Mark Bell's Power Project - Mark Bell's Power Project EP. 235 Live - Nick Wright & Arianna "Diamond" Reardon

Episode Date: August 15, 2019

You just heard Nick Wright on episode 234, today you get him and his partner in crime, Arianna Reardon.Nick Wright is a YouTuber, bodybuilder, and powerlifter. Arianna Diamond is an aspiring Professio...nal Wrestler, YouTuber, Blogger, Author and Fitness Enthusiast. Today her and Nick talk about how they dealt with Nick's binge eating problem, how they overcame it, and solutions to helping others with the issue.  ➢SHOP NOW: https://markbellslingshot.com/ Enter Discount code, "POWERPROJECT" at checkout and receive 15% off all Sling Shots Find the Podcast on all platforms: ➢Subscribe Rate & Review on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/mark-bells-power-project/id1341346059?mt=2 ➢Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4YQE02jPOboQrltVoAD8bp ➢Listen on Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/mark-bells-power-project?refid=stpr ➢Listen on Google Play: https://play.google.com/music/m/Izf6a3gudzyn66kf364qx34cctq?t=Mark_Bells_Power_Project ➢Listen on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/markbellspowerproject  FOLLOW Mark Bell ➢ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marksmellybell ➢ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkBellSuperTraining ➢ Twitter: https://twitter.com/marksmellybell ➢ Snapchat: marksmellybell Follow The Power Project Podcast ➢ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/MarkBellsPowerProject Follow Nsima Inyang ➢ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nsimainyang/  Podcast Produced by Andrew Zaragoza ➢ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamandrewz

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Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 I did. Oh my god. You made it to the big time. Are we going? We're almost going. Oh. Almost. We did Joe Rogan countdown. Is there a way to make these a little, like, tighter? They might be maxed out. I think they're, yeah. You need a big fat head like the rest of us. I had the smallest head ever. I wear kids hats. Alright're good to go. I wish I had that problem. We're going. We're live. Yeah, we're going. Oh, my God.
Starting point is 00:00:28 And we're live. We're on with Nick Wright and his girly friend, Ariana. Yes, that is me, Ariana. Oh, Ariana. How'd you guys meet? Let's get to that. Well, we actually met eight years ago. Well, we've known each other for eight years.
Starting point is 00:00:43 Yeah, I've seen you guys around before at trade shows and stuff. Yeah, and we met. There's this place in Rhode Island. It's like a little island 13 miles off of the coast called Block Island. And it was the 4th of July, and we were with mutual friends. We didn't know each other. Nick had his shirt off. Go ahead.
Starting point is 00:01:01 I'm listening. And we met literally at like 6 a.m. on the ferry. And then like I was on the beach. Early bird, huh? Yeah. That was like one of the. Once a year. Exactly.
Starting point is 00:01:13 So we ended up like just saying hi, whatever, introducing ourselves. And then I was talking to someone else at the time. I shouldn't have been because he was a psycho. But I like was just hanging out with my friends. you know, someone else at the time. I shouldn't have been because he was a psycho, but. I, like, was just hanging out with my friends, and then Nick, like, pulled me aside. He was like, oh, she needs to get in this picture. I need her to model.
Starting point is 00:01:35 And then we took the picture together, and, like, we didn't really talk. Then he put it up on Facebook, and he cut me out of it. He could just see, like, literally just, like, my hand. Nick's got game. I was so douchey because I had done some fitness shoots at that point. So I was, like, trying to be slick and make her laugh. I'm like, I'll show you how to model. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:01:54 And then I cropped her up because I actually liked the photo of me at the time. I've grown up since then. I'm not proud of my voice. You're like, my triceps look great in this picture. It was so funny. You literally only saw, like, my hand. And I, like, was painting my nails, like, pink at the time. So it was just, like, these bright pink nails. And just like Nick like posing like sideways so we ended up keeping in touch and then we ran into each other again and then the following year we saw each other once again
Starting point is 00:02:14 through mutual friends and then the year after that I was going to a birthday party like an ongoing thing yeah we were always like attracted to each other, but in like, but we were always just with other people, but there was like something there. And then we both were single going to a birthday party. And I said to my friend at the time, I said, is anyone going to be here that I know? I didn't know whose birthday party it was. And he was like, Oh, Nick Wright might be coming. And he had hit me up literally the night before on that old video thing. Oh, wow. And I was like, oh, I was actually thinking of inviting him
Starting point is 00:02:49 because he said something like, oh, you didn't invite me to this party. She had vined from another party she was at, and I was like, again, with my charm, I was like, wow, thanks for the invite. And then she was like, I'll invite you next time, but she literally did, and then she invited me to this party. And then I didn't even know he was friends with this kid again. So he was going to be going anyways. And then I guess we just saw each other there.
Starting point is 00:03:13 And then I was like, oh, come on with me. Because we had known each other for like two years. And I was thinking I was going to be all slick. I was like, oh, just bring her home and that's that. Then the very next morning I woke up and I was like, want to go to the beach? Yeah, I've never seen this kid sit up faster, like out of bed. He just literally like, I woke up and then all of a sudden he like, shut up.
Starting point is 00:03:33 I was like, that's nice of you. Want to go to the beach? And I was just like, yeah, I was going to the beach anyway, so that's fine. And then that was that. That was that. That's so cute. Thank you. It sounds so crazy though though like when you say it
Starting point is 00:03:46 out loud so funny yeah and then from there it turned into just traveling all over the place together doing crazy stuff red carpet events expos wow crazy life together did you guys uh grow up in like the same town like the same area which is actually well he's so he's four years older than me so the most ironic like we were never in school together, but I was actually friends with his sisters because they were in the grade above me. So I was always friendly with them, too. But, yeah, we were from the same area. We're originally both from Warwick, the city of Warwick. And we both moved to I moved to Exeter, which is like a really rural, tiny town.
Starting point is 00:04:22 And she moved to West Greenwich, which is right next door. And it's a mirror image of it. It's literally called Exeter, West Greenwich. really rural tiny town, and she moved to West Greenwich, which is right next door, and it's a mirror image of it. It's literally called Exeter-West Greenwich, so it's basically the same town. Yeah, so. What's it like dealing with all these crazy diets that he goes on and different things that he's trying? Do you just do it with him? So, I
Starting point is 00:04:37 years ago, I was into the whole prep thing, and then unfortunately, I was going to do a bikini competition. I got put on these hormones from this doctor this wellness doctor that testosterone right yep and progesterone oh okay so which i didn't need long story short so i ended up not being able to do that um so at that time when i was doing it nick wasn wasn't dieting as well. So it was good cause he was really helpful cause he'd gone through the whole process before and whatnot.
Starting point is 00:05:09 And then eventually I just kind of trail, like I just really got into martial arts and then the whole professional wrestling aspects that I really wanted to go into anyways. So he didn't, his first diet was in, what was it? 2015. First diet together while we were doing this. 2015. And it's crazy to see now how, like, far he's come since then. Because during that diet, he just did not want to see me.
Starting point is 00:05:37 Like, I'd be like, oh, I'm going to come sleep over. He's like, no, don't bother. Oh. That was a little out of context. Like, that same tone. And he would feel bad. Stay where you're at. Like, he just wasn't, he wasn't little out of context. Yeah, but like that same tone. And he would feel bad. Stay where you're at. He just wasn't, he wasn't like horrible.
Starting point is 00:05:49 I was just classic cliche, like contest prep grouchy all the time. Just tunnel vision. So that was a little like, I feel like that scarred me because I'd always be like, oh no. And then he did the diet in 2018 for his photo shoot. And that was actually fine. he seemed to gain a little more balance and then this actual bodybuilding prep for me was really gratifying because he's always supported me in every single thing that I've done and I felt like I could finally return that support fully back to him so it was actually a lot of fun being with him. There were times where it was tough and
Starting point is 00:06:26 I had low days too, but overall it was, it was actually a really fun experience. Did you help with the food and stuff? Not really. I mean, he would talk to me. The hardest thing is like, I'm all about balance. I really don't, I think I eat in moderation. I'm not like, I don't count calories. I just personally for myself don't believe in counting calories. So I had like my own things that I was eating. And then there would be times when he'd be like, if I come home after doing the Stairmaster, please don't have a cookie in front of me. So I'd be like, okay, I wouldn't. Then I wouldn't.
Starting point is 00:07:00 And his food, like I would try to offer to make it, but there were certain things that he was really particular with. I mean, if he was coming home from the gym and I was already home and he's like, can you get this out? Then I totally help him. I actually like cooking, but she helped me a lot with like filming and stuff. Yeah. Like the oddball stuff most people probably don't have to deal with. She would ride to the gym with me at like 12 at night to get like a physique update for a YouTube video or something. And do you guys lift together sometimes?
Starting point is 00:07:24 We do, yeah. I'm actually not fully lifting right now. I was rear-ended by a drunk driver. Oh, wow. Two years ago. August 5th was two years. I go to work, so I had shoulder surgery because of it, and my neck is still pretty messed up, unfortunately.
Starting point is 00:07:41 But Nick's actually been very helpful in helping me get my strength back, which in turn we hope will strengthen my neck back up. So we'll go to the gym, and I will help him film with whatever he needs, and then I usually do my own cardio, and then he'll help me with the shoulder exercises and whatnot, but we're not fully into integrated lifters together. She did a lot of the martial arts and wrestling, style training, so we'd always usually have her own thing,
Starting point is 00:08:06 but we definitely like hitting the gym together. Even if she does something different than what I do. What kind of martial arts was it? Yeah. So when I was in eighth grade, I actually did jujitsu. And then my dad is a second degree black belt. And just for the record,
Starting point is 00:08:20 ladies, whenever a girl says she does jujitsu, it makes them hotter. And whenever a girl does a deadlift, bench or squat, it's kind of the same thing. It's true. It just ups your value, so go for it. That's so accurate, I feel like. And then my dad is a second-degree black belt in kenpo jujitsu.
Starting point is 00:08:40 I don't know if you've ever heard of Nick Serio. I have not. I don't know if he was bigger on the Nick Serio. I have not. I don't know if he was bigger on the East Coast. He actually created that whole art and so my dad got his training from him so my dad would actually teach me privately
Starting point is 00:08:55 a couple years ago so that was really fun too. But I've always liked, I'm so like, Nick's like I don't know how you would describe you because I'm really girly. i love dresses i like pink yeah but i've always loved like combat sports if that makes sense yeah there is there's nick cereal yeah has there ever been a point where you're like i gotta pull this shit out on nick because he's pissing me off no my dad literally told me like you can't go beating up people. And then he's like, you know, tough people.
Starting point is 00:09:26 Like, people who are genuinely tough don't feel the need to prove themselves. One time we were trying to pose for a picture, and I was giving him, like, a rear naked choke. Oh, my God. Do you remember this? Yeah, no way. Choke slam. I think I had Kane's theme music come on. Yeah, you did.
Starting point is 00:09:42 And then one Valentine's Day, we had you AA-ing me. Yeah. Onto the bed. So that was fun. That was a good choke slam, by the way. Thank you. That was the picture we took on Block Island. Yeah, that's the one he cropped me out of.
Starting point is 00:09:54 Now, that was, I don't know. That was seven years ago. That was when we were still just friends, quote unquote. Yeah, friends. Yeah. That was the party we met at. It's great that you got uh you got it like documented through videos yeah it is really funny we've had crazy experiences together we've done like
Starting point is 00:10:11 she's been with me through all my stuff business sponsors travel uh in and out of the country it's been nuts was that the first video you filmed me in i think so do you end up uh helping with some of this stuff I know you said you you hold the camera sometimes do you uh does she help with uh appointments or anything other than the camera yeah um pretty much anything I just want her to help with and right and like my big thing in a relationship is never like lose track of the fact that it's your partner and it's like they're doing you a favor so I never like get demanding with it always ask politely but yeah no she's awesome she'll help me out with filming right with me to the gyms to help like man the camera and stuff for like a very specific video project i don't have her do that with every video every day but if there's like a specific thing we
Starting point is 00:10:55 want filmed um and then like yeah even with appointments stuff like that she'll she's been amazing with that even with things like my camera broke the other day and i was already like under a lot of stress with a million other things going on i was like you gotta be kidding me it's like after all these expenses on my plate i got this now too and she like surprised me and went and bought me one like immediately before i was about to go order one on amazon before i could even order she wouldn't surprise you with me came like that but she'll handle like phone calls and scheduling for me like sometimes too and because she knows i can be a meathead with that stuff you guys ever get sick of each other no i don't think so kind of work together live together yeah we we really vibe well together i think the biggest thing for us well i mean just what i've
Starting point is 00:11:36 learned and i think you've learned as well is the fact that when you're dating someone it's good to have like similar interests so both of us are very creative people by nature but our interests like I've like I've said I've I'm into like martial arts and wrestling and then I have my own stuff that I'm working on and then he's always been heavily into the lifting but we both can appreciate what each what the other one does because we both at the end of the day it's like we just love the creativity of it all, if that makes any sense. Yeah. Yeah, my wife, she swims.
Starting point is 00:12:07 So, you know, she'll come here and work out every once in a while. We don't work out together, but we, you know, run the business together and we do everything else together. So it's good. She has her swimming. I have my lifting. I have, you know, my people here. She has her people that she swims with. And so there's enough of a difference, right?
