Mark Bell's Power Project - EP. 376 - Hafthor "The Mountain" Bjornsson "I'll Attemp 530kg"!

Episode Date: April 27, 2020

Hafthor “The Mountain” Bjornsson is an actor and professional strongman. He is the 2018 World’s Strongest Man, multiple-time Arnold Classic Strongman winner, as well as Europe’s Strongest Man. He played “The Mountain” in HBO’s Game of Thrones, and has been featured in several feature films.  Hafthor on IG: https://www.instagram.com/thorbjornsson/ Subscribe to the Podcast on on Platforms! ➢ https://lnk.to/PowerProjectPodcast Support us by visiting our sponsors! ➢Perfect Keto: http://perfectketo.com/power25 Use Code "POWERPROJECT" for 25% off and free shipping on orders of $99! ➢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 ➢Icon Meals: http://iconmeals.com/ Use Code "POWERPROJECT" for 10% off ➢Sling Shot: 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 #PowerProject #Podcast #MarkBell

Power Project crew, welcome to today's show. We have an exciting episode for you today. This episode is recorded on April 23rd and it is with the one and only Hafthor Bjornsson. Just in case you're unaware of who that is, I will run down some quick stats for you so that way you can get up to speed. Hafthor is the 2018 World's Strongest Man and the only person to win the Arnold Classic Strongman competition, Europe's Strongest Man, and the World's Strongest Man, all in the same calendar year. But even if you've never seen any second of a Strongman competition, there is a really good chance you actually have seen Hafthor on your TV screen. He, of course, played The Mountain on HBO's Game of Thrones. And more recently, he has set out to break the all-time world deadlift record, which is currently held by previous and future guest Eddie Hall at

500 kilos, or for us in the States, 1,102 pounds. Unfortunately, he set out to do this before the quarantine and before the lockdown. He was scheduled to do this in competition, but since the lockdown, he's decided to go ahead and still go through with it by doing everything in his home gym by bringing judges to him, by bringing ESPN. And that that's, what's caused a ton of controversy within the strong man community, mainly between he and Eddie Hall. Eddie doesn't believe that this should count as an official world record. He doesn't think it's fair that he can bring everything into his home gym on his terms on his time, but half Thor is still going to go through with it on May 2nd. It's not his fault that everything got shut down. So it's, it's a weird circumstance,

a weird situation, but we absolutely love what half Thor had to say about the record itself and ultimately how he really doesn't care too much about it. He cares more about titles and championships than world records. So overall an amazing conversation. I know you guys are going to get a ton of value out of this episode. Please stick around because the following episode is actually going to be a bit of a response, I guess, episode from the current deadlift world record holder, Eddie Hall. We talked to him and we kind of brought up some things from this conversation to that one and really just kind of get where he is with everything. And that's definitely something you don't want to miss out. And real quick, before I get out of

your guys's way, if you guys haven't already, please head over to markbell.com and register and take advantage of the free 30 day trial. Markbell.com is where Mark Bell posts his daily workouts every single day, a brand new workout for you to follow along with some other information, whether it be a carnivore, nutrition, bodybuilding, all kinds of stuff, just a plethora of information that's currently free if you go register right now. Again, that's at markbell.com. Register, you'll gain access to the entire website for absolutely free for 30 days. And lastly, markbellslingshot.com. We are still offering 20% off the home workout pack. The home workout pack, of course, is any slingshot of your choice and any hip circle of your choice. Throw those in your cart and you'll receive 20% off the home workout pack. The home workout pack, of course, is any slingshot of your choice and any hip circle of your choice.

Throw those in your car and you'll receive 20% off at checkout. Again, that's at markbellslingshot.com. Thank you, everybody, for checking out today's episode. If you like what you're hearing, please reach out to us on Instagram at markbellspowerproject. Please reach out to Hafthor. His Instagram will be down in the podcast show notes. Let us know what you guys think. Ladies and gentlemen

please enjoy the show with Half Thor Bjornsson. Hello? Oh wow. Yeah you're there. Hey you got this microphone working for once. First time ever. I gotta say man you're not very good at this sometimes Andrew. We'll see what happens. Are you frustrated too or is it just me?

I think it's actually just you. You're just really mean. This is really hard on me. Oh, there we go. I need to call HR. My panties are in a bunch. All bunched up. If we had an HR. Wadded up.

HR is Mark. You want a problem? Come to me. That's the problem. Hold on. Let me check with HR. They said to go fuck. Oh my gosh. They said to eat shit. Oh, my gosh.

They said to eat shit is what they said. Again? Okay, this is going to be amazing having Hapthor on the podcast today. Yes, sir. But, you know, we always flip-flop with the things that we like, and we were talking about the Piedmontese steaks and stuff like that. And, you know, I feel like I get a different answer from you guys every single week on what's your favorite. And I feel like my own answers are really shaky.

But I have been obsessed with the Bavette steak from Piedmontese. It's just too lean. It's too tender. It's too amazing. That's the one I'm hooked on right now. How about you guys? It's honestly been really hard for me to, at this point, tell the biggest difference between the Bavette and the ribeye because I really like the ribeye, but the Bavette, it's like, it seems like it's a little bit fattier. I'm not sure, but I don't think it actually is fattier, right? No, that's the thing. That's why I called it the best diet steak because that whole thing only has eight grams

of fat. I don't know how many ounces that is but for damn near 100 grams of protein i think it doesn't make any sense i want to say that that sounds accurate it's like yeah it's like eight grams of fat and i forget what the protein amount is per serving whatever but yeah six if you eat the whole thing yeah it's 96 grams of protein straight to your biceps yeah right yeah it's so filling it tender. So delicious. It does have a little bit like a fattier feel, but it's still lean. I don't know what they did to those cows over there in Nebraska over at Piedmontese.com. If you guys are interested, please head over to Piedmontese.com. That's P-I-E-D-M-O-N-T-E-S-E.com at checkout. Enter promo code power project for 25% off your order.

And if your order is $99 or more, you get free two-day shipping. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a guest coming up. The Mountain. The Mountain. I'm really excited for this. You know, I think that this is a huge event going on in Strongman, this 501-kilogram deadlift that this guy is going to be going for. Man, he looks...

Oh, my God. Man, he looks... Oh my God. Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Should I have my phone on side or like this? Is this okay? Maybe it's locked to being

sideways. Maybe you got to unlock it. Let's see. Oh. How is this? That's good. Yeah, that's better. We can see your face now. That is fantastic. How are you guys? We're doing amazing. How are you doing? You feeling good?

Training looks like it's going unbelievable for you. Yeah, I'm doing well. I'm staying focused, making sure everything is on point. Training has been going, you know, very well.

Can't complain. Even though things could be better considering the world right now with the COVID-19 and everything, this lockdown is always not helping. I haven't been able to, you know, do all the facial that I would like to do. But still, you know, my body is holding up fine.

I'm doing my hot and cold treatments, you know, every day. So that helps a lot. And I'm also just trying to treat myself as good as possible. How do you stay focused with all the noise, especially with this particular deadlift? And I'm also just trying to treat myself as good as possible. How do you stay focused with all the noise, especially with this particular deadlift, this particular event? There's more noise than ever. Like, how are you concentrating on this moment? You know, for me, it's easy. I actually thrive out of you know the negativity that comes along

for me it's actually like a motivation when I have people that doubt me or you know that that even pushes me harder so it actually just it's helping me, which is great. It makes me be even more obsessed with everything, even though it's almost not possible because I feel like I'm absolutely on point with everything. It's still just like, you know, yeah, I think I'm doing everything I can to be in the best shape possible May 2nd. Can you kind of tell us how a lot of this unfolded?

