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Behind the Shield podcast. Welcome to the Behind
the Shield podcast. As always, my name is James
Gearing, and this week I am so excited to bring
back on for the sixth time strength and conditioning
coach and the man behind StrongFit, Julian Pinault.
Now, for those of you who have heard Julian's
episode in the past, you will see this metamorphosis
from strength training to everything from trauma
release, nutrition, accessory work. And for lack
of a better word, un -effing CrossFitters. Well,
in this conversation, we circle around having
last spoke during COVID and reflect on so many
elements that need to be discussed. From the
destruction of the strength and conditioning
industry during that period. How removing these
positive places of community and health negatively
impacted the athletes. The cancer of extremist
wokeism. The lack of ownership and responsibility
of mistakes made during COVID and so much more.
Now, before we get to this incredible conversation,
as I say every week, please just take a moment.
Go to whichever app you listen to this on, subscribe
to the show, leave feedback and leave a rating.
Every single five -star rating truly does elevate
this podcast, therefore making it easier for
others to find. And this is a free library of
well over 1 ,100 episodes now. So all I ask in
return is that you help share these incredible
men and women's stories so I can get them to
every single person on planet Earth who needs
to hear them. So with that being said, I welcome
back on the show... Julien Pineau. Enjoy. Well,
Julien, I want to start by saying... Thank you
so much for coming back on the Behind the Shield
podcast for the sixth time now. My pleasure.
My pleasure. I can't believe it's been six times.
On my Facebook memories a few days ago, it came
up, the picture when I actually came to visit
you and you trained with me that one time in
California, and that was probably, what was that,
eight, nine years ago now? i don't know because
i don't have access to facebook because i got
banned permanently years back well there's an
icebreaker let's talk about that i i got my instagram
page shut down um because i was posting kindness
and compassion videos so um complete no warning
it was too much about men yeah so yeah talk to
me about that let's open the the door we have
social media platforms that are basically allowing
porn you know on on the the normal social media
we have we have the super violent stuff the horrible
accidents that are on there so talk to me about
your perspective on why people that seem to be
trying to make the world better seem to be the
most cancelled and restricted groups of the whole
social media spectrum yeah but it's honestly
i wish it was evil uh And the banality of it,
I think, is truly what scares me the most. Because
I see the same thing, the evolution of the fitness
industry, right? Where you had Greg Glassman,
Dave Castro, the people like that. And now we're
back to bodybuilding and biohackers. And now
that the fitness industry runs through YouTube,
you're going to see more and more of that and
less and less of that. what sells the most is
obviously half naked ladies and so that's where
instagram basically is going so now they're gonna
i'm sure at some point they're gonna try to compete
with only fan so you're gonna have girls with
subscriptions on instagram more and more where
they can have their you know whatever they call
that their uber contact the stuff you don't see
normally and then the text messages and stuff
but honestly this follows the same trend like
we lost the culture war like about 10 years ago
i will still blame me too to start the the whole
avalanche toward that thing because what you
have now is just a bunch of upper middle class
college educated like elitists on the feminine
side men and women by the way that won the culture
wars and pressure that are telling us what to
do and and they live in a bubble that is so thick
that they can't imagine for a second that their
world view is not the correct one but the problem
is they make the whole they make all the decisions
and so at instagram at facebook but i think we're
going to see in the fitness industry what we
saw in the in hollywood so what happened to hollywood
also this is how come it's at the hand of a bunch
of google sheet you know college educated people
that do not care about movies Well, because that's
not who finance movies anymore. If you see Disney,
for example, Disney does not make money on movies.
It makes money on theme parks and merchandising.
They never needed to make money on movies. So
therefore, who do you think was in charge? It's
just Google shit people, really good at finance
and pushing numbers and there. Then you get Apple,
same problem. Then you get Netflix, which is
about volume, not movies. Then you get Amazon,
same thing. So suddenly, instead of having producers
that are responsible to the public, you have
producers that are responsible to people that
do not care about movies, that only care about
their bottom line. And those people make the
decisions. And so you take that within a bubble
and a culture war and you push it forward and
you end up with people that are just horrible
at what they do. And so after that, it's... the
bubble they live in and making sure they look
good with their friends and they go look who
i ban we don't have those people on my platform
and then you get that basically you know cultural
war going into the stuff so people like us are
the first one to go but don't worry he's coming
to you as well that's the thing with identity
politics is sooner or later he'll be you he starts
with us all the white men but don't worry Don't
worry. Sooner or later, they'll be at your doorstep
and you will be the undesirable. And since it's
a Google sheet, they'll press that button on
you just like they did on us. Me, I got banned
because I dare talk about the Wuhan virus. Like
that maybe came from a lab. And back then you
could not say that. So I got banned permanently.
And then I got shadow banned on YouTube as well
and the whole thing. But so men's values are
not exactly hip right now, right? Because we're
going back to... upper middle class, you know,
very feminine and everything, like people are
us, are the problem, and so therefore. But I
don't think there's, unfortunately, I wish there
was an evil there, because it would be a lot
easier to fight. I just think there's just an
apathy and a lack of care, and men can suffer,
who cares, because honestly, it doesn't create
a ripple. It never did. Men are expendable, always
will be, that's okay, that's all wrong. That
always will be the case. And so to those people,
they're like, what difference does it make? It's
the apathy of it that scares me the most. Well,
I think where I've seen it so blatant recently
is, and I talk about this all the time and I
was talking about it and then I got shut down
on Instagram. There may be a correlation there,
but, you know, because I talked about, you know,
the vaccine mandates and how it was wrong with,
you know, everyone, everyone that was holding
the line. And then, you know, most recently is
with Gaza. it's not taking a side it's like okay
you guys have been at each other's throats there's
you know it's very similar to the uk and northern
ireland that i grew up with um yeah but then
you have this massive overreaction and you know
right at the very beginning the people that i
surround myself with were like well time out
this is this is not a reaction to one thing this
is you know like i said this is watching someone
get punched in the face and then the other person
beating them to death there's a certain point
where it's not a retaliation anymore and to have
an apathetic nation the tens of thousands of
children are being slaughtered no child can be
a member of hamas no infant you know the paramedics
the firefighters the doctors the nurses they're
all just trying to live their life or even you
know the the people at the front line are trying
to rescue lives and save lives and preserve lives
and they're being slaughtered the apathy and
the lack of courage to stand up and say that
is wrong Yeah, it doesn't make you an anti -Semite,
you know what I mean? But to just have the courage
to say that is wrong, the fact that this nation
won't do that, that's absolutely terrifying.
This nation also did not say anything while we
are sterilizing 10 ,000 kids. It's still happening
today. I'm sorry, but like, so the trans movement
is losing because of women's sports, but not
because we're sterilizing kids. What does that
tell you as to where we are? Isn't that insane?
that the trans movement is losing because of
women's sports. Because now women are like, well,
that's not fair. But transitioning kids at eight
with cancer drugs, and we know the consequences
of that. We know the sterilization with the pre
-hormone blood. We know all this. That didn't
move the needle, but women's sports do. So what
I mean, like, then do you really think Gaza is
going to move that? No, I think it is now. It
is now, but that's after, you know, 60 plus thousand
dead, of which 20 ,000 were children. People
are now going, oh, but I don't think it's because
it's coming from a place of courage and compassion.
It's coming a place of, oh shit, other people
are talking about it now. Let's talk about that
so we don't seem like we're the bad guys. They
went so far into it. They went so far past what
is... Like, look, if they had cut that in half,
people... would have been like, oh, yeah, they
went a bit too far. Like, at some point, you
have to go like, look, it's been too long. Like,
come on, people, like, hello. But, yeah, but
at the same time, like, I'm still surprised it
lasted that long because now you're being called
an anti -Semite. And the anti -DEI people now
are pro -DEI when it comes to Israel. So we're
going to end up in the same place we always do.
Like, that culture war we lost a while ago. I
think it's Jordan Peterson who was saying that
the first war we had to understand was the first
war of competence. Own competence. And honestly,
that's what I see. I just see of we get rid of
competent people, that's what you get. For example,
why do you get Gaza? Because Biden was half asleep
the entire time. No one is truly in charge. Then
you let Netanyahu in charge and he does what
he always wanted. We should get rid of them anyway.
