Barbell Shrugged - 500 Days of Squats w/ Cory Gregory - EP 188

Episode Date: July 29, 2015

This week on Barbell Shrugged, we catch up with Corey Gregory as he approaches his 500th day of squatting every day. Hey, this is Rich Froning. You're listening to Barbell Shrugged. For the video version, go to barbellshrugged.com. You're getting off the floor. Getting it moving is always the key for sure. We'll be right back. called that weight? What is wrong with that guy? That's funny. But it's like five pounds too much. He does look like an asshole when he does it. I just can't believe him. Welcome to Barbell Strugged. I'm Mike Bledsoe standing here with Doug Larson, Chris Moore, CTP behind the camera in Charlotte. We're standing here with Corey Gregory,

Muscle Farm president. What's up? The man. He's back. Yeah, we're standing here at Venice Beach, Muscle Beach. Look at that view, man. Muscle Beach. Oh, man. We got some heavy squats in earlier. Yeah.

I've never gotten to train here. I've seen it a couple times as I was here for other things. A couple times. You grew up, if you're like most people, I have never been here. Yeah. Ever. Really? First time?

I can't believe it. Yeah. I've never been here. And you did squats? The first time. Yeah. Hell yeah. But I came here my first time when I can't believe it. Yeah, I've never been here. And you lived here the first time. Yeah, hell yeah. But I came here my first time when I was 15. I remember I just started weight training,

and I remember watching all these ginormous dudes lifting. And it really stuck out in my mind. It's cool to come back and train here. For those that don't know, Corey, you can riff on this too. This is pretty much the epicenter of the explosion of the golden era of physical fitness and bodybuilding. Absolutely. I'd say United States, but really that was the explosion of the golden era of physical fitness and bodybuilding absolutely i'd say united states but really that was the start of it period everywhere all the way around i mean you figure you talk the original venice golds or muscle beach it doesn't get much better

than that and so every muscle head that even knows who arnold is wants to come here and train i feel like so yeah it doesn't matter if they take care of it or not. When you get here, you can't wait to train. It's awesome. There are still people in this world who have not seen Pumping Iron. It's hard for me to believe that. I found that out this morning. I was leaving the house. I'm like, man, we're going to Venice Beach.

And I said something about something. And my wife was like, what's that? I go, oh my God. You have to watch Pumping Iron before I get home tonight. Or else it's over. Not just because all the awesomeness of the lifting

because it was one of those big, I'll use the term tipping point, but it's when the public started really becoming aware of, wow, muscle, bodybuilding,

and then it's one, it's like the CrossFit revolution but it happened a long time ago that ushered in a big awareness change what people thought of when they thought of lifting and muscle and fitness.

Yeah. Well, last time we had Corey on the show, it was at the Arnold. Different climate last time. Yeah. Yeah, we were in the freezing cold in Columbus, Ohio at the Arnold Classic at the Arnold Sports Festival. We had a great time there, and we really enjoyed having you on, so you were coming back?

Hell yeah. You came over to the West Coast so we uh decided to come and hang out here and do some heavy squats for people that don't know you arnold is a buddy of yours and a business partner absolutely yeah we did a deal with arnold uh i'm the co-founder of muscle farm for y'all that don't know and we started working with arnold about almost two years ago and so yeah i come here pretty frequently now and not do i just get to come here i get to go and hit up arnold go to his house go to his office it pretty cool. I'm just dragging a little bit. Sorry.

And actually, speaking of Pumping Iron, you've seen more than just the edited down full version that we've all seen. You've seen a lot of behind the scenes. I'm sure there was like dozens and dozens or hundreds of hours of footage that never made it into a two-hour movie. Yeah, there's some unique stuff in there. I'm on a handful of people that have seen every take that's ever been taken of Pumping Iron, all the tests. I mean, everything, everything that, and there's some really random stuff in there.

