January 26, 2025 • 64 mins
Join us on Episode 45 of the Primal Foundations podcast as we explore the inspiring journey of Mark Valenti, a StrongFirst Elite Instructor and former Highland Games competitor. Mark shares incredible stories from his two-decade career in the Highland Games, including the unforgettable experience of lifting Iceland’s legendary Husafell stone. He delves into how adopting a carnivore diet transformed his athletic performance and overall health, emphasizing fasting, fat adaptation, and the power of a simple, meat-based approach. We also discuss the creation of "Blind Dog Gym," where Mark fosters a strength culture rooted in the philosophy that "Strength has a greater purpose," benefiting clients of all ages. Packed with tales of perseverance, community, and practical wisdom, this episode offers valuable insights for athletes and fitness enthusiasts alike.
Connect with Mark:
@mvalenti100
@blinddogstrong
blinddogstrong.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey everybody, welcome back to an episode of
the Primal Foundations podcast.
Today's guest is Mike Valenti,strong first elite instructor
and team leader, former HighlandGames competitor, Carnivore
since 2017, and owner andoperator of Blind Dog Gym
located in Vermilion, Ohio.
Mark, welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Hey how you doing.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Great to be here to the show.
Hey, how you doing.
Great to be here.
Yeah, man, I was telling you alittle off air.
I was like swing kettlebells,lift weights, eat steaks,
carnivore.
I'm like you're my targetaudience.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
It's nice to meet people like that all around and
get those same brain wavelengthsgoing.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Absolutely.
I want to start the podcast offto have some of the listeners
get some of your background ofhow did you get into fitness
athletics and then make your wayto becoming a competitor in
Highland Games.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Yeah, I did everything like I'm sure most of
the people listening did as akid all the sports, growing up
and started lifting weightsbecause I wanted to look like
the wrestlers you know in the80s and picked up the shot in
discus in high school.
Really fell in love with that.
And then when I got out of highschool, well, in my junior year
(01:18):
of high school I startedcompeting in the amateur circuit
of the Highland Games.
And then when I got out of highschool, I got recruited by the
University of Toledo for trackand field Scholarship.
That they kind of dangled infront of me didn't turn out.
They wanted me to work for acouple of years to kind of earn
my spot on the team and I wasalready better than the guy they
(01:41):
had throwing for them.
So I said, well know, I could,I could do this, or I could just
turn professional in thehighland games and and actually
make some money throwing.
So, uh, I turned pro, um, uhswitched colleges, turned pro
and and uh ended up doing thatfor almost 20 years and uh, and
it was the best summer job Iever had.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
What were some of the events that you were doing?
Speaker 2 (02:07):
So Highland Games traditionally is you know
whether it's you know there'stwo stone throws, very much like
the shot put, two weight throwsthat are similar to the discus.
Two hammer throws very similarto, you know, a track and field
hammer throw.
(02:28):
A weight for height, which is a56-pound weight.
You throw over a bar like ahigh jump bar, the sheath toss,
which is a 20-pound bag of strawwith a pitchfork.
You throw over a high bar, andthen the caber toss, which is
what everyone kind of knows,which is the one that looks kind
of like a telephone pole.
And, uh, you know they'lleither take anywhere from five
(02:51):
events in one day to seven, andthen some days they do two-day
events.
Well, they'll do all all nineevents that you know in over two
days.
And, um, it was great because wegot to.
Um, it was like getting paid togo on a road trip with your
buddies every weekend.
So from mid-April to Halloweenwe were in a different city
(03:13):
every weekend or every otherweekend.
And it was great because thosefestivals that people look
forward to every year, and forus it was just another day at
work, but every weekend you gotto go to a new town and people
were really psyched to see youand you competed all day.
And then you got to go to a newtown and people were really
psyched to see you and youcompeted all day.
And then you got to go to thebeer tent at night and never had
to buy a drink or pay for ameal.
It worked out really well.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
That's the one where you throw like whatever over
your head.
It's got to go over the bar.
I've seen like some of thestrong guys do that strong man
where they're thrown kegs yeah,yeah.
And then I saw one I guys dothat strongman where they're
throwing kegs yeah, yeah.
And then I saw one I forgotwhat the guy's name was but like
the keg didn't make it, it felland it hit him.
Yeah, he just shrugged it off.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
he's like whatever we used to be able to go.
Uh, you know, when I wascompeting you get the strongman
and every once in a while weused to be able to, to you know,
smoke them pretty easily inthose events.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Now they're getting a lot better at them, so oh yeah,
and you also uh, lifted thehusafell stone.
If I get that correctly, thatwas in iceland iceland in 2017.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
I'd already retired from the pro circuit and uh went
over there.
I got invited to do themaster's world championships and
uh went over and uh, um, abuddy of mine from the circuit,
matt Vincent, he's he's somepeople don't even know he was a
Highland Games athlete, so he'she's like I don't know what the
(04:34):
hell he is now Some kind ofspiritual guru.
I always see him online, but hewas doing an Internet show and
he was injured and asked if hecould do it and asked if I
wanted to come do it.
So I said, yes, show.
And.
And he was injured and asked ifhe couldn't do it and asked if
I wanted to come do it.
So I said yeah.
So we flew into iceland anddrove four hours up to husafell
and and lifted this stone thatevery great strong man and and
(04:55):
viking and everything else forthe last 500 years has lifted
and tried to carry.
So it was pretty amazing that'scool, cool.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
I visited Iceland before.
It's so beautiful, but if Iwould have known I would have
made an attempt at the stone.
How heavy is this thing?
Speaker 2 (05:12):
It's 419 pounds.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Okay, maybe not, then that's a pretty big stone, yeah
.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
And there's such a rich stone culture in that
country and we ended up liftingthree of the stones the beach
stones and the Husafell stone.
But there were more stones thatI didn't even know about until
I left the country that I wouldhave liked to, at that time,
taken a shot at.
I'm about probably 70 poundsand 15 years too old now, but
(05:44):
back then I wish I would haveknown more about them.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Yeah, and so this is kind of around 2017.
Yeah, this is this transitionto carnivore.
So how did?
How did you find out acarnivore?
What was even like theinspiration to even start doing
this type of diet?
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Yeah, I started.
So when I retired from the procircuit I weighed 312 pounds, so
I was at 5'11".
I was, you know, heavy to saythe least.
So I went keto at first,started just dropping weight
fast.
So in about a year, year and ahalf, I dropped about 100 pounds
and then started to, you know,gain weight back up, good solid
(06:27):
weight.
But Dr Sean Baker, who's theguy who pretty much brought
carnivore to the public, wasalso a Masters Highland Games
athlete and I just kind ofreached out to him and we kind
of knew each other from thecircuit.
We weren't like pals oranything, but we knew of each
(06:47):
other and he's I said are youreally doing this?
You know, cause, at the time, noone was was doing this and he
was about the only one.
And um, he said, yeah, I'mdoing it, I feel fantastic and
and, uh, you know, I, I, I thinkyou know it's a great way to go
, and so I just gave it a tryand I never looked back.
(07:08):
It's just my, my body has neverfelt better, Even at 51,.
I feel great and, uh, I don'tsee me ever changing the way I
eat.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Uh, and then you're in the.
You know you're above 300.
Uh, where did you kind of?
You said you're dropping abunch of weight?
Where did you kind of land onthe carnivore diet?
Speaker 2 (07:26):
So I hover right around between 200, 210, you
know, without having to try orrestrict myself in any way, I've
gotten as low as 180.
That was last year.
But yeah, 210 is where I levelout at.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
Okay, and as you're going through this, I mean
that's a, that's a big weightloss.
You know what Some people whenthey get to carnivore and it's
everybody's a little bitdifferent Did you have like
cause you were keto before?
Was the you know adaptionperiod tough for you, or is it
an easy transition?
Speaker 2 (08:06):
No, when, when I, when I transferred from eating
like a well you know, like anasshole just eating horribly to
to keto, you know I'd always had, which I you know I'm married
to a nurse, so like she figuredall this stuff out.
But I had always had bloodsugar issues.
(08:26):
I would get real weak andalmost delusional sometimes and
sweat.
It was bad and didn't reallyknow what was going on.
But we decided to try this andcut out all the sugar and carbs
and see what would happen.
So I never went through ketoflu or anything like that.
(08:49):
I think my body just reallywanted me to eat that way.
I never had any of those issues.
Then, when I went from keto tocarnivore, it was even better.
I found adding fat to um, Ifound like, uh, adding fat to
everything was pretty tiresomeand you know you were.
(09:10):
You were constantly trying toget more fat in your diet and
this just seemed um more logicalto me.
This is the way we would haveeaten, you know, 300,000 years
ago.
We would have been following,you know, game animals across
the tundra.
We would have eaten primarilymeat and then, in season, when
(09:32):
we didn't have meat, we probablywould have looked for some kind
of plant life to eat.
But it just felt right and itmade sense to me and I just
think that's kind of the way wewere meant to eat.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
I went to a crazy transition.
I was vegan for two years andthen I went.
I was like all right, my bodystarted not really working for
me anymore, so I then went toketo.
But one of the reasons I wentto carnivore is just because it
was simpler.
Like keto is just like what'smy macros?
Is this fiber minus the plusthe net carb?
Yeah, I'm just like what's mymacros?
Is this fiber plus the net carb?
(10:07):
I'm just like what am I doing?
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Exactly.
It was such a pain in the butt.
And then I went carnivore andDr Baker is just so good about
it.
He's like, hey, I just eatsteak, this is not hard.
You're trying to make carnivorecookies and bread.
It's like just eat a steak,you'll be fine.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Now one and this is like I'm so excited to talk to
you about this because this isone piece I get, uh, people
predominantly that are athleticor athletes are like I'm not
going to do carnivore or evenketo because I really don't want
my athletic performance tohinder Did you feel like it kind
(10:51):
of did hinder a?
Speaker 2 (10:51):
little bit at first, or did it?
Was it beneficial?
So, like I said, I think for mepersonally, I think this is the
way I was meant to eat.
I think it's the way my bodyreacts.
The best I did um the worldhigh or the world uh, masters
Highland Championship completelyfasted.
So I was on a 24-hour fast,carnivore.
Actually, I was probably ketoback then at that time, so I was
(11:15):
probably somewhere in thetransition.
I can't remember, but eitherway, Ketovore yeah.
Yeah, but I didn't eat untilevening of that day.
So we were competing all day.
Same thing when I qualified forStrongman Nationals completely
fasted, and I was carnivore forsure for that, and I never had
(11:35):
any issues.
And I really think it's justbecause my body was so used to
burning fat so it wasn't like Ineeded that that food to digest,
it was just pulling the fat offmy body as I, as I competed,
and, uh, I never got tired, Iwas never low energy.
Um, I've never had any of thoseissues.
Now, you know, obviouslyeverybody's different, but uh,
(11:58):
yeah, I never had have any, hadany problems with low energy or
or poor athletic performancebecause of it.
And I really think for me, evenwith the fasting, you know, I
didn't have to worry aboutdigesting food while I'm trying
to compete, or, you know, mybody was just more efficient
that way, I think.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
For building muscle as your trainings.
You feel like I was.
Oh, you were able to buildmuscle, or at least maintain.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Yeah, I'm still able to do now, even um, whatever I
want to do.
I did my uh, uh.
I dead lifted uh three timesbody weight last year and you
know I was able to build up tothat for the first time ever.
My weights now seem to bereally, really good.
Uh, I don't have any problemswith strength levels or building
(12:45):
muscle and, yeah, I think a lotof it is people just
overthinking this.
You know I, you know I'm not adoctor, I'm not a dietician, but
it just seems that people justoverthink this whole thing.
You need protein to buildmuscle, you need fat for energy.
I mean, you know, if you likecarbs, great, go for it.
But I, you know these battlesover whether or not it can work
(13:06):
or not.
I'm always like it works for me, you know.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Yeah, we're definitely gonna.
We're gonna get back to thisbecause you just mowed over.
Oh yeah, I just deadliftedthree times my body weight, so
we're gonna get back to that.
You're like it's super simple,it's?
You know, I'm going to eat tillyou know I'm satiated.
I'm going to be able to perform.
Well, I think the big piece islike you know, I don't want to
put my tinfoil hat on, but it'slike well, what about all the
(13:34):
energy bar companies?
You know, all of the power gelsor whatever it may be, and the
protein shakes, and you got tohave all this stuff to be an
elite athlete.
You're just eating red meat andsteaks and feeling good.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
And if you look at all that stuff most of it you
know you have to really searchhard to find a protein shake or
a protein bar or something likethat.
It isn't just filled withgarbage.
I get that question from myclients all the time is you know
, what kind of protein should wetake?
Take a state at the risk ofoffending your audience.
(14:10):
I competed in two of the sportsthat had some of the strongest
guys on the planet.
You know they didn't sit aroundtalking about what protein
drink they were having.
You know, I mean, if anything,you know they were on
testosterone.
They weren't taking protein andenergy drinks.
You know it just.
If anything, you know they wereon testosterone.
They weren't taking protein andenergy drinks.
You know it just.
So, if these are the strongestguys on the planet, they're not
(14:30):
taking this stuff.
You know why.
Why would I prescribe that to ahousewife who just needs more
protein in her diet?
You know, make up some hardboiled eggs and put them in your
refrigerator and eat those.
You know you don't need allthis crap.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
When you were starting out, you know you don't
need all this crap.
When you were starting out, youknow what was your kind of
typical meals.
I don't know if you were old,mad or kind of played around
with that one meal a day.
And is it different now later,later on, as you've been doing?
Carnivore.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Yeah.
So I found out real early.
I had I had a buddy, um, uh, drDon possessing, who, uh, you
know, when we were talking aboutwhen I was starting to lose
weight and I was kind of I wasswitching between from keto over
to carnivore and he had made acomment to me that you know, no
adult human needs to eat threetimes a day and he was kind of
one of these hardcore Chicagoweightlifter guys, you know.
(15:17):
And so I went down and startedeating just lunch and dinner.
Heard Pavel on Rogan's podcasttalking about doing the warrior
diet, which is one meal a day,and I said, oh, I'll just try
that and it's been the bestthing I've ever done.