And so now they just, you know, like they don't,
that's how evil moves. It doesn't have to be
a big thing. It's just you let it slide and then
you just, and then, and then, and then, and then
you get a stupid situation like a Biden who's
not capable of running a country like the U .S.
And four years later, you wake up and you go,
what just happened? But look at what COVID did.
How many people did COVID kill? Like how many
suicides? How many? alcoholism i mean kids abused
women abused men like and we're never going to
tally it up and we still don't talk about it
well let's get to that yeah that is that is insane
to me that we are talking about epstein as we
should as we should but not about the covet files
that is nuts to me three years shut down the
world like buddy how many poor people start because
of this Because we have the number, right? And
we're not talking about that. That, to me, is
just mind -boggling. That's why the guys I stopped
on this week, it surprises me to talk about it
as much as they do. Well, when we sat down, it
was February 2022. So in Florida here, we had
already kind of gone back to normal by that point.
But there were many other places around the country
and the world that still weren't. And I think
you and I, I revisited all. all of the people
that I had on the show that could give actionable
information to people in their homes, whether
it was nutritionists, mental health, strength
and conditioning, because the only truth, in
my opinion, in COVID was the healthier the nation,
the higher chance of survival, period. So let's
revisit it now in 2025, because I couldn't agree
with you more. The back end of this in America,
we have 70 % of the population that's obese or
overweight. We have smoking, we have all these
other things. You know, if they really were worried
about the health of the nation, we would have
seen local farmers, you know, subsidized to grow
organic food. We would have seen PE programs
put back in school, real food cooked in school,
you know, all these different initiatives to
make the country better. But like you said, the
moment this thing kind of finally concluded,
there was not a single mention of. you know what
have we learned and then what can we do to prevent
the next one so i have my opinion so i'm going
to give you the mic talk to me about you know
from february 2022 onwards and your reflection
of this right so actually i have an interesting
view on this because of what happened so when
i'm talking to you i'm in amsterdam right and
we have the lockdowns nine o 'clock till like
six or eight in the morning where you can't be
on the streets the whole stuff liquor stores
are open in the u .s remember but not the gyms
so they closed the gym they didn't even let you
train at the park anymore you couldn't even go
to the park to train outside by yourself even
that they started closing down it was insane
and even during the day was you could you couldn't
have group classes like the shutdown was the
most insane thing that we know for now is complete
bullshit which is what we said at the time so
i'm i moved to brazil right so turn out the pandemic
in brazil lasted three weeks and everybody went
like no you know type of things like we're not
doing that again so you know what's the most
interesting thing in that is if covet had been
what he said he was and as dangerous as they
said he was the favelas would have been overrun
with bodies because those are places that are
you know on top of each other or hygiene everybody's
living like this and you have no access to certain
parts of it so the bodies would have been piling
up on the street and you know what we saw nothing
but the difference is brazil everybody is very
fit right by the way they don't eat that well
they love sweets they don't eat that well it's
mostly rice and beans and but they are active
people they're much stronger they're much younger
stuff like that. So at first you saw the wave
of, you know, like older people, basically the
weaker part of the population. They got hit,
unfortunately, like everywhere else, right? Then
a lot of the death got attributed to COVID, even
though it wasn't that. But after that, it died
down and people, no one talked about Brazil at
it because the numbers were fairly low. And I
can tell you, I don't care what the numbers are
because it's a huge country. We saw it in the
favelas. There was no bodies. In the favela,
overrunning the streets like it should have been.
It's in Africa, like you would expect. If you
have a true pandemic, places like the favelas
and everything would be as you can imagine. You
know what I mean? You would have bodies everywhere
because you can't get them out, like all that
stuff. You had none of that. Why? Because Brazil
is a healthier country. People have better habits.
They don't eat the best, but at least they move.
They're not as fat. They're not as big. They
don't have diabetes. That's what it came down
to. And so there was one pandemic, three weeks,
everybody went back to work. This affected mostly
rich countries, rich people. So the only places
where the pandemic lasted a bit longer in Brazil
were the places where they had more money because
they followed the U .S. The U .S. sneezes, the
rest of the world catches a cold, as usual. So
that's why the pandemic lasted as long as it
did. But by the way, here we had a vaccine mandate.
for a bunch of stuff that most people didn't
follow, or got fake ones, because this is Brazil.
And I came to the US, I had to do the vaccine.
I could not find a doctor who would do a fake
one, unfortunately, so I had to get the real
one. But that was the only way for me to travel.
We're not even talking about that. You know that
bullshit vaccine that was supposed to keep us
from contaminating others or us? Yeah. So that
was a lie too, eh? How interesting. And then
we're not talking about that anymore. And Fauci
is still not in jail. Interesting. I had to take
the vaccine to travel as well. And this is the
thing with, you know, with the conversation at
the time, you know, for me, that was a choice.
I volunteered to have it because, you know, of
the mandates, you know, when I was traveling
and then I was going to visit my grandmother,
who was almost 105. So, you know, so I'm like,
well, I'm going to reduce. To take the vaccine
so I could feed my family. That's true. I had
that choice. Exactly. But to force it on the
very people that had no vaccine, no PPE, were
not in their homes, were worried about bringing
this disease back to their family early on when
they thought it was going to kill everyone. No
one had a problem with those people being on
the front line then. And then there's a 180.
And now if they don't take the vaccine, they
literally terminate. And I spoke to someone,
I think it was, where are we now? I think it
was the end of last year. So end of 2024. And
he I think he had just been terminated then.
And they're still to this day now trying to take
jobs from California and first responders. So
this is the conversation we need to be having,
because like you said, the efficacy ultimately
is 50 50, which is no different than a placebo
or anything else, you know. So it was never,
ever the vaccine that people said it was going
to be like, you know, if you take it, you stop
the spread. I don't think people had a problem.
as much if that was the case but they were lied
to even found she said that was that was not
science made he just made it up but that closed
all gyms basically right that's how we based
the restaurants gyms places of the church places
of worship not uh for whatever reason not uh
for booze like go figure uh like liquor store
they were not affected but um Every single place,
like gyms and everything, closed because of that
six -foot rule. So those are the decisions that
sank all of us, our businesses, our industry,
everything. I lost 90 % of my business, but at
least I still had a business. The reason I lost
90 % of my business is because all my friends
and coaches lost their business, 100%. I didn't
have coaches anymore because there was no gyms.
That's insane. And you realize that six foot
was bullshit, the mask was bullshit, the vaccine
was a lie, and we're not going to talk about
it? Where is my whoops? You destroyed my industry.
I spent my entire life building the stuff. I've
helped people. You know what I mean? I do good
work for society. That was the deal. I'm a good
boy. I pay my taxes. I help people, right? I
try to help society. The deal was you let me
do that. And you're just going to wipe that out,
wipe out my entire industry, and I don't even
get whoops. Forget sorry. I don't even get whoops.
Ah, maybe, no, not even that. We're just not
going to talk about it. Wiped out, 10 years.
I mean, a lifetime, but you know what I mean.
10 years of actual work, Jim, gone. And, ah,
yeah, sucks to be you. And that's the society
you guys want us to go to. The problem is...
And it's a microcosm. You see that with CrossFit,
but it's everywhere. You know, like CJ Martin
from Invictus? Yes. He was about to become a
partner in a major law firm in San Diego at that
time, right? He's very, very smart, and he would
have done very well. And instead of that, he
chooses CrossFit and the fitness world because
he wants to help people. Right. Do you think
a C .J. Martin makes the same choice today? No.
After what we just showed, like how we treat,
no. So this is who we're going to lose, competent
people, the good ones. What do you think happens
in five years, ten years, when you have just
incompetent coaches running global gyms and the
biohackers come in? They're just going to sell
you peptides and all that shit instead of having
people that truly care and try to... further
the world of fitness. Ray Glassman, as imperfect
as a man as he was, has helped more women in
the fitness industry than anybody else combined.
