October 31, 2024 • 60 mins
Fitness guru Mike Torchia, known for his transformative journey from an overweight child to a champion bodybuilder, shares his insights on staying youthful and healthy! Discover how his personal experiences and passion for promoting wellness have shaped his mission to inspire future generations. From understanding body chemistry to improving nutrition in schools, Mike's conversation with us is packed with actionable advice and heartwarming stories that highlight the potential for creating healthier communities.
We're not just about fitness; our episode explores the art of comedy and its impact on society. Dive into the nuances of humor with us as we discuss Tony Hinchcliffe's controversial set at Madison Square Garden and its broader implications. Plus, we celebrate the power of grassroots political action, showcasing the Kamala Harris volunteer office's impressive door-knocking campaign in Arizona. It's a lively discussion on the balance between humor and sensitivity, and the importance of leadership in addressing mental and physical health post-pandemic.
Join us for "Paws for Progress," our new segment spotlighting animal rescue efforts in Los Angeles and Florida. Hear about the resilience of communities affected by natural disasters and the inspiring stories of animal rescues. As we wrap up, don't miss our fun and curious segment, "Two Scams and a SLAP," where we uncover the truth behind outrageous headlines. From fitness and wellness to humor and heroism, this episode is a rollercoaster of inspiration and laughs, guaranteed to leave you informed and entertained.
AMAZON
Compassion Kind
PATREON
SLAP the Power is written and produced by Rick Barrio Dill (@rickbarriodill) and Aja Nikiya (@compassioncurator). Associate Producer Bri Coorey (@bri_beats). Audio and Video engineering and studio facilities provided by SLAP Studios LA (@SLAPStudiosLA) with distribution through our collective home for progress in art and media, SLAP the Network (@SLAPtheNetwork).
If you have ideas for a show you want to hear or see, or you would like to be a featured guest artist on our show, please email us at info@slapthepower.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Whoever wins presidency, I want to address to
them what are you doing withthe President's Council of
Sports?
Speaker 2 (00:05):
and.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Fitness.
What are you doing with food inthe school systems?
And what about the PE that's sopoorly run?
The President's Council hadthis program.
Remember?
You were wearing your badge andeverything.
Nobody's even doing thatanymore.
You know, John F Kennedy wasthe one that started that whole
program at the schools, Wow, andso they've been using the same
(00:25):
program since he was president.
So you know how out there thatis All right.
Speaker 4 (00:45):
The world may not need another podcast, but it
could definitely use a slap.
That's right.
Welcome to Slap the Power, theshow that crosses artists who
use their powers for progress.
I'm Rick Barrio-Dill.
I'm Asia Nakia, that's right Onthe show today did Kill Tony.
Just save democracy, tonyHinchcliffe.
It's still going on and thankyou, bro, thank you for the
(01:06):
assist.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
And we also have our interview today with an artist
of a different kind, mike Torsha, who is a fitness guru, trainer
to the stars like Arnold Slyand even Jason Bourne.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
He admitted he's 68 years old.
He looks like he's 40.
You got to hear his secrets tothe long.
It really is amazing.
A little later, that's right,we're going to introduce you to
a new segment called Pause forProgress.
That's right.
We've been working on this fora while.
We're really, really, reallyhappy to bring this to you guys.
And it's where Slap the Power.
Partners with the incredibleanimal rescue work of Compassion
(01:40):
, kind to bring you regularupdates on trying to slap some
progress, or lack of, into theanimal rescue community, and I
know LA is at the forefront ontrying to move the needle there.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Especially here in Los Angeles with our shelter
crisis.
And then we also have someupdates from Florida of
Hurricane Milton animal rescuesfrom none other than me, fresh
off of a plane.
Speaker 4 (02:06):
And a little later, by popular demand, two scams and
a slap, that's right, where wetake three batshit crazy events,
two of which are fake but oneis real, and one of the two of
us learns in real time with you,the listener, which one is a
true slap in the face of reality.
But first, we are super, superproud to report the Kamala
Harris volunteer office nextdoor.
(02:26):
Last Friday we sent a full tourbus of badass Californians and
they knocked doors in Arizona tothe tune of 100,000 door knocks
, 100k.
30% of that is California.
Yo, that's right.
So we're kicking ass um, themost in arizona state party
history, which is reallyincredible and and it feels good
(02:49):
there.
Uh, so we have one final push.
You can make a difference.
The bus for this week is againa capacity, but if I think they
might even be trying to work asecond bus here and so, uh, you
can caravan, you can phone bankand if you can't phone bank, you
can amplify.
So to get involved, make sureto go to the links in our
description as well as in ourbio and also OFACA for Kamala
(03:12):
Aja.
Are you familiar with Kill Tony?
Speaker 3 (03:14):
No, tell me more Okay .
Speaker 4 (03:16):
Kill Tony.
It's an awesome podcast.
Because I am a fan of roasts.
I feel like this is what welove about Norm Chad Shout out
to norm chad.
Gambling mad with norm chad.
He comes from a.
He comes from a place where yougot to be able to make fun of
your everybody right, we'restill.
We're still reeling from, uh,tony hinchcliffe's set and
(03:39):
what's been fascinating now,even getting a couple of days
removed from it, is that peoplethat don't know what kill tony
is his set at madison squaregarden.
Tony henscliff, uh, I think thenet net of it is he might have
just woken up the whole entirecountry of puerto rico to get,
to get their, their peeps inflorida and in pennsylvania and
(04:02):
everywhere to vote.
Bad Bunny is shooting out thebat signal.
So I think roasting this iskind of an important thing that
I want to talk about.
I think roasting and Iunderstand they say well, the
First Amendment, how come youguys are so soft?
Now, one thing is that a setwhen you're there and everybody
understands you're there forroasting.
It's another thing when youhave text five, five, five to
(04:26):
fascism.
You know, and you're to me, thatit's a political rally and
that's where I think that'swhere he tweeted out.
You know, you people don't havea sense of humor, and I think
the sense of it all is exactlywhat we have.
You know, we have a sense ofwhen something's really funny
and don rickles could come inand mow down a room.
Norm Chag could come in and mowdown a room.
(04:47):
He wouldn't stand in front of apodium like that and do what
happened at that event.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
No, and I think that it's all fun and games when
you're roasting and there's nolike ill intent you know beyond
it.
Yeah, but I think, when you'realready dealing with an island
like puerto rico that is alreadydealing with being treated like
garbage and trash yeah, it'snot so funny at that point, you
know like it becomes.
It's a dagger.
(05:16):
Yeah, and not only that it'sone of the most beautiful places
on the entire planet.
That's right we have the mostbeautiful beaches, the most
beautiful mountains.
Every time I'm I find a newwaterfall, a new magical place
with beautiful little cookiesand birds, and I'm just like
this is paradise.
And now I understand why the USloves it so much.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
Yeah, sure, yeah, it was a good acquisition back in
the day, wasn't it?
It was smart for the portfolio.
I think the one thing thatpeople aren't still talking
about enough is it's look, I'm aTony Hinchcliffe fan too.
I like his comedy.
I think what he's been kind ofput through on the sort of
political correct side of thingshas been not cool in a lot of
(05:56):
ways, and I think challengingpeople's uncomfortabilities is
what we love.
We're kind of lefties that lovethat.
Uncomfortabilities is that'swhat we love, we like.
We're kind of lefties that lovethat.
But the what nobody's talkingabout is the hate that then
continued to come out from rudygiuliani, from from tucker
carlson, who could?
He knows where she's from, heknows where her parents were
(06:20):
born.
You know the samoan, and it'sdesigned to be ignorant and
hateful.
Right, and that's the part youknow.
And Grant Cardone, you're justlike your speed Grant.
All these rich guys they are.
They're advocating for their taxrate they're not advocating for
helping you get ahead, andGrant Cardone is one of those
(06:44):
guys who just sells thesecourses and just I don't even
want to get into it, because Iactually have a family member
that went through that the GrantCardone course.
The experience was horrific andso yeah.
But point being, why are thesepeople up there spewing hate and
then juxtapose it over Kamala,who is talking about, look, I'm
(07:09):
here to get to work on the to-dolist on helping people and this
is how we're going to do it andlaying out a plan?
That's the other thing thatkills me.
People say she doesn't have aplan.
Plan's all over the place.
You just got to have to be opento listen to what it is.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
Right and most of it on that side, I think, is all
based on self-interest, right.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
Because there's no collective interest coming from
that side.
Speaker 4 (07:33):
Yeah, it's a very yeah it's a me thing, and I
think that's at the crux of it.
What is so different?
It'd be one thing if it wasMitt Romney and he was getting
people excited about you know,hey, we're going to lower your
taxes and stuff like that.
But this is, this is uh, it'sjust, it's very hateful.
Calling her names, telling,saying that you know that people
, the enemy of the state, areDemocrats.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
It's just, it's just hateful and it's it's well and
and, and you see the misogynyand the um hatred yeah yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
That's the Tucker thing and it's extra because
she's a woman and she's mixedand it's just if they really
Never underestimate the misogynyyeah.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
And if they really wanted to play fair, they would
at least come at it with a levelof respect to say hey, you know
what?
We're going to attack her inevery single possible way, her
policies.
What she's done as a vicepresident, but we're going to
leave the woman and the mixedpart off.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
But no, yeah, yeah, yeah, no they're just going
straight for it Well, it'sthinly veiled, because the woman
hits are attacking her IQ whenthey know she is an accomplished
.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
Absolutely.
Speaker 4 (08:41):
Crazy.
They're scared of her intellect.
That's what it is, and so theythey have to.
What do you do when you're abully and you're scared of?
It you say that oh you're, youknow you're ugly right you know
you're when it's, it's the superhot girl.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
Or you say you're stupid when it's a woman clearly
is about the arts outsmart thepants well, I mean, why don't
they just nip it in the butt andeveryone takes an IQ test, and
then we just have all the scores?
You know, let's get grants,let's get trumps, let's get
commas.
We could probably put someanimals on there honestly and
(09:17):
get some higher IQ.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
You remember that cognitive test Trump took and he
was like I passed it.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
You know I got A plus it Woman cat and the same as uh
, what an amoeba.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
yeah, anyways, but I digress yeah, no, I, I, uh, I
think we're excited about what Itook.
I think here in the studiothere's uh, and next door to the
campaign there's just nothingbut good energy and people that
are.
They are just getting to work.
So you know, kind of again, ifyou want to get involved, we
(09:47):
have it all in our show notesand you know, even like Lauren
was here yesterday doing a hitwith, I think, a UK press
station, lauren Puretra Shoutout to Lauren from our episode
last week.
But all of a sudden we have allthese dogs around the office.
We have our own wonderland.
(10:09):
Yeah, yeah's, make sure to checkout the socials that we have
and you can kind of uh see theadventures of all the pets that
we have, I mean the dogs that wehave going on here.
But speaking of dogs, uh, thenew segment that we have, pause
for progress.
We're so proud of this.
We've been waiting to throwthis on you guys, and it's's a
collab with Slap, the Power andCompassion, kind and Asia.
Please tell everybody all theanimal rescue goodness that Paws
(10:33):
for Progress is going to beabout.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
Oh, my goodness, we're going to have so many
great updates, live rescueshappening here in the Los
Angeles area, but also aroundthe world.
With our disaster work, like wejust had in Florida for
Hurricane Milton, we've just gotso much going on but really
starting to pull in and focushere in the Los Angeles area.
We've got quite a plate ofanimal rescue SEGAs here to deal
(10:58):
with.
Speaker 4 (10:59):
And it's primarily the like.
The kennels is one of the firstareas that I know you want to
attack and feel that it is afixable problem.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
It is absolutely a fixable problem.
We have some big issues withbreeder licenses here in the Los
Angeles area.
We're just sort of giving themout like free car washes or free
Taco Bell I don't know what youwould give out for free.
But yeah, we keep talking aboutthe overpopulation problem.
(11:32):
We keep having all these pleas.
Every single day I'm seeing thisdog being euthanized, this dog
being euthanized, and we'retalking six-month-old puppies,
beautiful purebred dogs that aresitting at these five LA County
shelters that are all beingeuthanized for space.
And why?
Because we have way too manybreeders and we have all these
(11:52):
intact licenses that we'regiving out so that people can
keep their animals intact.
If we want to, if we reallywant to attack this problem, we
have to go for the breederlicenses and the intact licenses
Both super easy, low hangingfruit, solvable issues in the
Los Angeles area and then wewill see a drastic decline in
numbers, we'll see euthanasiarates go down, we'll see kennels
(12:13):
being emptied and then we canreally start to promote and
maybe push some more adoption.
You know banners, drive-bysigns, billboards Couldn't think
of the word Drive-by signs.
That's what we called it backin the 80s.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
Sorry, I wasn't alive then, so I don't know.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
I was going to say, wait a minute, I wasn't alive,
but I heard the word on thestreet is that I was alive.
Speaker 4 (12:36):
I just got called out by Brie.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
Is our producer calling us out right now on our
ages?
Speaker 4 (12:43):
She just threw a yellow flag here for all our NFL
fans.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
She did Okay.
Now we have to get back ontrack.
Speaker 4 (12:50):
But the point of Pause for Progress is going to
be an accountable, regularcheckup with us, and you're an
individual that is alwaysshowing up with the receipts and
I think in this space,especially in animal rescue and
stuff like that, you are, youknow, you are.
I bow to you.
So to be able to do thistogether is really really
(13:10):
exciting because I feel like wecan, you know, we can put our
resources together and reallymake a difference and start to
have some of these animalsthrough our website where we can
increase the, amplify theexposure to these problems and
stuff like that.
So we're really looking forwardto it.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
No, definitely, and I think the component of Pause
for Progress that will be thebest for our viewers and
listeners is that we want youall to be involved.
You know we're going to giveyou the actions to help with
these causes.
You know, and that's reallythat's what we're about you know
Artists for change and activism.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
So these causes, you know, and that's really that's
what we're about, you know,artists for change and activism.
So you know, let's roll, that'sright.
So make sure, the gentleman'sagreement that we have, smash
that subscribe button.
Also, make sure you know you'regoing to check the Pause for
Progress updates on our socialsand we'll have it every week on
the show, so make sure to keepchecking back.
