Jeremy Buendia: 4x Mr. Olympia Champ | The Finale & Truth

Speaker 1 Jeremy Bundia, four-time Mr.

Speaker 1 Olympia champion in men's physique that made a return to the stage almost a decade later, winning the Sasquatch Pro and coming in eighth in the world at the 2025 Olympia earlier this month.

Speaker 2 I lived with so much shame and guilt for so many years. I've already dealt with mental health issues since I was a little kid.
OCD, panic anxiety disorder, separation anxiety disorder.

Speaker 2 I was a loose cannon as a kid. A lot like my daughter.
My daughter's just like me.

Speaker 2 She's difficult, but at the same time, I'm so excited to see what this little girl can accomplish because of her being so strong-willed.

Speaker 2 It might be a struggle raising her, but with my understanding of how I am, I can guide her correctly.

Speaker 2 Whereas my parents, the amount of gear we got to take compared to what I had to take back when I first started is crazy. I won my first Olympia just taking Anna Bar and Winstroll.
Fast forward now.

Speaker 2 We're taking...

Speaker 2 Those last three weeks of prep, I really felt it, man. My anxiety went through the roof, the lack of sleep, the short temper, the lack of patience, is the edginess.

Speaker 2 I had to say a lot of sorries this last few weeks because six, seven, eight weeks ago, that wasn't the way I was. It just changes you.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 2 it makes you you feel like a superhero in the gym but it also makes you want to run your head through a wall eq in my offseason can mess in my anxiety a little bit here and there i haven't taken eq in a long time because of that i love that stuff hardens me up good i put size on i feel good on it my physique's not the same as it was before i've had a lot of injuries i think i got ribbed out of place my left side right now so i've been having a lot of serratus issues so when i would hit my front pose i couldn't go to the bathroom for like three days i was eating 800 grams of carbs a day just not being able to pass it through and loneliness is one of the worst things you can feel it's important to treat people right i've gone through it i know what it's like to treat people like dirt and it left me with nothing left me in a really dark spot left me with a little hope and left me with little faith what have you done for that small waist

Speaker 2 how you been brother i've been good man we just got back from a little vacation my wife and i so i'm a little refreshed and ready to rock it was great man we haven't been a away from the kids in like two years So we had to grandparents watch the kids for a few days and we got to feel like we were dating again for the first time in a long time.

Speaker 2 So it was nice.

Speaker 1 That's fucking awesome, man. That can be really fucking hard, especially in like, I feel like any relationships these days, especially if you're someone that's

Speaker 1 very career-oriented, I feel like it's just very hard for us to get back into that place where you're like creating novelty in a relationship. You know what I mean?

Speaker 2 Yeah. You know, it's important to take care of our relationships.
And, you know, when we got so much going on with the kids and everything, like, it's hard.

Speaker 2 Sometimes it's doesn't be, it's not a priority.

Speaker 2 And, you know, it's as a married couple, it's super important to take care of our relationship because at the end of the day you know we have to stick together and you know that our love is important and it's hard when you have so much going on and the kids

Speaker 2 you know four and a half year old and a one-year-old it's it's a lot so and i've asked a lot of my wife the past you know this past year as we've gotten all the businesses up and running and you know getting ready for the stage it's been a lot so I'm grateful that we were able to get away and she was able to relax as well because as much as I was working hard on prep, she was working equally as hard at home taking care of all of us.

Speaker 1 Yeah, for sure. Where did you guys end up going?

Speaker 2 We just went to Santa Cruz. It's only like three hours away from us and my in-laws live in Aptos, which is like 15 minutes from Santa Cruz.

Speaker 1 Okay, that's kind of dope.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 Where are you based out of?

Speaker 1 I'm in LA right now. Okay.
To be honest, I'm not really sure how long I'm going to stay here. My

Speaker 1 life has been a little bit chaotic because I'm sure that you've experienced with yourself as well. So

Speaker 1 I could be going anywhere in the next few months. Like I could either be going to Kentucky with my potential partner for the sake of just getting to be with her family or

Speaker 1 I could not be and end up either figuring out a place, either staying here in LA or moving back to San Diego and trying to figure out, I guess, what my next plan of action is for my life and career moving forward.

Speaker 1 So there's a lot of opportunities coming up right now. But, you know,

Speaker 1 I guess that's the blessing that we have is being able to have the opportunities to make these decisions in the first place. So I always

Speaker 1 tease people because

Speaker 1 they always had my age wrong on the internet. And it's been like that for like the last like, I don't know, 10 years or so.
And people will always make jokes like,

Speaker 1 it's always the haters, right? Like it's always those like that 1%. But they're like, damn, look at this fucking dude.
He's like last in so much gear. He looks so fucking old.

Speaker 1 He looks like he's this age. And then they'll guess an age that's like below my actual age.
And I'm like, all right, that's how I know I'm doing good. So I'm going to keep it like that.

Speaker 1 I am, okay, dude. I actually wanted to tell you this.
So

Speaker 1 I am, I'm Filipino.

Speaker 1 I'm, I'm mostly Filipino. And, um,

Speaker 1 I'm not sure how much I told you about this before, but you were literally my biggest inspiration in all of college.

Speaker 1 And I'm like, I'm not fucking, I'm not fucking, I'm not, I got no shame in fucking saying all of this, bro. Um, like when I first started making content, I love bodybuilding.

Speaker 1 I started watching like six-pack shortcuts and Matt Ogus and all that shit and like his big ass salads that live matt yeah

Speaker 2 oh that's sick he comes and trains here from occasion but we don't have child care so he has to go to the corporate gyms without child care so he comes here every once in a while oh damn that's tough though one of his best friends is in here right now actually oh nice um

Speaker 1 but yeah like i would like i'd be watching his videos like back when he like had those big ass videos of like how to count your macros like he was kind of like the first person putting out the like how to count your macros and he was like getting shredded on 4 000 calories and big ass salad somehow with his nutty fucking eight-pack.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 that was like cool stuff that I'd watch in middle school and high school.

Speaker 1 But, like, what made me realize what I really wanted to do and like that bodybuilding is really what I wanted to do is when something competitive and more acquirable than like the open mass monster physique seemed to be possible.

Speaker 1 And that's men's physique in 2013. And honestly, the you, bro, because like when I was a child, I was subject to a lot of racism and there wasn't really any other Asians around where I lived.
So

Speaker 1 like being this Asian person that people just didn't really understand, the diet that they didn't understand, I still had like a little bit of an accent that I inherited from my mom that wasn't proper and everything had to be made fun of.

Speaker 1 And like watching you being this Filipino that's just like conquering the world, being a fucking yoked ass motherfucker and becoming Mr. Olympia, I was like literally everything I wanted to become.

Speaker 1 So I just wanted to thank you for like everything you've done for the bodybuilding community and like just how much you have, I think, really contributed to the sport, grown the sport, and honestly been like a big representation for Asians and Filipinos in general.

Speaker 2 I appreciate that, man. I wear that as a

Speaker 2 badge of honor because, you know, traveling over there and seeing, you know, firsthand, you know, the lifestyle of these Filipino athletes and what they have to go through, not just Filipinos, but, you know, any international athlete in a third world country, seeing where they have to come from to get to this level and the amount of discipline and the amount of sacrifice that comes along with it to get to the stage.

Speaker 2 You know, it's, I've talked about this before. It's like these international guys are so much hungry because they have to sacrifice and give up so much more in order to, you know, do what we do.

Speaker 2 The opportunities are a lot less in other countries opposed to here in the States and some of the bigger countries. And, you know,

Speaker 2 I had an athlete, Joe Vinsagabayin, who's the three-time Olympian. I coached him as an amateur all the way up.

Speaker 2 And I remember meeting him in 2017 at one of the shows when I went out there with Ivogen, and he won the overall. And I went up to him and was like, man, you are incredible.

Speaker 2 And he was like, oh, no, no, no. I'm just a village boy, nothing.
And I was like, bro, you have so much potential. I was like, you don't understand.
Like, you're going to turn pro.

Speaker 2 You have potential to be on Olympia stage. And I was like, I want to coach you.
He's like, you want to coach me? I'm like, he goes, well, I can't afford it. I'm like, don't worry about that.

Speaker 2 I was like, I'm going to take care of you. I want to see you grow.
I want to see, I want to help you accomplish all your goals. That's fucking awesome.
And we knocked one thing out after another.

Speaker 2 And, you know, he just took third call outs at this past Olympia. And that's a huge.
It's a huge deal for him being in the top 25 out of top 70 guys in the world. You know,

Speaker 2 it it was exciting to see him come up to me backstage and be like, Kuya, I got third call outs. And he's jumping up and down excited.

Speaker 1 And that's fucking tight.

Speaker 2 It's cool because not only that, but this guy, I remember, he had to sell his car to pay for him to go to, I think it was Thailand to compete to get his qualification for Olympia.

Speaker 2 He sold his damn car. That was his only means of transportation.
But he risked it all to go do the Thailand Pro where he got his original Olympia qualification.

Speaker 2 And then, you know, that led from one thing to another. He got sponsorships.
He had people in the Philippines backing him. I know that one of the senators from the Philippines hired him as a trainer.

Speaker 2 So that helped out a lot. And past year, he opened up his own gym in the Philippines.
You know, he's living a great life, making good money. He's taking care of his family.

Speaker 2 And to see him go from where he started to where he's at now, you know, just validates the fact that it is possible with the right mindset and also, you know,

Speaker 2 being open to receiving help when it's offered. You know, a lot of people, a lot of guys have a lot of pride and they don't want to, you know, ask

Speaker 1 or

Speaker 2 yeah, I mean, that's probably the biggest thing is there's a lot of pride with some of these guys and to be able to have the humility to be willing to take that extra helping hand to get to that next level.

Speaker 2 You know, I didn't get to where I was at by myself. I had a lot of people

Speaker 2 that helped me get to the level I was at and I wouldn't have been able to do it without them. Same thing with business nowadays.
Like I didn't do all this alone. Like I have a solid team around me.

Speaker 2 Like I've been able to delegate tasks, and that's been able to enable me to do, you know, much more than just one thing.

Speaker 2 But without my team, none of it would work.

Speaker 1 What people helped you get to where you were? You said, like, initially.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I mean, it started out, you know, when I was like 16 or 17 years old, training at the local corporate gym. You know, Valerie Ganji and Jimmy Lee are both IIPB pros back in the early 2000s.

Speaker 2 Both Olympia. Valerie Gangi was a women's physique Olympian in in 2013.
She did, or 14 when they did the first, 14 or 15, when they had the first women's physique when Dana Lynn Bailey won.

Speaker 2 But she was my original inspiration. I was like 16 years old.
Her and her ex-husband were the only bodybuilders in our town.

Speaker 2 And I'd never really seen a real bodybuilder in my life until I ran into them. And, you know, I'd follow them around the gym for a few months, curtailing their workouts.

Speaker 2 And eventually they came up to me like, hey, we see that you're copying everything we're doing. Why don't you just train with us? I was like, oh, I didn't know that was an option.
Jam, that's sick.

Speaker 2 So I started working out with her and actually valerie's a member here at my gym so i see her every single day and it's been it's been great great to you know

Speaker 2 see how things come full circle you know moving along you know as i turned pro hani rambaud took me on right off the bat right when i turned pro

Speaker 2 um you know evigen being in san jose at the time was only two hours away from me i was already taking the products and um you know i aligned with honey and to be so young at 22 years old to align with somebody that's at the pinnacle of the sport, you know, when I was sitting at a table with Jay Cutler and Phil Heath and Hani Rambaught at 22, 23 years old, it just opened my eyes to the possibilities and it gave me a goal.

Speaker 2 And I think without them showing me what was possible, I wouldn't have had the expectations for myself that I put in place.

Speaker 1 Gotcha.

Speaker 2 So, you know, them, I mean, I can get goal. I have a long list of people I can give credit to.
You know, the past few years at Alan Watkins, my coach Wannie Watt has been there for me.

Speaker 2 We can dive into that more, but, you know, it's just having the right support system and

Speaker 2 people around you to, for me, especially coming back from what I came back from in 2018, 2019, losing everything and rebuilding my name, rebuilding my brand and my image and

Speaker 2 coming back to the stage. And

Speaker 2 there was a lot of emotional and psychological battles I had to face to get back to where I'm at.

Speaker 2 And, you know, I needed somebody like Wadi to, you know, kind of walk me through it, hold my hand, or be somebody that I can fall back on for an unbiased opinion and support.

