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You Just Got Rogered! · The Best Experience

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You're listening to the best experience with the Nick Best. All right, this
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is the best experience with your host, Nick Best and the Angry Dad.
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And before we getting today's podcast, I like to thank Barbell Apparel, Premium
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with code best at checkout. And with that being said, Nick introduce our
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guest, ladies and gentlemen, the one and only Roger Lockridge. He is
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a writer of everything lifting on so many publications. And it's amazing that we
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get to have you here because I am so looking forward to talking to you.
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You just did your first power lifting meet, so I can't wait to
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go through this and here hear how it went from everything, every part of
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that, because it's it's an amazing thing to stand up there and get up
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there and all the eyes around you. Dude, everything's on you, so
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it's gonna be kind of neat to hear through and stuff. So yeah,
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well, Nick, first of all, it's always a pleasure to hear your
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voice, see your face, and be on a camera with you. It's
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an honor to be on your podcast. Then we've done this a few times
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now, and yes, which thank you so much for having me. And
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yeah, after fourteen years of working in this industry as a writer and looking
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for the right opportunity to actually step up on the platform, I felt like
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I had kind of reached a point where I had to actually be in the
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arena and actually not verify that, you know, I belong in the industry,
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because I think I've kind of proven that with how I take care of
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the athletes when I feature them, and people had seen my success story as
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a transformation, but it wasn't. It was an itch I have wanted to
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scratch for many years, and this year was the year I got to scratch
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a few of those things and check a few things off the bucket list,
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and the meat was one of them. And I will tell you spoiler up
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front, it will not be the last. This wasn't a one off,
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so we I was talking with my wife Mount I would like to actually try
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to compete at least twice a year, maybe once in the spring the early
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summer and then another in the fall. But uh, yeah, it was
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a It was an absolute thrill to do it, and I love being on
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here to talk about it right on. So training went up to it.
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Clearly it went okay, so you had going up to it, so go
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ahead explain that. Yeah. So the decision was made in July and it
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was an early September meets. I only gave myself like six weeks of prep,
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but I'm kind of a thickler for technique when it comes to training anyway.
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So it was just a matter of figuring out what my numbers were and
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talking to people like yourself in the past, Ed Cohen, Dan Bell,
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Joe Sullivan. You know, I'm blessed in my position because I get to
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talk to somebody legends and world champions. And one of the things I'd been
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told almost across the board was just don't stay goals for yourself. Just make
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sure you get three good lifts, have fun with it, don't even worry
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about don't even worry about way in, and just set yourself up to get
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those three white lights three times, and then then you can worry about the
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art stuff later. So I kept training for it as simple as possible.
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I focused on technique. When my wife was over in my barn with me
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in my home gym here in West Virginia, she would give me the start
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press rack or start rack, you know, whatever the commands were, and
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she would occasionally give me accues or remind me, you know hips when you
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know I'm about to walk out the dead West. So training for that part
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was going amazingly. And then the Monday night before my meat happened and I
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made the rookie mistake, which I guess. I'm a rookie and pirable things,
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so I guess I'm allowed to make the mistake. We we decided we
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were gonna have pizza one night for supper. I went off of the diet
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plane for one night, and worst mistake I could have made, I had
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food poisoning. M yep. I lost uh, I think close to ten
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pounds in four days so wayan definitely wasn't going to be an issue at this
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dude, I tell you what, man, nothing no sauna, no,
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no, nothing would have took took that place. I literally did not training
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in the last week at all. I was going to do minimal anyway,
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but it was absolutely none at that point. And it was a four hour
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drive from the house to the meat because I wanted to do one that was
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in West Virginia, my home state, but the one that was in West
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Virginia during the time of the year was up in Martinsburg, which is the
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eastern Panhandle, and if you look at a map of West Virginia, I'm
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in the southeast part of the states. I've literally drove across and up all
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the way through Virginia to get back into West Virginia for my weigh in.
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But uh, it worked out. I ate nothing in the morning of I
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just drank water and drove and I ended up weighing ten pounds under where I
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was supposed to wait in at so all good on that front. And then
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for the first time, and I believe three days I had a full meal
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at a local restaurant there before we checked into the hotel. M how did
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you feel after that meal. I ate slowly. I took my time with
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it. It wasn't it wasn't terrible. I got through it, no,
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no major issues. I may have got five hours of sleep at night,
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I think because of the energy and the nerves just from being there. And
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uh, the morning of I was hoping to get a real good breakfast into
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before I showed up at the gym for the meat, but that didn't happen.
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So it was a Greek yogurt and I can't remember if I got a
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primary drinker a C four, but it was Uh, that was pretty much.
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It good. And then UH showed up did a second quipment expection just
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to make sure everything was on the I was good on all. That took
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my time warming up. There was more mental for me than physically. I
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just had to try to get all the jetters out. So and uh,
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this is the funny thing about powerlifting, and both of you know this,
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but for the listeners that may not. I was the only competitor in my
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division, in my category one hundred and twenty five key low Masters raw.
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So the thing about that is, even though I'm the only competitor, I
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can still lose. I think powerlifting is the only sport where you could be
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unopposed and still lose, because if you bomb and you wouldn't miss out,
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you're still you still don't get a total in sorewe of the One of the
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first things I wanted to do was make sure I got agreed a good squad.
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Then I'm in. Then I'm a powerlifter, and then I could relax
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and just let everything go right. But you know, my energy was still
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down from the previous three four days, the four hours of travel, they're
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not good sleep and uh, you know, caffeine from an energy drink is
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just not the most ultimal form of energy. But I believe I opened.
