Sziasztok, Jánó vagyok. Közép-Európa első világra szóló podcast csatornáját hallgatjátok Magyarországról. Ez a Budapest.fm. Hi, my name is Ray, and you're listening to the number one podcast station in Central Europe, Budapest.fm, podcasting to the world from Hungary. Welcome back to Budapest, everybody. I am here today with Szedlácsko Ádám, the owner of my personal favorite gym in the entire city. It's sort of a temple to the art and the spirit of bodybuilding, located on the Buda side of the Danube, and that is Flex Gym. Welcome to the podcast, Adam. Hogy vagy? Thank you. Welcome. And today we are going to talk about your story and how you created Flex Gym, because the first time I stepped foot into that place, I was just blown away. I mean, you walk into Flex Gym and you see action figures, bodybuilding equipment, and four levels of a lot of— Five. Five levels, excuse me. With the ground floor. I forgot about the ground floor. Five levels of just wonderful workout equipment and a lot of very famous, famous people, particularly Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is all over the place, both in his bodybuilding form and in his Terminator form. So, Adam today is speaking with us in his third language. He speaks fluent Hungarian, fluent German, spricht Deutsch. Deutsch wieder besser. But I try English. Today he's going to try English, and we're very, very excited to have him here. So how did Flex Gym begin? How did you make this gym? That was always my dream as a child, to have a gym, because when I went with my grandfather to watch the Harlem Globetrotters basketball play, by the entrance there was a guy who sold the books. And there was a book from Arnold, the name of My Way to Success in Hungarian. My Way to Success. How do you say it in Hungarian? Utam a csúcsra. Utam a csúcsra. My Way. My Way to Success. Cool. So you saw this book when you saw the Harlem Globetrotters with your grandfather. And in the book was the story of Arnold's life, training tips, everything about the competitions, the movies, everything about him. And that was so good to read his story and everything. But when I read it first, I had already the feeling that I read it already, so that was so nice story. And I was read it about how much he works for everything, for he wanted to travel to America, and how much training he made for the competitions and for the movies and everything. That was a very nice story. It's like a story for the movies too, I think. Yeah, it's super inspirational. From Europe, from a little city, from Graz, from Tall, to arrive to America, to California, to be the world champion in bodybuilding, to make a big success in the action movies or in the movie business. And after. You became the 38th governor from Californian, so I think it's already a movie story. And he married into the Kennedy family. Yeah. So, I mean, for that story you just laid it out, I've only ever heard it laid out like that now, from growing up in Austria to being an Austrian immigrant to become a movie star, bodybuilding champion, and the governor of the biggest state population in America is crazy. So that story really, it spoke to you. It was inspirational for you. Of course, and I have my diabetic, because I'm a diabetic since '86, and I was always looking for some sports, because I was always have a sports, because I was growing— I was born in '75, and I was always an offline kid, because we have at that time no internet, no— nothing. So just the newspapers or movies. That's it. Yeah, there's no internet. So my childhood was very happy because I was playing outside. Now my daughters are playing inside because they are always online. They're another kids. It's weird. I don't like this world today. Yeah. So my childhood was much, much better with bicycle rides, with soccer playing, with everything, everything that you can do outside. So then I read Arnold's book. I saw the pictures with his exercises, what you can start at home, because I was this time 12 years old, and I started everything at home with push-ups and sit-ups and everything what you can do at home. And after I was looking for a gym, but that time in Europe or in Budapest was not so popular, or the bodybuilding in '88, '87. And I find a small gym, and there the trainer let me train there. But not all exercises, because I was too young, so no heavy squats and that kind of equipment, just the base exercises: bench press or biceps curls or triceps curls. So you were like 12, 13 years old then? Yeah. And after my parents divorced, and I was traveled to Germany, to Düsseldorf. Oh, cool. And then after three years training, I have my first competition in Essen, 30 kilometers from Düsseldorf. It's a city, Essen. Then I won my first. The name is Jugendmeisterschaft. That is not junior, younger than the junior. I was 16 years old and I won this, Jugendmeisterschaft, as a diabetic, as a, how you said, from another country. No, I was not immigrant. I was living there, but I don't wanted to live always all my life in Germany. That was a part because I was young and I was traveling with my mother. And at that time I read so many newspapers in Germany, from Muscle & Fitness, Flex magazines. In this time Hungary, you didn't find this kind of newspapers. So everything, the dreams, the ideas, the motivation, I get from these newspapers. Cool. And I built already in my mind how they must look, the gym, and how they look, because all the pictures was from Gold's Gym in Venice. Mostly of the pictures, and all American brands. So, at that time I was not traveling to America. I was 15, 16, 17 years old in this time, but already I had a dream from America: how they look, how the feeling is, how the atmosphere. And so, that