Locked In with Ian Bick - Bodybuilder Exposes The Truth About Steroid Use & Life as a Magic Mike Stripper | Armon Adibi

Episode Date: July 14, 2024

In this revealing episode, join us as Armon Adibi, a top bodybuilder, spills the truth about the world of bodybuilding, steroid use, and the behind-the-scenes life of a Magic Mike-style stripper. Discover the untold stories of intense training, the pressures of competition, and the reality of performance-enhancing drugs. Get an insider's perspective on the glamorous yet challenging world of stripping, and learn how he balances his bodybuilding career with the demands of being a top entertainer. Don’t miss this eye-opening conversation that pulls back the curtain on muscle, magic, and more. Hosted, Executive Produced & Edited By Ian Bick: https://www.instagram.com/ian_bick/?hl=en https://ianbick.com/ Connect with Armon Adibi: Ig:@armonadibi83 TikTok @armonadibi YouTube https://youtube.com/@armonadibi?si=0HqJA1A4Nr0ngYrv ArmonAdibi.com Amglabz.com Powered by: Just Media House : https://www.justmediahouse.com/ Creative direction, design, assets, support by FWRD: https://www.fwrd.co Buy Merch: https://lockedinbrand.com Use code lockedin at checkout to get 20% off your order Timestamps: Chapters: 00:00:00 - The Dark Side of Steroids 00:04:36 - The Challenges of Competitive Bodybuilding 00:09:18 - Transition from Soccer to Bodybuilding 00:14:02 - The Fitness Influencer Market 00:18:46 - Sponsorship and Magazine Contracts 00:23:15 - Making Money in the Bodybuilding Industry 00:27:50 - My Experience in the Club Scene 00:32:24 - The Rise of Drag Shows 00:36:55 - The Misconception of Instant Gains 00:41:28 - The Influence of Young Gym YouTubers 00:46:12 - The Effect of Steroids on the Body 00:50:45 - The Influence of Social Media on Appearance 00:55:25 - The Health Risks of Not Coming Off Steroids 01:00:02 - Retiring from the Bodybuilding Industry 01:04:49 - Battling Addiction and the Dark Side of Bodybuilding 01:09:39 - The Dark Side of the Fitness Industry 01:13:59 - Bodybuilding Podcast and Co-host Opportunity Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The NBA playoffs are here, and now you can trade every game on Cali. You can also trade on who wins each series, the conference finals, and the championship. San Antonio is currently trading at 22% to win it all, meaning a $100 trade pays out $455 if they take the title. On Calci, you're trading against other people in a live market, no house, no odds makers. And as the odds move, you can buy in or out any time throughout the post season. For a limited time, download the Calci app and use code hoops to get $10 when you trade $10. KLSHI, Calci, trade on anything. The NBA playoffs are here, and now you can trade every game on Cali.

You can also trade on who wins each series, the conference finals, and the championship. San Antonio is currently trading at 22% to win it all, meaning a $100 trade pays out $455 if they take the title. On Calci, you're trading against other people in a live market, no house, no odds makers. And as the odds move, you can buy in or out any time throughout the post season. For a limited time, download the Calci app and use code hoops to get $10 when you trade $10. KLSHI, Calci, Trade on Anything. Growing up, a lot of my friends were, you know, manufactured. And so I saw it, you know, yes, they were making money and they had the cars and all that.

But I'm like, there's always, you're always going to get caught. You know, there's always going to be an end. And yeah, they made good money and all that. But when the trouble comes, it's a lot of trouble. You're manufacturing and all the other charges they can hit you with, fed charges. And I had friends that went through all that. Because it's not really hard to make them being, you know, they order the raw, Outers from China and you can look up on the internet how to make it, but being sterile is a problem.

Like I would, when I was competing, we were getting all our stuff from Mexico at the time because they had actual legit pharmacies. But after, I forgot what year it was, it was called Operation Gear Grindr, where the U.S. teamed up with Mexico and we're like, it was basically like, listen, all this, all these steroid y'all are, you all are producing. It's not for these animals, obviously, are basically funding all of, you know. And I don't, I've never known why. Why the government's cared about steroids so much?

Because it's not like people think like, oh, you take these steroids and you're going to, oh, I'm crazy. It's not like that, you know. It's just stereotypes of like Jersey Shore type people like giving or that, you know, douchebag in the bar that's, you know, a little big. Armand, welcome to Lockton. A pleasure having you here today. You came from Texas. Dallas, yeah. Yeah, we connected on my Instagram.

You had stumbled across the show and you said, hey, do you want like a different perspective? And we were just talking out there. I'm always up for a different perspective. Right. I think it's going to be exciting. Definitely an exciting, interesting episode. Getting into the world of bodybuilding, supplements, all of that. And speaking of supplements, you brought a wonderful assortment over here that we're going to go through.

And people can get that at your supplement store. My website, yeah. Everything online, yeah. If you want to tell everyone what that website is. website is just my name, ArmaniDB.com. Our second line we just released, that is amg labs.com. That will be up in probably the next couple months. But, yeah, Armanadibi.com, it's hard to spell, but I'm sure there'll be a link below somewhere or something like that.

Is this a pre-workout? So that one was my first product I made. So when you're backstage about to compete, you're kind of like, I mean, you're dehydrated, your muscles are cold. You can't get a pump. You know, when you go to the gym, you get that pump. It's hard to get that backstage when you're dehydrated. So I made that one for competitors before they go up on stage to get a pump. But people do take it as a pre-workout.

There's no stimulants in there because a lot of people don't know when you take a product with stimulant. So you get a pre-workout, you get a pump from it, and then you get like a stimulant effect, like the energy. So one's a vassal dilator and one's a. vasso constrictor. So it works against each other. So I'm not a fan of stimulants just because I'm already kind of naturally just like kind of wound up and a little bit aggressive. So, but so that's just, there's no stimulant in there at all. And so it is, that one's a little expensive for the price because it was made for stage. But yeah, you could take that, you know, like on a leg or back day and you would get like just like a crazy pump. And it does have a like a

nice and flush to it because we want. want that before we go on stage, like to kind of feel hot. But yeah, all that stuff you'll be able to use. Now when you say a pump, you mean like veins showing like your muscles are popped. Now you're like naturally pumped. Yeah. Well, I'm retired not. So I haven't competed. I retired in 2011 because I had to have a double shoulder surgery. And then I came back and competed in 2014 because my mom passed away, which was my best friend and biggest supporter, just to do that year, just to, because they had one show that was, like, supporting, like, breast cancer. So I did that, and then I competed that last year. And then I retired officially. Wow. And then did you write a book,

tip? Yeah. So, you know, everybody always asked me, what was I taking when I was competing? And so it's not like a long book or anything. So it just has my, you know, pretty much steroid cycles in there when I was competing in different pictures of my ages when I was competing. That's you? Yeah. Holy cow. Yeah, that was 27 there. Wow.

So when you see someone like this, I've always been curious, like, is it comfortable to be at that level? You feel, when you look the best, you feel absolutely the worst. I mean, you feel terrible. Like, you have to be, to be a competitive, when people say bodybuilding, it's kind of like a wide range, right? It's like, what does that mean? When I say bodybuild, I mean like a competitive bodybuilder at a high level. So you feel absolutely terrible. I mean, you're eating at that point, I would pick a show.

And so you have a pre-contest where you get ready for the show, which is usually like 12 to 16 weeks, and then you have an off-season. The off-scene is where you gain size, and then you kind of trim it down. So, I mean, you're eating six to nine. meals a day and at that point I was eating probably about 10 to 12 ounces of meat with each meal and like two cups of white rice so it's not yummy food and you're doing that you know for morning tonight every single day for so a competitive body bill you don't have a break it's not like a basketball game where you play a game and you just like get to go chill like you're doing this 24-7 if you go out you got to bring your meals with you I mean if you're serious about it and you're trying to get

everything in. And that's how I lived from, I started competing at young at 18, winning my first four shows. And I kind of stumbled into bodybuilding because I grew up playing soccer. So. Now, when you talk about the extremeness of bodybuilding and you see a lot of people even operate like that, I see a lot of the fitness people at the gym or on social media meal prepping and and just being very dialed into that, do you think it's like it's worth it in that sense, to what you're giving up just to achieve that level? Like, if you could take it back those years that you put into it, would you take it back? I wouldn't because it's changed a lot.

