Giacomo Marchese | How Giacomo Marchese Built the World’s Largest Vegan Strength Team | PPAP43 - Plant Powered Athlete Podcast

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of the Plant Powered Athlete Podcast.

(00:05):
Today I have another fantastic guest. This guest is someone that has been a good friend for almost
20 years. So I've known him for a very, very long time. He's a vegan bodybuilder, a fitness coach,
an entrepreneur, a company co-founder, an organization co-founder, a champion athlete,

(00:27):
a touring speaker, an event organizer, a guest speaker on a vegan cruise, and a great friend that
so many people know and love, Giacomo Marchese. Welcome to the show. Well, what am I supposed to
do after an introduction like that to embarrass myself, to light up the mood here? Because those
those that sounds like way cooler than I actually am in real life. But fortunately in the virtual

(00:49):
world, that's what everyone sees. So I'll take it. I'll take the warm introduction. My good friend
of, it's been 20 years. Almost 20 years. We met in person about 17 years ago, but we were obviously
in touch online before that. And we have a deep and rich history, which we might get into today.
But Giacomo, first and foremost, I want to say you are all of those things and you deserve all

(01:13):
of those things and so many more other titles. People know and love you. You've inspired so
many people. You've done innovative stuff in this movement that other people haven't done.
It's been an honor and pleasure to watch. And on that note, Giacomo, I just want to bring this up
at the very beginning. We just hosted our Plant-Powered Athlete Awards. Over 12,000 votes
were cast. You and your organizations and companies were nominated for four awards.

(01:40):
You won all of them. So let me read these really quickly. And there was some great competition,
by the way. You were the fitness coaching company of the year with vegan proteins.
You were the organization of the year with Vegan Strong and Plant Built. You were the event of the
year, which is your brainchild, by the way, of Vegan Strong and Plant Built at Mr. America.

(02:01):
And your wife, Dani, won the coach of the year, again, speaking to the power and popularity
of vegan proteins coaching. How does that make you feel?
Validated. Honestly, I'd sum it up with that one word. And it also makes me realize that, well,
just working virtually is a little lonely and it's a little isolating. It's hard to know what your

(02:25):
impact is and what your reach is and how different communities are entangled and meshed with one
another and what your projects look like and how people view them. And honestly, when the contest
came through, I'm like, oh, a contest, this and that. And it's, you're like, oh, I'm going to
do this and that. And it's, you're constantly looking to try to make sure that you stay relevant
and put yourself out there and put your stuff out there. But I was like, you know what? This is kind

(02:48):
of interesting. And then I didn't expect to feel the way that I felt after the contest ended and
we won all those awards. I'm like, wow, this is actually pretty cool. You know?
Yeah. And you beat out organizations like PCRM, Switch for Good, all kinds of other coaching

(03:10):
companies from big name influencers and trainers and coaches and other major events that took place
all throughout the year that were quite popular. And so I think validated is a good word. You
certainly have a far reaching impact. And I was very pleased to see that. So congratulations

(03:31):
again. And I'm excited at the time of this recording. I'm going to see you in about 72 hours.
I'm going to see you in a few days. We do some touring together. I feel like I'm at your house
every few months these days. And so I guess what I'd like to know now before we get your back story
is what are you working on now? What's your passion project? What gets you out of bed excited at three

(03:54):
in the morning or whenever you get up? What's on your radar right now? Well, I'll tell you what.
It was about a day or two ago when I was talking to Danny and I said the same exact sentence with
two different inflections. And the first thing I said to her is some days I wake up and I say,
what did I do? And then other days I wake up and I say, what did I do? Cause when I stop for a

(04:22):
second to think about how much I'm involved in and how much it consumes my life, sometimes I look
back with a little bit of regret and like, I cannot sustain this. I cannot do this. This is too much.
This is crazy. What are you thinking? What are you doing? And other days I'm extremely grateful for
being an entrepreneur. And by getting off more than I can chew in some ways, in some ways I have to

(04:46):
close out and fail and be done with it. And then other ways I get to keep going and make things
scalable and make things work and grow projects. And I also have to get humbled constantly along
the way because I'm not a one man show. I'm not, things don't happen because of one person. Things
don't happen because of one organization. Things happen because there's a lot of people working

(05:09):
together and making it work. And I'm very grateful when I wake up in the morning every day for the
fact that I get to do the things that I do and I don't take it for granted for one bit. To answer
your question directly, there is no one particular project that I'm working on that's new. I'm trying
to alongside my peers, my colleagues, my associates, my friends, I'm trying to continue to get better

(05:32):
at everything that we do so that it's sustainable and so that it grows. So vegan proteins was Danny
and I, right? And then two years ago we changed the face of vegan proteins and we became a team
of coaches. Adding one coach at a time, we have five of us now. And I think it's starting to really
click where we are in fact a team of five coaches. So making sure that that is something that's

(05:58):
sustainable and making sure that people see us as a team and not as Danny and Giacomo anymore,
as the vegan proteins team. And with the vegan strong plant built team, that's an ever evolving
project with a lot of moving parts. And I guess for the purpose of this conversation, what we are
doing right now is we are spreading out our competition team to two different events.

(06:22):
So instead of having say 30 people compete at one sporting event and five people compete at another,
we're going to have 20 competing at each. So that's different. And we're going to hopefully
recruit an Olympic weightlifting team, which I'm trying to work on. And that's still in its
infancy stages. Our first Olympic weightlifting team competed many years ago and that's the only

(06:44):
sport that we haven't had our doing yet that we've competed in once before. So Olympic weightlifting
team, breaking up the team evenly between two different sporting events to try to make a greater
impact, having vegan proteins be seen as a team and no longer Danny and Giacomo and continuing to
tour at different events and step outside of our comfort zone because we're so used to staying in

(07:11):
our lane. We're bodybuilders, we're strength athletes. Let's go to the Olympic sports festival.
Let's go to the Olympian. We're comfortable there. We weren't a long time ago because we were the
vegans in a big world of all kinds of athletes and we were the natural vegans in a big world of all
kinds of enhanced athletes. And now we're sort of comfortable there, but to go to like marathons

(07:34):
and other events where people aren't necessarily interested in who we are or what we have to say
as far as the type of athletes that we are or what we're promoting, that's been eye-opening
this year. So continuing to find the confidence to have bigger conversations with people who
aren't looking to have those conversations when we tour across the country at different events.

(07:55):
Well, Giacomo, let's peel that back for a moment because you're talking about these competition
teams and all of that. I failed to mention in your rather robust and long bio that you also
created the world's largest team of vegan strength athletes. And that's what you're referring to with
Plant Built and Vegan Strong. So can you talk about that so people have a context when you're
talking about a team of 20 that competes here, a team of 20 that competes there, you won 48 medals

(08:21):
at Mr. America, I think mostly gold medals. And this is your, I don't know, 10th year doing this
or something. Can you talk about that origin story so people know what this team of strength
athletes is all about and what the heck you're doing up there? My first question for you,
and no one's going to get this, this is more of a friend thing, but where is your red car?
You tell me, you tell me. It's a spoiler alert. I don't know where that car is. Although I gave me

(08:49):
that car, I got a nasty ticket with it and I blamed you entirely. And like, why is this dude
driving around in the red car? What were you thinking? I had a red Dodge Neon with a spoiler
on the back when you met me. That's what you're referring to. And then you took that car over
and who knows where it went after that. So I took that car. I just immediately sold it. I did not

(09:19):
want that car anymore. Not after the ticket. It had bad juju. It was yours. I had to get rid of it
and do something good with it. So I took that money and decided to invest it in the vegan show
and in the plant built team. That's part of that's honestly, I don't know, I don't know.
Honestly, well, that's not where it began, Robert. It began with that old documentary that you made

(09:40):
with Tanya Kay and Brendan Brazier. That was the initial start of all this. Remember that?
Yeah. And then me, you and Jimmy Sitko were working on another project that never quite made it out
the gates. And then you decided, you know what, let's take a bunch of vegan athletes, a bunch of
vegan bodybuilders to the bodybuilding stage altogether, make an impact and go do your thing,

