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Literally what's going on, everybody?
Welcome back to another episode of The Power Lifters Den.
I'm your host, Cam Smith, and this is going to be episode 100,
so it's a pretty special episode.
I want to have a pretty strong motherfucker on here.
Justin Zotto, why don't you introduce yourself?
Hey guys, Justin Zotto left out of Niagara Falls.
Just be strong, Jim. The strongest gym in Canada.
Fight me powerlifter now for 11 years competitively strongest
being powerlifter of all time #2 ranked squat my weight loss.
So trying to put that up one more.
Yes, Sir. So I think to get started it's
good to get a background. Everyone I know obviously you
said you're the strongest Canadian pilot of all time,
which is very cool accolade to have.
But I know your background started with being a champion
cyclist. So maybe tell us about that
journey from being a high level cyclist into the pile if you are
now. Yeah, but I mean, I, I grew up
as a cyclist. My dad is a big influence.
He's still coaches, you know, for cycling in Canada, raced
around, you know, had a lot of fun doing that when my first
national championship at 16 and, you know, continue to develop
that, you know, develop the training methods, develop, you
know, kind of that weird sick love of pain that we all have in
the sport. You know, and I think that's
kind of one of my biggest contributors to being a good
powerlifter is I like when it fucking hurts.
I like those rough sets where you're like, oh man, I don't
like this. And he got through like, oh man,
I feel really good about it. Developed.
You know, I did a kind of like a a neo pro junior year on a on a
affiliate to a professional team and I just burnt out that year.
It was like the worst year in my life.
I quit, I got really fat. Cycling was my whole identity
and I lost it and I gained I was, I forget what the exact
numbers were, but it was a substantial amount of weight.
I finished the season like 100 and 61165 lbs thousand September
by January 1st, I was well over the 240 mark at that point in
time. So I'd lost everything.
I just ate my feelings, you know, all that kind of stuff.
Or homeowner teenager will do. And I just started out weight
training as a New Year's resolution or I was doing the
gym sapani shortcut to shred training in the middle of the
night and just started really liking pushing weight.
And the more I push, the stronger I got.
And, you know, human beings, we like doing what we're good at,
right? And quickly found myself, you
know, playing football and rugby and having all this sort of fun.
Kept getting knocked out playing football because I don't tackle
right. And I like, I like leaving my
head. I got a big head, so I wanted to
use it and finally won too many trips to the ambulance just kind
of sidelined me and I refused to leave the gym.
Join the powerlifting gym. Got really easily, you know,
manipulated doing a powerlifting meet, squatted 6 bench 345 and
pulled six of My first meet was like, hey, I like being good.
So I kind of kept chasing the numbers from there.
Yeah, and obviously going from cyclists into powerlifting, like
for that same competitive aspect, but just kind of knowing
how cycling goes, like obviously leg strength is huge.
So. Yeah.
And obviously you have a the second heaviest squat.
So kind of going into that, is that something that like
developed super quick or is it something that, like you said?
Yeah, just had a crazy. Pace, I mean, you look, you look
at the numbers, right, like for being like a, for being a 242
and kind of always like a middle 242 as I was the time, like no
disrespect to anybody, but like having a 345 bench when you have
a £600 squat, like that's a pretty big like that's a pretty
big difference. You know, there's not
proportionately similar, you know, I had, you know, the, the
balls to try 400 LB bench that day and got absolutely stapled
and then I punched the floor out of protest, you know, But you
know, it was a big thing and it did progress quickly.
And I mean, for me, realistically, you know, I
haven't squatted 1000 lbs yet in the in, in, in a competition.
And having the second heaviest squat in my weight class is
cool, but I'm still like, you know, 40 lbs behind the record.
But then I look at my bench and my bench is like below a bunch
of 220 LB dudes and some 198. So for me, I still feel like
it's the same, you know, difference.
Yeah, and it's something I relate to to like I mean, I, I'm
probably not compete being raw for a few more years, but I
mean, I squat and over 7 in wraps and I still haven't hit a
£400 bench yet. So like I I know the struggles
of being pretty good at squats and sucking a bench.
Yeah, it's like it's, it's a, it's a weird thing, being good
on the front end and the back end because, you know, you race
out to a lead, you hold on for dear life and you hope a devil
specialist doesn't pass you in the end, which they always do,
but. Yeah.
So I guess kind of going from kind of that transition, but
tell us about maybe your first meet experience and kind of how
that that gave you outlook on piloting?
Yeah, it was, it was super cool. My first meet was like a, it was
like a pro am provincials, which like provincials for us is like
a state championship for, for Americans.
And it was, he didn't have to qualify.
It was my first mate. You don't have to qualify.
He just showed up right. And and it was just a, a gym.
We had one rack to warm up on. None of the plates matched.
There was no deadlift platforms. There wasn't even deadlift
platform on the platform. It was just rubber flooring.
It's actually really cool. It's my first time actually
running into a now former climb in my Maxine Boudreaux, and he
was there and I remember him just like walking in the back
sniffing ammonia. Didn't speak really well English
at the time where he didn't care to listen because he wasn't
listening to his commands. He jumped the press command
every time, did 500 for three reps basically, and left, right.
And it was super cool. It was on the first time.
It's kind of like you build that camaraderie of the the the sucks
people in the powerlifting. I think, you know, it was the
first time, you know, meeting people who became lifetime
friends. You know, my first meet 11 years
ago, I still talk to these people and see them around, you
know, to this day. And I think that's kind of what
gets got me sucked in, honestly. Yeah, I was, I was.
I like being good at things, but being kind of immediately
accepted into that community was a much bigger part of me just
sticking around, I think. Yeah, 100%.
I think that time time again, you talk to every everyone a
pilot and that's been in it for more than two to three years or
just there that's not there to just do it for Instagram.
Like they make lifelong friends. You make hundreds of friends.
You make really close friends. You make friends that like I've
gone to people's weddings, I've gone to people's cookouts.
I've got like we hang out outside the gym.
It's more than just lifting weights.
There's there's so much time and effort put into it that just the
general respect you have for each other as a base level just
kind of gives you a good start. Well, I also think it's like,
you know how they talk about, oh, you know, it's not the
degree, the couch, it's the fact that it shows you suck through
something. I think that's very similar
parallel to when you see somebody, you continuously see
them or even in the gym when you're working out first kind of
see a guy, you know, you're OK that's random dude working out,
you see him again for a couple weeks.
You know, by the second or third month you have that guy's name
and probably a way to contact him, right.
Yeah. It's the same kind of thing.
It's like you prove that you're in it.
Well, you're, you're probably committed person that you know,
I can probably, you know, you know, develop some sort of
friendship with. Yeah.
And it's like some of the look, maybe if you do meet for a few
years, see him a couple of times and then you go to it like the
third time or something, you're like, oh, want to where is this
year or something like that? You're like, Oh yeah, he fell
out of love it. It it happens to me all the
time. I've been, I've been hit on the
head a few times, but I'll be in a meet.
I'm like, I need, I know that person's name.
I like, I have to know they're a man.
I've never met them before. I've just seen them so many
times. I feel like I should know who
they are, Right? So that's always an awkward one
to be like, who are you again? Yeah.
Especially when you, yeah, if you go to so many meats and
stuff like obviously I'm travelling around a different
gym, going to a bunch of meats for my crew, I'm going to local
meats. Just trying to, you know,
obviously get the experience and grow the podcast and things like
that. And you always run into people
again. You're like fuck, I can't
remember their name. Yeah, I did.
What was that? When the devil's wear Prada, I
knew that. I knew that assistant just tell
me people's name and walk around with me.
Yeah. Then I guess as far as just in
general, what are your your best lifts?
Yeah, so I mean in competition, let's be real, you know, I
squatted 953 lbs. The American Pro 2 was geared to
take it. You know, in my head I should
have taken it my last couple meets, but injury set back and
fatigue kind of, you know, limit me to that.
