Barbell Shrugged - 170- Squat Every Day w/ Cory Gregory of MusclePharm

Episode Date: March 25, 2015

This week on Barbell Shrugged, we talk about squatting heavy every single day for a year and vicious mile-long lunge challenges with Corey Gregory, former coal miner, power lifter, natural bodybuilder, fitness cover model, gym owner, and co-founder of MusclePharm. Hey, this is Rich Froning. You're listening to Barbell Shrugged. For the video version, go to barbellshrug.com. Welcome to Barbell Shrug. I'm Mike Bledsoe. I'm staying here with Doug Larson, Chris Moore, CTP behind the camera.

We have traveled up to Columbus, Ohio to the Arnold Sports Festival, as we do almost every single year because it is cool as shit up here. Also cold as shit. Yeah, it's way too cold. All sorts of things going on from gymnastics to bodybuilding to weightlifting to fencing. It's kind of like going to the Olympics. I saw some Jedi Knights earlier. There's a guy entering the fencing competition in a Jedi outfit.

Lightsab is cheating. We're here with Corey Gregory. He's the co-founder of Muscle Form. You're sponsoring some of the event and you've got big booths. We basically are one of what they call a diamond sponsor.

One of the top three sponsors. It just means we're doing it big right now. But you're balling. That's what it means. Yes, sir. It's a lot of fun. Yeah, so I didn't know this right off the bat. I started following Corey on Twitter a while, maybe six months ago.

I think someone retweeted something you had said. And I don't normally like, and I always perceive, like, I think muscle form, I think, like bodybuilding and that type of stuff. And then AJ was also telling me where you came from. Yeah, man. I was like, man, this is a legit crazy story. It's not your conventional path. So if you're thinking muscle form or bodybuilder, why are these guys talking to this guy?

But he's not a bodybuilder. You're more of a power lifter, really. I like to just say athlete i'm a real fucking gym guy yeah basically which people don't you know they see just like we kind of look like the nike of the space yeah i designed but one of the nuts and bolts of the whole thing is that i own one of the top 10 most hardcore gyms in the country the old school gym was ranked uh and i've been a real real lifter been around you know big time people and i'm always searching out for new info and i can't get enough of it.

You said you're almost totally elite a couple times. I was 17.55 at 208. So if I were to drop weight that day, I squatted 700, I think it was 480, and pulled 575. Those are excellent numbers. And if you take your shirt off, the lady's swoon. Yeah, you know. We're kind of thinking about swoon. Hey, you know. And some dudes too. We were kind of thinking about swoon.

Hey, you know, it's early in the interview. My whole goal was to try to really lead by example when I was in this position. So I've been training my whole life for it. Awesome. Yeah. And so if you just go to your Twitter account and you look at your bio, you went from coal miner to gym owner. Yes, sir.

Into the supplement industry. Yep. Tell us, how did that start? It really starts as this. My mom thought, what is this kid going to do? All he likes to do is lift weights. My parents were thinking the same thing, dude. Yeah, we all share that same exact.

My parents were like, man, my kid's such an idiot. He thinks he's going to make money lifting weights. I'm graduating with a 2.1 grade point average. I just couldn't focus on anything. I'm writing workouts and study hall. I mean, that's all I cared to do. And I was just doing it in my basement, really self-taught. But what it come down to is that my mom was a single parent.

Our trailer costs $100 a month rent. Wow. So growing up like that, it just gave me like a fire to do something great. And so you combine that with reading about Arnold and, and reading about just all those things of like transferring the discipline into life and business. And over time, man, I just kept telling myself, I'm going to do something great. I'm meant to do big things. And I was just lying to myself probably, but it worked. You've got to think until you make it. Yeah, 1,000%, but I believed it, and I was searching for it.

First year, I kind of got through high school, always trained in powerlifting. My first powerlifting meet, I was 17 years old, so I've always had a love for that. I always told Louie Simmons I was a fitness model. I was a powerlifter stuck in a fitness model body. As you react to that. Well, it been so hard. He probably has some kind of wise-ass joke to make as you said that.

He's like, so, Skinny Corey, you want to be elite power lifter? I said, yes, I do. And he just said, okay. I'm going to be the first fitness model to go elite. He just kind of rolled his eyes. But, you know, the one thing is, especially with Lou, when I came to him, I didn't want to come on Wednesday. I wanted to come on Friday. Yeah, for the next squad day. Exactly. And he said, okay one thing is, especially with Lou, when I came to him, I didn't want to come on Wednesday. I want to come on Friday.

Yeah, for the next squat day. Exactly. And he said, okay, all right then. And then you can squat with Amy, you know. Well, she was like a 600-pound squatter. Exactly. And so was I. So, yeah.

Okay. Not afraid to start at the bottom. I'm here. I'm going to work my way up. I'll just go in there and get hazed. It is what it is. But, you know, so kind of back to the the story coming from Steubenville, Ohio area, I really didn't know how to kind of bridge the gap between what I wanted to do with my life. I had no clue. You

know, I kind of found out about personal training. You want to be in fitness, but you didn't know, you probably didn't even know like the, the possibilities within the fitness industry. Didn't exist where I'm from. No one made money lifting weights. You know what I mean? So there was a lot of strong guys, blue collar dudes. So my step, my mom had jobs and still lifted iron after 15 hour days. So my, uh, my mom got remarried to my stepdad, Randy. And he said, look, he'd been in the coal mines 20 years. I'm a fourth generation. I mean, I got, I got a mining helmet tattooed on my forearm. So it's one of those things like my great grandfather, my grandfather, it's like what we know.

So I'm like, he's like, dude, I'll get you the job. If you want to start saving some money, get the hell out of here. And that was, uh,

that's a kind gesture, man. That's awesome. Yeah. So it was one of those things where I was working, stacking lumber 10 hours a day for like eight bucks an hour, which sucked. Listen,

I'm not a classic rock fan. So, I mean, I'm a rap guy. So I stuck out like a sore thumb at this place. So bad. So I like Zeppelin. But other than mean, I'm a rap guy, so I stuck out like a sore thumb at this place. It was so bad. So I like Zeppelin, but other than that,

I'm like, so anyways. What do you mean, like John Fogerty? Yeah, dude, it's so rough for me. It just is what it is.

So he says, but I'll get you a job in the mine. It's 14 hours base, 21 hour overtime, but they'll never say no to overtime. So literally, he would work 100 hours a week. I mean,

these guys work, and so I would get. And not like at a desk filling out purchase requests for them and shit. mean, these guys work. And so I would get... And not like at a desk filling out purchase request forms and shit. No, no, no. Like black long. Like shoveling in 42 inches of top. So it's like working under this table right here.

So I'd be shoveling a belt line 15 hours. Like bent over shoveling in a dark space with a fucking hat and helmet on. Correct. For 15 hours. They drop you off and say, I'll see you in 10 hours. And you got a guy on one side of the belt

and you're on the other side. Got your lunch pail and all that stuff. Yeah, that's it, man. So you're a strong guy. How much do you think the foundation of your business is, but also your physical success now being able to squat, was sowed in the labor and the work discipline at this time? I think in deadlift and any of that, like my forearm strength, I'd say that that was one of the strongest, maybe not from a weight number standpoint, but I was man strong and weight strong at the same point because I would go and sling block.

I mean, we'd have like a block dropped off, and they'd say, hey, we need you to build a wall of cement block. And they're like, we want you to carry it over here, like bend over, double at a time. So, I mean, your lower back just got so strong. And then I'd go right to the weight room right after. That's what a lot of people miss. They see all this stuff. They want to get in the weightlifting

and the strength sports but don't realize the most successful people even across the people who have spent their whole lives just doing a lot of stuff. Yeah.

