Straight Outta The Lair with Flex Lewis
7x Mr. Olympia 212 Champion Flex Lewis presents Straight Outta The Lair, the podcast that aims to bring you vital information for your life's ambitions, providing valuable insight from interviews of the many many different faces that walk through our doors at The Dragon's Lair Las Vegas and a few from the man himself.
Straight Outta The Lair with Flex Lewis
Unveiling a Surprising Future | Flex Lewis | Straight Outta The Lair Podcast Ep: 78
To celebrate Flex's 40th Birthday, he takes a turn in the hot seat and lets himself be the guest on his show. Let's embark on an inspiring journey with renowned bodybuilder and entrepreneur Flex Lewis, as he takes us through the raw and riveting moments of his life. This episode promises a deep dive into his multifaceted world, shedding light on how Flex has successfully juggled his roles in bodybuilding, business, and personal life. Drawing from his extensive experience, he highlights the value of a talented team and the power of trust in delegating business responsibilities.
Through Flex's candid reflections, we uncover the secret to his sustained relationships in the industry, founded on loyalty, consistency, and humility. He opens up about his transition from bodybuilding to the realm of business, revealing the obstacles he faced, and more importantly, how he overcame them. This is a gripping narrative of determination, perseverance, and the relentless pursuit of the American dream that hit home for anyone chasing their dreams.
In the final segment, Flex takes us back to his roots, emphasizing the crucial role his family has played in his journey and the power of a positive attitude in achieving success. He shares his experiences in supporting other athletes and embracing life's challenges with fortitude. Get ready to soak in a wealth of wisdom on chasing dreams, overcoming hardships, and never giving up from a man who has seen it all. This is one enlightening conversation you wouldn't want to miss. The episode serves as a testament to Flex's grit, dedication, and his unceasing pursuit of success in multiple fields.
I've worked so hard on becoming the best bodybuilder I know. I'm working hard, so hard, on becoming the best. Straight out the last. ["street Out?
Speaker 2:of the Layer"] Straight out of the layer. I am not Flex Lewis. You might be wondering why the Uncle Fester guy is sitting in his seat. And we're doing it because it is Flex Lewis' birthday and so we put him in the guest seat. I'm normally the guy that does all the switching behind there. If you ever hear him talk to Tias, that's me. But Flex is our special guest because it's his special day. Happy birthday.
Speaker 1:Do I touch you when you reach out to me?
Speaker 2:The finger thing Okay.
Speaker 1:Straight out the left. Flex Lewis, not here in the guest seat. No, first of all, nice top mid.
Speaker 2:I know. So we should talk about this. You've got a gym, you've got culture, you've got arsenal. You've got the podcast, you've got your public speaking. You've got a lot on your plate. I got bulls, you got bulls. Is the bulls thing real?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, is that happening? Yeah, yeah, but we are.
Speaker 2:Should we talk about it?
Speaker 1:We could, but not off the bat, no.
Speaker 2:No, it's not the first thing.
Speaker 1:So We'll hook them in. He's got bulls, but stay tuned for later in the episode.
Speaker 2:You're known for having for, obviously, the bodybuilding. You're one of the most prolific bodybuilders in history, but in addition to that you've got so many business ventures going on and I don't understand how you can spend so many plates. How do you prioritize your?
Speaker 1:time? Good question. I'm still trying to figure that out myself. I think it's well. I have to nobody mention my wife. She is absolutely phenomenal. She's, you know, truly runs this gym. Let's be honest, right, she is the captain of the Jeppe.
Speaker 1:So I think the best way to describe it is having good people working under the umbrella of good businesses makes, you know, good, good, good companies. So I have a lot of good companies with a lot of good people, a lot of good partners. You know, if we were to speak about arsenal strength, you know Andrew Hall and Jamie Hall in Knoxville, tennessee. You know myself, andrew and Jamie got together and 2015 is when Arsenal kind of put its flag in the ground and know it's the fastest growing fitness equipment company in the entire world. So, having good people around me and doing good things also, I think that is the kind of the things that I'm into right now. My bandwidth is extremely maxed out, so I'm at that point now where, unless I'm having fun and I'm also pushing myself daily, physically as well as mentally, then I'm also having fun more than anything else, trying to achieve a goal growing something that has substance and also is providing a service. Also giving back in some cases is what I'm into.
Speaker 2:So if finding great people is the secret to success in business, then how do you identify top talent?
Speaker 1:Oh, so I guess with everything I've done well, starting from the very, very beginning. I've done everything myself, so it's very hard for me to start a business up and not be involved in every little macro, micro detail. What I've learned recently is I really have to delegate, and for me to delegate I have to have good people in their positions, people I trust, people who have a lot more expertise than I do, and of old. Obviously, financially I was in the position to go out and hire, so I had to do everything. But doing that, though, you learn the system, you learn the ins and outs of that business, and then you realize, wow, and actually that first ever time came when I met my wife, so me being the biggest business of all. When I met Ali, she actually said to me hey, let me help you out with a lot of this stuff.
Speaker 1:When I say that, it's like the business element of the cloth in the store, things that I had no clue, for example, back in the day, you remember the old mail and stuff that you put out. You had a hand write All these addresses out. So if you're sending something to China, you're sending something to Russia, uk, different parts of the country. You have one letter that looks like an N, then that thing's coming back and then you're not only paying for that, then you've got to repay for that to go back out. So when I met Ali, she's like you know there's something called Shopify Whatever that information just gets Imprinted into this data. You press a button, it spits out a address, you peel it off and you put it on the envelope and you put it in the mail and I was like you got to be fucking kidding me.
Speaker 1:Now, all this stuff I had no clue about. I know it sounds archaic and crazy, but you think about the first time somebody introduced you to whatever that is, and that was my first entry point into learning. It's like wow, this exists. I was sore my bubble and again I was the athlete, I was the business guy, I was the investor, the entrepreneur, I was me times 50 different roles Plus I was trying to be the best bodybuilder in the world.
Speaker 2:Did you have more bandwidth back then than you do now, or the other way around, because you were doing so many?
Speaker 1:jobs? Good question, holy shit. I think I've always been fucking stressed, no matter what, no matter what job. By heart, you know again whether it was the bottom of the peg one or what I'm at right now. I've always had the perfect pressure to do more than I should be doing.
Speaker 2:So, as you've automated, as you've trusted other people, it's allowed you to take on more tasks, but that means the stress has always been accumulative.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. So hold on a minute, let me just delegate this here to somebody else. No, let's find something to fill this role with this much work. So that is probably true. I don't like sitting idle. I hate having that feeling. I've got time on my hands and I've really not had the feeling of having a day off in years. Honestly, it's so wild, I don't you say?
