Muscle for Life with Mike Matthews - How Fred Used My Work to Lose 215 Pounds and Turn His Life Around

Episode Date: November 27, 2019

In this episode, I interview Fred, who used my work to help radically transform his life and literally save his life. Fred originally got in touch through one of my Live Q&As on Instagram, and after hearing his story, I decided he’d make a great guest. Why? Before finding my work, Fred was 415 pounds, and dying. That sounds dramatic, but the truth is he had a heart attack, his kidneys were failing, and his doctors suggested he say his goodbyes to friends and loved ones. This was enough to make Fred take stock of his situation and decide to make a change. He started going to the gym. And he lost some weight. Then he found my site, which helped him lose over 200 pounds. Now Fred is a fitness coach himself, paying it forward and inspiring others, showing through example that anyone can improve their health, fitness, and longevity, no matter how bad their situation may seem. In this interview, Fred and I discuss his story, how he ended up in the hospital, how he started getting healthier, how he refused to make excuses, and what it takes to completely change your life. So if you’re looking for a jolt of inspiration and like motivational stories, I highly recommend you listen to this episode. 5:14 - What were your numbers before and after finding Legion? 7:00 - What was your diet and fitness like 7 years ago? 29:05 - How do you free up time to maximize other tasks? 34:51 - What motivated you to lose weight? 58:00 - What are your plans for the future? --- Mentioned on The Show: Click Here to Shop Legion’s Black Friday Sale and Save Up to 30%!: https://legionathletics.com/shop/ Fredrick's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/frederick_b_henderson/ --- Want to get my best advice on how to gain muscle and strength and lose fat faster? Sign up for my free newsletter! Click here: https://www.legionathletics.com/signup/

If you like what I'm doing here on the podcast and elsewhere, and if you want to help me do more of it, if you want to help me help more people get into the best shape of their lives too, please do consider supporting my sports nutrition company, Legion Athletics, which is currently holding its biggest sale of the year for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Now that means that for the next few days, you can save up to 30% on everything in our store over at www.legionathletics.com. That's L-E-G-I-O-N athletics.com, including our protein powders and our protein bars, our famous pre-workout supplement pulse, and our post-workout supplement recharge, our fat burners, our multivitamins, joint support fish oil, and more. And as you'll see when you head over to the website, everything in the store is currently marked down 5% to 15%. And when you enter the code BRIDAY19, numerals 19, at checkout, you'll save another 15%. And even better, if you're in the United States, your order is going to ship free.

And if you're not in the United States, your order is going to ship free if it is over $99. So again, if you appreciate my work and if you want to see more of it, please do support me so I can keep doing what I love, like producing more podcasts like this. To shop and save now, head over to www.legionathletics.com, L-E-G-I-O-N athletics.com and use the code FRIDAY19, numerals one nine at checkout, and you'll save up to 30% on your entire order. Hello, hello, and welcome to episode, what is this? This is episode 491 of Muscle for Life. I'm Mike Matthews, and this time around, I interview Fred, who is a dude who used my work to radically transform his life and literally save his life. Fred originally

got in touch with me through one of my live Q&As that I do every once in a while on Instagram, and that I plan on doing more frequently, even if they're shorter. I figured I could probably even do 15 minutes at a time and maybe even get one done every day. So if that sounds interesting to you, make sure to follow me on Instagram, Muscle For Life Fitness. Anyway, so Fred, he reached out to me during one of these live Q&As. And after hearing his story, I thought he would make a good guest for the success story type of episodes that I do here on the podcast. And the reason is before finding me in my work, Fred weighed 415 pounds and was dying. And that might sound dramatic, but that's the truth. Fred had had a heart attack, his kidneys were failing, and his doctors actually told him that it was probably

time to say goodbye to friends and loved ones. And that was enough to make Fred really take stock of his situation and really decide conclusively to make a change. He started going to the gym and he lost a little bit of weight, but then he found my work and things really kicked into high gear. And he went on to lose over 200 pounds and get into the best shape of his life. And Fred's also now a fitness coach himself. That's how he's paying it forward, and he's inspiring others, showing through example that anyone can improve their health, improve their fitness, improve their longevity, and even get into the best shape of their lives, no matter how bad their situation may seem currently. And in this

interview, Fred and I discuss his story and how he ended up in the hospital and how he started to get healthier and how he learned to refuse to make excuses, especially the excuses he used to make and the excuses that almost killed him. And also Fred's thoughts on what it really takes to completely change your body and change your life. So if you would like a jolt of inspiration and motivation, if you like hearing stories of how other people have made dramatic, positive changes in their lives and how you can too, then this episode's for you. Frederick, thanks for taking the time to come on my show and share your story thank you man thanks for having me man I appreciate it yeah yeah it's kind of funny how this happened right so I was just doing a for people listening I was doing an Instagram live where I've done them previously

as Q&A's where I've asked people to put questions in chat and I would just grab random questions and answer them and I did it differently this. I was telling people to join the live so you can request to join the live. And then it just goes split screen. So I was just telling people like, Hey, maybe this will be more fun. At least this would be even more interactive. So if you have any questions or anything you just want to say or whatever, just request to join. And I'll just, you know, first come first serve where it was requests pop up. I'll accept them basically. And Frederick, you requested to join and then we were talking and I'll just, you know, first come first serve. Where it was requests pop up, I'll accept them basically. And Frederick, you requested to join and then we were talking and you were just sharing your story and I thought it would be a great story to share on the podcast.

So here we are. Why don't we start with where you're at now versus where you were at before you started down the path you're currently on? Right now, just going to share my weight with you guys. I'm about 213 pounds right now. Currently, I am a personal trainer and a nutrition coach. As far as dieting, just to keep it simple, like a basic 40-40-20 diet at the moment. Sometimes I switch between ketogenic dieting and standard dieting. It all depends on how I feel. Working out about five, six times a week, as I said, personal training, sharing my knowledge with everybody on Instagram and Facebook.

I guess you can say I'm an influencer. I'm currently sponsored by Ambrosia, Mike Rashid. So I work with them pretty closely. And that's pretty much it. As far as the after, people probably just want to hear the before. I think it's good to hear the after first. So then there's some context. Absolutely. In regards to, like I said, fitness, it's just something that it's so much more than muscles.

I always tell people muscles are just a byproduct of fitness. I'm just living a blessed life, extremely healthy. Things are fantastic. I mean, fitness really put a clarity on my life that I never thought could do. I always thought it was just having a six pack or having big arms or a big chest, but fitness changes everything in your life. It makes people treat you differently. People interact with you differently. You treat your family differently. I have three daughters. So just the ability for me to be able to get up and run around with my daughters all day during the summer or when they come home from school to do homework and have energy and just to

be able to spread the word of fitness. It's truly, it's a blessing. It's an absolute blessing. You're one of the people that I definitely influenced me in regards to getting into fitness amongst several others. Yeah. I mean, I agree with everything that you've said, of course. And so let's rewind though. So where were you, I guess it was what, six or seven years ago before you started? Yeah, about, I'd say about roughly about four or five years ago. I'll go ahead and break it down. I'd say about roughly about four or five years ago. I'll go ahead and break it down. So this was about second week of July. I was in my home on about a Monday and I wasn't feeling too well. I thought I had the flu. I couldn't get up from my bedroom. I couldn't make it from my bedroom to my kitchen. At this time, I was about 415 pounds, having trouble moving around. So by a

