Mark Bell's Power Project - Power Project EP. 126 - Andrew Got Engaged & We're IPF Approved in 2019!

Episode Date: October 17, 2018

Today Mark Bell talks about making all his products IPF Approved for 2019, his vacation in Alaska PLUS Andrew got engaged in Bodega Bay. ➢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

Anyway, what was I saying? Where was I? I lost my place. I think we were right in the middle between not podcasting and getting started. Yeah. So if you can remember everything after that, we'll be good to go. Anything before that, no good. Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. This is how you get the views, ladies and gentlemen, right here. This is the way we get it done, right? Maybe I can't. Can I?

Wait, did you just not talk into the microphone or what? Me? Okay, there we go. Now I can hear you. Yeah, and at that time, I didn't talk into the microphone, no. Oh. I don't know what's going on. Sorry.

I'm out of sorts. I know. I don't know what's going on sorry i'm out of sorts i know i don't know what's going on well we both just got back into town so gotta get warmed up we're back and we're back like old school radio dj is everybody excited or not really um i don't think anyone even noticed that i was gone so i don't think anyone even noticed that I was gone. So I don't think anyone cares about me. Hey, probably right. Yeah. That's a, that's a rough feeling. Not being very significant. You know, here you are trying to build up those pecs and no one cares. No one gives a rat's ass. Everyone keeps, when I'm trying to cash these checks, they keep bouncing because no one even recognizes the pecs. It's a rough life. It's a hard knock life. Well, maybe somebody cares, right? As far as I know

for a fact, I think there's one person that definitely cares. You might have at least one person. At least one person. But no more than that. Yeah. As far as I know, there's one person. But also, luckily, no less than that. Yeah. Yeah. One's better than none. One person cares about you pumping up your pecs. And that's me, ladies and gentlemen. Yep.

So other than that, Andrew's out of luck, I guess. What am I going to do? I don't know. There's always the option to just throw yourself off a cliff. Well, we were hanging out next to some cliffs in the past couple of days, which was sick. Yeah.

You were in a bodega Bay. Yeah. And I was in Alaska. Yeah. I didn't, I didn't realize Alaska had an R at the end until I went there. Oh, is that how they say it?

No, they don't. They don't. Oh, there oh is that how they say it no they don't they don't oh i just say it that way alasker i don't know me and my kids just kept saying it that way over and over again and it so became alasker alasker yeah that works how was bodega bay it was it couldn't have been any more perfecter i talk about ours um like i told you over the or through text um my girlfriend's family have been going to that beach like since the beginning of time and we've been it's a long time i know so we've been camping there a bunch of times um it's a real like almost emotional place once we get there because uh my girlfriend well shit, not a girlfriend anymore. Oh. Yeah. We'll get to that. Yeah, yeah.

Her grandfather's ashes are spread all over, you know, that area. That's where I remember. That was, like, one of the first times that, like, I met her whole extended family. I took photos of that happening. And so every time we go back, it's, like, we're happy that we're there. It's a little emotional. And so every time we go back, it's like, we're happy that we're there. It's a little emotional, but you know, once we kind of like, like, ah, we're here, then we can like, you know, have fun and stuff.

But no, dude, like as soon as we got to the beach house, like we, uh, just blown away. Like I knew it was amazing. I knew like from pictures and from what, you know, you've, you've said, but we, we get there and both sides of the family ended up coming, which they weren't planning on. And just like all last second, like, yeah, we're going to make it. We'll see you guys there. And we all get there and we're standing on the balcony and Stephanie, she just like starts tearing up. She's like, I'm so happy.

Like, I can't believe this is all working out. Oh, that's cool. And I'm like, man, if you only knew what's going to happen tomorrow. If you only knew what's about to hit you. Yeah. Yeah. So the next day, um, and it was so frustrating cause I'm like, I'm real anxious. I'm trying to get, you know, the, the, the ball rolling on stuff.

And I'm just like, yeah, let's eat breakfast. And let's go on a 10 minute fart walk. You know, everyone thought it was funny. I'm like, no, I'm serious. I'm going to have to fart after eating all this bacon this bacon uh we actually had bacon and beans because we forgot eggs pretty awesome uh but no we went out uh the whole family we walked down to the beach because it's only like a like a five minute walk which is crazy uh and i just kind of gathered everyone around like hey let's take a group photo real quick and then

I'm like oh but first you know I just want to thank everyone for being here I said blah blah blah and you know told Stephanie how like happy she makes me and I want to make sure I stay happy for the rest of my life and sorry for taking so long to ask you this and then I got down on one knee and she's like are you serious and she starts crying Jasmine starts bawling you know she's 10 years old and just all this emotion that kind of ran through her she just like didn't know what to do you know you know like when kids start crying they can't breathe and then uh but afterwards she was just like oh but i want you guys to myself you know like i don't want to share and i'm like it's okay like you know we're nothing nothing's gonna change it just means that like i'm officially like your stepdad and if you know if that's okay and she was just like yeah of course you know like so it was it was like i said man it couldn't have been more

perfect so thank you and your wife andy for setting pretty much that whole you know set side of it for us to have the beach house and like i said man the weather was perfect it couldn't have been any better than the way it was that's cool yeah yeah you know like um i think you know i i think uh just landscape in general i think uh gives you some you know some feelings period like uh and and each person's probably a little different because it might be connected to one thing or the other you know i was in alaska and so i saw like mountains with snow on it and stuff but it was still breathtaking and it was still amazing um but there is something there's something definitely unique about the ocean yeah um it's it i mean i don't know it's just got like a mind of its own it uh it just shows you how like fragile you are.

I mean, the ocean could decide to do something a little different one day and just like, I mean, it could literally wipe all of us out, you know? Yeah. Um, and if you're anywhere near the water, I mean, it could certainly, uh, wreak havoc, cause a lot of problems. Obviously if there's like a hurricane or a tsunami or like there's something crazy going on, then of course it could cause more problems but um i don't know the waves the waves just keep coming in like there's no

can't stop them they just keep coming in and they look like they have like a rhyme or reason to them and it kind of appears you you start to look at them and you're like oh yeah every like third wave or so it's kind of a big one you sit there long enough enough and you're like, oh, maybe it's every like fifth. And then you're like, oh, maybe. It just doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense. You're just sitting there looking at it. I mean, some places the water's more choppy than others and things like that.

But there is something that's unique about the ocean and about its like power. And there's something that, um, there's something about it that kind of just makes you ponder life when you look out at something like that. Yeah. You know, where our beach house is in Bodega Bay, uh, there's a golf course there as well. So it's very like green and there's trees and there's birds and there's, there's a lot of like wildlife too. And I think that kind of plays into it too. There's a lot of energy. Then there's the sand from the beach and then there's the ocean and, um, Bodega Bay can be bright and sunny and stuff too. But a lot of times it's like a little

darker. It's, it's a little bit of a colder beach. Typically it can get a little warm there, but, um, most of the time it's 20 degrees colder than Sacramento, especially in the summertime. In the wintertime, it actually sometimes is a little warmer yeah in sacramento but it's a it's amazing destination to go to all the hills and mountains and just um just just the way everything looks there like in my bedroom in that house um there's a painting of a tree that my mother-in-law painted and it's just this tree that's like just out in the middle of nowhere and it just it just looks a certain crazy way because it's in bodega that's like just out in the middle of nowhere and it just it just looks a certain crazy way because it's in bodega bay like it wouldn't look that way if it was anywhere

else it would just be a normal tree and you saw some of the trees there when you're walking down to the beach i mean as soon as we're even close like driving to it like we can roll the windows down and stephanie can smell like she knows like what trees are what and she's like oh my gosh we're almost there i'm just like dude this is crazy like because you're right yeah they're so unique to that area right and it's just it's so beautiful and the uh the the malibu beach house was pretty sick i don't think it has anything on the bodega bay beach house i think it's it's like a hundred times better it's so nice well malibu is uh malibu is confusing you know malibu is like you know it's like a hundred times better. It's so nice. Well, Malibu is, uh, Malibu is confusing, you know,

Malibu is like, you know, it's, uh, it's a different, it's a different part of the world almost, even though it's the same state. Yeah.

