Straight Outta The Lair with Flex Lewis
7x Mr. Olympia 212 Champion Flex Lewis presents Straight Outta The Lair, the podcast that aims to bring you vital information for your life's ambitions, providing valuable insight from interviews of the many many different faces that walk through our doors at The Dragon's Lair Las Vegas and a few from the man himself.
Straight Outta The Lair with Flex Lewis
Trauma to Triumph | Shaun T | Straight Outta The Lair Podcast
Fitness legend Shaun T shares his extraordinary journey from a lean kid to a bodybuilding competitor, offering insights that are both inspiring and deeply personal. Shaun opens up about his traumatic childhood, including enduring sexual abuse by his stepfather, and how therapy played a crucial role in his healing process. His story is one of resilience and determination, providing hope to anyone facing similar challenges.
Listeners will also hear about Shaun's seamless transition from corporate life to the entertainment industry, driven by a spontaneous trip to LA that altered his career trajectory forever. Balancing a job at Equinox with dance auditions, Shaun's path led him to create game-changing fitness programs like Hip Hop Abs and Insanity. Notably, Shaun recounts his journey through various pivotal moments including a significant health scare, his relentless determination, and the powerful support from his mother, which culminated in his groundbreaking success.
As the conversation moves to raising children through surrogacy, Shaun provides a heartfelt look into fatherhood, the challenges of parenting, and the joy of watching his boys grow. His narrative emphasizes the importance of community, support, and the transformative power of fitness. Whether discussing the grueling routines of bodybuilding, the emotional highs and lows of therapy, or the fulfilling journey of parenthood, this episode is packed with inspiration, resilience, and a deep understanding of overcoming life's obstacles.
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You just worked out for an hour. Everybody's on the floor, and so that was how Insanity was developed. One of the most unhealthy things I've ever done.
Speaker 2:My next guest is best known for his home fitness programs for adults, adult children, which include T25, Insanity, Hip Hop, Abs Size. Let's Get Up and now Dig Deeper. Ladies and gentlemen, Sean T, Welcome to Straight Outta the Lair, my friend.
Speaker 1:Yo, I love this place. What's up, man? Thanks for having me on the show, Bro, talk about size.
Speaker 2:you've added Look at this guy. I say when he walked in the door, I was like man, Thanks for having me on the show, Bro, talk about size. You've added Look at this guy. I say when he walked in the door.
Speaker 3:I was like man, I was like Shanti.
Speaker 2:And you got big bro.
Speaker 3:That's what he said.
Speaker 2:He came in and he's like Shanti's huge.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, you know I never really realized how small I was until I got big. And you know my coach called me. He's like oh, that used to be a little man.
Speaker 2:I don't think you would ever small, my friend Always ripped, I don't know.
Speaker 3:I think, always ripped, always ripped. I think you're supersized.
Speaker 1:I never really realized how 6'188 or 190 pounds was compared to putting on muscle and being now 215, so 216.
Speaker 2:Well, welcome to the gym. I know you've been here a couple of times, yes, and it's great to have you here, my friend, and obviously there's something going on here. The body fat is looking very lean. We got a show coming up.
Speaker 1:We got four weeks out to Universe. I'm going to compete in classic physique and men's physique, going for the pro card. I did my very first show last summer, did the Texas Pro, which was such an incredible experience and you know, I never, ever, ever, thought I would get on a bodybuilding stage Like I used to do events and there were bodybuilders there and I always admired the physique and you know just, I knew obviously how much hard work went into it. But I was like one I don't think I could look like that and two, it just didn't interest me until it did.
Speaker 2:Well, it certainly looks like it did no right? Yeah, it sure did.
Speaker 3:And I mean like I've been. I've been a fan for a long time. You know I've done the Insanity videos religiously. I've done the hip-hop abs. You know you're always ripped, you know, and so that's why when I saw you, I was like oh, wow he got big. That's great man, you look great.
Speaker 2:Thanks, I appreciate it, I do but I do want to talk about your, your fitness story, um, later on in the episode. But I want to take us back to the early beginnings were you always a lean kid? And and tell us about your upbringing.
Speaker 1:Wow. So my upbringing, like everyone else in the world, you know, I always say to people we all have a story. You know we all have gotten to this place from somewhere. And I'm not sure if you're familiar with Robin Roberts. I think I love her so much because she always talked about she had a book called like Everybody's Got Something, because she always talked about she had a book called like Everybody's Got Something.
Speaker 1:And so everyone sees, you know this Sean T, you know the guy on the infomercial that's smiling, that has like this successful career, and they're like, oh my gosh, like how amazing would it be like to be him. But getting to that place was such, it was like such a struggle and it was. I was so proud of myself. When I look at that commercial, people see fitness and I see somebody that actually survived a very traumatic early childhood. And you know, for the longest time I would talk about this and I would immediately start crying until I went to therapy.
Speaker 1:But you know, I grew up in Jersey, uh, but originally I, the first seven years of my life I lived in Philadelphia and I lived with my mom, my stepfather and my brother and literally like an apartment the size of this office or this set, and this was even like big you know. And so you know, we just kind of had this childhood and we moved. Then we ended up moving to Jersey and within a year of moving to New Jersey, my stepfather I call him my step monster started sexually abusing me from the time I was eight to the time I was 12. Like he was an alcoholic, just he's a horrible person, and you know, I guess I was his outlet and so I really my childhood sucked. It just sucked, like everything birthdays, christmas, you know, cookouts, all this stuff that people really enjoyed. Like every single one of those moments was I was faking happiness, you know. And so that, and and you know obviously any part of your childhood from, you know you have kids, you know.
Speaker 3:You, you know when you're super Really impressionable in those years.
Speaker 1:Yeah, this is like your, your life, and then, especially around eight years old, that's supposed to be a time where you're, you know, especially as like as a boy, you're starting to like not be a mama's boy as much You're starting to, you know, have a little bit more independence and strength. And for me, I was just literally struggling, like afraid to go to bed at night because at 2 o'clock in the morning I knew it was going to happen Every night.
Speaker 1:It was. It felt like every night, but it was a couple times a week and he was an alcoholic, so anytime he would get drunk, come home from the bar or from somewhere, late, like the whole thing was, I would be laying in my bed. We had kind of like a gravel driveway, so like I would hear the car pull up door close. And it was really really crazy. I tell this and people have a hard time listening to it, but this is literally what happened. Drive up door would close. He would get in a fight with my mother Like I would hear them fight.
Speaker 1:Like I knew this was going to happen, fight. He would come upstairs, go into the bathroom, close the bathroom door, but he didn't go in the bathroom. He came in my room and you know, yeah, and everything unfolded. So that was just my life as a kid. It just wasn't.
Speaker 1:And it got to a point where you know the people like you know, how did you survive? And I'm like, for me, I took the position of I'm protecting my mom, protecting my brother in the other room. I'm like, cause, if I say something like this guy's literally probably going to kill us all. So like I'm like I'm just going to let this happen because I want her to be okay and I want my brother to be okay, and so that's, that's literally how I survived it. It was just like I made myself a. You know, I made myself like a warrior, like I'm, I'm the protector here, like I'm doing this for a reason.
Speaker 1:And then, uh, but you know, surrounding all that, there will be times when you know life was going on and everyone in the house and we would have friends over, a family over, and everyone be like all happy, and I'll be like hiding in my closet. I don't know if you guys remember, I don't know if you even remember there was a toy doll called my Buddy. Like my Buddy was my best friend, I still have one to this day. I know it's like really crazy. My husband, scott, bought me one like 13 years ago. He was like I'm going to buy you this because it was just like such a staple of my childhood kind of like a reminder of what you got over exactly exactly.
Speaker 1:And some people think like, oh, isn't that triggering? I'm like no, like you don't understand. Like this is my best friend, I would be in the closet with him and my light, bright toy and I was like this. So people always wonder like you know, I I'm really really outgoing, but I also love being alone where I used to be afraid to be alone. So therapy really helped me, kind of like now I embrace, like when I have my alone time, but anyway, so that went on from the time I was eight to the time I was 12.
Speaker 1:Now here's the. This is the craziest part that people cringe over. They never understand. And I'm going to answer this question before anybody even says like I wonder if that's the reason why you're gay. No, it's absolutely not. Like I just need to put that out because people are like, oh, that happened to you. Like I'm going to pray for you, that's why you're gay. Nope, that's not why I'm gay. Nope, that's not. It Let it happened.
Speaker 1:And you know the moment the last time he sexually abused me was when I had my first orgasm. Like that was it. Like he was a true pedophile, you know, because the minute the manhood came about, that was it Like he was like I'm out, you know. And then but here's the even crazier thing, like for me in my head, people are like you know. People say like oh, who was your first love? Or you know who was the first girl you fell in love with? Like I felt abandoned by, like Mama Lester, and so like I tried to get him to do it again. Because you just feel this and that is like really crazy. And to the point where I just started, like the more like he you know, stepped away, conditioned you, and I saw something.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he conditioned me to be like that, and so then it went from like me being like he would like walk around, like, yeah, sean, they called me shawnee, like shawnee's my favorite, my favorite son, excuse me, to the point where like I was non-existent to him, like he would like literally distance himself from me. And so that actually helped me. Because then, at the age of 14, I was like I moved out of the house. I was like I got to get out of here. I had to find a way to get out of here and I actually asked my grandparents, could I move in with them? And the first night I'll never forget, the first night I moved in with them. We all went to and I just started bawling, like it was, and everyone, like they ran in the room and they were like, oh, my grandfather's a pastor.
