Mark Bell's Power Project - EP. 352 - World's STrongest Gay Rob Kearney

Episode Date: March 25, 2020

Rob Kearny is the “World’s Strongest Gay”, 2019 Australia ARNOLD Strongman Champion, and current American Log Press record holder. He is a World’s Strongest Man finalist, and one of the top ambassadors for the LGBTQ+ in strength sports. 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 "POWERPROJECT" at checkout for 25% off your order plus FREE Shipping on orders of $99 ➢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

Power Project crew, what's going down? Today we have an awesome episode and it is the last episode that we recorded when we were down in Columbus, Ohio. And again, this Arnold Classic wasn't supposed to happen. It technically didn't happen, but it kind of did. It was all very confusing, but I'm so glad we decided to make the trip after all

because some of these podcasts we recorded were incredible. And even though this is the last one it most definitely is not the least one it is with the world's strongest gay rob kearney rob kearney is an openly gay strongman competitor uh you've seen him on joe rogan you've seen him on the rogue stage competing amongst the elite athletes in the strongman game and overall he is an amazing dude. We had a blast with Rob. It was so cool getting to know him,

getting to hang out with him, really learning his origin stories and where he came from. And I think you guys will find a ton of value in some of the questions that we were asking him to which only a gay man would be able to answer and be able to answer correctly. Hopefully we didn't offend him or

anybody with some of these questions, but the way he handled it so charismatically just really shows that how awesome that this guy is. This episode is brought to you by Piedmontese Beef, the best beef in the universe. Like I keep saying in the past, this whole trip, we had tons of steaks from multiple steakhouses. None of them can compete with some of these Piedmontese steaks. I highly recommend the Flatiron steaks, but really anything from Piedmontese is going to be better than anything you can get anywhere else. Head over to 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. Please find Rob Kearney's social media links down in the YouTube description or the iTunes show notes. Give him a shout out. Tell him what you guys think about this episode and please, please, please enjoy the show.

You're just going to get more jacked if he drinks Stan's water. Yeah, that's probably true. So I don't know if you're aware of this rob but super training gym is the strongest gym in the west have you ever heard that before i have not oh well that's been our tagline since the beginning since 2006 okay super training gym strongest gym in the west but the tagline that most people don't know about it's shared more internally is that we're the gayest gym in the world true super training gym strongest gym in the west but gayest gym in the world wow yeah did you not you didn't know this no obviously i need to you know kind of catch up on my gay culture a little bit apparently right

i'm out of the fucking loop apparently right we're a mecca for it all right anyway it's great to have you on the show today thank you so much i appreciate it congratulations on uh getting on joe rogan's show that was super cool yeah it was cool it was a lot of fun totally surreal were you were you nervous or was it like too like too different to where you didn't even have time to get nervous type thing it was just kind of chill you know i mean joe's um you know exactly how he is on the podcast is how he's in real person in real life you know so um you know it's funny i just like asked him on instagram if i could come on he was like yeah cool let's do it yeah he's like sure that's kind of all i was and you're like huh yeah it was totally by chance i

didn't really expect him to answer or even read my message but it was a shot in the dark And yeah, he got back to me and we kind of planned and threw it together kind of last minute. Did going on that change anything for you? Oh, yeah. Like my social media obviously blew up. It more than doubled my following on Instagram. So I'm just under 100,000 now. So getting kind of famous. Yeah.

Is there, you know, are things uh have some things happen that are kind of unexpected you know from being on the show yeah i mean i think like the biggest thing is my the latest sponsor that i got is actually these guys gym shark nice um they like yeah which is crazy like they reached out to me i'm not a fitness guy no like they reached out to me and i was like well you guys realize i don't have a six-pack, so there's one thing. And they're like, yeah, no, that's fine. They're like, what do you know about Gymshark? I was like, you sponsor a lot of hot dudes.

That's pretty much all I know. And I guess that was enough for me to get a sponsorship deal with them, which was pretty cool. And then, yeah, that's probably the most surprising thing that's happened. You're in uncharted territory right like you're you're a strongman competitor and then you're openly gay so like there there must be like are people asking you questions that just seem so weird like hey what's it like to be gay and to be a strongman like it it almost doesn't make any sense right because it's like well you don't know anything else is the way you've been yeah no i get that all the time i also get like people say like well you can't be gay you're a strong man i'm like what does that mean because i am yeah uh yeah you know so i get that a lot and um you know i think

it's just a lot of like this preconceived notion that like gay men have to be like flamboyant and weak and can't like show masculinity. And that's kind of one of the big things that I've been trying to, you know, change ever since I came out back in 2014. You know, my husband and I, we started using like the hashtag breaking the stereotype on Instagram and social media, just trying to like change the conversation of what people think gay is. Because, you know, before I had the rainbow mohawk and people saw a ring on my finger, the first thing they'd say is, oh, what's your wife's name?

And it's awkward for me to say, well, his name is Joey. So it's always kind of- His name is Bob, he's over there. So people, I don't present quote unquote stereotypically gay. And so people just automatically assume that I'm straight. And so that's one of the kind of things that we've been really focused on is

changing that conversation a little bit. Yeah. What I love about it, like you competing with the big boys is like, uh, you know, game changers try to do something with their strong man. And it's like, I've never heard of him, never seen him. Don't know where the hell he competes. He doesn't. Right. Okay. So, so then you come in and it's like okay he's openly gay he's a strong man it's like oh what is oh he's at the arnold competing right now amongst the best in the business so it's like not only are you making a huge like a statement but you're putting a fucking gigantic exclamation point on it by saying yeah i'm one of the best also that's fucking huge it's weird yeah i never thought I'd be doing this.

Right. Right. You know, I started when I started competing, you know, 10 years ago, I competed under 200 pounds. Um,

and I worked my way through the entire amateur circuit up to this level. Um, so when I started, like, I never thought I'd be competing at the Arnold or world's strongest man. So how do you do it? Like, honestly,

as an, and as an undersized strong man, how did you approach that game? Seeing that? What's your body weight? Yeah. Uh, so right now I'm saying I'm like five, it, like, honestly, as an undersized strongman? How did you approach that game seeing that you have? Yeah, what's your body weight? So right now I'm 5'10", like 285. So, you know, I'm consistently the smallest guy at every competition. And, you know, so when I got into the game, you know, I started out and, like I said,

so I competed under 200 pounds from 2009 to, 2011 um did that probably helped a lot being smaller not having the leverages to start out with in the first place yeah so it taught me like just i had to get technically good at the events you know i don't have that size advantage that most of these guys do where they can just muscle through and use that brute strength right like i'm massive i'm tiny compared to these guys and so i need i need to be like technically perfect in these events for me to compete at this level. So starting out in the lighter weight classes that helped me along, you know, and then making the 200 pound cut when that got pretty tough. I ended up taking second place at nationals in the 200 pound weight class in 2011. I cut from like 220 down to 200 for that show.