I do have a 931 LB sleeve squat which I'm much happier with, 843
LB deadlift and a 545 LB bench. Yeah, I mean, that's thinking
crazy just because, I mean, your sleeve squad is littering my
multiply squad. So just imagining I know what
that way feels like on my back, I can only imagine what it feels
like raw. I'll be I'll be real with you,
man. It was a weird one because I was
prepping for the Clash of Titans too, and it was a wrapped meat
and for all intents and purposes, I squatted 1000 lbs in
the cage on a pretty fatigued day.
I was coaching the pro straw man the day before.
My back was just tuned up. I was warming up and I told
Craig, I'm like, we should probably change the order
because I think after my last warm up, I'm, I'm calling it
like my back's just carnated. Luckily, I'm a really close
friend of mine. My best friend, his name is
Maddow Boy, he's a massage therapist.
You'll see him in pretty much all my videos.
And he just kind of, he kind of saw the doubt on my face, kind
of like looked around. He's like, all right, well,
we're going to let him out of the cage now.
Just grab my headphones, you know, just kind of tapped my
heart and he just reminded me he's like, you know, your water,
your daughter's watching the live stream at home, right?
But I'm just like, get out of my way.
Let's go. It's time.
Literally it was a snap. Like if you watch my lot, my
second last one was like 900 lbs move.
Like shit. I'm like, fuck, all right.
And I literally called my next warm up would have usually been
1000 plus. I went to 9:30 and I'm like,
that might be it for the day. And I blew it up.
And you know, it was great from there, but what had happened in
that prep was 3 or 4 weeks later I did a tune up meet at home
because I do think it's important that, you know, I do
compete at home. Good.
Well, the the competitions don't have the same standard or, you
know, pizzazz or, you know, production quality They do in
America or in Europe. I do think it's important that I
do show my face at home, right. So I did a tune up meet.
I did like you go back and watch.
It was like an RPE 8, maybe an RPE 9 to day, depending upon
what you know, let's you watch. But because I was training in
wraps, when I switched down to my sleeves, everything went
really easy. The 931 LB squat, you can only
see me in the hole. I smiled.
I was like, oh, this is easy, let's go, right?
And it didn't feel that heavy. Because I think, I think because
I was loading the weight, the heavier weights on my back raw
leading up to it, that when I stripped everything out and put
£70 less, I'm like, oh, this is how we this is fine.
Yeah, so easy I guess. What do you kind of explain what
you mean by a tune up meat and maybe what the the purpose is
for you? I'll be real with you, the
purpose was to pay for my hotel and I had a bunch of clients
doing it. I'm a very defensive person of
my people and there was people running around saying my gym
wasn't the strongest in the province.
So I loaded up, you know, a couple of my clients, one guy
named Liam, he's on 2 meats total, 2100 at both of them.
Doesn't really have a desire to train beyond that very much.
He like shows up to the gym like once a month, blast a bunch of
stuff out and goes home. We don't see him again.
I'm like, how do you do it? I need your plan, you know, sell
me your stack, please. I got another guy named Tyler.
He's a super young guy. He'll be he'll be a four
strackling for years. He did it with me.
I had three girls just go in there and just absolutely murder
everybody in front of them just to kind of like put respect back
on the gym name. So I kind of got baited into it,
you know, as I do sometimes, But there was no real like
intelligent reason to do it. I should say it was more like an
ego. Let me show you my Wiener type
of day. So.
Yeah, well, sometimes you got to, you got to join the pissing
contest when it's presenting you.
That's kind of at the end of the day, we're all a bunch of
meatheads. We like to kind of let our Dick
swing sometimes. So just you got a lot to happen.
And it was, I think it was, I think I did as well as I did
that mean because I, well, I felt the pressure of doing well.
It was also being real, like I'm just going to do RP9, you know.
So even my third bench, I only benched like 529 that day.
And it was one that it kind of pissed me off.
So halfway up and I just stopped trying.
I still got it, but I'm like you stupid.
Like that was supposed to be fast.
Like I'm like yelling at myself in the backroom, you know,
everybody else, like dude, you just spent £530.
That was insane. I'm like, it's a rolling my belt
like you idiot, what did you do that for?
Right? But I think I took the pressure
off and let me have some fun, you know, because I do, I think
in anything, right, like when you invest as much time as we do
into this, whether it's, you know, 2 hours a day or whether
it's 24 hours a day, you didn't invest a lot of time into over
the course of a 12 week prep, You know, and for myself, like I
don't view an offseason or, or peeking.
I'm always in prep, right? Because if I let the, the foot
off the gas, I just find I'd lose it some mental thing for
myself. And when I gave myself that
freedom just to be like, Hey, we're going to have some fun.
You know, we'll see what happens, you know, then have P&R
PR in my total. I'm like, oh shit, OK, that was
a lot of fun. And then just, I held the peak
for way too long. So you got to remember I hit the
thousand in the cage of the start of March.
I competed at the end of March, early April, and then I tried to
peek again at the end of April and I was just cooked.
I remember warming up a clash of Titans and taking like the way I
usually warm up is I'll do a bunch of like prehab rehab, you
know, muscle activation stuff. Because for me, I find genuinely
that if I swat anything below £500, my form is different.
I can't squat the same way. So my first squats, 500 lbs,
second squats, usually 770 thirds, 880.
And then I throw my wraps on and go, I took, I took my first
squat, my legs were dead. And I'm like just one more
plate, please. Let's do this, go to £600 still
that I'm like, we're doing all the activation stuff and I never
found my legs. I just, I wasn't, you know, I
was burned out, to be honest. And so yeah, I probably would
have done a lot better Flash Titans having not done all the
side quests but same point in time when Animal calls you up
and asks you to squat 1000 with your good friend, you're going
to do it. Yeah.
And I think I think kind of on a bigger scale by like you said,
doing one of these tune up meets or going to the cage, which we
could talk a little bit more about it kind of it keeps things
fresh and makes it. Because once you get to that pro
level and you're, you're chasing these numbers, whether it's a
certain number on a squad or a certain position on your weight
class or your board or something on the ABS rankings or just
anything in that like pro competitive level, you kind of
lose yourself in the moment of like, why am I doing this?
And I think it's a good way to kind of step back and be like,
all right, This is why I love powerlifting.
Absolutely. I mean, the biggest thing, like
I said earlier, there's two reasons why I think people
actually like, love powerlifting.
And then there's a third reason why people think they like
powerlifting. The reason why they think they
like powerlifting is Instagram. Yeah, right.
Like, oh, I got 100 lights on my bench video.
It's like, no, you just showed your ass in the intro and then
people liked it. All right?
They don't care. All right?
I'm just being honest with you. But the reason why I think they
like it is first and foremost, it gives them a sense of
control, right? Like I couldn't bench 100 lbs
today. I trained for 12 weeks.
I was able to bench 100 lbs. I was better.
I'm better now than I was then. I think people really get
gravitate towards that sense of control because there's no real
control in this world, unfortunately for people, right?
And then the other reason is a community like we talked about
earlier, you know, and, and competing at home, competing in
front of, you know, just a crowd full of people that I know, that
I coach, that I'm friends with, that I've known for a decade.
Just kind of let me fly, you know, So we're going to be
trying to replicate that kind of mental process, you know,
leading into my next couple meets and, you know, see if it
works. Yeah.
And touching back a bit on the cage, obviously that's something
that's been going on for several years and there's, yeah,
hundreds of amazing clips and just insane lifts being pulled
out of that, things that people have never been able to even
replicate in their own career at that point.
And so maybe tell us about the experience with that obviously
being with all these high level guys and just tell us about what
that environment is like competing in that cage.
Yeah. So this is my second year doing
that. I did it.
I did it last year with Fernando Arias.
We both squatted together and going into it that year was a
really emotional thing for me because I'd, I'd been through,
you know, a decade long career, I'd, you know, split with my
ex-wife and you know, how to rebuild and didn't think I was
going to get anywhere near where I am to this day.
