Flex Lewis: From Mr. Olympia to Business Mogul – The Untold Story | Flex Lewis DSH #628

You cut back heavy on lifting and you diet and all that.

I know you play different basketball.

Well, imagine playing basketball with your hand tied behind your back.

That's how I feel when I go into the gym because I cannot train the way I only know.

What are you trying to achieve right now in life?

Are you trying to be the bodybuilder, or is it health and wealth?

I can see their growth and also help them more in the mentality element of things and also the business side.

That's that's the thing that I love most about the position I'm in right now.

All right guys, Seven Thomas, Mr.

Olympia, founder of Dragon's Lair.

We got Flex Lewis here today.

Thanks for coming on, man.

Thank you, Sean.

It's been a minute of us trying to pull this off, but it's a pleasure to be here and congratulations on everything you're doing, my friend.

Thanks, dude.

To see the gym was cool, man.

I looked up what percentage of gyms fail on the way here.

Do you know the number?

I don't know.

81%.

Are you serious?

Yeah.

Super high, right?

Yeah, I came to, you know, to Vegas with no intention of anything failing, but with this goal of creating this incredible gym and bringing people from all around the world.

And suffice to say, it's outgrown my high expectations of everything that I have for myself and everything I do around me.

So now, as you know, it's become one of the biggest tourist destinations in the country.

Love it.

It's cool to see that transition because you retired a couple of years ago.

And I feel like when most athletes retire, they're kind of lost.

But you went straight to that gym, right?

I went straight into everything business.

I tried to fill that void.

Nothing will fill the void, I'll be honest.

There was a period of time where I was so consumed in trying to fill that space of bodybuilding.

But I thought it was going to be business, but I'm still trying to find that void.

Wow, I love the honesty.

Yeah, I got to be honest, and I think that's the, I think that, you know, looking at what I have in front of me and the options that I've created whilst I was competing,

suffice to say, has allowed me to progress and do things straight away after I retired.

But again, nothing's going to fill the void of being the champ, hearing your name cheered by tens of thousands of people and being known as the champ going around the world.

But

I've got a lot of things that I'm excited to be doing, done, and soon to do.

But as I said, nothing will fill the void of being the best of the best.

Yeah, because that was your life for 20 years, right?

It was.

I first touched the weight at 12 years old.

Holy crap.

Yeah.

That is young.

12 for rugby.

So, as you know, no pads in rugby.

You kind of get into the sport, get it's a lot of physicality.

Yeah.

Physical, fighting, all of the above.

So without any type of pads, you've got to build up your stature.

So I was in the gym about 15 years old, trying to put my weight down to take the impact.

But that's how I found bodybuilding.

And that's how I started falling in love with, I wouldn't say I ever wanted to be a bodybuilder, just to put that out there.

My goal was to be...

a big rugby player.

Yeah.

Run on the field with big legs, you know, be the shortest jack guy out there.

Suffice to say, it took its own legs, no pun intended.

And I find myself now on the bodybuilding in the bodybuilding world.

Rugby is a dangerous sport, man.

I tried it out in high school.

You did?

I lasted one day.

What position did you play?

Dude, I didn't even get that far.

I thought I could make it, because I was fast.

So I thought I could make the switch from track to rugby, but I wasn't physical enough.

So you're playing the backs or the forwards?

Dude, we literally didn't even get that far.

I quit after one day of practice.

I saw kids just get injured.

Yeah.

Yeah, it was fucked.

For me, growing up at six years old, it was rugby.

That's the main sport in my country.

So you get born with rugby bowling wheels in your hand.

You know, you go to England, you're kicking around a football, soccer ball.

Yeah.

But that was my path, I thought.

I got my nickname Flex from rugby.

Nothing to do with bodybuilding at six years old.