My understanding is that you finished up your training for the Arnold. You won the Arnold once again, and then you were planning on hitting this deadlift. You were going to go and compete and do it at a regular event. And then so how did this part come to be of you trying this 501 kg deadlift out of competition? Like all of strength fans know, people that have been training, you guys know that, you know, when you pick for something, especially something big like this, you know, you don't want to,

you know, I've been hearing people comparing this to the Olympics, you know, you can't compare the things, you can't compare those things together because it's like completely two different sports. I was aiming on peaking for Bahrain. That was supposed to happen, you know, actually already. But because of COVID-19, that got postponed or, you know, they don't even have a date yet for that. So I spoke to the organizer of that event, the World's Ultimate Strongman, and asked if they would be willing to host an event in Iceland where I could actually, you know, try and break the record here.

And they thought that that was a brilliant idea, you know, and would be cool for the people at home that, you know, are in lockdown. It would be cool to bring something awesome like this for them, which I agreed with, you know. And we have been doing everything in our power to make it as legit as possible in my opinion it's even harder to do something that incredible in in a gym rather than competition when you compete you thrive with the crowd, with the adrenaline rush. That gives you the extra, you know, push that you need.

Doing this by myself almost, you know, I'll have, you know, camera people there. I have a doctor there. You know, I have Magnus here, Magnuson four times. Well, there's my referee, refereeing me, you know. You know, having just these few people, but, you know, not the spectators that, you know, will give you the extra rest you need. You know, all top-level athletes,

they know that, you know, competing in front of crowds, that gives you, you know, like, definitely, like, extra 10% power. So, honestly, I'm a little bit worried, you know, that I don't have that. But at the same time, I'm excited. What do you think about the – like some people are worried about the legitimacy of the lift. And you talked about briefly there how that really shouldn't be in question.

But I think Eddie Hall has taken exception to it. A lot of people in Strongman have taken exception to it. Some people are like, this is not good for our sport. They're really connected to this record, and they feel that maybe in some way that this particular competition or this particular lift won't be legitimate. What are your thoughts on that? lift won't be legitimate.

What are your thoughts on that? You know, all the plates are going to be live streamed and weighed on the spot. I've honestly never seen that be done before. It's going to be live streamed on ESPN. This specific lift has been talked about more than any other competition or lift in Stroman

since it started it's getting a huge attention, how is that bad for the sport? I think we are going in the right direction, live streaming stuff, bringing it fresh

to the people. Of course, you know, these conditions aren't controlled by me. I can control COVID-19. And I think, you know, it's more like a personal towards Etienne thing. I think think you know it's more like

a personal towards Etia thing I think you know 500 kilograms is that is like

a legacy for him he won the world so he's man and then he took that record and those two things mean a lot to him and

he doesn't want to lose that record and he I think he just believes that I'm capable of breaking it. If he wants to track it more, he's not willing to let me have it already. That's why he's not so happy about it.

Yeah, when we had Eddie Hall on not too long ago, he admitted on air that he's like, yeah, Thor is stronger than me. However, I don't know if he has the mindset to even get there um how much emphasis do you put on something like that and have you been doing any kind of like um psychology or some any kind of uh like mindset like uh techniques or anything like that i honestly you know i find that a little bit like, I want to say laughable that he thinks I don't have the mindset for it. You know, I literally won every single Strowman competition there is to win in Strowman, at least the big ones, you know, and few of them, you know, many times. I've been on the podium on the World Series, man, since 2012.

You know, I don't think a lot of people can say that, you know. I've worn Darvish Zaman Classic three times in a row. There's actually only one other person in the world that has done that, you know, one that's shown three times in a row, Cito Nusavika, one of the greatest of all time. So for him to say that is you know he i don't know it's just to me it's laughable you know that's all along with that you know on twitch the other day you said that not only would you be able to pull 501 but you mentioned 520 now like do you feel that 501 is in the tank and that you have the capacity to also be able to full pull 522 is your training been going that well because that 470 you did was crazy yeah it felt extremely light to be honest with you i i truly believe that i'm capable of more

than 501 i honestly believe i'm capable of 520 and i I told my, I just started to stream, not so long ago, I'm streaming there to a new audience. And I told them, if I can get my Twits account up to 200,000 followers, I will deadlift 520 kilograms, which is not 520 kilograms. Didn't I say that? Yeah, 520 kilograms, which in my opinion is not, you know, I think it can reach that. I want to, you know, involve the people in this as well, you know, bring more attention to it because, you know, I believe I can pull more. bring more attention to it because you know i believe i can pull more and you know i want to you know yeah you know this is i want to set myself goals high goals and

i truly believe that i'm capable of pulling more than 501 has the uh the 470 been the most you've lifted in the gym thus far? The most I've lifted in the gym is 480 kilograms. I did that a few weeks before the Ardenals, but that was, of course, on 11 bar. But, you know, with a regular bar bar I've pulled 470. When you've been in the sport for more than a decade, you start to learn how your body works, you start to learn how to peak. I also work with a lot of great people. Mike Coates, Australian strength coach, I work with him.

I've been working with him for a few years now. And then Stan Efferty, my nutrition coach, working with him as well for a few years. So having these two great minds with me to help me succeed to this high level, it makes things, what can I say, you know, easier, you know. Do any of those guys that support you, are they giving you a little bit of advice on kind of how to handle the extra noise? I mean, it seems like Eddie Hall is, like, pretty frustrated.

It seems like he's kind of the guy out in front, you know, shouting that he doesn't think that this is right. Are some of the guys close to you, some of the people close to you saying, hey, man, don't worry about it? Or is it maybe something that you'll use more as fuel to help you break this record? I use it more as fuel. You know, these people know me, and they know I'm stronger than letting some words bother me. I've been through more shit than that.

A couple of words from some people are not going to put me down. I've been through more than that, so it doesn't bother me. It gives me more and more motivation to go even further. more motivation to go even further. A lot of people recently just watched the ESPN documentary, The Last Dance. And what a lot of people are learning is that Michael Jordan was not the friendliest person on or off the court. You know, he was so, he was just, he's just a big competitor.

Do you think that you will be branded as that person? Because we see a lot of other strongmen that are making videos together, but nobody's really necessarily reaching out to you to do these same things. Are you okay kind of being the heel of the sport? I highly disagree with you. I've actually done a lot of collaboration with other showrunners. The only one I haven't really collaborated with is at the Hall, and maybe like his close circle.

All the other guys I actually talk to, you know, quite often. So I don't even know how to answer that. Yeah, I guess maybe what Andrew might be referring to is also, you know, there's the TV show that was done by the History Channel. Yeah, I fucking love that. That documentary film is great. And, you know, Michael Jordan, he's a legend, you know. You know, that guy had such a strong mind at such a young age.

And, you know, he's, you know, I like, I mean, when you are that competitive, of course, you know, some people

are not going to like you, that's always going to, and when you get to certain points of,

like, when you get to the, you know, this level, there's always going to be people that

don't like you, and that's okay. You are in this by yourself, you know, you're not doing this for others, you know, this level, there's always going to be people, people that don't like you, and that's okay. You are in this by yourself. You know, you're not doing this for others. You know, if some people don't like you, that's fine. You just, you're doing this for yourself. Thor, how, how have you adopted such a strong mindset? Because I've talked to you years ago, and even years ago, you were still on top and you were still kicking everybody's ass. You're still doing really well, but we had a and uh you mentioned that you've dealt with some depression and some anxiety and you went through some you went through some tough times but i don't you know i don't i don't know you know you i don't hang out with you every day or anything like that but i don't see

that i don't see an ounce of that in you anymore has that have you kind of slayed that dragon i mean i'm i'm a happily married man i found the most beautiful wife in the world she's canadian uh we are i had to had to you know mention that i'm just joking uh but uh we are expecting our first child together uh baby boy. So, you know, life is going great for me. I'm super blessed, super happy. So small, you know, talks, that doesn't bother me. You know, I'm an extremely happy man.