day or two went by and luckily my mother called me and she's checking in on me. How are you feeling? I said, I'm not doing too well, mom. She said, well, I'm gonna keep checking in on you. And she said, it was a Wednesday. She said, I'm gonna give you till Sunday. She said, if you're not feeling better on Sunday, I'm coming and I'm taking you to the hospital. So I know whatever, I'm not going to the hospital. So she calls me on Sunday, Sunday morning. She asked me how I'm feeling. I say, I'm still feeling the same, you know, feel terrible. So this, you know, this flu bug really got me. So about hour later, my doorbell rings and it's her. She says, get up. We're going to the hospital. So, you know, you know how it is. You know, when moms say something, you go ahead and you do it. So I got up, put my clothes on, and we went to the hospital. I walked into the emergency room. And lo and behold, I walked in. It was a full emergency room. And the nurse seen me walk in and he says, you to the back now. And I said, wait, what? What do you mean? And so were my wrists. My wrists and my ankles, it was retaining so much water. I mean, it looked like a cartoon. So they took me to the back,

put me on a magnesium potassium drip. And the doctor came in and he said, Mr. Henderson, you had a heart attack. And I said, wait, I had a what? He goes, yeah, you had a heart attack. So the way it looks, it looked like you had a heart attack a couple of days ago. So they run some tests and they come back. And for all my nurses or doctors out there, they have stat, it's called a heart infraction. I guess the average heart infraction is about 60 or 70. Mine was four. My doctor very strategically told me, he said, Mr. Henderson, we're not too sure you're going to make it out of here. He said, maybe you should contact your friends and your family and let them know. At the moment, my best friend Keith was there with me. I told him, I said, Keith, I need you to do me a favor. He goes, man, I'll do anything for you. I said,

I know you're not a religious person, man, but I need you to pray with me, brother. He said, all right, let's do it. So we prayed. I said, if you let me make it out of here, I promise you, I'll make a change. I'll make some changes in my life and I'll get some things done. Honestly, I had about 200 people show up to the hospital and they all came in one by one. And we honestly, we said our goodbyes to my family, my friends, the actual doctors, they thought it was my church. It was so many people, but yeah, I said my goodbyes to everyone. And I was in the hospital from that Sunday until July 25th. I remember that because that's one of my best friend's birthdays. I got out of that hospital

July 25th and my mom was driving me home. We stopped at CVS. And mind you, I had no idea about fitness, of course. I always had an office job, desk job for over 10 years. So we stopped at CVS. And the only thing I knew was Gatorade. I said, well, Gatorade, I know the commercials say it replenishes things. So I got a Gatorade, got back in that car and we stopped at Subway and I got a Subway sandwich and I went back home. I ate that sandwich and I drank that Gatorade in my room. And I told my family, I said, I'm going to the gym. And they said, you can't go to the gym. You just got out the hospital. Now, mind you, I wasn't allowed to drive. So I asked my family for a ride to the gym and they said, no.'t go to the gym. You just got out the hospital. Now, mind you, I wasn't allowed to drive. So I asked my family for a ride to the gym and they said no.

So I went on the internet. I looked up the two buses that can get me to the gym that I knew about. And that's what I did. I remember so clearly. I caught the 33 bus to the 54 bus and it dropped me off in front of a little rinky dink local gym that we have here. It's called Fitness 19. And I got on my fitness journey from there. Every single time when that hour long bus ride, I would go on Google and I would go on YouTube. And that's how I discovered Legion. At the time,

you guys had an athlete, Sholly Coker. So I would watch Sholly's videos, all those guys, CT Fletcher, you, Mike Rashidi, Shantor Bhatti, Christian Guzman. I mean, the list goes on. I would watch them all. And I would just watch and I would write things down. And people on the bus would look at me like I was insane. I would write things down. I'm telling you, I had the biggest notebook. I would just write stuff down, write stuff down. And I would study and study and study. Now, mind you, I live in California and I live in the desert. Now, I told you, I got out of the hospital July 25th. Now, if anybody's familiar with the California desert, yes, it gets 110, 115 up here. And I caught the bus in that weather every single day,

sometimes twice a day. I was focused. I had too many things to see. That's what I always told myself. I said, you have a lot of things that you need to see. You taking advantage of food or abusing food. People always ask me what motivated me. I said, you know what my biggest motivation was? I didn't want my nieces and my nephews to have to bury their uncle. And I didn't want my mom to have to bury her son. That was really, really important to me. And I always say this, and I say it to this day, I'd say, I don't want people to have to bury. And I always say this, and I say this to this day, I'd say, I don't want people to have to bury me because I like cheeseburgers. I mean, it's a very straightforward, stark, but truthful, just kind of facing things the way they are. Cause that's the reality, right? That's where you were at.

Absolutely. And you can try to spin it and you could have, you could have tried to spin it and you could have, for example, spun off into body positivity nonsense, which is not that I completely disagree with all of the ideas. You know, if we're talking about somebody who is otherwise healthy, but they don't look like, you know, a fitness model, should they get down on themselves? No, I totally agree with it in that context, but to try to take that idea and apply it to your situation might've ended up killing you. Yeah, absolutely. It sounds like it almost certainly would have actually, if you would have just been like,

well, I should just love myself the way I am. This is just who I am. I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing. There's a fair chance you wouldn't be here right now. Absolutely. And I always tell this to my clients also, and the people in general. Say if we were taking a trip, if I was going to drive from California to Washington, when we do that, we make sure our car has gas. We check our car to the very tip top last detail. We make sure it has gasoline. We make sure it has oil. We make sure it has all the way down to the window washer fluid. We make sure the- Make sure the tires are not stripped.

We do that. And these are things that are essential for our vehicles to work. But you know what's sad? We don't take that same responsibility with our bodies. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not being preachy because I was there also, but I didn't have anyone to share that information with me. So I'm sharing this information with everyone else. We take all those precautions with our vehicles, right? We don't take these same precautions with our bodies. Okay. Our bodies, they're vitamins that our body needs. They're essential. And we don't give them those things. And we wonder why we're passing early. We're wondering why we're suffering from heart disease, diabetes. Unfortunately, one of my best friends, he lost his mother to diabetes last year. My mother suffers from diabetes.

My grandmother passed from diabetes. My close cousin just had a stroke about 11 months ago. So these things are really, really, and these are people that I've warned. I've warned. I told them, I said, use my story. You've seen it up close and personal. So use my story as a precautionary tale, because I always tell people, there's a couple of things. Let me tell you something.

Heart disease, diabetes, these are the Rocky Marciano's of diseases, okay? And what I mean by that, Rocky Marciano was a boxer and he was undefeated. He never lost. So you better believe these things are undefeated. These things, you can't negotiate with them. You can't buy your way out of them. And you certainly can't bullshit your way out of them. You can tell yourself whatever you want. You can believe whatever you want to believe, but you can't make reality whatever you want it to be without working at it, having a plan.

