Mark Bell's Power Project - EP. 323 - Lance Keys

Episode Date: February 6, 2020

The last of our LA Podcasts guests and most certainly not the least, Lance Keys! We met Lance through Mike O'Hearn one day at Gold's Gym and have been friends ever since. Lance was essentially saved by Mike and the gym from drug addiction, being homeless and the law. Lance is now a high level bodybuilder, powerlifter, trainer and has coached many people to come off of addictions in exchange for fitness Subscribe to the Podcast on on Platforms! ➢ https://lnk.to/PowerProjectPodcast Visit our sponsors: ➢Piedmontese Beef: https://www.piedmontese.com/ Use Code "POWERPROJECT" at checkout for 25% off your order plus FREE 2-Day Shipping on orders of $99 ➢Perfect Keto: http://perfectketo.com/powerproject Use Code "POWERPROJECT10” at checkout for $10 off $40 or more! ➢SHOP NOW: https://markbellslingshot.com/ Enter Discount code, "POWERPROJECT" at checkout and receive 15% off all Sling Shots Follow Mark Bell's Power Project Podcast➢ Insta: https://www.instagram.com/markbellspowerproject  ➢ Twitter: https://twitter.com/mbpowerproject   ➢ LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/powerproject/ ➢ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/markbellspowerproject ➢TikTok: http://bit.ly/pptiktok ➢Power Project Alexa Skill: http://bit.ly/ppalexa FOLLOW Mark Bell ➢ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marksmellybell ➢ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkBellSuperTraining ➢ Twitter: https://twitter.com/marksmellybell ➢ Snapchat: marksmellybell Follow Nsima Inyang ➢ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nsimainyang/  Podcast Produced by Andrew Zaragoza ➢ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamandrewz

And SEMA, do you have problems like me? Like I got a pretty bad sweet tooth. Do you have a sweet tooth? It used to be worse. It's a little bit better, but it's still there. Yeah, I still have a hard time taming it. I'm not too bad with like pizza and chips and stuff like that, but leave me alone. Leave me in a room alone with some peanut butter cups and those things are going to disappear really fast. The problem is stuff like that doesn't help me towards my goals. I want to be leaner. I want to try to get better all the time. And eating a bunch of candy is not going to help me get to my goals or a bunch of ice cream.

But a perfect keto bar will help me get towards my goals. So reaching for one of those at the end of the day when I'm having some bad cravings is super convenient for me. Yeah, 18 grams of fat, 2 carbs, and 11 grams of protein makes for an awesome snack to have. those at the end of the day when i'm having some bad cravings um it's super convenient for me yeah 18 grams of fat two carbs and 11 grams of protein makes for an awesome snack to have you know towards the end of your day um the only thing better than that is getting ten dollars off an entire box of perfect keto bars head over to perfect keto.com slash power project at checkout enter promo code power project 10 to get 1010 off any order of $40 or more. Testing, testing. Test, Deca, D-Ball.

Is that your son on your arm there? Yeah, one of them. That's my oldest. So he's eight. And then I have a seven-year-old and a five-year-old. Cool. Are we recording? Yeah.

Yeah, we're going. We were just talking a little bit about motivation and being able to keep going to the gym. So cool. Yeah. Yeah. We're going, uh, we were just talking a little bit about, you know, uh, motivation and being able to keep going to the gym. How has it worked out for you? Because you've been lifting for a really long time. Um, I think it's, as I was just saying, um, it's a journey. I think as I get older, um, my,

my training's changed just based off of, uh, uh, what I like to do. So what I like to do is change over time. When I was a kid, I liked to run around, jump, pure athlete. Um, got in the bodybuilding because I liked the physique aspect of it looking good. You like the oil, baby oil. Love the baby oil in the trunks, Speedos. And then got in the power because I wanted to be strong and then figured somewhere along the way that i'd like to do all of it so uh i guess motivation for the gym is just uh

being the best version of me i can be and having fun and being the strongest most athletic you know version of me that i can be i think most people don't think along those lines enough like what do i like to do they go to the gym and they're like i have to do shoulders today or have to do this today and why not why not serve yourself up something nice that you like to do you know whether it's uh training your arms or bench pressing or whatever it is that you like why not hone in on that a little bit more and that's going to be easier to be consistent with because you already like it. Oh, 100%. And it's funny we're talking about this because I was just thinking about this.

Because I'm kind of, like I said, going through this whole transitional journey of what I want to be. And so many people get caught up, and especially nowadays with social media, of what they think they should be. And they see people, they see these massive bodybuilders. And they think, well, I want to be massive because this guy is massive. And he has lots of followers and this guy has lots of attention and that's what I should do. And they end up doing it and they're not happy. Or they see guys that are super strong and they think, well, let me be strong.

Let me try this. And they end up doing it and they don't realize it's not really for them. It's just based off of what they visually see and what they're stimulated by instead of thinking okay let me sit back and realize what's best for me instead of what i see on my see on my phone you know so what was uh harder for you uh because you did both bodybuilding or you're doing both bodybuilding and powerlifting i felt like for myself the bodybuilding was way harder in terms of uh kind of like what it does to your brain. Like it does some positive things.

It shows you that, you know, beforehand, before you messed with bodybuilding, that you were a chump and you didn't put as much effort in as you thought. It definitely teaches you that, especially because of the 24 hour discipline. But then there's the side of it where you get kind of sad because you get fat, you know, you get super lean and you might not even necessarily be quote unquote fat, but you're just fat turd than you were before and you're like oh man this kind of this this in the middle process kind of stinks yeah um i think it's exactly what you said um bodybuilding is very uh mental and there's a real cerebral part to it because of the mind muscle connection and yeah power is tough but then bodybuilding is just a whole nother like level to it there's a whole different you know

just another set of rules that you have to play by and um it's very painful um there's a spiritual aspect to it also so it's kind of like it'll take you on this journey as far as like it'll show you who you really are and what you're really made of especially when you're dieting and you're tired and you know you have to come in and you didn't eat. It's like, okay, what am I really made of? There's a real spiritual, cerebral aspect to it, which I love. Yeah, I think I agree it is tougher.

It's probably one of the toughest things I've done. Then, yeah, the middle part does mess you up. It's kind of like you have to really prep yourself for, i'm not going to be five percent body fat all year long it's impossible you know even my kid now when he sees me he calls me fat because ever since you know he was a kid and you know he was of age i've been like five percent body fat so anything like above five percent body fat he's just like dad you're fat you know have you noticed like uh people are more impressed with the physique versus the strength skill or strength gains it depends people are different you know some people

they love the physique and they don't care about the strength and some people love the strength and don't care about the physique yeah how long you been doing both uh i started training power um after i hurt myself uh training for info combine about six or seven years ago so i was kind of looking for something to do and i was at dave fisher's powerhouse gym in torrance which is an amazing gym um if you guys are in torrance you guys should definitely stop by um have you been there mark i've never been no okay well yeah we have to get familiar with the area though yeah yeah so dave's a ifbb old school. He's trained with Flex Willer and Sean Reynolds guys. Anyways, but a good group of guys there. And there's a group of powerlifters like real powerlifters.

And it's my first time being exposed to him. And they were just like, hey, well, why don't you try power? You're already strong. But, you know, let's actually get your technique down. And, you know, because I was squatting, you know, we know a football player squat and lift, you know. And I fell in love with power about six, seven years ago. And then I met Mike, and then he really showed me how to really power lift and got me really deep into it. So, yeah, that was about six, seven years ago. And what were your numbers?

You competed. I know you competed at least once. Have you competed a couple times too? Yeah, a couple times. I did local competition, Ventura, and then I did nationals. Cool. And that was it. What kind of numbers did you end up with?

Best numbers, 601 squat, 705 deadlift, and a 479 bench press. Nice. 479. I almost had a 501. I was right here, couldn't lock it out. Actually, my goals were a 6, 5, and 7. I'm still kind of hungry to go back for that 5. We talk a lot about lifting through things because we love lifting so much,

and it's helped all of us. It's helped some of us have more courage in our life. It's helped some of us understand persistence. It's helped with all kinds of things, helped with my brother's death. It helped with when my brother Chris was going through his stuff. I lifted through it. He lifted through it. And it's something that we stay very attached to.

What does that look like for you? First of all, I love that, man. When you released that, that literally just hit me right in the heart, man. Because like Mike was saying, dude, you're just a good human. And you're real. You're able to resonate with a lot of people because you're real. And that lift through it, you kind of verbalize and put out there what a lot of people do. And they don't realize what they're doing.

So lifting through it, dude, weights, I call it iron therapy. You can come in, you can have all kinds of problems, and I always say it's 45 pounds in the gym is always 45 pounds. Ten pounds is always ten pounds in the gym. The bar, when you pick it up, the Olympic bar is always going to be 45 pounds. So it's always a constant. So no matter what's happening in your life, the gym, if you go there, it's always a constant.

It's a rock, you know. And for me, I mean, I've been through drug abuse, alcohol abuse, prison, just being homeless. My life's been up and down. And a lot of it because of my own dumb decisions. But I was always able to go back to the gym and find myself there so no matter if i was going through drug addiction alcohol addiction or mental problems i was able to always able to go to the gym and like you said lift through it man and able to find myself and redefine myself even at my

lowest i was able to like kind to rebuild myself in the gym. It's been awesome. It's pretty cool when you're able to build yourself up into something. Then you're like, holy shit, I kind of thought I was a loser. You said you were addicted to drugs and you were having a lot of issues. You kind of go down this path, which I saw my brother go down a very destructive path. He would end up in AA and very destructive path and he would end up you know in like aa and things like that and he would end up in in rehab and you know he would

tell me like oh man this guy's dirtbag and this guy's doing and i'm like dude like you know what i mean like you're being judged the same way you know like the the public is judging you the same that's why you're amongst those people because because you're making these bad decisions. But when you're able to kind of turn things around and you're able to start to exercise and you start to gain a little bit of muscle or gain a little bit of strength, you're like, wow, OK, I can I can formulate some consistency in this area and I can put time and effort into that and I can get the desired result that I'm looking for if I just stay disciplined to it. And then you're like, wow, maybe I can take that into other areas and avoid ending up being lumped in with these other people, you know?

Oh, yeah. I 100% agree. And Stan Efferty said this too. He was like, if you take the same effort that you put in the gym and put it towards something for five years, like a business, you're going to be able to be in there in a year. So it's just taking that energy that you put in the gym, you apply it to different places in your life so you're able to find yourself, you're gonna be with me in there in a year so it's just taking that energy that you put in the gym you apply it to different places in your life so you're able to find yourself you're able to find a positive energy you're able to find focus and and uh i've had a lot of clients that come to me

and it's not a again my own doing you want to call the universe or god that have had addiction problems and i mean i've been able to get them off of drugs and get them off of drinking alcohol hell yeah that's awesome, dude. And the gym. Again, it's not anything that I'm doing. It's just that I think kind of like energy is a track. I just think it's kind of my purpose because I've heard a lot of people in my life just do my dumb decisions. Now it's kind of like God's like, okay, now you're going to help people.

And through the gym, which is a beautiful thing, I'm able to help people and rebuild their lives and rebuild their confidence and rebuild their self-esteem and rebuild their image to where okay i'm not this junkie i'm not this drug addict i'm not this homeless person i'm not this is this is who i am because you know your your body is your your business card is and there's a saying in front of this it's like uh you can't take away what a person builds in the gym it's like you know that's that's like who you are, you know? So I'm able to help a lot of people and get them back on their feet and just, you know, they're able to re-identify

with, you know, who they are, you know? So, you know, I was talking to my lady the other day and I was telling her how, like, when I was in college, I got an injury to my foot that stopped, like ended my soccer career. And when that happened, I had to get surgery and I wasn't able to like do anything with my leg for like a few months. And that's when like accidentally I started getting into a lot of alcohol stuff. And I realized like, fuck, like I can't work out. And it's leading me to, I have a very addictive

type of personality. And if I don't have something where I can put that energy, I know that I have the ability to go down to some very just fucked up places. So I immediately started trying to do something active to just like be like, oh shit, let's, let's get out of this. So for yourself, cause you mentioned, you mentioned alcohol addiction and drug addiction. What is it that kind of led you down those paths? Like what happened? Oh man, it's like, I'll put up a can of worms. Holy moly holy moly um i mean you can go back to childhood you know family issues and blah blah blah and you know people i grew up around this and that um just you know so i i'm bringing the the environment played a huge role for you i'm i'm bringing everybody but here's the thing everybody has a story yeah i don't like using

excuses of why i did it i just yeah but it does paint a picture, though. I think the same thing with obesity and things like that. People get addicted to food at a young age because they were just exposed to it, and that's the way the household was. So unfortunately, at 11 or 12, they're 50 pounds heavier than the next kid, and they didn't mean to be 100 pounds overweight or two. No one wants to be like that. They didn't mean to be 100 pounds overweight or two. No one wants to be like that. I think that's the weird thing about drug addiction is I know that there's some choices in the beginning, but maybe you can speak on it.

