Mark Bell's Power Project - Jesus OlivaresThe Worlds Strongest Powerlifter (NO PEDs) - Jesus and Pablo Olivares || MBPP Ep. 974

Episode Date: August 22, 2023

In episode 974, Jesus Olivares, Pablo Olivares Mark Bell, Nsima Inyang, and Andrew Zaragoza talk about Jesus' recent world record breaking total, how the two bothers got to be so strong and how their faith plays a big role in their lives. Follow Jesus on IG: https://www.instagram.com/mega.gojira/ Follow Pablo on IG: https://www.instagram.com/worldbreakerpabs/   On March 25, 2023, Olivares squatted 470 kg, bench pressed 272.5 kg, and deadlifted a world record 410 kg, for a total of 1,152.5 kg at the SBD Sheffield Invitational, setting the IPF world record for the highest raw total in sleeves and the highest raw total in sleeves in powerlifting history regardless of drug testing.   Check out the full episode:   [PUT VIDEO TITLE HERE]   New Power Project Website: https://powerproject.live Join The Power Project Discord: https://discord.gg/yYzthQX5qN Subscribe to the new Power Project Clips Channel: https://youtube.com/channel/UC5Df31rlDXm0EJAcKsq1SUw   Special perks for our listeners below! ➢https://drinkag1.com/powerproject Receive a year supply of Vitamin D3+K2 & 5 Travel Packs!   ➢ https://withinyoubrand.com/ Code POWERPROJECT to save 15% off supplements!   ➢ https://markbellslingshot.com/ Code POWERPROJECT to save 15% off all gear and apparel!   ➢ https://mindbullet.com/ Code POWERPROJECT to save 15% off Mind Bullet!   ➢ https://goodlifeproteins.com/ Code POWERPROJECT to save up to 25% off your Build a Box   ➢ Better Fed Beef: https://betterfedbeef.com/pages/powerproject   ➢ https://hostagetape.com/powerproject to receive a year supply of Hostage Tape and Nose Strips for less than $1 a night!   ➢ https://thecoldplunge.com/ Code POWERPROJECT to save $150!!   ➢ Enlarging Pumps (This really works): https://bit.ly/powerproject1 Pumps explained: https://youtu.be/qPG9JXjlhpM   ➢ https://www.vivobarefoot.com/us/powerproject to save 15% off Vivo Barefoot shoes!   ➢ https://vuoriclothing.com/powerproject to automatically save 20% off your first order at Vuori!   ➢ https://www.eightsleep.com/powerproject to automatically save $150 off the Pod Pro at 8 Sleep!   ➢ https://marekhealth.com/PowerProject to receive 10% off our Panel, Check Up Panel or any custom panel!   ➢ Piedmontese Beef: https://www.CPBeef.com/ Use Code POWER at checkout for 25% off your order plus FREE 2-Day Shipping on orders of $150   Follow Mark Bell's Power Project Podcast ➢ https://www.PowerProject.live ➢ https://lnk.to/PowerProjectPodcast ➢ Insta: https://www.instagram.com/markbellspowerproject ➢ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/markbellspowerproject   FOLLOW Mark Bell ➢ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marksmellybell ➢https://www.tiktok.com/@marksmellybell ➢ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkBellSuperTraining ➢ Twitter: https://twitter.com/marksmellybell   Follow Nsima Inyang ➢ https://www.breakthebar.com/learn-more ➢YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/NsimaInyang ➢Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nsimainyang/?hl=en ➢TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@nsimayinyang?lang=en   Follow Andrew Zaragoza on all platforms ➢ https://direct.me/iamandrewz   #PowerProject #Podcast #MarkBell #FitnessPodcast #markbellspowerproject

We're here today with some of the strongest brothers in the world. World's strongest natural brothers. You recently squatted what, around 1,030 or something like that in competition? Yeah, 1,036 in marks. In bench press? 600. In deadlift? 903 in competition.

So squat was 400 kilograms, which is 881 pounds. I remember the first time you did it, Pablo's rate of progression has actually been a little better than mine. People work their entire lives and never reach these numbers by the way have you guys been strong like since you were like little kids it starts off in our earlier days when we had to carry an ungodly amount of horse manure out of the stalls a lot of people think i'm a fake nanny other than i can see why we primarily stay away from fast food. If we eat a lot of something, it would be meat.

What do you guys weigh? We'll just round it. So we'll say 400. How do you guys know what the best weight for you would be? If your shower just starts to shrink. And you guys use like an RPE in your training? RPE is how it looks. Reps in reserve is how it feels.

And then QOR is like what it looks like on video. You mentioned that your program over the years has not really changed that much. It's a very old saying, but if it ain't broke, don't fix it. People get lost in the sauce and they're just like, oh, I need to train six days a week. I need to squat three times a week. I need to do this. I need to do that. Start off slow.

You don't want to get so specific so fast whereas like you maximize like your newbie gains like that you want to gradually take your gains as you go all right we're here today with some of the strongest brothers in the world and i think maybe powerlifting wise we could just flat out say strongest brothers in the world pretty sure about that we could definitely say the world's strongest natural brothers oh yeah i forgot about the natty title you gotta throw that in there it's important man but it's very controversial i mean you guys are throwing around some big-time weights right if the internet was true i'd be lying in everybody's faces right now but i'm not does that bother you at all like the constant questioning of, you know, both of you guys. It doesn't bother me until people start bringing my faith into it.

And they're like, wow, like another Christian man lying. And I'm like, bro, like slow down. My faith has nothing to do with that. Like it's two different things. Like that's like when people cross that line's that's like when when people cross that line that's when it gets a little personal but for the most part man like i'm pretty much used to it um at first it was a little unnerving but it's just like when you're in the spotlight when you're constantly just trying to push the limitation of what you can do, what the human body can do. It's just a part of the game, man.

So it's like whether people think so or not, or if they're willing to listen or at least have a conversation with me, then I'm not going to give them any mind. But, I mean, I've had some conversations with people where I'll tell them my background. with people where I'll tell them my background um just part of the process that I have to partake in with like WADA and stuff and like pretty much being like under observation at all times so it's like either I'm like either like Sherlock Holmes can't figure it out or you know I'm saying so it's just one of those things where i really it just i think it stems

down from it's natural to like have a hard time comprehending what you don't understand so yeah what did you think when you were younger you know when i mean you guys are young as it is but when you're even younger you both have been lifting for a little while and you see somebody squat 800 pounds 900 pounds you automatically assume that they were on stuff or like when you saw bodybuilding and stuff or you just not know anything about any of that yeah we didn't know anything about it man like uh i think my first like the first time i ever heard anything about steroids i think it was like on the greg lucette video and he was like talking about like the dangers and the consequences and stuff like that. You have a Coach Greg voice?

Try harder than last time. Harder than last time. Not bad. That was good. I saw him right there. No, he's definitely knows what he's doing man that dude's a whiz when it comes to just growing his channel actually me and pablo were like that was one of the first channels we were like catching on when before he like blew up how old were you guys at that time because it's

this is pretty interesting you're 24 you're 25 and 23. 23. So how old were you guys when you started seeing Coach Greg's stuff? COVID? That's all you, bro, because Pablo is the guy who introduced me to all these YouTube people on social media. I would watch a lot of YouTube. I would say I think I was 19, bro. And I think you were already a good chunk of time in powerlifting already i want to say 2020 late 2020 early 2021 that we started watching him because i would watch a lot of russ a lot of like old time powerlifting motivation videos on youtube so i don't see

mark there and um yeah i just he didn't really YouTube. He just kind of did your thing. You guys train with Russ sometimes, right? Russ Swole? Yeah, man. I think we're at the point now where we can definitely say we're more on the friend side. I think we were just like acquaintances because we were teammates. We have the same coach, but every time we run into him, man, it's a really fulfilling conversation.

Like we're always talking about things outside of the gym, personal matters and stuff like that. So it's like it's been pretty cool, man, just getting to become friends with someone who kind of got you into the thing that you're in right now. So it's been something like that, and it's been a blessing. So let's just talk some numbers here you uh recently squatted what around 1030 or something like that in competition yeah 1036 in march and then bench press 600 damn and then a deadlift 903 in competition these are all these are not gym numbers we don't glorify gym numbers around here. I was about to do that, bro. Why'd you look in my eye when you said that? I was reading his mind.

All my best numbers are in the gym. Yeah, the big brother's a coach, right? I was just taking all the good thoughts from his head so I could say it first. This guy. And what do you got over there? So right now, I'm going to say gym PRs, bro. I haven't been in a competition in a while. So squat was 400 kilograms, which is 881 pounds. For you guys that don't know, conversion from kilos to pounds.

And that's such a huge milestone for me because I remember the first time you did it, and I think I wasn't even near 700 or 600. So the comparison of just watching it first and then doing it made me appreciate it even more you know what i mean and i was like i actually did this like i did what you what i saw you do and i'm like this is cool pablo's rate of progression has actually been a little better than mine because i have several years of lifting more than him and when you look at it like big picture and you step back like he's actually got to 400 kilos like years before I did because I've been consistently lifting since I was 12 years old so 13 now when I turned 25 whereas like on the other side like

Pablo was he really wasn't in the weight room. He was playing basketball. He was just a better athlete than I. His, I guess it would be, like, horizontal mobility was, it was pretty, like, just amazing for somebody his size and of his stature. So, that's where Pablo was at where, like, me, man, I kind of enjoyed just lifting a little bit more. Like, in my mind, when I was playing football, like, I was of enjoyed just lifting a little bit more like in my mind when I was playing football like I was like oh no I want to go play for the NFL so I was doing everything I could to be the best football player I could be so if my coach was telling me like hey man like do this workout bear crawls whatever like that's exactly what I was doing so I just uh

and I think that's just like the biggest difference in like the gap that we have. I know like we're 18 months apart, but really like I've been lifting a lot. I've been in the gym a lot more than Pablo has. So to see him like hit 400 kilos, it was one of like my – it was probably like – for me, I get more excited watching Pablo hit a PR than I am for myself. I remember like the first time pablo hit 804 in a meet yeah i went completely ape shit man yeah i literally r.i.p to the chair i went what happened to the chair i went full monkey mode and i grabbed the thing nearest to

me and it just it was a foldable chair and i just remember like slamming it so hard in the ground that it just flattened like i didn't even know a chair could do that. But I was. It ricocheted off the ground, bro. You slammed it so hard, it bounced back. Yeah. My girlfriend had to pull me outside of the gym. And she was like, you almost just hurt somebody.

