Mark Bell's Power Project - EP. 529 - How The Worlds BIGGEST Bodybuilder Got HUGE ft. Craig Golias

Episode Date: May 26, 2021

Craig Golias is a former competitive bodybuilder who has one of the craziest muscle gaining transformations in the sport. Once a 150lb skinny teenager, after several years of training and pushing the ...limits on building muscle, Craig is now a 360lb mountain of muscle. Craig officially retired from competitive bodybuilding, to pursue his own strength & physique goals of being as big and muscular as possible. He is currently an online coach who helps people around the world with their fat loss and muscle building goals. Follow Craig on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/craiggolias/ Subscribe to the NEW Power Project Newsletter! ➢ https://bit.ly/2JvmXMb Subscribe to the Podcast on on Platforms! ➢ https://lnk.to/PowerProjectPodcast Special perks for our listeners below! ➢Eat Rite Foods: http://eatritefoods.com/ Use ode "POWERPROJECT25" for 25% off your first order, then code "POWERPROJECT" for 10% off every order after! ➢LMNT Electrolytes: http://drinklmnt.com/powerproject ➢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 ➢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

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey everybody, this episode of Mark Biles Power Project Podcast is brought to you by Element Electrolytes. What's up guys? So you know how here, you know, all of us love using these electrolytes, pre-workout, intra-workout, post-workout, love? Love? Did I say love or love? Love.
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Starting point is 00:00:23 I'm going to start using that word now anyway, But what I was going to say was, as far as performance, I used to think, because I used to do a lot, I used to play soccer, I did a lot of bodybuilding, I used to think that I had to eat a lot of carbohydrates pre-workout to be able to perform, 300, 400. And if I didn't have my carbs, I wouldn't be able to perform. But when I started doing keto, doing carnivore fasting, I noticed that one of the big key missing factors was adequate hydration and not just drinking a lot of water, but having adequate electrolytes. That's where Element comes in.
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Starting point is 00:01:51 project crew this is josh setledge aka settlegate here to introduce you to our next guest craig goliath craig goliath is a former competitive bodybuilder who has one of the craziest muscle gaining transformations in the sport. Once a 150-pound teenager, after several years of training and pushing the limits on building muscle, Craig is now a 6'3", 360-pound mountain of muscle. From 2007 to 2013, Craig competed in many bodybuilding shows, winning or placing as runner-up in many of the early shows of his career. As he made the run to earn his pro card, he realized the goals he had for his own physique did not match up with the look the judges had for a pro bodybuilder. And in 2013, Craig officially retired from competitive bodybuilding. He went on to pursue his own strength and physique goals of being as big
Starting point is 00:02:45 and muscular as possible. He is currently an online coach who helps people around the world with their fat loss and muscle building goals. On a side note, in his younger years, Craig was also an aspiring metal artist looking to get signed to a metal band before he found bodybuilding. But that is a different story for a different time. Please enjoy this conversation with Craig Goliath. Are there other genetic freaks over there or not really? I think you maybe mentioned one or two guys there. There's this big guy, Neho. He's like 6'6", cool 290.
Starting point is 00:03:17 He's pretty strong. He used to do taekwondo, super flexible. There's this other blue belt now, Igor. He's also a Russian. Very strong, very thick. He's good. And there are a few other guys, but there's no guys that are like built like mutants, I'd say. But there are a lot of guys that are super flexible, really, really fucking good technique.
Starting point is 00:03:41 Learn a lot from them. It's interesting. There's guys that are just really, really good because they've been working at it for a long time and they kind of earned it and there's guys that have great genetics and then there's the guys with the combination where you're like oh shit once those guys learn the right stuff then it's it's all over we see that with bodybuilding and powerlifting and stuff too we see it with Strongman where you get a good combination of somebody being 6'8 and so on. And having just a massive frame and then they do a lot with it too. Bottoms up. Mind bullet down the old hatch.
Starting point is 00:04:17 And our guest today he gets up to 360, 370. I don't know if he's ever been up over 400. Jesus Christ. You know, years ago in bodybuilding, the mass monsters were real popular. There was, you know, Ronnie Coleman came through. But even before that, there was guys like Paul Dillette. And I'm not sure if it's Greg Kovacs or Craig Kovacs, but he was a monster.
Starting point is 00:04:40 I think he was like 400 pounds. He had kind of a belly. Like he kind of had, you know, one of those kind of distended stomachs. But he was absolutely massive. Yeah, and I think, Andrew, for today, if you can bring up pictures or videos or something, that would be really helpful to the people watching on YouTube. I wonder what it feels like to walk around without much muscle. Like just muscle. Like it probably doesn't feel heavy anymore i don't know what was
Starting point is 00:05:07 it like at 330 walking around and just being living life it felt really good like being did it felt really good like just being that being that strong you know it it felt um i didn't have the muscle mass that some of these guys got but it it felt pretty awesome to be strong now there was times where you know i guess like just getting around wasn't easy you know just walking around wasn't easy you get like a back pump from walking down the street you know this is the one thing i'm curious about i don't know what age i was when it went away and that before and after is insane if you guys are listening on audio we have have a before and after. Our guest, Craig Elias, he looks like a cartoon character. But did you ever have to put baby powder on your thighs? I remember when I was younger and in high school.
Starting point is 00:05:53 In high school, I was chafing hard. So I used to have to put baby powder on the inside of my thighs so that they could just rub by each other. And I wore sports shorts. But nowadays, I don't know. Maybe my legs are smaller. I learned about like uh shit what's that powder called the talcum powder talcum powder yeah yeah yeah that shit worked great because yeah your thighs start start scraping together especially like in your
Starting point is 00:06:18 jeans or something or in certain clothes it was super uncomfortable it's like you're starting a fucking fire you know i discovered levi 541s because of this, because all the jeans that I literally had as a high school kid, every single pair would rip at my crotch. So you'd have like a hole here on my right side of my upper whatever and the hole on the left side because they'd always friction together. I never had a pair of jeans that lasted more than three months because of that shit. I was so mad. It's like you need some sort of lubricant in there yeah god believe i five four ones they're uh they're good for athletic they got that stretch they got that stretch
Starting point is 00:06:53 501s or five four the five four ones i think the 501s too i think they're stretchy but now nowadays all these companies are now making stretchy jeans like yeah so kind of like lulu lemon jeans kind of yeah everybody added yeah that little extra material in case you need to bust out into a split at any moment they're ready to go wasn't that the wrangler commercial that had like chuck norris doing a roundhouse kick i think so yeah oh my camera oh my gosh but yeah man these are these are things that just like yeah you know i wonder what some of the struggles are for him. I mean, get on, getting on a plane. I mean, I'm not sure.
Starting point is 00:07:29 Getting in a car. Maybe he has to have a big car. He has to have a big fucking car. Yeah. Yeah. Getting in and out of, he must have a truck or something. And then, uh, getting on a plane. I mean, he, I would imagine he's got to buy at least two seats.
Starting point is 00:07:43 He's got to buy the whole row. It just gets more expensive in terms of life being that big. All that food. I would imagine he's got to buy at least two seats. He's got to buy the whole row. It's in the middle. It just gets more expensive in terms of life being that big. All that food. Yeah. Food bill. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:07:53 I wonder about his food, you know, cause we, we were just talking about it. Like I wonder because when you, when you do take certain anabolics, you can get away with eating less and still maintain a lot of muscle. So, you know,
Starting point is 00:08:03 I wonder if he really does have to eat like what six thousand calories or something like that to maintain his size but we'll see these are all answers that craig is going to answer for us maybe twenty thousand i was gonna say like six thousand sounds too low for him you think so i i mean he's dude okay but but picture this like he's probably not running all day or on his feet all day he's probably i don't know maybe he is on his feet all day but i just assume he's like a session unless he does multiple sessions a day but if you do a session he's one of those big motherfuckers that parks super close to the front entrance of the gym he'll wait an hour you know just
Starting point is 00:08:38 let's just sit there hey, that one says reserved. Meh. I'm excited for this one, man. Yeah, just take in his time. This dude is a mutant of fucking mutants, man. Yeah. This is not normal. It's great. He went from 150 to whatever the hell he is now. Nearly 400 pounds.
Starting point is 00:08:59 Whew. Wow. It's interesting some of the stuff I've heard him say in previous interviews, one interview, he talked about getting big and getting in shape. And he was like, for what? For a trophy? He's like, why would I do that? He's like, but for a viral YouTube video, he's like, I'm down with that. like what his person, what's your guys's perspective on that? Like is one more worth it than the other? I don't know what the YouTube views do for you. Uh, unless,
Starting point is 00:09:28 unless you're a YouTuber or unless you got merch to sell, maybe it might do something. No, I, I get where he's, what he's saying, because like you do a bodybuilding show, like a lot of people,
Starting point is 00:09:38 when they're about to do their first show, they're expecting that afterwards. If they're going to do well, they're like, Oh yeah, opportunities are going to come on, blah, blah, blah, blah, but not really. Like you'll do a show and then you'll go home the next day and show they're expecting that afterwards if they're gonna do well they're like oh yeah opportunities you're gonna come on blah blah blah but not really like you'll do a show and then you'll go home the next day and like no one no one cares no one really cares at all but a viral youtube video
Starting point is 00:09:54 man first you make some cash off that youtube video and then who knows no viral youtube videos hey that's that's where justin bieber came? YouTube. There you go. He did? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, shit. He was just, like, his mom recorded him doing, like, other people's songs, and then I don't remember who was like, hey, let's go make... Usher. It was Usher. I wasn't sure. Yes.
Starting point is 00:10:15 And then, bam. That's what you did there. I did it on accident, but yeah. It was good. It's still made. It was good. Ba-doom-tsh. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:10:24 But yeah, if a video goes viral like then that can be like recreated into something else kind of like how tiktok does like the um duets and stitches yeah and then now remixes on instagram ig reels it's hard to keep up man yeah it is hard to keep up but uh yeah this is gonna be it's gonna be really cool i wonder though like what his training is like because you know when you get that big do you still train with a lot of training volume i mean you usually find that like when you get bigger you do ideally to progress you want more training volume but you also fatigue not fatigue but you you need more time to recover because there's so much muscle working so with with that much muscle that's working, like, I wonder what type, because he can't just, maybe he's doing a normal split, but I'd assume it's different. It must be easy for him to lose weight too, right?
