Latest / The Unsexy Businessmen / How Lloyd Welch Built a Champion’s Body and Rebuilt His Life
Transcript
- Aaron: All right, welcome to the Unsexy podcast where we talk about everything unsexy. Today is a very special podcast, very special episode. I know we say that almost every episode, but this one really is. We might be lying about some of the other ones. today we have Lloyd Welch on, who is my who is my coach. I'm gonna go over some of your accolades, Lloyd. let's go first to so he is a multiple bodybuilding competition champion. He actually has coached someone that has received their pro card as a bodybuilder, which is a giant accomplishment. he's also a certified trainer and nutritionist and is my is my guide to hopefully doing as well as I can in my first competition. So thank you so much, Lloyd, for coming on. It it's been too long. Lloyd Welch: Yeah, thanks for having me guys. Aaron: And so the first thing we like to ask all of our guests when they come on is like what got you into the fitness world? You know, it you can start Lloyd Welch: Man. Aaron: back as long as you want. Lloyd Welch: So hopefully I don't just ramble and this kind of makes some sense. I apologize, my my brain is broken. I'm, Aaron: No, ramble. Lloyd Welch: you know, twenty something days out from competing, so I will do the best I can here. Aaron: Yeah, you're good. Lloyd Welch: basically thinking back like as far as I can remember, you know, I think like a lot of guys our age or roughly around there, we were early influenced by, you know, like superheroes and cartoons and Gosh I He Man was like huge. I I remember like earliest rememories or waking up and watching He Man and stuff like that. you know, all the comic books and I was just amazed at like you know, their powers and their strength and their muscles and always trying to protect people, you know, all that cool stuff. and I I don't know if we need to give like a little warning here. I'm not gonna go into any details, but so there was Some we moved to a new house when I was about two or three, if I remember correctly. And there were some older neighbor kids. They were still underage, but way older. And there was some molestation that happened. involved me and a few other young kids. and you know, years down the road, I I was in grade school and one of the one of the kids finally came out to their parents and kind of opened up what happened and you know, we got investigated and all that stuff and into counseling and you know, what was kind of unfortunate was the way it was handled. they kinda made it feel like I was dirty and it was my fault. But swinging back to the bodybuilding thing, like my father, he so he was kind he was a very amateur bodybuilder. when he was younger, never competed or anything like that, but lived the lifestyle. and he always recorded they used to have like body shaping and workout videos on cable television. and they used to have like the USA championships. it back in it used to be on now you gotta pay for like the live stream and it's crap quality anyways. But anyways, I remember watching those videotapes, like again, these are some of my earliest memories and I didn't really know what it was, but I saw them and I'm like, those are real real life superheroes. I'm gonna be that when I grow up. And I'm gonna build this shelf of armor so that nobody can hurt me again. So that's kind of like that was the original intent, and of course that isn't even on my mind anymore. but yeah, that's kind of And I I was always really small and skinny growing up and a little bit of picked on and stuff like that and the gym like just made you feel so good about yourself, just seeing the little improvements and you know, if I put in all this effort, it's all on me and I can make these changes to myself and I can feel better and gain more self esteem. And yeah, that's kinda like the earliest influences. Aaron: When you first started going to the gym, how old were you? Lloyd Welch: So I got a little, you know, the cement plastic weight sets that and then you screwed the collars on. Aaron: Yeah. Yep. Lloyd Welch: I think I was twelve years old and I asked my parents for one for my for Christmas. Aaron: cool. wow. Lloyd Welch: so yeah, and I was like, like I said, super small. once I was I'm trying to remember back, they allowed you to go to the gym when you were fifteen years old. so well that's when I first signed up for an actual gym membership was fifteen. Aaron: Yeah. Yeah. How was that? Do you d is there any like memory of the first time going into the like a commercial gym? Lloyd Welch: Yeah, it was It was amazing. Like some of those people were huge influences in my life. Like the camaraderie and they see this young kid that's he's working so hard, but you know, they they never made fun of you or made you feel belittled or anything like that. They would just kinda take into your wing and like, Hey man, you're gonna hurt yourself if you do that and maybe try this or yeah, like back then the culture was It was amazing. Like everybody was so supportive. It was like a giant family. It didn't matter if you were overweight, skinny, fifteen years old, fifty years old, whether you were a power lifter or just somebody trying to get in shape. It was yeah, it was awesome. Aaron: Do you feel the culture is like shifted from that? Or in your experience are people still pretty supportive? I mean, maybe not as like I mean, I go to Gold's and no one really talks to anybody there. But I mean s I mean, I don't talk to anybody except for Dan. Lloyd Welch: Yeah. Aaron: but like in your experience, like do you think the culture has shifted away from being super accepting or what do you think? Lloyd Welch: I mean, y you know, we've only got kind of a small sample size. but in some of the commercial gyms, I do unfortunately feel like it's it's changed a little bit. like weird competitiveness or I don't know, man. Like it is everybody's kinda just a little standoffish. And man, back in the day, like you would you could kind of like see if somebody was wanting to hop in with and you'd be like, hey man, like feel free to hop in on this during my rest sets and we can and you that's how you'd make friends. And that dude would be your training partner. Like now none of that stuff happens. You got somebody sitting on their phone just camping out, Aaron: Yeah. Lloyd Welch: like won't even look up and be like, hey man, it's real busy. You can come up go ahead and hop on here while I'm taking my rest. You know? Yeah, it's just Aaron: Yeah, yeah, exactly. Lloyd Welch: it's a little different and you know this is kind of jumping forward, but you know, I opened a gym and we've been going