And yeah, the physicality of rugby and everything I learned

from my days of playing rugby, good, bad, ugly, wins and losses made me a better champion when when i was competing in bodybuilding wow a lot of lessons i've learned from rugby that i took into bodybuilding so that's such a physical sport you transferred it over just the the mental fortitude you know i mean listen a good day in wales is a rainy day in wales and the position that i play playing on the wing you're standing there waiting for the ball to come out sometimes you never get it maybe you touch the ball one once okay so the whole game the whole game so you go and look for some physical action and for me i always like a little scrap on the on the rugby field so i was known as the shortest redhead that loved the scrap oh i love it well i love it so if you're on the wing you're just the strongest guy is that how it works normally the fastest oh the fastest yes you're normally kind of like the guy they they kind of a cliche term for a wing is the glory boy that can go on the field with his hair intact and leave the field with his hair intact i never met you know matched that mold i was one of them guys that ran on if it was a fight or a scrap i was always in the middle of it and uh yeah earned my stripes on the rugby field long before a body are you tired of ordering on a menu in a different country only to be served snails why not actually speak the language and order what you want that's where babel comes in speak like a whole new you with babel the science-backed language learning app that gets you talking wasting hundreds of dollars on private tutors is the old school way of learning a new language Babel's 10-minute lessons are quick and handcrafted by over 200 language experts ready to get you talking your way to a new language in just three weeks.

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People in show.

You were a speedstayer.

You were fast back in the day.

I still got a little speed.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

I saw you in the celebrity sweat football, a flag football game, right?

Yeah, I'd done that.

Listen, I don't know what I was thinking.

I hadn't run that fast, John, in years, mate.

But I still have this delusional viewpoint of what I can do in everything I do.

I think delusion is taking me to where it is.

I mean, it's taken everybody, I think, that has

big goals and dreams to chase these, you know,

these dreams of theirs.

For me, coming to this country, I said I was going to be the best bodybuilder in the world.

And suffice to say, I chased that.

and was able to, you know, retire with their titles.

But the delusion is what got me here.

and uh going back to the question of celebrity sweat me feeling that i've got it and able to run a couple of sprints here or there against some guys yeah i was like i've got it no problem so they give me uh the option to get on the field and needless to say i had a couple of plays couple of runs I was great on the field until I hit the changing rooms.

And then I couldn't get out of the changing rooms.

So I was beat.

Great fun, though.

Great fun.

No, that's relatable.

I hosted a kickball.

Did you play kickball growing up?

No, that's nothing you have in Wales.

Yeah, that's an American thing.

Okay.

But I hosted a game out here last year.

We were all sore for a week.

Yeah.

And that's just running from home plate to first base.

Well, my producer, that is also yours too.

Well, suffice to say, we'll tell you that I was still nursing these little injuries about a week ago.

Damn, that long?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Holy crap.

It was actually coming from my feet.

Oh, your feet?

Yeah, I've had feet problems.

Even when I was running for my country, I'm playing rugby high-level.

All my issues were from my feet.

And in this case, everybody was treating my knees knees because that's where the kind of the pain was.

Yeah.

But once they, you know, we found it was my feet.

Because you were probably lifting so much weight, it all came to your feet, right?

So you just had foot issues going up.

No,

for me, it was running.

The majority of my feet issue came from my running on my athletic days.

And obviously

the celebrity sweat game that I played, you know, I hadn't used tendons and ligaments because everything is planular when you do bodybuilding.

It's A to B, you know?

And cutting up, changing angles at speed.

My body hadn't seen anything like that for about 15, 20 years.

I can't even say running away from my wife helped, you know, in the Celebrity Swear game.

But it's a harsh reality that, you know, I'm 40 now.

And even though I think I can do it, and I still can,

I have to have protocols now of what I should be doing to get me, you know, praying for whatever is doing.

So Celebrity Swear, shout out to them guys.

They, you know, put a fantastic, fantastic event on for the vets.

A lot of celebrities played in that game.

And you will see my face on the next one next year.

But this time, Sean, I'll be ready, warmed up, and trained for it.

We might have to get Gatlin there, too.

Oh, he's a speedster, too.

Him and I are going to have a race.

Yeah.

Do you think you could take him?

No, I'm not that foolish.

I said delusion, right?

But I'm not that delusional.

I mean, maybe in a 400.

Yeah, let's just keep it 100, Sean.

I'm not trying to kill myself off here.

I love that.

The sprints, though, I definitely would love to run because obviously Justin has been a guest of yours on the show as well as mine.

And he was a poster, poster boy for me, you know, somebody I really looked up to when I was running track and field.

So to have that full circle moment, to have him on my show and speak about, you know, the inspiration that he gave me when I was growing up.

And then, you know, he offered me, it's like, hey, you want a quick little sprint outside?

Now, this is the day after the celebrity sweat.

So I was like, hey, listen, normally, no problem.