And, you know, kind of, you know, when I went to walk into
the cage, even I go to walk in the cage and I just found myself
pausing at the entrance because it's a little like gap and where
the cage is, right? I just kind of paused and I was
like one of those things like it was like my body's being like,
Are you sure? Like this is like we're going
in, right? I just kind of felt a hand on my
back and kind of little push of a business.
Basically. I turn around, look and it's TD
and he's all right, let's go squat boy.
And he pushed me in the cage, right?
And I'm like, OK, I guess I'm in now, right?
And that first time I put a lot of pressure on myself and to
perform and I had, you know, really kind of worried about
failing in the cage, you know, and, and being scared of that
failure, you know, and I completely squatted ass
backwards. I cut my chest up way too high
the whole time and end up failing like 975 super
embarrassingly, like 2 inches from lockout.
And it wasn't even a fail. It was I stepped to the left.
I still stop under my own power bug.
I stepped to the left in my mind as perfectionist as a purist, I
was just a complete failure, right?
So I felt like a big goof. I felt like a big dummy, you
know, as you would when you don't know what it's all about
and you go step foot out of the cage and everybody's like coming
up and man, that was crazy. Great job.
Like they're talking to you like like in your head, like, did I
actually make that squat? Like, right.
And they don't care, you know, because they get it, you know,
they or if they don't get it, they're their minds blown that
they can't understand what just happened, you know, and you
know, so I took that, you know, to heart.
And, you know, I messaged Steph, you know, kind of Midsummer,
like, hey, listen, like if you're willing to have me back
and be an honor to come back, you know, try to take a run at
that 1000 LB squat. And I kind of got a message back
right away. She's like, yes, when we talk to
people, but probably. So I kind of just started
getting my mind ready to do that that year and going back in the
second time and being able to do it with another close friend of
mine, Craig Foster, and both kind of like, hey, we're going
to run out the 1000 LB goal together, you know, and the
whole goal was £1000 a 1000 lbs. That's all we talked about.
And kind of walking in the cage and kind of seeing it and being
familiar with it and understand this group of people.
Like the second time I walk up to the cage, everybody's
attacked. Oh, hey, Justin, give me hugs.
How you doing? You know, all this stuff.
I'm like, once again, trying to remember everybody's names and
like, OK, I got to figure this out, right?
And then just being involved in that family, you know, like all
these elite lifters just stay in the cage all weekend.
Like, unless we have like other like responsibilities, like when
I had to go to Cerberus or barefoot or whatever, or go
coach the strongman, you know, I'm sitting there and I'm just,
I'm watching, you know, I'm a fan because that's at the end of
the day, if you're a powerlifter, if you're a strong
man, if you're a but you're a fan of what you're doing and
when people are doing incredible things, you're going to be
there. You know, and I was in the cage
when Theo Maddox tried to pull the 5:05.
You know, I was in the cage watching, you know, the girls
Rep out crazy squats. I was in there watching Andy
Wynn Rep out crazy squats. You know, I was in there
watching, you know, Ken Cooper, you know, Deadlift and, you
know, seeing him come back from his story of him, you know,
destroying his legs and coming back and being, you know, better
was really cool to see. But then also like being in the
moment, like, hey, it's my turn. You know, they put me a Saturday
right in the prime time spot spot with Craig.
You look around, you can't see any floor.
Just people are everywhere around you.
You know, I, I asked ChatGPT something that they got a pic.
They got a video of me up in the VIP booth and took a picture.
I'm like, I asked ChatGPT. I'm like, how many people are in
this picture? And they say we're from 1600 to
2000 people. Yeah, that's I'm like, well,
that's, that's the most amount of people that ever watch me
powerless in person, right. And and then, yeah, just like
being part of it, getting the squad, doing it with a very
close friend of mine, squad in the 1005 with them, which is
something that was super, super cool, considering.
What a lot of people don't understand, if they haven't been
in this for more than, you know, two years, is that back when we
started, there was no content for powerlifting.
You couldn't consume any vision. You could read a magazine,
right? Or you could read a forum,
right, the teenage forums, whatever you wanted to read back
in the day. But there's nothing we could
watch. The only thing we could really
watch was either Mark Bell or the animal videos.
Yeah, so I grew up on the animal videos.
I remember all the old Road to the Cage videos.
And then to be in that position where like, hey, I'm in the
videos now. Like they flew of a camera crew
to my house in Canada to come and film me and my wife and my
daughter, you know, at my gym. And now that's me.
That that was that was a really cool moment for me.
Yeah, one of the cool parts about pilelifting too, is the
when you get all these high level at high level competitors
in the room together, they're they're all kind of like
fangirling over each other when they're all the same level.
And it's just so funny that you can see how much people
appreciate it. There's accomplishments in the
sport, which is something that in like other sports, you just
do not see. Yeah, like, on on Sunday, they
were dumb enough to give me a live microphone.
And I'm sitting there and like, I got Evan singles him in the
cage and Sam Bellyvo, another former client of mine going
after, you know, record circus dumbbells.
I got Andy, you know, launching his his squat.
And by the end, when I'm sitting there trying to talk on the way
home and kind of like regroup and talk to my wife and Matt and
his wife about what happened and my voice is cracking.
Like, what's going on? They're like, well, you were
screaming on fucking day, Justin, like you don't have a
voice, you know, because we are fans of the sport, right?
You. I think you have to be to get
far in the sport. If you don't enjoy it, you're
not going anywhere. Yeah, 100%.
Adults. But no, it's it's, it's, it's
the animal cage, One of the coolest things that people can
go experience it, go and see it, go and watch it and just figure
out what it's all about. It's one of the coolest and most
genuine powerlifting experiences.
I know it's not a meet. I know sometimes the lifts
aren't a standard, and that's OK.
In this circumstance, nobody's taking a record, nothing counts.
It's an exhibition lift. It's OK, but it's the most raw
powerlifting experience. Just people in there who love
powerlifting, who love heavyweights, who understand
what it's like to be on the other side of the cage.
You know who will take the time to talk to you and share stories
or a meal or a drink or whatever it might be?
That's what the animal cage is. Yeah.
And I remembered, I forget, I think Phil, it was Phil Herndon
posted this. It was like a picture of him
from like, like several years back of him like on the outside
of the cage. And then I cut to him, like
inside the cage. And it's kind of like cool to
see one of those full circle moments.
But I kind of want you to walk us through that moment of that
1000 LB squat. Yeah, so I was, I was sitting
there, I was just kind of going through my mental cues, like,
hey, we got to do this. And I used to be a lifter where
if if I bent it all my form, I broke.
Like I was either getting convincingly or I was stapled.
There was no in between. And I kind of stand up and I sit
there and Matt kind of, Matt kind of sees it in my eyes.
He just kind of walks behind the platform.
And right behind the platform was actually a former client of
mine, Chess. And chess had taken a little bit
of a breakthrough, some personal issues.
And the night before he's like, hey, man, listen.
And he told me he was coming to Columbus.
He said, hey, you got this squat, I'm back on the team.
Shit. Right.
And I'm like, I love this dude. This dude's a game.
So he got in a car crash when he was a teenager, ripped his bicep
completely off, still powerless, been still benching the forest.
He almost squatted 7 as a 220 in sleeves.
It's good, dude. I love the dude.
I sit there with with a friend of his and I look over to my
left and I see a bunch of my my friends and clients I've known
forever. I hear people from my gym behind
me screaming, you know what I mean?
And my best friend's lining me up.
My wife's still running the mono and I got friends all around me,
right? But I'm still there like, hey,
everything's gotta be perfect. OK?
Drop your ribs, get your lots. And you don't set your set your
big toe right. Find your midfoot and let's let
this fly. Let's let this fly.
And I'm sitting there and I like getting the the crowd hyped up.
So I take my ammonia, I fucking scream into the crowd, you know,
get them flying and I get myself back.
And I've learned to temper that a little bit.
So you actually, you'll see me quite often.
Just I'll just open my mouth and you'll think I'm just open my
mouth, but I'm actually saying calm and I'm just not like,
dude, calm down. Like don't get too hype.
