RAWTALK - CT Fletcher Escaping Death Twice, Receiving a Woman's Heart & Being 320lbs but Natural

Episode Date: February 27, 2024

This podcast is sponsored by Manscaped, go to https://www.manscaped.com and get 20% off everything with CODE: RAWTALK plus free shipping!0:00 Intro 1:53 the perception of the gym space now as to when CT was in it 6:04 the change in social media, effecting people 9:00 biggest misconceptions in the fitness industry 11:42 when CT started making content 12:58 CT’s come up 15:05 the time CT had a gun pulled on him 20:29 when did CT find the gym 22:05 CT being Natural 27:40 CT in his prime or brad in a street fight 30:13 being born more muscular 31:59 manscaped ad 33:05 CT training his son 34:40 what it takes to be great at weight lifting 35:55 god given or created with obsession 37:37 how do you find obsession 40:53 what has CT’s son taken from him that he's learned 42:26 CT’s heart 49:34 CT’s full heart transplant 50:55 what does CT still have left to do or want to do 56:15 people being obsessed with other peoples lives 58:04 not going to church effecting your relationship with god 1:00:23 maintaining the fate with god 1:01:51 everything that happened is supposed to be apart of your life 1:05:46 CT’s thoughts on putting your kids in check 1:06:14 how was CT as a father growing up 1:07:42 the way CT was raised shaped him into who he is today 1:11:03 when CT’s training started to come back up 1:12:16 most important things to focus on in life 1:13:06 doing things people tell you not to do 1:14:52 getting respect from ufc and boxing 1:16:21 CT did professional wrestling 1:18:35 the US right now 1:26:14 not giving a f**k 1:30:19 did CT think his life would be this way 1:31:32 CT loves being old 1:32:27 what CT wants to leave the world with

um man this is this what made you name it that well so i became a partner in it oh okay so it was already established and i became a partner in it okay yeah so this is the second time we sat down to talk it is exactly so what's what's what's new what's new in your life right now oh man i guess the first time we talked uh had they had a transplant thing yeah oh yeah before the transplant yeah so uh yeah it's been a while stuff happened since the last time I sit down too. Yeah, we did a pod. Man, that was when I did the very first kind of like version of my podcast,

and I didn't stay consistent with it. And then since, I'd say the last two years, been very consistent with this one. Yeah, you're making headlines now. Yeah, we're doing all right. Yeah, he's making headlines. But I really wanted to have you on again, obviously, because I'm super interested in your story,

and I just think you have so much to share. And I know for a fact, as far as the fitness industry goes and the community goes, you had a very, like, massive impact in the way that, like, it was shaped from the beginning. You know, like along the lines, when I was making videos eight years ago, you were making videos, I don't know, nine, eight years ago. And you kind of, in my opinion, in my perspective, you kind of shaped a little bit of a whole kind of genre in a sense. Oh, I appreciate it.

And I guess I wanted to ask you, I don't know how much content you see nowadays or how much YouTube you watch or how much you, you know, are involved in general in, like, the fitness space. I saw you at the Expo, but what's your perception of it now as to what it was when you were doing it? Oh, man. I think now it is, one-upmanship is ruling the day.

Yeah. Everybody's trying to be a little more outlandish than next person. And nobody's really original anymore. You know, simple, but there are a lot of people trying to, I see a lot of one-up friendship and but their originality like when we were you know yeah 10 years ago um everybody was distinct Bradley Martin had his distinct way of doing things yeah C2 Fletcher had this distinct way of doing things you know the guys with michael her everybody you know there's no confusion you know well if you like

what bradley's talking about you watch bradley want to see something different you go over and I see T and somebody and now everybody's you know you see people hanging from the top of the ceiling in the gym and doing back flips and setting yourself on fire yeah I feel I feel like I caused the I caused a little bit of that with the kind of content I made so you're to blame I feel like I'm a little bit to blame with the whole like because I got caught up I know personally after filming a lot of YouTube content when I really started filming a ton of Instagram stuff it was it was that sort of like I'm gonna one up this sort of like visual wow factor yeah and uh yeah definitely got to a point where people just started doing everything in the gym everything

but so your perspective of it now and I kind of agree too is like I guess because there's so many people doing it now and so many people want to do it they look at just what it's done and they go oh I'm gonna copy that yeah absolutely it's it's kind of weird it's kind of weird yeah it is You know, what I think is allowable and what is frowned on by the powers that be is totally ridiculous. Something, you know, I'll get a message from Instagram saying, you know, if you do this again, we're going to kick you off Instagram. And all I'm saying is, and then I look at, you know, so, and people got the crack of that shit on. Yeah. You know, but they're squatting on a couch and, you know, doing all kind of weird.

But if I say, if I use profanity, which I've been doing every since I've been on social media, you know, they threaten to kick me on. Yeah, it's definitely, it's definitely changed. I mean, I made a comment, I don't know how many months ago on a UFC, like, video where a guy was fighting someone. And I wrote Animal, like, he's an animal because he was fighting, right? And I got some, like, restriction because I wrote Animal. And I even was, like, reviewing it. I was like, this is not even a bad thing. I'm not like calling this person, you're an animal.

I'm saying they're like they were fighting at a high level while I was a beast, you know? Yeah. But it is weird. I mean, most fighters would take that as a compliment. Right. You know, he's a fucking animal. And I sent it in for review and I don't even know if they actually have people looking at these things or not. And they just go, we reviewed it. It's still bad.

Yeah. So it is weird because there is a lot of, it takes a lot of the, I think the genuineness out of the content. And I think it's weird because to be successful, I think now, like to be, like, lasting successful, you do have to be genuine. So it kind of, it's like this, what do you really do then? Yeah. If you have to constantly censor what you say, how you speak and what you do, it's just weird. And then like you said, the other things that are allowed are like girls can show every part of their body. You know, there's certain people that can do crazy shit.

It's like, okay. And there's other people that aren't. I just wonder if it's like, what's the point of all the, I don't know, control on what we're able to do. I'm wondering, you know, who's making these decisions because certain things that you would think were totally unacceptable are, you know, no problem. Don't bad an eye at that. How do you think it's affecting, like, people, right? Because at the end of the day, like, you grew up in a completely generation, different generation than I grew up in. how have you seen like the kind of world change in relationship to social media because obviously you were a part of it like I said in the beginning in this specific niche but also kind of at the really the inception of when YouTube started to become really like a it was popular before but it became it was like the first iteration of people who were influencing others so how have you seen it shift because it's been about like 10 years now how has you how have you seen it shift to like

affect people? Well, I see people being affected. A lot of them are just, you know, it doesn't wild, or what we considered wild stuff back then is, you know, you scroll past it. It's no big, didn't. They're becoming numb. Yeah.

So the more, that's why the absurdity level is rising so high. yeah because you know it's you know what used to be is nothing now you know people are sleeping on that you gotta what I see this guy you know set itself on fire and drive through a plate plate glass window you know what you know it's just I gotta top you I gotta be nobody just wants to stand flat foot it and tell the truth you know where does it

and say that's the thing right yeah it's uh it just becomes a place where I don't know people are just taught to copy or taught to mimic or taught to do something crazy and I think people are getting further and further away from like the shit that really matters. Yeah. Yeah. And then and then it's weird because then you have this other side of it where like there's a whole other aspect of you've seen the I've seen jokes where like someone would be like going on TikTok in like 20, 23 and it's like don't eat this because this is bad and then don't eat that because that is bad. Like everything's bad and it's like it just there's so

much information. It's like how do we decide what is really useful for us? Yeah, that's a damn good question because everybody's an expert yeah i mean everybody's an expert man no no for 30 years you've been doing it this way and all of a sudden you find out it's it's bad for you you know don't do behind the neck presses because they'll show i think they work i love yeah yeah and you know what uh i have the audacity to not give a damn if experts they're bad for you uh because you know except been doing 50 years and uh i love them yeah you're still going to do them and that's what people need to do you know if you like something you don't can't be so easily swayed by the popular decision of the day yeah why do you think that's so easy though for people

i think people just like to follow yeah yeah oh wow well he sounds intelligent yeah he must know what he's talking about yeah that sounds that sounds feasible to me yeah what are some of the biggest misconceptions you think there are in the fitness industry right now wow biggest misconception I think right now is that everybody, you know, can be an influencer and everybody, you know, has what it takes to be Bradley Martin. And that's bullshit. Everybody doesn't have what it takes to be Bradley Martin. And if there's so many people, and I'm sure you get the same thing that hits you up

every day on the day, man, if I could just get in front of the people, if you could just help me get exposed to the people, If they could just see me, Bradley, I would be, you know, I can make it, man. I want to do what you do. And if I just could just, if you could just put me out there. And ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, it ain't so. It ain't true. It is not true.

