Home health remedies From MH intern to cover star in six years

From MH intern to cover star in six years

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I was so, so happy. You think, you’re never going to be that guy. My life went from 0 to 100 real quick

Six years ago, Harry Sellers stopped by the Men’s Health stand at a bodybuilding expo to chat with the cover star. Six months later, he smashed out a two-week internship for the editorial team. Now, he’s the face of our November issue.

That’s not to say he was handed the opportunity on a plate – far from it. At MH, cover star status requires dedication, it’s not a God-given right.

Sellers’ transformation story begins at 16 as a competitive hockey player. Despite playing for South East England, scoring seven national titles and almost representing England, his dream was to play rugby.

(Related: How to train like a rugby sevens player)

“I was always really short and really skinny at school, I hit my growth spurt quite late,” Sellers says. “All my friends played rugby. I was always really jealous of them and how big they were. Eventually I was just like, ‘Alright, I’m going to start going to the gym now’. I was doing a lot of functional stuff, based around getting strong unilaterally, more stable, more agile, for hockey. But at the same time I was loving looking better, so I was doing a lot of bodybuilding-style training – chest on a Monday, back on a Tuesday, legs on a Wednesday.”

(Related: How often should you train each muscle group?)

His newfound gym obsession led him to Birmingham’s BodyPower Expo, where he met Mark Peacock, former Product Development manager at MH. This, in turn, led him to his internship – and a 50 Shades of Grey-inspired feature.

“They’d written all the content for it, and I was asked to order all the props for the shoot,” he says. “Mark gives me this list and it’s dildos, paddles, spreader bars, all these sorts of things. I’m phoning up Anne Summers and they’re like, ‘what size do you want?’, and 17-year-old me is like, ‘eeeerm…’.

“The package ended up being delivered to Women’s Health because I got the address wrong. I had to go and collect it, and they’d already unwrapped it all. Honestly, you couldn’t write it. I was so embarrassed. I didn’t even go to the shoot! The one thing I was looking forward to.”

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Sellers headed to Loughborough University for an economics degree, which required students to complete a year in industry. He spent a year at Nike’s London HQ, working behind the scenes on shoots. These days, he can be found on the other side of the camera – as the face of the brand’s latest campaign.

When it came to training, Sellers had taken his foot off the accelerator. But as he launched a start-up with two school friends, an A5-sized training journal called The Gymbook, (sound familiar? We named it one of the ‘five things you need in your gym bag’ back in April 2017), he came across CrossFit.

(Related: 5 reasons CrossFit athletes are fitter than you)

“That was the turning point for me. It brought back the competition that I missed from playing sport. There are a lot of benchmark workouts where you can compare yourself to the rest of the world and the friends you’re training with. But at the same time, there’s a lot of camaraderie – if you’re still working out when other people have finished, they’ll cheer you on.

“At the time I was doing a lot of bodybuilding-style training. At CrossFit, I learned how to do an Olympic lift, snatches and muscle-ups. I can handstand walk. My body became a lot more flexible, a lot more agile, a lot more mobile, and I just felt like an athlete again. I went through a period of maybe six to eight months of training almost twice a day every day.”

(Related: Even professional athletes can’t complete this CrossFit WOD)

As his physique transformed, Sellers started modelling. He found Barry’s Bootcamp, and became so much of a regular that the owner asked if he’d consider training as an instructor. At the same time, he was approached by ITV producers for the 2018 season of Love Island.

“My mum basically told me that if I went on that programme she’d kick me out of the house. I’m a proper mummy’s boy, so I was like, OK. Joining Barry’s is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made because it’s such an amazing company to work for and I have so much fun when I teach there.”

(Related: What happened when we tried Barry’s Bootcamp)

One day, Sellers received a call from his modelling agency. MH had booked him for a shoot – a three-page spread on internet gaming. “I was over the moon,” he says. “I never expected to get on the cover, though. That’s another level.”

Two months later, he’d been shortlisted for a cover shoot. Now, he’s on our November issue. “It was an absolute dream come true,” he says. “I was so, so happy. You think, you’re never going to be that guy. My life went from 0 to 100 real quick.”

These days, Sellers training constitutes a mix of CrossFit, Barry’s workouts, and heavy, low-rep weightlifting with a light, high-rep finisher thrown in for good measure. With a few CrossFit competitions under his belt, Sellers’ most recent athletic achievement was Lisbon’s Half Ironman – a 1.2 mile swim, a 56 mile bike ride and a 13.1 mile run.

“It was quite eventful to say the least,” admits Sellers. “I didn’t train for it that much, because CrossFit was going so well, so I maintained what I usually do while bolting on a few long swims, cycles and runs here and there. My fitness felt good but I definitely wasn’t prepared enough for what I was about to do. I fully underestimated it.”

(Related: How to become a better triathlete)

When it comes to a full Ironman, Sellers says he’ll take his training seriously. But right now, he doesn’t sacrifice partying for hours in the gym.

“I think people have this idea that people in the fitness world eat all their meals out of Tupperware and don’t drink, but if anything, it’s the opposite. All of my friends have the attitude of work hard, play harder.

“We train so much – often I’ll train twice a day – so I can relatively eat what I want, but I lean towards healthier choices most of the time. If I’m on a night out I’ll have a lower-calorie drink. It’s about making healthy choices and staying consistent rather than being all or nothing.”

(Related: Will alcohol affect my muscle growth?)

And as for Sellers’ biggest fitness inspiration? Ross Edgley, he says, for bridging the gap between endurance sports and weightlifting

“He’s doing the Great British Swim at the moment, swimming 12 hours a day for 160 days, and he’s burned over 1,000,000 calories already. He shows that you don’t have to be a bodybuilder or a triathlete, you can sit somewhere in the middle. You can be really strong and fit. It doesn’t have to be one or the other.”

Fancy yourself as the next Men’s Health cover star? You’re closer than you think. 

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