Mark Bell's Power Project - Power Project EP. 113 - Doug Fruchey & Danielle Scira

Episode Date: September 17, 2018

Douglas Fruchey is a Super Heavyweight Powerbuilder and an AFPA certified personal trainer. Training with the Godfather of Bodybuilding, Charles Glass, it is certainly no surprise that Doug can fill out a 3XL and still look like cement! He recently took first place overall at the 2018 NPC West Coast Classic and is continuing his journey on delivering the best package possible on stage while smashing some heavy ass weights.. He and his girlfriend Danielle Scira stopped by Super Training HQ for some heavy lifting and heavy podcasting. Danielle is an RN and is also trained by Doug. Rewatch the live stream: https://youtu.be/2Z1wbUQ_GHc ➢SHOP NOW: https://markbellslingshot.com/ Enter Discount code, "POWERPROJECT" at checkout and receive 15% off all Sling Shots ➢Subscribe Rate & Review on iTunes at: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/mark-bells-power-project/id1341346059?mt=2 ➢Listen on Stitcher Here: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/mark-bells-power-project?refid=stpr ➢Listen on Google Play here: https://play.google.com/music/m/Izf6a3gudzyn66kf364qx34cctq?t=Mark_Bells_Power_Project ➢Listen on SoundCloud Here: 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 Podcast Produced by Andrew Zaragoza ➢ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamandrewz

Turn your vibrations off. Yeah, I was about to just do that. Good vibrations. All right, Mark, we're good to go. Oh, my God. Here we are. Once again. How did we get here?

I don't know. We just banged out some squats. Yeah, that's an understatement. That was fantastic. Big Doug here took seven wheels for a ride. And, Doug, I'm proud to announce that it wasn't 675 it wasn't no it wasn't really it was 685 that bar was heavier i thought that bar was heavier but i didn't want to say anything because then i'd sound like a wussy bodybuilder but yeah 685 for a set of five

uh and just a pair of knee wraps handling it real well you like to throw around some big weights oh you know that's always there i i think i told danielle on tuesday when i squatted for my birthday and i hack squatted um i told her when i finished i said there's just nothing cooler than being a powerful man that's true and i mean i really feel that way you know call that my version of bragging or whatever it is but there's just some internal satisfaction I get out of really exerting myself against weight that people don't think I can. We had, um, a guy on this podcast named Ron Penna. He's the founder of quest nutrition. One of the founders, a couple in there, but, uh, Ron, he was asked like what the meaning of life was on another podcast. And I thought it was like an interesting question. And I was like, he's probably not going to answer this very seriously. Cause that's a really weird, like it's such a

deep question. Uh, but he answered it and he said, uh, his, in his view, the meaning of life is to be able to beat another man at any and everything possible. And he says, so if I get in an elevator with another guy, he's like, I want to be able to kick his ass. He's like, I want to be able to outthink him, outsmart him, make more money than him, make love better than him, like everything. I just want to be better. And I was like, wow, that's pretty, like a pretty twisted frame of mind, but also a very competitive frame of mind. And just to be stronger, it's kind of nice to walk into a room and you don't have to think like oh everybody else in here sucks but it's good to feel substantial yourself right like it's good just to feel strong how does it feel for you uh as a female you you've been bodybuilding for a

while and doug's been training you yeah doug has been training me but let me make something clear though when you know i train her like once or twice a week but her journey is very much her journey and i think that's very important to put out she is doing this on her own i'm here to help her but you know don't take anything away from the fact that she's discovering how to do all this stuff on her own he's so sweet but no really though when i work with doug i find something inside of myself that i didn't even know existed. It's awesome. Isn't that amazing?

It's the coolest thing in the world. It's hard to explain to other people. And then they just think that we're weird fitness freaks. But to explain it to another woman, they're like, what? They don't get it. And I mean, most don't get it. And I love, I would love to be able to show more women that, like that. I would love to be able to show more women that like that. Right. Well, when it comes to,

um, you know, like, uh, physical exertion, you know, like that's, that's what our bodies are designed to do. Our bodies are designed to go through a rigorous,

hard times. Our bodies are designed to be cold. Our bodies are designed to be hot. Our bodies are designed to sweat. Our bodies are designed to lift things, to move things, to move your body, to be active, to sometimes breathe really heavy, to sometimes run away from things, sometimes be scared and all these different things. And some people don't ever tap into any of that.

And I don't know how you tap into those things nowadays unless you're doing like some outdoor activities like downhill skiing or something like that, or lifting weights. Um, I can't think of, you're not going to get that from a book, you know, you're not going to get that from, I mean, all these other things are healthy. It's great to go. It's great to read. Um, you're not going to get that from watching TV.

You're not going to get that from your phone. Right. I mean, the things, you know know the phone i i think is really becoming uh pretty problematic because we're very very problematic because the phone kind of has this like rinse and repeat cycle that just kind of keeps happening and never really actually gives you what you want and doug you know about addiction and that's what addiction does it really does and never really gives you the result that you're looking for you know and something to add to that that i think is crazy when it comes to the phone,

and this I notice in myself a lot, and I bet most people do, but, you know, it's really kind of scary the monotony and the autonomy that the phone kind of encourages. How many times have you sat down, opened your phone, looked at Instagram, checked your notifications, closed Instagram, thought for a second, and then without even realizing it, opened Instagram again? So annoying. You know, and it's like realizing it, open Instagram again. So annoying. You know?

And it's like, then after you do that once or twice, you're like, wow, that's pretty sad. Yeah. But. And you forgot what you were originally doing. Yeah. Yeah. Or you're like, oh, I'm going to text so-and-so because I want to see if they're going to

be at the gym today or whatever it is. And then you're like on Instagram and then somebody's like, hey, did you text Bill? And you're like, what? Yeah. And then you're like on Instagram and then somebody's like, hey, did you text Bill? And you're like, what? For me, the thing that just annoys the crap out of me is when I need to go do something. And then it's like, oh, hey, somebody tagged me in something.

And then I'm sitting there for 15 minutes and it's like, oh, fuck. Now I'm running out of time. The trap. Yeah. Instagram black hole. Yeah, absolutely. That shit sucks. Yeah, I hate that.

That happens to us all. So how did you guys meet? We met at Gold's. On the kickback machine. On the kickback machine. There's a kickback machine? What is that? The kickback machine. It kind of sounds like the way, way back machine.

Or is it just like a couch you just kick back? No, it's a glute kickback. You're laying in there kind of on all fours. Ah, makes sense. What a lot of people are thinking is that Danielle was on the kickback machine, especially given that her posterior chain is so exceptional. However, I was actually on the kickback machine waiting for her to come out of the bathroom so that I could snag her and try to ask for her number.

That's great. Yeah, that's how we met. And, you know, it was a hell of a journey, a long one. You know, lots of off and on, trying to figure out what it was. How long ago did you meet? Two and a half years? We met, like, almost three years ago. Yeah, almost three years ago.

Yeah, I was in nursing school, and Doug was in a mess. I was still getting my feet kind of settled in L.A., I guess. She's an L.A. woman. I am. To say the least. Born and bred from L.A. I had my hands full. That's rare, actually.

What's awesome, though, is that we both didn't... I mean, that's how that works. You don't expect it to happen like this. Right. But when we first started hanging out, we were just hanging out. We didn't expect it to become like this right but when we first started hanging out we were just hanging out we didn't expect it to become well you were just hanging out he had other ideas yeah i didn't quite know what my ideas were i had my own ideas yeah i had my own plans and then like well i don't know we just kept executing the same plans

and now we're here. Yeah, it was the beginning of this year or the end of last year really where that's when I was really in a mess. Back on the first podcast with you, I said that I like to build mountains of adversity just to climb over them. So that's what I had done was constructed a really nice pile of shit that I had to now clean up. And Danielle really kind of stood by me when she had no reason to whatsoever. And no, you know, I didn't expect her to even, and she was just there continuously. So you lived in New Mexico, right? Yes. And you moved from New Mexico and, you know, the story from the first podcast you shared

with us that you were addicted to drugs. Did you think that when you moved, you thought that that would help solve a lot of your problems? Oh yeah. That was really probably, I mean, before actually coming to Los Angeles and experiencing the fact that I actually would like to live there before that, I was basically just on an escape plan, you know? And I don't, I think LA was the place that I found to go because God wanted me there. But if it had been somewhere else, I would have been there in a heartbeat. I mean, I was getting out of New Mexico more so than I was moving to Los Angeles. And everywhere you moved, did this dark cloud follow you?

You know, actually, I think what it didn't because, well, it does. But you try to convince yourself that it doesn't because you've changed your situation. And so you think, well, the situation's the problem, right? So if the situation's gone, well, then the situation's changed. There's no problem and everything's good. And so you convince yourself of that. But, you know, in retrospect, you realize that, no, you just clear off your plate to continue doing the same thing, therefore creating more problems. And that's when the realization comes that, well, the problem isn't necessarily in the situation or, you know, like my mom always kind of says, um, you know, no matter where you go, Doug, there you are.

And, uh, so, so that really stuck with me. And now I see that the problem is not a situation. And yes, that black cloud follows you everywhere. Yeah. The problem is the problem is you, and then you have to try to figure out, okay, you know, how do I fix this? And if you have a drug addiction, you know, or something like that, then that's a massive hill to climb.

And it's, uh, whoever you met in New Mexico, whoever these people are that do drugs or whatever, or sell drugs, or you're going to meet the same people in Los Angeles. And it can happen so fast. You're like, I'm not going to do that. Yeah. It's going to be great. I meet the same people in Los Angeles. And it can happen so fast. You're like, I'm not going to do that. Yeah. It's going to be great. I'm going to move to Los Angeles.

I got this plan. I'm going to meet a cute girl at golds. I'm going to train at golds every day. I'm going to be a bodybuilder. It's going to be awesome. And then just, you don't know how or why it happened, but it's like the same right.

Right. Again, is that kind of what happened when you first moved and, and around the time you met her, is that the kind of crap happened when you first moved and around the time you met her? Is that the kind of crap you were in? Doug and I knew each other for probably about two years before that happened.

Yeah, that was... We weren't official until last year, November. What's official mean? Official, like... Can we say this on the podcast? Yeah. Podcast official. Podcast official, yeah.

Seems to me like official really just means we're telling other people. You know? Yeah. And, uh. Like, I'm not available. I'm not available anymore.

But that's a big thing, you know? Yeah. You know, I think that's, that's a big thing to really own that and be like, you know, no, because everybody's

got their side hustle or a lot of people have their side hustle. I don't know. Everybody. It's fair to say. Everyone's got their side hustle. Everybody's got their side hustle.

I mean, that's mean, to be fair, to be really just fair and raw, for the first two years, we both had our side hustle. Right. And then we decided, let's just be, let's just do this.

Right. Danielle, can you pull the microphone close to you? Sorry. No, that's okay. That's fine.

But yeah, so this is a lot better. Yeah. How does the dynamic work with you guys, you know, with you helping her with her training and stuff like that? Fluidly. Changes by the moment. You know, that's probably the best way to put it.

