Massenomics Podcast - Ep.234: Travis Ortmayer

Episode Date: September 28, 2020

Travis Ortmayer is one of the greatest USA strongman competitors of all time, and he honestly has some of the best stories we've ever heard from a guest on our podcast.  He shares a powerful message with us based on his life experiences, and then we laugh about some bad fast food. Hybrid Performance Method: https://hybridperformancemethod.com/ and use code MASS to save 5% on all programs Lifting Large: https://www.liftinglarge.com/ and use code MASS20 to save on Lifting Large branded products Spud Inc.: https://www.spud-inc-straps.com/ Texas Power Bars: https://www.texaspowerbars.com/

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 Mastinomics, y'all do it. Social media, website, everything. Mastinomics! Welcome back, Mastinomics listeners. website everything massonomics welcome back massonomics listeners we're back for episode 234 of the massonomics podcast we are the lifting podcast about nothing uh and you know tommy that intro what i was thinking about actually swim hack brought it up in a post this week and everyone knows the geno massonomics everyone of course knows the cas get strong stay strong use your strength i think everyone's pretty familiar with the donnie thompson you make things better than they are real life probably the most underrated part of the intro or the the least

talked about which probably needs to be talked about more is matt haddon from pioneers i think so yeah uh what does he say right there? If you don't follow them, Instagram, YouTube. That is probably the one piece of that. If you don't watch the video, you're probably like I have no idea who's talking right there. That would be the owner of Pioneer.

That would have been a clip from an interview with Matt at the Arnold 2017 maybe i mean just going just all paying all that money to go to the arnold just to get those clips for the intro yeah i think it paid for itself here we are four years later and they're paying off so episode 234 of the massonomics podcast the 4.5 year anniversary of the massonomics podcast yeah time flies oh i only thought we were going to make it to 4.45 it was that final.05 is what i was worried about what we made it to yeah home stretch now halfway there halfway to nine years which was to knock out the first

four and a half the next four and a half flies by that's right uh today's show is brought to you by spud ink the goal of spud ink straps is to make products that support sports performance and help everyone achieve their training goals they make products that last forever won't bust your budget and most importantly leave no doubt about success when everything is online check them out online at spud-ink-straps.com this episode is also brought to you by hybrid performance method they're your one-stop shop for all things fitness online coaching whether your goals are training relatedrelated, nutrition, and body composition-related, or both, hybrid has a program for you. With dedicated and experienced coaches in each strength and

fitness discipline, you can rest assured that you're in the best hands possible. Great thing about them, we have a discount code with them. It'll save you 5% off any training or nutrition membership for the life of your membership. That discount code is M-a-s-s in all caps someone today just sent me a message that they were signing up sent me the screenshot and we're using m-a-s-s mass in all caps i think that was big alex if i remember right if not we'll pretend it was so so still using that m-a-s-s five percent off at hyper performance method this episode is also brought to you by Texas Power Bars. In 1980 Buddy Cap set out on his own to make what he believed was the greatest bar

he had ever seen and trained with and the Texas Power Bar was born. It was strong as a house with the best knurling and it was maintenance free. Hundreds of state, national, international, world and massonomics powerlifting records have been and continue to be set and broken on the Texas Power Bar. To learn more about the Texas Power Bar and buy one of their legendary bars, visit texaspowerbars.com.

And this episode is also brought to you by Lifting Large. Lifting Large has set a new standard for customer service within the strength world. They have live website chat support and speedy email responses. Lifting Large is home to the Ground Block Deadlift Slipper and they are always in stock and ready to ship. Massonomics listeners can save 20%. That's a hefty savings. It is. A lot of times you'll see these at 5, 10, 15, 20% though at Lifting Large

on any Lifting Large branded products by using our discount code and that's MASS20 at checkout. Those are our sponsors for $2.34. We got a really cool guest coming up today. Very cool guest. Big Travis Ortmeier.

We got shorts to talk about. We got Strongland stuff to talk about. We got beverages to consume, podcast reviews to be had. We might as well just start making this podcast three hours, Tanner. I know we say it a lot. We could. We've gone to one and a half fairly regularly. I mean, one and a half is like we have to limit ourselves we started this thing as like a 30 minute podcast i don't

even know what we would 30 minutes 30 minutes is enough to get started we'd roll the intro that's essentially the intro we'd have to just jump into over underrated overrated it would make our goal of having an entirely podcast entirely ad podcast much easier to hit that's true it would just be the intro the ads and overrated underrated that would be i mean that's probably all people really want to hear that's true the most of them come for the ads you know just fast forward through the rest they come for the ads they stay for the over under and then finish with the ads yes yes tanner do you ever it's a very odd food thing do you ever have instant mashed potatoes not really my wife you know what i'm talking about yeah yeah my wife cooks quite a quite a bit and we she makes a lot of potatoes you know i've been kind of in this instant mashed

potato kick lately you know you buy it's just the pouch yeah you heat up the water you put them in i remember the first time i make them it's like these flakes do not turn into anything yeah yeah boom seconds later you got instant mashed potatoes and i tell you what they fill the gap in when you just like i need something else with this to really to really complete my meal no that's that's one of the things my wife will be uh i used to be before i was married i was very much like a bachelor I mean I was still into lifting so I was eating in a certain way yeah it was but I would eat make my like tacos was a thing I could make ground beef have some cheese on it have a tortilla you know kind of fit my you know I wasn't cutting for a bodybuilder so you know he was trying to lift more I could eat those I don't

know six nights a week I have the same breakfast every single day of the week uh it just required filling in the gaps at lunch maybe like a couple you know it was rotation of like three or four things and then your wife said normal people eats more than two things in a week well and she's turned me into a little bit more of a like snob in a certain way that it's like she won't like doesn't like instant mash oh yeah you know she wants certain things she doesn't like uh i don't know i'm blanking on them there's like 13 of these things i totally get what you're saying well and even like even some people's like oh if you're gonna do mac and cheese you got to make real homemade mac and cheese but there are always those staples of kind of like shitty instant foods that are like ramen noodles are just one of those that

it's like ramen noodles are always good to go back to every once in a while. If you don't regularly, I've never liked, I never, I've had, this is a funny thing. I've had ramen noodles. I don't know if I've ever made ramen noodles. My son eats them all the time. You know, my roommate in college ate them all the time. And I just, I was never like, like just noodles was never going to cut it. No, to me, it's always one of those things where it's like, okay, you're making your food,

you have your other stuff, and you're like, ah, this meal seems just a little light. Ramen noodles can fill the gap. I've been, my son eats a lot of ramen noodles. He also watches TikTok, and we were doing some at-home projects, and I didn't really know this was a thing, but we had to fix something. It was like made out of concrete, and it was kind of chipping and cracking. He's like, dad, if this is on Tik TOK,

all you do is you take the block of ramen noodles and you shape it and add water. And it like, I've seen, I've seen those videos before. Right. I didn't, I didn't ever know the ones I saw.

Those are real. I don't really, I really don't know still if that's real, but I was like, I think I've seen that before. That is funny. Yeah. So ramen noodles more than one purpose but the point

being that uh she's kind of like made spoiled me in a certain ways now but for some things i'm like well i kind of want the good potatoes now another one that fits this mold box stuffing box stuffing i don't know there's something about i do i make i make pork chops you get pork chops yeah maybe you put a little gravy a little instant gravy in a sauce i probably just sound like i eat like terrible you get the instant gravy but i mean really it's just gravy right just flavored water almost thick flavored water and then you you heat up the water and you have the instant stuffing that is always surprisingly good yeah it doesn't seem like something in a box should taste that good they know what they're doing they got their their food scientists around haven't gotten america fat by not making stuff that doesn't taste good true true there was no

accident there um but we need something a little more refreshing right now and that is thirsty right and that is a can yeah the old p Pavlov's dog thing is kicking in right now. My mouth feels pretty dry. Okay, okay. No looking. No looking. So this is a full-on segment. This is a full-on segment.

We're just having a beverage. This is not just two guys enjoying a beverage. This is, there's work to be done here. And I'm curious what you're going to done here. I'm curious what you're going to say here. I think it smells like peaches. Okay. I'm just smelling it here. It's in a can, a 12

ounce can, a normal shape can. I'm getting peach smell, but now I'm going to take a sip and see where I go from there. It tastes pretty peachy to me. Let me try that again. And what if I threw you a curveball here and said there's two flavors?

Okay. That's what I was also going to... I was also trying to think sometimes, you know, I get this initial flavor, I was also trying to think sometimes, you know, I get this initial flavor, but there, you know how there's other fruits. There's like your primary fruits and then your secondary ones are really

similar. There's always a secondary. Right, right, right. You can't just have one. Right. So it's peach something.