was always my dream to have a gym. In Budapest, 1995, they opened the official Gold's Gym in the city, and I heard a commercial in the radio. So, hey guys, we opened the Gold's Gym in Budapest, blah blah blah. I was immediately there in the next day to buy a pass, and I wanted to be a member in this gym. I was starting there to working, to cleaning, beginner personal training. So I was very proud to be there under this brand as a member. And the Gold's Gym, that's really the golden age of bodybuilding in America, right? The Venice Beach stuff. Venice Beach, but all the other Gold's are regular gyms. But the really make of bodybuilding is in the Hampton Drive 360. I know the address. Oh yeah, because I saw in the Flex Gym in Budapest, you guys have that section that's dedicated to the golden era. Golden era. Yeah, in the golden era you find the real equipment from the end of the 70s and the 80s. And this equipment is from Arnold's friend, Albert Busek. Yeah, and this equipment was used by all the legends. So it's like, you use the boxing glove from Muhammad Ali. It's the same, and you can use this equipment. This is the biggest motivation in life, I think. I used it. Yeah, you can train with the same shoulder press or bench press machine than Arnold or Sergio Oliva. Who was, was there? Who's the guy? There was Arnold's friend, the smaller, Franco Columbo. Franco Columbo. I like the pictures of them together because you have the contrasts of the bodybuilding styles with the big, super strong, super tall god. They are best friends, and it's sorry, but Franco passed away in 2019, 30th of August. And he was friend with Arnold since '65. Wow. 31 October. Rest in peace. Yeah. I love that section, and the benches on the machines are so shiny and 1980s-looking, and you get that real feeling. And believe me, these equipments are built forever, so this is not for five years. The quality of the work is much better than today. Cool, that's awesome. And then, so you were in the Gold's Gym in 1995, and you worked there for a while. And then what happened to take you from that experience to being the owner of Flex Gym? When did Flex Gym become a gym? Yeah, and also the name. So the equipment from this Gold's Gym, there was everything from Flex Equipment. There was a brand in the '90s. So all the equipment was called Flex Equipment. And this gym was closed. It's not far away from your studio. It was closed in 2004. And the owner puts everything in the depot, in the side. And this time I was working as a masseur, as a limo driver. I do so many things in my life, but I never find myself. I was also working in the office, but it was like, for me, it was like a prison because I have so many ideas and things to create and do. So the office was for me a prison. I wanted always to do something, but like Arnold said, 70% of the people hate their job, and this is weird, but this is true. So I am the happiest man in the world that I can do my— This is not a job because this bodybuilding and sport and the gym is my hobby. So from this time on, I don't need to work. Yeah, it's a hobby and it's a passion. Yeah, it's a passion. And so I'm very happy. So when I am a little bit sometimes tired or not so motivated, I'm always think, hey man, wake up. You do your best job in the world. This is your hobby, so shut up and do it. I like that. It's a good mentality. So 2004, the gold. And after the owner called me on the phone in 2009, 2010 spring, that, Adam, I want to sell all the equipment, you know, from the gold gym that you are working on it, and I don't want to have any time, I don't want to have more in the depot, so I want to sell it. And this time I was running around to become a credit from a bank or from some friends to buy this equipment. So that was okay, I finded a way, just I didn't have the place. So I have already the equipment without place. And this time I was living near by the gym, and I was walking around this area to find some building where I can put all the machinery, where I can start my dream to be true. And I found this place we are now, near the Daily Pajudvar, and we started with one floor because I didn't have enough money for building the five floors gym. So every year I put always the money back to create a little functional training area, to build bigger locker rooms, to have a... Place for solarium or for CrossFit or for fighting area or street workout, like outside we have. So always, always ten years long, I build always, I growing my gym. So that was not building in one year. So that was building in ten years. Nice. And for this, thank God, I became so many possibilities to have friendship and training sessions with the famous people in the world. So, like the first one was Dwayne. Dwayne The Rock Johnson. Yeah, he's amazing man and a real sportsman and a good guy and positive. You know, it's really what you see, how you see Dwayne in the... he's really like this. It's authentic. Working his butt off, like he said, always smiling. He is very good with other people, with everybody. Yeah, I mean, I used to watch him when I was a kid as The Rock, and he was always like the favorite of everyone because he has so much charisma. So, and you can believe from 2013, end of May until middle of October, I was opening for him every day the gym. So I said, Hey, how are you? Hi, Dwayne. I keep your hands. That's pretty cool. Is that the coolest person that you've met, Arnold Schwarzenegger and The Rock? No, there I have already there, Jim Fox, Dave Bautista, George Brolin, Will Smith. Wow. Henry Cavill. Many, many any other actors from another series from Netflix. So that's cool. And everybody became the same attention and... And hoist what I can give. So I may