The Joe Rogan Experience - #1416 - Rob Kearney

Episode Date: January 21, 2020

Rob Kearney is the only openly gay professional strongman. He currently holds the American record for the log press, at 471 lbs. There is also a documentary about his life currently in production: https://gf.me/u/ykhgkv

two you are the first ever person with a mohawk on this podcast oh yeah congratulations i think right is that accurate yeah just say yes make me feel good definitely the first with a purple and blue oh it's a full rainbow man oh yeah that's right all the way down the back very very nice absolutely very nice now first of all i love your fucking handle world's strongest gay that's me that's hilarious this is there in that community is there acceptance is there open is it just about like they don't give a fuck just as long as you're a real power lifter yeah oh yeah yeah no it's um yeah when i came out it was super cool uh nobody really gave me any shit um that's the best part about strongman you know i know you had rob oberst in here uh not too long ago and he even mentioned yeah you know

he's something but i love him um you know he mentioned just like the community of strongman so it's awesome because like we all realize what we have to do to get to this level of sport and we all have to be a little bit of you know sick and twisted in the head to look at a truck and get excited to pull it. So, yeah, when I came out, like, nobody really gave a shit. They were just like, all right, as long as you can still lift weights, we don't care. Yeah, that's, it mirrors the comedy community in that way. For sure.

Like, stand-up comedy community, nobody gives a shit. No. As long as you're funny and you're doing your job, like, that's all that really matters. And we know some that are in the closet and we're like come on man just no one cares come out no one no one gives a shit it'll probably be funnier right it's more subject matter for sure you know not holding on to as much it's easier to talk like you know i came out just like you know the you know weight off my shoulders was uh was unbelievable well how long ago was this? Uh, that was 2014. So I was 22 years old. Oh, okay.

So I was a late bloomer in the gay world. Was it like when you were in high school and like, first of all, when, when do you know? You know, I don't know that I have, like, I don't remember, like I never had like an aha moment per se. Um, for me, it was going through high school, like, I was involved in a bunch of stuff. You know, I was a cheerleader, actually. Also played football. Was doing the weightlifting thing.

Like, was class president. So, I had my hands in a bunch of different pots. College, super into everything as well. And really just focused on school. And actually dated a girl for, like, a year and a half. In college? In college, yeah. did you ever date a boy no so but did you like oh damn i wish she was a boy she's cool but it was yeah pretty much you know it was uh it was it was more like a friendship than a relationship i guess is the way to put it. You know, like we were cool and everything and everything was going well, but like nothing else was really going on.

When you came out, was she like, aha! That was the reason I broke up with her. Oh, you came out. Because, you know, meanwhile, you know, I'm dating this girl, but I'm watching gay porn when she's not around. I'm like, this isn't right. There's something else going on here. So did you, like, was it gay porn like finding gay porn you're like that's what i like pretty much really yeah gay porn is thought of very differently

than straight porn because like straight porn here's the the rub in the straight community you look at straight porn you're like ah especially someone like me who has daughters you know fuck somebody probably did something awful to those girls when they were young like that's like nine out of ten times yeah and that's why they turn to porn but when you see gay porn it's like a couple dudes would like to fuck pretty much it's like even like i've had dan savage on and you know we're talking about gay porn he's like it's like they've had Dan Savage on and, you know, we were talking about gay porn. He's like, it's like, they don't think of it the same way. No, not at all. Yeah. Yeah.

So I ended up breaking up with that girl and I told her, I was like, yeah, like, I think I'm gay and I need to like figure this shit out. You know, I'm 22. I want to at least enjoy my twenties, you know, trying to figure out if I, if I like dudes or not. Was she like, damn, I turned Rob gay. She was not very nice about it unless you oh yeah freak out yeah it didn't it went downhill pretty quickly oh really so oh yeah like we were living together at the time like because we're in college so like um like kind of living together and then like i got kicked out and was like living in my car for a little while

so it was yeah kind of a shit show wow she kicked you out yeah wow bitch did you stay in contact with her no not even a little bit wow uh yeah then like you know like six months later she's like blowing up my phone saying i gave her chlamydia i was like that's Like six months later, she's blowing up my phone saying I gave her chlamydia. I was like, that's not on me. It doesn't take six months. Not on me. It's been longer than that, too, since we were doing anything.

Oh, that's hilarious. Yeah. I don't think you keep chlamydia in your system dormant, right? I wouldn't know. When you get it, you get it. I think so. I've dodged that bullet, luckily. But that seems like one that I think you just get it and then it's bad. Yeah.

It doesn't seem too pleasant. I mean, I don't think it. And that was awkward, too, because all those calls and everything were coming through when I was with my now husband, Joey. So we were dating at that time. And now my ex-girlfriend is blowing on my phone saying I gave her the clap. Was he laughing? At first, he was like, whatgirlfriend is blowing on my phone saying I gave her the clap. Was he laughing? At first, he was like, what the fuck is going on? Because we literally had been dating for two months.

So it was like super new. So he's like, what the fuck did I get myself into? Right, because you were a noob to the whole gay world. Totally, yeah. So that's crazy. So you decide, okay, I got to deal with reality. I'm gay. You meet that one guy. Yeah. And then got to deal with reality. I'm gay. You meet that one guy.

Yeah. And then you're still with him. Still married. Yeah. With him. We just got married this past March. Almost been a year. That's kind of crazy.

Yeah. Like you didn't even play the field. No, no. I got real, you know, it's funny. Like I joke about this all the time. Cause like we met in like the typical millennial gay way on Grindr. And you know, I was,

I wasn't even out actually before we met. So like on grinder, I was like that shirtless torso pick. Cause I was still, you know, good move. Yeah. Yeah.

Obviously. And he was, no, they're not that good, but he thought they were. So, so we, he like,

you know, saw me pop up in the area. I was like, Oh, who's this bitch? Messaged me. And I thought he was catfishing me because I thought he was way too hot for me. I thought he was out of my league.

So I kind of just got really lucky with the first guy that came my way. That's kind of be weird for her, right? Yeah. Imagine being a girl and you're with a guy and you're like man something is wrong with our relationship i mean it's literally like the most like like it's there's no more other like it's me it's you or no it's not you it's me right um no that is the it's not you i don't think there's anywhere to go you know higher than that Well, unless you want to go pray the gay away. That doesn't work, no.

But that is a way that some people try to fix it. Yeah. Particularly uber religious folks. Yeah. It is hilarious, man. I think it's freaking funny. I mean, obviously, with an Instagram handle, World's Strongest Gay, I get more shit on a daily basis on social media than I can even count. And most of it's from like religious people.

Oh, yeah. Like they're sending me like Bible verses and telling me like I need to convert to Christianity. By the way, they're probably jerking off while they're doing it. Probably. Probably thinking about you. Like, oh, you need to stop it. You need to stop it you need to stop being so gay and delicious my uh my go-to response is you know hey man i don't read fiction so you

keep doing that um but i just always think it's funny because you know they're like you know gay like obviously i'm very open about my sexuality on social media and you know world's strongest man has been super supportive of it they had world's strongest man in june during pride month this year and did a whole like little expose about me which was awesome and uh the comments on the world's strongest man they're like you're pushing the gay agenda like all this bullshit and i'm like listen man like the only agenda we're pushing is like i just want to be treated like everybody else and like get the same shit that you do you know i've never once like tried to make someone gay you know like meanwhile christians are in my dm saying like you need to convert i'm like hey you need to suck a dick like that's the gay agenda is a hilarious phrase

like there's an agenda i still don't even know what it is so whoever's listening if you could like hit me up and let me know i'd love to to learn about it. Yeah, you need to get in a tighter-knit club. I guess I do. The gay agenda. I guess the Rainbow Mohawk doesn't make me that gay. But what a hilarious thing. It's not like you're trying to get someone to be a Mormon. No.

You're the gay or you're not gay. Exactly. But why does someone think? That's the weirdest kind of homophobia to me. I had a bit in one of my specials in the past what like there's two types of people that are afraid of gay marriage is people that are really dumb or they're secretly worried that dicks are delicious and i i share that all the time on my social media just so you know i think it's fucking amazing but that's what

it is like worried about the gay agenda like they're gonna come get me no get me to suck those delicious dicks that's what it's like it's like they're afraid it's unbelievable i think it's hysterical it is hysterical but well i was real lucky when i was a kid i was exposed to gay people real young when i was uh seven years old we moved to san francisco oh yeah yeah in the 1970s it was gay as fuck and so i was around him all the time like my next door neighbor was this gay couple my aunt used to go next door and they would get they would get naked smoke pot and play bongos together sick yeah it's pretty crazy so for me that was normal life i was just like gay i was around gay people

i didn't even hear the term faggot until I was 11 and we moved to Florida. I remember hearing that when I was 11. Like, oh, wow. Like, I had my friend. His name was Candy. Candido. He's a Cuban kid. And his dad was real mad because gay people were getting married.

He was reading this newspaper. Can't fucking believe this shit. Throws his newspaper down. And he was a grown man. I remember being 11. Goes, why does he give a shit give a shit like how weird literally doesn't affect him at all at all but he was so upset yeah but it's just but but it was important for me to see because i didn't know people like that so to be around my friend's dad and see him freak out like that i was like oh what a weird thing to waste your time thinking about for sure i mean that's and you were super lucky to have that kind of upbringing you don't see that ugly part of you

know the world because i mean the thing is with me you know i'm fortunate enough where like not many people like talk shit to me in person right you know like i'm an average size strongman like i'm not really that big of a dude what's the average size trauma you're like 300 pounds and i'm the smallest guy that competes how much do you weigh i'm like 285 right yeah that's not average size bro well i mean i just competed this weekend against brian shaw and the motherfuckers 420 yeah that's you know and six foot eight i'm 510 like hey man cool um you know so like i'm fortunate like most people don't talk shit to me in person it's like all on social media, but it did happen one time in Texas, of all places. I had just finished a truck pull event.

This guy was calling me a faggot from the stands, all this stuff. I just stopped and looked, and I was like, dude, I suck dick, and I'm stronger than you. And the whole crowd just kind of went quiet, and then he walked away. They just went quiet? Yeah. I think in that situation, I feel like people feel like they're invincible. Like they feel like they have the power. Because they're in the crowd.

Yeah. And like they don't expect like somebody like who's competing to like say something back to them. Right. But like I'm not going to like take that shit. It's amazing. It's only when one guy though. Yeah. That shows you how the times are changing.

For sure. No. And yeah, it's in, you know, luckily like, you know, I was dubbed like the unofficial fan favorite at World's Strongest Man this year. So it's really cool to see the support throughout the entire community. How do you get dubbed the unofficial fan favorite? Like who? I was getting like the loudest applause whenever my name got announced.

Oh, really? Yeah. So the announcers just kind of were calling me the fan favorite. That's cool. I'm happy with the way things are going with acceptance totally it's changing right it's getting a lot better um you know we're super fortunate and that's kind of like when i came out like i'm i'm lucky because i had this like i really don't give a fuck mentality when i came out um i didn't care what people thought i

didn't care who thought you know if they didn't like me, they didn't like me. I'll just cut him out. You know, fortunately, I didn't have to do that. How did that transpire? Was it because the weight of it was so it was it gave you so much relief that you felt like who gives a shit now? Now I'm free. Was it like that?

There was there was a lot that went into it. So I like in my mind, I didn't like want to come out until i i it seems dumb now like until i knew i was really gay um and i guess you know dating my now husband for six weeks that was kind of the tipping point and at that point in our relationship we kind of realized like all right this wasn't just going to be like a fling and just having fun like we were actually you know taking the steps to kind of be committed and see what was going to happen here not expecting marriage but um so i came out mainly because of him because he had he had been out since he was 17 and at this point we were 22 and i didn't feel like it was fair for him to be in a relationship with somebody that was still in the closet um and that was like my biggest motivator

for it and once you so you so you were already happy so you're in this happy relationship so if people were upset at you you're like i don't give a fuck i have what i want i'm in a better place yeah and you also i mean it must feel i'm putting words in your mouth but it must feel like when you do become out or you do come out, it must feel like not just a relief, but like you've solidified. You're free. You're you. Yeah. I mean, it's exhausting like waking up every day pretending to be somebody you're not.