Things are going great for me in life. You know, check this out. Mark Bell texted me. Mark Bell, text me. That legend, he wants me to be on his podcast. That's just like life is going great, guys. I'm curious to know from like in the past when you've attempted heavy deadlifts to now. I know you have like you're working with Stan, you're working with Sebastian.

Has the big change been the people you're working with or has there been any change with like how big you big change been the people you're working with or has there been any change with like how big you are now versus how big you were then like what are some of the biggest factors for you being able to pull so heavy currently i think it's time you know time experience you know you um obviously it takes time to If you want to do this the healthy way, you have to build up slowly. I've been in this for more than a decade now.

I'm still healthy. I'm still going. There are people out there that want to take the shortcut, go all in, and then risk their health and then they might be out after that and then they have to retire um look at Cito Nosevicas you know he he'd competed for I don't want to say like almost

three decades that's insane like if anyone tells me that he is not the strongest man that has ever lived like you are like to me you're not fan of the sport you should know better yeah and to be able to do it that that long uh it requires you to gain a lot of weight for competition so that you can handle whatever is going on in competition on top of having the extra weight you also have to be in really good shape, but then you have to be smart after every competition and drop some weight. I know that you, you go up and down, uh, quite a bit and you, you do build up slowly, which I think is really smart. Is, uh, the Rhino helping you with that? And what is your, you know, what does your diet look like when you're going up and down like that? So I follow like, you know, I follow the stand, you know, stand everything aside, what's the bad.

I eat, you know, very consistent, the same food, steak and rice, carrots, peppers. I put chicken, chicken stock in my meals. You know, I put extra, you know, dextrose, butter when I'm trying to get heavier, you know, and then I might cheat more often when I'm like trying to do crazy things like this, you know. But overall, I'm very consistent, you know. When I'm off season, I just decrease the rice, you know, I eat more maybe vegetables, you know,

but everything is the same. I don't change anything really. I just eat less carbs. That's all, guys. It's very simple. It's all about, you know, it's, you know, that's the thing. So many people it's all about you know it's it's you know that's the thing so many people think there are so many secrets to success you know they think there's I he must be taking triple the acts of creating to

become this strong no that's that's not the case I actually you know it's just being consistent guys being consistent year after year. And hard work, hard work. You know, I've said this many times before, but not many people are willing to put in the work. When I was 20 years old, I decided to block a lot of people out of my life. You know, I sacrificed a lot of things.

I wanted to be a good installment. I didn't go for parties. I didn't stay out late. You know, I just went, I trained, I ate my meals. I did anything to get better. I remember when I first started competing, I had maybe $200 in my bank account. And I saw this machine gun, like a massage gun online. And I was just like,

Whoa, that thing looks great. I bet I would get like 10 times stronger if I buy that. If I can just massage myself, treat myself, you know, in the evenings and recover, I would get battered. That gun of time cost like $150. I bought it. I had $50 left on the bank, bank, bank, bank. But that's what I did. I

always invested in myself and I got battered year after year. It's just hard work. It's nothing else. If you ask people around me how I am i'm literally obsessed when it when it comes to being successful you know one one one one of the you know uh the things that my wife told me today was i was very proud of hearing, was that she said that I had similar mindset like MJ, Michael Jordan. I was shocked.

I was like, wow, really? Because I look up to that guy. I think he's amazing. The guy's a beast. His mindset was so strong. It inspires me. And my wife is telling me that I have similar mindset like him. It's like, whoa, it's mindful.

It makes me proud. You should be proud for sure. Is any of this forced? Like, do you have to force yourself to really do much of these things? Or is it like, no, you know what, this is the goal and I'm going after it with everything I got and I'm just going to be a robot. I'm just going to get it done. Actually, it's not so much no it's not forced um i'm just self-motivated person very driven i just really really badly want to succeed

um that's that's it i think that some people are born with it you know you you look at like i'm mentioning uh basketball players because you know at, like, I'm mentioning basketball players because, you know, I played basketball when I was younger. Look at, you know, Kobe Bryant, you know. His mindset was insane at a young age, you know. There's just some people in life that find something at a young age that they truly love, and they put all their minds and effort into that. There were a couple of things in my life that did distract me.

For example, Game of Thrones. You know, I've been on the podium since 2012. I believe I, you know, I learned and I got better every single year. But Game of Thrones made things a little bit more difficult for me. All that filming, all that traveling, all the time. You know, who knows? Who knows? If I wouldn't have gotten that part, you know, with all that filming,

with all that traveling, you know, back and forth, maybe I would have won World Series Man more often. Who knows? I don't know. Like, you know, all I know is that I know is that it was very difficult at times. Very difficult. Do you feel like right now, especially with how you're progressing in Strongman,

you mentioned that there's a longevity aspect to it. How long more do you expect to be competing? Or how long more do you feel that you can how many more wins do you want to get before you retire let me just ask that yeah i don't know to be honest with you i don't know um i honestly don't know um i'm at the point in my life that i'm unsure i'm not really sure um i would love if you know world sports man would do things differently you know um i feel like their athletes are not put in first place their athletes are probably put in like

10th place which for me is a little bit like off for me um so i'm not really sure at this point you know i i understand um i i've felt that way for a long time about strongman and i don't even So I'm not really sure at this point. I understand. I've felt that way for a long time about Strongman, and I don't even really know a ton about the sport. I've just been a fan of it. But in watching it, I've always kind of wished that they would change the events up a little bit more, make it just a little bit more athletic so that you guys don't have to be 400-plus pounds. It just can't be super healthy, you know, 400 plus pounds. It's just, you know, it just can't be super healthy. And it would be more fun as a fan to watch somebody carry something a little further distance. It's kind of hard to wrap your brain around. Like,

I don't know what a, like someone might not know what an 1800 pound yoke would feel like. And then you see the guys not carrying it that far because it's so damn heavy it's impossible to carry it far it's like uh it would be kind of neat to watch them race you know 50 yards with it or something like that is that uh is are those some of the different things you'd like to see maybe they add in uh just a flair or touch of athleticism or or what are you speaking about? Well, what I would love to see different with WorldSoxMen is more community to the athletes. The athletes, this is my experience with WorldSoxMen. Some athletes might get events before others,

and then athletes find events out through athletes and to me to me that's completely BS that's unfair to other athletes and and then for example you know you they you know might not invite some strong guys because of Paul Paul you know because of you know someone didn't like this guy whatever you know I don't know. It's just like some things in World Series Man needs to be changed. That's just, you know, how it is. I would love if they would try to live stream it, you know, doing this TV show. It's just 2020, guys.

