Mark Bell's Power Project - MBPP EP. 694 - Thomas TD Davis: World Record Strength, 716lb Bench, Full Power GOAT In The Making

Episode Date: March 17, 2022

Thomas TD Davis has the 4th best bench press of all time AND is has the 4th best powerlifting total of all time. He is not satisfied and has his eyes set on having the best total in the history of Powerlifting. Follow TD on IG: https://www.instagram.com/tdsmash/ Perks for our listeners!! ➢https://markbellslingshot.com/ Code POWERPROJECT10 for 10% off site wide including Within You supplements! ➢https://eatlegendary.com Use Code POWERPROJECT for 20% off! ➢https://bubsnaturals.com Use code POWERPROJECT for 20% of your next order! ➢https://verticaldiet.com/ Use code POWERPROJECT for 20% off your first order! ➢Vuori Performance Apparel: Visit https://vuoriclothing.com/powerproject to automatically save 20% off your first order! ➢8 Sleep: Visit https://www.eightsleep.com/powerproject to automatically save $150 off the Pod Pro! ➢Marek Health: https://marekhealth.com Use code POWERPROJECT10 for 10% off ALL LABS! Also check out the Power Project Panel: https://marekhealth.com/powerproject Use code POWERPROJECT for $101 off! ➢Piedmontese Beef: https://www.piedmontese.com/ Use Code POWER at checkout for 25% off your order plus FREE 2-Day Shipping on orders of $150 Follow Mark Bell's Power Project Podcast ➢ https://lnk.to/PowerProjectPodcast ➢ Insta: https://www.instagram.com/markbellspowerproject ➢ https://www.facebook.com/markbellspowerproject ➢ Twitter: https://twitter.com/mbpowerproject ➢ LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/powerproject/ ➢ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/markbellspowerproject ➢TikTok: http://bit.ly/pptiktok FOLLOW Mark Bell ➢ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marksmellybell ➢ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkBellSuperTraining ➢ Twitter: https://twitter.com/marksmellybell Follow Nsima Inyang ➢ https://www.breakthebar.com/learn-more ➢YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/NsimaInyang ➢Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nsimainyang/?hl=en ➢TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@nsimayinyang?lang=en Follow Andrew Zaragoza on all platforms ➢ https://direct.me/iamandrewz #PowerProject #Podcast #MarkBell

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20% off your entire order. Links to them down in the description as well as the podcast show notes. I know it sounds like we're over hyping it, but I promise you we are not. You guys have to go try these tasty pastries right now. What's TD stand for? Touchdown? Thomas Davis. That's my name.

Touchdown. No, I'll play defense, defense bro i want to score no touchdowns i was a nose guard so i was right there smack dab on the center how long you've been lifting for since high school really is when i really got serious into lifting and i just loved it man it's been my thing i think my first max ever was like 185. I was a freshman. And then before I graduated, I did like 465. But that was like the bouncing and your butts off the bench. It wasn't clean at all, but, you know, it was one of those. You're a big, big man.

What did you weigh back then? I was about 340 before I graduated. Damn. I was a big boy. What are you now? 430. Yeah. Grew a little bit. How tall are you? 6'3". Okay. He's a big boy.

When you played football, did you have goals of going pro in football? Man, I did but I didn't have the grades for it. went to a catholic school and our grading skill was crazy so if i went to a public school i probably would have passed through but i mean i'm glad i did what i did you know it's all right but i still watch football all the time and yeah you know it was between football or being a wrestler but wrestling was my first love place to watch you know the attitude era that was my thing oh yeah you know to watch, you know, the Attitude Era. That was my thing. Oh, yeah. You know, DX and Stone Cold.

Those were my guys. So that was my first love. Going to Catholic school, was that okay to watch? I don't really know what that experience is like. Let me tell you. You had to be, like, cautious with some of the things you did over there because, like, I'm from the ghetto, man. So it's like I had to, like, really, you know,

step into their way of life. But, I mean, it mean it was all right yeah and how'd you end up going to catholic school um well let's keep the mic a little closer oh sorry yep so my mom she was like you know what you're bad and you're crazy and we're not gonna put you in public school because i know what you're gonna get into so she put me in private school and i i did um from since fifth grade until i graduated in high school so my mom put me like we school And I did Since 5th grade Until I graduated In high school So My mom put me

Like we're not even Fucking Catholic But I was in Catholic school Up until like I think it was the 4th grade And then I got expelled Then I went to public school

How did Yeah tell me how You got expelled? You came to say I got expelled And then go You gotta tell us What happened

It was Michael. He was a bully. And one day Michael said something to me and then flipped me off. And his finger was this close to my face. So I took his finger and I bent it back. And then I went to public school. Like, bam, transition. That's crazy.

Like something out of a movie where you just see the scene of you breaking the kid's finger and then the next scene. No one's supposed to put their finger that close to somebody's face. No, I don't blame you. You do what you're supposed to do. Well, he learned his lesson. I bet he didn't do it again. What's the deal with this bench press you know you hit a 716 pound bench press i think it's your best so far in competition

right yep but then you know you're benching there's like a lot of these big guys benching these huge weights but then all of a sudden you decide to throw your hat into full meat power lifting yeah and you've got one of the biggest totals ever in sleeves yeah what's going on with that i just i felt like there's more to me than bench press and i didn't want to live myself and you know you get those comments like oh he's been chilling he's been chilling that kind of like sparked a little bit and then you know having the coach i have now josh bryant like he knew everything and you know he's he's great and then also being teammates with uh james trickling

because he was the first one that I seen convert like that. And I'm like, man, if James can do it, that's my boy. Let me see if I can try this out. And ever since then, man, I've been just doing it, and I love it. I can't get enough of it. That's incredible. Yeah, Josh Bryant was raving about your explosiveness. Yeah.

He loves that. Where does that come from? Honestly, I think it came from track, doing track. I did track in college for a couple years, and the work we did and power cleans and the high shrugs and just trying to really be explosive, you know, because you've got to throw an object as far as you can, so you can't just be strong.

You have to be explosive and just really be able to torque your body and do everything you can to get that ball or the disc or the weight or whatever you're throwing that type of training really translated to powerlifting and then i'm so glad i did it you know you squatted 800 and you benched 700 in a full competition 716 716 and then what was the deadlift at uh my best deadlift was 859 in the competition damn yeah so what like right now so people can have context before we continue the conversation what is your total where are you all time right now how old are you and how long you've been lifting okay so total uh 2375 uh what was the other question i'm sorry like how old are you and how long have you been focusing on powerlifting

I will be 30 in July so I'm 29 now I've been focused on powerlifting since probably right after high school that's when I started to like really get into it like I was you know I knew I was going to play football but I love to lift like that was my thing like keeping me out of trouble

so I stayed in the gym like all the time I would bench like four times a week if I love to lift. That was my thing to keep me out of trouble. So I stayed in the gym all the time. I would bench four times a week if I had to. I stayed in the gym. There's a lot of young kids hopping on performance-enhancing drugs because they see the success of other people on Instagram, YouTube, and so forth, and they want to kind of hop into that same position. Right.

But you told me that you did a 661 bench uh in competition drug tested correct so it was before you ever now nowadays you're on trt correct that's fucking incredible i think i think it's great for people to see more examples just so they can because i think people put a limitation on themselves they put a ceiling on themselves big time and it's like yeah you may be a deficit but man once you you have to learn to work hard too through the deficits as well like you can't just say oh i'm not getting stronger right now let me go ahead and get on some gear like that's the dumbest thing and i see on tiktok and instagram and even like kids in my high school like oh trend this trend like you kids don't even know what you're talking about like don't talk about that stuff.

Like, you don't know. But then again, I guess it's part of the culture now. Everybody wants to be a part of something. And, you know, but I fear for these kids now that think that that's so cool. And it's like, you have no idea. Like, if you start doing this, like, what's it going to do to your body?

Like, a lot of these kids have, you know, levels that are great and, like and they want to mess it up. Don't do that now. Use what you got. I think this is a good point to get into what we were talking about a bit before the podcast. About your nutrition, how your nutrition is finally in line. Yeah. But you talked about how your test levels were at like 131.

171. 171. Yeah. And that was a little while ago ago but that was because of how you grew up and your nutrition so can you talk to us about some of that yeah so seeing my doctor he you know we've seen the results and i was like why is it so low and we we started talking about like what i was eating as a child and you know like the super hormone foods like you know just bad foods for you like anything that's got the extra stuff that we don't need that other countries don't have but America has because it's cheaper.

You know, unfortunate. And, you know, I used to drink 2% milk like all the time. You couldn't keep it in the house if I was there, you know, drinking stuff like that, eating McDonald's and whatnot. And things like that that really got into it as far as nutrition. And then sleep, you know, being a correctional correction officer five and a half years you know i wasn't getting a lot of sleep because i would do that 12 hour shift to go train or go work at my other job and not get much sleep so a combination of those two and also being a big boy kind of didn't help but doing all that kind of just shrunk me down a little bit. Growing up, did you always want something more for yourself?