Yeah. Bodega Bay is really calm. And, um, no, there's something there's just, it's hard to put into words really. Yeah.

But for some reason you feel like when you're looking out at the ocean, um, you, you feel like either like listening to music or like writing poetry or like doing something weird that you may, you may otherwise not. I don't know if I'm the only one who's in this boat, but like, uh, it sounds kind of gay, but it's just, it's a beautiful site and it just makes you have, uh, sometimes you just want to cry like it looks so nice you're just like this is fucking beautiful and it it causes a lot of emotion to pour out of you and that's the whole reason why we uh got that house in the first place was because that area is so awesome

yeah i mean like i said it was a pretty emotional time but it just everything is elevated because it's you know we're staring at the ocean or we were on the beach, you know, when I proposed, but, um, no, you're right. Like as far as doing anything weird, like we just stayed up last night staring at the water, you know, with the, with the moon, uh, shining down on the water and you see all the reflections and stuff. And I was just like, dude, I don't want to go to bed yet, but it's getting pretty late and we have another long day tomorrow, so we should turn in. But I just like, you're right. Like I just sitting there staring, listening to the fog horn. It's just, it's so, it's just crazy.

But yeah, I don't know what it is. Like if it was like a giant ball of oxygen, we'll say, then it would make sense why humans are drawn to it. Right. But like we can't breathe in the water yet. It calls to us like nothing else does, which I can't, I don't know what it is. Maybe because it's like a water source and we're like need to seek it out or something. But whatever it is, like, yeah, it's just, you see people like every morning, you know, walking, running on the beach. There's definitely like an energy to it.

I mean, look how much the dogs love it. Right. Like people have their dogs on the beach and dogs like just going, I mean, dogs get excited by all kinds of things, but they seem to really love the beach and they love running up and down the beach, like kind of along the water. Right. And then like, um, there's a big difference between just kind of walking on the sand and your shoes versus just kicking your shoes off and then walking and kind of getting your

feet. Like, and I mean, I don't know, it's know, it's just things that like humans are designed to do. We're designed to like, you know, be one with nature, so to speak, and to feel the sand underneath our feet and to kind of to feel the way the sand is when it's like wet and stuff like that. There's definitely like a huge connection to it. Something going on there. It's something that, yeah, it's something that you, it's hard to, uh, like I said earlier, it's hard, really hard to explain, but, uh, you know, the whole reason, you know, Andy and I, um, you know, we, Andy and I have been going there for our whole family actually

for the last like 10 years, we've been going to Bodega Bay and we've been renting out a house and, you know, every year it's gotta be more fun. Um, because we've had more opportunity to rent kind of nicer places because, you know, every year it's gotta be more fun, um, because we've had more opportunity to rent kind of nicer places because, you know, the, the company has grown and, and things like that. And, um, we've been able to provide some really great moments for our family. Um, and it's, it's, it's been fun every single year, but every year we're able to just provide a little bit more, get something a little nicer. year but every year we're able to just provide a little bit more get something a little nicer and uh you know it's about two years ago we were like oh man how cool would it be to like you know eventually maybe like own a home here one day or something like that and it was like i don't know it's just a dream really we're just kind of kicking around the idea and at the time

might have been more like three years ago it just was really like really far out there really it was not anything that we're in line to do at the time. And then this year when we went up there, I don't think it was even Thanksgiving, or maybe it was Thanksgiving, but we were just kind of walking around and we walked by a house and it had a for sale sign and we were like, oh, that's kind of cool. Like, oh man, it would be great. And then we were like, well, it's probably just insanely expensive. We just didn't really think of it and then andy just looked it up and

she's like actually you know we she's like we should just buy it and i was like all right well let's do it and so it wasn't really a lot of talk about it much beyond that and uh she contacted the real estate person um she asked me like if I wanted to go look at it again. I was like, no. I saw it. She was like, yeah, but you didn't go inside it. I was like, I don't need to. It's a beach house.

It's Bodega Bay. If you like it, I'm in. She went and checked it out a little further. She went with her stepdad at the time. They went and checked it out. They loved it. We're like all right we're good to go yeah but the whole reason why we bought it was to create opportunities uh and memories for people you know and so like you know only our closest friends get to stay there or or other family members and our kids are always like why do you they're like why do you rent the place out to other people and like first'm like, first of all, we don't rent it out.

It's not rent. It's not for, it's not, it's not for sale. Like we don't, no one, no one pays the, it's priceless. We don't charge anybody to go in there. You can't buy your way in. Can't buy your way in. And it's only for our closest friends. That's it.

And it's for people that we think are going to go there, have a good time, have a good experience. And maybe they have children and their children will have a great experience and it'll create memories for people forever. Yeah. You know, that's something that will stick with you guys forever. Forever. And I mean, just like, I'm honored to, you know, have been given the opportunity to take my family out there. And like I said, it was, it was just going to be me, Stephanie and our little girl, Jasmine. And then all of a sudden it was like, oh wait, me Stephanie and our little girl Jasmine and then all of a sudden it was like oh wait we can go and then oh we can go like oh guess what and so we had both sides you know the family there and you know like as soon as we got there my mom and dad started playing pool in the garage

and they're just like I mean they were they're so excited like they're so happy and then uh Stephanie's dad was just like I can't believe believe, like, this is so amazing. Like, we spent so many, you know, so many years down below, you know, on the beach. I would have never imagined we'd actually be staying at a place like this. I was like, yeah, I know. Imagine if I would have stayed in school and followed that. Like, what a big mistake that would have been. So, like I said, man, truly honored. Thank you guys again.

It just, like I said, yeah, for sure, memories for the rest of our lives. Like, we're never going to be able to forget that. You know, and this is a big part of, like, you know, being somebody's friend and, like, being close with somebody. And some of these things might sound weird because you don't hear people talk about them that much. But, like, Andrew and I, we went on a walk one day. We went on a 10-minute walk. And it was something that was on my mind for a little while i was like thinking like oh i wonder like you know is andrew gonna you know get married andrew's been

married before so i don't know if there was something left over from that or like i didn't know what the situation was but i was like oh i'll just ask him you know we're buddies i'll just ask him i'm comfortable and i'll just see like what the deal is and and like if he is thinking about i'm just gonna i'm just gonna put a little pressure on him because there's never like, everyone's always kind of like waiting, like, oh, I'm going to wait until, you know, A or B. And, um, most of the time there's most of the time, those are just kind of like excuses that are kind of like in the way and they really don't have anything to do with anything. Um, a lot of, a lot of things that block people are like the ring, you know, getting a ring're like oh i want to get this one special thing or i want it to be like x amount of dollars and they're gonna like wait until and and um you know i think if you're with a person that's that's where their mind is at then um and and you can't afford what they're looking for then i don't think that you're probably a