Starting point is 00:12:25 Like it's still an athletic endeavor that she has to train for. Same thing as what I'm doing. But it's enough difference to where, you know, we're not going to kill each other. Yeah. Basically. Would you say it's important to have, you can have your differences like in the details like that, but it's important that you guys have the same overall like lifestyle interest? Yeah. but it's important that you guys have the same overall like lifestyle interest yeah i think i think uh yeah like if she just didn't care about like fitness at all right then that would be that
Starting point is 00:12:52 would be really hard because like this diet stuff i do that's stupid so she would be like frustrated with it too like if i'm you know fasting or whatever she just kind of understands like okay well you're just fasting that's just what you do and probably i mean how are you guys even down to like little stuff like for example like her and i are both into the same like even decor and house styles and location types like it wouldn't work if i was into like really sleek modern high rises in the city and she was into like rustic cabins yeah right yeah so for that i mean i don't care so i let my wife pick kind of like whatever you know know? And, um, I mean, I can be particular about certain things, but it's more like more attached to like
Starting point is 00:13:31 the gym or branding of something or whatever. But when it comes to like, uh, any of the houses or cars or whatever, I, I'm not always super particular with that is kind of let her pick. In fact, I, a lot of times don't even see the house that we've bought or whatever. I'm just like, you go check it out. Let me know how it is. If you think it's good, then I'm good with that is kind of let her pick in fact i a lot of times don't even see the house that we bought or whatever i'm just like you go check it out let me know how it is if you think it's good then i'm good with that man that's awesome did you ever have a mindset i'm curious that like because i remember when i was younger i was obviously i was super into fitness i'm like i gotta find someone who's super into fitness at this point i don't like my girlfriend isn't like she cares about her health just like like you know you care about health, but you're not as deep into lifting as he is.
Starting point is 00:14:05 Was that ever something that was like a requirement for you? No, not really. Only very, very briefly did that idea even come up. I don't I don't know why, because, yeah, you would think that would be like the way to think. But for whatever reason, I just never let the two cross over. Like I was in the fitness and I was all about myself. I don't really care if she was in the fitness. I just want her to like look at least like she was into fitness,
Starting point is 00:14:25 you know, look good. There was a brief moment, probably when I lived in Virginia with my cousin, before I dated her, where I was just sick of dating the same type of girls. They just did not work out. They're just not motivated, nothing. And I was thinking,
Starting point is 00:14:41 maybe a fitness chick would be good. But I pretty quickly fell away from that idea, too, because I just figured like two people who are narcissistically dieting are just going to clash like crazy. It's like, so no, no, I don't, I never thought about that. It just ended up working out really well with her. Just like Mark said, it's like the overall theme
Starting point is 00:14:58 of the healthy and active lifestyle is there and then just painted in two different colors. Yeah, sometimes too, if it's, you don't want like a groupie in the fitness industry and you don't want a groupie from powerlifting and then just paint it in two different colors. Yeah, sometimes too if it's a – you don't want like a groupie in the fitness industry and you don't want a groupie from powerlifting because then they're just with whatever – whoever's doing the best at the time.
Starting point is 00:15:13 Yeah, definitely. That's what it seems like, right? Yeah, it's like a ring rat type thing. Yeah, in wrestling, yeah. It's very interesting. Tell us about professional wrestling. What's going on with that? So unfortunately right now I'm not cleared to wrestle.
Starting point is 00:15:28 I loved it. I was wrestling like six days a week. It was just, I was so happy. I was just so into it. The reason I fell in love with wrestling, I didn't watch wrestling growing up. I didn't really know anything about it. I have a brother who's 10 years younger than me.
Starting point is 00:15:46 So when I was 18 and he was 8, he got really into wrestling. And for Christmas, he got a ton of the action figures, and he got the Xbox game. I blinked on the name for a second. So I started playing it with him. I played the game on Xbox. That shit's the best, by the
Starting point is 00:16:01 way. Even if you're not a wrestling fan, those wrestling video games are great. Oh, I hate them. I'm so bad at them. Just mash buttons and nothing happens. Yeah, he gets so mad. He won't play with me anymore. So I was just playing with him, and I'm like, okay, this is fun. I play with the action
Starting point is 00:16:18 figures, and I actually, I forgot who I had, but he had a chair. And I set the chair up, and I sat someone down. And he was like like what are you doing you don't sit people on those chairs I was like what and he goes you beat them up with the chair this is cool you beat someone up with a chair yeah so then I just started watching it with him because I was just intrigued and then once I really saw the mixture of athleticism as well as creativity that was when i really fell in love because to me
Starting point is 00:16:46 the whole character aspect this one's uh wwe no mercy this one was the absolute best one it was on n64 it was so good oh man double rock bottom oh my god double rock bottom dude it was so much fun i didn't i yeah this one's a little bit older than the Xbox. Yeah, yeah. A little bit. I don't think I had an... People's elbow coming. Well, one generation older, but look how good that was for N64 days. Yeah. That's amazing. It's like late 90s. I feel like some of
Starting point is 00:17:16 the graphics now aren't that great. Unfortunately. He took the elbow sleeve off, but it's still there. He tripped. He got messed up. But you actually up you know like but you actually you know wrestling's cool but you actually took the leap i think a lot of people are like oh that's awesome but would never ever ever think of like trying to do it for themselves so what like what is that for you so i mean like the mix like i said the mixture of creativity and athleticism
Starting point is 00:17:42 and i just really just heavily like right then and there, it was like a light went off. Wow. Because growing up, I had always wanted to be an actress. And I just loved being in front of the camera. I love public speaking. I love being creative. So but as I got older, as when you're a teenager, you're very impressionable, especially when you're like listening to your parents or your friends' parents. So people are always like, no, you need to go to college.
Starting point is 00:18:08 I never wanted to go to college. I just wanted to be an actress. But everyone was like, no, you need to go to college. You need to have a backup plan. Like you just can't think that you're going to be an actress. Like you need a degree. So that scared me because I'm like, well, I don't want to be walking around like broke. Like I need to have some success in life. degree so that scared me because I'm like well I don't want to be walking around like broke like I
Starting point is 00:18:25 need to have some success in life so I ended up going to college and then at the same time I fell in love with wrestling and I was kind of just like oh maybe after when I got out of school I'll you know pursue it and Nick and I were together at the time and so I don't remember what happened exactly but all of a sudden I was like what am am I doing? I'm wasting my time. Like I'm literally paying for classes that I have no intention of using. There's no age limit on going to college. Right. So it was just kind of then and then.
Starting point is 00:18:56 Unfortunately, I was still I was 20 when I really decided that, OK, I'm not going to school anymore. But my parents, I go to look at wrestling schools and then my parents would be like oh you need to do more research about this like they would kind of like put it sounds like i'm bashing my parents but uh they would put down like everything that i tried to do and be like well you need to make sure that this is in order and it was just so overwhelming for me and then finally i went to the oia 2016. And shout out to Chris Bay. I don't know if he's going to listen to this. Oh, yeah.
Starting point is 00:19:27 Probably will. I met him. And he had just started wrestling, too, at a wrestling school in Las Vegas. So that, for me, the way he talked to me, I was like, it made me feel like I could actually do it. Because other than that, I didn't know anyone. I was like, I don't know where to go. I felt so lost. And then from there, I went back on my YouTube channel I kind of just
Starting point is 00:19:49 tried messaging schools and then I stumbled some girl I was working with knew had a really good friend she was a professional wrestler and she got me in touch with him and then that was that sorry for the long story that's that's great what you think of it? I thought it was really cool. I thought it was really fun. It opened my eyes to what goes into wrestling because what you hear a lot from the outsiders, including myself before I learned, was that it's just fake.
Starting point is 00:20:16 It's just fake, corny show wrestling. What about it? But when you actually watch what they do, it's insane because it is an extreme amount of athleticism. I mean, I did boxing. I did wrestling. I've done some of the jiu-jitsu stuff lately. And those wrestling practices are just as grueling, if not more grueling, the amount they do.
Starting point is 00:20:36 It's insane. And the amount of athleticism and the stunts they do are scary. You're doing backflips off of ropes and you're trusting partners. And it's nuts. You learn how to fall. Cardio used to be insane. backflips off of ropes and you're trusting partners and it's nuts. You learn how to fall. Cardo used to be insane. But then on top of that, there's a whole mental thing most people could never learn, which is
Starting point is 00:20:50 you need to be able to sell your personality and act. You need to be able to tap into this character and act. Oh my god. And then you need to be able to blend both of them. So they need to be able to be winded, dying, hurt and bruised while still carrying this act and selling to the fans.
Starting point is 00:21:06 Yeah. So it's cool. I filmed some of these sessions for her, for her channel. I just. That was a sick break fall. Yeah, it's sick. Whoa. That's what I'm saying.
Starting point is 00:21:15 Super athletic stuff. Oh, my God. Oh, I haven't seen these videos in like years. I mean, like, years. I mean, neither. Yeah, wrestling is tough. Where's this at? This was at XWA, the Extreme Wrestling Alliance,
Starting point is 00:21:35 in West Warwick, Rhode Island. So that was Alan. It was very kind of him to help train me, and Nick would always come and support, too, which was really fun. Yeah, I like how they get this footage and stuff. The amount of cardiovascular that it takes, I don't think people recognize that.
Starting point is 00:21:49 No. It's insane. No, it's nuts. You get so tired. Yeah. There'll be parts where like, we literally kind of have to be like, okay, let's, I mean, there's all things you,
Starting point is 00:22:01 everyone learns eventually from, you know, doing matches and stuff, which I'm sure you're familiar with. It's like, okay, now you've got to slow down and breathe. Because then you forget to breathe, and then you're like, you need to call an ambulance type thing. Yeah, and the more people you wrestle in front of, the worse the breathing is. It gets to be really hard.
Starting point is 00:22:16 The adrenaline. Yeah. Yeah. This was, I think, the beginning, probably right after I first started. Yeah, you're doing good it's acting skills mixed with like like gymnastics basically it's nuts yeah yeah and it's it's hard to you know remember it's hard to remember like what the hell's coming next what you're doing there's some kind of like sign language you got a little bit in there and the body english you
Starting point is 00:22:41 can kind of tell like as that guy was throwing that punch, right? For sure. How did you recover so quick, though? Shake it off. Yeah, I think that... Eye of the tiger. Steroids. Yeah. All the trend. I think the thing that really helped me, too,
Starting point is 00:22:57 was the fact that I started dance when I was three, so I really learned... Yeah, it's a dance. Exactly, choreography, and it helped also remember things in my mind I think that was really beneficial. You know what I will say too? I think the general public looks at it the wrong way
Starting point is 00:23:14 because the biggest insult towards it you hear is why watch that fake shit? Just watch real fighting like MMA or UFC but it's two totally different things it's not supposed to be real fighting that's like saying why watch Breaking Bad because it's two totally different things. It's not supposed to be real fighting. That's like saying, why watch Breaking Bad? Because it's a fake show. It's all actors with a script.
Starting point is 00:23:30 Or watch any movie at all. It's all fake and actors. That's what it is. It's acting. And it really is acting. But it's also live performance, so it's acting like a play but mixed with extreme athleticism. I think it would be highly debatable on whether it's more entertaining to watch Stone Cold Steve Austin or Bones Jones.
Starting point is 00:23:45 One person might like watching Stone Cold. Austin or Bones Jones. Yeah. Yeah. One person might like watching Stone Cold and the other person might not. If you don't know what you're looking at with fighting, groundwork will be boring as hell to some. Yeah, right. Yeah, for sure. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:23:53 Some of the MMA matches are strategic, right? They got to do certain things just to win, just to get the victory. Yeah. And now a lot of the fighters are trying to do a lot of what WWE does by talking trash. So they're trying to implement some of the stuff that we've been watching for years now. Yes. Yeah, the psychology. Obviously, they're doing something right.
Starting point is 00:24:12 Conor McGregor. Yeah. Yes, definitely. Yeah, the psychology is incredible when you really get down to it. It was so interesting to learn. I love learning about. How bad did this hurt doing this for the first week that you did it? Shockingly
Starting point is 00:24:28 my neck was really sore Like right here, right? The front of your neck Yeah, it was different It's insane Because of taking the bumps, like hitting the mat you kind of like you're supposed to tuck your chin and every time you tuck your chin it's like
Starting point is 00:24:43 something you can't really train for. Even if your neck was strong, it would hurt. Yeah, because your head wants to slam down into the mat. So you're resisting it. So you're doing like a neck sit-up. It's like a static thing. And then running the ropes. They had my fat ass get in there and learn some basics.
Starting point is 00:24:58 Running the ropes actually kind of hurts, too. It's painful. My back was bruised for the weeks. What is running the ropes? What do you guys mean? That's when you run back and forth, bounce off each rope. They're not ropes. They're cables.
Starting point is 00:25:07 They're wires. They're big, thick cable wires with some tape around them. Nick had legit welts on his back. I didn't because I'm lighter. I used to get killed by those things. Yeah. Everyone would say that. All the bigger guys, they'd be like, oh, I can't do that.
Starting point is 00:25:24 How about the speaking part of all this or like the the acting part did that come naturally to you or did you have to like i think it came actually fairly i mean i would say it came naturally to me uh yeah i just that was the my favorite part and it was funny because i came up with my character ariana diamond just like it was just like it just clicked like another light bulb went off and at first i was trying to do like queen ariana because my little brother had always said that i was a queen so i kind of just went off that because i hated being called princess and then i came up with the whole ariana diamond character instead charlotte took her queen
Starting point is 00:26:01 idea that's true and i got this whole like... Charlotte Flair, right? Yeah. Yeah. Charlotte Flair, my idol. And I got this whole my Ariana Diamond, flawless is still my catch phrase with everything. But people would ask me, they'd be like, how did you figure that out? And I was just like,
Starting point is 00:26:20 I don't know. I feel like I took my personality and sprinkled other bits that I wanted to add into it. But for some people, I guess that is the more difficult part. The promos I loved, that was probably my favorite part of the whole thing, honestly. Did you wrestle for a while? It was almost a year before my accident. She was already starting to travel and do shows.
Starting point is 00:26:42 She actually literally had Maria Kanellis from WWE lend her ring gear for one of her shows. My first match. Which is a pretty cool friend to have helping you out and stuff. Yeah. We've had a bunch of wrestlers come through here over the years especially. And every time they come into town, a couple will pop in. Because you've always been kind of involved a little bit in that area. Yeah, well, I wrestled for five years right i wrestled in uh ohio valley wrestling and stuff like that oh yeah i thought you did i couldn't remember for sure yeah i remember
Starting point is 00:27:13 luke hawks mentioning that yeah yeah so funny yeah luke comes around all the time yeah yeah i love luke yeah he's awesome he's great yeah wrestling is it's uh it's a tough thing you want to get back into it i do yeah that would that's my goal eventually once i'm cleared so right now i'm just trying to make the best out of the situation because i had no control how hard has that been that must be really hard because you're not able to exercise as much as you used to and things like that at first i feel like it took a while to sink in because when it first happened, my dad was like, you're done. And I was like, I feel fine because of the adrenaline. And then slowly, I mean, it took like probably, I mean, I felt sore and my neck started hurting the following day.