almost two years and that's That l camaraderie is something we're definitely trying to build in that family type dynamic. So Aaron: Yeah. I I'm a I'm a terrible Alex: How do you how do you go about building that? Lloyd Welch: What's that? Alex: Like what are like some of your tip tips and tricks to building that family camaraderie so people can take it to their gyms if possible? Lloyd Welch: You know, I think just like as gym owners, I think there's a lot of people that get into gyms as just business owners. They're not in the lifestyle themselves. Like I'm down there and I'm mingling with people, chit chatting, offering help, you know, just being friendly, trying like remembering names, saying hello, introducing people, just simple things like that. And I think like you lead by example, right? Like So just doing some of those things that I talked about while you're in there. Hey man, like you wanna hop on on this cable? Like, you know, I'm taking two minutes break and we can just we can swap sets, you know. I think it just starts with and then building out from there, being selective on who we bring into the gym too. So yeah. Aaron: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well what's your what's your take on in commercial gyms offering advice to someone who clearly isn't lifting c like their form isn't great. I see it you know, sporadically at art my gym, but I've never gone up to someone 'cause I just feel like I'd be like a giant douchebag. Like like, hey man, you're not doing this right. But I'm like I Lloyd Welch: So yeah. Aaron: I genuinely want to help them like, hey, if you do it this way, you're gonna feel it better, not gonna hurt yourself. Lloyd Welch: I mean I guess as a gym owner it's a little different 'cause I don't want I I definitely don't want somebody getting hurt and that's d but if you're Aaron: Yeah. Yeah. Lloyd Welch: just a you know, if you're just a gin a member, I try not to say anything unless it looks like somebody's gonna get hurt. I don't like you know, nobody likes a know it all. and like I said, kinda everybody's a little standoffish nowadays. but yeah, unless somebody's like gonna hurt themselves, I I I pretty much keep, you know, to myself, other than like just being friendly, you know, like we were just talking about and stuff like that. But Aaron: Sure. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Just a common courtesy. Yeah. Lloyd Welch: Yep, yep. Aaron: yeah, I'm a terrible host. Lloyd owns a gym. Lloyd Welch: Ha ha ha. Aaron: I guess we could have brought that up at the beginning of this podcast. Lloyd Welch: that's all good. Aaron: Yeah. Iron Dynasty Fitness or Iron Dynasty Gym. great gym. Love it. I actually love when we do our one on ones. It's just a good, like intimate setting. We got all the equipment and stuff like there. So anyone in the southeast Idaho area, Chubbuck, Pocatello, check it out. Alex: I'm a little curious about that 'cause like the last thing that you said about the gym and building that camaraderie was and being very selective of the people that you allow into your gym. So do you go through is there an interview process? What are some of the questions if there are an interview process or is it just like I can tell you suck s no? Lloyd Welch: You know, ca 'cause we're not a commercial gym, I think the people that are just naturally drawn to us fit Alex: Okay. Lloyd Welch: that bill. We've w I mean, we've had a couple of problems, and they're mostly younger people, but they're they're not doing things on purpose and just chit chatting with them and be like, Hey man, like, you know, this is just kinda here's the rules, just make sure you please follow them and you know, we haven't had any big problems yet, but like I said, we've only been going for a couple of years, but we It's a small community. you know who the troublemakers are. so Aaron: Yeah. Yes. Lloyd Welch: and also like we're not there yet, but they're you know, we will cap out eventually. I I'm I'm never gonna be a Gold's gym where I'm just like selling thousands of memberships and you're crowded and having to fight over stuff. Like I I want it to be more of a a smaller type setting. So yeah. Yeah. Aaron: Sure, sure. Yeah, ser seriously. Alex: Thank you. Aaron: that's why I go at like nine o'clock in the morning because nobody's there. Lloyd Welch: Right. Yeah. Aaron: yeah, the so I guess since you've been you've been doing this for what, like lifting in general Alex: Your whole life? Aaron: for like 30 plus year, like 30 years, somewhere around there. Lloyd Welch: I mean I started when I was twelve, but I really didn't I mean it was just messing around with the I didn't know what the hell I was doing. Aaron: Sure. Sure. Lloyd Welch: but seriously since I was about fifteen and I'm forty three, so peop people Aaron: Yeah, there you that Lloyd Welch: see the size and they're like, I'm like, dude, I should be way bigger. I didn't I've been doing this a very, very Alex: Yeah. Aaron: Lloyd, that's body dysmorphia. We talk about on the podcast. You're humongous. Lloyd Welch: I've been doing this obsessively for a very long time. Aaron: Well, I guess like so you've seen a you've seen a lot. Like what are some of the when someone's like first getting into the gym or whatever, what are some of the things that hold them back from getting as much out of going to the gym as possible? Lloyd Welch: Honestly, like I think the number one thing is nutrition. you see I mean there are people that kind of screw around in the gym and kind of half ass it stuff, but I mean on on the whole, people seem to work hard. Not everybody wants to be a bodybuilder, right? That's not what I'm talking about. Just if you're trying to change your body in one way or another, like whether you're trying to lose fat or gain some muscle or just improve your overall composition, nutrition is huge, man. And and You know, going back to when I was younger, I wasted a lot of time. Just there wasn't the information that there is nowadays. And you know, those guys in the gym that gave you the advice, they meant well. And some of it worked. But Aaron: Yeah, yeah. Lloyd Welch: I trained really, really hard and I got really strong. I did not grow hardly at all until I understood nutrition. So yeah. Aaron: We'll get into that. Like what what what did what did you what did you discover that that took you from just being strong to being jacked like you are now? Lloyd Welch: Yeah, so I can kind of give you some numbers too. Like I so I'm trying to think my senior year, I got up to a whopping like 165 pounds before before the the before graduation or before I started into my contest prep. We can go over that too, my very