Everybody can't do it. You know, I do my absolute best to help as many people as I possibly can and put them out there and not ask for anything in return or seek for any. Now you've got to be going to give a swear oath of loyalty to me. to me for the rest of your life. I'll put them out there because they really feel like if they were just given the opportunity

to be seen, that would be it. They'd be instant stars and they'd be, you know, on the fast track and kicking back. Yeah. And have a beautiful home like Bradley Martin and, you know, eating cake and ice cream every day.

Why do you think it's not that simple? Definitely not that simple. People have a detector built in. And if you're full of shit, people are going to know. You know, you'll be able to spot it. They can tell you if you have no authenticity, no realness,

and you're just a copycat. And they say that imitation is the purest form of flattery. But I think it's the purest way to let everybody people know. You personally are not. I love it. I personally don't have a thing about me that people would want to see. but I can imitate the out of this guy over here

and, you know, maybe they'll, you know, but me personally, I don't got a shit going on. Yeah. But I'm going to imitate the fuck out of Bradley Martin and, you know, maybe you'll like me because you like him. Yeah, that's so accurate. That's so accurate.

Well, I guess it's just because people just see what works and they go, well, if it works for them, it'll work for me. Yep. But the thing in it all is always the same concept where it's like the person who it's working for likely they're not doing it just so it's working, it's doing it

because that's just who they are. Absolutely. You know? I remember when they first came to the gym and told me that I went viral. I didn't even know what the viral was, man. I never heard of that term. What do you mean viral? Because when you started, you were how old making YouTube videos? 53.

Yeah. Like nowadays, his kids is like 19, 18, 17 making YouTube videos. So, yeah, go ahead. I was 53 years old. When I had First got on YouTube and all the crazy workouts and stuff that I was doing with all these guys. I was 53 years old. Definitely not an overnight success. Yeah. You know, it's just people are, how did you do it?

Hell, I don't know. You know, I told them during the first video I ever made, hey, if you don't like what I'm saying, turn them off. I don't get back. Yeah, you're just real. Yeah, I meant it. You know, I had no idea you could make a nickel on YouTube. I didn't even know what YouTube was.

Yeah. So, you know, I was just being myself. And when he said he went viral, see, is that a good thing? And when he said, he could possibly make some money, and I'm like, it is a good thing. Yeah. So it was the very first thing you went borrow with?

Was that I command you to grow? No, it was the Strong's man you never heard of. Oh, shit. Yeah, Strong's man, you never heard of. And so, so let's, because we talked about this before, but, you know, it's obviously been some time since then. Let's talk about your come-up, like your story. Like where you were, I know you're born in Compton.

I was born in actually born. Raised in Compton. Yes, raised in Compton, born in Arkansas. Yeah. Yeah. And so when you moved out here, what was your life like? It was totally different because when, you know, I was a very, very small. When I came over from Arkansas, my mom and me and my brother came, we came on the bus,

and we had to ride in the back of that bus. because, you know, and still early 60s, it was still, you know, like that down south. Yeah. So we come here and it was like moving to a different world. It was at that time, we moved to Watts first. Yeah. And then moved to Compton, and it was Chocolate City, man.

It was nothing but folks look like me, you know. But from Arkansas was complete different. Yeah, yeah, big time. It was different. knew that still had signs on the water fountains, white only, interest, white only. And we moved to, you know, Compton, and it was a whole different, man, that, you know, it was a whole different ball game there.

Yeah. So we got used to it pretty quick, though. So did you grow up without a father? No. Oh, no, no, I had a father. Yeah. My dad was a Pentecostal preacher, worked at the post office, and he was a Korean War. veteran so he was a lot of stuff he was there and he was uh you know the environment i grew up in

was very violent and military based yeah so when i went in the army i had no problem saying yes sir no ma'am because i you know i was brought up like that how long were you in the army for just four years and i got the hell out wasn't for you yeah no no i got did my turn and it was time to go this is funny i think your content it kind of kind of reminds you of like a drill instructor back in the day. Oh, yeah, exactly. I mean, I got a, that's where I got my training style from. Yeah. In, growing up in Watson and

Compton, did you ever experience anything that was like this, you know, sketchy? Yeah, I guess you'd say it's sketchy. I'll never get the first time I had a gun pulled around me. I was in the ninth grade. And believe it or not, Bradley, it was over a girl. Well, that's not.

I feel like that's common though. Yeah, 9th grade. But what happened? Oh. Like what's like? Yeah, it's so funny. I'm walking to class one day. You know, I'm 9th grade, girlfriends,

no, I'm sorry, I was 8th grade. Girlfriends are 9th grade. Got it. So I'm dating an older woman. Yeah. And I go to class and we used to walk the class. I walk into a class every day. In one day, said me walking into a class,

I see this other guy walking my girlfriend to class. And I go, hey, what the hell is going on here? And she says, hey, we're just friends. Don't worry about it. No problem. We're just friends. It's all right. But no more.

Yeah. So next day, hey, same thing. I'm walking my girlfriend to the client. Hey, hey, hey. And God damn, I let it go yesterday. But somebody from here, that's what. And she goes. And she goes, well, it is exactly what you thought it was, and I like him now.

So I said, I could have been not very understanding. Yeah. I said, I'm going to whoop you to the young fellow. Right, right. And he said, I said, hey, after school, I'm fucking you up, right. So I get out there after school. I'm telling all my friends all day or day. After school, back gate, I'm from the ninth grade.

Yeah. So we go out there, after school, everyone's gabbered around. Ooh, it's going to be a big fight. Man, I miss those days. Oh. It is. It's different now. Yeah, it is.

I mean, it changed right on the spot because up until that moment, it's still a fist fight. Yeah. A fist fight, somebody can get a black eye and go home. Bucks your lip, whatever. You had a fight. Yeah,

no problem, you know. It helps build your reputation or it can f*** your reputation up if you get to look. Yeah. But anyway, I get out there, I can't do my thing.

You know, I'm going to show this girl. You know, he may be prettier than me, but I'll find the wolf is. So, just, I'm getting ready to go.

And then some other cat standing around in the circle, this guy has beer. His beard was longer than yours. in the ninth grade and he said he pulls out of 32 he says hey to you yes yeah if you're not the cat that I'm supposed

to be fighting he goes if you run I'm a kid and he read my mind because I was going to take off soon as I seen the 32 I was going to get up out of it and he said if you run I'm a kid I go god damn

and then the guy that I'm supposed to be fighting comes up and he said yeah yeah he's talking out of that shit about he's going to kick my, well, I'm a West Park boy, and we're going to play there. I don't know what the fuck is West Park? You know what I mean the park? We've been playing with since I was playing in since I was,

so all of a sudden, this part that we've been playing in since we were kids, have the gang. Yeah. It's the West Park boys. And I go, what the, man, what the, man, I just thought he was going to fight. Yeah.

You know what I mean? I didn't know what I was shooting and all this. You're going to kill me. You can have them. he can happen and he was okay with that I was okay when I'm not killing me yeah of course that was it

that was it have you ever had any moments like that in your older years with guns yeah well I mean that was the first time like I said yeah you know later on I had an older brother named Walt who a big Walt

was something else and he got into a lot of things and he would sometimes get me involved in some of the things that he was doing that weren't quite on the up and up. And I had, you know, a few more gun-related incidents with Big Wallet. Yeah. How'd you find your way out of that sort of stuff? And at what age was that? Yeah, I never, you know, like I said, me personally, I would get involved, you know, because of, good friend or relative other people yeah yeah it was me personally that was never my choice

uh you know to do anything like that so uh i i always in defense of somebody else or coming to somebody else's rescue but me it was never my choice to you know yeah that that type of activity never appealed to me i thought it was stupid always in defense of someone else yep always in defense of like a superhero super dummy yeah it's more like it yeah so i mean especially when it comes with guns and shit. Yeah, yeah, it's just not a... Yeah, it's just dumb. So when did you, when did you, like, find the gym?

And when was it, like, became, like, a major part of your life? 1969. Damn. 1969 in the back, in the backyard, started with my big brother Walt. Dad brought us home a set of weights, pig iron. From, you know what pig iron is bad at your life? Yeah, yeah, yeah, like backyard weight. Yeah, but what does it look like?