Starting point is 00:27:56 But a lot of times I know they say with injuries like that, it'll take a couple weeks or like can take like eight weeks to really set in. couple weeks or like can take like eight weeks to really set in and then when I started feeling like I my uh left hand was going numb my neck was hurting all the time I was getting migraines left and right then I was like oh god something's really wrong so that was definitely upsetting because I was like I'm not I didn't even do something stupid I was driving to work and this guy who was so irresponsible got in the car and just derailed my life completely like in an instant everything that i worked for was gone he could have took an uber yeah exactly exactly and i know it could have been a lot worse so i'm very grateful for that but the biggest challenge for me was i felt like my whole life was wrestling. So once I had that, I was like, whoa, who am I if I don't have wrestling?
Starting point is 00:28:48 So I felt like I had to kind of strip back the layers of myself and figure out who I really am without using wrestling as my identity. That's interesting. You said the same thing about bodybuilding. Yeah, right. Yeah, that's been like a huge growth for both of us. We've kind of talked about that a lot recently and grown together with with that i've seen that happen with power lifting for a lot of people yeah you know i try to warn people but um you know people just get excited about it they get
Starting point is 00:29:14 into it and then it becomes like their thing and um you know i a lot of times feel like uh lifting is just like it's just part of what i do i mean it's just right it is like i do love it uh but you know i'm i'm detached from it nowadays like i've been doing it for so long i kind of went through this a bunch of different cycles and i'm not gonna like cry about it anymore you know but i have cried about it i have cried i've driven home from the gym plenty of times and cried because i didn't like make a lift or i didn't you know do something i expected myself to do i'd be super frustrated with it because it's because i love, you know, do something I expected myself to do. I'd be super frustrated with it because it's because I love it, you know, but I've learned over the time, like, I'm like,
Starting point is 00:29:49 no, you're not, you're not like the things that people say you are. People say you're a power lifter or they say you're a legend or whatever. I'm not, none of those things. I'm a dad and I'm a husband and I'm a friend and I'm a brother and that's, you know, that's, that's it. Right. Let's just keep it to those things. You know what I mean? Keep it simple. Yeah. Because I can still enjoy myself and have a lot of fun and actually have more fun just by going through all that stuff. It's liberating when you finally get to that point.
Starting point is 00:30:13 Yeah. It takes a lot of work though. Because someone had said to me when I first started wrestling, I said, this is just like my whole life. And they were like, well, you need to have life outside of wrestling. And I was like, okay. Otherwise you'd be like Ric Flair. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:30:25 Yes. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. His documentary was insane. I watched it three times. It was so good. I'm the only person here who didn't see it. Andrew, are you at least?
Starting point is 00:30:35 No, but I know what they're talking about at least. Whenever you get sick and you get that illness. Add it to, yeah. Yeah, I got it. That and The Wrestler. That's what I... The Wrestler's good. That was really good. The Wrestler's really good. It's another one that's on that list. The Wrestler That was really good The Wrestler is really good It was really realistic too
Starting point is 00:30:51 It was really realistic Actually I'll tell you how realistic it was The guy in the movie Who tries to sell steroids to Mickey Rourke Actually got busted and went to jail For like 10 years He was one of my brother's good friends growing up.
Starting point is 00:31:06 No way. Yeah, I'm from... Holy shit. Yeah. Was this before or after the movie? It's like, holy shit. It was way, way earlier, yeah. Okay.
Starting point is 00:31:14 Wow. That's crazy. That's crazy. Yeah, I saw him at the Arnold. He came up to me. He looked exactly the same. Still fucking jacked as all hell on tons of of shit wow he's like i knew your brother i'm like i remember that ariana did you watch that show uh it was on mtv it was the wwe tough
Starting point is 00:31:35 enough series i watched it briefly i actually tried out for tough enough in 2015 i was gonna ask yeah she made the preview for it i was in the commercials i was the feature like video on their page i didn't get in but that's okay i was the most i think it was the most viewed video on their youtube channel it was cool yeah it was little wins like that can be cool yeah so that was definitely i was like i really thought i had it just because of how much they were using my video and advertising it but See, I think we have an opportunity right now for you to get back into wrestling because you have the neck thing, and it could be against doctor's orders. You're coming out, and you don't care what the doctors say anymore. You're getting back in the ring, and you wear the neck brace, right?
Starting point is 00:32:17 I could do that. Maybe even smack a few doctors in lab coats. Yeah, and then the first thing someone does is give you a spinning neck breaker. Oh, my God, how heartless. I can't believe they did that to her. You know, they heard her talk about her, her left side being shut down on the podcast and now they're working the left side. This is a disgrace.
Starting point is 00:32:36 Yeah. See? The script right itself. You already got the script already written. Were there any wrestlers that you really paid attention to? Like when you started? Any inspirations? So one of my all-time favorites is Stone Cold Steve Austin.
Starting point is 00:32:54 I love every single thing about him. I just think of like, I love the Austin 316s. I just whooped your ass. That was just like everything for me. And I just, I really loved that just tough. I don't care. I't care i'm just gonna can i say that you can say whatever you want i'm just gonna fuck you up on here and not care so that was what i really liked but i'm also i don't really have the look to be like a brawler i realized just like naturally i don't think anyone would look at me and be like oh this girl's gonna go get in a bar fight anywhere. So I also really fell in love with Charlotte Flair.
Starting point is 00:33:26 She's my absolute idol. So I just, I rewatch her stuff all the time. I rewatch a lot of Stone Cold Steve Austin. And I really do like Ric Flair too. I'm getting into him more now, but those are my two biggest ones for sure. And Sasha Banks, but Charlotte Flair is. One of the guys here, one of our lifters, we call him Crazy Tom for good reason. Crazy Tom tells a story about how he got in a fight with Ric Flair.
Starting point is 00:33:52 It's hilarious. I guess Tom was like 15 or something like that. And he was with some of his buddies and they saw a limousine pull up to this restaurant and out walks Ric Flair. And Tom and his friends, they went to the wrestling matches and stuff. And they're yelling at Flair and they're calling him names and stuff. But he doesn't care. Yeah. He's used to it. He was a bad guy.
Starting point is 00:34:17 He was a heel his whole life. So he's used to it. And I think he's in like North Carolina or wherever he's from. And just at every town he went to, people would always yell at him. You know, he's used to it. And I think he's in like North Carolina or wherever he's from. And just at every town he went to, people would always yell at him. You know, he's used to it, right? And so finally, one of the guys yells and says something about the girl that he was with. And so Ric Flair turns around and starts sprinting at them. And Tom's like, I thought we had an agreement.
Starting point is 00:34:42 He's like, me and my three buddies, we were just going to maybe try to tackle Ric Flair, do something. We weren't going to try to fuck him up, but let's try to do something, and then we have a good story. And he goes, so I stay in my ground, I stay in my ground. And I look to my left, and I look to my right. And the other guy's split. And then Ric Flair grabs me, and he spins me around, and he's like, I had a jacket on, he said. And he's like, and I flail around and then Ric Flair ripped my jacket off
Starting point is 00:35:09 and that was the end of it. I remember him running, like, with the sped up version of his walk. So he fucking sprinted at them. Crazy Tom has great friends. We interrupt this podcast to take your medicine. Thank you. I was just about to.
Starting point is 00:35:21 Oh, my man. Thanks, guys. It's like programmed in me I look out for. That's awesome. You guys look out for each other. Yeah, we try. I was just about to. Oh, my man. Thanks, guys. It's like programmed in me. I look out for her. That's awesome. You guys look out for each other. Yeah, we try. I like it.
Starting point is 00:35:31 Yeah, Ric Flair's a crazy bastard. You do have to see that documentary, though. It's cool. Okay, so what was the documentary called? Not The Wrestler. It's The Wrestler's The Movie. Oh, a documentary about Ric Flair. Yeah, yeah. It's just, it's on ESPN.
Starting point is 00:35:40 It was like a 30 for 30 or something? Yeah, 30 for 30. Yeah. Really good. It's like depressing, though. It is. Why? Because he just kind of has nothing.
Starting point is 00:35:47 Because, yeah, he's so extreme and one-dimensional. I'm a fan. I love the guy. Yeah, for sure. He's so extreme and one-dimensional. It's like all he knows and all he can do to a flaw. And you see it. He can't maintain a relationship with any wives.
Starting point is 00:36:02 Monogamy's not his thing at all. To an extreme. To the point where it's almost like an addict and then like wrestling's all he knows and blows money but then it's like you flip it so like on one side he ends up seeming like this not so great of a person in that way but then you go they dive into like the wrestling side of him and he bends over backwards to help out new up-and-coming wrestlers teach them train them show them the ropes it's literally like he's just all he knows and is is wrestling to a flaw. So it's like really amazing and really sad at the same time.
Starting point is 00:36:30 Yeah. Yeah. It's really interesting. And it was really raw and emotional. Yeah. Does he, like I'm curious about that though, because does he seem sad in the documentary about his life? No.
Starting point is 00:36:44 Exactly. So I wonder if it's like, if it is actually tragic. I mean, if he's enjoying every aspect of his life, it might, yeah. It might be all right for him. It's great for him. Who knows? It's crazy because like he, his character is like how he is in real life. Like excessive, excessively drinks.
Starting point is 00:37:00 He said that too. Excessive partners, like sexual partners. But like I said, it's so one-dimensional. It's ruined his life, his relationship with his kids. Yeah. The stories about how much he drank and stuff are just wild. Yeah, they are. It's insane.
Starting point is 00:37:14 They are. What was it? Cosmo? No. Kamikaze shots. Oh, yeah. I think Jim Ross was telling the story. He ordered, I don't know, 50 of them or something.
Starting point is 00:37:24 Crazy. Yeah. He's nuts. He ordered like, I don't know, 50 of them or something. Crazy. Yeah. He's nuts. He's awesome. He was pretty crazy. It's tragic, but it's not. It's like not tragic, but then it's almost sad because you see this guy who just can't, doesn't know how to say goodbye to wrestling.
Starting point is 00:37:38 Like he left WWE, he retired, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame twice. And then he's, I think he went to TNA after that. Like he just didn't know how to let it go. Yeah, that part, it's fully his identity. But at the same time, there is something, like, uniquely beautiful about someone who can and is willing to actually completely commit themselves to something in life, because that's also kind of a rare trait in itself.
Starting point is 00:37:59 And while it's kind of viewed as, like, negative and not such a good thing to the general population and general standards of living, I mean... Well, it makes a lot of people crash and burn right i mean there's a you know celebrity after celebrity who's had their fair share of trouble it's it's hard to balance when you're that much of a maniac towards one thing well there really is no balance to become great unfortunately it's a great balance leads to like a healthy happy life but it never leads to greatness in anything right how do you guys balance things out between, you know, talking about, like, fitness? Like, do you guys, I'm sure you don't really get tired talking about fitness since you love it,
Starting point is 00:38:31 but how do you kind of, like, make time for each other just to sit down and just enjoy a good meal or something? Well, every night we try to eat dinner together, even if we don't sit and talk. It's like an unwritten law, right? Kind of, yeah. So we always do that, even if it's like an unwritten law right yeah kind of yeah so we always do that even if it's just watching tv and eating together and i feel like just that alone put the phones away yeah yeah yeah definitely especially when we're out on dates or we do a lot of homemade date nights phone never comes out of the pocket and then yeah when we eat at home i stick it up on the counter
Starting point is 00:39:01 somewhere like way out of sight it's good definitely go out of our way to do nice things for each other like one time this is before i moved in i came over for a date night and he had cleaned the whole house and it not that it was dirty but he like went out of his way to make sure it was like extra clean and he got flowers and candles and he played music and it was just it was really really sweet yeah it was cool damn he's throwing all of us under the bus thanks a lot i cannot have my girl listen to this i'm not listening to this and then for us too i think we never even if we have like just we really like to have discussions we really try to be open-minded about everything so we'll just sit and talk sometimes literally like a podcast yeah literally record our date night conversations be a podcast just because of just how we go back and forth so i think that too also like even if we bring up fitness it's not all we focus on it would be like some i don't even know what we would talk
Starting point is 00:39:54 about we also seem to pay enough attention to each other's like interests even if it's not our own direct interest that like we can appreciate each one so like she's obviously not in the bodybuilding but she's been with me forever. She's seen my preps. She's gotten invested in it enough to where I can show her a picture of somebody, or even if it's just a Ronnie Coleman video. After she films me doing the 150s, I went and showed her the videos.
Starting point is 00:40:13 Look at this. Ronnie did the 200s for 12. She was able to actually look at that as a girl who doesn't care about pressing dumbbells or bodybuilding. She would still be looking like, wow, holy shit. And same with me with her with wrestling.
Starting point is 00:40:24 I don't watch wrestling religiously at all, but she'll tell me something. She'll show me a segment that she watched. I'll be like, look at this. And I'll be like, oh, shit. And then we can get into discussions from there, and then we usually snowball into other topics. So it's just intertwined.
Starting point is 00:40:35 Anyone out there that doesn't like wrestling and you just want to expose yourself to some chunk of it, you just have to watch Mick Foley and Triple H wrestle each other. Pick any fucking match that they ever did. They kill each other. Yeah. They kill each other.
Starting point is 00:40:51 You can't help but be entertained by it. They're like beating each other with barbed wire and all kinds of crazy stuff. Mick Foley gave her some props. He was at all of her matches that she wrestled at.