So our motivation when, so when I got started, my parents, we went to Venice Beach, and that used to be like the MECA bodybuilding. It's not anymore, obviously, but we went there and I saw some bodybuilders like walking on the beach. And I was like 15 or 16. and I was like, I want to look like that. I was never bullied in school. I was never, and I was a skinny kid too. Everybody gets in there for different reasons.

I was like, I want to look like a cartoon character. I don't want to look like a normal person. And so luckily I grew up in Arlington, Texas, and that's home of Ronnie Coleman, the best bodybuilding world, in my opinion. That's eight-time Mr. Olympia. So I got a membership at the gym He started at or he trained at so I was training literally

Next to Ronnie Coleman you know when I when I got started so it was a lot of motivation and that And where I come from A lot of good bodybuilders came out of there so and how old are you when you when you jumped into that I was 15 when I started working out and I was still playing soccer at that time so I was soccer you're running all the time. So you're burning so many calories. So when I had some knee issues called Osgen-slaughters, it's kind of like when you're going through like puberty, your knees swell up. And I would play a game and have to sit out through you play a game. So I had to

sit out a season and I started like rehabbing myself through through weightlifting. And then I just started putting on lean muscle really fast. And I'm like, this is this is crazy. So my friends were already going to the gym years prior. And I'm like, I'm like, and I used to make fun. I'm like so, okay, You go to this place, you pick up weights and lift them. I'm like, that's just so stupid to me. And I was like, I just thought it was silly. And then I started working out. And they were already working out like three years prior.

And within the first three months, I like surpassed them. And I'm like, and then so the guys at the gym were like, dude, you got good genetics. You need to think about competing. And I was like, oh, I can never do that. Those guys are so big. And they're like, no, you like, we do it. And you have the genetics to do it. And so then there wasn't YouTube.

there wasn't all this stuff to get information from, but I feel like it was better because you had to learn a lot of stuff on your own. So I knew there was steroids involved, obviously. I didn't know the extent of it, but I was like, I'm going to try this out. And if I can't do good naturally, then it's not for me. If I can't win some shows naturally,

then getting on stuff, it's just not for me. So my first show, I can, he did when I was 18. So I put soccer on hole, which was kind of disappointing to my father, especially because he's from Iran. And my uncle played for the Iranian national team, like the pro team, like the Iranian national team. And so I was on my way to play professional soccer. Our last tournament was in Agatha Cup. It's a big tournament in Sweden and Denmark.

And we represented the United States. And we actually got second. We lost to Poland. And so that's great. So we're paying to play soccer in the States, and the teams were playing against their 16, 17 years old. And they're getting paid a salary to play over there. I mean, they're getting paid over $100,000 a year as a kid. And, you know, so I didn't know what was involved in bodybuilding.

So I just thought, man, you get to look cool, you know, be big and get all the girls. That's what I thought back then. And so once I got into it, it was, I mean, a whole world of craziness. I never knew existed. Too bad my brother's not here. He's obsessed with soccer. He would love to. Yeah, I'd love to talk to you.

I'll tell him to listen to this episode. So how long does it take to go from like a scrawny, like teenager into a body like what we just saw in the back of that book cover? What's the transformation process? So genetics is everything in bodybuilding. And that's what people don't understand. And I get questioned all the time. Like all the kids want to know today about what do I take, what drugs do I take? What drugs do I take?

What drugs do I take? I'm like, of course it's involved, but that's the sprinkling on the cake. So first of all, genetics. Okay, like a basketball player, like me, you're probably not going to play in the NBA because we're not six, seven, or, you know, above. Everybody has a certain genetics. Most bodybuilders do you think, people think like, oh, they're just huge guys. But that's not the case. Most bodybuilders, they have small joints.

Like, you know, my wrists are small, you know, and they have big muscle bellies. They're not like football player looking guys. So you can see a guy in the gym. And a lot of these bodybuilders, you know, people see in person, they're like, oh, my gosh, I didn't know they were that tiny. Like in stature, like, you know, I'm 510. So I'm kind of like the perfect height for bodybuilding because it's hard to fill out 510. But once you eventually do, that. That's all the best in the world were about that size.

You know, Ronnie Coleman, Jay Cutler, Phil Heath, they were all around like that 5, 8, to 5, 10 range. So I didn't know anything about it. So I stopped running, and then I just started working out. And I put on, I believe, 50 pounds over that summer. And I was just eating everything I could. because I really didn't know much about diet. My dad had a Tex-Mex restaurant that I grew up managing. We had it.

My dad had it for 30 years. He opened it the year I was born, 1983. And then I managed it for about 10 to 15 years. So I'd be working up there, and I would be eating, you know, enchilada rice and beans, like within a five. Let's say I'm working like six hours. I would eat that probably about three times. Wow. And that's not good for you, right?

It's like, you know, junk food. But my metabolism was so fast, I just, you know, kept putting on size. And then freshman year in high school, I was 115 pounds. And then I was also delayed a little bit. All my friends were going through puberty before me. And then I remember sophomore year, that's when I took a break from soccer going into junior year. No, I played junior year. And I started, I started waiting.

training. I started eating and I came back junior year. I was 5, 7 and 210 pounds. And everybody's like, like, what happened? I was like, you know, and at this time, I never, you know, touched anything. All the kids now, they're starting like steroids at a really young age. It's absolutely insane because you're messing your, you know, natural production down. We'll get to that later. But, and then I was like, I want to do a competition. There was a local guy that that was helping out people. So I got connected with him. He wasn't the best, but he taught you kind of like basics.

And the rest I just kind of learned on myself. And I started eventually helping out my friends. And that's what led me into, like, having my own coaching and dietitian. And then that's when I went to college for also. You went to college for. Dietitian. Dietition. Yeah, which teaches you nothing about, like, you know.

What college should you go to? I just went to TCC. It's a county college we have in the Arlington Dallas area. And it teaches you nothing about, you know, actually, it's a lot of stuff you're taught there you don't want to do if you're really like trying to really be nutritious. But do you need that degree to excel in the, you don't at all? Nobody. Most people in the agree. That's the problem.

There's no criteria as you have to have to be a coach. But back then, in the whole Dallas-Fort Worth area. I was probably like one of five people that was a coach. Now you see everybody, coach, coach, coach on their... The NBA playoffs are here and now you can trade every game on Cali. You can also trade on who wins each series, the conference finals, and the championship. San Antonio is currently trading at 22% to win it all, meaning a $100 trade pays out $455 if they take the title. On Calci, you're trading against other people in a live market, no house, no odds makers.

And as the odds move, you can buy in or out any time throughout the post season. For a limited time, download the Calci app and use code hoops. to get $10 when you trade $10. KLSHI, Kalshi, trade on anything. The NBA playoffs are here, and now you can trade every game on Kalshi. You can also trade on who wins each series, the conference finals, and the championship. San Antonio is currently trading at 22% to win it all,

meaning a $100 trade pays out $455 if they take the title. On Kalshi, you're trading against other people in a live market, no house, no odds makers. And as the odds move, you can buy in or out any time throughout the post season. For a limited time, download the Kalshi app and use code, hoops to get $10 when you trade $10. KLSHI, Kalshi, trade on anything. Like profile on Instagram or whatever, so. Oh, yeah.

Literally everyone is a coach. They're a fitness influencer, which it's just surprising, like, how the market is, like, when I look at these female influencers, for example, or even men influencers. When you go on their Instagram, your Instagram reels, it's all of these people posting the same thing. Like every single day, the same run, the same workout. Let's hit arms with me. And I'm curious about the sponsor angle from it because it's such a flooded market.

