Mark Bell's Power Project - Power Project EP. 95 - Mike Ryan

Episode Date: August 16, 2018

Celebrity trainer Mike Ryan, aka "The Muscle Critic", dropped by Mark Bell's Malibu house for another podcast. Mike has trained Brad Pitt, The Rock, Mickey Rouke and many more. As with a majority of the previous guests we've had on here in LA, you can find Mike at Gold's Gym Venice on a daily basis, usually wearing extremely short shorts. ➢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

speech every single day i just hear this noise and i'm like what the fuck what is that and i turn around as mike ryan open up the garage door at gould's gym still wow how's that your job it's been since what 90 what's that what year is it 28 years later and the official you know what it's you get pissed if you see it open already uh no. I'm kind of thankful. But it's funny. I don't know what. They lock it because they don't want people to open it. Because there was one time one of the guys. Just keep the mic a little closer.

Are we live now? I think so. All right. So we're just talking. Gold Jim, early in the morning while he opened the gates. I take it as my personal responsibility. This is my job, goddammit. It's my job, goddammit.

I'm here to open the gate. No one else will. That's the problem. And that's the problem with Gold Gym. Everyone walks around with blinders. Yeah. Like, Mike's in there at 4 o'clock. If it's 1,000 degrees, open the gate.

It's a no-brainer. But people just rather bitch about it. Ah, fucking gates are shut. It's humid in here. It smells. Yeah. Okay, open the gate. Yeah.

People walk around with blinders all day long. You can tell in that gym It smells. Yeah. Okay. Open the gate. People walk around with blindness all day long. You can tell in that gym because people don't put their shit away. Shit all over the place. The floors are mass. I mean, does that happen in your gym? No. Absolutely not. I mean, so years ago you were the manager of this.

I mean, it's hard to describe Gold's Gym. It's hard to pin it down and explain it to people. But I went in there at around 6 o'clock on just a random day, like a Wednesday or something. And it was fucking insane. I mean, they have more equipment and more space than probably any gym in the world. There might be a gym or two bigger, but it's got to be one of the biggest.

Correct. It has been for years and years. And do they get their equipment for free a lot of times? Well, years ago, it was the most, it was the best equipped gym in the world. When I was there, it wasn't a corporate structure like it is now. So back then it was, whatever happened in Venice,

they could replicate, other gyms want to replicate. So as a manufacturer, you come and you donate your equipment. You would donate your top 10, 12, 15 pieces. And so the gym had new equipment from every manufacturer switched out every six months. And as a manufacturer, like they would call me, Mike, I got 10 potential gym owners from across the country. We're going to fly in Wednesday.

Okay, Wednesday. So I'd see Flex Wheel. I'd see Shaquille O'Neal. I would see Magic Johnson. I would see someone. I'd be like, hey, between 10 and 11, you guys mind training on the Hammer Strength equipment? They'd be like, no.

These guys would fly out, Hammer Strength, they show all their stuff. And of course, as a gym owner, you're like, oh my God, you get the best bodybuilders. You get the best athletes. You got Kobe Bryant. I have to have this for my gym. So it was a no-brainer for the manufacturers.

And for us, it was great. I mean, we had, every year, you're getting over a million dollars worth of equipment. That's insane. Yeah. Do you think it works that way anymore or probably not? Potentially, I think there could be. That gym could do it because of the clientele. You've been there.

The clientele goes in there. I mean, on any day, you can see Arnold Schwarzenegger. Even Dwayne would go there. I got to meet Arnold today. Yeah. How cool is that? It was great. Isn't it?

It was emotional. When he walked away, I got kind of choked up. I was like, I finally met him. I met him in passing a bunch of times, but I actually had a couple seconds to talk to him. I was like, you just feel weird because you're like, I can't explain to the guy like what he's done but he must already know yeah oh i know it's funny because over the last couple years i've established quite a friendship and to this day like my my morning story i said i don't know this is my girlfriend he's like what do you mean you got a girlfriend he goes all these

years with us together why would you you know what i mean and i just start cracking up i mean he's such a ball buster such a funny guy you know what i mean yeah yeah he just kept going he's like no no that ain't for real come on that ain't for real you know what i mean it's just and it's so awesome and every time i leave you know what i mean i'll be like my god it's like arnold's like my good friend that is so fucking cool he's been over his house and stuff yeah he invited me for thanksgiving dinner you know what i mean it was just me him him, his girlfriend, and his son, and his nephew. Is it really different because of his status, or is it the same as having Thanksgiving dinner anywhere else? Oh, I'm always on. You know what I mean? The good thing about Arnold, he likes unwind with some wine, you know what I mean? But he makes you feel so... He makes

me feel at home all the time, you know what I mean? You come, and it's just like coming to see you. Hey, how you doing? Are you looking sloppy? You know what I mean? It's like awesome. You should send me right away. I feel right at home. You know what I mean? You're not uptight. Yeah, it's terrific. And his house is insane. He's got dogs that run around. He has a miniature horse named Whiskey. And Whiskey just, you're sitting there, I hear clip, clip, clip, clip, clip. The horse is just walking through the kitchen. The horse is in the house? Yes. And the horse will just walking through the kitchen the horse is in the house yes and the horse will go up to the kitchen it'll go up to this go up to the counter and like take food off and just walk away and i'd be like there's a horse that walk he's a oh whiskey come on you're eating dinner

already you know what i mean it's funny that's amazing yeah when you have that kind of money and people are like you can't have a horse in your house. He's like, fuck you, I can too. Of course I can, absolutely. He loves animals so much that every part I've been to, he hires wranglers for animals. So Christmas party, he walked out, there was all reindeer. And then if you were like of Jewish faith, he had camels. You know what I mean? And then he walked in, there was porcupines, there was eagles, there was alligators, he has penguins in his pool

there's shit running around the whole time it's fucking awesome you know what i mean it's just hilarious that is pretty wild what do you think something that separates him out from like all the other people that you've met before in your life have you noticed anything in hanging out with them where you're like that's different one thing because when you're when you're around really successful people and a lot of people are just kind of like, well, I'm so successful, I don't hold anyone's knowledge or anyone else's opinion as value. When Arnold talks to me, he always asks me for sometimes advice or what do I think of this, and I'm like, wow, that's pretty fucking intense.

This guy was the governor. If there wasn't any laws, I think he would have been a president. Oh, yeah, I agree. Super smart and level-headed and even-keeled. And he always, even when random people talk to him. He's always seeking out knowledge. Yeah, all the time. That's interesting.

It is. And he loves American history. He studies presidents. He has a wall, probably the size of this bedroom in the bathroom together, just painted with every president on it in his house. And he studies Abraham Lincoln. You know what I mean? He wants to make himself better all the time because I go there.

He plays chess to keep his mind sharp, and he just reads about the most intellectual, smartest people that I know that he reads and studies. That's really cool. Yeah. He hates Trump. Oh, he hates Trump. Yeah, I hear the rants.

Well, you know, it's not so much that he hates him. He yeah i hear the rant well you know it's not it's not so much that he hates him he just doesn't it's hard to respect a guy sometimes when yeah he doesn't like when arnold see see how see thing you know arnold's in politics he sees how it how it can be you know you can't be so in your face about things but but that's trump's method whether it works or not you know i mean the country we still have to find out but yeah he but there's so many issues that he'd be like why are you doing it this way don't do it that way you know and arnold's a learned man he has experience behind him so you train some of the most successful people in the world successful in terms of their career and sex successful in terms of monetary you know what

they've been able to reach uh financially i guess um what are some like behaviors that you've seen in some of these people that are good and what are some behaviors that you've seen in some of these people that are good? And what are some things that you've seen in these people that are like, I'd rather not even really go towards that because you give up a lot, right? Definitely. Well, of course, it's always the drive. Very successful people have a drive. And sometimes when you have that innate drive, you tend to neglect people in your life you know i mean it just happens whether you get so focused whether you get diverted etc there's there's people that maybe were there at the beginning but whatever but you tend to just kind of wash them out and i see that with other people like weren't you guys buddies

like a year ago i don't want to talk about that you probably see it a lot at gold's oh yeah it's absolutely kind of a family even though there's probably 100,000 members or something like that. I know, right. It's kind of a family environment in some way. Yeah, I know. And the things I admire most is their drive. Like every successful person I ever worked with always wanted to be in the gym either

four or five, six or seven. And I'd be like, me and my brother would be like, that guy's got so much loot. Why is he getting up so early? You know, we used to crack up about it. You know, your brother would be like, why are you getting up at five for this guy? He's got so much loot. You know, driven guys are just driven all the time.

Yeah, why doesn't he just waltz in here at two? Yeah, right, totally. You know what I mean? Get up, have a massage, do this and that. Fucking sleep in, buddy. Right, totally. Fucking get some rest. Yes.

Even when they're retired, they still have the same work habits, same habits of just getting up early and attacking the day. I think it's like a fear. get some rest yes even even when they're retired they still have the same work habits same same habits of just yeah getting up early and attacking the day i think it's like a fear like i think you think that if you is same thing with your training you know if you don't get your i saw you squatting today and uh i think around the time i left you might have had about three plates on there but your legs are already big they're already shaven they're already jacked and tanned they they don't they don't really need, they probably don't need the 405. They probably don't need the next big weight on there.

But you're like, no, that's how I work out. Yeah. 100-pound dumbbell curls and stuff. You're right. That's a good way to put it. It is a fear. Yeah. It's a fear of, like, if I don't do it, will I collapse?

Will I fall apart? Will my image be tarnished? How is it, you know, getting older? You're 50 what? 52 now you're 52 are there a lot of a lot of things that have changed from the time you were you know 22 like food wise and things like that you gotta watch well the biggest thing is uh you know and everyone talks about it's just the aches and pains and injuries things happen for stupid reasons you're

pretty mummied up and slingshot stuff oh lot of times. Oh my God. Knees, ankles, elbows, everything. Like send me more stuff. I'm dying over here. All the time. And that's because I always want to push myself as heavy as I can go. And one of the things I hate getting diversion, the subjects, like there's so many older guys and they always tell me, you don't have to train that hard anymore. And I'm like, why wouldn't I?

Why wouldn't I? You're like, fuck you. I'm going to burn your house down. No, I just, I'm just perplexed by the question. the question i'm like if you can why don't you train that hard oh because you'll get hurt i mean you get her across the street i don't worry about that i want to train as hard as i can until i can't train anymore i don't want to be like sitting back like oh fuck in my 50s i really should have pushed it before i got in my 60s you know get motivated seeing a batch of young kids

coming in there all the time and you see someone like you know bench 100 pound dumbbells for some reps and you're like i'm doing that next absolutely 20 reps instead i take it i take it personal yeah you know what i mean i'm like you little fucker this is my gym totally you don't know what i've been through you little cock suck i'm gonna fucking bury you it is i take it totally personal where'd some of that competitiveness come from? Did that come from? Just growing up. You know what I mean?

Growing up, it's funny. When you're traveling around the world, you know what I mean? You go to other countries and you live in other countries and you deal with other cultures. We are of such a competitive nature, especially as a young male in junior high, high school. Right. It's competitive. You know what I mean? And if you didn't start, you're ostracized. And your and your buddies would shit on you i mean that's just how it is

you know my dad when we're playing football if i didn't start he'd beat the hell out of me you know it just everyone was so competitive but the whole neighborhood was competitive your friends growing up were competitive you know and it just i think that competitive stay with me till this day did you uh run into any of the guys at the gym that are now out here from Massachusetts? Because there's like Tito Raymond and the Raymond brothers. Did you know them

before? No, I didn't know them. I was older than them. But the funny thing, Tito played at an all-star football team, and my coach was his coach for the all-star game. So my coaches would come out all the time. They were fun, crazy guys. And they'd be like, oh, this cat this cat tito he's really funny he's really fun then tito finally made out here because he was a bodybuilder back east yeah and then he came to venice and i was like oh my coaches were raving about you said you were coming out yeah yeah and you uh pbitty

massachusetts right and there's been a lot of people that have come out from there there's been uh you know john cena is from massachusetts as well um is there something about jay cutler yeah jay cutler you know what i mean yeah it's i always describe it people like oh you fucking assholes you know what i mean yeah it's one of the smallest states but has the biggest attitude you know what i mean we're just like the little stepbrother that just doesn't want to be ignored you know we're the joe pesci's of the country i mean look at the patriots you know the patriots kind of embrace that uh that just the that, just the way the city is, right? Yeah, it is. It's usually us against everybody.

You go back there here and there? Oh, yeah. I was just back there a couple weeks ago, 4th of July. Oh, cool. Yeah, it's good. My mom and dad are still, my mom and dad, my dad's still, he's still fit. He walks on, he's late 70s. He used to lift?

Oh, yeah. He was a big son of a bitch. That's how he got in training. He had. He used to lift? Oh, yeah. He was a big son of a bitch. Yeah? That's how he got in training. He had weights down in a cellar in our basement. That's great. Yeah, my dad had a great story. He grew up in the projects of Revere.

Revere is a city just north of Boston. And he didn't have a dad, but my grandmother was this fiery redhead, you know, typical Irish lady that this big mafia boss dated. You know what I mean? It's like my grandmother was his side piece. So he kind of adopted my dad as his son. So my dad grew up in this crazy mafia lifestyle. You know what I mean?

He has stories upon stories. It's just unbelievable. And where we grew up, we grew up in a triple-decker right off the freeway in Revere, right from the Boston, right from the airport. You know what I mean? So there was two empty units, and it was me, my two brothers, my mom and dad. We had the top floor of this ratty old house.

And underneath was just all gangsters. And when we were kids, you know what I mean? You go to the roof. Do you recognize any of this stuff? Or are you too young? No, yeah, no, I didn't get it. You know what I mean? My brothers were four and five years older. So they had, you know what I mean?