good match you know i think that uh whoever you're with, they're going to be completely floored with whatever you're able to get them at the time. And also you can, you know, you could always move in a different direction if that's what the person desires as you grow older and as you acquire more resources to buy a newer ring or buy something more updated or whatever the case is. But, you know, newer ring or buy something more updated or, or whatever the

case is. Um, but, uh, you know, so when you and I had that talk, that was, you know, we kind of went over some stuff and I was like, shit, man, well, she seems like the one, I mean, might as well just, might as well just go all in. Yeah. He definitely gave me even more motivation to, you know, move forward with it. And to her credit, she's she's like we seriously like we were like getting stuff for like the trip or just like even like if we end up at walmart or whatever she's like look these rings are fine like i don't need anything like you know and then but then right after she's like oh i don't want to like put pressure on you if you don't want to right now or you know or if you don't want to um you know get engaged yet or whatever it is but she just she didn't she had no care and then when

she actually saw the ring that i picked out she's freaking out and her and her mom loved it so right it was really cool like i said man it just everything went and fell into place like real smoothly i think what happens a lot of times is uh girls you know they they they think about that moment for so long that i think that no matter what happens, I think that it's always a little bit different than what they were thinking anyway. Yeah. And so I think no matter what, they're always shocked. You know, they're always like stunned. Um, uh, I always, you know, I always tell the story that my wife never said anything because like no words ever came out of her mouth.

She just kind of like cried and said, oh my God. And so I don't really still don't know what the, yeah. Still waiting on that answer. But the answer was, but I did the same thing. I proposed to her on the beach too. And, and, uh, a beach in California, we were in like Redondo beach is where we were. And, um, you know, kind of the same thing. And, uh, it ended up, you know, she ended up just, I didn't have any money to buy anything nice. You know, I just, I gave her what I could give her. And it was not only nice enough, but she was overwhelmed by it. Like she, she absolutely loved it.

And it was something that as we moved forward, I asked her later on, I was like, you know, Hey, like, you know, we, we have more dough. Like you want to like, you know, do something with that. Or like, she's like, no, she's like, I'm keeping this. She's like, but yeah, it would be cool to get another one. So we just ended up getting another one. Um, and so, and she wears both, you know, she switches it up here and there and, uh, she still likes to wear both.

And so, you know, if you, your, your intuition and your gut feelings are always, uh, they're really important to follow. Uh, you don't have to act on them right away. Cause sometimes it's, it's good to like, kind of let it sit in and let, uh, you know, let time just kind of show you the right way. But, um, it's, it's a good idea to kind of follow those feelings when they, when it feels right, when something's right, it's, it's not gonna, it's not gonna all of a sudden be wrong but when something's wrong it's not all of a sudden gonna turn to be right yeah i mean you can kind of assure yourself of that yeah i definitely can't like uh lie to yourself to make something wrong become a right which i've seen unfortunately a lot of dudes do especially yeah a lot of people a lot of people do it and um you know sometimes and it's both male and female but a lot of times kind of more

comes from the female like all things will be different like when we have kids like he'll be around more when we have kids or he'll be around more you know once we get married or like what you know they kind of have these weird it's like no like whatever the way things are now probably gonna pretty much be the same people can change change a little bit. Um, and, and they can change for the better. I've hope I have hope in people and I've, I've made a lot of changes for the better I feel in my life. But, um, for the most part, people are kind of, kind of be the same way. And so, um, I think a lot of times people are thinking, Oh, like when we get engaged, like probably won't fight as much or when we get married or. Yeah. Like as soon as we are,

as soon as we don't have financial struggles anymore, we probably won't fight anymore. Like, no, if you, if you're fighting a lot, like you're probably,

even if you're just fighting over the one thing, you're going to find something else. Right. You're going to find something else to bitch about, you know? Yeah.

And that's kind of one thing like, yeah, sure. Why not? Like in my previous relationship, I grew, I grew up watching somebody, um i grew i grew up watching

somebody fuck it i grew up watching my sister argue with her boyfriend a lot um thank goodness they're not a thing anymore but so i just i just imagined or i assumed a couple's fight all the time yeah and like oh this is normal though this is normal and then got married and i was like oh fuck this is horrible yeah and so that ended fairly quickly and then so now with stephanie i'm just like oh my gosh like this is how it's supposed to be right you know it's amazing and you're right yeah the gut feeling i've had that feeling a long time ago it's hard to know like uh what a relationship is supposed to look like until you're actually in one because you kind of like you you don't really know what your parents relationship is that well when you're a kid because you just

i don't know why but you it's not something you really even think about that much like you don't even realize that they're like that they have sex and stuff until you're like 14 i mean you don't even really think i mean you kind of know where babies come from and stuff but you don't want to think of you're like that's kind of gross. And then you don't think about them being like intimate at all. You don't think about them needing time alone. Um, or like, you just don't think of any of that.

Like if you, you guys have like a, um, uh, an argument, whatever, but like a, a healthy relationship argument,

like your kids don't even realize what's happening. Right. You know, you can kind of like move around and dodge them to where like they don't know that you guys are upset at each other. Right. So it's like, yeah, how would they, how would we understand what our parents like actually dealt with?

Yeah. I mean, my mom, when I was 12, my mom had brain surgery. I had no idea. I had no idea. I didn't know. I didn't know anything about it until I was like 15 or 16. They were like, oh yeah. I remember when she went to like Pennsylvania for like a week and she had brain surgery.

I was like, what the fuck? No one's going to tell me. And that's my, that's the way my family was. My family was very like protecting of, of, you know, there, there was like a lot of like, uh, you know, family secrets, you know, just, you didn't know that uncle so-and-so drank all the time or like, you know, like you're a kid. So you kind of like, you know, you see a beer or something, but my parents would say, look, you know, not around our kids, you know, when our kids come through the door, like you're

putting that shit away, you know, and I would, I would, that they would have a smell to them, but I didn't know what alcohol smelled like. So I, yeah, I'm a little kid. Yeah. Um, and I, I'd always noticed that like my uncle was super happy and like, but I didn't, I had no idea, but, um, you know, is that good or is that bad? You know, I don't know. I don't, I don't know if that's a good or bad, but with my kids, you know, I, I feel they get to see a lot of Andy and I, and, and, you know, we don't

have to, you know, we don't have a nine to five like office job and we're around each other a lot. And we, you know, we like probably like most couples, a lot of couples, we probably like silent argue more than anything else. Like where somebody says something, somebody says something, somebody says something and then boom, it's just silent in the room for a little while. Yeah. You know, um, there's never an explosion. Um, I'm trying to think, uh, I don't think, I can't remember one time ever that she's ever like called me a name, you know, and there's certainly not at any time that I've ever, I always think that that's like, that's a ridiculous place to go as a couple. Yeah.

You know, to call someone stupid or to call somebody a bitch or like, just, I just, I just don't think there's any place. I don't think it's productive. If you're in a fight with a friend and you call your friend an asshole, it's kind of different. He was being an asshole, so he deserved it. I don't know. It's your buddy. I don't know. I'm kind of maybe a little old school that I, I'm kind of, uh, I guess maybe a little old school that I think, uh, in the direction of a female, I don't, I don't like if a female says

something to me, I still, I still wouldn't say anything. Uh, I might say something back that would be, uh, uh, like, um, come back, but I wouldn't say anything like demeaning, you know, I'm not, I'm not a fan of that. A lot of things are sexualized, and that's not even what I'm talking about. That's kind of a different topic. In terms of insults, being thrown back and forth when you're in a fight, I just don't think there's any place for it. What happens a lot of times with couples is, you know, uh, this didn't happen because you

always do this or, or why didn't, why didn't, you know, this happen because, you know, it's, well, it's because you don't, you always do this. And it's like, you point out the annoying thing that they do. Meanwhile, there's a thousand annoying things that you do as well. And those things are hurtful too, because it's like, they're not, it's not as sensitive, right. But it's, um, it's frustrating. And then you get in an argument about that.