And I was like, all right, well, let me, you know, I did pretty well. Let me jump up into the 231s. Ended up getting my pro card in that division, uh, in 2013 and then competed as a, as a two 31 or 105 kilo pro until 2016. And then that's when I was cutting from like two 55 down to two 31. And I was like, yeah, all right, this is getting too much. I want to start eating. And, uh, yeah, I made the jump up to heavyweight in 2017. You mentioned earlier about kind of want to change some of the dialogue and change some of the things that that people may perceive about people that are gay. Like what are some things that maybe frustrate you that are like kind of misconceptions? Maybe I think like the biggest thing is like that I come across as just blatant ignorance, right?

A lot of people, I still get a ton of hate mail on social media on a daily basis. Just like what? Like, well, give us an example. I mean, well, we'll just go real life. Last night I was crossing the street with Derek, my husband, and you know, and Poundstone, my coach,

him, his wife, and Joey and I were crossing the street and as we're crossing the street with Derek, my husband, and Poundstone, my coach, him, his wife, and Joey and I were crossing the street. And as we're crossing the street, a car going by just screamed faggot as we're walking across the street to my husband and I. And I get messages like that on Instagram all the time too. People saying that they wish I would die. People saying that I should just quit. I should stop using this political agenda to get fame in the sport of strongman because I suck, which I don't. So, you know, Not that bad, right?

No, it's fine. I thought you were doing pretty good. Tied for six this weekend. It's not bad in the arguably one of the biggest competitions in the world. So I'll take it. Yeah, it's not horrible. No. Hold the American log press record.

I mean, you know, I've done some cool things. What is that? What is that like? You know, somebody. Okay. Somebody making a comment on social media like we all get that. You know, I have never in my life had someone yell something crazy to me out of a car. You know, what's that like?

You know, for me, I have a pretty thick skin, you know so i i can shrug it off and it doesn't really bother me um and honestly like i use it as motivation you know because to me like there's no bigger fuck you to that person than me winning and me succeeding in this sport um when they are you know calling me out for being openly gay or saying that the only reason i achieved this level is because i am gay and the sport is using me as a political platform. You know, it's like, no, like if you do, like I'm actually good at this and I work my ass off to get strong and to perform at this level and do these things that people thought I could never do. And, you know, for me, it's like I use it as motivation to get through

everything. And then on the other side, you know, I still get the amazing messages of support and love on a daily basis as well. So I'm seeing out of both sides of the coin. It's kind of a weird thing because you wouldn't even have to talk about it if it wasn't for the people that hate on it so much, right? Like it wouldn't be a thing. You wouldn't, you wouldn't have to say, Hey, I'm trying to just be open about it so that way I can share information. So people don't try to beat people up in the street because that's just absolutely ridiculous. But if it wasn't for those people hating on it, you can totally be misunderstanding of something.

For sure. That's fine. I could say, huh, I think that's strange. I have the right to think that. That's different. I wouldn't do that myself. Those are all, I think, normal feelings that people might go through. But once I start trying to, you know, inflict violence on somebody or ruin somebody else's happiness,

well, now we have a real problem. And because of that, somebody like yourself has to come out. Somebody like yourself has to have the Instagram name that you have and things like that to draw attention so people will calm the fuck down. Yeah. You know, and I think another big part of it, too, is like I think LGBTQ visibility in pro sports is so underrepresented from the competitive standpoint. You know, when you look at professional athletics, there really is on the men's side of the ball. There's no out gay men competing at a high level in any mainstream sport

right now. And I think, you know, not saying strong man is mainstream by any means, but you know, we're getting a little bit more publicity where you could help us out. People that's, you know,

that's a guy you could probably pick them out. Actually, my gaydar is horrible. It took me fucking 22 years to realize it for myself. So, um, I was wondering what that peeping was jesus um so i don't even know what the fuck i'm saying the visibility of the athletes yeah so um you know with me being so open and honest you know with my relationship and stuff

like that it's just like for me it's it, you know, young boys and girls, regardless of your sexual orientation, you can achieve amazing things. And I think it's because, you know, like straight people don't get that, you know, because being straight is so normal and everybody just sees it as, you know, the social norm. And for those boys and girls that are questioning their sexual, their sexual orientation, like they feel like they don't have anybody they can relate to. You see Tom Brady kissing his wife. It's like, okay, that's normal. But you don't see a man kissing a man. So if you're a little boy that loves playing sports, but you may be gay and you're questioning yourself a little bit, you don't see that as

something that's attainable. And so that's one of the reasons why like Joey and I are so open about our relationship on social media. And we, you know, talk about, you know, how happy we are and that we love each other and that, yeah, I'm one of the strongest dudes in the world. You know, so we just, we're just trying to normalize it a little bit more. And it's funny, you know, cause like world's strongest man, like they'll post a video of like, you know, they'll do like an athlete interview and they'll post about, you know, Thor and Kelsey. And or they'll post about some of the other athletes and their significant others and stuff like that. And they get like amazing comments like, oh, my God, this is so sweet. Like, you know, it's so good to see them.

And then they like post something about me and Joey. They're like, we don't fucking want to see that. We don't care about their sex lives. Why are they posting this dude? Like, you know, it's like, oh, but like, you know, you know you post straight couple it's totally fine but because it's me and joey you suddenly have a problem with it um and that's something that we deal with all the time as well you know probably it's probably great that it's to the demographic that it's to though as well because maybe they maybe they're resistant to it because they're not exposed to it as much

and maybe that's the you know maybe that's the problem like uh even like being in like middle america maybe it's not talked about as much as being on the outskirts of america being in florida being in california being in new york you know these bigger cities uh where there's more like beaches and there's more you know there's more people from more different areas that move to those areas because they're so nice uh you have just a huge diversity of people. So maybe those people are already kind of used to it. You know, I live in California, been to San Francisco, you know, even being around here last night, I saw some gay folks around town. I will openly admit, and I don't have any shame in admitting to you that I still, when

I see it, I'm uncomfortable with it because I'm still not used to it because I'm not from California. I didn't grow up around it. Where grew up it was never talked about you know i didn't know anybody that was gay our our family uh i didn't i didn't know of anybody being gay until i got to be like mid 20s and i found out my aunt was gay and that was my first kind of reference to it and i was like oh okay well people just into different things i'm accepting to it. And I was like, oh, okay. Well, people are just into different things. I'm accepting of it. Yeah. But again, like just seeing two guys last night downtown kissing on the street, I can't help.