Just chill and I'm going to take my pneumonia and I guess my my,
my, well, she's going to be my wife on Sunday, but I'll fiance
at times. Thank you, thank you Alan.
She had gone up to to William, the one MC She's like, how like
she's like, cuz every kind of saw the dirt in my eyes with my
back and she kind of looked at William and she's just like, are
you willing to cross the line with Justin?
Potentially like he, she's like, it might be too far.
And he and and Eric that Eric Schwartz, the one MC animals had
forever is like, oh hell no, I'm out.
Like I'm not, I'm not going near this.
He said, I know how much that guy fires up like when he gets
pissed. So no, I'm not doing that.
And I was like, yeah, that tell me.
And so she told him what to do and raised him about taking my
ammonia and I'm a big ammonia fan.
I dragged ammonia like nobody's business.
I got kicked out of the zone booth because nothing like I was
like, I was like trying all their products and nothing was
doing anything for me. Right.
And and he grabs my shirt and he's like, this one's for Ellie.
And I, I didn't even take my money.
I threw it and I screamed. I grabbed the bar and I'm like
getting ready. I'm getting ready to go.
And I go to try to line myself up under, under the bar.
And I'm like, no, that ain't it. And I come back and I'm like,
there's something wrong with my belt.
I'm looking at my belt, my belt in the right spot.
Like everything's perfectly fine with my belt.
I just can't brace. And so I just crank it and I
can't crank it. I'm fighting with the fucking
belt. Like it won't latch.
I'm like, motherfucker, right? It's a great belt.
It's an awesome belt belt. Don't know what his problem was.
And I finally lapsed it. And you can actually see in the
video, I smiled. And in that moment I had like a
5 minute conversation with myself about like, dude, how far
like how right is this moment? You failed last year, right?
And I've gotten so much better. Like not everything has to be
the same, like blah, blah, blah. Like it doesn't need to be
perfect. Nothing has to be perfect
anymore. And I'm like, this is how it had
to be. And I grab under the bar and I'm
like, tell myself calm and I go down rack and I didn't lock my
knees out. I didn't take my breath in.
I just stood up, right? And I finally locked my knees
like you stupid idiot, just do this, right?
And I'd smashed my head on the bar before, you know, So I
started feeling kind of the blood coming down my face, which
is a new thing for me. And, and as I'm, as I'm
squatting down, I kind of hit in the hole And I'm like, hey, got
this. Cuz the doubt always creeps in,
always right. The doubt always creeps in.
No matter how sure you are of a lift, no matter how much your
programming proves you have it, no matter how much last week
proves that you have it, you're always doubting right.
And so as I'm coming out, as I'm hitting the hole, right, and I
come out of the hole, I'm like, holy shit, we're going.
And I just remember last year immediately failing, right?
Just failing to lock it. I'm like, you can even see me
close my eyes. I was like, close my eyes like,
please don't fail, please don't fail, right?
And I lock it, I rock it. And I kind of like turn around.
Everybody's cheering for me. You know what I mean?
As well. Those moments.
Just take a second that you know, to thank God for keeping
me safe, keep the spotter safe. And it's kind of like, Oh,
right. And it was, it was relief
because for me, right, the joy and the the experience and the
honor was being asked to go, yeah, getting that nod because
being an animal, animal lifter means something.
You can't just be strong like animals not gonna have you in
the cage if you're an asshole and a piece of shit person.
Yeah, there's not gonna do it, right.
And so that was an honor for me, you know, and then kind of
turning and seeing all my fellow lifters, people that I still
look up to to this day, sitting there on their feet cheering.
And I'm seeing the look on my wife's face when I'm just
covered in blood. You know, I was expecting to hug
her or kiss. She's right.
That was a super cool moment. You know, hard to keep the
emotions in check at that point because, you know, it was a, it
was, you know, a lifelong dream of mine.
I wanted to go in the cage, you know, and technically have the
heaviest squad. I share it with Craig and I
believe, I mean, technically Dan has the best squad worker.
He doubled 1000 in it. I got five more pounds on him.
Not saying I'm stronger, definitely swats way more than
me got him. But yeah, I know it was.
It's just a super cool moment, super emotional moment.
And then you just don't want to end.
Yeah. It's one of those things you
just like you hold on to. Like do we do we have to go?
Do we have to go? You know, and then it was super
cool seeing the fan response, you know, walking through, you
know, I had to go do some some obligations afterwards and
walking through and, you know, a guy stopped being.
I was kind of taken aback by it, you know, what the fuck you
want, right? So kind of a picture of oh shit,
yeah, for sure. Let's do it right.
And then all of a sudden, you know, you have a line up, you
know, oh, this is really, really cool.
I don't get it, you know, but it's super, super big honor for
people to, you know, kind of look up to me and say they've
been following me for years. And you know, it's, it's a cool
thing being that being on this side of the hill, because I do
know that I'm, you know, kind of heading towards to the
proverbial light for powerlifting.
It is. It is a super cool thing.
Yeah. And I think that that moment
obviously like there's been less than 400 people ever in history
to squat 1000, whether it's in multiplier raw and just to be
able to do that, whether. I think in RAW it's less than
25. Yeah, I think so.
In sleeves like 5 and then with raft it's probably like 40 or
whatever. So I think it's like 25 or
something like that. Yeah.
So even if it's not competition, it doesn't really matter.
It's still an amazing moment to be able to share with people
that you not only looked up to, but also friends and family.
Well, the thing for me too is like, there's no like for me.
Like when I left, there's no questions.
Like I'm burying that motherfucker.
Yeah. Like I don't, I'll be like when
it comes to squatting, I don't wait for the judge's light.
So I'm already, if I go out to the rack, I'm already
celebrating. Yeah.
I don't even just tell me I squatted deep.
I like, there's times when like I think I cut a squat high and
I'm still 3 inches deep and I'm like, oh, like you'll see the
guy, like turn sometimes like, oh, am I good?
Remember the guy? He smashed him.
Like, yeah, I knew I got it. I used to know if it was high or
not. Yeah.
And I think that's we can kind of dive into that a little bit.
I know you're big on keeping like lifting standards kind of
the same and not over complicating them.
So what do you what do you think the biggest standard that you
think is slipping today? Jeez, that's a good one.
I mean, there's a few of them. I mean depth is an easy one.
Yeah, that's the one that always comes up.
But it's not hard like I, I've been in, I've been in ref now
for 10 years. It's not hard to ref.
I, I'm sorry, like it's, it's a difficult pressure filled job
and there's people in your rate. Don't get me wrong, I agree
100%. And there's a lot of really
great high level referees, right?
There's also a lot of people who are great referees, but when the
weight gets above a certain number, turn into spectators and
they're watching the lift in terms of the performance and
they're not watching the lift in terms of the movement, right?
And it's very frustrating for me.
Like, I genuinely have a belief that if you're setting a world
record, it should be unquestionable. 100%.
I'm blind as shit. I should be able to do this and
take my glasses off and look good.
Lift. Great job, right?
You know, there's some federations in some countries
that do the sniff test for death.
But yeah, smells like you hit it.
What the hell, right? Or even lockouts on deadlift.
That's another one, right? And the ramping and the hitching
and what they consider to be a full lockout is more of a strong
an issue than a powerlifting thing.
But in powerlifting, it's definitely got it, definitely
has to be depth. And it's always been depth,
which is a frustrating thing because we have so many, I'm
sorry, fucking nerds in our sport.
Somebody has to have a device figured out by now.
That I said the same thing. I was like, dude, it's not.
It wouldn't be that hard, but and I've thought about different
ways of doing this. And like, obviously my
perspective from the multiply world is like it's a it's a
issue in itself. And it's kind of one of those
things where it's so ingrained in the culture to where it's
like, what do we even do from here?
But like at the same time, I think at the end of the day, it
like multiply swats are always going to be a little bit higher.
That's just how it's going to be and I think.