Starting point is 00:11:13 Being a former 150 guy. Yeah. Yeah. And then plus maybe just like cut back on a meal or two. And I'd imagine he'd just start getting super lean with all that muscle mass. Yeah. I wonder, like, does he have to like like, have the pedal to the floor to be this size? Like, or at some point, did it just, like, his body self-regulate and now he's become, like, 300 pounds is like, okay, that's cruising.
Starting point is 00:11:36 It'd be interesting. Because you see Thor. Like, you see how Thor looks now? He's fucking shredded, dude. Healthy, shredded. He looks like just this fucking athletic crazy thing, you know? Like, Craig seems like he has kind of a very similar build. If he lost a few pounds, he'd look probably just like Thor.
Starting point is 00:11:50 Damn. Yeah, and he's kind of known for even having a small waist, even with how big he is. Mm-hmm. Which makes it even more crazy. I also wonder how strong he is. I mean, there's no way that he'd be weak. Oh, hell no. Like, it's just impossible, I think, to have that much weight on you and to be that large.
Starting point is 00:12:07 I think it requires strength training to some degree. I'd be curious to find out what kind of weights he's throwing around. Craig got pretty famous for just doing that pose, sticking that elbow out and leaning the head back. Everyone's confused. They're like, does this guy have a tiny head i really be feeling like he edits his head bro like i really think he like shrunken he makes his head a little bit smaller just to exaggerate things because this is unreal yeah oh my god i'm trying to find one where he like really i think he loves it i think he loves the uh the attention and stuff like that
Starting point is 00:12:43 he has the symmetry too it's like what his waist is very small his shoulders are super wide mark what the fuck wow his chest is the side is his pec is bigger than his head like substantially bigger than andrew are you seeing this bro you got to pull up this picture this one okay you know it's amazing because like everyone has a goal to go to not everyone but a lot of people have a goal to go to the gym obviously people want to be fit they want to like lose weight but a lot of men a lot of guys are like i would like to get big i'd like to get bigger i'd like to have even someone who's uh overweight might say i would like to have bigger more defined more developed chest shoulders arms that's a
Starting point is 00:13:25 ridiculous picture yeah that does look at that trap dude look at that trap that trap really like goes up to his beard it's like someone drew a cartoon i was gonna say it looks like somebody drew like an impossible just like no like you got to make that more realistic he didn't it's not like he wanted to be bigger he He wanted to be the biggest. Well, you know, and everyone wants to get, they want to get big. But then when someone sees someone that big, they're like, no, no, no, no, not like that. I didn't mean that big. But what does it even take to become this big?
Starting point is 00:13:58 Look at him next to Tony Huge. Tony Huge looks tiny. Tony Huge can't even get on the screen barely. Poor Tony. We're sorry, Tony. We love you, buddy. At least he tried. Dude.
Starting point is 00:14:10 That's insane. And yes, his real name is Craig Goliath. Sounds like Goliath. He just happened to live up to the name. He's pretty damn lean. He's got veins in his arms and shit. Is he doing walking on the treadmill? Oh.
Starting point is 00:14:31 Yeah, if you guys want solid entertainment, just follow him on Instagram. Just go follow Craig Elias right now. It's great. Yeah, he's goofy. He's goofy. He likes to mess around a lot. There's a lot of pranks. He's got to have some freaking custom shirts though. There's no XXL t-shirt that can fit that body.
Starting point is 00:14:53 He said he's a 5X. Yeah, I'm not surprised. What the fuck? I wonder, it sounds funny to even ask, but I wonder if it was hard for him to get big. Like, if his body was stubborn at first at all. Or if he just, like, boom, he just started. You know, sometimes you hear these stories where someone's, like, 150, then they start lifting. And you're like, oh, I lifted over the summer and gained 35 pounds.
Starting point is 00:15:18 And you're like, oh, that doesn't sound all that normal. That sounds pretty wild. And I know a lot of people are going to point, you know, when they hear this episode, just going to think steroids the whole time. And obviously he uses performing performance, enhancing drugs.
Starting point is 00:15:32 I'm sure he uses growth hormone insulin. I don't want to speak for him, but just from my knowledge, I would just assume that he does everything that a pro bodybuilder does. And then some, but he is the only guy that looks that way he reminds me think about of this guy is that the joker no no this is from uh a league of extraordinary gentlemen oh yeah when the bad guy takes all of uh whatever the other character's name is
Starting point is 00:15:57 all his juice topple over yeah because like if if you pull up the normal guy, it's like, oh wait, Craig's actually bigger than him. He's kind of Bane-like. Yeah. Or Bane and Hulk, because he would take something and then turn into this guy, but then he'd always be fighting his inner big ol' guy. I wish people like this, these outliers like this, would be studied. I think it would help.
Starting point is 00:16:30 I think it would be great to learn what the hell is this guy's muscles doing? How is he responding to some of the stuff he takes? I think there's a lot of good information tangled in there somewhere. Yeah, it is really interesting because it reminds me of Phil Heath.
Starting point is 00:16:47 Because you look at Phil Heath when you play basketball, he was a pretty built basketball player, right? But you never expect that whatever it is that he did would allow him, even, yeah, he took stuff, but you wouldn't think that he would end up looking like Phil Heath with as bubbly and as 3D as his muscles are. Some people just have crazy receptors for that shit. Phil Heath would look insane. I mean, he still looks insane. But when he would, I remember at some of the Olympias, when he would flex and have kind of their
Starting point is 00:17:16 pose down, he would just flex a little extra and shit would pop out of him that no one else had. And it was like, oh, game over. No one can beat that. No one even knows what those muscles are. No one's ever seen those before. So therefore, he's the winner. Is that a new muscle?
Starting point is 00:17:30 Yeah. Right? People are freaked out. I wonder if Craig has big calves. That's my number one question. Yes, he does. That's what we got to get through first. Oh, man.
Starting point is 00:17:42 Because, you know, sometimes you see those big guys and they look like they're going to fall over. They don't have much legs going on. I'm not even going to say what I was thinking next. So, I mean, this is him at 23. Yeah, I saw that. Like, he's still a monster. He's a monster, but he's not the monster yet.
Starting point is 00:17:59 Correct. Now he's the monster. Yeah, and when he talks about himself at that age, he's like, I was such a pussy. He keeps calling himself a stripper. He's like, back when I looked like a stripper. I'm like, you looked like a bodybuilder back then. Ah, Magic Mike shit, huh? Maybe he was a stripper.
Starting point is 00:18:17 Maybe he was. Oh, maybe he was. Hey, now. Hey, strippers make good money. Respect the game. Whatever you got to do to get by. They work hard. You know?
Starting point is 00:18:29 That's to be subjugated to other people's BS. What you guys doing with your training lately? Anything different? Anything different? Honestly. Well, I know you've implemented a lot of knees over toes stuff. How's that been going? My knees are feeling juicy.
Starting point is 00:18:44 Yeah. My knees are feeling great. Feeling. My knees are feeling great. Feeling explosive and no pain. Everything's good. My mobility and flexibility is feeling fucking awesome. Loving it. My body feels great. Nice.
Starting point is 00:18:54 I've been mixing up a little bit more full body workouts and that's been feeling really good. I had some of Doug's stuff too. Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The Doug Brignoli podcast that that was an eye-opener.
Starting point is 00:19:05 And he implemented a lot of, or gave us a lot of great things to implement. I've been doing something similar with some of those exercises. That's been feeling really good. My body in general is just feeling really good. Yeah. I've been getting a little bit better sleep. I've been running a little bit more often. And I did have a little hiccup with my knee bugging me for
Starting point is 00:19:25 a little bit, but I think it might've just been my shoes or I might've slightly hyperextended my knee a bit, just, uh, not used to running. So, you know, there's going to be some hiccups here and there, but I feel good now. So we'll keep it going. How about the, uh, the stubborn fat that you have in like your, your lower area? Have you seen that starting to continue? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I've seen that, uh, go down quite a bit. I've been measuring my waist. I do it about every other week. I weigh myself, uh, I weigh myself pretty much every day. And, uh, I'm trying just to take my time. I'm trying to like toggle my weight down. So like, I'll, I'll let myself be around two 35, two 38 or so. And then I'll get down to like two 31, be around 235 238 or so and then i'll get down like 231 229 and i'll kind of keep lowering the that bracket downward because i don't want to try to i don't have any reason to do it
Starting point is 00:20:12 uh in any particular amount of time so i'm trying to make it more of a permanent change you know rather than just like oh i want to lose 10 pounds by like the 4th of july or something like that like, oh, I want to lose 10 pounds by like the 4th of July or something like that. Because that way, if I was to do that, I, not that I would automatically gain the weight back. It's just less sustainable sometimes when you try to lose 10 or 20 pounds by a certain time. I think that can sometimes leave you with a scenario where you're like, and then what, what do I do now?
