Massenomics Podcast - Ep. 422: Live From Home Gym Con

Episode Date: May 6, 2024

Big Keith joins us on stage in front of a live Cru audience at Home Gym Con day one! We discuss the event and what equipment we all think we need after seeing it up close. Build Fast Formula Use code MASSENOMICS to save 10% on every order! BearFoot Shoes Use code MASSENOMICS to save 10% on every order! Juggernaut AI Use code MASSENOMICS to save 10%! The Strength Co Get some Go-To Plates! Swiss Link Use code MASS to save 15%! Texas Power Bars Get the Barbell that changed the game!

You know, thanks for what you do with your podcasts and all the rest. You're doing a great job. Hope everybody keeps tuning in. You get a lot of good info, a lot of insights, understandings on how to get strong, how to stay strong, how to use your strength. You do a great job, dude. You make things better than they are in real life, I think.

If you don't follow Massanomics, y'all do it. Social media, website, everything. Massanomics! science, everything. Massanomics! Hey guys, hopping on here for a quick note before the episode starts. Episodes 421 and 422 were not recorded in our normal situation. They were recorded at Home Gym Con in French Lake, Indiana, which means that we were not using our equipment. It was a setup that they had there for us. We recorded the episodes. We didn't know what was going on, how it was working. And unfortunately,

the audio was clipped pretty bad and the video camera was not set up correctly either. So we will not have video for you guys for this week or next week. And the audio is not the best quality. Again, it was out of our control. We're sorry. We wish it was better. Wish we could have done something about it, but we didn't have the option to do anything there. So bear with us. We hope you still enjoy it. Lots of other good content coming on the way. Welcome everyone, including actual live listeners today to episode 422 of the Mathsonomics podcast, the lifting podcast about nothing recorded live from none other than French Lick, Indiana for the first time. We've got myself, Tanner, Tommy's over here, and then you guys all know Keith by this point. Big Keith is here with us.

And then we've got a few people listening live. We're just kicking off the very beginning of Home Gym Con 2024, our first experience here, our first massonomic experience. What do you know so far, Tommy? I know that it was quite the trip getting in here. We had some travels, didn't we? There were some serious travel experiences. Of course, the most direct way to get from Aberdeen, South Dakota, to Louisville, Kentucky,

and then French Lick is through Denver. Of course. Like all good trips out east, they start going to the west. Yeah. And, Keith, this is actually your second experience at Home Gym Con, so we brought in the expert to let us know what to expect. It is Friday morning, so it did just kick off, and we're just kind of starting to get our feet wet now.

Yeah, made it out last year. This year is already looking to be about 70% more people as far as vendors and just attendance. So hopefully that does well enough that this thing can keep going and we can keep having Home Gym Con 2025, 2026,

etc. And Keith, I think people are wondering you're now on the Massanomics podcast again. This is a lot recently. I mean, wait, I thought we recorded. Isn't this coming out on Tuesday as the Unpaid and Underrated podcast? And you're just my guest? I thought that, no. Okay, so this is the Mastanomics podcast.

Yeah, no, it's an honor to be here again. I don't know how many crew have been on more than a couple times, so that's pretty awesome. I'm glad to be here. Yeah, so what are your first thoughts, Tommy, on the convention? We got to go inside. Well, we had the breakfast, first of all, which what are your first thoughts, Tommy, on the convention? We got to go inside, well, we had the breakfast, first of all, which was probably the most important, but then we did get to go in the

big convention room where everyone's set up. What's your initial impressions? Initial impressions, so my only other experience with a show of any kind is the Arnold, you know, we're Arnold veterans over here, and the Arnold is absolute mayhem. You don't really have time to talk with anybody. So far in the, what, hour we got to walk through there, we actually got to just sit and talk with people and see their stuff, see their booths. So that part's been really refreshing so far to actually be able to do that. I'd say that's the biggest difference right off the bat, wouldn't you?

Yeah, it is really cool because at the Arnold we are busy from like, you know, it's 15-hour days for four or five days straight, and we're running our own booth and doing our own thing, and we don't get to experience much of any of that from that perspective so it is fun to be more like uh someone hanging out a little bit yeah i'm actually excited to get done with this and just do a full day of that absolutely so that's what uh your life is like keith here at home gym con we're getting to experience a little life through the eyes of keith and when you know keith you kind of have the inside track to knowing everyone here apparently yeah and there's And there's, uh, so all the smaller companies for the most part,

all the repeat companies, for sure. I know if not by name, at least by face, most of them, uh, a lot of the bigger companies out this year, um, you know, kind of just have sales guys or just like employees, but still cool to check out their stuff. But, uh, I'm really here for the smaller companies and just, you know, you know the fellow home gym influencers if you will just you know the home gym enthusiast is more than I'm not an influencer I'm an enthusiast but it's cool to just hang out with like minded people you know

if I'm going to buy stuff from any of these people I don't know it's just but it's cool to make connections and friends you know just because you're online for instance I mean you can't come out to home gym con and meet people in real life well every episode of this one would be no different. We have to have a supporting our supporting members segment. So, Keith, you're the official spreadsheet record keeper

of how many Massanomics podcast supporting members are here. So what's your grand total that you think you're coming up with? Oh, man, I wish you had set me up quicker. Putting him on the spot. I've got a dozen. So I've got Big Keithith that's me uh coach carp uh matt cappy uh i think it's uh was it cpap yeah he's got he's got the funny oh is he gonna be here tomorrow i believe okay here and he signed up just recently i think he made it might have