That's just how it works. It astounds me. Some of the, and yeah, I do. I call them excuses. Some of the excuses that I hear. My favorite one is I don't have time. I love that one. I don't have time. And you're talking to a man that my friends can vouch. They can put, you can put them on here and they can tell the exact same story. I caught the bus. I got my butt on the bus. Couldn't drive. Sometimes I caught two buses, three buses. It all depended. I was just focused and I was determined and I had a goal. And the one thing I always suggest for people

is to find your why. It needs to be a good why. It needs to be something bigger than I want to have big arms or I want to have a big chest. You need to find your why, why you're doing it. What's truly, truly inspiring you to do these things? Because once I found my why, I developed tunnel vision and I was almost obsessed with not getting in shape, but 90 days. And from where I started, I remember talking to my doctor post heart attack, going to see my new doctor for the first time. And she was asking me what my diet was like. And I was explaining it to her. And the look on her face was just, she was just astounded. She was, you can see it in her eyes. She was just looking at me like, how can you eat that? So then she asked me, she goes, well, what vegetables do you eat? And I said, I don't eat vegetables. And this is one of the aha moments that I had. She looked me right in the eye and her name is Dr. McKinney. And I'm,

thank God for every day. She looked me right in my eye and she said, what kind of grown man doesn't eat vegetables? And when she said that to me, I'm like, shit, what kind of grown man don't eat vegetables? You know, like, you know, get it together, man. What are you doing? That's one of those things that only a woman can deliver with enough bite to it. You know what I mean? Like a guy says, yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever.

But when a woman says it, it just cuts deep. When she told me that, I was just like, man, you are absolutely right. So she told me, she said, you have two choices. You know choice number one, which a lot of people choose, is they just choose to literalize the same. And I don't see them in 90 days because they're dead. So I went back 90 days later and I was about 35, 40 pounds down. Like I said, this was years ago. She always told me, she said, Frederick, you need to share your story. And I was always telling her, I said, Dr. McKinney, nobody wants to hear my story. Nobody cares. So then I would go another 90 days and I'd be down another 50 pounds. And she would tell me again, Frederick, please, you're doing the world a

disservice by not sharing the story. I got about 120 pounds down and became 150. And then after that, she told me, she said, look, if you don't share this story, you're going to have a problem with me. What kind of man doesn't share his story, Frederick? Come on. Yeah. She's like, come on, get it together. People need to hear this. You're a walking inspiration. You're a walking testimony that can be done. We're talking about a man that was told he wasn't going to live. We're talking about a man that was told that I needed to be put on a heart transplant list. That's what they told me. They said, I need a transplant. You're talking about a man they told was a couple months away from dialysis because my kidneys were failing. When I went to the doctor and my doctor told me, we're taking you off that list. And they

told me, you don't have to do dialysis anymore. And I'm like, what? And they're like, yeah. I can name all my medicine easily. Furosemide, aspirinolactone, amlodipine, potassium. What else was I taking? Is there anything else? I believe that's it. Oh, Carvetalol. I was taking all that stuff when I got out the hospital. And I remember, like it's yesterday when I went in that hospital and my doctor looked me in the eye and she said, we're taking you off for everything. You don't need it. You don't need it. She said, you worked your butt off and you don't need it. Your heart is, you're a miracle. Your heart is fine. And she's like, go live your life. And I was like, what? Are you kidding me? This is the benefit of health? You know, I'm thinking it was I thought it was muscles and abs and a six pack and being able to take your shirt off at the beach. And that's what I thought it was. I always tell people I have the benefit of experience, but I also have the knowledge also. So I got the education on it, I reach my phone so fast and I show them that old 400 pound picture of me. It's up to you if you want to do it or not. You make the time, you get the drive, you make it happen if it's important to you. Because I tell people also,

fitness isn't for everybody. This isn't for everyone. I see people in the gym all the time. I mean, you know, you're a trainer. You see people in the gym and God bless them. They go to the gym and you've seen them there for a year and they look exactly the same. That's not going to cut it. I mean, we commend them on going to do it, but that's not going to cut it. You want to do it optimally. I always tell people, you know, we all have the basic skills to make a steak, but let me tell you something. When Mike Matthews makes a fitness steak, it comes out way better than yours. Who knows? We might have some true steak connoisseurs listening. They could out-steak me easily.

Yeah, absolutely. Like my girlfriend always says, she goes, all you guys got the same recipe. She goes, but Fred, you got, your sauce tastes different. You know, it's the same recipe. We're all putting in the same ingredients, but guess what? I know how to do a dash here and a pinch here. And you know, it's just a different kind of sauce. So yeah, the devil's in the details as they say. Absolutely. Yeah. Just on that point of time, I have that in, it's actually in the Q&A section in my books for men and women, bigger than you're stronger and thin than you're stronger. And the question is along the lines of like, I don't have time to exercise or I can't find time to exercise. What should I do? My answer is along the lines of, I don't know anybody who can just find time to exercise. I've never had anyone come to me and say, Hey, so Mike, look, I have way too much free

time. Like literally have more or less nothing to do. So I was thinking, I'll just go hang out in the gym a couple hours a day. What should I do? You know, it's always the opposite. Most people live hectic lives and most people, they don't have time for anything new. It really comes down to priorities. It comes down to analyzing in detail how they're spending their time. Literally every waking minute, sometimes I've told people to keep a log, keep a log of how they're spending their time, specifically when they're waking up, what do they do next, what do they do next, just run through that and then look and see, because almost everybody can figure out some pocket. Like it might mean for some people, it just means watching less TV or spending less time on the computer or just

dirtling around on social media. For many people, that's actually all it takes. And they go, all right, it might mean watching no TV. Maybe that's just a weekend's thing, or maybe that's a non training day thing. So somebody goes, all right, fine. I'll drop out the TV three days a week so I can go to the gym. Easy solved. In other cases, there have been couples, right? Who were, both people are very busy and kids are involved, which makes it trickier. It makes everything trickier, but so they work out like, okay, so the husband's going to watch the kids on these days during these times. So the wife can go do her workouts and then she's going to reciprocate and they're going to flip flop like that. It's just a matter of

making it work, figuring out how to make it work. And that really comes down to just priority, right? How important is it? And everybody makes time for the things they want to do. So that really just comes down to how much do you want to do it? And I don't say, oh, I don't have time for that, right? I don't have time to do regardless of what we're talking about. And just intentionally, because I don't believe in the concept, what I'll say is I don't want to make time for that right now, because that's actually the truth. So whether it's like having more of a social life and spending more time with, it wouldn't necessarily just be friends, but also I'm a member of a group called YPO, for example, it's like a business

association type group. And I'm not very active in the chapter and why I could say I don't have time for it, but that's not true. It's that it's not as important to me as mostly my work and my family. That's where I am putting my time, but we all put our time consciously. You know, we all have the same amount of time, more or less. Some of us might need a little more or less sleep than the other, but we more or less have the same amount of waking hours and we just choose to use them the way that we use them. For me personally, and this is not only because it's my job now, but it would be the same thing. Even if I wasn't in the fitness industry, exercise would be exercise and probably good sleep hygiene would be at the top of my list. And they would be things that I would be unwilling to compromise on. I mean, if you need to here and

there, that's fine. If you got to skip a workout because of circumstances, or you got to get a little bit less sleep because whatever, but I'm just saying in general, I wouldn't be willing to trade the time allotted to, you know, I wouldn't need that much. If I had to pare it down, I'd probably say at least three or four hours of exercise per week and shooting for seven to eight hours of sleep per night, at least being in bed for eight hours or so is like what I go for now. And I would only compromise those things if it really meant something more important needed to happen. And that meant that the smart thing to do is skip the workout, do it tomorrow, put the fire out now, or I don't know, take the early flight for the business meeting, even if you might sleep a little less, whatever. You can, of course, you don't have to be rigid and completely inflexible, but that would rather spend time otherwise

with my wife or if it's just me, I'd rather read or maybe watch something interesting on YouTube. I like to watch interviews and informational videos and I'm getting back into golf. So maybe I'd watch some golf instructional videos or whatever. But also, TV seems to mess with my sleep reliably. If I watch, even if it's just 45 minutes, 30, 45 minutes, like one episode of a show before going to bed, there's a fair chance I'm not going to sleep as well. And I've tried it a number of times to where I was just like, okay, so that's it. And that's, again, a matter of priority for me. It is getting enough sleep is much more important to me than staying up to date with the never-ending flood of TV shows and movies to watch.