first competition. But I got up to 165 pounds. I was a wide receiver, super fast, but I bench pressed three fifteen. at a hundred and sixty five Aaron: my god. Lloyd Welch: pounds. And it and my my coach was like he was a legit coach. There was no bouncing the bar. It was a a touch and go. Like I was very, very strong for my size. but like I said, I was eating what mom made. You know, I some freaking fruit loops for breakfast and school lunch chocolate milk. pounding the chocolate milk 'cause I was burning calories like crazy. and then whatever was for dinner. So yeah, it wasn't until I kind of moved out on my own. and I was always like kind of I sorry, I keep bouncing back and forth, but like growing up, like I would always like when mom and dad were shopping or whatever, I'd always be on the magazine racks, like just going through the the flex magazines and the muscle and fitness and the muscular development. And then I originally then eventually I could buy them. And man, I would s and I I I didn't understand a lot of it was marketing bullshit. But once I kinda like, okay, well here's a nutrition plan, very generic, but you know that's how you start. And once I was eating multiple servings of protein a day with adequate calories, that's when the size came. So Aaron: Yeah. Yeah. Lloyd Welch: yep. Alex: Weird qu w what were some of the things that the guys in the gym who meant well, like what were some of the craziest like food or nutrition paths that you were like put on? Lloyd Welch: I my very first competition I did, and like I said, I was very this might work well for somebody who has a lot of body fat to lose, but I thought carbs were the devil. I was eating I'm trying to remember a hamburger patty for dinner, a can of tuna and a protein bar for lunch, and what was it like four eggs and a half a grapefruit for breakfast, and that's all I ate. And I remember there was one time I was and of course you're gonna have cravings, right? And I remember I ate a banana one day and I felt so guilty that I went and ran for an hour. Like it and honestly, like that probably would have my workout would have been amazing if I just would have went and lifted some weights and had a banana in the system, you know. But you know, that was kinda like when the the whole keto the Atkins thing and like I said, there I I I never wanna belittle any type of nutrition plan. It's That plan would have worked well had I had enough calories. It was just I wasn't eating enough, you know. And like and my body type, I I need carbohydrates. So Yeah, Aaron: Yes. Lloyd Welch: like trying to remember some of the other weird stuff. I'm sure something will come up. Yeah. Alex: Which is fascinating 'cause we always talk about on the podcast, like we grew up in a health family. We didn't really grow up in a health family. It was we grew up in an MLM family, so we had to eat the product Lloyd Welch: Okay. Alex: that was provided to you, like with herbalife. And that was really like No fats, and then it was no carbs in like the mid 2000s or like the like 2000 to like 2010-ish, like no don't get your carbs. Some people still in our family say don't eat your carbs. So I'm Lloyd Welch: Yep. Alex: I'm always curious since you've been doing this for 28 plus years of being into it a lot. You've obviously seen a lot of fads come and go. So this is like my really long leading question to for someone who wants to just get bigger. In simple terms, what is it that they need to do? Lloyd Welch: Yeah, so you need to make sure you're training hard but safe, where you're making progressions without sacrificing your form. but that's gonna come too from fueling your body properly so you can recover from your workout and you gain that little bit of strength, that little bit of muscle. if you're just forcing reps and stuff like you're just gonna get hurt. But as far as nutrition wise, You know, like I said, er I've I've done every diet, at least I think so. just because I like to experiment and I like to be able to relate with my clients. every diet can work. You have to find out, first of all, what is sustainable for you? What makes you feel like you can do this as a lifestyle forever? That answer is going to be different for everybody else. The the main Most important thing and like this gets hammered around everybody is just as long as you get adequate protein, then you need your fuel source. You got your carbs and your fats. Neither one of them is inherently evil. It's all about your total number. so for me myself, like I man, I've counted my macros every day. For at least five years straight. Just because it's so sustainable and easy for me. And and like most like me and Aaron have talked, like most of the time, 95% of the time, I eat the same things, but I am so dialed in with the numbers that my body requires, it allows me to have things and know how to make it fit. That to me is the most sustainable. Like I never want to cheat because it feels easy. Aaron: Right. Yeah. Lloyd Welch: It's it's easy. And I I I don't mean to say that cocky because I've I've gotten very overweight before. I've Aaron: Mm-hmm. Lloyd Welch: failed many, many, many diets, but I found what is easy for me, what is sustainable for me, what doesn't feel like I'm being deprived of something. I'm like, Man, I feel like some fruity pebbles. I can make that work. You know what I mean? Like Aaron: Yeah. Yeah. And you and I have talked about that. Like, as long as you're it's within your macros that you set to to grow and you know, wh whatever your fitness goals are, like Lloyd Welch: Yes. Aaron: you could throw in some some delicious cereal or, you know, Lloyd Welch: Yep. Aaron: have a bagel or whatever it is, where I think we all grew up in the same time frame that we kind of already talked about where you can't have any carbs and you can't do this. And if you do this, you're you know, if you have those fruity pebbles, you're derailing your entire diet. And if you can't live that way, like I guess some people like, yeah, I I love never, you know, or eating super clean constantly. And that's just my life. I'm sure there's a small subset of people that love that. But I think most people like to be able to have, you know, a I don't know. I hate when it's called a cheat meal. I just make a like you've worked your ass off meal. That's what I like to call it. you've deserved it meal. Lloyd Welch: Well I think I think that that puts a negative connotation to it. Like Aaron: Yeah. Lloyd Welch: like I graduated Alex: Cheating. Lloyd Welch: high school in two thousand one. I'm not sure like you guys are probably pretty close to there. But Aaron: Yeah. Two thousand two. Alex: Yeah, two thousand