Like, you're going through, like, whoa, I know why this didn't make the movie. I mean, it's, you know, they were, for a little while, they were trying to figure out what that movie really was because a lot of people were, it was such an obscure thing. These guys just bodybuild and lay on the beach and compete overseas. You remember, because the contests weren't just america though they're going all over the place

all of us like boxing heavyweight boxing at that time so it's really kind of a unique thing and so you're seeing as they're kind of molding it and you're going through and you're thinking man if just the rest of the world could see this it's pretty it's pretty wild so i heard they heard they were recording it and they still they didn't know what they even what it was going to be for the people who were filming it you can see it too in the takes they really didn't know what it was going to be for the people who were filming it. You can see it, too, in the takes. They really didn't know where the focus was, except for they knew Arnold was their star, and they knew that early. And really, between this place and that movie and the original Venice Golds,

it became a bazillion-dollar industry, but it really started here. And so it's pretty cool to stand here with this behind us, see my logo over there with Arnold on the side of this building. That's legit. It's pretty crazy. Not a bad double bicep pose. It's pretty damn crazy, you know, and so, yeah, it just pinched me sometimes. I think a lot of people, they see Arnold Schwarzenegger and they think, well, he's a bodybuilder and he's a movie star and so he's famous,

but they don't realize or they don't think about it in the same way that i think people that that know arnold or they they know his his history before movies um think about where he really is probably like the reason people lift weights in america like that's how lifting weights became a thing yeah basically like it happened in small circles and whatnot but like mainstream people just lift weights that's just what that's just what guys do yep that's that is because arnold made it cool arnold like basically took it from an obscurity to like, almost like a weird thing. Like, why do you want to have such big muscles? And that's what really was going on at that time to make it cool. And really what people don't, they might know this about Arnold, but I really know it. He's a, he's a bodybuilder first. You want to be a movie star and a politician,

but when you talk training with this guy, it turns back to 1970. And he's really, man, it's fun when you get in a deep conversation of training with Arnold. First of all, you're like, am I really having this conversation with Arnold Schwarzenegger? But secondly, you can learn so much and you can still feel the passion. And I think that's why I wanted to work with us because I displayed that same thing back to him. I said, man, I'll revive this stuff. Let me get through the foot. He's like, let me get in there because you ain't got the time to do it.

Let me get in there. I know what I want to do with it. Student of the game. Absolutely. Would you say the big thing that comes to me through my mind when I think of Pumping Iron is mindset. The big vision he cast. Go and read the accounts of him competing. Before he stepped on

the platform, it was really just a matter of okay, let me just do my thing. I've already won it to begin with. Did he see I'm begging to question a little bit, did he see bodybuilding as a way to hop or was the fire that drove him was always there, sending it around, I'm going to be the strongest and best I could be physically?

Like, that engine of training drove all that success. He just knew that that was his way out of his current situation, and then when he realized that he could be the best, I think it took him into a whole other stratosphere. What's so cool about Arnold is that he just takes that 1 million mile an hour approach to everything. Like he said, I want to have the Arnold classic. And we talked about this last time. Once it's the biggest fitness event. Now I want to do it on every continent. He said, when we launched the Arnold line here, uh, like I said, he called me on like a Tuesday and said, we want to launch it on Friday

and make sure there's a lot of people there. And it's really cool. I'm like, Oh, okay, great. I have three days to launch the biggest thing I've ever done. Speed is implementation, baby. But he expects high level things, and he says, how much money did we do in the first year? I want it to be the greatest launch of a supplement line from start to finish in 12 months.

He just only expects greatness. That's what he does. And that's why when you hang out with him, you come past and you're like, your brain opens up, like, it's just you're thinking, what the hell am I doing with myself? Yeah, that's a lot. Like, I'll hang out with somebody who's like at the next level.

And people get complacent where they're at. You know, you go train with somebody who's at the next level or you meet a businessman who's at the next level. And you go hang out with this person. You go, oh. And you leave and like your expectations for yourself absolutely just go up skip over your expectations go straight to mine yeah yeah it's it's that's one of the biggest experience i get about dealing with him and so i feel super blessed uh multiple times a year to spend you know quality time to some degree and really kind of dig in there a little bit it's

pretty neat yeah the last time we got to hang out, you were talking about the squat every day and the lunges. You got a lot of people fired up, man. A lot of people here back in the fucking track to some lunge university. I get people that email me asking how many lunges

they should do all the time. Like, should we do 30 minutes of lunges after a squat? Should we do 22 minutes of lunges after a squat? And I'm like, I don't know, man. Just go do lots of lunges.

It's amazing how it's caught on. But I have people, yeah, like, he's getting emails. I've got people that walk up to me and Just go do lots of lunges. It's amazing how it's caught on. But I have people, yeah, like he's getting emails. I've got people that walk up to me and they go, I started doing this. I put 50 pounds on my squat in like a month. I'm like, there you go. It's amazing what happens when people get fired up to just commit to doing one thing every day.