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My numbers were low and they were not very good for what I was wanting
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to do. But the fact I just got listed again, I didn't care
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about numbers. Oh open with two seventy five dunked it. I think I
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went to three fourteen, one hundred and forty KO was so three o eight
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dunked it too, okay? And uh then I got one fifty three point
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thirty and I was hoping for three fifty from my meat, but I didn't
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think I had it emmy I didn't take into account the adrenaline of being on
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the platform in front of the people. And I mean it was a full
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gym, but it wasn't a big gym. But there's still people there and
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you're still in a WRPF. I guess I should mentioned that there was a
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WRPF W West Virginia Legacy fall open, Okay, and it was in a
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town called Martin's. If you're ever traveling on ID one, Martinsburg is a
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great time to stop at. How I recommend it. But three it felt
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like nothing and it was like, okay, I'm in and you know that
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was an easy left. I'm better on bench. I feel confident on bench.
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This is gonna be a good day. So, uh, should I
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just keep going here? Do you got any questions you want to ask him?
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You just keep going? But you realize there's a mathematical formula for how
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much weight you lose to how many kilos come off your lifts that that happens.
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I know that for every pound it's like two kilos, right, Yeah,
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So if you were expecting three fifty and you squatted at three thirty,
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that's about where you should be with that kind of the white loss. Yeah,
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yeah, I know that now. I didn't know that at the moment.
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But at this point, adrenale is pumping m hm, heart rates will
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up a little bit, and I'm feeling good. I'm feeling confident, and
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I'm better on bench. So I'm thinking I'm gonna crush bench. And I
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open with three twenty three hundred and twenty pounds, so I guess that was
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one forty two point five kilos and no kilos, yeah, three nineteen,
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And I thought I'm going to smash right through this. And by the time
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I got the bar down, it felt like the press command took ten seconds.
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I was not counting on that. I was counting on a one thousand
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and one press go. This particular judge did not. It was an extended
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pause. I barely got it. And when I got up, I felt
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like crap, not mentally physically because now the adrenaline's worn off, and now
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the butterflies are gone and yeahs, and this nick just did a down motion
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and he was one hundred percent correct. Second attempt. The second attempt was
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going to be three twenty five. I only went up two and a half
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kilos and one seven point five and I missed it. I got stuck about
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halfway up, and I just did not have the gas to walk it out.
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And of course, as soon as the slight we went down. The
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spotters did what the spotters do. And the spotters at this me were incredible,
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by the way, so I should shout them out for that, because
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they were protecting everybody very well. Nobody got hurt this meat. So I
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racked it and I was like, Okay, I know I'm not going to
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get my get whatever this list is, I know it don't have an emmy.
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So I waved off my third attempt. Sure, that was real.
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That was rookie mistake number two. Not from a lifter standpoint, but from
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a kindness for the sports standpoint, because I realized since I waved off my
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attempt, that was one last minute, the other guy got the rest.
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And it was like, man, I probably shouldn't have done that. I
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probably should have just at least given a crack and just called it a day.
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That way, those guys could have had some extra time. But now
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it depends actually a competing against them for best lifter. That's better. Well
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yeah, yeah that's true too, but best lifter wasn't even on my mind
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at this point. Because it was just a matter of getting through it now.
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But to be clear, meets two, three, four, five,
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six that we have the many more I'm gonna do, there's gonna be some
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more competitive juices flowing. But between the first meat, the food poisoning,
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the travel, and I was got to travel back like literally, whatever trophy
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I was going to get, if I was going to get one, I
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gotta get in the car and get home another four hour drive. So I
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wasn't gonna waste around very much. Then came to dead lift, and my
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goal for this was to get a thousand pound total from my first meet,
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so I was just going to play by a year with the three whifts And
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Nick Aleovius, has ever happened to you or not? But I it felt
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like I got a second wind. I'm not sure what happened, and I
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kind of sat. I chilled for a few minutes. My wife was rubbing
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my neck, rubbed my shoulders, and I was like, I think I'm
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feeling better, will let's go and give us a go. And there was
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also some skittles going around and I grabbed me a few skittles, so it's
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probably helped a lot. Yeah, So I believe it or not. Yeah,
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A lot a lot of guys's making mistakes like that, and they haven't
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eaten very good. They haven't done all these things. What's the one thing
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your muscles want? Glucose? Yeah, cowries sugar, So you give them
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some glucose and all of a sudden you start going, oh, I feel
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better. Yeah. So the opening left was three fifteen for a dead left.
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In my mind, I was going to have to get I believe three
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forty or three forty five or one thousand pound total if I would have met
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my other lifts right from where I was twenty pounds down on the squad and
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however many pounds down on the bench press, I don't remember what I had
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for my goal. For that, I was like, okay, now I'm
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inn some trouble, so let's just get through. It went up, went
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down, and the first thing I was telling myself is don't drop it.
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Don't drop it, because of course you have to lower the bar in the
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control. So green white, three whites, one fifty keyloe was next,
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same thing, like it literally felt the same way as the one forty two
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point five. The three fourteen, I mean, boom, boom, up
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down, so my wife and I were doing the math, and I would
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have had to have pulled three fifty five pounds, and of course, since
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they're in keylose, that means I would have had to point up on the
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other end. So it was it was three fifty eight total, and I
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think that's one sixty that one sixty two point five, one sixty two because
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one sixty three three fifty two. Yeah, so uh three sixty two or
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one sixty two point five keys as well. I was go pull, but
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there was a break in between. One of the lifters was squatting bench only
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he opted out of the dead lift. Somebody else waived off other attempts,
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so all of a sudden it kind of got condensed. So the promoter was
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like, let's give these guys a few instrumauts. That was nice. Yeah,
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So, uh while I'm sitting there talking with my wife about it,
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you know, the promoter come over, Robbie Launchwag. He was like,
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uh so how you feeling. I'm like, my goal is one thousand pounds
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total, and he goes, what do you need? And I'm like,
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I think I need three fifty five or three fifty eight. So once into
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two point five key as he goes, So I guess you're gonna try one
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sixty two point five and I just wrote time blankly and I was like,
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no, I'm going to get one sixty two point five. Nice. Some
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of the people in the crowd heard me, and they're all like, yeah,
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let's get it. And uh my wife was like he's gotten ironwill,
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Like there's just nothing that's going to break you. So my time comes up
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the first time. I the first time on that day, I kissed my
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wife. I went to the platform, and the food poisoning feeling is coming
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back the still now it's kind of like, okay, let's just get through
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it. And for whatever reason, I know what went through me. But
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three fifty eight just shot right up like it was fell like even in my
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hands, and I got the down command and I got on my thousand and
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three pounds total. So I didn't even give a thought about best lifter,
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but it turned out I was second best lifter, completely uns to me,
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and uh I got my master's win and uh I got my cool little skull
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trophy that's sending in my bedroom, and then uh we stopped at a I
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think we stopped at Donner to grab some lunch for the road, and then
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the four hour drive back home. There wasn't much style bringing to be done,
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but uh, I was understanding, you gotta drive, you gotta drive.