not... You don't pick favorites. You don't pick favorites. Everyone's the same. So if somebody is just from the Netflix series or another guy, so Will Smith, everybody becomes the same attention and friendship for me. So I like to be... That's what I learned from my grandmother. She was always so friendly and helpful with everybody. I think I learned from her this. You can feel it in the Flex Gym. It's a very welcoming environment. Jó hangulatos nekem. And that's why I painting on the wall, Welcome Home. Oh, nice. This means very much. If you read it every day, you will feel it. And I really like at the entrance they have the Flex Grill. That is very good for me. After the workout, I would always get dupla csirke, two chicken breast, and the rice and the steamed vegetables. And that was a good feature in the gym. Yeah, the motto is train, eat, grow. Train, eat, grow. Because people forget that. They forget how important food is to the bodybuilding, no? Not just the bodybuilding, everything. When you want to live healthy, you want to be healthy. So the food is, from everything, I think 70 percent. Because if you can train every day, but if you don't eat the right things, you will not change. Cool. So that must have been a great journey to have that idea in your head and this passion, and then all of a sudden you have international celebrities coming to Budapest. How do they find out about Flex Gym? Is it their friends tell them you have to go to Flex, you have to see Adam, or how do they know to go to you? I think the first guest by Dwayne, he's... Cousine was there. Tanui Reed, he's stand double by the movies. And he was the first guy who came to my gym, and he saw, Oh, this looks like an American garage, I think. That was his first reaction, because the weights are in pounds, the equipment, the music. So I put for everyone his favorite music on. So I create the atmosphere what you don't want to leave. And I am the happiest person in the world because I cannot tell for Dwayne or for Henry Cavill or for Arnold, Please say that and that about my gym. It came alone that he told by one reportage in the TV or by a report in a news report. He talked about his gym, that was so good in Flex, and I can't wait to come back. And so for me that was, from my job, the Oscar nomination. When Arnold, when Arnold said, Thank you for everything. I can't wait to come back to Budapest and to Flex, and you can't believe what I feel. This is not about the money. This is about success, that somebody is happy for your work, somebody is thankful for your work, somebody is happy what you do for him. And I think this is, you cannot socially tell. You can't put a price on it. Yeah. What is this? Is the price thing or this is the priceless? Yeah, this is priceless. Absolutely. So I will not, this feeling, this reaction from these people, I will not change of the whole money in the world, because you cannot pay for this if somebody say the truth from himself. Wow, you're really living the dream then. And how did you meet Arnold Schwarzenegger? Because you had this dream. Did you meet him after you built the gym, or was it before? After. So I started everything because his book, everything. I saw, I was a small child, I saw his movie, The Commando, Phantom Commando, or Commando. Of course, The Terminator, The Conan. And I think, of course, I have daughters. Everything is a big, very, very big thing in my life. But this one is, for me, after my daughters, the second one, that I became good friends with Arnold. Like, we play every day chess, and I realize how he is in real life. And you know, it's the difference, because if you meet somebody, or no, if you see somebody in the movies or in the news, you don't know what is in the real life. But he's much, much amazing and better in the real life, like what you can believe. Really? Yeah. Well, that's cool, because he's already pretty good in the celebrity version, so I can't even imagine how cool he must be. A hundred times what you can believe. And the first meeting, how did that happen? How did that come about? He just came to your gym? In Budapest, they organized a seminar in 2015, and the guy who organized the event, he was looking for me that maybe I want to sponsor or something. I was the first person who told yes, of course, of course. And the seminar was planned for September, but something went wrong with the paying or with the... Sponsors, and the guy said it's impossible to have in September, maybe in February. And this time I was thinking, maybe I throw out my money and will not happen the seminar, because sometimes can happen, you know, somebody organize something and if you don't have sponsors or the organization is bad, everything will be broke down. So after, in February 2015, the seminar was organized, and Arnold came here. And I was his driver with my—I have an American car, a Navigator—that was my coolest... Yeah, I was his driver, and I was starting to speak German. And after, next year, that was my first traveling year when I went to America, to California, and my first trip—where was my first trip? Venice Beach, of course. Morning five o'clock, and I was sitting there watching the pictures and the gym and looking everybody. America is—or maybe not in every state, but what I saw in one is everybody so easy, you know. Hey, how are you? How are you, man? They are not interested of the answer, but everybody asks you, How are you? That's what I always say. People think Americans are so friendly, but it's sometimes just on the surface. This is just a question, How are you? but nobody interested. So, and then, the first morning I was training there in the morning, because I was with my family there. Arnold came with his