Lionel Sanders – in triathlon terms at least – is a YouTube sensation.
The 35-year-old Canadian has built a hugely loyal audience on the video platform, more than 163,000 fans now subscribe to his channel.
‘No Limits’ even went as far as to say “I’m a YouTuber now” with his pre and post-race debriefs proving as popcorn-worth as the races themselves.
Recently Lionel, speaking in a wide-ranging interview with Super League Triathlon, explained how it all started, why he does it and what he WON’T do for views.
How it (Sanders on YouTube) started
He revealed: “I wouldn’t say it was a conscious decision. I started doing my written blog, was how it began, which I quite liked – I like writing. And that got decent traction for a written blog, but the comments sometimes were so horrible that I had to shut comments off. It’s hard to even think about, some of the stupidity and some of things people would say to someone they don’t know.
“So that’s how I got into it, and how I started to build, because I would say controversial things, like my thoughts on training. And people disagreed with them and I was just a kid, who knows nothing, writing about what I think at the time is correct. Which now I look back, shake my head, can’t believe I wrote this and put it out in the world and people read it.
“So that’s how it began, and then I met Talbot [Cox]. I was already starting to do YouTube stuff. What did I do the YouTube for? I enjoy painting a picture, I enjoy articulating. When I don’t try and articulate and stuff, I feel dull. When I do try and articulate and express what I’m thinking with regards to training and racing etc, I feel sharp.
“The biggest where I learned that was 70.3 Worlds 2014, the night before. I was very nervous. I just sat down and wrote a blog and I remember it was just so liberating, to get my thoughts and express what I’m feeling at this moment. That has always been what I’ve enjoyed most about it.”
The why, and ‘chasing views’
Sanders also talked about why he engages with platforms like YouTube and more recently Discord, explaining: “Talbot and I both enjoy motivating people. We do consciously think about like what are we doing now? We do have a platform now, and what are we trying to do with it? Because there’s so many possibilities.”
While Lionel is not afraid at all to voice controversial opinions on his channels, there are limits (at least on YT) for him.
“If you want to be a YouTuber, do stupid s***. That gets a lot of views,” he reasoned.
“If you want to get views, I’m totally conscious of that, that many, many YouTubers get followings from doing dumb stuff. I don’t really wanna go down that pathway at all.
“What we like to do with it is motivate you to get out there and train hard. And give you the perspective of someone who is doing that and trying to become the best at something, and the trials and tribulations and ups and downs of that.”
Sanders says his channel, and content, are about more than triathlon. It’s deeper, and wider, than that.
“You don’t have be trying to become the best at triathlon, but most definitely you’re trying to become the best person you can be. So I think you can learn from someone who is being open about that.
“So I would say that’s my main motivation now, and articulating. Particularly the articulation of it I think is the most gratifying part for me, is to semi-articulate that. So I will watch them back and listen to what I say and say ‘did I articulate what I’m feeling well?’ Sometimes yes, sometimes no, sometimes ‘what the f***, you need to stop talking’.
“If I wanted to be famous or something, I would just start doing stupid s***.”