My question to that is, does it have to be that way or do you
take weight off the bar and actually get the standard?
Because I get frustrated when I hear, well, the roughing's
different from multiply. Well, it's the same rule book.
Yeah, it's hip crease below top or knee?
Top of knee. Sorry, yes or no?
It's not no but. Yeah.
No, it was yes or no. And that's what's frustrating
for me is because coming from those that generation where
we're like, we did read the West Side magazines, we did buy the
like the West Side DVDs, We did do all that stuff, right?
And yes, they were spotting high back then.
I'm not saying they weren't. But what I'm saying is that now
being a, you know, guy who's getting older, understanding
that if I want to keep going, I'm probably going to have to
put some gear on, right? I'm going to need the help,
right? It's very frustrating to watch
something that's so like to me, it's like if you're powerlifting
a gear, you're not doing it for likes or Instagram.
No, you're you're just not. No, you're doing it because you
love it. Exactly.
So if you're doing it because you love it and you love it so
much, why the fuck are you cutting one of the cornerstones
of a lift that like being like don't worry about pausing and
bench. It's a shirt.
No, it's there's still a press command, right?
So it's very frustrating being somebody who values it and works
with so many different body types, right.
I have very short people with very little muscle mass.
I have very short people with a lot of muscle mass.
I have people who are overweight.
Everyone can hit depth. I don't want to hear it, right?
And it's very frustrating when people just don't and they don't
care. Yeah.
Oh, I'm going to set a world record, but I'm going to hide in
this federation and squat really, really high.
But I got it open parallel thing.
So hopefully social media doesn't see it.
And so my opinion on it is that, I mean, obviously I've seen
playing multiply squats. I've done multiply squats.
Yes, there's been highs, 1 ones that have passed.
There's been some that are I guess technically high that I'm
like, all right, that's OK. And I know that's kind of a
twisted opinion on it. But at the same time, I've seen
so many videos of multiply squats on Instagram, on
Facebook, wherever the fuck they post it, where I've seen it in
person and it's been good. And it looks stupid high on
Instagram. So like I think there's a
obviously I think it's still an issue, but I think that's, I
think that's a bigger disconnect that makes it appear way worse
than it is. So like, I, I thought about it
and I, I think about lots of things, but I'm not always, I'm
not that smart sometimes. So who knows, right?
But I always thought it'd be smart thing to do Where if like
we went to, you know, kind of, you know, keepers of the sport,
people that we all look to as authorities, whatever it is,
get, you know, 9 or 12 of them and basically say like, Hey,
listen, if you're going to get a world record certified, you know
what I mean? At different times of the year,
it's going to be different people.
Or they just pick it out of a hat, like I'll look at this
record or whatever it is and they certify it.
You know what I mean? And to get a world record
approved, you have to have three video angles, right?
I'm sorry. It's doable.
It matters that much to you. We're going to figure out a way
to do it right? I'm sorry, but when you watch
myself squat, there's no questions, right?
And I'm a tweener. I'm a fat three O 8 or a light
super heavyweight. I don't know what you call it,
right? I'm not hearing this fucking.
It's hard to be a super heavyweight in head depth.
It's not right. Sit your ass back.
Stop pushing your knees forward. You're probably going to feel
better for it too. Yeah, right.
And it's it's difficult, man. Like it sucks because like you
look at world records and like, you know, it's it's you look at
certain world records that are standing right now, like within
my weight class. And it's like, why the hell is
out there, right? And and and then you look at the
other lifts later on in the day and it's like that total
shouldn't count. You ramp your deadlift.
Yeah. So why does I don't care if you
squatted it, you didn't get a deadlift.
I'm. So that's the nature of the
sport, right? It doesn't matter if you scored
40 points in the first quarter, you lost the game.
Yeah. And I think the standards in
terms of like the other lifts too, or that's where it's like
it's so much easier to just be consistent and correct with
those standards. Like I guess like for like a raw
squat depth, like sometimes it's so fast, like it might be close
and you can't even fucking tell. But a lockout is a lockout on
bench. A lockout is a lockout on
deadlifts. Like if you can't see that, if
you see soft knees or ramping or like you said, soft elbows.
And there's just so many things that are so obvious to be like,
that's a red light. Why you give them a white light?
Yeah, that's why I've been to joke about, you know, nerds.
It's like, like, I, I mean, the easiest one that I can think of
is like a levelling sense, like like basically checks off when
you go, but then people are going to fuck with it and move
it and like fuck with their singlet, you know what I mean?
But like, fuck, there's got to be a way to like put a slow
motion camera of you just to like check it or you know, I
mean, or like some sort of review.
I mean, the easiest thing to do is figure out a strategy and run
it as a shadow in the back while you have your normal refs doing
it and just see how it lines up with the calls.
Agreed. Right, that might be the easiest
way to do it. You know, it's easy to sit here
and bitch and not really have a good solution for it.
It's more fun that way. It's a lot less stressful.
That way. So I do have kind of a
counterpoint to the whole slow motion thing because that's
something I've considered before too.
But at the same time, if you think about it and like just
some sports in general, there's refs and sports and stuff.
And we have our refs too. We don't have that review book
and things like that where it's like, obviously if there's a
holding call, you can throw the flag and get a penalty.
But like in real time, like if you shouldn't, I saw a post or
someone talking about like, oh, is this like their training is
this deep enough or whatever and they're slowing down their
videos And like, that's not realistic.
If you watch it in real time, like what a judge is going to
see and they would pass that, then that's a good a good lift.
If you're slowing down the lift, you're kind of giving the judge
a false sense of what they're actually seeing in real time.
Yeah, but you all put the counter to counter your counter.
All touchdowns are reviewed by an officiating committee in New
York. Yeah, yes, all records.
All records should be reviewed in my opinion.
Now, here's the thing. People get pissed off.
The powerless female you want guys, it's a free database.
These are volunteers doing it for free.
Shut up. It's not on them.
Yeah, right. To me, it's on the lifter.
Right. You fucking know I'm sorry, you
know, Right. Like even at that tune up meet
that I did in Burlington, I didn't hype it up as much as I
should have because I thought my third deadlift was a shit
lockout. I felt the bar slipping on my
hand, right. I talked to the head judge about
it afterwards and he's like the knurling on the right side was
completely worn off. Everybody was slipping on the
right hand. It's why I was giving quick down
commands. He's like, so if you got up
there under your own power, I'm giving it to you.
I'm like, OK, that's fair. Yeah, If that was a world
record, I would have said fuck off, don't even look at me,
right? It was only improving on my
total by like 2 1/2 kilos. So I took it and to shut up.
But that was any sort of, like, real record that was going to,
like, be an issue. The answer is no, right.
And we saw the USPC actually do that with the squat this year,
right? They gave it to him on the day,
let him celebrate and then went back and reviewed and said not
good. Yeah.
Right. Was that the right thing to do?
In hindsight, maybe. But it did create a precedent
where we can now say, hey, like, listen, here's camera angle that
shows it was way high. Or here's, you know, his ass
coming, here's daylight under his ass on bench.
All right. Well then you didn't get the
lift unfortunately, right? Yeah, and I think there's so
many like good opinions and there's so many different ways
to approach it that it's like a I've just got I like to sit back
and kind of just absorb every everyone's opinions on it and
try to it's like my opinions are very fluid thing right now to
where I haven't been in it long enough to kind of really set.
Some people are like, all right, you know what, whatever, let the
people squat high, have fun. People like, no, I want these
strict standards. But those are also used to the
people who are never be going to be close to a record that
matters. Yeah, I'm not trying to be.
I'm really not trying to be an asshole.
I'm not. But like when you put fucking 14
years of your life into something and somebody's pissing
on the foundational standards of your sport, that'd be like, OK
for you. For you.
It's going to be just go to the end zone.
I'm going to go to the five yard line.
Cool. Yeah, no, like we both have to
get across the line. And if, like, once again, we do
become about obsessed about the sport, you're going to track
your nutrients, you're going to take things that are going to
take years off your life. You're going to do all this
stuff, but you're not going to care about the standard of what
you're doing. Like, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
There's nobody in my circle that squats high, right?
