Mark Bell's Power Project - Power Project EP. 108 - 4x World STrongest Man Brian Shaw

Episode Date: September 6, 2018

Today we have 4x World's STrongest Man, Brian Shaw! He has recently started up his own podcast the ShawStrength Podcast, welcomed his second child into the world, all while he continues to work towards claiming his next World’s Strongest Man title. Rewatch the live stream: https://youtu.be/M4Wk-TAGjzA ➢SHOP NOW: https://markbellslingshot.com/ Enter Discount code, "POWERPROJECT" at checkout and receive 15% off all Sling Shots ➢Subscribe Rate & Review on iTunes at: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/mark-bells-power-project/id1341346059?mt=2 ➢Listen on Stitcher Here: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/mark-bells-power-project?refid=stpr ➢Listen on Google Play here: https://play.google.com/music/m/Izf6a3gudzyn66kf364qx34cctq?t=Mark_Bells_Power_Project ➢Listen on SoundCloud Here: https://soundcloud.com/markbellspowerproject FOLLOW Mark Bell ➢ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marksmellybell ➢ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkBellSuperTraining ➢ Twitter: https://twitter.com/marksmellybell ➢ Snapchat: marksmellybell Follow The Power Project Podcast ➢ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/MarkBellsPowerProject Podcast Produced by Andrew Zaragoza ➢ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamandrewz

I'm standing on as many pads as we got over here. Yeah. He does, he's double padded. He's double padded. Today's a heavy flow day. Thank you. But yeah, we're good to go guys. Alright. What happened with your training?

So yesterday, the biggest dumbbells I have in the gym are 170s. Right? And so I've been really going back and forth about figuring out getting some bigger dumbbells. Right now, for whatever reason, everybody's excited about these, you know, incline dumbbell with 200 pounds or whatever. And so I've, you know, the last couple of weeks been hitting the 170s, like pretty easy, whatever. And one of my training partners, I have two of these Thomas inch dumbbells. Do you know what I'm talking about?

Yeah, yeah, I know what they are. Like the crazy, like unliftable. Yeah, that huge thick handle. And they probably weigh like 220 pounds or something, right? No, no. Only, so they're supposed to be 172, the original 172. I had a guy, well, Carrie had a guy actually make them for me. But they, it's kind of a long story.

She organized all of it without me knowing. They got shipped to her house. There wasn't a lift gate. She was pregnant. I was in the UK and she figured out how to get them off the truck. She's the first female basically to lift the Thomas inch dumbbell. That's what you're telling me. Yeah, basically. Yeah. So she got these for me, but they're, they're, I think they're both 176 pounds, 176.8,

176.2, something like that. But I have two of them. And so, uh, my training partner was like, well, Brian, why don't you, why don't you incline press those? And I was like, okay. You're like, okay, there's two torn biceps. Yeah. Because how are you going to get them up? Right? Well, this is the problem, right? Lifting them, just picking up two at once is ridiculous. How many people in the world can do that? I would. Maybe 10 people that compete in world's strongest man and that would be about it. To be fair, I don't know

how many guys that even compete in world's strongest man could do it. So maybe like two or three guys. There's definitely guys that could pick one up but two at once is like a whole nother. I've seen it done in person less than a handful of times ever. That's a lot of weight. That's insane. So, so I, uh, of course he brings us up and, you know, I, I enjoy grip challenges and I enjoy, you know, kind of strength challenges.

And so I said, all right, buddy, let's, uh, let's kind of do a couple more warmups and then we'll see. So I, I, you know, kind of chalked up my legs and, and, uh, um, we brought the bench over and all that. And, and I, I was doing some research and I've never seen anybody attempt that ever. I mean, it's the, you're talking about, you're talking about a feat of strength. That's pretty ridiculous. Like, cause you have to not only pick them up, but get them on your legs and they're round, the ends of them are round. So you're balancing them.

It's not like a dumbbell plate end where you can set it on your leg and it stays. It's trying. So if you don't get it perfectly positioned, you're having to manipulate it. So it's really, really difficult. But anyway, of course, uh, I took him up on the challenge and did it. Right. So it's really, really difficult. But anyway, of course, uh, I took him up on the challenge and did it. Damn. And I was, so we're going to have, we're going to, we did a, uh, luckily I had my, uh, my film guy there. Did we get video? Yeah, we got it. We got it all on video. It's coming. It's coming on a Friday. It's coming on Friday, but it's,

I mean, probably one of the hardest things I've ever done. It must have been really hard to get the weight in position. You were doing incline dumbbell? Incline dumbbell, yep. So it was really hard to get it up. But the surprising part for me in my head thinking it through was I thought that once I got it into my lap and got it on my legs and kicked it up to my shoulders. It thought it would be easy. I thought it would be easy. It was not.

Because there's so much weight and the thick handle, right. The, the dumbbells felt like they were trying to go back, back and forth and side to side was really hard. Right. Uh, it just was not balanced. Yeah.

Charles Poliquin to like dig in on your neck before you do a set of those. Exactly. Yeah. I know. That weird stuff that he did to us. Uh, pen, the pen out. Yeah. And stick it all out. Weird shit to us. And we lifted more weight. It of those. Exactly. Remember that shit that he did? I know. That weird stuff that he did to us? Get his pen, the pen out. Yeah.

And stick it in. He did all that weird shit to us and we lifted more weight. It was strange. Yeah. You've been back to him before? I have. Yeah. Yeah.

We were trying to do some different stuff. I've gone down, I've done a couple of training sessions down there and he's always doing, I can't, it's like, I can't figure out why he's doing things, but he's like, okay, sit down, do this. He doesn't really tell you. No, no. Just does some weird voodoo and leaves it at that. Maybe, maybe after I go back for the next couple

of years, I'll figure out one or two things, but. I guess he has a gym. He just opened. I think he just opened one. Yeah. It'd be good for you to get over there and see what's, see what's going on over there. Yeah.

Yeah. There, it looks neat. He, uh, he was telling me about the dumbbells that he got in there and I think he's got one, a one pound increment up the whole rack. It's one pound increments. It's like the most, the biggest set of dumbbells they've ever done. That's crazy. Something nuts.

I went to a gym in Santa Rosa, which is, uh, near where we have our beach house in Bodega Bay. And I just happened to stumble upon this gym and i and i i looked it up online i was looking up at looking up other gyms in the area try to get a good training session in and i saw there's like a 24-hour fitness and there's this gym in that gym and i was like oh you know i'm trying to find something that has you know good machines i'm trying to still do some of the bodybuilding workouts and stuff like that but i wanted to mix in some powerlifting stuff and so i uh you start looking it up online and i find this gym it's called like say on uh strength or some scion strength and i was like oh what is this i

click on it and it looks like a college weight room you know like like division one college weight room like oh wow that looks pretty cool well i went and checked this place out and it's the biggest uh craziest like best gym i've ever seen in my life really it's probably like 15 000 square feet of just uh weights and it's wow it's got tons of uh platforms and racks it has every single bar that you could you know how expensive that's oh my god gets to be. All the weights that they have there are the silver Ivanko 45-pound calibrated plates. Yeah, that's insane. And I was just like seeing dollar signs everywhere. I'm like, oh my God, cha-ching, cha-ching.

Like this is a few million dollars worth of equipment. It was absolutely insane. Wow. They had a little bit of everything. I don't think they maybe had, maybe they didn't have some of the strongman implements, but but they did have they had like a log and some things like that it was fucking insane yeah and they it and it's not very well known or no no it it the uh there was no sign out front uh and it said that it was like there used to be a montessori school there so that sign is still there and you don't even know it's a gym really i walked in i was. I was like, what the hell is this place? Wow. Did you figure out who invested all the money?

Yeah, I met the owner. And they were super cool. They were really nice. And they gave me and Jeremy Avila, who's recently deadlifted 86 at one of Jesse Burdick's or at Boss of Bosses meet. They gave, he and I, they gave us 24-hour access. They gave us these keys oh that's awesome we can go to the gym anytime we want i was like this is incredible yeah i think the the gym is just like that it's just brand new like it's barely getting off the ground like they just

barely got everything going and they just barely opened up i think somebody just got some dough you know somebody has some dough i mean to have to have that kind of spread of equipment and i mean those plates and bars and it's, it's, it's funny. I think the first time I came here, you remember me walking around and it's, I think when you've spent money on stuff, you start to, you really realize what things cost. Right. And you know, it's building, building up.

So to have a place like that, you're just walking in. And to the average person, they may say, oh, that's just plates or just bars or whatever. But it's not. It's not at all just plates. Just row after row of machines and stuff, too. It wasn't just like a powerlifting thing. It wasn't just one thing. They had, you know, everything you can imagine. What's the most amount of money you've spent on any one piece that you have?

Because you've got some interesting stuff in your, in your garage. It's like a three car garage type thing, right? Yeah. It's, um, it's, uh, I don't know what it would, cause it's deep and then, and then big. I mean, it's, it's like, uh, uh, 1500 square feet or 1600 square feet. And, um, we're, we're actually in the middle of expanding it now. Uh, and, and the goal is going right into the kitchen. Are you going to go the other way?

Yeah. Yeah. Carrie, sorry about this. You got to move the stove. So the goal is she can park and be able to park it there. Yeah. Cause the winter gets to be rough, right?

So hopefully that'll work. But, um, yeah, I, I mean, for me, I've, I've invested a lot, a lot of money. I mean, that, uh, um, the, the deadlift set up for the, the old Arnold elephant bar or whatever. Well, it's like the, like the Hummer tire setup. Right. Um, I, I bought one of those. So the setup with the tires and the adapters and everything like that was a $10,000 just for that setup. Oh my God. So the bar was 5,000.

All the, the, um, tires obviously are very expensive. And then all the adapters that was, that was 10,000. I think, uh, I had a set of power stairs made years and years ago. And, and, uh, that's a ridiculous thing to have made like a little mini stadium in your backyard or something, right? Just a flight of stairs, but it's gotta be reinforced and stuff. That was, um, the guy I was training at the time, I actually was training the owning, it was a great, uh, relationship for me to have because he was the owner of a, a steel manufacturing company. So I would come, come in and train and say, oh, I got this weird

event. And he'd say, Hey, we could probably build that. And so I ended up, he, I don't know that he ever really paid me any actual cash for training. It was always equipment. So we would, we would kind of make a deal and he helped me out big time, right? Like with it, but that would have been a, probably a $10,000 setup of power stairs. Um, I, you know, of course you have all the other equipment and most of we joke, um, or I joke with guys, like you kind of look around, like, here's this piece of equipment. It's $5,000. This piece of equipment is five. It's just easy. Everything's $5,000. Like it's just kind of, um, are you addicted to it? Like, do you, uh, do you still look at new equipment and new pieces all the time? Like, like just like somebody that is into guns or somebody that's into cars.

Yeah. I, I, um, uh, definitely do. I definitely do. I just saw like you have everything you need. Yes. Oh my God. And then some, yeah, I have, I don't need, I'm definitely not one wanting it because I have like, I need it for training. It's a, it's more just, I want it, you know, like I just saw rogue put out a video of this new thing. They're coming out that attaches to the rack and it's got all this, you know, all these, uh, you know, you can take it up and down and do all these different movements. And I'm just like, well, I need to have one of those. Like it's, it's just, it's too easy for me. How am I going to break the news to Carrie?

Yes. Yep. Carrie, we need, we need this. We need that. It's those conversations. Those conversations are always very interesting because she, she just kind of has this one look on her face. Like really Brian again, like what, why, why?

And the hot tub, the cold tub. Yeah. Oh yeah. I've already, I've already built up this whole conversation about how I'm going to convince her of why we need this. And she, she, she's just so wise to it now that it doesn't, she's like, well, it doesn't really matter what I say. Cause you're just going to figure out a way to get it. So she's like, go ahead. Whatever.

Hey, there's two kinds of people in this world. People that get what they want and everybody else. That's it. I like that. I like that. So you're, you're charming enough to pull it off. I, I like to think so. That's the only way. I like to think so. So you have a new addition to the family since last time you've been here. Yeah. We, uh, had our, uh, second little boy. Yeah, so that's been great. And you said earlier he's four months old now? He just turned four months, yeah. How's Braxton doing with him?

Braxton, the first couple days was a little bit, not quite, toys, throwing toys at him. Mainly because he wants to share, so I feel like the intent is good, not malicious. But he doesn't quite understand that, that Callan's not strong enough yet to, to do all these things with him, but, uh, it's been good, man. It's, it's, um, as you know, it's a life changer. The second kid is really the things change. Cause now it's really one-on-one like you're, you're running, uh, um, instead of two on

one, it's just one-on-one now with the kids. So it's a big change from that regard for us. But, you know, right now with the baby, I cannot take any credit whatsoever because it's all my wife. She's the one, you know, I don't, we've even joked. Like if I was the one that had to like have the baby inside me and have the baby and feed the baby, we wouldn't, we wouldn't, yeah, we wouldn't have kids. We just wouldn't, I wouldn't be able to handle it. I just wouldn't, you know, she's, she's the champ with that. So I just, yeah, it, it, I think if, if men in general had to do that, there would be a lot less kids in the world for sure. Just, uh, you know, some people that, uh, listen to this

or some people that, uh, are into strong man and into some of these sports, um, they might not understand, you know, where somebody's, uh, finances come from. You've been a sponsored athlete for a long time. Um, sponsored sponsorships used to be, uh, a lot, I guess I'd just say richer, uh, back, you go back 10 years, 20 back 10 years, 15 years even, Metrex and some of these big companies, Celltech and some of those companies, it was very common for people to have $100,000, $125,000 contracts. Sure. It's rare to see that anymore unless you're tippy top notch like you are.

How does some of that work? How long have you been a sponsored athlete for? I think I got, and this is a good question. I mean, sponsored athletes kind of a loose term nowadays. And I feel like it really is nowadays. Because it might just be free stuff. Exactly. And everybody, I think a lot of companies have uh

tried to i guess i'd say more like how long you've been like a professional athlete to the point where you were like well i don't really need like a job job anymore yeah um i i would say i would say for me that prob that point probably came uh around around, when I first won world strongest man, maybe even a little bit after that, to be honest, uh, you know, it was, it was kind of a balance where I had kind of the, the, uh, the sponsorships, but it was mainly product endorsements. Right. Uh, so my first supplement deal was just product, which was huge for me at the time. Yeah.

I mean, cause now you take that off your plate, uh, you know, amino acids and protein powder. Exactly. So that, that was huge. And, and, um, you know, you kind of move from, from that to where, uh, once you start doing better, you kind of graduate to like, all right, well, maybe we can do, uh, you know, some product plus money. And then it just kind of, kind of evolves, you know, but it's, it's a fine line, like I said now. And, and, uh, back then it was, it was different because you didn't have the social media. You didn't have, uh, you know, everybody trying to promote this code or, you know, whatever. And, and these companies now, I think latch on to, um, up and coming athletes and say,

Hey, we'll give you a code. We're not going to give anything else, but you can promote this code and say, and then everybody wants to say they're sponsored. So it's, it's a different game now. Uh, you know, and, and then, then it's, um, with that being said, if, if you look at like, like what you were saying with, uh, some of these bigger name athletes that had the huge contracts and all that, uh, if you, if you look at, let's just say somebody has 500,000 followers, uh, on social media, if you take, you know, a hundred people that

have 5,000 followers and a hundred people are going to promote this for a code, you know, is that for a company, is that more valuable than having somebody that has a huge following promoting it? And it's for free. So you don't have to put out the contract. Right. And now you have this, this group of people that's like, that are super pumped because they're sponsored. Right. Even though they're though there's no money. The company doesn't have any skin in the game, essentially. Those people may put more energy and more time into it because they don't have other obligations with other companies.

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So it's been a growing thing. And things have had to evolve, uh, with that, but it was, you know, for me, it was a grind. It really was coming up. Do you manage all this or have you ever had a manager or is it like you and your wife together? I've had, I've actually had a couple different, uh, agents or managers that, that try to come in the, issue though for me has always been that a lot of times people contact me

through my website or directly. And then I was at certain times handing that off to somebody, but they were then taking their percentage of the deal. And it was, they couldn't really negotiate it better than I could anyway. And most of the time, whoever's dealing at the top of their, that company wanted to speak to me anyway.

Right. So it was essentially adding somebody into the mix that really didn't help and took money away, which wasn't fun. So I, um, now have, I, I, I still have somebody that, that, uh, basically can be more of a, a bigger deal guy. Uh, and if something comes to me where I'm like, okay, this is way too much wording. It's way too much. A big contract comes across and you got to send it to somebody.