How are all these people staying afloat? But like we were talking about out there, a lot of it's smoke and mirrors. Like these, in quotation, influencers that we see are not necessarily influences and are not getting paid. A lot of the time they're just getting free product or they're just and they're working a regular job. And what they put on social media is completely different. Yeah, I know. And so when I got started, you actually had to make accomplishments. to get ahead.

So we were blessed because after my first show, I won. There was this guy named Joe LaBelle. He passed away several years ago. We got really close. He owned a site that was called Most Muscular. Most Muscular.com. It's not alive anymore. But he found us.

And one of my other best friends, Christian Lawley, we grew up bodybuilding together. My other friend, Stephen Frazier, we were like a trio. We all kind of got started around the same time together. And we were like best friends. We trained together. We ate together. We live the bodybuilding lifestyle together. But we excelled pretty fast.

And he would come videotape us at the gym, put it out there on his website. And he had a YouTube at that time. I'm not sure exactly when YouTube started, but there was a YouTube then. It wasn't just, it's not used like it was today. And then he was paying us just like a couple hundred dollars, which was cool. because, I mean, we're like 18, 19 years old and, you know, we're getting paid to do this. And we didn't realize how much of a fan base it was creating for us, like how much a following he had. You know, if you look back at some of his YouTube, there were like a million plus back in the day.

And that was a long time ago. So eventually the magazines was a main goal for us to get into because that's how you major money. So I remember my first time in the magazine was for advertisement. I got with a company called Diamond Ties Nutrition. And so I was dating this girl named Amanda Saville. Rest in peace. She was like, hey, you know, bring me some pictures. I'm going to try to get you on with this company. She was a little older at that time. I was 19 or 20. She was like 27. So she brought my pictures to them and she's like, yeah, they're interested. So I was very blessed.

I got on with them. I didn't know how good I had it. And so we figured out a deal. They signed me a contract. I think I was like 19 or 20 at the time. And so I got unlimited free supplements. And they were based out of Dallas. And so they would let me come by with my, I think I drove an expedition at the time.

And I would just load my car up with as many supplements as possible. And then they were paying me monthly also. So that was like, it was kind of unheard of at the time. And I was their only athlete because the athlete they had prior, his name was Craig Titus, that rings a bell in the bodybuilding industry because he was one of the top bodybuilders in the world. And he, him and his wife had this assistant that lived with him in Vegas and they ended up murdering her and burning her. they put her in a car and went out to the desert in Vegas and burn the car and they thought they were going to get away and they were on the run. They started smoking meth and stuff like that, so they obviously weren't right in the head. But so that was the previous guy they sponsored and they had some difficulties with him because he was kind of known industry as like the bad boy.

But they took me on and it was a great sponsorship and I was with them for about like four or five years and that's how my face got out a lot there. two and then my favorite magazine growing up was a magazine called muscle mag and that's who i eventually got uh you know sponsored by so i had a contract with muscle mag and so i was living it up with like at a at an early um at an early age with all this and it was it was i don't think i had time to kind to really slow down and realize how good i had it things weren't just coming to me easily obviously i was working like crazy i mean in high school yes i would still go on party, but I wasn't drinking. I wasn't doing drugs. I was bringing, you know, my friends used to make fun of me like, oh, I need to go to my car, I get my protein shake or my meal, and I'd be eating

while people would be like drinking. But I never had that urge to do that to party. I mean, I had a goal in mind and I wanted to be, you know, that guy in those magazines. Yeah. I give people props that can stick to that because like I've tried that the meal prep thing and every time I've gone through phases where I'm going to dial and I'm going to meal prep do this and that and never goes according to plan. the meals just sit there because, like, in my business, the entertainment business, someone needs to go out, you got to go out to dinner, you got to do this, like your whole plan is thrown in motion, a client needs this, you're dropping everything and it's just so hard. Now, as I'm getting

more situated, I'm focusing on saying no to things, so I can, like, I know for me personally, I need to get to the gym in the morning and I need to go for a walk or a run to start my day, and when I don't do that, I feel like crap the rest of the day and then just prioritizing sleep. But I give people credit that do all of that and stay, you know, on that resume. When you were doing the, I just forgot my question because I was going on a little rant right there. I do that all the time. I had such a good question, too. Oh, God, it came back to me. If social media existed back then, do you think your career would have been even bigger? It would be, yeah, it would have been insane. But.

I'm glad it wasn't. We really had it good. I mean, we were treated, we were treated kind of like celebrities. And, I mean, they would fly his first class everywhere, pick us up in limos. I mean, they don't do that stuff anymore at all. And to any of these people. And I can tell you the whole, we can go through all the transition of what happened and all that. But so I got in the magazines and, you know, everybody kind of looked at the magazines.

is someone at the airport, they're waiting for a flight. You know, people just looking through random magazines. So people would recognize me from everywhere, and then they look up your name. And I created a website when I was young. So my friend's dad did it when I was like 19 or 20. So I started at a young age, like coaching others because I was doing well myself, and I started coaching my friends just for free. But they were winning.

And so they're like, dude, you're really good at this. You have like a niche for it. Like, why don't you do this for a living? I was like, okay, and I started doing that, and I became one of the biggest content prep coaches, like in the whole, you know, Dallas area. Then people started hiring me from out of state. And so that's been my pretty much main career my whole life. Wow. So I was talking to someone recently that was a bodybuilder, and they said the actual competitions you're not really making much money from.

So is it all these backdoor deals, like the magazines and say you got paid for, from a sponsor or brand, that's where you're making your money in that field? Yeah, so then when I was doing it, yeah, the competitions was not where you're making your money. You're making your money from, you would have a supplement contract, okay, that could pay six figures. You had a magazine contract that could pay six figures, and then you could have little stuff on the side.

And then what's different now is, which I didn't know when I got into bodybuilding, the gay fan base, right? So when I was growing up, I wasn't around that many gay people because people weren't out like they are now, right? And so I started meeting some people that were fans and I started to realize like, wow, well, this is a lot of our fan base are gay guys.

Because I mean, women are kind of, a lot of women thought it was gross, like, oh, just all those veins and this and this and this. But then you would meet a girl and start dating them and then they wouldn't think it was gross anymore. A lot of them were just in ten. intimidated by it. But so a lot of the fans, they would be like, okay, what show are you getting ready for? And they would just send you money when you're getting ready for the show. So a lot of the money we made was just from your fan base.

So it was pretty amazing how much money you could make. And since I was already in publications and, you know, of all this video stuff, I didn't realize how big a fan base I had. And I'm talking. about like 15, 20 years ago at that time, it took me a while. I was like, wow, I have a huge fan base. I can really capitalize on this. And people were flying me out everywhere for guest appearances. People were even fly me out like, hey, do you want to hang out? And the funny, this is a funny story. This guy from Hawaii, he contacted me. He's like, hey, I have an obsession with bodybuilders crushing fruit. And I'm like, okay, I used to get all kind of silly. I was like, okay, cool. That's right. He goes, I'll pay you $5,000 to come out here and crush apples for me. I'm like, I'm like, okay.

And so I'm like, how about you send me the money before I come out there and then we can talk? Because I just thought it was BS. And he goes, he's like, okay, let's talk. And then I'll send you $1,000 each week for the next like five weeks. And then I'll fly you out there. I was like, okay, well, you got to fly me and my girlfriend out there at the time. And he's like, okay. And so I'm like, okay, so he did send the money.

And we went out there. and he was so hush-hush because his father was a judge on the island in Honolulu. And that's all he wanted was to like, he was obsessed with watching a bodybuilder like crush. And it's hard to crush an apple like with the bare hand. And so you would have people with all these like weird fetishes and, you know, but it just became normal after a while. And then you would, I would tell my mom these things, she'd, baby, why are you hanging around all these weird people? Like, they're paying me a lot of money. Imagine if you had Only fans back then?

Oh, yeah. You would have been making so much money. There was sites like Muscle Gallery, which I used to shoot for. And they had a, they had a PG-13 site, and then they had, like, X site. So I did the, like, the PG site. It would just be normal posing trunks and posing and all that. And that was another. And with that guy, he used to be, he was out in New York.