Speaker 2:that. But you just went to New York, you were vacationing. You're being stuck right Because you wanted to smack me and be like that wasn't a vacation.
Speaker 1:Did you see what I was doing out there? Ok, so, as every who's been following me for quite some time knows, I've never kept myself within the bodybuilding box. I've always seen myself as an athlete. I think that's where to get into the deeper nitty gritty of things too. A lot of bodybuilders and this is where they go wrong they keep themselves in the bodybuilding box. They want to be the king or the queen of that realm and listen, great, go for it.
Speaker 1:But don't what's this? My mother would have a say in. Don't cut your nose off to spite your face. And you should look at other athletes that are also on the climb and network with them, because if they are on the same trajectory as you and are fully focused, then they one day will be better than they were when you met them. And I've met guys at the very, very early infancy stage of their career that I got in connection with because I was like this guy. This guy has got something special, whether he ends up doing it or not. I have probably like a 50% success rate of picking out winners that have become, let's say, ufc champions, like I met Usman straight out of college. I met him in Florida when I was dating Ali in a gym called Jaco.
Speaker 2:Were you just working out.
Speaker 1:Working out. I met several different people at the early stage, like Jellirol right. Jellirol was an independent artist, but he was into rap back then and we all know where Jellirol is right now. He just won Newcomer the other day, but he ain't Newcomer. He's been doing this for a minute. He's been grinding and I want to talk about. Let me remind you later about Jellirol, because that is a story I do want to talk about. But to answer your question, which was investing into athletes and investing into yourself investing in the bigger picture.
Speaker 2:It was about also building trust with people, right. And I think what you started to hint at with that answer is the first person you started to trust with delegating tasks was your wife. Because, of course you've got to trust your wife.
Speaker 1:Way off the fucking point, tyus. I'm just bringing it back. This is a podcast with Tyus. And if it was the other way around anyway? So, landing the plan on athletes going outside the box and investing in other people and not staying within the parameters, as I was saying, that is where bodybuilders go wrong. They don't network, they stay within their realm.
Speaker 1:And again, knowledge is power. You want to become a better bodybuilder? Well, start looking at the business element. Start following people in the business scope. Instagram has a tremendous amount of knowledge. Start following people that you align with.
Speaker 1:It doesn't necessarily mean that you have to follow somebody from Shark Tank, because, honestly, somebody from Shark Tank are not going to give you the details, the intricate details, that you need on the way up. Follow somebody that is going through a journey that you can link with and start understanding about investing, understanding about the small things that I just said. If there was somebody doing a one-on-one on shipping as stupid as it is, that information is out there you could go on YouTube and be like, hey, how can I save money on shipping? And it will spit out 10, 15, 20 things on things that weren't available when I was a teenager, that I had to find out the hard way on Handwritten evidence. So, going back to what I was saying with Ali, my biggest investment outside of myself was in my relationship with Ali. She really hires and fires If I like somebody. It's gone through her first.
Speaker 2:So not only do you delegate to top talent, you've delegated the bringing on of top talent.
Speaker 1:Yeah, she's ruthless. She's also Jewish.
Speaker 2:And OK.
Speaker 1:So that comes with a high standard.
Speaker 2:OK, ok, I'm not touching this.
Speaker 1:That Jew card is very strong in business and it comes with a lot of responsibility, apparently, I don't know that's what I feared. I mean, I viewed it from her own wealth too. We went up to New York and she was playing. This is from her own world. She met somebody and she was playing Jewish geography. I never heard of that before and apparently Jewish geography is people that they know. But going back to what I was saying with Ali, she is the captain of the ship, she runs everything, she does absolutely everything with all businesses and she's the CEO for Flexorary Productions and all that does is it allows then my strength to keep us moving. I am the big wheel, right? People see me as the guy that gets is the decision maker and stuff like that. No, I am the visionary. I dream things up and then I go to my team and I say, hey, I want to do this, and then they shoot me down. I mean, you're part of that team, you understand that right.
Speaker 2:I'm part of the shoot down team.
Speaker 1:Yes, and it's a polite way of shooting me down. I understand that and thank you very much. Poor Rod Drake is behind the camera right now. He's probably nodding right. Yeah, he's like, yes, I come in and I say, hey, this is what I'm going to do, flex, I think we need to do this first and what I hear is that's a terrible idea. Just focus. I'm going to be spoke about 10 times already. Keep focused, flex, because this is what I do. I come in and I'm like let's do this and we've got a plan of action. But I also am glad I'm like that I wouldn't be where I am today if it wasn't for that, but also for me to get further in life. I need my team.
Speaker 2:So I hear a lot coming from you about relationships and I want to dive into that, because one of the things that I'm not sure people are aware of with you is your Rolodex is tremendous. We were just sitting here a few minutes ago and you got a message from Dwayne the Rock Johnson saying happy birthday, flex. And I mean your Rolodex doesn't seem to stop. But here's the thing If I went out there and I friended the Rock on Instagram, I'm not going to actually have a relationship with them. How do you create these relationships? And I've got to think that they start on a smaller level, where you're finding people before they've blown up into massive successes.
Speaker 1:Well, I mean, dj has been a success story. Ever since Forever. I've known the guy, but obviously I met him way back, way back when, through very organic conversation. He's massive, massive gym rat.
Speaker 2:He loved gym pieces, so that's how we started connecting, just talking about gym pieces and just workout stuff Outside of Dwayne, because it's not just the Rock, it's all kinds of people, jolly Roll and so forth. How do you Flex? How do you make friends?
Speaker 1:Well, there is a question in that, and I would say most people want to have the roller index without putting any effort in. People want to be like hey, give me your number. Do you think that happened overnight? And I hate even speaking about it because it's a very personal relationship. I have some massive VIP, probably not bigger than that, right, but I have some massive other friends that I have in my phone that I can call genuine friends.
Speaker 1:But it all started very organically. You don't go into something and being like, ok, well, I want this on my birthday or I want you fill in the gaps, right, somebody comes into town and headlining a team, orbo or the UFC is fighting on cage site. This all started from very organic and very real relationship building. Just like starting up a business, you've got to put that first brick down and that brick has to be the foundation for the rest of your fucking life. So first impressions are everything you go in with hey, I want this. Then you are the MOI want guy. Or you can be a friend and check in every birthday, check in Christmas, hanukkah, send me a message. If the dog died, just give up.
Speaker 2:But if you have, like I don't know, 1,000 friends, these check ins, that starts getting overwhelming pretty fast.
Speaker 1:But also you know what, if you keep consistent and you are genuinely there for the right reasons, then that 1,000 goes down to 500. And then the 500 goes down to 250. And then you start becoming part of the top 50 and the top 10. Because a lot of these guys that I have in my life all have weaned themselves out. They're all there because when I opened up this fucking gym, you know how many people told me this was going to be their home. You know where they are right now. Hear that and fucking everywhere.
