Pursuit of Wellness - Christian Guzman On Adderall Addiction, Weight Fluctuation, What Building Alphaland Really Took, Losing His Mind & Marrying Buff Bunny

Episode Date: April 11, 2024

Ep. #89 On today’s episode of Pursuit of Wellness, I’m joined by Christian Guzman. He sits down for an honest conversation about entrepreneurship, bodybuilding, and where his business is at now.  For Mari’s Newsletter click here! Leave Me a Message - click here! For Mari’s Instagram click here! For Pursuit of Wellness Podcast’s Instagram click here! For Christian Guzman’s Instagram click here! For alphalete Instagram click here! For POW Brand Promo Codes click here! Sponsored By: Use code POW for $150 off your purchase at purchase at plunge.com Visit clearstemskincare.com and use code POW at checkout for 20% off your first purchase Save 15% and get free shipping on your Starter Kit when you use code POW at www.branchbasics.com Topics Discussed: 03:02 - Christian Guzman’s journey 05:40 - Christian’s influences 07:52 - Creative vs business 08:50 - Figuring out your own business 19:57 - Summer shredding 21:01 - Bodybuilding competitions 23:26 - Recovering from competitions 26:44 - “Proud, but never satisfied” 29:25 - Motivation in business and fitness 30:48 - Alphalete 33:00 - Alphaland 36:03 - Christian and Heidi’s love story 39:30 - Struggle with Adderall 44:36 - Current health goals 47:33 - Christian’s 10 goals 49:45 - What’s next for Alphalete 52:30 - Being the face of the company 56:38 - What wellness means to Christian

I really try to think of like, yesterday's yesterday, tomorrow's tomorrow, and today's today. You're proud to look back at everything you've done and you know that's made you who you are, but you're not going to linger there. There's more to do. This is the Pursuit of Wellness podcast, and I'm your host, Mari Llewellyn. Hello, welcome back to the show. Today I am joined with Christian Guzman. He is a legend

in the fitness industry, one of the OGs. He's a creator, he's a founder, he's now a husband. And if you haven't heard of him, I highly recommend you guys check out his story. He is really big on YouTube and has done a lot in the fitness industry. He was a really an OG inspiration for Greg and I when it came to our business. And he has had such an interesting journey just through the fitness industry. He started as a Gymshark athlete and then, you know, began his own company, Alphalete. He's now the founder of Alphaland, one of the biggest, most insane gyms I think I've ever been to in Texas, Sugarland, Texas. We talk about his and

Heidi Summers' love story, also known as Buff Bunny. You will have just heard her episode launch on Monday. Christian gets really vulnerable with us and talks about his struggle with Adderall addiction, which I think is a really important discussion to have. I think so many people struggle with that and it isn't spoken about very often. He also talks about his 10 goals for the next few years, being the face of his company and what wellness means to him. This is a really in-depth conversation and I really appreciate Christian going as deep as he did with us today. He said it was one of his favorite interviews he's ever done, which I was so honored. Without further ado, let's hop into this conversation with Christian.

Christian? Hello. Welcome to the Pursuit of Wellness. Thank you for having me. I feel like you don't do a ton of podcasts other than Max's, right? Yeah, well, yeah, I don't get asked too much. Or if I do, I don't know, I just have to kind of know the person or have some association to want to do it, you know?

And Heidi had nothing but good things to say about doing this one. I was like, all right, let's do it. I'm honored. I figured Heidi put in a good word for me. I was like, Christian said yes, I'm honored. Thank you. I want to give everyone a little bit of context because for me and my husband, you really paved the way for fitness influencers back in 2016, 17. I know you started so long ago. But when I got into the industry, there weren't many people creating brands outside of, you know, merch or, you know, doing sponsorships. You guys, you and Heidi, were one of the first people to create brands kind of like outside of themselves.

And it's so impressive what you've done. I mean, you are the founder of Alphalete, Alphaland, 3D Energy, and you're still making content. Yeah. Is that everything? Summer Shredding, the bodybuilding league and you're still making content. Yeah. Is that everything? Summer Shredding, the Bodybuilding League. And Summer Shredding. Yeah. Insane.

Thank you. I mean, I want to ask you about that because I feel like you've accomplished so much and you just keep going. So I want to get into the mindset of all that. For people who don't know you, I'd love to start at the beginning. How did this all get going? Like, okay, so childhood real quick, very quiet, very shy, very to myself. I wasn't good at sports.

But I, in eighth grade, I finally, like, I just want, I was, I loved basketball. I wanted to be in the NBA. So I was like, okay, I just, I need, in order to make basketball, you have to do cross country. You have to do all the things in football to get in with the coaches. So I did it. And that was my first like taste being on a team was like the first taste of just like some confidence for myself. And then after eighth grade, going to high school, I was my same height now.

So like 5'11 and a half, had 115 pounds. So now I'm like 200 and whatever. But that was just a very, very skinny, you know, and going into high school, all these girls are so much older. You're like, oh my gosh, I need to put on some muscle, man. Like that was it.

And so I started training three times a week. Yeah. At like this, it was a class where you go to and you'd be instructed like, but just for sports. It wasn't to look good. But I started getting a little bigger and I just got hooked with fitness.

So, like, then I joined a rock band and, like, my confidence sort of started just coming up a little bit. Like, I wasn't the loud one in the room at any moment of my life, but I was, like, a listener, I guess. And then I would just get really obsessed with like certain things and only be very good at things that I really liked and terrible at things I didn't like. I just wouldn't do that. It reminds me of my husband. He has ADHD. Yeah. And he gets so zoned in on projects, but it makes him a really good entrepreneur. Yeah. So when did the YouTube begin? 2012. Oh my God, I was a senior. Yeah, I graduated. Well, I graduated 2011. We're the same age, I think. 30. 29. Yeah. Okay. So you started vlogging when I was a senior in

high school. Yeah. Yeah. Because at that time I was just like, I was, by the time I was a senior, I was kind of the, because I was watching so many people on YouTube, the fitness guys and everything. And I was kind of just taking that knowledge in and just like rehashing it and repeating it. And so I kind of became the guru, right? And that was like, to me, it was like, holy, people are coming to me for something, like asking me about stuff. So, you know, naturally, like I already kind of felt that. And maybe that translated to when I started my channel, like my first few hundred subscribers, like I felt like it was a continuation of like the guy I was already, I had already become.