All right, when we come backfrom the break, our interview
with the one and only trainer tothe stars, mr Mike Torsha.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Gambling is part of the culture of America Since
even before we were America.
I'm Norman Chad.
I know gambling.
I've played blackjack and poker.
I've bet sports and horse races.
I've even hit the slot machinesat a Pahrump Nevada 7-Eleven.
You say gambling, I sayGambling Mad.
So join me on Gambling Mad withNorman Chad wherever you find
(14:31):
your podcasts.
Follow us on socials atGambling Mad Show or at Gambling
Mad Norman Chad at YouTube.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
All right joining us for the interview in studio
today.
He is the host of the Live,well and Thrive pod.
He is also founder andpresident of the Beverly Hills
Concierge Service.
It's a lifestyle managementcompany which, you know, is
something that we're definitelyinterested in here.
Welcome to the show, mikeTorsha.
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, pleasure to be here.
Speaker 4 (14:59):
For those that maybe that are your audience that
might not know us, or ouraudience that doesn't know you,
we focus the show around artiststhat are using their art for
moving the needles.
You know, a lot of times it'ssocial progress.
A lot of times it is helpingpeople.
It is just using their art topush things forward.
And one of the things thatcaught us full disclosure.
(15:19):
Mike is a he's a client of ourshere at the studio, but what
was instantly uh, apparent to usis that you are, uh, you know,
in the way of longevity.
I I kind of consider you anartist of bodybuilding, like you
know, and an artist of oflongevity and living well.
I mean your.
Your podcast is called livewell and thrive.
So for those people that don'tknow what, how did you become
(15:43):
such the guru?
Speaker 1 (15:44):
in this lane.
Well, you know, I was an obesechild and when I was 14 years
old the school nurse had told meto come in and see her because
I guess they had done some tests.
You know, when you're ingrammar school, you know.
And so she said I need to haveyour parents come in.
I said why?
(16:05):
Well, I have to address someissues.
I said okay, well, my father'snever going to come in.
He works, he barely speaksEnglish, he came from Calabria,
but my mother will come in.
So the next day I bring my momin and the nurse says to my mom,
I'm very concerned about yourchild.
He's four foot eight, he's 51pounds overweight, he's in poor
(16:26):
physical condition and if hedoesn't do something about it he
could end up having a heartattack or stroke by the age of
40.
Now that nurse changed thecourse of my life, and so my
mother right away said well,whatever it takes.
And then my mom took my hand towalk out of the office.
And that's the first time mymother was a very strong,
(16:49):
powerful woman, never showedlike an awful female.
She was trembling and her handswere very moist and sweaty and I
never saw my mother get thatscared.
So on the way home she said Iknow what to do.
And then we got home and shesaid let's go in the living room
.
She turned on the TV and shesaid we're going to watch Jack
(17:10):
LaLanne.
She goes look at me, I'm fat,you're chubby, you need to lose
weight.
I need to lose weight.
Let's do it together.
Speaker 4 (17:19):
And for listeners that don't know, jack LaLanne
right.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
Jack Laelain was the godfather of fitness.
He'd have this show live withJack Lelain, and his wife would
be there and his dog, rusty, Ithink, white German Shepherd,
and then he started the episode.
Here's what 20 pounds of fatlooks like.
It was all this shavings frombeef.
This is what it looks like onyour body.
Well, we're going to dosomething about it today.
So I would do his jumping jacks, which that's where you got
(17:48):
jumping jacks from Jack LaLanne.
Yeah, yeah.
And all the other exercises.
And then he addressed the foodyeah, you are what you eat.
Yeah, so that was more of aprimitive way, simple way, but
it was a starting point.
And then I joined the YMCA andI saw these bodybuilders.
I was intrigued.
And then I had someone come upto me out of the blue and say
(18:08):
hey, kid, you want to build bigmuscles?
I said, yeah, he goes.
Well, listen, you need to do aproper workout.
And then we've got to talkabout your food, because he
poked me in the stomach.
He goes you have great genetics.
Someday you will be a championbodybuilder, but you are what
you eat, which was Jacqueline'smantra and sure enough, I ended
up eventually winning Mr NewYork State and Teenage Mr New
(18:33):
York State, Teenage Mr America,Mr USA and all these other
titles.
That's amazing.
I started traveling around theworld and lecturing about proper
nutrition, working for thesecompanies, but I was still going
to college and got my degreeand I'm a fitness and nutrition
expert.
So I've got all my paperworkdone, that I'm official, not
(18:55):
something just choosinginformation that I've had
collectively it's collectivelyand my book knowledge combined.
But over the years I've beendoing this since I was 14.
I'm 68 now.
I've lectured with dr barryshares, who wrote the series of
books the zone the zone which isbased on the bodybuilder's diet
really.
Speaker 4 (19:14):
So that was where I start.
First got into looking at dietwas the zone my dad got me the
book.
He's like you know, you kind ofneed to think about this and I
I've taken kind of a journeythat it's, you know, gone all
through, uh, everything fromgluten-free and everything.
But for those people that arejust listening to this at home,
you, I'm sorry, you just saidyou're how old you're?
You're?
I'm 68.
The man looks.
The man doesn't look a day over50.
(19:36):
He's got, I mean, he is yokedout and it's.
I want to know the secrets youknow.
Yeah, you, you got to help meout.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Well, you know, dr Barry Sears was brilliant.
Yeah, Now what he learned frombodybuilders is he looked at our
physiques and he said you guysare magnificent bodies and we
weren't reliant those days onall the cardio.
It was hard training, propernutrition.
We basically ate high-protein,low-carb diets.
We basically ate high-protein,low-carb diets.
(20:03):
But he also realized thatwhenever he would sit with us
and he was researching us, wewould first eat a portion of the
protein and what he hadrealized is the first food that
touched your tongue is the firstenzymes and acids that are
going to be released into yourdigestive tract.
So that means you're going toget digested more rapidly.
(20:25):
So in his book, the Zone, hetaught people whenever you're
going to consume food, the firstthing you do when you have your
plate is eat a piece of thatanimal protein.
Then you can eat thecarbohydrate and vegetable,
because it triggers the enzymesto break down the protein and
(20:45):
the fats.
The sugar will piggyback onthat and will be released
secondary, not stimulating andspiking your insulin levels,
which causes immediate fatstorage.
It takes that carbohydrate,that sugar, and stores it as
energy, which is fat.
So that was the firstbiohacking method with dieting.
And then, as people realized,you can also hit a plateau
(21:08):
because if you start having suchlow calories for such a long
period of time, after aboutthree weeks your body will start
secreting reverse T3.
T3 stimulates your metabolismto burn fat at a higher rate.
Reverse T3 is like, say, you'restuck on an island somewhere
and there's barely any food.
Your body can survive on very,very, very low calories because
(21:31):
it starts to slow down, becauseit's going uh-oh, we only have
this much food coming into thebody.
We need to burn slower.
So then your body's thyroidstarts producing reverse T3,
which means you can survive onmuch lower calories.
So when someone's on a very,very strict low-calorie diet for
three weeks, their reverse T3is being secreted and that's
(21:54):
when people go.
You know, I was on this diet andI was like taking in 800
calories a day.
I dropped so much weight thefirst three or four weeks.
Then all of a sudden I'm barelyeating anything and I'm getting
fatter.
So again, he understood thatand he shared that knowledge
with me.
And then when I was lecturingwith him, I really understood
why it was working.
I just knew that all the proswere telling me to do it.
(22:15):
It's like Arnold and Franco andall the Mr Universes, mr
Olympias but they never reallyfigured it out, they just kind
of stumbled on it.
But he explained the bodychemistry, why it works and I
was like a sponge soaking it allin.
So what I've learned in collegeapplied through going to
lectures and seminars andreading the American medical
(22:37):
journals, which I still do todayI base it on my experience and
factual studies by majoruniversities around the world.
And just experiences, workingfor every type of individual's
needs, like I've worked withpeople that were paraplegic, ms,
asthma, diabetes,post-traumatic syndrome.
I've addressed every type ofhealth issue and concern Double
(23:00):
hip replacement, you know,stents in the heart, so I've
learned how to navigate aroundthe restrictions and still allow
them to be physically fit andget a lean body at the same time
.
Yeah, and that's where myknowledge is grown, from all the
aspects of life that I wasexposed to and I had to find a
(23:20):
solution.
Like when I was a kid.
It was so funny when I firststarted training people, I was
like 16 years old and my motherwas saying you know what you
should get into personaltraining?
Right?
I said you think so she goes,yeah.
Speaker 4 (23:32):
After she was done picking on you for being chubby
right.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
And she was like this she goes listen, everybody
keeps calling up and asking youfor a diet and exercise programs
and all that.
You know how much money itcosts to make the calls.
No, no, have them call you andif they don't call you right now
, they'll call you back.
You missed the call, don'tworry.
So we went around to the, themarket, the fruit stand, and we
(23:58):
went to the tailor, we went tothe fish market in the, in the
beef place, you know, becausethose days it was separate, not
like whole foods now, um.
And we put a flyer.
My mother wrote it with a magicmarker personal workouts five
dollars, um, meal plans fivedollars.
my friends have gone way up but,anyway, so I just started my
business we are in beverly, sothen I started I started helping
(24:18):
people and my mother got me onthis path to be like jack lane.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
Yeah, he's doing you could do it.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
So I went on that path.
But along the journey, man, Ihad people come up to me and go
hey, I've got this illness, I'vegot heart condition, I have
this, this, that.
So my father said well, listen,if you ever get stumped, just
tell him.
I don't have the answer, butI'll get back to you, I'll get
you an answer.
And that's what I did toeventually, when they'd ask me,
I knew it.
So I was determined to look itup, make calls, reach out to
(24:47):
experts that would help sharetheir knowledge.
Yeah, but I understood after awhile I have to be very I can't
be that bodybuilding trainer,right, because I've trained a
lot of very, very talentedactors yeah, and female actors.
Like when Kim Cattrall waspreparing for Sex and the City
her audition, I prepared her forthat.
And when she did the movieMannequin, she hurt her back
(25:10):
pretty bad because she had to dostunts in the movie.
Pretty bad because she had todo stunts in the movie.
So I had to train her to rehabher back then get her body
shapely and firm so she could bethat sex goddess so to say for
the show and of course you knowwhat happened.
But I've worked with so manyother women Roseanne Barr,
kimora Lee, nicole Kidman, Imean, you name it Al Pacino,
matt Damon, all these people andthey all had different body
(25:32):
parts that they had to improveon different you know
metabolisms, so it wasn't I'mjust using different diets, I'm
sure cookie cutter workout.
You know, I mean Matt Damon.
I met him.
He had a 38 inch waist, smokedtwo packs of cigarettes a day,
loved to drink beer high carbs.
I got him shredded from theborn and eddy shredded.
Speaker 4 (25:49):
Alright, that's enough, give me some.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
It isn't like I just use the same thing.
Every program is custom.
You have to address a lot ofissues.
First thing I tell people to dois get me the blood work.
You may look fine.
I want to know what's going onin your body chemistry.
I can't tell you take thesesupplements or any kind of
biohacking, because I want toknow first of all what's going
(26:14):
on.
You could have a high cortisollevel from all the stress.
You could have very low D3 orDHEA.
I need to know what's going onin your body.
Then I do the reverse.
Then I start figuring out whatfood you need to get the
nutrients you need and whatsupplements you may need to help
compensate.
Because today, with agriculture, you don't have the same
(26:35):
quality minerals and vitamins inthe food because the ground has
been overused, over and overand over and over.
And again all the chemicals fromMonsanto and all this other
crap genetically modifyingthings.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
Our soil is just by hotness now.
Speaker 4 (26:53):
As a musician that travels all over, you realize
when you go to places thatyou're like oh, it's just the
ingredients, it's just thenature of the God.
Part of the ingredients arejust more dense, they're just
deeper in a lot of the placesthat prioritize agriculture in a
way that we stopped doing otherthan you know.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
Yeah, and it's a serious issue today.
It's a massive issue and that'swhat I want to address.
Whoever wins the presidency, Iwant to address to them what are
you doing with the President'sCouncil of Sports?
Speaker 2 (27:25):
and.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Fitness.
What are you doing with thefood and the school systems?
And what about the PE?
That's so poorly run?
The President's Council hadthis program, remember?
You were wearing your badge andeverything.
Nobody's even doing thatanymore and that's so archaic.
John F Kennedy was the one thatstarted that whole program at
(27:47):
the schools Wow.
And so they've been using thesame program since he was
president, so you know howoutdated that is.
So my whole thing is whoever'scoming in office, hey here, I'm
here to help.
I don't I don't want to getpaid, I just want to give back
and help society.
But you need people that arepassionate about making a change
, and the thing is I was part ofthe tribe.
I was an obese child, so Iunderstand what obese children
(28:11):
go through psychologically,emotionally and physically.
So you can't just have someonethat has a genetic perfect body
and think they're going to comein because they have not gone
through the emotional scarringlike I did.
So that's what I want to doeventually.
I don't know who will win.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
Who knows what the way the world is today, but
especially I mean tackling theschool systems.
I mean a lot of these childrendon't have the means at home, or
their parents don't have thetime or the you know nutrition
and health is not you knowthey're in a food desert to
begin with.
They're in a food desert orthey're just trying to survive
each day, you know.
But if you can implement thosethings while they're at school,
(28:45):
that's where they're absorbingthe most information.
So, yeah, I mean that would behuge.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
When I started my fitness company was in 1985.
I was sitting at Christmasdinner with my parents and my
brother-in-law was a cadet atWest Point and he invited me to
go up there because he saw I wasthis very powerful bodybuilder
and he wanted me to go up thereto help condition the soldiers
(29:13):
because he was telling me howthey'll put on all this gear and
with the rifle and the backpackand everything and the boots
it's about 150 pounds.
And so they have to go up tothe 15-foot diving board, jump
off and be able to walk and getout of the pool.
And he said be lucky, out ofyou know 50 guys, maybe three
can do it, wow.
So I had to do strengthconditioning at West Point,
(29:33):
advising them what to do becauseI was a very powerful young man
.
So my mother goes well, youneed to create a name for that.
And I said well, what do youthink?
Well, mark said everything is.
You know an operation.
My mom turns, goes.
I know Fitness and registeredit operationfitnesscom.