The most basic, you know, basic lift that you can commit to. The thing is that the fitness people, for the most part, started to get scared at it over time. And the big gyms, you think the CrossFit's kind of brought it back and powerlifting obviously has always been in it. So it's like, I feel like all these people are kind of paying attention to it. Cause I get box owners, I get power lifters. I had a, a guy that worked out of Westside for a while. That's a geared lifter that said he smoked a G Shane church. He's from Canada. He smoked a G, and he followed it. Shane's a good lifter. Yeah, he did gear lifting.

He said he was having a plateau, and he just wanted to change some stuff, so he followed it. And I was like, he just smoked his last. And then we get CrossFitters that are better at their wads now, and then just fitness guys that are taking it more serious because I'm out there taking it serious. And if you're kind of in competition, you're not really, but you probably should show that you're doing leg training

because I'm, like, doing it every day. It's fundamentals. It doing it every day. It's fundamentals. It's squat every day. And another thing, we were talking about this on the way over here, is people were talking about how that's not doable. It's like they have to understand. Drugs. You're taking drugs. Well, no.

I mean, anything is doable. But what you're doing is they're thinking that they've probably done five sets of five at some point, and they think that that's what's happening when you squat every day. And that's not what's happening when you're squatting every day. No, what it is is basically the way I kind of – I waited about a year to call Louie Simmons and tell him. I think because some people kind of told him I was squatting, but I wanted to be able to explain it to him. And so he didn't really say a whole bunch except for, yeah, okay, so you're doing this.

So I said, I'm taking a daily conjugate approach. So, you know, Louie has the max effort days that are conjugate. I take every day. Once or twice a week. So, you know, Louie has the max effort days that are conjugate. I take every day. Once or twice a week. Yeah, once or twice a week. And I love the West Side Method, and I still have tons of components of it in my game, for sure. I kind of mix the Bulgarian Method and that together, and I said, today I'm going to do a front squat, pause, no belt.

That's the prescription. Tomorrow might be a front squat, pause with a belt. The next day might be just a front squat, just straight up. So it changes just enough each time that over time you might have 45 different variables of exercises just like the Russians did that then you're going against your old maxes.

That's just a straight bar. You don't need a bunch of specialty bars. You could do that too. Just changing that lift a little bit is enough to make it a different stem muscle. A lot of times people get caught up and like, I don't have a lot of specialty bars. I can't do a lot of things. But you can change

the lifts tremendously. Like you were saying, just changing your stance, changing with pauses, stuff like that. And even just from a belt or wraps, that even changes it quite a bit too because you're going to overload it more, working on your core more, not using your belt. So that's changed

a lot. Recently what I did was i said okay now i'm trying to i'm i'm like almost 500 days now so i need some new stuff so i went through a three-week wave of bands where i went a week of light bands a week of medium bands and a week of uh medium bands plus monster minis when i first heard that i'm like i want to know the details because it's a lot my first thought is like it's a lot of band squats but you didn't even throw bands in until you hit, what, like day 500, right? Yeah, like 400 at least, yeah. Yeah, I think there's like a lot of times people start throwing in bands and chains a little too early.

They see really advanced lifters doing it and they think, oh, I've been squatting once a week for a year. It's for me. After four weeks, they get a little antsy and bored and they want to switch. This is a year of every day doing one thing. And you're talking about how you kind of hit a plateau. And that's why you threw it in. You were doing what was working. It was working, working, working. Stopped working.

Then you just tweaked. And it wasn't even that it stopped working. We're going to get a tweak counter. What is it? That was a tinker. A tinker ticker. It wasn't that it stopped working, but I was like, you know what? There's got to be. I learned all this stuff from all the Westside guys like AJ and Hoff and all the guys I was around there when I would go every now and again on working, but I was like, you know what? There's got to be – I learned all this stuff from all the Westside guys, like AJ and Hoff and all the guys I was around there when I would go every now

and again on Fridays. And I'm like, there's got to be a component that I can bring into this. And I wanted to really have to work on fighting position in a front squat because I cave like most everybody does when they think they're new to it. And even though last time I said I was going to front squat 405, I did front squat 405 with a belt and wraps. I saw that. I was pretty proud of myself for that.