taken your spot yeah he did yeah at the lift hard live easy classic this uh we got joey e uh he's he was here he's doing the joey's doing the grip he's on the grip conference right now yep uh hogan and coach carp is doing the strongman competition on the strongman tomorrow yep i got hogan in the audience right there wearing that beautiful jacket that actually reminds me speaking of supporting our supporting members oh yeah here we go special delivery all the way from western northeast south dakota not a lot of orders get delivered by hand those are special socks for hogan to wear this week this weekend no i'm coming to sidetrack real quick was was put it in the old vice grip on the short list of hall of fame status uh

like actually oh no that's been a that's been a more recent development that would have been a good one uh we did have to go over on our trip though what uh common midwestern sayings we're going to lean to the most here we assumed if we we had a long enough list we could have full conversations with people without actually saying anything of any substance or meaning get several several minutes of talking and no content actually. In the second half, we've got Kurt Locker, Chris from BeltFed. Kurt's running the Strongman competition. He is, yep. Chris from BeltFed has his own booth, of course.

Yep, and then we've got Tommy and Tanner. I'm not sure who that is. Never heard of her. Big Jake, who puts all this on. He's a newer supporting member. Adrian Gluck's down there. got george uh big george i met him this morning i believe and then debo is a wild card that i don't think anyone's met yet but he said he'd be here this afternoon you got george e i think it's george g oh i messed that one up a little fixed the spreadsheet yeah yeah i thought

you paid attention to details keith well you tell people to get social media that matches their real names, you know, and that would just make life a whole lot easier. That's the ones we know, but there was a, did you see in the grip competition, there was someone wearing the Massanomics Lift It tee? Oh, okay. I think that guy's possibly a supporting member too, but I'm not sure who that is. Good chance. Speaking of the double, we have another supporting member.

Well, possible. Big Kevin was not on your list. No, he was not. Add another. Big Kevin. Add him up. Another one. Thanks for telling me you were coming, Kevin.

Big Kevin, I guess they will literally let anyone into this place at this point in time. So thanks for joining us. I heard that voice and I'm like, oh. It's just blocking in. Crew just starts to. At this rate, one person every 10 minutes will have this thing filled in no time. This is going to make a good video. I hope that picked up.

It's kind of like everyone walks in and gets their own entrance, actually. Actually, we got Greg from Heavy Metal Barbell back there. All the way from Minnesota, right? Fellow Midwesterner. Kevin, what state are you? Are you Ohio? Michigan. Close enough.

Why didn't you bring scott he made the decision last minute but he did come dressed appropriately for the occasion that's too impressed appreciate that um keith we're already looking at a few booths filled with equipment this morning is there any equipment here that you have your eye on that uh you know i know you flew to you're like us so you can't necessarily drag it home with you now. But is there anything that you got your eye on that you, being here and checking out in person, might make you want to pull the trigger? I think I'll probably end up buying an axle from Dean at some point. For people that don't know who Dean is.

Dean from Black Widow. But if you're Keith, you're a first name basis. It's cool to not say the company name, just the people behind it. That's right. It's also great for sales, too. Yeah. So that's been on my short list of a thing to do is to get a newer axle that accommodates my needs of being able to overhead press between floor joists and not having to space it out with collars. But now that I just signed up for the Strongman show, I've got to put my funds that were for that into accumulating a handful of Strongman things.

I'm actually, the Freedom Strength sandbags, I've got to check those out. Those look pretty beefy. I did some sandbag to shoulder up to 100 pounds. Those are kind of fun. So I'm definitely not putting those in my carry-on, but that might be a turnaround and buy some sandbags soon. You said freedom of strength. I'm more of a freedom fitness kind of guy myself. Big Ashton in the house.

Or Ashton if you know the people. And Big Ashton has a spot on the Unpaid Underrated Podcast as soon as he becomes a supporting member. It might take him about a year to get on because we are booked about three months out. But that's all he needs to do to be a supporting member, to be a supporting member and get on the podcast. booked about three months out but you know that's all you need to do to be a supporting member to be a sporting member get on the podcast so keith you've kind of made the full transition to strong man competitor now you've left your power lifting days completely behind has this presented a

branding conundrum for you with the no wine cellar and possibly moving out to the shed no no we're definitely still going to be a power lifting enthusiast jim uh i will just just take this summer and the next few months to kind of do something different. And I just didn't want to give the crew another chance to bust my balls of being so focused on powerlifting because it kind of took that to heart. I was like, wow, do you guys really think I mean, I know people think I'm an asshole to some extent, but I was like, I don't want to be known as the asshole at a powerlifting meet. So and I don't know how to be chill at a powerlifting meet. Like that doesn't go hand in hand to me. Like I can't like drink beer and have a good time at a powerlifting meet. Like, that doesn't go hand in hand to me. Like, I can't, like, drink beer and have a good time at a powerlifting meet. I'm there to do it all.

Keith doesn't have an off switch. But Strongman, I can because I don't know shit about Strongman. And Strongman is just make-believe because it's all just made-up things. There's nothing. You're not going. You're not working towards a total. You either lift it or you don't. But, like, who cares, in my opinion, as far as that.