It's all trial and error. You know, I think one thing with us that's really been good is I think when Danielle, you know, because when we first started seeing each other and you meet a guy who goes to the gym and trains, you know, regardless of what he says, it doesn't always necessarily mean like, okay, this guy's a serious bodybuilder. And so I think part of it was when Danielle kind of saw the way that this was integrated into my life. It's like, hey, look, man, I'm going to the gym not to go hang out with my buddies. Like, this is my job. Just like your job is to go to the hospital and be a nurse, you know? And so as, as we kind of integrated that into it and kind of, you know, we had a conversation once where it was like, look,

if we're going to do this and you want to be part of this, I want you to be a part of this, but I've never done that before. I've never had anybody else be a part of it. And so we've really kind of had to give and take, you know, a lot of things she wants, you know, she wants to be involved in, and I'm not quite comfortable having her involved in. So over time we've kind of let those things integrate. Um, but her level of understanding is really, is really what's made it work the most. It's hard because, uh, bodybuilding is 24 seven. And, uh, so if she's the kind of girl that wants to, you know, hang out past 11 o'clock and go to like a bar or something. You can't do that. If, if she wants to even just go, go out to eat here and there,

like you can't always do that. There's times when you can, um, but as you start to prep and get ready for a show, it's like, we can't really, the time is gone. Yeah. We can't really do that. And, so then you end up having to go through all the same stuff. Um, do you like going through that? And, you know, as part of your fitness journey, is it just kind of, you know, part of it as well? I actually kind of enjoy it. I was, I was overweight a long time ago and worked really hard to get to here and never thought that I would be lifting weights or even looking the way that I do. And I, when I work way that I do and I when I work when I've been living with Doug and working with Doug and doing the dieting and all of this together

um I see how much easier it really is than I thought because I've been doing this for a while now and I mean I don't know I think that like his he's helping me a lot to see the way like I'm losing my thought but really like I knew what I was doing but I was fucking up a lot like along the way and when I do it like this like a bodybuilder or a bodybuilder's girlfriend that should be a fitness category there's there's no there's no room for any of that it's more of like well why do you do this and then you just cut all the bullshit out right so there's a lot of things that i was doing that i was just wow i wasted so much time i think bodybuilding uh really shows you when you commit to the diet and you commit to the sleep and everything that goes along with it, it makes you realize like, wow, okay, the percentage that I was giving before really wasn't that much.

I was like 50, 60% in. And you're just like, shit, man, here I was. I thought I was all in. Right. And compared to the way a bodybuilder does it you're like no you're not and that's the other thing was I picked up my training on my own when about when he and I met like I thought oh I train hardcore yeah then when I started training with him like I said I found something inside of me it's like I'm a little beast like I didn't even

know that it existed people come up to me and they're like, you've inspired me to really crush my workout today. And I've never had anybody, I mean, he gets that all the time, but as a woman, like I've never had that before. And I, I love it. I'm addicted to it. Can't wait to do it again. And what people want to see is the effort. You know, I think people think that they want to see that. Everything you have. I think people think that you, they, that people want to see the weights being moved. And sometimes, yeah, like that's fun to watch someone do six, seven, eight plates. Those kinds of things are exciting.

But really the effort. When you see someone put in a really good effort on something, you're like, damn, that's great. That's awesome. That's really cool. I actually had a conversation with a trainer at Gold's, Tito Raymond, about that just the other day. We were talking about how, you know, at Gold's, he was actually talking about the 90s, but it's still true today to an extent. It's just the guys are a little bit older,

and so they may not train as hard now. But one thing about it is, like, you'll see guys in there that you don't even know. You've never seen them before. But if they're killing themselves, I mean, you can always tell the guys that are in there killing themselves, and you'll get to know those guys over, you know, a couple of weeks. They're in there every day killing themselves. I mean, you can always tell the guys that are in there killing themselves. And you'll get to know those guys over, you know, a couple of weeks. They're in there every day killing themselves.

And that just builds a camaraderie between all of us at the gym. And that's what I really think is cool. The product, you know, hard work is not only the fuel to the fire, but it's also the product of the fire. You know, it begets itself over and over and over again. And I think that's, what's really very powerful about it. Yeah. When I was training in there, um, you know, every day and getting in there early in the morning and it was such a positive vibe from so many different people.

I'd walk by someone, they pat you on the back or give you a fist bump, or I'd see you guys in there working hard. And I'd see Charles Glass in there working hard and I'd see Charles Glass in there and other trainers. I see Tito Raymond in there and, uh, training with Michael Hearn and, and bouncing around and seeing all these different people in there that I've known for a long time. Uh, it was really cool. They were so excited that I was doing this bodybuilding show and, uh, the energy was,

was awesome. The family. Yeah. And again, all they want to see is the effort. Yeah. You know, that's, that's what people are looking for. Yeah. Everybody talks about goals.

Oh, I can never work out there. I'm too small. It's like, nobody cares. As long as you come in here and work, kind of like you said, it's like, you know, hey, you want to come in here? Okay. Let's, let's come in here and do this. See you on Tuesday.

You know. With, uh, with you guys, you know, uh, being around each other so much and, you know, uh, these meal preps and, uh, getting ready for a contest and the calories get dwindled down, they get lower and lower. I'm sure your mindset and your attitude and stuff gets worse and worse as the contest comes around a little bit. How do you deal with that? Man, you know, that was something this year that was a new thing for both of us, definitely. But especially for me, because I have prepped for bodybuilding shows before, most of the time single or, you know, playing the side hustle game, as we talked about earlier. So what I would generally do when those times came along was I'd say, all right, I'm shutting my phone off.

See you guys later. I'm going home. And I wouldn't talk to anybody. It's so weird. Yeah. I was just like disappearing. I'm done. And I wouldn't talk to anybody. It's so weird. Yeah. I was just like disappearing. Nope, I'm done. And I wouldn't do anything.

I'd just go home and go to bed and sit in my room and be quiet. Because, I mean, that's a lot of times, kind of like you said about your bodybuilding. So, I mean, there's a lot of days where you just say, I can't handle people today. Right. You know, I just want to check off my boxes, do my cardio, do my training, eat my meals, go to bed. Screw this. I'm done for the day. done for the day. Uh, but you know, obviously when you, you are really trying to cultivate a relationship and, and, you know, really try, which is the first, this is the first time I've

really put effort into building a relationship with somebody and making the decision to do that on a daily basis. You don't have the opportunity to be like, you know what, I'm not going to call you today. You know, you don't get that. Right. And, and so to, you know, we had a lot of growing pains, a lot of times where we, we had some fights, you know, um, it was difficult a lot of times. I mean, I think we had a fight in the hotel, the date of the West coast classic, right before I went to go get my tan. Yeah.

And a lot, I mean, there's, you know, we can, there's a whole bunch of reasons they may have started, but the fact of the matter is we were just learning how to communicate with each other. And, and she was kind of learning that when I'm in a shitty mood or when I'm stressed out and struggling, it's not because she's annoying me or anything like that.

It's simply because I'm stressed and struggling. And being that she has not been around me before, she had a kind of a hard time knowing how to help with that, which I think really caused her. Sometimes hard for women to understand. I don't know your situation exactly, but a lot of times guys will just get quiet. And they're pissed. You're pissed about something, but you're not usually mad at the person. You're usually just mad at the situation or frustrated.

And it takes you, what, 10 minutes? And then you're totally fine, right? If someone just leaves you alone for 10 minutes or 15 minutes. I don't leave them alone. I'm like, are you okay? Yeah, no, no. What's wrong? Well, it kills a woman. They say if you want to really piss a woman off, take a picture of her and don't show her what it looked like.

You know, like women love to have their picture taken. But if you take a picture of them and don't show them the result, then they get mad. Just curious, right? By nature a lot of times. Yeah. Right? Very curious. And women are in touch with with their own feelings they do a better job of that's probably why they live longer they share more information with their girlfriends and they tell each other more stuff and guys are more bottled up and so we get quiet and the girl's like what the fuck's wrong with him like how do i i need to help him you know and there ain't no helping us sometimes you know we need just need, just need some time, I think,

to think it through. I heard a joke once comparing a man's diary and a woman's diary. And so, you know, the woman's all worried because the man's not talking much during the day. And so she's like, I can't believe what is it because of this? Did I wear the wrong thing? Did I cook the wrong dinner? I don't understand what's going on.

Did I say something wrong? Did I say something to his mother? And then that's the woman's diary questions on the men's side it says motorcycle won't start hmm that's it you know and it's like it's kind of what it is like there's nothing wrong really i promise you know just give me a sec yeah this one thing's bugging the shit out of me i can't i can't uh i can't quite figure it out um when you guys are uh when you guys are training at the gym and stuff, um, how does that relationship work? Does that work? Okay.

Cause sometimes it can be kind of hard. Like if you're telling her what to do and instructing her, like. Oh, I love it. I know. She listens really, really well and learns really well. I think that's one thing that sets us apart from, from a lot of other couples that I see, especially in the industry is that, you know, we have a pretty good working relationship. I think part of that is simply because, you know, she is much more on the beginner side of the spectrum and I am, you know, a trainer, that's my profession. And so it's not like, I kind of always felt like, you know, sometimes you train with another girl,

that's a competitor and, you know, she's learned how to leg press and squat a certain way. And you've learned how to leg press and squat a certain way. And, you know, it's like, clashes and then you're worried about, well, should I say this? Because I might, you know, she's learned how to leg press and squat a certain way. And you've learned how to leg press and squat a certain way. And, you know, it's like clashes and just clashes. And then you're worried about, well, should I say this? Because I might, you know, who knows? Well, Danielle, she really, you know, she's like receptive to the coaching and stuff. And that really just makes it a lot easier because she succeeds when she does it. And when she does that, she gets really excited. And, of course, being that she's the woman I love, when she gets excited and smiles and smiles my day gets a lot better so we try to keep that happening as much as possible it's easier to

be a easier to be a team right oh it most definitely um food food wise uh do you guys disagree on food here and there like do you like certain things different than he likes and we're pretty good with food she doesn't she doesn't bother me much i cook food or you know she she cooks the chicken i cook you know there's a fuck ton of chicken i cook um but you know the diet is my diet mainly being you know being that i'm a competitor what we basically do is you know whatever diet i'm running i give her you know the appropriate amount of macros but kind of the same plan. And then what I kind of started doing as I started to see her body change and started to see.

This is what I was talking about. Her develop, you know, a preference as to what she wanted. You know, basically, for example, I'd start to see her get lean. And so she'd get really excited about getting lean. So the next couple of days, I'd cut the carbs down a little bit and add a little bit of fat, manipulate a little bit. So she'd continue to get leaner. I wouldn't tell her that necessarily all the time. And I'd be like, well, how'd you feel the last couple of days I'd cut the carbs down a little bit and add a little bit of fat, manipulate a little bit. So she'd continue to get leaner. I wouldn't tell her that necessarily all the time. And I'd be like, well, how'd you feel the last couple of days?

I felt good. I was really lean. I said, great. This is what I did. Keep that in mind. Remember that for next time. Cutting my carbs. But at the same time, I mean, you know, we pack the meals, we prep them.

We don't have much of a problem with that. No. Honestly, that's been pretty smooth. She saved my life this year by cooking that chicken because i mean it is it's 10 pounds of chicken a week yeah you know that's three trips to the grill cooking you know three and a half five pounds twice a week i don't i like it i don't mind it's not like i'm like oh yeah doug i cook your chicken no i it's for us and i i'm i really do cook well do cook she makes some good chicken

and the other thing is too is I realize it's a lot of extra preparation because the amount of times he needs to eat and the amount of times you both need to eat but we all need to eat anyway and there's no better way to treat yourself than to cook for yourself

you know too many people eat out too often and they're eating a lot of junk and eating a lot of preservatives and a lot of stuff that they way to treat yourself than to cook for yourself. You know, too many people eat out too often and they're eating a lot of junk and eat a lot of preservatives and a lot of stuff that they just, I mean, some people maybe don't even care, but, uh, people are just not really aware of that. When you go to a restaurant, you know, you're probably eating an extra four or 500 and maybe even more calories than you even expected just because the vegetables were fried in some sort of vegetable oil. The steak was in some sort of vegetable oil. The steak was in some sort of oil.

