Road to Olympia | Mike Sommerfeld & Neil Hill | Straight Outta The Lair Podcast - Straight Outta The Lair with Flex Lewis

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:14):
straight out the lab, joined today by two incredible
gas rock, somebody that I'veknown for 21 years, my coach
under my eyes, the best coach inthe ifbb, uh, friend of the
family, friend and father figure, brother, all of the above, mr
neil yoda hill.
And in front of me, right herethey man they call badass mike

(00:38):
summerfield.
My friends, welcome to the show.
We are now actually today andgoing live, a week out from the
mr olympia.
You guys ready, you excited?
Oh yeah, yeah, I can see thatlook at the face, look at the
skin falls in the face.
You know when somebody's down inweight, when that skin is
literally folding up, whenyou're smiling but not not only

(01:00):
that.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Let's, let's, let's, give a little bit of love to the
celebration of hair above theupper lip on my man right here.
Look at that, look at thatbeard, look at that mustache.
Is this why they call youbadass?

Speaker 3 (01:11):
Not yet, but we will see soon.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
I like it.
Is that going to be on stage?
I don't know.
I don't know.
Is this the brand that you'vebeen using and working with the
last year?
I've seen you with differentstations.

Speaker 3 (01:23):
Honestly, I tried to copy a guy His name is Flex
Lewis and what he did the pastfew years.
He was cutting his beard offbefore the show.
That's what I did just to seemyself and like, okay, it's game
time, my friend.

Speaker 1 (01:37):
It's a different guy right, when you shave that beard
and you see yourself back, it'slike who are you?

Speaker 2 (01:49):
I don't recognize this face, let alone his body.
We were just talking about thisbecause, like I asked him
specifically, I was like dude,did you ever compete with your
beard?
And he was like no, he was likethe beard comes off.
When the beard comes off, flexturns into a whole different
human being.
So he's like he wouldn't likethat guy he knew about that guy.

Speaker 1 (02:00):
Way too much, way too much.
But um, mike Neil, it's beengreat to see you over the last.
What have you been here for?
A week?
A little bit over a week.
Yeah two weeks, yeah, and seeyou putting in the work You've
been, you know, putting it allin, obviously, coming into the
Mr Olympia.
You've made some incrediblechanges, which we're going to be
talking about and how.
But let's talk about theOlympia and these improvements

(02:24):
that you've made.
And what are the improvementsthe fans can expect to see now
stepping on stage?

Speaker 3 (02:30):
Well, we're limited.
The past few years with theweight cap right and they
changed it quite a bit.
So we had the chance to go intoour pretty much first offseason
this year and I can tell youthat it was the greatest
off-season I've ever had.
You know, neil, he makes sureyou don't eat crap food.
So my off-season was basicallyvery, very clean, high quality

(02:55):
foods.
I spent my off-season in Dubaiwhere I was able to get the best
quality, high frequency, goodamounts of food.
It was preppedpped, it wasdelivered so I could just pick
and choose the vegetables, theprotein sources, carbs, the fats
and, of course, neil had an eyeon me all the time.
We gained weight very easy,because it was my first off

(03:17):
season since 2000, 1980-19.
We already reached the weightweight cap for 200 pounds back
then and then we had some roomto grow and that's what we did
Four months.
We didn't push really hard, butwe increased the calories a
little bit, we changed thetraining, we learned a lot and

(03:39):
worked out pretty well.

Speaker 1 (03:41):
What kind of things did you learn during that off
season that you you hadn't havelearned the previous years?

Speaker 3 (03:46):
um, I would say it's mentally to use emotions,
putting into a set where it'sbeneficial.
In other words, if you aredepressed and angry and
frustrated, very negativeemotions, but as you're able to
turn that into power or fuel,you will get much more out of

(04:07):
every set, every rep, and that'swhat I'm focusing on for, I
would say, at least eight weeksas a mental boot camp, and I was
able to create an emotion whichis so intense that I can go
through pain and through thesewalls you need to break to make

(04:27):
improvements.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
So you are talking about not physically improved.
This last offseason, you reallyfound a new mental side to this
drive that you never had before.
That's what you're talkingabout Tapping into these
suppressed emotions.
You know, know things thatyou've uh, you know.
Whatever it is that you'vesuppressed, you know.
You're putting them into eachand every training session.

(04:51):
So the mental game is somethingwe talk about a lot in the
podcast.
We've had some incredibleguests in all different sports
and everybody talks about thattime where they were able to
unlock that true potential bytapping into that mindset.
A lot of these guys let's justtake a couple of fighters we've
had on.
They were fighting on emotion.

(05:11):
They didn't know really how tohome that emotion in, and when
they'd done that, I mean theywere on winning streaks.
They were able to truly findthat best version of themselves,
not only in training but alsoin the octagon too.
Have you ever worked withanybody on the mental side of
things, like a sports therapistor anything like that?

Speaker 3 (05:28):
no, but I'm working on it since, I would say, eight
or nine years, by reading,talking to psychologists and
people who are involved in thispersonal mental transition from
a to b and there many, manydifferent types of changes, and
for me it has never something todo with breaking my ego.

(05:49):
It's more about using it togive me all the benefits.
I need to do things to grow, toperform better, to improve.

Speaker 1 (06:00):
What have you seen in the last year?

Speaker 4 (06:02):
coach.
Just to touch base with whatMike said.
Obviously there's a huge mentaltransition from the old Mike to
the new Mike and it's obviouslypaid dividends for this
physique because he's made someincredible, incredible progress
and gains, very much like usback when we transitioned from
202 up to the 212 division.

(06:23):
That extra weight allowed youto obviously bring a new level
of physique to the stage, but italso gave you the ability to
have more confidence with youroff-season and be productive.
You know Mike talks about that.
You know this is the firstoff-season he's had for such a
long time Because obviously wewere chasing Olympia
qualifications at differenttimes.

(06:44):
You know, in a perfect worldyou want to step on stage at the
Mr Olympia place in a placewhich allows you to pre-qualify
for next year.
That's obviously only for avery limited amount of athletes.
You know that as well as I, aswell as myself.
So that's positive in one sense.
So that's positive in one sense.
But the other negative withthat is I do feel that sometimes

(07:06):
doing shows away from theOlympia allows you to learn a
lot as an athlete, as a coachand an athlete and coach
relationship.
But my point in this is thatMike talks about the mental side
, which has changed, which hasmade such a massive impact on
his physique side, which haschanged, which has made such a

(07:26):
massive impact on his physique.
But the thing is before, even ifmike had that same mentality,
you still can't build musclebecause you're in a box.
And you know, when you competedas a as a 202 athlete in your
first pro show flex you wereabout 192.
I can remember you're about 19and obviously we went through
the process over probably likethree years to get from 192 to

(07:48):
step on stage as true 202athlete.
Once we hit that 202, you know,we brought a physique, or you
brought a physique which wasworthy of the most prestigious
titles in the world, obviouslythe Mr Olympia.
Unfortunately, in the last 202show for you, that didn't happen
.
Do I think you should have wonthat 202 division 100?
I have no doubt so, do I?

(08:09):
You were the champion that day.
No, no disrespect to thechampion himself, because you
have to show respect to theseathletes, because and it's not
personal, remember, it's just apersonal opinion um, it's just a
personal opinion.
But when that 2012 divisioncame along, there was a change
in your mentality because nowyou're not being pushed into a

(08:30):
box that you've outgrown right.
So I think that there's manyelements with what mike is
saying.
And of course we've been able toincrease calories, making sure
that his digestive tract is in areally healthy place so that
he's able to utilize, not forcefeed, not overfeed, be in a
positive state of being in anenvironment, to make sure that
you're also considering thevariable of injury prevention,

(08:53):
because as strength goes up, asfood goes up, as new muscle
tissue takes place, sometimestendons can't keep up with those
strength gains and obviouslymike has grown in confidence
with his physique.
He's definitely so much morethree-dimensional and I know
that this is a simple questionand I know I've answered a lot.
But I said to Mike I think itwas last week, I said I was at

(09:15):
every single photo shoot thatFlex did the day after Olympia
and you'll know this all rightperbanel, between perbanel and
obviously the other incrediblephotographers, kevin autumn
being one of those as well thoseguys may have taken 200, 300
pictures of you over a period oftwo hours, right and out.

(09:39):
Those two or three hundred, weonly like 10, we would set the
look of it seriously.
He'd be like don't like thatdon't like that because there
was gaps.
You know there was gaps in thephysique, but everyone has gaps,
everyone.
What?
What becomes a realthree-dimensional athlete is
when those gaps get filled.
And that's what I've seen withmike.
And I remember in your lastphoto shoot with perp and l.

(10:00):
I can remember the room we werein.
I remember it's in the dumbbellroom.
I can remember the room we werein.
I remember it's in the dumbbellroom.
I can remember it so clearly.
Per must have taken 200 pitches.
You could have probably used200 pitches because they were
all so fucking incredible,because you'd filled all those
spaces Right.
So that's what I'm seeing withMike Now.
This new muscle is fillingspaces.
His waistline is the same size.

(10:21):
It's allowed his physique toreally show a new dimension.
Of course, he still has tocompete and step on stage.
We still have to make weight.
That's where our focus is atthe moment.
So we're roughly about four orfive pounds away from making
weight.
So we're in a really greatplace.
And because he's in a greatplace emotionally, mentally,
here in Vegas, he's got abeautiful wife, Shani, with him.

(10:42):
I just feel that he couldn't bein a better and we call it base
camp right.
We used to turn up in Vegasnormally about 8-10 days before
base camp sets up and then we gointo the final phases.
So he's in a great place.
He's in a.
Really I have no doubts thathe's going to make some noise on
that stage.

Speaker 1 (11:00):
He's already making noise, because we were in the
gym last week and him and Rahmanwere doing an improv pause down
right in front of us andobviously I seen him walking
around the gym pumped up.
But then the improvements werejust so much seen.
When these guys went and hadthis pause down I was like, holy
shit, incredible fuckingimprovements.

(11:21):
Again, it's hard to see on theinternet, you know, and we all
kind of follow and see thingsthat pop up.
Coach obviously posts a lot ofhis athletes, but then when
you're in this gym, I know whowalks through this gym and who
has that look.
And then when you were trainingthat day, you were like, hey,
come on, let's take a couple ofpictures.
You knew you looked good, youknew he made them improvements

(11:44):
and, my gosh, I got tagged in onall this stuff.
That photo and that video wentviral.
It's got to be a good feelingfor you to now be talked about
as one of the you knowcontenders to break into that
top five as well.
Right, you can mix it up.
It's got to be a good feelingfor you to to come from Germany,

(12:08):
have the dream to to go fromlinking up with Neil, have this
incredible journey, competingall around the world, and now
you're on this Olympia stagethis year.
Obviously you, just like me,were coming into you know base
camp that week and where we werelike four or five pounds always
overweight coming here too, butagain I was the stressor in the
weight.
This guy be like, shut the fuckup.
We're good, my job is my job.
You just follow the plan.

(12:28):
But it's good to have thatcoach too, and we spoke about
that in the gym.
Right, you want a coach, not acheerleader.
Let's, let's talk about thatrelationship between you and
neil.

Speaker 3 (12:36):
In your opinion, I share that for a reason um, I
texted him 31st of december, solike close to new year's eve,
and I got a message, I guess twohours later.

(12:57):
It was the first of january,and he answered straight away.
I was like, okay, that's weird,maybe that's a fake.
And he said, yeah, flex told meabout you.
And I was like, okay, that'sweird, maybe that's a fake.
And he said, yeah, flex told meabout you.
And I was like, okay, that's100 fake, can't be real.
And they said, yeah, okay,let's have a call.
And I was like, okay, oh, wow,okay, I mean for real.
And then we had a conversationand he said, okay, you just

(13:20):
turned pro, let's see what wecan do.
I had a special health conditionthat's why I worked with
Patrick Tour before and he saidhe could not take the
responsibility to coach meanymore Because my body is not
able to produce oxygen in theseseven following steps, so the
seventh one is not workingproperly.
That creates toxins and raisesmy liver enzyme levels.