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It's still sol written in the car I went home. Yeah, well,
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HM was staying down. It was like, yeah, this is gonna
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be fun and uh but yeah, overall it was a memorable experience. It
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wasn't exactly the way I had to play on my mind, but nobody plants
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for food poisoning. But uh, nonetheless, it was Uh, I'm glad
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I did it it. Bar Bend actually had me write an article about it,
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which is kind of the blessing and the curse of being a writer in
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this industry, because that's one because that's one of the few times I actually
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get featured as an athlete on one of these sites. But I'm the one
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that's got to write it exactly its pose for the picture. Yeah, so
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ye, but yeah, I guess if you're going, I guess if you
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don't have your story told, you want to be the one to tell it.
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But yeah, but at the same time, you know, they don't
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go to Nick Bess and say, hey, Nick, write your bio for
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you. Know, the seven thirty five you just pulled last week in your
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training or you know, Brian Shaw didn't write his own retirement article, you
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know what I mean. Yeah, so you know, from that standpoint,
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that was a little weird, but it nevertheless to be featured on bar Ben
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as an athlete and uh and that's eight months after I was featured on Muscle
17:53
and Fitness as an athlete. Yeah, we spoke about this earlier this year.
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Ben. I don't know if Nick knows it or not, but I
18:00
did the Arnold Schwarzenegger training in January. The double split was I mean,
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that was insane And I actually just saw this the other day. Arnold came
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out with the book this week. It's called Be Useful, and he had
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written in the book that when he created that double split training, he had
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to have two training partners because nobody was crazy enough to do the full training
18:25
with him. And I did it by myself for a month. Ye so
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you know, I reached out to the team about that. I'm like,
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is that true? Nobody else did the full thing with him. They're like,
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nope, you're one of one. So yeah, I got to see
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Arnold at the Arnold Classic in March those pictures on my Instagram at rock Lockers
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and people were interested, and you know, I got to talk to him
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briefly about what I went through and all that, and one of the only
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things he's really said to me was he's like, you're a crazy bastard.
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Yeah, yeah, I had crazy taking it on. Yeah yeah, I
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can't forgoubt I'm gonna try. But he was like, he was like,
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well done, though, he was like that was awesome to read from my
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team. They were sending me updates. I actually found out his documentary had
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come out in June, the three part yeah think on him. When that
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was being filmed. That's when his team was telling them about what I was
19:25
doing. So in between takes, they're coming up and they're showing them videos
19:29
and me doing lifts or they're showing the training wall. I got submitted to
19:30
them to verify I was doing it. But uh, yeah, that to
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have that verification in the bodybuilding world and now to have this meat for the
19:41
power wating world. Not that I think I really needed it, and nobody's
19:45
ever really called me out on it, but I do feel like it kind
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of, uh kind of verifies me as someone who's been in it. I
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know what these athletes have gone through now, and you know, I could
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speak better to their performances. I rare are we ever critique anybody when it
20:00
comes to something to do on the stage or on the platform. But just
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to be able to say, hey, I know what you're feeling as an
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athlete. M h. It doesn't give me ability. Yeah, And you
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know when somebody, Yeah, when somebody doesn't have the greatest day, it's
20:15
something bad, you do this, but you still put it on, you
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still pull your pants up, and you still go out and get it done.
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Yeah. So that that's frey, That's that's a lot of heart right
20:25
there, because a lot of people folding that stuff like that happens. So
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it's really cool. It's it's really really kick ass that you went ahead and
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did it anyway and traveled and did all the driving and everything else. So
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it's pretty freaking cool. I appreciate that. And to know that I've been
20:42
talking and working with guys like you and and all the female pirlating greats I've
20:49
covered, Chent Thompson, Hunter Henderson, you know, the American pros coming
20:52
up here in a couple of weeks. When I see some of those lifters
20:56
out there in Manassas, Virginia. You know, I could tell you know,
21:00
hey, I'm a WRPF after two I've actually done this. And when
21:03
I go to the Olympia this year, you know, I see some of
21:04
the bodybuilders, Hey, I know what you you've done in the gym because
21:07
I trained like the most intense bodybuilder and history. So uh yeah, it
21:14
was a There's times I've dealt with issues when it comes to confidence, but
21:18
things like that definitely service boosters. And you know, not that I would
21:22
ever claim to have ever walked on the same hollow ground as some of the
21:26
greats out there, but to know that I've at least participated in the sport
21:27
that they've done as it was a pretty big deal to me personally. Yeah,
21:33
it's it's a pretty pretty cool accomplishment. It really is to feel,
21:38
hey, I can I do this. I know it, I've lived it,
21:42
and it's amazing and I'm going to keep doing it. So yeah,
21:47
it's pretty freaking cool. Oh yeah. One of the things is, like
21:49
you know, doing this podcast, doing filming and just being around all the
21:53
athletes, Like just like you said, it's like having that little bit of
21:57
extra confidence because like, oh I can do this. I can't step up
22:02
with these guys, I can you know, be on the same level as
22:06
them, because it's like, you know, like just like you said,
22:08
you get to see all the athletes, you get to do, all the
22:11
writing, you get to do, you get to interact with some of the
22:14
greatest in the world. But it's nice to have that little bit of a
22:17
little bit of a Jim Clout gym boost uh you know prosa, you know,
22:21
like master's class, Like no, I got my master's, I got
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you know what I'm saying, I'm in this too, and it feels good
22:26
because like a lot of times, like I'm always feeling like I need to
22:29
prove myself when we're doing things. I know I don't need to, but
22:32
it's because we're involved and I'm you know, just being there and you just
22:36
want to have that little bit of a like, oh I do do this
22:38
too, you know. Yeah. Well, the way I've always looked at
22:41
it is I've always wanted to be in this industry, but nobody really gets
22:47
in at the way they originally thought they were gonna get at it. Then
22:49
I'm not Yes, as many podcasts as you have done I'm sure when you
22:53
have first started wanting to do this, you did not vagine yourself as a
22:56
podcaster. Yeah. I didn't envision myself as a writer, you know.
