The Working Man's Weightlifting Show
Brothers Nick and Stephen Wiley invite you to The Working Man's Weightlifting Show, a relatable podcast for ordinary people who are committed to realistically incorporating health and fitness into their already busy lives. In an industry crowded by flashy aesthetics, photo-shopped abs, full-time camera crews, and misleading marketing, Nick and Stephen leverage their combined 30+ years of weightlifting experience to help clear the air on everyday fitness issues. Common discussion topics include no-nonsense nutrition, exercise tips for the manual labor workforce, best practices for office workers, building home gyms, recovering from injuries, workout programming, and much more.
The Working Man's Weightlifting Show
Finding Passion After D1 Basketball w/ Landon Harris
In episode 72, hosts Nick and Stephen welcome former Division 1 athlete, Landon Harris, to the guest microphone. Topics include:
- Finding passion in strength training after the “full time job” of Division 1 athletics
- How to influence your metabolism
- The power clean
- What mistakes to avoid after years of training
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Recommended gear and supplements: links.workingmansweightlifting.com
Hello and welcome to the Working.
Speaker 2:Man's.
Speaker 1:Weightlifting Show the show where Working man talks about weightlifting. I'm your host, nick Wiley, and I'm joined today by my younger brother and co-host, mr Stephen Wiley, and live in studio. For the first time in a long time, we have a guest, so we'll call you a guest. Co-hostish interviewee person general, large human with big arms, mr Landon Harris. Oh man, thanks guys, thank you for having me.
Speaker 2:Thanks for the awesome.
Speaker 1:Of course, now you can be quiet and I'll come back to you in a few minutes because we have to get through you know our normal stuff, which is normally we talk about things we've been doing.
Speaker 1:We probably won't do that because I'd rather get in the interview, but you know it's been a while and we're trying to get this. I said this in the discord the other day we're trying to get this helicopter off the ground. So if you have ideas, questions, anything you want to hear us talk about or you want input on or you have wondered about, come find us on discord at workingmansweightliftingcom. There's a channel in there that you can post your questions in. You can also email us. Our contact info is in the show notes and, as always, we have to talk about our sponsor for today, which is none other than the loud air conditioner on the other side of the room. It's just us. It's always, it's always been us and you know, hopefully it won't always be, hopefully there will be money involved one day, but until then, we did turn down a sunglass offer.
Speaker 1:We got offered a sponsorship deal and turned it, which I think makes you even cooler, you know, if you say no we wouldn't have turned it down, except Nick, as prescription glasses, like the saddest reason ever. You guys don't sell out to the man, no no, I'm like look, I have to be able to see. I can't accept, I'm not going to be a shill for this product that I can't even use glasses at the same time, yeah.
Speaker 1:Hilariously and we're not naming names here, but hilariously I got an email forwarded to me from someone who knew about this. That happened literally like last week, that this sunglass company has now started to offer prescription sunglasses. Oh, wow. After we turned them down for sponsorship.
Speaker 1:So you could have been first. Well, you know, I don't know Anyway, but yeah, until that, such time as there is money involved, there's not, except for our own, which is kind of great, because then we can just say whatever we want, and we do enjoy that. So, moving right along, I say we get into this interview. Yes, you're landed, sir. State your name, rank and purpose you have you served?
Speaker 3:You look like a military. No, no, huge respect for anyone, yeah, right, absolutely, of course.
Speaker 1:So that rank joke was completely lost.
Speaker 1:Anyway no, yeah, I just wanted, if you don't mind, let me give a tiny bit of context as to how you end up here. Which is sure, landon is married to a good friend of my wife, so they used to work together and, I guess, went to school together, that's right. You guys were all there at High Point University here in wonderfully stuffy north central North Carolina and that's how, like I guess, like we have not spent much time together, but what? A month and a half ago, two months ago, we were at a birthday party for my brother-in-law and I don't really know how it came up. I think I literally mentioned to your wife.
Speaker 1:I was like he looks kind of big, like what's going on here and then she's like oh my gosh, you have to tell him that, because he doesn't believe that. And this is what this is. These are her words, and I don't think. I then said to you you're kind of big. I think that would have been.
Speaker 3:It would have made my entire month.
Speaker 1:I can see you say that, yeah, if you were here, you know we're not a video podcast, but if you were here, you know he's a big, tall guy and I thought let's just talk about weightlifting. And then we did and then this podcast came with us. It was very sort of like organic and I just thought it'd be really fun to have you on the show. So that's the setup. If you don't mind, just give us, like the elevator pitches, where you came from and what got you into weightlifting and training, that sort of thing, absolutely.
Speaker 3:So what got me into weightlifting? So first, I'm 32. So, living near Winston Salem, north Carolina, high school sweetheart, you mentioned my wife, so we've known each other over half our life. I've got a little two year old at home. He's my little buddy. He's crazy tall too. He's like 99th percentile.
Speaker 1:Dr said he's got a chance of being six, eight.
Speaker 2:So we've got already got a ball in his hands on the Fisher.
Speaker 3:Price goal. So, speaking of that basketball, so that's, that was my first love.
Speaker 1:Man is was playing basketball growing up.