Like just working. You can't replace the base. It was a little two hour workout with like a heavy set of farmer's carries at the end of it for conditioning

where you're going to be like oh no those farmer carriers are going to get me after you've done 14 hour days. Yeah, exactly. So, you know, here's the deal.

He said, you put in 90 to 100 hours a week, you can make $1,500 a week after taxes. So I'm 19 years old and I'm just lifting and working. That's it. Straight up. When I quit the mine six months later, I had like five paychecks on my desk. I hadn't even went to the bank because I literally was just all of me. You didn't have time to go to the bank because I literally was just all of me. You didn't have time to go to the bank.

I was just working, getting that money and he did say like multiple times he saw me getting kind of comfortable there because he saw it was in my blood. He's like,

you're not staying here. I'm like, I know. Was it just a natural hunger? Like every day, what did you go through to remind yourself there's a bigger vision?

Because there's plenty of days where you're like, this is really hard. I could easily cash these checks and fuck off. Or just go to school I finally did that eventually.

Finally, you know, they kind of, I was a college help is why they classified me. They leaned on me a lot because I was strong. So they put me in some dipshit that couldn't do nothing

and it'll get you hurt that way. I mean, that's the thing. So finally one day I came up and said, man, I'm out. Like, I'm going to go cash them checks and I'll starve

as a personal trainer until I do this shit no more. I'm done. You burned the boat. Yeah, and he said, man, I'm out. Like, I'm going to go cash them checks, and I'll starve as a personal trainer until I do this shit no more. I'm done. You burned the boat. Yeah, and he said, look, it's time for you to go anyway. And so then I came up here, and that's when I went to Columbus State. I was in community college about six months for an exercise specialist certificate. There was no way I was going to do a four-year degree. I wanted to get my business started.

And then within six months, I kind of started training personal training clients. So that's kind of segued into starting to own my own facilities. So again, clear vision showing through your kid and you see clearly that I could do that, but it's not the most efficient way to get to my ultimate vision. I think the thing popping out now is vision is so important every day to remind yourself what you're actually going for and not to be distracted with. Yeah. Mine was to own a gym, plain plain and simple like own a gym and be on the cover of magazines i knew that early on and when i used to say that back home people would be like uh you know it's just hard for them to grasp it i mean my first day in the coal mine

there's this huge dudes like six five three hundred pounds like 60 years old been in the game forever and i got earrings at this time i forgot to take take them out. So I get on the cage. Not a good idea. Dude, bad, right? This is a hilarious story. So I get on the cage and you're going 600 feet on the elevator down and he goes, boy, what's in your ears? And I'm like,

oh, shit. And I was like, you know, and he goes, what do you want to do with your life, college boy? I'm like, I want to be a personal trainer. He goes, oh, like Richard Simmons?

Almost. Not quite. I'm like, my vision's a little different than that. But that's a personal trainer. He goes, Oh, like Richard Simmons. Almost not. I'm like, my vision is a little different than that, but that's the personal trainer. Those guys knew. So, you know, it's just a,

it's when you work with men, when you're a kid, they're hardcore. It just changes some things about you. And I did tell them to go to a gym at the work, you know, to work on fitness is like the most abstract. Like what the fuck are you talking about?

It's a, dude, it was a life experience. I could, I could never change. And those guys and minors in general, always got love for me. So that's cool. And keep, and keeping that work ethic, that drive, I miss, there's nothing that's going to stand your way now that you see what can actually be done. No way. I mean, it's a, it was a great lesson for me. And I just, I take the same work ethic approach to the gym, whatever my goal is there. I'm a huge like vision person. Like I literally get up every morning. I have the 15 goals that I've set out for the year.

And then I have a mission statement that I write down every day and that, that puts it right in front of me. And I don't always get those goals, but I mean, I'm, I'm pretty close to them every year and I don't have five and 10 year goals because our business, the things I've done is progress. So just like you guys, you're growing so fast. It's kind of hard to do that, but it's like, uh, 90 days maybe. Yeah. What I've got in front of me for the year, man, I'm going all out on it. And then I, if I don't have something planned around those each day, I feel like I'm slacking. There's also can check some balance and see what are the things I'm doing is working and not working without that kind of daily calibration. I guess you would

get too far in any one direction. Yeah, no, I got to. I mean, I get up with the mission to be the most impactful person in my industry and change the Gregories for generations. That's my mission. That's awesome, man. I want my kids' kids to say, Grandpa was a G. I think they might say that. Well, then one day,

I think the greatest thing about having a family, one day you'll know, they'll go, wow, fuck, that must have been such an incredible thing to try to pull off. And he did it. It'll inspire your family forever, man. That's how you change generations. Yeah. That's awesome.

So how do you make the leap from coal miner to running a large company? Like work ethic is one thing and you've got to have it, but it's not the only thing that you need to be successful in running your own company. Like how'd you make that leap? Like, where'd that education, that mindset come from? Sure. So to kind of like bridge the gap. So I was at Columbus State and I did an intern with a guy that was selling fitness pretty well in the city here in Columbus, which is where I live.

And he had about 35 clients and he was starting to get some runoff. And so I came in and he had played for the University of Akron. He was Jason Taylor's roommate at Akron, the guy who played for the Dolphins. Oh, yeah. So he was a good athlete. He was Jason Taylor's roommate at Akron, the guy who played for the Dolphins. Oh, yeah. So he was a good athlete. He was a DB. We got along pretty well. And he said, man, I know you're just getting started.

I'll start throwing you some clients. Well, he kept getting busier and busier. Before you know it, I'm at maybe about 10 clients. Then I learned a lot of good and bad things off Reggie. He's a great guy, but he kind of jumped around a lot. So as he jumped around, his clients started to come to me. Yeah. And so within a year's time, I had about 20 people. And then one of the biggest things that happened in my business career

is they changed management in the, in the company I was, I was working at. I was just paying rent and I was training, you know, like a barbershop dude comes to me and says, Hey, I'm the new manager. We're going to start taking 30% of your money. He thought I would just, I'm 20 years old. So he's probably thinking this kid ain't going to do nothing said okay dude yeah i'm thinking my head yeah right bro so i um literally that day started driving around looking for spaces i had no clue what i was doing or getting into but i knew i had nothing to lose i had no kids i really i mean i had the money i made from the mine so i found a place down the street that was great you were generating all your own clients yeah it wasn't like uh like they were feeding you.

No, no. I mean, I was charging $20 an hour. I mean, I was living. Yeah, this was early. So, I mean, I was, you know. Just a reminder again. That's nothing. You got to just do the work up front.

You can't be a beginner personal trainer and say, hey, what's fair? What should I make now that I'm doing this? $100 an hour? $20 an hour? You're never going to get it done. To charge someone that for personal training is... Yeah, it's absurd, right?

It is absurd. But I was, I mean, I had 20 people. That's why I was able to eat, at least because I had a little money because I'd already put all that work in the coal mine. And so basically I found a place that was 900 square foot, $600 a month. It was a mile from that gym. It was a ladder closet for the rehab of the building. Basically it was a fucking mess when I got it. And the dude was like, look, dude, I didn't even think I could even rent this out.

And so I was like getting his shit spot. And, uh, this reminds me of, of, uh, my first place. I mean, yeah, it was awesome though. The gym that we started, like it's one of those things that no way that guy was running that out to anyone other than someone using it for storage. Exactly. Starting matters more than what you're starting with, right? Yeah, no, absolutely. So I literally started with a credit card that was on 20% interest. It had a $4,000 limit, which was awful.