And then, I don't know, couples things are touchy because then you don't ever really actually sit down and like iron it out, which you should, because that would probably be the easiest thing. And you could say, Hey, you know what, uh, let's let's uh let's both take the uh head gear off for a minute here and let's throw some shots at each other for a second let's hear each other out and let's figure out what to do about it you know and i've done that before and it's it's it's really hard you know it's it's not it's not fun but that has helped us a lot i mean we've we've talked through everything you know just everything you can think about,

you know, with a couple all the way from like intimacy to, uh, just, uh, the way we trade each other. We've talked about everything and, and we didn't do that for many, many years, but then we got to a point where we're like, it'd probably be a good idea to talk through this so that, you know, one person doesn't feel like they're not getting what they need you know like let's make sure we're both getting what we need so we keep moving forward so we keep this you know we're we're married and we're supposed to be doing this forever you know so let's let's keep it going yeah as dudes it's it's really hard to like try

to open up like that and then if you have the wrong partner they'll make fun of you for it but that's a good sign to know that they're not the one. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It gets, I mean, it's, uh, it's difficult, but when things are difficult and when things are pressing, just like anything else, the more, uh, resistance that there's going to be, the more opportunity there is for growth.

So there's a resistance or something in the way or something that needs to be talked about. You don't, you know, you, you don't let these things go. You see your guy hiding texts from you and changing his code on his phone all the time. Or the other way around. You see the girl doing that all the time. Something's not right. That's not normal behavior.

Now, everyone's entitled probably to some privacy. And it probably wouldn't be great for everybody to reveal every little secret about themselves to everybody, right? But, you know, if it's not making you feel good, if it's not making you feel right, then it has to be talked about. Yeah, use that intuition like you just talked about. But unfortunately, sometimes if you go looking for trouble, you'll find it. So move with caution i guess yeah yeah you have to be kind of careful what you're uh what you're what you're looking for so your daughter is what 10 yeah jasmine yeah and she's not your biological daughter so correct um in uh asking uh your girlfriend to marry you, you couldn't let Jasmine know because she's only 10.

She would have spilled the beans, right? Yeah, and she does that a lot too for anything. She can't hold a secret at all. She's a little kid. If she watched a movie, she will ruin the last epic piece of that movie for you, and you don't even need to watch it anymore so i would have liked to have told her so that way she knew what to expect and whatnot but it was i don't know man like it was a full-on surprise for stephanie and i was like you know

what let's keep it that way like let's try to like really really like shock her and she was you know she was really surprised that's a cool way of going about doing it because, you know, I think, um, I think, I think for moms, I think like, man, they don't, they don't get, they don't get anything thrown their way. You know what I mean? They really, they really don't. I mean, that's kind of like why Mother's Day was created and then Father's Day was probably created just to kind of like make the guys, uh, you know, buy women presents for Mother's Day.

But man, you know, being a mom is tough. I'm not saying being a dad is, I'm not saying being a dad is easy by any means. And, um, but man, women, like, I feel that, I feel that women, like they, uh, they kind of know, they kind of know what they're supposed to do. Like they, they, when they have a child, I feel like they have this crazy attachment to that kid and they, in general, they forever know like what their, you know, what their, uh, relationship is with that child. I think for dudes, it's like a little bit more confusing. Yeah. We've got to kind of like find our purpose and we've got to like kick things around and

move things around for a really long time until we kind of figure it out you know yeah yeah and it i mean i think because she you know she wasn't my biological daughter it took me even longer to really like kind of have that like that you know dad instinct i'll say like like shit i'll be passed out in the middle of the night i hear like a some like something off in the distance that'll wake me up um although i've been sleeping really good lately so not so much as as before but no it's uh it it is um it is tough for a guy and i think it's overlooked you know and as far as like in society about like a family family man or whatnot you know and then like i look at uh stephanie's dad who's an amazing like father

figure like give it to me and like just like just the look at Stephanie's dad, who's an amazing, like, father figure, like, to me. And, like, just, like, just the way he carries himself, the way, like, how much he cares for his kids and his grandkids. I'm just like, fuck, man. Like, that's what I want to be like. That's cool. Yeah. Yeah, you know, to that point, you know, like, on Instagram, when I post something, like, with my kids or I post something uh with my family you know like a a post like that might get like 2 000 likes you know meanwhile a post of me like posing on a

bodybuilding show get like 20 000 right and it blows my mind it really does it blows my mind actually makes me sad like i'm like man man i just feel like man people like is it is it actual like views like you know and people liking the accomplishment of the bodybuilding show that much but at the same time i'm thinking man like it shouldn't be 10 times it shouldn't be 10 times the amount um you know i i don't know i understand like not everyone has a family so not everybody's going to get it either so maybe not everyone's going to click on that but the messages that i share through a lot of those posts are way more powerful than something you're going to see me share with the bodybuilding or powerlifting

thing um uh it's just yeah really just it just uh kind of boggles my mind i'm like this is this is what men should aspire to try to learn from not, not be. Cause like, I'm not anything that I don't, I don't really view myself that way necessarily. Um, but I do feel that I have a lot of lessons that I could share that people could, uh, really learn from just cause I, I lit, you know, I've been around for 41 years and I got two kids and I built my business, uh, you know, as, as I was raising, uh, those children, my wife and I built the business as we were raising children. And as I was going through the middle of my powerlifting career, and I think it's, it's

something to be proud of and it's something for me to share with people. And when I share stuff with my family, I mean, I'm not posting it on social media, I guess to like, uh, Hey, look, I'm the dad of the year, you know? Um, and I know like, you know, some people kind of do stuff like that where, you know, they're, they're with their kid, like, uh, you know, once a month and they post a picture of them playing baseball with them or whatever. Um, but I, I like to share some of that stuff with people because I'm super excited about it. That's the whole, that's kind of the thing of social media. Like, oh, I benched, you know, 500 pounds.

I'm going to share that with everybody. Like, it's fun. I, this is, this happened today. This was fun. This was cool. I'm going to share it. Right. Uh, I went shooting with my son.

I went to this, uh, big park, you know, in, in Alaska, uh, with my family and we saw bears and saw wolves and wolves and moose and all kinds of crazy shit and uh so i'm going to share this picture you know with me and my daughter you know and it um yeah just it's uh it's mind-boggling you know um you know being a man is not like necessarily like going in the gym and tearing up a bunch of weights um and it's not about you know know, uh, you know, going hunting and killing a bunch of shit or, yeah, it's about so much more than that. It's about, you know, you're just like, just like a lot of moms do, you know, um, and a lot of great parents do in general.