(13:43):
And Neil said, okay, there's adeal, we're going to work
together.
As soon as your levels go upslightly, we're going to stop
right away.
Deal or no deal.
As he is very straight andhonest.
And I said, okay, deal andsince then my levels were
dropping and dropping anddropping.
I'm healthy as never before.

(14:05):
I'm feeling great.
My body developed tremendouslythroughout the last five years
and we did so many shows.
We had so much, I would say,time together not personal but
he's much more than just a coach.
A coach is somebody who tellsyou eat more rice, eat less rice
, eat more chicken, go to bedearly.

(14:26):
But he really takes care aboutyour life, business, how you're
feeling, what kind of person youare.
He's like a real mentor, slashfriend, slash coach and I say
coach the last point because allthe other things before are so

(14:47):
much more intense and, as weagreed, he's probably the best
coach in the world.
So he is really part of myinner, inner inner circle.
There's my dad, my wife andNeil.
I have basically three peoplepinned on my whatsapp and he's
one of them.
My wife is one of them.
That tells a lot.

Speaker 1 (15:07):
Can't be missing any messages from him either, right?
He's giggling Sometimes Ishould just put my phone off,
you've got to have some storieswith him where you've not got
back to him in a timely fashion.
So many Say so many.
I got so many of 21 decades.
Get some rest, got back to himin a timely fashion.
So many Say so many.
I got so many of 21 decades,hey.

Speaker 3 (15:27):
Mike, get some rest.
Go back to bed.
Tim said hey, mike, I need somepictures now.
I love it, yeah, but you canfeel that he's on the money,
like he wants you to be the bestyou can be.
Of course, every fucking minute.

Speaker 2 (15:43):
Yeah Well, the force is strong with them and they
call them.
They call them the yoda, right.

Speaker 1 (15:48):
And obviously, if you're the yoda, you gotta
amongst other things yeah, well,with with our relationship
obviously, with competing fromamateur to them pros, the things
changed in terms of you know,uh, frequency of meals and stuff
like that as we evolved.
But what didn't change was hismindset switch.

(16:09):
So you have a relationship withwith neil.
You know, in the off season,yes, you're still working as
coach and athlete, but then whenit comes down to that critical
time, whether it be whatever thenumber is 15 weeks out for us
it was 20 weeks out we'd havethat conversation on a friday or
something like that, like hey,monday, coach hats on.

(16:30):
And then, you know, as I'mwaking up, I get a whatsapp from
him.
I was expecting fuckingpictures of seven.
Where the fuck are you?
What's your weight?
I'm like it's 701, mate, calmdown.
But you go through that periodof that new balance because
you've gone through, you know,11 months of not having a show
and then it's retraining.

(16:50):
You know that mentality.
Now, a lot of coaches that Iwork with, they have a
consistent relationshipthroughout the year and I think
that's a bad thing because itallows the coach to feel empathy
, it allows coach to giveforgiveness or be like you know
what, yeah, you've worked hard.
This week you have a cheat mealbecause the court, because the
athlete's asking for it with us,you know, it was never a

(17:12):
question of of can I have acheat meal.
I had to earn something.
And he would actually tell meand force feed that cheat meal
into me many times where, wheremany cases where I didn't want
it, I was like I don't think Iwant you're eating it and I want
you to send me a video which atthat time in the morning was
like 3am, so my poor wife waslooped into all this stuff.
He would message ali on theside and he would say I need you

(17:35):
to film him eating this cheatmeal because I don't believe
he's eating it.
Is any story similar to you?

Speaker 3 (17:41):
yeah, my wife.
She's doing a lot ofconversations, especially the
last week because I tried toreally chill and, as I said,
neil is a huge part of my innercircle, so the moment he moves
his lip just a millimeter, I'mlike all in and sometimes I feel
pressure when there's no needto have pressure, just because I

(18:02):
want to be the best I can befor him, because I can feel he
puts everything he can into mysuccess.
So what I can do is just tryingto give everything back I can.
Sometimes that creates pressure, but also diamonds are created
by pressure, absolutely.
So it's my job to deal with it.

(18:24):
Yeah, and he has never, ever abad intention, so I just
sometimes need to come back,control my emotions.
Sometimes he's straight no, Iwould say all the time.
He's very straight all the time, and sometimes he tells you
things you don't want to hear,especially things where you're
not the best.
That's his job Finding thosespots and make you work on them.

Speaker 1 (18:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (18:48):
And sometimes it feels hard, but it's my job to
control it.
It's my job to make that happen.

Speaker 1 (18:56):
It's called tough love, tough love, tough love
that's what we call it.
He would message me before aleg day and be like you trained
like a pussy.
Last week I seen you, I wasthere in the gym, you're not
going to win the Olympiatraining that style.
So I was like, okay, fuck you.
No, I trained hard enough.
And then you realize like, nah,I didn't really.
I had more in the tank, eventhough you're in the mindset of
I'm going to empty the tank here.

(19:16):
But that's, that's thedifference between having a
cheerleader and a coach.
You know that coach is going totell you that you know you suck
or you have body parts to bringup or you need to improve on
this, and as much as you, youmight not want a year at that
time because of diets andemotions and everything else
that's going on.
You need a year.
It and and then when it startssinking in, it might take some

(19:38):
time, even though, again, wehave a long relationship and
long history of it, of ablueprint of all this happening.
It would be like, okay, I, Iunderstand now, I understand now
, and then we would take that,then that new, you know whatever
that conversation would be, andthen we would implement it into
the training.
But there was always thattransitional period for us,
right where we went from youknow, traveling on the road and

(19:59):
eating and training and havingfun to then that switch, that
mentality.
And it's not like you showfavoritism to anybody everybody
gets it right, coach yeah,because I might like.

Speaker 4 (20:11):
My intentions are always going to be good.
I'm never going to expect anathlete to step on stage and
place in a place that maybe atthat given time they're not at
that level of muscularity orthat level of maturity.
It's like layers right, it'slike walking up a ladder, so to
speak.
But I, as a coach, I have togive my everything for me to

(20:36):
feel like I'm doing what I'msupposed to be doing.
So my expectations of theathlete is to make sure they're
doing everything on their partto be the best athlete that they
possibly can be, becausethere's no second chances,
unfortunately, on that stage, byany means, you know you have
one shot at it.
In that prejudging, it's notvery often that you're going to
have the ability to make amistake and get away with it.

(20:58):
And at the end of the day, whenyou look at a 12 week, a 13, 13
week, a 14 week, pre-concontest prep, there's many, many
days for every day that youhaven't applied yourself.
That's a day that you sometimescan't get back.
And, of course, genetics play amassive part structure, generic
ability to build muscle tissue,genetic ability to potentially

(21:20):
grow into shows if that'ssomething that you're able to do
, depending on the weightcategory.
You're competing against geneticspecimens and you have to be
able to look at yourself atnight time, especially the day
after the show, and ask yourselfdid I do everything that I
could have done to be the bestversion of myself?
And the best version of yourselfis doing everything that you
need to do and nothing that youdon't have to do.

(21:43):
It's very easy for some peopleto be into a mindset where more
is better more cardio, less food, more training volume.
You're in a catabolic state,you're.
You know there's a fine linebetween anabolism and catabolism
pre-contest time and you needto make sure that you're

(22:04):
potentially trying to stay asanabolic as possible so that you
are able to get maturity, beable to lose body fat,
potentially grow into a show andcertainly preserve muscle
tissue.
So I never ask my athletes todo more than anything that they
should be doing as far as cardio, caloric restriction, whether
we're doing high days, low days,training volume in the gym.
But as for me, I have to knowthat I've done everything I can

(22:30):
for me to warrant the abilityand feel good that I'm doing
everything on my behalf.

Speaker 1 (22:34):
What was it about Mike that you've seen?
Because you have a very elitegroup of athletes you work with.
You don't work with justanybody group of athletes you
work with.
You don't work with justanybody.
And I've been in in manyconversations where you know,
where you said, like it's notabout the money, um, I want to
work with people who take mytime seriously, have that little

(22:56):
something special about them.
But what was it with mike?
Knowing that mike had somepre-existing uh, genetic health,
health issues, that made youthink I want to work with this
guy.

Speaker 4 (23:06):
Well, first of all, I'm somebody who gets drawn to
shape and structure all right.
And you could look at that inlots of different forms of life.
Right To me, shape andstructure is bodybuilding and
unfortunately not everybody hasthe shape and the structure but
a big percentage of those peoplewhich don't have that shape and
structure have these crazygenetics to build muscle tissue

(23:28):
right.
So there's an element which isjust you're fortunate, you're
gifted, you're lucky.
But there's a lot of gifted,lucky people out there who have
never gone on to be successfulin their chosen professions
because they don't have thedrive, the determination,
they're not hungry or maybe theydon't have that passion, and
there's nothing wrong with that.
But if you want something andyou're passionate about

(23:49):
something and you apply yourself, then you're going to see
progress.
Mike's physique is veryappealing to me.
I just look at it and thinkthat's just bodybuilding.
You know, that's just like art.
And the great thing about theclassic physique division it's
allowed athletes who potentiallydon't have the ability to build
the mass to go into a openclass division, potentially

(24:11):
don't have the ability to builda muscle, to step on the top end
of the scale of the two, two ortwelve division and it's
allowed them to step on stage asthe athlete they are.
I still feel that, like everydivision, the, the men's
physique division, or, sorry,classic physique division it's
height and weight.
So it's not just about shapeand structure, it's about height

(24:32):
and weight.
But Mike just had that physiquewhich I just think is just like
, it's just so appealing.
It's a front cover shot.
You know, he's handsome, he'sgot great skin, he talks well,
he speaks German, he's gone outof his way to learn multiple
different languages, he's a verysociable, interactive person
and when I knew about hisgenetic disadvantages, so to

(24:53):
speak, I was also very, very,very mindful that, as I've
always been with you, I keep100% healthy and I like the
challenge and I feel that theprogress that Mike has made is

(25:19):
testament of how we worktogether.

Speaker 1 (25:24):
Well, listen, I think that the story among many that
you have got going going on, youknow we mentioned, uh, athletes
.
I seen that change working withhalf el brando right, obviously
, this is a kid that, um, I kindof uh fell in love with through
through meeting him you know,couldn't speak much english
invited him over to the dragonsthere in boca raton and got to
truly train on me every day fornearly two years through corvid
and I got to see his mindsetchange.

(25:45):
And, of course, he trainedmyself on coach.
And we're talking about whatI'm doing, he's talking about
what he's doing, and I nevertried to put you guys together,
did I?
He was just.
We never had a conversation, no, no, it was just an organic.
It was just for him, an organicdraw.
You know he heard what Neil wasdoing and making sure his

(26:05):
athletes are healthy and heloved all that stuff and
obviously he wanted to, you know, make sure that he has a kid.
Obviously, now he's, it'scoming, come and gone.
He hit that target right, uh,but I've seen this guy's
mentality to to bodybuilding inthe gym and his mentality to
life outside the gymtremendously improve, as I've
seen yours.

(26:25):
And again, I love the mindsetbecause once you tap into that
and you kind of I hate this word, this sentence, not you have to
fake it until you make it, butyou really have to retrain your
mindset into why you're doingwhat you do and have to, you
know, feel the pain and enjoythe pain.

(26:46):
You know, there was times I wasgoing to the gym where I was
just absolutely exhausted,training for the mr olympia six
weeks out, because we werepretty much nearly ready at that
point in time and I had torediscover that new why.
And every day I had to home inon that.
Because you're in the sameshoes as me, where you know
you're outgrown the class, notthat you can't make the weight,

(27:07):
but right now you're in this, inthis spot, where the
improvements that they'relooking for you to to see on
stage, you know you couldactually, you know, walk on
stage right now with theimprovements, but again, you've
got to make a weight right,you've got to step on that
weight.
So you've tapped into thatmindset.
Coach obviously has talkedabout different things that you
guys have done, but I want totalk, I want to circle it back

(27:30):
to um how this whole journeystarted and and where and when
you first stepped into the footand the bodybuilding bug grabbed
you I started doingbodybuilding when I was 11 years
old and I would say my dad isone of the main reasons.