(10:04):
which you started, I think back in 2013, if I recall correctly. I was there in Austin, Texas.
But can you talk about how that team and how it's evolved from a team of vegan bodybuilders to get
a bunch of them on stage at the same time to where it's grown, to where it is now with, you have like

(10:24):
world champions on your team. You get some really elite athletes. Give us that backstory beyond
just the salient of my car. I have to tell you, I have to laugh about it because when we're getting
the team together, it's kind of comical. I'm hopping on calls with athletes that are literally

(10:47):
unbeatable world class athletes. And we're like, just joking around. I'm like, yeah,
ha ha, we're the dominant team that no one's going to beat. Ha ha. You're going to join us
because it's a no brainer not to. You're going to be amongst many other people who are equally
as talented as you. And it's just like, it doesn't even feel real. It's just so ridiculous. And then
you turn around and there's literally 30 athletes who are literally some of the absolute best

(11:13):
athletes in the world coming together for something that has that it's, it's bigger than them. And
then it works. It's crazy. It doesn't even make sense. So how did this happen? Uh, so the way
that it started was with, uh, I think there were like eight or 10 of us or something like that in
Austin, Texas, like you said, but we started a little Facebook group and I don't know exactly

(11:35):
how it began, but a bunch of us were like, Hey, why don't we just compete together? All right.
Like any other stupid idea. It's like, you're just hanging out with your buddies, talking nonsense
until it becomes real. And it became real when we went out there and we swept the floor,
we dominate, we took home crazy amount of medals. We had athletes winning everything in Tori and

(11:57):
Derek doing their flex on 10 years ago, Danny placing first, just all kinds of incredible,
incredible moments to share more than I could possibly even think of right now.
And after we did that and our efforts went viral back then, you know, we turned around and it was
like zero to 3000, literally inside of like five hours on Facebook, our band pages blew up. That's

(12:23):
what it felt like back then. Like, Oh my gosh, like, what is this? What's happening? So, okay.
So this is clearly something that's important. Let's work on this. And then we started raising
money for farm sanctuaries and vegan advocacy groups. And we tried to do it in this, you know,
classic altruistic way, because that, that was our vision. And that's kind of how it all started,
honestly. And then we just kept growing and growing and growing it. And we realized that the idea just

(12:48):
grew too fast and it was ahead of its time. And we stopped focusing on it for a while.
And then eventually we came back to it because it tied into a vegan strong, which is a project that
you, that you were in and involved in way before I was. And I was working alongside you and with
you, I believe you were the tour manager at the time, if I'm not mistaken. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So

(13:13):
you brought Danny and I onto that and that business model kept going and kept evolving.
And then at some point it, we, we were looking for ideas to continue to try to
not just have the project survive, but to make it more interesting. And then we decided to present
the idea of bringing the team in with the tour. So the plant built team became a part of the vegan

(13:40):
strong tour and it became the vegan strong plant built team. And I think it's really interesting
to note Giacomo that when you guys started plant built, if we're, I think if we're being totally
honest, that was a springboard for people like Natalie Matthews and Tory Washington. They were
already popular, but this really catapulted their career in my opinion. I watched it from the outside.

(14:08):
I think you played a bigger role in that than people realized when Natalie won overall title.
I barely knew who she was. Tory won the overall title. You had guys like Ed Bauer, who was a
participant in so many different sports and year after year and again elevated him and Mindy Collette
elevated her to a second place finish and, and brought some attention her way and Chad Byers

(14:32):
and so many people in the early days that you, you played a really significant role in the growth
and development of their reputations and in their bodybuilding careers. And for some of these
athletes, they may never have stepped on stage if it wasn't for you and Danny forming this team,
which gave people the sense of community and comfort that they could do something alongside

(14:57):
other people and not feel alone like the only vegan on stage. And I even came out of retirement.
I didn't do very well. I got last place, I think actually, but I came out of retirement to get on
stage with you guys, which was exhilarating for me. I didn't have much time to prepare and I had
been doing a lot of long distance running and lost a lot of muscle, but I decided to try it anyway.

(15:19):
And it was a good experience for me to step on stage that one final time. And I'm this despite
how I finished. And that's kind of how we often finish at the end of our careers is towards the
back, ask any major bodybuilder, their most successful days are early on middle and, you know,
at the height of their career, not necessarily at the tail end, but, but that was fun for me.

(15:40):
But also I just want to give you that acknowledgement and recognition that I really think you,
you elevated some of these people that are now at fairly superstar status in the vegan fitness
world. And a lot of it started right there in plant built. So I hope you're aware of that and can,
and can feel that, that I guess that appreciation that I and others recognize

(16:04):
for what you've done. So also just want to say thank you for that.
So you have been a champion bodybuilder. You got on stage before me. You weren't,
you competed in bodybuilding, but you weren't vegan at the time. Is that right?
Yeah. I think you competed before me, but not as a vegan. And then you and I competed together

(16:25):
on stage numerous times and, and live near each other, actually lived together even for a little
while out in Portland, Oregon. Tell me about your bodybuilding background. Cause you've been at it
for a very long time, which is why I think your coaching company is so successful and so well
known. You've just been doing this for a very, very long time. Take us back to those early bodybuilding
days. Your thing. Well, I have Roman Catholic education to thank for my shame when it came to

(16:53):
steroids. Cause I went to Catholic high school and although I am agnostic that I had access to some
really good resources and privileges in education. So I'm thankful for that, but they also did a
really good job educating us about drugs and they did a good job educating us about steroids and
like just injecting some fear and shame. And back then it, I don't think it was just school. I think

(17:16):
it was also just the times. There was like a big, big push to like demonize lots of things, whether
it was cigarettes or drugs, or it was kind of like the way people approach stuff back then. They wanted
people to do less of, right? Like society and, uh, and there was a big war on steroids when we were
kids. So I was apprehensive about doing them, even though I was curious. It was like, no,

(17:42):
this isn't something you should do. And then when I saw a magazine, uh, advertising natural bodybuilding,
I was like, Whoa, so like, you could still do this thing because you believe what you see.
So if all you see these magazines, right? With like fancy advertising, when people were in lab
coats and like these giant bodybuilders and just these crazy stories about they're doing whatever

(18:04):
live in the high fast life and getting all these giant gains in this and that, that's just what you
believe. It's like, well, this isn't for me. It looks really cool as a young man. And as a boy,
I was very attracted to all of it. And it got me inspired. And I love the culture, but I was like,
this is not actually for me. It's just entertainment until it became real. Right? So when I graduated

(18:25):
after nine 11 in New York city with a degree in finance, and I was like, this market is doesn't
feel right. And I love training and I wasn't, and I was privileged enough to not have to go out and
work because I had my parents, I had, I didn't have to leave the nest. And I was like, you know
what, let me, let me do something different. I was a personal trainer. And then I competed as a

(18:46):
bodybuilder when I was helping others. And I was inspired to take it to the next level for myself.
And that was like the whole start of my bodybuilding career. Essentially, I was the
type of person in the gym that was itching to give someone a spot, dying to help someone out and
help with form or whatever, just being the nice person who wanted to support and motivate someone

(19:06):
else. That was the kind of person I was in the gym. And then as a trainer that carried over into
that. And then I wanted to be the example and test my own personal limits and become a bodybuilder.
So career wise and as an athlete as well, when it came to sports and athletics and personal training,
personal training, coaching, all that, that was how, I mean, that was where it began for me in my early 20s.