I'm the same way when somebody is in a wheelchair or when somebody's super tall or when someone's insanely short or someone's insanely fat. Like I am a flawed person where i'm like oh my god i do it when straight people kiss too so it's fine yeah when straight well if straight people are like making out right you're like that's anybody feel like yeah you're like what the hell's going on over there right and so uh i i don't have any problem admitting that i think that a lot of people will try to like hide that or like i don't see color and you know bullshit yeah it's like fuck you yeah yeah thankfully you don't see color that's why we were hired that's right yeah holy shit i just realized there's a black dude here oh one question that i like i mean obviously i'm not like uh you know keeping tabs on like oh what

what do gay people have to deal with? But I would remember like a couple years ago, even people being like seeing somebody on TV or, you know, out in public. Why do they choose to be gay? And I'd be like, excuse me, I don't think that that was like, oh, let me look at my life. Hold on. Let me want to be. Do I want to be looked at differently? Do I want my life to be a little bit more difficult than normal?

Yeah, I want to go that route. Are people still being ignorant and asking that question? Like, dude, why do you choose to, you know, like, dude, really? Absolutely. I get it all the time. People saying like being gay is a choice and all that stuff. And, you know, like, you know, I got a lot of flack for saying this kind of stuff on the Rogan podcast. Like, you know, I got a lot of flack for saying this kind of stuff on the Rogan podcast.

But like the majority of people I get that from are like the ultra religious groups, you know, and I'll preface this. When I was on Rogan, I said Christians and singled them out. It's not just Christians. It's all different religious demographics that attack me. You know, and my argument is always this. It's like, you know what? To me, like sexuality is not a choice. Right. Like, I'll be the first one to say, like sexuality is not a choice right like i'll be

the first one to say like i had a straight phase and i fucking hated it you know and you know and i realized like that was making me unbelievably unhappy and that's when i you know realized my sexuality finally came to terms with it and came out as gay like this pussy thing is overrated man i don't know what the fuck let me try that shit again okay let me try it again hold on one more time let me try more okay no yeah no yeah so now with strong man and coming off of rogan are you having a bunch of chicks like hold on well you haven't been with me so no that hasn't happened really no no all right hopefully the power project army well if you guys are a super gay gym i hope i don't get a bunch of girls.

Yeah. You never know. I get a bunch more dudes. Yeah. So sorry, Joey. No, I really want to mention this though,

because I am Christian, but like the church that I go to, there are gay people that come to our church and I want it to be known. Like there are, there are sex of the community that are just really, really fucking mean. Yeah. Like,

and it's not right like gay people are not going to hell i i want people to understand that so not all christians are like that and i hope if the because i know a lot of your audience is going to listen to this not all christians are jackasses like that because i see a lot of them just like yo you're an asshole and i totally get that like and like that's a majority of like religions are not like that right and it's like listen like i i'm not a religious person um but i i respect everybody that is and i have no problem with that whatsoever you know it's it's when those people are attacking me for my life that's when i have an issue with it you know and that's when things you know that's when i'm like dude, like you're fucked up too.

Like, don't, don't act like you're not flawed and you're perfect because nobody is. And, um, you know, that's, that's usually just like the issue I have with it. You know, I could give two shits. Like, you know, people are always like, oh, why do you have to post about, you know, like your husband and like being gay. I'm like, okay, why do you have to post Bible verses? Like, I don't come after you for posting that shit. I don't mind seeing it. It's not affecting me anyway.

Like do your thing, man. That's, I don't come after you for posing that shit I don't mind seeing it it's not affecting me anyway like do your thing man that's I don't give two shits yeah I almost wonder if people have just not even thought some of these traditions through you know my dad my dad is very religious but my dad is also kind of the first one to say that sometimes there's like just dumb tradition yeah that's not even really religion you know like so if so if you're a Christian and you believe in God and you believe that you know like so if so if you're a christian and you believe in god and you believe that you know he's your lord and savior and some of these things and that you conduct yourself a certain way to get this like passage to heaven and stuff like that well then where in the hell do you think gay people should go like they're not allowed to

go to church like yeah like did anybody think about this like just because of their sexual preference or you know uh somebody even that has slightly different beliefs they can't uh they they can't earn the right to still be a good person they can't like it doesn't really make any in my opinion doesn't make any sense there's a lot of shitty religious people yeah so yeah and just shitty people period yeah exactly doesn't matter i want to know because mark was actually um he asked about the community in general and we know that like you know people are just going to say stupid shit but how about specifically athletes in the community like athletes in the strongman community when you came out in the community did you receive any resistance from no that's amazing

so that's like the thing about strongman and like that's one of the reasons i love it so much like this sport is so close-knit you know like every all of us like to be to be at this level we all understand it's a lot like powerless and what you went through like you understand the shit that you go through to achieve this level in the sport and we just have that mutual respect for everyone that we all worked our asses off to get here and it does nothing else really matters as long as you can show up and compete that's the only thing that matters on the day. And, you know, my best friends are in this sport and, you know, we only get to see each other a few times a year. And every time we get together, it's like a family reunion where we just hang out, we get food together, we chill and just catch up on life.

And that's been the coolest part about everything. on life and that's been the coolest part about everything and you know ever since i came out like joey comes to virtually every single one of my competitions with me um and he's been dubbed the unofficial president of the strongman wives club so he is in charge of planning social gatherings for him and the girls when they get together while we're doing our thing um you know the best story about that is like we're in the philippines for world's strongest man in 2018 and the Philippines sucked. Like it was like one hundred and five degrees and 90 percent humidity every single day. And so we go out, you know, the first few days of World's Strongest Man were there and we're doing like medical testing, equipment testing and like just all this stuff for TV.