He's changed the way we train women. Those people
will not be there anymore. Who do you think we're
going to get? We're going to get the Google shit
people from Disney. And then they're going to
come in and they're going to have their DEI and
they're going to want to put black women everywhere
and everything. But at the end, the rate of diabetes
will go up and people will be less fit and then,
and then, and then, and then. This is how you
Get rid of entire industries. Just get rid of
the good ones at the top. You know that it's
called what? Price is law of economics. That
on a project, 50 % of the work is being done
by the square root of the people assigned to
the project. Have you ever heard that law? I
have. So 50 % of the work is done by the square
root of people assigned to a project. That means
that you have 100%, 10 people do 50 % of the
work. so also tells you 10 people three people
do have to work that's about right 100 people
10 people do have to work so the bigger the project
the more waste you get which is an interesting
anyway so but you know how you get rid of you
get to a big project you get rid of those 10
now you get 90 of people doing 50 but those 10
people where the one that matters it's not that
hard to get rid of those it's hard to keep them
but it's very easy to not to not have them wrong.
And now you get 90 % and that basically was 50
% of that. Now you got nine people doing 50 %
of it. And then, you know what I mean? And then
you keep going on like that. And before you know
it, you end up with a society that is profoundly
incompetent and everybody's going to wonder why
shit starts to break down everywhere. Because
you got rid of those 10 people that were doing
half the work. That's why. That's really interesting.
But you got 90 left, so it doesn't matter, right?
It's interesting because that mirrors what we're
going through in the first responder professions
at the moment when it was very competitive. And
it's not that they've been really well supported
at this point. Sadly, there's been a devolution
of the working environment. Great, great people,
super competitive, especially post 9 -11. But,
you know, as people have started to realize that
we have the cancers and the suicides and divorces
and alcoholism and all the other things. And
then people aren't, like you said, wanting to
go in these professions anymore. That's creating
more of a void. That's creating more spaces that
people are forced to work overtime. And now the
hiring standard comes down. So the same way what
we've done is by not addressing the things that
are broken in the first responder profession,
we too are kind of driving away that 10%. Now,
there's still a lot of good people in the fire
service, but more of that 90 % are coming in
because they're like, we just come in. We need
people. You know, you're out of high school.
You got a heartbeat. Okay, come on in. And so
with that, you find some great people by accident
and you have some people that are liability.
then it kind of costs that department a lot of
money down the road. And this is what I'm starting
to understand now. And, you know, I'm not the
sharpest tool in the box. It's taken me to 51
to understand it. But all these cries, for example,
financially, oh, we need more tax money or, you
know, fire department needs a greater budget.
It's bullshit. It's the false economy of the
way that you're working. Like you said, if you
have, you know, 10 % that are working, so 10
people are doing 50 % of the work. And then you
can figure out how another 20 people can do the
other side because you're going to have the people
that are the best workers. Now, you know, that's
going to give you the same productivity as those
hundred. And so you search for those people that
are, you know, wanting to do the job and then
you pour your money into them and give them a
healthy work week, fitness standards, you know,
mental health counseling. And then you keep those
people through the longevity of their career.
And that saves your country, your city, your
county, you know, billions and billions of dollars.
People don't understand how easy it is to break
things, how hard it is to build, because that's
the problem too when you get rid of competent
men, is those are the ones who build things.
And building things is hard. Destroying is easy.
Those modern nihilists who want to see institutions
go down, you only say that because you live in
the us when the electricity is always on come
to brazil try to get rid of structure see what
happens who do you think is going to save your
ass right so it's very easy to talk like that
when you live in the us come live in a third
world country it'll change you you'll change
your mind about a bunch of stuff but anyway the
problem is it's and i'm going to use pixar as
an example you know wally up all those great
movies right so You can see that from the beginning
of Pixar till when it turned to shit, it's simple.
There's one dude in charge. His name is John
Lasseter. He's a massive nerd, and he likes to
hug people, and he gets drunk a lot. But, oh,
my Lord, and by the way, when he comes to work,
he's a tyrant, which means he shows up, you better
do your job correctly, otherwise you're going
to hear about it. He's super nice, but not when
it comes to that kind of stuff, right? And so
he's someone who's worshipped, but not always
liked in that sense. And that's the Me Too movement
comes in and they're going to use the fact that
he hugs people. Let's get rid of it. So they
get rid of John Lasseter. They have a meeting
to tell he's gone. And suddenly you have one
woman raising her hand saying, can we please
get a woman to run this place? Because that's
the Me Too era. And so they put a woman in charge.
And the first thing she says, I'm here to make
sure Pixar is 50 -50. 50 % men, 50 % women. And
that's where the incentives are going to be at.
They get rid of all the older men responsible
for animation. And now you got Pixar today who
just released a movie no one can watch because
it turned to shit. Because you got rid of John
Lasseter, then you got rid of his people, and
then you got rid of that square root of people
that do most of the good work. And now you end
up with shit and you wonder what happened. We
put so much money in it. Pixar movies now cost
more than when John Lasseter was making them.
And yet they rack. a fourth of the of the money
and they're losing money on each movie now because
they are incapable of making anything of quality
because no it's not that easy no volume will
not solve the problem no putting more people
on the project would not solve the problem on
the contrary it makes the project worse because
you actually need to favor the good competent
people but once you start getting rid of competency
first and then just to to have some other idea
of equality of outcome, that's what you get.
But people will not understand that until it
starts to go to shit, which is Hollywood. You'll
notice some actors now are starting to complain.
Yeah, because they're losing their lunch. That's
why. Not that they don't have a job anymore.
They start to complain. I'm like, how funny.
How interesting. You didn't care about that 10
years ago when you told us to stay the fuck home
and how dare you endanger everybody. It's funny
how that works, right? While your people were
out there trying to save people without people
really paying attention whether we were helping
them or not. No one cared. Nurses and first responders
and everything. It's like, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I mean, how many were fired because of that vaccine
mandate thing? Like how many refusing got fired?
We don't talk about that either. Please bring
up a massive lawsuit about all this and put Fauci
in jail. Yeah. Well, it's interesting in my profession
because there were definitely incidences where,
you know, certain genders or ethnicities were
not being hired when they, you know, they should
have been, but it wasn't the demographic of the
population. And so the knee jerk, as we always
see, was, okay, let's just go and get, we need
X amount of this type of person or that type
of person. and what that does is again you in
that group you get some people that were probably
phenomenal firefighters and it was by chance
that they were in that group and they you know
an absolute asset to the department and because
you you just scooped up a bunch of people of
that particular type you had a lot of people
that weren't that were a liability to the department
and that then you know you think about someone
who was a better candidate but they were the
wrong gender or skin color how that you know
pissed them off the answer is is is amazing is
the mentorship programs there's one in my town
when my friends chris hickman started where you
go to the underserved areas because there are
groups of people that either you know in the
past because of hiring practices weren't given
a chance or maybe just in their community they
never even thought about being a firefighter
because they hadn't seen themselves and some
of the people that responded so they reach out
to them and they have centrally located training
where they give these kids the training the equipment
the scholarships for fire academy but they set
the bar high and like this is what it's neat
you need to be a firefighter so then you get
phenomenal female firefighters phenomenal black
firefighters gay trans whatever the the you know
the the quota is but ultimately it doesn't matter
who they are and who they sleep with is can they
do the job and that is what's so beautiful and
so easy about the system is that you don't scoop
up a bunch of people and say, we need you because
of what you look like. We help mentor you if
you're in a position where you weren't given
the same opportunity and say, would you be right
for this position? And that's the difference.
Yeah. And you know, I live in Brazil now. You
know how many conversations I have about race
on a weekly basis? Zero. You know, everybody's
mixed here. Black, white, right there. So you
would think that would be a topic of conversation.
It never is. You know how often I talk about
gay people here? Zero. Trans people, plenty of
them in Brazil. Comes up once in a while because
of the U .S., not really. But yet, I know people
in my community, we all have jiu -jitsu together
and everything. The only time we have a conversation,
men, women, is because of jiu -jitsu. Because
it's like, don't beat up the women, please. type
of thing, because you're not as strong physically.
That's it. That's about as far the conversation
goes. I don't care. And can we please stop caring
and just look at who's the best for the job?
And getting rid of, not putting competence as
a number one is a very dangerous game. Because
going back to those excellent firefighters, if
they are treated the same as someone who's lazy,
lousy, doesn't want to do your job and everything,
they will leave. Why would you stay in a place
where you're tolerated but not celebrated, right?
