're not able to fully take in, let's say, you know, you're walking into a big boardroom and it's, you know, fundraising time, or it's, I'm gonna go and pitch for this, this job. If you're walking in without a smile on your face, then that's like a signal that's something wrong. Like, you need to be a go into that arena, own that space, own the floor. But more importantly, have fun doing it. Because, like, we're really only here for a short moment and a short blip in time. And I think people forget that. The whole part of being alive and going for whatever you want, it's a game. Like, there are always other medals to go for. There are always other opportunities. So showing up your best as your best is just like, that's a given. Like, what else are you gonna do? Not gonna half ass it, are you?

[Les]

I love that, and I love that reminder of showing up to win. Something I talk about a lot on the podcast, playing to win versus getting played and understanding what the game is.

[Louise Hazel]

That you're playing 100% is, I would say, one of the most important things to success. One of the keys to success is understanding the game that you're playing, its highs and its lows, and more importantly, your part within that game. I knew very early on as an athlete that I was a, you know, part of a cycle and that my time would come where I had to retire and I would be replaced by, you know, other budding athletes and other aspiring Olympians. And I knew that I had a particular moment to shine. And so, you know, that meant that everything that I did today really mattered. And so that meant that the whole getting up and being motivated, yo that matters, that counts. Like, I only have, you know, four to eight years at the top of my game. Like, why wouldn't I get out of bed today? Like, I get to get out of bed and be an athlete. Like, I don't choose. It's not, it's not a hard decision. I get to do that. And that is a real privilege.

[Effy]

Effy.

[Les]

Oh, so, so good.

[Louise Hazel]

Effy.

[Effy]

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[Les]

I would love to go back a little bit and talk more about that life cycle of an athlete that you had. Your journey into sport and what that experience was like for you.

[Louise Hazel]

Yeah, I mean becoming an Olympian and not only that, you know, a gold medal winning hept athlete was not an easy journey for me whatsoever. I remember I was 10 years old and I knew I was an athlete. I was fast, I was boisterous, I grew up with two brothers, I was running around everywhere, I was like into everything and I was basically, you know, Competing at every single sports school, everything under. I tried rugby once, it was crazy. I played tennis, I did hockey, netball, which is like basketball rounders. I did everything and I really excelled. And I knew that that was where my strengths and I felt like, I felt like myself the most myself. And I was academic too, you know, I was like, you know, probably the top five in every single subject. But sports was where I really got to kind of express myself. And more importantly, solo sport, because it meant that I had a great deal of control of the outcome. Whereas I knew in my team sports like netball, you know, I was like, well, this really sucks because I just played my socks off. But we just lost. And. But with a sprint race, it's all on me. And I'm like, either I turn up and I'm the fastest or I'm third or fourth or whatever and I can handle that. So, you know, the journey to kind of becoming like a, you know, a natural athlete and an athlete that was selected to compete for their country happened very quickly. I started when I was 10 and by the time I was 14, I was winning national championships in the 100 meters. I was just a fast 100 metre sprinter. And then my local club wanted me to kind of take part in more events because obviously they want people getting points on the board for the team. And within a few years I was making it as a, like junior athlete. I was going to national competitions, I was traveling internationally to compete for England and Great Britain and we were winning. We were like the golden girls of athletics. There was a great deal of us, young budding heptathletes, and in the UK we really excel in this event. Unlike the 100 meters, which is typically dominated, as you've seen, by Team USA and Team Jamaica, the heptathlon has traditionally always made its way home to the uk. We have a number of gold medal winning heptathons athletes in the Olympic Games, World Championships, always the Commonwealth Games, the European Games. This is an event that typically European athletes excel in. And so I quickly became, you know, one of the developing athletes and, you know, found myself on the journey to the Olympic Games. But it wasn't easy. I had many struggles along the way. Mainly financial, I say mainly financial. More importantly, a lot of loss and grief. I lost my father in the year in 2008 and that would have been, I would have said, my first debut to the Olympic Games, but I didn't make it that year. You know, it was the grief and the loss was too painful and too disrupting for me. To get there. And I had to wait another four years till London 2012. And losing my father, which was the linchpin of our family, just really derailed everything. It just pulled the rug from beneath my feet. I knew I would be able to bounce back. And after a certain amount of time, I felt like the grief had lifted and I actually felt fortified. I felt like he was always with me and so he was obviously such a huge part of my journey. My journey just got a lot harder from that point in, but it didn't stop me. It made me more determined. I could see everything very clearly. I could see things that I needed to do more of. I needed to make sure that I had the funding and the finances to continue to train. I knew that I wanted a different. To go in a different direction from a coaching perspective, because I knew that I needed more coaching and more hands on time. And I built that for myself. And that was a real struggle. That was not the type of thing that most athletes when they were 21, 22, had to do for themselves. They didn't have to fund themselves, they didn't have to go around and find coaches that would train them and they didn't have to put their training plans together. I was, you know, I was a whole production company. And within two years of doing that, I won the Commonwealth gold medal, my first ever major gold medal. And two years after that, I made it to the Olympic Games. And that was really testament to how I say it's not even about me, it's how we as humans can really tap into that next level potential if we want something enough.

