Mark Bell's Power Project - EP. 343 - Derick Carver

Episode Date: March 11, 2020

Derick Carver is a United States Army Ranger, Purple Heart recipient, as well as a national and world champion adaptive STrongman competitor. Derick Carver was a platoon leader in Kandahar, Afganistan when his unit was attacked by an IED that injured eight of his men, cost him his left leg, and the lives of two his men. Since recovering from the attack, Derick has been a champion competitor in CrossFit, powerlifting, and STrongman. Derick is also the founder of Team Some Assembly Required (Team SAR), which is a veteran founded and operated non-profit organization dedicated to the growth and expansion of competitive adaptive sports. Derick’s Instagram: https://instagram.com/derick_carver?igshid=1fcgy6plteeuy Subscribe to the Podcast on on Platforms! ➢ https://lnk.to/PowerProjectPodcast Visit our sponsors: ➢Icon Meals: http://iconmeals.com/ Use Code "POWERPROJECT" for 10% off ➢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 ➢ https://www.facebook.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 FOLLOW Mark Bell ➢ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marksmellybell ➢ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkBellSuperTraining ➢ Twitter: https://twitter.com/marksmellybell ➢ Snapchat: marksmellybell ➢Mark Bell's Daily Workouts, Nutrition and More: https://www.markbell.com/ Follow Nsima Inyang ➢ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nsimainyang/ Podcast Produced by Andrew Zaragoza ➢ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamandrewz

poop cast what up today we have a really cool guest we have our homie derrick carver uh derrick carver is a successful strongman uh amputee strongman he lost his leg when he was in the military which we definitely got into uh we got into a bunch of stuff about like you know ptsd um his experience in the army and you know some of the dark times unfortunately uh kind of went to a dark place where he didn't want to explain everything, but you get the gist of it. One thing he did say that stood out to us, one of the many things that he said, and he made us laugh literally the entire time. The dude's hilarious. But he said when something doesn't go right or something doesn't go your way, it's because you're being one of three things.

You're either being fat, lazy, or stupid. lazy or stupid. And, you know, we, we, we don't like to associate fat and lazy with people, but when he, when he broke it down and he really explained why he said that it made a ton of sense. Um, this and, uh, so much more, he talked about how to get out of a slump. Um, he, he stopped us dead in our tracks. He actually, he said something that we like the mics were silent for what seemed like four hours. Cause you know, I hate dead air, but, um, basically he said, you know, Mark, Mark asked him like, Hey, like, well, what's next for you? And he's like, I want to become president of the United States. And, you know, because he's so sarcastic, I think we were just like waiting for the, uh, the punchline,

but he was, he was dead serious. And, you know, I, we all respect it. Cause we're like, we're not going to question whether or not he's going to actually, you know, obtain his goal. Uh, the last thing that he left us with, that was one of the, uh, the quotes of the weekend that you guys will see, I eventually butcher towards the end of the weekend. But, uh, Mark asked him plain and simply, okay, you know, what, what can we as a society do to show appreciation to our military men and women? And he said, live a life worth dying for. Very, very powerful stuff. This episode is brought to you by Piedmontese Beef, the absolute best beef in the universe, like I said on the last episode.

It's more tender. It's more juicy, uh, less fat cooks faster. And I mean, we, we hit up some amazing steak houses and I hate to, you know, it's going to be upsetting because a lot of those steaks that I had were like over a hundred dollars, but, uh, none of them could actually compete with Piedmontese steaks. I know that sounds messed up, but it's true. Um, if you don't believe, I mean, you have to just trust me. Just go to the website right now. Check it out.

That's piedmontese.com. That's P-I-E-D-M-O-N-T-E-S-E.com at checkout. Enter promo code PowerProject for 25% off your order. And if your order is $99 or more, you get free two-day shipping. Let us know what you guys think. This was a really interesting conversation with Derek Carver. Hit him up on social media all his links and everything will be down in the show notes or youtube description and for now enjoy the show hello oh there we go wow i sound old and fat yeah i got the old filter on again. Oh, okay. Yeah. So you're fine. No one should understand a word I say.

No. Does it sound mumbly? No. No. I just hope that no one cares. That's my, you know, I just hope that no one cares about what we say. No. That way no one gets triggered. I'm making fucking downloads.

No one's going to care. So my knowledge is spread to the masses. There you go. If you just hold the mic a little bit closer, you'll be good to go. Yeah. It's being, you know. You're really on this one. You have to get a bicep, huh? Yeah. I think we're putting a lot of pressure on him.

Hey, well, he said a million downloads. We got to be able to hear. He's only got one foot. I said when he walked in, he's like, you guys don't have a shirt for me? I said, you guys are unorganized. I said, we're starting off on the wrong foot. He's like, and I only got one. And it's a shitty foot. And I was talking about the whole

like the whole Columbus situation oh yeah yeah for sure what do you think about the coronavirus stuff going on god you don't seem to be that worried about it like okay look I don't want to be the guy that points out the obvious

but like one like maybe you got to think for Asians. God damn it. Here we go. Um, thanks. Communism.

See, all right. And then he recorded now. Now we're starting every Asian follower follower just shit all over the page race to zero right right race to zero yep okay what were we talking about i don't even know so this is what you're feeling about coronavirus here's the thing man it's only killing old people yeah so like i don't want to be the guy to say it but like fuck man the boomers are really screwing the country right can we just be honest about this?

So if there's a virus that wipes them out, you're not against it? Look, I'm not just wasting resources. Do you see our national deficit? Like, we're in debt, like, every day. Like, yeah, maybe, you know, we just have the old people. 55, 65 and above. 70 and above. Look, I love you.

I do. But you got to quit running for fucking president you gotta get running for office how old is everybody running for president if you're not 80 they're not even quite i want to know the doctor can anyone i want the doctors going oh he's in good shape he had a heart attack a week ago he's good can anyone even stand up straight uh not bloomberg no bloomberg's thumb when he's giving it oh yeah yeah very half-hearted you can only get half the thumb up like and i like dude i can only imagine like you're like everybody if you look at the president like that's that's fucking horrendous like the stress like you see like a guy that's gotta be brutal a billionaire going in with like with everything going for him and then they come out and they just look like a guy that has like a billionaire going in with like with everything going for him

and then they come out and they just look like a geriatric mess and their wife is excited about an early fucking payout on like life insurance yeah it's uh and these guys are like 82 80 80 when they get out like better get ready to build those libraries quick yeah they're they're uh old as shit um i was kind of mentioning uh before the started that I didn't talk a lot as a kid, and you were just kind of talking about that as well. I was pretty shy, pretty reserved. I had two older brothers that did all the talking for me. I usually just listened.

I didn't talk as much. Are you talkative? Are you introvert, extrovert? Where are you on the map? It's been weird. I always felt like, extrovert? Where are you on the map? So I don't know. It's been weird. Like, I always felt like an extrovert. And then, you know, you get blown up and you're going through these processes and you're getting into your thoughts and your feelings and things. And then you start realizing, like, you start paying attention to things.

Like, the way I grew up was not sexy. So it was more of a reactive life. Like, you respond to situations or you react to situations and the way I grew up you know compared to other people it wasn't horrible but at the same time like I learned a lot from like the bad

experiences as opposed to the good experiences a lot of moving to different regions never met my biological father. So it was like the test run for the prototypical 90s babies. If you want to talk about getting beat or abused. And look, these experiences are part of who I am now

and why losing a leg is not a big fucking deal. And it's because my mom was like, she's just an amazing person. So, like, having that in my life, like, has been the one thing that's kind of, like, she's always had expectations. And, like, she's never been my friend. And, like, you know, she's always forced me to do things. And I think her putting me in those situations forced me to interact and engage and develop into like an extroverted type based personality whereas like really uh i'm an introvert man like the only reason why i lift weights is like i've never sat out to be the world's strongest disabled man sure as fuck didn't

be the world's strongest disabled man uh like you know like, like, I was just always, like, strong kid. Like, there wasn't a whole lot of kids benching in the threes and fours in high school or whatever. And, like, you know, going to so many different schools and not, like, and, like, my life not stabilizing until, like, halfway through high school where I actually had, like, a clique and a group of people. And I'm still friends with these guys. Like, my friends are, like, 20 plus.

Like, Dale King, I've known that guy since i was 18 so um it's that that that that comfort level that i don't think people are getting pushed out of and their parents are allowing them to stay in it and that's causing a lot of the problems and because of my mom like yeah like it doesn't mean shit now but like know, when you're the captain of the football team and you're traveling to, like, Las Vegas at 12 and playing against other states at, like, a national level, like, that's a good experience. And I didn't appreciate it, and I just kind of wrote it off.

But now it's like, that was cool, man. Like, I mean, never mind the fact there was, like, porn strips all over the ground when you were 12, and you're like, what the shit? Yeah. Like, Pokemon cards, like, collectibles. what the like Pokemon cards call chicks to come to your room and be like I had $20 like where the fuck are your parents and you're like just show me a titty

she's like I got $20 did your mom teach you a lot of discipline because Because you didn't have a... Did you have a father figure around? No, not reliably. Sure, I had a guy that played the role for six years that was a functioning alcoholic and kind of an asshole. And then I had another guy that did his best

from when I was really young to about the age of eight. But, you know, looking back on things now and seeing them as they were as opposed to how you remember them as a kid, I, like, encourage people to, like, stop being nostalgic about your life and actually, like, reflect back to, like, not the memories but the emotions of, like, that experience. And you're going to help understand like you're going to learn to appreciate people in your life

in a different way because you're going to look at them in a more honest way like you understand like you know I don't know it's awkward like every kid's probably heard their parents having sex at some point in their life right and like

when you're like doing it you're like whoa what the fuck's going on i'm going back to bed fuck it and now you're like god damn what the fuck you probably doggy the way it just i'm old enough to know what that is now and like you get those cues and shit like you're you're like they'd be like hey what's up and you're like what is up and now you're like, what is up? And now you're like, oh, God. Like, I hope they're not talking about what I think they're talking about. Now I know they are. But now it's like, but at the same time, you understand, like, at some point we'll all have to accept that girls poop.