I mean, it's just it for me.
Now I can put away food and,and you know, when I was on the
(15:41):
on the circuit and I was big,you know, there wasn't a buffet.
That I didn't love.
If you let me eat as much as Iwanted, I would do that three
times a day For my mental makeup.
If you can give me one meal aday where I can eat as much as I
want and not have to worryabout anything, it just works
perfectly for me.
So I will eat a huge meal, butjust once a day and I don't get
(16:06):
hungry, I don't uh have cravings, it just, it just works really
well for me.
And uh, you know again, pavel,coming through with, uh, some
some good knowledge.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
Yeah, I think he even mentioned he's like I'm not, I
don't, I don't eat vegetables.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
No yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
Yeah, and it's.
It's a good point too, andthat's what people some people
don't realize.
This is, you know, eating forsatiety, right, a lot of people
are very different in this.
It's like, well, eat tillyou're full, well, if you let me
eat twice a day, I'm going toovereat and over consume and
like my triggers.
For me, you know, it could be ahormonal, it could be a mental
(16:45):
thing or emotional thing.
They don't.
My satiety doesn't ping as much,right, I'm more of a volume
eater, like that's I've.
I've realized that, cause I eatcarnivore.
I've been carnivore for fiveyears or so now and even though
I'm carnivore, my weight will goup and down a little bit
depending on the volume that Ieat.
So, yeah, omad is definitely,it's a, it's a tool.
(17:08):
Some people like just reallydon't like it.
Um, but if you can go to OMADor at least identify like, oh,
like I really need to kind oftake a look at what's on my
plate and how much of it, causeI'm the same way as you I will
put down.
I can put two pounds of beefdown, three, right, it doesn't
really matter to me, like Imight be full, but I can still
(17:28):
keep going, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
And then I would do that every meal, if you let me
you know.
So it uh and then you know, fromthat I got into, um, you know
fasting.
So I do a couple 48 hours ayear, just kind of whenever I
feel like doing it, and then Ido a big 72 to 96, depending on
how I feel, every year afterThanksgiving.
(17:54):
So I think the fasting is isgreat too for your body and I
always feel great and I've donesome really cool things
athletically during long fastsand you know, I wish I was smart
enough to understand all thestuff that goes on in your body
when you're doing this stuff.
But you know they've been doingthis for hundreds and thousands
of years.
You know these fasts andthere's something to them.
(18:18):
You know I'm a firm believer.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
You know your family too.
Like you have wife kid right aswell.
Yep, you know.
So are they joining you withthis?
Or is this like dad's just theweird guy eating beef every day?
Speaker 2 (18:33):
So, um, my wife, um, is a former, uh, she was a
CrossFit regional competitor.
Um, when we met, um, smokinghot, you know, jack, the whole
nine young people, um, she is,um, uh, she's really increased
her protein levels, but shestill eats her fair share of
vegetables and, um, you know,more like a normal human would
(18:55):
eat.
You know, um, uh, my son is ahammer thrower at uh, ashland
university and he's kind ofwhere I was, you know, 20, 25
years ago, where he never met acalorie, didn't like.
So, um, but, uh, you know, whenI cook, I cook beef.
You know that's, that's what Icook and uh, so when he was home
(19:16):
, uh, in high school and stuff,you know it was, you know you
were having steaks tonight andit was usually that's how he
would eat too, you know so.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
I would be, I'd be, I'd be, I'd be pretty happy.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Yeah, you know we used to go through uh, two, two
cows a year when he was home,and now, wow, two yeah, two cows
a year.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
Oh man, you guys have a big uh ice chest thing, a
couple of them, yeah, yeah, ohmy god, do you get, do you?
I mean where you're at.
My assumption is you're gonnato have a little bit more access
to different farmers, ranches,things like that Do you kind of
buy locally.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Yeah, so I get.
I'm on schedule.
Matter of fact, at the end ofnext month I get my next half.
So twice a year I get a half asteer, or twice a year I get a
half a steer.
And then the other huge staplein my diet is eggs.
So I've got a client who has 60chickens and she doesn't eat
(20:15):
eggs.
So every week she brings me inlike three dozen eggs and then,
if she's out, my neighbors nextdoor have probably 13 to 15
chickens.
So you know I can just givethem a call.
So I, you know, we go to thegrocery store.
Most of it is food for animalsand food for my wife and there's
nothing in the cart for me.
So I just eat everything localand I know what those animals
(20:39):
are eating and I know the peoplewho are raising them and it's.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
It's really just an ideal situation, situation, man,
that's not.
It sounds really good.
Yeah, well, over here inchicago there's not just you
know, there's just cities.
You know, here, there and um,just getting like real good
quality beef is is kind of tough.
I I'm not in the camp of likeit has to be.
Um, you know, uh, grainfinished like grass fed, the
(21:05):
whole shebang.
Um, I don't think the profileof the steak is that big of a
difference, but I think ifyou're able to and it's and
especially local, and you knowthe people or you have a
relationship, that's like youknow where your food comes from,
that's amazing yeah, I, I'm,I'm in your camp, I, you know I,
I don't think you make uh, youknow, perfect the enemy of good.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
You know where you're talking about.
They have to has to be grassfed, grass finished, and all
this stuff.
It's like, you know I, I knowthe farmer where I get my cow
from, I know how he treats hisanimals, I know how he feeds
them.
You know like, and I do I, butI, I talk to him about this
stuff more because I'minterested, uh, than anything.
Um, but yeah, I'm definitely inyour camp.
(21:49):
Um, one of the coolest things,uh, my neighbor is a deer hunter
and I wish that I had grown updeer hunting.
I just I didn't have a father.
My father was an old italianguy.
He was not into hunting, youknow.
So I wish that that someonewould have showed me how to do
that when I was younger.
But I was walking around ourproperty a couple of weeks ago.
(22:10):
I do like a 30, 40 minute walkevery day with the weight vest.
So I'm walking around theproperty and he comes pulling up
on his four-wheeler with agiant eight point buck on the
back of his four-wheeler and hetakes it into his shed and hauls
it up and gets ready to startdressing it out, and I come
walking over and I'm like, wow,charles, that that's awesome,
congrats.
(22:31):
He's like, hey, you likevenison, right?
I was like yeah, and this dudejust cut me out of loin right
out there and put it in aplastic bag and handed it to me.
It was still warm.
I was like man took that thinghome and cooked it up.
It was great.
But I mean, if you can get foodlike that and you've got some
kind of connection to it, Ithink it's just.
(22:51):
It just it's so much better foryou.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
That's, that's awesome.
And eating carnivore, andyou're describing all the things
and this is a common thing ofeverybody's feeling really good,
they're losing weight, theyhave a lot of energy, they don't
(23:19):
have to eat as much.
The hunger piece I I think is ais a is a big thing to talk, to
tackle with people because whenthey hear diet they're like I
have to be hungry or starving.
That's the point of a diet.
If I'm trying to quote unquotelose weight, you know how do you
, how do you feel?
Tackling hunger on carnivoreand then also your relationship
with food, tackling hunger, oncarnivore and then also your
relationship with food.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
Yeah, so my, my gym right now.
We do challenges every once ina while and I've probably got I
put out for world carnivoremonth, let's do carnivore.
And we probably got like sevenor eight people doing it at the
gym right now, which isn't a lot, but but seven or eight people
were willing to make thiscommitment for 30 days and I
told them I said have foodavailable like hard-boiled eggs
(23:50):
and beef jerky and if you haveto do like roast beef lunch meat
, it's not ideal but have itthere and I don't care.
Eat as much as you want whenyou're hungry, eat, but have the
right food sitting there so youdon't go to the popcorn or the
snacks or whatever you're goingto go to and they're doing
really well on it.
I've just gotten through theyears where I just don't do a
(24:10):
lot of snacking, I don't gethungry.
Just did a whole workshop inAkron this weekend and it was,
you know, eight hours oftraining people and then an hour
there and an hour back driveand I mean I never got hungry, I
never had any issues and youknow I went home and ate.
But you know, if you told me Ihad to go until the next day, it
(24:31):
would have been fine.
So it just my.
My relationship with food usedto be.
You know, it's always beenweird.
It was always.
You know, when I was youngerand competing, I was always
trying to put weight on and packweight on, because I was 5'11"
and I figured, if I'm only 5'11,I got to be really heavy and
you know it was dumb, but youknow that's the way I looked at
(24:51):
it.
So I had this unnaturalrelationship with food where I
was always trying to pack myselfto the point where I was sick.
And then now I think I'vefinally gotten to the point
where you know I eat when I'mhungry and I eat until I'm not
hungry and you know, lo andbehold, I feel a lot better.
You know when you're not makingfood into some kind of reward or
(25:14):
punishment, or you know,whatever you're, you're putting
your, your brain into it.
You know you just use it forwhat it is it's energy.
And and you know that's not tosay you can't go out.
And you know my wife and I willgo out and have date night
tomorrow night.
We'll have a wonderful meal andI'll have a cocktail with my
(25:36):
meal once a week and it can beused to have some enjoyment as a
thing.
But yeah, I think people justthey either overthink it or, you
know, they have some weird kindof relationship with it.
Where it's, it's screwing withtheir head and the more simple
you can make it, the better, youknow it's.
(25:57):
I have a lot of conversationswith my clients around food and
and you know it's it's funny,the ones who actually listen do
really well and the ones whodon't don't.
It's not rocket science.
And I tell them just that.
I say, hey, if you want this towork, just do what I tell you
for the next 30 days.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
Then you'll be on your own, you'll be fine.
The simplicity piece I found wasthe time that I spend, quote
unquote, like I don't reallymeal prep.
I don't, I don't meal prep.
I.
Literally I worked from six 45this morning till a five, 35, 45
(26:39):
.
Came home, brought up someground beef like two pounds.
Boom, you know, it was alreadyhad in the fridge and then boom,
got ready for the podcast.
All that stuff Like I'm good Iif I don't have had in the
fridge.
And then boom, got ready forthe podcast.
All that stuff like I'm good Iif I don't have it in the fridge
, it's in the freezer.
Yeah, and it's very simple,like you said, like just have
food ready, available, nutrientdense, bioavailable, great the
(27:01):
the packages.
Like I when I had a friend stayover with me from ohio.
He's from Ohio, he's an OhioState.
Are you an Ohio State fan?
By chance?
I'm not much of a sports fan,oh, okay.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
As my son and my brother is.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
Actually I lost a bet .
I'm a Michigan fan becausegrowing up in Chicago, there's
like no, everybody's atransplant around here and
there's like no football teamNorthwestern is good sometimes.
U of I was actually somewhatdecent this year, but I bet him.
I'm like oh, ohio State's goingdown, notre Dame's going to
crush them.
He's like all right, what doyou want to bet?
I was like all right, how aboutif you win?
(27:37):
If Ohio State wins, I'll wearan Ohio State t-shirt to work
all day, because I always talkcrap to all the students the
faculty at Ohio State and I'mlike if Notre Dame wins, you
have to win a Michigan shirt towork in Ohio.
He's like deal and my, I'mwaiting for my t-shirt to come
(27:57):
from Amazon.
But this is a side note, uh, buthe came over and he uh to visit
and he stayed with me and Icome back doing something.
He goes yo man, you ain't gotno snacks in this house.
And I was like no, I don't haveany snacks in the house.
He goes there.
No, I don't have any snacks inthe house.
He goes.
There's like he goes you gotbeef eggs and I open the freezer
more beef.
He goes you have salt and hotsauce and I was like that's it.
That's all in the cupboard issalt, hot sauce and uh utensils
(28:19):
yeah, and then everyone talksabout how expensive carnivore is
.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
Well, it's expensive because you don't buy any other
crap, you know that's.
You just buy the basics andit's not expensive at all.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
That's, and there's also this waste component I talk
to a lot of people about.
Like I don't waste anything.
I there's not one thing.
The only thing that really goesin my garbage is the shells
from the eggs and the packagingthat the meat comes in.
I never throw, cause when I wasvegan I would buy the big
spring salads like this deep,not get to them all, and then it
(28:52):
would be like sludge at thebottom and then throw it away.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Yeah, 100%.
You know there's somethingabout again, I was never a
hunter, but there's somethingabout the fact that this animal
gave his life for you to eat it.
And it's very difficult for youto eat it.
And you know it's verydifficult for me to throw meat
out.
You know, at the worst casescenario my dogs will get, you
know, get some of it.
(29:17):
But you know it just, there'ssomething about wasting that
that is different than thanthrowing out a salad.
You know you don't want to dothat.
Yeah, and you, you're a familytakes down one steer a year yeah
, right, yeah, like I meanthat's, that's leaving, uh, you
know, uh, uh, a low footprint, Iguess you would say in this day
(29:39):
and age exactly, and you talkedabout, like having a cocktail
every once in a while.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
And again there's like this everything nowadays is
very dogmatic.
It's either you're, you're,you're all carnivore or you're
not.
You know, like you can you havethat, because you're carnivore,
that you shouldn't be havingthose things.
Um, do you indulge in otherthings outside of carnivore and
like?
And if you do like, how doesyour body react to it?
Speaker 2 (30:05):
you know, know, I have, uh, we go, like I said, we
go date night every week andI'll have two, maybe three
cocktails.
Um, I know that if I have morethan that I will feel horrible
the next day.
I always keep it under that.
Um, I am, I am, uh, I'm a rumguy, so I I like my rum.
It doesn't seem to affect me.
(30:26):
I come from a family ofhard-drinking German people and
I can remember my grandmothergetting cases of beer delivered
to her house well into her 80sand I think, everything in
moderation, and I don't thinkwe're fragile enough that if you
have a drink here and thereit's going to wreck your body,
(30:47):
going to wreck your body, youknow, I think we're, we're a
little bit more stout than thatas a as a race of humans, and
and, uh, uh, you know now, thatbeing said, if, if you're going
to make a jump and make a switch, like I have my people doing
this world war challenge, andthat was part of the stipulation
(31:07):
which you couldn't drink for 30days, and I think that's a good
thing, you know, I had a couplepeople come to me and say, oh,
I couldn't do that.
Well, if you can't do that, youhave a problem?