(19:31):
And afterwards I didn't, I did not find out how to do it in a sustainable way. And I went down a really
uncomfortable dark path that led me to some real serious issues as far as body image went. It led me
to some real serious issues as far as my relationship with food. And it also caused me to throw in the

(19:52):
towel and give up on the idea of being an athlete. And I tried to become skinny because I couldn't
control having muscle in my body, but having a good body composition, being lean. So I was like,
I'm going to be skinny because to me that would feel better. I couldn't figure out how to eat in

(20:13):
a way that was nourishing, healthy, but also fueled me as an athlete. So I went down some windy paths
and I found myself into some like weird traps when it came to how I ate and how I, again, like lots
of stuff that I have so much regret and I repressed so much, I can't even talk about it. But basically

(20:34):
I took like about a seven year hiatus from training and from eating in a way to fuel myself as an
athlete. And a lot of it I'm still embarrassed about it and it's still hard to talk about it in
a lot of state, but I got on the other side of it because when Danny and I got together,
when we met on your feeding bodybuilding, thanks to you, thank you for ditching me on MySpace. If

(20:57):
you didn't ditch me because you weren't trying to build your following, I probably would have
never came back out of spite to be a part of your forum. So thank you for that friend.
You're very welcome. You're very welcome. You didn't make my MySpace top eight and as a result,
that's how you met your wife. Love it. Love it. Love it. Thank you for letting me rib you because

(21:18):
because it wouldn't have it any other way. So anyways, we met on your forum. She saw what I
was doing and she was like, he has no clue what he's doing. She saw what you were doing. She wanted
to challenge that too. Jimmy, she's like, we got to figure something. We got to figure this thing out.
So we started looking into how to do this in a healthy way and then that path led us to what we

(21:43):
do now essentially. So let's go back to bodybuilding just for a quick moment. You were a personal
trainer. You wanted to build muscle. You liked the aesthetic, but why competitive bodybuilding? Why
not be a ripped personal trainer? Why not powerlifting? Why not Olympic weightlifting? Why
not just the gym culture? What was it about bodybuilding itself? Like the competitive aspect

(22:10):
of getting on stage, showcasing your physique for a chance to win awards and partake in that
experience. Was there any kind of catalyst that was like, you know, we all have that moment, I
think of like, yeah, I want to try this and get on stage and do this. And I'm sure you have tons of

(22:30):
clients that go through that same mental exercise of, yeah, I believe I can do that.
Do you remember, I know it was a long time ago, decades ago when you first got into bodybuilding,
but do you remember what that initial spark was?

(22:53):
I was already wrapped up into the culture and I didn't think I could do it. So maybe realizing
that I had a chance to do something that I didn't think was possible was the catalyst. I
liked the challenge of it. It seemed like something that was unattainable for many.
And I wanted to do something that was seemingly not possible. So I think that's what got me into it

(23:18):
as well. I always wanted to change the way that I looked. I wasn't changing the way that I looked.
I was attracted to that idea as a kid, as a teenager. It came from a bad place, unfortunately.
I think I was also inspired from my family. They were very afraid of

(23:41):
how they looked if they weren't trim and fit. And I latched onto that fear.
When I saw my family growing up being fat phobic and also being very concerned about their image
and being very concerned about looking a certain way. And then I saw how my mother struggled

(24:06):
when she couldn't do it. And as her first child, I latched onto her
and not only her eating habits, but her issues when it came to wanting to look a certain way
or feeling that pressure from her family and feeling shamed by them. And also just having

(24:29):
a certain image when you whatever, like amongst whatever, like big weddings and get togethers.
And I think it crushed her. And so it came from there first for me. And then I got bullied in
school and that didn't help either. But then as I saw it out when I started getting, when I
got into my, how do I say, when I grew into my body in high school, I saw that there was a possibility

(24:57):
to do something different and to take control of my body and to become more athletic. And I became
confident. And I was initially inspired to train because I wanted to make a tennis team, which I
did. And then when I was training at the gym, I started to learn about gym culture and building

(25:19):
your muscles, making them bigger and looking a certain way. And then again, the tie in is when I
graduated from college and this whole time, I thought bodybuilding was just not possible. I saw
these things, but I had no attachment to them because how could I look like that? You know?
And then when I realized there was a possibility in it, I was like, okay, let me try to do this.

(25:43):
And I did it. And then I got hooked on the idea of being able to do something extreme like that.
It was an adrenaline rush. It was exciting. It was invigorating. It was so exciting. It was
an adrenaline rush. It was exciting. It was invigorating. It felt like something that
most people couldn't attain no matter how hard they tried to. So I latched onto the idea and I
kept going. It is a difficult sport to do for all sorts of reasons. From the physical fitness

(26:09):
commitment to the mental commitment, the psychological commitment, the confidence you have to have to
be on stage in posing trunks and be literally judged by an audience of judges and by an audience
who's there watching the show, everyone's making a judgment about you. And it's kind of a reflection
of not just your genetics, but of your work ethic and of your commitment. And all of those things

(26:32):
are kind of on display in bodybuilding, which does make it a little bit more difficult than so
many other sports. I know you have a background as a college tennis player. You were also a cyclist
around the time that I met you. You had been doing a lot of cycling. You're a snowboarder.
So you dabble in a variety of sports, but it was an interesting path that led you to bodybuilding.

(26:58):
And that was interesting insight about your family's relationship with body image and opinion of
others and things of that nature that may have contributed to how you wanted to control your
body image. I want to ask you, and this may be tied right back into family, but who were some
of your early role models as you embraced this fitness career really? I mean, you turn this into

(27:28):
a career. I mean, this is a full, thriving, full-time career that you do. And you obviously had
some sort of inspiration to get into bodybuilding. Then people helped nurture that for you. And then
you've just taken it to all these different directions and all these different levels. But
who were some of those early role models, family, teachers, community members, mentors, friends?

(27:56):
Role models for bodybuilding or role models for coaching?
I would say, well, I'm referring to, in essence, almost like role models for life that led you into
having the belief that you can excel in bodybuilding and then eventually turn that
into something, turning that into what has become a career in coaching. But it also took many

(28:20):
different turns as well. I mean, you back up for a moment. You created the world's largest online
vegan supplement store. You did all kinds of other things along the way before landing on coaching.
And so I guess it's more of an open-ended question about role models in the early stages of your life

(28:41):
who kind of shaped the directions that you would go in later on.
Okay, sure. Well, as far as being athletic, my initial role model was my father.
He would tell me stories about how he was in college and he could be good at pretty much any
sport he played. And I literally have a picture in my mind. I could imagine what it was like for him

(29:03):
to be in college, playing sports, just dominating. Maybe not the best at one sport, but he could
pretty much play any sport and be good at it is how he described himself to me back when he was here.
And that conversation repeats in my mind whenever I think about my reasons for wanting to be
athletic and believing that could be. Then in high school, I had a music teacher who was a

(29:27):
bodybuilder and he was the one that got me into lifting. He saw something in me and he took like
three students under his wing and I was one of them. So he taught me how to train and got me into
it. And he was probably the strongest influence outside of my family for sure. And then he's not
actually my uncle, but we like to call him my uncle. He's my neighbor, my uncle John. He was

(29:50):
one of my big inspirations for being an entrepreneur. And also my family is full of entrepreneurs
from hair salon owners to pizza, pizza makers too. And then of course my neighbor, he, he's run
many businesses and he's gotten my father involved. He had gotten my father involved with many

(30:12):
different businesses. So entrepreneurial and entrepreneurial spirit was birthed in me from a
very, very young age. And being athletic was also something that was strongly encouraged in my
family. Even though I wasn't naturally athletic as a kid at all, at all, I was awkward as all,

(30:33):
I could not, I could just not, I had to develop that when I got to be a teenager. It's just not
something that came to me. And then the bodybuilding came from Mr. Lepofsky, my music teacher who saw
that it was something else that I had to potentially get into. And I wanted to get into it. And he was

(30:53):
kind enough to take me under his wing. And I guess those are all of my early role models. So when
those days where I repeat the sentence and I say, what did I do? That's when I go back and I want to
ask myself why people influenced me to go down this path. Because I'll tell you what,

(31:17):
it's, you're not in it for the money. That's for sure. When it comes to being an entrepreneur,
you are certainly not in it for the money. You are basically signing up for a world of pain
to be able to be successful and then do it in a way that is sustainable. It's a lot of work.
But you get to do some incredible things and live life on your terms.
Yeah. I know that's appealing to a lot of people. And I know that's how you've wanted to

(31:42):
operate your life. Have you ever reached out to your music teacher or do you have a relationship
with your music teacher just to let him know like, Hey, you carved this path for me just to
reconnect. Have you ever thought about reconnecting? No, honestly, when you grow up in New York City,
it's just, there's so much happening that it's really hard. Unlike you, right? Like you grew up

(32:06):
small town, Corvallis, everyone knows each other. You can go back and you can easily access the
person that influenced you from childhood. For me, honestly, to be able to reconnect
with a friend from a long time ago is rare. So if you have those opportunities, you hold on to them.
I was lucky enough to connect with my old hitting partner, Michael Weissman, who we also used to

(32:30):
play roller hockey with. And he's been following me all this time because he went plant-based.
And I'm actually move out here. I saw him at the New York City Marathon. And I just,
my mind was blown. I also remember Mary Stella Stabinski, fellow vegan bodybuilding and
for a member. Yeah, like 20 years ago. Yeah. So that's the crazy thing. She certainly was.