Speaker 1:So I was in church like four or five times a week either, singing, you know, praying, you know doing all the church things. But that night they came in and like started praying over me and they were just like, oh my gosh, like, and I was. I told her I was like, no, I'm just so happy, you know, like I was just like, oh my God, I'm so like. I get emotional about that. Cause that in in religious sense, you know, they say you know, except Jesus Christ is your personal savior, like you're born again and like that was at 14. I was like that's when I actually felt like actually came to life, like I escaped this, like darkness, and then that is truly where my life began, like a lot of people's life, like you said, you know, with my kids I showed them love from the moment they were born, but for me, like I lost 14 years of my life. So like, if you subtract 14 years from 46, you know I'm, I'm, I'm 32 years old, I know, I look it, you know.
Speaker 1:So that's, you know, that was that was my childhood. And then you know, and then I got to high school and I just became a different human. I started like I played football when I was a kid, but I never again football was an escape from being home, like you know, like sports was that. But then, when I got to, when I got to high school, but I never again football was an escape from being home, like you know, like sports was that. But then when I got to high school and I fell in love with track and field and I became a. I was a really good 400 meter hurdler. I got scholarships like the whole thing. I'm not going to brag, but People wonder where.
Speaker 3:This is your podcast. We know you're an athlete. Yeah, we know we. We know you're an athlete.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we know we can see it you know, but people wonder where insanity came from, and I'm like my love of track and field and the pain that you go through with every practice is where insanity came from. And, like, the whole Dig Deeper movement came from. And so in high school, that's when I just I became me. You know I was born and so that was my childhood. You know I was born and so that was my childhood.
Speaker 1:And you know I have all these, like I have a bunch of tattoos and people say why do you have like you know they ask me about why do I have all these sayings? I'm like everything you see on my body and even in my book.
Speaker 3:It's a reminder.
Speaker 1:Yeah, my book T is a transformation of like truth bombs. I'm like everything you see in my body is everything I would tell myself to survive. You know, as a kid you don't know that's really what you're telling yourself, but when you go back you're like holy crap, like this is all the things I'm going through and it doesn't really stop at that 14 now does it right?
Speaker 3:Because you know I've had some child trauma myself and you know it sticks with you. And it's like as, as men and people, I think we bury a lot of these things that we don't understand until later on in life. And, as you said, you went to therapy and you know, had to go through that process, right, and we all have to find our self-love and a lot of those things get really confusing and you know so you know tell us about how that that therapy went. You know, finally, you know moving forward, not to pass anything up, but you know to kind of focus on that because you know those things it didn't, they don't stop at 14. You're still dealing with them, probably now in some form, but you've figured out how to deal with it in a way that you're okay with it now and the self love and everything else is just different now, but you didn't just stop dealing with it at 14.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a really great question or great statement, because when I was, when I was 14, like if we talk about that for a moment, it was the joy of escape you know, so you're you're just like, I'm not in that toxic environment anymore.
Speaker 1:So in a way, while it felt really great, it was, also the joy was masking all of that stuff that I had no idea seven years from then, at 21 years old, I was going to have to deal with in a much more difficult way. You know, because when you're in high school and college and you know you're, you're living, you're exploring like at the adolescent stage a lot of times, especially like because I was in a place where I was, I was in a really good place with people who loved me. So I was, I was more like being nurtured to be like a really good human. But then when I hit 21, it started like getting in my first relationship. I was like, oh my gosh, like this is like really crazy. And then so I got to about 25 and that's when I had my very first therapist and my very first therapist was really focused on like sexuality, like embracing who I was, like finding my way through that, especially growing up in a very religious christian household and like maneuvering through that. But it was my second therapist that got me through the the tough sexual uh, sexual abuse because that's around the time when I met my now husband, scott, and this is if anyone out there finds themselves like in a space or like creating havoc in your relationship and you know internally that you're causing this, but you don't know where it's coming from, it's a really good time to look into your past or to go to therapy. So I would.
Speaker 1:It would be two o'clock in the morning and I would literally just wake up and start a fight with Scott. Like I know you can laugh about it. It sounds like so wild and literally I would drag him out of the bed. I would be like so mad. It's something he did like earlier in the day that you know. At that time it was like really deep for me and this like happened like like once a week.
Speaker 1:It was bad. I was like this man is literally going to be like yeah, leave me, so then I get to therapy. I was like I have to go to therapy because this is crazy. I don't know why this is happening, and I didn't want to admit that it was me, cause I was just like you when you're going through something like that, you're like it's that person, like I don't know if it's so. One day I was just like super, super sad and I didn't have a therapy session and my therapist was always like. She was like, if you feel crazy, literally in the middle of the day, she was like sometimes I have a break, just text me or call me and then we can work through it. So I called her and I was like this you know, this just keeps happening and I don't know why. And she just asked me one question. She was like but what happened to you at two o'clock in the morning?
Speaker 3:yeah, that's where I was gonna go.
Speaker 1:When you said two o'clock in the morning, I was like what, and that, literally, like that was the start of like me truly, I wouldn't say necessarily getting over the sexual abuse, but that was the start of me dealing with it in a way that I knew where to put it and then I could actually love the person that I was with for the person, Because I'm, like confused. I was confusing love from a man with love from my stepfather, like, which is so wild, you know. And so that was the start of me like really dealing with that, and I did. I went through a lot of and that wasn't it again, that wasn't the end just finding that out, it was like all of the things you had to deal with and you know.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, it was yeah, we put these things away, you know. But it's like you it was yeah, we put these things away, you know. But it's like you really have to understand and be okay that these things happen to me and you grow from that Right, and obviously you've grown your career and it's it's obviously given you some kind of push past pain and and all those types of things, but you have to go and dive into those things and and be okay with what happened to move forward in life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean it's, it's, it's. You said something really important. You know, push past pain and uh, you know people always ask me where dig deeper comes from. And I'm like, because this is, you know, most of the time, when you're, when you're working out the last three reps or if you're doing like body weight activity, like those 30 seconds, I'm like this is only 30 seconds of your life. Like can like what I went through four years. I'm like if I went through four years of that, I'm like I can get through these 30 seconds, I can get through these 30 seconds.
Speaker 1:I always tell people there's always a reserve and I don't really like saying through struggle comes strength, because sometimes it downplays the person being allowed to be in the struggle. But it also is very true that once you go to therapy or acknowledge what happened to you and you are able to, like I said, you can't get over but get through it and work through it, you do find strength. Because you find six, you found success of being able to get through something. So, um, yeah, so that's how I just kind of like keep pushing and that's how.
Speaker 1:I motivate people, which is really great.
Speaker 2:Can I go back a little bit? I know we kind of we a little bit all over, but did um, did you have the chance to to bring this guy into the authorities?
Speaker 1:So no, but I do have a story.
Speaker 2:We love stories.
Speaker 1:I have plenty of those, so this is the wildest thing. So I moved out of the house.
Speaker 3:Or go back and punch him in the face.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I never the day I left the house. It was kind of sad because while I did talk to my mother and I saw my brother in school, my brother and I was still really close because we ran track together, we played sports together, but I didn't, you know, it kind of distanced the relationship with my mom, but I, but for me it was like, unfortunately, worth only seeing her a little bit. To see him not at all, you know, to not see him at all. So I didn't see him for my entire high school career. So then I got to college and then I started, I started teaching fitness classes, which then got me a minor in dance, theater, dance, and so I I was, I was a really good dancer.
Speaker 1:I wouldn't know I was killing it. I wouldn't know when I tell you I was so good I've seen hip-hop dance. We've seen you. I did a TikTok here at the Lair before You're going to teach me some movement? I will. When that arm gets better, let's go.
Speaker 2:Don't use this as a disadvantage, bro. You just do the robot, bro.
Speaker 1:I mean no, we got.
Speaker 2:I could do feet and shoulders you know, okay, okay, I got some moves.
Speaker 1:But I got accepted into this. Really, it was like kind of a big dance show at a small theater in Philadelphia, but it was. If you got accepted into the show, it was like huge. So I'm dancing in this show. It's just like me and my friend we're doing this like incredible number and I look out and he's there, come show is just like me and my friend we're doing this like incredible number and I look out and he's there, come on. Y'all. Wow, it's a chills.