You know, even it was like a tiny scale in my high school. But like that was, I don't know, the fitness guy, you know. So I put Christian Musial on fitness as my name, you know, and I named myself that. So who were you watching? Greg Plitt was number one. So he was like, he was the one that really brought the motivation factor to me, like kind of the mindset.

But other than that, for actual fitness was like Matt Ogis. It was Chris Jones, Physiques of Greatness. That was his YouTube channel. Scott, I said that one. That's really it. There's only like five people, really. I feel like what really set you apart was that motivation factor. And I really enjoyed that as a viewer and the cinematic element of it.

I think actually you know Matt Como, who's a close friend of mine and Greg's. I love the fact that the energy that you put into those videos and still, I feel like you've changed a little bit lately. Like you have your new channel, right? Yeah, yeah. Well, it's kind of crazy that the whole cinematic, like I love that stuff. I love telling a story,

but obviously something like that takes a lot of time to create. Yeah. And when I first met Matt Como, it was funny because I literally had this idea for summer shredding. I wanted to make a YouTube series. I wanted to get people to just for no dollars or anything, just enter a competition so we had 30 000 people sign up and like enter um but it was because it was i i wanted the best

video i wanted somebody who was just like an unreal i needed the best in the world so i was just like this is also the era where it was like all these travel vlogs were happening and like the the cam the camera cinematography kind of like started coming up. And like Matt Como's videos were like, holy, these are like, I remember watching those three to five minute like things and being like mind blown. Was he doing travel back then? He was. So it'd be like Egypt or like Peru or it'd be like whatever,

Bali and he'd go and like, you know, film really epic three to five minute videos. We didn't know him during that era. When I think of Matt Cuomo, I think of like the Lamborghini. He's doing all this car stuff now. Oh, yeah. And Justin Bieber. Yeah. That's like the post.

That was like the, that was after me and Matt kind of. Insane. Yeah. But Matt's video like really changed the truth. I feel like that leveled everything up so much. And so every year we kind of would get back together for a few years and like kind of make a banger kickoff video. It's interesting to me how like creative you are

because you clearly are so business oriented as well. Do you feel like you lean more on the branding creative side or the back? Creative. Really? That's me too. Finding out now because I mean years ago I'd be like, oh, business, business, business because it sounds cool. It's like, I'm a businessman. But then you get a little humbled

the more experience you have in business and I think that it takes some humbling times to kind of actually make you feel like you're starting to build up some credibility. Like a lot of times when I get asked business questions, I almost feel like I shouldn't answer them because it's like, I can tell you what I did, but by no means am I saying you should repeat what I'm about to say. It's a different time. And I feel like it can't be repeated. It can't.

Everyone's so different and the trajectory of every business is so different. I'm the same as you. I tend to lean on the branding creative content side, which is where my husband comes in because he's obsessed with the marketing and the behind the scenes stuff. So you kind of need to just find your people to fill in those gaps. When did you, okay, I want to talk about the t-shirts. Okay. I was going to add in when you're on a rocket ship though, and like you're on a rocket ship of like this, there's so much demand and you're just trying to like stay afloat, I guess. It's like you end up kind of leaving, you know, things behind and things unattended to

because like in the moment that they feel so small and they will take you away from like the bigger movement, forward movement that we want to keep pushing forward for, right? 100%. So that's like my 20s wrapped up. No, same with us. Like we, Greg and I were self-funded until literally like a month ago.

So fully all in. And we didn't really have a roadmap. Like I'm sure you felt the same way. There's no one really to tell you what to do. And each business has a completely different roadmap. Yeah, apparel, supplements, it's so different. So we were just kind of trying to survive the whole time and keep up with the growth. But then when we sat down and we were getting, you know, we were just kind of trying to survive the whole time and keep up with the growth.

But then when we sat down and we were getting, you know, we sold 20% of our company recently, they were like, oh, you really need. That's something I'm really, like that's something that for a few years has kind of been brought to my attention. I was like, no, no, no. But now it's like, as I'm getting smarter, more skilled, it's like, you know what?

I'm open to actually hearing these conversations now. So I'm very, yeah, I'm sure we could talk for like a whole day. I should connect you with Greg because we were so anti-partnering with anyone for so long. We were like, no, we're doing this ourselves. But then we hit a point where we want to do... Other things. Beverage.

So we don't know how to do that. So we partnered with someone who knows how and now we feel like we have this plan for expansion and people kind of helping us like fill in the gaps and also retail is such a different beverage is gonna take you crazy that's gonna be a wild ride I am always on the go to the gym horseback riding traveling and I always like to bring my skincare with me because I have very acne prone skin and I only have one brand that I really trust at this point and that is clear stem skincare you guys have heard me talk about it a million times they combine all three categories, anti-acne, anti-aging, and clean, meaning free of hormone disruptors and pore clogging ingredients. Guys,

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I want to talk about when you made your t-shirts and you were selling them at Gymshark booths. Yeah. Talk to us about that. Okay, so I became a Gymshark athlete in 2013, I think it was, maybe 14. But that was a dream. Like when I was on YouTube, especially the first few years, it was like the guys I was watching, you know, and looking up to

were Gymshark athletes, right? And they were traveling, they were going to the UK and going to Body Power. And this little Mexican kid from Houston was like, that'd be dope. Like, that'd be cool, you know? And so I started buying the stringers

and started taking pictures of myself in them and you know posting them at Gymshark just for everyone who doesn't know stringers are like tiny tank tops yeah tiny tank tops funny story they're tiny tank tops that like show a lot of chest and they show a lot of back like a little thin strap of fabric in the back but I didn't feel like I was

big enough to wear them so I wore a wife beater underneath the stringer what? yeah and then I would take the photos. Stop. I swear. I need to see that. We're going to add that on B-roll for sure. It's a blue stringer.

