Muscle Talk! Featuring, special guest, IFBB Pro, Akim Williams

Join John Livia, Lee Priest and special guest, IFBB professional bodybuilder, Akin Williams as they discuss all things bodybuilding and more.

#ifbb #bodybuilding #akimwilliams

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:01

All right. Muscle talk. Serious Insiliance Bodybuilding. Serious Insiliance Bodybuilding. My guest is Hakeem Williams. What's up, dude?

SPEAKER_00 0:09

I'm good, man. Good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 0:12

Lee is coming on. He's just gonna be a little late. Um, it is in Australia, it is Thursday afternoon in Australia. So yeah. So uh how was the trip to the UK, man?

SPEAKER_00 0:26

Uh it was an interesting trip, man. Uh yeah, yeah. I kind of I kind of went out there a couple hours before uh uh checking, before the atheist meeting, actually. Uh-huh. Because I when I booked the flight, you know, me being I'm preparing from the Arlon, Ohio, when I booked the flight, uh, I booked the flight on Wednesday thinking I'm getting there Wednesday, but I ended up getting me Thursday. Uh there's six hours ahead, you know.

SPEAKER_03 0:53

There's always there's always a problem. Like there's always something. Yeah, nothing ever goes smooth. Do you know nothing ever goes smooth? So when I hear these guys that like, you know, oh, um, you know, uh, like for example, like um Brandon was like, I lost my luggage. I'm like, well, what what nothing ever goes smooth? It always something's always always happens, you know. But I gave Brandon, I gave Brandon all the props in the world, uh, not because of his luggage, but I didn't care about his luggage, but because like at this in my estimation, and you could tell me if you agree with me or not, at this point, his second place, his runner-up finish uh to Andrew, which nobody expected, right? Uh, that solidified him in greatest of all time. Not one of the greatest of all time. Like I would say top 10, top 20 in that discussion, former Mr. Olympia, former Arnold Classic, multiple honor classic champion, and he's still dangerous at 43 years old. He's still dangerous, you know?

SPEAKER_00 1:56

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, he definitely, yeah, like you said, mate, left the mark with that uh package that he brought there to the honor UK.

SPEAKER_03 2:03

Absolutely, you know. But anyway, so how you feeling, man? How's everything going? How's how did prep go?

SPEAKER_00 2:08

The prep was uh pretty good, man. Uh, you know, I have no complaints. I felt like I brought two great packages, both to the Arnold Ohio and Ornal UK, but right, you know. Um I'm not I'm not a judge.

SPEAKER_03 2:21

I didn't know it is what it is, man. You know, first of all, first of all, I know we're friends and we've known each other like I think since you turned pro because we've gone to the same gym signature and strong and shapely. You know, you're you're from Brooklyn. I'm originally from Brooklyn. We live in Jersey now. But you your career is stellar. How many pro-wins do you have at this point? I want to say it's seven or eight, I think. That's fucking incredible. And you've had, I think your best placing as the Olympia in the Olympia was what, sixth? Sixth place, yeah. I mean, that's that that is basically, you know, MVP stats right there. That is really a stellar career. Like if you were to retire today, nobody's gonna say, Oh, Arkeen Williams, nobody's not gonna go, oh, I don't remember that guy. They're all gonna remember you being dangerous, you know. So seven or eight professional wins. I mean, all right, we all know Jason Owens and what a great uh bodybuilder he he was. He never had a win, he never won a pro show. Oh wow, yeah, exactly. And you fucking won all seven or eight, you know. I mean, I mean, it's a it it is saying something, you know. It is you have a you have a had a stellar career when you first pick your shows in the beginning of the year, do you select them specifically, or do you basically like, okay, I have this one, I want to do that one, and whatever else after that, I'll figure out.

SPEAKER_00 3:47

I I kind of put um selected them selectively, but you know, I do want to do the Hall of Ohio, I did want to do the Hall of UK, and then after that, then I'm like, all right, after those two shows are done, then I'll decide, okay, where do I want to go out next? You know, where do I want to go next?

SPEAKER_03 4:01

Right, right, right. Yeah, how come how come you didn't wind up doing Detroit? I messaged you because I was like, man, that's that would be in a perfect lineup for you.

SPEAKER_00 4:10

Uh not me. Nothing against the Detroit show, but I feel after going straight from the Arnold and going to Detroit.

SPEAKER_03 4:22

Ah, okay. I know what you mean. Not that it's a step down, but it's like you're going from one of the biggest shows in the world, number two in the world, to like this small. I I got you to this small right, okay. You know, because you have won. I mean, did you win a did you win a New York Pro?

SPEAKER_00 4:39

No, I came in second place. I never won't.

SPEAKER_03 4:41

But you've won you've won Chicago, Chicago a couple times, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:46

Tampa a couple times.

SPEAKER_03 4:47

Tampa, Puerto Rico, right?

SPEAKER_00 4:48

Puerto Rico, yeah. Um Toronto, Big Man Weekend. Uh shit. I'm I'm drawing a blank.

SPEAKER_03 4:57

That's uh yeah. I mean, not for nothing. If you got that many wins and you can't remember, that's uh that's kind of sane. Well, how old are you now, Arkeem?

SPEAKER_00 5:05

I turned 41.

SPEAKER_03 5:07

Yeah, okay. Any thoughts of what you're gonna do after you retire from bodybuilding?

SPEAKER_00 5:11

I don't know, but I'm thinking about doing a master show actually. I'm thinking about 41. I'm like, oh what the hell? I might as well. So there's there's a next one will be next year, right? There's a master show in um Puerto Rico in a couple weeks, actually. I might I might just say fuck it and jump into that.

SPEAKER_03 5:29

Okay, now if you do if you do that and you win that, does that qualify you to do the Olympia?

SPEAKER_00 5:33

It would qualify to do the Masters Olympia. And if you win the Masters Olympia, I think then it qualifies you for the Olympia.

SPEAKER_03 5:39

Ah, okay. So then the Masters Olympia was not till next year, right? They do it every two years.

SPEAKER_00 5:44

I'm not sure, you know.

SPEAKER_03 5:46

Because last year, I think last year Dorian won it, Dorian Haywood. And then I think it was two years before that it was uh was it the Japanese guy? I think it was the Japanese guy who won. Yeah, I think I think that was him.

SPEAKER_00 6:00

I didn't know if they do it every two years, or I'm not sure how that works out.

SPEAKER_03 6:03

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's every two years. I might be I might be wrong, but I'm pretty sure it's every every two years. So if you yeah, so if you win a master's quality will qualify you for 2027, unless I'm wrong. I might be yeah, yeah. I'm not I'm not sure how it works out. So, what are you gonna do with yourself for the uh rest of the season with the exception of competing? Are you doing any um guest appearances?

SPEAKER_00 6:27

Anything well most of the time during the rest of the year, most of the times I usually go out to Japan like in the summertime to guest was out there. But I'm not sure if that's gonna yeah. I for the past three, four years I've been doing that every year.

unknown 6:38

Really?

SPEAKER_00 6:40

Guest was in Japan. But I'm not sure if I'm gonna do it this year, yeah. Um I I I definitely want to go visit some family and stuff like that, take some time off visit family.