[Les]

How did you learn how to tap into that?

[Louise Hazel]

I remember my director of training, the guy who would choose me for the Olympic team, would go on to choose me for the team, said to me, louise, why are you doing this? And this, I thought was quite rude because we were in the middle of a season and we had. We're at a training camp. Like, what are you talking about? Like, he was like, you know, why are you doing this? Why are you doing athletics? You could do anything. You're smart, you're the. I'm like. Because I've got absolutely nothing to lose. Like, ever since I was a little girl, I believed I could be one of the best in the world. I'd already lost the biggest thing in my life. I'd already lost my father. What else was there to lose? So stepping on the track and running 10 hurdles, running over 10 barriers at full speed was not scary to me. That was thrilling. Throwing a javelin as far as I can, letting out a big old roar and just like beating my chest. That's child's play. Like going, getting a real job, that would have been absolutely devastating to me at that point. I would have left so much of myself, so much of my potential, so many questions on the table. I'm like, dude, I'm the one you need to watch out for because I'm the scary one. I've got absolutely nothing to lose. And I think that those people are always the ones you want to kind of be like, oh, okay, this person could really do something special or dangerous.

[Les]

Thankfully, you chose special.

[Louise Hazel]

Absolutely. Yeah.

[Les]

And I appreciate you sharing all of that work on the back end that you were doing at such a young age and all of the coordination behind the scenes. Because I think a lot of people may not understand all that goes into what elite athletes do, how they come to compete on the world's biggest stages. Even the funding part that you mentioned, people may not understand that it's very expensive for athletes to get to that point.

[Louise Hazel]

I think that's the thing that the people really misunderstand the most. And we just had the Paris Olympics in 2024, and, you know, for that moment in time, Olympians to us and athletes are everything that we want to be, you know, oh my God, that's amazing. The gymnast. Everything is just like so exciting. A lot of those athletes go home to a full time job, you know, if they're lucky, they go home to a part time job. If they're really freaking lucky, they go to home to a sponsorship and the contract or a scholarship. But the number of people that still are self funded is incredible. And so it was really interesting to watch because I'm like, a lot of these girls, like, you know, that are out here really just putting, throwing everything at it. They're probably turning up having been at work a couple of weeks ago, Some of them are going home with gold medals, don't even have a kit deal, you know. So this perception that athletes just because we see them on television are absolutely minted is just not true. It's not true. The actual, you know, the opposite is true. Especially in track and field. The majority of athletes are working class. They come from working class families where, you know, people still have to put food on the table and then throw into the, you know, the concept of studying and all of those things and the amount of time it takes to put into your sport to become that good. Anyway, most athletes are broke until they win a medal. And so like I said, it took me like 15 years. So that's 15 years of setting aside financial, career, personal growth goals just on a whim and an idea that maybe I could be the best in the world at like, you know, seven track and field events or the sprint hurdles or 100 meters. And that is nuts. Like, that is probably the definition of insane. It's crazy. There's an insane amount of self belief that comes with that.

[Les]

And also so inspiring because how many of us give up on something after a few weeks? The idea of being in something and investing in yourself and believing in yourself for a decade and a half for a shot at something is incredibly inspiring.

