Mark Bell's Power Project - A Second Chance at Strength | Steve Gentili

Episode Date: September 14, 2026

Steve joins Mark Bell’s Power Project to tell the story of going from elite-level strength and chasing a 2,000-pound powerlifting total to sudden kidney failure, five years of dialysis, and ultimately receiving a kidney transplant from his sister.Steve explains how his health deteriorated seemingly overnight, why doctors eventually determined that a rare genetic condition played a major role in his kidney failure, what dialysis actually feels like, and how close he came to believing he might not survive.He also opens up about losing the identity he had built around strength, accepting that he may never lift the numbers he once did, the loyalty his wife showed him at his lowest point, and how surviving the experience completely changed his priorities.The conversation also covers blood work and kidney-health markers, performance-enhancing drugs, training and gaining size, entrepreneurship, near-death experiences, family, faith, and learning to appreciate the life you still have.Follow Steve: @ptfitness500Special perks for our listeners below!🥩 HIGH QUALITY PROTEIN! 🍖 ➢ https://goodlifeproteins.com/ Code POWER to save 20% off site wide, or code POWERPROJECT to save an additional 5% off your Build a Box Subscription!🩸 Get your BLOODWORK/TRT/PEPTIDES! 🩸 ➢ https://marekhealth.com and use code "POWERPROJECT" for 10% off Self-Service Labs and Guided Optimization®.🧠 Methylene Blue: Better Focus, Sleep and Mood 🧠 Use Code POWER10 for 10% off!➢https://troscriptions.com?utm_source=affiliate&ut-m_medium=podcast&ut-m_campaign=MarkBel-I_podcastBest 5 Finger Barefoot Shoes! 👟 ➢ https://Peluva.com/PowerProject Code POWERPROJECT15 to save 15% off Peluva Shoes!Self Explanatory 🍆 ➢ Enlarging Pumps (This really works): https://bit.ly/powerproject1Pumps explained: https://youtu.be/qPG9JXjlhpM?si=JZN09-FakTjoJuaW🚨 The Best Red Light Therapy Devices and Blue Blocking Glasses On The Market! 😎➢https://emr-tek.com/Use code: POWERPROJECT to save 20% off your order!👟 BEST LOOKING AND FUNCTIONING BAREFOOT SHOES 🦶➢https://vivobarefoot.com/powerproject🥶 The Best Cold Plunge Money Can Buy 🥶 ➢ https://thecoldplunge.com/ Code POWERPROJECT to save $150!!➢ https://withinyoubrand.com/ Code POWERPROJECT to save 15% off supplements!➢ https://markbellslingshot.com/ Code POWERPROJECT to save 15% off all gear and apparel!Follow Mark Bell's Power Project Podcast➢ https://www.PowerProject.live➢ https://lnk.to/PowerProjectPodcast➢ Insta: https://www.instagram.com/markbellspowerproject➢ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/markbellspowerprojectFOLLOW Mark Bell➢ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marksmellybell➢https://www.tiktok.com/@marksmellybell➢ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkBellSuperTraining➢ Twitter: https://twitter.com/marksmellybellFollow Nsima Inyang➢ Ropes and equipment : https://thestrongerhuman.store➢ Community & Courses: https://www.skool.com/thestrongerhuman➢ YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/c/NsimaInyang➢ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nsimainyang/?hl=e#PowerProject #Podcast #MarkBell #FitnessPodcast #markbellspowerproject

Man, I just want to live longer. I don't want to die at 35. They checked me into the ICU and spent three days test me and couldn't figure out what was going on, but they just told me I was in complete organ failure. I knew I was losing a chapter of my life. Like, that chapter was over. How long did it take to get another kidney? Five years.

That is just acceptance. Like, I'm never going to bench press 600 pounds again. I'm never going to squat 800 pounds again. And being okay with that. I'm just more grateful for things. You could be mad at it. You can be angry at it, but you got to be, you got to move. pass it. You could either be stunted by these

things or you can use them as a catalyst for group. Yeah, he can only squat 405 for like sets of eight now. That's a, it's a big hit though. It is. Yeah. Yeah, as opposed to probably, you could probably squat 600 for eight. Well, I was maybe that good at rest. Let's rewind. Right now you

squat 405 for eight? Yeah, I squat four or five for eight. What's this? What do you even? There's nothing to trip about. I'm sorry, there's nothing. I get it. I get it. Yeah. But still, that's strong as fuck. Yeah, I mean, I, dude, I feel good about it, like in all reality of where I'm at in life. Like, it's like, this is what I say.

I'm at a point in my life where it's okay. Like, you know, I'm not, I'm not that strong. I'm okay. I'm okay. No, no, no, no. You're still like in the top 1% of strength. You know, like, you know what I? I love talking to Ed Cohen about this because he's like, I just lift heavy enough

so I could lie about how heavy I can lift. So I'm a roll. I'm a roll with that one. Yeah. You said you did 700 for a triple the other day. I think you did say it was with the wagon wheel, so it's elevated. Yep. But 700 for a triple.

700 leaving the ground is still, is a lot. I feel good about it. But, you know, I think the comparison for me is like I was trying to build back to a 2K total. And those aren't 2K numbers. So I think that's where I'm like good enough, you know. Because the reality of, I think I just, dude, I just put the bar too high. So I never even reached a 2K total raw. 2K total for people that don't know in powerlifting is a big number.

It used to be. It used to be because there's a guy named Colton Ingrid who did a 2,7-100-pound total. Yeah. At my body. I don't understand what's happening. Yeah, either do I, man. I would love to get to the bottom of it, but I can. What excuses can we think of any excuses on what's going on?

Well, I'll tell you my go-to is just I'm retired. I'm retired. Yeah, he's lucky. Yeah. Okay. That's a good one. No, there's just something out there now, you know, like, oh, if I was still competing. There's probably new drugs.

Peptides. Yeah, peptides, programming. They don't, they did. What kind of programming on so much shit? Yeah, I wish we could see the numbers, though, of like, because social media made powerlifting specifically explode. And it's not like it's that old of a sport, right? So there's just so many more people.

Would you say there's maybe three or five times the amount of people that we're doing, that are doing power lifting now? Like, think about that. That's just a pool of people. 10 times. Yeah, probably. Yeah. So.

And what's different is people are sharing information. Yep. Where they're not gatekeeping programming or, you know, there's tons of podcast talking about strength training and tons of people posting their training every day. And there's just a crossover. We got no answers. Yeah. We got no answers from Colton.

We tried to interview him. And we got like. Colton's so great because he just like lifts. Yeah. Like who do you look up to? He's like nobody. Yeah. No.

It's like, well, I wouldn't look up to anybody either. How was that strong? Yeah, I guess so. Really, if you guys do check out his podcast, that's something I actually really appreciate about the way he was talking about because it was so matter of fact. Like he wasn't like saying he was doing anything special or any unique, like he was just like, well, this is what I do.

He doesn't have some Jay Schroeder eccentric special fast Twitch training or something. He's just lifted. Yeah. I mean, you got to respect it. Yeah. Your journey is absolutely crazy. The fact that you're even with us today is a blessing. You had a lot of kidney issues over the last several years all the way to the point where you had to get, you have somebody else's kidney inside your body.