Speaker 1:So I had two, I had two ways to go about this. Yeah, I could either freeze and it like completely ruined the entire experience, or I could dance harder, and so I chose dancing harder, and so I get done and I'm like I have. I could either walk away. I'm like what's going to fuel me in this moment? And there's no right way to deal with this, like this isn't. So I remember walking up to him and I didn't say a word. I just kind of looked at him and he was just like you know, oh, like you did so great or whatever like that. And I just kind of looked at him and he was just like you know, oh, like you did so great or whatever like that and I just looked at him and I just walked away and that was the last time I saw him. Good for you, but last time I saw him, however, my mom had no idea that this had happened, like no one knew that he had done this to me. So he was still with my mother, this to me. So he was still with my mother. And the only reason she got away from him is is because one day she called me. I was in college. She called me. She was like I finally left him, like he's out, he's out of the house, and he had had to put a gun to her head. Like dragged out the house, had a gun to her head and she was able to get away from it. And that was the last time. So I never, we never, never, pressed charges like never, whatever.
Speaker 1:Here's another crazy part of the story. So me and Scott go to Pennsylvania to see cause I had a bunch of cousins on that side. We had a big family, it was huge. So I, we were in Philadelphia and one of my cousins was like hey, you know, stop by. I was like cool. So Scott and I stopped by her house and her mom was there. Who is his sister. So so my, so his. So, yeah, I see your hands Like, let me, let me work that. So I go to, I go back to Philly, I go to his sister's house, but I was visiting my cousin, her daughter, and so, scott, I go to his sister's house, but I was visiting my cousin, her daughter, and so Scott myself, scott and those two were sitting at the table and we're just like talking, like at this point I had told my mom what happened, which we can go back to that whole thing later and so we're just sitting around the table talking, and his name was Reds, but they called him Chickie.
Speaker 1:That was his name and she was like, yeah, you know, when chickie died and I had no idea, so I'm like holding this in, and me and scott are like under the table, like wait a minute, he died. And they were like, yeah, you know he died. And like, toward the end, like he was asking for, he's like I just want to see my boys. And I'm like, are you? Wow now? He's like, can someone reach out to the boys? Like I just want to see them. I'm like, thank god these people did not reach out to me, so the. So I never said anything to them but they actually they actually found out that all this happened through my book and there was like one tiktok that I did that I told my story and I got a bunch of calls from him and cousin. They were like I'm so sorry, you know this happened and so it was really crazy. But yeah, he died.
Speaker 3:So that moment you know, moment that you described when you first saw him, and you said I danced harder, Right, what a spiritual growth moment in life. Right, Because you could have gone another way and just attack this guy or you know, but the ignoring him and not giving him any satisfaction and you going harder, that's a push towards life, you know, and and and overcoming, you know, and I really appreciate that. I felt that when you said that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean him knowing that I reached like a high level of success, you know was kind of the win for me. You know was the win, because this is why it was a win. So like, imagine being like 11 years old and you have a science project and so we had this. Really I love science and so we had this like really incredible science store in my house I mean near my house where I grew up, and my brother and my mom were going. I think my brother had a football game that day and so they went there and so all of the molestation happened at night. So he was taking me to this day.
Speaker 1:Like daytime was safe for me, so I just had this like I didn't have like a lot of anxiety during the day. So I went downstairs and I was like, you know, can we go to the store? He was like, yeah, but you got to do one thing, so this. So it was the first time like he literally made me perform these sexual acts in the daytime because I wanted something like I know you, I can feel it in your soul like you're getting like. It was like so crazy, so to your point when I danced harder, like it was actually for that moment more than the for the other time, because, like that was a time where I felt like he wanted to gain the most control over me, to be like I'm making you do this, you're gonna look at me when you do this, you know, and he tried to like make me drink alcohol it was nuts, y'all like it was nuts.
Speaker 1:So dancing harder, you know, like of course I wanted to fight him. Yeah, you know, of course I wanted to stop dancing, go out there, jump over the chairs and be like I don't even know if I'm gonna win this fight, but but I was like my aggression has to go towards something that's going to make me feel like I won, you know. And so that was it. And dancing was like it still is like such a. It makes me forget about any kind of pain, you know.
Speaker 2:So well on on the transition of dancing. I think you've done pretty okay there, my friend.
Speaker 1:I did, man. I did a really good job. I ended up dancing for Mariah Carey, which was like one of my greatest things that ever happened to me.
Speaker 2:So tell us that transition from college, because in my research, your first ever. What is it when you put on some event in college? Right, I think 90 people turned up for this event. Yes, my goodness.
Speaker 1:So I went to college. So I got a scholarship for track and field to a bunch of different colleges, but I also got an academic scholarship to the college that I went to, which was Rowan University, and so my mom was like she was like even if you go to a D3 school, you can still run D1 times, and like maybe you'll still get your dreams of going to the Olympics or whatever you want to do. But I ended up going to college and I didn't run track like the first year, I just ate and gained weight because we grew up poor. I grew up in a situation where I would sneak downstairs to the kitchen after everyone went to bed and would put bread in my underwear just because I wanted more food, because it was like once the kitchen was closed, it was closed. So when I got to college, I had a food cart and this food cart worked with the Domino's at like 1 o'clock in the morning and I had a scholarship. So I wasn't even. I didn't even have to pay for this. This is free, dude.
Speaker 1:I didn't drink alcohol, like I wasn't like one of those people that went to college and just started drinking. I literally didn't drink till I was 21. But when I tell you I ate, I ate the big zd. And I was like just swiping that card, man, to the point where it was actually my first semester sophomore year. I was an RA, you know resident assistant in my building, my dorm room, and I woke up one day and I looked in the mirror and I was just like, oh my God, I was 178 pounds when I graduated high school, like super lean, and I was 228 pounds. So I gained 50 pounds, like that first kind of four years.
Speaker 3:Pizza will do that People say to freshmen 15. I was like man.
Speaker 1:I didn't even drink, like I didn't even have like a beer with this. But that day is when I went to the gym and I literally just ran on a treadmill for 10 minutes, because running is like something I knew I could do. And I woke up every day and all I did was run on a treadmill 10 minutes a day, and so I got to a point where I could run longer and then and I went into the weight room. But the point that I'm telling the story is I was actually a communications major because I wanted to do like radio, tv, film, and I changed my major from communications to sports science and so they kept saying in like my classes, in order for you to be marketable in the industry, you have to be able to teach different types of group exercise classes. So I was like what do I do best? I dance. And so I don't know how old you guys are, but I don't know if you remember mtv's grind workout.
Speaker 3:It was like oh, yeah, the grind workout where, eric needs to ask God Come on, bro, I'm 40.
Speaker 2:Okay, and I lived in the UK. We're old enough.
Speaker 1:And I still see you from the UK, y'all look so young.
Speaker 3:Oh, thank you no.
Speaker 1:So I remember so I actually had done that workout in one of like our building programs or whatever. So I asked the director of the student center. I was like, hey, you know, can I teach a class? And she was like, have you ever taught before? I'm like no, but I can dance. And so she was like okay, you know, my school is really good about that. Like, if you want to try something, they're like okay, good. So I went to the school newspaper. I did like a whole photo shoot.
Speaker 3:It was like you know, could, I could dance and I would go to the parties and I would be dancing. I can see this guy having a big line around him too. He's just in the middle of 100.
Speaker 2:When you can dance, you're popular on the floor, you just step in there, always in the middle, yeah I know I can dance when I've had a couple of drinks, but when I look at it back, I can't dance. But this is not my podcast.
Speaker 1:Carry on no, it's good, I love it. We're going to dance one day. We have to. But I went to the school newspaper and I put in like you know, teaching a class. So I'm thinking, you know, I'm thinking 30 people are going to show up, maybe you know. I was like whatever. So 90 people showed up to my first class and so she comes over to me. She was like the room only holds 60. She's like you have to teach two classes in a row. I was like all right, so I taught two classes in a row and immediately she put me on the group exercise schedule, packed class every single time. And for at that time I was 20, I was like maybe 1920, I think. I was like later, my later 19 year, uh, I had like I was making 50 bucks teaching like a an hour group At 50 bucks an hour.
Speaker 1:So then I was like, oh, this is fun. So then I learned how to teach boot camps, step aerobics. I got certified in cycling, the soul cycles and pelotons. I'm like man, I was teaching that rhythmic fun stuff back in 1999. So that's kind of how I got into, that's how I got into fitness. And so, uh, once I did that, then I started going to fitness conventions. And when I started going to fitness conventions I made my way to apply to be a fitness presenter at these fitness conferences. And so, uh, I did that for a while and I won an award for best international presenter.
Speaker 1:And then I started getting jobs in all over Europe. Man, like you got to understand, like, coming from where I came from, where I didn't have a lot of money, you know, people would call me up from a fitness convention in Europe and they're like, yeah, how's, how does you know? Twenty five hundred euros for three classes in a weekend, sound, and we'll fly you over, you, over here. I'm like doing what I absolutely love, like being on stage motivating people. I'm like this is awesome. So that's how I got into the fitness world. That was just. I mean, it's kind of cliff-noted, but that's kind of how I got into that world and it was just like it was amazing. So then, when I I worked as a, I worked at a pharmaceutical company for health program management, and then this is another long story, sorry.
