Shagel is known to most people in the sporting part of Germany. We spoke to him for you and got input that is wonderfully stupid and catchy at the same time. Great, moral cinema coupled with the humor and joy of a little boy in the body of a tank. Almost an hour about sport, being a role model, media presence and the perception of other people.
Here's the videoClick here for the podcast on Spotify (The podcast is available on all known platforms)
About Shagel:
Shagel is 43, although it doesn't look like the sunny boy has a home's worth of ink under his skin. He is father, husband, athlete. It seems as if this is actually the order in which he sees himself. It goes without saying that he is a thoroughbred father. You will hear it in the relevant podcast episode. His children are omnipresent. It doesn't matter whether it's about subordinate clauses or anecdotes. His sporting path led him, as so often and as with so many, past a large number of stations. On a professional level, he dedicated himself to handball for years. At the same time, like you and probably us too, he came into contact with various types of weight training from his youth to his twenties and saw a certain fun factor in it. However, it stayed that way for a while. At some point, however, handball played out. "The more professional handball became, the more this community thing and the simple fun was lost. It was getting more and more serious. I didn't use the word back then, but the community was missing." Shagel says so himself.
So something new was needed. Various endurance sports, triathlon. Always with a bite, always hungry for more. Functional fitness was of marginal interest, but for him as a rising personal trainer it was intended more as a training inspiration than as a sport to be taken seriously. Without a concept, blunt banging. It's not worth it. But when the rest of the alternative sports had also had their day, the concept of constantly varied movements and intensity was no longer so absurd.
The motto for Shagel was still when he entered a box for the first time: more time for work and family, sport in the box on the side. Today he is a master athlete, at the top of the German athletes in his category. So “just by the way” didn’t work for long…
Open your mouth, do your own thing
It quickly went with Shagel in the direction of deep talk. Even if the mob Porsche driver doesn't show it often: there are a lot more thoughts brewing inside him than we as outsiders often notice. Racism, family, public presence. All of this worries him. His Pakistani background leads to conflicts. Whether in the 3rd, only half-justified police check or at the bakery with his kids. Everyday racism is a huge topic. And even if he doesn't let himself be blunted about such elementary things, you can feel a certain hopelessness in him: "When I get upset about racism on Instagram, then of course messages come up about how right I am. But just as often, soothing messages come from those affected. They agree with me, but calm me down a lot. You won't find a foreigner complaining about racism on a daily basis. Because there is only a big outcry when the media reports about cases of racism and war. Days and weeks later it's quiet again."
We admit, at the latest here the lump in our throat really came into its own.
Sporty, professional future
Even if not only the big issues of the world were discussed: It remained political. Corona hit Shagel hard. Luckily not strong financially as he quickly reoriented and found new opportunities to work as a personal trainer through reach and resourcefulness. But the crisis, he says, has made him realize once again how fleeting success is and how quickly panic spreads when you're self-employed and professionally floundering.
"One or two days quiet - all good. No problem. A week of calm-diarrhea.” It's phrases like these that make Shagel's podcast so compelling. It's rare to meet someone who can tell a story in just a few words and then tie the rest of the words into the story in a meaningful way.
competitions
In the future he will be heading towards Double Trouble and Battle the Beach to get a taste of German competition air and to measure himself. We're here to cheer for him. You too?
What can you expect from the podcast at the end?
For you as a viewer and listener, the podcast with Shagel is certainly not just a roller coaster ride of topics, but also of emotions. We are impressed, at the same time speechless and blown away. This is a classic case of: You can't describe the conversation, you have to have heard it yourself. We look forward to your feedback in the comments! Let us know if you took as much from the conversation with Hamburger Butt as we did!