23:00
I just thought I was gonna be a success story that was gonna be able
23:03
to inspire and help others reach their goals, and if I got to be
23:07
a part some of the big events too, then that would be a nice
23:08
little icing on the cake. I didn't know writing was gonna be the way
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I was going to do it. But I've written over three thousand articles,
23:15
I've covered over seventy World champions and you know, eleven World Championship events,
23:21
and you know, I think my credibility on that side of it has been
23:25
established at this point. But the thing I always wanted to do was to
23:29
be able to say I was an athlete, to actually have gotten on the
23:32
platform, I've actually gone on stage, and there's been something every single year
23:37
that has held that up. And this year was the year that I finally
23:40
got to happen. And hopefully it won't be the last time, because like
23:44
I said, I'm gonna try to hopefully meet every six months as long as
23:48
nothing crazy happens outside of a lot in white outside of the platform, but
23:52
uh, you know, to to be that, to have that extra connection
23:56
into the industry. You know, the year old me that was walking down
24:02
the road to the gym back in the day, you know would have been
24:03
proud of that. So you know that was for the beginner mate, absolutely,
24:10
hell yeah, yeah, it's the back It was last month was my
24:15
first w RFP event, just going I've never you know, I've never competed
24:19
power lifting, I've never really trained powers I always did a bodybuilding style of
24:22
everything I've done. But being there to watch Nick and Justin, Justin's Nick's
24:27
training partner and him coach him in the back in power the intensity, the
24:33
mental fortitude everyone was having to just emode out of them about like trying to
24:37
get these lifts, trying to and Nick there being like, you guys need
24:41
to have fun. You guys are too much in your head. Like the
24:47
like Nick was giving advice to everybody because he could see the tension in the
24:49
room and he was like, look, go out there and do your best,
24:53
have fun with this. And it's like just that environment that was there
24:57
is just something that like you know, like most people won't experience because a
25:02
lot of people train on their own, a lot of people have their training
25:03
partners and keep it to the group. But like having that camarderie of powerlifting
25:07
and that connection between everybody right that was back there, it was just it
25:11
was tremendous to see, and it's something that's it's I'm happy to be a
25:15
part of in my way, and just you know, sit there and try
25:18
to help promote the sport and show the sport and then watching you guys like,
25:22
actually, you know do this. It's it's it's freaking it's insane.
25:26
You know what I'm saying. Well, you know, on my side of
25:30
it, I never imagine people will be that interested in me actually doing it,
25:36
you know. And again it was like I was getting a bunch of
25:38
criticism from people because I've never done it, but there was always that vibe
25:44
or there occasionally be that vibe when I would show up an event and I
25:47
would talk to somebody in the industry. You know, Okay, you've never
25:48
done this. But you know, then when the trademark Ardnoald thing happened and
25:52
it developed the kind of following you dead and then when people found out I
25:56
was actually doing this meet and you know, there was actually some around it.
26:00
People want articles about it. The people out there want to talk to
26:03
me about why I was doing this, and you know, ask me for
26:04
stories about my experience in the industry, and you know, to have the
26:08
platform like bar Men to be able to share my experience and to see all
26:14
these readers, you know, tell me how inspire they are and how they're
26:15
gonna be doing their first meeting a few weeks and that was crazy. I
26:19
never imagine that. And then exactly, you have an influence on people,
26:25
whether you realize it or not. And it's it's it's awesome. It doesn't
26:29
matter. You don't have to get into something and be the world champion.
26:32
You just have to get into something that you like to do and go do
26:34
it and enjoy it. And you're inspiring other people to go do you like
26:40
to do and enjoy and what you follow and and love. What more is
26:44
there? Yeah, you're absolutely right. And ninety five percent of people at
26:48
least that do power lifting, bodybuilding, whatever it is. Yeah, there
26:52
is something about being on the platform or the stage or under the bright lights,
26:56
whatever it is, but a lot of it is the actual process,
27:00
the training that work in the gym, the sets with the partners, and
27:03
the biggest thing about the event for most of them is not being under the
27:07
bright whites and actually doing it. It's the camaraderie of being around the other
27:11
people that you've been watching and I've been putting into work that you have and
27:15
you don't get to see them all the time. So the fact that all
27:18
these amazing people gather in this one place to take part in this sport and
27:22
enjoy the sport and each other and hopefully inspire some people they've never meant to
27:26
do something better themselves, you know, it's all that that made it worthwhile.
27:30
And I think that's why it was a better experience for me overall,
27:33
because I already knew that. I appreciated that, and I made a point
27:37
to acknowledge that throughout the entire process from start to finish, even though it
27:41
was only six weeks. Yeah. Well yeah, And the thing is is
27:47
next time, eight ten. It doesn't have to be super long. You
27:52
just have to yeah, getting shaped planet your lists and go do it.
