Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Mike O'Hearn almost signed with WWE, steroid claims, falling off stage, American Gladiators

Episode Date: August 20, 2020

Mike O'Hearn talks with Chris Van Vliet from his home in Los Angeles, CA. He talks about how he almost signed with WWE in the 90s and the reason he said no at the last minute, his career as a bodybuilding and fitness icon, being discovered by Joe Weider, how being a father has changed him, who came up with the name of his son Titan Maximus, his reaction to people who think he takes steroids, the documentary Generation Iron: Natty 4 Life and much more! Please support the show by supporting our sponsors: DIRECTV NFL SUNDAY TICKET- Get 15% off your subscription this season at http://NFLSundayTicket.tv BETONLINE- Head to http://betonline.ag and use the promo code BLUEWIRE for your free welcome bonus! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Subscribe to TE1 and get NFL Sundayticket. TV, an unmatched dual threat. That's a great question. Look at you, man. With the powerful questions. This is the Chris Van Vleet Show. Chris Van Vleet Show. Ladies and gentlemen.

Chris. Bill! Yeah, welcome back to another audio adventure on the Chris Van Vleet Show. This episode is brought to you by DirecTV's NFL Sunday ticket and bet online. And it's not every day that you get to talk to someone who is the very very very, best in their field. But that is exactly what we're doing today. That is exactly the case with Mike O'Hern, who is an absolute beast, not just in the way that he looks, but also in his mindset. And it's that mindset that's made him as successful as he has been. I just love his passion. And I love how he says

he doesn't need motivation because he has passion. And that just, that oozes out of him. It's so infectious. And there is so much to take in from this conversation with one of the most successful bodybuilders and fitness models of all time. I mean, he's been on the cover of more than 500 fitness magazines. He was Titan on American Gladiators and so much other stuff. In short, Mike O'Hern is a legend. And I know you're going to love this conversation. So if you haven't subscribed yet, please take a second right now to do that while we're listening so you don't miss out on any other episodes. And the biggest thing you could do to help spread the word about the show is by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. And I will continue this tradition of reading one out on every

single episode as my way of saying, thank you. Thank you for being part of this with me. Coach Comich says, top-notch listen. I've been listening to CVV's podcast for the better part of the year. This is by far one of the best, if not the best wrestling podcast out there. The interviews are entertaining. Chris's questions and interview style are very entertaining. Definitely makes working out and mowing the lawn that much easier. Thanks, Chris. And keep it up. Well, thank you, coach. I wonder what, what kind of coach, coach Comich. I hope I'm saying that right. Comich? Coach Comich. K-O-M-I-C-H. Comich? Yeah, it's got to be coach. Comich. Well, one way or another. We got it right. Well, thank you. Kind of wish that Mike O'Hern

was my coach. Speaking of coaches, actually, he did invite me during this interview to work out with him. I guess I would make him my coach, at least for that day. I hope it was like a real invite. And you tell me when you hear it here. I hope it was a real invite and not just him like, you know, a nice thing that he says during interviews because I really do want to work out with him. and we can bring the cameras, and this would be a great segment. So there's so much to learn from Mike O'Hern. I mean, he's been to the top of his game. He's been the top of the bodybuilding world since he was a teenager.

And you may recognize him as Titan from American Gladiars, both show versions, by the way. He was on the original version in the 90s, and then he competed in the reboot in 2008, you know, that one that Hulk Hogan hosted. Yeah. Mike is the only gladiator to be on both seasons. I mean, he's just a freak of an athlete,

which is why WWE was very interested in hiring him in the 90s, and he was this close to making it happen. And we find out why it didn't happen. You could also see him in the new documentary called Generation Iron, Natty for Life, which is available now. So here we go. Buckle up for Mike O'Hern. Our brother, this is such a pleasure to be speaking with you.

So thank you for making this happen. I love it. I love it, man. It's been too long. It has. Look, it's always so exciting to be able to talk to someone who's the absolute top of whatever it is they're doing. And in the world of bodybuilding, who's that then? Come on. Somebody. Yeah, it was the guy that was on before. Yeah. Perfect, perfect. But, I mean, what an incredible career that you've had. What an amazing life that you're living. And look, I'm just so excited to be able to break this down during this interview here. I love him, man. I'm glad we got a team of how ironic that it's about this project. So ask away. Where are we going with this? It's funny that we have a friend in common in Billy Gunn. And look, I'm a massive wrestling fan.

I've done many things with him behind the scenes. Oh, you don't want to claim. Let's not say I'm friends with him. I know the guy. I may have blocked him today, but. go Billy. How far back to you guys go? I guess we'll say that he knew me in the early 90s.

I didn't know who he was. And then we rekindled the romance as of the last few years. And it just a couple guy guys, old school guys, and it just clicked again. And we've been hanging, which is nice, man. And he's been wrestling in that world since 91, 92. And I was in the magazine world from late 80s, you know. And then I went over to WWE. Shane McMahon flew me out there.

So at the same time, Billy was signing, I almost signed with WWE. So it was crazy stories. But he's a dear friend, dear friend. How close were you to being a WWE superstar? Two times very close. The first Shane McMahon came out, sat down. We had dinner. He flew me out.

We sat down with Vince, went down, got set up for wardrobe and all this kind of stuff, got contracts going and stuff. The only hiccup was I was filming gladiators for a couple months out of the year. And it was too much of a conflict for both. sides. And so at that time, I had to decline because I was with gladiators, and that served me well. And then it came again later on. I did sign up with WCW for a while in the late 90s with Battle Dome. We went over there and knocked around some heads and stuff. So the rest of them has been very kind to me. So this was, you're talking the first time around with Gladiator, right?