Yeah. But I actually, I like dealing with, you know, the people I work with, I like talking to them directly better anyway, because I feel like that it makes a better relationship, you know, and you kind of, you kind of, uh, um, establish that more, uh, having more direct contact because I can understand, uh, what, what they want from me and what, you know, what I want from them kind of thing. It's just easier for me. So it's a fine line though. Like I said, up until, I mean, you're talking for me up until winning world's strongest man. So being the best in the world at strongman, I was still having to work part-time and, and, and do all of that to make ends meet and make

it all work. And it's, you know, it's a lot different, I think for, um, for an American to do it because there's so much other stuff and people don't care as much about strongman here right yeah it's it's just tougher to kind of get established a weak care Brian yes I know yeah that's why I'm here it's it's a it's a family environment here you know like I'm not getting kicked out of but it's, it's, it's a little different. I mean, I, I had so many people tell me it was funny when I was coming up that, um, and these are guys that have been doing the sport for a long time that, you know, when you get into this, you're not getting into it to make money. You're not going to make money. You're not

going to turn it into your job. You're not going to, um, you're not, don't even think about that. Like screw that. Yeah. And, and I, so I take, I, in a lot of ways, I take, uh, um, a lot of pride that I've been able to do that and, and been able to get established as, you know, I'm a professional strongman and, and, and not only, uh, just because of the title, cause they hand out, you know, in, in strongman, they hand out these pro cards and you now you're a pro, but what does being a pro strongman really mean? If you're not, like you said, you're not, you're not making your income from it directly. You know, if you have another job and, and then you go compete, then that's, you're, you're basically just an amateur. Well, it seems like you take these sponsorships very seriously too, because like with our relationship, you've always done such a good job, but I see that you're basically just an amateur well it seems like you take these sponsorships very seriously too because like with our relationship you've always done such a good job but i see that you're

sponsored by other companies as well like rogue fitness and ape man and a few others and i i always see that you're like mindful like you're mindful of the fact that you're sponsored where sometimes some of these other people they may not be paying attention to that they may not consider it a job but you're handling it like a professional should handle it. Like I'm sponsored by these people. There's an exchange going on here and I should try to give them their value. And maybe if I give them their value and then some, maybe they'll look at me and say, Hey, you know what? We should do more with this guy. Yeah. Right. Is that kind of the concept? Yeah. I definitely try to be very aware of it. I mean, it's hard, uh, you know, it's hard trying to, um, I mean, I've gone to the point now that

I've hired a media guy where I pay him. You don't have to think about it as much. Yeah. Here, throw this shirt on. Let's take a picture. Exactly. Yeah. His job is, you know, I'll, I'll tell him like, you know, a couple of days ago, like we put out a video and it was, it was a slingshot video where I'm putting on the, you know, the new X sleeves and. Right. And I'm like, I want to promote this. You make a video to promote this for me and help me because I can't put that video together. And it has more impact, like kind of a, you know, catchy kind of advertisement, if you will. But people still enjoy it because I'm training and, you know, you got the music to go along with it and all

that. So, but that's a, that's, you know, for me, that's an investment that I made in hiring somebody to help me do that because I know that it'll mean more, um, to my, my, hopefully mean more to my sponsor relationships because I've got that guy, or if we need a video clip of something or we need a picture of something, he can do it and I can bring him along and he can do that for me. But then again, that's another step kind of in the evolution of, um, of getting there. Cause you can't, uh, you know, he's expensive, he costs money and it, that's not something I could do probably even four or five years ago. I couldn't have done that. Right.

You know, I needed to do more of it on my own. And, um, it's just trying to grow, you know, your cons I'm constantly trying to grow and, and to evolve. And I think a lot of the things that, uh, can't really grow much more than you already have. Yeah. We're going to run out of space. New facility. Yeah. Grow, uh, that microphone stand doesn't get any taller.

Yeah. Yeah. We're maxing. Everything's maxed out. What does it mean to be a professional strongman for you? Like what does it all entail top to bottom? Give us a, give us a, you know, an average, an average day for you. What does it look like?

I mean, it's. What's your morning, like take us through a whole day. Yeah. Well, being a pro strongman, basically, basically means that, that that's my whole day basically is what it means. I mean, everything, everything goes into it. So it's, it's time management, you know, and, and, and now with the family, that's a big part of it. So in the morning it's, it's you know, and, and, and now with the family, that's a big part of it. So in the morning, it's, it's, um, you know, doing breakfast, uh, with Braxton mainly, and then trying to help get him ready so we can send him off to daycare and spend some time playing a little bit. And then from there, then kind of get into the work and making sure that I've got my food out. And if I have to do meal prep or do anything else. How many meals a day? Eight? Uh, it's mainly six, six is what I'm doing. Um, but still, you know, you put, uh, put a couple

hours to two and a half hours between all those. I mean, that's 12 to 14 hours of eating probably. And then, um, you know, some training time, recovery work, uh, you know, if I have any appointments that I have to go to, all of that goes on top of it. And it's, um, it's funny when you, when you talk about it, it doesn't seem like a lot, but if you're going to all these different things and then sitting down to eat, stopping what you're doing, the day goes about away so fast. It's, it's amazing at night. And I just sit down and then I'm thinking to myself, wow, that was crazy. And we now we've got to get up and do

it all again. You know, but it's, it's a grind is what it is. I mean, it's, it's something that's, uh, it's, it's a lot of work. It really is. Each meal is going to take you about 20 minutes or so to eat. Right. And, uh, your, uh And your training time is probably in a neighborhood of three hours, if not longer sometimes, especially with the event stuff. Yeah. Like an hour could go by just trying to set some of these things up, right? Yeah, for sure. For sure. Some of the events are very hard to set up.

I mean, if I go do a truck pull or something like that, you know, it's taking equipment out there. It's loading all the equipment up, going to the fire department. You know, I mean, that can take hours, you know, hours. And then warming up and setting up everything. Giant is out there. He wants to pull our truck. Hey, we have to actually use this thing for fires. Yes, yeah, yep.

You know, ironically enough, they've never, I think only one time they've actually got a call where they needed to leave and they, we had to stop the truck pull and they had to leave. Um, but it's, it's, we always get pretty lucky with that, you know, or I use a truck that it's not like the active duty truck. Right. A lot of, we've kind of switched over to that. If you have to make a decision between sleep or food, what do you go to? You just eat your last meal and stay awake and then go to bed after that and wake up a little later? I find myself in that predicament a lot. That's kind of actually why I ask. I would say normally what I will do is

I will get the meal down and then go to sleep. It's pretty common for me then go to sleep. Right. I, I, it's pretty common for me to go to bed after eating, you know, and some people say that it messes with their sleep. I don't really feel like it does too bad. Um, I guess it depends on how much I eat, but, uh, it's, I definitely can't skip the meal. I feel like that's, you know, sleep is super, super important, but you cannot be skipping meals. That's not, that's not part of the plan for sure. That's not what it takes to be a, to be a pro and to be a champion, right?

You got to have it in. How many grams of, uh, like right now, like how many grams of protein, how many grams of carbs and things like that? You keep track of all that? Yeah, we're, um, I think, I think the goal is, is around 400 grams of protein, uh protein is what we're trying to shoot for right now. I've been higher than that before. Right. And not really lower. Is that about eight ounces with every meal, eight ounces of some sort of meat?

Normally 12. Okay. 12, yeah, 12 after cooking. So I normally weigh it out after I've cooked it. And it's about 12 ounce portions normally. Um, depending on kind of into a contest, I'll get up to like 14 ounces, which is a little bit over, um, well definitely over a pound of meat, uh, cooked per meal. And then, uh, then kind of up the, but really with, with Stan, it's more trying to drive the carbs, like with the rice, right. Rice or sweet potatoes, more of that if I can.

And then how many, about how many carbs? I would, it has to be at least a thousand grams. And is that like weighed and measured too, or are you just? No, it is measured out. Yeah. I would say most meals I'm at two and a half to three cups of rice. Wow. Each meal. So it's, it's a big,

I mean, it's really a big portion. Once you get up almost a pound of meat or at a pound. Is it hard for you to get down sometimes? It can be. Yeah. Every once in a while, it probably gets up, gets the better of you, right? Yeah. It's, well, it doesn't, it doesn't get the better of me, but you make it happen. We have to get focused to get it in, you know? Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's not, it's funny day to day. A lot of times, uh, um, now I'm kind of programmed where I'll get hungry and I'll, I'll, I'll be ready to go. Right.

Yeah. Well, the food, the food, uh, the frequency and the amount of food that you're eating is, uh, making you more hungry. Yeah. I mean, that's kind of. Driving it. That's kind of how it works. You know, your insulin levels will go down, they'll go up and, and, uh, they'll move around a little bit and it'll make you more hungry. Yeah. I mean, that's kind of driving it. That's kind of how it works. You know, your insulin levels will go down, they'll go up and, and, uh, they'll move around a little

bit and it'll make you more hungry. And then fat content is just kind of like whatever's in the foods type of deal. Or we've, uh, that's actually something we've had to play with a little bit. I, um, you know, I, I kind of reached out to Stan and, and, uh, I felt like I wasn't getting enough calories, even though I was eating a ton, like just keep it. I was driving the rice and, and obviously having, you know, bison, but it was all lean steak. Yeah.

And I, I kind of thought, well, we need, you know, we got to up the fat a little bit. Stan, I'm not a figure competitor. Yeah. So we've, we've switched it up, um, added in, I get some bacon now, which is awesome. There we go. Yeah, that's not bad. I haven't had any bacon. And then I actually switched over to ribeye steak.

So I buy those, and then I grind them all up and make them into burgers now, and that's been wonderful. That's been way better. So I feel like I've actually felt fuller and had a lot more calories than me from just the fat. So it's not necessarily different quantities, but the fat content has been much higher. And then you grind up the ribeyes because the ground meat at the store, they kind of grind up everything. Is that why? It's easier to eat.

It's just easier to eat. It probably tastes to eat. It's just easier to eat. So if probably tastes really good. Yeah. If I don't have to, uh, yeah, if I don't have to, um, uh, kind of sit there with a steak and cut it all up and all that, I would rather, I would rather eat ground meat if I can. Yeah. Yeah. Cut. Yeah. Forget cutting and chewing. Yes. I mean, chewing on the steak. It's awful. Well then you up the eating time too. Yeah. Right. So, I mean, chewing on a steak. It's awful. Well, then you up the eating time too. Yeah. Right.

So, I mean, if you think about it, you go six, six meals a day. So bodybuilding, there's all these weird rules. You can't even do that in bodybuilding. You can't do stuff like that. Like they don't let you, you have to like chew it. It's like part of the, it's part of the whole like metabolic process. You know, they're like, no, you can't do it that way. And I'm like, why not?

Can I put this stuff in a blender or something? Like, no. You have to chew it. Yeah. I'm like, why not? Can I put this stuff in a blender or something? Like, no, you have to chew it. Yeah. I'm like, I wonder how even grinding up the meat. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, yeah, because, uh, you're going to burn more calories just from chewing, you know,

and that's your, that's where your digestion starts. It starts with your teeth and your tongue and your throat and the acid. And like, it's just part of the whole process. It's not that eating, uh, the other kind of meat is bad it's just that um chewing it um i guess is uh what the hell's the word i'm looking for but i guess like you know when you eat like celery they say celery has like a negative net cal caloric intake you gotta chew it and it doesn't have that much nutrition nutritional value so yeah the bodybuilding stuff was weird i get well i it, it already takes me long enough. Like I said, I mean, on a daily basis, I'm probably, I would say probably eating at least

three hours, you know, and then, then if you mixed in the prep time, they both, they both started with a P that was close enough. You just, your mind goes there all the time. Yeah. Well, three hours of eating. I mean, your mind goes there all the time. Yeah. Well, three hours of eating. I mean, that's gotta, there's gotta be math. You know, my dad's in the room here. He's an accountant.

Maybe he could help us with the. I don't know. With the math. It's gotta equal out to be at least an hour and a half of cooking, right? Because three hours intake would, you would imagine a quarter of that would be out take. Yeah. I'm not good with the maths, but yeah, that's about. Sounds.

14 hours. Are you good? Do you have somebody here that's going to be timing me when I go to the bathroom? We might. Smokey. Smokey will be standing right outside of the stall looking at you through the crack. Making it weird, yeah.

What goes into a training session? Is there a lot of prep for just a training session is there a lot of uh like uh prep for just one training session like is there a certain uh protein drink that you have right before you work out and a certain drink that you have during the workout or pre-workout like what does that look like and then post-workout yeah i um i mean there's definitely definitely a lot of prep uh you know for me and and it's uh it's something I've actually, uh, I started working with, uh, with Redcon one and they've got a ton of products for around training and that, that I haven't been doing. I mean, of course with Stan, it's all, you know, the sodium and carbs and

driving all that. So I'm still doing that, but I've added in, uh, um, some of the Redcon stuff and it's been amazing how my body's responded to the training session. Cause I, um, some of the Redcon stuff and it's been amazing how my body's responded to the training session. Cause I, um, because of the, the length and the intensity and all that, uh, with, with my training sessions, it's, it's been great to have, uh, the supplements during, right. And I feel like I'm able to maintain, uh, that level of training longer. Uh, so that's, that's been awesome. I mean, they've got, they've got a whole bunch of stuff. So I'm taking stuff before, during, and then after, um, much more than I even was before. You probably don't take like a pre-workout necessarily though, right? You probably don't take like a, like something that spins you up. If I don't take

like a caffeine thing or anything. I, you know, I actually, uh, at times I do, I do, I try to, I try to be careful with, with using it too much. Um, so it's, you know, I think that, that, uh, the, you know, the caffeine and all that can be definitely overdone. Uh, but it's time to deadlift then maybe. Yes. Yeah. Bigger. I do like before the bigger, some of the bigger training session and it depends on my day too, with the kids. And, you know, I mean, if, if I've, you know, I've got to shift gears, um, very, very quickly at night. Uh, cause I, now I put Braxton to bed and, um, you know, his bedtime is, is, you know,

kind of six 37 and then we normally start training seven, seven 15. So I've got to kind of wind down, calm with him, read him books, get him to bed, whatever. And then all of a sudden I've got to, I've got to flip the switch to be like, all right, now I'm going to go lift a ton of weight. So it's, it's an interesting, uh, before, before I had the kids, it was, it was, you know, and you probably know this, like you just think about training all day and you're, you're already in the way. Yeah.

You're already amped up and ready to go by the time, uh, that, that, that comes, it's like, all right, I'm ready. I'm already prepared. But, uh, you know, with me, I've just got done playing with the kids for a couple hours and doing a bath and getting them dinner and all that. And then all of a sudden I've got to shift gears and say, okay, I'm going to, I'm going to go get crazy intense and train. And, um, so on those nights, if it's just been one of those nights where he's like, I don't

want to do a bath and I don't want to do dinner. And, you know, I mean, it's, it's, uh, I will, I will at times definitely throw a pre-workout in on those nights. Cause I just, I just need that kick. You know, I need that. I need to kick it up. Is he at that age where he wants to do a lot of stuff on his own and it takes him forever? is his self i'll do it i do it yeah my kids did all that i'm like oh my god this takes so long yes you just have to sit there and let him do it oh you have to yeah hey he's gotta make trying to learn yeah you gotta make make the time for it otherwise they'll never learn yeah how to do anything from the absolutely yeah the uh stuff that you take during the workout is like a branch chain amino acid, essential amino acid?

