Mark Bell's Power Project - Power Project EP. 78 - Grant Higa Monster
Episode Date: June 27, 2018Animal Pak athlete, Grant Higa is a Master M1 raw powerlifter competing in the 120+ kg weight class and a Pro Strongman competitor. He brought home a bronze medal at 2017 USAPL Raw Nationals and silve...r at 2017 IPF Worlds. Rewatch the live stream here: https://youtu.be/iT6PH94AaUk ➢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
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Your head's not big.
Whatever.
He already posted the poly guys here.
I do.
I actually wear a 7'7 and 8".
No.
Pro fit.
Yeah.
No.
I can't do snapbacks, bro.
Dude, don't talk about yourself like that.
I got it, man.
Sounds negative.
Brain power?
Is that what's going on there?
Trying.
Like the great gazoo.
Oh, yeah. Hello, dum-dums. I love the Great
Gazoo.
See, all the millennials, they don't know who that is.
It's like Megamind. Young kids out
there, it's like Megamind. It looks like Megamind.
Where did he come from?
He come from the side.
He was on one shoulder and then the devil
was on the other usually. Did they ever explain
why he was in the cartoon and then the devil was on the other usually. Did they ever explain why he was in the cartoon?
No.
Someone was just tripping probably.
Yeah.
Because it's like the Flintstone era.
Hello, dum-dums.
Every time he came in the picture, he said, hello, dum-dums.
There's a lot of shit in cartoons that didn't make sense.
I know.
I miss the old Bugs Bunny stuff too.
Yeah.
There's no way Yosemite Sam could get away
with it right now.
No.
Oh, God.
That shit was,
yeah, it was bad.
I forgot about that.
Yeah, dude.
Seriously.
God, that stuff
was like racist and shit.
Yeah.
What about
Frosty the Snowman?
You know,
like every time
he came back to life,
he said,
happy birthday randomly.
It's kind of weird.
That's right.
It was his birthday,
like again.
I guess
Maybe
He keeps getting like
Resurrected or whatever
Bugs Bunny cartoons
Was the best man
I know I love that
Like
He would always
He'd always trick everybody
Yeah
It's rabbit season
No it's duck season
It's rabbit season
Me and my buddies
Back in Hawaii
Always used to
Reminisce about the
Remember the Dracula episode
Yeah always used to reminisce about the remember the Dracula episode? Ba-dee-ba-da
ba-dee-ba-da
Yeah.
Abacapodcast.
I remember that.
That's the one.
He went to like
a hotel, right?
Yeah, yeah.
And then
I'm a bot.
Oh yeah,
I'm a bot too.
That was a really
good one.
I like the one
with the wrestler.
The Koresha.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
The Crusher's super jacked.
He flexes.
He's fucking huge.
Oh, my God.
My brother-in-law lived with my wife and I for maybe almost like a year.
And he would see me watching Bugs Bunny all the time.
Nice.
He'd see me just laughing my ass off.
He's like, I thought it was just on. And I'm like, i love bugs no bugs but it was awesome tasmanian devil roadrunner
all of that stuff dude like the roadrunner would always win no matter what but it was funny as hell
spongebob's good spongebob square my kids yeah my kids love spongebob i love spongebob too i'm not
gonna are you strict am i strict with your kids when it comes to that kind of stuff?
Watching TV or movies?
No, man.
Well, they're a little older now too, right?
You know what's going on in school too.
They probably have a wave.
That's what I always figure.
Yeah, you know?
Like, nah.
Yeah, I always figure the kids are getting way more information than just what's on TV.
Right.
I can't wait actually for the Teen Titans movie.
Because I bust laugh at the Teen Titans all the time.
And that movie's coming out like next month.
So.
There's not any good movies out right at the moment.
I mean, Deadpool 2 is out.
There's a couple things out.
But like I've watched everything.
What about Jurassic World?
That looks bad.
Yeah.
I heard.
It doesn't look good.
I haven't seen anything.
I just know it's bad.
I heard it.
My friend actually told me this yesterday.
If you just want to see like a lot of like dinosaur violence then yeah that's the movie yeah there's there's a movie
uh that's coming out soon i saw i went to see mr rogers with my son oh nice and uh it was like a
mr rogers documentary it's actually cool but just like all documentaries it gets a little it gets a
little long-winded okay um but uh there But beforehand, there was a preview for a movie about triplets.
Okay.
And these triplets did not know that they had a sibling.
And then one sibling found another sibling,
and they found out they were twins.
And then one sibling found another sibling,
and they found out they were triplets.
And then it became this huge nationwide thing.
found out they were triplets and then it became this huge like nationwide thing um and then they have spent like uh i guess the majority of their life trying to figure out why they were split up
and there's some sort of cover-up and weird shit going on and you know it's a movie trailer so it's
like yeah kind of leaves you like wondering you're like what's what's happening what are some of your favorite movies see anything good lately uh hard to kind of see uh movies uh lately just with the schedule but uh i think the last movie
oh man what did i see i can't even remember dude that's how busy my damn schedule is
what is your schedule what's you doing uh what you do for work i'm a fitness trainer at vulcan
incorporated fitness yeah i try to be about the fitness fitness pizza in my mouth yeah i was gonna What you do for work? I'm a fitness trainer at Vulcan Incorporated Fitness?
Yeah, I try to be about the fitness
Fitness pizza in my mouth
Yeah, I was going to say
You don't seem very fit
You barely fit into the building
Yeah, I'm actually
Jessica was actually making rude comments
About the size of your head
She's like, how does he fit that thing into that t-shirt?
I was like, I don't know, man
It's a good thing it's a blend that it could slide through.
I was like, he's a nice guy.
I don't, bagging on him like that, I don't get it.
I'm kidding.
I was the one talking.
Yeah, I'm a trainer at Vulcan Incorporated.
It's owned by Paul Allen, co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates, you know.
Owns the Seahawks and the Portland Trailblazers.
Been there since 2000.
Owns a couple sports franchises.
Let's say he's doing well.
What's the name of the gym?
It's actually just a corporate gym for employees only.
So it's not open to the public.
So it's a small gym.
How'd that come to be?
They built it so that their employees could work out
and hopefully not be caught up with staying behind a desk. it so that, you know, people could, their employees could, uh, work out and, you know,
hopefully, uh, not be caught up with, uh, staying behind the desk, you know, drinking
like 10 cups of coffee and stuff, you know, we've got a locker room and, you know, a towel
service.
Uh, but you know, the idea is just to hopefully that they understand how important it is to,
uh, you know, take care of your health, you know, because fitness,
you know, you know, it's about feeling better physically, mentally, and spiritually, right?
You know, we grind.
We're always grinding.
But we still got to make sure we take time for ourselves to take care of us.
Actually, you bring up a really good point.
You know, like how long you been lifting for?
I've been lifting since 92. Yeah, you've been lifting for a long ass time you put in a lot of hours yeah so you know the the motivation and the rah-rah stuff of you getting the gym that's not a
factor no you're gonna be in the gym yeah yeah what's what's a factor is how do you do some things that are a little bit
different to clear your mind and to be strong in other areas sure and and to be and to be able to
continually be stronger on the platform as well because that's going to take you doing some
different shit that maybe you didn't do when you're 20 years old. Yeah, yeah. You know, it's like my work and my hobby is two different things,
but it still is connected with health and, you know, fitness no matter what.
So my job is to show people that, hey, you can still get some type of a workout in,
even if it was like 20 minutes, just to get the heart rate going,
just to do like a
a circuit you know let's do like you know a set of 15 of this a lap pull a press a plank repeat
whatever but a lot of people think that we don't have time to work out in a half hour there's time
you gotta just apply it you know you gotta you gotta not waste time and just have a plan
put it into action.
And adhering to that kind of a program is the hardest part, in my opinion. If you don't do it and have the discipline to do it, whether it's early a.m. or midday during lunch or after work, it's really hard to adhere to the program.
hard to adhere to the program so if you do it and it just becomes a habit i really believe that you end up uh finding easier to stick to the program and making time for yourself you know what i mean
that's where a schedule can really come into play you know someone might be like i work out in the
morning and sometimes i work out at night and you can do that but it can get to be like wishy-washy
and for somebody that really has a hard time, uh, you know, quote unquote, making the time
they're better off waking up an hour earlier and getting that shit done.
And they got the, the, the first part of their day front loaded, or if they're not a morning
person and maybe they do it at night, but you schedule it in and it comes at the same
time all the time.
So, you know, what's coming, you know, what you're doing.
I think, uh, I always try to point this out too, cause in the corporate world, sometimes, You schedule it in and it comes at the same time all the time. So you know what's coming. You know what you're doing.
I think I always try to point this out too, because in the corporate world, sometimes, you know, like how we always are on our outlook and plugging in events, you know, like, okay,
I got this meeting or I got this project due.
We do that with no problem, right?
But a majority of people don't fit that in for their own personal workout and health.
A majority of people don't fit that in for their own personal workout and health.
So think of how easy it is to, you know, set something on your calendar for work or whatever.
Why not have that same approach to your own life as well?
You know what I mean?
And it's a difficult thing to do because like I'm sure you run into friends all the time as you're going from one thing to the next.
Hey, man, let's grab some lunch together.
We need to get together and get some coffee and then it never happens.
Yeah.
Because we're, we have a tendency,
the only things that we really truly schedule and write down are things that are for money.
Yeah.
That actually doesn't really make any sense
because it doesn't really expand you as a human being.
You know, money is like a, just a weird thing of,
I don't know, you just need it because,
because you need it because it's the way,
it's the way the world's set up.
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
You know, so I just try my best to,'t know, you just need it because you need it because it's the way the world's set up. Yeah, yeah, for sure. You know, so I just try my best to, you know, just make the employees aware that, hey, you know, set aside time for you.
You're going to feel better.
And, you know, we're going to, you know, hopefully lower, you know, your health care costs because you're, you know, know taking time to lower you know high blood pressure
hypertension try to prevent that and feel good about yourself for the rest of the day you know
so you have you have the gym uh that's uh is it like a part of the building yeah it's part of the
building it's in the building right so we always make fun because it's like it's in the building
but on the opposite corner of the building is a starbucks and we see more people there
than inside the gym, right?
And don't get me wrong.
I love my coffee, right?
Is there anything being done to kind of attract new people?
Like, even though it's not a typical gym where you're like, oh, we need these members.
You're not relying on those members.
Like, you guys do outreach stuff?
Like I said, it's not members.
It's only open for the employees only.
But you want a bunch of them. What's actually like, like I said, it's not, uh, it's not members. It's only open for the employees only. But, uh, HR department is very, uh, they're very big with, uh, encouraging employees to,
you know, take advantage of it and stuff, you know, uh, you know, unfortunately, you
know, they have to make that decision themselves to walk the door.
Right.
Right.
You can tell people, Hey, you should be doing this.
And, you know i i encourage
you to try this you do have time but they got to walk through the door bottom line you know
what kind of changes have you seen that must be satisfying for you to help some of these people
yeah it's good i mean um you know i'm not having anybody like lift like you know atlas stones or
you know all stuff like that yeah it's not always about that. It's just about, I try to really focus a lot on a lot of, you know,
core strength especially and just developing a circuit training plan to,
you know, that can be done quick and efficiently.
Core training because sitting at a desk all day, right,
posture's jacked up, you know, just the rounded computer posture,
your back aches,ed up you know just the rounded computer posture your back aches whatever you know so we try to remind them to hey you know you got to make sure this is your weight belt make
sure you kind of just hold your abs up and in every once in a while just train yourself to do
that rather than me tell you to um secondly uh i try to open their eyes up that a lot of people don't think that they
can work out if they don't have a gym membership.
That is not true at all.
You can create a workout in this space right here, like a 10 by 15.
You can do some pushups, some body weight squats, you know, some plank holds on the
floor.
So have that same kind of a mindset, even when you travel, uh, you know, like let's
say there's no hotel gym or whatever, but you know, if you're disciplined and you can
do, uh, you know, a little circuit in your hotel room or take the stairwell, you know,
or go for a 10 minute walk or more like you always do, you know, there's, there should
be no excuse to not.
That damn stairwell.
Make time.
That's just hard.
Yeah. It's hard. Especially inside. There's no air in the no excuse to not. That damn stairwell. Make time. That shit's hard. Yeah, it's hard.
Especially inside.
There's no air in the summer.
Sucks, man.
Yeah.
It can be really brutal.
I've, I've done workouts like that a bunch of times.
I'm like, ah, I don't really know when or where I'm going to find a gym.
I'm going to try to go up and down these stairs three or four times.
And I'm not sure how high the building is.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Your legs will go crazy.
Yeah.
But at the end of the day,
you walk away knowing that you got that shit done.
You know what I mean?
I can finish the rest of my day out
knowing that I got it done.
And then the next time when you put in that situation again,
it's easy in my opinion.
Yeah, it just makes you feel better.
Yeah, got it, man.
That's what we're talking about.
It's like, you know, a lot of times
it's not just the physical health,
it's the mental health side of things.
For sure.
You have some kids?
How old are your kids?
I have two daughters.
14.
Her name's Kaia.
My youngest, Kalani.
She'll be 10, actually, on Thursday.
And are these guys physical?
They're doing some stuff?
Yeah.
They both play select softball.