Speaker 2 And that was the biggest thing. A lot of people asked me, why did I choose Alan as my coach? And Wadi, you know, there's a lot of other bigger name coaches out there that I could have went with.

Speaker 2 Realistically, Waddy's been in the industry for like 30 years.

Speaker 2 He's been around the game a long time. He has a ton of knowledge.
He knows everybody. He's just not big on social media.
He's more of a reserve type of guy.

Speaker 2 But it was the emotional and mental support that I knew I was going to need. You know, I know I know how to train.
You know, the dieting is something that I've been doing a long time.

Speaker 2 I know how my body works. So it was a lot of the communication between us and, you know, being an athlete like myself, having experience,

Speaker 2 being able to bounce ideas off each other was really important.

Speaker 2 And not necessarily having a coach that's going to dictate everything I'm doing, but also to listen to what I have to say and work with where I'm at and understanding where I'm at.

Speaker 2 And, you know, just taking the knowledge that I have accrued over the years, working with Hani and

Speaker 2 a lot of of the other great bodybuilders I've trained with, and being able to listen and not be somebody that's like, no, my way or only way. It was just a great communication.

Speaker 2 And, you know, that's why I feel like I brought one of my best physiques this year. You know,

Speaker 2 I didn't show up on stage at my best again,

Speaker 2 but the days leading up, that was the best Jeremy Buendilla I've ever seen. You know, it was the best physique I've ever accomplished.

Speaker 2 And unfortunately, you know, this Olympia in 2023 and 2018, I just haven't been able to to nail that peak.

Speaker 2 And

Speaker 2 I think there's a lot of reasons why, you know,

Speaker 2 but

Speaker 2 for me, like this past Olympia,

Speaker 2 you know, I was counted out. You know, people weren't even thinking I was going to be, you know, at the beginning of the year, it was Jeremy doesn't belong again.

Speaker 2 Jeremy's not going to be at top 20. Jeremy's not going to be at top 15.
Jeremy's not going to be at top 10. Jeremy's not going to be in top five.

Speaker 2 So there's always the conversation started shifting as I got better and better. And, you know, for me, going into this Olympia, you know, finishing in the top 10 was a huge goal.

Speaker 2 Obviously, I wanted to win, but I also know how good these athletes have gotten over the years. Right.
You know, I've been doing this for a long time.

Speaker 2 I mean, I was the original men's physique Olympia 2013 in a completely different era.

Speaker 1 And yeah, exactly, right? How much the criteria has just changed over the course of the last decade, too, man. Criteria is so much, so different than it was before.

Speaker 2 So I wanted to show that I can hang with the new era. I wanted to be able to, you know, because I was tired of people saying, oh, Jeremy's physique back then wouldn't be able to hang.

Speaker 2 And they're rightfully so. 2014 through 2017, like 2017 physique might have been able to hang.
But again, I'm a lot bigger than I was in 2017.

Speaker 2 So

Speaker 2 it's just that I wanted to shut that conversation down of people saying that I wasn't good enough now.

Speaker 2 And by placing in the top 10, once again, you know, I think I validated that, you know, I'm still able to hang with the best in the world.

Speaker 2 And I beat a lot of guys that I wasn't supposed to beat, at least people thought I wasn't supposed to beat.

Speaker 2 And the guys that did place ahead of me, I have no shame in losing to those guys because each and every single one of them are absolutely insane. They're absolutely incredible.

Speaker 2 So there's no shame in taking eighth place. And I'm very thankful for my placing because, you know, arguably there was a lot of guys that looked phenomenal that could have been in that top 10.

Speaker 2 So, you know, I'm grateful that the judges still saw that I was good enough to be in that in that top 10 call out.

Speaker 1 I'm so happy, too, about it, bro. Like, just huge congrats, by the way, on the turnout for Olivia.
That was awesome.

Speaker 1 And uh i got so stuck when i saw both you and andre being in that top 10 like i just feel like you guys have such amazing dominant physiques with just uh like unique tapers and like this crazy fullness on top and i just feel like it has never been really rewarded enough especially with the new criteria being so focused on the

Speaker 1 depth of detail in the midsections yeah that I just feel like they just haven't been real, like the physiques that I and a lot of other people really admire just haven't been rewarded the same anymore so it was really cool to see you guys make it in the top 10.

Speaker 2 yeah i'm looking yeah i was excited too it was awesome to be able to stand next to andre after all these years andre and i go way back i mean when i left evigin he stepped in for evigin and you know we have a lot of history and andre's always been very gracious towards me and um i'm just excited to see him in that call out you know i'm happy to

Speaker 2 call him a friend. You know, actually, he hit me up yesterday.
We're flying off, myself and Sanjay are flying off to Dubai on Wednesday for the

Speaker 2 expo out there. And we're going to be collabing with Andre for a workout.
I know he's three weeks out right now.

Speaker 2 So I'm going to be able to give him that extra push and, you know, just help him hopefully get a win to qualify, you know, give him points towards qualifying towards this coming Olympia.

Speaker 2 But that's kind of the role I want to play now with these young and upcoming athletes. Like, I'm here to help.
Like, I want to see these guys succeed on and off stage.

Speaker 2 You know, I've had a lot of experience on and off stage. And

Speaker 2 that's one of the things I want to stress to these guys guys is don't hesitate to reach out to me because, you know, there's a lot of ins and outs of this sport that a lot of people don't aware of or they want to ignore.

Speaker 2 And to heart, you know, it's not necessarily easy to monetize this sport without the proper guidance or proper blueprint. So, you know, I've been fortunate enough to make a good living doing this.

Speaker 2 And, you know, I want to be able to share the things that I've done over the years with these guys to show them that it is possible, that they can do it.

Speaker 2 And it's just, it just takes a little bit of hard work off the stage. These guys train so damn hard.
They diet so damn hard.

Speaker 2 If they were to apply that same work ethic to their business, they can make a lot of money.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I couldn't agree more, man.

Speaker 1 So, what's the routine that you're planning to, or not the routine, but I guess what is the, what's the role that you're planning to take on for the next upcoming few years?

Speaker 1 Like, what's your plan now that Olympia 2025 is over?

Speaker 2 You know,

Speaker 2 my first priority is being a husband and father. You know, I got to make sure this past prep was really hard.

Speaker 2 And that's one of the reasons why I'm shutting it down is because it takes away so much from my family.

Speaker 2 You know, the long hours in the gym, you know, an hour, hour, hour and a half of cardio per day, two, two and a half hours in the gym, posing practice, recovery, you know, massage therapy, all that.

Speaker 2 It's just hours and hours and hours. And by the time I get home, daddy, let's play.
Well, daddy's exhausted. You know, it's a lot.
And, you know, my wife, like I said, is taking on a lot.

Speaker 2 And, you know, I wasn't home enough to be able to give her the help that she needs. So, you know, that's going to be priority number one.

Speaker 2 You know, and we also have rolled out Stoic Gym here in Roselow, California. And we've been open for a little over eight weeks now.
And this gym has absolutely exploded in our area.

Speaker 2 We've been, we're so grateful for the success of the gym these first few months and seeing how the community has been built around stoic and seeing the love for the gym.

Speaker 2 And, you know, we're, I partnered with Scale Corps for Stoic Global, and we're going to be expanding nationally and internationally very soon.

Speaker 2 So I actually got a couple of business meetings after this phone call with you. And then, you know, we're looking to be licensing our brand internationally.

Speaker 2 So we have some different countries right now that we're talking to right now. So you'll potentially be seeing, no, you will be seeing Stoic Gym internationally as soon as spring 2026.

Speaker 2 And hopefully we'll have some more locations in the U.S. by that time as well.

Speaker 1 So we're focusing on that.

Speaker 2 Thank you. Thank you.
So it's a big deal. And, you know, I kind of wanted to dive into that as well, talking about

Speaker 2 these opportunities for other bodybuilders. And that's what we want to create.
And, you know, there's so many guys that spend their 10, 20 years bodybuilding and they focus on that.

Speaker 2 And like I said, the business kind of falls second. And

Speaker 2 they don't take advantage of the platform that they have given when they're on top. And oftentimes when they retire, they're trying to figure out what that next move is.
So with Stoic Jim,

Speaker 2 I want to be able to partner with these bodybuilders or influencers and help them open up their gyms and be partners with us and create a lucrative income for them to have a sustainable business after their career.

Speaker 2 You know,

Speaker 2 it's pretty incredible to see

Speaker 2 what this gym can do for not only myself, but for these other athletes and the opportunities it creates for

Speaker 2 our employees and

Speaker 2 even

Speaker 2 our members. You know, there's a lot of resources in this gym to help them along the way.

Speaker 2 So, like I said, it's for bodybuilders and influencers that are looking for that next step that want to potentially be a gym owner, it's a very profitable business when it's done correctly.

Speaker 2 And I believe the blueprint and the model that we've established here at Stowe Gym the past 10 weeks has shown that just by our numbers alone.

Speaker 2 But to be able to create an opportunity for these guys to give them a career off the stage is something that we are going to do.

Speaker 2 And it's a matter of just finding the right bodybuilder or influencer that's willing to put in the sweat, equity, and the hard work to build a gym and to get it up and going and running it.

Speaker 2 And when I say that, it's because it's not easy to open up a gym. It's a lot of hard work and it's a lot of long hours.

Speaker 2 And, you know, me and Sanjay, my business partner, he has all my content as well. He's part owner of this gym of myself.
And,

Speaker 2 you know, the first, you know, the six weeks leading up, getting the gym set up,

Speaker 2 you know, we're looking at 16, 18 hours a day. And I was on prep.

Speaker 2 And then the first four to six weeks while we established our staff, you know, me and Sanjay were in here 12, 16, 18 hours a day, you know, making sure the gym was running.

Speaker 2 But we were able to move quick enough and find a staff quick enough that we can rely on that we're able to take a step back now where we don't got to work the front desk.

Speaker 2 you know, 18 hours a day and we're able to execute the things that we need to execute off, you know, outside of the gym with content and all of our other businesses. But like I said, it's

Speaker 2 finding the right partner within the gym business that's willing to

Speaker 2 do that hard work, you know, the dirty work to get the gym up and running. And once it's up and running, it's pretty self-sustainable.

Speaker 2 You know, all you guys, all these guys need to do is just be present in the gym. You know, you find a good general manager to run the gym.
And then you come in and you be the personality,

Speaker 2 you be the face of your gym, and you create that community. And that's what I've noticed about our gym is the community is what sets us apart from all our corporate gyms.

Speaker 2 And we have a lot of big corporate gyms around our area, and we're pulling from them because people want to be a part of something. And

Speaker 2 that's what we've been able to establish.

Speaker 1 That's actually pretty awesome. And I might have to hit you up about that because my partner and I were talking about

Speaker 1 one of our dreams is like creating our gym and creating a gym in Kentucky, which is something that I have no knowledge on.

Speaker 1 Literally zero.

Speaker 2 yeah, we'd be more than happy to help you with that, man. I know you got a huge platform.

Speaker 2 And that's what we're looking for is people like you that have a big influence, that have a big following, and that are

Speaker 2 passionate about

Speaker 2 bodybuilding in the fitness industry and that want to help. That's the biggest thing is, like I said, is having somebody that's

Speaker 2 friendly for one. That's a big thing is being personable with our members.
That means a lot. So

Speaker 2 that's what we're searching for is a hardworking, friendly individual individual that's willing to, you know, put their heart and soul to this.

Speaker 1 Right. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Um, so going back a little bit too, because you also mentioned something that I felt like is extremely important.

Speaker 1 Um, I think very valuable for like all the listeners and for me, myself, but you, uh, you mentioned balancing family life with your wife and your kid with bodybuilding and how difficult it's been.

Speaker 1 And this is a, just a transparent account of my own experience that I haven't talked about before, but I had a discussion with my partner as well where she kind of,

Speaker 1 she kind of opened up regarding some concerns regarding the future of our relationship and um essentially even though you know we don't have a kid and we're not even in the place where you are where there's a higher level of commitments still it's pretty clear and seen that like it may be an issue in the future that i have to wake up and take the like like when i wake up i have like this routine where i have to do this like i have to take this many i don't know i have to take these drugs and i have to do this cardio for this long.

Speaker 1 And then I have to do this routine and it takes this amount, allotment, amount of time in the mornings. And then I have like fucking three bags of shit to pack because this is all for bodybuilding.

Speaker 1 And I have like five, six meals I have to eat every single day.

Speaker 1 And this has been taking a lot of, I think, this has been taking a lot of opportunities away from us because there's like a lack of the opportunity for spontaneity.