Speaker 3:And I'll try to make this whole thing quick. But you know, my entire goal growing up was to try to play Division one somewhere. You know, love Carolina. There was no prayer of playing.
Speaker 3:Carolina but always wanted to play D one. Got towards into my senior year had D three offers, d two looks, not even a D one sniff. Just wasn't good enough, wasn't quick enough, wasn't explosive enough. But skill set was okay but just not naturally athletic. So that's where weightlifting came into play, was trying to get more athletic, more explosive. And then the next part here. So I started lifting about sophomore year of high school. But still I have such a tall, lanky frame I never really like put on size. I just kind of had that CNS adaptation at first get stronger and then going into college.
Speaker 3:so I went to high point, get an education and then wanted to walk on to the team there and there's a whole like you got to see the moody movie Rudy, Notre Dame. Walk on.
Speaker 2:No, actually I know what you're talking about. How does that sound?
Speaker 3:Okay, it's a very like Rudy type story, like my first year, and ended up making it junior year. Maybe we'll talk about that later, but it's a whole long story, but that's where I worked out with.
Speaker 1:I need some inspirational music to come in. Yeah, please do.
Speaker 3:But it was cool. I played my last two years at a high point, but the only way I was able to do that and never be athletic enough to do that was working out with a guy named Travis Mache, who I mentioned to you all before the show.
Speaker 3:So if you all don't know who this is, travis Mache looking him up. At the time when I started working out with him, he had just come off of so he was starting to personal train. He had just come off of being whatever like the ratio is with your weight compared to the amount of total weight that you can lift, so his deadlift, squat and bench that total divided by his body weight. At that point in time he was the strongest person in the world.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow, so I don't know how long he held that title but even if it was for two seconds that's pretty cool. That's awesome.
Speaker 3:So he's just a genius at that type of thing, so I started working out with him.
Speaker 1:So he had a taller frame guy or shorter frame, no, shorter frame he's probably probably five, eight five nine.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but he could knock.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's just so explosive Wow, Maybe five, 10, but when you play cause football at app. But he's now. Currently he wasn't there but he's now a team USA weightlifting coach and his coach Wow, Freaks. He's made him into freaks at the Pan Am games. Wow, he's incredible. So Macheley performances, his group, but he. A lot of what I learned came from him during that two year stretch and he taught me a lot about central nervous system adaptation and just maximizing the force output you can produce in a lift. And my body, you know, physically didn't really look much different, but I could lift a lot of more, a lot more weight, just cause of the efficiency of the lift.
Speaker 1:So and how? Just back up real briefly. How did you get introduced to him Like was it through the school or what, what? How did that come about?
Speaker 3:No, so it's it's kind of a long story, but basically he was he was dating a girl that was from where we live.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow, yeah.
Speaker 3:And he, kind of because of that, started his personal training career in that area. Okay, and they're married now with three gorgeous kids, and around this area too.
Speaker 2:But he was like a personal trainer for you, not not a team trainer or anything, Okay.
Speaker 3:Right, like we went and hired him to do. Well, I'll say we, my parents, did yeah.
Speaker 1:I had no money at all, yeah.
Speaker 3:But yeah, that's, that was our introduction.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:And you know it was listen to him talk about it. It was like the early, early days, you know, he had just started out. Now he's, you know, team USA weightlifting.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's crazy yeah.
Speaker 3:Cool experience.
Speaker 1:Awesome, okay, and then you hire him. He's like that's. I imagine that's a little bit like getting just thrown into the deep water, or what do you call it? Drinking from a fire hose? That's the phrase. Yeah, your mic is slowly. We need a fourth person in here to just keep the mics where they're.
Speaker 3:Can you be the mic guy?
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, yeah. So would you say that you like enjoyed it at that? Like, did you have a love for it? Or was it more like I want to play basketball and weightlifting is going to make me better Like, was it more of like a means to an end? I guess it's at that point.
Speaker 3:Good question. So it is growing into that and I'm sure we'll we'll take a time to get to that. So at the time, no like now. I do it. If I never saw another result, I wouldn't care, I love doing it. Yeah, then again, this is a long story, but I got so embarrassed when I got cut and I had such a poor tryout that I was like, travis, I want you to kill me.
Speaker 3:Like, just like like physically, like I want you just to make this as hard as possible Every time, cause I don't ever want to be that out of shape again in a workout. So it was pretty intense. Yeah, it was not enjoyable but it definitely served a purpose, yeah.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Okay, Maybe just in terms of a little more of your story. Like you end up playing basketball after you get out. Is that the point when you would say it transitioned into more of something you just love doing, Cause I imagine if you play for a big team, like after your, after you can no longer do that. I've always thought that would be like a weird life transition. In fact, we I don't know if you've listened to the episode, but we had a fellow I used to work with named Miguel Vieira who's, who played college football and basically had an injury, like right at the end when, when he could have been potentially picked up for a pro team, and like he talked about what that was like sort of transitioning into like what's the rest of your life look like now. So, yeah, I'm just curious if the passion that you had for basketball kind of or do you still play basketball? That's maybe another question Can't touch a ball, Okay, Unless I'm unless I'm shooting around with my little buddy or with friends, like playing horse or something, but like competitive.
Speaker 1:No, it's just it was such a job.