Like, if I'm really good at what I do, I want
to be seen as such. But if I'm treated exactly
the same as the guy over there who doesn't give
a shit, well, I do the extra work, I do the extra
training and everything. No, I'm not staying.
Like the CJs of this world will not go back to
fitness. That is a shame. And people will go,
it doesn't matter. It does matter because there's
no one to make sure the thing keeps moving forward
and everything. We're losing CrossFit. CrossFit
is dead. That's gone. The high rocks is going
to take over. Who does high rocks? It's all the
runners. It's those upper middle class people.
They're going to run the stuff. So you're going
to have basically high rocks is going to be women,
skinny women that like to run for hours. Men
are going to do jujitsu and then CrossFit is
going to die off. And now we're going to be stuck
with. bodybuilding and biohackers selling peptides.
We're going to be back to that. He used to sell
steroids, now they sell peptides because it's
so much better, right? And then ozone pick in
order to lose weight instead of getting your
ass to the gym. Is that the way you guys want
to be? That's what happens when you get rid of
competent people. That's what scares me. And
oh my Lord, do I want competent people as first
responders? Yeah. Can we have a few like doctors,
first responders, pilots come to mind? Yeah,
absolutely. Especially pilots. That'd be nice,
right? That kind of worries me a little bit,
I won't lie. It's tough like that. The engineers
on the plane, I would like for them to be competent
as well, please. You know the stories about Boeing
where you go, how did that happen? It actually
happens very easily. That's the problem. It's
very hard to build. It's very easy for things
to go to shit. You live in a third world country,
you realize how... easily the electricity could
turn off or the water, the food, and how people
would turn savages real fast. Like here, they
stopped the pandemic because they knew if people
got hungry, ooh, that was not going to go well.
Like, no, they won't be at home waiting. No.
Because here, people will starve to death fast
because there's no structure like we have in
the U .S. you know europe or stuff like that
so here if they were not working they start and
they're like i'm not starving which as you can
understand so uh all those people that are you
know with the hashtag stay the and everything
it's very easy to do that in your air conditioned
world and everything but the rest of the world
is a little bit rougher than that absolutely
speaking of competency i just shared a video
and again i don't know the back story but obviously
it was a massive error it was in manchester and
double -decker bus and the driver went under
one of those kind of aqueducts where the canal
goes over the road and sheared you know the top
part of the bus and there was passengers in there
like 14 people were hurt one critically and again
you know was that you know, overwork, you know,
fatigue driver. I mean, how, I don't even know
how you go on that route or was it again, lack
of training, poor hiring standards. But think
about the human costs, but also the financial
costs you were trying to cut, you know, costs
or whatever, you know, pay people worse, whatever
the thing is, how many millions of dollars is
that going to cost you now? That's insane though.
how come we have so many of those stories though
you can say whatever you want if he's one or
two okay but man is it on the rise like we should
be so scared of competence taking a dive that
should scare everybody and the thing is is you
know it's the frog in the boiling water right
you won't see it right away but i live in a third
world country lesser competence has very dire
consequences that I don't think people understand
because they just got too soft. They don't see
the everyday violence, the stuff and everything.
But there's many situations here where make sure
you're not the prey or at least you cannot be
seen as one because it can be just because you
get charged five bucks instead of two, you know,
20 instead of 10. That's one thing. But they
look around, they see yourself, you know, me
with my size, they go like, well, it's not worth
the effort. I'm going to prey on someone else.
Like you. better convey an idea of competence
to make sure that things, at least to you and
your family, do not go against you. And that's
the real world we live in. You know what I mean?
Like, do not be seen as a prey. And in the West,
we are not seeing what the lack of competence
can bring. Like, we started to sit on the business
level on corporations, like Disney and stuff
like that, where you go like, how? Are you that
incompetent at what you do? You can't make an
anime movie anymore. Disney cannot make an anime.
That should scare people. Because imagine the
number of things that have to go wrong to get
there. Turns out not that many, by the way. But
you can get there very easily. But that should
tell you something about that at least the society
we are creating is going the wrong way. The response
to COVID should tell you there's something profoundly
wrong in the way we've been dealing with things
for at least 10 years. Let's be honest, 20 to
30, but let's just say 10, 15 years. But that
response to COVID should scare us. The fact that
France accepted the six to six lockdown and everything
that we hadn't seen since the Germans were in
Paris. The fact that everybody went with that
is insane. This is crazy. Those are crazy times
that don't scare people enough, at least I think.
And honestly, the fitness industry is going to
wake up with the same problem. Well, speaking
of that, so with the peptides, I've found an
application that's actually good for this community
because a lot of the firefighters are woefully
overworked, underslept. And so what is happening
here, and this is probably since we started talking,
well, since we spoke last, is now all these men's
clinics are popping up. And these young men,
I mean, we're talking, and women as well, that
are in their late 30s, early, sorry, late 20s,
early 30s are going to these clinics. And unlike
the bad old days where the doctor would say your
testosterone is 251, you're fine. Also wrong.
Now they're saying, oh, you know, you're still
low because I mean, it's insane how low these
guys, you know, blood work is. It's just because
of the sleep deprivation. They're saying, oh,
we need to put you on TRT, not peptides, TRT,
without telling them all the side effects and
the fact that they're going to be on it for the
rest of their life because their little balls
are going to shrink up to the size of walnuts.
And so lifestyle changes first. Yeah. But at
the moment, a lot of them can't because they're
working 56 hours a week. Then they get told they
can't go home because there were these overtime,
you know, these vacancies because of this mismanagement.
So some of them are working 80 hours a week,
like every other week, some even more. So the
peptide as a bandaid, as a temporary fix until
because we're working on shifting this work week.
I found them beneficial because it at least makes
your body make more of the testosterone zone
and you can come up. I agree with you, but that's
not, look, it's the same thing as Ozempic. It's
the same conversation. Does Ozempic work? Yes.
If you weigh 500 pounds, should you take Ozempic?
If she, most likely, instead of dying of eating
yourself to death, most likely, because it's
going to stop you from eating. Do you really
think there's two problems with that? First,
you're not changing the profound issue of you
eating yourself to death. So you'll find another
way to fuck yourself up. Don't worry. But that's
not really the issue of Ozempic. Ozempic, the
issue is going to be that 17 -year -old girl
over there who's on Ozempic to lose 10 pounds.
First of all, she's going to look like a cadaver,
but everybody's going to go, my God, you lost
so much weight. Right, because you're not eating.
Right. And so now the second you stop, you're
going to be hungry. You're going to get more
weight than you lost because you fucked up everything
else anyway. Right. And then now your blood sugar,
like you have insulin problem, all of that. That's
going to be the issue with Ozempic. Of course,
it works for the 500 because you have a lot of
trainers now saying Ozempic is great. It's great
for three months to make your people lose weight.
Yes. But long term, it's a disaster on a societal
level. right the peptide the problem of course
is going to help them now but the problem is
on the larger scale then they never have to change
their nutrition they're not going to have to
you know start lifting regardless on how many
hours they were like that's the problem and so
of course for them it's a massive help but then
the next ones and the next one and when their
work goes back to normal they're going to stay
on the peptide they don't have to train as much
and then and then and then then once every first
responder does that everybody else even the guy
who quits as a first responder is 26, he's going
to stay on TRT or he's going to stay on peptide
or whatever. And now he doesn't have to train
as much. He doesn't have to eat as well. He doesn't
have to have the lifestyle that he should have
had without the peptide. You cannot replace nature
with technology. I'm sorry. There's always a
moment where that shit, there'll be another side
effect. There'll be another problem. There'll
be muscle density. There'll be bone issues. There'll
be somewhere else, somewhere. Your body will
adapt to the peptide. Another problem will pop
up. You can't... Ozempic for food is the same
thing as going to someone who has a cocaine habit
and gluing his nostrils shut and saying, problem
is fixed. That's true. You cannot snort cocaine
anymore. I don't think he fixes the problem.
Yeah. That's what we're going to see. It's like,
yeah, we might do well for six months a year,
by the way, which allows the people to keep working
them to death and everything. So that's going
to delay the response that is necessary as well.
