Steve Russell meets fitness guru, life-coach and motivational speaker, Luke John Harrison.
Ah, January. The great rebirth. The month which begins with dreams of a barefoot trek across the Himalayas and ends by waking up in your favourite armchair, surrounded by beer bottles and dusted in the remnants of Beefy Space Raiders. Or is that just me?! That’s probably just me. Anyway, my sordid existence aside, I know what you’re thinking. It’s not even January, what is he on about? Well, if you are anything like me, you probably suffer from January syndrome all year round. A perpetual cycle of health-kicks and binges as futile as the average Brexit debate.
One man who has successfully broken this boom-and-bust cycle is Luke John Harrison. Luke, 32, is at peace with himself these days. He owns and manages Total Fitness Tribe in South Shields, has regular work as a motivational speaker and has even penned an Amazon best-seller. However, things weren’t always so serene. By his own admission, much of his youth was a blur of boozing, drug-use and womanising:
“By the time I left school I was smoking a lot of weed, and as I got older started taking cocaine and ecstasy. By my early twenties my weekends were not so much about going for a few pints with the lads as they were about getting totally off my face.”
Having had a happy childhood, the path into this sort of lifestyle had its roots in the severe bullying he endured at comprehensive school, where his desire to be different attracted unwanted attention:
“At around 13 I got into bands like Nirvana, I grew my hair and was experimenting with painting my nails black and stuff like that and life became pretty unpleasant. I remember being spat at on the bus and my mates and I being attacked by a gang of older lads in town just because of how we looked.”
While he is philosophical about these encounters nowadays, he struggled for many years to come to terms with the effects which persistent bullying had upon him. A string of chaotic relationships, spiralling drug use and dissatisfaction with life as a plumber subsequently left him deeply unhappy and desperate to change his life:
“I hated my job, I was having blackouts with all the drink and drugs, I was frequently ill, I was being unfaithful in my relationships and generally wasn’t a nice person. It led to some really dark moments and I realised if I wanted to change my life and start my own business I needed to get my head clear and sort my health out”
Having always had a passion for fitness, he studied part-time to become an instructor and gradually began to turn his life around. He enlisted a business mentor for guidance, and was soon running weekend boot camps, eventually securing premises on Commercial Road, South Shields, where Total Fitness Tribe is now thriving.
While TFT remains the core of his business, meeting him is a bit like plugging into some sort of cosmic power-grid of positivity and with all that energy it’s certainly no surprise that he is constantly diversifying. He now offers an 8-week, oneto-one life coaching programme which is tailored to individual needs, and he also has regular work as a motivational speaker, including an ongoing relationship with Gateshead-based energy firm Northern Gas and Power. He hopes to record a TED Talk in the future and something tells me he’ll realise that ambition one day.
As if all of this wasn’t enough to keep him busy, 2017 saw his debut as an author. His first book, How to Stop Overthinking: Escape Anxiety and Overwhelm by Quitting Goal Setting is written in his trademark no-nonsense style and is based upon his own experience of overcoming inner-demons. While he’s proud of the book he feels he’s “got better ones in him” so more will likely follow.
Like most careers, his has had its fair share of bumps in the road, but it’s probably fair to say that not all of our work transgressions end up as front-page news. Luke explains:
“I posted a vlog in 2015 which included references to some of the terrorist attacks which had occurred around that time, including the Tunisia shootings and the point I was making is that it’s wise to be physically fit because you never know when you might have to fight or run for your life. I stand by the message but I accept that the timing was probably off. It all got a bit out of hand and next thing I was on the front page of the (Shields) Gazette.”
The story was even picked up by the national press and while Luke sincerely regrets any offence he may have caused, the episode eloquently articulates the essence of what he is about. He’s brutally honest and he swears like a pirate but it all stems from a genuine passion to help people see the truth of themselves. In a world of “low hanging fruit” and “getting your ducks in a row” there is something eminently satisfying about that.
Connect with Luke @ iamlukejohnharrison.com