And he used to, his studio was, or Jay-Z. So I met Jay-Z before, but when I was there. And then he had an X-rated site called Muscle Hunks where they would, it wasn't porn, but it was guys just doing like solo stuff, you know, nude and, you know, messing with themselves and all that. And they offered me a lot of money and they're like, you know, it's private. No one will ever see it.

It's on a member's only website. I was like, I'm not stupid. That stuff will eventually be out there. I'm going to have kids one day. and literally most all my friends did it and I didn't do it. But I was getting paid the same. They were just because I was in the magazines and they weren't. So I got paid the same just doing the PG stuff.

And on that topic, you were telling me some side hustles you had back in the day. Was that around the same time period? Yeah. So when I was before my first competition at 18, one of my friends at the gym, he was like 35. and I said, dude, I'm so nervous, you know, about going on stage. I mean, anybody is. Like, everybody that helped compete, they're so nervous. I mean, I don't care how confident you are.

You're going on a stage and you're being judged on how you look and tiny little posing trunks. And so he's like, let me take you to this strip club, like, that women come to, it was called LaBeer, and do amateur night. I believe I was 17. So I wasn't even 18 yet. And he was like, just kind of get the fill of the stage. And I was like, bro, I don't know how to strip. I'm not a good dancer. He said, dude, they'll love you.

You look great. And so I was like, all right. So I remember it was funny because he danced, I guess, in the 80s. And he was like, gave me these like big white cowboy boots to wear and we showed me all these dance movies. And I was like, thinking to myself, I'm not doing any of this stuff up there. And I was like, so I went up there and I just kind of like, I didn't, I'm not a big dancer. And so I kind of did it, and I won the amateur nine.

I was like, okay, cool. They wanted me to start working. Obviously, it was in high school. I can't work five nights a week club life. So, but I picked that back up when I was about 19. My friend opened, an acquaintance of mine that worked at that club, opened his own club. And me and all my friends that were in shape started working there. And I wasn't into that at all.

A lot of those guys were really into. it like that stripper lifestyle it's kind of like a douchebaggy kind of deal like uh you know on this hot stripper you know whatever i wasn't like that i was like these it's money it's and at that time i was working at my father's restaurant i was working at a smoothie factory i mean it's expensive all the food and supplements and all that and it's i mean even before you add in the the steroids it's a it's a ton of money so i worked at the club for a little bit um you know you know, stripping and all that. And it's not as bad because you go watch women.

They're nude. We're not nude. But we're, you know, it's these silly acts you're doing. You're dressed up as a fireman or a policeman. And I just... Magic Mike. Yeah. It's so corny.

I can never get into it. And the other guys, they were so into it. They would rehearse during the week and this. And I just thought it was, I'm like, this is silly. I'm just going to... And so I didn't like the club scene because the girls were, were scary because they would they would pretty much all think they were

your girlfriend and so or at least act like it so you would have to text all of them before and hey I'm working tonight this, that and then there was a lot of drugs involved up there I didn't get into that you know a lot of coke meth and all that junk and I just didn't like being around that scene at all

and a couple of my friends got on you know the meth and all that and they had the house parties too where you just had bachelette parties, birthday parties where you would just go and that was a little more nerve-wracking because you're coming to like a light room like this. It's not in a dark club and there's just like 20 girls there. It's like a bachelor party.

And the club was a lot of like not so attractive women, but these parties, a lot of the women were attractive. I mean, just normal girls just doing it for their friends. And so you're like, oh my gosh, do I got a pimple on my butt or do this? Like you're like, you're in the bright light. But so I started doing those and they were nerve wrecking at first, but they came easy. So on a weekend, while my friends were partying, you know, I would say have like three or four parties. I'd make, you know, 500 bucks. And that's a lot for someone that's like 19 years old.

Yeah, at that age. Yeah, at that age. And so I was doing that like every weekend. And but I said when I started, I was like by age 25, I'm not doing this anymore because I saw some of my friends like, you know, at my age now, 40, that's still doing it. I'm like, that's depressing, 40 years old and still like... It's a thing, though. Like, you always see people bringing their girlfriends to these magic mic shows and whatnot. That movie really just, like, opened up a whole new...

I remember when that first came out a while back with Chan and Taiton. Yeah, the other guy in it, what's the guy, the tall guy, Joe Magnellia. Isn't Matthew McCona in it, too? Yeah, he's in there, too. The other guy He's in true I never watched True Blood But he was one of the characters

In True Blood He was in the movie too I think And he did like a real life Documentary on it too And I went to the red carpet For all that

Oh you got invited to that Yeah Because as my friend's date And I stayed in the condo With all them But Because I was training one of the top This was after already

I quit doing it But I was But it's not big today Like it was before at all I feel like it's more like a Las Vegas type of fad. Yeah, because, you know, now, you know, a lot of those parties back then, they would get pretty crazy.

I mean, girls would be like taking off their clothes and all this crazy stuff. And it shined a light for me, like, I was seeing all these women literally getting married in a couple weeks trying to sleep. Yeah. And I would never, I would never sleep with a person that was trying to get, that was getting married. And I thought that was horrible. But I just saw, you know, a lot of it. lot of men are very naive about women, and like, especially at that age.

And I just open my eyes to how, you know, most women are a lot of times worse. The NBA playoffs are here, and now you can trade every game on Calci. You can also trade on who wins each series, the conference finals, and the championship. San Antonio is currently trading at 22% to win it all, meaning a $100 trade pays out $455 if they take the title. On Calci, you're trading against other people in a live market, no house, no odds makers. And as the odds move, you can buy in or out any time throughout the post season. For a limited time, download the Kalshi app and use code hoops to get $10 when you trade $10. KLSHI, Kalshi, trade on anything.

The NBA playoffs are here, and now you can trade every game on Kalshi. You can also trade on who wins each series, the conference finals, and the championship. San Antonio is currently trading at 22% to win it all, meaning a $100 trade pays out $455 if they take the title. On Kalshi, you're trading against other people in a live market, no house, no odds makers. And as the odds move, you can buy in or out any time throughout the post season. For a limited time, download the Kalshi app and use code hoops to get $10 when you trade $10. KLSHI, Kalshi, trade on anything. First than men in that regard.

And you know what else is big now, drag shows, these Sunday brunch drag shows, and that's something that was around a long time ago. You see these pop-up ones at such a huge business and event, and people like to go to them. Yeah, we even got into, like after working at the, with the women, there are a lot of work. I mean, you go to the parties. I want to dance more on this, do this, do this. And then one of my friends is like, dude, you need to go to the gay bars. They're making way more money. I said, oh, dude, I don't know if I could do that.

And so he's like, once you just come up there one night and just see how it is and all that. And I was like, okay. So when I went up there and just to check out the place and talk to the owner and you didn't have to even do much. have to do all those silly acts and all that you would just stand on a box and just kind of like flex and just stand up there and so i was like all right i'll try it out because uh in dallas there's a place there's a klon is a big like you know like the main gay area there and so um i warmed up to it pretty quick and i had a made a lot of good friends out there but i remember the first night i was working there i was on like the little box and i was like oh man i'm so nervous i was like

oh this this guy i remember this little asian guy came up to me who's like And they're like come up here because the stage is high. And it's like, touching my leg. And I'm like, oh, like, all tightening up. And he's like, really nice body. And then he's, you know, he's putting the dollars in there. And I look down, it's like five, $100 bills. I'm like, okay.

Come touch me some more. I think I can do this because the girls would just tip like $1 bill. So then I started working out there. And then, yeah, I mean, it wasn't, it wasn't bad at all. I mean, it wasn't, they were respectful. And that was a different time, too. A lot of the guys were married and they were coming there. Like, that was a whole different life they lived.