Speaker 3:So that that is a good point. It's a shocking transition to go from. It's a full time job, very intense, every practice is intense, and then you have all the commitment to then suddenly buzzer sounds seasons over. Everything's done, you're like well, where does all of this energy go?
Speaker 2:It's over.
Speaker 3:So that is when it shifted and why it shifted for me and I didn't just stop, because nobody wants to just like get beat up in their workouts all the time. It needs to be something that's enjoyable. What switched that for me is I had proposed to my then girlfriend who's now my wife, obviously and the wedding was coming up and I was like I'm still skinny, I want to get. I want to look like John Cena. Can you throw that in there?
Speaker 1:Royalty free sound effects.
Speaker 3:So I was like I got to do whatever it takes to like I don't really care about what's on the bar. I just want to look bigger and fill my clothes out, so that's.
Speaker 1:I have the opposite problem. I have the bigness and I needed to go to the smallest.
Speaker 3:So I yeah, so I wanted to just pack on muscle and again, that's a whole separate story of the dirty bulk. I went on, but that's where I started learning about rep ranges and you know I ate in a big surplus for the first time and really did a bodybuilding routine and you know I got stretch marks on my chest from it.
Speaker 1:Nice.
Speaker 3:I really kind of built a lot of muscle quickly and was able to get a lot bigger, but it stopped pretty rapidly and then I hit a hard plateau, and that plateau remained basically for like the next decade until. I started learning more. But yeah, it was because of that process I found it enjoyable from that time on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, very nice.
Speaker 2:Man, you mentioned the stretch marks. I forget about that, like because they disappeared. Well, the redness goes away. I would say Right, and I was so freaked out by that. I used to. I remember my mom got me some I think it was shark fin oil from a vitamin store. They said it would cure my stretch marks, oh wow. Lathering up and that stuff at night like freaking out, probably outlawed in 70 countries.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, because I had them.
Speaker 2:I got them really so I was really overweight and I when I first started working out I was still overweight. And my arms, I got them terribly down my arms and I was so embarrassed at school Like I would, I would walk like with my one arm holding my other arm or just walk around that because it freaked me out, I didn't know what it was, honestly. And then that's when it happened to my mom and like she wouldn't found that I mean it did absolutely nothing but whatever it was, shark fin oil Wow.
Speaker 3:Yeah, very, very strange.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I just deeply remember that.
Speaker 1:That's what it was.
Speaker 2:That's what the bottle said. I don't know.
Speaker 1:Who knows?
Speaker 3:what it actually was. It's probably like olive oil, yeah, whatever it was, it didn't work.
Speaker 1:I'm sure it was expensive. Yeah Well, so we talked about, we kind of wanted to circle back to how the body will adapt to a rep range, because that's something we've never really talked about on the show that I know of, maybe. I mean, we've talked about plateaus in general, but not really like the specific mechanics. So what? Yeah, do you mind telling us what you've learned about that? And have you, I guess, where is your head at now? And like what, or is it a? Yeah, I don't know, I'm going to stop talking.
Speaker 3:No, no, yeah, that was the question, yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean when people ask a question it's like two minutes long and you're like dude say the question. That's me right now.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, no, no, no, so, yeah.
Speaker 3:So, like I said, because I saw such great immediate results during that time period when I did the bodybuilding which a typical bodybuilding routine is the hypertrophy range of eight to twelve Reps you know, you'll see a study of eight weeks where eight to twelve reps will build the most muscle, but again, in just those eight weeks, you know maybe, but the muscle is just a tiny tiny bit more Like it's really not a lot more, but then over time they will all plateau. So at the time, like I said, I did those eight to twelve rep ranges. I did like a typical bro split, but because that stimulus was so novel to my body, I've been training, you know, sports performance is about maximal effort and efficiency, training with Travis. So it was like one to five rep range, maybe an occasional 10, but like always back into that CNS adaptation. Okay, so I did that. Sorry, I kind of forgot the question before you continue to answer.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 1:Just for anybody who doesn't know CNS central nervous system right, yes, make sure, sorry.
Speaker 3:I'm sorry.
Speaker 1:It's not a government agency. They're watching you.
Speaker 3:So, like I said, I saw those explosive gains early on and it was about a. It was about six weeks and I vividly remember it. I was packing on muscle and I wasn't really gaining a lot of fat. And then, about six to eight weeks, I started just getting fat and but I kept on bulking and I literally gained like almost 40 pounds. Wow, and I was like I'm going to do about eight pounds of that was muscle because I just kept on this rep range and it didn't.
Speaker 3:and I didn't switch it because at the time to me I was thinking, oh, it's the bodybuilding rep range. Right, like this is the magic rep range If you want to get big. This is what you got to do. It wasn't until later, during COVID, when I got back into weightlifting again, where I learned about periodization, where you switch up your rep range, rep range phase. I said for me, I've been doing the bodybuilding routine. So I was like, well, why don't I do a high rep phase?
Speaker 3:Yeah which was anywhere from 12 all the way to 20 reps, and as long as you're getting that 20th rep within about two, one to two reps short of failure, it's enough of a hypertrophy signal to still build muscle. So I tried that and, lo and behold, I started progressing again and then, once I finished that, I went back down to a low rep phase of like two to four reps.