And it's not because I'm like, oh, you spot high.
I don't want to talk to you. No, it's because if you're going
to dedicate that much to your life and not give a fuck about
the standard, I'm, I'm worried about the rest of your life.
I don't. I don't want to be near it to be
real. Yeah, it does definitely have
some more kind of like bigger picture things of like are if
they're letting them, if they're not being disciplined in this
aspect, like where else are they slipping up in their life?
Yeah. I mean, I posted about it after,
you know, that one particular record that was taken back by
the USPC and it gained a lot of traction.
That's not why I posting something.
I just sometimes I just post things though, thinking I get a
lot of shit. They come down pretty quickly
because I smack on the back of the head for my wife, who's my
quality control department sometimes, you know, but it was
just one of those things where I think it resonated with a lot of
people because it is, it is frustrating.
I don't, I don't, I don't think anybody can disagree.
It's not even the people who are squatting.
I can't disagree. That's not frustrating, you
know, or whatever roundings the, the, the, the standards, right,
But I don't know if there's going to be a fix.
I don't think we're big enough for there to be in a matter for
there to be a fix because I mean, if we really want to talk
about it, go look at, you know, the IPF.
You know, I think I didn't watch all of it, so whatever.
But I saw a lot of clips at Sheffield's of like really poor
lockouts last year on deadlifts, right?
These guys are supposed to be the guys who, you know, hold the
standard, right? And even they're doing it.
So it's like, what's what's gonna give, right?
Or is it one of those things where, like in a hockey game,
you know, we're just gonna let them play, right?
You slashed me, my buddy slashed your buddy even.
Don't worry about it. So if everybody's, it just needs
to be consistent. 100% consistency like.
This what the standard is, just keep it consistent right?
Yeah. And I think that's something
that comes up a lot with us in the multiply.
It's what's going to be the standard of this meet.
And like at the end of like, yeah, there's some bigger
picture issues there. But at the end of the day that
that's all that should matter in that in that lifters thing.
Like if I'm going to meet where a 2 inch squat, 2 inch high
squat's going to pass, why the fuck wouldn't I squat 2 inches
high? I'm just being you're just,
you're just taking away from your own total at that point.
Yeah, well, especially in the confines that meet and like, I
think that's the one cool thing is like, you know, and not to
ride them too much, but like with ABS, right, they're really
big on the. This is a competitive day.
Yeah, right. And they even tell you, like,
when you stop, you're not going to probably have your best total
here. The meats can be done in three
hours. Yeah, right.
We're going to staple your ass. You know, I walk in there being
like, good, bring the tough judging on.
I don't care, right. And then all of a sudden I'm
sitting with my opener and I'm there for five seconds waiting
for a start command. Like, did she already say it?
Did I miss it? Right.
Then I hear I'm like, oh, let's go, right.
And I'm like, hey, what was why did that start command take so
long? Like, oh, we saw you shaking a
little bit. Shit.
All right, OK, here we go. Let's figure this one out, boys.
Right. So now I'm like holding my start
command for seven seconds before I start my set just to be ready
for it, right? Because for me, I'd rather be
that way. That's a personal thing.
I don't expect everybody to hold that same anal retentive view, I
guess, you know, but that's where I am, right?
And I, I can't expect other people to follow it all the
time. And that's why, you know, I'll
spell it off those standards once in a while.
And I'm kind of shut my mouth again because I'm like, I can't
change everybody. I'll just, you know, be a good
influence within my sphere and hopefully you know enough people
listen. Yeah, and I think that's what
the at the end of the day with the professional athletes like
you just adjust whatever it is. If it's more strict, all right,
lower your opener, whatever. Yeah, bury it.
Fucking hold it. Whatever you need to do, adjust
to it. If the standards are a little
bit loose, cool. Go for an extra dump that you
maybe didn't think you're going to have that day.
Because at the end of the day, we're trying to get the biggest
toll we can. If we're at a competitive meet
where there's prize money or title or belt or whatever the
fuck you, you want to get the win.
So it's like just adjust to what you have.
Well, I even remember I was out of I'm not going to say what
meet it was, but there was a lot of equipped lifters there and
and Greeno was in there and a squat passed and I was I was
taking my lifter. She was like 4 lifters out and
so like she was kind of just in her like getting ready zone.
And my wife and I, we coach, you know, we have our team, we coach
all of our athletes together. So Elaine was dealing with her
because she's not a big like ragey brouhaha, you know, kick
down the door and get them type of person.
So I just kind of go shut up because I don't know what that's
like. And I was watching this girl
squat and like I swear to God, she squatted like 3 inches high.
I saw. I shook my head and turned back
and looked at Sarah. And also I hear good lift and I
guess my I don't have a very good poker face, so I don't
play. I guess it just red on my face
and Greeno just walked by and like lifted my chin up.
He's like, he's like not here. He's like just don't do it here.
I'm like, I'm like, that's normal here.
He's like, Yep, OK, all right, this is what it is.
And I looked at Sarah and I'm like, you squat to death.
No bullshit, right? Not on this team.
And she did, obviously. But you know, it's, it happens,
man. And I mean, the other thing too,
right? A certain point, like I have to
think to myself, like, is it hypocritical to say it's OK for
the beginners to do it? You know, like, hey, man, hey,
hey, somebody's mom, good for you.
Come out and squat. It's all good, You know what I
mean? I think being the line of the
standards, just records. If it's a record, it should be
undeniable. Yeah, I think that's right.
They can get a little muddy in the stuff where it's like you
want people to stay in the sport and have fun and not it to be
like super hard ass. But when, like you said, it's a
record or like one of these top level meets, like an ABS meter,
like the the WPO for and hold your the stuff for equipped.
Like you want good standards because this is the best of the
best competing. And you want not only to have it
be undeniable for any of the people lifting, but just for
people that are watching it being like, oh, this is what
powerlifting is. This is the standard you have to
hit. I was head judge in the local
meet recently and people are getting off because I was I was
getting the press commands and people are getting off the bench
and looking at me and I'm like, go back and watch your video.
Wasn't motionless. I don't even like looking at
them. Like I don't even care.
I don't care. Like it was bouncing.
Fuck off, right? But there's this, like, girl
that was benching, and she was, like, 11 years old, and she,
like, jumped her press command. I saw her ask him off, and I saw
her feet go up, and she got it. And I was, like, flicked the
white light on. And both side judges gave them
bread and stared at me. I'm like, I'm sorry.
I just really wanted her to get it, you know?
He's brand new to the sport. I want her to keep doing it, you
know? And they kind of looked like
Justin. I know.
Thank you. You did the right thing.
I'm sorry. I, like, I flicked it to red,
like, shame. Like, shamefully afterwards, I'm
like, yeah, fucking wrong light. My bad.
Yeah. I mean, because at the end of
the day, we're all humans and we're all like we're we're still
supporting people. Like, yeah, it's competition,
but like we've all set with pile of things.
So one of the only sports where you actually want the person
you're competing against to like, outlift you.
And and generally man like what what an excellent point.
Like it is frustrating, you know, because you'll see it at
the bed meets right. I can't specifically speak to
the women's side of things because I'm not, you know,
personally a lifter in that side of things with the men.
You know, I think back to the American Pro too, you know, and
just, you know, we're in the warm up room and it's, you know,
it's me, Phil and, you know, Pat McGuire.
And we're kind of sitting there and kind of owning 1 monolith
kind of looking at each other. And we're almost all doing the
spider man thing. Like you go first because we're
just being polite. We're like, oh man, no, you go,
I've been in my raps for 10 minutes.
No worries, buddy. You go, I got this.
I'm sure my pinky toe will reattach later.
You know, and it took Shane Howard to be like, OK, Justin,
you're going and then Pat's going and then and then and then
you're going, you're going, Phil, you know, and then we're
in the warm up room. And I even remember in the bench
press, I was sitting there and like I said, we talked about a
very disproportionately low bench and Chad Penson does not.