Yeah, I had to do the transplant. But I would say it like this. It wasn't a lot of kidney issues. It was one kidney issue that led to a lot of other medical issues. But the main driver in that was we got a new kidney. And for, you know, kidney transplant is not a cure. Like we talked about this morning, I'm going to need another kidney at some point in my lifetime, if I'm lucky enough to live. another 15, 20 years

and being 41, I hope that's possible. Yeah. But it's a solution. And right now it's the best solution I have. Did you ever used to think in those terms? No. I mean, when I was growing up, I never, yeah. You know, I had very low aspirations.

That's why when we talk about like people that have millions, like, dude, I never thought I was going to get my own apartment. Like I didn't have multi-million dollar aspirations. I didn't, like, the life I've lived. lived to this point already outbeats anything I thought I was going to be capable. Big arms and a pretty good bench. That was the least of it. Just like being successful enough to like do the things I can do now and having the

quality of life, I think is what being sick has really shown me. But yeah, I'm just grateful to be here and grateful to be in the position I'm in. When did it all, when did it all start like, yeah, when did it all start with being super serious about like you need a kidney transplant? Oh, the first, my diagnosis, they were, they were, I went from not knowing anything to having onset health issues like in a single night. I basically felt like I was breathing through a straw, but at that time it was closer to COVID and it was right around, it was 2019, so a little bit before COVID, but a lot of

respiratory stuff going around. So I just thought it was like a flu or congestive. operatory respiratory system but when I went to get checked out they my blood pressure was 240 over 160 something crazy like that and they said you're having a medical crisis they checked me into the ICU and spent three days test me and couldn't figure out what was going on but they just told me I was in complete organ failure so I went from thinking otherwise seemingly healthy with a dream of coming back after my peck tear and um to you're going to need the kidney transplant and i didn't like you know you're just in so much shock at that moment that it wasn't really like an all-encompassing what really

went into that it was more so like um just losing i knew things weren't going to be the same for me yeah how did oh go ahead go ahead i knew i was losing a chapter of my life like that chapter was over I knew that. Yeah. How long did it take to get another kidney? Five years. Yeah. So I was on the list.

I was doing all the requirements, which, by the way, are a nightmare. Okay. Like you got to jump through these hoops and get the testing and make sure that you get approval. I actually got kicked off the list twice, once for not marking my blood pressure because I was sleeping during the dialysis treatments when I was at in home. So they took me off the list. I had to like re-earned my spot. Like, yeah, they don't just.

give you a kidney it's very hard to get um but i did have a living donor with my sister the issue was she couldn't lose the weight she needed to lose and it took a very long time for her to get started on that journey um and but she eventually she did get approval we did the surgery and now she's under 200 pounds for the first time since high school so i think that kicked off a health health uh journey of her own so grateful for that so a lot of your kidney uh i guess like malfunction is maybe like, maybe confusing, right? Can you kind of explain to people like what happened? Because I think people look at you and they'll just say,

oh, well, this guy obviously did bodybuilding, powerlifting. So maybe because of performance enhancing drugs, maybe his kidneys just gave up. But your situation seems to be pretty complex. Yeah. And I appreciate you throwing the word bodybuilding in there. It was never a bodybuilding. You looked like one.

I played football. And then I got into strength sports. via you. But, yeah, people that haven't stepped on a stage or have only done so once, no, not to really talk too much about bodybuilding because actual bodybuilding is so difficult. It is. And I respect the shit out of it, but that's why I always clarify. I am not a bodybuilder.

Right. I don't want to take that on. Yeah. So initially I did think it was steroids that did it. And even though the doctor kind of told me I had to get a kidney biopsy, we eventually found out that it was my kidney fail failing and not my heart because both of them were kind of showing signs of trouble but um the the initial time over dialysis like it doesn't matter why it's happening all that matters is let's keep you healthy enough for transplant when you get to transplant it starts to matter

because now you have to manage what happened so they do a genetic test on you i came back positive for the genetic component of SF FSGS which stands for a disease i have a very very very very hard time pronouncing. I'm not going to attempt on error. But when I got the transplant, the FSGS actually came back. And I had to do a couple rounds of freezes in the hospital. Usually you're in the ICU for like three or four days after the transplant. But I was in there for about 10 days, just battling different things. The kidney wasn't turning on is what they were telling me. I wasn't producing urine. So I was pretty out of it for the first four days. And then things progressively got better.

but it was due to a medical diagnosis, a rare autoimmune disorder is what caused my kidney to fail. Both kidneys to fail. And then we can also say that like that steroids don't help. Yeah, no, for sure. They weren't helpful. And maybe they did exacerbate the issue or make the issue happen faster potentially or what are your thoughts there?

I believe that's a part of it. But like there's no way to know definitively. did elevating my did that elevate my blood pressure or was it overall body size body weight could be a lot of things yeah or you could have just been this could have just happened anyway i think you mentioned there's

a little bit of family history yeah no it it would have definitely happen because what we talked to with the surgeon and when when i got the biopsy they were saying that because i told them everything it's like this is my use history and he said the scarring in there is older than what you're telling

So you've had these issues longer and I can look back at high school having issues cramping and I've always been injury prone I've always torn muscles tendons and a lot of that is due to like imbalances and electrolytes and things that were due to kidney dysfunction like I've always had foamy pee my whole life and I never thought it was an issue

but you know people are going to say well why didn't you go get it checked out and I would I've also been diagnosed as like a generalized anxiety disorder so I'd come in with a little bit elevated heart rate rate or blood pressure and they would just say he's having anxiety and they never did you're too young to get those blood panels you're too young to get these things checked out so i'd never did to get a deep dive into anything they would kind of look at some of my metabolic panels but if you go in as a 25 year old kid asking for certain genetic markers or deep like your gps it's it's gonna tell you to get out of there they don't

they don't really take those claims serious question for you you know how like there are all these different blood work companies now. Yeah. Are the things that you're mentioning, are they on like those types of panels that people can do on their own? They are. And that's like one of the biggest things,

especially guys that are experimenting with PEDs. It's like you got to get these things done first. And it's been a boom in the medical industry. And for fitness in general, they'd be able to have these things monitored and to have the actual data that you can look at. Because when I first started, there was nothing. You had a general practitioner.

and I think a lot of people feel now if you don't have the right doctor, you're just out of look. Things are changing quickly now and it's people are more often now getting like a full panel done. Yeah. Which shows you a lot of different things. What are maybe three main things in terms of kidney health that people should be getting, making sure they get checked? Well, I mean, I got to, I got to just say I'm not a doctor. I'm just a guy that went through it. So I would say number one is just monitoring.

monitoring your blood pressure. Number two would be working with a professional and making sure that they're monitoring it and it's not just you getting lab work done, but finding someone that you can trust. And as far as lab value goes, BUN or GFR, and that would probably be the best indicator for bun creatine. Is that what it's called? Creatine. Or is that separate?

Is bun and creatinine? Are they separate? it? I believe so. They are two different numbers. So creatinine is one indicator, not always the best for guys that supplement or are larger and lift heavier. I think there's a better test. It's Sassolene A, I believe, is the name of the test that will be a better indicator of kidney health. So if you are someone that's using steroids or are someone that's competing at a high level and retain a lot of muscle mass, that would be what I would, like blood pressure and Sassoline A is what I would look at. And I'm pretty sure that GFR, and I'm not sure if you know or Ryan, if you can maybe look it up on like Merrick Health, just in general what some of the general panel covers.

But I think GFR is almost always in there. Usually it's in a metabolic. Ciseline A, is that what you said? Yeah. I'm not sure about that one. If that one's normal. You have to request it. Okay.