Starting point is 00:40:59 He was at my first match. It was, I walked out at the end of the match and he started talking to me. He's like, do you mind if I give you advice? I was like, I almost had talking to me. He's like, do you mind if I give you advice? I was like, I almost had a heart attack.
Starting point is 00:41:07 I was like, do I mind? Please. This is the big one. Yes, this is the big one. But he, that's wild. Yeah, so he gave me a lot of advice. You said he's like pretty bad shape now, right? Like he walks like he's in pain all the time?
Starting point is 00:41:20 His hips really messed up. He couldn't carry someone at one of the events I was at because just of how messed up he is. All that shit he's done. Undertaker used to give me nightmares. Who do you think is taller, me or the Undertaker? Straight up. I got nightmares as a kid. My little brother did too. Yes! Oh, God. If you see Bray
Starting point is 00:41:38 Wyatt now, he's kind of like that. Yeah, Bray Wyatt's got a new crazy ass thing. Yeah, Mick Foley was so, so nice. What advice did he give you? He actually just said during one of my parts to stay down a little bit longer. My first match I popped up too quickly in some of the parts. I think it was the end.
Starting point is 00:41:58 Oh, it was the ending because I lost and I got up right away because I was just kind of instinct. And I went and hid in the corner instead of laying there and letting the winner give her time to celebrate her victory. But then he also said that the way I sold my chops and everything, it seemed like it was a really natural instinct. Then he asked for my name and said that he would look out for me. Cool. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:42:24 Did you ever have to deal with how a lot of wrestlers Did you ever, like, have to deal with, you know, how a lot of wrestlers have pain, you know, and stuff? Did you ever have to deal with any of that, or were you just, like, really good with your technique that you were all right? I personally didn't deal with pain. I mean, I get, like, bumps and bruises here and there, but there was never anything significant. If I thought there was something that I was doing wrong
Starting point is 00:42:43 and I felt like something was coming on, I'd usually really try to be diligent and ask, am I doing something wrong because I feel like it might be this because I just didn't want to hurt myself. So I don't really feel any pain, no. Okay. Yeah, it's tough in there because it takes two people to kind of make everything work. And you don't know which way someone's going. And you better be paying attention and not be tired.
Starting point is 00:43:08 If you don't have the conditioning, then you're tired and someone's going to get jacked up. Oh, my God. Yeah. Like once I took a step back from it, especially after my accident, I was like, I would trust like people like you trust each other to do these things that are not like humans don't normally do. And it's just crazy. It's like a dance and just like a whole trust exercise at the end of the day. Yeah, it's insanely dangerous. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:43:27 What are some things you guys really enjoyed doing together? Besides the obvious. Drinking. Drinking. Oh, really?
Starting point is 00:43:35 Beer, wine? Wine. I love beer. She can't have beer because it's celiac. We love wine. Wine, champagne.
Starting point is 00:43:41 Date nights. We're big date night connoisseurs. Like, we live for that. Like, we're very antisocial people. We don't have groups of friends we go out with.
Starting point is 00:43:48 She likes people. She just kind of does her own thing. I don't like being around people. I actually love being around people out here. They're doing something. That's fun. But just the sad fact of the matter is in most people's hometowns, it's usually not plentiful. I love catching up
Starting point is 00:44:06 with you guys and friends in the industry and stuff but as far as back home you know i have a couple of friends but we really just kind of keep to ourselves but we love doing different date nights we do date nights uh the ocean state rhode island is good for something so we both love the beach we love swimming i love the ocean i know you do too yeah so we we love going to the beach together uh we both really like reading. Yeah. Okay. So I'm really into reading and writing.
Starting point is 00:44:29 I actually wrote a novel last year. What? Really good. Yeah, that I'm trying to read, like, edit again and then hopefully send it out to a publisher. Psychological. That's great. Yeah, thank you.
Starting point is 00:44:40 I did that while I was recovering from my surgery, so that kept my mind busy. So that was good. But yeah, we both did. How many pages is it? I think it's a little over 400. That's a lot of fucking writing. Wow, that is a lot of pages. Yeah, thank you.
Starting point is 00:44:53 It was good. And I'm not just saying this because it's her. She would read it to me out loud as she would write it and stuff because it would just be a way for her to proofread it. And then I love listening to audio books and podcasts and stuff anyway. So she'd read it to me chapter by chapter as I would do dishes or make dinner or something. I got hooked on it. I would like be waiting.
Starting point is 00:45:09 I was like, did you finish the next one yet? Can you read it? It was like a Netflix show to me. It was good. That's cool. You got to make that happen. I'm trying to. Thank you.
Starting point is 00:45:15 That's a new era. We don't, neither of us know anything about getting published, anything published. Fucking publish it yourself. I was thinking about that, but I feel like it would be really cool to go to like Barnes and Noble and see a hardcover, even a paperback, and have my name. Just take a picture on Instagram of it there. Put it in there. Yeah, I could do that, right?
Starting point is 00:45:32 Take the Kindle and then hide it up on a shelf. We do a lot of reading on the deck during my prep, too, because I couldn't do anything. So she would sit out on the deck, direct sunlight, direct sunlight and stuff, usually in a bathing suit. She'd read. I'd have my feet up. I'd read. I'd get, like, a cigar or something like that. Ooh, cigars.
Starting point is 00:45:49 You're into that? Oh, yeah. He is, yeah. Like, is that something new for you? Nah, I've always been into them. I never got into smoking, like, anything else, just that. Like, you just have them once in a while, and they're good. Wow.
Starting point is 00:46:03 Yeah. Do you guys get together as a family often like your your side of the family his side of the family that kind of stuff yeah i'm my family's very uh family oriented italian very italian uh so we're it was definitely an adjustment one for me moving out even though i was gonna say is anybody uh in your family is anybody even moved out of the state? No. Well, not immediate family.
Starting point is 00:46:31 I know my dad has uncles and cousins and whatnot, but no. I'm from New York, and my family is primarily Italian, and same thing. Like, no one ever fucking moved, like, more than, like, 15 minutes down the street. Yeah. My grandma has an in-law apartment in my parents' basement, so I'd see her all the time. My aunt's like 10 minutes away. Like, it's crazy. No, no one thinks it's like they it's like taboo. Like you don't know. One's no one's fucking moving.
Starting point is 00:46:53 Yeah. Nigerians to Africans in general. Oh, yeah. Russ was telling us about that. Yeah. It's like legit. We all stay as a clan. And it's it's really that's so funny yeah my family was my dad's retired now so he was thinking about moving to somewhere warmer and then they were talking about taking like the whole family and then they were gonna take nick too they're like well ariana and nick can come too and i was like oh my god they're gonna fall and then i said i was gonna go to florida we were thinking about that a while ago and then my parents were looking at florida houses and my hairdresser was like oh oh my God, are they going to follow you everywhere you go? I was like, maybe, I don't know. But yeah, my dad worked for IBM. So he had
Starting point is 00:47:33 to move. Like my family lives fairly close to New York city, like about an hour out of the city. And we had to move further out of the city. Uh, when my dad got his job with IBM and the whole family was like, what, what are you doing? Like you can't, you know, when my dad got his job with IBM and the whole family was like, what, what are you doing? Like, you can't, you know, like everyone's got us and we were only, we're still only like, uh, I think maybe 35, 40 minutes away. Yeah. So, but yeah, everyone was like crazy. And then when my brother, uh, started thinking about like, uh, going to USC and stuff like that in Los Angeles, my whole family was like, no, what are you talking about? You can't do that. And my parents, luckily my parents were always supportive of everything. So they were like, yeah, screw it, you know, go for it. And then I followed them. And then my
Starting point is 00:48:12 oldest brother followed them. And then my parents, you know, followed my parents live out here now. So that's really cool. Yeah. Did you guys like celebrate a lot of things growing up? Yeah. Yeah. We, I have a big family my on both sides my mom and my dad's side there's uh nine or eight siblings oh wow and then they all had they all had kids and then those kids had kids yeah it's like fucking people running around everywhere that's crazy my mom and dad grew up down the street from each other because my dad winked at my mom on the bus 15 years old sounds like his game's like just slightly better than yours yeah my dad yeah you pulled my mom off
Starting point is 00:48:53 i don't know how no i'm saying mark's daddy winked at yeah yeah oh but my game yes that's way better than my game that's what i was just like i thought you meant my dad's game. Because we've heard his stories too. Yeah, Gary. Wink setter. Yeah, my family, they celebrate everything. One time, my uncle, we had a birthday party in September. And we're like, when's the next family get together? And we were all thinking. And we're like, Thanksgiving? And then my uncle just paused and was like, what do you mean?
Starting point is 00:49:21 We're not celebrating Columbus Day? Like, they celebrate everything. They celebrate everything. It's like someone comes home from a trip? We're not celebrating Columbus Day? Like they celebrate everything. It's like someone comes home from a trip. We're going to have a party. I love it though. It's awesome. It's cool.
Starting point is 00:49:30 I think my wife came back to New York with me or we went to New York together and it was like on Easter and my family gave her like a bunch of presents and stuff and they gave me stuff. They gave me like Easter basket and shit. Like I'm seven years old and my wife's's like i don't know anything about presents on like easter she's and i said my family they give you shit on doesn't matter what day it is that was like me going into hers they did same thing we didn't do gifts on easter and suddenly i'm getting all these well we don't really do gifts gifts well we do that you do way more than i ever did
Starting point is 00:50:02 yeah it's all kinds of stuff it's's awesome. Yeah. Italians are so generous. It's insane. And then like the Easter egg hunt, like some kids like walking off like a hundred bucks because it's like $20 bills and things. Yeah. My mom's not Italian. Turns into good fellas. My mom had like the most socialist Easter egg hunt.
Starting point is 00:50:19 It was like, I don't even know why we bothered. My dad was even describing it. He was like, because I don't know what she was thinking. My mom was like, I don't know, what's wrong with your mother? Like, she'd get, we'd have like a quarter.
Starting point is 00:50:29 That would be the highest we'd go. Maybe we got up to a dollar. But she'd spread out all the eggs and he's like, then there'd be a kid who was a fucking loser and got two eggs. But then you had to go
Starting point is 00:50:38 and split them with everyone else and divide it up evenly. It was like, why did we even bother? Like, my brothers and I would kill ourselves. Oh, it's the best when like the three-year-old kid's crying
Starting point is 00:50:46 and he's got one egg and there's nothing in it. I said if I ever have kids, that's what I'm doing. I don't care if you get no eggs. That's going to teach you to get more eggs next year. Yeah, it's a battle.
Starting point is 00:50:55 Yeah. That was the epitome of- You got to go find those fucking eggs. That's it. My family was the epitome of capitalism with that and I capitalized right on it because my sisters
Starting point is 00:51:03 were both younger than me. So back when they were really young, like, kind of, they're at the age where they could waddle around and grab eggs, but not quite sharp enough to grab, like, grasp the competitive side of it. How old were they, like, one?
Starting point is 00:51:14 No, like, I don't know. I picture him, like, elbowing them, shoving them down into the ground. They make the mistake of excitedly pointing to an egg they see, and then I just, voop, run in and grab it. This happened, like, two years ago? Okay. Yeah, I was 27.
Starting point is 00:51:25 This was last year. You have a lot of siblings also? I have two brothers. I have a brother who is two years younger than me, and then a brother who's 10 years younger than me. My parents weren't planning on having him. Shout out to Adel. Aiden, yeah.
Starting point is 00:51:40 He literally, he asked, we were over at my parents' house Sunday night, and he's like, where are you going? And we said we're going to train with that slingshot. And he goes, oh, see if you can get me anything while you're there. He goes, I follow them on Instagram. I like their stuff. Is your did your Kempo karate dad like this guy right off the bat? How'd that go? He did, actually, I think. I mean, he was always pretty good about that. Like, like, shockingly, I mean, he was always pretty good about that. Like, shockingly.
Starting point is 00:52:06 He wasn't trying to scare him off? No. No, surprisingly, because he's super old school Italian with that. But he liked Nick. And he always appreciated it. He always said that Nick was a stand-up guy. One thing I also will say in his favorite, too, that I liked is he never, he made the joke about trying to scare him off.
Starting point is 00:52:23 Her dad's an actual badass. Like, a real badass. And like real badasses don't feel the need to act extra macho. And I was like that. So we never did. It was always very, it was always understood. Like if I were to ever do anything crazy, you know, there'd be consequences to be dealt with. And he's one of the few humans that I'd actually be concerned about with that too.
Starting point is 00:52:41 But no, but he was always like very down to earth and cool. I hate that like cliche like when I feel like that when a dad has to act extra much I think there's something wrong there making up for something yeah that's just my opinion but when are you guys gonna go through with the rest of it marriage yeah whenever she proposes to me this poor guy we've, it's too bad. Waiting for you to get down on one knee. We've talked actually a lot about this. And it's funny.
Starting point is 00:53:11 We've done everything a lot slower than the on paper would show. Like, we took forever to move in together. You're still thinking about it, basically. Yeah, well, we want to do it. It's all up in the air. I'm just kidding. We want to make sure we get, we want to knock a few doors down career-wise and make sure we feel like everything is super secure.
Starting point is 00:53:28 Like financially, we could afford to do it, but it's not just finances. We want our wedding to be enjoyable and the whole process to be enjoyable, not an extra added stress. Just because everyone says you have to. Yeah. And at this point in our lives, we're both pursuing such like insane things that are outside of the comfort zone and stuff like that. And we're enjoying that together. So when the time time feels right that's the next step to focus on that's
Starting point is 00:53:49 what we're thinking about doing and i think to us it feels like we we don't feel like a marriage will change our relationship so having that actual stamp on the relationship a baby will oh yeah that's not happening no Yeah, no. No babies? No kids. No. No. What brought you guys to that? I think that, well, for me, which is so, it sounds so crazy because I actually like kids.