Speaker 2:But you also have people that were here when you opened up this gym that are working out right now.
Speaker 1:Every day. They also get Christmas cards from me, so I know who is there and who isn't. I also know who is there for their career. I also know who is there for the season. You can't get upset and that was my problem before. I used to put everybody in the same box. I used to have everybody as a friend for life and I'm not great. If I'm investing myself into you, you're going to get flax come rain or shine. My strengths or my strengths, my weaknesses, are my weaknesses. I am not going to say that I'm the best textor. I'm known for my fucking starting of texts and never hit the end. But if you called me and said, hey, I need you right now, I need, I'm in hospital or whatever it would be, depending on that relationship, of course, but if somebody has put that into me, put that into my family. For me, the fucking easiest thing you can do to be my friend is give a check in to me, check in to my family.
Speaker 2:What you value loyalty.
Speaker 1:Fucking loyalty is a dientrate. Just be a human and care. All I ask in a friendship is give a damn my daughter's birthday. Hey, give that princess a hug for me. You know what I mean. Do you know what that fucking means? 100 times more than you saying congratulations on Mr Olympia, win, honest to God.
Speaker 2:Now I'm going to have fucking loads of text messages on my daughter's birthday, Especially all the Olympia people they're going to be like oops, don't be wrong, I love my.
Speaker 1:I'm not that ego guy too, I think because I'm surrounded by in a sport that is. You know, it's not beaten on the book. There's a lot of narcissism in bodybuilding, right, there's a lot of delusional narcissism too, but also that delusion seeps into a daily day life and you know you can get away with it on your own stage, you can get away with it on an export, you can get away with it at a bodybuilding event. But when you walk out of that arena and you continue on with our mentality, then you become the cliche.
Speaker 2:So is there a challenge in being the character of this godly physique and then portraying something different offstage. Is it hard to be? Is it hard to be this character that's supposed to be larger than life but then also be an approachable human, that is, that's relatable to everybody else?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that's a. That's a trait that not many people have. Seemingly, there's this adopted confidence, caulkiness that comes with being a champion. But no, you know, you've got a couple of digits next to your name on social media. That no caulkiness and confidence Confidence is different than caulkiness and I'm gonna make sure that's crystal clear.
Speaker 1:I am very confident, but there's a fine line between confidence and caulkiness and I try to walk that line my entire career, because what I would say on my mouth is I am coming to win doesn't mean that everybody else is fucking shit, just give it up. Today I'm coming because I've already won so many times. I think that's that's. That's that's disrespect. There's a conference that could be said, and you go through every single media outlet that I've ever had an interview with when I was the champion and I would say, hey, you know, I've trained my absolute ass off to be the champion and come September, whatever it would be, every single year, I'm coming to win.
Speaker 1:Now, what happens on that day is up to the same judges.
Speaker 1:Now, I would always say my confidence, but I would always land the plan with some sort of humility or some way of being like, just you know, like there is nobody that's trained harder than me and you all know this, but it's in the hands of the judges.
Speaker 1:What happens on that day? Um, when other people would talk as if they're a fighter, and there's this bleed over mentality right now in bodybuilding that these guys are talking like fighters but they don't end up fighting and there's a big, there's like this massive rise of ego and the end cap is opposed down. When you talk as if you're a fighter, when you're a fighter, and then the end cap is you beat the shit out of each other and then you shake hands like gentlemen and you go on your way in bodybuilding. You know the shit talk is there and then you do a pause down and then you go backstage and I don't know what else happens. But all my drama, there was ever, ever shit talk. Nobody ever knows about it because it was handled off social media and that was strategic.
Speaker 1:And I mean well, I don't know, if somebody had a strategic plan to talk shit, then I'd pick up the call and strategically say, let's go and fight.
Speaker 2:What I mean, though, is you deliberately didn't put personal drama out there publicly.
Speaker 1:No, no, I mean, why, like, what is the just say? In general, right, I could start talking about my gym. I know my gym is one of the best gyms in the world, but when you kind of say it over and over and over again, there's some guys you know on social media that say this is the best gym in the world. This is the best gym in the world. Like, dude, you're a broken record. Like, let the gym members do its own talking. You you as the owner of the gym can pridefully say this is one of the best gyms in the world and believe that, and you have every right to do so. But then you have to let the members do the talking. It'd be like me sitting here and saying I'm the greatest of all time, I'm the goat, I'm the goat. What happens is, even if your fans who are following you recognize that even them, in the end, be like man okay, we all know that. But you don't have to. Why, why? Why you keep on saying it, and I think that's the problem with with some athletes. It's like they have to remind the fans that already believe in them that they're good, and they also have to remind themselves sometimes that they're good. But if you know you're good, you don't have to.
Speaker 1:And in my case I turned up every single year in absolutely insidious peeled condition because I worked for it. I suffered. I suffered in silence. Do you know why? I didn't talk shit. I didn't have the fucking energy to talk shit. I was so zoned in. I couldn't give two shits about who. Who was you know doing what in another state, because everybody should be training hard. Everybody else should be thinking they're going to beat me. But I know what I'm in control of and I was winning every single year with improvements. And I didn't have to tell anybody that I was that good because I knew, come the date of the bodybuilding show, the moment you walk out to that stage and you hear a fucking gasp in the audience, that's when you know you're in condition and you're on. So I've got so many questions because I was where.
Speaker 1:this is what are we doing with this podcast? I thought it was a celebration of my birthday.
Speaker 2:Happy birthday Flex. I feel like Dana White going off the pallet on right now.
Speaker 2:Very current event, yeah, kind of an event. So, look, you started with Humble Beginnings, yes, very, and you climb those ranks pretty fast because you put in some really hard work, right, and it's easier. I think it's easy to see hey, all these successful people, all these champions, I want to be like them, right. But then, once you become that champion, does the target change to well, now I want this next gigantic thing. Or do you continually look back and see where you came to maintain gratitude? What's your focus?
Speaker 1:I think always knowing where you come from will keep that edge. I know what my parents done for me to have close my back. I know what my parents done to just afford the bare essentials. That in itself was motivation, let alone chasing this new and shiny trophy on my mantle piece. My goal was to leave a legacy. I left everything that I knew to chase this American dream. I came to the United States at 20 years old and I came to move here at 23, full time, and I slept on that sofa for a year and a half. There was a lot of times where I didn't believe or I said didn't believe. I didn't know when my next dollars were coming from. Because it was tough times. I had to really squeeze every single dollar to make it work. So when I had my first sponsorship, I remember feeling like an absolute millionaire and it was only $2,000. But that $2,000. I mean, it was a lot of money.
Speaker 2:It was a time in my life which I really need to sit down and remember because now life is different.