Yeah. Because I think it's important, you know, that we, because a lot of times what happens, you get your blood work done. And it can be kind of annoying. especially if you're paying out of pocket. Yeah. And you're trying to do your best to like do your due diligence and comb through this. So you'll have to make sure, you know, if you communicate with people at like Merrick Health, then you can say I really want specifically to look, I want you to do a deep dive on like my liver or my,

my kidneys, my heart. Yeah. And I'd like to get three or four different markers represented in that blood work. Because what happens a lot of times with blood work is, you'll get your blood work done. They'll say, oh, this is high. And they'll say, I wonder what this other number looks like. Right.

And you're like, well, shit, we don't have that one. And then you have to get further testing. So I always like to, it's not the easiest thing and it's not always the most affordable thing. But if you can get a lot of stuff tested at one time, I think that that's. And also, I'll tell you this about blood work. You're not just getting blood work done one time. Like the whole thing with blood work is to get subsequent blood work follow up. So you'll still need other blood work, but it's convenient if you had a hundred things tested at one time rather than just 10,

and then you've got to go back and just keep going back and forth, back and forth. Yeah, there's a lot of things to monitor. Yeah, there's a lot of shit to look at. Yeah. Because you're really looking at all the organs, right? Like, yes, it's nice to know our testosterone and yes, it's nice to know some of these other things. But that organ health is really important and can be really critical. Absolutely.

And a lot of them affect the other. So if you do have kidney issues, like I said, you are going to end up with heart issues and vice versa. So identifying what's originating the issues is a big deal. And if you have some analytical data, you could look back at where you've always had, you know, poor kidney values or poor liver values or poor heart values, and you can kind of pinpoint where exactly where it's coming from. Ryan, do you see some of those markers on there? Yeah. So it looks like for the comprehensive panel, the EGFR, is that what it is?

Yeah, that creatin, blooduria, nitrogen, all that stuff. Those are all kidney related. Nice. It's convenient to, again, have a lot of the different tests in there. Have you found any, like, supplements or anything? Like, were they throwing any of that at you? Or they were like, no, you need, you know, or in combination with you getting dialysis, was there anything that helped or assisted or helped you feel any better during that five-year period?

No, there's not a lot of alleviation for the stuff that you're going through other than trying to follow the diet, limit your liquids, and show up for treatment. You got to go to treatment. A lot of guys will skip, you know, a dialysis treatment here or there, and they end up feeling worse and worse. And once you get behind, it's really hard to get back. What are some of the negative side effects that you get from doing dialysis and or missing an appointment? Well, the missing appointment, you're going to just build up more toxins in your blood and a lot of that, like uremic acid that he mentioned, like that's this urine leaking into your blood. So it's stuff that you like the things that poison your body that you're peeing out. Yeah.

Just retain. So you end up with brain fog. You end up with appetite suppressant. You end up nauseated. Joint pain is a big one. People don't realize how much just having that in your body hurts. so soreness and just feeling all around uncomfortable and it causes you to be up late like you have they say like wired but not tired

so you can't sleep but you're extremely exhausted it's it's a and then the mental aspects as you can imagine build up on that so it's a bear dude it's something that is very hard to go through and uh you know don't not something that you want to try you know the algorithm on YouTube has a tendency of having certain types of videos find the people that need it. So your kidney issue happened because of genetic stuff. But there's a lot of people who, let's say they're lifters, they're hardcore with their stuff, and they're finding that there are some kidney things that are happening. Guys tend to put things off.

What would your advice be to someone who's like, I'm feeling fine? I have some hiccups every now and then. But what would you tell them? If it's not a genetic thing, you usually have time. Time meaning that you could catch it early enough. You can reverse some of the damage and get yourself out of trouble to where you're not going to need a transplant. Yeah.

So like one, you can't bury your head in the sand if there's a problem. You've got to address it head on. So identifying the issue as early as possible is your best bet. And then researching and working with a professional team that's going to get you reversing some of that damage. So whether that's, you know, drinking more water, limiting your diet, not taking anabolic, monitoring your blood pressure, whatever it is.

But it's not worth going through it is not worth the outcome. Yeah, if you can avoid dialysis, avoid dialysis. Yeah. What is dialysis? Is it basically just like a machine running like being your kidneys? Exactly. So I got down to about 6% kidney function before they threw me on dialysis. Best bet is like your,

machine use of dialysis can get you back up to 20% function. I never got that eye because I think my size and the need for dialysis I was doing it five days a week versus people that only needed three days a week. My function never really got, I never even got to a clearance rate that was acceptable for the clinic. It was just like problematic from the beginning. And part of that was due to lack of my ability to urinate and also that I had no help for my native kidneys.

But dialysis just acts as you're a filtering system. So it doesn't do everything that your kidneys do. It just filters out the toxins that are in your blood and then pulls that extra fluid out, especially when you can't urinate, which like all that extra water retention does havoc on your heart and circulatory system. So getting rid of that excess fluid and dumping it off. And they look at something called your dry weight. So you try to stay as close to that weight as possible. So if you come in and my dry weight, I was 260 pounds.

If I came in at 265, they would pull five pounds of fluid off. The most I've ever had in the treatment was eight pounds, was the most of it. And that was a lot. Like you could feel, you feel fucked up leaving from that, right? Like you're like lightheaded and a little woozy. But I had, you know, neighbors on dialysis next to me that would need like 13 kilos pulled because they were not watching.

They didn't last very long. Like the time I spent five years in Clemsylusy. and the amount of people I saw get pulled out of there and the people that just stopped showing up and, you know, didn't make it was, it's high. You know, obviously, like the survival rate for dialysis and kidney transplants are pretty high for the people that comply. But if you stop complying, it'll take you out pretty fast. They had to remove 13 kilograms of fluid urine out of a guy's body. Mind you, he's got a mountain dew, a thing of Doritos. he's probably morbidly obese, classified by his BMI,

and just didn't care. You know, I don't know if it was ignorance or if he just didn't care. But they would, they would, you know, it's a small clinic. I have headphones on, but everybody's yelling and you can hear everything. And it was just a situation

where they could not get this guy to listen and being his own advocate for his own health. What do you think that that whole experience, because, like, thankfully you're not, not having to deal with that anymore, but that you had five years of seeing people come in, seeing people that you know died. Yeah. What changed for you from that experience?

Because that's a lot to deal with for that five years. Yeah, a lot, man. I think, like, I'm a totally different person now. You know, not to say, I mean, Mark, you've known me, but not to say that I was like an asshole or I think I was just like too caught up in focusing on myself. in the initial phases of like going through your 20s and early 30s and you know now being 41 living through the transplant I'm just more grateful for things and I think like I'm a little humbled you know like going through all that has left me with I'm grateful for the abilities that I had

I feel like I took advantage of them as much as I could but I'm okay with where I'm at and I think having more of appreciation for life is where it left me life overall, not just, you know, not just the things that benefit me. I think when you're in your 20s and 30s, it's hard to not be in the spot that you were in where you're like, maybe looking back on it, you feel like you were selfish. But I would just say it's like mainly what I've seen from most people and even for myself. It's just mainly a byproduct of being like in your 20s and 30s. You're just trying to like forge forward.

You're trying to like blaze some sort of trail for yourself. You're trying to do the best you can for your. yourself and really it doesn't leave you a lot of time to really think about others as much as you probably should. But to your point, people that maybe are in that, you know, stop for a second and just think about other people in your life, think about some of their perspective, think about where they're at and think about, you know, could I just reach out to this person and maybe make a small difference for today, this person that's struggling with alcoholism or heart disease or whatever like we visited my mother-in-law today who's recovering from a heart surgery.