They had a blast. You know what I mean? They're riding in Cadillacs at seven and eight. You know what I mean? It was just wild. But underneath were two empty units. That's insane. Yeah, there were two empty units, but they would just use them to book bets.

So it was nothing but all phones lined up. This, of course, way before the internet and everything. So you had a phone. You had to call New York. You had to call Sarasota. You had to call all these racetracks. And what we would do from where we lived, we could see the results from the horse track. There was the Wonderland dog track and Suffolk Downs horse track.

So all the gangsters were upstairs. We'd run down, tell them who all won. They'd call everywhere. And back then, you'd have to call an operator. Connect me to such and such, Chicago such and such. That's amazing that you guys are involved in this. Totally. So the feds would get hold of you.

They'd be like, all right, this is one little house in Riviera, Mass. That had 900 calls around the world. So they'd bust the house. Yeah. But of course, all the gangsters were tipped off. They were gone. The first floor was nothing but empty papers and pencils. Second floor, nothing.

Then they tried and raided our house. My dad was probably like your dad, had 100 jobs, working all the time. My mother answered the door with me in my diapers. My two little brothers were around. She'd be like, what are you going to do, arrest me? I got fucking kids. Get out of here. We shut the door on them.

They could never, you know what I mean? So nothing could ever be found. It was a fun, super crazy childhood. That does sound crazy. Did your dad teach you how to lift? Absolutely, yeah. He was, and this was my love for wrestling happened. Because when all the wrestlers would come in town,

my dad actually, you know, all the gangsters, my dad blew out walls in his basement and everything. So he had like a gym before like gyms were popular. So he had all these old time wrestlers like Bull Sasso, all these other big name wrestlers show up, you know? So my dad always trained with these guys and he just loved wrestling. He just loved, loved weightlifting. And so when he, so we moved out of the project,

just got a house in Peabody. The first thing he did, he made our basement just a gym. That's awesome. Yeah. And even still like sometime the wrestlers would come in town you know what i mean be like i go work with your dad you know like killer kowalski i mean years ago you know all these old names coming in so when and then of course you know they would all tie it in with the mob and like we're kids we were like we go to the matches you know that was the greatest thing ever you just go to the matches and just love

wrestling as a kid and your ringside and the wrestlers wrestlers knew you through your dad and your affiliations but they'd come and chase you and they want to kill you wrestling is like such a huge thing when you're a kid oh you know like especially in the east coast like out here there was i think there's so many i mean look at you you can go out you sir if you're on the beach all day but a lot of things but we're indoors from october to march i mean you're right there's nothing to do and you you got school, so Saturday and Sunday are off. Saturday, you have Saturday night wrestling. Sunday, all Sunday wrestling. It's interesting living on the East Coast,

being indoors for that long. Oh, yeah. It's dark. It's rainy. It's snowing. It's shitty. And then everyone gets all fired up. They're like, oh, here's the summer,

but everyone's a miserable bastard. Then, too, it's so humid. It's so hot. Oh, I can't wait for winter. Yeah, exactly. I'm never happy. Yeah, we're dying. like oh here's a summer but everyone's a miserable bastard then too it's so human it's so hot oh i can't wait for winter yeah it's never happy yeah we're dying and the only time you're happy but that's what you appreciate about east coast people because they're always fucking miserable and they'll let you know i went back not too long ago i went to a deli and i just kind of forgot just how fast everything is and how it all works and And almost like the soup Nazi in the Seinfeld.

Oh, sure. I went to order something, but I hesitated. I was like, I want to, I don't know. And the guy was like, next. And he went right past me. And I was like, holy shit. I'm like. Ruthless.

I was like, I deserve it. I had the same thing when I went back. I deserved it. I deserved it. Even better, I went back. This is Brother's Deli. All these crazy Greeks. I'm like, I want an egg white omelet.

He's like, what do you mean egg white omelet? I'm like, I want an egg white omelet. He goes, what do I do with the yolk? I'm saying, I don't want the yolk. He's like, no, you eat the yolk. I'm like, I don't want the yolk. He's like, no, no, no. You eat the yolk.

It's good for you. I'm like, no, it's all fat. It's cholesterol. You guys eat the yolk. That's why you're all fat. He's like, oh, no, no. You eat the yolk. And I'm like, I want an egg white omelet.

He's like, no way you're going to want it. He cracks it, puts the yolk in, and he serve it to me. No matter what I wanted, he wasn't changing. That's amazing. And I just love that attitude. It's fucking hilarious. It kills me.

It's even funnier. Did you just eat it? I had to. I had to. And they're cracking up. He's like, yeah, we told you to eat the yolk. I'm like, of course you told me, because you didn't cook the egg whites.

It's just that gruff it's rough east coast attitude yeah i went to the red socks with my girlfriend she's a little younger you know so so out in california you always see older guys with young chicks it's just how it is so i go to take it you know give the guy my ticket he's like ah i love daddy daughter day at the park i'm like you son of a bitch he didn't care no he didn't give a shit he just totally crushed me he didn't care if it started a fight he was he was just going all in when somebody says something that funny though oh i had to laugh i thought it was hilarious yeah well and then also it's like it's kind of a pat on the back yeah right i know good for you good

for me you got a you got a younger lady right so when you were uh do you remember what it was like when you lifted in uh in that cellar do you remember kind of like the setup did you guys have good weights did you have absolutely yeah my dad waited on the train for weeder weights we had real cast iron metal plates they were awesome how did he know yeah i know yeah i know right yeah well he just you know because uh you have the magazines around oh totally absolutely yeah we that's that weeder it was just called muscle back then wasn't muscle and fitness it wasn't flex it was just muscle yeah and he yeah he had all the weights and he put mirrors on the on the walls and of course when you do that every kid in the neighborhood wanted to show up you know what

i mean right so we were like we had like a a bodybuilding club you know people forget how valuable the mirror is oh totally like a lot of guys you know power lifters especially they'll be like all right you know but if when you can actually watch yourself and it's it's a lot more accurate than a video you ever notice on a video when you go and you see yourself moving around some of these heavy dumbbells yeah you don't see the jerkiness you don't see yourself shaking and all this crap but if you can watch yourself you're like oh my god i'm pushing totally with my left leg and not pushing with my right. That's a good point, yeah.

You've been powerlifting for years. They have the power of the mirror. Yeah, powerlifters, they very rarely. Because every time they look in the mirror, they shatter. Yeah, because they're too fat. They don't want to look at it. How did you build up the quads? How did you build up these legs?

You know, my dad, for my 15th birthday, he bought me squat racks you know what i mean and he's great totally he was he was just he was i can picture you crying like oh you shouldn't present ever i can't believe it he was lifting bell i know yeah of course i mean whenever whenever i made money for summer jobs i'd buy something you know i mean i buy gym equipment i was the first kid in football to buy a helmet i mean back then you know they always had those ridell suspension shit things all of a sudden bike came out these bike helmets i'm like oh my god i watched like alabama on saturday mornings they had these bike helmets with the two straps i'm like i gotta find one so i went to this this sporting goods store like i don't even know where the hell it was medford or boston or south

boston or something you know what i mean saved all my money and yeah then i showed up for school year and wasn't it was a different call and the coach was like the fuck are you wearing i go it's a bike helmet get used to it he's like all right it's cool my brother was all into that it's all into like customizing the mask and everything and he had the visor on there remember the teams that you'd go against and they'll hold that big neck roll oh yeah and they had the pads over top or that their jersey over top of the neck roll oh yeah and they had the pads over top of or that their jersey over top of the neck roll and everyone just looks so jacked from the 49 and then everybody had the sleeves all like rolled up and everything back when you were playing some of the guys were probably doing almost like the half shirt oh that's that high school we had the half shirts yeah it's showing showing off the stomach and then you got the shoulder pads yeah it makes you look like a house

totally and you were so sexy. Starting lifting that early, you must have wrecked people in football. You must have been pretty good. Yeah. Not trying to toot my own horn. I was one of the best players in Massachusetts in 1983. So that was pretty cool. Who was better, you or Tito Raymond, according to your coach?

What do you think? I was way better. I actually, what was I saying? Yeah, no, it was. You were running back right yeah i was a tailback and linebacker so in in massachusetts in high school they have two big all-star games they have the shriners which every state they probably have one in new york yeah yeah so i played in the shriners game and and on our team there was i mean in that year there was this kid

jamie morris who started at michigan there was – Did Jamie Morris play for the Giants? That was his brother. Jamie Morris did play in the pros, so I think he went to Chicago. But his brother was Joe Morris, yeah. Yeah, Joe Morris, yeah. And then I had Darren Flutie, Doug Flutie's brother. So Darren Flutie actually – and he played in the NFL. I mean, there was – we had so many good players in my year.

And I ended up playing linebacker. So I hang out in know high school i'm like what five seven when 75 you know which is kind of pretty good for high school you're right yeah but i'm playing linebacker against all these fucking studs from around the the state and uh yeah i actually had a pretty spectacular game yeah what'd you like better offense or defense i love um it's both you know i? Playing both was the rewards of, it was like the fruits of your labor. It's fun to be able to like juke somebody,

and it's also fun to just be able to just. Yeah, to kill someone was awesome, but to score was pretty fucking cool, you know? Right. Yeah, you get the best of both worlds. And then did you end up playing in college and stuff too? Yeah, I had a scholarship. I played in University of Newpshire and college was like did you run into duane gordon

at all have ever talked to you about him yeah duane he was um incoming freshman when i was leaving yeah duane gordon he played football with mad dog right and uh they had a championship team when my brother yeah yeah they were awesome he was awesome well duane was a tailback and he was like 235 and my brother was a fullback and he was 255 they just ran the ball up the middle and no one ever touched these guys they beat the crap out of people it was brutal it was brutal watch i mean you watch the other team it's like kind of almost cringing because you're like this team's gonna get fucked up i know it would just great times they would just steamroll them so you're at the university of New Hampshire? University of New Hampshire.

And my college career, I'll be honest with you, it sucked. You know, I was redshirted freshman. Transition's hard for many, many reasons. Yeah. Well, I just had one series of mishaps after another. So your first year, the coach is like, hey, we're just going to redshirt you. You know what I mean? You're 170.

We want you playing 190. I'm like, I get it. So you don't play. You dress, but you don't play. And you get a fifth-year senior. Then, so it starts out. I start as my redshirt freshman year. I'm down in Virginia, and I have this ridiculous injury. My urethra tube collapsed.

Oh, my God. Yeah, so I can't go to the bathroom or nothing. So they rushed me out of there. I had to fly home. Was that from football? They said it couldn't. I mean, the day before, we were on the turf in Virginia, and it's in August. It was like 107 on the turf, and it was just, it might have been like a dehydration thing. Burn your dick on the turf. Yeah, and it's in august it was like 107 on the turf and it was just it might

have been like a dehydration thing that might dick on the turf yeah right yeah totally it's one of these things that just you know what i mean they don't know if it's a faulty tube i had or or the heat caused it you know i mean so it's just it just sucked so he missed it there miss a year come back next year i'm like i work you get work we have spring football i went to work out spring football summer workouts work work work work trying a start finally get my job back right before the start we're in pads we're in just helmets in in uh sweatsuits right for again first game of the season i'm just going for a pad and we had this linebacker who ended up playing scott curtis ended up playing for the nfl for the broncos stud fucking creams me just doesn't even see me by actually you know what i mean

hits me you know my shoulder pops up my my clavicle shatters done again i wash the and i was like oh you'll be fucking kidding me same thing miss a year blah blah blah come back summer work and about to about to start again my my technically junior year get get shot in the knee my knee blows up had to wear a knee brace nothing happens i end up playing like a handful of games. Then came like my redshirt senior year. And by then I was just, and the coach and I, I didn't like the coach. You know what I mean? It's one of these things, like you're always here.

I was so fortunate. My high school coach loved the sport and really cared for you. And college was a business. It was the first time you learn about business. I mean, they're paying you to be there. They're paying for everything. You're just a fucking cog in the machine if you don't work you're garbage so for three years i didn't perform so my fourth year he you know what i mean he's just i you know he would sit there and actually smoke cigarettes on the field and blow smoke in my face jesus he'd be like so you didn't really have an opportunity to like get like mentored enough

yeah maybe to grow into it, right? Right. And he took that. You know what I mean? So technically, my redshirt year, when I could have came back and played, I was just wondering. I always said, I'm done. He's like, what do you mean done?

I was like, don't give me this coaching routine spiel about how I'm important to the team. I go, for three years, you shit on me. I mean, four years, you shit on me. You made me feel terrible. You smoked cigarettes in my face. You belittled me any chance you get. And now, all of a sudden, I'm going to come back and help your team win?

I'm like, I'm graduating. I wish you the best. Goodbye. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, those lessons are really valuable. Yeah. And to do this, you know what I mean?

I mean, you go from high school where you're accolades, you're all-stars, you're people, you know what I mean? You're in the paper. You're on the local news. I'm going to the NFL. I'm going to play pro football. Totally. That's what you're accolades, you're all-stars, you're people, you're in the paper, you're on the local news. I'm going to the NFL. Yeah. I'm going to play pro football. Totally.

That's what you're thinking. You know what I mean? And people respected you to go to this and you're just humiliated, degraded. And it's just, it was a fucking, it was so hard. You know what I mean? It's really interesting because I think that, I mean, it sounds to me like you were outstanding in high school. And there's a lot of people that are probably a lot less than that. And they think the same way they get excited too and they think man maybe i got an opportunity for like a scholarship and they don't train they don't

yeah they don't do anything in the off season they're always out of shape and they're just delusional yeah oh maybe i'll go to a jc and then maybe something will happen and yeah that's so crazy what's what's interesting though is like my wife, she's always had really good perspective on it. But I think it's because of her sport. Yeah. You know, she was a swimmer. She dominated in high school. You know, she was on a national team and she did all kinds of crazy things.