So I'm not going to be disappointed at my result at a Strongman show like I would be disappointed at my results at a powerlifting meet. Do you think you're going to feel the same way on meet day, though, Keith? Is it still meet day or is it show day? disappointed at my result at a strongman show like i would be disappointed at my results at a do you think you're going to feel the same way on meet day though keith is it still meet day or is it show day and i would also say from personal experience of doing strongman shows plus me there's still plenty of room for disappointment so i can tell you that firsthand i've been i've left many a times very disappointed so don't worry. You still get to experience that. Thanks for ramping my anxiety back up after I, you know, invested another hundred and some dollars into switching gears.

But, no, I think it's going to be a blast. All the events are very manageable for a novice that, you know, isn't that strong. The loading bar aspect of it is great. The rising bar so I can jump in wherever I want on some of the lifts. And then all the implement starting weight was like, oh, I I can jump in wherever I want on some of the lifts. And then all the implement starting weight was like, oh, I can do that. Just maybe not for a lot of reps. I wanted to hit on the amenities here a little bit, the facility that we're in.

So what is this? The French Lick what? What did we call it? Resort. French Lick population is, they said, 1,700. There must be an adjacent town here that there's more than just French Lick. I think it's the suburbs. We're in the suburbs. This convention center

hotel area is kind of wild. It's not what you would expect in French Lick, Indiana, I don't think. I didn't really know what to expect. I kind of, in a way, feel like I'm on the Titanic. It's got this old early 1900s vibe to it. In a real classy way, though. Not like I don't feel like I'm going to go down In a real classy way, though.

Not like I don't feel like I'm going to go down on a ship and die while I'm here. Hopefully. Hopefully. It's still time. I'm excited to explore the resort, though. This has been very interesting. A casino attached? We got to keep Tana.

We cannot let Tana get near the casino, though. Because if he does find a card table, just he's gone. He'll never see him again. It's over. We'll make it to the podcast tomorrow at that point. So if Tanner's up all night playing, you know, blackjack or poker or whatever, at what point does it become tomorrow and then we can't talk to him until he has his coffee?

Where does the changeover happen? I'd say probably somewhere around 5 o'clock. It can't be midnight because I might be out past midnight. No, I'd say like 5 a.m. Yeah, I don't know if there's a specific line in the sand time. It's more of a general feel of when no one can talk to me until I've had my coffee. But luckily at morning breakfast they did have coffee. There was a bit of a delay.

You did have to – I think your breakfast was gone before you did have your coffee. So we kind of broke the rules and had a little chit-chat beforehand. Yeah, and this setup is cool. So we're just kind of down the hall basically from the main convention area where everyone's where all the exhibitors are we'll be podcasting here today and then doing one more uh maybe get a couple different guests on tomorrow to do one more and then we're planning on shooting three or four different youtube videos on some equipment and content when we're here right correct tommy's kind of the cameraman content guy but he has been letting me touch the camera from time to time so i'm kind of know my way around that he's a bit of

a camera guy over here now yeah so when we get done with this i mean we'll probably head right into starting to do some of the content stuff right uh-huh yeah well we'll probably make some more rounds you know get to know a few more people and then hit them with the content got to ease them into it yeah i think if you actually get to know him first like like the conversation you had with dean at black widow he talked to him for 10 minutes and now you can go back and actually shoot you know another five ten minute video essentially the same thing you had just on film probably rather than just cold cold cold recording you know when you don't even know the guy so i think that'll be cool i definitely i would recommend doing like maybe split your time like 50 50 just shooting

the shit versus content probably it'd be a good uh a good ratio for sure i would like to mention that uh this trip in general is powered by bells of steel there they are the ones that help bring us out here and get us involved in home gym con this year home gym con was on our radar last year but being the first year we're probably hesitant to take the step honestly and maybe we would have even been hesitant this year but uh bezel steel stepped up and um made the trip possible for us and then in addition to that this episode like every episode we do is brought to our brought to you by our typical sponsors which would be juggernaut ai as one of them if anyone's interested

in uh seeking out some training for powerlifting specific or just general strength training, you want to get stronger, you want to get better, check out Juggernaut AI. It's a relatively simple app to use and get comfortable with and it tracks your progress really well and goes through basic periodization to peak you towards an actual

meet. The most important part is remember discount code MASSANOMICS when you sign up. That'll save you 10% for the lifetime of your membership over at Juggernaut AI. And this episode is also brought to you by our good friends at Barefoot Shoes. Is Barefoot here? Has anyone

seen them? I do not think they are here this year. Well, their name was on the list. I'm wearing Barefoot shoes. I'm wearing Barefoot shoes as well. They are our favorite Barefoot shoes. The company was foundedfoot shoes as well. They are our favorite barefoot shoes. The company was founded by Chris Duffin and our neighbors to the north in Fargo, North Dakota. They've been putting out some top-notch

barefoot shoes for several years now, including the Ursus Low Tops, the Ursus High Tops, the Oso's, and the Bruin Boots. They've also added a new shoe to the lineup. It's coming very soon, so hop on their website to check that out. And while you're on the website, make sure to use code MASSANOMICS

to save 10% on your next order. And you can do that at www.barefoot.store. Thank you. Barefoot Shoes. Thanks, Barefoot. Keith, were you wanting to do an ad at all? Do you want to try the Strength Co.? Do you? Do you?

