Massenomics Podcast - Massenomics Podcast Episode 2 - The Guys

Episode Date: April 20, 2016

The view from Massenomics Studios Captain's Chair. In this episode we talk about who we are, what we train for, and what the hell we think we're doing recording our own podcasts. Today it's only Tyler, Tommy, and Tanner, but soon we'll get our technology in order and introduce you to Professor Schanz.  Tune in. Tell a friend. Stay strong.

M-M-M-M-M-M-M-Massanomics Welcome to Massanomics, the world's strongest podcast. Find us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at Massanomics. Make sure you go visit massanomics.com. There you'll find the rest of our powerful content. While you're there, check out our store and buy yourself some of that sweet Massanomics gear. Okay, we're live here on Massanomics Podcast. We're back for episode two.

Today we're just kind of going to discuss us, I suppose. No real defined topic. I'm Tyler. To my left here is Tanner. This is me, Podcast Land. And across the way is Tommy. Hello'm Tyler. To my left here is Tanner. This is me, Podcast Land. And across the way is Tommy. Hello everyone. All right. So today we're just going to kind of bring guys up to speed with who we are. Last time we talked about the gym and you probably got a little bit of overview on us from that. But today we're just going to kind of talk about where we are with our training and what we're trying to do. Me, a little bit of background. You heard some of this last episode, but I've been

basically off the couch for about a year. It's about a year today. Before that, I really did not do much. So, you know, I'm kind of new to all this. These guys have a little bit more experience than I do. So we're kind of trying to tap some of that knowledge for you. Tanner, you've been doing this a lot longer than I have. What's your background as far as strength training? Well, I guess I've probably been lifting for about 10 years. But when people ask me that question, I don't really like to say 10 years because it seems like it's a never-ending developing thing of thinking that I'm doing better than I was before. So 10 years ago when I started, I was a complete idiot. And, you know, I, I, I would say nothing that I was doing then makes any sense to what I believe

now. Um, but I would say within the last five years, I've been doing some pretty good training, pretty serious training, and I've been on the right page, uh, still improving since then. But, um, you know, I, I, i power lift competitively now i've done three power lifting meets my last couple were in february and march of this year and i've done some uh strongman competitions a few of those locally and then some celtic fair games so that's kind of what i train for um yeah that's that's a little bit about it or i guess the the 10 000 foot view so you're kind of our our resident like legit big strong guy though like when i when i first saw you through like through some of your guys's through some of our you know facebook stuff before i got involved here

you know the numbers that really you guys out of your gym were putting up were pretty big but tanner specifically you know with me only having trained for a year there was a lot of me going what the fuck you know like so it was pretty impressive that's kind of a lot of what brought me to and what about you tommy how long have you been in the game so i would say i've been training in more of a just all-around power lifting type way for probably about four years now before that i think i kind of had the basic experience that everyone has in high school, which, you know, however you want to equate that, it's not the most valuable experience.

And then through college, just with some friends, in the name of staying active, we spent some time, you know, lifting weights, but that mainly consisted of benching and then maybe getting a squat workout in every so often. So there was nothing too serious there. And then slowly, you know, getting used to the eight to five job life, you realize you need to get something active going. And I started spending more, I started going to the Y. I was fortunate enough to have a roommate in

college at Power Lifted. So that kind of provided the template for me, at least for something to follow, having no idea what I was getting myself into. And so I kind of followed that loosely for a couple of years. And then I would say starting about two years ago is when I got a little more serious with attempting to really, really improve and taking a more analytical approach to certain things. Excellent. Excellent. So basically all of us had that thing where for the longest time we avoided leg day like the plague. Right. Right. That's the worst thing. that thing where for the longest time we avoided leg day like the plague right right that's that that's the worst thing uh you can't think of anything doing worse and then you develop to a

point where you look forward to it more often than you don't it's you realize that's the that's the important thing that's that's the big part of it you know and like when when i started i i was totally green you know in in high school i was athletic, but I didn't train, so to speak. So I would show up and do some weight room stuff, but I really didn't do anything like the way you were supposed to. I'd show up and set a bunch of stuff, and I would do maybe two-thirds of it until it got hard, and then that was really all I did. So then after however many years passed,