You know, you can just these little tiny things, she'll probably remember that. Yeah. You know, she'll probably really have a big impact on her, even though we just saw her for like 10 minutes. Right. These little things that you're probably not really thinking of in your 20s and 30s. But that's my point. And just to reiterate a little bit, but it's more like what you're talking, my priorities shifted. Like I was so focused on making money or so focused on making a name for myself.

And like none of that really matters. as much. Like, of course, you're going to need enough to survive and be able to build, you know, somewhat of a net worth, but none of that matters as much as the quality of your life from these little experiences that you're talking about. I don't think you really learn that until you go through something hard or as you age, right? You start to lose more people and you start to feel it more and more. You also am somebody that has made something of your business too, so maybe that makes it a little easier to give you more time to think about other people a little bit. That, yeah, exactly.

But I think it was a byproduct of being so sick and not, like, I took that competitive aspect to my being an athlete and I shifted it. Because I knew like, hey, this is going to take a back seat. Your training is going to look different. But it didn't really, like mentally you're still the same guy. You still want to dominate. You still want to go do things and accomplish things. And I'm very much motivated by progression. so I could assert that into my business and that's what I did.

So a lot of that being ill allowed me to be a better business owner. And now, you know, 10 years later, yeah, you're right. I do get to live on that a little bit. And it's allowed me to have a pretty good lifestyle, something that I've never thought I would be able to accomplish. You know, I think about this sometimes too, like all of us are getting older, our abilities change. As I get older, I'm going to try to hold on to certain types of abilities and I even have like

a way that I see myself. But if I get some catastrophic injury, I have to shift the way that I view myself in somewhat of a healthy way. I think that I'm curious on you because you have kind of shifted your, you just mentioned, you shifted your focus, your competitive focus to your business. You still train and you still lift some heavy. members. But I think that a lot of people, including myself, like we, if you, when you view yourself in a certain way, if that's gone, you don't necessarily know who or what you are. So my curiosity

for you is like, how do you, how are you evolving with that? Because you've changed, yes. But what would your advice be there? It's a process. You know, I think the first piece of that is just acceptance. Like, I'm never going to bench press 600 pounds again. I'm never going to squat 800 pounds again. And being okay with that. You could be mad at it. You could be angry at it, but you got to be, you got to move past it. So I think accepting it would be the first step of that. And then, like, we're talking about evolution and evolving. It doesn't stop. So I'm still learning and growing as a person. And there's, I don't think I'll ever reach a point where it's fully, I'm fully evolved. But, you know, just trying to appreciate the smaller things or

spend more time with the people I care about and less time worried about shit that doesn't matter. And only the person that's in that situation can really decide what those things are. You talked about moving to California. I think you're from Chicago originally, right? Yeah. You moved to California and then you, you know, spent a lot of time at like at Gold's Gym and at a Barbo Brigade putting in this time and effort into yourself for stuff that like, who the heck knows what was ever going to come of it, right?

and then when you get sick, you're like, man, I really kind of abandon a lot of people. I abandon my family a little bit. Like if, you know, if you just look at it strictly that way, right? And I feel a little bit the same way. I'm from New York originally. And my whole entire family is from basically the East Coast. And every time I go back to New York, New Jersey and see my family, I'm like, shit, I kind of, you know, I left a lot of this behind. But when they came and they went to stay, a bunch of my family came, probably.

I was probably gone for like 10 years or 12 years. A bunch of my family came to super training. And they're like, ah, this is where you've been. Right. So it was kind of cool for them to see that, you know, for them to like kind of like understand. Like, hey, I didn't really mean to abandon you, but I abandoned you to try to make a great life for my family. Like my direct, my direct family and the people around me. Yeah.

And like what you're talking about too, taking that time away, I don't regret any of it. You know, like I see that all as learning experiences. Good, better and different, it happened. And you could just change the way that you move forward. Yeah, I think that's the main thing is figure out how to, you know, how to how to figure out a way to move forward. Because we were talking, too, about the blame game of like, oh, this guy got this thing because of steroids, you know?

And it's like, well, okay, maybe. Yeah. Fair point. Maybe. Not a bad, not a bad point. You know, maybe I'm too big. Maybe I caused some of this trouble for myself. But the real news is I'm in it.

Right. Doesn't matter. How the hell do I get myself out of it? How you got there doesn't change the fact that you're in it. Right. And just being able to move past that point and just like, you could either be stunted by these things or you can use them as a catalyst for growth. What were some things you kind of like held on to on a day-to-day basis to be able to hang in there for five years?

Dude, it changed. initially it was like this idea that I could make a comeback I think drove me a long time getting back with some of those guys at barbell brigade and training with them one last time and then ultimately like towards the end I kind of knew it was over you know like I just didn't feel the same and I didn't want it you know the fire was kind of gone you had been five years of being humbled will do that to you and it just kind of turned into man I just I just want to live longer than I don't want to die at 35 you know and that's kind of where it turned into and that's where my gratitude came from was like this okay you're going to get a second chance at this let's not

screw it up and try to not only just like take a better approach but just appreciate every moment of it you mentioned to us that you just came back from a trip from Spain that I'm just curious is traveling something you did a lot before or is that something you do more now or well when i was sick i couldn't travel much because i was i need i was limited to dialysis and before um when i was living in california like i was just broke dude i couldn't afford i could barely afford to go home for christmas most of years so you know but i left california i was 28 and being 41 and i'm just in a different financial position yeah yeah yeah okay what about um your time you know like you you spend so much time lifting and getting big and doing all these things and then

you're probably fairly restricted to some stuff when you're going through dialysis um and when you're going through these various things even even coming out of the transplant the surgery and all that stuff um did you shift your like your hobbies did you shift any was there anything new that you did you like take on like writing or reading or or was there anything different you were able to do or just sit there and veg out and watch a bunch of Netflix series. Well, I wouldn't use the term veg out, but I do love movies. I've always been a movie buff.

So that was like one of the first things I did. It was like built a little theater in my house for myself. Because you just don't, dude, you have no energy. Like the idea of like going for a walk or just like, there was times I was peeing into water bottles because I didn't, this was before I lost the ability of urnique. And because I didn't have the energy to go to the bathroom. Well, sometimes when you'd get up, you said it could be a liability too because you

could pass out. Yeah, hypostatic. Right. blood pressure. Yeah, whatever it was. It was my blood pressure would drop dramatically. Super low out of nowhere. Yeah.

But like the hobbies, like over dialysis, I had no time for anything other than my wife, my business, and dialysis. That was it. I like lost contact a lot of friends. You know, I even took a backseat to online coaching. It was just, I had very limited capacity. So coming out of that was when I started exploring a little bit more. and you know training is still a big part of my life it's always going to be a part of my life but yeah

i did shift some interests like i like cars now wasn't something i was really into before um i go to the shooting range things that i wouldn't have thought i would have liked but things that i just got into over the last two years yeah it's really important to keep your mind fresh and if you have something new like that i think it's an awesome thing yeah and it's just yeah it stimulates me in a way that's like different for me you know both those things you could say are like um what do you call it adrenaline adrenaline yeah yeah it's like i drive a fast car and then go shooting it's like fast cars and guns yeah there you go there you go okay as your relationship with uh faith at all changed because you mentioned to us uh something that happened that you almost didn't get

your kidney because uh but somebody you met kind of at your gym that made a difference for you and it just seems like that's kind of a wild story because i don't know what would have happened if you didn't meet that guy yeah you know to say like faith has changed no because i've always believed in higher power you know i'm not uh take i don't take a huge stance on religion and i know a lot of people are gonna get give me shit for that some people will get mad for that but it is what it is and um so i don't that really shifted as much. I think my relationship with death became a lot more intimate where I had to learn to accept a lot of things.

