Shooting the Breeze with John Livia and Lee Priest. Special Guests: Justin Compton and Eric Wood

Join us live , every Monday night at 9:30 pm eastern. This week we have 2 very special guests, Justin Compton and Eric Wood. We will be discussing the Empro Classic and the Italy pro.

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#johnlivia #leepriest #seriousandsillinessbodybuilding #justincompton #ericwood

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:31

All right. We're back to uh we're back to normal. We got uh Big Lee Priest is back in Australia.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

Thank God.

SPEAKER_03 0:40

And we got a special guest to us, Eric Wood, and we're also waiting on Justin Compton. He should be joining us. But this is series and series bodybuilding, and this is uh where are we? We're shooting the breeze. So Eric, we call this shooting the breeze because we don't know what we're gonna talk about. We talk bodybuilding, but then we go into all different directions and shit. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 0:58

Yeah, so we have uh we have he brought me on once to talk bodybuilding and it just went fucking downhill from him.

SPEAKER_03 1:05

Yeah, let me see. Uh did I uh oh yeah, all right. All right, so I sent it to Justin. If he comes on, so great if uh if he forgot or says fuck me, it is what it is. Um all right, so let's get to the fucking elephant in the room here. What did Asido do with you that made you shock the world? Because you did two shows, you came in second twice, and they were like close seconds.

SPEAKER_00 1:32

Yeah, like just like Lee said, it was just basic. I I don't like the overanalyzing and all that stuff. He just wrote me a simple diet I trained, and you know, he just brought me in crazy.

SPEAKER_03 1:45

What was I mean, tell us about like the last the difference between like your prep for a SETO the last couple of weeks as opposed to the prep with a SETO in the last couple of weeks? Because that's when it really matters, right? I mean the last if you last like three to four weeks is like really gonna count.

SPEAKER_00 2:07

Honestly, nothing crazy. Like you just tracked in with him every day and I just kept getting better. I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 2:15

All right, there's gotta be something to him. He's the greatest fucking coach in the world.

SPEAKER_01 2:20

I mean, that's not though. It's like I told you, and he sent me a thing, you look at it and you almost think it seems too basic. But I've told people from day one, you don't need to reinvent the wheel. Basics work, people overcomplicate dieting, the carving up this peak week. It's like people put so much stress on themselves by doing shit they don't need to do. If you keep it basic, it then you have to make little changes where you're not gonna fuck up, you know.

SPEAKER_00 2:46

I mean, he was having me do like burgers and pop-tarts like two or three weeks early.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

And I'm like, I never flavor, what flavor pop tarts are? That's some more. I used to go blueberry or something because it's you know, blueberry healthy, healthy. Oh yeah, yeah. But then I went to Toaster Strudels, I found Toaster Strudels, and that was the death of me. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 3:08

But what made what makes him so special as far as I'm concerned is like he does this with all different types of bodybuilders, and you know, with classic, with bodybuilders, and then even when you take bodybuilders, you know, he brings Derek to win the Olympia, then he brings Andrew Jack, who's a completely different type of bodybuilder. I mean, it's apples and oranges, and he gets him to win the the Arnold. And you go, what is what is this guy? And he's his track record is just between Sean Roden, uh Jay Cutler. Um, you just go down the list, and the guy's track record is and that's what blows me away about like um some of the guys that are at the top and they're looking for a coach, and all of a sudden they're like, you know, you got some no-name coach, somebody you never heard of. You go, why wouldn't you go with somebody that has a track record for 30 years? Like it's you know, like if you went with a Chad Nichols or you went with a Farah instead of an Asito, okay, yeah, I kind of make sense, right?

SPEAKER_00 4:05

But then you pull somebody out of like left field, you go, Where's the fucking that's what I picked Asito because I knew I have no doubt, like I could follow everything he said, yeah. I'm not gonna question it.

SPEAKER_03 4:17

And what about uh and I understand you don't have to talk about this if you don't want to. I also I understand he's very mild when it comes to the anabolic.

SPEAKER_00 4:24

That's another crazy, like I don't get it. Really? The smallest, and I told him, I was like, dude, this is the least amount of I think ever, like since I started bodybuilding.

SPEAKER_01 4:34

And I've been preaching that for years and years, so I remember I helped the kid get ready for a show. And as soon as I gave him, because I gave him his diet, and I said, Look, you know how to train, he just sort of eat this. And he came back with me and he goes, What about the supplements? I said, mate, when it comes to drugs, I use small amounts. I said, I can show you what I did for the universe when I wanted because you're just going to do the world. I said, You can follow it if you want. And as soon as I said it to him, he wrote back within five minutes. Are you fucking with me? I said, Why that's not enough? You don't even have GH. I said, Look, you're gonna trust me of your diet, trust me of this. And it's on probably a quarter of what he used. He went to one the world, just like Lee, it's the best I've ever felt, it's the best I've ever looked. That's why I go blue in the face telling these young kids you don't need these stupid amounts. It's fucking crazy.

SPEAKER_00 5:19

Yeah, I'll hear people like amateurs talk and they're doing three or four times the amount I was doing.

SPEAKER_01 5:24

Yeah, it's uh it's on but they won't believe it. If you tell them the swam that you're doing, you're lying. Why why even say anything if you're gonna lie? It's like I'm not lying. This is what works.

SPEAKER_03 5:33

It's like I mean, I there there were guys, you know. Um, I think Milos was on Jay Cutler's podcast and he talked about what NASA used to use.

SPEAKER_01 5:44

There were some, there were some, like Tom Princeton, and there were some out there that went crazy big, but then even those guys later on, even if watch Fouad's podcast, they've all discovered they've gone less and they've made better gains. So, you know, this more is never better. But it's like the young kids now just think more is better, more is better.

SPEAKER_03 6:01

It's like uh this uh this podcast gets better and better. We just Justin Content just came off.

SPEAKER_02 6:07

Yeah, a couple minutes late. Sorry about that, guys.

SPEAKER_03 6:10

Don't worry about it, man. Thanks for coming. I appreciate you coming, man. Big fan, by the way.

SPEAKER_02 6:17

Yeah, you guys kind of caught me. Uh this is late for me, but this is early for Lee, right?

SPEAKER_01 6:23

Yeah, it's 11:30, 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday.

SPEAKER_03 6:27

So Yeah, this is why I do it so late. So I could uh have Lee on at a decent hour, and then everybody else is like, same thing. I forget that you know, bodybuilders go to sleep at fucking seven o'clock at night.

SPEAKER_02 6:39

Mine's hit or miss, like with the my insomnia. Some days I'm up to like two in the morning and some days I'm in bed at seven at night, literally.

SPEAKER_03 6:46

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So uh Justin, we were just talking because now you're training, you know, up on your training Joe Palacios. Um and we were just talking about Eric and his relationship with Chris Asseto and how he he made this complete turnaround with Eric this uh this year made him look incredible. And Eric was basically saying, tell tell him, Eric, tell him what you said.

SPEAKER_00 7:11

Just what about the anabolics?

SPEAKER_03 7:14

Everything that basically there was no real secret.

SPEAKER_00 7:17

Yeah, it really was just basic. It was a very basic diet. Um I checked in with him a lot, it was every day, so that helped. And uh just follow the plan, everything just kind of fell into place.

SPEAKER_03 7:28

But it was like it was night and day from from the last time I've seen you compete to this year, it's night and day. And Justin, what do you think? Because you're you're basically you know a top trainer at this point.

SPEAKER_02 7:41

I think it was a coin toss. Like, you definitely had the right, like you brought a very good package, like you were hard, dense, you were in shape. The only thing I could say that Quent had over you was he has a little bit better silhouette, but as far as like the conditioning, like you guys absolutely nailed it. And with Asito, like I I've never I never was coached by Asito, but I know how he works, and it is like every day, and he has like rapid fire, like texting you back and stuff. Some of his methods seem a little unorthodox, but like they work. And then when you mentioned the gear, that's the thing is like I kind of caught the back end of what Lee was saying, how like you know, the young kids nowadays more is better. Yeah, like basic shit still works, like you don't gotta overcomplicate things, you don't need 40 compounds and 30 peptides.

SPEAKER_00 8:32

Yeah, and I felt better too. Like I that was the best I felt on, I was tired from the low body fat, but I just felt you know, you know what I mean.

SPEAKER_03 8:41

So you didn't feel like shit like on a normal prep where you wanted to kill everybody in tight.

SPEAKER_01 8:45

But isn't but isn't that scary too where you do a prep and you don't feel like shit, you think, am I doing something wrong? I'm not meant to feel I'm not meant to feel good. I'm meant to hate my life and hate everyone around me. What's wrong?