and you get old, you got kids, you got a job, you get fat, and I had to do something. So I did it all through CrossFit is where I kind of got into that strength training stuff. And that was one of those things where I felt like every damn day was leg day, you know, for me for the longest time until you get used to it. And you kind of learn an appreciation for it. to it and you kind of learn an appreciation for it but where i've been at right now is i've kind of been at this point where i'm not with the frequency in which we're training i'm not getting much stronger you know it seems like i've lost a lot of weight which probably isn't helping but it seems like anytime i get above that 80 90 range i really like you know your body just responds totally different to those weights and if you

want to get stronger you got to train you know really up in the top you know you got it you got to train up in there and that's that's one thing i've learned but in practice man that's fucking hard you know i get that you know you get 375 400 pounds on you and it's i don't know i've that's one thing i learned with trying to go heavy is there's there's still an awful lot of quit in me you know you just got you got to get over that i guess yeah a lot of it i don't know if it's your it comes down to your strength or your you know muscle capacity but like we've got some guys too where it's just a matter of getting used to that feeling of grinding through a heavy squat or grinding you know not not with poor form but just

like literally where you're like well i'm not going to give up if i just keep pushing here i can finish out this rep or you know yeah and i think it is a different mindset to the the idea of you know grinding out five five reps or eight reps across however many sets versus just getting ready to just take care of it for one yeah You know, you get sometimes in the higher reps, you just get so used to, okay, this next one's going to suck, this next one's going to suck. Or you do the one and you do it, it's tough, but it's not that same endurance.

Yeah, you're done. It's not that same endurance thing. So it's just figuring out how to just go all in on that one rep. And that's a thing, too, that I've run into a lot, is I'll get to these, you know, when your working sets get heavy, you want to push it. You need some volume and some heavy weight. And I get, I'll get to that and you get under it and yeah, one and two, then three. And then, you know, you feel like you're going to pass out, you know, waiting for the damn belt to pop off

me, you know? And that's, uh, and that's when it's that, that like, that's when the training counts, you know, I think, I think, and that's where I've, I counts, I think. And that's where I've got to work on, that's for sure. So what about you guys? I guess for me, squatting is really what I've been talking about with this as far as going heavy. Deadlifts are kind of the same thing too. Bench is always fun to go heavy, I think. I don't think anybody really minds grinding out that stuff. It like it beats you up but it's kind of fun you know but yeah yeah yeah just the

when we that's funny that you say that too because as we're talking about it everything i'm picturing it's a squat you know when you're talking about going heavy and grinding through it you're just i'm just automatically think about a squat i'm not thinking about going through a heavy bench press rep or something like that it's just because that's that's where the biggest battle is at yeah i think so yeah so yeah i don't really have a solution on it it's just one of those things where it's like you know joe rogan says you just got to defeat your inner bitch every day you know some days are always going to be worse than others i think everyone can attest to that too yeah definitely so what about you guys as far as any you know any any other recent like struggles frustrations injuries things you're working

through or working on anything like that Tanner well I guess what I'm just kind of doing right now is uh we kind of Tommy's similar too and quite a few of us are we're on a similar uh annual schedule almost now where we do power lifting in the latter end of winter there you know kind of that january february march time frame that's when we're trying to compete you know regardless of what exact meet or meets we do that's kind of when we're shooting for so you kind of we all try to peak for strength around that time, but, uh, we'll build up for that for say, you know, six months where it's just like constant, almost a little bit grueling, monotonous training where you're just trying to push that heavier weight and push your barrier,

be better than you were before or better than you were last year. And that takes a toll at a certain point, you know, either physically or mentally or usually a combination of both, I would say. So we're kind of just over that right now and we're into that kind of that duller period. Almost off-season, if you want to refer to it as having a season. Right, yeah. If we can make it sound that powerlifting, that legitimate, that we have an on and off.

Yeah, we're off season right now. That'd be a good way to say it. And so with what I do with off season and, you know, I think we all generally do the same ideas and try to spice it up a little bit or make it more interesting somehow or more fun just so you can. Otherwise, if you go in, we don't have that meat to look forward to. It's not like, Oh, two months, we're going to be at that meat. You know, I gotta, gotta work that squat. You know, I got, you know, I, I just gotta do it. It's coming up in two months, you know, now it's like, well, we're not doing that for 10 months. So I'm not just gonna, I can't just mentally. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm trying to do you know i guess i just do different variations or um

i do similar programming but maybe not quite as rigid in a structure as i would be before and then also do some other exercises that i wouldn't do before you know for example we uh have that uh makeshift bamboo bar at our gym. So I was overhead pressing yesterday on that bamboo bar. Which is a blast. Yeah. Which that's, and it's fun because it's not like, I know that I should be pressing 200 pounds with a bamboo bar. You know what?