And so it was, they were really respectful. These days, most of those places have closed down or they've turned like really nasty where people aren't paying that kind of money anymore just because because of 2020. Everybody is more open with, you know, all their sexualities and all that stuff. And I feel like women are going to more just female strip clubs because they go, like guys will go with their girlfriends to a strip club. and that's an interesting dynamic. And they still exist and stuff. Like I've had friends, you know, go out there and, you know, they're making maybe a couple hundred a night at best guys, you know,

working like, you know, seven-hour shifts. It's not worth it what they have to put in and all that. Yeah, something I'm super curious about because me and I'm sure millions of other people see it in the world. When they're on TikTok or they're on social media, they're scrolling. And they see a guy that looks like you. doing the gym with the shirt off, this and that. And you look at their page and they have a video saying, I'm all natural, this and that.

Is it possible to achieve that body type in this day and age and put that out there all natural? Or are they on steroids? What's a, is it a myth? Is it back? Well, there's different levels to it. So when I did my first show at 18 and 19, I was, you know. There was pro hormones and stuff back then, like a lot of sketchy supplements.

We didn't know what was really in it, so we could have accidentally took it and we didn't know. But, you know, I had the genetics to do to win a couple local shows naturally. That's possible if you have really good genetics. Going beyond that, it's not. And so like a lot of these younger guys I talked to today, I'm showing them like I was like natural on these pictures. Like, no way, you're a natural there. I'm like, yeah, I actually was. and then I show, you know, progression and all that.

But no, most people lie, and I don't really know why because it's either one or the other. People are like really, really open and giving really bad advice out. Like, I mean, I've lost a lot of friends in this industry due to, you know, opiate abuse, which is really common in bodybuilding because all the pain and injuries and or just, you know, steroids. they can be done in a safe way if you have a doctorate or monitor. That's what I had. I had a doctor monitor my blood. I always did blood work every six months.

I would come off and then go back on. Now they don't come off. And when I tell people to, like I'll do a consultation, they think the idea of even coming off is crazy taking a break. They're like, well, how do you expect to make gains? I'm like, keep eating and working. And it's just the mentality. You know, it's just, it's.

it's just a different mentality everybody wants everything instantly when i got started i had like a 10 year plan i was like okay in 10 years i want to look like this be on this level because each year i got started as a middle weight then i went to a light heavy weight then heavy weight then super heavy weight so you know you work your way up and then you have to work which you know what you have i mean a lot of people they just don't have the genetics so they can take they think they can uh make that up by taking, you know, a lot more of the drugs. And it just doesn't, it just doesn't work that way. So that's what a lot of people think, and that's a big misconception.

But no, a lot of these people, some of them are natural that are out there, but 99% are not. And there's a lot of them, they play that role. And it's just, they've gone too long saying it. There's no return. I mean, everybody knows, you know, like. Liver King is a perfect example. Yeah, of lying. Yeah, I don't see him on TikTok anymore.

Like his videos used to pop up all the time and now I don't see anything. Yeah, and that's the one of the guys I made videos on before. Like people always ask me, do you think he's natural? I'm like, no, he's not natural. How can you tell if someone's natural versus not? It's hard to tell. There's just a certain look. You can get big without them because when I was 18,

I got up to 240 pounds. I was eating like a madman. I mean, I was eating 15 whole eggs for breakfast. I mean, I was drinking my protein shakes with half and half. I mean, I was eating just so many calories. I didn't even track my calories. But you can get big, but that certain, like, look like that, where you just, it all comes together at the end.

And, like, that picture like that, you only look like that for a few days. I mean, that's dehydrated. That's, you know, when you go into a show, you have to, deplete your carbs and load your carbs and you play with the sodium and water. So it's all like, there's like a whole little science to it. But, you know, usually you can get, you can get lean and in shape, but that's super, you know, I had a lot of veins before I started stuff too. So I was just naturally vascular when I played soccer. I had veins all through my legs when I'd run a lot.

But there's just a certain look if you've been doing it long enough. Like, you know, but a lot of people, most people don't know, even people in the industry, they still, I still have people ask me that, you know, they're not stupid. They've been doing it for a while. Like, do you think this guy's natural? I'm like, no, he's not. Or this guy could be. Or it's just, there's genetic freaks out there. Ronnie Coleman, for instance. He was natural for several years bodybuilding. And then when he actually jumped on stuff, that's when he started, you know, in making gains. And it's, it's, it's, it's, it's,

it's really complex, because there's so many different chemicals. And, you know, this raises your estrogen and you have to take this compound, anti-estrogen to lower your estrogen. It's, it's a whole science to it. But most of the industry not.

I mean, nothing's natural about looking like that. I mean, eating eight meals a day is not natural. Like, that's, that's hard on your digestive system. True.

Like now I can barely, I'm lucky if I can, if I get three meals in a day. It's hard to get 30 meals. I normally just do two, honestly. Like, or a protein shake sometimes. It's a lot. Even the protein intake.

When you break it down, I don't think many people are hitting that protein intake. No. It's hard. If you don't have the motivation, if I didn't have, if I wasn't doing it for a living, I probably couldn't have done it for that long. At first, it wasn't even about the money. It was just I loved bodybuilding. And then I was lucky enough to make.

of money to support, you know, my bodybuilding and then and then a little sum. I was really blessed. But I made some decisions along the way business wise. Like I left one company for the other. It was really bad and, you know, other, you know, stuff like that. But certain guys just just played it right. And then now it's not really what have you accomplished. It's like there's a guy named like Sam Sulik now, like this kid, and he's very popular and he has a huge following, and

it's crazy. And there's no really, he's never competed. Yes, he's big for his age. He has really, really bad cystic acne all over his face. Obviously, he's pushing stuff. And it just gives these kids a

it's not a good example what a lot of these younger guys are setting up. I know when I was younger, I looked up to the older guys in the gym, obviously because they have the knowledge. They've been doing it a long time. A lot of times now, the younger guys are looking to,

their other younger guys now as fans, as fans of. And it doesn't really make sense. I'm like, these guys don't have, nothing beats experience, you know that in any field. You can read, you know,

countless books. books or whatever. And there's a lot of these good YouTubers that are really good at reading stuff and regurgitating it. But if they actually have to put it in practice, they wouldn't know what to do with certain clients. What about the legalities behind steroids? Is it legal? No. So they're not legal at all. Even if you're going to a doctor to have them injected, it's illegal to take steroids without a prescription. Well, the problem is if you're going to a doctor, like the clinics now, they can give you like testosterone to replace, you know, if you're not making enough testosterone, right? And then they can prescribe a couple other compounds like DECA. That's, you know, that's good for your joints if you have a lot

of injuries. Anavar, that's another one that they can prescribe for, you know, injuries. And I'm able to get those prescriptions now because I've had a lot of injuries and surgeries. But no, the amounts you need to compete, no. And that's the, that's the, that's a problem with it. It's not, it's not legal. And sometimes I don't blame people because you're basically saying, you know, I'm committing a felony. Like I'm taking these illegal. It's like, you know, someone saying, yeah, I do Coke? It's like coming up to say, hey, do you do Coke? Like, yeah, I do a bunch of Coke, you know.

Yeah. But there is a whole industry of guys selling steroids to these gym. Because that's where they're buying it on the black market, essentially for these items. So growing up, a lot of my friends were, you know, manufactured. And so I saw it. And, you know, yes, they were making money and they had the cars and all that. But I'm like, there's always, you're always going to get caught. You know, there's always going to be an end.

And, yeah, they made good money and all that. But it's when the trouble comes, it's a lot of trouble. You're manufacturing and all the other charges they can hit you with, fed charges. And I had friends that went through all that. Because it's not really hard to make them. They order the raw powders from China and, you know, you can look up on the Internet how to make it. But being sterile is a problem. Like I would, when I was competing, we were getting all our stuff from Mexico at the time.