It's like iron. it's like a kind of like browner color. I've seen it in all your videos. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I'm going to give you a short. And from now, you're going to always know pig iron when you see it. You see it one inch hole in the plate?

Yeah. Pig iron. Okay. So it's a smaller. Yep. It's got to be a one in a toll on the plate. If it's, you know, the Olympic size place is two inches, but the pig iron's one inch. So you see that little skinny hole in the plate, pig iron.

Okay. Yeah. I'm glad I got that now. So you in 1969? Yeah, 19, 10 years old in the backyard, my brother, got that old rusty set of pig iron from the swap meet. I think it was like 80, 90 pounds. We're struggling and shit with it, you know.

And then it got right. Just get a little bit more, get a little bit more yard sales picking. Because at one point, weren't you, like, super heavy? Like, because I feel like at one point I'd seen you, like, 200-something, because you're not super tall. You were like, what were you, like, $250? I was 325. Yeah, I competed as a super heavy rate.

Wait, you were 325 pounds? Absolutely. Competed in super heavy weight, yep. And so obviously everyone always likes to ask you this question in the fitness industry in general, but you weren't natural. Huh? You were natural?

Yes. You're still natural. Oh, yes. Yeah. And you had a world record curl for a long time, right? Yeah. Uh-huh. Yeah.

Well, I mean, um, people need to take a look at you know nobody believes in what I tell what's nice but they all they have to do is take a look at me you know even when I was supposedly in great fantastic bodybuilding shape I would not win any contest I would not there was I mean I won I won I won in the natural athletic bodybuilding was social, it was natural back then. I could do okay against natural guys.

But if I was to compete in a contest that didn't have, they were laughing offstage. I had one vein in my right bicep, and that was it. You know, he's got to be on still. Because I had pretty good vein in my right biceps. Well, it's because you were so strong, I think.

Yeah. I guess, but I don't think it's really unheard of for some guys to be stronger than other guys. For sure. I'm sure that, you know, everybody out there can relate to some kid. They grew up in school with every guy. They grew up when there was some guy at that school who was known for being stronger than the rest of the kids. Yeah. And my brother, myself, were always known, you know, from elementary school forward.

you know from a very young age if you're stronger than the rest of the kids. Yeah. And I know you like to grapple and wrestle with people, but you've known for a long time they were stronger than most of the kids. Yeah. And that's just the, I didn't do it.

You know, the good Lord gave you that DNA, those genetics, and you're just a little bit stronger than everybody else. And, but it's, I'm not, I wasn't the first in my family. My brother Walt was always stronger to me. My dad was strong as hell. And they called my grandpa, grandpa, because he was strong as a mule.

Yeah. Yeah, genetics. I mean, yeah. That's the thing, the fitness industry with the whole steroid conversation is always funny because whether or not steroids or not, there are people just genetically who are just better, like when it comes to fitness shit.

You know, that, people just totally don't believe that anymore. You know, that was the, when I was, growing up that was normal i thought everybody was drug-free yeah and even the guys i seen in the magazine you know steve reeves larry scott dave draper cats like that i thought they were you know all natural because uh i never thought about anything like that i saw these guys got to be uh you know drug free and i just wanted to be like them yeah yeah but uh were those some of your like first inspirations oh yeah definitely uh larry scott uh they had this show that used to come on TV

called a million dollar movie and Larry Scott would come out and he introduced the movies the Hercules movies with Steve Reeves oh shit me and my brother would run to the TV man oh Hercules is coming on here

we run to the TV we didn't want to miss and the Reds Park was also a lot of the people who are listening to people aren't going to know who the hell I'm talking about yeah that's that's the history you know that's where we came when I grew up hearing stories about

my grandpa, my dad, my grandpa pulled a wagon full of wood, paper wood, they call it, out of a ditch that the muse couldn't pull out of the ditch. And I hear stories like that. My dad pulled a tree out of the ground. I hear stories like that. You hear that kind of stuff growing up, then, you know, geared towards strength. And a favorite story, my dad was a preacher, favorite story in the Bible, the story of Samson. And I got older, I named my son. So there he is. sitting right there yeah you know that was my favorite stress they want you do you want to get on here what do you mind what do you mind is that okay yeah he's fine yeah come on here that mic's working right just make sure just check it i'm gonna name my boy samson yeah yeah it's funny because we

he was there we uh we got the fit expo after i i'd taken a photo with you and uh we went to this uh there was like a a punching bag thing yeah yeah And I think he was there, I mean, I know he was there, but he, I think he got the record on hitting the bag. And he was standing there. One of my buddies was like slap me, like before he got ready. You saw it, right? Before he was going to go do the bag. And I was like, at first I was like, no, I don't really want to do it.

And he came back and he was like, no, do it. And I slapped him. And now he almost got knocked out. What? I just slapped him so quick. But I didn't even think I hit him that hard. But yeah, he saw it. But he had the record, though.

He had the record for the punch. strongest punch you can hit yeah that's for sure you know uh you you uh you got a podcast you do all these yeah i have fun i have fun i have fun and i mean one of the things i think that blew you up was uh telling me asking these UFC fires yeah yeah hey you think i could take you yeah so so i want to ask you in your prime you know what i'm going with this yeah in your prime who would win a street fight me or you in my prime in your prime oh my god

Bradley I would crush you I would I'll whip you on the way to a fight I feel like I got the range on you though yeah yeah you got the range all that you're out to do when you get hit hard enough range everything

you get all about your range and how powerful strong you're all I knock you about them clean titty shoes you got over at you Right. You think you, like, would you, would you tackle or just go for a strike? Oh, I would hit you so hard to your fruit of the looms would fall down. You know, I'm having fun, but I, you know, just like you, you have some training.

I had some training also. Yeah, yeah. And, but there's nothing, I mean, brute strength with a little athletic ability and overcome a lot of, lot of things yeah yeah guys i trained to be a professional wrestling for a while and they had uh i walked in off the street being able to do a lot of things that you know guys they've been training a while right but that raw strength and some athletic ability overcomes a lot yeah i i have to i'd have to wrestle two or three guys at the same time because there's one guy it was not enough of a challenge yeah and that was and it was just because of raw power yeah would you get would you get

winded though soon right um man i like the fact i'm like i like that you asked me that because me and joe rogan used to go back and for he said all the muscle guys they get gassed out uh real fast and that's not always the case yeah me and joe would go back and for i mean is and it's always an exception to every rule for sure harsher walker I mean, fucking dynamo running over people on the scene. Muscular as hell.

Endurance up the ass. And it's the same, you know, boxers. There's some boxers. Ken Norton never had a problem with his gas tank. Mike Weaver never had a problem

with his gas tank. Yuel Romero. Yeah. It just depends. But do you think it's something you have to train, though, to have it? No, it's,

yes, of course, training to help me. But if you were born, more muscular, more uh just built some cats are just born go all the way back to jim thorpe the great american indian uh athlete uh athlete he was just superior built right than the rest of the men of that era and if god gives you that superior build he's going to give you the stuff to support it the gas tank and the endurance it's not if that if your muscles

were God-given, you're going to be able to function a lot better than if they were just built in the gym. I see what you're saying. Yes. If you just went to the gym and got all your muscles just from lifting weights, then, then, okay, Joe Rogan, then you'll gas out. But if you're just a naturally built cat, naturally more muscle, naturally more built than the bow jacks. And you know them, you went to school with them. some guy in your school, in your class was just naturally more athletic, naturally bigger,

naturally strong, and could run his ass off, that guy is going to have a good gas. Yeah. I'm assuming, like, even the people who are the top top in the sports like UFC or boxing, they probably, before they even got into it, were probably somewhat gifted in that regard. Absolutely. And then the training obviously excels it to the craziest degree. That's absolutely. I guarantee that, you know, and I talk to.

You had the chance to interview quite a few of them in the show. And they were more athletic than I'm sure than the rest of the guys when they walked in the gym. Yeah, that's a fact. All right, guys, quick and rush for the podcast, Manscape. Yes, I've talked about it before, but I've got to talk about it again. Guys, right now, as you can tell, I have not used the clippers or the trimmers in a long time. That's because I'm going to create a haircut. But when I'm not, like, in between my haircuts, I always have used these products, the Manscape Shavers, the Clippers.