My oldest actually plays a little bit of volleyball and basketball in middle
school, but she's going into high school now.
So, and youngest, youngest plays some basketball too, you know,
like Parks and Rec League and stuff.
What do they think about what dad does?
You know, I think my kids are, they grew up in a gym.
Like when Kaia was born, you know,
it's hard to work out when you have a kid, you know, it's hard to work out when you have a kid, you know.
It's hard.
So, like, in the garage, I just set up, like, a temporary, like, platform with, you know, plywood and some muscle mat.
I had some bumper plates.
And you have them, like, in that little saucer thing with the wheels on it.
Yeah, yeah.
Like jumping up and down.
Yeah, exactly.
Or, like, they're in the car seat or, you know, the crib, like little portable crib, sleeping in the living room.
And I went in the garage.
My chiropractor, he gave me this old like squat rack with a pulley system and some weights.
So I could still do like some squats in my garage and all that stuff, you know.
Bought a bench.
And, you know, they grew up around weights all the time.
So like weights dropping from deadlifts or power cleans doesn't faze them, you know? And I think that's awesome. Yeah. They're not, not scared of it.
Yeah. Cause there's a lot of kids that kind of like, they get like skittish when, you know,
clanging weights are around, you know? And I don't, I think you should, uh, expose your kids
at a young age to that. So it just becomes part of their lifestyle too, you know? Your daughter's
14. I bet like, uh, she probably runs into some other kids who are now kind of starting
to talk about lifting and fitness.
Yeah.
My friend does this or my friend does that.
Yeah, Kaia's actually pretty damn strong, man.
We always say that she's stronger than what she actually knows.
But she's been working out.
She just verbally committed to Oregon State University to play softball.
That's great. Yeah, super proud of her. You mean to go to school to go to college yeah not to play softball that's what you meant to say that's true yeah but uh also too you know i think just being around uh
you know um the family and just seeing other athletes and what it takes to be at that next level,
you got to make sure that you're also putting in your own work too, you know?
So I've been super proud of her because the past couple of months, she's like, hey, you know,
can you take me to the 6 a.m. strength and conditioning class? We have a, my friend Aaron
White owns Northwest Athletics, like three miles from our house. And, you know, can you take me?
And I know it's going to be hard because I got to be at school at 8 a.m.
I'm like, babe, you want to go?
Yeah, I'll wake up at 5.15 to take you to the class, you know.
And she, you know, is learning good techniques as far as like squatting,
deadlifting, you know, some overhead press and power cleans.
But, you know know it makes me proud
to see that she's aware of what i have to do because when she gets to that next level in
college that's going to be an everyday occurrence you know you got to go wake up at 5 30 a.m strength
and conditioning and then you got to go eat breakfast and then you have a couple classes
coming up at college and then yeah then maybe uh afternoon practice
and then don't forget you got to study for homework so we said we said that she's 14 right
yes there's a lot more high school to go why'd she sign something with a college or how's that
so the rule what the hell's going on yeah the rule had just changed uh now uh so now it's uh
after she's a lebron james she She just verbally committed just before the recent rule change.
But, you know, she has been working really hard.
I'm very proud of her.
And she had been thinking about this, you know, for quite some time.
And Oregon State was very, very awesome because they're like, hey, you know, we just want you to know that we like you, but enjoy this process.
And, you know, if you end up, you know, being able to play for us, we'll be happy.
And if you don't, we're still a big fan unless you play us and stuff, you know.
But my wife and I are, you know, we have these talks with her and we just are straight up, you know, like,
hey, you decide if this is the place that you want to go.
You know, does also the school provide
what you're looking to do for after college, you know?
Like, you know, what do you want to do
with the rest of your life and stuff?
And she likes the coaches.
She loves the campus, and she made that decision on her own.
Also, you know, with talking to us, too, but it was on her own also you know with talking to us too but it was
it was on her own like eighth grade ninth grade she's gonna be a ninth grader now that's crazy
to sign it so early yeah she's special man kaya special 10 years old she hit her first home run
and she knew that she was special has it been emotional for you watching? Because it can be really hard.
You sit in the stands and the kid's doing good or bad.
That's not really what I'm talking about.
But it's just hard to just keep your mouth shut.
And you want to be excited for your kid,
but you don't want your kid to interpret the wrong way.
You don't want other parents to think you're a maniac.
No. You don't want your kid to interpret the wrong way You don't want other parents to think you're a maniac No, I think
Kaia is so level-headed that
She knows we're there
And yeah, I'm cheering her as a fan
And because I love her and stuff
But I'm not trying to be the pageant mom
You know, whatever, I'm not that guy
I'm very supportive of our kids
I picture you like going, fuck yeah
Fuck yeah, in your face
And you run over to the other side.
No dinner.
You run over to the other team and you're yelling at them.
Another home run.
Look at that.
Look at that.
Scoreboard.
No, man.
Do a cartwheel and run back.
I mean, man, I see parents like that, unfortunately, you know.
But no, man, we love our kids and, you know, I'm happy for them.
And I just hope that we also lead by example as well, you know.
Right.
That you got to work hard for a bottom line.
You know, nobody else is going to put in the work for you except yourself.
Are other people in the family real competitive?
Because you have a competitive fire that's a little different.
It's on a different level than what you see from most people.
Yeah, a little bit.
I mean, but, you know, like I never played sports when I was a kid growing i mean uh but you know like uh i i'm uh i never played sports when
i was a kid growing up in hawaii you know uh you know i grew up on a farm so i just unfortunately
didn't have time to do that what'd you have on the farm macadamia nuts no man hey did you know
here's your fact of the day that if you uh have a macadamia orchard it takes 10 years for a tree
to actually flower and produce nuts.
So you got a 10 year investment if you're going to get into that.
It's like, it sounds like, it sounds like working out.
Right.
It's like an avocado tree.
I think it's the same thing.
Yeah.
Is avocado 10 years?
Really?
Maybe that's why that shit's expensive.
Oh man, dang.
We had to wait 10 years for this shit and you're just picking it up at the store on your leisure.
I wish you had avocado trees up in Washington like you guys got them down here.
Don't get me wrong, man.
You can kick that AC into high gear over there.
I don't know.
Yeah, my fat burners are kicking in here, as you can see.
Jess, stop laughing.
It's on a fat-burning stack.
Leave them alone, okay?
It's a sensitive topic.
I never played sports.
You know, I did a little judo a
little bit but it was you know we just had a my parents had a tea leaf farm uh it's like a broad
uh shaped leaf that in hawaii that they they use for floral decorations uh you can wrap food and
steam it and stuff like that you know uh so me lifting now is kind of like my kind of uh playing sports when i was a young i guess you
know so when you were a kid did you have to work the farm it's like that kind of part of the family
deal yeah it was really we had to work the farm it was us you know so i was naturally like country
strong but i never really uh touched weights i mean i touched weights like sophomore year
high school because i had a weight training class, but I never really seriously got into it until like 92.
I was just country strong.
Yeah.
Well, Jake Cutler had a similar story.
He grew up on a farm.
He was in a concrete business for a long time, a family concrete business.
And he said he just, you know, that's all he knew as a kid.
It was work, work, work, work, work.
And then when he decided to lift, he liked lifting he already knew about it and when he went into it he was just
way stronger than his friends because yeah because he had a base yeah yeah a huge base i mean think
of how many times you got to move a wheelbarrow full of concrete you know back and forth and
you know that's that's hard work man yeah wax on wax off that's all that training my
dad worked as a roofer when he was a kid he said and they had that's real work yeah they had to
schlep the roofing paper up the ladder onto the roof nowadays they just got that conveyor belt
truck in hawaii yeah and it's hot as hell right and then you know now you see these trucks now
they just got that conveyor belt thing that just shoots the paper up to the roof to the workers now.
It's hard work, man.
The world ain't half bad nowadays for most people.
Yeah.
I mean, there are people that still have to do those jobs, and I admire that they're able to do that, but a lot of us aren't doing that.
Right.
And a lot of us are still bitching and complaining.
You look at people, you're like, your job ain't half bad, man.
Like, you're not fucking laying bricks and you're not, you know, roofing and some of these other things.
I remember when I was, before I moved up to the mainland and, you know, when the Persian Gulf War started, you know, the economy just went down on the big island.
Well, you know, just in Hawaii in general, but in Hilo, Hawaii, like I had to go get a second job.
And I was washing dishes at a Japanese restaurant, Nihon restaurant in Hilo, Hawaii, like I had to go get a second job and I was washing dishes at a Japanese restaurant,
Nihon restaurant in Hilo. And I made $4.75 an hour washing fricking dishes, dude.
You know, dude. And like, you know, you guys ever worked like washing dishes? Like
you, you know, you had put a whole bunch of Dawn liquid in this big bin and you're washing dishes
for like, say a four hour shift. Right. But that detergent just like dried up your hand like crazy
because you're just, you know, washing,
but for less than five bucks an hour, man.
Yeah, I worked in like a bar slash restaurant for a long time,
and that was kind of part of the gig was to wash dishes too.
And the annoying part was is that this is kind of like a nicer dining area.
So I had to like wash the dishes before they like went into the dishwasher, but they had
to be spotless before they went into the dishwasher.
You had to like spray them off, right?
Like cafeteria style.
Yeah.
And I'm like, man, I, you know, I thought they looked good enough to get washed, but
apparently not.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's crazy, you know, but that kind of stuff, like, you know, keeps you humble, you know,
like, you know, it's a reminder of where you came from.
I just moved out of my parents' house, and I had no car.
I was renting a room from my friend's cousin, who I didn't really know at the time, but she's like my little sister now.
And she said, hey, you ever need a room to rent?
And you can stay with me.
I'm like, cool, you know.
But I had a bike, just like some cheap-ass bike, you know,
and buying like a loaf of bread for 99 cents and making a bottle of peanut butter lasts you the whole freaking week, right?
You know, and then working at a dishwasher, you know, as a dishwasher.
It's like that kind of stuff I always remember, man, because that shit sucked. And then working as a dishwasher.
That kind of stuff I always remember, man, because that shit sucked.
But it made me want to strive harder to do better.
Because you don't want to struggle.
You don't want to be in that position.
And I think it made me a lot stronger in what I do.
It puts things into perspective it also gives you uh it gives you some energy you know on those days when you need to kind of dig deep yeah it's easy
to dig deep when you got some bullshit inside yeah you can rely on and you're like man i'm
gonna unleash this shit right here oh yeah man you know it's like i'm grateful for everything
that i've been you know you know having and but I remember where I came from you
know what I'm saying like stuff like that you you got to remember where you came from you know
I had like less than 600 bucks to my name and no car and I did okay I came out of it you know
right yeah you made yeah you made you made it through it and then you know now you know since
you've been lifting since the early
90s that's been a constant and consistent part and i think something that gets lost with training
i mean you were mentioned like kind of mind body spirit earlier and uh i think maybe because power
lifting is a little bit disconnected in the sense that there's not a lot to think about when you
have 700 pounds on your back other than like holy
shit this is heavy i gotta i better just get this done yeah and uh so it's not like you can go into
some like zen mode it's not like you're you know you're doing these karate poses and you're
absorbing like the sun's energy and all this weird stuff right but i think that lifting should be
more like that and understandably so uh you're not going to be thinking in those terms when you have those big weights in your back.
But what about your warm up? What about the preparation, the many weeks and all the time that goes into every rep and every set that you do?
In addition to that, even just like sometimes I'm sure you've done this many times, like you get done with a squat session.
You're like, man, I don't know, man.
Something was just off.
Let me mess with my stance.
Let me try different shoes.
I got a flat shoe.
I got this belly at that belt.
And it's literally practice.
And that's where that mind, body, spirit stuff comes in because you can sit there and actually think, I wonder if I drive my knee out.
I wonder if the other side of it too.
think i wonder if i drive my knee out i wonder the other side of it too it would be you go in uh for the day you've been struggling with your deadlift over and over and over again then you
realize you're like all i need to do to deadlift more is treat my deadlift the way i treat my bench
and my squat and you just have a better attitude so i'm going to go in there i'm gonna lift 60
i'm gonna manhandle the weights it's gonna be a great day and you go in there with a totally different perspective totally different attitude and your mind body and
spirit are connected as one and you're not going in there going oh man i fucking suck at deadlift
today's gonna be rough man you know somebody programmed this for me and the weights are
gonna be heavy and i'm gonna round over and i'm gonna do the same old shit that i normally do
yeah totally different mindset that you take in i agree agree. I think every warmup leads to the next heavier set.
If your warmups are going to go shitty, heavier sets probably going to go shitty as well,
you know?
So.
Yeah.