You know, like it just adds up quick and you're like, shit, man. And then you realize you got to like prep all your meals and cook everything. It takes that much longer to do all that stuff. But once you get in a system, it's like. Yeah. Yeah. I always equate it to it's like a cafeteria. Like, honestly, you know, you just prep those meals, mass produce them, stuff like that. One thing I think, though, that really helped us stay on the system is, and this is kind of something from my family way back in the day,

but I feel like dinner is extremely important for a family unit to have together every day. It's just, I mean, my grandmother insisted on it. Her mother insisted on it. My mother insisted on it. You sit down as a family and eat dinner every day, period, end of story. And we really do work on that. Like, some days she'll get off work at 7. My meals, you know, right?

It's like, hurry up, get home. It's dinner time. But, you know, we wait and we sit and we eat. That helps both on the meal prep side and a little bit of the closeness side, too. You know, you get some time to sit down. We get that time to eat together. And then after dinner, it's like, okay, let's prep those meals for tomorrow. Right.

Let's make those breakfast shakes and let's go to bed. Yeah, it's huge doing stuff like that. Like, you have to have time for each other. And maybe that's time where you guys can kind of relax and, right? Like, you just kind of, do you guys end up always talking about lifting or do you kind of get, you get some times where. No. You're like, okay, we got to talk about something different other than food and other than this other than that he is he and you both love it so it's probably not a huge deal even if you are talking

about no no yeah we we i don't we talk about it a lot but we talk about a lot of things like doug knows a lot of things he was just teaching me today how the plane lands when we were coming here. Yeah, we find stuff to talk about. Yeah, he was like, look, and they're checking the brakes, and then this noise means this, and then the wings are going to go this way, and they did exactly that. And you're like,

we're not going to die. No. They got it all under control. Totally fine. He knows his shit. When it comes to talking about training, you know, we really, she's so supportive of me that sometimes it's like, you know, I'll be like, man, you know, I'm having a rough time with this. She's like, no, you got it. You're good. It's all right. Let's just get up and do it.

And I'm like, yeah, I know that's the answer. I was really just trying to bitch about something, you know. Yeah, let me be a bitch. Yeah. Let me just complain. Let's go. Good job, Doug. You did great today. Come Yeah, let me be a bitch. Yeah. Let me just complain. Let's go. Good job, Doug. You did great today.

Come on, let's go. Tomorrow's good. But that's the kind of stuff that you need from a woman, you know? As a man, I always say that, like, you know, a man's job is, you always say, woman don't want to see your cry face, you know? A man's job is to be tough and strong and put together but a woman's job is to make sure that he appears that way all the time right you know and that's kind of the way i look at it so a lot of times she does a really good job oh man he's pissed and you'll see her just go in

stop save me and the other person from getting their head chewed off you know something like that my wife does my wife does a really good job of stuff like that too. And I was frustrated about something a few days ago and she's like, well, why don't you just say, you know, if you just said things this way, then that would be that. Like, and I was like, oh yeah, okay. I'll do that. I'll do that from now on. But I was kind of the same thing as he was like, I was like, no, let me, let me, let

me be more frustrated. Yeah. You know, I don't want more frustrated. Stop solving my problem so effectively. Yeah, this is bullshit. Yeah, I want to be mad. I just want to break stuff. How do you find time as being a nurse? I know that your hours are probably insane. They could be worse.

Yeah, well, that's one thing then. But to cook all those meals and then still train and then still have your full time job. I'm still kind of trying to figure out that my job actually isn't 100 percent full time. OK. But I'm trying to figure out how to do what I'm struggling with actually is that and then figuring out my days of what I'm going to work out on. Because when I come after work, sometimes I'm just so tired that what I wanted to do isn't going to happen. Like, it can happen, but it won't be as strong as I want it to be, and that's just disappointing. So I'll save it for tomorrow.

Well, that's really one thing that I'm kind of working on with her is, I call it, you know, program accountability. You know, because I feel like as she's still learning and being, you know, getting familiar with the gym and the typical splits, you know, what you want to train together, posterior chain together, you know, back and biceps together, et cetera, et cetera. And I don't think there's a certain way to do that, but I think every single person has to learn exactly how they like to do that. And they like, I think it's important that they formulate those things on their own. And so with Danielle, that's really where her development is right now, especially because she's getting ready to have a full-time job. It's like, look, yeah, you're going to have to really sit down and plan out your day and budget your time.

Yeah. But she does a pretty good job of that. And as far as meal prepping is concerned, like with the two of us, that's the one thing that's really beneficial about having somebody with you is because even if both people are working 40 hours a week, you still have two people with the same amount of time in the kitchen as you would one person if you were single so we split it up pretty well yeah you know like it's not like i'm doing everything one day and then he is it's a good and then we'll keep each other in check like hey

your yogurt's almost out or whatever kind of mentioned earlier that you buy the chicken and she cooks it usually right yeah yeah that's how we're and that You kind of mentioned earlier that you buy the chicken and she cooks it usually, right? Yes, she does. Yeah, that's how we're, and that's kind of how it started. One day, one day I was running out of food and I was like, and we hadn't really had the talk yet, but I was like, sweetheart, can you really help me out if you would please pick up some chicken and grill it for me? I wasn't working yet either. Yeah, she wasn't working yet. That's how that all started.

And, you know, and so I sent her some money. He's like, could you get up off the couch and go do something? He's like, cook for me. Do something. And then that first batch of chicken she cooked. And, man, it was so good. And I've heard this told to me by another bodybuilder. You're a chicken chef, okay?

I didn't believe him. I thought he was just saying that because it was like something he didn't have to do now. She went to KFC and got him chicken. I have a system. I'm really good at it. You know, and then it was like, you know,

after a little bit, I'd be like, can you get some more chicken and cook it again? Because it was so, so much better than what I can do. And,

you know, once you get that in a program, especially when you're in a prep, like you always say, be very careful who you let cook your food

because if you don't want them in your life, you're fucked if they leave. You know, because you need that food. Freaks out. And so, so then it just came down to, and finally I was like, you know, if you want me to make your meals for you and stuff, I would be very happy to buy your groceries

and then you cook the chicken. And as long as you have chicken in that fridge for me, I don't care what you buy. Here you go. And, and that's kind of how it started. The classic get to a man's heart through his stomach. That's right. Yeah, except for me, it's not really because I like the food. It's because I need the food to continue doing what I'm doing.

You like my other food. I mean, I like food, but it's not about food. The other food. The lasagna. Yes. She made me a lasagna. Okay. Right after the West Coast Classic, she made me one of the best lasagnas I've ever had from scratch.

Yeah, no. I wasn't even impressed. That's awesome. Do you like to cook? Yeah, I do. That's why I'm saying, like, it's not like, oh, God, I've got to cook 10 pounds of chicken. I don't mind it. And then, like, we pack and we're ready to go.

And I, when I go to work and I have my meals prepped, even though I barely sometimes have time to eat, I've inspired everybody at work. Oh, that's cool. And it's that kind of stuff. That's the culture that we have here. It's really cool. I mean, every once in a while, somebody might walk in with like in and out, but like you have to kind of have some guts to do that while everybody else is eating. And not like everyone's on like some crazy diet, but everyone's eating pretty well, you

know? Yeah, no. It's just a difference of perspective when, you know, everybody here eats for a purpose primarily. I mean, yes, there's some preference in there, but, you know, the main concern is that it has the nutrients we need. And normal people just don't eat like that. You know, they just don't even consider that at all.

And I'm like, you know, like people that take their kids to breakfast and be like, oh, you just want French toast? No eggs, no protein, no nothing. Just let's just load you up on sugar. Okay. You know, how's that kid going to develop? And it's the same with adults. It's like, did you not learn?

I mean, the nutritional pyramid was taught to me in like second grade. You know, like people just forget that. It's, you know, with kids, it's really hard. You know, I got two kids and, you know, what I see from my own kids and what I see from other kids around us, uh, is that, man, it's a really, really high carb diet and then fat. It's like whatever we end up getting with fat and there's no protein. Yeah. The protein is really absent. And unfortunately the carbs are through the roof. They probably make up like, if I was just to guess, 70% of most children's diet, maybe even more. And the other percentage is pretty much from fat. And then

you're not getting that much protein in. And if you look at a kid that wakes up in the morning, heads off to school and stuff, they may have a glass of milk if they're lucky. But a lot of times it's like an orange juice or like a chocolate milk or whatever. And a pancake or toast with honey on it or something. And it's like, all these things are fine, but how about we try to balance it out a little bit more? And I just took, took it into my own hands recently. I just started cooking breakfast for my kids every day. It's kind of a pain in the ass. It's kind of a long, it's kind of a long process.

It takes me a little while. ass, it's kind of a long, it's kind of a long process. It takes me a little while. And, you know, on top of it taking some time, you know, I'm also trying to cook my own breakfast. So I'm trying to like hustle that in there, trying to make sure my wife has food too, because she's coming home from swim practice and everything. So it's a little bit of a pain in the neck, but the result is awesome. Yeah. And then figuring out what they like.

So my daughter, she doesn't really care that much about eggs. She doesn't really, like I try to prep them like a bunch of different ways. Put some butter on them. I put some cheese on them. And I always sneak some like egg whites in there like just because I'm a meathead. When I'm cooking up this like omelet, it's like, you know, half, you know, and they kind of know. Like they sort of know. They're like, did you put egg whites in there?

I'm like, what? That's weird. Yeah. started to know they're like did you put egg whites there i'm like what that's weird yeah and so uh anyway so i figured out today you know i i bought canadian bacon instead of regular bacon she doesn't really like bacon um she's already like health conscious and she's like i don't want to eat too much of you know this and that and so anyway i got canadian bacon and she loved it and she kept putting eggs on the canadian bacon i'm like okay we go. I figured out a way for her to. So she would love an egg McMuffin.

Yeah. Right. And so that's the other thing too. Sometimes she'll want a piece of toast with the egg and she'll eat it in combination. I'm like, okay, I figured out ways to get her to eat some eggs in the morning, which is huge because now, now, now she has more options. I can make her French toast. I can make her pancakes because I know that she's going to eat her eggs and have a glass of milk with it too.

And it's like, man, what a huge difference that is. We really kind of counterbalanced and counteracted this giant thing of sugar that she was, you know, wanting to eat in the morning. How have you noticed that the kid's demeanor has changed throughout the day if you feed them a good breakfast? Did you notice that behavior at all? Yeah, no, it's huge, it's a huge difference. I mean, they're going off to school a lot of times, but sometimes on the weekend I'll, I'll cook breakfast for them too. What I noticed is that they're not as hungry. So, you know, we were just like any other American family. We, we, we've allowed our kids to eat whatever whenever here and there right um when if my kids go out to eat and we have dinner at let's say like five o'clock or something like

that and let's say that they have um they have the worst things ever too for children like these kids menus they're terrible they need to be outlawed i'm 100 yeah honest and why is there first of all why is there kids food? Yeah. It's human food. Human beings. It's like a different portion. Kids don't need their own category of food. Well, what's sad is like you said. Infants do, but not children.

You're right. Yeah, yeah. And like you said, it's crap food. And you can, it's, in my opinion, you look at it from a business standpoint, it's just a straight profit builder because carbs are so much cheaper than protein. And, you know, and so it's like, oh, I mean, like, you know, what does 10 cups of rice cost for a Chinese restaurant? Like 45 cents, you know? Yeah.