Yeah. You know, like you literally have to act different than you want to. Did you have to talk about girls to guys? Like when you were around a guy, around yeah look at her ass boy i was always just like i the funny thing is like after i came out like nobody was surprised um so i feel like i was a guy that was just kind of like in the background like awkwardly laughing when guys were talking about girls i'm like oh yeah totally but i was just looking at the guys in bulges later you know right behind us that's hilarious do you remember a year like when you were young when you were like hey something might be different um you know i think like i think back to like middle school

um and you know i think it's just like the stereotypical like i was into theater i was into music i played sports but wasn't really that good at them. And actually was a cheerleader in middle school too. I joined my first cheerleading team in seventh grade. And the funny thing is, there was tryouts and everything. And I got the fourth highest score out of all the girls. So I figured that was a little telltale sign. That was a sign.

Yeah. Yeah. Not stereotyping male cheerleaders whatsoever, but. I have a buddy who's a male cheerleader who's awesome. He's, Chappelle's 99.9% sure he's straight. Chappelle Lacey? But he's built like a brick shithouse too. I mean, collegiate cheerleaders are insane.

Yeah, but you have to be able to flip through the air. People don't understand what cheerleading is, right? They think of it as like, yeah, go team. No, it's crazy acrobatics. Even in high school, like I was throwing girls up in the air by myself and catching them overhead. Yeah. You know, like doing shit like that. Yeah, that's what's weird.

Yeah, Chappelle does this stuff where he grabs them by the feet and flips them in the air. Yeah. Catches them on one hand. It's stupid. It's bananas. Like the amount of physical power you have to have to be able to do that timing coordination yeah yeah it's crazy i mean you have to be a fucking savage to throw someone in the air and catch them with one hand it takes a lot of balls a lot of fucking power too yeah the explosive power for sure most men shitting on cheerleaders could never pull that off no no it's fucking hard can you do all the flips and shit too back handsprings no could you do it back then no no no that's that's actually

one of the reasons why like so i um when i was doing it in high school like i actually looked to do it in college at the collegiate level um but tumbling was like a minimum requirement and i was like yeah i'm a little too chunky and i don't have to do that shit so so how did you get into uh power lifting and strongman type shit so that like honestly totally by chance um i was working out in my high school weight room one day after school and a substitute teacher happened to walk by who owned a crossfit gym and he was like hey uh you know i i'm at this crossfit gym like you seem like you like this stuff, and you're pretty strong. Feel free to come by. So I actually started training with him at like 5 o'clock in the morning before school,

and I found out really quickly I sucked at CrossFit, but I liked lifting heavy shit. And this was back in 2009. And walked into the gym one morning, and they were like, hey, there's a local strongman contest this Saturday. We signed you up for it. So when you say you sucked at CrossFit, CrossFit is just a bunch of Olympic lifts and different explosive exercises. Yeah, I just wasn't in shape. Oh, right.

So the ability to do massive repetitions. To do well in the workouts. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right. So, yeah, so they signed me up for my first contest. I was 17 years old. Really? Had never touched an implement.

I had just seen it on TV like everybody else in World's Strongest Man. Got my ass kicked. Took last place. But you were 17. And how much lifting had you done previous to that? Maybe four or five months. Really? But at that point, I had hit the 500-pound deadlift.

And you'd only been lifting for a couple months? Yeah. Oh, freak genetically in a few lifts in a few lifts i was good at that's a lot of weight to like for a few months of lifting um yeah so the contest went horrible for me but i absolutely like fell in love with the sport. Ended up at Springfield College in Massachusetts and joined their powerlifting team. And that's when I kind of got more of a background in lifting, proper technique and all that stuff. And then did another local strongman contest where I met this guy, Matt Mills, who owns a gym, Lightning Fitness in Connecticut, where I train now. And he was like, yeah, I'm just starting to get all the strongman equipment. You should come down. It's only about 30 minutes from your school so i would i actually would go there

every saturday morning from when i was in college to train strongman and that's when i kind of started competing in the amateur circuit um you know and that's kind of led me on my trajectory to here so you're one of those rare people that actually lives in connecticut i live in massachusetts ah good for you right over the border of Connecticut. Good move. Escape. Go over there. Work out real quick. And then leave. Yeah, Connecticut's strange.

It's something. It's a strange place. It's a lost state. Yeah. So you get into powerlifting, and then what was your exposure to truck pulling and all that other crazy shit? So really not much. what was your exposure to like truck pulling and all that other crazy shit? So really not much, you know,

you know, the cool thing about strongman is every contest is different that we do. We know we never do a same, you know, I've done the sport for over 10 years now and I've never done a contest where the events have been the same in that span of time. Do you know what it's going to be before you sign up? Typically. So,

you know, we get about a series of lifts, eight to twelve weeks notice depending on the contest um so the gym that i was going to in connecticut they were just starting to acquire strongman equipment so it was pretty bare bones so like we had a steel log you know for the log clean and press they had some atlas stones um some farmers handles a yoke and that's pretty much it and then over the years he would get more and more and more and now it's turned into this massive 15 000 square foot

facility and the gym owner we call him an equipment whore because he buys some every time something new comes out he buys it um so yeah like my my exposure to the equipment in the beginning was pretty minimal but what i did to compensate for that is i just competed more so i would pretty much from springfield massachusetts i drew a five-hour radius from where i was and any contest there was in that radius i would do um so in my first like three years i competed probably like almost 40 times whoa how often are these things being held at the amateur level pretty often there's usually you, you know, I would say one or two, you know, per month in New England alone. Really? And then they're all over the country.

So, you know, I think the cool thing is, you know, like I was really, like I said, I took last in my first contest and that went on for a while. I took dead last in like my first eight shows that I did. It's like I wasn't good at this thing when I started. Now, when did you start being successful? 20. So I went to amateur nationals actually in the 200 pound weight class. So I weighed in under 200 pounds in 2011. That was my first time at the amateur national. So I'd been doing it for about two years um surprised myself and ended up taking second place in that weight class uh went back to the amateur nationals as a 231 and 212 and took second place there and then won the amateur national championship in 2013 and that's where i'd be you know where

i won my pro card and kind of got to that next level but it's such a difficult thing to do that. I would imagine doing it 40 times a year Like you're gonna get injured Luckily, I didn't really yeah, I mean, you know, i'm fortunate where um, um So by trade and what I went to school for is i'm an athletic trainer Um, so sports medicine has kind of been my thing so, you know, i've been lucky enough to Learn, um when I was training of when I need to back off when when I can push a little bit harder, what needs to be taken care of, and just try to be smart. Knock on wood.

I've had one serious injury in the 10 years that I've been doing this sport. What was that? It was the summer of 2018. I dropped a 275-pound Atlas stone on my chest. Oh, fuck. Tore my QL in my low back broke three ribs oh jesus put me out of commission for a little while and how did you drop it where was it was at a contest i was in second place by one point um so it was the final event of the contest

and uh i went to push the stone onto the so the thing is with me being only 510 with the atlas stones like the first box you have to put the stone on is high. Right. So this was 75 inches tall. Mm. You know, and I'm only 5'10", so that was literally, like, eyebrow height. So I had to, like, press it up onto the box. And I thought it was up there.

It wasn't secured. It ended up rolling off, fell onto my chest. Oh. Yeah. Fuck. And, you know, naturally, that was the first contest my mom had come seen in person in like four years so she was in the stands watching that happen killed by a boulder yep perfect timing dude yeah so how long did it take you to recover from that let's see that was

that was in june or june or july of 2018 and i didn't do my next contest until march of 2019 oh wow yeah it took me out for a while yeah i could have only a 275 pound fucking stone ball and that was the lightest one we had in the series wow jesus christ so just your background in understanding athletic science or exercise science allows you to know when you're being silly and when you're not going to be a pussy, but you're not going to be dumb. of stayed injury free because even like to this day like you know so my coach is um you know pretty well-renowned strongman Derek Poundstone who you know took second place at world's strongest man um and he programmed some crazy shit for me but there are some days where I'm just like yo dude this is not gonna fly today when you have a light like what's a light day um you know so like I train four days a week and I get like one like i call them like my bro day it's like my bench back and arms day um you know i didn't even know power men do that yeah yeah so

it's more just like because like bench press is going to like build up your triceps it's going to build up the anterior delt it's going to help like you bench press actually helps your overhead lifts and um so i do that and like that's what i consider like my light day but like i'll still bench like in the mid fours so so four days a week yeah and so how do you how do you structure it do you do every other day do you do um it all depends on the week really so typically i try to go tuesday thursday friday sunday that's usually my my average week um so tuesday is like my big overhead day where i'll do a strongman movement overhead so like log press or dumbbell um and then a bunch of shoulder overhead accessory work thursday my day two is my biggest day so i

squat and deadlift in the same day um and that's a workout that sometimes takes four to five hours. Really? Yeah. So you do big spaces in between each workout? So you lift and then do you have like a large amount of time? I'll take about 10, 15 minutes between sets sometimes. Like, you know, like we're building up to the Arnold Strongman Classic in Columbus, Ohio this coming March. And, you know, we have a max deadlift coming up.

And, you know, I'm potentially going to be going for a 1 000 pound deadlift jesus christ you know so like to get through a deadlift workout where i'm deadlifting oh yeah there's me there's huge look at the bar bending that's what's most fucked up about it is looking so that was that was 850 pounds on the on the the deadlift right there what is that that dumbbell right there that dumbbell was 250 250 one arm overhead press yeah fucking a the the deadlift though is so what is that fucking thing that's called a hussefeld stone it's like a coffin yep pretty much that weighs 450 wow are you wearing uh like a back strap like a yeah so we're a belt yeah so we're like does it yeah what does it do so it helps like build intra-abdominal pressure um it also gives

just like some tactile feedback to like know where you need to brace um so usually weight lifters like we'll put it we're like we feel weakest in our core um and that's going to help us activate those muscles to be a little bit stronger and you know more effectively braced to prevent injury because i never i never understood how it would protect you from a lift like if you're lifting heavy weights and you got that strap around your back yeah it's not really technically i guess it's not really meant to like protect per se um more just to like help add extra support that's the biggest thing so it does you you don't do heavy lifts without no no no i keep it on yeah whenever i'm going heavy that's pretty much standard for

power lifters oh yeah power lifting strongman you yeah we're all wearing like pretty heavy duty belts now when you train do do you train doing strongman stuff? Do you pull trucks and shit like that in training? Yeah. Leading up to World's Strongest Man, I knew we had a truck pull. We actually got to pull the Gravedigger and the Monster Jam fire truck. Really? Yeah, the monster trucks at Worlds this year, which was pretty cool.

How much does Gravedigger weigh? Well, so the funny thing is it only weighs 15 000 pounds so they had to grab a second one and attach them so we were playing two of them at one time how does one ever say it only weighs 15 000 pounds that's what i want to know because i suck at that event so i don't you know i would like it if it was only one of them but that's that's an event where it must help to be 450 pounds huge huge advantage um you know you look at guys like me you know again only 510 about 285 competing against in my qualifying group of worlds was thor bjornson the mountain from game of thrones yeah how much does that fucker weigh six nine four forty jesus that bitch has a six pack six nine four forty yeah so that's Thor doing the event right there.

And you can see Gravedigger right behind him. And then behind that, they attached with a metal pole to the monster jam. Oh, so you use a rope to pull you as well. Yeah, so it's like kind of, you get a little bit of a lever. Yeah, there's a second truck right behind him. Two trucks. That is ridiculous. Yeah, so leading up to World's Strongest Man, I actually became really good friends with the

firefighters in my local town. And I just, I talked to the fire chief. I was like, hey, can I borrow one of your trucks to pull? What are you doing if a fire breaks out? Hey, we got our friend. He's out there pulling it. They can wait. Yeah.

His response was, are you shitting me? I was like i'm actually serious um so i actually i was pulling that i was pulling that fire truck like once or twice a week for like six weeks leading up to world's strongest how much is a fire truck way um depends if the water's in it or not i found that out the first time it wasn't so it was only about 28 000 pounds and it was actually only 28 000 casual that ain't shit um the second time the water was in it so it was 40 000 oh no that was a little bit harder and it made me look like an ass because like i had told my friends that i was doing this this time thinking that it was the

same truck and it was as light as it was the first time i was like all right i'll look pretty cool in front of everybody and then i go to pull it i'm like fuck this is heavier yeah that's that's a lot different so it's an extra 12 000 fucking pounds yeah and so like i was training in a 50 foot course and like that 40 000 pound truck it was taking me like almost 90 seconds to pull and that's like 90 seconds of just non-stop work that hurts that hurts. Jesus Christ. What does that do to your knees? The knees aren't too bad. Honestly, it's just like a full body burning.