You said in your own words you grew up in the hood. What was some of that experience like? Did you always think that you were going to do something bigger or different or outside of where you grew up? I always wanted to do something bigger. I thought that football was my way because that's what I loved at the time. That wasn't reality and now it's like this is what I'm doing now like I just I love it so like I've I want to take this as far as I can and you know even go to heights that I haven't been touched yet I want to I want to be able to say hey I'm making a lot of money powerlifting like I'm doing something cool like it may not be right away here but hey, I'm making a lot of money powerlifting. Like, I'm doing something cool. Like, it may not be right away here, but even if I'm not, like, on the scenes,

like, doing something, maybe making some money, like, outside of the scenes, but I want to be able to help these younger guys coming up because, I mean, this is a wonderful sport. And if I can break off some cash and help these guys that, you know, are struggling but want to be professional, like, I would love to do something like that. Like, you've done many things for our sport. Like, I want to be able, like, I would love to do something like that. Like, you've done many things for our sport. Like, I want to be able to say I've done this for the sport

and I've made, you know, good money and I'm happy and I'm successful with this. So I've always wanted something better. Like, I don't like being average. Like, who, like, I shouldn't say who, but to me, I think average is just quitting, you know, to me. Where did you grow up? South Bend, Indiana.

So we're like an hour and a half from Chicago. So we get a lot of traffic from Chicago coming our way. Do you think powerlifting is a good sport for young kids that, you know, trying to get kids off the street type thing? Of course, of course. Like me, I grew up, I used to like to fight. You know, I had anger issues. I still got teeth marks on my knuckles. Like, you know, I used to fight all the time.

Learning how to put my anger to something else, which is lifting, I go into it. Even when I was a young kid, like my dad dying, I would do push-ups here and there. I'd feel sad or whatever. When I got older, my stepson had passed away. Well, my son. passed away with my son. I call him my son. He wasn't mine biologically, but I was dating his mother. He was my boy, Bryson.

He passed away. It's funny. I was stuck at like 585 on bench. He passes away. I stick my ass in the gym because I was just upset I didn't know how to channel my anger somewhere else besides the gym and I hold things in as a man because I'm prideful

and I'd say within about a month I smoked 600 actually you guys shared it on one of your YouTube videos I had your rap song shout out to Mark Bell on that one that was pretty cool but I remember doing that

like man like i'm glad i can have this outlet to put everything in like and i think a lot of kids need to understand like you can't have another outlet you don't have to do anything stupid you know when you were getting when you were psyching yourself up for that bench were you thinking about bryson of course i was of course and it flew it felt like you ever gotten yourself too far in that direction like where it kind of messed you kind of messed you up almost no i i i allow it to just come like if if i can if i can get past that limit to where it's like wow like i think i'm just gonna make it fly even more like i just i think about being explosive and being powerful and think about what i'm doing for you know like that's who like that's how i think about it explosive and being powerful and think about what I'm doing for it.

That's how I think about it. So do you have, like, when you're going for big PRs or big lifts and meets, what's going through your head? What's your process? Because some lifters have a ritual that they do before every single lift or thoughts that they have. What is it for you? Make every lift look like an opener. Make it go fast.

No doubt, no question. If you're squatting, bury it. Make it go fast. No doubt, no question. If you're squatting, bury it and make it go fast. It's nice to get that reaction from the crowd and they go, oh. Yeah, that's the best reaction. Y'all seen that, didn't y'all? That was my third. Everyone thinks you're going to struggle with it because the weight sounds

so heavy. Everyone's getting amped up. Then you go out there and just totally annihilate it. Everyone's like, what? He's so strong. Y'all'all seen that that was my third i had more to take but come see me next time yeah we we had like this campaign and we still have a lot of stuff that says lift through it and that's essentially what you did and like i don't really have necessarily a question on that or anything but well actually i do like do you still tap into some of that? Like, cause there's a lot of people that will say like, Oh, it's not good to really go back into like that. I'll say negative, even though maybe you're still doing out of love, but we'll just say negative as in like, it gets you kind of like, we'll say angry. Um, some people will say

like, Oh, don't go to that dark place because you know, you can only go there so much. Um, are you finding that you might even kind of look at it as a more positive thing like i'm gonna do this for bryson to make him proud or is it more like i want my son back i'm gonna beat the shit out of this weight it's more of like this is for him like everything i do him some of my homies i've had passed away you know i think about them like it's like it it's a whole collective, it may not be like somebody that passed away, just like my city too, man, because we got a lot of

crazy stuff going on, we, people call South Bend like baby Chicago, because we have a lot of murders, and got a lot of drugs going through, so it's like, it's crazy, man, like, I lost a lot of friends, man, and, you know, it's it's crazy, but it's how it is, so I think about, like, let this be the light to the city a little bit, you know it's it's crazy but it's how it is so i think about like let this be the light to

the city a little bit you know because only thing we got really going is like notre dame you know so i think about that like it's not just me it's all this is bigger than me what i'm doing is bigger than me yeah so i do it for them it just it reminds it just popped in my head um older rapper az but he says i'm destined to live the dream for all my peeps who never made it. And that's kind of what I feel like you're doing right now. That's pretty dope. I'm trying. There's a song by Big Sean called Bigger Than Me.

You should check that out. And that's like one of my songs. Before I go on, I'm like, you know what? Cut it off. Let's do it. I don't know if you want to get me started on newer rappers. I don't hate anybody. I'm just saying.

I just know what I like. And it happens to be better. Hey, I don't think you have any preference, bro. Yes, sir. I think Sean's not new. Nah, he's been around the game. I mean, you know, 90s is still new, in for me.

You're old. I'm up there. You know what? I'm going to ask you the other question. Who do you think my favorite artist is? It is not rap. I guarantee you guys won't know. Can you give us a genre? Give us the genre.

I'll tell you. He plays the guitar. He's probably one of the best on the guitars. Jimi Hendrix? No. Johnny Cash? You're close with the J. Close to J.

White guy. Smooth boy. I don't even have a name. John Mayer, brother. I love John Mayer. John Mayer is dope. Hey. Okay.

John Mayer, brother. He is a wonderland. Bro, I'm telling you, bro. Every time he has a new album, I cut that on. Don't bother me. I'm listening to it from the back maybe twice, three times. Don't bother me. Love John Mayer.

John Mayer is peace. This is the key. He is, man. I bump some John Mayer. John Mayer is peace. This is the key. He is, man. I bumped some John Mayer. I don't care if I'm in the hood or I'm about to go somewhere else. John Mayer is playing. How long have you liked John Mayer?

Since I was like, oh man, I'd say probably since like 2001 when he came out with his first album. I found him in high school. No, yes! I'm on the run

through the halls. Yes! I'm so pumped for Hall. I'm about to listen to some John May Mayer today It's been a minute for me But I love that dude He has really good music He does man He's great

That's good shit man Yeah It's good to hear That's something that might be playing Right before you go and hit your big No I ain't gonna lie No I got some You need something to turn you up different

You know I like this song called God's Country by Blake Shelton I love that song It kind's Country by Blake Shelton. I love that song. It kind of gets me into that mode. I like a lot of things, man. I'm one of those guys. I listen to any type of genre music. Anything that's got a really

up-tempo beat. My boys Shine Down. Shout out to them, man. They're cool, bro. I actually worked for them one time in South Bend. Ever since then, we've been cool. So I rock with them a lot, too. Let me ask this. So I think you kind of talked about it a little bit before.

But what are, okay, so you're going to be breaking some of these all-time records. But what do you want to do with powerlifting? What kind of impact do you want to have? What do you want to be able to build? I want to make powerlifting as mainstream as possible. And for the simple fact that you see these stories of these 70-year-old grandmas coming out here and banging weights with these giants. It's crazy. Yeah, they're not lifting what we're lifting, but you're still out here doing this.

I think that's so cool. Like, we have a lady at our gym. Her name is Miranda. She's a great lady, and she has one leg, and she squats and deadlifts. She competes full power. She makes no excuses. And it's like, to see somebody like her do things, it's like, why do I complain about my leg extensions today? Like, she's in here banging

with one leg she has to keep herself upright as much as possible and she buries these squats it's like people should see this more like this is a cool sport and people should really see like what we have to like bring what we have to offer like basketball football that's all cool i love that stuff but powerlifting is so great because anybody can do it man yeah i always felt that the barrier of entry was so low but not even necessarily just to go do it in the gym but like as we get older you know it's like you see the dudes that like i don't know like um whatever um like fitness center you go to and they're like still playing basketball elbowing people and like you know still thinking they can get after it but

not everybody can do that but with power lifting you can actually go and compete amongst people that are like you you know and and it's all super supportive so that's what i loved about power lifting is just like i'm looking around and be like dude everyone looks different everyone is putting in their all and at all different ages and it's like shit like i think yeah like my whole family could do this like that's i yeah you're right i think more people do need to be exposed to it i think so too yeah it's great um you so you had your blood work done right like you you hit that big bench and then maybe just you weren't feeling well or like what what kind of led you to investigate your testosterone levels just like i was so fatigued all the time my mood was so weird i was so tired

i didn't want to do anything um the sex drive was low i'm like man that's never happened to me like like this is weird like i just how my body's feeling like how i feel mentally too like i just fell out of the game like i felt like i was like i'm kind of checking out here and doing some research it's like oh maybe this is what it is. And sure enough, I was an old man when it came to my level. So, you know, everything else came back great, you know, but that was just like low. Like 171 is super low, you know. And I hadn't taken anything before. Like some people are like, oh, maybe you've taken anything.