And I'm not using the excuse, but I can't move.

And then he's seen the damage when I tried to to get up to shake his hand after the show.

But anyway.

So you had to deny sprint lessons from Justin Gatlin because you were sore.

Well, it was a race.

It wasn't a sprint session because I'm not getting sessions.

I'm going to run against you and I'm going to win in my head, right?

But anyway.

I love that mindset.

There's a healthy level of delusion, I think.

I agree.

I think you need that to make it big.

You have to.

Delusion, as I mentioned earlier, has really got me to where I am.

You know, I left my country.

I came to the U.S.

at 20 and then I decided that I needed a B at 23.

And, and you know all the roller index of things that I'd done achieved my businesses that I'd created in the UK I left it all to come to the United States and sleep on a sofa and chase this dream

so there was many times where you know you have that reality check of you know funds are running out or things are not going to plan you just have to have that conversation in the mirror with yourself and be like okay how much do you want this

that delusion is it delusion or is the reality in that delusion and i knew that if I kept on this path, kept on knocking the door, that these doors would open.

And even if it was a small one, it was enough to keep me in the game and keep me in the United States.

Didn't happen as fast as I wanted, of course.

But after some time and again, putting myself in the right areas around the right people, them doors started to open.

Does the U.S.

have the best bodybuilders?

Is that why you came here?

You don't have to be in the U.S.

now, thanks to social media.

You could train anywhere around the world, but the United States is where everything takes place.

The Olympia, the Arnold Classic.

This is where all the big shows, all the big shows take place in the United States.

And also all the magazines.

When I came here, you had to come here.

So, yes, I would say that bodybuilding in the U.S., bodybuilding exists in the U.S., but you don't have to be in the U.S.

now to be a successful bodybuilder.

Right.

How did you view your competition?

Was it on a friendly basis or was it more rivalry?

Good question.

So I never looked at my fellow kind of compared to us as I have to beat you.

I think that just adds, for me personally, just that extra stress that I didn't need to have.

I already put a lot of pressure on myself.

So myself, my coach developed a method soon early on that for me to get motivated, it was really like what I was doing it for.

And the biggest drive for me was to change my family's life.

You know, I came, like I said, as a young kid, you know, and I dedicated my craft, my life to this craft.

I also knew what I was missing back home, the birthdays, the celebrations, all that time away was just dedicated for me to be the best.

And

yeah,

it was a struggle, obviously, for everybody, even my parents, because we're very close family.

But then to see what I've achieved.

and then bring my family in over the years.

They never missed the Mr.

Olympia.

You know, I flew a mirror there and everywhere.

And also my mom adopted, you know, the kind of the mayor type vibes.

So she'd go to the Olympia every new, my mom and everything else.

But to answer your question, my coach and myself devised this plan of really kind of looking at that internal drive.

and getting the best of me, not by looking at another athlete and saying, okay, hey, this guy's looking incredible.

Do you see his last post?

Again, it wasn't any of that.

It was what I knew.

And again, I've got enough inside my little brain here to motivate me more than anything that I see in an image or a photo or a video.

I love that way of thinking because when I was a track runner, I ran the 800.

I would always study my competitors' times and then it would give me anxiety because they were running faster than me.

You know what I mean?

And I wish I kind of locked in more just on my own beliefs and stuff like that.

So you would have changed really not looking at your fellow competitors and just...

I would have changed it, yeah, because at the starting line, I would be like, oh, he's running that time.

He's running that time.

And you know what I mean?

Like, I'd rather just focus on myself.

Yeah.

And every year, every year I competed at the Mr.

Olympia, there was always a new guy that they were hyping up to beat me to.

So like any sports, if you've got a champion that's dominant, it's not good business.

So first, probably one, two, three, four,

I felt the support.

And then after that, fifth, sixth, seventh, I felt the need for

I don't know, they were waiting for me to be off.

Now, my off is somebody's on.

So then I had to really squeeze the lemon in a sense and find a way of making improved physique every single year and i had a weight cut the weight cap i'm sorry so the weight cut was 212.

oh you could it be over that no no so i was coming in every single year 211 point

it kept on going up eight nine ten every year wow so i was trying to make an improvement on a physique that Again, I had no room for.

So what then I had to start thinking about was refine.

I refine my physique.

And a lot of athletes don't really use that sort of mindset going into shows, especially guys who have a weight limit.