The first, yeah, the original one, I was a nice little 20-year-old. So it's amazing that you were, you know, the only guy to be included on both seasons of American Gladiator. It's kind of, it's a cool thing. It's a cool thing, man, because they were some savage guys. The original gladiators, man, those guys were some great athletes and some great characters. And I learned, I learned, I kept my mouth shut. I paid attention and I did this, this lost form. it's called listening.

Listening and watching. Sort of that. It's in the books. And I learned probably more there than I ever did in any classes or anything like that to watch these guys on camera and do what they do and how they represented themselves and what they did back behind the cameras, off scenes and stuff like that. It was a great coaching time.

You know, you want to talk about savages. I don't think there's anyone who's more of a savage. than you. In fact, I feel like you were put on this earth to be a bodybuilder. I can't imagine you doing anything else with your life. It's been fun, man. It's been fun. The power lifting, the bodybuilding, the martial arts, the TV shows, the, uh, I always say just the only downfall is having to wear spandex on TV. But besides that, man, it's, uh, I got paid to kick butt my whole career, my whole life so far. So it's been a fun journey. And how do you keep getting better with age? I think the first thing was it's the mindset of what I was when I was a kid. And it never changed that

possibility. And then I also discovered something that there's a there's the average approach to life. And then there's that small few that are a little crazy and fun. And I am. one of those. So I think differently. I believe differently. I believe that we can get better. And that's probably the first and the most that everybody thinks if you talk to an average person. You just get worse with age. The arthritis, the knees go, the shoulders go. And that's a comment. It's not my belief. And also just the research, I've been able to take weightlifting and utilize it for something much more important than a good physique. I've been able to utilize it It's for a healthy body, a body that can continue to get better, an injury-free body.

With all the banging and slanging and banging, I've done to be able to have healthy shoulders, knees, and back, it's an amazing thing. You're one of the very few guys in the bodybuilding world that have been able to cross over and do other stuff. Obviously, Arnold did this. Obviously, Loufriggno did this. But really, no one else since, how were you able to break out and make these possibilities happen for you? The same thing, again, it is, wow, it's ironic that we're going to be talking about this, but it's a lot of upbringing.

It's a lot of the belief about upbringing my parents. Yeah, I love it. What I paid attention to, what I saw my older brothers and sisters make mistakes on that helped me go, okay, this is what they did good. This is what they did bad. Let me stay on that path. And then when I got to California, because Joe Weeder brought me down, which I thought was the coolest thing in the world

because the only other guy I knew of that he did that to was Arnold. And so when he made the phone calls, says, Mike, I love you, but I need you in California, get you butt down here. You know, we're going to get you down here, put you under contract. And I was like, done, I'm out. And you're how old at this point? I was 19, and then he had me down there by 20.

It was funny, I was all packed up and stuff, and I was going to go with three of my training partners. We planned the date, June 15th. 15th, guys, we're in the U-Hauls. We're gone to California, me and my three training partners. And that day came, my U-Haul was packed. They all called me and said, we're not going. My dad came into the bedroom and says, get out of here before mom gets home.

And I'm like, well, I should probably wait until she gets here. And she goes, you're not waiting for her. I want you gone. Go live this dream. You're the one that's going to do it and stuff. Wow. And that kind of pushing motivation from my father that had 10 kids. it was just it was a all right let me go live this dream and then when i got here it was

learn learn pay attention um watch the people that continued i continued that education that i learned at the house watch the elders what they do right what they do wrong that never changed i just really occurred to me that was the same principle at this moment talking to you that it was from watching my brothers and sisters i watched arnold at the gym watched what he did people don't realize Arnold quit bodybuilding at 28. Everybody thinks of Arnold as this bodybuilder. Arnold's done everything. But he also moved on.

He won his shows and he moved on to the next thing. So when I won the universe for the fourth time, I said, that's enough of that. Let me keep going on other things. But during that process, I was in classes. I was studying. I was doing other things. I mean, my first movie was Death Becomes her with Bruce Wilson, Goldie Ha. And that was in like 1991.

So we were continuously pushing on that stuff. the transfer over and the more focus was when I won the universe the fourth time. I was like, that's enough. That's enough. Move on. Yeah. Was it Joe Weeder seeing something in you that allowed you to see something in yourself? Like if someone like Joe hadn't come along, you might not have gone on this path.

I don't know, but I don't, Joe made it clear. I did believe in myself because I was already competing and winning. And by the time I was 18 to 19, I was competing against. against the men and beating them. Yeah. I knew that this is what I wanted to do for a lifetime. I didn't know when I'd move. And the moving was the big thing back then.

Today, with social media, you don't have to move. But back then, I needed the magazines. I needed the TV production. I needed that stuff for the world to know who I was. So I had to move. And that move, I think, it was just clear that Joe made that happen. I don't know how long I would have waited. You know, I could have been one of those guys today because I know the

there's going to be a million people right now watching this going, I'm that kid trying to make the decision on something. Yes. And I'm waiting. Don't wait. Pull the rip cord. Jump. Go do it.

And I was glad that my dad came in that day. Because really, you know, I was just kind of waiting going, well, I don't want to go by myself. And he's like, get your ass out of here. Go. And so anybody watching this, take that leap. I know that's cliche, isn't it? Everybody says, want to go. But it's true.