Like, no, I was completely clean. I wasn't about that. I wanted to be as natty as I could for the longest until I actually needed to do anything, you know. But, you know, I did what I was supposed to do, natty. And, you know, now I'm on TRT and we're banging it now. Yeah. So along with that, what did you, because your nutrition only changed last year. You said you've been only having good nutrition for a year.

So my curiosity is, like, what kind of stuff were you eating the year before that? Like, how was your diet? And now what's your diet now? Okay. So before wasn't the best, you know, I would try to do a little bit of meal prep here and there. Like I tried to do some steak here and there, but it wasn't enough. I didn't realize like what I was eating wasn't enough for me to eat and like actually be full. Cause once know you know if you don't eat enough your body is like kind of starving itself and then you kind of you hold on to more of what you you know you shouldn't be holding on to so um it was it wasn't horrible you know like I said I tried the meal prep and then you probably weren't eating enough protein in general especially how much muscle you have nowhere near as much

protein like I thought you know just eating these couple steaks here and there was enough. But, like, no, like, now I got protein in my car. I got protein in my bag somewhere. Like, I got protein everywhere. I got protein in my office, at work. Like, it's everywhere. So, you know, and, like, now, like, you know, obviously protein's upped and my meals have upped. So, like, I measure everything now.

And just seeing, like, what I eat makes a big difference too like my friends are like yeah you should try to log your food like oh okay cool that's whatever but like actually doing it now like seeing what you're actually eating and seeing like you know this product does this and like you see like your progression throughout the day it's like wow

now I kind of know what I can eat throughout the day like I don't even have to look at the program anymore like okay I can get away with having this bagel with this protein shake if I do this. It's so cool to know what you're doing. I feel better. Do you know how many calories you're eating per day right now? About 4,000

right now. Not too crazy. I still burn weight off 4,000 so I'm cool with that. Do you know how many grams of protein? A lot. I couldn't tell you the number, but a lot. Okay.

So usually in the morning I eat four regular eggs, and I have a cup of egg whites that I mix up and get it scrambled up, do a bagel with just a little bit of light butter, and then I have three scoops of protein, and I do that with water. And then I'll do a regular meal, so I do 300 grams of, I mix my bison with ground beef, and it's all lean,

white rice, and then the protein is 300 grams, the rice is 150 right now, then I do like 100 grams of vegetable a vegetable and then I do like two meals like that and then depending on where I'm at and if I'm training that day I may have like a Jimmy John's sandwich so I have that macro it's like right before I go in and bam we just we go crazy what was it like transitioning into being this regimented because a lot of people start that and then they just stop

because they're like this is too much work it's too much to think about but you're weighing out your food you're you're doing all this what did that take from you uh if you get the mic a little bit oh sorry it's bad habit thank you um so i think the biggest thing for me was saying hey one day at a time because i think some people look at it like oh i gotta do this for forever like don't think about it like that because like if you think about the long term you have to do baby steps first you're gonna overwhelm yourself mentally so it's like oh no i don't want to do it no more so you start with hey day one day two day three go through that first couple weeks and it's like oh this, this is easy. Once you get through those couple weeks for me, like a couple weeks, I'm cool.

I can do whatever. What's some of the keys to bench pressing? Because I know a lot of people want to up their bench, right? And so what are some of the keys? What are things that have really helped you a lot? What I see a lot too, like a lot of guys, and I don't hate the idea, but for me it's a nitpick for me, especially if I'm coaching somebody. I don't like the suicide grip.

And the reason why I don't like suicide grip. Thumbless grip. Yeah. I shouldn't say suicide. Sorry about that. But thumbless grip. You're going around. You're not having full control of the bar, in my opinion.

I feel like once you wrap your thumb around and you're really grabbing that bar, you think about it. If I'm grabbing your hand, I'm just, you know, I grab it grab it i can really grab your hand but if i'm just like right here i'm really not gonna be able to grab that hand exactly i want full control of the weight the more control i have over the weight the better power i can have with that weight i can i can control it better so like i think that people really are misguided when they do the thumbless grip do you still see a lot of people doing thumbless grip? Like, wow. Yeah. I think it's like a comfort thing

for some people. It feels better on their wrist or something, but... I mean, build your wrist up. Right, yeah. Build your wrist and forearms, right? Yes, got to. Especially forearms. Like, forearms are everything. Like, not just for, you know, your standard, like, primary lifts, but even just like with, like,

dumbbell stuff. And I love doing forearm work. I did a lot of forearm work for track because, you know, that flash flick of the ball or, you know, whatever the case may be. What kind of forearm work did you do? Oh, a lot of holds, like a lot of farmer's holds. I would hold them, like 100-pound dumbbells as long as I could, and then I'd go straight to, like, doing some curls, and then I'd do some back curls.

I would do a lot of stuff. The roll, that intense thing, I hate it. Your forearms are massive. I mean, it helps, you know. I don't pull with straps. I don't do any of that. Even if I'm rack pulling, I don't pull with straps. You know, I keep it 100.

No belt either. What about, like, mobility mobility like getting into the bench position because i like smaller dudes you see like with really big arches i'm not sure about big guys like i've never really paid attention because i'm always just like god damn that's a lot of weight and i look at that i don't really pay attention to some of like the smaller minute things like that so for you like what's that like? I have a little bit of an arch. It's nothing crazy. It's just to keep you a little bit more tight. That's it.

Absolutely. I mean, to lessen my range of motion, I have long arms. So, like, for me to push all the way from down here and I sink, like, you see, like, when I bench, I'm sinking. It's all the way down here. So it's like, boom, and then I'm traveling all the way up here. So to get the range of motion down is okay. But for me, that arch is for my control and more like, how should I say it,

more comfortability on the bench for me. I feel a lot more comfortable when I'm a little bit more arched. I can really squeeze my back into it and really wrap my lats around. What are some things that got you to like a 500-pound bench? And then what are some things that maybe progressed you from like 600 to 700? I'm sure they were different. Accessories, big time. A lot of people neglect accessories.

Or they just don't take them as serious. Like me, I'm like, cool, I'm done with my primary. Let's get crazy on these accessories. Because if I can go crazy on accessories, it's like boom, boom, boom. Like I feel the pump. I'm feeling like every accessories because if I can go crazy on the accessories, it's like boom, boom, boom. Like I feel the pump. I'm feeling like every little muscle. I can work. I can tweak it a little bit because when you have a barbell, you can't do much when you tweak things.

But like if I'm doing tricep extensions, I can do it one way. I can do it another way. Like one of my favorite things is I do tricep extensions with a heavy band, and I do it for time. And I try to do it for like, you know, 45 seconds. If I can't go anymore, that's fine, but I'm it for time. And I try to do it for like 45 seconds. If I can't go anymore, that's fine, but I'm still holding on and I'm trying to push. But I'm really exhausted in that tricep and really building that tendon in there too to make it stronger. A lot of people don't really go hard on accessories, but I think accessory work is so important when you're trying to go through those plateaus.

It doesn't matter what type of weight it is, but you really got to go through those with accessories. And that's just big for me. What else has allowed you to kind of, yeah, break through plateaus? Because the weight and the weight you're benching is something that not many people do. It's a realm that not many men are in. So, I mean, along with going crazy on your accessories, what else do you think allowed you to, like Mark asked, allowed you to keep breaking through into those higher unknown type of numbers? Recovery, big time.

Like really working on stretching. Everything I can to really recover in the safest way. A lot of stretching before and after. the safest way uh a lot of stretching before and after um and uh i think that a lot of people don't think about stretching after because they're so tired and i get it i've been there too but like there's days i don't stretch after and i feel it it's like oh man but if i stretch after just a little bit maybe 10 minutes i'm good you know like that's, big huge for me. Power Project family, how's it going? Now, we have partnered with Stan Efferding, the Stan Efferding. If you don't know who he is, you better go check it out.

But he owns Vertical Meals, which we eat and we love. But one of the big reasons why we love Vertical Meals and we know that you will too is so many people talk about how difficult it is to meal prep, how busy my life is. So I don't have time to cook healthy food. I have excuses. So I run to McDonald's because I don't have food at home. Well, that's why Vertical Meals is here for you. They have so many amazing meal options, tasty meal options. They have freaking cinnamon rolls, chicken empanadas, steak and eggs, monster mash. They have everything you're going to need. That's why you got to go to Vertical Meals so that you don't have to think about meal prep anymore. Andrew, how do they get it? Yes, that's over at verticaldiet.com and at checkout, enter promo code POWERPROJECT to save 20% off your entire order. Take advantage of

this. Make sure you guys get like a week or two or three or four and use promo code POWERPROJECT to save 20% off that entire order. Links to them down in the description as well as the podcast show notes. Yeah. We had a Steve bake on the podcast and one thing that we found pretty amazing was just his capacity to move. Like he does a lot of sled work and then he'll do a lot of accessories and his main movements and stuff. Sled work.