But that picture hit off and like that. So it got me noticed by Gymshark. And then I became a sponsored athlete. And then when I kind of became an athlete, that really opened my eyes to like, wow, no one's fucking trying. Yeah. Why are y'all athletes not trying?

I'm going to try. And so like, I was like, okay, I'll, it's like, no one was doing photo shoot. No one. And anytime someone did put some effort in, like they were on the website, they were rewarded. So I was like, okay, I'm obviously going to get my own camera and like, take, I'm going to book photographers. I'm going to like do that. Why would I not? I want to be on the website. I love that you say that. I love that you say that. And it's like, so I did. And then all of a sudden it was like, I was the main face. And it was for a few years.

And all the meanwhile, like as I'm working on Outfit and being open about this with the owners, Ben and Lewis. And they were both so supportive of other entrepreneurs that before Outfit, it was CG Fitness merch. Yeah. So they would, you know, they would literally invite me to bring a suitcase from Houston with my shirts, sell them at the Gymshark booth as I was meeting my fans, as long as I was wearing a Gymshark t-shirt. I'm like, that's incredible. That's pretty cool.

I made like seven grand or something that day. I was like, oh my God, like, this is crazy. Like, but it's just like that mentality really, I've locked onto that mentality, even though times have changed. I'm sure that probably wouldn't happen now. And even we probably wouldn't want that at Alphalete. Times have changed, but you can latch onto certain nuggets.

And I think that that nugget is such a true, that's sort of the whole, with my wife Heidi, with my best friend Max, we kind of built this, we're all doing our own things. And it's just this, like, I don't know, we're all succeeding and we all keep doing better. Totally. I feel like we had a similar trajectory where it was this kind of a golden era in the fitness industry and on social media where you could explode.

But also you had to have that tenacity. Like I could think of so many people from that time that didn't take advantage. There's like only a few survivors. Literally. I call them survivors. Only a few survivors. Exactly. But that's like business too.

And I feel like taking advantage and seeing the ability to become the face of Gymshark and then do your own thing, I really encourage people to do that now if they're listening. Even with the PDF guides, like when Greg and I developed those back in 2017, we're like, why isn't everyone doing this?

This is insane. Well, the wild thing is like, I just lost it. I just lost it. I was going to play off of something you just said. Okay, I remember. It's wild how once you get into these spaces, how simple it is. When you just realize other people just aren't acting.

Yeah. Everybody has the information. There's a blueprint laid out of how to do this, how to do that. We can say a million times you have to post twice a day. You have to do it whenever. You have to do that. We can say a million times you have to post twice a day. You have to do it whenever. Like you have to provide it. But those percent of people that I will follow through are the successful people.

It's literally that clear. I think it's a matter of people waiting to be given permission. Like I really think that there's this problem. Were you ever like that? Waiting for permission. I think before my fitness journey. So I don't know how much you

know of my story but i lost 90 pounds in 2017 and that's when i discovered you and heidi and everyone like coming up in that era and i became obsessed with bodybuilding and i feel like going through that and realizing i could do pretty much anything that's when you're like oh shoot like i really don't need anyone's permission i didn't have a business degree i have so many goosebumps right now because like what you're saying right now is that was like that for me i was actually all in school i was the copycat i was i would cheat on everything i would because i had no confidence in my own answers ever like ever i would look at i was a big drawer so i would look at, I was a big drawer. So I would look at the other artists

and like, I would just literally go and sit next to their desk and like try to watch them to try to copy them. I just wanted to become a very good copycat in art. And then in like, in fitness, I wanted to talk like Greg Plitt. I wanted to, you know, I wanted to, I was copying everything that I thought I wanted to become

and eventually when you try to copy something you end up finding your form. I love that you say that because I do feel like there's a negative connotation with being a copycat but at the same time when you look up to the people who are doing it the best and you shoot for the stars

you end up kind of finding your own path. 100%. Maybe copycat's not the perfect word to use. Yeah, I can't think of a better word. But like maybe, I don't know, you have to have inspiration. But before like, I think a lot of people will say, oh, it's okay to have an inspiration, but you need to put your own twist. It's like,

okay, fair, but just get started. And if you're copying it first and like, naturally your own twist is going to develop. But you have to just not be so scared and not be so paralyzed. Anything that gets you out the gate is better than nothing.

I also feel like... That's amazing. That's the summer shredding. That's actually my right now, apart from the businesses, summer shredding is my passion project right now. That's like the, because we have this class called the transformation class,

which is one of the eight classes that we offer. I've seen it. But it's like the whole show is just, we went from a bodybuilding show in 2018 to now last year was our first year doing like a league. So it was the summer shredding community, the SSC. So it was five shows around the world and we took the top three of every single class and they got an opportunity to come

to houston for the final show and win like 130 grand like a full sponsorship with alfleet and like all this kind of stuff so um that's like the most impactful and rewarding because we like we play the transformation videos like we showed two years ago where were you we have them answer like 10 questions and it's a video you're showing old photos and then as that video is playing everyone's like immersed in it and then you call your number and you walk out like looking at how you do now and it's just like while your before photos are on there and it's just the the whole stage like erupts it's just crazy so emotional so emotional the transformation part of like the journey is so, like even when I talk about it now.

That's the fuel to your whole life. Yeah, it changed everything for me. Like it changed my whole work ethic. It changed, I wouldn't have a company. I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't go through that. So I applaud you for that. On the bodybuilding topic, I'm so curious with everything that you've accomplished,

what about competing brings you back? Like, why do you keep doing the shows? For the people, 100%. Like, it's not so much, like, maybe it's a little piece of me wanting to get on stage for myself. But the truth is, like, I've proven to myself that every time I say I'll do it I'll do it and I'll bring the best fact you know I know I will so now it's like but before the summer shredding the shows were away from me like what I've won first place or second I qualified to go like try to get a pro card so many times like probably five six times in my whole life but only this year I

actually tried to go to that level because I would always just do it to test myself and to set into film the whole process so I could I would you know lose 30 40 pounds in a season and document every single day and let people that summer shredding so that's why we called everything summer shredding talking to you now I can see how passionate you are about bodybuilding and also about film. And I feel like that combined makes a prep just like a cinematic. Yeah, it was just like, okay, I'm looking forward to— I would even take time off filming because I was like, you know what? We got to be quiet for a bit because we're coming back hard. And just on purpose because it's—I don't know.