Speaker 1 for us to like go out on adventures, go on like random coffee dates like in the morning when I'm supposed to be doing these things.

Speaker 1 And then the other concern is like, if this this has already taken up so much of my time that's restricting me to such a controlled, restricted schedule, what's going to happen when there's a kid?

Speaker 1 And there's going to be erratic necessities for me to be available when I'm not expected or when isn't expected, you know?

Speaker 1 So I guess, how did you deal with that? And

Speaker 1 I know that that's, I know that, I mean, I'm sure there's never been like a time where it's become perfect.

Speaker 1 I'm sure it's always been kind of a struggle because I think that's the same for any, every man, to be honest. But yeah, I would just love to hear.

Speaker 2 To be honest, dude, I wouldn't have been able to do without my wife. You know, that's the biggest thing is having, finding a partner that's understanding what you're going to be doing and that's as

Speaker 2 motivated as myself for me to accomplish my goals.

Speaker 2 Like my wife, my biggest fan, she knew the importance of me competing and she understood the role that she had to take on in order for me to get done what I needed to get done.

Speaker 2 You know, she competed back in the day when we first started dating, man, back in 2013. We dated before we got back together in 2019.
And she competed back then.

Speaker 2 So she has an understanding of the sport. So she knew what she was going to be up against with me on prep and the responsibilities that she was going to take on.
But, you know, it was hard.

Speaker 2 Like I said, the lack of energy, you know, with the certain drugs that we got to take, patience runs thin. Edginess is there.

Speaker 2 And that was something that, you know, as the weeks lead up to Olympia, you know, that my, you know, my

Speaker 2 patience patience was just a lot less. And my kids don't deserve a dad that's snapping at them or, you know, not there to play with them.

Speaker 2 Same with my wife. And that was, that's one of the biggest reasons why I'm retiring is because it's just, it's not worth it anymore.
You know, my kids and my wife deserve more.

Speaker 2 So I commend a lot of the bodybuilders that do have families, but I also question

Speaker 2 you know, how well of a job are they doing as a husband and a father while balancing bodybuilding? You know, a lot of it we see is just a highlight reel on social media.

Speaker 2 There's a lot of stuff that goes beyond, you know, behind the scenes that we don't even, that they don't, they don't share. You know, there's a lot of struggles.

Speaker 2 And I, I can, I know for a fact that a lot of these guys are wrestling with relationship problems or struggling with, you know, being a father while doing this. They just don't talk about it.

Speaker 2 But it's a, it's a reality, and it's something that's very hard to balance when you're having kids because we all know what friend does to you. So there's no way, there's no way really around that.

Speaker 2 And

Speaker 2 yeah, it's not easy being a father and husband and doing this sport. It's not.

Speaker 2 There's no

Speaker 2 blueprint for it, to be honest, man. It's just, you got to be able to handle your emotions.

Speaker 2 And like I said, when you're depleted down on a huge calorie deficit, doing a shit ton of cardio and you're on a shit ton of stuff,

Speaker 2 you know, it's just, it's that, that, that, that line is easy to cross with what's right and what's wrong. And,

Speaker 2 you know, I fell short a few times during this prep where I snapped at my kids or my wife and I got in an argument or whatever it was. And

Speaker 2 it wasn't me. You know, that's the thing.
It's like, it was the prep me.

Speaker 2 And, you know, that just comes with the sport. You know,

Speaker 2 there's no easy way of explaining it. I don't want to justify any of my actions or anything because it's not something that I'm proud of.
But, you know, I did a lot better job than

Speaker 2 I would have done when I was younger, controlling my anger and my temper and everything. So I got to give myself some grace and

Speaker 2 give myself some credit for how well I did hold together this whole year.

Speaker 2 Not only for prep, but everything else that I chose to do with the launching of the gym,

Speaker 2 our local gym,

Speaker 2 the global business we're doing. I'm launching a board short company.
We have an apparel line.

Speaker 2 There's a lot of things.

Speaker 2 Not only that, but I work with five different companies that sponsor me.

Speaker 2 So I'm I'm constantly putting content out for them and constant communication with them and having requirements of them that I gotta that I gotta accomplish to keep those sponsors around. And,

Speaker 2 you know, I this past week, that's why I took a vacation with my wife because I was that was just spread so thin.

Speaker 2 You know, on top of that, the travel that we do, you know, me and Sanjay, we've been to how many countries this year? We're going to be at five or six different countries this past year.

Speaker 2 We've been to probably eight or nine different states. And, you know, we spent probably 20% of the year on the road and maybe more.

Speaker 2 So it's, it's just,

Speaker 2 as a husband and father, I'm turning 35 next week. It's just, I've been doing this for 18 years.

Speaker 2 It's, it's time to move on and, you know, take advantage of all the things that my time on stage has created for me.

Speaker 2 And

Speaker 2 that's that point in time in my life where I'm at right now is just to, you know, reap the benefits of what I have accomplished on stage and take those things and expand into business and to provide for my family the best of my abilities.

Speaker 1 Happy early birthday, by the way, bro.

Speaker 2 Thank you, man. 35.
Damn.

Speaker 1 That's masters, right?

Speaker 2 I remember I first started competing in the masters and I was like, 35, that's old.

Speaker 1 Damn.

Speaker 1 35 is in your 20s, bro.

Speaker 2 It is. It is.
Now that I'm 35, that's what I want to say.

Speaker 1 Real quick, guys. So while I was looking at the YouTube analytics, I actually saw that 85% of you guys that watch this channel are not subscribed.

Speaker 1 And I want to ask very little of you guys, but if you enjoy this podcast, if you find value in it, then please do me this one favor and subscribe to the channel because doing so helps me get bigger and greater guests like the guests you are listening to today.

Speaker 1 Also, this channel is not sponsored, which means only the companies that I work with, which are YoungLA and Huge Supplements, are the companies that can help fund this channel by you guys using the code Nile.

Speaker 1 So Code Nile gives you a discount of 50% off of Yonalae and CodeNile also gives you a discount of 10% off of huge supplements.

Speaker 1 And if you decide to purchase anything from any of these companies, it will help immensely for me by using my code.

Speaker 1 And this way I can travel to other guests and also upgrade an equipment to make this podcast bigger and better for you guys.

Speaker 1 I don't know if you would be open to discussing this, but I think this is probably one of the most,

Speaker 1 I personally feel like this is

Speaker 1 probably some of the greatest value that I think I have just obtained from your story. And I think a lot of other people can relate to this.

Speaker 1 I think it is, this is something that hasn't been discussed enough in just life in general.

Speaker 1 And this is like a big foundation for why I started the podcast: having a consciousness and awareness over who we are, our personalities, our actions, our brain chemistry

Speaker 1 as we progress in life, as we get older, as we mature, and also as we use various chemicals or other compounds or substances, whether they're PEDs or their birth control or any of these things.

Speaker 1 So

Speaker 1 basically, your story and experience is probably my favorite and the most relatable that I've not just felt in my own life, but that I

Speaker 1 have had experience in every relationship with my own past partners, like past girlfriends that have gone through birth control and PMDD. For example,

Speaker 1 one of my exes owned up to me after seeing a doctor after a breakup

Speaker 1 for the reason why that she had physical outbursts on me. And of course, she didn't mean for it to be like validating her reason for

Speaker 1 having these

Speaker 1 like physical outbursts and such, you know.

Speaker 1 But

Speaker 1 I think, I think

Speaker 1 looking into these things is something that's pretty important and people have just kind of brushed over in the past, you know?

Speaker 1 Maybe they just say, like, oh, this person's crazy or something, but people don't realize like what happens with our brain chemistries and our bodies and just how it affects the way that we act, how it affects the way that we feel.

Speaker 1 And when you feel a certain way that is just so hindering to you, it's hard for you to make any decisions that are rational, you know? Yep.

Speaker 1 So I was listening to your podcast with Hanni again, and I love that podcast, man. That was fucking awesome.
The most recent one you guys had.

Speaker 2 That was on the spot too. I had no idea we were doing a podcast that day.

Speaker 2 I saw him and Ash was like, hey, why don't you come by the office? We'll get, you can check out the gym. I'm like, all right.
And that was the first time I talked to him like five years.

Speaker 2 You know, we took a long time apart. And he's like, all right, you ready to do this podcast? I'm like, this is how you want to have this conversation?

Speaker 2 I was like, you don't want to have it like just one-on-one. You want the whole world to hear it.
So, I mean, we owed it to, we owed it to the fans because we didn't really talk about it afterwards.

Speaker 2 And a lot of people were kind of left hanging with assumptions.

Speaker 2 And, you know, I never really got to be able to take responsibility for what had happened. You know, a lot of people assumed it was my fault.
And a lot of it was my fault.

Speaker 2 But being able to have that podcast and talk about it was

Speaker 2 really therapeutic for both of us, our relationships. And

Speaker 2 now,

Speaker 2 me being a grown man now, we have established a much more, a much. more much better relationship.
You know, we don't talk as often, but when he does call me or I call him, we have great conversations.

Speaker 2 And it's just, it's nice to see that, you know, despite everything that has happened, he's still there.

Speaker 2 And to have him come up to my booth at meet the Olympians this past weekend, wish me luck, see my family, meet my kids. You know, it meant a lot because he was such a huge role in my life.

Speaker 2 Not just as my coach, but he was like a big brother to me, almost like, I wouldn't say father figure because I got like, I have my dad, but.

Speaker 2 He played that role. You know, he was always somebody that was very selfless towards me.

Speaker 2 And I put that man through hell and he stuck by my side there were so many people that told him to drop me to you know leave me high and dry for my actions and my attitude and um you know he he saw the light at the end of tunnel with me up until 20 you know 19 when that tunnel that light in that tunnel kind of closed up on me for a little while and um you know i had to learn to learn things the hard way um for a few years and um you know i'm i'm i don't regret anything because the lessons that i took away from those bad years are things that um i've grown from and they've transformed me into the man I am today.

Speaker 2 And if I wouldn't have gone through those things or have had that downfall, I might be that same person that I was.

Speaker 2 And so I've learned to be grateful for the good and bad.

Speaker 2 I've learned to look for the light in any bad situation because, you know, with God, there's always something that he's going to turn the situation into good.

Speaker 2 So there's always, he's not here to hurt us. He's always here to help us.
And through the struggles, there are lessons to be learned.

Speaker 2 And I'm grateful for those because you know, I'm proud to be the person I am today. Or if you asked me that question five years ago, that wouldn't have been my answer.

Speaker 1 Yeah,

Speaker 1 I think you have a lot to be proud of, man.

Speaker 1 Thank you.

Speaker 1 I think those who just either refuse to or don't have an awareness of

Speaker 1 the power of taking accountability or ownership

Speaker 1 just strips their power away. And that's when you end up with somebody who

Speaker 1 doesn't become better, doesn't mature, doesn't change. And I am saying that from just self-experience because there's a lot of things that I had done in my past that I am just not proud of.

Speaker 1 A lot of ways that I've acted as a teenager to my own parents,

Speaker 1 a lot of ways that I acted to my partners in my younger 20s,

Speaker 1 a lot of ways that I just acted to anyone around me.

Speaker 1 And a lot of it was very selfish.

Speaker 1 And now

Speaker 1 it's just crazy crazy because it's like, it's so easy to see

Speaker 1 the right decision to make now

Speaker 1 versus before. I just felt so blind.
And I think that's just because we had this opportunity to reflect and process the things that we did and take ownership of it.

Speaker 1 And that gives us the power to become better.

Speaker 2 So I think you got a lot of

Speaker 2 it. I feel a lot of people live in guilt.
and shame and that's what holds them back from change.

Speaker 2 They don't feel like they're worthy enough to be a better person because they live in the guilt of what they've done in the past.

Speaker 2 But ultimately, like if you're able to forgive yourself, you know, Christ has already forgiven us. So if he's able to forgive us, we got to be able to forgive ourselves.

Speaker 2 And if you aren't able to forgive yourself, you're not going to be able to move on and become something better.

Speaker 2 You know, I've made a lot of mistakes in my life and, you know, I would like, I don't even want to call them regrets anymore because they're lessons.

Speaker 2 But I lived in so much shame and guilt for so many years.

Speaker 2 And when you're living in that shame and guilt, it's really hard to dig yourself out of that hole because your mindset is fixed on you being a bad person and feeling unworthy of the good things that will come into your life.

Speaker 2 And you kind of self-sabotage yourself when you're living in

Speaker 2 that guilt. And when you feel unworthy of those things, it's really hard to make something of yourself.
So for the people that have

Speaker 2 that guilt and shame for their past, it's like, you got to move on. You got to, you can only move on when you've learned a lesson and and value yourself not to make those same mistakes again.