bike for a working out, and I met him again. Hey, I'm Adam, you know, from Budapest, and we are starting to talk. We are starting talking of life, of everything, everything. And the biggest thing— And he remembered you? He remembered you. That's cool. After they shooted Terminator 6 in Budapest. And that was the moment. From that time, we became real friends because he come daily to my gym because he remembered of me. I put his music on. I was taking care of the whole team, and I think he felt that, that I give everything from my heart, not because I wanted to have something or anything from him. Just I was happy to see him with his friends for the workout, and I give it everything every day, every day from my heart. That's beautiful. And after he invited me to his house in the Christmas party, and we met in California. And from that time, we have, so I can say, daily contact. Do you think it's like you're living inside a movie or something, that this happened? I mean, you were— No, this is better than the best movie what you can see in your life. Wow. So you're someone that really lived out his dream. You must feel very grateful for that. And this is very interesting because I always missed the attention from my father. What I told you before, he was a little bit drinking, and so I was always hungry to hear from him, Adam, I am proud of you, or You do it as well, Mike. So a boy, he needs this from his father. And I never became this from him because, like I told you, I never drank alcohol in my life. I was always do something, I was working always, and I never became these good words from him. So now, thank God, I become everything from Arnold. So it's a friendship, a little bit father and son connection for myself inside somewhere. Of course, I cannot tell him, You are my father, but because he's a little bit older than me, I always respected his life, everything what he did for his career. I always look at this communist not alone. You must work, working every day for, like, this success, like a sport, like a movie, or like governorship. You can work, but it's not everything. It's also a little bit luck. But he was the right person. He's a very, very positive, the most positive person that I know in my life. I always ask him tips, How can you be so positive? Is that the main lesson that you've taken from him, is to stay positive all the time? Yeah. Is there any other lessons? Like, what's something that you think about daily about a lesson that he's taught? Just to work really hard and— Yeah, but you know, it's hard because I don't want to tell everything what he say, just a little bit part of what I can tell you, or for the people, but I don't want to tell private things. Yeah, of course. Well, that's just cool in itself that you can even say that, Well, I have some private communications with Arnold Schwarzenegger. And then what about the atmosphere in Flex Gym? It's located in District 13 in the Buda side, and where do most of the customers come from? All over Budapest? All over. I think from the circle of 30 kilometers, because our location is very good. I like Buda more than Pest. So I was always—I was born in Buda, I was living in Buda always. Where were you born? In the 12th district. So if somebody, the Hungarian people is talking, Where are you from? From Budapest, but from Buda. You know, it's very funny, but Pest is the city side and Buda is where the mountains are. And I was growing up there, to have so many bicycle rides and playing playgrounds in the mountain. I love there, Buda. Yeah, me too, because I used to live—I'm in Hungary three years now, and the first two years I lived on Pest, on Dohány utca. But now I live on Buda side, on Lövőház utca, Lógody utca. This first district. First district. But I always run up into the hills near, like, the Kisvárbhegy and the Tizenegyedik kerületben and Tizenkettedik kerületben, and it's very beautiful over there. So the location is good because there is the south train station, the Déli pályaudvar. Yeah, yeah. There are the buses, the tram, the metro, and the schools. Everything is there in one location. Did you think about this when you— No, not really. But now it's like, well, it's the best location. That's very good. So people can travel not just from the city center, but from the suburbs and the other areas. And even to travel from Pest with a car maybe it takes 40 minutes, but with the metro 10 minutes, because you come up from the metro and it's 100 meter walk. But I noticed you guys don't do speciality in cardio. It's mostly weightlifting, right? I mean, you have cardio machines, but it's not the focus. So you never visit my third floor. No, no, there is dance floor. No, I visit the third floor, but it's not the focus of the gym. The focus is more on... The third floor is where we have the grass for the sled. There is a big functional training area, the fighting area, and the cardio, the StairMaster. Oh, of course. Yeah, you have like 20, 30 treadmills and a few bikes and things like that. Yeah. And the very good that we have all over the gym, 180 windows. So the bright sunshine is coming. This is energy. This is positive, I think. Well, the building is very interesting because it's this tall, tall building, and you don't see many buildings that tall in Budapest. I think this is the tallest now and the oldest from the...