You know what I mean? And the sooner you can do that and look at it like an honest interpretation, that's like where, like, you start to be able to. Everybody poops. Everyone poops. There's a whole book on it. That doesn't mean they can't have their own fucking bathroom. You know what I mean?

Or, like, at least over there. I don't need to hear it or see it or even acknowledge that it exists. I mean, I know it's... I've never seen a million dollars. I know it's there. No, it doesn't mean I want... You know, what you said there in terms of, like, looking back at the emotions, I think it also kind of falls in line with like realizing because you don't uh when you're a kid like your parents

or parent is like a superhero you know what i mean but when you when you get older like you need to realize like they were also a human and they had massive flaws you know like i've had talks with my mom and my dad and he's in nigeria but i just understand like they did the best with what they had and they are flawed people in many different ways, but as an adult, when you can see that, you can understand that, it changes the relationship a lot. So, that's super important. Yeah, I'll go

one, too. I think we have to accept as a society that you grew up with your parents, and you said your dad was in Nigeria. Yeah, my dad wasn't there, it was my mom. Right, your mom. So, I think we have to accept that there's an entire generation or two of men raised without

male role models. You also got to realize we're all born in the early 80s and on and then you have the rise of the women movements first gen through the 70s and stuff. So like we haven't been equating the sexes. We've been emasculating men and propping

up women to the point of men don't even feel obligated to be men anymore like your sole purpose like everybody you look at it white black indifferent like pre-19 whatever 50 like there was always a father yeah it didn't matter and at some some point, we allowed, as a society, to emasculate the male population and pose feminism and then court rulings and judicial preferences and biases and the push for nature and the mothers. Everybody has a friend of a friend and these horrible experiences. And the truth is, just look at science. Two-family household. experiences and the truth is is like just like a science two family household like i'm like i don't i don't care if it's two dads two moms like there needs to be two fucking people and like until we

take accountability and responsibility for that we're going to continue to have these problems we're like hey man like you me we we all probably have similar like like things that got us into this path where we're all, where we're at. And I bet a lot of these experiences, like no one goes, man, I had a really good family and like shit went exactly the way I planned.

And like, man, I coasted through Harvard and then I was like, fuck it. I'll go to Yale. And here I am, like six figure job and I'm breaking world records. And you know,

like my Instagram model is like not a gold digger, bro. My life's fucking amazing. No one wants to read that fairy tale. got disney movies around that shit you're like you don't want to you don't want the legs just keep the fin it's gonna get weird in 2020 don't worry about it mermaids are in like i want to go catch a unicorn and just say to me like take dana how do you like i guess show like empathy towards somebody who's like you know I want to go catch a unicorn and just say, take Dana. How do you show empathy towards somebody who's like,

we see it all the time where someone's complaining like, oh, I was dealt a bad deck of cards. My dad wasn't there for me. How can you flip that on its head and be like, well, no, dude, this is a really good opportunity. It sounds like shit right now, but understand that that story you just said doesn't actually exist. I've accepted the fact that no matter what we do in life, no matter how far we advance in science and technology

and how much we're able to overcome, no matter what we do as a human species combined, we are not going to save them all. That's a great way to look at it. I mean, I run nonprofits for a living. We feed homeless people. We work with special needs children. We work with amputees and disenfranchised and poor minorities in Newark, New Jersey

and poor white southern trash kids that can... And it just exists. It doesn't matter what you do. I grew up in Southern California. For a point in my life, I lived 200 feet from the border of Mexico and my trailer was on the last stop in San Ysidro on the rail, and the backyard was the train tracks. And I remember the helicopters.

And, like, it's weird, but, like, I still pay attention to what shoes are hanging on wires and how I walk to class and at what time. And, like, it's because there was only a handful of white people. And, like, you know, I don't know if you guys ever know Chula Vista back in the early 90s. Or I don't know. It's fucking dangerous, yeah. And Little Valley. These aren't the horrible areas.

But Little Valley was like the meth capital of the United States for like a decade. And we had like poppies that grow wildly. I mean, that was never insane. Right? Shout out to afro man oh yeah who can't forget him extremely underrated by the way man i just don't think people appreciated marijuana until recently so now it's like having a resurgence yeah because like and plus we're tired of like whatever music's become this like well because people only know afro man from that

that that one song but if people listen to that whole album it's actually really fucking good the whole like song after song yeah it's a blunt like you got like two good albums so you uh you just said you can't save everyone um how do you not lose faith in people? And then what has made you like run a nonprofit to help a lot of people that may be in a position where they're kind of are giving up hope, you know, why not just kind of say, fuck it again? I can't save everyone.

So why even bother to do anything about it? Even in the nonprofit community, I'm not saving everyone. I'm saving those that are willing to work and willing that understand their opportunity and willing to take advantage of the chance to improve their life. I'm not giving money to people that are just continuing to perpetuate the problems that put them there. I'm not taking athletes that feel sorry for themselves

and taking them on fishing trips or hunting trips. And look, I'm not taking away from anybody that is doing that because I think there's a huge role for that. And just because it's not my thing doesn't mean it's not somebody else's and it's not helping them or it's not saving their life. But like that being said, like when I help somebody,

I want to give them a tool that's going to help them every day of the rest of their fucking horrible life. And I don't mean that horrible, but I mean like, let's be honest, man. Like I didn't, nobody grows up saying, I hope I get blown up in Afghanistan so I can be disabled

and win a world championship. No, there might be a motherfucker out there trying to cut a leg off to get some attention. And we know who you are. Wait, whoa, whoa. For real. Anyways, so I digress. And, like, dude, we had a guy show up to a fucking strongman competition that was missing a fucking finger that thought he was eligible. He's like, I'm missing a fucking thumb.

It's like, okay, cool, man. That's an important finger and I'm sorry you couldn't jerk off for the better part of your teenage years. Or you couldn't suck your thumb. Right. That was awkward. You need to be missing a lot more than that. Fuck you for even trying, bro. Talk about just like, look, bro, I'm a soft six hard five

and i shoot for nines and tens all the fucking time like i go out of my i'm like hey they're like who the fuck are you talking to you bitch like what's up like it's not really or like tall chicks like i'm sorry you got to be this tall to ride this ride. I'm like, that doesn't mean I can't sneak on. Doesn't mean you can't ask a couple questions. You never stole a candy bar out of a store in middle school? You didn't get that little rush for a moment? Yeah. So, I mean, and like the bottom line is, Mark, when you come to this, like, I'm not trying to force change.

I'm giving the opportunity of change. And, like, there's things in our, like, you know, everybody knows my family. Like, Terrence is my brother. Like, I love that kid. Like, his kids are, like, my kids. And, you know, he married Amanda, and I love her. And, like, he's black and white and she's white and like seeing him and like we went to like i moved to michigan and then he followed me out

from california and like we've basically spent our lives together and seeing how he's interacted and like how people are treating him and like what and it's like i get there's a problem i do i've seen it like man um it sucks but i've also been like that kid that like there's a handful of white kids in a school of minorities and like i get it like it's both ways and the sooner that we realize that the sooner we can get past all of the bullshit and just start solving real problems and then it won't matter as far as like what non-profits are doing like the government solving problems they shouldn't be solving like i don't care about affirmative action i'm disappointed that we even need a law that says that like and that's how i think we need to start

fixing these problems we need to start stuff and i'm not saying that there's not situations like we're in education stuff where we yeah that has to do with cult yeah cult we have cultural issues that you try to put laws on it right and you just have to honestly sit down with people and have a real like like everybody's a little racist and we're looking at the book you know i mean because go to think about the 90s riots everybody's like oh the black people writers i don't know there's a lot of queens and black people like there was some animosity that you guys it wasn't rodney king like everybody's like it was rodney king. I'm like, I don't know. The Koreans came out real rough out of that one.

You know what I mean? And that's because there's a lot of pent-up frustration within communities that aren't being addressed that we know exist that help make this country go around that deserve every right and opportunity that every other person in this country has, but they've been forgotten, left behind, or marginalized. And sometimes it's society's fault, and sometimes it's their own fault.

And that's just something that we have to accept before we can even begin to address. Everybody knows the VA system is destroyed, but nobody's finding real ways to fix it. We can't even digitize the thing, and it's been, what, 10 years? I mean, people know what the answer answer is but instead of addressing real problems we're creating things that we can solve because they're easy and we need that that like or that follow or that immediate gratification of we said hanging people's bad it's like fuck man it's 2020 and you guys just

caught on to that bandwagon? And then we've got congresswomen and senators, and everybody's acting out, and there's no just accountability anymore, or there's accountability only for our side. And the fact that we have sides, like, fuck, man, we're all just doing the best we can to provide everything we can for ourselves and get all of our needs and some of our wants, and everybody wants their kids to have an opportunity to do better and like that's just called being human it seems like it seems like uh to me that you have you've went through so many different things

that it just appears and i don't know you that well but it appears that you have just kind of buried a lot of feelings that you may have had at some point, or maybe you worked them all out at some point in your life because you went through so many different things. Do you think you have to go through those hard times like that in order to kind of get to where you're at now? Because you seem emotionless, which I think is actually a really awesome character trait. But without going through all the different things that you went through, I don't know if someone could kind of get there.