You can have as much rice as you want. And that's really, I think what it comes down to is these kids menus. It's like, well, they're not going to eat it anyway. So you might as well make it a little bit cheaper. If my kids have like a grilled cheese sandwich and usually the option for carbohydrates that come with a grilled cheese sandwich is uh french fries so my kids you know they might have a grilled cheese sandwich and french fries first of all it's not a meal it doesn't really represent food all that much i mean it's just five grams of protein it's just 85 grams of carbs yeah it's just kind of it's just kind of crap you know and it's irresponsible as a parent i think that as a parent you should be

kind of pissed that your kid's eating that you should look at it and be like okay this is hopefully it's a one-time thing and we need to get we need to get this in check or if we're doing this once a week it's a different story we're doing it once a month it's a different story if it's not part of the norm and it's a different story and that's fine because you want your kids to be kids and you want them to kind of do their own thing and not feel weird about the foods they're eating all the time. But the, what I've noticed from them is they'll eat that at like five o'clock, right? It'll be five 30 when we came home from like a restaurant or whatever, or even six or so. And you're like, what are we having for dinner?

And I'm like, you just, I'm like, you just ate, but they didn't get any nutrients. They get anything that they needed. They got nothing of what they needed. And so, of course, they're hungry again. That's what causes obesity. Obesity is a nutrient deficient disease. You would think it would be the opposite. Yeah, you think the nutrients would be in abundance.

And that's what we're having. That's the problem that's facing America today. It's what's facing a lot of our children today. We were at a spaghetti factory and the kids' menu consisted of only noodles and sauce. In different variations. It was mac and cheese or spaghetti

and meat sauce, they said. I'm like, babe, if you want Alfredo or whatever, you're going to get a side of chicken. That's what we ended up getting her. I was just like, this is crazy crazy there's not one protein on the kids menu it's really frustrating and it's really sad it is yeah especially this is like hurtful like this is hurting our kids it's very dangerous well it carries into adult adulthood i have a client

that comes to mind um you know she's a woman she's not even obese or even really that overweight but she's heavier, and she's been trying for a long time to diet, kind of like Danielle touched on about all these different ways that people think to diet. And as she came to me, I'm looking at her food, and I'm like, all right. Well, I gave her a diet, and the diet was like 1,700 calories. And she's really used to eating like 1,000, 1,200 calories, something like that. And I'm like, I promise you you need to eat this food.

That would be scary for us. Yeah, she's like, I'm going to get heavy. And I said'm like, I promise you, you need to eat this food. That would be scary for us. Yeah, she's like, I'm going to get heavy. And I said, no, I promise you, you won't. And the one way I put it is, do you really think you're going to run a race car on empty and get everything you can out of it? You know, or run a race car on the wrong fuel and get anything out of it? No, you've got to fuel this thing. You've got to fuel it so that you can put in the work to incite the change.

If you don't fuel it, then the change won't happen regardless of the work. Cause you're just running yourself ragged. And it is, it carries over to adulthood so much where, like I said, people don't even know how to eat. Yeah. And it's frustrating. It's really not that hard. That's what like we keep talking about every time we do it. I mean, it's not. And a lot of times, yeah. You know, it probably sucks to think about the fact that three times. Okay. Let's even for a normal person that's starting a diet, you'd say, okay, well, four times a day, you're going to have to sit down and eat. Two of those times is going to be chicken breast.

You know, a lot of people that does not sound fun. Right. But is it? I mean, come on. If you really sit down, put some barbecue sauce on that chicken breast and Monday through Friday, you eat that twice a day. Is that really going to kill you? And, you know, let's be honest about it too. If people did about 30%, 40% of what you guys are doing, they would still see massive change

because there's be such a difference from what they're used to. Exactly. And I mean, the nutrients that usually get talked about are, um, uh, are carbohydrates and fat, right? People talk about, oh, let's go on a no carb diet. And people talk about like manipulating their, uh, their fat calories, uh, because, because maybe they're on like a bodybuilding diet, so they eat less fat, but the nutrient that everyone needs to focus on or the macro that everybody needs to focus on protein,

like your average person, they just need more protein. So it's like, I really liked what you said last time you're on the podcast. I always think that adding to somebody's life is the first way to have them go, okay, I'm listening. Right? If I start subtracting, if I start to subtract from your life, now you're kind of getting angry. You're getting anxiety. I'm like, Doug, you can't eat chicken anymore. You're like, what? That's the way I, wait a second.

No, that's the way I've always done it. What am I going to do? Well, most people expect that to be the first thing that happens when you diet. So when you don't do that, then they think the diet is not going to work. Right. Like, oh yeah,

you can have that. They're like, oh, this isn't going to work. I'm going to get fat. I need to eat protein. Like just a starter. I need to eat protein three times a day.

That's like the size of your hand or the size of your palm, the size of your fist, whatever, however you want to say it. You need some portion of protein three times a day. I need you to walk for 20 minutes every day. I need to drink more water. I need to sleep more.

And we didn't say one thing about like taking anything from you at all. That's a good way to put it. I like that. That's really cool. And over time you can start to, because if you get people to exercise and you get them to move, we already know that we're going to, the way I like to view it is it's like church, you know, you lure people into church and you don't tell them that you want them there forever. No, no, just come in on Easter. No, no, it'll be cool. No, look, no one's going to, not at my church. No one's going to bother you. I swear to God, no one's going to

bother you. And the second you're on your way out the door, somebody stops you, right? And they, they're trying to get you to come back. They give you like a brochure or a pamphlet. Hey man, you know, you should come on, you know, I know you're here on Sunday. It's great you're here for Easter. You should come back on Wednesday. And you're like, damn it. I knew somebody was going to come and try to lure me in for more. But I think that's what we need to do with fitness and nutrition. We need to keep kind of luring people in. And the way to do it is to try to add to their life and not try to subtract so much. You can't have any bread. You can't have any sugar. People are going to be so scared by that. They won't not try to subtract so much. You can't have any bread. You can't have any sugar.

People are going to be so scared by that. They won't know what to do with themselves. That's what I'm saying. One of the biggest things I get, sorry, go ahead. No, no, no, you go. But one of the biggest things I hear is, you know, oh, I could never do what you do. You know, I could never have the dedication that you have. I could never do that.

You know, and I'm like, why do you already think that about yourself? You know, and that's really what it is. It's a really low spot. Let me show you that you can. That's kind of what, as a trainer, that's what I think about. I always tell people, let me show you how strong you actually are. And every single client I've ever had does something they didn't think they could do. And to me, that's one of the things that will really lure people in is just like, let me show you.

Because, I mean, yeah, you can squat heavy and you may not even, you know, you can squat heavier than you've ever squatted, you know, especially as a lay person. And that may not be something exciting. That may be 225. And you'll be like, okay, that's cool. That's as heavy as I want to go. But if you consistently work to squat 225, climbing stairs with five grocery bags is going to be a lot easier, you know. And just building those fitness and starting to see it take effect and change your normal life outside of the gym, I think is really what people want to see is that, oh, wow, I actually am doing something. Makes you feel good.

Yeah. It feels so good. I mean, it breeds more, you know, success breeds success internally and externally. Yeah. I kind of always say do more, be more. And the more that you do, the more that you can do, the more that you can handle. You think about someone like The Rock, like he didn't start out that way right he started out being a football player uh he played at the university of miami he was trying to be in the nfl didn't work out he was on a miami hurricanes team that had ended up having you know multiple

uh future warren sepp yeah future nfl hall of famer. So he just like, he couldn't hang. He was, wasn't good enough. Right. He played in the Canadian football league. He struggled there. He started seven bucks productions because he had seven bucks in his pocket when he left the Canadian football league and gave up and he was like, I'm done. Um, but he's struggled and went through hard times just like the rest of us.

And his main focus at the time was football and probably weight training. So at that time, he probably didn't have a lot of things to do, but now look at him right now, but he didn't, again, he didn't start out that way. He's worked over a long period of time to be able to handle more stuff. If all of a sudden there was, you know, 15 more things thrown into your lap, you'd be like, Oh my God, I don't, you know, I don't know what, what am I going to do with all these things? You wouldn't really know how to handle it. But if it was like one extra thing, um, you guys, let's say you guys get a dog, right? It's like, okay, one extra thing, one extra thing at a time, you move, you get a bigger apartment or bigger house or whatever it is. And it's just one extra

thing, get a new car. Like just, it's only one extra thing, but it was over the course. It was over a period of time. It didn't all happen at one time. Do you think that everybody possesses the ability to have discipline? Absolutely. Because I am the least disciplined person by nature that I know. I mean, if I'm introspective, I can tell you that I am not somebody that was put together right out of the womb. So you don't always want to do what you do. Oh, no, absolutely. I've found my calling now, but right out of the womb. So you don't always want to do what you do. Oh no, absolutely.

I've found my calling now, but I have developed the discipline to do it. And I don't feel like there's anything special about me that made me have the ability to come to the gym every day and really fall in love with it. I think the fact of the matter is I just fell in love with it. And that may be the deciding factor is how much I care about it. But no, if you want, I mean, people are always going to do one thing and that is exactly what they want to do. You know, so yeah, you can develop discipline.

Are there times you don't want, you don't want to do certain things? Are there times that you don't want to eat? Are there times that you don't want to train, do cardio, lift? Yeah. I mean, of course there's times where you feel like, no, I don't want to do this.

But you know, if you're focused and. It's pretty rare. It's pretty rare. And it's pretty rare that if I don't want to do it, I don't want to do this. But, you know, if you're focused and – It's pretty rare for you. And it's pretty rare that if I don't want to do it, I don't actually do it. You know, like I may drag my feet and say, oh, screw this. I'm going to go do cardio. I hate this crap, whatever. But I'm in the truck, and I'm on my way, and I'm at Gold's, and I'm walking.

How about you, Andrew? The food is – it's getting better, but that's usually always the biggest hurdle for me all food is i especially for a guy that's trying to gain size yeah i mean yeah i i have actually recently started with two clients that i sent them their initial diet they're like are you out of your mind and i was like bro this is what it takes man you know i'm gonna be eating all day yeah exactly precisely that's what i wanted thank you i'm glad you understand. Yeah. You know, and, but it is, it's a gradual thing too. The same thing with food, especially, I think a nice, easy gradient is, is the way to go.

You have to push yourself to your perceived limit and then just about two bites past every meal. And if you can get two bites past your perceived limit, then the next time it'll be a little bit longer. And I mean, it may not even be the next meal. And if you can get two bites past your perceived limit, then the next time it'll be a little bit longer. And I mean, it may not even be the next meal, the next meal, you may be full still because you did that. And you're like, fuck, do it again.

Whatever that limit is. And I have tricks. I was telling her one time. Yeah. You take two or three bites and you take some water and you swish it around and drink some of it down and chew a little bit more, drink some more water and swish it around. But there's tons of tricks. Yeah. I can sit down and chew a little bit more, drink some more water and swish it around. But there's tons of tricks.

Yeah. I can sit down and talk to you, have some tricks to help you get some calories in. Yeah. I've been adding just a shit ton of salt to everything. That helps quite a bit. Yeah. Bone broth too. Yeah.

I've never used bone broth. It helps quite a bit. I have heard that. There's a, there's different, there's a lot of different kinds of bone broth, but there's one company that I use. It's Epic Bone Broth and there's like hardly any calories. And I think in a whole, the whole jar of it, there's like a hundred calories, not that much. So it's, uh, it's almost pretty much salt and it's, and it adds a little protein.