Speaker 2:So I worked in corporate for like two and a half years.
Speaker 1:And then I went to LA to visit a friend. I just flew out to LA it was my first time flying there and my friend was like you're a good looking guy, like you should get some headshots done. So I'm like okay. So I went and got headshots done and I was like I'm definitely going to take dance classes out there, because dance classes it's the Mecca in Los Angeles, you know. So I go to this class, I have my headshots for to this class and the instructor, she was like you're a really good dancer. She's like they're having a um audition for this um, this agency around the corner and I was like when is it? She was like later today, I'm like all right, had my enterprise rental car went there. I was wearing like a tank top and like nothing, I walk in. All these people are like dressed to the nines. I'm like, well, whatever, I'm just here, this is fun for me.
Speaker 2:Kind of like you're in right now. Yeah, just literally how I am right now it's sort of describing itself Just let down.
Speaker 1:These garments are probably way more expensive than what I was wearing before. And so I walk into the room and there's like 250 people At least 100 of them were guys and I'm just like, but I was like a little bit nervous, but also I'm like what do I have to lose? Like I'm just going to use this as another dance class. And so they kept making cuts and I kept staying and I kept making, they kept making cuts and to the point, there was like six guys left and they were like we'll call you in two weeks to see if you can be a part of my agency. So I went home, I was doing laundry at the laundromat with my quarters, and I got this call and they were like we want you to move out to LA to be in our agency. And I called my mom right away. I was like I would have to quit my job. I was also teaching dance classes, making over $100,000 a year at this point already. And my mom was like you don't want to regret it. She was like you know how to make money, you have a degree. You know how to make money, you have a degree Like, go do it.
Speaker 1:So I moved out to Los Angeles and with like $3,000 in my pocket, my brother and I we drove across. Like you know, I had to like tape on my Chasing the dream. I was chasing the dream, I had tape on my rearview mirror Like one of my things, like let's go, and so went out there. But so went out there. But I also got a job before I went out there, teaching at Equinox, because of the fitness conventions that I did, I knew a bunch of people. So I was teaching at Equinox while I was also dancing and my classes at Equinox were like my dance classes I'm not bragging, they were good man, like people would show up like 45 minutes to an hour just so they could get a spot in my class. And so you're in la.
Speaker 1:So there's a bunch of producers around. So a producer from beach body would just like be watching my class. I'm like who's this woman watching my class? Anyway, she ended up reaching out to me. She was like you know, we would love for you to do a program for our company.
Speaker 1:I had no idea what beach body was. I was just like it was always a dream to do the eric niece workout, you know. So I was. I just want to do this one time. And so, anyway, I met with Beachbody and then I got a contract and my first program was Hip Hop Abs. So that's where Hip Hop Abs kind of originated from, and I just remember being in the conference room and we're talking about you know, some dancing was too hard how do we make it easier for people at home? And so I lifted up my shirt and I made my stomach like really big. I pushed my stomach out and I was like you know, if you really just like tighten your core, like I'm, like all dancers have to be low to the ground. And they were like my God, and we were like hip hop abs, this is so cool, but here's the thing. So people might not be able to see it, but I have a scar on my stomach right here.
Speaker 1:So nine months before I got this contract, I had, um, my appendix ruptured. And my appendix had been ruptured for like two days. I was in the hospital on like they had no idea why I was in so much pain. Even they did cat scans, they did all this stuff. My appendix had ruptured behind my intestines. So my doctor comes in a room. He's like your white blood cell count is really high. He's like we think you have AIDS and I'm like, I'm like there's one thing I don't have and that's it because I was.
Speaker 1:I was not that promiscuous and I didn't, you know, shoot intravenous drugs. I'm like, no, it's got to be something else, you know. So then he was like we have to do exploratory surgery. So anyway, they cut me open here and they saw that my appendix had ruptured behind my intestines. And the doctor said to me after I got out of surgery he was like you're going to have a really rough recovery. He's like because I saw your abs and he was like I usually cut people all the way up to their sternum. Because I saw your abs and he was like I usually cut people all the way up to their sternum and he was like I can't mess up this guy's body.
Speaker 2:He was like your body is so good. What a great doc.
Speaker 3:Dude like had he done that.
Speaker 1:It's that ugly scar that goes all the way up, the scar that goes all the way up here, All my motorcycle friends?
Speaker 3:Yeah, jump dirt bikes and stuff which is crazy.
Speaker 1:So Like thank God for that doctor, because nine months later I'm sitting in a room I show my abs and like my entire first part of my career is literally based on my abs. Like had he done that and I had that scar, like I don't know if I would have not gotten the job. But like hip hop, abs was major, became the number one infomercial. I like bought my first truck from that. It like really launched my career and I want to find that doctor and just like I'm like hoping he's still alive because he's pretty old. When he did that, like 20 years ago, but um what's that?
Speaker 1:do you remember his name, doctor? I don't remember his name I'm. I need to try and find him. Though it was in van. I was in van eyes hospital. I do remember that we got some fans.
Speaker 2:I love to do some research. Yeah, for the fact I would totally like.
Speaker 1:I was like I need to find this guy. It was because, I mean, that decision literally like changed the course of my career.
Speaker 3:I think, yeah, I mean because it's like you, you know you're the, you're also like a model with with everything else and like in hollywood, you know it's super competitive right. So, like you said, maybe it wouldn't have gotten as far as you, as you wanted, because of that scar or something so I think.
Speaker 1:I think god lays the plan for us and everything happens for a reason 100 man, because every audition, when you're a dancer, when you're a tall athletic dancer, everybody takes off their shirts yeah, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3:So in la is the worst place when it comes to this real being picky on every little thing about you You've got them all. And then they know there's another 2,800 people out the door waiting to try to take your spot.
Speaker 2:Yes, I've had a rupture appendix and there's nothing worse than that. The pain. And, like you, they went in, they cleaned me up. It had burst and the pain was. I was doubled up, hunched over, and that pain is excruciating. So I sympathize on that view. But one thing I want to just touch back and we don't have to talk about it, is Shout out to mom.
Speaker 2:Yes, what a freaking great woman to give you that pat on the back and a kick in the butt to say chase your dream son. Yes, because that is not common, let me tell you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like I didn't want, I don't want to. I definitely want to give her props and not step over that, because like that was the defining moment, because if my mom had been like you know, I may have still gone anyway, but I would have gone with like reservation and not freedom, right, but like she was literally like stop doing everything you're doing because you don't want to regret it, you know, and I'm glad you said that because I'm sure she'll listen and hey, mom, you know, because I go your back you know, I know that in her heart and in her soul, like a lot of moms, feel like you know I wish I could have done better, but I'm like, like she was in, she's amazing, like she's the reason why I graduated honors with a high in high school and college and like you know, yeah, like her life is.
Speaker 1:You know she made some really tough decisions in her life and whatever, but like her love for us as her kids and like the direction she put us on, I could tell that she's like I don't want you to end up like me in a place that I wanted to do something else. She's like go, keep going. She's still my biggest fan, love it.
Speaker 2:I just wanted to point that out. Yeah, I appreciate that. I had a very supportive mother too, full of worry Don't get me wrong, but she me wrong. But she said to me get on that plane, you can always come home. If you don't like it, you can always come home, and I never did now I fly it out to me.
Speaker 2:I know that's it, she's actually, she's actually her, my, my dad, are in my house right now. I love that, um, but going back on to the timeline, so you now, um, you've done the, you, you showed your scar, you caught, got the addition yeah what was next?
Speaker 1:well, after, after hip-hop abs, you mean, yes, oh, so hip-hop abs. And then, you know, with with beach body, I just kept going. I just I went hip-hop abs. Then I did my second program, which was rock and body, which is another dance program. So they were like, oh, let's keep this dancing going.
Speaker 1:So then the ceo of beach body, called dykler, was wanting to do an intense like body weight fitness program. So I went to him. I was like I want to do this program and he was like, no, you're just a dance guy. And I'm like step back, give me 24 hours. Oh shit, I said, give me 24 hours. He was like I'll give me 24 hours. And he was like I'll give you 24 hours. So I called up like three or four of my friends. We went to a dance studio and I called up a videographer that I knew and I was like are y'all ready? I didn't tell them what they were doing and I did an insanity workout. It's actually one of the filming is not one of the workouts, but the workout that I created for my audition is Plyometric Cardio Circuit. It's literally the same workout and we shot it and the videographer sent me the DVD. You know, you had to have a burner.
Speaker 3:DVD.
Speaker 1:I sent it to Carl Literally less than an hour later he was like wait a minute, you mean to tell me you just worked out for an hour? Everybody's on the floor, you're still talking and doing a workout. He was like this is your program, and so that was the incentive. That's how insanity was developed. So basically, all I did was take everything that I've I learned in a track and field practice. You know, you, I was a 400 meter hurdler, so we did eight 400s with there. We had like either a minute or 90 second rest and you did that over and over and over again.