Speaker 2 And I think that's the biggest thing that I've

Speaker 2 been working on is not repeating the mistakes I've made in the past.

Speaker 2 I'm not perfect. I've fallen back into my old ways from time to time, but it's the difference between now and then is I catch myself.

Speaker 2 I don't let these outbursts last weeks at a time like I did previously. If I make a mistake or I have an outburst, I'm quick to realization.
I'm quick to apologize. I'm quick to take accountability.

Speaker 2 And if you're able to do that, you're able to move on. And I think that's one of the biggest things that I have taken away the past few years is recognizing my mistakes and owning them.

Speaker 2 And when you're able to do that, you're able to grow and become better.

Speaker 2 So that's my advice to some of the guys that might be going through something similar where they're struggling and they're in a hole right now because

Speaker 2 they feel like they're not good enough because of their past mistakes. And you got to forgive yourself.
You got to move on. You got to grow.
Just don't make them again.

Speaker 1 Yep. Yeah.

Speaker 1 So

Speaker 1 if you'd be open to talking about this, of course, you know, we don't have to talk about anything that you may not be comfortable with, but this is something that a lot of my audience has come to me and thanked us for discussing on this podcast.

Speaker 1 It's one of the reasons that I think a lot of people like to come to this podcast is because I openly talk about my own experiences that I've struggled with when it comes to, say, compound use, PED use, or bodybuilding in general, and how it's related to my family and my relationships.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 so in your podcast with Hani, I remember you mentioned something like,

Speaker 1 you mentioned something along the lines of like, I've been able to pull back my outburst and a lot of that I attest to my wife and her tolerance and her patience. And then Hanni mentioned, is there a,

Speaker 1 I wonder if there's like a chemical imbalance occurring with people at a very high rate because of anabolics.

Speaker 1 And then you like straight up just transparently were like, I saw red before I even got into bodybuilding.

Speaker 1 And um

Speaker 1 we all play a game of experimentation in ourselves to figure out how to do this right that's what all of us are doing that's what all of us in the audience are doing but the problem is that we're all built slightly differently right um which is why i have this platform so we can hear multiple different accounts and piece and pick which ones relate to us the most where we can derive value to propel our lives forward in a positive direction So I know you mentioned too in that pod that maybe the first time you took trend,

Speaker 1 obviously we all kind of feel a certain way because I definitely did.

Speaker 1 But was there any specific drugs, dosages, or even like typical bodybuilding protocols that you felt like exacerbated that for you the most?

Speaker 2 I mean, yeah, I mean, it's definitely, you know, the Trent and Halo are the two that obviously changes your mind a lot and, you know, makes you.

Speaker 2 It makes, it just, it just,

Speaker 2 I mean, I just came off of this stuff. So it's fresh,

Speaker 2 So like the last three weeks of prep, bro, like I was not the same. I was not.
I had just come off winning the Sasquatch and pushing.

Speaker 2 I didn't run everything. I was gearing towards Olympia.
So I didn't run it as long before the Sasquatch because we didn't want to stay on all the way through.

Speaker 2 But those

Speaker 1 obviously smart.

Speaker 2 Those last three weeks of prep, like, I really felt it, man. Like, my,

Speaker 2 just my anxiety went through the roof, the lack of sleep, the, the short temper,

Speaker 2 the lack lack of patience, you know, all of those things, the edginess, you know, all those things were really prevalent those last few weeks.

Speaker 2 And fortunately, you know, my team around me, they were aware that it was, you know, pre-show.

Speaker 2 And, you know, I don't, like, I had to say a lot of sorries those last few weeks because, you know, just snapping at people. And

Speaker 2 that wasn't the case, you know, six, seven, eight weeks ago. It wasn't, that wasn't the way I was.
It was because I implemented those compounds back into the regimen that I did.

Speaker 2 And it changes, it just changes you. There's, there's, it's just like

Speaker 2 the trend is, it's like, it's the devil's drug, man. It really is.
It just brings out the worst in you.

Speaker 2 It makes you feel like a superhero in the gym, but it also makes you want to run your head through a wall.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 2 for lack of better words, and you know, it's tough because that stuff makes you feel so good in the gym, makes you look crazy, but at what costs?

Speaker 1 So,

Speaker 2 yeah those are the compounds that affected me the most you know i can run tests and massarone and and be just fine on that stuff besides losing my hair but other than that like you know when i take you know the trener halo those are like the only two specifically that i feel like can feel a noticeable difference you know eq in my offseason can mess in my anxiety a little bit here and there i didn't really i haven't taken eq in a long time because of that you know i already do i've already dealt with mental health issues since i was a little kid

Speaker 2 You know, I've dealt with chemical imbalances since I was like six years old.

Speaker 2 You know, I've had OCD. I've had anxiety.
I've had panic anxiety disorder. I've had separation anxiety disorder when I was younger.

Speaker 2 So, you know, I was on medication as a young kid, like antidepressants at like eight years old.

Speaker 2 You know, my parents didn't really know what to do, didn't know how to deal with me because I was such a, I was just a loose cannon as a kid, you know, very strong-willed, very set in my my ways um

Speaker 2 a lot like my daughter is my daughter's just like me so I feel which I'm you know I'm great and it's not a bad thing bro like because you know it's not a bad thing and my wife keeps reiterating that because my family's always like oh she's just like you Jeremy and she hates that because you know she might be like me she might be difficult but

Speaker 2 you know I turned out a certain way because

Speaker 2 I am a certain way.

Speaker 2 And, you know, looking back now, yeah, it was it was tough, but my parents did a good job in raising a man that is successful, that's got his head on his shoulders correctly, and is able to

Speaker 2 provide for myself and my family. Like, I've never had to ask my parents for help or nothing.
Like, I've been on my own since I was 17 years old.

Speaker 2 I've never asked my parents for nothing except for their love. That's it.

Speaker 2 And

Speaker 2 it takes us, you know.

Speaker 2 My daughter, she's just like me, like I said.

Speaker 2 She's difficult. But at the same time, I'm so excited to see what this little girl can accomplish because of her

Speaker 2 being so strong-willed, her being a leader, her, you know,

Speaker 2 she's special. And I can see that.
And it might be a struggle raising her, but with my understanding of how I am, I can guide her correctly.

Speaker 2 Whereas my parents, they weren't like me, so it was kind of like fresh to them.

Speaker 2 So I understand how she is, and I'm going to be able to parent that a lot better and, you know, help her through her emotions because I know what she feels and um

Speaker 2 it's it's i'm i'm just excited like i said because i know she's going to be great even though she has these difficult times and she's kind of hard to deal with i know those same characteristics are what's going to make her special and make her you know stand out amongst the crowd brother i just got chills from you saying that because um

Speaker 1 If there's anything that I'm more proud of and more thankful for for the experiences that we've had to go through that obviously were not positive experiences at the time,

Speaker 1 it's now that I can help those that I love that are going through something similar because I've been there and it makes sense to me and I understand it.

Speaker 1 And when I see it, I feel it, you know, and it's easier because now I know how to deal with it. Whereas five years ago, 10 years ago, I had no fucking clue how to deal with it.

Speaker 1 In fact, I didn't deal with it healthy at all. So

Speaker 1 like

Speaker 1 I'm trying to think of a great example that I can

Speaker 1 like

Speaker 1 some of my closest friends.

Speaker 1 Uh, I don't want to like, I guess, I don't know if I can say any names, but like, um, one of my closest friends, like, she's gone through so many, just

Speaker 1 she's had so many experiences like you since she was super young. Um, and it's just,

Speaker 1 of course, it's just so unfortunate that, like, we're just not all, we're not all created the same, and some of us have to jump through more hoops than others just to make it by.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 I think being able to relate to her and how I have been through my own extreme mental struggles since I was young, and then obviously exacerbating those with drugs that affected my hormones.

Speaker 1 And maybe not the exact same, but in similar ways that would exacerbate attributes that were similar, that would exacerbate irritations or anxieties.

Speaker 1 or depressions or any of these things that cause us to act in different ways that were not

Speaker 1 the norm.

Speaker 1 It's been so much easier to like have that empathy and compassion for a person and be able to like,

Speaker 1 I think,

Speaker 1 what's the phrase?

Speaker 1 Give space.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 2 Give them time. Yeah.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 To understand.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 And I've noticed that with doing so, I've been able to lead the people that I want to help.

Speaker 1 And I think one example that I think i can at least share without um putting anyone on the spot is i think i've been able to flourish my new relationships a lot more because

Speaker 1 um

Speaker 1 they've been going through things that i have gone through in the past and it's been really nice for me to be able to help them because i've felt a lot more fulfilled it's helped our relationship and it's also helped them get to a better and more stable and healthy place.

Speaker 1 Because

Speaker 1 as you and I know,

Speaker 1 you know,

Speaker 1 going to the root of the problem and figuring out what's going on with our hormones, are our hormones out of balance?

Speaker 1 Is our GI tract fucked up?

Speaker 1 How's our,

Speaker 1 how's our,

Speaker 1 I guess, how's our brain working? How's our neurochemistry? It's easy to just patch things up with Prozac

Speaker 1 or fucking

Speaker 1 drugs.

Speaker 1 But it just isn't the answer because it just creates crazier fluctuations and it

Speaker 1 creates more side effects and it just leads to a wrong road. So I think just having these experiences has been really valuable.

Speaker 1 And it's cool that now that you have a daughter, that this is manifested into a place where you can help someone

Speaker 1 be the best person that she can be.

Speaker 2 Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 1 But

Speaker 2 yeah,

Speaker 2 it's been interesting, man. Like, this whole career of mine has been

Speaker 2 a roller coaster, man. It really has.
And it's been interesting to see,

Speaker 2 it hasn't been easy, man. I feel like I've been an island my whole career.
I've been the guy at the target on my back in the industry.

Speaker 2 I don't feel like anybody in this sport has received as much criticism or as much hate as I have over the past decade

Speaker 2 on social media. And a lot of that was self-inflicted, you know, in my early years with my attitude and whatnot.

Speaker 2 But even since I've come back, you know, I've really made an effort to be a different person and change. And there's always people out there just taking shots, you know, left and right at me.
And,

Speaker 2 you know, the old me would would fire back. And it's been, it's taken a lot for me to restrain myself from, you know, responding or engaging in all that and being the bigger person.

Speaker 2 But

Speaker 2 it's just been it's that's kind of the way it's been my whole life even like growing up through school like I was always a really good athlete.

Speaker 2 Like I was always the captain of the sport teams or whatever. Like I was asked, my wife and I went to high school together.
So she has a perspective of me from high school. And it's interesting.

Speaker 2 It's really interesting to hear her perspective because I never felt like I was a cool or popular kid because,

Speaker 2 you know, I wasn't always invited to the birthday parties or the house parties or whatnot. But she's like, you're Jeremy Bundia.
Like, of course you are cool. I'm like, I didn't feel that way.

Speaker 2 I didn't have a whole bunch of friends. I didn't, like, I remember standing at the top of the stairs where everybody hung out before school and I was like in the group of, you know, the popular kids.

Speaker 2 And this girl came up and was handing out invitations to her birthday party, and everybody got one in the circle except for me. And that was that moment I took a step back.

Speaker 2 I was like, wait a minute, why didn't I get invited? Am I not part of this group? Am I not popular? Am I not cool? Am I not liked?

Speaker 2 And like, even like, but this traces back to like elementary school. Like, I've always stood on what my beliefs were.
I never, I never wavered

Speaker 2 or tried to follow along with anybody. I've always been a leader.
I've always been set in my ways. And when I didn't like something or if I think something's wrong, like I'll stand on that.

Speaker 2 And a lot of people didn't like it. And I think that kind of transpired into

Speaker 2 my career in bodybuilding. Like I just didn't back down.
And

Speaker 2 that created a lot of enemies. And when I didn't like something, I'd say something.
And

Speaker 2 again, that comes down to my personality type. And again, I'm grateful for the way I am because it's set me up to be the person that I am and a successful businessman and successful on stage.

Speaker 2 But I felt like an island this whole time.

Speaker 2 And it's been nice this past week to see the praise I've gotten from my fellow competitors and the fans and the appreciation I've got because it's been 15 years of, you know, 18 years of competing where I feel like I've just been heavily criticized by at least the news outlets or the, you know, the the whoever whoever's putting out the news for men's physique or whatever.