Speaker 3 (27:49):
I found a funny picture.
It's, I guess, almost 30 yearsold.
He was competing right next toDennis James.
Wow, junior nationals 19, Ihave no idea.
1920, dennis still had his afroand yeah, it's old.
Yeah, very funny.
So I guess he was the mainreason.

(28:11):
As your dad is a soccer trainer, you're gonna play soccer or
baseball or whatever, and Itried different sports like
soccer, basketball, volleyball.
I have diplomas in chess, likesoccer, basketball, volleyball.
I have diplomas in chess,acrobatics, stuff like that.
But bodybuilding has no end.
There's nothing like a perfectbody.

(28:33):
So, reaching a goal or winningthe game yeah, you can win the
Olympia, but there's another onecoming right next year, so
there's always something to workon and that keeps me going all
the time.

Speaker 1 (28:48):
Yes, so so I want to talk about.
I read um in an article.
You wrote that you and your dadstarted training together in
the gym at a very young age,right?

Speaker 3 (28:57):
yes, I was not allowed to enter a gym because I
was too young.
So my parents made sure thatyou know these very, very old
German or even British houseswith the cows and the pigs
behind in the garden, yeah, wehad that too, like a small
little Urban farm, yeah, kind of, yeah, like very small house

(29:21):
with the chickens and stuff, butwe had no animals in there.
So my dad bought very cheapplastic weights.
He produced himself likewhatever it was metal put
together.
One was six kilos, one waseight kilos.
So I did the set and I changedthe weight just to make sure my
arms differently, right?

(29:42):
yeah, very, very funny.
And when I turned 14, it was atime when I was able to go to
the gym the very first time andit, you remember, it's almost 19
years ago.
So we're talking about a timewhere there's no instagram, no
facebook, no social media.
So I was going to the trainstations daily to get the flex

(30:05):
magazines and muscle and fitnessand there was just bodybuilding
no bikini, no classic physique,no men's physique.
We're talking about flex lewis,we're talking about ronnie
coleman, flex wheeler, all thoseguys.
So this is where mybodybuilding journey pretty much
started and it's still verydeep in my heart, so it's not

(30:25):
like um 1000 classic.
There's still some bodybuildingbeating in me, since I'm a kid
and I love open bodybuilding.
I love the big, freaky guys,but for me, my bone structure,
my understanding of bodybuilding, fits better into the classic

(30:45):
instead of the open.

Speaker 1 (30:48):
Well, I heard the story about you and your dad,
and you helped your dad at thesame time too.
You guys training togetherreally helped him as much as you
training through that time.
You both created this inspiringstory that I read, and I don't
know if you want to talk aboutit or not, but I think it's very
cool to see that bond and hearthat story.

Speaker 3 (31:09):
He will actually come to Vegas in two days and
there's a reason why he's doingit.
I was younger, so I was notable to understand how
depression works.
And as a kid, a boy, depressionworks and as a kid, a boy you

(31:31):
got a father who's pulling outthe weapons when it's time to
fight when there was a problem.
I was able to see him.
All right, my friend, let's go,problem, come over, you're mine
.
He was truly like he is thebadass.
And then I saw him breakinginto pieces and I did not really
understand what happened.
It was like, okay, something iswrong here.

(31:52):
Maybe he's not the hero Ithought he is, so something was
breaking, but I didn't reallyunderstand what it is.
He was not able to go out ofhis bed for two weeks.
He didn't shower, he didn'tcook his food, he didn't show up
at the gym.
He was just I called him.
He just, yeah, he didn't careat all and was like, okay,

(32:15):
something is really really notgood, but I did not have the
tools to help him.
I was like maybe 14, 15 yearsold and 2014 I prepped for the
arnold's classic juniors inmadrid and I had a really,

(32:35):
really dark and bad day, youknow these days, and I called
him and said, dad, I I won'tmake it to the gym today.
I have to give up.
It was the first time in mylife.
I told him hey, dad, I don'tthink I'm going to make it.
And he was like what did you?
What the fuck did you just say,you say you can't?

(32:56):
Okay, meeting at the gym 20minutes.
I was like, okay, what happened?
Okay, so I drove to the gym andhe was like on fire.
I've never seen his eyes likethat and he was like okay, mike,
we're gonna get it donetogether.
He was just there holding myhand, just he didn't train, but

(33:19):
he was there for his kid, tomake sure I get my shit together
, and I was able to see that Icreated a reason for him to show
up to support, even if it's notfor him, it's for his son.
So I used that to create anecessity.

(33:42):
And then it was time to do thecompetitions one week out, 2020,
I guess.
So the relationship got better.
We trained together more often,more frequently.
I found a tool to let's saylet's train, let's do this,
let's do that, let's go groceryshopping, let's cook together,

(34:04):
let's watch a movie, movie,whatever.
And then 2020.
I had nobody coming with me tothe, to the competitions.
I said, hey, dad, in a week weneed to go to Spain, alicante
and I know he likes Spain, hewas.

(34:24):
He wasn't out of germany formany, many years.
I asked him, without any, anyquestion.
He was like, all right, bookthe flights, it's so easy.
And I told him, hey, dad, youneed to take care of my tanning.
I was like I can't do, yeah,but we don't have a chance Like
you have to.

(34:44):
And he was shaky, but he madeit and since then, I never, ever
, ever, book a professionaltanning.
Every competition I do, it'sgoing to be my dad shaving my
ass.
Tan me, super old school, withyou know the roll-ons.
That's what he's going to atthe olympia and the last three

(35:06):
olympias and the next hundredolympias, um, yeah.
So what a story, mike.
Oh, it continues.
We went to the competition andhe was so nervous, the final
touch-up with the, the glossyand stuff.
He was like he don't want to,you know yeah yeah, make

(35:28):
something bad.
And then the next show romaniaand london and the olympia.
And then we missed the flightin 2020.
It was not that we missed ittravel restrictions from germ
Germany to the US and you neededto have a special document and
it took 12 working days and Iapplied for it.

(35:49):
I was waiting at the airportrefreshing my email, so I
started to cry.
I started to be very aggressive, screaming at him that I really
need to go on the plane.
They didn't let me, no.
And the police officer saysalso, stop that right now.
Anyway, um, I started to cryreally bad, because it was

(36:12):
imagine he was competing againstguys going to the olympia
dennis james, for example and henever, ever had the chance to
be at the olympia, being part ofthe olympia, not even seeing
the show and I created thatopportunity to bring my dad to
the olympia and we fuckingmissed the flight.

(36:33):
Do you know how bad that felt?
Everything I was working forand I'm not talking about
bodybuilding, I'm talking aboutmy family and my dad the
excitement, the, the pressurebefore hey, dad, we're going to
go to Orlando, we're going to goto Vegas, we're going to do
that.
And then it felt very, very bad, but fortunately the year after

(36:57):
we were able to go to Mexico.
First we learned Smart moveMexico for two weeks and from
Mexico to Orlando.

Speaker 1 (37:06):
I remember you in Mexico, you guys, when you were
in Mexico doing the whole COVIDstuff.
What a wild time to try tocompete with all them
restrictions and stuff.

Speaker 3 (37:16):
I competed in Spain during COVID, london, romania
and unfortunately not the US,but it was a pain.

Speaker 2 (37:27):
Did you have to wear a mask when you were competing?
Excuse me, did you have to weara mask when you were competing
during COVID?

Speaker 1 (37:31):
Yes, Wild right.

Speaker 2 (37:35):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (37:36):
I know we're not the advocates on this, don't worry.

Speaker 2 (37:40):
Don't get me going.
Yeah, I know I won't, don'tworry, but you're going to meet
him.
I Don't get me going.

Speaker 1 (37:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (37:42):
I won't, but you're going to meet him.

Speaker 1 (37:43):
I can't wait.
So full circle and here we are.

Speaker 3 (37:49):
He is literally my best friend.
Believe me, he's so freakingfunny.
My wife, she loves my dad.
Everybody loves my dad.
If we're somewhere around,everybody tells yeah, mike,
you're playing the role of beingan asshole.

Speaker 1 (38:09):
And he is the nice guy.

Speaker 3 (38:10):
One day you'll be the nice guy, don't worry, it's
gonna be on monday when he'seating carbs, right, coach?
Oh, what'd he say?

Speaker 1 (38:12):
he said monday, carbs next monday, following monday
he got excited when he was popup.

Speaker 3 (38:17):
He's like carbs monday after yeah, the show yeah
, okay, cheat meals every day Igot a question were you the one
shaving flex's ass back in?

Speaker 1 (38:27):
the day oh my god, he's driving.
Who was on I?

Speaker 4 (38:29):
have saved him a few times and I've tanned him, yeah,
a few times he tanned he would.
He would the only guy thatwould gloss me yeah, I used to
tan most of my athletes,especially when we were on the
road.
Mind you, don't get like aspray.
Like a spray, no, I would oldschool would just paint with a
sponge Like a fucking gardenfence man, yeah, like a garden
fence.
He'd come out green, that'shappened too.

Speaker 3 (38:53):
Spread it like, spend it all.
You've got to spread the chipsa little bit.

Speaker 4 (38:58):
The fucking shit that this guy said to do for me.
I've got a lot of stories.

Speaker 1 (39:02):
That's a podcast.

Speaker 2 (39:03):
I would love to hear some of these stories and I'm
sure some of the crowd theywould love to hear some of these
stories about Flex.

Speaker 4 (39:10):
Flex is probably the most unorganized person you'll
probably ever meet.

Speaker 2 (39:15):
Everybody's saying yes, not anymore.

Speaker 4 (39:18):
So what would happen?
We would turn up.
We're prepping for a showcompeting abroad.
Oh, coach, coach, I we'reprepping for a show competing
abroad.
Oh, coach, coach, I've got myclippers.
Well, I knew you would.
That's why I fucking broughtmine, you know.
So he would use my beardtrimmer, I would.
Basically he would shavehimself, I would shave his back
in the areas he can't get to andthen he would finish off
himself off, not literally,that's a fucking clip now he

(39:40):
would finish himself off with abig razor, all right, and then I
would apply the tan and then ifhe cut himself, especially with
proton, it's alcohol based.
It's the best tan.
You know.
Proton is the best it stings.

Speaker 1 (39:53):
So this little bitch would be screaming because I'm
fucking bleeding all over theplace like edward suzanne,
because it stings.

Speaker 2 (40:01):
It's like putting aftershave on a broken wound
yeah, like a cut on your fingerand you get lime in it or
something, right?

Speaker 4 (40:06):
but it's like everything you know.
Sometimes you try to tell astory.
It's not really, it's not funnybecause people aren't there
right and uh.
But there's been many of those,oh my yeah, there's been many of
those and I've been fortunateto obviously travel, you know
like intensely throughout thewhole world with flex and as
well as other athletes and um,all those, all the things that

(40:26):
you don't see behind the scenes.
You see the, you know, you seethe polished diamond on stage,
you see the athletes on stage.
It's all the small things whichare the most rewarding, so to
speak.
Yeah, so I have stories withmike, um, but poor mike tends to
only have my time.
In fact, we only have time tobe honest together come contest

(40:49):
time.
It's very, very rarely weactually have any off-season
time, whereas with Flex it was abit different because we live
so close together.
So, whether it was when he wasin Wales or when I was over in
the US, etc.
So poor Mike sees more thecoach cap on than the other side
but we're going to change thatreally soon we'll finish the

(41:12):
show prep very shortly.