When I started thinking about refining, it's making what I've already got much better.

Not making improvements to that physique, but refining what I've ever got.

So in bodybuilding, you're really homing in on the conditioning.

and the detail.

And that's what I've done in the last couple of years was making sure that I made my stamp and, you know, ending it on my terms.

Interesting.

I didn't know there was a weight limit.

Yeah, 212 for me.

Wow.

And was that a new rule or was it always a weight limit?

No, they brought out the class.

I turned pro

and then they brought out the 202.

And what happened was there was a lot of guys that were struggling to make that 202 or stay in that 202.

So they opened up the weight cap then to a 212.

Got it.

And then I threw myself in.

Damn.

Completely.

So it was great for me because in bodybuilding, they just used to be open class.

So a lot of guys who are turning pro are middleweights, light heavies, then they're jumping in against guys who are outweighing them by 100 pounds in some cases.

So the 212 class was a beautiful addition.

And now they've got so many different classes.

Classic Physique, probably one of the fastest growing classes, which Chris Bumstead is the king of.

And Chris is obviously killing it right now.

And you know what Chris is on social media?

I think he's like 20 million followers.

He's more than Arnold.

Why is that one so popular right now?

It's physique.

I love classic physique because it's very similar to the old school and it's not quite open bodybuilding where people look at it and go, man, you know, that's huge.

They look at Chris and go, wow, that's big, but it's pretty big.

Does that make sense?

Yeah.

Okay.

So it's not like you're on steroids.

It's like a middle ground.

Everybody's on steroids.

As Nick Diaz says.

They weren't testing anyone?

I mean, the sport has been kind of one of them, you know, tested sports for years, as

is many different sports.

But again, if you look at something that's been done in the NFL or other sports that have a franchise that pays the athlete, you know, hundreds of millions of dollars or brings the franchise in, then they want the best product possible.

They want that guy to be on that field, the best version of themselves.

They can sell the shirts, they can, you know, get the titles.

So

bodybuilding has always been known as having PEDs in the sport, right?

So

with the new additions to the classes, what they've done by doing that, it's not a drug thing.

It's more looking at the physiques that people have.

So even for yourself, right?

Obviously, you're tall, right?

Yeah.

But

for you, you'll probably fall more into men's physique or classic if you decided to do it.

Yeah, I'm too skinny to do the other one, I think.

Well, when you start training, we never use the word skinny.

That gets eliminated right away from your vocabulary.

You're just lean and you need to put weight on.

That's it.

That's it.

I joke around saying I'm skinny now, but I truly am compared to the old version of me.

You're so muscular to me.

Well, I appreciate it.

It's just good lighting in your great studio.

That's it.

Shout out to Tyre.

Shout out to Tyres.

Yeah, I was 60 pounds heavy at my biggest.

So I've been able to now downsize myself to the weight I am now.

And obviously,

again,

that was a feather in my hat.

That was flex Lewis.

That was all-encompassing.

Going around the world, doing what I done, being that guy.

And that still is me to a certain extent.

But now I'm obviously focused on other things.

I'm doing much more on stage.

And I think that me downsizing, especially when you're doing keynote speaking, is more relatable than somebody's coming out that's waddling on 260, trying to tell people how to get motivated.

But I can use context of, hey, this used to be me, but even not my biggest, you know, I knew that it was a goal and a dream to achieve X.

And now my goal is this.

And in the pursuit of me going onto this new route in life, I had to downsize myself

to fill this new position that I'm doing and want to do.

All right.

So you cut back heavy on lifting and diet and all that.

I'm training very little.

I love the train, Sean, and probably taking it to the extreme.

I probably train probably two times a week, three times a week, as opposed to my six times a week.

But that training is not what it used to be.

So it'd be kind of like...

I know you play different basketball.

Well, imagine playing basketball with your hand tied behind your back.

that's how I feel when I go into the gym because I cannot train the way I only know and that's balls to the walls right so if I go in and I do a training session I have to put the brakes on and be okay I'm done yeah what are you trying to achieve right now in life are you trying to be the bodybuilder or you or is it health and wealth

so all my training sessions right now in comparison I guess the best analogy be like

me driving a rally car or a race or something on a racetrack and then jumping in a regular car and driving it.

It's not the same.

So me going into the gym and training, it's not the same, but I still love it.