And I got to the point where I was getting close to that and it just didn't bother me the same way that you think it might. And I was okay. That would be the end. It was okay. And now it's similar. It just feels like I'm in bonus time so that I do appreciate things. But it's also like, do I want to die?

No, and mostly what I want to live for are the people that are in my life. But like for me, I feel very at peace with what I've accomplished and the things I've done to where it's like, you know, I don't look at it the same way that most people do. Gotcha. Do you have any moments where there was like almost like a goodbye speech in case something didn't go right? I'll tell you one very specific speech. And just a testament to who she is. I was getting rejected for the transplant surgery,

and my heart was failing. And so I was rejecting dialysis. So you have three, like, you know, compounding issues where things are going to take a turn pretty fast. And I told my then-fiancee, this is not what you signed up for. You know, she was 26. She met a 33-year-old thriving young athlete,

building a business in a name for himself, and she sat through all of it. my my she met me right after i tore my peck she went through my quad tear with me she went through kidney failure with me but i was like you know this is starting to become like a tragic story no one's going to blame you for walking away no one's going to blame you like this is a shit show if i don't get to surgery i i want you to leave you know like this is going to get bad fast and she looked at me i don't think she slapped me but i think she was close and she she she looked at me and she said, I know for a fact that if it was reverse situations that you would be right by my side,

how dare you think any less of me? And I remember thinking that, that's why she's my wife. You know, everybody knows I love certified Piedmontese beef, but I also love good life proteins because that brand and that company and that website is where you can get like a crazy variety of meat. Do you like a lot of different kinds of meat other than just red meat? Dude. Well, of course. Before we even get to that, I do need to mention Good Life's sausages. Are they sausages? They're not just hotlings. They have like chorizo baked turkey sausage.

They have different types of bacon. I'm talking a lot about red meat right now, but like their assortment of meats over there is scrumchish. The Bratworth has like cheese in it. Yeah. Yeah, that one's amazing. Oh my God. But they also have like they have chicken. They have scallops.

They have literally anything that any type of protein you do. dig. They have it there and it's high quality protein. Lamb. Yeah. I get shrimp, scallops, all kinds of different fish, salmon, cod. I mean, you name it. They have it. Absolutely amazing. It makes it convenient to be able to get everything all in one stop. And then also, Good Life Proteins has certified Piedmontese beef. So all the same cuts and all the same things that you would enjoy from Piedmontese.com. You're getting now from over at Good Life Proteins. proteins and they have a code. And code power at good life proteins is going to get you 20% off your entire order. Yeah, that's that's pretty brutal. I know like when my dad was really sick, my dad

was in the hospital for 70 days and it was just got very complicated. It's kind of a long story, but the short of it was is he was very sick. He came in and out of consciousness. He had many, many surgeries. And there was a moment where I talked to him on the phone. And I was like, oh my god like i was still in california he was he was flying home to new york so he was in new york and i just you know when i hung up the phone i was like he's gonna die you know and i like told my wife i'm like we got like we got to go we got to go to new york like now you know and so i flew out there and um like i was by his bedside and i just like read him this like letter um he he was unconscious but it was just basically like me like saying like hey if you need to go you need to go

You trained me, you taught me, you're my mentor, I love you, and if you need to go, then, you know, you can go. And then, you know, like maybe like a week or two later, he came out of that and it was doing pretty good. And I showed it to him, he read it and he just was like bawling. And I was bawling of course. And he's like, you know, so he had three sons, you know, and he was like, I always worried about you the most. And I was like, fuck. You know, that's like pretty, pretty interesting, you know, just interesting to kind of hear that from him but I was basically the letter was like I'm okay yeah help turn me into a man I'm I'm good yeah

if you need to need to go go on then go for it um because similar to you I lost the sibling I lost my mom um those things kind of happened earlier in my life but because of those situations like my dad growing up was not a very emotional guy you know he was very straightforward and um the man he is now was completely different, which like people meet him and like, that's your dad? And I'm like, yeah. He was not like that when I was growing up. So like he's like super like I guess opposite of that. Now yeah.

Like like, so he, you know, I hate to admit this, but like he was not like an I love you guy. I can remember like I got in trouble for kissing him on the cheek when I was a kid. Like you don't kiss your dad. You know, like that's the way I grew up. He was like an old Italian Catholic guy from New York. Tough. Yeah, very tough. and then things that transitioned over his life,

and he's much different now. Like the first time he told me that he was proud of me was after surviving COVID with my business and turning that around. He's like, I'm proud of the, and I was like, told my wife, I was like, that's the first time he's ever said that. You're like, who is this guy?

Yeah, yeah. So, but because of these things, like my family has had this open dialogue about how much do we love and respect each other and we're able to have those. A lot more hugs and kisses now. Yeah, but I, I've had a very similar conversation with my dad because I think he looks back at,

like, especially when my sister died, he blamed himself and he feels like he was too hard on us. And I tell him all the time, like, I would not be the man I am if it, if it wasn't for you being tough. Because I was a shit kid, man. Like I got arrested. I went to juvenile detention for three years. I was getting in all sorts of trouble. And I got expelled from four schools. I'd be homeschooled at one point in my life.

I was on drug test of probation until I graduated. to high school, they gave me an LR learning resource degree, so I didn't even have a high school diploma. That's why I ended up at Santa Monica College. I couldn't, I got, I got, football programs wanted me, but I was not academically eligible because I didn't graduate high school. Running a 4-740 being 300 pounds with a 37-inch vertical is a good way to get on some good college football teams. If you don't have the grades, you don't have the grades. Yeah, I did not have the grades. I did not have the grades. And at that time, I was like, two, 10 because we're talking right after ice going. I was much more athletic. I played safety.

So it was a whole different look. But a lot of that, just to say like it was a, you know, a lot of hurdles that I had to overcome. And none of that would have been possible without my family. Like if my, you know, back then it was more of my mom. Like my dad wouldn't even bail me out of jail if I got into trouble. He was just like, let him rot, you know. He'll learn his lesson eventually. And what about your sister coming forward and donating a kidney to me? Were you like, I mean, I don't know how I'd feel about that. You know, like my own family member wanting to give me something like that. I mean, part of me would want to refuse it in some way of like,

I don't want you to have any compromise, you know. Well, one, you spend a little bit of time researching it. You know that it's relatively safe for the donor. And two, if you got as sick as I did, you'd probably do just about anything. A hundred percent, yeah. 100%. So I was willing to accept the kidney. So in there right now is your sister's kidney? Yeah.

Whoa. Which is rare because the size I am as a male, usually you're not a good candidate for female. But it was like a bonding moment for us. And dude, there was a time she told me she was going to do it. And four years in the dialysis, I got aggravated. You know, I'm like, why haven't you tried to lose weight? And I'm sitting there trying to like advocate for myself because they're telling you

you're dying. And dude, like, you know, not for nothing, but there's things that aren't the same now. Like, I don't have feeling in my leg. I don't have feeling in my, I have peripheral neuropathy, I have bone and joint pain that's just never going to be the same. Lost some stuff because of the damage of those five years.