SPEAKER_03 8:57

Justin, just out of my curiosity, I'm sure you've gotten this asked a thousand times, and you could give us the readers digest version, you don't have to go into it. But when you uh competed, I was a huge fan because I'm a I'm a fan of the freaks and the the monsters. Um, just out of my curiosity, why did you stop uh competing?

SPEAKER_02 9:16

So I will give you the cliff notes on this. And the only reason I'm gonna give you the cliff notes is because most podcasts, like I've never been on your on your show before, so I I would expect you to ask me that, but I have gone over this a lot in the past. So for anyone, like so I'll give you the cliff notes, but for people who want like more of a full rundown, if they Google uh muscle and strength and they see that show, we did like a full-on episode of it. So I was doing really, really well at the end of 2016. I mean, I competed what I feel like was a little too much for my liking that year, but regardless, uh, I was trying to set myself up for some bigger contracts in 2017. So long story short, uh January of 2017, like within the first week, I had an infection. And I chose it was not the normal infection where you know, like, oh, you got a knot or you got a bump or you got a little bit of a fever. No, my shit went septic. So and people don't understand like the dynamics to that because you guys remember Ronnie Coleman was septic, like just uh like within the last year or so. People was like, yo, praying that Ronnie lived, and I was too because I realized it wasn't wasn't Victor, didn't Victor have the Martinez?

SPEAKER_01 10:29

Didn't he go septic with something in his back as well or something? Not long ago when he was really sick. I think he's not yeah, he lost all that. He was in hospital for a long time too.

SPEAKER_02 10:39

It was about two, two and a half weeks for me.

SPEAKER_01 10:41

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 10:42

All right, so I just remember uh a big churning point that that doctor had told me that night. And it was something that an ER doctor normally wouldn't say, just due to ethical reasons, I guess you would say. But the guy asked me, so at the time I'm I was living in Jacksonville, Florida, and my family was from Kentucky. And he goes, Do you have any family? I said, Yeah, I've got family. And he goes, Where are they at? You know, because I was there with my I was actually there at the hospital with my ex at the time. She's the one who drove me to the ER because I couldn't physically go myself. And the doctor goes, I suggest you call them because you may not be here tomorrow. I was like, Oh, wow. I was like, I know I feel bad, but I didn't know I felt that bad. So he and he was like, he's telling me he's like, I'm gonna have a full team in here, we're gonna do what we have to do. He goes, You just gotta cooperate with us. I said, Oh, okay, yeah, obviously I'll cooperate because the tip of the iceberg, that was the beginning of it, and then it just continued to go downhill that year. Contracts went out the window, rumors started flying. I had a minor bicep tear, my shoulder went straight to shit. And I wish I would have got that shoulder fixed much sooner. I waited seven, I went seven years of pain before I got that done. Pneumonia twice that hospitalized me. I had a gallbladder issue, and then between all that, this right here was wacko. So yeah, like I hate it very well, if I'm being honest. You know, like when people would be around me and like, hey man, how are you? Like, I was nice, but in my head, like I was kind of a loose cannon.

SPEAKER_03 12:20

Yeah, of course. I can only imagine, you know, all of a sudden, you know, you're one of the greatest in the world. People are talking about the next Mr. Olympia, and now you know, everything comes to a screeching halt and your career's done. But when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade, so now you're like one of the best coaches in the world.

SPEAKER_02 12:36

So you turned it into turned it into Yeah, like obviously I love bodybuilding, and I did make uh I don't want to say a comeback, but I I did blow back up from uh I got as low as 215 pounds, which was like incredibly light for me. I hadn't seen that number since I was like 20 years old. But when the shoulder went, like so I'm left-handed, right? So when I drive to take a right turn to go like this, I couldn't drive my vehicle correctly. Like that's how bad the shoulder was. So at that point, I was like, can't go to the gym. I just stopped eating. Like one day might have been 1,200 calories, the next day may have been 12,000 calories. And it wasn't 12,000, and I was a McDonald's fan. That was my go to.

SPEAKER_04 13:19

Hey, hey, hey, you're not enough for all of that.

SPEAKER_02 13:22

So I was eating a shitload of McDonald's, and then the next day it was like I may eat like again, like crumbs. So like everything was kind of down the tubes, but like 2018, I did get back up to like around 265, 270 range. And at that point, I kind of made a decision. It was like, do you really want to do this again? Like, you you kind of had a break to see what life was like on the other side, and that was kind of that was it for me. Like, I still do what I do, you know. I still train, I still diet, I still do everything. Uh one a little bit of like a two-week hiatus right now. Just I've been training for like seven, eight months, and I I don't know when to take breaks. I don't know how I'm gonna take breaks. I don't believe in Doads. I don't I don't do D loads. Either I am either training all out or I'm just gonna take a couple weeks off. One or the other. So right now is one of those couple weeks off, and usually when I'm taking a couple weeks off, I usually take a few weeks off diet, which is why this face looks a little fat right now.

SPEAKER_03 14:19

Oh that's all right. All right, well, I appreciate you uh because I know you have I said to myself when I asked you to come on, I was like, I'm gonna ask him out of my curiosity, but I I know he's been asked a thousand times, but um be uh but uh I appreciate you coming on. I appreciate you telling us the story and uh telling and and being honest with us. But listen, man, sometimes it happens, man. It sucks.

SPEAKER_01 14:40

You know, life just throws off the won't you run chat you run the show sort of sort of reminds me when the doctor said to him you might not make it till tomorrow. That's when before the Iron Man, I think it was 04, whatever I got the lowest placing at like six or seven. I somehow got viral cardiomyopathy. I just felt shit. I went to the hospital in Santa Monica and actually Sandy Rinali is like one of the head nurses there. She goes, Oh, hi Lee, what are you doing? I'm like, I don't know. So they ran all these tests and I was sitting there with Capula Francois, who I was married to at the time. And the nurse came in, she said she was. I said, So how's it look? No one just looks at me and goes, You're gonna die. I'm like, I said, Well, thank thank God. That's nice to know. And then the same nurse came back probably 10 minutes later. She goes, No, here's just some chicken and I think it's pretty close to diet food. Chicken and vegetables. There's a piece of chocolate cake. She's like, Don't eat the chocolate cake because we're going to do more tests and the sugar can test the test. As soon as she left the room, I made the chocolate cake. She walks back in. I told you not to eat that. And I just looked at her and said, You also said, I'm gonna fucking die. So I'm gonna fucking die. I'll make the chocolate cake.

SPEAKER_02 15:51

That would have been my fast deal.

SPEAKER_01 15:53

Yeah, I'm like, if this is my last meal, I'm not eating the fucking chicken and vegetables that I've been eating for months. I'm going out with the cake.

SPEAKER_03 16:00

She just storms off out the room. I'm like, yeah, fuck it. Lee, look what I got. Look what came in the mail today. Uh my time's in the way.

SPEAKER_01 16:08

Is that the crucifix?

SPEAKER_03 16:11

Uh Lee Priest has his own line with uh Nutrafit, and this is his pre-workout. It's called Crucifix. The guy gave it a good write-up today, too.

SPEAKER_01 16:20

I posted it. It was very good.

SPEAKER_03 16:21

Yeah, it actually is good. And what happened was we were in Nashville together, and I had bought one of these, and um hanging out with Lee on a Saturday evening, uh, it didn't turn out so well for me. Uh it was a lot of yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:37

Is that a wild story? Saturday evening.

SPEAKER_01 16:39

Yeah, I'll go alcohol, and then he decides to try a 25 milligram THC gummy with it, and let's do things.

SPEAKER_02 16:46

Right, 25? That's all. All right.