Let me try. Trying to think of what goes with peach, because quite honestly, as I'm trying it, all I taste is the peach, but we've done peach pear before, right? And I don't think pear has as strong of a flavor. And apparently peach and pear go together. I don't know if I really knew that prior to sparkling water.

Can't you get like in a can, mixed peaches and pears's true that's true yeah i guess i'm gonna say peach pear because i don't know what the other flavor is and i've seen the pear before so i'm gonna say peach would you like to take a gander yeah well it looks peach colored and peach and honey uh not even a fruit i really didn't think you were gonna like that's almost like in vain of cucumber and this is the this is the aha peach honey going honey that's one of those flavors where it's like yeah we're just putting that like yeah that's what it's like there i okay there's more than honey here are there's more than peach here i'll buy that yeah honey i don't know it's like flavoring something something in cucumber it's like, okay, there's more than honey here? Or there's more than peach here? I'll buy that. Honey?

I don't know. Maybe? It's like flavoring something something in cucumber. It's like, okay. Yeah, yeah. All right. Now that I know that's honey, I want to take a sip. Go in for that follow-up. And see, do I taste the honey?

It's like, there's a smoothness at the end, maybe? I don't know. I'm going to have to say no. You could... It doesn't taste end maybe. I don't know. I'm going to have to say no. I do. You could. It doesn't taste. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know.

It tastes good. I would still say. I still think I would give this a four. I think I would give this. This tastes good. This also tastes strong. This is pretty. The ahas bring you the flavor town.

There's no doubt about that oh i i like the flavor of this one yeah i had one of these last night for the first time ever i'm like tanner's and you were like treat tomorrow that's exactly what i said yeah it's good i'll give it a four jd power and associates awards also and we don't just give those out and we give out three and a halves but we don't we don't just give we don't give away four entire awards very often here. No. Good Beveregino, though. I like it.

Aha. So are you kind of on an aha? You know, I feel like I've hit every LaCroix flavor so hard. Yeah. I can't seem to find different flavors. I guess maybe I need to start going to Walmart. Maybe they have different flavors. And we still haven't been able to secure that flavored water sponsorship. So maybe if we keep spreading around the different brands we'll get somebody somebody is looking for that yeah really up and coming um social media partnership right

that's what boy are we those people all right tanner we have to just briefly talk about the blue lift shorts because uh i think people would like to know that we might have spent more time talking about them on last week's episode than they were actually in stock and by the time the episode came out there were no we talked about them quite a bit they were gone well days days days before that. So I think. What day did they come out on? I think Thursday. Oh yeah, Thursday. Yeah, yeah. We would have released them Thursday of last week.

The podcast episode didn't come out. The days are all blending together, Tanner. They're released until Sunday. And by Friday, early Friday morning, they were sold out 100% every single size. And really within like an hour, every size was sold out except one. Yeah. And it's just because the sizing got switched on us just a little bit yeah we're pretty like you know i keep track of the sizing thing and i like that's

a very complex algorithm well i do base it off of how we've done before and there is because it is annoying it's if anyone that runs an apparel business which probably isn't very many people there's this thing with sizing i'm sure i've talked about it before but you take a t-shirt for example extra small to 4xl say you're ordering 50 100 or 200 or three of them whatever it is it's annoying if it doesn't work out very well if you get done and seven of the eight sizes are are sold completely out and you have 20 of one size left and you keep it around for that reason it's annoying it doesn't work good it clutters up your site there's several reasons or like when the only sizes left are on the two extremes right yeah i mean it's not the end of the world but if you have a lot in those it's so we try to avoid doing that but then like in this blue lift shorts scenario it goes back to

our thing because of i think partly because of uh covet 19 and stuff there's issues of us securing blanks and we talked about the shorts and this was no different so as large was the size that we needed more of and couldn't get more of so we only had what we had and so large sell sold out large was gone within i don't even know a hour it was very fast it might have been less than 30 minutes even so that sucked for anyone anyone that uh wasn't just sitting on Instagram all day. Well, and a couple people messaged me that even and said, what are these people doing?

Like they're just sitting there waiting for this to come out? There were several people that you had them on the website. There was a very brief window where they're on the website and they hadn't been posted yet. And people were already buying them before that. Which makes you think, do people have some alerts set up? Are they just constantly on the website right hadn't been posted yet and people were already buying them before that which makes you think are do people have some alerts set up are they just well but i have a website in the instagram story there's a thing say you did give a teaser uh and it was a ticking you know a countdown and i've done that one or two other times before and i

know what people do people are privy that it might not go on to the website the second the countdown strikes that it may have to get the website the second the countdown strikes, that it may have to get on there before that. It is a little bit of an insider tip. So people see the countdown and they're like, I'm going to check this a couple times throughout the day. That's kind of cheating. But in this case, you're not getting punished for cheating.

You're actually getting rewarded in this case. The blue lift shorts were a limited run, like we had said, and those sold out, out like exceeded what we thought was going to happen i would say yeah we thought they would take a couple days like we thought a couple days a couple days um we didn't think like an hour would be we've never really had a single product that sold quite like that out of the gate you know where it's just like just the one getting hammered that hard yeah right and those we got those all out the door by you know where it's just like just the one getting hammered that hard yeah right and those we got those all out the door by you know like i said we're they're sold out by friday morning and i

think every single one of them went out in the mail saturday so i think by monday tuesday everyone had their yeah in the blue lift shorts gang i like people everyone was checking out checking in with their numbers someone i can't remember who it was they had what was it a picture of their daughter and they took it out of the frame and put the certificate. I laughed hard at that one. Well, that was number one. Okay. That was big Ian, I think, as number one.

He was the first to buy a pair. I saw that last night and I was laughing looking at that. Very funny. That was good. So I don't, because they're, you know, they sold so fast. I wish we had more to sell, but we did do the limited run thing. So we kind of have to stick to that a little bit, but maybe there'll be other lift shorts things that we have eventually to

quench that thirst. There's always going to be other lift shorts. That's true. It's just how long do people have to wait? So we did get to restock the regular lift shorts and everything. Although as we're sitting here today, those have been selling a lot and it's going to be hard for us to get though i already know it's going to be hard for us to get those back um so if you are

after the lift shorts or the lift shorts 2.0 or the far less herald the deadlifter shorts yeah you know that's a thing right that the deadlifter shorts are kind of like the uh the outsider yeah yeah the third wheel i I don't know what's inappropriate. Not saying they're not popular. No, no. They're just not. I mean, come on. There can only be one lift shorts.

Yeah, that's right. I kind of like to play that up as they're actually like disowned. They're not in the family. They're just outside. Outside looking in. Yeah. So that was our list shorts news. Yeah.

Exciting stuff. We should do a couple of podcast reviews because we always forget about those. I think so. And the big reason we need to get back on this, I think once we've stopped reading them, the reviews become a little stagnant. They do.

The road to 300 ain't going to happen by itself. I think I checked yesterday. The road to 300 is literally paved with 300 podcast reviews. That's right. We have to get to 300 podcast reviews before we get to 300 podcast episodes. We need more than a review per episode. Yeah. So this is 234.

Episode 234? 244. Oh, okay. We have a 10 review head start rate. We're keeping pace. oh okay we have a 10 review head start right yeah we have a 10 review cushion but that gap will narrow like these last few weeks there hasn't been many reviews so we need to do what we can to keep that keep that number moving yes yes okay so review number one is titled america's, and this is from Briggly Wiggly. I guess this actually shows how long it's been since we've read podcast reviews. It's July 4th, and I have the privilege of sitting in the lake enjoying a crispy oven-hot LaCroix

and savory apple pie while listening to J.D. Power and Associates' most highly decorated podcast. If I had my druthers, I'd do this every day. Hashtag road to 300. Very nice. Well-crafted one there. A lot of good things in there. That sounds like a perfect 4th of July. Yeah.

Take me back. Two and a half months ago. This next one is titled Head titled head chairman of northeast ohio i don't know where that fits yeah that sounds very prestigious he i imagine he has an important office uh i've been emailing lacroix demanding an apple pie flavor but haven't gotten a response yet you know that is that is actually kind of surprising that yeah that should be a spark apple pie isn't the most natural flavor right yeah apples are fairly natural pie they don't have any dessert flavored beverages true anyway this better than real life podcast has taught me how to stay strong and how to use

my strength but most importantly it's taught me that LaCroix is best served at a crispy 98 degrees thanks for what you do and all the rest. Must have been hard on the hot LaCroix's back in July. Must have been. Well, it's the summer, you know. Things are hot there. That's true. Okay.

Last one for this time. We're just going to do three at a time, too, so we're not just a full podcast review podcast. Okay. This is from Gandhi's Biceps, and it's called Cream de la croix like a compass whirling about in an electric storm these guys bring the energy in no particular direction their natural essence hawking their wares meld that with the effervescent bubbles of bulging, bulging ads. And you have one crispy cast.