Speaker 1:Life is different and I dream to have the life I'm living right now and I'm dreaming about a much bigger life sitting in the shoes that I am right now. But I just remember that $2,000 sitting in my back count and I look at it and I remember that I was sitting in my back count and I remember sitting in my back count and I remember that $2,000 sitting in my back count and I look at it and I look at it and I didn't want to touch it because I was like oh my god, this is a million dollars, you know, and I remember using every single dollar to take me to that next level and I knew I was like, wow, every fuck. No, Now I have the financial needs, the functional means to stay here in the United States. $2,000 doesn't last long, you know.
Speaker 2:Do you still reinvest in yourself on a regular basis?
Speaker 1:Absolutely Every single day, Every single day. But just to talk about that $2,000, you know, that money enabled me to give me the belief that everything that I left in the UK, all the calls that I had with my mom and dad, all the worrisome nights, all these small, all these small little situations that all you know add up. When that happened, everything got whitewashed. Everything got whitewashed and it allowed me then to be like, okay, nothing's really changed. I just have money in my bank account, but I'm making it, I'm doing it Everybody who said I wasn't going to do it.
Speaker 1:You know what it is. So it was that booster confidence that I really needed and it was at the right place at the right time. Tell us, you know you mentioned him already. Dj talks about having $7, hence $7 productions. I was on $20 productions but I had $20 in my name it was like $23, I think it was and that $23 was in my hand for probably a few days and I was thinking, man, I really need to buy groceries and I didn't know where it was coming from.
Speaker 1:Thankfully, I had some incredible people at that point in time, even, you know, even to tell a side story, dave Bulley, who trains in my gym right now. Dave gave me free protein and I never forget that. You know I can go full circle now with Dave, who used to be the owner of Max Muscle, with Jay Cutler. He was just him at the time. Why, I don't know, even ask him. I guess he took a shine to me. Couldn't understand a fucking word. I know he only starts half what I say, but he would give me free brand new tubs of protein Max Muscle protein and I remember just using that instead of me food, because I didn't have nothing else. But yeah, $23, and I get that money. It allowed me then to be like, OK, let's go, I cook them with gas now.
Speaker 1:And then I started reinvesting in myself, started opening doors. That confidence that came out, I honed in on that. I put more coal on the fire. Literally it was like, ok, let's go. And then I was able to get sponsored by another company, which was Weedah Publications, and meeting Joe Weedah was an absolute life changer for me and got to see the Weedah offices which are no longer around and meet Joe prior to his passing. And that was wow. This is Joe Weedah, who discovered Arnold and you know what. I am in his office and he's giving me compliments. This little 24-year-old young kid worked behind the years fucking living. This crazy dream was being told by the godfather of bodybuilding, joe Weedah, that I had potential and I could do really well.
Speaker 2:At what point is believing you're going to be a champion? Wishful thinking, or motivational or delusional Like at a certain point and you've talked about with many guests. You've talked about hey, are you going to have this Like, are you bringing this into being? But there's also a delusional element there, if they're wrong.
Speaker 1:You've got to be delusional to chase anything in life. I think there's got to be a reality and there's got to be a skewed reality. Delusion when OK, let's break down my path to come in here. I jump on a plane. Ronnie Coleman was Mr Olympia and you know what I was. After a couple of amateur wins Fortu's end up on the internet, they want to do a flex magazine photo shoot in Coliseum Gym, which is Milo Saccha's gym, which obviously Milo's and myself are good friends. He trains you too, and I had this photo shoot. I suffice to say I got the bug of what America was. You know. Remember growing up in movies there was a lot of skewed reality. And talking about a skewed reality, I went back home and I was like that's it, I'm all in on bodybuilding, I will become Mr Olympia. Now, how delusional is that.
Speaker 2:It sounds insane.
Speaker 1:Ronnie Coleman was Mr Olympia. Jay Cutler was the second in the world. You're talking about guys who are, you know, touching the 300 fucking number. And you know what? I was 180 fucking pounds, saying I was going to be Mr Olympia to myself, not to the world, because that is delusional. There's a difference, I think there's, on that. There's goals and there's dreams. I think it's healthy for you to say what you want to do that is within tangible reach. But when you start telling people like some pie in the sky, shit you will find fast, people will try to humble you. Now I'm full of these ideas. As you know, I'm very like pie in the sky. Let's fucking go. This is what I want to do. But I'm telling my team, who have already seen me achieve things, that know that I'm messing around here. This is going to happen If we do XYZ. That will happen. But you know there was no plan, there was no blueprint for me. I didn't know what XYZ was. I was like I'm going to be Mr Olympia, I'm going on a plane to America and I'll find out how I'm going to do this. It's going to cost me a lot of money. It's going to take a long time, a lot of chicken breasts, but I will do it.
Speaker 1:I came here and knew one person and that was Ed Corners, and I soon realized that I had, from their words, potential. But that means nothing in life. Potential is wasted by so many. I see guys in this gym, in and out in this town, different states, different countries, who have potential, and there's some guys who don't have potential but have trained so fucking hard that they've made themselves into better athletes. Genetics aside, they've molded their best version of their best frame, their best shape and suffering conditioning to stand against guys who they shouldn't really, by genetic standard, be standing next to. But the work ethic in one hand is there and the potential of genetics is in the other. And potential and genetics will get you to a certain level, but work ethic will always beat that. But if you have genetics and work ethic, that potential will always be lived.
Speaker 2:If you weren't born with the genetics you have, what would you have done? Strip it, I deserve that. I came to Vegas to be a Chippendale man.
Speaker 1:I still got the option right now. I don't know, I don't know. I probably would no question be some sort of business owner entrepreneur. That has been an interest of mine since I was a very young, very young age kid. I had my first hustle at 11 years old. I had my paper out and I told you, I bought all the pre-existing paperouts from all the older guys who you only do paperouts until 12, 13, whatever, and then you go on to do other things. So when these guys finished, I collected all these paper runs and I sold them to the younger kids. You sold them back off.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I thought you knew this story.
Speaker 1:No I didn't know that. Yeah, so 10, 12, I think it was. I had a paper out that my paper was my hill and we all live in hills and I knew every route that connected mine. So there was one kid that stopped opposite me, there was somebody up the street, there was another one down the bottom, so I told him when you're finished with your round, when you're coming up, and I'd ask him all the time hey, how long are you going to left? Oh, probably after some all day. And when I finish, some all day is coming up. You still want to get it? I'll give it. Yeah.
Speaker 1:So I took these with the original intention to have a bigger round, and then I realized wait, I mean, you don't have to get up so early to do this. So then the paper round was always a demand. So I knew all these younger kids that were coming through and they were like they would go to the store and they were like, sorry, there's no rounds. I do who these kids are. Hey, you want that round. So then they would give me a cutback every single week on the round.