And then I'd be like, all right, Matt Como, when are you coming back? Let's come in. I'm going to go—I'm just not going to post anything for four months. And then I'd just be like, then we come out with a banger video after four months. Yeah. But honestly, that's how even nowadays, that's how you create hype. Yeah. But I didn't know what I was, I didn't know, you know, it was just, I wasn't filming because

I was filming the epic video, you know? It's like I wasn't intentionally kind of planning out these like hypes and things, but it, I don't know,'t know, it happened like that. It's like when you sell out of a product and then the hype for it gets higher and higher and higher. Yeah, and then you order too much inventory, then you have leftovers and you're like, oh shit. Yeah, that happened to us so many times.

When we first launched Greens, we couldn't afford to keep enough in stock and we kept selling out. But it ended up creating this like hype around them, you know? With the bodybuilding, with the last show, how did you feel like, was that your best package? And then how was the like follow up from that? Like, how have you been recovering from that show? Yeah, so this last year was like the toughest. Because I always look forward to these like seasons and like in my head, I'm like, okay, this is going to be peak content. This is going to be peak interest. But over the years, it's kind of been like that summer shredding phase will be less impactful.

And it's almost like everything is kind of neutralizing more, whether I'm prepping or not. But this last one was a 24-week which uh from me i have a fast faster metabolism naturally but my problem has been like putting weight on so i can drop pretty quick and so uh 24 weeks is a lot longer than i need so i was really i got way too lean at like even like eight weeks out and i just kept i had to stay there for so long. And that really just messed my gut up, just messed. After my show, my lowest weight was 177. Within a week, I was 232. Wow. 50 pounds.

Okay, wait, I have a question about that. Because I, when I used to watch bikini preps and things, the rebound from shows, is it because you're just so ravenous that you start— You're literally, like, sucked up. Like, you're so sucked up. But then also the duration of the prep will have an effect too. Yeah. Like, a 12- to 14-week prep, you can recover— Maybe, for me, I could recover in four to eight weeks maybe.

But the 24-week prep, I'm,'m like finally getting my stride back right now, which is like five months later, which is like pretty crazy. So you end up just kind of like binge eating afterwards. Binge eating for like two, three weeks. But it's more so like your body is just hypersensitive to everything. It feels like your skin is bursting and like it's hard to breathe, especially like the week after. It's like

painfully bad like it that that's the and it's not it's gotten better every single year like the more shows under your belt the post shows always like a little bit better um but no matter what it's still a shock for your body to like you know go from so controlled to even if you just have a two days of whatever I want, it's like you're not ready for it. Even times I've eaten super clean when I was losing weight or whatever, having a cheat meal, the reaction I would have was insane. So I can't even imagine after a 24-week program. Imagine like an all-out two-week Egypt trip, full buffets, you know.

It's just, oh yeah. And, but I almost like purposely, I'm a very extremist with everything I do. So like, if I'm going to diet, I'm going to diet hard, but I'm going to, but then I never care about the rebound. I just let myself go all out.

Cause I know that I can recover mentally quicker. If I let myself do that, instead of like trying to restrict myself for like months. And I have this like massive craving. I'll just like do whatever I want. And then I'll, because I know I can control it and lose it later. Yeah, no, I totally get what you mean. So it's almost like the prep has taught me control. You know what I mean?

Do you think you'll do it again? Yeah. Really? Yeah, but I don't, not this year, maybe in a year or two years, three years. Oh my gosh. Yeah. year maybe in a year or two years three years oh my gosh yeah you have a quote that i think you coined years ago proud but never satisfied except with your wife i'm happy with her heidi's like um i freaking love that quote i always have i think you have it on the wall

at alpha land right yeah yeah tell us like what that means for you uh essentially it means that we're i think it's very easy to accomplish a lot or accomplish something and then linger on it um and reward yourself for it and kind of stay in that mindset and i don't know i really try to think of like yesterday is yesterday tomorrow is tomorrow, and today is today. So it's like, it's, though sometimes I'll stop and like really appreciate the past and everything. The truth is like, I'm very good at, sorry, I'm going away from the problem, never satisfied. Essentially, it's like, you're proud to look back

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kit when you use code POW, P-O-W, at www.branchbasics.com. Again, that is code POW, P-O-W, for 15% off, plus free shipping when you purchase a starter kit. Do you feel like you are motivated by success or are you afraid of stopping? Does that make sense? Not afraid of stopping, but I feel I owe it to everybody who supported me to not stop. Right? So it's like, it's almost, it's crazy. I've like reverse engineered this fuel.

But it's like, and now it's how can I stop? I don't want to stop. Yeah. Right? Do you feel like there would ever be a point where you're like, I'm good? From businesses, yeah. Because I found like,

that's actually the more taxing stuff for me. People, right? Fire, like that's the start. I'm just like, this is not where I need to be putting my time and energy. So like that stuff, I can see myself extracting like a lot. Especially when I'm older.

But I think that, like my dream life is going to be, i'm if i'm 55 i've got alphalan running but i have this like little uh maybe like 3 000 square foot like area to train like group clients just like i did when i was in high school so i want to do that and then i want to on the weekends do summer shredding shows so like go fly out to like summer shredding shows so So you almost want to revert back. Yeah. That's amazing. Yeah.