Everything hurts. Right. Nothing for you. Your arms are pumped because you're pulling on the rope in front of you. Your quads and your calves are just pumped to the max

at that point. I'd be worried about knees and ankles. Am I wrong? The biggest injury that you see with like a truck pull is like the Achilles tendon rupture. Right. So the Achilles tendon will just like pop off when you're trying to pull it. That makes sense because you're just pushing off with your foot and all that pressure. Oh, fucker.

Yeah. God damn. The sport's really great. It's a sadistic sport. It's just so crazy to watch people pull two trucks like a human being pulling two trucks it's i wish i would see you with the fire truck that's that's more ridiculous so you're pulling a fucking fire truck it was pretty fun yeah sure if you could do it yeah exactly if you do it's fun just that's a weird thing with people right they just love to be able

to do something that's hard to do. And I think that's why all of us are attracted to Strongman. That's why we compete. Yeah. Like I said in the beginning of the show, we all have to be a little bit fucked up in the head to look at a truck and get excited to pull it. Yeah. Look at that. There it is.

That's so crazy. There you are pulling a truck. That's my coach behind it, Derek. God damn. Have you ever seen the video of the strong man it throws the barrel up it hits the bar and falls back and hits him in the back of the head dude that was on him is that guy dead no he lived whoa yeah what kind of a human can survive that i don't know i think it was an empty keg if that makes it any better it was even if it was a

fucking aluminum barrel bouncing off your skull yeah yeah And he was knocked out cold for a little while. Now, how old are you now? I'm 28. Just turned 28 in November. Is there a lifespan for doing what you do? Because I would imagine you're putting tremendous stress. I think we see most of the guys are in their prime like mid-30s. I would say like early to mid-30s is kind of like the prime for most strongman athletes.

But then you got guys like Mark Felix from the UK who's 53 and he's still competing and breaking world records. What? Yeah. Dude, piss test that guy. He's on all the shit. 53. 53. That's bonkers. He also, he has the biggest hands in Strongman.

So they actually don't fit on an 8x11 piece of paper. What? Yeah. So his hands are like 11 and a half, 12 inches long. Yeah. That's ridiculous. That's like Shaq hands. It's crazy.

But that's why he, the world records that he gets are all in grip events. Oh. Ironically. And then I have like, you know, the where's the meat hands and can't hold on to anything. God damn. 53. It's crazy. It's absolutely crazy.

And he looks like he's 38. Do you have a picture of that guy, Jamie? Got sidetracked by trying to find his hands in the middle there. Wow. Look at him holding on. Fucking A. Look at the size of his hands. It's crazy.

They're so long. Yeah. That is incredible, though, that he's Mark. Fucking A. Look at the size of his hands. It's crazy. They're so long. Yeah. That is incredible, though, that he's 53. There it is. Look at this. He's taking pictures of people. Yeah, so at the contest that we do in the- Look at the thickness in his fingers.

Those are fucking sausages. They're sausages. Yeah. The contest that we do in England through a company called Giants Live, that's like one of their promo things that they do in the uh in the in the magazines that they give everybody where they'll actually put a life you know a picture of his hand so everybody can compare his hand to uh to their own jesus christ it's stupid so big that yeah that would definitely help man yeah definitely help that's incredible though that he's still competing

at such a high level at 50 feet What is that injury He's got there Look at his elbow What's going on It's probably a torn bicep Is that common Super common Yeah

Torn bicep I would say Is like arguably The most common injury In strongman And what is it Which lifts usually Cause that to blow out Usually you'll see that

On a Atlas stone Tire flip Or if you're dead lifting with like a mixed grip um with the underhand on the barbell um usually the bicep will pop off in the elbow and roll up into the shoulder what are your thoughts about dead lifting on a mixed grip do you think that you should do that or should you do it both i mean if you're using straps like if you're using straps to aid in the grip and kind of take the grip out go double overhand um because there's really no point to have a mixed grip and put you at risk of an injury when you don't need to. The straps kind of take the grip out of the work for you.

But for powerlifting, that's not allowed. So they have to compete with them. They have to deadlift without straps. So there's two options you can go with. You can go with the mixed grip or hook grip um which hook grip is you wrap your hand around the bar and then put your fingers over your thumbs uh and it it hurts like a motherfucker because the bar is just resting there on your thumb and then pushing down on it but it you get a better grip and it you know kind of yeah just like that that's weird

why would that be easier i don't know but it works really it's just if you have a really good pain tolerance it's the way to go because then you're taking out that bicep from the equation and you won't have any risk of injury with that that's interesting and but that does that's not the case with like farmers carries or any farmers walk or anything no so with farmers like the handles are usually a little bit too big to be able to get like a grip like that um so it literally is just a straight up grip event um and i hate them do you do a lot of training with like big thick grip things like i know like rogue has those balls that you can do chin-ups with and yeah yeah do like fat grips like whenever i do like bicep curls sometimes i'll put like just fat

grips onto the dumbbells um just doing that just to work it um i do a lot of shrugs stuff like that um whether it's with farmer's handles or a frame or a barbell or dumbbells um just doing that just to work it um i do a lot of shrugs stuff like that um whether it's with farmer's handles or a frame or a barbell or dumbbells um and if that's the case i'll put like fat grips on there to try to work the grip as well that so that dude is 53 years old and he's still competing at the top of the food chain when you do you see yourself possibly doing that dude that's 25 more fucking years for you i don't see me doing it for that long um i think my goal is to get to like 35 and kind of evaluate where i am yeah um i think if i can do this until i'm 35 at this level that'd be a really good run because i i made my first world's strongest man appearance when i was 25 so if i can go to worlds 10 years yeah um i'd be

really happy with that this is a it's a crazy way to make a living it's a crazy way to spend your time and like to pursue your life yeah do you because you're you're banking everything on your body hanging in there pretty much yeah yeah what do you like what is when one has a a job that at 35 you're most likely probably going to be on your way out the door how do you structure your life you know for me i'm fortunate you know to have my master's degree in athletic training in sports medicine so i keep that you know valid and up to date um and i still do like per diem work all throughout you know new england just trying to keep my chops up on that whenever i have the free time to do so um but i mean, I'll cover high school hockey games or college games and just work as an

athletic trainer just pretty much for the day. Okay. You know, just taking care of any injuries, stuff like that. You know, that's kind of my wheelhouse, you know, taping, concussion evaluation, all that stuff. Oh, okay. Injury rehab. Yeah.

Now, what kind of, like, I would imagine, were you talking about these four-hour deadlift squat days? I mean, you must have some serious rehabilitation routine that you go through, right? Yeah. You know, I mean, I do everything from, like, self-massage, and, you know, I have my own stim unit at home and do that. But then I'm also doing recovery workouts on my off days. How much do those stim things help, those electrical stimulation units? I love them, electrical stimulation i love them dude what one do you use compacts compact yeah that's the brand

that i go with so you have it's like those glue things yeah just little pads you put them on and then the nice thing about the compacts ones is like they're pretty much foolproof so it like has like 12 to 15 pre-programmed settings you put you kind of like punch in what body part it's on, and then you just pick what setting you want it on. So it's like pain relief, training recovery, competition recovery, muscle activation. There's a bunch of different ways to use it. And then you just hit go, and it goes. Oh, so you just watch TV or something?

Yeah. Literally, I have it in my carry-on, so when I fly home tonight, I'll put it on during my seven-hour flight home and use it. I got to get one of those. Someone sent me one years back, but I never fucking used it. Compax. I'm going to write that down.

Yeah. I think they're awesome. Yeah. So along with that, then I do recovery workouts. So I'll go to a commercial gym, and I'll swim. Not well. gym and you know i'll swim not well um do hot tub sauna um and then i have like a massage therapist and body work person that i go and see i try to see every week but sometimes it's every other week um where they do deep tissue massage cupping dry needling the whole nine yards on me dude you're

so dense you must have a fucking seriously powerful massage therapist. If someone's going to go deep tissue, he works in pro hockey. So he's no joke. That's the key, right? Is having someone who's really good at, yeah, strong.

And it took me, it took me a while to find this guy. And ironically, like him and I ended up going, we were at college together. Um, and he was in the area and I was like, Oh,

you know, like he's getting this massage degree. I know he's an athletic trainer and he has a really good background of the body and injuries and stuff like that. Let me see how it works and he lit me up

the first time. You can't just go to a regular spa and get a deep tissue massage. I fall asleep. You know? Yeah, it feels great. It just took an hour.

I just paid 90 bucks for a nap. Thanks. It doesn't do enough, right? No, like, I mean, I tell people, like, I'm usually more sore when I leave a massage than when I go in. Right.

But then the next day, I feel great. Yeah. It breaks everything loose. Yeah. It seems weird that you can just manipulate injuries or tight spots into pliability, but it does work. Well, that's the thing. I've been huge into the dry needling lately, and I think it's awesome. So it's pretty much like acupuncture

With science behind it So now dry needling is They take these needles and they just sort of Shove it into the muscle Yeah wherever there's like a trigger point or tightness Or restriction they'll go in And they don't just leave it there They'll move it around while it's in there

And it's not terribly uncomfortable Unless there's like a spot that's really Fucked um but it works great like i had some low back pain that was killing me for a long time and it ended up being because of my psoas um my hip flexors were super tight he threw a couple needles in my in my hip flexors and by the time i got off that table all of my back pain was gone have you ever used one of those so right things oh yeah i feel so great yeah they're amazing but i mean you know they make you see jesus yeah they mean the design whoever the sick fuck is that created that is a genius brilliant yeah with the scoop it fits perfectly it's it's comfortable to lay on sort of yeah it digs in there but you can use that fucker on everything every back yeah yeah yeah i'm a big fan of that i'm a big fan of those uh you have uh kelly star

it's mobility wad yeah that ball yep those fuckers you lie on that i got those scattered all over the gym out there for sure and i and i use his like the voodoo band the flossing i do that too you know because with the stuff that we do we do, my elbows get beat to shit. If I'm doing heavy bench press and even like the dumbbell that you saw earlier, just having 250 pounds cranked on your shoulder like that just puts a ton of strain in the elbows. My elbows get beat up pretty good, and using the Voodoo Band is huge for that. So it constricts, and then you do a little bit of an exercise with it, and then you undo it. Yeah. And then it just reflects. And then I kind of you do a little bit of an exercise with it, and then you undo it. Yeah.

And then it just reflects. And then I kind of manipulate it a little bit, too. So sometimes, like, if I have a spot in my elbow that's really killing me, I'll put a golf ball on it and then wrap the band around the golf ball. Ah! Yeah. And then I'll go through that range of motion and move my arm around. Yeah, so I'll do exercises like that. But like I said, sometimes I'll throw, like, the golf ball in there.

So it hurts like a bitch, but it works great works great yeah i'm a big fan of it for i had a little bit of a tendonitis issue in my shoulder or in my elbow rather that helped a lot i think it's great elbow um people using like a patellar tendonitis on their knees uh so like all stuff like that is and that's the thing like with a lot of strong men general, like a lot of us do like that body work and like try to stay healthy because you have to, right? Well, at this level too, like the sport has exploded in the past few years and like my competition season started this past weekend and the last contest I'll do is in October. Oh my God. So it's 10 months long.

And as of right now, I have almost 13 contests planned. Now, when you have a contest, say if you do some crazy strongman competition, how much time do you give yourself after it's over? I mean, I'll be back in the gym tomorrow when I get home. Really? I just competed on Saturday. Okay. Well, so you take a couple days off, two days off, and then get right back after. Right back into it, yeah. Man.

two days off and then get right back right back into it yeah man i mean that's i mean that's kind of a special consideration mainly because like the contest i'm going into is seen as like the the biggest contest in the world so it's the arnold strongman classic in ohio only 10 men qualify for this contest um yeah yeah so and this this will be my first year competing there so my coach was just like listen like you can't waste any time we only have five weeks of training essentially to get ready for this show even though i've been prepping for it for the past like you know six months we used to do a ufc at the arnold that is a crazy show like wild it's wild and it's gotten even bigger and there's so many people walking around in baggy sweatpants so many dudes baggy sweatpants stringer stringer uh

you know stringer tank tops and then yes you know girls and nothing but spandex and sports bras that whole industry is so strange like the fitness influencer industry yeah yeah i mean that's what like honestly it took me so long to get a sponsorship one because i'm not huge and two because i don't have a six-pack like nobody wants to look at like a chubby pasty white dude on the front of a like of a supplement sponsor right i know you could be built like this guy and just pick up heavy shit yeah everyone's like oh cool and they don't care if you're powerful they want you to like look like you're dehydrated that's all that's all i care about what looks good on a poster yeah are you starving and dehydrated with some spray tan we want you we want you that's what we're looking to be jacked and tanned yeah and that was uh yeah

so that yeah that was one of the things i like why it took me like so long to get in with some companies and like actually get a legit sponsorship is there anybody well that guy bjornson however the fuck you say his name is. Yeah, Thor. The Thor guy. He's got a six pack. Close to it, yeah. Is that just preposterous genetics? It's stupid. Yeah. Well, obviously the size of him is just preposterous.

