Dave Letele 'GET with the PROGRAMME'

The champion of the underdog explains how his four game-changing pillars transformed his life and is the key to the success of his gyms and groundswell movement.

- WORDS by JUDY BAILEY

You might recognise Dave Letele’s booming voice calling for Kiwis to “get off the couch” or maybe it’s his tireless work feeding families through his community food banks that is familiar.

Perhaps it was his enthusiastic stint on Dancing With the Stars that caught your attention or his passionate and compassionate views on society’s biggest issues that have your support.

Regardless of how you know him, one thing is for sure, behind the big personality is an even bigger heart and a story of grit, redemption and purpose.

Once weighed down by crime, hardship and more than 200 kilograms, Dave has transformed his life, swapping gangs for gyms, struggle for service and pain for purpose.

Dave is, he says, a lucky man. Throughout his life’s ups and downs, he’s had people around him who cared, and who were able to scoop him up and set him on a better path.

Today, he pays that kindness forward to those he reckons society has left behind.

Dave runs multiple free gyms with cafés attached, a full commercial kitchen where food prep and budgeting are taught, as well as a food bank. Through his “From the Couch” programmes, he’s giving hope and health to the disenfranchised. He’s also in hot demand as a motivational speaker. Motivation is an intrinsic part of his life-changing fitness courses.

He has four simple pillars to his Buttabean Motivation (BBM) programme. The first is simply, “Starting”. Then comes “Consistency”.

“Part of staying consistent is understanding that sometimes life sucks,” he says. “There are roadblocks, you get knocked down but when you get knocked down, you get back up. That’s why we’re successful – we never give up.”

The third pillar is “Be around good people”.

He explains, “Surround yourself with idiots; that makes you an idiot. Surround yourself with five successful people; that makes you a success. It rubs off, right?”

And finally, “No excuses”.