Shittier, right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So like, you know, I'm a big believer, like you said, that if your warmups, if your walkout
on the squat is not perfect, the bar placement isn't perfect you know
if you're not hinging you know then how are you going to have a successful heavier lift right so
uh but you're right i actually my uh deadlift was one of my weakest lifts you know like when i first
started but i know i was a natural squatter but i never attacked my deadlift with the same confidence as a
squat you know you're completely right on that and if anybody is just getting
and starting into the power lift and I think they have to have the mindset to
make sure to attack each of the three lifts with the most ferocity possible
don't get into a comfort zone like because because i know i'm good on my squat but i'm not
going to really work on my weaknesses on the other two lifts you know you take some pride in it too
and and when you grab a hold of a barbell and when you're actually like in a workout yeah be a
professional about it have it have it represent something that maybe other people haven't seen
before you know have them kind of take a step back and go i'm not sure kind of work out that guy's doing but that's some different
shit even when the weights are light like the second that you make contact with the bar the
second that you squeeze the bar for the squat that's when the squat starts even before you put
your head underneath the bar even before you lock your lats in and and and all that different stuff
do it with a purpose for sure like you mean it do it
like you're trying to break the bar do it like you're trying to you know you want to do it with
with everything that you have because you need to stay connected to that bar in order to lift those
heavier weights yeah yeah it's it's uh that's something that as a lifter you got to really
learn how to master to to have that focus uh to flip the kill switch just for that you know say
20 seconds or so as you walk into the bar and and get under it you look like you really thrive on
that yeah i mean i see you pace back and forth and you get hyped i'm a big visualization guy you know
so like i think you have to like you got to be hyped but you got to stay focused you can't like
uh get you know, stupid crazy.
I've seen, I mean, you've probably seen guys like, I've seen guys.
Oh, I'm guilty.
You know, I've gone too far.
They grab the bar and they're like, ah!
And then they freaking split their head.
And then they're like under the bar, like what the hell just happened?
And then they fail, you know?
So you got to really learn how to master of being in uh your own zone you know and attacking it and
blocking out everything like only thing you see is just that referee in front of you you know
and and everything i believe you know everything positive will happen as long as you eliminate
negativity you know so if you don't see yourself completing the lift then your chances go down in my opinion
what do you think the biggest difference is between strongman training and powerlifting
i think uh strongman training is you got to be really statically strong but you got to be
athletic as hell you gotta be able to move you gotta be moved man you gotta move your body along
with heavy ass objects too you know it's tough to have that conditioning and to be big yeah same time be big and strong and have that level yeah you know uh strongman uh training i
think really helps with powerlifting in my opinion because like i remember when you know like when i
first started and you thought a meet was going too fast and you'd be like oh my god slow this
down and stuff you know and if you go to a meet now and you get done in like three and a half hours,
like, oh, that's awesome, you know, that's good for me, you know.
But I think there's still a lot of people that are like, what the hell,
this is going way too fast.
I'm like, dude, like, you know, you guys got to get in a little bit better shape,
you know what I mean?
I've actually talked about that before as a means of, you know just making sure that some of the athletes uh don't get too
out of shape making sure some of the athletes um you know different guys are gonna be able to do it
different ways different guys gonna have different uh body types and different look and everything
but you know i was just thinking like what if uh you know we've seen some miraculous totals
done in like a minute you you know, and that's,
that's really fascinating. I think that might be a little too reckless. That might be a little too
over the top, but, um, you know, you just think about it. What if it was like, there's really no
one that can challenge Ray Williams, but, uh, just imagine it's Ray Williams, Blaine Sumner,
and like three other people in a flight. It's one guy after another.
Now they got to strategically pick their weights.
It's still about who's the strongest, but maybe they can't go to that real top level.
Or maybe you kind of round Robin at the way they do in strong man, where, Hey, the bar
starts at 850 pounds and we're going to see each guy perform 850 pounds.
If Grant makes 850 and I miss it, it's very clear that grant's stronger than i
am it's very clear to the crowd on what's happening and they just saw it and then when guys start
dropping out too then the rest time is minimized too you know so then you really got to dig in and
get a heavier weight you know and over time you know if you if you were to develop something like
that over time maybe guys would be like you know what man i need to i need to drop some lbs and and maybe like you would lose some of that real top end strength of
it but i just think as like a pro event or something i think something like that could
be really sick you get people really involved for sure for sure a strong man's you know strong
has been great to uh keep into my training and stuff i haven't been able to do uh too many
competitions lately just do schedules but i love adding it into my training and stuff. I haven't been able to do too many competitions lately, just do schedules, but I love adding it into my training no matter what, because I think it's a
big, uh, fitness component as well as being, uh, you know, kind of statically strong. I like to
end every workout with some type of a, a drag, you know, whether it's a sled drag or a prowler
push or a chain drag or something, because, um, if we can do a couple of sets of that after a good kick-ass two and a half hour training session
and you dig in to find that will to move that you know sled or chain when you when you go to a
contest day like on the okay here's your deadlift attempts. Like my gas tank still going, you know, I feel that confidence. I feel that I know I busted my ass in training and can push through this with no problem.
You know, did you add that in, uh, maybe at some point when you, when you did, uh, you
know, kind of shit the bed, so to speak, like in a, in a meet, like where you're like, Ooh,
my deadlift is like jacked up cause I'm tired.
You know, when I first met, uh, Jesse Morande, man, Jesse was the one that actually kind of turned me on to pushing beyond the barriers a bit, you know,
because Jesse was a big advocate of, like, hey, we got to be strong,
but we also got to find that freaking dark place where, like, you need to go finish this event,
and, you know, what are you going to do about it?
Yeah, it's hot outside, or, yeah, you're kind of depleted and stuff.
But Jesse kind of actually helped me with adding that into my training.
Man, me and my friend Pete Markoff, when Jesse was still alive and living and renting,
he was working at a Gold's gym, and we had to go squat at 4 45 a.m we're
gonna do 20 rep squats today boys like who wants to squat 20 rep squats at like you know by 5 a.m
right you know it was awful you can even ask john anderson this because john was doing it too
uh 20 rep squats and immediately do 20 uh uh stiff leg deadlifts, you know, and then finish with a chest pullover.
The pullover was easy, you know,
but think about how fried your back was after doing 20 rep squats
and then doing like, you know, 225 stiff leg deadlifts afterwards.
It's hard as shit, dude.
Who was the ringleader of this thing?
Jesse.
Jesse was a big thing on it, you know, yeah.
Even one time when i trained
at this warehouse in kent man jesse had an idea to like i'm gonna flip this 694 pound tire uh
about 70 times i'm like you freaking crazy boy you know and him uh there was a lightweight pro
at the time adam keep adam keep was uh he was a pretty strong kid too i think i stopped at like
20 man yeah and i was like i'm done dude you know we're in this moving company warehouse so we're
basically flipping this tire in between all the storage crates you know adam did 34 jesse kept
going and did 70 man 70 flips with a 694 pound tire is that is that crazy is that crazier than what you saw that
happened in an animal cage i think that that deadlift battle back and forth yeah i mean because
i guess um it was crazy because it was such a long period of time you know you can't you can't
do 70 flips with a almost 700 pound tire in a short amount of time you know what i mean
and jesse did it man we talked about that the other day you know a half hour cardio session
takes 30 minutes you know like there's no there's no way around it uh yeah a 500 pound bench press
now for one guy it might take three years uh for another guy it might take eight or ten you know
there's there's different time associated with it but there's certain amount of time that's
associated with some of these things.
When you are going to do a big squat workout and you're a 700 pound squatter, an 800 pound squatter, those workouts just take a long time.
Yeah.
I mean, we're talking about a minimum of two hours every time there's.
For sure.
There's not anything you can really do about it.
There are, again, like obviously there's anomalies, there's people that get there faster, but we've talked about it many times in this podcast.
I have like a 10, 10 year rule, you know, that you're not, and you mentioned the macadamia
nuts.
It takes 10 years to even, uh, begin harvesting them.
Yeah.
Oh, same thing with your power.
It takes 10 years to have that fully harvested too.
Yeah.
No, I believe that, you know, and, uh.
Yeah.
These guys were crazy, man.
This is an insane battle.
Yeah.
I'll tell you what uh i've
seen some crazy shit in animal pack cage i've been fortunate to be with animal for eight years
i did not expect stevie johnson and rob hall to deadlift that many freaking reps in the cage
that was probably one of the most exciting freaking things ever seen and sheer willpower
from both of those guys stuff like that i think is is you
know unfortunately you know both guys were were pretty uh you know jacked up from it and yeah
luckily luckily nobody got hurt or or anything more serious happened but yeah um what a cool
thing for the sport it was yeah you know that's the kind of stuff that's the kind of you know uh
outside the box type stuff that could get kind of you know uh outside the box
type stuff that could get the sport uh on a whole nother level might get uh you know nike involved
or under armor you never know man you know the the animal pack cage you know you've been there and
it's i can't even describe how freaking insane the animal pack cage can be uh you know you hear about it you see the dvds you see the
videos but if you're actually there and you get to witness a moment like that you never forget
that shit i've had people in the past talk about like oh i got invited to do the thing you know
should i do the lift and they're like i only they're only to give me like $250 or $500. I'm like, wait a second.
They're going to give you $500 to represent yourself on the biggest stage in front of thousands of people.
And you're mad that you're getting paid for it.
Let's make something perfectly clear.
You normally don't get paid anything at all.
Normally just money out of your own pocket.
I'm like, you should fucking go do it.
The cage is a freaking opportunity if you are lift
a lifter listening to this shit right now and you get invited to the cage i i swear don't turn that
shit down because how about uh getting smoky in there and have him miss a 405 bench and fire
oh you could do the i'll spot you on the bench your body weight for rep smoke like he only weighs
225 pounds let's
get it behind them and he just goes out there and blows it out misses it yeah you know i i tell
everybody this like um when i lift in the cage you got to pick something that is uh kind of like
nuts like there's no fucking way you know what i mean but you also have to have maybe close to 70 success rate where you
think you can get it but not a high percentage you know because if you do something epic in the
animal pack cage people will remember that shit for years to come yeah they remember it like i i
get numerous people that i'll run into wherever i travel and, like, dude, when you did that 500-pound for reps or all that stuff, they talk about it.
Like, I'll watch that video before every workout, you know.
And it has a crazy trickle effect in years to come.
I didn't know what to expect.
I was in there this year when Casey Mitchell deadlifted.
Yes.
I don't even remember how much it was but i just i haven't felt like that kind of electricity like yeah in one little tight space
like that it was yeah and then last year casey missed that weight so you know like huge for him
it was huge for him you know you know how it is like when you miss a big lift and it you know it
just pisses you off it dwells on you so you know casey was coming in you know this year to like make amends you know no it was great he freaking killed it man yeah yeah and then you
know steve johnson uh forsaken warrior was there like hyping him up too it was it was like i'm
getting chills thinking about it yeah see that's the kind of stuff that you you can't uh explain
you can tell people but you need to go experience an Arnold Classic weekend and go see stuff like that.
Go to the cage and stuff because, man, it's crazy, man.
But, you know, these lifts that we try to do on our exhibitions, it's got to be freaking epic, man.
Gnarled his hand.
Yeah.
You think about, like, things that have made sports over the years.
It's always some triumphant
thing of of somebody overcoming something um you look at the olympics it's always a good example
they always have some crazy backstory about the person's dad died and then this happened to that
you know and and then they go on and they uh they succeed or um you know you got those epic
photos and videos of michael jordan making the shot over the Utah Jazz and he you
know illegally shoves the guy out of the way big time nails nails nails the uh basket and you got
there's there's a lot of things like that or Tom Brady uh you know coming back in the Super Bowl
you know there's there's so many moments like that uh for the young kids listening to this
go on YouTube and type in Hagler and hearns and you know you'll
see one of the most epic boxing matches but it's just a whether you like boxing or don't like
boxing it's just a battle of will for sure and that's what i think we admire most when we see
some some sports like this and yeah what these guys did in the animal cage yeah willpower is
is a big thing that shows an animal package every year man because uh whether
it's reps i mean i seriously you know i was right next to rob hall you know just helping him and you
know i met steve for the first time last december at a deadlift charity for reps in portland oregon
and stuff you know so you know he's a super nice guy too and but just i was there for both of those guys but i seriously did not fathom
over 60 reps gonna be pulled with 600 pounds like i was thinking 30 maybe you know and then steve
was pulling you did you guys see the close-up on the bar there was like flesh and blood on that
freaking bar like chalk dust caked up and he was still pulling that shit it was insane dude yeah absolutely
absolutely wild oh man for people to uh put in that uh that kind of effort it was crazy man
now you compete in the usa pl yeah but you're also a professional strongman athlete yeah i've been uh
i got a pro strongman in uh 2001 uh i used to compete in the old uhSA Nationals, you know, back in the day
and stuff. Those are good times, you know, competing with
Jesse Miranda, too, you know.
That's really rare to acquire that kind of strength
and be a
drug-tested athlete. I mean, how
are you able, like, I don't
know any, I can't think of anybody else off the top of my head
that has... Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I mean, I've
always been lifetime drug-free, you know.
Like, I started out powerlifting, and I just, you know,
I've always been that way.
And then in 98, when I was living in Oregon,
the Hawaii team came up to Portland, Oregon,
for the USPF Bench Press Nationals at the time.
And Old Haugen brought, you know, a whole bunch of Hawaiians up there and stuff,
you know.
So my wife and I went up there to go just support the Hawaiian guys.
And Ode was telling me, hey, you know, I got this strongman contest I'm putting on Honolulu.
You know, if you want to come over, like, I'll waive your entry fee.
I'm like, all right, cool, you know.
So, you know, my wife put together a little, you know, fundraiser at a golf course.
And we paid for our round trips and got over there.