Of being on dialysis that long. And had I got a transplant sooner than, but I always look at it like we're talking about religious stuff. Like everything happens when it needs that. Yeah. And I think because of my experiences on dialysis, on dialysis and, you know, being a better business owner now, appreciating things more. I'm a better person because of it.

And, you know, it's humbling situation to have my sister donate to me, but, you know, when you're in it and your mind's doing a million things, it was very easy to get angry over. And I, like, I had my brother, my brother never got tested to be a donor. And I was like, you know, going through that situation where they're telling me things are getting worse. and I'm like, Michael, why didn't you ever tell, like, why didn't you donate? Like, at least test to the point, I understand. Like, my sister, one sister just said, hey, I'm a mom.

I can't take that risk. I said, I understand. My other sister genetically not, she has her own immune disorders, not a good candidate. I understand. But, like, why not? I would test for him. Why didn't he test for me? And then he had a big moment to me.

He's a homosexual male, and he told me that he had eight. And I, sorry, I must have. up. He has HIV. HIV. Thank you. Understood. Yeah. And that he wasn't eligible, but he did try. And I don't know if that's how he found out. He doesn't talk to me much. He's not because of a lack of relationship, just he's just a quiet dude. Yeah. You like, you have to peel things off of them. But that's how we found out. So it was like a lot of this conversation over the years that like led to us all being a little bit closer weight loss is is a really complicated you know so if you kind of think back to when you were raised in hell when you were a younger person um asking your sister lose weight is similar to asking

your old self yeah snap out of it i understand like you kind of can't you know it's like i understand she she has real real trauma yeah and like i think we all do in my family and i think everybody does and um but it was for her to work out and she did what she did what she did what she did what she's she needed to do and she figured it out so and now she's celebrating the first time being under 200 pounds since high school so i believe that that conversation did turn into something positive for her and it wasn't just give me a fucking kidney because i i even bought her personal training sessions after are like would you hurry up over there well it was just you know it was like one of those dude why do you have to be a certain weight like uh was she at risk uh was she like

part of it and then the other part of is just like the ability to get to the kidney and I see you can lose the kidney during surgery and they're not going to put someone at that much risk just to lose like to have you know if she has any negative sides or she no she's the initial recovery went pretty well like she had a little soreness but other than that she's been fine yeah they say most people that donate actually live a longer life because of the amount of screening that you have to go through in order to be an eligible candidate Man, I'm pretty scared of surgery. Like, I'm trying to think, I guess if my brother was faced with that,

I guess I would, I guess I would at least see if I'm eligible to help. Yeah. At least I'd like to think that I would, but I don't know. I don't know if I'd have the courage to go on to the knife like that. Yeah, you know, I love my sister to death, and it was something very brave she did. And it's, I wish there was better options, but there's just not, there's not better options for people that need to transplant. it. Now, even if you do a cadaver or someone who passes and is an organ donor, it's still not

as compatible as finding a living donor. Living donor is your best bet. And when a kidney gets donated to you, like, how much time can it like, like sit on the shelf kind of thing? That I have no idea. Yeah, I have no idea. But it's not long because I know a guy had reached out to me and said his brother was a big fan of mine and they wanted to see he went brain dead in a car accident and he was a donor and he said uh us we as a family would like to donate the kidney to you we've been following your story we'd like to do this thing again um i was unbelievable that they would think of me at a time like that and but went in for testing and you know because of where i was at with my transplant um

status, I wasn't eligible for it. So they just said no, and they gave the kidney someone else. So it's fast. Yeah. Like I know they like it if you're in the same hospital. They very, they don't really like doing the flight of the organ. But that's all my sister did it.

And it turned out, okay. They flew it to you. Yeah, they flew it to me. Flew it to me and then put it on a helicopter and bought the helicopter. I just came. I mean, I know they've been doing these surgeries for like a long time, but it boggles my mind. Since the 70s.

But they haven't changed much. Which, like, you got to believe something else that's coming. You just got to believe. Yeah. As, as, you know, like, you mentioned that you're going to potentially need another kidney as time goes by. Is there anything on the horizon in terms of, like, 3D printed organs, any of that type of stuff? Just because tech has been getting faster, especially within the past decade. Is there anything?

Yeah, like Vanderbilt came out with an implantable dialysis machine, which works very similar to a kidney. It's not available yet, but it's in human trials. They're also using human tissue grown in kidneys or grown in pigs. Okay. To grow new kidneys. And I think like 3D printed has been talked about, but the problem is like infusing the recipient's DNA into it is becoming more of a problem. Gotcha. Because the biggest complaint I have right now is rejection medication.

So if you could like synthetically remake my own body where I didn't need these rejection meds, most of my problems would be gone. Yeah. So I would love if that was an option. Are you on like rapamycin? That's like the only one I've ever heard of. That's a rejection medication. No.

I was actually, Tacralymus is the number one for transplants, but I was actually allergic to it. So I'm on this stuff called cyclosporin. Not really great. Cause a lot of issues. It'll give you cancer eventually. So we got to look at a long-term. solution, but I'm also on balladicep, which is like an IV infusion version of anti-rejection. So I have to take both and, you know, neither are great.

But it still beats the alternative. A lot of your other organs must have been checked fairly thoroughly since you said they have reciprocal effects on each other. Yeah, every year you have to go in and get your heart monitored. You have to do a lot of the stuff that your mother-in-law was talking about were tests that I had to get done. like EKG like a resting one

those are the stress tests as a motherfucker because you're on dialysis he can't move so they inject you with this shit and you want you to like run no they inject you with something that spikes your heart rate

so it feels like you're having a heart attack your heart just beating so fast and then they shove you into a tube god I can't imagine as I already mentioned I'm prone to panic attacks so they give you this shot shove me into a tube

I'm claustrophobic I throw up every time every every year I was just ready for it. Wow. Yeah, it was, that one was probably the worst one. And you had to do it every year, so I just knew it was coming. Yeah, yeah.

Like, oh, shit, here it is. But what's nice as they do coordinate it and they, you know, they're trying their best. So they would put all the tests on the same day. And that way you could just go in for the day, knock them all out. I would take work off the next day. I'm in for a row. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Any thoughts of any, like, psychedelic medication or anything?

do you feel like that you have do you feel like you have unfinished work to deal with uh because of maybe some PTSD that may have occurred during i mean all all the surgeries and all the different back and forth of of all that stuff i'd imagine to be really difficult so i don't know if you've ever thought about i have i i like i said previous so like a lot of where my criminal record comes comes from drugs so i did do a lot of experimenting when i was a teenager and even in my early 20s but um I had a really bad truck once where like I thought I was going to be permanently fucked up like on shrimps yeah I ate like I ate a lot of mushrooms and it led me down to the dark corner and I was like was like a Tyson pool it was like no water man yeah it was yeah pretty

similar yeah and it led me somewhere that I didn't want to be but now I'm just like terrified of that stuff like my wife loves the idea of like micro dosing or They're like she wants to do like ketamine therapy was one. And then another one was like a some kind of. There's ayahuasca, ibogaine. I'm not doing any of that. That's way too intense. It was like psychosilin retreat, right?

Where you're under medical. I was like, if there's a medical director there, I might do it. But like, dude, I stopped drinking over 10 years ago. I've been sober. I stopped smoking weed when I was 18. It doesn't sound like you need it. It sounds like, you know, they say like DMT brings you like this experience of death. Sounds like you've already, you've already walked with the Grim Reaper, so maybe you don't know.

