Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

FITNESS

‘We’re not a cult; we’re a group of people that enjoy working out’

Meet ex-rugby player Anthony Sullivan, now running a gym in Stockholm.

Published: 19 June 2017 08:31 CEST
'We're not a cult; we're a group of people that enjoy working out'
Anthony Sullivan, left, helps a member of his gym. Photo: Evolve Fitness

“Evolve Fitness is the name we use because we focus on progress, change and development,” Anthony Sullivan explains. “Evolve is the word that encapsulates that the most for us.”

An ex-professional rugby player from the UK with a very successful career, Sullivan moved to Stockholm four years ago for a change of scenery. “I had some friends that work here, so I came to try it for a little bit.” Working as a trainer at a Crossfit gym, he opened his own business, Evolve Fitness, when the owner left and Sullivan could rent the space.

“This is the third year as our gym, and since January we've been in this location,” says Sullivan, speaking to The Local at their new premises in Solna, north of Stockholm.

He runs his gym in the spirit and philosophy of the Gym Jones style of training. It is similar to the more widely known Crossfit, but not identical. “There are a lot of things we share, but we're just different. Some of the Crossfitters go to the Gym Jones guys to learn about the programming, because that's one of the things we focus on a lot at Gym Jones,” explains Sullivan, stressing a more individualized, tailored approach to training.

Anthony Sullivan started his career as a rugby player. photo: Evolve Fitness

Sullivan began playing rugby in his hometown – Hull. He played for Hull KR for five years before recolating to St Helens, where his career really took off. Among his sporting highlights are representing both Great Britain and Wales in the rugby league, and victories in three Challenge Cup finals for St Helens RLFC.

“Those are the memorable moments, that's what you play for, or that's what I played for. I wanted to represent my country because that's what I felt was the pinnacle of my sport,” he says. “You can't replace that kind of emotional feeling, being with 20 or so of your friends, playing a fairly tough contact sport, and knowing you've spent the last few years working towards something… There's something really rewarding about that,” reminisces Sullivan about the big games he played. “For me, those are the good memories.”

Due to his rugby prowess, Sullivan was recently chosen for the St Helens Hall of Fame.

“It's nice to have that recognition,” he claims. “I don't go back very often, so to get the invite to go back and do that was special.”

After Sullivan retired in 2003 he turned to coaching for a while, but in need of change he then decided to turn away from rugby altogether. “I got to a point where I didn't want to spend the rest of my life doing that. I've spent an awful lot of time there and I wanted a change from that environment.”

However, before fitness Sullivan tried out a few different, non-sport-related jobs. “I tried financial services for a short period of time, the other one was working in the building trade, before I realized that I like the sporting environment. Throughout that time I was always training. I wasn't coaching, but I was always training myself.”


The gym. Photo: Evolve Fitness

In helping some of his friends with training Sullivan found his true calling. “That underlying theme of a coach/trainer, whichever phraseology you like to use, manifested itself again when I started to do that with people in the gym, helping them make progress. When you see people improve, that's why you do that.”

While training in the UK, Sullivan was introduced to some Gym Jones workouts by a friend. “I thought I was really fit. I did a couple of the workouts and realized I wasn't where I thought I was or where I wanted to be,” he says. After all, by that time a few years had lapsed since he had been a professional athlete at the top of his game.

“I started to do a little bit of research on the internet and found Gym Jones,” he notes. “It's almost like a rabbit hole, once you're in you start to delve deeper and all this stuff starts to open up, all this knowledge, and then you want to find more.”

After some digging Sullivan took the required Level 1 and Level 2 seminars in London, aiming to become a Gym Jones instructor himself. In 2015 he left for Salt Lake City to complete the final seminar and get his certification.

Gym Jones, a US gym, gained recognition after the movie '300' was released. Director Zack Snyder and Gym Jones founder Mark Twight collaborated and Twight ended up responsible for getting the '300' cast in shape and camera ready.

“When the movie came out there was obviously lots of press and hype about the condition the guys are in, and people wanted to know more,” explains Sullivan. “Gym Jones are now famous for training Henry Cavill (Superman) and they were involved in training the recent cast of 'Wonder Woman'.”

But why, as a certified instructor, is the gym not also called Gym Jones? “This is a complicated thing,” answers Sullivan. Apparently, Gym Jones does not actually have affiliate gyms like Crossfit does for example, only certified instructors. “This is the closest you can get to being an affiliate,” Sullivan finishes.