You're probably not very reactionary anymore. To be honest, man, I like it's a daily process. People think that just because you've identified a problem means that you've solved it. Or just because you've made progress in an area doesn't mean like, I didn't wake up like,'s always the it's the iceberg reference or i didn't wake up a world champion you know i mean i didn't climb the mountain in a day so like it's just it takes about 90 of my my my brain power to not punch stupid fat or lazy people in the face like i i i count like all of our problems in the world to being people to be,

to be, to people being fat, lazy or stupid. And I don't mean that in like a derogatory sense. I mean, if there's something wrong in your life or if there's something that you're not happy about, it's probably because you're being fat,

lazy or stupid. Like, Oh, I wish, I wish I ate healthy more. Well, every time you don't, you're just being fat or you're being lazy or you're just stupid.

And like, as soon as you accept one of those three things then like you can then make a legitimate decision to continue that or change it and like i get asked a lot like what's your motivation what's your sponsorship like how do you feel like you have to go through those experiences absolutely not i don't think you have to have like my experiences to have my perspective but what i think you have to be able to do is be intelligent enough to understand that your perspective is unique and other people have their perspective. And you can be empathetic in the sense that I don't know what it is to be a jacked, really good-looking black dude. Yeah, can we just be that for a day? I mean, could you just bless us so we can try it? The first thing I do, I just immediately run into the bathroom and see if it's true.

Now, he's told us if we swallow, I think it was Nigerian semen, but it has to be a lot of it that we could get the experience. A gallon a day for a week, and trust me, you're going to be. That ain't that much. I mean, that's really not that much. A gallon is a lot. Okay. So I did in vitro fertilization when I was first injured because of some of the injuries that I have for veterans.

So, like, you know, we used myself as a guinea pig. So I learned a lot about that process. You know, you don't become a subject matter expert in vitro fertilization without doing some semen measurements. So I have an issue called low motility. So basically I shoot a bunch of blanks. Still there, everything's normal, it's good. Normal range is like one to like four mils. I don't know, someone's going to quote me,

like, that's five. Sometimes I read the comments. But I shoot like twice as much as a normal dude with no sperm. So there's that phase where. So like, I like, there's that phase where you're like, you know, in your late twenties,

realizing that you're just roping for days, you know? So I remember I had a personal records for yourself. I had a friend one time say like, man, don't you hate like, you know, when you're whacking off and you,

it ends up going on your face. My other, my other friend goes going on your face. He's's like i'm lucky if i hit the back of my knuckles i'm just proud you got that kind of distance that first one though because if you never mind so anyway and before this depends on how you're aiming it i guess no i mean you gotta be careful tricks you got've got to be careful. Oh, there's... And you're like, I'm sorry, I didn't do that. Like keeping score. Kind of throw it at them.

They're like, what the... This is all real. People are writing this down, I bet. Oh, God. People are taking notes. I can't wait to read the comments after the day this gets released. Like, you're a chauvinist. Like the guy raised by a single mother that he watched sacrifice her entire life to ensure that he had a future.

Yeah, I probably don't appreciate women. If you mean I don't cater to your feelings because you're a fucking stranger and I don't care about anything going on in your life because I don't know you or we don't interact on any level. How did you get into the military and maybe why i honestly just all i remember is like in third grade you know the the brown you're one of those guys early on so i think like i've said this and i'm not i'll never take responsibility for quoting it but i'm sure i like i'm just too dumb to fail like i, I know there's variations of that, but I've never, like people have always said like, Hey,

this is hard. And we'll see. And then like, you know, like, and like, I've never really had a plan. And I know that sounds horrible,

but it's, this is a book too dumb to fail. Well, it's like, I've never had a plan, but I've always had a general idea. Like I'm a planner. Like I've,

I've thought, Hey, this happens, this happens, this, like, I, I don't know if people overthink as much as I do. Like'm a planner like i've i've thought hey this happens this happens this like i i don't know if people overthink as much as i do like sometimes i feel like i have like elon musk syndrome or like it's some the mix between old school where frank the tank answers that question against that crossfire dude blames i don't know what happened and you like rant it off about industrialization and agriculture in the world like sometimes i feel like i do that

with my life like i lose like two years and it's like hey bro like thanks for everything you did with in vitro fertilization like working with the administration you're like oh i guess i should put that on my resume so like i don't really have a plan i think there's a point where now i'm and i think what you bring this full circle back 25 minutes to your original question the experiences i've had have offered me the opportunity to touch out to the veteran to the fitness to the leo to the first responder especially with 9-11 bringing a lot of that together like i got more visits from the new york fire department and fire jersey firefighters and police officers when i first got blown up than i did by anybody else like all my army friends were still deployed. My family was very, very small.

And like I had firefighters, I had grandmothers of Vietnam vets. I had a vet. Like it was amazing to see that community come together. So that's why, that's what I think helps me maintain some of this faith is like, it seems stupid, but I'll be in the gym and I'll just watch an inspirational video. Not if some guy lifting weights of like you know like somebody doing something that's like selfless for themselves in society without people realize like there's that commercial where like there's a kid stealing medicine from a pharmacy and the

guy catches him and like the this guy across the street sees him getting beat and he walks over and he asks him what for and he goes is my mom sick and the guy gives him rice noodle food and pays for the medicine and sends him home and then like 20 years later like the dude's like cooking in the kitchen he's obviously older he collapses he just rushed to the hospital and then like like the bill is like 400 000 so like the the restaurant's closing and then like this this guy you know have you seen it and the doctor pays the bill and he like 25 years And the doctor pays the bill. And he, like, 25 years later, the doctor that he gave food for to save his mom paid his bill and said, you never know when it comes. And, like, I believe in that.

Like, you know, like, regardless of what religion you are, regardless of who you are or what you do, like, there's something. You know what I mean? It could be the same thing. It could be some variant. We could all be right. We could all be wrong. But if there's one thing, it's that we're all here.

And like, whether we understand this consciousness or not, like we're all having our experience of whatever is happening. Yeah. So why not make it a positive one? Like think about all the self imposed stress. Like think about what you've done. Like you,

you and I are the same man. I played football at three 10. Like I was like, I lost all my weight doing carnivore before, like in 2005. I lost 110 pounds in six months. I went to the gym twice a day. I drove 25 minutes to the base. I'd lift weights.

I'd run. I started at 310 quitting playing football with being like athletic where I ran my first and I just left the line of chalk. And then the next, and my goal was the line of chalk and then the next and my goal was to run two miles and the military time standard it took me like and i was doing it like and i just was at 14 minutes or something like that or i ended up getting about 14 minutes tomorrow 13 was the max so like my pt like i'd max push-ups and sit-ups in like a minute and then like you do the run and i'd always be that guy like regardless of what sport it was regardless

of how i've always had this thing with anxiety and throwing up before the event so like so like I was like I'd be like the captain of the football team or like on like the east west game and the game would mean nothing it's like some all-star game in high school I'd be like like get it out like rinse it and they got to the point where like my team would cheer for me or people would expect it get the bag it's always before the event so you'd always see me like crushing quick calories and sugar and real fast yeah so it was like that but like i don't think you have to have horrible experiences to be empathetic i think it's the way people choose to use their empathy i think people often confuse or conflate empathy and sympathy and then feeling sorry. Don't feel sorry for me.

I love my life. Is my life great? No. Is my life hard? Yes. Is my life harder than most people's? Probably. Is it harder than most people's in the world?

Absolutely not. If you're going to be disabled, be disabled in America. Be a disabled veteran in America. You know what I mean? I am very thankful for the problems I have because of the perspective I've had and I've gained. Like I've seen people struggling. I've seen single moms make too much to qualify for their kid's insurance, but because their special needs, uh, they have to

pay out of pocket. So even though they make $70,000 a year, they're spending $2,000 a month just on their kids, on their kids' treatment. So like, maybe we should start reducing your kid's insurance policy from your income and then basing your eligibility for benefits like and then we start addressing like long-term benefits for short-term benefits like these are simple fixes that as a society we're just not doing because we're going to marginalize somebody we're going to victimize somebody like i understand that but at the same time no matter what we do that's going to happen so what we do as societies we come together we. So what we do as a society is we come together,

we set a minimum of our expectations. Why don't we have state and federal institutions for homeless and mentally ill? We know they're mentally ill. We know they shouldn't be out in public, but we'd rather justify them shitting on a sidewalk than picking them up and putting them in somewhere that they would at least be safe. Sure, they're being detained. Sure, they're in an asylum in a state run.

And you know what? It may not be the best care, but it's better than no care and it's something that non-profits can come behind rally behind because this is something that impacts our society on a monumental level we're not addressing issues and like in it and i'm sorry i go off on rants and tangents coming full back around you don't have to have the experience. You just have to choose how you're going to apply your empathy. I'm not going to apply my empathy and enable a problem to continue. I think it's disgusting when people just continuously take advantage of a situation. And like, yes, I feel sorry for myself sometimes. Yes, I hate the fact that I'm an amputee sometimes.

Yes, I look at people and think, man, what a waste of fucking life, talent, and potential. But that's, I don't know what they're going through, man. I think everybody thinks most of those thoughts as well. Right, totally normal thoughts. And even just not being an amputee, like sometimes you just hate being yourself. Like you just would rather do, like I don't think that anymore. I'm older, so I don't worry about it as much. But like, yeah, I think even, you know, so I don't worry about it as much, but like, yeah,

I think even, you know, when I was in my twenties and stuff, you just kind of like, sometimes every once in a while, the thought crossed your mind that you wish you were to somebody else. Right. I wish I was just not in this body.

I wish I was more like him or more like that guy. Yeah. And I think there's, I think when you're, I'm getting to the age where I'm like 36 now, so I'm aging out at like, I could tell I was done competing when I was in a gym and I'd see a dude do something like i can do that but i knew i was ready to compete now i'm in a gym i see a dude dead i'm like hell yeah and then i go back to like crawling my 20s i don't give a shit to prove to nobody i'm just trying to look good naked, right? Yeah. And then I'm going to eat this cheeseburger.

Why'd you get in the military? I was like third grade drawing on that brown paper that you would write your alphabet. And it said, what do you want to be when you grow up? And you draw a picture.