Speaker 2 I'm not saying any names right now. I've just been kind of the butt of the joke.
And

Speaker 2 the past week, I've seen a lot of these guys like start giving me

Speaker 2 a little bit of gratitude. And it's been nice because not that I desire their validation, but I have done a lot for this sport and I genuinely want to see the people in this sport succeed.

Speaker 2 I don't want to see anybody fail. There's more than enough to go around for everybody.
And like, that's where my heart's at.

Speaker 2 So it hurts when I see people taking shots or trying to bring me down, but I've done nothing to them. And all I want to do is see them succeed.
And they just, they're adamant on tearing me down.

Speaker 2 And it was hard. It was hard.
And like I said, I kept my mouth shut a lot, you know, during this whole prep.

Speaker 2 But, you know, honestly,

Speaker 2 it spoke volumes because when I come around in person, the energy would change. Why? Because I am nice to these guys.

Speaker 2 Even though they're a dickhead to me on social media, I'll walk up to them when I see them in person. Hey, bro, how's it going? Good luck.
I wish you the best. Hope everything's well.

Speaker 2 Hope the family's good. And they're like, oh, well, hey, man, it's good to see you too.
You know, and then it's just, it's just,

Speaker 2 when you're good, when you're good to somebody or nice to somebody, don't go, don't give them a reason not to like you. And that's something I did in the past.

Speaker 2 I gave people a lot of reasons to hate me. And, you know, moving forward, like, you know, our relationships are so important in everything that we do.

Speaker 2 And the interactions that we have with people are going to transpire into our own success.

Speaker 2 And

Speaker 2 I feel that, you know, know, moving forward in my life, that's something that I really have made a huge effort in is

Speaker 2 love and sharing that with people and not being somebody that's going to, like, you'll never see a comment from me tearing somebody down on social media.

Speaker 2 I'm never going to go out of my way to belittle somebody. If I got a problem with you, I'm going to DM you and I'll tell you I have a problem with you.

Speaker 2 And I'll man up about it, but I'm not going to put it out to the world. and try to tear you down or

Speaker 2 hurt your reputation.

Speaker 2 You know, because it's not, that's not how men handle things. And that's what kind of...

Speaker 1 That's very respectful.

Speaker 2 It's kind of how, you know, and that's frustrating because these are grown men on social media that are trying to take food off of our table by tarnishing each other's images.

Speaker 2 And it's like, why would you do that? Like, first off, why make something personable? Why try to make this sport out like we're MMA fighters? Because we're not.

Speaker 2 We're on stage turning around front to back and you guys want to talk like we're going to get in the ring and fight.

Speaker 2 and it's it's just it's kind of ridiculous like this sport there needs to be more camaraderie and i've seen a big shift i think recently i mean besides some of the banter back and forth but like um with the top guys but there's been a lot more camaraderie and i think that's what the sport needs you know our fans want to see us training together they want to see us you know vibing they want to see that yeah the banter is good and back and forth but like

Speaker 2 doing it in a respectful manner. There's a good way.
There's a way of talking shit without tearing somebody down and you know, trying to hurt them personally. And I think that's good for the sport.

Speaker 2 But, like I said, it comes back to the camaraderie. Like, I've invited several pros out to my gym to train with me during prep, and only a few of them showed up.

Speaker 2 You know, like, why wouldn't we collab? Why wouldn't you want to collab with me on my last prep when I've gotten 75 million views on my Instagram in the last three weeks?

Speaker 2 Why wouldn't you want to take advantage of coming out here, training with me, and

Speaker 2 benefiting from that collaboration to help your own brand grow? It's is going to help both of us. So why wouldn't we want to take advantage of that?

Speaker 2 So that's one of the things I want to see more of the sport. That's why I opened up Stoic Gym.
We got a lot of pros in the area.

Speaker 2 And I want to see them working together to build themselves up because there is, like I said, there's more enough to go around for everybody.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I agree. I think that's said very well.
And I think what's the most beautiful about the bodybuilding industry is the sense of community.

Speaker 1 I think the problem is there's some mindsets that just believe exacerbating the drama and making it fun, like it's a fucking show, is going to increase engagement in numbers. And that's,

Speaker 1 I don't want to say any names, but I think there's some specific names that can come to mind, even in men's physique, that are like doing that on purpose and will literally say that they're doing that on purpose.

Speaker 1 And then they call someone out or say some shit things. They'll be like, oh, no, it's just for the drama, bro.
Like, it's like, we're like creating a show for them, you know? But I mean.

Speaker 1 I think if you're doing it in a respectful manner, it's understandable.

Speaker 1 But the problem is there's a lot of people that aren't, you know, there's just a lot of people that are taking advantage instead of news to gain views. And those views are for themselves.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 I just, I don't totally agree with it, man. I think I think supporting each other is the best way to go about this.
And it's the most beautiful part about it.

Speaker 1 I think having a community where we can all train together and grow together and do all of this shit together. I think that's really cool and that's really fun.

Speaker 1 And having people that are very loving to each other and people that are great representations of the the sport that we love to see, like fucking Ramon, who's fucking this amazing, loving Christian human being and family guy that will fucking kiss people's foreheads and all this shit.

Speaker 1 Like, dude, what a fucking great guy, man. Like, I want to see that shit.

Speaker 1 So, I don't know.

Speaker 2 That was, that's the one of, that's one of the things I see a difference in classic physique that I see in Mince

Speaker 2 is the camaraderie amongst those guys. Like, all those guys are friends in that top.
Like, I mean, from what I see on social media, They seem to have a high level of respect for each other.

Speaker 2 They seem to have a friendship with each other. You know, Urs, like, Urs transitioning and seeing everybody cheering for him and rooting for him.
Uris is awesome.

Speaker 2 I love Uris. Ramon, all those guys are just great guys.
And also seeing C Bum come back this past year at the Olympia and being a part of it and rooting for these guys, cheering for him.

Speaker 2 Like, that's why C Bum is C Bum because he's been such a good ambassador to the sport, such a good representation of the sport.

Speaker 2 He's a good human being with a good heart that wants to help and see these guys succeed. You know, he was a champ for, you know, what, six, six-time champ.
And, you know, he was

Speaker 2 that post he made for ramon was pretty special just you know giving him his flowers because remote ramon was right there the whole time and you know this he was he's genuinely happy because he wants to see that success that he's experienced he wants to see these guys accomplish the same thing and um i'm the same i want to see ryan terry if anybody's going to beat my record i'd love to see ryan do it he deserves it he's a good man he's got a good heart he's got a very beautiful family he's never disrespected anybody.

Speaker 2 If anybody deserves to be considered the goat of men's physique beyond me, it's Ryan Terry. And I'm rooting for him.
I really am. I was very happy to see him win again.

Speaker 2 And I don't know if you watched the

Speaker 2 press conference at Meet the Olympians, you know, when Ollie and Brandon were going back and forth.

Speaker 2 And, you know, Ollie leading up into the Olympia, you know, creating a lot of drama and talking a lot of shit, disrespecting some of the guys.

Speaker 2 And that's why I kind of called him out on it and be like, hey, man, I went down that route before. And as fast as you gain it, you can lose it just as fast, if not faster.

Speaker 2 And, you know, the relationships, like I said, are one of the biggest things in this sport because at the end of the day, it's a business.

Speaker 2 And people only want to do business with people that they like or want to be around.

Speaker 2 And when you're starting to sabotage those relationships, you're going to see opportunities start slipping from you. I'm not just talking about on stage, but I'm talking about endorsement deals and

Speaker 2 being invited to events. All these things are going to help keep you relevant in the sport.
And that's where I fell short at the end of my, you know, the first stint of my career was

Speaker 2 people didn't want to be around me. And that's when things started to slip away.
And it was because of my attitude. It was because of the way I treated people.

Speaker 2 And the moment I came back and I reestablished myself as, you know, as a changed man, things started coming back to me. And that's why even beyond me competing, I've competed twice in the past, like,

Speaker 2 seven years. That's why I still have all these sponsorships, endorsement deals.
That's why I'm still staying relevant. That's why I'm still asked back to to the press conference.

Speaker 2 There's a handful of guys that got left out of the press conference that have been competing in the top five for how many years, but Jeremy Gwendia comes back and I'm back on the press conference.

Speaker 2 Why? Because I'm able to engage. I'm able to conversate.
I'm able to provide value, you know,

Speaker 2 verbally. And I think that's another big thing is a lot of these guys got to be more comfortable with speaking and providing value to the industry and their audience.

Speaker 2 And a lot of these guys are afraid to get on camera. You know, and at the end of the day, like the Olympia and the IIPB and NPC, they need ambassadors to the sport that are going to build the sport.

Speaker 2 Yes, our physiques matter on stage. Yes, they are judging the best physiques on stage, but there's a lot of great physiques.

Speaker 2 You know, there's a handful of guys that could have been in that top 10, but they just aren't known as well. And they might get overlooked when there's 70 guys on stage.

Speaker 2 But if you're present and you're always in the conversation and you're around the industry, yeah, the judges are going to have you fresh in your mind.

Speaker 2 You're going to stand out on that stage opposed to the guy that hasn't even been around.

Speaker 1 So you might might get that extra look and i hate i hate saying the politic thing but it's it's not politics it's about being involved i agree right that's the thing that's kind of frustrating is like it looks like politics to the outside and sometimes maybe it almost could be but in my opinion like people really uh discount the subconscious man and if you are someone that someone just saw they're going to see you first when they they're going to recognize you when they see you on stage and it's very Like, where else do you think the eyes are going to go first, man?

Speaker 1 So it's just very easy to get overlooked when all the physiques look fucking amazing and you have to, and it's a hard time just even scoring which one's the best, you know?

Speaker 1 They're making hard decisions up there in a very small amount of time.

Speaker 1 So it's, it's kind of just natural for one's eyes and one's attention to be drawn to the place that has been taking their attention in the first place.

Speaker 2 Exactly.

Speaker 2 That's why I spoke to Isai, the guy that took 13th from Thailand. He messaged me.
He was like, hey, man, thank you for being a role model for me all these years.

Speaker 2 When When I announced my retirement, he sent me a DM. And this guy's worked his way up in the last two years.
I think he was like fifth call-outs, placing inside the top 15.

Speaker 2 And this is a guy that's from Thailand, doesn't have a huge platform, not too well-known internationally yet. I was telling him, man, if you want to work your way up and become Mr.

Speaker 2 Olympia, like you got to get your, you got to work on your English because you got to be able to communicate with the people in the industry. Like, yes, you can win.

Speaker 2 Hadi Chopin won with very, you know, being partially deaf and not speaking in English, but it's, it's important to be able to be an ambassador and represent the industry and being active as a champion.

Speaker 2 And because the sport needs to draw eyes to it to build it up. And that's why I was telling these international guys, like, if you do want to be that champion, you got to be able to communicate.

Speaker 2 And your physique alone, you know, it could be enough, but if you're able to bring the total package to the stage and to the industry, it's going to help a lot more with your place things on stage too.

Speaker 2 Because they are, like I said, they're looking to grow and they need people

Speaker 2 to enable that growth with their platforms.

Speaker 1 Gotcha.

Speaker 1 If you feel like any of the medications that we spoke about today may benefit you, such as BPC157, GH acreaglogs such as tessamorellin, IGF-1, oxandrolin troche, semiclutide, then you can obtain these from Transcend HRT and the link for that will be in the bio.

Speaker 1 If you feel like you're experiencing symptoms of low testosterone, such as depression, anxiety, lack of motivation, as well as lack of sex sex drive, then you can get this checked out as well by getting your blood work done at Transcend and they will provide you expert medical analysis.

Speaker 1 Transcend HRT has worked with many professional bodybuilders and pro athletes such as Thor Bjornsson, Phil Heath, and Jeremy Bundia.

Speaker 1 And if you feel like this podcast has any relevancy to you, I do believe that this clinic will provide of great benefit to you as well.

Speaker 1 If you don't mind me asking, because we're discussing bodybuilding and stage presence and everything too,

Speaker 1 Whenever you go on stage, you mentioned that the last three times you had trouble peaking, right?

Speaker 1 And you bring a fucking sick physique every single time. But this is something that I feel like would be cool to discuss because I think I've had similar trouble.

Speaker 1 And I think there's a lot of people that have trouble with this, but it's a genetic thing. And I feel like it's actually a little prevalent in Filipinos.
But it's like,

Speaker 1 when certain people fill out and peak,

Speaker 1 certain things, they lose certain aspects of their physique and then they gain other aspects of their physique.