Honestly, I might even go do it before I leave the house because I'm such a mess right now. But do not underestimate the feeling or doing like the self-care stuff. And Manscape has everything you guys need in order to do that stuff. Anything from like body wash to beer trimming to nose trimming, which, you know, is another one that I struggle with sometimes. But listen, I'm getting better. But they have everything you need, right? And right now, if you guys, you can go to Manscape.com, insert code, raw talk. You have 20% off of everything, including free shipping.

they have like I said anything you need for self-care cleaning yourself washing yourself maintaining your you know your private parts everything to keep you nice and clean so that you feel best you perform the best do not skip it go to Manscape right now putting code raw talk get 20% off your entire thing right now let's get back to this podcast um so what how old are you I'm 28 28 right on so you've been training for how long 13 years now has he has he been you like he helped you like absolutely you have you have a lot of natural strength i know you bench crazy numbers i've seen my best was 505 yeah that's amazing yeah that's fucking incredible i think it's like my best it is body weight yeah what was your body weight i was 237 yeah yeah you

really than me i did that 260 so it's strong thank you um so what like i guess in regards to your son um do you want him to do what you've done like as far as It's not what you've done specifically, but in the fitness space, like, do you want him to make content? Do you, like, are you encouraging that? Are you, like, wanting that for him? Or is that something? My number one desire for my son and all my kids is be happy.

Yeah. I don't give a damn what they do as long as they're happy. Yeah, that's the number one thing. He, um, out of all the kids, decided, he decided. Yeah. You know, he was following me to the weight room and stuff when he's a little kid. And he decided that's the path we wanted to. take. I've been just as happy, you know, if he was baseball, play football, or, or, and

he wasn't sitting around doing nothing, but he chose it. So that's, I'm very proud of, very proud. And you, you love training, obviously, you love doing it. Absolutely. Seven days a week. I thought I never find anybody that loved, was more of an iron addict than me. Yeah. But if there was anybody, it's him. That's for sure. What, what do, what do you think it really, takes to be to be great at weight lifting to be great at training obsession to be great at anything radley martin obsession is a necessity do you think do you think an obsession for things because i could definitely relate when i look back on you know all the content all the stuff that i've done it was it was like an obsession where i had this conversation actually last night where even when i

when I had it, the thing that I was working for, I wasn't even so aware that I had it because I was more focused on getting more of it. Yep. I feel like that's the sort of obsession you have to have. When it comes to anything. You're absolutely right. If you want to be the best,

I mean, not to runner up or a close contender. If you want the top pedestal to be number one at any thing, obsession is a necessity. A lot of people say it's a bad word or you shouldn't be obsessed. It's just pick your obsession right. But obsession, if you want to be the number one, the epitome, I am the motherfuckin-one that you heard about.

An obsession is a necessity. Yeah. Do you think, just like genetics, do you think that's something that's God-given or something that can be created? Obsession? Yeah. I think it's God-given himself.

I think in order, that type of personality, a type of drive, you can't teach it. Yeah. You know, people, that's the people that, the people that have no drive whatsoever, harder was to piss me off. Be gross. Yeah. Oh, it hurts me. Well, I, yeah, when you talk about that kind of stuff, it's, I guess, from my perspective,

I just don't understand what else would you be doing if you weren't obsessed about something. Yeah, something, man. You know? Yeah, you know, I went to China and I was giving a seminar. And boy, you know, I was talking about obsession. I was telling me, you know, if you want to be this, you have to be. Same thing I just say, you have to be obsessed. And this one lady stands up and she says, so, I mean, but I, what if you have no obsession?

What if you, you know, just don't have anything you care about that much? Boy, it was really, to really tick everything I had to not, you know, I wanted to say, well, just take your damn ass home, you know what I mean? But I'm like, what do you be? I said, you don't have anything and ain't nothing. There's nothing on earth that you are compassionate about. The first start with something that you are compassionate about. I know you must have something that you're compassionate about.

She said, nope, I sure don't. you are in the wrong seminar young so how do you find it how do you find because i'm sure there's people out there who go like like i want this but i don't know if i'm like really about it how do you find the thing do you think see this is this is where that uh you ask me uh do you have to be born with it yeah and my answer was yes i believe so because some people can't find it because it's just not in them yeah to you know obsession is just it's it's just not that's nothing Is that serious to them? Nothing.

No, I just can't see myself putting everything into something. I can't see myself desiring something that much. The reason that I'm number one, the reason I'm because you don't want it as bad as I want it. You don't desire it as bad as I'm. You won't go as far as I'm willing to go. That's why I'm number one. I had a whole piece where I'd be going like.

And if it's not, there if it's just not there you know there's nothing that I am compassionate enough about to go to any limbs to obtain it you know that's something you have to be born with it and it's just it was from a little kid I was I was I was obsessed I knew I had and little kids you can tell you know I'm not sure I you say myself when I'm four or five I'm not sure what it's going to be where I'm be the best in the fucking planet. Yeah. That's so, that's such an interesting

thing because I can relate. Like I remember being young and always feeling like there has to be more. There has to be more than what I'm doing. Like I know there's more for me. This was back when I was like, it must have been 12 when I first started thinking about this stuff. And then I found the gym and I remember, I remember telling

my mom like, oh, I'm going to do this for the rest of my life. And I remember, I'll never forget this conversation I held with my mom. She was like, yeah, you know, like the gym's cool. and you know me and your dad we used to love it and uh you know but you know maybe you won't you won't be so into it in a little bit and i'm like no i'm gonna do this for the rest of my life yeah and i remember she was like yeah maybe maybe not and and now it's like i talked to her now and she's like damn you really yeah you really meant that so so yeah i guess it is a thing that it's it's weird this just

the conversation around we're talking about stares but then talking about being natural and just genetics in general how certain people just are built and wired differently to like go towards success but I think I think maybe there's just I think maybe people sometimes pick a path that is not so genuine and true to them that's why they can't find the obsession for it back to the yeah back to the thing we said earlier about just seeing oh this guy does it I'm gonna do it but it's not like genuinely true to you yeah copycat imitation um bull, you know, I'm just, you know, I'm going to do what he does. Yeah.

And, you know, you can't, you know, your obsession is fake. You're, I want to be just like that guy. But if it doesn't come from within, it's you, it's not yours. You're just trying to steal it from somebody else. Yeah. So, Sam, I have a question for you. Yes. What is, what is like the number one thing you think that you take forward that you've

learn from your father um just hard work yeah day in day out and that yeah the obsession was just passed down to me i feel like yeah that's pretty much it yeah yeah man i'm like nobody's nobody there never be another person ever in existence that could possibly be obsessed with me i just thought it was i feel the same way yeah yeah i feel the same way like when you say that i'm like not It's me. Yeah. Nobody, nobody can, you know, it's impossible to outdesire me. I want me.

I work me. Just those things just can't be done. Yeah. And then this guy comes along. I said, ah, look, I say, Samson, oh, he's going to miss a workout. I can't believe he's going to miss a workout. Two, three in the morning and then his mom landing in bed, we hit, Bing, Bing, Bing, bang, clang, cheek, chink.

I look out in the backyard, two, three in the morning. He's out there hitting me. I'm not going to miss. I'm not going to miss that. I'm not going to miss. That kid is, you know, his obsession every bit as great as mine.

Yeah, it's dope, man. I thought that was an impossibility. That's beautiful. I mean, genetics, another example of it. I want a question. I want to ask a question. I want to ask this about, you you've you had a heart transplant yes since we last talk you had a heart attack what in

2015 18 20 2018 and then didn't you have something in 2005 yeah yeah I sure did uh in 2005 I had a they replaced my aortic valve so how did you struggle had you had issues with your heart for a while um everybody on my mom's side of the family uh have I had heart issues my mom all nine of her brothers and sisters passed away from heart problems. My older brother that I was telling me about earlier passed away from heart problems. So we are genetically inclined

for heart problems. So yeah, in 2005, I had my first open heart surgery and replaced my a heart valve and it was doing pretty good and, you know, lasted all the way up until 18 when I had that. The other people that passed away from heart problems, did they pass away from the first heart attack? um first heart attack um no some survived the first one um you know like i survived the the aortic uh open

heart surgery replacing aortic valve with a metal valve that lasts to me 13 years until you know I had the heart attack in 18 it's do you think part of because the mind's such a powerful thing Absolutely. Do you think part of your ability to recover and come back and continue on is because of the obsession? Undoubtedly. Yeah. Undoubtedly.

That's such an interesting thing. Undoubt. The mind is super poverty, right? Yeah. Because I feel like at some point, like obviously you can't go, oh, I'm having a heart attack. I'm not going to die because I'm so willingly not going to die. No. But because it could take you regardless.