Starting point is 00:54:15 Like, people get annoyed by kids and they're like, oh, I'm never having kids. I love kids. Like, I love babies. I like watching them, babysitting them, whatever. I like being around them. babies. I like watching them, babysitting them, whatever. I like being around them. But for me, I just could never picture
Starting point is 00:54:27 stopping my career to have a family, if that makes any sense. Yeah, it makes sense and it's smart to recognize that. Yeah, and I feel like once you have a kid, it's like your whole life changes. Somebody's got to watch the fucking kid, right? Yeah. You got to let it out.
Starting point is 00:54:43 Go to the bathroom. Stop what you're doing. Yeah. I mean, somebody does have to or both or somehow. Right. Somebody has to watch and raise the kid. So it's smart. That's where your mind is at.
Starting point is 00:54:59 You're like, I have the things I like to do. And I don't know if I want to put everything on hold. Because you do. As a mom, you got to put everything on hold for at least at least a year or two minimum yeah um if not even longer kind of depending on the kid and stuff like that right yeah for sure which is another thing too I still feel like that's I know I I think it's equally as hard for men and women I mean your whole life changes but definitely being a mom seems like it'd be a lot more it's equally as hard for men and women. I mean, your whole life changes, but definitely being a mom seems like it'd be a lot more. It's like more of like a full-time job.
Starting point is 00:55:30 But shout out to the full-time moms out there. It's like the hardest job ever. Fast forward 10 years, and all of a sudden she wants to have a baby. She's out. Now what are you doing? I'm out. You're out. You're off the team. You're off the team.
Starting point is 00:55:45 I guess we'll just cross that bridge when we get there, honestly. I don't even make five-year plans, so. Yeah. I think, I feel like if that ever came to that point, I feel like we would actually be on the same page. Well, I'll say this. If, like, that would ever happen accidentally, I mean, we would, I would have a son or a daughter. Like, I'd definitely, I'd be a parent, and I'd embrace that fully. I'm not one of those people who's dramatic, like I'm opposed to kids.
Starting point is 00:56:10 We made a kind of decision like it's not in our interests. It doesn't feel like it fits into anything you're doing. I can't picture ever becoming an interest. I love animals. I'm allergic to cats and dogs. I don't even want to get a dog, though, despite loving them, because I don't want to have to take care of the thing. I want to worry about myself
Starting point is 00:56:27 and then he can take care of himself but I also can worry about him too but I know he's good. We can take care of each other but we can also go to the bathroom on our own and stuff. It's easier. You guys travel a lot? Outside? What are the places you guys trying to visit soon? I want to go to Italy.
Starting point is 00:56:44 That's been like a I don't like saying bucket list I don't really believe in bucket list But that's been my number one dream vacation For a really long time You just went there right? Yeah Italy's great Where did you go?
Starting point is 00:56:58 We went all over the place We went to all the normal spots Rome stuff like that It looks so pretty I'd love to go to Spain too Just because the architecture looks gorgeous too We went to, you know, all the normal spots, Rome, stuff like that. It looks so pretty, like beautiful. I mean, I'd love to go to Spain too just because the architecture looks gorgeous too. But Italy, I just, I've always wanted to go. Yeah, going to like museums and like, I don't know, just seeing how old some of the stuff is.
Starting point is 00:57:17 Yeah. If you go from the West Coast to the East Coast, then shit is a lot older, you know, than it is out here in California, right? Oh, yeah. I didn't even think of that. east coast then shit is a lot older you know than it is out here in california right but then if you you know if you go to greece or something like that like that's where a lot of stuff yeah came from or you go to africa or you go um you know italy like a lot of these structures and shit are old that's crazy fucking old yeah i didn't even think of that it's really really it's amazing and and then the technology that they had you know in the Roman times, it's like just doesn't make any sense. I've always wanted to check out that.
Starting point is 00:57:49 It doesn't make any sense. And what's what's interesting, too, is that and I've said this on this show a bunch of times. Everything always everything always ends up coming back around to like food and sex. Right. And like in these in these areas in Rome, they had these different streets where different people would live on. And you could kind of see there's bigger structures and smaller structures. And there was upper class, middle class, and so on. And they would even have shit underground where people would live and work underground. That was like the lower class would be down there because they didn't want people to see them.
Starting point is 00:58:25 Damn. Which is fucking, that's crazy, right? Yeah. You didn't want people to see them, but it actually, I guess somehow it makes some sense, right? Yeah, it does kind of somehow. Yeah, it does make some sense. And then, but like they had these like whore houses and stuff like that too, where you're
Starting point is 00:58:44 like, what, like, what, you know, it just, that's always been a part stuff like that too. Where you're like, what? That's always been a part of our culture. All these different things that you just don't think about. But it was all set up for food and water and they even had heated water.
Starting point is 00:59:01 Wow. There was one emperor that had heated floors. And you're like, how do these have heated floors and you're like how do these have heat yeah how did that happen well he just had uh workers that worked uh underneath the building and they made heat from just working wow and then they also had like uh i don't know they started started fires or something like that underneath it but they explained it to us when we were there and we were just like that is crazy like this doesn't make any sense and if you think i mean if you if you look at, like, you know, the Coliseum, like, the way that thing's structured and stuff, you're like, it doesn't even feel like we made any progress. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:59:33 Yeah. Since then, really. I mean, it's crazy. That's so true. Wow. I want to check out those pyramids, though. Oh, God. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:59:40 I really want to check that out. Wow. We all know how those were built. The ancient aliens. Yes. Talk to Chris Griffin. He's got it all figured out. We all know how those were built. The ancient aliens. Yes. Talk to Chris Griffin. He's got it all figured out. Is that true?
Starting point is 00:59:49 No, that is mind-boggling, though. It doesn't make any sense, right? Yeah, apparently just the way the structure is set up, we still can't figure out exactly how it was done. Damn. Which is really freaking crazy when you think about it. We still don't know how something was built. And then what was that thing they found?
Starting point is 01:00:04 They found water? On the Sphinx thing they found where they found like water? On the Sphinx, they found water. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then. Wait, why is that odd? I'm tripping right now.
Starting point is 01:00:12 Because it's in the desert. Okay. Where no water has been for a really long time. Well, there might. So there might have been water there. Yeah. Well, yeah, that. And then also like, like on a bunch of the pyramids,
Starting point is 01:00:27 there was actually stuff that had covered it, like the ones in Mexico and stuff. They had granite all over them. But they chipped it away to use it for countertops and shit. The Coliseum has a retractable dome. What? Oh, shit. How?
Starting point is 01:00:43 I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. This stuff's mind boggling. It really is. It's crazy. And so much of the, like, they talk about how much of the structure is, like, you know, falling apart and all this. And I'm like, but look how much of it's still standing.
Starting point is 01:00:56 Yeah. I mean, that's insane. Yeah. Isn't there currently, like, a bunch of structures all inside the center of the Coliseum? Like, it's not just, like, that open. There's, so there's still a bunch of stuff underground. the center of the Coliseum. It's not just that open. So there's still a bunch of stuff underground. They're still digging, and they're still finding. And the stuff that they found and the way they've been able to preserve it and stuff,
Starting point is 01:01:14 none of that makes any sense either. But the main fighting field's not just an open field right now, right? Like it is in Spartacus. No, it's not. No, actually, yeah, they were like remodeling stuff and trying to preserve stuff when we were there. So they had a lot of stuff kind of in that centerpiece. But there's still a pretty big centerpiece that's kind of like a football field.
Starting point is 01:01:34 Some history majors listening to this are so pissed off. We're butchering everything. Everything. You're going to have an aneurysm. That's crazy, though. Wow. I did love Ancient Aliens though. The first early seasons were really good.
Starting point is 01:01:49 I don't know the show. Sorry. I don't either. No, it's good. Oh my gosh. You're waiting to watch Breaking Bad until you have cancer or something like that, but you're like, watch this? Well, because Breaking Bad is fiction or whatever, fake.
Starting point is 01:02:03 It is not. And Ancient Aliens is possibly real. You know, a joke I heard recently, I'm going to butcher it, but you know how they always say that like, you know, aliens built the Egyptian pyramids. You have pyramids in Mexico and we just know that Mexicans built that shit because they couldn't work. No one's asking who built those pyramids. Mexicans.
Starting point is 01:02:22 Okay. So I got some laughs. That joke worked. Thank you. i'm happy to hear that we'll we'll take it dude an ancient aztec yeah i was gonna say even though mexicans didn't exist back then but you know we'll still take credit for it oh god yeah that's that's what aztec was down in yeah yeah yeah was it columbia too it went into or uh here we go there was a whole like race that was completely eradicated by uh christopher columbus
Starting point is 01:02:53 and that whole like setup yeah like there's people in uh like uh central america that we'll never ever even know existed because they came and just killed everybody this got dark really fast yeah so anyways uh trace that like we just won't know? No. Like, I mean, we know they existed because, like, you know, people smarter than me actually do research and, like, and remember more stuff. But they're not alive anymore. But, yeah, correct.
Starting point is 01:03:15 Like, there's no, exactly. There's no more descendants. Oh, so they're, like, extinct. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. But, yeah, as far as, I mean, Mexicans came from Aztecs and Spaniards. That's why we're so angry all the time.
Starting point is 01:03:26 This is like a history show right now. What a bad version. I heard one time, I don't know if this is what you just said, but I heard that Mexicans are actually like English people and Native Americans. Yeah. So that would be the Aztecs and Spaniards. That's what I thought. Okay.
Starting point is 01:03:43 Sorry. No, no, you're good. History was, I think I got a B in history. I didn't even go to school, so. I mean high school. Whenever I travel, I always just tell people, I'm just like, I'm a really dumb, naive American. I'm like, I have questions, though.
Starting point is 01:04:01 I'm always really interested in other people's races, and so I'll ask a bunch of questions. I'm i'm so sorry if i sound like offensive or anything just just i'm you know just trying i'm just curious you know so i'll try to ask some questions and they're always like no no we understand americans are stupid no it's fine yeah like don't worry about it we know yeah but we have more followers than you on instagram though yeah it's true I've always wondered. We have more followers than you on Instagram, though. Ha ha. Yeah. It's true. I've always wondered how to, like, there's so many things I want to ask people sometimes,
Starting point is 01:04:31 but I'm like, I don't know if I can ask that or not. Yeah. Just preface it the way he did. Hey, I'm a stupid American. No, yeah. Please. That's a good idea because then it's like, because, you know, there's just the world and just social media, like the, you know know i don't want to tarnish my image so i heard i don't know if it's a blog or a youtube channel do you have both of those
Starting point is 01:04:54 i do have a youtube channel and i'm actually working on a blog which i guess this is my big announcement for it so it's going to be flawlessworld.blog. But I don't have the exact date that it's launching. I just wanted to start it because actually years ago I had the idea to start it and then I started YouTube instead, which I really enjoyed, but I just love writing. So this is
Starting point is 01:05:17 I can just totally make it my own and I can... Oh my god. I guess it's not on private right now what i did not know that i'm so not like a technical expert when i started it there was so much coding involved yeah and just all this stuff i'd sit there for hours on end and i felt like i got nothing done but well i don't have it on screen yet so i mean yeah just hold off it might be private by the time got it yeah again i might have said it by accident there's still some cool things up right
Starting point is 01:05:49 now oh yeah because she was testing it out so it might have yeah um there's a lot to it but there's still some new things that she's adding into it so it'll be pretty sick when it goes probably have to just get like a web designer or something because there's like whole like newsletter integration yeah it's just so tricky and complicated. What's the deal with your diet? How do you eat? You said you don't really like to count anything. You just kind of eat and so for me, I'm probably gonna I'm probably gonna seem like I'm like devil worshiper to the entire fitness community right now. But for me, I really struggled with body dysmorphia growing up. My poor mom, God bless her soul. She just like traumatized me when I was 14. She went up to me and she was wrong, but she was like,
Starting point is 01:06:31 she has a really bad Rylan accent. She was like, Ariana, you got to eat right. Cause you can't gain weight in your legs. Like, cause you have my shape and you're going to look fat. And I was like, what? Like out of nowhere when I was 14. And she never really talked about that at all with you before? Not really. And I think she was trying to come from a good place, but she has really bad body dysmorphia too. And she is like –
Starting point is 01:06:52 Were you getting chubby or – I don't – No. No, I wasn't. Not at all. I was just – She's puberty. Yeah, 14, whatever.
Starting point is 01:06:59 I was active. I was a cheerleader. So then it's just like she traumatized me. And then, you you know you go through the stages in high school your body still changing you still have some like baby fat on you I was I don't think I was ever chubby but I I was definitely not as like lean as I am now just because of muscle maturity and whatnot so my body started changing and I was just like not I just under like I starved myself when I was 15 and then I got really sick.
Starting point is 01:07:29 And then I stopped cheerleading and I ended up getting really into working out when I was around 16. And then once Nick and I met, I mean, I was like full blown. I didn't really know it and I didn't understand it. So I really struggled with the whole like eating and the whole exercise. And I just put all of my value into my body. And I'd like freak out if I didn't go to the gym like six days a week. Like I couldn't in my mind make it so, like make myself understand that if I missed one day,
Starting point is 01:07:53 I was not going to get like gain 10 pounds. Yeah, missing a day actually can be, or not even missing a day, but just taking a day off can be really beneficial. Exactly. Taking two, three days off a week is great. i i just could not wrap my brain around that and then for me the biggest thing too is my mom thought she i had her body shape but i don't i have i'm have a very italian shape uh very hourglass i think i'm also ar Armenian too. Shaped like spaghetti and meatballs. Pretty much, yeah.
Starting point is 01:08:26 And then as I got older, I just did not know and Nick was with me too. I thought my hips were done spreading at 21 and then 22 it was just like boom! I was like, okay. This is fine. My measurements, I'm like 30 around my rib cage. My waist
Starting point is 01:08:42 is like 26 and a half and my hips and including my butt are like 40 inches. So for me, yeah. We got to measure our butts in there. I tried competing with her. I fell short by half an inch. Yeah. So, but for me.