And my buddy gave me a G, and I wrote it on a napkin how I'd pay it back to him from campus. And that's how I started. Get a notary to sign the napkin. Yeah, exactly, right? He goes, I come to my buddy. We call him Juice. I'm like, Juice, I started in the end. Yeah, exactly. Right. He goes, I come to my buddy, we call him juice. I'm like juice. I know you got a little bit of coin. Like I need like a G bro. He goes, well, what's your business plan? Cause I write it on this napkin. I'm making money son. How about I'll give you this. And it says like January 100, you know, February,

I was like, you just crossed that off as I pay you a hundred a month over the next year. You know what I mean? And, uh, he just kind of chuckled and was like, all right, G do your thing. And so all my clients came with me, but one of the coolest things about that was, uh, I was getting ready to go on vacation. I never told anybody I was setting this all up. And the manager dude was a douche bag. He's like, Hey, when you come back from vacation, I was like, Oh, hold on. When I come back from vacation, I've taken all my clients down the street, started my own business. So I forgot to tell you that I'll see you. And he was like, look at me like this dude's not, I'm not even 21 years old yet. So, you know, and this is what was so cool that looking back, he's like, this person couldn't

do it. Why do you think like total hater? And I'm like, man, I'm not any of those people, bro. And I'm not staying up in this noise. So I'm out. And, and you know what? My clients were so supportive and it just started rolling. Now it's took me two or three years. I was in that little place. So I was grinding, grinding, grinding for, you know, that 35 clients that were solid. They were three days a week. I was charging 35. Then I started having more trainers work for me. So at one point, then I kind of escalated to another size facility, right? Seven trainers going and that kind of, that kind of going to the whole time I'm competing in, um, natural bodybuilding doing, I've done 14 shows. So I'm competing, I'm out here, but I'm not really mixed up in the MPC. I'm not mixed up in the world

gym community. I'm just doing my own thing. Yeah. And so, yeah, so that's, that's kind of the progress as I started getting more into supplements and diet and that type of stuff. Um, so that kind of bridged the gap a little bit. And you were into bodybuilding. What got you into, were you like pursuing strength first or bodybuilding or what was, or did you even differentiate the two? Yeah. So I thought I was doing powerlifting until I met anybody that ever associated with Westside. I'm a powerlifter. It was like, yeah, it's like, well, you know. But not really. So I really was competing in bodybuilding maybe two shows a year,

really just to get my clients motivated. And I would jump in some meets in between, but I had no clue when I met Louie and them guys really how to lift. And that's so funny because I was already making pretty good money as a trainer, and I was still freaking clueless. And I started reading about Lou and started searching him out, and then Dr. Serrano was his doctor. And I met some of the guys, some of the older West side dudes. And then, um, what really changed it when I bought out and started the new old school gym, which we were at this morning, Tim Harold lives behind my gym. Tim's a monster, super heavyweight at West side pulled eight 55. He walks in my gym. He's like

six, seven, four, 10. He's like not a human. Yeah. He's so strong, dude. So big and strong. So I just come off, uh, you know, I'm in the, I'm in the new gym and I just come off of a shoot. I'm like a buck 75. I'm weak as hell. And I go, Tim walks in and he's a monster. I'm like, dude, I want to learn Westside. He's like, looks at me like, okay, let's do good mornings today. And I'm like, he does 700-pound good morning in the first workout. Yeah, I mean, he's a seriously strong man. Oh, yeah, he was a huge toe to Westside. He was there forever.

Louie recruited him out of high school. This must be like anyone who comes out of Westside, if they want to crush somebody, they go, oh, yeah, we're going to max out with good mornings first. Dude. Because that's what Mark Bell did to us. Yeah, I'm sure. He was like, oh, we're going to start with good mornings. I'm like Cause that's what Mark Bell did to us. Yeah. Oh, I'm sure he was like,

Oh, uh, we're going to do, we're going to start with good mornings. I'm like, I'm like, I know what you're trying to do. Hey,

I know how to lift here, bro. So literally my good morning was one 85. I mean, it was awful. I didn't even know how to do it, you know, but he started me off that.

And so he says, look, I'll come in, we'll go through this. I'll teach you West side, but you know, we're not even touching that joint until you can't make me

look like an idiot for even taking you there you know so of course right it's like Coco's line you gotta be in shape before you're allowed to do the actual lift

oh yeah I'm sad you gotta Louie always told me to get in shape to lift first yeah no it's cool so Tim kinda

really kinda started that and then I really started pursuing strength I said you know what I love it anyway but the thing is, for marketing wise, for me to be in shape makes more sense for my business. I constantly

fight it. You were fighting between bodybuilding and being a powerlifter. You want to be a big fat guy, don't you? You want to be fat, don't you? We all want to be fat. I so want to go with AJ to McDonald's and eat a real breakfast. I blew up at 240.

How'd you do that? I just ate. What do you weigh now? I weigh 195. Damn, that's a big jump. So, yeah, when I first met AJ, I was just eating and lifting, and I was all wired into Tim, and then he started taking me there, and I was like, man, I'm starting to look like these dudes.

This is not me. I mean, it wasn't him, right? You caught the virus. And then Amy would still call me the lean guy. I'm like, oh, I think I'm a little skewed on what's going on here. When you weigh 240 and they're laughing at you for being the lean guy. Oh, you're in a different environment. My body is not made.

I'm not made to weigh 240. Dude, I had like cellulite on my stomach. And I mean, I was looking bad. It was so about 2010. Everybody's like, good job. The funny thing is, you know, I got pretty strong, but I wasn't, I'm stronger now than I was then anyway. But so it was kind of funny how, how that kind of happened. And then I, when muscle farms started kind of catching up a little bit, people started, I started doing the social media, then it was time to get shredded again. And I

started kind of going on a run of that. So I go back and forth. You got those pictures of you being fat. Yeah. Here's what I did to look like this. Rip your shirt off. I weighed in for a meet at 239 one morning. And I missed pulling 600 that day or whatever. And I was like, first of all, I can't even get to the bar. I'm tying my shoes and I'm out of breath. I'm like, shit's got to change.

Yeah. My wife's like, I don't know if I signed up for the model guy. I don't know what I signed up for. Usually it's the guy that worries about the woman. Yeah, yeah wife's like, I don't know if I signed up for the model guy. I don't know what I signed up for. Usually it's the guy that worries about the woman. Can I check your list of goals? Does a goal now include to be a fat guy? Because I'm out. If your morning goal is to be a fat guy.

It's pretty classic. Anytime I've got aggressive weight gain going on, I'm all bloated. I'll just eat as much as I possibly can before bed. And then my wife's like, she's coming on to me. She's like, hey, baby. I'm like, get off me. She's like, I never have any sex when he's gaining weight. We always say it. People go, I'm having trouble gaining weight. You have no idea how hard it is to gain weight and what you need to be doing to make it happen. It's so hard.

If you're training hard and trying to get bigger, that's not easy. No. How did you do? How did you go from one 75 to two 40? Yeah. You know, basically cause I mean, how long did that take you? Uh,

it was over about a year and a half's time. I literally basically didn't pay any attention to nutrition at all. I just ate and lifted and didn't care. Yeah. If I wanted to eat pizza three days in a row, I did. I was on like the dirty balls on accident, on accident,

dude. And I started, I mean, I never experienced where you had always watched your nutrition and you were like, one day you're just like, fuck it, I'm going to just do what these other guys are doing to blow up. I was pretty stressed out with the business at that point, too. I just built an old school gym that's here now. And also, I was just starting MusclePharm.