I've been doing kind of a mix between carbohydrate and essential immunos during. So I just mix those up. I normally do it around the first kind of 30 minutes of the training session, and then sip it kind of throughout the rest of the workout. When you're done training, do you do something similar again? Yeah. It's the same thing again, actually. I started using some creatine, which I've gone back and forth on. That seems to help a lot with the recovery for me. It's something I haven't used a lot. I know there's obviously a ton of research and there's probably people saying like,

oh my God, you should be using creatine all the time. But, um, you know, I, I, uh, Stan and I kind of talked about it a little bit after, uh, after a couple of the contest, um, earlier this year with the Arnold and, uh, world's strongest man. And I feel like we've had to dial things in from a nutrition standpoint. I just kind of told him I felt a little flat at the Arnold and a little bit flat at World's Strongest Man. World's, I was thinking more along the lines of sweating so much in the Philippines that it was hard because I was just pounding the salt. It just was something where I think that my calories were just too low. Um, and I just, I, you know, for lack of a better term,

I just didn't feel like I was getting pumped and full and how you want to feel when you're getting ready to lift massive weights. Right. Um, so I think that there's like a week of lifting too, right? Like when you do world's strongest man, I mean, you're gone for like two weeks and then I get these reports fromrie and it's like every other day i get like an update and i'm like man how many days in a row is he gonna lift like this is insane yeah four days of qualifying and then you get a couple days off and then two days so that's got to flatten you out a lot too i mean and that's uh got to be really hard to prep for is there something you do in your training to try to or you just don don't even bother? It's too strenuous. It's pretty much, uh,

I actually hate, to be fair, I hate the format. It's, it sounds like, it sounds like, uh, like prep for like a hundred mile, like run or something. Like you wouldn't run a hundred miles to prep for a hundred mile run. Cause it'd be too taxing. I was ultra marathon people. Yeah. I it's, it's awful. It really is. Because we're doing in the qualifiers, you're doing only one event a day or two events a day, but then it's a fine line of trying to conserve power and energy. So I only put out what I absolutely have to put out. So you get done with an event and you, a lot of times for you, you're like, wow, I didn't even hardly do any work. You know, it's not that hard.

And I'm used to bigger training sessions. So for me, the last couple of years, I've, I've mixed in training, going and doing training sessions on top of the qualifiers, you know, just to try to keep my body feeling like I can work, you know? Right. So I, I always leave world's strongest man and I always feel like it gets me out of shape because the format is terrible. From an athletic standpoint, it's not what any of the guys do for training, you know, and it's terrible. This other competition that's coming up, is it different to the one you mentioned that's in like Dubai, I think you said?

Yeah, so that'll be a one-day format, six events in one day. So that's going to be more of a, that'll be a real test because a lot of the events are very, very heavy. See, I personally like stuff like that because I know a lot of strongman athletes and I'd rather see the guys have to be a little healthier. You know, like you guys shouldn't have to weigh 470 pounds, you know, or 470,

whatever, whatever the weights are that people are creeping up to. So if you, if you force the issue on how the athletes compete, then you can kind of reshape the way the athlete is built a little bit and they don't have to be so heavy because they don't have to lift a 1700 pounds. Sure. Yoke.

You and I talked about it a bunch of times, like just add just a pinch of athleticism or yeah, like make it one day or two days, something like that. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. I mean, it, you'll have to be able to recover, uh, you know, in, and walking into this one with six events, uh, you have to be strong, but again, that, that absolutely will be tested because if you can't recover after the first, you know, event or second event, your day is going to go really badly. Uh, so they're big weights, but I think that, um, it fits me better. I like it better. Um, you know, cause I typically try to stay in better cardiovascular shape and training altitude. Uh, it, I can get my heart rate back down a lot faster than a lot of the other guys. So in between events, I think it'll be huge.

What's the altitude where you live at? I'm about a mile high. Oh, okay. Yeah. So I've had guys come train with me and it's awful for them. You know, it's pulling a truck and that type of stuff is not fun when you're coming from sea level and coming up. We should have one of the bigger contests in Colorado. That would be really interesting. The guys would be

hating their lives for sure. Yeah, that would make them pretty mad, right? They'd be like, I can't breathe. It would be awful. We've done some contests at elevation a little bit, but never that high. So for me, it's always an advantage, which is nice. My red blood cell count is always higher, you know, just cause it's kind of like living in a hyperbaric chamber to some extent, you know, and, and just that's my normal. Uh, so it's, it's a good thing. I think it's only a good thing, even though most of our stuff is so anaerobic, it's not the, the, um, you know, the same as you have a lot of, uh, like

cyclists or runners or those types of athletes that come to Colorado to train at elevation for an extended period of time. But, uh, for me, it's more of the recovery between events. So I can get up to a max heart rate a lot faster. Um, well, I shouldn't say faster, but I can get back down faster. Uh, so I can, I can kind of get of get my heart rate up and get back down because of that. So it's a big advantage. So doing a lot of this training with Stan, I know Stan is like an encyclopedia when it comes to a lot of the information and stuff. Has he, I know that you've always done a lot of your own programming. I know that you've always done a lot of your own programming.

Have you guys collaborated on your training and some things that maybe you should try in training? Yeah, Stan. And that was mainly diet and sleep, and he's helping with that. Yeah, that was the main part really was, hey, here's the diet plan. Let's really try to dial in some more specifics around the sleeping, uh, you know, and daily routine, if you will. So we've added in, uh, added in the walks and, uh, different stuff like that. 10 minute walks and stuff like that. I try my best. Yeah. I have a, uh, a recumbent bike in the living room. So if I can't get out or if it was ridiculously hot this summer or something, I would, I would just do a 10-minute bike ride kind of up and down.

And with my foot having the issue before World's Strongest Man, Stan was like, hey, go buy a bike because we'll keep some pressure off and not aggravate that. What was wrong with your foot? The diabetes was kicking in? Yeah, yeah, right. You had a surgery or something? No, I tore my plantar fascia.

So I just, I detached that off my heel before world's strongest man. It was awful. Yeah. It was not fun. I was pulling a, uh, pulling a fire truck and, uh, just took a step and ripped it right off. So that was not good. And, uh, that, that made world's strongest man this year a hell of a lot harder, uh, to come back from that. Cause I, I did that about four weeks out from the contest. So, um, I did a lot of the

training. Stan helped me with this actually Stan and Ed Cohn, both, um, my knee was on a bench. So a lot of the deadlifting I did before was with one leg. Yeah. And, uh, taking weight off of that, it made it a big challenge. We overcame it. You know, I mean, it's unfortunately, you know, with, with competition, sometimes you got to work around stuff like that. So, um, you know, as I said, going in, it was not ideal, but you can, you can pack it in and say, all right, you know, poor me, whatever, or you can, you can kind of make a plan and try to get around it.

And I did. And I mean, even with all that being said, it's still getting third place. You know, they're really close to second, you know, a couple of things fall a different way. And honestly, you know, I break the contest down a lot more than most guys do. Um, it's insane. Like how close things were, uh, at world's strongest man this year is, you know, the truck pull,

there's four of us within one second of finishing. So you go, I think it might've even been eight tenths of a second. So, you know, it's, that's, and I got fourth place out of those guys, you know, so you change that. And then, you know, a couple other things I made, made, you know, simple mistakes, little stuff like that, that, that really cost me. Um, but you know, that's what you got to analyze and come back better, uh, for sure. So it's, um, are you motivated by the competition? Are you motivated by the fact that a Hapthor Bjornsson is kind of coming into his own? He's been on fire as of late. Is that, does that get you fired up?

And also does it maybe sidetrack to sidetrack you away from what you're supposed to be doing because you're like maybe you watch his training you get excited and then you fall in the trap of like trying some something that he's doing yeah he's i mean he's had a good year there's no there's no way um no way that i'm not gonna say that you know i mean he's he's definitely had a good year it's um half door's an interesting guy, man. He's been around, basically we've competed in the sport almost the same amount of time, uh, total. And it's, it's kind of, people have always kind of talked about, oh, he's, he's, uh, got a bright future and he's got all this potential and everything. And it's, it's, he's come close, he's come close and now never

won. And, uh, you know, eventually now he's won and everybody's super excited and, and, you know, rightfully so. I mean, he, he did a good job. Um, you know, he had a good year. He, he definitely dedicated himself more probably than he ever has. Some insane improvement on the deadlift. Yeah. Really crazy improvement on a deadlift.

I remember years ago, uh, I was with, uh, Benedict Magnuson and he was like making fun of him and he was saying he can't deadlift. And it's like, well, it looks like he fixed that. Yeah. Yeah. He's, I mean, there's a lot of things. I think he was, he was very, uh, motivated last year after world strongest man, um, and, and came back and, and, uh, really worked hard and, and, and wanted to come back and prove it. And he did. And that's, I mean, ultimately, uh, you know, for us, um, any top competitors going to, going to use that as, as a fuel. Right. And, you know, he wanted to come back. He's, he's, uh, never, obviously until this year, hadn't won the Arnold, hadn't won world's strongest man being close. And I think maybe he didn't, uh, place at the Arnold, uh, either until this year. I think maybe he didn't place at the Arnold either until this year when he won it. I think something like that, right?

Yeah, he got, well, last year he got second place, but that was his first podium, first top three. And then he won it this year, so he was second last year, and then I won it and then we flip-flopped this year with him winning it. Definitely, Arnold's a weird one. They changed we flip-flopped this year with him winning it. And, you know, they've definitely, you know, Arnold's a weird one. They changed events around and, you know, he, definitely the events were very good for him.

I knew that going in this year that they would suit him, suit him super well. So he had a good, he had a good mix, man. And he, his training was on point. I'm not going to lie. I mean, going to the Arnold this year, I underestimated him a little bit because he's never deadlifted like that at the Arnold.

He's never put together a great Arnold, you know, and I think he would admit that himself. It's always kind of been he'll call a wrong weight on the deadlift or, you know, kind of have some type of mistake somewhere, and he put it together. He put it together. Stan helps both you guys. So yeah.

Does that ever seem like a conflict? Uh, you know, it's, um, or has it been just fine? I think it's been just fine. I mean, I think a lot of people have thought, uh, you know, with, with us both working with him, he's going to, you know, have a favorite here, a favorite there or whatever. And, and I honestly, I mean, he was working with Hofdorfer. So I've talked to Stan before about things. And a lot of the, I even told this just to him a couple of days ago when he was out in

Colorado, it was mainly for me, the digestion part of it, that he was talking so much about that. And that's what made me really reach out to Stan and say, hey, man, I need to work on my digestion. Yeah, you thought it was normal that you were just sitting on the toilet for most of the day, right? Literally. Literally awful, man. My stomach was just hurting and I just, I couldn't take it anymore. And so that was the big thing, you know, reaching out to Stan.

It wasn't so much, you know, that, hey, you're working with Hawthorne. He's doing well. I just needed help. And I listened to something actually when he was out here that you guys put out. Nobody would know anything about Stan, everything that wasn't. Yeah. Yeah. So it was super, super good.

And I mean, first and foremost, when I talked to Stan, I was like, look, if you're working with Hofthor and you want to keep working with him and not work with me, you know, or whatever agreement you guys have, I'm good with that. But Stan was like, man, I don't care, whatever. Stan's so neutral with everybody. Yeah. He's like that. He hardly even talks about Hofthor with me, to be honest. It's definitely, I don't get the sense where he's playing favorites or anything. And I mean, now, you know, there's another guy, Jerry Pritchett reached out and Stan was talking to me about working with him. Another great deadlifter.

And Nick Best. Now, we were doing this. Nick Best is like 50 years old, isn't he? Yeah. It's crazy. Yeah. So he's doing the diet. He's still lifting like an animal.

So, I mean, all of these guys are working with Stan. So I don't think that he really can or wants to play favorites or whatever. I think he just wants to ultimately help the guys out, you know, and if he can assist them, however. But I don't think it's a big conflict of, you know, me versus Hoff or whatever. It just happens to be that, you know, we're two of the top guys in the sport. Have you had any tests done on your stomach? Have you had any, like, you know, I don't know, I don't know exactly what they would test, but blood work done or

these different things. So I'm, I'm, uh, in the process of doing kind of like a whole gamut of blood work, um, at this, this performance place that actually your brother, Chris, uh, turned me on to that's in Colorado. And so I'm currently waiting on the results. I think I may have met the owner at my brother's movie premiere. The Leap of Faith premiere. And I think his name is Chris too. Hetherington? Something like that. He was an NFL player. So Chris sent me this text. The ironic part is I'd seen the place before, but I didn't know what it was.

Yeah. So they definitely weren't doing it. It's a beautiful spot. Yeah. It's really cool. Yeah. Well, it's kind of like they have everything under one roof. Yeah.

And what he said to me when I talked to him on the phone was basically he wanted to put everything that he would have ever wanted in his NFL career under one roof and make it accessible. Hopefully we see more of that in the future. I'm fascinated. I'm going to go back in. We kind of did some performance testing and then all the blood work, genetic profile, all of that. Got the paperwork right here. Turns out that you're a giant and you're a mutant. That'll be $200. the paperwork right here. It turns out that you're a giant and you're a mutant. Yeah. So we'll see, man. I'm, I'm really, I'm curious. I'm curious. I mean, of course, then all the normal blood work, all of that with Stan and, and, you know, tried to improve,

you know, my vitamin D was low and all that type of stuff. Electrolyte balance and all that. Yeah. So we're, um, we're doing some of that and may do more of like a sweat test. Dan was kind of talking to me about doing some of that. Yeah. George Lockhart does that stuff. Yep. So, so, I mean, it's all these little pieces, you know, it's, it's trying to make it all better.

And I think, um, it's, it's, for me, it's fascinating. You know, like if I, I, I guess for me, if I, if I got to the point or was at the point where I said, Hey, I'm not interested in doing any more testing or, or trying to manipulate my training anymore or whatever, then at that point, it's not fun anymore. So I, I, I still am very excited. I think that, that, you know, some of this human performance stuff is still kind of getting scratched. The surface is getting scratched and, um, you know, where where where can we get to where can i get to you know and stan keeps it's funny i think he said his best total he said at 45 right something like that yeah and he it's he'll send me these messages you know about when he was like his

biggest and yeah there's been around 45 yeah yeah and he he's he told me he's like well he for me he said kind of in the next, like four years is where he expects me to be my strongest. And he's like, I got the plan. Don't worry. Like we're going to get there. You know, it's, it's kind of, so, you know, for somebody like Stan to say that, uh, to me, it's pretty exciting. And I think that, you know, if I can play my part, be dedicated, whatever, still have fun, you know, and try to push the envelope, it's, it's going to be pretty fun to see, you know, where we can get to. Yeah. I think it's really cool. I hope more of the human performance stuff. I hope it does accelerate

because then hopefully like a lot of times what you see is that stuff ends up leaking out into the general public and the general population needs a lot of help. Yes. You know, there's a lot of people that are sick, a lot of people that are ill, and you can cure and you can overcome a lot of these diseases and a lot of these things can be fought with the correct types of foods. But it's just mind-boggling to me that, you know, something like going to the dentist. You know, if somebody has insurance, they'll go to the dentist twice a year.

It's not like booked and it's set up and it's go twice a year. And every once in a while, somebody might miss a session session and go once, once a year, but like clockwork, they go every six months, but yet there's no physical examination of how your body's doing. Sure. Oh, yeah. We care so much about our teeth and it's really weird. It's a really weird thing. It's understandable. Yeah. Let's keep our teeth clean. It's a really weird thing. It's understandable. Yeah. Let's keep our teeth clean. Let's have some good hygiene. I get it. Uh, but what about getting blood work done? You know, at every gym and every gym in the country, uh, should be performing blood, you know, these blood tests on people. It should be, it should be very simple. It should be a very

simple thing. If you have insurance or however it would work, I don't know exactly how it would work, but, um, if more people got it done, it would probably be a faster process. It'd probably be a less expensive process. But you know how it's kind of a pain in the ass. Yeah. You know, you're trying to like figure out, oh, what tests do I need? And it could really help a lot of people.

Just imagine if they just went, you know, from the time they're 30, you know, until the day you pass on, but you just go once every five years, even. Yeah. Well, it's, it's, I think it's, it's something that's, that's interesting. And that's a good question. Why, why is it such a big deal? I mean, I, I think you get the people that are scared. You can save people's lives, even with some just general blood work. Yep. Well, I think you get people that are scared. They almost don't want to know. Yeah.

Well. You know, and that's, that's, that may be the unfortunate part is they don't care to know. They don't want to, they don't want to have something on a piece of paper that says, hey, you are really unhealthy. Right. This, you have all these different problems. It's almost more of a stressor to.

Right. To get the test done. To unleash it. Yeah. But again, it's confusing and most people are... Can be very confusing. Yeah, it's something they're not going to take the time to kind of take the steps and figure the whole thing out. Because it's not easy.

If somebody's markers for inflammation were like through the roof, you can say, Hey, I don't know what your sleep looks like, but just from your blood work, this tells me that your sleep is probably crap. And you need to walk. Just walk around your damn neighborhood. Like those two things right there. I mean, it could change somebody's life. It could add an extra five, 10 years of someone's life. A hundred percent. And then, you know, go back at your blood work done again and another couple months and you look and see, like, I really didn't make that many huge changes to my diet. I've moved around a little bit more. I slept a little bit more and I'm doing better.