Speaker 3 (41:15):
I'm not moving to Vegas, guys, but we're going to
celebrate Christmas togetherhere, here, that's a nice
Christmas in Vegas the typicalGerman the day before Christmas,
actually.
So we're doing grandma's recipehas to like eight kilograms of

(41:36):
turkey.
These bread balls I don't knowif you, if you have that here
stuffing no, we call it knudel.
It's like you can make them outof potato like balls, yeah, in
the oven or no.
You like gnocchi?
That's like a pasta, yeah, no,it's made out of bread, but like

(41:58):
bigger balls.
Super, super tasty with brownsauce and okay, I'm on diet I
can tell you guys want to dropsome off, or you?

Speaker 2 (42:04):
you know me and Flex, we'll try them out.
Yeah, I'll try them out.

Speaker 3 (42:07):
And my dad has to make it because that's a
tradition.
Oh yeah, we have really really,really fixed traditions on
Christmas.

Speaker 1 (42:14):
Okay, cool, as do I in the Lewis household too, and
that's why I do the gingerbreadevery single day.
Are you eating it?
No, you don't want to eat mygingerbread house after it's
done.
It's all fucking messed up.

Speaker 3 (42:26):
Oh, we eat it First.
We're going to build it, we'regoing to let it stay for like
two or three days.
Everyone puts some littlepresents into it but nobody
knows what's in there.
And then Christmas night we'regoing to break it, eating a few
pieces, and then we're doing thepresents like just pick and
choose.

Speaker 1 (42:44):
That's going to be cool for you guys to have that
time.
Christmas time no diets, noshows, and that's just some
quality time in Las Vegas, andwe should have some snow in the
mountains, hopefully, forChristmas.

Speaker 3 (42:56):
Yeah, usually around there.
Yeah, I've never been skiing.

Speaker 4 (43:00):
Never you can ski like 30, 45 minutes away from
our home.

Speaker 3 (43:05):
I shouldn't maybe not do it.
I'm a really, really intenseathlete, so the moment I'm
standing on a snowboard or a ski, yeah, I understand that
mentality.

Speaker 1 (43:16):
No, I'm all in.
Yeah, I went on my snowboardfor the first time last year and
I'd done the Bunny Hill threetimes and I convinced myself
just through my mindset thatokay, I'm ready for the the big
slope.
I was nowhere near the bigslope nowhere near.

Speaker 3 (43:29):
But, uh, downhilling.
I just got a new bike for allmy.
I was like I tried to save allmy money for years and I bought
the bike, the bicycle, and I, mydad, invited me or brought me
to like a racetrack, which was aworld cup downhill track.
It was like, oh yeah, thatsounds, that looks nice.

(43:50):
My whole cycle was absolutelydamaged.
All brakes were broken, mytires are flat, all the
suspensions were gone, like youcan put it straight into the
trash.
How's the body?

Speaker 1 (44:03):
fine, really absolutely.
We went on the.
You get ragged on that downhillstuff 50 years ago it was
unbreakable.

Speaker 3 (44:11):
I was doing free running and parkour and stuff.
Yeah, I was jumping from houseto house didn't really hurt me,
but my bike was absolutelydamaged you gotta get caught on
these downhill runs.

Speaker 1 (44:22):
He's into his mountain biking.

Speaker 3 (44:24):
But up the hill, not down the hill.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (44:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (44:27):
Yeah, I mean, you're a coach of these great athletes.
What do you do for your fitness?
Are you still in the gym withthese guys or you have other
protocols?
Oh shit, bro, he's strong.

Speaker 4 (44:37):
I train with my athletes very often.

Speaker 3 (44:39):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (44:40):
I don't expect them to do something that I'm not
willing to do with them, and Ilike to listen.
I'm not competitive in the gym,so what I mean by that is that
I do what I know I can do.
I don't try to be competitivewith the athletes.
I enjoy my training, but I alsolike life away from
bodybuilding because I'm very,very passionate about it and I
call it my bubble right.

(45:00):
So I step into my workingenvironment.
I like peace and quiet, I likehiking, I like outdoors.
That's why I love Vegas so much.
Me too, I love Vegas.
It's so diverse and it's verythe complete opposite of me.
So Flex knows what it's like.
Flex knows I don't drink, Idon't smoke, I don't party.
I don't do any of those things.
I have no interest.

Speaker 2 (45:19):
That's why you're never had any of our after
parties, and I've never beeninto that.

Speaker 4 (45:24):
I worked in a nightclub for 14 years, on the
door, so the last thing I wantto do is be in a noisy nightclub
with drunk people.
Right?
I like the quiet life, I likemy coffee, I like the nature and
I'm in my happy place, but Ilike the gym.
You know I'm still abodybuilder at heart.
Yeah, you know, I was trainingtoday with Norman, one of my
friends.
We train legs together.

(45:44):
I'm quite inconsistent.
If I train consistently,there's change.
But I spend sometimes probablymore time out in the gym than in
the gym because there's otherthings that I need to focus on
as well.
So I feel I got pretty goodbalance going on.

Speaker 2 (46:00):
You said something about being out in nature here
in Vegas and a lot of people whocome here don't realize that we
have that right Because theyjust think Vegas and they think
casino strip right.
But there's so much beauty outthere and you know, even just
for your mental health to getout into nature and just think
through some things, get a goodwalk going, get a good hike
going right?
Is that mental coaching also apart of like how you approach

(46:25):
each one of the athletes?
Because everybody's different,right.
Some guys get motivateddifferently.
Do you take that in an approachand try to change things with
different guys because they needdifferent things?

Speaker 4 (46:37):
I try to get to know the individual and find out
where their strengths andweaknesses are when it comes to
their emotional side.
Um, because obviously humansare very complex and you also
have to understand that peoplehave different breaking points,
different personalities,different drives, different
passions.
Um, some people will say thatif you want to excel in

(47:01):
something, then you will never.
If you want to be the very best.
There is no balance.
I will agree to that to acertain point, but I also feel
it's absolutely essential tohave something other than just
bodybuilding that you can focuson.
So it might be work related,right, it might be your children
, it might be your relationshipor whatever it may be, but I I

(47:22):
do look at each individual asindividuals.
But, but at the same time, theyalso have to have a reality
check as well and understandthat their mentality is going to
have a massive impact on theirability to be successful.
Because anyone who's ever gonethrough a real, real pre-contest

(47:43):
prep and has gone into realcontest shape multiple times,
they will know that it's a verylonely, dark environment.
Sometimes it's not necessarilyunhealthy, but what I'm saying
is that you know you have to beextreme with your lifestyle
habits, making sure that you arejust so structured, so
disciplined, so focused and Ithink sometimes not everybody

(48:06):
has that mentality to do thatand some people will be
successful and not necessarilyhave to be so committed because
of genetics and genetics I bringit up a number of times it's
unfortunate because we're notall genetically the same right.

Speaker 2 (48:20):
There's always those guys we run into and they're
just ripped all the time.
You're like they barely workout yeah.

Speaker 4 (48:26):
But every genetically gifted athlete also has
weaknesses.
So if it's not with theirphysique, maybe it's with their
mentality.
We've seen it so many times.
I completely agree Incredibleindividuals.
They don't have the mentalityand it's a waste.

Speaker 2 (48:42):
Saddest thing in life is wasted talent and you get
guys who are naturally gifted inan ability, but they don't have
the work effort right.
And you see guys who areaverage in their skill, but they
got the work effort, and thoseare the guys who end up being
come becoming champions at timesas well yeah, but mentality is
everything, mindset iseverything.

Speaker 4 (49:02):
Um, I don't.
I I will quite often bring upmy own experiences as an athlete
, not because I am trying tosuperiorize myself over somebody
else, but be like, listen,you're tired.
Really, do you want me to tellyou what I used to do when I was
an athlete?
How many jobs I worked?
I was a full-time, I was afather, I was a husband, I had

(49:24):
two full-time.
I was a father.

Speaker 2 (49:26):
I was a husband.
I had two full-time jobs, justwalking to school every day,
with no shoes, uphill In snow.

Speaker 4 (49:31):
Yeah, it's no, yes, yeah, but so it's like don't
tell me you're tired, don't tellme you don't have time.
You have no idea here what Iused to have to do, and I'm not
somebody who's like me, me, me,I'm just trying to.
Sometimes it's a reality check,right.
Some people sometimes feelsorry for themselves, like, are
you fucking serious?
You think your life is bad andyou look at some other
individuals and you compareyourself to them.

(49:52):
Don't complain, don't startfeeling sorry for yourself,
because judges don't care howtired you are.
They they have, they have nointerest about what's taken
place over the last 10 weeks or12 weeks.
There's been some obstacles, Ican assure you, during this pre
contest prep with you know someof my athletes.
Real obstacles the audience,the so-called fans, the social

(50:17):
media interaction, the judges.
They're not interested instories, they're only interested
in judging what they see infront of them.
And I'm sure that if thoseindividuals whether it's judges
or whether it's the audience orpeople who follow these
so-called amazing athletes andindividuals on social media if
they knew a little more abouttheir personal life, maybe they

(50:37):
would be a little bit moreunderstanding and sympathetic.
Right, but at the end of theday, on contest day in sport, if
you play soccer or rugby orwhether it's bodybuilding or
anything, or you're a dartplayer, if you're not playing on
point, you're being judged inthat moment in time and you have
no wastage time.

(50:57):
You can't get back timesometimes.
But what are we?
We're nine days out fromOlympia now.
Yeah, right around the cornerand it's, you know it's really
fastly approaching.
So you know it's just mentallystaying emotionally and mentally
in a good place over the nextsort of nine days and all these
athletes are going to be goingthrough exactly the same thing.
So, you know, I have hugerespect for all the athletes

(51:20):
which compete in all thedifferent divisions, as well as
the coaches as well, for all theathletes which compete in all
the different divisions, as wellas the coaches as well, and I'm
looking forward to seeing theseincredible athletes on stage,
from amateurs to Olympia,professional athletes as well,
because the great thing aboutthe Mr Olympia and not just
because it's the 60thanniversary taking place
selfishly, obviously, in ourhome city, it's a celebration of

(51:42):
fitness, from amateurs toprofessionals and the production
and everything that they'reputting into this year's event
is going to be obviouslyhistoric.
Like it is every year, there'ssome incredible, incredible
promoters and shows out there.
We're obviously just talkingabout the moment, about the mr
olympia, because this is whereour focus is at the moment yeah,
I'm excited to meet my firstone first.

(52:03):
Oh wow okay, wow, you're gonnayou're gonna be absolutely blown
away, man.
You are gonna be reallyenjoying this because it is,
even if you're not a man, abodybuilder at heart.
You're gonna walk away andyou're gonna be so overwhelmed
with what you're gonna see,because these athletes are just
incredible.
Yeah, I can't wait yeah, mywhole life.

Speaker 2 (52:25):
You know I grew up reading the magazines, getting
you know and and trying to learn.
You know I'm a little older, solike the internet wasn't around
when I was a kid and theinformation wasn't there, and so
I've been through all of thatand and kind of like the history
and obviously have, uh, becomereally great friends with flex
and and have gotten to be aroundmore athletes and and I've

(52:46):
learned quite a bit.
You know I try to do a lot ofmy own research.
You know I'm definitely like Ideep dive on stuff, but just
being around him rubs off on mein a lot of positive ways.
I was going to say positive, Ihope, but yeah sometimes you rub
off me in a negative way.

Speaker 1 (53:00):
That's good that's good, that's my job.
That's my job.
You got that on camera Right.
Yeah, clip that shit.
But with that said, we took himto his First Strongman event
this past weekend Giants Live.
He got to see all the guys andwe've done some Activations this
week.
We took some of the guys To thedifferent schools To meet the
world's Strongest brothers, lukeand Tom Stoltman.

(53:20):
So so you've seen that thisweek.

Speaker 2 (53:22):
That was awesome.
I don't know if you guys havebeen to one of those, but that
was really really fun Incredible.