(32:55):
Wow. Tell me about it. Blast for the past. Just like you met up with Zach out here in Denver,
another very active member of this online community that me and Giacomo and his wife,
Danny and literally thousands of others were part of. And I just met up with Vegan Potter in Salt
Lake City, hadn't seen him in, oh, 12 years, I guess. Just, yeah, it's pretty wild to

(33:18):
have some of those connections. I only ask because Giacomo, one of the most rewarding things I've
done in recent years for myself, when I reflect on that, was that when I released my book that
eventually did really well, became a New York Times bestseller, I reached out to my elementary
school teachers who helped me on that path to become a writer. And I was able to connect with

(33:41):
both of the teachers that I wanted to reach out to. And I thanked them in the acknowledgements.
But I was able to connect with them via email and get their addresses and ship them signed books.
And it just, I can imagine for a teacher, there's nothing better than that. And it was, so that was
fun for me was not just the reward that I got, but the reward that I know that they got from seeing
one of their students pursue this passion that they instilled in them and take it as far as it

(34:05):
could go. So I was just curious. But now I realize you grew up in a city of 16 million people
that, and I came from a town with a little over 16,000, or a little more than that. But
I understand the difficulty now. But that's really interesting to hear about your
role models. You mentioned someone you met up with who's on a plant-based journey or plant-powered

(34:30):
journey. Let's hear yours. What's your vegan story? We got your fitness background,
but what's this vegan journey that you've been on for quite a while now? Take us back in time.
20 years, Robert. I'm trailing behind you. You're at how many now?
29, a little over 29 in my 30th year. So 20 years, congratulations. And thank you for that,

(34:55):
for 20 years of commitment to reducing animal suffering. So please continue.
I had already, I was already invested in the idea of meat being something that wasn't
a main portion on my plate. It could be something that was on my plate. I think it was from like
the Buddhist idea in this book that I had read. Let me walk back a little bit. I think it was

(35:18):
from the Buddhist idea in this book that I had read. Let me walk back a little bit. Okay. So
my dad, my, I had a girlfriend, her mom got heart disease. They told her to just stop stressing.
My, years later, my dad got cancer and he wanted to manage his quality of life while going through

(35:40):
chemo and have a good quality of life. And I said to myself after competing
and realizing I had that much control of my body, granted, it was just the way that I looked. It
wasn't in hindsight, I didn't realize it wasn't exactly healthy. It was just a way to control
my body and what it looked like, but it gave me the belief that I could control my health as well
through nutrition. And that began my journey, if you will, to learn how to control my health

(36:06):
with what I ate. So I went out and I sought information and I asked for help. There was a
bookstore and I was at that bookstore and I was like, can you please pick out a book that will
teach me how to control my health the same way? Because I am confident that I can. So I read the
book, took it in, I would read it every day back and forth on the train until the thing was done.

(36:28):
And it was so logical. It was stupid. Like if you consume dietary cholesterol, you will eventually
clog your arteries. You cannot metabolize all of that dietary cholesterol, no matter how well
your system works. So why would you want to eventually develop heart disease? Why don't you
just stop consuming dietary cholesterol, which only comes from animal protein and animal foods?

(36:52):
Plants have no dietary cholesterol. So that was a no-brainer. I was like, oh, cool.
And then I just stuck with it. I mean, that was it. That's the one irrefutable point.
And it came from a place of wanting to help others. I wanted to help my dad. I couldn't.
I wanted to help others in the gym. I continue to try to do that. I wanted to help my girlfriend's

(37:17):
mother at the time, but that wasn't my family. It wasn't my place. So I had to be the example.
That was the only thing I could actually control. I had to be the example. And I'm still trying to
find ways to control my health with nutrition and control my body with nutrition. But it's so much
more than what's on your plate. It's a lifestyle. But being vegan also opens your eyes to more than

(37:41):
what's on your plate because you no longer have cognitive dissonance about what you're eating.
You already have conviction because you're eating a plant, but you're consuming a plant-based diet.
And now you're more open-minded, which for me, I'm a little hard-headed. I'm a little closed-minded
at times, or at least I was. I probably still am in some ways. But my point is it opened my mind

(38:01):
and it gave me the ability to remove my bias. Because now I was like, all right, this is what
I'm eating. And I started to learn about the effects of what you eat as far as the environment
and how much damage and destruction it causes. It helped me realize that the animals that had

(38:24):
to die for me were animals that had feelings that deserve to live and that there was no humane way
to kill them, whether you hunted them or whether you processed them through farming,
et cetera, et cetera. There was no humane way to do it. So there was just so much conviction in my
choice that it stuck. And I became inspired and I wanted to get into activism and I wanted to change

(38:48):
the world. I was a little crunchy at the time anyway, so that kind of helped. And I wanted to
create a life for myself. So I left everything I knew and I basically created a whole new life.
I was well on my way to living life a certain way. And I was like, this is not the way.
I'm going to find a way to change the world. And I left everything I knew with basically nothing

(39:11):
other than a hope and a dream and stuck with the veganism, stuck with the activism. And
I guess I am where I am today because of how that all began.
Twenty years now of dedication to compassionate living. That's pretty incredible. It's got to feel

(39:33):
really cool or rewarding or empowering to hear that, I think. It's hard for anyone to stick
with anything. It doesn't matter what it is. A fitness program, nutrition plan, diet, lifestyle,
belief system. It's hard to stick with anything. We're always changing our mind about things and

(39:54):
changing our environment and changing our views. And I mean, for a lot of people, there are a few
things that people might stay in and maybe a certain political view or a certain lifestyle view
or relationship or whatever, but it's really hard to stick with something for 20 years,
regardless of what it is. So I commend you for that. Let's talk about

(40:20):
you and your partner. You met through my website and you started to build a relationship. And then
you built a business relationship. And then you've toured to a bunch of different countries now and
all over North America and now work together and travel together all the time. What's that been

(40:47):
like? You mentioned that Danny said, like, hey, this guy needs help with bodybuilding and nutrition,
referring to you, referring to me, referring to others who were some of the early vegan bodybuilders.
And then your relationship blossomed, eventually got married, and now you've been married for
for quite a while now. And you work together and travel together and in your own words,

(41:13):
try to change the world together. Can you talk about that evolution for a little bit?
Yeah, let's see. So when Danny and I first got together, we were trying to make
a documentary work. You remember? Yeah, of course. You came out for vegan vacation.
That's where I met you both when I picked you up at the airport in Portland, 2008, Portland, Oregon.

(41:39):
I remember I gave you a big hug because you and I had been in touch much more. And Danny was kind
of off in the background. I'm like, oh yeah, hi to you too, Danny. But then we spent that week together
and with a bunch of us, vegan athletes, but you and Danny really kind of hit it off that week.
And that was the start of what is now your future and your current life. So yes, we met through,

(42:05):
we met in person before doing the filming and hung out and take it from there.
Well, what happened? We moved out to Portland to hang out with you and we somehow kicked you
out of your own city because you left like a year later. Did I call you by the wrong name or
something? Like why'd you leave? Okay, let's piece this together. So we all met that summer of 2008.