SPEAKER_03 6:50

Yeah, what what country has been like the most welcoming, the most uh uh chaotic as far as like uh their their excitement for bodybuilding when you show up there?

SPEAKER_00 7:04

I would probably say India.

SPEAKER_03 7:06

Really? Yeah. So when was the last time you went to India? I think uh I went to India in 2024, I believe.

SPEAKER_00 7:15

Yeah. And was it just you or was a group of a group of pros? It was a group of pros, but I went out there to guest mos. I was uh main guest mos out there. And what was it like? It was it was mayhem, total mayhem. You know, definitely crazy, definitely interesting. Uh they love bodybuilding. Fans are are awesome, but they have like no boundaries. Yeah, you gotta bring security. Yeah, yeah, you definitely do. Yeah, because you would get you would get touching everywhere. That's unbed that's unbelievable. People people, yeah, people would touch you like well.

SPEAKER_03 7:50

I don't think they've ever, you know, India has, you know, look, let's be real, right? Uh India has these genetics where they don't really have these huge muscular guys, right? Like when you go to the United States, when you go to the UK, um, when you go to uh Eastern Europe, like you know, Russia, the Ukraine, you get some big dude. So it's odd when they see a guy your size walking around. You know, you're almost like uh uh you know a freak to them. It's like wow, you know. Um how much are you weighing now?

SPEAKER_00 8:23

Well, for this, uh for this RL, I probably wasn't right like 260, 265 or stage. So I'm probably around like 270, 70 thing or something right now.

SPEAKER_03 8:32

So you I think you're about an inch tall, everybody, about 5'9, 5'10. I'm about 5'10. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You're about an inch or two taller than me. Yeah, right. Okay. Yeah, so that's you're that's a big boy, and that's that's 270 lean. Because I remember there was times where you got up to over 300. And uh, you know, and people asked me, like, who were the who's the biggest bodybuilder I've ever seen in person? And I said, the two I've ever seen in person, because I've never seen Big Rami in person. Um, I've never seen Samson over 300 in person, but the two that I've seen in person that were the biggest were you and and Marcus Rule back in the day when he was competing. And I remember there was this one show, right? There was this one, I don't remember, it was NPC show, where I was stuck behind you. I think we were I I was in line and you were you were in front of me, and I couldn't see anything in front of me. Oh my Jesus Christ. So the one thing that I wanted to uh uh talk to you about is the one thing that you're really famous for is uh is your freakish strength. Um do you still train as heavy or you actually have to contain it?

SPEAKER_00 9:41

I have to contain it somewhat. Really? Yeah, yeah. I I definitely pull back a lot because even during this prep, I started seeing like my strength increasing and getting stronger. And every once in a while I'll feel like a little aches and pains in places, like you know, and I'm like, yeah, that means I gotta pull back.

SPEAKER_03 9:57

Because I saw you in signature before the Arnold Ohio, it was like a couple of weeks before, and you were still repping 170s on incline, like there were nothing. Yeah, so now if you wanted to, you can you could have easily gone heavier than that. Yeah, I could have gotten heavier, yeah. Jesus Christ. And how do you, you know, I don't know. Uh so you basically just listen to your body. You go, oh, it's an acre of pain. I'm I'm not doing this anymore.

SPEAKER_00 10:21

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You have to because a few times I didn't listen and I end up tweaking something. Uh nothing serious about it. So I learned that over you know what a period of time. Like once you you feel a little discomfort, that's your body telling you, like, okay, back off, buddy.

SPEAKER_03 10:37

Especially at our age, yeah, exactly. Especially once you get over 40, man.

SPEAKER_00 10:40

Yeah, yeah, man. It's different. I don't, yeah, absolutely. The strength, the strength might be there, but then everything else is falling apart.

SPEAKER_03 10:49

Like, right, the strength is there, but everything the tendons, the ligaments, the bone, everything else is fucking falling apart.

SPEAKER_00 10:53

It's a little bit a little bit more tender now.

SPEAKER_03 10:55

Yeah, right. Do you think that all those years of training heavy were key to putting on that size? Or you just could have.

SPEAKER_00 11:05

Definitely, definitely.

SPEAKER_03 11:06

Yeah, because there were time you were squatting. What was your best squats? I remember you were squatting over 800 at one point, right?

SPEAKER_00 11:12

Yeah, I think my best was about 850.

SPEAKER_03 11:15

And how many reps were you able to get for that?

SPEAKER_00 11:19

One time I uh when I was in um black zone, I did 850 for like two reps on video camera.

SPEAKER_03 11:25

God damn. And uh, because you used to do you used to do what was that Dave Palumbo used to get do that pro versus Joe's, and you used to take part in that.

SPEAKER_00 11:35

Yeah, bro versus pros. Oh, right, right. Bro, pros versus pros, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Those are some fun days, man. Yeah, there's actually there's actually a kid, there's actually a kid, uh Joseph. Um I can't remember his last name. The kid is strong as hell. He benches like 700 pounds. Joseph uh Tamarelli or something like that. If I'm butchering your name, Joe uh Joe, yeah, my bad, man. I can't pronounce your last name, but I can't pronounce any problems. I mean, everybody out there should I know everybody out there should probably know what I'm talking about. He's a very, very strong bench presser. And we just did an event out in the tillers gym out in New Jersey, North New Jersey, uh, South Jersey.

SPEAKER_04 12:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:12

And he was one of the competitors. And uh it's funny that he came up to me and he's just like, yo, man, you're one of the reasons why I got into lifting strong. I'm lifting crazy, because I used to go to the pros and watch you compete. And I'm like, shit, that shit made me feel so old because you know, he's a grown-ass man right now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Putting up crazy weights, and I'm like, shit, man.

SPEAKER_03 12:32

That's gotta feel good too, man, that you're so inspirational.

SPEAKER_00 12:35

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like I said, the kid is he's super strong, you know, very impressive. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:40

That's gotta that's gotta feel nice when people come over to you and go, you know, uh, especially at your stage of the game where you where you go, you know, because that you're basically leaving a dent in the universe. If you inspire others to do things like weight train and bodybuild and power lift, I mean you're you're really leaving a dent in the universe. And that that says a lot about a person, about a person, what he's done and his character. And you know, you won't one thing that one thing uh we've seen in the last few shows, for some reason, it's becoming increasingly more and more difficult. I don't know why, but one thing that I have to give you is that no matter how good or how bad you were placed, you always conducted yourself like a professional. Yeah, you never let you never let emotion get to you, you always just basically took it and moved on and moved on to the next endeavor, and then that was it. Um which to me you should, that's how it should be. But in recent years, let's say in the last you know, several years, we've seen bodybuilders really kind of not be able to contain themselves with disappointment and so on and so forth. And it's been it's kind of been overshadowing the good things. Do you know what I mean? What do you what is what's your what's your opinion on this?

SPEAKER_00 13:51

Well, I've always gone goes into a show basically with the mindset that I I hate to say it like that, and it sounds kind of I I don't want to say downplaying the sport a little bit, but I always go into the mindset, it's like it's you're basically chosen. When you win, I don't go off the fact that you actually really win, but they they choose you.