Even though the gyms do not share names, Sullivan keeps to the training philosophy in which he was instructed. “The idea is there are some principles, and you're encouraged then to develop your own work using those principles,” he explains, talking about planning workouts at Evolve. “There's a huge library and a huge reference of workouts, but we don't choose randomly. There are certain things that work for a particular aspect that we're looking for and we try and implement those based on rules around strength and conditioning that exist.”

Planning the workouts for members, Sullivan as the instructor has to be able to do them all himself. “I wouldn't give them things that I'm not willing to nor capable of doing,” he says. “Some of our members have got to a point where they're better than me at them, and that's absolutely the way it should be – if we're doing our job, they should be getting better than us too.”
Of course, Sullivan's intense sports career, which had not left him unscathed, has to do with this as well. “A better part of 20 years of rugby can leave you with some movement issues. I struggle a little on some of the movement mobility work that we do, and the flexibility.”

A member of the gym, Sandra Eloranta jumps in to defend him, claiming it's tough to compete with the younger members. “It's hard to compete with a 25-year-old. But it is a very competitive group of people also,” she tells Sullivan. “If they see you do something, people will want to try and beat you.”


Anthony Sullivan. Photo: Evolve Fitness

Competitive or not, it's all in a healthy team spirit. “People that come through the door enjoy their training, enjoy the environment that we've set, the company that they keep, in terms of having like-minded people that are also pretty focused on their training, so there's that social, community aspect. We're not a cult; we're a group of people that enjoy working out.”

Ranging from team workouts, high-tech equipment and row machines with monitors for Sullivan to gauge progress, to barbells and kettlebells, training at Evolve Fitness finds ways to challenge everybody. “One of our strengths here is we have a reasonably small gym in that respect. We have around 30 members and a really good relationship with the guys individually, so I kind of get to know their limits, what their expectations are, and know them reasonably well. So, not every workout is hard, every workout is challenging appropriate to the individual.”

Planning training programmes 12 months ahead, with each 12 month block being broken down to a three month block, then one month, week and day, Sullivan really puts a lot of work and thought into it, which also concurs with the Gym Jones philosophy. “We have a black programme and a red programme,” he describes, claiming the red programme is more advanced for members who have been there longer. The two programmes then have individual variations based on the person training them. “A lot of thought goes into our programming, into each of your workouts, and we always find a way to tailor those workouts to suit an individual.”

However, those who aren't members need not despair, for Sullivan and Sandra have also developed a workout phone app. “It's more for people who don't have the chance to come train with us here in Stockholm, or who have a gym membership somewhere but feel they don't really know what to do in the gym,” explains Eloranta.

The app also contains a month of detailed workouts for members. “We just tried to find a way we could communicate the workouts to the members, because they often wanted to know days in advance what kind of workout was coming up,” finishes Sullivan.

When asked if he misses rugby, Sullivan shakes his head. “I think it was time for me to stop. When I go back and catch up with friends whom I played with, sometimes I miss those guys. I mean, you spend ten years with the same people and you get to know them fairly well, you've shared some highs and some lows too, you miss the camaraderie and the team. But the actual playing? I've had enough.”

For members

READER INSIGHTS

How to find a job in Sweden: Five tips from those who’ve been there, done that

The Swedish job market poses unique challenges for newcomers. The Local's readers share their best tips for cracking the career code.

Published: 10 April 2024 11:32 CEST
Updated: 13 April 2024 15:50 CEST
How to find a job in Sweden: Five tips from those who've been there, done that

Network, network, network!

A statistic that often gets tossed around is that seven out of ten jobs in Sweden are obtained through personal connections, and there’s no doubt that a good network is crucial to your job hunt, making the labour market extra challenging for newcomers to the country.

In fact, networking was the main tip mentioned by The Local’s readers.

“The job market is quite hot in Sweden, and talent is in short supply. People hiring do not have a lot of time to find the right talent, and tips from friends, colleagues and former colleagues are the way to first, find out organisations are hiring, and secondly, get your CV on the short list,” said Kyle, a Canadian reader who works in innovation management in Gothenburg.

“If you are going for a major employer like Volvo, network gets you in the door, as HR does not have much to do with hiring… the hiring managers do all of it and have no time, due to the insane number of consensus meetings. If you are looking for smaller organisations, they have even less time to find people, and networking is their primary way to find talent,” he added.

NETWORKING IN SWEDEN:

Some of the networking tips readers mentioned were going to job fairs, getting an internship to help you establish connections in your preferred field, joining clubs (this could be anything from your local gardening association to meetups for coders, but focus on clubs that may be popular among people working in your chosen field), and drawing on your organic network of friends, neighbours and others.

Don’t neglect the groundwork

The saying “dress for the job you want, not the job you have” is getting worn out (and people may look at you funny if you turn up to interviews in a Batman suit), but there’s truth to the notion of making sure you know what you want – and preparing for it.