Speaker 1:And sure enough.
Speaker 3:The next three to four weeks I started progressing again and then, you know, I found programs that aligned with that, a periodized program of like a 12 week program where there's a low rep phase, three to four weeks, eight to 12 rep, for another three to four, and then high rep, and you just cycle those and the theory is you see consistent strength gains, which is what I've seen so far. And granted, you can't do that forever.
Speaker 1:Yeah right.
Speaker 3:You'll eventually not be able to lift a certain amount of weight, but to see consistent results. That's a pretty consistent way to make progress.
Speaker 1:Stephen will like this, because he likes to make changes to his programs. Yeah, I mean, you do this, I've done that. Yeah, you do this. I love that kind of thing.
Speaker 2:But I had the same same thing happen to me. I stuck with something for a long time in the beginning, Like, like all of us, if I could go back in time, I could make way more If I could turn back tie home. I could definitely make way more progress If I knew what I exactly like yourself, if I knew what I needed to know in the beginning.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And with all the testosterone of our early days, maybe it would have been more of a difference than it does now.
Speaker 1:But how often do either of you guys think about the Roman Empire? I'm just kidding. How often do you think about like man if I'd have known that when I was young. You know, like if I, if.
Speaker 2:I'm pretty often because my back bothers me. Now I'm from being stupid when I was younger, so yeah, it cost a reminder it's bad.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yep, even 32 year old body over here. Look at this. 35 is Follow apart. Okay, um, stop so you. You started with a bodybuilding program.
Speaker 2:So I'm assuming you mean like a bro split like a arms, chest, back legs, that kind of thing.
Speaker 3:And can I touch on that real quick Just in case anybody is doing a bro split, not not to say that you can't build muscle that way. It's just certainly not the best way, and I'm an example of that Sure. It worked for a short time because I had never done that.
Speaker 3:It was it was so novel, but I think of it almost like a sunburn, like is it better to get you know daily gradual doses of sunlight or is it better just to fry yourself at the beach day one and then roast at the rest of the week?
Speaker 1:That's basically what a bro split is.
Speaker 3:Free your arms one day and then rest the entire rest of the week, and you can't even reach for something in the pantry because you're so sore Like yeah it's just not the most efficient way to build muscle.
Speaker 2:I have not done that. Well, it's been a long time since I've done it the old school way like that, where you just absolutely ruin yourself. I can't do it now. Be in manual labor. It's just the second day. You're so sore and I just I have no interest in that and going to work it's like it's misery. But I did do. Uh, mike Matthews I don't know if you know who that is, but his what is it? Bigger, leaner, stronger.
Speaker 2:So he's got the what is the more advanced one. I cannot think of the name off the top of my head.
Speaker 1:Bigger or leaner or stronger, you would think. What is my granddad?
Speaker 2:Okay, Anyway, he is, his is kind of set up like that, like he it's five days, he kind of calls like that. But really when you look at it it's more of a. It's broken up a little differently.
Speaker 2:It's not like the old school, because you still got dead lifts one day, squats one day, it's not sure it's not a straight cause. When I did a bro split, it was before I had even dead lifted or anything. It was more just like machines, you know, just loads of rows and pull ups or whatever you know. Um, but yeah, I don't. Once I discovered new types of programming, my enjoyment level went through the roof.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so much more enjoyable.
Speaker 2:It is yeah.
Speaker 3:Bro splits, where I think initially started in the seventies, when antibiotics were you know, rampant, and that's why their bodies could recover so well from all that hammering was steroids which we don't have.
Speaker 1:I've got some. Oh, just kidding, I don't look like I do. Have you ever been offered?
Speaker 2:Have I been offered? Yeah, no, I haven't. I haven't People I know that work out in commercial gyms have or not even like your normal.
Speaker 3:it's more the kind of sketchier off the beaten path, Jim, but it's kind of like dare like in the school. I thought I'd be offered drugs all the time and I've never had.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:We. It's a rare occurrence. We were just in New York city and Stephen got offered cooking. Yeah, that was insane.
Speaker 2:That's the first time, oh wow.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, we did.
Speaker 2:We spoke to you earlier and you said you had a home gym as well. So that's part of the factor there, Because I'm sure if you were lifting in a hardcore gym somewhere, you'd come across somebody but some guy walking and be like man yeah, it's really won't to experience true strength.
Speaker 1:I can show you the way, exactly what it would sound like. Little Southern twang to it Strong mustache, huge gyno just if you don't know what gyno is, Urban Dictionary will inform you. I will not describe what that is or looks like.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Okay, metabolism was another thing we wanted to touch on and to define metabolism, just so that we're all on the same page. My understanding is this you'd be referring to like basically how quickly your body sort of burns calories and how it uses the calories you take in, because people seem to be very different in the way. Like one person you know, one of the skinniest guys I know, might eat just trash and then somebody who just like tries really hard might have a hard time keeping their body in shape. So that's what I think of when I think of metabolism. Is that kind of in the right?