I don't have this figure in my head that I know I. You don't have that beginner mentality. Yeah. Start at the beginning, learn what it's like, see where this takes you. What is this about? Yeah, for sure. So that's kind of my general view is just doing some different things and just keeping it fun, you know, right now.

I mean, still, you know, I never want to get weaker or get smaller. And I think the focus, you know, being in kind of a similar situation as you, the focus is still always on bench squat deadlift. It's just kind of, you know, maybe we are switching up the rep scheme or maybe the intensity on it. And then the big one would be on the assistance exercises yeah yeah trying some different things hitting things you've never done before just trying to feel some things out and experiment a little bit yep and i'd say generally i stay more away from like the one rep max like i won't do hardly a one rep max of most lifts for quite a while now you know i mean i

suppose you could get a wild hair sometime and just feel like it but for the most part i save that until prepping for those meets coming up right now you're just trying to maintain gradually continue to build strength and and i suppose just do it sustainably you know because that's going to be the key over this long haul is you got basically an eight month off season for the most part where you just you have to gradually keep pushing that rock uphill and if you are pushing too hard you know you fuck up and tear something or you get hurt roll halfway back exactly and then you can be set back and the nice thing too is you throw in those kind of fun little accessory exercises and it keeps it does it keeps it interesting makes you want to go in you know little things too like you know bench pressing with the bamboo overhead with the bamboo stuff or even doing some banded squats

just focusing on speed technique that type of stuff is the other day we're doing floor presses which i've done before yeah that's another kind of work that lock out a little more and that was you know we're just doing sets of 185, but hey, this is different. This is weird. It is kind of an unusual thing. Yeah. And when you switch those things up too, like you said before, the ego thing totally goes away because there you are with 185 pounds on the bench and you're just trying to do

it. When I first got my setup in the garage, I didn't have a bench to even lay on, so that was just how I had to do bench. Just a man on the pavement. But it's a fun little different way to do it. You can kind of work some different things, and it keeps you moving. The next point I was going to talk about was competing. How does competing fall in with what guys are want to do or are trying

to do? I know you guys drew, you said you try to compete pretty consistently. Um, you know, how did you get started competing? What made you want to compete? Um, do you want to go first or do you want me to? So I don't have as much, I guess my experience in competing competing in these strength sports is somewhat limited. The fact that I've done two powerlifting meets and a Celtic Games now, which the Celtic Games was more or less just people saying, hey, let's go do this.

You're with the homies. So yeah, let's make an afternoon of it and have some fun. And that was a good time. There was almost no training that wouldn't do that other than that we had been lifting weights previously. So that, that was a total new experience. But as far as the, the power lifting thing goes, um, I guess just kind of, you know, looking around online and knowing people that have done meets before I had, once you start to lift a little more, it's like, Hey, this would be something that was, would be cool to do.

And I don't know if I would ever have the initiative to just want to completely do it on my own. It is, you know, after doing two, it is huge to have people you're going with or at least someone there that can maybe mentor you or walk you through the steps. So I know, I think it was a year and a half ago last november i think tanner actually had said something about a few of us are thinking about doing a power lifting meet would you be interested and my response is basically yeah i mean if we got people to do this i'm on board yeah it'd be cool i don't really care i know i'm not gonna be breaking any records or doing anything completely amazing but it gives you that sense of accomplishment and something to kind of have goals for as far as training goes otherwise you're just kind of up lifting every day and hoping you're getting stronger so um that was i guess how i kind of got into it and you do it once and you know doing it

the first time it's like this is completely nerve-wracking walking out in front of a gym and lifting in front of a ton of people and knowing you could just i don't know what could go wrong but that's the thing you don't know what could go wrong and you do it once and after you do that it's like hey this is a rush this is pretty fun like this is this is good and you know now after doing this second one going into the second one this last march versus the first one it's a completely different thing whereas the first one you had all these nerves of just how does the meat go i don't know how the timing works i don't know who's gonna be i don't know how the timing works. I don't know who's going to be, I don't know anything. And to have that kind of variable taken out and knowing that you've done it before, it just makes it, I think that much more fun for sure. Yeah. I guess, uh, mine's