I just did it myself. I took the leap and I've moved around a lot in my career, but I just took the leap and said, you know what, for what I do, California's got to be the place. So, you know, now I'm basically living in your driveway

and just hoping to throw some scraps of food out there sometimes. You got to get over here for a workout. 4 a.m., right? No, we're sleeping in now with this COVID thing. To what, 430? There's not much else we can do. I'm down. I would love to come down.

and I mean, we got to get you over. You will absolutely destroy my, my, you know, I try, I try to work out, but, you know, I just got these little guys here. You got a little something, so I've seen it. A little, a little something, something. But, you know, nothing like you guys. But yes, sign me up. I'm down.

Done. We'll make this thing happen. You know, you mentioned some of the changes with bodybuilding now with social media, but in terms of actually being in the gym, what have been the biggest changes that you've seen in the bodybuilding world since you got into it. Oh, this is a fragile statement here. Back in my day, the gym was about getting in, getting the work in, getting dirty, doing what you need to do and get out. It was a very smart thing. And I think that's another reason why there were such monsters in my era. We don't see that lately.

We see the Mr. Olympias are in their 40s and stuff like that. Yeah. When I was doing this, it was all Barry to May and Lee Haney and all these guys were 22, 23-year-old kids. At 20 years old, I was walking around at 285. Wow. I don't see a lot of that now. And so it's more of a show me at the gyms now than it is getting in, get the work done. Let me go and be creative.

Let me go in the tank top. make sure I'm oiled up, look good, let me get my post for the day so I can build my social media page. And there's a give and take to this. I fully understand the give and take. It has to have both aspects. It should still be a little old school, get in, get the work in. And then at the same time, you've got to build your platform. So I fully understand that portion of it. The key to getting huge is texting in between every set, right? Oh, done. Yeah, something meaningful and deep. Mostly, something worldly that the 20-year-old has gone through to teach the elders how to live their life. You know, that was too much.

Sorry about that. You go to any gym, it doesn't matter what part of the world, doesn't matter what country. And in between every set, as soon as the weights get re-racked, it's into your pocket and grabbing your phone. That's like almost what everybody does. It's a new culture. It really is. It's a distraction. The fun thing is you get to see people when you're in that workout and you've got your crew.

Those phones get put away and you can kind of see the seriousness. And then you got people that still come through the gym like Arnold and stuff, walking around doing their thing. You know, they might interact, but they're not on the phones. I lost you there for a second. We're good. We're good. Okay. I was just there's definitely a difference between the ones that are filming throughout the whole workout, compared to the ones that are putting the phone away and getting their work done.

Yeah, and I think you can definitely see that in the results that, you know, people get as well. What does it look like if I were to step foot inside a gym with Mike O'Hern? Fun. A lot of banter, but smart work. Smart work more than anything else. And probably not what society thinks, probably the society things. a savage workout. I'm going to make sure you crawl out. And it's not that. It's what is the best thing for you what we're working out. What's the not even just today, but how can we set you up in

this workout for the future so you can get better? And then just the process of understanding really what workouts are and proper nutrition is. That'd be the difference compared to the guy going in with these headphones on, the music blaring and you being all intense and telling everybody off that comes up next to you because you're such an alpha or something. It's absolutely not that. We actually, I don't let the music come on until we're done training. Wow. So we don't even listen to music. Wow. What's the reason behind that? I just want the talk between the guys and the communication on what's going on and how we're lifting and stuff like that more than the distraction of music. You know, you said something interesting in another interview you said you never miss a meal, which can be

translated it as you literally never miss a meal, which I'm sure it is. Right. But at the same time, I also think that that's just a great mindset for different things in life. Like, if you're going to commit to something, never miss whatever that thing happens to be. For you, it's meals, it's workouts, but it's probably a whole lot of other stuff in your life too. It establishes into other things because that continuous, to me, I don't comprehend because I started so young. I started this at nine, started eating right at nine, which is extremely young. But not when I think about like the grates of whatever craft they're great at. Yeah. I think of like Beethoven and something like that.

These guys are, I don't know when they were around, but they were incredible by 12, 13, 14 years old. And so I knew at a young age what I wanted to do. And so that eating is truthful. It's, it's, I didn't miss meals. I don't miss meals. I don't comprehend it because of the fact is I don't want to have to do the other side. I don't want the nine to five. That's something I just don't want, never did.

And that was one of the first goals that I ever made. It says, I never want to work for the man. I never want to have to put a suit and tie on for somebody else and go have to work a job. And if eaten every two to three hours and working out every other day or every day will keep me away from that, I'm in. and to me that's an easy mindset. So whatever goal that is for somebody, hey, if you want to be an actor or a singer and you want to do the classes,

that should be really easy for you. Yeah. Because the other side of it is, to me, a heart is a nine to five. Going to give up that many hours a day for somebody else for moderate wage is mind-blowing to me.