And he was, you know, I was, I was opening after that.
I'm like, yeah, I got him. Fuck you, Chad. 220 LB dude
fucks, you know, and and you're sitting there and all of a
sudden look at the start order after, you know, the weigh
insurance are done and he's after me and I'm like, if you
change your fucking bench. And he's like, yeah, I did.
And I'm like, so I'm the fat chick in the group.
This. And by the way, this is all
right before we're about to take our opening benches and you
think we're all sitting there, you know, chewing bricks and,
you know, head butting each other.
And we're all sitting. So I'm the fat chick in the
group. And he's like, what do you mean?
I'm like, so I'm gonna come out pissed off, 310 fucking pounds,
right? And I'm gonna bench.
I'll be like angry. I'm gonna bench it and then here
comes your skinny ass looking hot as shit, doing more right?
We're all just sitting there laughing.
We're all cheering on each other.
And even think back to ABS this year.
Like I said, I burned out really bad.
I felt really guilty spending all this money, taking this time
off work, missing time with my daughter.
And I'm kind of sit in the backroom and in the back and I'm
just trying to process and figure out.
And, you know, my team knows to kind of just let me do that when
I need it. You don't.
And before it used to be super, you know, toxic and, and, and
unhealthy. And now it's kind of turned into
like a, hey, let's find some grace and give it to herself as
best we can. And, and I, I feel like chicks,
I can't remember his name. And I and I and I should have
got his name in that moment taking a picture with him and
he's a Polish lifter and he saw that I was just destroyed,
right? Because at that time going into
that meat, let's just think about right, I just squat 1000
cage. I just blew up a 545 LB bench
and training and I made my PR double 343 lbs look like a joke
on a platform. So for all intents and purposes,
I'm chasing the world record total, right?
I think it was ten, 25562 and 881.
And it was all reasonable based on those lifts, not on, you
know, everything else. And I sat there, I was just so
just pissed with myself and upset and gutted and embarrassed
and all these emotions. And there's this Polish lifter
who barely spoke English, you know, And I apologize if you
think he's speaking a good English.
I'm retarded. I'm sorry.
And he just pulled up a chair and he sat it right in front of
me in the backroom where I'll sleep in your own.
And he just looked at me and said, I'm not leaving until I
see you smile, you know? And it took me selfishly a while
to do that for him. But that was another lifter who
we met two days prior at Williams, you know, giving me
that grace, telling me that came in.
Still big fans still appreciate you and these lifters, they all
take care of each other. I think about when I tried, I'm
an idiot. And I tried cutting 40 lbs.
Oh God, I'd get down to 275 cuz last year in the winter I had
squatted 900 lbs in sleeves and I was super sick and I had all
these reasons why it was so much harder.
I put myself through so much worse and I'm like, hey, don't
be really smart. Let's fly to Miami.
Cut 40 lbs to try to take the 275 world record bombed out.
Yeah, and I just remember, you know, Craig and and Shane and
Pat and all these guys just like going up to my wife and being
like, hey, like if he needs anything like this is where
we're going to be tonight. We want them there.
We're not going to bug them right now because we're the last
people he probably wants to see. And they are the ones who are
checking in on me. These are my fellow competitors.
And that's when I talked about earlier about the community
being such a wonderful thing. These are lifetime friends.
Some people to the outside like, oh, man, you know, it's probably
like the WWE, They probably hate each other.
It's like, Nah, man. It's actually like the WWD.
We're all friends in the backroom.
Yeah, you know, And it's such a beautiful thing, man.
Yeah, and that's the that's the shit you remember in
powerlifting. That's those are the moments you
remember. You'll remember that guy from
that meet more than you're going to remember any lift in your
whole career. I even remember the first ghost
clash I had messaged Dan Bell earlier in the year.
I'm like, hey, man, there's this particular big meet.
Let's do it again. He's like, no, fuck that bitch.
Let's go do ghost clash. And I'm like, I didn't get
invited. He's like, dude, shut up.
Give me a minute. And also, you know, the meat
director was messaging like, Hey, you're inviting
congratulations, right? And and so I'm like, great.
So I was prepping for it and then my my wife left, right.
And I was kind of like done. I was lost.
So I didn't know what the hell was going on and and I wasn't
going to do it. And A and A and a friend of mine
was like, so hold up, Justin, just just bear with me here.
You're not going to arguably the biggest meet in the world this
year. That Dan Bell person, not you
invited to because your feelings are hurt, right?
They're like, either you buy the plane ticket or I'm going to
right now. And so I ended up going and I'll
be real with you. I went there with the idea like
this in my last meet, kind of exit gracefully focus on being a
single dad, you know, do all that stuff.
And I go through the day and everybody's super kind and
supportive. And I didn't really take it in
at the time, but I watched my warm up videos back afterwards
through that kind of, you know, you know, that's that lens of
time, you know, and I was kind of watching the warm up after
and every single one of my warmups, either Shane Pat or Dan
Bell was spotting me. Dan wouldn't let anybody else go
near me. He took care of me that whole
time. And I I didn't have a great
meet. I had this idea that I was going
to beat Shane Hunt head to head dumb.
I light up all my thirds to meet him, even though I had no
business doing them dumb. Went like 6 for 9:00, but I left
and I'm like, it wasn't being good apparel thing that I loved.
It was these people, these are big dudes like Shane took the
world record that day, but he was, I never met him before.
I never met Pat before either. But there they were making sure
this nobody from Canada who's feeling through her was taken
care of on their day, right? And that's how it is.
And I wish, I genuinely wish more of the public and more of
the upcoming lifters could see that because I think we've both
seen it more often than not at these local meets.
People are starting to shooting darts at each other across the
room and it's like y'all fighting over 440 lbs clock,
Shut the fuck up, right? Like if we can do it at 1000 lbs
you could do it at £400. Yeah, I couldn't agree more.
But I I think let's let's flip the script here because I know
you said it's OK to be an asshole when you peek.
So let's unpack that and what what you mean by that.
No, you asked what I what I what a what a myth was I wanted to
bump. It's not OK to be an asshole
when you peek. OK, I've been I've been both
sides of it, right? I've been listen, we we talked
about it off off camera earlier. Not going to get into it, but we
both know there's very good reasons for me to be an asshole
early on, right? Yeah, sorry.
Not good reasons. Dumb reasons.
Very dumb reasons that made sense.
Why I was an asshole, right, Correct.
I think a lot of people decide like, hey man, I'm going to
blast this compound. It's a four letter word.
Not going to say it bad for you guys.
Don't do it. And like, oh, I'm on it.
So that's why I'm angry. It's like, yes, you willingly
put a substance in your body that altered your hormonal
balance. That's not a free ticket to be
an asshole. That's the same logic.
Genuinely that well, it's OK. Got in the car crash.
I was drunk. Yeah.
No, it it's not you willingly did the thing that that made you
that and people want to do that. Now listen, am I, am I going to
sit here and tell you that I'm perfect and prep?
I got 30 people in my gym, probably more.
And a wife will tell you, no, I can be prickly, right?
But you have to understand that and talk yourself through that,
right? And give yourself mechanisms
with the people around you were like, hey, man, listen, if you
see me kind of like getting read today, just you have the right
to tell me to shut the fuck up. You have the right to tell me to
take a walk, right? And I tell it to every personal
gym, Like if I'm being a little bit, you know, frustrated or
whatever it might be, or, you know, life's getting to me and
I'm doing this, you have the genuine right to just tell me to
F off, right? Go for a walk, right?
And I've gotten better and better.
It's a, it's a much bigger difference from, you know, where
I was back then to now. And it's going to be a bigger
difference moving forward, right?
Just because you're on gear does not give you a license to be a
raging Dick. Just because you squat 1000 lbs
doesn't mean you have a license to be a raging Dick.
You don't, right? We're all people.