SPEAKER_03 14:20

Oh, I see what you're saying. These are judges making hard decisions. Yeah. Yes. I hear what you're saying.

SPEAKER_00 14:26

And if you have that mindset, then you see bodybuilding from a whole different perspective. So that means you're not gonna get angry when you're not caught.

SPEAKER_03 14:37

Right, right, right, right, right, right, right. You know, no, you happen to be you happen to be right because when you take, like, for example, the Arnold Ohio, and you had Nick Walker and you had Andrew Jack, which are two completely different bodybuilding types, but they had to choose one, and I'm sure it wasn't easy, you know, and nobody would have been upset if they gave it to Nick. It was just that he wasn't chosen, and and so that is actually a really good mindset. You do the best that you can, and look, they're gonna choose who they want to win, who they want second and third, and there's nothing you could do except for come into the best shape as you possibly can. What's your opinion on the negative mindsets kind of overshadowing the uh, you know, it's kind of becoming the gossip and the drama in the bodybuilding world. People talk about more about that than you know the possibility of Andrew Jack becoming uh Mr. Olympia, the possibility the the uh the idea that Brandon has now literally solidified himself as one of the best ever. But now we talk about how these bodybuilders can't contain themselves and they just have a meltdown or or they don't come in shape or whatever the case is.

SPEAKER_00 15:44

I think it's it's the whole the whole concept of social media because you you've always had bodybuilding drama, right? But now, because of social media and everything is right in your face, like for example, what happened with Markman between Martin and Nick. Right, you've always had shit like that happen backstage, yeah. To the point where, like, sometimes you had guys shoving each other, like getting up each other's face to fight and whatnot, but you never had that social media presence where it's out there in the media right away. Like it's amplified, so much people witness it, and people take videos, exactly, yeah, exactly. So that just amplifies everything and it just makes it blows it way out of proportion, versus like when you had no social media. Remember back in the days when you had to wait to get a magazine to see what the top 10 in the Olympia look like.

SPEAKER_03 16:29

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 16:30

Now everything is in your face, immediate, yeah. Immediate. Yeah, that's what really changed about this whole game, and that's why where all the negative publicity comes in, because now you know you have all this information out there and everybody has an opinion, right? Whether it's good, bad, or ugly, people are gonna say what they want to say. Like, I have so many people come up to me and like who don't even know Martin, but they're gonna tell me, like, oh, that guy Martin is a piece of shit. I'm like, but you don't even know the guy. Yeah, like you know, yeah, you know, well, how can you form an opinion when you weren't backstage? You didn't know you don't know what happened, you just formed an opinion from what somebody else is saying, right?

SPEAKER_03 17:04

Right, right, right.

SPEAKER_00 17:05

You know, so I I tend to stay away from all of that.

SPEAKER_03 17:08

Yeah, obviously you do, and you do a good job of it, obviously. And that's that's what professionals do. You know, they just they just act classy and and then they keep it moving. Did something like that ever happen with you backstage?

SPEAKER_00 17:20

Uh of course. I mean, I'm not going to I'm not going to details. Like, I've had situations where I or you know, I shared the stage with competitors and I thought we were cool. And then after we got on stage, because I got caught ahead of them, like literally, like I turned into the enemy right away when I had nothing to do with the judging.

SPEAKER_03 17:40

You know, yeah, yeah, that's ridiculous. Come on. Yeah, I don't know. See, to me, to me, to me, uh, you know, you're a sportsman, you're an athlete. This comes with the you gotta what judges your character is how good you everybody's got good character when they win. Everybody's a great sport when they win, right? Yeah, it's when you lose it where you see how you react. And you and if that's the case, um it screams volumes about your character if you can't deal with who beat you, who didn't beat you, so on and so forth. Um, and that's one thing that was always great about you, Akeem. I mean, ever since you turned pro with the team universe, uh North Americans, North Americans, North Americans. And you did you did the New York pro immediately right after the next the following year, right? No matter what, you always conducted yourself as a professional, you know, which is probably why you lasted so long in the sport to begin with. Yeah, you know, a lot of people don't realize it. If you're a likable guy and you are classy and you treat people with respect, you're you're barring injury, you're going to have a nice, good, long career. You know? Um that's one thing I've always I've always said about you. But so now, what do you think? Do you think Andrew Jack is gonna be able to be the next Mr. Olympia, or do you think he Samson and Derek's gonna have something to say about that?

SPEAKER_00 19:09

I mean, I definitely think it's gonna be a great competition, great contest between all three of them. You know, Samson, I saw Samson in the UK, and with the added size and everything he put on, he's you know, he seemed to definitely make some improvements. I mean, how much of that muscle he's gonna hold on to?

SPEAKER_03 19:26

Right.

SPEAKER_00 19:26

How much of that muscle he's gonna hold on to? I you know, I don't know. You know, time will tell because it's actually new muscle. You know what happens when you start that adding with new muscle. Well, how much was he when he saw you in the in the UK? Was he three three thirty? Maybe about he looked big, he looked big. I I'm not gonna lie to you. He definitely looked big.

SPEAKER_03 19:46

That's fucking and that's you saying he looked big.

SPEAKER_00 19:49

And you know, Andrew, and Andrew. Yeah. And Andrew seemed to be getting better and better. You know, he seemed to definitely now figure out a formula to basically bring the conditioning, shape, size, everything together, bringing everything together on a show day. So you know, it's definitely gonna be interesting, man. The thing about Andrew and Samson is they have that height advantage over Derek.

SPEAKER_03 20:12

Yeah. And and Andrew will show filling out that frame a lot better. Greg, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_00 20:20

Exactly. And and then once you you know you put that high height uh perspective in the the competition, you'll you'll automatically get your eyes automatically get drawn to the taller people.

SPEAKER_03 20:30

Right, right, right. You know? Right. Well, one person who never had a problem with that going for them. One guy who never had a problem with tall bodybuilders.

SPEAKER_02 20:36

I was gonna say nice time to bring up height. Thank you. What are we trying to say here?

SPEAKER_03 20:49

Lee never had a problem beating tall bodybuilders. Lee, how are you doing, man?

SPEAKER_02 20:57

Don't ask. Like tomorrow's good Friday, the store shoot for one day. It's where there's like a fucking cyclone in town. Every fucker's at the store going crazy. And you know what pisses me off the most? These fake should walk. They should walk, and you got those fucking moving walkways to help you walk faster. And they stand on it like it's a ride at fucking Disneyland. Fucking walk, you would be so fed if you fucking walk. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_03 21:29

And we don't we don't have those. We only have those moving uh like in the airports, we don't have like the moving.

SPEAKER_02 21:40

Right.

SPEAKER_01 21:41

That's that's freaking cool though.

SPEAKER_00 21:43

I don't I'll be one of them kind of fuckers on that shit just yet.

SPEAKER_02 21:46

But the thing is, uh you know, some of them stand to the left or stand to the right, but they're so fucking fit you can't get past them anyway.

SPEAKER_00 21:56

Lee, whate whenever whenever I'm coming back from the airport, that's that's that's a First thing I get on there, I need to just stand and just let it go right through until you get up on the end.