But like part, like, I just find it so interesting that you've gone through so much of that and you're still here you're still you're still sharing it you're still talking about it definitely it's like there's a reason for that yeah I I wholeheartedly agree but and you like you just said you're not going to be like I'm going to wheel myself through this heart attack because when it hit me I thought that was definitely it I'm sitting on the couch Samson just like now yeah I had this heart attack Samson sitting right I thought it was it I thought I was done and you know I apologize to him for leaving. I thought I was leaving.

I said I'm leaving, you know, a lot sooner than I thought I would. Like while it was happening? Yeah. You know, sorry, you know, that dad's not going to make it. I'm not going to, you know, I'm not going to me. I really wanted to see, you know, grow up and stuff, but I'm not going to make it.

And here what this next day is. He said, you're not going to die. You are not going to die. And I, frankly, I thought. But sure, I wasn't going to see, you know, the next day. There's no way. I didn't think I was going to see the next few minutes because it felt like an elephant was sitting on my chest.

And I could barely get little tiny sips of air. I mean, I ain't no way I'm making it through this. So you were sitting right next to me? What was that like? From your perspective. That's crazy. Yeah. It was crazy.

But I don't know, it was just, I literally can just feel, you know, God in the room. That's the best way I can explain it. It was, it was a crazy event, but I knew he was going to pull it through. I actually put my hand on his lap. You like just felt, you just felt it. Oh, yeah, I felt confident. You weren't, you weren't, like, scared. Yeah.

I said right there, put my hand on his lap. I just told him to keep talking to me. You know, and I was like, you're going to make it through. You're not going anywhere. I literally told him. Oh, no, dude. he looked up at me his eyes were kind of like rolling back

like he was going out he looked up at me you know when I was close he looked at him like I believe you wow he was so positive I still had the pictures I thought it was going to be the last time you know I potentially saw him that's so crazy

yeah I'm like no man but a whole lot of a whole lot of crazy things happened that night and through my you know the rest And when I went to, it got me to the emergency room, by the time the ambulance got there, Samson had convinced me that I wasn't really, I said, I got a change, you know, because he was so positive.

He's like, you're good. You just walk it off. You're good? And they brought the stretcher in. I said, I can walk. I'll walk to the ambulance. I was like, are you sure? And I'm like, I can walk.

And I stood up, he had convinced me that I wasn't going to walk to the ambulance and I got there. But it was, you know, it was still, the elephant was still. And I get to the emergency room and a little lady, I still don't know if that was an angel or not. Little lady comes in and she says, CT, you can't die because too many people are dependent on me. for me i was ready to go i'm like man you know i lord i did the best i could i tried to you know be a good at persons i could to help him and but i'm like okay i the way this is feeling i said if this is going to continue i'm ready to go just go ahead i see moms and get to see my brother and yeah go ahead take me out she said too many people are depending on you and for me i really go but when

She said other people was dependent on me, then I could fight. So for me, I'm, okay, I'm okay, I can go. But when she said, too many people are dependent on you, I got to fight. Got to fight for them. It's funny because the story we shared earlier is about, it's always like about for other people. Yeah. Have you lived your life like that, like always? Absolutely.

Like in service to family and service to friends. yeah absolutely absolutely i think that's the best way to be i think that's what life's all about ultimately at the end of the day i think that's why i'm still here i agree yeah i agree that's why i'm glad i got you on here to talk about it because the you know we talked about how everyone kind of copies to be this or be that because like they think they're going to have riches or whatever it is but ultimately like it's cool but it doesn't make you great no you know what makes you great is how you impact and how you how you change, how you shape other people. That's it.

It's a whole bunch of rich. Yeah. Yeah, you're absolutely right, brother. So you had a full transplant now at this point, right? Yes. And do you know whose heart that was? The only thing I know about her. Okay.

So you got a woman's heart. Yes. The only thing I know about her. So you probably can't bench as much now. No. That's true. That's my, I don't know. But it ain't because it's a woman's right.

women don't I know fuck that bradley said I just fuck that it was a shitty joke sorry guys they can be picking up

down in front of your house man sorry Bradley said yeah yeah yeah yes I have a woman's heart I found that

the doctor was not supposed to tell me and I know that she was close to my age yeah so that's the only thing you know I know about it

I wrote a letter to the family and never got a response for it damn yeah such a crazy experience a heart transplant because i remember i remember i saw pictures and like you had your face was like swollen because is it because of the medicine that they yeah a bunch of prednisone for they give you they give you a you know a ton of medication

and the side effects on that medication sucks yeah yeah you've worked all the way through all that though yeah yeah you know i'm not gonna be running no marathons or a rassman bradley martin but you know i'm still here So what do you think you have left to do? What does you really want to do? What else is, like, most important to you right now? The most important thing is help as many people as I can because, like I said, I think that's the reason why I'm still here.

I want to take care of my family as, you know, super high on my priority list. That's what I created, Iron Addicts for. Yeah. I was trying to take care of my family and leave them something once I'm gone. Yeah. but helping as many people that's the reason I believe I'm here And how do you think

How do you think you can most help as many people? Like what do you think you can do it with? Well, anytime I have an opportunity I've wanted to go Inside the prison system for a long time And we were able to do that recently And you know, the prisoners We went to a maximum security prison

And the prisoners like... Which one? Which one? And, you know, the first thing they told me about was that people have forgotten about us. People have forgotten about us, even our families, and I've been in there so long. Their families don't come to see them anymore. You figure 20 years behind bars, 30 years behind bars, you're going to lose a lot. And they're like, you know, we appreciate you coming so much because people have written us off. They just don't care about us anymore.

Those are the throwaways from society and people just have forgotten around. And man, I was right where I wanted to be, right at home. I felt more at home in that maximum security prison than I did many Sundays in my dad's church. Why do you think that is? Because of the worst, the worst of the worst people that I've ever met were not behind bars. they were in church every Sunday. Absolutely. That's tough.

What do you think is just like, I don't know, people who are, what, self-righteous? What makes them absolutely the worst is because these are the people that are supposed to be set an example for the rest of us, poor sinners. These are the people that are condemning the rest of us to hell. These are people who are, you know,

setting the more. moral example and telling everybody how they're supposed to live and in the meantime they somebody's wife yeah or you know it's absolutely the worst and worse when you're supposed to be the example how to do things right yeah and you're wrong as fuck why do you think that's such a common thing though for humans because that's like it's always it i seen this so many times in my life it's always the people who will be like we'll also tell you your you're a bad person when they're doing the most fucking up because they and that's what makes them the worst because of you know the guys behind bars were they hey i i fucked up i did this

i did that you know they're honest about it to you hey but the the person that's supposed to be leading the example leading by example uh condemning you for everything yeah that you could possibly you Oh, no, I mean, so many people got me roasting in hell and ain't even funny, brad. I mean, you know, they hear me say, oh, man, they got me on a rotisserie, the highest flames, they got the oven set on the highest flame. They got me cooking, man. Like you're the bad guy. Yeah, I'm terrible if that's, you know, according to them.

And the guy sent me a book recently. And, you know, he said, oh, he wrote a nice letter. Oh, you're doing wonderful things, you're doing this, you're doing that. And if you would just get your soul right with God, that's how he ended. If you would just get your soul right with God, then everything would be wonderful. And I'm like, you don't know me. You see a guy on YouTube or Instagram or something saying some bad words, and you feel like, you know, you're my judge and my.

jury I can you say be somebody judge and jury and you don't know them yeah they're looking at you on instagram or or or uh youtube and say hey brad they've got you all sized up bradley they're saying oh bradley they they're bradley's they talk about you like they know you yeah been there like they're your friend like they've been coming over sitting down for fucking dinner and you guys been conversating, you know, for 20 years. That's how they talk about you. Yeah. Like they know you.

They don't know you. They have no idea who you are. Yeah. And they talk to you, you know, like, you know, they've been a family, a family friend or at least close to you. It's just so stupid. Yeah. I think it's just a matter of tuning it out because I don't know. I guess people are so obsessed with, I guess,

I guess because of social media with other people's lives. And like you said, even not just from the church aspect, but just in general, like, persecuting and saying what you're doing is bad when, like, oftentimes, like, you know, their own closet is all fucked up. And it's like, yo, I think people are more comfortable, especially when it comes to, like, certain figures in a space to go, like, oh, let me, like, shoot my shots at you because I don't want to clean my own shit up. And it's more comfortable for me to reprimand you than change or look at myself.

totally ignore, you know, their own situation or, I don't know if they're blind to their own inequities or just don't acknowledge it. My dad was, you know, the biggest holiness of hell fiber. So, I mean, he had me roasting too. And, you know, he was several different sisters and you know you know and deacons wives and whatnot and I didn't find out I had a younger sister until after my bomb passed away I'm 50-some years all of a sudden I got a sister that I never knew about yeah and I'm like man yeah I always you know we never got along but uh I start you know I found out even more after he passed away yeah that he was doing you know and I'm like man, this is church folks.