Speaker 4 (53:28):
That's amazing.

Speaker 2 (53:29):
Yeah, the strength that these guys possess, I mean
it's it's crazy, I mean, andtheir first, you know, they're
deadlifting for the world recordin their first exercise and
then they do six, seven moreevents after that, you know, and
it's like man, like the, justthe being able to get through
that entire competition initself is is pretty crazy, yeah

(53:50):
let alone try to make a podiumfinish, right.

Speaker 1 (53:52):
But you mentioned a couple of things and I want to
circle back then to mike.
You know you've always preachedabout balance, even since, uh,
we first started meeting, wefirst met our first competition,
uh, we, we worked together.
I won that show and I was allexcited, because the first thing
you want to do is think, youknow, well, back then, because I

(54:13):
was, I was everything engulfedin bodybuilding.
Bodybuilding, I would read themagazines, the forums, which are
new, and I was just obsessedbut I didn't realize it right.
So when we obviously starteddeveloping our relationship not
that he was ever PG at all atany point in time, neil was like

(54:33):
after the show okay, coach,what are we going to do now?
Are we going to rebound?
No, the first thing you'regoing to do is give back to your
family because you were afucking asshole for the last 12
weeks to them.
And I was like oh shit.
And that's when I realized thatthis guy was somebody special
because he's so conscious aboutnot only what what he's doing
with you but also the, thefamily, the friends and

(54:55):
everybody who else has supportedyou on that journey, because
they're also learning for thefirst time too about going into
the show, what it entails.
I was in college so I had tobring all my meals in.
I was having shakes and theyseen this.
You know jack, the lad hyper,hyper kid that played rugby and
it was everybody's friends.
All of a sudden it was veryquiet and grumpy, but I utilized

(55:15):
that anger on the rugby field.
But again, with with hiscoaching style, he saw on point
about making sure thateverybody's involved.
You know, everybody has theexperience.
Yes, you are the athlete.
He talks to you as the athletewith that coach's hat, but then
make sure that everybody'sinvolved and everybody knows
what's going on as well.
So for the first time that wecompeted together what I love

(55:40):
about this guy he sat down withmy parents and he explained to
them what our plan was and whathe was going to be doing with me
and stuff like that, because,of course, bodybuilding was
pretty big in South Wales.
You had a lot of doormen huge,I would say.
Actually it was huge.
A lot of doormen would compete.
But again, you get the extremeguys right.

(56:01):
But everybody only focuses onthe extreme guys.
They only know the extreme guysin the town.
And he's the polar opposite ofthat and thankfully, shout out
to Steve Naylor I was trainingwith at the time.
He is the complete opposite tooQuiet, hardworking, fabricator.
And he sat down with my mom anddad and said, okay, this is
what I'm going to be doing withFlex.

(56:22):
And they fell in love with neiland they knew that I was
entrusted underneath his watch,because that was mainly the
concern.
Right, it's like, here's my son.
He's competing all around theworld.
You know, food and supplementsand lack of knowledge come
growing up in that generationtoo.
You always think the worstthing I mean creatine was going

(56:43):
to take my kidneys out.
Let's be honest, right duringback back in them times, um, but
thankfully for for for Neil,you know meeting him in my very,
very early stage, my first show, he was able to have that
relationship with my parents andtell them this is what our plan
is, this is the diet.
He was always an open book andthen my parents obviously
developed a relationship withhim and then we traveled around

(57:06):
the literal world together, sohe's definitely a different
person.
You know we spoke about thatsort of things.
But I obviously mentioned thebalance side of things because
balance for him is a word thathe preaches about all the time.
He was like you got to do shitthat doesn't involve
bodybuilding.
And I mentioned also somethingearlier where I was so obsessed

(57:29):
at one point in time lookingwhat people were saying about me
online and it wasn't fuckingnice.
It was never nice, because Iwas this young kid who had a
little bit of fame.
I had big legs and a body of a20, 21 year old and you had all
these guys that were justripping me apart and he was just
stay the fuck off the forums,flex, you're reading shit you
don't want to hear.
Like, who do you want to hearit?

(57:50):
From Me, the people around you,or from people that don't even
know you?
And I was like you're right,and them small little early
conversations that he probablycan't even remember but kind of
planted a seed in my head.
Have you guys had anyconversations where he said
something to you and it totallychanged your perspective on
things?

Speaker 3 (58:09):
Many times, many, many times, such as what I can
tell you, the last situation.
I guess it's two months ago,eight weeks, maybe 10 weeks, and
prep hits harder and harder.
So the closer you get to a show, the more precise you get and

(58:31):
the more obsessed you get.
So I fixed my schedule on theminute and then I felt like, ok,
I could do probably more.
My attention span is likereally close.
For an example, we went to theMexican pyramids and I was like,
hey, cool, there's a pyramid, asecond one, a third one, okay,

(58:53):
let's go somewhere else.
Like, okay, a few stones looksnice, took a picture, okay,
let's go somewhere else.
Like you know, it gets boringreal quick.
So I try to do more and more andmore more work with my sponsors
, new coachings, new this, newthat podcasts, conversations,

(59:13):
phone calls, um, new businesses,new opportunities and I ended
up working 18 hours straight andbeing under pressure to make
time to get my workout in.
I was like, okay, something isreally wrong.
And I got anxiety when I wasgoing back home after workout
because I knew that I will sitdown all day in my room, locked

(59:38):
down, basically until it's night, and then, when it was time for
bed, it's like, oh, I could doanother video, I can cut it
right now, but it's night.
And then, when it was time forbed, it's like, oh, I could do
another video, I can cut itright now, but it's 2 am in the
morning.
Maybe I should go to bed.
It felt really bad and I toldhim and he said what the fuck
are you doing?
Just stop.

(59:58):
And I stopped and I felt bettertwo days, three days after.
I needed some time to adjust,to get rid of the pressure,
because you get opportunitiesthe closer you go to a show, the
more opportunities pop upSponsors, companies, many people

(01:00:18):
trying to talk to you, you know.
But from that day I said no,afterlympia I'm, I will focus
right now.
That's my time, that's my focus, that's my job to do, and
everything else, if that'simportant enough, we'll come
back I was gonna ask that too.

Speaker 2 (01:00:37):
I mean, it's just because we're we're living in
this digital age now.
Social media, video content,you know.
So obviously you have to keepup with your social media.
I saw you got you know bigsocial media and I saw you
looking jacked with uh, withRamon Um, but is there pressure
to create more content forsocial media, to get those to to

(01:00:57):
, to get sponsors moving?
Or you know you havecommitments from sponsors so you
have to post X amount.
So while you're in this, likefinal couple of weeks, it must
be annoying to still have to dothat right.
Then you have to go and domedia interviews and all these
type things, those type piecescoming in in this last couple
weeks.
Do those deter you in any kindof way, or do you plan for those

(01:01:20):
before you start?
It's?

Speaker 3 (01:01:23):
all planned out.
So basically, we have ourschedule, but things change.
Um, just now I got theopportunity to sit with you guys
.
Of course, I would never say no, and it's not pressure for me
because now I got the time, Igot the room to do that without
any pressure.
But we creating every video,every photo you see online,

(01:01:44):
every youtube video, every offer, every website, everything you
see is right out of our ownhands.
We film our own stuff, we cutour own stuff daily.
My wife, she's cutting for rain,energy.
Um, my sponsors, peak climax.
I'm cutting my own videos.
So what I'm doing?

(01:02:06):
I wake up in the morning, she'sfilming, I'm cutting before I
go to bed, on the treadmill orsomewhere else, when we are on
the way.
But I, I love it.
I it's like hypnotic almost.
And if I don't cut the videos,I'm thinking about food,
thinking about what else could Ido?
This chills me down, incredibly.

(01:02:27):
I can sit down cutting videofor eight hours and not spending
a single second on food,thinking on food.
So, but I have to tell you thatI told many, many people that I
will not answer my phone aboutseven, eight, nine days after
the Olympia.
Don't text me, don't call me.

(01:02:47):
You won't get any message back.

Speaker 1 (01:02:50):
Well, this is lunch and Sam Day's out, so you can
tell I've done the camera.
Don't text me today from hereall the way to the show.

Speaker 3 (01:02:57):
Yeah, it's just honestly to protect myself,
because I want to answer, I wantto get good opportunities, I
want to work with people, I wantto answer, I want to get good
opportunities, I want to workwith people.
I love that.
This is my biggest hobby nextto bodybuilding just creating
things but it's not the righttime right now.
Right, and I needed to learnthat.

Speaker 1 (01:03:17):
It's such a weird balance because this is the time
when all your eyes are on you.
Everyone wants to see whatyou're doing.
It's like a voyeur, I would say.
Experience, right, people wantto see if Mike is on or off,
what he's eating before the show, getting tips from Coach.
And you guys have done anincredible job on that journey,
putting out very regular videosfor your fans in Germany, for

(01:03:41):
your fans in the US.
But again to your point, right,there's this balance.
Now when do you forfeit thatchapter that's brought everybody
on the journey?
Now it's obviously the criticalweek to make sure that you
focus on the job that you arebeing trained to do, right?
So it seems like you guys havegot that plan down.

Speaker 3 (01:04:01):
Yes, we are smart.
We had this situation many,many, many times before.
It's not the first olympia.
And just for people listen tothis, to understand what's
happening in numbers, let's saynumbers.
You're close to a show andcompanies can see okay, he's
very interesting right now,let's call him.

(01:04:21):
They have your number and theywill get it.
If not, hey, mike, we want tomake you an offer $50,000 per
month.
If you do this and that and yousay straight no, call me right
after the Olympia and you knowfor 99% they will not call you
back.
Saying no is hard, but winningthe Olympia is harder.

(01:04:41):
Yeah, you need to make adecision.
If you're a businessman, go forbusiness.
If you're a bodybuilder, go forbodybuilding.
Simple as that.
And these are basically thewords Neil will tell you
straight in your face.
If you want to compete, compete.
If you want to do business, allright, leave the gym, do your
business.

Speaker 1 (01:04:58):
I'm fine, high five, bye.
Yeah, we had a lot of sponsorswho were trying to get a lot out
of me on the last couple ofweeks, right, and you stood in
the line of traffic a few timesfor me.

Speaker 4 (01:05:06):
It's not that you can't work.
You just need to prioritize,right, because you have to be in
an environment that the workthat you're doing is not
creating stress and puts you inan environment that you don't
need to be in.
Your focus has to be, obviously, olympia prep.
Flex has said this before manytimes.
Sometimes.
Flex has said this before manytimes Sometimes less is better.

(01:05:26):
Sometimes less exposure createsmore excitement and more hype.
And for those companies wholiterally only want to jump on
the bandwagon and use you inthat one moment in time, they
don't have no interest in thoseathletes.
They're just trying to monetizeand there's always going to be
the next person Making money.
It's a shame because you knowsocial, social media, digital
market and everything else inbetween it's.

(01:05:47):
It's a shame because it's morelike prostitution, right, you're
just basically a prostitutethat they want to manipulize on
or take advantage of in that onemoment in time, because they
have a bigger picture, you know.
It's a shame because there aresome amazing sponsors out there
who are invested into theathlete, whether they're on

(01:06:10):
stage and and off stage, they'reinvested into.
You know the storyline.
They're interested in growingtogether as athlete and company
or as a team, etc.
So you have to pick and choose.
You know where you're going toput that time.
You can still work andprioritize things, but not more
than what is not going to takeaway your attention on focus on

(01:06:31):
the bigger picture yeah, I'mreally, really blessed with my
sponsors.

Speaker 3 (01:06:37):
Um, I had quite a few changes the last two years, but
now, just to give an example,we talked about the olympia and
they said, mike, whatever youwant to do, just do it.
We won't tell you something, weknow you.
You gonna be on the money, justdo whatever you like to do.
And now we have they justbrought the idea olympia week

(01:06:59):
special sale five selectedproducts.
I can pick and choose, and it'sbasically my own signature
products.
We created them together.
Yeah, same shit.
And now I was smart enoughbecause we talked about it
before.
All the content is alreadyfilmed, cut it, I can just
upload it.
Everything is perfect, nobodyis giving me pressure, nothing.