She broke all kinds of records. That's awesome. In the newspaper all the time. She got a full ride to the University of Kansas. She was the captain of the team and stuff. But I think just because that sport, there's not really a profession. There's the Olympics, right? Right.

But I think she always just kind of thought, well, the Olympics, like that's insanely competitive. And even if I put everything into it, there's just, it's too slight of a chance for me to go ahead and put everything into it and to put everything else on hold right you know so she kind of made the decision of like i'm just gonna have fun with it i'm gonna get go to school for free yeah and i always thought man like that was a that's a good perspective because i as a kid i was like i want to play pro football like i loved football i know you know almost every not so much anymore because there's so many players and stuff and just it's more confusing yeah change teams more and stuff but i knew every player on every team of course you know i had every every football card yeah all that all that shit but i think it's important to uh grow up with dreams it's also important for those dreams to sometimes get shattered and for those dreams to sometimes get shattered. And for those dreams, for you to kind of go,

well, you know, that guy over there, he's faster than me. That guy over there, he jumps higher than me. That guy over there is three inches taller than me. I should probably go do something else. You know what I mean? It's a healthy realization. But I don't think as many kids today are getting that because the team sport thing is not as prevalent. You just don't see it as much anymore.

Yeah. Well, I don't have any kids, so it's very hard for me to comment. But just seeing things from the side, you know what I mean? I'm not a fan of everyone gets a trophy. I'm a fan of hard work. Reward the person who works the hardest. Right. And I think that's what's missing.

person who works the hardest right you know and i think that's what's missing yeah just just keeping it uh having the uh accolades match up with what you know what you actually did yeah you've earned this you know i mean the greatest generation was the world war ii generation you know they earned it well a lot of those guys ended up playing pro football too and like a crazy a crazy era that wasn't football because a lot of those guys were, they had PTSD. I'm sure they probably didn't even know it. And they were also drinking all the time and playing pro football. Yeah, totally. Beating the hell out of everybody.

So kind of what transitioned from that point, from you being in college? You know what? Yeah, it was a self-realization. Like I was, you know, of course you're sad and frustrated. I'm like, wow, I'm done. You know what I mean? This is something I played when I started playing, what, youth football at nine years old, and now I'm 22.

And I was like, oh, not even, probably 21. Yeah, 21, 22. I'm like, wow, that sucked, but fuck it. You know what I mean? It was just, it's a lesson. And it's a chance for you now, okay, grow up. Now you've got to realize what do you want to do and how are you going to go about achieving your goals in life?

So it sucked walking away, but the funny thing, every time I walked, I was like the Godfather. Every time I walked away, they pulled me back in. I stepped away, and then I'm out here in California just goofing off, and my friend calls. He's like. Just came out on vacation or something? Yeah, I was actually teaching, and they had cutbacks.

So I'm like, all right, I'm going to go take some time off. So my friend calls. He's like, all right, I'm going to go take some time off. So my friend calls. He's like, the NFL, this is probably 1980, 88 or something, or 89 or 90. I can't remember. Long time ago. But the NFL one time started a minor league system because the college started, I can't remember the prop. I remember like prop 48. You had to have such a high sat score to get in college they were like

and when they enacted this this principle you had hundreds of athletes not going to college right you know what i mean and the nfl is like oh fuck you know what i mean how do we get these guys he goes we'll start something like baseball that's insane yeah he goes we'll start something like baseball yeah yeah on my team was remember eric swan yeah he was on my team we played for uh the cardinals yeah he was all pro for like uh nine years or something it was an animal stud you know what i mean yeah amazing and he was 18 years old so the nfl was geared for someone like him so we were uh the the patriots farm team the base day titans and uh he was on it and there was some of these guys were so talented but there's some of these guys were such fuck ups it was unbelievable you know what i mean there was me

and uh my buddy mike power who you know yeah we were like the only two white guys you know we would crack up we go to games we get all these guys from from mississippi georgia arkansas you know what i mean they were so deep solved and everything and they were insane you know they go in the huddle and we'd have plays and they'd be like Mike Powell fuck you this ain't the play and this other receiver is like I'm going deep throw me the ball and Mike be like well we have he's like I don't care the scouts here from Dallas I saw the guy from Miami I'm going deep throw the ball so we we go to the game and I just thought crack up and I would get killed I would get killed because receivers would never block. You know what I mean?

They do screen pass. My helmet would get popped up. I was getting destroyed out there, you know? We would crack up. Me and Mike would be like, we'd get killed. We'd go to the games. Our lineman would be drunk. We'd have to go pick up our lineman.

Mike was a quarterback, right? Yeah, yeah. He got slaughtered too. You know what I mean? We kept winning and we didn't want to win it came down to all right if we win this one uh one game we're gonna fly to uh play like a championship in like seattle but was like a tacoma so you had to fly like to seattle take like a 13 hour bus ride we heard we heard what we had to do and it was just terrible you know what i mean so it was like oh my god we're gonna do this we're gonna travel it's gonna be awful so mike power surprisingly throws a bomb we you know i mean we're down a

point we go to kick the extra point to go in overtime against this some team from hershey pennsylvania whatever so i'm just like oh fuck i don't want to travel this window also mike just looks at every guy she's like i'll hold for the pat he gets the ball hike to him mike lets the ball go flying through his hands. We lose. And everyone on the team carried Mike off the field. Oh, that's great. It was unbelievable.

And Sugar Bear Hamilton was the coach. He's just cracking up. He's like, motherfuckers, I knew you didn't want to take that bus ride. It was a wild, wild, crazy time. That's awesome. Yeah, it was fun. Kicking around the minor leagues throwing a game on purpose totally oh they had to it was there was so many characters so many lunatics

so you're out here in cali and then you're just trying to think like did you did you stay here or did you go back yeah well after that um no i figured i'll stay here i'm like well and my brother was getting transferred out here so i'm like i'll just you know i mean i'll get some bartending gigs. Your brother's a firefighter, right? No, DEA. Oh, that's right. Yeah, he's a federal agent.

Another million great stories with him. That's for another show. Yeah, so I just came out here and bartending. And I just was training at this gold ship in Redondo Beach. And it was open 24 hours. And I would go after work like 2, 3 in the morning. And every once in a while, the it was open 24 hours and uh i would go after my you know after work like two three in the morning and every once in a while the owner was a young guy he'd be there so i checked in one day and i'm just training it's like only me in the gym and the owner's there

and he's fighting with his uh manager he's yelling his manager's like i got you on film you fucking robbed from me i trained and the guy's just like i didn't rob he's like i was gonna pay back you know so i'm right there i'm like is everything. He's like, I was going to pay it back. You know, they're arguing. So I'm right there. I'm like, is everything okay? He's like, no, they're about to come to blows, you know, so I'm standing between them. So the manager's like, you'll never find anyone to run this gym better than me anyways.

And the owner goes, this guy could do a way better job. He's here. He cares. He doesn't even know me could run this gym. And he looks at me. He goes, could you run this gym? I said, absolutely. I said, caught my college educated

i've been in so many war zones this is no problem he's like i'll see you tomorrow manager's like well fuck you then i'm like okay you're the first guy i threw out of my gym yeah that's how my gold gym career started you started at the rodondo golds at the rodondo golds and um yeah i used to train there yeah it was a it was the coolest gym you know i mean it was funny like the biggest problem some girls came in be like, I'm too sunburned. Can you put oil on the machine so I don't get, you know what I mean? Okay, you know what I mean? Right.

Yeah, there was like never any problems. Then I go to Gold's Venice, you know, because I got to know the owners and they invited me up for an interview. Like, we want you to run the big gym. I'm like, wow, how cool. And it was funny, but I would go, I went the week before just to feel out. I probably told you these stories, you know, I feel out what it was like. Yeah.

So I walk in, I'm like, hey, I'm looking for a day pass and the guys at the desk you know i mean they didn't give a fuck about you know what i mean the gym at all they'd be like they'd be like turn around i'd be like what turn around all right we're gonna bring you back up your calves are good your legs are pretty solid work on the hamstrings let me see the front he starts critiquing my whole physique i'm like i just want to work out for a day. Was it Tom Phile? No, it wasn't even Tom yet. Tom came later. But yeah,

but Tom knew all those guys. And they would just put, the guy just put his gym bag on the counter. He's like, this is what you need, this is what you need, this is what you need.

I got all the shots. I get everything. I get pins right here. And I'm like, I just want to fucking work out for a day. You know what I mean? He just broke me down.

He tried to sell me every drug imaginable. I'm like, oh, maybe I'll check in on you tomorrow, you know, so I made a note, I said, oh, fuck, I gotta find that guy, next day, coming is another guy, I'm just on a day pass, he's like, it's like 20 bucks, he goes, give me 10 bucks, no one care, I go, do I get a receipt, he's like, nah, I gave him 10 bucks, the guy just put it right in his pocket, I'm like, oh, fuck, I gotta find that guy, I gave her the point.

These guys would sell anything. One guy's just walking around. What do you need? I got some guns. Some guy left some guns. You need some guns? You going to live in a family? You probably need a gun. I'll get you a gun.

I'm like, no, I just wanted a day pass. I'm trying to exercise. Yeah, yeah. For Christ's sakes. Yeah, that's the last thing. Is that against the law in this place? Oh, totally. Well, back then, there wasn't even, I mean, people just walked in.

There was like no check-in rail. The system was so archaic back then. It was like you put your counter on, if you want to pay, whatever. If you didn't, you bought drugs from these guys. No one, you know, it was the Wild West. So then you just started managing that. Yeah. You started managing golds.

Yeah. Yeah. And that's the whole thing. I was like, I told the guys, I told Pete Kramkowski and the owners, Tim Kimber, like, I got a fire roll front desk. He's like, do you have other guys who'll do it? And I said, you know what? I made some pretty good friends down in Redondo.

I'll see if they're open. So I did. I'm like, hey, thanks for showing up your fight. Thanks for showing up your fight. Even Tom, I had a fire at Tom. Jesus. Yeah. Tom was crazy.

Tom left me threatened notes. He left out my answer machine. He left. He's like, I'm going to slowly cut off your head. Slowly. He gave this long diatribe of how he was going to chop my head off. And he never did it. Never did it.

What a pussy. I know. I said, man, he a word. And I love Tom, too. That was the funniest thing. I hated having to fire him, but he was so crazy. Yeah, he's got too much shit going on. He robbed a bank and this whole weird thing.

Or whatever he did. I don't even know. He was a bank robber. I don't remember exactly what he did. He told some of the story on the podcast, and it was just a whole weird thing or whatever he did. I don't even know. He was a bank robber. I don't remember exactly what he did. He told some of the story on the podcast, and it was just wild. It was one crazy story after another. Oh, yeah. He was insane.

And then he told me crazier stories after. Well, and the problem with Tom, he's super bright. He's like Mensa certified. You know what I mean? Yeah, he is very smart. He's incredible. Like, he almost outsmarted our computer system of how to check people in and how to get money. You know what I mean?

Right. So I'd be like, oh, man So I'd be like, oh, man. I'd be like, oh, man, we got to make a quota this week. All of a sudden he goes, I made it. How the fuck did you make it? You've only been here. I check his numbers. I'm like, I don't know how you beat this computer, Tom File, but you beat it.

Yeah, I don't know what you did here. But he was great to have. Everyone loved him. You know what I mean? Tom was so lovable. That's why I hated booting him. I said, you're such a fucking good guy. Even if you want to cut my head off you're such a good guy he texts me all the time because he trains at super training here and there like he doesn't

come in that much but he lives he lives in northern california yeah and he'll pop in and out of super training he actually did a meet not too long ago and he dead the masters yeah right he did he did unbelievable he was a strong 66 or or something. But back when he was at the gym, he was squatting 800 pounds, I think. He won the famous neck contest. Yeah. I remember the picture of his neck. That was right around the time I first came out here. Okay, yeah.

Don Ross had an article. It was in Flex Magazine. He always had gold shims happening. And he just went off one day. He's like, I saw Flex Whaler. I saw all these bodybuilders. No one trains their neck I'm putting up a reward for the best neck competition

if you have a neck harness you've gone way too far and he would do it all day he would be at the desk welcome to Gold's he would train his neck all day it was only like a six week contest and no one really did it because people just train their neck a little bit,

you know, because it'd be funny. But Tom Fowler shows up with his neck like three feet wide. It looked like he swallowed a Frisbee or something, right? It was awesome. It was like, you're so mental. It's awesome. What are some of the crazier things you've seen happen in there? Because there's some really just.

Oh, off the wall. There's some wild, wild people in there. Yeah, Jesus. I can't even think. When you first started in there, was there like a lot of trainers and stuff? I kind of see quite a bit of trainers and things like that in there now. Well, back then, anyone could show up. There was no, like I said, there was no rules, no regulations, no bylaws.

You could just show up and be like, hey, I'm going to train. I'm going to bring 20 people to train. You know, I'd be like, okay. It didn't matter about insurance nothing nothing you you don't have gym is still a little bit like that though because it's still like a separate entity of like yeah but it's corporate or something right well right now the golds has their own staff but as an independent train you have to provide insurance you have to provide your certification you have to provide cpi certificate these are all things that i enacted i'm like and everyone wanted to kill me again you know what i mean because these i'm like if you're going to be a trainer

to to make this legitimate you have to pay the gym a fee right any business if you're if you're a businessman you have to pay a business expense right you can't just say i'm a trainer and you have zero overhead even if someone came in your office and used your computer every day if they're going to take up time and space, they got to give you some sort of money, right? So it was such a minimal fee, but everyone, they went through the fucking roof. There was over like 300 people there.