And I've seen it, you know, since I grew up in church, I've seen it time and time again. Preachers would come before they would stop, before they come to church, they had to stop my sister Sally's house. You know, before they were making the church. I'm like, man, this is horrible. So I, you know, I really didn't want anything to do with church

when I got, to be. Did it ever, did it ever affect your, like, connection with God. No. Yeah. Church God, two different things. Yeah, I totally feel that because I had a really hard time, which is God in general and just the belief.

But I remember it started with church because I grew up in a Catholic church. And I remember thinking like, why are we doing this? It has to be this certain way. And I always felt like, you know, you know, and they're like take the money and they want to take it. I was always like, does God really want this? Like, I feel like this isn't a God thing. This is like a human thing where I can like get some cash.

and I remember being a really little kid and being like, I don't think God wants this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then you know, as I grew up and then you find out how much money, you know, the churches have and how much, it's like, they can fix all these problems, like, but they don't.

And it's just interesting. It just becomes like a human, you know, it's a human vice while like leveraging religion to like capture almost money. Yeah, absolutely. I, you know, always tell people I'm not, religious because religion, I associate religion in church all together, but do I believe in God? Oh, I will match my faith against anybody who's in church every Sunday and, you know, got me roasting in hell.

I'll match my faith because I've been in the situation to where your faith has to be really tested. Yeah. Now, I'd like to see what some of those people who got me roasting in the hell would do at their life. was on the line would you still I mean would you where would your faith would your faith be strong enough to get you through dying a few times that's that's what I would would your faith be strong enough that while you got me roasting in hell would your faith hold up on the distress of damn dying would you still hold on to what you're talking about in the face of death that's what I want to know

That's a real test of faith, but, you know, like you say, the internet people got me roasting in hell and, you know, telling me, yeah. So how, so how do you, how do you maintain the faith even, even in a place like that? And you went, right, really, if you really, if you are really real, it's no problem. If you are really, if that's what you, if you really believe in God, and the only way you really know is by having a personal relationship with him. I don't need your pastor to interpret to me what God's message is because it's so simple for me to talk to him a damn self. I don't have to ask you know Reverend who or pastor or bishop nobody to talk to God for me. Your priest, I don't have to ask your priest to talk to God for me. That's what my knees is for. I get on my knees and pray to God myself.

I don't need an interpreter or translator or anything for that. I talk to God myself. And when I talk to God myself, I ain't got no interference. And I know for sure that my relationship with him is real because it's been tested. I'm laying there between and that, hey, God is up to you, man. Whether I make it or not, if I don't make it, if I make it through this, I don't make it through this, I still believe in you. I love you and I'm going to serve you the rest of my days for however long they are in a few hours or 30 more years

I'm going to serve you because we got this where I can talk to you so that's beautiful I love it man damn yeah I struggle with it for a long time I think because I I probably fell in the category of someone who felt like sort of hurt about like my circumstances and kind of like just damn why this happened to me and why is my life this way but I think like Looking back on all that stuff now, the perspective I have is like, this was all supposed to be a part of my life. Absolutely. Yeah, like all the stuff.

I mean, truthfully, I was, again, there's another conversation I was having the other day was like, I think people are so focused on our lives and like whatever we're doing or the things we have in it being like some perfect picture. And it's just so unrealistic. Like we're supposed to be hurt. We're supposed to feel pain. We're supposed to, like, not be great all the time because that is what life is. Because at some point, all of that's gone, right? And it's like, people are so resistant to pain. People are so resistant to, like, anger, like, oh, I, everything is like, everyone thinks, like, I don't know, as if something's going to be, you know, if I do enough of this, then I won't have to worry about anything.

If I do this, then everything will be good. And it's like, that's not a real, like, possibility. That's not what life is. Like, you have to be just as accepting of the good as you, of the shit stuff. happening to you. And so what you're saying is like even the moments of like literal death, you're like, I'm giving it up to God and I believe whatever is supposed to happen is supposed to happen. He's in charge. How can you not stress about the possibility of having open heart surgery? Why aren't you stressed out? You could die, man, don't you know that? You could die.

Yes, I do know that. And I also know that me stressing and worrying about it is not going to change a damn thing. Yeah. So I'm going to leave it in the hand. and somebody who can do something about it. I'm going to leave everything in God's hand because I have the faith to believe that if he wants me to live, I'll live. And if he don't want me to live, then I won't live. And I have that much faith.

Yeah, when did you really start to develop that? Because it's kind of along the same lines of like, get without completely just giving up because it's just a belief, right? It's a faith. Like when did you really start to develop that? And you're like, was that when you're younger or when you're older?

Absolutely. absolutely when I was a kid you know I I used to hate every evening I would hate to hear my dad's keys in the front door because he was like a time bomb I never knew you know what it was going to be today I mean I only is he going to find what excuses you're going to use to beat my ass today yeah I did a lot of praying a lot of as a kid man oh god please just let me get through this you know I did a whole lot of praying and a whole lot of prayers was answered so I had prayers answered from you know being a little kid uh so all my faith was strong from even you know five six years old I'm praying so I always

so the prayers that you were you were seeing that stuff come to fruition like as a yeah man I was hey don't let them kill me I was like you know one of my number one of my number one of my number one Hey, please, God, don't let this crazy zombies kill me. Yeah. I made it through. I made it through my time. Because he would hit you, beat you a lot. Yeah.

Now, most of the time, most of the time, you just beat us with a lebit belt or, you know, water holes or something like that. But, hey, once in a while, it would be closed, close fist, you know, broken nose, broken cheekbones. Yeah, yeah. And did you deal with that a lot? more than I wanted to for damn sure I mean we got we got our

weapons was quite frequent a regular ass whoopin you know what they would call child abuse now but a regular ass whipping with a belt or you know that was you know

that's pretty what's your opinion on that like obviously not beating out of your kids but as far as like you know reprimanding your kids like do you think there is some necessary

definitely I think beating is not necessary yeah But definitely kids have to have some guidelines or they will run smooth over your ass. Yeah. Yeah. Did you grow up with like, how was he as a father in that sense?

Yeah, he didn't beat me or anything like that. He was really, by him looking at me a certain way, already knew the shit. You know, like, oh, yeah. Once those eyes got big, yeah, you know, calm down. And that one over there I used to beat her all the time The eyes would do the beating

Look when you were serious Like, no, look, look, motherfucker You get kid away now You see cool I feel like there's I'm not saying People can beat their kids Or hit their kids

But they're definitely What you're saying is true Like, because I think nowadays I don't know I see video Where I'm like Kids just run crazy Yeah

Because I think now everyone just goes like that instead of dealing with their kids they're like just put this in their hand and they're just trying like yeah it's just weird because like we're not I don't know people aren't learning certain because I also feel like kids grow up and they get on the internet and there's saying people who will just like will just be reckless what things they say and the way that they treat people because like maybe they didn't get like smacked it like yeah it's it's an interesting time for sure oh I would I would uh you know I wish my dad would said yeah time out yeah or here's a iPad right fucking do the time out going your room oh my god

that would have been heavy you know what I mean so do you think do you think the way that you were raised in a little more a little more brash like that helped shape you though to who you are everything that happened helps it just like you said I mean it's all of that all the stuff you know when you were questioning the good Lord and good Lord said hey Bradley I had to take you through this you had to go through this so you could get on that microphone somebody to hear your story and it'll help the out of it yeah it is really yeah it's always interesting because when you're in it it never feels like yeah it feels like it's like you're alone yeah but it took all that to make you who you are it took all of every last bitter the ass weapons the five frat lines

Army, all of that, church, all of that. It took all of it to make C.T. for two, C2 is. It's beautiful, man. I mean, it's all perspective, right? Like, you see it now. Did you see it when you were going through it? Shit, no. No, I'm, no, I didn't, I had no idea.

I was, the heart, you know, the first time when I had open arms, surgery, man, I was like, why? I mean, why? I mean, why? Because I was, you know, I was still, when I first had, when I first started to start to tell me the problems started getting really bad, I had just come to the greatest men's press in America. And I was, you know, I was still on top of the strength world. And they were like, you know, doctors told me before that last contest, hey, you know, you could die right there on because your valve was so weak, if you're trying to lift 700 pounds and it could destroy the value.