I need you to turn it down a little bit. So it's like, that's that's probably like my favorite part and i know for a lot of brothers it might be unusual or common depending on what side you stand on this but i want pablo to surpass me man like if pablo could be the guy to beat me in retirement i'd i'd be overjoyed i'd start my my cut right there and then and that'll be pablo's time to do what he does and you got a 500 pound bench and then what's the deadlift uh the most i've pulled off the ground was 350 kilograms so 771 pounds but recently i've been like not in an upward trend due to body composition so now we're in a diet we're taking things more serious because obviously when you don't hit a wall you think you're invincible like you you could do

whatever you want and so now that's not the case can you explain that a little bit like because yeah as you get bigger some of the lifts get easier and some of the lifts get harder right 100 and i think the deadlifts for super heavyweight is the one that starts to be taken back. And I was telling, I forgot what I was telling, but I was saying like that the more you have to be attentive with your diet and it's not just I could eat whatever I want as a super, you know, it's not just the smaller weight classes that care about their eating habits. It's you got to be everything as a super, you know, Jesus had to do it as well.

And it's like I have to take notes and I have to do my time. You know, if I want to patch that 800 threshold, it's got to happen. And it's because like, it's, it's hard to get down to the bar sometimes, right? Yeah, man. It's a bigger and your hands get thicker and stuff too. Yeah. So I'm glad you brought that up, Mark, because what a lot of people don't realize is like the thicker your hand is, the more flesh you have for the bar to have any sort of give.

And when you're pulling the weight that we are, the minute you get the bar off the ground, man, like you have some, like you got gravity working against you, you have your own leverages working against you. So it's very easy for like deadlifts and specific uh specifically to just kind of start going awry because like if anything throws you off man like now like it's just very uncomfortable and uh like my burning bush was um so i pulled So I pulled 400 kilos when I was 22 in 2021, Pops? 2020? 2021, December of 2020. People work their entire lives and never reach these numbers, by the way.

But then I gained 30 pounds of unhealthy weight, and the leverage change completely kicked my deadlift in the nuts, man. Like I went from pulling 400 to having to settle for like 340. I lost over 100 pounds on my deadlift because I wasn't monitoring my weight gain. So that was like a slap in the face. And then that's when I started taking my eating habits a little bit more serious. Walking, getting my steps and stuff like that. Working my grip has really been a big one. Anything in particular for grip?

Yeah, man. Just some little grippers, huh? Yeah. These go such a long way. When you can do like three sets of 25 or more with like 150 or more like your grip is it's pretty solid but uh i actually want to train to close the what is it the five pounds no it's the three is 300 right what's the 350 i think it's 3.5 this is 250 pounds right here and then you also maybe you also maybe just work, like when you're doing your deadlifts in training, do you also just work on maybe holding them a little longer and stuff like that?

Damn. Dude. He's just pushing easily. He's just like, eh. He broke it. Wait. Jesus. Wait, Mark, what was your question again?

I was just messing around. Where does this strength come from, from you guys? this. Wait, Mark, what was your question again? I was just messing around. Um, where, where does this, uh, strength come from, from you guys? Like, um, you know, like, uh, one of the coolest things about watching like a superhero movie is like in the beginning when the guy kind of figures out that he has a superpower, I think Superman, like, you know, he had a run in with like a fireplace or something and he was like kind of shocked that he, you know, didn't get any burn from it and stuff like that or picking up a car or whatever it is you guys like have you guys been strong like since you were like little kids

i think uh it starts off in our earlier days when we had to carry an ungodly amount of horse manure it starts back in our wee farm days when you got gotta sumo pull six feet weeds out of the ground how old were you guys when you first started this like young man yeah i mean that's just a lifestyle man so um so we're first generation mexican americans and um so like a bunch of our culture and traditions you know are like pretty close to the origin. So like my dad, I mean, like besides like some of his habits and stuff and just the way he was, you know, he was a very hardworking man. And that's something that despite like his choices and how he behaved towards us is something that I think he instilled in my older siblings. And then as a result, they instilled in us. he instilled in my older siblings and then as a result they instilled in us so that's just i mean i think for some people they might call it child labor but i mean like we're just helping

out our family man yeah it's it's just it was an everyday occurrence over the summers so we really didn't really think much about it and like honestly like i personally don't think there's anything wrong with it especially like if you're I personally don't think there's anything wrong with it, especially, like, if you're doing it safe, you know. There's nothing wrong with asking your son or younger brother to help you out with some manual labor. But, I mean, like, that's just how we grew up, man. We grew up stacking hay bales, freaking 80-pound corn sacks. But even then, like, we didn't know what strength was. Yeah.

You know what I mean? Like, you don't know what something is unless you've seen it or seen someone else do it or you do it yourself. So I wouldn't be this strong if it wasn't, like, if you didn't do powerlifting, bro, I probably wouldn't be doing it either. I would never do 800 or all these numbers. So it's like, you know, domino effect, bro. Sorry, bro. Thank you, bro. Thank you, man. But I don't know.

That's such a deep question, man, because when you ask me where our power comes from, like I don't really think of a specific event or time frame where it just became apparent to myself that I was like gifted naturally with like this, this physical strength, because I personally believe that what set me apart from a vast majority of individuals is just like, it's my noggin, you know, the way that I perceive things, the way that I process information and just my personal beliefs, man. And I don't know, man man i've always just had like this innate sense of direction i've always felt like i was just a leaf in the wind and the wind just blew and i would just go wherever the wind took me and um i'm a firm believer that like like i'm not gonna lie man like a lot of people think i'm a fake nanny. I can see why,

but I have my moments where like, I'm literally sitting in a, in a chair and I'm like, God, like, what did I do to deserve these abilities? Like, what is your grand master plan in giving me the opportunities and the circumstances and like environment to, to grow to this position and be the man that I am today. So it's like, I don't know, man, I think if I, if I had to attribute my anything and everything, man, it would just have to be to God, man. Like, it's just one of those things where it's inexplicable. Like, why couldn't it have been somebody else who had the same potential that I have? So it's like, it's really, sometimes I feel like I have imposter syndrome because I know people who would give more to be where I am. But unfortunately, they're not.

Unfortunately, I'm here. Unfortunately, I'm here. So it's like I just got to take it day by day, man, and just give glory to God for everything that we do, how we do it, and why we're doing it. So I feel like that's our source of power right there. Yeah, it sounds like you've been doing it for a long time, and that's obviously a huge part of it. So I think sometimes people want to make a huge deal about genetics, and obviously genetics are part of it you know your height your ability to put on size but you mentioning like your brain like that's what you're training when you're power lifting i mean you're training the central nervous system and the more that you believe that

you can pick up those weights and the and the more that you dispel any disbelief that you can't lift 1,100 pounds in a deadlift or something like that, the more likely it is to happen. And you see the best people in powerlifting, they're not only strong, but a lot of times they're explosive as well. And that explosiveness comes from the training of the central nervous system. And you mentioned playing other sports and stuff like that. Yeah, man. Playing football, you've got to be explosive getting off the line and you got to be explosive um you know when

you're pushing into somebody else and you got to be aggressive and so there's things that you sounds like you've had for a long time and even mentioned when you were in high school that you weighed like 250 and had striations like in your chest like that's that's uh yeah that's way ahead of schedule you know most of the time you know if somebody was to get to that level it would take them you know until their mid-30s or something yeah man i think uh my best broad jump so in college i was like 315 when i was throwing shot and disc and i think i jumped like three point something meters it was like 10 feet a little over 10 feet when I was three 15.

And I know that's like something that like a bunch of linemen and like when they're in the, in the draft, like 10 feet, it's like a really, really good mark. Yeah. Yo, I'm curious about this with both y'all.

Cause you mentioned paying attention to social media stuff. Right. And one thing that I think we've noticed is that since Instagram and young lifters have been able to see people just like move ridiculous weight, you see these youngins like 17 and you guys just pulling 700, 800 off the ground, right? You were talking a little bit about that in the gym. Do you guys think when you were younger, did seeing that, did that just make it like more possible or was it just your experience in the gym? Like you guys started moving weight and you're like, this is not that difficult. It's the latter, brother.

So I remember when I was deciding what federation to compete in, the very first one that I looked at was – I was going to go USPA, man, because I think the drug tested record was like 715. And I had just pulled 675. because I think the drug tested record was like 715 and I had just pulled 675. So in my head, I was like, oh man, that's, I could do that if I train for it. How old were you at the time too? Uh, this was when I, this was, you're 19 I think. No, no, no, no, no. This was when we came back from working in the oil field or before it was before, before the summer.

So it was like in the spring. So I was, uh, 20. Okay summer. So it was like in the spring. So I was 20. Okay. I think I was like 20. So I had pulled 675. I think I was like 300 at the time. And I was just like, I don't know, man. Because like when it comes to social media, I think we compare ourselves more now than we did back then.

Because back then, I wasn't really involved in social media as much as I am now. I honestly wouldn't even have a social media presence if it wasn't for Pablo. Pablo's the one who taught me the importance of growing that stuff. So for me, instead of looking at somebody else's videos i was really just looking up the record boards like that was the very first thing i looked at i didn't really care what anybody else was doing i was i only cared about who the guy holding the record was doing so um that's pretty much how we got into it man it was just like for me it was just okay like i can do 500 for 10 then i should be able to do six and then that's kind of

how my progression went man i just started getting stronger um i've always i've never really been scared to like push that limit you know just see how strong i can get and i like to whenever i first started man when i was younger that's when I watched a little bit. I still watch anime, but I watched a lot more back then when I was single and I had more free time. I'll be sending you one piece, though. But it's like what I take away from stuff like that, man, is the methodology and the philosophy of these characters. There's something inspirational inspirational even if it's fiction but there's something inspirational of watching like the main character give it 110

on like the last stand man and it's like i can take that and i can like just try to replicate that sense of awe in my heart and try to achieve it. So it's like, or like another good one, it's like Demon Slayer. I remember whenever I first started working with Joey in 2019, I started watching Demon Slayer. And one of the things they talk about is breathing styles. So I would go to the gym and before a set set i would just close my eyes and just start breathing and visualize like the oxygen like going from like the top of my head through my fingertips to my toes and i would just like it almost became like a like a like a pre-lift ritual where i just make sure i'm like oxygenated like my breathing is controlled and i'm just like ready to go and i mean like people will call you

a bot or they'll call you whatever they want for stuff like that but i mean everybody has like their own little different thing that helps them get their mind ready yeah and that just happens to be one of mine and my brother's you know like that's just something we can relate to and get hyped and just get ready for it but did y'all see that new baki by the way bro i'm trying to watch it i'm glad someone's netflix password i'm glad you brought this up because at the same before i started working with joey man baki helped shape my lifting philosophy because these guys, first of all, the manga is way better. Yeah.