(29:56):
I registered it in 1985 and Idedicated it for kids' fitness.
But what I realized was youcan't just do kids' fitness,
because it's the environment thekids are exposed to to make the
necessary changes.
So I changed it like six monthslater, to Operation Fitness for
(30:17):
the entire family, because it'swho you're exposed to, even
like in your personality thebutcher you meet, or the person
in the cleaners, or the neighboracross the street or whatever.
Everybody that comes into yourlife forms who you are and, if
you're around, a healthyenvironment.
So when I was doing work withthe LAUSD for many years, I was
letting them know it's theenvironment.
(30:38):
We need to help the parents.
We need the parents to come inand listen to seminars, because
the children are going to followtheir lead.
Now I had this one young littlegirl.
She was like six years old.
She goes.
She's six years old, she goes.
Michael, I need your help.
My mom is a vegan and my dad isa meat eater and they
(31:02):
constantly argue and my fathercomes home and he wants me to
eat a steak.
My mom yells at me and says no,I want you to eat these
vegetables.
So I turn and I said well, whatdo you like to eat?
She says, well, I do like steak, but I do like vegetables.
So I said well, you're oldenough to understand, so tell
(31:26):
your parents that you want tochoose the food you eat.
And so, sure enough, she wenthome and she'd share with her
parents and they asked to comesee me and they actually thanked
(31:46):
me, because they said theyliked that their child took
initiative and they neverrealized the damage it was
causing her emotionally.
And later on years I saw herlater on and I got to tell you
something.
Speaker 4 (31:54):
This young lady is now a doctor.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
Hey, and she thanked me because she said when she met
me she thought she was going todo physical therapy, but she
said I want to be like Mike andshe got a degree.
She works at UCLA as a doctornow and I saw her many years
later, like 20 years later.
She came running up to me you,mike Torshaw and I said yeah,
(32:16):
and I saw her in scrubs.
She goes well, remember youlectured my parents I was about
six years old about my motherbeing a vegan.
I go, oh my God, she goes.
That's me.
And she was very fit.
She worked out with weights andyoga and Pilates.
Speaker 4 (32:29):
Had a chicken wing in her mouth.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
No, but you know what's so funny.
The father would really want tomess with the mother.
Yeah, sometimes bring home apepperoni pizza.
So he used that to make thedaughter want to eat that, to
piss her off, you know.
So he said listen, that's a lot.
Yeah, that's a lot of emotionalyou don't do that because you're
affecting the child Right andthe emotional upset can create
(32:56):
eating disorders.
That's where it begins, right.
So that's why I'm saying Ireally evaluate when anybody
comes to me to make sure thatI'm giving the best advice
possible and I teach people.
It takes 21 days to form a goodor bad habit.
If you exercise every day forthree weeks, your body will form
new neural pathways in yourbrain, so you do it
(33:18):
automatically without eventhinking about it.
Yeah, so if you start eatinghealthy for three weeks, just
eat very healthy and choose yourfoods wisely, after a while
you'll just make choices becauseyou've programmed your mind.
Even subconsciously.
You'll reach for things thatare more healthy, which you have
to do for 21 days.
Now same thing.
If you start smoking or eatingreally shit food for three weeks
(33:40):
, you're going to form now a badhabit, but you can unprogram
your neural pathways byswitching over and just
understand what you're doing.
So those are some of thebiohacking things little tips
that are simple.
You don't need to buy anything,just understand how the body
chemistry works and then again,why you eat the protein.
It's important Whenever I havemy breakfast, lunch or dinner,
(34:03):
I'm biting into the eggs.
In the morning, I'm biting intothe protein at lunch, and the
same thing with dinner, because,no matter what I eat, my
protein is getting digestedfirst, which is the hardest
thing to digest, and it won'tspike my insulin, which causes
fat storage, yeah sure.
So that's what I drill intopeople's minds.
So if you start following allthese different protocols,
getting in shape is not reallythat hard and losing weight.
(34:25):
But the problem why I createdmy podcast Live Well and Thrive
is because you go on YouTube.
You have all these peopletalking about their personal
opinion.
Is it based on any facts?
Yeah, any scientific studies atuniversities, notable studies?
No, they're just giving theirpersonal opinion and people are
(34:46):
following, like there's this onegentleman, he's a very
successful businessman.
He was following peter attiaand and uber and uberman, you
know, and so between the two ofthem, ben greenfield and shit,
yeah, all the guys.
You successful businessman.
He was following Peter Attiaand Uberman.
Between the two of them, benGreenfield and shit.
He was taking all thesuggestions, what you should
take to boost your owntestosterone, what you could
(35:06):
take to sleep better at night.
He said he was taking over 120pills a day.
He said, listen, one persongives you something for sleep.
You try it.
But you can't take Peter, tia'sand Brecca and Uber and think
it works all of them combined.
(35:27):
Well, if that works, what if Iput them all together?
Because what I learned was mygrandmother.
My Sassanian grandmother taughtme how to cook and one time I
was really getting into baking.
As a fat kid I loved to eat,right.
So my grandmother, I went to mygrandmother and I said Grandma,
can you give me a recipe for anapple pie?
Then I went to my mom Can Ihave your recipe for an apple
pie?
I went to my aunt Rita, who wasa great chef too Can I have
(35:49):
your recipe for an apple pie?
So then I made this.
I said the super apple pie, putit in the oven.
It flattened, it was terrible,it just wasn't right.
So I turned to my grandma.
I said Grandma, I took yourrecipe, my mom's, aunt Rita's.
So, miguel, what you should dois you take one recipe, you bake
(36:09):
it.
You see, take the other one,you bake it, you see, and then
you decide which one's the best.
You never, ever, mix a recipe.
It's all balanced for a reason.
Sure, sure, okay.
Speaker 2 (36:21):
So that's what I learned.
What I learned, you know.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
So I got him on a program.
Now he barely takes anysupplements, just a handful of
stuff, and he said his stomachwas always cramping up and
burning.
He thought he had someintestinal or ulcer or whatever.
He was just loading himselfwith all these pills.
So that's why I'm veryprecautious about anything I say
on the show, because peoplewill end up doing it and.
I don't want them to.
(36:45):
You know.
I'm not giving them recipes forthat stuff.
I'm just telling them, givingthem general guidance and
whatever help I can give themmore detailed.
But all these guys want to dois sell stuff like on their
shows.
That's not what I'm about.
I'm here to help people yeah, Imean it's.
Speaker 3 (37:00):
It's such a big responsibility, especially when
you're in a limelight and you'reputting this information out
and then people are picking upon that.
I mean you're literallychanging their body composition
and health you know, so youshould know what you're talking
about.
Um, I I just want to switchgears back to the Operation
Fitness real quick.
I mean, we barely grazed it,but what is the work that you're
(37:21):
doing right now with OperationFitness?
What does that look like?
Speaker 1 (37:23):
So what I do is I divide it up with various
different organizations thathave tweens and teens where they
need help and guidance forthese kids.
So I did a mentor program forthe Boys and Girls Club and some
of the others where I wouldspeak to the kids about proper
(37:45):
eating habits.
You got to gently introduce thekids and you got to let them
know they can have certaintreats but stay away from
process and what process isUnderstand what organic is and
what natural is and is,understand what organic is and
what natural is and thenunderstand what organic natural
is.
See, it's so confusing, youknow, if you go down whole foods
or somebody's stores, it saysorganic, then it says natural,
(38:06):
then it says natural organic,and then people are confused so
you have that they need to havesome clarity at the stores.
But bottom line is I make itvery simple for the kids, making
them understand.
You know the food plate that'sout there today is hideous, it's
so off.
So I try to just help peopleuse common sense and when it
(38:28):
comes to a salad, I tell thekids you want to make a happy
salad?
My father used to say to thewaitress when we go out to eat,
or my mother to make a happysalad.
My father used to say to thewaitress when we'd go out to eat
.
Or my mother, I want a happysalad.
My mother first time goeswhat's that?
Lots of color.
Put the red, the green, theyellow peppers.
Put the cucumbers, put thetomatoes, mix the different
leaves.
Speaker 4 (38:48):
You need colors of Benetton salad, but that's a
happy salad.
It's also like the gene poolLike but that's a happy salad.
It's also like the gene pool,like a Tiger Woods.
Speaker 3 (38:55):
That's me, though.
When I'm making food, I'm likeI'm missing a color here.
I'll just add a little andsomehow it made me a great cook.
I mean, I've never followed arecipe in my life, but I just
I'm like oh, we need more colorof this.
And then, once it looks niceand happy, I'm like ah, here we
go.
Speaker 1 (39:09):
And more enjoyable, right, you know?
And what's so funny was a kid,was Arnold.
When everybody would have asalad and it would come to the
table and if it didn't have allthose other vegetables in there
he would look.
He'd point at me and says, ah,waste, it died.
It's rabbit food, it's allwater.
You get nothing, nothing fromit.
(39:30):
Green vegetables, bad brisket,I said.
My father calls it happy salad.
Yeah, I like the happy salad.
So Arnold was the same way,because the other way he said
you're eating rabbit food.
Speaker 2 (39:39):
It was amazing.
Speaker 1 (39:39):
I remember the waitress brought it to the table
.
We were eating dinner one timeand I was just a kid and it was
just lettuce.
He goes, I said wait, so I knewwhat my father was saying.
But then when ArnoldSchwarzenegger said it, then I
knew wow, and every time I get asalad, it's a happy salad, it's
got everything in there.
Speaker 4 (40:01):
You split this up from the teens and tweens.
Speaker 1 (40:04):
Well, yeah, so what I do is I really dedicate a lot
of time working with inner citykids, the various different
school districts, to help themunderstand the proper nutrients
that children need becausethey're growing.
Their bones are growing, youknow, to about the age 20.
Your connective tissues willstart to seal then, so they want
to get optimal height andmuscularity and so on.
(40:25):
So Operation Fitness is mainlywhat I do to give back to
society, because I was part ofthe tribe of obese children.
It's a society, because I waspart of the tribe of obese
children, so I know what it'slike to be picked on, made fun
of, bullied and have poor selfesteem, so I can relate to the
kids.
So I do a lot of mentoring forthe different foundations and
(40:46):
organizations.
But that's what I do.
And then I put on these eventswhich I call Shape Up America
and I do a fitness event.
I'm working on doing one incentury city at the um, at the
shopping center, westfield, sureum, which is free.
I've been doing it for over 20years and uh, basically it's
entire family fitness for thewhole family.
(41:07):
I even have pet fitness and uh,chiropractors massage service
for your dog or cat.
Hey, Every aspect.
Okay, so when you go there it'sfree.
Yeah, I just get enoughsponsors to cover the cost of
setting up a booth.
Yeah, we have a stage whereevery 20 minutes there's some
type of.
It could be salsa, it could beyoga, meditation, it could be
(41:31):
boxing, it could be a lecture,it could be celebrity chef.
So throughout the day you cango and see the chart and see
what interests you.
Then we set up an obstaclecourse for the kids and obstacle
course for the adults, obstaclecourse for the dogs, because
I'm a lover right and I bring indog trainers to show if you
bring your pet and help youteach your dog how to exercise
(41:53):
and set up this up in your ownyard.
I and I wrote many years ago anarticle for all the pet
publications called fitnessunleashed, and it's a workout
you do with your pet or your cat.
You know your dog, your cat andso I'm very much into animal
health because before I was atrainer I was considering to be
a veterinarian and I was aveterinarian assistant and when
(42:13):
I was working with this vetreally wonderful guy, dr Ryan.
He was a really great vet.
But one day he had me.
He told me I have to take thislittle dog.
That was very ill and thelittle girl that was holding the
dog was about eight years old.
And she goes, is he going to beokay?
And I said it's up to thedoctor, please.
And she was crying.
(42:33):
I brought the dog in and thedoctor checked.
He said it's not good, it'sjust suffering.
You need to do the injection toput her to sleep and have the
family come in.
I said, doc, I can't do that.
I came in to say that so ofcourse he had to do it and I
felt so bad for the young girlso I decided I'm not going to be
(42:54):
a vet and I ended up gettinginto training people.
That was my career path.
I still have very, very, veryclose to heart to help animals
and that's why I created acompany called Healthy Pet
Nation.
It's com.
It has articles on various waysyou can take care of your pet
and holistic ways.
I form things Part of OperationFitness goals on various ways
(43:15):
you can take care of your petand holistic ways.
So I've I formed things.
Speaker 4 (43:16):
So part of operation fitnesscom?
Speaker 1 (43:18):
yeah, if you go down on the bottom, the footer.
You see thishealthypetnationcom?
Yeah, and I've worked withcaesar milan and many others,
but caesar milan is justtraining people, he's not really
training pets yeah, he'sdifferent people.
Yeah, you know but he shows youhow to act, act.
And now he shows more aboutbeing active with your pets.
Yeah, that's for sure.
But his main thing is to trainpeople how to.
(43:39):
Well, he's trained some parents, but all these nutty kids going
into schools and shootingeverybody yeah, I mean, really.
I mean, I feel just like you,pat.
If you have a kid that willwalk into a school.
You have a notice.
There's something wrong withthem.
You're responsible, yeah yeah,yeah.
Oh, absolutely.
If I was a parent, I need topay attention.
(44:00):
I don't care how busy I am.
My mother and father, I don'tcare how busy they were.
They always made sure.
How are you?
Speaker 4 (44:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (44:06):
When my father growing up no TV at dinner, we
all sit, we talk about the day.
I wonder how school was.
Yeah, and that's why I came outreally good and balanced and
psychologically, mostlyphysically because we had that
dinner time talk I couldn't bemore aware.
(44:30):
How can you not go like that.
One kid in Atlanta shot up thewhole teachers, those kids and I
did not know, and he gave thekid the gun.
Speaker 2 (44:39):
Yeah, you know what I'm saying Take responsibility.
Speaker 1 (44:43):
And when you're young I was, of course, brought up,
take responsibility.
So younger I was, you knowfirst very introverted.
Now I became like a alpha maleevolved to that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I was you knowfirst very introverted and then
I became like a alpha male,evolved to that.
But I tell people, if you don'tknow what to do, don't do
anything, but reach out tosomeone that knows about that
specific need you have, whetherit's diet or exercise, whatever.