You see what I mean? Like, this is where we're
going with those types. That's what scares me
with that. Yeah. Well, what I've literally did,
because I went on peptides. It was funny. I had
actually. pretty decent natural tea but i was
like well 14 years of shift work you know i there's
probably a a little deficit there so i just did
it for a short while and then came off it and
i was you know telling people that this is this
is how any med should be you know blood pressure
med whatever it's like okay this is a bolster
until you get to a point and then and then you
come on that's different you've done the work
you train you've done the nutrition you've done
everything I seriously doubt I'm going to find
Ozempic people. Sorry, my camera is... It's okay.
Mine does the same thing. I don't know why it
does that. I'm sorry, but all the people that
take Ozempic, like, those are the same people
that had the body positivity stuff not so long
ago. Now, remember, like, how dare you tell me
to lose weight? I can't lose weight anyway. The
second Ozempic is out, they will jump on it.
The Oprah, all those actors, and I've been seeing
the hypocrisy of it. is monstrous my fear is
that they start to they do the same thing with
the peptide he's like no you're not doing the
work it's you right like a lot most of those
people do not need to go on olympic is olympic
gonna work yes is it gonna go faster yes are
they side effects yes do we know all of them
no uh they are complication with all of that
you've done the work if you do the work and you
test is still at 250 yes peptide and trt and
whatever the hell you need to do but do the work
then you add the cherry on top right stop thinking
there's a solution there are no solutions only
trade -offs go do the work and then you can take
the trt and the peptide and all that stuff yes
then only make you stronger faster awesome no
problem you don't compete in a drug tested sport
who cares do whatever you got to do yeah i mean
to be to be healthier and stuff like that understanding
that there are no solutions only trade -offs
i'm all for it it cannot cut down on the work
though and that's usually what i see so you put
25 euros on trt they will never stop because
you can't if you start trt at 25 lifting weights
you will never know how to lift weight properly
because i got news for you on trt the program
is different than off trt The volume is greater.
You can do shit you cannot do without it. So
it is not the same programming. You will never
learn to live correctly. And so you will always
rely on the TRT, usually larger and larger doses.
And then you won't be just TRT. You'll be like
that other compound and other stuff and the other
thing, the peptides and then the thing and the
thing. And before you know it, you're a drug
addict. Yeah. Or an expensive habit. Yeah, that's
what it is. Yeah. Which is crazy. With the ozempic,
it's interesting because I've lost my wife's
best friend. And then one of my fire academy,
you know, friends both died from gastric bypass
surgery. So they're in those situations and they
weren't, neither of them were actually even that.
So this is what's so crazy that they even allow
that in the first place. But like you said, for
the morbidly obese, where they're really about
to get heart disease and maybe lose a leg from
diabetes, I think it absolutely has a place.
And the TRT, if you're a combat veteran with
concussive injuries and your body simply won't
make testosterone anymore, of course, TRT is
a great application. But for this predatory element
where they're targeting teens and 20 -year -olds,
especially with TRT, you know without letting
them know that your fertility your hair loss
your you know your your tits all these things
that you're going to get the back knee you know
they're not being told this and they're not being
told the first change your nutrition start a
lifting program get outside how are your relationships
are you meditating level that's not true let's
be honest if at 25 you're a trt level you know
where you are at 35. Not at the same level. I
can guarantee you that. And I can tell you something.
When you get to 40 TRT, testosterone is not the
only thing you're taking. Yeah. Because you open
that door. And by the way, but that's my same
problem with Ozempic. Instead of dying of gastric
bypass surgery, of course I want you to do Ozempic.
But do you really think it is going to stop there?
Because now, remember, you can't eat on Ozempic.
Right. So that hole that you were filling with
food is coming back. What are you going to fill
it with this time? It's not food. You'll find
something. So you want to bet that the rise of
addiction is going to go up amongst people with
Ozempic? Yeah. Of course it will. Come on. If
it's not alcoholism, it's drugs. Choose one.
Yeah, because it was already an addiction. You
don't need pleasure from food anymore. An obese
person that cannot get pleasure from food anymore.
Anybody think this is a good idea? No. You're
going to kill them with something else, man.
It's obvious. Except in the meantime, you put
an entire generation of 15 -year -olds on a new
form of anorexia. Yeah, which is also what we
saw in the same era as bodybuilding. We've gone
full circle, literally. That was the great thing
with CrossFit. You made them beautiful and fit,
but you had to train performance, right? So you
had to eat, because otherwise you couldn't perform.
yeah and now crossfit is dying the girls got
got about 20 pounds heavier you know i mean like
the carb stuff like they we back to food eating
like we back to real relationship with food we
just man that lasted 10 years we are we got a
break for 10 years that's it now we back to all
that bullshit i'm like oh man yeah my wife's
into all those tiktoks where they she watches
other people eat in their car and make all the
slurping and snapping noises and There's always
fast food. There's always shit food. This is
a bad sign. If that's entertainment now, watching
someone eat shit food, there's your sign, as
they say. Yeah. We're going to have to understand
what getting rid of competence is doing to us.
Yeah. Have you ever seen that film, Idiocracy?
Yeah. We're basically living it now. The problem
is the only way you fix that is by... bringing
bringing competency back or at least the incentive
to our competent people it's not as simple as
it sounds because you're gonna have to attract
them in your place of business and such it's
uh it's not simple it's not simple i mean like
that's why i basically went dark me on my side
because i was like i'm i can see the biohackers
coming into what i do and i'm like i'm not doing
this that six weeks like nicotine patch now for
x and y and z i'm like oh people come on six
weeks you think you're gonna help with autism
and anxiety for six weeks like they're just selling
you something are you not this is snake oil like
come on the biohackers man this has to stop start
with the six -week stuff no this will not solve
the problem the problem is you're not doing what
you need to do it's you that's it Stop with the
self -indulgence. You'll lose 20 pounds. Absolutely.
Well, speaking of fitness journeys, again, it's
been three -plus years since we talked. To this
day, when I coach, as you know, when I teach
my free class to first responders, it's still
your work. It's still the sandbags, the sleds,
the yokes, all the things, or your original work,
should I say. So what has been the evolution
from that side now in the last three years? I
came back even closer to the original stuff and
I cut everything else. So I've cut all assistance
work and I went back to pretty much what you
did that day. And this is 99 % of the work. And
I stopped the assistance work. I stopped everything
else because first of all, I got tired of people
asking me about emotional mapping without understanding
a sandbag squat. And by the way, that's my fault.
I should have kept my big mouth shut. that day
instead of talking about all that because they
all jumped on it because the idea of them being
able to change how they feel instead of doing
something about it was the worst idea i've ever
had uh by far so when i went is i went back to
the original stuff and you know the best proof
of all this has been is my wife doing jujitsu
she's a monster and um She was going to be a
monster because that's just the type of people
she is. The genetics are strong with that one.
But the force is strong enough. But when she
trained the jiu -jitsu, all the dudes were basically
at the school. It's a very famous school where
I'm at. And they were like, careful, you're sparring
a man. That's not true, but you're sparring a
15 -year -old man, boy, strength -wise. She has
the strength of a 15, 16 -year -old boy. which
is crazy for a woman. You spar with her and you
go, ooh, I can't just relax. And she'll bully
you to death if you do. And that's the sandbags.
That's the yokari. That's the strength work we've
done with her. It translates to jiu -jitsu so
well. So well. On someone who's immensely gifted,
don't get me wrong. But there was a proof to
all that stuff, the sled, the sandbag, and everything.
The proof was in jiu -jitsu. whenever i went
back my strength on the mat was i don't move
an inch if anything i got stronger from a grappling
perspective it was it was very very very cool
to see that i cut all assistance work because
honestly there's no need for it you know what
i've learned over all these years is you are
built the way you are built and you're never
going to change that so the whole assistance
work to get i want bigger arms i want bigger
legs i was like well Does your body want bigger
arms? Does your body want bigger legs or whatever?
Because I can squat, chicken legs. She squats,
she has Brazilian legs. Yeah. It's not the squatting,
it's you. In that case, it's me. I have chicken
legs, but I got a really strong posterior chain.
All right, well. And then at the end, the only
thing that matters is like, is that what you're
using when you lift? or when you grapple or whatever.
Yeah, I use what I have, which means I had strong
legs. I still squatted 550, so not good, but
not bad either. But I still did it without legs.