seven. Yeah. Lloyd Welch: we I I mean I didn't understand like it's not that the the fruity pebbles are inherently bad. It's the quantity of them and everything else I'm eating all day that matters. I didn't under like you were taught, like the insulin fairy is freaking insulin fairy is gonna make you fat. Aaron: Yeah! Lloyd Welch: you need insulin to survive. If you didn't have insulin Aaron: Yeah. Lloyd Welch: you would die. Like it's not the ins it's it's your total caloric intake. And the more lean muscle mass you have and the more active you ha you are, the more calories and glucose your body handles and like my blood work is amazing. And I eat a lot of carbs. And I I Aaron: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly. Lloyd Welch: didn't I didn't always I wasn't always able to do that. It's been like I said something that I've built up and worked on hard. So Alex: Do you are you familiar or like know anybody who's done like a non-whole foods within your macros diet? I I'm almost thinking like along the lines of supersize me. Obviously that guy was eating way too much McDonald's. That was horrible for him. But like do you know anyone who's ever been like Lloyd Welch: To that extreme? Like to that extreme. Like like Aaron: Not at that extreme, Alex: Yeah, well what I mean by it is like Aaron: but like Alex: they're within their macros, but it's like, all right, I'm just pounding fruity pebbles with milk. There's one meal. Like d not I I'm more just curious because I've been eating a lot of cinnamon Aaron: There's a guy, Alex, that did that. Alex: toast crunch, but because we just got it for my son and he's not eating it, so I have to eat it now, you know, so we Aaron: Yeah. Alex: don't throw it away. Essentially I want you Lloyd Welch: Yeah, I I I'm sure I I'm Alex: to tell me, eat all the eat all the cinnamon toast crunch you want is what I'm really Aaron: Yeah. Alex: hoping for. Lloyd Welch: You know, I I can't in good conscience say that. Like we do we Alex: Right. Lloyd Welch: do need like a whole food based like that's your baseline. Try but I don't want people to like get the negative connotation of you can you can have those things and fit it into a healthy lifestyle and still like I do it right now and my body fat is very, very, very, very low. It's just about getting those numbers dialed into your body. So yeah, like I'm sure I do know some people. I just can't think and and I'm not gonna call out names. but I I don't know, man. I I just it's just instinct. I don't know that I could I I just don't feel like that would be the healthiest thing to do. Alex: Right. It probably doesn't Aaron: Right. Yeah. Alex: work and that's why we don't know anyone that is on that type of diet. It was that was more like a curiosity to make myself feel better. Lloyd Welch: Yeah, and you know they might they might look really yeah, they might look really good on the outside, but who knows what their inflammation is Aaron: Yes. Alex: They're bl yeah, fair, fair. Lloyd Welch: you know, like what's going on inside and under the microscope. Aaron: And and to be clear, we're not like advocating people only eat McDonald's as long as it Lloyd Welch: No. Aaron: stays within your macros. We're just saying it's it's not gonna completely derail your goals if you Lloyd Welch: Nope. Aaron: every once in a while go to McDonald's and as long as you're keeping it all within your macros. That's I think that's all we're really Lloyd Welch: Dude, yeah, go Aaron: saying. Lloyd Welch: if if like we're we've all got busy lives. dude, go to Chick fil A and get some chicken nuggets, man. Like and go on with your life. You're gonna be just fine. Aaron: Exact yes. And be smart. Right. Exactly. Yep. Exactly. I do want to kind of we live in a very we want things now, now, now. So you started off, you were strong but skinny. How long did it take you to build out the physique that you were starting to like be I guess more confident in yourself? Kind of like, all right, I put on the muscle. I I like how I'm looking. I mean it were Lloyd Welch: I'm st I'm still I'm still working on that. Aaron: yeah, I I knew I knew you were gonna say that, Lloyd. I knew you were gonna say that. How about before people started saying, Wow, Lloyd, you're really jacked. Lloyd Welch: probably my late, late twenties, like twenty seven, twenty eight, twenty nine, in there. It took me a l it took me a good over ten years. Yeah. Yep. Yep. Aaron: Yeah, just consistently lifting in dialed in diet. Yeah. I think that's what a lot of people don't understand. Is it it it's easy to lose fat. I think it's really easy to lose fat. It is very hard to build muscle. yes. Lloyd Welch: It's much it's a much longer process. Aaron: Yes, a much longer process. And so I think a lot of people just they they see, you know, the end result, but don't understand the amount of time that has gone into actually building that muscle. It d it just I I wish I was talking about this the last time we met where I was like, I don't like my quads, and I was watching something like, Yeah, if you want to build your quads to where you want it's gonna take you probably like three or four years to build the quads that you want. That's like dialed in three or four years. Lloyd Welch: Yeah. Aaron: and it's probably longer than that because like you, Lloyd, I'm sure I'd get to a point where my legs look better, but I'd sp be like, they still look like shit. I want to look like Eric Eric Janicki's legs. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Lloyd Welch: Yeah, they need to be a it's a little bit more right here. Like that's that i i it it's always a little bit more, so Aaron: Yes, Alex: Well, Aaron: yes. Alex: I think we talk about this and this is something and we'll probably talk about this in the in our my weekly checkup with you, Aaron, but the psychology part, like I'm hitting this wall right now with like mental psychology. And so I'm having to do they're not even mantras. You know how people have mantras? Like mine's just it's been five thousand four hundred and seventy five days of really bad habits. You've been doing good habits for forty, which is one one hundredth of the amount of time and like that keeps me going, but that doesn't make that that 40 number seem any less small, even though it is way smaller compared to 5,475 days. It it it like you s you just saying that right now, like I'm thinking of people who are who are listening to like we're trying to motivate and stuff. I I l it's I don't know if it's demotivating, but I was like, my god, three to four years. And then th and then the psych the psychologist inside of my head goes, Yeah, fifteen years of bad and you