Yeah, the Strength Co. Have you used some Strength Co. parts i do so this episode is also brought to you by strength co keith what do you know about the so i do have a pair of 2.5s i bought from grant last year okay bit of a strength guy over here everything that you would think of uh if i would to tell people if i had to start a new gym if my house burnt down and my plates made my plates melt melted and they were completely non-functional i I would tell the insurance company I need strength coat plates to compensate because they're the only plate that I would consider American-made and of that quality. So that's why when I have my – like what's my gym cost to replace?

It would basically be what I would take to have $4,000 worth of strength coat plates, or 4,000 pounds that is, which would be much more than 4,000. So your numbers aren't adding up there yeah yeah i misspoke there but yeah uh go get you some strength coat plates and tell them massonomics sent you uh keith quick question for you not particularly relevant to home gym con but just relevant relevant in general um you know i do have the one pair of york deep dish plates on display at mass dynamics gym. And I do really need a second pair to like even it out. And I, I don't know if you know this,

but I always like a story behind the vintage equipment. It's almost more valuable to me than the vintage equipment itself. So, you know, it would make a great story for my second pair of York deep dish plates. Well, if you and Tommy, you want to throw the gauntlet down, I'll throw the gauntlet down. You come, you come pull a gluck and pour the no wine cellar, and I will sell you a pair for $800. So is that a deal?

Yeah, if you come to – I don't want to go to that. It's a non-marked, an unmarked pair. I'm not selling a marked pair for $800. Okay. So for anyone that doesn't know, what's the distinguishing difference between the marked and unmarked? So the marked 45s go for double to triple what the unmarked ones are. And I think I would say, like, if there's over 1,000 unmarked pairs out there, there's maybe a couple hundred marked pairs. I'm assuming the ones in the gyms are marked. So maybe explain what the difference between marked and unmarked is.

So on a deep dish 45, so we're not talking like a milled.45, which is more popular in the 70s, 80s. So the deep dish, you know, the 50s and 60s, you're talking like a two, three inch, closer to two and a half, three inches deep. There's a lot of people using for grip training and stuff now. So the old.45s, they just say York on them, and they don't actually have a 45 pound emblem marked out anywhere on it. But then there was a transitional period there. I think once I could be talking to my butt,

I'm not a distributor. There was a period of time where they did have the 45, you know, stamping, raised lettering, whatever you want to call it in the mold. But I put it this way. I own five pairs of deep dish and only one pair is marked and I've never come across another pair. So the ones in the gym don't say 45 on them? Is that right? I believe, yeah. Yeah, you paid what going rate was, really. Going rate is double or triple what you paid for those.

Right, right. Okay. I didn't realize that. Speaking of vintage equipment, Hogan, did you bring my 85-pound York roundhead dumbbells? Okay. All right, great. And I did speak with George, big sporting member, George Green, and he's prepared for the handoff on the next leg of the journey.

So he said that's a heavy handoff and he's right. So that will be the final piece of the collection for the York round headset that Keith can finally get off my back that I've got the full, full collection. And then you get the award for having a full set, right? There's a big ceremony. Yeah. What do you do to let me into the club? Really?

The only thing that happens is just this great anticlimactic moment where you're just like, whoa, shit. Now I don't have that pastime anymore. Got to find a new hobby. I'm in the club of disappointment. I'm looking forward to that. We did see quite a few other people just passing through already that we're

going to have to talk to. Past podcast guest, Mark Rosenberg, Deadliest Man, was in attendance. He is big, too. He was looking as big as ever, wasn't he? He is. Does anyone know, is Big Mark doing any exhibition lifting this weekend? I could see him pulling out a 900 and some

pound Jefferson deadlift. I don't think he's on the roster for the strongman, but I would assume he's going to jump in. There's a deadlift event on Saturday, correct? He'll be doing that. There's a deadlift party and then there's an overhead press log party, I think. I'd be surprised if big Mark doesn't do some sort of 900 pound deadlift. I just assume he's ready to pull 900 pounds

at any given time. The only problem here, the ceiling is way too high for him. I was going to say, if he stands on swing sesh and maybe you know he gets a couple more uh some kind of some some other risers we get a little closer to that ceiling but yeah be very hard to get his head all the way up there and then uh goob was there he said he was with uh i gotta i have to meet him i saw him but i didn't get a chance to meet him yeah and several other booths so what's's the comparison from 2023 to 2024 so far? What do you think?

I said I'm really on my way down there for like an hour or two, but it's just fuller. Last year, I mean, I probably talked as much to people last year just because I talked to individual people for longer. So this year I kind of feel like there's that many more people that I don't want to monopolize someone's time at their booth for more than like 10 minutes. I have that internal clock.

It's like, all right, it's been 10 minutes. I'm just gonna shake their hand, you know, kind of circle back. I'm out. It's just for, I mean, you were down there. It's about a football field, right? Like give or take maybe a little bit more, maybe a little bit less, but within 20% of the site of a football field and it's full, there's like 80 plus vendors down there.

And I don't know what the, there's ideally going to be three or 400, you know, people just coming to check out the stuff each day. Versus last year, there was 30, 40 vendors and 200 people. It's already 3x just being down there for a little bit. I don't know that it can grow 3x again, but if it stays the same, I think that's good enough. I don't know that you want to be that much bigger unless you have a lot bigger space because cramming more stuff down there in that size, I think Jake even said some of the vendors wanted more space and he could really allot them.