Well, you can certainly speak on this a lot better than me. There's really no choice once you're sucked in, right? Once you're in it. So for us, luckily, none of us have ever, well, maybe I'm addicted to steroids. None of us have luckily been pulled in to anything like that. So can you kind of explain that part? Because it's probably not really as much of a choice anymore after a while. Yeah, once, so like I said, yeah, I did have, you know, traumas that I've been through in life.

And I tried to cope, you know, through doing those things. And I think it's like you said, identity too. It's like just kind of off topic, but my identity was an athlete. When I stopped being an athlete out of high school, my identity shifted towards more of my past, which was, you know, more violence and more, you know, the stupid things that I shouldn't have been doing. I started hanging around the wrong people.

So after I lost my identity, I ended up finding myself in prison, got out of prison. I think I developed in prison more issues than I realized I had. And so again, tried to cope with those traumas and made the choice to, you know, use drugs.

And like you said, I think once you make the choice to use, you don't, unless a lot of people don't realize how powerful drugs are and they, and they suck you in and they suck you in real fast. And a lot of times once you're using them, they're fun and then they feel good. And it's kind of, I call it a vortex because you're kind of swimming around that hole and you're just kind of like, you know, circling the drain a little bit.

You're having fun, you're partying, you know, you might, you know, you're coping, but then there's a point to where that you start circling faster and next thing you know you're getting sucked down into a place that you didn't want to go and no matter what your best efforts are if you're not in the right mind frame and you're addicted to something it's like you you really can't pull out unless you know you have some type of outsized force or you you know, strong will to really stop. Yeah, drugs are powerful, man, and they're very addictive. And once you get there, you're kind of a slave to it. You're not yourself because mental health is important, you know. That's one of the biggest things you lose on drugs is mental health

and the capacity to make smart decisions. And once you lose the capacity to make smart decisions and you stop paying your rent, you know, you stop going to the gym, you stop paying your rent you know you stop you know doing you stop going to the gym you stop paying your car note you stop paying your cell phone bill to do drugs and do certain things next year now you're finding yourself homeless because you're buying drugs you're partying and doing certain things and next thing you know you're in this hole and your family's gone because you're hurting your family hurting other people and people are scared of you and then what do you do you're sitting there homeless you have nothing no money to your name and then what do you do? You're sitting there homeless. You have nothing, no money to your name, and then what do you do?

So it's kind of like it's a tough hole to be in, man, and I'm glad I'm out of it. Yeah, man, we're ecstatic you are. What's the, I don't want to say process, but, like, you know, you're spinning, right, like you said, and then you kind of get a little bit, the circles get closer and closer, right? What's it like? I mean, like, it's, you know, you said you lost your house or your home and stuff.

Like, it's slipping away, but you're still going back to the drugs. Here's the thing. What's the thought, like, what's going through your mind? Here's the thing. My brother had a great saying because I love my brother, and he went through the same thing, exact same thing I went through and is kind of still going through it but

he says your house will be on fire around you and you won't care. Like literally your house will be on fire and he finally told me a story. He's like, yeah actually when he was in Japan, he served in the Air Force. He's like, actually he lived in a house full of people that were on drugs.

They were addicted. And they did something. Actually, the house caught on fire, dude, and they both were just, everybody in the house kind of was looking at this fire burning the house up, and they just were sitting there, and they didn't put it out. They just, you know, they were just, their mind was so gone, the house was just literally on fire around them, and they didn't care. It's like your mind is gone.

You're not the same person it's kind of hard to explain if that makes any sense i think that's a huge factor too is that uh you know uh with my brother he was bipolar but we don't know like what happened first you know was he bipolar because he wasn't uh straight for long enough uh did he actually just naturally suffer from that we don't really know you. And I think that makes it hard too. And so for yourself, when you were addicted, were you questioning your sanity as you were trying to get better? Were you like, I don't even know if I can control any of this. I must be going insane or something.

Yeah, that was actually one of the things that saved me is I realized I was going insane. I was like, this is not right. This is not me. And I was like, I can't keep living like this. It's way different than just the beginning when you just wanted a fix and wanted to get high. Yeah, exactly. And then you realize, like, I'm literally going insane. Like, I'm literally, like, if I hear something or if I see something that's not right, it's like, that's not right.

So I actually create, like, a check and balance for myself. I was like, okay, this is right and this is wrong. If you're doing this, dude, then that means, like, okay, this is right. And this is wrong. If this, if you're, if you're doing this dude, then that means like you're doing it. Like that's just because of the drugs. And I actually told myself, I was like, you're going to die. We're going to kill somebody. If you keep living like this or through doing what you're doing,

you're going to end up causing somebody to die. And I knew I didn't want to do that. Cause I know, I mean, I made a lot of stupid decisions, but I do have a heart and I don't want to hurt people. And I don't want to do that because i know uh i mean i made a lot of stupid decisions but i do have a heart and i don't want to hurt people and i don't want to die so i was kind of like there's has to be a decision where i have to stop i have to you know get out of the cycle get out of this you know this hole i'm in i have to figure out a way a way to do it so yeah you know people it's it's a funny topic to talk about but on that note of addiction when i was younger dude i was like addicted as hell to porn,

like straight up, like, and, and the reason I'm mentioning is that this is because I always wanted to try to stop doing that. Like, like get out of it. But I try, I'd fail.

I try, I'd fail. I'd get a good streak for like six months. I'd fuck up and I'd fuck up for a while. Then I'd get another good streak and then I'd fuck up and I'd fuck up for a while then to get another good streak and then i'd fuck up and i'd fuck up for a while and then like there i don't like there was just like a point where like things finally just clicked and i just kept that streak going and one of the things is because i realized like i will always there will always be that inkling to fall back like i'm always going to be addicted to it i know i am am. I still am. But because I know that

that shit is like there, like, and I'm not free. It's, that's a barrier for me to stop going back. So I know that throughout this whole process for you getting off of the drugs and the alcohol, you've tried, you probably tried multiple times, you know, and people are like, how am I going to fucking get free? Cause I've already tried this like fucking 10 times so how did that process look for you what like how many times did you try to get out of it and when what was that turning point for you that was like fuck this is what i need to do to actually get the fuck out of this and here's where i'm blessed and here's why i knew i couldn't i couldn't squander my blessing and in my position in life is that i have family and outside help like there's some people who do that just life is that I have family and outside help.

Like there's some people do that just don't have family, don't have outside help. And I've seen what happens to them. I'm like, dude, you're an idiot. You actually have family. You have people that can help you and you have like like life skills. You know how to get a job. You've worked, you know. And I can't tell you how many times I might have relapsed or gone back and started to stop and stopped.

But there were a few times where I would stay clean for a few weeks or a month and then go back to it. But I was in my head. I knew I wasn't done. It's kind of get kind of play with it. I was kind of like, oh, I'm done. But I was like, OK, if the opportunity arose, you know, I didn't take myself out of situations where I knew I would use, you know. So it was kind of like I was half-assing it. But one of the biggest things that helped me was, number one, having my kid. So during that whole process, my girlfriend at the time got pregnant.

So I was able to – that kind of like – it's like, okay, dude, you have a kill and I'm waiting to really stop. And the other part was, which you guys know, Mike is my mentor, my big brother. I met him, and that was really early in my use of drugs. It was kind of recreational, go out and party, doing certain things, coping. Over my course of knowing him, it progressed to addiction, started living in hotels. I don't know if he knew any of this stuff. I just lost my house, lost my car, that kind of stuff,

and became really addicted. And at some point, Mike texted me on Twitter. He put a post up. He was like, hey, come train with me. And I woke up to that that twitter post and he just uh randomly hit you up or you guys seen each other at the gym before something like that well so we had so we did a photo shoot together okay and we had mutual friends we're talking online texting each other just kind of like saying what's up to each other staying in

contact so even while you were addicted to stuff you were still lifting and still in pretty good shape for a little bit yeah for a little bit and then it progressed you know to where i stopped lifting and you know stopped going to the gym and you know like i said just stopped making healthy decisions i wasn't any idea why he reached out to you on that particular dude no idea like i said i still don't know to this day if anybody contacted him even told him i was on drugs or homeless or anything and he just put up a twitter post and said hey come train with me and i woke up and told my girlfriend at the time i was like hey dude michael hearn like told me to come train with them i was like what the hell you know and like i was so really

starstruck i was just like wow i told her like why i need to clean up and you know go train with them so i think i made some excuse of why i couldn't train with them i don't know maybe some stupid idiot excuse. And then canceled on him. Then another time, again, same thing. Then he put a post up or sent me a message and said, hey, come train with me. And then I canceled on him again. I think I got clean for about two weeks after that and then relapsed.

And then I told my girlfriend again, I need to clean up and go train with him. And this is a great opportunity. I mean, it's Mike. I mean, come on. Who wouldn't want to train with this guy? Then a third time, like, you know, clean up and, you know, go train with them. And this is a great opportunity. I mean, it's Mike. I mean, come on. Who wouldn't want to train with this guy? Then a third time, dude, hit me up again. Hey, come train. Meet me at the gym at 4 a.m. in the morning. And I was like, all right.

So I told my girlfriend again. I was like, dude, I need to get clean and, you know, go train with this guy. I mean, come on. This is an opportunity of a lifetime. So I remember I was really, really sick. And I went to my brother's house and dude i feel like i was like a divergent death like literally i was just like again just spiraling down like i couldn't move like i literally feel like my soul was leaving

my body and uh at that point i was like dude like you're gonna die and again that mike sent me that text dude and if you know mike if you counsel counsel him once, you most likely won't hear from him again. So for him to do that three times, it literally felt like, okay, I have hope. I have hope to, you know, I can make it. Let me pull myself up and, you know, let's get sober and let's hit the gym. So got my life back on track, started eating. Maybe went to the gym a few times, started working out to kind of prepare to train with them, you know, because I knew it was going to be a brutal workout, you know. So I think maybe two weeks later, ended up training with them.

And then just, yeah, kicked my ass. It's like I was going to die from just training. I bet. So forget the drugs he was like okay this is a whole different type of you know you're gonna die yeah um and then from there dude uh he just developed a friendship and he kept inviting me back every so often like hey come back next week we'll train legs again cool and then uh yeah and then uh from there we just kept training and i had a focus, new focus, new hope.

What was the 4 a.m. stuff like? Because probably before, you probably were just getting to bed at 4 a.m. rather than waking up. Oh, dude, 4 a.m., dude, how about not at all? There were literally times where I wouldn't sleep, dude. I just literally would be up for days. But, yeah, 4 a.m. for me was tough at first. I mean, it's like who gets up at 3 in the morning to go train yeah but it's psychopaths yeah right but uh again the motivation factor

it's like somebody someone say come train if you told somebody mark to come train with me through the morning then people would get up and do it just because you guys are you guys are who you are it tells you a lot about somebody too when. They don't ask why. They don't ask anything. You say 4 a.m., and they just show up. It's a big deal. It's life-changing. It will change your whole perspective on life. I love when you say beat the sun.