I think there's like 10 grams of protein in there, but just to kind of get a little liquid in there, like you're saying, you know, help you kind of get, get through those foods. What's really hard is when your carbs get diminished, it's hard to eat the protein, you know, when, if you don't have some rice to eat with the chicken breast or you don't have some broccoli or spinach or whatever, you need something like wet or you need something to eat with it. Otherwise it gets to be hard.

It gets to be kind of rough choking it down. But you guys, you guys put yours on the grill, which makes it taste pretty good. We've also been playing around with different barbecue sauces to keep it interesting. Sauces. Good old-fashioned barbecue sauce. Sauce is one of my things. That's what Ronnie Coleman always says.

I have rules about what kind of sauce you can use and what kind of sauce you can't. But, I mean, you try to- There's some companies now that make some pretty good sauces that have less- It's so exciting. Yeah, they have less- But a lot of those- Less calories. Here's my problem with the fitness companies that make those like.

Yeah. They have found another one. She does too. I really get excited. Well, you'll be excited by this. So there's supposedly there's certain strains of stevia that are going to just almost completely eliminate from what I've heard. They think it will completely eliminate all artificial sweeteners because it

tastes so damn good. The problem is it's very, very expensive, but I'm like, damn, that is exciting because Stevie is great. It doesn't have, it doesn't have a calories.

It's not going to mess with you. That's exactly what I was just, I was going to say was I was, you know, my first thought is that one Walden farms, which I'm sorry, I'm not trying to bash Walden farms or anything like that, but my biggest gripe with that is, okay, yeah, there's zero calories, but how many test tubes

did that come out of before it became barbecue sauce or chocolate syrup or something like that? And it's like, you know, I think I'd rather just have four grams of sugar with my buffalo wing sauce or something, you know? And so that's, that's my biggest thing. But I try, those Artifact Sweeteners, they're nasty. Well, they can be pretty, you know they're nasty. And again, for people that are training and for people that are exercising,

a little bit of sugar is just a real drop in the bucket. I mean, if you have, let's say you have just, I don't know, 5 or 10 grams, 10 grams of sugar three times a day, that's 30 additional carbs. It's really spread out over the day with working out and cardio.

It's really. Yeah. Well, and if you're in a caloric deficit anyway, it really doesn't matter. It's true. It's going to burn, you know. But, yeah, that's actually my rule is less than four grams of sugar per serving on the barbecue sauce is good. So, like, Stubbs, Stubbs is less than four grams of sugar. Stubbs, now you're talking.

And then another little trick that helps both. Stubbs marinade is good. Yeah, Stubbs marinade is good. So like Stubb's. Stubb's is less than 4 grams of sugar. Stubb's, now you're talking. And then another little trick that helps both. Stubb's marinade is good. The one for the steak. I haven't had that. I'll do a flank steak in that next time. Oh man, some tri-tip. That's a Northern California thing, the tri-tip up here.

My uncle lives in Santa Barbara and he grew up in Santa Barbara. He always grills tri-tip slices. They didn't have common. My uncle lives in Santa Barbara, and he grew up in Santa Barbara. He always grills tri-tip and slices. That's a northern color. They didn't have it when I was a kid on the East Coast. I never saw it until I moved out to California. I grew up with tri-tip. Yeah, me too. What is tri-tip?

Actually, when I went home one time, I went to the butcher and I tried to get tri-tip. I'm like, we don't have it here. I'm like, what are you talking about? I wonder if they just call it something different. I wonder if it's the cut that they call it. I think they do now i think i think things have changed but i remember when i first moved to california too i went to a uh a pizza place and i i went to order a whole pizza and i was like i'll just take a pie and they said all we

serve is pizza and i was like well i meant you know like that what we, in New York, that's what we call it. I was like, well, I just want like the whole thing. I don't know. But I didn't want to say a pizza because I didn't want a slice of pizza. And I was like trying to explain it. Then I was like, oh, they got the different inches up there. I was like, I'll take whatever it was. Let's get a pizza.

A whole pizza. A pizza pie. Yeah. Like we don't have pie. Can I please get all of the slices of the pizza? I don't know how to order one. That's funny. In New Mexico, do they have hard rolls?

Do you know about a hard roll? I do not know about a hard roll. Yeah, see, I know. No one knows what a hard roll is. It's so good. What is it? On the East Coast, they have a roll that's just, it's funny because, like, when I moved out here again, when I was like, hey, can I have a hard roll with like, you know, bacon, egg and cheese on it? They're like a hard roll.

They're like, we can get you a roll that's old. Yesterday. Yeah. I was like, I don't want a roll that's old. Didn't Vincent say it was called something else? Like a French roll maybe? Sometimes people will say, sometimes people will say it's like a Kaiser roll, but that's not really. It's not the same thing.

I've not had one. They just don't have them here. They just don't have them here. It's very upsetting. Aw. I know. What do you guys love to eat? What do you love to eat?

Let's forget about the diet. What do you like to splurge on? We do some pretty amazing dessert concoctions. I was just about to say, are we talking food or dessert? Oh, yeah. Because this man is the combinations kind of guy. Yeah. You know.

And it's awesome. We'll do like, what did we buy one time? We went, oh. Brownies. Were you ever fat? No, I wasn't. Actually, I was. He would have been a great fat guy.

I'm just saying. I'm thinking that. He would have been a great guy. You're like, he likes these combinations. They're off the charts. I'm thinking like, he must have, like, 400 pounds. My inner fat girl's like, yes. I probably would have been fat if I wasn't so active as a kid.

But, no, I never was fat, like, a hefty kid. But you have a fat guy personality. I can eat. Deep in there, yeah. I can eat. I mean, you know, I definitely. You got to watch him after his bodybuilding career is over. He might.

I tell her that. I say, just wait. I might. You got to watch him after his bodybuilding career is over. He might. I tell her that. I say, just wait. I might start powerlifting. No. You might. You'd be like, I swear. He used to have a jawline, I swear. He's so cute right now.

I'm like, please don't. Underneath that beard. Who did I show her a picture of? I think it was. Oh, yeah. Oh, my God. No. It was probably me.

No, it wasn't. It was Eddie Hall, actually. I showed her a picture of Eddie Hall. It was like, this guy's about my height and 400 pounds. What do you think? She's like, uh. See, what's funny about that is I think every dude thinks like, that guy looks like a badass.

And every girl's like, no, that's not a great. No. No, but chicks are into Eddie Hall, though. I know, they are actually, yeah. They do dig him. Might be the accent, though. You get a free pass on the accent. That's true.

Makes you smarter. So what kind of desserts are we talking about here? Okay, so wait. Like I said, he's got some insane skills with combinations. We got out of a vending machine a brownie, a bag of pretzels, I think Twix. I'm picturing this brownie being, because me being a fat guy myself, deep down inside, still and always probably. I'm picturing this brownie being really dense. It was a dense chunk.

It wasn't out of a bed of machine. Kind of having like icing on it. So if you ever stayed at one of those hotels, it was like 11 o'clock at night and they had like a little snack. They had a munchie corner. Their little munchie corner. Those are the best. So I just went in there. How does every hotel not have that?

And I scratched my head for a little bit and I just grabbed some stuff and I ended up coming up with these things and we had. Oh, I remember. It was a Klondike bar. Klondike bar. A Klondike bar, pretzels, Twix, and a brownie. Okay. And so I just broke the brownie in half.

And I figured we were just going to get fat upstairs and eat that one by one. But Doug, go ahead. I broke the brownie in half, put figured we were Just gonna get fat upstairs And eat that one by one But Doug go ahead I broke the brownie in half Put it in the bottom Of a coffee cup Took the Klondike bar Broke it in half Put it on top of the brownie

Then the Twix And then the pretzels And just broke it all up In there And gave her a cup And was like Here you go Here's dessert

Fuck so good And then like Dessert in a hotel bed Can you beat that? Oh that's great And that was right after The West Coast Classic Hotels are great Yeah it Oh, that's great. And that was right after the West Coast Classic. Hotels are great.

Yeah, it was good. It's so dark and nice and cold. Like it's freezing in there. And the beds are just fluffy and cold. Yeah, you can walk in and turn that thing down to 60 and don't care what the electric bill says. You're like, yeah. And you just sleep forever.

Yep. No, yeah. Those are some fun things that we do, but we also like. Burgers. We go, no, no, no, pie. I mean, we search for pie. Yeah. We're still in the search for a good piece of cobbler.

Peach cobbler. That's one thing. You know, one thing about LA that, you know, a lot of people say they really like LA food, and I can see why a lot of people like LA food, but I kind of grew up in the backwoods, you know, country. Like, you know, I kind of like, like today, Smokey took us to the Black Bear Diner. Oh, yeah. And it's like, that's my kind of food.

You know, like, I like, I like food. Like, there's a place I used to know. Nobody's going to hate Black Bear Diner. It was so good. It's amazing. I love that place. You know, I try to find the places that are not ridiculously expensive and still have good quality food.

And basically all that stuff, Chicken fried steak and eggs. Man, you can't beat a meal like that. Biscuits and gravy. Burgers. Some country. Barbecue. Oh, God. Just fried everything.

Not fried so much. I really don't like fried food as much, except for chicken fried steak. I love chicken fried steak. Gotcha. Yeah. What other types of foods? I was just going to ask you about this if it's okay, no one can see it

just you guys I just wanted to show Mark a before picture that's awesome I mean you can speak a little bit about here but just like how long was this transformation right there I think you should put it up for everybody

yeah you can put that up, it's public already I before even the photo on the left um i used to play water polo i played softball i played all these sports and then when i went to college i just stopped playing and kept eating that happens to a lot of people yeah i. I didn't even really realize. Like, yeah, I had no idea what I was, like, doing. But, um. Where'd you go to college? I started at SMC. Oh, cool.

I went there. And, uh, yeah, no, SMC's amazing. It's awesome. But that's why, when that picture was, like, around when I started at SMC, so I must have been, like, 19. Mm. Any, uh, what did you weigh? Did you know? picture was like around when I started at SMC. So I must've been like 19. Any, what did you weigh?

Did you know? I weighed like two or almost 250. Wow. Yeah. 250. And then what do you weigh now? I weigh like 145. That's amazing. Maybe 140.

You said you were heavier. I was like, yeah, skinny chicks always say that. I had like an extra 12 pounds on her. That's why I wanted to bring this picture up because I was thinking the same thing. She's probably been always fit. She's in golds.

But no, I looked at the picture and I'm like, wow, she made a huge transformation. How did that start? You weighed 250. You were active for a little while, but you stopped. How did you get the courage to make a comeback so to speak SMC there was I guess a bunch of professors got cut

and I had my schedules at SMC were beyond full time like I was there all day and then when they cut it I had this window of two hours what the hell am I going to do I just started walking up this hill like nothing just walking and i swear on purpose like yeah like i was just gonna because i couldn't

leave i have a parking spot you don't leave smc when you have a parking spot so i just started walking up this hill and then um a group of me and my friends, we started, there's another hill right by our house. So once my classes were back to normal, I started just walking up the hill with them every day after work. It was like a group girl thing. And then I got into the gym, and it was like, I was a cardio bunny at first. And then I started lifting weights, And I fell in love with weights. Weights are, oh, my God. It's everything.