And these are the guys that were just, they were all in the entertainment business. Instead of bartending and waitering, they'd be trained. So they have a client, they do auditions, come back and have their client do the auditions, do the auditions, do their acting school. So I'd say like 60% to 65% of the people that trained us at the time were all in the entertainment business.

So I told them, I said, hey, you guys are going to have to pay a rental fee to the gym to conduct your business there. They went through the roof. I was like, oh, fuck you. I can't afford that, blah, blah, blah. I'm like, then you're technically not a trainer. Your focus is elsewhere. This is Gold's Gym. I want people who really want to emphasize training

and have this as the best gym in the world. So when you come in, you'd be like, okay, I can learn from that guy because that guy obviously knows what he's doing. He takes it seriously, and look who he's working with. Instead of someone like, you know, I'm going to kind of dilly-dally with this person, but I'll be out in 15 minutes because I'm in addition. I remember when I'd come out here, I'd come out here for like, you know,

sometimes a week or two at a time before I officially kind of moved out to California from New York. And when I'd go to the gym, my brother was like, ah, you know, he's like, it'll work out. Like, I'll talk to Mike or whatever, and he'd talk to you,

and then you'd let me in or whatever. Or you guys would give me a pass or it'd be like some really inexpensive uh thing um i noticed that's a huge difference from that gym versus a lot of other corporate gyms where they're like really just they're um they're just up your ass you know even if you're just there for a day or two you know they got these standards and they don't only follow that but at gold's gym it's always been like if you're somebody or know somebody it's less hassle and i always thought that that made the gym special though because there's some special people in there i mean there's some really successful

people in there there's professional basketball hockey football and there's so many people that you don't even know and that was the whole thing when i when i started running tim kimber was uh he was he was one of the owners. And he was the coolest guy. And he was so level-headed. And he told me earlier, I said, well, this guy's not paying. This guy's really not paying. He said, Mike, we're Gold's Gym. We're here to help people out.

We're not out to be an equinox. We're not out to charge $5 a towel. We're not out to charge for parking. We're not out to charge for class. We're Gold's Gym. We're a fun neighborhood gym. and we're here to help people. And boy, that really resonated with me. Oh, my God.

Wow, that's fucking cool. The money will come. Yeah. You know what I mean? And I felt like I was letting in deadbeat after deadbeat. Then I find out, oh, that guy, that old guy, he was the tour manager for Zeppelin? Oh, that's fucking cool. You know what I mean?

That's pretty wild. That's someone like when he does his documentary on PBS, he wears a Gold's Gym t-shirt. Oh, that guy was, you know what I mean?'s pretty wild that's someone like when he does his documentary on on uh pbs he wears a gold gym t-shirt oh that guy was you know i mean there was so many people or it hooks you up in tickets yeah whatever but it was yeah there was so many people he had no idea who they really were until you hear about him like that guy's like legitimately a megastar in in certain realms you know and gold's gym and these guys would all migrate to gold's gym and they talk about gold's gym and it's funny i talk about like um like someone's someone's talking about you should do a history of gold's gym because it's it's pretty wild because years ago um john favreau and robert downey jr were trained together you know what i mean like geez i wonder if those

two ever got together if they kind of collaborate on a movie what it would be right and then we're looking at what a 10 billion dollar marvel universe franchise yeah that probably organized that probably originated right in gold's gym because those two guys that are trained together and the two and this is honest to it they started training together because i love robert downey jr he was there all the time and john favreau was just off swingers you know i mean a couple other movies but he was still like he wasn't really a big name you know so i see him training together and i saw robert downer jr because i'm a nerd i saw him at the comic store buying all this iron man shit and i just looked at him i said from gold's gym the comics boy you're such a fucking nerd and he just started laughing and i didn't think you know these guys were doing all this strategy planning

and who would imagine yeah that was like 10 years ago or something way more than 10 years ago this had to be early mid mid-90s. He was buying Iron Man stuff. Iron Man stuff. That's amazing. Amazing. And that was probably, they probably just started opening dialogue, and they probably didn't do the movie like probably 10 years later. Right.

Yeah. I'm sure it takes a long time to figure it all out. Yeah, especially something like that. I mean, because those movies, Marvel does it right. I mean, every movie is a setup for another movie. Yeah. I mean, you've seen my brother in there for 20 years or so. My brother went to film school at USC,

and then one of the guys he went to film school with, he didn't communicate with him after he was out of school for a while. Then he just ran into him at Gold's Gym, and they're on a treadmill and they start talking and they're going back and forth my brother's telling them about bigger stronger faster but my brother didn't know you know what was going to be called what it was going to be about he's like gotta be a movie like that involves this gym and involves this culture and they just started talking through it uh long story short uh this guy alex bono uh ends up you know communicating with chris on a

weekly basis at gold's gym where they're talking about the beginning phases now alex is not like a lifter yeah so he didn't really understand a lot of it but being at gold's and seeing all these people uh he started to understand it more and then uh my brother they were like i don't know my brother's taking him through like a workout and stuff and he's like yeah as you know it does feel good i feel better i feel i like feeling stronger like this is cool yeah he's like i kind of see the draw i see the attraction to it and chris just mentions like in the middle of a sentence he's like yeah you know it's uh you know a lot of these guys they use stuff and to get bigger and stronger and stuff like that and you

know it's it's always such a controversy in sports but no one cares about what these guys, they use stuff to get bigger and stronger and stuff like that. It's always such a controversy in sports, but no one cares about what these guys do. He goes, but it is illegal, so somebody cares about what your brother might care about what they do. But actually, not really. Because remember, he was interviewed. You know what I mean? They did the whole thing with the DEA. It's like, DEA don't give a fuck about this. Yeah, they're concentrating on more harmful things, I guess.

But it was just really interesting. So my brother like just blurts it out and he's like yeah he's like you know both my brothers they take stuff and then alex was like he's like what what do you mean he's like well they they're on stuff right now he goes well that's the movie and that happened right at gold's gym right by the bench press the bench presses are set up in the same spot that they were you know 15 years ago or whatever i know you know a lot a lot of that stuff uh goes down in there and you see you know producers and you see all these different uh executives and i call it the uh the fit the fit hollywood's version of a golf course like so many deals are made on golf courses but so many people don't like the golf anymore

right you know what i mean so you got all these executives these studios studio heads agents actors and they're just there it's like let's grab a workout and tell me what you're working on and talk about projects you went from you know running running gold's gym to more into personal training and you're able to set your own schedule and you know kind of set your own hours and do your own things set your own prices and things like that. And you train a lot of celebrities and a lot of successful people. Is there a side of you that wants to get back into maybe like a more business side of things rather than training people? Or are you already involved in some things like that?

Yeah, well, I finally, you know what I mean? I'm a dinosaur with this social media. And I look at you and I'm like, I'm so impressed and proud of everything you've accomplished. Thank you. I really am. I mean, if you guys don't know, he was helping me beat up little kids in a camp 30 years ago.

Yeah, a football camp. Yeah, you know what I mean? I'd drag the sled out there and I'd drag a bunch of plates out there. Yeah, and I was like, oh, this guy's into it. That's awesome. And, of course, our follow-up on that whole thing just sucked you know me and mike were just knuckle and mike was just a knucklehead you know what i mean it's something that could have grew to something hey i just remember we got to eat at a rocky cola cafe we got to eat some pancakes and i was excited

about that yeah so um my business sense has always been lax you know what i mean because i'm just like all right fuck it i can train you know what I mean? Because I'm just like, all right, fuck it. I can train. You know, people always, I'll always have a steady business. I can get to focus on myself. And for me, whatever I do, I always make myself a priority. Like, all right, I will never work 40 hours a day. I will never, you know what I mean? Because training, cardio, rest is crucial to me.

And to just have a life. Yeah, and to have a life so but now the business i i'm learning more about the business and i'm uh cave on who's helped you with uh yeah super good guy i'm gonna be doing um with i got i uh hooked up with rayhan so yeah so we're gonna we're gonna you know i mean i'm getting online i'm doing programs i got all these other things happening next next month in two weeks actually i'm going to uh bill phillips he's doing a transformation camp i'm going out to help him run his camp i did a muscle camp early this year so yeah i got so many other other projects are pending and it's going to be cool but as to the other side like when you said you still see me

open the gates i still have a passion for that gym right and now gold's gym is up for sale that i've actually talked i even talked to arnold about it yeah you know what i mean i'm just wondering if whoever buys it because i couldn't you know the people you never thought the building was already bought maybe by google google owns the property that's and that's contingent but when you buy the gold's gym brand you you get the licensing rights for over 300 gyms i think it is now but then you get pasadena long beach in venice they're they're they're comprised they're thrown in the deal so i was just that's got to be an insane amount of money yeah they're looking like four or five hundred million dollars for it wow yeah that's crazy yeah well someone will buy it obviously you know yeah whether it's whether it goes for less or more, who knows? Probably less, you know, because...

Sometimes some of these things, I mean, they need to be like, you know, they have like movie theaters and they got things in Hollywood and they got things around that need to be protected. Yeah. You know, and you hope that something like that gets protected. Oh, absolutely. You know, you really do. Well, here's the coolest part.

When Google was first built and they opened up their, they bought. Was that like 10 years ago or something maybe? Yeah, it was probably about 10 years or maybe less. But they bought two square blocks. Digital domain or whatever was there before. Yeah, they bought everything. So they're having a grand opening. And I was there.

They invited the mayor, the Mike Bonin, the local councilman, the Venice Chamber, the Venice Historical Society. I was there for Gold's Gym and all the Google reps. So we're just sitting there. We're going to talk about the future, what Google's going to do with the neighborhood, you know? So right away, we're just introducing themselves. And this old gentleman I've never seen before in my life, old guy, had this beard. And he just looks at the Google guys. He's like, you're not fucking

with gold's gym and i'm like oh the guy's like excuse me like i'm behind this guy totally he's like what he's like he goes gold's gym is synonymous with venice you think venice you think of the boardwalk and you think of gold's gym and gold's gym is staying in venice if you guys want them out of here if they fuck with them we will do everything to run you out could you imagine there would literally be probably be a riot yeah but this guy's a bunch of jacked up want them out of here if they fuck with them we will do everything to run you out could you imagine there would literally be probably be a riot yeah but this guy's a bunch of jacked up running the streets well the repercussions would be you know what i mean social media all these other outlets you know i mean like you're damaging lives of thousands hundreds of thousands of people

yeah you know i mean that gym every day you have over 100 people visiting in the summertime. I met people from Germany, from Texas, from Peru, from a bunch of different spots just in my short time of hanging out there this month. Yeah, they all want to be a part of something special. So I'm sure Google will keep that. I mean, they'll probably be the landlord. Yeah. But as you know, that building is terrible. I mean, if you're going to build a corporate office, there's only like one outlet.

You know what I mean? There's no air conditioning there's no heat there's absolutely nothing it's just four walls and a leaky ceiling yeah they got it and and they hopefully they they kind of keep it that way though too you know like it's kind of yeah it makes it special in some way well yeah whoever buys it or whatever if i'm involved perfect but somewhere i'd love to be still on a consulting role. Yeah. Because, yeah, you can't mess with that. You can't put air conditioning in Gold's Gym.

No. Give a shit how sweaty. That's Gold's Gym. No, I mean, it's perfect, too, because it's not really – I mean, it gets hot in there, but it's not that bad. Yeah. You know, it's not – No, it is. I beg to differ.

Yeah. Well, it just gets to be gross because it's like, it just stinks. Yeah. Well, there's just so many bodies and you got cardio equipment going. Yeah. It's just, but it's great. It sucks to work at that time, but it's great to train. Yeah.

Nothing better than training and you're just fucking sweating because. You don't realize how dehydrated you get when you're working. Oh, I know. When you're training somebody and you're active and you're into it. No, yeah, totally. You have to stay on top of it. I, uh uh when i had i saw tito raymond in there you know a few weeks ago and he was working with a client he's there

and he's coaching every rep and he's on top of the guy and everything and you know he's a really detail-oriented guy you know and he's the guy gets up and the second the guy gets up he's like wiping down the machine and then even the guy that he trained was helping wipe down the machine. He was putting all the weights back. I mean, luckily there's a couple of people in there that still give a shit, right? Yeah.

That's, that's, that's a bad part. I mean, it's, it's, there's not enough in there that give a shit, but you see the dumbbells is all over.

He likes somebody couldn't just put them. I mean, they end up, you know, the, the 35s end up where the one 35 should be in and a lot of those weird things. But yeah, it's, well, my, my whole analogy is the inmates run the prison. Yeah. up you know the the 35s end up where the 135 should be and and a lot of those weird things but yeah it's well my my whole analogy is the inmates run the prison yeah you know and they do

you know i i sat down with those guys i said you need and and it's not management's fault it's coming from corporate i said you need signs please return dumbbells blah blah blah you or you will be suspended right and he he you know the manager came in he's like the owners the management the owners in dallas don't think that way they think it's it's a too hot approach i'm like yeah and the problem is people who've never been to venice you can't venice is not your regular gym right you know what i mean it's you can't compare gold's in venice with any gym in the world like you said it's the best equipped it has has the most colorful characters. Things get crazy and quick. Absolutely. And people are there to train.