I still, you know, enjoy.

And more than anything else now, the gym that I've built, I get to see the next chapter, the next future of athletes that are moved from all over the world.

So I can see their growth and also help them more in the mentality element of things and also the business side.

That's the thing that I love most about the position I'm in right now.

There was no mentors for me when I was going through the ranks.

I learned everything myself.

There was a couple of people I would say that were doing it better than others in the business and bodybuilding.

But for now, and what I've gone and achieved and also failed on, now I can be that helping hand to help people, especially in contracts

with these young up-and-comers, because a lot of these guys just don't know what they can ask for in contracts.

So I kind of like to help all these guys who are on their path to chasing titles and, you know, trying to help them more side, more so outside of the gym than in the gym.

Because people used to gatekeep that information, but you're open with it.

You're willing to help the up-and-coming guys.

I just don't know why they used to gatekeep it, to be truthfully honest.

There's a lot of great, successful guys on the climb that kind of helped, should have helped, I say.

But

even Arnold.

Just a quick drop of water.

Yeah.

Arnold didn't really help out people?

No, Arnold has done a fantastic job with his career, but I think for Arnold...

It's hard for somebody, even for myself now, because I used to think more.

I was like, why doesn't Arnold help out more?

And now I'm in the the business position and i'm kind of getting pulled from all over

i can see why

he was just mainly focused on his endeavors um but also knowing that i'm very conscious about that to make sure that even though i'm doing different things in different walks of life i'll always be a bodybuilder and i always want to see the future of bodybuilding grow much more than than it ever was when I was competing.

Prize money, for example, now is starting to go up significantly.

I think the Arnold Classic this year, Arnold's put in $500,000.

Wow.

What was it when you competed?

$40,000.

Damn.

So a 10X?

Holy crap.

Yeah, $40,000.

So, and then the Olympia.

So the Arnold Classic and the Olympia are the biggest prize money.

So for the open class guys like,

you know, Jay Cutler, Phil Heath, and all them, actually, when Jay Cutler competed, I think it was like 180,000.

So it's gone up significantly.

And I just want to see that grow, bottom line, right?

But again, with with my class being a 212, that is a class within, again, different, it's a category within the scope of bodybuilding.

I would love to see that class grow much more than it already is.

And when I was competing, I was kind of a spokesperson for it, right?

I'd go around the world making sure that this class grew.

Now, the athletes that are chasing the titles,

I feel like they're they're scared to ask for stuff because politically they have to stay in line and whatever else.

but um so now it's kind of i feel it's up to me to ask and make sure behind the scenes that i'm making sure that these guys um get the push get the opportunities that that i never had i love that yeah you had a lot of young guys in your gym when i went a lot of young up-and-coming bodybuilders yeah a lot of athletes in general right i think for myself well i know building that gym

was much more than seeing you know, the gym do it do the become something in itself, I'd say.

Where these athletes that are literally moved from all over the world,

truly, like pack their bags, come to Vegas, they're living in extended stays, they're living in Airbnbs to be in and around that gym.

I've created now the energy, the atmosphere, the culture.

So everybody, whatever genre sports you're in, you could look left, right, behind you, in front of you.

You will get motivated.

You could see a woman who has lost 200 pounds that has come down from 400 to 200 and is on a weight journey transformation next to somebody that's training for the Mr.

Olympia, next to somebody that's training for a title fight in the UFC, next to somebody who's a high-level CEO.

It's all, again,

it's all relative to you, but motivation is there.

You can look around and get motivated.

And again, it's a gym where culture is

truly, truly worked on.

And I'm proudful to see what it's, again, turned into.

I love that.

So on the outside, bodybuilders look super healthy, right?

But did you see a lot of them have internal issues?

The reason I'm asking, I saw you on Michael Sartain's podcast.

You said you had GI tract issues.

You see a lot of bodybuilders dying in their 30s and 40s from organs being too big.

Is that something you've witnessed?

I've been around, you know, the sport long enough to see the greats get unhealthy, the guys that, again, look like the Zeus,

you know, all fall to father time

and sickness, you know.

But again, you could look at this and say, was it bodybuilding or was it something else?

Now, the guys in the late 90s, early 2000s, some of these guys,

they burnt the candle at both ends where they would train their ass off and also, you know, live for the weekend.

And I think that is a detriment.