I've moved around a little bit more. I slept a little bit more. Yeah. And I'm doing better. It's, those two things are absolutely, I think sleep, it was funny. I had. You had all kinds of problems with your sleep. Yes.

Was it your hand? Oh my God. Yeah. You couldn't hold on to like a 45 pound plate, right? I could, well, at one point for me, I couldn't do simple things. I couldn't clip my own fingernails. I didn't have enough strength left in my fingers to pinch. And you were still competing at that time.

Yeah. You're still figuring out. Yeah. I couldn't open a doorknob. I literally couldn't. I remember I would go to wash my pan, cook my eggs, and I couldn't hold the handle of the pan anymore because I just didn't have enough strength. But my hand was so atrophied, and all of that was from sleeping wrong. It was literally all of it. Just sleeping on that one side or something and with a weird pillow.

Now you have a special pillow or something. It was my stomach. I was sleeping on my stomach with my arm up and my elbow was just getting crushed. There's 400 pounds on there every single night. So that was awful. I mean, I've tried. I hope. I've had a lot of people, you know, through things that I've said, whatever, reach out and say, oh, my God, I was experiencing that same thing. And then I went and made a change.

But I wouldn't wish on anybody. Yeah. Cause that was horrific. Like the, it, that's the worst injury I've ever had. And then how, like, I know you went through a lot of like, you, you went through a lot of trial and error and trying to figure out what was wrong, but ultimately what fixed it? Uh, CPAP sleeping on my back. So CPAP machine fixed your hand. Yep. Yeah. I, I got a, I got a special pillow that would help. I saw it. You're traveling with it, right? Yes. It's here. You don't leave home without it. I don't leave home with that. And your CPAP machine, you bring everywhere. 100%

everywhere. Yeah. It's so I had to teach myself. It was a pain to do that. But the other frustrating part with that is like a CPAP machine. Uh, I, it was so unbelievably hard to get it from the doctor. And that's, I, something has to be fixed with the healthcare system because people need these machines. Yeah. Like, oh, you got to come in for a sleep study. And it's like, I got to go sleep in some weird. Yeah. When I was initially trying to get that, it took me probably, that was probably four months.

Right. Of, I had to go. And by the way, you can die from this. Yes. People die all the time from sleep apnea. Oh, it's awful. It takes you four months. It's an emergency. It's a medical emergency. It takes you four months to get it. I'll be honest. I mean, and whatever, if I get in trouble for saying this, whatever, but I got so fed up because I had my first CPAP machine and it got old and I called the, the, yeah, well, I, I, there was new ones that were kind of auto regulating now. And they, they, they, um, can sense how much you're breathing, how much air you need.

And I wanted one, I wanted a newer one. And so I contacted my, my insurance and the company that send me all my supplies and they would not give me one. And this is recent. Right. Right. And so finally I was, I was kind of having a conversation with Stan and, and I was like, you know what? I'm, I'm done with this. I'm just going, I'm going to just go buy one. Right. So I bought one on eBay, a brand new, somebody didn't want it, whatever. And, uh, that's the machine I have now. And so I, I just called the, um, I called the, the, uh, sleep company, whatever that sent me all the supplies. And I said, I'm, I'm just done with you guys. Cause you're, you're crap.

You know, like you, you, all you do is you send me this and then I have to pay the bill. I like that you called them up to tell them that they suck. Yeah. They were awful. I said, I'm sick of, yeah. I'm sick of dealing with you guys. I need this machine and you will not give it to me. Right. So I'm going and buying it on my own and I buy all the supplies off Amazon.

Yeah. And it's cheaper. It's actually cheaper, even with the insurance and everything, the bills that I would have to pay for, you know, the new kind of nasal mask and the tubing and the filters and all that stuff. I wonder why it's deemed a medical device. Why can't you just buy it? It's ridiculous. All it does is blow air. Yeah.

It's not going to hurt. What is it going to hurt? Yeah. It's only going to help people. Did it take you a long time to get used to sleeping with it, the CPAP machine? So the original one, this one would have been easier. My new one would have been easier because it's a auto regulating one. The first one, the biggest thing was the air pressure, but it would cut the air pressure for me. Sometimes it pushes a lot of air into you

and you're like, Oh my God. Yeah. But it had a ramp feature. I remember at the beginning, not, not being comfortable with all the air pressure that I needed at the beginning. So it was a ramp, and it would just start very slow, and you'd kind of breathe into it. And then it'd take kind of, I don't know, five minutes or whatever it was to kind of get up to the full air pressure. And that was good for me to learn. But the biggest, the hardest part, I I think was learning to sleep on my back. That was really hard because I had slept on my stomach. And you can't sleep on your side either with the CPAP.

It's very hard. Yeah, it's not easy to. I mean, I'll still, even now I'll kind of roll in the middle of the night and my wife will get mad at me because the seal will break a little bit. She's like, hey. It'll get all loud. Yeah, that doesn't work.

So get back on your back. But it's, um, yeah, it's, yeah, it's, yeah, well, she's, she's already lack of sleep with the baby. So if I make noise now we have a big problem, but I always tell her it's definitely better than me snoring. Cause if I didn't have the CPAP, I would be, I would be terrible, you know? And that would, that wouldn't work. So I sleep right now with a breathe right strip on my nose. And then I sleep with my mouth tape shut. There's a, just a thing you can buy off of Amazon. Cause I tried a CPAP for a while and I

just was really, I know we really talked about that. Yeah. I struggled with it and struggled with it and struggled with it. And then, uh, I basically just at one point just said, oh, the hell with it. I'm just going to get in better shape and just not, you know, I would, I basically just at one point just said, oh, the hell with it. I'm just going to get in better shape and just not, you know, I would, I would like to train myself like off of it completely. And then I would sleep on my side with my pillow, kind of like under my jaw to try to keep it shut. And that seemed to help a little bit.

And then Ron Penna, who was the founder of Quest Nutrition, he was like, oh, you should just tape your mouth shut. And I thought he was kidding. And I went online and looked it up and there's all this research on, on how it helps because you're, it's, you're more productive, I guess, with the more CO2 that you produce. It's not so much about the oxygen that you breathe in. Interesting. And I was like, all right, well, I'll try these. And I got it off Amazon, like 20 bucks or 10 bucks or something. And it helps. Helps a ton. I don't go to sleep without it anymore. Huh? I have trouble going to sleep.

Do you think you had problems with a CPAP because your mouth was open? Yeah, I think so. Yeah. It would be interesting to see if, um, because I, I never had a hard time with that, uh, keeping my mouth shut. Right. But I, I could imagine if your mouth was open with a CPAP, it wouldn't be good. Right. And I can imagine that would be very uncomfortable and you would sleep, not sleep. Yeah, well, I would wake up because like my throat a lot of times would be so dry. Oh, it's awful. Yeah, that's a terrible feeling.

My girlfriend asked me to try the tape around the mouth thing because I snore like crazy for some reason. Like a bear at night. And then she's like, yeah, it'll probably. She must hate you. Yeah, well, she doesn't hate me. She hates when I snore like crazy for some reason. Like a bear at night. And then she's like, yeah, it'll probably. She must hate you. Yeah, yeah. Well, she doesn't hate me. She hates when I snore. Yeah.

But she's like, yeah, it'll probably help you stop snoring. I was like, yeah, because I'll probably die. Like I can't breathe out of my nose in the middle of the night. Well, you got to get a Breathe Right strip too. Yeah, I went looking for those and I couldn't find them in the store. I was pretty upset because I was like, oh, let me go get one of these Breathe Rights. And I couldn't find it. You might need to get on I was pretty upset. Cause I was like, Oh, let me go get one of these breathe rights. And I couldn't find it. You might need to get on the CPAP train. I'm down to try it, but honestly, man, it's maybe I can buy your,

if you're snoring like that, that's a problem. Yeah. And, and it's, it's not, it's amazing how much better you'll feel if you get good sleep. Well, you, do you wake up? The question is, do you wake up tired? I mean, the quality of sleep. I mean, it's better now, but no, absolutely. Like, I mean, rewind, I don't know, like a year ago and I'd wake up just exhausted every day. Now with my diet a little bit cleaner and, you know, kind of getting in a good workout

regimen, um, it's better, but no, I still like she'll nudge me in the middle of the night and I'm just like, shit, sorry. But if you break, if you break your, your sleep pattern like that. You're right. I mean, there's no way to really get in that deeper sleep and also you're making her miserable if you're sorry. So it's kind of one of those things where I think a CPAP, a lot of people say, oh, well, you have to be overweight or you have to be big to need the CPAP. a lot of people say, oh, well, you have to be overweight or you have to be big to need the CPAP. And there's, there's a lot of women out there that for whatever reason, snore terribly. And they, they just need a CPAP because it's just the way they're, whatever their throat or their

nose or whatever it is that causes the problem. But it's, uh, you don't have to be necessarily overweight or big or have a thick neck or, you know, I mean, it's, it's just, um, the quality of sleep can go down so quickly and it's, um, it's amazing. It really is. Uh, you know, and there's so much to it. I'm even still trying to learn. I mean, I'm, I got contacted by this company, um, that's going to send me some stuff out, like some different sheets and this thing to monitor kind of my sleep cycles. And, um, the,

the sheets are supposed to pull the hot air away from you. And I'm like, well, man, if you guys want to send me samples, I'm down, you know, to, yeah,

I've heard of that, uh, like chili pad and stuff like that too. It's like a pillow. That's like 68 degrees or something. It's supposed to keep you cool. And yeah, it's all kinds of things you can try.

There's the heavy blankets. I don't know if you've seen those, but they're like a 25 pound blanket it's supposed to make you feel like more secure yeah it's like yeah it's supposed to help people that are just to have like restless leg syndrome and i'm i'm really interested the guy made a good point on the phone he's like hey you probably or he had followed a lot of my stuff and said all right brian you you track all your food and you track your training and you're thinking about all this different stuff, but then you go to sleep at night and what kind of, how are you monitoring your sleep cycles? Or, or do you know if you have,

yeah. And all I have is the machine measures how many hours I sleep. And then if the seal, or if I'm breathing good, it'll give me kind of like a green, happy face or whatever, you know, which always makes me feel good with the machine a little green happy face but recently had uh joel green on our podcast who was just the amount of information this guy shot out was crazy but uh he basically said that on your um you can just get an app uh that tracks like you're snoring. Interesting. And it can track your, it can track to kind of see if you're snoring and it will kind of tell you about your quality of sleep. He said it's just like, I think the app might even be free. Huh.

But I was like, oh, well, there's a great start, you know, for people that are like, I'm not really sure. Like, you know, I wake up. I wonder how they, I wonder how, did he say how it tracked it? He didn't really say. I don't know if it's like an audio component to it or something. I'm not sure. So there's apps that you can like, you place them like on your bed, like next to your pillow.

And when you're passed out, it shows you that you're in REM sleep. And then when you're kind of moving around or whatever in non-REM, or if you like completely snap out of it, it'll show you when you woke up throughout the night. But even like Fitbits and stuff, they'll track your sleep. And I don't know how accurate they are, but it's pretty easy to do. I purchased something called an Aura Ring, but I haven't used it yet. I don't have it like, it's not...

That's not like a weird thing that goes on. No, it just goes on my fingers. I didn't know that we were going to talk about that. Yeah, it goes on my fingers. Your hands might be too big. You have to get sized for like the ring. Like what size wedding ring do you have? I think 18 or something.

I can't see. Something big, yeah. Let me see that thing. I think I'm like 11 or something. This wouldn't fit on anything of you. Yeah, that thing's monstrous. It fit right over top of mine. But anyway, it's just a little plastic ring that you, that you put on and

it, it, uh, tracks your sleep and stuff. And again, the, uh, the guy from quest nutrition is the one who suggested that I give it a try. Cause he said, he's like, I tried every app. I've tried every contraption to track sleep. And he's like, this is the best one. I'm like, okay, well that'll save me a lot of headache trying to figure out what's the best one.

It's just like you said, more information gets out there and it's probably just being conscious, you know, and the first step is probably thinking about, okay, well, hey, I want to figure out how to get better sleep or more quality sleep. And so then maybe you think about keeping the room dark and you think about not having your phone with you, right? Or whatever the tools are that you're going to use. Well, the compromise, Stan told me, and this didn't work, but he's like, with the new baby, he's like, Brian, you've got to get in the other room.

Like, you've got to go sleep in the spare bedroom. That was not going to happen, right? Like with Carrie, no chance. So I actually bought some Bose. Bose just started making these sleep buds. So it's literally they fit. It's a noise canceling thing that fits inside your ear. But I can turn it up and then it's got just different, you know, kind of

like an airplane noise or a circulating fan, that type of thing. But I can sleep then in the bed and the baby doesn't wake me up. Right. So it was a compromise. Now I did, this was a thin ice kind of tread lightly conversation, you know, like, hey. One of those things in your ear. Yeah. You're still sleeping.

You don't hear anything. I've been talking to you for four hours. You haven't said a thing. I haven't said a word. Yeah. Best conversation ever. So that was the compromise we had to make with the baby, you know, waking up. Cause I, I just told, I told Carrie, I was like, I mean, this is just, you know, with the baby waking up, it's breaking my sleep cycles and I can't recover.

And it's, it's, you know, I mean, it was a fine conversation. you know, I mean, it was a fine conversation. Stan was very adamant about the other room and Carrie was very adamant that, that, uh, if I slept in the other room, I should probably move out kind of thing. I never understood why your bed's just not like a giant tent. Like, why can't you just like zip your bed up and

have it be like super dark, you know, because the rooms, like when you go to a hotel, it's nice and cool in there and it's insanely dark and you pass out and you have no idea what time it is. When you wake up. It's awesome. Yeah. In your own house, it's not like that. I wish your bed was like a tent and your bed should, should like rock a little bit too. Like a, like a baby's crib. I mean, so you can get some good sleep. I think everything around here, the new, the new slingshot bed

coming out, he's hinting at it, but we're, we're thinking about it. tent bed. In that, in that book that I'm reading, they did a study where they put somebody on a, on a, like a swinging bed. And as they got into deep sleep, they swung the bed and they got even into a deeper sleep. Yep. That's it.

It was weird. Yeah. It's my baby. Here we go. Gosh, I'm going to have to go home and tell Carrie. She might be into it. I don't know.

I don't know. Baby number three. No, not baby number three. Yeah, that's, nope. Nope. Got enough babies. Yeah. Two is good.

Yeah. Hey, what do you think about Larry Wheels? Have you seen this kid? Yeah, man. It's, I've seen some videos. He's insane. It's ridiculous. You think maybe he could give a

crack at the Thomas inch dumbbell press? So I asked Stan, right. And, and that kid's a freak. Yeah. I, so Stan came out and he hadn't seen one before. Right. And he was in my gym and I said, all right, Stan, let's see if you can pick that up. And he couldn't do it. It didn't make him happy. Yeah. I was going to say he's probably really mad. He was very frustrated by the, the Thomas and Stumbel. Um, it doesn't seem like it would be a problem to pick it up when you look at it. No,

I mean, it doesn't seem like it'd be that big of a deal. Yeah. It's deceptive. Here's a Larry wheels deadlift in seven 65 for, I don't know, six or seven reps or whatever. Yeah.

He's kids, a monster, but, uh, so he, he did an overhead press with, just i think with the well i don't remember if this was a log i guess that would make a huge difference i think it was a barbell recent yeah but he did yeah it was 440 pounds yeah four was it 440 or 425 i think it was 440 yeah that's like some i mean that's something like uh world-class strength right there, right? Oh, it's amazing.

That's unbelievable. Now, a log has got to be a lot harder though, right? It depends on how you're built. It can be because it's much thicker and the line is different. But maybe the range of motion might be shorter? Slightly it is, yeah, because the handles are inside the middle of the log.

But still, he wasn't using leg drive. The bar But still, I mean, he wasn't using leg drive. The barbell I saw him press, he didn't use leg drive. So he basically just brought it down and strict pressed it. He was leaning back, which is fair. I mean, in strongman, you can press it however you want, as long as your head gets through at the end. But still, it was an insane press. I mean, and especially his body weight weight to move that kind of weight,

you know, what was very, very impressive. I mean, he's, um, I would love to see him, him come mess around. I mean, and I, I don't know how into the grip stuff he is, but if he could pick the dumbbells up, I, um, was having a conversation with my training partner actually about, about the, the Thomas inch dumbbells after I incline pressed them, whether Larry could give a crack at it. Cause the weight would not be a problem. If he could get it up to, uh, up to his chest, it wouldn't be a problem at all. Um, it would be more of the grip and the control and being able to pick them up.