just have to put three to four years in to get really nice. I think that's a pretty good trade-off. So it's it's it's just all over all over the place inside here. Lloyd Welch: You know, and I think people have to dig in and really and it's gonna be different for everybody, but what's your why? And every time you are s like I'm human, everybody struggles. Here like the longer you do it, the easier it gets, but that doesn't mean it like it is easy all the time, right? So you have to find something that's deeper than what the scale says, what the tape major says, what the mirror says, what your friends at the gym say. I don't know what that is for you, but what are you struggling with? Alex: even like it's I'm sure maybe I should save this for our Aaron and I's one-on-one. That we'll do Lloyd Welch: Okay. Alex: that we'll do later. But Aaron: Yeah. Alex: like that's honestly like because initially like the goal that we set up was like I just I want to I want to look good for Hawaii. And and now I'm I'm realizing like yeah that's gonna be great but like what's what's gonna be after that because I know I have to start planning for after Hawaii because it's gonna be like all right You did it. You look you look pretty good. So like what are you going for next? And to be fair to to that question, Lord, I don't I don't know if I have a why, so I probably need to go find that why. Lloyd Welch: Yep, absolutely. Aaron: So Lloyd, walk us through your your first competition. How old were you? Like the when did you decide you wanted to do one? Like the whole whole thing. Lloyd Welch: So let me I'll backtrack it a little bit. I'm trying to think it was my sophomore year and I was in I had the gym membership and I was also lifting weights at school for football. Aaron: Mm-hmm. Lloyd Welch: and I was kinda starting to get into trouble. Luckily never got caught other than from my mom, which I think is worse. Alex: Ha ha ha. Lloyd Welch: That w woman scared the scared the shit out of me, man. But anyways, Aaron: Yes, yes it is. Lloyd Welch: I was starting to dabble with I was I was smoking marijuana and she caught me, got a hold of my school resource officer. Luckily, this dude, Steve Williams, he was a huge, huge positive influence in my life. but he was also a bodybuilder. And he's like, hey, you go to fitness, I go to fitness. Come lift with us, man. And he took me under my wing and man, I never went back. Like I definitely could have been going down a bad road, like, you know, depression and peer pressure and all that shit that kids deal with. And and I know ever like I'm sure there's lots of kids that have had it worse than me, but you know, some of those demons that happened from my early, early childhood, like it that took a lot of like bodybuilding honestly saved me. Just healing from that. But anyways. So he was kind of my my mentor as far as bodybuilding. And I did my first show, my senior year. and nobody wrote out a diet. They just kind of like it, just Steve and a couple other guys just kind of, hey, like eat some tuna fish for lunch and a hamburger pet, you know. And I was so I took that for gospel. I'm like, okay, this is this is exactly what I need. And Aaron: Yes. Lloyd Welch: my bench press went, woo! Like just not eating enough calories. But anyways, I got I got really lean. felt like death. People thought I was sick. Like, Aaron: Yeah. Lloyd Welch: do you do you do you have some kind of a disease like I was gray, you know, lifeless? yeah, yeah. Before before, yeah. Just Alex: Wait, wait, b is this before your competition or like at the competition they thought you were sick? okay, all right. Lloyd Welch: like because like in three months I just went, you know. Aaron: Yeah. Lloyd Welch: but yeah, man, it was It was amazing though, like to get up there and finally, you know, do do your do your team in front of your friends and your family. And it was a natural organization back then. I don't even know I think they're still around, but it was the NGA. so it was pretty small, but to me it felt huge, right? Like getting to see all your friends and family and fellow people from the gym that came and supported you. And Aaron: Mm-hmm. Lloyd Welch: one of my best friends, he was kind of a little heavier set, he he was a lineman. He did the prep with me and he got up there. Like it was yeah, it was really fun, man. I think Aaron: that's cool. Lloyd Welch: I think there's three of us. We were teenage three of us on stage is all. But yeah, it was fun. I did. Yeah. Yeah. Aaron: Yeah. Yeah. Did you win? Yeah. Alex: One for one. Aaron: And did that just like ignite like a fire of like I I'm gonna I'm just gonna get bigger and bigger and bigger for all these shows? Did you after you did that one, was that just I'm I'm gonna be doing this for the next twenty five years, thirty years? Lloyd Welch: Yeah, it was it was never that's been my whole life's ambition. It kinda sounds a little crazy to some people, but Aaron: Yeah. No, not at all. Lloyd Welch: you know, the way it so I a little bit more about myself that might make this make a little better sense for people. I just do very, very well mentally with the structure, the daily structure that this sport gives me. I I honestly don't know what else I would do. That's kind of my why is it helps me mentally. Like it it gives me a daily checklist of goals and it keeps me grounded and and structured in my day. yeah. I forgot what the question was, sorry. Aaron: it doesn't matter. Alex: It just walking us through your first walking us through your first competition. Lloyd Welch: Yeah. yeah, so yeah, it was that's what I was gonna do. I was gonna be a professional bodybuilder. And Aaron: Yeah. Yeah. Lloyd Welch: I didn't know what the hell that entailed, but I was that was I I was gonna do it. I was very naive back then, like we all were. thinking that muscle tech Kool-Aid was gonna make me look like Jay Cutler, but I sure as hell sh I swigged it. Probably put me into dia diabetic yeah, diabetic coma. Aaron: All this stuff they're hawking, yeah. Lloyd Welch: Yeah. Alex: Yeah. Aaron: So the God was gonna ask you, the so you're you're into lifting, you're really strict with everything, but then you also mentioned that you you got really fat. that's the nicest way I could say it, I guess. you don't have to get into, I guess, why unless you want to. but Lloyd Welch: Yeah. Aaron: I think it's important that even even someone who can be super strict, super disciplined can can fall off the wagon, but can also get back on and get to where you're looking like now. So do you want to go over that Lloyd Welch: Absolutely. Aaron: that part of your life? Lloyd Welch: So just give a little