Yeah, I hear you. Along those lines, I used to be a huge TV watcher. I mean, I thought, I remember some of those conversations, people like, can you go without TV? And I was like, no way. There's no way. And over the last two years, three years, I might, and I'm being a hundred percent honest, I might watch maybe three shows a week. I'm always finding myself doing something that involves some kind of physical activity. If it's taking my daughter somewhere, you know, along those lines. And in regards to what you said about the, just to retouch on the too busy thing, I do this a lot too. I always tell people when they say they're too busy, I always tell them, I say, maybe this fitness thing isn't for you.

And I'd say, it's okay, but you got to be honest with me. You got to be honest and you got to say, I don't want to do it. Don't ask me for fitness advice and then tell me you can't make time to go to the gym because you can. And I always use this analogy with people. I say, if someone called you right now on the phone and said, you have to drive 90 minutes, you're going to drive, but you're going to get a million dollars cash guaranteed. I said, I don't care what you're doing. You're going to find a way to make it. If your kids are with you, you're going to find a babysitter. If you're at work, you're going to find a way to leave work. You're going to find a way. If it was guaranteed, because that measures the importance to you.

It's just not important enough to you. That's all. I mean, they would do it for, you get to flip a coin. Heads is a million dollars, tails is you get to go home with nothing. Even that, all of us would find a way to get there. Absolutely. So I always tell people, it's hard. I have empathy because I've always been in that field. I've been in that field to have empathy. I always have empathy, but I don't have any empathy for excuses. None. And I won't.

My girlfriend is self-employed. I'm self-employed. We have three daughters. Our careers take up our whole day, but we always make it to the gym. I'm 215 pounds down. My girlfriend is 97 pounds down. So, I mean, there's no excuses in this house. We don't make excuses. That's another thing too. We have daughters, four, six, and eight. The last thing I can ever see myself doing is looking them in the

eye and telling them that they don't have time for something that they believe in. If you can't make time for something you believe in, then what in the world can you make time for? Netflix, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter. Exactly. I always tell people this. So I've been taking my fitness journey, documenting my fitness journey with my Instagram for about four to five months now. I've literally went from 300 followers to almost 3,000 followers in four months. So the thing that's strange for me is the fact that I'm considered a social media influencer. So for me to have that phone in my hand as often as I need it to be, that phone in my hand as often as I need it to be, it still doesn't sit right with me. I limit my time on it. And yeah, that means that I limit the amount of followers that I get and it limits the value of it from a business perspective. But I'm okay with that because

if I put too much time into, let's say it's Instagram, or I really want to grow my Instagram. If I put too much time into that, that means that the book that I'm working on, which is the second edition, a new second edition of Beyond Bigger, Leaner, Stronger, it would take a lot longer to get it done. And it would mean that I may not be able to record as many podcasts. And it would mean that I wouldn't be able to write as many articles. And I may not be able to be as involved in other aspects of Legion, just behind the scenes and helping it grow. So again, it just goes back to its priorities and having to look at, now, would it be fun? Maybe, maybe it would be fun to, because it's easy, right? It would be easier than all the other stuff I've just mentioned. That work is harder in that, I mean, I don't think anybody would argue that it's harder to write a book than it is to build an Instagram following. So there could be that type of appeal where it would be more fun. It'd be easier to just sit on Instagram and have that also as a, it's very quantifiable. You get immediate feedback. So it feels good.

You gain followers. That number changes every day. And you dive into the analytics and you can see all your engagement. There are a lot of ways for you to feel good about yourself. But how much would it contribute to the overall big picture and what I'm really going after? Like, why am I doing this? And it would be a mistake. That would be a silly way to prioritize my time. So I know what you mean. Absolutely. The only thing that right when I'm thinking about slowing down on Instagram or slowing down talking about my journey, I'll get that one DM.

I got a DM about two weeks ago. This gentleman sent me a picture of himself on his hospital bed and he had tubes everywhere. He had a heart attack and he had, I believe he had quadruple bypass heart surgery. And he told me, of course, you know, it's difficult, you know, if you have X amount of followers to engage with every single one. But he told me, he said, man, I've been following you for years, man. He said, I remember what you looked like when you first started. I was here. He said, man, you inspired me, man. He said, man, I lost 150 pounds because of you. And I said, man, I messaged him back. I said, I mean, he wrote me a book, but I messaged him back. I said,

this is why I do it. You reinforce the reason why I do this, man. You really do. And man, fitness is, who knew? I mean, I wish, man, some people wish they can go back in time and man, I wish I can go back in time and start this fitness journey when I was 15, 16, just to let people know how, when people hear me talk about it, I always say, I make it sound like poetry. I'll go because it is, it's beautiful. The way you feel and when you understand how the body is fueled off of certain things and certain vitamins and minerals and protein and, you know, macronutrients, micronutrients, and, you know, the beta alanine, the arginine, things like that. You know, like I almost, man, I turned over some of those Legion

containers, man, pulse. And I looked on the back and looked at the ingredients and Googled so many ingredients, man. I did it all, man. And it's like, I always tell people, be careful when you ask me something about fitness, because I'll talk to you all day. I'll go all day. I tell people, if we're in the gym, let me tell you something, it drives my girlfriend crazy when we go to the gym, because I know how it's been on my journey. So when people stop and ask me questions, I sit there and I talk to them. We talk for 20, 30 minutes because I've been there. It's funny to me when people are like, oh, I need to lose 60 pounds. I don't know what to do. I said, well, look at this. I lost 215. So yeah, you can do it. And if you want to learn how to do it,

if you're really passionate about it and you really want to get it done, then let's do it. Let's make it happen because it can be done. You know, fitness, one of the main things fitness taught me is there's no ceiling. There really is no ceiling. And my favorite thing about fitness, and I tell people this every day, in my eyes, it's the only thing in the world where you go into the gym and you can see yourself improve every day from data. You know, it's not, am I improving? I wonder if I'm improving. I wonder if I'm getting better. Am I getting better? No. It's one week you're lifting 40s and the next week you're lifting 45. Then the next week you're lifting 55. If people are looking for social media for instant gratification, go to the gym and get some instant gratification. Like I said, it benefits in every

aspect of life, man. Really, your confidence goes through the roof. Everybody looks at you different. You become an alpha. You really do. You really become an alpha. You develop this uncanny ability to teach and to be humble. I do martial arts also. That's another thing too, martial arts and fitness, it all coincides together because when you know you have the ability to do something, when you know in your heart that you truly possess the ability, you have no want to floss that ability. You're fine knowing that you know you know how to do it. You don't care if anybody else knows you know how to do it. It's not even a concern to you. If someone wanted to pick a fight with me, I've been doing

judo and jujitsu, kickboxing, Aikido. I've been doing it for years. The simple fact that I know what I'm capable of makes me not want to display it. It's the same thing with fitness. I understand these bodybuilding shows and why they get so hype about it because it really is. It's like Picasso or Van Gogh. It's beautiful. It's beauty. It's like a symphony watching it, the sacrifices and the discipline that these people have. And in regards to that, because like I said, I'll run my mouth all day. But in regards to that, people always ask me, they go, what motivated you to lose weight? And I always tell them, you know what? When I looked at Mike Rashid, CT Fletcher, when I looked at you, you guys didn't motivate me. You guys inspired me.