Coming from only doing like 200 when I started. front squat 405 i did front squat 405 with a belt wrap so i was pretty proud of myself coming from only doing like 200 when i started but anyway so i really wanted i figured if i got 200 pounds of band tension on a front rack you have to stay upright or it's going to slingshot your ass out of the rack well that the bar the bar is being yanked off your shoulders by the bands absolutely forward so we went basically one week of light band which is 70 to 100 pounds. The next week's medium is like 100 to 150, and then about 200 pounds on the third week. Now, I'm on my second week off of the band tension. Now, everyday band, just beating on you, beating on you. You kept the weight the same with the same band?

We would go for a max effort, whatever the prescription was. So if it's front squat with a pause, whatever it was. Two weeks out of that, I went from, before I started the band Tension, I was doing 405 for about a triple. I did eight last week. Now, I only did four when we were messing around over here, but that's because I flew all the way here and got here. We're like, easy, Corey. You got justified nothing, man. We're on Travel Coach.

I swear I did eight. It was on Instagram. We did a whole show on the challenges of travel training. One day we'll do a show about excuses to make when you miss lifts. The funny thing is, as long as you've been lifting, as long as we've been lifting, everybody's been lifting, you can know that, and you get on a long flight, and you're laying like, fuck, I should be as strong as ever right now.

Then you're not, and you get pissed at yourself. I was dehydrated when I got off the plane, but anyway. I had a handful of peanuts and some water. I should be good. And some coffee, which was dumb too. Yeah, I had some coffee this morning. My urine's a little bright orange or whatever, but I'm okay. But what I noticed, the biggest thing was when I took the bands off,

and everybody that's ever trained with bands, everything in the 315 feels crazy light because when you take the bar out, it's already like a grill has jumped on your back. And it's really shaking all over badly. Oh, yeah. So I feel way more sturdy. And then I started pausing on a regular basis, 405, no wraps and a belt, just sitting in there. And I'd only done that a handful of times prior.

Now it's almost a daily thing. So it raised me up quite a bit. I mean, so it was pretty exciting. I definitely can narrow squat 500. I just need to do it. I mean, I did 550 with a west side style stance at my last meet, 350 bench and a 575 deadlift at 198. So it was an elite total, but a non-sanctioned

meet but I was pretty proud of myself still. Dude, I've been doing a ton of pause squats lately. After you pause squat for a long time, you go back to just doing a regular squat where you don't have to pause at the bottom. You feel like you're cheating. It feels so easy. Well, not only that, then switch to a wide stance on top of it and have like a 13-pound bloat.

Dude. You need a burher before you go? Dude, buddy. Doug's point, if there was like one thing you were going to do that wouldn't be any harder, it wouldn't be anything different, but it would make you massively stronger and more importantly, it would make your positions way, way infinitely better. It's just spending more time holding the bar. Yeah.

Like I said, getting your set of five done as quick as possible, sitting down on the bottom and holding it in the rack and just breathing in the front squat. If you suck at holding the bar, that's going to make, getting your set of five done as quick as possible, sitting down on the bottom and holding it in the rack and just breathing in the front squat, if you suck at holding the bar, that's going to make it ten times better. Dude, absolutely. I remember you said that

earlier today, like after, what's it been, 500 days now, you've been squatting heavy pretty much every, not pretty much, every single day

for about 500 days, a year and a half. Yeah. Even on Christmas? Your position. Yes, I got a squat rack in my basement, baby. And you can comment on this,

like your position has gotten so much better by doing that every single day. It's practice. It's like, that's what's what i was gonna say so a lot of people say oh i got 50 pounds on my squat in two months i'm like because you're practicing it yeah and like a guy said when we were down our squad he's like are you scared of this weight i was getting ready to take four or five i'm like no no i'm not scared of this weight if you do it once a week or once a month that's when you're scared that's what people think though because they don't practice it

so just like anything if you just practice you get better at it you're gonna get less scared and you realize that you're going to get buried by weights i miss weights all the time i dump them guys help me whatever i just don't care anymore you feel like people get too caught up and figuring that training is a combination of mathematics and once you get a secret formula of things together click you just strength out of nowhere boom look you discovered a secret versus pong up work i've never percentage based anything so i just fucking train i was talking to the same guy and he was talking about like you know i tried the 405 once and then i missed it and i was like well fuck not

to me so he goes so i haven't tried it again i was like man you know how many times i missed 405 before i got 405 i missed it like way more times than i ever got it like you're if you're not missing weight every once in a while, then you're doing something wrong. Coach, post-hocs, not missing a lift, like a snatch or a squat, in the same session fucking 20, 30 times. Oh, yeah, yeah. Not that you want to do that, but the idea that you wouldn't keep fighting for what you want.