background leading up to it. I'm trying to remember exactly. I think I was twenty eight years old. up until that point I was very proud, staunch, natural athlete. I took pride in it. I thought it was awesome. I wanted to go as far as I could naturally. I did a prep and dude, I was killing myself. I was doing two hours of cardio every day, no carbs. And I still and that was the first show that I kind of just lost and I didn't look right. And I was like, There's something wrong. Aaron: Mm-hmm. Lloyd Welch: went to the doctor and sure enough my testosterone was in the gutter. It was like in the two hundreds. So got put on prescription testosterone. That disqualifies you from being natural. And back then and I like I didn't know there was anything else. So I I still lifted, of course, and I man, I felt amazing and started looking way better. Trying to make it was at least five, five or more years. G just because I didn't know, like I said, I was naive. I didn't know there was another organization that you could compete in where it's untested. did my first NPC show, so a non tested show in 2010 in Utah, and died it myself. And I thought I looked awesome because comparative lo to what I had ever done before, I looked awesome. But I like I said, I was naive and I got there and Man, there's levels to this. I did not place. That was very, very, very disheartening. Like had my mom, my dad, my brothers, my sister, friends that came and supported you, and not being able to get up there and do because back then, like, if you were if you placed outside of the top five, you didn't get to do your individual posing routine to music. So I had all those people come to support me and I didn't get to do that and I never lost again. Aaron: Nice. Lloyd Welch: That lit a fucking fire, man. Excuse my language. Aaron: yeah. Lloyd Welch: But anyways, so I go back. I won like I said, I've done so many, I kind of like the timelines might be off here a little bit, but in 2011, 2012, I won a couple shows in Montana. In 2013 I went back to that Utah show and I won the whole damn thing. I won the overall title. The whole thing. 2014 I did a couple shows. I won first place. Didn't get the overall. 2015, I won an overall at the Big Sky. There was 15 of us heavyweights on and I so I won my class, won the overall. At that show, my mom had been diagnosed with cancer, and it was kind of it started on her liver like a tumor and it's kind of went everywhere. And she was going downhill real fast, and she begged to go and watch me compete. And It was really hard. She was in a lot of pain, really sleepy, in and out of it a lot. But it was really cool, like when I was awarded the overall title, the MC he invited her up. And so she was in a walker and I had a couple of my buddies bring her up there on stage. And I've got a photo of that of me holding up the the axe and my mom with her up there with me. she passed away shortly after that. and in that time sorry I'm kinda bouncing around here, but I got married to Amy and we had a little one on the way. So Zoe was on the way. Lost my mom. Got a new job. This is all within like a big six month, like just hammered me. The job was shift work and I was trying to work up into a full time position, so I was saying yes to every shift that came available. So I was bouncing all over the place, doing sixteen hour night shifts, sleeping four hours, going back. But anyways, I fell out of you know, depressed and I was drinking, not sleeping well. And just all those lifestyle changes that kind of hit me at once. I got depressed and fat. I was eating garbage, working those shifts. I was, you know, snacking on garbage just to stay awake. And yeah, I got all the way up to so going from winning an overall bodybuilding title, I got all the way up to two hundred and seventy three pounds. And it did not look good. Yeah. Aaron: Yeah. You sent me a picture. You are correct. It did not look great. Lloyd Welch: No. I mean you can post those up on this. I I don't know if you can put those Aaron: yeah. Lloyd Welch: in the post. Yeah, feel free to share with whatever. like I I I always like to be an open book with people. Aaron: Yep, me too. Lloyd Welch: hopefully this helps somebody. But yeah, I nobody's immune to it, man. eventually I went, you know, I I I s I don't think it was pride, but maybe a little bit. I I always thought I could do things on my own. I finally went to a doctor, got, you know, medical help and got put on some medication for depression and that helped me get out of my slump and started going back to the gym and within a matter of six months I lost a lot of weight, got back down to two twenty, in fairly good shape within six months. But yeah, it it can happen to anybody, man. Nobody's immune to it. Nobody's immune to mental health problems or or tragedies, you know, we never know when things are gonna happen. So Aaron: Yeah, yes. That's thanks for sharing that, man. That's Lloyd Welch: Course. Aaron: that's I I I it's I think it's a rel a relatable on a bunch of different levels. Like, yeah, you're exactly right. You never know, you know, life life can suck sometimes. and then you can go off kind of the deep end. But I think the the light at the end of the tunnel from your story is like, and then you can recover. Like you can Lloyd Welch: Yep. Aaron: get right back to what you know you're supposed to do and like I I I think there's just a lot of people that once they get to that spot where they're, you know, two hundred and seventy two pounds or whatever you said you were, and they just like, That's me now. That's you know, and it just gets worse and worse and worse and worse. Lloyd Welch: It feels like this daunting task. It's like, man, just Aaron: Yes. Lloyd Welch: one one day at a time, one meal at a time, one good choice at a time. And when you slip up, don't hang yourself for it. Like, just get back on the horse, man. These little Aaron: Yes, yeah. I think Lloyd Welch: mis these little mistakes are gonna happen, but if you string all these good positive choices together, you're gonna make changes. Aaron: Yeah, exactly. Exactly it's just one step at a time. That's all it really is. Like and again, like we kind of went back to at the beginning, like it takes time. Like, even Lloyd Welch: Yep. Aaron: though like people might be like, Whoa, six months, you do that really fast. Like, Lloyd Welch: But I knew what I was doing. Aaron: exactly. You knew what you were doing and you were sticking to it. And like I said, you might have slipped up here and there, but you still stuck to it. If it goes back to my original point of like, it's it's kind of easy to lose fat when you know what you're doing and you're