Yeah. So do you do anything like that? Yeah. Yeah. Cause you're doing full power, right? As opposed to just bench only where it's like, okay,

I'm just gonna do this one thing. I guess I don't, I won't gas out here, but you're doing full power, right, as opposed to just bench only where it's like, okay, I'm just going to do this one thing. I guess I won't gas out here, but you're doing all three. So what are you doing to help build that gas tank? Well, since I'm recovering right now from the surgery, I got with knees over toes guy. That's my boy. So we've been doing a lot of like backwards work. Like I'm about tired of it. But when I don't do it, I feel it.

You know, it's like, okay, it makes a big difference. So I'm just really trying to build that up and, like, just little things like that here and there. That's what's getting me through, so. What's your favorite assistance exercise for bench? Oh, man, I got so many, though. So those pull-downs I like to do, but you know what? I think a lot of people neglect close grip

close grip is super important to me just for like that sheer like working on that because everybody fails well I shouldn't say everybody most people fail a weight that they can do at the top so if you're really working that tricep and working that inner pec a little bit it's really going to help you squeeze so

try it like doing close grip even if it's you don't have to do crazy So try it like doing the close grip, even if it's, you don't have to do crazy weight, but really volumizing that, it really helps me out. So I love, I love doing it. How do you like some of the isometric stuff and some of the weird stuff that

Josh programs? Weird stuff is correct. When you say that with Josh, shout out to Josh. You're like, wait, what is that? You gotta try to look it up.

And then it's like some old ass video of some guy from like the 80s and like the fucking videos all jacked up you're like what exercise is this i gotta get a vhs to figure out um you know what like what the things that he does like it works for a reason like a lot of people try to make up new things here and there which whatever cool but like i think a lot of people forget like that old stuff still works like you don't have to go, like, and try to be, you know, the next Josh Bryant. Like, try to do new things. Like, if it doesn't, you know, fail, you continue to do it. You know, like, especially with him, you know, dealing with him.

Like, he doesn't play. Like, dude's crazy. But I love it. You know, he makes you work hard. And I love that, man. So, whatever he throws, I'm love it. You know, he makes you work hard, and I love that, man. So whatever he throws, I'm doing it. Some of those exercises, like pin presses and some of the isometric stuff, kind of hurts. You know, like when you go to do it, you're like, fuck, man.

Because you're going from zero to, like, whatever the weight is that you're pressing. I always had a hard time with it. But when I got through the sticking point of it hurting and I built up, I started to feel better and I got stronger. Yeah. I mean, people don't understand, like, you don't just work on the concentric part of the movement. You have to really work on the eccentric and the isometric. And I think that's really important with every type of movement we do.

And to build that with the isometric, and you know how bad it hurts. Like, even just doing, like, a wall sit is technically an isometric movement. And nobody likes to do wall sits. Like, come on now, like, oh, let's do a bunch of wall sits, guys. Like, who wants doing, like, a wall sit is technically an isometric movement, and nobody likes to do wall sits. Like, come on now, like, oh, let's do a bunch of wall sits, guys. Like, who wants to say that? But, I mean, it's hard for a reason, and you're really building that, you know, that strength in there. So, you know, I have no problem with doing things like that, especially if it's hard, man. If it's hard, it's good.

How many days a week right now do you bench? Like, what's, like, the bench, squat, deadlift frequency per week? So I usually bench on a Monday, squat Tuesday, rest on Wednesday, accessory bench on Thursday, and deadlift on Friday. So deadlifting stays once a week. Yep. And how long have you been doing that? Since I've been with Josh, so about three years now. You got some special way to do pull-downs, you were saying?

Three years now. You got some special way to do pull-downs, you were saying? So, yeah, my tricep pull-downs. So, like, I'll get, like, a heavy, like, resistance band, and I'll put it up on the rack. Oh, okay, yeah, the timed one. Yeah, I do those. That's what I like to do those.

I actually do the straight-arm pull-downs with those, too, for my back to get the lats, you know, looking big. Ever have any elbow issues, or you've been pretty healthy? No, my elbow's been great. Elbow's been real good. Shoulders? Shoulders have been fine, too. Pecs? I used to have problems with pecs, but I have a masseuse.

He's a killer. So he bent his 400 plus. I actually programmed him a little bit. So shout out to TJ, man. He's crazy. He makes me cry a little bit. Those deep tissues are something, man, when you get those done. But, I mean, I haven't had pec issues in a while.

One of my favorite exercises from Josh was the chain flies. Those are incredible. Those are great, man. Oh, they stink, man. Yeah, the chain starts hitting you as you're coming up. Yeah, it's so loud and great. It's like. But, I mean, it works, man.

And when you squeeze at that top, too, like, you really feel it. Then you're coming down slow, so that eccentric's really kicking in. It's like, oh, my gosh. What's the benefit of chain flies? I've never actually done that. They're incredible. They're just zeroed out, you know? So, like, when you go to bring it down, where a lot of people would have mobility issues,

the weight's not completely zeroed out, but a lot of the chain weight is on the ground. So if you had 100 pounds of chain each side, there might be like 30, 40 pounds at the bottom. And as you're coming up, you're getting all that weight on you. Get all of it. Yeah, but even for someone like me, I would train with Mark all the time, and we would do that. So someone like me who's nowhere near as strong as Mark,

we take one chain off or whatever. But having almost none of the weight at the bottom and the more at the top it teaches someone like me how to flex into my pecs it's it's kind of yeah it's it's actually really incredible but do you mess with other chains and stuff like like kind of like some west side type of stuff um every once in a while we may do like some like close grip chain work but i love bands better okay i love doing bands i think bands are harder um and you know you can really play with the bands more too so and like i said the eccentric part for me if i if i'm doing like close grip i like to really try to work on coming down a little slower

and working on that uh muscle productivity so i love i love bands man like if i if i didn't want anybody to work out with me for the day i would take our purple bands that we have at the gym like the light band and i would put that on the bench and like once somebody walked over and tried that they'd get like pinned with the with the band they're like fuck this it was brutal big bully yeah right sometimes you gotta do that right yeah yeah some people in their place right you know i i don't think we mentioned this on this episode yet we were talking about it beforehand But the fact that you got your nutrition starting like handle last year, you mentioned that you've been actually gaining muscle and losing body fat pretty rapidly because your nutrition's weren't. I saw him here last year. He looks totally different.

You look amazing. Thank you, sir. Appreciate that. He's you technically are getting newbie gains, bro. And you're fourth in the world with newbie gains something like some some like some like you know what i mean because like so that's why that's why you're so crazy to me because i'm just like give this like two to three more years where things like really just flesh out it's gonna be something we haven't seen all

i got like five more years and i'm done. So I'm going to retire at 35. Why 35? Well, I've got a son, man, and I'm not going to be 430 pounds all my life. He needs me around, so he's more important than powerlifting. But that's why I've got to work on other endeavors after powerlifting. It's okay. I'm going to set my legacy before I turn 35 and you know kick some butt and then i'll retire and kick it you know just do some other things yeah we were talking i think uh before

we started and we talked about a potential 900 pound squat seven mid seven bench and a 900 pound pull in competition that's right i don't think anybody's ever done well i guess daniel bell has done a thousand then i don't know i don't think he pulled nine so i don't even anybody's ever done. Well, I guess Daniel Bell has done 1,000. I don't think he pulled nine. So I don't even know if there's a, I can't even think of a nine and a nine. 900-pound squat, 900-pound deadlift. I guess there's probably a couple guys, maybe. There was one, Dylan, from Australia, I believe.

He did it in reps, and that was at the Arnold like three years ago. I believe he did 1,000. He that was at the Arnold like three years ago. I believe he did 1,000. He was the first person to do 1,000. And have a 700-pound bench, like an all-time, nearly a damn near all-time world record bench sitting in the middle of that. That's what we want. It's pretty insane. I mean, I'm moving more weight, like even just doing full power. So it's like I have no excuse to go back to bench only.

So I might do a bench only meet here in the summer just because I'm still healing, but I just miss competition. Was that 800 pound bench, was that real? The one that we saw on Instagram? Which one are you talking about? Daniel Zamanis? Yeah, I don't know the guy's name. The one I was showing you? Yeah.

What do you think about that? He's like a foreign guy, I believe. Okay. Daniel, he seems real nice. And it's not real until you do it in competition. That's all I'm going to tell you. Right. Yeah. Well, I mean, we'll see.