Starting point is 00:20:42 Yeah. Do you, do you feel, go on. No, no, I was just saying. Do you feel that you're eating much less food right do i do now yeah do you do you feel good no no i was saying do you feel that you're eating much less food right now or nah you don't really feel like you're dieting right no i don't i don't feel like i'm dieting actually the one thing that the one uh problem that i have here and there is on days that i don't fast i just want to eat the whole day so so i need to like just kind of uh just chill out on that and eat a little bit more reasonable or more normal. Uh, but other than that, it's been going really good. I'll fast
Starting point is 00:21:10 maybe three or four days out of the week and, uh, not, not the whole day, just, uh, 16 hours, 20 hours, somewhere in that range. And yeah, it's been feeling really good. You know, it's crazy. I don't know if you feel that if you're, you're in the same boat, but I've really been finding that, um, nowadays I, like I, when I eat, I still can eat a lot,
Starting point is 00:21:30 but, um, I don't feel the need. Like I don't almost don't really ever feel the need to eat. Like I have to eat. Right. Even if I'm hungry. Um,
Starting point is 00:21:41 it's not like it used to be like, I really have to like make myself eat nowadays, which is weird. Like it's re but, but it's, it's good because it allows me not to like overeat. But at the same time, I'm just like, Whoa, I've never felt like this before. Do you find the same thing or do you still, that happens to me? Uh, when I get in a good rhythm with fasting, you know, if I'm, if I'm fast, like even when I wake up on a day where I'm, I'm not set to fast, I'll, I'll kind of just be like, I don't really feel like eating, but then I'm like, ah, well just eat because here's what we're trying to do. You know? So I'll, I'll eat and I do kind of feel what you're saying. Um, but it feels like the more that I fast,
Starting point is 00:22:23 the more that I want to fast. So the more that that's implemented, which sounds weird and sounds crazy. And our guest today would kill us if he would heard us talking about fasting. So let's not mention any of this to him. He can kill us, by the way. He'll be thoroughly embarrassed by it, I think. But yeah, I get what you're saying. It seems like the more that you fast, the more that more into it you get. And I found that with my diet in general, the more, the deeper the dive into it and the more you abstain away from uh eating uh cheat meals and different things like that it seems like you get locked in after a while i think that people yeah speaking to the mic and sema i think that people that
Starting point is 00:23:01 were or are voracious eaters that can put down a lot of food, maybe those are the people that fasting would be more effective for in the long term. Because people that have a hard time eating food, like Andrew, like you mentioned, like you have a, like you, you didn't used to have the biggest appetite. No, I didn't have an appetite period. Exactly. So it, it would be maybe not as necessary for someone who already finds that they don't have an appetite to start really implementing some fasting right but people like us oh fuck i can eat you've seen it and i can i've seen you eat like maybe it'd be maybe they'd be stronger for them yeah i agree i've said that in the past too but and then like for me personally
Starting point is 00:23:41 it was because i would just eat stuff all day. Like I would have like Doritos or something and be like, yeah, I don't want to eat. And it's like, now it makes sense that I understand that. But no, I totally agree. So like with my diet right now, I feel like I'm in a deficit, but just like a slight one. And I'm not trying to like do a drastic cut or anything just trying to feel good look good and yeah like I can notice that when like my calories are like at about about seven like almost 1800 yeah like if I keep them there for like three days straight like by the fourth day I'm like oh I'm kind of hungry you know and like I can like I noticed that now. So like today I'll probably eat closer to like 2000 calories.
Starting point is 00:24:26 But yeah, no, fasting absolutely makes you like, like, yeah, let's go to town on this food right now. And it can go over the top if it's not a good food, but it will at least get you kind of fired up to eat a healthier plate. Because at that point, you're just like, I don't care what it is. Like, I just want to eat a healthier you know plate because at that point you're just like i don't care what it is like i just want to eat all right i'm gonna rub your ego real quick andrew just because i was thinking about this in the break i was thinking about this in the break room i hope our guest doesn't come on just yet but not yet like when i look at you oh fuck that was short like yeah that was quite short um like it surprised me turned on a little bit when i saw you in that sling when i saw you in that sling, when I saw you in that single yesterday, no, I noticed like your upper back and like your chest and your arms.
Starting point is 00:25:11 I haven't told you about your arms the other day when you're just sitting down in a shirt, like both your arms are looking really big. It's funny just because like, I remember you years ago, but it's like, I forgot what you looked like maybe a year or six months ago, because I know right now you look substantially better than that. So just like, just kind of seeing how fucking big you are and just kind of how kind of jacked you are.
Starting point is 00:25:31 It's, it's shocking because I, I like, I don't really remember what you looked like before. And I was like, fuck, wait, this is Andrew shit.
Starting point is 00:25:40 This is kind of crazy. This happened super quick, even though it didn't happen super quick. It took time, but it's, it's, it's fucking impressive. It's definitely noticeable and it's also i think what's interesting about it is it's not like a 20 pound it's not like you gained 20 pounds
Starting point is 00:25:52 i think maybe you gained five or ten or something but it's been over a year and a half or so yeah um recomposition yeah since coming off of everything and then kind of spending almost all of last year fairly lightweight like around like 170 175 and then you know this year just getting my ass to the gym no matter what and then training and then the diet's been like i don't feel like i'm like restricting anything although like i i'm not really having sweets or anything i'm having eat right foods now so like everything is like on point and yeah like i know um you know marco you say like just choose the right foods and don't worry about tracking and stuff but i like for me still learning i will kind of keep an eye on where things are and getting enough fat in has been like you know it's it's a daily struggle thing because
Starting point is 00:26:44 it's like oh i could eat you know all this or i could have four eggs like, you know, it's, it's a, it's a daily struggle thing. Cause it's like, Oh, I could eat, you know, all this or I could have four eggs, which is, you know, the right answer because of the fat content. But yeah, no, just learning my body, learning, um, and learning by, by like, not trial and error, but like learning by like actually looking at the numbers. So I can kind of be analytical about it. And then, you know, what Mark had said that I had never heard before. But, you know, like if you want to weigh 180 pounds, eat about, you know, 1800 calories.
Starting point is 00:27:14 I'm like, oh, okay. So. That's a good place to start. Yeah. Right. Yeah. And so I know that if I look at my daily intake and it's at like 22200, like there's a good chance I'll probably wake up a little bit heavier tomorrow. Or if I do that for a couple of days in a row, it's like, oh, I'm going to probably get a little bit up there when I want to stay, you know, uh, between 180 and 185.
Starting point is 00:27:36 And this morning I woke up at like 184. Um, so we'll see. Did you ever think you'd be 185 pounds and jacked think about that no no i mean i everyone's their biggest critic so like i'm i'm not i don't think that i am jacked you're jacked yet uh but no i have no not nope nope never yeah like you walk out in a t-shirt people know you lift that's the thing it's like yeah, it's not a question about that. That was always the goal too. Like I'd go to the gym and be like, I just want to look like I actually showed up here
Starting point is 00:28:09 once or twice in my life. And then, yeah. So that, and it's just, I don't know. Like I feel like if I, cause it was funny cause like some pictures came up on Stephanie's phone that she like screenshot or whatever from like two years ago or whatever you know so deep in sarmageddon and i was like fuck i was jacked and like my shoulders and my arms were like really big but like i don't know like i didn't look as good as i do now yeah you know like i was kind of like puffy and big so i guess that was like my first bulk we'll call it but now i feel so much better. I think when you're consistent that you just end up, you know, not you personally, but
Starting point is 00:28:48 everybody, when you're consistent with your nutrition and your training, you just get leaner. Yeah. You just flat out get leaner, especially like, like the crazy thing about it and see him as he'll, you'll get leaner. Like you're going to get like the next three to five years, you're going to get leaner. Yeah. It might be a point where at some age you maybe lose five pounds or something like that but like for the most part yeah yeah well yeah not
Starting point is 00:29:11 not necessarily out of the blue it's just yeah yeah it's just maybe not as easy to hold on to the muscle mass or something like that but for the most part um that's what i've seen from most people that are in fitness most people that are training obviously you have to be paying attention to your nutrition i'm not saying that you get to have a free ride just as you, you know, the actual opposite usually happens with a lot of people as they get older, they usually get fatter. But with training and with nutrition, I think you have a good opportunity. There's something about the tissue. There's something about the muscle. It's not like we're gaining like pounds of muscle, but we are kind of transforming the body and maybe making the tissues like somehow more noticeable.
Starting point is 00:29:49 Like making the skin thinner or something like that as a bodybuilder might say. Yeah. Like, like that's, that's the thing. We talked about this before. Like whenever, when I'd look at like older bodybuilders and when I'd step on stage and I'd see some of the guys in their thirties and they're 35, 40. I was just like, wait, how the, why do they look like that? Like I, my body fat is like them, but I don't look as dry and I don't have that look. That shit really just does come with age and continuous training. It doesn't matter how big you are when you're younger.
Starting point is 00:30:17 If you, if you haven't done that, if you haven't trained for a long enough time, you won't, you won't have that look. You know, I've even seen some guys get on stage that are really young and they have a total baby face, but then their body is shredded. And you're like, how possible are you like, okay, the guy's 16. So he's got like, you know, a little bit of chubby cheeks, but everything, everything else is shredded. You're like, holy shit. But yeah, you get leaner over time, uh, you know, sticking with it. And I think that's been the greatest asset for you, Andrew has been just the consistency you know you've been on top of the you've been training uh multiple times a week every single week for i don't know the last eight months yeah and a highlight dude like i
Starting point is 00:30:56 don't from what i can sell from seeing you all the time you know you didn't do a crazy bulk right like you never got you never got sloppy maybe in your eyes you think you were sloppy but you never got sloppy like some individuals when they're like i'm a bulk 4k calories gain 30 40 pounds on my cut you never looked sloppy you always stayed within a nice range where you looked decent but like i think stan stan says owning that weight you spent time at each like 170 175 180 you thought you've spent time owning that weight never went too too fast up or too fast down yeah no all right it's funny because like look like if you were to ask me i'd be like oh yeah i've never actually like been able to like maintain weight
Starting point is 00:31:36 but when you put it that way like yeah when i first started i was like 160 and then one day i was 165 and then last year was like oh i'm i wake up every day at least 170 and so now i'm trying to own that 180 and it's taking me you know all year but yeah no it's um it's crazy like i i wouldn't have thought that i would be here like ever like you know so it's really motivating right like when you like um as opposed to a couple months back when you wake up like you're pretty fired up probably you're like you know there might still be that side of you saying hey just sit here and snuggle up next to the wifey and grab her butt but he's like he just went into a trance for a second
Starting point is 00:32:20 but you you get excited about the results that you're getting and it helps you get momentum and you're like all right you know what i do need to go to the fucking gym i'm just gonna go do it keep that momentum keep that momentum uh cranking i was gonna say earlier about um i forgot to mention this about about fasting it's just something simple i always think it's good when you think about your training or your nutrition, just like what's reasonable, you know, like what's, what's, what's some reasonable stuff for you to implement? What's reasonable things for you to do? Um, I was talking with somebody a few days ago and they were talking about how they, uh, have like this Nutrisystem thing.