You can spend days combing through the vast archive, searching for content, true dynamos of the Dakotas, dynamos of the Dakotas. That is good. Yeah. That was a challenging. I thought they were going to say you can spend days looking for content and

never find anything, but that person, but they didn't hit us too hard. Has a good thesaurus. They are good. That was, I thought they were going to say you can spend days looking for content and never find anything. But they didn't hit us too hard. That person has a good thesaurus. They are good. That was very well written. They painted a real word picture there. Right. When you have to write papers in high school, I don't even know if this is a thing,

in Word, would you check the reading level? Like it would summarize your reading level. And if you go through and like thesaurus, like 13 words in your paper, it'll go from like a ninth grade 9.4 to like 11.5. That'll jump it. Yeah, yeah. Just by, I think the tech, not like the software, the teachers,

you know, the plagiarizing thing that, when I was in high school, you could plagiarize. And everyone did. you cannot do that now that automatically everything automatically goes through and huge sloths of our books were just online like in their entirety the answers to them it was crazy um but now even like the teachers have prior student papers database so if you even plagiarize someone from two years ago it's red flagged. And it's like a SIM.

I can't remember what that's, what that program is called that like all teachers use in high school and college, but you can't get away with that crap anymore. Wouldn't it be just the worst being in high school right now? Not saying just that, just everything. Oh yeah.

Yeah. It's like the, the, you betcha guy, you know, we were watching some things and it's like, Oh, yeah. It's like the you betcha guy. You know, we were watching some things, and it's like, oh, 2020. You know, with everything going on. With all the stuff going on, you know. With everything going on.

I mean, ugh. I don't know how you should feel about it, but with everything going on. With everything going on, yeah. And that is what you say. It's like, oh, high school would be tough, you know, with everything going on. That is what you say. It's like, oh, high school would, would be tough,

you know, with everything going on now. Can you imagine graduating college right now and trying to find a job, you know, with everything going on? It'd be terrible. Those are funny, but like,

can you not picture? I've not heard someone say those things. Also, is there ever not a time when people say that though well that's kind of the thing too like everyone's like ah can't wait for 2020 to be over and it's like well was your last year good like what is that good when you were just killing it last year i'm sure yeah like the people that say that i'm sure we're just having just crushing 2019 although 2020 in particular you do got to say it's i mean I got a baby out of it I can't complain a whole lot

but I mean with everything going on everything going all things considered everything going on I think we're ready for 2021 it's good year 20 I mean we can't recap 2020 yet I suppose but it's been a good year for Mastinomics too it's been a great year for Mastinomics with everything going on

with everything going on it's been very with everything going on it has been pretty good I mean literally there's been a lot going for us with everything going on. With everything going on, it's been very, everything going on. It has been pretty good. I mean, literally there's been a lot going on for massonomics with everything going on. So those are the podcast reviews. I don't even remember what exactly we were talking about there, but stuff.

Yeah. With everything going on, it's been tough to remember everything going on and stuff. All right. it's been tough to remember everything going on and stuff all right so we did have to talk just a little bit about some strongman stuff not too much let's not get carried away we do have a strong you know we're also going to talk strongman in the second half with one of my personal favorite strongmans and travis ortmeyer but before that so this is a thing that i stumbled upon i wasn't fully aware of this it is the shaw strength classic so what is the shaw strength classic you asked tommy is that what you asked you're reading

my mind okay okay it's going to take place december 12th this year brian shaw this year with everything going on they're gonna with everything going on I guess they're gonna sneak it into the end of the year yeah okay a lot of things going on but they're gonna do it it's gonna be December 12th Brian lives in Colorado um Brian has like 1.5 million YouTube subscribers really not specifically related to this but that's that's quite the YouTube channel a million a million is a lot on i bet he's making like actual money off of youtube oh god if he's not then he's definitely at one point do you think and he puts out like a few videos a week you know like he has a serious you know he probably has a couple employees behind his youtube if i had to take a wild

uneducated guess i would say he's probably not making a much much from youtube directly it's all of these sponsorship and affiliate things that come with and probably most importantly his own you know and then yes if it ties back into his own brand yes evolution and stuff like that but um but anyways in colorado december 12th this is going to be the first, sometimes people say first annual. I think first annual is by definition does not make any sense. Yeah. Would you say that's redundant? No, that's not redundant. Would you say it's an oxymoron? I think it's an oxymoron, isn't it? It's the first, it's just the first one. And he doesn't know yet at this point, if it's going to be a repeating thing or not. So it's just kind of this thing he's trying to put together. He wants to try it out this first year. But some of the details intrigued me quite a bit. So it's going to be a repeating thing or not so it's just kind of this thing he's trying to put together he wants to try it out this first year but some of the details intrigued me

quite a bit so it's going to be December 12th and it's going to be kind of like at his home he's built this big gym and I think uh he is making the money because he's so he recently built like this new home in Colorado and then he just I watched a little bit of his YouTube to catch up on this. What's going on. He built, bought this like cabin in the, in the mountains in Colorado cabin. That's like gotta be a, I don't know, $750,000 home. Yeah. You know, a second, a second, a second house. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I don't know if he said cabin, if you meant like, it's like a shop or no, he bought this. I'm using a air quotes. Yeah yeah a second home has to be a three-quarter of a million dollar house i would think you know i don't know what the market is there i'm sure in the mountains so it's got this this big uh outbuilding you know this giant shop that he's

also building a second gym in you know he's also he's got his big gym at home that where he trains and with with jimmy quinn prices these days tanner with everything going on with everything going on yeah it's not cheap no um so so like some of the events are going to be like in this mount in at his mountain cabin gym and like i think it's a two day thing some of the events going to be there some of the events are going to be at like his home location uh but the cabin one is like a really cool scenic in the mountains thing like it would make for a cool for cool videos i think is the intention there yep but i'm going to talk about the competitors first because that's the part that makes it interesting yeah and i haven't heard any of these so i'm very curious he says 10 competitors and these were the

10 that has were confirmed at this point in time I'm sure it's subject to change between injuries, travel, and everything like that, but he seemed confident that these 10, number one, himself. Oh, really? But he is not going to himself be eligible for the money. Okay, so he's just competing. Brian is putting up 25 grand in prizes himself,

and then he's looking to sell the stream and get a lot more in prize money but he himself is just putting up 25 grand right off the bat okay so 10 competitors he is going to be one that's what the first thing i was curious about he is going to but he is going to be out of the running for winning any of the money then big z which that's cool that is cool yeah and when he said that i was like well at first he's like, Big Z's going to be there. And I'm like, Big Z's going to be there doing what? Yeah.

In what capacity? Yeah. And he says, no, he's competing. Okay. Mateus Kielkowski. Really? Like one of the, arguably the best up and coming. I mean, up and coming isn't even a thing anymore.

He's just one of the best strong men in the world. Yep. J.F. Caron, the Canadian. Rob Kearney world strongest gay american log press world uh holder terry hollins him and terry are buddies from what i've seen so that's not surprising jerry pritchett robert oberst who he was on history's strongest man with and then adam bishop who uh great britain excellent strongman competitor competitor and then there was one more from canada was the 10th guy wow someone that i was a little less familiar with

that's a solid lineup i didn't think no i thought this was like more amateur guys no like i don't think it was all people that actually like compete at world's strongest man. I mean, so Shaw, Big Z, Mateus, JF Krohn, Rob Kearney, Jerry Pritchett, Terry Hollins, Robert Oberst, Adam. I mean, it's all people that are like all have the potential to make the finals of world's strongest man. They're all people that could be on the stage at the Arnold on a given year or at world's strongest man finals. You know, could all have a shot at. Yeah. Like, okay. There's already a huge built in audience.

Yeah. That's okay. For sure. And then event wise, there's going to be six events and i don't know if these were all set in stone yet uh it's going to be over two days max log press a max single log which he's got a lot he's got rob kerney robert robert oversposed both in there um Well, Big Z can also press it. Well, yeah. The best wide presser ever, yes. Super yoke. He said a really heavy yoke. A farmer's medley,

where it's going to be a couple different farmer's carries. And then a Hummer tire deadlift, because Brian has one of the two setups of those ever made. Does he? Of actual, like the thought that they used at the arnold because he made a replica or had it made up from the same people that made that hummer tire so they're going to do that hummer tire deadlift which i think people want to see that event i've you know it's been gone a while right right and then does z have the record for

that him or him or brian does one of those two and they probably both had it at some point in time circus dumbbell for reps and then uh atlas stone series it would finish with and he said it'll be more than five it might be like six or seven or eight atlas stones oh and then like i said the prize money um but i suppose brian has the pull with all these people. Like he can get these people to come, you know, so it's, he's the diplomat. Right.