And it's something I just can't comprehend. And then ironically, they're looking at you going, and you wake up at, four in the morning. That's crazy. Yeah. Yeah. And it isn't, it's a, it's a crazy mindset that mine is completely reversed in the majority. It's no, no, no. The whole nine to five is everybody. That's what we have to do. No, that's not what you have to do. Everybody's got something. Everybody can do something. Everybody's creative. I mean, I know this lockdown has made so many people

really think about what they want in their lives and careers and change what they're doing. So that's a cool thing. I know this has been a hardship for everybody, but it also opened people's eyes up on how fragile life is and how fast it can go. It's, look, it's definitely, it was hard when we got into this thing, but I think it's, it might be even harder now that we're four months into this thing or four and a half months into this thing with really no sign of when this might end for us. It's a crazy thing. It's a crazy. I said I was going to move out there because gyms were still open. Literally the day I got there, they closed down. Literally that day, it was like, oh, Chris is showing up. We'll just make sure those gyms are. Let's close this down. He looks too good already.

Yeah, yeah, that must be. That was that they were selling me at the front. Yeah. Yeah, this is why I need to get into your gym to make this thing happen. At what point in your career did you start to think about the legacy that you might leave? I would say in the last 10 years, it's after I lost my mom, I really started thinking about everything that I'm doing, comprehending and understanding and putting the effort into. What will it do for later on? And I realized because I dropped after I lost my mom. When I lost my dad and he passed away, I did the guy thing.

You know, I'm a strong man. That's what happens. That's life, which I don't recommend to anybody. I believe trust me and I lost my mom and I really dropped as as a low point in my life and a buddy of mine Josh Barnett was the youngest UFC fighter called me up and he says hey man do this stuff that you're doing but do it for your last name now. Triggered something in me and it gave me a new drive and I was like oh that's something different instead of just selfishness and just trying to be the greatest I can be.

And that changed my approach to it. And that really changed the whole legacy aspect of it. Now being a father for, you know, I got a one-year-old, now it's just to be a savage, as long as I possibly can to watch this guy grow and still tussle with him and create this empire for him to take and cherish on. Did you have a moment where you realized, all right, I'm ready to become a father? now. Yeah, I did. And it was late in life. Sure. I am definitely, I grew up with 10 brothers and sisters, so I never, if somebody said kids, I said, no, I'm good. I'm good. It was different in our

family because we had so many. A lot of us didn't want kids because we were a little bit, we didn't get the nurturing like most people do, because it was just no time. Let me know for you there, buddy. You froze up on me. you're back now you're back all right so that nurturing we didn't get a lot we got a lot of teaching but not a lot of nurturing so I was very selfish growing up and it came later in life and it was it was the trigger of meeting somebody because I to me it had to be more than because I saw my parents do this it had to be more than just loving somebody it had to be somebody that could take care of this child with or without me that could could raise something that's a good human with

or without me that that was one of the big points of doing that and I met somebody late in life that was just that a savage of a woman that could you know could wrangle me and take care of this so that's what made me decide and her too because she was not one that wanted kids and then when we teamed up we both looked at each other and said let's have a little mutant So So we did And now it's It's like

It's the coolest thing in the world And she's in like An insane shape Like she was in back Into a distinct shape Just like weeks after having your son I feel like We had to take a video two weeks after

Because our friends were over And they're like Nobody's gonna believe This was two weeks after you had a baby So I mean her background Is she was Miss Universe as well And then she ran the whole Weeder organization

Muscle Fitness hers and helped out of muscle and fitness. And so she was, she knew her fitness world. And she's in great shape, but she's crazy shape right now. And this is a woman that's 45, eats carbohydrates, unlike most people, in their 20s, and trains three days a week and lifts heavy. So it's a good match. So at what age does your son start working out, do you think?

I don't know. Right now, man, he's swimming. We get our half an hour of swim every day. So I guess that's somewhat of a workout. Yeah. Started at three months. And we look at it, man, we sit there and go, are we being biased because it's our kid or is this kid really jacked? Because he's got these round shoulders and flat abs. And he's just over a year, but he's already over three feet tall. And we're like, this is crazy. Well, I'd say he has some pretty good genetics. I don't know. Yeah. I mean, yeah. Good chances.

So if you started lifting weights at nine, I guess he starts lifting weights around that same time? Me knowing as much as I know now, I will definitely have him doing pushups and pull-ups and all those kind of things. I'll probably keep him off the weights as long as I can to make that hunger as well for him to want to do it. it. But the aspect of actually lifting, lifting, probably not before 10 or 11, if, but I know that nutrition is already, it's crazy how we're working with the doctors on his nutrition. And they're like, well, no parents going to feed their kid like that. And I go, well, that's how it should be. And he's like, yeah, I know, but they're not going to, and it's like, we will. So the nutrition's on point, the exercise for what he does every day is on point.

We're going to continue that. And then he starts rolling here in another six months, jiu-jitsu. And because of his size, we got to get him at two years old. Oh, my gosh. He'll be a savage. I'm going to try to give him the things that you can't give him is genetic size and all that stuff. So I'm going to try to fill out whatever his genetic makeup can be.

So I'll try to give him proper nutrition and feed him correct. and then give him just some kind of something so he's confident in himself that he can take care of himself. And then the rest is really up to him what he decides to do. Well, he's going to be a killer. That's what he's going to be an absolute savage, I'm sure. If he's anything like the mother, we're good. We're good. Or like the father. Yeah, I'm too much of a sweetheart. Quick time out from this chat to thank our sponsor for this episode, direct TV's NFL Sunday Ticket and Sundays.

Oh, yeah, they're coming back in the NFL. And with NFL sundayticket.tv, you can stream every live out-of-market NFL game, every Sunday afternoon on your favorite devices plus Red Zone and DirecTV fantasy zone channels. You'll never miss your favorite teams and favorite players. So no matter where you live, NFL Sundayticket. Dot TV is your key for the most glorious Sundays. use the promo code Blue Wire at checkout. You'll get 15% off your subscription.