sticking to it. Lloyd Welch: It is. Yep. Aaron: it's not, it's not super complicated. not at all. Nope. Nope. Lloyd Welch: And that's not and that's not to try to belittle people that have but that are struggling with their weight. I think going back to some of those things I was talking about earlier about you you gotta f I hate diets that have a title. I really do, man. Like you Aaron: Yes, preach, yes. Lloyd Welch: have to find a a diet plan, a nutrition strategy that is sustainable and you are making progress. It doesn't need to be done in six months. That it Aaron: Right. Lloyd Welch: it wasn't You know what that sounds awesome. Thinking back, that would probably wasn't the smartest thing to do. I went I went full keto. I I didn't feel very good. But once the weight got off I felt better, right? Because I was having blood pressure issues. God, I couldn't tie my shoes, my back was so tight. So I knew I was like, This is the quickest way to do it so I can start feeling better. Once I got to that point, I lived, you know, I started incorporating more of a wide variety of foods. So Aaron: Yeah, yes. Alex: Well, I would also say like six months is kind of a long time too. So so anyone who is so so anyone who is who has like the mentality of just like six months so fast. I wish like I could do that. I'm like, start like start and see what you look like in a hundred and eighty days. I'm at day f once again, I'm at like day forty. That that's quadrupled the amount of time. I still have to do another one hundred and twenty days to like hit my goals. So d don't use that as a Lloyd is so smart and he like knew what he was doing for six Lloyd Welch: So Alex: months. Just like if you if you do anything. thing for six months consistently daily, I think things are gonna go pretty well for whoever it is, whatever thing that you're doing. Like I think of all the stuff that I keep falling back into, Lloyd Welch: Mm-hmm. Alex: or like things that I struggle with, where I'm just like, I'm gonna go get that pizza. I'm gonna go get that little Caesars this week because I really want that little Caesars. I haven't even done that for 180 straight days, right? Where it's like, okay, cool. I'm gonna every every January 1, it's I'm gonna cut fast food out. January 31st rolls around and I'm already having like my in and out cheeseburger. So I'm kind of self-deprecating myself for the the audience member who is saying the 180 days, that's like really fast, Mike. Try it. It's it's it's really, really hard and it's not it's not easy. so like don't like I think Ashley was like talking about this too, and like, and there's going to be, and you said this too, Lloyd, Lloyd Welch: Yeah. Alex: where you you have to be easy with yourself, where like there's gonna be ebbs Lloyd Welch: Yes. Alex: and flows. And so you just have to Okay, I ate the little Caesars Pizza this weekend. Let's st let's stop doing that and get focused back on like what you're and I think that's why I'm struggling, Lloyd. So it's great that we're having this conversation. I really don't have that Lloyd Welch: Absolutely, man. Alex: why. I don't have I don't have like the the real true why that I'm going after. So it makes it so much easier to fall back into those habits because just like it impacts nobody except for myself. So or or Lloyd Welch: Well and I think Alex: any of my goals. Sorry for going on a little rant right there. Lloyd Welch: No, you're that's great. That leads me into a good point. Like, I have struggled with those things too, big time. Like, dude, who doesn't love pizza? Right? Here's here's where I think, and I'm not saying my way is the only way, but for me, it is the way, and it has helped me immensely, is I've got numbers and I can make things fit. So there's no it's just having that forbidden title. This is evil, this is forbidden. It makes you want it. Man. Like and and and when you're not when you're like when you're thinking the other way, like, god, I had I I'm not allowed to have pizza, and you have you know, you're you you're human, you're eventually gonna have some pizza, and you tear yourself down and you go through this guilt shame cycle, and then you binge like that one pizza turns into, fuck it. I've gained five pounds. Most of it's water, but you're like, fuck it. I'm just gonna, you know, and then a week goes by and then you're Three months later you're like, okay, here I go, I gotta start again. Alex: What happened? Aaron: Yep. Yep. Lloyd Welch: Rather than just this one off, okay, give yourself some grace. Okay, I'm gonna calculate I roughly had you know, it was seven hundred calories, roughly. Okay, what can I adjust in my day to make it closer to a mi let's make it a maintenance day rather Aaron: Yeah. Lloyd Welch: than a failure. Aaron: Yeah. Yes. You're literally describing Lloyd like the past twenty years of my life before I started doing that. It was literally Alex: Yeah. Aaron: just that. I would just I would do it really good for like two or three months and then I'd slowly s get into the thing of like, well, I'm I had that pizza. dude, yes, yes. Lloyd Welch: Well it's it's these blinders, like right? You're like, I can't I can't have this, I can't have that. Yes you can. You can is it the best choice? No. Can you have it every once in a while and still make progress? Hell yeah. And it's not gonna Aaron: Yes. Yeah. Lloyd Welch: lead you down those holes of guilt and shame and falling off the wagon. Aaron: 'Cause it's so easy, right? Like it's so easy to like you you have that pizza, like, Well, I'm screwed up, man. Well, I've just I've given up. Screw this, this is too hard. And it's Lloyd Welch: It's weird, just yeah, just that mental switch. It's like, dude, I can it doesn't and I'm not trying to like brag, but Amy like will will she be eating something and she's like, Is this okay? And I'm like, it honestly doesn't it does not bother me anymore. Zero. Zero. Be because Aaron: Right. she'll be like eating like like like some ice cream or something? Lloyd Welch: I know I'm like, I can it's my choice. Aaron: Yes. Yes. Lloyd Welch: I can have it if I want to. It's not this evil thing. It's not this demon that's gonna make me two hundred and seventy three pounds again. And Aaron: Yes. Lloyd Welch: I can have a little bit if I want it, and I'm good. I'm satisfied. I don't need to eat the Aaron: Yeah. Yep. Lloyd Welch: whole damn tub. Aaron: Yeah, exactly. And there's like alternatives. I mean we talk about this a lot. Like there's so like especially Lloyd Welch: Dude, yeah. Make it creamy. Aaron: yes, the ninja crazy. Exactly. We talk I know. We talk about it all the time. Lloyd Welch: Or make a or make a homemade my