Starting point is 00:32:59 And I was just thinking like, oh man, like they type thing? I think it's just like a shake or something like that. Or maybe it's a small meal. But they, you know, just have these just really, really low calories for a certain amount of days. And they're able to lose 20 pounds. But I'm just thinking like intermittent fasting would be a lot more comfortable than doing that. Like than, you know, having this little shake, you know, while you're eating with your friends or whatever. Holy shit. Don't say the fasting.
Starting point is 00:33:24 Hey, now. Hello? What's up? Yo. What up? Taking up the entire screen today, Craig. Thank you very much for coming on our show. That's always the goal.
Starting point is 00:33:39 All right, first question out of the gate. We want to learn how this monster came to be, so we'll get into the superhero story in a little bit uh but i have a strength background and so the question is how much you bench um i've never gone over uh i've never attempted anything over five plates to be honest with you that was the highest i've ever went um squats six plates um i've never done anything like super crazy right and then i i have i have heard that you uh were handling some pretty damn good weight on the incline oh yeah dr dr huge said that right yeah yeah i don't know man sometimes bro when you
Starting point is 00:34:24 know when you're in the moment and you're just really happy and the energy's there and you have a bunch of friends around you motivating you um you just lift heavy ass shit it was just one of those days i think i did five plates and i was just repping it like forever um on yeah i was just like the energy was there you know i was around good people felt great the pre must have kicked in awesome but yeah it was like he was in disbelief he's like i didn't know you were that strong i'm like i didn't either it was just one of those moments but yeah dude um i think we have it on video somewhere but yeah it was like five plates i just probably crushed it like 20 times um yeah so like what's your training philosophy as far as um because yeah you don't go heavy often
Starting point is 00:35:08 right but um like do you like sticking to higher reps generally and also i'm curious with how big you are do you hit each muscle group multiple times a week or once a week once everything's once a week once a week yeah um i'm going through an injury right now. I'm nine months in. I don't know if you guys ever heard of nerve damage. I got it from, I was shrugging like five plates, and I pulled something in my upper back, and it traveled in my right arm. So my right arm has nerve damage in it,
Starting point is 00:35:40 so I'm trying to bring it back to life, you know, with physical therapy and, you know, what do you call them? Peptides. Sorry. And, you know, all that stuff, you know, nightly exercises with the band. So I'm trying to get that back on. I'm about 50 percent better, but it's taken forever. You know, so that's I haven't been able to train like super heavy um besides legs in nine months you know you you utilize a lot of repetitions in your training um no 8 to 12 as heavy as i can go usually keeping it pretty simple yeah you do a lot of sets yeah yeah i would say pretty much you know for chest i'll do like five chest workouts triceps four biceps three forearms one back like six workouts because you know you got to have that
Starting point is 00:36:31 big back so you got to go hard on that back to back so one of your bigger body parts so you know um i'm a true believer and you know just crushing back man because i mean you have a big back big shoulders that's what makes you look like you Like, you know, when you get, like, that width check, you know, like, look real big. You know, that's what I've always aimed for. So the back and shoulders is what I go pretty hard on the most. When you started, I think I've heard that you were about 150 pounds. Did you gain weight really quick, or was that kind of a hard thing for you to gain weight in the beginning? Oh, it was happening so quick um i i remember i i saw all these pros drinking carb tech and muscle tech cell tech
Starting point is 00:37:14 whatever the hell cell tech said there's and i'm just i gotta i gotta get this shit i didn't know what the hell i'm doing you know so i remember spending like half my paycheck on that shit it didn't help you know because I really wasn't eating a lot. So, but yeah, man, I went from 150 pounds to 250 pounds natural. So I put on a hundred pounds without gear.
Starting point is 00:37:34 Um, and that was about two. So two and a half years. Yeah. I put a hundred pounds on natural. How'd you do that? A lot, just tons of food and lots of training?
Starting point is 00:37:46 A lot of junk food and a lot of pussy training. It was genetic, man. There was nothing really crazy behind it. I wasn't lifting super heavy. I didn't know what I was doing. I lived in Cleveland, Ohio. No one around me was a bodybuilder. I didn't get any help.
Starting point is 00:38:02 I just kept on eating as much as I could. So I'd wake up. I'd go to a Burger King. I'd get like two whoppers and a monster energy drink. I go work out and then I go eat Chinese food after usually. And I have like a couple of protein shakes after that. That was like my diet, but I was still blowing up off it and getting more. And I was honestly getting more shredded and more shredded. I wasn't getting any fatter. It was fucking crazy. I didn't know what I was still blowing up off it and getting more. And I was honestly getting more shredded and more shredded. I wasn't getting any fatter.
Starting point is 00:38:27 It was fucking crazy. I didn't know what I was doing. None of my friends were body, but I was a metal head, you know, like all my friends were like in metal bands. So I didn't have any one, you know, kind of clue me in.
Starting point is 00:38:37 And everyone in the gym wasn't really that big either. They were kind of just like, you know, normal people. I think you need to write a nutrition book. Honestly, you play sports as a kid or nah no i was in metal bands i was a metalhead what about like um anybody else in your
Starting point is 00:38:54 family eat a fuck ton of food and they still somehow manage to just like gain muscle instead of uh just you know kind of bloating um no not at. My mom was a toothpick and my dad was kind of fat. So I don't know where the genetics came from, to be honest with you. The blend of the two. Yeah. There we go. All right.
Starting point is 00:39:14 So what I want to know is, okay, so you were obviously eating a lot of food then. For what we got in front of us right now, how much do you have to eat? Like what do you think, how many calories do you think you have to intake a day to maintain all that muscle? So are we talking right now as I'm injured? No, no, no. When you're, when you're out, like you're, you're, you're peak, you're, you're, you're true form. Yeah. Uh, so when I'm trying to grow, you know, four to five meals a day, two shakes, nothing too crazy.
Starting point is 00:39:47 I try to keep it super clean. If I'm really trying to grow and, like, hit a crazy number, like, before corona, I was at my all-time biggest. I was about 316 head abs, and that was my all-time biggest. And I was going to go for 375 the next time, you know, and, you know, like, keep it tight. You know, I don't get too fat. And that's when I had my injury. And I still have it to this day, nine months later. So I haven't really got the chance to, you know, go hard again.
Starting point is 00:40:15 But when I'm really trying to grow, you know, it's just honestly, I just up the carbs. I don't do a lot of protein. I'm not a big believer in high protein unless, like, you're really trying to, you know, do a show or get really shredded. But when you're trying to grow, I'm a bigger believer in carbohydrates. So I just all my carbs. I don't even up the protein. I get 200 to 250 grams of protein a day. Um, when I'm, when I'm trying to get really big, I don't do no three, 400 grams of protein. I have friends eating four or 500 grams of protein a day. I'm like, why, why are you doing that? You're trying to get big. It's like, it's what you do. I'm like, it's not what you do. Did I do it? Look how big I got.
Starting point is 00:40:50 I think you have an interesting point there because protein is satiating and it makes it difficult to eat. So it might block you from eating enough calories to be as big as you need to be. Absolutely. How do you eat nowadays? Like, do you eat, do you have some junk food in your diet here and there you eat pretty clean um right now like i said i'm just trying to maintain i'm in the 340s i went on vacation i almost said 350 but like i said that's nothing to brag about um those just bloated crappy food but like right now i'm just trying to maintain as much as i can till i'm 100
Starting point is 00:41:21 back at it i could get back to the gym and go nuts again and you know go monster mode again but right now just trying to maintain four meals a day one shake um carb or carb tech after i train and um that's about it man the gear is very low just a little test um and yeah that's it right now man just trying to maintain i'm really happy where i'm at right now um in my off time you know i'm i usually i drop dramatically when i lower my sups or i stop eating as much food so right now i don't know if it's what it is if it's muscle maturity or that i'm getting older but i'm kind of like wow i can't believe i'm staying this heavy with so little so little food so little training um so little gear it's just fucking crazy to me i love hearing people say that i'm barely on anything bro wait till i get on some shit you guys are
Starting point is 00:42:10 gonna be blown away yeah what's a little bit of test all right right now just two cc's of test that's it 400 milligrams okay drop i think it's like yeah okay so i'm i'm curious about this man because a lot of people they'll get on maybe they're six three but they're not gonna get close to you know that to what you like how big and how much muscle you put on so how how was it difficult like i mean i know you said like you know you kept getting bigger but like what did it take you know what i mean because like everything like you like we look at your pictures on ig and it looks like you photoshop your head to look smaller because your muscles are so huge right so what what do what are you doing differently than what maybe you see other guys are doing that are like i can't get that big um i have a little bigger accuracy on me i'm not
Starting point is 00:43:02 gonna lie i like to try to look as big as possible pictures sometimes. So the head thing is honestly just kind of like put my head back a little bit. Cause I have a big upper. So I can hide my head in it and make, it makes you look way bigger than what you are. So when my chest shelf is like, when I'm at it, you know, it sticks out, you can see my pictures, my upper chest, like it's like out to here. So I can just put my head behind it and it makes you look way freakier than what you really are. You know, i'm just being real i'm not even i'm not trying to sit here and
Starting point is 00:43:29 say oh yeah i have a little head because i'm so big you know it's honestly it's kind of like trick photography as crazy as it sounds um you know just like i said like get a good chest pump put your head back a little bit and bam all of a sudden your shoulders look ginormous chest like you look your head gets all small it's fucking crazy you know i should do a book on this shit how to look bigger in pictures in real life you make some money off of that man i think you make yeah craig goliath uh uh filter that makes people look that way yeah how did you learn about bodybuilding did did somebody uh did you run into somebody after you moved from Ohio to maybe California or something like that? Yeah, absolutely. Um, I'll tell you my story. Um, how did I get into bodybuilding? So
Starting point is 00:44:12 I was on my space and I posted these pictures of the all natural, um, flexing in the shower. And it got a lot of attention on social media and everyone's like, who the hell is this guy? Kind of like a Greg look,itt look i would say um you know shredded abs good biceps but not big um and everyone was like you know who is this guy where do you come from so irv gelb he's a famous photographer um and gold's venice he he's tried contacting me like three times on myspace with no pictures um looked fake as hell and he's like i want to bring you to cali i want to shoot for a cover of a magazine i'm just i'm just denying this shit i'm like i'm a nobody why would you bring me to california for a cover you know like back then there was no you know real social media like
Starting point is 00:44:54 instagram so getting a front cover was like you were that was the thing so i was like what are you talking about you know so i ignored it after three times he contacted me again he's like listen um check out my portfolio i'll see in ronnie coleman i'll see in triple h i'm like what the hell is this you know i mean like what do you want with me and um you know he said contact this guy ed connor he helps out bodybuilders bring them to cali so i called him and he's like you have a great look would you like to come to cali if i put you in a house and i was like i'll think about it i don't know you it's's kind of weird, you know? And then I like went through this crazy breakup, um, you know, and, uh, I was living in a hotel
Starting point is 00:45:33 at the time and I'm sitting in the hotel and I'm watching pumping iron. And I'm like, maybe if arm was brought to Cali, Craig can be brought to Cali. You know what I mean? Like, let's, let's see what I can do. You know, there's nothing here for me anymore. I don't got this chick. I don't even have a real home. So let's do this.