And I said, I wanted to be an army ranger. And I drew a picture of a stick figure with a gun with no understanding of what it was. And like, I, you know. Teachers like, this kid's crazy. Yeah, teachers like go like oh man we covered all the bases we haven't even had abortion yet um it's just mortion we'll just edit that one out no there's some things i'm just like like, I don't care, but at the same time.

Maybe you care. Maybe you don't. Right. That's what I meant by the comment. Like, I'm not going to skip down that path. I'll go down at kicking and screaming. That's not the vibe we're at. And as you got older, like, what kind of drove you to really go?

I mean, because to think about it when you're a one thing but to actually go through it a lot of it is a lot of it dude is just setting goals and then having standards for yourself and like i'm not driven by anybody it's all internal like i i call it like the limitless factor and like if you've ever seen the movie there's a line where bradley cooper says like somebody asked him like hey what's it like if you know you don't when you take it he goes it makes your brain function where if you don't feel like you're actively making progress towards your goals, that it's, like, painful. Like, you feel like you're dying. And, like, I deal with my PTSD and all my TBI and going through all of that. And I'm very much aware that I'm a very momentum-driven person.

And the minute I lose momentum, I slip into a self-imposed depression. So it's not that I'm overwhelmed or busy, because now you're managing it, and it occupies time and space and how you operate. But it's about setting an alarm on your watch to take one minute of deep breaths. It's about learning. I meditate every day.

I wake up in the morning at 5 15 if i sleep in and i'll stretch i'll do fasted row i meditate i'll do all my body stuff and it's for no other reason that it's fuck it's peaceful it's quiet like all that matters is whatever i feel and like i just get it out write a list for the day do i spend three four hours a day doing therapy learning how to walk for the fifth fucking time as a grown-ass man and a world champion athlete like i 10 years of body mechanics and like it's i'm at the point where you were when you started going down this path where it was it wasn't about competing or being strong anymore it was about like quality years of the life that

you have left and like that's where I'm at now. And it's, I just want my body mechanics to be right. I want to be strong enough to feel comfortable in most situations. I'm okay being a little bigger, but I don't, if I had both legs, I'd be like 240.

And like, I'm pudgy. Like, like I can get down, like I'm two, I'm like 205 right now. I can get down to like a manageable 180, 190.

And that's still a big, that's like a 220, 230-pound guy. And that's a comfortable weight for me. So it's just about like getting to those goals and like finding the motivation with actual life. And that's where it's at, and then you really have to be self-aware for that. You have to have those hard decisions. I suggest that everybody writes out,

everybody who they think their friend is. Who's your friend? And then you start actually looking at that and think, how many times have they let me down? Everybody, and then think about it and just look at that list on occasion. I guarantee people start really assessing. These motherfuckers

are getting off this list right now. Or how many people would legitimately just make that list and call and be like, hey man, I just lost my job. I need a place to stay for a week or two or maybe a month is it cool and see what they say and like no man i'm not playing games but yeah but you'd be and like you can you can imagine like but think about it from their life and what they're doing what they have going on and then you start realizing who the people are that matter and it's the people who have the most like you that are going through the most similar situation that are like and you might have friends that you catch up with but you know be cognizant of your present not your past not your future and things will start to make a

lot more sense have you always been has it always been painful for you to not get better even before your experience in the military painful It was incredibly painful. I never felt like I took anything serious in life because I was always too concerned with what would happen, like the Maya Angelou poem that comes out about your own light and your fear is your own greatness. And I think the things that were always quote-unquote easy, like sports and stuff, whereas a physical manifestation of your abilities,

it was a lot easier for me personally to get into because it allowed me to zone out and find my place. So it was like recovering, immediately fell into CrossFit, immediately took it serious, immediately fought for a division, immediately fought for dominance within the community for no other reason than, like, it was my way of coping through what had happened and losing the leg

and then, like, justifying my abilities given the new limits that I had. Like, bottom line is, if I'm out walking with one of my nephews and they take off running, like, I can't catch them. Imagine if somebody walked up and grabbed them. So, like, you want to talk about Second Amendment rights,

like, put yourself in my situation. Yeah. You want to talk, like, and that's what people aren't doing. So, you know, there's a different approach, like, to how you're forced to do things. And my family and my friends understand that, like, there's limitations and there's things that you have to take into consideration um and have accommodated for it but like it's also something that i as a person have to deal with like i box every week like it's i meditate like i take time

to be as efficient as possible at the skill sets that i know that in a worst case scenario will be useful not that i expect it to happen, but you need to be ready for it under your circumstances. You need to be physically ready. You need to be, and, like, take advantage of what you can. And, like, it sounds weird, but it's really how if you're... Clean your room, get your shit together,

and make sure you're taken care of, and then start worrying about other people, and the minute you do that in your life, you'll realize you don't have time for other people's fucking lives you don't have time to to to even like the non-profit stuff is a way of getting out to help but like i'm not solving their problems again it's just providing opportunities do you think um do you think maybe like uh the pain from not getting better comes from just judging yourself too much? Sometimes, but I think that's like anybody. I mean, ask Mark, when you were starting your empire,

how many nights did you sit around and just self-loathe and doubt? Yeah, not much. Not much. Kind of just knew it was going to happen. So it's a personality thing. I've never gone to a competition expecting to lose. I might have had doubts about starting something or going early on, but now once I commit it, I got in trouble in 2016 for talking shit in London

because I didn't show up to take second, and I told them that. And every event I won, I fucking crushed it. And I was on foreign soil representing the United States, and I love the United States, just a little bit. Not all of it, not all the time, but enough of it to know it's better than everywhere else. And, like, you take that attitude and you apply it to what you do, and, like, it doesn't matter if you're down to no change

or if you're traveling on your own dime. If you have faith in what you're doing, it'll be fine. And that's why I don't stress out much that I can't control. Because, like, your real passions in life will rise to the top given the opportunities and if you don't hesitate and you understand what you're risking and losing and that you're in america there's a safety net even if you don't think so like do it because it's 75 80 90 and you're dying like that's your life that's it and like i've died three times like it's not flashing before your eyes you're dying, that's your life. That's it. And I've died three times. It's not flashing before your eyes. You're experiencing emotions in my situation.

My life didn't flash before my eyes as I bled out in Afghanistan. It was every emotion from being born. Because think about it. People always look at me like I'm crazy. But just the minute you're born, your brain starts functioning. You start storing information. You start processing. You start taking breaths. You start

making visual, sound, audio, smell, tactile. All of this data starts rushing your brain and it's putting it somewhere. Now, it may not be able to process. It's like taking a computer from now to 1950 and giving it to them. You didn't solve a single problem. You gave them all kinds of capability and capacity to learn from and reverse engineer. But you didn't solve anything. You just blew their fucking minds. It's like if I took

a Ferrari to 1901, I was like, check this out. Couldn't drive it. There's not a road or infrastructure for it. Think of your brain in childhood like that you're still having these memories and these thoughts

and these processes and they're getting stored in places but you're not recalling them because they're not being categorized so when you die

your brain's literally soaking up the blood and oxygen from your body and you're feeling your organs shut down systematically because it's going from toe to head. And then it gets to that point where it's struggling

between your heart and your lungs. And then that's your brain thinking, fuck. And then when it's gotten to the point where you've lost too much blood, it takes all the blood to itself. And what's it do in its last act? The most selfish thing it can. It releases all of your dopamine and serotonin.

So you start getting back every positive emotion you ever experienced. So why wouldn't you have those emotions from birth? Like that's the first bond with the first human that you've ever had without acknowledging it. Like science has proven that there's a chemical reaction with babies and their mothers. So why wouldn't you experience that emotion again? And then run that through your whole life. And I know we're running short on time. Run that through your whole life.

And when you start making decisions, understand that you're not making decisions for the memory. You're making decisions for the emotion. And I think if you learn the emotion and the importance of emotions in life, and then you learn that like your emotions are reflections of who you are and your own personal happiness, I think then you'll start actually living a life that you're more comfortable with. And when people call you an asshole or stare at your hand tattoos

or stare at your prosthetic or make inappropriate comments about your dick, you can make a smart-ass comment back or a joke or tell them it's longer than your leg. you can make a smart ass comment back or a joke or tell them it's longer than your leg oh emotions are you know they're they're just uh a byproduct of interpretation yeah well it's constantly processing you mentioned a lot of key things right there you're processing information and problem solving you know that's really who the fuck knows why we're actually here but while we're here that's what we're kind of here to do. So you can manage a good,

strong life without feeling all fucked up about it. And I tell you what, Mark, you've, you've like, without realizing or not, like I've been following you guys for basically my entire career. And Jess has kept me in the loop with you guys.

And like, like a lot of things that like, I like, I call it the fat boy culture, like me, you, Matt Vinson, Brandon, like even, you know, Brandon Allen, like there's a couple of guys out there. things that like i like i call it the fat boy culture like me you matt vinson brandon lily like

even you know brandon allen like there's a couple guys out there they're like in that transitional phase at the end where they're trying to figure it out it's hard because you identify with your sport and your body and your strength and like your self-esteem is rooted in that and like i know that because i've seen you and get and i've been like i followed it and to see you kind of like watching you in the early on fat guys kind of make that transition is making it easier for the rest of us because now we have a framework that wasn't there previously because in the 80s and 90s athletes weren't transitioning well they were going into drugs they were going into bad decisions and they weren't finding positive outlets and i think social media has helped but at the same time like it also is something that i'm sure that you myself you have to fight that constant fucking demand and that feed for so like don't sleep

like dude you're showing me like i'm right into the corner world again i don't know like i love carbs and i'm like i don't want to be that disciplined. But watching you do it and then I talk with Matt Vinson a lot. You guys are like the OG for the fat boy community at this point, man. So keep it up. It motivates me because I'm like, man, Mark can do it. He looked that good. I can maybe get halfway there and be all right. You said he died three times.