And I just thought it was just like some local strong strongman contest and then magnus ver magnuson
is there oh shit and mark philippi is there and i'm like dude this is like guys i'm seeing on
esbn you know from prim nevada the world's strongest man you know like what the hell dude
like and uh that was my first uh strongman contest uh beauty and the beast first strongman contest Beauty and the Beast World Strongman Challenge
at Kodak Hula Theater
and I thought I was a
strong 242 powerlifter
I was not man
Farmer's Walk was 220
oxygen cylinders
and I barely got
18 feet I think
220
think of like what they do
nowadays you know
for farmers
so it kind of intrigued me you know and I got into it and been doing this, you know, since I, you know, like I said, I haven't been able to compete lately, but I still enjoy it.
But I've always, I don't know, I've just always been a guy that just tries to do my best.
guy that just tries to do my best and you know i've been lifetime drug free and you know if i can do what i can do and be strong as possible then that's all i can do you know it's amazing you're
intrigued by uh like doing poorly you're like oh i gotta find out more about this like why do i
yeah i suck so bad yeah you know it's uh it's it's very humbling you know but uh i thought it was
super unorthodox like whoa this is like some crazy, you know, but I thought it was super unorthodox.
Like, whoa, this is like some crazy shit, you know.
You thought you were strong.
You found an avenue of strength where you're actually kind of weak.
Yeah, you know, and the one cool thing about Strongman is that it's so visually entertaining.
Like, when you see this dude pulling this semi-truck, that's like not normal, right?
You know, like, no, I usually call triple A or less
Schwab. Right. You know, like here's this dude pulling this truck or this flipping this airplane.
Yeah. Airplane, giant tires and stuff, you know? So, but, uh, yeah, you know, I just,
you know, I got friends that are not drug free, you know, but I still love them. You know,
we're all adults and we make our own choices. You love them, but they're going to hell.
You know, we're all adults and we make our own choices.
You love them, but they're going to hell.
Like if they want to burn an eternal damnation, then that's up to them. It's going to be like in South Park with Saddam and Satan.
Oh, that's great.
Isn't that amazing?
You just want to fuck me in the ass.
Oh man.
That's so, that is so good.
Oh man, but you know.
God, I love that movie.
What was that movie called?
Like Team America or something?
I think it was the first one.
Remember?
It's not just the South Park movie, is it?
Or is it?
Or it is the South Park.
It was the South Park movie.
Oh, okay.
Fuck.
And Saddam was making Satan his bitch.
Remember?
Yeah.
Yeah.
And Satan's all sensitive.
Yeah.
He's like, you just want to fuck me.
He keeps saying it over and over.
Stop saying that, Saddam.
And Saddam's like, no, I don't.
Oh, my God.
Yeah, but you know, it's, hey, we all have.
He's throwing sausage at a mother in bed.
That's a great movie.
Oh, man, hell yeah.
Yeah, we got choices, man.
But this is my choice, my lifestyle.
And, you know, I do what I can.
If I beat anyone who is on the other side of the
fence then it's you know a moral victory for me but i'm not like throwing it in their face or
anything you know yeah it's just it's your choice yeah it's just me and that's their choice too you
know so as has the training been any different like uh when you were coming up and you were
learning what was there ever a moment of like uh you like you tried something and you were learning, was there ever a moment of like, like you tried something and you're like, ah, it didn't really work,
maybe because you weren't enhanced and maybe some other people around you were?
Yeah, I mean, I never, I guess, really.
Like not using it as an excuse, but like legitimately,
this other guy's got an edge, right?
For sure, yeah.
I guess I never really dwelled on that too much because I just accepted like,
yeah, this is the route I'm going to go.
You know, you know, I'd imagine like recovery is, you know, completely different and stuff like that.
But I just, you know, yeah, I never I never dwelt on it, man.
I just, you know, just thought right past it.
It's just you got to just blow it out of hard work and do the best you freaking can.
One hundred ten percent, you know, uh workouts that you're talking about like
flipping a tire nine million times and stuff is that where uh john anderson got some of his
craziness from you know uh john always had a screw loose no man so john i when i was living in
washington and then i put on a strongman show nobody farts mid-sentence like John Anderson does. I can't freaking remember what he does, dude. Oh my God.
Yeah.
He just makes
all these weird noises.
He was telling me
this emotional story
about his daughter.
Yeah.
And he's like,
yeah, man,
he's like,
I am just so proud of her.
You got to talk to her
in the John Anderson voice.
You got to like,
yeah.
Yeah.
I'm just,
you know,
Marco,
I'm just really,
really proud of her
and she's doing
such a great job
in school
and I told her
the other day, I'm like, baby, I am so proud of you.
I can't believe it.
I'm like, John, you can't have a great story like that and just rip ass.
That's classic.
Mid-sentence, like, why not?
Do whatever the fuck you want.
He's like laughing.
Oh, my God. Yeah. Yeah. I,
uh, I put on a strongman contest at Oregon state university during dad's
weekend called Oregon's strongest beaver.
And I get it.
Yeah.
So I know because that's the mascot of the,
is it Oregon city?
It's the bees,
right?
But it's funny as hell.
Like,
all right,
cool.
So,
uh,
I get a call from this guy from Novato,
California.
Uh,
Hey,
this is,
uh, my name is John Anderson and I'm like trying to, you know, I'm thinking of from Novato, California. He's like, Hey, this is a,
my name is John Anderson.
And I'm like trying to,
you know,
I'm thinking of doing your show or something like,
uh,
just been doing like bodybuilding.
And I was like,
cool,
bro.
You know,
dude,
John took second at that show to Jesse Miranda.
Oh my God.
Yeah.
And this first show ever and stuff,
you know,
but if you ever talked to John again,
ask him about the truck pool.
I was working
for a moving company atlas van lines and uh my boss uh let us use their 53 foot trailer and john
was pulling it and he never did any kind of cardio like that as a bodybuilder and he was his legs just
blew up he was dying right yeah yeah but yeah that was his first show man he did really well
and uh from there.
He thought, if I got beat by this guy, I should learn some shit from him.
Yeah.
He wanted to win, no doubt.
Yeah.
He wanted to, you know, win.
But, you know, Jesse was obviously a special guy, too.
You know, Jesse was freakishly strong.
But, you know, from there, that's when we all became friends, man.
He passed in the gym, right?
Yeah, passed in the gym, man. Yeah, man. He did, like like a set of squats or something and yeah heartbeat got a little crazy and that was
that yeah man you know wow i love you know i love him and his family and uh been through a lot of
stuff with them but you know jesse helped uh develop a big foundation for my training to
you know push beyond limits when you think you can't do it you know
he's inspirational to a lot of people i remember there's more and more people getting into strongman
and he was a big reason for yeah you know what if here's the thing too that i truly believe
social media wasn't big then when jesse was alive it wasn't really oh my god if jesse had instagram
and all that he would be a social media whore that would just blow up the freaking.
Yeah.
Oh, man.
Because he was so flamboyant, but perfect for the camera.
Yeah.
He was great, man.
Ripped the shirt off.
And he was jacked.
That's what we need.
You know what I mean?
That's what grows a sport, in my opinion.
But, man, if their social media was big then when he was still alive i can't imagine
how it would be yeah yeah he was charismatic for sure yeah for sure man you know i miss him all
the time man you know but he's always a part of my training and i i always remember things that
we've done together that has made me what i do today you know you take some of that stuff that
you've learned in strongman where you know you're talking about dragging these sleds really far
and flipping the tires and stuff you take some of that yeah into your powerlifting workouts when
the powerlifting workouts get hard yeah for sure man because like powerlifting seems easier to me
after a kick-ass strongman workout you know because? Because it's, I don't know, walking with a yoke
makes walking out with a squat a lot easier, in my opinion.
It's a much longer duration, too.
Yeah.
Like maybe 30 seconds of you doing something rather than...
You know, like I'm a 305-pound guy,
and then I got to go, you know, carry around
and, you know, load a sandbag or do a yoke walk or something.
We need to get you on the scale to confirm that.
You know, it's, it's, uh, it, it, I think it, you know, just blends and makes you a
better athlete overall.
You know, I know I got no six pack.
I know I post in all these IG food pics and all that stuff of that, but I know I could
run a mile.
It might not be fast, but I'll run the mile.
But I know I could run a mile.
It might not be fast, but I'll run the mile.
I got the gym record at Kent CrossFit for holding a plank for like five minutes, 38 seconds.
And I'm like 305.
I think we need to get that mile run on camera.
Well, you know what I'm saying?
Like I'm a big believer about being, you know, like fit. And, you know, we don't like a lot of people think that oh god you know you're fat or whatever
and stuff like that like whatever it's just like white noise you know what i'm saying like i just
do my thing i believe i know i'm strong and i know i'm pretty fit but you know you just gotta like
put white noise like that aside in my opinion you know everybody's got their opinion been a
strength athlete for a long time you probably still have a lot of goals right? Yeah for sure you know I have a goal to hopefully total
2000 raw and as a master like I'll be 48
in December but I feel like the strongest now
at this age compared to when I first started or even when I thought I was
the strongest you know. When I was younger like you know
it was a growing process, obviously.
And I remember, like, just trying routines out of Powerlifting USA.
This is a funny story.
Like, you remember Sylvester Anderson?
I don't remember him.
He was a black guy, a powerlifter.
But, you know, like in the old Powerlifting USA magazines,
they had, like, a workout of the month article, right?
So I remember I did the Sylvester Anderson deadlift workout.
And what he did was he would deadlift with 35 pound plates.
Right.
Yeah.
You get extra range of motion.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So like, I remember going to the gym and like trying to scrounge all the 35 pound plates,
you know, when nowadays all you could do is just pull from a deficit, you know, but you
don't think of that then, you know, but it was like, no,
this is what's in the magazine. Right.
So I'm going to go do it this way. Cause Sylvester Anderson did it.
You could have just stood on a 45 pound plate and had the same result.
Yeah. Cause like, you know, loading 35 is like, you know,
you're not even getting that heavy cause it's just stretching out on the bar.
You know what I'm saying? But, uh, you know, nowadays, you know,
everything's like, you know, you can get an online program online. You can get an online coach, you know everything's like you know you can get an online
program online you can get an online coach you know when you know when I started it was just
basically you know maybe finding someone who was into the sport or uh learning from a magazine that
you had to wait every month you know so it's it's it's changed um but I think I've come to a point
where I've you know tried a few different things and I end up finding what has worked best for me.
And I like nowadays to work out just like three days a week, you know.
It's busy.
You know, time's busy for me.
I can't do four days a week.
I could, but it would be a little tougher.
I'd rather get it done in three.
Each workout two or three hours something like that yeah monday especially is almost like three hours
including like you know warming up and rolling out and stuff you know but i try to do like little
mini uh powerlifting contests uh every every day though you know uh anthony harris what do you mean
by that uh it's kind of like so you're doing some type of a squat movement and a
pressing movement and then some type of
deadlift or like
say a good morning. So on all three days?
Yeah, yeah. But I'll
do like three different types of squats
during the day like
you know, like today
I'll do some front squats before we
deadlift and then
it could be a box squat another day or
just a regular uh you know bar squat and stuff you know I squat three days a week pretty much
is what I do and some sort of press three times three times correct and some sort of pull three
times yeah yeah whether it's a you know like an actual deadlift or uh you know some block
poles a unique program just something you discovered for yourself yeah Anthony Harris
helped me out with that.
You know, and Tony's like one of my best friends
and also, you know, somebody I look up to
in the powerlifting world, you know.
Like, when I was living in Hawaii, you know,
Hawaii was just a, when I got into powerlifting,
Hawaii was a big bench press state.
All the benchers, right?
Everybody's benching.
Anthony Clark.
Yeah, Anthony Clark.
Right.
Well, he's from, originally from Houston, Texas,
but he lifted at the Budweiser World Record.
Was he Hawaiian?
Filipino.
He's Filipino.
Oh, he's Filipino.
Okay.
But here comes this guy, 198-pound guy from Alabama that moved to Hawaii, and he freaking
pulled like 7'11", 7'22".
Like, oh, what the hell?
You know?
So, you know, being a good friend with anthony has really uh helped me you
know get better he's a master lifter too but he's so freaking strong dude you know that guy's a beast
man and you know so he helps me a lot with uh just setting up my program as well and it kind of works
out ideally for me to do three days a week you You mentioned, you know, rolling out and warming up, how that takes time.
Is that new for you?
You know, I've been actually.
When you were young?
Well, I never did it when I was young, man.
Yeah.
Never did it, you know.
Just started.
Just like, I'm going to squat, and you just squatted.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, I think mobility is a big key.
You know, you got to be mobile, especially as you get older.
You know?
So, you know, I always, I got damn two lacrosse balls in my bag when i came here even in the hotel room i was
rolling out you know uh you know you can't do much when you're hurt yeah i cannot man you gotta
gotta stay on top of it yeah the health is a huge part of it and you know like uh we've done like
west side barbell style workouts here for a long time or people want to sometimes, you know, bench twice a week or do something twice a week.
And then, you know, your elbow starts to go, your shoulder starts, something starts to go.
And then it's like, man, once your health is compromised, even just in the slightest way,
now you're putting in 80%.
Yeah.
Maybe in the next week it's 70.
Like you just don't, you can't, you can't push as hard.
You can't push as fast.
For sure.
It just changes everything.
You know, and as you, you know, as a, as a master's lifter too, you know, raw and, you know, it just takes a little bit more time to recover after a hard or hard workout, you know?