That is Viking, right? That is straight Viking. And his name is Thor. Yeah. Come on. Come on. That's the generation after generation of marauders. Yeah. I mean, his dad is also like six eight it's crazy yeah it only

makes sense so what is he like when what is the difference between someone that is that big that can stay lean like why why can he stay lean um i think it's just like i want to think it's like the quality food that he eats you know like with him being arguably the strongest man in the world, you know, he didn't win world's strongest man this year, but he's been dominant over the past two years. Who beat him? Martins Lisi is from the U.S. He's actually right here in L.A. Is he?

Yeah, yeah. He just won back in June. He's from the U.K.? Is that what you're saying? You said you've... Oh, U.S. U.S. So he's originally from Latvia, and now he's lived in the U.S that what you're saying? You said you've. Oh, US. US. Originally from Latvia.

And now he's lived in the US, I mean, for as long as I can remember. How big is that fucker? He's six. There's Martins. And me. So he's about like 6'3", about 350. So he beat Thor. Yeah.

That's crazy. Yeah. He beat a guy that's 150 pounds heavier than him yeah that's crazy i mean that's the thing about the sport you know like i so the way i qualified for the contest in ohio the size of that fucker yeah so the way i the way i qualified for this uh the contest in ohio was um by winning the arnold in australia and you know i you know like i said i'm the smallest guy that does this at this level and i was beating guys you know like um jerry pritchett who's like six six three seventy you know like i you know so how do you how are you that strong what is the difference

stubborn bitch joe is that what it is um you know i think with me it's like it took me a really long time yeah there's Thor and Martins. Look at the size of that fucker. God damn. And the woman on Thor's right is our left is his wife. Yeah, I've seen the two of them together. She's 5'2". Hilarious. They're going to make a regular-sized kid.

You know? But, yeah, I think I got to this level because I was a student of the sport for a really long time. And I studied everything. And I think because I took so long to get to where I am. Most guys that are at this level, it didn't take them 10 years to get there. Guys like Brian Shaw, like Martins, they pretty much got to Worlds within two or three years. Because there's giant, powerful people that try to figure out the work. And for me, it was like I needed to learn how to make these events work for my body.

So that's with me. So I have the current American log press record. And I don't do like a typical push press. I actually split jerk underneath the log. Really? And I'm the only pro strongman at this level that does that. Why you do that it's more efficient why don't they do it it's an athletic quick movement and it's it takes a lot of time and coordination to learn with me having a background in crossfit that's where i learned the split jerk technique and then when i got more into strongman i was

like well i really suck at strict pressing we explain that to people what the difference is so like a push press is pretty much you get the weight on your shoulders. You dip down and then just push the weight up overhead, like, pretty much just with, like, shoulder and tricep power. With a split jerk, yeah, you get the implement on your shoulders. You do a little dip, and then you actually throw yourself underneath the log while splitting your feet. Here it is. um so it's like a little bit of a dance almost so this is 455 pounds so you get it up to your chest and then you'll see me i dip and then drop underneath it oh wow splitting my feet and then catching overhead

jesus christ so what it does it shortens the range of motion of the press um but it's it's kind of one of those like risky all or nothing moves like with a push press it's brute strength so you can like kind of grind through it and fight it and manipulate the log any way you want but with a split jerk like it has to happen or it doesn't there's got to be that weird moment where you're like fuck this isn't happening. I got to drop this thing. Yep. What is that like?

Throw it. Just get it away from you. Get it away. Holding 450 fucking pounds over my head. I'm not taking it. I don't care what breaks as long as it's not me. Especially after that Atlas stone dropped on you, right? Yeah. You know, it's just for me, it was adapting that splitter technique, it just made sense.

And that's kind of how I was able to progress to this level and kind of do some things a lot of people didn't think I would do, being this size. Now, how much do you eat? You must be eating all the time. It's not a crazy amount. No? I mean, I say that, like, you know, because I think, like— You also said, oh, it's only's not a crazy amount no i mean i say that like you know because i think like you also said oh it's only 28 000 pounds no big deal um i think like people get caught up in like these 10 000 calorie eating challenges like oberst did and brian shaw do and stuff like that

i'm not that guy you know like an average eating day for me is probably around four to five thousand calories so it's a lot but nothing crazy well oberst is so big huge he's a giant exactly you know like he was sitting in this chair like i'm a little different looking than him he's got double your head his head is so wide you're like what are you yeah he looks like an ogre he's he's the real life shrek he's a great guy he's awesome i love him you know is that fucker huge the uh so the first conversation rob and i ever had was actually at that contest in texas when a dude was calling me a fag from the stands and we were hanging out before the day before the contest we had never

met in person before first interaction we have we're hanging out in hotel room a few of his athletes and he looks and he's like how old were you when you knew you wanted a dick in your mouth that's the first thing he said to you first thing he ever said to me what'd you answer i didn't know i i didn't know what to respond like this like i had seen on world's strongest man before like i've seen him i've seen him competing for the past like three or four years and that's the first thing the motherfucker says to me. That's hilarious. Yeah. So obviously we got off to a great start on our friendship.

Him and I still talk all the time. He's bitter because I took the log press record from him back in April. Yeah, he's very upset with that. He had that. It was his. It was his for a while, like for four years. Poor Robert. You win some and you lose some. That's what competition's all about. Records Robert. No. No. You win some

and you lose some. Yeah. That's what competition is all about. Records are meant to be broken, you know? Now,

what is your typical breakfast for you? And how many times do you eat in a day? I try to go between six and eight meals. Oh, okay. So it all depends on

when my training is and stuff like that. So do you bring little Tupperware containers with you and shit? Yep. Everything prepped out? And to be honest,

I'm pretty boring. I don't like to cook. love to eat but i don't like to cook so i'll pretty much eat the same thing almost every meal um you know so it's pretty much like chicken or beef and rice and veggies pretty much it that's what robert was saying basically everybody's like rice and meat yeah you know it's um you know like i'm a fat kid so like i don't like to just eat baked chicken like that's why i'm not a bodybuilder like i'm i can't look like that because i just like the taste of food too much so like i do like air fried chicken fingers to make them healthy you know like that'll be the chicken that i eat you know and then i'll throw some sauce on top of it you know make the chicken fingers like do you do you bread them and everything yeah yeah

what do you use for the breading and everything uh usually i'll do like panko um and throw that what's like panko breadcrumbs so it's just like a little bit like a more coarse bigger um you know a little more crispier which is nice too because the texture is like i don't want it to taste just like mush when i'm eating it like i like a little crunch a little texture right um but in the in the breadcrumbs i'll just use plain panko but i'll add like a like ranch seasoning packet to throw some flavor in there get a little crazy um do like an egg wash bread them and then throw them in the air fryer so you don't have to worry about how much you take in so you're basically just eating whatever you want to eat and the reason why you eat so many meals a day is just because you're burning off so much yeah yeah and like i

honestly i just get hungry right like i'm sure you're power lifting so much. Yeah, yeah. And like, I honestly, I just get hungry. Right. I'm sure. You're power lifting all the time. Yeah, you know, like I said, my deadlift workout will take four to five hours, but like there's sometimes on the weekends when I'm doing my strongman workouts, I'll be at the gym for like six to eight hours. Ugh.

Yeah. Six to eight hours of lifting ridiculously heavy shit. Yeah. I mean, granted, like a lot of the stuff we do is like setting up and breaking down. You know, like these events are cumbersome. They're annoying. They're not easy to set up.

So a lot of it's just moving weight, schlepping across the gym, and setting these implements up. But all in all, yeah, I'll be there for six to eight hours from the time I get there to when I leave. I would imagine you would need a lot of sugars, a lot of carbs. Oh, yeah. The shake I drink during my workout is almost a thousand calories what's in it well like gatorade protein i use um a carb powder you put gatorade in a shake and then carb powder on top of the gatorade listen it tastes like an orange creamsicle i bet so you do like orange gatorade like a a orange or a non-flavored carb powder, and then vanilla protein.

And just, that's a thousand calories? Yeah. I mean, it's also like 64 ounces. Oh, okay. So it's pretty big. So it's got to be this balancing act between getting a lot of protein, but getting a lot of carbohydrates and making sure that you're fueling the muscles. Carbs are the best thing ever, man. Yeah.

Like carbs, that's like the main thing. thing you know obviously eating a lot of protein like i'm probably around like 300 grams of protein a day between 3 and 350 um but carbs i mean there's sometimes i'm eating like almost like 1500 grams of carbs a day and is the reason why you guys prefer rice is just because it's easier to digest there's other forms yeah it's just easy to eat too um you know like because eating six to eight times is a lot. And, like, you just get tired of chewing. Right. To be honest, you know.

It's probably great for the jaw muscles. Oh, for sure. Sculpted chin look. You know, and, you know, that's why, like, my coach, when he was competing, he used to do chicken shakes. What? Yeah. Grinding chicken into a shake? So he would literally, like, boil chicken and blend it with water.

Oh, God. Yeah. That's nasty. And he would drink those because he just didn't want to eat. Hold it together, bud. Chicken shake? A chicken shake. Why does that sound so gross?

I couldn't even. I looked at him. I was like, you never fucking make me do that. I'm kicking kicking you in the face so are you eating a lot of red meat like what kind of uh what's your preferred protein i love bison bison bison is like my jam um just ground bison try to go like 93.7 if i can um super lean. Yeah, but all depends. Obviously, as a pro strongman, I'm not making that much money. So more often than not, it's just like ground beef. Whatever I can get, that's good quality and it gets the calories in.

Yeah, bison has got a higher protein content, right? Yeah, yeah. It's a little bit leaner and it just tastes so much better. You just like the taste of it, yeah. You get that grass-fed bison? Yeah. Farm-raised fed bison. Yeah. Farm raised grass fed. So how, how does a strong man make money?

Do you only make money if you win or do you make money from sponsors? Like what's your primary income coming from? Both. So my, my main income is, um, is mainly from sponsorships, you know, so I'm sponsored by a supplement company, Blackstone Labs. I've heard of that. Um, SPD, which is, uh, like an equipment company. They make like knee sleeves, belts, supplement company, Blackstone Labs. I've heard of that. SBD, which is like an equipment company. They make like knee sleeves, belts, elbow sleeves, stuff like that.

And then a clothing company that's called Kind of Fit, Kind of Fat. That's honest. It's great. It's a lifestyle. Kind of Fit, Kind of Fat. Yeah. So those are like my three biggest supporters. And then on top of

that i also do like online coaching for for strength athletes all over the world so you know pretty much i write their weekly workouts they send me videos i collaborate with them get them competition prep and get them ready to compete um so those are my two biggest main sources of income and then you know on top of that and then you know prize money is just kind of extra on top you know bonus essentially now you're active on social media obviously you have a instagram which is where i found you but you do you have anything else you do do you do youtube do you do do a podcast or anything um do youtube yeah so same youtube name world strongest gay um you know and then um just launched a website a couple weeks ago um so a lot of content's going to be up there

what's the website uh rob kearney strongman.com and then um do you own worldstrongestgay.com i don't who does i don't nobody does actually what that's nonsense yeah well listen this isn't live so let's snatch that shit up get that might need to get that right after this show. Immediately. Yeah. Go to worldstrongestgay.com. Do you want to double that S? Because that could make it interesting.

World's or worldstrong. You know what I mean? So you're going to type in that double S. Type in the double S. It's double S. Yeah. It's worldstrongestgay. Let me see that double S.

That might not exist. Nothing popped up. I'll check. We're going to get S. That might not exist. Nothing popped up. I'll check. Oh. We're going to get that. We're going to give you that. We're going to buy it right now and give it to you. This is important.