Here's what's crazy is I had an experience where like, you know how they talk about what it's like to be on DMT and then there's overlapping stories? I've had a story like that for years before YouTube was even a thing and that it was, it matches up perfectly. And what I started showing, like, Lauren, my best friend from back home, because I would be telling. in the story and they're like you're crazy and then now there's thousands of accounts of the same thing so i believe i've already experienced it how so did you experience that how did you experience that what happened sure oh okay and a near-death experience okay where i woke up in the ambulance and got arrested for doing a bunch of shit i don't remember was there any elves or it wasn't so it wasn't the entities it was the space they call it like the pre-bang pre-big bang effect where like you go back to like

universal consciousness where everything's kind of interconnected. There's no you. There's no me. It's just us. I love hearing about this kind of stuff. Dude, it's wild. I don't think I ever will do any of it,

but I love hearing about it. I felt it. And like I was explaining this and they're like, you're tripping balls, dude. There's no way. And then now hearing other people, I'm like,

this is what I've been talking about. This is exactly what I was talking about 20 years ago. And now there's thousands of accounts of that. Dude, there's some people that have had these accounts where they thought they were gone for like six years. Yeah, or lived another life. Yeah, for like a long-ass time.

Yeah. And they came back and they were only gone for like 10 minutes. Yeah. Yeah, it wasn't like that. It was like, I remember it took me like two days. One, probably the drugs leaving me, but like trying to like, nothing felt real anymore. Yeah. It was like, this all felt like, um, like a fever dream.

No, like it, like the pre Big Bang felt more real than this feels real. And it was like almost like I was playing a role here. And like it just didn't feel real anymore. They started calling it like the reality detachment with disorder. Where it was like, you know, and I've never been diagnosed with anything or nor do I take any psychiatric meds. I've been fine my whole life. But it was during that phase, you know, there was a lot of things going on. Yeah, you hit like this weird void, right?

Yeah. That's what it kind of sounds like you hit. And then you're like, I mean, it's easy to sit there and question stuff. But when you're thinking rationally, it's not that bad to question some stuff. Why are we here? Right. You know, why am I here? What's my purpose?

Like those are all like, they're not that scary of things to run through. If you haven't had a detached experience like that. When you're detached like that and you have those experiences, you can really, really be scary. Oh, yeah. It gives you panic attacks. I don't think about it. And like, people are like, do you want to do? DMT, or you want it? I'm like, no.

You're like, oh, hell now. I'll leave that for when I die. That'll be like the confirming or whatever experience you have, because you do produce DMT naturally, as you probably already know, when you die. So I'll save that for them. Let that be my final trip.

Let's go down a different path just for a little bit here, because people are looking at you're like, damn, like this guy's big. I hope that's what they're thinking. You, I think you mentioned to me many times that you have like a fast metabolism. You were skinnier guy when you're younger or stuff like that. And so there's probably a lot of people wondering like, man, how do I get big? It's some shit that you did to get big. I mean, we know

about performance enhancing drugs, but we know it's also not just that. So like what are some things you do to get big? Yeah. Like one, we were talking about force feeding yourself. But you know, there's nothing I'm going to sit here and tell anybody that's not like it's going to be like this new idea that they haven't heard before. I think for most of, Most people, what it comes down to is a lack of commitment over a long period of time. So it's like I didn't even start seeing progress in the gym for my first five years. So you're talking about five years of spinning my wheels and working out and not getting much bigger. Wait, what does that mean?

Because like, what does that mean? I was relatively the same size for five years and from like the age 17 to 22. I couldn't, I wasn't putting on much size. I was getting stronger. Do you remember how you were lifting it? the time. Yeah, I was just like a football player. Three days a week, full body. So I ended up experiencing something similar, or at least it felt that way. I'm sure to like my friends, I always looked like I worked out. They all thought I was like on steroids and shit. But like,

whenever I would go and do a lift in the gym, people would be scared for me and they would think I need a spot and I could like rep the weights out usually because I had the strength because I was lifting for strength, but I wasn't, I wasn't lifting for bodybuilding. Yeah. So there wasn't some crazy noticeable change the first five years I was lifting there was massive changes in the strength that I had yeah I would get stronger but I wasn't putting on size I think a lot of that had to do with my diet the way I was training that I just wasn't doing enough volume work for hypertrophy and then the moment I switched to like a four day split a five day split then I started getting big like when I was 22 to 22 to 25 I got pretty I got really big I like gained 30 pounds and it was just from doing the

splits differently yeah Wasn't any anabolic at that point. And for you, you had to eat a lot. So much, yeah. Uncomfortable amounts. I was doing like weight gaining shakes and, you know, like it used to be a joke with my friend group. Like it's annoying hanging out with Steve because he has to eat every two hours.

But I just like a little baby's got to be fed. Yeah. Yeah. I was crying and kicking his feet everywhere. Remember those times. Well, like they would like, dude, I remember dating a girl and her, her sister got mad at like I ruined the trip because I needed to go get food all the time. I'm like, you don't got to come with me.

Like if I got to go eat, we're in Vegas. I was like, if I got to go eat, I'm going to go eat. Yeah. But it was like annoying to other people. How come there's no emergency 24-7 chicken rice and broccoli places around here? Yeah, too. Right? Yeah.

But that was the case, the majority of my life. Like I used to bounce at night and I would come in with all my food. I would bring a meal to eat in the beginning, a meal to eat at the end. And then I would have a shake when I came home. The worst bouncer ever. The guy's never paying attention. It's eating all the time. It's like Ronnie Coleman when he was a police officer.

He's like, oh, he's eating. Yeah, well, we had breaks. I wasn't doing it like on the fucking VIP floor. Eating the Jimmy John sandwich trying to catch people. No, I did my job. I just also had, like that very structured. Right. Because that's how I had to be.

Because I tried gunning it from the hip and it didn't work. Yeah, you were saying that like, even if you had a lot of walking, you're like, man, I need to make up the cal. I'm still that way. We're in Spain. My wife's getting it. I'm like, we did 17,000 steps today. Like, I got to go eat. Like, I need more food. Wow. Yeah. That's crazy. Your metabolism is still the same even after all the stuff you've been through. Yeah, it is. It's just kind of locked in. Dude, yeah, it's annoying. I wish it would give up. I wish it just wouldn't. Just take a step back, you know. So you still have the same type of appetite? No, my appetite's worse. I'm not hungry much, but I still, I'm, if you're hungry or not, does it matter if you need to get the food in? Like what I look at is a scale. I look at my body fat percentage. And those are the things I track.

So if I'm not gaining weight, eat more food. If I'm trying to get leaner, eat less food. And that's what's worked for me. He's got an interesting mindset because he's like, oh, you know, I would throw up from the dialysis or throw up from this or that, medications. And then he's like, and I just ate six eggs. I threw up, so I got to cook six more eggs.

Most people would be like, I'm done. I'm not eating eggs for a while, you know, he just cooks him up again. Just a matter of fact, got to do it. Oh, man. Well, I'm curious about this, too. Your mind towards your business kind of changed. And your business got to a point where you mentioned like you're on dialysis and you could step away because you kind of optimize things there. So do you have any things that like totally shifted with how you conduct a business that you think for people who are trying to be entrepreneurs?

could generally, you know, benefit from. I think like a lot of it was trial and error for me. So there's a lot of things I wouldn't do again. Okay. Hiring the wrong people goes a long way. Yeah. Getting the right people goes a long way. And that's something that they say slow to hire, quick to fire.