SPEAKER_03 22:04

Yeah, nobody's gonna get around you standing on that fucking thing, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_02 22:09

When you're on it and you get near the end, you're like, all right, I gotta time this right. I gotta turn it.

SPEAKER_04 22:15

Or you go, oh fly on your face.

SPEAKER_02 22:22

Oh god. My wife just give me a drink. Hold on, I gotta see if it's a normal drink.

SPEAKER_03 22:26

It's definitely not a normal drink.

SPEAKER_02 22:28

No, it's not. What'd she give you? I thought it was lemonade, but it's got some alcoholic beverage in there.

SPEAKER_03 22:37

It's it's either gin or vodka, no one knew.

SPEAKER_02 22:40

No, it's got a sweeter taste, so I think it must be some. I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 22:45

Whatever.

SPEAKER_02 22:46

She's trying to get me drunk because she's got a few days off work.

SPEAKER_03 22:49

Oh, that's right. Because it uh you know, I keep you forgetting that you're ahead of me. You guys are completely shut down on Good Friday, because we're we don't do that.

SPEAKER_02 22:57

Yeah, here we do. Here they do, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:00

Oh, that's good. Yeah, we know we we don't uh the only thing, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:03

Sunday is Easter Sunday, we don't have uh Good Friday off, but um do you order stuff in the mail and you forget you ordered it? I don't know when I ordered this, but look when'd you order that?

SPEAKER_03 23:15

How many Batman, how many fucking Batman masks do you have, dude?

SPEAKER_00 23:20

Wait, wait. Didn't you guess what was it as uh was it Batman or Robin?

SPEAKER_01 23:25

You're talking to me? But Red Goff and City, this is how you talk. Once the Batman mask goes on, Christian Bale's voice just changes like this. Oh god, that is fucking cringe. You got a problem with me, you clown. You think you're joking? And then when you take it off, you go back to talking normal. I don't know why that happens.

SPEAKER_02 23:45

Is that what happens? Holy shit. How many?

SPEAKER_03 23:52

But there's one right behind you. Like how many Batman masks do you have? You Yeah, you got the you got I am the law. Yeah, and then I I see you have the uh that's Judge Dredd, and then you have the what do you call it on your shelf there?

SPEAKER_02 24:09

Yeah. Like the Iron Man one's pretty good, but if it ever works sometimes because this one's not bad, it's hard to see out of it.

SPEAKER_03 24:28

Does it light up? I don't know. Does it light up, Lee? Oh yeah, it does. It just did. Yeah, that's like they have motorcycle helmets now that look like fucking. Yeah. Yeah. Imagine having this much money, Akeem, where you could just piss it away on fucking masks and helmets and everybody else, look, it's Dennis Wolf.

SPEAKER_01 24:55

Good day, Dennis. How are you?

SPEAKER_03 24:56

Everybody else is is pension pennies and and and Lee is fucking spending money on masks and I sometimes think that when I buy this shit, I'm like, why did you buy this? I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 25:12

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 25:14

Oh Jesus. Okay. Yeah, you you got you got you you you you you how much was that thing?

SPEAKER_03 25:25

How much was how much was that?

SPEAKER_02 25:29

I was on sale, twenty-five dollars.

SPEAKER_03 25:31

Yeah, twenty-five dollars my ass.

SPEAKER_02 25:36

Always on sale. That's okay, that was show and tell.

SPEAKER_03 25:44

That's alright. Um so speaking of uh Akeem, what's uh what's your go-to meal for cheat meals after a show?

SPEAKER_00 25:55

I mean you've done so many goddamn shows now, but yeah, but uh most of the times uh usually like some pizza or something like that. I went to some uh Caribbean restaurant out in uh the UK. Really? And let me tell you, yeah, it was shit. I was gonna say, really?

SPEAKER_03 26:12

Caribbean in the UK. That's Caribbean's a little far from the UK. Yeah, really.

SPEAKER_00 26:18

Yeah, really. It was definitely shit, man.

SPEAKER_02 26:20

I'm like, man, go all the way here for this. But this is crap. I'll be like, I had I had Mexican in London, that was shit. Yeah, that's fucking horrible.

SPEAKER_03 26:30

Uh I had Italian in India, no fucking way. Why would you do that? How many pro shows? Uh how many pro shows have you won in your career? Me. Yeah. Uh six. Ah I can't tell you beat by one.

SPEAKER_02 26:46

Yeah, but you remember, I was a shorter guy up against you know these taller, bigger guys. You know, back in my day when I had to stand the Dorian and NASA and Paul Dillett and Chris Cormier and Flex Wheeler. You know, I don't want to say anything, but you know, you did beat Ronnie Coleman. Uh yes, he's never got over that. But the thing was, too, I was quite happy doing what I did because I know the judges didn't really like me because I was always outspoken, so anytime I placed in a top five or top three, I was that to me, that was a win to me back in that day.

SPEAKER_00 27:22

So I was really waiting what we were talking about with social media, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 27:27

He was out smoking back then, but you didn't get your yeah, it would have been a gazillion times worse.

SPEAKER_00 27:32

Exactly, exactly.

SPEAKER_03 27:33

It would have been a gazillion times worse.

SPEAKER_00 27:36

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 27:38

Imagine if you had uh social media by during your time belief, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:42

I would have been said that because you know, everyone was coming down on Sam Sulak when he was young and his film and all the stuff he was eating. I'm thinking, fuck, when I was 18, 19 competing before the gym, I'd have Fruit Loops or Cocoa Pops, and I'd be drinking that shit and getting the best pump ever. It's like I had ordered it, and I'm thinking people are getting mad at Sam just because he records, and I'm thinking shit. Imagine if I recorded every time I went to KFC or McDonald's or fucking what oh my god, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:09

Well, what Lee doesn't seem to understand is that Lee has the genetics of literally one in a billion, like literally one in a billion.

SPEAKER_02 28:16

Lee had to do three hours of cardio every day. Yeah, because you got too damn fat. I was bulked up, yeah. Five foot five foot five, I'd hit 285, you know, just a little little bit of fluid, that's all. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:34

Did you ever did you ever have anybody actually tell you to your face back then, like Jesus Christ Lee, you're getting too fucking fat.

SPEAKER_02 28:40

No, I heard that say it behind my back at Gold's gym. They'll be like, someone would be saying, Oh, such and such over there said you're a fat pig, you'll never get in shape. I'd be like, Oh, did he? I'm like, okay. And as soon as I got in shape, that same asshole, hey Lee, you're looking great. We knew you could do it. I'm like, fuck. Yeah, yeah. Like crazy.

SPEAKER_03 28:59

Yeah, and then the girls would never talk to you.

SPEAKER_02 29:02

If I was in contest shape, the girls are like, Oh, you get ready for a show, you got any photo shoots coming up? Oh, okay. Well, if you need someone, I'd like to be talking to you. As soon as I'm bulked up, not one girl would fucking talk to me. So fuck them too.

SPEAKER_03 29:15

They probably probably didn't even recognize you. I mean, but then you know, it was funny because you know, you when the late 90s into the early 2000s, you had guys like Lee that would just get fat and then get in shape, and you had guys like Kevin Lavron that would look like a regular dude on the offseason, and then right before the Olympia, it's just like bang, he was break the top five. It was unbelievable.