I always tell, I had the motivation. You have to motivate yourselves because I can't come to your house and make you get up at eight o'clock in the morning and go work out. Now I could, but you're not going to like me for it. But if you're motivated, you get your butt up and you go do it. And you use me for inspiration while you're there. Yeah. Like you were saying earlier, it just comes down to why, right? I have a chapter, again, in shameless plug of my books, and it's finding your biggest fitness whys.

It's part of like the inner game section on the book. And I go over that and kind of break it down into a few different ways of looking at it, right? So, you have the looks and that's totally fine. You want to look a certain way. We all want to look good. There's nothing wrong with that. It's not vain in a negative sense at least to say, hey, yeah, I would like to have abs and I would like to be muscular and fit. And I would like to be muscular and fit. And at least part of the reason, sure, there's a lot more that comes with being fit, a lot of other benefits. But a major reason why all of us keep doing it is because we've come to at least like the way that we look when we're in shape and want to maintain it. And that's totally normal.

Nothing wrong with that. But then there's how your body feels, right? So, this is kind of one of the many hidden benefits, I think, of fitness is just a fit, healthy body is just more pleasurable to inhabit than an unfit, unhealthy one, right? So, you know, you can look at that in terms of how it feels physically and mentally, emotionally, even spiritually, depending on your beliefs in that realm. And so, in the book, kind of go into finding some whys related to that. And there's also makes me think of the thing that came from Toyota. It was like the five whys of getting really to a deep answer of where you ask yourself, why, right? Why am I doing this? And then asking yourself, well, why does that matter? And why does that matter? And why does that matter? And reducing it down to something that is almost visceral, something that is related to deep-seated emotions

or even your identity is something that inspires you, something that makes you feel like you want to get up right now and start doing it. That's what we're going for. It's not something that you go, yeah, I guess that would be nice. No, you have to find that why. And it's a simple statement. I mean, it could be simply setting a good example for their kids, right? Specific, meaningful, something personal, or maybe it's being more productive at work, right? And maybe some people need to go deeper than that. Again, this is a very just kind of personal subjective process, but it's finding the things, and it can be more than one thing, of course, as well. And finding the things, again, that excite you, that make you feel like you're coming alive. That's what

we're going for. Hey, before we continue, if you like what I'm doing here on the podcast and elsewhere, and if you want to help me help more people get into the best shape of their lives, please consider checking out my VIP one-on-one coaching service. Now, my team and I have helped thousands of people of all ages, circumstances, and needs. So no matter how complicated or maybe even hopeless you might think your situation is, we will figure out how to get you the results you want. Every diet and training program we create is 100% custom. We provide daily workout logs and we do weekly accountability calls. Our clients get priority email service as well as discounts on supplements and the list goes on and on. To learn more, just head over to

legionathletics.com slash coaching. And if you like what you see, schedule your free consultation call. Now there's normally a wait list to work with our coaches and new slots do fill up very quickly. So if this sounds even remotely interesting to you, head over to legionathletics.com slash coaching now and schedule your free consultation call. And let's see if our program is a good fit for you. I just talked to someone yesterday about that while I was at the gym. He's a younger kid. And he said, man, I haven't cheated on my diet in two months. And I said, man, that's great. And he said, man, I've never been able to do it before.

I said, do what? He said, not cheat on my diet every once in a while. He said, I was at work and it was a bunch of donuts. And I went and opened the donuts and I couldn't bring myself to do it. And he said, I don't know why. I said, because you found your why. And he goes, what? You found your why. You know why you're doing it. It's bigger than muscles. It's bigger than abs. I said, you've ascended. Your mind's ascended to a whole nother area. You're so focused where you refuse to let anybody stop you. It's like playing

sports and being in the zone. I tell them, you're just in the zone. You can't be stopped. Also, I tell people, I'm 40 years old. I got into fitness when I was 36, 37. People tell me all the time, I'm 40. People think, I always ask people, guess my age. It's like 31, 32. I said, no, I'm 40. I'll be 41 this year. And I wake up every morning, 5 a.m., no alarm clock. I get out of bed. I have no joint pain, nothing. My back doesn't hurt. I know people in their early 30s, mid 20s, you know, that have joint pain, their backs hurt and this, that, and the other. And I don't have any pain. I have zero pain at all. I'm taking my daughters to go see the Lion King tonight. We're going to hang out and, you know, we're going to just enjoy it. We've been enjoying ourselves all summer, going to the lake and this, that, and the other. It's so much more, man. I mean, and I tell people all the time also, I say, look, I don't care if you let me coach you, you let me train you. I don't care if you let me do it. I don't care if you let somebody else do

it. Just do it. Just go do it and change your life. Change your whole perspective on life. Because there's so many things out there that they have no idea about. And I'm reminded of that every day when I get, and I'm sure you are also, when sometimes people send you the simplest questions where it's questions you can answer in two seconds and you're still wondering why people have these questions. I have people still to this day, random people will message me, will I get fat if I eat after 6 p.m.? And I'm thinking in my head like, wow, people really think that. And I always tell them, do you think your body knows what time it is? The simplest questions, man, that people want to know.

What happens if you go hop on a plane and flood Tokyo, then what? Yeah, seriously. Like does your circadian rhythm keep up there? And then the fat storage time is, does it shift as well? Or does it have jet lag or? Or the whole, the carbohydrate, oh gosh. I mean, I mean, God bless these people. And like I said, I do my best to help people and I do it because like I said, I was there. So, I say this from the most humbling of places, but this whole carbohydrate kick is like carbs are just like the, I don't even, you know what, carbs just make you fat. Like, I don't even know when this, I have no idea. I mean, now it goes beyond that. It's that carbs are just killing you actually.

Yeah. Like I'm just like, wow, like really? And you know, but this is the best rebuttal that I have is because of my, me having that heart attack years ago, I have to get blood work done every 90 days. So I love to try new diets. And then when I tell people about a certain diet, you know, I said, well, I'm on a high carbohydrate diet and they go, oh, that's going to jack up your insulin. And I go to the doctor and I go bring on my blood work and it's perfect. Yeah. Your fasting glucose is exactly where it should be. And yeah, it's perfect. And they're like, wait, what? And I go, I'll debate over things that need to be debated, but I'm not going to debate over anything where data can be provided. We'll just look at the data and we'll

stop it from there. There's no point in having a discussion once the data hits, it's fine. And we'll stop it from there. There's no point in having a discussion once the data hits. It's fine. I mean, that's the power of exercise, the power of being fit. It is the number one thing you can do for your body in terms of just health, longevity, overall well-being is exercising regularly. And that's where healthy at any size, there's some truth in that. It's not entirely true. There is a point where it's unhealthy, where it's unhealthy to be too fat.