[Louise Hazel]

Yeah, thank you. But no, I, I agree. I think it's. If something's coming at you too easy, like you kind of gotta question whether you're want it, whether it's something you really want. Like we. You should have to work for the things that you desire the most. There should be sacrifice. Otherwise you're going to like, if you don't sacrifice something. I heard a wicked crate the other day, then the thing you want is going to be sacrificed. And I knew eventually, like if I just kept going that I would whittle away some of the competition. I knew that some people didn't have the mental resilience to go to where I knew I could take my sporting career. I knew that they would eliminate themselves. And so I knew that part of the, part of the game of becoming an elite athlete is staying in there long enough and then like not getting injured and doing the daily training. But part of it is literally just being in it to win it.

[Les]

Consistency showing up.

[Effy]

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[Les]

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[Effy]

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[Louise Hazel]

I would.

[Les]

Love to talk more about that mindset piece that you just mentioned, because it's huge. And I also think that that particular piece is what elite athletes do better than anyone in the world. Yes, there is so much that goes into it physically, but that mental piece, I think is really what sets elite athletes apart. What are some ways that the everyday person can kind of tap into that mental toughness?

[Louise Hazel]

So this is something that I don't think a lot of elite athletes have ever Articulated, But I think that they will all resonate with. As an elite athlete, you lay claim to the thing that you want. You don't wish for it, you don't hope for it. You already know that that's what you want. When I was 10 years old, I'm going to be an Olympian. When I was 12 months out from the Commonwealth Games, I'm going to win the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games. And so it's not an. There's no doubt about it. And it could come across, I think, perhaps as arrogant or, you know, boastful, but it's actually just a claiming and saying that is mine. That's the thing that I'm on this earth to achieve, to be, to become. And I think if more people laid claim to the things that they wanted, they would feel a greater, greater sense of ownership over their everyday activities. Once you lay claim to something, I'm going to be an Olympian, it's really easy to make daily decisions after that. Am I going to go out and get drunk? Probably not. I gotta run tomorrow. Maybe I can save that for another weekend. Am I gonna go to bed early? Yeah. Cause I gotta get up and train at like 8am you know? Does drugs. Is drugs a thing? That's for me, absolutely not. It's not worth the risk. And so a lot of the questions that the everyday person navigates, or the everyday teenager or whatever, it just becomes really simple. And I think that often we can get really overwhelmed with the amount of choices that we have to make in a day when we're not clear on what it is we're trying to claim.

[Les]

That's so good. That's so good. Is that something that you start with when you help your clients now is like, okay, let's define the goal, the why, the what we're doing, and claim it.

[Louise Hazel]

Yeah, 100%. And I think that's the thing that's really unique about what we do. Me personally, and then our whole gym at Slay, we're equipped with the technology to be able to take body composition scans. This is a huge game changer for us in the gym because we're no longer guessing as to what our clients are achieving. We know whether they're building lean muscle mass, whether they are gaining fat mass or reducing fat mass. We know whether their body's retaining water. We know whether our training is therefore being effective or whether nutrition, when we don't see them in their habits at home, are or aren't aligned with their goals. So when they come in and they say, Oh, I want to lose 20 pounds. I'm like, great, easy peasy. You've got a year to do it. Not a problem. Like, let's get to it. And I start to see them plateau. Reminding them of what their goal is is really easy. Getting them to, getting them to understand what it takes in order to get there is really what the journey's about. And standing with them and journeying through that is what I'm here to do. And often I always say, you will give up way before I will give up. But. And that is, you know, you know, that's a testament, I think, really, to my own staying power, discipline, but also what I have to offer people because I know that really the work really is quite simple. And the interesting thing I remember today with one of my clients is I was telling her, this year, what are your goals? And she told me, I was like, okay, I want you to focus on these two areas because these are your areas of weakness. Showing up is not a problem for you. She's super adherent. She gets in 10 minutes early every single day. And that's not a thing. Doing the work, not a problem. She is a natural born athlete. The thing that this particular client, I wanted her to focus on this year, I said, hone in on your nutrition, pay particular attention to your protein intake. Every single meal. I want you to be thinking intentionally about that being the most important fuel source for you and your body and your goals this year. And then secondly, I want you to focus on mobility because she loves to play golf outside of what we do in the gym. And, you know, and she's of an age, she's in her 50s, where the body's not moving the same as it is, and she suffers with a lot of chronic pain. If you focus on those two things, the rest you're going to take care of. That's the easy stuff for you. The thing that you need to focus on and put your energy behind are the things that don't come as naturally. And that's where I think people go wrong. They'll spend all of their time kind of dilly dallying with all the stuff that they're really good at, making them feel really good about themselves and productive. That's great. But at the end of the day, you still have to go out there and throw a shot put. Shot put for me was like my weakest event, but I had to do it in order to complete the whole heptathon. So I needed to double down. I needed to spend two times the amount of effort there. I needed to make sure that I had a coach that could cue me and get the most out of me. The same for the high jump. That was another weak event for me. I had to put in the groundwork. And that's why I think, you know, the knowledge and that type of knowledge and coaching is the thing that probably separates us from the average, everyday personal trainer.