I completely understand where you're coming from. I feel like the managing of employees is actually really the hardest part of a business, for me anyway. Well, you can't be, at times like you feel you can't be a good person

and a good CEO. And that's the shit. Those are the hard days. Are you still the CEO of Alphalete? All of them. Of all of them? Yeah. I want to ask you about Alphalete really quick.

Yeah, I'm starting to tell my, yep, yep, yep. Yep, yep. No, I relate to you so much. With Alphalete, with the whole Gymshark era, like how do you view the competition with them now again that word competition i i'm such good friends with all the owners of young la of jim shark of like every i and maybe this is me being naive and dumb but like i'm literally like i i really try not to because of how jim shark initially like that first interaction where they invited me to come and sell my shirts like i'm gonna i'm gonna honor that because that has made me kind of who i am um so i i i just look at jim shark and i'm impressed especially impressed right impressed at how if we're you know it's just they're years ahead and they've been through more and they've been stable they've like kind of they've said

they're healthy, right? And if they're not as healthy on the inside that they look like from the outside, we'll never know. But it's respect over there. Young LA, it's, like, the massive influxes they're getting of traffic and, like, just, like, holy. It's, like, they're capitalizing respect. So it's kind of like

I don't really like the competition I will say though with competition like we have seen a dip in 23 from all the dupes

right that come fuck you that's some fuck you competition but like that's different we don't even know

who those people are we don't even know who those people are and it's like that's no originality but the dupes come when you're killing it. Yeah, exactly. And like, you can't be, it's like, shut up.

He's like, I just got to work on inventing the next thing. Love it. The dupes come out when you're doing really well. Suddenly, there's all these greens coming out of left, right, and left. Like a hundred of them, right? And it's just like, and then you see the freaking, I'm sure with supplement companies, you'll see the ones where you can like brand,

put your, I hate when I see like a really cool graphic and it's your brand name here. I'm like, is it that fucking easy now? It's like, it's that not meaningful now? I know, but they won't do well long-term. Those are five units. 100%. Yeah.

Alpha Land, I remember seeing, I feel like it was the beginning of COVID or around that. Macromo video. Yeah. And I remember hearing about Alpha Land, I remember seeing, I feel like it was the beginning of COVID. Macromo video. Yeah. And I remember hearing about Alpha Land, my husband and I talking about it. And I think we thought it was going to be a hotel. Like there was all these rumors.

And everyone was saying like, oh my God, Christian's crazy. Yeah. Everyone thought you were crazy. I know. For two years. My whole company, Alfleet staff, it ended up like sitting me down towards the end.

Like this is right before opening. This is like two months before opening. And just like, you know, keep in mind to be fair at this, during the timeframe that I was building, I had to separate from the Alfleet office because the daily, like the daily, all this, the day that could be handled elsewhere,

like by management, I had to remove, and I worked at Alphalane. I worked on Alphalete and Alphalane at Alphalane, um, in the shack by myself. Right. Like that was, what is the shack? It's a shack outside. It's like, it's a shack. It was a, it was a tool shed, but it has AC. So, um, and it's underneath the cover, the garage. So I worked in there. Dang. But I put all restoration hardware in there, made it nice. I mean, as you should. Like, you're in there all the time. In there for two years. I'm gonna make it

kind of nice. So two years. Two years, yeah. What was the darkest moment of that build? When COVID really went full swing, because I got the keys February 2020 on Valentine's Day. Stop. And by March, everything was like shutting down.

And then in March or April, I had to shut down my Alphalete gym that was open because I had a gym open down the street that was like 17,000 square feet that we were going to move into Alphaland. And that was going to become Alphaland. So I had to shut that down. But I don't want to – so the members, I just like didn't charge them. So I'm eating money, all that money. I'm eating $110,000 a month for Alpha Land just for the building.

Just to have the land, like $110,000 a month. And then that's no construction, furniture. That's no employees. That's no crews. That's no anything. So by like mid-summer, when I walked out of the shack and there was no employees on site, and I had a partially demoed building and no help, that was wild. How do you...

And my gym was closed. I can't even imagine. And I'm funding, I don't have any investors or anything. So it's all my savings. It's keeping me alive. How do you stay confident in your vision when everyone is telling you you're insane? It's like, man, with everything I just said, it's like, and you said that, I'm like,

blind luck, I guess, like blind faith. Yeah. You know, it's kind of like, I think a lot of times I attribute a lot of my earlier success to like, not stupid, stupid, uninformed or like kind of, you know, I just, I wasn't really scared. What was I going to lose? I didn't have anything to lose, really. Do you regret doing it?

No, not at all. I'm so, I'm like impressed with my young self. Yeah. It's motivating to me. How did you and Heidi maintain a relationship during that? Yeah, that's a good question. So that was definitely the 2022 to 2023, I'll say. Because we started dating in 20...

It's been seven years, I know. I'm just doing the math. It was end of 2016 then, like December 3rd. So first four years, she was in San Antonio. I was in Houston. We commute. And then she ended up moving to Houston for about a year. And then she's the reason I bought Alphaland

because I was looking at buying this building for Alphalete. It was beautiful. I worked on it for like eight months. I did all the architecture plans. I like was, it was all like a done deal. And then all of a sudden, I'm paying a hundred full price.

Like, I'm not even trying to negotiate. I'll pay you the full price you're asking. Right? This guy, he's like, you know what? I just built this.

I don't really want to sell it. So after all that time, so I was just so, just like, I was talking to YouTube about it, this whole thing. Like, just like, I remember laying in a box in my warehouse, just like, what the fuck? Like, that was a lot of wasted energy. And then maybe like a month later, my landlord had come or called with like, I have a really oddball property.