Just visit NFL Sundayticket.tv and use that promo code, bluewire. You know, you do a lot of interviews, and I'm sure that a lot of times you'll get led down this path of people talking about the things that, you know, you've done before in your life, almost talking like your past is behind you, you're past your prime. I honestly don't feel like talking to you right now that that's the case. at all. I feel like your best years are actually in front of you. Yeah, it's, I think, because you, you did the research on the training, nutrition, and how the body's developing. I think we're, we're, we're dieting down now to have the best micro-hearned physique that I've ever had in my career.

Wow. I'm in December. And that's one of the big goals. And then the second thing is motivation or passion is, passion over motivation is something that's, you know, huge and there's more passion right now for me because of the fact is I love what my son is picking up from watching. You know, he watches his mom go into the gym and deadlift 315 and then he goes in there and tries to do it, you know. And so that's a fun aspect of this that I never thought of, that that would push me to go, okay, I want to see him play some football and stuff like that. But I need to be able to be able to go out and, you know, throw the ball with him and stuff. So I got to be able to do that. And being a late father, that's not as easy as can be. So it's

really focusing more and pushing even harder at this stage. Do you feel like there's anything you can't do now at your age that you could do really well at 31 or 21? No, the body is still kicking. The strength is this. That's the one lucky thing. I think. think is people bypass. Oh, they go, you're strong. And it's like, well, I've been this strength for 35 years. Yeah. So, and I'm still healthy. I'm still doing it. Hey, I, you know, the one thing is, I'd like to keep doing this. And so I'd like to stay healthy like this and keep doing this. And keep learning. Right now, I'm in this phase of just continuing to learn and see how much more beneficial training properly can do for the body, but also how much nutrition can do for the body,

which is an interesting thing right now because I know nutrition, and we'll go back to social media, how they're trying to push one aspect of it where I'm trying to teach people there's a whole other side to this. And social media is teaching the quick fix because everybody's the quick fix. Hey, you want to train with me? I'll just cut your carbs. You'll get in shape really fast. And that's what everybody's selling. And I'm like, well, okay, but I want you to be better than me.

I don't, you know, these guys are coming to me at 30 years old out of shape and stuff. And I'm sitting there going, guys, you could be, you can be crushing in 10 to 20 years. But a lot of people don't think about delayed gratification or the long-term stuff. They just want now. So I'm learning. I love learning. I love teaching. Yeah, if you tell someone you're going to be great in 10 years, they go, can you give it to me in 10 months?

Yeah, let me just get there now. I'll worry about 10 years when I get there, which you can't. That's the only problem. That's what I try to teach as well. And that's something that's a lot of us try to teach on social media that try to kind of, if you can, cut out some of the noise. because that's a tough thing. The amount of noise that everybody else is giving you. Yeah.

It's a tough thing to, I don't want to downplay it, but a whole bunch of 20-year-olds are telling you how to get in shape, well, I won the universe at 20. I today know 10 times more than that kid, myself. And I was looking back on how I was training people when I was 20 years old, and I'm like, ooh, I would have changed a lot of that. you know, when you're 20, you should be in shape. And so hopefully people are understanding that really pay attention to what the doctors are saying about nutrition and health, but also look to the elders, like always.

I always look up to like Robbie Robinson or Stan Effordin and these guys that have been doing this for a long time. I mean, Robbie's 76 years old and he looks like a freak. And he was during Arnold's phase. Yeah. And he's still crushing it. So it's like, I'm picking his brain. What did you do? What didn't you do?

And so that's one of the biggest things. So you're saying don't be scared of carbs. But like what should a diet look like for someone who's trying to be at their best like you? Well, the diet should always change. That's the first thing. Okay. I should always be trying to get better. Here's the one thing that everybody does.

When you go to a gym, do you always try to get a little stronger? Just a little bit. Sure. That's a typical philosophy, correct? Yeah. then why would nutrition be the opposite? Take out less, take out more calories, take out more calories. Each year you take out less.

By the time you're 30 years old, you're already down to 1,000 calories a day. How many times you eat in a day? Once a day. You know, everybody runs away from calories and food. And the one thing that we try to teach is, like how Mona is, is that we never ran away from the carbohydrates. So we never changed how the body functions. carbohydrates are incredible for recovery, for sleep, for energy. But society teaches you that this is the worst thing in the world.

Well, it is if you're eating terrible all the time. A diet is usually something that changes. I wouldn't want to give you a percentage on everybody's different and stuff. But the majority of society's bodies just aren't functioning up to 100% where they should be. I always say that, and you can say this too, when you see somebody that's, in shape, ready for stage. Now, are they working at 100% the metabolism? Oh, hell no. Because they're working everything off. They're doing their cardio. They're in a deficit. There's all these other aspects. But to society, they're in great shape. But they're working it off.

If they stop their whole workout and putting calories, they blow right back up. And so my point is, that's not a person that's in great shape. The person in great shape is someone that doesn't change much, has a good set of abs or good shape like Mona or somebody like that and that's eaten healthy meals throughout the day. That's a person that's functioning at 100%. And I wish more people would get to that level. And this is something that's touched upon in Generation Iron. You're a big part of Generation Iron, Natty for Life.