It'd be interesting to see if he could balance it just because he does weigh so much less. Yeah. Like that might be hard, you know, just might not have the body size underneath. Yeah. It would be fun. I mean, I, I think it's, it's pretty cool, man. Uh, yeah.

200 kilos. Yeah. That's what a mutant. Now, can you do that in strongman? Can you lower it and then press it out? Yeah. You can do whatever. If you, yeah.

Well, log, you wouldn't have the range of motion to do that. Yeah. You would. I mean, the, the difference would be for us, we'd have to pick it up from the ground. Yeah. So figure out how to get it up. So, uh,

um, but still that's, I mean, yeah, that's nuts, man. You know, I hate to be outdone.

So I got to tell you guys that I, I did 185 pounds over my head once before. Awesome. Yeah. Awesome. Yeah. Not 185 kilos. Oh my God.

No, that's a hard movement. I hate doing overhead presses. I've never really messed with them, uh, much. Uh, when I was younger,

I, I did, uh, a lot of like seated behind the neck. Cause that was like, yeah. An Ed Cohn thing. Sure.

From years ago. Well, it wasn't important. I mean, you're with a bench. It's not as important. Right. You know,

and it's, which is pretty cool. Cause he's coming from, uh, um, you know, with, with power lifting and then bodybuilding. Right. I mean, granted bodybuilding a little bit more, and it's, which is pretty cool because he's coming from a, you know, with power lifting and then bodybuilding.

Right. I mean, granted bodybuilding a little bit more, but you're, you're just trying to develop the shoulders to look good. Right. You know, not necessarily from a big, big max strength perspective. Right. So it's pretty crazy, man. It'll be interesting to see. He's to what, 24 now maybe?

Yeah. Yeah. He's really young. Yeah. So it's, it's, it'll be interesting to see how how he progresses i mean i know he's said something about doing some strongman stuff maybe um but i would love to have him come out and train yeah it'd be really cool to see him uh he's so explosive and stuff it'd be interesting to see him trying to handle some stones and and even like kaylor

woolham like kaylor with those long arms i'd imagine that he would be you know you never know until someone tries it, but I imagine he'd be pretty good at the stones. Well, he, he, he has, uh, um, you know, kind of a good wingspan. Yeah. You know, it, it just, uh, it's amazing. The leverage is so different with picking up

a stone. I mean, I've, I've, uh, I seen a lot of guys try to pick stones up over the years and sometimes it's deceptive. You think this guy's going to walk up and be a monster and it can't figure it out to save his life and other guys don't look very opposing or whatever and they're amazing at it. Pick up a 300 pound stone

with no problem. Yeah, just like it's empty. It's a really weird thing. Strength is a really weird thing. Even grip strength, that's, um, it's a really weird thing. Strength is a really weird thing. I mean, it's even grip strength. That's the same, you know, with those, uh, with those dumbbells I've seen, I've been at expos before where we've had hundreds and hundreds of people try to come through and it's the, sometimes the person that doesn't look the part and they'll just pick it right up. Like it's no problem.

And sometimes they don't even have big hands. Like a lot of times you're thinking, well, if the guy's got these huge hands, maybe he'll pick it up. And sometimes that's the case. Sometimes the guy's just got a normal hand and for whatever reason, he just has crazy grip strength. Yep. Just, it's a, it's a, it's a funny thing. It's fun to watch. It's fun to do.

You know, I mean, and so somebody like, like Larry, I mean, he, he may walk in and make it look like a toy or it could be really hard for him. You know, depending on how strong his thumb is or how, you know, I mean, it's, like a toy or it could be really hard for him, you know, depending on how strong his thumb is or how, you know, I mean, it's, it would be, it'd be fascinating to watch, you know, and I think that's what, uh, all aspects of strongman. I think that's probably for me, what's so fascinating is it's, um, you know, over the years, there's so many different challenges. So you did the, uh, 45 pound plate, right. And then you had, was it fives or tens on each side

fives yeah three three uh three fives but it was it was an old the type of plate was super how high did you pick it up you pick it up like above your waist or so lifted it yeah yeah but that that old school the york the milled back york plate was the most important part of that because the hub is so shallow. It's very, very difficult to be able to get your fingers on it and to apply enough pressure, uh, to pick it up. So doing it with, with a, um, uh, more deep plate that has a bigger hub on it is a different, it's, it's completely different. So that was, um, it's just one of those things I've, I've, you know, I've messed around in, in grip stuff for fun, mainly for fun. I mean, I, I can't say that, uh, I've at times, I guess I've trained the grip, uh, but more, um, for the training is the specific strongman stuff.

So like a farmer's walk or, or an axle, you know, clean or something like that. Just train it anyway. Yeah. But these, these kind of obscure, um, if that's a good word, uh, grit feats, I haven't necessarily worked and worked and worked. I've just kind of said, Hey, that looks like fun. Let's do, let's go do that. Or let's get something bigger or whatever. And I have, you know, uh, definitely had a, a, a ability to do it where I haven't had to, you know, work for years. Whereas there's people out there that will work for, you know, five years, 10 years, 15 years to pick up a Thomas and Stumbel and they just have to work and work and work.

And for me, the first time I saw it, I picked it up, you know, no problem. It wasn't, uh, um, you I saw it, I picked it up. You know, no problem. It wasn't, you know, I remember that. Was that in a strongman competition or did somebody just have one laying around? No, I went with Joe Ken when I was at Arizona State to the. All roads go back to Joe Ken. Joe Ken, that's it. They really do. Big house power, baby.

Yeah. We went to, I went with them to the NSCA conference, uh, in Vegas and, uh, Richard Soren was there, uh, right when he was first getting Soren X, uh, off the ground and he had a booth. And, um, I was walking through an expo, uh, or the, the kind of, it was a very, you know, kind of primitive expo at that point, just kind of a few. Not everybody knows, but you are a certified, uh, strength kind of primitive expo at that point, just kind of a few. And everybody knows, but you are a certified, uh, strength and conditioning coach, right? Yep. Yeah. Well, out of college, that's what I wanted. Yeah. That's what I want to do is be a strength coach. And so that was kind of my first open door was the Arizona state. And, um, that's how I got to know Joe Cannon and those guys there. Um, and it was, it was fun, man. I went and, uh, I had read about the Thomas Hensh Dumbo and I was walking through that expo, but it was, it was fun, man. I went and, uh, I had read about the Thomas Hensch dumbbell

and I was walking through that expo, but it was kind of, I think a lunch break or something. And so I, I saw it at, um, at the Sorenx booth and, uh, I was like, oh, that's gotta be a Thomas Hensch dumbbell. So no chalk, no nothing, just walked over to it, picked it up and set it back down. And, and Richard happened to just be kind of down the aisle. Um, and he ran up and I had read about him, right. I knew who he was, but I didn't quite realize right when he ran up, but he ran up and his eyes were huge. And he was, he was like, did you pick that thing up? Did you pick that dumbbell up? And I was like, yeah, I didn't, you know, he's like, well, can you do it again? Yeah. And I said, of course I could do it again. And so he's, he wanted to take a picture and, uh, he got me set up with all this, you know, kind of liquid chalk and whatever. And it actually,

um, didn't dry. I'd never used it before. Right. So I, I didn't know kind of how much to put on. And so it's, uh, um, funny. He's like, well, I want you to pull it up as high as you can this time. And so I've got a picture. Um, he took a picture and mailed it to me after, after that, but I'm pulling this Thomas inch dumbbell up the first time I lifted it. And he sent a note. Um, and it was funny that, uh, that day, uh, he told me, uh, cause he had seen people for years trying to lift that and nobody had done it. I mean, maybe he'd seen somebody do it as easy as I did, but he just basically told me I was stupid if I didn't use my gifts. Right.

I remember that specifically that day. He's like, you have a strength that's won in millions. He's like, I can't say that. You've got to do something with it. He's like, you have to use that in your life somehow. And that's before I started competing in strong man or anything. I mean, it was just, I was just this, you know, kind of guy out of college strength coach, try it, want to be whatever, you know, and, uh, um, just did that. And, uh, it w it's funny.

It's weird. It changes your path forever. One weird one thing. Yeah. I mean, I, I kind of was already on the path in a way, but it was interesting. It's kind of a driver. Yeah. Yeah. To hear him say that was like, wow, you know, this, and he was so certain about it. I remember how, how specific he was just kind of black and white. Like, look, you're, you are stupid if you don't use these gifts that you've been given, you know?

So it's, it's pretty neat, like full circle. And of course I got to know him over the years. They used to do a lot of the equipment before Rogue with the Arnold Classic. And they had all this grip stuff and I still need to get out and visit him. He did, he did a lot of grip stuff. Yeah. And he's got a lot of grip stuff there in his facility. So I would like to go out and just kind of try to mess around with some of that stuff for fun but who has the strongest grip that

you've ever seen i i would say uh in person mike burke and he trained he trained with me yeah we should have had a camera guy like during and mike art. And Mike Burke was like a contractor, right? Yeah. Yeah. He's a framing contractor from Colorado that then went on, competed at World's Strongest Man, competed at the Arnold Classic. And I mean, some of the grip things that we did on a daily basis in my gym were mind blowing. Like, I mean, would would lose their mind some of the challenges that mike and i did together because he he um was really really good at like an axle he he set the

world record in an axle like a double overhead axle deadlift um i was kind of wait did he lift on that 500 and oh my god i think 516 pounds like on a on a polished yeah uh smooth two inch axle put that in perspective uh most of the guys here at super training that have been very very strong guys dead lifting seven eight hundred pounds uh have double overhanded uh around 400 pounds and that's on a regular bar that's on a well not even regular bar it's on a deadlift bar yeah so it's got a good neural it's got a good neural and it's very thin compared to what you're talking about yeah i remember this that was uh one of the expos i was talking about yeah not not the not the one with richard's horn gotcha okay that was uh yeah two so a double that's probably

around the time i met you probably pretty close yeah. Yeah. I mean, that would have been, I don't know what year that would have been, but, um, yeah, that's, that's the feat that we're talking about. Picking two of those up and then putting them on my legs and then, uh, um, and then do an incline press with those dumbbells. So, oh, I see what you mean too. I, I, I forgot that there, you said it before, but I, now that I see the picture, I understand they're, they're completely rounded off. I, now that I see the picture, I understand they're, they're completely rounded off. They're like, it's like a sphere. So yeah, there's no, no

stabilization. Yeah. Did you think you were going to kind of hurt yourself when you're doing that? Like, were you like, I was, I was, I didn't really think about that. It was more kind of a challenge. Uh, I, I made sure my legs were good and chalked up though. Um, and I was ready to let it go if I needed to. We kind of did it in a spot where I had a little bit more room to drop, but, um, yeah, the stuff, the stuff with Burke, man, he, he was, uh, his hands were super strong. I was, you know, looking back some of the, like I said, some of the stuff that we did. Um, and he actually went and did a lot of grip contests for fun. Um, so people kind of got to know that his grip was, was amazing, you know, but I wish that we would have got more

of it on video, like when we were doing it in my gym, cause it was, it was really good mix with us too, because he, like I said, he was a little bit better with the, uh, um, at that time with Axel and then my, uh, like the thick handled dumbbell lifting, I was a little bit better than him. And then my pinch grip was really good. And, um, the hub lifting like this, he, uh, he lifted that, that plate. I don't think he ever did it with the extra weight, but, um, so one of our lifters, uh, his wedding is actually this weekend. Um, he's been lifting with us for years and years. Name is Damon Thurman. And he,

uh, is with the, uh, air force and he's been, um, he is an airplane mechanic. Okay. And so he's got a strong grip cause he uses these giant,

you know, these giant wrenches. And, uh, so he was able to do the hub lift and he was able to do it with a little bit of weight on there. If I, if I remember, I think he might've put some,

uh, it looked, it looked kind of funny cause he put some two and a halves on there. Sure. Which looked kind of silly, but from what I remember, he was able to do it with I think maybe one on each side. Oh, that's great. Yeah, he's got some really strong hands. I was like, holy crap. It's amazing the grip strength. He swung a hammer for years before he ever started. You know, he wasn't really what I would say is a lifter.

You know, he started lifting to compete in strongmen and dabbled in it. But he's not the type of guy, and he's retired now and I'm sure probably hasn't lifted, you know, a lot. Just because he didn't, I don't think he really loved the lifting and training. He just did it because he could compete and he just liked competing. He was a gamer. Probably more so than any other guy that I've ever seen. He would do stuff in training and I was legitimately worried going into a lot of contests about what he'd be able to do. His response would always be, I'll get it on the day.

But he literally would. He could do stuff in a competition setting that was unbelievable. Just kind of talked himself into it. Yeah, you have the guys that are training strong. Yeah, he's a gamer. And they could do stuff in the gym, but then when you put them in a contest setting, they go backwards and they don't perform as well. He was the exact one 80 of that, you know, training was never as good competition. He could just, he could do three times almost sometimes on lifts. Like he'd struggled to get one in training. He could do three in a contest, you know, it's just amazing. But, uh, that was a lot of fun. I mean, I, um, was really, you know, our, our grip battles and training were on.

Unbelievable. So when and where are we going to set up the 700 pound stone? God, you have the biggest stone lift in the history of mankind, right? Yes. He did what? 675 or six. No, no. I, the, the biggest, so official world record now, 560.

560. Oh, maybe I'm talking about 600 pounds. No, you're, you're, you're, I, I mentioned, uh, it's funny. I did a YouTube video about this. That must've been what I saw. Yeah. Um, and I, I mentioned an interview I did, uh, or, or kind of a video with Phil Heath that I, and this is way, way back that I wanted to lift a 700 pound stone before I was done.

And, and this is way, way back that I wanted to lift a 700 pound stone before I was done. And, and it's amazing. It's kind of like the wheels fell off the, that event after, after we said that, but, um, the biggest one, the biggest one I've ever lifted I had made was 629, um, and pick that up. And it was, uh, that was heavy, but I kind of stopped pushing, you know, it was kind of like, all right, I'm so far ahead of everybody else. Why, you know, why, why am I going to risk getting hurt to do something that, you know, I'm not going to get credit for, um, or, or at least not in a competition setting, we're not going to get there. So I would like to do, I mean, we, you know, it, uh, the 600, 600 pound barriers first. Right. And that's something that I think a lot of people said was, um, physically like not possible

for a human being to lift a 600 pound stone over a bar. Um, I know it's possible. I've known it's possible for a long, long time. Uh, you know, but it's kind of going there. When do we go there, you know, and set it set it up but it it's something i would like to do it it's that that's been a lift that i've been very gifted at um and uh especially with the heavy weights on that it's just something that i'm built very well to do and um it'd be neat to do it yeah at some point yeah it's a crazy amount of weight i mean remember when you did that 560

uh at the arnold and you just you kind of i mean yeah yeah you kind of just threw it it was uh it was insane i was like oh that didn't look that didn't look that hard for him yeah it's i you know it's funny i i asked them this year to to do the 600 and they said they weren't, they didn't want to do it, uh, there, which was unfortunate, um, for me, but it's, it's something that's been coming for a long, long time. There was kind of a push back, back around that time, 2011, 2012, uh, whether the 600 was possible. That's why I actually ordered that six, six. I didn't know it was going to come out that heavy, but six 29, I wanted it to be more like six 10. Yeah. Um, or, or just over 600 is what I asked for, but it came out heavier. Uh, and so I know that it's possible. It's just kind of, like I said, once, um, once the, uh, uh, envelope stopped being pushed, you know, it was kind of unfortunate, you know, cause the

competition is what drives it. You know, it's, it's when you have, you have, is kind of unfortunate, you know, cause the competition is what drives it. You know, it's, when you have, you have, when you have a lot of people pushing each other, the level goes up. Right. And that's how it is with, with everything. I mean, it's, uh, um, in this event it's because those stones are so hard to make, right. They're not very common and they're very expensive. Yeah. Does anybody even have a 600 pound stone? It's, I think there's only been a couple that have been made ever. And so they'd have to kind of revamp it for the Arnold and maybe that's why they didn't want to do it. It would be very hard to do, but I, it needs to happen.