Speaker 1:Yeah, in the right vein.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. I mean, it's basically how efficient your body burns calories. So if you're trying to preserve energy and you're out in the wilderness and you're starving, your body's going to become more efficient with those calories and burn less of them, but still run the same bodily functions If you're lifting weights and basically for anybody who's new into fitness or thinks you know, anytime I eat a cheeseburger just sticks to me, I just gain weight so easily. I want you to know your metabolism is malleable and that was such a freeing thing for me that you can change it. And that was such a cool thing. And I'll give you an example when I used to work, I used to work at a bank and I would sit there all day like I wouldn't eat breakfast. I'd eat a very small lunch and I'd have like a light dinner and it probably amounted to maybe I don't know 2000 calories. If I ate 23, 2400, I would gain weight.
Speaker 3:Just like immediate Now that I'm lifting and this signal, it's an anabolic signal in your body to grow and to build and be less efficient with those calories. I'm currently eating 3700 and I can't gain weight Like I'm having to constantly push calories and push more and more.
Speaker 3:So it is malleable based on based on what you're doing, and strength training is one of the best ways you know your basic full body routine to get your metabolism to shift and I'm sure we can get into that. But that's. That was a huge eye opener for me and it's so cool that, like now, I can kind of manipulate that and you know if, if to this point I've been in a bulk so long, if I want to cut down, like it's really comfortable to cut now, yeah.
Speaker 3:It's easy to lose some fat. If I just eat 3000 calories, I'll.
Speaker 1:I'll lose. So are you, do you? How clean do you eat? Because I would think eating 3700 calories is a little difficult. And when I again it, just because I don't like talking like insider baseball when I say how clean do you eat it, I'm just saying I mean, isn't this thing in the in the way lifting community people say eat dirty. It's sort of like well, I'm going to get my calories with hamburgers and whatever, and if you clean, it's like I'm eating grilled chicken.
Speaker 1:It's kind of the you know, or broccoli, whatever, yeah, how clean to eat now.
Speaker 3:So, um, when I, when I first started this routine and I was I was so hungry because that signal was wanting to build. Those first few weeks I could eat a hundred percent clean like so rice, you know, leafy greens, chicken breasts, and I could eat 3,500 calories of that and still want more. Now that I've been bulking for a good while, I'm like oh gosh, I did not want. I don't want five boiled potatoes anymore. Um so, yeah, like after this, I'm going to grab some cheeseburger somewhere.
Speaker 1:I'm going to.
Speaker 3:I got to get creative to push those calories, but I still try to get my goal. Um, regardless of where I am, I try to get my basic macronutrient goals met. So my protein is one one body weight. You don't need that much as about 0.7 or 0.8. Um, but I try to hit that and then my fat carb goals and then once I hit that mainly my protein goal, then I kind of allow some of that flexibility after that Wow, you guys are kind of the same human.
Speaker 2:I'm just sitting here going I've had this conversation before Like do you keep like a my fitness power like a tracker? Do?
Speaker 3:you? Yeah, I'm kind of obsessive about it?
Speaker 2:I'm not sure. Yeah, my wife.
Speaker 3:Yeah, she, she's annoyed by that, but I went.
Speaker 2:I went hyper that way, and then I settled on basically just eating almost the same thing every day, just because it was easier. Um, it's, that part is proving to be, like it's been going on so long now, like you're talking about, like some of my go-to foods are starting to become almost repulsive, where you're just like holy moly, I have done this for years and years. Um, but it is both ways work as long as you're doing the same thing. I went insane and learned about all the calories of what I was eating and I've just kept it the same, you know. But, yeah, I mean to do it right. You need to be keeping up with it.
Speaker 3:So well, I mean, if you're trying to really push your body and pack on muscle, you're really trying to cut down, I think tracking is necessary, but you're. You're in the place that I want to be ultimately, where I can intuitive eat and just kind of know what I'm getting as good nutrients for my body. Yeah, that's, that's a great place to be in.
Speaker 2:I learned it from Jim Wendler. I don't know if do you know the five, three, one program. Yes, okay, that guy. So I got into all of my performance based training came from his books and his type of training and he is like for some reason he is hardcore it seems to be hardcore kind of against counting calories. I don't know that he would say it's bad, but he's like I've seen he's made comments like people with the count calories have an eating disorder and stuff like that which is kind of, yeah, I mean it's definitely not like a healthy long-term thing I want to do.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I agree.
Speaker 2:I, when he said that I just I was taking everything that his book said, man, I was like oh, yeah. I'm hardcore and I'm just like freaking out, so I just started eating. I just tried to get used to doing that, but then I actually met. We played a show in Kentucky and the drummer from the band that we were opening for his name, Joey Waters, and he liked my Instagram post of the five through one book and it turned out he is Jim Wendler's drummer in like Jim Wendler's two piece band.
Speaker 2:And they, because I noticed we both were like dude, this drummer is huge, he's jacked. And he's a real tall big guy and he's like it turns out. Yeah, he just like became friends with Jim. He's worked out in Jim's garage with him Like they're he's mentioned, we gotta have Joey on the book.