(42:36):
You and Danny both took a big leap of faith, I think is an expression you've already used today.
You're both from the East Coast. She's from the Boston area. You're from New York City area.
And you just traveled across the country. You moved across the country to live in Portland,
not too far from where I was about maybe a 15 minute drive or so. And while there, we hung out

(42:57):
almost every day, well, especially you and I hung out every day when we decided to do
this vegan brothers and iron documentary. I produced the vegan fitness built naturally
documentary and I wanted to get more vegan bodybuilders involved in getting on stage.
And we recruited Jimmy Sitko and the three of us were doing our thing. And then as is often the
case with me, I ran out of money. I ran out of money, could no longer fund the project. And you

(43:25):
and I had spent all these months filming, training, recording, interviews, traveling to different
events, different cities, competing in different States, interviewing all kinds of different
people from Arizona to Washington, Oregon. And at that point I was out of money and I wanted to
pursue my book writing. And so that's what I started to do and kind of isolated myself a little bit in

(43:50):
Portland. I kind of stayed in my room and wrote and I was a little more distant. And then I took
off to Los Angeles to try to make it only to run out of money again. And I think I probably went back
home to my mom's house or something after that. And so you guys were still there. You guys were
still there in Portland. And just like I left you on MySpace, I left you again in Portland,

(44:15):
but I did leave you my car. I leave my 2000- Which I later got a ticket with.
My car. But I did come back because then you and I became roommates for a little while out there in
Southeast Portland when you were taking care of the dog. And that was really fun, actually.

(44:35):
I have to say that was one of the- Surprisingly, I think it was one of the best roommate situations
I've had. I'm very difficult to live with, ask my wife. But you and I somehow we made it work
really well and that was fun. But then I think a few other people left the Portland scene.

(44:55):
And ultimately I think you were probably both a little bit homesick from the East Coast and
you went back. Is that kind of the- More or less. We did start the Vegan Proteins
online supplement shop as a way to raise money for the documentary that we were producing,
that you were producing. So that was how that idea started.

(45:21):
Yeah, that's right. Business card. I think you started it in Portland, right?
Yes. And your idea at the time as a sales rep for Vega was that we could be one of your main
accounts and we would grow this thing together. You shared in this dream with me when I was

(45:41):
doubting myself and you just gave me one confident laugh and you're like, watch, we're going to build
this thing. And unfortunately I was unable to make it. You know what, honestly, it was a great idea,
but there was no longer a need for it. Put it that way. There was no longer a need for an online
vegan supplement shop. The whole idea all along was the shop was created based on the fact that

(46:06):
people did not have access to vegan supplements and vegan protein. And then at some point,
everyone had, I mean, you could find Vega at CVS, you could find 15 different vegan proteins on a
store shelf or any online store at any point in time. So we're like, you know what, it's not worth

(46:27):
investing more energy into this. And at the time, this is when we had already, we moved the, you're
right. We got a little homesick and we moved back to Boston to be closer to family and to our
family and to be closer to my family in proximity, right? Cause Danny's family is here in Boston.

(46:47):
We moved the whole supplement shop back and we set up shop over here. I remember you came several
times to visit and you saw us set the shop bigger and better than ever before. But again, the writing
was on the wall. It was time to change what we were doing. At the time, we had also started to
realize that other idea, the plant built team that came from our initial, whatever we were doing,

(47:12):
we were planning around in Portland with them, you know, throwing around different ideas together.
You kept on writing your book and we pivoted to starting to continuing the coaching company because
when we started plant bill, there wasn't enough information out there on how to train as a vegan
bodybuilder and how to be competitive. So the athletes on the team were looking for help and

(47:33):
Danny started coaching them. She coached me, she coached Sarah Russer, she had coached others,
though I can't remember, but she decided to figure out a solution because she wasn't cheap.
Boy, aren't the idea of competing, but at that point she wasn't ready to,
not until she was confident she could do it right. And the first thing she did was she learned and

(47:53):
she helped others. And when we stopped the supplement shop, we started the coaching shop
right at the same time. Well, to your credit, Giacomo, I think we need to give the timeline
here. I mean, you maintain that online supplement shop for five years or more, right? Because
you would have started around 2010, I think, and I came out to visit in 2012, it was going really,

(48:20):
really well and you were still going for years after that, I believe. And so, I mean, you built
the world's largest online vegan supplement shop. It was really impressive. I was at your house
sometimes where you had like 100 orders going out in a day. You had just stacked floor to ceiling
of products. You had great inventory. You had lots of customers. And we did grow something that,

(48:42):
you're right, became eventually not as necessary because people could go to Walmart or Whole Foods
Market or even Kroger store and find some of these things. And of course, you're dealing with
margins with a small business that have to be sustainable and big stores can get better prices

(49:05):
for things and be more competitive and all that, which made it difficult. But you certainly provided
a tremendous service for many, many years. So make sure you give yourself credit for that. And around
that time, Danny, yeah, there you go, peddle. Danny started coaching because you're right, Giacomo,
most of us were just winging it, myself included. I even wrote a book on it that was just based on

(49:28):
what I knew as someone who was a fan of bodybuilding and read muscle magazines and was inspired by
Jay Cutler and some of these guys. And I just did my own thing as a vegan, but I didn't know what
the heck I was doing. Even to this day, I would not know how to go into a vegan bodybuilding
competition preparation. I just wouldn't. I wouldn't know what to eat or how to train. I was just

(49:51):
winging it with work ethic back then. And that's when Danny would watch you and I practice our meal
plans, our meal prep, our posing out there in Portland. You remember all those posing classes
in BAM's basement? Oh, I sure do. Those were the days. They sure were. And then you and I competed
a bunch of times together in a bunch of different states and had a good time with it. But at that

(50:15):
time, Danny started coaching people, like you said, and then you started to train. And then you
started coaching people, like you said, and then she even coached an NFL football player, David
Carter. And she really broke into that industry as one of the very first vegan bodybuilding coaches
in the world, really, quite frankly. And then as you closed down the vegan supplement store, you

(50:39):
moved into the role of coaching. And you've been coaching people ever since. You have a tremendous
client base. I know some of them, and they've achieved all sorts of awards and records and
competition wins, and there's even some big names. And you've never been one to like,
what's the word, like to showcase those big names. It's all very quiet and very professional.

(51:05):
I get the sense that you don't need this exterior validation, like look at who my clients are,
and all of that. You just quietly go about changing people's lives, including some big name and
successful people. So I really admire that. And now you've built an entire team, and I've watched

(51:27):
this, it's been really inspiring actually. You've built an entire team of vegan fitness coaches
that focus on integrity and doing things the right way and doing things honestly and naturally and
professionally. And now you won all these awards in just one voting with Plant-Powered Athlete,

(51:50):
but I'm sure you'd win other awards and other voting too. And it's just been inspiring to watch.
So yeah, congratulations on all that growth.
Thanks. Yeah. And watching the awards come through this past couple of months was very inspiring and
rewarding to see because it can get a little, you can get just like stuck doing what you're doing,

(52:17):
like in your own, you're spinning your wheels essentially to make something work, right? But
to stop and look at what you've, like to realize what you've achieved to get that kind of recognition
was pretty cool. It reminds you that what you're doing is important.
Yeah. How much you emphasize your mission-driven work? It seems like everything you do is mission

(52:42):
driven. You use this term often, that we're doing something larger than ourselves, bigger than
ourselves. This is for the animals, this is for the environment, this is for humanity, this is for
inspiration of reclaiming people's health. This is for chasing that dream you've always wanted to.
This is for making a difference. How important is that to you to be mission driven?

(53:04):
On a scale of 10, about 11.
11,000?
Yeah. If you're going to put yourself through the pain of
creating a business and making it work, you might as well do something you love, enjoy,
and something that is worth it. I would like to think that it will make a lasting impression

(53:27):
long after I'm gone. I would like to think that it made a difference long after the fact when the
business is, when we're no longer doing this. I would like to think that it was work worth doing,
and I'm grateful for all of it and that it's important. So it's really, it's motivating.
It gets you through those tough days when you're just wondering, what is the best way to do it?

