Episode 3 | Obi Moneke, Co-Owner of GRIPT

Welcome back to the Sum of Many Podcast. Uh today I got a special guest, someone that I've been training with for the last couple of years. Um down at Gripped. Uh this guy has a lot of experience, everything from personal training, strength training, also a music artist amongst many other talents.

Uh today's special guest uh is Obi. Welcome, mate.

What's up, Pete? Man, it's good to finally be here, man. We've been talking about this for a minute, but good to be finally doing this, mate. Great to have you here. Um, always uh like to start with a bit about yourself first. You can cover whatever you want. So mate, go for it.

Beautiful, man. Look, um, background is Nigerian. I grew up in a family of eight. So there's six boys in the fam, man. I'm a middle child. Um, growing up, my parents are both diplomats. So my childhood involved traveling, living in different countries four years at a time. Um, representing our country in another country. Um, so being a diplomat, you get to spend about four years in a country and then once your time is up, you get sent to another country essentially. So that was my childhood growing up. That led me to Australia in 1998. My dad got posted here.

Yeah. So after my parents left in 2003, myself and two of my older brothers stayed back whilst my mom, my dad, and my younger brothers kept traveling. Yeah, that's pretty much my upbringing.

That's crazy. And um how if they're diplomats, they're moving around a lot. That's crazy. The four year cycles. Yeah. How often do you catch up with them?

The last time I saw my mom was 2006. I left Turkey. She was posted in Turkey at the time. So I left Australia when I spent about 10 months with her in Turkey. And um I got back to Australia in Feb 2006. I didn't see my mom for like a long time after that.

Um yeah, it's the challenges of your parents living in a different country and you being in a different country as well was yeah it was very very tough man as a 17 year old when I left not being able to see the family it forced you to grow up a lot quicker you know as a man but yeah the last time I saw my mom 2006 and the next time I saw her after that um briefly was 2009 then not again until 2017.

Damn. Yeah. So, it's it's hard. Yeah.

But obviously FaceTime and things like that, but yeah, seeing them physically.

And has your mom seen the little ones yet?

Yeah. Yeah. So, the mom Yeah, she has. So, she we got them back. They retired now. So, now we brought them back to Australia in 2023. So, two years ago they came back to Australia and they've been here ever since. So, they've obviously met my kids and stuff like that. So, now you've got that stability.

What have you got planned for the festive season holiday break?

I get to freaking spend New Year's for the first time since 2005 leading to 2006 New Year. That was the last time I spent New Years with my mom and yeah, I can't believe 20 years that I get to actually spend New Years with her. So, I'm super excited for that. So, I head down to Canberra and yeah, spend New Years with her. How good pumped for you? Excited, man.

And your six brothers. Tell me about what you guys did growing up. That's crazy. No, no, no sister. No sisters, man. Six boys. Six boys. So, very very very competitive household with six boys in there. Very athletic family. Um, a lot of fights whether it's whether it's who gets to first go on the PlayStation or whatever it may be. There's hell of competition. Yeah. In the family. Um, and this kind of like led to why my little brother became a professional athlete because he was the one that was copied the most from five older brothers. So his whole life was pretty much competing against his elders. So now Wes is paired up with people his age. It destroys him.

Yeah. So yeah. So now he's Yeah. He's he's doing his thing as a pro.

As the youngest of four boys in my family, I can understand. Yeah. I get it. I get it. Um and m I think um from obviously diplomat competitive sport. Um talk to me a little bit about um I guess I want to ask you about how did you how did you cope so well when your parents moved? So I just want to go like that's very tough.

Look we look we had no choice because at the end of the day that was their work. We were used to traveling around. So we had no choice but to yeah just carry on and you try to become our own person. Um so like I said I left when I was 17 years old to come back to Australia while my mom was in Turkey and my dad was in Switzerland. So the thing is so that was split as they were split as well. So my dad was in Switzerland and my mom was in Turkey.

Yeah. So that's even crazy for them as well. It's crazy man.

Yeah. So, um, the whole family is just used to not being together as a unit. The last time we were together as a unit was probably in 2004. Wow. All together the one time.

Oh, I'm pumped for you, mate. Right. That's awesome. Excited, man. Thanks for sharing, mate. Obviously, family guy, mate.

Yep. Yep. Little K came recently this year. Has uh how's that changed your life in the last year? I know you're already looking after a couple kids, but expanded the family. How's that 2025 been, man?

2025 has been great. 2024 on the other hand, that was that was tough. Probably the hardest year of my life. But um 2025 things are looking really really good. Um Kenzo was born end of 2024, the last of four kids in the household. So yeah, now everything is all set up now. We're not trying to have any more kids. It's just all about growth on the family front, on the business front, and yeah, things are looking up right now. So, couldn't be any happier, man.

Awesome, mate. I love that.

This transcript was generated using AI and may contain minor errors or inaccuracies.