Starting point is 01:08:56 Did you really? Yeah, 39 and a half. And I don't do anything to like squat or anything. I might be 40 with the edema now. That would be like your dream to beat me. It's like his or anything. I might be 40 with the edema now. That would be like your dream to beat me. It's like his life goal. So the reason I'm giving the background is because for me, I struggled with eating and diet. And then I know I mentioned earlier about how I was doing the bikini competition and that didn't happen because of the wellness doctor that I went to. And then
Starting point is 01:09:23 after that, I tried dieting still. And it was just like totally just I was so discouraged because I had just like I couldn't enter the show that I was busting my ass for. And then I felt like nothing was working. My body was being stubborn. So then I kind of just ended up falling away. I got really into martial arts and I didn't bother counting calories. And then I just really eventually I don't know how I stumbled onto this, but I really took the time to learn my body shape and learn what foods I respond best to, which I think that is something that more people should talk about, especially for women. because we see these girls on Instagram or in the mainstream media who are fit or have curves. And it's like you take a girl with a stick build by default,
Starting point is 01:10:11 not knocking anyone, and then they pose differently and it makes it look like they have curves. And for me, I was like, why can't I look like that? I will never attain that body no matter what I do just because of my skeletal frame. So I really took the time and I learned what workouts I like. I got tested and I found out that I actually have a lot of muscle, I guess, genetically for a girl. So I respond really well to lower weight training, more cardio, and shockingly, a lot of carbs.
Starting point is 01:10:43 So because I've tried doing low fats, barely any carbs. And we tried that actually at the beginning. Oh, sorry. Yeah. Actually, at the beginning of his prep, I was like, oh, maybe I'll try counting calories, whatever. And I ended up doing that. And literally the day after I did high fats, low carbs, I bloated like a water tank immediately. It's so crazy.
Starting point is 01:11:07 And then I did research and I found out Italian women generally respond better to higher carbs, whatnot. Italians, right? Yes. All the pasta. Yeah. So long story short, I just say that because I feel like it's not talked about enough because I struggled so long with my body. It's good to give the history. I think you have to explain, so I think it's great.
Starting point is 01:11:31 Thank you. What test did you take to find out about your muscle and all that stuff? It was some blood test, and they measured my muscle density. My dad actually had low T, and he had a lot of muscle for having low T. I think you said that. Her mom looks insane. She doesn't train weights at all, at all.
Starting point is 01:11:51 And really, I think under eats. And, but like her arms and if I showed you a picture of her arms and her shoulders, you would swear she's a week out from like an NPC show. Whoa. Yeah, it's not large and bulky, Jack,
Starting point is 01:12:03 but like her overall size is small, but peeled, shredded, cap shoulders, separation of the brachialis bicep. She doesn't work out. Just genetics. Well, she does work out, but she doesn't do weight training. She should. She does not work out in a way that should have her looking like that.
Starting point is 01:12:15 It's just, it's awesome genetics. I'm jealous of it, but yeah, they're just like, they all have better genetics for what I do than I do. Yeah. Oh, I don't. Yeah, maybe. Muscularly. How many carbs are we talking about here?
Starting point is 01:12:28 Do you have any idea? So, no, I don't. My daily diet, too, and I also really had to, once I got familiar with eating foods, I started, I was just like, you know what? I'm eating things I don't even like. I'm not losing any weight. And I was just like, whatever. I don't know why I stopped eating cookies in the first place.'m gonna go back to eating cookies again so I just have cookies and
Starting point is 01:12:48 then I was like I really miss having pasta I'm sick of rice I started having pasta and then I was like oh wow I look better having my cookies and pasta so I also got rid of that guilt associated with having those things and I made it just I just looked at it like food. This is just a nutrient that I'm eating to sustain my body and, you know, my life. So for me now, I usually I usually try to intermittent fast. I usually I like doing cardio, my cardio and my workouts in the morning. I just feel better doing it that way. It helps me focus on my work for the rest of the day. So I'll do that. And then usually around like between one and two, I try to eat lunch and I'll have usually a sandwich with lunch meat or like sometimes I'll have a BLT depending like a turkey BLT.
Starting point is 01:13:37 Sometimes I'll have chips with it, kettle cooked because they're actually not that unhealthy. I know that sounds like goes against what I was just saying. But if you do look at them, they're not the worst snack in the world. So I'll have that. Sometimes I'll have the chips and then I usually, I allow myself four cookies a day. I don't always eat four cookies.
Starting point is 01:13:55 Sometimes I might eat a little more if I'm really hungry, but for me that it gets rid of the need to go out and like go. What kind of cookies? So I have to be, I have celiac disease. So I have to go out and like go. What kind of cookies? So I have to be, I have celiac disease, so I have to be gluten and dairy free. So I have glutino cookies a lot. So you're eating like the healthiest cookies.
Starting point is 01:14:14 I don't know, not necessarily. They're still fat and sugar. It's still the same cookie, just without the gluten protein. But for me, it's like I eat that and I don't ever feel the need to go crazy. Like I don't feel like, oh my my God, I need to have this. And then I eat like a whole sleeve of cookies. Right.
Starting point is 01:14:29 And then dinner will – I mean, in the summer, I sometimes will have rice just because it's lighter in the warm weather. But I'll have some protein in a pasta or protein in rice. And sometimes if I'm really hungry, I'll have like maybe a little bowl of Cheerios or whatnot. But that's pretty much what I eat. Yeah. So like it really looks like like what you're doing right now, I feel like is the end goal for a lot of people that are, you know, dieting, quote unquote. Like you want to get to a place where you don't have to track every freaking meal and you can look at a meal and just go through the day without really thinking about food, but maintain your healthy shape and lifestyle. Right.
Starting point is 01:15:04 That's the end goal. I literally get of her like ability to do that yeah with like my form my binge eating problem we're talking about i'm trying to get to where she's at where she like it's mind-blowing to me to be able to eat just four cookies and then just walk away it took me a lot of effort to get here too and i was telling nick actually last week that most people when they go out to eat like they'll usually tell you the next day oh I ate so bad last night like I gotta eat good today I ate so bad last night and I realized that I don't know when this happened but I'll go up to someone like you won't believe what I ate last night like I get so excited because I don't look at food as the enemy and I mean I go to the gym
Starting point is 01:15:41 five times a week sometimes six but I also feel like going only five times a week and giving myself the two days of rest helped me mentally separate myself from the gym and from focusing solely on my body. So that also helped create a really healthy relationship. And, you know, for me, like you said, it's just balance and maintaining a healthy lifestyle because I'm all for maintaining a healthy lifestyle. balance and maintaining a healthy lifestyle because I'm all for maintaining a healthy lifestyle regardless. I see people, I have people that I know that are older and it's sad when they're just overweight and out of shape. Cause then it's like, they can't do it. Like they couldn't go to New York city and walk around, which is sad. Like, I don't want to live my life like that. I don't think anyone should. Yeah. So I think a lot of what's happened to a lot of people in terms of their beliefs and the things that they say about themselves are actually just somebody else's beliefs that they've kind of heard.
Starting point is 01:16:31 And then they think that's true of them. I hear so many people say, I can't eat carbs. Yeah. Like that's not like. So I personally choose not to eat carbs because and I've mentioned a bunch of times I just end up overeating. I see. I just eat too much. If I eat carbs, and then it kind of triggers me to want to eat more carbs. However, I've gotten lean. I did a bodybuilding show with carbs and they work great. They work great for me. Just as they, you know, and I think, I mean, there's probably some exceptions to the rule. There's probably some people literally that when they have some carbohydrates, it may be, you know, spikes their insulin and maybe they get fatter, right? Like you said, with a low-carb diet, it didn't seem like it worked for you, right? No.
Starting point is 01:17:11 But it seems like most people are just whatever. Like if I say something on social media about not eating carbs and someone's like, that's like me. I'm carb intolerant too. Or someone says, like I never try to not ever say that because I think that that's misleading. I don't think there's anybody that can't tolerate a carb. You can tolerate some. Maybe you have to tolerate less than the next guy for various reasons. That's also another big thing.
Starting point is 01:17:38 If I can help people, I'd like to advocate for it. Really, like you said, people hear low carbs and they try to do all these things. You have to learn what advocate for it. Just really, like you said, people hear, oh, like low carbs and they try to do all these things and you have to learn what works for you. And I know sometimes like diet coaches that I mean, having a diet coach is great. He helped you tremendously. I had some really good ones that I had worked with back in the day. But if I went to them and said, this is what I eat, they probably don't want to deal with you because they were like, but what they would give like normal clients is just not what I would respond well to
Starting point is 01:18:09 that's exactly what you said it's so crazy like I didn't realize growing up how different everyone's body really is you just see people and you're just like it just doesn't I don't know it doesn't I didn't really think of it like oh this, this is like someone's genetic frame. Because my mom would always be like, you're never going to be skinny. You're thin. God, my mom. But I was like, well, what does that even mean? What do you mean by skinny and thin?
Starting point is 01:18:38 What the hell is the difference between skinny and thin type of thing? And then just from dating you two, i've learned a lot about skeletal frames and so interesting and just i don't think anybody wants to necessarily be skinny anyway right skinny sucks yeah probably not i don't know i don't think like being like skinny skinny is great you know like no it was bad just like being too fat i don't think it was bad wording for like trying to say you don't have the build of like, you know, the Victoria's Secret models where like you're a straight line. Right. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:19:06 Woman with curves. Yeah, and who does? I know. It's a very tiny percentage of the population, right? Right, for sure. Yeah, I think. It's crazy. And I think, you know, we keep hearing people saying you got to find out what works for you. And sometimes that can be like a little bit misleading.
Starting point is 01:19:21 But I think in the end it's about what like feels right to you. Like from a belief standpoint, what feels right to your body, what feels right. I mean, cause if you don't have the discipline to, um, you know, count your calories and track stuff, then, then you probably shouldn't mess with it. If you don't have the discipline to not eat carbs for three days, then probably maybe not a great diet for you. Right. Exactly. You know, you do have to try things for a while, you know, you do have to try things for a while. For sure. You might have to try something for three or four weeks. Yes.
Starting point is 01:19:49 To really see if it sticks because it's going to be a change in the first week, right? Yeah. That'll suck. Are you still able to kind of shift gears and like if you want to gain some muscle or gain some strength, are you able to do that? Or if you want to, you know, drop some weight,
Starting point is 01:20:03 are you able to just make some adjustments and move things around or you don't need to i i really don't feel like i need to i think i'm in i feel the best that i ever have that's great um i feel like i look like i'm pretty good shape uh i mean if i want how much you bench oh i haven't benched in forever oh great here we go my shoulder i have the scars to prove it. She did do a beltless deadlift once of 200 pounds without any actual programming. Yeah. So, I mean, if I wanted to, like, I think I would, usually for me, it's like just kicking
Starting point is 01:20:36 up the cardio or actually I really have been, I usually do 90 minutes of cardio. I've really been enjoying, I use the flat treadmill, but I actually use the hip circle. Oh, nice. And I feel like that works really well. So I've been enjoying that lately. You use a hip circle on the treadmill? Yeah. Oh, my God.
Starting point is 01:20:52 Do you feel like a burn in your glutes or something? Yeah. Oh, that makes sense. Yep. And then- For the whole 90 minutes? Mm-hmm. Oh, my God.
Starting point is 01:20:58 Yeah, that's kind of intense. Yeah. That's a lot. She's done it on the Stairmaster, too. Shit. Yeah, not for 90 minutes i've uh done like 45 on the stairmaster and i've warmed up with the hip circle uh on it for like how often do you do cardio five days a week oh you do it a lot yeah so but for me it's either just like kicking up the cardio
Starting point is 01:21:18 or sometimes changing it or adding things like the hip circle or i don't know maybe just like cutting out chips or something type thing. Okay. So you might make a small adjustment in your food for like if you just feel fat, like we all have those days where you feel fatter or flatter or whatever. Yeah. Or if I feel like I'm like one time I was eating a lot of peanut butter and I was like,
Starting point is 01:21:38 well, I eat a lot of carbs, so I probably shouldn't be like guzzling peanut butter. Like it's my job and hobby. So do you feel like you have to maybe watch your fat calories a little bit, even though you're not like tracking just because you eat a good amount of carbs? Just slightly. I try to be aware of it. I mean, I try not to have bacon every day. Like butter and mayonnaise and ranch dressing. I love butter.
Starting point is 01:22:02 Who doesn't? I use Smart Balance. I don't know if it's I'm not saying it because I think it. Yeah. Who doesn't? I use Smart Balance. I don't know if it's, I'm not saying it because I think it's healthier. I think butter on pasta is almost better than marinara sauce. Oh, butter is just like the, just the like recipe for fantasticness in life. Oh yeah. I'll do butter and marinara sauce.
Starting point is 01:22:21 My grandfather used to just eat butter. I did that once. Straight butter? Yeah. He would just like sit at the dinner table. He'd just sit there and just like, you know, he'd read the newspaper. You haven't done that before. And he'd eat butter. And he put butter on his hamburgers and stuff.
Starting point is 01:22:32 Whatever it takes. He did? Yeah, he put it on everything. I'm like, that's so weird. But I was like, well, people put cheese on their burgers. Same thing. So it's really not that different. That makes my butter habits look you know, my butter habits look
Starting point is 01:22:45 tame. No lie. You guys ever been to Cheesecake Factory? Oh, yeah. You know when they bring out the bread and butter? I just like slob that butter on. Do you have Texas Roadhouse out here? We do, but I haven't been there. Oh, man. Their rolls with the butter is amazing. I think Outback has like that dark
Starting point is 01:23:01 bread. Yeah. That shit's really good. That shit's amazing. This transition is great. Oh, my God. Now we're talking about Yeah. That shit's really good. Yeah. That shit's amazing. This transition's great. Oh my God. Now we're talking about it. Yeah. I have mayo too. I have mayo too.
Starting point is 01:23:11 I like. I'm fat with the mayo. I use a lot. Yeah. Mayo's amazing. Like both sides need to have mayonnaise on them. Oh my God. You can't do one side.