I love that, man, because a lot of people don't experience that. There's something to getting up before the sun's up, getting to the gym. And sometimes you leave the gym, and the sun's still not even up. You're driving home. You can see the sun's up, getting to the gym. And sometimes we leave the gym, the sun's still not even up, you're driving home, you can see the sunrise. It's just a whole different speed of life. It kind of sets the tone for the day like you've already won the day, like you're already a champion. I feel like I was already wearing a championship belt

because I accomplished that. And people that have kids and stuff, you know, your kids are sleeping at that time, so it's a great opportunity to get out of the house get your stuff done they don't even know that you left you're back home i i drive my kids to school i cook them breakfast and stuff like that so i still don't miss out on a lot of that stuff when i do have the 4 a.m workouts what other disciplines did that uh help you with because you know waking up at like three o'clock to get to the gym at four it's kind of a whole setup it's

a whole process that you have to start to figure out okay i need to kind of be in bed by like seven or eight for this shit to really work how did you start to work on that because cleaning up that side of your life is hard too yeah it's a whole different discipline you have to be structured like if you don't have a structure in a game plan then it's not going to work like you have to be in bed by like nine or ten o'clock at the latest because if you're not, you're not going to get up at 3 o'clock in the morning. If you do, you're going to be miserable. And the next day you're going to be tired all day. And it kind of just starts this whole cycle of like, you know,

just you got to catch up on sleep somewhere, you know. So you have to be structured. You have to be disciplined. But you asked how it affected me man it affected me in a tremendous way in a positive way where again i've built my confidence because i feel like if i could do this and i could do anything so yeah in business man i noticed my business took off my business relationships were better because i walk into meetings confident because i knew i was bringing something to the table and that if i could tell people i get through in the morning

it was like instant respect because people knew why i can work with this guy this guy is a grinder so i can trust him with money i can trust him with business stuff yeah um just in personal life too just you know walk into you know places with with certain confidence and people they respect that dude it's just like wow this guy he he's you know he's he's focused and it's a lot different than walking to somewhere you're a druggie so you walk into somewhere and this guy's a druggie or an idiot or he went to jail this guy gets up at 3 o'clock in the morning and works his ass off so my relationship with people

changed it changes the dialogue of who you are in the eyes of other people which is huge you know something weird about waking up early and I don't know why this happens to me but I feel like I have a lot more like gratitude and I feel like more appreciative of each day like I wake up super excited but I never really maybe that's just part of getting older or something too I'm not I'm not really sure but have you experienced that too like when you wake up that early you're like this is

kind of badass like I'm on like sometimes you are fatigued and sometimes you're like fuck and you Mike wants to train legs and you know it's going to be a you know you're in for a rough one right but most of the time i'd wake up and be like this is going to be this is gonna be fucking awesome and you're driving and it's pitch black you're like this is kind of sick oh yeah it's spiritual man i think because it really again it shows you who you are like it reaches down to that core man because like how many things like test you to your core? Because you're tired. Like you said, it's dark.

It's 3 o'clock in the morning. Like are you going to get up? Like it's like it tests like what are you made of, dude? I think once you get to that core, then like, yeah, it's a spiritual experience, man. You just feel like you have that gratitude factor in this. You're able to experience the quiet of the world too. Again, there's a different speed at the time. That pretty cool in la yeah right driving driving at 3 a.m to the gym here is like you you don't even know that you're in los angeles oh yeah there's not one car on the fucking road yeah and it's just yeah you get to experience the quiet and the beauty of the world as opposed to

like you know when everybody's up dude in la which you already know it's just like it's a crap show i've tried to sorry um i've tried to explain on the podcast too like there's like a weird like almost sound that's like when it's pitch black early in the morning before people wake up it's like silence but it's extremely loud if you can like just stop breathe and like dude there's nothing going on right now but it's fucking loud and like you just, you just, I don't know, you just hear, like, you hear nothing. But, like, it's hard to really tap into what that feels like and how to even explain it. But I think you just did.

Like, you know, it is just like a, I don't know, it's hard to explain. It's the sound of waking up and doing stuff that other people aren't doing. Yeah, yeah. I guess so, man. The sound of victory is what it is. That's the way. I really feel that way. I feel so good about it.

And, you know, what I try to share with people, because there are a lot of people that are like 20, 25, and they're like, dude, like, you know, I'm getting to bed at like 11 or 12. And that's totally understandable. But my advice is just work on figuring out a way to wake up a little earlier. The 4 a.m. stuff, you know, it is something that I would recommend. It's something I would try. But you don't have to try to wake up at 4 a.m. every day. Mike doesn't even wake up at 4 a.m. every day. A lot of times what I noticed with him, which I thought was really cool,

the really hard workouts, those are at 4 a.m. And the softer workouts, which is never really a soft workout, but they're just easier to get through, like a shoulder workout, that one might be at 6 a.m., which is a much more reasonable time. So I think everyone should kind of give it a shot. in general even just for like life and work purposes and stuff i would suggest that everyone works on getting to bed earlier and hopefully you know waking up about an hour earlier than whatever their schedule normally is yeah 100 agree man along with like like obviously having a wake up or go to bed early and wake up early requires a change of

lifestyle. You know, Mike's a guy that he has that type of lifestyle. He's that type of friend that'll, you know, force you to develop that. But I'm assuming that, you know, when you were, when things were a little bit more difficulty for you, you probably had people around you that weren't ideal in terms of like, you know, they, they, they weren't ideal in terms of friends that would help you get out of that. A lot of people, when they have these types of addictions, it's also associated with their close friends group. Now, was that a problem for you? Did you have friends that were continuing to pull you towards that

that you had to get rid of, or was it just you? It's huge. It's huge, man. You can't understate what you just said man who you surround yourself with will dictate what you are and who you are man and what you're doing um and i'll blame people around me for what i did and actually they mean i have friends still that are in that lifestyle and i love them and they're really good people it's just that i can't be around them because if you're around them, dude,

you're going to gravitate towards it. There's a gravity towards who you're around. That's when the biggest thing with Mike is my whole circle changed. I call it the circle of Mike. That guy's just powerful, dude. His circle, dude,

if you're in it, you're vetted. There's no question. When I first came to Golds and I met Shaggett Spard, they're a great guy. He was like, dude, he's like, if you're with Mike, then you're my brother. The first day I met him, he's like, you're good with me, dude. And just from there, we're just instant friends, dude, like, not even a question. And anybody I meet through Mike, it's just that's how it is. And you're vetted. Just because he doesn't allow or tolerate BS around him.

You have to have integrity, honor to be a good person, dude, keep your word, positive. He also does a good job of not really caring too much about what you do. He just does what he does. And maybe with your situation, maybe it's different. Maybe he did pull you aside and have some kind of deep conversations. He and I, as we got to know each other, we've had some great conversations like that as well. But for the most part in the gym, it's like you're just kind of following what he does.

You're like he's doing seven, eight, nine plates on like a leg press. And you just went before him and you realized you were going crazy and feel like you're giving birth or something. And then you watched him go and you know he's not sweating he's he's glistening he doubles what you did yeah he doubles what you did he doubles the output he makes it look better and he just doesn't make any noise he there's no wrinkle in his face he doesn't have his brow frow or anything like that or you know he doesn't crinkle up his face or nothing and you learn from it and you're like holy shit like that or you know he doesn't crinkle up his face or nothing and you learn from it and you're like holy shit like that's a great that's a great way to take

on life you know somebody sends you a weird text or something crazy happens like you know maybe you shouldn't be you know so ready to go so crazy on it maybe you should breathe and think about it and kind of work in as he kind of does a lot with his training where he's closing his eyes and visualizing the stimulus of you know this particular uh you know groin muscle that he's specifically working on i i really i gained a lot from that and i've had great conversations with him as well and those have been impactful too but the most impactful stuff is just watching what the guy does day in and day out yeah um i think he coined the phrase white belt mentality so yeah we talked about that a lot yeah um when i first ran with him like i literally didn't talk and then when i started talking i think people were surprised like i just was quiet dude

i just like sat back and they're like is this giant black guy gonna kill everybody he doesn't really say much but he's fucking huge and he looks angry but i mean yeah i mean people are like i think we're weirded out it's like okay this guy actually you know he has stuff to say but um i literally just watched and just observed dude and um it's the biggest compliment they can give somebody i guess is imitation um so just i try and imitate and emulate what he does not based off what he says but just he won't say a whole lot I said, he'll let you do what you want to do. Either you get it or don't get it.

But I just came in empty glass, dude, and just was able to learn so much and just still have a white belt mentality, man. That's super cool. It almost sounds like he gave you a new life. Oh, 100%, man. Right? I got literally between the birth.

Good on you for fucking recognizing that. That's a really good opportunity that's you know that's awesome dude i mean that guy that guy will give the show office back i mean literally he's he's he's might have given you that one yeah literally dude yeah we're in the pb shirt yeah but just it's hard he's a harder goal dude like you know he's just uh when i first met him i thought he's gonna be this big macho tough guy and blah blah going into the gym it's like you say when you work out with them. There's just no noise, just peace. And I'm jacked up on pre-workout. And like, yeah, let's go. And he's like, kid, calm down.

He's like, no more pre-workout for you, dude. He's like, I'm screaming, you know. So, you know, but yeah, just he's very cerebral, very smart, spiritual. But yeah, save my life, dude. You gave me a second chance. Between the birth of my kid and training with Mike, my life was saved. I told Mike, dude, I don't know if you know, you saved my life. If you didn't send me those texts, I'd probably be dead. I was just in that place.

You know what I mean? He was like, well, you're not going to be there again. He's like, I'll kill you if you are. You mentioned that you've helped a lot of your clients with a lot of like addiction and stuff like that in general. I think that it's first off, that's super impactful because you're not just helping them, their fitness, but you're literally also having that effect on their life, too. Now, when it comes to those situations, like how have you been able to attack it? Because, I mean, do you just straight up talk to people about this? Do they talk to you and then you you like you sit down with them after a session and help

them with that? Cause I'm assuming a lot of trainers also have clients with those types of issues and they want to know how to deal with it. Um, yeah, man. Uh, it's a beautiful thing to be able to help people. Um, so yeah, I, my phone's on 24 seven for my clients. I have clients that text me at 10 o'clock at night. I'll be at dinner, and I pick up the phone for them. And I tell them, dude, I'm like, you guys can call me or text me anytime you want. But, yeah, during training sessions, this stuff comes out.

Because, I mean, training to me, it's a spiritual experience. It's kind of religious. So when you're with people and they're vulnerable like that, man, you'll find people will tell you stuff you won't even know. You'll have conversations and you just, you know, you won't even expect it. And people will be going through things just like, man, it's very humbling to have people come to you with that stuff because they trust you. And again, it's just I mean, all the space of where God has put me to be able to help people like that, man. So, yeah, conversations after training or during training or before training,

some people come in and be like, this happened to me today. I have to get their head right to get into the gym. Like, hey, well, this happened. We have this. The gym's here. Let's, you know, focus in. Or even after, stuff will come out like, hey, this happened to me. You know, so, yeah, man, it's a positional responsibility, you know, being a coach.

You know, sometimes it turns into being a life coach, but, yeah. Did you have to get kind of traditional help? Did you have to go to, like, AA or detox or what that process looked like for you? So I actually went to my first AA meeting, but it wasn't for me. It was actually for my friend. He was three years sober, so we were there celebrating that. Just a beautiful experience, man. I've never been to a meeting. I didn't go to rehab or anything to

get off of drugs. But my buddy afterwards, he's like, yeah, the circle's very important because we were around. He told me, he's like, yeah, you probably got there through Mike. Unknowingly, you just changed your circle. He was yeah, you probably got that through Mike. Unknowingly, you just changed your circle. He was like, because you have to change your circle, you know.

But to go back to your question, no, I didn't. And I don't brag when I say this. It's not brag, but I don't. What's the right way to say it? AA is good. Going to rehab is good. But I just knew that I'd get in more trouble when I go to a place. I feel like I I get in more trouble when I, when I go to play. I feel like I would get in more trouble if I went to places like that.

So I knew I had to do on my own and I knew I had to, um, find the power within myself and to, to, to do it. Like I always had this thing in the back. I always had this thing in the back of my head that I knew I wanted to stop and never let go of it. Yeah. I knew if I let go of that thing that one thing in the back of my head that i had to stop and i had to find a way to do it because i'm stubborn i have

to figure out on my own how to do it i can't have someone else tell me um that i wouldn't stop and so i held on to that i held on to that just that one glimmer of hope that i had to find a way to stop you know um did you ever think that you didn't have the ability to stop no i always that's the last one i'm saying i i know i i believed okay i had to believe in my own head that i could i could do it i had to believe in my head that i i had to find some ways some something within myself because if i didn't have that and i would have nothing it would just it would it be over for me and maybe for some other people it might be like a false hope right that they're all this doesn't have control over me i'm gonna stop after this weekend i'm right there might be people that are yeah exactly really

just they're they're stuck for whatever reason it could be a physiological reason you know they could literally have no control over it we don't really know you know but uh probably is a little different for each person i'd imagine yeah oh it has to be again that's why i say for me that's why i just say for me because everybody's different. It's just like dieting. We're working out. Everybody's different. And like I said, when I went to that meeting, here's the funny part.