To put you on the spot, Keith, we know that Bells of Steel had at one point decided they weren't going to maybe be able to make it this weekend. I didn't hear that. Then they were able to, this trip powered by Bezel Steel by the way, but then they were able to change some things around and they had a pretty good setup there so have you spoken to them at all? I have not. You'll have to introduce me to Kayvon so we can I already told him this morning that we're going to be bringing you by to introduce you

to those guys. And now when you said that was he like who? What are you talking about? No, no. No, he's like, I... You mean that asshole that made all those memes about me? It's the Bails of... B-A-I-L-S of C-S-T-E-A-L. No, he knew you were in.

He was excited to meet you. So this man has quite the reputation. He facilitated, to some extent, getting you and Gluck here. So I think that alone, that's like three of my biggest friends in this community. So that's pretty cool. Gluck supporting member. I think the fact that I said Adrian Gluck, no one really calls him Adrian. So yeah. So the bells of steel is back in your good favor. I'll have to check them out. Back on the list. I did feel, you guys missed it last night. I felt really, I didn't feel bad. I could see why

the local company that they have were like, would have been overwhelmed to do it because when I got here last night, it's like,

you know, three, four o'clock in the afternoon, their booth was like 1% set up and there's like the husband and then the wife

that has a newborn just kind of watching and he's sitting there like reading their directions trying to put together a cable stack and just boxes everywhere. And I'm just like, they're not going to get this put together. But I looked at it this morning. They must have had more help come in last night than this morning.

It looks like it's pretty much ready to go. Keith, you know we're from South Dakota, right? I've heard. And in South Dakota, one of our biggest attractions is Mount Rushmore. It's got four presidents on there. And on our podcast, we made up this game where we call attractions is Mount Rushmore. It's got four presidents on there. And on our podcast, we made up this game where we call it the Mount Rushmore game, where we like to get someone's take on four things that they would put on the Mount Rushmore, a fictitious Mount Rushmore. So I'm curious, you're following me so far, right? Yeah, I am familiar. Everything's

making sense. So I'm curious about your Mount Rushmore of vendors here this weekend that you're excited to talk to, hang out with, check out product, whatever you're excited about visiting with. What's your Mount Rushmore of Home Gym Con 2024 vendors? So I guess I just go with ones that I have affiliates with right now. Well, ironically, I don't know. That's a loaded question. It's like who I'm the closest with as far as friends, whose stuff I would buy. We're hoping to make people upset that you don't know. That's a loaded question. It's like who I'm the closest with as far as friends, whose stuff I would buy. We're hoping to make people upset that you don't include. And then it's like, are you talking about their booth presentation?

So, I don't know. Barbell Rescue, you know, Kim at Barbell Rescue. If you guys haven't met him yet, I'll introduce you. No, I'm excited to get over there. You know, great product, great guy, you know, active military still. Yeah, he's still active military. Very good man. So I can literally talk to him about anything for like 20 minutes at a time, multiple times. The handful of times I've met him in the last couple years. So he'll be on there.

Dean at Black Widow. You know, I didn't actually get to talk to Dean too much last year. Last year I was very timid. If I didn't already know you, like if haven't already had DM conversations with you last year, I probably didn't talk to you, just because it's like, unless you came up to me. So I had not really talked to Dean last year, but we had since talked in DMs over the last year straight.

So yeah, I really like his booth. His stuff's great. I'm waiting to have an excuse to buy something of his. It's just finances and my training trajectory have to kind of line up uh who else has got a good booth there's a lot of good booths down there what'd you name so far is that two yeah that two uh belt fed strength i really need to buy a belt fed bell i've been saying that for a year i think i even said it on a garage gym experiment podcast

a long time ago and they were like what's the next thing you're gonna buy and i said a belt fed belt and i was just like but i think it was right after i just bought another pioneer stock belt uh and i was like well damn it i don't need to spend more money but uh you know chris and you're kind of a pioneer guy it's more just they were you know you could get them for like 100 bucks and yeah they're good and it's a quality belt but you know after meeting chris and randy and you know have interviewing chris couple last week i really need to throw some money out them and randy does some really intricate things with her carvings into the belt because it's not – they don't do sewing.

And brighter. They don't do sewing logos. They literally – she carves and paints into the letter. You're a lever guy, aren't you, for belt skis? What's that? You're a lever guy, aren't you, for belt skis? Yeah, I've switched to the – so, yeah, I've switched to the Pioneer for lever. But Chris is also – he sells just a blank – Yeah, where you can throw it. Yeah, so he even tells people to the Pioneer for lever. But Chris is also, he sells just a blank.

Yeah, where you can throw it. Yeah, so he even tells people just buy Pioneer's lever because nothing's better than that if you're going to have a lever belt. And fourth boot. I would say also about BeltFed, I have their regular pants. I have their pants belt, and I know he doesn't like to make those. Those are legit. Yeah, their actual pants belt. I would recommend that to anyone

listening from belt fed uh their actual pants belt is legit oh who else i don't know you guys suck this is hard uh that's what she said i guess i'll go just for the sheer size and the amount of stuff they brought rogue i guess uh i mean there's so much stuff i don't know that i'm gonna talk to anyone at the rogue booth but i don't know I really don't want to put Rogue on there. God damn it. I wish you had texted me this 20 minutes ago, you bastard. That's not how it works. Oh, God.

And that is something we've debated, too. I've debated, do we tell the guest this is going to be? Because then you could get a more honest answer. Yeah, you don't want to prep people too much on anything, in my opinion. I guess we'll go with Bells of Steel. Yeah, we'll put Bells of Steel. Since I'm sponsoring this podcast, I'll do my part. He's come full circle.