So, you know what I mean? Because I can't build
legs. It's just that I have a big back, though.
All right, so it didn't matter, right? If we
both do sandbag squats, we're both going to get
different things out of it. But we'll both get
strong in a way that we can apply. And when we
do jiu -jitsu, your jiu -jitsu being different
than mine you will apply that strength your way
the same way i will apply that strength my way
but we will both be strong and so i was like
so i went back to all the original stuff and
that's all we do and it works extremely well
on you not on me on you right and the difference
is when people say i want x i'm like no this
is what you do and you're gonna get what you're
gonna get and if you're not happy with that go
back in time change your parents Tell your mom
to have sex with a stronger dude. How about that?
Tell her to choose better. Go back in time. Tell
her to choose better. That's the difference,
right? And so we're going to train with the basic
stuff, and you're going to get very good results
based on who you are. And the reason I love training
– I don't train my wife because you don't train
your spouse, but I love, you know, like guiding
her on the journey. Let's put it this way. is
every single day I realize how unfair the whole
thing is. Yep. There's nothing you can do about
it, dude. You're just not as good as she is.
You know what I mean? It's like, yeah, it sucks.
Yeah, you're not those people. I think that's
one of the biggest issues that I see. I mean,
myself, you know, I've always been, you saw like
when I was there, I've actually put on like another
10 pounds or so since I retired and I'm sleeping
now. But yeah, I mean, I walked out at six foot
and 168. That was my whole career doing CrossFit,
you know, pre -CrossFit, all that. That never
changed. And, you know, you get guys that come
in and they're, you know, mesomorphs or, you
know, whatever type. And, you know, six months
in, they're slinging around way, way faster than
you, you know, and doing muscle ups. And it's
like, again, it was frustrating. But just like
you said, there's pros and cons in jujitsu. You
know, I've got little. daddy long legs spider
legs that can you know wrap around and have a
huge base but am i gonna you know play a pressure
game very well no of course not i'm like a little
thick insect so so yeah but i think that's it
there's a lot of shaming you know even in gyms
like oh you're not as big as me you're not as
strong as me and it's like having being truly
grounded where you're like i'm okay with who
i am and you know i want to be as strong as james
gearing can be you know within reason i'm not
going to focus all my time on strength but not
looking at other people Yeah, but look, I've
been 240 between 230 and 240 my, I don't know,
the last 20 years or so, right? I got stronger,
but I didn't get bigger, right? And you go like,
oh, but you're big and everything. I'm like,
I'm not, because I was competing with strong
men, people that were, a friend of mine was 6
'6", 350, and I have a picture of him next to
Hathor, and he looks like a kid. I've stood next
to Thor, not like an infant. Oh, my Lord. People
don't understand how big that man is. He's huge.
Right. So those that were my friends, right?
And so I was like, you guys don't understand.
I'm a shrimp. And even the weights I lift is
fucking so light. So I was all proud of, you
know, my 900 -pound yoke carry for 100 feet.
But, right, it's still a warm -up for those fuckers.
By the way, twice my weight, mutually. I walk
around 235. The dude over there is 465. I'm like,
oh, okay. Yeah. Right. So how are you going to
change that? Well, you're not. I got news for
you. There's no amount of steroids you can take
that's going to change that shit. It's just you're
not that. But I was good as a 230. All right.
So, you know what I mean? Like, it's relative,
man. Yes, you're 170, but you're not 135. I got
plenty of those at the gym. These Brazilian men
are not big. I got a bunch of 140s at the gym.
And they're not bad at Jiu -Jitsu, let me tell
you. Yeah. But then they can move all day. Their
endurance is insane. And they have like that,
you know, like that little man motor, like, I
need to prove something, which means they train
six hours a day. You know what I mean? Then they
go to work and they come back. You know what
I mean? Like, you go like, oh, my Lord, you're
completely insane. Well, me, I'm more like chill,
relaxed. Of course, I'm chill and relaxed. I'm
235. What would I not be chill and relaxed? I
don't have anything to prove. You know what I
mean? But when half torque comes around, it makes
me lift a little bit heavier. It ain't fair,
sister. I mean, like, you do what you got to
do, but at some point, look in the mirror, it's
like, where can I get better? So me, I know I
have my exercises. Like, as long as the sandbag
carry stays up, my yoke carry, I got a bunch
of stuff. If that stays up, I'm strong. I can
still do a lot of jiu -jitsu. There you go. So
what I've learned, honestly, me, is just I cut
out all the other shit. It's honestly like...
Can you give me three good training sessions
a week? Good. Some people will train twice a
week and become world champions. Others will
have to train 12 times a week. You don't get
to choose either. I need to recover. I can only
do so many training sessions. After that, I just
don't do well. I'm a neural output guy, which
means it's how hard I hit when I hit. Janina
is more like a volume person. She needs to train
a lot. Okay, there's no good or bad in this.
It's just the way you're built. I am built as
a neural output guy, which means put me under
a heavy weight that wants to crush me. And if
I have to make it at that line over there, I
will make it. Because mentally, I'll be like,
I'm not letting go. And there's that voice that
tells me not. And then I'm like, I'm going there.
I have that. But she has that volume where she
can just fucking train twice a day, three times
a day for three weeks and go, I don't care. I
can't do that. I don't have it. I don't have
that. But I have the thing when it gets heavy.
You know what I mean? Like, all right, whatever
that is, you need to find that, which one is
yours. And then you capitalize on that because
the other stuff I got news for you, it's not
yours. Like, I will look like Arnold. God knows
I've been trying since I'm like 14 years old
or whatever. So was it Terminator or Conan the
first one? It's probably Terminator. I was like,
I don't care what he does. I need to look like
that. type of thing. And there's only one. I
was not born to be a professional bodybuilder,
but I'm strong as shit and I'm good at grappling.
All right, well, that's what you do. So save
yourself a lot of heartache and just find that.
And so I cut down all assistance work because
I'm not a muscle capacity guy. So it's useless
for me anyway. I just get tired. So instead,
I have my exercises that I can do well with a
sandbag and stuff. And I just spend my energy
on that and the return on investment. is much,
much higher. Cut the bullshit, cut the ego, look
in the mirror, see what you're good at. There's
something you're good at. There's something you
can be good at, right? Something that has a highest
return on investment for you. Go do that. And
unfortunately, you might not be the guy you wanted
to be. All right, that doesn't mean you're nobody.
You are someone, just go find out who that is.
He might not be the guy you chose. I chose Arnaud.
Well, turns out that's not me. Yeah, I see it
as train tracks. You can be in a station with
multiple tracks, and it's great that you want
to be ahead of that other person, but you're
on a different set of rails. You never can be
on those other rails, you know what I mean? So
the way I look at it, if you look at early CrossFit,
when I used to train from the main site, back
then it was awesome because I'd find a guy named
Sven in Sweden who was six foot tall and roughly
my age and roughly my weight and be like, okay.
But it wasn't I was trying to beat Sven. you
were using each other as a barometer, like, how
are we doing? How am I doing on my own journey?
And then when the games kind of took off and
it became competitive, now everyone in the gym
is trying to, air quotes, beat each other in
the ward. That's when I think you saw the form
start to diminish. And then, like you said, it
was almost discouraging because, oh, I never
beat Steve. He always crushes me instead of going,
I'm better than I was a week ago. That's amazing.
you know and those two things get blurred it
was amazing because sven beat you at certain
stuff but you beat sven at other stuff yeah so
now you understand how life works you go ah but
he can i can beat him here oh but he's good there
so let me catch up a bit here hey i'm within
90 of sven i did good because you know you beat
him on that and he's doing the same and now like
you know like how hating that guy gives you so
much games i love to hate people like those my
friends are the people i hate Because they're
the ones who make me do better. I mean, so there's
always that one guy you hate more than anybody
else. That's your best friend right there. You
need to hate that guy, right? But you hate him
because on certain things he's better, on others
you are, and then you go back and forth. And
that's how the thing moves. When we started to
go, like, I need to be that dude, then you're
screwed. It's like saying, I'm going to be the
greatest sprinter that ever worked here, right
here. With a chances are, no. That piece was
taken. I ain't going to be me, unfortunately.