(01:07:21):
And we just had a conversationand they said, mike, if you want
to continue doing shows, justbook them.
We don't care, we gonna supportyou.
It doesn't matter what it is,just do your job.
You do a great job, we trustyou.
The numbers are solid.
Do whatever you like to do.
And I was like, finally, that'sa great sponsor.

Speaker 1 (01:07:43):
That's Peak right.
Yes, how long have you beenwith them?

Speaker 3 (01:07:46):
Oh, we worked together 2016, 17, 18.
Then I went internationalbecause I turned pro.
But finally I came back to Peakand we had always, always a
very good relationship.
So I have a he's more a friend,his name is Dominic and he's

(01:08:06):
the a friend.
His name is dominic and he he'sthe athletes manager and he's a
hell of a guy.
I left peak and he was like yeah, you know, you're living in
mexico now we don't deliver tomexico, it's fine, so follow
your journey, but as you comeback, you have to call me first.
That's what I did, did I saidhey, domi, you know what.
We're traveling, going backhere and there, and I trust him.

(01:08:27):
He's a very straight guy.
If he says we're going to dothis, it's going to happen, and
if he needs to fight with theboss, he will fight.
He will go fight with them foryou, and I really like this guy.
He's basically the reason why Iwent back to Peak.
I know the products, I know thequality.
They're amazing.

(01:08:48):
But I knew for a fact thatDominic will do everything he
can to make my life as good aspossible in this relationship of
sponsoring.

Speaker 1 (01:08:59):
One last stress.
One last stress you have toworry about as well, when you
know you've got a sponsor thatis going to be there for you, no
matter what.
On the note of sponsors, canyou?

Speaker 3 (01:09:09):
remember the first time you and I met BSN 2014 FIBO
.

Speaker 1 (01:09:14):
We were working together on BSN that year, they
signed me.
It was the first FIBO For youto understand, rock.
How big is FIBO?
The biggest, it's 13, 14 arenasor something like that.
It's absolutely massive.

Speaker 3 (01:09:31):
It's like 1,500 times bigger than the Olympia.

Speaker 1 (01:09:35):
You get dropped off at the wrong side, and this has
been a problem for me.
I got dropped off at the wrongside.
I don't know if you and I weretogether.
You need to take a bus.
I was an hour and a half hourand 20 minutes late for my
sign-in because I couldn't getthrough.
You have to go through allthese different expo halls to
get to the supplement hall, andall these different halls have
gym equipment, they have Zumba,but the fans are running around

(01:09:58):
everywhere.

Speaker 3 (01:10:05):
So you know, I never say no to a to a fine haver.
It's my rule of thumb.
I'm fucked at the feeble.
I'm fucked.

Speaker 1 (01:10:08):
They follow you on the toilet there's so many
famous toilet pictures holdingmy dick.
They're wrong.
I fucking told you he doesn'tbelieve me how many selfies I've
had with me taking a piss doyou think they're waiting in
line for four hours?

Speaker 3 (01:10:17):
if they see you walking on the toilet, they will
follow you straight away.

Speaker 2 (01:10:21):
I believe it, yeah we had this conversation with
Chuck Liddell and he was likeyou know how many times like
with my dick in my hand, like Irefused to shake somebody else's
hand, and they got mad becauseit's like, yeah, they wasn't
able to touch your dickhead.

Speaker 1 (01:10:34):
Oh, I got so many stories.
That's why I only piss in atoilet and hence why I tore my
tricep right.
That's the good habit I tookinto my retirement stage.
But to go back to that, youknow they wanted to do this
impact right and they wanted allthe BSN athletes that were
signed that year throughout thecountry and throughout the world

(01:10:56):
to come in and march me in.
They had flags, they dressedyou up as a bodyguard or
something like that.
Right, this is super early inhis career.
Uh, they all these guys thatthey wear sunglasses remember
this.
And I walked in.
I probably walked about 100meters and I said fuck this.
And I beelined out.
Everybody else was walking tothe booth with flags and they

(01:11:18):
were trying to make this wholelike look at facts, look at
flags.
We just signed this and and Iwas like I don't want part of
this at all they tried to do itlike Friday, saturday, sunday we
done it on the day that was thequietest.
I was like let me just suckthis up because there's not many
people here, it's just tradeday.
And then they were like, okay,we got to do it on the main days
.
And I was like no, it's nothappening.

(01:11:39):
For the first time we got tochat and then I could.
I'd seen the the potential youhad, because obviously there was
the German Mike that hadalready had a fan base you had.
He had an incredible fan base.

Speaker 3 (01:11:55):
Fibo is in Germany, where Mike's from by the way,
it's 10 years ago, 10 years, 10fucking years this guy didn't
have a beard back then he hadlike fucking baby fluff, bum
fluff on his face.

Speaker 1 (01:12:05):
He was trying yeah, no hairs on my back and no hair
in the back.
Now that's what's calledbodybuilding and shaving and
shaving.
But we uh, we had a good laughand a good time on that booth.
We uh, you know you got to tosee, you know, I think, us
working together for the for thefirst time.
And now, what a journey now forme to see you back then just
living the life, wanting to bearound the pros, to dream about

(01:12:30):
being on the Olympia stagearound athletes that were signed
with BSN at that time, to nowgo from the guy who was on the
booth giving out samples to nowbeing the guy at the Olympia
this year.
So what a fucking story.

Speaker 3 (01:12:42):
You have no idea how I grew up.
We lived in a house builtbefore the First World War, so
it was like stacked stones, andthis is where my mom still lives
.
Basically, I'm owning the housenow.
My grandma died.
She gave it to me and we had nomoney.

(01:13:03):
I was eating rice and ketchupfor two weeks.
I got dressed up and I'm talkingabout two t-shirts, one pair of
jeans and a pair of shoes oncea year, never, ever, had
vacation.
Didn't know what it is Likevacation was like?
Yeah, like time off from school.
No, you're going to leave thecountry To do what I didn't

(01:13:23):
understand as a kid and we hadno money, nothing.
And I have a list on my phonefor all the, all the things I
appreciate.
I'm thinking about that againand again.
I was the guy who had no moneyto buy a bed.
I was just laying on a piece ofmattress on top of my bottles

(01:13:48):
of whey, so my bed was basicallymade out of whey boxes, sitting
down lonely at night, dreamingabout being part of the
bodybuilding industry.
And now think about how I feltmeeting you the first time,
being a part of BSN with FlexLewis.

(01:14:09):
You know what they paid me For,all the FIBO going back and
forth.
I got two bottles of wheyaminos and a pre-workout.

Speaker 1 (01:14:23):
You had to pay your own whey as well.
What did you say?
Did you have to pay your ownway as well?
What do you say?
Do you have to pay?
Pay your own way for the hotelsand stuff, everything come on.

Speaker 3 (01:14:31):
I was happy to be a part of that.
That was incredible.
And you entered the, the fibo.
Basically I picked you up asyour bodyguard and I tried to
act like I'm cool, but I waslike guys, guys take pictures.

(01:14:51):
That's flex lewis with me,please take somebody pictures.
Now we're sitting here talkingabout that.
I got the same situation withKai Greene and I always think
about Mike 10 years ago, 15years ago, 19 years ago, reading
the magazines, watching thosepictures.

(01:15:14):
That's fucking fucking crazy.
What a story right Coach.

Speaker 1 (01:15:21):
Were you there for that people that year?

Speaker 4 (01:15:22):
No, no, Mike dude, I got to say Mike did look badass.

Speaker 1 (01:15:27):
It looked badass with the fucking sunglasses.

Speaker 3 (01:15:28):
I remember you sending me pictures and saying
this kid just young kids gotreally good potential yeah, I
just had a surgery two daysbefore the feeble and I told
nobody because they would saystay home, didn't what surgery
you have really, and you werethere, sure, didn't seem with
with the tank top.

(01:15:48):
They they said you have to weara tank top right after the
surgery.
So I tried to cover everythingyeah to make it happen.
I really wanted to be part ofthat.
Yeah, imagine this 11 year oldkid going to bed every night
with the same thought, waking upwith the same thought.
I was 11 years old.
That's where you go out andplay soccer on the streets and

(01:16:10):
do like coloring, whatever.
I was in the gym every day Itried to make sure I get my
plain chicken, plain cookedchicken, with no salt, because
dad said salt is not good.

Speaker 1 (01:16:23):
This guy knows fucking less, is he not?

Speaker 3 (01:16:25):
Greek yogurt.
I was eating 500 grams of Greekyogurt and 500 grams of chicken
for like 10 weeks for my firstshow and I was.
I loved it.
I was, I knew exactly that'sthe way I want to go.

Speaker 1 (01:16:39):
It's in your DNA, then this is, you're truly
living the dream that, yeah,maybe, and I'm endlessly ugly,
fucking competitive ugly.

Speaker 3 (01:16:52):
It's getting better.
Sometimes when we're playingcards, I don't need to break
pieces, but I'm, I'm gettingangry.

Speaker 1 (01:17:00):
Don't come to my Lewis household and my
daughter's just as confident asmy wife in who's gonna win
before we even start playing thegame.

Speaker 3 (01:17:07):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (01:17:08):
Oh my goodness.
But that's a good thing, right.

Speaker 3 (01:17:09):
You just hone that into a skill right, that
determination and thatcompetitive side of things as
I'm getting older, I get morebalanced to know when to use it
and when, not when I'm playingwith kids.
I don't care if I'm winning ornot.
10 years back, I would makesure I'm going to win.

Speaker 1 (01:17:30):
All means necessary.
Is there anything that you wantto talk about now going into
this week?
You mentioned obviously you'vegot supplements that you're
dropping.
You do a signature series linethat you're dropping for the
Olympic weekend.

Speaker 3 (01:17:42):
It's already dropped Nice and it's very, very
interesting.
You know about HMOs.

Speaker 1 (01:17:47):
HMOs no.

Speaker 3 (01:17:48):
Human Milk Oligosaccharides.
It's the main ingredients ofmother's breast milk.

Speaker 1 (01:17:54):
You're drinking breast milk.

Speaker 3 (01:17:55):
Yes, I do.
I don't drink breast milk.
We extract it at.

Speaker 2 (01:18:01):
HMOs.
How do you extract the breastmilk?

Speaker 3 (01:18:05):
You go to the local titty bar my wife is sitting
right behind me.
Very bad.

Speaker 1 (01:18:13):
She's supplying all of Germany with weight protein.
You poor girl.

Speaker 3 (01:18:20):
Basically, we designed a supplement for
digestion and HMOs are known tocreate and build the microbiome
in infants.
So we did a lot of research andthis is my second biggest hobby
doing research and being like anerd and sitting in front of my
computer for 11 hours talkingto people and doctors and stuff.

(01:18:41):
We found out that HMOmos couldbe used from adults too.
So we checked the research andit's working.
Moboscrone, diarrhea, bloating,allergies you can turn that
into something really, reallyhealthy just by making sure your
microbiome is working properly.

(01:19:03):
That comes with good food, goodgut bacteria, but HMOs they
create.
This environment of everythinghas its balance and we released
it and we are the first companyin Europe, as far as I know,
with these HMOs combined.
Super, super amazing.

Speaker 1 (01:19:22):
And this is your product, mm-hmm Wow.

Speaker 3 (01:19:26):
Already launched.
Yeah, in April Nice, april niceat the fibo by the way, that's
awesome.
Hey, you tried this breast milkno, it has bubblegum flavor and
I forced them to do a neutralone because I know when I'm
telling coach that they putbubblegum flavor in it, he will
kick my ass.
So now we're coming up with theneutral flavors Bubblegum
flavor, breast milk or greenapple.

(01:19:47):
Green apple is also.