I mean, the old saying, you fall off the horse and never get back on, that's where progress is going to stop. You have to learn how to miss if you want to make big weights. I mean, AJ can tell you that. I mean, these guys aren't making all them weights at Westside or any of these big powerlifting gyms. And same with my guys miss weights. I have a crew of about 10 guys that is squatting every day,

and now it's even grown up to 20 at some days, and everybody's killing PRs, but we miss weights all the time. You got anything other than, I mean, obviously practice, but you got anything you will say to a guy you can see where the weight is getting in his head or any lifter where you can say, well, they are way below where they need to be. Say whatever you want to say, well, they are way below where they need to be. Say whatever you want to say. Yeah, because people fear, people see, they'll do 350 in a squat, let's say, for five reps and go, oh, okay, four, four big wheels.

Oh, my God, you haven't even gone for it. Maybe you could do that for five easy, but you won't even try one. I always tell my guys when they go up, I'm like, you got out of fucking bed to do something today. Quit being soft and just take this shit and take it aggressive and like you mean it not so not some bullshit scared like go get it we're here and if not just fucking drop it yeah yeah yeah i mean that's the one thing i like about dealing with some of the west side guys like when ramos or aj or any of these guys would come and help me at meets they would get it like before i go to take

a 700 pound squat when i did it in gear t Tony said, they came to watch the fucking show. Show them something. Show me something. You better not fucking quit on this. And that's what rolls in my head. Like they came to watch a show and you're here. And I just feel like every day. Serving up, baby. And I just think that that's, I like, and I talked about this before. I teach this at home. When it's time to show up, you got to be a gamer. I tell my son that too. He got called up to play 12U All-Stars. I said, dude, this is your shot. He weighs 62 pounds. The kids that were pitching to him were like 5'9", 150.

But he got in the box, and he got him a single, and his confidence went. And I said, that's what happens. Gregory, show up when you got to. I mean, that's part of it. You got to cultivate that samurai warrior mentality. Absolutely. Now is the time to step up, and you do what you enjoy, and you're going to show these people why you do it and why you of it. Yeah, you've got to cultivate that samurai warrior mentality. Absolutely. Now's the time to step up and you do what you enjoy and you're going to show these people why you do it and why you enjoy it.

You've got a chance. I mean, you're not always going to perform that level. I've bombed out of meets. I've done all that. But higher percentage, I do what I'm there to do. And that's kind of the mindset for sure. Let's take a break real quick. When we come back, we're going to figure out how that guy is doing

what he's doing over there. 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.

Yo, I'm spitting. I'm spitting rhymes. Yo, yo, yo, check, check, yo. You can never be as good as that homeless guy from earlier. See right there? Well, now it's more people. We have a crowd. Oh, yo. You can never be as good as that homeless guy from earlier. See right there? Well, now it's more people. We have a crowd.

Oh, shit. I've got one fan. What are those weirdos doing up there? There's one guy taking a picture, and then everyone else on the street just stops and starts taking pictures, too. And then everyone sees a bunch of people taking pictures. There's a crowd over here. Everybody say hello to the internet. There you go.

Talking to Corey Gregory. You have, you were doing this, your 500-ish days. 470 today. 470. And we're squatting with you. Dude, we're not giving you crap for 500 until you do it. I know. You got another month.

34 days. And we keep saying 500. Approaching 500, but by the time everybody sees this, we'll be pretty close. You'll be jinxed. By the time you celebrate, everyone's going to be like, I thought I already did that. Yeah, fine. Anticlimactic. Yeah, right?

And you approach this with different phases. Can you walk us through those phases? Absolutely. So, you know, when I read about John Brose, those guys just did front squat, back squat, and it's mostly Olympic lifting. And I thought to myself, I really like the west side method, so I read about John Brose, those guys just did front squat, back squat, and it's mostly Olympic lifting. And I thought to myself, I really like the west side method, so I needed to change it up quite a bit. So phase one was mostly back squatting and really just changed.