It happens whether, I mean, I might have to just buy the damn thing and do it, you know, and certify it somehow. Just bring it with you. Yeah. Hey, guys, I'm going to roll this on the stage. I don't care what you think. I'm lifting it, you know, or something. I mean, it needs to happen. That's kind of my, one of the things that I want to get off my plate is that 600-pound barrier.

And then, you know, maybe we go, you know, 300 kilos would be a nice mark, 661. That would be a pretty cool one. And then of course, 700, I mean, how many people can deadlift 700? Yeah. Then you're talking about a 700 pound stone with no handles. Insane. Yeah. It's possible. I, I thought it was possible back then.

I mean, that's why I said it in the video, but it's just kind of, unfortunately, one of those things where the bar just stopped being pushed. And I was so far ahead of everybody else, you know, and it's, it's so funny. I don't know why, you know, that lift it's, uh, you know, it was always kind of Zydrunas had his log press that he was so far ahead of everybody. And I had the stone. It's just, you happen to see a log a hell of a lot more than you see a max stone, you know? Um, so we, we, it needs to happen. It needs the, the 600 pound barrier needs to happen. I think there's some younger guys that have talked about it a little bit more, um, that lifting big stones and that'd be neat. It'd be neat to kind of get some of those guys involved. And if nothing else, maybe, maybe I do like a stone lifting invitational or something like that.

You know, and make it happen at some point or something. If I have to take it in my own hands and make it happen, I will. You know. What you got over there, Andrew? I was just going to say, I checked Amazon. They don't have the 600 pound stone. It's not. It's not on.

They have everything. It's not prime shipping. Yeah. I'm not going to pay for that shit. Yeah. I was just going to ask you, because I've seen you eating one earlier today. How are the prepackaged vertical meals been going for you? Yeah, they're great, actually.

I've been super impressed with them. And, you know, I know Stan put a lot of work into that. And so we're, I'm actually kind of teaming up with him. So we're going to do the, the, the Shaw strength meals, which will be kind of a version of the vertical, uh, diet meals as well. So I'm, I'm definitely pumped about that. I know. Um, are they just going to be like way bigger? I was going to say four cups of rice. They're, they're, they are coming. They're, they're, uh, definitely. Um, I think there's some talks about making some bigger kind of like world's strongest man meal. Not everybody wants to lose weight.

Yeah. Some people want to gain strength and so on. Feed my whole family. Portion sizes can be bigger. That would be great. But yeah, I've been really impressed. I mean, it's something. I know they put a lot into it and, um, for the, for the convenience factor, I mean, I'll be, I'll be packing those, uh, with me, um, everywhere basically like travel wise and it'll

be, it'll be a lot more convenient than all the, the bison and, and Foreman grills and stuff I've had to pack in my bags, uh, to cook all my food, uh, and have it all ready. So it's, it's been good, but I, I mean, I know once people try them, they, you know, they definitely can understand why they, they taste so good. What's, uh, what's the most amount of weight you ever bench pressed? Cause I, people ask me all like, what is your bench? Yeah. Yeah.

And I've seen your bench. I want to say at least maybe like five 550 or 525 for a rep or two. I think I did 525 for three. Yeah. I think that's probably the biggest bench I've done. I haven't gone to like a max. I know we talked about that before. And I mean, I really think that I could bench really think that, that I could bench, um, it'd be neat

to bench over 600. Yeah. I think the, the big number would be 661. Yeah. Kazmaier. Exactly. And that's kind of, you know, I think a lot of people have said, uh, for whatever reason, it's weird.

I've got people that have said like, oh, I can't bench press. I'm like, I don't, I don't know where that comes from they're really senior bench yeah yeah so i mean i can do i could do all right i mean a lot of the stuff that i do in training is more close grip i'm not really more kind of living um you know living in a close grip range just to try to build up the the triceps and anterior delts more and you use a lot of these movements as, like, even if it's a main movement, from what I've seen of Brian, he uses a lot of these movements as,

they're like, it's like supplemental, or it's done with such variety. And I think it's smart, because when you implement some of the methods of like the conjugate system or some of the west side stuff, you're no longer side stuff, um, you're no longer concerned about,

Oh, I need to hit six plates on this bench press. Now it's more like I'm going to bring the weight down and maybe rested on these bars and do a partial range of motion. But there's like a ton of chains on there. And I'm gonna do a set of six, which is way safer. Yep. And you're going to wake up the next day and be able to recover from that so

much easier. And then two, three days from then, when you have to do your event training, your triceps, your elbows, your shoulders, not all blown out and all jacked up. Definitely. Yeah. You have to, I like variety. I definitely like variety. Yeah.

Are you aware of anybody else that trains the way that you're training? Like for strongman? I mean, you do a lot of different stuff. I don't think so. A lot of angles and a lot of like, and I've seen you take out a measuring tape and like. Oh yeah. I, you know, I, I can't say that I have, I've never really, you know, I mean, I go and I'll do training with, um, with some of the other guys I compete with. And they're always, they're always kind of asking me like, Brian, what, why, what, what are you doing or why are you doing that? Or,

and, and, um, it just makes sense to me. It's kind of been a trial and error, uh, thing over the years where, um, adding all that stuff in, but it's, I think very important, like you said, from a, from a training perspective to have a different stimulus, but also not to build up these barriers. You know, so if you're only ever using straight weight, for example, it's very easy to kind of have that number that you get to and then you can't get past it. Whereas if you have some chains and bands and different stuff, you're kind of having different weights at every point in the lift

or you're doing a partial so you're using of having different weights at every, every point in the lift, or you're doing a partial. So you're using more weight. It's then you don't get caught up in a number as much because you're building strength at all these different points. And two for strong men, it's, it's not like we're, we're all the time doing a full range deadlift. It's sometimes a partial deadlift or the bar is different, or, you know, you need, you need to be strong at all different points of every single lift. And so, you know, I use a lot, I rotate bars a lot. I, you know, I, I throw a lot of different things at the training. Like a, like a regular squat, you know, for a max rep or regular bench or regular, um, deadlift for max rep. I mean,

I guess a deadlift probably be the closest thing, but you haven't done any of those lifts, right? Not really, no. I don't prefer to squat with a straight bar because it's hard on my shoulders. And I remember hearing years ago. The strain on the elbows too. The strain on the shoulders and elbows. It could be potentially taking away from your pressing power exactly you know part of strong man well if you rip your shoulders up and hurt your elbow um that everything else goes with it right so it's kind of um i've tried to stay as safe as i can with the lifting so a lot of

specialty bars on squats i don't like to squat with a straight bar unless I have it coming up and then I'll switch it in for the training cycle. And a lot of times it's a box squat as well, right? Most of the time. But I feel like the box squat, and that's something I got from Joe Ken back to Joe Ken again, but something I got from him that we were having all the football players at ASU do box squats. Joe's in his mid-50s and he's still training as heavy as he was 20 years ago. Yep. And I think the box squat carries over better to strong men. You know, that starting strength off the box. If you get strong and you can start there, it's going to

carry over to deadlift and tire flip and lifting stones and everything else. It actually looks like you used it when you did the 555 stone lift. Yeah. It looked like you, I mean that looks like the Foreman technique of coming up off the box. Yeah. It's, I think it, they, they carry everything in my head makes sense when I'm doing it with training. It's, it's, there's a reason why and why am I doing this?

Why am I doing that? And, and, uh, it's hard. I mean, controlling, controlling a weight eccentrically to a box and, and pausing and then starting again is, is not easy. Right. You know, it's, it's just not as easy as if you dive bomb a squat into the hole and then try to come up. It's you, you can't, you can't initially, at least you can't lift as much weight and you have to be willing to, uh, swallow your pride on a lot of the lists that I do. And some guys can do that.

Some guys can't. You know, they just can't. I mean, it's, I mean, I've had guys come into training and I'll tell them a certain, whatever tempo we're going to use, but they don't like to go slow eccentrically and they don't like to pause because you can't lift as much weight. And then it just, if you're not willing to do that though, you're not going to get as strong. And it's, it's, it's kind of throwing all those variables into your training. It's important, uh, to be strong, you know, and, and, uh, some people don't get that. And I think the, um, there's there, a lot of people get caught up and want to talk about, Oh, look at that speed rep or this speed rep or, oh, he lifted this big weight so fast. And so, yeah, it's, um, and a lot of times, I mean,

I'll, I'll watch a video of somebody and if they control a weight really well, uh, I look at that and say, holy shit, that is strong, really strong. Like Kirill Serkev when he does any of his big benches, you're just like, oh my God. Yep. What is that strength? You know, what is that? Yeah. You're not not it's not dive bombed it's not anything it's just controlled pause boom you know right but it's kind of like that low-end torque that's been built up and it had to be built up over time you know so you try to lift that way with most of the exercises that you do you try to have a good amount of control with each exercise and yeah i mean you're trying to go as hard as you can, but at the same time, uh, you don't want to, you don't want your body to move around so fast and

abruptly that you hurt yourself. No, exactly. Yeah. It's it's, I typically prefer, I mean, just in general terms, more of a, more of a controlled eccentric to a pause or at least a very brief pause. Yeah. And then as explosive as I possibly can. I'll try to lift it on the concentric phase. And then, you know, it's not getting out of control, but it's basically, like I said, just a very, you know, I'm talking about a bench or something like that. It's just very controlled pause, load it up and then throw it as hard as I can. So I'm always trying to lift as explosively as I can, but with control, especially on the eccentric portion. Do you do some bodybuilding stuff?

Like, are you, do you do, like, you know, front raises and side raises and things like that, like some bodybuilding movements in addition to, you know, doing three sets of 10 and stuff like that? I will, I'm not going to lie, I have thrown them in at points, I, I will, uh, I ha I'm not going to lie. I have thrown them in at points, you know, and, and, um, I definitely do more volume, uh, as well. And I, it, it, it just seems to work well, uh, for strongman.

I, my goal really with the training is to be good at everything all the time. So if I have to do a contest where there's a deadlift for reps or a press for reps, uh, I could do that. Or if there's a press for max or a deadlift for max, I could get ready for that as well. So it's at all times trying to be good at all of those things. So I don't necessarily focus one phase of the training on, Hey, I'm going to get really good at max strength here, but my, uh, endurance is going to go to shit. I don't like that. I like to be well-rounded. And I think that for, I think that for strongman, it's very important. And sometimes you get too caught up in, uh, or you get too caught up in max strength or you get too caught up in reps. And if you forget about, uh, one or the other,

you're not going to be as well-rounded. Right. And I think that you have to be with not, I think I know that you have to be well-rounded if you want to be good because the the events are always different and of course once i get events i'll tailor the training in uh to be more specific to those events but you know at the end of the day you have to be well-rounded if you're not well-rounded you're not going to win what would you do if you weren't competing? I mean, you've been competing probably for the last 10, 12 years or something straight. Um, do you think that you would pursue other kinds of lifting or, I mean, like you probably wouldn't maybe be as excited about lifting stones. Sure. If you didn't have the competition to get ready for it. Yeah, of course.

I mean that and that point's gonna come inevitably right like at some at some point uh i'll have to retire of course they have now they've built up uh like masters contests and that type of stuff and maybe i'll do that maybe i won't i would i would like to do a contest where uh where our boys are old enough to kind of remember me competing. Now, whether that'll be at World's Strongest Man or not, I don't know. If I'll do it that long, I don't know. It's kind of, but something, whether it's maybe some Highland games I've thought about in the past or grip you can compete in.

There's grip contests. Right. And, uh, that's since I put out some grip videos, the, um, I know I've had people tell me that kind of probably still try to do something where you're competitive. Oh yeah. Yeah. I have to. Yeah.

I have to. I mean, the grip, the grip stuff will be neat. Cause that's not very physically taxing. Right. Uh, and it's something that you, your grip can get stronger for a long, long, long time. Uh, or, or, you know, like I said, like Highland games or, um, who knows, maybe some crazy stuff like arm wrestling or whatever. I mean, that, that's always been kind of fascinating as well with, and that's, that's a lot of risk, uh, and grip strength and kind of, yeah. I mean,

and that may be fun. It may be something different to kind of go into as well. I, for me, I, I need challenges and I think it's kind of like you probably the same thing, right? Like why, why would you do a bodybuilding contest because you wanted a challenge? I think what would be great for you is just to, uh, and you did this at my, uh, my daughter and my son's school is just appearances like that. You know, I think you'd be speaker i know you're looking for something more physical but uh you know i think that you would inspire a lot of people and just i mean what it takes to to be a champion you know like people just they they haven't been world's strongest man they have never rubbed elbows with the world's strongest man so to hear it and then to be able to, to, if you're, especially if you're a kid,

you're like, man, that guy's like massive. And there might be another kid that's a little bit bigger than everybody. He might not think that he fits in with everybody else. He might look to you and say, oh shit, there is something for me to do. Maybe I'll play football. Maybe, oh, he played basketball. Like maybe I can play basketball or maybe just inspires them to do something that they maybe otherwise wouldn't have tried. Yeah. It's I've, I've had, uh, I've tried to go into schools. Um, I definitely could do more of it. Um, and, and that is really rewarding, but it's, they went nuts when he went to school and he lifted the stone and like, you could actually tell that, that a, you enjoyed it, but you can also tell that he's done it before. So he's like messing with the kids and stuff.

That's awesome. They were all laughing. They had a great before. So he's like messing with the kids and stuff. Oh, that's awesome. They were all laughing. They had a great time. I've had kids come up to me that I went into their school when they were like elementary school aged. And now they've graduated high school. And it's pretty crazy that they remember one day out of their whole elementary school phase or whatever, that I came in and talked to them about something. Well, think about it. If you were a kid and, let's just say, a professional boxer came in that was local, you'd be in awe.

You'd be like, oh my god, this guy punches people for a living. This is cool. Or an MMA guy or a strongman guy. It could be anybody. Well, it doesn't sometimes with kids, I don't think it takes a lot to kind of spark that thought process. And if they're, um, whatever they're going through at the time, you know, you can maybe say just one thing, right. Right. And, and, and really kind of light them up and say, Hey, I can make it. And I've gone back to my old high school. And a lot of people said growing up, oh, you're from, it was Fort Lupton is the name of the town I grew up in. But you're from Fort Lupton.

You're not going to do anything. And it's unfortunate. But a lot of the kids that go there, I think, maybe get caught up in that. And say, well, I'm from Fort Lupton or, or, you know, I'm from this small town. Insert, insert whatever town, you know, they say that in my town. Yeah. It's crazy to think, you know, but I got this wild, you know, thought process, like why the hell not me? Yeah.

You know, and I really, I really grabbed onto that. you know and i really i really grabbed on to that and it has to be that the thought process has to be so strong and uh it has to be like almost irrational yep uh for you to kind of hold on to that dream i joe can has told us before even on the podcast he said i'll tell you something man he goes that brian shaw he's like he told me he told he told me to my face he was going to become world's strongest man and i he's like i was thinking well. He told me in my face he was going to become world's strongest man. And I was thinking, well, he's a big kid. I'm not going to doubt. He can do all kinds of things.

But he's like, in the back of my head, I was also thinking like, hey, son, being world's strongest man. It's not easy. It's not easy, you know? And here you are. You're just talking about challenges. Do you think anybody's going to beat,

at least in the game right now, beat Eddie Hall's deadlift record? A handful of people were asking on the live chat. Whether I could do it or whether anybody. Actually, the first question should be, is that even on your radar? I would be lying if I said no. I think that it is. How much has he deadlifted? 1,100. Oh, right. 1,100. Now, that was

with a deadlift bar, calibrated plates, full basic powerlifting setup with a suit. That's the setup. Right. And so the Arnold, everybody talks about the Arnold, but the Arnold's a different bar. It's an elephant bar with the two-inch wide plates that's spread out. Even though I don't think they got the effect they wanted with that bar. I don't think it flexes nearly as much as what people say. So they like to compare it more to the Hummer tire deadlift, which was a much higher pole, more flex in the bar. Hummer tire deadlift talking about like 12, 1300 pounds. i the best the best on the hummer tire deadlift

was the drunas did 11 55 wow and i did uh 11 40 was the most so big weights yeah more than what eddie was shorter range of motion yeah yeah it was uh definitely a shorter range of motion and so the elephant bar now with the Arnold is hard to compare to what Eddie did. And I think that's where the big argument comes is, well, you know, these guys were not wearing a suit at the Arnold for the elephant bar. Eddie was wearing a suit, which how much does the suit give him, right? It's still a massive, massive lift. The 1100 is a massive lift and he put it out there. He said he was going to do it and he came through and did it. And, um, you know, for somebody else to do it, I think it's, it is,

it is, uh, possible, but he dedicated, he dedicated probably a full year or more of his life to that deadlift. And, and he, um, definitely made the commitment to doing just the deadlift versus the whole strongman contest. He didn't pull anything. He didn't do any other event that day. It was just a deadlift. And the year before, he did just the deadlift and didn't do any of it. And so that's the question of competing as a strongman. I've always been more kind of focused on winning the entire contest. So I want to be good at the deadlift.