Speaker 1:Joey, if you're listening, we've talked about having you on before and we haven't done it yet, but we're going to do it soon.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but he he actually told me to count calories, which I thought was funny, because he's like really good friends with Jim and I was like Jim says, don't do it Right.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 2:But he's like. I literally said that to him and he was like, yeah, he's like that. Just he's like if you don't know what you're doing, you need to count calories. Like Jim is just basically at a place, like you just said, where, like he doesn't need to, so he's not going to waste any effort messing with it, because he's spent his whole life figuring things out. So right, I think he comes across strong one way, but I don't. I don't actually think he would be like that. So for me, I just that's how I started. Then I started learning how to count calories, so I did it kind of reversed. It was kind of weird, oh wow. But now, yeah, I just mainly eat the same thing all the time, Sure.
Speaker 3:Sure, well, it's a good way too to get um, because for me, well, for anyone that I, that I've kind of talked to, we're all so unaware of how much we're actually eating. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, especially me, like um, even when I, I'm sure, at BB and T, I made that example of 2,200, maybe I was eating 26, you know, but over a week long time. 400 calories a day, what is that? 2,800 in a week, that adds up pretty quick.
Speaker 1:Yeah, did you have the classic like office cake. People would bring Like the the like just bad, like Costco. When the coffee would be actually an upgrade, it'll be like way worse than Costco. Oh yeah, freebie cake, because some celebrate like somebody's aunt had a birthday last night and then I brought the last third of the leftovers to the office and now we all have to eat it. These are, these are office problems. I don't know if the experiences the serious girl.
Speaker 3:I sat beside Ellie. I need to send this to her. She's got a bakery now in Winston, but we were like her, test subjects on all these recipes she wanted to like two once or twice a week. She would bring in just these gourmet desserts. Oh man, I sat beside her every day. I would just smell it and I don't know how I resisted ever. But yeah, that definitely packed on a few pounds for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, you had it lucky then I had. I used to work for bank as well when I was in college and we we didn't have any aspiring bakers. We just had the sad remains of some former celebration.
Speaker 2:So when you were at the bank you don't think you mentioned this Were you the bank? Were you lifting at the same time, or were you just doing nothing?
Speaker 3:No good question. I should have mentioned that. So over the last decade I hadn't just been eight to 12 reps and like banging my head against the wall, like I stopped for a good like five years altogether. Yeah, altogether. Yeah, I just enjoyed not doing anything. It was kind of that post athlete, like whatever so that was like early twenties. Yeah, yeah, okay Got made at 23.
Speaker 3:So it's probably 23 until, honestly, covid you know and I worked on and off, worked out on and off a little bit, but COVID is when I really was like, well, I have like four free hours a day now.
Speaker 1:I just try to work out again, yeah.
Speaker 3:And that's where I started to redevelop in the love of it. So, yeah, most of that time I was not consistently working out.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, wow. Well, before we get too much further down the line, we wanted to talk about power cleans, because you mentioned that in a text message that we had. That was something that you had trained with. I'm forgetting the fellow's name again, you've tried it yeah.
Speaker 1:And we've talked a lot about power cleans because we're big proponents of the starting strength program that Mark Ripito does and I I personally probably saw the most positive gain traction that I ever have on his program. But when you get to a certain point you're supposed to start introducing Cleans and I just find them way too intimidating and I've had shoulder surgery, so I for me it's probably a lost cause. Steven, you know, comes to me about once every six weeks and he's like thinking about trying Cleans and then you'll do like one.
Speaker 1:And then you'd be like, ah, just didn't like it, you know well, I've got this huge collarbone. Yeah, I mean massive like probably a condition.
Speaker 2:And so it lands on it. I mean, it doesn't matter what I do and I'm like I'm pretty sure it was just a no go. But I'm also so OCD about that kind of thing that I'm like I'm not going to say it's a no go if it's not like it drives me nuts, you know, but sure it does, cause it hits it every single time.
Speaker 1:So it's a live in the studio, landon will coach Steven Collarbonitis, steven, on how to do a power clean One. One has a protruding bony substance beneath the Adam's apple. Over to you, landon.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Oh man.
Speaker 3:So you guys got a broomstick or something.
Speaker 1:Bass guitar over there.
Speaker 3:So man, so here's here's the crazy thing High school coaches. So I did Cleans in high school, if you can even call them that, and I mentioned this before like donkey from Shrek imagine that thing trying to do power cleans like knees buckling in and then throw my elbows weight or weigh in and my wrist way out to try to get the weight up and then like Penguin Wadland trying to stand up with the weight.
Speaker 3:Like it was terrible. So I don't know how ever that was ever allowed in high school. But when I got to Travis, he it's all about. I mean, you see the Olympic lifters who do it. It's such a technical movement and it's. It's not that it's all technique, but it's a lot of it. So we literally started with like a broomstick.
Speaker 3:I was I'm not kidding with that Like we started with a broomstick and you're basically you want the bar path to be a vertical line and you're wrapping your body basically around and under it. And Travis didn't say those words, I'm just kind of idiot, paraphrasing here but so we did that.
Speaker 3:We started with a broomstick and we did the bar and if it would, you know, too light and it would bounce up off my collarbone, we'd be like, all right, let's try again, let's get that bar path vertical, and we just gradually worked our way up. So it was a good realistically, like three to four months, before we ever did like real heavy weight, not to say you have to do that to get good at clearance but I, anyone's who's starting to like I've never done CrossFit, but I know it's I can imagine how it could be very easy to get injured doing that.