Because otherwise some dickhead is going to get it. And then, yeah, they're going to be like, oh, you can pay. He's going to put straight porn on it. That's what he's going to do. That would be fucked up. That would be fucked up. That would be really fucked up. All just vaginas.

Ten bucks. You can get it? Sick. Snatch it up. Well, we can let him get it. It's harder to transfer. Oh, okay. Perfect. You can get it? Sick. Snatch it up. Well, it's harder to transfer. Oh, okay. Perfect. Luckily, we're not live.

So as soon as we're done, we'll let you do that. Yeah, you got to own that, man. And just have it divert right to your website. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hold on, hold on, hold on. What? What? One second.

What? It added the HTTP in there. Let me double check. Oh, Jesus Christ. Don't tease me. Still there. Still there. Cool, cool, cool.

Ooh. It's amazing when you think about how many websites there are that there are any available now. I know. I know. Well, it's funny. You know, like now that I'm getting more popular and stuff like that, like I'll get tagged and shit on social media, but there's also like an Irish rugby player named Rob Kearney. Oh.

So like they'll sometimes like tag him or like they'll mean to tag me. So it's like, it's weird. Yeah. Well, wait until this is over. Yeah. Once this goes live. It'll be fantastic. like they'll mean to tag me so it's like it's weird yeah well wait until this is over yeah once this goes live wish they're real weird that'd be fantastic how much uh you must be getting i mean this is like the first time probably the lbgtq community has gotten behind a strong man though i mean this and even just a pro athlete general really you know i think well that's like

that's the biggest reason for my instagram name is just like showing lgbtq like visibility in pro sports because it doesn't exist right you know like there's a few while in fighting the ufc uh amanda nunez is the greatest woman of all time she's gay oh what which is great and that's a cool but men different animal yeah you know i think like there's this really big disconnect where like people think like, okay, lesbian women are allowed to be strong. They're allowed to be athletic. They can do all these really cool things. Gay men have to be feminine. They have to be put in this box and they shouldn't be pro athletes.

And that's one of the biggest reasons why I'm so, you know, I call myself like unapologetically open about my sexuality. Because like it really is, you know, the more you think about it, like if you even try to think of like an openly gay man in any pro sport across the world, there's no really mainstream. I think you forgot about Brian Boitano. Oh, cliche. Don't you remember South Park? What would Brian Boitano oh cliche don't you remember south park what would brian boitano do yeah smart ass brian boitano i mean he's a goddamn trailblazer but yeah other than figure skating who actively competing in a major sport there really isn't anything and i'm not saying like you know strongman is by no means like major or mainstream yet but we're getting

there people know about it for sure and i think to see like an openly gay man you know i say competing in arguably one of the most like hyper masculine sports in the world yeah you know i think like when i think of masculine sports i think like ufc and lifting shit right yeah like right like one you're beating another dude up the other one it's a bunch of guys standing around a weight being like oh i'm gonna pick it up no i'll pick it up i'll pick it up faster you know like it's like neanderthal almost yeah that's top of the food chain manly shit exactly yeah so i think it's like super important to see like an openly gay man in a relationship rocking a rainbow mohawk

and rainbow tights out on a competition floor i think that makes people feel more comfortable than if you just out there slinging dick like if you weren't in a relationship you were openly gay and just fucking everything that moved they'd be like hey this guy can pick up the fucking moon and he could butt fuck you well that's dangerous that was like one of my buddies he said he's like you know i'm not afraid of you but what does scare me is if you wanted to rape me, you could, but that sounds like he's setting you up. Well, it's like, don't definitely don't rate me,

but if you were gonna, this is what I think you should do. Grab me right here. Yeah, that's a, but yeah, those are definitely, I mean,

right after fighting, that is the most manly shit picking shit up. Exactly. You know? So I think that's why, like, that's why, you know, I've been so open about my relationship and what i'm doing in the sport and just trying to be more visible for the lgbtq community in pro sports in general um you know

because like i said before like i get a shit ton of hate messages on a daily basis all the time why do you read i love it really um and i know a lot of people don't, but like, to me, I use it as fuel. Like there's no bigger fuck you to that person than me winning. Right. You know, like, so that's how I, that's how I look at it. Like, okay, dude, talk shit about me all you want. I'm the American log press record holder. Yeah.

I won in Australia. I'm competing against the top. I'm one of the top 10 strongest men in the world competing at this Arnold Strongman classic in March. Yeah. So that's why I love it. Like, I love reading that, but like. That is a funny thing you said to that guy in the audience. I this arnold strongman classic in march yeah um so that's why i love it like i love reading that but like that is a funny thing you said that guy in the audience i suck it's great i'm stronger than you right but when the crowd goes silent my

favorite part oh shit like if that was california people probably start cheering yeah well they like yeah it's texas hey man what the What just happened? Hey, man, what the fuck? He's right. Shit. Licking wieners. Fuck. But, totally sidetracked. That's okay. Talking about sucking dick and, you know. I get it.

It's, you would think that you would have a lot of sponsors that would jump in because of this, though. I would think, because you're open and because this is such a manly sport and it's such a non-stereotypical thing yeah i would think that would be like really positive for the lbgtq community yeah i mean let's talk in a week joe let's see what happens after the show well i'm hoping i'm hoping we can help you for real it's um you know and that's my biggest thing like while doing this whole thing is like just trying to spread positivity and love throughout the entire world.

I mean, I talk about the hate messages that I get, but the ones that mean a lot are like, I got a message a few months ago from a 16-year-old kid who was on the verge of committing suicide because he couldn't come to terms with his sexuality. Right. And he said in his post, like, finding my profile, let him be comfortable with himself. That's awesome. Crazy. That's so cool. And it's like, I never expected to be that person just by saying I love this dude.

But that's sometimes how you get to be that person, right? Yeah. Just being yourself. Exactly. And I think that's why this whole thing has kind of blown up into what it is and why I'm, you know, fortunate enough to now be working on a documentary. What's the documentary? So we literally are filming our, we, I just met the film crew this week. Those guys out there?

Yeah, the ones out there. Okay. So I was approached by Andy, who she was on the set of World's Strongest Man. And she was like, once she saw my husband and I kiss after one of the events, like light bulbs just went off. And she was like, there's something here. So I was approached about doing a documentary kind of about my life and about being the only openly gay pro strongman in the world.

Now, are there closeted gay strongmen? I'm sure there are. And they just don't talk to you? Probably. You're dangerous. I know. This wild motherfucker with a are. And they just don't talk to you? Probably. You're dangerous. I know. This wild motherfucker with a mohawk. I don't want bitches coming for my title.

Right? You want to keep them in the closet. If more cards start coming out, we're going to have to actually have a contest for this What if strongman becomes like the WNBA where everyone's gay? Oh, that would suck. Why would it? No, it'd'd be great you can't say that no no no no i'm just selfish i mean that's a good argument that sponsors won't show up though because fucking everybody knows the wmba is gay as fuck true but it's bad basketball too yeah it's

not great that's not good yeah like at least strongman women's sports is awesome but like i always think of like the uh the family Guy episode where they're talking about the WNBA and they're like, oh, and listen to the fan. And it's one guy cheering in the fan's dance. Yeah. It's a tough sell. It is. It's a tough sell.

But. But, yeah, Strongman shouldn't be a tough sell. No. You know, and I think that's the cool thing is like, Strongman in England is massive. Really? Like, we sell out like 15,000 seat arenas

in the UK. Whoa, really? Yeah, it is huge. What about here? What is it like here? Yesterday,

or Saturday in Santa Monica, we had about 1,700 people. That's a good crowd. Decent. Decent crowd. Where'd you guys do it it right on the pier oh no shit yeah yeah they they you know did all the permits and shit yeah bleacher set up at a and rogue was there to live stream the entire event which was really cool i love them all my shit

out there's rogue they're so cool man the best all their stuff is great and um you know we're actually uh the organization giants live which is the world's strongest man qualifying tour they're bringing an arena show to the u.s for the first time since like 2010 um that's going to be in daytona beach um in august august 15th so that's going to be like the first crack at like a breaking into the mainstream u.s um you know arena venues because like i said like over in the UK, when I broke the log press record this past April, it was in Leeds.

And it was in front of a 12,000 seat crowd. It was unbelievable. Why do you think it's so popular over there? You know, I think the biggest thing is they don't have sports to compete with like we do here. As many sports. Yeah. Like what do they have?

Like decently bad soccer and rugby? Is their soccer bad? Their soccer's not great. Really? Yeah. I thought England was really into that. They are, but doesn't mean it's good. Oh, okay.

But yeah, so like... They're not good at rugby either? I think they're pretty good at rugby. Pretty good. Yeah. Then they have like cricket, but like they don't have the NFL. They don't have... I don't know. That is nonsense. I just... The one thing I know about cricket was like cricket, but they don't have the NFL. They don't have. I don't know.

That is nonsense. I just, the one thing I know about cricket was like last week a dude got hit in the balls twice in a row. Twice in a row? That was on ESPN. That's the only reason I saw it. They showed cricket on ESPN? Because he got hit in the balls twice in a row.

Oh, like in the sports center? Yeah, the not top 10. Well, they used to have that late night on ESPN is when you would see strongman competitions. Yeah. And since, you know, so we're no longer with ESPN. We've been picked up by IMG and CBS, which is great.

So now world's strongest man has aired on CBS and CBS sports. So a little bit more mainstream, which is great, you know, and then, yeah, so it's really exciting. I'm hoping this,

I'm hoping the U S can kind of pick it up when it comes to these arena shows. What can make it more popular? What do you think can be done to make people understand? It's fun to watch, for sure. I think people need to understand what we're doing. I think there's such a big respect in the U.K. for strength. Eddie Hall, he won world's strongest man in 2017 won the contest once and then retired that's it because there hadn't been

a winner in the uk since the 80s for world's strongest man so like he is just a household that's eddie yeah i'm the closest to us crisis size that gorilla. Yeah, so he also holds... He even looks like a gorilla. He holds... With his big belly. He has the deadlift world record, so he's the only person... He deadlifted 500 kilos, so he deadlifted 1,102 pounds. What the fuck, man? The size of this fucking guy. So he won World's Strongest Man, and everybody in the UK knows his name.

And that's actually where most of my fan base is even, is in the because this sport is so big and you can see the arena sold out there look at this is the last stretch jay's ass any oh one more fuck see that's the thing like people think strongman's just lifting shit like we have to be athletic as fuck to do this too wow the tires what got it for him wow that's crazy that he wanted the tire yeah we have to like run we have to be agile we have to be able to carry stuff we have to be able to lift heavy oh that's fifth and sixth place in this video here yeah fucking that is losers yeah look at that dude's neck starts around the edges of his shoulders it's crazy it's just a tube such a fucking nutty sport man it is but it's so much fun and like when you come and see a live event it's wild you know because like the cool thing about strongman

is like everybody like the fans and the competitors like you want to see everybody succeed so it's like one of the few sports where you're like cheering for someone as you're competing against them which is awesome yeah you know like you're kind of seen as a dick if you if you finish an event and you walk off and you and the person next to you still going like everybody's like dude what the fuck hey when you compete do you have like patches on for your sponsors or shit like that no um so that's that's a tough part is you have to wear the competition shirt because there are sponsors that pay to be on the T-shirt. Now, in between events, if there's interviews and stuff like that, that's when I'll throw on a sponsor shirt to try to get them some TV time that way. But it's also tough because like in the UK, like all of those competitions are aired on TV in the UK.

In the US, the only time people see strongman on TV is World's Strongest Man. But what about YouTube? YouTube is growing, and that's massive now. I would feel like that would be the big venue for you guys. Yeah, you know, you look at Brian Shaw. He has like, I think he has like 1.3 million subscribers on YouTube.

He's just picking up heavy shit. Huge, yeah. And it's just like all about him. Like him and his wife will do like eating challenges or they'll do workouts together. As an eating challenge with his wife yeah that's hysterical how big's his wife she's tiny too she's like five six i don't know how is she hanging in there with him that doesn't even make any sense well women get excited about pizza and you know like eating like that stuff so so because that what the reason why i was asking Is because That used to be the thing

Back in the early days With MMA fighters That they could make money Off a sponsor Sponsors on their You know Their shorts and stuff Yeah

I mean to be honest Like shorts and pants That's a different story Oh you can wear sponsors On your shorts Absolutely Oh really So like the competition

So we get you a JRE patch And I can sponsor your shorts Totally Really Well I mean I wear spandex though So how do you put a You can put a patch On your spandex I can fit it away Yeah patch. I can sponsor your shorts. Totally. Really? Well, I mean, I wear spandex, though. So how do you put a... You can put a patch on spandex.