Speaker 1:But all of our practices started out with a mile run and our coach was like you got to hit that mile run in under seven minutes, just as your warm-up. So like people say like, oh my gosh, your insanity. Warm-up is like people say like oh my gosh, you're insanity. Warmup is crazy. I'm like I need you to know what it feels like to run a mile in seven minutes. And then we did our stretches and then you still have to go do your workout, your your interval workout. So that's why all of the workouts are two minute intervals with a 30 second rest. Two minute intervals, 30 second rest with a power move at the end of it because you we had to do like the bleacher. So I just took everything I learned in track and field and put it into this and that thing blew up like crazy.
Speaker 3:Like I told you, I was all over that. It made me go back, get hip-hop ass, made me go back and you're like I'm gonna do everything I did. I was like I love the energy that you brought to it. You know, obviously it was extremely hard, um, but I love the energy about it and, yeah, man, I got hooked on it, uh, you know, as part of my fitness journey were you in the marines then?
Speaker 3:I wasn't in the marines then I was already. I was already out of the marines, but, um, I was just, uh, me and my girl at the time, we just fell in love with it. You know, we love the energy about it, right, and so we went through all the programs, right, and and I was telling him earlier when he first came in, even back in 2020, I went back because, you know, now I'm at, I'm stuck at home and I just though that program always works so well for me, especially when you stuck to it. Keep your diet right, core tight you know and I love that.
Speaker 3:It's been great you know and and it's, it's improved great, you know, and it's improved a lot of people's lives out there and so it's great yeah, it changed people's lives and doing what? You love it's great love to hear it.
Speaker 2:I loved it. Do you know you were talking about? You sent that? What would it be, the? What would it be when you sent that to your producer?
Speaker 1:oh, the the screen test, basically. What would it be when you sent that to your producer? Oh, the screen test, basically.
Speaker 2:Yes, the test and you said all of your colleagues are on the floor and I've seen so many of your workouts, so the people that are doing the workouts with you, obviously they're high, intense. They've been around you, but has there been any times where you've had people in your own class on live commercials or filming live that have passed out because they just can't keep up with you?
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:No, okay.
Speaker 1:And here's a very interesting story. So, as you know, when you're shooting fitness workouts, you know they do an audition. And so they do this audition where they're like they want to get good looking bodies. And so in my head I was like I don't want to do this. I've already been doing a test group with people to you know the people you see on the infomercial. I'm training them and I'm like you don't understand, like just because someone looks good doesn't mean they're at this level of fitness. And so we do an audition. But the people in my test group was like we want to. We want to be in the workouts too. So, literally, you know the warm-up of insanity is insane.
Speaker 1:And so let all the fitness models that are like really pretty, they're like falling out, oh yeah the only people that are left are the people that were in my test group. So there were some people like marathon runners or like triathletes that came in that they're hired. You see, them are like break dancers. It's crazy how fit break dancers are, so I had some break dancers in there.
Speaker 1:But most of the people you see in my workouts are people that have trained under me or they've done, but and when I got in my later years, like with max 30, like these are people who had completed insanity like 12 times. Because I'm like I need people in the workouts that can keep up so that they don't pass out, because we would shoot two workouts a day man, I would watch people in the back.
Speaker 2:I'd watch people in the back when he was yeah but like you said, bro, this guy's going to go. This guy's going to go.
Speaker 3:You're like who's going to go next? I remember Rachel in the video but, like he said, I was out of the Marine Corps so I was used to tough stuff. There was times where it became like the cold plunges now where you're like looking at that cold plunge and you're like, ooh, I really want to do this Cause when you're about to start insanity, it's like you gotta like get your mind right and be like all right, like I have a question for you.
Speaker 1:How many times did you pee before you did your workout? Everybody's like I gotta go to the bathroom, I gotta go to the bathroom.
Speaker 3:And they're like I'll get in, I'll get in, let me just touch, alright. Alright, let's go.
Speaker 2:My phone's ringing yeah exactly but thank you, thank you so much, I really appreciate it well, I can personally tell you obviously not coming from the US, as you can probably hear by my accent if you did not already know? I kind of knew it was all over the you know after that, uh, watershed infomercials were all you. Any channel, any channel, I mean, it went from I would say probably like from 12 to three, four in the morning oh yeah you'd always see sean t there with his top off ripped up.
Speaker 2:I was already on my bodybuilding journey, so I was not going to be doing any of the workouts but I will say that it's changed a lot of people's lives that I personally know and even still to this day, I want to give you credit and give you the flowers where they're due, because a lot of people during COVID dusted off them DVDs and they put them back into the DVD player if they still had them probably the PS3 or PS4 at that point and it kept them sane and they put them back into the DVD player.
Speaker 2:If they still had them, probably the PS3 or PS4 at that point. Yeah, exactly, and it kept them sane in the insanity.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So respect to you, my friend. This thing kept on prolonging itself many, many moons later, and who knew that this would have a resurgence again during COVID? So during that time again, did you really know you had something special and you were traveling around the world? Or was it a delayed reaction? Because the reason why I asked that some people don't know the impact they make because they're so in the grind until they take a step back and then they see how many lives they changed. What was your perspective on that?
Speaker 1:So I have a very different perspective in that, because someone told me that my pursuit to have an infomercial a fitness infomercial would never work. Like I literally like my agent, the agent that brought me to LA I was going to have them have this contract. They would get 20 percent of all of my money that I ever made. I gave them the contract. They were like we're not going to take any of this money because these infomercial things never work. So I walked out of that office and I was defeated in a sense, because I'm like yo, you know, I'm one of your top dancers, I'm always working. Yo, you know, I'm one of your top dancers, like, I'm always working. So the fact that you would even think that you wouldn't be even encouraging, like, all right, let me, let's do everything we can to make this work harder so I'm like okay.
Speaker 1:So when I when I sold 10 million dvds, 10 and I counted and I'm not about you know, I'm not about money.
Speaker 1:But in I'm not about money. But in this situation I was like when I counted, when I sold 10 million DVDs, and I looked at my bank account and I was like that 20% that y'all were going to get because you didn't believe in me, I got it. But the most important thing to answer your question was when I walked out of that building that day. I was like, well, if I change one person's life from this just one Like, imagine you changing one person's life, a person that may have been sexually abused or was going to commit suicide and this fitness thing is what made them start believing in themselves. Or that woman or man that needed to lose 50 pounds I'm like there's only one. Or men that needed to lose 50 pounds. I'm like there's only one. Like if I get one story and then 10 million DVDs later and like however many programs it led up to that, I'm like.
Speaker 1:So for me, I always focused on just like one person. So whenever I got on stage, like, I connect with people in a way and I can say this that no one else that gets on stage does, because, like, I treat everyone as an individual and like this is probably a little like people might think it's like foo-foo or whatever. But when I teach I've taught 20,000 people before and I walk out on that stage, the first thing I say is I'm like this is not my workout. Like, obviously I know I can do it, I start moving and I get the common denominator of energy that's in that room. I rarely ever create a workout before I go live on stage. I do it all off the top of my head because I'm like I have no idea who's going to show up.
Speaker 3:You're reading the room. I'm reading the room.
Speaker 1:And I do it off the top of my head and I have my music. My music is like set. So I've always connected to the people, like always, always, always. It was like and you know that's, you know, my grandfather was a pastor Like I would go literally on a Saturday. We would wake up, we would go to the farmer's market. We would fill our his station wagon you remember station wagon. He'd fill up his station wagon with like bread that was going to expire. We would take it to, like the poorer neighborhoods.
Speaker 1:He would get out to take his megaphone, he would start preaching and like anybody to walk by people who had been in jail, like he's, like I just saw him like connecting with people and I'm like, so that was the foundation of where I came from, like how I was inspired to be in front of people. So it was. I always took a step back and be like. I always say, like it's not about me, like obviously I can do this, like I'm in front of the camera, it's about you. So I always connected to the people wow.
Speaker 2:Um well, talking about connecting with the people, you know are connecting with a whole different, newer audience, I know and I want to hear this transition from the guy that we all knew from the infomercials now getting on to a bodybuilding stage. How did even that transpire?
Speaker 1:man. So for about 11 years straight I I played tennis, and so it's going somewhere.
Speaker 3:You know, y'all know by now, like I have a story and the story has a start.
Speaker 1:So I was obsessed with playing tennis to the point where I was so obsessed with it and I played so much that I just, you know, I met like tons of people. One is Patrick Maradaglou, who is Serena Williams' coach, became friends with Serena Williams. She's so amazing. I was obsessed with tennis to the point where I played so much that my shoulders started hurting because I was doing it in addition to my fitness, and I'm getting a little older and I'm just like, oh my gosh, you know whatever and you're competitive.
Speaker 2:I'm lean, I'm lean too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know whatever and you're competitive and I'm lean competitive yeah, like I would. I got to the point where I would show up to a grand slam tournament and there would be a player that was like hey, sean, you want to come out and hit? And I would look at scott like gotcha bitch scott said to me one day.