Um, you're, you're living your life and you are providing the best possible life for your children and for your family that you can yeah and you're also um you're doing so at the cost of your own time your own money your own like you're just pouring everything into it and it's not like those things are real afterthoughts you know obviously like the money thing is going to be like a thing here and there because you got to kind of think about finances yeah can we afford that trip or whatever um but like the the entire day that this one day that we had in alaska um we went hunting then we went to this uh conservation place uh where we saw these animals and then we went back to hunt

like back to uh shooting guns again you know so it was like it was wild you know the entire day was just like all stuff you know for the kids and i'm sure many people i'm sure yourself have had days where yeah you're out at like disneyland and you're you know you're there for god knows how long you're waiting in line for God knows how long. But maybe one parent shoots off and grabs cotton candy. That's what it's about. It's about those kids and about providing great memories for them. That's something I didn't have any experience with before I met Stephanie. But you're absolutely right. When we were down in Malibu, we

went to Universal Studios. And it's just like oh my gosh like yeah let's do all this I'm like running numbers in my head like oh shit this is gonna be expensive and then once you're actually there and it's like oh you want you know whatever ice cream like yeah yeah I'll wait in this four-hour line I don't care like let's do this and you know but you're right you'll you will do some amazing things that you 35 bucks for ice cream put me down for two just in case she wants one more all right um yeah you start uh doing some things that you never could imagine doing even for yourself you know i said uh i can't remember which comedian it was it might have been rogan he was like uh kids make you be less of an

asshole no because if it's you and your wife you want to have a bowl of cereal or something and there's like not enough left right he's like yeah who cares fucker like i'm just gonna i'm gonna have the cereal but if you have a daughter you're just like ah you know what i'm gonna save that for yeah i think it was rogan i don't remember yeah you can't you can't uh just clear out all the food because you don't want to be stealing shit from your kids yeah yeah so how well how was alaska though like in general like you guys had a lot of fun yeah alaska was great you know we went up there for this uh this guy up there had a bodybuilding kind of fitness show and uh unfortunately for him

a lot of things kind of fell through so the show was really small but uh you know andy and i have a lot of discussions about this kind of thing when, when I travel, um, this guy wanted to bring me up there. He wanted to like pay for me to, to do certain things. And, um, you know, he was kind of hoping that I would do like a seminar and some different things. And as we've kind of started to think it over a little bit more, I'm like, well, I don't really like doing stuff for pay. Cause I don't like, I don't like for anybody to like own my time really

you know and i'm like it gets to be kind of annoying because then i have to do whatever they want me to do and so i said no you know what let's just let's just go up on our own dime and uh we're really mainly going up there for the kids but we will go to this bodybuilding show and so that's what i did i went to the bodybuilding show everybody there was super nice they treated me like gold that was really cool uh got to go up there in front of everybody and talk for a little bit, got to take pictures with a lot of really cool people. Nice. And then I met this guy, Angel, I met him there and he's in the military. Uh, and, uh, you know, he, he ended up saying, Hey, like, it'd be cool to have you come on base. And, uh, you know, I could show you around

and show you the fitness center and all these different things. You got a really cool gym over there. And so I went over there, uh, kind of like unannounced really. It just, he just kind of like let a couple of buddies know that I was coming and we try to give him a timeframe of when I was going to be there. And I walk into this, uh, fitness center and right at the front desk, they have the Markimoo doll there. And I'm like, oh shit, they got the Markimoo doll. And so like they had all this slingshots and, uh, hip circles and all these different things. And so as I was walking through this facility, uh, I got to meet, meet a lot of, uh, the men and women, uh, that, uh, it's, um, to meet, meet a lot of, uh, the men and women, uh, that, uh, it's, um, it's army, Navy, air force, um, and Marines, I believe are all, are all in this giant ass fricking facility. I don't even

know what you call it, but it's just huge. They're not all in the same spot, but it's, it's, it's all in the same like vicinity. And, uh, they have these, uh, they got multiple gyms and, um, a lot of the people there power lift. And so, you know, I start teaching some people how to bench and there's like five people there. And then next thing you know, I'm talking to about 30 people. It was pretty cool. And then, uh, one of the guys who's the strength and conditioning coach for the special forces, he's like, oh man, I'd love for you to check out the gym that I have. Um, you know, where I train the special forces. And I was like, Oh, like, where's that? And he's like, Oh, well, it's just right here. It's just through these doors. And I was like, Oh, okay, cool. So I went with him and checked out, you know, this kind of area

where, you know, it's kind of cool when you're, um, like I'm not in the military, so I like, I don't have like a rank. So as long as I'm with somebody, um, I can kind of go wherever, like they'll take me wherever, you know? Yeah. Um, but, uh, if you're in the military and you're, you know, below a certain rank, you can't go in certain spots. So all the guys were like, oh shit, you get to go back there. And I was like, I don't, I don't know where he's taking me, but yeah. Anyway, the guy took me into this, uh, room that just had squat rack after squat rack. Oh, wow. Um, it had, uh, you know, all different kinds of machines, glute ham raises and reverse

hypers and all that shit, sleds. And then they had a ton of slingshots, hip circles and all that good stuff. That's sick. And the guy's like, yeah, man, we have three classes in here a day. And there's usually like about 50 or 60, uh, men and women in here just training their asses off. And he showed me this like board, um, where they, uh, they write down their workouts and all this stuff. And it was, it was, it was cool, you know? And, um, and then also too, the, uh, in that same day before we went over to the gym and the fitness center, we went into one of my friends that I did a seminar for a long time ago out in Colorado.

His brother is at this military base in Alaska. So he got us on base and showed us the, and his brother is a pilot. And so he showed us the fighter jets and all this shit. And that was, I mean, you know, unfortunately we couldn't get that many pictures or videos, which sometimes is kind of cool. Kind of nice to have it like be kind of private, you know. But I would have loved to kind of gotten an opportunity to film a little bit more just because like what we were looking at was just insane.

Did they show you where they make all the like chemtrails stuff no no they didn't you didn't have that good access no no any aliens we didn't see any aliens no but they they showed us uh you know they showed us these different jets and stuff like that it was crazy i mean one of the jets, I think, can like fucking take off in like 200 yards or something like that. It was crazy. Yeah, they showed us some, yeah, there we go. And that thing is $150 million. That's how much that fucking jet is. It's behind us.

$150 million. It was insane. So, yeah, I mean, it was just, I don't mean it was just i don't know made me feel patriotic made me feel really good um i know some people are like you know for the military people against it whatever um it's just cool to see uh that people care that much you know i mean these uh men and women are they're training every day. You know, they're not just training and doing their normal drills that they're supposed to do, but they're also, you know, training, keeping their bodies in shape so they can fucking kick some ass, which is really cool. That's tight. And we went shooting.

My son, he really, really liked it a lot. I think he might have found like something that he might, I don't know what he'll do with it exactly, but you could really see his eyes light up when he was doing it. And he was actually really good at it. Cool. We were doing some skeet shooting and stuff. He was picking these things off left and right. That's right. And he was really, really digging it.

Quinn didn't shoot anything. All the guns that we had, they were powerful. And they were kind of scary. So she was like, screw that. i'm not messing with any of that but um yeah we had we had an amazing time um and you know it was it was great for me to be with my kids and you know again kind of back to them seeing like the relationship between andy and i they get to see um they know like that that we work together you know they know that we work here um, they know like that, that we work together, you know, they know that we work here together and they know that we talk about work at home a lot, but they also know that we need to

have like date night. Like we need to go out and like, we need to be by ourselves. My kids also know that I need to be by myself and they also can be by themselves. Like they need their own privacy, like, and, and, uh, Andy needs to go do her own thing. And so they get a, they get some good insight into, you know, um, into just how things are supposed to be really. And in, uh, you know, on this trip, they got to see, you know, uh, how I get treated from, you know, some of the men and women that get the most respect in this country, the men and women that fight for this country. Uh, and here they are like rolling out the red carpet for me. And it's all, it's not anything crazy spectacular that I've done. It's just, I provided a lot of free content for a lot of people, taught people how to bench squat and deadlift. And it all started from me picking up a barbell when I was about 12 years old. And I think that's a really cool thing for me,

uh, to, to share with my kids. Like, look, this guy took time out of his day. You know, this guy is a badass in the military.