So, you know, I got to make sure i'm on top of that along with my nutrition
you know i love to point out that smoky looks like he's ready to like ski go downhill skiing
he's in this giant puffy jacket and poor grant over here i'm like sweating because i'm from like
seattle and i think it's like maui in here he's got his flannel on it's cold the californians
go down the 101 to the 80. It feels good to me.
Yeah, I had to throw on my sweater too.
What's the biggest difference for you now in training?
You've been doing it for a long time, and, you know, like the stimulus starts to change.
Are you still as fired up?
Are you still as excited about training today as you were when you were young?
Yeah, I think I try to focus
more on two major goals in the year
to get fired up.
I always get fired up for the animal pack cage, for sure.
Because that's got to be an epic lift.
And then nationals, you know, definitely get fired up for that.
And I think I try to do, like, smaller attainable contest goals,
like, say, three a year to do.
But I always will generally be working on it.
I can't sit still.
What's nationals?
Raw nationals will be in Spokane and Washington this year.
USAPL Raw Nationals on mid-October.
So I'm getting ready for that because this is the first time that Raw Nationals.
I got a special announcement.
Okay.
Slingshot has spent over six figures getting all their stuff approved for USAPL IPF coming up in 2019.
Nice.
So people have been asking for it.
People have been dying for it. People have been dying for it.
People have been wanting it.
And we're not afraid to shell out the dough to make sure that it happens.
And so.
That's about us, man.
I think.
I mean, we'll have to check and see when it finally gets approved.
But, yeah, we're trying to get every single thing that we have approved.
That's about us, man.
Yeah.
I'm excited for it.
I'm excited for it because I think, you know, it gives lifters more opportunities, gives us opportunities to sponsor and support more people.
For sure.
And, you know, hopefully it helps a lot of lifters out there.
Yeah.
Oh, man.
I mean, I think what you're doing for the lifting community is just super inspirational.
I mean, you know, I appreciate all that you guys do for me.
And I know that I'm just dropping the bucket compared to everybody else around the world that loves Slingshot products.
No, man, we're huge fans.
No, I appreciate that, man.
You're passionate and everything.
It shines through, and that's why I've been bugging you.
That's why we've been trying to connect.
I still got that text that you – I still got it in my screenshot, man.
I still save it.
It's on my phone.
I see what people do, man, and when somebody –
That's pretty cool, Mark.
Yeah, when somebody is out there hustling, man, it means a lot to me.
It means a lot to everybody in this building because this is fun.
You know, this is an opportunity for us to get better.
And I'm not going to try to make it seem like it's something that's not.
But it is a daily grind.
You know, it's one thing to come here for super training for a day or two and hang out and kick it and hit up some deadlifts with uh some of our guys and then you know bench
with a few got a few of our guys but it's totally different ball game yeah to to like be a lifter
and to do it day in and day out and so we seek inspiration from all kinds of people and you know
when i'm following along with some of your story and i'm i'm seeing you know you're popping in
through sacramento and you're you're coming to super train.
You came to super training a couple of times in the past, uh, as, as you were, uh, you know, touring the country with your daughter for softball.
I'm like, you know what, man?
I, I love that.
This guy's a dad.
He's got his lift.
He, his lift.
He's passionate about his lifting.
He's passionate about his daughter.
And, you know, some of the same things that I'm trying to do, it looks like you're doing.
I'll go whenever I travel anywhere.
I'm like, oh, it'd be cool to hit a seminar,
or it'd be cool to hit up that gym and meet some new people over there,
and I'll duck out and be away from my family for a little bit,
and then get right back to it.
Luckily, my family is supportive of all of it too but for sure
yeah we're we're we're fired up man we see what you're doing man you're you're crushing it no i
mean you know i appreciate the kind words and uh you know what kind of drives me too is like you
know i'm just a local boy from hawaii and you know i've been fortunate to be a animal pack athlete
for the past eight years uh been able to compete around the world, the U.S., being here at the podcast.
I get messages all the time from, like, other Hawaiians that say, you know, bro, you know, you really fire us up and inspire us and, you know, keep doing what you're doing.
And when you read stuff like that, you know, you spend time in Hawaii.
And so, you know, Hawaii is a small, you know, state time in hawaii and so you know hawaii is
a small you know state right you know got plenty of law there right but it's very small compared to
like say the national stage you know so and there's a there's a very dark side to hawaii that a lot of
people don't know you know like like there's some of the people there like when i was there last
time i remember i went to a CrossFit gym.
And they kept talking about this group of guys they had coming in that worked out there.
And they had like an outreach program.
Every city's got people that struggle, right?
But they were telling me like in that area, at least with these specific people, like, man, it's like a lot of people around here really struggle.
And I was like, man, it's like the beach is there and it's super nice,
but there's problems there, like in paradise,
just like there is anywhere else, right?
Always is, you know.
So if somebody, you know, from Hawaii can, you know,
kind of stand out above and, you know, be successful with whatever they do,
but especially in, you know, like, uh, lifting and stuff, you know,
I really enjoy having that, uh, burden per se. It's not really a burden, but I have a lot of
pride, I should say to, you know, rep Hawaii to say like, I hope there's some lifter out there
that's grinding, that has no car is riding a bike to the the gym like how I was or scraping by, but has dreams
to maybe lift an animal pack cage or, you know, lift at a major contest up here in the
mainland.
I want them to, you know, believe that they can freaking get to that level as long as
they still just work hard and, you know, follow through whatever their dreams is.
You know what I mean?
hard and, you know, follow through whatever their dreams is. You know what I mean? Um,
it's, it's amazing of, you know, how much of an effect that has on your hometown. And I really, I really, that, that fires me up. That drives me a lot, man. I, I can't explain
how, when I see a message like that, you know, how that really gets me fired up. There's something really interesting about humans that we could all be talking about
the same thing.
But if I'm talking about it and I'm white, it's going to come off a certain way.
If you're talking about it and you're black, you're talking about it and you're Hawaiian.
Yeah.
It's a totally different thing.
And in today's society, people have a hard time accepting that there is
an identity associated with different people yeah people tend to get all fucking bent out of shape
but it's a very simple thing to grasp if if i was in if i was in new york and i met you
and you're in hawaii right or you're from Hawaii, right? Yeah. We meet each other. We talk for five seconds.
We're going to kind of realize, like,
if we don't talk about lifting, we don't have much,
you're like, I'm from Hawaii, you know, and we're visiting.
So we have one thing in common that we're, like,
visiting New York, right?
However, if I'm in Paris, right, and we're on a subway,
and I'm with my kids, and you're in Paris,
and you're with your kids, we're both from the United yeah what's up bro two americans yeah now we start talking
about lifting now it's a totally different identity right now now all of a sudden we're
like homies right we're friends and it's it's a really interesting thing but i think that
the more diversity that we have and the more, uh, opportunities there are for the, the people that
are, um, uh, maybe not getting the same opportunities, uh, the better off we'll be
because there'll be more people that are shining through and it will inspire more people, even
though it's all the same message, you know, but it's, it gets to be kind of hard, uh, you know,
for women to be inspired, uh, when it's just guys talking about a certain thing they
need a woman to kind of to be be out there in front and same with the guys i agree no i agree
um you know so it's you got to stay you know stay humble remember where you came from
and uh just know that you know you're a role model for a lot of people that you might not realize, you know, uh,
even if there was no social media, there's still a lot of people that look up to you, you know,
with whatever your actions are. And I just keep my head down, man, and do the best I can.
And very thankful for all the opportunities I've had so far in my life. You know, aside from like,
so far in my life. You know, aside from like, uh, you know, technique, um, that's just an obvious thing. Um, you know, watching some of these videos that we were sitting here watching
some videos of you, um, lifting and it really just, when you break it down, it just looks like
you really just train really hard. I know that there's, I know there's more to it than that.
I know that you probably, there's some programming in there and there's some things but it looks like uh you're pushing and pushing and pushing and it
looks like you're about ready to die about ready about ready to sweat in a lot in that barbell
brigade video right there yeah yeah you're about ready to pass out and then you just dig deeper
and do more is that i mean is that kind of uh know, the Grant Higa style is to, is to
really, uh, get to a breaking point and then see where you can kind of push. I think, uh, it's,
um, I don't, you know, it's not necessarily like a breaking point sometimes, because I think if you,
if you make it a breaking point, then it'll get sloppy.
Like it's getting to a breaking point,
but then finding out how focused can you be at that breaking point
to still maintain some sort of control and willpower
to finish the set or execute the lift properly.
I don't know if that makes sense.
Some people call it a technical limit.
So you're not going to all out absolute failure you feel your background on a deadlift
and you might be like i could do one more yeah but i'm not going to do three more yeah like uh
like even like uh like doing like these high rep stuff you know that i've done in the cage and
stuff like i've even learned over the years like know, when you get so hype and you're
getting reps and you just like, your face is like, you know, if you start doing that
on like rep seven, just think of that, just scrunch your face and hold that for like,
you know, like 30 seconds.
How hard that is.
Like I've even learned to like, even like, okay, stay focused, but relax my face, but brace my core tight and keep it engaged.
And that gives me like an extra six reps.
It teaches us sprinters.
Yeah.
You ever watch.
I can imagine.
Yeah.
You know, watch Usain Bolt and his like jaw and his mouth and everything's going all over the place while he's running.
Loose, but focused and controlled, you know?
And I think that's, uh, you know, what I.
And you got stumpy legs.
I know I'm vertically challenged.
I just saw that, that video.
I was like, man.
I know I'm five foot eight.
Chubby calves.
Everybody, I always get asked this question.
Yo, man, what you do for your calves?
Like I wake up and lift.
Carry around 300 pounds.
Carry around 305 of my ass around.
Anybody else in your family lift? I mean mean you said your kids are kind of getting into some of it but you know um no i think i'm
pretty much the only like i don't know i have any other uh any strong like cousins or somebody
oh man there's always some strong uncle that can back in the day your ass in the day. You can still whoop your ass, right? Right, right. Yeah. But it's, yeah, it's been a good ride, man.
I mean, I still enjoy it.
I want to do it as long as I can.
And, you know, it's fun.
I really pride myself in trying to be a, you know, strong, you know, person that's well conditioned, I hope, you know.
You know, you're strong in what I think is a really cool way.
You're, you're, uh, you're, you're strong in a lot of these, uh, strongman lifts as
well as the power lifts.
And it looks like you can kind of just go to any gym and party with anybody because
if somebody was like, Hey man, we're going to do high rep set of squats today.
Yeah.
You wouldn't be like, you wouldn't have to tuck tail and run out of there.
Yeah, yeah.
And thinking of an excuse on why you couldn't work out, right?
Right.
Seems like you could hang with a lot of people.
I think, I mean, I think so.
You know, I, you know, it's, it's, it's got to be fun.
You know, it's got to be fun lifting.
And I've been fortunate to, you know, being at some really cool gyms.
And I think this is important too,
to point out, like if you're travel,
if you have a busy schedule,
you know, do your research.
Like if you're going to plan a workout,
do your research ahead of time,
find a cool gym.
If you work out at that cool gym
while you're on the road,
make a note of it.
You know, like next time I come into town,
hell yeah, I'm going to go visit this gym again.
You know, that's a great idea. I'm going to tell my friends about it. And,
you know, now you can read Google reviews, you know, and you can, you can see, does this gym have, uh, the equipment that I need to get this workout. And if I'm cycling for a meet, you know
what I mean? Like, you know, but now we can do this research and also, uh, bank it in the back
of our heads for the next
time we come this is all stuff that successful people do it doesn't matter if it's business or
lifting somebody who's successful is like you know what i enjoyed that restaurant the food was quick
yeah it was it was well priced it was well worth it there was no hassle i'm coming here next time
i come into town because they know they can rely on that spot and they can get on to the next thing and they're not stuck there and they're not pissed about the service and everything else.
It's hard, man. I mean, you know, life's busy, like I said, but, you know, like I'll pack my gym stuff, man, with me, even if we're traveling, you know, you know, if you're dedicated to what your goal is and, you know, you're going to stick to your plan, then you have to follow through.
you know you're going to stick to your plan then you have to follow through you know it's not going to take up much room to throw in your squat shoes or a wrist wrap in and you know and and go work
out while on the road we always we always uh we love making barriers for ourselves right yeah for
sure create these barriers that aren't even there like i can't bring my belt because then they're
gonna then they're gonna make me take it out of the bag. Every time.
It's not a big deal.
Yeah, I got stopped at TSA last night.
Like, oh, we got to check this.
Is this aminos?
Like, yeah.
But, you know, like.
It's just not a huge deal.
Yeah, it's funny. But it shouldn't be an excuse for a lifter that has goals to get better.
Even if you're traveling, you can make time to bring your equipment with you.
It's not going to take up that much space, you know.
Who has inspired you over the years?
Like who's been, well, actually let's start out with rather than inspired,
but who's been like a mentor to you?
You kind of mentioned some old lifting partners and stuff.
Yeah.
When I first started lifting in hilo hawaii i worked out at this
old gym in physiques and uh got linked up with uh a guy named pj cuvion he was like my first uh
powerlifting coach he lives in north carolina now and pj was a great guy and to this day man it's
like my second dad you know like every time if i'm at a meeting and stuff, you know, I'm calling him.