You haven't.
You have an issue with alcoholthat you need to address, and
it's more important than yourissue with food.
Um, if you can't go 30 dayswithout having a drink, um, it's
all these crutches you got toget rid of.
(31:30):
You can't be, you can't bedependent on any of these things
, whether it's food or booze ordrugs or you know whatever it is
.
You know, address those thingsand learn how to overcome them.
You know cause, if you dependon something that much, then
it's probably an issue thatyou're not dealing with that
much, then it's probably anissue that you're not dealing
with.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
A little bit of alcohol.
Again, I'm in that camp of likeif having red wine every once
in a while I'm Italian, right, Ilove my red wine Like having
that every once in a while isgoing to like take five years
off my life.
I'm like fine, like that'stotally like, I need it, I want
to enjoy, I want to, I want to,I want to be able to be social.
(32:12):
And, uh, last year I did, I didworld carnivore month.
Last year again, which everymonth is basically a world
carnivore month for me, but Idecided like not to have any
alcohol.
I'm like I'm gonna do the wholedry january thing and I started
feeling so good that I actuallypushed it.
So I I did the second Februaryand I just I went 60 days and
not much of like a body compdifference.
(32:33):
But I would say the one thingthat I would say is the sleep.
Like, with no alcohol I wassleeping like a log.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
Yeah, yeah, um, and that's what I noticed.
Um, when I have too manycocktails, I you know, I have
the whoop strap on my arm andthat is such a crazy indicator
of where you're at Because,let's say, I had four drinks or
something, my sleep will be wayoff, my recovery is way off, and
you can just see the data righton your phone of what it did to
(33:04):
you and the evidence is rightthere.
I may not feel horrible, butI'm certainly not going to hit a
workout today, cause you knowI'm in the red and I know that
my sleep was was subpar, andit's just amazing to watch what
too much alcohol can do to you.
Like, I'm with you.
There's a you know, there's areason why we're here on the
(33:25):
planet and you know it doesn'thurt to be social once in a
while and have a drink with yourpals, you know.
Speaker 1 (33:31):
Nothing, nothing wrong with that, and you are the
owner and operator and the leadtrainer at blind dog gym.
Can you tell us a little bitabout the history of the gym and
why the heck is it called blinddog gym?
Speaker 2 (33:45):
So uh, yeah, so I started out in 96, training, uh,
athletes, um and uh.
So I kind of had this sidebusiness.
I was a corrections officer andI was training, uh, training
athletes on the side and didthat for for years and years,
and years.
And I had a, uh, a gym out ofmy garage at my house.
(34:09):
I just detached 20 by 20 garagewith, with a leaky roof and no
heat, no, no air conditioning,nothing.
And we, we, we put so manycollege athletes out of that
shitty little you know shack ofa of a gym.
It was just super hardcore andthe kids really got a kick out
(34:31):
of it.
I've always had Australiancattle, dogs, Blue Heelers, and
at the time I had one namedCordelia and she was blind as a
bat.
She would follow me out thereevery day and sit in the garage
and just stare at a wall orstare at a bench.
She didn't know what she wasstaring at.
But when my wife and I gottogether and she kind of talked
(34:53):
me into hey, you know, let'shave a real gym and see what we
can do, and we were looking fornames and I kind of made the
joke, we should just name itBlind Dog for Cord do and we
were looking for names and uh, Ikind of made the joke, we
should just name it blind dogfor Cordy.
And uh, she loved the name andit's stuck and uh, it's gone
through many different, uhiterations over the years but
it's always been blind dog andit's uh kind of made a name for
(35:13):
itself around here and uh, it's,it's been great, that's so cool
, just owning your own likebrick and mortar type deal and
getting to kind of tailor it upto to what you think.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
Right, there's those big, um, the big box gyms.
It's just like super cluttered.
I always joke around like Iwish I put money in a planet
fitness, um, like 10 years ago,because you know it's ten
dollars a month and if themember shows up it doesn't even
nobody cares, they're just gonnakeep paying and um, but to have
like your own place andstructure how you want and also
(35:46):
have like that relationship withthe clients, it is really
important.
And then when people come toyou, you know with the average
we're just talking, just average.
You know I want to lose 15, 20pounds.
Like you know somebody that canmove well, because there's a
spectrum there, the eliteathlete versus you know, and
somebody who's 300 poundsoverweight but like in the
(36:08):
average.
You know I want to lose weight.
How do you start them out?
What are the kinds ofconversations you have with them
?
Speaker 2 (36:14):
Make it like like you're trying to call over a
squirrel, you know, with apeanut.
You, you know you don't want tomake any big hand motions, so
you know we try to feel slowwith them, um, so we start them
off on just basic 20 minuteworkouts, you know.
And then, you know, after youknow a few weeks of that, we're
adding in a little bit of aflexibility piece and a mobility
piece.
(36:35):
And you know, uh, we try tokeep it short, sweet, sweet to
the point.
We have a lot of clientsnowadays.
It used to be pre-COVID.
All I got was I need to lose 12pounds for a wedding and they
would come in.
And to me that's about asboring as you can possibly get
to work with a client.
It's like Jesus.
(36:55):
But now, ever since COVID it'sI want to be healthy, I want to
be strong, which fits right inwith strong first right.
So we have these 40-year-oldpeople and 50-year-old people
and up who want to get good atTurkish get-ups and they want to
deadlift, and it's just a greatopportunity to actually
(37:18):
encourage a strength culturewith normal people.
You know they're not going todeadlift 600 pounds, but you
know, if I've got, you know I'vegot a 70 year old woman, sherry
, who you know she's pulling 150under.
You know it's great, she lovesit and she's strong and and
healthy.
And we were this small littletourist town called Vermilion
(37:41):
and there's a business in towncalled Chez Francois and it's
the only five-star restaurant inthe state of Ohio.
So it's this beautifulrestaurant on the river and
people come from all over to goto this restaurant and it's one
of these places where we eat atit once a year because you're
going to drop $500, places whereyou know we eat at it once a
(38:02):
year because you know you'regoing to drop $500, $600 for a
couple.
But I look at them more than Ilook at any other gym as far as
like a business model, becauseyou know what do they do?
They do everything perfect.
They give their customers agreat experience.
Everything is, you know, detailoriented, oriented.
They're making it as perfect aspossible and I I look at that
(38:25):
as as a model of how to run abusiness, more than than than
gyms.
And you know we just try tomake it a good experience for
everybody when they come in andit's fun.
It's never going to be, um, youknow, we have people who want to
train a certain way and theydon't want to train a different
way.
You know who cares.
If you're kind of a CrossFittype person, I'm going to give
(38:48):
you a functional fitnessCrossFit style workout because
you're going to get in shapefrom that, you know.
So every what I've, what I'verealized is training people
since 96 is that for the normalclient off the street,
everything works and the thingthat's going to work for best
form is what's going to get themoff the couch and in the gym as
many days a week as possible.
(39:10):
And that's just kind of how welook at things and it's really.
I get up every morning at 3.30in the morning ready to go to
work and I'm psyched to go.
You know, there's never a daywhere I'm like, oh shit, I got
to do this again.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
So it's working well.
I think I mean, how many peopleare jazzed up at three, 30?
Like, let's, let's get after ittoday, no-transcript.
(39:45):
I feel I'm actually superblessed and I tell the kids all
the time like I'm like what I'mteaching you guys now, because
we have this conversation allthe time and I'm sure you get
this too.
So, one of the hardestconversations to have of
aesthetics versus like buildingskills, one of the hardest
conversations to have ofaesthetics versus like building
skills.
And for those kids, because ofinstagram, because whatever they
(40:06):
see, uh see, bum, you know,just like, you know just doing
shoulder presses until theshoulders can't, they're gonna
pop out right, like I was like,hey, that's not, that's an
advanced thing, that's somethingthat's you know, that's a
bodybuild, that's a sport.
I'm like you need to be worriedabout like getting strong,
being resilient and like reallyfocusing on the skill.
Who cares about the weight?
(40:26):
The weight number doesn'tmatter.
It's like, how do you move withthe weight?
And like some kids are like,okay, this guy's talking like
you know out in, like to gettingto woo on me, but I'm like, no
like, and we have kids thatreally are dialing in and
getting them at the young age tolike, understand like your
performance, like is, is themost important thing of like how
(40:47):
, how technical you can be, how,how well you execute the lift,
regardless of the weight Rightand the.
The aesthetics could be aby-product of that, but
everybody chases like.
I want to be Brad Pitt fightclub all the time right, yeah,
that's, that's changed.
Speaker 2 (41:07):
Uh, since I was younger too.
You know, when I was a kid, Iwanted to look like the road
warriors.
You know, I didn't want to looklike who's this guy with little
, tiny abs and pec muscles.
You know, no one.
Now that's all the kids want tolook like.
You know I'm old, I don'tunderstand the kids anymore, so
that's why I don't train veryoften.
But yeah, for what you're doing, yeah, if you can.
You know, if you can get themyoung like that and teach them
(41:29):
the benefit of a get up and akettlebell swing, I mean, I mean
, that's that's you're going to.
You're going to have kids thatwill take on the world, you know
.
Speaker 1 (41:39):
Uh, I, yeah, and that's the.
It's the fun thing too, becausewe don't have a ton of machines
in our fitness center.
It's like I brought all mykettlebells to our gym, so my
kettlebells are there.
The kids use them, you know,they're getting really good at
barbell lifts.
It's all functional stuff.
It's not machines, and there'snothing wrong with machines,
right, if that's something thatyou want to do.
But because it's hard and ittakes time, they're invested in
(42:03):
it.
Speaker 2 (42:04):
Yeah, yeah.
It's such a achievement whenthey do something cool like that
, you know a big deadlift thatthey thought they were never
going to be able to do, or, andyou know it's, it's um, it's
like the belt system in karate.
You know, you're justespecially at that age.
You're just constantly givingthem a goal to hit and they
immediately hit that goal andthen you give them another goal
and it's like the only time intheir lives where that's going
(42:26):
to happen.
You know just constantlygetting better, no matter what
you do with them.
Speaker 1 (42:31):
It's great and I know you've mentioned this like a
few times Like what is StrongFirst, and then also, can you
explain what does it take to bean elite instructor?
Speaker 2 (42:40):
Yeah, also, can you explain what does it take to be
an elite instructor?
Yeah, so, strong first, uh, theschool of strength.
When I, when I finishedcompeting, I was uh kind of just
all over the place, didn't knowwhat I wanted to do, I got into
jujitsu, I got into all this.
I mean, that's, that's the oldman thing, right?
You get into jujitsu and youstart, you know, talking about I
couldn't find what I wanted todo Ended up meeting, I did a
(43:01):
podcast with Pavel Mosik and heimpressed me so much and he just
kind of made the you knowoff-the-cuff comment you should,
you know, look at taking yourSFG.
And so I looked up what SFG wasand I took it.
I went down, I took my SFG inOrlando, florida, strong First
(43:22):
Gira, level one.
I took it with Dr Mike Hartle.
It was brutal and it was reallyhard.
And at the end of the weekend Itold him got in the car, I
passed and I got in the car withmy wife and I said I'll never
do that shit again.
And I immediately went home andsigned up for SFG2 and Barbell
and that just got me going.
(43:43):
So I ended up taking my BarbellStrong First Lifter cert with
Dr Hartle, and then I took mySFG2 with Annalisa and Jeremy
Layport and I took my SFB rightafter my 50th birthday with John
Ingham to get my Elite rightafter my 50th birthday with John
Ingham.
To get my elite and you know, tobe elite you have to take all
(44:10):
four certifications and passthem.
Strong First is the onlycertification process that I
know of where you actually haveto be in shape in order to pass
the certifications.
You can tell that that's thecase because you don't find
overweight strong firstinstructors.
You don't find unhealthy strongfirst instructors.
One of the coolest things wasthe week after I made elite.
I got to fly out to Phoenix,arizona, and I went and saw
(44:34):
Pavel Totsulin and Fabio Zona doprogramming demystified in
Arizona, and I think I was oneof the only people in the
seminar who wasn't a team leaderor a master instructor or a
senior instructor at the time,and I got to meet some of the
(44:55):
most amazing humans on theplanet and I was just so in love
with Strong First andeverything they had to say and I
just it was like getting a newlease on life.
You know, here I was surroundedby these like-minded individuals
who were much smarter than Iwas and had, you know, at least
(45:18):
as much experience as I did, andI was learning and getting to
just kind of rub shoulders withlike-minded individuals.
And I decided then and therethis is the way I'm going to
give back to the next generation, where I'm going to go and do
these certifications and helpout and give whatever knowledge
(45:39):
I can to the next generation,and it's a rewarding thing that
I get to do and it's it's justbeen a fantastic journey so far
and it's only been you know lessthan two years it's.
Speaker 1 (45:52):
It's hard to describe .
I don't think I can describe itto people because when you see
quote like personal trainers orwhatever coaches, there's a lot
of the time it could be an aceand nasm and there's nothing
wrong with those things.
But strong, first you got to goin, perform the movements to
the standard and if it's notlike hey, like you got work to
(46:13):
do, yeah, like you just don'tpass.
When just by showing up or alot of you get like the
certification for going to theseminar or going to whatever,
but you know, sfg one, it's likethat grad workout is no joke.
Speaker 2 (46:27):
Joke, yeah and hey.
You great, You're elite.
Guess what?
In three years you got to do itall over again.
You got to get that all overagain.
They don't care that you're now72 years old.
If you want to keep that lead,you better be able to do your
one-arm push-up.
Speaker 1 (46:43):
Yeah, and you have all the technical skills you
have to execute them.
The barbell.
You know, one of the thingsthat I didn't know when I took
my SFL, I took it with Fabiofantastic person.
I thought it was going to belike SFG1, where you train a
little bit, get some feedback.
I thought it was going to belike SFG one where you train,
you know, you train a little bit, get some feedback and you know
.
Then you do your testing.
At the end it's like all right,weigh in, okay, warm up, get
(47:06):
your stuff, we're doingdeadlifts right away.
I'm like what?