What exactly did you mean by that? Like dead. Not just now, right? No, no. So I bled out the first time, flatline. Is that your leg? Yeah, all three times were in conjunctions with. And then my mom tells a story about I was born with umbilical cord around my neck,

which would have been four, but I don't count that. It's like I was a fucking 10-pound baby, and she was like a 105 or 110-pound woman. Wow. So I fucked her. That's why I have such love for her. She used to throw it in my face, like, you were 10%, 11% of my body weight, brother.

You're welcome. Widen out them hips a little bit. Good thing now. Cause like that's all in style. Like in the eighties, they didn't appreciate it. I was laying groundwork for that booty game. Mom, you're welcome.

Oh my God. No, I love my mom. Like my mom is like, my mom's my hero, man. Like my mom's the nicest person in the world too. Like I have ex girlfriends and friends that still talk to my mom. They're like, Oh, have you talked to something? Like, no mom's my hero, man. Like, my mom's the nicest person in the world, too. Like, I have ex-girlfriends and friends that still talk to my mom.

They're like, oh, have you talked to someone? I'm like, no, have you? They're like, oh, what? We don't have that many people that have been blown up before, so can you kind of walk us through what somebody else told you happened or what happened or how it went down? How it went down? It's, you know, I was on a dismounted patrol with my soldiers in Afghanistan in 2010.

And, you know, you spend time there and you kind of learn the people and the culture and kind of the triggers and the warnings. And you kind of know when it's coming. And, like, I was one of the least experienced guys there. there like most of the guys on my platoon had already deployed i was an officer there unless you know we you know there's the typical platoon you know dynamic that everybody's dealing with and and leaving for a mission that you expect contact on. There's only so much you can do to mitigate risk and then just get ready to do your job. And I think everybody was expecting it, so when it happened, it was just more of an individual-type experience from there.

Like a landmine? So it was a command wire ID to 107s. And 107s are like Chinese 107 millimeter rockets. And, you know, like you have your moment. You blow up and your training kicks in. It's amazing how well trained that we are as soldiers because it's instantaneous. And everybody does their job,

and everybody does what they're supposed to do with or without guidance, and it works out for the best. So, you know, losing two soldiers and having nine wounded and then having another commit suicide. And, like, you know, having to deal with, you know, being the person in charge and planning the mission and setting, like, it's just anybody can tell you about their personal experience of getting blown up like the first thought i had was fuck you got hit by an ied and like i'm doing somersaults

through the air so like when you're landing and like you're like yell ied and it's like you're 40 feet in the air yeah they know so like you have this internal monologue that's what it's like and like it's just like any situation it slows down that's the training aspect like oddly you're comfortable with everything because it is what it is like i grabbed my own leg and drug it in my lap and my rifle was too far to grab and it's just like everybody does that like that's instinctive because that's what happens and like you don't panic you're just like oh there's my leg i mean you might but it's not going to solve anybody's problem and if you know a dead platoon leader is a bad day like if you panic or you fuck up or your ncos or your guys aren't ready or they don't step up, like a dead platoon is a significant loss to a battalion.

So, I mean, I don't know. Everybody does their job. And, you know, I try, like I'm not a very humble person in life. It's the storytelling and stuff, the experiences. I remember everything. I never lost consciousness. But, like, you know, the medic runs up to you, and, you know, your priorities are different than his priorities.

So you're literally getting into arguments, whether your dick still works or how does it look. And he's, like, trying to save your life, and you're trying to check out if your dick's still there. Like, they don't want you to look down and like you're 240 50 pounds like you have these interactions with people in the moment where like you learn real quick what your priorities are in life and like it's like is my dick okay like he runs up and he's like shit sir i didn't know you were a hit and it's like how's it look and he's like i gotta, sir, I didn't know you were a hit. And it's like, how's it look?

And he's like, I got to put a tourniquet on your leg. And you're like, well, no shit. I just drug it in there. And then like grab him and pull him to your fucking face. And you're like, how's it look, doc? Give it to me straight. And he's like, your leg's gone, sir. And I was like, I don't give a shit about my leg.

How's my dick look? And like doc tears open my pants. And he's like, your dick looks good and your balls are fucked. I was like, I don't need my balls in my life so like you gotta let you prioritize things and like you kind of like understand that the situation is what it is and like once you've kind of been there and like there's there's nothing cool about this like that's the thing is like it was a job like if you signed up going in like i don't consider anything that like there's guys that are like legit heroes that like get purple hearts but like everybody else

like there's guys that don't get purple hearts that do some heroic ass shit and like people just don't realize it and like i think that people are always and this is like part of the things that i struggled with with like my things my career wasn't what I wanted it to be like I was really insecure about my career so it was one of those things I didn't really want to talk about or get in depth with like I struggled with things but it was just like everybody else and you're like it's easy real easy

to like beat yourself up and like highlight the fact that you're not good at something but it's hard to give yourself credit for being good at something so you know understand the situation the way I do now, I mean, fuck, man. It is what it is. You do your best, and it sucks,

and, like, you have to make peace with it and sleep at night somehow, and, like, everybody's got to do that in the world with their own life. And, like, I just tell people, take it easy. Everybody's struggling, and, and like be thankful for your problems so I mean I don't know I don't go into the story much I actually haven't told it like five or six years just because it

doesn't I don't want it to like define define me like it's obvious and like details funny parts like I just it sucks to have to like tell me about the worst day of your life you know and then do it in front of a million fucking people and then get emotional about it and then like it's

just like how about this tell me what you learned from the worst experience of your life and how does it impact your life still and how how's it made you a better person like that's what i want to know about somebody like i don't want to know what happened to you like i don't want to know how many dudes ran through my girlfriend before i started dating her like you know you just knew it happened there was probably a couple slut streaks you do some quick math and you make peace with life and you move the fuck on you're perpetuating the culture anyway because then you do your own math and you scare yourself and you're like fuck i hope not well and then so i mean from this situation then because afterwards how did you how'd you because you mentioned ptsd multiple times how did you change 10 years of fucking intensive

therapy still ongoing i see two psychiatrists simultaneously because i like to play mental games with people so dean's like hold up you're playing chess dog i thought we were playing checkers did you just damn people uh talk about like seeing things is that literally like what it's like like you're just driving down the street and you you know how no anything like a movie or whatever like what does it how do you describe it it's different for everybody man like my ptsd i'll speak specifically to because there are people that struggle like drivers and tcs guys that are like driving route one and like legitimately on ied i like i was in a an 1151 which is a small up armored vehicle and i was was never so fucking scared about IEDs in my life until I went from riding and like, and like a huge up armored Matt V and do a little Humvee.

And I'm like, was that an RG? Like, it's like, man, it could have been a plastic bag. And I was like, stop the car. Yeah. You know, but like in the Matt V you're like, fuck it. God. I mean, worst case scenario, like beauty. Like relax. We're in Columbus. Right. Exactly. Like you're like fuck it god i mean worst case scenario like beauty like and you're down like

relax we're in columbus right exactly like you're safe bro but like no one's gonna go for a stroll through certain neighborhood like i love detroit but like i'm not gonna go for a walk through detroit um yeah so i think um ptsd plays a part in everybody's life mine is mostly uh anxiety and sleep um i mean i sleep like a baby but it's because i've learned to develop like make peace with kind of things in life and like it does like nightmares or or a big issue um anxiety specifically with like medical things or like uh like authority like uh, like, uh, overstepping bounds. Like,

I just have a problem with, uh, like communicating with people that aren't even trying to understand. And like, these are all things that would trigger me. But like, I realized that like, like I could take the horse to water.

It could be dying of thirst. I can put his head in water. I could drown it. And the fucking one thing it needs to survive and it won't matter. So it goes back to not saving them all like just understanding what you can do and doing your best to impact as many people as you can and i think then you're actually in a situation to maximize and efficiently use your time i think too many people waste time i don't mean waste in a negative way i mean

saving the unsavable and like every drug addict like the dirty secret about walter reed is everybody comes out as an amputee like i've had 60 surgeries ish don't quote me it might have been 59 it might have been 63 but around 60 surgeries i think it's at least 60 um and like i i've been addicted to opiates like i fuck man why wouldn't i have been i spent nine months inpatient like i had 50 something surgeries that first couple of months and then like a monodilatin drip a morphine drip i'm taking orals and then i have a push pump every 30 seconds and you know why because the amount of pain that the average dude that's just had his leg ripped off of his body, his right thigh torn open, his ball sack cut in half from swelling, a missing finger tick, like a chunk of elbow,

plus like, you know, random shrapnel that he's bleeding from on the entire left side of his body at a semi-regular basis. You know, dude's going to need some pain meds. And then you do that for six months, nine months, dude's going to need some pain meds. And then you do that for six months, nine months, and then like, yeah,

no fucking shit. Like, I didn't understand opiates until you're taking 120 milligrams five times a day just to like, stay awake.

And then when I came off, like, the baby stepped you off, which is very awesome, very controlled, very professional, but then you have to take that last leap and that's on you and i chose to go cold turkey three of the worst weeks of my life

but i haven't struggled with this since and like a lot of guys it's a box and their alternatives or down step and then that mentally puts them in a situation where they're still expecting the access and like yeah there's access but whether you to use it or not is what's going to do it. And I'm not saying the guys can't use it effectively, but I think long-term, be as natural as possible with self-remedy and understand that life is painful and that there's a certain threshold that you just have to accept. I'm not saying live with pain. I'm saying accept that there's pain with life.