This thing is weird. This thing is 18 and a half acres. I'm like, I. This thing is weird. This thing is 18 and a half acres. I'm like, I don't need, I don't fucking want 18 and a half acres. I want a gym and an office. I want it to be one building, like 70,000 square feet, gym on the bottom floor

and my office overlooking the gym. That's what I want. And he said, it's got a lot of maintenance and I'm not a handyman. I'm like, I'm like, You're like, I'm a visionary. I don't know how to do shit so that sounds like the worst that's no I but Heidi was like let's go see it she's so positive she's the most positive person you'll ever meet so let's go see it I'm like fine whatever as soon as I walked in and like as soon as I walked out of the

first gym into the like little connect into gym two I was was got it done. I'm buying buying so I Yeah, so that was that does like the decision was instant and they wanted like 12 million I got it down to eight and a half. I was about to ask you how much it was eight and a half I got it for Wow. Oh my god the whole everything. Okay, and then how much ultimately did you put in? 20 was my all-in final cost with the land. And tell me now... And I only asked for $1 million of spend money from the bank. Stop. And I only thought I'd...

I thought I'd spend like $2 million. If I spent $8.5 on the building, I thought I'd spend like $2, maybe $3. Spend $2 on a house. It went up to $20. Stop. But when I was in it I was like

I'm not gonna just like I'm not I get one shot to build this permanently yeah and like this is gonna be it and it's your legacy

building like you did for everyone who doesn't know it's a gym you've got stores you've got restaurants offices all the Alfleet headquarters is there as well

so you built this building that's your legacy that will last forever beyond but beyond you, it's for everyone. You feel like it was worth it. Well, and it's for the people that, like literally the community that I was born in. Yeah.

So it's like, I mean, all the high schools, it's all right there. That must be such a special feeling. Yeah, well, I've never said that because I never really thought about it like that, but now, yeah, it is. It is. It's a community building. Yeah. It's special feeling. Yeah, well, I've never said that because I never really thought about it like that. But now, yeah, it is. It is. It's a community building. Yeah.

It's so special. Yeah. You touched on this a little bit, actually a lot of it, with Max. You talked about your struggle with Adderall, which I really applaud you for talking about because I actually think it's a really common issue. Yeah, I think it's a lot more common than like people will admit or think. I'm pretty sure everyone in LA is on Adderall.

All the time. Literally all the time. We were, Fi and I were discussing it in college. I was using it. Well, that's where it all started. Exactly. It started because I had to test a freaking final.

And I was like, or a paper due. And I was like, a friend was like, you want some? I'm like, what is it? I'll try one. That's how it starts, right? I remember the feeling of like my heart racing.

And then you don't eat all day. You have like one sandwich. Your fingers are kind of numb. Yeah. And you're like, yeah, but I'm so smart. It doesn't matter. Well, that's the thing. And I also think when you have to perform at such an optimal level every single day,

I'm not surprised that that happened. Well, it's almost like when you, because Adderall didn't even start until I was already like well into the businesses and everything. But I guess like if you use Adderall for one test and you got an A, it's like, okay, well, my next test. But even if you don't go for it immediately, but it's like, God, I'm not feeling so confident. I feel like I haven't studied enough. Okay, fuck it. Let's do one. It's fine.

I'll sleep the next day. Right? And then the thing with me and my tolerance to everything from alcohol to anything, it builds really quickly. And so then I actually got prescribed the Adderall. And then it was like, okay, you're prescribed 30 milligrams a day. Then you're, oh, months later, really not feeling much anymore at all. So, okay, we'll bump you to 60.

Okay, we'll bump you to 90 a day well because that's making them money too yeah and it's just like and and it was why i would literally get a prescription for 90 days of three pills a day like strong like i'm like am i a horse like do i need to be tranquilized or like and and i wasn't even feeling anything. Like, towards the end, really, it just became like this, like, in my own head, like, feeling like I can only make any decision if I have this feeling. But now that I've been off for, like, almost six months, God, I feel, like, just sharper, like, clear and sharp.

And, like, it's almost like I'm just not running around in my head for no point. What did you feel like were the worst side effects that started to come out? Running around in your head. Like anxiety? Well, yeah, it's like I've never like really anxiety. Yeah, that is what it is. But like, I guess in the moment, you're just like, you're just in your head thinking like this over the same topic you'll deep it's like a rabbit hole every single thing from like going to the

settings on your phone or like some things that don't matter or I'm ending up spending time and why why am I in so deep on this is stupid and a waste of my time and so it almost became like it it like amplified any frustration i would feel with myself all day all day yeah so i'm just like antsy i'm just like trying to like get my shit to you and that and you end up just freezing yeah that's what it did that's what adderall did to me and that's why like for everybody like when if and when the addiction started you do start to feel like you need it like it only gets worse your body starts like tightening up you really start feeling that like times a lot more when you're taking a lot right did you feel like your um viewers noticed a difference when i got off yeah wow like your presence on camera

was different yeah and i think just yeah honestly but the presence of my brain is different like i feel different well it's almost like your brain is moving too fast for you to keep up with yeah it's crazy to think that kids are prescribed i know and that's why it's like that's what honestly the reason i decided to talk about it was because of that it's like i don't people need to know that shit's not good. Yeah. It's not good. Like in no circumstance do I think we need to prescribe that.

I agree with you. In no circumstance. And I think people are using it for all the wrong reasons, like appetite suppressant. Yeah. I'm not even thinking of those things. Like that's, it's crazy. But yeah, to be skinny or to like, it's crazy. Did it act as an appetite suppressant?

Like, did you have an appetite on it? At first, when you start taking it, you'll feel appetite suppressant. But on it, like just when you get used to it, your appetite, you feel normal. Like you're, it's literally like you're just adding another variable into your life for no reason. Because eventually, like the appetite's present. You have to just keep taking more to keep the appetite's present feeling. Yeah. So it's like, I'm trying to get big.

So like, honestly. Wait, so yeah, what are, you're getting, okay, so you are married. You're legally married. Legally, yeah. But you're getting actually married soon. March 10th, yeah. 30-something days. So what are your health goals right now?

I know you said health goals and I'm just going to answer like a douchebag because I'm trying to get to like 195, you know? Okay, 195. No, I'm trying to, coming off the Adderall, finishing my show, really like then,

I was puffed up 232. I've, my heaviest weight before my prep was 206. Wow. So it's like 206 and then all of a sudden 232 was my heaviest.