[Les]

Yeah.

[Effy]

Yeah.

[Les]

That ability to hone in on the things that matter hard is so important. I remember a few years ago, I did yoga teacher training, and whenever I would talk to somebody about it, they'd be like, ugh, I just can't do yoga. It's too hard. I can't stay still. My mind won't go quiet. I'm like, oh, then you are Exactly. Who needs to be doing it?

[Louise Hazel]

Absolutely.

[Les]

That means you need it.

[Louise Hazel]

Absolutely. If you're that fidgety person and, you know, you find it really uncomfortable, that stillness, you probably need to be still more. Like, you need to be in practice more. Yeah.

[Les]

And we all have things we need. When you were describing your client and her needing to focus on protein and mobility, I'm like, oh, same. You're. You're talking to me. I'm also that person who talks.

[Louise Hazel]

I'm also talking to myself.

[Les]

Those things are hard. So getting back to your experiences as an athlete, when you decided to retire and move into entrepreneurship, can you talk more about what that experience was like?

[Louise Hazel]

It was easy for me, really. Not a lot of athletes will admit to or not admit, because I don't think it said admittance. Not a lot of athletes had that experience. It was natural to me. I knew that my time had come. Racing and running fast was feeling like a lot more work. And the idea of spending another four years trying to fund myself, trade myself, organize myself for the Rio Olympic Games 2016, I was done. I was tired. I'm like, what for? My life isn't going to change exponentially if I place eighth at the next Olympic Games. Like, it will be better than how I performed this Olympic Games, but my life's not going to change. And London was calling and the bright lights and television and lots of other opportunities. And so I'm like, this is the time to jump off for me. Like, I was really interested in presenting. I had a number of television opportunities lined up, and I went for it. And so I transitioned very smoothly over into the world of entertainment. I would often appear on television shows like Ninja Warrior, you know, cooking shows. It was just a vast array of, like, the television circuit. And I was Slowly making my way into, into presenting, television presenting. And I would work with companies like the BBC, ITV, Channel 4. And I would go backstage at shows like the Voice and stuff like that was amazing. And I just kept, kept getting pulled towards la and I knew that LA is the epicenter of entertainment and fitness. Check, check. Two of the things I love most in life. And originally when I came here, I was really dead set on joining the cast of the Biggest Loser. That was my main aim. You know, I talked to my agents like, that show just got axed. And I was like, wow, okay, pivot time. And so when I arrived, I started working with MTV and did a couple of seasons of the Challenge. And a lot of people, it's a super popular show here. I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but myself and a couple of other Olympians and elite athletes were basically challenging the everyday MTV cast. And it was hilarious. I just really enjoyed the challenge. I really enjoyed the way that production is made in the us but that was just not enough for me. I needed something to do on a daily basis. And that's when I decided that I needed to dip into personal training and set myself up and, you know, and figure it out. And I started the slay gym in 2019, which was a year before the pandemic.

[Les]

And what was that like once the pandemic hit?

[Louise Hazel]

Quiet. Yeah, yeah. I mean, all of our training pretty much moved over to online, so all of my in person clients pretty much disappeared or subscribed to our app. And so we built like a really great online community. It was very small, but it kept the doors of the gym open until, you know, 20, 21, 22 when we opened back up again and people were banging down the doors to get in. And by that time, you know, Eric had joined me, my now husband. And when I opened up the, when I closed the doors, it was just me. When I opened the doors, it was me and Eric. And that felt good. Yeah, I was like, I got a partner in crime. And you know that we then built the team, we added another member of the team and the community just started to grow. And we're still a little known secret in the center of Hollywood still. People don't know we even exist. People don't even, you know, got no idea who we train. We like it that way, you know, that we've got no idea who comes through the doors. But the community is just so much fun and we love what we do.