Speaker 1:He was like he was like uh, he, he was a professional soccer player, so like he, he looks at somebody who's starting to play tennis at 32. He's like you know how hard it is to play at that level. Like he was like, if it was track and field, yeah, different. Like, of course. He was like have you seen my videos? Yeah, and so he goes. I said I said I'm gonna be friends with serena one day. He's like. He was like no, you're not. I was like I'm gonna hit with her one day. He's like no, you're not. So when I did, and now I'm at these tournaments and I'm like I'm going to go hit on center court, he's like all right.
Speaker 1:So, anyway, I had to say that I played tennis literally for 11 years straight, but also doing my fitness stuff, and I got to a point where my left shoulder just started to hurt, but kind of like we were talking about before the podcast started. You're like, eh, I'll work around it, I know how to stretch it. You know, you do all these things, good old stretch.
Speaker 2:I'm like.
Speaker 1:I'll run around my backhand, I'll just hit a forehand. I'm fast, I can cover this To the point where, like, I couldn't even reach to grab a cup out of the cover with my left arm and then so I got stem cells. I was like, oh, let me do some stem cells anyway. My shoulder never healed until the point where I went to my doctor. He did an mri. He was like you have a bone spur that tore your rotator cuff and a labrum tear. He was like there's, you have to get surgery. He was like I don't, I prefer you not to, but you have to get surgery. He was like I prefer you not to, but you have to get surgery.
Speaker 3:Shoulders are tough too, because you don't get a lot of blood in there and so they don't heal themselves.
Speaker 1:But I still had to teach classes. So then I had to do live streaming classes. So then now I'm creating all of my workouts around this shoulder to the point where I couldn't even work out. I couldn't play tennis. I started to like, didn't? My stress level became really, really high.
Speaker 3:And then I started getting injuries. Yeah, then I started to.
Speaker 1:I was moving every day, still exercising, but I was gaining weight purely from the stress, and so I just made a decision with my doctor. I was like he was like let's just do the surgery. He was like this is cool, this is in 2022, february of 2022, so this was two years ago got surgery, got to physical therapy two weeks after surgery. I'm in physical therapy and there's this woman in there and she is like her body was insane and I'm I'm going to say this as a joke I'm gay and I'm looking at her like who the fuck? I'm like this is the only time where I started to question my sexuality.
Speaker 1:I'm like what? So I'm like with the head physical therapist in there, he had introduced me to her. He's like if I'm not here, you know she's going to work with you. And I just said to her, I said to him I was like do you think she would train me? And they all thought I was like being crazy, because they're like you're Shaunti, like what do you need to train her for? And I'm like he was like ask her.
Speaker 1:So she started walking by and I was like hey, kristen, will you train me? She was like that was easy. So I met with her the next day or like a couple days later, and she was like when I was the summer of my eighth grade year, after her eighth grade year, like that summer she was like I bought Insanity and that was. She was like you know, I was not happy with my body as such a young kid and she was like that was the reason that I got into fitness, which then, you know, she played sports and then she went to college and she was like that was insanity, was kind of like her inception to health, and so now she's a physical therapist and she's a doctor and you know a lot of that came from like her being inspired by me. It's like full circle.
Speaker 1:She's like 15 years younger than me, which is crazy.
Speaker 2:Isn't it great.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so then then you know, I did physical therapy with her and then she started training me and we're in the gym. Like I didn't go to the gym, I worked out at home, like you know I was. You know I was the fitness guy and I lifted weights maybe three times a month, just like you know good I'm not hating people that you know I'm like, but that's what I did.
Speaker 1:I was like more body weight in tennis and so I started going to the gym and I'm in the gym and I remember I couldn't even lift 15 pounds with a shoulder press because my shoulder was so everything hurt, it was just painful and she was like she's good and as we're doing this, she's basically taking me back to college, to my kinesiology days, and there's nothing like learning about your body through an injury while actually doing it. You know exactly. You just like. So you're, you're um, digesting so much more of the science because you have to heal, and especially somebody like me who loves science and I have a degree in sports science.
Speaker 3:Makes you do more research too, because you're like what can I do to heal this? What exercises can I do? It really makes you dive in.
Speaker 1:And she's the kind of trainer because she's a physical therapist. She's like twisting my body as I'm doing exercises, and she was like you're off here, whatever. So anyway. So I said to her about maybe seven months after training, cause I go, I'm good, now I'm going to the gym and I'm seeing all these guys and I see all the and girls too, and I see all these these pictures on the wall, people on stage and I was like I want to compete. And she was like are you so?
Speaker 1:Before she said yes cause I got really like respect to her, cause she, she's a, she's a IFP before and before she said yes, she was like okay, there's a few things we have to talk about. Before she was like the stage body that's not going to be your real body, so don't get attached to that body. She was like you're going to go through this thing called prep and she was like I need you to document the time where it feels good for you, where you can sustain that forever. She was like that's the body that you're going to have. She's like once you get past that, you're not going to be able to have that body every single day. So she really she was like.
Speaker 1:So real with me, to be like this is a sport. And she was like and I know you love being ripped and she was like when you get that ripped, it's part of the sport. So she was like. So we had a couple conversations about it and she was like I just want to make sure she's like, because a lot of people get into it and it messes with their mindset when they have to get that lean and then they, you know, have to bulk up again and the whole thing anyway. But one of the things that I loved about her first of all, she helped me develop my newest program, dig deeper. I had to pay it back to her like she's in it. She helped me develop it.
Speaker 3:It was just amazing the full circle for her.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and now she's in my workout oh wow and then in this the split two of my workout, like she's actually teaching and you know. But I had to do that because I wanted people to know. Like you, people would always be like why do you have a trainer? Why do you have a trainer? Why would a trainer need a trainer?
Speaker 3:and now they know I'm like every gold medalist has a coach you know what I mean, like you, know you need the mental, you need someone who's driving you right like yeah, yeah, that's the best.
Speaker 2:All have coaches yeah so coaches need coaches.
Speaker 1:Even coaches need coaches. Somebody's inspiring you. You know so. But the the other thing I loved about her she's like but I can't take you on this journey. She's like one, I'm a female. And she was like, yeah, there are women who coach men. She was like, but she was like I, I have the right person for you. And so she introduced me to Justin Horrell, who's now my coach, and that's the other thing I loved about her and I for me.
Speaker 1:I love about this like there's such a respect for when people who are really serious about this, they just respect other people's processes and they want. They're like, if they want you to succeed, they're like you have to go get the best thing that's going to work for you. And so I started coaching. I was at been an athlete under Justin from January of 2023. And so we did my first show August 2023. And it's so funny, a couple weeks ago, he told me I was like you know, so what'd you think? Like you know, when I said I wanted to compete and you said, yes, for me to be your athlete, he's like I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty nervous. He's like when I got Sean T, he's like I gotta get that backup.
Speaker 3:I gotta get all these things, he never gotta do all these things.
Speaker 1:He never told me, though, like he never told me I was like, I never did bulking, but I'm also at the film through this and like all of the the thing. But the cool thing that prior to like being a coach under him is I, or being an athlete under him is I, and this is like something that a lot of men don't like to talk about. So, you know, at the time, I'm 46 now, so I was like 44 ish, maybe 43 if you think of it when I first started this and I actually wasn't building muscle as much as I wanted to and my erections weren't as hard as they should have been, and then so, like you know, she was also running. It's like, hey, maybe you need to go testosterone therapy, like this kind of this stuff works so I got my blood work done and and my my doctor did a full hormonal panel.
Speaker 1:So that was it was really cool to like, yeah, oh my gosh, I feel rejuvenated and alive again. So I had, you know, being able to build muscle and feel better and, you know, feel better. You know it's a real thing that people don't talk about. They're afraid to talk know it's a real thing that people don't talk about.
Speaker 1:They're afraid to talk about it. It was a real thing and so that was. You know. She was like you're already, like an energetic and really positive person. She was like you know, taking testosterone in the right way is actually going to make you feel better. She's like it's going to bring out your personality and it did help me feel like really youthful.
Speaker 3:The libido, the life force. Yeah, let's go Kick to a step, let's go.
Speaker 2:And how old were you when you first went on TIT?
Speaker 1:So it was two years ago, which was I was 43. So I was right before I was 44.
Speaker 2:You probably feel like a whole new mind.
Speaker 1:Yeah, listen, I feel like an 18 year old dude, like I feel amazing. You know, and you know the thing is shout out to women because they talk about hormones and hormone levels and how it affects all this stuff. Yeah, but like we guys don't talk about it. Or when you do talk about testosterone especially somebody like me who came from fitness people now see me put on muscle this is before I even started the bodybuilding thing and they're like, oh, like you're just on testosterone, like they don't understand, like they try to take away all the work you put in.
Speaker 3:They try to take away the work you know and it's so annoying because of the work.
Speaker 1:That's ignorance, yeah it's ignorance, but also it comes from a lot of people who aren't even committed to the nutrition or fitness in the gym. Amen, so like for me. My response to them is how about you? If you learn commitment, you'll understand why you're not even committed to to your own lifestyle and you're hating. But whatever that's, it is what it is. So anyway, so I, I did, we, you know, we did my first kind of like mini build into my show and it was just like such a fantastic experience.