So that's how I look at my PTSD. It's a part of me. It's something that i deal with it requires uh mental strength and there's physical strength mental strength and emotional strength what did you uh would you learn about not necessarily just yourself but would you learn about the people around you when you went through that situation like you know what'd you learn about like your mom or some of the people that were close to you at that time you remember yours you're referencing the friends you know and talking about like your mom or some of the people that were close to you at that time? You remember yours, you were referencing the friends, you know, and talking about like,

you know, what they would do for you type deal. What'd you learn about those people? Uh, it was like legitimately like the third time I've ever seen my mom cry. Like when I woke up at the hospital, um, I was married at the time. My ex wife was great while I was in recovery. Um, we're still like really friends, just getting remarried to a really good dude, finally. And then, like, you know, nothing. Because, like, losing my leg didn't define my life or change things for me.

And the people that were there were there. The people that came after were hard to sort out and took some time. And, like, I didn't realize that social media, like, the... Some people are coming to visit you taking a picture type deal. Yeah, I mean, that was... Look, man, I'm a wounded soldier. I have a sexy injury. Like, I was at a sexy unit.

Like, people wanted a sexy story. And, like, we have a 24 hours news cycle and like I've benefited from it like I'd be an idiot not to say that I haven't like you know speeding tickets or you know handies or whatever but like at the same time like um I think you go through it and you just learn that it's like normal for you it's like chick with big tits, you know, like she knows what she can wear to get free drinks.

She knows what she could be, where to get left to fuck alone. And like, she knows under circuit, she's going to get stared at. So it was like, you just accept it. Like,

I'm going to go out and my legs and beyond people are going to stare. And like, I used to get like annoyed by it. Like it's not a dick bitch, but now it's like, you know, maybe it is. How, how should people react when they see somebody that has...

Throw money at them. God, shock. Take it off. Give you 10 bucks. I've actually had that happen. I took my leg off in Portland. I was sitting outside the hotel, just soaking up the city. Some dude threw five bucks down by my nub and walked off.

You thought I was homeless? Wow. outside the hotel just kind of soaking up the city and some dude threw five bucks down by my nub and like walked off you thought you were like that i was almost wow i mean look this is how i dress i get it's kind of bummish not your shirt this is very nice um but the t-shirt i walked in and you would totally think i was homeless wearing that somebody just gave you five bucks that's awesome i know two more dudes and buy a joint. As far as fitness is concerned, how fast did you get back into lifting and that type of... Initially, in 2010, I was like, within nine to under a year, I was trying to do body weight dips, rework squats and lifting. I have videos, like my ex-wife, because this was before I didn't care about the gram. I started, I think, at 11 or something. I didn't care about the gram. Like, I started, I think, at, like, 11 or something. I didn't join until, like, 16. So, like, I went through the whole recovery, like, just on my own.

No social media and nothing. Like, not even, like, Facebook type stuff. And it was, like, relatively unknown. But, like, you know, I did it the way I thought was best without PR. And, like, I remember WIDA. And I remember all these guys coming up. Like, KC was there. And, like, they did it in the utilizing social media and, like, defining a niche.

And they're crushing it. So I think fitness fit into it when I started cross-itting my buddy's gym I was the first amputee to compete at the Arnold in 2013 in the crossfit competition and Arnold happened to actually like walk in at the exact time that I was about to start and like I originally didn't sign up to do it and it was a workout called Linda so like i was wearing i was in the sweatpants phase where you don't show your leg in public so i'm sitting there and then dale king who i started team star with i mentioned earlier was like you need to go out there and compete and i'm like i don't know so finally he talked me into it so i'm walking out there in

pants and it's literally like they decided to put me right up front make an announcement and i'm like fuck it I'll just work out in pants he's like no you gotta take them off I'm like I'm out like we're like arguing in the middle of the arena without the microphone and people are like gathering and there was a couple hundred and it was off in the side and like

he's like take off your fucking pants I'm like I'm not taking off my fucking pants for this he goes how are people gonna know if you don't have your fucking pants off I was like and like right as i'm saying this the dude with the microphone walks up and like we're friends now he's like i was like fine i'll take off my fucking pants and i pull my pants down and like everybody looks and like down like steps back and i'm like fuck so like now like my legs out and a couple hundred people went to a couple thousand people and then they started to cluster and then it was like over and then i like started the workout and i was like crushing it like it was

made for me for about three minutes out of ten and i just started vomiting uncontrollably but lucky for me i vomited like the 330 mark and they stopped filming at like 320 so like it totally wasn't but I was like in a bucket like the announcer's holding it like my team's cheering like this poor guy is like there's vomit going everywhere and he's like take one for America like holding the vomit bucket

like so it's getting on his hand and it's like out of my nose uncontrollably vomiting and like the dude is just like a champ like Jason Welch up in CrossFit Cadre out of Cleveland area. He literally holding this bucket, and I'm just like, chalk's coming out. So anyway, like, I go in there, and I clean myself up,

and I walk out. And, like, there was, they filled the room to capacity once they had heard what was going on. And Arnold happened to watch and then basically invited me out and then, like, you know, made a comment about inspiration or something or athlete or disabled person or something. And it caught on, and I wrote for muscle and fitness and men's health and I got into the crossfit opened a couple gyms I won the first adaptive waterpalooza out of Miami and then tried to work with crossfit games about getting a sanctioned uh event there but got no love back so then I switched to powerlifting struggling with squat you know not on a smith so then

uh you know went into pressing shoulders and. So then, you know, went into pressing, shoulders and bench, did that, and then went into strongman and ended up winning the U.S. title for strongest disabled man and then went to Worlds and then won World's Strongest Man. And then ended up getting hurt at a charity boxing match like four months later, had a surgery, recovered two weeks out from the Arnold at a charity bench press event, tore my chest. So I just – the writing was on the wall.

I'm 36, so I just retired and spent the last – had osteointegration, and this is – I'm number, like, 28 in the world for this program, and just recovering for a few more months and then trying to figure out what's next sorry did that answer the question no it did yeah yeah it's fitness okay you say you still don't uh do crossfit or you do a little bit for training i do like functional fitness for training like i'm getting to the point now where i think i'll do like a like a compound

three days a week and then like two days of HIIT, like cross-functional training, and then I'll do like one day of like a bro pump, like full body, just to flex in the mirror. What do you think is something important for like maybe not even just amputees, but somebody that is just down, like someone who's just like they're upset with themselves they don't want to move that i imagine an amputee would get in that situation really hard but a lot of people just get in that situation like what are so what are a few things that you tried to make sure that you did every day you met did mention meditating and i thought man that's great because anyone can you know anyone can work on meditating there's like three things that i

try to do like for somebody that's down or depressed like one like be thankful for your problems like we've talked about it like i know they suck but like they're yours and you're handling them better than anybody else especially if you're functioning in the world. I don't want your problems. You don't want mine. This is the PTSD thing where you just go blank. There's three things. Problems. You mentioned meditation earlier. Do you recommend that to people?

I mean, yeah, I tell people to do whatever their, their body needs. I don't know what the, I blanked on that. I'm sorry. That's,

those are gone. I might remember later and I'll text you. Um, uh, meditation helps. Meditation helps me because like, I think a lot of people get lost in the future or the, or,

or the past. And like, like they're not present. Like I have to ask myself, like, my watch goes off, and I ask myself, how do you feel? Why do you feel that way? Can you do anything to change that? If you can't do that now, is it worth dwelling about now?

Write it down. And, like, I think, like, something to help people go to sleep is write down everything that's in your head. Like, lay down, shut your phone off, shut your TV off, grab a pen and paper, close your eyes, and if like tossing and turning like get up turn the light on like something simple and then don't use your phone because then you have a screen and then just write it down and then you have a list of everything from the day before like simple small subtle changes will improve people's lives but they're too busy buying a

gimmick or not like our bodies are a hundred thousand years old your entire diet's based on this like you process the way you're supposed to sleep when it's dark be awake when it's light find your natural rhythm and then exploit it be as efficient as possible and like train when it's appropriate to train based on your schedule when you feel the best start with the important stuff. That's, that's how you're successful. Like it's not meditation. Meditation might help,

but really it's about maximizing your efficiency in the time that you have based on what you want to accomplish. Everything that you do in a given day, uh, must take a little bit more time. Everything is structured my day down to the half hour. There you go. And if I need to validate or change, it's made.

Like today, I might have had to call for a work meeting at 1. So, like, everything's adjusted and switched around and played on. So, like, it's based on, like, what you want to accomplish. I have to lift and then I have to go hang out. Like, there's things and you fill in. It's not hard. People just write out a date get seven hours of sleep plan that

out and then write all the shit you have to do based on a certain time and then with whatever time's left feeling with what you want to do and then just fucking do it and if you don't decide whether you're being fat laser or stupid did the military help you like plan

better or was this something that you were just you were just a well yeah just like just the military just enhanced it and made it more efficient and made me more more aware of it i think it's a personality thing and i think it's really just what you want to accomplish like number two on things like you know be thankful for your problems too understand that you only get 75 80 years like seriously like there's 2000 weeks in the average lifespan no in your first 18 years you're locked in school right and then you're sleeping for a third of that

and then you're working for another third of that so then you have like a third of 60 years if you're lucky so you have 20 years to do what you want, deal with what you want. And it takes you 10 years to get good at something. I mean, fuck, man, like maybe.

Right? I mean, yeah, if you're lucky. So like really, you're going to have about 10 years of productive life and something you're good at and something that you're doing. 10 years of productive life and something you're good at and something that you're doing like stop falling into the same patterns of bullshit that prevents you from getting where you want and start actually making decisions hard decisions about your life and stop creating

problems for immediate gratification and start focusing on long-term goals and change i'm not working a five-year plan i'm working a 20-year plan i don't care about my five-year plan as long as it fits into my 20-year goals i'll figure out the third one eventually i think that uh it's we just had jp price on and he mentioned how much journaling helped him out writing things down you just mentioned it again right now I think that everybody listening right now needs to just go to a fucking store and buy a notebook bro I have five

I write non-fiction, fiction, I write self I write ideas and then I write articles like writing helps but it's not necessarily I think writing helps for decluttering but like don't rely on writing to make life But it's not necessarily – I think writing helps for decluttering. But, like, don't rely on writing to make life easier unless you're willing to get five notebooks because then you're just constantly going back for it. Like, I have an ideas notebook, nonfiction, a fiction, and then you have, like, your – like, you know, the dreams and goals and then you can just run it out.