And it's just work nonstop for like two or three days. And we do our testing and we're walking back and we're we're walking past the pool and there's joey and all the wives laying in hammocks drinking pina coladas i'm like you motherfucker like i'm working my ass off and you're on vacation that's cute you know i've always been wondering something so with uh gay females and gay males as well sometimes you'll see one partner take a characteristic like with men sometimes you'll see a male have some what would be maybe considered female characteristics and sometimes vice versa with women sometimes a woman would be labeled as being like butch any idea on like why that is or

why that's a or is that a misconception about like am i no there i mean there's definitely like some like gay men that are more feminine than others. And, you know, like, I'm not a feminine gay man. You know, I'm pretty masculine. And I think it just comes up from, like, from growing up, you know, like, you idolize certain people, right? And, like, gay men usually tend to, at an early age, attach themselves to strong female characters because they relate to them, right? And they just have that connection. attach themselves to strong female characters because they relate to them right you know they and they they just have that connection and i think that's where a lot of gay men like you know

you know for you know in my generation like growing up it's you know looking at pop icons you know britney spears christina aguilera beyonce um stuff like that like we attach ourselves to those female characters they're strong they're independent and they you know we just kind of relate to them and i think on the other side of the coin, lesbian women that tend to be more masculine do that with male characters as well. So I think that's kind of where that all stems from. And it's funny, we joke around.

My thought process is like, well, if you're going to be into dudes, why wouldn't you be into a guy that's more like a guy? They're really hot. Rather than a guy that's more like a girl, I guess i guess is my you know well it's also because we're jealous because they're getting with the guys that we think are really attractive so it makes sense real quick what what are your thoughts on duane wade and what he is open about his son maybe even being um uh what's it called uh transgender sorry yeah yeah so she actually just came out as trans um and is now going by her okay um i think it's amazing you

know duane he he has uh you know watching his interview on ellen um being just so open and understanding and willing to learn as a parent is so inspiring. And it's something I think a lot of people need to take note of, you know, he has been so nonjudgmental from the start. And, you know, as a 12 year old kid, um, he is open to their feelings, um, how she wants to be respected and has done everything that he can as a dad to set her up for success. And it's been, it's really, really cool to watch. You know, he actually just posted today that she had her first red carpet appearance. Um, and he was so supportive and so excited for her to, to finally like live as her true self. And that's, I think, you know, as a parent,

that must be one of the most exciting things you can see for your kid to finally like be happy and experience that to be themselves. Um, you know, like I said, I didn't come out until I was 22 and it took me 22 years to really like truly be happy. Um, so, you know, to go through that and to have a, such a supportive parent, um, I think what he's doing is absolutely amazing for the LGBTQ community. What led you to come out? So I touched on it before, like I was in a relationship with a girl for about a year and a half. And really, I don't know what it was. I just kind of woke up one morning and realized how exhausted I was because I had been dealing with it. I had been having these feelings and I was just like putting them in the back of my mind

and ignoring them for such a long time. And at the age of 22, I realized, you know, I was just really, like I said, I wasn't happy and woke up one morning and I broke up with my girlfriend that day. And I told her straight out that I was like having these things and I was having these feelings and I need to figure my shit out. But do you have feelings about a guy that was like close to you at the time or anything? Not one specific guy, but it was just like these feelings that I needed to explore. I needed to explore my sexuality and figure out what the fuck was going on.

And, you know, fortunately, pretty quickly after that, I ended up meeting Joey. And, you know, we kind of obviously hit it off pretty well because we're married now. Yeah. So yeah. And, and honestly coming out, coming out was because of him, you know, so we started dating in September of 2014 and he had actually, he'd come out when he was in high school. So we were both 22 at the time and we started dating and about six weeks in I realized it wasn't fair to him to be dating somebody who was still closeted after he'd been out for five years already and that was kind of the motivation for me to come out because i had also once i'd realized i was like oh yeah this is definitely what i'm into um you know i was like why am i gonna fucking hide it you know at that point i was 22 i was like you

know what if nobody likes me they can go fuck off you know i'm comfortable i'm happy with who i am and i don't need any of that you know if they don't like me for it then you know what? If nobody likes me, they can go fuck off. I'm comfortable. I'm happy with who I am, and I don't need any of that. If they don't like me for it, then so be it. Let them do their thing. What about mom and dad? They were great. My mom's sister, she was gay as well. And when I came out to my mom, her response was, I kind of figured when you were dancing with Aunt Pat to Cher

when you were six years old. I was like, well, that'll do it. I think you could call out anybody on that kind of stuff. They'd be like, oh, yeah, remember that time? If you don't get excited when Believe comes on, bitch, you might be dead inside. It's a great song. Thank you. It is.

So coming out to my dad, I was more afraid to come out to my dad. So, you know, my dad is typical, like Irish Catholic man from Brooklyn, New York. And so definitely a little intimidating. And so I remember like it was yesterday, we're sitting in his truck and I was like, you know, I have something to tell you. He's like, all right, what's up? And I look over, you know, cry. I'm like, well, you know, I'm gay.

He takes a minute. He goes, all right. can i still say gay jokes that's the first thing he said so i was like i that's what you're concerned about he's like i mean yeah you happy i was like well yeah i am i have a boyfriend and everything he's like yeah cool so yeah all right that's it i was like all right cool so we're getting lunch now that was it it was the easiest conversation i've ever had that's awesome yeah so i'm i'm super lucky um i know a lot of people don't have it like i do and you know i recognize that and um you know i'm really fortunate to have that support system with me have you seen other friends maybe they do have a good relationship with their family they have a good relationship with mom and dad and then they tell them and that person like is just not like tolerant of it and they don't speak anymore and stuff like that yeah my husband

yeah um you know he came out he came out to his to his family um when he was 17 and you know his his mom and you know she was amazing super supportive um you know and to this day he still doesn't talk to his dad so you know ever since then his dad really hasn't been a part of his life um you know which is obviously it sucks um you know but you know we've kind of accepted that moved on and nothing you can do about it no absolutely and it's you know to a point that's not worth your effort or time you know it's know, fortunately my family, super accepting, you know, so Joey's super close with my family. I'm unbelievably close with his family. And, uh, you know, it's just kind of, we don't lose any sleep over it. You know,

it's not worth any of our effort. You know, I'm curious about this and this might sound like a dumb question, but I know everybody, well, I don't know, but like guys that come out as gays, it takes a while for some people like your boyfriend or your husband was 17. You were 22. Um, and there's probably some younger listeners listening. I'm just curious, like when you were younger, did you have any inclination that I might, I might not be like all these other straight boys, or I might not have those, like, was there anything that triggered that? Or was it when you got into that first relationship and you realized for that year and a half that there's nothing here? Yeah. You know, it's funny that, that, that first relationship that I was in, that was

literally my first relationship. Um, it was when I was in college and, you know, going through high school and everything, like I was always like a busy kid, you know? So for me, like relationships and, and like that whole culture, like that was never on the forefront of my mind. I was always just keeping myself busy with other stuff, you know? So like I played football, then I was also a cheerleader. And then I was lifting and I was class president and I was in a band and like, so I did a bunch of stuff. So that was like, I don't know, like, you know, like girls and that whole thing, like that was never really on my mind. Cause I always had something else to do.