My perception of what I thought AA meetings were was completely different. And from what I found out about rehab is it's completely different because the stories I heard about it from the people that went. And here's the funny part. I just thought about this is that those people failed. about it from the people that went and oh here's a funny part i just thought about this is that those people failed so there so their story is about going to it actually it kind of ruined my thought about meetings and rehabs because they actually told me i went there and got worse i found out better ways to do drugs through people blah blah so stories about rehab but then they're

sitting right next to me doing drugs so it's like dude but now the people i'm around that are sober their experience and they're talking rehabbing and meetings is completely different. It's a beautiful thing, man. So don't look at Yelp reviews when. Yeah, man, go firsthand. But everybody's different, man. The meeting was beautiful because people were able to share their story. There's just so much love there and there was so much support. It was like they would you could tell they would do anything for you. So like looking at that, when you actually went and you saw what it was like i know that you ended up being able to get out of it naturally because you had those you had mike around you had great people around exactly but after seeing what it was like do you think that if you did go it would have like you it would

have helped you 100 okay 100 man just because there was so much love there just so much support it was completely different than what i thought. Again, those people, they kind of ruined my idea of what it was. Actually, I was there. I just started tearing up. I was trying to just... There was a big guy coming in. Everybody's looking at me. I'm all yoked coming in. This guy, this big guy starts

boo-hooing me. It's like Fight Club where the big guy keeps crying all over the guy's shoulder every time. I'd never been to a meeting before. The experience was just amazing. I never experienced just so much genuine love. And I don't trust people with you, but I feel like I could trust every single person in that room.

Well, the defenses are so down. People say some really crazy stuff. My brother was telling me about he's gone to many meetings. And he just periodically will just drop in on some. He just feels that it just helps in on some uh he just feels that it uh just helps make him a better person period even even despite the fact that he's uh been clean for four or five years he doesn't feel like he really needs to go but when he goes he always feels better so he's like i just i just go but he said the stories that people share people will

people will get up and they will talk about anything and everything. They'll say, I used to beat my son. I'd beat the hell out of him every week. And I've been drinking for 15 years and I can't control it. I don't know what's wrong with me. And then someone else will get up and they'll say, hey, you know what? I lashed out against a family member too. I had a similar issue. And now people are communicating.

And it's great because now you can get people to work on you know their behavior you can work on uh breaking these patterns down yeah and here's a story i have when i was in prison i was an idiot still for the first few years i got in a fight you know going to the hole for six months dude almost caught like another charge and would have did more time in prison so they they put me in a hole, and I was in isolation, dude. I was just acting stupid inside the hole, too. Didn't want to sell mate. I was like, dude, if you bring anybody in here, I'm going to whip their ass, blah, blah.

I was going crazy, dude, just, like, literally losing my mind inside a prison, dude. So I ended up going to the psych. I was like, dude, I have to see somebody about what's going on in my head. I'm just, like, mentally just crashing right now. I mean, I'm in a bad place. It's like I need help. So I went went there and I started, the psych asked me, okay, tell me your story, like your childhood. And I'm like, oh, I went through abuse, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,

blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,

blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, he's like, okay, so tell me what your problem is again. I look at him like, what? It's like somebody just literally slapped me in the face. He's like, you told me you had a problem. What's your problem? Like, it doesn't seem like you have any problems at all, dude. And I literally just felt like, I was like, this dude's like being a jackass jerk. He's just like, I feel like, what the hell? He seriously, he's staring at me blank face,

serious, not even laughing. He's like, he was like, dude, you know how many people come in to me and have way worse stories than you? He's like, you know how many people come in to me and have way worse stories than you? He's like, you know how many people come in here and have this problem, that problem, this problem? He's like, you think you have problems, dude? He's like, go out in the yard, talk to your homeboys, and ask them how many of them have the same stories as you. I guarantee you 99% of them will have the same story as you. He's like, you're not special.

He's like, you don't have problems. He's like, I deal with people with real problems, dude. So going to the meeting, I think it's kind of like that. You realize that, hey, I thought I had a big-ass problem, but maybe I don't. That person has a way worse problem than me. So I think it transforms you from a self of being a victim to a more, let me help this person. Because that person has a way worse problem than me,

so maybe let me show them some love and help them out. And when you help people, what I find is you forget about your own problems. problem to me so maybe let me show them some love and you know i mean help help them out and you know and and when you help people what i find is you forget about your own problems you start to deal with them also yeah so when you heard that when the psych told you that like did that make you mad or did that just make you sad like how did you feel like dumbfounded i feel like literally somebody just like slapped me in the face yeah i just was lost i was like i just told this guy my entire life story boohoo and i was like he's gonna say oh well that's you know that's blah blah blah i know he's gonna tell me i feel like i was gonna be

consoled or maybe give me some advice or you know he was like literally just like i felt dumbfounded it made me think and so i went back to my cell they put me there just problems are all internal you know yeah and i sat there and I just was quiet I was like wow it's like maybe I don't have problems and I started thinking about all my friends that were on the yard and all the stories

that we had where we were in a cell together on the yard together and what they were telling me this one kid was born in prison dude his mom was on drugs

and she was a gang member and he was born inside a prison dude and he literally he's like dude I was born in prison I live in this neighborhood he's like I'm gonna do this till I die and he's like I a prison, dude. And he literally was like, dude, I was born in prison. I live in this neighborhood. He was like, I'm going to do this until I die.

And he was like, I'm just going to keep coming back. And literally, dude, that guy, while I was there, paroled. I switched prisons, and he came back in there. And he's like, I saw him again. He's like, yeah, man, this is what I do. You know, and he told me his life story. And I was like, dude, I don't have problems. So from there, that's how I thought my life is.

I wasn't a victim anymore. I was like, dude, I'm a victor. I'm i'm a normal person there's probably you can walk out you guys have stories all of us have stories you can walk out this door and walk down the street and talk to people and everybody has a story so it's like we can't let that story dictate you know who we are what we do and define who we are so yeah what were the drugs you were addicted to oh methamphetamine oh man so yes if you know anything about it's one of the most powerful drugs and here's one of the things that we had a conversation about this you know you know on instagram yeah uh you'll still you'll see people when they're acting weird acting crazy um and people will talk crap about them and put

them down and call them names. Again, people don't use those drugs to get to that point. They don't think, I'm going to use this drug and become homeless. They think, I'm going to use this drug. I'm going to use this. I'm going to become homeless, and it's going to be awesome. That's what people think. Oh, you're a dirty blah, blah.

It's like you're an idiot for you. It's like, dude, I always say this. They do not design drugs to be bad. They design drugs to be the best experience of your life. And that's a scary thing to say because I'm not influencing people to use drugs because I highly don't, but they design drugs to be good. They work. They take you to another place, right? You're in this life.

We're all in this world together. And it allows you to kind of like, quote, unquote, leave the planet for a little bit, right? Yeah, but it's a double-edged sword. So the greatest thing that you experience will actually be the worst thing for you in your life because they're highly addictive and there's no going back once you do it. Like the first time you're using that, for most people, you're addicted because you're going to have such a good time. You're addicted. Like we're addicted to the gym. You're going to be addicted to the substance and start with a small bit

a small bit becomes a medium-sized bit and a large bit and next thing you know you're swimming down that vortex dude and and and uh yeah dude they it's it's a nasty cycle man i think the confusing part for the general population that hasn't dealt with uh uh drug addiction is how do you get to that point how do you get to that point? How do you get to the point of like we hear like we hear about meth, right? We hear about that all the time. And like we know that, I mean, as far as I know, like that's like the worst one. And we know like, you know, you just hear so much about or even like cocaine or heroin. Those are kind of like you start to get into those stronger, more powerful drugs it's a lot different than marijuana it's a lot different so how does how did you end up in that

point you have gateway drugs i mean i hate using that term but there are because if you're using one drug a lot of time if you're out of your mind if somebody says hey i got this you're like hey sure because you're not in your right mind you're just feeling good you're rolling with it have you thought to yourself like there's no fucking way that i would try meth oh yeah but then my brother again i love my brother dude there's somebody i respect a lot of times how it happens is you'll see somebody that you love and respect and that's having a good time don't introduce you to it you'll see wow that person has a great life they're doing good they're okay and let me try it too because look at them they're having a great time i trust them and then next you know uh you're trying it and not realizing that they're hiding tons of demons and skeletons or claws you had no idea

about ad buddies do that tons of money driving nice cars great jobs and then we were using together not knowing that dude their skeletons and demons in their closet were crazy dude so they don't tell you that part they just say hey let's have a good time let's drive my mic you know all right cool you. It's you guys. A lot of times, too, again, if you're drinking alcohol or if you're doing coke and you're thinking, I wouldn't do meth, but I'll do coke, and somebody presents that to you and you're at a party, you're just like, hey, let me try it. So that was pretty much my case where I was leading up to that point with different drugs. I had a set of rules.

I'd never try heroin. I'd never try this. And next thing you know, which I never tried heroin. Luckily, dude, because I've heard that stuff's just horrible. And way more addictive than methamphetamine. But I was presented with the choice opportunity after I was already high. I said, hey,

let me just try it. Because I heard somebody tell me it's better. And then you try it. Next thing you know, you do try it and it is better. But guess what? It's way more addictive. So a lot of times when you try things that are better doesn't mean that it's better for you because a lot of times it's going to take you down a darker hole is there is there uh any positive to any of these harder drugs at all i mean you know you hear like people talk about psychedelics and stuff but in terms of like crystal meth or any of the things that you've tried

they do anything good at all i wouldn't associate anything good with that stuff, man. They call it the devil. Yeah. They literally call it the devil. They literally, a street name for it is the devil. It tricks you. It lies to you. So if you look in the Bible,

they call the devil a thief and a liar. It literally is. It will lie to you. It will tell you your life's great. You'll be living on the street, homeless and dirty, with no shoes on, pushing a car. You'll think your life's fucking great. It will lie to you.

Again, your house will be burning around you. You think, oh, my life's awesome. You know, your bank account will be empty. You're losing your house. You're going through eviction. But, hey, my life's awesome. It literally will steal stuff from you. It will lie to you.

So there's no positives to it, man. It's just, yeah. What you literally just said is, first off off it's a testament to understand that that is something i believe that that is something that we could all do no matter how powerful you think you are because for the longest time you were saying that oh yeah nah that's not me i would never do that but once you got around those people you started befriending those people started building friendships and trust with those people and you're like oh he's cool let me give that a shot like that's just a testament to you need to be so damn careful with the circle of people you keep

because over time you're going to become a little vulnerable to their to the things that they do and then soon you're just gonna boom that's possible like i know i i know that i would definitely be able to do that shit if my close friends did that stuff that's why i think it's like i i just can't be around people like that i can't hang out with people like that 100 agree i mean again can't understand what you're saying it's it's who you surround yourself with and who your circle is and who you trust man you just you can love some people but you just can't be around them just some people their habits and lifestyles just destructive then it will suck you in like literally again go back to the vortex if you guys ever read the secret or seen the video this is written i believe in that vortex i mean some people call it faith some people call it

other words but i like using the vortex because other people's vortexes will suck you in also so if you're on the fringe of that vortex dude you already know you're just gonna circle around with them next you know you're caught in their circle and then that that's pretty much it man yeah so yeah did you ever feel guilty about like turning your back on that circle you know especially still friends with a lot of them and like you like can still see them like still in the vortex oh yeah yeah it's a i've developed enough willpower and i don't tell everybody to do this unless you're in a place where you know you can you know but i still again i love them from afar i don't tell everybody to do this unless you're in a place where you know you can, you know. But I still, again, I love them from afar.

I don't, I didn't really turn my back on them as opposed to just they know that it was the best decision. Because they know they shouldn't be doing it. They know that people die. I've had friends die. I've had friends murdered from that. So they know it's not a good place to be. So somebody makes it out and it's kind of like there's no resentment there. They just know that you're in a better place, and I think they respect it. I don't think better of myself than them, and they know that, you know,

they're not worse than me, but just I can't be around them. I love them. But just, yeah, there has to be a distance there. There has to be. You know, you can't go back and, you know, fiddle with it, man. Have you talked to them kind of direct and said, hey, look, if you ever need help, whenever you're ready, I'm here? Or just kind of like ignore the fact that they're still using it?

It's tough because with that drug, it's so addictive that the success rate for people actually staying sober is very low. And that's a hard thing to say, man. So that's why I live my life the way I live because I know I'm blessed and fortunate. And the biggest part is because of the people I have around me and my support. Again, a lot of people don't have that. Do you still have any urges to do any of those things? At this point, no.