SPEAKER_03 16:50

Okay, let's say he wasn't on the call. I will quickly I will I will I'll give you the Cliff Notes version, just like just just like Justin said, okay. So what happened was that the Friday night before, we uh Lee had this um you know meet and greet at this uh at the exhibit at uh it's uh music fit expo at Nature. And um we all went and you know, Lee was there, Sid was Lee's manager and good friend, and the guy Austin, who owns Nutrafit, um who was making uh all the supplements and sponsoring Lee and sponsoring my show now. We all go we all you know got together. Most of the time we're at the expo. So Friday night I didn't go out, but Saturday night, you know, Lee likes to go out, so it's like, all right, we're going out. Saturday night, we're in Nashville. We're in Nashville, we're going out. So we go to dinner, so we start drinking at dinner. So now, uh long story short, we go down Broadway, and I don't know if you guys have ever been to uh Nashville, but it's it's like party town, so we're all hanging out. Of course, we gotta stop every 10 feet because somebody recognizes Lee and wants a picture and whatnot. But by this point, I'm I'm pretty drunk, and I'm not a big drinker, I don't do drugs or anything like that, but I'm pretty drunk, right? So it's like maybe now it's like 11, 12 o'clock, and we find this little spot and we're drinking. I I was drinking tequila, and uh Lee pulls out this bag of gummies and he's like, You want one? And I was like, Okay, you know, it was I just there was no peer pressure, I just took it and ate it, right? So, anyway, long story short, we go back to Lee's hotel. Lee's a fucking disaster, but he still has sense enough to wait for the fucking Uber with me. Uber comes, I still don't feel anything. I get into the Uber, all of a sudden it hits me like a ton of bricks. It's about 90 minutes, right? What it's about 90 minute delay, right? Yeah, I would say it was about an hour, yeah, give or take. You know, I don't remember exactly, but it might have been 90 minutes. And all of a sudden, I felt like that Uber ride to my hotel from his hotel to my hotel was like the Millennium Falcon with like when it warped feet and all the cars. So I am completely paranoid now. So now it's like midnight, I have to be at the airport between 4:30 and 5 because I thought the flight the flight board starts boarding at 6 30. So now I'm completely paranoid. I'm a fucking mess. I stopped uh packing, I'm sweating. This was one of the things anything that I couldn't fit in the suitcase, which you know basically was almost everything, it just didn't come back with me. So uh, you know, the crucifix that I bought, I had a shirt, I had sneakers, I had a pair of converse. I just left them there. I was like, fuck it, because I was so paranoid. So then I long story short, I get there. I don't even know how I got there. I got to the plane, I'm on the goddamn plane, I'm sitting on the seat and I text Lee and I'm like, yo, but that was wow, how strong was that gummy? And he's like, I don't know, about five milligrams. And uh I'm uh and I was he's like, you'll be fine tomorrow. All right, so whatever. I I go home, I sleep. The next morning I get up, I gotta go to work. I text Lee. I go, dude, that was the worst fucking feeling in my life. That was a disaster, right? So he goes, I know it was he goes, I couldn't sleep either. The room was spinning. He goes, I guess 25 milligrams is too strong.

SPEAKER_01 19:58

And I went, wait a minute, you told me I had the vape, I had the vape on top of it.

SPEAKER_03 20:02

Yeah, they were doing the vape on top. So then I was like, but wait a minute, you're uh you you told me it was five milligrams, and his answer to me can't read what I'm fucked up, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:11

That's his answer to me when I can't read when I'm drunk, and I was like so I've never actually combined the two, like between alcohol and don't ever. I don't know what that feels like. Um don't ever I'm assuming it amplifies the THC.

SPEAKER_01 20:29

And then and then the vape on top of the gummy, it just spun me up. I was like after I said goodbye to him, I'm lucky I got to my room.

SPEAKER_02 20:36

I just laid on the bed and it's just fucking was that your first time using a gummy?

SPEAKER_03 20:42

Me, yeah. I never, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:44

Oh, my first story was probab maybe a little worse than yours. It was I was um so one of my friends, I I was training him too, he was a client of mine, and this was when weed became legal in Canada, like literally like the week before. Right. And he I go up there, I see him, and he goes, Hey Justin, you have problems sleeping, right? And I was like, Yeah, I was like, I never sleep. And he just like flings me an edible across like the room. I know nothing about this, I have no clue about anything. And he goes, Well, I have a tolerant, so I can do the whole thing, but you should do half. So lo and behold, my dumbass doesn't actually do any research on how much a half is and how strong it is. So I ate 60 milligrams. The first time ever. And I remember I was like airwalking through uh the Toronto Convention Center, and then Doug Ford was there because the guy that I was working with, his wife is uh Doug's daughter. Yeah, Doug Ford's like the governor of the caught a premiere in Canada, but he was like the governor of Ontario, and I was like, Oh, there's Doug. Let me go up and talk to him real quick. And then Chris is like, she likes to see me, she's like, No. You're hot. You're sitting the fuck down like that. And then I'm sitting down, I'm like, I feel like I'm falling out of the chair. I wasn't moving. I was literally just like I was falling.

SPEAKER_01 22:08

I feel like your feet are coming up like this. Your feet are floating up. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:11

And then I reach over and I grab her leg and I'm like, oh shit, this is so fucking wrong. This is my friend's wife. What the fuck am I doing? Like it just it was a horrible, horrible feeling of experience.

SPEAKER_03 22:22

Horrible experience. It really is.

SPEAKER_02 22:25

And that one lasted like 18 hours for me.

SPEAKER_01 22:31

I ate one. But of course it's the first time ever, I was almost like on the Wolf of Water and I ate it way. I'm like, this shit ain't fucking working, so I ate another big piece. I swear to God, as I'm just chewing and about to swallow the second, as I'm swallowing the second piece, the first piece kicked in and I went, I'm gonna be fucked. And I'm just sitting there watching TV, the TV's coming at me, everything's gonna weed. And like this, my wife's like, just relax and go with it. I'm like, I don't want to fucking go with it. Don't tell me what the fuck to do. Everything was just so I couldn't walk down the hallway to go to the toilet. I'm like, I'm on a fucking ship on the big ocean. I'm like, it's fucked up. It's like if you can get it right and you can relax, if you go over it, it's fucking shit.

SPEAKER_03 23:11

Anyway, do you have any longer toys like this, or it's just us?

SPEAKER_00 23:14

Not I I ate a cookie one time and I split it with my friend and because we lived together in our apartment, and both of us just like I don't even know the milligrams of it. My buddy gave it to me, and that it lasted for like 10 hours.

SPEAKER_04 23:31

Yeah, more than that.

SPEAKER_01 23:32

You got lucky it was only 10 hours. Yeah, but that was like Giles when when Giles was in Amsterdam and I took him into a place and gave him some gummies and shit within like they must have been strong within half an hour. Giles, you know, Giles who does the commentating that he's sitting there, he's like, Leo, like what? He goes, That fucking big white dog behind me is gonna attack me. I'm in the in the bar. I'm like, what fucking white dog? He's like the white dog that's sitting on the floor. I'm like, oh you're you're fucked up.

SPEAKER_03 23:58

It's like he's seeing fucking you know what honestly saved me? There was this girl that I've been friends with since high school. And I actually messaged her because I know she's a big pothead and dummies and all this shit. And and I and I told her what happened, and um, she goes, Yeah, she immediately she was like a doctor. She goes, Oh, eat some fatty foods and take a half of Xanax, she'll be fine. And I was like, All right, I went downstairs, I had leftover Chinese food, I just ate all the Chinese food, and I took a half of Xanax. And by that night, I was like, Oh, okay, this girl knows what she was talking about. Holy shit. But he's still laying there saying, Fuck you, Lee. No, that no, the the the no, because it wasn't you, you didn't, you just went, you want one? And I went, all right. And I just took it. It wasn't like peer pressure or anything like that, it was un unbelievable. But um, are both of you guys from I know Eric, you're in Canada, right? No, I'm in uh Ohio. Oh, why did I think you're from Canada? You did the Toronto Pro.

SPEAKER_00 24:53

Yeah, it's the Toronto Pro. Yeah, you did a Toronto Pro. Oh, wait a minute. I live in Canton, Canton, Ohio.

SPEAKER_02 24:59

Oh, Canton, okay. I got you.

SPEAKER_03 25:01

You competed with uh what's his name was Canadian? I get you guys mixed up. I used to get you guys mixed up. He lost a lot of weight, he got sick. Or he got sick or he got into an accident. Fuck, I can't remember his name. Whatever, it doesn't matter. All right, so you're American. And Justin, you you're uh you're not from Canada originally, right? No, no, all right. So then could we talk about how fucking awesome the Europeans that came here for the World Cup think America is? And it's like yes. Do you guys see any of those videos? I haven't seen any of it. I've seen the videos of the Americans hiding to the flag and shit all the time, and it's like there were so many Europeans because the World Cup's in the United States, and there are so many Europeans in the United States now, and they are making like TikTok videos, and they love the United States, and it's like these little things that make a huge difference. Like there was a girl in New York City because there's a game going on like right now, and right like 20 minutes from me in the met in the meadowlands, right? I think it's uh Norway versus some fucking third world shithole. I don't know, right? So uh, and she's on a TikTok, she's eating you know ice cream from an ice cream truck. I think she was from Sweden, I'm not sure. And she was just like, You can get ice cream from a truck.

SPEAKER_02 26:17

I knew it was gonna be food related, yeah. Yeah, that's what they were gonna be impressed with.

SPEAKER_03 26:21

She's like, You can get ice cream from a truck. That's all I have to say. She had a mouth full of ice cream, she couldn't get over it. They can't get over that. You can go into like a fucking Costco and buy tires on one side and a shotgun on the other side because you're intended to go for a coffin, you can get a coffin at Costco as well.

SPEAKER_01 26:39

You can get a coffin, and it's just that the sellers' coffins. I was walking out the other day, there was fake grass, solar heating, or solar panels, and then these beautiful coffins. I'm like, why not?

