‘A fight that’s ultimately futile’: Hamish Blake on facing his own mortality in his home gym

Radio host, TV star and podcaster Hamish Blake is the brains behind some of the most popular Australian shows. 

Along with hosting the podcast and radio show Hamish and Andy with Andy Lee, he’s the voice of Jack’s dad in Bluey and he hosts the show LEGO Masters.

Yet his greatest achievements may be the bespoke birthday cakes that he bakes for his young son and daughter each year.

He sat down with Virginia Trioli for the You Don’t Know Me podcast to answer a few questions about the time he got it terribly wrong as a parent and his secret life as a gym junkie.

You’d never know it but …

I spend a larger amount of my time than people would assume in my garage sweating and moving heavy things while training and exercising. Like, occasionally I might go to the gym, but … for me, it’s a very personal pursuit.

I really enjoy the psychological side of training and pushing yourself hard. That spills over into doing larger endurance events, all your classic midlife crisis stuff like big bike rides and big wilderness adventures. I make it a priority and I make sure I get it done.

I wasn’t like that in my 20s. I really developed a love for it as I got into my 30s, and I’ve probably done that for a good 10 or 12 years. 

The training mentality as a 30-year-old is vastly different for me as a 42-year-old. You have this slow dawning [realisation]: I don’t bounce back and I’m not quite as invincible as I thought I was. And you really know you’re going to use it or lose it.

As they say, you have one meat suit and it’s either going to get stronger from today or if you don’t do anything, this will be the strongest you’ve ever been and you’ll decline from here. So I think it’s probably about facing your own mortality a bit too, to [realise] the human body begins its decline and it will be a fight that’s ultimately futile. But you [can] begin now, the decades-long battle against fragility and stagnation.

It’s probably something I don’t talk about that often because no-one cares. It’s that old adage of like, people begin to assume that the things you put on social media are your life. I suppose I could put scenes [on social media] of me huffing and panting and dumping a puddle of sweat on a bike. But it’s not really why I do it. I’m doing it for me. 

The fork in the road I almost took was …

When I started getting into comedy [with Andy Lee], there was a fork in the road really early on in our radio days. 

I was working at a radio station [in Melbourne] and one of the guys there was like, “I’m leaving to run the Adelaide radio stations. Do you want to come do the breakfast show?”

I was 19 and I was excited because I [was] like, “Wow, this is a real job, like this is a proper salary.” But I’d have to go and live in Adelaide.

And Andy and I had literally that month started doing stuff together, but on community radio. So it was like, do I stay and do community radio with this guy that I’m friends with and I like, or do I let the bright lights of Adelaide FM radio lure me?

It’s a no-brainer now. But back then it was a real tussle. I was convinced this would never come around again and I was saying no to my one opportunity to ever get into entertainment.

It probably is a great example of ego versus something that felt a little more pure and a little bit more in-the-moment. 

Obviously, I now know that going for things that have status and external validation attached to them will be hollow, and that’s not why you should chase things. But I’m glad that at that age, it felt [like] the right way.

The time I got it terribly wrong was …

My kids are ten and six. We all remember the sting from our own childhoods when our parents weren’t on our page, or even just the sting of one unkind word or a joke that hurt us and that a grown-up thought was funny. I still remember that stuff from when I was 11.

So we know how deep an impact that has on little people. 

And so the heartbreaking thing about being a parent is like, “Oh my God, I’m going to do that to my kids because of just the sheer volume of interactions we have. I cannot get them all right, I’m going to hurt them [at some point]”. 

These come up with parenting; they’re the barbs that stick in your heart.

So for me, the times that stand out where I’ve got it wrong with my kids is … not taking their feelings or fears seriously. I would say the instinct we have as adults, especially when you’ve got little kids in that five to 10-[year-old] zone where they have anxieties and they have fears, or they have worries and uncertainty … our instinct is to rush through things, to be like, “Oh, don’t worry about that” because we know, with 35 years of experience, that it’s OK. 

Rather than trying to rush them out of it … I want them to have the memory that when something upset them, they would have a dad that listened and cared.

The thing I can’t stop thinking about is ….

Andy’s very into golf and I have always mocked golf. So I said to him: “When I turn 40, I’ll get into golf.” 

The golf swing at the moment is what I’m thinking about because I can’t for the life of me [get it right].

I wish you could have a black box recording of the way your brain thinks when you’re [standing] over [the ball]. It’s like the game has been deliberately invented to addict people because you can’t finish it, you can’t perfect it. 

There are like six people in the history of human beings who got it perfect. I just stare at other people. I’m like, “How are you making that ball move so easily?”

And then you go to the driving range to try and solve this, and it is amazing because the car park is full of very fancy cars. So you’re like, “OK, you’re obviously very successful in your life, you’re an architect, you’re a pilot, you’re a doctor, whatever”. Men and women getting out of their cars, then lugging all their sticks in and being so angry at themselves … like everyone’s in this world of fury looking at this tiny ball because it’s not doing what they want it to do. It is farcical.

I’m still able to laugh with it. I’m just one of them now.

My secret pleasure is …

No-one’s going to be blown away that I find this pleasurable, but I love a day spa. I really like it. Like, I will go get every add-on. I’ll take a two-hour massage. I’d say that’s my high-end. 

I’ll never say no to a deluxe massage. I’ll go as hard as I can. And I always have, even back when I lived in a share house, back in my radio days.

It’s a small thing, but I’m still so proud that I …

This is back into the classic midlife crisis events, but there’s an event in New Zealand called the Coast to Coast, which is a two-day multi-sport race across the South Island of New Zealand. It’s kayaking, it’s rock running and mountain biking and mountain running and stuff.

So there was a long private mission, and I did that in February and it required a good year of chipping away at getting better at the disciplines.

That’s why I enjoy doing those physical pursuits. You know, you are only doing it for yourself. Literally no-one else cares that you’ve done it, but I think that’s why you do those things. You do them because you find out a little bit about yourself, if you’re out on that edge, and you can feel proud of yourself.

I remember saying to [my wife] Zoe: “I have been training for a while for this. Dad’s put a lot into this.” She was like, “Yeah, we should try and get to the finish line, me and the kids.” 

I said, “It’s a hassle. You’d have to fly across [to New Zealand] just to be there for the finish line.”

And then Zoe came back and she was like, “Hey, we’re not going to come. It’s just too much to bring the kids over for the finish line.” 

But I did think she was tricking me, so [I thought], “It’ll be amazing when I see them at the finish line after two days in the wild”. 

And then there was a bit of a pause and Zoe goes: “Just in case you think I’m tricking you, I’m not. We’re definitely not coming. I just can’t stress it enough. We don’t care. We’re going to be at home.”

Listen to the extended conversation between Hamish Blake and Virginia Trioli on the You Don’t Know Me podcast.