24 HOURS WITH:
JED GHARBI
Actor, model, creator, runner: this how his world’s combine in a day in his life.
INTERVIEW: HANNAH DUNN Photographer: Joseph Ironmonger
Model. Actor. Content creator. Marathon runner. Jed Gharbi has a few strings to his bow. And a career that has seen him travel the world, visiting everywhere from South Africa to Iceland, working with the likes of Hunger Magazine and British GQ along the way.
To celebrate the launch of Nike’s 247 range – a collection that takes you seamlessly through the moments in between movement, stretching and flexing for the everyday – Gharbi shares a day in his life, from morning runs to evening steams, cooking to reading, travelling to music, and the pieces that accompany him.
This is 24 hours with Jed Gharbi.
Caption for the image goes here
The first thing I do when I wake up is check my phone…
… wash my face, have a quick juice and then go training without eating too much. I mainly run if the weather is good – either 5k or 10k. I try to stay in the parks – Victoria Park or Finsbury Park - just to breathe some good air.
It makes me feel good, it makes me feel confident.
I do it for different reasons, but most of the reasons I do it [run] in the morning is because it makes me feel good for the rest of the day and confident in whatever I’m doing. If I’m going to a casting or if I have a self-tape or an audition I’d always feel better because that run in the morning gives me the energy to face anything.
At the beginning, I’m always lazy.
I hate running that first kilometre, it’s always a nightmare. But the hardest thing is the beginning; it’s just leaving the house, going out, especially when it’s cold it’s not a vibe running outside. Then after the first k or two, it’s nice, with the right music as well. It’s a nice feeling because it’s a form of meditation, so I start thinking about my day. Sometimes it gives you ideas. I could be running and get a nice idea of a project, or a job I’m doing or something, so it’s a moment of thinking as well. It’s not bad thinking, it’s good thinking.
Caption for the image goes here
When I get back, I’ll have breakfast. For the last four, five years, I’ve had an obsession with porridge oats. I don’t know where this came from, but oats and blueberries, raspberries, strawberries… all berries. Sometimes as a treat, I go to my local bakery and have a pain au chocolat and a coffee – an oat cappuccino or an oat flat white.
I think it’s good to stay flexible.
When the body feels like it needs a pain au chocolat, it’s okay to eat a pain au chocolat.
On average, I walk 15 to 20 thousand steps a day.
I walk without a destination, and I try to walk without music, because when I’m running, I have music on, at the gym I have music on, but sometimes I listen to podcasts.
My favourite podcast is Diary of a CEO with Steven Bartlett.
All the guests he interviews are quite successful; they have so much knowledge and so much advice for businesses. It’s very interesting.
I started listening to Travis Scott during my first long runs during the pandemic.
That’s when I did my first half marathon. It gave me this feeling like I was flying or something. Then I mainly listen to Italian rap and trap and sometimes Spanish as well.
I started trail running in Cape Town a couple of years ago.
I was modelling there for quite a few months and they have so many mountains. People love to hike there but I started running instead. And since then, I’ve tried to keep trail running in every place. Whenever I go on holiday, I go trail running – like Lanzarote, Fuerteventura and the Canary Islands.
I think running is a nice way to explore.
The first thing I do when I get somewhere is run and explore the area. Then after I do that, I know where I am, where I’m going. I know the bakeries, the restaurants, the coffee shops. I know everything after I run. I think it’s a good way to understand what’s going on.
I run very light.
I wouldn’t take anything with me because it would slow me down, so I don’t put extra things on me. Very basic shorts and tops. I think if you feel free, lighter, you can move. I think the less, the best.
One of the first people who inspired me on my first journey was Ronaldo, the original.
Then I stopped playing football and started doing things different. It was Arnold Schwarzenegger for a while, and after it was David Goggins and then Eliud Kipchoge, who is the world champion of marathon. He’s the best marathon runner that has broken so many records – he has done a marathon in under two hours, which is like the first time a human has ever done this. Noah Lyles, he’s another good one, he’s got the one hundred metres, quite different from the marathon, one hundred metres is completely different. Noah Lyles is like the new Usain Bolt. I watched this Netflix series called Sprint; it gave me so much inspiration. They focus a lot on the Olympics, on how these one hundred and two hundred metres athletes train - it’s so inspiring.
I’m proud of all the growth of all the brands I’ve been working with, all the people, all the productions I’ve been on.
Because everything is so last minute, I never know what’s going on until the same week.
Acting isn’t a consistent job. I used to just be a model, that was my full-time job, then acting came after and I would get things every now and then. It’s harder. I would say there’s a lot more competition. With content creation, you can do that all in your free time. So, if I’m busy modelling Monday to Friday, then I would have Saturday and Sunday to create my content. During the summer when the day is long, I could even do content after my work. The good thing is these three jobs are not full-time, but altogether it gets full-time, so it’s nice and easy to combine all three.
I’m just proud to get to do this job and work full-time in the industry.
I’m proud of all the growth of all the brands I’ve been working with, all the people, all the productions I’ve been on. I’m proud that that I’ve been able to work internationally – I’ve worked in America, in Spain, in Italy and Germany, also South Africa, so many different places that I got to see and experience. So that’s what I’m most proud of. It’s not one thing, but it’s the whole growth since I moved from Italy eight years ago, not even knowing about the industry. I didn’t even know this industry existed eight years ago.
I get inspiration from people that are doing crazy big things.
I’m nowhere near like that, but I feel when I compare myself to where I started, I think what I’m doing is good enough and I’m happy.
Caption for the images goes here
My work is my only creative outlet. But I think I have a business mindset, so I’m always thinking about business ideas and things that I can do alongside my career. I have so many ideas, but I don’t have time….
I try to have brunch style for lunch…
… so with eggs, toasted rye bread, humous. I do tapas, Spanish vibes, so eggs, maybe some salmon, some random small things. They’re always very small because I go to the gym after.
I try to do different training at the gym.
Some days, when I have the energy, I would go hard and do CrossFit, which is heavy. Then other days I do yoga cases. Lately, I’ve just been doing classes because no matter how long we’ve been training, no matter how much we know about fitness and training, it’s always good to do classes because you push yourself more than when you are by yourself.
Caption for the image goes here
I finish with the sauna and steam room.
I feel like everything goes down, all the energy. Let’s say if we have issues in life, or we are stressed because of a deadline, then that sauna makes me forget everything and that’s it. You just go out and you’re chilled. You’re not stressed anymore. It’s really good for the mental health.
My daily mantra is to be better than yesterday.
Or be better than last year.
Dinner is the best, probably because I make more effort.
It would be carbs - a risotto or gnocchi, which is my favourite dish. Sometimes I bake them in the oven. I like to eat heavy in the evening so I can go to sleep happy and full.