(45:05):
Because you want to make surethat if you go to someone you
know maybe you don't want to doweights, maybe you don't want to
do treadmill maybe you're thekind of outdoor person that'd
rather go biking, docalisthenics or do some kind of
rings and ropes and things likethat.
Speaker 4 (45:22):
What I found out is you're being true to something
that gives you joy as opposed tosomething that gives you death.
Right, because if you can findout what that thing is like,
when I realized that, oh, myknees hurt, you know, and stuff,
so I don't necessarily likerunning, but like playing tennis
, which actually kind of helps.
Before we let you go, um, oneof the things I want to ask you.
We're next door to the, uh,kamala harris, you know the
(45:42):
volunteer office.
I wanted to kind of hit you upand see what gives you hope
about the future.
You know, um, considering, uh,just where things are in our
politics and, probably moreimportantly, our, we live in
separate sort of algorithmicsilos which produces separate
realities.
That feels like that's anenergetic block.
(46:03):
That can also be a cortisolthing, which people are stressed
out over, this and everything,which is just generally not
healthy.
What's your take on all that?
Speaker 1 (46:14):
Well, when it comes to right now, we're at,
hopefully, a turning point tosee who wins.
Speaker 4 (46:21):
I don't know if it's Either way, it's going to be a
turning point.
Speaker 1 (46:23):
Yeah, yeah because they all know you can't mess
around.
You get an office, you make alot of promises.
You better fulfill thosepromises.
So my take is that also peoplehave to take into consideration
that COVID really messed uppeople's minds, bodies and souls
Increased in suicide.
(46:45):
That's a great point.
I mean depression,post-traumatic syndrome.
Speaker 2 (46:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (46:49):
So we're recovering from a very, very despairing
time.
So, whoever comes in officeneeds to direct the health of
our nation in every aspect, andso we need to make sure that
corporations are giving peoplethat downtime at work for what I
(47:12):
call brain breaks.
Hydration, hydration,stretching Every hour you should
take, even if it's a two-minutebreak.
Brain break yeah, that givesthem a chance to get up, because
people are on the computer andthey get carpal tunnel syndrome,
poor posture.
You know they're like this thewhole time, yeah, and they're
forming bad posture and bad formand they're working so much
(47:35):
they don't have time to takecare of themselves.
So over the years I've createda program which is called
Stagger Training so you could do10 minutes of a workout in the
morning, 10 minutes on yourlunch break and then 10 minutes
like when you get home or beforeyou go to bed, so you can get a
half hour.
Or you could do 20 minutes anddo an hour.
The body doesn't have to trainfor an hour.
I tell people, bring it up.
(47:55):
So that whole concept is.
So I think if we number one ourfuture generation, whoever
becomes president, who isrunning the President's Council
of Physical Fitness, sports andNutrition, because we are
farmers and those children arefuture, are future generations.
(48:16):
So we're breeding an unhealthynation right now.
So a lot of the schools don'thave PE or they have no budget
for a sports program.
So we need to really take timeon the health of our nation, on
the health of our nation.
But we need to havepsychiatrists or psychologists
in the schools.
(48:37):
Because of COVID especially,mental health is not being
addressed.
And corporations let me tell yousomething with my concierge
service, they've called me tobring in security because they
have had constantly had deaththreats, because when they had
cutbacks they had peoplethreatening to kill the
(49:00):
executives that were above them.
They fired them.
I had one executive, very bigcompany out here there was
someone who was threatening tokill him and his pregnant wife.
Of course we got him right away.
Now the police couldn't doanything because, well, he just
made threats.
No, we confronted him and headmitted that yeah, if I see
them, I would kill them.
Of course he was put away now.
(49:21):
But there's a lot of people outthere that are really deranged
and when something happens Imean look at the shootings that
have creased significantly, notjust in the schools but in the
streets Someone's getting anargument.
Just the other day someone shotsomeone because they had an
argument, because someone cutthem off, because I think a lot
of damage happened.
So I really think whoever comesin office, we have they have a
(49:44):
lot of damage happens.
I really think whoever comes inoffice, they have a lot of work
to do.
They need to reach out topeople like me that do it
because we want to make adifference, not because we're
getting a big salary, because wewant to make that change.
That's why I say OperationFitness was established to
improve the quality of lifementally, physically and
emotionally and spiritually.
Speaker 2 (50:03):
Now, because you have to have some hope I'm not
saying you have to be quality oflife, mentally, physically and
emotionally, and spiritually now, spiritually Because you have
to have some hope.
Speaker 1 (50:06):
I'm not saying you have to be religious, but you
have to believe in something.
Otherwise you're wanderingaround like lost, right, but I
really think, whoever it is,that's why I've invited Trump.
They actually got back to meand said he's trying to see if
he can come in, but it can onlybe like a 12 or 15 minute
interview.
I said, well, if he can come in, let's do it.
Speaker 4 (50:22):
Did you get hit with the $25,000?
.
No, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 1 (50:25):
I know Donald for like 35 years, so so it's
different, but I know hisinsurance and his camp?
Speaker 4 (50:30):
Yeah, they would say that.
So yeah, sure, we'll come onthe pod 25K.
Speaker 1 (50:34):
Well, I, you know, I did that.
Yeah, well, that's a speakingfee, right, yeah, yeah, yeah, oh
, come on, yeah, yeah, yeah,come on Come on Bill Well, Mike
Torsey, thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (50:46):
We're going to make sure to have the information on
everything on the Beverly HillsConcierge Service as well as
Operation Fitness stuff we'llput in there.
And then again, you know yourpodcast, live Well and Thrive.
I dig it.
I really, really love a lot ofthe good things, the good
nuggets that I get out of it bylistening to it and I appreciate
you coming on the show andwe'll have you back on.
(51:08):
We can keep on top ofeverything that's going on in
your world.
Speaker 1 (51:13):
Well, thank you, it's such a pleasure to be here.
Thank you both.
Speaker 4 (51:16):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (51:17):
Thank you so much, Mike.
Speaker 5 (51:18):
Hi, I'm Anjali Bhimani and I'm Julia Bianco and
we are so excited to bebringing you our new creative
baby, the Character Selectpodcast.
I've wanted to save the worldsince I was four.
Speaker 3 (51:31):
There has been no character like him up to that
point, and there really hasn'tbeen a character since.
Speaker 5 (51:34):
Every episode of Character Select, we're going to
be taking fantastic video gameperformances and talking about
what makes them tick, what makesthem exciting as players, as
performers, as sound designers,as casting directors.
Speaker 2 (51:47):
That was.
I feel like I've been ambushed.
Speaker 5 (51:48):
I don't even have a podcast to talk about a video
game, so there's a big old lovefest here.
That's how we start this andyou're just going to have to
deal with it.
Recognized by the 2013 editionof the Guinness World Book of
Records, gamers Edition, as themost prolific female video game
voice actor in the world.
Speaker 1 (52:03):
You know it's a special project when you hold on
to the people you created itwith.
Speaker 2 (52:06):
Careers are born by being in the right place at the
right time, where you can'tcontrol the right time, but you
can control the right place.
Speaker 4 (52:19):
All right, mike Torsha, I mean, that guy is
amazing.
Like I said, 68?
.
Speaker 3 (52:24):
No, he is.
He is and he's doing good work,which is what we love.
I love Operation Fitness,helping these inner city kids
and really, really doing thework and putting in the time.
Speaker 4 (52:35):
All right, as promised, the update on the
ground from the fresh off theplane.
Off the plane, asia Nakia, youdid a sneak trip to Florida to
check up on your team therewho's been on the ground for
Hurricane Relief and for animalrescue there.
Please give us the update.
How's it going?
I mean, literally, I don't evenknow.
You're telling me this freshoff the plane.
(52:55):
Give it to me.
How did it go?
Speaker 3 (52:56):
This is super fresh.
It's actually going really well.
I was quite impressed with justthe city of St Pete in general,
the cleanup.
I mean from what my team wasexperiencing and what we were
seeing from the debris piles,things in the street, broken
signs, lights I mean they reallyhave been kicking butt.
I mean they got some extrahands and it's looking like
(53:17):
almost nothing happened, whichis insane to me from what my
team was sending me.
But on the animal side,everybody's doing really good.
We had a dog that was shotright before the hurricane, who
we pulled and still alive though.
Yeah, still alive.
Speaker 4 (53:35):
This is an RFK moment .
Speaker 3 (53:35):
Yeah, no, no no, all good news here.
He's getting the bullet removed, but you know sad situation.
And then we had another littlegirl that was hit by a car
during the hurricane.
We took her in, but we alsotook in little squirrels and the
squirrels are just blossomingand they're now eating solids
(53:57):
and they're just chippering away.
Speaker 4 (53:59):
I saw them on our Instagram.
I was like no, no.
There's something about smallanimals eating food that like,
except for cats, but they're notsmall enough.
Speaker 3 (54:10):
That's the problem.
It has to be like a chipmunksize.
You know squirrel chewing food,gotcha.
Speaker 4 (54:16):
So are you.
And what's the prognosis?
Or the yeah from here.
Speaker 3 (54:19):
Right now we're just, we're just we're dealing with
sort of an influx of ownersurrenders.
You know a lot of people thathave realized that their
situation is not going to change, they're going to have to go
live with family members.
So we are getting an influx ofanimals coming in that are going
to be going into the fostersystem and then being adopted
out.
So that that is, you know, Ithink, a part of the hurricane.
Stuff that people don't alwaysthink about.
It's not always the immediateLike, yes, we do the triaging,
(54:42):
the immediate rescues dogs stuckin water, animals at a farm
that are drowning, those kind ofthings are immediate.
But then we have, you know,months after where people can't
get their trailer back, theycan't go live with their moms,
with their two dogs, you know.
So these ripple effects afterthe hurricane sort of continue
on.
Speaker 4 (55:00):
So we'll be dealing with Hurricane Milton and Eileen
for, you know, the next fewmonths maybe even up to a year,
so people can stay on that onour site as well as Compassion
Kind.
Speaker 3 (55:11):
Absolutely.
We've got, you know, newanimals up for adoption.
Definitely animals in need offostering.
The more fosters we have, themore animals that we can help.
Speaker 4 (55:19):
And if you want a hit of just good, good, good mojo,
go to our socials and you cansee the baby squirrels.
Yes, All right, as promised,before we get out of here, two
scams and a slap, and what it isis you, the listener, and one
of us each week we trade eachweek finds out and goes through
(55:42):
three headlines, which one ofthem is actually a slap in the
face and real.
So this week I'm on the blockto try and figure this out with
you, lovely listeners.
So I pass it to Asia Nakia.
Speaker 3 (55:53):
All right, here we go .
All right, okay.
First news item on the listCoffee Shop offers free coffee
for reciting poetry instead ofpayment interesting.
Speaker 4 (56:05):
Um can I ask where?
What part of the country?
No, go ahead, go ahead, becauseI get portland.
Speaker 3 (56:09):
I could understand.
Speaker 4 (56:10):
I was gonna say it's gotta be seattle or portland,
like shout out to portland, allright, but but you know I'm for
your strip clubs, notnecessarily for the coffee house
.
All the good coffee, okay, allright, that's one.
Beautiful though, though.
Beautiful, beautiful.
Speaker 3 (56:23):
Okay, next Attorney throws Pringle can full of feces
at a victim advocacy center.
Okay.
And the third headline, and thethird NASA plans a mission to
capture asteroid and bring it toEarth's orbit.
So, rick, yeah, of those threethings, which one is actual
(56:45):
reality?
Speaker 4 (56:47):
Which one is a slap of reality.
I'm going to say the asteroidbecause I know right, I heard
the other day like a palm'sworth of an asteroid's worth,
like a trillion dollars, of somekind of rare mineral.
So I'm going to say that.
Speaker 3 (57:00):
Well, sadly for the Victim Advocacy Center it was.
It is an attorney that wastrying to blow off steam, and
his way of doing that wasfilling up pringles cups with
his own feces interesting andthrowing them at the building?
Speaker 4 (57:21):
yes would that be a mala shit cocktail or what that
would be, I don't know.
Would that be a mala crapcocktail?
Mala crap, yeah, mala mala mala, I don't know, we'll workshop
it.
Speaker 3 (57:31):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (57:31):
Okay, woo, I know it's silly season, you know.
So people calm the nerves, youknow it's an important time.
It is Feel the feels, but dosomething too, and I don't think
throwing Pringles, cans offeces.
Speaker 3 (57:49):
Maybe we can funnel this into some more constructive
sort of I think so, becausethere's definitely the
repetitive behavior of it, right.
Speaker 4 (57:57):
Shit in a can?
Yeah sure, I believe that's arepetitive behavior you would
have to learn.
Speaker 3 (58:05):
It's like a daily thing.
So if he could just put all ofthat energy.
Speaker 4 (58:09):
Right if you could put all the energy you spend on
shitting in a can and throwingit at a women's advocacy group.
Speaker 3 (58:15):
Unless he's going to Costco.
I can't believe that.
Speaker 4 (58:17):
That is a slap of reality.
Speaker 3 (58:18):
I should have guessed that one he's got a full
package of Pringles ready to goevery day, and then he times
when he shits to go drop it offat the center.
Speaker 4 (58:28):
That's a lot of effort.
I hope it's the regularPringles too, and not the
barbecue I was thinking it'sprobably like spicy ketchup or
something.
Speaker 3 (58:38):
All right.
Well, that was two scabs and aslap.
So Rick and I have been sort ofcollecting some of our favorite
items that we both use at home,at the office, you know, around
town, Things that we love,things that are sort of helping
us become healthier human beings.
We're really trying to focus onthat.
There's a lot of craziness inthe world.
Speaker 4 (58:56):
Yeah, removing toxins out of our environment and
stuff like that, and we haveclients that have been kind of
also pushing us and, yeah,keeping us honest on that as
well where you find out oh wow,I've got this cool memory foam
pillow and turns out, maybethat's why, uh, you know,
occasionally you get headachesand things like that, you know.
But you gotta check the brandsand stuff like that.
Speaker 3 (59:15):
So we're good and and also we have not left out our
fur babies.
They are also on on there,they've got some favorite
products.
Yes and yes and our link is inthe show notes and also on
social media.
You can find our links in thebio.
Speaker 4 (59:29):
Yes, all right.