I let him know all my numbers, but he's just got so much love and a lot that, you know, it's awesome and stuff.
But PJ always told me this when I first started and I still remember this to this day is that I pray that someone is out there training harder than everybody else.
And I pray that someone is you.
And I always remember that quote, man.
It doesn't matter what you're doing.
You got to make sure that you're working harder than somebody else out there.
Because if not, they're going to take your spot.
You know what I mean?
So I never forget that, you know.
PJ, I love that guy, man.
And, you know, we've been through some great moments together
and we still keep in touch, you know.
What about who inspires you, like, within, you know,
kind of within the sport, you know, that you've seen, old or new?
Tony Harris, for sure. know tony harris has
been uh a good brother that i've known for a long time how old is he i think tony is 52 but don't
quote me on that he's an m2 yeah so i think he's 50 right tony's a freaking beast dude he's a beast what's his uh what does he compete he's uh he's a 120 kilogram
120 yeah and he's he's still whooping up on people dude yeah it's gonna be it's gonna be
exciting to see him lift in october at raw nationals but uh you know tony is tony's been
awesome man tony's uh like i said he, I guess, the mentality of powerlifting in the state of Hawaii, in my opinion.
Because, like, you know, everybody used to just, like, bench, bench, bench.
And Tony could squat and deadlift as well.
So, if you're going to do a three-lift meet, you know, obviously you got to bring up your game on all three, you know.
Is he squatting, like, seven?
I want to say around seven.
Oh, he did at the arnold what did
he do eight eight eight uh i can't remember exactly i think it was like 840 something and
then dennis cornelius uh uh broke it uh after that so he squatted mid-sevens and he's 50 he's
a beast bro knee sleeves knee sleeves bro yeahe sleeves, bro. Yeah. Knee sleeves. Crazy. I know, dude.
It's crazy, bro.
Yeah.
Some of those USAPL numbers are really just, it's mind-boggling, you know, because it's
very competitive.
For sure.
You know, it's very competitive.
And even, like, on the state level, the numbers are just, and everyone's just getting stronger.
Yeah.
I mean, the females in powerlifting we talk
about all the time here on the podcast yeah like jen thompson's bench oh my god dude
i send that to my friends all the time like dude this girl's benching way more than you
step up your game she statically holds like 515 for like 10 seconds oh man like oh my god yeah
um old haugen was a big influence too you know like i
said old got me into strongman but i think old is phenomenal at his age even too that guy's got
the grip of death you know yeah he's in his 60s it's crazy yeah it's uh it's phenomenal he actually
has the same uh birthday as my daughter kaia so but yeah it's it's it's crazy you know um i love uh man i love i love uh i just
remember like you know start back in the day just just uh seeing guys like lamar gant you know live
dan austin back in the day you know just says uh i went to the uh ipf classic raw worlds in
calgary and alberta and i remember sitting down
having a beer with tony harris and bull moore and he was talking about uh oh what's his name
i'm just blanking out um tony conyers oh yeah bull moore said that's probably one of the freaking
strongest dudes pound for pound that he ever has known like he would just you know work as a truck
driver you know busting his ass driving truck you know and then come to the gym have a couple
Michelob's and then just warm up with 315 on the bench wow doesn't make any sense yeah you know
like there's not too many guys that can do that, you know. It's funny, man. We had a good conversation about that.
It was pretty cool.
What about outside of powerlifting?
Outside of powerlifting.
Just outside of lifting, period.
Oh, man.
I think, you know.
What about one of the bigger Hawaiians?
The bigger Hawaiians?
Let me see. What about The Rock? Oh,ians? The bigger Hawaiians. Let me see.
What about The Rock?
Oh, The Rock?
Yeah, man.
Hey, I got a cool story about, kind of related to The Rock.
You know, when I was a kid, because you wrestle, right?
Yeah.
I used to go to a lot of wrestling events in Honolulu that The Rock's grandma and grandpa had put on, man.
I achieved Peter Maivia. Right. I remember that when I was put on, man. High Chief Peter Maivia.
Right.
I remember that when I was a kid, man.
That's awesome.
Yeah.
That's so cool.
Yeah.
Like, I mean, Nick Bockwinkle was there.
Ricky Martel was there.
That's great.
Yeah.
I still remember that to this day when I was a kid.
They would be at either the Block Arena on Pearl Harbor Base or sometimes at Blaisdell,
man.
Was The Rock's dad there sometimes? Sometimes, too. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I remember when Blaisdell, man. Was The Rock's dad there sometimes?
Sometimes, too.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I remember when I was a kid, man.
Wrestling was big in Hawaii when I was a kid, man.
Yeah, I bet.
Yeah.
And, you know, all these guys, like the Fabulous Moolah.
She was there.
Yeah, it was cool, bro.
So it's, you know, that kind of stuff was a big deal
growing up in Hawaii, man.
I loved it back in the day when Stone Cold and The Rock were going at it yeah those are some good times for the uh ww man that and like i
remember like i used to have the freaking uh nwa like war games vhs tapes you know that was like
good stuff for the four horsemen and that was that was crazy stuff man it's you'd make a good
wrestler i could picture coming up i could picture you coming off the top rope.
Everybody always says I should dress up as Oddjob for Halloween
and just throw the hat at you.
What about Rikishi?
Oh, Rikishi, yeah.
No, I don't want to get that big, though, man.
But, yeah, those are good times, man.
Just the bottoms, that's all.
No, man, I don't know.
I don't think I could get get that far man but yeah wrestling
back in the day when i was a kid all the time man yeah i i seen you know jimmy snooker and
oh man that was good stuff man that was some i i used to go to school at uh uh waihole elementary
and in the town called waikane just next over, there was a really famous Hawaii wrestler called Tor Kamaka.
And his kid would ride the bus.
You know, we would always stop at, you know, this bus stop,
and his son would go, and we would always just be,
oh, dude, that's Tor Kamaka.
You know, this guy's like, he's got, like, scarred canids running on his forehead because he would always, like, be biting people's heads and stuff, you know.
I remember when I was a kid, I loved watching wrestling,
and Hulk Hogan
and Ultimate Warrior
Yeah.
wrestled each other
in WrestleMania
and the Ultimate Warrior
ended up winning
and my friend
was a huge Hulk Hogan fan
and I was a huge Warrior fan
and when I went to school
the next day
It is, yes.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, my God.
Torca Maka right there.
That's amazing.
That's awesome.
When I went to school the next day, my friend didn't show up because he knew I was going to rub it in his face. Oh my God. Torca Maca right there. That's amazing. That's awesome. When I went to school the next day,
my friend didn't show up cause he knew I was
going to like rub it in his face.
Yeah.
Nice.
I saw him like the next day and I was like,
you couldn't handle going to school cause
ultimate warrior one.
He's like, you're damn right, man.
He's like, I'm devastated.
He's like, Hulkster never loses.
Remember Nicky Bocquingo?
He used to like wear his trunks like way up high,
like past his belly button and stuff.
Like, oh my God.
Yeah, those guys just tuck their fat in their shorts.
High-waisted.
Yeah, there was another guy called The Missing Link that I remember.
Yeah, he pulled his hair out and stuff.
Yes, yeah, The Missing Link.
That was all good stuff, man.
Yeah, The Missing Link was like green.
Yes.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Green.
Yeah.
And then, man, one time in Hilo, this is a big deal for wrestling to come to Hilo. Mr. Link had Mr. Fuji with him. Green. Yeah. And then, man, one time in Hilo, you know, this is a big deal for wrestling to come to Hilo.
And then my parents.
Mr. Link had Mr. Fuji with him.
Mr. Fuji.
And he'd throw the salt in your eyes.
Exactly.
Here's some rock salt.
Yeah.
It wasn't like granulated salt.
It was like rock salt.
Yeah.
Yeah, he threw salt in your eyes.
But, yeah, one time Stan the Lariat Hanson and Bam Bam Terry Gordy came to Hilo, Hawaii to fight the Iron Sheik.
And I can't remember who the other guy was, but I was like, holy cow.
I remember Stan Hanson used to whoop guys' ass with the cowbell, remember?
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, my God.
It was crazy, dude.
There's a missing link.
Oh, he's pretty jacked.
There he is, yeah.
Everybody's on a little bit of sauce.
Everybody's all jacked up.
Bobby the Brain Heenan.
Oh, Bobby the Brain, man.
Those are good days.
Yeah.
That was good stuff, man.
I used to love like the Hart Foundation even too.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Bret Hart.
Oh, man.
That was good stuff, man.
Jim the Angle Nighthart.
Did you watch the Andre the Giant documentary?
I thought it was really cool.
Yeah, I liked it a lot.
It was good.
Yeah.
I liked that too.
Man, he was huge.
Imagine how much drinking 124 beers in one night.
Yeah, and everybody backed it up.
Everyone's like, no, man, it's not a myth.
Like he could really.
Yeah, even Ric Flair said it like, oh man, that's some crazy stuff, man.
Yeah, even Ric Flair said he couldn't hang.
Yeah, wrestling was a big part growing up in Hawaii for sure, man.
I remember my parents bought me a brand new queen mattress
and I took my younger brother Chia.
I used to like freaking suplex him on the mattress.
And not even like one month old, the brand new mattress is like all divoted out
because they've been like, I was doing like the DDT on them and stuff.
Yeah, my brother, one time he went to give me a DDT and he's like,
oh, don't worry, there's a pillow right there.
There's no pillow.
Oh, no.
There's no pillow.
Just my head just meeting up with some concrete pretty much.
Seriously, man.
Yeah, I mean, that was good stuff, man.
I mean.
Those moves hurt.
Have you guys ever put each other in those moves?
It's crazy.
Camel clutch?
Yeah.
That shit kills.
What's the other one?
Mil Mascaras used to do the surfboard.
Oh, yeah. Surfboard, yeah. Oh, yeahascaris used to do the surfboard. Oh, yeah.
Remember the surfboard?
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
I used to do that to my brother, too.
You grab his arms and put your shoulder in the back.
Yeah.
Your foot in his shoulder.
Yeah.
Yeah, the Boston Crab, the Camel Clutch.
Oh, my God.
Abdominal stretch.
Abdominal stretch, yeah.
And then you give him the oblique shot at the same time.
And then Sting had the Scorpion.
It's really important to have a finishing move that's like easy yeah to like do you know like the stunner the stone cold stunner
is like an easy one to perform the rock bottom is pretty easy what is it what is the cheesiest uh
wrestling finishing move name you can think of all the cheesiest one um yeah i mean you know name wise i'm not sure
name wise for me i gotta say it was tito santana's flying burrito oh yeah yeah yeah imagine that now
the mexican guy's the flying burrito remember where he was uh him and ricky martel was a
strike force remember they were Strike Force
And I just still remember Jesse Ventura
Just you know announcing
Chico Santana
Jesse Ventura was so funny
Oh my god dude
I always thought like the claw
You know like some of these things
Some of these moves were kind of cheap
Kind of funny but
You do need a move that's, like, easy to apply.
Otherwise, like, you're stuck if you're, like, the ultimate warrior.
Then you got to press everybody over your head all the time.
Yeah, yeah.
No doubt, man.
But, like, a rock.
There it is.
The rock bottom is pretty easy.
Or what.
But he executed it well.
Bam.
Bam.
What's his name?
Oh, what's his name?
His name was Bubba.
The Mountie.
Yeah.
That was the Mountie, right?
Oh, I forget his name. Wasn't it Bubba something before Mountie. Yeah. That was the Mountie, right? Oh, I forget his name.
Wasn't it Bubba something before?
Oh, you're thinking about Big Boss Man?
Big Boss Man.
Yeah.
That's what I thought it was.
Yeah, that was the Mountie though, right there.
That's funny, man.
Yeah, Big Boss Man.
He was amazing.
Oh my God.
Yeah, that was good stuff, man.
I mean, I.
What about the cartoon?
Remember that, do you remember the cartoon?
It had Jimmy Snuka and Roddy Piper and Andre the Giant.
Yeah, I never really watched that, but yeah, I remember that cartoon It had Jimmy Snuka And Roddy Piper And Andre the Giant Yeah I never really watched that
But yeah I remember that
It was amazing
Yeah
You're probably like
You're probably a little older
You're probably a little older
Dude I used to have like
Pro wrestling illustrated pinups
On my wall dude
In my bedroom
Back in the day man
So funny man
I used to have all the
All the action figures
Nice
That's awesome
Iron Sheik
And Macho Man
Macho Man
I think Macho Man
Is I think he might be the greatest wrestler
of all time when it comes to like athleticism and entertainment yeah if you watch what that
guy did day in and day out i mean it was wow there it is there it is everybody's all jacked
how funny is a network even how funny of a uh of a name is Big John Studd.
Like that's the name they have.
Oh, I know.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's hilarious.
I liked on that Andre the Giant documentary how they said that Andre didn't like when
he would step over the ring.
Yeah.
Like, no, that's my move.
Yeah.
And Andre would jack him up.
Yeah.
That's pretty cool.
Oh, the Junkyard Dog?
Yeah.
Oh my freaking God.
Some of my, like some of the old school wrestling guys that I was around, they said that when junkyard dog, junkyard dog, like, I don't know, he got hurt or he got sick or something.
And he was out for a while.
And any time that he was out, other times he was just out, like, because he was just, like, on vacation.