Because it goes into their training arcs and it goes into like their thoughts when they're like. Pull up some Baki characters, please. So people understand what we're talking about here. Give me a little demon back. so any like man like i have screenshots from some of the panels where usual talks about like i like being like how being selfish how he chased absolute power over anything and like how he did everything he possibly could to achieve it but it wasn't just the stuff he was doing that was tangible it was also his belief that he was the strongest that helped fuel it you know and it's like obviously like powerlifting is not a we're

not fighting each other but it's like when you see like these characters with these amazing physiques like they're going all out they're constantly trying to get jesus well literally pickles on the show but yeah nah man like this this manga helped shape my philosophy when it came to pursuing strength that's sick dude wow man like uh like a good one is like when um when biscuit was fighting that one prisoner i don't know if you've seen the manga uh yeah chet he has a bandana right yeah yeah it was uh che guevara's yeah yeah so he's like uh he's telling him like i actually have to control my muscles because if i let them free it's gonna kill everybody type in biscuit oliva that's what i'm telling you man it's like that's what i think yeah sets me apart it's like i feel

like i'm just able to grasp these like fictional philosophies and like just translate them to real life yeah oh yeah we've talked about this guy on the podcast before for this character yeah he's based off a real bodybuilder yeah he's uh sergey he's based off of uh serge olivier yeah yeah but that's really dope that you mentioned that though though, because like these philosophies, they're not fake. There's a reason why people can relate to this type of shit because, you know, it makes you want to push yourself. And then you ended up becoming the world's strongest. It's kind of funny. You know, there's people that, you know, study like philosophy and stuff like that.

that study philosophy and stuff like that. There's people that recommend stuff like this to identify with a cartoon character or a superhero of some fashion that you can rely on to either calm yourself down or to push yourself forward. So it makes sense to me. It might be a little embarrassing, but I remember when I was a wee child,

I would be using the restroom, but I would just start daydreaming so i would like be in the toilet longer than i needed to be but in my mind all i would do is just like think of ways where i could learn how to be a real life dbz character i'd be five years old just thinking to myself like okay like goku talks about key control and stuff like this i would just be like trying to learn how to fly and stuff like that and i would do it wholeheartedly and it's like i feel like i've always managed to keep that sense of my imagination alive even now until adulthood and i mean hater love it man it's it's played a big role into developing uh

who i am now as a competitor the The Zenkai boost is real. It really is. It's like your muscles fixing themselves. Yeah. It's passion, bro. You need the passion if you want to achieve something great. Not many can understand or fathom the capacity of what you're trying to achieve. You really got to love it.

You got to. You guys are mentioning some stuff with diet. I know that you get to eat in abundance because you're in super heavy weight class, but you also got to watch it a little bit here and there so you don't get too unhealthy because sometimes our food can mess with our sleep and it can even negatively impact our recovery if you start to get too big and start to get too like unfit. I would say we primarily stay away from fast food. If we eat a lot of something, it would be meat, chicken or red meat or steak or ground beef with some rice, fruit or veggies and eggs. That's it.

with some rice fruit or veggies or and eggs that's it if we were like okay we need to eat a good amount of food i like to do like rice eggs meat all in one bowl you guys did a poke bowl for lunch yeah i offered like in and out and stuff and you guys went you took the high road for any of you ladies who like big men my brother is single and this man is a menace. He is a menace with a skillet. I do know how to cook. But besides the point. Besides the point, man. And he squats over 800 pounds.

Anyways, besides the point, for a while, man, I was like, oh, we can eat whatever. point uh and for a while man i was like oh we can eat whatever and it just shows that you need to have uh what is it like not resilience but like you have to keep back or hold withhold from right from indulging and stuff like that um especially if you want to get to a high level you need to be able to control things like that what do you guys weigh i'm we'll just round it so we'll say for 14 400 400 pounds yeah what do you total combined weight of 800 pounds up here all right let me ask you guys this because like it's got to get pretty first off you guys can gain size super easily so that's one thing right but how do you guys know what the best weight for you would be because you're in like you're in territory that not many lifters have been to so a lot of guys are probably just like the bigger the better but as you mentioned

too much weight can draw back so how how do you figure out where your best body composition how our deadlifts are feeling yeah okay that's always like the biggest indicator of like okay like i need to take it tone it down a notch bend down to go to pick up the bar and it feels like your head's gonna blow off your shoulders you're a little too heavy or or like you know this yeah another feeling yeah or if you're starting to feel a little if your shower just starts to shrink like man i need a bigger shower yeah but i mean like it's crazy man because when we were a lot smaller like when we first started i remember like i wasn't able to eat a whole pizza by myself until i was like 20 21 i think but that would be like our pre-deadlift meal man like because

we were working at lowe's we were uh in the lumber and uh cement section and uh i think i would get off at two probably get off at four or something like that and we would literally get little seizures and just eat a pizza and but that's because like we got we grew up like watching like strongman for motivation so it's like their nutrition is a lot different than what it would be for like a natural power lifter so it's like their nutrition is a lot different than what it would be for like a natural power lifter because it's like honestly i think i tracked my calories for a little bit i really at most if i indulge i may be like at 6 000 calories on a large day but really like we're not maintaining it's like 4 500 to,000 where it's like you see other men at 400 pounds and they're

like oh yeah man 10k a day but we actually received intel from a verified source that that's all bullcrap and it's just for youtube i can believe that dude that's a lot of food 10k that's a lot of food every day because 6k isK is a lot. So add another four, it's like, mmm. But you'd have to get up at 3 a.m. and start eating. No thanks, bro. Yeah. I like to sleep. Pat Project family, we love beef on this podcast.

We talk about it a lot. All right? We love our meat. But sometimes eating the same meat all the time can get a little bit boring. That's why we partner with Good Life Proteins, which also has certified Piedmontese on their website. But sometimes you might just want to eat some chicken or fish or duck. Duck. Who eats duck? But you can eat duck. That's why if you go to goodlifeproteins.com, you can select their build-a-box options and input all the proteins you want. Then you'll select subscribe and save to save money on all of your meat.

If you enter code POWERPROJECT at checkout, you can save up to 25% on your subscription. That means you're gonna be saving 25% on all of that different meat that's gonna be heading to your door. Once again, head to goodlifeproteins.com. You can enter code POWERPROJECT and save up to 25%. Links are in the description box below

as well as the podcast show notes. How is your sleep? Is your sleep compromised? Because sometimes when you get real big, it gets to be difficult. I mean, I feel like for myself, I think my sleep is pretty consistent. I mean, like my girlfriend will tell me like when I snore and stuff like that, but I don't really like sleep uninterrupted like like i mean i think pretty much everybody in my family has sleep apnea but i don't really feel like it's being inhibited you know i feel like i my sleep quality is pretty solid i get my eight hours in man like i don't really have a hard time

moving around or nothing like when i get my steps in my back doesn't really get tight it's really more so my legs especially like after a heavy workout um so it's like and i feel like that's another thing man it's like from what i hear from other guys who are my size that are untested like it's like they're going past what their body is like supposed to be at like dude you're not supposed to be 400 you're genetically made to be like maybe 300 tops, maybe 250. But because of your life habits, like now your body is put at risk and it's like,

I never want to be in that position where I'm compromising my, my livelihood, my, what's the word? It's, um, longevity, life quality,

you know? Like right now it's like, um, my life quality is pretty great, man. Like I'm in a know like right now it's like um my life quality is pretty great man like i'm in a good spot right now um well we are trying to cut down a little bit but that's not really so much for performance but well for pablo it is but for myself it's like i mean it's both bro it's both well i was gonna say like i want to look good at sheffield make sure me too bro even if i'm just spectating trying to look good watching bro how do you guys feel how are the elbows knees backs i mean feel pretty good uh personally it's i wouldn't know how they would feel like to

somebody else if that makes sense like at my weight i feel okay like i don't have like oh my bad yeah you might feel the same no matter what yeah if you're 400 pounds so it's like for me i feel pretty good i still only thing is is the what i was telling you earlier but like the hip mobility that's like the one thing you need to be attentive with if you're going to be up like a bigger size don't be slacking off if anything it's like you're required to be more active more of this more of that because if you just let loose you're gonna can't move can't do anything you've had a like a rapid climb he you know he was saying you went right to 881 pretty quickly um how have you been able to keep the knees intact and uh like lower back and

something you guys are doing is obviously working actually that's a good question because um pablo's had to deal with chronic knee pain like since he was a little kid yeah um so i played basketball and stuff yeah i had a we went to get m or x-rays or mris pretty sure it's x-ray right mris like deep tissue type stuff yeah x-ray boom yeah so we got x-rays on my knees and uh right here like on my i don't know what it's called but there was a i think so yeah i have patella tendonitis but there was like a gap on my knee and they were saying that was like for growth for a good slaughter yeah i think so and they were telling me that if it keeps hurting or if it

closes i'm good but if it keeps hurting i wouldn would need surgery so i've always had knee tendonitis and it wasn't until i saw uh knees over toes that i would start to do his exercises implementing them because for a long time i would squat with knee pain with tendonitis and it was like crazy people don't people think oh tendonitis just work right through it's like that it it you can work it, but, man, it hurts. It feels like your knee is going to tear. Yes, and, like, it gets so swollen you can't even bend it. And it was very bad. So I would be at work and I would just be doing this.

If I was hurting, I'd be doing this right now, you know. So I pay my, what is it, my respects, yeah, to those exercises. And it helps, man uh you know if you actually care about your health and look into it like it will work out yeah how long did it actually take for you to like notice a difference was it pretty immediate was it a few months i know it was a while ago but dude it uh i would say like doing it every day consistently, like at least five to ten times a day, two months maybe, a month or two months. And you guys use like an RPE in your training. Yeah. And Joey, I forget his last name even though I know him.

Joey Frazier. Yeah. And you guys use like an RPE in training. Can you explain? Like it's a rate of perceived exertion, right? And then can you explain like what you're doing with that and why you think the reason why like we're such big advocates for RPE is because when utilized properly, it allows for an audible on the day. And this audible is pretty much like either you're feeling

super great or you're feeling super trashy um and like for most of the time like on the ladder if you're feeling bad man like like just imagine like you feel like absolute dog crap you know for a fact you're not going to hit the 93.5 you have for the day yeah but you still have to load it knowing damn well it's going to be 50 50 or at you know worst case scenario like you're gonna like just don't do damn well it's going to be 50 50 or at you know worst case like you're gonna like just don't do it so it's like people understand the anxiety like yeah a lot of anxiety when you see those numbers like that you're like oh my god last week was hard and this week's gonna be 10 times harder and then you get to the gym and you feel like crap yeah man so it's like

when you're utilizing rpe now that number doesn't become a set number. It's fluid. You can fluctuate between whatever you think would be appropriate. But I do see a lot of people take advantage of it, and they'll upscale, and they'll be like, oh, no, man, that's an eight. I'm like, dude, you're capping. That's a 10 bro you did not have two more reps um yeah man so it's like um that's pretty much the system that we use man like that's the system that you could say like i grew up learning for powerlifting um

but at the same time like as i learned more and became more educated i also started incorporating irr and qor so irr is reps and reserve and then qor is quality of rep so when you can like utilize these three systems in conjunction then it's like this is like the most objective i think you can be with training because rPE is how it looks, right? It's how it's perceived. Reps in reserve is how it feels. It's how many reps you feel you have left. And then QOR is like what it looks like on video.