I've had a lot of people reach out to me and think that it's fake and whatnot. I mean, people have their speculations. But, you know, out of respect, I'm going to give that man his chance to do it in competition. Yeah. In a real competition. You know, not an exhibition. Like, come head to head, you know, over here. And we go over there. I'd love to see it. If it's real, in a real competition. You know, not an exhibition, like come head to head over here

and we go over there. I'd love to see it. If it's real, it's real. That's cool. It's cool for the sport. I think Julius is going to get it first, though. Yeah, he's been chasing it down

for a long time. He's been super close. I've been chasing on him, too. I told him, I said, bro, you better get it before we get to fighting. I'm tired of lifting off

for you, bro. That's a heavy liftoff, man. I'm over here like, take some nose torque and get some truck, and I'm like, getting into it? It's crazy. Lifting off 700 pounds and then 800 pounds for him, it's just ridiculous. Yeah, 800-pound raw bench. I mean, it was just maybe six, seven years ago that Eric Spoto kind of came out from

the shadows. Eric Spoto. And broke Mendelsohn's record that sat there for 10 years yeah and that was a 716 bench that he did and i think later he did like seven then krill serikov and then they went back and forth and then big krill shout out to krill too man those good people man that's a lineup right there it's nuts to see where the lifts have gone everybody Everybody, man. I don't want to give him too much credit because he's got a big head right now with my boy John Hack. Look at what

he's doing, man. How much does he weigh in? He's pulling 900 pounds. Making me mad. Bro, you don't weigh nearly as much as I do and you're about to try to out-total me. We're going to have to fight. That doesn't make any sense. No, it doesn't. He plays a lot of video games, too.

Yes, bro. I don't even have time for video games right now. I'm still stuck on UFC 4 right now. I'm a champion right now in my game, but I can't even get to it right now. I'm so busy. I haven't played video games in a while. Can you make your own player on there and shit? Yeah, I'm Thomas Davis,

the champion. I'm a heavyweight. I actually have a six-pack on the game. Get to pick your theme music and everything? Yeah. Like walkout music? Yeah. What is it? It's a song called Bombs by Fabulous. It's real dope. You know the Chicago Bulls?

He has that sample in it. It's right. And you're shredded, right? I'm shredded, dude. He's like 3% body fat. He's a UFC And you're shredded, right? I'm shredded, dude. He's like 3% body fat. He's a UFC fighter. Come on now. All natty, though. And then does your fighter have a cool nickname on there?

The Shotgun. Okay. Shotgun, yeah. Because when Bruce Buffer is announcing your fighter and stuff, he'll use just the nickname and get you all fired up. Yeah, I was on UFC 4 like a year ago. I'm almost at my longevity like i'm almost there like i've i've had how many title defenses it's ridiculous i go i cheat a

little bit like if i'm about to get beat like i'll quit the game i do it all the time bro i've lost the title and i was like oh shit and like shit. And I'll just literally turn the whole thing off, and it doesn't save. Oh, you got it. You were good, man. Oh, yeah. Pull the plug. But there is a grind to get that damn title, because you got to do all the shit that UFC fighters have to do out of the cage. Yeah.

They did a good job with that one. I like it, man. Yeah, it's fun. They're fighting tonight, too, with Mastroval. Who you got? Come on, man. Mastroval. Mastroval, bro. He came up when Kimbo was coming up doing that. fighting tonight too with Mazda Ball and who you got come on man Mazda Ball he went up he was

he came up when Kimbo was coming up doing that street fighter stuff and I remember seeing him and like that's him now it's crazy

I heard they're doing a movie on Kimbo Slice they are yeah they should they should do a movie on him man he was great

that was kind of scary watching that shit back in the day bro I was like man what's gonna happen the websites you would see that on because before it was on YouTube That was kind of scary watching that shit back in the day. Bro, I was like, man, what's going to happen? The websites, you would see that on

because before it was on YouTube like this weird, like sketchy. I'm like, am I going to get a virus? Is this like LimeWire? You know, like,

it's crazy. I messed up a lot of computers in LimeWire. Haven't we, y'all? But Mbaku, you know the guy, Mbaku from Black Panther?

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. He's going to be playing Kimbo Slice. Really? Oh, that's going to be dope. That dude's big. He's like 6'4". Yeah, yeah. He's going to be playing to Kimbo Slice. Really? Yeah. Ooh, that dude's big.

He's huge. He's a big boy. I remember some of the fights. He would pop dude's eyes out of the socket. Yeah, he popped that one dude's eye out of the socket. That ball, dude. I remember that shit. That terrified the fuck out of me.

And that's why they made Mossberg. Ah, got it. Yeah. You can't fight dudes like him. You can't stop that guy. What's Mossberg? Shotgun. Shotgun.

Oh, okay. Okay. You can't fight dudes like him. You can't stop that guy. What's Mossberg? Shotgun. Okay. You can't fight that dude. I'm not fighting him, nah. That better be more than just a puck shot. I will snitch on him. I'm not even going to snitch. He's trying to fight me, officer. You better get him.

He'll punch my eye out. Put me on YouTube. You think maybe you'll do some MMA just for training or something like that? You know what? I've done a little bit of Jiu Jitsu actually. I love to roll. That was probably my favorite type of cardio. It's cool. You're on the floor

and you're being loose. I made the mistake of trying to breathe too hard and I would be in the first 30 seconds. I'm like, oh my god, I'm about to get choked out or get tapped out. I learned how to breathe through that. It's so cool. It's so fluent fluent i love that stuff man it's cool like i i hit the bag every once in a while too like i gotta keep my hands right because i i still bounce every once in a while and i do

security for you know rappers or bands that come to town so like i make sure i keep in shape but oh that's you always like who's that who's that huge motherfucker with this guy sometimes yeah that's how i work for shineinedown I work for oh man there's a rapper called Sada Baby he's kind of new who else I worked for Twister

before I'm actually might be shooting with Twister one of these days he shoots my nutritionist actually shout out to Shev

her boyfriend's a professional shooter and he shoots with Twister so like you gotta get me hooked up bro i want to shoot oh i can't i can't rap with the guy but let me shoot with the guy you know i shoot you know so i work for a lot of people so it's fun stuff yeah you said um like you had protein in your car

protein everywhere and protein in your office when you're getting work done what does uh the work look like in that office so i'm a security officer or not officer but guard at a high school so i just make sure kids go to class and talk to kids here and there and i'm not hearing it all all day make sure they ain't fighting how old are they high school so i we have sophomores through seniors so we have we just merged the two schools in that town so we have like a you, you know, they think that, you know, there's still rivalry. It's like, you know, you guys are together now. Be friends. Right.

But it's a cool job. I like it. It's better than my old job being a correctional officer. So I definitely enjoy it. Yeah. Was that for a big, like, prison, jail? It was the second biggest jail in the state of Indiana. So Elkhart, Indiana.

Yep. And I was there for five and a half years, man, and it was not – I mean, I enjoyed the inmates, man. Like, they were funny. Like, they were cool. I still talk to some of them. Like, I love to see, like, because they'll come up to me, like, hey, Mr. Davis, I'm doing well.

Like, I love that, man. Like, I'm no better than nobody. So, like, I've been around the block, and I just never got caught doing the stupid stuff I did. And I love to see their stories and them doing better. We had somebody on recently, and they did some time, and they were, like, talking about how they would get in conversation with, like, other inmates.

And they'd be like, wow, that's a really nice guy. And then they'd be like, oh, shit, I forgot what he's in for. Yeah. He stabbed it. About that old lady. He's a nice dude, though. He ain't that bad of a guy. Actually, a guy who

cuts my hair every once in a while, he just got out for a murder. He had a murder charge and he was young. He did it when he was young and he didn't know what he was doing. He's got his own barbershop and he's making it well. It's good to see that. I know it's hard for them to come back out from that that but to see some guys that can make it and they're successful

after prison you know like that's that's great you know i think some people um when when they hear that they be like oh that's like that individual is evil or whatever but you don't understand where some somebody came from when something they when something's around you so much, a lifestyle is normal. Like people that live in the suburbs cannot understand or fathom that idea. Exactly. Because that's not even around them. But when it's what you see every single day,

Correct. it's not foreign to you. Exactly. And that's a big disconnect. And I think that's why I'm glad I was from where I was from. But I also got to learn people from Catholic schools. I went to school with Charlie Weiss.

He was the head football coach in Notre Dame for a while. And he did some stuff with NFL, too, and the University of Florida. But I went to school with his son. I went to school with some rich kids. And I got to learn that and see how they operated, too. So I got the best of both worlds, essentially. And I think that's where people fail, man. They're too scared to go out of that boundary.

I mean, I was scared, too, but, I mean, I had no choice. And I did it. Like, now I kind of understand both sides a little bit. Do you do any lifting exhibitions or speaking engagements at, like, the high school or anything, like, local in your area? Not really, man. I'm so busy. Like, I would love to, but, like, I have people all the time, like, hey, can I come lift with you?

That's what I get. Like, oh, hey, you know, I'm going to come get strong with you and do this. I'm like, all right, cool. I tell people when I'm at the gym and, like, they don't do anything. But I've spoken to one high school that wasn't too far from me, and I did that for a little while and i mean i'm always up to doing that just you know busy that'd be great super busy so i was gonna ask um with like your your past and all the things you've been through um losing you know family uh

and then where you are now do you have any bad days ever? I mean, everybody has bad days, but I think it's how you make it too. Like I can have a bad day and you know, whatever, that's fine. But at the same time, like tomorrow's going to be a different day. You know, cool. I had a bad day yesterday. I'll get through it. It's going to end, you know, just like life, man. People are like, oh, I had a bad life.