And that's how I was even through college. So and then I got into this relationship, you know, in the end of my college career. And it was, you know, a relationship to begin with. So it was kind of whatever. And, you know, like after that year and a half, I was like, yeah, this is not it. And realize, you know, how exhausting it was every single day to pretend to be something I wasn't. And that's really what what got me to end that relationship and, you know, kind of explore my sexuality and and, you know, accept the fact that I'm gay. Because it took a lot of self-realization as well, too.

I'm gay. Um, cause it took a lot of self-realization as well to, it's a life changing, you know, not decision, but like, um, aha moment if you, you know, kind of to come to that conclusion. So, um, you know, it took a lot of, you know, self-reflection and understanding to really accept myself for who I am, um, before I came out to the world. And you can totally skip over this question if it's too personal but like in that relationship were you guys physical too yes and so like is that never finished once thank you for answering because i was like yeah i'm curious because there has been like i know like i have people in my family that were straight and then they had kids and then they they later were just like i have been so unhappy and it's like do they come out i'm just like holy shit like so i was curious like how the hell did that that go for you wasn't

great and it wasn't very often you know and you know that's like when i look back at it like you know the end of that relationship was more or less like a friendship you know and? And then I find Joey, I'm like, oh shit, this is what love really is. This is what happiness is. Like this is unbelievable. You know, and to experience that for the first time when I thought that's what was happening before that, you know, was like the ultimate revelation and like catapulted me in life to a different place

I never thought I would be. And before you uh came out like when you were younger did you say derogatory things about gay people too just to kind of pretend to be on the other side of it or you any and you or did you just completely not know that you were gay when you were i didn't really know like i didn't pay attention to it you know it was um you know it's funny like i think about it now i'm like jesus i was kind of like an asexual kid growing up like that was never like on the like it just never crossed my mind i actually think that that's really powerful especially for guys

yeah you know you could be really controlled by you know yeah but like it never like really crossed my mind like relationships and sex and none of that was like ever a thought that was actually the same way yeah playing sports like i didn't care about yeah it wasn't an interest to me um and that's yeah so that was yeah so i never really thought about it cool um instead of looking at the negative things like what kind of opportunities do you think have opened up because you came out you know anything like like shit like maybe i wouldn't have gotten a sponsorship with jim shark if i didn't come out is there anything that where you can look at it and like actually see like if i didn't come out maybe that like this awesome opportunity wouldn't

have been available to me i think if i didn't come out i wouldn't be doing this in the sport i don't think i'd be competing at this level if i didn't come out. You know, because I mentioned it a little bit before, like it is physically and emotionally exhausting to wake up every day, put on this facade and pretend to be somebody you aren't. And once I was able to come out and didn't have to worry about all that extra baggage and was able to actually use that energy into strongman and lifting, it completely changed the trajectory of my career. I believed in myself more. I had a better support system that I felt loved by. And just having that was more powerful than anything. And I was able to, like I said, just be myself. And that alone was the most powerful,

life-changing career move ever. And it was just by coming out. Are you going to try to take Strongman to the next level? Obviously, you're pursuing being the best that you possibly can, but do you feel like you need to end up being a little bit more like these mutant behemoths that you see? Or do you think you can win it at the size that you're at now? You know, somebody that I can get my knees done with. Give me a couple inches taller.

Yeah. Well, you know, we can get some lifts in your shoes. Gene Simmons boots. About how tall are you? I'm 5'10". Oh, OK. Yeah. So I'm on the shorter side.

Yeah. Like 285 and you know i always uh at first like when i got to this level i came in at about 280 um in 2017 had a pretty good year and then i was like oh you know i just need to be bigger and i bloated up to like 300 pounds for worlds in 2018 and i looked like shit I felt like crap. And I performed horrible. I was I was weaker. I was slower. And I looked disgusting. So it was like the worst trifecta ever. And I was like, you know what, let's cut down on the body weight a little bit. So got back down to like 285. And I have just gotten stronger while getting leaner at this body weight. So for me, it's like if I can, if I can propel my career

at this size, I'm just going to stay here. You know, if I gain a few pounds, Oh, well, let it be. But I'm not going to like, I don't want to feel like shit. No, I'm not going to like put a body weight that I need to hit. My goal is just to stay strong, get stronger and get more athletic at this size, I think is where I'm going to be most successful. When we had Eddie Hall on, he was mentioning that the shift in his career came when he was able to go from working a lot with Strongman to just only doing Strongman. So do you have other work you do right now along with Strongman? Yeah, I have a full-time job. You have a full-time job? Yeah.

full-time job yeah do you think that you'd be like do you think right now you can be able to get to your goals with that job or do you think you'd need to make a shift along with like a shift to fully doing it so i actually um i actually quit a job um back in june to transition to full time strongman and actually felt that my my performance decreased um you know i'm a creature of habit and for me it was having the the freedom in my schedule it made me lazy so it turned into me just okay so i'm a housewife now and i'm doing laundry and cooking and laying on the couch being a lazy piece of shit and then then like, I'd be like, all right, maybe I'll go to the gym now. And then I'd go do my training and come back and do the same thing. And that's what my day was. And, you know, I do my recovery stuff, but it it took me out of routine.

So I ended up going back to work. And since then, I am more motivated. I am more driven. I'm focused more when I get to the gym because I'm so I work from 7.30 to 4.30 every day. And the gym I go to is an hour and 15 minutes from my work. So I don't get to the gym until after 6 p.m. I'll train until about 8.30 or 9 o'clock at night, get home, and I do that every day. So now it's like, okay, well, I don't want to be at the gym until 11 o'clock at night.