[Effy]

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[Les]

When you were describing the various things that you had to do when you were getting to the Olympics, I was actually thinking like, I bet that prepared her well for entrepreneurship. Yeah, the funding, the seeking out, the coaching, the building a team around you. I'm like, that's probably a lot of the same stuff that you're doing now with your gym.

[Louise Hazel]

Yeah. The interesting thing about funding the gym, I was like, I've done this before. I self funded myself. You know, the year that my father passed in 2008, all of my funding was stripped away from me. So in the uk, our funding is a government grant. It's called National Lottery funding. The National Lottery do so much for sports and arts in the uk, but oftentimes the amount of funding that you get is really not enough. And so you have to supplement with either work or sponsorships. And I was very aware that having lost my funding, I was starting out at zero. I'd lost the funding from my father, my family, and so I'm like starting out scratch. I'm like, okay, you need to go and get a job. My, my studies had come to an end. I needed to stay in Birmingham where I lived in order to train with my coach. I had to make it work. And I went out and I got two jobs and I would run my ass to training and I would be so excited to get onto the track at the end of the day and, and, you know, put down some performances and throw the shot put and do the high jump. I was just like, this is way better than standing at a store all day long. So I got myself a job in with the University of Birmingham. Shout out the University of Birmingham. And also a job in retail. And I would stand on my Feet all day long. And it was hard. And during that same time, I would get up at 6am and I would go to local Rotary Club meetings and I would pitch to them that I was looking for sponsorship. I wanted 12 sponsors for London 2012. I wanted them to fund me to the tune of £2,000 a year so that I could give up all of my work and focus full time on training. And within six months, I had 12 sponsors. I was self funded, completely self funded. Was the only athlete, I think, that was self funded and came out that year, made the world championships and got their funding back. But the time I got my funding back, I was like, that's great. But I know now I can get to the Olympic Games because I've made it so. And so I was now in a place where the only road ahead was turning up and doing the work. So that was really like my funding journey. So by the time the gym came round, I was like, yo, I want to open this gym. It's going to cost me X amount of money. I don't have it. Let me just put a GoFundMe out there. My friend was like, don't do that. Go. Fund me is where, like, charities and people go to raise money for funerals and things. And I'm like. And everything else. And so I started a Kickstarter or something. They don't actually. I think it's Kickstarter that don't let. Don't fund for physical fitness facilities.

[Les]

Really?

[Louise Hazel]

Yeah. I didn't realize till I got to the end of the application. I'm like, what am I going to do now? Go back to GoFundMe. And so the act of going to GoFundMe and the act of asking for money and the act of telling people what my vision was attracted, you know, I Maybe raised about $5,000, which was great. Got equipment in the gym. But it was the act of doing that that attracted funding privately. And someone called me and said, lou. In fact, it was my good friend Camarium Wimbley, former NFL player. He's like, lou, I want to put some money into the gym. And I was like, what? And he was just like, yep. He's like, I believe in you. I know you got it. He's like, let's go. And then someone else called and was like, I'm gonna match that. And I was like, okay. All right. We're like a third of the way there's. And then I spoke to a billionaire businessman and he came and visited the gym with his security detail and it was all very, you know, professional. And he was like, yeah, the best thing to do in that space is probably content. You're not gonna make any money there. And I was like. He took two hours to really give me a dressing down. And I was just like, damn. Like, he could have just written a check like that. It was. It would be nothing to him, the amount that I really needed to open the gym. And I just thought, you know what? Stuff this. I've got a third of the money. I can open the gym. I'm just not going to have a huge cash. Like, I'm not going to have a huge kind of blanket or anything to fall back on. I'm going to open that gym. And I opened it within about a month, but all the equipment in there. And I said to the billionaire businessman, I was like, look, you know, I really appreciate you coming out today because two hours of a billionaire's time is a lot of money.

[Effy]

Yeah.

[Louise Hazel]

And I said to him, promise me one thing. If I call you pick up the phone. If I text you, you answer. He's like, deal. I was like, okay. Nine months later, I called him. I. Sorry, text him. I was like, hey, how's it going? He's like, how's it. Yeah, good. How are you? I'm like, great. Fully booked, done. And he knows I'm gonna call.

[Les]

Yeah.