pretty similar. You know, the first power lifting meat I did was first one that you did as well. Before that I had, I guess my, the first strong man thing I did was at the state fair, South Dakota state fair and that was about four years ago so that kind of got me into the you know you I guess most of us or a lot of the guys that left uh they probably played some high school sports you know play football or basketball or wrestle you know a lot of that stuff and um it gets you back like you talked about that adrenaline rush or just that feeling like, oh, I'm competing in something. Like, I'm out here doing it now.

Like, you've got to perform when it's like that. And, you know, so that strongman thing, doing even just those little, you know, that little competition, it gets you back in that mindset. And then we've got a few guys that we've lifted with or that I've lifted with for a long time that have done meets before. And it's always been a thought, but it's just like, you know, people that won't don't want to do it now. If you go through that same thing that I went through where you're like, I just I don't know if I'm strong enough yet. You know, I'd rather be stronger when I do my first one. I don't want to go out there and, you know, look like a pussy. And everyone be like, geez, that guy looks big but it's not very strong you know but uh just going out there and

doing it and just like you said having all those other people doing it i think we had about six of us from uh you know our our group uh that went and did that together that just makes it so much more fun it does and i couldn't imagine now after going with a group of you know like kind of close friends it is like kind of a team thing. It feels like, you know. Yeah. Can you imagine going by yourself, just being on an island, not knowing when to go, what do you do?

Yeah. I mean, it might still be fun. Yeah. I can see competing on a national level or something. You know, it's big. You really are in the big leagues. Yeah. But, you know, in just this smaller state thing, we really are just doing it strictly

for the fun of it. Yeah. You know, you're going with your friends and it's, you kind of know what everyone's lifts are. And so, you know, when the, when a really big one is coming up for them or if it's a PR and you get just as amped for it as they do. Yeah. After, you know, lifting with so many people that have done their, done it for the first time or now maybe done a second or third meet, my advice to everyone is just that if you're thinking about even possibly wanting to do it in the future, just do one now because you learn so much just from actually doing

it that, and you get that base level set that you're like, well, I, I know I did this now, you know, maybe I'm not as strong as I wish I was, but I know that I can squat 400 pounds and bench 300 pounds and deadlift 400 pounds. And now next year, if I could just do 20 pounds more of each of those you know then you have your goal right there and something to shoot for and that's one of the things that I've I've read about lately too is they talk about you know in in power lifting and in Olympic weightlifting really in anything is that if you if you think you want to compete just compete because don't wait until you're good enough you know you don't

because part of competing and being good at competing isn't in being able to move the weight in a gym. You know, it really is in being able to move the weight in competition. And that's what they always say is, you know, don't wait until your maxes get higher. Don't wait until you are strong enough to podium or get yourself a medal. You know, get your ass out there and compete now. You know, and it's kind of the old saying, you know, a man will die for points. But it does. I believe it probably would keep you moving in your training. It'll, you know, I think that's, I think that would be really important.

And, you know, like anything else, Tanner, we had talked about this before, is that nobody, you know, nobody cares what Michael Jordan's highest scoring practice was. That's what I was just thinking about that conversation, too. You know what I mean? It's the numbers that happen in a game, in competition, when you're going against somebody. That's the stuff that counts. That's the man-making moments. That's the stuff that's important. It is funny in powerlifting, though.

Like, through social media, it almost becomes like some people are just, you know, and I'm talking, you know, as far as we're concerned, relatively famous people, that they're almost like Instagram lifters. You know, like they're doing their lifts for Instagram. Yeah. But it's still, I think there's something to be said about the competition aspect, just what you're saying. It's just different. the competition aspect, just what you're saying. It's just different. Because once you get past that social media level, when these people are competing nationally or internationally, the only numbers that count is the competition PRs are the only PRs that matter.

It's kind of interesting. But really, in any other sport, it's that way. In basketball, you don't just play basketball in your driveway. In this town we live in here, there's a huge city league basketball league here. And there's old guys playing. And they don't, I don't know, why aren't they content to just sit in their driveway and bounce a ball and shoot in the hoop? Because you should just compete, you know. That little bit of competition, I think that's what separated us from the monkeys to begin with. Yep, for sure.