Speaker 2 (01:19:49):
Can we get a little sample of the breast milk?
I think me and Flex will trythis.

Speaker 3 (01:19:53):
Oh, I'm going to get you one oh there we go, I'll try
it A shot of breast milk.

Speaker 2 (01:19:59):
Is it powdered and then you add to it.

Speaker 3 (01:20:04):
No powdered and then you add to it, or it's breast
milk, bubble gum, breast milk.

Speaker 1 (01:20:08):
So no, I'm just kidding, it's powder.

Speaker 3 (01:20:09):
You can tell him anything right now he's like I
know, yeah, yeah, but the box iscool, the box has the powder in
it and it has a box in a boxwith pills with beefy dough,
bacteria.
You know beefy dough, yeah,like the typical yakult, make it
healthy stuff.

Speaker 4 (01:20:21):
Yeah, these are well you can pretty much guarantee
that if you have a booth at FIBOand it says welcome, come and
sample free titty milk, yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:20:29):
Right, it's going to be the busiest booth.
It's going to be a fucking line.
It's going to be the busiestbooth.

Speaker 4 (01:20:32):
It's going to be a line.
It's going to be the busiestbooth there.

Speaker 1 (01:20:38):
There's no doubt about it, FIBO.
I have never been to an expo inmy life where there is
literally women's boobs on theside of expo stages.
Remember a couple of years whenwe walked around we were like
this would never fly in the UKor the US.
Literally have 24 banners withthe girls with their jugs out on
the booths, and the girls arejust as you know.

Speaker 2 (01:21:00):
Yeah, friendly, he's like I'm going to FIBO next year
.

Speaker 3 (01:21:04):
Oh, you're gonna love it.
Yeah, if you want to go, let meknow.
Yeah, hometown babe.
Yeah, it sounds awesome.

Speaker 4 (01:21:09):
Mike, you're a huge celebrity in Germany.
Hmm, you have probably one ofthe busiest booths out of anyone
in the industry in Germany.
Your fan base is very loyal,for all the right reasons.

Speaker 3 (01:21:20):
Oh, I love people.
Imagine you know what I'mseriously like.
Literally thousands of yeah,you know, you guys know what I'm
talking about.
You enter a place you don'tknow where you are like
different country, differentcontinent.
You don't, don't even speak thelanguage and people waiting for
you already two hours in line.
That's crazy, man.
I was a fucking guy.

(01:21:41):
I was that kid 10 years ago.
I can feel every one of themand I had so many incredible
stories.
Guy was shaking my hand and hewas like shaking and sweating
and he was like 38 years old, 40.
His family in the back.
And I took his hand and waslike hey, do you need something?

(01:22:01):
I can give you protein bars ashake.
If you're like hypoglycemic,let me know something.
I can give you protein bars ashake.
If you're like hypoglycemic,let me know, I can get you.
We have drinks.
And he's like no, I'm fine.
I was like, yeah, but you'reshaking, you're sweating.
I was like yeah, becausebecause of you.
I was like what, what?
What did I do to you?
I was like, no, I'm nervous.
Like what happened?
What did I miss?
I was like no, meeting you.
It's like uh.

(01:22:23):
And then I remembered, as I wasmeeting you or Kai or Neil, the
first time I wasn't able tobreathe next to you and I can
feel everything they feel.
That's why you said that younever say no to a fan.
Same for me if I see them andI'm on the way to leave and I

(01:22:46):
was an hour longer every, everybooth was already closed.
I'm still sitting there andtalking to people in a very
friendly way.
Everybody's gone already, but Iknow exactly what they're
feeling because you've beenthere.
Yeah, you've worn them shoesmany years and I was dreaming
about standing on the oppositeside.

(01:23:07):
Now I do, and now I can giveback and give them the feeling
to change it to my place one day.
If they work hard enough, ifthey have a dream and a vision,
they can make it.
If I can make it from fuckingrice and ketchup, having fucking
no money, sleeping on the floor, bro, every fucking one can do
that, yeah everybody could dothat, but there's a few that can

(01:23:29):
.

Speaker 1 (01:23:29):
That's the difference .
It's a mindset thing, but youhave to give everybody that
encouragement that they can doit.
You know, there's so manyconversations that I've had with
fans that I've now gone fullcircle, where some people I'm
actually doing business with andsome people they'll, you know,
like my story with Matt Jansenand your story, matt Jansen,
right where he was standing inline and now he's one of the top
coaches in the game.

(01:23:50):
Uh, it's where you meet thesepeople and the impact you make
when they have that time withyou and and that's something I
want to commend you on becauseit's it's great for me, you know
, to see again remember that 10years ago, mike Badass to now
seeing the man that you areright now in life and talking of
which you've got your lovelybetter half behind you and we

(01:24:13):
cannot not mention her before weclose up this show.
But seemingly and talking tocoach too every great athlete
has the foundation of a partnerthat's there and supported you
through the good, the bad andthe ugly, all the things that
you'll never talk about butshe's been there.
For how much has she changedyour life?

Speaker 3 (01:24:36):
She literally changed everything.
Before you got married.
There was always a thing withnot feeling safe.
Once I married her, or actuallybefore I married her, I felt,
from now I don't need to give asingle fucking shit about

(01:24:58):
everything else in life.
As long as she's with me,nothing, fucking nothing, can go
bad.
I can lose both of my legs,both of my arms.
I know she will be there for me.
I could start playing soccer.
She will be there for me.
And she stopped competing.
She won the mexican shows,german shows, and now she's

(01:25:21):
doing tattooing, she's avideographer, she's doing so
many different things and wegrow, we change, we develop
together, and I don't know theenglish word for it, but it
doesn't matter what happens,we're gonna be together.
We go through the changetogether and she's absolutely
amazing.

(01:25:42):
There was not a single day, nota single minute, not a single
second where we are able tofight or have an argument.
It's not possible.
You know as well as I do.
Sometimes we're bitches becausewe're hungry or whatever, and
she's like hey, babe, you knowwhat I feel that you're a bitch.
Today I was like yeah, babe,you're right, I sorry, sometimes
she's a bitch and I tell herbaby what the fuck is wrong.

(01:26:04):
You're like bitch.
She's like yeah, I'm sorry, andwe can't have an argument, we
can't fight, that's not possible.
And we go through shit togetherand it doesn't matter if it's
Mexico, deep jungle, no runningwater, saudi Arabia, deep inside
the desert, desert.
We're going to go through thattogether.

(01:26:25):
It's she's I don't know.
She's the best person in theworld.

Speaker 1 (01:26:34):
Yeah we've all got that significant other.
Obviously I wouldn't be where Iam without Ali too, and you
know, you've seen the differencewhen her and I got together,
and I'm sure you can see thesame thing with Mike, right.

Speaker 4 (01:26:45):
Yeah, because I think , as a coach, bodybuilding is a
distraction.
Right, it's a huge distractionout there, to be honest with you
, and it can be very fake outthere as well.
So, to find a really goodpartner, whether that's a lady
who's looking, who steps andsteps in into a relationship
with a guy, or a guy steppinginvolved, stepping into a

(01:27:09):
relationship with a, a woman asa coach side of things, you just
want to know that there'ssomebody positive, somebody
who's whose intentions are good,somebody who's there for all
the right reasons, because lifeis fragile, right, and athletes
don't look like they look likeforever.
You have to meet somebody, or befortunate to be in a

(01:27:30):
relationship with somebody who'sgoing to love you through all
the transitional changes in life.
And you know what I say to theathletes is that, listen, I know
in this moment in time it'sabout you, but you need to give
back to your partner.
It's really important that youdon't think that your life and
your dreams and your goals aremore important than somebody
else's.
I think that you know everybodyneeds that attention and that

(01:27:54):
extra love at times, but youalso need to make sure that you
don't take advantage of the goodand the love and the support
that you know somebody else willgive you, because I've seen it
so many, you know so many timesthat individuals become
selfishly so consumed withthemselves they just don't

(01:28:15):
appreciate the things which aremore important.

Speaker 3 (01:28:20):
I mean Shani, my wife .
She's amazing in terms of we'retraveling together Mexico,
Dubai, spain.
So we have differentopportunities.
We need to adapt to differentsituations and she's not in
bodybuilding anymore.
She's not working regular jobs.
She canceled three jobs becauseI told her I will move to

(01:28:45):
Mexico in three months.
If it's serious to you, youneed to cancel your jobs, sell
your car, say goodbye to yourfamily, your friends.
And she was like all right, Ithought she's bullshitting me.
She was, she's a little younger, was like, yeah, these girls.
And then she sent me hey, babe,I just sold my car.
Was like what the fuck?
Like whole shit.
She's serious and through theprocess, she did so many

(01:29:11):
incredible things.
I still cannot believe it.
She's working for companies tocreate content and she's good.
You know how that started righthere in vegas two years ago, we
had a videographer and he leftbecause one of his you remember,
one of his cats got lost his 18cats, jeez, whatever.
And I told her hey, babe, thisis my camera.

(01:29:32):
This red button right here isto record Go.
From now on, we need to deliverdaily cutted videos.
She never.
She didn't know what iMovie is,said okay, do this, this, do
that.
Cut the video.
She did that.
I said that shit, that shit,that shit.
We need to work on that.
That.
That is bullshit.
Delete that, we're gonna do itlike you fucked it up.
She had a really fucking badtime.

(01:29:55):
Yeah, but rather, you can do itnow or you don't.
Yeah, it's game time now.
It it was like 10 days out fromthe Olympia and after two days
she had already the level of anot high quality videographer,
but someone who you pay like 500bucks and they will make proper
videos.
And now she's the high end girl.

(01:30:16):
She's awesome, she's reallygood.
Same with tattooing.
She stopped doing bodybuildingand she was like yeah, what can
I do now?
Because you don't need to docardio, you don't need to.
She's eating, still healthy,and she's doing bodybuilding,
but not on a competitive level.
But and I saw her drawing waslike, yeah, she's really
creative, she's intelligent, shehas 22 diplomas for fitness and

(01:30:40):
what she's teaching inuniversities and she's smart as
hell.
And I told her hey, what abouttattooing?
Yeah, I don't, you know, she'sa girl.
Yeah, I don't know.
So we bought the tattoo machine.
Now she's tattooing, like thebig tattoo on her leg.
The loyality is she did it.
I got my tattoo from heralready.
People get tattoos from her andthis, this is what I like

(01:31:04):
Basically.
That's one of the biggest,biggest things on her.
If she gets an opportunity, ifyou open the door, she's all in.
She will give everything shehas to make that happen, to
support you, to support the team, me and her.
That's amazing.

Speaker 1 (01:31:22):
Yeah, absolutely.
With somebody that's motivatedaround you, especially a
significant other, that is getsyou motivated, right.
So the same thing for me and mywife.
She runs all these companiesand and I just see her then
coming home and be a mom and putall these different hats on and
you cannot not but step up yourgame when you see somebody that
you're literally living withthat's doing all these different
things and leading from thefront.

(01:31:42):
So, um, that's great.
Obviously, I know coach speaksvery highly of her and her
reason mental, you know, impactshe's made in your life as well
as physical.

Speaker 2 (01:31:52):
So, uh, rock, anything else before we wrap up
this show, my man um, you know,I I feel like I'd have to to do
this right.
Um, you know, because you knowflex so well, I'd love to grab
you know a few flex trainingsecrets that we could tell.
Uh, we could tell the fans outthere maybe some that he

(01:32:13):
probably doesn't even want togive away what about the
foreskin crew there?

Speaker 3 (01:32:17):
you go that's basically how neil broke the ice
.
As we met the first time.
He invited me to Orlando,florida.
Back then to your gym, right,and get the invitation from him.
And I've never met him in lifebefore.
He said come over to the US,we're going to train together
and hang out for a week.
I was like, oh shit, okay, andNeil, he's a very quiet, very

(01:32:39):
straight guy, uk, so we sit inthe car didn't really speak for
like one or two days.
He was basically sitting in hisapartment and working and I was
next to him breathing his air,being happy about it.
And then we drove to the gymand he was talking about
something with foreskin, but Ididn't knew the word.