He's got a lot better shit to do. He just took like four out of four hours out of his day to take us to this like gun range and to take a shooting. You know, this is not normal. Like this is, this is way out of, this is way out take a shooting, you know, this is not normal. Like this is, this is way out of, this is way out of left field, you know,

for somebody to go way out of their way like this and do this for us. So it was, it was really amazing. And it's just cool for, you know, for me to have my kids experience that and for them to kind of understand like, yeah, this is coming from there and that's coming from there. And this is happening because of this. Yeah. I had kind of similar, similar feelings and, or the experience,

you know, just at the beach house at the Malibu beach house. Cause you know, again, Jasmine's like, I love your job. She's freaking out. But no,

I mean, she's, she's old enough. And then my nephew was there too. He's a, he's 10 years old and they're old enough to kind of have lived like to where it's like, okay, yeah, we're used to kind of have lived to where it's like, okay, yeah, we're used to actually sleeping in a tent a mile from here.

We're used to looking up at these houses wondering, oh, man, what does that look like from up there? To appreciate and understand, oh, wow, this isn't normal. This is crazy. Part of my speech when I was about to propose was like, you know, everything I do is for you guys. And it might at times seem like I'm selfish because it's like, hey, we got to get going because I got to go podcast before, you know, before the day's over. But it's because, you know, everything I do is for you guys. Right. So, yeah, man, I know exactly what you're feeling. Well, and even, even the, uh, like the, even you getting the opportunity to train, you know, it's like, okay, how does that spin back into everything? You know, how do we, how do we make sense of all that? Well, the training is what kind of keeps me going.

That's my, that's my one thing that I like to really do every day that helps me, or even just the nutrition. Maybe it's the two things working together. Yeah. that helps me or even just the nutrition maybe it's the two things working together yeah um but like without those things uh then everything gets to be that much harder and it gets to be hard to like figure out um you have less energy you're not as psyched about stuff you're not as excited about stuff and then so maybe when when you get home from work if you didn't work out the day was rough you're stressed out and they want to go eat.

You're like, ah, like you're just not the same, right? So you get the training in, you get your nutrition in and, uh, whatever that is for, you know, everyone has kind of their own thing, but that's what it is for us. We get our training in, get our nutrition in. And, uh, yeah, then we got, uh, countless amount of hours to do whatever the hell else anybody wants to do. Yeah. It's also good. Uh, I mean, it it's it is still bro time yeah absolutely and it's it's great because like i

want stephanie to have that with like whether her cousins or like girlfriends or whatever and you know that way they it's not just this uh family uh not that that's bad but like um there's more to like your personality than just, uh, labeling yourself like a, a mom or, you know what I mean? Like, I think that happens to women a lot. I think so women get sucked into the family thing and dudes get sucked into the work thing. Yeah. You know, guys will kind of like, Oh man. Yeah. I just seen, uh, one of, one of my friends, she's like a, basically like been around the family so long. Um, she's like a family cousin,

basically a cousin cousin, but yeah, she had posted like, uh, like hashtag real talk. Uh, it was a meme. It was like, if you're wondering why the house isn't clean because I'm home all day,

I'm wondering why we're not rich. Cause you're at work all day. And I was just like, ah, man, I hope everything's cool with, you know, her relationship right now,

but you're right. Yeah. That's exactly, that's what we kind of fall into. Why isn't the house clean? She ain't doing anything all day long. I don't know. But yeah, I saw that. I was like, oh, like that hurts my stomach. Yeah, that is, that is, uh, that is confusing. Uh, like, but like, uh, you know, I, like I said, you know, I think a lot of times the women tend to like, I don't know how your, how your fiance is. Uh, but, uh, you know, my wife, my wife is kind of like the glue for her whole family. And she really likes to kind of keep everyone, you know, like gelled together. And so she'll kind of even think of like, oh, it'd be cool if we did this.

I mean, even, even just going to Bodega Bay, uh, every year for Thanksgiving, uh, not that that was her like complete own creation, but she's the one always kind of pushing for that. She's the one kind of always organizing that because there's some part of her that wants everybody to be together, you know? because there's some part of her that wants everybody to be together, you know? And so she could spend a lot of time, a lot of energy on like,

you know, getting all that arranged. But then it's like the whole point of it is for everybody to have a good time, but then she could be so overstressed by it. You know how it is around holidays. Of course. People get all crazy around the holidays. I remember my parents,

um, that would be like the only time they'd ever fight. It was like around the holidays because yeah, they'd start flipping out about, you know, right. You know, who's doing what, who's bringing what for dinner. And then they would just, you know, pile up with a stress when really it's all just supposed to be centered around, around fun. And like I, like I said earlier, I think a lot of times women, they get that pull, uh,

kind of more back into the family and the guys women, they get that pull, uh, kind of more back into the family and the guys kind of always get that pull, uh, a little bit more towards work. But I think when it comes to family, I think if most people can kind of think in these terms, if you always put the kids first, I think everything else will fall in line, you know? And I think a lot of times people put the kids second, like the adults might say, you know, okay, we're going to have, you know, turkey and this and that and this and that. And, and then they won't really think about, okay, well, you know, cause sometimes kids won't eat the exact same, you know, dinner that everybody else has and they probably

should, but you got to think about, you know, what are the kids going to eat and what are you going to feed them besides mac and cheese and pizza? So they're not just eating junk. And also like everybody wants to bring a lot of junk for the holidays. I want to bring chips and all this crap. Celebrate. Yeah. They want to celebrate and they put all these things out on the table and some adults can

control themselves. Some can't, but it's the kids that suffer. You know, the kids suffer. Like when you put cookies out and they're reachable for everybody and dinner's not being served for three hours those cookies are going to be gone yeah those kids are going to just smash those cookies you know and then also you got to think about activities like you know what you know these kids should be you know doing stuff they should be out doing something yeah last year at thanksgiving, I went out with my cousins and some family friends and we threw around the football for like two hours.

That's great. But I was also the only adult out there. Oh, no. Yeah. I'm like, you know, I get it. Okay. Everyone wants to be inside. They want to drink and they want to kind of hang out.