So it's like how well did you perform the task at hand? Like what was the quality on your technique? Like did you have any technique breakdown or were you able to like keep it intact and like execute at a qr of 10 or 9 plus right um because like how we were talking about it's like when you can have a rep quality of rep at 10 it's perfect then you really only have like two reps in reserve the rpe might look like a six so it's like that was kind of how that was my way of forcing progress was i would tell myself i need to move this weight at that rpe and i just think like i was so explosive while combining the aspect of always working on my technique.

I just think I was able to pretty much have pretty solid QOR, and I was able to kind of force it. Now, I'm not going to recommend that to just anybody. I have had this conversation with some of my athletes who I think could benefit from that change in mentality um but I mean like now as I've gotten older and just I don't really try to push my body as much every single week you know sometimes I'll I'll like uh I'll like pull back hard man like I think uh there's been times where I'll just call it at 700 you know probably I'll be like dude if you feel like crap just let's just do back downs. We'll do four reds.

That was one of our more interesting conversations with one of our friends, like Michael Davis. When he first moved to Texas, we would start our first set of deadlifts with four reds. It was like 485. He'd be like, dude, what the hell are you guys doing? You guys both pull over 700. Why are you doing rep work with four reds and i'll be like hey bro until you know you don't know well

with conventional it's more taxing than sumo so it's like you have less energy reserve for however long you do your set for yeah so it's like we can start lighter and then progressively work up each set and then we have like a base all right, we'll call it here for that RPE. You also get into the grind of like doing this week in and week out. And who knows if it's the last deadlift session or the last bench session or, you know, normally Rick Husey, who was the coach for Big Iron Gym years and years ago. And it was comparable to Westside Barbell. But one of the things he was mentioning was if you get a PR, if you get a nice PR, 20 pounds or something like that,

comes out of kind of seems like almost nowhere, he's like, be careful in the next couple of days and weeks because there might be PRs waiting for you on a deadlift or squat as well. Maybe you got your PR on the bench. but he urged people not to take them. He was like, you need to be careful because now you're in new territory. And so I agree. I think that a lot of what you guys do, you said you've been with your coach for four years and the only time in the four year span, he's only recommended you go to an rpe of eight just a couple of times that's pretty amazing i think that's really important for people to understand and to hear

and you can look at that eight as like 80 85 maybe 90 something like that if you want to go percentage wise but i think it's so hard you know you get caught up in the numbers you get so excited and you want to do more and do more and do more. But if you're progressively, even if you are making some improvements and you are lifting a little bit more weight, you need to be really cautious with how those reps look. Because you don't want dirty, disgusting reps. You don't want to be known as that guy. Yeah, and being inputted into your body.

They're bad inputs. They're not good inputs. So taking 485 and doing it perfectly is really clean and good inputs for your body they're bad inputs they're not good inputs so taking 485 and doing it perfectly is really clean and good inputs for your body yeah and you also have to think about like over a span of a workout like you're saving yourself for the next session too so is there an aspect of you that was kind of surprised when starting to work with your coach that you didn't need to lift as heavy all the time to get stronger because i feel like some people expect and they feel like i gotta be pushing 90 weekly i don't know man because i always felt like when i very first

started with joey and i didn't know jack squat about like as much as i know like rp i didn't know anything about rpe yeah i would literally just go 10 pounds heavier every week until because it's like i can remember like 650 feeling heavy i remember like the first time i did 750 felt heavy but it would move well so it's like i would just go 10 because my my wasn't used to it, even though I'm pretty confident I was able to. Like, I feel like when I first started, if I was like ego lifting, I'm pretty sure I could have done 804 in my first competition. Like, I just felt like I had the strength for it. Yeah. But I didn't have like the mental maturity to like, I didn't know how I walk it out, how it would feel.

I didn't know the expectation of what was going to be set before me. So instead of like just ego lifting, I took it like 10 pounds at a time, just small increments until I started feeling like, okay, like I think I can do that. Let's do 10 pounds. But I don't know, man. What was your question again? Just like the fact that you didn't have to lift super heavy.

But along with that, you guys were talking in the gym and you mentioned that your program over the years has not really changed that much. It's been the exact same. Exact same. Some people, when they see that from a coach, they're like, you're not doing your job. Like, what's going on here? So what had, well, I guess maybe Joey's record with people, but like to, what gives you that confidence? Like that you don't need to change because lifters always feel like they need to change to a new program. It's a very old saying, but if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

There we go. So it's like, and I mean, and it's like me and Joey have these conversations. We have conversations like, hey man, like should we add another squat day? Should we do this? Should we do that? Should we add another squat day? Should we do this? Should we do that?

But it's like we've had so much success over the four years that it's like I don't think we're at that point yet where we need to popular 83, 90 kilo guys where it's like they're training six times a week. Like we can use Russell for example. Like Russell trains six days a week I think. His frequency is significantly higher than mine is, right? And he's only been training in the gym maybe – well, I think we're both at the point where it's like there's we can say like our bodies are um like adequately like used to that workload right we're training relatively similar time frames but people get so lost in the sauce of trying to look like Russ, trying to be at the top, trying to lift the numbers that he does that they think I need to do exactly what he does. And more times than not, people forget the context because it's so easy to judge a book by its cover.

You're like, oh, man, like I want to buy this book. But then you open it and you're like, I don't want no part of this. Open up that Russ buy this book. But then you open it and you're like, I don't want no part of this. You open up that Russ Svobo. You're in a lot of trouble. You're like, man, I got to work out this hard every day. Yeah, man. But it's like Russ has been training for a long time. He's a football player before all that too.

Yeah, man. He's got great conditioning and stuff too. I'm sure if he wanted to convert back over to a a different sport he would be able to do that as well i don't i don't know if you guys saw it but he posted on his story where he was working ladder drill i saw them and his footwork was still pretty damn good and i'm like you son of a gun like i don't think people understand like for his footwork to still look like that, despite him, like, not doing it serious, like him just messing around, like, that's just God-given talent. You can't just walk in unless you, like, have that level of coordination already. But anyways, so people get lost in the sauce, and they're just like, oh, I need to train six days a week.

I need to squat three times a week. I need to do this. I need to do three times a week. I need to do this. I need to do that. But it's like start off slow. You don't want to get so specific so fast whereas you maximize your newbie gains like that. You want to gradually take your gains as you go. And plus like – another thing is it's like injury prevention man like not everyone can handle that much frequency and like i think became really popular where it's like you see a bunch of lifters

get hurt trying to do somebody else's program when they don't even have like the pedigree or background and it's like no man like slow down take it day by day take Take it lift by lift. And then, like, if you find out over time that you can handle it, then, okay, like, let's slowly ramp it up. But it's, like, people just get so enamored and they want, like, that shine, like, that. But it's, like, no, dude. Like, it takes years and years and years and countless hours to be where, like, I am or Pablo is or Russell is. Dude, you know, one thing though that I think is like isn't thought about is, you know, you talked about how long you've been lifting Pablo. It hasn't been that long and you Jesus.

But the thing is, is your backgrounds play a big role into why you're also this strong. It's like you can't, you cannot mitigate the fact that you guys were working with just doing labor for a very long time for years before you touched weight that primed your body for a lot of the shit that you're doing right now that's actually a really good point because uh i don't know what i was listening to but um like how stress can cause mutations or stress can like bring certain like deep genes out of you. So it's like, I ain't got a lot.

I mean, Paul grew up in a very stressful environment where you didn't know what the hell was going to happen on any day. And it's like, there's been studies shown where it's like, that's why inner city kids look a lot older and more mature than like, say someone who grew away from that. You mean, you mean, you want to flip those?

No, no, no. Inner city is like the slums, bro. Oh, okay. Yeah. So it's like. Probably because you got to harden up a little bit. You got 100%. You don't want to get picked on and stuff.

You got to kind of probably walk around a little bit more like an adult. Carry yourself like an adult. Act like an adult. stuff you got to kind of probably walk around a little bit more like an adult carry yourself like an adult act like an adult and then um so it's like i just like we have these conversations man where it's like i'm sure every single event in our lives played some role into like our development now so it's like like i've had my fair share of uh scares man and stuff that I'm pretty sure, like, triggered some sort of response. Because it's like, we're here, man. Yeah.

Do either one of you guys use any of the stuff from your past that may have been negative in your training? Or are you guys more coming from a more positive side? Like, I'm going to lift this weight. I trained for it. That kind of thing. Well, yes and no the one positive thing that i take into my training is i give the glory to god you know and the one thing about being a christian or a believer is that we have to deny our flesh right deny sin and be a man

of god and walk with that um consistency and discipline but on the other hand, it's like what we went through growing up and our older siblings went through, we carry that, man. And we use that motivation to help us. And we hear a bunch of stories that had happened when they were younger, when my mom was younger, and we can't do nothing about it. We can't do nothing about it now. You can break the cycle, though. Yes.

And we broke free from those chains. Generational curses were gone, man, and I thank God for it. And our mom recently got sick. it now you can break the cycle yes yeah and you know we broke free from those chains generational curses were gone man and i thank god for it and our mom recently got sick in 2021 where she almost passed away and that was at the time where i was like you know i need to take this i need to take things seriously and especially like power lifting as well right it's what i'm doing i need to i can't half-ass anything anymore and so a lot of that comes to like what we went through what happened recently two years ago and it's like we can't take things for granted you know we have to appreciate these things that help us right the constant stress bring it out of us

and to just evolve into a better man and also a better athlete and overall like it's the domino effect it needs to happen bro i mean as much as i wish it could be positive and lovey-dovey like the best people are the ones that go through some hard stuff you know they just have to grow up faster yeah and like our we literally had our youngest brother stay the summer with us uh and one of the last conversations i had with him in the gym was like it's like that scene from rocky where um apollo's like telling him you don't like there is no tomorrow and i don't think people really understand what that means like i think they just look at that and they're like oh he's telling

rocky like he needs to get his shit together he's gonna beat up but what i take from that is it's like no tomorrow what it means is it's like there's no time to lose. Like, and I was just telling, his name is Carlos, my baby brother, and I was just telling him, like, dude, like, you do not have time to slack off. You are our miracle baby. Because when he was in my mom's womb, he was diagnosed with trisomy 13, and the doctors were actually advising my mom to abort him because she had to get put on bed rest because her body was trying to naturally like um abort him so it's like he was only supposed to live one month but my mom was like if one

month is all i get him for by all means like i'm gonna have my baby and I'm gonna take care of him for as long as I can but it's like here he is now 16 years later like six foot two big dude now 300 like this guy's already like blowing us out of the water with just his frame alone man he's like such a sweet kid he's so. But he doesn't work hard. He's just naturally gifted at what he does because he's empathetic. He's sympathetic. He's pretty intelligent. So it's like when we see him like work hard and then he takes a day off, it's like, dude, like do you know who we are?