Like I'm like what and and it'sfunny story because I I only
took SFL because I was like Ialmost was like a pure
kettlebell person at this pointI'm like I'm doing kettlebells,
that's, you know, that's what Ilove to do.
I haven't touched a barbell inyears and I wanted to SFL for my
(47:28):
clients Cause, like I want tomake sure, like I'm coaching
them right, and I'm like I justlet me go for SFL and I actually
didn't even know if I was goingto hit the deadlift.
I thought we were going to becoached up and then I can like
hit it right.
For sfl it's twice your bodyweight and I stepped up.
I was like who?
I think?
I was like, I think it was like180, maybe not even, and I
think I had to pull 360.
(47:50):
I was stood it up.
Speaker 2 (47:51):
They're like good, I'm like thank god, yeah yeah,
um, I am such a fan, I'm a fanof all the certs, but but I'm a
fan of the SFLs and I've gottenthe opportunity.
I've mentioned Doc Hartle.
I've worked a bunch of SFLswith Doc Hartle and I worked the
Dome SFL with Fabio last yearand I'm working with him again
(48:14):
this year and I tell you whatboth those guys are fantastic.
I mean they're so knowledgeable.
Both those guys are fantastic.
I mean they're so knowledgeable.
You know I learn something everysingle time I take or help
teach the SFL.
I learn something myself, whichis great, and I think it should
(48:35):
be mandatory that any kid whois getting under a barbell you
know these young kids goingthrough high school weight rooms
they should have to take.
You know, I know this soundscrazy, but they should have to
take a strong first workshop ortake the SFL before they're
allowed to get under a bar.
Because if I would have learnedthat stuff when I was that age,
(48:55):
I would probably be in a betterhealthy position as far as
joints and things like that atthis age and all these.
You know the the.
The hardest person I work within the gym is the 45 year old
guy who played high schoolfootball because he's all
screwed up from all the liftinghe did back then and they should
not.
It should be a mandatoryrequirement that you, you take
(49:18):
the sL, or take a Strong FirstLift or Barbell workshop.
Yeah, it's just it's.
And then, you know, doc Harlowcreated the CERT.
Fabio is a genius.
I tell you what.
I've told people this before Ifyou can't get along with Fabio
Zonin, there's something wrongwith you.
You know, there's there, there,I, I just love him to death.
(49:44):
You know, like, uh, uh, one ofmy, literally one of my favorite
people in the world and uh,it's, it's just been such a
great ride for me getting to dothis and and I just like waking
up at three 30 in the morning, Ifind out that I've got a
certain in a few weeks.
I just get giddy.
This is going to be fun, I'mgoing to have a good time and,
yeah, I'm just loving it.
Speaker 1 (50:04):
Great community, great coaches, like really they
know their stuff and and it'salso you mentioned like learning
from them, which a hundredpercent like I.
The joke was I looked at theguy that was partnered up with
for SFL.
When Fabio was talking aboutlike the first 15 minutes of
like him talking about SFL andbarbell, I turned to the guy
(50:27):
next to me.
I'm like I apparently knownothing about a barbell.
I go, I don't know anything.
I'm like this guy is just likerattling off these things, like
holy shit, like it was.
It was.
It was eye opening for me.
But also like we learn fromeach other because we're all
professionals in the room too.
It's like, wow, somebody doessomething or they have a tip for
you or whatever, and we'recoaching each other.
(50:48):
I'm like holy shit, I reallylike how you did that and
there's no ego.
It's like we're all here tolearn and get better.
Speaker 2 (50:54):
I mentioned it to Fabio last year because it
struck me I'm from about twohours north of columbus, so I
spent a lot of time going downto west side, barbell, louis,
louis simmons us because we werethrowers and he always wanted
to prove his system would workwith people other than power
lifters.
So we got invited down there alot.
We would go down and hang out,we you know.
(51:15):
Uh, we had a crazy dinner innashville with him one time,
which is a whole different story.
But he made the comment beforeI knew what Strong First was and
Pavel's put it in a couple ofhis books that Strong First
reverse engineers what eliteathletes do, naturally.
And I was at the SFL last yearat the Dome and Fabio was
(51:38):
talking about bracing and bellybreathing, uh, in lifting and
how to get tight that way, and Ihad to stop the, the, the whole
cert, and say, look, I, youknow.
I asked Fabio for permission totalk and I said, hey, if you
don't learn anything else thisweekend, this is something that
you know we always did aslifters and you know Louis at
(52:00):
Westside preached this, but henever under was able to explain
it the way Fabio just explainedit.
So he took something that, asheavy lifters, we all were doing
, but we sure as hell didn'tknow really how we were doing or
how we would tell other peoplehow to do it.
It was just something you did,and Fabio did such a great job
(52:22):
of explaining it.
I wanted to like stop the wholecert and say, hey guys, you
know if?
If he needs to repeat that, I'msure he will, but that's goal
you just got to walk away withnothing else.
Walk away with that, becauseit's going to keep you safe and
it's going to make your lifts gothrough the roof and you just
see that.
So much in Strong First withall these people.
(52:42):
I've mentioned a bunch of them,but you know, like John Ingham,
being able to do all the stuffhe does with the flexibility and
being as strong as he is.
And then I just spent theweekend with Annalisa Naldi in
Akron and she is like her brainworks faster than anyone I've
ever met in my life.
She's just this ball of energyand knowledge that I'm just like
(53:03):
Jesus Christ.
I hope I can hang with thesepeople.
I went to that program inDemystified and I met Sven
Rieger from Germany and he comesover across the room.
We'd only talked online.
He comes over and gives me abig hug.
It's just everyone.
Anzalika was there from Polandand it's just everyone.
(53:24):
Everyone you see with thatblack shirt and that little
strong first logo is a heavyhitter.
There's like no slouches in thegroup.
There's never been someone I'vemet at one of these things and
went, oh it's this fucking guy.
You know, I mean, they're alljust super friendly and super
knowledgeable and I just wisheverybody I just wish everybody
(53:45):
had the opportunity to becoached by a strong first
instructor and go through thesecertifications, you know,
because they are the goldstandard.
It's just it blows my mind.
Speaker 1 (53:56):
It's high level stuff .
It's the programming is amazing.
I've used a ton of like I openup my SFG, one manual, sfg, two
manual, all the time, you know,and I and it's like there's so
much in there, it's like I can'tlike those guys know all that
stuff off the top of their head.
I'm still trying to likeremember half I go what was this
(54:18):
, what was that?
Speaker 2 (54:18):
Like it's tough member, half I go what was this?
What was that Like?
It's tough.
Yeah, I took the build stronguh uh online seminar a couple of
weeks ago with Fabio and uh, itwas uh, eight hours on Saturday
and another like five on onSunday.
And uh, it was like drinkingfrom a fire hose.
I mean, there was just so muchinformation there.
(54:39):
It was unbelievable and Ipulled little bits out of it.
But I could probably take thatseminar three or four times and
learn something new every singletime.
Speaker 1 (54:48):
One of the last things I want to talk about of
Strong First is they have aquote.
I want to know what you thinkthis you know, if you can
explain kind of what this meansto you.
Strength has a greater purpose.
Speaker 2 (54:59):
Yeah, right to you, strength has a greater purpose.
Yeah, right, in this day andage, you know there's so much
behind that quote.
So, strength in general, you'renot just your bench press, but
strength of character, strengthof your body, you know, and
you're looking at endurance andmental fortitude and it's just,
(55:22):
there's an all encompassingattitude within strong first.
You know, stronger is alwaysbetter and I think that's
mentally stronger, that'sphysically stronger, that's
emotionally stronger.
It's the George Hackenschmidtquote.
You know you can't divorcestrength from health.
You know you can't divorcestrength from health.
(55:43):
You can do everything but, likethey say, you have to be strong
first and it's an importantaspect that is not always
appreciated in strength andconditioning programs.
You know everybody wants to dothe fancy stuff, like you said.
They want to bodybuild or theywant to take their athletes and
run them through.
You know speed ladders saidthey want to bodybuild or they
want to take their athletes andrun them through.
(56:03):
You know speed ladders when youknow, give me, give me a kid
and a 25 pound kettlebell andI'll get more out of them in a,
in a few months doing get upsand swings and and presses, that
then just about any kind ofgimmick you could get.
So you know whether you you aresomeone who teaches people how
to get strong, or you are atactical athlete, you know a
(56:24):
tier one performer, or you knowstrength is always important and
it's it's it's going to serveyou.
You know to be stronger, soit's, it's an important aspect
of of our community that noteveryone sees and it's weird
that they don't see it.
You know, as personal trainers,as as athletic trainers, as as
(56:47):
physical therapists, you knowstronger is always better.
Speaker 1 (56:51):
Very well said, and I I know you mowed over earlier.
I told you we're going to getback to this.
Speaker 2 (56:57):
What the heck made you want to do a deadlift three
times your body weight yeahspeaking of strong so when I was
, you know, younger, when I wasan athlete, I deadlifted 730
pounds, which was you know um,which was good for me, but I
weighed 312 at the time, um, and, and I started, uh, um, and I
(57:23):
and I wish I could remember thegentleman's name, fabio has a
friend, um, who he talked aboutit, programming demystified, and
he was a guy who I think waslike three and a half times body
weight deadlift, um, and I hadnever done that, I'd never,
never, even at my strongest,never pulled three times body
weight.
So I kind of made the goal thatum, uh, sometime in my 50th
(57:51):
year I would, I wanted to, um,do a bed press with the 56 kilo
kettlebell and I wanted todeadlift three times my body
weight, um and I.
I got the bed press prettyquickly and moved on to the
deadlift and it kind oftransformed a little bit as I
was going, because I was doing avery conjugate program.
So I was hitting a max effortlift once a week in the deadlift
(58:13):
but I was switching theexercises every time.
So one week I would do sumo,the next week I would do
conventional, the next week Iwould do, you know, do a sumo
deadlift off an elevation, thenmaybe next week I would do a
conventional deadlift from adeficit.
So I was just constantlyrotating the exercises.
Well, then the goal became Iwould do three times bodyweight
(58:34):
with both stances on the sameday.
So the goal was now I was goingto pull three times bodyweight
sumo, three times bodyweight,conventional, at the same time.
So I started working towardsthat goal.
I didn't have like a date inmind, I just figured I would
just keep training and then,when I was close, I would just
make my run.
And that's why I ended upgetting down to 180 pounds too,
(58:58):
because I was going to, like youknow, take every advantage I
can get.
So, um, when I saw that I wasgetting within, you know, a
range of that, of that pull, I Istarted, uh, you know, dieting
down a little bit, cutting somecalories, and I did it just very
easily.
You know, I would eat half asteak instead of a full steak at
(59:21):
night.
You know, just pulled out thecalories a little at a time, got
down to 180 pounds and and uh,I said this is the day I'm going
to do it.
So I felt great, um, and uh wasable to do it with both stances
.
I pulled it sumo first andripped a big giant callus off my
hands doing it.
So I just taped up my hand andsaid, you know, screw this, I
(59:43):
gotta, I gotta do it now.
So then I was able to pull itconventional as well and and uh,
yeah, I was super proud ofthose lifts.
It was uh, I wrote an articlefor for the strong first website
for it and, um, it was uh, itwas about a year of working on
it and uh, yeah, it was great.
I was, I was super excited withthat and it's uh, just a
(01:00:03):
feather in your cap, you knowthat that's bad-ass.
Speaker 1 (01:00:07):
Bad-ass man, that's.
That's great Eating steaks,lifting weights, enjoying life
Like I.
Just you're my people, man,You're my people.
I appreciate it as you wrap uphere here.
Where can people connect withyou um or find information about
blind dog jim?
Speaker 2 (01:00:27):
yeah, so I've got a couple of uh pages.
So my personal page, um, whereyou know I I don't post a lot on
there but I post like maybe aworkout a week and then whatever
book I happen to be readingthat week.
That is at mvalente100.
You can find the gyminformation at Blind Dog Strong
(01:00:51):
and then we also have atHeartStyle Great Lakes where
it's all Strong First stuffanywhere around the Great Lakes.
I try to put information onthere for people.
Stuff anywhere around the GreatLakes, I try to put information
on there for people.
So if anybody out there hasworkshops anywhere around the
Great Lakes they want advertisedor hell, I don't care anywhere
(01:01:11):
you're having your workshop,just send me the information.
I'll put it up there.
I try to get out as muchinformation about Strong First
on that page as possible.
Get out as much informationabout Strong First on that page
as possible.
If there's Strong Firstinstructors out there in
Northern Ohio that are lookingfor a place to train, blind Dog
is perfectly set up for StrongFirst and I'm looking for Strong
(01:01:34):
First certified instructorsonly.
So if anybody's out therearound Northern Ohio and they
need a place to work withclients, give me a holler and
we'll see what you can do.
Speaker 1 (01:01:44):
I'll put all that in the show notes and you're going
to the dome, going to be there.
Speaker 2 (01:01:49):
I'm so psyched and it's so far away.
Speaker 1 (01:01:53):
Almost, three months now, almost.
Speaker 2 (01:01:55):
Yeah, I've got a workshop February 23rd here in
Ohio.
So we're going to do Barbell101 here in Ohio.
I'm a team leader now so I getto actually run my own workshop.
So I think it's going to be meand Serenity Myers from down in
Akron, who is a fantastic coach,another awesome human being,
(01:02:15):
but we're going to do Barbell101.
I'm going to fill it full ofall sorts of goodies, so if
anybody's out there interestedin that, get ahold of me.
Um and then, uh, we got thedome.
Speaker 1 (01:02:31):
I'm so psyched for the dome and I'm working with
Fabio again and uh, I'm going tolearn a lot.
And and uh, yeah, it's going tobe awesome, it's going to be
great.
Speaker 2 (01:02:42):
I got.
I got foundations t-shirt justwaiting for you.
Just give me the size.
I got you, I'll trade you ablind dog, one for it.
Speaker 1 (01:02:46):
Perfect sounds good, or what are you coaching?
I must.
I'm assisting.
I don't know what I'm assistingyet, so I registered with john
ingram.
I'm going to be either sfl orsfg1.
I hope I have to research mysfl, so I'm hoping they put me
in there yeah, absolutely, yeah,that'd be great, that'd be dope
.