SPEAKER_02 29:38

Remember that one guest posing was it Dorian and Ronnie, and I think Jay were all really heavy, and they all guest posed, and they're like, probably the heaviest you've ever seen them on stage. Like they were really heavy.

SPEAKER_01 29:48

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:49

Ronnie got a number of people don't get us heavy now for some reason, or yeah, I think I think due to the internet now, due to internet, everyone wants to try and stay looking good.

SPEAKER_03 29:59

Yeah, yeah, that's how they make them. That's how they make money.

SPEAKER_00 30:02

That's you know, everybody wants to see like 15 pounds within uh contest sheet.

SPEAKER_03 30:06

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 30:08

Put that on the night after a show.

SPEAKER_03 30:11

But that's what that's what makes Samson Dowder so dangerous, is that he's like you know, he's 330 pounds and he still has abs and he still has you know, he's not a big fat slob.

SPEAKER_02 30:20

It's unbelievable how um it's gonna be good to see when he diets down and what he can keep in the condition he can come in because that's exactly what the king was saying. Yeah, he's gonna be like a new new breed type of thing. But then Andrew, too, side by side, like I said, because they're roughly the same height. Andrew does have that bit of a freakier look to him when he stands there. But I think Samson in shape could turn up like a you know, when we saw Ronnie in '97, then Ronnie came out in '98. Everyone's like, What the fuck?

SPEAKER_04 30:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:47

I'm hoping Samson can do that sort of transformation when he walks on stage.

SPEAKER_03 30:50

People are like, fuck. Yeah, I'm a big fan of Samson. I would love to see that see that happen, you know. Um, so but it's it's very possible. Or, you know, Sampson uh Samson, I think I think he learned his lesson from last year. Like, don't worry about the conditioning so much. Like he really peeled down way too much and he came in flat and undersized. So I think his his what he needs to do is basically keep that roundness and that fullness and come in condition enough where you don't lose the size. So he's he's got that, he's gonna have to teeter on that edge, you know, a little bit. Um, I don't know. I know his wife was working with him last year. I don't know if his wife is still working with him. I'm sure she probably is. But uh, you know, it might be might be time to get you know an asito or somebody to help you out.

SPEAKER_02 31:37

You probably you probably already asked, but when's your next show, Akeen?

SPEAKER_00 31:42

Uh I was telling like since I'm 41. There's a uh master's show in Puerto Rico in a couple weeks. Maybe I should jump in. Hey, why not? Why not?

SPEAKER_03 31:51

Okay, man, seriously. Yeah, why not? We're in another pro show series. Yeah, right. It doesn't pay very well, those masters. What did it what it is?

SPEAKER_02 32:02

Hey, it doesn't matter, still on the resume. You won. Who gives exactly like I said before, when we got into bodybuilding, you get into it because you love doing it and shit. No one really got into it for the money, that's for sure. Otherwise, you know, I would have been at five years old, I would have had a tennis racket.

SPEAKER_00 32:19

I mean I've been taking my ass kicking so much the past couple of shows. I th I you know, I figured what the hell to get a win under your belt might just boost your confidence a little bit, you know.

SPEAKER_03 32:28

That's yeah, right, right, right.

SPEAKER_02 32:29

Yeah, for some of those shows too, you should have done better at. So I'm thinking, who have you pissed off over those years?

SPEAKER_03 32:38

Well, is is there you came in six at the honor UK? Is there is there a pay payout for six or no?

SPEAKER_00 32:43

Yeah, yeah. Top six, top six just get paid same as uh Ohio.

SPEAKER_03 32:47

And if you don't mind me asking, what was uh what was number six? What what do you would you I have no idea?

SPEAKER_00 32:52

I don't know, I don't have no idea. I don't know really they only they only told you what first place got. They only tell you what? What first place got.

SPEAKER_03 33:01

Oh, really? So you don't even know what you got yet? No, I don't know. It's a big surprise. It's like getting a tax return. What did I get this year?

SPEAKER_00 33:07

Yeah, they're 20 rupees. They sent me an email uh today, so I think by tomorrow I should find out what I get paid or something like that. Oh, okay, not bad. And then they only tell you what the first place got.

SPEAKER_03 33:20

In the Arnold USA, what did you what place did you come in? I think I was eighth, maybe, I think. Eighth, yeah, I think so, yeah. Is that does eighth place get anything or no? No. All right, so the top six, top six, yeah. Because Dorian, when Dorian Haywood qualified for the Masters Olympia, he won a master show, and I think he he won and they get he got like 200 bucks. You know, yeah, it was really pathetic. And then the guy goes keep it, keep it. Yeah, really, yeah. You need it more than I do, buddy. Jesus. Yeah. And then the guy goes on to win the Masters Olympia, you know. You know, and oh, and and that promoter, the the Japanese promoter, was the guy that wasn't paying anybody. Yeah, like he literally got paid six or eight months after he won.

SPEAKER_02 34:06

It's funny because when I when I used to do the Arnold Classic, if you didn't make the top six at the Arnold, everybody still got a thousand dollars back in the day.

SPEAKER_03 34:16

So yeah, well, today thousand dollars doesn't cover fucking score. But it's still something nice.

SPEAKER_02 34:22

You can go gamble it or do do whatever.

SPEAKER_03 34:24

Yeah, but then again, most of the top guys like have sponsors and whatnot.

SPEAKER_02 34:27

It's not like they're uh it's not like yeah, it's still nice just to get something no matter what it is. Give it to your wife, your girlfriend, whatever, go blow it. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 34:38

Um back when uh Olympia was uh owned by the AMI weeder, even once you you as an open competitor, once you compete, you do it, you did get a check.

SPEAKER_03 34:48

Oh really?

SPEAKER_00 34:48

Oh, if you didn't place, yeah, yeah. Oh, all right.

SPEAKER_02 34:51

But it was like when um before we never used to until that time, like remember in 2002 when I gave Wayne that letter? Because out of the top ten, you never got anything, but when I stood up at the press conference and gave Wayne the letter, from that day on, if you didn't make top ten, everyone used to get two thousand dollars out of the top ten. So do they still do that now?

SPEAKER_00 35:10

Or no, they don't they cut it out. I thought they changed to uh Jake Wood, they took they cut it out.

SPEAKER_02 35:15

No, yeah, yeah. It does wonders for your career. You do it.

SPEAKER_00 35:25

You already say that you already say I'll piss somebody off. Could you imagine me doing that shit?

SPEAKER_02 35:30

Hey, well, you might as well go all out. You might as well go all out.

SPEAKER_03 35:36

You might as well double down, fuck it.

SPEAKER_00 35:38

You know, yeah, come on. I'm not I'm not gonna lie to you leave, but like sometimes I actually think like, did I piss somebody off real?

SPEAKER_03 35:46

Well, tell tell me your tell me your strategy, your mental strategy when you go into a show, because it made all the sense in the world.

SPEAKER_00 35:54

I always go like I I was telling them I was uh trying that uh I was going to the fact that basically at the end of the day you're you're chosen. So like basically it's not like that you win, they they literally chose you to make you win. Like like you give an example between Andrew and uh Nick Walker. Apples and oranges, and they have to take a uh you know, we pick an apple today. We don't like oranges today. Yeah, yeah exactly.