I wasn't Corey the fitness guy. I was the nobody, basically. So I'm like, you know, I'm just going to lift and learn from Louie and not can be concerned about it. And it was less stress to not worry about prepping nine meals a day or whatever the hell I was doing. And so it was just, yeah, I just was having fun with it. And I'd never experienced strength like that before. I mean, I ended up good morning, three 35 for a triple pool and five 75 in a meet. I was, uh, I know I squatted, you know, 700, a couple of different times. Like, so I was like, you know, I'm in man. It was good. But the funny thing is I, over time, I just realized that one, that doesn't make sense for me to be that heavy. I feel much better. And I'm just as strong at a

lighter weight now. So it doesn't matter. So you've done the bodybuilding type training. Yep. You've gone to powerlifting, you've been a big fat powerlifter. Yep. And now you've, you've figured out a way to like mix the two. Yeah. All right, let's take a break. When we come back, we'll talk about how to be a sexy power. This is Tim Ferriss, and you were listening to Barbell Shrugged. For the video version, go to barbellshrugged.com. Barbell Shrugged is brought to you by you. To learn more about how you can support the show, go to barbellshrugged.com and sign up for the newsletter.

Hey, do you have to turn on the camera? And we're back with Corey Gregory. Do you know what you're doing? Who has gone from being lean, sexy beast to big, fat power lifter to lean, sexy beast plus power lifter. How did you do it? Yeah, man. You know what's kind of funny is kind of when I got ripped back down,

I started doing this kind of run of different magazine stuff. I'm at nine covers right now, which is pretty cool. My goal was ten. It's on my list. You got me beat. I've only got three. Oh, man. Was it Power Magazine?

No, Muscle Fitness. I was in a tattoo magazine once. That happened. That's pretty cool. I'm at zero. So I basically got pretty shredded up, and I was in a tattoo magazine once. That's pretty cool. I'm on zero. So I basically got pretty shredded up, and I was like, man, I got to find a way to get both of these going.

And I think the CrossFit community's figured that out a lot, too. I mean, a lot of them dudes are strong as shit. Louie told me all the time there's a lot of 200-pound benchers, but a shitload of 600-pound deadlifters. Yes. You know what I mean? You probably aren't going to the CrossFit Games unless you deadlift over 500.

Yeah, agreed. Probably close to 600. Yeah, I agree, 100%. All the guys I've ever messed with, they're that strong. And so my thing was – They've also spent a period of time getting big and strong. Yeah. That's where people miss.

They just want to do the workouts they see them doing now. It doesn't work like that. And so my thing was, you know what? I need to find something in the middle somewhere. And so I just bombed out of powerlifting meet. I tried to make 81. I, like, cut 15 pounds. Me and Tony Ramos from Westside went down to a big meet.

I've never bombed out of a meet. That's, like, one of the most humbling. It sucks, man. Dude, it's awful. I think it's good to bomb out one time. Yeah. No, it was good. I drove six hours.

So you never want to do it ever again? I drove six hours and bombed out. And so I was pissed, right? So I get home, and I'm, like, I'm online. I'm, like, man, I got to figure this shit out. One, I want pissed. Right. So I get home and I'm like, I'm online. I'm like, man, I got to figure this shit out. One, I want to get stronger. Cause I obviously I'm weak. I just bombed out too. I want to be leaner. Cause I got all these opportunities with my brand now to be on covers, do all this stuff. And so I was like, start searching online. And I found this guy named John bros. So yeah. Yeah. So now I'm getting it. Yeah. Oh, that's my dude now. So just like

any of these other guys, I read his article and I just reached out to him and said, Hey man, I'm going to be in Vegas. I'd love to learn from you. And you know, but we'll link to that article too. It's really good. Yeah. The, the T nation articles, the one that says, and this was my favorite thing. He goes, if somebody captured your family and said they were going to kill them unless you squatted 500 pounds, would you squat once a week or would you squat every day? Yeah. That's a good way of putting it. And I was like, this is my kind of guy. I'm in.

Well, it's true. I'd be like, I'm not squatting at all. People look at the program, right? And that's really important. But they're missing all the mental factors that if your mind controls your body and your mind is underdeveloped, under-trained, and you're sitting in your fucking cushy gym, you're not at a Westside place.

You're not at a place where somebody like John is just showing you what's possible. You cannot get that level of performance. I don't give a shit what kind of magical program you got. It's not the program. You got to have this part, too. I hope no one's hearing this thinking, like, I'm going to do five by five every day. Heavy. Seven days a week.

We're going to give you a little bit more detail right now, probably. Yeah, absolutely. Before you get too froggy. So, you know, I just started looking at that. And one thing, I don't really like traditional cardio either. It drives me crazy. So I was like, my real cardio is when I'm done training, I go to the track and I lunge 400 meters. Nice.

And so it helps with all 400, 800 meters. I've done up to a mile. I did a mile. You've lunged for a mile? With a 40-pound vest. That is legit. I'll tell you what. One of my first CrossFit workouts, like back in 07, I was like, oh, I'm just going to log

onto the website. I do a workout. It was like 400 meters lunges. I was like, oh, that's so easy. 100 meters in. Yeah. I don't think it's easy because to run around 400 meters to me is like, fuck, I don't want to run around the track one time.

Jesus. Is there anything else I can do? I think that's all. 400 to 800 meters lunges, sometimes weighted. I went three quarters of a mile with 80 pound vests. I don't build your legs. A mile with a 40 pound vest. Almost five days a week, 400 meters

and I do 11, 12 minutes and knee to the ground and I'm moving. I was really dedicated for about a year of that. It made my connective tissue really strong. That must make your hips feel great. Wasn't Ronnie Coleman famous for doing parking lot lunges? He would always do 135 or 185 for 100 meters or something like that. Yeah, I've seen him do 185 to 225 for distances.

I got into that. I'm going to start doing it. I call it lunging. Monday. Again, I'm going to call it right now. I'm going to text you Tuesday. This son of a bitch is going to pull something off a bone. He's going to be hurt.

As sure as the sun's going to goddamn rise tomorrow, this guy's going to be hurt tomorrow. That's true. I basically hashtag it lunge university. And the reason why I call it that, because you're listening to guys like you. I'm listening to Robert Kiyosaki, Donald Trump. So I'm listening to my headphones while I'm lunging you. I'm listening to Robert Kiyosaki, Donald Trump.

So I'm listening to my headphones while I'm lunging. So I'm getting two birds with one stone. Because I do a podcast, too, called 13 in the Prez, and I do it with Maurice Claret. And so we talk about all kinds of stuff. He's a really unique guy. The Maurice Claret? The Maurice Claret. From fucking Ohio State? Yes, sir.

That's one of my training partners. Man, that guy's got – He's awesome. Mike's like, who's this athlete you speak of? Because I never watched American sports with the footballs. Oh, he's a star. This guy's an incredible athlete. And his story is so, he's Wikipedia that bitch.

You guys should have him on. He's awesome. Oh, I get it. That's a done deal. He'll be here today signing autographs, actually. Oh, sweet. So he's infamous and famous all in the same regards. You know, if you ever say that story.

I love him. So anyway, so I said, you know what? We've been having these amazing conversations, and I'm not taping any of it. So we started it just a couple weeks ago, and we got great feedback. And basically, I'm giving people information to use while they're doing their lunges. So anyway, so I'm on this lunge kick. People think I'm nuts, which most of the shit I do.

And it's going really well, and my metabolism is through the roof because of it. And so then when I come on a Johns thing, I'm like, well, shit, if I start squatting every day, that should help raise my test levels. And then I lunge for conditioning. I'm like, I might just be onto something. So here my ass is every morning, I get to old school and I'm taking a squat and I go triples up to a single. It takes about 20 minutes.

And I do front squat five times a week and back squat twice a week. And I never had a pair of Oles before. AJ Pappas from Reebok sent me a pair of Oles, a friend of mine. And I was like, shit, let's roll. So I do, and I never had a pair of Oles before. AJ Pappas from Reebok sent me a pair of Oles, a friend of mine, and I was like, shit, let's roll.