Mexico? Yeah, because they had actual legit pharmacies. But after, I forgot what year it was, it was called Operation Gear Grindr, where the U.S. teamed up with Mexico and we're like, basically like, listen, like all this, all these steroid y'all are producing. It's not for these animals, obviously, or it's

basically funding all of, you know. And I don't, I've never know why the government's cared about steroids so much because it's not like people think like, oh, you take these steroids and you're going to oh, I'm crazy. It's not like that, you know. It's just stereotypes of

like Jersey Shore type people like giving or that, you know, douchebag in the bar that's, you know, a little big and beating up somebody or just put, that kind of the stereotype. They give people a bad name those guys because we all know those guys that are that are dicks. But what about the health effects? Because, you know, there is those myths, guys on steroid, small dicks, this and that triveled up. Is that real? So, of course, when you start taking a hormone like testosterone and all the other steroids are derisages,

derivatives of testosterone, your body is like, okay, I'm getting it synthetically, so it shuts off your natural production. So your testicles do shrink. Yeah. I never cared about how big my balls were. I don't meet many guys that do. Does it mess with the size of your dick? No. So it's just testicles.

It's just testicles, which makes you, I guess your dick look bigger, right? So it's a plus. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I've never heard anyone say like a girl. have small balls. Yeah. You don't hear that as an insult ever. Yeah.

So, yeah. So, I mean, it does shut them off. And the problem is, if you don't do it right, you can end up in a worse situation. So let's say you get on something of what a lot of these kids do. And then if they get out or run out, then what happens is their natural productions turned off. They're not taking it synthetically anymore. So before they were like. Like up here, now they're like way down below where they even were before.

Now they're losing must. They've lost. They're even smaller in a worse off situation than they were before. Because now their body, you know, is turned off. And sometimes your natural production can come back if you weren't on long enough or you do a certain, like a post-cycle therapy, certain compounds to jump start like your testicles to start producing the testosterone again. But it's kind of like one of those things. if you're like when I started I knew like hey once I start this is tough this is a lifetime kind of deal like you're never going to be able to just not take anything at least you know basic testosterone to keep your levels at a normal at a normal level because having low testosterone is you know it's super unhealthy you know what about your heart the effect on the heart and that type because you were mentioning that people had passed away from bodybuilding steroid use and whatnot are there those kind of effects? on it. So there's different levels to it. So you, there's, uh, the audience is going to appreciate

you take a sip of water because I get comments when the guest doesn't drink anything. Yeah. Because these mics pick it up if you're dehydrant, like if you're, if you don't have water. Yeah. So thank you for that. I flew from Dallas too. So my trip has been like, boom, boom, boom here. So yeah, I haven't drank enough water. So yeah, I'm dehydrated. So there's different aspects to it. So yes, steroids over time, abuse. will take years off your life. Yeah. When I got into it,

you know, the whole what we thought was a lot wasn't really a lot. And as time went on, everything is just way more extreme now. That's what kind of let me to fall out of bodybuilding eventually.

Oh, I still love the whole bodybuilding and all that, but being a competitor. It's like, okay, do you want to keep chasing, especially when print died, magazines went away, and the whole social media came in. You know, that was, I competed that year, and I was like, a couple of photographers, like, I don't know if you want to shoot this year. I'm like, why not?

They're like, well, we can't pay anymore. I'm like, why? They're like, well, we don't, there's no money. The magazines aren't paying us to sell the pictures or anything. And I was like, yeah, I'll still shoot just to have some pictures. But so that went away and all the income went away. And then Instagram, I remember Instagram kind of. to come in around like 2000, I guess 30.

The NBA playoffs are here, and now you can trade every game on Kalshi. You can also trade on who wins each series, the conference finals, and the championship. San Antonio is currently trading at 22% to win it all, meaning a $100 trade pays out $455 if they take the title. On Kalshi, you're trading against other people in a live market, no house, no odds makers. And as the odds move, you can buy in or out any time throughout the post season. For a limited time, download the Kalshi app and use code hoops to get $10 when you trade $10. KLSHI. Calci, trade on anything.

The NBA playoffs are here, and now you can trade every game on Cali. You can also trade on who wins each series, the conference finals, and the championship. San Antonio is currently trading at 22% to win it all, meaning a $100 trade pays out $455 if they take the title. On Calci, you're trading against other people in a live market, no house, no odds makers. And as the odds move, you can buy in or out any time throughout the post season. For a limited time, download the Calci app and use code hoops to get $10 when you trade $10. Calci, trade on anything. 13, 12, 13, 14.

Oh, I think it was like 2011. Okay. And I'm like, this is stupid. I'm like, you post a picture of yourself. And before we had people that would come to the gym, we were doing professional photo shoots. I mean, or taking our pictures on stage, like all the magazines I did, you would,

you know, they would come to the gym, set up all the lights, and it would be a professional photo shoot. And then the whole idea of taking pictures of yourself in the mirror, Like, oh, yeah, like, you know, like showing that. I just thought it was like so cheesy. I was like, so I didn't even get on Instagram. I'm like, this is not going to go anywhere.

Like, you're taking a picture of yourself. And I'm like, because what do we have before we hit? I remember we had, you know, MySpace. I was on MySpace. But no one was really posting photos of, I feel like, themselves. It was more like text posts, a couple mirror picks, but it wasn't like what Instagram created. Right.

Because you didn't have the story either. It was just so different. It was all about your profile and the music and whatnot. Yeah, yeah. And like your polls, your top five. Yeah, yeah. And your profile picture, obviously. Yeah.

And then when the initial Facebook started, you know, like the actual posting on your wall with photos, but it was more group photos. Yeah. I think Instagram really kind of created the selfie in a way. Yeah, it did. And, you know, and then the problem was all the, like when I was younger and we used to take pictures of each other, all that, to just have memories of what we looked like or whatever. We never thought about like, oh, this is the person. lighting or this looks great. We just took the damn picture.

Now these guys today, it's like, you know, if they find the right lighting, I mean, they're even making gyms now, like they call them, oh, this is a good influencer, Jim, because it has a perfect lighting for us to look way better than we really do. And so it gets to a point where it's like, it's not even what they look like. And so a lot of people, and that's why a lot of these guys don't compete because you can't Photoshop your picture if you're up on stage. That's very true. So a lot of times, you know, man, gosh, men and women, they're looking at all these people.

And I was like, these people don't look like that in person. That's a lot. That's 90% of influencers. They're just normal people. They really are. I tell people that all the time. They're a normal person. That's why I try to not be something I'm not on like social media.

And I just, what people see on social media is me in real life. I don't even really like dressing up or doing anything. I was telling you, I've got into shoes. And on that topic, you got me a beautiful pair of shoes. you're the first guest to ever text you and say, what size shoe are you? And what's your address? And you set me a pair of shoes.

Which was so cool and I'm very thankful for that. But that's just what social media is created. And on the topic of magazines, you made me think of something. I always wondered when you're checking out the grocery store. You see the magazines. I'm like, who's buying these subscriptions? Even when you go to like Barnes & Noble,

there's magazines and at the doctor's office and whatever. Then when I got to prison, I think that funds These that's what's keeping these magazines afloat Oh man you know how many people Many my friends were like dude I was in prison I was shit and I was reading this magazine I just you popped up and so many my friends

Serving time like what you know we're reading There's got to be magazines of you in prison still Because they circulate and they live there forever And they get passed on and I had a subscription to us weekly To Forbes a couple others when I was there Because it's it's the auto bill Like it's $5.99 a week and you think there's 2 million people in prison.

If you can tap into what a little bit of that market, you know, because everyone wants something to read. Yeah. So that's what's keeping the business alive. That and Western Union. Yeah. All the invades are still using Western Union. That's funny.

I know. Yeah. Now, are there, can you get addicted to steroids? You know, I never felt like I could. I honestly didn't like taking them. in like, so I was already naturally very competitive and aggressive, you know, from soccer. I mean, when I played soccer, especially coming up, it wasn't, it wasn't fun a lot because we were being treated like, hey, this is your life.

You're going to turn pro. And then so the coach, one of my coaches, his name was Hassan. he actually played with my uncle. They were teammates on the Iranian national team. And he, I mean, he verbally abused us. I mean, like, broke us down. Like, I see what he was trying to do now. But, you know, at that age, I mean, he made all of us cry at least a few times.