And it's funny because if I say that about basketball,
I want to play in the NBA tomorrow. Sprinting,
right? Everybody will laugh. But whenever it
comes to gym stuff, everybody was like, oh, yeah,
you just have to work out. Bodybuilding, strongman,
oh, you just have to work out. No, no, no. Jadina,
they lift 440 for a reason. She's fucking strong.
I mean, and she'll get to 500 because she's that
strong. Yeah, it's not fair. But you're not her
either. You know what I mean? But it's the idea
like work hard and everything in the gym. It's
the same thing as working hard on sprinting.
Are you going to get better? Yes. That's it.
That's it. You're going to get better. The only
thing I can guarantee you is that. But how far
you take it, who the fuck knows? I don't know
either, by the way. I just know that within two
years, you're going to make it at national level.
you'll never be a world champion yeah you watch
one of these races with the real champions you
know and they just get to smoke the rest of the
course so you see even these elite sprinters
for example that would crush you any day of the
week these high level people come and it's just
another another gene pool completely because
you know they all trained their ass off it's
another year you never know existed like honestly
the rule is simple is a world champion will get
to a national level in two years cruising not
training just around and within two years is
national level and you go what just happened
i've been here for 12 years working myself and
then uh three years later is four years later
is top 20 in the world and now the world starts
because the next five years is going to go from
the 15th spot to the fifth that's five years
right there and the other three years is to get
from fifth to third that's the problem is the
work starts once they get to top 20 in the world
and now you have that top two that is just built
different from those guys yeah that you just
don't touch then you get bold and you go like
yeah well no it's one you know you get that one
in your generation yeah not to say they didn't
work hard on any of that stuff you just like
you don't understand how past humans, some humans
are. The Haftor, those people, they're just like,
nah, man, this is built different. It's built
different. And so, like, we know that on specific
sports, but I just find it so funny when it comes
to the fitness industry that just work harder,
you get the six -pack, you get the glutes, you
get the pecs and everything. It's like, nah,
that game is not for you. Those girls on Instagram,
there's very few. usually they're on drugs and
then it's a good lighting and it's six weeks
just to take that one video and you don't understand
what comes to that and everything it's like the
there's a there's a web of lies in the fitness
industry that is becoming that was never good
but with instagram it's getting worse well i
think it's it's discouraging a lot of people
i mean you think about covid what really made
me sad was there a group of people that were
in gyms That had really taken a long time to
find the courage to walk through the door for
the first time. And then they were carried away
and they were they were doing really well. And
then that hard stop hit. And then, you know,
a lot of them we didn't see again. It was very
sad. The same thing, I think, with the social
media thing is, you know, all you see is not
only people's Instagram highlights, but you're
also seeing some of the fittest, strongest, fastest
in the world as well. And so, you know, some
of these people look at it and go, well, I could
never get to that level. And it's so sad because
no one's asking you to get to that level. But
if you can get rid of the extra 20 pounds that
you're carrying around and play with the kids
or stop your back hurting, that is a huge, huge
leap forward. But you've got this elitism. And
like you said, a lot of it is fake. How many
bodybuilders on Instagram are dead now because
they lean down to nothing and have nightmares
and strokes and all that? You know, so it's such
a dangerous kind of wave in the so -called fitness.
And it has nothing to do with fitness. It's narcissism
is what it actually is. Oh, yeah, 100%. It has
nothing to do with fitness. And what chills me
is those people during COVID that gained 25 pounds,
they'll never go back to the gym because it was
so hard in the first place. And it's twice as
hard to come back as it was to get there in the
first place. You lost the weight, you're getting
back, oh, it's a bitch to go back to the gym
after that. And everybody looks at you, and they
all know, and oh, my Lord. And so we will not
see those people ever again. It's not like we're
winning that war already, right, of the obesity
and all of that. So then it's just more people
towards the Olympic, which scares me so much
because then there's less need of a gym. And
then again, like, we're losing the CJs, right,
in the fitness industry. But sooner or later,
we're going to start losing the gyms as well
because, you know, like, and by the way, Instagram
is not helping gyms. Like, you know, with all
the... Like you see, men are going less and less
to gyms now because of all the problems we have
associated with videos in the gym. And then,
you know, like the TikTok problem and then the
OnlyFans problem and all that stuff. You have
less and less men in gyms. So now we're going
to bankrupt that industry. And then what? Yeah.
Those are the things that I see on and I'm like,
fellas. We need to do something about it. And
CrossFit was really give us like a, like a new
jolt of energy toward that. But then COVID took
care of that too. Yeah. Yeah. And now that we
got rid of Greg Glassman, you know, CrossFit
is dying. And so where do we go? People like
you, you or me, where do we go? Yeah. So I train
at home. We, the, the gym that I train at, um,
that we were trying to get you to years ago,
you know, if you ever came to central Florida,
um, i got to give massive props i mean when when
the covert thing happened we did everything that
they said initially you know they closed they
genuinely did and then we transitioned to outside
six feet apart and then you know you realize
wait a second lifting platforms are six feet
apart anyway so crossfit has always been six
feet apart so then they went back in but they
they've they've actually switched to um wolf
brigade programming now have you heard of that
yes yeah so greg So, Greg's programming, he was
a former CrossFit guy as well, but he, kind of
like yourself, kind of leaned a lot more into
the heavier side, sandbags, unilateral kettlebell
movements, a lot of mace work, and we've shifted
to that. And at first, there was this big kind
of knee -jerk, startle reflex from the diehard
CrossFitters because, you know, you're not flogging
yourself to death every class. And there are
Metcons, don't get me wrong, but it's more kind
of leaning towards, you know, what you do as
well. And that has been amazing because we have
kept those kind of people in the gym. And it's
packed now, absolutely packed. And you've got
to be careful because you can get decapitated
by a mace if you walk through the gym these days.
Yeah, you know, 100%, but that's... I love to
know good people do well, are doing well, but
that's what we're going to see. We're going to
see fewer and fewer of those places. So at least
they'll be packed. So from a business perspective,
it's good. But I don't, maybe we'll clear up
people that should not have been there, but we'll
see what happens in the long run. I am a little
bit worried about the direction of what we do
because of, I'm afraid of that we're going to
start to lack a sufficient number of competent
people. I'm happy that you don't because you
have a good guy in him and everything. And there's
still plenty of them. I just hope he keeps going
that route. That's all. Yeah. Well, I mean, it's
so... so far the wrong way when it comes to what's
needed in this country. Because as we talked
about post -COVID, we have 70 % of the nation
that's obese or overweight. And we're crying
out for all these things, you know, socially,
whether it's better, you know, schools and PE
programs and the arts and all these other areas.
And they're like, oh, we're going to have to
have more taxes. It's like, well, no. I mean,
the NHS, for example, in the UK, before it got
sliced and diced by privatization, the idea was
If you have a tax based health care system, the
ultimate push is to make British people healthy.
So we use the NHS as a little. You have a profit
based health care system like the US. The push
is to make people sick. So now you have this
COVID where drug companies make billions. And
then all of a sudden, magically, gyms are starting
to be demonized and closed down. You know, and
now pills are replacing fitness, like you said,
with TRT and Ozempic and everything. It's the
complete wrong direction. And I am an incurable
yet angry optimist. I believe that we're about
to see a renaissance. I think people are peeping
behind the curtain now and realizing a lot of
this corporate greed and power and everything
from corporations to presidents. I would agree
with that. I'm just an action -based person.
I want to think, and I'm with you on that, by
the way. I want to think in can, not cannot.
Always, right? It's like, don't tell me what
I cannot do, just tell me what can be done. What
can be done, and then we'll try to do that. I
just want to have a conversation toward, let's
stop the bullshit, let's go back to our competence,
and let's start doing stuff. Not just like, oh
my lord, oh my lord, oh my lord, every three
seconds and all that stuff. Like, feelings are
great. Can we start doing stuff? Yeah. Well,
I mean, it affects national security. It affects
the ability to recruit the right military members,
the right first responders, police officers.
And let's take police for a second because, sadly,
there's a lot of videos of the wrong type of
people in policing. Look at the mistakes, the
Breonna Taylors, whoever it is. When there is
an error in law enforcement, Evaldi, children
die. Young women die. It doesn't matter who it
is. People die. And then there's a huge, again,
monetary value to that. The most important thing
is that you killed someone. the budgetary side
to that is horrendous too. So by shrinking the
group that you can hire from, you're making the
chances of you hiring the wrong person greater
and greater and greater. That will get fixed
because I live in Brazil and trust me, you do
not want to live without cops. Yeah, no question.