What about alcohol and stuff like that? Anything? No. I mean, I used to have a beer every once in once in a while if one of my girlfriend were to celebrate i might have like one beer and i'm already like tips you off one beer dude so i'm literally i'm literally a lightweight but it's i live my life in such a way now that where when i go out it's just like i don't even like drink it's just because i'm just like it's so counterproductive. I want every ounce. I want every gram of gains I can give that makes sense. I see.

So you're not necessarily not drinking for sobriety's sake. You're not drinking because it's not going towards your goals. Exactly, man. I'm so focused on my goals of being the best person I want to be. I want to maximize my whole work. I work hard. I kick my own butt, dude. And I'm like, is this the way I think?

Is this counterproductive or productive towards my goal? Like, is this choice I'm going to make going to enhance my life or take away from what I'm doing? And if you work hard, dude, like, you want every penny. Like, you work your ass off, dude. You want every penny, dude. You're not, you know, working hard just to bring in a $1,000 check, dude. Come on, man. So, you know, the same thing for us in the gym, dude, we're not working hard in the gym to bring,

you know, mediocre gains, dude, or just mediocre results. We want, we don't maximize and be the best version of ourselves can be. So it's the same thing. So that's, so if I go out and I'm not, yeah. Yeah. So that's, that's pretty much it for alcohol, man. So, I mean, a beer or two there, I mean, for some of my clients i tell them like it's okay you know but just don't you know overdo it but you know how could uh somebody that's listening how could they uh you know maybe pick up on the fact that uh family members using um and then maybe even also how could they possibly help like i remember like with my brother like you know he was late a lot to stuff then he would start to lie about stuff.

And then when it came to family gatherings and stuff, he wouldn't go to that because he knows that he's not in control and stuff. What are some signs that somebody, maybe even in your own household, might be using? And then also, in addition, maybe what you could say, how you could handle that situation. I guess exactly what you said. They're late to things. They start making excuses exactly what you said. They relate to things. They start making excuses of why they can't show up to places and just their behavioral pattern changes.

So you can notice those things. So at that point, I think communication is key. There has to be an open line communication. A lot of times we think we know how to communicate, but we really don't. So there has to be like, hey, are you okay? Or what's going on? And a lot of times, even if they're loud to you, you got to press. You can't back off.

You have to be relentless because drug addiction, alcohol addiction, you have to press. You can't let them just continue to do what they're doing. You have to investigate. Find out. Look. Follow them if you have to, dude investigate like find out like like look follow them if you have to dude like seriously like look um and they'll be pissed they'll be very mad at

you but it's better than being you know yeah but going through why'd you look through my phone why did you follow me why'd you right they'll be pissed and excuse me when i say this but it's better than you finding out that they died it's better than finding out they died i have friends that i found out that they were killed or they died and I was like I wish I did it. I wish I would have went in there and dragged them by their head or just I wish I would have did this and wish I did that. So yeah,

if you have a family member press, you have to go in there. You have to drag them out. If you have to be physical, you have to do it. You have to fight. It's a fight. You can't just sit there and say, oh, you know, you have to go in. You follow them. Check their text messages, follow them where they're going to throughout their day and see what's going on, man. And stay in their face, dude. You got to stay on top of them, dude.

Don't let go. Don't give up. Yeah, that's a big one because that's the hardest thing because it's easy to give up. It's just an easier option. I don't want to deal with this fucking person anymore they're they're hurting me they're hurting the family they're making me upset they're making me mad they're stealing money out of my wallet or whatever like all kinds of crazy shit happens that you would never think would happen yeah and it really

can be super frustrating what are you guys thoughts on when people say like they have to want to be helped though very important because like you said if they don to want to be helped though very important because like you said if they don't want to help that makes it even more difficult man if they don't want to help and they want to live the lifestyle they're living dude then just keep keep pressing like you keep what can someone do you know it's tough because again if they don't they don't want it if there's like if there's zero like, then it's going to be a tougher fight. Let's put it that way. I feel like in those situations because we just had a family member that died because of drugs, literally.

And no one thought that they wanted to be helped. But there seems to be only two options in that case. You let them go down the path. Either they die or they don't, right? Or like you and your family press on them and press on them and press on them. You got to be annoying assholes for a while until they get the picture.

Because in our case, well, he died. No one, like everyone knew that they couldn't help him. He died. So it seems like there has to be a concerted effort of the family. knew that they couldn't help him, he died. It seems like there has to be a concerted effort of the family. Possibly somebody could have. Maybe.

Like you said, it has to be a team effort. I think it's not just like... Like I said, once a fight, you have to realize what you're getting yourself into. You're walking into a fight with Mike Tyson. If that makes better sense, if that's a good analogy. So no, you're literally, you're going to,

and you have to have the time and resources to do it. So a lot of times people have jobs, people have lives, and they're living their own lives. And it takes a lot of time to help somebody. So I can easily sit here and say, do that. But then again, everybody has their own life to live,

and you have to realize I'm stepping in the ring with Mike Tyson. Do I want to take these? And it adds for 12 rounds. It's not like, hey, if he knocks me. No, seriously, it's not like you're walking in and say, if he knocks me out, he knocks me out. It's the fight's over. It's like, no, we're going to schedule a fight with you and Mike Tyson.

And it's for 12 rounds. There's no giving up. They're going to lock you in that cage with Mike Tyson. So you have to realize. Again, I don't want to sound like it's going to be easy say press them it's not going to be easy i like your i like your analogy because it's ugly you know it's not an attractive thing i've shared this before that just simply being out of control is not an attractive thing even if you know something happens you spill your coffee and you flip out it's like somebody flips out like crazy and you're like, what the hell is that? Like, that's not, that's not cool.

It's not a good way to act. You know, anytime you lose control, it's not an attractive thing, whether it's with food or drugs. And when it comes to things like alcohol and drug addiction, I mean, you know, I've, I've found, you know, my brother, you know, face down on the floor, uh, you know, halfway between like my front my front door and the place I lived in, full of urine, just crazy stuff that you would never expect. It's hard to talk about, but that's my childhood hero. That's somebody I really looked up to and admired, and I'm seeing them like that.

It's absolutely insane. The way that I'm able to talk about it nowadays is through the fact that you know i have talked about it a lot so that helps a lot but also i never gave up on him like we we did try you know and he's still not here but i i can also clearly remember many many times and it could have been because he's not in his right mind but he didn't want it you know he would say over and over again i do not want to be here i just want to fucking die like he would say it over and over again and he would say it you know he said it consistently to where you know you're like okay he's not even fucked up yet like i have been with him all day and he's still saying he just said i just can't handle this world anymore i can't figure out you mentioned the word cope and i think that's what he was

facing he whatever whatever happened him, whether it's bipolar or whether it was the drugs or whether it was a combination of the two, he didn't have the coping skills to organize the things that happened to you on a day-to-day basis to feel good. And so when I think about he died and I'd still want him around and I start to think about that more, I'm like, that's just for me because I still want my brother here, you know, but he wasn't designed to live out a longer life

than what he had. I don't, I don't believe. Yeah, man. I want to use that for people to understand how ugly it is. Cause you have you and your family who fought for your brother, dude, and fought and fought and fought. And I know the story and I love Chris too.

So he told me the story, dude, like your family's amazing is that you have such an amazing family. You guys fought and fought and fought. And still your brother passed. So I want people to understand that drug addiction, alcohol addiction is a serious thing. It's ugly, dude. It's nasty.

So when you see people going through it, have a heart and have empathy, dude. Just understand how serious it is, man, how powerful it is and how it impacts people, man. So it's an ugly thing. Again, your family is amazing, dude. I respect you guys so much. Thank you. I appreciate that. Yeah, and I know what you guys have been through. So, again, when I sat there and I said you've got to press people

and do things that can make it sound easy, like I said, it's a 12-round fight with Mike Tyson, dude. Imagine if it's your own child, your own kid. You know, like, shit, man, the emotions that you go through. I through i mean a lot of times with family stuff no one wants to bring up these things you know and it could it could be something that maybe is uh is quite different than even alcohol abuse it could be maybe the way somebody's treating somebody else it could be uh it could be just that somebody somebody simply has a hard time controlling their diet and that they're way too heavy it's hard to bring that up it's hard hard to say, Hey, you know, grandma, I think you need to slow down all the hard candies you

have around the house. You know, it's, it's a, it's a tough thing to do. And, and, uh, you don't know where to interject. Cause you're like, I don't know if that's cool like that. We are family, but I don't want to, I don't want to hurt the person's feelings. I don't want to, you know, them to go through a rough thing, but in the case of drugs, you know, know that's the consequences that they could you could just end up getting that phone call one day or find them somewhere and they're not alive anymore so yeah man yeah i think uh i'm at that point with my brother also it's it's uh he was mentioning to me you don't know where he is and stuff right it's been about two or three years and um actually like a meltdown dude i went to the a meeting heard all the stories and just brought up all these feelings about my brother dude i don't know if he's alive or dead i reached

out recently to mutual friends and they haven't heard from him from years and i'll tell the story dude so the last time one of my buddies saw my brother was at alverson's and he was there with somebody else looked like some druggy guy and they're stealing face razors if you don't my brother dude my brother i got never would have thought if you told me he'd be in alberson's like looking like a homeless guy like stealing like razors dude like this guy like freak athlete like went to state for wrestling ran track we grew up working out dude this guy's phenomenal physique dude like we're in a bodybuilding we used to run like five ten miles together dude just like we just hey let's go run five ten miles and grab a box of donuts on the way back and we'll eat the

box of donuts on the way back that's great i love that workout yeah and then we run to the beach and swim in the water all day and run back dude just like um smart guy and you know just um yeah and i never would have thought he'd be in this position he's in dude so um but i love a man and and hopefully he's doing okay. But, yeah, that's – You don't have any way to reach him, huh? Like dropped off the face of the planet, man. And that just goes to show you again how powerful drugs are, man.

And did he live in Los Angeles? He's been around everywhere. He lived in Torrance. We grew up there. And then he's been in Anaheim, Orange County. He's been all over, man. So I looked like one of those websites, like searching for people, Torrance. We grew up there. He's been in Anaheim, Orange County. He's been all over it, man. So I looked on one of those websites, like searching for people, you know. He's like all these addresses from like Riverside to Orange County.

Shifting gears a little bit, Torrance is, I believe, it's the home of the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy, right? Oh, those guys are awesome, dude. That's like right there. And I believe Machado Jiu-Jitsu is kind of in the area as well and yeah when i lived out here and uh i was when i worked at sharkies that's where i met my wife in uh hermosa beach um somebody was coming up to me and they're like hey man you ever think about doing jiu-jitsu and i was like i was like i think you know i i seen it like i watched ufc you know

and i watched like hoist gracie you're like i was like you mean that kind of stuff and they're like yeah man you got to come like there's an academy down the you know down the street it's in torrance you got to come check it out and uh i was like cool i'll come check it out you know and i i went to it and it was like the gracie academy. And I'm like, that says Gracie. And there wasn't a million of them at the time. So you got to keep that in mind. This is like one of just a handful that were probably in the entire United States.

And I think it was maybe the only one in Northern California. Or in Southern California. And it was crazy. The athletes that were in there and it was a really cool experience. And what I remember from it, this is 20-something years ago, but what I remember from it is being amazed at how the leverage works

and what a skill jiu-jitsu is. And then once I did jiu-jitsu, then I fell in love with watching UFC even more because I always just kind of thought these guys are just going in there kicking the shit out of each other. And I have a boxing background, so I know that there's definitely a skill and technique to defending yourself and fighting and everything, but I didn't know anything about jiu-jitsu.

And having a guy who's 160 pounds throw you around and fucking torque your arm behind your back or get you in a weird ankle lock or whatever or choke you out. You're like, this is fucking crazy. How is this little guy kicking my ass? Does it make any sense? I'm like, I'm not coming back here. But I did it for about two weeks.

But it is something we talk about it all the time on the podcast. And Seema's been doing jiu-jitsu for several years now and um you know you're just hearing more and more people talk about it and as i'm getting into yoga and as i'm getting in like better shape i'm that that's what i've been kind of prepping myself is uh i know i know it's going to be tough and i know it's going to be way different like me going to yoga is not too big of a deal it's not easy for me but i'm most likely not going to hurt myself in there you know me changing up my training and doing crossfit sometimes and me running like that's probably

not going to injure or hurt anything but the next step going into jujitsu i'm just super tight you know and if i'm not tapping and i'm not paying attention to what's going on in class then i'm going to get fucked up so i i'm excited to do it, you know, and I will do it. But, yeah, I've been apprehensive. I'm trying to, like, train myself up for it a little bit. That's awesome, man. I love hearing that. And first of all, if you've seen this, you do not want to roll with this guy.