But, mark, you're the man Iyeah, I can't wait to see you in
in april, but uh, thanks, uhthanks for coming on, man, I
(01:03:09):
appreciate it thanks for havingme.
Speaker 2 (01:03:11):
I'll do it anytime you want.
I had a lot of fun you got it.
Speaker 1 (01:03:14):
Thanks everybody for listening another episode of the
primal foundations podcast.
Hey everybody, welcome back to an episode of
the Primal Foundations podcast.
Today's guest is Mike Valenti,strong first elite instructor
and team leader, former HighlandGames competitor, Carnivore
since 2017, and owner andoperator of Blind Dog Gym
located in Vermilion, Ohio.
Mark, welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Hey how you doing.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Great to be here to the show.
Hey, how you doing.
Great to be here.
Yeah, man, I was telling you alittle off air.
I was like swing kettlebells,lift weights, eat steaks,
carnivore.
I'm like you're my targetaudience.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
It's nice to meet people like that all around and
get those same brain wavelengthsgoing.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Absolutely.
I want to start the podcast offto have some of the listeners
get some of your background ofhow did you get into fitness
athletics and then make your wayto becoming a competitor in
Highland Games.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Yeah, I did everything like I'm sure most of
the people listening did as akid all the sports, growing up
and started lifting weightsbecause I wanted to look like
the wrestlers you know in the80s and picked up the shot in
discus in high school.
Really fell in love with that.
And then when I got out of highschool, well, in my junior year
(01:18):
of high school I startedcompeting in the amateur circuit
of the Highland Games.
And then when I got out of highschool, I got recruited by the
University of Toledo for trackand field Scholarship.
That they kind of dangled infront of me didn't turn out.
They wanted me to work for acouple of years to kind of earn
my spot on the team and I wasalready better than the guy they
(01:41):
had throwing for them.
So I said, well know, I could,I could do this, or I could just
turn professional in thehighland games and and actually
make some money throwing.
So, uh, I turned pro, um, uhswitched colleges, turned pro
and and uh ended up doing thatfor almost 20 years and uh, and
it was the best summer job Iever had.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
What were some of the events that you were doing?
Speaker 2 (02:07):
So Highland Games traditionally is you know
whether it's you know there'stwo stone throws, very much like
the shot put, two weight throwsthat are similar to the discus.
Two hammer throws very similarto, you know, a track and field
hammer throw.
(02:28):
A weight for height, which is a56-pound weight.
You throw over a bar like ahigh jump bar, the sheath toss,
which is a 20-pound bag of strawwith a pitchfork.
You throw over a high bar, andthen the caber toss, which is
what everyone kind of knows,which is the one that looks kind
of like a telephone pole.
And, uh, you know they'lleither take anywhere from five
(02:51):
events in one day to seven, andthen some days they do two-day
events.
Well, they'll do all all nineevents that you know in over two
days.
And, um, it was great because wegot to.
Um, it was like getting paid togo on a road trip with your
buddies every weekend.
So from mid-April to Halloweenwe were in a different city
(03:13):
every weekend or every otherweekend.
And it was great because thosefestivals that people look
forward to every year, and forus it was just another day at
work, but every weekend you gotto go to a new town and people
were really psyched to see youand you competed all day.
And then you got to go to a newtown and people were really
psyched to see you and youcompeted all day.
And then you got to go to thebeer tent at night and never had
to buy a drink or pay for ameal.
It worked out really well.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
That's the one where you throw like whatever over
your head.
It's got to go over the bar.
I've seen like some of thestrong guys do that strong man
where they're thrown kegs yeah,yeah.
And then I saw one I guys dothat strongman where they're
throwing kegs yeah, yeah.
And then I saw one I forgotwhat the guy's name was but like
the keg didn't make it, it felland it hit him.
Yeah, he just shrugged it off.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
he's like whatever we used to be able to go.
Uh, you know, when I wascompeting you get the strongman
and every once in a while weused to be able to, to you know,
smoke them pretty easily inthose events.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Now they're getting a lot better at them, so oh yeah,
and you also uh, lifted thehusafell stone.
If I get that correctly, thatwas in iceland iceland in 2017.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
I'd already retired from the pro circuit and uh went
over there.
I got invited to do themaster's world championships and
uh went over and uh, um, abuddy of mine from the circuit,
matt Vincent, he's he's somepeople don't even know he was a
Highland Games athlete, so he'she's like I don't know what the
(04:34):
hell he is now Some kind ofspiritual guru.
I always see him online, but hewas doing an Internet show and
he was injured and asked if hecould do it and asked if I
wanted to come do it.
So I said, yes, show.
And.
And he was injured and asked ifhe couldn't do it and asked if
I wanted to come do it.
So I said yeah.
So we flew into iceland anddrove four hours up to husafell
and and lifted this stone thatevery great strong man and and
(04:55):
viking and everything else forthe last 500 years has lifted
and tried to carry.
So it was pretty amazing that'scool, cool.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
I visited Iceland before.
It's so beautiful, but if Iwould have known I would have
made an attempt at the stone.
How heavy is this thing?
Speaker 2 (05:12):
It's 419 pounds.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Okay, maybe not, then that's a pretty big stone, yeah
.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
And there's such a rich stone culture in that
country and we ended up liftingthree of the stones the beach
stones and the Husafell stone.
But there were more stones thatI didn't even know about until
I left the country that I wouldhave liked to, at that time,
taken a shot at.
I'm about probably 70 poundsand 15 years too old now, but
(05:44):
back then I wish I would haveknown more about them.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Yeah, and so this is kind of around 2017.
Yeah, this is this transitionto carnivore.
So how did?
How did you find out acarnivore?
What was even like theinspiration to even start doing
this type of diet?
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Yeah, I started.
So when I retired from the procircuit I weighed 312 pounds, so
I was at 5'11".
I was, you know, heavy to saythe least.
So I went keto at first,started just dropping weight
fast.
So in about a year, year and ahalf, I dropped about 100 pounds
and then started to, you know,gain weight back up, good solid
(06:27):
weight.
But Dr Sean Baker, who's theguy who pretty much brought
carnivore to the public, wasalso a Masters Highland Games
athlete and I just kind ofreached out to him and we kind
of knew each other from thecircuit.
We weren't like pals oranything, but we knew of each
(06:47):
other and he's I said are youreally doing this?
You know, cause, at the time, noone was was doing this and he
was about the only one.
And um, he said, yeah, I'mdoing it, I feel fantastic and
and, uh, you know, I, I, I thinkyou know it's a great way to go
, and so I just gave it a tryand I never looked back.
(07:08):
It's just my, my body has neverfelt better, Even at 51,.
I feel great and, uh, I don'tsee me ever changing the way I
eat.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Uh, and then you're in the.
You know you're above 300.
Uh, where did you kind of?
You said you're dropping abunch of weight?
Where did you kind of land onthe carnivore diet?
Speaker 2 (07:26):
So I hover right around between 200, 210, you
know, without having to try orrestrict myself in any way, I've
gotten as low as 180.
That was last year.
But yeah, 210 is where I levelout at.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
Okay, and as you're going through this, I mean
that's a, that's a big weightloss.
You know what Some people whenthey get to carnivore and it's
everybody's a little bitdifferent Did you have like
cause you were keto before?
Was the you know adaptionperiod tough for you, or is it
an easy transition?
Speaker 2 (08:06):
No, when, when I, when I transferred from eating
like a well you know, like anasshole just eating horribly to
to keto, you know I'd always had, which I you know I'm married
to a nurse, so like she figuredall this stuff out.
But I had always had bloodsugar issues.
(08:26):
I would get real weak andalmost delusional sometimes and
sweat.
It was bad and didn't reallyknow what was going on.
But we decided to try this andcut out all the sugar and carbs
and see what would happen.
So I never went through ketoflu or anything like that.
(08:49):
I think my body just reallywanted me to eat that way.
I never had any of those issues.
Then, when I went from keto tocarnivore, it was even better.
I found adding fat to um, Ifound like, uh, adding fat to
everything was pretty tiresomeand you know you were.
(09:10):
You were constantly trying toget more fat in your diet and
this just seemed um more logicalto me.
This is the way we would haveeaten, you know, 300,000 years
ago.
We would have been following,you know, game animals across
the tundra.
We would have eaten primarilymeat and then, in season, when
(09:32):
we didn't have meat, we probablywould have looked for some kind
of plant life to eat.
But it just felt right and itmade sense to me and I just
think that's kind of the way wewere meant to eat.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
I went to a crazy transition.
I was vegan for two years andthen I went.
I was like all right, my bodystarted not really working for
me anymore, so I then went toketo.
But one of the reasons I wentto carnivore is just because it
was simpler.
Like keto is just like what'smy macros?
Is this fiber minus the plusthe net carb?
Yeah, I'm just like what's mymacros?
Is this fiber plus the net carb?
(10:07):
I'm just like what am I doing?
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Exactly.
It was such a pain in the butt.
And then I went carnivore andDr Baker is just so good about
it.
He's like, hey, I just eatsteak, this is not hard.
You're trying to make carnivorecookies and bread.
It's like just eat a steak,you'll be fine.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Now one and this is like I'm so excited to talk to
you about this because this isone piece I get, uh, people
predominantly that are athleticor athletes are like I'm not
going to do carnivore or evenketo because I really don't want
my athletic performance tohinder Did you feel like it kind
(10:51):
of did hinder a?
Speaker 2 (10:51):
little bit at first, or did it?
Was it beneficial?
So, like I said, I think for mepersonally, I think this is the
way I was meant to eat.
I think it's the way my bodyreacts.
The best I did um the worldhigh or the world uh, masters
Highland Championship completelyfasted.
So I was on a 24-hour fast,carnivore.
Actually, I was probably ketoback then at that time, so I was
(11:15):
probably somewhere in thetransition.
I can't remember, but eitherway, Ketovore yeah.
Yeah, but I didn't eat untilevening of that day.
So we were competing all day.
Same thing when I qualified forStrongman Nationals completely
fasted, and I was carnivore forsure for that, and I never had
(11:35):
any issues.
And I really think it's justbecause my body was so used to
burning fat so it wasn't like Ineeded that that food to digest,
it was just pulling the fat offmy body as I, as I competed,
and, uh, I never got tired, Iwas never low energy.
Um, I've never had any of thoseissues.
Now, you know, obviouslyeverybody's different, but uh,
(11:58):
yeah, I never had have any, hadany problems with low energy or
or poor athletic performancebecause of it.
And I really think for me, evenwith the fasting, you know, I
didn't have to worry aboutdigesting food while I'm trying
to compete, or, you know, mybody was just more efficient
that way, I think.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
For building muscle as your trainings.
You feel like I was.
Oh, you were able to buildmuscle, or at least maintain.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Yeah, I'm still able to do now, even um, whatever I
want to do.
I did my uh, uh.
I dead lifted uh three timesbody weight last year and you
know I was able to build up tothat for the first time ever.
My weights now seem to bereally, really good.
Uh, I don't have any problemswith strength levels or building
(12:45):
muscle and, yeah, I think a lotof it is people just
overthinking this.
You know I, you know I'm not adoctor, I'm not a dietician, but
it just seems that people justoverthink this whole thing.
You need protein to buildmuscle, you need fat for energy.
I mean, you know, if you likecarbs, great, go for it.
But I, you know these battlesover whether or not it can work
(13:06):
or not.
I'm always like it works for me, you know.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Yeah, we're definitely gonna.
We're gonna get back to thisbecause you just mowed over.
Oh yeah, I just deadliftedthree times my body weight, so
we're gonna get back to that.
You're like it's super simple,it's?
You know, I'm going to eat tillyou know I'm satiated.
I'm going to be able to perform.
Well, I think the big piece islike you know, I don't want to
put my tinfoil hat on, but it'slike well, what about all the
(13:34):
energy bar companies?
You know, all of the power gelsor whatever it may be, and the
protein shakes, and you got tohave all this stuff to be an
elite athlete.
You're just eating red meat andsteaks and feeling good.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
And if you look at all that stuff most of it you
know you have to really searchhard to find a protein shake or
a protein bar or something likethat.
It isn't just filled withgarbage.
I get that question from myclients all the time is you know
, what kind of protein should wetake?
Take a state at the risk ofoffending your audience.
(14:10):
I competed in two of the sportsthat had some of the strongest
guys on the planet.
You know they didn't sit aroundtalking about what protein
drink they were having.
You know, I mean, if anything,you know they were on
testosterone.
They weren't taking protein andenergy drinks.
You know it just.
If anything, you know they wereon testosterone.
They weren't taking protein andenergy drinks.
You know it just.
So, if these are the strongestguys on the planet, they're not
(14:30):
taking this stuff.
You know why.
Why would I prescribe that to ahousewife who just needs more
protein in her diet?
You know, make up some hardboiled eggs and put them in your
refrigerator and eat those.
You know you don't need allthis crap.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
When you were starting out, you know you don't
need all this crap.
When you were starting out, youknow what was your kind of
typical meals.
I don't know if you were old,mad or kind of played around
with that one meal a day.
And is it different now later,later on, as you've been doing?
Carnivore.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Yeah.
So I found out real early.
I had I had a buddy, um, uh, drDon possessing, who, uh, you
know, when we were talking aboutwhen I was starting to lose
weight and I was kind of I wasswitching between from keto over
to carnivore and he had made acomment to me that you know, no
adult human needs to eat threetimes a day and he was kind of
one of these hardcore Chicagoweightlifter guys, you know.
(15:17):
And so I went down and startedeating just lunch and dinner.
Heard Pavel on Rogan's podcasttalking about doing the warrior
diet, which is one meal a day,and I said, oh, I'll just try
that and it's been the bestthing I've ever done.
I mean, it's just it for me.
Now I can put away food and,and you know, when I was on the
(15:41):
on the circuit and I was big,you know, there wasn't a buffet.
That I didn't love.
If you let me eat as much as Iwanted, I would do that three
times a day For my mental makeup.
If you can give me one meal aday where I can eat as much as I
want and not have to worryabout anything, it just works
perfectly for me.