It's on a social hour. So for the efficientness, you want to have everything put away in a precise manner. It's not like mom and pop in some way were like, oh, don't worry about it. They'll put it away at their own leisure. I always kind of wondered if there was somebody on the floor. There's a lot of man hours,

but if there was somebody on the floor helping and you know there's a lot of man hours but if there was somebody on the floor helping put stuff away you'd almost think that the the clientele the people that are there would probably assist it's funny because i i usually do it surprisingly every morning you hustle through there with a staff shirt and you're putting stuff away i'll probably just be like oh fuck it i was you know well when i do it every time i do it in the morning two or three guys will help you know i mean they're just regular guys like yeah we're tired of seeing it in a fucking mess yeah you know the best part was when i was running with pete kromkowski you know i'd be like pete the barbarians don't put their weights away he goes why should they they're setting records and i'm

like but the doubles are everywhere it's's like, well, hire someone. I'm like, all right. So Pete actually had this whole theory. He was like, the pros and all the lunatics, they can leave their weights there. And he would just hire someone. So every room had two or three guys all the time just putting weights away.

Hire somebody else to put that shit away. Yeah, totally. And Pete was insane. He's like, he goes, they're going to be on Mike Douglas and Merv Griffin. I don't want them expending energy. You know what I mean? I want them setting records.

They're going to be wearing gold. That's great. But it was true, though. I mean, they had these two lunatic barbarians. They were on every show, and they wore gold gym everywhere. So you had this, no matter where you were, you'd be like, oh, those freaks go to gold gym. One of these days, I'm going to go out there.

I want to see what that gym's like, you know? I got to use the restroom real quick. Yeah. We'll take a little break. I'm sure I just come back. We'll talk. We just get the idea of this podcast uh i guess we'll start up talking a little bit about bill phillips and uh we had him on the podcast a while back and you know i got the idea of like just kind of a crazy rich guy

he kind of gets what he wants all the time because when we were done with the podcast he's like all right now i need to see bench 500 he's like i've seen some of the videos but i gotta see it you know i gotta see it up close and you know like when you're when you're training a specific way everything's done at a specific time in a certain way of course and i was like man i benched 500 for three reps yesterday but then i was like well bill phillips is like an idol of mine so what the fuck who cares i mean i'm mean, I'm fucking going to go do it, you know? So I did 505 for triple and he was flipping out. That's awesome. He's like, I just don't understand this.

He's like, this is, he goes, this is so great. He was so excited. Yeah. I mean, he was just beaming from head to toe. But the stuff he told us about like creatine and, you know, how the, you know, he made the first, you know, 500 gallon like that or whatever and they couldn't even figure out how to make the thing that it went into and just all this crazy stuff i was like this is fucking wild man this is some crazy stuff adventurous that's yeah he took

yeah he took a gamble how'd you end up meeting him well bill bill and sean used to go used to train a gold two years ago because again they and they— And Sean Phillips was always, like, real shredded, right? Yeah, shredded. One of the best physiques ever. Yeah, he was always super good. Yeah, so those guys didn't want to be bodybuilders. So I met them probably early 90s, you know? And then, actually, again, another Goldstrom story, Scott Conley.

He met Scott Conley there. The Metrex guy. And Bill came up with the name Metrex. Bill was the marketing guy for Metrex. came up with the name metrics bill was the marketing guy for metrics yeah right and then that's why he made his own like yeah whatever they had some similar name or whatever yeah they well they had a big falling out you know myoplex yeah they had a big falling out and uh bill's blind basically was like you know colin kept squeezing him out squeezing my bills like well i helped create this uh squeezing him out so finally it's like

buy me out right now, but I'm going to warn you. I'm going to make a company that's going to bankrupt you. And Conley was a heartbreak guy. He was egotistical too. He was like, fuck it, bring it on. And all of a sudden Bill had EAS, and he found creatine. Anthony Almada, who was a brilliant guy who had his project,

but Anthony is a scientist. He didn't know how to market. So Bill's like, let me give you... Anthony is the one that found creatine? Yeah, isolated the whole benefits for it, yeah. And he's like... Crazy. I know, right?

These are so brilliant people. I can't even imagine how smart they are. And I tried helping him with other products, but Anthony's just so smart, but he has no marketability. Right. You know what I mean? He has...

I can't even think of his other big... What is it called i know there's like hmb and there's like a whole but even even to this day he has like this super high carbohydrate compound you know and i'd be like he asked me he's like oh man you want to help me i'm like i'm like having this is like eating 10 bowls of spaghetti having that energy but no fat no scientific fat gain he's like yeah that's basically right i said let's use that for him for your for your marketing imagine that the energy you could have yeah he goes but you can't it's it's not scientific proof and i'm like but you

can kind of have he's like no he was so hard he was such a scientist you know what i mean that's what billy's like bill's was like i'm just buying this company and I'm going to show creatine. We'll add volume and strength to you. And boom, done. And it did. Yeah. Yeah. And well, in the testing and stuff, really, a lot of it didn't come till later on.

I mean, Bill did some of his own stuff. Yeah. He was the master of, uh, you know, showing the double blind placebo study or whatever, like whatever any of that means, whatever he did. I mean, I guess he was almost more of a, and I'm sure other people wrote the articles, but he was almost more of a and i'm sure other people wrote the articles but he was almost more of a writer than anything i remember reading muscle media and i was so excited i was like i was like i can't train without this stuff i know i'm like i'm i'm at a disadvantage i gotta i'd go to like my parents and i was like i don't need you know my dad's like get

a job you know i'm like all right shit i don't need a job i need hmb yeah i need phosphagen yeah yeah yeah phosphagen and phosphagems and yeah everything right it was such an exciting time and i remember you'd get through the article though you'd be so pumped about it and they're like well you can't you can't um you can't purchase it's not it's not in stores yeah the only way to do it is to pre-order it right through here and i'm like i got now i have to do it it's exclusive i'm like it's new i can't be without like because you're thinking uh you're also kind of thinking oh this is sick i'm gonna be on like the forefront of other stuff i'm gonna have advantage over my buddies that i train with absolutely yeah the marketer is brilliant i mean he he he had a deal with uh fedex so right when you sign you got your product the

next day and then he had support team, 24-hour support team. You know, so it was, he just, he revolutionized the supplement industry like nobody's business. Because before you'd be like, all right, I got to buy this thing,

wait four to six weeks from Weider. What's it going to get there? By the time you got it, you forgot you ordered it. You didn't know what to take. You didn't know what the loads were. You didn't know. It'd be like, take two scoops with water.

This is before training, after training. You know what I mean? Yeah, it was crazy. And they had a very specific way of taking it. And it was like, you take it with like grape juice and like, because the insulin spike. Right. You had to get other products.

Yeah, you had to get grape juice to take this. I'm like, geez, there's so much work involved. But you loved it. Yeah, well, they did the grape juice for a while. And then they just made their own product. They had the extra carbs in there. But you loved it. Yeah, well, they did the grape juice for a while, and then they just made their own product. And they came out with it, yeah. They had the extra carbs in there. So you were involved a little bit, though, with that company,

and you'd fly out there and do stuff with them, right? Yeah, it started. It was funny because I knew those guys, and I was dating that girl Monica at the time. Monica Brandt? Yeah, you want to endorse Monica Brandt. So she was their product spokesperson. By the way, I should say that that's what we were the most excited about

when we met Mike. He was dating Monica Brandt. We really did not give a fuck about him. No one gives a shit about me. We pretended that we liked him, and we're just like, hey. If my penis could talk. Yeah, this girlfriend of yours is just something else. That's funny.

I get that all the time. Oh, that's awesome yeah so so they endorsed her and uh so i just got to know those guys because you know whatever they they had a falling out and i and i stayed friends with them because i just liked them i liked what they were doing and bill would always send me stuff and then uh and it was it was how my whole career with them started, just a freak chance. I would either train because as the gym owner, I mean gym manager, everyone bothered you, you know what I mean?

So I'd either train at 4 a.m. when there was no one there or like 10.30 at night when no one was there. It just happened to be one day. I don't know. I think we were going to a Kings hockey game or something that night. So I'm like, I'm going to train at noon. I'm going to train at lunchtime. I'm going to take my lunch break. I'm going to train.

So I'm training, and all of a sudden, I can see this guy's checking me out. I'm like, oh, here we go. And this guy comes up to me. He's like, are you a model? I'm like, yeah, I model. I model socks and umbrellas. You know what I mean? I'm just being a wise ass to him.

I'm like, no, I'm really not a model. He's like, are you really? Sure. I'm like, well, who are you? He's like, oh, my name's Cal Yee. I'm like, not the Cal Yee who shoots for Weider. He's like, actually, I don't shoot for Weider anymore. I shoot for Bill Phillips. I'm like, oh, my name's Cal Yee. I'm like, not the Cal Yee who shoots for Weider. He's like, actually, I don't shoot for Weider anymore. I shoot for Bill Phillips.

I'm like, what? He's like, yeah, Bill bought his company. I said, yeah. I said, I know he bought EIS. He's like, yeah, he signed this publication, Muscle Media 2000. He's turned to Muscle Media, and he just wants to endorse natural guys. I'm like, what do you mean? He's like, he's going to bodybuild with all natural guys?

I'm like, that's the worst idea I've ever heard. He's like, he wants to do it. He goes, he goes, you look great. Would you do a test shoot? But we have to drug test you. So I'm like, sure. What are we testing for? He's like, steroids. I'm like, I can pass that one. Yeah. So then I went to a studio, did a test shot. Then I i had a then i had to go to this lab and paint a cup and uh like three days later i get a call from bill he's just like you're such an asshole i go why he goes you would always come down i mean sean were training you'd always have a stupid shirt on with a tie and khaki khaki jeans you know he goes i never knew you were shredded underneath i said i said i go to gym it's it's just like rocking like a polo right yeah or i wear a shirt and tie you know because when i first thought i said i need to establish myself

as the manager i'm wearing a shirt and tie so when people walk by if i have a question i know to that guy because he's wearing a tie somewhere in that gym anyone's wearing here every day yeah he's got a fucking suit and tie on right so that's the guy i'm going to talk to yeah so at first i would just always wear a shirt a goofy shirt or a tie or a polo or something. But my body was – and even still, when you think you're shredded and you go to a cold gym, I'm like, how the fuck can I be shredded? I'm sitting next to the flex wheeler. The guy is 0% body fat. He's shredded.

You know what I mean? So your image is screwed. It's screwed on yourself. One of the first people I ever saw there was Dexter Jackson. I was just kind of looking at him. I was like – I couldn't make any sense of it. I'm like 20 or 21. I'm like, oh, my oh my god i'm like this guy's in pretty good shape i didn't really even think of it because he's you know in like a sweatshirt or something but i i noticed he was big and then he was there that day doing a photo shoot and he took his his shirt off

and i was like what i'm like what is happening he's got muscles in places i don't even have places i'm like what the hell and now he's like i don't know 53 or something yes and he's still jacked right but that's how our whole vision of ourselves gets screwed like when i when i go to boston was like hey big guy hey you're huge i'm like talking to you i'm like me like you're fucking huge i'm like not not in my world he's like what do you mean i said this guy's a 68290 there they're fucking huge you know tomorrow the mountain's gonna be here hapthor bjornson six foot ten or six foot eleven i can't wait to meet him i love game of thrones i'm gonna wear my game of thrones shirt he's a monster yeah you make sure he doesn't push his thumbs right through your skull i raped

and i killed your sister yeah Yeah, that was pretty cool. Yeah, so this photographer, he shot me, and Bill's like, I never knew you looked that good, and I was so shocked. He goes, I'm thinking, would you like to be a brand ambassador for my company? I'm like, what? Sounds great.

He's like, yeah. He's like, come on, you're a good-looking guy. You ever had anything like that before? Not to that extent. You know what I mean? Just people giving you free stuff because you're the manager. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, you're a good-looking guy. You ever had anything like that before? Not to that extent. You know what I mean? Just people giving you free stuff because you're the manager of Gold's. Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, all the time. Little perks here. Iron Man, you know, they shot me for just like, Mike Ryan does this. You know what I mean? Nothing huge, you know? But Bill's offering me this fucking contract, you know?

What did your pops think of this when this started? Was he doing cartwheels? Yeah, he's like, you? You know? He's like, you little shit. Yeah. Well, the first thing, and Bill does it, you know what I mean? He's like, you little shit. Yeah. Well, the first thing, and Bill does it, you know what I mean?

He does it in such a way you feel like you're getting recruited for college again. You know, all of a sudden he's like, well, this is what we want, and this is going to be your cover when you sign. So I'm like, I got a cover magazine coming out, and I'm getting a contract. Fucking love you. You know what I mean? That's amazing.

So all of a sudden I would just be like, and I was always under the impression like, don't ever talk about it until it happens right you know what i mean so i really didn't say anything i said yeah i'm talking to this guy bill he's you know he wants to do this and that then all of a sudden i'd be like mom dad go to the magazine store and call me when you get home my mom's like yeah right're on a cover? What did you do? Pretty wild fun stuff. Yeah, who'd you blow? Totally. You know what?

Bill Phillips, I think something that separates him out from a lot of others is that he's just completely obsessed. When he was at super training, he kept kind of grabbing his stomach. He's like, yeah, I'm just not in the shape. I want to be in better shape. He was just so in tune with the whole thing right and i think that that's well seeing all you young young lions up there too probably fucking ate him apart yeah yeah i mean he still looked like he was in uh pretty good shape especially because it seemed like the wheels

fell off uh after the business went up and down and he went through some stuff he told me like he broke both his legs or something both his legs fell down flight of stairs or something crazy and then he mentioned some stuff about some maybe painkillers or something along those lines but just sound like he went through a really rough time you know but that's one great thing about um about training is you can you can come back yeah you can come back there's something to always come back to and you were talking about football how you tried to come back and tried to come back and you you couldn't quite get over the hump it's just your own it's just your own hump right so it's like uh maybe you're not in the shape that you wanted to be in but we can be level-headed enough to say i could be i could be in the shape that i want to be in in six weeks you know i can be in better shape or i could

be stronger. I could put 10 pounds on. You can kind of think, like, how am I going to flip this? How am I going to adjust? Right. And you can always have new goals and don't have to ever end. And that was actually, when we were talking about the old football days, when your playing days were over, it was like, thank God for the gym.