I could fit it away. Yeah, we'll have to make that up. That's always my goal. Like, I always try to wear, like... Then Oberst is going to get mad. That's fine. I'm going to have to sponsor him, too. No, we can piss him off.

Sponsor both of you guys. It's fine. Sorry, bro. He beat you in the log push. He beat you in the log press. Yeah, so, like, my goal is to try to wear, like, the craziest, most outrageous spandex at every contest I go to. Oh, yeah.

You need sequins. Can you have sequins on yours? I haven't yet, and I don't know why I haven't thought about that. You need them. The ones I wore this past weekend were swirly rainbow. Nice. Yeah, it was awesome. Hot pink with sequins, bro.

Yeah. I'm down for that. Yeah. Yeah. For sure, right? You need that. I love these ideas, Joe. These are good ideas.

Yeah, I'm all about it. All right. Any spandex people listening? What kind of, yeah, any spandex designers and constructors of spandex, you know how to put together a good sequence? You can't, the sequence can't fall off. No, no. Because I'll be deadlifting and running.

Anchored, especially deadlifting, right? Because it's going up your thigh. I think we'd have to do the sequence on the sides. Yes. Yeah. Like racing stripes. Ooh. Super gay racing stripes. thigh. I think we'd have to do the sequins on the sides. Yes. Yeah. Like racing stripes. Ooh. Super gay racing stripes.

Yes. I like it. I like it. I like it. Now, when you are doing this, what kind of shoes do you guys wear? Because those guys were running, but you're also, I would imagine you'd have to have something that's very flat with serious support. I'm super bougie.

Bougie. I bring five different pairs of shoes to every contest. But what do you prefer? It changes every event. Oh, depending upon what you have to do? The brand I go with is Innovate. Innovate. I love all their stuff.

I've never heard of them before. It's I-N-O-V-8. Is it a powerlifting only brand? Crossfit lifting. Okay. So they have lifting shoes that I wear for my overhead events. Then I wear like their barefoot shoes.

That's what I do for like my moving events and when I deadlift. And then they also have like hiking like shoes that are like anti-slip that I'll use like when I do truck pull or pushing events as well. Now, are they a sponsor? Working on it.

Come on, Innovate. They sent me a bunch of stuff for free. It's better than nothing. Yeah, totally. And honestly, they're the most comfortable shoes I've worn when training. Let me see what that looks like. Let me see what them Innovate shoes look like. I don't know.

Go with the barefoot one. Let me see what that looks like. They're super light, too. Yeah? Yeah. And that's what I think I like about them, too. Even their weightlifting shoes are light. Because those are usually clunky and heavy and like really like, especially like when

I'm doing like a split jerk, trying to move my feet fast. Right. The last thing I want is heavy things on my feet. Oh, okay. So yeah, those are the lifting shoes that I have. I like that. So the, the platform in the back. Yeah.

So they have a raised heel, um, about three quarters of an inch. Now that's for when you're lifting, like it's almost like standing on plates, right? Yeah. So that'd be like if you're squatting using that. And then I like it for overhead lifts just because it gives you a little bit more stability. Then why do you have to stand on plates? Like what is the idea behind that? Like to raise the back heel up?

Raising the heel, it takes out the issue of ankle mobility in a lift, like a squat. So there's a lot of restriction in the ankle and the achilles if they're tight and that'll prevent you from that'll either cause or prevent you from your knees tracking properly it'll put extra strain on the hips and on the ankles so doing that it kind of takes the ankle complex out of the motion and makes the the movement easier you can keep a more upright spine a little bit more comfortable with a lift. So that's usually the thought process behind it. So when you have that elevated heel, then you don't have to stand on plates or anything like that? You just use it just like that?

Just a shoe. Yeah. So it's interesting that you wear different ones for different events. Yeah. So the pulling for the truck tire one, you use a hiking one, is that what you're saying? So this will be my first time using that. Typically, we use rock climbing shoes. Oh, which are real grippy.

Because super grippy and especially like we're pulling on asphalt usually. So that'll dig into the asphalt. These ones that I have from Innovate now, they're like anti-slip and they have gripping treads on them. So I'm going to be using them for an event called the wheel of pain coming up at the arnold strongman classic which is based off of the movie conan the barbarian oh where you see him pushing that big yeah that big implement so they actually rogue recreated that implement no way for the arnold yeah if you can pull a picture of that it is the most badass thing ever arnold so it's like a three hundred thousand dollar piece oh they even did it with the carving and yeah dude that's so cool wild so

you literally just have to push it so those big wheels are filled with sand because they obviously don't want to make it too easy for us um and you just have to push it in a circle as far as you can in 75 seconds oh wow that's everybody looks fucking exhausted oh 60 seconds even better it just hurts man oh it looks like it just is it's like i mean you know like i mean you work out so it's like imagine even doing something like as simple as like rowing on an erg for 60 seconds just all out non-stop this guy's pushing with his head yeah so this last year was the first year they did this event um and they changed the rules this year where you have to keep your hands on the implement like that like brian's doing right there because someone was just using their

head yeah so they don't want anybody to do that anymore that seems like that would crush all your vertebrae yeah so you have to keep your hands on the implement at all times and push like that. What a dope design, though. I mean, it really does look like something out of Conan. Yeah. It's fucking cool as shit. It's so cool. It's all carved out of wood, too.

Who built that fucking thing? Rogue. They just hired artists to carve it? Yeah, Rogue has everybody. I mean, anything you could think of. They're the shit. They have people to make it. Their fucking Echo bike is the greatest cardio machine thing that I've ever used. Best and worst, because it hurts so much. Oh, it's the best.

But look at this fucking thing with the snake heads and everything. What a genius. You could see it rolling back when you let go, and that's because there's sand in those big wheels. So you have to push it against sand. So now they have to deconstruct this and bring it back and put it back together again, because it's not like you could fucking push it against sand. So now they have to deconstruct this and bring it back and put it back together again because it's not like you could fucking ship it like that. And this is the only contest they use it for.

They use it one time a year. He's using his shoulders. Yeah, he's Russian. What do you expect? Oh, Russian. Your shoulder. That is a crazy thing, though, that you can kind of use your shoulders

and push with your hands. Yeah, so this will be the second time we're doing this event. So they switch it a little bit, have to keep your hands on the implement at all times, and then it's just push until you can't anymore. God damn. That's bananas. Look at that.

Yeah. Look, everybody looks so tired. I mean, this is one of those events where usually the medics will come over with oxygen afterwards. Oh, yeah. It's crazy. Boom, boom, boom, boom. And he's got that Russian beret on, too.

So he actually is in the Russian military, too. Is he really? Yeah, he's like the Russian equivalent of a green beret. And he does strongman on top of that? Yeah. That's a manly motherfucker. He's scary. He's the next guy to come out of the closet.

He's super nice But you know Guaranteed Look at him You know he's definitely Probably killed some Motherfuckers He is so free Rob is so free

Why can I not be I don't even think His English is that good No No It's so bad No But they also

I mean these Eastern Europeans Are smart Because they'll play Dumb on purpose To not listen to the rules. Oh, no. And then try to bend them.

Oh, really? Oh, yeah. Oh, sneaky fucks. Yeah. They're like, I don't know. But they fucking know. Yeah. How many Russian guys win it?

Because you would think that would be a thing. Like, Russian, you think of strong people, you think of Russians. Eastern Europeans are always in the mix. But honestly, like, dominating across the board lately has been U.S., Iceland, and that's about it. Is it because we have the best steroids? It could be. It might have something to do with it. Yeah.

Yeah. What kind of testing do they do? Eh. They just look at you? I mean, they test us. Do they? They don't tell us what for. Oh, so nobody gets in trouble?

No. I got caught for weed. What? Well, I mean, they said, do you smoke? you smoke i was like well it's legal in massachusetts so yes and so okay yeah they're like all right cool i mean they don't want us like taking coke or like you know stuff like that yeah um that's what i would worry about right it's like someone getting on amphetamines yeah no they do test for that like they test for like you know prescription pills and stuff yeah yeah i don't know about that you fucking get really strong on that shit probably i mean you'd probably rip everything i was gonna say you'd probably break your body yeah you probably not you wouldn't understand the boundaries at all no you just go i had a

buddy of mine who got in a fight he was on pcp and a dude bit off his finger and he didn't even realize it now he has a toe that they uh took they took his second toe and curved it so he could still punch so if you shake his hand his his right hand when he shakes you he's got the it takes a new mania to shake a leg his pointer fingers index finger is curved it's curved permanently so he never he never has like a flat hand that's wild and it's his fucking toe that's wild yeah yeah boxing my old boxing coach wow shout out to joe lake hey but um yeah so um yeah so like they don't want to take us like they don't want us taking like that kind of stuff right but um yeah it's pretty much that's it that makes sense just because it's fucking dangerous too

like dudes that have heart attacks like you push that thing on some kind of end. It is wild. The amount of medical testing we have to go through before a contest is crazy. I would imagine your heart, the pack, the medical packet that we have to get filled out by our primary cares for World's Strongest Man is like 48 pages long. But yeah, it's wild, dude. So they bring you in for an exam. How long does that take?

We have to get it done on our own. Oh. So after the invites are done and after the lineup is set for World's Strongest Man, you get the email that it's like, here's the medical packet you need done by this date. And you pretty much have to make an appointment with your primary care and get it all done. So what does your doctor say when you come to him with that fucking 48-page packet? Well, luckily, I've gone to her a few times with it so she knows to block off some time she knows what's up yeah you know what it's um but it's it's smart because like we have to get an ekg we have to do stress testing we have to get a full blood panel done um they have to look at everything because

they don't want somebody dropping dead on tv. That makes them look pretty fucking bad. Yeah, they would have to make sure that you're not already over-trained too, right? Like your creatine levels. Yeah, so they look at everything. I mean, it's a full blood panel. Like I said, they do the EKG. They look at the heart. And then it's obviously full medical history as well,

just everything from parents to past diseases to what runs in the family, everything. And now you guys aren't insured by these competitions, are you? No. So if you tear your fucking hamstring off, it's all on you. Yep. Fuck, man. Yep. God, that seems crazy.

It's ballsy. Yeah. It's risky. Yeah, real. Yeah. Real risky. I mean, that seems kind of crazy that during the competition itself, you're not covered? It's all on us. It's crazy that during the competition itself, you're not covered.

It's all on us. Even those medical packets, they say all fees associated with this are up to the athlete's expense. And they don't pay you that well. No. Fuck. If you win, you make decent money. I mean, it's not a lot. Right. To win World's Strongest Man, you make like 50 grand.

Really? That's it? Yeah. For the strongest motherfucker in the world. To be the strongest man in the world. Yeah. That should be worth a million bucks. I think so. That's the number. I mean That's it? Yeah. For the strongest motherfucker on the world. To be the strongest man in the world. Yeah. That should be worth a million bucks.

I think so. That's the number. I mean, but look at it. So like, World's Strongest Man has been around since the 70s.

I need to see six zeros. Are you going to win the strongest man in the fucking world? That's what I'm talking about. We need you in the sport, Joe. This is bullshit.

Pony up the money. Seems like somebody should be able to pony up a million bucks. I would love. Some big company. I will say. So like,

you know, we talk about World's Strongest Man and Gi and giants live and that whole series but then we also have the arnold circuit so there's like two big pro circuits for strongman to choose from um the arnold circuit they've definitely elevated the game right so the arnold strongman classic in ohio is like kind of seen as the most elite competition in the world because only 10 guys qualify for that contest world's strongest man you get 25 and then the prize money in ohio is better than world's strongest man it it's almost double actually really yeah for arnold so at the arnold so each of the arnold international shows it's standard prize money so the arnold international shows there was one here

in santa monica this weekend there's australia south america south africa europe canada um i think that's it but we all know the prize money going into each show because it's the same at every one so it's like 10 grand for first eight six four two one so they pay out top six but they also pay all of our travel there so it's not too bad no but then the big motivation is to get to ohio right where first place is 85 grand and they pay out all 10 athletes but like third place at i think it's second second or third place at ohio makes just as much as world's strongest man so this is probably why you have to compete 40 times a year i mean it's kind of imperative and the thing is like to be honest like i didn't really do that well this past weekend at santa monica so i didn't make any money oh really yeah oh no which is a bummer

but like i wasn't like this weekend like the contest like for me it was more like a gauging i was trying to gauge where i was at going into columbus the events were really similar so do you do that like you have to be careful to not go too crazy in one of these events yes because you blow something i definitely like held back this weekend you know i i think i could have hit another gear if i needed to but already having my qualification to the big show i like mentally i i don't think i'd have been able to like turn it on like i need to in ohio and when is ohio what day first week of March. So the contest is the 5th and 6th, I think, or the 6th and 7th.