27:56
Yeah, it's that simple. You picking an opener, you know, if
28:00
you can do three with it, that's a good opener, and then take
28:06
a decent jump and then a small jump. Yeah. The way I had
28:10
it in my head if a are winters is I didn't want to try this
28:11
for their first met I did do the opener with the triple, you know,
28:17
whatever the whatever I could knew I could do for three reps at any
28:19
given point. If I could roll out of bed and go with it for
28:22
three reps, that was my opener. And then I always played the second
28:26
one by ear for all three whifts. It was okay, how am I
28:29
feeling right now? I wanted this, But if I'm feeling like I can
28:33
do this, I'm gonna go and give it to go. And then left
28:36
number three, I went for broke. It was like, okay, let's
28:38
chase a dream. Let's see what we can do. I didn't lift over
28:41
three fifty at eight point in my training, So the fact that I got
28:45
almost three sixty, yeah, and you know, because of the pressure of
28:48
getting a thousand, the people there, you know the fact that the process
28:52
was almost over. I wanted to fension on a good note and I wanted
28:55
that thousand pounds goal. It's crazy that the two things I won the most
29:00
was the one thousand pounds total and then number two to see myself one open
29:03
power with thing because of the thousands of times I've went on that site to
29:07
look up with whist for other lifters, you know, like such as yourself.
29:10
When we were talking about the eight hundred punds squad two thousand pounds total
29:14
for the number of years in a row you have, right, I just
29:17
thought, man, it'd be cool to actually see my name on that site
29:18
just once, and it's on there now, and that was kind of like
29:22
the Okay, this happened. I did this so again the kid in me,
29:27
and even though I'm forty two, they're still a pretty wildly kid in
29:30
me, you know. I absolutely loved it. And you know, now
29:33
it's like, okay, let's see how many pages I can rack up on
29:37
there. That's it. And so like like you said it six months,
29:40
you're gonna get ready to do another one, And uh, have you scouted
29:45
any like any shows that you were like like pointing towards, like, oh,
29:48
okay, now that I've done the one I wanted to do in Virginia
29:52
and you want to do are you gonna go out of state? Are you
29:53
gonna or just try to stay local in the area or is there a particular
29:59
show. You'd love to just step on to that stage that is like one
30:02
of these nationals or one of these ones that the host everyone there. To
30:06
be completely honest, I haven't given it any thought because literally forty eight hours
30:11
after I got home, I had to start working on a coverage for the
30:14
Mister Olympia and get right back to work. The week after the Olympia,
30:18
I'm taking a ten day vacation, and during that vacation is when I'm going
30:23
to actually scout out my twenty twenty four and I'm gonna find my meats.
30:26
It doesn't have to be in West Virginia. At this point, I would
30:30
rather not have to fly to it. I would rather just be able to
30:33
drive to it, because again, like Nick said, I am trying to
30:36
win the World Championships with this. But you know, now that I've gotten
30:41
a two thousand pounds total, I want a ten to fifty. So if
30:44
I could drop somewhere maybe a little bit less than four hours, and now
30:48
that I have a better gauge of how my body works when it comes to
30:49
planning for a meet, you know, let's see if I can get ten
30:52
fifty, and then if I can get to fifty we'll see about eleven.
30:55
Then I'll put whatever the awards come through with that will be great. But
31:02
I'm a numbers guy, and if I can see that I improved even by
31:04
five pounds, there's my progress, there's my win. You know what I
31:07
mean? Three pounds a year on each lift, Yeah, that would be.
31:15
That would be incredible. You can do that easy, I think so.
31:18
I think so to do that easy, do that three years in a
31:22
row. M doing pretty good, I'd be. I would definitely take it.
31:26
I think by that time i'd be forty five thirteen pounds total for forty
31:32
five year old. There you go. You know what I'm saying. You
31:34
gotta have those goals. You got to see that line. You gotta you
31:37
gotta aim for that because me too. Right now, that's a wo'd be
31:41
a nice impressive total. There. I will take it. I'll take it
31:44
for sure. We'll we'll see what happens with it. But uh yeah,
31:48
and nothing else. Nick, Thanks for the friendship, Thanks for the inspiration,
31:51
because I mean I've been following you for years of course, long before
31:53
became friends, and you know, to be around a lot of people that
31:59
have been around this industry is a lot of big reason why I wanted to
32:01
do this, but also, you know, to get the comments like I've
32:05
gotten fro people that are like, hey, I'm gonna do my first meet
32:07
and you know you gave me the shot in arm I needed. You know,
32:09
I'm gonna try to beat your total. Do it? Please? Do
32:13
it? Please beat because then now it give me a reason to do better
32:15
for the next one. So and if high tie raises all ships, then
32:21
the entire sport will benefit from it. And if I get to be a
32:23
small little part of that, man, that would be a thrill. No.
32:28
Absolutely, And you know what you are, you are, You're You're
32:32
a part of that. You are a part of that, and it's freaking
32:37
cool. It really is. Now I got a question for it. Did
32:39
you wrap e? Did you go as sleeves? Sleeves? Sleeves. One
32:45
of the reasons I didn't get to do this center was because in twoenty fourteen,
32:49
I was training for a first meet and I was going to go wraps
32:52
and I guess I miswrapped my right knee and it just did not go well.
32:57
I had three seventy five on the bar and the rap came completely undone
33:01
and my knee buckled. So it was like, nope, I'm going to
33:05
sleep from here on it. I don't even want to have to worry about
33:07
the issue. But uh yeah, I went I want sleeves, basic belt,
33:13
basic wrist traps. Of course, the single it it was just a
33:16
basic answers. I think a lot of people thought I was gonna be rolling
33:20
in here with a bunch of sponsors because I'm a writer and you know,
33:24
because I have connections in the industry, So they were kind of surprised when
33:29
they saw that I had is the basic minimal equipment I could have possibly had.
33:34
As a matter of fact, the owner of the gym that I was
33:36
competing in saw my belt and was like, no, man, you need
33:38
something better than that. So he let me borrow his belt. So the
33:45
belt you see in the photo on the article on bar bed actually of my
33:49
belt and going to the gym, and they did. They did have me
33:52
sign it though, before I gave it back to them. So touch made
33:57
me feel special before I head out the door, you know for sure.