I'll do my part. There he is. You know, as long as I get something free from them. I mean, as long as, you know. Keith, we know the owner. We can introduce you. Yeah, yeah. We will be.

A year from now, we'll be doing this we'll say so i've been dming the bells of steel owner for the past year we know each other really well tommy what uh because you are a bit of a home gym guy i have become a bit of a home gym really ramped up significantly i was just there getting to train uh yesterday and maybe it feels like we've done a thousand things between then and now but it was just yesterday we got a little training session in there. What equipment are you most looking at? I know you actually have some specific items you want to check out.

Yeah, so right away, actually at the Bezel Steel booth, I like their changed plate storage system. I need some of that because I only have two pegs right now, so just to get a little more storage for the plates would be nice. The Bobo Rescue, I want to get over there. I mean, the Black Widow stuff was awesome. Currently, that's not something like that's not super high on my list,

but I could see having something like that someday. I was impressed with that. The Deadlift Jack. Cleva. Cleva, yeah. I've never seen one of those in person. Those are super high quality. Those are really nice. You have the full jack or the mini jack? Well, even the mini one. The mini one was real. I have the full jack of those in person. Those are super high quality. Those are really nice. The full jack or the mini jack? Well, even the mini one.

The mini always rules. We always full jack around here. Yeah. You always have to come to completion. You guys that have unlimited space live a little different lifestyle. I'm actually pretty sure I need to find a way to get that one display that they have.

You already have that negotiating. I just don't have a way to get it. But if someone like Hogan drove here and could drive it and then ship it or something, maybe we could figure something out. And worst case, too, I helped John Greaves this morning. Well, he was looking for a deadlift jack because he was going for a heavy deadlift at the Fringe booth, and there wasn't a deadlift jack within a close vicinity, so he ended up walking down to Clever. And he didn't want to take their big one, so they let him borrow two of the small Genesis jacks. So we actually used them, just one on the right side, one basically at the end of the barbell on either side.

It was still on the shaft, and jacked that up, and I think he worked up to $495. So those are, I think we've been to four booths. All four have been very impressive so far, which makes me, as soon as this is done, I'm really going to get back in there. And we have kind of a weird thing from a content shooting perspective. So we want to film content with almost all of these vendors,

the company owners specifically that are here. But we also just want to actually talk to them. Yeah, not put them on the spot. Not in front of the microphone people, too, because we have things we want to talk to them about. So it's kind of weird. We have to chat with them once first and then come back again later.

It is always the thing that is once you're doing the vlogs is it's really fun to have actual, real organic conversations with people. But at a certain point, you do got to stick

the camera in their face. And I know for some people that changes it, for some not. But it's just part of the process, isn't it? I feel that way to an extent. Obviously, I don't do

YouTube content or anything. But I feel like I'm neglecting just doing instagram content and stories but even pictures i do want to get like selfies with people or like you know actual photos but like i want to live in the moment so it's like that fine line of like am i going to regret only having like six pictures when i go home but i also have two full days of talking to people and like making lasting impressions versus hey will you take a picture with me it's kind of that where do you find that balance uh and i i don't know but i i'm not overly interested in wasting my time doing content but i do need to do like five percent i guess but i definitely get some crew content so any crew we're going to get pictures together and do photos and shit like that

for sure awesome i would also mention that this episode is brought to you by our great friends over uh our neighbors right there in South Dakota at Build Fast Formula. You can check them out at buildfastformula.com. We've got their full supplement selection, a variety of supplements there. Vasoblitz is one of the crowd favorites, the nitric oxide support supplement, no caffeine in that product. And then they also got their more traditional caffeinated pre-workout supplements. And then my personal favorite is their 80 20 protein powder their special chris duffin design blend of 80 casein 20 whey protein i like the chocolate flavor

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No, it's Drink Hack. Drink Hack. Yeah, you were giving them out. You were handing the pills out the night before at the party. Speaking of strong men, we got one right here. He's a strong man. That's a very strong man over there. But, yeah, check him out at buildfastformula.com.

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Am I even allowed to be here? You're kind of like an outsider, but you're allowed in this group. We're all gym people here, but sometimes you need to buy something different. So you hop on over to Swiss Link, and you see military-issued Czech bedpans. You see Italian champagne glasses. You see a British gas mask. It's all there on Swiss Link. It's an unrivaled collection, and they have the highest dedication to quality customer service.

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It accumulates like 300. It grows 1 million times in size. It grows exponentially larger as soon as water touches it. It's lawnmower season too, so I was really considering buying one of their new wavy fuel cans. Yes, you slap that on there. Maybe a Drink Spotter XL.

It's the perfect combo. If you would like to get in on the Swiss Link collection, head on over to Swiss link.com and make sure to use code mass. And that will save you 15% on your first order. Swiss link.com code mass. Thank you. Swiss link. Keith, you know what the last one for the day is, you know, Texas power, no pressure, but you know, they did not hand me the script today. And I'm very proud that they were able to add, you know, off the cuff or do all those. Because I'm curious.

I know when you were still in Tommy's basement, you read off the physical, you printed off sheet. I don't know if when you're in your basement, do you have a tab open where you. It's insider secrets. I don't have a tab in front of me, but I am a barbell connoisseur, and I do own many a Texas Power Bar. I think I've owned seven or eight over the years. I'm currently down to three, three orange Cerakotes. Their current production line has been pretty awesome with that.