Seriously. You can always tell somebody. I feel like, you know, the more people that I meet and see their introduction into the fitness world, whether it's my response, you know, because of me or not, just being around the gym, you see people that come into the gym that, you know, you know right away this probably isn't your thing. Like, you know, good luck losing weight, but you're not going to stick around forever then you see the other people that it's like oh okay she you know they feel this she feels this he feels whatever right the first time i saw danielle actually lift with me um it was so apparent that it was just

like she absolutely loves it you know not maybe she'll compete, maybe she won't. I don't think she really, you know, has really decided that yet or not. But she loves the gym and the time she spends in there. And really, that's what I love. More so than competing, you know. So we really relate on that. And I will say that Danielle has, you know, she just, it was. It drew her and I almost related to that. I could see almost the same fire in her that I see in me.

And that's one thing that I think is really unique about her. Yeah. With weight training, you know, what I always try to share with people is that it's more permanent. If you diet and do cardio, what happens if you go back to your old ways with your food, you're kind of canceling out the cardio. And unfortunately, we know sometimes just your fire runs out sometimes. And like, if you're doing like an elliptical or it doesn't really matter what piece of cardio you do. You burn out.

Yeah. You get kind of, you're like, this isn't, you know, this is kind of boring. If you, if you get into like, I don't know, maybe like trail running or something like that. I did a lot of hiking too. That was fun. Yeah. And hiking, like it might do more for your mind.

So to me, it makes more sense like that's something you could probably do more long term but there's always these hurdles like i got to drive over here and then go into this you know this hike or whatever but if you're but if you're lifting and you're building muscle then you're really building towards the future of being able to burn more calories which is really really an really an amazing thing, you know? And so I'd love to see more people get into lifting weights. I'd love to see people drag more people into lifting weights. Well, you, you know, kind of like you said, pulling off what you said, I think, you know, doing cardio and stuff like that, that is, you know, changing your body.

You're doing something that tells your body to burn calories and that's it. But yeah, like you said, when you're lifting weights, you are creating a change in the actual physical makeup of your body, which can also be done with cardio over a long term. You know, but we're talking years of doing cardio every day before your body really starts to get used to staying lean like that. And then you kind of like plateau though. Yeah, you definitely do. It's almost like the lifting. You know, you sometimes see some men and some women that are just really well built and you ask them what they do and they're like,

I don't do anything. Or, or maybe they just have a little bit of athletic background. That was enough to keep them lean. To me, weight training helps almost change your genetics. You know, maybe, maybe you didn't have this awesome build to start out with, or maybe you weren't big or maybe you weren't strong or maybe you weren't lean, but with weights, you can, you can kind of, uh, change what you were almost in some ways. And that's a really hard thing to ever change. It's really rare to see someone go from 250 to 130 and stay that way.

You know, a lot of times there's a lot of fluctuation on your way down. Did you have some? Oh, well, so I lost a lot of times there's a lot of fluctuation on your way down did you have some oh well so i lost a lot with the cardio i got really really thin i was like 130 i don't weigh 130 i weigh like 140 to 150 i go back and forth there now um doug likes 160 he told me he He likes it sometimes. I like it all, man. He's my love. But I did a lot of yoga, which really helped tighten up loose skin. Because I lost a shitload of weight. The skin, I mean, I looked great in clothes, but the skin was not so pretty at first. But the weights and the yoga in combination for the beginning, it was amazing. I actually want to start to probably try to do that again.

Oh, cool. What did the diet look like to lose all that weight? I ate a lot of salads. And, like, that's the kind of stuff, like, I felt tired all the time. Because I wasn't eating right. And I was pushing hard. Is this your own information? Yeah, this was just my own trial and error.

And my mom, who doesn't weight train or go to the – I mean, she does her swimming and stuff now. So a big salad or two every day, eat less fat. Like less portions. Just eat less, move around. Smaller portions and move around. One thing I know that you did was you really started cooking for yourself, even if it wasn't

like, I mean, when I met you, you would cook. I kind of, I did always try to cook for myself because nursing school makes you broke. So I couldn't afford going out like that anyway. But my mom always cooked, so I was always cooking for myself. But like I said, I was doing way too much that didn't help me at all. Like I'd have massive salads with a bunch of shit in it. And yeah, they're great. They taste amazing. cooking for myself but like i said i was doing way too much that didn't help me at all like i'd have massive salads with a bunch of shit in it and yeah they're great they taste amazing but it's so much work and like i thought i was doing that was all the work when really i wasn't eating any

protein i wasn't having really anything that i needed so i was tired yeah a lot of people you know they they i like what you said earlier about how somebody will say, I can't, I could never do that. I hear people say that about like losing weight too. They're like, man, I,

I, you know, I don't know. I can't. And it's like, well, why would you put that block on yourself? Um,

I mean, I don't want to give anybody a complex that is already very thin, but almost anybody can lose weight. No. Yeah. Almost anybody can lose 10 pounds, 20 pounds. I mean, almost anybody that I know that's in very thin, but almost anybody can lose weight. No, yes. Almost anybody can lose 10 pounds, 20 pounds. I mean, almost anybody that I know that's in my circle could definitely lose some weight. And I'm not saying that people are fat.

I'm just saying that you possess the ability to lose weight. If I had done what I do now, it would have been so much easier. That's why I'm saying it's so frustrating because of what I went through and what you went through. I don't know what you did before, but I'm just saying like, I could have done this three years ago. No, I didn't, you know, see, I didn't really understand. I never had a good understanding of bodybuilding and that's why, you know, I, I won't make

that mistake again. If I didn't do something, I'm not going to say anything about it. Like, um, well, it's not, I won't say anything about it, but I'm not going to say anything about it. Like, well, it's not that I won't say anything about it, but I'm not going to place judgment on it the same way. So like,

being vegetarian, I don't know anything about it. It doesn't, it doesn't sound like a great idea to me, but I've never done it. See,

that's the thing. I wasn't vegetarian, but I was eating like that thinking that that's the only way to do it. Right. I'm just kind of saying like, because,

because I did bodybuilding, I had a certain perspective of it beforehand, and now I have a new perspective of it. So, because I like dabb of saying like, because, because I did bodybuilding, I had a certain perspective of it beforehand and now I have a new perspective of it. So because I like dabbled in it, so I would never, I'm not going to sit here and say like, if you're a vegetarian, you can't build muscle. I don't, I don't know that to be true for myself. I never tried it.

It doesn't sound like a good idea. I wouldn't suggest it to anybody. But the other reason, other reason why I wouldn't suggest to anybody is because I never done it. Right. Right. Like this, you know, people will stay in their own lane a little bit more i won't even write a uh i won't work with somebody on nutrition counseling if they're vegetarian and i always tell them it's

it's not because i don't agree with you like sure if that's what you believe and that's what you want to do great i i support you 100 i have no idea how people are vegetarian and build muscle or stay in shape because you're not eating any protein. To me, that seems to be the most important thing. You know, and again, I might just show my cards as an idiot dietician, but I'm not a dietician. I'm a bodybuilder. Right. But yeah, you got to kind of stay in your lane and stick to the things that you know. What are some other foods that you guys really like other than some of these dessert things and pie?

Oh, oh oh our yogurt or but that's diet stuff oh yeah well you you kind of make like a yogurt almost every night right almost we haven't done it in a little bit but when prep gets really hard and you're craving sweets um it's it's a good tip for everybody out there so good what. What do you do? Go ahead, sweetheart. You tell. Well, like when we're not in prep, we have those sweets. Fine. But when we are prepping and we're in it and you really are craving a sweet and you're not trying to mess everything up, you take a cup of nonfat Greek yogurt. Probably a half a cup for most people.

Sorry. It's been a while. So half a cup. Sorry. That's what I meant. Half a cup for most people. Sorry. It's been a while. So half a cup. Sorry, that's what I meant. Half a cup. And then Doug, because he's so awesome, has so many different kinds of protein powder, so I change it up all the time.

But one of my favorites is chocolate coconut, a scoop of a little bit of that protein powder. And then it's been a while. Mix it up. Pecans. Oh, pecans and put it in the freezer for like 10 minutes such a treat it's like frozen yogurt but so it will harden it hardens but not it's kind of like ice cream gotcha it's great i wonder if it does that because of the whey protein in there i think so and the whey protein what it kind of does i notice and i've noticed it depends on what type of way you you get a different reaction.

I'm going to make some of that. Different proteins give you different textures. Different texture reaction. Like if you use a casein, it kind of comes out like cheesecake, really thick and dense like cheesecake. If you use like a whey isolate, it's much, then you really want to put it in the, it comes out

kind of creamy until you put it in the fridge or the freezer. And then it gets a little harder. Yeah. You ever had that ice cream that you can kind of taste the ice crystals in, like cheap soft syrup? Yeah. That's what it tastes like.

So good. The banana ice cream one was bomb. Yeah, banana ice cream with pecans. That was super good. So good. Or banana protein powder. I was doing that for a while where I would just take, but I never put it in the freezer. So I got to try this freezer trick.

She does that with everything. I put all my sweets in the freezer, all my chocolate in the freezer. Everything's better in the freezer. So I got to try this freezer trick. She does that with everything. I put all my sweets in the freezer, all my chocolate in the freezer. Everything's better in the freezer. Yeah, you want to step it up a notch too, throw some peanut butter in there. I know that that starts to go against your food a little bit. I think we have done that once or twice, but it's just like you said.

Like you said. The whole point of it. As we were making it when I was dieting, I'd be like, man, this would be so good with some toffee bits and granola. So then we had all these plans for after, but I don't think we ever made one of those elaborate ones. Never went too destructive with it. Well, why would you do that when you can just have a brownie? Yeah, we had plans to do that.

But when we got off of prep, we just went ham and got like all the crazy stuff. What are some other things you guys do uh that to keep you on your plan obviously like you got to stick to it you got to be super strict as it comes closer but what what is maybe little tiny bits of freedom that you guys uh enjoy that you that you do oh little secrets like the yogurt i would take a drive that's one of the big things that we do. You know, it's like if she happens to be off work a little early and I have, you know, like say the end of the day, I get off and I don't have to rush home and cook.

We got a couple extra hours. We'll just go drive like down to the beach somewhere, just spend some time. That's one thing that I hate about LA is how difficult it is to like do anything without a plan, right? It takes an hour and a half to do anything. That's why you got to be up at 3 o'clock. So at 5 p.m., you're like, well, what do you want to do, sweetheart?

It's like, you want to go to a movie? No, that'll take too long. No, he'll fall asleep. Exactly. So it's like, but we just take the drive, try to spend some time together. That's really it. Sunset, drive. And then really committing to get up fast together.

Like no snooze. That's one thing that really helps keep us on plan is when we finally decide, all right, no more snooze up right away. It's hard the first two days or so. I like to go, I like to just go for a walk, you know,

sometimes like even with a food craving, a food craving will hit. I'm like, I was going to go for a walk. Normally I go for the walk and I come back and it's gone. And if I, you know, food craving will hit. I'm like, I was going to go for a walk. Normally I go for the walk and I come back and it's gone. Yeah. And if I, you know, if it's still there, then I might have a snack that kind of fulfills whatever that was that I really wanted.

But usually it solves a problem. And I, and I feel like a little energized from it. And then, you know, half hour later I go to bed, but I usually walk with my son or my dad or whatever. And it's fun. That's good. Yeah. He won't walk with me late at night.

I mean, we do sometimes. A lot of times we'll end up going to- I try to get him to go to the hot tub. She loves to go to this hot tub. That's just not something I like to do. What about something like Netflix or something? Oh, every night. Okay.