SPEAKER_03 26:52

So a bunch of uh people from Scotland apparently went to Boston. Did you guys hear about this?

SPEAKER_01 26:58

Uh exactly, I saw some English guys, they went to a buffet thing, and the woman cut off this big piece of prime rib. He's like, That can't be all for me. Is that all for me? It's like it can't be. And he got like this big slab. It's like, this is incredible. Like it was one of those pieces, this thick, like this took up the whole plate. He's like, I can't believe the portions here.

SPEAKER_02 27:16

Yeah, yeah, yeah. The Europeans are used to like very, very small portions. Like for a bodybuilder to go there, we need to order like three meals. It's unbelievable.

SPEAKER_03 27:26

So apparently, a whole group of Scots went to Boston and they uh literally drank all the beer in Boston. Like it's gone. They're tapped out, they have no more beer. And there was a guy that said that guy said that they drank three times the amount on a on an average St. Patrick's Day in Boston.

SPEAKER_02 27:47

They can drink.

SPEAKER_03 27:50

I can't after you guys get you gotta see the video. It's unbelievable.

SPEAKER_01 27:53

And they are English, English and Australians are good at beer drinking.

SPEAKER_03 27:57

Yeah, and and uh they're just so like um amazed at the patriotism and uh and and you know, and the and the food and uh the uh the the national parks and because they're here, they're watching the world cup, but they're also you know going around sightseeing and doing going to New York and then going to Boston, but then also going to like and they're like you know, you could go to Florida and it's a hundred degrees out, and that but at the same time you can go to like Alaska and it's like 30 degrees, the temperature, and you forget how small their countries are, right? And and it's just but anyway, but it's it's it's actually really, really cool.

SPEAKER_01 28:33

But speaking, speaking of patriotism, when I put up that UFC fight at the White House, the amount of hate I got from that, I'm like, it's not even about Trump, it's about you know, it's the the soldiers, ex-ex-soldiers, retired servicemen, just the just the spectacular, the flags everywhere, the fireworks, or it's just the thing that that's why I started making those superman AI videos saying, Happy birthday, America, happy birthday, Mr. President. Every second comment, you like the pedo, you like the I just keep making them they make it one of Home Land to where it it blows up all the fucking woke people. So I don't want to make this about politics, but it's it's me.

SPEAKER_03 29:12

But I just think they can hate Trump, but why you gotta hate the country? It's like you know, it's hate me, but why do you have to hate me because I voted for somebody you didn't want to vote for? That's blow what blows me away. Like, I don't give a shit.

SPEAKER_02 29:22

That's how everyone is nowadays. So, like when people ask me the topic, I just I just deter and get away from it.

SPEAKER_03 29:30

When I'm at work, I do the same thing, I just I'm gone. It's unbelievable. All right, let's talk about bodybuilding because we have Eric Wood, who is a fucking rising star in bodybuilding. Um, so you did the Toronto Pro, and what was the other show that you did that you came in second?

SPEAKER_00 29:44

The Legion. That was two weeks before Toronto.

SPEAKER_03 29:47

Okay, so you came in second to Toronto to uh Quentin. Who'd you come in second to into the Legion? Tonyo. Oh, okay. All right, great question. Who's more impressive, Tony or Quentin? Up in person.

SPEAKER_00 30:00

I'd probably say Tonyo overall. Yeah, he's a he's a seventh or eighth at the Olympia, I think.

SPEAKER_03 30:08

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, he is a gifted, gifted bodybuilder. You know, it's just he's flawless. You know, uh who else impressed you backstage when you were uh uh competing at Toronto or Legion?

SPEAKER_00 30:22

Toronto, there was a guy from Brazil, uh Wellington.

SPEAKER_03 30:24

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 30:25

Oh yeah, yeah. He looked pretty good, like really impressive backstage.

SPEAKER_03 30:30

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Now, were you were you shocked that you had uh that you were coming in second and they put you in the middle? Or were you like were you like, oh I I I got this shit? Were you like?

SPEAKER_00 30:43

Yeah, for Legion, I was shocked. I didn't know. That was gonna be my last show, I was just gonna be done after. Yeah, because I dropped out of the Pittsburgh Pro last year, and I was like, I'm gonna I'm gonna do one more prep and I'm gonna follow through with it.

SPEAKER_02 30:56

Right.

SPEAKER_00 30:57

And then I ended up getting second. So I'm obviously not done now. I'm gonna keep going.

SPEAKER_02 31:01

Obviously. Yeah, what's the uh what's next on the agenda?

SPEAKER_00 31:04

I'm thinking like Cali Pro next year.

SPEAKER_02 31:08

Oh, okay. I thought I thought you meant um something this year.

SPEAKER_03 31:12

So what do you have to what do you think you have to work on? Because you obviously got the conditioning down, right? And your symmetry is good, your balance is good. What do you think that you have to work on in order to win a show and get to the Olympia?

SPEAKER_00 31:25

I think just more size.

SPEAKER_03 31:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:27

Especially my legs, the hamstrings. I was only 235 on stage. You know, that's how you're five, nine.

SPEAKER_03 31:36

Yeah, but with the shape that you were in and the symmetry, you you looked a lot bigger, you know. And that's you know, me and Lee and we talk about, and I've had Jason Arnes on before. We talk about this all the time, uh Justin, and maybe you could speak to this. When Lee was competing during his prime, 300 was like, wow, that was like an amazing number to get to if you were a pro bodybuilder. And now it's like the number's 350. Like every other bodybuilders 300 pounds on the offseason. What the it's unfucking believable. Even you're working with Joe. Joe was got enormous this fucking. He came on the show with us uh uh what I don't know, a couple of months ago, right? Lee, and all the entire podcast, he was so big we just heard him breathing.

SPEAKER_02 32:23

But you know, yeah, people don't understand how big he actually is until you meet him in person.

SPEAKER_01 32:28

Yeah, when I met him at the Olympia. Yeah, I can't I can't wait to see the matchup between him and Nick. I think it's gonna be a nice matchup there.

SPEAKER_02 32:35

It's gonna be a lot closer than what like I mean, no offense to like the Nick fanboys, yeah, but like they think that Nick is gonna just clean the house, and Nick may win. The the odds are in his favor, but he's not gonna just smoke this show.

SPEAKER_01 32:50

That's what I said to John. It's not gonna be in the walk in the park for Nick when I said Joe with his because you know, people are thinking about Joe from his last shows, he's put on a lot of extra size, and maybe Nick's hamstrings, I think, might be a little bit better, but chest and arms and shoulders and all those side shots, he's gonna hang with Nick right there. So, you know.

SPEAKER_03 33:09

Yeah, you know, the only thing is if Nick comes in as polished as he did uh at the ones.

SPEAKER_01 33:16

Yeah, but say Joe comes in that polished and still gonna Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 33:20

I mean, I I I couldn't agree. I can't wait. I mean, honestly, uh Joe's been on the show, I think, two or three times, and he is a great fucking guy. So I I I will be secretly cheering for him. But if you take my emotion out of it, you know, I'd still have to say I think Nick is gonna win because he's just a at this point, he just has so much he has so much potential. Um he has so much experience and he has so much polish and he kind of knows his body and what to do at this point. Um I've still gone by Joe.

SPEAKER_01 33:53

Joe's gonna show up, and anyone that likes Nick might be like, Joe, ooh.

SPEAKER_03 33:57

Yeah, that being said, we have seen Nick miss the mark, right? We have seen that happen. Like last year at the Olympia, we have seen him miss the mark. And Joe, so far, in the two shows that I've seen him in last year, he was that's what that's why I'm not ruling it out.

SPEAKER_01 34:12

I'm not ruling out Joe's definitely I wouldn't I wouldn't take that bit.

SPEAKER_03 34:17

No, I'm saying gun to my head. I'm saying Nick, but it doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_01 34:21

Even gun to my head, I'd still go, Well, I can't pick because what happens on the day happens on the day, and Joe can be right there to pick the title.

SPEAKER_02 34:28

So that's kind of where my head is at. Is like I think it can be a coin toss. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I think so too. Like Nick's got his attributes, but so does Joe.

SPEAKER_03 34:38

Yeah. Well, the one the one thing Joe has over Nick is uh a little bit, he's got looks he might have better shape than him because he has that smaller waist.

SPEAKER_02 34:46

You know, Nick has a learned to pose and he's learned to actually like like show that. Like when he if you go back to like his uh pictures when he won the USA, like when he would do like a front double, he was kind of like kind of coming down a little bit with his abs, but now that he's coming up tall, makes him wider up top, and it sucks his midsection in furthermore, so it actually has like an X frame rather than more of an H frame, right? So I think his posing has come so far that it it kind of overcomes a little bit of uh the lack of natural symmetry.