It's a different world. If you've been like just in regular training shoes and you've been squatting and then you throw on weightlifting shoes for the first time, it's like,

people go, should I do it? I'm like, what? So to Doug's point earlier, to be clear, this is, so you're building a high level of squatting skill

with this. You're not just crushing yourself with sets of five, five, five. You can't do it. You get the volume from the lighter things that are still harder shit but not beating you down. And then a lot of front squats, which are also a little bit easier to recover from than the back squat. Because you're not loading up as heavy because you're not that strong.

But relatively speaking, it's hard as fuck. It feels maximal. That's what matters. John says you go for what they say a comfortable max, whatever that means. But you're going for a daily max of some type of weight. And what I like about him is he's like, you know, your body lies to you. And I'm like, well, tell me, you know, it does.

He says, you know what, get to 225 and tell me how you feel. You know, like every day I walk in, I'm like, okay, day 195. And I'm like getting under the bar and I'm like, oh, I'm warming up. And then boom, PR, 350 on front squat. You're like, it happens all the time to me. I actually like calling it the technical rep max. Yeah, there you go. That makes sense.

Because I think people will recognize when their form is breaking down before. Absolutely. It may. People are forced through some pretty bad shit. It's not the one I'm going to hang my spine on the platform every day. But I have minimum weights I try to at least hit. So if I'm front squatting without a belt, I want to try to hit at least, and I do a lot of pauses I stole from Cloakoff.

Basically, I'm a mix of everybody, dude. I pull conjugate with, you know, Louie style twice a week. I'm doing John's everyday squat thing, but I do mostly pause work until the meet day. And then I go back to chucks and go wide. That's kind of been my science. Yeah, it works amazing. So whatever I can back squat in Oles, I can do a hundred pounds more wrapped up in chucks and a meat. Really? So I can back squat 455 in Oles right now. I'm about the same. It doesn't matter what shoe, it's about the same. 20 pounds. People understand

how important it is to make things harder. If you can squat more like that, don't necessarily do it. You do the thing that's harder in the gym because it's going to make the other thing grow more. Absolutely. As I was saying, the great thing about this kind of training, you're not beating yourself up with volume. No. The biggest thing people don't understand is you talk about your body will lie to you. Yeah. Fucking really amazing book, man.

I'm really impressed with The Rise of Superman. Okay. That book is so awesome because it talks about how much extreme sports athletes have pushed the limits because to do a massive jump, you have to align so closely with the state of flow. You have to master that and get to that every fucking time you jump. And the magic happens right on the edge. The problem with a lot of people in the gym is that they don't know how strong they could be. And there are tiers of lying, actually. I'm a 300-pound squatter.

I can never get to 400. You go to west side and I do 500. Or somebody else, maybe you do six, seven. There's all these tiers. We got to keep looking for ways to break through. Absolutely. So this Johns program is a great way to break the fear that will show you you can be strong. That big front squat loses its ability to scare you after a while.

Oh, dude. I mean, I'm not scared to, like, I'm going to front squat 405. I know it. It's just a matter of when 100 and then my goal was to be 198 and in pool conventional and uh raw squat 600 drug free and lifetime drug free and i think that would be a cool cool thing to do and have some upper abs so i think not lower abs no but at least upper abs but i think that those things in the volume i don't do a regular leg day anymore the volume is in the lunging so i mean and i'm get and I get to the point, I tell my athletes, I train some NFL guys, they're friends of mine.

I'm like, look, if you can go 400, 800 meters and you're not even tired, you're going to be breaking arm tackles like crazy. If you do that, your legs are probably muscular and fit as they need to be. Oh, dude, and they just put so much blood in your legs. That's actually a really common thing, especially with people in the CrossFit and weightlifting both, is there's so much just squatting, not enough lunging, period. I agree. And then you may not want to lunge

with a lot of weight. And like what you're saying, it's like use it for your conditioning. Get that blood flowing through there. That's what it is. Activate your glutes. Activate your lower back. I mean, every time I've had lower back problems,

my glutes were weak. I mean, 100%. That's another thing Louie does a lot of is most of the stuff he's doing is easy, light, high rep stuff. People don't realize that. My glutes were weak. I mean, 100%. That's another thing Louie does a lot of is most of the stuff he's doing is easy, light, high rep stuff. People don't realize that. Yeah, you lift heavy

for maybe 20% and the other 80%, yeah, it's all butt work. He's like 8 to 15 reps at a time. And the volume is carefully regulated. Louie's not going to let you

do dumb shit in there. Everything's mathematically set so he pushes the intensity as hard as possible knowing that you're not going to do this endless sets because you think it's going to make you better. control the sets i think go out and

push that prowler to wheelbarrow the walking the the best thing is the hip squats where you just sit there and walk back and forth yeah a couple of our guys yesterday oh i loved it yeah i loved it oh it's cool so i think that that that kind of set the kind of set the stage for me then to say okay now that i've got this kind of figured out, and then I'm doing my upper body splits, usually in the afternoon or often in the morning, wherever, which is mostly golden era type stuff. You know, I still need to look aesthetic for whatever I'm doing. And then I was like, now I've got to figure out my nutrition.

Now, kind of from CrossFit, I really just dropped my grains out. But I didn't limit my calories. And I've always ate kind of high fat, like Mario DiPasquale, but I just didn't do the loads like they kind of teach in the anabolic diet. So I really just said, you know what? I'm going to eat fruits, veggies, meat, eggs, all the basic stuff. And then when I feel like shit, I'll just have a cheat meal, but that could be a month. It just depends. You know, I mean, when I'm at events like this and stuff, I'm not as careful, but you know, so I just basically had set myself some guidelines. And as I squat and lunged and didn't cheat as often, my weight started coming from like 95 and I'm like, I'm getting ready for this fitness RX photo

shoot that just came out as my hundred, it documented my documented my first hundred days of squats. And I usually shoot it like one 70, one 75. Well, I'm like one 87 and I'm looking like way different. And I'm like, damn, got some going. Yeah. So I shoot at one got some going yeah so I shoot at 184 not only do I shoot at 184 squat 405 and always in the in the shoot which I was barely if I could walk into a shoot in the old days I mean I'd be peeled but I was a mess wow so here I am my performance is good I'm looking good enough to still be on the cover and I'm 14 pounds heavier than my last shoot which is a shitload for a drug-free guy. From a lower body perspective. It's too good to be true.

You'd pay a lot of money to get that from a bottle. Dude, of course, right? You're squatting. You're front squatting five days a week, back squatting twice a week. Yep. Pretty heavy. Yeah. Low reps.

Yeah, low reps. Triples up to a single, then I go on. So you just work up to a triple or to a single, and then you don't do drops or sets. Now, John talks about doing back off sets. I don't really do those. That's kind of where my change is because then I'm going to something else. So, like this morning, for instance. So, he wouldn't say go do 400 meters of lunges.

No. That's like you replace that volume, the drop sets with the lunges. He's not adding that part to the lunges. A lot of crosswords make the mistake of adding things to more things. So, you've got to be taken out with something else. You've got to remove sometimes. Yeah. That's like my version of it, basically.

So, if someone wanted to like, hey, I'm going to try this out, you just work up to a heavy single, heavy triple. Really quickly, too. 20 minutes. 20 minutes, you're moving. And then you go do your lunges. Yeah, it's not that bad. And then you got upper body day.

So like a lot of people, if they don't have to, like I have a little gym everywhere I look, so my story's a little bit easier than that. But you got, most of the people will do lunges in the gym, maybe 10 minutes and then go to their split. So if they're at 30 minutes and then they go 30 minutes on chest or back or whatever they're training that day.