Yeah. You know what I mean? Thank God it's an outlet. It's a stress release. And, boy, when I move weight, I feel pretty good good have you ever had times in your life where you weren't uh where you just were away from the gym like just working too much or something where you just you know it's funny someone asked me that today with the exception of being sick or injury my injuries in college you know i mean they kind of impaired my but i when i caught hepatitis in india i was out for three months

that's that's just the longest i've ever been but other than that i've probably taken a week off once a year hepatitis is devastating what how do you get that yeah oh it's disgusting and basically you're eating fecal you're eating shit yeah that happened to justin i think and his and his wife yeah they both got it from traveling yeah and uh yeah i and i didn't even i didn't even notice because he always looks pretty big and always looks pretty good to me but he's like yeah i lost 25 pounds i was like oh my god you did lose 25 pounds right yeah when he came back i knew right away he's like i'm my wife's sick i'm like how are you he's like i'm good and i was like you're like i didn't say

nothing i know right well i was like i was like well you probably you know i said you lost some weight he's like yeah walking around he's trying know, he didn't know what was going on. And that was me when you first get hepatitis. You know, you're like, one week you feel like you had bad food poisoning. You're over it. And next week, you know, you feel like you have bad food poisoning. You're over it. For me, it kept going on for like a month.

I'm like, something's wrong here. Then all of a sudden. Just throwing up and shitting? Yeah. Yeah. Then you're kidding. It just stops. It just shuts down.

So you are just a Chinese firecracker everything's coming out every end i mean i was just it's gross but i was just laying on my on my bathroom in my shower just puking and shitting like coming out of me it's disgusting that's what i do i go in the shower when i get to that predicament yeah totally that's all you can do you know what i mean it's and it's just it's an awful disgusting so it's like a flu but you have it for months yeah months yeah and and for the toxins to get out of your skin too often you you just start breaking out uncontrollable itching because your liver is not functioning and livers just stop so you still get toxins that you can't really can't take much for it yeah no nothing you just suck on and when i was in india the only thing i could eat was like

a cup of rice and water they may maybe have you do an IV or something? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Well, for me, the first couple of days, I was in an Indian hospital, all IV'd up. And I was just like, get me the fuck out of here. You know what I mean? They had one TV off in the distance playing 1930s Bollywood movies. It was like a horrible dream.

I'm like, where's Groundhog Day? I'm like, waking up. I'm like, I'm still here. Get me the fuck out of here. Just keep shitting yourself over and over again. Oh, yeah. It's the worst. You just lay there.

And then when you think you're done, you're like, all right, give me a little water. Weren't you training like a prince or something like that? No, it's just all the actors. Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah, it was all the actors. They were just shooting a movie over there? Oh, yeah.

I mean, God, their business is crazy. They shoot, you know what I mean? For them, acting is, acting just, it's a job. You know what I mean? It's not like here, you know, like working with Brad Pitt. You do a movie, you take a month off. You go in the press junket for two months, and then you go back to work. There they do movie, movie, movie, movie, movie.

You know what I mean? It's like every day they just go to a movie. Just cranking right through. Yeah. They go to, sometimes they don't even think they're in the movie. They just show up. Okay, you're in this movie. Like, here we go.

Yeah, here we go. Yeah. Sing, dance, next movie. Sing, dance, next movie. Yeah, we're going at it again. Yeah. Yeah, there's really no downtime. Those guys just work, work, work.

We were talking a little bit about the Barbarian Brothers. I'd like to talk a little bit more about some of the characters of Gold's Gym over the years. I mean, the Barbarian Brothers paint us a picture of what it looked like with the clothes and the long hair.

Oh, man. They became such icons that people would dress up with them for Halloween. People that are listening to this show, you got to Google it. Yeah, Barbarians.

They all had blue jeans, big blue jeans. Like the Cavaricci type things. Yeah, high-waisted blue jeans. Good call. High-waisted blue jeans tucked into work boots. Sometimes shirt, sometimes no shirt. Either a ripped flannel.

Yeah. You know, headbands like, you know what I mean? Looking like pro wrestlers kind of. Yeah, oh, totally. And they were huge. They were always tan and they were always huge. You know what I mean? Why are they wearing jeans in the gym i know and they had huge legs too they never wore shorts they were squatting jeans they were training jeans and work boots they were just so fucking weird you know what i mean they were and of course they're from

new england they're from rhode island are they really absolutely and they would come to the gym but they would do like like if they did like a tricep push down it wasn't just a you know just a stack or whatever which a lot of strong guys can do the other dude would be like standing on it and stuff right i mean they did all kinds of crazy yeah i mean they were they went on um like i said the talk show circuits before what is the thing the mike douglas all those shows back in the 80s or whatever and they would reverse grip five 550 or something like astronomical yeah yeah and that's how they would just train they would just do crazy lifts and they were goofing they reverse grip, 550 or something. Oh, my God. Like astronomical. Yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? And that's how they would just train.

They would just do crazy lifts. And they were goofy, and they were loud, and they were just weird. You know what I mean? And they would just talk like no one else was in the room. Like how I yelled, like if Andy's down in the kitchen, hey, Andy, what's going on? That's their volume.

If they're right next to each other, hey, y'all, Peter, we're going to lift weight. You know what I mean? And then they became wacky. You know what I mean, through time. I can't remember which brother said the hand of God touched him. And he'd be like, God has touched me, don't you? And he'd be trying to yell at people. Don't you know I'm the anointed one?

God has touched me. He'd be like, Lord, show me the way to the beach. And his brother blindfolded him and just let him walk out. And he goes, the Lord will take me to the beach. He started walking and he got hit by a car.

Yeah, hit by a car? He just hit in the middle of the road and the car's a beep. And so he started, you know what I mean? He's blindfolded. So he started saying a laugh. And all of a sudden,

he immediately cut on the wall. He got bumped down. And his brother's still in the gym. I'm cracking up. I'm like, are you going to get your brother? He's like, he's like, the wall he got bumped down and his brother's still in the gym i'm cracking up i'm only gonna get your brother he's like he's like now he'll realize that god really didn't annoy him eventually and he's walking east the whole time he's behind the gym he's going all the way down that way crazy insane and his brother just didn't care whatever happened with those guys any idea yeah i have no idea i think they're still around somewhere but i don't i don't know what you know that's that would be a great like where are they now saying all the

lunatics yeah we gotta we gotta figure out where to find those guys oh that'd be they'd be who are some of the uh stronger guys you ever seen in the gym oh boy that's funny because um uh kurt elder who's a trainer he had a whole power lifting team yeah he trained with fedco and stuff right fedco is a strong son of a bitch yeah he was crazy and michael hearn michael hearn just has crazy strength you know there was i kid him and there was a couple other guys oh hearn's been like strong you know in that gym for the last what 30 yeah 20 30 years or whatever the hell i mean and people shit on him all the time but

some of it's warranted some of it isn't but mike is a good guy and he's dedicated to what he does you got to hand it to warranted some of it isn't but mike is a good guy and he's dedicated to what he does you got to hand it to him in terms of the consistency absolutely i mean that guy that guy has never been out of shape and the guy's never shown up weak you know what i mean it's and that's it's amazing it's it's literally amazing what he does it's crazy how quickly he can change because like i trained with him this whole month yeah and we did a couple exercises and i was like for me strength wise i'm like way far away from any of the strength that i had before but but even so uh i would be able to beat him on some stuff but not not a lot of stuff because he's he's good at everything you do like a bent over row with him he's using like 455 and

it's got perfect form you know and i'm dying using 315 or whatever but and he's a big with him he's using like 455 and it's got perfect form you know and i'm dying using 315 or whatever but and he's a big guy too he's huge he's huge we did a couple workouts and i was like i think before i leave i think i'll be able to catch him on something but he's so competitive you know i'm coming down and wait for this bodybuilding show and i think when we started he was like 245 and it wasn't that much longer later it was like two three weeks went by he's like 270 yeah i'm like jesus christ did you do i'm like i ain't catching him on shit i guess that's so funny i always say him i always want to catch him on exercise and just do one next one with his weight and call it a day yeah you know

what i mean it's one of these days he really doesn't train arms too much i think so i want to catch him but just throw my 100s or 110 dumbbells and be like, I'm done. I fucking beat you at something. I'm done. There's definitely something to, you know, I don't think the guy gets credit for being smart with his training, but he's never been hurt. Yep.

And he also, I'm sure just like all of us, he has things that hurt, but he's never had like a really crazy injury. Yeah, he never tore anything, ripped anything from his bone. But he also, he like a really crazy uh injury yeah he never tore anything right from his bone but he also he doesn't really train to failure he doesn't get any spots you know and i think i think some of these things are important because he's the one generating the power every time and if you watch him over and over again he's demonstrating good form over and over again and he's got just these real specific ways of doing some of these movements where you look at him you're like that movement's dumb yeah like that's a fucking stupid movement but as as you go through some of these exercises with him even something like a lateral raise he'll

bring a lateral raise all the way up overhead and you're like it's gonna tear your rotator cuff off what are you doing right yeah but if you use a weight that's appropriate for that exercise use like 20 or 15, it's brutal. And it's taking your shoulder through a good range. I mean, it's healthy to be able to move your body around as much as you can. Which is funny because you do that and you see all these other young bodybuilders doing their lateral raise like 55s and they're only going like six inches. Right. You know what I mean?

And I always want to tell these guys, like, that's good now but you have a life and after this two years of competing right one day you're gonna want to reach up and grab something off the shelf and you want to be able to do that you're gonna lose a lot of your athleticism and you're still into that i see you pushing the sled i see you fucking jumping i see you doing all kinds of stuff that's i always want to be an athlete first you know i mean that's i like you know i mean i like being strong and everything but just to mean the athleticism and then the funny thing is just the other day you know how it is crossing the street like no one stops i thought this guy gonna stop you know he just fucking blew and i actually had a sprint to like a 20 yard sprint or i would have got run over i'm like i was like motherfucker i'm glad i'm still an athlete

there's some there's some evidence now they've done some research that has shown that people that walk faster, people that just move faster in general, they tend to live longer. Oh, really? And people that have stronger legs tend to live longer because people with stronger legs can prevent themselves from tripping, from falling and hurting their hip. Well, my old story is like when people are like, you don't want to train, I say you dive from your legs up.

You dive from your ankles up. In your formative years, you get a knee injury, you get a hip injury, you're not going to recover, and then, sadly, you're just going to rot away. If you have a strong foundation, you don't have to worry about that. Yeah, I mean, if you're just going down the stairs or something, you tear something in your knee and you're 70 or 75, yeah, it's going to be hard. It's going to be hard to recover from that. You've got to take time in the hospital.

If it happens at 40, you're probably not a huge deal. Yeah. But it happens as you get older. I know. You're toast. Preventative maintenance training. Absolutely.

What about the most, like the biggest person you've ever seen in the gym? That'll be tomorrow. Yeah. Yeah. No, but there was Jeep. Remember Jeep Swenson?

Yeah. Here's my best story. Jeep at one time had like this Mongolongolian pony he's bane by the way and the first batman so he was like six eight almost 400 pounds and he was just like purple red yeah and when he first came he had hair on the side of his head a long ponytail like almost to the ground and he had this he was just so fucking huge so he knew the owners i didn't know so they're like tim's just like go to the front desk and ask the manager just threaten his life

so all of a sudden he goes to the front desk he's like where's the manager like oh he's like get the fucking manager so it was mike mike landing he's like mike i don't know what you did but this guy's mad i'm like what so i'm looking on the screen i'm like holy fuck who is this guy he goes he wants to talk to him like fuck i'm like all right i'm like jesus christ so i go down there and i mean legit he was a fucking monster so i'm like i'm like hey can i help you he's like you're the fucking manager i'm like whoa no language don't fucking tell me i'm like whoa and he's just that overpower me you know what i mean is please you motherfucker i fucking come to train here you know you're kind of this fight in a fight. And I'm like, settle down, buddy.

And he's like, don't fucking buddy me. I'm like, Jesus fucking Christ. I'm like, I'm reaching for my pockets. I'll give me anything. And I'm like, what the fuck, buddy? I'm like, I don't even fucking know you. I don't even, is it your wife? I don't even tell me what I did.

You know what I mean? And he just starts cracking up. I'm like, motherfucker. And all of a sudden, Tim and Derek and Ed, all the owners, they're fucking, they're in the pro shop cracking up. And I'm i swear to my shirt i'm like you guys fucking suck i'm like i'm like you're a big prick but you're a fucking asshole yeah he was like over 400 pounds yeah huge huge massive he actually there was a guy it was a great story he was such a nice guy

there was a guy given mike lannahan come to think of it some guy kept wanting to fight him you know mike's just like you get a sign he's like fuck you and he was a big guy you know what I mean and Mike's just like come on buddy I'm just trying to work he's like fuck you

every morning you give me fucking shit and he's like no you get a sign in I'm gonna fucking you and he's like I'm gonna fucking come over that desk

I'm gonna fucking kick your fucking you know this guy was a big guy too all of a sudden out of nowhere it was on I didn't see it live

I had it seen on a film that Jeep fucking Swenson came and grabbed him by the neck and one of those things you see in hollywood yeah just picked him up and this guy was a big fucking guy and he held him he started squeezing this guy's fighting his for his life on his hand and he's like and jeep just looks at me goes i don't ever want to see you in california again and the guy in california that's great yeah totally and we're just like i was like fuck that was unbelievable you know what i mean mike lan is like i he's like look i want to fight

him i don't know what he's like no you don't have to fight my guy's a fucking asshole he goes if you ever see him in california let me know he just was a great line yeah yeah i remember i've never ever showed up again i remember seeing a jeep swensonenson in there curling 225. It was just part of a workout. He was doing sets of 10. I was like, what the fuck? The bar just looked weird in his hands because it was so big.