Well, you know what? You know, that's how it is sometimes. But I mean, it's like life man people are like i had a bad life well you know what you know that's how it is sometimes but i mean it's not always all bad everything is all bad you can you can turn a lot of bad things into positives if you're looking at it a different way so always i always try to do that man yeah it's very normal to have ups and downs right but then if it's just things are always down then i think you have to or if things are i mean if things are always down. Then I think you have to, or if things are, I mean, if things are like, just if there's not like a lot of exciting things to look forward to. You got to make things exciting. You got to work for things. And if you're kind of down in the dumps for long periods of time, then you got to kind of examine it a bit.

Maybe ask a friend or maybe go seek some therapy. Just figure out a way to look within yourself. Correct. I think that's a lot of things people have to understand and get to. If things aren't always going right or something's always wrong, maybe you. It's your perspective. Maybe you should change it.

Real quick question. You're fourth all-time in total for sleeves. But what is your bench? Like all time just your bench. Where are you at? 716. 716. But like where does that rank?

Just the bench. Oh, that bench. Number four all time too. Number four all time too. Okay. So what are the lifts ahead of you? The bench numbers that are ahead of you. Eric Spoto, 722. Kirill at 738, right? And then Julius at 781. Yeah. I'm pissed at him.

Big gap. It's so wild that you two, though, you two are training partners. That's my boy, man. That's my boy. And you guys are on this list of the greatest of all time in a specific sport and you two are here at the same time like the really cool aspect of that is that you two can literally just push each other to get to those levels and it might be you two that are one and two who knows which one but it's gonna be you two yeah it's fun man i love it like people this is one thing i always hated too and I'm glad to say this.

Like, that's my brother. Like, people are like, oh, you guys are in competition, or they try to compare us all the time. Like, I'm not Julius Maddox. That's my brother. Like, he does what he does. I'm Thomas Davis. You know, he's going for the 800, and I want him to smoke it.

I want him to go past it if he wants to. That's my brother. Whatever he does, I'm going to support him. Just like he supports me. You know, we support each other. We're brothers. I don't to go past it if he wants to. That's my brother. Whatever he does, I'm going to support him. Just like he supports me. We support each other. We're brothers. I don't want to be compared to him because he's his own guy. He's in his own lane. He's great. I'm trying

to be great. That's how it is. I love being able to be around somebody like him that's got his head on his shoulders. He's about it. You guys know training with different people. A lot of guys really aren't about it. When it gets hard, they're he's about it. You guys know training with different people, a lot of guys really aren't about it. When it gets hard, they're really not about that

grittiness. It's like, eh, I can't train with you no more. But him, we can get it in all day. How much better do you guys make each other? Way better. We try to plan on training with each other all the time. He actually has one of his benches, his ghost benches at our gym

so that he's comfortable because he's bougie like that. Shout out to my boy. He's bougie like that. He's got a bench at our gym and another guy's gym. He's comfortable wherever he's going. But we push him, man. I want him to be the best, man. I want him to achieve his goals just as much as I want him to be mine.

That's where you've got to mess with him and be like, oh, yeah, we're using this bar for today. He'll be like, just looking at it like all weird. I'm going to put his bench away, put it somewhere in the back room. We're going to use these other plates for today. He's just going to be like tripping the whole time.

He would too. 781 bench. And the next guy has like a 733 or something. You said, right? It was 738 with Kirill. Yeah. So that said, right? It was 7.38 with Carrillo. Yeah, so that's an insane gap. I would go as far to say that might be the biggest gap in all of sports

when it comes to all-time world records. I think so, too. Like percentage-wise. I don't know. I suck at math, but someone could probably figure it out. Right. Like whatever Usain Bolt has in the 100, the next closest guy

is a lot closer than that gap that julius maddox has right and that's a good example like when you sing ball like it'd be him and then everybody else he'd have to run probably like a couple hundreds of a second faster even than what he already did to be comparable to what julius maddox has done to the previous records. Exactly. And I mean, that's great. That's so good for the sport. People, you know, I know they doubted him when he was going for seven. Smoked it. Now he does seven for like

five reps. Pause. Are you serious? Yeah, I think that's his best. I think that's his best set. It was like seven over five. You guys get pretty frustrated with each other too? I'm sure you get kind of like mad at each other a bit here and there. We're like the cool like cousins, brothers like we really don't get mad at each other

like we get on each other when we need to but like for the most part it's all love man. I mean we I definitely get on him about his diet sometimes he gets on me about mine. He's like what are you eating there big boy? And I'm like don't worry about it I'm eating it. You worry about you I said I'm starting on Monday.

You said that six weeks ago. Oh, my God, that's so classic. Start Monday. Start Monday. Start Monday. You know what? Whatever. You start whenever you start, but make sure you start.

Start on Monday. Have you two, since you train together, what have you seen in him that maybe you gave him some advice on bench or maybe what has he seen on you that you gave him some advice on bench or maybe what has he seen on you that he gave you some advice on bench because i feel like you guys are at a level where there's there's trade secrets that you guys are trading with each other that just people don't understand um actually with him i was the one who and he'll tell you like i'll take full credit for this i helped him with his form because i know you guys probably seen his like earlier videos

when he before he even really was going for seven. He'd be doing 680 and his foot would go out and still press 680. Who does that? It was weird to see that he was completely flat. He really had no form. I worked with him on that and we still work on it now. His form is a lot better. I'm trying to work on getting his hips a little bit more opened up

so he can get a little bit more torque under him so he can get a little bit of a better arch. But, I mean, like, I mean, I helped him with his form a little bit, and, like, that little bit took off. But the fact that he was able to hit 680, 700, and his foot's slipping, like, you're not even completely, like, on the bench, bro. Like, you're slipping off, and you're still able to push it up. Like, who are you?

Like Thor? Who are you? Hulk? He's crazy. Yeah. What do you think it's going to take to get powerlifting more mainstream? Us doing what we do and other people seeing it. And like this idea with the car thing like you

know just little things like that like i just think that's like the biggest thing like really showing that we are athletes like no matter what i know in other countries like probably just more power like you know they're more popular over there but like we are athletes too like we bang we do what we do and like we really put time and effort into it. What we do is really cool. It's really amazing. Were you offended by the video that Julius put up the other day when he ran the stairs and said he's the fastest 400

pound man on earth? No, because he knows he's lying. He knows, especially when I'm healed up, I would smoke him in a race. You guys have to have a race, yeah. I would smoke him in a race. That's my boy, but he knows what time it is. He's the bench king, but I'm like the athlete still. I still got it. Actually, we're supposed to be playing basketball soon, too.

One-on-one basketball. So that would be like the biggest one-on-one you've ever seen. Two 400-pounders. It's going to be crazy. Are either one of you any good? I think I'm pretty good. I used to be able to dunk too damn

I did yeah when I was in high school we saw a video more recently Mark Henry doing a dunk in a basketball oh yes

at that little contest yeah yeah I can before I got hurt I can still grab rim so I know for a fact like if I continue

to drop this body fat and I continue to get stronger in these legs I'll be able to dunk again so the work from these overtoes guys

is going to get you right too. Like, it's going to make a difference. He don't play. All these sled drags and the squats and I'm like, bro, you're killing me. But it's working, though. It's working. I'm cool with it. I like the hard work.

How much longer do that knee heals up? I'm actually, Doc said I'm 100% healed, but I'm just really trying to continue to strengthen it as much as I can. Like, I don't want to go stupid crazy yet,, but I'm just really trying to continue to strengthen it as much as I can. Like, I don't want to go stupid crazy yet, but, like, I just want to continue to strengthen it, get good hypertrophy going through my legs because I've got to build up to that 900, you know, squat. So I've got to do whatever I can to get stronger.

So, you know, right now it's just, you know, testing the waters, playing around, and just getting strong right now. And you want to compete in, like, September or something like that, you were saying, right? September. I might do a bench only. And if I do the bench only, the goal is to put myself at number two all time on bench. So that would be ideal, I think. What's the number you're aiming for?

So I'm weird. I don't like to chip. I think chipping is like, eh like if i'm a fun breakthrough if i'm a you know movie i'm gonna move you so i want to do uh well i think it's in kilo 742 maybe after 738 744 yeah 744 we can do it so that would be the number in mind it's a fucking monster gotta work's going to work, man. Any lifting exhibitions while you're here or just with these couple companies

hanging at the booth? Me and Julius are throwing a lifting party at Pinnacle. We're going to be on our overalls because that's our thing. We do the overall thing. Like a tag team.