Like do you know what we're trying to do here? like, do you know who we are? Like, do you know what we read? Like, do you know what we're trying to do here? And it's like, my mom told me that she came to him in a moment of confidence, just told him, told, he told her that he felt like he couldn't reach the expectations we had for him. But it's like, it's our job. And like the way this all ties together, it's like our sense of belief and the sense of purpose that we have in what we do. Because to everybody else, we're just lifting heavy ass weight. But for us, we're literally fighting every single day trying to build a legacy. Like my grandfather moved here to the States like like, 70 years ago, 60 years ago? I don't know, bro.

The Olivares family. Like, our branch of the Olivares family has only been in the States for this year. There's many years. Whereas, like, so many other families have been here for much longer. And it's like, where do they have to show for their hard work? And I literally posted on my thread, it's like, anybody who doesn't believe in the American dream isn't working hard enough. Like, get that shit out of my face. Because if you're so entitled and you feel like you deserve to be handed things,

get out of my face. Like, we come from nothing, and it's like, we're here with you guys, you know? If it wasn't for anything that we've done, like, we would be nobodies, but we didn't believe in that. Like, we didn't feel like that we've done, we would be nobodies. But we didn't believe in that. We didn't feel like that was what we were supposed to be. I feel like I said a lot of points. Have you guys always been religious? No.

No, no, no, no. We were raised Catholic. Not even, bro. We just went because it was like culture. Well, we were baptized because it's a Mexican thing. He just nodded his head over there. because it was like culture we were we were baptized because it's like it's a it's a mexican it's a it's a cultural thing where like you're catholic right you're baptized at birth or not birth but shortly after um but i mean i remember like having christianity later on yeah man uh i was telling your brother was it chris right yeah i was telling chris that

uh it was because of our mom she had received this invitation to go to a church years before her and my my dad were uh divorced so that was like the final moment which is like i need to change my life and so the one thing she did was sought out to jesus you know for god and she took that step forward. And I, a credit to her, man, because she, for the longest time, she never had a voice, you know, suppressed for majority of her life. And for her to make that step forward, you know, that was simply from God. And she took us to church. As much as we didn't like it, you know, we were going through our period of like being

young and hard-headed stuff yeah yeah and um you know i i regret a bunch of the stuff church seems so weird when you're a teenager yes you know especially christian church people singing in the aisles and jumping around yeah like man these guys are a bunch of fucking weirdos you know so it was definitely a change of scenery you know know, something to get used to. But the one thing that we got out of it was that relationship with God, you know? And it's kind of weird, man, because, you know, we didn't know anything about it, right, until that time in our life. And it's changed dramatically ever since. Yeah.

And it's been a blessing. And, like, we each have our own testimony, man. Like, I remember, like, I used to be angry at God because of, like, when my parents got divorced, I didn't understand it. And I was just, like, playing that card, man. Like, why would you let this happen? And I feel like that's one of the more common things that steer people away or just from even, like, opening that door to God or Jesus. And it's like, they have some sort of internal pain that they've never really like delving deeper

into or dissected. So that's kind of how, how my relationship with Jesus started. Like I used to hate Jesus. I hated Christians. I hated God uh i would literally fall asleep first thing i did when my mom would make us go to church i'd sit down sit in the back go to bed i didn't give a damn i was just i didn't want to know part of it and then yeah yeah and like i i mean we can go on and on but it's like i'll never forget that man like the first time I ever felt like the Holy Spirit, like God like revealed a lot of things to me. He revealed to me like why things happened how they did. And it was just like, man, it's like when you truly understand like how humans are, how as yourself, you're just the man, like the intrusiveive thoughts the like we're just so undeserving man and like when you really aim to be christ-like man it's like the humility comes from your

self-understanding of i'm really ain't shit so if you think somebody else ain't worth shit it's like like no they're in the same boat man you should treat everybody the same you should love people how jesus loved people like that's true christianity and it's like we can dive into our testimonies man but it's like that's what me and my brother are trying to embody man because if we went to church there's a bunch of things that we didn't agree with because of the way they ran things. But it's like,

we, we are, and that's what, that's what Christianity is, man. It's a relationship. Like you dive, it's not a religion.

It's not a A, B, C, D, E, get to Z type of thing. You're not saved by your actions. Yeah.

So it's like, like here we are, man. Like we're just, we're just trying to live life how we think jesus that's what i want to do man when i die and i just want god to be proud of what i did with what he gave me and it's like we don't got much time man 90 years past in a blink of an eye man yep you're gonna be my there's gonna be a day where you're 85 and you're gonna be like holy smoke i remember

when i was 46 like that's how time works man i remember when i was five and i'm like feels like it was a week ago so it's like time just flies by man but it just ties in bro with like your training like no time wasted yeah everything is for a reason even when you wake up to the moment you take your first step of the day anything is like the most minute detail you care about it because it's like i'm here for a reason not just for nothing you're here for a reason and it's like start start embodying that believe it you know if you can believe it achieve it it's like it's been that's been that or that saying has been around for the longest time you know you have to believe it and then you'll start to embody it yeah if. If you have knee pain or lower back pain, the initial thought is that it's probably

coming from the knee or the lower back. But have you ever thought that it could actually be coming from your feet? Most people wear shoes like this. They are narrow. They are not flat. They are inflexible. So it's almost like your feet are stuck in casts all day long. And if you imagine that your hand was stuck in a cast all day, well, your fingers are going to become weak, but then your elbows might start feeling a little bit wonky because your fingers don't move and then it might travel up your shoulder. That's the same thing that happens with your feet when you put them in normal inflexible shoes. That's why you want to throw those out and start using some Vivo barefoot shoes. They have shoes for hiking on their website, working out in the gym. They have casual shoes like these Novuses right here. But the difference with Vivo is that they have a wide toe box so that your feet, like my wide-ass feet, can spread and move within the shoe.

They're flat so that your feet are doing the work when you're walking. And they are flexible so your feet have the freedom to move the way they need to move so that they can be strong feet. That's why you want to get yourself some of these. And, Andrew, how can they get it? Yes, that's over at VivoBbarefoot.com slash powerproject. When you guys get there, you'll see a code across the top. Make sure you enter that code at checkout for 15% off your entire order. Again, that's at vivobarefoot.com slash powerproject.

Links in the description as well as the podcast show notes. Guys, look at this. Look at that. I could stick that in my mouth. Do it. I'm not going to do this. It's disgusting. Get them. Is it important for you guys to have a purpose?

Oh, 100%. Sounds like lifting gives you a purpose. Sounds like religion and your relationship with God gives you a purpose. It gives us a platform, for sure. So it's like, I think I wouldn't be anybody if it wasn't for my relationship with god man i mean i mean think about people that are your age you know like other people that are your age it's that are just kind of scrolling a lot and uh maybe not fulfilling you know who they could really be and maybe it's because they're lost and uh yeah they maybe haven't found that purpose yet yeah or they just don't care.

And that's a cold realization, man. It's like I've seen so many people with so much potential. Like they could be a great doctor or they could be like a great athlete or a great person, but they just don't care. So it's like – I do believe there will be a moment, bro, where they're going gonna have a time to be called to the action and it's up to them to be like i know i could be that let me let me

let me not be who people think i am or what i am currently and be a better man or a woman that's true man yeah i guess you're jordan peterson said it's like your it's like your moral obligation to try to figure out and find your purpose. Because I used to be like that, man. So I know I mentioned being a leaf in the wind. And on the negative side of that, if I wanted to go sneak out at night or if I wanted to go mess around, do Lord knows what, man, like, I would just do it. Like, I was very carefree. I was irresponsible. I didn't care about the consequences of my actions. Like, I was just, I was just a dumb kid, man. I didn't give a damn. I didn't care. I didn't know what was going to happen if I did that. I just knew that if I

wanted to do it, I'd do it. And I've talked about this on other podcasts, man, but it's like I tried to commit suicide when I was 20. Yeah, you were pretty, yeah, you were in like early 20s. Yeah, man, like I went through a really horrible breakup and I had no hope and I thought that my point of living was gone. So I tried to overdose, man, and just pretty much like falling conscious into traffic. So that was kind of my wake-up call, and that was like, that's like when I, you hear stories of people hearing God's voice call out to them. Like they audibly hear a voice. And even though we had already given our life to Christ and experienced the

Holy Spirit, it's natural to be skeptical. So up until that point, I was like, maybe I haven't heard God's voice. So maybe people were just tripping. Right. But man, I will never forget that day. Like I was just in so much like heartache that it's like that pain was physical and it was intolerable. And I just wanted it to go away. I just wanted to stop hurting. And I did what I did. And I just like, remember crying in traffic,

just driving, just waiting for like, to kind of like fall unconscious and i just remember like thinking like wait a minute why why is the pain not going away like why why do i not feel these painkillers like where's at least like a little bit of relief and then i just like saw a vision like i was in like this tempest i was drowning and my hand was about to go under I was about to be succumbed by the storm and I see a lifesaver being thrown out in front of me and like this was like the first time I've ever heard God's voice and I literally heard Jesus hold on to me or you're gonna die and I just remember like snapping out of it, man. It was like if everything I had that had been like taking charge of my life up until that moment, just like clear it out.

You know, like I still had to mourn the loss of that relationship and I still had to like get myself back together. But like, I can remember like that day was like the day where I was like, I don't have time to waste. Like I need to get my stuff together. I need to stop caring less. I need to start caring more. I need to start being who God made me to be. You know know like god didn't make me this beast of a man to be meek to be um soft i mean i'm very soft-spoken but like this like we're here for a reason you know so it's like that moment man like and i i used to be somebody who laughed at people who fought with depression i used to think suicide was a joke i used to be one of those guys until it happened to me. And, like, fortunately for me, God intervened in a divine way where, like, I didn't feel no sense of those pink.

And, like, I didn't feel nothing, man. Like, these were, like, those 500 milligram hospital pain pills because I had just had wrist surgery, like, not too long ago. And they were left over. Like, I would take these to, like, know long ago. Yeah. And they were left over. Like I would take these to like null my wrist pain surgery. So I knew they worked. I had taken them before. So it's like, I don't know, man. Like that's just something inexplicable, man.