Speaker 1 for me i may i may gain just this perfect look and fullness and hardness and say my back my upper chest and fullness in my arms or something but then i lose the detail in my midsection so i'm wondering like um what do you feel like has gone wrong for you and peaking in the last three times

Speaker 2 i mean 2023 it was

Speaker 2 It was the fact that I ran myself from the ground during Olympia week.

Speaker 2 It was my comeback year, so a lot of it was about making the connections again and doing a lot of interviews, being with my fans, and trying to, you know, just get my name out there.

Speaker 2 So I ran myself into the ground,

Speaker 2 not sleeping much that peak week. And then also, I had, you know, we carved up really early.
We tested it, you know, two weeks out, it worked well.

Speaker 2 But when you're taking account of like depleting your water out and then, you know, diuretics, like it's not the same as it was two weeks before when you're in the gym, testing that carb up, having that two gallons of water in you, you know, it's

Speaker 2 different. And I couldn't go to the bathroom for like three days before the 2023 Olympia.
So I was eating like 800 grams of carbs a day, just not being able to pass it through.

Speaker 2 So like, that was probably why I spilled over and I wasn't able to control my midsection 2023. Yeah.
This past, this past year or last week,

Speaker 2 dude, Friday, I was I was lights out. I was lights out.
I mean, I posted a video of me next to Ali. I was harder than him.
I was drier than him.

Speaker 2 I felt really good Friday. And when we woke up Saturday morning, I felt pretty good.
I looked good. Everything was on point.

Speaker 2 And then we went backstage and like, I don't know if it was like adrenaline dump or if it was anxiety and I had a cortisol spike or something, but

Speaker 2 I just started to fade. Not only that, bro, but like, you know, they are like, amen's physique, pump up, you're on in 20 minutes.
And then an hour and a half goes by and we're still not on stage.

Speaker 2 So you lose your pump.

Speaker 2 And I'm not, I'm somebody that when I get my pump in the gym, it's and I like I take a break. It's really hard for me to get a pump again.

Speaker 2 Like I don't pop like I did when I get that first initial pump.

Speaker 2 So I faded. And then not only that, after the comparison or after the comparison round, I was stepping off stage and I popped my right calf stepping down the stairs.
Oh shit. I strained it.

Speaker 2 I thought I ruptured my Achilles again on my right side.

Speaker 2 So I was like on the ground backstage.

Speaker 2 The way they did the call outs, I wasn't in the first call out. I think they called like eight or nine guys.
And the second call outs, they called me.

Speaker 2 And then I was like, I don't know, second or third from the end. So I thought I was out of the top 10.
And I was like, fuck. I was like, all right, well, I guess that's a wrap for my career.

Speaker 2 I was chilling backstage with Andre Ferguson, just hanging out, talking, had my foot up in the air because it was hurting.

Speaker 2 And then they're like, all right, number nine, they call us back out for confirmation. I was like, all right, this might be for the top 10 spot, eight, nine, 10.

Speaker 2 And I was like, I'll go back out there and battle. So I limped my, if you notice, I limped my way back on stage.
And we're posing. I looked to my left and right.

Speaker 2 And I noticed, like, oh, this is like four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. Like, it was like, it was like that, there were Andre Deu was in there, Vitor was in there, Corey was in there.

Speaker 2 And I was like, oh, this is, this is for some top spots. So we battled it out again, and I realized I was back in that top 10.
And

Speaker 2 yeah, I ended up finishing in eighth place. You know, we didn't know what we were going to finish at night.
So, you know, I

Speaker 2 took, ate another meal. I went to sleep for a couple of hours and got back up and we went back on stage.
But I don't know.

Speaker 2 It just, I made a post talking about, you know, there's a reason for everything. And if I would have showed up sharper and placed inside that top five, you know, I might have reconsidered retiring.

Speaker 2 I might have pushed myself another year. And that would have put a hindrance on my businesses.
That would put a hindrance on my family.

Speaker 2 And that's not, that wasn't God's plan for me at the time, or God's not God's plan for me at this time. You know, he has a bigger plan for me.
And

Speaker 2 so,

Speaker 2 you know, it was a hard pill to swallow at first because I wanted to present my best physique on stage. You know, the way I looked in the gym, the days leading up, that was my ultimate goal.

Speaker 2 I didn't really care about my placing. I just wanted to show up 100% on stage.
That was my biggest thing. And we fell short.
We fell short again.

Speaker 2 And that's something I'm going to have to kind of live with the rest of my life that I've never brought the best version of Jeremy Bundia to the Olympia stage.

Speaker 2 And that's okay because, you know, like I said,

Speaker 2 it's just the plan that's been laid out for me. And if I would have done better, I probably wouldn't have retired.
And it would have hurt a lot of the other things I got going on in my life.

Speaker 1 You don't feel like that Fourth Olympia was like the best Jeremy Brundia that you've had?

Speaker 2 No, I just have been sharper. I could have been sharper.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 We had some fucking crazy packages back then, though. So

Speaker 1 those are fucking sick.

Speaker 2 Honey boys brought me in good. I mean, I'm not discounting Waddy.
It wasn't anything that he did because we, like I said, we woke up on Saturday morning ready. That was good.
So we had something,

Speaker 2 I don't know, maybe his anxiety and cortisol that did something.

Speaker 1 Bro, people really understand how much that affects you, man.

Speaker 1 Like cortisol and aldosterone it's insane man the water retention and everything and just how you go on stage how you even act on stage man it just makes all the difference and all the judges can see that especially being there in person as you're changing poses as you're breathing every single second they see those things you know what i mean at least as as as long as they're looking at you at the time right yeah so it's like fuck man it's um people really uh you really can't see it from pictures at all not not at all you got to be there on stage and my physique's not the same as it was before either Like, I've had a lot of injuries.

Speaker 2 I got three hernia discs in my lower back, three in my neck. I feel like I think I got like a rib out of place on my left side right now.
So I've been having a lot of serratus issues.

Speaker 2 So when I would hit my front pose,

Speaker 2 I wasn't able to engage the way I needed to engage to get bringing up those obliques.

Speaker 2 Not only that, but the way my way my abdominal structure is, is like I can't have like my rectus abdominis show and my obliques at the same time.

Speaker 2 So when I flex down my obliques, I lose that center line down the middle of my rectus abdominis. I don't have that split down the middle.

Speaker 2 In order for me to have that split down the middle, I got to pull my abs in and crunch down to see the six-pack. If I twist and blow out to hit my obliques, that disappears.

Speaker 2 So it's like I got to try and find that happy medium. Whereas when I was younger in my career, I was able to kind of do both.

Speaker 2 I was able to pull it in tight, hit the obliques, hit those center abs, and it would, that's what got me the Olympia titles.

Speaker 2 But my body isn't able to do that anymore because I can't pull my abs in that way and contract my obliques at the same time.

Speaker 2 It just, it's something that we've known the past two years I've been struggling with. And,

Speaker 2 you know, that transpired on stage. And, you know, it is what it is.
But I think, you know, it's not an excuse. It's just kind of the reality of where my body's at.
I'm not 22 years old anymore.

Speaker 2 I'm 35. I've been doing this a long time.
My body's beat up.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1 No, that makes sense. And, I mean, that's accountability right there, right? Like as we grow older, it's just shit that we have to accept.
It's fucking hard, man, going old. Fucking hard, dude.

Speaker 1 But,

Speaker 1 i mean you did an amazing job regardless dude you brought such a fucking sick package and uh it's i think it's even more inspiring for me honestly to see people that as they grow older and older they're still able to achieve so much whether it's in or out of bodybuilding but i mean even seeing like guys like uh my boy dura went back on but instead of 212 he's now doing classic of course because he's like what eight years older now he's like uh

Speaker 1 is he 40 39 40 now or something but uh yeah his his boy boy wanted to see him compete and he was like, fuck it, I'll go back on stage, but I'll do classic this time. And he did it.

Speaker 1 And then he qualified for Olympia and he's back on there. But of course, you know, he's smaller.
He's doing different things. He's taking way less dosages because there's a weight cap.

Speaker 1 And obviously, he's older now. So now he has to take care of his health.
There's just different things you have to do as you grow older.

Speaker 1 And you're not going to have the same capacity, but still being able to achieve those things is fucking phenomenal, man. And it's so cool to see.

Speaker 2 And like I said,

Speaker 2 I'm not done in the industry. I'm done on stage, so I'm not done in the industry.

Speaker 2 I'm excited to see what I'm going to be able to do with Transcend, the hormone clinic that I work with, utilizing the peptides and TRT.

Speaker 2 I'm still going to be utilizing those things to keep myself as healthy as possible, to keep my hormones balanced.

Speaker 2 But I'm also anxious to see what I can do with my physique utilizing just those things.

Speaker 2 And

Speaker 2 that's something we're going to be working towards in 2026:

Speaker 2 seeing what kind of physique we can achieve by

Speaker 2 optimizing my health with TRT and peptides. And not only that, man, like guest guest posing opportunities are still going to be there.

Speaker 2 And, you know, I'm, you guys see me on Instagram doing classic poses.

Speaker 2 Like, I don't think I'll ever get on classic physique stage because I don't want to have to push myself through that end of that, those last four weeks of prep and push the drugs I got to push in order to compete.

Speaker 2 But like for guest posing appearance, guest posing appearances, I can achieve a four-week outlook without running, you know, Trent and Hallow and put on a good show for these guys.

Speaker 2 And not to mention, like, I get paid like 10 times the amount for guest posing that I do for winning a pro show. So damn, holy shit.

Speaker 1 Fuck.

Speaker 2 I mean, the money's, yeah, so that's what I'm saying is, like, there's, there's, you're going to see me back on stage, maybe not competitive, but I'll still be guest posing and doing things like that if, you know, if

Speaker 2 time allows and, you know, I can get my physique built up to a point, you know, without having to push a lot of the drugs that I have to take to compete at the Olympia level.

Speaker 1 That's funny. That was actually one of the Q ⁇ As is if you would ever jump into classic.

Speaker 1 Because I think people think your fucking physique would be fucking sick in classic.

Speaker 2 I got so many posing videos from the last week of Olympia, classic posing, so I'll be dropping those as we go through because we got some,

Speaker 2 we got some cool videos.

Speaker 2 I posted for Kaiki, Carlos de Livera. I posted for him two days out, and he was like, damn, bro, like, you're in the wrong division.

Speaker 1 So

Speaker 2 I post for Craig Golias, and like, he was like, bro, like, this is insane.

Speaker 2 So, like, it was, like, I, there's, there's potential there, but like I said, like, I'm not willing to do the things that I need to do to compete that level like even if i were to do classic again i wouldn't do it with the expectations of being mr olympia i would do it for fun i would like i would be happy go on say i might take last place but i'm gonna go up there and pose my ass off and have a good time and it would be fun and it would bring the fun back to bodybuilding because you know like i said jovin got off stage jumping up and down for third call outs being happy about that that for me that's not the expectations are so high for me that even my eighth place victory i can't celebrate as much as he could celebrate that third call out because the expectations for myself were so much higher.

Speaker 2 And it kind of sucks the fun out of it when the pressure of being the best is there and

Speaker 2 you fall short. It's hard.
And it sucks the fun out of bodybuilding when you're chasing being the best all the time. The anxiety, the pressure,

Speaker 2 it's hard. And if I were to ever come back in classic, there would be no expectations.
It'd just be getting up there for the love of the sport.

Speaker 1 Right. Yeah.
I mean, bro, you've set such high expectation or high standards for yourself in your history and what you've achieved.

Speaker 1 And people undervalue just how much it's hard to, I think, separate yourself out from what you've achieved in the past.

Speaker 1 Because as we say, we compare ourselves to ourselves and we don't compare ourselves to others. We want to get better and better and better.

Speaker 1 But that's why it's so difficult when you go back on stage again and being like, oh, I'm just trying to have fun. If you have a history of being a four-time Mr.

Speaker 1 Olympia champ, it's so fucking hard to detach yourself from that, from you've achieved. You know what I mean? You have a higher level of expectation.
You have a higher level of standard for yourself.

Speaker 1 So

Speaker 1 I think where you are now and the fact that you're making this

Speaker 1 shift is going to be not just extremely valuable to you, though, but extremely valuable to a lot of people and all of us as well.

Speaker 1 Because you do have a lot of experience in places, not just in bodybuilding and how to create the physique that you created, but also how to navigate these waters mentally and psychologically that you have been navigating for so long.

Speaker 1 And that's something that a lot of us have not experienced.