WWE champions. The black bushwhackers. You know the bushwhackers? They didn't play, man. They were crazy. They were crazy. They were crazy. They were crazy. They were crazy. They were crazy. They were crazy. They were crazy. They were crazy. They were crazy. They were crazy. They were crazy. They were crazy. They were crazy. They were crazy. They were crazy. They were crazy. They were crazy. They were crazy. They were crazy. They were crazy. They were crazy. They were crazy. They were crazy. They were crazy. They were crazy. They were crazy. They were crazy. They were crazy. They were crazy. They were crazy. They were crazy. They were crazy. They were crazy. They were crazy. They were crazy. they didn't play man they're crazy yeah i mean you see the video the uh they were throwing a a small person yeah i don't know good good good words with that yeah right that was that was a small person that's pretty heavy it yeah did you see the video yeah i did I did. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I guess you're right. You can't throw them nearly as far as you'd think. No. I mean, I wanted to, but I'm like, I don't trust it, you know? But he was all for it, and I'm like, man. But you know what? Actually, it's weird. You said that I had a message from a guy, and he was a powerlifter, and he also was

small, too. And he was like, you know, I respect you and everything but you know what you did was kind of like whatever I kind of felt bad and you know I apologize to him but it's like

little things like that you don't realize it may offend somebody like people and I'm not saying that he was sensitive but people are a little bit more sensitive

nowadays and like you kind of got to watch what you say and watch what you do and little things like that so if anybody was offended by that video i apologize but it was all fun and games and the guy said he like he looked like he enjoyed it oh bro he wants to do more stuff like that but i'm probably gonna have to decline now i got you know i don't want to piss nobody off

you know i don't want you know a bunch of small people coming with me i don't want that bro i got i don't want none of that smoke i want want to be with peace with everybody, man. That's it. What do some of the family members think of your lifting and what you've been doing? You know what? It's crazy. My family loves it, bro. They love what I do. They're just so proud of me

and I'm just so thankful that I can bring that joy to them. My family, a lot of them, they sang and did stuff like that. For me to do what I'm doing, family, like, a lot of them would stay sane and did stuff like that. But, like, for me to do what I'm doing, it was like, you know, this dude's a bad boy. Like, we've got to make sure we make extra food when he comes around. Does anyone else in your family have, like, because, like, this, I mean, your genetics or something. Like, you obviously have put in a crazy amount of work for decades, but your genes play a part.

Does anyone else in the family have some type of skill like this? Not like this, no. My Uncle James on my mom's side, he was in the Navy, and he's just like a strong country boy. Like, when I shake his hand, it hurts. I love my Uncle James, but I'm like, I don't like shaking your hand no more. I'm like, I got to lift him, bro. But, I mean, as far as like this, nah. So he's just been me, man.

How old's your son? He'll be two May 25th, or March 25th. So it's month. Yeah. My son just turned one, so we're right at the same age. And yeah, my wife's sending me videos and stuff, but do you have him watch you

lift and all that stuff? Because I try my best to bring my son around all the time, and now he goes for goes for the cable machine he does rosebud himself which is the best feeling ever but it's great yeah so well that's cool then that answers that so you have him around like the like the gym and everything he comes over like sometimes but i actually i bought because i knew it was a boy and i bought a little fisher price bench press set you know that's how we announced that we were pregnant so i'm like you, you know, I knew he was going to do some stuff like that. He tries to lift up the dishwasher thing, and, like, he's dead lifting. I'm like, bro, you're crazy.

He does this thing now where he's like, muscles. Yes. Let's go there. Let's flex. Love that. Let's do that. You know, I'm all for it, man. I love being a dad.

That's, like, probably my favorite thing now man like power drill is my favorite thing but being a dad is by far my favorite thing got any good tv shows to recommend to us we like to waste time oh man tv shows so honestly i haven't been watching anything new i was gonna start the show euphoria heard that's really good on hbo it's good everybody told me i've been told that's really good on HBO. It's good. I've been told it's really good. I'm going to start that, but I've just watched a lot of old WWF on Peacock. I watched a lot of old stuff. The Rock

back in the day and Stone Cold. Oh my gosh. Funny story. I'm talking to a couple of teachers about The Rock. I love The Rock. Will he be at the Iron? I'm like, no. He hasn't come out. I love The Rock. I love him. Will he be at the Ironman? No, he hasn't come out. He's too cool for that. But, you know, they're like, well, is he all natural? And I show them a picture of his jawline, like back in like 2000,

and I show them a picture of him now. And I'm like, you got to look at it. I show them, like, he's doing a little bit. He's doing his thing. But he's still The Rock. He's still a good guy, you know. You know, he's,

back in the day, he was something though. He was a very charismatic guy, but he was an athlete. Like, people don't understand like, to be a wrestler, you have to be a dog athlete.

Oh, the way he moved in the ring was insane. It's nuts, man. As big as he was, he could move that way. And like,

being on the road, like, you know, like being on the road, like doing that, having to train, having to eat, whatever you guys the road, like, you know, like being on the road, like doing that, having to train, having to eat, whatever you guys are doing, like that's hard. Like and for years and like however long you guys are doing that, like power to you.

Stone Cold and The Rock, they would wrestle each other for like 45 minutes. Yeah. And it was just like pretty much, I mean, they take breaks and stuff and they play to the crowd and they get these little rests here and there, but it's not like an MMA fight, but it's damn near close to it. It's very close. I mean, you're going all the time. You're selling all those, you know, bumps and whatnot,

and The Rock was the best at selling Stone Cold stunners. Like, he would flip all the way. Oh, yeah. Like, I used to love that stuff, man, as a kid, and that's what inspired me. Like, I used to love watching the Road Warriors those were my guys they did a bench competition you ever see that one?

yeah I did see it I don't know they put like 500 on it I don't know if it was real or whatever but he did a bunch of reps back then I'd believe it for sure

back then actually I did a podcast with his name Ryback oh yeah I did one with him about a year ago, two years ago. He's a crazy freak athlete, too. Right.

He's huge. Any aspirations outside of powerlifting? Like, I don't know, like, we're talking about WWE, but you have connections with some pretty high-level, like, musicians and stuff. So whether it be, like, I don't know, acting or ending up in, like. I would love to do any do that stuff, man. Honestly, whatever is going to put me

in a better position for me and my boy, that'd be great. But actually, my big thing, I want to open up a gym. And I think me and Julius want to do it jointly.

If we open up a gym and we want to do it in Texas, I think, right by where Josh is at. Big facility, but like serious. But I think that's what we want to do. That'd be amazing.

That'd be fucking amazing. Yeah. That's the goal, to have my own gym. But I want it to be serious, and I want it to be like, you're a dog if you're here. I don't want to neglect anybody. Anybody can come, but if you're here, you're here. I don't want to neglect anybody. Anybody can come, but if you're here, you're working. If you're a teenager to a 70-year-old woman, I want you to come here and work.

I want you to do things you've never done before. I want that. I want people to understand how important it is to be in shape and be healthy. I may not look it, but my blood work and everything else tells me different. I've survived COVID twice. I'm cool look it, but my blood work and everything else tells me I'm different. I've survived COVID twice.

I'm cool. You had it twice? I had it twice. I'm overweight. I got high blood pressure. It's a lot better now. I probably don't need to be on medicine anymore. I have asthma. I survived it twice. Didn't have to go to the hospital or nothing. I took my vitamins,

exercised, and prayed, man. That's it. It ate good. Yeah. You know? Josh Bryant's training is really, really brutal. Was it hard for you to adapt to it, or were you already training like a maniac?

I had a coach I had before. Like, he was okay, and we trained decent. But, like, Josh was a totally different animal man but it got me to like really tap into that like old football mentality like you don't just work just get through it get through it get through it and once i got through the first like month or so i was okay but that first month was like you don't mean to do this like i'm looking at my phone exercises on here you're like how am i gonna get to this and the first one's gonna take me an hour you're like what the fuck yes and that's that's what it is but it's like if you want to do it you're gonna do it and i mean i haven't seen

anybody that can't do anything through him so he knows what he's doing he knows what he's talking about he does a great job everything's tracked even your rest intervals yes which that was hard for me to adapt to in the beginning and then also just the the frequency you know i was telling you earlier that it kind of hurt i was like dude i think i'm going backwards he's like wait what were you doing before and then so we had to we had to like ease into it a lot more he's like well i've never really dealt with someone who lifts as little as you yeah and he just meant like frequency wise because i would lift heavy like every other week right but that i mean it works like what he's doing it it's hard but if it wasn't you know if it wasn't, you know, if it wasn't hard, everybody would be doing it. Like, everybody would be, you know, squatting X, Y, and Z and benching, but he's in a human form. Like, he's nuts.

Like, he does these farmer walks, and he's just like a big, like, six-foot, I think, eight guy. You have to look him up, dude. What's he on IG, do you know? Oh, I don't know. If you look at Josh posts his stuff all the time, his first name is Tom. You can't miss him. He's like a big farm boy. Are you gas station ready?

I'm always gas station ready, bro. Wherever I go, I'm gas station ready. Yeah, you were built for that being from the streets, right? I'm ready for whatever, bro. I don't play around. Josh is funny with that stuff. Bro, he's like a nerd, but he's funny. He is funny.

He's a goofy dude, but he knows his stuff. He's extremely athletic, too. Bro, he's... What's Josh's IG? It's... Jailhouse Strong. Jail dude, but he knows his stuff. He's extremely athletic, too. Bro, he's... What's Josh's IG? It's... Jailhouse Strong. Jailhouse. That's what it is.