Finally, I was like, what the fuck do you do? He goes, I raise tigers. I'm like, what? He goes, yeah, I have a tiger ranch in Texas. The fuck? I go, yeah. He was like, yeah. And he took off his shirt one day.

He had claws all over him. He's like, yeah, the female's in heat, so I got to keep the males from fucking attacking them. I'm like, well, he goes, yeah, they're aggressive, so I just fucking wrestle them down. They get a good par, but I get my shots in. We fucking fight tigers all day. Insane.

Insane bastard. You don't see, I mean, era was was different oh yeah there's a different it was the 80s everything was better and everything and everything cars everything you know what about some of the pro wrestlers a lot of the wrestlers would come around right like hogan and kevin nash the best the best times ever and they would use venice they love venice venice was their triple h actually started getting in really good shape after uh meeting up with charles glass right it was years ago he was always in shape he was always jacked but uh china's joni would always train with charles when she was down because she was a she was a bodybuilder technically first right so she knew her charles yeah those guys when they they would come to town this is back when these guys wrestled like as you

know you're on the circuit so many nights so they would get a place in venice most of them usually stay it's called now the hotel erwin but then it was just the venice suites i think i can't remember what it was so they would stay there drive down to san diego come back drive to anaheim come back wrestle in la stay there go to sacramento come back go to fresno come back go to san francisco come back so they were they were they were in la basically almost like a good three weeks you know they had a little days in between so those days those guys would just go nuts they would absolutely go nuts they would train like animals they would eat like gorillas and they would party like fucking monsters hit up the firehouse oh absolutely people aren't hitting

up the firehouse as much as they used to yeah that whole era is done you know what i mean like yeah everyone's worried about their macros or whatever yeah the firehouse as much as they used to yeah that whole era is done you know what i mean like yeah everyone's worried about their macros or whatever yeah the firehouse they probably served more pancakes when those guys were in town it was insane yeah the bodybuilder bodybuilder breakfast yeah eggs have you ever done a bodybuilding show no how about like a powerlifting meet nope never just uh football and then just training yeah Yeah. After, I mean, yeah, I played all team sports. Powerlifting, I was something like, I think I was too vain. I was like, oh, I kind of get abs. I don't want to become one of these fat guys.

You know what I mean? I'll be honest with you. You got to get a little fluffy for powerlifting. You do got to get it. I mean, it's extra weight. Weight equates to strength. And then bodybuilding, when I first went, you know what I mean? You see the magazine.

You see the glamour side of bodybuilding. You know, all these guys, like, wow, they all got hot girlfriends they all got great cars i read all the magazines yeah and then you go to gold's venice and it was such a reality slap you know what i mean i never had aspirations to to be a bodybuilder so when i saw guys living in their car i was like there's no fucking way that's for me yeah you know what i mean well and it's really hard thing to make sense of because, you know, and I'm not being judgmental against it. You guys already know that I'm all for it.

But you're pumping a lot of shit into your system. So you're taking a lot of dangerous things. Meanwhile, you know, you're worried about if you have, like, an extra little tiny bit of, like, canola oil on something or olive oil. So you're trying to be like ultra healthy but you're not really necessarily healthy you're just getting lean and getting shredded right and it's like kind of almost it's hard to understand like what is it for i mean and you can look at me and look at the power thing career and think the same thing yeah because it's hard once you get

caught up in something it's like i don't know why you know football but you know we bang our heads against each i don't know like we just love it and you get to a point where you just you'd committed to it and that's what you're doing yeah but the bodybuilding like as a lifestyle like i'm getting ready to do a bodybuilding show at the end of august and i'm excited for it and i'm really glad to do it but i don't want to to make this my permanent lifestyle of having everything center around bodybuilding. When I was powerlifting, I would say that I had powerlifting center around me rather than having powerlifting run my life.

Right. That makes sense. And I don't want... Bodybuilding, it doesn't seem like there's any other way to do it. When you get on stage, it seems like there's one way to do do it and it has to run your life for at least a period of time is that why you kind of avoided it yeah well i i saw the downside to it i saw well first the amount of money you had to spend for the gear i was like holy fuck you're spending that much then then i always like okay what are the rewards i mean what are the rewards and I mean, what are the rewards? And a good thing for me was going to Gold's Gym

and seeing, wow, sometimes the ends don't justify the means. Sometimes you can be a celebrity or you can do a power lift or you can be a bodybuilder and you can still be sleeping in your car. You know what I mean? Where is this justification to sacrifice? And you see it, sacrifice family, sacrifice friends, sacrifice relationships, sacrifice careers. You know what I mean?

Some people go, I mean, it's such a perversion of life, of how it's done sometimes. You're like, wow, do I want to go down this road? And, you know what I mean, of course, then you have the success. You see Arnold like, fuck, obviously you want to do it. That's amazing. It's the greatest thing he ever did. It's wonderful for him.

Then you see the downsides, like the Mensa brothers. It made their mind snap, and they ended up killing themselves. Probably one of the best physiques in the 80s. It's weird. Like you said, it's hard to describe what it's like. So seeing, hearing, and witnessing so much, I probably saw more negative, because at Gold's in the 90s it was an explosion of of size you know i mean it was like arnold competed what 225 all of a sudden lee haney

competed like 230 240 putting on size you had a young dorian you know chasing lee haney all right yeah so now he's competing at 280 then all of a sudden lee haney's the freak he's competing at 280. Then all of a sudden, Lee Haney's the freak. He's competing at 200. And in the 90s, you had, I mean, there was Nassar Al-Sambadi, John Pierre Fuchs, there was Dorian, there was Ronnie Coleman. Yeah, Paul Dillette. Paul Dillette. These guys were fucking gorillas, and they were all a few pounds shy of 300 pounds. And that's what...

They were massive. Massive. And that's what the sport dictated. Big one back then. You know what I mean? Big, big beat over anything. You know, I always thought Flex Will had the best physique ever. massive and that's what the sport dictated big one back then you know what i mean big big beat over anything you know i always thought flex wheel had the best physique ever but they gave it a ronnie coleman because he was fucking massive you know what i mean right and

and witnessing what these guys did and what it took and smart enough i realized like that's really not for me and you look back now, it's probably the best decision ever I could have made. Because, I mean, you hate to say it. I mean, there's a whole wall in the third room, and probably 70% of those guys are dead. And Ron Coleman, who's the Mr. Olympia through all those 90s. Yeah, hopefully he can come out feeling a little bit better in the next couple of years.

But it doesn't look like, right? It sucks. And he's taking a beating. And like the guys I mentioned nasa he's passed away mike madarazzo passed away uh paul de mayo massive passed away it's a sad story of what what happened what all these guys did to compete at that size and what it took the total it took on their body and their lives and and their relationships and everything else just sacrificed yeah and the uh off season too these would get, they would get even bigger.

Bigger, bigger. It'd be 40, 50, 60 pounds heavier. And a lot of times even fat. Oh, totally. Like fat and bloated and totally like unhealthy, right? Yeah, there was a story of a, I probably won't mention his name,

he doesn't want to, probably wouldn't want it, but he was so big that he couldn't wipe his own ass. His girlfriend had to wipe his ass. You know what I mean? Imagine just being that incapacitated that you can't even stick your hand behind your butt lats are too big couldn't quite

get there yeah you need to get a special stick or something right hose them down she'd just say get in the fucking chum yeah you know it's it's a it's a crazy sport but it does you know it does kind of rein you in and it helps with discipline how do you stay in you stay in shape now? Do you do any photo shoots or anything? Because I know if you have something coming up, it's a little easier to maybe want to be in a little bit better shape. Oh, totally. I mean, to this day, I still set short-term attainable goals while I'm shooting, and this is right now for the last couple weeks.

I said I'm going to do Bill's camp. So Bill wants me there as a spokesman, as this ex-EIS guy that he discovered. So I want to go there I want to impress the shit out of him you know at 52 I'm going to look better than anyone who's 26

or less you know what I mean so I do I set short obtainable goals I think photo shoots are amazing because it captures

your body in its essence you know what I mean this is me this is what I look like wow fuck I look pretty good or wow I don't look that good then I can work on it

and improve on it right yeah so though I don't compete and though I get a modeling gig once every blue moon you know what I mean I still want to put myself out there and with social media because social media is the rage now and people are so critical

that I think you have to be on top of your game all the time too like I see you guys and I started doing live feeds and it's funny it's like hey I'm doing live feeds and people people are like, you're gross, you're skinny, you're a dick. I'm like, well, you know what I mean? It's just funny. People just bash you a lot of times for no reason.

Then you get a lot of pauses. Like, hey, man, you're an inspiration. You've got to keep going. You've got to keep going. I phone you every day. You've got to keep going. It's like, fuck, man, there's a lot of pressure. You've got to keep working.

Yeah. No, there is a lot of pressure. I mean, that's actually a reason why, like, you know, I've spent all this time and all these things on trying to build up the social media. And then I just I just I deleted it, you know, so I still like run it, you know, almost like somebody running, running shit from like inside of a prison or something. I still I still provide pictures and still provide a lot of thought behind it. But it just got to be to what sucks is I don't get to see what my friends are doing you know what i mean because i completely deleted it even my wife was like oh i want to show you like because your last post did really well and i'm like i just don't even want to yeah look at it at this moment it uh i mean i was having like my chest was like fluttering and i was

getting these weird things and i didn't equate it to social media because i'm like i'm not a fucking pussy like what is this but it was it was a lot of pressure it was a lot of extra pressure i just didn't need and i was just i was on there way too i was on there way too much um probably not really on there much more than anybody else but i was on there a lot i put a lot of thought into it and i i think probably one thing that bothered me the most is i always feel like i'm trying to share a message that people maybe aren't ready to fully understand yet. And so I somewhat, I somewhat feel misunderstood all the time. And maybe it's just because I don't have the right way or the right words or whatever to put together to it. But I don't, I, I, I think you're different. I think

your message is sound and the people that get you, get you. No, absolutely. Yeah, no, it's great. But, but I, but I'm always looking at the people that don't get it. And the people will get you. No, absolutely. Yeah, no, it's great, but I'm always looking at the people that don't get it. And that's where my problem is. It's like, there's so many people

that love it and there's so many people that are embracing it. There's been more time about the people calling you a dickhead. Yeah, I think the most harmful part was just

worrying about what other people are doing. I don't need to be caught up in it. But it's human nature. Well, that's interesting. I didn't know, what's his name? Zoo Culture.

Yeah. Bradley Martin. Okay, yeah. I didn't know who he was, but he was in the gym one day, and I was like, oh, that guy's a good-sized guy. You know what I mean? Arnold's asking who he is. I'm like, I don't know.

He has to take a picture with Arnold. So I'm like, all right. So someone's like, oh, that's one of the young guys. Oh, that's Bradley Martin. Huge following, yeah. Yeah, I'm like, right so someone's like oh that's one of the young guys oh that's bradley martin huge following yeah yeah i'm like well is he an actor athlete you know i mean he's like no he's social media guy i was like oh whatever you know what it seems like you know seem like a nice guy and i didn't so i i right when i looked him up he was doing your podcast and i said oh if he's a friend of smelly he's gonna be all right and he just talked about he had uh anxiety attacks and yeah and he and his body shut down or something because and of course half of me is like oh what a fucking pussy you know what i mean that's what

i was thinking about myself i was like what the fuck's wrong with me yeah what a what a pussy why does that happen then you start realizing i'm like wow these there is a lot of pressure out there and a lot of people don't know how to handle it and a lot of people don't know where to look for it, but he seems like a real cool guy. You know what I mean? And I hope he's, his health is up there, but yeah, he's,

I mean, he's an amazing shape, but it is, it is a pressure and it's, it's self-induced. And that's what he was suffering from, right? Yeah.

Yeah. It was basically the same thing. I mean, he kind of said it was like more like business related, but business nowadays is related to social media and i don't feel i guess because the business i mean i'm sure that i still feel pressure from the business but the business has been built up so gradual i mean you've been around for the whole thing it's been built up so gradual and the youtube channel and all these other things have

been this real slow climb right and then these other things come in, and I'm kind of thinking to myself, like, oh, shit, what else is going to come in? What else do I got to be responsible for? I'm trying to spin a lot of plates at one time. I'm still trying to be creative with the products. I got my kids. I got my wife. I got a lot of other things moving.

Our brother and I are working on a movie right now, so there's just a lot of things going on at one time. And I just thought, you know what, this would be the greatest chop because if I just chop it out, it'll save me so much time. And now, you know, like you said, you like to focus on yourself, which some people might take that the wrong way. When you're, when you focus on yourself, you're able to serve other people better. All the that you were all the clients that you're you're training every day you're able to motivate and inspire them when you feel the best yeah if you're in there and you're depressed because you feel fat and you feel this and you feel that because the last couple weeks you didn't make any time for yourself to train the way you wanted to that's not helping anybody else yeah totally great and one thing

one thing i did find social media can be positive. It can be. It absolutely can be. I mean, there's so many good positives that you do get a lot of feedback, and it is inspiring. You know what I mean? The thing is, like, no one my age is really on social media. I mean, I get people say, you're on MySpace.

You know what I mean? But Facebook is still like, Bill, Bill's only on Facebook. Right. You know what I mean? I'm like bill bill's only on facebook right you know what i mean i'm like bill you really need to expand you got you have to step out of facebook you need to get into instagram you need that's something and that's something that should be filmed i know that conversation that conversation is great yeah totally so i'm taking a guy who's a year older than me right you know into like the millennial way so it's funny but uh yeah this whole social media craze, whatever it is, it can be inspiring and it can be motivating.