Well, we'll see you guys nextweek and make sure, like I said,
love yourself somebody else,get involved and slap the power
Bye.
Slap the Power is a SlapNetwork production.
It's written and produced byRick Barriodil and Asia Nakia.
Our senior producer is BreeCorey, audio and video editing
(59:50):
by Asher Freidberg and BreeCorey and studio facilities
provided by Slap Studios LA and360Pod Studios.
If you're into online powerscrolling, like we are, don't
forget to follow Slap the Poweron Instagram, twitter, tiktok,
youtube and probably Pinterestsoon for access to full episodes
, bonus content and more.
And if you're as full of hottakes and crazy ideas as we are,
please think about dropping usa review to help boost this
(01:00:12):
episode.
And you can help blow up thegroup chat by sharing with
friends, family or random shitposters on the internet you want
in on the conversation.
And if you're interested inbeing a guest on the show,
please email info atslapthepowercom.
Whoever wins presidency, I want to address to
them what are you doing withthe President's Council of
Sports?
Speaker 2 (00:05):
and.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Fitness.
What are you doing with food inthe school systems?
And what about the PE that's sopoorly run?
The President's Council hadthis program.
Remember?
You were wearing your badge andeverything.
Nobody's even doing thatanymore.
You know, John F Kennedy wasthe one that started that whole
program at the schools, Wow, andso they've been using the same
(00:25):
program since he was president.
So you know how out there thatis All right.
Speaker 4 (00:45):
The world may not need another podcast, but it
could definitely use a slap.
That's right.
Welcome to Slap the Power, theshow that crosses artists who
use their powers for progress.
I'm Rick Barrio-Dill.
I'm Asia Nakia, that's right Onthe show today did Kill Tony.
Just save democracy, tonyHinchcliffe.
It's still going on and thankyou, bro, thank you for the
(01:06):
assist.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
And we also have our interview today with an artist
of a different kind, mike Torsha, who is a fitness guru, trainer
to the stars like Arnold Slyand even Jason Bourne.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
He admitted he's 68 years old.
He looks like he's 40.
You got to hear his secrets tothe long.
It really is amazing.
A little later, that's right,we're going to introduce you to
a new segment called Pause forProgress.
That's right.
We've been working on this fora while.
We're really, really, reallyhappy to bring this to you guys.
And it's where Slap the Power.
Partners with the incredibleanimal rescue work of Compassion
(01:40):
, kind to bring you regularupdates on trying to slap some
progress, or lack of, into theanimal rescue community, and I
know LA is at the forefront ontrying to move the needle there.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Especially here in Los Angeles with our shelter
crisis.
And then we also have someupdates from Florida of
Hurricane Milton animal rescuesfrom none other than me, fresh
off of a plane.
Speaker 4 (02:06):
And a little later, by popular demand, two scams and
a slap, that's right, where wetake three batshit crazy events,
two of which are fake but oneis real, and one of the two of
us learns in real time with you,the listener, which one is a
true slap in the face of reality.
But first, we are super, superproud to report the Kamala
Harris volunteer office nextdoor.
(02:26):
Last Friday we sent a full tourbus of badass Californians and
they knocked doors in Arizona tothe tune of 100,000 door knocks
, 100k.
30% of that is California.
Yo, that's right.
So we're kicking ass um, themost in arizona state party
history, which is reallyincredible and and it feels good
(02:49):
there.
Uh, so we have one final push.
You can make a difference.
The bus for this week is againa capacity, but if I think they
might even be trying to work asecond bus here and so, uh, you
can caravan, you can phone bankand if you can't phone bank, you
can amplify.
So to get involved, make sureto go to the links in our
description as well as in ourbio and also OFACA for Kamala
(03:12):
Aja.
Are you familiar with Kill Tony?
Speaker 3 (03:14):
No, tell me more Okay .
Speaker 4 (03:16):
Kill Tony.
It's an awesome podcast.
Because I am a fan of roasts.
I feel like this is what welove about Norm Chad Shout out
to norm chad.
Gambling mad with norm chad.
He comes from a.
He comes from a place where yougot to be able to make fun of
your everybody right, we'restill.
We're still reeling from, uh,tony hinchcliffe's set and
(03:39):
what's been fascinating now,even getting a couple of days
removed from it, is that peoplethat don't know what kill tony
is his set at madison squaregarden.
Tony henscliff, uh, I think thenet net of it is he might have
just woken up the whole entirecountry of puerto rico to get,
to get their, their peeps inflorida and in pennsylvania and
(04:02):
everywhere to vote.
Bad Bunny is shooting out thebat signal.
So I think roasting this iskind of an important thing that
I want to talk about.
I think roasting and Iunderstand they say well, the
First Amendment, how come youguys are so soft?
Now, one thing is that a setwhen you're there and everybody
understands you're there forroasting.
It's another thing when youhave text five, five, five to
(04:26):
fascism.
You know, and you're to me, thatit's a political rally and
that's where I think that'swhere he tweeted out.
You know, you people don't havea sense of humor, and I think
the sense of it all is exactlywhat we have.
You know, we have a sense ofwhen something's really funny
and don rickles could come inand mow down a room.
Norm Chag could come in and mowdown a room.
(04:47):
He wouldn't stand in front of apodium like that and do what
happened at that event.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
No, and I think that it's all fun and games when
you're roasting and there's nolike ill intent you know beyond
it.
Yeah, but I think, when you'realready dealing with an island
like puerto rico that is alreadydealing with being treated like
garbage and trash yeah, it'snot so funny at that point, you
know like it becomes.
It's a dagger.
(05:16):
Yeah, and not only that it'sone of the most beautiful places
on the entire planet.
That's right we have the mostbeautiful beaches, the most
beautiful mountains.
Every time I'm I find a newwaterfall, a new magical place
with beautiful little cookiesand birds, and I'm just like
this is paradise.
And now I understand why the USloves it so much.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
Yeah, sure, yeah, it was a good acquisition back in
the day, wasn't it?
It was smart for the portfolio.
I think the one thing thatpeople aren't still talking
about enough is it's look, I'm aTony Hinchcliffe fan too.
I like his comedy.
I think what he's been kind ofput through on the sort of
political correct side of thingshas been not cool in a lot of
(05:56):
ways, and I think challengingpeople's uncomfortabilities is
what we love.
We're kind of lefties that lovethat.
Uncomfortabilities is that'swhat we love, we like.
We're kind of lefties that lovethat.
But the what nobody's talkingabout is the hate that then
continued to come out from rudygiuliani, from from tucker
carlson, who could?
He knows where she's from, heknows where her parents were
(06:20):
born.
You know the samoan, and it'sdesigned to be ignorant and
hateful.
Right, and that's the part youknow.
And Grant Cardone, you're justlike your speed Grant.
All these rich guys they are.
They're advocating for their taxrate they're not advocating for
helping you get ahead, andGrant Cardone is one of those
(06:44):
guys who just sells thesecourses and just I don't even
want to get into it, because Iactually have a family member
that went through that the GrantCardone course.
The experience was horrific andso yeah.
But point being, why are thesepeople up there spewing hate and
then juxtapose it over Kamala,who is talking about, look, I'm
(07:09):
here to get to work on the to-dolist on helping people and this
is how we're going to do it andlaying out a plan?
That's the other thing thatkills me.
People say she doesn't have aplan.
Plan's all over the place.
You just got to have to be opento listen to what it is.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
Right and most of it on that side, I think, is all
based on self-interest, right.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
Because there's no collective interest coming from
that side.
Speaker 4 (07:33):
Yeah, it's a very yeah it's a me thing, and I
think that's at the crux of it.
What is so different?
It'd be one thing if it wasMitt Romney and he was getting
people excited about you know,hey, we're going to lower your
taxes and stuff like that.
But this is, this is uh, it'sjust, it's very hateful.
Calling her names, telling,saying that you know that people
, the enemy of the state, areDemocrats.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
It's just, it's just hateful and it's it's well and
and, and you see the misogynyand the um hatred yeah yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
That's the Tucker thing and it's extra because
she's a woman and she's mixedand it's just if they really
Never underestimate the misogynyyeah.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
And if they really wanted to play fair, they would
at least come at it with a levelof respect to say hey, you know
what?
We're going to attack her inevery single possible way, her
policies.
What she's done as a vicepresident, but we're going to
leave the woman and the mixedpart off.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
But no, yeah, yeah, yeah, no they're just going
straight for it Well, it'sthinly veiled, because the woman
hits are attacking her IQ whenthey know she is an accomplished
.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
Absolutely.
Speaker 4 (08:41):
Crazy.
They're scared of her intellect.
That's what it is, and so theythey have to.
What do you do when you're abully and you're scared of?
It you say that oh you're, youknow you're ugly right you know
you're when it's, it's the superhot girl.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
Or you say you're stupid when it's a woman clearly
is about the arts outsmart thepants well, I mean, why don't
they just nip it in the butt andeveryone takes an IQ test, and
then we just have all the scores?
You know, let's get grants,let's get trumps, let's get
commas.
We could probably put someanimals on there honestly and
(09:17):
get some higher IQ.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
You remember that cognitive test Trump took and he
was like I passed it.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
You know I got A plus it Woman cat and the same as uh
, what an amoeba.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
yeah, anyways, but I digress yeah, no, I, I, uh, I
think we're excited about what Itook.
I think here in the studiothere's uh, and next door to the
campaign there's just nothingbut good energy and people that
are.
They are just getting to work.
So you know, kind of again, ifyou want to get involved, we
(09:47):
have it all in our show notesand you know, even like Lauren
was here yesterday doing a hitwith, I think, a UK press
station, lauren Puretra Shoutout to Lauren from our episode
last week.
But all of a sudden we have allthese dogs around the office.
We have our own wonderland.
(10:09):
Yeah, yeah's, make sure to checkout the socials that we have
and you can kind of uh see theadventures of all the pets that
we have, I mean the dogs that wehave going on here.
But speaking of dogs, uh, thenew segment that we have, pause
for progress.
We're so proud of this.
We've been waiting to throwthis on you guys, and it's's a
collab with Slap, the Power andCompassion, kind and Asia.
Please tell everybody all theanimal rescue goodness that Paws
(10:33):
for Progress is going to beabout.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
Oh, my goodness, we're going to have so many
great updates, live rescueshappening here in the Los
Angeles area, but also aroundthe world.
With our disaster work, like wejust had in Florida for
Hurricane Milton, we've just gotso much going on but really
starting to pull in and focushere in the Los Angeles area.
We've got quite a plate ofanimal rescue SEGAs here to deal
(10:58):
with.
Speaker 4 (10:59):
And it's primarily the like.
The kennels is one of the firstareas that I know you want to
attack and feel that it is afixable problem.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
It is absolutely a fixable problem.
We have some big issues withbreeder licenses here in the Los
Angeles area.
We're just sort of giving themout like free car washes or free
Taco Bell I don't know what youwould give out for free.
But yeah, we keep talking aboutthe overpopulation problem.
(11:32):
We keep having all these pleas.
Every single day I'm seeing thisdog being euthanized, this dog
being euthanized, and we'retalking six-month-old puppies,
beautiful purebred dogs that aresitting at these five LA County
shelters that are all beingeuthanized for space.
And why?
Because we have way too manybreeders and we have all these
(11:52):
intact licenses that we'regiving out so that people can
keep their animals intact.
If we want to, if we reallywant to attack this problem, we
have to go for the breederlicenses and the intact licenses
Both super easy, low hangingfruit, solvable issues in the
Los Angeles area and then wewill see a drastic decline in
numbers, we'll see euthanasiarates go down, we'll see kennels
(12:13):
being emptied and then we canreally start to promote and
maybe push some more adoption.
You know banners, drive-bysigns, billboards Couldn't think
of the word Drive-by signs.
That's what we called it backin the 80s.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
Sorry, I wasn't alive then, so I don't know.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
I was going to say, wait a minute, I wasn't alive,
but I heard the word on thestreet is that I was alive.
Speaker 4 (12:36):
I just got called out by Brie.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
Is our producer calling us out right now on our
ages?
Speaker 4 (12:43):
She just threw a yellow flag here for all our NFL
fans.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
She did Okay.
Now we have to get back ontrack.
Speaker 4 (12:50):
But the point of Pause for Progress is going to
be an accountable, regularcheckup with us, and you're an
individual that is alwaysshowing up with the receipts and
I think in this space,especially in animal rescue and
stuff like that, you are, youknow, you are.
I bow to you.
So to be able to do thistogether is really really
(13:10):
exciting because I feel like wecan, you know, we can put our
resources together and reallymake a difference and start to
have some of these animalsthrough our website where we can
increase the, amplify theexposure to these problems and
stuff like that.
So we're really looking forwardto it.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
No, definitely, and I think the component of Pause
for Progress that will be thebest for our viewers and
listeners is that we want youall to be involved.
You know we're going to giveyou the actions to help with
these causes.
You know, and that's reallythat's what we're about you know
Artists for change and activism.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
So these causes, you know, and that's really that's
what we're about, you know,artists for change and activism.
So you know, let's roll, that'sright.
So make sure, the gentleman'sagreement that we have, smash
that subscribe button.
Also, make sure you know you'regoing to check the Pause for
Progress updates on our socialsand we'll have it every week on
the show, so make sure to keepchecking back.
All right, when we come backfrom the break, our interview
with the one and only trainer tothe stars, mr Mike Torsha.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Gambling is part of the culture of America Since
even before we were America.
I'm Norman Chad.
I know gambling.
I've played blackjack and poker.
I've bet sports and horse races.
I've even hit the slot machinesat a Pahrump Nevada 7-Eleven.
You say gambling, I sayGambling Mad.
So join me on Gambling Mad withNorman Chad wherever you find
(14:31):
your podcasts.
Follow us on socials atGambling Mad Show or at Gambling
Mad Norman Chad at YouTube.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
All right joining us for the interview in studio
today.
He is the host of the Live,well and Thrive pod.
He is also founder andpresident of the Beverly Hills
Concierge Service.
It's a lifestyle managementcompany which, you know, is
something that we're definitelyinterested in here.
Welcome to the show, mikeTorsha.
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, pleasure to be here.