You've got to be focused.

So, yes, there's health concerns in the sport, but the IFPB Pro League has done a great job recently of implementing rules.

and putting new structures in that

make sure that these

health concerns that people have, you know, get checked out.

And I know there's protocols that are in place right now that,

again, not to, you know,

pop this on the podcast, but health is, is definitely now more of a focus because of issues of old.

Nice.

I mean, I lost a trainer partner of mine three weeks before a show.

Holy crap.

Yeah.

And none of us knew about his health issues.

He hid them away from us.

So he came into the sport with a heart issue

and

trained throughout the years.

You know, he knew it, didn't want to admit it, didn't tell any of us.

And yeah, he passed away.

Holy crap.

Yeah.

Must have been young if he was your trainer.

He was he was young.

And he's one of these guys that, you know, I didn't help with the nutrition or that he had his own coaches.

I was really there.

We trained periodically, but I was really there.

to help him more on the business side of things and help him on different things that I've seen that he should have been doing.

And that truly took a knock, to be honest with you, Sean.

It happened three weeks before the Mr.

Olympia, and I had to go to the Mr.

Olympia and see all my fans.

And from the front to the back, everybody was crying.

Oh, shit.

And I just had to be in the zone, see every one of my fans, and do my job and try not to let it affect me in the show the next day.

It was very hard.

You know, it was very hard.

And plus, we were filming a BBC documentary.

So it was.

It was a sad time.

It wasn't the best of times.

But

yeah, but again, it's just part of the stories of overcoming, right?

And I dedicated that year to Dallas.

That was his name.

So that show.

That's sad, man.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Heart issues are no joke.

Yeah.

And listen,

there's issues in all sports.

And now, as you know, from COVID and people having, you know, whether it's...

the C word, I don't know if you get fucking blocked in your head by saying it, but there's a lot of people who've had issues that I've come from that shot,

right?

Whether it's related or not, but it seems that there's a lot of athletes in so many different sports now that are having these weird complications.

Yeah, for real.

So, you know, bodybuilding, again,

is full of, you know, again, when you push your body to the limit anyway, every single day, and you're just putting yourself in this catabolic state in some cases.

you know, you're always going against the grain.

Like, I just can remember myself just being beat up every single day, but it was normality to feel this way.

But now I'm not in that mindset of being the best.

It's not, right?

Yeah, it interests me because you're inflamed, right?

Because you're lifting, you're tearing your muscles up.

So your body's always inflamed.

And now they're doing all these studies on inflammation and disease.

You know what I mean?

So it just interests me.

There's a lot of things now that I've retired that I wish I'd done, to be truthfully honest with you.

And cold plunging.

I wish I was doing that while so I was competing.

Because to your point, I was just inflamed 24-7.

And you don't have the chance to you know give your body a break even on my rest days which I would take two rest days a week it would be active

active rest so I'd have all my therapies booked up and then days so I was always moving around doing stuff but it was all in the greater good of me being better

and I've always to also answer this question if it was to be asked been very very health conscious because I came from track and field and rugby with an athlete's mentality and thankfully for me I met my coach at 19 years old and he's one of these old school coaches that he was like listen we are going to build the perfect physique just like the early days because the guys you know back in the day they weren't heavy on PEDs

if I can build a physique that that doesn't rely on that then

which most of the guys don't don't think have that mentality it's more is better right and the more is better isn't better.

So thankfully for me, at a very young age, I met my coach and we've been able to do everything and retire on top, retired with all my blood markers in checked, full head of hair.

That's rare, right?

Yeah, and two kids.

So if that was any indication that I didn't abuse,

then, you know, I don't know, take it as it is.

How'd you keep the hair, man?

Don't ask me.

Trick a turkey little hair transfer.

Oh, you know what, Sean?

I've had so many DMs from Turkey recently.

Every time I get a DM from Turkey, I run to mirror.

I was like, babe,

is it happening?

You know, I fought hard.

But yeah, hair is something I proudly use as a marketing brand too.

So I used to spike my hair up more than what it is right now.

But I definitely see that there might be a trip to Turkey in the future, but it's not to do a bodybuilding.

Oh, yeah.

I love it.

You had kids while you were still.

Yes, yeah.

So I had my oldest is eight, and I got a two-year-old.

Nice.

So

it's been definitely fun.