Speaker 3:I think this sport is so freaking amazing.
Speaker 1:If you have, in my opinion, if you have the right team behind you and people who actually care about your overall well-being, and like a coach that I have and a trainer like Kristen that like put their athletes first, that's like. You know, this is about you. It's. It's a really, really great experience. Is it tough that I have a? That I've cried my eyes out three weeks pre-show, not because I was nervous to be on stage, because I'm like I'm hungry, mind you, I'm. I was still eating more than I ate when I wasn't doing this and I I'm like I'm hungry. Like Scott came home one day and I was just like I'm sorry. He walked into the bedroom and I just like bawled my eyes out. But here's the crazy thing, and again it's going to be a little deep.
Speaker 1:I remember, you know people ask me like you know, why are you crying? Like why is it so tough? And I'm like because the last time I experienced not wanting to give up, like not giving up wasn't an option, was when I was molested. Wow, you know, I was just like so emotional about it, because when you're in it, I'm like I don't want to die. And so now I'm going into the show and I'm like giving up at this point, at weeks ago, is not an option. No way now. If it was just that I would like suck it up. I'm like, oh, this is hard, but when psych, psychology and you said like you still deal with some of the stuff.
Speaker 3:You're still doing it and you're still. It's still pushing you and driving you at points, those triggers still come up.
Speaker 1:So it came up. I was just like because I was actually I have my third therapist and actually he was the one that really was like you know, what are you feeling Like? What does it feel like? And I was like it feels like when I was molested and I wanted to kill myself. But I was like this is, there's no option, because I don't like giving up. And then I went to the gym the next day and Justin was training me and he was like you feel much better today, don't you after that, cry? I'm like oh, my god, I feel like a brand new person, like I just kind of like so you know, that was the toughest moment. Uh, three weeks out, and then you know, people are like you know, are you nervous to get on stage? I'm like for me, I'm like just get me to the lights. Like that is my that's your time, that's my home.
Speaker 1:I was like the work leading up and, and you know, I never realized, realized, like, I said like am I worthy enough to do this? But you know, you guys are pretty intimidating, you know, like, and I, you know, which was amazing for me, the day before my show they like Saturday was the MPC show and Friday was the Texas Pro. So I'm sitting in the audience watching these, you know, uh, classic physique pros and I'm just like, why the hell am I even going on stage tomorrow, you know, and but it was also like really, really inspiring and so I did really well my first show man, I did. I made it, you know, and I got like five first place, two seconds, one third a little first time.
Speaker 2:Did you know what this that he went into the memory box went into the memory box. Like I finished, I say I taught I placed top no, I won five yeah, I won five.
Speaker 1:I won five, you know I, but you know it was fun, yeah because I'm just like man, like you know, a couple of them were in the novice category.
Speaker 3:But, like in you, know, I did, I did really well was there more pressure on you because you're sean? Yeah right because you've been in this fitness world and everybody already knows who you are. Right like everybody kind of knows you expect. So it's like, is that more pressure on you because of?
Speaker 1:that it's interesting, but justin didn't allow me to go there like he was. Just like you're just another person. I love it, just do that. In addition, that what comes with being Shanti and somebody who literally lives and breathes motivating and inspiring people, the return is like you now have a community of people who are rooting for you. So I did not really feel that pressure. It was more of like I felt like an abundance of love and support, you know. But I mean there was like a little nervousness because, like you go and I'm like I don't know who's going to be on this stage next to me, you know, and that you know I'm also at the time I was, you know, 45, so it's just kind of like you know, and like you know, those guys look so amazing. You know, I'm just like holy crap, but I did really well. So, you know, in four weeks, look so amazing. You know, I'm just like holy crap, but I did really well. So you know, in four weeks I'm going in the nationals, so let's see what happens.
Speaker 2:I want to talk about that. But what did you learn from your first journey, doing your first prep?
Speaker 1:no-transcript. You know what I mean and it completely, like I said, like in my later points, in my prep I was eating more food than I ate before I was doing bodybuilding. So you know, one of the things that I was able to help develop with my new program is like eat people, like don't be afraid to eat, don't be afraid to build muscle, and one of the biggest things that was I mean, I knew this but one of the biggest things that really helped my community is especially women who say like I don't want to lift weights because I'm going to get bulky. My community is especially women who say like I don't want to lift weights because I'm gonna get bulky. I'm like if you, if you have something, if you have a serum in your body where you can get bulky, like I'm gonna make you a billionaire, because every man is going to want that, you know. So it was helping, like helping women not be afraid to eat a little more put on some muscle and like.
Speaker 1:Actually, I tell people, like, shape your body how your body's supposed to be shaped, don't shape your body to because you want to look like the bikini model on the front of the magazine. So it's been really helpful there. And then personally, um, I don't know if it's necessarily something that I learned, but it reignited my love for fitness because, to be quite honest with you, I was jaded with fitness for that reason of like. It's always about losing weight, it's always about like. It's always like before and after picture.
Speaker 3:And nothing tastes as good as skinny feels. Yeah, right, well, I have a.
Speaker 1:I actually have a quote in my book a truth bomb this is nothing looks as good as confidence. Feels, and so that's the other thing. Feels, and so that's the other thing. Do you know, being 45 and now 46 years old, like how I feel better than I did at 35, 25?
Speaker 1:I feel like I look better, I'm stronger, I have like my libido is good so it was just like really being able to embrace that and also again reigniting my love for fitness, and like literally being a fan. You know, like you know, I'm here at the layer I see, like all these guys, man, I'm like damn.
Speaker 1:Like you know, I'm like I'm like a kid in a candy store, I'm like a kid at a concert where I see like all of these people and I like watch these competitors and I just have like this incredible amount of respect for them, like I kind of always did, because I'm like you can't get like that without doing hard work. But having gone through the process and now have it, went through a really incredible build stage and now going to nationals, it's just like you, just like it's just like a different respect and love for the sport, but it's also like selfishly, like this is something I'm doing for me, yeah.
Speaker 2:The psychological element of things is massive in everything right, but in bodybuilding it's such a because the better you look, the worse you feel right.
Speaker 1:That's so funny, it's true.
Speaker 3:You look like.
Speaker 2:He-Man, but you feel like Barbie, right. So from you being lean your entire life to then do your first bulk, I have a saying uh, to get in shape, you got to get out of shape, right. So for you to get to that next level, you've got to lose that skinny face. You got to push yourself up with calories to get to that next level. I've been there force feeding myself, setting my alarm clock in the middle of the night.
Speaker 1:Leaning over the counter.
Speaker 3:Oh my gosh, Tell them about the ketchup blended mix that you do.
Speaker 2:Well, I was kind of renowned because I didn't have an appetite and I somehow fell in this world right. I used to blend chicken breast and rice and donut just as a way of just getting it down. Two, three times a day.
Speaker 2:A little ketchup in there but that's the mindset I conditioned myself. Oh, it tasted great at the time, yeah, exactly at the time. But I conditioned myself as if chicken soup right. And that's the mind games you play when you're at any level, right. Are you trying to get to another level? How did you get through the plateau of being so lean, being known as shanty shredded, to then get in the bodybuilding and then see your physique change to a little fluffier side, see your face fill up a bit. How hard is that for you?
Speaker 1:guys. So you have to understand like I told you a story about I'm not leaving the house but when I gained weight when I was, when I went from 178 pounds to 228 pounds, like one of the things is that my face got really big. That was like literally one of the things that I was just like I need to lose weight because I hate this. So now I go to a bulking phase and my face starts getting it's the first to go normally I am miserable.
Speaker 1:I'm miserable, miserable, tears, miserable. I'm like I'm ugly, I'm fat again, like I go to the gym, you know, and my coach is like you're fine, like you still. He still called me a pretty boy, made me feel good, you know, but the so it was terrible. But what was really crazy is when I started to. This is so funny, so when I started to lean out during this cut, I'm like man, I missed my full face. So then I started. You guys are going to laugh.
Speaker 2:Your coach is nodding in the back.
Speaker 1:So you guys are going to laugh even more. So I'm like now my face was getting like and I was like I'm going to get some filler up in this jaw.
Speaker 1:Oh, I know you like that, so I did I was like, let me just, I'm like I'm gonna lose some more weight, let me get a little filler in here. And so my coach has another client and she does it in her office and I was like you know, just, I was like I still want to look, you know masculine, but like you know, whatever so it was like it's crazy how you're like no, I kind of like my face like it's, it's good and so, um, yeah, this is a mind game, right yeah, it's a mind game and when you're going through it for the first time you're like shit is, is this it, this it?
Speaker 2:But once you start, as you mentioned, you start doing the diet and you start getting into the nitty gritty of things and you start seeing the skeleton face. For me, my face would get sore, sucked in. I would come down from 260. I was lean at 260, but my face was like Augusta from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Speaker 2:And then my face would get so sucked in that literally I had sores in the side of my mouth from even with chewing gum I catch my tongue. It was so sucked in. I kind of like this happy medium of not having that full face but kind of having it's kind of like this good looking face you see, one thing I used to do is to do when I was in my off-season.