[Louise Hazel]

And when it comes to, you know, our real, real fundraising round, and I'm gonna show him the books and I'm gonna prove him. Not even prove him, he's already been proven wrong. And that is a, you know, testament to just not giving up. Like, if you really believe in yourself and you're willing to do the work, you will always come out on top. No matter how many people wanna tell you otherwise. No matter how many people wanna give you a dressing down. And he gave me a dressing down that day. He said I was cocky. It's never gonna work. People only ever film content out of this gym and we have such an amazing community. Like, he. I'm going to invite him back this year so he can come and experience it for himself.

[Les]

Yeah, absolutely. And I think that's such a beautiful testament to what you were saying earlier about what athletes do really well is like stating the desire. And that's exactly what you had done in that instance to get the gym going.

[Louise Hazel]

Yeah. I also was just like, hang on, like, you're telling me that it can't be done. I just went out and got a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games. I just made my whole dreams come True. Just few years ago. You can't. Like, there's nothing that I can't do. There's nothing you can tell me that I cannot do. You're talking to the wrong person. Like, if I didn't have that already in my, you know, in my backpack, if I didn't have it in my arsenal, I'm like, oh, I don't know whether you're trying to motivate me or deter me, but you're talking to the wrong person. But I appreciate the time nonetheless. And so, yeah, like, it doesn't. Like, you don't have to be an athlete and to. To have a gold medal winning attitude. It's as simple as that.

[Les]

Absolutely. What are some ways that you instill that in your clients?

[Louise Hazel]

That's like, good question. I remind them every single day of just how dope they are, how strong they are, how athletic they are, how ambitious, how smart. Like, I'm like, you're a g every single day. And I remind them of the areas in which they really excel in outside of the gym. Because it really is about transfer. That's what we're talking about. Like, the things that I learned to do as an athlete. I transferred to become, you know, a successful entrepreneur. And so when I look at, like, my clients, I'm like, you guys are the top 1% in Hollywood. You're an amazing director. You're an incredible writer. Like, people are coming to you to book you for a job for this next movie. You've already there, darling. You just need a little bit of help in this area. And you've all come to an Olympian to get it, which means you're ready. You know, let's just do the work together. I'll tell you what to do. You do it. And that's. You know what I mean? It's a wrap. You're gonna be fine.

[Les]

So good. Like, reminding people of who they are 100%.

[Louise Hazel]

I think a lot of the time when it comes to health and fitness, the reason we get so far from our goals is because we forget who we are. We stop showing up as ourselves, as our best selves. Sometimes we take on the habits of other people. Like, Eric loves chocolate in our household. I'm not a chocolate eater, but within, like, you know, two, three years of being with him, I found myself consuming more chocolate than I'd ever had in my life. And I'm just like, this isn't even my habit.

[Effy]

You don't even like this.

[Louise Hazel]

Yeah, you can take that one back. Yeah. And so you have to be really mindful. And I think that January, top of the year, New Year's resolutions, is always a really good time to do a check in and come back to the self and ask yourself, really quietly and peacefully, who am I and what do I want? Simple as that. And more importantly, how do I get there? What's the next step?

[Les]

Yep, exactly. Especially with it being January. I mean, I think fitness and wellness is something that's top of mind for a lot of people. And the number one question that I get related to fitness, and I'm sure you probably get this a lot as well, is like, how do I be more consistent? How can I be more consistent? How can I stay motivated? I have found consistency through identity based work of just being like, I get up every day and I move my body in some way. It's not whether I want to or whether I don't. That's who I am as a person.

[Louise Hazel]

Yeah.

[Les]

And that for my brain is what has worked and helped it click for me. But I would love to hear kind of what you tell people when they ask you that.

[Louise Hazel]

You know, I was thinking about this question this morning with regards to a family member of mine who I don't think believe. I don't think they believe that they're lazy. I think they have lazy habits. And so I think there are times when our habits are dictating our actions. And so you just have to choose better habits. And if your habit aligns with who you believe yourself to be, like you said, identity based work, then it's really easy. And so, yeah, like, I don't wake up in the morning and I don't ever think, like, you know, I wake up. There are some days when it's really freaking hard. Am I going to do it anyway? Yeah. Why? Because that's who I am. Like, I'm an Olympian. That's what an Olympian does. And so if you are in any doubt as to who you are, then the trick when it comes to how do I stay consistent is waking up and reminding yourself you're that bitch and it's time to get to work. And so how you go about that is up to you. Is it a post it note? Is it a reminder on your phone? Is it playing Beyonce on full blast? Like, is it putting an outfit on to go to the gym? I don't care what you wear to the gym. No one cares. If it makes you feel good and it gets you there, let's go. For me, it's like, I love sportswear. So the idea of like a new Pair of sneakers always gets me to the gym. Makes me want to do it more. I love gadgets, so I'm like, oh, I can't wait to test this out. So really understanding the things that keep you connected to who you are and feeling yourself. And as long as you feel yourself, like if you're feeling like, oh my God, yeah, my hair is good, my nails good, like my skin is good, I'm ready to go. You're going to want to go show that off. No one wants to, like when they're feeling their best. No one wants to sit at home and not be seen. Get out there, go do it. Do what you came to do.