So I will eat a huge meal, butjust once a day and I don't get
(16:06):
hungry, I don't uh have cravings, it just, it just works really
well for me.
And uh, you know again, pavel,coming through with, uh, some
some good knowledge.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
Yeah, I think he even mentioned he's like I'm not, I
don't, I don't eat vegetables.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
No yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
Yeah, and it's.
It's a good point too, andthat's what people some people
don't realize.
This is, you know, eating forsatiety, right, a lot of people
are very different in this.
It's like, well, eat tillyou're full, well, if you let me
eat twice a day, I'm going toovereat and over consume and
like my triggers.
For me, you know, it could be ahormonal, it could be a mental
(16:45):
thing or emotional thing.
They don't.
My satiety doesn't ping as much,right, I'm more of a volume
eater, like that's I've.
I've realized that, cause I eatcarnivore.
I've been carnivore for fiveyears or so now and even though
I'm carnivore, my weight will goup and down a little bit
depending on the volume that Ieat.
So, yeah, omad is definitely,it's a, it's a tool.
(17:08):
Some people like just reallydon't like it.
Um, but if you can go to OMADor at least identify like, oh,
like I really need to kind oftake a look at what's on my
plate and how much of it, causeI'm the same way as you I will
put down.
I can put two pounds of beefdown, three, right, it doesn't
really matter to me, like Imight be full, but I can still
(17:28):
keep going, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
And then I would do that every meal, if you let me
you know.
So it uh and then you know, fromthat I got into, um, you know
fasting.
So I do a couple 48 hours ayear, just kind of whenever I
feel like doing it, and then Ido a big 72 to 96, depending on
how I feel, every year afterThanksgiving.
(17:54):
So I think the fasting is isgreat too for your body and I
always feel great and I've donesome really cool things
athletically during long fastsand you know, I wish I was smart
enough to understand all thestuff that goes on in your body
when you're doing this stuff.
But you know they've been doingthis for hundreds and thousands
of years.
You know these fasts andthere's something to them.
(18:18):
You know I'm a firm believer.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
You know your family too.
Like you have wife kid right aswell.
Yep, you know.
So are they joining you withthis?
Or is this like dad's just theweird guy eating beef every day?
Speaker 2 (18:33):
So, um, my wife, um, is a former, uh, she was a
CrossFit regional competitor.
Um, when we met, um, smokinghot, you know, jack, the whole
nine young people, um, she is,um, uh, she's really increased
her protein levels, but shestill eats her fair share of
vegetables and, um, you know,more like a normal human would
(18:55):
eat.
You know, um, uh, my son is ahammer thrower at uh, ashland
university and he's kind ofwhere I was, you know, 20, 25
years ago, where he never met acalorie, didn't like.
So, um, but, uh, you know, whenI cook, I cook beef.
You know that's, that's what Icook and uh, so when he was home
(19:16):
, uh, in high school and stuff,you know it was, you know you
were having steaks tonight andit was usually that's how he
would eat too, you know so.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
I would be, I'd be, I'd be, I'd be pretty happy.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Yeah, you know we used to go through uh, two, two
cows a year when he was home,and now, wow, two yeah, two cows
a year.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
Oh man, you guys have a big uh ice chest thing, a
couple of them, yeah, yeah, ohmy god, do you get, do you?
I mean where you're at.
My assumption is you're gonnato have a little bit more access
to different farmers, ranches,things like that Do you kind of
buy locally.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Yeah, so I get.
I'm on schedule.
Matter of fact, at the end ofnext month I get my next half.
So twice a year I get a half asteer, or twice a year I get a
half a steer.
And then the other huge staplein my diet is eggs.
So I've got a client who has 60chickens and she doesn't eat
(20:15):
eggs.
So every week she brings me inlike three dozen eggs and then,
if she's out, my neighbors nextdoor have probably 13 to 15
chickens.
So you know I can just givethem a call.
So I, you know, we go to thegrocery store.
Most of it is food for animalsand food for my wife and there's
nothing in the cart for me.
So I just eat everything localand I know what those animals
(20:39):
are eating and I know the peoplewho are raising them and it's.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
It's really just an ideal situation, situation, man,
that's not.
It sounds really good.
Yeah, well, over here inchicago there's not just you
know, there's just cities.
You know, here, there and um,just getting like real good
quality beef is is kind of tough.
I I'm not in the camp of likeit has to be.
Um, you know, uh, grainfinished like grass fed, the
(21:05):
whole shebang.
Um, I don't think the profileof the steak is that big of a
difference, but I think ifyou're able to and it's and
especially local, and you knowthe people or you have a
relationship, that's like youknow where your food comes from,
that's amazing yeah, I, I'm,I'm in your camp, I, you know I,
I don't think you make uh, youknow, perfect the enemy of good.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
You know where you're talking about.
They have to has to be grassfed, grass finished, and all
this stuff.
It's like, you know I, I knowthe farmer where I get my cow
from, I know how he treats hisanimals, I know how he feeds
them.
You know like, and I do I, butI, I talk to him about this
stuff more because I'minterested, uh, than anything.
Um, but yeah, I'm definitely inyour camp.
(21:49):
Um, one of the coolest things,uh, my neighbor is a deer hunter
and I wish that I had grown updeer hunting.
I just I didn't have a father.
My father was an old italianguy.
He was not into hunting, youknow.
So I wish that that someonewould have showed me how to do
that when I was younger.
But I was walking around ourproperty a couple of weeks ago.
(22:10):
I do like a 30, 40 minute walkevery day with the weight vest.
So I'm walking around theproperty and he comes pulling up
on his four-wheeler with agiant eight point buck on the
back of his four-wheeler and hetakes it into his shed and hauls
it up and gets ready to startdressing it out, and I come
walking over and I'm like, wow,charles, that that's awesome,
congrats.
(22:31):
He's like, hey, you likevenison, right?
I was like yeah, and this dudejust cut me out of loin right
out there and put it in aplastic bag and handed it to me.
It was still warm.
I was like man took that thinghome and cooked it up.
It was great.
But I mean, if you can get foodlike that and you've got some
kind of connection to it, Ithink it's just.
(22:51):
It just it's so much better foryou.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
That's, that's awesome.
And eating carnivore, andyou're describing all the things
and this is a common thing ofeverybody's feeling really good,
they're losing weight, theyhave a lot of energy, they don't
(23:19):
have to eat as much.
The hunger piece I I think is ais a is a big thing to talk, to
tackle with people because whenthey hear diet they're like I
have to be hungry or starving.
That's the point of a diet.
If I'm trying to quote unquotelose weight, you know how do you
, how do you feel?
Tackling hunger on carnivoreand then also your relationship
with food, tackling hunger, oncarnivore and then also your
relationship with food.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
Yeah, so my, my gym right now.
We do challenges every once ina while and I've probably got I
put out for world carnivoremonth, let's do carnivore.
And we probably got like sevenor eight people doing it at the
gym right now, which isn't a lot, but but seven or eight people
were willing to make thiscommitment for 30 days and I
told them I said have foodavailable like hard-boiled eggs
(23:50):
and beef jerky and if you haveto do like roast beef lunch meat
, it's not ideal but have itthere and I don't care.
Eat as much as you want whenyou're hungry, eat, but have the
right food sitting there so youdon't go to the popcorn or the
snacks or whatever you're goingto go to and they're doing
really well on it.
I've just gotten through theyears where I just don't do a
(24:10):
lot of snacking, I don't gethungry.
Just did a whole workshop inAkron this weekend and it was,
you know, eight hours oftraining people and then an hour
there and an hour back driveand I mean I never got hungry, I
never had any issues and youknow I went home and ate.
But you know, if you told me Ihad to go until the next day, it
(24:31):
would have been fine.
So it just my.
My relationship with food usedto be.
You know, it's always beenweird.
It was always.
You know, when I was youngerand competing, I was always
trying to put weight on and packweight on, because I was 5'11"
and I figured, if I'm only 5'11,I got to be really heavy and
you know it was dumb, but youknow that's the way I looked at
(24:51):
it.
So I had this unnaturalrelationship with food where I
was always trying to pack myselfto the point where I was sick.
And then now I think I'vefinally gotten to the point
where you know I eat when I'mhungry and I eat until I'm not
hungry and you know, lo andbehold, I feel a lot better.
You know when you're not makingfood into some kind of reward or
(25:14):
punishment, or you know,whatever you're, you're putting
your, your brain into it.
You know you just use it forwhat it is it's energy.
And and you know that's not tosay you can't go out.
And you know my wife and I willgo out and have date night
tomorrow night.
We'll have a wonderful meal andI'll have a cocktail with my
(25:36):
meal once a week and it can beused to have some enjoyment as a
thing.
But yeah, I think people justthey either overthink it or, you
know, they have some weird kindof relationship with it.
Where it's, it's screwing withtheir head and the more simple
you can make it, the better, youknow it's.
(25:57):
I have a lot of conversationswith my clients around food and
and you know it's it's funny,the ones who actually listen do
really well and the ones whodon't don't.
It's not rocket science.
And I tell them just that.
I say, hey, if you want this towork, just do what I tell you
for the next 30 days.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
Then you'll be on your own, you'll be fine.
The simplicity piece I found wasthe time that I spend, quote
unquote, like I don't reallymeal prep.
I don't, I don't meal prep.
I.
Literally I worked from six 45this morning till a five, 35, 45
(26:39):
.
Came home, brought up someground beef like two pounds.
Boom, you know, it was alreadyhad in the fridge and then boom,
got ready for the podcast.
All that stuff Like I'm good Iif I don't have had in the
fridge.
And then boom, got ready forthe podcast.
All that stuff like I'm good Iif I don't have it in the fridge
, it's in the freezer.
Yeah, and it's very simple,like you said, like just have
food ready, available, nutrientdense, bioavailable, great the
(27:01):
the packages.
Like I when I had a friend stayover with me from ohio.
He's from Ohio, he's an OhioState.
Are you an Ohio State fan?
By chance?
I'm not much of a sports fan,oh, okay.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
As my son and my brother is.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
Actually I lost a bet .
I'm a Michigan fan becausegrowing up in Chicago, there's
like no, everybody's atransplant around here and
there's like no football teamNorthwestern is good sometimes.
U of I was actually somewhatdecent this year, but I bet him.
I'm like oh, ohio State's goingdown, notre Dame's going to
crush them.
He's like all right, what doyou want to bet?
I was like all right, how aboutif you win?
(27:37):
If Ohio State wins, I'll wearan Ohio State t-shirt to work
all day, because I always talkcrap to all the students the
faculty at Ohio State and I'mlike if Notre Dame wins, you
have to win a Michigan shirt towork in Ohio.
He's like deal and my, I'mwaiting for my t-shirt to come
(27:57):
from Amazon.
But this is a side note, uh, buthe came over and he uh to visit
and he stayed with me and Icome back doing something.
He goes yo man, you ain't gotno snacks in this house.
And I was like no, I don't haveany snacks in the house.
He goes there.
No, I don't have any snacks inthe house.
He goes.
There's like he goes you gotbeef eggs and I open the freezer
more beef.
He goes you have salt and hotsauce and I was like that's it.
That's all in the cupboard issalt, hot sauce and uh utensils
(28:19):
yeah, and then everyone talksabout how expensive carnivore is
.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
Well, it's expensive because you don't buy any other
crap, you know that's.
You just buy the basics andit's not expensive at all.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
That's, and there's also this waste component I talk
to a lot of people about.
Like I don't waste anything.
I there's not one thing.
The only thing that really goesin my garbage is the shells
from the eggs and the packagingthat the meat comes in.
I never throw, cause when I wasvegan I would buy the big
spring salads like this deep,not get to them all, and then it
(28:52):
would be like sludge at thebottom and then throw it away.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Yeah, 100%.
You know there's somethingabout again, I was never a
hunter, but there's somethingabout the fact that this animal
gave his life for you to eat it.
And it's very difficult for youto eat it.
And you know it's verydifficult for me to throw meat
out.
You know, at the worst casescenario my dogs will get, you
know, get some of it.
(29:17):
But you know it just, there'ssomething about wasting that
that is different than thanthrowing out a salad.
You know you don't want to dothat.
Yeah, and you, you're a familytakes down one steer a year yeah
, right, yeah, like I meanthat's, that's leaving, uh, you
know, uh, uh, a low footprint, Iguess you would say in this day
(29:39):
and age exactly, and you talkedabout, like having a cocktail
every once in a while.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
And again there's like this everything nowadays is
very dogmatic.
It's either you're, you're,you're all carnivore or you're
not.
You know, like you can you havethat, because you're carnivore,
that you shouldn't be havingthose things.
Um, do you indulge in otherthings outside of carnivore and
like?
And if you do like, how doesyour body react to it?
Speaker 2 (30:05):
you know, know, I have, uh, we go, like I said, we
go date night every week andI'll have two, maybe three
cocktails.
Um, I know that if I have morethan that I will feel horrible
the next day.
I always keep it under that.
Um, I am, I am, uh, I'm a rumguy, so I I like my rum.
It doesn't seem to affect me.
(30:26):
I come from a family ofhard-drinking German people and
I can remember my grandmothergetting cases of beer delivered
to her house well into her 80sand I think, everything in
moderation, and I don't thinkwe're fragile enough that if you
have a drink here and thereit's going to wreck your body,
(30:47):
going to wreck your body, youknow, I think we're, we're a
little bit more stout than thatas a as a race of humans, and
and, uh, uh, you know now, thatbeing said, if, if you're going
to make a jump and make a switch, like I have my people doing
this world war challenge, andthat was part of the stipulation
(31:07):
which you couldn't drink for 30days, and I think that's a good
thing, you know, I had a couplepeople come to me and say, oh,
I couldn't do that.
Well, if you can't do that, youhave a problem?
You haven't.
You have an issue with alcoholthat you need to address, and
it's more important than yourissue with food.
Um, if you can't go 30 dayswithout having a drink, um, it's
all these crutches you got toget rid of.
(31:30):
You can't be, you can't bedependent on any of these things
, whether it's food or booze ordrugs or you know whatever it is
.
You know, address those thingsand learn how to overcome them.