SPEAKER_03 35:21

Now, Justin, you we I you do obviously you do his diet, but do you help him with the training too, or he has somebody else?

SPEAKER_02 35:28

No, actually, in the beginning, I used to do the training in the very beginning. Um, he works out with Paul. Paul has been like, I wouldn't even know Joe if it weren't for Paul. So like all credit does have to go to Paul on this. Okay. Um you should get Paul on sometime too. He'll tell you the story. Heinsen.

SPEAKER_03 35:45

Okay, I'll look him up.

SPEAKER_02 35:47

Um, that's his training partner. I helped Paul get his pro card in uh shit, it's either 2019 or 20. No, 2020. Heinzon. Okay. No, Paul reached out to me one day and he said, Um, if I pay for this guy's coaching, will you coach him for two months?

SPEAKER_03 36:02

And I'm like, if you're willing to pay for it, yes. Joe told me that story. Yeah, he was.

SPEAKER_02 36:08

You just really believe in this guy if you're gonna pay for the coaching. So I was like, okay, let's let's see what we can do with this. And it was literally just rapid. Like every time I like Joe's got genetics, obviously. He knows how to put on muscle. Like, I just think he needed the right direction and the right help. And I think me and him became a good fit. So I did do his training in the beginning, but now him and Paul kind of train together. And posing wise, I don't he makes my job easy because I don't have to do a lot with the posing because he's he does a fucking phenomenal job, and most guys um you gotta grill them like hey man, hold it for 15 seconds. You need to prepare, you need to be on stage posing for 15 minutes. He can pose like I hope they do this in Tampa, and by the way, I think Steve's judging the show, and you all know Steve loves to make you pose, right?

SPEAKER_04 37:01

He'll work, yeah, he'll work, especially if it's got a lot of things.

SPEAKER_02 37:04

I was like a couple times Steve was gonna cause me to have a stroke. Like, seriously, yeah. I was like, come on, dude, who the fuck do you want? I was like, how many more times we can hit a mod double? Yeah, right. But like, if it comes down to Joe and Nick, and Steve wants to bring out like a top two call out, if he wants to pose him for 30 minutes straight, Joe will not crack. Yeah, I could see that. Okay, I get that. And his stomach will not slip one bit in 30 minutes. It's what phenomenal.

SPEAKER_03 37:33

What do you think between that between that uh that matchup with Joe and Nick?

SPEAKER_00 37:37

I don't I mean, I think it depends how Joe comes in, but I feel like that's like you just gotta see them next to each other, you know.

SPEAKER_03 37:46

Yeah. Is it I've heard we had uh Chris uh Masaro on last last week, and he said that Joe still flies coach. Is that true? Because I don't know. I saw somebody commented on that. How is that possible? That's impossible. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 38:04

I will say this though, like what the last no, sorry, it was Tampa pro last year. So I'm not like a hugger type of guy. I'm like, I'll handshake you, but Joe's like a hugger, so he goes in to hug me, and I was like, I tried to hug him. I'm like, I can't put my fucking arms around you, like I can't, and you're in he's in contest shape, and I can't fit my fucking arms around the guy. Like, and I'm not I'm not exaggerating that either. Yeah, yeah, no, so yeah, flying coach for him cannot be fun.

SPEAKER_03 38:33

I don't know, yeah, because Chris says he still flies coach. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 38:37

I think like his side chest is gonna be hard. But Joe's got one of the thickest chests out there in pro bodybuilding, so you know he's got the hamstring drop to go with that and and his back shots too are no joke either.

SPEAKER_03 38:49

Like, this isn't gonna be, yeah, this isn't gonna be uh a fucking one-man show. If people think that and and believe me, Nick is one of the best in the world. I'm not taking anything away from him. It's just that this is this is the life of an athlete. You are on top, and there's always gonna be a younger guy coming up going, oh no, no, no, I'm gonna fucking I'm gonna fucking take it to you. And this is in every sport, and Joe is that guy right now. He's that young guy coming up, going, I'm gonna fucking Eric is that guy right now, saying, Okay, you know, you didn't know me last year, but now you know me this year, and wait till next year, right? How old is Joe?

SPEAKER_02 39:22

Um, I want to say about 30 or 31.

SPEAKER_03 39:25

That's what I thought. How about you, Eric? I'm 30. Yeah, exactly. So are you gonna be working? Yeah, it really is. Uh are you gonna be working with Asito for your offseason? Yeah. So what do you think? What are you gonna do to try to put more size on, besides obviously eat like a pig?

SPEAKER_00 39:43

Yeah, yeah, and and take my training a lot more serious, too.

SPEAKER_03 39:47

Is he gonna be doing your diet for the offseason too? Or is it basically eat whatever you want, like do the lead priest? Come on. Hey, what are you trying to say?

SPEAKER_01 39:57

Hey, come on.

SPEAKER_03 39:58

So the lead the lead priest, uh Kentucky fried chicken.

SPEAKER_01 40:02

Hey, it's chicken, isn't it? Protein and fat.

SPEAKER_03 40:07

Protein and fat. I never ate the chips, you know. So what what is it? Does he does he map out your off-season diet too?

SPEAKER_00 40:15

Or yeah, he already wrote me a diet for uh like right after the show. And then I check in with him. I check in with him today and then again on Thursday.

SPEAKER_03 40:23

And what um how many calories is he uh does he have you taken in on the off-season?

SPEAKER_00 40:29

Like right now? It's it's really not not too much.

SPEAKER_03 40:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 40:33

Like maybe an extra 200 grams of carbs a day right now.

SPEAKER_02 40:37

You know, I I You're a very high calorie guy though, right?

SPEAKER_00 40:40

Yeah. Off-season.

SPEAKER_02 40:41

That's what I was thinking.

SPEAKER_00 40:42

It would be like 600 grams of rice, 500 grams of potato, uh, muffins, post-workout, like, you know, two and a half cups of oatmeal, a ton of food.

SPEAKER_02 40:53

The rice would kill me. Like, I got up at one point, it was like 8,000 calories, but I didn't do that shit with rice. Man, I would have just gagged. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:02

Jay Cutler, the uh rice cakes and cinnamon splenda.

SPEAKER_02 41:06

Mine was um, I was sponsored with Mega Fit Meals, so shout out to them. They actually did a really good job of taking care of me. But I like their pasta. I would get their fish and pasta.

SPEAKER_00 41:16

Oh yeah. Dude, I use their steak the whole prep. Their steak is so easy. Yeah, we got it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 41:22

Uh Justin, here's a here's actually a really good question for you. I had uh um Paul Barnett on, and we talked about this. 20 years ago, 25 years ago, not even that long ago. The uh the off-season dieting was much different. It seemed like it was just like eat everything. You gotta get big. Eat, eat, eat. Everybody remember that Dave Palumbo McDonald's and um you know Lee Priest would eat Kentucky fried chicken, and you know, you would you would get these guys, but now uh and it was red meat, red meat, red meat. But now you have most guys are doing a very very clean, high calorie offseason with not as much red meat as you guys would have taken into the 90s and the early 2000s. What what changed?

SPEAKER_02 42:05

I I still eat red meat like twice a day. Okay, like I I did throughout, like I'd never cut it in my prep either. Like I would have red meat twice a day every every contest prep. That was never something that I would take out, and it was usually my pre-workout meal as well. But as far as like structure, like obviously I didn't compete in the 90s, so I don't know exactly how people did things on that. You'll chime in here in a second and tell us. But um I actually liked having like the full structure because I feel like I was able to make very calculated decisions on what I needed to do next, right? Because I I know a lot of guys that just they wouldn't c they wouldn't actually look at their calories, they would just eat, and it was and it works for a lot of people, it worked for a shitload of people, but like for me, I'm just so OCD that I have to know. Like, that's just the way my brain worked.

SPEAKER_03 42:55

Yeah, Lee, we were saying during your time, guys on the offseason, and now I don't know if it's because of social media and guys like want to kind of stay in shape. Um, but the guys and but during your time, your offseason, the I mean, even Dave Palumbo would say he would go to McDonald's twice a day. You were famous for the Kentucky fried chicken.