34:00
Yeah, So yeah, that was and it'll be it'll be so he's going
34:06
forward. I won't do wraps. I doubt I would do anything equipped I
34:08
got to try a bencher once twenty years ago, and yeah, I just
34:13
couldn't perform very well with it. So I would definitely revisit the niche the
34:17
knee wraps though, Well, what it might be is Nick's gonna need to
34:22
give you a tutorial on how to do it, because Nick's like a machine
34:25
when he wraps his knees. Man. And the thing too is like everyone
34:30
out there, I record him wrapping his knees all the time and throw it
34:32
into videos because how impressive it is, you know what I'm saying, Because
34:36
it it's like he's a methodical with it. It's always the same technique every
34:42
single time because of how many times he does it. M But you can
34:45
put extra help in places you need extra help, and you can leave it
34:52
looser in other areas where you don't with the knee wraps. You can't do
34:57
that with Nie leaves. What you have is what you have. So if
35:00
you feel part of your knee that's not that's a little off compared to another
35:04
part, you can put one more wrap around that area so it makes it
35:07
real nice. And then you can also take them off and then the blood
35:12
flows back and everything else where. Once you put the nie leaves on,
35:15
you're stuck, so so you pull or you got to take them down and
35:19
pull them up every time, which is actually a lot more difficult than rep
35:22
Yeah, for those who never actually use knee sleeves, you know what I'm
35:28
saying, it's pretty hard to get them off and on. But I think
35:31
you might be surprised if you figure out how to do it. If we
35:35
get it on there correctly, how much better you need to feel because you
35:39
want your needs to last as long as possible, and the knee wraps will
35:43
protect more than the nie leeves. Well that's good to know because Sara and
35:46
I had a history of knee injuries from basketball anyway. That's uh yeah,
35:50
So you are come in handy because you know what area your knee that that
35:54
that's a little unstable, right, Yeah, yeah, what the with the
36:00
knee it's near the right side. With my left, it's right bowl the
36:01
kneecap, right, So you reinforce those areas as you're wrapping you knee.
36:07
You have a knee technique for your left and you have a knee tech wrapping
36:10
technique for your right to add the stability that you need individually to each leg.
36:15
You can't do that with a sleeve. Yeah. Yeah. The protection
36:20
is three sixty all the way around, so or the pressure I should say,
36:22
not protection, correct, Yeah, but you can't add more here and
36:27
take some off there. It's my soapbox. Sorry, ho, your listeners
36:32
are taking note right now. I mean it's not often you get this kind
36:36
of well, it's it's probably one of the reasons why I've squatted the way
36:39
I've squatted so long, because I always use knee wraps. Yeah, I
36:45
mean, don't use the three meters, you know, the two and a
36:47
half. But and then us a p L used to be two meters.
36:52
That's all we had. So you know you're gonna you're gonna get support out
36:55
of it. But they'll last longer with the knee wraps and will with the
37:00
sleeves. Sleeves are great. I love them for straw Man, I truly
37:02
do. Who's the heck out of him in straw Man? But strong Man's
37:07
not squats. It's not power the thing, So it's a it's a little
37:09
bit different. I like the protection that's just me so and everybody's themselves and
37:15
they can choose what they want. Just my two cents got it. No,
37:19
that's appreciate it, man. I mean that's part of the reason I
37:21
love doing what I do, because I get to learn. Yeah yeah,
37:23
yeah, but you did great. Man. I'm really really proud of you.
37:28
You. I mean, you really did awesome. It's kind of a
37:31
neat thing. It's a it's pretty cool and uh, you know one of
37:37
the when I first started talking about doing this, Dan Bell, was one
37:38
of the first calls i'd made, and I told you I want to do
37:43
it as well. I think I told you a year ago. Yep.
37:45
But then my wife was diagnosed with cancer in there got put on hold.
37:51
So my wife's cancer free now. As a matter of fact, October fifteenth,
37:54
crazy coincidence, today's the one year anniversary of her being cancer for so
38:01
what are we just dawn on me as we're talking right now? But yeah,
38:05
that's what kept me in twenty twenty two. Something a little crazy with
38:08
that. Three days ago is the one year anniversary that I found out that
38:13
I had it. That's crazy. October twelfth, this is when we found
38:16
the tumor. Yeah, so my surgery was January third for me. I
38:22
actually remember you told me one of the times when we had talked to me
38:24
four then it was like, dude, you have no idea. What's craziest
38:27
coincidence? Says my wife just got her cancer pre diagnosis. So so maybe
38:31
the fact that I found out, you know, it's coming to the universe
38:34
was like sending you good vibes. But yeah, that was a that's what
38:38
held me up a year ago. Of course, the pandemic held everything up
38:42
two year and three years ago. But you know, this is something I'd
38:45
want to check off for a long time, and I didn't think I was
38:46
gonna get the kind of attention that's gotten. But I'm glad it has.
38:50
And you know, again, I feel like not that I need the extra
38:55
credibility or the extra verification, but you know, just to be a part
39:00
of the game now, to be the quote unquote man in the arena.
39:04
You know, there's been so many of these media people in sports, you
39:07
know, they get Cressy's because they've never actually stepped on the court or on
39:12
the field. That argument no longer applies to me. So yeah, that's
39:19
and I love being a part of the sport absolutely, And yeah, well
39:23
that's what I'm talking about. That's what I'm talking about. And man,
39:27
Roger, I got a couple of questions though, so what do you think
39:32
of Brian doing m M A, oh lord, I saw Well, if
39:42
it hadn't been for all the Olympia coverage going on, I probably would have.
39:45
But I think somebody at Barman's already beat me to it. But I've
39:49
seen an Instagram video of him throwing his punch and it was like, I
39:52
would not want to be the man that was on the receiving end of that.