The irony of these people looking at their best while they're on stage and probably actually feeling their worst. Yeah, you look the best and feel the best. the worst. It's an amazing thing, right? It's really funny how that works. Yeah, because the body doesn't want to be it, you know, 3% body fat. It doesn't want to be on that many low calories. All the exercising you're doing, it's tiring it out. Do you look great? Absolutely. The great thing about it is a lot of, mostly a lot of the guys in natural bodybuilding, what they'll do is come out slowly. So they may not look that great, but they'll still look great off season, which comes to

play Natty or fake Natty. Well, how can you look that good, but not be on something? That comes into play. And you're the target of this type of stuff all the time, I feel like. Yeah, I think it's less now. I think it's mostly less now because they realize you can't do drugs for 40 years. It just doesn't work that way. So that's one of the main things is there are side effects when you go down the road at any level. There's side effects. Also, you can't always do it. And that's what people, they think you can. You can just jump on it and stay on it. It doesn't work away. So I think with me, though, I mean, of course you're going to have the average person that I don't call them haters. I just call them the average person that doesn't know. They're not educated enough on it that

You can't do something like that for 40 years. So how did you get involved with this new Generation Iron film, which is available now? Generation Iron, Natty for Life. You know, we see you in this quite a bit. So I was contacted very early in production. And it was actually me that introduced the league, Danny Cocos's league, to Generation Iron. And then helped kind of select the cast of who they wanted to. talk to. And so I'm glad I was part of that, and I'm glad I got to introduce him to Denny,

because he runs this organization that I've been involved with since the early late 80s, that just really caters to putting on a good show, but just being good and healthy for the athletes. And so I got to sit down in New York with the Generation Iron team, go over that, and they've kept me involved in the whole process. And it was great. It was great to just also I think I lost you for a second there. But it was great to be there and just interact with the whole team and also the athletes and meet these guys. And look, as a wrestling fan myself, it was so cool to see Rob Terry be part of this,

who, like, we knew him in TNA Impact, but to see him like this completely different side of him as a bodybuilder, like, you're a wrestling fan as well. This must have been cool for you. Yeah, it was great, too, because we got to train. I don't think it showed it in the movie, but we got to train together a lot and before the show. So that was fun. And then I met him through a friend of mine, Shad Gaspar.

So it was, he's a great, he's a monster of a man, first off. Yeah. Rob Terry. And when they first showed me his pictures, I said, yeah, you got to have this guy in the movie because he's just, first of all, he's just a great character. And I've known of him for a while because of the bodybuilding, world in the expos. I've seen him walk around and I'm like, that's a big dude. That's a big dude.

But he's a very kind person. And it's great to have him in there and representing this. And then also just doing what he did for the project. So, and it shows another side too that you've seen this, because you've been involved in the wrestling world and stuff. You see a lot of these guys that are larger than life. Yeah. And it's funny that anybody that's the average Joe is going to say, well, if you're bigger. If you're that big, then you're on something. Yeah. But we've been around athletes our whole lives I have. And I go into football locker rooms and there's these guys that are bigger than me, natural. The society doesn't see them always. And you realize that there's some big boys out there. And go for it. And they don't realize it until they meet someone like you in person and go,

I've seen photos of him, but oh my God, when you see this person in the flesh, It's a monster of a man. Yeah, I don't know what happened with high school where, you know, you go away for a year, you come back later and everybody's like six, five, these kids. And the society forgets about those guys, but there's just some big, big guys out there. And it works in all angles. Some kids grow tall. Some kids grow a lot of muscle.

It's just the way it is. Genetics is a beautiful thing. And what I love is that this movie came out because the first 25 years of my career, I couldn't talk about it. I couldn't talk about being natural. I had to keep that under hush because I was under with Wheater, which had no problem with me because you don't make a living off of being a natural bodybuilder. You make a living off of winning shows and knowing what you know and who you are.

So it's nice to be still here in the industry and being able to talk about it at this aspect, but I'm really excited about 15, 20 years from now when they're talking about the next movie and Titans in it walking around going, I don't even work out and he's bigger than me. My mom and dad gave me everything I need. I don't even need to work out. I'm good. I love that you named him Titan.

I didn't. You didn't? I didn't. What do you mean? That was Mona. Wow. What's the process look like then? We were talking about names and stuff,

and we already knew he was a monster. Six months in, the doctor's like, this kid's going to be a big kid. And we're thinking names and trying to figure this out and stuff. And I loved Maximus, you know, Max or something or Luke, or some of my go-to names, I thought, Logan. And she's like, this kid's going to be a monster. This can be Titan, Maximus O'Hern. And I'm like, I'm okay with that.

Yeah, so it was Mama, not me, believe it or not. And then when they have the third incarnation of American gladiators, they've already got a Titan. Yeah, they already got a Titan. Or you can do that. If they do this again in 15, 20 years, I'm sure that you'll be back in there anyway. Well, we're actually talking about it right now. Another, wow. Yeah, another gladiators.

This is a show that shouldn't be going away. This show should be on TV all the time. It's like the original reality show because it was real athletes and stuff. But now with the Titan games doing so well, and they got another game, Teg, it's doing pretty well. Yeah. Yeah, they've been talking about, they called me probably about three months ago about this. You want to be involved? Yes, I do.

Wow. I'd love to knock some heads again. Would you say American Gladiator was the real thing that changed your career, put you on the mainstream map? I think. I mean, look, you got over 500. 100 magazine covers, which is... Yeah. You know what? I think it was the covers more and the romance covers and the entertainment

shows like that. I think we're... That's then texting you about American Gladiator right now. We're watching. Get on the show. Yeah, I think it's the romance books and the bodybuilding and the universe really set it off. Obviously, gladiators helped worldwide recognition.

