After years of long hours and burnout, Jono’s health had slipped quietly to the bottom of the priority list. What he found at DoDay wasn’t just a training program, but a trusted partner who helped him rebuild his strength – and himself.
After moving to Hobart with his family in 2015, work had slowly taken over everything. Long days in a corporate job stretched into 70–80 hour work weeks. He was exhausted, anxious, smoking, drinking more than he should, and running on fumes.
“Work was my primary motivator,” Jono says. “Everything else was secondary.”
In his mid-40s, Jono had what he considers a wake-up moment.
“You think, you’d better get your life together.”
So, in 2020, his wife dragged him reluctantly to the gym.
At first, Jono joined 6am group strength classes. He liked the routine. He liked the feeling of moving again. But there were still gaps: exercises he avoided, weaknesses he couldn’t quite fix on his own.
“My technique was bad – weak and floppy,” he says. “And in a group class there isn’t time to slow things down and really work on it. It became the thing I enjoyed least.”
Instead of avoiding it, he asked for help.
One-on-one sessions with Michael focused on the details: technique, positioning, small incremental improvements. Nothing flashy. Just steady progress.
The numbers followed. Weights climbed by 20-30 per cent. What had once been a one-rep max became something he could lift for eight reps.
At the same time, something less measurable was taking shape: trust.
“When you achieve a goal, it feels like you’ve done it as part of a team – the Jono and Mike team,” he says. “You see the satisfaction he gets when you nail a lift. He’s in it with you. No pretending. He’s genuinely in your corner.”
That partnership, equal parts camaraderie and professionalism, has ensured that Jono keeps coming back. Training has stopped feeling like something he has to do and become something he genuinely looks forward to. The endorphins. The shared jokes. The quiet confidence of getting stronger each week.
“If Michael asked me to run through a brick wall, I’d run through a brick wall,” Jono laughs. “I trust him that much. When you have self-doubt, you pick up the phone or sit down with him and he gives you that assurance. There’s a sincerity to it. That’s the magic recipe.”
Over the last five years, the gym has become more than damage control for a stressful career. It’s now a core part of who Jono is.
Strength training led to bigger goals – including teaming up with a partner for HYROX Sydney, a global fitness competition combining running and functional strength. After months of structured training through DoDay, Jono crossed the finish line fitter than he’d felt in decades.
“As a middle-aged man, I just want to stay fit enough for a healthy, happy life,” he says. “But I loved that there were people in their 80s competing ay HYROX. That’s a life goal right there.”
Jono’s progress since Hyrox – which took place in July 2025 – hasn’t slowed at all. In recent weeks, he has continued to notch up new personal bests, including a 100kg bench press and 170kg for six reps on a barbell squat. Both are numbers that once felt well beyond reach.
In the aftermath of that breakthrough session, Jono turned to Michael and tried to capture what it meant.
“It’s so satisfying that all the work you and I have put in together over the years always comes through,” he said.
“It feels like a thousand Christmases all at once. You know that doing the set the way you did actually involved hundreds of incremental bits of coaching wisdom, imparted from you to me, and put into action.”