39:55
Good lord, And I mean, it's not like he's going to drop
40:00
one hundred pounds in six months or anything like that for him. Yeah,
40:08
I think it's going to be vastly different than what we saw from four and
40:15
Eddie. I think it's going to be vastly different when it comes to that.
40:20
I would not be surprised to see him in the three seventy five pound
40:23
range because he already does a good He's he's a lot more active than people
40:30
realize, and he does he's very a cardiovascularly sound. Yeah, so I
40:37
think a little bit of a weight loss you get to see a lot of
40:40
massive speed increase from him. Yeah, And I think you could see him
40:46
fighting somewhere between three fifty and three seventy five through that. And what people
40:52
don't get about him is his mobility, right, he had he has hyper
41:00
mobility. I mean that guy he'll be able to put He would probably be
41:07
able to put somebody in a triangle choke. Yeah, I don't know if
41:14
right now, I don't know if there's enough room between those thighs to get
41:15
a triangle. Well that might be true too, but I could see him
41:21
with the mobility to do that. Oh, with his mobility, With his
41:24
mobility and his explosiveness, because that's the thing a lot of people don't know.
41:28
Yes, he had static power strength, Nobody on this side the screen
41:31
is gonna be questioning that. But those his greatest strengths were his endurance and
41:36
his mobility. That's why he excelled at some of the things like the back
41:39
of the back of the bar, or the Keg tolls or the apple stones
41:43
for so many years, because you know, he could get down, up
41:45
and move, and plus he had that explosive power behind him. You know,
41:50
I don't know about a triangle. I could see somebody trying to work
41:53
something on him and then all of a sudden spinning into an arm bar and
41:57
call it Yeah. Can you imagine him big freaking arms getting somebody again.
42:00
You'd get lost behind that mass, you know what I'm saying. You'd only
42:04
see him on top of an arm coming out between the legs, right.
42:07
I don't know if he'd be able to do like a rear naked choke though,
42:10
because of the size of his arms. Well, it'd be a head
42:14
crush, That's basically what it would be. It's like even when you do
42:16
a neck torque like you know, because you know a lot of times you
42:20
get the submissions where they just catch the jaw and then they just pull the
42:23
jaw in. So I can definitely see him with the size of his arm.
42:29
I wouldn't even know if he'd be legal for him to do it,
42:30
because he would be covering nose and mouth at that point his arm, you
42:35
know what I'm saying. That's what I'd be concerned about. That's what I'd
42:38
be concerned about, guiottin for him to be able to get somebody to front
42:42
face walk like that, it'd be like they'd have to tap, they suffocate.
42:46
I'm just the thing that really comes to my mind is someone's head coming
42:53
apart if he drops an elbow on them because he's gonna be able the roots
42:59
back super far and come down, and he comes down with all that force.
43:02
His abdomen is so freaking strong from all the deadlifting and Atlas stones over
43:08
the years. The density that he has. Yes, yes, that's us
43:13
that you know, eighteen inch forearm onto somebody's skull right now. I'm not
43:21
a regular I don't talk to Brian on a regular basis. You know,
43:23
we see each other occaionally out events, and I've interviewed him a couple of
43:27
times now. But I actually wonder if he chose MMA because of the fact
43:31
that Thor and Eddie did boxing and he wanted to do something different. Uh.
43:37
My understanding is they came to him really, but I could be wrong,
43:44
But from the stuff I kind of saw, yeah, and I watched
43:51
the video and then I sent him a text. I'm like because he put
43:53
up a post to him and he was like looking like he was going to
43:55
drop the elbow on somebody, and I'm like, oh, that is the
43:59
most terrifying thing I think I've ever seen. Because I've been very fortunate enough
44:02
to uh get to roll around a little bit with you know, some very
44:08
good I'm not and I'm not good at it at all, but it was
44:16
fun. I got to do that, and I learned some things, and
44:21
you know, you have you get a whole different respect when you do stuff
44:24
like that. And it's knowing what little I know already. I'm just like
44:32
wow. Because he's so physically strong and his cardio is so good. The
44:38
very if he gets very good at the absolute basic stuff, like if he
44:45
learns enough to be like a full on blue belt, the black belts are
44:52
going to just have all kinds of problems with him because he's so physically strong.
44:58
And if he gets the basic stuf up down so technically well that it's
45:02
he's got, you know, it's set. Yeah, it's going to be
45:07
a nightmare for somebody because with that big body, he doesn't have to worry
45:12
about stand up. He just needs to do enough stand up to kind of
45:15
like keep people much just for defense, not even worrying for as much offense.
45:21
Could you imagine a leg kick that guy, No, like someone literally
45:27
picking up would hit you with it. He has horse thighs. They're literally
45:31
if you put Bryan's thighs up against the horse, they're they're horse thighs.
45:36
If he kicks somebody kick exactly, that's exactly Stan kicking third hundred right exactly.
45:45
Yeah, he goes about twenty feet further exactly. They would go through
45:50
the cage on top of the judges or the announcers, whoever's right there,
45:52
a cage side with him exactly. But with him being as sessed with mastering
46:00
things as he is. You know, if it comes to a simple jab
46:07
or a hip toss, whatever the move is, he will practice it thousands
46:14
of times until it feels as natural to him as walking. So you know,
46:16
someone like that is more dangerous than somebody who's effective of trying to get
46:21
like a Superman punch in, or somebody's going to be bound determined to get
46:24
somebody into an arm bar, because I mean versus he's even said it.
46:30
You know, I'm kind of messing up the club, But pretty much he
46:32
would rather. He'd be more concerned about somebody's practiced something a thousand times,
46:36
and somebody's practiced a thousand things once. Yeah. Correct, Ryan, is
46:39
that dude who would try to practice the one thing a thousand times he excelled
46:45
at reason. Yeah, So it's like I said, I'm actually kind of
46:51
looking forward to this to see one where they're going to do it, which
46:55
I'm sure he probably already knows, but I mean one step at a time
47:00
who he's fighting and kind of like what the series is going to be,
47:07
because I can't see him just doing this once. He's kind of like an
47:13
all in guy. So if he goes all in, I don't see him
47:16
doing this just once. Something knocking on what that doesn't happen, Something would
47:23
have to go either extremely sad ways or something would just have to be.