Speaker 3:If you're doing higher reps and you're getting fatigued and it's you start losing that technicality of the movement. It's just. It's just a movement that needs to be practiced a lot and I would. I don't know if good resources, aside from Travis, obviously, but if you watch his athletes do it, it's, it's as precise as can be.
Speaker 1:Did you say earlier you don't do them anymore, or no, I don't, and it honestly.
Speaker 3:Part of that is probably just because of the athlete burnout. Yeah, I did them so intensely for so long I'm like I'd rather do curls. One of those things, but they're, they're very. It's a full body movement and your entire central nervous system is activated and it's a it's a great full body movement that works everything, but I'm, just candidly, a little too lazy to do it. I mean, that's the thing I have noticed Mark Ripito.
Speaker 2:when he talks about it he pretty much tells you to hire a coach, like exactly what happened to you, and I just haven't. I mean, there's not really anybody in this town that I know of that does something like that, and I am not going to go to a gym, I'm just going to stay in my home gym because I've put too much money and effort into it. So I just that. That is the main reason why I haven't even really attempted it.
Speaker 3:but that is cool, you got that experience because yeah, massive, and I would have never continued doing them without him. He just, you know, if you wanted to become explosive, and you know, jump higher and move quicker. That was the best like athletic full body movement.
Speaker 1:You could think of that in. Snatches too were great as well, but and that's like sort of a part, like part of it, like as a snatch, where you.
Speaker 3:It's like the, the wide grip on the bar and you snap your shoulder above your head. That's right, that's even more technical, and you can really mess yourself up If you drop it on your head, which?
Speaker 1:I have done, do you watch a lot of Instagram like gym fails, like people snapping just like their whole arm or leg.
Speaker 3:I've seen some. It makes me, it makes me get rid of it so much.
Speaker 1:I've seen so many people do that kind of thing Somebody died from that recently.
Speaker 2:That's right, I heard about that yeah Like doing a squat and it snapped his neck Like it goes to some influencer somebody in my church told me about it and for then the video, of course, popped up on my, on my feed or whatever, and I was like what is this? But it's real. I mean, he was attempting some insane amount of weight and I don't know who it, I don't know who the influencer was, but he something happened and it snapped Like I think it rolled forward. It was a really weird. It was like not what you normally see in an injury and I think it rolled forward or whatever happened. It really messed us. I mean, not really it killed him, like it snapped his neck, but that was like Like instantly, I think so. Yeah, oh, my goodness.
Speaker 1:Let us pray, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but it was really scary. But I mean, not many people attempt a weight like that, so I don't think it's. I don't know that it would ever happen with a normal amount of weight, but still very spooky.
Speaker 1:When you see it you're like, oh my gosh, Like yeah, well, that doesn't say that leads us right into our final topic for the day, which is what are some stupid things we've done or witnessed? Regarding fitness, I'm sorry, that's very disrespectful, but yeah, you got any. Got any good stories.
Speaker 3:Oh, dude, I got a plethora and I feel like I'm doing all the talking like you guys have well that's why you're here, man. No, yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, good. So obviously I'm sure every Jim goers backup.
Speaker 1:We'd be 100% clear. We brought you here so that we didn't have to talk. That's really that's.
Speaker 3:I love it For me.
Speaker 2:Fix this puppy, all right, we're here we brought you here just to screw around with this mic. Yeah, this is all a joke.
Speaker 3:So there's the obvious one of bitch pressing without collars and they flying off one side and then dumping in the floor and then it's slingshot.
Speaker 3:I've done that plenty of times. I would say the first, that first major bulk I did. That was a huge like I. Just there was no need for me to gain 30 pounds of fat, I got it. You don't have to dirty bulk, you can clean bulk. And even when you do bulk, you know you should probably take every three weeks or so, two, three days of a slight cut and just keep your body from plateau. And so that's some. That was really dumb. I went from 215 to 254. Wow, and my knees hurt. I got out of breath walking up the stairs. I was husky. My wife liked it, though.
Speaker 1:She liked me big. Did you gain?
Speaker 3:you gain weight like that sort of everywhere, or like in one area, or like what's your it always starts in my stomach first, and then it I gained pretty evenly, I would say around, See I just it, just all stomach and breast.
Speaker 1:And so like my legs. You know, my dad has the same syndrome I've. We have very similar body types but like it's, it's almost like the legs and the calves are just, they're just always in kind of great form and it just there. Doesn't really matter what's going on.
Speaker 3:So you got genetically good calves.
Speaker 1:Praise God. Yes, we've talked about this and we had somebody on the show recently who was talking about our forsaken calves, but we're you just blessed with. You know, here I'll rip it out. Hey, look at those puppies I didn't even have to work for that. That's the sad thing, just straight out of the womb.
Speaker 3:Doctors like look at those calves.
Speaker 2:Well, you know honestly the funny story about that. So we first started working out. Not even I shouldn't even say that it's really we were working out as teen, young teenagers, before we actually got into fitness at a gym there was a, there was one of those seated calf raise I guess you say machine where you just loaded with plates like a plate loaded one and you sit and it just like I already know where you're going with it. Nick named it like the giant penis machine.
Speaker 3:That's what he ended it Well.