SPEAKER_02 36:21

Right, flip a coin, yeah, right, right, right, exactly. Well that's why, but I've always said that too, because sometimes when you get even the top, like the Olympia, when you had Samson, no, is it Derek, Derek, Hardy, and um Andrew and Samson at the Olympia. I said, Really, any one of those guys, like if Andrew won the Olympia, I wouldn't have complained, or Hardy. Exactly. And I've always said when I explained, I said, to me, it's like when I go to car shows and that'd say, like, the best car of the day, but yet they'd have classic Mustangs, classic Camaros. And I said, every car's different, so it's hard to pick a winner, they're all great in their own thing. I said, but it'd be different if, say, you went to a car show and everyone's a Ferrari, the same model. Then you can pick the winner because okay, this one's more detailed, the interior's cleaner, the engine's cleaner. But when you're on a whole heap of bodybuilders up there, and say the top six are in shape, it's like they're all great, and like you said, they're all different, but yet they're all great in their own thing. So it's really just the judges of the city. It's really yeah, it's time on the judges, too.

SPEAKER_03 37:21

Like, who do we pick?

SPEAKER_02 37:22

You know, it's like what what body style do you like? Because Samson's different to Nick, Nick's different to Derek, Derek's a bit different to Hardy. So it's like, you know, it's almost like you said, they just kind of go, uh, pull a number out of the hack. Okay, he wins.

SPEAKER_03 37:34

Yeah. Well, Keem, backstage, who was more impressive? Uh uh Andrew or Nick? Andrew. Really? Yeah. How come?

SPEAKER_00 37:44

Uh, just the the width, the height, you know. Everybody says that.

SPEAKER_03 37:49

Everybody says when you see Andrew in person, it's just a freak of nature.

SPEAKER_00 37:53

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:54

Uh, when they see you game backstage. But you find you find yourself though, did you have this problem when I was in shape even backstage? I could be like, uh, look, you sort of know you look good, but I don't care who I look at backstage. I think everyone looks better than me. I'm like, he's gonna beat me, he's gonna beat me. Look at him. And my my mate would be like, Have you seen yourself? I'm like, Yeah, I look like shit. Look at him, he looks great. And when you finally get the pictures, you're like, Oh fuck, I didn't look that bad after all. But in your mind back in your mind backstage, you think everybody looks fucking better. It's like fuck, I'm gonna stop looking.

SPEAKER_00 38:32

Especially with the the way the lights are set up, too. Oh yeah, because it yeah, because it's it's a little bit of a silhouette because it's not backstage, it's not really perfectly lit up.

SPEAKER_02 38:41

Yeah, so you get that one overhead light backstage, and someone was standing under that overhead light. You look at him, you're like, fucking hell, he's got the right shadow.

SPEAKER_00 38:55

Yeah, you know, it's uh it's not until you get under the bright lights and you start seeing, like, oh maybe the guy got good.

SPEAKER_03 39:02

You know, does the Instagram under the bright lights? Does the Instagram thing hold on, like does the Instagram thing throw you off when you see a bodybuilder on Instagram and he's you're gonna compete with them and you go, God damn, how am I gonna beat that? No, no, uh uh at all. Okay, not at all.

SPEAKER_00 39:17

Because I always feel like these guys post a bunch of fake ass pictures on social media touched up, yes, and then they get back to it, and then you're like that, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:29

That's why if I was if I had the social media back in my day, I said it, I would be posting the worst pictures. I'd be like sticking my stomach out, looking all uh they'd be like, Fuck Lee looks bad, he's behind, and then turn up people go, What the fuck? You know, I I wouldn't be putting up good pictures, I'd be putting up, I'd be putting up the worst sliding, the worst terrible. Yeah, so like that way in their mind they're like, Well, we don't have to worry about him, and then you come through and blast them.

SPEAKER_03 39:55

You win a hospital bed with a broken arm, yeah, something like that.

SPEAKER_02 39:59

Yeah, feeling sick, stomach bug. I don't think I'm gonna make it.

SPEAKER_03 40:02

Yeah, and and then you show up and you fucking wreck everybody.

SPEAKER_00 40:06

Yeah, I don't I don't fall off on a social media post anymore, man.

SPEAKER_03 40:09

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:11

You could look like freaking Dorian on social media and then you show up backstage and you're like, okay.

SPEAKER_02 40:16

It's true. It's like um but it fucks people up if you do it yourself. Because say you post a picture of yourself looking great and you're using all the filters and you look that good, even if you look good on stage, people like, oh, he looked better a week ago on Instagram. So yeah, you're not doing you're not doing yourself a service. If you make even if the judges see you on Instagram looking great, they're gonna be like, Oh fuck, what happened to him?

SPEAKER_03 40:38

So that's a good point. Yeah, that's a good point.

SPEAKER_02 40:41

I'd look bad on Insta. So when you look get on stage, you're like, Oh, fuck, he's made improvements.

SPEAKER_03 40:45

A lot of guys don't it doesn't transfer on stage. Some great um who's the guy that won 212 uh Olympia last year? Well, Keon. Keon. Keon has a a tough time transferring from Instagram to on stage. I mean, I know he won 212 Olympia, don't get me wrong, but when he did that open uh the show after that, everybody thought he had a good shot to win for the way he looked. Um, and uh he was an ugly priest, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:10

Yeah, fuck you, Keon. That's for you saying that I wouldn't stand a chance against you. Fuck you. That's it, that's the other thing. Don't don't you do in the open, Keon?

SPEAKER_01 41:20

How'd you do? Yeah, but no, it's true.

SPEAKER_03 41:26

Well, well, they don't give you any respect, it's unbelievable. Like used it used to be nah, I wouldn't be able to stand next to him, he's a legend, but now they're like, I would fucking kill him.

SPEAKER_02 41:34

I don't well when people used to always ask of me and Flex, I'd always say Flex would beat me, he'd say I'd beat him. I said, Look, we wouldn't know until you're on stage together and stuff. So yeah, but Keon's like he wouldn't stand a chance, blah blah blah blah. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 41:53

And he said I would kill Mike Tyson. And then and then and then like and then when Mike Tyson was in his prime, they asked him who would win him or Muhammad Ali, and he immediately was like, Nobody beats Muhammad Ali. I can't say Muhammad. Yeah. I don't know where this should this entitlement transition happened. It was like it used to just give respect to the guys that I know.

SPEAKER_02 42:14

Well, even though even if you think even if you think you can beat them, just be humble and go, you know what? Yeah, it would be a good contest, you know, whatever.

SPEAKER_00 42:21

I I think I think it's switched when you have the older guys start like trashing the today bodybuilders.

SPEAKER_03 42:28

Oh, yeah, you might be right. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because we have seen that.

SPEAKER_00 42:33

Uh that's when that started, yeah. Yeah. Because then you're like, why should I respect you if you were talking shit about me?

SPEAKER_03 42:39

Yeah, that's true. Because you had Lee Haney, Dorian. Yeah, but I've I've always given Keon props that motherfucker.