I want to be good at the press. I want to be good at the carries and the stones and, and everything else, instead of just dropping everything out and being a deadlift only guy. And, um, it's a remarkable feat of strength. You know, as Eddie said, he's the first to do it right. And, and matching it, uh, he put, he set the bar, he set the bar and you have to take your hat off to that because he dedicated himself. He said, I'm going to do this.

And then he went and did it. Is it possible? Yes, of course it's possible for somebody else to do it. It's, um, you know, it, it, when will it happen? I don't know. You know, and, and for me, deadlift is, uh, what did you do, like 1,030 or so in training? Yeah. Yep.

I've done some other deadlifts with kind of a band set up that were, you know, I don't remember what that was, like 1,050 for two. You know, I think that the capability is there. I think I just need to get the setup right. And again, dedicate. It's the time. It's the dedication to that one specific lift because other things are going to have to go away a little bit. You can't be training all these different strongman events and putting as much dedication into that as needed. But again, it's an interesting, certainly something

interesting to talk about, you know, and, uh, that, that big deadlift, I think, I think it would be, it would be neat, really neat to break it, you know, cause Eddie set the bar and, and two, then every time I got to see Eddie after, after breaking it, you could, you could talk to him about it and that would be fun, you know? So with, uh uh that deadlift that he did was that done in a strongman competition or is that just a single deadlift event it was uh it was done at uh europe strongest man um but it was one of the events in the strongman contest but what they did is they would allow guest lifters to come in just for the deadlift right so the deadlift only counted for the deadlift but he could have competed in Europe's Strongest Man,

whereas if I would have went, I'm not European, so I can't do Europe's Strongest Man. Right. So I would have went just to do the deadlift. Right. But, yeah, that was. So he did it as a single event, which is a little different than. Definitely.

Because if you roll the dice on an 1,100-pound deadlift and somebody else pulled 1, thousand 80 and you mess up your placing and you miss it. Yep. So everything's got to really align. Well, that was, that was my, um, going that specific day, they actually asked me to come compete. And I, uh, I had a bit of a couple of conversations with the promoters that about that contest.

And I said, I said, if I come over, I want to pull, um, I wanted to lift if I remember right, somewhere between a thousand 50 and a thousand 70, um, is what I was hoping to have be able to call. Right. Right. And I came in, I had big conversations with them and they said, no, we're not doing the jumps are, I think at that point to break the current world record, it was like 1,026, right in that range, 1,025, 1,026. So they were going to do that jump, allow the guys that could break that record at that point, do that. And then they were going straight to 1,100. And so I, I had these, I went back and forth and said, look, guys, like, I think I'm not ready for the jump to 1100. I think I could pull something, you know, maybe 1050, 1060.

And I'd like to have that opportunity. And then if Eddie wants to sit out and go for the 1100, then let him. They weren't interested in that. They wanted basically the format of that contest. The jumps were already set. They made that very black and white clear. And so that's why at that point in time, if I remember correctly, that's exactly why I didn't go. Because I said, well, I think there's going to be a couple guys that can pull 1,025 or whatever that number is.

And then I'm not sure anybody can pull 1,100 is what I said. And then Eddie proved it's a mute point because he lifted the 1100 right so the the problem was again the big controversy would have been if they allowed me to come lift the 1050 or 1060 and then Eddie would be backed into a corner right because he had the the world record and so if I pulled 1050 or 10 60, he sits it out and misses the 1100. Now I have the record and he got penalized essentially. Right. But that's how a normal contest would work. But the way it was set up, um, again, now it's a mute point because he lifted the 1100.

Right. So it's, it, all the credit goes to him because he did the lift and he was, it was all this big talk before. Was he going to do it? Could he do it? And he did it. So those were the rules I decided to back out because I didn't like the rules, you know, and that was my choice, his, and he lifted the weight. So it's, um, you know, it's a big feat. Will it get duplicated? I think, I think it can be duplicated, but again, it's kind of how much are you going to focus on that? And, and, you know, maybe, um, take away from other, the other strongman events,

you know, doing the, the great feat would be to break 1100 in a full strongman competition, and then come back and do the other events. That would be ridiculous. You know, uh, maybe, maybe that's what I need to do. You know, that, maybe, maybe that's what I need to do. You know, that might be the way. Yeah. But that elephant bar, uh,

when I watched a lot of the guys deadlift and, and you're seeing the deadlifts go up and stuff. So, I mean, clearly it's, uh, it's helping, but the guys are just getting stronger.

Yeah. But also for some people, it looks like it's not really, you know, I think the, uh, the idea was like, this is going to help people pull a little bit more weight.

Cause the bar is going to bend. There's going to be some flex to it, but I noticed that it really throws off a lot of the guys with their timing and the bar like, yes, it bends, but then it like flexes and it will, um, uh, like oscillate up and down, you know, and it'll kind of bounce in your hands. And it looks like, you know, you see a lot of guys, their legs start to shake and the weights are huge. So obviously there's going to be strain. Uh, but it's, it looks different than what I've seen in the past. And so it looks like the bar is, you know, bending a lot and the weights are out real far and it doesn't look like, uh,

it doesn't look like it's working the way that they maybe want it to work. Yeah. I don't, like I said, I think they, in their mind when they made that, that it was going to be this, this giant bend have a very good visual effect. Right. And I don't think it flexes nearly as much. And what you said, because the weights are so thick and they're away from the bar, if you don't pull it straight through, if you get caught up in the middle at all and start shaking the bar, just magnifies that. It's almost like trying to squat it. Completely. Yeah. Your whole body just starts to tremble and you're like, oh.

It's a different pull. It's a different animal, man. It's a different, you know, it's just, it's very hard to compare it to anything else because there's nothing quite like it. Yeah. And that's, I think, where people get caught up with the weights and that's just a unique, it's, it's kind of its own thing. Just like the Hummer tire deadlift was its own thing at the Arnold. This, the, the comparison now starts to happen just because it's from a, it's from a standard height. And that's where I think everybody gets caught up and well,

what about, you know, what about a regular deadlift bar with calibrated plates on it yeah uh and they're comparing it to that it's it's just it's two different it's two different lifts you can't compare the two a lot of people forget about benedict magnuson you know you can't forget about benedict magnuson his uh deadlift his deadlift was a you know regular deadlift uh done kind of under some power lifting conditions with no straps. And, you know, I say, Hey, you know, wear whatever you need to wear to like lift, lift the weight. And I always like to see the most weight lifted, but, uh, you know, Benedict did it under some different rules so that a lift is different.

Yeah. It's well, no straps and, and, uh, and no suit. Right. A thousand 16. Right. I mean, that's incredible. I mean, and, and again. He crushed that weight too. You know, that's been, that's been how many years ago now and nobody's got close.

No, no one's got that. To that as well. You know, so it's, it's again, it's, all these things, I think, spark arguments. Right. Which is good. It's actually not a bad thing that people talk about it and, and want to compare and, you know, it's, it's long as you understand that, that all these factors are different, you know, it's, it's, and that's, I think what,

what, with strongman deadlifting, people want to talk about the straps and then they want to talk about whether you wore a suit or not, you know, and I mean, it's, it's, uh, um, I, I personally, you know, would lean obviously more toward a no suit deadlift and, and, and that, I, I personally, you know, and would lean obviously more toward a no suit deadlift and, and, and that, but you know, it's, um, that's just, it is what it is. Everybody's going to have, you have to have your own personal, you know, preference. Right. And I think suits are annoying if I'm honest. I think they're terrible.

They're, they're not comfortable. Yeah. Uh, you know, and, and it's it's uh it's one of those things where once you put a suit on i think with the internet now yeah it's like well how much did the suit help you know and that's that's the problem yeah um i think that's the argument uh that that's been brought up more is okay how much did that help or if you took the suit off what could you do it's just as he you know like Ed, it's like he wore the suit and lifted 1100 pounds. Right. It's phenomenal. It's phenomenal. So what does it really matter?

Right. It is what it is. So if, if the next guy wants to put a suit on and lift 1104 or 1105, okay, there you wore a suit. That's fine. It's, um, if, if somebody is able to do it without a suit, that's even better. Right. It's, it's just kind of, you know, the, but that's like you said, the, the rules are there. Right. And if you're allowed to wear a suit, he probably, you know, should think about wearing a suit if, if it helps you. It's hard to, uh, put into words and to really help people understand all these things. Like, like a knee sleeve could potentially help you lift a little bit more weight.

Um, but it's not really helping you lift that much more weight a belt can help you lift more weight and straps can help you lift more weight um but they're also safety tools as well like just the under over grip we've seen so many guys over the years uh tear their bicep uh as soon as i stopped power lifting i started wearing lifting straps i'm like i i'm never gonna i'm not even gonna bother to do an under over grip ever again i don't need to do it i tore my bicep years ago and i don't want to tear it again yeah so i'm just i'm like i don't have a need to do it that way you know and uh it's hard to describe to people you know the difference between like a bench shirt or a slingshot or a squat suit versus even just a light pair of briefs. You see a lot of the strongman guys wearing these things are like they're safety pieces, but they're not really, you know, again, a belt can help you lift a little bit, quite

a bit more. But aside from the belt, really, these things are just more like safety tools, keep you warm and keep you healthy and keep you from like really blowing anything out. But a squat suit or a bench shirt, once you start to implement those things, those things tools keep you warm and keep you healthy and keep you from like really blowing anything out but a squat suit or a bench shirt once you start to implement those things uh those things are actually enhancing the amount of weight that you can handle by you know 50 pounds 100 pounds and sometimes even more yeah i i would agree completely it's it's it's a different category yeah you know and and it's hard to explain that to people that don't understand. If

you put it on, like you said, a pair of knee sleeves, I mean, they, they, they keep your joint warm and it makes it safer to lift big weight. Right. And that's really what it is. You know, how much are you getting out of it? Hard to say. Some people are going to debate it. A knee sleeve is not going to help you lift 50 more pounds. I mean, it's just not, you know, I create them, I make them, we do the best job we can making the best ones that we can. And it's not going to help you by 50 pounds. Sure. Might help you by 10. Yeah. It's even hard to relate or to figure out. But if you feel better. Right. And it's safer. I think it's safer, you know, especially at the bigger weights. I love them because my joint feels warm and compressed

and tighter. And I feel like I'm, I don't, I'm not as at risk for injuring myself, lifting a bigger weight. And that's really. When you feel better. I mean, it makes a big difference. Yeah, absolutely. And trying to explain that it's just, you could debate for so long about what this did and what, you know, but, uh, at the end of the day, it's, it's, it's fun to see big weights

get lifted. But, uh, at the end of the day, it's, it's, it's fun to see big weights get lifted. I mean, that that's, I mean, I would watch a guy in a, a squat suit, take a big ass squat out and, and squat it because it's fascinating. Yeah. And I would watch the same, you know, person if they didn't have a squat suit on it or, you know, it's just seeing big weights get lifted is awesome. Yeah. Right.

And it's, it's, you can, you can debate however you want, but to each their own. At the end of the day, if it's within the rules, go for it. Throw up some massive weight and have some fun. Watching you on stage at the Arnold was probably the craziest, awesomest experiences I've ever experienced. The crowd chanting, USA, USA. We're going to do that again this year. I couldn't even keep my camera straight.

I was shaking. You know, I'm trembling because, like, at this point, like, I've spent a lot of time with you and, you know, training and whatnot. So, like, now I am, like, all in. I have a, you know, vested interest in what the fuck is about to happen right now. Yes. And the thumbnail for this video right now is from that day. Uh, it kind of just got the chills thinking about it. Um, how the heck do we get people to experience that? How do we make a world's strongest man

better? Oh man, that's, that's a good question. I think, um, I'm the way I'll answer that is I'm trying. One thing that I said throughout my career is I want to try my best personally to make the sport better and to make it grow more. And so I'm trying to do. That's one of the first things you told me is I want to leave the sport better than when I came into it. Yes. And I've tried to have meetings. I've tried. I mean, I've tried to, I've tried to do a lot of things is, is what I've tried to do already.

Some of those things have worked a little bit. Some have been, haven't helped at all. I think that, uh, you know, for world's strongest man, ultimately what needs to happen is that it needs to be shown live or really, really close to life. Maybe the next day or something, because the way that they do it now does not work. And it's not good for the fans. It's not good for the athletes. It's just that it doesn't work. They're happy with it, I think, because it's a business deal for them. And,

and I understand they've done it the same way for years. I've, I've tried to give them ideas that I've had about, uh, instead of doing all this qualifier stuff and whatever, make it, you know, harder to qualify to get there and then have it a set number of events where everybody comes in and just competes, whether it's 12 guys, 14 guys, maybe up to 20, but everybody does the same events and it's just a big final, but then you could broadcast it live and have the same, uh, the same format and hours of TV potentially. Right. But, uh, the level of competition would be very, very high.

Right. I mean, I would imagine it it would be so much more lucrative to get sponsors to show live. They'd probably pay twice as much as what they're doing right now. What about a stream? That's a no-brainer. And then have people pay to watch it? CrossFit did a lot of that.

In the beginning, they did a lot of that. Who's doing it right now is the guys that are doing Europe's Strongest Man. That was, I think, 12,000 people, live audience. How crazy is that environment for Strongman? That's amazing. I think that's the right direction. They're doing these big arena shows where people can come and interact and be part of the environment. Then you could watch that live and be part of the environment. And, and then you

could, you could watch that, uh, live and have it get out there. But, um, I mean, I've had a lot of people, you know, now a world's strongest man basically is on YouTube or, or on Facebook or Instagram or whatever within minutes. Yeah. Right. And they've already seen who's won or who's performed and what, and then they're, they're not interested in watching the TV, you know, version that's edited and all this. They just want to see it live or, or close to live.

They just want the results at that point. I think that, that for strong man to grow, that needs to be fixed somehow. I'm, I don't know what the answer is because again, they're, they're producing a TV show that they're packaging and selling to all these different countries. Right.

And they're happy with how it goes. And especially the UK, for example, I mean, I can't imagine they're, they're, uh, going to have to wait from, uh, basically the beginning of May we finished. They're, they're not going to see that until Christmas. I think it just aired now though too. Yeah. Yeah. Within the States, but then in the UK it won't go, it't go live until christmas oh my gosh that's crazy right and and

i mean they've uh really backed off their you know kind of handcuffs if you will on the athletes and and they've announced it now yeah um it's a really small it's a really small spec in the greater scheme of of what that company does and. And that's the bottom line. Just like any other company, they've got their bottom line involved and that's the way they do it. And they're probably not going to change it. And so somebody else has to come in and probably do something different. Yeah, I think ultimately their bottom line is making money. Right. And they make their money that they are happy with

and they package it and they sell it to all these different countries. They got so many other shows and so many other things to work. Yeah. And they're not worried about, um, getting more sponsors, for example, on board, I don't think, um, or making it grow into something huge. Um, I just, I don't think they're, I don't, I just don't think they are, you know, it's, it's, uh, unfortunate, but, um, it's been the same kind of format for years and years now. And I just, I think they're, they're happy. Like, like, uh, I just said, they're happy making the money they do. And, you know, ultimately if it grows into something massive, you know, for them, I don't know that that's going to touch their bottom line because they're making so much money from other stuff, uh, that this

kind of niche strongman sport. It's such a bummer. Yeah. I mean, dude, like I've been like on the field at like, uh, at NFL playoff games where like the game winning touchdown happens in overtime. And it's like a fraction of what I felt when i watched you deadlift like it's not even close and nobody even can't even comprehend that it's it's amazing when you're in person at a live strongman event how fun it is yeah you know and i think that a lot of people

don't understand that unless they actually go and that's where where that that live audience you know when eddie, when Eddie lifted the 1100 pounds, it was, I think it was in front of like 12,000 people. That's sick. So that adrenaline rush of that many people amped up, ready to go hyped up about what's about to happen. It, it, it drives the athletes to a higher level and it's amazing. The environment is just amazing.