From the big buildings. I went to the seventh floor because the Schlager FM, and I went to make an interview there. And so I went to the top, and I was like, Oh my God, this is— I brought my workout equipment, and so after the interview, I just went down to the gym and had a little exercise, so that was nice. But it's a very unique building. You can see it from a mile away. Yeah, the building was built in the sixties. In the sixties. Sixty-three, I think. Cool. So from outside it's not so modern, but inside everything—the elevator, the windows, the air conditioning—is new. Yeah. And what's it like, the day in the life of a gym owner? Do you have time to work out? Do you have time to do things? Are you always busy, busy, busy? No. You make your time. Like Aron said, he said, I'm pissed off if somebody says, I don't have time. Aron said, You make that time. You have 24 hours. You have six hours for sleep. Okay, somebody says, I want to sleep more, and then I recommend sleep faster. So you have six hours. Then you have, okay, one hour with friends, to talk about, okay, or read. But you have the 40 minutes for working out. You can have bicycle ride, or running, or yoga at home, but you need to do 40 minutes. If somebody don't make for himself the time, it's a lie, or you are lazy. Right. You can always find time. 40 minutes, you need to find a way. He do always training. Is that how much you work out every day, 40 minutes or more than that? I'm working on more, so one hour minimum. Cool. But he just say 40 minutes minimum, so for 40 minutes you must have for 24 hours. And is there a lot of other things you have to do during the day for the gym, like maintenance or contracts and employees and things? Everything, yeah. Yeah, so we have always to fix something, to repair something. It's five floors. I'm not sitting never, like, looking around what to do, so I have always something. That's cool. But this is good. This is... And it's a real community, the Flex Gym. I see a lot of—I mean, I'm not really friends with a lot of people, but I always see friendships and people talking, eating. They're talking by the equipment, so it seems like you have a real sense of community there. Yeah, it's a community, yeah. But every gym is, I think, is a community, because you have—there are different gyms. Some gyms more wellness, they have more saunas, they are not so concentrated on training. My gym is everything about training. My spa part, the saunas and everything, is not so big or popular like the wellness gyms, but here is the full story about the training. Yeah, I like how you have some signs about not to use the cell phone and things like that. No. I wrote the rules in a funny way, so if you can leave the weights, you can put it back. It's your sweat. It's your sweat, you can wipe it off, or no, I think flip-flop, or like... It's not a Starbucks, it's no Wi‑Fi, it's no Starbucks. Yeah, that's what it was. No Wi‑Fi, this is no Starbucks, but this is a funny way. But just I wanted that the people saw their real way how the working out, because I don't believe in this world where everybody pushing the... The phones. This is, let's make me crazy. It's crazy, especially when you're working out. You need to be, or you should be focused and paying attention. Yeah, you must have the healthy middle. You must stay there because the internet is like a drug, or worse. Do you not use your phone a lot, or? I use for transfer the money or look my emails, but I'm not hanging out all the day in the social media to watching who, where, what they do, and everything is fake. You see somebody who looks amazing or very nice, like a girl, looks amazing. She's nice. She's happy. She's with expensive clothing. She's in a very nice place, and all of them is fake. So, and can I can believe now what my children or this younger generation do it, watching this picture all the day, you will get depressed from this. For sure. Because you say, Oh my God, she's so happy. She looks so good. She has wonderful clothes, and I'm sitting here. And from this, when you see all the time that another people are looking so good and they are so happy, then you feel yourself very sad. You start to compare. So I understand the younger generation, why they have so many depressed people from this, from the internet, from the social media. And then it doesn't help with the coronavirus also. This is worse. The online school, this is terrible. Terrible. So that must be very challenging to own a gym during the coronavirus time, though. The first time, so one year before, we needed to close from three o'clock. And that was also an idiot thing, because what's happened after three o'clock? Before three o'clock is no virus, and after three o'clock you have a virus. So the problem with that was that the people was ending the works and the schools after four o'clock, but I closed the gym at three o'clock. So most of the people didn't come to my gym in the afternoon until the nine o'clock in the night. But the owners say, You are open, here is your bill. So I have not the possibility to pay so much bill. So for three, four months long, I made a huge minus from this. Yeah, that's, I mean, it's affecting a lot of people. But the gym and Konditerem, it's very, very hard. And they said—I was reading some studies—that gyms are actually pretty safe, right? They're not so dangerous to be. You must not overthinking about this, because if you're working out and you want to go to the gym, but you don't feel yourself 100 percent good, you will not start cleaning your room at home, or you will not start to go to the gym because you're not feeling well. So this is the best test to go or not go, because if you are weak or you feel something, you will not strain, you will not lift weights when you have fever. That's a good point, unless you're a real crazy person. But either way, you would think that the gyms, they're very important. They're very important for people's personal health. Most important for your immune system. If somebody is afraid or somebody is caring about the virus, she should have