Starting point is 00:45:52 So I fucking packed my bags and left two weeks later, moved to Cali. I was there by myself in this house for a month. And then he moved in two more bodybuilders, actually, that competed. I never competed. I was just trying to get big. So they moved in and they started getting in shape. And I'm seeing this with my own two eyes and they're just getting better and better and better.
Starting point is 00:46:11 And I'm getting fatter and fatter and fatter because I'm trying to keep up with them. I'm natural, you know? And, you know, then I started taking it really serious. I did my first cycle and I blew up to like 285. And I'm just walk around big as shit everyone's like do you compete do you compete i'm like no no they're like why don't you compete you look like a pro bodybuilder i'm like okay so i did a show um i won the show i won my class
Starting point is 00:46:36 you know um and then uh it was like novice something nothing crazy novice super heavy and then um i was like wow you know i mean maybe i should do this body building stuff and then i kept doing it for a while and i did like nine shows total i did the usas a few times i just never took it 100 serious you know um i never gave it my all i kind of you know felt like it was just not my thing you know i just i love the bodybuilding part of the off season it's just the dieting and getting shredded that i never took 100 serious you know so um 2013 was my last show i did the la i went against rion for the overall and matt porter um rion one and that was my last show i was gonna go do the usas and i was like for what to fucking get 12 15th again i'm good
Starting point is 00:47:23 you know so i just that's when I stopped. And then I started a supplement company right there and then for a couple of years. You'd kind of rather be big for social media rather than being big for the stage. Is that kind of it? Yeah, absolutely, man. I do really good right now just being big with online coaching, helping Dr. Huge out right now. And also, you know, I have clothing lines. So, you know, I do good, bad stuff. It's being big, you know. You know, I'm curious about this. I don't know if you mentioned the bigorexia thing earlier as a
Starting point is 00:47:55 joke, but, you know, when you see people that let's say they get really big or they're doing a transformation for you, what other than social media if that is a big reason what is the reasons that you want to be so big because there's like big then there's you right so why what what does it do for you personally generation iron kind of fucked me on this um so 2016 i was fine with just being like a gym rat at 320 lean you know you know, not really taking a lot of shit, just enjoying life, you know, having fun. And then I'm in the gym training legs one day. And my phone starts blowing up. And they're like, Craig, Craig, Craig, Generation Iron just told me to do the biggest freak in bodybuilding ever.
Starting point is 00:48:40 I'm like, yeah, right. You know, and I looked at him. You know, there was Rich Piano on there. There was like Marcus Rule. I don't know, Morgan. There's a lot of big dudes. And I'm like, wait, I'm number one. What the fuck? You know, I'm not even trying to be a monster, you know, like I was mind blown. But it kind of like fucked me up because I'm like, well, you know, they think this is the freakiest. Like, let's put some effort in. That's like, let's actually get fucking huge. You know, like this ain't shit, you know. So that's when I was like, let's, let's, let's hit like three 50 or three 60.
Starting point is 00:49:07 Let's go nuts. Let's let's put, let's actually put in some work and see what we can do. So that's when I really went like hard to like get super mass monster mode, you know, get some real numbers and, you know, still maintain decent abdominals and a waist, you know, not get like fat, like, you know, a lot of people, you know, do when they try to bulk up, you know, get like fat like you know a lot of people you know do when they try to bulk up you know what's the point of getting fat you know it's not really bodybuilding
Starting point is 00:49:29 to me what's it like to get on a plane for you do you have to buy extra seat or like can you fit on the plane i was just on a plane a couple days ago i went to cabo and um it's just such a nightmare, bro. I hate it. Luckily it was only a two-day trip, but I try not to travel as much as possible. I really try not to travel unless I really have to. What are some other unseen problems that maybe people don't realize or just unseen discomfort that people don't realize comes with the territory of being as large as you are? Oh, tying the shoes. Sure. That's a sure that's oh lord um walking up and down steps you know that could be hard cardio is harder um fucking can actually even be harder um when you get too big you know um which is crazy but yeah that actually does happen but you know a lot of
Starting point is 00:50:21 things kind of get a little harder you know i, that's why I kind of sometimes I look forward to these mini cuts I do. You know, it's nice to shred up a little bit. How much food do you have to eat to maintain this body weight? Well, right now, like I said, going through my injury, just four meals, you know, and a shake. But usually it's like five larger meals and a couple of shakes. You know, it's not a crazy difference. You know, sometimes I'll even do three meals right now. Like I said, I'm just, um, just trying to push through until his injury is gone.
Starting point is 00:50:51 And then once his injury, once I'm a hundred percent back, you know, it's been nine months, bro. I'm ready. Like, let's go. Before you were hurt, uh, what'd you have to eat to, to, to really bulk up? And did you, um, did you count calories at all? No, I don't count calories. I count like carbohydrates and protein and, uh,
Starting point is 00:51:11 you know, fast stuff like that. You know, I never really, um, counted my, um, calories,
Starting point is 00:51:17 but you know, I usually would do like a hundred, a hundred, 150 grams of carbs a meal, depending on, you know, usually the pre and post workout meal were bigger and you had six meals what and you had six meals no like four to five or five yeah and then a
Starting point is 00:51:34 couple shakes too with carbs i can't do like six or seven meals i've never done that in my life gotcha okay now i'm i'm curious because like, obviously you're, you're probably the biggest bodybuilder we've, we've ever seen. Um, and you're holding a lot of weight, carrying a lot of muscle. Uh, do you ever do like any type of blood work just to, and just test to make sure everything or everything's going well? Because, you know, you gotta wonder like holding that much muscle, like how, how like your health is like are you making sure that you're healthy yeah that's a great question um no the answer is no i never anything because i i know this isn't good but i just recently changed that um because i've been like
Starting point is 00:52:20 you know i started having harder time breathing um get even more uncomfortable with the mass so um i just started changing that i went um i started having panic attacks out of nowhere i think it was due to my injury so i went to the er and they did all my blood work so i was forced to do it you know so i did that and they said craig everything's pretty good for your size your kidneys need to be better so i've been working on my kidneys now. I've been taking a lot of pills and watching the caffeine. Not as much, no energy drinks now. I've been watching that.
Starting point is 00:52:51 So I've been on it really hard. And actually yesterday, if you look at my Instagram story, I went and did my blood work again. So I'm going to find out today or tomorrow my results so i am officially officially now on the health um you know taking care of my health better um and giving us giving a damn now because yes i i will admit i would never really the only time i honestly ever went and did checkups was dr huge but it was he just wanted to compare us like it was for fun you know like who's more healthier 350 to 360 pound monster or a 230 pound Dr. Huge who takes everything in sight, you know?
Starting point is 00:53:27 So we would, you know, I would use that for him to check up on, you know, to do our checkups. But when we did it a long time ago, like I think it was like two years ago when I was like 360, 350, I was actually healthier than Dr. Huge if I donated blood. If I didn't, he was healthier. So I wouldn't donate a blood. So I was considered healthier than him. Huge if I donated blood. If I didn't, he was healthier. So I went and donated blood, so I was considered healthier than him, which is fucking crazy.
Starting point is 00:53:50 But I'm excited to see how I'm doing this next time around. Like I said, I'll find out today or tomorrow my results, and I'll share them on my Instagram. I'll let everyone know because everyone's always – like when I go on Instagram Live, they're always like, dude, how is your health at that size? And being that size for so long,'ve been over 300 something pounds since 2010 so you know this isn't like i hit it you know like i've been this big for a while so um you know a lot of people always ask me too like do you plan on staying you know 350 360 370 much longer and
Starting point is 00:54:21 i'm like 37 now you know maybe by 40 41 i'll just start kind of doing what cutler did just bring it down really lean you know but still super muscular you know maybe go the natty route depending on how big i look you know i still think i can probably be like 270 natty man it's crazy it sounds 280 even this is or trt as crazy as that sounds bro you know how do uh kids react to you? Like if you go to like grocery store or the mall or something, you go out somewhere and you just like in a t-shirt or tank top or something like that.