But if, let's say you're a woman and you're 25% body fat, which maybe by Instagram standards is like unacceptable, right? Can you be healthy at that? Absolutely. You'd be healthy probably at 30% body fat if you are exercising regularly and probably doing a couple other things right now. There is a point where it becomes unhealthy, of course, but my point is just that the power of exercise, it's hard to overstate it in terms of how much it benefits our bodies. Our bodies were not meant to be sedentary. They just weren't. We evolved the way we evolved.

meant to be sedentary. They just weren't. We evolved the way we evolved. And if we want to maintain optimal health, we have to do some kind of exercise. And you can't use diet as a substitute for that. You can't not exercise. Think that you can just not exercise and eat well, and you'll be okay. You may be okay, but you're not going to be as okay as if you were exercising and not eating so well. That's something that I've spoken and written about. And there is some research that I've discussed that I wouldn't say is direct evidence of that, but it's like circumstantial evidence of that, that even if your diet is not optimal, and that means that you're not eating

maybe as many nutritious foods as you're supposed to, your macronutrients are maybe a bit wonky. If you are exercising regularly, and if the exercise is intense enough, you can be perfectly healthy. You go to the doctor, you get blood work done, they would be like, wow, you are in perfect health. And that's the power of exercise. Like I said, even along those lines. So about three days ago, my aunt, I got a call from my cousin because my aunt was having chest pain. She went in the hospital three days ago. They found out that she had a blockage. So I just continue because if I have to tell every story that I know about, and I will

because I continue this to let people know that, like I said, these diseases, they are undefeated, man., they are undefeated, man. And they are taking people away, unfortunately. And literally it's because we have these unhealthy relationships with food. And that was one of the things I battled with also when I, before I got into fitness, we celebrate with food. You get a promotion, we go have dinner. Kid has a bad day, gets bullied in school. we take him to get ice cream. Be careful of the habit. I'm not saying you can't do those things, of course, because that's ridiculous, but be careful of the messages that we communicate to each other, especially with kids, because

kids don't have much of an idea why something is happening or why we're doing it with that as a reward. So develop these habits. Let's just develop better habits. Let's communicate with each other. If people have any questions, man, reach out to anyone in your local gym or someone you know that works out, somebody online, reach out, man, if you have any questions. Because like I said, man, the last thing I want is for somebody to experience what I experienced, man, with heart thing I want is for somebody to experience what I experienced, man, with heart disease and kidney failure and things like that. Oh man, you don't want to go through that, man. Especially males, man. Guys, those kidney stones and stuff. Oh man, let me

tell you something. I've had some nights, man, where I'd be in bed and my kidneys, I'm talking about, when you talk about pain, a one to 10, the pain was a- Yeah, I've heard that gallstones, kidney stones are excruciating. Oh my gosh. Oh, let me tell you something. It is, you do not, oh my goodness. Not even, you know, people say not their worst enemy. I am serious.

Not on my worst enemy. You do not want those things, man. They hurt like hell, man. When you break it down to the bare bones of it, it's because... And people, I got to stress to you people. I'm not saying that you can't enjoy your life. My clients drink wine. My clients have burgers. My clients go on vacation, but let's find a balance. That's the only thing I'm saying. Find a balance. Find a balance in your life. Me and my girlfriend and I, we just got back from San Diego last weekend. We went to San Diego and we enjoyed ourselves.

But let me tell you something else. Once you develop a certain lifestyle change, it's hard for you to have donuts and pancakes for breakfast, then follow it up with fast food, then follow it up with a candy bar, then follow it up with more fast food for dinner. Those habits go away. You find a natural balance, which is where you go somewhere and maybe you just do one of those things and that's enough for you. You're like, oh, that was nice. I had the fast food. That's your thing, right? I had whatever. I had the cheeseburger for lunch and that was nice.

But if you establish the right habits in your day-to-day, when you consciously break them, like you said, it actually is hard to push it too far. It's hard to really fuck it up. You have to really try and why would you? It's like a point where my version of that is my wife is German, right? So we go to Germany every other year for Christmas and I like German bread. Now, the last time I didn't do this because I just didn't even care to, but two trips ago, I, for the first several days, ate a bunch of bread. Not that there's anything inherently wrong with bread, but I don't normally eat bread, right?

So for the first few days, I was eating a basket of bread every morning with butter just because it was delicious, right? My macros were messed up and I wasn't eating very many vegetables, very much fruit for the first several days. Then I actually just didn't even want to anymore, but not psychologically, not because I felt bad. I knew it wouldn't matter. If I eat a bunch of bread and if I just like basically protein and bread for a couple more days, I'll be totally fine. It's not like I'm, you know, this is, here's my one hurrah per year. Right. But I physically, it was almost like my body was

saying, please, can we just eat a vegetable? Come on, come on, man. Feed us like some real food, please. And that's when I stopped and I was like, okay, well, that was fun. And I'll go back to eating like a normal human again. And you can do stuff like that. And there are no consequences and you just get to enjoy yourself. There's no guilt associated with it because again, when you put it in context, it doesn't matter if you're doing the most important things, mostly right. Most of the time, I'll say that. I say that, you know, often because I think that's the right attitude to have. And I remember when I first started, because like I said, before this, I never ate

vegetables. I'm talking about zero. And I tell people, when people tell me, oh, I have bad eating habits, I tell them what I used to eat on a day-to-day basis. And this is 100% true. Breakfast, I would wake up in the morning, probably have a snack or something before I left work, eat a bowl of cereal. Driving to work, stop, get a donut. And then I stopped at Starbucks. I got a caramel frappuccino, a venti, which is about a thousand calories on top of that. I get to work, probably have like a bag of chips before lunch. Lunch will come. I go get fast food for lunch, come back from work at my desk, typing. And I'm a can, I was always a Snickers bar guy. I would get up, go get a Snickers at the vending machine, maybe a bag of chips, work, get off work. On my way home,

I'd stop and get more fast food with a shake or something. And then I'd drive home. Then I'd sit down and play video games, something along those lines. And if I wanted something else, of course, when you live in that way, you have certain things in the fridge and the cabinet. I go have some kind of pastry or something and I eat that. That would be my day. We're talking about easy 4,000 calorie day. Then along those lines also, just a complete sedentary day, just sitting on my butt all day. I always tell people, your habits aren't bad than mine. When I would play video games, it would be, I do like two large pizzas and I would drink like a two liter of Coke out of the bottle. Like. Damn. That's impressive. You could even eat that much pizza

in one sitting. I can eat a lot of food, but I mean, I could, I could do that, but I think I would be struggling unless it was thin crust and not much cheese. Oh, no, no. Let me tell you something, man. I would take some stuff down, man. It wasn't nothing safe, man. What's a large pizza in terms of calories? I guess it depends what's on it. It's like 2,000, I don't know, 2,000 to 3,000 or something? Got to be, at least. And I would take down two, man. I'm a pepperoni sausage to the end, man. I bet you just a straight cheese is probably around 2,000, I would guess. Then you add the meat on top of it, that's easily another 1,000. what I was saying along those lines, I remember when I first really, really made a decision to it's like, you know, I'll put some greens in my diet. I'm going to get some fish oil in my diet. I remember doing it in like about two weeks in. I remember one morning I woke up and it was like

545 a.m. Also, let me tell you something. On my weekends, I was asleep till about 1130 a.m. But when I changed my diet, I remember I woke up at like 530 a.m. one morning and I got up and I thought I had to just go to the bathroom and I got up and I stood up out the bed and I was like up, up. I was like, wait a minute, I'm awake. I lay back in bed, like I'm gonna go back to bed. And I just sat there and my eyes wouldn't close. I was just, I was up. My body was like, get up, Fred. It's time to get the day started. And I was like, what the hell is going on? And I walked up. Seriously, man, I walked and I got dressed and I went outside for my walk. I decided every morning I walked to the bus stop to go to

the gym. I walked to the bus stop and I'm standing at the bus stop waiting on the bus. And I'm like, are you kidding me? I'm wide awake, man. And I went and worked out and came back home. And on the way back, I'm like, I know I'm going to take a nap when I get home. I always take naps. Nope. Wide awake, man. I remember the first thing I ate was the first one people always tell me, it says spinach. Spinach doesn't taste like anything. Just suck it up and eat it. So I got spinach and I would eat spinach and I would just buy it by the tub. I would put it in my eggs and I would just eat spinach, spinach, spinach, spinach. And I'm telling you, man, I can literally feel the tub. I would put it in my eggs and I would just eat spinach, spinach, spinach, spinach. And I'm telling you, man, like I can literally feel the difference and I would eat more fruit. And I was just like, wait a minute. Like, and then I did more research and I found out

dieting was more than chicken breast, rice, and broccoli. I was like, you can eat more than, like, you can eat more stuff than that. And you know, you can eat certain things. And I was just like, man, then I started doing research and I found like bars and I found your BCAs. And I was like, what in the hell are these? Like, this is like, why aren't people screaming the rooftop about fucking BCAs? What the fuck? Like these things are fucking amazing. Like it makes my water taste incredible. I actually don't sell BCAAs because that's the only real benefit. People will ask, are you going to do BCAAs? When are you going to do BCAAs?