You know, things have to be live streamed nowadays in my opinion as my opinion probably a lot of people disagree with me but you know in my opinion I think it should be

at least you know shown you know much faster you know yeah and

there are a lot of other factors that I want to go deep into you know but you know there are things that could be done much better. Athletes find out locations when the competition is being

held online, you know, and fans find it out before athletes, which to me is ridiculous as well. So it's just a couple of these things. And then they might misload some of the equipment, you know,

which is like, that can happen at World Series, man. It's just a couple of these things. And then they might misload some of the equipment, you know, which is like that can't happen at World Series, man. It's supposed to be World Series, man. It's just a lot of things that, you know, I wish would change, wish would be done better. Yeah. Do they have a – does Strongman have like a committee at all? Because it seems like that would make a lot of sense to have like a players committee, you know, something along those lines. Committee? Sorry, this is where my English is.

Yeah, yeah. So your English is great. Do they have anything where you guys get to speak your piece about like what Strongman should look like? Or even legendary Strongman guys, are they able to voice their opinion and say, hey, this is wrong, we should change some of these things? I mean, there are people involved that have voices and they can speak their opinions, you know. But athletes, not so much. When you break this record,

do you think that'll cement you as the strongest man ever? No. You know, Cedrón Savickas is still the goat. He won Arnold Summer Classic eight times, World Series Man four times. Having a record in one lift doesn't make you the strongest person ever um in your mind what makes sojourner savickas the strongest you mentioned the eight titles i think he won the world's strongest man as well four times but what was it about his game like was he just he just didn't have a weak point or how did you see it for me it's the titles that he has won and also how long he stayed like

at the top you know he was at the top for more than two decades you know um it's you know anyone that is you know knows a lot about strongman should all agree that Sheep Turner is the strongest man ever. If you disagree, I don't know. It's just laughable to me. Are there any other records other than the deadlift record that you're trying to break? Because there's a lot of different strongman records out there. And I believe that you're strong enough to probably hit up others. Are there others that you have strong enough to probably hit up others are there others

that you have your eye on other than this so i've always been into winning titles that's always been you know it's like if you watch the documentary from about mj he was always about winning games that were nothing else married to him won't win the games, you know, win the championships, you know. For me, you know, I want to win the titles, you know, because that lasts forever. Records are always being broken. Yes, it's good to have a record. And, you know, one of the reasons why I'm trying for this record is because a certain thing is, you know,

these records are getting more attention than the titles i think it should be the opposite what are uh two things that have really changed your deadlift and improved your deadlift over the last maybe three or four years being consistent being consistent uh hard work, and hot and cold treatments. Okay, hot and cold treatment. That's done a lot for you. Very simple, very effective, guys.

You do that every day? Almost every day. You know, right now right now yeah i've been doing a lot i'm actually extremely heavy now i'm i'm i'm 200 you probably hear my hear my breath a lot i'm 206 kilograms right now that's probably at the heaviest i've been um but you know i feel like of course you don't need any you know endurance for this lift you know, I feel like, of course, I don't need any, you know, endurance for this lift. You know, I'm only doing three, maximum four lifts on a day, you know. So, for me, you know, the extra weight might help me, possibly will, you know. So, I'm just trying to be as strong as possible.

You know, I've been focusing a lot on the deadlift, you know um and doing less of it i'm still like lifting decent numbers and other things but i'm like really really focusing on that has there been any sort of assistance exercise or anything in particular that's helped you uh stay healthy enough to be able to continue to deadlift like this because hamstrings and a lot of things your lower back how have you uh you mentioned the hot and cold therapy being being big but is there like an assistance movement or a couple of movements that you've been doing that you really think have made a big difference so one of the biggest exercise you know and i want you guys to listen very very well because this is a big secret for strong back. Okay? If you guys do this, you'll get a very, very strong back.

And it starts with D. Deadlift. That seems too complicated. So to increase the deadlift, you deadlift. It might sound complicated, guys.

But just try it for a couple of years and you probably will will improve that's amazing oh a handful of people have been talking about like the addition of espn streaming it uh like the added pressure are you feeling any pressure with espn coming on board to live stream this? No, not at all. I'm just excited for the sport. I'm excited for the attention the sport is getting.

And hopefully it keeps getting, hopefully the sport keeps getting the attention it deserves. This sport is great. The athletes are great. The athletes are great. The athletes deserve more. Yeah, I just really want to see the sport grow. That's all. Thor, you have a record of the weight being thrown over the bar.

What if somebody was to break that record in their own gym or out of competition? What would your thoughts be on that? I would love it. I would love it, man. I would just be so happy for that person. If it's Don involved in a federation, they have a referee, I would just be very happy for them.

I would just support that guy. Well done, champ. You're the champ. That's all. be very happy for them you know like i would just support that guy you know well done champ you're the champ that's all i'm curious about this too because we were talking about this in the last podcast um when you break this record because you've been looking amazing if potentially they end up saying you broke the record but since it wasn't in competition, it's unofficial. Would that make you feel differently about it? Or would you still be just as happy about breaking it and then you just break it officially later on?

It's unsafe. It's involved, involved, ultimate sermon. I'm doing it as official as it gets, you know. If you guys are so confident

that this is so easy, I challenge you guys to go tomorrow or whenever you guys arrive and get it 501. I doubt there's many people that can do it,

you know. I think no one probably except me. And of course, I did it back in 2016. You know, people are, people, like, it's, people think it's easier in the gym. How is it easier? It's the same weight, guys.

Like, yeah, I'm not traveling, but so did not Eddie. Yeah, I'm using the plates that I use in the bar. You know, same with Eddie, you know. There's I use in the bar you know same with that you know there's no really difference here you know I would perform the same way in my gym as in a competition if some people want to say

it's unofficial it doesn't bother me that's fine say that if I didn't want to still say that he has the world record with 500 kilograms when I break you know that's fine it doesn't with 500 kilograms when I break, that's fine. It doesn't bother me. I'm doing this for myself.

That's all. Whatever people think, it doesn't bother me. This is all done for myself. Did it bother you at all when Eddie Hall talked about your team? Because I know for myself, I don't care. People make comments about me all the time, and I'm in the limelight. I put myself there. But when people start talking about my friends and my team and people around me,

I can't help but have that affect me a little bit. Of course. He crossed the line many times. Of course, he crossed the line many times. When he spoke about my family and even my wife and child, those are the things that I really started to hate the guy. I don't really hate people, but that's just too far. What are you, an eight-year-old? Come on, leave my family out of it. It's between me and you. That's just too far. Like, who are you? Eight-year-old? Like, come on.

Leave my family out of it, man. It's between me and you. Be a man. Don't bring my unborn child into this. This is just BS, man. Grow up. How far along is your wife right now? She is 16 weeks and a few days.

16 weeks and a few days, baby. Almost 17 weeks, guys. Time flies. Are you excited? I'm super excited, guys. I'm so excited. I'm ready to become a dad again. I have a daughter from past relationship that me and her mom don't get along.

And that's one of the things that got me depressed a lot. She's been trying to keep my daughter away from me for many years. And that's been very difficult for me. So when I say that some words, some words doesn't bother me. I've dealt with much, much more difficult things. I've been fighting to see my daughter for years, actually, with many lawyers, a lot of team. But, well, this is sometimes unfair, guys. Yeah. Do you guys know the gender of the baby?

I don't even know if you can check at this time. We do actually. We do. We do actually. What is it called, babe, that we can do that gives us... Non-invasive prenatal test. Non-invasive prenatal test. Yeah. Genetic test. Yeah. It's a genetic test to the blood. So we were able to see the gender soon. And we are expecting a baby boy. I have a beautiful daughter.

She's 11 years old. Her name is Tessa Liv. Lives in Denmark. And we're expecting a boy now. What is the tradition with the names in Iceland? What is the tradition with the names in Iceland? Because sometimes we see the same name being used sometimes, like seeing some of the CrossFit champions that are Icelandic and stuff and seeing some of the last names look similar.