(01:33:02):
He started to laugh and Ididn't understand what he said
and I I want to be polite and Iwill start laughing too, just to
not be the stupid guy in thecar, right and he was like do
you know what foreskin is?
And was like no, and then heexplained me because he doesn't
have one.
This is how the foreskin crew.

Speaker 4 (01:33:28):
Flex is like I'm a fucking don't touch me in this
fucking competition.

Speaker 1 (01:33:32):
Flex is like what is this about?
What is this about?
This is going to be the mainreel, by the way this is going
to get a lot of traction yeah, Idon't know, was it John De?

Speaker 4 (01:33:43):
La Rosa.
I think the story is that mostof my athletes, including flex
and myself and mike and john dela rosa, and probably most of
them don't have foreskins.
How?
Because we need to make weightyeah, we have to make weight so
so.
So anyway, let's change thesubject.

(01:34:04):
You fucking talked about it?

Speaker 1 (01:34:06):
We didn't bring it up .
He asked for training tips.
He brought it up.

Speaker 4 (01:34:10):
Yeah, he brought it up.
Anyway, tip of the day, I don'tthink that I necessarily have
any tips as far as the gym isconcerned.

Speaker 1 (01:34:18):
Certainly don't have any fucking foreskin tips,
that's for sure.
Yes, he can't.
He doesn't have one.

Speaker 4 (01:34:23):
Just a tip, just a tip, just a tip I would say that
sometimes you know in thatmoment in time when you're in
the gym training, you makeselective changes or or
executions on certain exercisesbased on each individual.
So individuals are going torespond from different exercise
um application setup, um.

(01:34:43):
So, off the top of my head, Iprobably can't answer anything
other than just making sure thatyour exercise selection is in
line with what your objectiveand goal is.
You're looking to create someform of positive, progressive
overload environment.
That being said, I feel thatthere's many variables which
have to be considered.
It's not just about more weightor more repetitions and adding

(01:35:07):
weight and adding weight.
Good quality sets, good qualityreps are going to create or
magnify bigger changes than justsimply always thinking about
load and load and load.
But maybe this is a podcast orsomething that we could do on a
set on another time, and maybesomething what we could do is
maybe try to do something whichis podcast based but it's a live

(01:35:30):
workout.
In that time.
I don't think I know if that'ssomething which is possible, but
I'm sure that you guys putcould put your creative um
energy into creating somethingdifferent yeah, we could.

Speaker 1 (01:35:39):
yeah, we definitely want you back on the show
because j-rock has this list ofquestions he wants to ask you,
mainly pertaining to me.
But all the fucking shenaniganswe got up to, and if we pop
that cherry, poor Mike will bestill waiting to piss here,
because I know that this guy isdancing with his feet right now
and he's ready to go, and we allknow that feeling right when
you're in prep and you have todrink, like you know six liters,

(01:36:01):
180 liters, because your coachtold you yeah, I know I, you had
to drink, like you know, sixliters 180 liters because your
coach told you yeah, I know Igot all m stories.
I can fill you in on the nextpodcast too, but listen, matt, I
I know, uh, in time of airingthis is going to be a week out
from the show.
Um, any message that you wantto to give to your fans that are
watching in germany and anymessage you want to give the
fans that are going to meet inyou you and mr olympia, that's
your camera right there twothings first of all,

(01:36:24):
bodybuilding is not made out ofgenetics.

Speaker 3 (01:36:27):
Bodybuilding is made out of determination, focus and
passion.
And secondly, I need to tellyou that maybe flex try to turn
that into something different,but I truly believe that
everyone has the tools to createsomething incredible if they

(01:36:48):
really want to absolutely, andthat's the truth.

Speaker 2 (01:36:52):
Right there brock anything impacting no, just uh,
look forward to seeing there onstage my first uh olympia.
So all the all the best wishesand positive vibes for you, man,
and obviously the work'salready been really done, so
excited to see it.

Speaker 3 (01:37:06):
One more thing.
Maybe he doesn't know, but wehave a tradition post-Olympia.
It's called the familybreakfast.
Neil hasn't joined it.

Speaker 2 (01:37:16):
Is that like a giant cheat meal?

Speaker 3 (01:37:18):
No, I do a salad and a little piece of pancake, but
it's more about the company.
So my dad will be there.
Hopefully I can force Neil tobe there and if you want to come
, it's basically very, verysmall circle, having fun sharing
food, bullshit talk, stuff likethat.

(01:37:39):
The day after the Olympia isamazing.

Speaker 1 (01:37:42):
It's the best feeling when the bag is off your back.
Everybody's there to enjoy thatcompany again and you finally
can enjoy that food.

Speaker 3 (01:37:50):
my friend, I don't care about the food.
I go for salad and really Idon't give a shit about food.
I don't like burgers, pizzastuff.
I go for a nice fucking bigsalad with some nuts and feta
cheese and stuff like that.
But it's more about the people.
So what I wanted to say ishopefully Coach will be there
and you guys are invited too.

Speaker 1 (01:38:11):
Thank you for the invite.

Speaker 3 (01:38:12):
Thank you, I appreciate it, my friend, it's
going to be a cheap fucking IHOPor Denny's pancake anyway.

Speaker 4 (01:38:16):
But it's not about the food.
When has Denny's ever donesalads?
What the fuck they do.

Speaker 3 (01:38:27):
They do what the fuck they do?

Speaker 4 (01:38:27):
they do okay, yeah, okay, I mean you don't know,
because you missed the familybreakfast last year.
It's never personal.
Flex knows what I'm like.
I'm so mentally exhausted andburnt out come olympia or any
major event.
But it all starts all overagain because the next day I've
got peak week for anotherathlete or another 10 athletes,
because bodybuilding is likeyear round.
So it's not that I don'tappreciate those special moments

(01:38:48):
, flex will know.
Flex doesn't even ask me hey,do you want to come to the after
party, mate?
Listen, I would ask you.
But you say no, yeah, becauseall I want to do I just want to
eat a really nice meal and Iwant to go to bed.
That it's not about anti-social.
I need to emotionally andmentally recover because there's
a lot of pressure andresponsibility.
Um, that comes with athletes,you know, because it's not just

(01:39:11):
mike, there's other athletes inthe show as well.
And then I've got to make surethat I'm ready to sort of start
all over prep and again the nextday, which is a sunday, because
athletes are competing I mean,mike might be competing in this
the week after.
So I'm always thinking, I'malways kind of like one or two
steps in front of myself, justmaking sure I'm prioritizing
everybody, because next week'sathletes, that's their Mr

(01:39:34):
Olympia, even though it might bean amateur show in a different
country or whatever it may be.
It's just that you know thecoaching cap never really comes
off.
It's always on, it's alwayspresent.

Speaker 1 (01:39:45):
Yeah, that shows the show a lot about him, because
when most people want to be inthe light, of you know yes, we
won.
Where's all the cameras?

Speaker 3 (01:39:50):
He's in his bed already.

Speaker 1 (01:39:51):
He was already in bed .
He's like.
You know me, flex, I would getthe whole conversation.
I've heard it so many times.
He was not.
It wasn't that the to what hejust said.
His mindset is already on thenext athletes and the next show.
I was impressed.
I got him up for one fuckingafter party.
One after party, remember.
And my mother was at that afterparty too, on the dance floor

(01:40:11):
with a fucking walking stick,remember.

Speaker 3 (01:40:13):
The other thing is we broke the top five and I called
him.
I said, coach, what about thegala?
What about the gala?
Let's celebrate?
He was like what the fuck areyou talking about?
I was sleeping.
Then I realized, oh shit, itwas at least as intense for him
as for me.
He was the guy who was notsleeping.
I was in bed for eight hourschilling my ass off.

(01:40:34):
He worked, running around allthe other athletes, exactly.
Then I realized, oh shit, thisguy didn't sleep for three days.
He's fucking exhausted and hedoesn't just care about one guy.
He had brandon hendrickson,alex cameronero, me, multiple
other athletes at the same timeand I can't handle my emotions.

Speaker 1 (01:40:53):
he's he handles fucking eight people, yeah all
him and, by the way, before weshoot, who we got at the olympia
this year, and the underneathyou, obviously, mike uh, mike,
it's pretty cool because there'sfour different divisions with
athletes Rafael Brando goingobviously into the open class.

Speaker 4 (01:41:08):
Going into the open class.
Karith Banjo, he's going to bedoing 212.
Ryan Clark, obviously homeboyhere, doing his first ever men's
physique and then obviouslyMike doing the classic physique.
So all the athletes are inreally, really good places with
their physiques and emotionallyand mentally.
Of course, a lot can changebetween now and then, but at

(01:41:29):
this present time I feel thatathletes are in great places.

Speaker 1 (01:41:34):
I'm looking forward to it.
And, as you said, so manydifferent athletes and so many
different divisions, so manydifferent clues Sorry, so many
different puzzles to answer,right, Because everybody's got a
different physique andeverybody's got a different way
that you have prepped them forthat show not only physically
but also mentally too.
But in wrapping up the podcastwe've already lost Mike.
He had to take a piss break.
He couldn't go any longer.

(01:41:54):
I was only keeping it onbecause he was talking, but he
has already exited the scene.
Coach Hill, always a pleasureto have you on the show, my
friend, and looking forward tohaving a part two, Rock.

Speaker 2 (01:42:05):
Yeah, I'm excited I got more questions, but I'm
going to wait until we get done.

Speaker 1 (01:42:09):
Yeah, yeah, he's got a lot.
He showed me some.
I was like, ah, we'll get itback on the show for them.
Laughs and stuff.
I know this week is serious.
The mentality obviously is seen.
We try to have, as you know,the week of that, mr Olympia.
Humor is very hard to findright when you're when you're so

(01:42:31):
focused and you're so committed.

Speaker 4 (01:42:33):
I think a lot of people think I'm a miserable
bastard because I tend to have aserious face most of the time.
I definitely have a fucked upbroad sense of humor.
So I I like laugh, I likebanter, I I um, I think my
personality is it's pretty good,but I also have like a lot of
pressure and responsibility withthese athletes, of course.

(01:42:54):
But my workload is really high,you know.
So like as soon as I come outof here it'll be my piss, break,
wash my hands and then I gottaget in my car and then I gotta
go home because I've gotprobably 12 hours work I've got
to get done tonight before I goto bed and it all starts over
the next day and the next day.
My workload is not so busy thatI don't have time for myself.
I just need to be prioritizingthings and also I'll be shutting

(01:43:18):
down check-ins peak week andthen starting them all back up
Sunday after the show, just tomake sure that I'm able to give
the time and the attention intothese athletes and also the
other deliverables I'm going tohave, obviously with sponsors,
you know, yamamoto, etc andother amazing companies.

Speaker 1 (01:43:36):
Well, we just hit the 144 mark, bro.
I don't know how that fuckinghappened, but we've been gassing
on for nearly two hours.
This is supposed to be an hourshow, but I think we got the
best out of everybody, and poorMike has been holding his legs
shut for all this time.
But that said, I think it's anice way to segue out.
Obviously, we've got a lot ofmore athletes that are coming on
the show this week.

(01:43:57):
We've got the Mr Olympiafestivities Red Tail on Thursday
for all the athletes that arecoming into town.
Make sure you check us outthere.
We're doing a Dragon's Lairevent out there.
We're doing a Dragon's Lair gymon property at Resorts World
and some other bells andwhistles throughout that weekend
.
So make sure you check out theDragon's Lair for all the
updates on my social media.

(01:44:18):
But until then, this is Flex it.

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Road to Olympia | Mike Sommerfeld & Neil Hill | Straight Outta The Lair Podcast

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Road to Olympia | Mike Sommerfeld & Neil Hill | Straight Outta The Lair Podcast