And my answer is just like, as of right now, never, because they really, that's all they are for is making your water taste good. And that's just not a great pitch. Like if I was going to pitch them, honestly, that's actually all I could say. If you don't like drinking water, this is going to make your water taste better. It's not going to help you in any other way. But hey, if you are willing to pay a premium to drink tastier water, then BCAs are a good place. Yeah, because there's so many more aspects of... You know what people always ask me,

and I'm sure they ask you a lot. They always want to know what's the best. What's the best workout split? What's the best diet? I go, the best diet is the one you can stick to for the rest of your life. The best workout split is the list of things that I think you should have, will BCAs be on that list? Yes. Would it be high on that list? No. There's plenty of other things that I always tell people, even in regards to things like protein powder. They say, well, I can't fit it in my budget. I don't fit it in your food budget. It's food. Yeah. If you look at it in terms of cost per gram of protein, it actually is pretty affordable. If you go with the highest and most expensive, not necessarily, but if you go with a good kind of mid-tier, mostly whey concentrate type of protein, it's a very affordable way to get protein. Yeah, absolutely.

I looked on a large pizza, by the way. So a large pepperoni and sausage pizza from Domino's is apparently about 2,600 calories, about 120 grams of fat, 50 grams of saturated fat, about six grams of sodium. That's good. So you need 12 grams of sodium in one sitting, 270 carbs and 100 grams of protein. I'm telling you, man. Two of those washed down with a couple of liters. I don't even know what a liter of soda is. I don't even want to look.

I'm telling you, I always tell my girlfriend, I go, man, Fat Fred's looking at me just shaking his head. He's like, man, what the hell is wrong with you? Fucking spinach. What's going on? Yeah, like spinach. What the hell? I'm telling you, man.

You've banished him. You've exiled him. Oh gosh, man. He, sometimes he tries to come back. He tries to sneak out and eat certain stuff. But that's another thing, guys, I want to share with you guys. Once you guys change your eating habits, your body, there's going to be certain things where you'll eat them and immediately your body will tell you like, this isn't for us. Yep. Your palate changes for sure. Where you go and you try to eat stuff maybe that you liked previously and just not enjoyable anymore. And then that doesn't necessarily mean like, of course we all like, we can all find desserts that are delicious, of course. But there are certain just very low quality foods that that's how they taste to you

now. Or you're just like, really? I liked this. It just tastes like sugary nothing. It just tastes like chemical garbage. So we went on the 11th. We took my girlfriend's dad to dinner, Mexican restaurant. I asked for a diet Pepsi and they brought me a regular Pepsi. Oh man, when I drank that thing, like seriously, the people looking at me like I was putting on a show. I almost gagged.

I was like, oh my God, it's so sweet. I'm like, how? How did I do this? I have no clue. Seriously, I have no... If I can let me tell you something, people use time machines to go back in time and do cool stuff. I go back in time and just slap the shit out of myself. Seriously, man. So a liter of soda is 400 calories. It's like 100 grams of carbs, basically. There's just sugar, of course. There's just 100 grams of sugar. Just there you go. So you can wash the 5,000 plus calories of pizza down with 800 calories of sugar, basically.

Absolutely. That's wild. This has been a great discussion. I've really enjoyed it. So what are your future plans? Where are you going from here? Like said i did training personal training nutrition coaching just i'm expanding which by the way where can people find you if they want to reach out my instagram is the underscore gym underscore reaper and then it's underscore ok you and then five r's

and o to cardi b so people are saying if you put in gym g-iI-M, Reaper, R-E-A-P-E-R, and then these are separate words, obviously, and then put in okay, he'll be the only one that comes up. All right. Sounds good to me. Yeah, you guys can see the, we got pictures to prove it, man. You guys can go look at those pictures and you can see it can be done, man. Anybody, feel free to DM me if you have any questions. I'm always posting. I'm insane. I have a good time with fitness. You'll see me on there shaking my ass. I'm a girl. Just enjoying it, man. Fitness saved my life. So I really, really enjoy it, man. I enjoy fitness. Just know guys, you guys are, if you're listening to this and you're just starting your fitness journey, man, just

understand that that's your gym too. I tell my clients that all the time when they go in the gym and they're nervous. This is your gym too. The guy that's been there for 20 years is somebody that's just starting. It's your gym. It's your facility also. One thing I do with all my clients when I'm in the gym, a lot of personal training clients that are really shy, I make them go in the middle of the gym. I make them howl like a wolf, man, because I tell them, yeah, I'm dead serious. I do. That reminds me, there was some challenge like getting outside of your comfort zone challenge. One of the things was to go lie down on the sidewalk in like a busy area or lie down just in a busy public area where a bunch of people walking.

You'd have to just lie down on the ground for 15 minutes and say nothing. Yeah, man. We go howl like a wolf. And the best part about it is people that don't even know me, when they hear them howl, people howl back. People be howling back. And it's so funny. They're like, what? I go, yeah. I'm like, you're a wolf, man howling back. And it's so funny. They're like,

what? I go, yeah. I'm like, you're a wolf, man. I do that because it's time to take over your life, man. It's time to, man, be a lion, man. It's time to embrace your life. Take it back. Take your life back, man. Whatever it is, whatever you lost, if you lost yourself in a breakup or death in the family, it's time to take your life back. That's what fitness is, man. Fitness gives you your life back. There's so many avenues and so much information out family. I mean, it's time to take your life back. That's what fitness is, man. Fitness gives you your life back. There's so many avenues and so much information out there. And also I'm working on a couple of blogs

so I can get some information out there. There's great companies that I would absolutely, this is my thing. I would tell people everything I've got, I've got because I work my butt off. So I've never asked for a handout. The only thing I always asked for was a stage, something like this, a forum. That's it. Just a forum to share my story just so people can know

it can be done. And I know everything else will take care of itself. I'm not worried about that. I'm not worried about fame. I'm not worried about money. Yeah. You just want the opportunity. That's the opportunity to share my story because to let people know that it can be done, man, because I have so many people. I had a guy, this was last year. Now he's a good friend of mine. His name is Aaron. I was doing cable flies in the gym and he came up to me and he goes, man, what does

that work? I go, it works your chest. And he goes, man, one day, man, he's a big guy. He goes, man, one day I hope I can be lean like you. And I said, I stopped doing my chest fly. I said, wait one second. I put my phone on and I showed him a picture of myself. I said, you can be lean like me one day. And he goes, holy shit, man. He goes, I'm going to finish my workout. My buddy Shaw told me,