Right. So that's cool though. That's interesting. Like to see how well it goes, because if it goes really well, couldn't you almost see that being, uh, Oh yeah,

for sure. A really cool event. That's outside of any federal, I would be surprised if some federation tried to take it over, but, um, just the fact that it's kind's outside of any federation. I would be surprised if some federation tried to take it over, but just the fact that it's kind of outside of any federation, it's just its own little event. Yeah, it's a really cool thing. Like the Brineshaw Invitational is really what it is.

Right, and he was talking about the judges that he's going to be bringing in. It wasn't people that I knew. But he said they will be recording with their phones while they're judging. No, what I took from it it's like oh it's not people I know because it's not just people that used to do be in world's strongest man it's actually the people that are you know like judges yeah right yeah like his description that's what I took away from it it's like yeah like the foremost judges of strong man basically is kind of what it seemed like to me. The way it should be.

Yeah, right. I like that. It wasn't just, you know, the guy that won the Arnold 10 seven years ago. Yeah, yeah, right. So I thought that was interesting, too. Well, that could be really cool to watch. Right, but we're only October, November, December,

three months away. And, you know, with everything that's going on this year it does make me wonder it's one day from lithuania all these guys can people from canada even come to the united states right now i don't even know what the rules are on that yeah and a couple people a couple canadians lithuania uk and then the rest are americans i think yeah oh no uh matthias where's he he's polish so yeah lithuania poland canada uk so i would wonder about those people being able to come well if they can't that's gonna yeah right whereas like oh like big z is a big deal to me like having him there and like if he's going against all these guys contests because he's not doing contests like he used to.

Right, I know. That's what it makes you really want to see, like, him going. And we never got to see him. Like, it was always, like, we were so excited to see, like, will he compete at the Arnold. Right. Every year we went, he was getting hurt, so he couldn't. Right.

Yeah, that'd be really cool. Yeah, that will be a cool event, I think. Wouldn't be surprised to see someone pick that up and film it in all of its glory. Right, right. For sure. So maybe that's the new going to be the new thing going forward.

Wouldn't be against it. All right. We should get to some ads here, Tanner. All right, let's do it. Okay. Today's show was brought to you by lifting large,

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and buy one of their legendary bars, visit TexasPowerBars.com. That's our ads. Should we try and get big Travis on the horn let's do it give it the old college try hello

hey is this Travis this is Steve what's going on man hey travis you are live on the massonomics pod podcast with tanner and tommy how are you doing oh shit i'm doing all right man we're doing good it's good to have you on yeah we're we're excited to have you on uh we did uh we did get to meet you really really briefly at at the Arnold like two or three years ago. I think you were there. They were doing something cool at the Arnold Strongman that year. Did they kind of have a bunch of the past performers come?

I think it may have been after Terry Todd had died and they did something exactly what it was they did a brief memorial and they brought in a bunch of the past winners and so derrick was there uh derrick crownstone that is um of course big z i think the top is wallace and uh you know several other guys and uh i just happened to be there working with another group. I got an invite last minute and then just got to play around the whole time basically. Yeah. No, that's really cool for all of you to be in that same group

at the same time. Did you get third a couple different times at the Arnold, didn't you? I did, yeah, 2009 and 2010 okay and then uh i was fourth in 2011 but i still had that broken ankle from will strong as man yeah six months prior and that's something i actually have that on that that that very thing as one of the items on our list that i want to talk to you about too but but all right yeah and also i'm wondering we didn't pull you away from your jefferson deadlift training tonight to get you on the show did we you know what i moved it up about an hour early i needed

to make sure i got that in uh you don't want to miss your jefferson day no i just you know monday's international bench and chess day right so wednesday's international jefferson day you don't place third at the Arnold twice skipping Jefferson deadlift day that's right yeah you got there right man that's right no well we were kind of talking about your beginnings in a strongman and I'm sure you can tell us more about the year I don't know it's early 2000s probably sometime in there that you got started I suppose but what we were kind of talking about and you can you can talk to this more is you know now in 2020 or even for the last 10 5 10 years anyone getting into strongman you just youtube you youtube it you go on instagram

like you find out what strongman is in a really big hurry you know you follow there's almost unlimited resources you can figure out exactly how to pick up stones how to how to do farmers carries the best way how to how to run how to get going with a yoke what what did you do you are exactly right on that you know it amazes me how much you can learn but then you got to be careful because there's too much information out there you can get a lot of crap in with all the good you know so you gotta learn how to filter it out but you know and i i love saying this this reminds me of back in the day we uh you know we just figured it out i uh we saw the world's strongest man on tv and we're like shit let's find a uh tractor and flip that. No idea what size we needed.

No idea what kind of technique. And then the old days when they used to press kegs overhead. But, well, we can find a keg. Let's just steal one from behind a brewery or something. And then, so, you know, we just found essentially what was trash to begin with. And thought, well, maybe we can put this together somehow. We can just lift this huge, metal, rusty, jagged bar with lots of horrifying gashes in it that we can easily rip flesh from our bones. But, you know, that was, quote, unquote, strongman equipment back then.

Right. So, you know, I can tell you one of my first implements to train with was a keg. And we had no idea how to take the spout out of the keg. Ah, yes. Yep. You know, it was me and a guy named Marshall white who, uh, you know, I can tell you a story about him in a minute.

Kind of a, a pivotal character in, in my development as a strong man, not getting into the sport actually, but, uh, he, he and I were like 18 and 17.

And he's like six months younger than me. So we didn't have any idea. There was no YouTube, and there was nobody we could go and ask, really, who had an idea. So we just got a drill, drilled a hole in the top of it, and filled it up with water. Now, one of the things you don't know when you're underage and not at a bar drinking is kegs are full of pressure. and not at a bar drinking is kegs are full of pressure. This was an old keg that had been sitting on the side of some rundown, dilapidated building that had been forgotten years ago.

So we go and drill into this thing, and then all of a sudden, the pressure releases, and it spews 10-year-old beer in our faces. It was a shock. It was, oh, stop. It was nasty. You don't forget stuff like that. Oh, jeez. So, but anyway, you know, fast forward. We filled it with water, and we tried everything we could to plug this hole,

and everything would break. So eventually we just got tired of that. We'd stuff a rag in it and then try and press it overhead while it was dripping water out. So, after a while, we got good enough at pressing it. We decided we need to make it heavier. So, we start throwing chunks of dirt in there and make it, you know, 20 pounds heavier with handfuls of dirt. What we didn't think about was when we started pressing that overhead and all

that water that was coming out was now mud coming out. It would just drip down your arm and create this mud slick down the side of your body and the side of your face while you're trying to press the keg overhead. But that was the early days of Strongman for us.

We just figured out what we could and learned from our mistakes and moved on. So would that have been about the early 2000s then? Is that when you were kind of first started? Yeah, that was something that we had played around with

probably spring of 2002. And then Marshall and I had done powerlifting. I i actually i was a bodybuilder when i met marshall he taught me into doing a powerlifting meet because i kind of realized that bodybuilding was not going to be for me at six feet four inches with long arms and long legs it was and you know to be fair not to not to trash any bodybuilders out there but you know i went to a show and when the guys on stage with flex and then everybody in the audience would go

oh damn you see that like that just kind of did it for me right yeah it's like all right it's not it's not quite the same effect as deadlifting a car. Yeah, exactly. You're smacking someone in the face. You're watching them hit the ground. Then you go, ooh. Yeah. So Marshall and I, we went and did a powerlifting meet.

And it was the Longhorn Open in Austin, Texas at UT. And they had like 250 lifters. So they were just running people through on five platforms and we didn't have a clue what the hell we were doing. I remember opening and I took the squat out, step back, squatted it, came up, racked it. And the judge just looked at me with a hand in the air and never gave me a signal. He's like, what the hell are you doing? I had no idea I needed to wait for command.

You know, I... Yeah. But, so, I guess, I don't know, maybe that screwed with me. I jumped up a little bit for my next attempt and then bombed the next two attempts. So that was it for me. And then Marshall couldn't keep his foot still every time he'd squat each step. And so he bombed out.

Now here we'd spend like $500 going to this meet at 19 years old. Yep. And, uh, we both bombed out, had to drive home with our tails between our legs. But then, uh,

Marshall got the bright idea of doing a strongman contest. And I remember looking at him when he said this. He said, I want to go do Texas Strongest Man. I said, you mean like those guys on TV? What are you talking about? Wouldn't that be that strong? Are you crazy? Nevertheless, he signed up for the contest in Denison, Texas, which is right on the border of Oklahoma and Texas, right north of Dallas on August 2nd.