(53:47):
It's a tough day when you're just wondering why you're putting in so much effort and so much work
into something. So it's, yeah, it's been good. There are a lot of good sound bites there. I think
those are going to be something you reflect back on and for people to linger on. You mentioned

(54:09):
something like maybe when you're not doing this or when the next chapter is or whatever that is,
what would that be? What would you be doing if you weren't doing this?
Like if you weren't a vegan fitness coach, even let's say a few years from now or
20 years from now, what would you be doing? That's such a loaded question.

(54:32):
I don't have time. Go for it. Oh my gosh. What is, if I wasn't coaching?
Yeah. If you weren't doing all this stuff with all the coaching and events and being a co-founder
and trying to change the world and touring like crazy and building the best teams in the world,

(54:55):
what would you be doing? I'd still be bodybuilding competitively.
For sure. I would probably, I would find some sort of a job that did not, that I would have to invest
as much of my energy into as I do now. It's not that I'm afraid of putting the hours. It's just
that I just wouldn't be as invested in it. I don't think it's hard to say, Robert, this is my life.

(55:20):
I have no idea, friend. I would like to say I have the answer to that question, but I just don't know.
I can't see that far ahead in the future in all honesty. Should something like that happen?
Yeah. It's a hypothetical that just sometimes I contemplate as well. If I weren't writing,
what would I be doing? If I wasn't into fitness, what would I be doing? I often get curious

(55:47):
if there's another passion, would you be snowboarding every weekend or would you be
solving puzzles? Would you be working for the government? Just if anything came to mind,
yeah, there's this other thing I'd like to do. You said bodybuilding right away because right now
you're not, well, you competed, what, a year and a half ago or something, but you've taken a break

(56:08):
from competing, right? I wouldn't call it taking a break. I'm working towards the next competition.
When you say that you've taken a break from competing, it implies that you're not competing
and you're not active in your bodybuilding career. I wouldn't frame it like that, Robert.
I've built out a roadmap and a plan to compete again in 2027 because I've realized, looking back

(56:32):
at my 2023 season, I want to say that there's a lot more that I need to do differently. I need to
have a better setup. Striking distance wise, I need a better starting point. I need better follow
through and execution. I need to also have a really good season where I am able to put on a
lot of quality muscle and set up my way of life properly so that I can succeed. I need to be more

(56:56):
competitive. There's a lot that I need to do. Bodybuilding is a marathon on a sprint. It is 110%
true. Once you've competed more than once or twice, you should take anywhere from a bare minimum of
two years to upwards of five years off if you really want to show up looking better the next

(57:18):
time around. I don't mean taking off or taking a break. I mean not competing and preparing for
your next competition. You have to be doing that much more effort so that when you do compete,
your results are actually going to show. They're going to be there. That's what I've been focused on,
is figuring all of that out, honestly, competition-wise, bodybuilding-wise.

(57:40):
Gotcha. I think I just misunderstood. When I was saying, what would you be doing if you weren't
doing this? You'd say, oh, I'd still be competing in bodybuilding. I took that as that you're taking
a break from bodybuilding now, but what you're saying is, well, I wouldn't give that up. I'd
still be competing in bodybuilding. I would still be competing in bodybuilding. I would still be
competing in bodybuilding. I wouldn't give that up. I'd still be competing in bodybuilding,

(58:01):
and I'd be doing something else. Okay. I understood now. I understand. I think it's good you clarified
for listeners that when you take a break from competing, that is part of bodybuilding. That's
a rebuilding. That's a growth period. Whether it's adding mass or practicing posing or letting
your body recover from a diet or whatever, that is part of the sport. It's a planned break from

(58:26):
bodybuilding. We call it the off season or, oh, what is it, recovery season or rebuilding season.
There's a bunch of different name, improvement season. I think Natalie Matthews uses that
expression, but it's everyone does it. From the top bodybuilders in the entire world to natural
bodybuilders, everyone takes this period, sometimes a year, sometimes more than a year,

(58:47):
to just really, really recover, rebuild, grow, and get better. Thank you for clarifying that.
You've probably already touched on this, but it always makes for good sound bites
for the team here, the editing team. But Jacoma, what does being a plant-powered athlete mean to you?

(59:11):
Being a plant-powered athlete means that you're getting in all your protein from plants. It means
that your morals and your ethics match your efforts when it comes to being a competitive athlete.
It means that you're not compromising on fueling yourself because you're fueling yourself with the

(59:33):
best possible nutrients and the best possible food on the planet. Plants, a plant-based diet.
All right. We appreciate that. Jacoma, how would you define health?

(59:54):
Okay. Something that I've been repeating for the past couple of months
is that you cannot be healthy and well without being fit.
People get obsessed with being healthy or they get obsessed with being fit and both
have some blind spots where you're actually not as healthy as you think you are, and you're
sacrificing your health and fitness. That's where wellness comes into play.
If you tie in the three words together, and of course, I'm biased here because of my love of

(01:00:19):
fitness and I'm a fitness coach, I say that you cannot be healthy and well without being fit.
You can't have your health and you can't have wellness without your fitness. I say that because
I'm 44 years old right now and I see a lot of clients in their back 50 and they're approaching

(01:00:45):
their best years. This is that period of time where you're in between you either taking on
more responsibilities because the responsibilities you took on did not carry you through into your
best years, or you've taken on lots of responsibilities and you've found success, so now you're backing
off from some of them, but you're basically burnt out from managing your stress and you're looking

(01:01:05):
at all kinds of priorities in life and juggling it all, but you turn around and of course, if you're
focused on your health and longevity on top of it all, and you haven't been an athlete or you haven't
been an athlete or you haven't focused on training or you haven't focused on gaining muscle enough,

(01:01:26):
as adults, we tend to not take care of ourselves in the ways that we probably should, and I see it
happen over and over again and before you start to reach 60, 70 and 80 and sarcopenia sets in,
you lose 60% of your muscle, wouldn't it be nice to make sure that you put on quality muscle and
keep it on? If you want to be healthy, you have to focus on your fitness. You can't have one without

(01:01:47):
the other. Giacomo, tell me about your consistency. You're probably the most organized and consistent
person that I know. You're very regimented and where you have these non-negotiables, you have
your notebook everywhere you go. I'm going to be at your house in a few days. I'm sure I'm going

(01:02:08):
to see this. You're usually in the gym before I wake up when I'm staying at your house. You're
already on your third meal of the day and I'm just getting out of bed.
Why is consistency so important to you and how has that impacted your life?
Well, it takes 10,000 hours to be an expert at something. You've got to get those hours

(01:02:30):
in somehow some way and practice makes perfect and repetition is how you get better at something.
The only way to have that routine and the only way to achieve those results is to be consistent
and to continue to find the patterns that break your routine and to continue to find the routine
and sustainable. If you want to do some exceptional things with your life, you have to find the routine
that works for you and consistency is what is required to make that happen. I would argue that

(01:02:57):
the being regimented and being disciplined to a fault can actually get in the way. You can wind
up compromising your relationships, compromise your own mental health. You could actually
have a routine that is not workable. So I think it starts with discipline and being regimented
and eventually you find a way to make it a lifestyle.