How did that feel? Like walking around? I felt hard to breathe. Very, very red, very flushed, very, yeah,

just very uncomfortable. Like honestly. And so now incorporating cardio every day, I'm just committed now for my health, not just to look good, but for my health. Because that's another thing, I would just be so winded and so hot and so sweaty all the time when I'm that puffed up. And so it's like literally just gross.

I don't want to, my name's for, what the hell? But in the past, because I'd be competing every year, I'd almost, maybe a dramatic, like, let myself go.

I'm just going to keep training, but I'm just, I want to, you know, I want to make the summer shredding transformation for myself, like a challenge. Yeah. Kind of impressed.

So in the, when I was, if I knew I was doing a show every year, I'd kind of just be like, oh, fuck it, let's go all out from either way. But now it's my first year where I don't have a show planned or for an action,

really, until I feel like doing one, I'll do one. So I'm not going to like chill at that uncomfortable state. Almost more of like a lifestyle approach. Yeah. And I've never like maintained.

That's crazy. I've either been bulking or cutting. That is crazy. For 15 years. Christian, no one else is doing that. You're still doing it, which is crazy. Yeah, I guess I hate it. You are such an anomaly. I think it's because

I just stay in my bubble. When all the 2020 and 2023, all the crazy things that would happen, I didn't know. I didn't know what the hell was going on. And the bowl can cut. It almost like, it feels like it keeps you in control

and like it makes you feel productive. Yeah, because I'm working towards something. Yeah. Maintaining sounds like you're stagnant. I hate that word. But it's not easy. No, I know. It's actually kind of hard.

It makes it hard. Well, I know. It's actually kind of hard. It makes it hard. Well, I'm convinced that I can maintain a very... I'm so annoying. I feel like I can... Once I get to a good level, then I'll push a little further. And then I'm going to see if I can maintain that. And then I'm going to see if I can build slowly with that.

But it has to be very meticulous to do that. But I'm curious to see if I can do it. You're going to accidentally prep. I'm going to accidentally get so shredded and then be shredded forever. Your next YouTube video is going to be like, let's go, maintaining phase. So on your 30th birthday, you set...

10 goals. 10 goals. You signed a contract with yourself. Yeah. Talk us through that. How are they going? Have they changed? Interesting. Yeah. So the 10 goals, that is the peak. When I was filming that video, that was with Justin all through January

of this past year. It took us like a month and a half to film it. But that was definitely the peak. I'm going to say like the in my 20s Christian, the can't stop, big, big, big, big, go, go, go. So, and that was like before this really like eye-opening 2023 year. With that said though, I signed a contract to myself, 10 goals. One with the number one, and they're kind of in order of, almost in order of importance. Number one, a thousand YouTube videos in 10 years. Why? Because when I'm making YouTube videos in 10 years. Why?

Because when I'm making YouTube videos, I know I'm happy. When I let myself get dragged into the stuff I don't need to be in, I'm literally just not happy. Like if I'm off YouTube,

you know, something's going on, what's up? Because I just love making videos. So I knew that that would commit me to a better life. So like that's number one.

And so, in short, some of the goals were monetary. Some of the goals were starting a charity. And the 10th goal was being present, which was something I didn't do in my 20s, I feel like, very well. So it's like I'm well on my way to a few of the goals to be checked. With that said, I know I have nine more years to make. So I think a big thing is like though I've said 10 and I challenge myself to like put my brain

in the mode of thinking that far ahead. Will they change? I don't know. We'll find out as we go. But I know I'm going to keep pushing every day to like, if they are going to change, it's only going to be to accommodate. It's not going to be more impressive. It's not going to be more impressive.

It'll accommodate like my life more. Yeah, because in reality, you don't need to make two videos. No, I'm good with money. I'm good with this. So it's like, I really just really enjoy. I'm like highlighting, I'm focusing in on my passion projects,

which are going to be summer shredding and videos. Those two. I like that you're kind of going back to your roots almost. And Alphaland. That's the second one. And Alphaland. Which I'm excited to see today, by the way. Those two. I like that you're kind of going back to your roots almost. And Alphaland. That's the second one. And Alphaland. And Alphaland, which I'm excited to see today, by the way. Thank you.

What's next for Alphalete? Alphalete, really? It's been on such a, that's been like, I mean, almost all of my time has gone for the last decade. It's our ninth birthday actually next week for Alphalete. So it'll be nine years coming up but that's been like because that was all that was the money made that was the biggest brand that was the where all of my i'm ceo like that's that's that's the big one but for

that one kind of like you touched on finding the right people it it's taking me nine years to get those people but now and and also understanding once you get those people those people may it's never it's always evolving the work chart jesus that work chart org charts the work charts with the titles with who reports to who we are so bad at titles over at our company you're gonna have to it's like they care they really care they really like oh you could be director of this like chief of that we don't even know that's gonna going to be your next, like, five-year headache. Yeah. It has become, like, a headache already.

That's why when I say people, if I put it, it's like people. But I love, like, people in the form of, like, entertainment, YouTube value. But then there's, like, the people in office. And, like, I'm really trying not to do that. So I'm trying to, like, focus on, like, the stuff that makes me, you know. But that is definitely the, but I've put really good people in play this year. And like,

now that we've finished the performance reviews for the end of the year, we finished work structure. Like we pretty much, I took the month to make a full new work chart. We're talking to everybody. We're looking at what we did wrong. And then now it's like, we're about to have a huge meeting.

All 110 employees are going to be in the room. And then me and the HR lady are going to sit up front. I talk vision. We talk policy. We talk just kind of overall recap and get everybody on the same page. And then honestly, there's going to be in six months, in the middle of the year, we'll do another kind of adjustment. When I do the work chart update, I'm really doing a two year from now work chart update. But you have to do like these sequences of like, okay, scenarios.

