Guest Coach Ollie Marchon
Athlete. Entrepreneur. All-round nice guy. Ollie Marchon is the sort of coach other coaches aspire to be, and one of the bestrespected names in the industry. The body you see here might be the result of more than a decade’s hard graft and experimentation – but the lessons he’s learned along the way can be applied in your own life, today
You might not know this month’s cover star. He’s not a celebrity – at least, not to those who aren’t counted among his 139k Instagram followers. But Marchon’s status as one of the UK’s smartest fitness coaches is well earned.
A former professional rugby player, Marchon founded his first online coaching platform in 2014, long before hybrid training was the norm. Today, he and his team mentor more than 1,000 aspiring athletes remotely via the Marchon Training app. He’s the owner of two functional fitness gyms, Marchon HQ in Harpenden and Marchon LDN in Stratford, and is a familiar face (and physique) on the functional-fitness competition circuit.
But professional success and – let’s face it – an incredibly ripped physique are not enough to qualify him for MH’s inaugural Guest Coach of the Month slot. What does is his attitude. A father of three, Marchon knows staying in shape isn’t easy for the average guy. And while he may be at the very top of his game at age 34, his true passion is helping others break down the barriers obstructing them from their own goals, however unassuming or ambitious those may be.
He sat down with Men’s Health fitness editor Andrew Tracey and executive editor David Morton to share his hard-won insights.
Andrew Tracey: You’ve been putting in the hours on the gym floor for well over a decade. What are the biggest changes you’ve seen in that time?
Ollie Marchon: One of the big ones is participation. There are people of all shapes and sizes engaging with fitness now, whether that’s in a gym or running or cycling. More people are looking to get started, and they’re being met with a more sophisticated offering, too. The old-school bodybuilding gyms, static machines, treadmills… that’s all changing. There are far more independent gyms. And obviously, there have been advancements in technology, with more people doing home workouts using apps, and so on.
However, that visceral thing of training in spit-and-sawdust gyms – sweaty high fives, community, camaraderie – that’s what’s coming back around now. And that’s what the fitness industry really represents for me.
AT: It’s not a stretch to say that you’ve got one of the most recognisable physiques on the gym scene, too. How has your body changed in the last five to 10 years?
OM: Probably not that much. When I retired from rugby at around 2