Speaker 1 And a lot of people don't really think of when they go into not just bodybuilding and having a family, but also doing content and dealing with social media and dealing with other people's opinions and dealing with other shit like that while

Speaker 1 you're doing bodybuilding and taking drugs and other things. So

Speaker 1 it's a lot. It's a fucking ton, man.

Speaker 1 But you've been able to make it out this other side as a successful dad.

Speaker 1 And I think there's nothing else that anyone could be more proud of.

Speaker 2 Yeah, yeah, I agree.

Speaker 1 Are you down to jump to the Q ⁇ A real quick? Ask some of these questions.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I got a few more minutes. I got a call about 10 minutes.
I got to hop off. Oh, shit.

Speaker 1 Okay, cool.

Speaker 1 Yeah, let's knock this out then. What would you say is your biggest difference? Dante, Ethan, asks, what would you say is your biggest difference between 2016 and the 2025 Men's Physique Olympia?

Speaker 2 In regards to my physique or in regards to the stage?

Speaker 1 He kind of made it general, so maybe, I don't know, maybe both or whatever comes to your mind first.

Speaker 2 I mean, I was probably, I'm probably like 25 pounds heavier on stage than I was in 2016.

Speaker 1 Fuck, that's nuts.

Speaker 2 Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean,

Speaker 2 I weighed in at like 186, and my stage weight on the day was like 190.

Speaker 2 But 2016, I think I won that Olympia at like 165 pounds, 166 pounds. Fuck.

Speaker 2 As far as the competition, I mean, it's obvious. Look at the pictures.
This is a completely different generation. I mean, it's just a lot more muscle, a lot more size.

Speaker 2 You know, the amount of gear we got to take compared to what I had to take back when I first started is crazy.

Speaker 2 Like, that was the only reason I switched from bodybuilding to men's physique in the first place. I didn't want to run a bunch of drugs.

Speaker 2 You know, first, I won my first Olympia just taking freaking Anabar and Windstro.

Speaker 2 That was all I took. I won my first Olympia.

Speaker 1 That's insane.

Speaker 2 Fast forward now. We're freaking taking the whole kitchen sink.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 So, like, no injectables in the first Olympia?

Speaker 1 That's funny, man. There were so many men's physique guys that did that.
I remember I like did not want to start gear for the longest time and my coach kept trying to push shit on me.

Speaker 1 And then finally I gave in because I'm like, man, I want to fucking get my pro card and I'm just doing shit.

Speaker 1 And I got my pro card off of Windstroll and Halotestin, but I didn't inject anything either. So obviously like it was kind of crazy, bro.

Speaker 1 Just the fact that you're taking these orals and then I like didn't have a testosterone support. So afterwards, obviously everything crashed.

Speaker 1 And I'm like wondering why I'm depressed for like six months, not fucking bringing my test back.

Speaker 1 It was just such a lack of knowledge that obviously could have been fixed with just a little bit of research and awareness that we all have these days but yeah man it's interesting to see the evolution

Speaker 1 just random question for me by the way but can you uh can you vacuum no

Speaker 1 no do you think you could have vacuumed like back when you were younger if you had like practiced actually i got i got like really low rib cage so even when i vacuum it looks funny i can kind of do it but i can't pull up it underneath okay i don't i've never trained it though so it wasn't something i ever tried to do yeah i wonder if that's a little bit of a filipino thing man like so you know jeremy potvin i and i like um you know uh is her name maurice maureen maureen just won bikini at olympia right

Speaker 1 i just noticed that a lot of us uh

Speaker 1 pinoi competitors kind of have a little bit of trouble coming in with like very very detailed midsections and it's always just kind of been a thing man and i've always had trouble bringing it like i if I get really conditioned and I'm like flat and just depleted as fuck, midsection looks awesome, right?

Speaker 1 Super sharp. But as soon as I start carving up, the next day, midsection is the first thing that goes, even if everything else looks better.
So it's like, and that doesn't happen to everyone.

Speaker 1 You know, you got some of these guys, like, especially like black guys with fucking 10 packs and shit that look fucking sick. It's like as they fill out, like their abs only pop more, you know? Yeah.

Speaker 2 So

Speaker 2 it just look harder.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Right.
It's an interesting genetic thing that we have to play around. So I feel like that would be, be

Speaker 1 i feel like that's something probably interesting that you deal with whenever you deal with your clients i don't know what like variety you have in your client base or whatever that you have

Speaker 2 i haven't coached in over a year and over a year gotcha okay

Speaker 1 what is uh i guess um what kind of thing are you going to be doing with uh helping people

Speaker 1 I guess, because I'm pretty sure you mentioned earlier in the podcast about helping people with bodybuilding and like moving forward now that you're going to be taking off,

Speaker 1 now that you're not going to be competing yourself.

Speaker 1 Like, what else is entailed there other than like?

Speaker 2 It's more of a consultant. If people want to reach out and ask me questions, I'm here for them.
Okay, gotcha. We're going to create a body.

Speaker 2 We have a bodybuilding club that we're going to be starting here at Stoic Gym. I want to work with people hands-on.
You know, working remotely is not as personal.

Speaker 2 It's not as rewarding as seeing the people in front of me and the people I can see face-to-face on a daily basis to hold them accountable.

Speaker 2 It's nice to see people in front of you succeed. So that's why, you know, we're going to do it here locally.
And, you know, we'll see where that takes off. We haven't launched that yet.

Speaker 2 Once I get back from my travels, and you know, beginning November, we're gonna start the Stoic Bodybuilding Club, and we got a lot of athletes in here, and you know, I know these guys personally, so I'm you know, I have a vested interest in seeing them succeed because I see them every day.

Speaker 1 Gotcha, okay, that's dope.

Speaker 1 Um, Comcy asks, What are you most proud of in your life? Also, what a man he is.

Speaker 2 Um, most I'm most proud of my family, you know, my wife and my and my kids. You know, I

Speaker 2 taking a step back. It's actually, it was a, let's say, Monday, Saturday when I was at the beach, my family.

Speaker 2 I kind of took a second to step back and watch my wife and my kids playing on the beach next to the water. And I'm like,

Speaker 2 good job.

Speaker 2 My wife's beautiful. She's an amazing woman.
She's got a heart of gold. And my kids, they're beautiful.
You know, it's God's blessed me immensely. You know, I still have, my parents are still around.

Speaker 2 You know, I got, I haven't lost anybody really that close to me. And, you know, it's just, that's what I'm most grateful for is just the

Speaker 2 my family and the business, the people that I work with. You know, Sanjay, my business partner, we've been, he's been working with me for about three years now.

Speaker 2 He was worked hard working with me straight out of high school, 18 years old. Kid's only 21.
I say kid because he is a kid. He's 21 years old.
But

Speaker 2 I'm grateful for him because, you know, seeing the way he's grown over the last few years and becoming my business partner, and this kid's going to be a millionaire before he's 25, It's going to be incredible.

Speaker 1 Oh, that's awesome, man.

Speaker 1 I've seen a lot of people recently that have been taking people that they spend time with the most for granted.

Speaker 1 And it's kind of tough for me to see sometimes since I've lost a lot of close people in my life, especially a lot of my closest best friends. So it's nice to hear you say that, bro.

Speaker 1 It's a breath of fresh air. I think gratitude is very undervalued and being practiced every day.

Speaker 1 Dylan Amagi asks if you would be open to talking about your fertility journey and how did you do it?

Speaker 2 Yeah, I've made a video about this on my YouTube channel. It's actually, I talked about my fertility protocol.

Speaker 2 Both times we got pregnant, 1,000, I used ACG for like a month straight, and then I did 25 milligrams of clomiphene every day. And God blessed us both times.

Speaker 2 Like doctor, the doctors at Transcendent were telling me, like, oh, it's going to take like six months for you to create a new sperm cell.

Speaker 2 And I guess that's the science behind it or whatever, but maybe God just blessed us. Maybe it was a drug.
Maybe it was the ACG. Maybe it was the Clomiphene or maybe it was a blessing.

Speaker 1 I don't know. How long did it take you both times? Do you remember?

Speaker 2 I was on ACG for about a month. I got pregnant.
Oh, nice.

Speaker 2 The thing is, though, is like, I've had probably like 10 or 15 guys in the past year do that same protocol and come back to me and tell me they're pregnant. So

Speaker 2 their wives are pregnant, not then.

Speaker 2 It's 2025. You don't know it anymore.

Speaker 1 Naman Taylor Investor asked,

Speaker 1 what have you done for that small waist?

Speaker 2 Genetics and thank my dad for that. Yeah.
I mean, waistlines are, it's, it's genetic. I mean,

Speaker 2 people are saying, oh, don't squat or don't deadlifts. Like, I don't think that's it.

Speaker 2 You know, I think it's just, you know, not getting too out of shape in your offseason and, you know, keeping your waist nice and tight.

Speaker 2 But genetics plays a huge role. And just, you can't change the width of your hips.

Speaker 1 Yep.

Speaker 2 Got what you got.

Speaker 1 I don't think you can really make your waist smaller than it already is, that you're born with. Like you're genetically born with this waist and that that's what you got.

Speaker 1 But in order to not make it grow, probably just working on your GI health, making sure you're not overeating food and it's just getting stuff up there for like fucking months at a time.

Speaker 1 Brian Meer asks if you've had any experience with DHB.

Speaker 2 I don't even know what that is.

Speaker 1 Honestly, my first experience with DHB was with Patrick Tour, and I hardly even knew anything about it prior.

Speaker 2 So

Speaker 1 it's dihydroboldinone. It's like, it's kind of like

Speaker 1 people consider it like a compound that's in between primo and tread.

Speaker 1 So, I don't know.

Speaker 1 It's not used very often.

Speaker 1 S. Fry's 1234 asks, do you like the direction men's physique went as far as size and fullness?

Speaker 1 Or should they make a new division?

Speaker 2 They can't make another men's division. They can't make another men's division.
They can't. I already talked to Tyler about it.

Speaker 2 Like, they have the fit model for the women, but they can't do a fit model for the men. There's just no way.
it would, it wouldn't work.

Speaker 2 So, I mean, as far as am I happy with the growth of the division, I think it's become a lot more competitive. But you know, the men's physique wasn't supposed to be this when it started.

Speaker 2 You know, like I said, that's why I switched because it was a smaller division, that we weren't pushed as many drugs, and now these guys are taking just as much as the classic guys, if not, you know, which is the same thing, just these guys aren't training their legs as hard.

Speaker 1 Gotcha.

Speaker 1 Um,

Speaker 1 Aksham asks, uh,

Speaker 1 how did you deal with injuries? I guess mentally would be a good aspect.

Speaker 2 Having faith that you can come back from it, you know, just trying to keep your mental health in check and understand that, you know,

Speaker 2 not focusing on the short term, but focusing on the long term. You know, I've gone through a whole mess of injuries.
I've been out for six months, eight months, a year at a time.

Speaker 2 And, you know, it definitely affects your mental health, but also understanding that there's a bounce back, that, you know, it doesn't take that long to rebuild a physique if you're, you know, committed to it.

Speaker 2 Like I built, I put 20 pounds back on like the first like six weeks back in the gym after my Achilles injury.

Speaker 1 So

Speaker 2 it's your body has muscle memory. You're going to grow.
Just shoot them a text real quick and let them know.

Speaker 1 Cool. All right.
All right. I don't want to keep you any longer.
I know you got to go down.

Speaker 2 We got a couple more minutes.

Speaker 1 A couple more minutes? Okay. All right.
But

Speaker 1 when you did gain those 20 pounds, by the way, back, what did you do? Did you do anything specific or you were just like, I'm just going back on diet. I'm training them.

Speaker 2 I got back on cycle and just started pounding you know eating clean again and getting the calories and um you know i i didn't i don't take a whole bunch of gear um

Speaker 2 but you know just coming up from being off on just like trt and then going up from like you know 100 milligrams of tests to like 400 milligrams of tests and throwing in some mastaron my body responds really well my body loves my body loves mastarone like i i can i love that stuff it hardens me up good i put size on i feel good on it um the only side side effect was the hair loss from the DHT, but

Speaker 2 other than that, that's why I'm going to Turkey at the end of the week.

Speaker 1 Hey, bro.

Speaker 1 I'm going to Turkey in like fucking a month, too.

Speaker 2 So yeah, so I got an appointment out there on the 28th. I get my hair transplanted.

Speaker 1 I'm excited to see that shit, bro. I'm excited to see what's how it turns out.

Speaker 2 Did you see my hairline in Olympia? My barber came in. He did that spray and the hair fibers.
And like, my hairline was on point.