I love them immensely, very sharp, even though it is Cerakote. So if you want to add a little flair to your home gym, you know, they've got multiple color options. Is there a color you would recommend if someone's confused or unsure of what color to go? I mean, green, I think. No, I'm obviously an orange guy, so their bright orange is very pristine and looks great in the gym. My dad, ironically enough, my parents visited last week, and he's like, did you paint those bars? I'm like, nope. And then I told him, but basically, I spent $1,000 to upgrade these three bars from versions that were identical, just not orange. And he kind of looked at me like I was from outer space. He was like, what?

Where did I go wrong? I made some of that money back from selling them, but I definitely probably took a $500 hit to upgrade the 3.5. Don't try to justify it. You don't need to tell us. I do have an opportunity to buy a Gen 2 for $150, but the guy at the kids' house said it's super dull. Gen 2 with the snap ring. Yeah, I know that's the kid said it's super dull. Gen 2 with the snap ring. Yeah, so I know that's like the more rare,

but not necessarily valuable. But it's like, even if I'm for $150, I can make it a beater bar, but we'll see. That's something I might add to my collection. But yeah, Texas Power Bars. And just keep your eye on your email too, because they literally are having a $50 off sale. Yeah, okay.

That's the important part. Flash sale right now, $50 off. Make sure you take advantage of that. So thank you to all of our sponsors this week, obviously. What about any over-under? Oh. We have any off the cuff here? I'm thinking, what do we think?

Overrated, underrated? So far, French Lick, Indiana. Home of Larry Bird. Wait, wait. Who's answering these questions, though? You guys. Both of you. I got one for you guys.

So overrated or underrated? Voodoo bar guys. I got one for you guys. So, overrated or underrated? Who do a barbell? Taco Bell quesadillas. Okay, Taco Bell quesadilla, when that thing is done right, is so underrated,

I don't know what type of special fast food seasoning blend that they're mixing together, but it is just the most perfect little Mexican fast food dish on the go. But when you get it at one in the morning at wherever we were at last night, you apparently don't get the filling. You just get the shell. So in that case, it is way overrated.

Being great even late was a lie. We were thinking outside the bun, and it didn't work out the best for us. But when it's done right, it is underrated. What about Jersey Mike's? We had Jersey Mike's. What do you got? Keith, do you have Jersey Mike's out where you're at? I don't think I've had a Jersey Mike's. Oh, you never have? What do you What about Jersey Mike's? We had Jersey Mike's. What do you got? Keith, do you have Jersey Mike's out where you're at?

I don't think I've had a Jersey Mike's. Oh, you never have? What do you think Jersey Mike's? Keith's a kind of an East Coast guy. Jersey Mike's. It's the only Mike I know. He's nice like Mike. Yeah, so overrated under Jersey Mike's.

Barbell Voodoo. I also, I mean, they're an enormous fast food food chain sandwich food chain so at the same time they're probably rated fairly high but when you compare them to things like Subway, Jimmy John's and those I am kind of a Jersey Mike's guy so I would say that they are

underrated. How about their giant sandwich though Tanner? How do you feel about their giant sandwich? It was like a full on party sub It was almost a party sub They are underrated. How about their giant sandwich though, Tanner? How do you feel about the giant sandwich? I wanted the giant this time. I was... It was like a full-on party sub. ...to those sandwiches or something. It was almost a party sub. They need like... They're missing a size.

Like they have not enough... There's one size in there. Yeah, there's like the small, the regular, and giant. There needs to be in between. Right, there needs to be the extra medium size. Yeah, so one other thought I had, it comes back to something you said earlier and thinking about it,

even just seeing a few people that have came and gone, is there something in the gym community or maybe the gym equipment manufacturer community that there seems to be a disproportionately large number of veterans involved in the space? Because I even saw the picture from Home Gym Con last year that there's just a lot of veterans here in attendance. And even within our crew and like a bunch of people, there's quite a few. Did you notice that too? Yeah, I would say that's fair.

I mean, you're probably looking at 10%. Right. Minimum 10% of the people down there are probably veterans. And if you go gym, business owners specifically, it's probably closer to 25% or 30%, I'd say. Right. Whereas general population, I think it's typically people say 1%. Our company is half veteran owned. We're 50% veteran owned even in Mass Anomics.

Do you have a brick and mortar? Then we're getting into Tango Charlie territory. Don't want to get us going on Tango Charlie. I mean, so you didn't see their booth down there? Not very many t-shirt vendors here, though. We had Voodoo who uh he just walked in there and spanky there was with voodoo barbell was there any besides is there any other t-shirt vendors here at all the ashton do you know or anything that did not get come were they they

were on the list with matt vincent was he here i think he was on the initial but i'm not okay last year i think he might i think he was only here for one day last year too so i'm not sure if they're doing it one day but speaking of of Voodoo Barbell, if anyone in the audience basically was listening, once you're home gym con 2024 shirt, Jake's no longer selling those on his own. You've got to go get them from Voodoo Barbell themselves and then just buy this year's home gym con t-shirt. So what do you think, Tommy? Is it a missed opportunity with us not driving and bringing the booth here?

Or what are you feeling right now? It is a little bit of a miss. It's also a miss for everyone here. They're missing out on all the massonomics wares. That's true. You won't be able to do any content, though, like at all. It turns it into a way different experience. You can't have it all.