They were like, hey, man, go take two weeks and we're gonna say that you're you know hurt your arm or whatever and uh so whenever he would go out people
they said that uh people would mail him cash and they'd be like hey man you know hope you get
better like here's 10 bucks you know and they just they because they love them so much they just send
them oh that's crazy send them money so anytime he went on vacation he like made more money than
when he was actually wrestling that That is crazy, man.
Cause he just like, uh, kids really, really liked him a lot.
And they thought, you know, if they sent him money that it would help him somehow.
I don't even know what the connection was, but.
Growing up in Hawaii, everybody was like big fan of the Islanders.
Remember the Islanders tag team?
Yeah.
Haku and, uh, what was his name?
I forget his other name, but you know.
The Wild Samoans were. The Wild Samoans were incredible.
The Wild Samoans, yeah.
Were amazing.
Yeah, that's a good time.
I miss.
They scared me when I was a kid.
When I went to the matches, I was like terrified
because of the hair and everything.
Remember when.
They wrestled barefoot.
Remember when Kamala and Sika teamed up one time,
remember?
These guys.
And Kamala like bust open a lobster and just started
like eating it.
Yeah, here's the Wild Samoans.
There it is, the wild Samoans.
Yeah.
They were terrifying.
Oh my God.
Yeah.
I went to the Mid-Hudson Civic Center and saw the Samoans and they had, I think Captain
Lou Albano was there.
Oh wow.
Captain Lou Albano, when I was a kid, he went to a church that was like near the church
that I went to with my parents as a kid.
Oh, that's badass.
And so we found out, and we would hang out there and wait to see him come out of church all the time.
That's so awesome.
I miss those days, man.
Those are good days, man.
I still remember when Jimmy Snuka did the super fly off the cage on Don Morocco.
Remember that?
Because Don Morocco was from Hawaii, too. That's epic. Yeah, Don Morocco was jacked, too. Yeah, he was jacked. uh did the superfly off the cage on don morocco that was remember that because don morocco was
from hawaii too that's an epic yeah don morocco was jack too yeah he was jack remember that damn
snake i used to have on his arm yeah yeah yeah that giant snake vein yeah i wrestled uh jimmy
snooker but jimmy snooker did not look like jimmy snooker he looked like a tijuana hooker by the
time i was he was old and broken.
And he told me, he was like, brother, he's like, when I, you know, do my thing, he's like, you're going to have to catch me.
And I'm like, oh my God.
And he just landed on me with like, I, you know, a 225 pound guy turned into like weighing
700 pounds.
Oh my God.
Cause yeah, he just, I had to like sit way up and literally catch him.
I was like, Ooh, that fucking hurt.
Those days were awesome.
Even, like, NWA days, like, I still remember, remember that bench press contest between
the Road Warriors?
Oh, yeah.
And Barbarian and the Warlord.
They knocked the weights over.
Yeah.
The Warlord was jacked.
The Warlord, he was so jacked, dude.
The Warlord was jacked.
Yeah.
And then he broke Animal's orbital bone on the 600-pound bench press.
There it is.
Snooker right here.
Classic.
Going to the top.
I believe this was
at Madison Square Garden,
I think.
Oh, look, he sold it
a little bit, too.
He stopped for a second.
Now he's going all the way.
Imagine how scary that would be.
Dude, that's crazy.
He's just like,
oh, I'm making money for this.
There he is.
There we go.
He's inspired. And you know who is at this. There he is. There we go. It's inspired.
And you know who is at this match?
Oh,
who?
Mankind.
Oh,
really?
This is in Madison Square Garden.
Wow.
And it inspired Mankind
and he became a pro wrestler
and he ended up going off
the top of the cage.
Oh,
that's freaking cool.
In a different way.
Wow.
Does he do it again?
Does he do it twice?
Oh,
he's covered all in blood.
He's blooded out,
man.
Yeah. Man. The hon blooded out, man.
Yeah.
Man.
The honky-tonk, man.
Oh, my God.
The honky-tonk, man. The honky-tonk, man, was great.
He's the greatest intercontinental champion of all time.
Remember he said it all the time.
Oh, my God.
What was his?
Talk about affirmations.
The shake, rattle, and roll was his finishing move, right?
Oh, yeah.
That's a pretty.
The shake, rattle, and roll.
That's a pretty easy move to do, but it's a shitty finishing move.
Yeah, yeah.
You don't really snap into it very good.
Yeah, yeah.
Rick Rude's Rude Awakening was pretty cool when he would do it.
The Rude Awakening was just a sleeper hold, right?
No, he would take it back and then drop down, remember?
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
Oh, man, that's good times, man.
Dude, we got to work on some of these moves. Seriously. We could try them out on Smokey, too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, man, that's good times, man. Dude, we got to work on some of these moves.
Seriously.
We can try them out on Smokey, too.
Yeah, man.
My finishing move was the stink bomb.
Nice.
Yeah, the stink bomb.
Oh, there it is.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Yes.
Rick Rude was jacked.
His son wrestles now.
Oh, really?
Yeah.
Oh, I didn't know that.
That's awesome.
My dad actually does a lot of taxes for a lot of the pro wrestlers. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah. Oh, I didn't know that. That's awesome. My dad actually does a lot of taxes for a lot of the pro wrestlers.
Oh, that's awesome.
Yeah.
Holy cow.
That's kind of through my oldest brother that my dad kind of meeting all these guys.
Remember when Mike Rotunda and Rick Steiner were the Varsity Club?
Remember that?
What an odd, like, you know.
Big Papa Pump. Big Papa Pump was there too, yeah. city club remember that what an odd like you know papa pump big papa pump was yeah he yeah he later
he later became uh big papa dude that was uh steiner brothers yeah man those those are good
times because that was uh i remember when uh rick steiner wrestling with the headgear yeah
and he would like in the interviews he'd be like Looking like this Oh my god
Yeah he wouldn't really say much in the interviews
But he was jacked
And then his brother got really jacked
What the fuck these guys do
There he is Mike Rotondo right there
From Syracuse New York
Oh my god
And he just looks like some dude out of the crowd
Yeah
So like The boxing club there he is He just looks like some dude out of the crowd. Yeah. So, like, he just looks like some dude.
The Park City Club, there he is.
I love this.
This is epic right here, man.
Oh, man.
Dude, we got to get, it looks like we have to get WWE Network.
I used to love the four horsemen, man, back in the day.
Like, you know, all that Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard, Ric Flair.
That was some good wrestling in those years, too.
Yeah, that was, like, the first group. Yeah. You know? That was some good stuff, man years, too. Yeah, that was like the first group.
Yeah.
You know?
That was some good stuff, man.
Later there was like DX and...
All kinds of stables.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But that was good fun, man, because, you know, like they had the war games.
And I remember I had that VHS tape, man.
It was like watching TBS and live from Greensboro Coliseum and all that stuff.
My pro wrestling coach
whenever i say wrestling coach i think people think that i did like collegiate wrestling or
whatever i think it's more serious than it is but uh it was this was as serious as it could be
anyway right but uh my pro wrestling coach was a guy named rip rogers and rip rogers was like a, uh, he was a journeyman, professional wrestler, and he didn't really wrestle for WWF.
Uh, I think maybe he did a little bit of that, but like he was before that time.
He was like when there was like more of the territories and stuff.
Like Bruno San Martino days or?
No, no, he's not.
He wasn't that, he's not that old, but he, he, he wrestled, you know, on a lot of those circuits, um, you know, like kind of, kind of like Ric Flair did and like Ric Flair wasn't
in WWF till way, way later on.
And so Rip, uh, did a lot of that stuff.
There he is.
Oh my God.
Rip Rogers.
This guy is fucking batshit crazy.
So he, he would.
Look at that.
Just for a man beard with his platinum blonde bro he'd come in he'd
come in every morning and be like god damn it boys all right you know here you know he just
he'd swear every other word yeah and he'd say boys and and we're all sitting down like it like
it's class like we're sitting down in like bleachers he'd go boys uh what goddamn page are we on for like
page 43 rip he's like that's goddamn right and why are we on page 43 and we're like everybody
in unison because you fucking said so he's like okay boys just want to make sure that i'm still
the goddamn boss and that we understand what's going on here and he'd like go over like what
we're gonna do to do for the day.
I'm so glad he said his name because I was always curious.
Like, what does this guy look like?
And now I know.
And that's fucking awesome. So Rip Rogers, he claims he worked out every single body part every day
and never missed a workout.
And that when he would do curls, he would just, every time he did curls,
he would run the rack. So he would do the curls he would just every time he did curls he would like run the rack
you know so he would do he would do the fives right and then he'd go all the way up to the
50s and he'd go all the way back down and i was like okay well what you know i just start with
the fun when people start talking crazy like i'm the guy for that i love listening to that
and i'm like all right well you know what'd you do for chess he's like same goddamn thing he's
like work for biceps gonna work for my chest too.
Holy shit.
I was like, dude, you'd be in the gym for like seven hours.
Every body part.
That's like before Rabdo.
He's like, calves, hamstrings, quads.
He's like, the tibialis.
He's like, I left no stone unturned, goddamn it.
I'm like, what the?
He's like doing dorsiflexion.
He asked me one time, he's like, hey, he's like smelly. He's like, we got this break coming up what he's like doing dorsiflexion he asked me one time he's
like hey he's like smelly he's like uh we got this break coming up he's like what are you gonna do i
was like i'm super excited man and just had a baby i'm like i'm gonna hang out with my son jake and
kick it with my wife and have a good time he goes god damn it smelly he's like he got it all wrong
he's like this is wrestling business son he's like this is what you're gonna do he goes you're gonna go to the goddamn gym you're gonna eat you're gonna go back to the goddamn gym
train some more because it's your job he goes and you're gonna tan he goes and then you're
gonna hit the titty bar and he goes next day he goes you're gonna goddamn repeat
waits before dates yeah right and he he was always uh oh my he's kind of where like the
jacked and tan stuff came from because he talked about um his whole thing was being ripped tan and
vascular oh my god where's like where's he from originally uh kentucky okay boys got to be ripped
you got to be tan and he would go over this like it like it was a class every day the principles
of life yeah you got to be ripped you got life. Yeah. You got to be ripped.
You got to be tan.
And you got to be vascular.
Dude, like, look at those hairstyles.
The hairstyles back in those days.
Like, remember even, like, beautiful Bobby Eaton?
Yeah, I know.
He looks like that kind of.
Greg Valentine.
They all had that blonde hair, like, flowing, man.
It's crazy.
And so Rip, I asked him about, like, barbell movements.
I was like, what about, like, do you use a bar?
Like, you just use dumbbells. I'm like, that's kind of a weak workout, dude. Like, I was trying about like barbell movements. I was like, what about, what about like, do you use a bar? Like you just use dumbbells.
I'm like, that's kind of a weak workout, dude.
Like I was trying to make fun of him.
Yeah.
He was smelly.
He's like, I blew out my goddamn ass.
And I was like, you blew out your ass.
I was like, I was like, I've blown mine out before.
And he's like, no, he's like, I blew it out.
And he's like, I have packing in right now.
And he would take toilet paper and he'd shove toilet paper up his ass every day oh and i thought it was a myth until i saw it fall out one day
i don't know i didn't want to know anymore once he's told me that and i was just like this guy
is so crazy that he it might just look at the pride of huntsville alabama right there beautiful
bobby ethan bobby ethan the midnight remember he used to have those epic battles with the
rock and roll express
yeah
and now Michael Hayes
is like
he's a
WWE like scout
oh wow
he's like
behind the scenes guy
he helps set up
all the matches
and stuff
that's badass man
but Rip was funny
because he
he was actually
a really good coach
he coached
he would coach you
through everything
and there was one incident one day in a locker room where one of the guys went to go from one
part of the locker room into the other and he he reached his hand out and he like stubbed his finger
on the door and he like this guy like he sprained his finger oh sure which sucks because then you're
you know a lot of these guys where i was wrestling in Louisville, Kentucky, it was a development territory for WWE.
And a lot of these guys were trying to get on TV and trying to end up, you know, sealing a bigger deal with WWE, even though most of them were under contract already.
And so this guy jacks up his finger.
So Rip takes everybody.
He sits everybody down.
He's like, boys.
He's like, some of y'all don't know how to open up a goddamn door.
He's like, here's how you do it.
He goes, you put your hand underneath like this with the thumb out.
Palms up.
He goes, nice and easy.
In a nice, gentle way.
He goes, that way we can all make some goddamn money around here.
Instead of having a busted finger.
He was ridiculous that way. He did that with everybody. I'll make some goddamn money around here instead of having a busted finger. But like he,
it was just,
it was,
he was ridiculous that way. He did that with,
with everybody.
And anybody that's in wrestling today,
like you see like John Cena and some of these guys on,
on television today,
they were all like,
a lot of them went through,
you know,
a lot of rips,
uh,
training and,
and a lot of them hate him,
you know,
because he was just such a,
he was just such a lunatic and such a hard ass, but it was a lot of fun, him you know because he was just such a he was just such a
lunatic and such a hard ass but oh my god it was a lot of fun man because he always had stories
every single time that's hilarious i remember like you know because like uh with the tennessee
circuit you know with like uh jerry the king lawler was out like memphis right it was memphis
wrestling and stuff and then uh i remember when uh jake roberts ddt ricky steamboat man
and stuff.