And it's just like I can think of a lot of times where like God just intervened where there should have been something life-threatening. But for whatever reason, like God's hand has just been over my life in such a manner, man, that it's like, like I don't have time to waste, man. Because I know so many people who've been on the other side where they just, it was their time, unfortunately. But it's like, I got to do what I got to do, man. Yeah. Can I ask you, you're in a relationship now, right? Yes, sir.

What's different? How do you, like, what's different in the relationship now? How do you handle it? Like, with my girlfriend? Yeah. Because, like, that relationship, I don't know what happened there, but obviously it impacted you, right? Okay. Obviously, it impacted you, right? Okay.

So I guess I just became a more responsible person because in my relationship before, like, I would act out inconsequentially. I didn't care how I treated the other person. You know, I'll own up to my mistakes that allowed for that relationship to not work so it's like what i'm doing now with my girlfriend it's like i try to just be more involved you know just listen to her you know um because she's been such a big part of my success man because like in terms of like nutrition she holds it down let's go like um the two people that know me the best that i absolutely just know me the best it's my girlfriend and it's my brother and this guy's my best friend like this guy knows me in and out man and it's like i think over the

past year um like we've we've had our ups and downs man but i guess what's been different in this relationship man it's like it even talks in the bible you know it's like one of the best ways to be christ-like is to be married you know and like in every sense of the word you know like i do consider her my wife you know like we're not legally married but um I can't disclose that information because then I'd be ruining surprises and stuff. But it's just like staying humble, man, because I think as a man, when any relationship goes wrong, whether it's with your significant other or your brother or your parents, like when you start thinking you're like superior or better, but in reality, like their voice and feelings matter just as much. And that's something that my brother has helped me grow with as well, man,

because it's like, how do you say this? It's like, you have to learn how to navigate the feeling of pressure and don't let it cut too deep because it's like as a man you know like whether people want to admit it or not like you are the like if you're the man in charge you have a lot of responsibility man wherever like i'm the cat like the relationship is my ship and i'm the captain, you know?

And that's not to say like that my girlfriend is like less important because like the role that she has in our relationship, man, like that woman, she deserves my very best, man. Yeah. Um, but like,

like, you know what I'm saying? Like if I start acting up, it's going to affect her directly. If it, if I just start changing up, it's going to affect her directly. If I just start changing up, it's going to affect her directly. And like that's kind of what I mean. And it's like you just as a man, the day you start taking ownership of your actions, that's really when I think you become a man. It's not the day you start making six figures.

It's not the day you become a father. It's not the day you start making six figures. It's not the day you become a father. It's not the day that you turn 18, turn 21. The day you take ownership of everything you do and you start taking that seriously and those consequences, I think that's when you become a man. Because the world, your view changes from like being stress-free and carefree to, nah, like if I do this, it's going to cause ripples. It's going to have an effect. Like if I talk to another grown man wrong, like what's going to happen? If I don't say hello to my brother and he's having a bad,

like how is that going to affect his day? You know, like once you start thinking on that level, um, or just be more responsible, you know, like be more financially responsible. It's just, it all,

that's what it all comes down to, man. It's just literally just taking ownership for yourself and what you do and how you do it. Well said, uh, let's get back to lifting because the people listening are like man i hope they give some good anyway uh what's your favorite assistance exercise favorite accessory for bench

press close grip touch and go i say close grip bench press and some lat pull downs or seated row or any type of row i thought you you were going to say spamming triceps. Oh, no. Yeah. Single arm tricep extension. Or, yeah, tricep extension. That's been like your mistress in the gym pumps? I've never really spammed them and I have recently.

I'm like, I just feel more in control on the descend on the bench. And I'm like, that's got to be it because that's the only thing I'm doing a lot of recently. That's got to be it. Favorite assistant exercise for the squat? For squat, I would say heavy leg press, man. Like, this is like some undisclosed information. But leading into Sheffield, I actually did the wrong block the last four weeks. to sheffield i actually did the wrong block the last four weeks so to fix that to like kind of pretty much like speed up the volume and fatigue i started pushing leg press and it worked out in

my favor isn't it worse when you air it out like way way way way later than in the early stages bruh i think so people are gonna be in trouble bro yeah i would agree leg press is definitely the one that transit or a belt squat i like and i was uh sharing belt squat for me personally it's just more ROM more range of motion to get in the hole versus a leg press obviously like if you're more, it's going to be more restrictive. So bell squat. Yeah, because I like to think of it like as a 0.5 frequency because you're loading the same muscles that you use in a squat from the waist down. And that's why it's something I'll tell my athletes a lot, man. Like when they want to add another squat day, I'm like, well, let's try either like leg press, bell, or like some sort of machine because you want to limit.

Control it as much as you can. Well, and plus like the load on your spine. Limit the damage, huh? Yep. Exactly. 100%. So it's like for me, it's like I can spam leg press and load up like 1,000 pounds and I can do that for reps. Whereas like if I try squatting a thousand pounds like the fatigue is like a thousand times so it's like you kind of look at it like okay like how much

stimulus can i handle without like the negative repercussion of like actual barbell squatting so it's like that you have to take that into account man and it's like that's what we're talking earlier about how people like to just spam frequency when it's like slow it down like your meat bone like that stuff can only handle so much per week and it only recovers so fast and so good so it's like be smart uh take a slow what about deadlift for deadlifts i think just deadlifting yeah just deadlift more yeah we're like we're a firm believer of like just do more of whatever you want to be good at like people think you're gonna just magically add some accessory and it's gonna boost your stuff overnight and that's not how it works man like everything needs to be tried and tested and the only way to do it is by actually doing it um i

don't even know where people got that idea of like a specific i think it started with youtube videos and just asking other lifters and they're like try to look smart and cool so they'd be like um let's add this but it's like i mean it'll help yeah you got no idea how a tricep extension you know with a curl bar is going to relate to a 600 pound bench right i mean i think it's going to help to make your arms stronger i guess yeah i mean and i think it's more of like an indirect assistance but it's like if you want something like that's going to help it you just got to do more of it now if you want to talk variation then i think maybe that's like a little bit different but in terms of like an accessory that doesn't revolve around the

particular implement or lift it's like kind of crazy um and then you guys do like a lot of assistance movements you guys use machines and i've seen some of the workouts it looks like it looks like you're in the gym for a pretty long time after you get done with those uh you know you guys are moving around big weight and it takes a long time to squat 800 pounds 900 pounds yeah man if we're in the gym for two and a half hours like let's say it's a squat session we're probably squatting for like a little like maybe hour and a half and then accessories is like 30 minutes i don't like looking at the clock or what time it is after we squat i'm like dude we've been here for a long time but just wait till you get a girlfriend

and then when she gets home from work and you're not there you're still at the gym i've been gone since 7 30 it's four o'clock crazy really takes four hours to work out you're like yep but it's like sometimes it's the it's the warm-up man it's like even now like we've experimented with bigger jumps like i think uh we would start at two reds right but it's like um like we'll do two reds and then we'll go straight to four reds and then we'll do like five reds so it's like relatively when you're like squatting less than 50 i think that's okay i wouldn't recommend it to most people but yeah pretty big jumps it's not i mean sometimes as i think as

long as you're like taking appropriate jumps from 600 forward i think you could kind of speed run to like six and then like and it does take a significant time of uh it does reduce it so it does help speed up the workout um or sometimes it just helps if we, like, take a pocket single. Like, we don't necessarily hit the RPE and we undershoot. That helps out a lot too. Just because, I mean, like, singles are really just like primers for your body of work. You know, a single is not going to get you better. It's the three by eight.

So sometimes you just kind of hit, like, a quick little, little like even if it's a slightly undershot like that's still going to prepare your body for like the actual body of work that's going to improve you your your workout and the assistance exercises are you know they're kind of done to hypertrophy the area you know so you're a little bigger right and then maybe uh more resilience like stay away from injuries and shit like that. So the abductor or adductor machine, that I feel is like super low key because you mostly see like female fitness influencers hit that exercise, right? But I think it's one of those. I think everybody should hit it like at least once a week because it's great for hip health.

I think it's good for knee health. I've got to bring up that bubble butt exercise. See if you can find it, Andrew. I think we'll see if you can get their thoughts on this bubble butt exercise. Oh, you want me to email it to you? You guys on the good girl, bad girl machines. But yeah, those movements do really help a lot for some reason this was on my

explore feed I don't know why I just ended up there but this is this is mad you can hide that kind of content I had this is something else you're thinking something

but i had to send it to these two because i thought it was just uh it was rather hilarious merely for educational purposes you still don't understand what's about to come on screen though make sure you have the sound on andrew okay dude oh my god he has so many is it a dude it's a dude bro why is this guy so caked up why can't i find it if it's not michael davis i don't want to see michael davis bro the prize oh my god dude this guy's nuts sorry as i find it my bad how are you guys uh able to stabilize the weight so well on a squat? I've seen you guys walking out with these weights. That was always a thing that was difficult at times to try to manage these big weights.

Especially, you guys are just kind of using some regular bars, I think, and the bar can kind of waver a little bit and stuff like that. I just think it comes down to how efficient your walkout is man um like how stable your shelf is like your core activation and then being efficient like taking as little steps as possible so like i'm i really i teach the three-step walkout so it's like you start off uh shoulder width so that way like when you take that first step if you're too wide you're gonna hit the rack so if you start off shoulder width. So that way, like when you take that first step, if you're too wide, you're going to hit the rack. So if you start our shoulder with your first step is going to be like almost straight back about a foot. The second one should like be parallel. And then the third one is where you set your width and toe angle.

Right. And obviously, like once your width is set, like if you want to like wide out your toes or make them a little bit more narrow then like that's that's fine but it just comes down to practice man like just that's probably like the one thing i mean all these things we're constantly thinking about do you guys walk weights out in addition like i remember ed cone used to like literally just do a set or two sometimes just to walk the weight back and he wouldn't squat it all the time nah man i've never done anything like that. Me neither. He's always squatted. Yeah.

All right, here's our exercise. This is ridiculous. You said sound too? Bro, that dude works nothing but glutes. That's why I said this. I was like, yo, that's problematic. You want a bubble butt. God damn.