Him and his brother. His brother, I think, was a shot putter at USC. And this is like a million years ago, basically. This is before the 2000s. I don't even remember what website or how I saw it, but I used to see his brother demonstrating box box jumps he'd have weights in his hands and um the bryant brothers i was always kind of watching both of them right and just seeing these huge athletes were able to be super explosive in these like broad jumps and box jumps

and i was like and sprints yes and they were the only guys talking about that kind of stuff back then. And they were still, I think Josh was still squatting like mid-7s, you know, raw. And the APF Senior Nationals that I competed at, that's in Bigger, Stronger, Faster, where I benched a 7.05, Josh Bryant was in that lineup in the squat, and he was the only guy that squatted raw. And I think he just had some wraps on in the belt everyone else is in there like double-ply canvas suit but he was so strong he was competing with the best in the world that were wearing multiple layers of

stuff that assist you to lift more weight josh is a freak but he's so smart man like just to hear him talk like that's what i love about the sport. Like, you learn so much about, like, different, like, ways of training and, like, how this guy trains. Like, why was he making this guy do this and why is he doing that? Like, you learn so much from so many people, especially from Josh. You know, I just love to pick people's brains. Like, even Ed, too, man. Like, if you sit there and talk with Ed, you know his crazy ass.

Like, you can learn so much from him. He may try to stab you with his little bitty knife he has. Yeah, he loves doing that. Bro, he don't play. He don't play, man. He grab you. He'll twist you around. It's like, bro, you're like 5'8".

Beat me up. He'll take the knife to your throat and be like, see, you're not ready. You got to protect yourself. You left yourself wide open. My daughter's like, that guy hit me so hard when he was over our house. I'm like, he did? I'm like, damn. He daughter's like, that guy hit me so hard when he was over our house. I'm like, he did? He doesn't play, man, but I mean, like, just

picking brains with people like that, man, like, even yourself, like, you guys know so much. Like, I listen to a lot of podcast stuff you guys do. Like, I was talking to my boy on the way here, like, about the semen retention thing. Because he's like, yeah, because I do that. I do that a week before. But I think this next, when I come back, I think I'm going to try to do two weeks before. And it's like, because i do that i do that a week before but i think this next when i come back i think i'm gonna try to do two weeks before and just like you're gonna be angry

bro i i get that and it's cool though i'm fine with that because like i'm way more aggressive and i feel more explosive because i'm it's everything just in there and i'm just like you know explosive is correct bro i'm locked in. It's real. It's legit. But it works, though. People are like, oh, that's a myth. No. And I think a lot of it has to do with the discipline of it, too. The mind thing of discipline. I think it's just so great.

Maybe not necessarily all the physical, but the discipline part is great for you. Yeah, Andre, he told me that he did it for three months. And I was like, three months? And then he was like, he said it in Russian. And then it got translated to me it was like well maybe two months and then it got translated down about four weeks you try a lot of you know i've had a couple mishaps but you know so actually okay now i'm kind of curious what what else do you do? Let's say a competition is coming up in two weeks. So what's your mental preparation? What's your physical preparation?

What's going on in your head? How do you prepare? Well, here, I'll be completely honest with you. I do everything probably about 10 or 12 weeks out. So I do no alcohol, no tobacco. I like to do cigars every once in a while. That's my thing. I like to drink a little bit. It's fine. But I do nothing alcohol, no tobacco. I like to do cigars every once in a while. It's my thing. I like to drink a little bit.

It's fine, but I do nothing of the sort 10 weeks out or 12 weeks out. I try to really limit my free time and just really focus on training. I try to rest more if possible. Obviously, the eating is different. Maybe play a little bit, some supplements here and there, you know, here and there, that's what I'm starting to do now, I did last time, and, you know, we're gonna, we turn up, and then obviously the two weeks, or the week before, nothing, nothing done to soar sexually, and I just, I stay focused, man, and I'm just, I'm focused man I start to obsess about the numbers

I have a book where I'll write what I want to total, I'll write that out I keep writing and keep writing and I'm just like I obsess about it, if I don't obsess about it I'm not going to do it so if I obsess about this total or obsess about how fast I want this to go

it's going to go for me I think that's a lot of things too when you're at that level and you really want to be great and you want to break these world records you this to go, it's going to go for me. I think that's a lot of things too. When you're at that level and you really want to be great and you want to break these world records, you have to obsess about it because it's not anything normal anyway. You've surpassed that normal spot and you have to go to

that weird dark spot to where it's like alright, I'm thinking about this every day, all day, every day. It doesn't faze me. It just keeps me focused. When I want to cheat on all my meals, no, I'm cool. Yeah. And it doesn't faze me. It just keeps me focused. So, like, when I want to cheat on my meals, like, nah, I'm cool. I don't want to do that. As much as I love those cookies from, what's the sandwich place called? Pot Belly.

They have, bro. I've never had it, so. Pot Belly. Don't play with me when it comes to Pot Belly. I eat some Pot Belly. It's like all day. Cookies are a weakness of mine. I can pass up a lot of other stuff, but I really like cookies.

Me too. I like cookies. Cookies that are really good. Yeah. Yeah. It's hard, but even with that, I got to stop, you know? Yeah. But I get to that point where I'm so obsessive, everything clicks.

It's in there. Bam. So, and I think that's why, like, and not to sound like I'm bragging on myself, but I think that's why my lifts look the way they do in competition because I'm so obsessive. I've thought about it so many times. I've done it so many times. Then also with the seeming retention, I'm so explosive at that point.

I'm so angry. And I've got this music blast and I'm thinking about my son and everything blows up and it's like, can't stop it. I hate to see what happened to that bench press. That's the thing. I do it every time, man. So like,

it's a process, but I mean, I think everybody, like you said, everyone has their like little ritual that they do, but that's mine. That's what I really try to focus on. And you know,

just being the best I can, cause I know, I know I can do it. I see you got the cross on and you mentioned God earlier. Do you get an opportunity to go to church? Yeah, I do. Or do you practice religion some other way? Yeah, I do.

I try to go as much as I can, but with me working security, sometimes I'm a little too tired to go because I'm at the bar from 9 to 3 o'clock, sometimes 4 o'clock, depending on what's going on. But I pray. I do all that stuff. I'm Catholic, too. I actually converted when I went to Catholic school. So I was Baptist, and then we went to – I was like, you know, I like this.

It's cool because, I mean, my mom, we joke about this now because she converted after I converted. And we go to those churches, and everybody's so loud, and they're just doing all this. It's scary to me. I know what you going on like you know crazy like this is what jesus feel like like it hurt like so like for me i didn't like that like that wasn't for me and i found the catholic faith and i just i loved it it was so much more like peaceful to me and i can really get in tune with that. So I like that better. What, because, like, I went to Catholic school except I was Christian, but they still made us do Lent.

So what is it that you give up for Lent? So, I mean, let me tell you, I forgot to start. But what I'm going to do, I'm going to do, I was actually, I'm going to start doing, like, a devotional. So, because you don't have to necessarily give up something okay but you can like

do something instead so like I'm going to do like a devotional where I read something and kind of reflect

on it just like on the word or whatnot so yeah okay something cool like that yeah

where can people find you buddy Instagram man that's my main thing Instagram TD smash I do some TikToks yeah TikTok but see this is my thing too like Where can people find you, buddy? Instagram, man. That's my main thing. Instagram, TD Smash. I do some TikToks.

Doggone, yeah. TikTok. You kill TikTok. This is my thing, too. People are like, you should have more followers on these things. But I'm that person. I don't want to do stupid stuff, necessarily, to get my followers. I'm organic, man.

I am who I am. Yeah, I can do stupid stuff. I can be silly. But nah. You can just live there, bro. It's not the dancing app anymore you can just lift I'm learning that now

so I post a couple things I've done but like some people they just they cry for that attention

I'm just here to lift I'm just here to bring you world records I want to show you some things you haven't seen before but I'm not going to sit here and

try to deadlift 900 pounds in my underwear. Weird stuff like that. It's not me. It may be somebody else. Our boy, Huck Finn, that's him. He does that. That's my boy. That's my boy. But you see other people doing

that. I know that's not you. That's not organic. That's not you. Don't do that. It's not you. Don't do that. Be your own person so that's how i feel you know thank you for your time today appreciate it and best of luck with everything coming up thank you thank you appreciate thank you guys for having me take us out of here come true oh man thank you so much yeah and thank you everybody for checking out today's episode please drop us a comment down below and like today's episode right here on

youtube if you're on the itunes spotify or wherever audio platform you're on, don't be shy. Come over to YouTube and drop us a comment and let us know what you guys thought about today's episode. And please follow the podcast at MarkBell'sPowerProject on Instagram, at MBPowerProject on TikTok and Twitter. And if you're not subscribed right here on YouTube, please subscribe and turn on all those bell notifications. You can follow me at IamAndersy on Instagram and Twitter. And, Seema, where can people find you? Guys, don't sleep on John Mayer. He's got a point. It's really good fucking music.

Body's a Wonderland. What else? There's a lot of stuff. He's got it all, man. He did the stuff with Chappelle back in the day, right? Yeah, he did. Is it the barbershop? Yes, he did. Yes, he did.

Yes, he did. They started dancing all the way. Oh, dang. Oh, shit. It's crazy, man, but it's the truth. It's a stereotype. It's somewhat true. Yeah. Add a two-minute video and subscribe to YouTube. That's me getting young on TikTok. It's with Mark. At Mark Smelly Bell. Strength is never a weakness. We. Add it to my video. Describe it on YouTube.

That's me getting young on TikTok. It's with Mark. At Mark Smelly Bell. Strength is never a weakness. Weakness is never strength. Catch you guys later. Bye.