SPEAKER_01 43:12

And it's but I'd still I'd still eat somewhat normal. Like I might still have a good breakfast, but then after breakfast I'd go to IHOP after I trained, and then I might come home and have steak and rice and eggs, but then an hour and a half later I'd have McDonald's and ice cream. So I'd be still eating like good meals, but in between the meals, I was throwing in probably thousand calories of chick food meals in between. So when it came time to die, I just cut out those snacks in between. It's almost like I was a cow grazing all day. I wasn't really sitting down to huge meals, I'd just be eating and picking at stuff all day long. But yeah, but I never think of it to aim for a weight because I wanted to go to 285. It's like, well, maybe I had four months between shows and I just ate and put that much weight, and I never aimed for that weight. Sometimes I only got to 260 in the offseason. So I never paid him for it. But then people always be like, oh, he's a fat pig, you'll never get in shape. You hear him at Gold's gym. As soon as you get in shape, oh, you're looking great. We knew you could do it. I'm like, oh fuck off. Then the girls, the girls back then would never talk to you when I was all fucking fat in the face. Totally ignore me. As soon as I get in shape, you were unrecognizable. But as soon as I got in shape, they're like, You're gonna do some photo shoots? You know, I like to do a photo shoot with you. I'm like, fuck off. It's almost like that old meme. If you don't like me in my bulk, don't talk to me. You're my cat.

SPEAKER_03 44:28

But Justin, you see, you see that that's what I mean. Like, um, it's it Lee hit it right on right on the head. The guys back in the in the uh you know the late 90s, early 2000s, they would they would they would just eat, they would just eat. And now it seems like like you said, now it seems like offseason is a lot more calculated of what you're taking in, how much you take. You know, even even asedo has the the off-season diet for Eric.

SPEAKER_02 44:51

Um I would be willing to bet, though. I want to pause you real quick. I'd be willing to bet with Asito. He probably throws some curveballs. It's just like, hey, go eat like three muffins today.

SPEAKER_00 44:58

Doesn't seem like prep I was fell in love. Like like two, three weeks out, it was I was having like two Pop Tarts, burger fry, like a shit ton of food.

SPEAKER_03 45:08

But it's gotta be it's gotta be everybody being individual, right? I mean, he's gotta look at you and go, okay, this is what you're gonna have to do. And then he looks at you know, Derek, all right, you have to do this, which is different. It can't be the the same formula for everybody. I'm sure you know he's uh he has a method to his madness, right? Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 45:26

Yeah, he does. I just met like I know he I know he likes the muffins. That that's like one of his go-to's. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 45:33

And it's not the worst when you're getting ready for a show and you're allowed to have a muffin and you have it and the thing's half stale, and you're so fucking depressed. You just eat you eat the top of it, then you do I eat the rest? You then you commit to it, you're like, you're not even enjoying it. You're like, the one day I get to eat shit and it's half fucking stale.

SPEAKER_02 45:50

I would have to have the oldest bottom of my muffins. That's it.

SPEAKER_01 45:54

Or the Costco ones to go for the real big ones. Or that, yeah. Just like what it means. They come in, they come in a tray of eight, though, and then you sit there like, I can't throw the rest of the way.

SPEAKER_02 46:04

So that could be a problem.

SPEAKER_01 46:05

My my cheap meal, every time I had a cheap meal, it just ended up being a cheat day because I'm like, you know what, fucking, I've blown the diet. But the funny thing was, when I had a cheap day, by the end of the day, I sometimes, if I was dieting, I think I'd get up to when I counted, like three, three and a half, three thousand eight hundred calories on those cheap days. Because I'd eat food that was so fatty and shit, after the first meal, I'm like, oh my guts are bloated, and I might not eat for five hours. At the end of the day, I'm like, I've had less calories today eating shit food than I would have if I was eating like clean diet food because the stomach just goes into turmoil.

SPEAKER_00 46:37

Like, yeah, that's if I eat, if I eat like McDonald's or something like that, it just I won't be able to eat for another for like the rest of the day. Yeah, just it kind of just stops everything.

SPEAKER_03 46:48

Yeah, and no, and listen, I I don't, you know, I'm not a professional bodybuilder by any stretch of imagination, but I do eat clean and I do train. And every you know, once in a while, like you know, on a Saturday night, if I go out with the wife or we order food in, I will have like you know, pizza or a cheeseburger, and it's it sounds great, and then you eat it and you go, What the fuck? You know, it's like good going down, but then it sits in your stomach and you're like, wow. All right, before before uh I let you guys go, I want to uh ask you guys about the um the show that just happened in Spain, specifically uh the 212 class with um Calderon, Adrian Calderon. Um because he he won and it seems to be a little bit of controversy. I don't know if you guys saw the pictures between him and I forgot that came in the guy who came in second. I'll I'll pull up the pictures in a second. Um Justin, did you see that at all?

SPEAKER_02 47:37

I saw one pose. I think it was the front last thread. Yeah. Uh what what was the controversy behind it?

SPEAKER_03 47:44

Well, I'll pull up uh I'll pull up the uh uh the what do you call it?

SPEAKER_01 47:49

Where's Caldron from Brazil? Brazilian skin.

SPEAKER_03 47:52

No, he's Spanish.

SPEAKER_01 47:53

Spanish, okay. If it's in Spain, well, you know.

SPEAKER_03 47:57

Yeah, exactly. So can you guys see this? Yep. Okay, so zoom in a little bit, but all right. So um here's one or two. Okay, the guy who came in, all right. Let me see. Who's the guy's name that came in second? The guy's name that came and came in second. Uh this is the guy who came in second. Jose Marie. I forget his name. I don't know. But this is him, right? So now let's go, let's go back. Uh and these were the the poses, right? Um so the the front double buy right off the bat, you get the difference in his stomach, uh and the bicep pose. Uh it just it just seems as though they were a little bit partial to Calderon, right? And then as you go down the the the shots, especially Calderon's midsection.

SPEAKER_01 48:47

I don't know if it's they saw they saw what happened with the Knicks. They didn't want to not give it to him if they're in Spain. Come on.

SPEAKER_03 48:55

Uh so then you had the you know the side or the side shots I would give I don't know, but um it just looked like the shape and structure should have gone to the number two guy.

SPEAKER_02 49:10

Um I agree with you based on what I'm seeing here.

SPEAKER_03 49:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 49:14

Um and I've seen Angel compete in person uh on a couple of different occasions. Right. When he comes out on stage, he does have like a freak factor like the density. He is very, very hard. Okay, but I will say I saw him compete several years ago, and his physique is not the same as what it was like five or six years ago.

SPEAKER_03 49:36

Yeah, it looks like it looks like age is catching up to him, is what it looks like. Yeah, it is. Yeah, you know, I mean that I mean I hate to say it, but there are a lot of bodybuilders that have been doing this for 10-15 years, and they're on the downside. Um but what what is it about because it looks like to me, I mean, I would I would have given it to the number two guy, but then again, I I'm not a judge, right? I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 49:59

I like his look better.

SPEAKER_03 50:01

Yeah, so do I. I mean, he has incredible symmetry, his abs, which is unbelievable, his you know, leg separation.

SPEAKER_01 50:08

It doesn't look like well, they say they say it doesn't involve it. Sometimes, like I said, if he's from Spain, the show's in Spain, you got the crowd there going crazy. Sometimes if it's close, it can sway, it can sway the judging panel, even though they say there's no politics involved, it can give you that edge sometimes. I have to, I yeah.

SPEAKER_03 50:28

Does Angel have a bicep tear as well? It looks like it, it definitely looks like it.

SPEAKER_02 50:33

See, that's you know, that's that sucks for him, but I feel like that's that would be a no-go for me because that's gonna throw off, that's gonna throw off the front double, throw off the back double, and depending on how he does his side chest, it could throw that off as well.

SPEAKER_03 50:47

Yeah, it it it certainly looks like even when even here in this little vid I played, you could kind of see it.

SPEAKER_02 50:54

Not to mention the guy standing beside has very, very full round arms, like kind of exposes him.

SPEAKER_01 50:59

But that was like '97 Olympia when I was there with Dorian and Nasser, and Dorian had the torn bicep and tricephering. But it's like if any year, that's the year like NASA just came.

SPEAKER_02 51:10

Should have been a hundred percent. Absolutely. I think Dorians actually kind of acknowledged that as well, right?

SPEAKER_01 51:17

Yeah, yeah, I think so. Yeah, you know, I think you mentioned somewhere he was lucky to have got it.

SPEAKER_03 51:21

No, it just um I I think I all right, I might be wrong. Maybe I'm a guy whose glasses is half full all the time, but I think it's just human nature. Like Lee said, you're in Spain, the crowd is behind you, he's uh he comes out, uh and I it might be this mob mentality, you know. Um or uh I I think if anytime you leave it to uh you know people, they're that it's just human nature that you maybe you're gonna pick your favorite, even though you try not to. You know, um maybe one guy likes you know uh you know size and thickness over shape and symmetry. Um but it just looked like to me that it all right, so how can I explain this? It looks like when it comes to the open, they're they're rewarding symmetry and shape and balance. And then you get the 212, and it's like, all right, wait a minute, hold on. If that's the case, then why did Calderon win this one? Because the guy, the other one clearly had better shape, balance, and symmetry with conditioning that was just as good. So, you know, it's kind of a sometimes you can't make heads to tails of it.