Speaker 4 (14:59):
For those that maybe that are your audience that
might not know us, or ouraudience that doesn't know you,
we focus the show around artiststhat are using their art for
moving the needles.
You know, a lot of times it'ssocial progress.
A lot of times it is helpingpeople.
It is just using their art topush things forward.
And one of the things thatcaught us full disclosure.
(15:19):
Mike is a he's a client of ourshere at the studio, but what
was instantly uh, apparent to usis that you are, uh, you know,
in the way of longevity.
I I kind of consider you anartist of bodybuilding, like you
know, and an artist of oflongevity and living well.
I mean your.
Your podcast is called livewell and thrive.
So for those people that don'tknow what, how did you become
(15:43):
such the guru?
Speaker 1 (15:44):
in this lane.
Well, you know, I was an obesechild and when I was 14 years
old the school nurse had told meto come in and see her because
I guess they had done some tests.
You know, when you're ingrammar school, you know.
And so she said I need to haveyour parents come in.
I said why?
(16:05):
Well, I have to address someissues.
I said okay, well, my father'snever going to come in.
He works, he barely speaksEnglish, he came from Calabria,
but my mother will come in.
So the next day I bring my momin and the nurse says to my mom,
I'm very concerned about yourchild.
He's four foot eight, he's 51pounds overweight, he's in poor
(16:26):
physical condition and if hedoesn't do something about it he
could end up having a heartattack or stroke by the age of
40.
Now that nurse changed thecourse of my life, and so my
mother right away said well,whatever it takes.
And then my mom took my hand towalk out of the office.
And that's the first time mymother was a very strong,
(16:49):
powerful woman, never showedlike an awful female.
She was trembling and her handswere very moist and sweaty and I
never saw my mother get thatscared.
So on the way home she said Iknow what to do.
And then we got home and shesaid let's go in the living room
.
She turned on the TV and shesaid we're going to watch Jack
(17:10):
LaLanne.
She goes look at me, I'm fat,you're chubby, you need to lose
weight.
I need to lose weight.
Let's do it together.
Speaker 4 (17:19):
And for listeners that don't know, jack LaLanne
right.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
Jack Laelain was the godfather of fitness.
He'd have this show live withJack Lelain, and his wife would
be there and his dog, rusty, Ithink, white German Shepherd,
and then he started the episode.
Here's what 20 pounds of fatlooks like.
It was all this shavings frombeef.
This is what it looks like onyour body.
Well, we're going to dosomething about it today.
So I would do his jumping jacks, which that's where you got
(17:48):
jumping jacks from Jack LaLanne.
Yeah, yeah.
And all the other exercises.
And then he addressed the foodyeah, you are what you eat.
Yeah, so that was more of aprimitive way, simple way, but
it was a starting point.
And then I joined the YMCA andI saw these bodybuilders.
I was intrigued.
And then I had someone come upto me out of the blue and say
(18:08):
hey, kid, you want to build bigmuscles?
I said, yeah, he goes.
Well, listen, you need to do aproper workout.
And then we've got to talkabout your food, because he
poked me in the stomach.
He goes you have great genetics.
Someday you will be a championbodybuilder, but you are what
you eat, which was Jacqueline'smantra and sure enough, I ended
up eventually winning Mr NewYork State and Teenage Mr New
(18:33):
York State, Teenage Mr America,Mr USA and all these other
titles.
That's amazing.
I started traveling around theworld and lecturing about proper
nutrition, working for thesecompanies, but I was still going
to college and got my degreeand I'm a fitness and nutrition
expert.
So I've got all my paperworkdone, that I'm official, not
(18:55):
something just choosinginformation that I've had
collectively it's collectivelyand my book knowledge combined.
But over the years I've beendoing this since I was 14.
I'm 68 now.
I've lectured with dr barryshares, who wrote the series of
books the zone the zone which isbased on the bodybuilder's diet
really.
Speaker 4 (19:14):
So that was where I start.
First got into looking at dietwas the zone my dad got me the
book.
He's like you know, you kind ofneed to think about this and I
I've taken kind of a journeythat it's, you know, gone all
through, uh, everything fromgluten-free and everything.
But for those people that arejust listening to this at home,
you, I'm sorry, you just saidyou're how old you're?
You're?
I'm 68.
The man looks.
The man doesn't look a day over50.
(19:36):
He's got, I mean, he is yokedout and it's.
I want to know the secrets youknow.
Yeah, you, you got to help meout.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Well, you know, dr Barry Sears was brilliant.
Yeah, Now what he learned frombodybuilders is he looked at our
physiques and he said you guysare magnificent bodies and we
weren't reliant those days onall the cardio.
It was hard training, propernutrition.
We basically ate high-protein,low-carb diets.
We basically ate high-protein,low-carb diets.
(20:03):
But he also realized thatwhenever he would sit with us
and he was researching us, wewould first eat a portion of the
protein and what he hadrealized is the first food that
touched your tongue is the firstenzymes and acids that are
going to be released into yourdigestive tract.
So that means you're going toget digested more rapidly.
(20:25):
So in his book, the Zone, hetaught people whenever you're
going to consume food, the firstthing you do when you have your
plate is eat a piece of thatanimal protein.
Then you can eat thecarbohydrate and vegetable,
because it triggers the enzymesto break down the protein and
(20:45):
the fats.
The sugar will piggyback onthat and will be released
secondary, not stimulating andspiking your insulin levels,
which causes immediate fatstorage.
It takes that carbohydrate,that sugar, and stores it as
energy, which is fat.
So that was the firstbiohacking method with dieting.
And then, as people realized,you can also hit a plateau
(21:08):
because if you start having suchlow calories for such a long
period of time, after aboutthree weeks your body will start
secreting reverse T3.
T3 stimulates your metabolismto burn fat at a higher rate.
Reverse T3 is like, say, you'restuck on an island somewhere
and there's barely any food.
Your body can survive on very,very, very low calories because
(21:31):
it starts to slow down, becauseit's going uh-oh, we only have
this much food coming into thebody.
We need to burn slower.
So then your body's thyroidstarts producing reverse T3,
which means you can survive onmuch lower calories.
So when someone's on a very,very strict low-calorie diet for
three weeks, their reverse T3is being secreted and that's
(21:54):
when people go.
You know, I was on this diet andI was like taking in 800
calories a day.
I dropped so much weight thefirst three or four weeks.
Then all of a sudden I'm barelyeating anything and I'm getting
fatter.
So again, he understood thatand he shared that knowledge
with me.
And then when I was lecturingwith him, I really understood
why it was working.
I just knew that all the proswere telling me to do it.
(22:15):
It's like Arnold and Franco andall the Mr Universes, mr
Olympias but they never reallyfigured it out, they just kind
of stumbled on it.
But he explained the bodychemistry, why it works and I
was like a sponge soaking it allin.
So what I've learned in collegeapplied through going to
lectures and seminars andreading the American medical
(22:37):
journals, which I still do todayI base it on my experience and
factual studies by majoruniversities around the world.
And just experiences, workingfor every type of individual's
needs, like I've worked withpeople that were paraplegic, ms,
asthma, diabetes,post-traumatic syndrome.
I've addressed every type ofhealth issue and concern Double
(23:00):
hip replacement, you know,stents in the heart, so I've
learned how to navigate aroundthe restrictions and still allow
them to be physically fit andget a lean body at the same time
.
Yeah, and that's where myknowledge is grown, from all the
aspects of life that I wasexposed to and I had to find a
(23:20):
solution.
Like when I was a kid.
It was so funny when I firststarted training people, I was
like 16 years old and my motherwas saying you know what you
should get into personaltraining?
Right?
I said you think so she goes,yeah.
Speaker 4 (23:32):
After she was done picking on you for being chubby
right.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
And she was like this she goes listen, everybody
keeps calling up and asking youfor a diet and exercise programs
and all that.
You know how much money itcosts to make the calls.
No, no, have them call you andif they don't call you right now
, they'll call you back.
You missed the call, don'tworry.
So we went around to the, themarket, the fruit stand, and we
(23:58):
went to the tailor, we went tothe fish market in the, in the
beef place, you know, becausethose days it was separate, not
like whole foods now, um.
And we put a flyer.
My mother wrote it with a magicmarker personal workouts five
dollars, um, meal plans fivedollars.
my friends have gone way up but,anyway, so I just started my
business we are in beverly, sothen I started I started helping
(24:18):
people and my mother got me onthis path to be like jack lane.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
Yeah, he's doing you could do it.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
So I went on that path.
But along the journey, man, Ihad people come up to me and go
hey, I've got this illness, I'vegot heart condition, I have
this, this, that.
So my father said well, listen,if you ever get stumped, just
tell him.
I don't have the answer, butI'll get back to you, I'll get
you an answer.
And that's what I did toeventually, when they'd ask me,
I knew it.
So I was determined to look itup, make calls, reach out to
(24:47):
experts that would help sharetheir knowledge.
Yeah, but I understood after awhile I have to be very I can't
be that bodybuilding trainer,right, because I've trained a
lot of very, very talentedactors yeah, and female actors.
Like when Kim Cattrall waspreparing for Sex and the City
her audition, I prepared her forthat.
And when she did the movieMannequin, she hurt her back
(25:10):
pretty bad because she had to dostunts in the movie.
Pretty bad because she had todo stunts in the movie.
So I had to train her to rehabher back then get her body
shapely and firm so she could bethat sex goddess so to say for
the show and of course you knowwhat happened.
But I've worked with so manyother women Roseanne Barr,
kimora Lee, nicole Kidman, Imean, you name it Al Pacino,
matt Damon, all these people andthey all had different body
(25:32):
parts that they had to improveon different you know
metabolisms, so it wasn't I'mjust using different diets, I'm
sure cookie cutter workout.
You know, I mean Matt Damon.
I met him.
He had a 38 inch waist, smokedtwo packs of cigarettes a day,
loved to drink beer high carbs.
I got him shredded from theborn and eddy shredded.
Speaker 4 (25:49):
Alright, that's enough, give me some.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
It isn't like I just use the same thing.
Every program is custom.
You have to address a lot ofissues.
First thing I tell people to dois get me the blood work.
You may look fine.
I want to know what's going onin your body chemistry.
I can't tell you take thesesupplements or any kind of
biohacking, because I want toknow first of all what's going
(26:14):
on.
You could have a high cortisollevel from all the stress.
You could have very low D3 orDHEA.
I need to know what's going onin your body.
Then I do the reverse.
Then I start figuring out whatfood you need to get the
nutrients you need and whatsupplements you may need to help
compensate.
Because today, with agriculture, you don't have the same
(26:35):
quality minerals and vitamins inthe food because the ground has
been overused, over and overand over and over.
And again all the chemicals fromMonsanto and all this other
crap genetically modifyingthings.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
Our soil is just by hotness now.
Speaker 4 (26:53):
As a musician that travels all over, you realize
when you go to places thatyou're like oh, it's just the
ingredients, it's just thenature of the God.
Part of the ingredients arejust more dense, they're just
deeper in a lot of the placesthat prioritize agriculture in a
way that we stopped doing otherthan you know.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
Yeah, and it's a serious issue today.
It's a massive issue and that'swhat I want to address.
Whoever wins the presidency, Iwant to address to them what are
you doing with the President'sCouncil of Sports?
Speaker 2 (27:25):
and.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Fitness.
What are you doing with thefood and the school systems?
And what about the PE?
That's so poorly run?
The President's Council hadthis program, remember?
You were wearing your badge andeverything.
Nobody's even doing thatanymore and that's so archaic.
John F Kennedy was the one thatstarted that whole program at
(27:47):
the schools Wow.
And so they've been using thesame program since he was
president, so you know howoutdated that is.
So my whole thing is whoever'scoming in office, hey here, I'm
here to help.
I don't I don't want to getpaid, I just want to give back
and help society.
But you need people that arepassionate about making a change
, and the thing is I was part ofthe tribe.
I was an obese child, so Iunderstand what obese children
(28:11):
go through psychologically,emotionally and physically.
So you can't just have someonethat has a genetic perfect body
and think they're going to comein because they have not gone
through the emotional scarringlike I did.
So that's what I want to doeventually.
I don't know who will win.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
Who knows what the way the world is today, but
especially I mean tackling theschool systems.
I mean a lot of these childrendon't have the means at home, or
their parents don't have thetime or the you know nutrition
and health is not you knowthey're in a food desert to
begin with.
They're in a food desert orthey're just trying to survive
each day, you know.
But if you can implement thosethings while they're at school,
(28:45):
that's where they're absorbingthe most information.
So, yeah, I mean that would behuge.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
When I started my fitness company was in 1985.
I was sitting at Christmasdinner with my parents and my
brother-in-law was a cadet atWest Point and he invited me to
go up there because he saw I wasthis very powerful bodybuilder
and he wanted me to go up thereto help condition the soldiers
(29:13):
because he was telling me howthey'll put on all this gear and
with the rifle and the backpackand everything and the boots
it's about 150 pounds.
And so they have to go up tothe 15-foot diving board, jump
off and be able to walk and getout of the pool.
And he said be lucky, out ofyou know 50 guys, maybe three
can do it, wow.
So I had to do strengthconditioning at West Point,
(29:33):
advising them what to do becauseI was a very powerful young man
.
So my mother goes well, youneed to create a name for that.
And I said well, what do youthink?
Well, mark said everything is.
You know an operation.
My mom turns, goes.
I know Fitness and registeredit operationfitnesscom.
(29:56):
I registered it in 1985 and Idedicated it for kids' fitness.
But what I realized was youcan't just do kids' fitness,
because it's the environment thekids are exposed to to make the
necessary changes.
So I changed it like six monthslater, to Operation Fitness for
(30:17):
the entire family, because it'swho you're exposed to, even
like in your personality thebutcher you meet, or the person
in the cleaners, or the neighboracross the street or whatever.
Everybody that comes into yourlife forms who you are and, if
you're around, a healthyenvironment.
So when I was doing work withthe LAUSD for many years, I was
letting them know it's theenvironment.
(30:38):
We need to help the parents.
We need the parents to come inand listen to seminars, because
the children are going to followtheir lead.
Now I had this one young littlegirl.
She was like six years old.
She goes.
She's six years old, she goes.
Michael, I need your help.
My mom is a vegan and my dad isa meat eater and they
(31:02):
constantly argue and my fathercomes home and he wants me to
eat a steak.