Speaker 2:You were a paper boy, Pimp.
Speaker 1:I was pimping the paper. And then my first ever kind of like proper side hustle was probably like 13, when I had the Finches and I would, you know, breed the Finches and sell them back to the pet shop. Started off with two. Nature takes course. You know, I had about 100 Finches, which are bang in all shapes and sizes in all times of the year, and I'd sell them back to the pet shop. I think they were selling them for five, five pound a pair or five pound each, I kind of remember I'd sell them to the pet shop like a pound each and you had a moving company.
Speaker 1:Yeah, moving company. I started that out of college. At the same time I started bodybuilding. So I had a great you know physique for a young kid which came from rugby and gymnastics and athletics. So I used my physical look to be like who do you want to turn up at your house, these guys which, the guys I work for me to, or are in great shape rugby boys, bodybuilders, all these other scrubs. And also because I come from a very blue collar hard work in town, you know there was no short haulage. So my market research showed that if somebody went to move from, you know, a small little detached house sorry, a detached house what would it be?
Speaker 2:Manufactured home.
Speaker 1:No, they're all attached. You know they're like. They're all like industry, industrial housing Back in the day where, like a whole street is all attached, there's no gaps, there's no like back gate doing something like that. There's a lane in the back, but attached and they're all look the same. There was no, there was no small haulage, so there was a big moving truck.
Speaker 1:So astronomical prices for some of these people and they can subconsciously, unconsciously, knew this like okay, you want to move, it's going to cost this much. So I came in and disrupted the whole industry. They were pissed, they tried a strong army until they realized who you know, who's working for me and also who I knew in that town too. But nonetheless, these guys were scrubs, you know. They didn't look the part messy looking tracksuits. I came there with Uni Farm. Everything was presented. My guys had their hair combed, beards done, primed, proper manners, yes or no, sir, which is not standard in Wales. Yes or no sir? Yes, ma'am, no ma'am, you want something upstairs? Yes, sir. And that is why I separated myself from the park, not only because I found a niche within the industry, but also because I went and I focused on the small little details, like some of these guys. They're like where you want this? Right there, right there. Oh, I'm not moving. This is on the form. It says living room.
Speaker 1:We would go in and say, hey, would you like this move somewhere else? Put it up to the top, sorry, can you put it back down? Yeah, no problem, we jump in the van. We do the morning in the van. Oh, my god, we're fucked up that bitch. But you'd never see any of that unprofessional shit in front of the clients, right In front of the town that we're in. I mean, it's a small town. So we were able to grow exponentially faster than ever through word of mouth. I had advertisements in the paper. I had advertisements in the old pages. I had advertisements on the radio. 85% of my business came from word of mouth. So that's why I tell everybody, word of mouth taught me very young. You know just like why my brand, my business as a bodybuilder, is what it is, is because of word of mouth.
Speaker 2:You mentioned a couple of times on this episode about flying into the United States for the first time, and last year you became a United States citizen. What does that mean to you?
Speaker 1:Ike's. I could joke, which is probably part of everything I do. But all honesty, when you strip every new way, nobody loves this country more than me. I love this country. It's given me such opportunity. Honestly, you know some people who are born you do not know how blessed they are to be American. They don't, they take it for granted, they want them on and they want to destroy this country. And I tell people it's like you should go backpacking, you should go and grab a plane ticket and go to the other side of the world, go to countries and places off the beaten pack path and then come back and tell me how shit America is and how horrible. You know and suppressed you feel. That you're talking about you have no clue Like the United Kingdom is not, you know, in any shape or form bad, but it's certainly not the United States. You know US is the land of opportunity. I came here knowing one person because in my head, in my heart, I knew this country was the land of opportunity. People will say the American dream is dead. Suffice to say, I'm living the American dream. But I also came here with a mentality to pour myself into the United States. I've done.
Speaker 1:My citizenship took me 15 years, millions of dollars in taxes. I've paid just under 200 employees, two kids married 15 years Unbelievable, but it was earned. It was earned and it wasn't given. I can sit you know you're today and say that you know an American citizen. I'm also a UK citizen. I also. You hear this accent. People be in the comments section. Do you realize? I hear my accent? Some people are here for two weeks. They sound American. I've been here for freaking eight.
Speaker 1:I came here 20, 20 years old. I just turned 40 yesterday and I sound just as well as I do now, but I slow myself down. People in Wales don't think I've been dropped my head, but I pridefully made sure that I've never forgotten what I've come from. I've also remind myself that I know what I'm going and you know, coming to the United States with this goal, with this plan, with this dream, was pie in the sky. But I knew I was going to do it. As crazy as that is, even on my hardest of days I would say, oh my God, it's just so hard, I know. Am I going to do it? Yes, I woke up the next morning still put my fucking pants on instead. I was going to do it. No one said I ever think about buying a return ticket and coming home. It's just not in my DNA. I think a lot of people don't really know what hardship is and they give up so fast. The American dream is real Also. An immigrant mentality is also real.
Speaker 2:A lot of you are fortunate enough to have that perspective. A lot of people that are here don't get the contrast.
Speaker 1:That's my point. That's why I say to people who kind of mourn and groan and oh my, go back parking, get on a plane, go and see other parts of the world. Regardless how hard you think it is, it's not hard, you know. Look at Francis Nagano. What a story I'm saying what a freaking story. He's never gone when he's come from. The guy is now enriched with everything that he could have ever. I don't think he could have dreamed this big how and what he's doing in life right now. But you want to talk about hardship? You know that guy had guns pointed to him. He had to smuggle himself in and swim.
Speaker 1:And my gosh if you know his story. If you don't know, sorry, and you're following this podcast.
Speaker 1:Get off here after you've watched the whole episode for so long and subscribe and like and do a comment, but type his name in Google, type his name in YouTube and add the word story. You'll be blown away. But I don't have that kind of hardship. I have my own. It's been a drive, it's been a dream.
Speaker 1:But when you hear stuff like that and then some say, oh my God, you know it's such a horrible brand and you know it's like, listen, you are looking in the rearview mirror. The path in life is what you create of it. If you want to be stuck in sorrow, life is hard and poor me, oh my God, I can't be with them people. I can't, I can't. If somebody starts poor me fucking, I can be like OK, I sympathetic for the. If I were to poor me again, I'm bounced. I don't need that poor me around me because it starts drip, drip, dripping into your fucking mentality. I want to be around people who fail and say let's fucking go again, let's fucking go again. I know we're going to suppress a lot of this, but yeah, I've said that.