SPEAKER_02 42:49

Hope you lose every 212 from this day on.

SPEAKER_04 42:52

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 42:53

Who else is who else is doing the 212 Olympia this year? They're like in Route 4 coming in. Sean Clarita. Sean Clorita, I think he should have I think he should have almost won last year. He was yeah, you ain't kidding, man. You know, he's hard, like I said, he's hard to be yeah. Keon had a bit more size than that, but when you look at Clarita and his conditioning and that, he's almost like a mini Ronnie Coleman or mini flex wheeler type thing.

SPEAKER_03 43:16

So yeah, and Akeem could tell you, because me, Akeem and Sean used to go to the same gym, and Akeem could tell you, Sean in the gym is a machine. He doesn't fucking stop. It's unbelievable. His weight training uh is is like it's almost not human, it's unbelievable. Now, now I think he lives in Texas, right? But when he was training at Signature, he used to he used to just be a fucking machine. I'd be like, Jesus Christ, that kid didn't fucking stop training. And no his um uh uh his uh strength and his uh I don't know what you want to call it, but his durability, he was able to just keep doing more and more and more sets and more and more and more sets. And I'm like, you know, because I'd be watching him with like a half an eye. I'm like, this kid is a fucking thing.

SPEAKER_02 43:57

But he'll never get credit, but like when I used to go strong. That's because you got short arms and short legion and it's hard to push the weight. I'm still squatting seven. I've still got seven hundred pounds on my back, motherfucker. Don't care how far I'm going down. It's still 700 pounds.

SPEAKER_03 44:14

Our kimps squatted 840. I know. Like it was nothing too, I bet. Yes. Remember back in the day, they used to have that argument who was the strongest bodybuilder. It was always between Johnny Jackson and Stan Efforting. And they used to have it, they don't do that anymore. You would definitely be in the conversation.

SPEAKER_02 44:31

They should fucking, but even, you know you'd probably have to who would you go for? Because I guess if you're going by powerlifting terms, you'd be going by body weight ratio to what they're lifting and all that. But you know, Ronnie, some of Ronnie's lifts, he's squats and deadlifts, and that he'd be up there. Insane.

SPEAKER_03 44:46

Wait, well, Akeem, who was uh being a strong bodybuilder, who was the strongest bodybuilder you ever saw in person or trained with?

SPEAKER_00 44:54

Ram big Rami was pretty strong when I trained with him out of coin. Really? I yeah, I I never I never did legs with him though. Because that was my specialty. Right. But we trained chest together, and I was actually like impressed with how strong he was. What uh I really wanted to do legs with him, but we never got a chance to do legs.

SPEAKER_03 45:09

What um what kind of numbers was he putting up with chest?

SPEAKER_00 45:13

I think he was I think we got up to like five plates on the inkline. God damn. And he was he was he was repping it out? Just repping it out like it was nothing. Yeah, and you don't you never see videos of stuff like that. So you can't for how strong he was. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's right. He was pretty pretty impressive.

SPEAKER_03 45:27

Yeah, besides him, who else was it?

SPEAKER_00 45:29

Rolly was pretty strong with Lexus. I trained next to Rolly. He was pretty he was pretty strong with Lexus, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 45:34

Okay, yeah, Rolly was strong. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:36

Did you see him? Someone said he was at the Arnold UK, wasn't he? He was out. Yeah, I saw I saw him. I say what's up to him. Yeah, he's looking good, you know. He put back on some size and everything. Like he looks good.

SPEAKER_03 45:46

He's thinking about coming. I know uh there's a couple of guys that are thinking about coming back. Uh him Lionel Benecki. Oh god, that's our that's our ongoing joke, uh Kim. Lionel Beneck. If he hits it once, he's oh now he's gonna win a show.

SPEAKER_00 46:00

Honest with you, man. This guy had so much potential. Yeah, we're still holding it.

SPEAKER_02 46:04

That's why I'm still holding out hope. That's why it's a long-range joke.

SPEAKER_00 46:07

I mean I couldn't say I never understood like what happened.

SPEAKER_03 46:11

Yeah, me neither. We talk about him all never the most the greatest fucking gifts from God, and he got just pissed it away. I don't know what happened. That's the most fun. That's the most frustrating part about being a bodybuilding fan, is when you when you see these guys that have all the gifts and then they just don't utilize ego. And you're thinking if I just had if I just had what's meant, God. Why do you think I have a microphone? Akeem remembers what uh what a fucking shitty bodybuilder I was when I was in the NPC. That's why I have a microphone now because I could never make it as a pro. And and then you see pros, and then you see pros and you go, Why the fuck is this dream putting the work in?

SPEAKER_02 46:50

I dreamt of being a pro bodybuilder and I ended up working in the fucking sewer.

SPEAKER_03 46:54

Jesus and a couple call with Lee Priest on uh during the week. It's unfucking believable.

SPEAKER_02 47:00

When Ronnie Coleman's in town, I'm probably shoveling his shit through the pipes down changes.

SPEAKER_03 47:05

Yeah, I came. If you don't know, during the day I well sewer worker in New York City, but you probably knew that already. So yeah, I'm shoveling shit during the week, and then uh at night I'm doing this. But um so it's so then you see guys like Lionel Becky and I'm trying to he had so much potential.

SPEAKER_00 47:22

Even even Hassan, gifted bodybuilder, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 47:25

Even Hassan Mustafa, I'm like, what is this guy doing, man? Like, he's so like what is what is I I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 47:33

And I start I start to feel that way too. Sometimes when I see Nick Ziller, I'm like, you got all the fucking mess, Nick Zilla. He had the prettiest body, but if you could bring that in conditioned, fuck it's like lights out, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 47:46

You know, um, yeah, and I think it's it's probably I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 47:50

It's I think I think somebody's somebody somebody somebody somebody like Nick Zilla, he's still young, yeah, and he's he's enjoying all the success. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, that that he's you know, so for him to like really like buckle down and get into that mindset to bring that kind of condition, you'll have to have somebody that you know reel him in. And oh yeah, yeah, you know, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 48:09

Well even the thing, even the thing with him is look how popular Victor Richards was back in the day when the magazines were out, never competed. You know, the same thing with Nick Zilla, if he never competed and he just did the right marketing, he could be a freak and be making a ton of money like a rich piano or somebody. Yeah, that's why that if that's the way you just keep that because you keep that aura. Because how many times have we seen magazines? If Victor Richards competed, how would he do? How would he do? Yeah, yeah. Because he never did, he always had that aura. And if you compete and come six, everyone's like, Ah, you're shit. So it's like as long as you don't compete, you keep that aura.

SPEAKER_00 48:44

Yeah, right, right. Like uh that um that bodybuilder back in the days, that trade brewer guy, remember? Yeah, oh yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 48:49

Yeah, it was like meant to be the next Mr. Olympia on all the covers, next Mr. Olympia. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And once he competed, they didn't do well, they just cast that did the same with that guy, remember, what's his name from Russia? He competed it with Alex Alex. Um what's his last name? He held it off with Alex, yeah, Alex is popping off and ended up tearing his peck, but yeah, didn't he beat didn't he win one pro show overseas and beat Ronnie in one of them?