They can talk all they want. That one, you're
going to know right away. Defend the police,
see what happens in Oakland. That shape will
not last another five years because... I lived
in Fiannopolis, which is the probably safest
place outside of Dubai I've ever been to. But
the cops here, they don't play. You know, like
drunk people or homeless or whatever on the island,
you see them for a week and you don't see them
anymore. They're not dead. They just take them
at night, put them into there, and then put them
back on the mainland and everything. But they
do it at night. No one sees it. And you're right.
We're all like, good job. Don't want them around
my kids. Thank you. Yeah. And so, but I can't,
no one criticizes the police here because they
go, you want to deal with it yourself? Go ahead.
And then that shuts people up real fast. So the
defund the police and that insanity that is behind
that, I'm not too worried about the US because
you cannot survive without cops for very long.
You can't survive without gyms, I can tell you
that. Yeah, that movement is already dead. The
defund movement just died on its ass after a
few years. It's like firefighters, like, look
what happened in l .a and everything you get
another two of those they're gonna go okay stop
like that's it like how much money do you need
what do we do of course people only learn through
catastrophes and stuff unfortunately but the
cops will be first the five firefighters will
be second i have no doubt of that you cannot
live without those i know that from living in
a third world country my problem is the gyms
are far far far down the line of all of that
which happens to be my world so that worries
me yeah Absolutely. Well, speaking of the strength
training and jujitsu, one of the things that
I've always been told, and again, I'm not the
power athlete. I am more of the motor kind of
guy, which serves my profession very well. I
don't need a one rep. You need to be able to
work for 10, 20, 30 minutes, an hour, whatever
it ends up being. But in jujitsu, people kept
saying about how strong I was. sounds so weird
to me because i'm in the gym and alongside as
we just talked about people i'm comparing myself
to they're a lot stronger but what i realized
it was the sandbag carry especially the the rope
pull with the sled that endurance with the um
you know the grip strength um and then like the
turkish get up amazing someone's on side control
be able to just sit up and palm them off with
this kind of weird look in their eyes so talk
to me about the application with that because
i don't think we've talked about training and
martial arts especially jiu -jitsu specifically
right well the main thing that you see and that's
what they all told me is like we see guys that
are strong in the gym but he does zero for jiu
-jitsu because they are incapable of using it
because gym strength is concentric mostly semi
-centric but it's a lot of you know moving at
a specific speed and things like that where you
control and everything. None of that is applicable
to Jiu -Jitsu because you're never in control.
You have to be very reactive and everything.
But the greatest thing with the Senbai is that
isometric strength it gives you. it gives you
two things first the isometric because you hold
and it gives you you know that rotation and all
of that and the second is that it builds a structure
in a way that you can just apply pressure and
take pressure in a way that others cannot like
what i've seen with people that are very strong
in the gym is you lay on side control stuff like
that they can't breathe they have none of that
structural strength that me i'm used to with
a setback that is so rough so mean makes you
ache everywhere at first but it prepares you
for jiu -jitsu because it's exactly the same
type of strength. Sandbag, carry, and everything
is wrestling. It's exactly the same stuff. It's
farm work, basically. It gives you toughness,
the rotation, the isometric, the eccentric. It
gives you capacity to handle difficult work in
a way that your gym never will. So it's great
to be strong in the gym and everything, but the
fact is it's not always usable. Not like the
sandbag, the rope pull is. You know what's funny
about the rope pull? It's John Bannerher, who's
the head trainer. who trained Gordon Ryan, the
greatest no -gi grappler of all time. His favorite
exercise was the rope climb for exactly the same
reason we like the rope pole. So the difference
is the rope pole is obviously you can change
the variables much better and then you're not
going to fall and not everybody can do rope climbs
anyway. So it was the same idea. Those are exercises
that just apply themselves extremely well to
grappling, for example, which is wrestling a
bear. And the gym works just doesn't. So I always
found that very interesting. There's nothing
that mimics, that will give you the grappling
strength like a sandbag. Yeah, I agree. So, you
know, it's been, what, 12 years now? Oh, more
than that. 2014? Right, so over 10 years doing
this. And I go back to exactly the exercise I
thought were the best, starting the whole thing.
Send bags, rope pull, some heavy carries. This
is where I'm back. Yeah. And carries over more
than anything I've ever done. 10 years later,
it's exactly the exercise I used at first. Exactly
the same ones. What about the nutrition side?
I remember one of the most recent ones that we
had was when you were really kind of diving into
kind of carbohydrates in the morning prior to
working out, and then you were leaning into the
proteins and vegetables in your evening meal.
Is that something you're still sticking to? Yeah.
The only thing is when it comes to carbs is I've
switched to basically fruits and honey, and I've
taken out the grains completely. And what have
you noticed from that? It's a very, very different
type of energy and a much better one, I got to
tell you. This entire podcast we could do on
propionate, which is a short -chain fatty acid
coming from the high -fiber, carbohydrate, stuff
like that. But there is a threshold to the amount
of overall carbs you can have. There's a threshold
of inflammation. There's a threshold when it
comes to the nervous system and everything. The
grains, the problem with the grains, I mean the
rice, the bread, all of that, is that it gets
you closer to the threshold in a very chronic
way where you don't necessarily feel, but you're
very, very close to that. And you add something
to it, like a sugar or whatever, and boom, inflammation,
sympathetic response, and the whole stuff. I
took out the grains because with the fruits and
the honey, I know exactly where I'm at. The honey
spikes me. If I abuse it, I stop for one day.
And then I'm back to my normal. I cannot do that
with the rice. If the rice takes me too far,
then it's two, three days of being inflamed,
aching everywhere, the mood, the thing. Relying
on grain is dangerous, I would say. And no, you
can still be big without grain. I'm 240 right
now. So no, fruits and honey, but it's the same
thing for my wife. We're fine with that. So we
could do an entire podcast on that because I
would like to go into propionate. I don't have
time right now, but we could go because we've
been at it already. But we could go into propionate
and what it means. And there are much deeper
ideas behind all that. But my overall, I would
tell you, rely on honey more than you rely on
grapes, for example. I'm going to be mindful
of your time then and let you go. For people
listening, because you said obviously some platforms
have been shut down or shadow banned. Where are
the best places to find your work, your videos
now? I'm only on Instagram now. Honestly, it's
mostly my wife posting her lifting. I went dark.
I might come back and do the podcast again because
I've been thinking about it because I got good
people asking. I'm going to do an episode probably
next week where I'm going to explain why I went
dark. because it's been like two months now at
least maybe more uh not posting and took out
everything took out on my podcast to catch everything
uh so i'll explain why i went dark and why i
might come back so right now you'll see mostly
my wife on instagram you might see me back on
youtube here and there i just the fitness industry
is not the place i want to associate with right
now but the grappling scene is so i might come
back to youtube but like the i want nothing to
do with With emotional mapping, I want nothing
to do with all of that bullshit. All the people
that say they talk for me, they don't. If you
don't hear it from me, it's not strong faith.
I want nothing to do with all that crowd, all
the emotional mapping, all of that. People that
took my work and made it do something I didn't
want to decide. So I'm going to do my stuff.
But I will associate much more with, let's say,
the martial art world than I will with the fitness
world in that sense. But I might come back with
a podcast and stuff like that because I have
some very cool stuff that we've been playing
with, with all of that. And going back to that,
the simple ideas of the beginning actually were
probably the best ones. I can tell you I should
have shut the fuck up on a bunch of stuff. And
my earlier simplest ideas were most likely the
best ones. Yeah. I mean, that's literally what
I've been using this whole time and they still
work. Same with foundation training. I mean,
I've, I've swear by that. It helped fix my back
and yours and that were kind of about the same
time and you know, the old stuff still works.
So I would love to get you back on when you want
to take a deep dive into the inflammation and
the diet and stuff too. But in the meantime,
I know you got to go. So I want to thank you
so, so much for being so generous with your time
and for the sixth time coming on the behind the
shield podcast. Thanks man.