So it was hotter than hell out there. And this is 2002. It was one week before my 21st birthday. It was one week before my 21st birthday. So I remember getting in the car, and we're driving up there. It's like a six-hour drive. And Marshall keeps saying the whole way, you know, I just don't want to finish last.

I don't want to finish last. And, you know, I'm going with him to support, because at this point I'm not signed up to do it. I just wanted to help him out. And I'm trying to talk him out of it. Like, dude, you're fine. You're going to be great. Anyway, we get there, we get there and we're talking to the promoter. Marshall's getting checked in.

And the promoter looks at me and goes, hey, you know, you're here. Why don't you just sign up? And so I thought about it. I'm like, you know, what the hell? I drove all this way. I'll give it a shot. All right, fine. So I weighed in.

I was 227 pounds. And he asked me, he's like, you want to go on the lightweights? And, you know, I looked at him. I said, hell no. I'm going to go against Marshall. I'm going head-to-head with Marshall. I came up with my buddy. We're going to go against Marshall. I'm going head-to-head with Marshall. I came up with my buddy. We're going to compete together.

And then I remember Marshall looking at me and him going, you know what, man? I'm glad you signed up because at least now. He's not going to get last. At least now I know I'm going to take that. Yeah, that's exactly what he said. And I looked at him. I did not know I really had a competitive bone in my body until that moment. Yeah. And I got to thank Marshall so he changed my life yeah because i decided at that freaking moment i was going to destroy him and uh and you know i ended up doing it and i had more fun doing that contest than I'd ever had doing anything in my entire life.

I had an absolute blast. I remember after the show, coming home, for the next six months, I dreamt of the implements, the way they felt in my hands, the smell of the tacky. The way they felt in my hands, the smell of the tacky, you know, the way it was boiling hot on this black asphalt as I'm flipping an 800-pound tire that's burning my skin as I'm flipping it. All those little nuances, I just fell in love with it. And from that point on, I knew that strongman was my thing. You know, whatever else I had planned was out the window. I was going 100% strong then. From a sport where I thought, no, I'll be crazy, I'll never do that

to, yeah, I'm going to win World's Strongest Man. I'm going to do it multiple times. I'm going to kick the shit out of everybody along the way. Right. So that was 2002, that first show, and it wasn't a matter, was it like by 2005, were you competing

in international level competitions already i mean it was just a few years later then wasn't it yeah yeah actually uh and to go back what you were talking about earlier with how much you can learn on the internet yeah you couldn't learn that then so what i did was i went to contests as far apart as I could so that I could go to different parts of the country and learn what those guys were doing and then put it all together and I got I had a pretty good wealth of information stockpiled from competing you know I did 11 shows before I did American Nationals Amateur Nationals in 2004 and uh that's where I earned my pro card but I had

so much experience and I competed against guys around the country so I kind of knew who all the best guys were so getting ready for 2004 Amateur Nationals I knew I was going to win and so I went out

there and I got third on the first event and then won the next four and got my pro card and then started competing in 2005 as a pro and then international by summer of that year, I believe. Yeah. So something on our list, and we're getting close to it in the time frame, is I don't know that either of us know the details on this exactly, but World's Strongest Man and IFSA, there was a little bit of a split there,

and some people are doing one or the other. Were you competing in IFSA kind of more exclusively for a period of time then before World's Strongest Man? Is that right? Yeah, yeah, I was. So 2004, IFSA and World and world's strongest man the tv show for espn they had a little pissing match and you know the guys at the top said oh you know we'll just take our toys and go and whatever the hell and you know how it goes yeah but uh so if so had the series of contests and they had bigger prize money and they had all the top athletes except for marius put your mouse okay and so if so was you know they were they were the top

they were the best of the best so that that's what i wondered is how you made that decision so that's a big part of it then a prize money and be competitive you know that's so that's a big part of it then A prize money and B competitive so that's what a lot of the best competition was doing then at that point in time yeah I wanted to go where the top guys were I wanted to put myself up against the best and you know I had competed against the

American guys let's say all of 2005 like Jesse Marundi I beat him I beat him four times that year. And then he went to World's Strongest Man, and I went to IFSA. And just to give you an example of where the caliber of athlete was in 2005, and I'm not trying to dog on anybody, but the guys that went into World's Strongest Man in 2005 were new.

And, you know, as an example, Terry Hollins was one of them. Brand new. Well, he came out later and became one of the best athletes ever. But back to Jesse Marandi, he took second at World's Strongest Man. And I took 10th at IFSA. Yeah, the caliber was a little different. And then it started at IFSA. Why did Puginowski not go to IFSA what was the deal there um so he it was a little bit of a political thing from what I understand

they 2004 they took his third place away because he didn't want to sign a contract with him so they basically as i found out later they just said that he failed the drug test or something like that and it stripped him in third place i was wondering how that shook out yeah yeah yeah politics man i hate that shit i've had my own run-ins with it too so you know but uh yeah you know fast forward a few years 2008 this uh has kind of fallen off because they had too many hands in the cookie jar too many guys getting paid at the top they couldn't keep it going um everybody came back to both strongest man along with colin bryce running super series which turned into giants live and then uh champions league that marcel mostar was doing and uh yeah

2008 was a huge year because the guys who had done world's strongest man had enough time to develop and then the guys from isa came back to world's strongest man had enough time to develop and then the guys from ifsa came back to world's strongest man and it was it was a great battle right that year all the way around between the two sides and uh i mean yeah that was that was my first year getting a fifth place in the final i always thought it was funny because they kept calling me a rookie and I was doing so well for a rookie, but that was my fourth world championship. Yeah. Right. Right. It's just that you had been doing IFSA prior to that. So 2008 was in the United States and then is that right? Like then next year you went to South Africa or something or Malta or

something nine and 10. Yeah. So one of the, when you were back in world's strongest man, I got to ask you about this event. Cause I, I, I watched a clip on it this morning, thinking about it again. And it's just always sticks out to me. I you'll know the year it's either 2009 or two, I think it's 2010, but you're in the pool doing that sandbag loading manly. And like that to me always sticks out as just one of the most iconic World's Strongest Man events. And I don't know if they've ever done it another year like that. How miserable was that event?

Well, I was in pretty good cardiovascular shape that year because I had lost a lot of weight. Yeah. I think I was something like 285 or something in the finals. So I was streamlined. I was fast. And I puked my guts out. Aren't you going to get head-to-head against Terry Hollins in that one too? Yeah. And he weighs like 400 pounds there. That would be terrible he weighed more than the sandbag 20 pounds less than the sandbag you know on tv they say they were 264 yes that's what i wanted

to ask you they say 264 what do you think like i'm like 264. They're saying completely soaked with water. There's no way. That's what those way. Like, I'm sure nobody knew what they weighed. No, no, they, they didn't measure them after that, but they did make sure to soak them for hours before we started that event so that there wasn't any, the first guys, no, yeah, exactly. Exactly. If anything, the guys who went in the last week had it better because the sand kept draining out.

Was that one of the more grueling events you've ever had to do then? I would say it. Yeah. I would say it probably was. Ones that usually get me the worst, other than loading medleys or like a log clean and press or some kind of a medley with a tire flip that finishes with a

sled drag okay those are just miserable those i haven't seen sled drags in a while and you know and i knock on wood i don't want you to hear me start bringing them out sock. Yeah. Um, and, and that was, didn't Brian, he kind of, it ended up costing it. Doesn't he drop the bed?

Isn't it? Is that not right? And it kind of, by the end of the show with, you know, whether it would have shaked out the same or not, it kind of cost him winning. Didn't it?

Yeah. Well, you know, Brian made the mistake that, uh, it was almost a rookie mistake when you're, when you're loading something onto a box that was not very big like that

one, you push the implements all the way on. You make sure that you push them way back and you make room for the other one. He didn't make room. He threw the bag on and it fell off. Then he ended up in a tie with his journalist at the end and lost on account.

Right. You mentioned your broken ankle. Was that 2010 or what year was it? That was the same year. Yeah, that was the same year. So the next event was a keg toss. I think Zydrunas

got second or first. Brian was first or second. They were about a second apart and I was about a half second behind them. Brian was first or second. They were about a second apart, and I was about a half second behind them. So we were tied for first, I think, going into the long press, which was the third event,

which the long would have been my weakest event. I was having a great day with it. I just remember somewhere at around 400 pounds, I got pushed forward or a little bit forward with the weight. And so I pushed the log out in front of me just a little. And it's something that I do a lot. So I know to kind of bring it back in and then use the shock absorption, the stretch reflex to just power it back up,

and then I get a better angle on it. And so I was trying to do that, but my foot, my left foot, caught a little bit of a gap between the mats, and I didn't get my foot under me in time. And when the log came down, my foot was in a weird position, and it just rolled out and snapped aside. My foot was in a weird position and it just rolled out and snapped aside. So, uh, yeah, I tore a, what was it?