Starting point is 00:54:53 I usually cover up for that reason. I don't like that stuff. I went to a, I went to Walmart one time. I'll never forget it. I wore a tank. I just came from the gym and I forgot my shirt. So I just went in the tank and an asian woman just stopped dead in her tracks when she saw me she was walking out she stopped and i looked back and she's still there stopped i was like did this woman just literally like make a complete stop she was so but she like she just was staying there i was like you okay you know like um but
Starting point is 00:55:20 yeah yeah sometimes you get the cameras out people pointing fingers you know people coming up and getting a pic um you know so i do get that so i kind of try to tend to like cover up more though for that reason you know this is fascinating to me because on one hand we're we're all trying to get attention via social media or via these podcasts and things like that but i guess it's like a particular kind of attention, I guess. And in your case, building all this muscle mass, that's what you're known for. You're known for being the biggest bodybuilder in the world. But then for some reason, when you're faced with it in situations that aren't bodybuilding or in situations where it's not fitness related,
Starting point is 00:56:00 it makes you uncomfortable. No, I don't get uncomfortable. I just, you know, I get a little, I don't know. It's hard to explain. You know, I think it's cool. If someone wants a picture, um, sorry, one second. Hello. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Somebody wants a picture or something. I think it's cool as hell. I'm like, hell yeah. You know, I get at the gym all the time too. Um, but, um, yeah, you know, um, I think it's cool. Just sometimes I get a little, you know but um yeah you know um i think it's cool just sometimes i get a little you know like you know it's really hard to explain i get a little not i wouldn't want to say shy but it's like kind of like whoa okay let's do this then you know i want to feel big
Starting point is 00:56:35 and you know how it is being a meathead you know kind of causes a scene in a way and you know not sure where you're going to deal with maybe negative comments or something like that yes well causes that's what i was trying to say causes a scene everyone's looking like why just people want pictures this kind of gives me like a little like mini anxiety i'm like whoa you know but um yeah you know i never like say no to anybody even when i'm injured and i'm self-conscious you know i'm like okay just we take a selfie can't do any out angling right now so outside of lifting did you like do you uh when you were lifting do you do anything else like physically like do you do biking do you do anything else as far as your your like physical activity is concerned um sorry i was getting a phone call um i am a musician and i uh play metal um i uh me and a
Starting point is 00:57:27 friend right now i just met him not too long ago we just wrote um a metal song which i'm going to publish on my story probably three or four days and um yeah so i do music on the side i'm not trying to be like i'm like you know touring or do any of that famous stuff or go on the road but you know um we write some really cool metal stuff. So that's like my side thing I like to do for fun besides bodybuilding. And then earlier you said that like being huge makes cardio difficult. How much cardio would you be doing when you were your biggest? And then how much are you doing now?
Starting point is 00:58:01 I don't do any cardio. Sex count? Yes. Okay. So i do a little cardio just but um uh no uh not not a lot of cardio right now um i go for walks around my neighborhood like probably three four times a week so that is definitely considered cardio to me um it's just not fast paced walk um i'm gonna start doing 15 to 20 minutes of cardio post-train possibly starting today um i do need to bring that back to the health but um you know cardio has never really been in my vocabulary ever you know to be honest with you um it's something that i do believe in it's something i have my clients do even off season i just need to get better with
Starting point is 00:58:41 myself but you know when you hit when you hit a weight around 360 you're just very sluggish you know but that's something i do believe in and something you should be doing for your heart how was the pandemic for you did it uh affect you you know mentally physically how are you impacted by it um no um it was fun you know i had a good summer for sure. It didn't really affect me. The money affected me the first two months, but then it went back to normal, you know. But yeah, the money, because, you know, obviously you need gyms to do online coaching. So I took a ban, but that was only like the first two or three months. And then it went back to normal.
Starting point is 00:59:21 And you got COVID as well, right? Yes, I did. I got COVID not a year ago, actually. Wow. Last May. How was that for you? Was it like, did you just a small cough and you were good? Or did you kind of get knocked out for a little bit?
Starting point is 00:59:38 Just, you know, like a flu. I lost taste too. I don't know if I can necessarily ask this but i'm curious so you you said that this for the stuff that you take to get that big you don't really take that much what is not that much like what does that look like no i mean like i don't really take that much now i mean before you know i do take more when i'm trying to grow, but I don't take HGH or insulin, which is people find unbelievable. They're like, there's no way. I'm like, don't do it. No. Um, it's more just the basics, man. You know, like the test DECA, you know, stuff like that, you know,
Starting point is 01:00:16 D ball, whatever. Um, but no, I don't even do the insulin or HGH. I tried HGH once when I was competing and it was fake. And ever since then then i just never really had a desire to ever do that again just like i don't want to fucking put fake crap in my fucking did that cause anything um what'd you say i'm sorry did taking the fake hgh like did you get a reaction to anything like how like what did it just everyone's like, your hands will be numb and you'll, you'll get, you know, you'll get a bigger belly from one second. I'm sorry. I got to put this on mute.
Starting point is 01:00:50 My phone's blowing up. Okay. So there we go. So, yeah. No, I just didn't feel any of the side effects you're supposed to feel that, you know, and I was just like, I felt nothing. It was just, it had to been garbage, man. There's no way. How do you advise uh in your coaching how do you advise other people to get big because you told us your story on how you got big but it might be a little different
Starting point is 01:01:12 on how you coach people since not everybody's a super freak like yourself it all depends on how you look man if you come to me and you're fat we gotta do a different diet come to me and you're lean we gotta do it all depends on how you look everybody's different and everyone's metabolism is different you know so i gotta feel everyone out the first couple weeks you know at least to see what their metabolism is like you know would you say you have pretty high metabolism yourself like are you um in the beginning yes not so much anymore okay yeah are you able to lose weight pretty easily with that much muscle mass um nobody nobody's nobody's bodies are meant to be this heavy the body will do anything it can um to lose weight so if i miss a meal or you know yeah
Starting point is 01:02:01 absolutely i will drop dramatically yes so. So interesting, though, like how like, I mean, right now you're not I guess you're not eating as much as you were, but you're still holding on to so much weight, you know, and you said you're 37, right? Yeah. Yeah. That's like it's like, you know, it's not like you're 25 or super young, like you're not old. I'm not calling you old, but you'd expect that at that age, maybe things would slow down a little bit, but you're still holding on to all that muscle, which is wild. Absolutely.
Starting point is 01:02:31 I'm honestly, guys, I don't get it either. But I'm not mad because I want to be big. So, you know, I'm just going to go with it and be grateful. Who are some of your favorite bodybuilders? Paul Dillette. Iers? Paul Dillette. I always loved Paul Dillette. I looked up to more taller bodybuilders because I'm 6'3", so I liked Paul Dillette a lot.
Starting point is 01:02:52 I liked Gunther. You know, he was 6'2". Tony Freeman was 6'3". Ronnie Coleman, Marcus Rule. I mean, they're a little shorter, but, you know, not everyone's going to be 6'. There's only so many. You know, I liked, obviously, everyone liked Jay Cutler.
Starting point is 01:03:05 I just liked more of the mass monsters. But the taller ones are what really caught my eye. And you live out in Vegas now, right? Yes, I've been out here for like 14 years now. You get an opportunity to train with some of the bodybuilders that are there? I've looked at
Starting point is 01:03:21 a few guys, pros, Cutler a couple times um who else uh like not really super known pros flex maybe once um he's over here now too um you know a couple other guys not not not big names but you know that ifbb pros yeah i've looked with some guys have you been doing um like like mentally with your injury just because like every single time that i've gotten a major injury it really is like like i had to find something to get all my energy out because lifting was that thing for me so with your injury being like it's nine months now how's it
Starting point is 01:04:01 been affecting you mentally have you been able to find something else that can kind of substitute like with lifting or how are you doing yeah so i this is my first injury i've been working out since 2003 so i've not been taking it good um like i said i started getting anxiety attacks over it um and they were really bad i had to go to the er um i thought that i honestly was thought i was dying a few times and it was all because of my injury just wondering will this ever get better can I ever go back hard in the gym it's definitely fucked with my mind but I've learned
Starting point is 01:04:33 to surpass it now and become more grateful for everything else in my life I have a lot of good things going on right now so I told myself Craig stop being greedy stop being selfish you know you got a fucking injury you can't be you know at your best right now but you know be grateful for what you got you know so i've been you know really taking that into consideration and um making life changes with
Starting point is 01:04:55 that but yeah it's it's been really hard i mean man all i know my whole life is wake up eat go to the gym get fucking huge come home eat just get huge all day. Let's get huge. So when you can't do that and that's all you know, it will fuck with your brain and apparently give you anxiety attacks. But like I said, I've been overcoming it. I'm doing a lot better right now and I'm very grateful. I love seeing the pranks that you pull and some of the bullshit that you like to do. I think that's a great side of your personality. And it's a great way to treat social media sometimes. But how do you deal with criticism on social media?
Starting point is 01:05:35 Do you tend to fall for the negative comments or do you not pay any attention to them? Do you feed the trolls? How do you go about doing it? I had dinner with Rich Piana a week before he passed away in vegas and um i asked him the same thing because back then you know i didn't have you know close to a million followers i was like at 100 or 200 or something and he was at a million so i was like curious like bro how do you deal with all the trolls like i'm curious you know if i ever have to go that if i ever get you know
Starting point is 01:06:01 more a bit you know more known the industry like how to deal with this shit because back then even if i got some kind of you know fuck with my head and he was like you got to ignore this shit you got to let them talk because the more they talk the more your name comes up and the more your name comes up the more views you get the more views you get the more money you're getting so i'm like okay that makes sense you know so um yeah you know i kind of agree with what he said and yeah now when i get paid i i'm good bro it doesn't bother me one bit like i look at what they look like and i'm like yeah i'd hate too you know i guess if you couldn't get big you know but i mean there's like i really feel like you know there's really not too much you can like really talk shit about i mean like you know it's
Starting point is 01:06:40 not like i'm fat like i have a big ass belly or i have synthol arms everyone I know some people say that, but as you guys can see, my right arm is small. Like if I had synthol in it, it'd be massive still, you know. So, you know, I never touched that crap. I've never really done anything like to be made laughed at, you know. I just am a bodybuilder that wanted to get really big off season. I think that's kind of cool, you know, that someone steps up and, you know, tries to push the limits of how big a human can get and still be somewhat aesthetic, not just some sloppy mess. So I don't really understand why anyone would want to talk shit, maybe because they're just pissed off they can't get big themselves and they got to take it out on somebody else. That's the only thing I can think of.