Speaker 1:But. But the mentality is everything in life and you know. You asked me a question earlier about hiring. I want to be around people who have initiative. I want to hire people who have the balls to contest me in a room where I am the one talking as if I know all the answers and I'm not that guy, but you know what I mean. I want to have people who throw shit and tie us and Roderick, who's behind the camera now. One of my favorite things is what?
Speaker 2:Asking you, Roderick.
Speaker 1:Oh, for fuck's sake, he's not even listening to the podcast. Throwing shit against the wall. I love that saying. Right, I say that a lot Throwing shit against the wall is one of my favorite things, not literal shit. So anybody comes into my fucking gym and starts throwing, you know yeah.
Speaker 2:You'll be very upset if somebody takes it literally.
Speaker 1:But, but again, it's it's being around them type of people who have a different perspective and also have a different upbringing. And I love, I love, I love being around people with enthusiasm to seize the day and go for it. Because I'm very, you know, I'm a big dreamer and I love having people with the same enthusiasm to see me chase my dreams and also, you know, chase opportunity for the company. If I'm in the room and I'm the only voice and I'm the only creative, that becomes all fast.
Speaker 2:You get in an echo chamber. Yes, so you mentioned echo chamber like that. Sorry, you mentioned looking in the rearview mirror and you retired from bodybuilding and doing that at the top. And really when your identity is tied up in that, how do you transition from one identity to something else? It seems like a really hard thing when you say and there's a lot of people that go through this in life there's a thing called astronaut disorder yeah astronaut syndrome, where they're, like, they land on the moon.
Speaker 2:Now what, like? What's the next thing? And so how do you? How do you deal with that? How do you deal with like well, I'm at the literally highest elitist version of this and now I've got to do something else. I need to transition that.
Speaker 1:I could give. I could give an answer that people kind of want to hear or expect to hear from my mouth.
Speaker 2:Sounds like it's going to be not very truthful.
Speaker 1:No, no, no, but that's I'm being truthful. But there was a struggle. You know there was a struggle. There was a and I don't think I'm fully out to the woods, as you probably know in the last couple of weeks, but there's, there's moments.
Speaker 1:But I miss it, really miss it to be the best in the world. Know your purpose, know your calling, know what you have to do, know that there's going to be a bottle ahead of you. But you, you are the blueprint. You know your own standard and the chase is all up to you. You don't miss a beat. If you don't miss a beat, you turn up the way you all turn up and the rest in the hands of the judges. But I knew what I was and I know who I was.
Speaker 1:So when I decided to retire on my terms not because of an injury, not because of, you know, my wife or whatever different variable that other people have had to succumb to that first year was easy because I done it. I know the first and second guy in the world and flipped roles this year. I've beaten both. So of course, the funds play a massive part in my life. You know they've done a massive part in my whole career. And then I start thinking, man, I should do it for the funds. I should do it for the funds, these guys deserve to see me back up there, get that title, fill a void that I was hoping to do and never was able to achieve. And then I have to snap out of it and go. I walked away on top, undefeated, undisputed, never lost a point, never lost a show. In all the years that I've done that 212. Nobody has my record. Walk away, no win, would I show the cutter, but never using that as a tool.
Speaker 2:No win.
Speaker 1:But if I put myself into anything I do from year on in, if I give the same type of dedication, respect and commitment that I can achieve, anything goes back to that delusion, right.
Speaker 2:It does.
Speaker 1:So I'm chasing something right now in my life that you guys are a part of, and you know that if I told myself a year ago, three years ago, when I was competing, I'd be laughed at, just like I said, just like I said about winning the Olympia when I came here at 20. But you know, because you're part of them conversations, the shit's happening, and had I gone back to bodybuilding to stand on stage, this wouldn't be so. Everything in life is all about chapters. I've ended my chapter, no higher than I could have done. Now I'm on to new, scary, uncharted territories. But no, these things are stand to a line and we've got people around me that are supporting me on this journey because they see something that I see in myself. But no, I'm having that part in the back, just like I did when I had bodybuilding in my life, and you know to hear you have potential was all I needed a year back then and then meeting Joe Wita and being told we're from Joe Wita.
Speaker 1:So right now we're in that stage of meeting Joe Wita right and having them conversations and people are telling us that, hey, we like what we're doing, we're behind it. There's go flags and I'm like, yes, so I miss it, but I know there's something much bigger, much better and a bigger calling that bodybuilding could never have given me in tangible reach and I just have to have that self belief and go for it.
Speaker 2:This is a two-parter. So what gives you fear, but I don't mean, I mean excitement, what is that thing that frightens you but moves you forward, is the first part, and the second part is what provides you with joy and comfort. So like, what builds you up and then what calms you down? Ooh, what builds me up?
Speaker 1:It calms me down A lot of what I just spoke about.
Speaker 2:What is the drive, though, like? What's the thing that gets you, what raises your blood pressure in a positive way?
Speaker 1:What raises my blood pressure. It's probably the same thing that I used to do with myself in bodybuilding the fear of losing it all, waking up the next day and be like, hey see, a robot can count. It wouldn't happen. You know, go off a bit, but there's so many different fireballs now that are in the way. So, if shit, it's the fun, there's the firewall there and I'm good. But yeah, I've not allowed myself to lose that mentality of being kicked out of this country, barking that plan, living in my mother's father's house.
Speaker 2:So the humility of and remembering where you came from motivates you to keep moving forward.
Speaker 1:Yeah and then there's like this, this weird you vibe that I have, where I want to prove all these people who didn't believe in me. You know that it's just hey, I don't have to do a post, I don't have to say anything, I just do. And you know they don't like it. There's so many people that are rooting for my demise and rooting for my failure as they are for every one of these. You know viewers that are watching. There's people that are out there that are near you and sometimes dear to you, that don't want to see you do well. They want to keep you just in arms reach of success, but then pull you down. As soon as you get a little momentum, If you start realizing, these red flags come off. They are doing nothing for you, your future, your career, but keeping you in a box of growth.
Speaker 1:I've cut the string on so many people. It took me a long time and you know how loyal I am to people. And then I realized and like man, this guy ain't fucking loyal to me. There's no success that he wants me to do outside of the success that I have. And then it's followed by a backhand compliment or a don't forget where you come from. I'll never forget. I got a tattoo on my arm at 15 years old that I could have covered up so many times. It doesn't even fit on my arm. That thing was there when I had it done.
Speaker 2:There are a few things that fit on your arm.
Speaker 1:But it reminds me of never forgetting where I come from. But I don't want to be in that circle. Where I come from, the whole fucking reason for life is to live life and maximize it to its full potential. Enjoy the chapters, enjoy the spoils. If you're an asshole, be an asshole with money. If you're a nice guy, be a nice guy with money. I choose my path and I don't care what you kind of do or don't do. But if you're in and around me or my circle and you're not bringing something to me, then goodbye. I will bring what I bring to yours because I want everybody to win. I mean, I don't even wish the people I don't like, you know, no success, because I feel everybody in life should have a happy life. If you're not, then do something about it.