One of the peroneus muscles off the side of my foot and took a good chunk of the bone with it. That was probably one of my most painful injuries. But then the kicker is, did you, how many events did you continue to do after that? Well, so, okay. That was the third event of day one. Thankfully, and this is the best part, is I had all night for that thing to swell up and hurt like hell and then not get any sleep. It was miserable going into day two,

where we had to start with an 800-pound frame carry. Did a lot of guys think that you were probably done once you broke? I mean, I can't imagine a lot of people were like, oh yeah, Travis is going to be here for day two, are they? I think those guys that won the final weren't surprised. They competed with me. I suppose, yeah.

I'm a nice guy. I'm a pretty smart guy. I got a few spools. So, you know, when I'm a pretty smart guy. I got a few spruces. So, you know, when I'm hurt, I become like an animal backed into a corner and logic kind of goes out the window and all it is is

survival and kill everything I can. That's what I was going with that day. It was just pure hatred and piss and vinegar. Yeah. Hey, I mean, I beat Derek Constone on the frame carry with a broken ankle.

I love giving him shit about that. You know, Derek's one of my favorite people. I love that guy. He's a total badass. Well, and there was a, you know, as far as American Strongman goes, there was a really good group of you guys at that point in time, then too, between you and Derek, and then Brian starting to come up, and I'm sure others in there too,

but it was just a really strong group at that point in time. Yeah, it was. It was. It was a real breakout group. I think Brian came around just after it's resolved, but, uh, Derek and I competed in it. So, uh, I think he qualified for his, uh, world championships in 2006, but had that real bad back injury. And then we competed in, it's, uh, in 2007. So we had a good rivalry for a long time.

And then Brian came up and really started to put out in 2009. I think that was his first year qualifying for the finals. And, you know, he's just, he's such a big dude. It just took him a few years to kind of grow into his body. And then once he did, he just kept going with it. The guy's a monster and he's really, you know, one of the things that I'm most impressed with about Brian Shaw is his ability to let's say maintain composure.

And I don't mean that in a contest setting. I mean that in a light setting, he's, he's just really good at going back to the grind and then working and working and hitting it again next year and not letting life get in the way at all. There's no turmoil. There's no upsets. You know what I mean? He stays flat, level-headed, very focused.

And it's really hard to stay that focused and do so at such a high level for such a long time. So I'd say, you know, more so than his strength, that's what impresses me about Brian Shaw. Yeah, that makes sense. And talking about that, so, you know, we kind of walked through early 2000s up through now 2010, 2011. He had that broken angle ankle and some injuries and then uh you know for a point in time there you weren't competing or i don't know if you were really training strong man now it uh for a while there and now i would say we were tommy and i were talking about earlier you look you're proud are you as strong now as you've ever been

i mean you you kind of look physically as imposing as you ever have, I would say. Are you as strong as you've been at any point in time now? Or are you coming close to that point? You flatter me. I would say that right now, I think I'm stronger than I've ever been.

I think my pressing is down just a little, but I had that shoulder surgery a year ago, so I'm still building that up. Yeah, my raw power, though, deadlifts, I'm stronger than I've ever been. Squatting, I'm stronger than I've ever been. I'm stronger than I've ever been. Squatting, I'm stronger than I've ever been. I don't think I'm quite as fast on the moving events, which is something I'm trying to work on now. But, you know, training for speed is so much different than training for strength.

I was always so fast before trying to get stronger. Now I'm pretty strong. I've got to remember how to be fast again and put all these pieces together. But, yeah, you know, you brought up the little gap in my history. You know, I did a long talk with Laurence Chalet on that. And, you know, I'll spare everybody the hour of details on that. But, you know, it was a really bad time in my life, and I screwed a lot of things up. Like, well, let's just say I screwed everything up. And, you know, people asked me if I was training during that time.

No, I wasn't training. I was just basically I was living in hell. And I now know just on that note, hell, when people talk about hell, they always say, you know, it's fire and brimstone. They're going to torture you and you're going to be in physical pain. And that's such bullshit. That's such bullshit. hell is not a physical place hell is inside your mind and you can you're the only one who can take you there if you choose to

go and so I've walked through hell and I felt what that kind of torture really is and it sucks man let me tell you um I lost myself in it but during that time i didn't train in fact my head was so screwed up that i couldn't stand the thought of training and i'm a kid i was 11 years old when i when i mowed lawn and saved uh money all summer to buy my first weight bench because I just wanted to work out. I even went in the kitchen and I took my mom's broom and sawed the handle off. That was my first bench bar. So I went from passion and living and this being my world to not even being able to walk into a weight room. I couldn't stand it.

And there's a variety of reasons. Remember what I said with my first contest when I weighed 227 pounds. I remember at some point during the darkness, kind of having this talk with myself and like an honest assessment of how, how long is this going to go on? How long is this going to go on how long is this going to last when can we get out of here and that little voice that pops up in the back of your head sometimes it popped up for me and it said well you're going to start over and I knew exactly

what that meant I didn't have to ask it meant I was going to reset to where I was at before I started training for strongman I was going to get a second chance to do it all over, but I had to do everything wrong to get to that reset point. And in January of 2016, I walked into the gym for the first time in four years, and I weighed 227 pounds on the box. Yeah, it was pretty weird. and I weighed 227 pounds on the box. Yeah, it was pretty weird.

But then, you know, I worked out, and my head was clear, my heart was clear, and that workout, even though it was kind of pathetic and it was a little physically miserable, I felt so good after that. It reminded me of what I had before. I had this moment of gratitude where I remembered who I was. I remembered my purpose, and my purpose was so much greater now than it was in my first, let's say, my first life. You know, I had to crash and burn and burn the whole world around me

and then rise from those ashes. And I have a new purpose in life. And, you know, it gives me something to live for because, you know, here's an interesting thing about athletes that I found during that time. And I saw this on, for the first time on, was it Real Sports on HBO? They were talking about pro athletes. And after they retire, you know, these guys would look in the mirror and they don't recognize the person looking back at them.

And I felt that. I felt that. They also said there's something like a 75% divorce rate from pro athletes once they retire. Well, I didn't divorce. I lost myself. And I realized what it was, was these guys, they lost themselves. You've got all your life where you're pouring your heart into something and then all of a sudden that thing is gone and now you're left with this giant vacuum where you know the easiest thing to suck into it is self-destruction

but uh you know i figured things out and I started to fill that void with purpose. And I don't mean to get too long winded here. No, no, no, no, that's it's it's just something that I'm passionate about. You know, it's finding a purpose in life. You know, it can be lifting weights. What is it going to be when that's not the only thing? What is where does that take you and for me strongman was the only thing but in my rebirth strongman is a means to a greater

thing you know where i can use this as a platform and i'm still going to go as far as i can because i absolutely am passionate about this sport i fucking love it. But now I can reach so many more people who may not have passion in their life, who may be lost. It's such a common thing for people to really just go to work day in, day out. They hate their job.

They hate their life. They mow the lawn on Saturday because that's what they're supposed to do. Then they drink all night because they don't have anything else to do you know and i'm not trying to trash anybody who wants to friggin drink on the weekend no power to you that's what you want to do but if you're doing it as a way of just escaping reality then you know we need to talk because we need to fill that with some actual reality and you know purpose when you got a sense of purpose it makes life work and then people around you get charged up by that and i mean that to me that's the greatest

feeling out there if i can impact somebody else's life and get them to to realize the gift that they have by actually being alive. You know, that's, that's it for me. I love that. And I know that that's why I went through what I went through to try and bring something good to the rest of the world. Yeah. And I'm not trying to get too far into it. I know I can go all day about it, but that's just the sense of where, where I've gone the last few years. it. That's just the sense of where I've gone for the last few years.

And I take that into the gym and I try to make myself a little bit better every day. And it doesn't always happen. Obviously, I post about that on Instagram. I let people know that it's not all PRs and new records. It's a lot of bashing my head against the wall throwing tantrums with myself and then being

grateful at the end of it that I get to have tantrums and I get to have bad days because that's just part of life and it's too easy to get wrapped up in I had another bad day and then letting that beat you down.