I want to get my training done. So my training is more focused. I work harder when I'm in the gym as opposed well, I don't want to be at the gym until 11 o'clock at night. I want to get my training done. So my training is more focused. I work harder when I'm in the gym as opposed to when I didn't have a job. I'm like, yeah, I'll get to the gym around 10. And Joey's not going to be home till four. So I could be here till three if I wanted to. You know, so like there was no urgency in my training and now there is. So I think having the job, it gives me some more structure.

It gets me more focused and keeps me on a better plan. I just get more out of my training sessions now that I'm on a bigger time crunch. I'm work in an orthopedics office with a non-surgical orthopedic doctor. We specialize in non-surgical interventions of orthopedic injuries. So I do injury evaluations, assist in procedures, do rehab programs, stuff like that. Very cool. And it was awesome. We had very similar, or we had questions in regards to Eddie Hall. So I think we're finally in sync. But anyway.

Great band. Yeah. Yes. in regards to Eddie Hall. So I think we're finally in sync, but anyway, yeah. Oh yes. So when we did have Eddie Hall on, he was talking about how certain, um, strong man athletes, they don't really know how to pivot out of, you know, being strong men. They're just, I'm a strong man, strong man, strong man. That's all I'm doing. Um, he knew he had a plan. He was going to win and then he was going to pivot right out of it and move on to something else. Um, do you have like your future kind of in mind or is it just right now you're so hyper focused on strongman that you're not even giving yourself an opportunity or time to think about life after

competing no i'm definitely opening myself up to some different opportunities right so you know obviously i have the athletic training career that i can always fall back on and then um strongman wise it's it's really leaning into this lgbtq advocacy campaign i think that's going to be where my career leads walk us through walk us through the letters there how many letters we got what we got there's more than i know i just go lgbtq plus the plus is everything afterwards um yeah so you know i think the advocacy thing is going to be where my career leads me to being a voice. I do some public speaking already, do corporate events, school events.

And I think that's kind of be where my bread and butter is after this whole thing. It's something I'm really passionate about. And like I said before, you know, just trying to increase that visibility and professional athletics and just giving these kids a voice and then showing, you know, that's that's where my passion is. You know, I love going to schools and talking to these kids and, um, you know, it's amazing the amount of messages I get from kids that are questioning their sexuality, um, between middle school and high school after I talked to a school and the, you know, some of these schools are small, like, you know, I'll talk to a school of like two, 300 kids and get like 20 messages. Wow. You know, so it's like almost 10% every time I talk. And it's just so, it's so empowering to me to know that, okay, they might not be comfortable

to come out yet, but the fact that they can still look up to me and, you know, look at what I'm doing as a source of inspiration, that's more powerful than anything else. Or even just being more open-minded. Yeah, absolutely. Changing some minds. Well, that's his preference. Yeah. No big deal.

No. It seemed like he was a great guy., shared a lot of great information with us. Exactly. Seemed like he does a cool sport. Well, and the thing is, too, it's that, you know, like, the other thing that I get a lot of messages and praise from is, like, giving small guys some hope. You know, because, like, we look at Strongman, and we see Thor, and the big bastard is 6'9", and I get to compete against him.

You know, like, they're... He's not that good looking, right? No, God, no. Okay, good. I mean, you can't get better, right? No, God, no. Okay, good. You can't get better than this. Thor, I love you. I'm sorry. I think Eddie Hall's handsome.

You know, it's funny. See if we have the same taste. I get mistaken for Eddie Hall all the time. Really? Yeah. I don't know if that's a compliment or not. I think it's probably a compliment. Somebody that was at the contest, they were like, oh, my wife was watching the live stream.

And they're like, since when did Eddie Hall have a rainbow mohawk? Well, he doesn't. So, yeah. Sorry, Thor. I like you. How about this guy? What do you think of this guy's handsomeness right here? He's a handsome dude.

Yeah, he's a handsome guy, right? Yeah. He's breathtaking. Thank you. You're welcome. Some people have a hard time admitting that another guy is handsome amongst men. We do it all the time. It's like girls say it to girls.

Why can't guys say it to guys? Well, my wife will be like, oh, my God, that guy is so hot. She normally says it about people on TV, so that helps. If it's like the fucking waiter or something, then you're kind of pissed. We come here all the time. Not tipping that douche now. Hey, that guy that guy's a loser you know you got to make up you got to make up something bad about for sure whatever but you know i don't have any problem saying oh yeah that guy's a good looking guy he's attractive like there's just common traits right it's well that's the thing it's like okay you can recognize when somebody's handsome it's not like

you want to fuck them right like it's like oh yeah that's a handsome dude doesn't mean you want to sleep with them you don't think they're they're not sexy that's hey i mean it might it's like the louis c case case you know he's like i'm not saying i wouldn't i've just never seen a dick i want to suck but there might be one one day that i'm like you know what i want that in my mouth you know like yeah you just never know right yeah so as you come back as as you were uh as you were getting getting older like is when you started to kind of have more turmoil with for sure your sexuality because when you were young you just you weren't really thinking one way or the other about any of it no like i said it was it was never like a thought to me

you know i was always busy doing other things and it just was never priority so it seemed like it was maybe a short period of time where you recognized that you need to explore some different things and then meeting your husband right it was a quick turnaround it was like i i broke up with my ex in may of 2014 joey and i started date we met each other at the end of august so you didn't so correct me if i'm wrong you didn't have to live with the confusion of kind of which way to go no you didn't have to live with the maybe um you know hey hey when are you getting married you know your parents thinking that you're going to always marry a girl. Yeah. You didn't have to live with a lot of that, right?

No, it was, it was pretty cut and dry. Once Joey and I got together, it also helps that he's really fucking hot. Um, that kind of helps solidified everything, you know,

that, that this is, you know, I'm definitely gay. There was no, there was no questions after that. Within like, I guess your effects so far within the strength community have a lot of athletes messaged you about their sexuality?