Starting point is 01:07:21 When you were going from 150 to 250, did it ever like you know did you ever think about like man i'm actually probably going to do this for the rest of my life and like actually make money doing this like whatever that was you know like just becoming this mass monster um did you ever consider like oh shit i'm probably never gonna have to have a real job anymore no man that was always my dream so back in in the day, I'm like, okay, the only way I can live the lifestyle I want is to be a top pro and sponsored by a supplement company that gives you like 200, 300 a year, you know, but those times have changed. Social media took over. You can make money on social media. That's how I make a living. So I honestly didn't really start making good money up until like two years ago. You know,
Starting point is 01:08:01 it's kind of all new. I mean, I went from from i went from living in a condo and a hummer to a year later buying 4 000 square foot home uh two cars a porsche i'm about to get the new escalade like you know like it all happened fast you know so um you know like i i'm very grateful that it happened you know it's it's all great to me but it happened pretty quick you know i've been in the game for a while too. You know, I've been doing the bodybuilding things since the MySpace dates, you know? So, um, you know, I, if anybody, you know, when they asked me, Craig, like, how did you do that? You know, you just got to fucking work, you know, post, post, post Instagram, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, whatever posts, like post your pictures, show your progress, you know, and just keep on it.
Starting point is 01:08:45 Like for me with my stories, you know, I have a whole system. I do goofy stuff, you know, then I do like buy my stuff, you know, like you gotta keep, you gotta keep everyone interested and not just be like, gimme, gimme, gimme, you know, you gotta have a foundation, make them laugh, show some crazy training, you know, stuff. And then, um, you know, some freaky pictures, motivate them and then, you know, try to get then, um, you know, some freaky pictures motivate them and then, you know, try to get their attention and get them to order something, you know, and, um, push your line is what it is, you know? So that's, that's what I tell people, you know, just work hard, get your following up and, um, you know, you can make a decent living off the social media.
Starting point is 01:09:20 Do you think, uh, after you recover fully and you, you know, everything's good, is there ever a point that you ever think you'd step on the bodybuilding stage again or you don't feel like you'll do it? Never again. Never again? No, I lost the ambition a very long time ago, man. I watched bodybuilding, the Olympia. I'll watch the Olympia and I'll be like, wow, they look great, but it's like nothing I'd want to look like again. I just love being large and you know, I like being freaky
Starting point is 01:09:47 big. I never, I'm just not like, whoa, I want to be freaky 3% shredded anymore. You know, it's crazy. I lost, I lost the drive. I lost the ambition to want to be like that anymore. I lost it a long time ago. How do you make money off social media? If you don't mind me asking. Oh no, absolutely. Um, so my online coaching does really well. Um, you know, um, that's like 80% of my income, I would say 75, we'll say 75% of my income is the online coach. And I do really good. I mean, I have a lot of clients, um, I get them almost daily. So, um, you know, I have a one month, a two month, a three month and a six month program. So obviously, you know, if I'm getting more of the three and sixes, you know, you're making you know but um i do that and then i also you know i have a clothing
Starting point is 01:10:28 line that does okay nothing crazy you know um but it's there and then i have a couple sponsors too you know i pay me um salary and commissions so you know and then um you know that's it comes up being pretty good pretty good money so if somebody is kind of like, hey, I want to follow the Craig Elias blueprint, we'll say, even though it's impossible to be as big as you. But somebody out there, they are like, okay, they're gaining some size. And you're like, you know what? Yeah, I do want to do this forever. I want this lifestyle. I want to be that sponsored athlete or I want to be the one that coaches people that does all this.
Starting point is 01:11:06 So would you say it's just mainly that posting, like you said, to gain some traction? Or is there something else that people can be doing to try to focus... Or something else that they should be focusing on to try to make that turn to where it's like, Oh, wait, I don't have to go clock in today. I can actually just work on my own brand, which is themselves. You know, back in the day, I would say it all matters by how you look but you know that that that changed too you know i see a lot of these little shredded guys you know gym shark dudes or whatever i'm just like wow they have a million followers holy cow they're like i see 20 of them in my gym every day you know um there's nothing special at all um you know, that is actually boggles my mind, but it's very true.
Starting point is 01:11:48 You know, you, um, nowadays it's, I feel like it's luck too. You know, if you just, if you do really good posts and, um, you have really professional pictures, sorry, um, get blown up. Um, and you, and you have very professional pictures, you know, and you just land in the right time, right place at the right time. You know, you can kill it too off social media, not even being like a pro or a mass monster, you know, just being
Starting point is 01:12:12 aesthetic. You know, look at people like Chris, is it Chris Cook? Steve Cook, Steve Cook, or you know, these guys are very very average, maintainable physiques, you know, like nothing crazy at all. You know, it's very in shape. And they're killing physiques, you know, like nothing crazy at all. You know, it's very in shape and they're killing it too, you know? So it doesn't necessarily mean you have to be a mass sponsor.
Starting point is 01:12:32 I have to be pro top pro, you know, to make money off social media. You just got to be at the right place at the right time and make sure you're doing a lot of posts. Average maintainable shapes. Steve cook. Favorite podcast. Man. Favorite cook. Favorite cook ever on this podcast. Man. Oh, God.
Starting point is 01:12:50 That's great. Yeah. I'm not trying to dog-suck Steve Cook at all. We understand. Because very, you know, it's not like freakier, you know, something that could easily be. He's not that big. It's okay.
Starting point is 01:13:02 It's all right. We get it. I love Steve Cook, but he's not that big. Yeah. that's all right we get it i love steve but he's not that big yeah uh craig how are you doing on time are you good because i know you had like some time uh constraints how's there is everything looking okay um let me check i think we should be okay man okay yeah um let's we could go a little longer for sure awesome well then okay so for the uh the slim gym like, you know, we were just talking before you got on about how I am slowly, uh, gaining finally after, you know, forever, it seems like of trying, but for someone like me, um, I look at somebody like you, I'm just like,
Starting point is 01:13:36 well, obviously, you know, there's genetics, there's maybe some anabolics mixed in there, although you did gain a shit ton of weight naturally um but how can i buy into craig's methods as far as you know like well you know like hey this is how you should do it because this is how i did i don't know if that's how you say it but you know it's hard for someone like me to see you and be like i can replicate that does that make sense um i'm not gonna i got a little lost are you trying to say how does someone hit me up to want to get big yeah because if i look at you i feel like it's going to be really hard for me to follow in your footsteps
Starting point is 01:14:12 because i'm not built the same way so how basically i'm asking like for a um you know let's hear like a bit of a commercial as to why somebody should hire you if they're having a hard time gaining weight because they look nothing like you yeah i know absolutely so you know someone comes to me they're like craig i want to put on 20 30 pounds can you help i mean absolutely you know i put on 200 pounds you know since day one so um you know basically how it works is i need to see what they look like it
Starting point is 01:14:41 all matters how you look some people are leaner some people are a lot fatter. And yes, I will get clients that are bulky and want to get bigger. And I'm like, in my mind, I'm like, you should probably cut, but that's not my say. So I'm here to help what your goal is. So if you want to get bigger, we just got to work harder, you know? So like I said, it all depends on how you look, man, but you know, everybody, everyone's also different. So, you know, if you send me a picture and you're having a belly you know i'd honestly recommend cutting and then going into a clean bulk after but sometimes people just want to get huge don't blame them it's more fun and uh we just got to work harder we got to try to get bigger and cut the belly you know so everyone's different all that matters about how you look and the macros as well will change considering how your body works with the diet
Starting point is 01:15:26 that's so shocking to me though hearing that because i didn't even kind of think about that but you were an adult at 150 and you pretty much just gained another human like god damn that's insane you want to hear even scarier i think i'm leaner i think i was leaner at 350 than i was at 150 that's what scares me you know like scarier i think i'm leaner i think i was leaner at 350 than i was at 150 that's what scares me you know like when i first started out i didn't really have abs i was just really skinny you know so it's kind of fucking crazy how you can get that bigger and get leaner it's it's pretty crazy but you know it was a journey man didn't happen overnight you know like i said i walked into the gym in 2003 and, um, you know, um, it's been a journey, man.
Starting point is 01:16:07 You know, you don't just trying to get big and better, bigger and better, bigger and better every year. A serious question. Do you have a plan of like, uh, continuing on that genetic line? Because we can't lose it with you. We, we need, you know, there needs to be other gen you need to at least freeze it or something. Freeze that shit. Reproduce man like that's some crazy stuff are you telling me were you telling me that um i should keep on getting huge or should i have kids i was children yeah i'll probably have children but like not anytime soon maybe like in my
Starting point is 01:16:41 maybe like 42 44 45 like michael hurt had one at 50 so like but i do eventually yeah i do i would like a kid or two for sure eating that amount of food and uh you know changing diets and shifting gears here and there with the different amounts of food that you've eaten over the years i would imagine you must have a poop story for us we We like to get poop stories from people. So if you got one for us, hit us, hit us up with it.
Starting point is 01:17:09 A poop story. Damn. Honestly, man, I really don't. I will say it's harder to wipe my ass. It's pretty hard. Didn't know if you had any sort of emergency,
Starting point is 01:17:24 emergency poop story, but if you ain't got one, it's no big deal. Yeah, no, never, never shit my pants squatting or nothing. No,
Starting point is 01:17:31 I'm pretty good. Lucky bastard, man. You got a clean record. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You got anything in particular coming up?