And then when that beats you down, having another bad day on top of it. So I try to show that the bad days lead to even better days. If you can make it through, if you can wade through that kind of like shit, it's kind of like that 2010 world strongest sandbag loading. Yeah, that's right. Wade through that kind of like shit it's kind of like that 2010 world strong and sandbag loading yeah that's right wade through that shit you know if you could suck it up you get the sandbags up there and then all of a sudden you're finished and you win yeah that's that's a hell of an

accomplishment you know it feels really good to get to the other side of that that's right no i think that's a good good message that you shared and uh you know it's And, you know, there's nothing that any of us can do about the past and things that are in the history, but I think you're doing a good job of kicking ass now. I mean, at least from our perspective, that really shows, and I think that's cool to a lot of people. I appreciate that. You know, I'm really just a guy who's grateful that he gets to go out and have fun

doing what he loves and I just want other people to have that same feeling that's what it boils down to it just so happens that I love to go out and kick the shit out of some weights and then that's just yeah I love to do that. Well, and speaking of competing, we like to finish it towards the end of it with every guest. We have a little game we like to play. It's overrated, underrated. I don't know if you're very familiar with it,

but what we do is we've got a little series of topics that we've picked for you, and with each one you just have to decide if it's overrated or underrated, and you've just got to remember you can't ride the line in between. You've got to, uh, you've got to decide overrated, underrated, and you can explain it out however you want to. Okay. All right. So overrated,

underrated is like a one beam and overrated is like a full three beams. Right. Right. Yes. Yes. Yes. Okay. Yeah. I've listened to the show a couple of times. Okay. Okay. Yeah. I've listened to the show a couple of times. Okay. Good. You know it then. All right. Good.

Okay. But we did pick these, we did pick these special for you here too. So these are special Travis topics. Yep. Okay. So anyone listening, don't get offended on my answers or the way I discussed.

Oh, trust us. People are going to be offended. So anyone listening, don't get offended on my answers or the way I discuss my opinions. Oh, trust us. People are going to be offended. But you know what? People should be offended. It builds character. There you go. Yep, that's right.

Okay, so topic number one, Mikhail Koklyaev as a strength athlete. Underrated. He is the single most disgustingly talented human being on this planet. I named my son after the guy. He is so amazingly gifted at any freaking thing that he does. It's irritating sometimes.

He picks up a guitar. He starts playing it. He goes to a piano. He starts playing it. Then he's singing and irritating sometimes you know he picks up a guitar he starts playing it he goes to a piano he starts playing it and then he's singing and he's dancing while he's playing it and it's in German or no it's in Russian and it's in English and then he's telling jokes in English that nobody understands but you laugh because he's laughing and it's just fucking funny

and then yeah I mean as far as his physical talent well I mean you know enough said he physical talent, well, I mean, you know, enough said. He's been third at World's Strongest Man. He was second at the World Championships. He has records. He has, you know, national level Olympic lifting records.

He's got, I think he has the all-time highest super total with snatch clean and jerk squat yeah that sounds right yeah i think he's got mark henry beat by a little bit on that oh yeah dude without it that doesn't even surprise me i remember the night before my first world championships in 2005 we were out looking at some of the equipment and they're like, you know, Misha, the Canadian record for the snatch is 173 kilos or something like that.

And so he says, yes, I break his record. And they put 174 in one job. He gets to 175 kilos and just knocks it out. The night before we start competing. I'm like, that's disgusting.

I think he took third. He took third that year. He was just a freak. Yeah. But then if you ever get the chance to talk to that guy, take it. Because you're going to have a good time. He's just such a delightful human being.

So even though he's as highly rated as he is, you can never be quite underrated. That's cool. We knew you'd have something good to say about him. That's cool. Overrated or underrated, and we talked about that event, but just in general for training, overrated or underrated sandbag talked about that event but just in general for training

overrated or underrated sandbag carries training with sandbags training with sandbags I would say is underrated because they suck they're awful they're awful and anything that's that awful has got to be good for you

like a big bowl of fiber bran or some shit cereal like that. It's got to be good for you. It's so good. You know, they're so versatile. You can press them. You can load them like a stone. You can carry them. You can shoulder them.

There's just a lot you can do with a sandbag that'll make you just brutally strong. It's definitely underrated. Seeing that you've been messing around with a 400-pound sandbag here lately, that sounds pretty ridiculous. Don't even point that out. That sucks. It slapped me and called me a little bitch.

I'm currently hurt. My pride is injured. I'm going to have to get that thing before America's Strongest Man. So America's Strongest Man, that's something we didn't talk about. Go ahead. I was going to say, so we were, before the show we were talking, can you kind of give us the rundown on what the deal with America's Strongest Man is? Like, you see, Europe's Strongest Man seems to

be a pretty big premier strongman event. America has a lot of good strongmen, but it seems like as far as events go, America's Strongest Man just kind of flies under the radar. What's the deal with that? I think there's a couple of factors. Europe is definitely more of a uh individual sports type of market where they like cycling they like swimming they like you know uh track and field they like individual sports and america is very much a team sport and not even team sport, just baseball, basketball, football. Baseball, basketball, football, same old shit all the time. It's just, you know, the three sports are so damn boring because it's all they talk about. So I think that's part of it.

I think a lot of it is also just promoting. You know, Colin Bryce and those those guys they found the niche and darren sadler they found the niche and they just maintained that pressure you know building it up just a little bit here and there and they're good at it too hold it yeah yeah they had a couple guys they really built the story up so you got the drama behind a couple guys like Eddie Hall who built the story up themselves. And they just went and ran off of it. They created some rivalries and a little bit of shit-talking in there.

And the guys, people get behind that. Then they start to develop who's a favorite. Who do they not like? Who do they want to see win? Who do they want to see get their ass kicked? Then that's when you start to develop who's a favorite. Who do they not like? Who do they want to see win? Who do they want to see get their ass kicked? Then that's when you start to build the fan base. If you're a fan

of everybody, and everybody's always a fan of everybody, it can only go so far. This year, the guy promoting America's Strongest Man, he's also promoted War on the Shore. And I remember emceeing for him,

I think in his very first contest in San Diego. And he had like 115 athletes. He ran five different lanes and it was one of the smoothest, most well-run competitions I'd ever been to in my life. He's so well-organized. You can find him at Iron Resurgence on Instagram. And I think that he'll do a great job promoting it.

It's in Savannah, Georgia now. I guess he moved from San Diego to Georgia last year. But give him a couple years of consistency, and I think this guy could actually build it up pretty big. I think the only thing he'll be missing is he needs some TV contacts. And once we get that,

the sky's the limit. I think he's a great promoter. So are you planning on competing there then? Goddamn right I am. Hell yes. I can't wait. When is that then? i am hell yes i can't wait when is when is that then november 7th and 8th oh shit so very soon yeah yeah it's coming up fast man believe me i know it's uh it's weighing on me heavily i've got i got my events list on the fridge right on top of my destroy list,

which is something I've been doing since 2003. They post the names of the competitors that you go against, and I write destroy at the top of that list. And I read through it every time I open the refrigerator. Destroy, I can name off all 15 guys that are in it besides me awesome i've run through so many signs in my head but yeah yeah i can't wait man it's gonna be nasty that's uh the 400 pound sandbag that i was trying to pick up you know a week or two ago is the fourth sandbag and a loading medley. That's the last event. It's a 300, a 330,

a 360, and then a 400 to a 52-inch platform. Yeah. Damn. Oofta. We'll be excited to watch you then. I didn't know that was coming up. That's going to be a lot of fun to see.

I'm excited. It's been like a year and a half since i've competed uh with the shoulder injury put me out so long so i'm a little nervous and i'm a little excited uh good yeah yeah awesome all right we talked about some of the different places you've traveled to uh over your strongman career you know i't know if you know, we're from South Dakota. We don't get out of here very much, so we don't know a lot about these places. So overrated or underrated South Africa? That's kind of a tough one.

I think if you've got an awesome group to be with and you know some people who know the area really well, it is underrated. But if you were to try and go there by yourself as a tourist and you had no idea what to expect, it would be hell.

It would be very difficult. I'm sure the cities would be okay to be in, but to try and go out anywhere, you would need to speak the language. You definitely need a guide. Yeah. As far as how it was for us. Yeah. I'd say overall, the experience was underrated. I mean, I got to pick up a six-month-old lion, and then because I had my son with me, my ex-wife and my son,

and my son was 10 months old, he couldn't go in the lion enclosure because he was like snack food. So because of that, we got to go see the lion cubs that were about six weeks old or maybe four weeks old, something like that. And so what was normally a $500 extra little tree, we got to do for free with going and play with these cubs. And I don't know if you've ever held a kitten, but they can't pull their claws in for the first month or so of their life. Now just magnify that kitten into like a full grown house cat that can't pull their claws in for the first month or so of their life. Now just magnify that kitten into like a full grown house cat that can't pull his claws in. And they're sharp as fuck. I had some good scratches on me. I looked like I'd been on a hooker in a whorehouse.