Starting point is 01:23:19 Do you like mayo? I'm very picky with that mayo. It has to be on something that I don't know what's there you know but I would never willingly buy in this way Teron Beckham good friend of mine he told me because I love mayo and tuna fish sandwich he told me that only white people eat mayonnaise
Starting point is 01:23:34 if I don't know what's there I can do it can I ask you why is that like I don't think he eats sandwiches either right I don't really eat sandwiches anymore. I was going to say they. When I made sandwiches, I never put mayo on my sandwich. And the reason is just like, I don't know, most of us just never effed with mayo. I don't mess with mayo either.
Starting point is 01:23:55 Yeah, see. I think it's just y'all. I need to ask this on my Instagram. You really do. I feel like Mark could get away with asking that too. Do black people like mayonnaise? He told me that once when we were training and hanging out. And I was like, no way.
Starting point is 01:24:10 And then again, it came up at the Arnold Classic. And he asked the entire table. And it was just like this. It was unanimous. It's very true. No, it's actually really true. It's rare that you'll find some of us that like mayo. That's so crazy.
Starting point is 01:24:23 Damn, I love mayo. Oh, God. I know. It's funny. Yeah. I hate when people are like, mayo's so crazy damn I love mayo oh god I know it's funny yeah I hate I hate when people are like mayo's so bad for you
Starting point is 01:24:29 like shut the fuck up it's not that like you're not it's fine it's not that bad so but yeah I try I mean I'm good
Starting point is 01:24:37 I don't have I don't have like too many like almonds and stuff like that so I have everything eat it all yeah yeah
Starting point is 01:24:44 well you're getting better balance yeah you with the less carbs and her with the more carbs so she just eats all the carbs that come in the house oh opposite yeah yeah yeah how crazy was it when i tried doing low carbs and like yeah she did not respond well and then literally the day i found i went i was like i can't do this i had carbs and i like tightened up the next day yeah it responds Responds well to carbs. Responds really well. I don't anymore. I wish I did. Allergic to not eating carbs. I get edema. Cool. How hard
Starting point is 01:25:11 was it to watch Nick go through some of those binging situations? It was actually really sad and it would make me really angry because I would just see him and at one point when his edema got really bad I was like you're literally gonna kill yourself because it reminded me of those people
Starting point is 01:25:29 on like 600 pound lights like not I'm starting to look like that it's sad because they can't stop eating and that's what he would do and then the craziest thing is he would hide the food from me I would be like he was cheating on me. He wouldn't willingly cheat on your partner. Well, I don't know. Maybe you would if you were just not a nice person, but you wouldn't willingly cheat on your partner in front of them. So it was like, he wouldn't eat in front of me. I'd be like getting
Starting point is 01:25:55 out of the shower and I'd hear like the cereal or I'd hear like the knife and I'd be like, here he goes making a PB&J or a tuna sandwich. And then I'd tell him, yeah, all the processed food needs to come in quieter stuff. Yeah. And then I would ask him. I would tell her little bits by bits
Starting point is 01:26:12 like when you're slowly unloading something you're guilty about. Yeah, I'd be like... Like just taking out the garbage. One time I was at my parents' house and I came back home and I texted him and I was like, I'm on the way home now. We can eat dinner together. So I was waiting for me to eat.
Starting point is 01:26:26 And I get there and he's like, he takes that oatmeal out of the freezer because it was way too hot. And I'm like, I'm just going to make my food then we can eat together. I'm like, is that what you're eating for dinner? He's like, no, I stopped it. He said Subway, but it was Taco Bell. I stopped at Taco Bell earlier and he said subway at first i got two sandwiches like you had two subway sandwiches and then whatever i'm like oh
Starting point is 01:26:51 my god this kid so then all of a sudden then i'm making my food and then he says he's like i had a pb and j i was like what and then he's like then i had a tuna fish sandwich and then he was eating the oatmeal and he just it was like five minutes later he'd reveal something else it'd be like he was trying to like gear himself up to tell me like slept with someone yeah and we we kissed too and she she might have slept over it was like that but about food yeah so but that was really hard for me too because he was so ashamed of it that i couldn't i wasn't even there to like try to stop him And it was hard for me too because right after the show ended, he really went crazy with eating. He got Whataburger and he got all that shit.
Starting point is 01:27:35 Oh, yeah. I did not know that he'd never eaten like that after a competition either. He couldn't move. We tried to go out to dinner and we had to leave the dinner early. I had to get my food to go because he was in so much pain. And then he went down
Starting point is 01:27:53 and he got beers that he brought back up to the room. Then, did you eat more? Yeah, that's a good tip for people that are doing a bodybuilding show. Once your show is over, don't even bother trying to go to dinner. You won't make it. Yeah. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:28:06 You won't make it to dinner. You're going to eat. You're going to pig out on everything that you possibly can. And by the time you get to dinner, you're not going to be able to breathe anyway. What did you do after your show? I had a, just like a big bacon cheeseburger. And then we, we drove to Bodega Bay and I just kind of hung out there for a few days and just ate.
Starting point is 01:28:25 But I also, like I got warned by a lot of people. They're like, you got to figure out a way to keep moving or you got to. So I tried to walk a lot and I tried my best to keep everything like in check. And the only thing that would work was just to utilize a little bit of fasting. I was like, yeah, each day I'll just start eating it like at like one or two o'clock. I got one like that, too. But then like the last time i competed was like my teen days when i could just throw anything at my body and bounce back so i was
Starting point is 01:28:49 just confident like nothing's gonna happen to me i tried to eat stuff that was like more substantial like rather than just like eat like pure junk i mean this is still junk but i had things like grilled cheese sandwiches and stuff like that like it kind of like fill you up and at least there's some protein in it and And I'd go for a walk. I was trying to mitigate any massive damage. Yeah. What about the toilet? The toilet must have paid the price after you ate all that food.
Starting point is 01:29:14 I don't even remember. Wasn't I constipated for a while? He was. I think I was constipated for a while. Oh, that's scary. You eat a lot of food and you're constipated. Yeah. It was a mess.
Starting point is 01:29:23 I'm glad that you've gotten a better handle on it. I am very proud of you for doing that. Thank you. Because it was scary at some point, and I was just like, will you go to the doctor? I was like, go to the doctor, and then it was getting me stressed out because you don't ever want to see someone you care about
Starting point is 01:29:36 do that to themselves. He would just keep eating and eating. I was pretty grossed out with myself. He ate all that. I was telling you when I got out of the shower, and we were going to go to Chipotle that night, and he's like, I can't move. And I was like, well, then why are we going out to dinner
Starting point is 01:29:51 or getting food to go? And then he still ate it, but it was just spiraling out of control. And then we finally went to the doctor because he thought he – I just wanted to cross my T's and dot my I's. I thought it was just all from the show, but with symptoms like that, you just want to make sure everything's functioning. So I went just to get a checkup
Starting point is 01:30:13 and make sure everything was on the up and up. And it was, thankfully. Yeah, but still, it was nice to just know. Yeah, right. Instead of just sitting there wondering. What do you tell yourself when you're in the middle of a meal and you probably at this point have said okay i'm just going to eat this steak and these veggies and then okay when i'm done with that uh i'm going to watch some tv but i can't eat anything
Starting point is 01:30:36 else so you have that conversation right but then you the steak disappears yeah and then what like what are you trying to talk yourself through to not do that it's's like, all right, you're done. You're full. Just focus on this. You want to keep the abs. You want to not get fat. You don't need it. Tell yourself all this stuff. But it's useless.
Starting point is 01:30:52 I mean, it's literally like you're a recovering alcoholic three days into recovery, and someone just put a shot in front of you. And you're just telling yourself not to drink that. Or even worse, you just had one shot. Does anything help, like just going for a walk or just trying to eat more protein, something with lower calories? Even that trick, like the normal satiety foods, don't help
Starting point is 01:31:12 when the... Because you're not acting rationally. Exactly. What does help is getting out of the house, not staying and watching TV. Sitting on the couch and still watching TV is like the worst for me. So if I eat while I'm watching TV, I'm going to and still watching TV is like the worst for me. So like if I eat while I'm watching TV
Starting point is 01:31:25 I'm going to still want to eat as long as I'm watching TV. That's why I told people the other day on Instagram I said go the fuck to bed. Yeah. Yeah. Don't watch that extra show
Starting point is 01:31:32 if you're going to consume an extra thousand calories just go to bed. Well because you know what else is interesting that I've noticed too is you create almost like a Pavlov's dog effect
Starting point is 01:31:39 with it. So it's like if you constantly eat these meals you get excited for and you even get some bingey tendencies going while you're watching your favorite show, well, now every time you're watching that show on that seat,
Starting point is 01:31:48 you're going to want to be eating, too. It's part of the whole thing. So stop. I mean, try to go and get work done. Another thing that really has helped, as silly as it sounds, is just slowing down because when you binge, you're eating fast like a dog on its last meal. And that doesn't help anything. So slow down.
Starting point is 01:32:06 I force myself to slow down between bites. Chew. She'll leave them around me. She'll be like, slow down. He's not going anywhere. And make yourself slow down. But what actually happens when you do slow down like that, that severe binge craze kind of dwindles down.
Starting point is 01:32:18 You get a chance to kind of slow your mind down and get in front of that urge. And then you get grounded a little bit. And then when it finally does and you get to the last bite you can um logically just tell yourself all right i still feel like i want to eat more but i slowed down my eating so i'm a little bit in control here i'm gonna make myself wait at least 20 minutes 10 minutes whatever and then usually if you wait like those 10 minutes the binge wears off and then you do actually fill up you feel a walk might help yeah yeah getting outside going for a walk and then i also think too
Starting point is 01:32:45 uh one of the other things that might have helped a little is when i was trying to get him reacquainted with food and not looking at certain foods as an enemy he wouldn't he had those fat and weird cookies he got and sent them after the show so he actually i was really proud of him like when he wanted one he'd say to me do you think it'll be okay if I have just one fat and weird cookie and a little scoop of ice cream? I was like, well, what else did you have today? And then he'd tell me, and I'd be like, yeah, go ahead. If you want it, then have it.
Starting point is 01:33:12 You haven't had it for three months now. You've been depriving yourself. So have it. And then that also, I think in his mind, helped create the idea that he could have. I also told him, too, the food's no, like, you can have that food whenever you want. You said that that was your retirement show, like, you're done bodybuilding. I can't eat the fat and weird cookies.
Starting point is 01:33:33 I can't eat the ice cream. So the only person that's going to consume them is you, so they're not going anywhere. So I think, do you think that helped you, too? Yeah. Getting just used to the idea of and like letting yourself have that little indulgence yeah that helped yeah helped get familiar with just having food and yeah it is a weird thing it's like when especially i think it's almost like program when you diet it's like you get your one cheat day so you want to eat everything in that one window of cheating so it's like
Starting point is 01:33:57 reminding yourself that you can literally have this whenever you want it's not going anywhere um what was actually kind of sad slash funny slash weird was one of the, I told you before how I like did not know what it felt like to be full. So she asked me, are you full? I'm like, no, I don't think so. But I would be full. My stomach would be like protruding. And so I had to like find ways to like train myself to recognize when I was full.
Starting point is 01:34:20 As insane as that sounds. And because it wouldn't work. I would eat a big size meal. And I'm like, all right, that was logically that was a big size meal that's enough like you should be full like that's definitely enough you don't need any more but it didn't matter because i still felt like i was hungry one or more what i ended up doing though is i'd actually take advantage of the following i have and i'd be like okay imagine you were filming this as like a day of eating would you feel the need to explain yourself and rationalize your reasoning for having this next meal at all?
Starting point is 01:34:46 Because like a meal that makes sense, you only need to explain yourself with things you're insecure about, right? So like having like a post-workout meal, first meal of the day, if it's big, you don't need to explain anything. Here's my first meal of the day. It's post-workout. It's big. Boom. Makes sense. If I went and had a bowl of cereal after that and I felt the need to be like,
Starting point is 01:35:03 I'm just going to have this extra bowl of cereal, just a little bit of extra carbs. I did do extra cardio today. I'm going to cut down carbs for my dinner later on tonight. Well, now I'm explaining to myself, and I'm rationalizing because I know deep down I shouldn't be having this meal, and I already know what the comments are going to be saying. So I literally started playing that game with myself, and I'd be like, I'd finish the meal, and I'd be like, I want more. Do you need more?
Starting point is 01:35:19 I'd be like, what if you were to film this right now? What would your impulse be? And if I felt like I would be ashamed of it or guilty at all, I'd be like, well, that's your sign. You don't need that. And then I just started working. And then now it's like I've kind of, now I can recognize when I'm full. I just had to, like I said, I don't like blaming anything.
Starting point is 01:35:35 I don't like blaming prep as being evil and all that. It's a bad habit that was formed. And it's something that we can get control over and get a grip on. Were you like that as a kid? No, not to this extreme, but I definitely was always like always lured to food, actually. I think just that dopamine rush did something to me. I've always had anxiety and stuff like that. There's some people that
Starting point is 01:35:54 don't get full. Yeah. No, I always got full for sure, but I definitely always was drawn to that dopamine rush food gives. For sure. This is pretty much brand new. Yeah, his idea like was drawn to like that dopamine rush food gives for sure but um no i never this is like pretty much brand new yeah his idea of full was it when he just can't move yeah that's a pretty new thing was there a bunch of like trial and error because he had mentioned that you would
Starting point is 01:36:16 make him like a sensible breakfast that had like a little bit of everything including like almost like a mini cheat meal inside that one meal with cereal like did you have to like try different things or did you just you know like I think that I think that did help a little bit I do think it was a lot of trial and error because when we first tried that he wasn't going to the gym that week I believe so he it sat better with him and I think that helped a little bit and then once he tried working out, he was like, oh, I can't work. I like working out fast. So there definitely was trial and error because I feel like it would help, but then he'd still have those tendencies.