You know cause, if you dependon something that much, then
it's probably an issue thatyou're not dealing with that
much, then it's probably anissue that you're not dealing
with.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
A little bit of alcohol.
Again, I'm in that camp of likeif having red wine every once
in a while I'm Italian, right, Ilove my red wine Like having
that every once in a while isgoing to like take five years
off my life.
I'm like fine, like that'stotally like, I need it, I want
to enjoy, I want to, I want to,I want to be able to be social.
(32:12):
And, uh, last year I did, I didworld carnivore month.
Last year again, which everymonth is basically a world
carnivore month for me, but Idecided like not to have any
alcohol.
I'm like I'm gonna do the wholedry january thing and I started
feeling so good that I actuallypushed it.
So I I did the second Februaryand I just I went 60 days and
not much of like a body compdifference.
(32:33):
But I would say the one thingthat I would say is the sleep.
Like, with no alcohol I wassleeping like a log.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
Yeah, yeah, um, and that's what I noticed.
Um, when I have too manycocktails, I you know, I have
the whoop strap on my arm andthat is such a crazy indicator
of where you're at Because,let's say, I had four drinks or
something, my sleep will be wayoff, my recovery is way off, and
you can just see the data righton your phone of what it did to
(33:04):
you and the evidence is rightthere.
I may not feel horrible, butI'm certainly not going to hit a
workout today, cause you knowI'm in the red and I know that
my sleep was was subpar, andit's just amazing to watch what
too much alcohol can do to you.
Like, I'm with you.
There's a you know, there's areason why we're here on the
(33:25):
planet and you know it doesn'thurt to be social once in a
while and have a drink with yourpals, you know.
Speaker 1 (33:31):
Nothing, nothing wrong with that, and you are the
owner and operator and the leadtrainer at blind dog gym.
Can you tell us a little bitabout the history of the gym and
why the heck is it called blinddog gym?
Speaker 2 (33:45):
So uh, yeah, so I started out in 96, training, uh,
athletes, um and uh.
So I kind of had this sidebusiness.
I was a corrections officer andI was training, uh, training
athletes on the side and didthat for for years and years,
and years.
And I had a, uh, a gym out ofmy garage at my house.
(34:09):
I just detached 20 by 20 garagewith, with a leaky roof and no
heat, no, no air conditioning,nothing.
And we, we, we put so manycollege athletes out of that
shitty little you know shack ofa of a gym.
It was just super hardcore andthe kids really got a kick out
(34:31):
of it.
I've always had Australiancattle, dogs, Blue Heelers, and
at the time I had one namedCordelia and she was blind as a
bat.
She would follow me out thereevery day and sit in the garage
and just stare at a wall orstare at a bench.
She didn't know what she wasstaring at.
But when my wife and I gottogether and she kind of talked
(34:53):
me into hey, you know, let'shave a real gym and see what we
can do, and we were looking fornames and I kind of made the
joke, we should just name itBlind Dog for Cord do and we
were looking for names and uh, Ikind of made the joke, we
should just name it blind dogfor Cordy.
And uh, she loved the name andit's stuck and uh, it's gone
through many different, uhiterations over the years but
it's always been blind dog andit's uh kind of made a name for
(35:13):
itself around here and uh, it's,it's been great, that's so cool
, just owning your own likebrick and mortar type deal and
getting to kind of tailor it upto to what you think.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
Right, there's those big, um, the big box gyms.
It's just like super cluttered.
I always joke around like Iwish I put money in a planet
fitness, um, like 10 years ago,because you know it's ten
dollars a month and if themember shows up it doesn't even
nobody cares, they're just gonnakeep paying and um, but to have
like your own place andstructure how you want and also
(35:46):
have like that relationship withthe clients, it is really
important.
And then when people come toyou, you know with the average
we're just talking, just average.
You know I want to lose 15, 20pounds.
Like you know somebody that canmove well, because there's a
spectrum there, the eliteathlete versus you know, and
somebody who's 300 poundsoverweight but like in the
(36:08):
average.
You know I want to lose weight.
How do you start them out?
What are the kinds ofconversations you have with them
?
Speaker 2 (36:14):
Make it like like you're trying to call over a
squirrel, you know, with apeanut.
You, you know you don't want tomake any big hand motions, so
you know we try to feel slowwith them, um, so we start them
off on just basic 20 minuteworkouts, you know.
And then, you know, after youknow a few weeks of that, we're
adding in a little bit of aflexibility piece and a mobility
piece.
(36:35):
And you know, uh, we try tokeep it short, sweet, sweet to
the point.
We have a lot of clientsnowadays.
It used to be pre-COVID.
All I got was I need to lose 12pounds for a wedding and they
would come in.
And to me that's about asboring as you can possibly get
to work with a client.
It's like Jesus.
(36:55):
But now, ever since COVID it'sI want to be healthy, I want to
be strong, which fits right inwith strong first right.
So we have these 40-year-oldpeople and 50-year-old people
and up who want to get good atTurkish get-ups and they want to
deadlift, and it's just a greatopportunity to actually
(37:18):
encourage a strength culturewith normal people.
You know they're not going todeadlift 600 pounds, but you
know, if I've got, you know I'vegot a 70 year old woman, sherry
, who you know she's pulling 150under.
You know it's great, she lovesit and she's strong and and
healthy.
And we were this small littletourist town called Vermilion
(37:41):
and there's a business in towncalled Chez Francois and it's
the only five-star restaurant inthe state of Ohio.
So it's this beautifulrestaurant on the river and
people come from all over to goto this restaurant and it's one
of these places where we eat atit once a year because you're
going to drop $500, places whereyou know we eat at it once a
(38:02):
year because you know you'regoing to drop $500, $600 for a
couple.
But I look at them more than Ilook at any other gym as far as
like a business model, becauseyou know what do they do?
They do everything perfect.
They give their customers agreat experience.
Everything is, you know, detailoriented, oriented.
They're making it as perfect aspossible and I I look at that
(38:25):
as as a model of how to run abusiness, more than than than
gyms.
And you know we just try tomake it a good experience for
everybody when they come in andit's fun.
It's never going to be, um, youknow, we have people who want to
train a certain way and theydon't want to train a different
way.
You know who cares.
If you're kind of a CrossFittype person, I'm going to give
(38:48):
you a functional fitnessCrossFit style workout because
you're going to get in shapefrom that, you know.
So every what I've, what I'verealized is training people
since 96 is that for the normalclient off the street,
everything works and the thingthat's going to work for best
form is what's going to get themoff the couch and in the gym as
many days a week as possible.
(39:10):
And that's just kind of how welook at things and it's really.
I get up every morning at 3.30in the morning ready to go to
work and I'm psyched to go.
You know, there's never a daywhere I'm like, oh shit, I got
to do this again.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
So it's working well.
I think I mean, how many peopleare jazzed up at three, 30?
Like, let's, let's get after ittoday, no-transcript.
(39:45):
I feel I'm actually superblessed and I tell the kids all
the time like I'm like what I'mteaching you guys now, because
we have this conversation allthe time and I'm sure you get
this too.
So, one of the hardestconversations to have of
aesthetics versus like buildingskills, one of the hardest
conversations to have ofaesthetics versus like building
skills.
And for those kids, because ofinstagram, because whatever they
(40:06):
see, uh see, bum, you know,just like, you know just doing
shoulder presses until theshoulders can't, they're gonna
pop out right, like I was like,hey, that's not, that's an
advanced thing, that's somethingthat's you know, that's a
bodybuild, that's a sport.
I'm like you need to be worriedabout like getting strong,
being resilient and like reallyfocusing on the skill.
Who cares about the weight?
(40:26):
The weight number doesn'tmatter.
It's like, how do you move withthe weight?
And like some kids are like,okay, this guy's talking like
you know out in, like to gettingto woo on me, but I'm like, no
like, and we have kids thatreally are dialing in and
getting them at the young age tolike, understand like your
performance, like is, is themost important thing of like how
(40:47):
, how technical you can be, how,how well you execute the lift,
regardless of the weight Rightand the.
The aesthetics could be aby-product of that, but
everybody chases like.
I want to be Brad Pitt fightclub all the time right, yeah,
that's, that's changed.
Speaker 2 (41:07):
Uh, since I was younger too.
You know, when I was a kid, Iwanted to look like the road
warriors.
You know, I didn't want to looklike who's this guy with little
, tiny abs and pec muscles.
You know, no one.
Now that's all the kids want tolook like.
You know I'm old, I don'tunderstand the kids anymore, so
that's why I don't train veryoften.
But yeah, for what you're doing, yeah, if you can.
You know, if you can get themyoung like that and teach them
(41:29):
the benefit of a get up and akettlebell swing, I mean, I mean
, that's that's you're going to.
You're going to have kids thatwill take on the world, you know
.
Speaker 1 (41:39):
Uh, I, yeah, and that's the.
It's the fun thing too, becausewe don't have a ton of machines
in our fitness center.
It's like I brought all mykettlebells to our gym, so my
kettlebells are there.
The kids use them, you know,they're getting really good at
barbell lifts.
It's all functional stuff.
It's not machines, and there'snothing wrong with machines,
right, if that's something thatyou want to do.
But because it's hard and ittakes time, they're invested in
(42:03):
it.
Speaker 2 (42:04):
Yeah, yeah.
It's such a achievement whenthey do something cool like that
, you know a big deadlift thatthey thought they were never
going to be able to do, or, andyou know it's, it's um, it's
like the belt system in karate.
You know, you're justespecially at that age.
You're just constantly givingthem a goal to hit and they
immediately hit that goal andthen you give them another goal
and it's like the only time intheir lives where that's going
(42:26):
to happen.
You know just constantlygetting better, no matter what
you do with them.
Speaker 1 (42:31):
It's great and I know you've mentioned this like a
few times Like what is StrongFirst, and then also, can you
explain what does it take to bean elite instructor?
Speaker 2 (42:40):
Yeah, also, can you explain what does it take to be
an elite instructor?
Yeah, so, strong first, uh, theschool of strength.
When I, when I finishedcompeting, I was uh kind of just
all over the place, didn't knowwhat I wanted to do, I got into
jujitsu, I got into all this.
I mean, that's, that's the oldman thing, right?
You get into jujitsu and youstart, you know, talking about I
couldn't find what I wanted todo Ended up meeting, I did a
(43:01):
podcast with Pavel Mosik and heimpressed me so much and he just
kind of made the you knowoff-the-cuff comment you should,
you know, look at taking yourSFG.
And so I looked up what SFG wasand I took it.
I went down, I took my SFG inOrlando, florida, strong First
(43:22):
Gira, level one.
I took it with Dr Mike Hartle.
It was brutal and it was reallyhard.
And at the end of the weekend Itold him got in the car, I
passed and I got in the car withmy wife and I said I'll never
do that shit again.
And I immediately went home andsigned up for SFG2 and Barbell
and that just got me going.
(43:43):
So I ended up taking my BarbellStrong First Lifter cert with
Dr Hartle, and then I took mySFG2 with Annalisa and Jeremy
Layport and I took my SFB rightafter my 50th birthday with John
Ingham to get my Elite rightafter my 50th birthday with John
Ingham.
To get my elite and you know, tobe elite you have to take all
(44:10):
four certifications and passthem.
Strong First is the onlycertification process that I
know of where you actually haveto be in shape in order to pass
the certifications.
You can tell that that's thecase because you don't find
overweight strong firstinstructors.
You don't find unhealthy strongfirst instructors.
One of the coolest things wasthe week after I made elite.
I got to fly out to Phoenix,arizona, and I went and saw
(44:34):
Pavel Totsulin and Fabio Zona doprogramming demystified in
Arizona, and I think I was oneof the only people in the
seminar who wasn't a team leaderor a master instructor or a
senior instructor at the time,and I got to meet some of the
(44:55):
most amazing humans on theplanet and I was just so in love
with Strong First andeverything they had to say and I
just it was like getting a newlease on life.
You know, here I was surroundedby these like-minded individuals
who were much smarter than Iwas and had, you know, at least
(45:18):
as much experience as I did, andI was learning and getting to
just kind of rub shoulders withlike-minded individuals.
And I decided then and therethis is the way I'm going to
give back to the next generation, where I'm going to go and do
these certifications and helpout and give whatever knowledge
(45:39):
I can to the next generation,and it's a rewarding thing that
I get to do and it's it's justbeen a fantastic journey so far
and it's only been you know lessthan two years it's.
Speaker 1 (45:52):
It's hard to describe .
I don't think I can describe itto people because when you see
quote like personal trainers orwhatever coaches, there's a lot
of the time it could be an aceand nasm and there's nothing
wrong with those things.
But strong, first you got to goin, perform the movements to
the standard and if it's notlike hey, like you got work to
(46:13):
do, yeah, like you just don'tpass.
When just by showing up or alot of you get like the
certification for going to theseminar or going to whatever,
but you know, sfg one, it's likethat grad workout is no joke.
Speaker 2 (46:27):
Joke, yeah and hey.
You great, You're elite.
Guess what?
In three years you got to do itall over again.
You got to get that all overagain.
They don't care that you're now72 years old.
If you want to keep that lead,you better be able to do your
one-arm push-up.
Speaker 1 (46:43):
Yeah, and you have all the technical skills you
have to execute them.
The barbell.
You know, one of the thingsthat I didn't know when I took
my SFL, I took it with Fabiofantastic person.
I thought it was going to belike SFG1, where you train a
little bit, get some feedback.
I thought it was going to belike SFG one where you train,
you know, you train a little bit, get some feedback and you know
.
Then you do your testing.
At the end it's like all right,weigh in, okay, warm up, get
(47:06):
your stuff, we're doingdeadlifts right away.
I'm like what?
Like I'm like what and and it'sfunny story because I I only
took SFL because I was like Ialmost was like a pure
kettlebell person at this pointI'm like I'm doing kettlebells,
that's, you know, that's what Ilove to do.
I haven't touched a barbell inyears and I wanted to SFL for my
(47:28):
clients Cause, like I want tomake sure, like I'm coaching
them right, and I'm like I justlet me go for SFL and I actually
didn't even know if I was goingto hit the deadlift.
I thought we were going to becoached up and then I can like
hit it right.