But that was, it was a lot of fun, you know? Yeah, that's cool but I think I can expand on that that question you know as far as travel with strong men I think it's underrated I think guys go

they want to they want to do the contest they get wrapped up in it and then they go home the next day I used to do that I think it's so important that if you get to go

to a contest that's anywhere else make the most of it take pictures immerse yourself in it and when I say and even submerge yourself in it and I say that because we went to a cave

in Serbia and it's some giant famous cave and it's got these rock formations from water. So there's a little trail that goes through the cave and there's a big pool

on the side of it. Now, I love cold water. So I stripped down and I got in the water. It just felt like it was going to be magic. So I stripped down and I got in the water you know it just felt like it was going to be magic so I went swimming and apparently the security guard said in his 20 years of

working in that cave as a security guard he has never once seen anybody get in the water so so I mean you know what life gives you experience and man die then enjoy that who cares if you got worms when you come out So, I mean, you know what? You know, life gives you experience, and man, die then. Enjoy that.

Who cares if you got worms when you come back? No, that's awesome. Okay. So, we like our fine dining restaurants, but we are limited there. Again, we're from South Dakota. We have some limited options, but we know you're... I didn't know people actually lived in South Dakota. I thought it was a place you drove through on a way to somewhere else. We're just here to give directions when people are driving through.

Next time you're on your way through northeast South Dakota, make sure to let us know, and we'll have you stop over, and we'll show you a good time. Fair enough, man. sure to let us know and we'll have you stop over and we'll show you we'll show you a good time i hear we're in the list for america's strongest man in the next five years yeah somewhere in like 2021 destination hotspot i love it i can almost guarantee you though if they did it in aberdeen they would have a very good turnout. People would show up for that. There's a fair point. That is a very fair point. We did American Strongest Man in some little town in Arkansas.

It was one of the best crowds we've ever had. About 1,500 people. Absolutely. That's cool. Talking about fine dining joints in the the southwest so overrated or underrated jack-in-the-box oh god jesus christ all right so i got i got a quick story about jack-in-the-box Jack in the Box. I got spoiled by it. I was desperate. I was so hungry.

And I was still a couple hours away from where I was trying to get to. I was trying to drive out to the bay. It's like a four-hour, five-hour trip. And I was just starving. So I pulled over. I'm like, I'm going to get what I used to get at Jack in the Box it's uh it's the double meat bacon burger with uh i would get sourdough bread on it so i order this i go in i sit down i got my fries they look they smell great this burger but it doesn't look as good as the picture but it looks good enough up whatever and then uh my things are ketchup and i take a bite nothing it's like freaking sawdust

i take another bite nothing i take a bite of my french fries nothing the only flavor i had out of that meal was sticking my finger in that ketchup and making sure that my taste buds weren't screwed up. What in the hell have they done? I can't eat this. And then, of course, half an hour later, I had to pull over because I threw it up. Apparently, my body doesn't like fast food. I'm going to have to go with Jack in the Box is highly overrated. Well, that's for good reason then.

Yeah, I'm sorry if I've offended any fast food fanatics out there. Yeah, you shouldn't eat that. It's not real food. No, that's probably good advice. Well, that wraps up overrated and underrated. That was our most important one. We always save the best one for last, and you crushed Jack in the box, I think so. Good, good. Great, great finisher. Yeah.

We, uh, otherwise I was going to touch on, maybe you want to mention you do, you do coaching through your website too, right? I do. I do. I you know a few different methods with how i do my coaching but i got something basically for everybody um you beginner strong man trying to learn the ropes uh up to elite athletes trying to prepare for a big show but uh you know i also do powerlifting training whatever you want i uh I like to work with people, and I like the reward that comes from watching others' success, especially when you've had some small part in that. It's one of my favorite things, so I absolutely love coaching. If people want to get a hold of me, they can go to traOrtmeyer.com or Travis underscore Ortmeyer on Instagram.

Either way, man, just hit me up. Right on. Awesome. And you definitely should be following on Instagram. It's good to see the ridiculous stuff he's picking up. And like you said, you look like a brick shithouse anymore. It's just a bunch of shit, bro. Hey,

it's working. Too kind. Awesome, man. We really appreciate getting to have you on and we would like to catch up with you again sometime if it works out for you. Hey, absolutely, man man i had a great time talking to you guys all right and don't you know a couple years ago i met you at that booth at the

arnold yeah i had a great time meeting you guys then you were really cool you gave me one of your shirts and then you were even cooler because that shirt was stolen from me that's right that's right they stole my favorite hoodie at the same time. I was so pissed. And then you guys sent me a new one. And it is one of my absolute favorite shirts. So I just want to say thank you guys. You're just lucky that,

that you, it wasn't lift shorts and someone didn't steal those because you'd be in a world of hurt there. I was going to say, man, thank God. I'm still saving up for a pair someday maybe I can save up

maybe they need to get me as a coach so that I can build up my clientele so that I can save my penny for a pair of those fancy blue lip shorts those cost extra now. Oh yeah, that blue

pigment, that's loyal. It's not something you find every day. I love it, man. Alright, thanks man. We appreciate it. Thanks, Travis. Great talking to you. Yeah, you too. I wish you all well.

And I'll talk to you again soon. You the man. Good luck at America's Strongest Man. Oh, yeah. Thanks, brother. I appreciate that. I'll take all the luck I can get. All right.

See ya. All right. Bye. See ya. Travis Artmeyer. Yeah. What if you could summarize that interview in, oh, two words. Somewhere between one and three words.

Yeah, one to three range of words. Like a number between one and three. I think I'd say cool beans. Yeah, cool beans. Cool beans. What did someone say? They gave it three, because we were saying, would you say cool, cool beans or cool beans beans? And someone said, cool beans or cool beans beans and someone said cool beans cool

really flipping the script on us yeah yeah that was cool beans travis has a lot of experiences he does we didn't even get into no we did a smidge of those just the only time my only interaction with him was he was going by us at the arnold yeah and um you're like that's travis like you said he came over and he talked to us and he was really nice but we didn't get a chance to talk to him much but no yeah he's got all types of stories that's i we that was a longer interview than our average ones are yeah i didn't even realize i still feel like we talked you know we usually have a little list of questions and stuff. We really didn't talk about most of them because he just has a lot of experiences and a lot of cool stuff.

Yep. And I feel like that was also in a time where it was like you just didn't see inside as much as to what was going on. Like you saw what was on TV when it was on TV, and that was it. And so there was all this behind-the-scenes stuff that you just didn't really know about. Instagram didn't exist. That's where you see that stuff now is instagram and people's

youtube channels and they did wasn't a thing yeah that was really cool here and hearing everything you had about this yeah had had to say about that stuff yeah yeah good stuff cool beans should have got him to talk more shit about some of those dog on the ones he really didn't like asked him too much about all the good guys. Yeah. And like who sucked. That was a problem. He was way too positive in that interview.

We need to do a better job from now on bringing these interviews down into the dirt. Yeah. Adam from Garage Gym Lab. We almost got him. Yeah. He wouldn't quite talk shit on it. We couldn't get Travis really to rag on any early 2000s strongmen.

From now on, we've got to get people to dog on people better and get those sound bites that we need. Really build up that drama. Yeah. Do we want to hear from our sponsors one more time? I really want to hear from them. I'm curious who they are this week. You're all in luck because I've got something to say about all four of them.

Perfect. Today's show was brought to you by Spud Inc. goal of spud inc straps is to make products that support sports performance and help everyone achieve their training goals they make products that last forever won't bust your budget and most importantly leave no doubt about success when everything is on the line check them out online at spud-inc-straps.com this episode is also brought to you by hybrid performance method they are your one-stop shop for all things fitness and online coaching, whether it goes to training-related, nutrition, and body composition-related, or both. Hybrid has a program for you.

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Lifting Large is home of the Ground Lock Deadlift Slipper. They're always in stock and ready to ship mass anonymous listeners can save 20 on all lifting large branded products by using discount code mass 20 at checkout tommy what do you think about usually when i'm reading through the going through the ads um different things at different times i was like damn i'm kind of tired right now i was realizing how late it is my god i don't think 10 p.m i don't think we've ever not been done recording at 10 p.m i should have been in bed two hours ago that's actually what i was thinking is we had kind of a sick kid this week i was like i think i've been sleeping by like 9 15 every night this week yeah i by 10 p.m if i'm not in

bed i'm like pretty well in bed mode yeah oh yeah yeah so i guess we better just shut up um you can make sure to what like us on youtube subscribe on youtube uh like us on facebook subscribe to our news newsletter yeah through our website we got emails going out leave us one of those podcast reviews because we're reading those again. So leave us a review. Probably best thing you could do and cool beansiest thing you could do is sign up for our podcast supporting membership. That's on our website

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level supporter so do that tommy where do they find you on instagram you can find me at tomahawk underscore d find me at tanner underscore baird much more importantly, find us at Massanomics.