He's 240. I don't know why he's so jacked. He gets a little more jacked every day. Like, he just gets a tiny bit more jacked every day. I mean, we've been with him for a few days here, and he's getting a little bigger every day. He says he's 240, but he looks about like 260, 270. It's really annoying.

I guess you're actually rolling with Chad Wessie Smith. Well, you know of that guy. He's got like 300 pounds, so that's going to be fun for him. But, dude, that's awesome. I mean, it's funny you said that, dude, just because I love seeing the evolution of your training. It's like I said for myself, I'm kind of going through a journey. I kind of recognize you're going through the same thing.

It's kind of like you're finding yourself and redefining yourself, man. Just if you see yourself today, dude, like I didn't recognize you. I didn't see you think for a few months and just like your transformation is just amazing, man. You've able you literally forged your body and effort and fire into something just like it's unrecognizable, man. And even from our first met you, it's like completely different, dude. Thank you, man. I really appreciate that. It's a tough thing to do.

And that's something that I wanted to, that's the whole point of what I've been doing is to show people that you can really make a change. You know, there's kind of the, there's the body types, right? There's ectomorph and mesomorph and that kind of stuff. And I want to show people that you can can actually you can actually kind of switch lanes if you want to you know and so that's what i've been doing and i feel really good and i'll go through different time periods where i'll probably uh you know work on gaining some weight again and stuff like that but for now you know i'm on a downward trend and trying to move better uh that was you know one of the main goals for this upcoming year is just to simply move better.

We were doing a lot of those range of motion leg presses with Mike, the ones where he'd go all the way to the bottom of the leg press and stuff like that. We went heavy, so I wasn't able to get full range of motion as we went heavier the way that Mike was and the way that you were doing. But it's something I want to continue to work on. I'm not strong in those positions because my body doesn't even really want to go in those positions so you could put like two plates

on there and that would be perfect for me to to go with that kind of range of motion but i want to i want to really work on i know it's going to make me feel good and it's already having a big impact and we're you know just 20 something days into january so i'm excited for it that's pretty awesome and a couple points i guess, like you were saying, is two plates is good enough for you. And that's what we put to understand is that when you put yourself in a weak position, you become so much stronger. But a lot of times people don't want to let go of their ego

in order to experience that weakness. And I always tell my clients this. It's like, how do you become stronger? Do you become stronger by training where you're strong at or do you become stronger by training your weakness? And it's a lot of times people don't like feeling vulnerable. And I always tell my clients, you know, you have to be vulnerable in training.

If you're not vulnerable, you're not getting stronger. And you can be strong, but then, like I said, stronger. There's always a way to get stronger. So how are you training the connective tissues and the ligaments and putting yourself in different positions to where you're weak so that when you're in that strong position those muscles that you know weren't working before now they're working so once you go back to that strong position you're even stronger you know say also too there's a difference between strength and growth you know if you want growth then you're going to have to introduce a lot of change right and so you

introduce change and you'll and i know i'm not talking even about physically grown i'm not necessarily talking about hypertrophy i mean just as a person uh and when you when you start to implement like uh like walking lunges and stuff like that that's way different that's a way different training thing than uh just you know putting knee wraps on and trying to like squat as much as you can they both have value. But you probably need to do both so you can be a little bit more well-rounded in the gym and in life just to move around better. Oh, yeah.

Yeah. Now, as you say, have you noticed like any connection or correlation between some of the clients you've helped like come off addiction or maybe even depression with how good they are on their diet? Like if they follow their diet strictly, like is there a higher success rate of those that can come off of you know what drugs or alcohol oh yeah i always tell

them i mean yeah because it actually gives the person structure like a lot of times when people have structure in their lives then they don't you know they're kind of left uh what's that saying um i don't i don't hands like a devil's playground something like that it's like when you're just sitting there not doing anything you don't have structures. Idle hands, yeah. Yeah, so when you give a person a purpose and you give them structure, now they're going to get reidentified, and so they're busy all the time because they have to eat every two hours. It's like, I'm going to eat again.

They have to work out. They've got to do cardio. So, yeah, there is a high success rate with clients that come in and they stick to the middle plan and they're doing what they need to be doing. It gives them just like that foundation. It gives them a purpose and a meaning man so yeah yeah that's cool yeah i also really like what you said and i've never heard somebody say it quite like yourself um you know when you're with mike you have to lower the load with a lot of the stuff you're doing and mark mentioned that he was doing two legs on the leg press and to do that

range of motion he would need to do two, but being willing to be vulnerable in your training, like everyone mentions like, oh yeah, drop your ego. But it's literally being vulnerable because you're going to be looking weak as fuck. But knowing that that's where you need to start if you want to get stronger. And I think that the way that you put it was so damn unique because I've never heard anybody say that before. It's beautiful, man. And that's the spiritual aspect of training. That's going to show you who you who you are when you allow yourself and it's just in life too when you allow yourself to be vulnerable you're open to so many more opportunities because so much a lot of times we're so closed in and we have our ego we have this and that you allow yourself to be vulnerable around people you allow your we allow yourself to be vulnerable in your training

man it just it just becomes beautiful dude it's a spiritual just kind of like experience about it because you get down to your core. You find out who you are and what you're made of. And a lot of times when people have to face their core and their inner being, it's like they're scared of it because they realize

there's a lot of work to do there. So either with your personality, there's a lot of work to do there or in your training, there's a lot of work to do there because you did two plates. You're like, dude, I have a lot of work to do.

And a lot of people don't like facing that because they're like, fuck, that's a lot of work. But if you just take time and I always say this I always say brick by brick that's my saying slow and steady

because if you notice a lot of times nowadays especially in these Instagram days people want things now now now they want to be strong now they want this now

you have to take time you have to you know I mean you got to build brick by brick and not be afraid of that process and a lot of people they're afraid of that

brick by brick process because it takes so long. You got to give so much of yourself, you know. So, yeah. What I like about it is that it's a gradual thing. You know, we also have a lot of people that are sharing information nowadays and they're saying, you got to find stuff that makes you uncomfortable, you know, and you got to take ice baths and things like that. And, you know, I don't mind that message i think that there can they can be providing some value for some people but i also think that it's a gradual thing i don't i don't think there's a a reason to

try to wake up tomorrow and try to like do every single thing that you can think of to make yourself better i think it has to be gradual and the gym really shows us that you know think of to make yourself better. I think it has to be gradual. And the gym really shows us that, you know, when we're talking about this range of motion. So, you know, I did seven plates and I did 20 reps, but I did it at the range of motion that I can handle for the moment. And it would be, I'm a work in progress still. Like I'm still always working on trying to figure out

a way to get better. You know, if you think about like all the different aspects of that can make you better, it's too much. It's too much to try to handle all at once. So you go at it in a way that, you know, in the gym, you go at it in a way that is a progression, progressive overload, and you're progressively not always just overloading, but you're progressively, I guess you are always kind of progressively overloading. You're always adding something to the plate and you're still keeping the other things in and they're in your repertoire and you can utilize them, you know,

as needed as well. But you're always kind of adding something. I'm going to work a little bit more on my mobility. I'm going to, this month, I'm going to focus a little bit more on strength. This next three months, I'm going to focus a little bit more on strength. This next three months, I'm going to focus a little bit more on being leaner. But it's not it's not an onslaught of trying to make yourself so uncomfortable, because I think if you do that, it starts kind of back to what we were saying a little bit off air in the beginning of the podcast is you're not going to be you know, you get people all the time. They probably ask you about motivation. Dude, how do you stick with it? Like, you know, I go in for like three weeks and I'm out for a week and I keep missing days. And it's like, well, if you don't overdo it, if you don't try to kill yourself every time you go, you know, maybe don't start working out with Michael Hearn out of nowhere.

But maybe go experience what a day would be like. And you might be sore for a long time from that one day. what a day would be like. And you might be sore for a long time from that one day, but maybe you just get an experience or you ask Lance Keys if he would train you or work out with you. And I'm sure if some kid came up to you and was like, dude, you're a big dude.

I'd love to learn from you. Can I work out with you? You'd be like, yeah, dude, I'm here tomorrow at five. Right? And I think that's one of the kind of key ingredients to all this. When you're trying to get better, don't be so worried about trying to do everything all at once.

I 100% agree. Even for myself, I'd check myself and do that because I like to push so hard. I got to say, dude, back off. Day by day, just go in there, get your work done. Don't try and kill yourself every gym session because you're going to burn yourself out. So there has to be a consistent pace.

And I love Eddie Cohen, too, because he said this. He's like, during his training, people ask him how he's so good and blah, blah, blah. And he's like, I never missed a rep. He's like, during my training, because he was so methodical and planned out. It's just like, if you think about him and his numbers, you think he goes in there. And that dude's never missed a rep, dude. That's so important, and I'm glad that you brought that up i mean really try to think about that as you're listening to this podcast right now think about that he never missed a rep it doesn't mean that he's a savage it doesn't mean that he's crazy it doesn't mean

that he uh you know forcefully always made these reps happen although he probably did with his mindset as well right but what it tells you is that he lifted weights that were light enough for him to never miss a rep like is everyone getting like everyone absorbing that he went light enough you know if he if he went heavier he would have missed a rep but he was smart enough to know that's not really going to be the thing that gets me progress i don't i haven't really seen you ever really it's really rare i don't know if i've ever seen you really miss a rep, maybe just in a competition, like in a powerlifting meet maybe or something, right?

Only in a meet, really. Yeah. That's the way Ed Cohn was. He never missed anything in training. If he's going to miss anything, it would be on the platform. Because now, okay, he's squatted 1,000 pounds. Now he's trying 1,019. The guy weighs 230 pounds or whatever he weighed. and so you're going to save those maximum

maximum efforts for actual competition and i think it's a great lesson yeah and going back to your point where you're saying we're both you guys get into jujitsu and martial arts is uh i love that and there's kind of like a and we talked about this earlier too is that there's like a shift in the industry if you see guys like chad wesley and then you see guys like Chad Wesley and then you see guys like Ray Brennan who literally changes trains now and then Nom Nom uh for his whole name but look him up on Instagram yeah look him up uh but um and they're talking about T Cummings yeah T and T Cummings you see this kind of shift in industry you're seeing a lot of guys to transition from just pure power lifting to uh kind of more like a hybrid athlete thing. It was kind of like, you know what I mean? So I love seeing it, you know what I mean,

where people are really finding what makes them happy and they're doing what they want to do, you know, based off of maybe they had an injury and they're rethinking about what they're doing or just based off of what they're, like, true health. Because a lot of these guys are getting blood work done, and it's like, wow, I'm not healthy. Like, I'm strong. I might look good, but I'm not healthy.

Or even T-Papula, like him too like he's he's big on blood work now so if you look at what he's doing now the way he's training he's more concerned about his blood work and stuff he's doing than anything else he's like i want to be healthy i want my blood pressure down there's another guy that we should hate you know yeah that guy's fucking jack yeah actually here's the night and he's so strong yeah and i trained with him for uh since i've been at powerhouse so i've seen his transition dude i mean i watched him since seven years ago and what he's become today and the guy he's he's brilliant like if you talk to him that guy is insanely smart super humble nicest guy and i've learned so much from him dude so just one of my good friends so if you so you look at guys like that and then like you mark and what you're training now what you're doing and then what you're doing, you know, it's amazing to see.

You know, I love athletes and I love bodybuilding and procting, but I love complete athletes work. You know what I mean? You have the physique and you have the power and you have the mobility. I love watching T. Papula and he's like just coming back. He's like, oh, you know, I was, you know, working on my Ph.D. or whatever. And then he's like first day back and he's like's doing 405 for three or four reps on the bench. And he's like, just a simple 5x5 or whatever. And you're like, holy shit, does it make any sense, dude?

How do you start back with that? Holy crap. Super strong dude. I think he just front squatted like 675 or something like that. Oh, yeah, he can front squat like a madman. Yeah. So, yeah, it's an amazing thing to, you know, to see the transition and the shift in the industry.

And, again, I love watching your journey, too, because I think, like, you're kind of a spirit. You can feel like it's spiritual with you, too. It's not just, like, the physical. It's, like, you can tell it's in your core, man. For you as a person, just because you can tell, like, you know, you're just in your own head space. Like, you can just see your focus and just your energy

and, you know, what you have going on. It inspires people. It inspires me too, man. I write to you, man, and I repost me your videos. You're like, dude, just listen to this, dude. So, again, it's not just a transition of the body. It's a transition of the mind and the spirit and just who you are as a person. And I got a lot of that from just the practice of martial arts.