Speaker 1:I know people who have no money or have poor health. Let's be honest. Money, let's fucking. Let's veto money.
Speaker 1:There's people out there who, not by any choosing whatsoever, get sick right. And there's people that you know, we know, who have all the money in the world that get sick. Guess what. They trade all our money in the world just to be better. So you realize that money is just a object to either make a better life, transactions, food, whatever it is. But when you start using money as a tool for ego and I'm better than you because I have some zeros in the bank account I don't want that.
Speaker 1:People around me. I have all walks in life, all shapes, colors, sizes. You know ethnicities, fucking aliens, I don't know who knows who's what these days, but if you're not speaking things into existence and chasing your own goals, then unfortunately you can't be super close to me. I like to have people who have their own path, chasing their own dreams. You know, even if you don't have the aspiration to be a multimillionaire, if you are investing into your family and you're a bloody good dad and I like that and I see qualities in you that I want to take and put into me, you're around me.
Speaker 1:But again, the bottom line to everything in life is just fucking be a good guy, do good things, have fun, because life is fucking short. I've lost way, way too many friends, Way too many friends recently. In the last five years. I've lost way too many friends who didn't even see their full potential in life and they died good fucking people. So you know, even if you take anything from this podcast. It's just realize that, doing it tomorrow, doing it next week, just fucking do it today, because you're one day closer to achieving something that you thought you'd never have. And also and this has helped me to kind of go off on your time journaling in my way, you know people are not deer diary.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what's your way? I wake up in the morning and I can't speak English, so I don't try to, but what I do is I become very deep in thought first thing in the morning, for whatever reason. I'm tired, I'm tired, and you know, I've got a cup of coffee next to me or whatever, and I just find myself coming up with some deep shit, and I try to do that different times in the day and I just can't.
Speaker 2:It only works in the morning.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's weird. And then times I ask myself so weird, it's kind of I ask myself what do you want from today, what do you want from this week, what do you want from life? Sometimes I don't have the answer, you know, but I think if you ask yourself that, more likely or not, you're going to have these new goals that you never thought about. And just give yourself that time. You know, for me first thing in the morning is by environment, because Maxine is sleeping, my daughter is, she's probably, she's an early bird, she's five something in the morning, but she's watching TV in bed and it's my time to demand stuff from myself and what I want to see.
Speaker 1:And when I was going through that period of, you know, kind of lost, you know I think it was a combination of a few things One, the Mr Olympia, was coming up and I didn't really know I was going through this shit and I also stopped asking or demanding these goals for myself. So now I'm back on the horse. The Olympia kind of ended about two weeks ago, three weeks ago, and it was so weird. Come Sunday I was like, oh man, I feel so much better, maybe once the.
Speaker 1:Olympia how weird, is that right?
Speaker 2:So going back to that question, because there was a two-part around- that, what brings you? Joy. What brings you happiness?
Speaker 1:What brings me joy? I mean outside of my family.
Speaker 2:Your family can be one of those answers.
Speaker 1:Oh, sorry, I was not even so. I mean, my foreign is a photo of my family. I have a four-door of me and my boy. So, without sounding like I'm biased with my kids, I've had eight years with my daughter. I love my daughter. She's super cool. We have a lot of fun together. But now I'm living through my son. The kid that took the cars and stuff like that weren't, weren't part of Adi's childhood. She was Barbie dolls and hey, trust me, I've had my nails painted. I've had all kinds of fucking braids in my hair. Now this is a different chapter and you know I'm on the floor with my monster trucks. We watch monster trucks. We watch, you know, bj. Bj Baldwin is a friend of the show and friend of mine. We put him on YouTube and she loves that. You know she sees him in this truck and that's his truck's cars, wheels, noises, exhausts, fucking burnouts, boy's, boy. Right, that brings me joy. I fucking love that time my phone's blowing up. You know, I don't care who it is, unless it's DJ.
Speaker 2:But there's gonna be a point in in in their future where they actually understand what you went through, and I can only imagine the pride that they're going to experience in understanding like going from so little to pushing through that championship. And then you know they're looking your dad. You know that you're not this larger than life character that was on stage posing, but they're gonna realize that moment. I think that's gonna be amazing.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I hope so Ali Ali's very good at making sure Adi knows what, what daddy done you know.
Speaker 1:So me and my wife, you have two different upbringings. Of course she she comes from a very successful householder with a dad being one of the best pathologists in the United States, but self-made, you know, it was not like. You know, he came from Silver Spoon. He truly worked very hard to get him here. So it's kind of like the upbringing that Adi's having right now through me, right. But I came and met Ali on a different stage and so weird that her upbringing was completely different from my upbringing. But she loves my upbringing, the family, the closeness, the Christmases and stuff like that, and I love, you know, what she had.
Speaker 1:So you're kind of in life you're always looking over the gone fence, a green of grass right, and there is no green of grass. Every's got a life, every's got a story. All I ask and this is going back to what you said is that my kids understand what I had to do to get to what I am. You know, traveling around the world and being the first athlete on a both to the last athlete on the both is all paved. You know a lot of my career. You know fans and my followers. Honestly, god you guys, as cliche as you might think this is it's like you know the toughest of. Perhaps you know I wouldn't have got through them. I did not beam for some of these messages that I used to have and receive and I still get these messages, still get these, these these incredible messages where people say I remember when you were doing this, I was oh yeah, I knew, I knew message me.
Speaker 1:I was like oh, I did but I poured into so much of my funds because they poured into me and I know I'm retired, they're reminding me of these. You know these times that I sent this, this message, or I left a voice note to somebody and what they don't realize is that I'm hearing that encouragement, that I give them back to me. So when I was going through whatever, and I get this nice message about hey, I was going through this time and you said this to me, I was like, oh, thanks bro, I was going through something exact same time and I had that message back.
Speaker 1:It's fucking wild, right? The world is a beautiful fucking place. Just realize that. You know it can all end. You know it's. You're taking me to a fucking theory place you. But I also understand that we, we as a family, we as a family are such a dynamic we are. But we've got Ali her upbringing her. She's not religious, but she's got to do it. She was dissent, that upbringing, and then you got my upbringing. So when we got married we had two cultures that came together so we had the kilt mashed with.
Speaker 1:She was the kilt right yeah she was around the kilt mashed with my, my culture, and suffice to say you know everybody who's at their wedding. If I called up Rob Bailey, you know, and I called it, it doesn't matter, it was a lot of people, big names. They all say that he was one of the best weddings they've ever gone to because it was so unique and it was just full of different characters. There was no ego, it was just fun. When my family came to party and drink and their family came to party and drink and celebrate and we put it up in the Boca Resort hotel, which is one of the the nicest hotels in in south Florida, and we tore the house down, you know. And and then, obviously you know, we've been able to build a family that started off in Florida, transitioned all the way from Florida to Las Vegas, found out Ali was pregnant in Las Vegas.