So the way I set it up is I go, if we pool, I'll usually stay and pool at the gym. And I'll usually, like I had a dude, a bunch of PRs lately. I mean, I just pulled 495 standing on three mats, conventional, which is a good pull for me. And then front squat at 375 this morning, which is a PRs lately. I mean, I just pulled 495 standing on three mats conventional, which is a good pull for me. And then front squat at 375 this morning, which is a PR for me.

So, I mean, I'm just, as John likes to say, I mean, I'm really crushing PRs, dude, all over the place. And it's been consistent. How many hours a day are you training? I would say total maybe an hour and 45 minutes. So you don't have to, I mean, you're not going to the CrossFit Games.

Those guys are having to train like six hours a day to stay competitive, but that's amazing. I mean, you have what most people want. Yeah. Strong and look good at the same time. I think you can fit it in, in a shorter period of time,

but because I have a lunch break that a whole cruise training, I take longer, but really I think I could fit it in an hour and a half if I really had to. It's that I'm doing accessory work, extra, extra GHD work, extra sled work just because I can. You do that before or after your lunges? After.

So everything, so I try to do, and I don't eat breakfast before I train either. I don't do it just because of some science thing. I just feel better when I don't eat and train. So literally, I like to go in on, I take my salt, which is our product. I drink some water. Boom, I'm right in the gym, right to the squat rack. That's why one of the things I'm kind of popular for right now is my Snapchat, which I don't know if you guys are on that or not, but I get up every day.

Terrible at using it. Yeah. That's my hardest social media to use. Yeah, so I get up, and I usually try to say something motivational, and then I say, now wake your ass up and get to the gym. And then I get to the gym, and I got these kids hitting me up, all this stuff, and it's like I'm kind of like their alarm clock. I'm up at 4am every day. So by whoever they get up and they kind of, and I had so many kids come to the booth and

say, dude, it's so motivational. I'm laying, feeling like a mess in my bed. And most of them are college kids too. So who knows what they're getting into? And then I look at yours and you've already, it's two hours later, you've already squatting. You're yelling at me to get the hell up. And it's just one of those things like I've kind of got into, but it's a mentality of no matter how I feel that John says your body lies to me, I'm right to the rack, bro. And I'm ready to get it.

Nice. I love it. Yeah. So that's cool. Fantastic. Shit. Yeah. See,

we were, when we, when you guys first talked to me, he's like, Hey, you know, we can talk about muscle for him a little bit. I was like,

well, we'll talk about it, but I want to talk about training. Yeah. Well, I think you've got, you got also all thinking like, what can we

incorporate into our experiments on ourselves? No, I'll tell you what. I got a feeling you and I are going to be

talking about training for a while. Dude, it's unbelievable. I'll tell you what, my lower back has never

physically felt this strong before. I mean, I was like a 425 conventional puller. It was awful. I pulled in chucks because

that's what Louie told me to do. I was a much better sumo guy, but I put Oles on. I saw in chucks because that's what Louie told me to do. I was a much better sumo guy. But, you know, I put ollies on. I saw Dimitri. You're pulling ollies too. Oh, wow. It makes it harder. Well, but it does it for me, though. I feel so much

faster on the bottom like crazy. Like, it jumps off the floor for me. Not 500 pounds to jump off the floor, but like, I did 405 for 10 reps and it just seems like it just, boom, boom. I have a smoothness to it. And I stance is as close frog stance okay i pull with uh my heels almost touching wow it's unbelievable with the olympic shoes with the olympic shoes quarter heel or a half inch the full lifters so yeah wow that's probably the most unique thing you've said out of

all of your training dude i feel like your training secrets so my quad i don't know if it's because it's that's what i. I'm thinking this guy's got probably a quad that's working here. When I line up and I go to pull in the Oles, it's like I'm working right off my VMO and just boom and it just feels like it jumps off the ground. Like a cold spring down there. When I would get in chucks, it just felt like shit.

I mean, I could never get comfortable. So literally, I'll probably pull 550 at my next meet in Oles, close stance, and it's a hundred and some pound difference than my old convention. I feel like I want to watch him snatch. Do you do any ollie lifting? I just started. So, I just cleaned 275 the other day with John.

I never even know how to do a hook grip. I mean, I'm really, like, novice at it. You're novice at that. Yeah. So, John comes in and I'm like, dude, I try to pull off, or I try to do cleans on blocks. Is John here? Yeah, he is. Oh, I haven't seen him at all.

Yeah, he came by the booth yesterday. So he came in early. You should go talk to him. Yeah, no, absolutely. You'll probably love it. He came in and he came to the muscle farm gym and then he just got off the plane. I was like, dude, I was like, man, I tried to like clean 225 the other day and I was trying to use a hooker and it just fell out of my hand.

I'm like, I know I'm doing it wrong. Oh, yeah. So he comes over and a lot of people, because I'm pretty vast in my training, they just expect me to know, but I never really mess with that world at all. It's wrong. Oh, yeah. So he comes over. And a lot of people, because I'm pretty vast in my training, they just expect me to know. But I never really mess with that world at all. It's a different world, man. He's teaching me, grinding it in, and mostly this hand. So I take 245, and I clip it, and I'm like, pow, pop it over my head.

And he's like, shit, dude, what's your clean max? I'm like, it's like 265. I fucking missed 275 15 times probably. He's like, dude, I fucking smoked it. I caught it high. And I was like, oh, shit. I mean, if you're deadlifting that amount, 275 15 times probably. He's like, you're going to, dude, I fucking smoked it. I caught it high. And I was like, oh shit. I mean, if you're dead lifting that amount, 275 clean should be easy. So then I was like, fuck it, put 300 on.

And I caught it in the bottom, but I didn't have a belt on. I usually, I don't know if I should or shouldn't, but I only have a power belt. It'd probably get in the way more than anything. But I caught it. Yeah, it's probably, maybe this fucking guy probably cleans 400. If you just get right. It got caught in the, it got caught kind of, I caught it kind of forward.

I was trying to rock it back into a pause squad because I knew I could get up because I do it all the time, but I couldn't get it. So I was like, no, I'm not going to let this motherfucker go back down,

but I couldn't get it through. I just missed it, but I almost did 300, yeah, the other day, which was cool. Awesome. He's got the perfect lifters mentality,

like, no, fuck this, I'm going to do it now. Yeah, John smoked 315. I mean, like, it was like, boom, you know, he talks in kilos. I'm not there yet, so I'm like, he's like trying to do it yeah john smoked 315 i mean like it was like boom you know he talks in kilos i'm not there yet so i'm like he's like probably like 140 kilos yeah it just smoked it just boom boom fast as hell it's another level of discovery for it man like this is the next thing i bought some jerk blocks dude it's a wrap oh dude we have we have mostly

weightlifting instruction yeah i'm sending you that no i think you're gonna love it yeah i love it i just want to be powerful i mean because there's another thing is every year about this time around, it starts to get warm out. I want to dunk a basketball again. That was like one of the most athletic things I feel like you can do. And so every time I start wanting to work on plyos and box jumps, and so I can't palm a basketball, so a lot of the guys throw me an alley-oop or whatever.