I mean, but it's just, I already had that in my nature. And a lot of these times, people, like, get on certain compounds. you know that feeling kind of when you get like mad, you're just, I'm a little burning up in here. You kind of feel like that more often. And I think if you're already a dick or an ass, it just makes you a little more of one. So if you're a super mellow person,

it usually doesn't affect you that much. So the mental side of the mental side effects are real, because there's certain compounds, like when I first got on TikTok, All I heard about was Tren, Tren, Tren, Tren, Tremblon. It's called Tremblon. And it's probably one of the strongest ones out there, and it has a lot of side effects, and it makes you extremely aggressive. And it gives people a false, like, false sense of self-confidence.

So someone with low self-confidence, they start taking and they feel confident. But it's not real. So when they get off, they go back to that little person they feel like, you know. and so they stay on it. And that's how these people start getting, you know, serious health problems. The health problems comes from not getting off, right? So a lot of these compounds, they can, you know, raise your blood pressure. And over time, a lot of these people aren't doing what you're supposed to do.

They can make your red blood count way too high. So it kind of makes your blood sludgy. So you should be donating blood. Even people on testosterone replace them. You should be like donating blood every eight weeks. And they're just not doing any of these things. And when you're not coming off, your body eventually gets toxic. And you, you know, you just don't feel good.

And your blood pressure gets too high. It's going to destroy your kidneys. There's been so many people with kidney failure is a huge thing. A lot of body blurs have had kidney failure. They're not keeping track of their blood pressure. I did all this from the beginning. I checked my blood. I had a good doctor when I was younger.

He was involved in bodybuilding. Like, knew a lot of bodybuilders. He helped out other ones. So I took care of my health. And then when it came to a point where, okay, you're getting close to the top. You have, like, two different directions to go. You either can push, push really hard and go to the next level to, like, trying to be one of the best in the world, Olympia stage. Or it's probably time to retire and start a life.

So at that time, it was 2011. Gosh, I had a lot going on in 2011. So my life's been wild, but I had stories for days. But 2011, I was prepping for nationals. It was a huge show. I had the online magazines following me as a favorite to win and all that. And I even did a documentary on Netflix with End the Discovery Channel on bodybuilding. It was like me and Ronnie Coleman and a couple other guys, which was really cool.

And you just got a lot of people in the industry that's just trying to, it's such a selfish sport. It's all about, or whatever you want to call it. It's all about you, what you look like. You're tanning, you're eating, every one of this. And people just screw over a lot of people. I remember like this guy. that I was prepping. He was a friend of Ronnie Coleman.

And he was like, yeah, the Discovery Channel's coming in town to shoot me and Ronnie for a documentary. I was like, oh, cool. What time are they come up at MetroFlex? And they were all flying in from England. I was like, I might try to come up there because I'm like several weeks out from nationals. Maybe I can shoot with them. He's like, oh, yeah, okay, cool. Because I was shooting with this other guy with most muscular.

And he was like three o'clock. I was like, okay, and then I talked to my friend Joe, and he's like, hey, let's shoot her like 12 up there. And I was like, okay, I'll just shoot then, bring my meals, eating, and then wait. He told me the wrong time on purpose, so they wouldn't see me up there. So, because he knew they would like me and they would probably want me to be in the documentary. And granted, this is a dude that I've been helping doing his nutrition and literally helping him out. And a lot of it for free because he didn't have money at the time. And so luckily I was up there and they all rushed to me.

They're like, hey, you look great. Like, what are you doing? Like, would you want to be in this documentary? I was like, yeah, absolutely. They're like, are you okay with not getting paid? I'm like, yeah. And so it was for Discovery Channel then. And then eventually Netflix picked it up from like 2012 to 14.

So that was pretty cool because it was Netflix. So many people saw that. So it was really good for business. but you just got a lot of people that's just looking out for themselves. And it's just really just. That's the entertainment, business performing, anything like that. So it's hard to make actually real friendships. You know, sometimes people will be friends next minute.

You know, they literally hate each other. And then coaching over the years, I helped so many people out. And when I would help people out, I would give my all. And I really cared about them. I mean, they would call me at two in the morning crying about some girlfriend. and they brought and you know a lot of these people when you go through your rough times

there's nowhere to be found and so I think that's you know through your through your you know the good times and bad times in life like whenever all the prison stuff people all go away or whoever you know you find out who's like really in your corner or not and it's you know so the whole industry the selfishness of it

it's just that's what I kind of like fell out of love with and And so when it came to that time to kind of like choose, my shoulder was bothering me a lot. So I went to doctor and like I needed shoulder surgery. I was like, man, this is like as I'm going up and like my prime, like not even my prime, but I was above where I needed to be at that time. I was doing really well. And I had to have shoulder surgery.

So I picked the best surgeon I could. He was the Dallas, the Texas range. Rangers surgeon for baseball, went in, did my shoulder surgery, fixed my rotator cuff, an AC joint. My labrin was torn when they got in. They didn't see it in the MRI because the muscle mass was too much. And so he didn't fix it. And a lot of times baseball players, they don't fix their labrum because they are not able to snap the ball back anymore. I was like, my arm doesn't need a snap back.

I'm not a baseball player. So that's a career ender for baseball players. And so he didn't fix that. And so we had to go right back again. And so that led me to being out of the gym for two years, upper body straight. And so during that time, like all the people that I was beating and all that, they surpassed me. I couldn't train it all. And then they were telling me I probably couldn't ever train the same either.

But during that time, that's when it all changed to kind of like the social media error. And so I was like kind of watching it change. And I'm like, wow, things are changing. And it was a sad time. And when I got healthy again, and my mom was sick for about a year and a half. And she was my biggest fan. And she passed from stage four breast cancer. And then I just needed to get my mind busy.

So I came back that year to compete. There was a big competition supporting breast cancer. I did that. And there was another couple competitions. I did that. And then after the season, I was like, you know what? I think it's time. And then I had my daughter coming on my way, my first child.

And I'm like, I just, I just, you know, I want to stay healthy. I want to be here for my kids. I don't have the same drive and love for this as I used to. I think it's time to retire, which a lot of people are like, dude, you're crazy. Why are you retiring? And these aren't just normal friends of mine. These are judges. These are the magazines.

They're like, we had a lot of expectations for you to do, you know, go to the top top. But I look back now and as a blessing disguise that I got out of it. I've had so many friends, you know, pass away. And they were just chasing a dream. And you miss out on life because when you get that big, you know, at the biggest, I think I was like 285, almost 290. And then when you compete, obviously you cut all of it down.

but you can't do a lot of things because you get injured easily. So I stopped snow skiing, snowboarding, you know, skating. And it's kind of like you're sacrificing all these fun, cool stuff. Oh, I can't go out of town for that long because I have to eat all my meals. And so you miss out on a lot of life. So I retired at a good time and I saw a lot of people kept going and they weren't happy. And so I look back and I got out at the right time. And I always wanted to start my own supplement company, all that.

And I finally, you know, did that. Was it hard to walk away from something that you were so passionate about and your whole life was based around it? Like, I feel like a lot of people can relate to being so into something, so passionate athletes where a career-ending injury or anything like that. And then you're forced to pivot. In your case, you had an injury and you kind of halfway out, halfway want to pivot. What kind of advice would you give to people that are going through that

from someone who's been faced with that? Yeah, you're always going to have people, you know, it's always, that was my whole life, that competitive nature to, so, I mean, of course it's really hard to walk away from, but, you know, I had other surgeries too. Like I got in a couple bad car accidents, so spinal stuff, neck stuff, and the body just doesn't work the same. It doesn't function the same after all that stuff. and it gets frustrating.

And that's why a lot of, you know, pain pills, pain pills are involved in all this. And a lot of these bodybuilders are full-blown addicts. And even when I got into bodybuilding, I had no clue. They were like the recreational. I thought like, oh, they were healthy. No, like my first, like after party I went to, they were just shooting up meth, heroin. I'm like, wow, this is how they get down. and it's a very unhealthy lifestyle.