You could break right there on stage and you die right in front of all those people. Yeah, from the pressure. Yeah. I said, what a way to go. Yeah. Doc, if I got to go. That'd be the way.

Oh, yeah. See, that's the best fucking way. You couldn't write a better scenario than that. Doc, this is wonderful. I said, you're telling me, man, this is music to my ears. and then to, you know, go and have the valve repaired and just, I was like a skeleton after that shirt.

Yeah. It was 325, came out of the hospital, went 195. So I felt like a skeleton. Holy. So what is that like? What is that like mentally? It is, you know, it was a hell of a mental test. I'm like, man, I felt like a, my, my.

My brother was, my brother sat next to me and all I could see was how, you know, pity. He was pitying me big time because I was, I couldn't, he couldn't even understand what I was saying. Yeah. So, so much medication or wicked, he's like, man, I think he was crying. He was like, man, you know, you look horrible. Yeah, I know, I feel horrible. But, yeah, it's something else. So it was a real.

And I'm like, God, if this is going to continue, please, I ask God to take me out. Yeah, if I have to be the rest of my life like this, please just kill me. So when did it start to kind of come back? Like how long after the first replacement? Yeah, the first, okay, that was in 2005. And I would say by 2000, it took three, four years. for me to start to get back and then by the time I got on you 2012 or the time I got on YouTube I had totally changed a different way of working out yeah before I was power

lifter you know short reps and a lot of heavy weight couldn't do the lot of heavy weight anymore so I just yeah went back to the original style backyard style yeah which is we just trying to outdo each other all like failure yeah complete failure You know, we're going to keep going to somebody gives up, and I ain't giving up. Well, I ain't giving up even. We just go back and forth. It's just crazy, even after the heart stuff is like, still doing it. Oh, yeah.

I'm still trying to lift weights, man. So, you know, I'm just that egg thing. You probably do it until the day you die, huh? Oh, I'm definitely going to do it today I die. There's no question about it. I love that, man. I love it. No question.

What do you think in life, what do you think are the day? the most important things to focus on when you're going towards any any sort of goal or uh focused on if you have a uh a goal i think the number one thing is not that what anybody says says um disway you or throw you off track uh from that goal i mean i don't know damn what you know The most, like I always say, the most encouraging words I ever heard came from people who told me I couldn't do something. I mean, that's the best encouragement I could ever get as for you to tell me I can't do it. Oh, you can't do that. Yo.

Watch me. Dude, that's so funny because I remember before I did a, I did like a 315 squad on like a hoverboard and the one like super viral. Oh, wow. Yeah, you started that. All that dumb shit. Doing each other crazy. I did. You got his own couches.

Yeah. Lifting random shit. You did it. But I remember, based on what you just said, I remember literally before I did that, Nadine, my videographer at the time was like, I was like, yeah, we're going to film this. I have this hoverboard because it was popular at the time. Yeah. And I was like, I'm going to try to squat as much as I can.

So I'm like starting with the bar. I did the bar. And I did a plate. And I did another plate. And I was like, I'm going to try 315. Even though it was like max weight limit on it was like, I don't know, maybe like 300 pounds on just the thing. And I'm already obviously like 250. And he was like, this is a really bad idea.

And I remember when he said that, I was like, oh, I got to do it then. I have to do it. If you think it's a bad idea. Got to do it. And then it was like one of the most vitals on ESPN all over the place. So it's funny how it is those things that people are like, I don't know. But that's, I mean, that's, I guess the story of the world where it's like most things that are like spectacular or like amazing are always things that people go, ah, that's like everyone is like, that's not, you shouldn't do it. Yeah.

And then it's done. And everyone goes, oh, wow. Holy shit. Maybe I can do it. It's only impossible until someone crazy enough comes along and does that shit. Yeah. And they're like, oh, man, don't fucking do that. No.

You know they told Orville and Wilbur Wright the same. You can fly. You must be crazy. You guys can't fly. Yeah. Look at the shit now. Yeah. It's like, it always comes back to that same thing that I'm thinking about to,

like the genetics and just the predisposition to things is like there's just in people who are just different absolutely i think that uh every ufc fighter every boxer uh you know in combat sports bare knuckle fighters whatever if you are willing to get in there and do that um i think you first of all i think you deserve some respect because everybody can't do it and everybody's not wired like that yeah yeah built like that I liked, when I was younger, I liked fighting, but fighting was not my goddamn magnificent obsession. Yeah.

I had to get in there and try it for myself because I thought, I thought, maybe, I said, this might be it. Yeah. I do enjoy it. I like, this might be it. You get in there. And if you do it often enough, you'll find out real fast if this is what I really want to do.

Yeah. Because all people talk about, oh, yeah, yeah, I can't wait, I want to be. But if you really, it takes a different type of person to want to fight, be really a fighter. Yeah. You know, just practice and sparring every day is a job. Getting hit upside your head on a daily basis. It's a job.

And everybody ain't cut out for that job. Yeah. I knew after the Ed Parker's International Karate Championships in 1981, this ain't my job to sing what I want to do all the time on the full base. Let me go back to lifting weights. Yeah. So that's, has there, had there been

anything else that you tried, like, professionally or amateur, like besides the fighting? Fighting, professional, I had my hand at, trying my hand at professional wrestling. Yeah, that's right. I loved it. I loved the training. I loved the training because, oh, man, it was

a body slamming or whatever. I just really enjoyed body slamming people. but when they when they told me everything was going great and when they told me that you know I'd be in a different city every weekend yeah I'm like yeah I still had little kids you know they had to have health insurance and I'm working I'm working at the post office which I hate it I'm like man I would like to be a professional resident like so I give it a try and rest but when they say you know be in a different city every weekend you ain't gonna have no help insurance

England at this game and I was like oh this is pretty I don't know about I I worked at the post office 8 12 hours whatever and then I would come home then I go to wrestling practice and I wrestle wrestle wrestle I come home I walk through the door and that little girl right there would meet me at the door and she would wrap wrap around my leg man I would walk soon I walk through she's wrap around my leg and I couldn't I couldn't walk see I had I had if I had to go any place. I had to drag her across the whole room. She was not getting me. She was hold on to my leg until I get to my seat. I'm like, baby, I'm tired. I don't care. She was hugged up on my leg, man. But I didn't do the pursuit of wrestling career because I loved everything about it. I said, I can talk. I can slam the hell out of people. This is wonderful. I can make a living doing this is wonderful. But

No benefits. No benefit. Not starting out. You know, I guess once you get up to a high enough range, you probably. I'm just like, imagine you now. Like, what if you just popped in like a little cameo? That'd be so, like some WWE. Oh, man, yeah.

That'd be so cool. That'd be wonderful. That'd be so cool. I'd like that. I can still cuss. Yeah, definitely there. Definitely there. So what's your take on, I don't know how, if you ever talk about this stuff, but like,

politically, like, what's your take on, um, of like the state of, I guess, the United States in general right now and how fucking divided it seems like it's been. You think it's, because you've been around a lot longer than I've been around, do you think it's more divided or less divided than when you were younger? It's more divided than ever right now, I think. Which is crazy because you were talking about segregation earlier. Yeah, yeah.

I think it's more, you know, it was pretty black and white back then. I mean, you, you knew exactly, you know, there wasn't no, the shit, the way. The way it is now, man, I, you know, I have, that's one thing that I never discuss is politics. Yeah. Because I have, you know, I'm sure I have some very good friends that have a totally different political outlook than I have. Right. And, you know, and I want to keep them, my very good friend. That's why I don't discuss fucking politics.

Yeah. Because, you know, I think all politicians are foolish. Now, I can't say that. You know, and I don't think any of them were exemplary examples of how we should be. Yeah. You know, all of them. Yeah, no, I get you. I'm sorry.

But as far as the vision, I guess, in the world, right? And not even necessarily politically. I'm just saying in general. Yeah. What do you think about? Why do you think it's gotten to that point? Oh, man, because I think we've gotten away from the basics, the basics. We've got to stay so far away from the basic goodness or basic set of rules.

And we just, everything is acceptable now. Things that you were unheard of. are just commonplace now. Yeah. You know, when I grew up, it was such a totally different world. And what's happening now seems like not even, you know, when we had movies back in my day

of what the future would look like, they were nothing like what the future actually is. You know, like this is so wild. What's acceptable? what's being taught in schools and what they're trying to get taught in school. Yeah, it's fucking crazy. It's just crazy.