How does it work? Are you talking about the daughters and sons and stuff? Yes, yes. So, for example, my name is Hafthor. My son would be Hafthor's son. If I have a daughter, her name is Hafthor's daughter. Hafthor's daughter is like daughter. So they basically just take our first name and we add like son or daughter to it.

I like that. That's simple enough eddie hall had a had a question um and he he wanted to know um he wanted to know why you know he he thinks that you selected the judge i have no idea whether you did or not but he calls into question he calls into question he calls into question the uh referee that you're using. He said that you, at some other point, said that this referee was corrupt in 2017. So what are your thoughts there? Why does the guy keep mentioning 2017?

He should stop mentioning that because, you know, soon people will figure out the truth. that because you know soon people will figure out the truth i recommend you stop mentioning 2017 because you know it doesn't it's not gonna look good good for you in the end man um that's all that's all i gotta say you know at the if you're listening i would just move forward man uh it's between me and you if you will not call me feel free to call me. We can talk, you know. Yeah, I'm done with this, you know, arguing online shit. What does your training look like coming up? Because,

you know, I think you have to still, you know, run through the finish line. But you also have to be careful here. So are you lifting at all coming up? Yeah, I'm still training, just getting the blood through the body. I train today. I'll rest tomorrow and I train the day after that.

Just light work basically. I did 200-kilogram squats squats today two sets, two reps very difficult that's something that everyone listening can follow along with we can work out with you during quarantine right? yeah yeah yeah booty band exercises yeah just simple things

just getting some blocks and the muscles you know nothing too crazy just staying healthy, staying good you know nothing nothing too crazy just staying healthy staying good you know you mentioned um because i asked you about you know uh how many more strongman competitions you want to try and like world's strongest man you want to try to get you said you weren't sure about that but what other goals outside of strongman do you have because you've been the mountain in game of thrones obviously like probably a bunch of shows would want you to act but like what else outside of the sport

do you want to be able to do and achieve has there been anything on your mind um i like to focus on one thing at the time um i'm obviously like i've won you know euro sports man five times i've won the articles like i said three times i've been on the podium of the world's man since 2012 i won it back in 2018. um there are you know nothing on my mind right now i like to use i don't like to get distracted with other big of a goals like that you know right now my goal is you know 5-0-1 and nothing else you know

is going to distract me so I I that's maybe another thing that people do wrong they have too many big goals going on and they get distracted and then they might not reach their goals you know it's okay to think about things and write things down and have them in your mind but don't They get distracted and then they might not reach their goals, you know.

It's okay to think about things and write things down and have them in your mind, but don't get too much caught up with too many goals at the same time, especially not these big goals, you know. That's at least my opinion. That's how I've done things in my life. Yeah. It seems like you do a great job in kind uh kind of quote unquote living in the moment and i think that that's you know not enough people are practicing that um how did that come to be how are you able to do that

that's a good question i i think i'm just gifted i don't know yeah it doesn't seem like you're not you're not too worried or concerned about like stuff in the past you're not letting that bug you and things that haven't happened yet you're like i don't really know you're just working this thing i'll tell you this this thing we can't control the past the past is already you know like we can't control it you know it's you know if going to be in your past, it's just going to make you miserable because we all go to ups and downs. And usually people think about their downs more than their ups. That's just how life works, you know.

So why, you know, stay in the past? That's not going to get you anywhere. You know, I only see forwards. I have high goals for myself and I only see forward and I drive forward every single day. I push hard every single day, no matter what. You know, I just try to be the best man I can be. Best father I can be.

Best husband I can be. Best athlete I can be, best husband can be, best athlete I can be. I try to treat people as well as my knowledge has. And that's it. You only can do as good as you can. And

if you try to better yourself every single day, you will get better. I know on your when you said you were going to do every single day, you will get better. I know when you said you were going to do 520, it was to gain some attention on your Twitch stream. But is it important for you to break the record by more than one kilo, or are you okay with that? To me, it's important.

Like I said, I'm doing this for myself. I'm happy with 501. Like I said, titles are doing this for myself. I'm happy with 501. Like I said, titles are more important to me than records. But, you know, like I said before as well, you know,

records are getting more attention. And that's why I set myself a goal. Well, I'm gonna deadlift 501. Why only one kilogram more? Because it's just like I don't have a reason to do more. Unless, you know what, guys?

I'm going to set myself a new goal here live right now. Because Mark Bell has so many subscribers and he's so well-known in this world. is so well-known in this world. If I get to one million subscribers on YouTube, I will deadlift 530 kilograms. How about that, guys? How about that? Let's make it happen.

Come on, now. Let's go, guys. Let's go. Yes. What are some of your favorite meals? Let's go! What are some of your favorite meals? You were mentioning that at this time you're allowed to have a little cheat meal here and there. So what are some of your favorite things to eat? My cheat meal would be a high carb meal, for example, a pizza.

But I always eat my meals. I eat my steak and rice. But, you know, for example, yesterday I had a buddy of mine over. I ate my steak and egg. And then half an hour later I ordered a pizza. And I ate the whole pizza. And an hour and a half later I had another meal. This is how I get heavier, guys. Is that difficult at all? Or do you kind of like do you enjoy

throwing down that amount of food i get excited when pizza comes to my door that's going down that's going down i know uh a few years ago your uh the side of your face was uh was kind of numb i think you uh suffered from some uh bell's palsy and you mentioned how it was kind of difficult to eat because it was so hard to chew all the time but it looks like uh it looks like that's cleared up are you doing okay with that yeah it's cleared up quite well actually I still have to get better though I have some nerve damage still in my right cheek. Is that from lifting? You know, it just happened one day.

I was actually going through a lot of stress during that time. A lot of stress during that time. That was the time when, you know, when the mother of my child explained to me that I would all of a sudden not see my daughter again and I felt like just I felt like the world was just collapsing you know and everything just went against me um and I think just the stress because I was fighting to see my daughter. I did everything I could. You know, I was trying to, you know, text her. I was blocked.

All my family got blocked, kicked off, you know. Everything just was in lockdown. I got, you know, my lawyers tried to fix things, but it didn't work. And just imagine, guys, if you had kids and you get to see them, you get to interact with them, call them, speak to them, everything's fine, and then all of a sudden, everything is taken

away. Your life is taken away. You just collapse, you know. Awesome. Thanks for sharing that with us. I don't want to take up any more of your time. We're super excited. We're rooting for you. Hope you get the record. Hope everything works out the way that you want it.

And congratulations on the new baby. Keep everybody over there safe for us, huh? Thank you so much, man. I appreciate you guys. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me. Thank you so much, man. Appreciate you all. Thank you, guys.

Thank you. And peace and love to all my fans, thank you so much you guys thank you and peace and love to all my fans guys i love you guys catch you later later mountain see you catch you later man thanks again take care bye guys oh my god so 501 then 530 yeah we gotta get him he said a million yeah i think so we could do that hey guys get him to a million so we can get that 530 because honestly i We got to get him. He said a million. Yeah, I think so. We can do that. Hey guys, get him to a million so we can get that 530. Cause honestly,

I don't think he's just saying that. I really believe that he can do it. Yeah. Go over there. Why would I? Why not? Call, see,

you know, call his bluff, man. There's a guy who knows, there's a guy who knows a lot about himself, huh? Dude, like,

isn't it amazing? We talk to these people and, you know, um, these, these, these men and women that we have on the podcast are always known for these feats. They're known for what they do. But then to me, I'm sitting there listening to this. I'm like, this guy is brilliant. a really high level of intelligence and knowledge about himself that I feel that I feel like a lot of times other people may never get to. Like he's really discovered a lot about himself. He had to go through a bunch of different things, but that's awesome to know all that stuff. Simplest thing.