It's electric. level. And it's amazing. The environment is just amazing. It's electric. Uh, and it's again, how do you package that with, with world's strongest man and bring that to the kind of live audience? Um, I think that's the question, you know, and, and, and taking the sport forward, but I'm going to still try to do my best. I think, you know, with stuff that, uh, like YouTube is huge, uh, now, um, getting some more stuff out there and I'm trying to do a lot with that. And then you're doing a lot more videos lately. Yeah. Yeah. They've been great. Yeah. Shout out to your new camera guy. He's been doing awesome, man. James, you hear that buddy doing good, man. Um, but yeah, that's been neat to grow and it's,

it's amazing cause it makes me and kind of the sport more accessible yeah and i think that that ultimately uh can really help to grow things and so i'm going to try to do that i'm going to try to you know play my role i guess as much as i can um to make it grow but i don't know that we're going to kind of solve the bigger hey let's get world's strongest man live on TV. I don't know that that's something I can do, but all these other little pieces about making it more accessible or, or getting it, uh, touching more people, right. Or inspiring more people or, um, you know, kind of, uh, bringing it to the fans attention, that stuff I can help with and to make the sport better and and uh to make some of the guys more accessible uh would be awesome so we'll see man i mean it's it's a fun uh certainly

a fun thing to talk about yeah you know yeah anything else yeah uh how do we get your number five how do we get the fifth? Number five is there. I know it's there. This was a tough year for me, you know, with things, and especially like we said earlier with the detachment of the plantar fascia. Yeah, that's crazy. Pulling the truck before the contest. You know, I've been through a lot of battles, and this was just another one.

A lot of the training had to really, really be modified and, um, kind of overcoming that mental hurdle going into the contest this year, taping my foot up and just trusting that I was going to be able to even compete was, was hard enough. Um, and it made it, it made it a challenge. I'm, you know, definitely happy I did it and all that, but, uh, um, I need a, basically I just, I need a good, uh, I need a good buildup is all I need, really. I mean, at the events change every year, uh, as well, and that it would be nice to get a good mix of events, uh, for me, but it's not something that I need. You know, I think that, uh, I think that for me, it's just, it's just the good training. Uh, I think dialing everything in, I'm doing a lot right now, uh, with some of the testing that I said earlier, I I'm really excited to see what I can figure out

with that. And who knows, maybe that'll give me the extra 5%. That's going to be ridiculous. Yeah. I may uncover something that I haven't known my whole career with some of this genetic stuff and some of the blood work and whatever and be able to really take it up a notch. But, you know, it's, you know, the last couple years have been different with that. You know, I mean, it's, you know, at that level of competition, it's unrealistic. Of course you train to win and you train to go in there to win that's my job that's what i'm trying to get done but you know things just haven't quite fallen and that's competition you and you have to accept that

and be and and be hungry to come back you know i mean it's it's not okay this one didn't work quite right let's throw in the towel and everything's done you know yeah and mean, it's, it's not, okay, this one didn't work quite right. Let's throw in the towel and everything's done, you know? Yeah. And it's, it's, I look at it, uh, you know, back in 2011, uh, you know, I, I kind of put myself in Zydrunas' shoes, right? And that's an interesting spot because in 2011, I absolutely dominated strongman. Dominated. I won the Arnold so easily, uh easily uh that year i almost didn't

have to do the last event i won every other strongman contest that i entered in 2011 i won world's strongest man um and so drunas at that point was you know people were still talking about how strong he was but then here's brian shaw winning everything right yeah and then i'm thinking in my head now, you know, Hawthorne came in and won the Arnold one world strongest man, um,

this year, which is big, you know, but I've, I've done that before. I did that other times, you know, it's not like you,

you, so Jonas had to come back from that. And then, you know, in, uh, in 2012, he came back in one world strongest man,

you know? So it wasn't, it's great competitors. Don't sit here and say, well, In 2012, he came back and won World's Strongest Man. Great competitors don't sit here and say, well, this guy won the big contest this year. I'm going to throw in the towel and hang it up. You know what I'm saying? I have to bring a better package. I think there's some things I got to get dialed in. I'm going to constantly keep trying to improve here,

but I don't feel like my strength levels have dropped off. I feel like I had a couple things I had to overcome that weren't ideal. At the end of the day, that's really what it is. Coming back, I still feel like I'm at a really good point with strength. I feel like I'm still hungry really good point with strength. I feel like I'm, I'm still hungry to compete, uh, and excited. And so to get number five, it's just, it's have a good, a damn good buildup, stay hungry, stay focused, uh, and, and come in ready to win. I mean, that's, that's really all it is. Basically, you know, that if you, um, you know, put in your best effort

and with all your training and everything that you're doing, you kind of check that box at the end of the day. Did I do everything I was supposed to do? You could check that box going into the competition. You know that if things fall into place that you could still win. Absolutely. You could still end up being the world's strongest man again. So why not continue to keep pushing the envelope? Why not continue to keep working hard?

I think it's, you know, something for me where I really believe that if I have a good buildup, I'm the strongest. Right. Right. And I, I've, I haven't questioned that. I haven't doubted that. Um, you know, through all the years, I think of all the contests that I've come into and there's been some, I mean, uh, 2016, I think was probably, probably the last really good buildup. And I remember saying before that contest that as long as I perform, there's nobody that can beat me at that, at that event. And I really and truly felt that way. And that was true, you know, and, um, there, there, uh, you have, you have a couple of these, these, you know,

things that happen with, with 2017 and 2018, but that doesn't mean again, you throw in the towel and right you know you don't it's the the uh internet for sure and fans can be a little fickle and and that type of thing people don't they don't understand sometimes these high level competitions you know like i i competed um at the time you know i was you know making my way through powerlifting and i competed at a national event and i ended up going nine for nine. It's the video that you end up seeing a bigger, stronger, faster bench, bench, 700 pounds. And, uh, no, people don't realize that, that to me, that was my greatest day in powerlifting, you know, and, and I finished seven, you know,

in my weight class, I finished seventh. Like there were some, but there were some really strong people strong people there that's like my most my proudest moment i've won before i've won national stuff i've won world championships i've broken world records and i've done some things in power lifting and they were all fun but that one in particular i put everything i had into it i knew what i was getting into and i knew the competition i knew the people that were showing up for that and it was all people that i admired at the time it was all people i was like kind of like almost in awe of you know and then when i competed i made all my lifts i did everything i was supposed to do so how could i be disappointed with myself you know finishing really i just i looked around and i what i noticed was i was the only one the only one, uh, in that weight class, uh, that was as tall as I was,

you know? And I'm like, I just need looks, it looks like I just need to gain some weight. It's like, I need to eat some cheeseburgers and get out of here and, uh, everything will be fine. But, uh, same thing happened at this bodybuilding show. I put everything I had in that bodybuilding show. And, um, I guess I could look back and say like, you know, maybe there was like, uh, a little extra food here or there I could have probably, you know and say like, you know, maybe there was like a little extra food here or there I could have probably, you know, done without, you know, uh, if I was a seasoned bodybuilder, maybe I could have been a tiny bit tighter. I was really happy with the effort that I put in and, uh, it was so much fun, so much fun to do it, but I wouldn't have felt that way.

If the effort wasn't there, if the effort, if the effort wasn't there, I would, I would have felt shitty about it. Yeah. You know, well, a lot of times people to get caught up in the end result, you know, and that's, um, I I'm really proud of it in a lot of ways this year. I mean, a lot of people didn't see behind the scenes. Right. But I mean, I went from a point where I was pulling that truck. I tore that plantar fascia off my heel. The next morning, I literally could not walk. I would,

I crawl, I got out of bed. I literally crawled on my hands and knees to the kitchen. And I was like, I just told my, I told Carrie, I was like, we got to go in and I got to get like a crutches or so. my, I told Carrie, I was like, we got to go in and I got to get like a crutches or so I can't, I can't even put pressure on my foot. Right. And so I went from that point and, you know, taking all of it in building myself back up training without putting pressure on my foot for world's strongest man, learning how to take my own foot every day for training. I'd go out there before and tape it all up so I could try to load it a little bit. And then I, I, within four weeks had to learn how to run with eight, an 800 pound frame on a foot that was torn that was supposed to take 12 weeks to heal.

Right. I figured all of that out and it was overcoming all this, uh, mentally as well, leaving for that contest with my son, potentially being born without me there, trying to, and all of that, overcoming all of that to get to the point where I'm still competing at World's Strongest Man, still placing top three, overcoming all that. So how, how can, like you just said, how can I not walk away from that and be proud? Cause most competitors, you know, if they were to come in healthy, whatever, and get top three would be elated. Right. You know, and I, I battled all of that within myself and, and, uh, you know,

that injury and all that to come back and, and, and do pretty well. Was it a disappointment? Yeah. It's a disappointment because I'm Brian Shaw and I'm supposed to win. Right. You know, but that's the, the bar that I set for myself. But at the end of the day, if I can't take a step back and say, well, I still overcame all of this to get there. How can I not be proud of what I did? You know, it's, it's still a top three at world's strongest man who still goes, you

know, I mean, all of that as well. So it's just getting, if I can do that, overcoming those odds, how in the world can I not win if I have a perfect buildup? Right. It's ridiculous. I mean, and, you know, it's, you know, and that's with every other competitor having a perfect buildup. And I always hope that they always do. You know, I want to see everybody at their best. I want to compete against the best. I hope that Hofthor has a great training cycle for next year leading into the Arnold. Cause I want to beat him at his

best. You know, that's just the way it is. That's how my brain works. And so, you know, I, um, if I didn't believe that I could win, then I would hang it up. I'd be done. But if I can do what I did, battling the adversity that I did, in my mind, it's like, man, it's going to be easy when I'm healthy and I don't have to deal with some injury that I can't walk. It'll be a lot easier. The hardest thing with focus is not to focus on what it is that you're chasing. The hardest thing is to is not to focus on what it is that you're chasing. The hardest thing is to block everything else out.

You don't have such laser focus that you don't see anything else, you know, on the peripheral. You're concentrated so hard on what's ahead and what the job is that you want to get done. Yeah. A lot of times those noises and those different things, they distract and pull and you get distracted or pulled wrong way at all with what you're doing. Yeah. Well, it's enjoying the process too. I mean, it's, it's, uh, I enjoy the training. I think that's what made, has made me so good as I enjoy the challenge. I enjoy the training, you know? And so when I'm done, you know, the end result, of course, is what I'm training for and what I'm working for, but I enjoy the buildup. I enjoy the work that goes into it and, and just the whole process. And I think that, um, that that's a good thing too. And it's healthy to be able to enjoy that, you know, and if, if you're only ever so focused on what the end result is and, and, uh, um, and that it's, it's, it's maybe not the best thing, you know, like you, you need to

enjoy the process and, um, and grow, uh, personally and, and, you know, obviously physically with all of it because it's good. I mean, it's, it's healthy, competitive, you know, it's a good environment. I mean, if you, if, if I didn't enjoy going out in the gym and throwing the chalk around and, and getting crazy and lifting some weights, I mean, it wouldn't be a good thing. So I'm excited. I'm still excited. I mean, I've been in the sport a long time, but, you know, at the same time,

I still feel like, still definitely feel like I've got a lot in the tank, you know. So people that are wanting me to get number five, it's coming. Chick-fil-A, you spent over $100. What happened there? uh chick-fil-a uh you spent over 100 bucks what happened there we uh we got done training and um the guys and i just said hey let's go have a cheap meal and it ended up being a hundred dollars yeah that's pretty fat how many guys were there three three three of us a hundred dollar bill yeah Was it delicious? It was actually really good. Sometimes it's not worth it.

Sometimes you cheat and you're like, ah, that kind of sucked. No, I was all right with it. You're pretty excited about it? I mean, I'd had Chick-fil-A for a long time. Because obviously I'm not eating chicken and also not fried chicken sandwiches on my diet. So this, I think this lady here was, was, uh, just like, are you serious? Is this order going to end? They're all trying not to laugh, huh?

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The one at the back. Well, they all. Oh, now there's people lined up looking at you guys. Yeah. It was like, like the circus came to town.

I like how everybody that's always with you, it always looks so small, but then I meet them and they're like six, six. And I'm like, holy shit. Yeah. Uh, what are some favorite foods that you, uh, that you had to put aside, you know, for, uh, this, uh, vertical diet? Um. A couple of things you really like, like, like a cheesecake or something like that, or ice cream or pizza.

Cheesecake, unfortunately, is not on the diet. What? What kind of diet is it, Stan? Yeah, Stan, it's, yeah. Strict rules. No, yeah. Yeah, really strict. It's crazy, you know?

Eating for performance. Did you see that George Lockhart has Conor McGregor on the vertical diet now? Oh, wow. Yeah. That's sick. Yeah. That's sick. Interesting. Yeah. That's a trip.

Yeah, well, Stan and George, they share a lot of information, and it makes sense. It makes a lot of sense. What's next, big guy? What do you have coming up in the next week or two? Oh, gosh. Just a lot of training? Yeah, next week or two oh gosh just a lot of training yeah next week or two is a lot of training i'll be uh i'll be out at the olympia um expo at what booth uh mainly i'll be

there with redcon the slingshot's not going we're not going the parties the party's not happening this year that's right um so i'll be i'll be there with uh with redcon for that and then uh then yeah i mean back home in training, I've got about eight weeks here until Dubai, until that contest. So it'll be a fun buildup for sure. And then some other big, big projects that I can't necessarily disclose yet that are in the works and hopefully very exciting as well. So, yeah, it's definitely a lot of great stuff on the plate

that's exciting and life is good. So your YouTube channel is Shaw Strength, right? Shaw Strength. Everything for me is social media wise is Shaw Strength. So there's been a lot more videos up lately on your YouTube channel. We're definitely, I got a, like we mentioned, a great guy that's helping me out with that and really opened some doors.

So we're going to try to, we're trying to do a lot more with it to get out there. And then, you know, try, obviously, like I said, everything is Shaw Strength. So the podcast, the YouTube. Doing more stuff with your website. Yeah, ShawStrength.com is getting revamped as well. So that's very exciting. Uh, we're working on that, trying to get, get that done as well. So, uh, yeah, it's all, it's all, you know, as you know, it's kind of all a moving kind of animal that we're, we're trying to control. And, and, uh, I've got, um, uh, my wife is now, uh, helping me as well.

That's great. So she's going to be by far the brains of the operation and, uh, that's going to help things a lot as well. Does she still have, uh, some of her stuff going on the fit mom Academy, stuff like that? Yeah. Yeah. She's still, still doing that. Um, which has been exciting and, um, you know, it's, it's, uh, you know, yeah, that still trying to make all that grow.

I think that, that it's been, it's been fun for her going through the second baby again. Um, and, and, uh, kind of going through the whole process and being able to share, she, she definitely tries to share a lot on social media about, you know, the struggles and the thought process and, you know, cause it's hard on women, man. Like, Oh, it's gotta be brutal. Yeah. The, you know, just, just kind of the, the body image stuff that you go through with having a baby and trying to get your body back. It's, um, you know, she's definitely been more transparent, which I think a lot of women definitely appreciate, you know, cause she'll share more struggles and all that.

Um, that, uh, I'll wake up and see a post. Sometimes I'm like, wow, I can't believe you said that, but she's trying to be real. When I first met my wife, I could swear she had fake tits when I first met her. They were just sitting right there after we had kids. It's very clear.

They're not fake. Let's just put it that way. I'm not going to touch that with a 10 foot pole. Well, but you wanted to wrestle my wife though. That's okay. it that way. I'm not going to touch that with a 10-foot pole there. Well, but you wanted to wrestle my wife, though. That's okay. Sumo wrestle. Listen, I don't know what we're talking about with the text message. There was some wrestling.

It was a confusion. It's even funny. He's like, no, I thought I was texting Smokey. I seriously did. And you can imagine how that text went. Yeah. That's so good. I was like, oh, shit.

He did apologize for it, which I thought. I did. Which I would have just like not said anything to anybody. Just left it alone. Just pretend like nothing happened. Yeah. I would have, I feel like that would have been more awkward. It's kind of like this elephant.

And he's like, Brian, what the hell is this message about wrestling? And yeah, it got weird quickly. All right. Strength is never weakness. Weakness is never strength. See you guys later.