Suspended in the air. You can perform dual leg kickbacks or isolated kickbacks if he just had a wig he'd be like oh dude his whole page is nothing but his so will that exercise help your squat you guys think not that one i'm sure i'm sure he has a couple one that probably has to yeah training the adduction machine or whatever he has to have it and you're always working out in the same squat the fact that he wears gray it's a form check and see you might get your mind out of the gutter somebody get this guy dude

that gets too much power project family if you're trying to increase your muscle mass, if you're trying to lose body fat, if you're trying to stick to a nutrition plan, if you're trying to get fit, pretty much if there's anything you're trying to do for your health, we know that sleep is the biggest determining factor to help you get from point A to point B. That's why we've been sleeping on eight sleep mattresses for probably more than two years now. And the main reason is the technology behind the Pod Pro. Now the Pod Pro is like the Tesla of beds. It will change its temperature based off of how you're sleeping during the night. And if you have a partner that's sleeping on the other side, they could have their own temperature settings. We all sleep hot here. And I used to wake up in a puddle of my own sweat. That doesn't happen anymore because of the Eight Sleep mattress. And I've been getting the best sleep of my life. Now, if you don't want to replace your mattress, you can just get the Pod Pro cover and you can put that over your current

mattress to get all the benefits of Eight Sleep. But if you also need to replace your old nasty mattress, you can get the Pod Pro cover and the Eight Sleep mattress. Andrew, how can they get it? Yes, you guys got to head over to eightsleep.com slash power project and you guys will automatically receive $150 off of your order. Again, 8sleep.com slash power project links to them down in the description as well as the podcast show notes. Pablo, you were mentioning that you like to do an exercise. You feel it helps your elbows a little bit before you squat because sometimes the squat can give me a lot of pressure on the elbows on squat. So we do a bunch of pressure on the elbows on squat so we do a bunch of resistance bands uh exercises before just to get more blood flow um i used to wear a lot of

elbow sleeves but i recently well not recently but i went to racks in wider grip on squat um doing those single arm tricep extensions has helped with that like to mitigate the pain i don't really get much pain anymore actually doing those. So I rarely use elbow sleeves anymore for squat. I think you mentioned like a reverse grip pull down or something like that too. Yes. I also do that for squat too just for the – I used to have bad rhomboid uncomfortable or uncomfort. And I would do that as well.

So a bunch of this stuff you do you have to actively do these things it's not just a one-time thing oh one one time a day i'm good no you have to do these for at least a month a couple of weeks and really get used to it get uh just try to rehab you know do you guys warm up in the gym or do you mainly just like if it's squat day you just go right to the squat rack or you go right to the bench right to the deadlift i mean there's times where we'll do like five minutes on the treadmill uh we'll do like moderate intensity with like an english like kind of speed up blood flow the treadmill's not big enough i saw you guys on the treadmill i'm like these guys are like barely on the treadmill i hit my arms on the rails right here

you kind of have to step back where you're like close close to falling off um their gate is so wide like it matches their shoulders you know so they're out here and like they're skidding on the sides almost so you got to make sure to walk fast enough that you don't bust your ass but um you just warm up with the main movement for the day yeah man pretty much i mean i like for bench, we'll pull out the resistance band. You put the resistance band behind your elbows and you kind of do like a reverse bench press. Look at that back. Yeah, you guys sometimes will do a little bodybuilding posing afterwards. Hey, man.

Do you think that's helping? I know you're doing it like kind of in fun and you're also – your back is fucking massive. People like it. But is it – do you think it's helpful to like to learn how to squeeze and flex some of those muscles actually that's a very good point because so hey bro all of a baby because um so this past monday i actually like kind of put my hands out just uh out of convenience because we were squatting on a rogue rack and we wanted to save time and just be efficient and like i'm pretty confident in my ability to kind of like adapt my squat i feel like i just feel like my my own understanding of my body is like i could figure it out and i did so I read, what I learned around like my fourth warmup is like how much

harder you have to brace your traps and your rhomboids when you have your hands out wider, because when you have a more narrow hand grip, your forearms are actually providing a good amount of support on, on, on your back. Right? So when your hands are out wider you can't really push against the bar with your hands like that it's all on your back so i kind of like was like figuring that out as i was going and then we actually went to the golden state bridge yesterday or two days ago two days ago and um i did a a lat spread out there and just now when you said that question like my mind connected that squat and figuring out how to flex my upper back to like how i flexed my back two days ago because that sensation was very similar because that was probably like my best lat spread to date because i just kind of felt in tune with like that part of my back because

normally when i lat spread i just really like try to like make as much like just spread as much as i can because like i can actually feel my lats like slide down and widen but two days ago i was i also felt like mentally in tune with like my traps and rhomboids so then like i spread my lads and then like i flex my upper back and it literally felt like the same sensation of when i was like um squatting with a wide grip so it's like i don't know if a lot of people would be able to, to really like get that same mental connection. But it's like when you said that it just kind of prompted those thoughts. Yeah. I know that like in a bench squat and deadlift,

you know, they have some things in common, you know, you basically, you want to try to keep your chest or rib cage up a little bit. You want your shoulders kind of down and back. You know, you think about a bench press,

you're trying not to like overextendend and and push any further than you need to in a deadlift you're trying to take the deadlift and you're trying to almost wrap the damn thing around your legs so you're flexing your lats you're keeping your shoulder as far away from your ear as possible you're not shrugging upward and then the same thing happens in the squat you get in the same position you lock the lats in just as you're describing um you pull pull the chest up a little bit and you're usually locked in yeah man kind of similar on all three of those movements you're about to say something no no you go ahead i want to know this because i know you guys have probably gotten this comment before but you are you guys are also already extremely strong you

are the strongest right now why not hop on because like if you're already the strongest what's gonna happen if you hop on right what why i'm glad you asked that because it's like my ultimate it's like a bragging card man it's like the satisfaction of just knowing that I'm at this level without it, I don't need to prove my shit to anybody. I'm that guy, bro. I love it. But at the same time, it's also like I don't want to put my health at risk because I'm already so big.

High blood pressure runs in my family. I'm pretty sure my numbers are pretty high today during the videos, fat guy breathing the whole time. So it's pretty much for those reasons, man, because it's like, like what's going to happen? Like, am I going to get up to 450 for like 500 pounds? Like at that point, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm playing with, with fate, man. Like so many people have had so many adverse reactions and stuff like that as of late.

And it's, like, it's scary, especially if I don't need it. Why even play with it? Like, it's dumb, dude. And then at the same time, like, I think I would consider it, like, an epidemic. Like, there's so many teenagers hopping on right now. Like, it's insane and i think that's where this culture of he's lying is coming from because you have these 16 17 year old kids who are like hopping on social media right now and their mentors are just teaching them

verbiage that they've learned so it's like and like and i think we're talking to your brother about that man it's like i think we were and I think we were talking to your brother about that, man. It's like, I think we were so fortunate to run into the people that we did because it's like, I don't know if like, let's just say like, I would have learned from somebody who was like, and they were telling me these things, like, who knows? I might have, you know? So it's like, I think as a a part of our responsibility to just, and that's always been my thing, man. It's like, my code is I want to be as strong as I can and do everything I possibly can without compromising my morality. And I'm not saying like, just because, like, we're good friends with some people who compete in untested, like Shane Hunt, man.

He's been going through a patch you know but like like we don't have any beef so it's like i don't i don't judge him for being an untested you know and we've shared philosophy and we've had very deep conversations before whatever he's been going through you know um so it's like or like i've have dms with other untested guys you know i'm like i mean well i've heard some other things as well too i think it matters we draw the line i don't know for me personally being stronger than another super heavy who's untested that's just like you know when you're in football going against another giant and you're like hey man like i don't know it's just like the ego comes out and you're like i know i'm better than you or it's

like and i and i guess we can correlate to anime bro it's like uh whenever goku fights turtles yeah and he takes the the fruit yeah or it's like um sensu beat no it's uh the goku look-alike oh turtles or turtle or something like that okay okay like he has to take a fruit to be go or like even come close to beating goku and it's like i don't ever want to be that guy man i don't ever want to be like i always told pablo like i would rather be second best of all time than number one if it meant compromising my beliefs like because even at the day if i could be like if somebody else comes up or like somebody on the untested like takes the record or whatever like i can retire and put my head and go to sleep knowing i did everything i could with my god-given ability my own work and i'm also say like these guys still work hard yeah but it's just different when you

know like it's your natural ability like i don't think you can understand it unless you can understand it so it's like i don't know man we're just in this position where we're doing what we can i know i've heard uh a lot of my friends from the untested like they'll tell me straight up they're like, dude, everybody hates you. They think you and your brother are the most cocky, arrogant sons of guns. But it's like,

like, are we really, man? You're not cocky. I mean, you're just doing it. The thing is, you're not cocky.

It is what it is, you know? Yeah. If only these guys would like to take the time to have a conversation. But, I mean, it is what it is, man. And I understand because it's like everybody's a competitor in this sport.

Of course. You know, everyone's always trying to figure out ways to be, like, just be in the number one position. And it's like when somebody comes in like myself, you know, and it's like I take this record that like whoever has it, right? And it's like, no way, man. Like, first of all, the first mistake you're doing is comparing me to that guy. Don't do that. It ain't fair. Don't do it. it so it's like it's just natural to to bring out comparisons man because it's like when you have a

lot of people see somebody's rise and they're like oh i did this then automatically if they're the top everyone's going to assume you need to do the same thing yeah in the same position but it's like now you got me and it's like i'm doing it differently so and at the same time man i feel like we have a responsibility to show people and just be a voice against it because it's like and i'm not entirely anti-pd man like i might maybe 45 hop on like trt or whatever you know just to look good but it's ridiculous that you have an 18 year old hopping on it just to get bigger or stronger i'm gonna be real that's ridiculous man like it's very upsetting because it's like my brother is 16 i don't want my brother hanging around these kids i don't and it's like not to say they're bad kids man they're just being misled so it's like

the people response and it and it's just, we can dive into this conversation, man, because, like, you have the fitness industry. And then you have, like, how we were talking about in the back a little bit, how, like, I think you said it's, like, being good at passing your test. And it's, like, so it's, like, it's just very convoluted, man. And it's very, it can be depressing at times. Like I think I posted an audio from Pablo where Pablo was talking about how like you don't have to take PDs to be strong or look good. And then everybody in there was like, oh, you're lying. Like another Christian man lying, blah, blah, blah. But it's like, I forgot where I was going.

I think people just need to train you know give yourself an opportunity even all the stuff with pre-workout and how hyped everyone tries to get all the time it's like get into training give yourself 10 minutes if you start warming up on like a deadlift and you feel kind of empty then maybe you do reach for the pre-workout but like i don't know give your body a shot give yourself a chance i'm that's exactly i'm glad you said that man because it's like once you hop on anything you lose your natty card for life yeah and it's like can you imagine if you had the ability to be like the best at what you do naturally but because you misled, you'll never get to find out that eats at me, man. Because it's like, like, how do people not think that?

Like, give yourself a shot, like give yourself a shot. Like I could not imagine an outcome where I did go and test it. And then this Jesus jumped into that reality and was like, dude, you could have been this without it. It's like some Rick and Morty shit. It is. So it's like that's my thing, man. Like you don't know what you can accomplish until you try. And like how you said, man, like these kids, man, they're so young.