What's the next goals that you want to achieve? I'm not thinking about that. I'm thinking about this one thing. I don't think about too many things at once because I'll get too distracted. thinking about that. I'm thinking about this one thing. I don't think about too many things at once because I'll get too distracted. If all of us just kind of use that, so many people would just pummel stuff that they want to do. Yeah. How many of us are like, we were in the middle of reading one book and then we're like, oh, check out that book. Oh, but wait, check out that book. Or we see somebody pop online. They got a great physique. Like, oh, I'm going to try that diet. Wait, I'm going to try that. Oh, wait, what about this one? I'm going to try this strength program. That looks really cool. I want to do bodybuilding oh wait what about

CrossFit right and you end up trying all different kinds of stuff and you end up not really getting anywhere yeah like I said on the previous podcast before we did this I mean he goes on the Mount Rushmore you know like basketball it's gonna be Jordan you know strength sports is gonna be half Thor especially especially when you put it like when you like get to know who he is in this mindset dude like it's amazing how much did he say weight 206 kilos what is that in pounds i'm not the person to ask maybe someone in the chat room can answer that for us i feel like that's like 440 they'll let us know that's a big boy he's probably going to gain some steam too coming into his friday game he'll probably be 210 or 208 gain some steam i like that man i mean it just seems like uh it seems like it just doesn't matter seems like it

doesn't matter whether he makes it or doesn't make it because he's going to get the lift yeah you know like maybe not on this espn live stream maybe not at this very moment but he will get that record you know he will make it happen what what i love is because like we were just talking to ross edgley right he's doing this for himself he's not doing it for anybody else it's not an external thing this is all internal and that's why i'm like oh okay it's almost like a foregone conclusion he doesn't give a fuck he's just gonna do it for himself it makes so much more sense because you're like why would ross edgley hurt himself so much with these swims and these runs and stuff um but he's not looking to his left he's not looking to his

right he's not looking ahead at anybody else he's not looking behind him he's focused and honed in 100 on what he's interested in and then we know asking thor like hey is any of this forced that's why i asked him that because i'm i'm kind of fascinated by this idea of like it's as simple as finding something that you're super interested in and his interest is not waning and he's gonna just he's so interested in increasing the deadlift that he just continually deadlifts all the time, regardless of some of the factors that can happen when you deadlift off in your back, your hands, your lower back, you know, your hamstring and so on. Yeah, 453 pounds. Damn, dude.

Wow. And he's jacked. That's what's so scary. Thor looks like a massive bodybuilder. Okay, he's really not yeah he's not i mean he could be super lean in a real short period of time i mean i've seen him with abs before and stuff like that he's he's amazing he's always been so uh gracious with his time and then he answered all those questions so direct like i feel like i can just act sometimes we have certain

guests i i you know out of respect i i don't want to ask too much stuff but i feel like i could ask that guy anything i asked him about his bell's palsy i asked him about his kids and it just feels like nothing's off limits because he's just going to answer it straight up exactly yeah and if i could reformulate the question that i had asked him it would be more like the mama mentality right like he wasn't really making friends while he's in the middle of competing because he is so hyper focused on that goal and then he kind of went back and actually said that like yeah being compared to mj because of the mindset so i'm like that's kind of what i was asking i just asked it

wrong he's a little he's a little isolated you know i think he's a little i i see i see what you're talking about and he might not feel that because he's got a lot of good people around him but um you know i was about to kind of talk to him about the History Channel show. You know, the History Channel show. He wasn't on it. He wasn't part of it. And so you're like, well, that's weird. Like, why wouldn't the world's current world's strongest man, you know, be on there and things like that?

But it could just have to do with his location. I mean, there could be a lot of reasons. But it doesn't seem like he doesn't feel that way because i don't think he cares that's so great right just you didn't even notice i have to love that dude why are you playing with the other kids you're like huh there's other kids here you know like okay yeah like no i was over here playing you know doing my own thing one thing i really like though because every time i've heard thor talk about these attempts he never uses the word attempt and i don't think that's because of his english or anything he says i'm going to pull this i'm going to pull this i'm going to pull 530

he's never i'll attempt 530 that's never a thing because i'm pretty sure that in his mind he's gonna fucking get it either way yeah he never said like i'm going to give it a go or whatever you know yeah i mean he convinced he convinced us i think it's a foregone conclusion obviously that it's a it's an all-time world record for a reason so him actually hitting the lift and you know nailing it on that day is going to be very specific to his training and everything he's done leading up to it yeah man yeah big time fan now that was so cool thanks for setting that up mark i'm fired up man i i you know like almost had nothing else to say after he called me a legend i was like what the like what is this about you know like i just

man the accomplishments that that he's had and and the the titles that he's won and i mean it's just he still might just be kind of getting rolling you know who knows who knows what he's capable of and and again like you know i know followers and stuff that's not all that matters but he has like three million on instagram his twitch is growing he's been on a big tv show this is going to be on espn i know there's a bunch of strong men that are saying that this isn't good for the sport, but if you look at all, like from an outsider looking in, I don't see how this could be bad for a sport. You know, like he has the opportunity to be like the Andre, the giant of like strong man, you know, like, uh, you know, many, many years ago when Andre, the giant was a professional wrestler obviously Hulk Hogan you know was a huge

part and and he kind of helped put wrestling on the map um but part of the reason why Hogan was so big and such a big deal was because Andre the Giant was there I mean he was he was a big draw but just imagine you have this this kind of like walking giant six foot ten 450 pound billboard that represents your sport all the time who has uh you know who is who is kind who is open who's transparent but i just i just think it's great like i don't think there's anything negative coming from it i do understand the other side i understand people being frustrated with hey you can't like, you can't just go and do that shit in your garage. Um, but people have been saying that about stuff, uh, for many, many years. Like, I don't think people thought you could work from home, but you certainly can. Like, why not? You can do your job from home. I could do my job from home.

Why can't he do his job from home? I can do my job from your home for sure right now yeah yeah and then also just to kind of be like playing devil's advocate i'm wondering if other strong men are concerned that this might set a precedent for other strong men to set up the perfect scenario to break another record i don't know what do you think yeah i just think that um i i think that it probably just wouldn't like it sounds like to me it sounds like he's got all the stuff in place for it to actually be sanctioned so it's not a it's not a regular competition because i think it's party of one um i mean if i was him i would just uh tell my buddy to lift the bar and then it's a competition you know someone somebody else lifted something and there's a first and second place winner,

I guess. But like, I just think it's, I just think it's irrelevant. We're just in some different times and people are going to have to get used to stuff like that. Cause it could potentially happen in other sports. I mean,

they were talking about with basketball, they were talking about like playing horse. I don't know if you guys saw that, but like, have seen that they actually did that yeah yeah they've they've done that with some of the nba players and i think you can kind of play along at home or so i forgot how it worked but um there's gonna be a lot of weird shit happening because you can't really pack the stands the way they used to and and who knows what will happen moving forward but um i think with our technology and different things, I think you're going to see some of this stuff. You're going to see more of this stuff in the future for sure, 100%.