My mom yells at me and says no,I want you to eat these
vegetables.
So I turn and I said well, whatdo you like to eat?
She says, well, I do like steak, but I do like vegetables.
So I said well, you're oldenough to understand, so tell
(31:26):
your parents that you want tochoose the food you eat.
And so, sure enough, she wenthome and she'd share with her
parents and they asked to comesee me and they actually thanked
(31:46):
me, because they said theyliked that their child took
initiative and they neverrealized the damage it was
causing her emotionally.
And later on years I saw herlater on and I got to tell you
something.
Speaker 4 (31:54):
This young lady is now a doctor.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
Hey, and she thanked me because she said when she met
me she thought she was going todo physical therapy, but she
said I want to be like Mike andshe got a degree.
She works at UCLA as a doctornow and I saw her many years
later, like 20 years later.
She came running up to me you,mike Torshaw and I said yeah,
(32:16):
and I saw her in scrubs.
She goes well, remember youlectured my parents I was about
six years old about my motherbeing a vegan.
I go, oh my God, she goes.
That's me.
And she was very fit.
She worked out with weights andyoga and Pilates.
Speaker 4 (32:29):
Had a chicken wing in her mouth.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
No, but you know what's so funny.
The father would really want tomess with the mother.
Yeah, sometimes bring home apepperoni pizza.
So he used that to make thedaughter want to eat that, to
piss her off, you know.
So he said listen, that's a lot.
Yeah, that's a lot of emotionalyou don't do that because you're
affecting the child Right andthe emotional upset can create
(32:56):
eating disorders.
That's where it begins, right.
So that's why I'm saying Ireally evaluate when anybody
comes to me to make sure thatI'm giving the best advice
possible and I teach people.
It takes 21 days to form a goodor bad habit.
If you exercise every day forthree weeks, your body will form
new neural pathways in yourbrain, so you do it
(33:18):
automatically without eventhinking about it.
Yeah, so if you start eatinghealthy for three weeks, just
eat very healthy and choose yourfoods wisely, after a while
you'll just make choices becauseyou've programmed your mind.
Even subconsciously.
You'll reach for things thatare more healthy, which you have
to do for 21 days.
Now same thing.
If you start smoking or eatingreally shit food for three weeks
(33:40):
, you're going to form now a badhabit, but you can unprogram
your neural pathways byswitching over and just
understand what you're doing.
So those are some of thebiohacking things little tips
that are simple.
You don't need to buy anything,just understand how the body
chemistry works and then again,why you eat the protein.
It's important Whenever I havemy breakfast, lunch or dinner,
(34:03):
I'm biting into the eggs.
In the morning, I'm biting intothe protein at lunch, and the
same thing with dinner, because,no matter what I eat, my
protein is getting digestedfirst, which is the hardest
thing to digest, and it won'tspike my insulin, which causes
fat storage, yeah sure.
So that's what I drill intopeople's minds.
So if you start following allthese different protocols,
getting in shape is not reallythat hard and losing weight.
(34:25):
But the problem why I createdmy podcast Live Well and Thrive
is because you go on YouTube.
You have all these peopletalking about their personal
opinion.
Is it based on any facts?
Yeah, any scientific studies atuniversities, notable studies?
No, they're just giving theirpersonal opinion and people are
(34:46):
following, like there's this onegentleman, he's a very
successful businessman.
He was following peter attiaand and uber and uberman, you
know, and so between the two ofthem, ben greenfield and shit,
yeah, all the guys.
You successful businessman.
He was following Peter Attiaand Uberman.
Between the two of them, benGreenfield and shit.
He was taking all thesuggestions, what you should
take to boost your owntestosterone, what you could
(35:06):
take to sleep better at night.
He said he was taking over 120pills a day.
He said, listen, one persongives you something for sleep.
You try it.
But you can't take Peter, tia'sand Brecca and Uber and think
it works all of them combined.
(35:27):
Well, if that works, what if Iput them all together?
Because what I learned was mygrandmother.
My Sassanian grandmother taughtme how to cook and one time I
was really getting into baking.
As a fat kid I loved to eat,right.
So my grandmother, I went to mygrandmother and I said Grandma,
can you give me a recipe for anapple pie?
Then I went to my mom Can Ihave your recipe for an apple
pie?
I went to my aunt Rita, who wasa great chef too Can I have
(35:49):
your recipe for an apple pie?
So then I made this.
I said the super apple pie, putit in the oven.
It flattened, it was terrible,it just wasn't right.
So I turned to my grandma.
I said Grandma, I took yourrecipe, my mom's, aunt Rita's.
So, miguel, what you should dois you take one recipe, you bake
(36:09):
it.
You see, take the other one,you bake it, you see, and then
you decide which one's the best.
You never, ever, mix a recipe.
It's all balanced for a reason.
Sure, sure, okay.
Speaker 2 (36:21):
So that's what I learned.
What I learned, you know.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
So I got him on a program.
Now he barely takes anysupplements, just a handful of
stuff, and he said his stomachwas always cramping up and
burning.
He thought he had someintestinal or ulcer or whatever.
He was just loading himselfwith all these pills.
So that's why I'm veryprecautious about anything I say
on the show, because peoplewill end up doing it and.
I don't want them to.
(36:45):
You know.
I'm not giving them recipes forthat stuff.
I'm just telling them, givingthem general guidance and
whatever help I can give themmore detailed.
But all these guys want to dois sell stuff like on their
shows.
That's not what I'm about.
I'm here to help people yeah, Imean it's.
Speaker 3 (37:00):
It's such a big responsibility, especially when
you're in a limelight and you'reputting this information out
and then people are picking upon that.
I mean you're literallychanging their body composition
and health you know, so youshould know what you're talking
about.
Um, I I just want to switchgears back to the Operation
Fitness real quick.
I mean, we barely grazed it,but what is the work that you're
(37:21):
doing right now with OperationFitness?
What does that look like?
Speaker 1 (37:23):
So what I do is I divide it up with various
different organizations thathave tweens and teens where they
need help and guidance forthese kids.
So I did a mentor program forthe Boys and Girls Club and some
of the others where I wouldspeak to the kids about proper
(37:45):
eating habits.
You got to gently introduce thekids and you got to let them
know they can have certaintreats but stay away from
process and what process isUnderstand what organic is and
what natural is and is,understand what organic is and
what natural is and thenunderstand what organic natural
is.
See, it's so confusing, youknow, if you go down whole foods
or somebody's stores, it saysorganic, then it says natural,
(38:06):
then it says natural organic,and then people are confused so
you have that they need to havesome clarity at the stores.
But bottom line is I make itvery simple for the kids, making
them understand.
You know the food plate that'sout there today is hideous, it's
so off.
So I try to just help peopleuse common sense and when it
(38:28):
comes to a salad, I tell thekids you want to make a happy
salad?
My father used to say to thewaitress when we go out to eat,
or my mother to make a happysalad.
My father used to say to thewaitress when we'd go out to eat
.
Or my mother, I want a happysalad.
My mother first time goeswhat's that?
Lots of color.
Put the red, the green, theyellow peppers.
Put the cucumbers, put thetomatoes, mix the different
leaves.
Speaker 4 (38:48):
You need colors of Benetton salad, but that's a
happy salad.
It's also like the gene poolLike but that's a happy salad.
It's also like the gene pool,like a Tiger Woods.
Speaker 3 (38:55):
That's me, though.
When I'm making food, I'm likeI'm missing a color here.
I'll just add a little andsomehow it made me a great cook.
I mean, I've never followed arecipe in my life, but I just
I'm like oh, we need more colorof this.
And then, once it looks niceand happy, I'm like ah, here we
go.
Speaker 1 (39:09):
And more enjoyable, right, you know?
And what's so funny was a kid,was Arnold.
When everybody would have asalad and it would come to the
table and if it didn't have allthose other vegetables in there
he would look.
He'd point at me and says, ah,waste, it died.
It's rabbit food, it's allwater.
You get nothing, nothing fromit.
(39:30):
Green vegetables, bad brisket,I said.
My father calls it happy salad.
Yeah, I like the happy salad.
So Arnold was the same way,because the other way he said
you're eating rabbit food.
Speaker 2 (39:39):
It was amazing.
Speaker 1 (39:39):
I remember the waitress brought it to the table
.
We were eating dinner one timeand I was just a kid and it was
just lettuce.
He goes, I said wait, so I knewwhat my father was saying.
But then when ArnoldSchwarzenegger said it, then I
knew wow, and every time I get asalad, it's a happy salad, it's
got everything in there.
Speaker 4 (40:01):
You split this up from the teens and tweens.
Speaker 1 (40:04):
Well, yeah, so what I do is I really dedicate a lot
of time working with inner citykids, the various different
school districts, to help themunderstand the proper nutrients
that children need becausethey're growing.
Their bones are growing, youknow, to about the age 20.
Your connective tissues willstart to seal then, so they want
to get optimal height andmuscularity and so on.
(40:25):
So Operation Fitness is mainlywhat I do to give back to
society, because I was part ofthe tribe of obese children.
It's a society, because I waspart of the tribe of obese
children, so I know what it'slike to be picked on, made fun
of, bullied and have poor selfesteem, so I can relate to the
kids.
So I do a lot of mentoring forthe different foundations and
(40:46):
organizations.
But that's what I do.
And then I put on these eventswhich I call Shape Up America
and I do a fitness event.
I'm working on doing one incentury city at the um, at the
shopping center, westfield, sureum, which is free.
I've been doing it for over 20years and uh, basically it's
entire family fitness for thewhole family.
(41:07):
I even have pet fitness and uh,chiropractors massage service
for your dog or cat.
Hey, Every aspect.
Okay, so when you go there it'sfree.
Yeah, I just get enoughsponsors to cover the cost of
setting up a booth.
Yeah, we have a stage whereevery 20 minutes there's some
type of.
It could be salsa, it could beyoga, meditation, it could be
(41:31):
boxing, it could be a lecture,it could be celebrity chef.
So throughout the day you cango and see the chart and see
what interests you.
Then we set up an obstaclecourse for the kids and obstacle
course for the adults, obstaclecourse for the dogs, because
I'm a lover right and I bring indog trainers to show if you
bring your pet and help youteach your dog how to exercise
(41:53):
and set up this up in your ownyard.
I and I wrote many years ago anarticle for all the pet
publications called fitnessunleashed, and it's a workout
you do with your pet or your cat.
You know your dog, your cat andso I'm very much into animal
health because before I was atrainer I was considering to be
a veterinarian and I was aveterinarian assistant and when
(42:13):
I was working with this vetreally wonderful guy, dr Ryan.
He was a really great vet.
But one day he had me.
He told me I have to take thislittle dog.
That was very ill and thelittle girl that was holding the
dog was about eight years old.
And she goes, is he going to beokay?
And I said it's up to thedoctor, please.
And she was crying.
(42:33):
I brought the dog in and thedoctor checked.
He said it's not good, it'sjust suffering.
You need to do the injection toput her to sleep and have the
family come in.
I said, doc, I can't do that.
I came in to say that so ofcourse he had to do it and I
felt so bad for the young girlso I decided I'm not going to be
(42:54):
a vet and I ended up gettinginto training people.
That was my career path.
I still have very, very, veryclose to heart to help animals
and that's why I created acompany called Healthy Pet
Nation.
It's com.
It has articles on various waysyou can take care of your pet
and holistic ways.
I form things Part of OperationFitness goals on various ways
(43:15):
you can take care of your petand holistic ways.
So I've I formed things.
Speaker 4 (43:16):
So part of operation fitnesscom?
Speaker 1 (43:18):
yeah, if you go down on the bottom, the footer.
You see thishealthypetnationcom?
Yeah, and I've worked withcaesar milan and many others,
but caesar milan is justtraining people, he's not really
training pets yeah, he'sdifferent people.
Yeah, you know but he shows youhow to act, act.
And now he shows more aboutbeing active with your pets.
Yeah, that's for sure.
But his main thing is to trainpeople how to.
(43:39):
Well, he's trained some parents, but all these nutty kids going
into schools and shootingeverybody yeah, I mean, really.
I mean, I feel just like you,pat.
If you have a kid that willwalk into a school.
You have a notice.
There's something wrong withthem.
You're responsible, yeah yeah,yeah.
Oh, absolutely.
If I was a parent, I need topay attention.
(44:00):
I don't care how busy I am.
My mother and father, I don'tcare how busy they were.
They always made sure.
How are you?
Speaker 4 (44:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (44:06):
When my father growing up no TV at dinner, we
all sit, we talk about the day.
I wonder how school was.
Yeah, and that's why I came outreally good and balanced and
psychologically, mostlyphysically because we had that
dinner time talk I couldn't bemore aware.
(44:30):
How can you not go like that.
One kid in Atlanta shot up thewhole teachers, those kids and I
did not know, and he gave thekid the gun.
Speaker 2 (44:39):
Yeah, you know what I'm saying Take responsibility.
Speaker 1 (44:43):
And when you're young I was, of course, brought up,
take responsibility.
So younger I was, you knowfirst very introverted.
Now I became like a alpha maleevolved to that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I was you knowfirst very introverted and then
I became like a alpha male,evolved to that.
But I tell people, if you don'tknow what to do, don't do
anything, but reach out tosomeone that knows about that
specific need you have, whetherit's diet or exercise, whatever.
(45:05):
Because you want to make surethat if you go to someone you
know maybe you don't want to doweights, maybe you don't want to
do treadmill maybe you're thekind of outdoor person that'd
rather go biking, docalisthenics or do some kind of
rings and ropes and things likethat.
Speaker 4 (45:22):
What I found out is you're being true to something
that gives you joy as opposed tosomething that gives you death.
Right, because if you can findout what that thing is like,
when I realized that, oh, myknees hurt, you know, and stuff,
so I don't necessarily likerunning, but like playing tennis
, which actually kind of helps.
Before we let you go, um, oneof the things I want to ask you.
We're next door to the, uh,kamala harris, you know the
(45:42):
volunteer office.
I wanted to kind of hit you upand see what gives you hope
about the future.
You know, um, considering, uh,just where things are in our
politics and, probably moreimportantly, our, we live in
separate sort of algorithmicsilos which produces separate
realities.
That feels like that's anenergetic block.