What do you write in the fiction one fictional stuff yeah like what well i don't know man like um children's books okay um comics like very cool you know daydreams like why not like somebody like some dude created marvel based on like shit he daydreamed about when he was 15, right? Like everybody's got holes, huh? Like how many times can we rewatch Wolverine? How about dark comics, man? Like how about you get into something like where you can actually write like some hateful ass shit and like talk about society.

And then maybe we'll just call it like Animal Farm or something. Or Lord of the Flies. Yeah, you write some crazy stuff stuff that and maybe it's not for anybody else right nothing's been published that like outside of a magazine and like uh i don't i haven't i've turned down people to do bios and books like i might do like a i might write a book about like like approaching life through fitness like in in general, because I don't consider myself an expert in any particular sport. The third thing, just be strong. It's like right on some of your shirts, like, and I don't mean just physically strong. I mean, mentally strong, emotionally strong. Those are my three life goals. Like, um, be strong mentally, physically, emotionally strong,

and make sure that you're not lacking in one because any chink in one fucks all three you can be physically strong all day but if you're not emotionally strong or mentally strong you're not getting there you're not going to meet like without mental strength you're not going to peak at physical strength without emotional strength you're not going to be able to get to mental strength and without putting yourself into hard situations and physically trying you're not going to improve your mental capacity you have 75 to 80 fucking years. You better enjoy them. Nobody else is going to live them for you.

You're not going to die and remember your friends and family. You're going to remember your emotions, focus on your emotions. And then the first thing, be thankful for your fucking problems. They're yours. No one else wants them. No one else is going to solve them.

No one else is going to deal with them. A handful of people like your fucking parents or your spouse care about your life outside of that they don't fucking care like mark cares about you as a person but you die there's a new dude sitting there you know what i mean and that's not because your memory isn't it's because life goes the fuck on. So like, you have your time. Spend it however you want. I hope you enjoy it because when you die, you're going to have some regrets if you don't. How do you get emotionally strong?

And or mentally strong? Through physical, through physical, through physical. Like just learn from those physical things. Because some guys go to the gym, hammer weights, and they don't really think about it much. Well, and that might just be a physical development for them. And maybe like me, meditating is a means of mental growth. And then like, you know, for emotional development, I write.

Because like writing emotions. I'm not saying like like you don't have to use one to get to the other what I'm saying is one begets the other so like you can train them individually you can train them together but understand that training two out of three isn't solving your problems because you're going to default to your weakest and be exposed and I'm not saying you have to be a 10 at all of them. Everybody's got like mentally, mentally and physically, I'm like a nine and an eight, but like mental,

like physical, emotional strength, I'm like a six. So like, that's the one that I focused my time on knowing that I'm, you know, a shit brick house. Whatever.

I'm curious about, cause we've been mentioning the meditation that you've been talking about for a while, but a lot of guys, when they hear meditation, there, there's so many different types of meditation. Transcendental meditation. There you go. Boom.

Get your word, get into a spot, and meditate like a boss. Clear your mind 20 minutes twice a day. Allow everything to kind of drop away, and then once you get good at TM, that's when you're used to going to your space. You can literally just learn to mindfulness and start paying attention to your inner self on like a regular basis like and it takes

practice like I get good at it and I get bad at it and people just got to dedicate to the cause yeah like that the mindset of you can't save everybody did you have that when you first started working with like these non-profits and stuff or is it something you developed over time because maybe you got burned a couple times yeah it's something you

develop i think everybody always goes out with the best of intentions expecting the best from people because everybody like oh everybody's inherently good like no i'm sorry like like think about it like and people are inherently bad because people are self they care about themselves first not because of that's who they are because that's biologically what they're programmed to do your kid's in the middle of the street his kid's in the middle of the street

you can only save one right see how fucking important your life is all of a sudden so like do what's best for you not disregarding how important other people are, but understanding, I'll run into a street for my nephew. I'm not running into a street.

I might run into a street. I've ran into a street for a stranger's kid before, but it's not something that everybody... You know what I mean? I wasn't choosing between my kid and somebody else so like it's easy to put yourself in jeopardy it's hard to put somebody else's in jeopardy so like people say i'll donate more money i'll pay more in taxes fine that doesn't solve the problem that doesn't even offer a real solution like because you're what you're not doing is

you're not running in the street leaving your kid grabbing someone else's. And that's why Batman with Joker and Heath Ledger was such a fucked up movie. Right? See how I took it there? Like six years ago, dog. Don't think about it. I can't not think about it.

How are your charities helping to potentially solve problems? What were they created out of? So Team Star came from... Team what? Team Some Assembly Required. We started with Dale King. We co-founded together that one.

Sponsored disabled athletes, veterans initially, and then we became veteran-centric, including civilians, and we brought them to the Arnold and gave them opportunities to compete, notoriety, and then we would give grants and money for them to go compete at other local competitions build their own brand and name and a lot of the main athletes that people follow today are the original like

Zach Rule like Logan there's a lot of guys out there that started on Team SAR that are now able to do their own thing so it's a stepping stone for them is there like good communication is it like a like kind of a community where there's been like some culture built up or is it kind of done more from afar or it's kind of just like we've put ourselves up there and built it to where if you're an adaptive athlete and you're competitive then you can write in join the team and have opportunities to compete at this point like it's we're not out there solicitating it's not our stuff like you want to do it or you don't and if you don't awesome do what you do but if you do we're here for you and it's because look man like i am tired like i don't train people anymore

because i'm tired of caring about other people's life more than they do so it's like if you want help it's there if you want to be coerced into joining like we're not the right non-profit for you like somebody else will put you on a horse and clap for you you mentioned also um that like i think you talked about living in the present but then you also talked about like five and goals you have for like 20 years or whatever what do you want like like what do you see for yourself in the next 10 20 years what do you want to be the president of the united states okay i love it um are you political in any way now? Like, are you involved in your community, state, you know, city, anything like that?

Yep. Nation. Like, I don't know. You have to be, like, 100 years old, though, to be president. No, like, 36, 20 years, 50. I could be done by 65 and enjoy the last 10 years 15 years of my life so you're our first president that we've ever had on a podcast no i'm not present yet and i might not even get there but like that's the goal like to take proper steps to

get there to actually represent like congress is in the future dude what about your past so what everybody's gonna have a past yeah i don't know about yours, though. Okay, fine. So what? You stand up and I do what Eminem did on 8 Mile and just own all my shit? Just throw it all out there? I don't know, man. Like, hey, Trump did it. I'm not saying that Trump's doing a good job, but what I'm saying is I haven't raped anybody. I haven't beat anybody.

I haven't hit a woman. Like, what? You're going to get mad at me for getting underage arrested a couple times for being drunk or getting into a couple of bar fights when I was 20 something? Cool. Whatever, man. Let's look at your shit. Let's talk about what you've done. And like, if people want to get into the weeds about, oh, well, he's this, he's that.

Cool. What's he done lately? Because it's been nothing but nonprofit. But you got hand tattoos. Okay. Guarantee the girl that was nine that got hit by a car going 30, 40 miles an hour that I, I stopped and helped a couple of years ago, gave no fucks about my hand tattoos.

Zero. You know what? Not a single person in the world gave a fuck about my sleeve when I was in Afghanistan fighting like, right. So like, okay, you guys can make it about some arbitrary thing about me and that's fine. Don't vote for me because I'm disabled.

Don't fucking step out because you don't think, but that's your fucking problem. Yeah. Don't vote for me because I'm disabled. Don't fucking step out because you don't think, but that's your fucking problem. Don't vote for him because he's black, right? Go vote for him because he's black. It's all bullshit. People need to stop buying into the horse shit. And when they're ready,

they'll elect people that are problem solvers. And that's when I'll run. Like I'm not there to play dog and pony shit like if that's how politics are going to be then i'll be the guy that starts the fucking revolution because this is bullshit and everybody knows it and everybody wants it fucking fixed and literally nobody knows how because the system is just systemically broken and now we're even to the point of questioning whether the system's being done properly so what's the next logical step well if you believe in the fucking constitution then it's pretty clear so look people will start taking their stuff responsible they'll start like

electing the proper people and things will get fixed and i have faith in that because this is american that's what we do what are some things that you'd like to see changed you mentioned the va earlier like what are some things has the va been good to you has it treated you well has it been shitty i don't go to the va i fly to fucking want to read like the i've every va i've been at i've had to talk to the doctor of the president on summit kind of administrative issue that's just an oversight and it's gotten to the point where i don't fucking care i will change the va from the department of va level or we will work with non-profits to circumvent the system to ensure soldiers are getting the care that they want and it's fucking sad and depressing considering the va gets so much of our budget but if that's

what we have to do if we have to make backdoor drug deals to ensure that guys that get their testicles blown off or or whatever their situation is can have fucking kids, fine. And if I'm sitting in a room full of politicians and they're trying to figure out a way to either be more inclusive with the rules so they can be blanket for everybody and opens the door for healthcare or if I have to listen to guys talk about federal funds being used in a worst case scenario

for too many egg implementations taking into, too many eggs being implanted and taking, taking in that you may have to do a removal. I'm not, I don't fucking care. It's not the same. I'm not having that conversation. So we just find a backdoor workaround and guys will get it done through MTFs.

And there's an extra step, but it's not costing them $25,000 fucking dollars anymore. Is it safe to say that like most of the work that's being done for veterans right now is by former veterans? The positive work that's being done? 100%. It's almost sad to think that without the Vietnam vets that the Afghan and Iraqi vets would have came home to nobody that gave a fuck.