What are you guys watching? We finished Ozark. That was pretty good. That's a good one. That was a good one. We finished that. We were, yeah. On Hulu, we had Castle Rock recently. Oh, yeah. That's a trippy show. That's a good one. That was a good one. We finished that. On Hulu, we had Castle Rock recently.

Oh, yeah. That's a trippy show. That's a weird, weird show. But usually it's 45 minutes I fall asleep. Yeah, I was going to say, the good thing about us is that we don't, I mean, yeah, we can binge watch Netflix and all that. But Doug is so tired that we can actually stretch Ozarks out. So we'll get one episode a night. Yeah.

Instead of, like, blowing it all up in one night and being like, dang, we have nothing to watch anymore. So he stretches our shows out because he's so tired. That's cool. It takes, like, a week to watch one episode. Sometimes. I feel like it's like, oh, we've got to start that one over. We both fell asleep.

Yeah. Yeah, I haven't finished Ozarks yet, but I started it and I just, I don't know, I think like one of the Marvel shows came out and I just like

stopped watching it all together. Which one? So like Luke Cage or something or Daredevil. Yeah. Those are hella good.

Those are good. Luke Cage was really good. I liked that one. When's the last time you guys rolled through a fast food restaurant? Chick-fil-A. Chick-fil-A.

There it is again. I keep thinking about it. Okay, it was my first time, by the way. Yeah, that's one thing about her. That kind of comes back to where I grew up

as opposed to where she grew up. She literally, until me, had never had an Egg McMuffin. Ever. She was even like,

what is an Egg McMuffin? I was like, are you serious? Sounds gross. But, you know, I mean, I grew up, I love McDonald's. I can admit that even today. I mean, unfortunately, their food is terribly unhealthy. But, you know, McDonald's breakfast, that's awesome.

Oh, my God. You know, come on. I had a McGriddle. On a Big Daddy when they don't make breakfast in time, that's Doug. Oh, yeah. I've made that mistake several times. Yep. Yeah, I think they serve it like all day now or something.

Yeah, now it's all day. 24 hours. All day grossness. Yeah. It's so good. But even just a cheeseburger, you know? Oh, yeah. A damn cheeseburger from McDonald's is really good.

Even though it's a cheap-ass burger, but just like, for me, I'm so used to that flavor from when I was a kid. That combination of the ketchup and the mustard and the pickles and everything. Quarter pounder with cheese, man. That's my favorite. You guys are gross. We are gross. McDonald's is disgusting.

You guys were talking about burgers before? Yeah. I mean, but we, you know, that's what LA does. Has a burger. All the burgers. The Habit Burger. The Calender. You know, and that's one thing I've always liked to go find really good burgers.

What about just making a burger at home? You guys mess with that sometimes? Try to just make a killer burger at your house? Or you don't mess with it too much? No, we usually go out for a badass burger. I mean, I'll cook. I really won't eat steak out, especially like most of the time. So when we cook steak, I'll make her a good steak.

He makes an amazing steak. Can you eat red meat on your diet usually? Oh, yeah. I always have at least one meal of red meat in. You said you like fish a lot too, salmon? That's an amazing steak. Can you eat red meat on your diet usually? Oh yeah. Yeah. I always have at least one meal of red meat in. You said you like fish a lot too, salmon? That's salmon. But I kind of count salmon as a red meat. I use it kind of the same because I usually eat grass fed beef.

Yeah. And so it's omega-3s and I know they're not exactly the same, but you know, in my diet, I'll use those two as somewhat of a similar type fatty protein. But yeah, red meat most of the time for dinner. You know, steak and eggs is a staple for me for dinner. Yeah. Steak and eggs is delicious. I love that shit. It's the best. He's been broiling it. Yeah.

Broil a flank steak and it's going to be rice and eggs. It comes out really nice. Quick. Flank steak is tough. Amazing. Unless you make it right. What do you guys have coming up? What's next? You're talking about prepping for a show right yeah i'm eight weeks off from the nationals we're gonna do the npc nationals and like i said i i i told you in the gym earlier it's like well we started this with the usas in july um didn't do the north americans in august but we're we're gonna make a run at the nationals and that's

about as far as i've gotten as far as, career, I really want to see what happens in nationals. I mean, we've made a lot of changes with the camp, you know, Charles, Charles Glass is, is coaching me about full-time now, hired a nutritionist, um, Jason Thiebold, um, and, and just hoping that, that we can really fine tune. Is, uh, Jason in Los Angeles as well? Jason is not. Jason's actually in Kentucky.

Okay. Um, but I met him through Charles. He was actually in town and trained with Charles and Charles recommended him to me. So that was pretty much the only thing I needed to tell me to go that way. It's interesting having somebody help you with the nutrition.

Cause like I had, you know, the honor of having Hany work with me and it was like every two or three days, something would change. You know, I had to keep going, buying new food and I'm like, shit, man, I just bought a bunch of stuff that he told me to get. And now here I am changing stuff. It wasn't drastic changes. It's usually small.

And a lot of times it was just like cutting something out or whatever. But, um, and every once in a while I'd send him pictures. Cause that was kind of a big thing. Do you have to send the guy pictures a bunch? Yeah. Twice a week. Yeah. So I'd send him, send him pictures and, uh, he'd be like, go eat a giant steak tonight

and, you know, a huge ash, uh, potato with tons of sour cream. Like he just wanted me to have extra calories every once in a while. And another time he would look and he's like, you got it. We had to cut the carbs down even more. I'm like, fuck. Yeah. You know? So it was just kind of dependent on how, you know.

How you, yeah. Well, how I looked. And the interesting thing was, is I think that he thought I wasn't really able to send him that good of pictures. Like I just, just like the lighting and just like wherever I was in my house or whatever, it wasn't great. So when we actually met in person and the contest was closer, he was like, oh, it's like, shit, you're in way better shape than I thought.

You know? So I was like, yeah, man, you're starving me over here. I need some, I need some damn calories, you know, I'm dying. And that's, that, what you're touching on, though, that's something I didn't have at all this year. Um, I really tried to prep myself on my own

and I did so for those two shows. Um, and I feel like I did a, you know, a pretty acceptable job. I feel like I did well, but that was one thing Charles really said. He was like, look, man, you need a nutrition coach. He said, he said,

I, I never even did a show without a nutrition coach. Charles told me that and I was like, really? He's like, yeah, man,

I tried myself once and I looked at myself and said, what the hell did I do wrong here? God damn it. And so, so you need that.

And, um. Charles, please. He's the best. It's awesome. And it really, you know, it's true. Like, you feel like if you're trying to do it yourself, those last few weeks, no matter how hard you try to maintain control, there are moments of, I always call it like a momentary lapse of reason or clarity.

It's like, you're like, what the hell was I thinking there? And you can't tell. You can't tell when those things happen, when they don't happen. And then after a while, you're like, I don't even know. Am I flat? Am I full? Am I what? Who helped me?

So it'll be nice to have a coach to really take that worry away you know on the nutrition side and that's something i have not had and nobody has been as professional as as jason seems to to be method wise you know he's got a lot of and a lot of times these guys are smart and they're super positive because they understand the frame of mind that you start to get into. And, uh, that's what honey was doing the whole time for me. He was just like overly positive all the time. And, um, I, I found that to really, really help, you know, when you got somebody, you know, even, even if he saw something that, that didn't look right or whatever he did, it was never negative.

It was always like, um, it was like, Hey, let's, let's, uh, on the day you do shoulders, let's have you, uh, eat a little bit more carbs let's, let's, uh, on the day you do shoulders, let's have you, uh, eat a little bit more carbs. Cause he wanted my shoulders to fill out. He's probably thinking, oh, shoulders look like shit, but he didn't say that. He was like, let's pump up your shoulders more. Let's get after it more. Like when you're training shoulders, go ahead and go heavy and go hard.

And you know, then, then that's a way different message and saying, oh my God, you look like shit. Well, you know, you tell that to a bodybuilder, you'll ruin his, not only his day, you'll ruin his week. Get in that head. Yeah. You'll mess up everything. Cause it's just such a,

it's, it's a, what I told people is like a full court press 24 seven. Like it's so much activity. Um, and not just the cardio and not just the lifting, but the, the food,

uh, is really a hard thing. And when you go through the day and it takes you two hours to meal prep and it takes you, um, all this time to actually eat too. That's one thing that people don't realize. Then when you eat this amount, you're going to be pooping a lot more. There's a lot of things that, that take, that take a long ass time. You know, when you're doing all this stuff, this is the transformation right here.

Boom. Wow. This is the video I saw right before you were getting ready for the show i was i was so excited to see it i looked at this and i was like holy cow isn't that weird it's amazing so i never it's like i never i know about bodybuilding obviously i've been around for a long time i've you know and i've done i i've done some bodybuilding movements and i and i pushed it before I've done drop sets and supersets and stuff, but I've never had a full concentration of multiple bodybuilding

workouts strung together. And I, I just did not understand or know the impact it could have. You and I were talking to the gym earlier today and I was like, somebody could say, oh, I'm going to go on a, you know, a nutrition plan. And I started, you know, eating better. And I started training and you're like, oh, that's cool. And maybe you see them, you know, a nutrition plan and I started, you know, eating better and I started training and you're like, oh, that's cool. And maybe you see them, you know, two months from now, three months from now, and you do notice, okay, they dropped a couple pounds. Hey, that's great for you. But if somebody said they're bodybuilding and you don't see them for three months, when

you see them the next time you go, holy shit, man, you put some weight, you put some muscle on your traps. You got your chest is filling out. Like what, what the hell are you doing? You know, like you changed in three months, you know, it's, it's pretty crazy. It really is. And the things that can happen, that's probably what motivates me more than anything when it comes to a bodybuilding prep, you know, because people always ask, you know, what, what keeps you going? What keeps the fire going?

And to me, it's watching your body change. And the more rapid and drastic the changes are, the crazier it gets and the more you want to do. It's like, if you go into the posing room one day and you see something you want to fix, then you go into the posing room two days later and it's already fixed because of all the work you put in. Well, you know that every other thing you're going to, you see the needs to change. You're going to attack it with the same amount of fervor because you already have information that it changed. Something changed have the power so let's go change all these things i couldn't believe it you know i'd go in the posing room and there would be something new that's amazing each time and i'm

like what i'm like what the hell this is you know i am working hard but i didn't even know this was possible actually the guy i'm working out in this video um is uh somebody that i think you got into bodybuilding. DJ Webb? Yeah, so DJ. He's in the Air Force? Yeah, so when he was in Albuquerque. In New Mexico. Brian Raphael got him into bodybuilding just like Doug. That's so cool.

So DJ Webb is a member of the Air Force, and he actually started training at Super Training probably about two and a half, three years ago. Right. And he uh, he's become a huge part of our team and a huge part of super training and he's become a great friend. Uh, unfortunately recently he got, uh, his, he changed, he changed jobs. So he had to move, um, uh, to Texas. So he's kind of moved all over the place for the Air Force. Yeah. But I think Doug, I think you got him into bodybuilding, right? Well, no, it was actually Brian, the same guy that got me into bodybuilding. I remember he was at, it was Define Fitness in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

He was there when I first had, you know, come out of all my trouble. He's dying right now, by the way. He's probably listening to this. He's probably so excited that we're talking about it. He loves watching that. As soon as we went live, he checked in to say, what's up? Well, what's up, DJ? How are you?

Yeah, I came in the gym and it was Brian who I remember Brian. He was the most ridiculous man I'd ever seen at the time. He wore the shortest shorts, bald. He was Egyptian. He's Egyptian. And just, I mean, shredded and on fire excited about everything. I mean, this guy, I saw him and was like, oh, my God, that's Superman. This is so exciting.