SPEAKER_03 49:16

Oh, which we're gone way back. Yeah, like but it's a big guy, Alex. Um I know you're talking about you're not talking about Gunther, right? No, his name's Alex.

SPEAKER_02 49:25

Alex Alex, but his last name was Poppin' Off or Trevor, some Russian-y type name.

SPEAKER_03 49:29

Let me say, let me see. Hold on, let's see.

SPEAKER_02 49:31

Very massive guy. Yeah, I was thinking that he did beat Ronnie in one overseas European type show back. Uh and then he ended up tearing his peck, and then he made he made a comeback of the New York Pro one time.

SPEAKER_00 49:42

Okay. Yeah, he did a big comeback of the New York Pro. Uh with the tone peck and everything like that. Alex something.

unknown 49:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:49

Yeah, but I remember even he was on the cover of the magazine. Alexa Lesser.

SPEAKER_03 49:54

Lessakoff. Yeah, Alexa. Yeah, Lessakoff, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 49:58

He's like 6'3, wasn't he? 6'2, or he's got a big thing. Yeah, he's a massive guy.

SPEAKER_03 50:02

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I'm looking at him now. He's he was a monster.

SPEAKER_02 50:09

I feel like what's his name back in the day was Spigan never got in shape? Johnny Morant. He never really got super shredded. But Johnny Morant was pretty big. He looked a bit like Ronnie Hughes' chest and legs. What um what years were that? Was that Lee? He ended up going to the WBF. So when did the WBF happen?

SPEAKER_03 50:29

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 50:31

Just like a Johnny Johnny Morant. Like he's a hometown guy. He's a hometown uh jersey guy.

SPEAKER_03 50:38

Yeah, that's right. Yeah, Johnny Morant. Yeah, I got him. Yeah. Okay. He died?

SPEAKER_04 50:44

Did he? Did he?

SPEAKER_03 50:45

Yeah, 2022. Wow, last year, two years ago he died in uh 2024. Holy shit. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, when you if you went over to WBF and then you came back to the IFBB, yeah, you would you were done. It was over. I know I know the feeling.

SPEAKER_01 51:00

I didn't look at you anymore after that.

SPEAKER_03 51:02

It was you go to the PDI, you know, and you yeah, that's it. Yeah, we all know what happened there. Absolutely. Well, that it really wasn't you though. You were banned. You were like, fuck it, you know.

SPEAKER_02 51:16

Well, when I went to the PDI, I just got they had Wayne had that show on two months before the Olympia. So I thought, well, I'll do it, I can make extra money. So I did it. Then the IPB said no, no. And I said, Well, I got the one in England. They said, if you don't do the one in England, we won't suspend you or do this. I said, But I've already signed on, people are going, so I'm gonna do it. Okay, a year suspension. And then I started arguing. I said, How's this the number one rule? You got guys breaking rules and don't do shit because they argued a two-year suspension. I'm like, Well, who gives a fuck? And then I did that show, did the shotgun show with John Romano, and then got a whole lifetime suspension. Jesus that's an achievement. How many people have been suspended for life in Korea from the IFBB? I don't know. But now I've got the pro card. No, well, I got the pro card back, and I got that back last year because when I was with Giles in England, and they brought out that new rule, you've got to renew it, otherwise, you've got to requalify. I said, Let me just try this. So I went online, I'm putting in the info, thinking this is not gonna work. I got here, work you done, how'd you get your card? Oh, I got to the payment section. I'm like, let me fill it in. Next thing welcome, here is your pro card. Get the fuck out, really. The thing was, I was in England, and of course it's all automated. I would have loved to seen in the I for V whoever got that thing the next morning and went, he did what? What the fuck? He's back. What the fuck? Yeah. How the fuck did he do that? And like I said, it was funny because I made a joke with Steve at the Olympia because you know, Steve and I would always have our run-ins Weinberger. He's like, still talking crapply. I said, Come on now, Steve. I tell the truth, it's not crap. And he just started laughing. We took a photo. I said, But he did say I got my pro card back. He's like, Yeah, I saw that. He just grinned. I said, but you know why? He goes, Why? I said, So you can suspend me again.

SPEAKER_03 53:07

It was a pretty good sport, Steve, for the most part.

SPEAKER_04 53:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 53:13

Steve was always pretty good to you, right? Akeem. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 53:18

Yeah, we have a good relationship. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 53:20

Steve was always he's he's right there. I think he's just one of those guys, he's pretty fair. Yeah, yeah, do shit, you'll do shit or whatever. So I was like, yeah, but yeah, you don't want to piss them off. Whenever you're ahead, whenever you're ahead judge, though, people are gonna dislike you and blame you for everything. We've heard that he's on his phone when the scorecards come out.

SPEAKER_03 53:39

Nobody knew who we were talking to with the media made it out to be a could have been an emergency, could have been an emergency with the city. You know, it was ridiculous, but whatever. It is what it is. Uh-huh. Yep. All right. So, Arkeem, what do you got planned uh for uh this weekend? Seeing family, anything? Plan any any good plans for vacation.

SPEAKER_00 54:01

I gotta I gotta I gotta commit to that uh um Puerto Rico show. So once I'm right, that's right.

SPEAKER_03 54:07

When is that?

SPEAKER_00 54:09

It's um April 18th.

SPEAKER_03 54:12

Oh shit, that's that's literally two and a half weeks away.

SPEAKER_02 54:15

You got two weeks, you got two, you got two weeks. Fly to FIBO. I'm going to FIBO, do the FIBO show. Who's doing that?

SPEAKER_00 54:22

I don't know who's doing it yet, actually.

SPEAKER_03 54:24

The only one we know is Sas Harati as of right now.

SPEAKER_00 54:27

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's the only one.

SPEAKER_03 54:29

See you at FIBO, see you at FIBO.

SPEAKER_00 54:31

Come back. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, Leah, I forgot about that show, you know.

SPEAKER_03 54:36

Yeah, a lot of people have. It seems like a lot of people have, you know. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 54:40

When you get off here, check out the list, call up Steve. Who's in the show, Steve? Yeah, yeah. Maybe I should I should look into that. Yeah, when you win it, you can thank me for doing it. You're welcome. All right, gentlemen, I'm gonna let you guys go. Make sure you eat lots of chocolate Easter eggs because that's what Easter's all about. Oh, yeah. I know they talk about it, some guy that died and come back and rolled some rolled some rock away.

SPEAKER_00 55:08

I'm gonna do it and do three hours of cardio league. Yeah, just like well, that's the thing, you know.

SPEAKER_02 55:14

I didn't have to do three hours, but I think that's how I kept four because I hated eating. I didn't like waking up hungry and going to bed hungry. So I figured I got nothing to do during the day. I'll just have another meal, then I'll do a bit of extra cardio, then I'll eat again, do a bit more cardio.

SPEAKER_03 55:28

So the life of a bodybuilder, unbelievable.

unknown 55:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 55:32

All right, Akeem, thanks a lot, man. I appreciate you coming on, brother. And of course, and of course, Lee, I will I'll text you in a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 55:41

Okay, it's good seeing you.

SPEAKER_03 55:43

Later, fellas. Take care, man.