[Effy]

Absolutely.

[Les]

Remembering that you're that girl.

[Louise Hazel]

That's right.

[Les]

In whatever way, whatever that looks like for you.

[Louise Hazel]

Yeah. And that's going to be completely different for everyone. Like for me, I think it's again, a very quiet mental thought. Like, that's who I am. Up we get, off we go. You know, simple. But for others, there might be other tools that you might need and don't and really just carve them out, make them really unique to you for sure.

[Les]

Something that's been really helpful for me, whether it's with fitness or just kind of self improvement in general, I think sometimes it can get this bad reputation where people have this perception of thinking that you're trying to fix something about yourself. I have not necessarily felt that way. What's been helpful for me is realizing there's potential that I haven't tapped into yet. So what do I need to do to tap into that, that version of myself that can perform at this level or that can have this thing? Okay, there's a gap. So what do I need to do to fill that gap? It's not saying like, I don't like my body, I don't like this, I don't like that. You know, here are all the things that are wrong with me. It's saying like, this version of me exists. Let me close this gap to get to her.

[Louise Hazel]

Yeah. No athlete ever starts out saying like, I'm not fast enough and I'm not capable of running a world record. Like, it's just not a thing that we do. Like we're really thinking about the body as a tool. What can I do today and how fast can I run, how far can I throw, how high can I jump? And I think when you reframe, when you reframe what the body can do and you focus on what the body can do as opposed to what your body looks like doing, it Then results are inevitable. Like, you focus on the process, you don't focus on like the outcome or the result at all. You're like, okay, I'm in the gym today, I'm gonna lift this thing six times and then I'm out. Peace. You know, like, I think if your fitness pursuits are constantly wrapped to how you look and your aesthetics, then you basically putting a whole nother heap of hurdles in your lane. You know, that's a real struggle. And you know, that's a, that's a commonality for so many people, like having a female gym. I didn't realize just how pervasive a lot of the negative self talk and negative body image was going to be. Also, you know, being an expert and being out there on online, the amount of questions that I get every day and also the, some of the rebuttal that I get online is often from people who do have a lot of low self esteem and aren't necessarily happy with their aesthetic. And the thing that I say to those people who are not yet too far gone is you get to work out every single day. There are so many people out there who don't get to do that. Why they might be six feet under, why they might be ill, why they might be injured. But if you have a body and you move it, that's a real privilege. Like the. I think we really sometimes take for granted what a privilege it is to be able to have recreation time, like going to the gym, you know, and also, let's be really real, there are people around us every single day that don't have the time, don't have the time, don't have the money because they are constantly living in a state of scarcity and poverty and survival. And so if you're a person that doesn't see the privilege that it is to go to the gym, show up for the gym, do the workout, then you're really kind of missing the beauty and the trick and the privilege that is before you. Because lord knows, like we are. We probably come from families who did not have that choice, you know, who didn't have, oh, am I going to have a matcha latte today or am I going to stay in bed? Am I going to go to the gym or am I going to go to, you know, do nothing? Like it's a privilege. You should be using that.

[Les]

Yeah, it is. I even think about generationally just how much knowledge we have now about, well, being in our bodies. And I'm seeing a lot of messaging that makes me really happy around Women's strength training. More women eating more protein, women wanting muscle. Particularly as we get older, as we're in our 30s and our 40s and we head towards perimenopause, and we're beginning to understand how important that is. What a privilege that for our generation in the next decade, we get to head into that phase of life knowing that versus our grandmothers who had no idea.