Starting point is 01:36:55 Well, we'd make the breakfast that she'd make me work on that week after my show when I wasn't training in the gym, and it worked well. But then, like she said, I'd feel feel too sluggish so i had to cut out the breath i had to go back to fasting but then go back to fast and made us take a step back because now it's like oh now the normal size breakfast she made if i had that after i'd fasted and trained i was like ravenously hungry yeah so the biggest thing too that i realized just watching him is he every time he looks at food it's like he just sees the calories. Like he doesn't, he's not like, oh, like I want this. Like one time, I think he was, he's like, oh, I really want an IPA.
Starting point is 01:37:30 But the IPAs really bloat him with his edema right now. So he's like, I really want an IPA. And I was just like, okay, you're 28 years old. You can have an IPA. Like we're not going anywhere. Just have the IPA. And he's like, yeah, but if I'm going to have that, it's X amount of calories. And I just, I could just have this instead.
Starting point is 01:37:46 And I was like, why would you? First of all, why would you even? You're not hungry. Why are you going to go and eat food just because it's less calories than an IPA? I would think of some food that was like 300-something calories instead. So, yeah, the trial and error just, I think he's also gotten a grip. He is better now at knowing what kind of foods he likes. So he's been getting better at incorporating the normal foods into his routine,
Starting point is 01:38:14 his whole, like, eating habits. It's been a little bit since any binge. So it's been a few weeks, which is, like, saying a lot, especially coming off of a show. So we've gotten a pretty damn good grip on it, which is awesome. And it's still just a work in progress as far as mastering it. Like it's still something I have to be conscious of when I eat and stuff. I mean, it depends.
Starting point is 01:38:30 Like it's starting to get better. Like today we had the poke bowl, and I opted to get the small one because I don't usually eat before I train. But that was nothing. Like that filled me up, felt full, felt normal. I'm like a normal human being. So like I'm starting to feel normal again with this stuff, which is good. It's a good sign.
Starting point is 01:38:43 What about binging on foods that are healthy? You ever just do that? Like you ever just like, I don't know, eat like two pounds of steak or something like that? I'm sure I've done that to an extent. Yeah, I've done that to an extent. You know, omelets with the cheese and the chicken in them. And then like there'll be like some seasoned chicken. I like those meals you get.
Starting point is 01:39:01 But you know what ends up happening with that is like you're able to put down a lot there. And then you still just, let me just top it off with something that's a little more palatable. Yeah, you want something sweet. Yeah, yeah. So. I think that's an actual thing. It is. You eat a meal that's kind of salty and fatty and savory and then you want the opposite of that.
Starting point is 01:39:19 Yeah, it is. Oh, it's so true. It's crazy. You want to like wash it down with the opposite, like ice cream or something like that. Like a couple scoops of vanilla ice cream sounds so perfect after you had a salty meal like that. That's interesting because I was noticing that a lot. And I just thought it was maybe just post-competition. But yeah, I would try to eat a real clean, healthy, balanced meal like that. And just a good portion of it.
Starting point is 01:39:40 It's just homeostasis. I think your body's like, we went one way this way here, and let's go go back the other way i would swear every time after that meal i'd want to like binge even worse than if i'd just gone with whatever i wanted to go with before yeah and but i like what you said you said we have a grip on it now um that's huge because you guys have each other's back like we were just talking like earlier in the podcast if somebody doesn't have an ariana yeah like what like what uh like what can someone do like yeah i mean watch nick wright on youtube there you go um no like i said honestly all jokes aside really just youtubing is what helped me get started i mean i was the one who
Starting point is 01:40:16 youtubed learned research watched videos from other people who went through it ordered the book binge uh brain over binge learned about the science behind it got grip, and then I would share it with her. And then obviously, you know, in our partnership, we always have each other's back with everything like that. But I mean, just the first step is just educate yourself about it. Learn as much as you can about it, the science behind it. And the other thing is take responsibility for it. Like I said, I hate blaming.
Starting point is 01:40:39 People are like, I got so many comments. I told you, see, bodybuilding is so unhealthy, so unhealthy. Sure, no, it's not inherently healthy. True, but how productive is blaming bodybuilding? That's not going to fix the issue. The issue is I developed an unhealthy habit, and I need to apply discipline and get over it. So just educate yourself as best you can.
Starting point is 01:40:59 Be prepared to apply a little bit of discipline because it does. You need to discipline yourself to slow down in eating. Discipline yourself to be conscious of what's going on in your head. Discipline yourself to wait and not give in to the binge and it's just a work in progress yeah and i think too uh on the flip side of that is it's really important to try to be open-minded and be understanding because at the end of the day we don't know how it is to be in anyone else's shoes so i always try to make sure that i go out like I try to really listen to him and if he asks for my opinion I try to Think of the best possible solution. I don't ever tell him what to do like you need to do this. I always try to
Starting point is 01:41:34 You know, we're just a team. Yeah, so I always try to help you but I don't it's his body and his life at the end of the day, so I think it's also just really important to life at the end of the day so i think it's also just really important to just try to help someone without forcing them to do things too if that makes any sense yeah a lot a lot of patience right for sure yeah and then too like i think a lot of people fall into this trap they're like well i don't have this problem so why can't you like they can't wrap their mind around why people do anything which i think goes for a lot of things in life people look at other people and their actions and they're like well i would never do that like what's wrong with you like who's to say what's wrong with anyone really if you think about
Starting point is 01:42:14 it that's why i held off on on going public with this for so long and i still get like a little weird talking about it because i don't even have like a full understanding of it but because it just sounds so ridiculous from the outside looking in it It's just like, you're a grown man so your problem is you eat a lot. So stop eating so much. A lot of bodybuilders do that, though. That's the other thing, too, that really made me want to come out and talk about this. And again,
Starting point is 01:42:36 the biggest thing is I do not want to make it dramatic or sound like a martyr. I think the biggest, most productive way to do it is take responsibility for it. It's an issue that we can get a grip on and correct. But it's nuts how hidden it is. I did not know that. I held off on making the video for a month,
Starting point is 01:42:50 until a month after my show because I was literally insecure about it. I was like, how do I talk about this? This sounds so bitch-made. This is like a weird thing. I think everyone does it. I don't think it's even just bodybuilding. I don't think it has anything to do with a bodybuilding diet necessarily. That's what triggered it for you. Yeah. But I know so many people that I help with
Starting point is 01:43:07 their diet right when they come home from work, they just kill all the food in our house. I mean, their, their wife or they have a prepared meal and they're, they're all set. They have a good, a good meal. Right. And then there they are like eating cereal and eating protein bars and eating just like whatever snacks they have around the house. And I think, uh, I think just about everyone's guilty of like doing that, especially from time to time, taking it to your extent is like another, another level of it. Right. It's a little deeper, but I know a lot of people that do that and I'll help someone with their diet and they'll lose weight for like five days and then they boom, they binge, you know, and then they'll, you know, they keep going back and forth and back and forth, but they do so much damage in that one half a day that it takes us three days to work it back off again.
Starting point is 01:43:49 Well, the amount of pictures I got sent to me from subscribers of their own post-competition edema, it was worse than mine. I'd never seen it. I know a guy that gained 50 pounds within four days. What? Yeah, 50 pounds. He went from 190 back up to 240. Yeah. I saw so much of that because you never see it. And it 190 back up to 240. Yeah. I saw so much of that.
Starting point is 01:44:06 And it was because you never see it. And it happens to the women, too. Yeah. You never hear about it. For a woman to gain 30 pounds is different, right? Oh, yeah. Yeah. And the crazy thing is, I was like, you never hear about it.
Starting point is 01:44:15 I did not know that was even a thing until I experienced it. I'm not dumb. I knew people bounce back bad after shows. But no one shares that, obviously, because everyone's ashamed of it yeah so when i finally went out with the video i was literally waiting i'm gonna get reamed in these comments and i was it was the opposite i was mind blown so now it's just something i figure like i'm not an expert in it and i can't be a life coach in it and i'm just getting a grip on it myself um it's just a little hurdle to overcome but i figure as i overcome it um i'll just share what i can yeah i wonder if you tacked it from a nutrient side, how it would work.
Starting point is 01:44:46 I don't know if you've ever messed with that, but if you just had more nutrient-dense foods and you allowed yourself to, like, if you went on almost like a carnivore diet, carnivore-style diet and just literally ate as much as you wanted. I've considered that, too. It would work. You would still be deprived, though. Yeah, it would work. And I also feel like that would still kind of encourage the bingeing habit because you can eat whatever you want.
Starting point is 01:45:08 So, A, that's encouraging you to eat whatever you want. And then, B, you probably would miss carbs and stuff like that. So there would probably be a given day where you would go and cheat and that cheat would turn into a binge. But someone like Dr. Baker, Sean Baker, who kind of made the carnivore diet popular, he just eats when it's time to eat. Anytime he's got an opportunity to eat a big old steak he'll just do it if he needs to fast then he'll just fast but like you know he'll eat three or four times a day and i mean this guy's eating i don't know like four or five pounds of steak every day wow he's eating insane amounts obviously he's got his body conditioned to do that and and he does do a lot of, you know, he exercises a lot and stuff like that.
Starting point is 01:45:46 But I think that that's something that might work for you where it's like you just, whenever it's an opportunity, like throw down a steak or some eggs or something like that. Yeah, I have considered that, but I really do feel like at this point for me right now, I mean, like who knows what I could end up doing as a viable option. Like once my head's like nice and I'm good with food again but i feel like right now that would encourage that it's an extreme it's sacrificing something and it's it's uh enabling eating as much as you want so i feel like that pattern would still be in there right even if it was like a healthier right right yeah what i've noticed from from that is like i feel like a lot of people are filling up their cup of of uh of macron of macro nutrients every day not necessarily getting the micros in that they yeah and then the micros uh they make you feel tired they can lead to cravings and stuff like that too stan efferding talked a lot about salt and potassium oh yeah and
Starting point is 01:46:35 its role on like cravings and things like that so maybe some of it maybe some of it would help and maybe you wouldn't even have to like restrict carbs all the way maybe even it's like i mean it it sounds weird but maybe it's as simple as like there's a nutrient of something that you're just not getting which could be like something like potassium because when you go on a low carb diet there's potassium in your meat and there's potassium in your vegetables but there's really not that much normally right right oh that's interesting yeah i mean i even just saw there was a i didn't read the study so i don't know how legit it is. I just saw it quick, but they found that a possible link to like
Starting point is 01:47:07 depletion of vitamin, or lack of vitamin B6 and, was it iron I think, could lead to like depression, anxiety, or anxiety. It was like anxiety attacks,
Starting point is 01:47:15 I think, because of the serotonin. Right, right. Like I said, I didn't look at the study, so I'm not claiming that, but that was just interesting thought.
Starting point is 01:47:22 Yeah, there's so many things that can be cured with food and maybe even binging can be cured with food interesting yeah isn't that yeah if you really word it like that it's possible i do believe in quality like that therein lies the quick plug because stan's book like it's literally a culmination of a bunch of studies and a bunch of things from literally all the people in the industry yeah the vertical diet the vertical diet literally it's like he has guides on every single nutrient, what foods you need to get the nutrients from. It could fit really well into what you're doing since you could just find some extra foods that you might not be having.
Starting point is 01:47:51 Have you guys both done it? Well, I have, yeah. Yeah, like I utilize concepts for him because the vertical diet really isn't like even a diet. It's like nutritional. There's a lot of nutritional habits in there and just like protocols that you can add to what you're currently doing. Or you can just go straight into what he's talking about. It's almost like a checklist. You know, you're trying to make sure you're just getting all these nutrients from these various foods.
Starting point is 01:48:12 So he's just, he's the first person I've seen that, well, maybe not the first person, but he's the first person I've personally seen do this where he's utilizing food as like a supplement. You know, so you might say, oh, well, it's time to take my branch chain amino acids or whatever. He's thinking like, he doesn't see like an orange and he doesn't see necessarily like, uh, the amount of sugar that's in it. He's seeing, okay, there's fructose in there. I know fructose can help my liver, uh, by helping your liver and having a healthy liver, you can, uh, increase your thyroid production. Therefore it can help you decrease body fat. And then also there's potassium in an orange. So rather than just looking at the food as just this one thing or steak, it's protein.
Starting point is 01:48:52 And it's like, well, no, there's iron in there. There's B vitamins in there, right? And so I think that that's a really interesting piece of the puzzle. And that's exactly what he does with his diet. But it's mainly just meat. There's some room for some fruit. And for him, there's some room for some dairy, if you can handle dairy, and then that's kind of
Starting point is 01:49:09 the diet, and a small amount of vegetables. That's interesting. That is really interesting. It works like a motherfucker. It's pretty fucking awesome. It's really good for strength. You would love it for strength. And if you want to cut on it, obviously, you just tweak whatever works best for you for that, but I think you'd like it. I've heard that. I've had comments in my videos asking me what my thoughts cut on it, obviously you just tweak whatever works best for you for that. But I think you'd like it.
Starting point is 01:49:25 I've heard that. I've had comments in my videos asking me what my thoughts are on it. And I honestly just never looked into it. So I didn't know. Yeah. It's going to be worth checking out. It actually sounds interesting. He talks all about like the podcast he just did.
Starting point is 01:49:38 A lot of info there. And I think the seminar too. The seminar recorded the whole thing. Oh, cool. Oh, wow. That's awesome. You can check all that out. Definitely. Anyway, we got to get to some training, right? You're going to go for a big squat. So we probably need to fuel you up, get you some food. Actually,
Starting point is 01:49:52 I'm good with food. Like I said, I trained fasted, so I had food a couple hours ago. Oh, okay. Cool. I'm good to go. All right. Well, let's get to it. Where can people find you guys on the internet? My Instagram and Twitter handle is at Ariana, A-R-I-A-N-N-A, three underscores R. So that's where you can find me on Twitter and Instagram. And then all of my YouTube is YouTube.com slash Ariana Reardon. And then all the other fun stuff that I'm working on will be in my Instagram. Announcements and stuff coming soon. Cool. Yes, sir. I'm youtube.com slash Nick Wright and my social medias are at Nick Wright NWB. Sick. That's all the time we got. Strength is never weak. This week is never strength.
Starting point is 01:50:38 Catch you guys later.

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