So I think that's important. And I think that's an interesting thing that you guys do. Where we're at here, there really isn't a lot of competitions in this area. And I don't know that there's a lot of people outside of your gym in this area that train for competitions, are there? Not a lot. I mean, it's growing i i honest you know even with the the small size of our gym now it's without a doubt helping grow that locally you know yeah um because it like you said i mean if we weren't doing it there wouldn't be a lot of

people doing it i mean even this year at the state powerlifting meet, um, numbers were actually down for whatever reason, you know, that's another topic probably, but, um, we made up a decent percentage of the people that are competing, you know, from our tiny little gym, you know, in Aberdeen. But, uh, yeah, it's, I don't know. There's probably not, not a lot of it outside of what we're doing, but I'd like it to get more, you know, the more, the merrier it makes it that much more fun for all of us. Well, and like we talked about last episode about all about the gym and everything, you know, that's, it's one of those things where it's all, it's all growing and will grow. And I think, um, I think, I think it's,

it's headed the right direction. That's for sure. Um, yeah, it's, it's really neat, you know, that cause you go to, you go to gyms, you just go to your regular global gym and that type of stuff. And it works for a lot of people. But what I've noticed, and, you know, we talked about this last episode as well, like the key really is that you can get so far going to a gym. But you're not going to be, you're not going to really go to that next level unless you find a way to really be a part of the gym, be a part of the community, because that's where you're going to get help. People are going to pull you along, and I think that's really important. And that's what I was kind of talking about Tanner about, I think, a few days ago is, you know, I think with this, with Massanon was kind of gaining some momentum or whatever small momentum we feel like we have. I guess kind of the thing that I see that we have is we have that attitude and environment.

Yeah. I guess kind of the thing that I see that we have is we have that attitude and environment. Yeah. It just, anybody can throw some money together and set up a gym, all this. But, you know, we have adequate equipment. But really what does make it happen is all the people around. And when you get a group of kind of people with the same mindset that really are cheering each other on, want to see everyone do good. That's when you, it really is amazing in the six months we've had it,

how much we've had people progress and even people brand new to it just take a liking to it and really get something done. Right, right. Yeah, I agree completely. Yeah, you guys – absolutely. No, it's been really interesting for me kind of watching from outside

for the last little bit too, you know, because that's something that was really foreign to me to see. You know, there wasn't a lot of that going on, so I'd come across you guys on Facebook and seen some of those things. And, you know, it's just – it's real neat. You know, from CrossFit kind of introduced me to that just concept of getting strong. You know, that is the thing that CrossFit has. It's the same thing.

They do have that. Yeah, exactly. There's thousands of gyms everywhere, but what makes CrossFit so successful is the fact that it's, you know, everyone that joins it, it's like the cult thing. It's they live, breathe it, and they're all about it. Exactly. And, you know, that thing where you're not there on your own with your headphones in. Yep.

You know, it's tough to get some real work done when you're just there and you maybe don't know what you're supposed to be doing or what you should be doing. And you throw a set of earbuds in, you're definitely not encouraging anybody to help you. Right. That's for sure. Yep. So, no, it's been really interesting to watch to watch the gym grow the you know the social media presence grow and it's been um i think i think there's some pretty cool things coming up around the corner so um basically that's going to do it

for us for this episode um same as always if you need to get a hold of us you can hit us up on instagram or twitter at asinomic massonomics if not we're gonna we're gonna trademark yeah for sure we got um the next put the ass also also hit us up on facebook like the facebook page and go ahead and check out massonomics.com with an m check out our store buy yourself some sweet gear. Anything else, guys? No, that was, that's pretty good. That'll do it. You can find us, you can find us personally on Instagram. I am at Tyler F and Stone. That's Tyler E F F I N Stone. And you can find Tanner. You just have to check me out at massonomics. I got a lot of people, a lot of videos of guys lifting at the gym,

so you can kind of keep tabs on a little bit of everyone, what's going on around there. And Tommy, how do we get a hold of you on the Instagrams? Instagram, I am at Tomahawk underscore D. That's underscore D-E-E. Nice. All right. Thanks, everybody. Have a good day and stay strong.

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