[Louise Hazel]

That is real, Les. Like, it's so real. The hardest work that I do is often with women who are, you know, 50 and over, because unfortunately, they've grown up without the same level of access and information that we're now privy to. And so habit changing people whose habits have been that way for 40 to 60 years or whatever is not impossible, but it's a harder task. And so I'm so encouraged by the amount of women that are coming into the gym in their 20s and are like, I'm gonna start to strength training because of menopause. It's like, whoa, you got a bit of time.

[Les]

You got a lot of time.

[Louise Hazel]

But.

[Effy]

But great.

[Louise Hazel]

Love that you're aware of it. Yeah, that's so encouraging. I think that this generation of women, this about the information that's freely flowing because of podcasts like this. So thank you. Is incredible. Like, we have the ability to completely turn the tide on women's health and women's fitness, and more importantly, what it means to be a woman and what it means to be strong and not shy away from the different. The different ways in which strength presents itself. As a woman, strength can be a mental thing, it can be an emotional thing, it can be a physical thing. We know. We know we're strong. We know we're the stronger gender. It is what it is. We know that we can endure a lot. I think our biggest challenge is understanding where to put our energy and how to conserve some of that strength for ourselves.

[Les]

So, Louise, I would love to hear what you're looking forward to in 2025 and what's next for you.

[Louise Hazel]

So I think the biggest thing for me that I cannot escape in my mind is two things. The first one is the Slay app. I haven't been happy with this platform for a while now, and we've always used software as a service because it's been the best way and easiest way to test our audience. And, you know, Slay, for me, as a brand, as a community, is all about female strength. Like, if you are pregnant, lift weights. If you are perimenopausal, lift weights. If you are young and out of College lift weights. If you want to lose fat, lift weights. Like, the answer always comes back to strength training. But I think that we're really doing women a humongous disservice in the. The apps and the. The products that are out there currently in terms of their functionality. I think men's apps, however, are really thriving. I think that my job is to go out there and get the funding to create something that's innovative, groundbreaking, and can be the companion app to every woman who wants to venture out into the free weight section of the gym or any section of the gym that includes resistance training. That's the number one thing. Am I excited about that? Absolutely. Am I going to do it? 100%. And then the second thing is I'm of an age, I got get myself a baby going, so, you know, navigating motherhood and becoming a mother and starting a family, and how do I do those two things side by side, like, yeah, let's go. Whatever the challenge is, I'm ready for it. And the interesting thing is thinking about growing a family and building an app is the same thing. To me, this is like I'm just having twins this year, you know, so.

[Les]

Absolutely. There's so much, I think, synergy between those two things and. Yeah, I'm excited for you.

[Louise Hazel]

Thank you.

[Effy]

Yeah.

[Louise Hazel]

Fingers crossed. Yeah.

[Les]

So how can our audience keep in touch with you? How can they work out with you whether they're in la, whether they're not in la.

[Louise Hazel]

Yep, absolutely. So you can follow me on social media. Louise Hazel, you can follow the gym at Slayathletic Club. You can come on down to the Slay Gym. Hit us up at www. Slayathletic.com if you wanted to come and jump in a session. We are an amazing community, like I said. If you are not in Los Angeles, however, you can join us on the Slay app. You'll find that in the App Store or just hit the link in my bio on Instagram. It will drop down and give you everything you need. Make sure you check out the Slave podcast and our Slay list. I'm terrible when it comes to music, so if anybody has any recommendations for any bangers that we should be listening to in the Slay Gym, throw them my way. You'll literally make my life an absolute godsend right now. And, yeah, I'm just always that girl. Just slide in those DMS and hit me up if you want to chitchat.

[Les]

Amazing. Love it. We'll make sure that everything is linked in the show. Notes and I. I got you on the music. I'll give you.

[Louise Hazel]

I'll give you some.

[Les]

I'll add some things.

[Louise Hazel]

Oh, thank goodness.

[Effy]

Yes.

[Les]

Thank you so much for being here.

[Louise Hazel]

Pleasure. Anytime.

[Les]

Huge thanks to Louise for joining me today. I don't know about you, but I feel so inspired after that conversation, and I hope that you enjoyed it as much as I did. So if you want to work out with Louise at Slay, whether you're in Los Angeles or you want to do so virtually via her app, make sure you check out the show notes. We'll have all of her information linked there, as well as her podcast, Slay Podcast, which is an incredible listen. Thank you again for tuning in. Make sure you are subscribed so that.

[Effy]

You don't miss an episode, and I will see you next week. Please note that this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this episode.