Like, athletes. I know you mentioned, like, you know, places you would go to seminars at, but how about that? Yeah, I get a lot, you know, just kind of across the strength world. Whether, you know, not at the pro level, but definitely throughout the amateur circuit, whether it's strongman, powerlifting, CrossFit, bodybuilding, you name it. There's athletes that are messaging me saying, you know, hey, like, thanks for, you know, because seeing you makes me feel comfortable attempting, you know, because the thing is, like, what we do, you know, strength sports is like the most hyper masculine, you know, world of athletics that you could think of like that. And like I talked to Joe Rogan about like UFC. Rightc right so from the outside looking in it looks super intimidating especially as you know coming like as a gay dude you're like that's scary as fuck you know a bunch of big you know juiced up dudes lifting um so it's not like it doesn't look like an accepting environment and

i think like people seeing me being successful at it they're like oh all right cool people seem pretty cool you know it doesn't doesn't look too bad and that's that's what opens the doors for an entire different group of people to come into our world which i think that's the most important thing i was a professional wrestler for a handful of years and when i was wrestling i was also at west side barbell and one of the guys there is like oh you do that wrestling stuff you faggot you know he's saying this stuff and he and then it never bothered me i was like well i'm like i don't care and he's like well he says it doesn't bother you that wrestling's gay you know he would say all this weird all this

weird stuff and i said i finally just said to him well, you know, it doesn't bother me that there's probably a couple gay lifters in here. He got infuriated. He was fucking pissed. He actually left. He didn't finish the rest of his workout. Wow. And then the next time he came in, like we talked about it more. And I'm saying, dude, like just by like the numbers, like there's if there's not someone gay in here right now, like there's someone that comes in that's gay once in a while or some some some visitor or somebody have you ever been in west side barbell

before i haven't actually okay but you know they've had they must have just by pure statistics you know had somebody in there that sucked a dick at some point right true yeah and not a woman yeah right right yeah that's a dude but i i just i just never understood that thought process of like you know getting getting mad about it that's that's where i. But I just never understood that thought process of getting mad about it. That's where I have a real issue. I could understand if you're old school and you got your own thoughts on how things should run or whatever the fuck that is. But I don't understand when somebody outwardly imposes himself on somebody, says something to them outwardly, or tries to ruin their time or whatever that kind of stuff and that you know it's funny like you know like i get that stuff all like i said on social media

happens all the time and there was this one dude that like was attacking me he's like being gay is wrong like it's so disgusting all this stuff and then like i clicked on his profile and like he had a meme about lesbian porn i'm like that's it's the same thing but with girls just because you can't just you know just because you don't like two dudes being together doesn't mean you can go you know jerk off to lesbian porn afterwards like that it doesn't work that way if you think one's bad they're both bad so wait a second if i jerked off to lesbian porn i'm gay no it just what if i like touching myself where does that put me you know oh man this is

it's going downhill it's fine it's i love it it's great you know i don't know if we have time for this but i do i am curious about your opinion on this. As far as transgender athletes competing in sports like powerlifting, right? If a man's transitioning to become a woman, he wants to compete against women. And the spectrum of that, what are your thoughts on it? It's hard. You know, I think in the world of strength sports, you know, obviously the IOC has their guidelines, and they are scrutinized up and down. But to me, I feel like you can't refute science. And I feel that, okay, people have the IOC and feel it's political and stuff like that.

Well, everything in life is. So I feel like they've done their due diligence to try to make it as fair as possible. Will it ever be fair? I don't know. But I think when you look at the most of the evidence shows that, you know, after a certain amount of hormone therapy, if it's followed correctly, the advantages are minimal, if any. And you see a lot of times, there's Laurel Hubbard out of New Zealand, the Olympic lifter. She loses pretty regularly and she is a male to female trans athlete.

And she loses to women. So it's not impossible. I think where it gets even harder is when you're looking at high school sports and stuff like that. Because in Connecticut right now, there's a massive lawsuit going around because in Connecticut, they have the law that you compete as a gender you identify as.

And there are some girls that have lost to trans athletes, so they decided to sue the state to change the ruling. And it's tough. It seems like it would be really tough in like a contact sport. You know, if, if strength is a huge factor, if it's a, especially if it's like MMA, you know, or something like that, someone could get really, you know, someone to get really hurt. You know, it's funny, you know, I got a lot of shit from the LGBTQ community after I went on the Joe Rogan podcast saying I shouldn't have gone on because he's not an advocate.

He's not an ally and all this stuff, which is bullshit because he is, he's an awesome dude. And he just, he genuinely just loves everybody. And that all came about because he made the quote. CNN kind of cut the quote of him saying, you're not a woman. You're a dude in a wig. You're not a chick. You're a dude in a wig, which he did say.

But the entire context of that story was regarding to the fighter who was a male to female athlete didn't disclose that they also didn't follow the correct course of hormone therapy um so when you do that then yeah your physical advantages are massive and when you don't follow the rules i agree with what he said you're not a chick you're a dude in a wig right like i get it like if you want to fight and you want to try to be fair, follow the fucking rules. Here's something else to think about. So just picture that it's in hundred meter, right? Say it's a male going to female, right?

And they're sprinting a hundred yards. Well, if the person that was formerly a male wins and gets a fat, you know, gets the fastest time, what happens when everybody else gets a faster time than they ever got before because they were chasing someone that was better than them exactly i mean you got a pr you didn't get the gold medal you didn't get the trophy is that why you're in it are you in it to improve exactly you know so now it's like you know like if i if i if i was in a competition and I benched more weight because the guy in front of me benched more and it made me try harder, maybe my second attempt matched his second attempt. And even if I ended up losing to him, I would still be pumped as fuck that I got a PR.

Hell yeah. It wouldn't be about the place. It's making you a better athlete as well i think here's what the problem is is when when you rob somebody else of something that they thought they had the right to i think that's when that's when we might run into problems and i'm not saying that anyone's robbing anybody of anything but i am saying that i think that's probably how people are feeling for For sure. If you come into my sport out of nowhere and I was training under these conditions my entire life as a male or as a female and then it was changed and I jumped into something else. I had different conditions and different background than everybody else. Then it might kind of throw everybody for a loop because they thought they had the right to get that under X conditions, male or female.

