In September 2014, at the height of his success, strength coach Elliott Hulse published a blog post explaining why he had stopped making YouTube videos. Brian Rose says it read like an obituary, and admits that as a fellow YouTuber, his first reaction was jealousy.
In this clip from their 2015 London Real interview, Brian reads Hulse’s own words back to him and asks what was really going on. The answer is an honest look at the pressure of constant content, and at the moment Hulse decided he had to step back.
▶ Watch the full episode: Elliott Hulse – The Body Is The Mind
The weekly treadmill
Brian starts with his own experience. Four years earlier, he had promised himself he would publish every week, come hell or high water. It changed him as a person, he says, in good ways and not so good ones. Sometimes, he admits, the distribution machine of YouTube can become its own nightmare.
He then quotes Hulse’s post: “I was too attached to my success to let go”, and the line that if you ignore the urgings of the heart and gut, life meets tremendous resistance. Hulse jokingly gives credit to “the guy that wrote that”. It describes it completely, he says.
Listening to the gut
His explanation is simple, and he knows how it sounds. “God told me to,” he says: his intuition, his body, the Tao, the universe. He describes himself as a feeler more than a calculator, which sometimes gets him into trouble.
Logically, quitting made no sense. He was at the top of his game, and by most accounts you do not stop when you reach the top. But the feeling that he had to stop would not go away.
When the content starts to take over
When he fought that feeling and kept going, Hulse says, things started to go wrong. He picked up injuries, and he began talking about subjects he now feels he had no business speaking about, simply to keep the excitement up and get more views. He says he knows many YouTubers who end up doing the same.
The difference from traditional fame, in his view, is that online creators never get a break. Actors work for a season or make a film and then disappear for a while. YouTubers keep pumping out content, so “we can’t really hide and recover.”
Brian recognises the trap. Anything can become material, he says: Hulse started with strength and fitness, then opened a second channel answering all kinds of questions. Where is the line? Do you bring the camera home? Do your children go on camera?
A warning sign
Hulse then speaks about the fitness personality Greg Plitt, who died in 2015 in an accident involving a train while filming. Hulse says he admired Plitt’s energy and charisma, and that his death felt like another sign. He asked himself how far he was prepared to push things for the camera, and whether he wanted to end up the same way. He speaks about Plitt with respect, and wishes him rest in peace twice.
What to take from it
The clip was recorded years before burnout among creators became a common topic, yet it describes it clearly: the promise to publish no matter what, the pull towards ever bigger content, and the difficulty of stepping away. Hulse’s answer was to trust his gut, even when his head disagreed.
Who is Elliott Hulse?
Elliott Hulse is an American strength coach and former strongman competitor. He built one of the biggest fitness followings on YouTube with his Strength Camp channel, alongside his gym of the same name in Florida, and became known for combining training advice with ideas about body, mind and personal growth.
In his full 2015 London Real episode, The Body Is The Mind, he talks with Brian Rose about strength, the mind-body connection and life after YouTube. He returned to the show in 2019 for How To Become The Alpha Male.
See everything Elliott Hulse has done with London Real on his guest page: Elliott Hulse on London Real.
More on London Real
Transcript
Transcript: Elliott Hulse – Why He Quit YouTube At The Top Of His Game
0:00 Brian Rose: I was worried last year that this interview might never happen, and that’s because of your now probably super famous blog post that said: why I stopped making YouTube videos, 2007 to 2014. It read like an obituary. And me, as a YouTuber, the first thing I thought was: I’m so jealous. Because sometimes that interface and that distribution network can be its own nightmare, to a certain extent. I think about it all the time, the amount of things that we publish.
0:37 Brian Rose: For me, four years ago, I was like: I’m going to do one every week. I don’t know who I promised that to, but I promised that, and I made sure it happened, come hell or high water. It definitely changed me as a person, some good things about it and some not so good things about it. The more I do, the more content, the more I get comfortable talking. I know that you talked about some of the things that you were going through, where not everybody wants to talk to [unclear] Elliott when he’s off camera. I was wondering if you could talk to us a little bit about what was going on in your mind there, what had happened in the previous seven years, and maybe talk about what’s happened since. If it’s OK, I just wanted to quote a couple of things you said from the blog, just for people that don’t know.
1:22 Elliott Hulse: Sure, yeah. It’ll get me going.
1:24 Brian Rose: To get them in perspective. You said, quote: “The seasons of my life were changing, but I was too attached to my success to let go and move with nature.” I think that was talking about before you made the decision. Then you said: “I’ve learned that if you are wise enough to honour the spontaneous subconscious urgings of your heart and gut, life will take you exactly where you need to be with very little friction. But if you deny or ignore the urgings of the heart and gut, life will meet tremendous resistance. None of this is done by logic. In fact, the logical mind has very little to do with the process. The only thing the head can do is get in the way. That is exactly what happened to me.” You finished by saying: “I began attracting tremendous negativity toward myself, my loved ones and my videos.” I was just wondering if you could take us back to where you were in September. What’s that, about ten months ago?
2:09 Elliott Hulse: That was great, by the way. Kudos to the guy that wrote that. That describes it completely.
2:15 Brian Rose: I was wondering how you were going to respond to me quoting you, because it is a nice piece.
2:19 Elliott Hulse: Yeah, that’s really good. That’s it in a nutshell. I’m going to sound crazy, or great, depending on who’s listening, but God told me to. My intuition, my body, the Tao, the way, the universe. I’m a feeler, not as much a calculator. It kind of gets me in trouble sometimes; that’s why you need both. But the feeling was there. I tried to be logical about what I was feeling, meaning: this doesn’t make any sense, I’m at the top of my game. By a lot of accounts, you don’t stop when you get to the top. It was just a sense that I have to stop.
2:55 Elliott Hulse: When I fought against it by continuing, I started getting injuries. When I say negativity, I was getting what I deserved, because I should have stopped, and I was moving into speaking about things that I probably had no business speaking about, because I’ve got to keep making videos, doing things for more excitement, to get more people to watch my videos. I know a lot of YouTubers who end up doing that. Because we’re not like TV stars or movie stars who work for a season and then disappear, or make a movie and disappear. We’re just constantly pumping out content. We can’t really hide and recover.
3:44 Brian Rose: Everything becomes game, right? The problem is that anything can become game. You started off commenting on strength and fitness, and then it became a separate channel for people asking you questions about non-related stuff, which was great. But then I always wonder: where’s the line? Do you bring the camera home? Do your kids go on camera? When you’re in this mode of “I’ve got to create more content”, it starts to get a little crazy.
4:07 Elliott Hulse: Yeah, and you can start getting really exuberant. Rest in peace, Greg Plitt. I don’t know if you’re familiar with him, but he was another fitness [unclear]. I’m not a fan of too many people in my niche, for no other reason than I’m just not watching too many people. But he had my eye, because he’s a good-looking guy, he was entertaining, he was full of fire. And he ended up pushing the envelope, and he made a video where he was [unclear] a train, and it didn’t end well. I kind of took that as a sign also. It’s like: how far are you going to take it? This guy, you idolise this guy, you look up to him. Are you going to end up like him? Do you want to end up like him? Again, rest in peace. I saw that as one of the signs to [unclear].