Speaker 2 I didn't even care about going to get my hair transplanted because my wife doesn't care. But like when they called me like, hey, we're going to pay you and fly you out to come do your hair.

Speaker 2 I'm like, if you guys want to pay me to do my hair, then cool. I'll come out.
That's fine. But when I saw the hairline

Speaker 2 at Olympia, I was like, oh, shoot, that's how my hair can look again. Let's run it.

Speaker 1 Let's fucking run it, bro.

Speaker 1 For real, Sam. I'm also just stoked to have a buzz cut for a little bit.

Speaker 1 You look pretty tough with the buzz.

Speaker 2 Thanks, man.

Speaker 1 A lot of people are asking about you competing again and like doing classic and shit and how great your legs are.

Speaker 2 I actually only trained my legs like 10 times since my Achilles injury. Damn.

Speaker 2 They bounce back quick, man. I was insane.

Speaker 2 It's fucking sick. Because I don't have any ankle flexion right now.
I can't bring my knee or my toe on my left leg.

Speaker 2 So the gym, before I opened my gym, where I was training at, I was really limited on leg equipment. There's only like 10 machines in the gym I've been training at for the past two years.

Speaker 2 So I've been really limited on my, on my, you know, the variety of my workouts.

Speaker 2 So my leg workouts are just like single leg leg press with my foot elevated on a platform leggy sensitivity hampshung curls and glute bridges you know when i open my gym i have like every leg piece there is so i was able to start incorporating more exercises able to train my legs a little harder and literally within the first six weeks my legs blew back up to where they were and then i hit the stair climber the stair climber for me that makes my legs big i don't know how it just does that's tight bro that's awesome also um regarding what you said earlier too about like how uh you kind of blew up and or like the muscle memory and then after you come off and you're like just running TRT doses and then you go back on and you gain so much size, man.

Speaker 1 I've seen that so often recently, especially in my podcast with Terrence Ruffin and

Speaker 1 Jordan Hutchinson. Like both of those guys took time off for surgeries and this was time off of like training, of course, as well.

Speaker 1 And then when they went back on cycle and training and diet and everything, bro.

Speaker 1 You're right. Like literally immediately both of them blew the fuck up in ways that they didn't expect.
Like Terrence always had trouble going above 212 pounds and he exceeded past that quick.

Speaker 2 quickly. Well, I bet I bet you the biggest thing was their nutrition.
I bet you they weren't eating the way they should have been eating when they were off cycle or just taking TRT.

Speaker 2 I know for myself personally,

Speaker 2 I wasn't dieting or I was just eating whatever I wanted to. You know, I don't have a huge appetite as that is.
That's why I don't get fat.

Speaker 2 I just, you know, I just eat whatever I want three times a day when, you know, I was doing for my injury.

Speaker 2 But the moment I switched back over to five or six meals a day, eating consistently, training again, my body exploded. So I think, you know, diet's obviously number one.

Speaker 2 You're not going to put on any tissue without putting actual, you know, nutrients in your body.

Speaker 1 Right, you need the blocks.

Speaker 1 Yeah, facts.

Speaker 1 It's also just cool to see, though, just like, you know, like, it's just more proof that, like, yes, you can take some fucking time off, man.

Speaker 1 Like, doing shit year-round all the time is just honestly not even going to benefit you as much in the long run.

Speaker 1 Like, cycling, taking breaks,

Speaker 1 this is just, it's the way.

Speaker 2 And it helps you stay up. That's why Han away had me do the Olympia all those years and never had me do any other show.

Speaker 2 It's why I never did the Arnold, because Arnold smacked down the middle of the offseason and like it's really hard to go do the Arnold and then do the Olympia because you don't have any time off.

Speaker 2 It's hard to cycle on and off correctly when you're doing the Arnold Classic. It's just, it's just right in the middle of the year.
You don't get a break.

Speaker 2 After Olympia, you maybe get a month off before you got to start prep again.

Speaker 2 And then you have a month off after Arnold before you got to start prepping again for the Olympia. There's no time off.

Speaker 1 Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

Speaker 2 And then also this year, the point system, these guys are going to be running the gauntlet trying to qualify.

Speaker 2 I'm really worried about it, though, because these guys, you know, they're going to do whatever it takes to get to the Olympia, and they might be on their orals all year round. You don't know.

Speaker 2 Like, there's got, I mean, a lot of these guys are on orals year-round as it is because they just don't give a fuck. And

Speaker 2 they aren't aware.

Speaker 2 I can't even express how many guys aren't even doing their blood work or getting their hearts checked or any of that shit.

Speaker 1 Right.

Speaker 2 It's like they don't think it's going to happen, anything bad is going to happen to them. They think that, you know, they're invincible.
But the reality is like it's going to catch up with you. Yep.

Speaker 2 So it's important to take care of your health because once your health is gone, that's what else you got left.

Speaker 2 You can't take care of the people you love if your health, you can't take care of yourself.

Speaker 1 The George Fisher asks, did you implement Redatrutide ever as a tool, such as in your recent prep for the 2025 Olympia?

Speaker 2 No, no. I've always had an issue eating, so it hasn't been.
I didn't even know what Reda was until like six weeks ago. Oh, shit.

Speaker 2 Some of the guys in the gym started taking it. I'm like, damn, you're looking good, bro.
And he's like, yeah, I'll take a reta. I'm like, oh, what's that?

Speaker 1 Damn.

Speaker 1 So it's always been hard for you to put on masks because you had to like stuff in food.

Speaker 2 Yep. I don't grow unless I'm eating like 5,000 plus calories.

Speaker 1 Damn, that's crazy. Yeah.
That's got to be that white boy genetics, man. I don't know.

Speaker 2 My low carb days are still like 150 to 175. And I would drop like crazy.
I'll be flat as hell.

Speaker 1 Damn. Wow.

Speaker 1 Damn, bro. That's crazy.
My lowest carb day was 70. That shit was fucking rough, bro.

Speaker 2 We tried that for a few weeks because we were worried about my weight. We didn't know if I had to be 182 or 187.
So we were trying to get down to the 182 for a while just to be safe.

Speaker 2 And I ran my body to the ground. I was eating like 7,800 calories a day, two hours of cardiovascular climber.

Speaker 2 My body came to a halt. And I was like, couldn't keep my eyes open.
I was dragging ass. Like, it was really, really rough.
And

Speaker 2 yeah, I mean,

Speaker 2 so the fact is like taking anything else to help with that wouldn't make any sense.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Yeah.
That makes sense too. I actually forgot to mention that earlier that when we were talking about like how we like like outburst and like trying to act in accordance to like our norm.

Speaker 1 I mean, dude, literally just the calorie deficit and like the fatigue and expenditure of like doing two hours of cardio. That's like really the main thing.
I think that exacerbates those things.

Speaker 1 And then it's, and then we put the shit on top of it that exacerbates it even further. But just like being in that such low energy state the last three weeks, man, like you don't have a span.

Speaker 1 Like you hardly even have an attention span to like be excited about anyone DMing you. It's like you get a message and you actually feel drained.

Speaker 2 I couldn't even train, bro. I called my coach like, hey, man, like this isn't working.
I'm not dropping weight. I can't even work out.
Like we got to do something.

Speaker 2 So we threw carbs back in, went to like 250 carbs, dropped my cardio by an hour. And like, next thing you know, my weight starts coming down, start getting tighter and tighter.

Speaker 2 And that's more food, less cardio. Right.
And I start losing weight.

Speaker 1 Yeah. So that's awesome.

Speaker 2 A lot of people are like, oh, I got to cut calories, add cardio to lose weight.

Speaker 2 But sometimes your metabolism is operating so, efficiently that you're actually going to run your body to the ground, whereas you actually need more food to you know add fuel to the fire so your body can burn through.

Speaker 1 Gotcha.

Speaker 1 Um, I have one last question I ask everyone at the end of every podcast.

Speaker 1 But if you were to disappear from the world tomorrow and you had one message you could send to the entire world today, what would the message be?

Speaker 2 Huh, that's a good one.

Speaker 2 I mean, as corny as sound, treat people the way you want to be treated. I think that's really important.
You know, like, like I said, the relationships are a foundational part of our lives.

Speaker 2 And, you know, the people around us matter. And when you don't have people around you, loneliness kicks in.
And loneliness is one of the worst things you can feel.

Speaker 2 And I think that's why it's important to treat people right. And like I said, I've gone through it.
I know what it's like to treat people like dirt. And it left me with nothing.

Speaker 2 You know, left me in a really dark spot and it left me with a little hope and left me with little faith. And when I started to take accountability for those things,

Speaker 2 my life started to turn around.

Speaker 1 I think hearing that statement means a lot coming from you, man,

Speaker 1 more than a lot of people with the experience that you have. So.
And I also think that

Speaker 1 something that I actually wanted to mention earlier that I think a lot of people kind of

Speaker 1 will have impressions of someone off of maybe one occurrence or one action or one thing that they saw online or something. And they'll immediately make a judgment about you.

Speaker 1 And people don't realize how often that could be wrong. I had an experience, for example, recently with Derek Lunsford, which I know there's people that have like conflicting,

Speaker 1 everyone's always going to have conflicting opinions about you, no matter who you are, if you're creating any, if you're achieving any kind of success.

Speaker 1 And at my last show, Derek just personally came up to me. Like we've never spoken before.
And he was like, hey, brother, I just want to let you know, do not feel down.

Speaker 1 I feel like you were overlooked at the show, and I don't normally feel like people are overlooked. And I think you have a lot to achieve, and I think you have a crazy potential.

Speaker 1 And I just want to tell you to keep going. And just gave me all this support out of nowhere that I didn't expect.

Speaker 1 And it was really nice to hear that from him because it's something I'll never forget, right? And I never knew who Derek was. I've only heard what people have told me about him.

Speaker 1 whether or not it was true or not. I never took that.
I never really can't take that into account until I have an an experience with him.

Speaker 1 And my experience with him was the best experience I could have ever had. So

Speaker 1 I think people realize, you know, what you've been doing has been amazing for not just bodybuilding, but the community and the world. And I think there's a lot of value that you have to offer.

Speaker 1 And I'm excited to see what happens with you moving forward, bro.

Speaker 2 I appreciate it, man. Yeah.
Thank you for the opportunity to be on the podcast and, you know, share my experiences.

Speaker 2 you know, let people know about what I got going on. And, you know, I say that wholeheartedly that I'm here to help everybody.

Speaker 2 And for those bodybuilders and influencers that are looking for that next step in their career, reach out because there's an opportunity to stoic gym.

Speaker 2 And we'd be more than happy to, you know, see if we could align and partner in some way to help, you know, create that next chapter after the stage for, you know, those that are looking for it.

Speaker 1 Hell yeah, brother.

Speaker 1 Well, thanks for coming on again, man. This was an honor.

Speaker 2 All right, brother. I appreciate you.
I'll talk to you soon.

Speaker 1 You too, bro.

Speaker 2 Peace. Thank you.

Speaker 1 All right. Love you guys.
Thanks for watching.

Speaker 1 I just wanted to say I really appreciate you guys for being here and listening to this podcast. I don't think there's anything more fulfilling and meaningful for me to be able to,

Speaker 1 I think,

Speaker 1 I guess just communicate about all this shit that we've been going through, man, in this passion that we love so much.

Speaker 1 And to be able to share this journey with y'all and all these experiences with y'all is

Speaker 1 very another thing that I've experienced that's been more fulfilling. So.

Speaker 1 I got a lot to thank you guys for. So

Speaker 1 appreciate all the supportive comments. You guys always comment on the channel.
That means a lot to see every single time you comment it, especially all of you guys that continue to come and return.

Speaker 1 And I recognize your usernames and everything. It's very, it's very helpful and it's very supportive and it's very

Speaker 1 enlightening for me to see and very motivating for us to keep doing this. So

Speaker 1 I guess.

Speaker 1 If you guys would like to, you can rate us a five-star in Apple podcast and Spotify, anywhere you find your podcast, and subscribe to the YouTube channel because uh, clicking that bell button helps us get greater guests like Jeremy Wendia, who I've always wanted to speak with, always

Speaker 1 honestly, since I was like, um, what since 2013.

Speaker 1 So,

Speaker 1 couldn't have been here without you all.

Speaker 1 So, thanks.

Speaker 1 And if you guys ever need anything, I'll be here. So, please feel free to reach out.

Speaker 1 This isn't a one-sided relationship.

Speaker 1 I enjoy conversing with y'all. And

Speaker 1 let's keep this shit going,

Speaker 1 let's get huge.