It's like this is the ideal work chart. That's you know, like freed up all or most of my time. But there's like multiple stages to get there. And then there's like question marks on these people, these places that we don't have people yet, right? My experience is hiring one developing with them them, one, two, three months. So really spending a lot of time with them. If you want them to be ahead,

you need them to think like you think and at least understand your logic and then utilize their skill combo with your thinking and be a good manager and lead their people. But yeah, so I guess right now, I'm like set up

and now I'm going to let it roll. And I'm just like focused on being an athlete. I'm getting content. I'm doing like all the athlete stuff. Do you feel like your role has shifted from being like this face, public name, influencer to just being a little more behind the scenes CEO? Like where do you feel more comfortable? So when I was when I wasn't like, maybe like five, six years ago, and I was in front a lot. It felt like the company was just the company would fail if like, I stopped making videos. And I feel like everything really wrote on me. And so my goal was

to make it not that way. And so we launched the women's range, we got more athletes. We took all the steps. And with that, I'm still taking photos, still talking about it. But in addition, I'm doing all these things. Now, when Alphaland happened in 2020 to 2023, I went MIA completely. So it's almost like, but the businesses, I went MIA off of the front face.

But the businesses were, or at least alfleet was still it was like taking that we went that year was like 50 to 80 million it was huge huge jumps while i'm like because it was just me in the office and i and i was kind of able to to do that but that also the cost of that was me completely like being in my aim like and i thought that's what i now looking back i thought that's like what i wanted um was to be behind the scenes no attention on being kind of like just let the business be the business um but i don't know how to not talk to my people and it kind of it really like that's all it really is and i actually i started a new youtube channel this year as And it kind of, it really like, that's all it really is. And I actually, I started a new YouTube channel this year as well to kind of like, just like trim, not trim the fat,

but I had a million subscribers on the other one that it kept kind of going down and up and down. It was like nine, nine, it's been 990 to a million for four years, right? Between 990,000 and a million. So it's just very inactive, it feels like. So I started a fresh one just to see like how many people would come over and like really fuck with me. Like, out of this million I've built, like who's even watching now? Right? And I'm almost at 60k now on my new one.

But the view ratio is like it's crazy. So much all you have to do sometimes is like let go of your ego. It's like unattach yourself from the million yeah it's like let's it doesn't matter i'd rather have a higher ratio of people like watching me i think that conversation around like being the front-facing influencer is so interesting i feel like with alpha elite most people like would not know that you're the founder which is kind of the goal right right? Yeah, I think personally, I think so.

I think so now too. I see it everywhere. It's all over golds. Like I think girls just think it's like the legging that everyone wants to wear, which is so cool. I feel the same way with Bloom. It used to be like Mari Supplement Company. Now most people don't even know who I am.

Like the Gen Z's buying it. They have no idea who I am. So I feel like that really isn't great. You feel kind of disconnected, huh? Disconnected isn't the right, I maybe feel like a slightly irrelevant now because back in the day, like the sales wouldn't happen unless I posted. Like it really was super reliant on me. And now we have all these influences. And it's like, am I even, yeah, it's relevant. It's like, you start to think that I start to think those things.

I went through a little bit of like a grieving period with it where I was like is Bloom mine still because

it felt like you know that you go through an identity crisis when yeah it's like am I Alphalete

or am I Christian I don't know well it gets bigger than you and it's confusing and weird to keep up with especially for the owners yeah it's a super weird relationship to see your baby like out in the wild. And then to think of selling a piece

of your baby, right? It's like, it's just a whole, it is the baby. But maybe the answer is like, to not look at your business like a baby. Or at least in all the stages. You're like, maybe. Maybe the answer is like, we shouldn't nurture it like a baby at all times. Maybe we nurture the beginning and then let it grow. And then we can, you know, let it fly. Yeah. Or maybe we just need therapy.

I don't know. Yeah. Okay, Christian. Now it's time for the question we ask every guest. I started this podcast because I believe everyone's pursuit of wellness looks different. What does wellness mean to you right now? Wellness is essentially like being able to wake up every day and know that your wellness, it's not dictated on the day before or this before. It's like you have to be

able to start fresh. If you didn't take your vitamins before or the day before, you forgot this, you forgot that, take them today. And I think that if you're stressed the fuck out when you went to bed, it's like it's a new day and the first thought you put into your brain, like you can literally set the tone for your whole day just by thinking differently. And to me, like that's kind of, you're just being in charge of your day and not letting situations or, you know, things that happen really run your emotion that's what wellness is i love it i feel like you're in your wellness era right now yeah where can everyone find you online where can they find your businesses youtube.com slash christian news mom i think or

just search it yeah wait what is the new channel it's christian news mom but like when you type it in you'll see one with like 990,000 subs. And then you can subscribe. You can check those videos out, but subscribe to the one with like 55,000 subs. Because that's the one I'm like uploading three times a week right now. And that's pretty much the main one. Alphaleteathletics.com, Summershredding, Events.com. Our first Summershredding is in Chicago this year.

We have five shows. We're giving out $130,000 at the end of the year and a lot more. And it's for everybody to commit to their, you know, for everybody to feel the spark that we felt when you lost your 90 pounds and you had a, and you did that from, for me, from going from 115 to like gaining some confidence. And for me doing my first show is really what changed and made me like, holy, I can do anything. Like that's what competing did for me.

And that's what an end date and end goal. And if it's not competing, if it's a marathon, whatever that is for you, like, get it on the damn calendar and just commit to it. Because that will have a snowball effect. So yeah. Thanks for joining us on the pursuit of wellness podcast. To support this show, please rate and review and share with your loved ones. If you want to be reminded of new episodes, click the subscribe button on your preferred podcast or video player. You can sign up for my newsletter to receive my favorites at marilowelland.com. It will be linked in the show notes. This is a Wellness Out Loud production produced by Drake Peterson, Fiona Attucks, and Kelly Kyle. This show is edited by Mike Fry and our video is recorded by Luis Vargas.

You can also watch the full video of each episode on our YouTube channel at Mari Fitness. Love you, Power Girls and Power Boys. See you next time. The content of this show is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for individual medical and mental health advice

and does not constitute a provider-patient relationship. As always, talk to your doctor or health team.