But the magazines which they don't have today, the magazines put it over for the entire world. I can't look past what they did for me. Especially, it's not even just over 500 covers, but it was cover stories. So it was not just a cover of a guy, but it was me talking about my philosophy of training

and the principles that I believed in inside of those. And so the fans around the world from Russia to China to anywhere got to see who Michael Horn was. Those are magazines that I read growing up. So that's why this is like an honor to be talking to you right now. Oh, my brother. Thank you. But you know, you mentioned, you mentioned Shad, and I know that you guys had a very close relationship.

And, you know, anybody who's watching this, you know, knows what happened in his last moments. But what did Shad mean to you? Oh, wow. He showed me the real true meaning of friendship. So when I and he met, he left wrestling. He just got out here and stuff. And he didn't have everything. And so I tried to help him out.

And I got him a car, gave him a car to help him out. And I thought, that's a good friend. That's what a friend does. Gets a guy a car. So as the years go, and this is a big flip for me, as the years ago, he kept, you know, talking about family and what's important, and friendship. And then he introduced me to Mona, which was his friend.

I didn't know. So that was the first thing. And he said to me, that's a friend of mine. So you'd be good. And I'm like, cool, 100%. 100%. And so we dated. And then he talked more and more about family and having a child.

And I was like, I don't know, it's not the way I'm going to go. As the time goes, and it took me a long time this knucklehead to figure out what true friendship was, we were there on my couch, and he was over helping me support me because I was losing my pup. And at the same time, I was looking over at Mona and he was looking over at Mona. And at this point, she was five months pregnant. And I said to something to him when I gave him the car. that's what friends do. He looked at me on the couch,

and this is almost seven years later, and I go, wow, I didn't know. And I'm sitting there looking at my girl. We're having a baby. He's supporting me with my pup, and he looked at me, he said, that's what friends do. Wow.

I mean, a whole life where I thought seven years before I was the cool guy for doing a car, where he gave me a whole different life. And so that boy, changed me for life. And I know you guys were so close. So, you know, I didn't know Shad that well. I actually had an interview lined up with him last time I was in Los Angeles and just

our schedules changed and it didn't happen. And I regret that I never had the chance to actually spend that time with him because I've heard from everybody how special a person that he was. Yeah, he was, he was, there was only one Shad. And he made everybody feel like his best friend. Yeah, that's amazing. but look, that's what you do for everybody. It's like you've taken a little piece of that,

and I've heard nothing but incredible things about you from everybody that knows you well. All one person like Billy. That's it. That's not as much of a reason. Austin says nothing but terrible things about you, Austin Gunn. That's a good thing. Yeah, yeah. Austin really likes to make fun of the fact that you had that moment,

that viral moment where you fell off the stage. which is uh that thing went crazy didn't it holy snikies look i i watched it the first time and i went oh my god he's dead like how did you not break your neck i was i was lucky i was lucky man i know i know so i know a lot of people go now you're going to see there was it was the training and i really believe it was the training because i sit there and my friends were like that was a good six foot straight drop yeah and um I was lucky. There is video of me popping right back up and continuing the guest posing, which I need to put up. But that thing was funny. I ain't going to lie. I was laughing up myself.

I was laugh. But I just can't believe how viral that thing went to. It was on Germany morning shows. It was in Australia front page of the newspaper. I'm like, are you kidding me? Well, I mean, think about it. It's the juxtaposition of this man who has this perfect physique who looks like he could do no wrong. And then now. Bites it. Yeah. We said it. I'm there. Oh, no, I love it. I love it, man. It's, it goes with it, man. You got to be able to, that's the biggest thing. You got to be able to laugh at yourself. Don't take yourself so serious. Was there a moment like after you fell where you're like, I can't believe I haven't broken anything? It was the next day. It was the next day. When I fell, I was so embarrassed. And I jumped back up, jumped on a chair and started posing. And they thought it was a skit.

And then, so I finished the posing routine. And the people that put on the show came up and said, you okay? And I'm like, oh, yeah, I'm fine. I'm fine. And then me and the family, because I was up in Washington at the time. That was a show up in Washington. So I got to hang out with my family. And then it was the next day I woke up.

And if everybody, if you're an athlete, you kind of know that you never feel the pain and bumps and bruises from the fight that day. You always feel it the next day. And I woke up and I'm like, oh, okay, I got some bumps and bruises here. And at that moment, I go, man, I'm pretty lucky that I didn't hurt myself. Yeah. Didn't break a wrist or something like that. Before you fell, I was just so impressed that when you guest pose, you're still in like great shape to be on a stage. I think that's one of the biggest reasons.

I am one of the top five guys in the world to still guest pose. Mostly when I finished my career over 20 years ago. So it's a good thing. But staying in that kind of shape, man, it's what makes my living now. So it's a fun thing for me. It's tough, but I love it. I mean, do you ever eat pizza? We have some fun high days now.

You know, but my girl is such a good cook. that man she can make these egg sandwiches and big show was messaging me yesterday going all right I'm coming over because I saw your girl's egg sandwiches with bacon and this stuff and so yeah she cooks so well man I don't I don't need the pizza you know to to still have so many friends in the wrestling world do you ever think like maybe we could have made this work maybe they could have worked around the American gladiator schedule what what what would it have looked like if Mike O'Hern was a WWE superstar. Man, I don't know.