But another reason to why I retired, Sean, because, you know, having my first kid when I was the champ, traveling around the world, I missed a lot of firsts.

I was there for the first walk.

I was there for the first word.

I was there for dada,

but then I was on the road.

So being the champ, being the first at the booth, you know, last to leave, even if I had booth times that were two hours, I would never, I would stay until the last person.

That's my mentality.

And I think it served me really well throughout my career.

But when we found out we were expecting I was second,

I had to have that reality check.

and not once did i ever think about retirement not once in all the years that i was competing all the injuries and you know adversity and that that were thrown my way and in this case this popped into my head i fought it hard um i told my training partners they weren't too happy about it they shed a tear because we all trained so hard for this moment everybody believed in me and i truly believe i i would have won oh we would have won i i i believe whatever year i would have done wow i just given my life to this sport so then i had to face the reality of, okay, if I win this, I'm back on the road.

I'm back away from my family and I'm putting bodybuilding first.

And then I had to have that reality check and be like, okay, do you want to be around?

Do you want to create these memories?

And there's so much more to life.

I've achieved what I've achieved.

I got the feather in the heart.

If I continue to do that, where does it end?

Is it defending?

Is it a three?

Is it a four?

And then you're in the mix of competing again.

So

it was a tough call.

I fought it hard.

A lot of sleepless nights, I'll be honest.

But that word retirement would not escape my head.

And as soon as I told the world after three months of initially telling my training partners and my wife,

it was a lot of heartbreak for a lot of fans.

Because everybody wanted to see me on that stage, the best version of myself, which I wasn't able to do because of the weight cut.

Wow.

Yeah, that cap.

Yeah, it's never enough, right?

You won seven times, so there was no end.

Yeah, it was moving on to the new category for me.

I wanted to be the first ever champ champ.

Connor McGregor is somebody that I truly, you know, love, you know, shenanigans aside.

But he comes from very humble beginners, very similar to me.

Obviously, two different countries, but we both chased a dream.

And law of attraction, we put it out there.

And I love that story.

And even if you go back to early interviews with Connor, he was telling the world that he was going to win.

Yeah, I love watching those, man.

I love that stuff.

Yeah.

And I've got early interviews of me humbly saying I was going to win.

I saw one 12 years ago ago on you.

You did?

With a blonde girl.

Is that the famous interview that everybody wants to talk about?

Got like 54 million views.

Yeah.

None of that monetized from my direction, by the way.

I love it, man.

Yeah.

Dude, so I know you're a big UFC fan.

You're at every fight, every PowerStop fight.

Who do you think is the GOAT of UFC?

Good question.

I'd say John Jones.

And it would be a shared title with

John Sinpierre.

Okay.

GSP.

Two different people, but skill sets on both are incredible.

They would both would be on my mouth, Rushmore, no question.

JSP is that humble-driven champion.

Everybody loves JSP, right?

And then you see John Jones and everybody who has fought John Jones or is a fan of UFC all talk about John Jones because he was just this elusive athlete that was unpredictable.

Yeah.

So them two guys I would definitely have as shared in that goat management.

I agree.

Jones is my goat.

I hope he wins his last fight.

Me too.

Come up, bro.

Me too, yeah.

I was supposed to be up in, watch him against Steepee in New York.

Had tickets.

Dana looked after me.

It was my 40th birthday.

Okay.

And then obviously Jones hurt himself.

Oh, shit.

So

that would have been an icing on the cake, but, you know, I still had a blast.

Everything happens, right?

And that happens for a reason.

What's it been like building a bond with Dana?

Dana White is an incredible, incredible person.

What you see with Dana is what you get.

And we've got so many mutual friends.

And also, he's a gym rat now, too.

Oh, is he?

Yes.

So he's got a lot of Arsenal strength pieces

in his office, the HQ in USC.

But yeah, just what I love about Dana is I've been kind of privy to a few things of what they've been

or they were aligning to do.

PowerSlap was one.

And just being in the early conversations or hearing about what PowerSlap was going to become,

sitting there listening to this, like PowerSlap.

And then you think,

this is the USC, the Dana White show, you know, and what they've done with PowerSlap in particular by aligning, you know, these athletes that come in, but then doing it in a way where they only invited influencers, athletes, celebrities to the events.

And everybody has a cell phone.

And this projected all around the world.

Yeah.