(46:03):
That can also be a cortisolthing, which people are stressed
out over, this and everything,which is just generally not
healthy.
What's your take on all that?
Speaker 1 (46:14):
Well, when it comes to right now, we're at,
hopefully, a turning point tosee who wins.
Speaker 4 (46:21):
I don't know if it's Either way, it's going to be a
turning point.
Speaker 1 (46:23):
Yeah, yeah because they all know you can't mess
around.
You get an office, you make alot of promises.
You better fulfill thosepromises.
So my take is that also peoplehave to take into consideration
that COVID really messed uppeople's minds, bodies and souls
Increased in suicide.
(46:45):
That's a great point.
I mean depression,post-traumatic syndrome.
Speaker 2 (46:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (46:49):
So we're recovering from a very, very despairing
time.
So, whoever comes in officeneeds to direct the health of
our nation in every aspect, andso we need to make sure that
corporations are giving peoplethat downtime at work for what I
(47:12):
call brain breaks.
Hydration, hydration,stretching Every hour you should
take, even if it's a two-minutebreak.
Brain break yeah, that givesthem a chance to get up, because
people are on the computer andthey get carpal tunnel syndrome,
poor posture.
You know they're like this thewhole time, yeah, and they're
forming bad posture and bad formand they're working so much
(47:35):
they don't have time to takecare of themselves.
So over the years I've createda program which is called
Stagger Training so you could do10 minutes of a workout in the
morning, 10 minutes on yourlunch break and then 10 minutes
like when you get home or beforeyou go to bed, so you can get a
half hour.
Or you could do 20 minutes anddo an hour.
The body doesn't have to trainfor an hour.
I tell people, bring it up.
(47:55):
So that whole concept is.
So I think if we number one ourfuture generation, whoever
becomes president, who isrunning the President's Council
of Physical Fitness, sports andNutrition, because we are
farmers and those children arefuture, are future generations.
(48:16):
So we're breeding an unhealthynation right now.
So a lot of the schools don'thave PE or they have no budget
for a sports program.
So we need to really take timeon the health of our nation, on
the health of our nation.
But we need to havepsychiatrists or psychologists
in the schools.
(48:37):
Because of COVID especially,mental health is not being
addressed.
And corporations let me tell yousomething with my concierge
service, they've called me tobring in security because they
have had constantly had deaththreats, because when they had
cutbacks they had peoplethreatening to kill the
(49:00):
executives that were above them.
They fired them.
I had one executive, very bigcompany out here there was
someone who was threatening tokill him and his pregnant wife.
Of course we got him right away.
Now the police couldn't doanything because, well, he just
made threats.
No, we confronted him and headmitted that yeah, if I see
them, I would kill them.
Of course he was put away now.
(49:21):
But there's a lot of people outthere that are really deranged
and when something happens Imean look at the shootings that
have creased significantly, notjust in the schools but in the
streets Someone's getting anargument.
Just the other day someone shotsomeone because they had an
argument, because someone cutthem off, because I think a lot
of damage happened.
So I really think whoever comesin office, we have they have a
(49:44):
lot of damage happens.
I really think whoever comes inoffice, they have a lot of work
to do.
They need to reach out topeople like me that do it
because we want to make adifference, not because we're
getting a big salary, because wewant to make that change.
That's why I say OperationFitness was established to
improve the quality of lifementally, physically and
emotionally and spiritually.
Speaker 2 (50:03):
Now, because you have to have some hope I'm not
saying you have to be quality oflife, mentally, physically and
emotionally, and spiritually now, spiritually Because you have
to have some hope.
Speaker 1 (50:06):
I'm not saying you have to be religious, but you
have to believe in something.
Otherwise you're wanderingaround like lost, right, but I
really think, whoever it is,that's why I've invited Trump.
They actually got back to meand said he's trying to see if
he can come in, but it can onlybe like a 12 or 15 minute
interview.
I said, well, if he can come in, let's do it.
Speaker 4 (50:22):
Did you get hit with the $25,000?
.
No, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 1 (50:25):
I know Donald for like 35 years, so so it's
different, but I know hisinsurance and his camp?
Speaker 4 (50:30):
Yeah, they would say that.
So yeah, sure, we'll come onthe pod 25K.
Speaker 1 (50:34):
Well, I, you know, I did that.
Yeah, well, that's a speakingfee, right, yeah, yeah, yeah, oh
, come on, yeah, yeah, yeah,come on Come on Bill Well, Mike
Torsey, thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (50:46):
We're going to make sure to have the information on
everything on the Beverly HillsConcierge Service as well as
Operation Fitness stuff we'llput in there.
And then again, you know yourpodcast, live Well and Thrive.
I dig it.
I really, really love a lot ofthe good things, the good
nuggets that I get out of it bylistening to it and I appreciate
you coming on the show andwe'll have you back on.
(51:08):
We can keep on top ofeverything that's going on in
your world.
Speaker 1 (51:13):
Well, thank you, it's such a pleasure to be here.
Thank you both.
Speaker 4 (51:16):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (51:17):
Thank you so much, Mike.
Speaker 5 (51:18):
Hi, I'm Anjali Bhimani and I'm Julia Bianco and
we are so excited to bebringing you our new creative
baby, the Character Selectpodcast.
I've wanted to save the worldsince I was four.
Speaker 3 (51:31):
There has been no character like him up to that
point, and there really hasn'tbeen a character since.
Speaker 5 (51:34):
Every episode of Character Select, we're going to
be taking fantastic video gameperformances and talking about
what makes them tick, what makesthem exciting as players, as
performers, as sound designers,as casting directors.
Speaker 2 (51:47):
That was.
I feel like I've been ambushed.
Speaker 5 (51:48):
I don't even have a podcast to talk about a video
game, so there's a big old lovefest here.
That's how we start this andyou're just going to have to
deal with it.
Recognized by the 2013 editionof the Guinness World Book of
Records, gamers Edition, as themost prolific female video game
voice actor in the world.
Speaker 1 (52:03):
You know it's a special project when you hold on
to the people you created itwith.
Speaker 2 (52:06):
Careers are born by being in the right place at the
right time, where you can'tcontrol the right time, but you
can control the right place.
Speaker 4 (52:19):
All right, mike Torsha, I mean, that guy is
amazing.
Like I said, 68?
.
Speaker 3 (52:24):
No, he is.
He is and he's doing good work,which is what we love.
I love Operation Fitness,helping these inner city kids
and really, really doing thework and putting in the time.
Speaker 4 (52:35):
All right, as promised, the update on the
ground from the fresh off theplane.
Off the plane, asia Nakia, youdid a sneak trip to Florida to
check up on your team therewho's been on the ground for
Hurricane Relief and for animalrescue there.
Please give us the update.
How's it going?
I mean, literally, I don't evenknow.
You're telling me this freshoff the plane.
(52:55):
Give it to me.
How did it go?
Speaker 3 (52:56):
This is super fresh.
It's actually going really well.
I was quite impressed with justthe city of St Pete in general,
the cleanup.
I mean from what my team wasexperiencing and what we were
seeing from the debris piles,things in the street, broken
signs, lights I mean they reallyhave been kicking butt.
I mean they got some extrahands and it's looking like
(53:17):
almost nothing happened, whichis insane to me from what my
team was sending me.
But on the animal side,everybody's doing really good.
We had a dog that was shotright before the hurricane, who
we pulled and still alive though.
Yeah, still alive.
Speaker 4 (53:35):
This is an RFK moment .
Speaker 3 (53:35):
Yeah, no, no no, all good news here.
He's getting the bullet removed, but you know sad situation.
And then we had another littlegirl that was hit by a car
during the hurricane.
We took her in, but we alsotook in little squirrels and the
squirrels are just blossomingand they're now eating solids
(53:57):
and they're just chippering away.
Speaker 4 (53:59):
I saw them on our Instagram.
I was like no, no.
There's something about smallanimals eating food that like,
except for cats, but they're notsmall enough.
Speaker 3 (54:10):
That's the problem.
It has to be like a chipmunksize.
You know squirrel chewing food,gotcha.
Speaker 4 (54:16):
So are you.
And what's the prognosis?
Or the yeah from here.
Speaker 3 (54:19):
Right now we're just, we're just we're dealing with
sort of an influx of ownersurrenders.
You know a lot of people thathave realized that their
situation is not going to change, they're going to have to go
live with family members.
So we are getting an influx ofanimals coming in that are going
to be going into the fostersystem and then being adopted
out.
So that that is, you know, Ithink, a part of the hurricane.
Stuff that people don't alwaysthink about.
It's not always the immediateLike, yes, we do the triaging,
(54:42):
the immediate rescues dogs stuckin water, animals at a farm
that are drowning, those kind ofthings are immediate.
But then we have, you know,months after where people can't
get their trailer back, theycan't go live with their moms,
with their two dogs, you know.
So these ripple effects afterthe hurricane sort of continue
on.
Speaker 4 (55:00):
So we'll be dealing with Hurricane Milton and Eileen
for, you know, the next fewmonths maybe even up to a year,
so people can stay on that onour site as well as Compassion
Kind.
Speaker 3 (55:11):
Absolutely.
We've got, you know, newanimals up for adoption.
Definitely animals in need offostering.
The more fosters we have, themore animals that we can help.
Speaker 4 (55:19):
And if you want a hit of just good, good, good mojo,
go to our socials and you cansee the baby squirrels.
Yes, All right, as promised,before we get out of here, two
scams and a slap, and what it isis you, the listener, and one
of us each week we trade eachweek finds out and goes through
(55:42):
three headlines, which one ofthem is actually a slap in the
face and real.
So this week I'm on the blockto try and figure this out with
you, lovely listeners.
So I pass it to Asia Nakia.
Speaker 3 (55:53):
All right, here we go .
All right, okay.
First news item on the listCoffee Shop offers free coffee
for reciting poetry instead ofpayment interesting.
Speaker 4 (56:05):
Um can I ask where?
What part of the country?
No, go ahead, go ahead, becauseI get portland.
Speaker 3 (56:09):
I could understand.
Speaker 4 (56:10):
I was gonna say it's gotta be seattle or portland,
like shout out to portland, allright, but but you know I'm for
your strip clubs, notnecessarily for the coffee house
.
All the good coffee, okay, allright, that's one.
Beautiful though, though.
Beautiful, beautiful.
Speaker 3 (56:23):
Okay, next Attorney throws Pringle can full of feces
at a victim advocacy center.
Okay.
And the third headline, and thethird NASA plans a mission to
capture asteroid and bring it toEarth's orbit.
So, rick, yeah, of those threethings, which one is actual
(56:45):
reality?
Speaker 4 (56:47):
Which one is a slap of reality.
I'm going to say the asteroidbecause I know right, I heard
the other day like a palm'sworth of an asteroid's worth,
like a trillion dollars, of somekind of rare mineral.
So I'm going to say that.
Speaker 3 (57:00):
Well, sadly for the Victim Advocacy Center it was.
It is an attorney that wastrying to blow off steam, and
his way of doing that wasfilling up pringles cups with
his own feces interesting andthrowing them at the building?
Speaker 4 (57:21):
yes would that be a mala shit cocktail or what that
would be, I don't know.
Would that be a mala crapcocktail?
Mala crap, yeah, mala mala mala, I don't know, we'll workshop
it.
Speaker 3 (57:31):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (57:31):
Okay, woo, I know it's silly season, you know.
So people calm the nerves, youknow it's an important time.
It is Feel the feels, but dosomething too, and I don't think
throwing Pringles, cans offeces.
Speaker 3 (57:49):
Maybe we can funnel this into some more constructive
sort of I think so, becausethere's definitely the
repetitive behavior of it, right.
Speaker 4 (57:57):
Shit in a can?
Yeah sure, I believe that's arepetitive behavior you would
have to learn.
Speaker 3 (58:05):
It's like a daily thing.
So if he could just put all ofthat energy.
Speaker 4 (58:09):
Right if you could put all the energy you spend on
shitting in a can and throwingit at a women's advocacy group.
Speaker 3 (58:15):
Unless he's going to Costco.
I can't believe that.
Speaker 4 (58:17):
That is a slap of reality.
Speaker 3 (58:18):
I should have guessed that one he's got a full
package of Pringles ready to goevery day, and then he times
when he shits to go drop it offat the center.
Speaker 4 (58:28):
That's a lot of effort.
I hope it's the regularPringles too, and not the
barbecue I was thinking it'sprobably like spicy ketchup or
something.
Speaker 3 (58:38):
All right.
Well, that was two scabs and aslap.
So Rick and I have been sort ofcollecting some of our favorite
items that we both use at home,at the office, you know, around
town, Things that we love,things that are sort of helping
us become healthier human beings.
We're really trying to focus onthat.
There's a lot of craziness inthe world.
Speaker 4 (58:56):
Yeah, removing toxins out of our environment and
stuff like that, and we haveclients that have been kind of
also pushing us and, yeah,keeping us honest on that as
well where you find out oh wow,I've got this cool memory foam
pillow and turns out, maybethat's why, uh, you know,
occasionally you get headachesand things like that, you know.
But you gotta check the brandsand stuff like that.
Speaker 3 (59:15):
So we're good and and also we have not left out our
fur babies.
They are also on on there,they've got some favorite
products.
Yes and yes and our link is inthe show notes and also on
social media.
You can find our links in thebio.
Speaker 4 (59:29):
Yes, all right.
Well, we'll see you guys nextweek and make sure, like I said,
love yourself somebody else,get involved and slap the power
Bye.
Slap the Power is a SlapNetwork production.
It's written and produced byRick Barriodil and Asia Nakia.
Our senior producer is BreeCorey, audio and video editing
(59:50):
by Asher Freidberg and BreeCorey and studio facilities
provided by Slap Studios LA and360Pod Studios.
If you're into online powerscrolling, like we are, don't
forget to follow Slap the Poweron Instagram, twitter, tiktok,
youtube and probably Pinterestsoon for access to full episodes
, bonus content and more.
And if you're as full of hottakes and crazy ideas as we are,
please think about dropping usa review to help boost this
(01:00:12):
episode.
And you can help blow up thegroup chat by sharing with
friends, family or random shitposters on the internet you want
in on the conversation.
And if you're interested inbeing a guest on the show,
please email info atslapthepowercom.
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