I think I'm better friends with these guys now because we're still kind of doing it and still in the mix of it. I always get messages like from Kevin Nash or Steve Austin going, stop it, stop it, lose the abs finally. You know, and so I think it would have been fun. I think it would have been a blast.

But things worked out the way they did, and I'm happy with how they worked out. It was fun being a gladiator two times. You know, there's nobody else in history that got to do that. Got to do a TV show with Battle Dome, where I met my close friend, Terry Cruz, still friends to this day. So it's been a fun road doing it that way as well. And, I mean, these have led to some pretty great movie roles for you, too. Yeah, we start Hercules, January.

Yes. Barry Levin's. So this is going to be badass. A TV series. And this will be fun because it's going to be edgy. It's going to be dark. It's going to be savage. And Barry Levens is the one that did the Hercules with Dwayne and Rock Johnson.

Yeah. But we're going to do a TV series on it. And he's going to make this dark and gritty. So I love the fact. So we are slicing and dicing to be in the best shape of my life for that project right now. And we start in January overseas. You ever worked out with The Rock? I have.

Yeah, yeah. And again, great personality, but I've known Dwayne since 99. So always kind, always polite, and always says that I use fake weights because he's significant heavy weights I use. So it's awesome. So it's awesome. He's great. And he deserves everything he gets.

And that's a person like Terry Cruz, they deserve everything they get. These guys work their butts off. Well, same with you. You know, you deserve everything you get. And I think it's so amazing to look at your career because you've accomplished so much to see what's even left. What's their left to do? I think a lot like what Robbie did, Robbie Robinson, who was Arnold's training partner, also Mr. Universe. I think it's to show people, and again, there's only been one Jack La Lane, somebody that was in healthy shape

until there's 90s. So that's going to be one of the big things for me is to continue this and show people what's possible for true longevity. Do you think you can keep this much mass into your 90s? Well, remember, I was this size after puberty. So it's whatever you basically are for anybody after that stage is basically what your natural body is. So that's the one lucky thing that I got going for.

It's like Rob Terry. Yeah. You know how big he is. It's just that big. But it's like these football players that you meet, these guys, these offensive linemen that was, you know, six, six, 350 pounds. There's still 300-pound guys. You know, Howie Long is still a monster of a man. But, yeah, I'm going to be a big boy forever.

That's not going nowhere. As we wrap this up, I want to selfishly ask you a question as a new resident of Los Angeles. what is your best piece of L.A. advice. And this can be anything. It can be traffic, parking, tacos, whatever. What is your best piece of Los Angeles advice? Definitely stay out of the traffic situation from 7 o'clock till 10. And then again, during rush hour, don't even try it.

And then enjoy the fine. There are some great restaurants. I don't know if you're a restaurant. if you're a foodie. Oh, I like food. Great places here that aren't named places. Don't go to the name places because that's just because the celebrities go there. But find the divey little places that are incredible.

There's some great, great foods here. And then when you catch that small crew of friends, keep them close. Keep that niche. Keep that tight crew together. Well, I look forward to coming into your crew and attempting to work out with you guys. So I'm going to get you over here. You name the time and the place. I'll bring a camera crew and we'll make this thing happen.

And we'll text the whole time, hardly work out. That's how you get big. That's it. Man, thanks for taking time today and doing this. Oh, my God. Thank you for making this happen. This has been such a great conversation. You're an inspiration to me.

You're an inspiration to everybody. So thank you for just being who you are. And I want to acknowledge you for the person that you are and the path that you've carved out for yourself, showing other people that this is possible for them, too. Thanks, brother. Thanks, man. I'm glad I got to be here still with this generation iron coming out and everybody go check it out.

You guys are going to love it. Hopefully, the one thing I would like everybody to take away from this movie, options, that there's options, more than anything else. I know that they may watch this and be believers or not believers, but just believe in the option. So you don't need to go into gym and have to do everything. everything to get some muscle. I love it. Thank you, Mike. Absolutely, brother. Thanks, man.

Well, there is a lot in there. A huge, huge thank you to Mike for taking the time. And an equal-sized thank you to you for lending us this last hour or so for this conversation. Take a screenshot. Tag me. I am at Chris Van Vleet. And tag Mike. He's at Mike O'Hern.

Let us know what stood out for you the most during this conversation. And as we mentioned, you can see him in the new documentary, Generation Iron Natty for Life, which is available wherever you get your video on demand. And I'd say things worked out pretty well for Mike O'Hern. But I'm really curious what would have happened if he did go down that WWE path and became a WWE superstar in the 90s because this would have been like right before the attitude era. So he has a possibility he could have ridden that wave at. of the attitude era, and who knows? Who knows what would have happened? He's just such a super

driven guy. I'm sure you got that from this conversation, but he's such a super driven guy, so driven to be like the best at whatever he does. So it would have been interesting to see what would have happened in the world of wrestling. Although I'm more interested to see what happens in the next, I don't know, 50 years of his life, 60 years of his life. He wants to be like the most in shape 90-year-old. Can't wait to see that. Arnold says it best. with this quote, with what we were just talking about there, what is the point of being on this earth if you're going to be like everyone else?

I'm going to say that one more time. What is the point of being on this earth if you're going to be like everyone else? So there you go. Be great and be grateful, and before we go, a huge thank you to bet online for supporting the show. Sports are coming back,

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