I'm like, man, am I the only one who thinks this is some boo- No, I don't think so. I think a lot of people are just afraid to talk about it. Yeah, absolutely. But it is a place where like now, it's like, like you said, if everything is like just so acceptable that people kind of lose, I feel

like, certain structure. Yeah. And then it just, it almost just turns out like a free-for-all and then everyone is like I'm right you're wrong you're wrong it's like it's it just becomes this like giant pissing contest and everyone is just feeling like they want to like want to each other be better or be right when it's like dude this like you said the basic set of principles that people are getting away from which is like treat other people just good it's absolutely it's it's the debate over how much

many genders there are. People are actually debating. Yeah. How many genders there are? That's fucking crazy. I never thought that I would live long enough for it to be a debate. Yeah.

Over how many genders there are. Yeah. I'm like, what the hell? Are you kidding me? Yeah. Is this real? I'm looking at it and I'm going, is this real?

Yeah, it's crazy. And it's crazy to think that certain things being taught in school is like there's also just certain things that maybe kids should just be focusing on like school. Not like different. You know, like let them grow up and figure that out. Yeah, it's a wild shit. Because the problem with it is like not that it's 100% a problem, but it's like an adult teaching a kid about something that like they're not even fully aware of

within themselves to say, hey, this is. is it. It's like, oh, that person kind of has to walk their own path to get there, you know? And it's interesting how now, now it's like... They want them to decide, you know, when they should be coloring coloring books like that. Yeah, learning math and science and shit.

Yeah, they want them to decide, you know, life decisions. Yeah. And they're still in elementary school. And I'm like, what the fuck is this? Is this really happening? Yeah, and it's crazy because, you know, you grew up in a time.

time and it was just so different than that and now it's at this and it means like i grew up in this like in between of it all yeah and i'm still looking at it like what the it's happening i'm shocked because i have conversations with people and i've talked about this before where i'll hear stuff you know you read about stuff on the internet but then i've actually met people in real life where like hey my kid was being taught like literally i was at the beach my kid was being taught this and i was like oh that's real i thought i thought maybe they were just saying that on Twitter to like piss people off but it's like this is a real thing that was happening I was just kind of like that's it's just weird like I wonder what the purpose is like to just

everyone has sort of like no identity so that it's like just like this mashup of like I don't know what the what the reason of it would be like why would it be why would we be going in that direction that's a perplexing but um um if you're a strong person of faith then of course they're going to place place the blame on evil or the devil and they're going to say that this is his work and that's and yeah shit i ain't i'm not going to be a I'm not going to be so fast to disagree with them. I'm trying to, when I look for an explanation, that's as good as any. Yeah.

It's what the f*** this agenda is fucked up. Yeah. I wonder where it all lands. I was really curious about that. Yeah, that's a damn good question. Where are you going to? You think they would draw the line here, and every time you think they're going to draw.

It gets further. Yeah. They keep adjusting it, you know, making it a little, well, that's acceptable. And then move it up a little bit further. Yeah. I think everybody has to draw their own individual lines. Yeah. I'm going to take a stand right here.

And, you know, bad to me, it ain't no whole bunch of different decisions on how many goddamn genders there are. You know, you like me, don't like me. I really don't give them. I think not give a fuck is a tremendous anxiety reliever. Yeah. If you don't get a fuck. I was reading, I was listening to an audio book when I was driving up to go snowboard, but it was, yeah, I think it was about the art of not giving it or something.

Yeah, man, it's tremendous and battling anxiety. Just not give a lot of times because you, you know, care about something too much, or you're stressing over something too much. You're fixate it on it. fixated on something too much but if you don't give a about a whole lot that reduces your stress level

a lot yeah and I think it puts in perspective of the things that do actually matter yeah like family like friends like love yeah absolutely that's it

tell me genuine do you think it is Bradley Mark too I see that's a silly question I wanted you to say it because a lot of people are fucking afraid to say it

no I'm not afraid to say it yeah absolutely two yeah no never been afraid to say it too i think i think it requires more people to to to kind of speak about it because like there are a lot of people like you said because people are afraid of it they are afraid but like that's a that's a scary thing because that concept in general is like are people being taught to forego like their genuine thoughts or beliefs on things because they're afraid of what speak yeah and then it's that that is the greatest problem i think that we face as just as a human afraid to draw like you said draw your own lines because listen my line doesn't have to be someone else's line absolutely but i if i just don't stand on

anything then i'm living for nothing absolutely so i just think it's interesting like anyone go do what you want to do but man like it's yeah it's a weird it's a weird time when people are afraid to to stand and say hey this is this is what i believe this is what i think especially People in your position with millions of followers, they're afraid of losing that position of losing. Oh, I can't say that because I'm going to lose 100,000, 200,000 followers. Well, look, there's two genders. And if I lose every last one of them, it's still two genders.

And to be honest, I don't think, I don't think now, I think a lot more people are. starting to feel this sort of same idea where they're like why why have we been sort of coddling to this sort of idea so there I think there are a lot more people who stand now and say like hey like this is how I feel too I hope so no there are I do believe that genuinely I've seen it bro that's good that's a good thing because yeah I mean it's just it's getting crazy where it's like I mean I don't know at one point I was hearing something like someone identified as a tree or something I'm just like listen that's your thing that's your thing but the problem

problem isn't even so much in that. It's when other people are making you feel like you can't believe something because they believe something else. That's where it's like, because that concept, if you take that to the farthest degree is like, then someone can basically say anything. And if we could all get those people to believe it, then we make you all feel like you're wrong when it could be something that's really bad if we're just going to fall in line. And that's not human nature. Yeah, that's the nature of a sheep to just go along with the crowd. Yeah, I always say the best reason not to do something is because every fucking else is doing it.

I think that's the best reason not to do it is because everybody else is fucking doing it. I'm going to do it just because Bradley's doing it. Yeah. I'm going to do it just because everybody else seems to think this is okay. Yeah, think for yourself. It's the easy road. Absolutely. We're all taught.

We've been taught forever now. just take the easy road yeah that's just the most common man gotta change it yep gotta start start like today one podcast at a time yeah yeah yeah one conversation at a time yeah for sure so i guess one of the one of the last questions i have for you um did you think that your life would be this way? Absolutely not. I always felt as a young guy that I'd never live to be an old guy.

Why? I never wanted to. You never wanted to live to be an old guy. My whole plan as a kid was to grow up to shoot as high as I possibly could, reach for the stars, hit one of them up, and die. That was my game. playing me as you know for me that was the end-all be-all to be the best as something

once I'm you know I as a kid I thought it was gonna be fighting I wanted to be the headway champion of the world because my idol was Muhammad Ali yeah so one of the gonna grow up I'm gonna be the headway champion the world once I reached that goal I can die I happy so you didn't you never thought you were gonna be old never damn yeah now that you're here yeah is it whole different ball game is it is it is it like a little bittersweet oh man I love being old this is my absolute favorite time of life why is that it's it's uh I don't stress about you know stress about a damn thing when I was young at all kind of stress and nerves all my kids is grown and I get to play with my grandkids every day

man this is early bird special you can't beat that man being old is wonderful getting those discounts let's go yeah r p cards and everything it's great damn that's beautiful though man yeah it's great so you're so you're happy the way it's all gone very yeah very happy yeah everything heart transferring everything i'm happy about everything i love it man so what do you what do you want to what do you want to like leave this on what do you want to leave this with what do you want to leave the world with um if uh if if people just you know once i'm gone which uh you know who knows how long that's going to be um if they would just say he was he was a he was a good dude and he really tried i'd be happy well i'd say that about you just based on what i know i already know that's true

It's a good dude And he really tried He gave it as all Simple, man Simple but sweet Yeah, that's it It's funny how we complicate shit though Yeah

For so long Now hey I want to say this On your practice Just in case You know Everybody out there We'll see witnesses

When I die I don't want a fancy funeral I want a plain Pine box Plain pine box And I want a mute To pull it to the cemetery Other than that

I want no big old fancy coffee like that That's what I want So if you see anything different They did it wrong Somebody didn't do what I wanted Yep I love it man Well I really appreciate you coming today

Genuinely Thank you for having me back And you've been like a really big piece Of the fitness industry I hope you know that Like genuinely It's still amazing to me I appreciate the hell out

Yeah You started a whole wave And you know created a whole culture and it's beautiful to see man and i'm happy that like you've been able to pass it on and give it to your son and give it to your family and you know give it to everyone out there who's watched for so long and i know a lot of people love and respect you so i'm glad that you came on and i appreciate your time genuinely appreciate the hell out of you yeah man all up all

love yeah yeah thank you coming for coming for real yeah thank you