And DJ and another guy were his training partners, and they were both larger than anybody I'd ever seen. And DJ was pretty big at the time too, right? I mean, I remember all three of those guys were real bodybuilders. Yeah. You know, and I was just so excited. And Brian was the guy that came up to me probably while he was training with them. He was like, hey, man, have you ever thought about competing?

And I was like, I am much too tall and much too skinny to ever think about that. He just kind of laughed at me. But yeah, it was Brian. And I remember DJ very well. I remember he was in the air force and then he ended up moving. And right after he moved is kind of when I got into training with Brian a little bit more, but

that's, that's so cool. Yeah. Small world. He actually reached out to me after the first podcast and we talked a little bit. I thought that was so cool. Awesome. Um, so, uh, the next question is nice little

hoppy. Yeah. He liked that. I should have You should have I was afraid I'd fall I'm all lubed up And tanned and everything

Any plans on On getting married You guys ever You guys ever chat about that We have chatted about You're not supposed to laugh buddy No we're just I'm shocked

I laughed because of her face Because we talk a lot We talk about it, yeah. I mean, and definitely I think if there was anybody that it was going to happen with, it would definitely be Danielle. Which is why it's so shocking because I've never talked about it with anybody. That's great. Yeah, so.

All I know is, you know, every day with her gets better and we learn more about ourselves and each other. Yeah. And I kind of touched on it before, but I've told my mother. She's going to cry. cry no it happens often what is it uh what did you say earlier you said um oh you said you said i never really found another woman that i could actually really work out with yeah and her eyes just lit up she's like he's never and she's like she doesn't admit it when we're like she goes he never said that before. Such a competitor. He can't let you get a one-up on him.

I like hearing him talk to you guys because then I'm like, oh, that's what you really think. You're like, wait, he actually cares about me. I had no idea. I knew it. I thought he just liked me because I cook chicken good. I knew he liked training with me. Next time we get in a fight, I'm just going to tap on the guy next to me and be like, hey, she's really awesome, isn't she? That'll solve all my problems. If I tell it to her,

she'll believe me. No, he's probably saying this so that he could turn this podcast on and be like, listen to this. Yeah. When he's farting in the middle of the night and waving it your way, he can say, no, I actually care about you. No, she just buys me candles for my birthday. And points

the fans, like, pointing it in the direction away from me. Give you some hints here and there, right? Yeah. Mahogany. There's no hinting. I like that for your birthday you did, like, hack squats. Oh, that's one thing.

I don't remember when I started that, but. Oh, it's a thing. Yeah, birthday squats, man. I love to squat. I don't even, not even so much because I think it might make me have big legs. More so because I just love the way it feels. It's fun. And, you know, so yeah, I'd squat on my birthday.

But you texted me on Monday and said, can we do legs on Friday? I know. I wanted to get that out to you early. Oh, shit, I could mess up his training. Yeah, it was a smart thing to do. And so because of that, I knew that I couldn't squat on Tuesday. So I had to hack squat. There you go.

But yeah, Aaron Reed actually came up to me and he goes, he goes, hey, what are you doing for your birthday? And I said, well, hack squat. Oh, man. Brutal. Oh, that was beautiful. That's a good machine. Remember that one, Andrew?

I didn't actually get on that one. That thing's devastating. This guy. What about kids? You guys have a desire to have i mean you know obviously you one thing at a time right start with the dog but to you guys to uh would you ever like to have children doug i definitely you know one thing i always say is that my father was not necessarily what i would picture as you know what a father should be and so because

of that i feel like i'd be pretty adept at being a good father and I would like to have that opportunity. But I'm really trying to live my life like we'll see what God has in store. And honestly, that's something I work on in myself. Just be like, let's see what's coming. Just do the best we can. But yes, kids are something I think about often

and I would love to have a kid or maybe two. I don't know. That's about enough. What about you, Danielle? Yeah, I mean, I'm great with kids. But like I said, I never... It seems so scary for a woman. I never...

No. I don't know if I'd want to like... I don't know. It seemed like you just kind of ruined your body. I'd be like, I don't know about this. About that, yeah, I don't know. But as far as being a mother, I feel like i'd make an amazing mom that's cool and doug finds very amusing to joke around all the time about like oh hey come on i joke around the kitchen and running around keeping it clean

i like the fact if i had kids i could tell them to clean the kitchen. Be like, you better clean that shit for your mom. We got meal prep tomorrow. No, I do. I've never thought about it before with somebody else. I mean, never, ever. Very cool. I always thought like I'd be like a single mom. I'm kind of afraid that we're going to have to make the choice of we're going to stay in L.A.

or have kids in a family because I don't even really understand how people do that. In LA. Well, we moved, you know, my, you know, we, we, my wife and I moved and. You lived in LA? I lived in LA for a long time. I didn't know that. I lived in LA for like a decade or so. Okay.

And, uh, yeah, I mean, I learned a lot of stuff there and it was, it was, it was a great place to live. It was, it was, it was a great place to live. I also kind of always understood, like it was a great place for me to live at the time. Um, because I was young and I didn't really understand everything that was going on. I was just too young to really digest a lot of it and probably just, just too into, you know, lifting and other things to really pay attention. But I never, I never got, I never fell into the LA trap, which is the LA trap is why does she have this? And why does he have that? And why, oh man, he's got a new car and he's got it.

Luckily, I didn't stick around there long enough to, and I think a lot of people do. And a lot of people that are at Gold's are kind of like, they're stuck in like a time warp, you know, and they haven't had the opportunity. Or maybe they have had the opportunity, but haven't really gotten outside the gym to make a lot of, to make progress, you know, to kind of, I'm sure that some of them had some hopes and dreams that they maybe wanted to follow. And he, you know, I'm just like, when I, when I go there, I, I love all these people. I really do. I have a lot of respect for them, but I feel like they've been in the same spot for a long time. And I'm like, man, I traveled a long way from the last time I was here, you know, and I've come a long distance and I've made a lot of progress. And I think these guys are kind of, unfortunately, some of them are in the same spot. Well, that's something that I, as I've been around Gold's a lot, I, that's something that I've

kind of seen as well. And, you know, people always tell you, especially when they don't think you're actually going to be, you know, a bodybuilder forever, when you're first starting, especially, you know, I'm going to be a professional bodybuilder. This is what I'm going to do. You know, and they're like, well, make sure you have a plan B Doug, you know, and it's like, okay, that makes sense, but I really don't want to do anything else. So now the challenge for me has become, how do I make my plan B still work in here? How can I develop my plan B and make it conducive to what I'm doing plan A wise? And that's what I think a lot of people don't do when they go to gold. Just, you know, you focus on these hopes and dreams. Yeah. Like, okay, you're gonna come in here. You're, you got a

good physique. You're going to win some shows, maybe try to do some acting and, you know, hopefully turn out like Dwayne Johnson. Well, there's only one of those guys, you know, but I get just as much satisfaction out of training clients in that gym as I do, you know, training myself. So I feel like that's, that's the way I'm going to try as hard as I can, knock on wood to avoid that pitfall of being that guy is making my plan A and my plan B be the same. I look at like somebody like Tito Raymond and I feel that even though he's been physically in the same location, I feel like somebody like him has made a lot of progress. Oh, Tito is my. You know, he's known as one of the best trainers in there. He has a beautiful family.

He takes care of his kids and his wife and seems like he's got everything together. And even more recently, he's, even though he's training people inside of Gold's, he's kind of, you know, learned that that's its own separate business and that's a profession and i'm sure he learned it long ago but he takes it very serious and i'm like okay you know that that guy when i knew him uh you know 20 years ago and when i was coming around here he was just kind of training people on the side now he's made it like a real this is like this is my thing and i think that's that's wonderful I not, it's not always for everybody to kind of make those jumps and, and come to those conclusions, but you just want to see that from your friends. You want to see them kind of strive.

You want to, you want to see them kind of be more. Like what we were talking about earlier. I just want to see people do something well. Whatever it is, find a passion and do it well. And you know, it's funny you mentioned Tito. I think there was a time probably like five, six months ago, I was, I came home and I told her, I said, you know, if I could just live my life like Tito Raymond, I wouldn't have it because you're right. He has made an extremely good and comfortable life for himself out of training clients at Gold's Gym.

And you know, he never went pro like his brother. He could have, but he decided not to. But you know, just because he's a perfect example, he didn't follow that path to the IFBB like Jose did, but I mean, he's had just as much success. He's been in all the magazines, trained all the people and he's made a great life for himself and has a good family as an upstanding member of that community. One of the big staples of that, that to me is almost more successful than anything else I could do, you know, in the IFBB. Well, he's somebody that commands respect, right?

Everybody respects the guy and that's like a really awesome thing to have. That's, I mean, that's the coolest part. I, you know, training now that I work at Gold's full time, just being around all the trainers. I mean, Tito, Charles obviously runs a business out of there. You got, you know, I mean, tons of people I'm forgetting. But each one of these people, I mean, there's a guy in there who's been in gold since 1963. He was a world champion mountain biker for the 70 and over class for like 10 years.

It's like, these are the people that I now call my colleagues. Yeah. They're friends. They're all somebody to be respected and somebody that commands respect. And that's just so cool. You know, that's just just that's why i'm here last thing what do you want people to know about you man i just what do i want people to know about me that uh i am just a normal guy um you know built just the same as everybody else and i just

really love to work hard i guess and if anybody else feels that way they should get in touch with me and we'll figure out how to do it the most effective way possible and have fun doing it. That's really all my life. That's all I really want it to be about. What will it mean to you to be a IFBB pro? You know, for me, that will just, it'll signify more than anything that I actually stuck something through and finished it because even still at this time, I mean, we're running seven years now as a bodybuilder, you know, like actually focused full time on it. You know, that's the longest I've ever done something consistently without saying, ah, fuck this. Let's go try something else. You know, I equate it to like playing a video game when you were, when I was a kid and playing video games,

there was, I was very quick to restart, restart, restart. And that's something that stuck with me throughout my life. And now I finally let that go and it's like, all right, I got a good thing going here. Let's keep it going. So for me, it'll just, that'll be my, you know, that'll really be my first professional achievement. Right. And that's something that I, I will hold near and dear to my heart, but mainly for myself. Right. That's what it'll mean for me.

That's cool. Do you think, you know, once you get the pro card, do you think there'll be the desire to keep pushing and pushing and pushing? Or do you think maybe you'll do a couple of shows after kind of see where you place and then maybe just. Oh no, man. I ride shit till the wheels fall off. There's no other way to do it besides all the

way, you know, I'll do it until I can't, until I either can't afford it or can't lift weights anymore. Awesome. This is my life. I don't even, if I don't go pro, I'll still do it all forever. That makes sense.

All right, that's all the time we got. Awesome for having you guys on the show. Where can people find you on Instagram and wherever else you guys are? My Instagram is at Douglas Fruchet. And mine is at Nella, which is N-E and six L's and an A. That's a lot of L's. Yep. And you can always reach me on my email

is DougFrusche at gmail. You can always reach me there if you have a longer question, but however you want to get in touch with me, man, reach out. Let's talk. Guys, Doug has overcome a lot. Hopefully you guys have listened to the first podcast where he talked about overcoming drug addictions. I'm proud to call him

a friend. Awesome having you guys here at Super Training Gym. It was a great squat workout tomorrow. We'll bang out some shoulders and have some more fun. Strength is never a weakness. Weakness never strength. Catch y'all later.