Like an elite bodybuilder, celebrity entrepreneur Erwan Heussaff hinges forward to pick up a barbell that is more than double his weight, then slams it down with a muffled thud onto the cushioned floor.

At Primal Ape CrossFit, a popular box (jargon for bare-bones gym) in Makati, Heussaff is in one corner doing a cal row (calorie rowing), smashing balls against the walls, crunching for sit-ups and jumping onto boxes.

The erstwhile triathlete is now engaged in Crossfit, a competitive conditioning program that combines Olympic weightlifting, calisthenics and gymnastics.

“What I enjoy about it is that it demands a lot from your whole body. There is a mix of endurance, power lifting and technical movements,” he says.

Internet sensation

From fat to fit, Heussaff’s cycles of weight gain and loss had given him enough knowledge to make business out of his fitness journey. There’s his off-repeated story of the 115 kg (240 lb) medically obese student in France who evolved into a well-rounded athlete.

The progressive Aquarian in him has spun off several projects. The Franco-Filipino entrepreneur’s The Fat Kid Inside, a blog about his passions for wellness, recipes, lifestyle and travel, made him an internet sensation.

At 30 years old, he is a successful restaurateur and freelance producer, pitching his ideas to digital channels, cable networks and companies.

“I’m trying to be an Anthony Bourdain—producer, writer and host,” he says. His travel and food series, “Overnight,” started with a partnership with Cebu Pacific. It featured interesting places and culinary delights in Asian cities.

At present, he’s doing a new season of “Overnight,” which consists of 30-minuters about ethnic tribes, regional cuisine and terra incognita places around the Philippines. It will be shown on Tastemade, one of the largest YouTube food networks. The trek to location shootings is a workout on its own.

Heussaff has also been producing content for local companies. One of his recent projects was to help TV host Raymond Gutierrez lose weight in three months, in Century Tuna’s Superbods Challenge.

“After 60 days, he dropped eight sizes on his weight. He looks skinnier than Richard (Gutierrez’s twin brother). He ate well and worked out,” he says.

Heussaff served as the wellness coach who motivated Gutierrez in his journey. In 90 days, Raymond would shed a total of 65 lb under the guidance of a nutritionist and a trainer.

As important as work

Heussaff works with several restaurant-bar ventures: Niner Ichi Nana, Hungry Hound and the whole Palace complex is under one group, while Red Light pop-up kitchen, Crisp on 28th and Pink Panda are run by another.

Asked how he manages to stay in shape with such business ventures, Heussaff explains: “Fitness is as important as work. Sound body, sound mind—and you will be productive at work. If I have an 11 to 12 workout, I won’t cancel it because of work. If someone asks me, ‘Hey, can you do this?’ I say, ‘Sorry, I have a workout planned.’ It’s important to me because the hour or 90 minutes serves as a meditation. It helps me settle ideas, think things through. Once I’m done, I’m ready to get back to work.”

His journey from a sedentary lifestyle to extreme sports began when he was a teen. Heussaff was at his heaviest at age 21.

“When I was in college I got out of control,” he recalls his years at EMC International Campus studying International Hospitality Management, major in luxury management and food operations. As a student, he ate convenience store foods like microwave dinners, noodles, butter, bad starches. The lack of vegetables was coupled with drinking and smoking in parties.

Meanwhile, he practiced his self-taught culinary skills by working in restaurants to pay for rent.

Healthy cuisine

After graduation, he worked as a guest relations officer in a Greek resort, which was open for only six months of the year. He learned to appreciate healthy, Mediterranean cuisine focused on grilled meats, seafood and vegetables, and hit the gym daily.

“I made a conscious decision to lose weight,” he says.

Heussaff then worked in Siberia as operations manager for Sodexo, taking care of its restaurants, bars, coffee shops, mining camps and hospitals.

“I didn’t eat much. You’re awake 18 hours a day and try to get through as much as you can,” he says.

At 25, he ventured into the restaurant business with partners. And a few years ago, he immersed himself into triathlon, ironically gaining weight as he increased his training load.

“For three hours of workout, my body said, ‘Let’s dump the muscle and focus on being efficient.’ I became skinny fat. I had stubborn corporal fat because you do so much endurance that your body needs to hang on to something to feel healthy,” he says.

Four years ago, he got into Crossfit, which immediately yielded results. His coach makes a daily program that requires upper-body strength such as muscle-ups, the snatch or heavy weightlifting, handstand walks and quick dips, balanced by exhaustive repetitions of squats and cardio conditioning.

Combined movements

On the day of the interview, Heussaff is set to do a Herculean program of muscle-ups on the gymnastic rings, prowler (a stack of weights with cables for pushing) and handstand push-ups. Unlike other fitness forms, the ultra-intense workouts stimulate the human growth hormones that incite the body to burn fat and bulk up muscle.

Heussaff points out that in triathlon, the body favors one plane of motion. Crossfit combines movements in different directions to develop muscular balance.

“In triathlon, you only go straight. If you do any sport with lateral movements like squash, you get injured because your body is so used to going forward and straight. Now, I can jump into any sport—rugby, basketball—and I don’t get injured.”

On diet, Heussaff doesn’t make an eating plan but merely advises the importance of balancing vegetables, proteins and healthy fats.

“Cook a hundred grams of chicken in the wok and toss in broccoli and carrot, with olive oil and little salt. Cooking healthy is easy, but people want sauces. Say, stir-fry with a little oil and salt and they react, ‘It’s not interesting!’ If you want to lose weight, just eat as simply as possible.”—CONTRIBUTED