And then, uh,
I remember when,
uh,
Jake Roberts,
DDT,
Ricky Steamboat,
man,
on the,
on the table.
And they went on the floor.
Yeah.
Yeah.
He was amazing.
Yeah.
The dragon,
Jake,
the snake.
Yup.
You ever see the Jake,
the snake,
uh,
documentary?
I didn't know.
Oh,
you need to.
It's good.
Really?
It's really good.
Oh,
okay.
Yeah.
It's on Netflix.
My brother was actually part of it.
My brother,
uh,
helped,
uh,
what did he help with?
Produce it, I guess. Executive produce it. I guess. Yeah. I got to check that out, man. Yeah. It's really it. My brother helped. What did he help with? Produce it, I guess.
Executive produce it, I guess you could say.
I got to check that out, man.
Yeah, it's really cool.
It's dark.
It's really dark.
But Jake the Snake was the man.
He was, man.
From Stone Mountain, Georgia.
He had a really cool way about him where he, you know, a lot of the wrestlers get real loud and animated.
And he was the opposite.
He would kind of take it way down.
He would talk real slow.
Yeah. And then it kind of got everybody to listen to what he was about to say He would kind of take it way down. He would talk real slow. Yeah.
And then it kind of got everybody
to listen to what he was about to say.
That's awesome, man.
Yeah, he was awesome.
The DDT, it just meant that it was over.
Yeah, pretty much, yeah.
Then he would get Damien
and lay Damien on the body, remember?
Yeah, and then Ricky, the dragon steamboat,
would bring out the giant Komodo dragon.
Yes.
It started getting crazy.
It started turning into a zoo.
That's good stuff, man.
I was at the Mid-Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie, New York.
My dad took me to my first wrestling match and Hillbilly Jim came out of the crowd.
That's awesome.
You know, obviously.
That's an old school WWF right there.
Yeah.
Hillbilly Jim.
Yeah.
Oh my God.
I haven't heard that name in a long time.
Obviously it was like set up, right?
But like one wrestler started, you know,
jabbing at another one
and they were going back and forth
and this guy was like just beating the crap
out of the guy after he already lost.
I can't even remember what wrestler it was.
And then this big old guy, you know,
wearing overalls and a funky like straw hat
stands up and he's big.'s like six six and he starts
yelling at the other wrestler and they start going back and forth and hillbilly jim hops the gate and
gets there and starts whooping up on the guy and the crowd went bananas awesome man that was cool
stories man i like that i got into wrestling way later uh it was like just after the attitude era
so smackdown and raw and all that yeah that
shit was fun for me too i would love to go see like a luchador show yeah that would be pretty
cool those guys i've never been but i think it would be just cool to see once at least you know
it is fun local shows can be really fun especially if you have a couple drinks yeah yeah i'll bet
have you been to a w WWE show in a long time?
You know I went to
WrestleMania
In Seattle
When I was at
Safeco Field
That was pretty cool
That was probably
A couple years ago right?
Yeah
I think
Over 10 years ago
Maybe
But
That was the first time
I was ever held
At Safeco Field
Those guys work hard man
They put on a good show
It was cool
Because Triple H was wrestling
The Rock was still wrestling
It was pretty cool man It was wrestling. The Rock was still wrestling.
It was pretty cool, man.
It was awesome.
I got to see The Rock and Stone Cold wrestle at the Staples Center in Los Angeles one time.
That was amazing.
Oh, man.
That was so. That was crazy, yeah.
That was so cool.
And I timed it because I was, I think I might have been wrestling at the time, but I timed
how long their intro and outro took,
and it was half an hour.
Holy cow, really?
Yeah, because they just milk everything.
Yeah, yeah.
Fans are just cheering, going crazy.
Fans are going nuts.
And I want to say,
I can't remember if it was an off-air thing,
because sometimes they do shows that aren't filmed for TV.
This one may have been one of those shows,
but I,
all I remember is like,
uh,
stone cold.
He would like,
uh,
get out of the ring or he'd get a couple of drinks,
you know,
they'd throw him a couple of drinks and he'd drink some beer and then he'd
roll out of the ring.
And then he made it look like he was going to leave and he rolled back in
the ring.
And I mean,
he must've had 15 or 20 beers.
I'm like, now he's just getting hammered.
And you see him like trying to get out of the ring.
He's all like, Oh my God, that's awesome, man.
Imagine not being that depleted, drinking that amount of booze.
No way, man.
What's next for Grant Higa?
August 5th, I'm going to be doing the USAPL SoCal Powerlifting Open in Newport Beach, California.
Cool.
Yeah. to be doing the usapl socal powerlifting open in newport beach california cool yeah i'm going to use that as a tune-up for the usapl raw nationals uh later this year in october in spokane so you
ever really uh jack yourself up doing any of this stuff between strongman and powerlifting
i mean like injury wise yeah like you know strongman especially it can be really dangerous
with the stones no i mean i like you know like now know, like now I'm going to kind of, you know,
cut out the strongman stuff and just, you know,
maybe just do more conditioning per se,
but I'm not going to be doing any of the, you know,
any like stones or log press or anything,
getting ready for this meet and stuff.
But, yeah, getting ready for that.
I want to get on the primetime roster, that's why.
So, you know, I have a total from last year's nationals,
but I want to submit a better total after this meet and hopefully get on the primetime roster for
raw nationals so yeah primetime roster is a certain period of time uh that they devote to
the best lifters in the world yeah uh at raw nationals and i missed it i missed it last year
i think by a kilo and a half dude you ain you ain't made for prime time. You got to get your shit together.
That pissed me off, man.
Let's go.
Yeah.
I got to.
Just take a little Diana ball.
You're right there, bro.
What's in this water smelly?
That's right.
Too late.
Sacramento water.
Hey now.
No, you know, so yeah.
I mean, that's definitely some motivation.
And what motivates me this year, especially too, is, you know,
I placed third at Raw Nationals last year, which is, you know, it's awesome.
Bronze medal to be the best, you know, third best master in the USA is awesome.
But I missed the world team.
I was an alternate.
And that was a pretty sickening feeling, you know.
So.
Yeah, use that as motivation, right?
Yeah, because the year before I was fortunate to win the silver medal in Belarus, you know, behind Jason Mike.
And I knew, you know, all that sacrifice and having that feeling and hearing the Star Spangled Banner play and knowing that your second number two in the world was awesome two years ago.
two years ago and then to be that close to making the world team but you know you're only allowed two lifters per class was was tough but you know I just
had to move on get over it and use that as fire to get ready for this year and
hopefully that doesn't happen again you know so definitely motivated you know
but I went I went to Calgary still to you know support the team and it was
awesome there's some great lifters the team, and it was awesome.
There were some great lifters.
The Masters men and women kicked ass for USAPL.
They did great.
Did you see Jason Mike's 619.5 bench press?
That's a big bench.
Fucking huge, bro.
Damn.
Even Bo Moore said that was probably one of the most incredible lifts he had ever seen.
What does he weigh?
He's 120 plus plus like me yeah but this record has been crazy is the ipf record that's been standing since 87 from
a guy from algeria who was probably drug free right whatever right but uh yeah jason did 619
and a half man that boy can bench man and it half, man. That boy can bench, man.
And it was freaking fast.
What's the biggest bench ever in IPF, USAPL?
That I don't know.
It's only like, I mean, not only.
I'm just saying it's not that much higher than that 619.
I want to say I'm thinking it's like 630 or 650 maybe.
It might be.
So Jason broke the open record as an M1 too because he's an M1.
So it was pretty phenomenal.
Here it is right here.
619 and a half, man.
I mean, there's some strong people.
That was probably one of the most incredible lifts I've ever seen, man.
There's so many strong and gifted athletes right now.
It's hard to keep track of everybody, you know.
For sure.
It's unfortunate. I mean, I wish now. It's hard to keep track of everybody, you know? For sure. It's unfortunate.
I mean, I wish that we could give praise to more people.
Yeah, watch this.
No way.
Raw, dude.
Yeah.
And look at the emotion after this, because he's been chasing that forever, man.
He just dropped to the floor, because over 20 years that record been man that was insane man that was really awesome he can't
he like can't figure out how to get himself off the platform and coach paulie steinman right there
paulie was like you know super happy for him i was like hey cool okay but we got to move on to
deadlifts but you know like he was trying to be like nice too like you know hey i know this is awesome but we also gotta remember you got three more lifts coming up you know so but
that's his coach's job too he's trying to keep you guys focused right but uh yeah that was awesome
it was really cool to see and uh you know you know being there with them you know just gave me more
focus to get ready because uh you know we got some some strong boys. And, you know, I just got to work harder and, you know, just get better
and hopefully be on the world team with them again, you know.
Any poop stories for us?
There you go.
Here we go.
So I got a question.
I guess this is more of like a poll, but, you know,
like when you go to a public bathroom, like,
a public bathroom.
Like, do you like those freaking toilet paper dispensers that like just spin out normally or
the big one that's like freaking right above
your thigh?
I hate that one.
I freaking hate that one.
You know, I mean.
What happens with that one?
And you're like trying to pull.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
It always rips.
It's always like shredding and ripping because
it's hitting the serrate
Yeah
The thing is too heavy
Dude
And the toilet paper
Trying to get in there
Like you can't
Pisses me off bro
You're like
I'm supposed to wipe my ass
With this
Seriously
And then you're like
Wiping your ass
With like crumbles
Or shredded
Like Wolverine
Just shredded the whole
Freaking paper towel
Getting poop all over your hand
Yeah bro
You can't wash that shit off
Are there
No dude
I mean literally
Yeah bro That's the That's the freaking worst man And you know like Yeah, bro. I like that. You can't wash that shit off, either. No, dude. I mean, literally. Yeah, bro.
That's the freaking worst, man.
And, you know, like, I hate when I go to, like, you actually got to go into the handicap stall.
Because that way, if not.
You need more space.
You need more space, bro.
Yeah.
Because if not, that thing is, like, right above your right thigh.
And then you're trying to, like, get under it.
And so that's the most worst feeling ever, bro.
I hate that shit, man.
So crazy, dude. It's a public bathroom. It's so bad. the most worst feeling ever bro i hate that shit man so crazy dude public
bathroom so bad and the airports is the worst yeah because somebody just got done you know
stuck in a plane one thing that's great about the airport though is that it could flush anything
true yeah you know your super ones you can throw your gym bag in that thing and it's gonna flush
because i mean i mean i've been there like you. You ever have one of those dumps where it's like a freaking
two by four stuck in there?
Oh my God.
It's like coming up
out of the water.
Yeah, and then your house
is like super soft.
But if it was in the airport one,
that thing would just
look like a barbier.
Yeah, yeah.
Whoa.
Oh, dude.
And there's nothing like
more worse than the shame
of you got to go break
that two by four doo-doo
with your own freaking hand to just try and chunk it up so it can flush down.
Jessica's dad the other day was telling us about using a coat hanger to chop one in half
one day.
We were dying.
He was like in a hotel or something.
So he had to walk from the toilet to the closet then.
Yeah, yeah.
And he's like, oh my God.
Probably had to debate which hanger doo-doo I did not want to bring back. I'll take this wire hanger. That's Yeah, yeah. And he's like, oh, my God. Probably had to debate which hanger do I not want to bring back.
I'll take this wire hanger.
That's awful, man.
That's, like, one of the worst feelings, man.
When you go to somebody's house and it's, like, a weak-ass flush.
So weak.
Yeah.
Even if you, like, double flush it or triple flush it, it's still, like.
Well, they're going to look at you weird, too.
They're going to be like, yeah, sure, that's our toilet's problem.
Yeah, sure, bud. You'd be, like, in the Dumb and Dumber scene. Hey, are you okay look at you weird, too. They're going to be like, yeah, sure, that's our toilet's problem. Yeah, sure, bud.
You'd be like in the Dumb and Dumber scene.
Hey, are you okay, man?
Oh, yeah.
I hope you're not using the toilet.
And he's got the feet going straight up.
The toilet's broken.
Like, oh, my God, dude.
That's me every morning, basically.
I hate those ones that it's on the side, though.
That's the worst.
And you're trying to like, it's kind of like you're like flipping the freaking toilet paper
to find the edge.
You still can't find that shit, right?
And you just end up like tearing a seam right across of it and just starting your own.
This is just way too complicated.
I can't figure this out.
No, man.
Yeah, that's the worst, bro.
Yeah, I'm always afraid someone's hiding something up in that little thing.
I'm like, I'm going to put my hand in some gum or worse.
You know, actually, I've heard this happen before.
Some public restrooms, sometimes tweakers will hide needles
in the seat, the ass gaskets.
They hide them in there.
And if you go in to grab it and get stabbed,
you can't imagine, bro.
That's crazy.
So much for those.
Yeah. Anything else, Andrew? We're all good? That's it. We're good, man. All right. Strength is imagine, bro. That's crazy. So much for those. Yeah.
Anything else, Andrew?
We're all good?
That's it.
We're good, man.
All right.
Strength is never a weakness.
Weakness is never a strength.
This was Grant Higa.
A lot of fun, man.
Yeah.
Watch Mahalos for Inviting, man.
It's been an honor.
Yeah.
Now we'll get you doing some lifting.
Yeah.
Let's go.
Deadlift with Smokey.
All right, man.