Starting point is 01:17:42 Um, nothing really, man. Um, I'd like to do YouTube. i'm trying to get the youtube train going i want to start putting out some youtube videos so i'm about to do one of those i'm gonna do one probably on my crib a lot of people want to see my house because i remodeled the whole fucking house in a year it took a year so everybody wants to see like the tour so i might do a youtube video with that um you know and maybe you know once i'm healed you know uh you know we'll do something like road to 375 or something we'll see her you know when i go to get big one more time
Starting point is 01:18:12 and then we'll go into a cut you know we'll start um you know doing more of the youtube stuff i think and showing the world you know more about my lifestyle and how I do it, you know, all that stuff as well. More of my lifestyle stuff to get those pranks going. Did you guys, did you guys, did you guys see my pranks? I did when I was in Cabo the last week, man, I got some fucking epic ones.
Starting point is 01:18:36 So what happened was I did a couple of funny videos on board and Cabo with the waiters. Um, no one was a salad. I'm like, they're going to give me a huge, and I, you know, post his face. And he's just like um you know one was a salad i'm like they're gonna give me huge and i you know post his face and he's just like you know so um i noticed when i did those and cobble my views tripled so i'm like whoa so you know views are what we want especially when you're in my game
Starting point is 01:18:59 so dude i just literally the whole next four days i just made all goofy shit. And it was a really good idea for me. A lot of people were laughing. I was getting more followers, more sales. So I did some really... I don't know if you guys caught it, but I got some really good shit when I was in Cabo. Check that out. Yeah. No.
Starting point is 01:19:18 After we were texting, I went and checked out your stories. The funny thing for me was just the reaction of people's faces. Cause not only is like a phone in their face, but it's like this giant's phone is in their face and it's like, what the fuck are they going to do? You know, it's just, it was so funny to see them caught so far off guard.
Starting point is 01:19:37 Yeah. Um, before Corona, I do a lot of the comedy stuff, you know, I'm going up to people at Walmart, um, you know,
Starting point is 01:19:44 asking them what's going to get me huge. Um, you um you know the reactions of their faces were always priceless people would just die laughing you know there's a time where i was throwing like water bottles into people's carts when they weren't looking just dumb shit dude really dumb shit and people love but people loved it so i just kept on going um you know going to drive-thrus and asking what they recommend to get me huge and people are just like with what i'm like going to starbucks say what do you recommend to get me huge you know um i just posted one the other day it was an epic one i went to starbucks i said hey uh is that pumpkin cold brew gonna get me huge and the guy says uh one second let me check i was like
Starting point is 01:20:21 all right so you know people love that shit. You know what I mean? So if you guys are looking for some funny shit too, man, definitely follow my stories. I like to keep people entertained and laughing, you know, as well as just, you know, motivating to get big. You know, I try to hit, I try to hit everybody with aspects of everything. You know, I can play music. I can make you laugh i can motivate you to get huge i try to do it all you know thanks for your time today we really appreciate it and uh it looks like you're doing a good job getting huge and hopefully uh you recover well from the injury that you have hey i appreciate you um guys having me on um i saw bigger faster stronger
Starting point is 01:21:02 um in the movies in the movie theater i took a date i was like she was um she's like one of the movies i'm like yeah we're gonna go see bigger faster strong she's like what's that i'm like it's gonna be good we're going so that was like 2009 i was prepping for the usas too i remember that so that was so cool i thought that was and i watched it like probably a couple months ago again you know it's just a really good movie so i want to congratulate you on that too you know i mean that's still to this day it's an epic movie thank you appreciate it and where can people find you where can people find me yep um instagram c-r-a-i-g-g-o-l-i-a-s awesome man have a great rest of your day see you thank you brother thank you
Starting point is 01:21:41 A.S. Awesome, man. Have a great rest of your day. Thank you, brother. Huge. Getting huge. It looks like he's done it. Yeah, he has achieved it. He's one of those guys at the gym where you're like,
Starting point is 01:21:59 you could go home because I think you already accomplished whatever. You hear people say that when they look at some big people. They're like, oh no, you should go home. Why you here he literally doesn't there is no need like we need to be in the gym him no just stop wild oh my gosh and the fact that bro the fact that like okay yeah he took some stuff but like he's just a hyper responder. That's so crazy. I'm glad he's like checking his blood work and stuff.
Starting point is 01:22:32 And now, now doing that because yeah, that, that, that's awesome. But that's crazy. I like hearing stories like that because there's just so many people that they always want to talk about the steroid side of things. And obviously, like we said earlier, and Craig mentioned it himself, that he utilizes performance enhancing drugs. So we're not saying that he's natural, but he was also able to respond really, really quickly to just some regular strength training and not even really being on any particular diet. And there's that's. That's been my argument, you know, kind of all along. I'm like, look at my dad. He's 5'2", you know, 5'3".
Starting point is 01:23:08 I got, you know, genetics from him and genetics from my mom. And like, the genetics aren't bad, but they're not overwhelmingly amazing, you know, in particular for lifting or anything like that. And maybe I think from a young age, I was able to lift a little bit more than some of my friends and stuff. And I think that had to do with body weight and structure. And so of course, uh, genetics played into that. So I started off a little further ahead, but everyone just wants to, and even when I was a kid and started lifting, as soon as I started lifting, I responded pretty good. Nothing like him. Uh, I responded pretty good. And as soon as I started like bench three plates and things like that everybody thought i was on steroids i'm like 16 years old or 15 years old or
Starting point is 01:23:52 whatever i was i don't even remember but so i think it's good to hear more stories like this because everyone right away as soon as somebody does something spectacular physically everyone's like oh my god he's on the juice yeah yeah and then the you know the the other thing also is you know think less you know like oh how many you know what was your calories like how much were you taking and he's just like i don't know i just ate to get huge you know i lifted to get huge and i only took a little bit of stuff after i already got pretty bit you know it's like wow dude like you want to break this guy down and figure out like okay what exactly how did you what did you and he's just
Starting point is 01:24:30 like i just got huge all right simple enough right you know that like the the amount of people that need to i guess just ask so many questions before just trying something is crazy me like i posted a video about the pistol grip that we talked about yesterday right and there's this comment that was like this guy post tagged another coach to ask if this was actually correct to get more lat activation I was just like but you just go to the gym and pull on a machine and see how your lats feel right why are you waiting for somebody else's permission to see how something feels for yourself you know so that's just like just go do some shit yo like
Starting point is 01:25:09 just go do it he kept it super simple uh train uh each body part one time per week um he mentioned doing a couple of sets sounds like he just goes exponentially a little bit heavier after he's after he warms up. Doesn't sound like he does a ton of sets. Does three or four. Moves on. And when he wants to get big, he eats more. When he wants to weigh less, he eats a little less.
Starting point is 01:25:41 I mean, you know, we can make all this as complicated as we want. We can get into the weeds. And we've had many doctors on the show who talk about your talk about your mitochondria and your cells and like all that stuff. It's, it can be important. I mean, it has, it's,
Starting point is 01:25:51 it has its place. Uh, but for something as simple as being big or being lean, you don't really need to know those things. Those things are, um, they're not high on the list in terms of things that you, uh,
Starting point is 01:26:04 might need to know in order to advance. Like you just, you don't need to know that you don't even know, you don't need to necessarily know what happens to your fat when you burn it off. You don't need to know where it goes or how it muscles or like we you know it's again sometimes it's beneficial to know those things or to utilize resources that know some of this stuff but you just need to know that if you're trying to lose weight you need to figure out a way each and every day to eat a little bit less than you probably currently are if you are heavier than you'd like to be and if you're trying to get big, if you're trying to get big or strong, you know, I think people forget that. Like, what should I do for my, you know, what should I do for my shoulders? Or what should I do for this? What should I do for that? It's like, well, the first thing is you might want to get into a caloric surplus because that's going to make getting bigger easier.
Starting point is 01:27:00 Doesn't have to be a lot. Doesn't have to be like a couple thousand calories worth. You don't have to get fat over it, but it probably would help if you had a little more ammunition, a little more fuel. Yeah. It really can. It can be very simple. It reminds me of like Andrei Milanochev when he was talking about the squat. It's a very simple movement. Just squat.
Starting point is 01:27:18 Like go down, come up, squat and do it more. And fix things that feel kind of abnormal. Like that literally that's like when you get to a place where you're hicking up a little bit, have a little hiccup, change it, try it for a few weeks, see how it goes. Might work well. It's think less. Think less. But Craig's hilarious. Like, man, like he was like, can you tell me how to get huge?
Starting point is 01:27:45 Like, I got to watch those videos, man. Because that sounds so fucking funny. Killed Steve Cook. Yeah, these average physiques. Fucking Steve Cook. There's like 20 of them in the gym. Fuck. Steve Cook looks amazing.
Starting point is 01:28:03 He does. I'm thinking that's not an easy body to maintain Well when you're probably like three of them Yeah you're right He's like you only gotta be one Like I'm already three He's literally Hulk bro Like you know there's the Avengers and Hulk's like the biggest and strongest
Starting point is 01:28:17 Like he's literally Hulk just looking at all these puny mortals Trying to be fucking heroes He's like I could smash all y'all Hell yeah Take us on out of here, Andrew. I will. Thank you, everybody, for checking out today's episode. Please make sure you're following the podcast at MarkBowlesPowerProject on Instagram.
Starting point is 01:28:31 Did you make it? Nope, you missed. At MarkBowlesPowerProject on Instagram, at MBPowerProject on TikTok and Twitter. My Instagram and Twitter is at IamAndrewZNSima. Where you at? NSimaNyang on Instagram and YouTube. Try to redeem yourself. Still something in here, but it's all good. Oh, no. at I am Andrew Z and Seema where you at and Seema Inyang on Instagram and YouTube and Seema Inyang on still something in here but it's all good
Starting point is 01:28:48 oh no should I get the camera ready and Seema Inyang on TikTok and Twitter and it spilled it was online was there still more in there not too bad
Starting point is 01:29:03 I was just trying to help you to be able to have a better way to throw. I don't know. I don't know what I was doing. Sorry. Yes! Okay. We got to end the show. Broke the trash can. At Mark Smiley Bell. Strength is never a weakness.
Starting point is 01:29:20 Weakness is never strength. Catch you guys later.

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