They're not even done growing they're not done maturing they'll never know what they look like might only been training with some decent knowledge for like a year or something 12 months man yeah 12 months because you know we talked about that in the gym how you have like two birth dates you know of when you start lifting you're like i started when i was 12 and you're like well really it was 15 because i didn't know i was doing for a couple years yeah man and so a lot of people just they're they haven't given themselves a good shot they maybe don't understand training all that well yet and imagine just if you do give yourself a chance and then you do learn how to train

and give yourself three four years i mean it sounds like a lot but just see where you're at you're probably going to make some pretty damn good progress, especially with the kind of progress that you made. It's unbelievable. I technically started pretty late compared to how many people are starting now. You started at 20 and now you're 23 or something, right? Three years. And I'm still progressing. You've squatting 881 pounds.

Yeah. It's fucking crazy. But this is why I said, like, the thing is, is like, I think we can all feel for some of the guys who end up starting stuff when they're 17, 18. Because the thing is they do it because they want it fast. Like somebody hears, again, you started at 20 really. And at 23, you're lifting 881. Some guys are going to be like, I've been lifting for five years.

I'm the world close to 881. Right. But the thing is, is again, the body of work is not only the work you guys have done in the gym. Russ Swole, same shit. The body of work has not only been his body work in done in the gym. Russ Swole, same shit. The body of work has not only been his body of work in the gym. The guy was a football player and an athlete. Y'all were doing things before you touched weights.

You've built up this ability with your bodies before you touched weights. And then you touched weights and things went crazy. And most people will think it's relatively fast, but they don't see the lives you've lived. That's why they can't compare themselves to you. but they don't see the lives you've lived. That's why they can't compare themselves to you. If you haven't wheelbarrowed as much horse manure as I have grown up, I don't want to hear shit.

I mean, there's someone who's wheelbarrowed more, bro. That's true. Bro, like, people don't understand, dude. There's the talent pool of people. It's pretty large, bro. It's big, bro. What do you mean? There's so many people. people okay maybe not that much but there's a there's a noticeable amount of people who like have talent but for whatever

reason like they're just chilling on the farm dude yeah i mean you see it everywhere you go you know you'll see some guy at a grocery store he's six three and just at some point he i don't know he decided to give up on it but who the fuck knows who that guy could have been or what he could have been i'm not gonna lie man that's part of my motivation because i know for like i believe it like either if it's gonna be pablo eventually in a year or two or some random son of a gun who just decided to pick it back up again yeah who just is gonna like get that shit on fire like i think about that when i train and i feel like that helps me like stay on top of my stuff like i know there are people who are freakier than me or could just potentially end up passing

me like my older brother was one of them i'm very fortunate that i'm not the one chasing him you know so it's like i always keep that in the back of my head. And then I got this guy, man. So it's like, I like to think I stay on my toes. So it's like, I'd be very ignorant to think that I'm going to be the epitome of strength. It's like, no, like, there's going to be somebody else somewhere. And I believe that, man, whether it's five years from now. Like, I might not have to deal with him.

You might have to or carlos are you gonna be out of the game by then oh i don't know man what's uh what's the likelihood we'll see you uh go head to head at some point with ray williams and have you guys ever competed before compete against each other no man we were supposed to do part of being america last year yeah Yeah, but I think that's when he re-aggravated something. I think it was something with a hip. He's competing

soon, right? Yeah, he's competing today. Oh, shit. Let me see. Someone might have posted highlights already. Yeah, we got to check in on Big Ray. I hope he does very well, man. I think he'll squat over 1,000 for sure. His squat's been looking really good.

He's squatted over 1,000 in competition several times now, right? Yes, sir. Competes in the same federation. I don't believe he has the same. You benched 600 pounds. I think he's mid-fives. I think like 540. And his best deadlift was like 8.

398.5. Or no, 398 even. Yep. No, 398.5, or no, 398 even. Yep. No, 398.5 because I had to pull 399 to break the record by a chip. So it was like 878. Yeah. But you now have the all-time total in IPF history and the all-time squat? I have the all-time sleeved record total.

Not just in the IPF. All-time, baby. What's that number? Should we give it to them in kilos or pounds? Let's go both. Both. So in kilos, 1,152.5 kilograms. In American units,

2,541 point something pounds. That's really wild. And then the biggest total with knee wraps like Daniel Bell did. Yeah, like 2606. 1182.5. You're even close to that.

I am very close to that. When you say that, like, there's something in your head, which you're probably not going to let out. I want to hit 2607 in Sheffield February 10th. Yo. I've never really been someone to chase numbers. Like, I just train smart. I mean, I'm still going to train smart i mean i'm still gonna train smart but

it's like just a little something something man it's time to try hard bro it's time to time to try really time to try really hard when i put an exclamation point on everything and just surpass everybody right andrew what you got cooking over there buddy man you guys are covering everything every time i have a question you guys cover it so this has been awesome but i did want to go back to the like the testing and stuff because we talked about that in the gym i don't think people really know even for you know because powerlifting still not like a major sport in america but you're getting tested by wada so what does that look like including you being here right now and all of the things that that encompasses i'm glad you asked andrew yes sir because i have to constantly update these guys where i'm at where i'm going like i have to give

them approximate times of where i'm going to be just in case they wanted to like like literally someone could literally like be oh hey hey, we're looking for Jesus. Can you come to the restroom? They're like, oh, you're going to hang out with Mark Bell. Okay. Watch yourself around here, man. So it's like I literally have to be very detailed in my travel plans. They know where I'm going to stay in L.A.

They know from what time to what time I'm going to be at the Gymshark event. They know, like, where I'm going to train on Monday. Like, I have to let them know for these reasons because if they go to San Antonio while I'm here, like, even though they're just going to give me a fail and that's going to go on my record as, like, failing to show. So it's like people don't understand or they know that so it's like if i am cheating i'm gonna get caught eventually like there's no point like i like literally i don't think people understand i could have competed in untested and won that money why would i put myself in the limelight to be a fucking clown and lie to you guys when I could have won more money competing in the untested like rationalize like why am I shortcutting my wins

it doesn't make sense so it's like I think about that if I had a squat bar mile lift deadlift bar what does my total look like? Looser standards. What do I lift in? So it's like, why the hell would I want to do things the hardest way possible? Risk my name, my honor, my integrity, my family for what? Like, I don't think you guys understand. And for anybody who can't really comprehend what i'm talking about like you guys aren't really like you know i'm saying like read a little deeper look at the context think about it long and hard that's all i gotta say about that sick um and then so like on a uh like i don't i don't know anything about high level power lifting let alone squatting as far as

like the the techniques and stuff involved but i know when mark started working with kelly stirret um he he had him turn his toes more in and i see that yours are pointed a little bit out have you ever messed with anything like that um honestly man i just kind of do what feels good yeah Yeah. Yeah, I don't really try to, like, I mean, if I was, like, breaking down my own form, I would tell you, like, my rationale behind that is because it lets me open up my hips a little better. And that way, like, I'm not losing much force out of the hole. So it just kind of lets me, like, stay strong at my weakest position. Interesting.

Yeah, and I did it almost more as like a training tool like i would do my feet would be almost completely straight when i would uh train and then uh in competition i'd point the toes out a little bit just as you said just to give the hips a little more freedom yeah i mean it's just you're have a little bit more mobility you know yeah yeah like i said i mean at this level right it's like you're the you're the best so it's like that little tiny bit i was just curious about it um i i do want to ask you both of you guys when you do line up for a heavy lift like one of those like you said or like a 50 50 like oh shit what is going through your mind because i know for me personally when i was you know doing the big three mainly that was the biggest part for me was like i know i'm strong enough to do

this lift but my mind would be like no no you're not but physically i knew i had it because you know whatever it may be let's say two plates on a deadlift i could do it for like 20 reps throw on another plate i couldn't i couldn't pick it up off the ground yeah so what goes through your guys's mind as you line up for one of those if you don't mind can you pull up my 1025 i think it's at the very top uh this one yeah that one so pablo as my witness before this lift man i literally was sitting down in tears praying to god to give me the strength to get this lift because this was i think like a 20 how much is this that was a pr at the time and i was a grinder yeah i don't think i put it on i think your pr before that was just thousand three yeah so it's like a 22 poundpound PR, 10-kilo PR.

And my rationale behind this was if I was going to take a crack at Ray's squat record at Sheffield, I needed to hit something like 1,077. So this was, okay, no, let's do kilos. So 477. This was 465. So it was 12 and a half. Okay, no, let's do kilos. So 477.

This was 465. So it was 12 and a half. So if I could hit this, then I knew I could peak 12 and a half kilos on meat day. Damn. And in my mind, I was just so desperate to win that I was like, this could be a very bad experience. Or I could show myself I had like the grind in me to squat whatever I needed to and I'm honestly glad that I went for that lift because there was a point and I know it didn't look like it because I ended up squatting a thousand so just shy under the record at Sheffield but there was a point where like I kind of shifted a little bit. And that lift was honestly a lot harder than it looked.

But because I had experienced a grind with a similar weight, I had the confidence that like just keep squatting like you got it. So this is like one of those rare occurrences where I would say like it kind of paid off to go hit like the rp11 because it's like it gave me the confidence and the a feeling of okay i can grind a thousand plus if i need to so what goes what goes through your head bro after the question what's in your brain and was that like planned for that day or that was like was it pops it was gonna be a heavy it was gonna be a heavy day for sure uh because you said because we have a certain weight that we need to hit that needs to move a certain way for us to be like okay we either have enough in the tank or at least enough confidence to go up to that certain weight. So what was, what did you hit, like 950 last? No, no, no.

It was 425, so 936. That's a big jump. 936 to 1035. Don't try this at home. Yeah. I mean, for something like this, you really need to be in a, not a positive, it could be positive, but it's something you really don't think about daily um

you know like you've heard it from eddie hall like he said he had to go through a pretty dark moment during that time when his 500 kilo deadlift and you know it's like you know you have to stress brings it out of you you have to put yourself in the position you either like we said earlier you have a little bit of time that time window you know when you have to make a decision to do this way either you you know you you put the weight on the bar you have x y and z variables it's a yes or no and it's like you have to make it up right then and there yeah what's uh what's your youtube channel and where can people find you guys iron theory guys and you can find me personally on my instagram mega.gojira and worldbreakerpobs on instagram found it and you do some coaching online do you both do some of that

uh yes so i actually work under flex training system guys so if you guys are ever interested like i will link in my bio send an inquiry specifically ask for jesus and then pablo also has a link on his bio yes what's your what's your thing called world breaker performance that sounds pretty dope it does actually does thank you guys so much and i can't wait to see you guys breaking some more records yeah thank you so much strength is never weakness weakness is never strength catch you guys later bye