But like, let's think about the kids first, because if that's taken care of, then everything else, everything else will fall into place and everything else will be fun because if we can create good fun memories for these guys then that'll create good fun fun memories for us because we're our our time's up you know like our prime is our prime is gone right now yeah we're over the hill over the hill yeah and i mean we can uh lie to ourselves and act like we're smarter and we know how to have a better time but shit man kids have way more fun than us if we if we let a kid like handle like the schedule for the day or whatever like we'll just be non-stop partying all adults can do to have fun is like either eat bad food

drink or get high yeah that's all we can come up with right we don't have any other solutions yeah we're gonna have wine and talk okay or we can go downstairs play pool and then play nintendo switch and then go fly the kite outside and then go swimming kid will make a game out of like you know freaking jumping down the stairs for like an hour stop changing the rules i'm down to play i know they always cheat such cheaters dang it uh let's see what was i gonna say oh okay well we're all creeping on to an hour haven't talked once about the ipf oh my god i know that's my bad the ipf ipf approved yep everything we got is uh officially uh ipf approved for 2019

so that's uh starting in january 1 um, X sleeve, strong sleeves, gangster wraps, power wraps, slingshot wraps. You kind of name it. Um, we got our knee wraps. We have our singlets. Um, we got everything, uh, we got everything approved and it did cost some money, you know, it wasn't cheap. I know there were some other companies out there that were, uh, You know, it wasn't cheap. I know there were some other companies out there that were, uh, bitching and complaining, um, about, about the price tag associated with it. But, you know, here at Slingshot, you know, we're always trying to be better and we're always trying to put our money back into powerlifting and not just our money, but just our thought process back into powerlifting. you know some people might say oh i haven't really seen slingshot you know sponsor all these meets or whatever well it's not really just about

that um we also you know this this project here costs us over 200 this this project here costs us over 250 000 and uh so does like just running this podcast and all the different videos that we pump out every single year. I mean, we have a media staff, a strong media staff, and, uh, we put out a lot of videos and there's a lot of time and effort associated with putting, giving back to powerlifting. I mean, the very workout that's going on right now while we're podcasting, I mean, we're simultaneously putting together two videos right now. This one's actually live. The other one won't be available for like two days, but, um, we basically work day and night here to provide for powerlifting. Um, obviously, yeah, it's worked out well for me, but, uh, anybody else who, uh, wants, wants to ever try to do what I do, go ahead and go for it because having a free gym and having these videos that come out all the time and is not, it's not a great recipe to be

successful and make a lot of money. It worked for me. But I think that we have a unique set of circumstances here. We have an amazing team and an amazing squad. And, you know, being able to provide this opportunity for lifters to have more options, to be able to wear the different products that we offer here at Slingshot. Like, this is a creative company. We are first with a lot of the things that we've done over the years. Even our wraps, every wrap that we sell is a multi-purpose wrap. You can wrap it around your elbow, your knee, your forearm, wherever you have pain. And it's because of the, the way the Velcro is stitched. And because of the, the way the, uh, loop is on the

thumb, like everything we've done here is, is just a little different where it's a little small twist, uh, that's been done to everything. The denim knee sleeves, the X sleeves. Those are the first knee sleeves ever to market with denim in them. They have, on the inside, they have like a silicone type thing that restricts them from moving. So once they're in place, they're locked in and not going anywhere.

And also the slingshot. The slingshot is what provided us to be able to even afford to be able to spend this kind of money, a quarter million dollars on getting everything IPF approved. And as simple as a concept as the slingshot is, it's developed off of many torn pecs and off of a lot of pain and anguish from powerlifting for years and years. And, you know, I was first to be able to put something like that together

and the first to market with that. And a lot of this stuff has taken a tremendous amount of time. This has been a long time coming. We've been bugging the IPF for a long time, but they were in a holding pattern for a long time because they only do this every four years. So this goes on for the next four years. Otherwise, we would have done it a lot sooner.

We would have gotten involved a lot sooner. Yeah, so what's the process? Is there a 1-800-IPF-approval line or something? How do you even get the ball rolling? We called the guy. He's so elusive. You can't really get a We called the guy. He's so elusive. You can't really get a hold of that guy.

Yep. We called him up and said, hey, are you the IPF guy? He said, yep. I said, check your bank account. Dang, you got the guy. There's $253,000 in there. From what I hear, when you try to call the guy, you get the guy's guy. And he's the one that you have to deal with to kind of butter him up to get in touch with the guy.

He sent me over to John. John patched me into Bill. And then Bill called called Rachel and then they put me through to him. Okay. It was easy. Yeah. Rachel has it out for me. She's just pissed off. She didn't put me through to the guy.

I don't know what happened. Something weird happened. Yeah. Well, that's sick. So what happens after four years? After four years, I think you win a gold medal. I think, you know, something.

Okay, cool. Or no, I can go for another four years. Like Trump, right? Oh, shit. Oh, everyone just left the podcast. That's it, Mark. I was a big supporter of you. Oh, man.

I was down to run this podcast. Fuck this IPF stuff. You said Trump, now I'm out of here. The T word. Oh, by the way, my soon-to-be brother-in-law, he's seen the Trump slippers that you have from the Trump Tower or whatever. He's like, those are sick. I'm going to wear those. My son loved the Trump Tower.

The Trump Tower is amazing. It's so cheap because it's so outdated. so outdated okay yeah that makes sense yeah but it's uh yeah everything in there is gold everything in there is like gold so it's just i don't know it's like kind of tacky almost oh yeah yeah it's way it's way over the top yeah i don't know what people are going to do when we have trump jr on this podcast i think they might just hang themselves. Yeah, I mean, when you see some of the people, how they, like, react. People get so mad. Dude, I mean, there was the hat thing,

but, like, I've seen the comments where, like, that's it. You said Trump. You said Trump supporter. I'm out. Like, I was with you for the last 10 years, Mark, but you just said that. I'm gone.

Like, all right, man. If you're looking for an easy way out, I'm not not gonna stop you the uh you know slingshot record breakers is coming up and that's in november and then we also have uh in january we got our own uh slingshot uh competition out here in sacramento we'll give you guys more information on that as it comes but you you know, what, what this does for us, um, you know, being part of the IPF is going to be a big deal. Um, and, uh, what I would like to do is I would like to, I'd like to work towards, uh, you know, making the Arnold competition, uh, with the IPF. I'd like to

turn that into a bigger and stronger competition. It already is a pretty damn good uh event but it's not to the caliber like you know everyone kind of gets fired up for worlds and it wouldn't be able to really match the feel of world because like you know winning the gold medal and these different things like that's kind of the super bowl of power lifting in a sense um but this gives us an opportunity to maybe create uh something that's maybe a little different and maybe a special in its own way. And so maybe this could be, maybe this could be like the Arnold classic strong man competition where world's strongest man is still kind of the goal. Cause that's like the champion of champions.

Um, and maybe it could be, it can mimic maybe like the Arnold, uh, uh, bodybuilding show as well, where the arnold classic you win the arnold bodybuilding show it's a huge huge deal it's a huge honor and if you win the strongman those are two you know really really high standard things for both those sports but it's not the pinnacle pinnacle and and maybe this you know with doing this obviously we could support worlds and stuff like that but those are just uh those are different things to tackle because it's like in, you know, uh, Czechoslovakia and like, it's all in these weird locations. This is, this is in Columbus, Ohio, you know, the Arnold classic.

And so I think it gives us an opportunity. I know that we're in talks with them right now of, uh, you know, really trying to up the Annie. I'm working on, uh, Andy Bell working on, you know, trying to, uh, you know, really trying to up the ante. I'm working on, uh, Andy Bell working on, you know, trying to, uh, you know, squeeze her for some dollars to, to, to make, to, to, uh, to make it, uh, the competition that we want to make it, but, you know, it gets to be very tricky, uh, where you place your dollars, you know, and where you, where you put your money and, and, uh, you know, while it would be great to, um,

you know, just put money into cash prizes. Um, it doesn't always really make a lot of sense, you know, think about it from a company standpoint, you know, if, uh, if you, if you put, uh, $50,000 into an event, um, and, uh, you know, the, the top winner for the men uh makes 10 grand top you know for the women makes 10 and then you split up money some other ways or whatever um what if those men and women that win like what if they're not represent you know what if what if a they're not slingshot people right like they with a different company and also be like what if they're just not great people in general like what if it's just yeah you know a guy that got convicted of freaking rape or something i mean you know god forbid but like you know these are things that you have to

kind of think about because now you're associated in some way i'm giving a slingshot check to like somebody who did something crazy right like maybe the guy i don't know you know but uh i'd rather put my money towards you know something i think is going to be a good cause or a worthy cause. But when you put your money on a limb like that, where it's just goes to whoever wins, um, it's, it's a little bit of the roll of the dice and, and to figure out how you, how you can get your, um, your money back is kind of hard. your money back is kind of hard. I always feel that, you know, I never really am all that concerned with how you actually get your money back. You know, people recall, we'll call it your return on investment. I'm not a one for one guy. I never believed in that. And hopefully I never will look into that. I do a lot of things that probably don't make a lot of sense. And I probably could have made a lot more money if I actually sat down and thought about some of these things, but

I don't ever do that. I, I kind of trust my gut and, and, uh, and I, and I roll with that and I've, you know, I've been successful and we've been successful, uh, doing a lot of the things that we've been doing. Um, but yeah, it's a, it's a really hard thing to figure out, but like when this opportunity came up, when we started talking to the IPF and the dollar started to kind of roll up and we're like, oh, shit. OK, it costs that much money. And we're like, OK, you know, that's not too bad.