And I'm not saying the civilians aren't appreciative, but the Vietnam vets got spit on and accosted when they got back and they made damn sure that didn't happen to us. And like, it's sad that the veteran community has to take care of itself because everybody that joined

was made a promise. And the public enjoys a veteran volunteer force that steps up and does whatever it wants and then bitches about us doing it. Don't send us to fucking war if you don't want everybody fucking murdered. We're not a police force.

I was a platoon leader for the 82nd Airborne. I was a broad sword. I didn't go into villages and knock on doors. I went into villages. The intent of the regular army is not to go into door to villages and knock on doors i went into villages the intent of the regular army is not to go into door to door and knock on people like our intent is to fucking devastate fucking cities and lay waste so we're not fighting the wars that were intended you know what that's way above my head and that's just in a personal opinion but at the same time like

you don't fucking take a screwdriver trying to hammer in a fucking a painting you know what i mean it just doesn't make sense and like yeah the special forces guys and the rangers guys and stuff You don't fucking take a screwdriver trying to hammer in a fucking painting. You know what I mean? It just doesn't make sense. And, like, yeah, the Special Forces guys and the Rangers guys and stuff are doing great shit, and they're still operational, but their op tempo sucks, and their personal lives fucking suffer. So, like, yeah, we're a voluntary force, and, like, I don't think that the same outreach would have been there had the Vietnam vets not stepped up. And if somebody wants to have a conversation about that, I'd love to talk to them about it.

I'm not saying that people haven't stepped up in the nonprofit world, but like, you know, it's been mostly vets for vets. How can civilians maybe serve America better? Live lives worth dying for. Makes sense to me. Awesome, man. You shared a lot with us. I really appreciate it.

How can people find out more about you, find out more about your nonprofits? I'm on Instagram. Derek underscore Carver, D-E-R-I-C-K underscore C-A-R-V-E-R. Team Samba Assembly Required is on Instagram and Facebook. And there's just some changes coming up in the near

future, so look out for that. YouTube, personal website and all that good jazz. Instagram's primarily it right now it's hard for me to get real deep into the social media world do you have uh do you have different legs for like different things yeah i hate this leg this one's my learn how to walk again leg before i can get back to my you have like what like a knee joint like a socket this is it no i hadgration, so it goes directly into my femur now.

Holy shit. So there's no more socket. Wow. That's what I meant by number 28. Yeah. It's straight in. And then you can straighten the knee out? No, I can't straighten it.

I can control the bend. I can stand. The knee is on a piston system. How do you stand? With the other leg, you stand? No, there's a little bit of resistance and help there. Holy shit. And this is just glue from the band.

Yeah. So, you know. That's wild. You got a fucking piece of metal sticking out of your whole body. Yeah, bro. That's insanity. I've got it in my entire femur. Yeah.

So that's osteointegration. They can look that up. There's a little bit out there and this is a new experiment i'm in the fda study right now yeah you said that you're like what 28 or 28 yeah 34 ever 28 in the study or something like that does it does any of that does any of that hurt yeah every fucking day yeah take a step it hurts stand up wrong it hurts i'm still on a cane after 10 years. The body mechanics is off.

Like, I don't have a quad or a hamstring, so my glute medial hasn't engaged. I just got my left glute to engage after 10 years. Like, my adductor and abductors are acting as hamstrings or quadriceps, and they're significantly underpowered. So, like, there's a lot of, disparity in the way they uh they fire in the the weight of the leg and the length of the knob when you go to stand up does that side hurt when your body goes to like settle it depends on leverage and temperature and like the step and

the angle mostly angles pressure hurts and fatigue hurts what about the other side yeah the same i get swelling like you can't see any vasculature. That means I'm holding a lot of fluid in my legs right now. Something you've got to just try to manage all the time. Yeah, hydrochlorothiazide, sometimes LASIK in emergencies, trying to get it off just because it gets dangerous with DVTs and stuff.

The right side with the scar, there's poor venous return. Yeah, and what about the skin and stuff? Is the skin... No, I don't have any. There's no feeling or sensation or temperature here. So, like, it's just... You don't feel anything there?

Nothing. I can, like, if they push super, super hard, I can feel the bone. Your muscle, okay. But, like, you can feel, like, feel that right there. Oh, wow. That's a piece of shrapnel that's just under my skin. It's about the size of a nickel. They just left that in there because it's cool.

Well, it's right next to a nerve, so if they pull it out, it could impact the way the leg functions. Yeah. And it's cool it's right next to a vein a nerve so if they pull it out it could impact the way the leg functions yeah and it's fucking cool it's a pickup line in a bar yeah oh yeah i got five of those fucking piece of a bomb in my leg yeah and my leg hey now so yeah i mean it's just like like i keep saying man like everybody's life is different everybody's got like a different like there's. Everybody's life is different and everybody's got a different... There's 8 billion people on the planet. Take two seconds and you can learn something from everyone.

Try to be a good person. And it's okay to be a shitty person. Just try not to live your life as a shitty person. What about having something like that, a leg like that, that is performance enhancing like uh years ago it's like the blade runner dude or whatever yeah that for bks so there's a huge difference between ak's and bks bks below the knee amputees guys like casey mitchell like uh there's a couple out there um those guys they they lose some mobility and pivoting, and they're missing a foot. But with that second knee,

they're significantly higher functioning with more muscles. Think about the number of muscles between your hip and your knee joint. You guys talk shit back and forth. We call them paper cuts. Yeah. I mean, they're like, you know. You're like, come on, bro. That's not that much.

I'm just a hater because I'm jealous of the dude's knee because I'd rather be a double BK than a single AK. I'd rather be missing both feet than missing one knee. And that's like, you can run in the Olympics missing two feet. You can't run in the Olympics missing a fucking knee. And that's just bottom line. And there's downsides to having being a double BK because they're in chairs and I can hop.

So it's not all like, it's just like, what are you trading and what are you getting? When you're doing CrossFit, how were you able to, you know, like were you able to?

I do leg on, leg off. I haven't done CrossFit since the surgery. This is brand new in the last six months. You take it off pretty much for a lot of stuff.

It depends. Like if I did anything hanging, I'd have to take it off because there wasn't the length. Anything pressing, do it leg on anything over a 315 i anything over 225 i had to have both legs on to do it safely for reps what kind of lifting cred you got what kind of weights were you putting up at your strongest bench highest like recorded 505 um seated deadlift and like the the brits was like 9 30 the fuck is a seated deadlift it's dude it's like you're in a chair it's elevated there's either a straight bar or trap bar and you you lift 18 inches dude i need handicap lifts like this i'm

telling you you think so but it's all upper back. It's kind of a different approach. It's fucking too hard. I liked it, but it's... I mean, yeah, but not... I can over... I was always a pressing guy. I can see... I used to see the dead press over 405. Holy shit.

I did the Arnold one year and did 300 for two reps on a prosthetic. What? There's videos on Instagram of 315 for five reps standing. And then bench press like fours all day.

455. Still pushing that now? I'm scared to go above. I've done 315 but this chest tear was like, I mean, the tore in half tendon came off both ends, bicep and tricep disconnected.

Are you close to full? Are you not even close? I'll never get, I lost 20% of the muscle and have a cadaver tendon. Like, so here's my chest. Like when I flex, like,

like this is all. So like, here's what my chest looks like. Yeah. And then here's what my chest looks like. and then here's what my chest looks like got it so it's like from here to here is just no metal in your body you got somebody else's tendon i'm like the six million dollar man that's like way over budget he doesn't perform we spent 12 and he sucks T-1. No, no. It's like the new Terminator I watch

and she's like, I'm augmented. So I guess I'm just augmented. So I don't give a fuck. You get it? I mean, what? Yeah. This is real life for some people. Take us out here, Andrew.

Make sure you guys hit us up on Instagram at MarkBellsPowerProject, at MBPowerProject on TikTok and Twitter. Mine personally is IamAndrewZ. Thank you, everybody, that's been rating and reviewing the podcast. It's been amazing. I'll read someone's at the end of this one. But, Nseema, where are you at?

At NseemaYinYang on Instagram and YouTube, at NseemaYinYang on TikTok and Twitter. And, by the way, dude, that last thing you said, live a life worth dying for, that shit's just stuck in my head right now. I can't stop thinking about that. Yeah, we got work. We got fucking work to do.

That's what that means. Shit, man. I'm going to go back and listen to this show. I never listen to the show, but I need to listen to some of this stuff and take some notes. That was fucking awesome. Thanks for sharing all that with us.

Strength is never a weakness. Weakness is never a strength. I'm at Mark Smiley Bell. Catch y'all later. What was, uh, that was fucking awesome. Thanks for sharing all that was strength is never weakness. Weakness is never strength. I'm at Mark Smiley bell. Catch y'all later. What up? Poopcast told you powerful, powerful stuff. Um,

I just wanted to take a second to thank everybody that's been rating and reviewing the podcast. It does a ton for the show right now. We want to take a second to, to thank, uh, Timoth nine, six,

one, seven. I'll just call him Tim. Uh, Tim says inspiring and encouraging quote. Thank Timoth9617. I'll just call him Tim. Tim says, inspiring and encouraging. Quote, there's a reason they call Smelly the people's coach. Awesome podcast. Keep it up.

Thank you so much, Tim. You just hooked us up with the biggest thank you of all time. So hopefully this is big enough to say thank you. I don't think it is, but the best we can do is just keep bringing that fire content and, uh, you know, keep trying to inspire and help and, you know, get smelly the people's coach, his message out. Uh, if you listening right now, if you want to hear your name and your review right on air, please head over to iTunes right now, drop us a rating, drop us a review, and you could hear your name on air, just like Timoth9617. Peace.