he goes, you see what you did? I go, what did I do? He goes, you literally gave him hope in a matter of 10 seconds. You installed hope in him. That's what we're doing this for. So it's bigger than me. It's bigger than Instagram. Facebook is bigger than all that. That's why I give out free, just like you. We give out great fitness information, free information, because it's a lifestyle change. And we can have the benefit of the world being healthier, better. Fathers living longer with their daughters and their sons and husbands and wives having

better relationships. And I heard how you just said you and your wife took a vacation. My girlfriend and I, we went to Disneyland a couple of weeks ago. The God honest truth is the thing we remembered about it the most is we both remember when we were overweight and we couldn't walk around Disneyland. And we walked around Disneyland all day. We were there for about seven, eight hours, nonstop. And when we were done, we're walking back to the car. And we didn't talk about what rides we got on. The first thing we said was, damn, babe, you remember when we were done we're walking back to the car and we didn't talk about what rides we got on the first thing we said was damn babe you remember when we couldn't even do this like we had to sit down and take breaks and it's like how does it feel it's like it feels damn good

like this feels good and once you get that feeling you never want to go back never yeah you just never want to go back but if anybody like i said anybody want to contact me, you can DM me. I'll be glad to answer any questions you guys have. Just thankful, man. Really thankful for the opportunity and thank you for the information you put out every day. And I have a really close friend. Her name is Nadine. I met her at the gym when I first started my fitness journey also. And she is a gigantic Legion fan. So I know a lot of people that, you know, they love your products, but she is a gigantic Legion fan putting her on blast. She comes to the gym with her pulse in her bag.

Nice. Yeah, she sure does, man. She comes to the gym with that pulse in her bag. I just need more Nadine's. That's my goal. I love your products, man. And that's the one thing too. People always ask me, what made you do the, I go, well, I'm not going to associate my name with anything.

I'll never do anything for clout. I associate my name with things I believe in. Your stuff is one of the things I believe in. And trust me, when you lost 215 pounds, it's pretty safe to say you get a lot of offers for things. You get a lot of offers to put your name on a lot of things, especially with the growth of my Instagram and my social media over the last couple months. I get a lot of offers for things. I really do. I chose to do this because I think what you guys are doing is incredible. I really do. Thanks, man. Like I said, man, I've been watching since Sholly, man. I really have. What? That has to be at least, what, three years ago?

Yeah. This is year six for Legion. Yeah. So it has to be a while back for everybody on here that's uh listening you guys can go ahead and you guys can add mike at mike matthews tell him go ahead and send that legion sponsorship right on over so we can get to work like my parents always told me close mouth don't get fed i'm gonna stick my pit bulls on your mic. Absolutely, man. You know, man, whatever you need, brother. Let me tell you something. Whatever you need, and I would love to talk or collaborate or figure something out. I don't need a handout. I mean, I want to, I always tell people I've never been afraid to work and then I'll end running my

mouth and let you get back by saying this. I remember about, like I said, like five, six months ago when I really started to take the fitness thing serious. And I told everyone I knew some videographers and I knew some photographers and I have a clothing line that's doing incredible right now. It's called No Leak, No Legacy. It's doing outstanding, man. We got 419 pieces sold in three months. Nice. months. Yeah, man, everything is great. But I always tell people that if it's given to you, nobody wants to hear that story. Well, how did you do it? Oh, I just got up and did it and it was easy. Nobody wants to hear that. They want to hear the struggle. They want to hear the pain and the ups and the downs. And that's going to happen. Every story has one. But even then, man, the best story is the comeback story, man. That's the best one. Nobody wants to hear... Nobody goes to the movies to watch a movie about a guy who just won from beginning

and end. Just never stopped winning. Nobody gives a shit about that, man. Nobody gives a shit about that story. So I always tell people, when you have a hiccup, I tell them, it just makes the story even better when you get to the end. That's all. It just makes your story better, guys, when you get to the end of the story, man. So just keep pushing, y'all. Keep kicking ass, man. My girlfriend's going to be proud because let me tell you something. I'm a cursor, man. I love a good curse word.

So just keep fucking shit up, y'all, man. Keep fucking it up, man. And just stay on it, man. And I told people about my journey. And I said, hey, guys, if you guys want to be a part of it, I'd love to have you a part of it. I'd love to have you guys documented, you know, take photos and this and do some videos and this, that, and the other. And I got a lot of, we'll see maybe. And then when they see the, I would call it the train. That's my thing. I would say the train is coming. And I say, either you get on this train, you get on the Fred train or

this Fred train is going to run you the fuck over. So you have two choices. And that's just how I've always lived. And for all the people that didn't want to get on the train when it started, and you guys know who you guys are. And these same guys are in my DMs begging me to work now. They're begging for me. They're begging for me to work. But guess what? I always tell them when people do that to you, you don't have to tell them no. But what you do tell them is you tell them the terms have changed. Terms have definitely changed. So guys, just get on it, man. Get on it and use this interview as the first day to fucking change your life, man. Because it can be done, man. It can definitely be done. And if you need a cheerleader, man, I'd be your number one fucking cheerleader, man. I mean that from the heart, man. That's real shit right there. That's great, man. I really appreciate you taking the time to share your story. This was a great discussion and I'm sure it's going to be well-received. Thank you, man. I appreciate it, man. You have a blessed day. And like I said, man, whatever you need, let me know. And so, you know, I'm about what I say and I'm definitely

sending you that DM about that Legion sponsorship, brother. Yes, sir. I'll forward you over to Miles. That's his department. So you guys can start that discussion for sure. Yes, sir. All right, man. You have a blessed day, brother. If you like what I'm doing here on the podcast and elsewhere, and if you want to help me do more of it, if you want to help me help more people get into the best shape of their

lives too, please do consider supporting my sports nutrition company, Legion Athletics, which is currently holding its biggest sale of the year for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Now that means that for the next few days, you can save up to 30% on everything in our store over at www.legionathletics.com. That's L-E-G-I-O-N-athletics.com, including our protein powders and our protein bars, our famous pre-workout supplement pulse, and our post-workout supplement recharge, our fat burners, our multivitamins, joint support, fish oil, and more. And as you'll see, when you head over to the website, everything in the store is currently marked down five to 15%. And when you enter the

code BRIDAY19, numerals one nine at checkout, you'll save another 15%. And even better, if you're in the United States, your order is going to ship free. And if you're not in the United States, your order is going to ship free if it is over $99. So again, if you appreciate my work and if you want to see more of it, please do support me so I can keep doing what I love, like producing more podcasts like this. To shop and save now, head over to www.legionathletics.com, L-E-G-I-O-N athletics.com and use the code FRIDAY19,

numerals one nine at checkout, and you'll save up to 30% on your entire order. All right, well, that's it for today's episode. I hope you found it interesting and helpful. And if you did and you don't mind doing me a favor, could you please leave a quick review for the podcast on iTunes or wherever you are listening from? Because those reviews not only convince people that they should check out the show, they also increase the search visibility and help more people find their way to me and to the podcast and

learn how to build their best body ever as well. And of course, if you want to be notified when the next episode goes live, then simply subscribe to the podcast and whatever app you're using to listen and you will not miss out on any of the new stuff that I have coming. And last, if you didn't like something about the show, then definitely shoot me an email at mike at muscle for life.com and share your thoughts. Let me know how you think I could do this better. I read every email myself and I'm always looking for constructive feedback. All right. Thanks again for listening to this episode and I hope to hear from you soon.