47:30
A better opportunity would have to come along, like a much better opportunity would
47:32
have to come along for him to not do this with the full commitment that
47:37
Brian Shawn typically does. And I can see as successful as Brian is and
47:45
he does very well for himself, for him to go into this, it's
47:50
probably going to have to be worth his while, right, So I don't
47:54
see that being small number either. So I think of hairs Enough made with
48:00
him is with Jay Couler in the world of bodybuilding, and it's funny they
48:04
actually have the same manager, manager Matt, and the common thing is they
48:07
both excelled in business, so they can excel in their sport. You know,
48:12
Brian he has done so many things in the world of business that allowed
48:16
him to keep doing strong Man the way he did it, and Jay Culler
48:20
did the same thing. So if this is something that Brian is actually going
48:24
to take his eye off of the ball even for a split second, he's
48:29
coming Elvis ahead one way or another, and he do him for it.
48:34
Yeah, I just can't wait to see what he comes out with. Evolution
48:42
Athletics going to have an MMA department, But to me, they make the
48:50
best stuff to use in straw Man, So I mean, I don't see
48:55
him making anything. If he does do that, it'll be probably the best
48:59
stuff he get your hands on from May as well. Yeah, I can
49:04
I can see it happening. There's no doubt in my mind. What about
49:07
you, man, how's that? How's that grip training? Common? Because
49:09
I hear that there's a record you might be maybe thinking about Jason. Yeah,
49:16
yeah, Well when I let that thing go in Norway, I did
49:22
not realize the record was ninety seconds. I was like, that'd have been
49:28
good to know before I went. Guys just like, okay, cool because
49:32
the first time I ever did it, Yeah, I was like, well,
49:36
I can see why I didn't get this as one of my events.
49:39
So yeah, I'm starting a little bit, a little bit of grip training
49:44
for that type thickness of a bar and stuff like that. So it involved
49:47
pound plates, yeah, yeah, one hundred pound plates and then gripping the
49:52
end of the bar, you know, I said it in like the bench
49:54
press rack, and then I pick up the two inch side with about say
50:00
plates on it. Sure that that that helps the crushing strength. And then
50:07
like I started throwing in dumbello shrugs with the one fifties, the fifties with
50:10
outstraps. Yeah, yeah, those things. Your grip gets a little better
50:15
when you do that. Plus I'll start doing farmers walking into Yeah I've actually
50:20
been doing farmers suitcase holes things like that myself. Because another thing I'm wanting
50:23
to do in twenty twenty four is a armlifting meet. Oh cool. Yeah.
50:28
I got to interview Ricardo for Muscle and Finnis because armlifting US He's doing
50:31
their world championships at the Olympia, and I was like, man, I
50:35
would love to get into one of those at some point because it's you know,
50:37
I've just been wanting to try all these different strength sports. He was
50:40
like you love me to win, and I'll find a way to make it
50:43
happen. And Virginia is a pretty big state for armlifting, and that's right
50:46
next door to me, so I can get to a meet within a couple
50:51
of hours. So I'm ordering equipment hopefully have it out here in the next
50:53
few weeks. And you know, I'm really ramping up my grip training.
50:57
So once again you're inspiring me. Nick. Yeah, I don't know if
51:00
you've seen this or not been, but he had done see the Rose with
51:04
some stupid amount of weight for like thirty reps, and I was the one
51:07
recording, okay, and I had seen it and it was like I couldn't
51:12
do that, but I wonder how much I could do. So I loaded
51:15
up my stack machine with like two hundred pounds and I actually got it for
51:17
thirty reps. No, I thank Nick best for the inspiration. You know,
51:24
you did the one fifties on stuff like a dead lift. I don't
51:28
have one fifties here, so the best I could do was my one oh
51:30
fives. But I got them for fifteen reps. So you're the You're the
51:35
rabbit I keep chasing in a sense because I want to be able to do
51:38
something at least respectable to what you do. And it's always seems to be
51:43
a new little incentive for me in training. Well, thank you, and
51:46
I appreciate that. And it's what keeps me motivated is watching people go out
51:52
and like inspire them and then see the results of them going and taking and
52:00
doing some of these things. And that's what makes me want to just keep
52:02
on going as well. I mean, I want to keep on going because
52:06
I just I love the process. I love the training, yeah, but
52:07
I also love sharing it and teaching and showing and a leading through example.
52:15
So it's fun. You uh well, I mean you're one of the people.
52:17
You know, you benefited from other pioneers in the sport, and now
52:22
you are that inspiration something your people being included. You know, when I
52:25
was talking to people about doing the me I mentioned you. My name is
52:29
you know, one of the guys I've seen you know from where you seldom
52:30
but a strong man Empire lifting. I got to meet head con in ten
52:35
years ago. We've become friends. I've been friends with Dan and a couple
52:37
others, and I was like, man, I really want to do this.
52:39
I want to get on that platform. So from a fan standpoint,
52:43
thank you, and from an athlete standpoint, thank you. But you know,
52:47
and again, the fact that I was able to do what you did
52:51
in the form of inspiring others to want to do this best way to give
52:55
back to it, right on. Thanks. With that being said, you
53:01
know, Roger, we had Johnny for about an hour and what what you
53:05
said is gonna blend extremely well because Nick has a famous saying he likes to
53:09
say at the end of every one of these shows, Nick, can you
53:13
give us those words and let Roger know. Well, Roger, thanks for
53:15
coming on again. I just I love it every time we stalk, every
53:19
time you're on and everything else. So everybody at home use Roger as an
53:22
inspiration because I do as well. So to everybody, train hard, train
53:27
smart, and be the best you can be. Thanks your best experiences.