But every time around this year, my kid's nine years old. He thinks it's cool that his dad can still dunk a basketball. He don't care about the magazines anymore he's used to that you got this good total and you're running the business you're former core monitor you can dunk a fucking

alley-oop pass yeah fucking shit dude but you know what's so funny is yeah but check this out though Chris is like what am I doing with my life

so let me set this you know what can you tell dick jokes no fuck you yeah I got that but let me set it up though the reason why I think I'm like this is

I was a six man on my basketball team I didn't play college sports athletically I'm okay at a lot of stuff but I'm not necessarily great at anything so that's why I'm good at this stuff but I'm not I just almost went elite I got four covers shot

before they came out I was always the guy on the outside so it's one of those things where I just kind of like do a little bit of everything. I'm almost awesome at everything. Yeah. That is the goal, Chris. That's the goal, baby. No, but you know what? I enjoy it. And I look at it as a goal. You know, it gets me off the couch, man. Cause I need to be, I need to be like focused on something. And if I don't, here's where I struggle. And I think a lot of people struggle, maybe this, if I don't have something set, I'm wandering, man, I don't do very good. One, I get upset with myself too. I'm not very productive. I mean, my low end production is still pretty high, but I mean, I just not focused and I can't stand it. So if you don't pick the

challenge or pick the event or pick the personal, I have to, I got to do this. You plan everything off that. That's the pump that drives your progress. And it all starts in the gym first. And then the rest of it falls. So if I come in the gym, and I don't have to have a PR every day, but if I have my goals set up like I want to front squat, back squat this, I want to dunk, I want to do this, and I'm working towards that, it seems like the rest of my business just flows, man, because I'm just tuned in.

And then I feel like I'm doing it at 5 in the morning. If you want to compete, not compete against me in weightlifting, but in my business, you've got to get a jump. You better get the hell out of bed or you're not going to catch us. I mean, we feel strong about what we're doing. Muscle farm doesn't sleep. I mean, I mean, it was cool. I mean, early, early in this interview, uh, you mentioned something about like Arnold being inspiration, like when you were younger. And, uh, that was one of the reasons we're all here. Yeah, of course. It was because we've been coming here since 2007. It's like we're all here. Yeah, of course. It's because we've been coming here since 2007.

It's like, we're all kids. 2002 or whatever, I came out first. Arnold was like a big piece of inspiration for all of us. For everybody. Yeah. First thing I ever did. First thing I ever did, concrete weights, my fingers through in my buddy's backyard, Arnold presses.

The first fucking exercise, the first exercise I ever did. I'm like, what do I need? Giant shoulders. Well, do that. Arnold presses. Do that. Do that. That's how you get them. Absolutely.

It's so simple. So it's like, it's funny. I mean, this guy like inspires everybody. All of us, we were younger and we all come here. We're all doing something in fitness. And I think he's like the guy that made it go, made it real. Oh, dude. He's such an OG.

If that guy can make a successful career out of being a fitness dude. Oh, dude. It was like, I may not do exactly what he's doing, but he kind of paved the way. I only now fully appreciate it. We all grew up watching fucking Predator going, please, Lord, one day, let me fight the Predator. We all had those fucking. I would have jacked in the jungle. I only now appreciate that this is a guy born as an Austrian farm boy.

Dude, his story is unreal. I won't say nobody, but just a small farm boy. And that vision to see, kind of like what you're saying, you've got to see what direction you could go. And every day remind yourself that you can do it. If you're not doing the every day reminding, strengthening your mind thing, probably the most important reps you're going to do. Yeah, I your mind thing. Out of sight, out of mind. Probably the most important reps you're going to do. Yeah. I'll tell you what about Arnold is what's so cool is obviously we signed a deal with

Arnold, which no one thought they could ever do. And so I'll tell you the story about it. It's pretty phenomenal. So I'm literally on the golf course, which I love golf. I'm not that good at that. I'm trying to get better at it. So now I'm thinking like, I know you're fucking full of shit. Your definition of not quite good is probably. I'm not a scratch. That's what I want to be. So let's put it that way. So anyway, I'm on a golf course and then we're in Phoenix and it's snowing.

First of all, I'm pissed because it's like this time of the year and I'm going to Phoenix to be warm and it's snowing. So we're sitting around and one of our investors goes, Hey, you think you'd want to work with Arnold? We're all looking at each other like, what the fuck are you talking about, dude?

Oh no. Yeah. I'm like, so how, tell me the deal. He's like, well, my sister's married to Tom Arnold, the actor. Like, how random is that? He's like, he'll call him for you. So his last name's Arnold, and Arnold's first name is Arnold.

It's a wrap, dude. It's a wrap. We're in. So he says, you know, we're doing like 70 million in sales at the time. We got a lot of momentum. He's like, I'll call, you know, Tom. He puts him on the phone right there. Tom says, I'll call Arnold, see if he'll meet with me with you guys.

So I'm thinking, oh shit, snowing in Phoenix, which is random as hell. And we're, you know, maybe have a connection with Arnold. So they set up the meeting and we, you know, we, we basically put the Arnold series together before we even met with them. I had the bottles. They look like to us, we look like, we feel like we're Nike and we feel like that's the Jordan brand. If you look at it like that, if you look at the way the logo is done, that's the jump man is Arnold's, you know, iconic pose. And so the branding, as you can see,

we set it up like that. So I knew he was being impressed with that part because it looks gangster as hell. But the key was Arnold comes in the room and we're in his office in Santa Monica and it's like movie posters and a life-size Terminator and do total like shell shock. Like I'm in Arnold's office and he's about to go there. It's unbelievable. Right. So I'm sitting in there and you're just waiting on them, you know, and, and I wasn't really that nervous though. And I'll tell you why, because I feel like I've been working my whole life for an opportunity like this. I am not coming out of this room without being fucking Arnold Schwarzenegger's business partner. Cause I'm not going to get this shot again. You got one chance to not, you know, drop the fucking ball, basically. Yeah.

So Arnold rolls in and he goes, he says, you know, hello, hello, whatever. And he goes, so why am I doing this? And he just shuts up. You're thinking, oh, fuck. The OG of all OGs just said, you know, it's time for you to. And I said, and I started, I led with this because I've always lead with training lead with training i said man i'm tired of watching kids text in the gym they don't super set they don't know shit about the golden era and i said i believe that if you trust us with me especially us with our your fitness likeness i'm gonna rejuvenate it all i'm gonna bring back

the hard training i'm gonna teach people how to eat we're gonna go get the files from pumping iron we're gonna re you know put them back out there I said I think we can make some real dynamic stuff happen and he kind of just started I could tell I got his attention and so I was doing something with bodybuilding.com at the time and I had a trailer for this get swole plan that got kind of popular on bodybuilding.com and so I was like hey

here's kind of like some of the stuff we do so he takes my laptop and he's looking at it and he goes I see you have some porn here yeah so I get to, I go to kind of get it and he kind of like says, sit down. I'm still watching. And I'm like, all right, cool. So he's engaged, you know? And then, uh, some of the guys said, look, we're already selling in a hundred countries. They start hitting with the business, which obviously he's a

businessman too, but he's engaged in the fitness big time. I can see it. He's not, he's not posing. He cares a lot. He cares. And he, and once he's in, he's in. And so he goes, you know, he's talking, he's asking me some more questions. And then I was on the cover of fitness RX with my kids that month randomly. It was the first time it had ever really been done. I got three of my kids hanging off of me. It's a, it was a really cool issue. One of the investors had bought it at the airport. I didn't even know he throws it to Arnold in the middle of the meeting. And this is what the alignment of the circumstances is nuts. Unbelievable right so Arnold looks at me and goes this is really cool and

obviously in his accent I go well when you say that it's even extra freaking cool right so and what was really cool was he opened it up and it was all done at old school so it's a retro 1970s gym so he's getting the feel of really big time and so you know what he put his glasses on.

He's looking through the magazine. Arnold wears glasses? He did at that time. I've never seen him do it again. I thought he had a red mechanical eye. Yeah, he does. He's like, zzz, zzz. Hold on, my eye.