Yeah. What do you guys think? I was going through Eddie's mind, especially when, you know, he was saying that it was laughable that, you know, the mindset was really that important. Yeah, no, I thought that was great i thought that so you know if you're to try to think about your your feelings right like you try to think about uh somebody says something to you and then you start to feel a certain way and you try to interpret why you felt that way so so so somebody says uh okay eddie, Eddie Hall actually knows Thor, right? They, they know each other. So it's, it's like, it's like if you, it's like, if you said to me,

um, you know, you don't have what it takes to bench 500 pounds again, I would just be like, that's ridiculous. You saw me bench 500 pounds a bunch of times. Like we know each other. like that's ridiculous you saw me bench 500 pounds a bunch of times like we know each other you've seen me lift you've seen me do it like i've done the lift in front of you several times so i think i think to him he's just thinking wow that's actually like kind of funny like that's the only way you can think about it the other thing is he can take that information and use it to um to be like a negative and to be like a weight on him. And he can say, how dare you say that about me? I can't believe you would say something like that to me. Like why? Like, um, and, and allow it to hurt him and allow it to like, kind of hurt his feelings.

Like, uh, you don't think I have the mental toughness to do that. And then it just kind of, it just blows up. It like implodes. It doesn't, it's not as effective. Now you can also take that information. You can say, you know what, when the time's right, I'm going to take those words and I'm going to shove them right down your throat, you know, and you can kind of make people, you know, you can make people eat their words. And those are things like I've lived off of stuff like that forever. I love stuff like that. It's, it's great. It's great. It's like, oh, that guy said that about me.

And then I hold on to it. But it is a little dangerous because it does, again, it does carry some weight to it. You're better off being like, oh, that's funny. Oh, you don't think I can run this podcast? That's actually really funny because I've been into music. I've been into technology. I've been in all this shit forever. And this is as simple as me clicking on a couple of YouTube videos to figure out. Obviously it takes more than that, but you get my point to get started, right? Yeah. I already crossed their names off.

Right. Just kidding. But yeah, I mean, is there anyone have any doubt, like even in the live chat room, any doubt that he's not going to do this or that he's going to do this? No. And honestly, I like in the podcast we do with eddie he i think he said thor is strong enough yeah he did but like you said he just think he doesn't think he has the mindset to do it so he he didn't say that he doesn't think he does he just wasn't sure he wasn't sure yeah he's like does he have the mindset who knows like i this is an interesting thing because i think a majority of people are really like backing this dude. A majority of people believe that he can do it.

And the primarily, I think the people believe that Thor can do it because Eddie did 500. Because when you remember when Eddie was doing the 500, no one thought Eddie would be able to do it because it's what 30 kilos above the record. That's ridiculous. But now that we've seen 500 and we see Thor, we're like,

yeah, Thor can do it. So, so i mean at the end of the day the belief that he's getting right now is kind of paved because of eddie hall oh 100 and he's gonna do it because of eddie hall one way or the other kind of you know like whether it's in spite of eddie hall or whether it's because eddie hall set the set the bar there you know it's i'm i'm super excited super excited for it. I think it's awesome. And the way he was talking about some of those bigger weights, the 520 and the 530, I mean, we're really starting to get into some astronomical weight. But I think what allows Thor to say that it's laughable, I think, is also the amount of work that he's put in and the amount to say that it's laughable i think is also the amount of work that he's put in and the amount of victories that he's piled up so if if um let's say that

he hasn't won a championship let's say that he's never broken a record and uh let's say that a couple of times when the game was on the line he lost um there's a few shots of um well there's more than one example but there's an example of head-to-head eddie hall and hapthor bjornson going at it doing stone loading and boom boom boom they're neck and neck and they're going at it and they're super close and you're like holy shit both these guys are strong and you know you know which guy has the advantage with the heavier stones and and and you're like, holy shit, both these guys are strong. And you know which guy has the advantage with the heavier stones. And you're like, holy crap, this is getting to be really cool. They start out and they set out the lightest weight on the highest thing.

And you realize, okay, Eddie's shorter. And so it's going to be really interesting to watch how it plays out. But just methodical, consistent, setting them up, boom, boom, boom. Not over and not anticipating what the other guy is doing all the stuff he talked about not worrying about what someone else is doing focused on himself Thor picks up the second to last stone sets it in there perfectly Eddie Hall's trying to go a little bit faster to try to gain a little ground and his ball kind of roll rolls around in there Thor is you know loading the last one on and he he beats him uh just by a few ground and his ball kind of rolls around and there Thor is, you know, loading the last one

on and he beats him just by a few seconds. And those things can go, you know, one way or the other, but that's a testament of like, no, that guy, that guy's got, that guy clearly has the mindset to do it. And, you know, I think I've been kind of talking about this a little bit more recently where I think that, you know, mental toughness is a little bit of a misconception. I think that it's, it's, it's, have you done your homework is more of what it's about. Have you, have you continually sent your body, your, your body, mind, and spirit, have you continually set it the right message? Have you sent it the right message over and over and over and over again so that when in the chips, you know, when the chips are down and it's time to party and it's time to really make sure that this thing

happens, whatever it is that you did, that it happens, you know, that does not have a lot to do with me being like mentally tough. It has to do with me being prepared. It, you know, you lay out this body of work and this is like, I can't mental, you can't, and I love jujitsu as an example, because you can't, I can't mental, I can't out mental toughness and see me. He's going to, he's going to tap me tap me out you know 50 times in in 50 seconds probably right like it's not gonna it's a skill it's a skill acquisition and yeah your mind is kind of your mind is definitely part of it but it's you gaining the skill acquisition acquisition that tells your mind fuck yeah i'm gonna be able to do this without any problem and that what you just said there makes me think of like people to kind of i guess some people would try to play devil's advocate

advocates of what you're saying because they'll be like oh in competition you know there are certain competitors that never win even though in training they're really good but then i think of all the stories of like a lot of competitors that at the beginning when they were getting to those stages they were losing but the more they ended up getting there the more they ended up actually winning and there's like a bunch of jujitsu guys that lost and lost the worlds or whatever but after things clicked now they're unbeatable so that's the thing it's being prepared getting yourself there maybe not being you know victorious a few times but then getting there enough where now you're prepared to actually win that that makes so much sense about the mental toughness thing, though.

Yeah, Jay Cutler getting second I don't know how many times, and then what, four times? Yep, yep. Yeah, the mental toughness is more about just being able to knock things down with facts. You're like, okay, wait a second, that fact came at me. He said I'd never win Worlds. Let's see, hold on a second, that fact came at me. He said I'd never win worlds. Let's see, hold on a second.