(01:03:22):
And what lessons have you learned about yourself from being consistent or lack of consistency at
times? What has that taught you? That when I lack consistency, in one way I'm hard on myself and I

(01:03:44):
beat myself up. In other ways, I think that I'm taking a break and I work myself too hard. But in
all reality, I just haven't found a way to make consistency stick. So I've learned that about
myself because I used to be and still am arguably a perfectionist and a little bit too much of a
type A kind of person. So I play to my strengths in that regard, but I also find a way to not be

(01:04:06):
that person all the time because there's a limit to how much you can accomplish if you're so rigid
and so regimented. Again, habits, discipline, routine, but you got to find a way to also
have a good quality of life and have a healthy life and enjoy what you do. If you're not enjoying

(01:04:29):
what you're doing, why are you doing it? But again, to your point to continue to use the
word consistency, that's what it is. If you don't repeat something over and over again
for years on end, you're not going to become an expert at what you do. You're not going to get
the results you're looking for. How did you become a New York Times bestseller? How did you find

(01:04:50):
the perfect formula for yourself to be able to write for hours upon hours on end and publish
the books that you publish is because you persisted. You had everything in your power to keep going
and you kept going. You never stopped writing. So if I, as long as I don't stop, I'm going to
continue to get better at what I do, even if I don't want to train and I'm not in the mood to

(01:05:11):
train, even if my training, even if I'm in the mood to train and it's a crappy training session,
even if I'm eating, you know, whatever, and, uh, and I don't want to be eating a certain way,
you know, I'd rather go out and smash three burgers and not have a bowl of vegetables and
seitan and

(01:05:33):
rice. Like I would rather do something else. I would rather go off and eat five protein bars
and have a bag of chips, but I'm instead going to have two pieces of bread and two pieces of
have two pieces of fruit and maybe have a snack and maybe not like the more that you do to stay
consistent, even when you don't want to be, the more likely you are to, to change your life to

(01:05:57):
the better and achieve the results that you're looking to achieve. And eventually you hope it
sticks for the longterm. And that's discipline and routines and habits, not willpower or motivation,
right? This whole ability to do it anyway, like I don't want to train today, but I'm going to do
it anyway, or I would prefer not to eat this meal. I want to go eat that, those three plant-based

(01:06:19):
burgers, whatever, but I'm going to eat this food anyway, because it's part of my discipline. It's
part of my routine because willpower fades, it goes away. And so you seem to be someone who's
benefited from understanding routines and habits quite well. So what has coaching taught you

(01:06:42):
about goal-setting, about habits, about life? I mean, cause you have a pretty intimate relationship
with all these different people over the course of many years. What are some insights that you've
gleaned from those experiences about how, perhaps how others relate to goal-setting, habits,

(01:07:05):
discipline, routines, willpower, motivation, are there any common threads that derail people
all the time or that help people get back on track or that help people stick to something?
Any observations that really stand out to you? That's a very good question. I have to think
about that one for a little bit. Well, I think that people get, they do get bogged down by

(01:07:33):
their responsibilities and do believe that they cannot or should not take care of themselves.
They don't believe they're worth it. They don't believe they can do it. They don't believe it's
possible. They want it to happen faster than it can. If you don't get the buying that you're
looking for results-wise, you tend to give up is what I see. And it's important to get a win,

(01:08:01):
but when you don't get a win and when you're disappointed because the goal that you're setting
is you're just not achieving it, it can be very easy to give up. And we see that a lot when it
comes to coaching because not everyone gets results. Not everyone gets results right away.
But you can change your process. You can work on your process. You can work on changing your

(01:08:25):
lifestyle. And even if there aren't enough wins to celebrate, eventually you can get to where you
want to go if you persist and you eventually find out what's standing in the way. And there
could be all kinds of reasons behind it, Robert. It depends on the person. But I do think that

(01:08:45):
stress is a big one. Stress is a killer. People are short-sighted because they
can't see the change that they're capable of. They want to be there already and they're too
worried about the stress that's already on their plate. It happens all the time. We work with a

(01:09:09):
lot of high achievers and to achieve great things requires a lot of sacrifice. And they were already
making the sacrifices and they're already feeling like they're stretched and spread too thin to do
something else. And in one sense, they're confident with themselves because they have achieved great
things and they believe they can. But in another sense, they realize they can't do it until they

(01:09:31):
get pissed at themselves. But they can't get past it. So as a coach, you got to help them cut
through all that. You got to give them the kind of emotional support. You got to help them see
their blind spots and you got to help them believe that they can in fact change the way they do
things. And I would argue that when you take better care of yourself and when you choose fitness,

(01:09:55):
that although in the beginning, it does take away from everything else that you've been doing. And
it is a stressor and strain that eventually on the other side of it, you have more energy,
you're healthier, you're happier, and you're more successful all around. But in the beginning,
it don't work like that. People don't want to make the sacrifice in the beginning.
It's too painful. It's too painful because they're already doing a lot.

(01:10:19):
Seldom do we get the person who comes to us who has not achieved some pretty incredible things.
Usually we get a person that comes to us as a client and they're already doing exceptional
things with their life. I was going to ask what types of goals your clients have. Who are the
type? I mean, you already mentioned high achievers and all that. Do you have a lot of competitive

(01:10:41):
athletes who come to seek your coaching advice, bodybuilders, crossfitters, people who are trying
to lose weight, people who are trying to build muscle? What are the common goals? Like when
people say, hey, I'm interested in hiring vegan proteins coaching to help me achieve X, Y, or Z,
what are those things that are kind of the most common goals that people are looking for?

(01:11:04):
Or the types of clients you end up working with? All kinds. At the base of everything that we do,
though, we look to attract clients who want to work on their relationship with their body,
to be truly comfortable with themselves. And we want to work with people who want to work
on their relationship with food. Because the more confidence you have in yourself, as far as how you

(01:11:25):
look and how you feel in your body, the more confidence, the healthier your relationship is
with food, the healthier you're going to be mindset wise. And mindset is everything. It's
everything. Now habit change is important. Without mindset though, it's temporary and it's a hard
process to enjoy. It's like you could follow macros and you can follow a training program

(01:11:52):
because this is habit change in your discipline, but you're going to want to repeat the same
mistakes and probably not enjoy the process if your mindset isn't there. So we focus a lot on
how people feel about themselves, right? Once someone gets their goal to their goal on paper,

(01:12:12):
that's the reward, that's the buy-in, but they still realize, oh, well, I'm actually still not
happy with myself. Oh, like, I'm still not quite sure how to feed myself. I just knew how to get
the results I wanted on paper. So we front end this work with people and we focus on their eating
habits. We focus on how their emotions and how their stresses affect how they eat. And because

(01:12:37):
it's more than just hunger, right? And we focus on how they feel about themselves and how they look
before they get the body that they want as well. Because all of that is directly related to whether
or not once they get the results, that it will be sustainable for them and they'll be happy.
Yeah, you mentioned it's easy to give up and that it's sometimes challenging

(01:13:04):
to keep going. And even sometimes when you achieve your reward on paper, it's not as satisfying,
maybe as you'd hoped, and there's still other things to work on. Since you do have this award
winning coaching company, can you tell us a bit more about it? Like, tell us about some of the
coaches, tell us about some of the things that you offer, where people can learn more about it,

(01:13:30):
how they can apply to work with you or your wife or one of the other coaches. Tell us more about
this award winning vegan proteins coaching company so the listener can say, hey, that's for me.
That's what I'm looking for. That's the kind of guidance that I want. And I know they've got

(01:13:51):
2,500 success stories. It's unbelievable. You guys have been doing this longer than almost anyone.
I can't believe that almost 3,000 people have gone through your programs. So tell us about the team.
Who's on board and what do they specialize in and where can people learn more about you,
follow you on YouTube and all that stuff? Well, before that, follow the Vegan Strong Plant Bill

(01:14:12):
team because although we won 65 medals last year and 48 of them were first place medals,
we should be able to trump that this year and have even more exceptional results because we
are going to be looking for the pool of talent is going to grow. So follow our team. And then in
August when we're at the USA Fit Fest, August 16th and 17th and 18th, I believe. And then when we're

(01:14:37):
at Mr. America in October, I forget mid October, something like that, we're going to look to
clean house and win even more trophies and place and dominate. I know that's a lot and it may not
be possible. We may have peaked last year, but I like to think that we're going to do even better
this year. We're going to be focused on finding an even more competitive team. So that's first.