And I do get so much good positive feedback. So that's also another good way to keep myself training hard. The muscle critic. The muscle critic. What's going on with the muscle critic? Muscle critics are mission impossible. Gave it two biceps. The muscle critic is just something I don't even know how I came up with.

How many biceps can you earn? Probably just two unless i it's like a double bicep except i flex my femoral bicep yeah there you go uh no it was just i don't know what the i don't know how i came upon it you know what i mean of course when you know me i'm critical of everyone oh yeah i mean i've always given everybody yeah ball buster all the time you know what i mean just just love it you know i mean fucking you look terrible well you miss the locker room right and then the gym's kind of the locker room mentality too and some people get it some people get so offended and they walk away that's even better you know but so my brother my brother's always trying to tell you something and you're like you got nothing and then he just

walks away frustrated he's like oh he's like mike's the fucking worst he crushes me all the time but it's the best so i'm so critical and i was just like i was like i just i should just make this thing i'm like the muscle critic i just criticize everything you know so i figured i'll just start for us with movies and i you know here's the funniest thing i was just i just critique a movie i'm like hey it's your muscle critic either give it a flex or give it like a saggy jelly ass you know something funny but um the state in state in California, they give homeless guys phones, you know, and they have free plans and everything. So I'm walking the beach and all of a sudden these homeless guys are like,

muscle critic, when's your next review? I'm like, what? They're like, yeah, they show we follow you. I'm like, that is the best. I got all the homeless menace waiting for my review. You should have took a selfie with them. I told you, a sm with him. I told you. A smelfie.

Yeah. Yeah, you don't want to get too close. Oh, God, yeah. But yeah, so it's homeless. Are you able to give a legit review after you've worked with some of these people? Well, sometimes I have to avoid the situation. Yeah, so you just don't grade it.

Because it's not a paying gig. You know what I mean? I'm not like, you know what I mean? I'm like, you know, you're getting all this money to review it and write this elegant you know essay mission impossible i loved it yeah i'd like and my whole thing is i love tom cruise you know what i mean politically religious whatever you think of him he's a guy that goes all out for his brand and his brand is himself yeah he kills himself i mean he broke his ankle he

broke what five ribs doing that movie? He beats himself out of it. And you can see this whole YouTube video of him doing his motorcycle stunts. Him driving. Him fucking climbing helicopters. You know what I mean? He said he thinks it makes it more entertaining.

And it does. And then he said with Mission Impossible, they asked him if he was going to do another one. And he said, if this one gets people excited and it does better than the last one then yeah i'll do another one and it's perfect and i just i love i mean even he's what 56 yeah he sprints like he's still in high school you know what i mean every scene he's fucking sprinted you know what i mean i was like man i sprinted across the road i was gassed that scene was

pretty cool where he was sprinting like forever i mean i'm sure it was multiple shots or whatever but just non-stop yeah but you're just looking at it and you're like man he's really trying to chase this fucking guy down yeah he does everything with such such passion that's why i just you know my wife loves tom she's a huge tom cruise oh yeah yeah he's he's just he he markets himself well and he puts everything into all his projects and that's what you can say he doesn't you know it's like very religious he take a shitty shitty job right and and just writes it in like i watched uh death wish you know crappy bruce willis like he wants to be there as much as i want to be at a yawning festival you know what i mean he's just like okay he doesn't he does his phone it in his half-assed smirk right i'm gonna kill you

you know i mean he has like zero effort to it? I'm like, he just fucking wrote it in. He got a big check. He was like, fuck it. The movies are so exciting to go to, and it's so great when you see a good one. Yeah. But you have to absorb a lot of bad ones. Oh, I know.

Especially these days. It's like, how do these movies get made? Well, so many movies come out, too, you know? But what's weird, too, is there's a lot of obscure movies that are great that are harder to see. You've got to go to special theaters yeah for sure i saw the um it's called three identical strangers you heard about that yes it's really really good it's about triplets triplets right yeah and they find each other and there's a whole thing i won't give it away but i heard it's pretty fascinating it's a documentary it's a documentary yeah i think you'd

like it a lot that's really cool it's emotional too you're's a documentary. It's a documentary. Yeah. I think you'd like it a lot. Yeah. It's really cool. It's emotional, too. You're like, wow, I didn't know it was going to be this way. Yeah. You know? Yeah, no, movie making and good movies are just, when you make a good movie and you impact people, it's just so much fun. You've got to review my brother's movies. Just shit on all of them.

Totally. I said this movie would be great if Chris Bell wasn't in it. And for the second one, I said this would have been better than the first one if Chris Bell wasn't in it. And for the second one, I said this would have been better than the first one if Chris Bell wasn't in it. I gave it two saggy asses. I gave it a gyno and a saggy ass. Yeah, there you go. What are some other good ones that you've seen lately?

Geez. Well, I'm a fan of the comic book movies. I think Deadpool and the Avengers and the Infinity Wars. Deadpool, amazing. Brilliant. I think Deadpool and the Avengers and the Infinity Wars. Deadpool, amazing. Brilliant. I love Deadpool. Brilliant. If they want to make 20 of those, I'll watch all of them.

Absolutely, brilliant. Brad Pitt, best performance ever. He's in there for like half a second or something, right? Did you see it? I saw the movie, yeah. Yeah, yeah. And the only thing, his salary was, I want a good cup of coffee. He showed up, put his face up, and that was it.

Yeah, there was a couple other little cameos in there too, right? Oh, yeah, totally. Yeah, it's just brilliantly written. It's just so fun. And then as a comic book geek, I mean, I thought the Avengers Infinity War was fucking terrific. And I love the premise. I love that there's a being out there

that when he shows up to your planet, 50% is annihilated in two seconds. Wouldn't that be wild? It'd be like, okay, we'll see who's here and who isn't. And Josh Bowen, he chains at gold. Yeah, super good guy too. You know what I mean? I'm so happy for his success.

I mean, the guy's been out there. He's been out there for years. I mean, he was a goon. Yeah. Lovato said that he puts in work. He's like, man, the guy freaking trains his face off. But when he's done, he stops, which is kind of depressing. Yeah, you've got to somehow stay on top of that rebound, right?

Yeah, some guys, when they take to the weights, they love it. Some guys, they just do it for their job, and that's it. Whatever the next gig is. What's coming up? Like I said, I've got so many projects with Ray Hahn. We're going to have some superhero training, superhero body programs. Cool. Yeah, Ray Hahn, you know what I mean?

Ray Hahn did most of the DC guys. He's been an Affleck's guy for years. And he's such a smart guy, you know what I mean? He knows formulations. He probably did like every big company's formulation in the 90s. You know Ray Hahn, right? I don't know him, no. Oh, really?

Ray Hahn? Yeah, he was Bill Phillips' guy. He came out with so much formulations. You've got to meet him. He has a gym in Hollywood with Grant. You know Grant? What's Grant's last name? Grant's a big guy.

He trains people, but he's always in parts in movies, too. So they've got a little place in Beverly Hills that's really neat, and they do assessments like nobody's business no that's cool yeah they analyze everything but he's super smart and i've known him for eas and we just you know he came to my camp and he just talked and he's so passionate about everything i'm like we really need to get some shit going you know and he's like me you know he's an old cat who doesn't really know how to work social like this guy this guy did the whole menu for the super bowl the year the the giants won the uh the super bowl yeah like strahan flew him out there he's like at camp

he's like this is the guy you guys follow everything that he tells you to do you know of course i hate him because they beat the patriots yeah but but michael strahan to this day is always like oh my good friend rayhan told me i gotta eat this today i gotta watch out for that you know right so these guys and i was like and rayhan has like like a thousand followers really i'm like you're so fucking brilliant and he's like me he's like what do you tag i'm like i tag you i'm like i tag you you know what i mean like i don't even know how to work this shit so finally we're like we're getting together so we're gonna do that i got muscle camps coming up um bill phillips camp you did like you did a seminar here at Gold's, right?

Yeah. Like not too long ago. Yeah, it was Memorial Weekend, my first muscle camp. Cool. Yeah, it was really neat. I had people from Australia fly out. Oh, shit. Yeah, and I really didn't know what I was doing.

I'm like, years ago, we used to do muscle camps. And they got too big for Gold's, and they used to go to Loyola because people wanted to stay over. So they used the dorm the dorms and they have all the pro bodybuilders there i'm like wow what a what a cool concept i said you know uh so i talked to danny hester danny was like i'd love to do it danny hester still jacked jacked amazing physique and he's like i was like would you ever be interested to help me out doing a muscle camp he's like i will go in there i'll analyze everyone's physique in the posing room. I'm like, wow, invaluable.

And I asked Ray, honey, he goes, I'll give you a lecture about what to eat, what not to eat, the best supplements, everything out there. I'm like, holy fucking valuable. So I just did it. And so I talked to Jeff. He's like, yeah, do it. All of a sudden, Jeff calls me. He's like, oh, we're gym sharks.

You want to promo that? Oh, shit. I was like, oh, fuck. So they kind of crushed me. So they limited my enrollment to 15 people right but that was but it was great i had some um soldiers come up from um uh san diego what is it uh camp pendleton right i had these marines come up that's cool yeah so i had a bunch of guys i just kind of come to everyone i'm like you guys come on up i appreciate everything you're doing they were they were fired up and a lot of guys because i thought you're

going to be able to make it but you had your party so a lot of guys wanted wanted to meet you a lot of the soldiers and everything i said yeah but he'll be around but it was really cool yeah and um then where i traveled like wildfire you know it was like what's the next one's the next one i was like fuck i gotta get on this no that's great and it can be a kind of mentor program and things like that and help get the word out there what's your diet look like nowadays um it's usually monday through friday i'm pretty clean you know i mondays because i'm in the gym a lot what happens on saturday and sunday oh fucking free for all like yesterday i had i was knew i was going to try and do some some legs this was kind of squat i did four or five for i think eight nice yeah and i felt pretty good but

last night i had stuffed shells with a plate of meatballs you ever have stuffed shells yeah so good oh the best yeah this is italian joint playa vista they give you a fucking huge stuffed shells they throw in spinach they do everything you know then of course i had like a plate of bread too do you do you just go all out that whole day or is it more like no it's just a meal oh okay yeah you know what the funny thing and i talked to rayhan about this this is crazy it's and it's i eat less now than i did way back when right but I'm heavier and stronger. And I said, Rehan, I asked him at the seminar, I'm like,

I said, I don't want to piss anyone off, but I'm eating less, probably less than all you guys here, but I'm getting stronger and leaner than all you guys here. And I don't understand it. He said, your body is so intuitive in training, but your feed, he goes, you have protein. I go, protein is my priority. I go,

no matter what, I'll have protein in every meal. He goes, you are producing more natural growth hormone in your body now that you're, that you're just devouring fat all day long. Right. And I'm like, holy fuck.

I didn't even know this. I mean, I've been training for years. I don't know. I didn't know. I figured everything would come to a standstill. He goes, but you're speeding up your metabolism and you're creating more natural growth hormone.

And you probably don't eat a lot of fat. Not really. Like just whatever's in your food. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it's usually lean choices, though. Yeah, well, I like nuts. You know what I mean? That's my source of fat.

And you eat steak and stuff like that? Yeah, I still eat red meat, you know, burgers, yeah. Yeah, but you like to enjoy it. You like to have a beer, some wine, stuff like that? Yeah, I enjoy eat red meat, you know, burgers, yeah. Yeah, but you like to enjoy it. You like to have a beer, some wine, stuff like that. Yeah, I enjoy life, you know what I mean? That's the whole thing. Everyone's asked, like, all day long you get, are you on a diet?

Are you on a diet? I don't prescribe to any diet. I'm about healthy choices and a good lifestyle. You want to feel good all around, not just when you pick up your shirt and look at your abs. Right, I don't want to you want to feel good all around not just right not just when you pick up your shirt and look at your abs right i don't want to deplete myself so i'm grumpy and miserable four weeks or whatever right you know what i mean i don't want to deny myself going you do that sometimes summer's coming up or something's coming up and you you you know just drop your food down

a little bit or do a little extra cardio extra cardio a little extra work when i went home it's funny you know your parents the parents are the most honest people in the world so i went home and they walk in and uh like my parents saw me christmas time i was probably like 2 15 i went home i was 230 232 actually my dad's like are you fucking going for goal line we call it in the fullback you know i just start laughing while he goes fullback you're just a fat shit you better stop you better start doing more cardio a really cool thing is because you've always been a huge inspiration to me. When I've seen you around, you're always in good shape. And when I saw you in the beginning of this month, you're like, fuck, you and your brother.

What are you guys doing? You guys are getting shredded. He's like, you're like, I got to get on this shit. I got to do cardio or I got to do something. Like, what do I got to do? You're like, well, how are you guys eating? Like, you're in panic mode. I was totally.

I do. I run at night now. I have pictures of you guys. I have little glasses of you guys taped on you're you're in panic panic mode i do i run at night now i have pictures of you guys i have little glasses you guys have taped on the inside i'm fucking chasing you every day i run like fuckers and when i saw you today you're all fast you know i'm like fuck now i gotta do bodybuilding so yeah i was fucking it was all set up i was in the sun i was eating my chicken and rice shirt off you popped right in front of me i was like i fucking hate this guy i won't be able to sleep tonight you know that son of a bitch don't worry.

All right, man. Well, I guess I'll see you in the gym tomorrow. Of course you will. Where can people find you? Mike underscore Ryan underscore celebrity trainer, Instagram. And also, Mike Ryan, your muscle critic. Hell yeah. Strength is never a weakness.

Weakness is never a strength. Thanks, Mike. Cheers. Thank you.