the vaccine. But another way, if for you it's the weather cold, you will take a jacket. When you have the virus, why you don't do something for your immune system? Why you don't take the vitamins? Why you are not working out? It's exactly the same important, like to have a jacket in the winter. To always working out. I'm not talking just to the gym. I don't want to make commercial for the gyms. I talk about sport. Any sport is important. You need for the immune system. You can see some pictures from the Russian kindergarten. The kids are running out in the snow, and they are going back to the kindergarten. And these kind of children, they are training so hard and do everything so hard. They were never sick, never. Or when they get sick, they come more faster out from the sickness. From being sick. From sickness. So they heal quicker, they recover quicker. And in the Hungarian culture, there's not as much emphasis on the working out? In the 80s, yes. But today, this generation, sorry, not everybody, but mostly, they going with the cars and they have this. And in the 80s was much harder, much harder. It was the transition also from the communism. But this is not just for Hungary, for every country in the world. Before was everything more harder, I think, to get to the school, to get to the training. So today, it's harder for the generation to have adventures or memories, good memories, because everybody's online. You have not really memories from outside. You see everything on the internet. But example, in Germany, I was going every day like Arnold with the bicycle to the gym every Sunday, 20 kilometers, and to home. Little bit rain, I was going with them. Just in a very bad weather, I was using the tram. So I like things for what you need to work, not just having in your öledbe. Here, your laptop, or? No, when you get something ready. Oh, yeah, yeah. When you have it just, I don't know the exact word, but I know what you're saying, when you just have this immediate stuff like the wallet and the... The whole food you get in the table. The whole food you get on the table. You just get it all, and there's no work put in. And it feels better when you can actually earn something and get it for yourself, no? So it's very hard to... It's also hard to show for my daughters, you know. How old are your daughters? Fifteen and seventeen already. It's very hard teenager time. Of course. Oh my God. Of course. So I say always not everything coming in a second, like in the internet. You open something, yeah, you see something and you order it, next day it's there. And this... We say instant gratification. You get the gratification or the feeling right away. Exactly. The dopamine comes... Yeah, it comes in the same second. No. So what do we do? How can we teach the younger generation to be healthier? This is a good and big question. Because when I tell them that go out and meet with friends, they look at me, Where I go out? Why? I can communicate with the internet. It's very hard. It's like, for me, they are a little bit like zombies from the internet. And many people, when you look around in the city, when you are going with the car or you are walking, you see people, they are watching their phone. And they are walking down front of the car because they are in another world. Yeah. I saw a picture the other day. It was from, I think, Paris in 1985, and it was a bunch of people in a cafe. And I noticed something was weird because there was nobody with their phones. They were all sitting outside. There was no phone. And there was no phone. And it was like, you forget what that looks like, because now if you go to a cafe in Paris or Budapest, you see at least 50 percent everybody is iPad or iPhone or everything. Yeah. But it's not just Paris, all over the world, from Dubai to Los Angeles or from Denmark to Australia. You've traveled a lot, huh? Yeah, but mostly to America. Mostly to America. Yeah. But everywhere is the same. So when you arrive to Amsterdam to have your connection, or you are in Paris, everywhere is the same sick internet world. It's a shame. But I guess we have to be positive in some respects. And of course they have also good side. Everything has a good and a bad side. But if you cannot handle this, it's just a bad side. For depression, no personal connection, no real world. And it's hard. I mean, it's literally addicting. Like you said before, it's like a drug. It's a drug. Internet is a drug. Or the social media. Not internet, because there are many, many very important and good things, but you can read about history, or you can load down your music, and very amazing good sites. But if somebody is weak for this and you start to look in the social media somebody like a 12 years old kid or a 10 years old, this is a drug. It's true, igaz. And what do you like to do to relax? What are some of your other hobbies besides exercise and building gyms? What I love to do is to clean my old-timer car. I have an old '64 Cadillac. Oh, nice. I love to clean the car, everything to be shiny. And sometimes I have a Bluetooth speaker in the car. I put in mine—I wanted to say the singer name, who sing the New York, New York. Oh, Frank Sinatra. Sorry, yeah. No, no, no, of course. I'm just smiling because it's— Mostly I heard old music. I love it, the '50s, '60s. I put my music on and I drive my car to Balaton or to everywhere. Nice. Sunny. So then I feel a little bit like in California. Yeah, I mean, not the ocean, but the Hungarian ocean, the Balaton. You like the Balaton a lot? Yeah. Yeah, I've been to a few places on the Balaton. It's beautiful sunsets is my favorite part. The colors are amazing. Do you have anywhere else in Hungary that you like to go besides the