So you have nothing between right now, which is January 20th, and March. And then. So how do you ramp up? What is your schedule like to prepare for something like that? So the biggest thing, so we look at the events, right? So I mentioned we have the max deadlift. So the biggest thing, so we look at the events, right? So, you know, I mentioned we have the max deadlift.

So my goal is to deadlift 1,000 pounds, which would make me the first person under 300 pounds body weight to do that in history. Whoa. Yeah. How close are you? I pulled 970 in July. Jesus Christ. God damn, that's a lot of weight. So we're close. Right there.

We're close. And you're only 28 Yeah You're gonna get stronger Exactly So if you don't get To 300 pounds If you don't gain too much weight

You can nail it I don't want to Like I was I was almost 300 I was like 298 At World's Strongest Man In 2018 And I was a fat fuck

It was gross Like I look at my husband I was like Why did you wanna Like lay next to me Like I had neck rolls On my neck rolls I'm like

I was gross isn't that a thing like some dudes like bears they're like i'm big and hairy well he does like and i totally am a bear but like i was an ugly fucking bear dude like a bear just going into hibernation oh man i look at pictures my head looked like a fucking blueberry i was like thinking um but like honestly was I thinking But like Honestly like 285 is like Kind of my sweet spot

Because I'm still Getting stronger Getting a little bit leaner And getting better At the sport So like I don't see A reason to get any bigger Right

But I honestly do think A thousand pounds Is doable right now Well it seems like If you're 30 pounds away If you're doing That much weight 906

I mean look 30 pounds To a deadlift For a regular person That's an extra 30 pounds That's a lot But. If you're doing that much weight, 960. I mean, look, 30 pounds to a deadlift for a regular person. That's an extra 30 pounds. That's a lot. But not when you're already doing 970 fucking pounds. Yeah. And like to go back to like the prep and like the ramp up to this contest, you know, like

before, like this weekend we had the deadlift was a 775 for reps in a minute. And I pulled six, which is okay. That's a lot. But like I probably could have pulled seven or eight if i needed to the winning number was nine um and everybody that ironically everybody that finished ahead of me in that event has already deadlifted over a thousand pounds so that made me feel pretty good um but like leading up into these next few weeks like i'm gonna start working like my heaviest deadlift I did before this contest was 850 for one. I'm going to start working up into that low to mid nines in the next couple of weeks and probably have my last heavy, heavy deadlift probably three weeks before the contest, two and a half weeks before the contest. And then do you deadlift at all leading up to the contest?

If I do, it'll be light. Very light. And I say light relative. It's a relative term. 600 pounds. Yeah. So you're just trying to let your body recover and that's a lot of people think they're like people forget like when we're training this hard like we're beat to shit and like we're like i we get stronger when we when we rest and recover so i really don't exercise or lift like the week of a contest like i'll do my recovery workouts that I talked about before where like I'm just kind of swimming, hot tub, sauna, that stuff.

But I won't lift any weights. And that's because like my body, like my central nervous system, like everything just needs a break. And you get stronger over that period of time. Oh, for sure. And it's amazing. Does it make you feel like you maybe are overtraining in other ways? Not really. Because if you do get that much stronger when you take a week off,

it almost seems like you should do that more often. No, because I think you need to get to that point where you need it. You need to get beat down. You know, like there are some strength coaches out there that like, you know, we call it a deload, right? So it's like where you're ramping up, ramping up, going super heavy, then you back off for a little bit, right? And so that's what we call a deload.

And there's some coaches that give that every fourth week of their program, regardless. And I don't agree with that. Because I don't think anybody can work that hard for three weeks to beat down their body enough where they need it every single fourth week. Normal people don't train hard enough to need regular deloads. The deloads, the guys who practice that way are they winning or are they not really no uh most of it like i say that like most of that's like in like

i see a lot of like in the powerlifting community where it's just like squat bench deadlift um but like in all honesty like i don't feel people like i feel like you have to earn your deload and that's like what my coach does with me like i went almost six months without a deload. And that's like what my coach does with me. Like I went almost six months without a deload leading into this contest. And that happened about a month and a half ago. And I knew I needed it because I was tired every day, regardless of how much sleep I got. I didn't want to go to the gym. Every time I'd get to the gym, I was fucking miserable. I just wanted to leave. I didn't want to look at anything. I don't want to talk to anybody and i texted my coach i was like i need a fucking break and he was like all right cool i was waiting for you to get to that point

but it's because but you know it's like it's like i feel like it's something you have to earn because people like people think they work hard but they don't really know what that means until they're like actually pushed to do something right and that's where i got to that point um and that's why like these next five weeks are going to be like super crucial in my training to this contest because i'm gonna have to i'm gonna beat my body to shit over these next five weeks um you know and my husband will probably get pissed off at me because i'll be a prick one or two times at least um but it's like you know this is the biggest competition in the world. And I know what I need to sacrifice to get to that point.

And that's going to mean long training sessions, really hard training sessions. And I'm, you know, just like I said, I'm just going to beat my body down just to reap those rewards at the end of it. Yeah. That's got to leave you super exhausted. It hurts. And cranky and just like, yeah, you know, like I can't remember the last time I woke out of bed feeling woke up in the morning, like feeling good feeling good oh you must be in pain all over the place right

yeah it all hurts yeah but whatever can still do cool shit do you get out mris and get shit checked out and make sure no i'm sure i have herniated discs and stuff like that like how could you not my my my orthopedics actually one of my closest friends ironically yeah um you know but like his whole thing is like as long as you're feeling good like why why look into it right because then you might freak out you think about it right like if you know it if you don't know it it's not gonna hurt right you know but like if you see it then like you start thinking it's like oh shit yeah i gotta imagine your discs are awful That's why it's so impressive that that guy is 53. I was actually 63 when I started the sport. That's why it's amazing that that guy is 53 and still able to lift such insane amounts of weight.

It's crazy. I mean, it's so impressive. And there's actually still a guy. There's a guy here in L.A. who owns a gym called The Training Hall in Thousand Oaks. That's where Martins trains. His name is Ode Haugen. What a name. He's 72, and he still does

some some strength competitions too what yeah like he still deadlifts like over 500 pounds i've seen that guy online yeah yeah ode is awesome that's insane yeah he's like the nicest dude ever but like he has he has arguably the best grip in the world really yeah 72 yeah it's crazy my god yeah he's a freak now is that yeah that's him yeah i have seen him yeah that is incredible that's incredible that guy's that jacked yeah and he's like 73 i think yeah he just turned 73 this weekend was his birthday training hall i know where that is yeah yeah that's only like 20 minutes away from here man yeah so that's um that's where martinez the current world's strongest man trains um and then ode is the owner of that place wow that's amazing that he could still get after it at that age he's and he's so cool that that's all of his grip toys

so he has those things called the blob which they're literally just like probably three inch wide like weights where you just have to like and they're smooth on the side where you have to pick them up in like a pinch, a pinch grip style and just hold on to them. Yeah. Thick dumbbells. He has the crush grip stuff.

Now what kind of people come to his gym? Just regular folks or everybody. There's, um, competitive power lifters, strong men, Olympic weightlifters, and then just your average person.

And that's kind of the thing is like, you know, people think like, especially like my gym back home and lightning fitness, people think like you have to be a competitor to go train there like the gym owner like we have everybody from like professional strongmen we have a woman that squats over 700 pounds jesus what does she look like she's a sweetheart i love her katrina she's one of those thighs like they're bigger than mine oh my god 700 pounds that's incredible she's awesome is she uh she maybe she she competes like 181 i

think and i think she's maybe like five seven she must be a fucking tank yeah she's great i love her that's so strong but then we also have like 65 year old grandmothers that are working out at the same time in our gym. Oh, that's cool. Well, you have to if you want to pay the bills, right? Yeah. I mean, we have, you know, the gym I go to, like, we have like over 250 members right now. So it's pretty big. But like, you know, we're also in a 15,000 square foot facility that has the best strength equipment, you know, on the East Coast, I would say.

Oh, really? Oh, yeah. Oh, wow. has the best strength equipment you know on the east coast i would say oh really oh yeah oh wow yeah like the gym the gym we go to like in the strongman and like strength world is like world renowned have you ever been to west side barbell i haven't dude um i mean i see just to meet louis simmons oh absolutely i mean i've met him in passing you know like i hear stories about him where like he like tore his bicep yes And he was in a sling for three days and got pissed off, said,

fuck this, and just extended his arm really fast, popped the bicep off again, then started bench pressing. Oh my God. Because he just couldn't wait for it to heal. He told me that he had his shoulder reconstructed. He got shoulder reconstruction. And then his first day back,

they made him max out and bench. Yep. I'm like, why? why i mean there's guys like greg panora who was a guy that was in the west side versus the world uh documentary where like he had like the he had he ruptured his patellar tendon got the surgery done i think it was the next day was on the bench bench pressing with with his leg fully extended in an immobilizer. He was busting the staples. He was dripping blood through the bandages.

Oh, God. But they had to train, man. Jesus Christ. Now, going back to what I said, luckily, I have my background in sports medicine, so I don't do shit like that. Good for you. Yeah. Yeah, because talking to Louie, I was like, why?

Why? You got to fucking do it. That's what you got to do we're talking to louis i was like why why so you gotta fucking do it that's what you gotta do look at there's louis crazy bastard looks like a mutant and he still does this shit yeah look at that crazy is that tape or tattoos that's a tattoo yeah snake all over him right and he's got the captain america armband tattoo that look at the build on him it's crazy and he's been doing this shit since the 60s yeah have you seen that documentary no i haven't it's awesome i heard it's awesome it's super cool against the world you talk about just like intense yeah badass motherfuckers that like all they care about is that the record board in their gym and competing yep well we went in there to interview

louis it was a fucking trip. It was a trip. And then we went and checked out his gym. He gave us a tour of the gym. That's sick. We had a good time. It was one of the rare ones that Jamie and I did. I saw that video. Which one?

That we shot walking around the gym. Oh, yeah? Yeah. We never did anything with it? Oh. We should put it on YouTube. Yeah, we should put it out. Well, if you ever find yourself in Connecticut, Joe, I know how much you love the state.

I fucking love Connecticut. I love it when I see it, when I'm passing over in a over in a plane bring you into our gym i would definitely do that if i was there it's wild man what's it called again lightning fitness lightning fitness what part of connecticut one more time uh it's in south windsor connecticut so it's just outside of hartford okay um and we have you drive a little bit about 45 minutes each way yeah yeah um but there's like we there's essentially like two sides of the gym there's like the strongman side and the powerlifting side you know like the strongman side like has every piece of strongman equipment you could think of um so we have atlas stones from 60 pounds to

530 pounds we have logs we have monster dumbbells we have the farmer's walks there's turf there's tires from 250 to a thousand pounds then the power lifting side is where we have like the mono lifts all the squat racks and then all the the isolation like bodybuilding machines as well so it's like yeah it's like a 15 000 square foot gym and do you live in springfield live in just outside springfield western yeah yeah western mass yeah a town called wilbraham so i know where that is yeah i used to do gigs out in western massachusetts yeah when i lived in boston i used to drive out there yeah Yeah. Yeah, like Pittsfield. Oh, wow, like real Western Mass.

Oh, yeah, man. Basically like New York State. Holy cow. Yeah, I did Amherst. Okay, yeah. So I just left working full time. I worked in the boarding school world for a long time. Did you?