Not my own practice, but just understanding martial arts and knowing that they utilize mind mind body and spirit and it's like well how come that's never transitioned into i mean not that it's never transitioned into lifting but people don't really talk about it that much you know these are these can be like spiritual uh these these can be so like power so much more powerful than you going in and getting bigger biceps. I mean, it will always be about getting bigger biceps, right? But it's about so much more than just that. How about you?

Because you said you have a tattoo of one of your sons on your forearm. Do you have another tattoo? You have two kids, right? Three boys. Three boys. Eight, seven, and five. Okay. Well, first off like from everything

you've said like you you probably are an amazing father how are you impacting them and how are you like forming them right now in terms of like fitness and all that type of stuff i don't ever push my kids to do anything but i spend a lot of time with them um my youngest uh the guy literally is like it's surreal because he's exactly he's like me and reincarnate. And just he likes the things I like and just I can't explain it. Like just certain foods or colors and just like he's exactly just like me. And my other two, same thing. It's just like, I don't know.

They're finding their own way and they're each different in their own way. But they are healthy. And because they're in a house, we only eat healthy things. They eat it. But they've all been around Mike and Shaggy Spart and other buddies and people like you their whole lives. So it's like it's kind of like it just kind of rubbed off on them. So I'm never forced to do anything. But I just think because they're surrounded by it, like you said, who you're surrounding yourself with, it's impacted who they are, man. That kind of just let them be who they are.

If they want to be musicians, they can be musicians or a scientist. But I just think that they gravitate towards fitness. They notice something about it. You know, so, yeah. But my youngest, that kid is just something else. He's just baseball, basketball, football. How old do you say the oldest one is? Eight.

Eight. And, you know, when the conversation comes around at some point and they start asking about, like, because, you know, my kids did that. I think it's kids are curious. They ask about like drugs or alcohol. What will that conversation look like? You think I will tell him I'll kill him if you ever test drugs. You will be dead immediately.

The drugs won't kill you. I will. No, seriously, man. That's what I'm going to tell him. I just there's no games with it with me i've seen so much death and destruction share your experience you know what you what happened to you and stuff like that 100 yeah 100 i think a lot of times too we expect our kids because we went through something not to make the same mistakes and i've seen people who tell their

kids their stories and they end up making the same mistakes so it's the scarier things i'm trying to figure okay how do i do this because again I've heard people I've seen that had a drug addiction problem they try and keep the kids away from it and they tell the kids hey because I did it you shouldn't do it and I don't think that's tough because that's not always the case because kids are going to do what they want to do so I'm trying to figure

how do I do it because there's so much temptation out there and just you know but I think my kids are good man I think they're raised a lot differently than I was. They're raised in a better environment. It's just totally different. I try to create something different than what I had. I'm not exposed to what I'm exposed to,

so I don't have the same kind of trauma. But at the same time, I'm just, you know. I think your knowledge and experience can help a lot. I think you could have more adult conversations with your kid than we give our children credit for, and you can do it at a lot younger age than we give them credit for. And I've told my kids since they were young, I don't really say some of these things anymore because they're teenagers

and it's not necessarily appropriate, but I would tell them flat out when they were young because when kids are young, they'll point at someone in the grocery store and they'll be like, you're fat. Like they don't, they don't know. Like you can't, you know, they don't understand. You can't, you can't say that kind of, they don't understand is that could really hurt someone's feelings, you know, but they do recognize it.

They recognize like this person looks way different than some of the other people here. They're, they're a lot bigger, you know, and they, they do. They're a lot bigger. They do recognize these things. They do see these things. And so I always thought, just tell them the truth. Just tell them flat out. Hey, can I have ice cream? You had ice cream last night, and if you have ice cream every night of your life, you will probably get fat.

It'll make you sick. It's not good for you. And I told them that when they were young, but I never yelled at them. I never said, I would just usually, and where I would leave it, especially as I got a little older, is I would say, you had a soda earlier today. You had your sugar for today, and I don't recommend it. I don't think that you should have it. You should save it for tomorrow night.

Or I might say something like, I try to present them with options. And I try not to say no that often. Because no is like, you didn't even hear me. The second I was about to bring up ice cream, you were already shutting it down. And instead of doing that, I'll say, you know what? We're going out to dinner tomorrow night. That would be, they have your favorite dessert there. That's where you should spend your sugar, right there. And little things like that.

And then with drugs you know, drugs, you know, I've shared with my kids. I said, you know, it killed your uncle. It killed my uncle, you know, and it kills millions of people every year. And also very honest and open to the fact that there are drugs that people have utilized to get advantages in some areas. You know, Eminem always talks about mushrooms. You know, there's Jimi Hendrix, you know, I think LSD, right? And there's a lot of great literature. There's a lot of great art. There's a lot of great songs.

There's a lot of great stuff that have happened with people being high. And then we've also had athletes and people that we admire and love, and they have helped change and mold the United States that have utilized maybe testosterone or utilized performance enhancing. Like Arnold, what would this fitness industry be without Arnold? And so even Joe Rogan, he talks openly about utilizing psychedelics and stuff like that, and sometimes he's like that on his show. And so my son, he's going to be 16 in a few days here,

he's asked a lot of questions about psychedelics, and he says, oh, it can help with the expansion of your brain. And I'm like, actually, you know what? That's actually very true. There's a lot of information. I said, you should look it up and find out more and see you know see see what what its possibilities are but what i also explained to him is i said you know it would not be good under any circumstances to take it at such a young age your brain is not developed your brain won't be fully developed as a male until you're like

around 25 so i said you know and then i also explained to him the addiction side of things i'm like all these things you know they i don't know you can have a drink you might be able to do some mushrooms in a responsible way but all these things have that kind of dangerous hook at the end where you could be kind of doing this the rest of your life and so it's decisions to make but i've been talking to my kids that way uh i don't know, since they were like five. Telling them flat out, tell them this is what it can do. I 100% agree. I'm the same with my son.

He loves ice cream sandwiches. I'm saying, you know what, you've had one today, he wants a second one. I'm like, dude, there's too much sugar for today, blah, blah, blah. And he completely gets it. And he doesn't fight me on it now because he understands the whole process. I'm like, this is what sugar does to you and blah blah he's like okay now he's completely cool yeah um and yeah with any of the foods you know i'm like hey no i give them options and this is why i love that you posted also you said you'd never tell your kids no when you posted that dude

that just that hit me right in my core dude because parents don't understand how powerful that is and spending time with them when you know when you say no not say not now dude you you can't do that i get i get my ass kicked sometimes i come home and i'm dead and i'm like fuck man it's like eight o'clock and i still got to figure out a way to eat and then you know i i eat and settle in and i'm like okay well it looks like i can get to bed around like 9 30 that's kind of that should kind of sort of work and then my son will be like hey you want to go for a ride in my truck i'm like yep like i just don't even i don't even think about it i'm like no that's more important and uh if i have to you know work out later tomorrow or i just have to work out tired or be tired for the entire day then i guess i'll be fucking tired because how many times is he

going to ask me to go for a ride in his truck he's not going to live with me for well hopefully you know there's a there's a big thing to that not saying no thing. Because a lot of kids, what happens is when their parents shield them from things too much and they say no about certain things too much and they don't help them with things or yeah, they just hold them back. Once that kid gets that little

bit of freedom and once that kid goes off to college or starts to live on their own, they're going to bask in all the shit that you said no to and that could lead to some horrible stuff. Yeah. My friends in junior high and high school, the ones that were the most, their parents were the most strict,

those were the ones that went way off the rails by far. And what I was going to say about the kids, have you thought about maybe saying, hey, this is probably hereditary. So you might not really be able to like just have one drink because if i have one drink then that this is what it led to like have you ever thought about something like that i haven't studied that enough or researched enough to have a conclusive opinion on that so um my opinion is is right now just what i think is more of um like willpower

and like maybe personalities like i have a extreme addictive personality like just i'm either like not in or all in so if i'm going it's like there's no in between dude so i just know like for me even for like psycheducks or anything dude just i don't do it i don't mess with you i stay in my lane you know this is my lane i'm driving in it i'm going to go with the speed limit so i just i just so you got to look at your personality type if you if you can handle stuff and you can like you know you know you you can set yourself up why whatever then you know do what you want to do but i know for me dude like i have very addictive personality to anything i do so i just know that hey if i get into something and do it it's going to go way extreme you know i mean so i think with my kids i say hey

this is like my youngest he's liking me dude he's extreme so i'm like dude you know like you have just watch out because you're you're 100 if you're in it you give your all you know i mean so that's what you know i probably have to research more on that gene stuff hereditary stuff but that's what my my mom told me you know because my a lot of my family had a lot of addiction and so she was just like she's like i i just think that there's she wouldn't even really say that she knew or anything. She would just say, think. I think that I know that it's hereditary that we have addictive personality. And your grandpa was an alcoholic and your grandmother was an alcoholic and your uncle was on drugs and alcohol and stuff like that.

So when it was explained to me that way, and when you're young, drugs are scary. When you hear about, you're like, oh, my God, sometimes people use, like they sometimes take drugs where they inject themselves with stuff. You're like, holy shit, that seems wild. Right. And it's kind of a scary thing. So I've always been kind of scared of it. And then I've always even been, uh, I'm even more of a pussy than that. I've been even just like, whenever I, whenever I used to go to like a party or anything like that, and I'd smell marijuana, I'm like, this, this is not, you know, this is not – I'm like, I need to get the hell out of here. Something good – some bad shit is going to happen.

I don't know. I just always kind of had a – and it wasn't based off any weird experiences or anything. I just always thought like – I guess it went against the way I was brought up. My parents told me not to drink. They told me not to do drugs and uh you know there's that little feeling that you have inside when it when you go against the grain the grain of how you were raised it it even when you even i would even imagine even when you're addicted to drugs you probably still feel that maybe uh when you come off uh from being high right where you're like fuck man i kind of did it again and just

weird it's weird thing inside where you're like, that doesn't feel right. Oh yeah. If I didn't have my mom and like the background, like, like a faith based background, dude, I'd be done. Like I was able, I was always able to rely back on my faith in God and the Bible, dude. And like, that's a rock also, dude. Like if I didn't have that, like that was a con that's a constant to hear her voice and to know that I can turn back to God

and pray and just, you know what I mean? To have that foundation. So yeah. How were you actually able to stop? Did you go to your mom? Did you go to, I mean, I think you mentioned your girlfriend and you mentioned a couple of Michael Hearn and stuff like that, but like, how did you actually stop? So I was, eventually my parents let me back into the house and separate from my girlfriend. I put her on her way. She went to San Diego with her parents. What was that conversation like? Well, my brother

was in it and then I came out about what I was doing. I don't know how it happened. Actually, one of my mutual friends was worried about me. They thought I was going to kill somebody or I was going to die. They said, dude, don't worry about this guy. This guy has guns now. This and that, blah, blah, blah.

You know, crazy stuff. And he's saying this and that. He's either going to kill somebody or something's going to happen or he's going to die because he overdosed. And they told my parents that. And I was pissed at the person, but probably saved my life. So then my mom contacted me and said, hey, this is going on, blah, blah, blah. And then, yeah, from there I was open about, you know, my drug use and what is going on blah blah and then uh yeah then that from there they i was open about

you know my drug use and it was going on my mom was probably lost like 30 pounds worried about me stressed out dude and she went through it so it's not and that's one thing about addiction when you go through it's not just you it's like your family goes through it also with you man i mean really one time my stepdad um told me he was like dude you're gonna kill your mom like he like really like he never yells he's always cool he's like yelling he's crying at the point that you're gonna kill your mom i was never yells. He's not always cool. He's like yelling. He's just crying on the phone. He's like, you're going to kill your mom. I was like, and that time I was so high. I was like, what do you mean I'm not going to kill my mom, dude? I didn't know that she had lost like 20, 30 pounds.