yeah, my old coach would make homemade pizzas. Alex: We gotta get them to be a sponsor of the show. Aaron: Yes, that's what Alex does. Like you there are Lloyd Welch: Yep. And it tastes amazing. Aaron: Yes. Yes. Yes. I mean, thank you. We're just Lloyd Welch: You can make you can make your healthy food taste freaking amazing. Just put some effort into it. Aaron: I know, I know. I Alex: Seriously. Aaron: think so many people like I just have to eat rice cake, plain rice cakes, and drink some water, and that's what I have to do. Like it's and like you said from the beginning, you have to find what is sustainable. You like for you, like you have to find out what you like, what sticks within your macros that's sustainable. And we luckily we live in a world now where you can do that. You can make a healthy pizza, you can make healthy ice cream, you can make healthy whatever your like craving is, like you can make Lloyd Welch: Dude, and there's Aaron: a healthy version of it. Lloyd Welch: there's so many creative people online that that's their that's their thing, right? Like, man, Aaron: Yes. Lloyd Welch: just follow some pages and and I like it like we were talking, like I don't think you should eat that way all of the time. Aaron: Correct. Lloyd Welch: But dude, if you're if you're like if you're like, dude, I'm struggling, make some fun food, man. Aaron: Yep. Yes. Lloyd Welch: And yeah, I'm sure your kids will enjoy it too. Like my my kids don't know the difference. Because it tastes good. Aaron: Yeah, exactly Yeah. Yeah. Alex: Yeah. Lloyd Welch: It's just not loaded with a a a ton of unnecessary calories. So Aaron: Yep. Yes. Yeah, I I totally agree. dude, Lloyd, do you have any other specific like I I know we have like scratched the surface of Lloyd and I I the problem we try to keep this within like thirty to forty five minutes. Lloyd Welch: We're doing pretty good. Aaron: yeah, we're doing great. We could talk to you Alex: Well and I Aaron: with Lloyd forever, but yeah, Alex, go if you have a specific question. Alex: Well well no, I don't have a question. It's more along the lines of a and maybe this isn't I'll edit this out, but like and then we'd wanna have you on again because then we can go into other like Aaron: A hundred percent. Alex: specific things like this is this has been fantastic. Fantastic. Aaron: Dude, we Lloyd Welch: You know, there's there's certain Aaron: we have Lloyd Welch: there's certain things I don't I won't go into details on, but I'm not afraid to talk about anything. Y you know what Aaron: Well, it's Lloyd Welch: I mean? Aaron: in all honesty, like I wanna get into like your your training theories, more nutrition, more like just that's the only thing. Like I'm not w we say this to some Alex: Shows. Aaron: of our other our other stuff. Yeah, more of your show stuff. It's we could Lloyd, I mean, I know because when I you and I have our one on ones, we're literally doing this for like two hours. So Lloyd Welch: Yeah, and it's awesome. Aaron: it it's awesome. I I it's one of my it's one of my favorite times is going to doing a one on one and we can just bullshit the whole time. And so we we would love we would love to have you back on and get into, I mean, probably multiple times because I honestly think Lloyd Welch: Absolutely. Aaron: we could talk about so many different things, aspects of of just yeah. Dude, a million things we could talk. Yes. Alex: parenting and doing and being a c like opening your own gym, like there's a thousand subjects that merit thirty minutes, like thirty to forty five minutes alone. Lloyd Welch: Yeah. Yeah. Aaron: Yeah. But but Lloyd, we we like to ask this at the end of just people who are and like we kind of covered probably most of what your answer is gonna be anyways in the in the forty five minutes we've been talking. But like someone who wants to get fit, give us like your, you know, your your top advice of what you'd give to someone who came to you and said, Lloyd, I, you know, I'm I'm fifty pounds overweight, a hundred pounds overweight, whatever it is, I want to I want to get in get into better shape. What what is your advice there? Lloyd Welch: Man, j you just start. Don't try to be perfect. Don't try to copy Lloyd. Lloyd's been doing this a long time. Man, just start, like come up with a basic plan. Ask a friend that's knowledgeable. Ask, you know, and like I said, it doesn't need to be perfect. Like start out with I'm gonna go on a walk every day. It maybe it needs to be ten minutes. I'm gonna go to the gym three times a week. And I I I don't know what the hell I'm doing. So maybe I'm going to look up some YouTube videos or maybe I'll hire a competent personal trainer to help me with a few sessions. So I'm not spinning my wheels and I don't get hurt. But the key is, man, like If you look in the mirror or the way you wake up in the morning and you're not satisfied with it, that has to be stronger than all the other excuses that we give ourselves. And we're human, like we we we don't like struggle. But man, just start. Aaron: Yeah. Perfect. Lloyd Welch: Just start and put one foot in front of the other one day at a time. Don't try to do it in six months. Find Aaron: Yeah. Lloyd Welch: you gotta you gotta find your why. If you're a parent to be like, dude, I wanna be a fit grandparent where I'm not stuck in the recliner where I can actually go outside and enjoy my grandkids. All of this stuff hopefully leads to that down the road, to all that important stuff. You know, the stage is cool and all that, but dude, it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter. It doesn't mean shit in the long run, man. So Aaron: Yes. That's that's awesome, dude. Well, first of all, we are hoping for the best in your next competition. When is that coming up? It's in like a couple weeks, right? Is it far pre like a month or so? Lloyd Welch: Well so I leave on the thirty first and I compete on the second. so yeah, we're flying out to Pittsburgh. I gotta make wait on the first, which will be fun. and Aaron: Ha ha ha Lloyd Welch: then I compete the very next morning on the second. So yeah, hopefully the ne Aaron: Well we Lloyd Welch: the next time you guys have me on I'll have some you know, some experience to talk about, you know. Aaron: We would love to have you on after after that would be would be awesome. but thanks again, man. This is it's always always awesome talking to you, dude. Always awesome talking to you. Lloyd Welch: Yeah. Thanks for having me, fellas. Aaron: yeah. So I don't I always after like really good conversations, I forget how we end this podcast. yeah. So go up there and be unsexy. See ya. Alex: Go beyond sexy. Lloyd Welch: See guys.