And an environment. You could very easily be exposed to that. Looking back on it now, or are you happy you didn't kind of succumb to that environment and actively go down that path? Yeah, you know, I did get in the pain meds, but that was kind of like after I retired, I needed to have like a few surgeries, so I decided to have it like all in a three month period or two month period, which was a stupid idea because I got on pain medicine.

I think they put me on dilaudid and oxies. And so I was on that for extended period of time. And, you know, the doctors don't tell. I mean, I've had friends withdraw before, but you don't know what it's like until you really go through it. And so they put me all in this junk. And then it was like a couple months later, time to come off. And I'm like, I was like the most sick of it. ever been in my life. And so that led to a four-year thing addicted to, you know, oxies and De Laudan

and all that. Luckily, I'm still here because there's been some, some close times where I was, I was gone and had to be brought back. But, you know, it's just, it's just, yeah, I look back and I'm really glad I got out. Yeah, a lot of the people I interview that when they battle with addiction, it all starts with the environment. A parent expose them to it, a friend expose them to that. So to be able to make it to the other side of that, that's definitely inspiring. And I think, you know, not getting that, not being on that level and having that competition, you're like, I think you kind of replace that too, the whole, you know, of course,

when you take an opiate, you feel good. You know, people get addicted for a reason. And that was kind of replacing, um, A lot of tough stuff. Plus, I was going through a lot of, you know, court stuff with custody battles and legal issues. I mean, it was a lot of just stuff going on at the time. Life's curveballs. Yeah.

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Savings of up to $1 per gallon redeemable with $20 rewards dollars in your loyalty account. At participating locations, terms and conditions apply. The NBA playoffs are here, and now you can trade every game on Kalshi. You can also trade on who wins each series, the conference finals, and the championship. San Antonio is currently trading at 22% to win it all,

meaning a $100 trade pays out $455 if they take the title. On Kalsi, you're trading against other people in a live market. no house, no odds makers. And as the odds move, you can buy in or out anytime throughout the post season. For a limited time, download the Kalshi app and use code hoops to get $10 when you trade $10. KLSHI, Kalshi, trade on anything. What are three life lessons that you've learned throughout your journey? I think, you know, a lot of these young guys, like I tell them, like you got to have a plan B.

these guys don't have a plan B they think they're going to be some and I'm a straight shooter with people like when they contact me and they like this is my goal to be Olympia stage I can look at someone and tell them if they have the genetics to even ever get there and especially a lot of these girls

too and just the stuff that goes on in the industry too it's got cleaned up a lot now but like when I was first competing I mean I was getting ready for big shows before and I'd be contacted three weeks out.

Like, hey, big fan of yours. I'm like, that's cool, awesome. Hey, you think we could have dinner after show? Maybe I have to see how my schedule is. Hey, do you think you would be up to, you know, I could pay you really well for, you know, maybe some kissing and cuddling. This is from a guy. And I'm like, no, I'm like, no, dude, I'm good. And then he goes, okay, that's cool.

I'll see it your show. I'm judging the show. I'm like, oh, shit. And then my placing at that show wasn't, it wasn't what it was supposed to be. And then we really couldn't talk about it because you would just be blackballed. And so that was happening with a lot of people, the females too. I mean, they even did an article not too long ago in the Washington Post. The Washington Post reached out to me to make some statements about certain people.

And I'm like, I'm not going to do that because, you know, the league, the IFPB and NPC, those are the main league. they try to do things as, you know, clean as possible, but you've got promoters and other people, judges. I mean, I judged for seven years too. I got into judging after I retired. You got people that get in those positions so they can abuse them, whether it's, you know, a judge trying to sleep with the girls and tell them they're going to get better placings. I mean, when I was judging, I would have girls come up to me after the show and, like, what can I do? to place better.

I'm like, work on this. They're like, no, is there something? I'm like, no, I'm not like that. That doesn't work with me. That's how it was in the concert business. Everyone wants free tickets, meet the artist or something like that. Girls will do. The girls will have a boyfriend and they'll be like, oh, I'll blow you in the back to

meet this person. Yeah. It's crazy. So I just, it just, yeah, a lot of that stuff was just like, man, it's, and a lot of people that got to the top that shouldn't be. from all that stuff. I mean, hey, that's their own deal. But, you know, I just wanted to stay out of it.

And I just like, I'm going to, I want to be good because I'm good, not because I did, you know, whether I paid off some, a judge or, you know, did this other, you know, sexual favor for a judge. And I just think you got to live with that end of the day. And there's a lot of people now that I know that look back on it. They're like, man, I wish I didn't do all that stuff. And, you know, I don't, because as you get older, you just kind of like, man, that wasn't right.

I don't, I didn't. I wasn't. I wasn't that good because I was good. I was good because I did like A, B, and C to, you know, to get there. If your kid wanted to go into bodybuilding, what would you say? No. You're saying no, or are you going to be supportive and let him try? Are you just going to say, pick something else?

I'll be honest. I'll be like, you know, like my son, he's five now. I would just say, man, there's no money in this. I'd be straight up with him. Like, there's no money in this. This is what dad did. Yes, I made a little. living out of it. I was one of the lucky ones that was able to. The other, you know, not many

people can. A lot of these people that you're seeing on social media with a nice car. People are like, oh, well, I saw this guy with this. I'm like, that's not even his car. You know, that's not even his house. It's an Airbnb. They're rentals. Yeah. You could literally rent luxury cars and houses and all of that. So they don't get it. I'm like, they're like, they say they're making this and that. I'm like, dude, they're not making that money. I know these people personally. I know the companies personally.

That's not what their contract is. They're getting paid like $3,000 a month. I'm like, and so I would just be straight up with them and be like, you know, this is not what I want for you. But if you really want to do this, you know, I'll help you to do it. But all the, all the steroids and all that kind of stuff, no, I wouldn't want my kids doing all that chunk. Yeah. Yeah. Well, Armand, thank you so much for coming on the show.

Absolutely. Very insightful conversation. It's different for the show. And I think the viewers are going to like it because we have that our demographic, a large percentage is 28 to 35 male. The whole show is, you know, 85% male, but, you know, 40% of it is that age group. And these are individuals that are into supplements or guys that just got out of prison and are looking kind of for that right thing.

And I think having someone that's like a professional in that field come on the show to talk about it to know what the risks are and to all. also kind of give guidance and check your stuff out, I think, is big. Because, you know, what's funny about our show is that we don't really have any, we have factor for the meal plans and stuff, but we don't have any supplement sponsors or anything like that. Yeah. And I feel like this is the perfect demographic.

So I'm glad you were able to come out here and we promote your product. And we have a lot of listeners. So hopefully that leads to some sales. Absolutely. Yeah. And, yeah, we're still growing our supplement company, like the new one we came out with, AMG Labs. It's going to continue to grow.

And what sets us apart from the other ones is I got into this because I, you know, I was a kid once I got ripped off by all the supplement companies promising this and that. And I got into it wanting to make great supplements and just honest with people. I'm not going to tell people, yeah, you can look like me from just taking these. That's what you just told me outside. Yeah. But there's a lot of people out. out there that peddle these supplements and use my coupon codes and this and that, but they don't

tell people the real truth. But supplements, and there's there other type of people that they totally skip all the supplements and go straight to the drugs, which is, it makes no sense either because certain supplements do work and they do have their time in place and then, you know, people skip over that part. Absolutely. Well, thank you again, man. Thank you for having me. Thank you for having me.

back and, you know, keep in touch. Absolutely. You know, I think you should make a podcast. Yeah. You got the look and the voice for it, so in the stories. Yeah, I need to. I mean, people have been asking me for years. Of course, I do other bodybuilding podcasts.

We do one called, I'm on one called RX muscle, and we do that weekly. Okay. Oh, you're a co-host. Well, there's like six of us, so it's like a crazy show. But, yeah, people have been asking me for years, and I just need to find time to and just start doing it on a regular basis. Yeah, you know, help you guys. You've got your connect now.

Yeah, absolutely. Sounds good. Thanks for having me.