My time on the platform is just as valuable as somebody's mom's
time on the platform, right? Don't get it twisted.
We all pay the same gym membership, right?
You're not. Just because you're a national
level or a world record holding, or heaven forbid, A federation
record holding powerlifter does not mean you're some God.
That is, you know, alleviated from following the rules of
being a decent person. Yeah, and like you said with
like obviously the the compounds and stuff have have an effect on
your mental state. But at the end of the day, like
you still need to be a good person.
And if you look at the best lifters, like Dan Bell is a
perfect example, one of the greatest lifters of all time,
one of the nicest guys of all time.
He's not a Dick. He has no ego, he's good out.
He can outlift fucking everybody and their mother.
Like it doesn't matter. But that's the thing, right?
Like, it's one thing for you to say like, and that's why I don't
genuinely say I'm the greatest Canadian parlor for of all time
because I think that's honor other people's bestow upon you,
right? You don't hear John Hack saying
it. You'd never heard Dan saying it,
right? You just don't.
And you know who hasn't said more about them than anyone?
Those two guys, because they've, I don't think they've ever said
the words, right? Maybe once themselves quietly.
And I'm sure they both probably felt shame when they said it,
right. But there's more people who will
go, even though Colton's, you know, stronger than Dan is right
now, right? There's more people who will
make the argument for Dan than will Colton, right.
And it's because who Dan is as a person.
Yeah, right. We talked about it off screen.
Dan did a lot for me, you know, even though we never really
physically met, but online when I was a nobody and he was the
kid, like he took time out of his life to make sure I was OK,
right? And I'm sure there's countless
other people have that exact same experience with Dan, right?
And that's something that I think we can all take a look at
and say, hey, man, and I try to too now, right?
A lot of people message me. A lot of people call me at weird
hours tonight going through stuff.
I always pick up the phone because Dan did it for me,
right? And I think we need to keep that
going moving forward, right? Your Instagram likes, your
YouTube videos, your Tik Toks. I don't think Vines around, but
if that is that right, that's all cool and shit.
And that's a cool way to get sponsors and to like remember,
because at the end of the day, I think it's kind of cool that we
can remember the stuff forever, right?
We don't we're not like our parents.
We have to look at pictures. We can go back and hear and see
the moment that we're looking at, right?
I think that's really cool thing about Instagram.
That's why I post what I post cuz I'm gonna one day I'm gonna
be old as shit and I'll be like to my daughters boyfriend one
day. You think you're tough?
Oh hold please. Or you think you're tough.
Let me show you her step moms bench press.
Yeah, £300, that's a cool thing, but I think at the other day we
need to remember like, hey, let's take care of the next guys
because I have experience that I didn't have back then that Dan
did and now it's time to pass it on.
Yeah, and kind of on a deeper scale, that's kind of why I
started this podcast. It's like, I want this to be a
lesson. I want people to know these
people's stories and how to be a top level lifter, but also be a
good person at the end of the day.
And yeah, it's cool to hear people's numbers and their
experiences and stuff, but when you kind of give all these top
level lifters their personality, you get to really see what's
kind of behind the curtain. And I'm very selective on who I
invite on the show because I have a good read on people I can
tell who I want to have on the show.
Like there's some people that yeah, cool, they may be top ten,
they might be one of the best and maybe sponsored athletes.
But like, I know who they are. I don't want them on the show.
I want people to learn from these people that are good
representatives of the sport. Well, I think you, I think we
find that more easily now more than ever really, if you think
about it like I look at me and it's fine that you said that
because on my team, right? I know that one day, right?
Well, probably my daughter's going to get married and she's
going to take some assholes last name, right?
You probably never met another person with my last name before,
right? My last name is most likely
going to die with me, right? So my legacy is my team.
I've rejected plenty of people that are incredibly strong
people from my team because like, let's say you message me
like, hey, man, I want to hop on the team.
I'm going to go look at your posts.
I'm going to see the people you tagged.
I'm then going to message them and be like, do you vote for
him? And if the answer is no, Hey,
man, appreciate your application.
We don't have spots on the team right now.
Yeah, because my legacy is my team, my legacy is my lifting.
And I'd much rather be known as the coach than as the lifter who
inspired people to help people get better.
Right. And that's a big thing.
Like I, it's funny, Like I'll be at a strongman competition,
right? And I'll have athletes
competing. And if they're not doing an
event, the easiest place to find is with all their wives.
Hey, how's he doing? How's he being at home?
Is he doing what he's supposed to be doing?
Good Awesome, thank you kindly. Right cuz if your shit and
listen you can twist this however you want.
If your shit ain't good at home, it's not gonna be good on the
platform. Agreed.
Right. Yeah.
And if you want to use the reason of having a good home
life as a way, as a reason to be good on the platform, I don't
care how you twist it, right. That's the argument of if you
feel good from charity, is it a good thing?
I don't give a shit. Be good at home, Right.
And the platform will, will, will follow.
You could be good for a very short period of time.
I've done it when shit's really bad at home, but that burn is
real quick. Yeah, and it won't last.
I, I agree, and I think this is kind of we can kind of wrap
things up here cuz just one more thing to touch on with that.
I think with the whole social media aspect, I've always said
it's very bittersweet thing for powerlifting.
Yes, it gives it more light, it gives it more attention and it
gives it kind of people get to see more and get more
experiences and there's more personality behind it than there
used to be. Instead of just looking on
powerlifting, watching me like, oh, this guy does this, but now
you get to know, Oh, this guy has this team, he's friends with
this guy, he's done these meets, he's done this charity, he's
raised money, blah, blah, blah. But I think to wrap things up
here, I'll ask you my final question.
If you could give a new lifter or someone going to their first
ME to word of advice, what would you tell them?
Delete Instagram. Sorry.
Yeah, if they're if, if I could figure out a way to like block
everything new with powerlifting off of every one of my clients
phones, it would be the first thing I like.
If I got a genie right now, that'd probably be my second
wish, you know, the first. I can't say that that'd be
inappropriate. No, I'm kidding.
No, I mean the first one. The first one's an easy one.
Just get rid of you. Get rid of, you know, hate in
this world, to be honest with you.
Yeah, but it'd be pretty close up there because and and I think
you're going to understand. I was saying this having been
this long enough when let's say you're losing weight, right?
You step on the scale in the morning, your weight went up,
your whole day's ruined, right? Like that.
That let that. Unfortunately, people get so
ingrained in that mentality of I need to do this, this and this,
this and this when a small deviation happens or days
ruined, right? I see the same thing so many
times on powerless thing where I'll have this powerless.
I have a perfect example. I'm going to name drop you right
now, Janet. Janet says awesome mom, she's
strong as shit. She benches like 240 lbs.
She's fucked. OK.
I love her. She's great.
All right, I'm going to make fun of you right now, Janet.
All right? She's getting ready for her
first powerlifting meet, and she's way up north like she is
in the sticks, OK. She, I'm surprised they have
cell phones up there. All right?
And she's trading this like, commercial gym.
And she was referred to me by another client.
And I had a message from a client who said, hey, Jan's
thinking about dropping out of the meat.
And at that point in time, I'm pretty sure, and I could be
wrong, it was her. It was her first meet.
She is a master's lifter. Sorry.
And she was like, she was going to bench in the mid twos.
That's crazy. Squat like, and her deleter
squat were incredible. And it's because she was
thinking, I'm doing so bad because you lock on the Internet
and all you see is 1,000,000 people doing better than you.
Yeah, right. Stop comparing with other
people. Remember, this is your own
journey and it's a really cool journey.
Give yourself the grace. You know, you could say 01 day,
I want to squat 1000 lbs, so I'm only at four, OK, But when you
squat 440, it's still a big deal.
Give yourself that grace. Stop comparing to others, Right?
And just focus on you. Get off social media so much.
Focus on you and it'd be way more fun.
Yeah, couldn't agree more with you.
Well, I wanted to thank you again for taking the time to
come on. It was my pleasure.
Absolutely me too man, I really appreciate it.
Sweet.