For sfl it's twice your bodyweight and I stepped up.
I was like who?
I think?
I was like, I think it was like180, maybe not even, and I
think I had to pull 360.
(47:50):
I was stood it up.
Speaker 2 (47:51):
They're like good, I'm like thank god, yeah yeah,
um, I am such a fan, I'm a fanof all the certs, but but I'm a
fan of the SFLs and I've gottenthe opportunity.
I've mentioned Doc Hartle.
I've worked a bunch of SFLswith Doc Hartle and I worked the
Dome SFL with Fabio last yearand I'm working with him again
(48:14):
this year and I tell you whatboth those guys are fantastic.
I mean they're so knowledgeable.
Both those guys are fantastic.
I mean they're so knowledgeable.
You know I learn something everysingle time I take or help
teach the SFL.
I learn something myself, whichis great, and I think it should
(48:35):
be mandatory that any kid whois getting under a barbell you
know these young kids goingthrough high school weight rooms
they should have to take.
You know, I know this soundscrazy, but they should have to
take a strong first workshop ortake the SFL before they're
allowed to get under a bar.
Because if I would have learnedthat stuff when I was that age,
(48:55):
I would probably be in a betterhealthy position as far as
joints and things like that atthis age and all these.
You know the the.
The hardest person I work within the gym is the 45 year old
guy who played high schoolfootball because he's all
screwed up from all the liftinghe did back then and they should
not.
It should be a mandatoryrequirement that you, you take
(49:18):
the sL, or take a Strong FirstLift or Barbell workshop.
Yeah, it's just it's.
And then, you know, doc Harlowcreated the CERT.
Fabio is a genius.
I tell you what.
I've told people this before Ifyou can't get along with Fabio
Zonin, there's something wrongwith you.
You know, there's there, there,I, I just love him to death.
(49:44):
You know, like, uh, uh, one ofmy, literally one of my favorite
people in the world and uh,it's, it's just been such a
great ride for me getting to dothis and and I just like waking
up at three 30 in the morning, Ifind out that I've got a
certain in a few weeks.
I just get giddy.
This is going to be fun, I'mgoing to have a good time and,
yeah, I'm just loving it.
Speaker 1 (50:04):
Great community, great coaches, like really they
know their stuff and and it'salso you mentioned like learning
from them, which a hundredpercent like I.
The joke was I looked at theguy that was partnered up with
for SFL.
When Fabio was talking aboutlike the first 15 minutes of
like him talking about SFL andbarbell, I turned to the guy
(50:27):
next to me.
I'm like I apparently knownothing about a barbell.
I go, I don't know anything.
I'm like this guy is just likerattling off these things, like
holy shit, like it was.
It was.
It was eye opening for me.
But also like we learn fromeach other because we're all
professionals in the room too.
It's like, wow, somebody doessomething or they have a tip for
you or whatever, and we'recoaching each other.
(50:48):
I'm like holy shit, I reallylike how you did that and
there's no ego.
It's like we're all here tolearn and get better.
Speaker 2 (50:54):
I mentioned it to Fabio last year because it
struck me I'm from about twohours north of columbus, so I
spent a lot of time going downto west side, barbell, louis,
louis simmons us because we werethrowers and he always wanted
to prove his system would workwith people other than power
lifters.
So we got invited down there alot.
We would go down and hang out,we you know.
(51:15):
Uh, we had a crazy dinner innashville with him one time,
which is a whole different story.
But he made the comment beforeI knew what Strong First was and
Pavel's put it in a couple ofhis books that Strong First
reverse engineers what eliteathletes do, naturally.
And I was at the SFL last yearat the Dome and Fabio was
(51:38):
talking about bracing and bellybreathing, uh, in lifting and
how to get tight that way, and Ihad to stop the, the, the whole
cert, and say, look, I, youknow.
I asked Fabio for permission totalk and I said, hey, if you
don't learn anything else thisweekend, this is something that
you know we always did aslifters and you know Louis at
(52:00):
Westside preached this, but henever under was able to explain
it the way Fabio just explainedit.
So he took something that, asheavy lifters, we all were doing
, but we sure as hell didn'tknow really how we were doing or
how we would tell other peoplehow to do it.
It was just something you did,and Fabio did such a great job
(52:22):
of explaining it.
I wanted to like stop the wholecert and say, hey guys, you
know if?
If he needs to repeat that, I'msure he will, but that's goal
you just got to walk away withnothing else.
Walk away with that, becauseit's going to keep you safe and
it's going to make your lifts gothrough the roof and you just
see that.
So much in Strong First withall these people.
(52:42):
I've mentioned a bunch of them,but you know, like John Ingham,
being able to do all the stuffhe does with the flexibility and
being as strong as he is.
And then I just spent theweekend with Annalisa Naldi in
Akron and she is like her brainworks faster than anyone I've
ever met in my life.
She's just this ball of energyand knowledge that I'm just like
(53:03):
Jesus Christ.
I hope I can hang with thesepeople.
I went to that program inDemystified and I met Sven
Rieger from Germany and he comesover across the room.
We'd only talked online.
He comes over and gives me abig hug.
It's just everyone.
Anzalika was there from Polandand it's just everyone.
(53:24):
Everyone you see with thatblack shirt and that little
strong first logo is a heavyhitter.
There's like no slouches in thegroup.
There's never been someone I'vemet at one of these things and
went, oh it's this fucking guy.
You know, I mean, they're alljust super friendly and super
knowledgeable and I just wisheverybody I just wish everybody
(53:45):
had the opportunity to becoached by a strong first
instructor and go through thesecertifications, you know,
because they are the goldstandard.
It's just it blows my mind.
Speaker 1 (53:56):
It's high level stuff .
It's the programming is amazing.
I've used a ton of like I openup my SFG, one manual, sfg, two
manual, all the time, you know,and I and it's like there's so
much in there, it's like I can'tlike those guys know all that
stuff off the top of their head.
I'm still trying to likeremember half I go what was this
(54:18):
, what was that?
Speaker 2 (54:18):
Like it's tough member, half I go what was this?
What was that Like?
It's tough.
Yeah, I took the build stronguh uh online seminar a couple of
weeks ago with Fabio and uh, itwas uh, eight hours on Saturday
and another like five on onSunday.
And uh, it was like drinkingfrom a fire hose.
I mean, there was just so muchinformation there.
(54:39):
It was unbelievable and Ipulled little bits out of it.
But I could probably take thatseminar three or four times and
learn something new every singletime.
Speaker 1 (54:48):
One of the last things I want to talk about of
Strong First is they have aquote.
I want to know what you thinkthis you know, if you can
explain kind of what this meansto you.
Strength has a greater purpose.
Speaker 2 (54:59):
Yeah, right to you, strength has a greater purpose.
Yeah, right, in this day andage, you know there's so much
behind that quote.
So, strength in general, you'renot just your bench press, but
strength of character, strengthof your body, you know, and
you're looking at endurance andmental fortitude and it's just,
(55:22):
there's an all encompassingattitude within strong first.
You know, stronger is alwaysbetter and I think that's
mentally stronger, that'sphysically stronger, that's
emotionally stronger.
It's the George Hackenschmidtquote.
You know you can't divorcestrength from health.
You know you can't divorcestrength from health.
(55:43):
You can do everything but, likethey say, you have to be strong
first and it's an importantaspect that is not always
appreciated in strength andconditioning programs.
You know everybody wants to dothe fancy stuff, like you said.
They want to bodybuild or theywant to take their athletes and
run them through.
You know speed ladders saidthey want to bodybuild or they
want to take their athletes andrun them through.
(56:03):
You know speed ladders when youknow, give me, give me a kid
and a 25 pound kettlebell andI'll get more out of them in a,
in a few months doing get upsand swings and and presses, that
then just about any kind ofgimmick you could get.
So you know whether you you aresomeone who teaches people how
to get strong, or you are atactical athlete, you know a
(56:24):
tier one performer, or you knowstrength is always important and
it's it's it's going to serveyou.
You know to be stronger, soit's, it's an important aspect
of of our community that noteveryone sees and it's weird
that they don't see it.
You know, as personal trainers,as as athletic trainers, as as
(56:47):
physical therapists, you knowstronger is always better.
Speaker 1 (56:51):
Very well said, and I I know you mowed over earlier.
I told you we're going to getback to this.
Speaker 2 (56:57):
What the heck made you want to do a deadlift three
times your body weight yeahspeaking of strong so when I was
, you know, younger, when I wasan athlete, I deadlifted 730
pounds, which was you know um,which was good for me, but I
weighed 312 at the time, um, and, and I started, uh, um, and I
(57:23):
and I wish I could remember thegentleman's name, fabio has a
friend, um, who he talked aboutit, programming demystified, and
he was a guy who I think waslike three and a half times body
weight deadlift, um, and I hadnever done that, I'd never,
never, even at my strongest,never pulled three times body
weight.
So I kind of made the goal thatum, uh, sometime in my 50th
(57:51):
year I would, I wanted to, um,do a bed press with the 56 kilo
kettlebell and I wanted todeadlift three times my body
weight, um and I.
I got the bed press prettyquickly and moved on to the
deadlift and it kind oftransformed a little bit as I
was going, because I was doing avery conjugate program.
So I was hitting a max effortlift once a week in the deadlift
(58:13):
but I was switching theexercises every time.
So one week I would do sumo,the next week I would do
conventional, the next week Iwould do, you know, do a sumo
deadlift off an elevation, thenmaybe next week I would do a
conventional deadlift from adeficit.
So I was just constantlyrotating the exercises.
Well, then the goal became Iwould do three times bodyweight
(58:34):
with both stances on the sameday.
So the goal was now I was goingto pull three times bodyweight
sumo, three times bodyweight,conventional, at the same time.
So I started working towardsthat goal.
I didn't have like a date inmind, I just figured I would
just keep training and then,when I was close, I would just
make my run.
And that's why I ended upgetting down to 180 pounds too,
(58:58):
because I was going to, like youknow, take every advantage I
can get.
So, um, when I saw that I wasgetting within, you know, a
range of that, of that pull, I Istarted, uh, you know, dieting
down a little bit, cutting somecalories, and I did it just very
easily.
You know, I would eat half asteak instead of a full steak at
(59:21):
night.
You know, just pulled out thecalories a little at a time, got
down to 180 pounds and and uh,I said this is the day I'm going
to do it.
So I felt great, um, and uh wasable to do it with both stances
.
I pulled it sumo first andripped a big giant callus off my
hands doing it.
So I just taped up my hand andsaid, you know, screw this, I
(59:43):
gotta, I gotta do it now.
So then I was able to pull itconventional as well and and uh,
yeah, I was super proud ofthose lifts.
It was uh, I wrote an articlefor for the strong first website
for it and, um, it was uh, itwas about a year of working on
it and uh, yeah, it was great.
I was, I was super excited withthat and it's uh, just a
(01:00:03):
feather in your cap, you knowthat that's bad-ass.
Speaker 1 (01:00:07):
Bad-ass man, that's.
That's great Eating steaks,lifting weights, enjoying life
Like I.
Just you're my people, man,You're my people.
I appreciate it as you wrap uphere here.
Where can people connect withyou um or find information about
blind dog jim?
Speaker 2 (01:00:27):
yeah, so I've got a couple of uh pages.
So my personal page, um, whereyou know I I don't post a lot on
there but I post like maybe aworkout a week and then whatever
book I happen to be readingthat week.
That is at mvalente100.
You can find the gyminformation at Blind Dog Strong
(01:00:51):
and then we also have atHeartStyle Great Lakes where
it's all Strong First stuffanywhere around the Great Lakes.
I try to put information onthere for people.
Stuff anywhere around the GreatLakes, I try to put information
on there for people.
So if anybody out there hasworkshops anywhere around the
Great Lakes they want advertisedor hell, I don't care anywhere
(01:01:11):
you're having your workshop,just send me the information.
I'll put it up there.
I try to get out as muchinformation about Strong First
on that page as possible.
Get out as much informationabout Strong First on that page
as possible.
If there's Strong Firstinstructors out there in
Northern Ohio that are lookingfor a place to train, blind Dog
is perfectly set up for StrongFirst and I'm looking for Strong
(01:01:34):
First certified instructorsonly.
So if anybody's out therearound Northern Ohio and they
need a place to work withclients, give me a holler and
we'll see what you can do.
Speaker 1 (01:01:44):
I'll put all that in the show notes and you're going
to the dome, going to be there.
Speaker 2 (01:01:49):
I'm so psyched and it's so far away.
Speaker 1 (01:01:53):
Almost, three months now, almost.
Speaker 2 (01:01:55):
Yeah, I've got a workshop February 23rd here in
Ohio.
So we're going to do Barbell101 here in Ohio.
I'm a team leader now so I getto actually run my own workshop.
So I think it's going to be meand Serenity Myers from down in
Akron, who is a fantastic coach,another awesome human being,
(01:02:15):
but we're going to do Barbell101.
I'm going to fill it full ofall sorts of goodies, so if
anybody's out there interestedin that, get ahold of me.
Um and then, uh, we got thedome.
Speaker 1 (01:02:31):
I'm so psyched for the dome and I'm working with
Fabio again and uh, I'm going tolearn a lot.
And and uh, yeah, it's going tobe awesome, it's going to be
great.
Speaker 2 (01:02:42):
I got.
I got foundations t-shirt justwaiting for you.
Just give me the size.
I got you, I'll trade you ablind dog, one for it.
Speaker 1 (01:02:46):
Perfect sounds good, or what are you coaching?
I must.
I'm assisting.
I don't know what I'm assistingyet, so I registered with john
ingram.
I'm going to be either sfl orsfg1.
I hope I have to research mysfl, so I'm hoping they put me
in there yeah, absolutely, yeah,that'd be great, that'd be dope
.
But, mark, you're the man Iyeah, I can't wait to see you in
in april, but uh, thanks, uhthanks for coming on, man, I
(01:03:09):
appreciate it thanks for havingme.
Speaker 2 (01:03:11):
I'll do it anytime you want.
I had a lot of fun you got it.
Speaker 1 (01:03:14):
Thanks everybody for listening another episode of the
primal foundations podcast.
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