And that's all on bodybuilding.com and on my YouTube. So all the programming is there was mostly back squats, two front squats a day or a week. So like five back squats and two front squats. Phase two, I flipped it up and like five back squats and two front squats phase two i flipped it up and went five front squats and two back squats so you got to figure in an eight week period of time like we talked about it it's so different that your body really can't you know can adapt and so i kind of went back and forth with those for really like six or eight months just kind of changing and tweaking basically shifting load from like hips and lower back to back and thoracic it's a balance

of stimuli yeah just trying to keep it different and lower back to lower back and thoracic. It's a balance of stimuli. just trying to keep it different and I suck at front squats so I need to do those more because people ask me all the time, how does my front rack get better?

I was like, do them for a month. Yeah, you got to mold your body daily in the shape basically. And so, and then recently, which I'm going to be

posting today on my YouTube is the phase three which is definitely advanced and I say it in the video multiple times, if you don't pay attention to these bands, you will eat them. You will eat this bar real quick. It will slingshot you.

Yeah, we all have. And so the phase three is all bands. So really the two big takeaways that has changed my training forever, the way I've trained, and I've trained Golden Air style. I've trained Westside. I've trained, you know, I've even went up CF level one certified. I've been to CrossFit boxes. Is that squatting on a daily basis.

One makes you mentally tougher. Yes. Not every day you want to squat heavy. No, but I make myself no matter how shitty I feel. If I feel real shitty, I just warm up longer and I take something, you know what I mean? And so, and like John says, if you touch the bar, it's a plus. And if you don't, it's a negative. I mean, so I think that's unbelievable, right?

Not every day has to be an all-out victory. Yeah, you find out a lot about yourself in this process, because there's a lot of things that are really that tough anymore. That makes you tough, there's no doubt. But in the four to five days a week of 400 meters minimum lunges, and I know a lot of your group is CrossFitters. I went back to the box recently a few days a week, and the guy, Dennis Capps, who runs our box at Granville,

always forward, he's like, he's like, man, I only think you lost about 15 or 20% of your conditioning. Now, mind you, I haven't been to the box in a year. All I've been doing is lunging and squatting. I don't run. I don't do any of that stuff. You're hitting people's big fear. They feel like if they focus on strength, they'll lose everything they've gained. And a lot of CrossFitters I've talked to are like,

you know what, sometimes it's easier to go from being a strong guy to getting in condition, especially if you're keeping some condition rather than being all conditioned and trying to get strong. So I don't know, I feel like I went back and my endurance and my legs was crazy. My heart was a little rough, don't get me wrong, but

like any of the positions was much better so I really a thousand percent think you can go and squat if you go 15 minutes early to your box and then do the prescribed workout of the day. It will work. Especially if you're keeping the volume low. Absolutely. You're not going to squat to do five sets of five heavy.

No. Work up to a heavy single and then go do your one. Then you're done. That's it. It actually pairs really well with CrossFit because you can control the work you're doing really carefully. Absolutely. Look, I go in, take the bar, take a plate. Most of the time, I don't even take a quarter. I'll take a 225 for a triple and then 275, 315, 365, 405, done. I mean, and if it's

front squat, it's lower. So really, unless you have a huge crew, if you're really just a couple people, you're done in 20 minutes. So I feel like I'm not going to have time to do anything else. How am I going to get my arms in? I'm like, it's okay. So in that example, you just, you basically just went up by, by relatively big jumps and then just cut it off once you got to your last jump. Like how many days are you like, I don't know, you guys want to put tens on each side or you want to put fives on each side, you want to put this change on each side. Like you just don't do that. I just don't do it. I'm actually trying to get, do you feel really, really good? You're trying to hit like that, that, that, that perfect number.? You're like, I'm at 495.

I'm going to try five more pounds. Yeah, absolutely. I do do that. If I'm prime and I'm going to hit 440 instead of 450 because I ain't got 450 in me, so yes. But those smaller weights, I don't mess around with them. I'm trying to get to where I can make plate jumps. I want to be able to go 35, 225, right to 405. Is this your power to the background?

That's right. Yeah, yeah. If you go to Westside Barbell or any gym I know this very well if you reach for anything other than

a 20 excuse me a pound plate 45 pound plate or a 20 kilo plate they don't even take quarters or a 25 pound plate

if you reach for anything else you're going to have a problem you stack all twice you go to a plate

two plates three four five six seven eight nine ten I actually have a mini Westside story I'd like to share with you guys

so Tim Harold which I talked about last time is the one that took me to West Side on a Friday. AJ's laughing in the corner. Monster man. So they got this guy named Gritter there. Oh, Jesus. AJ's laughing his ass off. This guy's name says it all.