So that in itself.

But Dana, I moved to this town three years ago and what he's done to help me and my family is incredible.

I love that.

And, you know, even in this town alone, you hear so many stories about how Dana has helped people or what he's done for people.

And

it's just a great thing for me to be a bodybuilder, retire, move to Las Vegas, have a dream of, you know.

being friends with with these guys and then within six months you know i was uh sitting at the apex in covid watching the fights in a room of 10 people.

Crazy.

Yeah, wild, wild.

He's a good man to know out here, and I've heard so many great things.

He's a truly great guy.

And again, Hunter Campbell, shout out to Hunter Campbell over there at UFC.

All the UFC execs, staff, just incredible people.

It's a traveling circus.

You know, you see it whenever they go, whether it's, you know, Miami, all the crew is there, all the friendly faces.

And I just get welcomed with both arms.

But as you can tell with me, too, I love to talk.

I love to spend some extra time, too much time probably talking to people.

But I think it sets the floor for how you are then left to be spoken about when you're not in that room.

Absolutely.

Would you ever fight or power slap if the money was right?

Listen, I've been fighting hard not to find another hobby.

Let's just say no because my wife will probably watch this.

But if the money's right, anything is.

Boxing might be a good outlet.

Yeah,

we've got a couple of mutual friends who have been trying to get me to do a celebrity boxing fight.

I threw some hands at a pad and

my heavy bag for the first time in 20 years

about two or three weeks ago.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And I was pretty shocked how my shoulders were.

Shit.

I went home, told my wife, I was like, hey, no.

So she's watching, it's still a dog.

All right.

For now, for now.

If Jake Paul comes with the money, though.

Oh, well, that's a whole different thing.

But also, Sean, for me, being obsessed with bodybuilding for nearly 20 years, I know my mentality.

I can't do something just as a hobby for once a week.

So if I find something that I truly love and I get into it, it then turns into two a week, three weeks, four a week.

So

I've put the brakes on knowing how I am.

Got it.

So I've got so much pokers in the fire right now for...

all these other opportunities that I've created whilst I was bodybuilding.

And now I kind of come into fruition.

I need to focus on them things and not get caught up in the sauce trying to chase something else and get hit in the face.

Shiny Odrix in your home.

It's

easy to fall for that one.

Yeah, sure.

Flex, it's been fun, man.

Anything you want to end with?

No, I just want to say thank you for, you know, getting me on the podcast and us speaking, you know, throughout the last several months.

We met, what, about a year ago?

Yeah, at Limitless.

Yeah, Limitless.

And for me to see what you've done with the show and all the guests you've been doing it, kudos to you.

So I think I just, if anything, it's just giving you your flowers and and um you know saluting my my hat to you and and what you've been doing awesome thank you so much means a lot of course of course outside of that um you know i'm working on uh expanding the gyms looking at doing another location soon so for the dragon's lair it's got to be location i'm sorry destination location

so

we're looking at different parts of the world

as well as potentially one or two domestically.

Okay.

So that is a a fun project, I'm not gonna lie.

And obviously, Arsenal Strength now is the number one gym equipment company in the world.

I'm killing it, man.

Yeah, it's grown exponentially.

So, I just like adding these

number ones

to the fair.

That's all you know, man.

I love it.

I love it.

But again, it's all about doing business,

having fun, learning new things, putting yourself around incredibly talented people, asking for help, which I never, ever used to do.

Getting over the fact that humility will get you to a certain point, but then asking with humility will take you to another level.

So I've got some great key people around me now who are helping me see the bigger vision.

And yes, just exciting to know, start chasing these new goals, these new dreams and chapters down from the public speaking to the businesses to the podcast and getting on shows like this, man.

So thank you.

Promote the podcast.

I'm my producer in the back straight out the lair podcast check it out guys it's on uh straight out of the lair on youtube on spotify and uh yeah it's been it's been fun i never got into this to be a podcast host like you so this has been really me talking to my friends

maybe a little bit longer than what we do maybe an hour and a half longer what we do but nonetheless it's been fun and to get some of these athletes in front of me and and have exclusives that they've never broken to the to the world before has been kind of a badge of honor so Valuable.

Yeah, we'll link that below.

Thanks, Phenomena.

I appreciate you, Sean.

Of course.

Thanks for watching, everyone, and I'll see you next time.