Balaton? No, my favorite is the Balaton, or any part of the Balaton, or the north side where it's not exactly—you are not in the lake, but it's very nice area there. Last year I went to the Balatonfüred and Tihany, and that was so gorgeous. Tihany. No, I love it because it's 60 miles from Budapest. It's not too much to drive, and you are just in another place in the land. Nice. After 60 miles, so it's not a long drive, and of course your old-timer is enough. Then I arrive, I drink a coffee and enjoy every second. I can enjoy the life, really. That's good. To smell in the air there in the Balaton, you have another fragrances in the air. You're a true Hungarian romantic. It's very nice. Nice, I like that. Do you work out when you're in the Balaton? Is there any gyms up there? By the hotel? No, mostly I go there, I spend my day and I come back. But in the weekends mostly I don't train. I train Monday to Friday. Cool. And what do you think about the future of Flex Gym? What's the next step? Are you looking to expand, or is now just the time to let the dust settle with the coronavirus? I wait that because I need to work this minus back. So from the last one year. And it's not because of me, because I was not have the attention for my gym, or I throw my money out for any things in my life, or because I was not there. I wanted to working, but it was not possible. So the first and most important thing is that I work back for building my minus, my credit. Right, I'm sure it's a common problem now. And just enjoy the life, because I don't want to collect money. I want to collect adventures and experiences. So my first trip, I want to go to Arnold, and we go to the bike ride or training or we play the chess. That's the most important. I'm not counting my money because, of course, you are watching for your life and it's important, but for me it's not everything. You need the money to pay the bills, but the money is not a living thing. So this is just a material. But many people are... They are, they love so much the money, there's nothing else in the world. But this is just a thing, you know, what we use it, and it's come and go, come and go. And I'm not talking about you throw out your money in the window for parties or for crazy things. No, I never throw out. But I always say I just want to have one thing. I want to work in a chill, so without corona, I just want to work. I don't want to have ten gyms, or I don't want to have six apartments. Of course, I have everything, so I'm very happy with my life. And do you still live in the Tiszenkert? Yes. Cool. So I'm very happy. I have everything. So, you know, I always say you have two hands. You can only wear one watch. Why you want twenty? That means you can have more watches. You know what I want to tell you about this. That's a good phrase. And that watch you're wearing right now, that's from Arnold Schwarzenegger? Yeah. So I will not sell this for one hundred million dollars, because this is priceless. Yeah, it's from your friend. It's like a watch from your parents. So my life is that dreams come true, or more. This is not a dream. This is more. Beautiful. And do you have anything else that is on your mind about gyms or thoughts about Hungary, thoughts about Budapest? No, I think the best thing what you can do in your life, to collect experiences. So if somebody have that possibility... They need to travel everywhere. Not, okay, I travel now mostly to America, but you need to say, look for historical places, for go to concerts. To, I say, just experiences, because when you get old, I'm talking now 45 just, but I think, I believe in this. When you are sitting when you are old and you cannot go anywhere, you will living from these experiences what you have before. Like, you can watch in the photos or videos or maybe just in your mind. This is the most. If you don't take experiences, why you are living? For what? For working? That's great advice. I really like that. That's something that I try to do in my own life, is to live in the moment and be present. But sometimes it's hard. Well, this is a good Hungarian thing. We always say, you are not living for working, you are working for living. Right. How do you say that in Hungarian? Nem azért élünk, hogy dolgozunk, azért dolgozunk, hogy éljünk. That's a good one. I believe in this thing. Magyar wisdom. Yeah. So you are not born for just working. You are born for working, and after that you enjoy your life. You can enjoy from what you're working, for this money. You need to enjoy your life because you have just one life. I believe in this, and this life is very short. I'm already 45, and I don't know how it's happened, because before yesterday I was just 25. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah. But everything goes so fast, and from 40, everything goes double so fast. Really? 40? That was the year that it just went... That's scary, because it's already starting for me to get quicker and quicker. Welcome and go. This is the— before we have this cassette recorder radio, this is the side B already. You turn the— Right, you flip it over. Or the CD. This is the side of B. Well, you know, with advances in modern science, you could live to be 120. Nobody knows. But no, it's true. It is. And it just goes quicker and quicker. And then things like this coronavirus happen. It's like a whole year from your life, and all of a sudden you wake up and now a year's gone. And, well, I guess... It will not go away, but everybody needs to take for this something. So not just walk, sit in city and home and afraid. No, you need to work out, take vitamins, and do something for your immune system. This was the sign for everyone, I think. Somebody sitting at home every day