(01:15:00):
And you can find us on veganstrong.com and on plantbuild.com. You can learn all about the team.
We'll announce the new team in a couple of months and then follow us. And as far as our coaching
goes, at vegan proteins and at Muscles by Brussels, go check out our YouTube channel, get yourself a
bunch of free recipes, check out our stuff, go on at vegan proteins on Instagram, check all that out

(01:15:24):
or you can go right to our website, veganproteins.com and you can find everything there, including a way
to submit a coaching inquiry if that's something you're interested in. If one, you could see if
one, a one-on-one type of coaching setup is right for you. And we could, we could hang out, chat,
talk, all the things and we can, we could see where you're at, set a goal together,

(01:15:48):
look at what your process is like and predict what it will need to be like in order for you
to get results and get a whole team in for you, a really good community as well.
And you've got a podcast, you've got a newsletter, you've got all these other resources,
you've got links to these incredible athletes who are part of your, your teams.

(01:16:11):
You also have a diverse coaching team. You have competitive bodybuilders on your team,
you've got strength coaches, you've got a whole variety. Can you talk about some of the areas
that you, you specialize in across your, across the five coaches?

(01:16:32):
When I talk about Sawyer, the very first, the thing that I have identified with him is that
he has got some serious heart. Out of all of us, that's the standout with him, first and last.
We see we all follow the same formulas that Dani created when she started working with clients
of vegan proteins, right? So we follow the same coaching formulas, the same training theory,

(01:16:56):
nutrition philosophy, all of that. Each one of us are a little bit different. So I feel like Sawyer's
got a tremendous heart, tremendous heart and an insane ability to empathize. Ben is incredibly
empathetic as well. And he's also very, very good at exercise science and programming and habit

(01:17:20):
change and all of it. And he's a competitive bodybuilder himself, which is a whole different
breed of, that you can, I won't go there, but yeah, I mean, being a competitive athlete,
he can train others who compete, just like Alice, for example, she's our pro bodybuilder. She's a

(01:17:42):
pro bikini athlete and she's one of the nicest people that you will ever meet. And she's
genuinely nice. And you can't stop her from over-delivering. She'll over-deliver
even when you don't want her to. Dani started it all. And obviously I've been alongside her

(01:18:02):
this entire time. So with both of us, we've worked with the most clients out of any one of us,
really. We've been doing this for a very long time. But again, we all work off the same
principles, the same training theory, the same nutrition philosophy, the same ideas when it comes

(01:18:29):
to mindset work and personal growth. Now people forget that. Like we are fitness coaches. No,
we're not counselors. But there is a certain degree of personal growth that you experience when you
work with a fitness coach and your mindset changes and your lifestyle changes. And you get the
results you're looking for and you get to understand how to truly feel comfortable with

(01:18:55):
the way that you look and you get to enjoy eating like an athlete and eating like someone who is
able to and truly just care about their health, able to care about their health and truly just
care about their health. And so many people can benefit from having a coach, Giacomo. We have
coaches in so many areas of life, team coaches in sports, music coaches, teachers, business coaches,

(01:19:21):
finance coaches, personal trainers in the gym. A fitness coach can really set you on the track
to success. If you're struggling with any one of these things we talked about today, struggling to
find a routine, struggling to know what to eat, struggling to put a meal plan together, struggling
to be consistent and build routines and habits, struggling with willpower and motivation, want to

(01:19:46):
be part of a community of other people doing it, want to have guidance, someone to talk to, someone
who's experienced and has coached thousands of people to say, hey, I've got these questions.
What about this? What about this? This is one thing I'm going through. I've got this setback or
this mental block or this injury I'm working through. You guys have seen it all. You've been
through it. You know how to help people. I've seen it. I've witnessed it. Danny has helped my wife

(01:20:12):
lose 20 or 25 pounds just working with her, giving her road maps so she knows what the heck to do.
We've seen this work so many times. So for the listeners, I highly encourage you to check out
vegan proteins coaching. They've been doing this basically longer than anyone and they do it as

(01:20:37):
well as anyone in the entire industry. And in fact, they even have the awards to prove that,
how successful they are and the thousands of lives that they've changed. Giacomo, we're running low
on time here and I still have one more question for you. It's a question I ask everybody

(01:20:58):
at the end of these conversations here. Giacomo, if there was a movie made about your life,
who would play you? Is that a real question? It's a real question. Why are you putting me in a spot
like that? How are we going to end the spot? Because I don't have an answer for that. You brought up my red
car. I didn't know you were going to bring that up today. You put me on the spot with red car and

(01:21:22):
calling me out on the spot. I'm like, I'm going to go to the gym. I'm going to go to the gym.
I'm going to go to the gym with red car and calling me out for my space and for leaving you high and dry in
Portland to search for greener pastures in LA only to run out of money and get run out of town.
So I'm putting you on the spot with who's going to play you in a movie. If there's a movie about your life.

(01:21:45):
Are we thinking like someone from Hollywood? Is that what you're suggesting?
Doesn't have to be. A lot of people mention an actor, but many people, because I ask this question
everybody because the answers are so fascinating. Some will mention a relative. Some will mention
a close friend. Someone will mention a role model. Someone who they feel like would really personify

(01:22:08):
their image and their character. Some people have even picked someone who's no longer living,
like an actor from a long time ago or someone from the movies a long time ago.
So it's really just a fun question to end on to allow you to think on the spot and be totally
stumped as many people are. And I mean, you don't need to say Elmer Fudd or a fictional character,

(01:22:32):
but you certainly could. You could pick a fictional character too. I'd probably pick He-Man for myself.
Why not? Gee, I don't know. Luke Ferrigno maybe? All right. There you go. There you go. That's a

(01:22:54):
great answer. He's got like the right amount of anger. He trained a couple of blocks away from
where I grew up. He is a diehard bodybuilder. He would make me seem larger in life because he's
enormous and super muscular and he's got a strong Italian profile. So I would be able to look the

(01:23:15):
part. It'd be fun. Yeah. Why don't we say Luke Ferrigno? I'll quote that. That is a very good
and very well thought out answer, even though you were put on the spot. So well done, Incredible
Hulk or the Hulk or whatever he played. So Giacomo, he was the Hulk, right? He was the Hulk.

(01:23:35):
I don't know if he was Incredible Hulk or just the Hulk. I don't know, but that's the role he
played, one of his famous roles. So I'm going to call you the Hulk when I see you in a few days.
Giacomo, any final words for our Plant-Powered Athlete podcast audience today before we sign
off and let you get to your next appointment?
Thank you for listening. I hope that you found this episode valuable. If there's anything that you

(01:24:02):
want to reach out about, even if it's outside of coaching, it doesn't matter. I'm always accessible.
Please don't be shy. I often tell people when they're inquiring about coaching to talk to me
and to text message me as you would a family member or a friend and to please not be shy.
Because the world is far too disconnected and we get far too stuck in our own whatever it is that

(01:24:25):
we're doing that we don't realize that there are other people that are dying to make a connection
with you. And I love people and I love making strong connections with people. And I would
absolutely love, love, love to be in touch with you. So if you're listening to this podcast and
you can find me on veganproteins.com or anywhere else, please by all means reach out and I would

(01:24:49):
absolutely love to have a conversation with you about anything and help and support you in any
way that I can. Well, Giacomo, it's been an absolute pleasure. You're one of my favorite
people of all time and congratulations on all of your success, including all of the Plant-Powered
Athlete Awards that you've won. And I'm so happy to have you here. I'm so happy to have you here.

(01:25:11):
And I know that I know you had wonderful role models and teachers that set you on that path.
And so for everyone listening, I've been Robert Cheek. My wonderful guests has been Giacomo
Marchese from veganproteins.com, one of the great, great vegan fitness coaches and also
one of the best weightlifters in the world. And I love seeing you on that path. So,

(01:25:33):
congratulations on that. I know you're going to be very happy to be here. I'm so happy to be here.
one of the great, great vegan fitness coaches in the entire world. And please go check them out
at veganproteins.com. And also please support their world's largest team of vegan strength
athletes with Vegan Strong and Plant Built. And until next time, have a wonderful day, everyone.

(01:25:56):
We'll see you in the next Plant-Powered Athlete podcast. Take care.

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Giacomo Marchese | How Giacomo Marchese Built the World’s Largest Vegan Strength Team | PPAP43

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Giacomo Marchese | How Giacomo Marchese Built the World’s Largest Vegan Strength Team | PPAP43