Speaker 2:well, somebody told the trainer, who was like an attractive female, that Nick had named it, that is. She literally put that on his personal training. She is a GP. He, like I mean, turns red as a beat, it's awful Super embarrassing, but hilarious. He says he didn't train him, but he actually at a young age was using the GP.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you're right. I guess the GP produced those calves I did.
Speaker 2:Apparently.
Speaker 1:Very funny. So that's my uh Dom embarrassing story is never name anything in a gym, a name that you will come to regret after the appendage. Yeah, what about you, steven? You got any any uh stupid things you've done or witnessed?
Speaker 2:I hate to throw you under the bus again, but you know the same gym.
Speaker 3:It was Nick's a great target for this stuff.
Speaker 2:He's holy crap. Okay, this is insane Cause it's actually calves. Again, you were doing calf raises.
Speaker 3:So he's full of crap. He has trained calves for years.
Speaker 2:He just did it so young I think it developed them, and then he he's losing it. Anyway, he's doing this time he's doing Smith machine calf raises on a little little. What do you call the little raised platform, Like you would do?
Speaker 3:classes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like a little step I'm talking about the really low and you know, like four inches or something.
Speaker 3:Like a rabbit's class.
Speaker 2:Yeah, little step like that. He had that and he was, he's on it and he's doing calf raises with the Smith machine and he goes to racket, you know, and you just twist the the bar on a Smith machine, well it misses and it's a decent amount of weight. I don't remember what it was, but it was. Since it's just calf raises, you can kind of do whatever somebody puts on there pretty much and he misses it. But he, his body was already in the mode Like we're racking it.
Speaker 2:So he this thing starts to go down and Nick, just straight up, Spiderman sprawls out, legs out. I mean he looks like Spiderman sprawls out and it just bam, I mean makes this awful noise, slams down, but completely misses him and he stands up like unscathed. But everybody in the gym saw it so and he was like kind of shell shocked, he was kind of freaking out. And then he literally gets a call from the owner that evening telling them to somebody that a guy told him that yeah, and he was just checking on him.
Speaker 2:He's like, yeah, I'm fine. Well, next week we go back to work out the dude that told him. We knew who it was. He walks in, he's going to do a bench press. He throws 135 on the bar as it's warm up Like a 45 on the side and he grabs it. It slips out of his hands. This is the other guy, the guy that witnessed Nick almost died slips out of his hands, bounces off his chest. He's got no spotter and it's just me and Nick and him in the gym. That's it he. And I hear it. I look over and see it happen and he grabs the bar again, gets up halfway, drops it a second time, slams on his chest. I yell dude, hold on. I fly over there, yank it off of him and he stands up and I mean red is a beat across the chest, this shirt.
Speaker 2:He just walks off to the locker room and I'm like dude there's a curse between Nick and this guy and nobody knows his name is never knew his name.
Speaker 1:So many times.
Speaker 2:but yeah, it just unreal Having a Nick and then the next week having him.
Speaker 3:The owner of throw you guys out for good.
Speaker 2:For real. Get this curse out of here. Maybe that's why we got the home gym started, because it just couldn't do that anymore.
Speaker 3:Was it? Was he using, like the they call it like the death grip, where they're not wrapping their fingers around the bar the time, if I don't know.
Speaker 1:But he almost had to be yeah Cause it was like out of nowhere, it just straight off of his arms and just full.
Speaker 2:I mean from the top of it, just all the way down. Then the second one was a half red, it's just. He's probably still bruised. Honestly that was like 12 years ago, 15 years ago or something.
Speaker 3:That was that player from USC that, running back that dropped it on his neck. Remember that? Yeah, like the mid 2000s, he was doing that little suicide grip. That's what he slipped out and, he like, lost his voice as a result of it. Wow, crushed his vocal chords.
Speaker 2:I did that for a while. I used that grip for a while.
Speaker 3:And.
Speaker 2:I, after seeing stuff like that, I was like eh.
Speaker 3:I guess that's why I got that name yeah.
Speaker 1:We have.
Speaker 3:We are a family member.
Speaker 2:That is very strong, but he I'm pretty sure he still does everything like that because it's more comfortable but hit me he's he's stubborn. If he's listening, he knows it.
Speaker 3:But he's not going to change him. He not until he drops it on himself and he still might not.
Speaker 2:Honestly, if he survives it, he won't change. Love is resolve.
Speaker 1:Well, we are running out of time. Landon, it's been an absolute pleasure having you here in the studio.
Speaker 3:Thanks for having me Is there any?
Speaker 1:you know normally a lot of people we have on like are trying to like they have some endeavor online. I don't know if you're like that, but is there. Do you want people to contact you? Like you have an Instagram or a or any sort of call out to any your, your employer, or like I don't you know anything like that. You want people to find you LinkedIn? Or you can just say no, I'm a private guy, I don't hear from you. I appreciate it. I'm self-employed.
Speaker 3:I don't, I don't work for the man at this point. So Jesus king, how about that?
Speaker 1:All right. Well we're going to land this plane. I've been Nick, I've been Stephen.
Speaker 2:And I've been landing.
Speaker 1:Hey, that's pretty quick, nice, we've been working man who lift weights and talk about it on the show, and we will catch you next time.