So maybe if I continue to train the way I have been, maybe he's correct because I only go to jiu-jitsu three times a week. And I'm banking on the fact that I think I'm genetically gifted. I don't lift weights. You start to break it down and she starts to think like, okay, those are actual facts. And that's not even hurtful because that's the truth, right? I know the truth can kind of hurt you, but again, that's not a, that's not about your like mentality, your, your mental, your mental toughness. Now I do understand there are some things that,

you know, if, if, if all three of us are like, you know, running sprints or something or we're lifting and we encourage each other, you might get a little extra. You know, say we're doing sets of 12 on squats and on rep number nine, I yell for you. It might give you a little zip. It might give you a little boost. But that is so minor in comparison to the decade of training that happened before, all the things that you've put together beforehand. And those things, you don't see like a body of work kind of unraveled necessarily in like a, you don't see it unveiled, I should say, like in a repetition or in a set, unless it's like all out, all in competition,

right? Unless it's like something really crazy where the intensity is through the roof. That's where you'll see it. And that's where, that's why I'm fascinated by CrossFit. I know, you know, talk about the race to zero followers are really going to have none. I talk about CrossFit, but when I watch Rich Froning and Matt Frazier and Colleen Fotch and some of these amazing CrossFit athletes, I'm amazed by that part of it. If you watch the documentary they did on Rich Froning, he's outside all the time when he's a kid playing baseball playing football him and his friends challenging each other like running sprinting jumping over stuff building shit and you see that when he wins

four titles um in in the crossfit games you see all that come out you see all that unveiled because now what is he doing oh he's climbing a rope like how like how many kids grow up probably not even really climbing a rope at all except for maybe in pe yeah he was probably climbing ropes all the time because he's like running around doing crazy shit all the time he's like he's been kind of uh prepped for that so you could say oh man rich froning man he's super mentally tough man you see him on that rope climb it's like he he's he's prepared what what i absolutely love about that is you know somebody listening right now is like well shit like i'm not mentally tough it's like just put points on the scoreboard for

a couple years in a row and then you'll see just like he said with a deadlift yeah how do you get a bigger deadlift deadlift that was pretty dope But yeah. Just like you're saying, I'm so happy at those answers because his answer wasn't like, oh, shoot, this year I did this and I added these movements and then boom, it went up. The whole essence of what he was talking about was consistency and years of work. And I love hearing that from him because that's not the thing people do like to hear. People like to hear, what are the things I can do right now so that I can skyrocket? And then he even went into the point that, yeah, I don't like it when people do things too fast. He literally said that. That's one thing to understand right there. Don't fucking try to go too fast. Don't try to improve too fast. It's a long game. This whole bodybuilding, powerlifting, strongman thing is a long game.

Treat it that way. I think he's a genius, man. If you go back and listen to that podcast, I mean, I think you should go back and listen to that podcast and take some notes. I don't even know if he studies like stoic philosophy or looks at like buddhism or anything but you'll find all the things that he mentioned in there they're they they all are are part of these uh philosophies and these things that have been around for thousands and thousands of years um man it's it's cliche to say like live in the moment but like there's a guy who's really

truly embraced that and it probably helps to have like a goal. I realized the goal is like, you know, days out. I realized it's like, it's in advance, but he's just doing what he can every single day, every single minute. And he's like literally in that moment, he's not really looking too far ahead. He's not looking behind and he's not, I find it, you know, interesting, you know, how, how you can build up so many, so much anxiety over something that hasn't happened, you know? And I think some of the definitions you'll hear sometimes for anxiety, they'll say it's, it's fear over things that haven't happened yet, but I don't even like to use the word yet, because I think yet is implying that you think it's going to happen and you shouldn't think it's going to happen. Anxiety is fear over things that haven't happened,

period, right? So why, it's easy to say, right? Because then something happens, right? Something bad happens and you're like, oh shit, then you get, your mind starts filtering through, oh, well, what if this happens? That'll make it even worse. And what if that happens? That'll make it even worse and what if that happens that'll make it even worse but anyway what a brilliant podcast the other thing he said was talking about how when you look back at the past you most often are looking at the things that are shitty and that was fucking i was like whoa like that's really true yeah like we might talk about like hey remember when you bench you benched that way or something, right? There's a couple of things, you know, that,

that you might, but we'll, we'll do that as a group to like pick each other up and to say something nice and to have something fun and funny to talk about, talk about an old story. But when you do it with yourself, you're not like, yeah,

that was bad ass. You know what I mean? It's always like, yeah, I really fucked that up. Yeah. I remember that. That was a rough time. And you just kind of go down that. What if You know what I mean? It's always like, yeah, I really fucked that up. Yeah. Yeah. I remember that. That was a rough time. And you just kind of go down that. What if that happens to me again? What if I do that again? You know, and then you just kind of, your mind is off to the races in the wrong direction. And how often when you're super anxious for something

and you build up all this anxiety, how often is it like, oh, okay. That wasn't as bad as I thought. Yeah, absolutely. Every time. Yeah. I was talking to a friend the other day and he, you know, cause we were talking about kids and he's just like, dude, you're, you're just, you're building it up way too much. He's like, you're going to love it. So it's like, okay. But you know, talking about this, it was like, damn, yeah, that makes a ton of sense. Cause it never ever ends up being worse. Right right you always make it the worst thing ever and sometimes you just say it's going to be bad say it's going to be bad say it's going to be bad and then it ends up bad and maybe just as bad you will it into happening like it sounds kind of uh does people do that shit you know not half thor not half 530 kilos uh everyone could see that if they just go over to

thor's youtube and sign up we should i'm gonna make a post about it we'll say go over there and sign up because he said that he would do this 530 kilos and then we could make a liar out of him you know if we go over there and we do it and the motherfucker misses it, we can be like, yo, dude, you need to pay up. Like, what was that about? Yeah. That's some bullshit. Right.

I wonder if he'd, I wonder if he'd feel pressure at that point. Probably not. Nah, he probably doesn't feel anything after all that pizza that he keeps eating. I love that. He goes to pizza. That's my shit too. I love that he didn't let anything be a challenge though. goes to pizza that's my shit too i love that he didn't let anything be a challenge though like he didn't like uh his i've interviewed him a couple times now and that his mindset has gotten

better and better with with with how he deflects you know then that's where your mindset could come in is is how you're deflecting or how you're reframing what somebody's asking hey is the eating hard nope like hey is like what you know what do you do for you how do you build up to a deadlift like that like i deadlift anything changed in the last couple years i do a hot and cold bath and then i deadlift yeah i bet you if we would ask like have you tweaked anything in training nope i feel great like i said in the beginning i feel great that's probably what he said all right and, take us on out of here, buddy. Thank you, everyone that checked out this live stream.

Sincerely appreciate it. We do stuff like this all the damn time. Right now, this isn't our normal studio. If you guys never seen an episode before, we're actually at Mark's Beach House here in Bodega Bay, California. Normally, we're in West Sac, California. But with that said, we always have amazing guests. So if you guys can, please hit that subscribe button. We would sincerely appreciate it. And if you're finding this on itunes please drop us a

rating and a review and please follow us on instagram at mark wells power project at mb power project on tiktok and twitter we're on youtube facebook linkedin we're all over the damn place if you guys want to reach out to me my instagram is at i IamAndrewZ. And Seema, where are you at? And Seema Inyang on Instagram and YouTube. And Seema Inyang on TikTok and Twitter. Mark? Is Facebook going to be awake and YouTube going to be awake tomorrow morning at 5 a.m. for us to go live on those channels with Eddie Hall? So, 5 a.m. our time is 8 a.m. Eastern time. So, I'm pretty sure Facebook and YouTube will be awake. Maybe you got to call them up. I don't know.

The guy is definitely not. I know Zuck. Okay. That's why I got this. Okay. So I don't have to call the guy because the guy is definitely. Zuckerberg. Oh, no.

A lot of people don't get that reference, but hopefully they will. This is so funny the way that guy said that, right? Yeah, that. And then also, for those that are catching this live, it is April 23rd. You have from today till tomorrow to save 15% off all home equipment at MarkWellSlingShot.com. Don't let Mark cut me off.

All slingshots, all hip circles, all apparel, and all sport knee sleeves are 15% off right now until tomorrow. So please jump on that right away. Damn, dude. You're giving everything away. I'm giving away all your money. Sorry. Oh, my God.

I'm at Mark Smelly Bell. Thank you guys so much for watching. Everyone said their thing, right? Everyone did their sign-off. Strength is never a weakness. Weakness is never a strength. Catch y'all later. Bye.

Peace out. Where's my stop this drink?