Speaker 1:So not only have we been able to know, set up the dragon's lair, which started off in in in Florida uh, to Las Vegas, I'm sorry and create this, this global brand, by innocence, you know, just to put more context to that and for for the people who don't know, the dragon's lair started off in Boca, return as a gym for me to win him defend my titles. Never did I think this would become what it became and I think that I think that is is probably the biggest story, or is? You know, sometimes in life you go down a path of wanting to do one thing and then you get sidetracked into doing something else. But you have to realize that, yes, although I I didn't want to go down here, trust your instinct, trust your heart, trust your faith, whatever it is, and go for it. And that's what happened with the dragon's lair. We had a, you know, a collection of used gym pieces that I put together myself, put it in a warehouse in Boca, return ungodly amount of money but that investment.
Speaker 1:Instead of putting it into a car or something else, I put it into me as the investment. And it was never open to the public. It was only open for. It was only open for two, two hours a day. At that point in time, for the first few years I didn't have trainers in there in the tail end. Then I started seeing it for the business of what it is and I had trainers in there for the for the hours that I wasn't in there. And also at that point in time, arsenal strength had now taken off into fruition and we truly invested into that gym and I turned it into the gym. That, at that time, was the dragons there.
Speaker 1:Covid happened, myself and Ali looked at each other. We were going to look at moving it into another facility in in Florida and having a lot of opportunities in the west coast, but that flight being five hours and for a quick little dinner meeting on a handshake or a coffee in Starbucks, a lot of these meetings got turned down. So now the opportunity of exploring Vegas was there. It took the opportunity to jump on a plane, came out here twice, nobody knew stealth mode and we were all in. We found this building, we built it. Nobody knew but a few in my closest or closest circles. I didn't know the. I didn't need any import. I didn't need anybody tell me how I should do it. I didn't need anybody tell me why I shouldn't do it.
Speaker 1:This was me myself and Ali, and me myself and Ali me and Ali my fucking ego me and Ali and we said all in and I'm very, I'm very, I'm very blessed. I said it's ready to have such a supportive life as Ali, who you know sounds that maybe when you've got some of you as driven as me, she's just a nodding dog, but you know she's not if she's all in, in fact it was her that said, babe, I think we should come to Vegas and all her families in Florida, so it's like it's all in, so she's in the opportunity. I've seen the opportunity.
Speaker 1:The world was in despair and panic but just like any investment, you double down when everybody else is scared, and that's what we've done. We came here, we doubled down and we built this. I know everybody wants to move here Vegas when it's safe and everything else, but nobody knows that this gym was built when everybody was worried and everybody had no, no intention of opening up any type of business. We came here. We were like this is an opportunity. When this passes, when we turnkey this, it's going to be absolutely massive for the industry. And, needless to say, the grand opening had over a hundred VIPs, celebrities, who paid their own way and their hotels to come and support me and Ali on this new venture. So that was truly mind-blowing for me, and it just goes to show that when you invest in people, when in opportunities such as the dragons that are opened up and I needed that support back a hundred something athletes came to support last question yeah, you started off this discussion.
Speaker 2:We've had talking about how you wanted to leave a legacy. What do you want your legacy to be?
Speaker 1:well, my legacy is going to live through my children, some working really hard to to really put some stuff in the ground for them to take over business wise, but in terms of a brand. If you look at Arnold and what he done, he's never been defined by one thing and the rock. You know we kind of mentioned him way too many times today, but still nonetheless, what an inspiration, wrestler, actor, etc. I won't be defined by what I done on stage. I refuse to be. I've worked so hard on becoming the best bodybuilder and now I'm working hard, so hard, I'll become in the best acts. So my legacy is still to be determined. I think the most exciting thing is that life is what, what you put into it, and that chapter of being on stage is being left. It's still in my DNA. I love bodybuilding. I love keeping my finger on the pulse. I love support in the next future. I love supporting the top of the tree.
Speaker 1:Derek Lunsford, who was being a guest of the show, just won the mr Olympia. Keon fellow, you know a member you're at the gym just became a 2-12 champion. Jen just won bikini, defended a regain to a title after losing a member of the gym. I get to live through these guys and girls so I won't lose that ability to keep myself invested in the sport, because I'm invested, seeing them daily. I'm now able to give back, you know a more than anything else. Just help them with strategic business moves that I wish I had, that help when I was coming up through the ranks. Now I'm able to, hey, do this, invest in that, do this, don't do this. And I think suffice to say you know, these guys and girls have already benefited from having me in my corner and this gym here in Las Vegas. So the legacy has many different chapters, ones that I have full control over, that I know what will happen if I keep pouring in. And then the others that I have my sights on and are still to be written. So I think the the future is just to say the same thing again the future is what you make of it, and and a lot more people need to just turn their hat back to front and go after it, and sometimes I have to remind myself about that too.
Speaker 1:But having a team such as you, such as Roderick, my wife and many others you that I can name, coach Hill who have seen me struggle but know that that struggle is just a temporary thing and when you go through struggle, just like every fucking storm, right there's, there's the sunshine that comes out from it. So we've weathered one storm, we've got a lot of uh, a lot more sunshine now at this point in time, but we keep on rising up out, up every single week, every single month, and the demand that I want from myself my life rubs off and it'll be around me. So we're all in this life to to give it our best shot and we're all encouraging each other well, every single day, to be the best version. And then does cliche is all this fucking shit?
Speaker 1:Is the old that I get to realize that life is one big cliche. Right, believe to achieve dream big is fucking true. Like honestly, it's fucking true, it's one big cliche. This is why everybody can be a fucking motivational coach right now, because you say one or two fucking sentences like yes, that's right, but it's true. So life is to be lived, guys, and I'm trying to live my life, with the stage having been one box ticked, now I'm on to the biggest stage of life well, flex, thank you for letting me interview you.
Speaker 2:Happy birthday. If you're watching this and you've gotten this far, it means that you like this show. So please hit the subscribe, the comment, the like. Share all of that good stuff, please. If you have not checked it out on audio format, download it on itunes or spotify. You can hang out and listen to it on at the gym or while you're driving or doing grocery shopping, whatever the case may be. And, flex, thank you for just open it up your heart, open it up your home, in a sense, to so many people. Your fingerprints are on, are on the success of so many people that walk through this and and if you don't know it, that should make you feel fantastic. Why don't you be the one that takes us out? Flex?
Speaker 1:Lewis, straight up the layer, we are hooked.