In other words, don’t wait for a job ad to appear before you start to customise your CV and figure out what skill set you need. Create your CV now so that you’re ready to tweak it to your dream job – you could even have a general look at job ads in your field to see what requirements are needed. And don’t forget to spruce up your LinkedIn profile so that it fits with your career goals.

“I believe that several factors contribute to successfully landing a desirable job in Sweden. It’s essential to prepare to meet the requirements beyond just having a university degree. Many individuals realise these requirements only after completing their studies when they start searching for a job, which can be too late,” said Adnan Aslam from Pakistan, who works as a food inspector.

“I recommend identifying the job advertisements for positions you aspire to hold in the future and then preparing for those requirements during your studies. For me, acquiring a basic level of proficiency in the Swedish language and obtaining a Swedish driving licence were crucial. I pursued these goals during my studies and was able to secure a desirable job before graduating,” he added.

READ ALSO:

Felipe Cabral even has a GPT assistant trained on his own CVs and old cover letters, and said the set-up only takes ten minutes if you already have your documents. “With that in place, you can give instructions like: Read this job description and create a tailored version of my CV and letter for it. (…) Remember to always review and ask it not to create data aside from your documents.”

Be flexible and ready to adapt

Moving to a new place inevitably means having to learn not just the practicalities such as how to write a CV or which websites to use to look for job openings, but also learning how to navigate a new culture with all its unspoken expectations.

Swedish workplaces are generally less hierarchical than many other countries, but that doesn’t mean you can say whatever you want whenever you want without anyone raising an eyebrow. Swedes are usually direct, but be careful of being too abrasive or boastful: raising your voice, even during a spirited argument, or banging your own drum to show off your skills may not go down well.

“Talk, deliberate, complain like a Swede and you’ll come across like you know what the job entails, so your trustworthiness increases,” said an Indian data analyst who preferred to remain anonymous.

“Office politics are just as strong in Sweden as anywhere else. The flat hierarchy is deceiving as social hierarchy is enforced quite a bit in that lack of formal hierarchy. Take your time in learning these dynamics wherever you work before revealing your talent and capabilities. Expect those internal politics to happen, and they won’t hurt so much when they do,” said Kyle, the Canadian reader in Gothenburg.

This article about Swedish office politics may be useful.

Stay true to yourself

Adapting to your surroundings is one thing. Completely changing who you are is another.

For one thing, your happiness is as important as your career progression, and for another, your foreignness need not be an impediment: it’s also a skill that sets you apart from the rest. It means you have unique experience, and also, in the right setting, provides an opportunity to sometimes violate those social rules we mentioned above, because people assume you will, anyway.

“Trust is key. Build trust in your network, work with integrity. It’s OK to violate jantelagen if you are maintaining integrity. Sometimes your outsider and more honest/open opinion will burn bridges, especially those that may feel threatened by talent. But it will build trust with other colleagues who see it as brave and more trustworthy to work with,” said Kyle from Canada.

Hunker down for the long haul

We don’t want to scare you, because there are plenty of examples of people who quickly find their dream job in Sweden and settle into their new workplace, enjoying perks such as long summer holidays, generous parental leave and the famous work-life balance.

But if you do find it tougher than you expected: know that you’re not alone.

Several readers who responded to the survey said they were still trying to find a job in Sweden.

“I found jobs all over Europe but not here. They say they have a lack of experienced senior engineers but the don’t seem to be doing much to solve this,” said a Brazilian in Gothenburg.

A reader from Bangladesh said she was “at a loss” as to how to make a career change from her current AI role in Stockholm, despite many years of experience as an IT project manager.

“Over the past 18 months, I’ve submitted over 600 applications to various organisations. Unfortunately, despite being overqualified for some positions, I’ve faced rejections at every turn, from both large and small companies. The job market here, especially for foreign-born women, feels overwhelmingly challenging,” she said, adding that the struggle had impacted her mental health.

The Local has on several occasions reported on foreign residents’ struggle to get a foot on the Swedish job ladder, with many facing hurdles such as employers’ unfamiliarity with international degrees, discrimination, or a lack of network that can provide paths into a company.

So during the job hunt, don’t forget to care for yourself. Share your concerns with fellow job-seekers, ask for help and join networking groups – this is good not just for creating new contacts, but also in terms of your social well-being and meeting people who are in a similar situation.

And finally, as one British reader in Stockholm advised, keep looking: “Be open-minded with the opportunities that present themselves. It isn’t an easy market to enter and doesn’t feel inclusive.” But he added, “don’t give up”.

SHOW COMMENTS