And, you know, like there is there's never going to be a right answer for this entire conversation. And that's what I think people need to realize. You know, I think it's it's one of those really tough situations where it's like, you know what? There's these trans athletes exist. They're a massive minority. And the fact that, you know, I think it think it's these you know these people that think you know these guys are just or these male to female athletes are just transitioning for a trophy that's what pisses me off more than anything it's like you know what no dude like

you're not gonna go through this torment and this psychological warfare essentially to change your gender and live uh your truth live as your true self just for a fucking piece of metal like the fact that people honestly feel that these athletes are doing that i mean i think that they're the ones that are mentally unstable um just by thinking that people are transitioning their entire lives just to chase a trophy because that's never the case yeah one one thing i think about too i know i think we're i don't know but one thing i'm thinking about too is like really five got it woman um i guess a lot of women get worried about this but to be to be straight i don't think a lot of like elite male athletes or elite biological

male athletes are worried about a woman transitioning and doing hormone replacement therapy to be to for their transition to compete against men because the top elite male athletes are typically not going to have any threat of a woman trying to transition i'm not saying that'll never happen but it's probably not plausible i'm not then there's a lot of women that are stronger than me i'm not saying anything about that i want people to be straight but it's like i feel like this is it's again it's very tough and rationalizing this is difficult but it's it's just it's a lot to think about it's hard it's and i don't like i don't think anybody's gonna have a right answer yeah well if it was a competition for cooking or

cleaning then we might have a mic drop yeah right and the very small female viewership that we just had is now race to zero followers yeah yeah i don't know i like i like triggering people getting people upset what do you got coming up next uh so coming up in four weeks i have the log press world challenge uh so going to be attempting to break my current american log press record um and then after that go into the arnold brazil and then off to world's strongest man what's your uh what's the log press record that you have uh so right now it's 214 kilos so 471 pounds jesus christ and is that an american record yeah yeah and then what's the uh all-time record the world record right now is held

by zadrino savickas at 502 why is is he such a bad ass? He's so fucking strong. Jesus. Is he the strongest man to ever live, you think? Yes. He's a strong... It seems like amongst strongman athletes, they're like, it's not even close. He's won more world championships

than anybody in the history of the sport. He's won three world strongest men, but like eight Arnold's, right? Four world strongest man titles and eight Arnold titles. Yeah, 12. Plus he's won ifsa uh when that was a thing um he won multiple world's championships with them so i mean he has over 20 world championships under his belt the fuck crazy yeah no one's yeah no one's gonna touch that yeah no he's insane who's uh the most

inspiring strong man uh for you as cliche as it is, it's my coach, Derek Poundstone. You know, I started watching him when I was 17 years old and realized, like, he was from Connecticut. That's where I was living. And, you know, just kind of got infatuated in the sport by him and was fortunate enough to start training with him when I was 17 years old. I would drive, you know, over to his gym. I've been to his gym before him when I was 17 years old. I would drive, you know, over to his gym before. Yeah. Yeah.

Fucking awesome. So I would drive over there, you know, whenever I could as a 17 year old kid in high school and get together with his crew on Saturdays and be there for seven, eight hours sometimes. And we just kind of stayed connected throughout the years. And then he started coaching me in the summer of 2018.

What do you have to work on to get a little bit higher placing? You said you finished six this year, right? Yeah. At the Arnold, which is, that get a little bit higher placing? You said you finished six this year, right? Yeah. At the Arnold, which is, that's absolutely amazing. Congratulations on that. What's a weak spot or two that you need to kind of bring up a little bit? The two biggest things for me are my grip and then throwing events, you know? So like, you know, again, being small, like has its advantages in some events, but it really works against me and others. You know, looking at grip, like my hand size is tiny. So just that alone hurts me. And then looking at like throwing events, you know, I joke around like I'm a short, white, Irish, chubby dude.

So I don't exactly scream explosiveness. So throwing things is pretty tough for me. And also being 5'10", like doing a throwing event against Thor to a 15-foot bar, he's literally a foot closer to the bar when he releases the bag. So just those two things are the two events this weekend that cost me a podium finish. Awesome, man. Where can people find you? You can find me on my website, worldstrongestgay.com. Also on Instagram and YouTube at World Strongest Gay.

And then really exciting, currently working on a documentary right now, which is unbelievable and super grateful for that. We're actually running a little GoFundMe project. You can find the link for that on my website as well. Just trying to open the world up to strength athletics and LGBTQ issues. Um, so it's pretty amazing to have that team with me and, uh, working on this project. Awesome, man. Andrew, can you take us out of here? Absolutely. Thank you everybody for checking out this episode. Um, thank you to everybody that's been rating and reviewing

the podcast. It does so much for us. We can't thank you enough. If you want to get in touch with me, it's at I am Andrew Z on Instagram. And then, uh, please make sure you're following the podcast at Mark Bell's power project podcast mb power project on tiktok and twitter we're all over the damn place you guys know where to find us and sema where you at and sema in yang on instagram and youtube and sema yin yang on tiktok and mark oh i almost forgot you said that you uh talk to kids you go to schools what is that uh what does that speech kind of look like what does that sound like and we're back in the podcast. Yeah, we're going. So pretty much a lot of that is based around my one inspirational quote.

So World's Strongest Man 2017, we're told to come up with a quote that kind of inspires us. And I kind of pulled this one out of my ass for some reason. It is, train to become the person they said you would never be. And I kind of extrapolate that to every aspect of life, not just in strength athletics, but how you can achieve amazing things regardless of what might, what you might think be holding you back. And that's kind of my, my overall arching message to, to the younger kids that I talk to. Do you kind of start it out by saying that you're gay or do you start it out by talking about your experiences in strongman or a little bit of both? You know, I talk about my journey of self-acceptance and coming out and then i'll also talk about my

journey of just kind of like overcoming adversity in the sport of strongman as a small athlete and now competing at the biggest shows in the world that's awesome i'm at mark smelly bell strength is never a weakness weakness is never strength catch y'all later ah how do you not love that guy thank you to rob kearney aka world's strongest Gay for being on our show and being so open. And, uh, like I said in the intro, like for so being so charismatic when answering some of our questions, which, you know, maybe some people might think they were silly or just so, uh, you know, ignorant for asking, but I mean, he did it all with a smile and he, I mean, really he answered everything perfectly. So thank you, Rob, for being on our show and thank you to everybody that's been rating

and reviewing the podcast. It helps us out a ton. Right now, we want to give a shout out to Ruben Garcia. Ruben says, very best podcast. Quote, Mark and Slingshot have totally helped change my life to be a better person I can be each day. Not only does the podcast provide amazing information about exercise and fitness, but it also gives great advice on life and how to overcome the everyday challenges we face. They're basically an all-star cast and I look forward to listening to what they have to say each time. I'm super hooked to the podcast and I cannot wait to see what else the team has in store. Ruben, my man, thank you so much for sharing that with us. what else the team has in store.

Ruben, my man, thank you so much for sharing that with us. Seriously, you just helped us out a ton with whatever that took, that 30 to 90 seconds it took you to write that review. If you're listening right now, if you'd like to hear your name read on air, please head over to iTunes right now, drop us a rating and a review, and you could hear your name on air just like our homie Ruben Garcia. We'll catch you guys on the next one. Peace.