She just would knock you out of bed. But eventually, it got to the point to where I made serious decisions about getting clean. And they recognized that and they let me back in the house and I sent my girlfriend on her way to her family. My girlfriend at the time, to family and then i went to my family and they opened the door so i was able to sober up and get back to work and get back in the gym

immediately i just started eating food again and just got back into my routine and create that structure and then uh from there i was able to get back on my feet man like i said a lot of people don't have that that support system so that's what motivates me to stay in my lane do i have to do man because i can't mess it up i'm blessed to you like there's so many people again that don't have that family don't have the resources to be able to do that was there a specific day that you told mike about your addictions i think we were driving down the street or something or something like that and then um i just told my dude like you saved my life i think we're in the car together driving to go train might have been at four in the car together driving to go train.

Might've been at four in the morning or out front when it was made after training. And I was like, dude, like, you know, you saved my life. He's like,

what? I'm like, yeah, I was addicted to drugs. And he's like, wow. He's like, really?

He's like, well, and again, he was like, you're not going to do that again. He's like, that's not going to happen again. You're going to stay sober.

You're going to stay clean. He's like, we need you. He's like, that's it. Yeah. That's cool. And there was really nothing else said about him. Yeah. He's just like, you're not going to do that again. he's like that's it and yeah that's cool and there was really nothing else said about

him yeah he's just like it was just like that was he's like you're not gonna do that again he's like he's like you're not that person anymore he's just like it's not gonna happen he's like we need you and that was just like matter of fact like he knew like i liked that because he believed in me it wasn't like he's oh dude it's like he's just he's just it was confident and then that is still confidence in me that he said it so confidently because like he was he's like recognizing in me like that's not you yeah if i was still that person he probably had a long talk with me and talked to me but he recognized like dude that's not you anymore this this this is who you are i'm recognizing who you are in this car today talking to me like that's i'm confident that you're staying this over just

like you know that's powerful he almost put that like that responsibility on you you know like he he didn't even say like don't ever do that again. He said, you won't do that again. And you're like, oh, shit, I better live up to that because this is a guy that I'm really admiring and he's helping save my life, right? Yeah, he's very powerful with words. One thing I love about him, you can call it, again, faith,

and the Bible talks about it, like speaking by faith. That's how he is. He isn't Bible-thumbed, but it's very biblical. It's very faith-based. Again, even with the secret, it's very faith-based. I think there's universal laws, whether you're Christian or not, that we operate under. So if you're speaking and saying something, words have power.

Here's one thing I love about him. If I had an injury or an ouchie during training, he he's like don't ever speak about it don't don't recognize it he's like if you speak about he's like seriously i want to hear about it he's like that's it don't don't give it power yeah if you say it's there if you say it's there then it's there you give it and you give it power so i think when he speaks uh um yeah he chooses his words like wisely he knows the power of of words and what comes out of your mouth. So that's one big thing I got from him that I passed down to my clients too. Yeah.

So you have a personal training business, and do you train people at Gold's Gym? I'm at a small gym. It's called Venator Athletics in Torrance, California. I was at Dave's for a while. My buddy owns Venator. It's a private training studio, so that's where i train out of um well yeah i have clients now i have about here in line maybe 10 people getting ready for a competition uh in torrance california called muscle icon it's may 30th um and uh it's it's funny because and again i'll go back to god of

faith where you guys believe it or not is that i I was training one day at Dave's about two or three years ago. He told me he's going to have a training program where you train people to get sober. And I literally was just like had an emotional kind of response to it, man. And I was after I trained. And I was just like, all right, God, okay. And it's about two or three years ago. Continued about my life. And I always had in the back of my head I wanted to open a gym and if you know this is uh there's a girl who opened it i think sober fitness there's another

one i think phoenix gym uh i forgot her name but she opened a sober gym in again washington uh excuse me i'm going off topic but anyways i feel like i was gonna have a gym for just people to get sober so transition long story short three years later a lot of my clients now again not anything of my own doing are actually people that are out of rehab and are sober. Like 90% of my clients are people that are sober. And it's kind of like what God told me back then. It's kind of like it just came true, but I didn't do anything. It's kind of like just it happened.

It's like that energy, it gravitated towards me. And 90% of my clients right now are – we're in rehab programs. Some are actually like 90 days sober. Some are two years sober. Some are a year sober. Some are six months sober. It's a powerful thing, man, to enter a position of responsibility, and it's very humbling to have these people come to me for insight

and for coaching and just for life, man. I'm just always surreal. And I'm just in awe to have that actually come true. And actually it hit me because I called my girlfriend. I was like, dude, I didn't tell you this. I told her I didn't tell you this, but two or three years ago I had this vision, and now it's just happened. Just like this, you know.

And now they're all getting ready for competition. Everybody's staying on point. You know, everybody looks good and just everybody's happy, and, you know, it's pretty awesome, so. It seems like you went through all of that, like, you went through all of that for the, I mean, for the purpose of helping people come out of it, and also, I mean, the fact is, you're just like a massive presence as it is, you know, when you talk, people are going to listen to you based on just how you look, people are going to look up to you in that sense. So that's a massive fucking responsibility, but it looks like you're set up for it.

Yeah, again, I think that it's nothing I did really in an instant. It's just kind of like over time I was able to prepare for it. At that moment, I feel like God told me that if I would have just at that moment tried to do something and make it happen, it wouldn't have happened. I had to go through my journey for these past two or three years and just, you know what I mean, and go through life's lessons and get stronger and do what I need to do to prepare for this moment. And again, it happened really quick. I didn't expect to have air and iron, you know, came from, from sober living that are sober

and don't drink alcohol and don't do drugs and have all these backgrounds and I'll get clients too and I don't even know they're sober and they'll come to me like, hey,

dude, I've been 200 days sober and it's like, what? And I'll just be in the car driving with them, dude, and he's like,

yeah, I used to do this and that but I'm like, whoa, you know? Yeah. And it's like, and it's just,

and somebody actually told me that too and they were like, dude, like, yeah, everything you went through like, prepares you like you for right now.

One of my only clients that never touched anything, he's one of my younger clients, he's like, if you didn't go through what you went through, you probably wouldn't have what you have right now and have the clients you have right now. And you have started up some other revenue streams as well. You started up another business, I believe, right? You and I were talking about some stuff, I think, last time uh but i'm not sure if you were able to get some of that off the ground or not yeah i have a clothing line um which i need to we need to push it's trial and triumph um so uh i guess the motto of the brand is when it's a team the team also trial and triumph it's uh without a test there is no testimony without trial there's no triumph so it's uh without uh test there is no testimony without trial there's no triumph so it's kind of like what it's about um and also i'm in the hemp industry so i'm a firm believer in cbd and hemp um we have farms in tennessee so we have like a farm collective um we started bona fide hemp

solutions um we do extracts like so if people want extracts like to make the products we do private labeling white labeling man um so we do private labeling, white labeling, man. So we do a lot of stuff. And, yeah, I got a lot of it off the ground. It's been about three years already, and it's been an amazing journey. It's literally been like seeing a pile of crap. It's like maybe like a football field of crap. And we only want to like walk in it to get to the end of where you're supposed to be because this business, if you know, it's very dirty.

And there's a lot of money in it because people are very greedy, and so people are very shady. I've been through a lot, man, in this industry, but my sole purpose was to help people. So I got into CBD, number one, is because I tried it myself. I didn't want to use marijuana anymore because I had a kid. I used to tell me, when I was having the powerlifting, I would use THC, vape, for body pain to go to sleep because I'd be home at night, my body was broken, I couldn't sleep. I take a hit of the pen, I'm going to sleep, my body feels good.

I didn't like getting high. Did not like it because I'm like, dude, what if something happens and I wake up in the middle of the night, my kid's here, I have to be sober. So I went to the dispensary, so they're doing, so this girl had a vape pen for CBD. She's like, hey, it doesn't get you high, but it has very good medicinal effects for inflammation and for pain. I tried it. It didn't get high, but my body pain went away. I was calm.

I felt good. I said, wow, this is pretty amazing. I went to this gym. There was a guy, I think 50 years old there, was old school, thought marijuana was the devil. Like you said, when you smell marijuana, you want to run away from it, but he's using CBD. I said, so from a personal standpoint, this is great because I love it, but from a business standpoint, I think it's going to be good because, you know, if this guy's using CBD, it's going to be awesome.

So got the CBD, started using it, and I've been able to get people off of drugs. So I've been able to get people off of, like, Oxycontin, Norcos, and I'll go Kratom, which I know you love and you're into. So with the combination of Kratom and CBD, I've gotten people off of amphetamines, off of heroin, off of anxiety pills, off of depression pills, off of pharmaceuticals. And now they're able to. Huge. Yeah, now they're able to use that in their daily lives, which is non-addictive. There's no way it can kill you. And being able to help, like, I mean, tons of people just live their daily lives, which is not addictive, that in no way can kill you, and be able to help, like, I mean, tons of people just live their daily lives.

The thing I love about it, too, is that you use it when you want to use it. It's like you're not addicted to it. So if you wake up one day and you feel good, you don't have to use it. You don't have to use Kratom or CBD. But if you wake up and you're in a bad mood, not feeling good, then you can use it. So, yeah, the business is doing good, man. It's doing great. What's the website?

Excuse me. So we have endoblue.com. So that's our retail line. And then we have bona fidehempsolutions.com for people that are interested in private labeling or buying hemp flower or getting extracts and stuff. That's awesome. Yeah. Hey, man, thanks. So thank you so much for your time. Really appreciate you coming out here today and, and sharing your story

with, uh, with our audience. There's so many people that continue to need more help with this. And, you know, I think it's, uh, it's, it's awesome seeing your progression and it's awesome seeing to do bodybuilding and powerlifting. Are you gonna, um, you're going to get ready to cut cause you're pretty beefy at the moment, right? Yeah'm a little bit yeah beefy right now so i'm gonna get ready to cut and just uh i think i'm gonna stay just in that micro frame michael hearn and like you just gotta stay lean year round um i like being big but the same time my kid's five years old and he runs around like a madman and i'm thinking okay if this kid right now is running around like a madman and just you know he's beating me on push-ups and burpees i'm like

imagine this kid's 10 or 16 so yeah so i'm about to yeah drop drop some weight down get to get my lungs up and uh have some fun just kind of being like an athlete and just kind of exploring that for a little while too so maybe hop on stage you know do, do another show. And, yeah. Cool. Where can people find you? I'm in Torrance, California. So a lot of times I'm in the UFC gym down there or Dave Fisher's or Vinator Athletics. So if you're in the Torrance area, that's where I am. You guys want to train.

And like you said, I'm the same way. If you guys want to wake up early or just hop in with my workouts, dude, I mean, I'm always down to work out with people and share knowledge, man. I think it's the biggest thing we could do is just share knowledge and make sure people are working out and eating the correct way so

what's some of your social media handles L Keys Fitness for Instagram I mean that's pretty much that's pretty much it I don't do Twitter or YouTube too much

so I try and limit how much I'm on there man because that's a whole different job which you know so yeah L Keys Fitness you can follow me on there

or contact me on there so Andrew where can people find you at I am Andrew Z please follow the podcast That's a whole different job, which you know. So yeah, LQ's Fitness. You can follow me on there or contact me on there. Andrew, where can people find you? I am Andrew Z. Please follow the podcast at Mark Bell's Power Project on Instagram as well. And then at MB Power Project on TikTok, Twitter, Byte, and SEMA. Where are you at? At SEMA in Yang on Instagram, YouTube, and Byte.

And at SEMA in Yang on TikTok and Twitter. Mark? Day 26 of World Carnivore Month. Thank you guys for those of you that are following along. If you haven't jumped in, you can still jump in because we've got more challenges and more cool stuff going on. You can check out my Facebook page, which is Mark Bell's Carnivore Challenge. And you can also check out my YouTube, which is Mark Smelly Bell. My other handles are Mark Smelly Bell. My other

handles are Mark Smelly Bell as well. Strength is never a weakness. Weakness is never a strength. Catch y'all later. What's up podcast. I just want to sneak in here at the very end. What an incredible story from our boy Lance Keys. We sincerely appreciate him being so open with us. However, that concludes all of the episodes that we recorded down in LA. And while we had a lot of fun down there, it is so nice to be home. Thank you to everybody that's been taking the time out to rate and review the podcast. That is such a huge help for us.

Really, really quick, thank you to Coaching by Pat. Pat says, best podcast available with three exclamation points. So that's amazing. Quote, as a health coach, I'm consistently on the search for the best podcast to expand my knowledge. This podcast is by far the best. What a tremendous compliment, man. Thank you so much, Pat. We really appreciate that. If you listener right now, if you would like

to hear your name and your review read on air, please head over to iTunes and drop us a rating and a review and you could hear your name at the end of a podcast just like coaching by Pat. Peace.