And then it's like, oh, that's just for the year. And they're like, oh. And then they're like, OK, well, you know, here's what it looked like, you know, for, you know, you'd want it. You're going to want to buy in for the whole four years because we're closing everybody else out. And I was like, oh, okay. But to me, this was a worthy cause because this is, so people will, will bitch about the price, but think about it. The IPF has to have money too.

The IPF, the IPF is the only federation in all of powerlifting. That's really, really worth anything in my opinion. Um, Steve Denison, uh, you know, they, they try with the USPA, but it's, it's not, in my opinion, it's not anywhere related to the IPF. The IPF, um, they, they have a progression with everything. Yeah. They're judges. They try to do the best job to get people that with the best amount of knowledge to judge at meets. They judge locally for a long period of time, and then they're allowed to judge at the state competitions, but it's almost like being a referee. You have to be a referee for a really

long time before you can ref the playoffs and before you can ref the Superbowl. Right. Yeah. They do the same thing. Except they don't take bribes, right? They might. Okay. You know, so you have to really work your ass off and work really hard just to be a damn judge. That's cool. They have specifics like, uh, you know, specific people that, uh, uh, that, that run the table and that they have, uh, specific announ, specific people that run the table and that they have specific announcers and stuff that run these events and run these shows. They got commentators that are commentating and, you know, telling you, like, what lifter is up next.

I mean, they're just very organized. Now, you might think, like, oh, well, anyone can do that. Well, maybe, but no one really has. And they've done it in a really organized way. And something that people may not know is I actually competed in the IPF. It was a long time ago. But I competed in the IPF before it actually ever broke off and turned into the USAPL, the IPF. I competed in what was called the ADFPA, which is American Drug-Free Powerlifting Association.

Oh, wow. 90 million years ago. Back in the day when they mainly just did like a lie detector test. Oh, no. But it was also when I was a kid. So, like, I wasn't on anything yet, or at least that's what I told everybody. A lie detector test. I know.

Isn't that awesome? That's fucking great. Oh, there was guys that were so jacked, too. Yeah. And, you know, a guy deadlifted like 837 at like 198. And they're like, yep, he's clean. Yeah. Look at me in my eyes.

Are you clean? Yep. I don't know why, but I believe him, yo. Yeah. I totally believe him. That's crazy. Yeah. And one of the guys that ran it, too.

I mean, it was just a bunch of guys that were super jacked. And you're like, no, I don't think so. I don't know, though. The IPF is crazy because there's dudes in there. I mean, do you know about Deuce? You know about our boy Deuce? Deuce. Yeah, we got Deuce. Deuce is going to come on the podcast.

Deuce Gruden. Do you know about Deuce Gruden? I heard of the name, yeah. Google Deuce Gruden. So this is John Gruden Jr., John Gruden's son. Oh, shit. Chucky, a.k.a. the coach for the Oakland Raiders. And Deuce Gruden is a huge super training fan,

so we're going to get his ass over here. He's actually one of the strength coaches for the Raiders, and Deuce Gruden is jacked. He is jacked. I'm trying to find his. Deuce Gruden is jacked. Deuce Gruden, I think trying to find it. Deuce Gruden is jacked. Deuce Gruden, I think he won the IPF championship, too. I think he's pretty much a savage.

Oh, man. The Raiders got smashed in London. Man, they're just not doing so good. But Chucky will get it figured out. Yeah, that's kind of a shitty picture. Yeah, it's a little blurry, but you can see that, you can see how jacked he is. Yeah, he's, it's funny to see him on the sidelines because he's probably 5'5". Oh, yeah.

And so, you know how damn big those freaking football players are. They're massive. Yeah, you can see the pipes. It's funny because he looks like John Gruden, just with big ass arms. But the cool thing is that John Gruden himself, the coach, uh, Chucky, he's been at, uh, at a lot of the,

uh, these big power lifting meets. Like he went to worlds last year and he actually ended up showing up at Jesse Burdick's meet that, that last meet that Burdick had. Oh, that's right. And,

uh, anyway, it's just, it's, it's cool. But anyway, it's part, it's awesome to be part of the IPF.

I'm super proud of it. And, uh, for all those other companies that, uh, you know, chose not to be part of it, I don't think they had a choice. I think they're broke as a joke, and I think they're hurting. And no one can match what we're doing here at Slingshot, and we're going to continue to be innovative and creative. And we're going to continue to kick ass and provide the best products that you can get. If you want to check out some of this stuff, we've got a sale going on right now.

It's 20% off. Plus, you get a free freaking t-shirt on all IPF products. Again, Slingshot products are approved in 2019. We have all the products are approved. You can also check out Amazon and grab some of our products. But they don't have a 20% off sale going on over there. So you got the information here from the power project tomorrow. I need you guys to check in tomorrow because tomorrow is going to be an important podcast. We're doing a podcast tomorrow with Dr.

William Davis. Dr. Davis has been on some other people's podcasts, but he has not been live in studio on anybody's podcast really. So, uh, I'm really honored to have him here tomorrow. Um, he's going to, he's a cardiologist. He wrote a book called wheat belly. He has a lot of great information. Uh, we're going to dig through all this shit about cholesterol and fiber and sugar and heart disease and diabetes. And, um, I'm really excited because Dr. Davis has some actual answers for us because he's, he's one of the few guys that's so close to it. Like these are life

and death situations that he deals with all the time. And we're going to learn firsthand from him. What are some things that are actually solving these problems for people? Not like just, Hey, like I want to lose 10 pounds. Like I'm not happy. I want to lose 10 or 15 pounds. This is like, no, you don't, you don't start to eat better. You are going to die. There's going to be some really crazy consequences. And, uh, what he shared with me on the phone was like, which I thought was really cool is he said the by-product of him working with so many people over the years and him helping people, uh, get a healthier heart and, uh, get better blood work and better results, um, over a period of time has the side effect of that has been the fact that they lost 60 pounds.

And so he wasn't trying, he wasn't not like, Hey, like here's, here's a weight loss routine, um, which is another way to help improve your health. But, uh, that, that was not what he was after. He was like, no, let's, uh, you know, eat some foods that are nutrient dense. Let's get rid of sugar. Let's get rid of, uh, you know, junk food that you're eating wheat and things like that. And, uh, let's kind of go from there. And he's been able to turn people around

really, really fast. That's right. Hell yeah. Strength is never a weakness. Weakness is never strength. Catch you guys later.