Yeah, he looks real fucking mean too, right? So Louie's like doing something. He's not even paying attention. He told me I could come or whatever. So Gritter's like, jump on there, right? So I already know like doing something. He's not even paying attention. He told me I could come or whatever. So I go. So Gritter's like, jump on there. Right. So I already know I'm fucked. And first of all, at this point, I don't have a monolith at my gym and I don't even know

how to set the bands up. So I think I have the band set up right. But I definitely don't. The loop at my gym is like this, not a west side like this. So I, one, I've never squatted without a mirror in front of me. I know. Yeah. This is like 2008, right?

And a monolith. And tight bands. And the model of anti-band. And the first time at Westside. So I take the bar out. The fact that you were there is amazing. Yeah, I wiggled my way in there. So I take the bar out with the band tension, and I'm like, holy fuck. It's like 250 pounds.

I thought I was doing something right. So all of a sudden, I box squat it for double plate, double plate. Take 315 plus blues I come out of it and he goes that's the worst fucking squat I've ever saw in my life, where the fuck they find you at I'm like, freaking

dude, so I just fucking I was looking for a coaching cue you son of a bitch it's like you fucking suck so I kind of like stand over in the corner. And then there's no quarters. They take, so I'm at 405 plus a 50, 560 pound bar or whatever. So it's like 415 plus 200 pounds of bands on like a 12 or 13 inch box.

First time I've ever been there. So I fucking sit down. First of all, I take it out and he's like, hold. And my lower back's just like pulsating. Hold, hold. It's like the front just like pulsating. Like, hold, hold. It's like the front lines of a battle. Hold, hold. And I'm just thinking, don't break in half.

So I sit down, and I fucking like good morning this. I don't know how I got. So I get through the weight. You bust every blood vessel in your face. He's just like, this is fucking awful. I don't even know who the fuck let you in here. What the fuck? I mean, he's saying so much shit to me. I feel like I'm in,

I got the worst high school football coach ever of all time just in my fucking groin. I'm a grown man now, so I'm like, what the fuck is this? This guy weighs like 150 pounds. He's just mean as shit. So finally he goes, take it all. We're starting over. So here I go back again, fucking bar with the Banshee. He makes me work all the way back up while I get smashed by 405 the second time.

And so finally I'm like, I'm fucking beat down. We'll be here all day. We'll be here all day, kid. Probably took like 20 minutes and you're already just spent. So I get through it and I go home and then I come back next Friday and I walk in and he goes, Oh shit, I thought I scared you away. What are you doing this time? He was super nice to me.

He just tried to fucking break me you hear people like CrossFit gyms talk about I have central nervous system fatigue from my training they're like

oh come on man you haven't been screamed at by Gritter oh dude by Gritter have you trained with Gritter Gritter yelled at me one time I was squatting with Jesse Burdick

safety squats and I went for a weight it was about 600 I missed and he just looks at me and Jesse fucking smashed it and Gritter looks at me and goes why the fuck did you miss that weight and he walked away disappointed I go It was about 600. I missed. And he just looks at me. And Jesse fucking smashed it. And Jager looks at me and goes, what the fuck did you miss that weight? And he walked away disappointed.

I go, that was pretty fucking heavy, I thought. Yeah. He gets a cat and failed. But it's like that old style hardcore. And I'll never forget that. And there's always tons of these stories from Westside. I mean, I was only able to go there from time to time. But I had some pretty funny experience.

I mean, guys would come up and be like, you better fucking get this. You're a Westside. I'm like thinking this is like a different world, right? I love it though. I fucking love it. Let's talk about the winners that are around you. First half of the show, we're talking about this. Who are you being surrounded by?

What is the stimulus? Are you around people who are going to draw something out of you that you don't think is there? You're going to find that in a place like Westside where it's like you're going to get really strong or you're just going to find a way to go do something else. You're not going to want to be here. It's going to happen or it's not going to happen. I really only probably went there to train maybe 10 times total, but the amount that I learned in those 10 small, just by driving an hour

from my house to go out of the way to learn from AJ and any of the guys that would just help. I thought you guys would like that story. I got hazed. I think I've been to Westside maybe five times now and every time I go, I'm more comfortable. It feels uncomfortable. The first time I went was, I think it was 2007. We went there for a weight.