and look the TV and drink the beer or eating the pommes frites or the chips. This is enough. Wake up and do something for your health. For sure, yeah. And I think a lot of people, they're waiting for coronavirus to be over. One day it's just magically— but no, we're already living post-coronavirus, and now it's time to gradually be healthier and healthier and healthier. And we have the worst statistic here in Hungary. Everybody— so in the person, I don't know how many percent of the people, they are overweight, they have the diabetes, they have the high blood pressure, and self-mor... In Hungary it's the worst statistics. Well, now we're unfortunately seeing in Hungary a lot... So this is what the government say to... To say for everybody that maybe I help you for the companies, for the people to get discount by the gyms or sport. They need to prefer. If not, they will going to the doctor. Where is better, to sitting by the doctor or in the gym? That's a good point, actually. It's much better to sit in the gym, I would think. It's painful, yeah, but no pain, no gain. No pain, no gain. I love that you have a lot of sayings on the walls of the gym, like you have a lot of the quotes from The Rock and the different people. They're inspirational. I mean, to walk around. Another very important, if somebody wants to do something, they find a way. If not, they find the excuse. Yeah, that's true. It's true. It's true. Yeah, it's very hard sometimes to stay motivated, but you always have to remind yourself of these things. Or sweat is fat crying. Sweat is fat crying. That's good. Or there are also funny things there. Cardio, is that Spanish, or, you know? Cardio, is that Spanish? That's very good. You have any other ones? Of course it's heavy. That's why it's called weight. Nice. Yeah, I felt instantly at home in the gym because you have a lot of... Or you five, seven times done, stand up eight. That is what Arnold's saying, that he has the best seminars with motivation. The falling is not... Don't be afraid to fail, he say always. Don't be afraid to fail, because the difference between the winner and the loser is the winner standing up. You fall, get up. Fall and get up, fall and get up. If you don't get up, there is a loser. It doesn't matter that you fall. If you don't try to get up, you are a loser. Nice. But falling is not bad because also, he said Michael Jordan was the best basketball player over the time. But everybody talking about 3,000 shots, great shots what he did. But Jordan say, I missed already 9,000, but nobody talking about this. That's true. Yeah. So that's cool. So Arnold's giving you a lot of wisdom for me because I didn't have a supportive father either, but because he died, he passed away. So when I was young— No, it's happened a long time ago. But I was lucky, just like you had Arnold, but I had my grandfather, and he would always tell me many lessons about things like a woman who could lift up a car because she had to save her daughter or something, or you can always reach higher if you want to make the motivation the right thing. So it's very good to have these— Everybody needs a good example. Yeah. But you know the five rules, or six, what Arnold have. It's not just for bodybuilders or somebody for the fitness era. This is for everybody that have a dream. This is the first: have a dream. The second is work your butt off. Work everything, because if you are not working, maybe somebody else is doing everything for this. The third is don't be afraid to fail. Ignore the naysayers. For every of the rules, he have a long story. You can watch it. This one is good, the internet, to look the good things. Yeah, yeah. And the five is the best: that always give back for your country, for your community, of your people. So if you live this way, you'll be a success. I will not talking, you will be billionaire. Just you make your right way, your thing. Your life. Cool. That’s very good advice. Köszönöm szépen, Arnold. You got anything else you want to get off your chest? No. And of course, by the end, sorry for if I don’t say something good of English. My German is much better. Hungarian and my German is much better, but I try to say everything of English, and I hope everybody understood what I wanted to tell. Honestly, I think it was perfect. That was very concise. You gave me a lot of wise and wonderful things to say, and I’m sure that people will. And I’m so sorry that I forget Frank Sinatra, so that was— It’s all right. He won’t hold it against you. But, you know, just like Arnold, he went to America and he didn’t speak that great English, so I think it’s a very good example to just try your best. And of course, he was also a good example because the managers, he was looking for when he wanted to be a movie star, they always say, Arnold, what do you want with your name? Schwarzenegger, or what do you want with your name? And you are so huge. We have idols like Dustin Hoffman or smaller guys, sex symbols, and your crazy German accent. Oh, you cannot be a movie star. And after The Terminator, the register said, If we did not have Arnold, we needed to build one. So this is true. James Cameron said that. If we would not have Arnold, we need to build one. And the crazy accent, you remember I’ll be back or Hasta la vista, baby. He used it to his advantage. Because his crazy accent. Yeah. I mean, that’s the best part about Arnold is that he has that crazy accent. So good on you for persevering with the English. It was great. It was really, really, really good. Köszönöm szépen. Thank you. Cool. Sziasztok. Sziasztok, mindenkinek. That was Adam from FlexGym, one of my favorite episodes yet, and we will see you again for much more Talking with Willie.