His fucking eye. Come on, Corey. I can't see the zzz. He's looking through it, and I can just tell I got him engaged. And he's definitely feeling what we're talking about. And we started hitting him with more and more business, and I could just see him feeling it. And the coolest part was he pulls out this poster.

So I'm sitting from me to you, Mike, away, and he pulls out a poster, and it's like a pull-out thing of an ad thing for me. And he goes, your abs kind of remind me of Frank Zane's a little bit. You're like, holy shit. What did you say? That's a compliment. What the hell is going on in my life right now? Man,

you really impressed me. And your abs look like Frank Zane's. How do you do it? And I was just like, he's fucking sitting there going, my mind is fucking melting and coming out of my nose. Yeah, it was,

it was unbelievable. And so, you know, once we got off that and i think he realized like i could talk his language he you know i do all the interviews with him like he knows i know the deal on that stuff right and he's been like that ever since that day the guys in the business got you know my partner brad's unbelievable business guy they got all the numbers done literally we got we walk out of there and i looked at brad i'm I'm like, oh, it's a wrap, dude. I think we got it. 20 minutes later, he called and said he's in.

Nice. And so that was really cool. And he told us before we left, when I open my Rolodex, and it's a big one, it's serious, and I'll be in. And I'll be engaged, and I'm excited. I want to be involved in the process of the flavoring and what we put out and the training. And you can interview me, and you just tell me what you need. And it's really like that, dude. Holy shit, man.

He came to old school. He came to old school. He came to old school. I interviewed him for an hour and a half. I just released it on bodybuilding.com. It's unbelievable. Oh, wow. I'll embed that in there. I was checking that out the other day. Yeah. I saw it. I saw it post up. Yeah. Unbelievable. Yeah. So, I mean, yeah. So Arnold's a G dude. And when you, here's what I take away from Arnold. Anytime I'm around him, your brain just goes like this. Cause if you don't, you know, he's accomplished so much

in his life, in his vision. He talks about it constantly, creating that vision and seeing it and feeling it and knowing what it is. And I just try to follow suit.

You're doing it every fucking day of your life. Every day, bro. You do it. Every day. Every moment of it to remind yourself

what really matters to you and how you're going to get it. Dude, 15 years ago, I was selling programs to get in. That's not a lot of time. to get into the Arnold. Yeah. I would. Yeah. You're the guy at the door. I'm the guy at the door selling programs. I'm like, yeah, no, I don't want to buy a program. Go away. So, I mean, I'm that kid and I'm thinking, man, I just can't wait to get in the expo after I get this free expo ticket. I mean,

I could have paid 10 bucks, but I mean, I was trying to get the experience. What year was that? 2000. 2000. Okay. We started coming in 2007. I remember my first exposure to Expo Hall. I was like, what the fuck? I was in shock, man. There are so many hot chicks here. Awesome. Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, that was like, if you want to increase your testosterone once a year. And a lot of bad protein bars, too. Yeah, yeah. Especially in 2007. He got really excited and really stopped up. Yeah. That's what it was unbelievable so i mean that experience was experience was cool man i mean that's why when i talked to jim lormer he had

no clue when we signed up for the diamond sponsor and just signed arnold a couple years ago and i told him the story he's like asked lucy who's been with him forever and she's like i remember cory i remember he's like so you got one of our your starts here i'm like yeah man it was a big it was a big deal for me it's awesome it's pretty cool being a local guy. I mean, this is just a big deal in general. So, you know, so yeah,

so that's, it's been a wild ride, man. Where do you see the Arnold classic going in the next five, 10 years? Cause the thing that impresses me is that this has been going on a long time. Yeah. And this thing is,

keeps getting bigger. Yeah. There's fencing. There's just everything in here. It's international. What's the next step for this? That's where they're growing. Like I'm going to Arnold Australia next week.

Um, you know, they got Brazil, they got for this? That's where they're growing. Like, I'm going to Arnold Australia next week. You know, they got Brazil. They got South Africa. They're going to Malaysia. So Arnold is a good example. Arnold says, I'm going to have the biggest event on the planet, fitness-wise. Now let's do it on every continent. So are they going to have weightlifting and gymnastics at each one of these?

I think that's what they're heading towards. And you guys may not know this, but Arnold is actually my favorite weightlifting meet every year. Oh, that's cool. We've been coming since 2007. Most years, almost every year, I've competed or coached. Sweet. Sometimes both. I think it's one of the events that gave it a lot of initial, more juice in the new pop culture of fitness.

Like it's coming back quickly because it got its foot back in the door here and it was right alongside Strongman and everything else. Yeah. And it was a really great, well-run event every fucking year. Yeah. Awesome. Well, thanks for joining us. Dude, come on, man.

I couldn't wait. I love hearing your story. It's amazing. I'm still going, I could ask all this, but no. Yeah, I was going to say, I think we're going to be talking training for- Yeah, dude. I'll come on whenever you guys want. I'll have to.

I love it. Here's to now, baby. Yeah, this is I'll come on whenever you guys want. I'll have it. I love it. Here's from now, baby. Yeah, this is great. Yeah. I really, at the end of the day, like, I want people to know, like, I live and breathe the gym. I love it.

It's my passion. I can't get enough of it, and I'm passionate about helping people. So, like we talked about, if you follow me on social media, at MusclePharmPrez on Instagram or Twitter, I'm leading with training.

I want you to get better, and that's when I see these kids come up to me and tell me their squat went up or this and that. I love it. What's your Instagram? People need to follow your stuff.

Muscle Farm, Prez, P-R-E-S. Both of them are. Instagram and Twitter, both. I'll have one more. I have one more. What do you tell the kid right now who's thinking, I want to so desperately be a coach? People are telling me, just get a fucking job and go to school, do whatever. But I believe in this.

But they don't feel like anybody's on their corner to back them up. What's the quickest, punchy thing you can say to them that they need to take away from this? You got to find out. I really went towards my passion. I mean, 100%. But it didn't just jump right to – I think there's so much instant gratification. Like, they see rap videos, and I watch all those too,

but you can't have the Bentley overnight. People don't realize it took me 15 years to get here. I mean, it is a long time, but it isn't, right? Starting with $20 an hour. It's a lot longer than people want it to be. They don't want to put the time in. After you've done the 15 years, you go, wow, a lot happened in that time. There's no way it could have happened faster.

You see that after the fact. I wanted it to happen faster. When you're the kid and you see the guy that's doing it, you go, I want that tomorrow. You've got to put in years and years and lots of mistakes. I didn't even get the muscle't happen. You've got to put in years and years and years. And lots of mistakes. I didn't even get the muscle farm opportunity to why I was in business for 10 years. There you go.

That's it. Plain and simple. Keep pushing, baby. Keep pushing. You might not even be ready for the opportunity. It comes when you're ready. And then you've got to be able to recognize the situational awareness. It's a big deal.

Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes people, yeah. I've gotten in situations where it's like, man, I'm glad this didn't happen a year ago. Yeah, agreed. Because it's like, there's no way I would have been, after the situation happens, I'm like, I would not have been ready back then. It's hard, but you got to keep that in mind, too, when you feel the acute heartbreak of the thing not working out now. That's a lesson that's going to fuel the next thing that needs to happen.

Yeah, absolutely. I appreciate the time, guys. I started to listen to you guys lately, and I was really hyped to be on here today. Dude, we loved having you on. It was great. We're going to have to do a part two. There's going to be a lot of people going, hold on, man. Tell me more about exactly what you're doing.

There's going to be some more questions. And also just give people a little bit more insight to what MusclePharm is, that it is a griminess to it, and some people might just not know that. Sweet, man. Thanks for joining us. Thanks, guys. Make sure to go to barbellshrug.com, sign up for the newsletter. Head over to iTunes.

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