We were at the Arnold Classic, and we were going to do the weightlifting meet there, but we were like, Chris was like, yeah, we'll go to Westside, and I'm like, oh, jeez. I'm a weightlifter. I don't belong here. That's surprisingly not the vibe at all. And then the first time, I'm like real timid, and now I walk in, I'm like, oh, this is great. That's surprisingly not the vibe at all. And then, you know, the first time I'm like real timid,

and now I walk in, I'm like, oh, this is great. It's a lot of fun. Everyone's friendly. The last time we were there. It's all about how you walk in. And the last time we went in, I noticed there was a couple guys that came in just to watch. Yeah, that's not okay.

Don't do that. You're going to end up training. The whole time, all the power lifters were in the background like, can you fucking believe it? These guys just came to watch. Louie wouldn't talk to them. Louie was pissed. They were like, what's going on?

I'm like, you fucking showed up in blue jeans and just watched. That's the problem. The cool thing is last time we were there, we even had a couple of our, Alex was doing, he worked up to a heavy clean. We were doing weightlifting stuff in there for sure. I assume there's some sort of divide or powerlifters don't get it and they don't like what it's like and vice

versa. Dude, that room was packed full of powerlifters. All stuff that they're doing to make sure that Alex was motivated. Like, come on, man, let's fucking do this

shit. They created a powerlifting vibe around his clean attempt. He actually fucking cleaned a PR with a deadlift bar and metal plates.

That was a magical part. That's not so easy. He likes weightlifters. He loves it. Yeah. And he likes fighting. It's not like this sil He likes weightlifters. He loves it. Yeah. And he likes fighting. It's not like this silo of we're just going to talk power thing

and we're going to try to make these methods fit. No, man, it's a great welcoming song. He loves MMA. Yeah, he loves MMA. I think a good takeaway is a mix of all this stuff is if you haven't studied Westside, you should. Yeah. And if you haven't heard of squat every day,

you should do some research on it because I've been doing this. I haven't missed a week of workouts since I was 17 years old. I'll be 37 this year. This has changed completely the way I've thought about training. And, I mean, I'm looking at 37. I'll be 40 in three years. And we talked about it earlier. I'm thinking about potentially going to Masters for CrossFit.

I'm kind of like toying with it a little bit. You can't stop yourself. You know, I always got to push myself. So that's one of the things I'm kind of looking at. And so I know that it's already helped me because I've experienced it. So you should definitely check it out, and I think it'll help you a lot. Are you saying that this is your next great challenge? Are you thinking about jumping into the fitness space?

Oh, I'm in the fitness space a little bit. I mean, sorry. Sorry. I mean, the front side. Competitive fitness. Let me rephrase. What are you talking about? I really want to get into this. No, I don't the crop site. Competitive fitness. Let me rephrase. I was like, what are you talking about? You said the business.

No, I don't talk about. Competitive. He's like, I thought I was in the fitness space. He's like, so confused. The competitive fitness crossfit. You going to do crossfit in a competition? I was on a couple magazine covers once. This doesn't count.

I don't mean good kind of fitness. I will always do powerlifting meets, but yes, I'm thinking about it. And I've got a long ways to go, but I'm starting to work that way. And I think it could be interesting. At 40, it'll be a cool challenge, I think. Sounds like Lisa, phase four and five is training to come being veiled. Oh, yeah, absolutely. Well, we're going to shut this down.

Where can people find your Instagram account? Because every morning you're posting your squats, and I think it's very motivating. And Snapchat, right? Snapchat. Everything is at MusclePharmPrez, P-R-E-S. So MusclePharm, P-H-A-R-M, and then Prez, P-R-E-S. Message him your Snapchats. I do get an awesome dose of motivation from you pretty much every day.

Thanks, man. Because you work out at like 4, 3 in the morning, which means every day when I wake up, you've been resting for hours. No, listen. I always say don't tweet about it, be about it. If I'm telling you I'm squatting every day, I'm really squatting every day, and you can fucking go look at it.

Excellent. Thank you. Everybody else, or everybody. Everybody in the world. Yeah. Go to barbellstruck.com, sign up for the newsletter, and we will send you only the coolest of information. Later. Peace.

Peace.