SPEAKER_01 52:31

And you never will. It's been going on in black buildings since the dawn of time when you think they're going for the shape and symmetry now, then the guy who's a bit bloated and thick wins, you're like, okay, I'll come in thicker and fuller next year, then the guy with the symmetry wins, you're like, fuck!

SPEAKER_03 52:44

Yeah, yeah, it's unbelievable. But Eric, did you see that? Did you um watch it?

SPEAKER_00 52:48

I just saw that now. Uh-uh.

SPEAKER_03 52:50

Okay, all right. What did you think? Well, that's because everybody was, you know, uh with Bonack, you know, I think Bonak deserved uh the win for the most part. I was a little surprised when Sass came in third.

SPEAKER_00 53:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 53:01

I was a little surprised when Sass came in third. Um, but who's the guy that got second? Let me look it up. Hold on, let me see.

SPEAKER_01 53:09

Uh what about I know there's a bit of controversy too about the prize money being only 10,000 or something, it's like unbelievable.

SPEAKER_03 53:16

Man, I was winning 10,000 back in the 90s in the 90s.

SPEAKER_01 53:21

It's like come on. It's like I think um, I think even was it Dave was saying on his show this morning that really now, if a promoter can't put up at least $25,000, you shouldn't be putting on the show.

SPEAKER_03 53:32

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 53:33

Come on, super open open men's pro and that is like 10 grand. Yeah, it's where these guys are paying their hotels to go to here a couple of days at a hotel. You're paying that 10 grand wouldn't cover your expenses.

SPEAKER_03 53:49

Uh, here he is, right here.

SPEAKER_02 53:51

I mean, he was he's uh he's very impressive.

SPEAKER_03 53:54

He really is, he is definitely impressive. There's no question about it.

SPEAKER_02 53:58

He competed last year, and I don't think he made top five, but I think he was just very highly overlooked.

SPEAKER_03 54:03

Yeah, I agree.

SPEAKER_02 54:04

I don't think anyone saw him coming, so like whenever he came out in the lineup, they just they kind of had who they wanted in the top five, and yeah, he just was pushed to the side.

SPEAKER_03 54:14

I uh I'd have to see his back shots. Oh, I could see why they gave it to, but I mean uh yeah, that's a tough call. I mean, I I agree with Bonack winning, but between him and all right, Sas looks like he's a little bit off, maybe five percent off from his other wins. So yeah, maybe.

SPEAKER_01 54:34

But he his five percent off is still pretty good. Yeah, oh the guy is a tremendous bodybuilder. That's the thing though. As you know, his bodybuilding, if you set a standard once and you come in peeled out of your head, if you come in just a little off, oh he's off, he's out of shape, or like not really, but once you set that good standard, anything less, you're gonna be judged on it. Oh, he's not in shape. It's like, yes, he is, he's just all right.

SPEAKER_03 54:57

Last question, and I'll let you guys go. This young kid from Italy, Eric, what do you think? Uh Daniel Goss, I'm assuming his name is.

SPEAKER_00 55:07

Yeah, well, he just got fourth there, didn't he?

SPEAKER_03 55:09

Yeah, he did. And he came in, I think, fourth or fifth in the New York Pro. Looks big. What do you guys think about this this guy? Because he's very young too. Justin, what do you think? I'm watching him here for a second before I make it. Because it looks like he's very he's very young, it looks like he's got the full package. I mean, um, it looks like conditioning and maybe more size on his arms.

SPEAKER_02 55:39

Really that's what I was gonna say. I think if he can bring up his arms, that's gonna help complete his look a lot. And again, I I favorite big arms. No, I agree.

SPEAKER_03 55:49

I agree with you. And as a matter of fact, um uh Dorian Haywood comes on the show and we're we're pretty good friends, and he actually said the same thing because he competed with him in the New York Pro. And he said he is amazing, but he's got to bring up his his arm, especially his biceps. It just doesn't the rest of him is is massive.

SPEAKER_01 56:06

I think um what Forrest just said in the comments. I think I heard Chris saying that on the show today that Sass got two grain for coming in food, and they take 25 for taxes, so he made zero money.

SPEAKER_03 56:18

It it's it's ridiculous, man. You were putting 2,000 for food. Come on, it's like I mean, come on, 10,000 for a first place show. I mean, that's it's it's it's William Bonack. He's going to the Olympia, he's a second place Olympia. It's ridiculous. I don't know what the deal is with.

SPEAKER_01 56:34

Well, if you're if you're a pro athlete, you shouldn't be doing a show and being out of pocket after you win a show. Like, what other I know you can't compare it to other professional sports, but come on, I watched uh fucking championships of rock, paper, scissors in Vegas, million dollars, the first fucking place, and the place was packed. Um I remember I was doing cardio on a treadmill one day, two weeks before the show. I'm like, fuck, I've had enough of this, I'm fucking tired. I look up on TV, rock, paper, scissors, world championships, million dollars. I'm like, what the fuck am I doing? These people are there like this. Crowd was fucking packed in there. I'm like, I should go do that.

SPEAKER_00 57:09

I got I got four, four grand from Toronto. And to get there with the hotel and everything, I spent like probably five.

SPEAKER_03 57:15

Yeah, yeah. That's it.

SPEAKER_01 57:17

You're almost almost in front of hanging there.

SPEAKER_03 57:20

Yeah, it's unit's unbelievable. But um I understand the promoters don't make a lot of money with the pro shows, um, especially on the smaller shows like uh a Toronto or uh, you know, uh a Tampa, but a lot of them what they'll do is they'll throw in an amateur show too, which makes it flash. That's where the money's at, yes. Yeah, yeah. So that that is accurate, yeah. Well, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 57:41

If it if you weren't a pro show, it's several years and clubs have been to Toronto, but doesn't Toronto have uh like a big expo with it?

SPEAKER_00 57:49

It wasn't huge, yeah. Yeah, they had a few, they had like maybe 10 booths.

SPEAKER_02 57:53

Oh, okay. It was I I was there in 2013, I think, and it it was actually rather large. And the amateur section was huge, too. Not only that, something that kind of pisses me off about like the Toronto Pro, and this is why I never would do the show, regardless. Um, a trophy is a trophy, and it means fuck all to no one except us. Like, I got a whole room for them over here, and they're not all of them combined worth like $50 at best. But it does kind of mean something to me to have it, you know? Like you earn it. The dickhead promoter doesn't let you keep the trophy. What? What the fuck? You're gonna give us a I was told that from two seconds. Yeah, like uh ask ask Bill Wilmore. Ask Bill, because he won the show, and I can't remember who the other guys wasn't Victor, because I think Victor won it too. But like, I think it was Ron that came to him. I I think it was Ron, don't quote me, but yeah, he's like, hey, let me grab the trophy from him. He goes, Oh no, I drove across the border. I don't I'm I I can take it back. He goes, No, you don't understand. The trophy stays with the show. I would have been like, Oh shit, I'm I'm sorry, man. I dropped it. My bad. I would have broken, I wouldn't have given it back.

SPEAKER_00 59:09

Eric, did you ever hear that? You've heard that too? No, I never heard that. No. I don't I wouldn't I wouldn't.

SPEAKER_02 59:16

I think screwed, man. Um, my first program when I did the Orlando pro, it was I'm gonna call him out for it too, because I don't like him for this. Uh Ed and Betty Pariso that hosted that show. So you know what the Europa Man statue is, right?

unknown 59:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 59:32

He was a little inflated cartoon guy. So when they handed me this trophy on stage, I remember picking it up, and there's a there's a picture of me holding the trophy over my head, and I thought, like, you know, I know I'm fucking dehydrated, but damn, this thing's heavy. Like this trophy was like upwards of a hundred pounds. And it was carved out of uh one piece, it was one piece of limestone. It was actually, I usually don't give a shit about trophies because it's usually just a little plastic mannequin. But this one was kind of cool, this one was a little bit different, and in my head, I was like, Man, I gotta fly back to Kentucky. How am I gonna get this thing back home? And you know, they kept me on they kept me on stage for like 10 minutes taking pictures and stuff. And as I walk off the stage, I'm like holding this thing like preciously because I knew like it's fragile. I walk off the stage and Ed was like, hey Justin, uh, I have the case here for this trophy. Because if you're if you're cool with it, he goes, I'll just put it in the case and I'll mail it to you free of charge. I'm like, sweet, that's awesome. He mails me like a five-dollar plastic replica.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:38

Get the fuck out of here. Are you serious?