You've got to pick one or the other. You'd have to run the booth for us, Keith. My going rate might be a little more than Joe's. I think I bring a little more on the table than some of those other crew you had in Columbus. Not really. No, that would not have done that. That's no fun. Also, shout out to Coach Karp.

He brought the Drink Spotter XLs to put on display this weekend. So it wouldn't have been possible without supporting member Coach Karp. So supporting our supporting members, a bonus one right there. Anything else we need to hit on this week before we wrap it up? I think we're on kind of a specific time slot here yeah we're gonna be pushing us off stage pretty quick here uh keith um what about uh any exciting big future plans for your podcast unpaid and underrated we're just gonna keep doing the same thing i mean i've i had when you guys released the hall of fame

status the other day i think i had a handful of people that kind of like hey whenever you can get me on i'm ready to get on. I'm just like, we're booked so far out. It's just not really, like, I'll put you on the wait list, but it's not really a, like, which is almost a downside. Because, like, if something major happened and I could get a crew on that, like, did something really cool in the world. But then you've got to move the whole schedule down. Also, like, I think it's much more better this way to have months scheduled for us, at least, because our people aren't really canceling on us or anything.

I haven't had to do rescheduling. Sounds nice. I think you guys have had more cancellations in a month than I've had cancellations in a year. We are actually having our one-year anniversary episode will be this coming week. So when you're actually listening to this, it'll be the same time frame that our one-year anniversary. So it's turned back on you. Do you ever think that a Mass a massonomics adjacent podcast. It's like watching your bratty little sister grow up, isn't it?

So what, did we ever think that we would get to the, this point or? I mean, yeah. Like when you guys decided, yeah, we'll, we'll help. We'll do whatever you guys need. You know, we'll support. Oh, did we think that? Did you think that I would, Joey and Nate and I would be. I mean, I think you guys were, you three are definitely obviously capable of doing that.

So it wouldn't surprise me with you three. Like, if anyone was going to make a good run of it, I guess you guys would be good candidates for that. And it's possible. There's no doubt about it. It is a lot of work. And it's a time commitment, especially for a year, every single week to do one. Like, that doesn't happen on accident. No, when it was first being discussed as an idea, I wouldn't have guessed that it would.

And also, like, with precise consistency. Because a lot of people start and then they don't. it was first being discussed as an idea i wouldn't have guessed that you that it would and also like uh with precise consistency because a lot of people start and then they don't and it's really easy to take a couple weeks off and then say oh it's good you know get it going again and then take a few weeks starting is easy honestly like that's fun and exciting when you've already done that for a bunch then it gets easy to we wouldn't be able to do it without zoom like like there's no way we could podcast it like in like because it just with the phone call and thing too, but I don't know how you guys podcast it with just phone calls for two years. It's so much easier to podcast when I can look at the guy's face

and see that he's uncomfortable, so let's change the topic. Or the other person has something to say, so just body language, facial expressions. It would be so challenging to do a podcast with just audio for me. Luckily, since we started in 2015 or 2016, the technology wasn't there and this group, like Zoom calling wasn't like a common. Yeah. So it is like a cliche, but the technology really has advanced a lot. Yeah. So, all right. We're excited to see what Unpaid and Underrated does. I plan on doing another, at least another year of this i mean what is there there's 400 crew 400 i don't know the last it was 430 crew i've only interviewed 50 of

them so yeah that that's you anyone listening to this that wants to be in the podcast that hasn't already talked to me reach out to me get on the list i literally have a waiting list like 50 people on it i'm going to add you to that because i need you guys to help me i can't keep track of all you guys that join the discord and then you then may or may not follow the podcast Instagram or my personal Instagram. So it's hard to keep tabs on everyone, but I do 99% of the DMs on Instagram. So reach out to either the podcast Instagram or my personal.

Come find me. We'll get you on the podcast next year. Has there been an influx of people desiring to get on after we introduced the Hall of Fame program? Yeah, I had three or four people that kind of was like, hey, can you fill me in? And I was like, yeah, I'll add you to the list. Fame program. Yeah, I had three or four people that kind of was like, hey, can you fill me in? And I was like, yeah, I'll add you to the list.

Alright, Tommy, anything else or should we bring this bird in for a landing? Let's bring it on in. We're out of time, I think, anyway. Keith, tell us again where they find you at. So, unpaidandunderratedpodcast.com. Go follow the website. Nate puts a lot of work in that. Obviously, the Instagram page, Unpaid Intern,

I believe. We have a YouTube now. Go follow that. Obviously, the Instagram page, Unpaid Intern, I believe. We have a YouTube now. Go follow that. Leave us some reviews. And I'm KeithHoneycutt73 on Instagram. And go follow my Orange Gym, the No Wine Cellar. And, of course, make sure to check out the Massanomics podcast everywhere. You check out podcasts, YouTube, subscribe.

We've got at least a couple new YouTubes coming every single week. We'll record about three more here over the next two days. Tommy and I recorded a few last week, so we've got months and months of content prepared to be coming out and released soon on our YouTube channel. So please subscribe, like, comment, review. Leave us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts for this podcast. And tell a friend about it. Check out massonomics.com.

Buy the new DrinkSpot xl because the regular size list wasn't big enough and bigger is always better so now we have the xl tommy where do they find you you can find me at tomahawk underscore d you can find me at tanner underscore bear just make sure to follow massonomics at massonomics see you next tuesday boom there we go good job gentlemen Good job, gentlemen.