Yeah. It isn't the greatest thing you're saying, but it's true. No, but also like I think it's not that hard to, like some people are great at lying for sure. But I don't think it's too hard to tell who's there for themselves. and who's there to try to help the business and identifying that early on in the relationship and keeping those people around you

and rewarding loyalty goes a long way versus like trying to incentivize people to work harder because it just doesn't work. Like you give them more, you give them more and then they just want more. So I think that was like one of the things that allowed me to get through dialysis, not just build a business,

but just be able to leave the gym was just hiring the right people. Yeah. And like my GM's been with me since that time. And together we've hired and fired quite a bit of people. Once you hire somebody and you've established a certain type of job for that person and they're receiving a certain type of pay, you cannot really make hardly any changes. Yeah.

You know, you got to kind of keep it similar. So, you know, you do have to like, you have to take your time with people and see if they're right. There's nothing wrong with trying somebody out and saying, hey, you know, we have a 90-day trial period. or 60 day, make sure it's working for them, make sure it's working for you. You know, are you okay making this amount of money or okay doing these kinds of things? And if there's anything that's uncomfortable in that time frame, you can have a conversation about it. I've always found that to be effective after we, you know, went through a bunch of different things with Slingshot over many years start to learn like, oh, if we set this up this way from the beginning where

we have a little bit of wiggle room to make things around if we need to, then the employer he's not going to be shocked or take or blindsided by this suggestion and but luckily for me indiana is a little bit lax with the hiring and firing rules like i remember being a training director here and it was impossible to fire people in los angeles but in indiana i could fire them at any time they all know get out of here you loser no but one of my biggest mistakes was actually honestly paying people too much like i was i thought like let me let me incentivize you to work harder this is you could build a career here I want you to be here and then they just saw as an opportunity for as a cash grab and then they weren't in there for the right reasons and that they would just focus on themselves not get back to the gym and eventually like all those guys are gone now so I've had to restructure that and that was specifically with trainers but I've had to restructure that a little bit it's tough too because you're meeting people at certain times of their life so you might be might hire someone who's like you know 22 years old yeah and maybe there's not they're maybe not in the same track that you're on at 40 years old or 35 years old.

So it's it's very difficult, very difficult thing to figure out. And there's some people who really think that they're like great at hiring people. But it's really rare to be really good at hiring people because you cannot really tell. No. I went to a seminar one time and the guy talked about how you want, you know, everybody in your group to be an eagle. You know, an eagle only soar so high. And eagles only see other eagles.

They only go to a certain altitude and no other. bird can handle that altitude except for an eagle. And he goes, but every once in a while, he's like, you will go, we'll go somewhere, we'll do something and we'll hear someone that doesn't sound like an eagle. They sound like a sheep. And he's like, and we'll all be like, just because of the wording or the way that they would say things, they would realize that they don't belong in the group. And I was like, man, that's, that's pretty harsh, but I understand what he's saying. It's cut throat for sure. But yeah, it depends on what industry you're in and how much you're relying on each person.

It's going to change person to person. And it depends, like, and the job role, like you said. You had a gym in California, and then now you have one in Indianapolis, but you're, you've expanded that gym. Multiple times, yeah. And then you're thinking about opening up something else potentially. So I did. I was looking at opening up a second location and in a different area.

it was about 10 miles from where my location is now, but ultimately decided to hold off on that project. I'm going to focus more of my efforts with my wife. Going to NP school, she's looking at opening up her own HRT, TRT clinic, and there was an opportunity for me to buy some commercial property in Indianapolis, and just the blunt honesty is I can't afford to do all of it. So it was just like, which ones am I going to be?

selective about and like when it came to the gym I already own a gym you know the idea of owning another gym stretches me out a little thinner stresses me out a lot more and really isn't that much more monetarily rewarding owning a TRT clinic owning commercial properties a little less stress still some responsibilities but more financially rewarding so that's ultimately what it came down any idea on a TRT clinic like when it's going to open up or anything like that well Lawrence got a little bit of learning to do. She's going to be a, do her, they don't call it a residency. It's a, not clinical.

But she's already a nurse. She's a nurse. She is already in school. She has to do a, hang, I just had it. A fellowship. Okay. With my TRT doctor now, Dr. Alex Tatum. So he's already agreed to train her.

And I think he's one of the best in the world at what he does. And she's going to get to spend a lot of one-on-one time with him. and then after her fellowship there, she flies out to San Francisco to work with, because Alex is professional and, and for men, whatever that is, like, whatever. He's a urologist.

Yeah, but it's like he's an expert in men's health. Oh, I see. So Lauren wants to work with women. She's going to need professional women's health. And there's a guy out in San Francisco. He's a psychologist. I don't think it's not that. It's HRT.

Oh, when it comes to hormone, okay, hormonal stuff. All right. Yeah. I have, I wonder if you can tell this story because you were telling it in the gym. And I just, you don't have to say the name of the doctor. But apparently you said you were working with someone and he suggested some wild stuff. Yeah. Right.

I don't know if you can just mention those suggestions. Oh, sure. Because that just to me sounds like, how could even, how could a doctor say these things? I couldn't even tell you his name either. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, but I went, I went into, I was trying to get TRT while I was on dialysis, you know, like I had gotten my levels done and I was like, I had an 80.

And I was like, I felt like shit. I wanted to get on testosterone. So I went and saw this guy. We did my initial blood work. And then he's asking me, what are the side effects? And I'm like, I feel tired. I'm not recovering from workouts. I have a low sex drive.

That's where he stops, right? he starts focusing on sex drive. Yeah. And he's like, well, we could prescribe you Viagra. We could prescribe you Seales. I like to call it a Superman

when we take both at the same time. So I'm like listening to this guy. I take the prescription. He's mentioning doing some kind of surgery where he enters a penis pump into my, and that's a permanent solution, right? And I'm like,

dude, I think I just need some tests. So penile implant. A penile implant. You're like, my body's under a lot of stress. I'm just not getting boners. At 33 years old,

he's like, Because he's like, we can explore that option. And I was like, dude, I don't want to explore that option. So anyway, I go to the pharmacy and I try to fill up the prescriptions. And the guy looks at me, he's like, I can't fill this. What are you talking about? He's like, I've never had a doctor prescribed both of these at the same time. He's like, especially in someone your situation, this could be pretty dangerous.

Yeah. That sounds like it could have some heart issues that come along with that. Dramatic drops and blood pressure. So anyway, I met Alex. And Alex was like, yeah, that guy's an idiot. Don't listen to that. Got me on testosterone at a healthy dose and fixed 90% of my issues. Yeah.

Yeah. That just scares me because like, oh, they're out there. Like you're supposed to be able to trust this person. And that guy just sounds like just a straight up salesman. That's a liability. Like,

oh my God. Yeah. And he's in a similar practice to my doctor now. So I'm like, dude, it's, you know, it's really,

you really got to do some research. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. Well, thanks for coming on the show today. Where can people find you? Where can they find your gym too? Yeah, I mean, if you have anything that you want to find me,

just find me at the gym, Indy City Barbell. I'm at, we're in Indianapolis, 24-hour facility. So thank you for having been. Good to see you guys again. You too, my. You too. Still looking huge, even though you're denying it. I'll take it.

All right. Strength is never weakness. Weakness, weakness. It's never strength. Get you guys later. Bye.