SPEAKER_02 1:00:41

But Fawwad, Fawad has the real one because they stopped doing that show in 2015. He actually got the real trophy. So if you talk to Fuwad, tell him I want my damn trophy.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:51

When I did the unit, when I did the universe, I got this like big, like solid trophy similar to that, and this other crystal thing for like winning the, like I said, the overall at the universe. And I got the airport or extra baggage in that. I think the smaller one was seven kilos. She goes, carry-on's only six, but I'll let you take that one on. I had to pay eighteen hundred dollars to bring my trophy home.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:15

Oh my god, eighteen hundred dollars. Holy shit.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:20

Was of the weight of it. Like, she's like, we can leave it here. I'm like, I've had seven years off. I come out of retirement and won the universe. I don't want to leave it here. Fuck it. Here, I'm paying to get it back home.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:30

You know, like the trophy thing, Justin, you said, do you know what that's equivalent to? Did you ever have a friend that was so cheap? He comes to you have a party, maybe a housewarming or something like that. He comes to your house with like a bottle of liquor, right? And you think it's a gift, right? You think like, oh, okay, he's bringing a bottle, nice bottle of vodka or a tequila or a bottle of wine. And then they take it when they leave. Like fucking scumbag, yeah. Cheap, you cheap bastard. Yeah, and I'm like, Jesus Christ, I don't understand these people. You know, you know what's funny? I uh uh cheap plug, but it it goes to trying to tell you what kind of character I am, right? The Nutrafit uh guy who owns Nutrafit and he's he's sponsoring my show. So I'm supposed to he obviously uh uh one of the parts of the contract is that I get supplements, okay? Right? He's sponsoring the show. I get supplements. Um I paid for this, I didn't reach out and say I want a new crucifix, I paid for it because I felt terrible fucking telling him that oh I need a new one. So I just it was like I used the code and I got it for 40 bucks. I'm like, it's fucking I'll pay off. Did you use did you use code priest? You know someone, yeah. And like I could have totally, and even today I was like I even I even messaged him and I said, if I really want supplements, do it. Do I go through you or is there somebody else? He goes, just tell me. I still felt bad. I was like, send me a t-shirt that says Nutrifit so I could wear it on the podcast.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:56

Yeah, you know, going back to Justin's thing quickly about his trophies only being five dollars each. Mine became worth thousands because I don't, as you see here, I've got like all I've got racing stuff and racing trophies, but all my bodybuilding trophies, every one of them, apart from an army plastic medal, Olympia medal, I put on my grandfather when he passed away in his coffin. But everyone else I sold off the auctions and all the money I gave to animal shelters. So I sold every not selling, but one I think one of my trophies went for five grand. I gave that money just to animal shelters. And at the time, Sean Ray's like, Lee must be hard up. He's selling his trophies.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:34

I remember Sean's got something to say about everything.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:37

And I'm like, dude, dickhead, I'm like, I'm helping out. Yeah, there's a couple here, like animal rescue places that needed money for medication. So yeah, every one of them I sold off and gave the money to animals, but Sean's like, Lee's destitute on the street doing drugs on my disease.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:51

And I remember when you went on RX Muscle and you were like buying this as well. You were buy the uh like uh the trash container, and you're like, Oh yeah, I'm yeah, this is my house, Sean. This is my house.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:01

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I had a red and blue shopping car that said this is my two different colored cars on different days. I take them out. Yeah, yeah, that's right. I remember that.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:10

That was what yeah, Sean Ray just always fucking sticks his foot in his mouth.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:14

I thought I was bad, but I don't know how the guy still has a job, to be fair, because I don't know a lot of people that actually like him.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:20

I I I don't tolerate him. And you know what? I would have more all right, and the last topic, and then I'll really let you guys go. I don't, I don't know, like if you want to talk shit, I made myself a promise when I started this podcast because I I made myself a promise. The two promises was I'm gonna be extremely honest, right? Which is gonna piss some people off. It's inevitable, okay. And the other thing, the other promise I made was I'm not gonna be a fucking punk if somebody calls me out in public when I see them in public, right? That doesn't mean I'm gonna throw down, it just means that I'm gonna basically say, Hey, look, you don't like my opinion, I don't know what to tell you. That's my opinion, and that's it. So when when Chad Nichols' son went up to Sean Ray, and Sean basically just cowered and didn't say anything and stuck his hands over his face, like I would have had so much more respect for him if he would have just said to the kid, listen, I understand he's your father, but my opinion is my opinion, and I'm not changing it. And and if you know, and all you have to do is say something like, and if you're gonna get physical, guess what? That's assault. You know, he you don't have to be a tough guy, just at least stand on your own words, you know. Uh but he doesn't even, he just fucking, I don't know. I don't know. It's just strange, anyway.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:32

All right, yeah. Sean loves the run behind the uh the lawyer comments like he oh yeah, oh yeah. If you were to so much as just push him a little bit, he's running straight to an attorney.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:43

Someone's like, what's his name in that Rocky movie? Touch me and I'll sue. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. And then Rocky just hits him, sue me for what? Yeah, right, all right.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:53

All right, Sean.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:54

If anybody ever wants to like fight Sean, if you're gonna do it, make it worthwhile.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:04

Well, I challenged him a few times years ago. I said, Look, of course, Sean and I go back and forth. I said, Look, let's just have a charity boxing match, you and me. It'll raise lots of money. People would love to see it. I said, Who knows? You might get a lucky punch, hit me, I'll hit you. But I said it'll be fun. Let's do it. He won't do it. Why? What do you got to prove? I said, That's just fun for charity. It'd be fun to see.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:22

So some lunatic would have put it on. Oh, some nut job would have fucking would have put that together.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:29

Sean wouldn't do it though. He said, I'm not doing it. I don't have nothing. It's like, come on, Sean, it's for charity.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:34

Yeah, forget it.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:35

Nobody would do this much for charity. All right. Guys, listen. Sean's only really charity. Sean, Sean would want his 50% of it.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:43

Oh, yeah, exactly. Actually, he would want 70% of the years. He would go register himself as a charity just to get the money. Well, tell him about the tell him about the free watch stuff. Oh, yeah, because when I was with S Force again and he came past. You've been talking shit online, but when I see him in person, he never says he's just Sean, so I just accept how he is. Hey Lee, how are you with this company? I said, because I'm popular, unlike you, Sean. I've got fans. He's like, Do you think you can get me one? I said, Sure, Deonis. I'm sure I could get you a watch if you want one. Oh, yeah, I'd really love one. So Austin the owner came over and I said, Is he Sean that wants to watch it? Sean, as soon as he got the watch, thanks, and he just fucking took off like a fucking fucking asshole. That's like it's almost like he's going around to see what he could get. And he called and he calls me a beggar living on the streets. Fucking hell.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:30

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He throw him crumbs, he would take it. It's unbelievable. People that are that cheap just have no fucking pride. It blows me away. But all right, guys, listen, thank you for coming on, man. It's been over an hour. I know it's late. I'm gonna let you guys go. Uh, Justin, all respect uh and love in the world. Thank you for coming on. Eric, Eric, uh, I'm gonna ask both of you guys to come back, but Eric, uh, I'm sure next year we're gonna be seeing a uh even better version of Eric Wood.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:57

Uh, and we're looking for next year you'll go to the Olympia.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:00

Yeah, sure. Exactly. We're we're looking for a uh a win, uh a first uh win and then the Olympia and Oliver's next year.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:08

I'm just looking forward to seeing more of these updates weekly from Joe as he's coming into the show. Are you gonna slow the updates down or just keep putting them out there?

SPEAKER_02 1:08:17

Uh I let him do that. Like, to be honest, I kind of want him to I I would really want him to stop because I kind of want people to question like what's going on, but like I'm not gonna tell him how to run his own social media and stuff.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:30

Yeah, yeah. I liked it before when you didn't know to the date, and people just walked out and blew you away. Oh, what I I loved it back then before social media.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:38

Do you remember speaking of Sean Ray and social media? Do you remember when Dallas McCarver was gonna do the Arnold? I think it was, and he was posing for who was he posing for the Mannions, and it was like uh six weeks or before the show, and Sean Ray was talking about how bad he looked before the that was at uh the manions gym in Pittsburgh. Yeah, it was, yeah, it was, yeah, I remember yeah. And I'm like, oh my, that did not age well, that's for sure. Jesus Christ. You know, it's it was like six weeks before it. It was he's just I don't know if he just does this to stay relevant or if he's just really a dick. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:14

It's a bit of both. Sean, Sean, Sean's a nice guy, but you know, he's a cunt.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:20

Yeah, but when you say the word cunt, we gotta be very specific because it can mean like uh hey, how are you doing cut?

SPEAKER_03 1:09:27

Hey you going cunts? Hey, what's up, cunts? Yeah, once you're once you're uh once you know he's from what's Sean Sean's a cunt. All right, fellas, listen, have a good night, and I will I will speak to you guys soon. Thank you very much, fellas.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:41

Later.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:43

Later, guys.