That's why I'm like in the Western Mass area. And we lived in East Hampton, which a super super awesome little town um yeah so that's wild that you're western massachusetts is a trip it's a cool spot it's not bad man it's great you know like i think cold as fuck though right now it sucks like my husband flew home this morning and uh we got a snowstorm yesterday so he's flying yeah i mean i'm flying home tonight and we know i'm going back to like six inches of snow so that's great it builds character yeah it's great but then like people live there we also have the like it's it's really cool because like we get four seasons you know like we there was a stretch this summer it was like 110 for

three days in a row really it was super hot that's just global warming fucking with you yeah yeah i mean at least you get that that you know the appreciation for summer for sure i mean and even in the summer it's like it's pretty it's like between i would say like we have an average between like 85 and 90 every day in the summer so it's pretty warm where's the strong man hotbed like if there was a place where you like if you want to be an actor you move to la right if you want to be a strong man is there a place where you go to i really don't think there is um it's because like i would say in the u.s there's only like four or five guys that are doing it really really well at a really high level you know it's

like it's me oberst jerry pritchett brian shaw martinez um and then there's nick best in vegas as well so probably like six of us and we're all over the place you know there's me i'm the only one on the east coast um and then there's brian in colorado martinez is out here jerry's in phoenix oberst is i think he's in iowa now i think um and then uh nick best in vegas so we're kind of like spread out all over the place um and that's a cool thing like strongman like we'll do um like i get hired to do like seminars all over the u.s and all over the world where like gyms will pay me to come into their gym for a weekend like teach people you know from my experience and like different gym lifts and stuff like that um so that's pretty much it there's really no like one place you know like powerlifting has west side right um but there

really isn't that that culture around strongman. Would there be any benefit to training with some other top-level guy? Like, you know, like for fighters, they want to go and train in the gym with these other top-level fighters because they push each other and inspire each other and iron sharpens iron, all that jazz. And at the top level, we try to do that as much as possible. You know, I just don't think none of us are, like like willing to move our families and our lives around just for that right because we realize what the sport is you know i mean fighters it'd be worth it when you're making a million bucks a fight right um for us it's not that level but you know martinez he flew out to massachusetts this past summer to train with me even though he had just one world's strongest man there's events that i'm better than him at um and that's why he flew out to me because he had a contest coming up where those events were in it so what

events you really shine in uh log press is my bread and butter as we talked about then there's uh the yoke walk which is you know the crossbar was staying to pick it up on your back and walk with it um you know that's one event that i'm really well known for as well and that's one that martinez tends to struggle at so why are you so good at that what's the deal um people call me like fred flintstone of strongman like i just move my feet really really quick uh i don't know like i just got i for some reason i just like you know feeling super heavy weight on my back and moving quick with it you know world's strongest man we had a 1350 pounds on that thing oh god yeah it Oh god. Yeah It was a bitch and that was actually at the end of a medley So we had a farmer's walk that was 330 pounds per hand and then we had to pick up a 1,000 pound yoke and

Then the 1,350. Oh god. Yeah, and I was the only one in my group to actually finish that event Which was pretty wild god damn you at the end of something like that, all your tissues must be so torn apart. Yeah. It was like, I mean, you talk about like cranial pressure. I felt like my eyes were purple. Just from all the blood on your head. Yeah. It was wild.

Yeah, I would imagine, right? That kind of cream. Have you ever, do you know what happens when you fly in a jet that's going like- The G-forces and stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, you have to, they call it hooking, where you like hold on to the handle. You got to go like this. Hoot, hoot, hoot.

And then you're forcing blood. That's pretty much what we're doing when we do it. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Because with strongman, like when you have 1,300 pounds on your back, like you're not going to breathe that well. Like you can't really expand your lungs and your ribs to breathe properly. So you're not going to breathe that well like you can't really expand your lungs and your ribs to breathe properly almost holding your breath so and that's with most of our stuff like i hold my breath whenever i do moving events and i just try to

exhale and inhale as short and as small as possible just to get enough so i don't pass out pretty much does anybody pass out oh all the time one of my one of my good friends at world's strongest man in the philippines on 2018 we were carrying like a 330 pound sandbag and like the way he carried it was just like resting right on his diaphragm and he didn't pick it up high enough to go onto the platform so he just ran into the platform fell backwards and uh was just out cold and magnus ver magnuson is standing right next to him another awesome name great name didn't twitch didn't move a muscle he just goes that's all he did he's done he must have died so you know so it's just like i mean passing out it's kind of like a normal part of what we do i can only imagine

it doesn't sound it doesn't sound good when i'm saying it out loud. Well, it makes sense, though. I mean, the fucking exertion. Does anybody have heart attacks? Not typically. It has happened. How often does it happen? The only person that comes to mind is a guy, I can't remember what year. His name was Jesse Marunde.

And he did have a heart attack in the gym when he was training and that's how he passed away and he was only i believe he's only 28 or 29 years old it happens in jiu-jitsu yeah guys get heart attacks training and then you know i mean another thing is like sleep apnea because the guys are so big so that caused a lot of stress on the heart do you use a c-pap machine or anything i don't um i I don't need one. I'm pretty fortunate that I don't have that issue when I sleep. But a previous coach of mine, Mike Jenkins, he passed away in 2013 because of sleep apnea and just the strain on his heart. Yeah, it's not good. It's basically

not sleeping. Yeah, and suffocating yourself. It's crazy. So a lot of the guys at this level do but i mean that but that's mainly like because of their size do you know i have it really yeah yeah yeah it's my i have a fat tongue and my neck but that's all the years of fighting like with that neck musculature and all that development there um yeah for some reason like i've kind of you know you got lucky most football players have it for sure power lifters i think when you want once you get around that 300 pound body weight like do you snore not terribly interesting on planes i do but that's because

my fucking fat mouth just opens up yeah exactly yeah yeah planes it's not a good place to sleep no or just sit in general when you're near 300 pounds it's what's so fascinating to me when you think about people that explore the boundaries of what a human body's capable of and strong man is like what there's like guys who do like david goggins do like the ultra marathons but strong man is like that's another form of this extreme pushing of the boundaries of what a body is capable of. And when you look at the progression of the sport, it just hasn't slowed down. Like, if anything, it's gotten even, like, the weights keep getting heavier every year. Everybody keeps getting faster.

And all of us are like, when the fuck is this gonna stop you know like we show up to a contest and they're like all right we there was literally a contest in 2018 where the deadlift was 880 pounds for reps that's so much like what the fuck dude and there was a motherfucker that pulled over five that is so much it's crazy and so it's like all of us are like where does it stop like does it stop you know like the the log press world record is 502 pounds overhead right now god damn it you know it's just like these crazy outlandish numbers but like the people like we keep doing them so i guess we're doing it to ourselves to a point i guess so you, like, what is pushing it? Is it just that you, is it a preconceived idea of what's possible? And now that the like with Rogue being our main equipment sponsor now, they make all strongman equipment.

So like regular people have strongman equipment in their gyms. You know, like they're like PT clinics that have farmer's handles in them for people to work on core musculature and posture when they're walking. So I think just like the general availability of strongman equipment has made it easier for people to train it more regularly and get better at the events because we have to practice. You know, like being strong is great, but you have to be able to manipulate the movement and manipulate the implement to work. And that's where just like the training lot of these weights being pushed so much further because everybody pretty much has regular access to these strongman implants now. It's interesting to me that you're saying that the weights are getting heavier and people are getting faster.

And then I'm thinking, how long have people been doing this? When was the first strongman competition? I mean, strongman dates back to the 1700s. Really? Yeah. Like that kind of shit like barrel throws and yeah really um i mean when rob was on you know he was talking about the show strongest man in history um that was just on history channel and they they went back into the history books to look at old you know quote unquote strong men doing these strengths these feats of strength um all throughout you know i think one of the most notable names is louis sear a guy from canada who was about my size actually and is revered to be one of the

strongest men in history and so when he was doing like these dumbbell lifts and these back lifts and these hip and thigh lifts and stuff like that um so strongman's been around for a long time but world's strongest man didn't become a thing until the seventies. That's when world's strongest man, I think 77 was the first year of world's strongest man. And, uh, that's when it kind of became a sport, you know, and not just a, uh, kind of a hobby, I guess. So how do they determine what stuff you're going to do for the world's strongest man?

So how do they determine what stuff you're going to do for the World's Strongest Man? Did they, I mean, did they have a panel of experts that sit down and devise each individual event? Yeah, I mean, it's come a long way from what it was in the 70s. I mean, they used to do like medleys with like potato sack races back at World's Strongest Man a long time ago. Now it's a little more standardized where they do have like a committee where it's people from the strongman circuit and judges and stuff like that. But they also bring TV execs because they want stuff that's going to look cool. And I think that's a great thing because you don't want to – like stuff that is cool to me isn't going to look cool to somebody that doesn't know anything about the sport sometimes. So when they choose the events, like pulling two monster trucks, like, okay, one, you have to be strong as fuck to be able to do it,

but it also looks really cool on TV. So they try to find that marriage of both of those things to make it the most pleasing to the average person. Difficult, but also impressive. Exactly. You know, like the deadlift event. They don't have us. Yeah, so, oh, this is, that's Mark Felix. Yeah, so this is one of the world records that he did.

And how old is he when he's doing this? This is 53. Jesus Christ. So this was actually just this past July. This was at Wembley Stadium. Oh, my God. Or Wembley Arena in London. The Hercules Hold.

What a great name. So each of those pillars weighs 400 pounds. And he's just chilling. And you just have to hold it as long as you can. Look at the size of his fucking shoulders. Yeah. That is preposterous. It's dumb.

That dude has preposterous muscles. That's so crazy. How long does he hold his fucker for? He goes over one minute. Oh, my God. Yeah god Yeah I mean it's Crazy So this is a world record At this point

What kind of After this is 122 He drops it Yeah What kind of breathing Are you doing here Like does it help

To breathe in Deep and heavy Or is it just During an event like this He looks 30 That is crazy That's exactly Dude black don't crack

They're not lying. That guy looks amazing. So with an event like that, it's more just trying to relax and getting into a calm mental state. Because you don't want to be super revved up because you're not moving. You're just focusing on your grip. And that's the biggest thing for an event like that. But then there's also events where like, okay, when you're maxing your deadlift, you do have to hold your breath.

Right. So it's different for everything you do. Look at when he goes to shake his hands. His hands are enormous. It goes up to his wrist. That's incredible. That's amazing though, that he could hold those fucking things for that long. It was like a minute and 20 something seconds.

Minute and 23 seconds. And for reference, I was at that contest and did it for like 42 seconds oh my god it's crazy now how do you prepare for something like that do you like you don't hold those things like do you just work on your grip and no usually um honestly set up like a pulley system in the gym oh so you just like regular handles that you use on like a cable machine um set up a pulley on like a squat rack or like one of the rogue rigs have uh loading pins coming down stack weights on that and then just hold it yeah fuck or even just doing something as simple like pull-up holds like dead hangs from a barbell yeah or from a pull-up bar how long can you dead hang for um i've done over a minute that's

impressive guys that heavy. Yeah. Yeah. So, honestly, my shoulders usually get tired before anything else. Really? Before your hands? Yeah. Just from holding it. You must have crazy tears all over the place and shit.

Have you ever got your labrums checked or anything like that? Good. It must. No. I'm looking at you pressing that 250 pound thing over your fucking head like that ain't that's not normal shoulder pressure no it's not but like if you do it safely and correctly but you know it's also taken 10 years to get to that point right right you know like it's funny you know like i have the american log press record but like overhead was my weakest

lift when i started the sport i sucked at putting stuff overhead you just focused on it so much yeah and like i said before like i became a student of the sport. I sucked at putting stuff overhead. You just focused on it so much. Yeah, and like I said before, I became a student of the sport, so I was looking at what was working for other guys, what wasn't working, and trying to find that balance of what I could make work for me. So luckily, yeah, like I said,

I've been pretty injury-free and healthy the entire time. That's pretty amazing. Well, listen, man, I appreciate you coming in here. Yeah, thank you so much. I hope this gives you some more attention and let people know how fucking impressive it is. I appreciate it, Joe.

And I really love your Instagram, man. You're an inspirational guy. You're very positive. Thank you. It's a happy, fun page, too. It's cool. I appreciate it. I try.

And that's, you know, everything I post and everything, you know, I just, like I said, I try to spread the message of love, positivity, and just, you know, inspiration with everything that I do. Well, no pun intended. I'm pulling for you to get that 1,000 pounds. Thank you. And I appreciate you being here, man.

Appreciate it. Thanks, Joe. Thank you very much. Great to meet you. Bye, everybody. That was awesome, man. Sweet. That was really fun.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.