Speaker 2:I used to either have a beard because I have two personalities to flex. Flex Lewis shaves his beard, it's the stripe before going on stage, that's the only time I would shave my beard, but then in the off-season I used to have this pinstripe. What's it called? Pinstripe Like?
Speaker 1:a chin strap. A like a chin strap and in my head, in my head it'd give me the contour, the contours that allowed me to have that thin face it didn't work.
Speaker 2:It does not work at all, to be honest. But, um, was there any mind games that you played with the, you know, with your mind, to just get through them stages, as it was your first prep, or was it something you just you and justin relied on?
Speaker 1:no, no, I do kind of I'm gonna answer that, but I want to go back a little bit, because I was talking a lot about my face. But going back to that fluffy phase, like I remember when I had to go film my first workout, when I was like like close to 220 pounds and you know, I had my shirt off and I feel like I look terrible.
Speaker 1:And I sent Justin a picture. He's like yeah, man, like look at the muscles. And I get all these people like, dude, you look so good. So it is like a total psychological weight, like a number on the scale can completely make or break your day. But you have to like get out of that and like look at your yourself.
Speaker 2:But I just say congratulations, You're the body below.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's just like, and you know I've like, I actually like that body. You know I'm like, I've learned to like the, the bulk body, it feels good, but you know you're still around and you're still lifting and you know I still got hit on a little bit you know I'm saying you know, but um, I forget the other question you, I don't know.
Speaker 2:I love it, I love it, I love it. I think it was the mind game.
Speaker 1:Oh yes, yeah, no, I actually um, because being in commercial fitness and having to shoot so many workouts, one of the most unhealthy things I've ever done is when I was shooting my asylum workouts is I would be like want to be so ripped that I would like take a laxative. I would like do all this like you know, stay in the sauna.
Speaker 1:I would do all this like ridiculous stuff that I was just like, when I go through this, like I'm not doing that, I'm. I have a coach, like I fully relied on him, like I didn't fight him on anything. I was like I'm going to do what he says to do to a T and then I do rely on him and my husband, scott and Kristen, for the emotional support you know of like, for the emotional support you know of like. Do I look good? Like the days you wake up flat, like I was just like man, like I don't have any muscles anymore, and then he feeds me and I'm like do you see how I look today? So you know, you kind of go through all that. But I actually was thinking of something.
Speaker 2:I did blend my food one time and I was like never again.
Speaker 1:I was like this is terrible, Like chicken soup making pretend it's something is not.
Speaker 2:I'll take you under my wing. I'll take you under my wing. I'll show you how to do it correctly, my friend.
Speaker 1:The truck has a lot of ketchup. I'll taste anything. I'll taste anything.
Speaker 2:But going back to the main, four weeks out that chase for that pro card was so close.
Speaker 1:How were you feeling, my friend, that chase for that pro card was so close. How are you feeling, my friend? I actually, literally just a couple days ago, I started to have that miserable feeling of just being tired because my calories are still over 3,000 calories. I still have a hard time finishing my food at the end of the day, but it's just such low fat and my workouts are still intense and you know I'm only doing 25 minutes of cardio, but just that. You know I was up at uppers over 5 000 calories, so like that's a lot of what it's almost equivalent to like someone else's full day of meals being gone you know, so I just you know.
Speaker 1:You know, I had a refeed meal here in Vegas last night. I don't think I stopped eating for like 45 seconds at the table.
Speaker 2:What did you get?
Speaker 1:Oh man, we went to Komodo. I got like the Korean fried chicken. I got the surf and turf rice. I got the spicy edamame. I remember everything I got. I had like one of the egg rolls that Justin had. I had a couple rolls.
Speaker 3:It makes it so much more satisfying, right Like it's that much more delicious. Yeah, when you haven't had it, I tasted every single feeling of everything.
Speaker 1:I tasted it. So that was good. But you know we're back on track now. I felt good when I came to the gym today.
Speaker 1:I did a back and I felt good I was like the gym today I got, I got it. I felt good. I was like, oh, maybe I could do this, maybe I'm good, uh. But now I go into this headspace you know, obviously, being an athlete, having done this before, being in fitness for a long time, like for me now it's just like, just get me to the lights like I will do any. I don't care what it is and you know, I'm, I'm pretty sure it's gonna get. Obviously it's gonna get tougher because the closer you get, things start getting tough. But you know, I, I'm, I love it now, like I've, I've done it once and I feel it. I'm sure if you ask me after I get my pro guard, you could be like, so how was those last four weeks? And I'm like it sucked, but for now, right now, I feel better than I did the last time.
Speaker 2:Good. Well, we're going to wish you all the very best. My friend, thank you. And in closing I want to mention, obviously you are a dad of two. Yes, I want to know what it's like prepping in the house with two young children, with candy and chocolates, because I knew I went through them preps too. Tell me all about that.
Speaker 1:Dude, you are a dad. Yo, so it is amazing. First of all, my two boys are literally. They're just so incredible.
Speaker 2:You're a great dad, I see that.
Speaker 1:And to kind of full circle this. You know, I didn't really have a dad. I never met my biological father. My stepfather molested me right, like I never had a dad. So doing this, this, like seeing me, do I never push anything fitness on him? I never ever said like you have to do this, you have to do this, like, but they see it and they want to flex with me and they'll sit down and eat and I'm like papa, like is this going to get me muscles? Like I don't want to eat this, but is this going to get me muscles?
Speaker 2:I'm like, yeah, and they're like okay, uh, how much of it do I?
Speaker 1:have to eat this, but is this going to get me muscles? I'm like, yeah, and they're like, okay, how much of it do I have to eat? You know, but they still have. You know, they still get the, they still have their candy.
Speaker 1:They love their treats and there are some times where they'll be like Papa, can we have, you know, chicken fingers and French fries and smash burger, and then, like they don't eat it all and then throw it away. And that one fry, oh yeah, like it's actually like four fries, and you're like I'm like this ain't gonna do nothing to me, I can burn, I can just go run for 15 minutes and burn this off and you gotta throw it in the trash. I'm like, oh, my god, that's the, that's, that's the really I can't have anything in my house.
Speaker 2:I can't have it in my house at all well, wait till you have kids, my friend, they'll be in there, yeah, but I love, I absolutely love being a dad and my husband, scott, is just an amazing dad and it is.
Speaker 1:I mean I just feel so blessed and you know, growing up gay, like you know, in the 70s, 80s, like you don't even think that was possible, and being through everything I've been through in my life, you know I just am a very like, connected father.
Speaker 3:And you know it just feels really great. I was gonna ask that, like how gratifying is that to you know have the family environment that you choose, that you really wanted, you know being that father, that you know to to to them, that you didn't have?
Speaker 1:yeah, right, you know, sometimes I I cry alone.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know become a long way yeah, like you know, I look at these little boys and I'm just like you know when people say, like the love for your child is like something you've never experienced before and like you know, like you love them when they're first born but it's like kind of survival mode, right. But as they start getting older and you start seeing their personality and then you have like the nature versus nurture, because we had kids via surrogacy, so like we had an egg donor and both of scott and I each fertilized an egg. So they're they're they're our kids, you know.
Speaker 1:so you see, like like sanders the one that I made and he is, there's so many things about me that he's like I'm like, oh my gosh, this is crazy and there's, but then, like there's so many things about him that is very much like Scott. You would think their personalities are crossed Silas, who Scott made, is wild and crazy like me, and Sandra's super chill. So it's like all of those things come into play. It's literally the most incredible thing.
Speaker 3:And it's like another level, another step in becoming in in manhood, right, like it's such a, it's such a big thing. I've been in this place where I'm, I'm in that place and I'm, you know, I'm like pulled the goalie with my girl and we're, we're trying, and I'm like in this place of like, all right, every single father that I've ever met, you know, have all told me start having kids right away. It's the greatest thing you'll ever experience, you know, and it took me a long time to get there, but I'm at that place now and it's good to hear.
Speaker 1:Well, it's the hardest thing you'll ever do and the most rewarding thing you'll ever do it's you know, and I don't think you're ever ready, I agree. Like you're just ever ready. I agree Like there's no, you're not, you're just, you're just never ready.
Speaker 2:It'll happen in God's time.
Speaker 1:And you know, some weeks are like amazing, and the next week you're like what is wrong with this kid?
Speaker 3:I'm like is this person going to be a serial killer, like you know, like you know?
Speaker 1:it's just of thing. So, but you grow so much as a man, bro, like you, grow like a father who is intentional and connected and gives their kids attention, like you grow so much because you find yourself being like yo. In order for me to lead by example, I literally have to do the things that I'm telling him to do. You know, so it's, it's, it's just a wonderful, it's hard I'm not gonna sit here and be like it's all roses, like scott always says.
Speaker 1:He's like why couldn't they just be born at five years old, because that's when it started to get fun, and I'm like, yeah, but all the work we put in for the first five years is the reason they are the way they are, and so I do.
Speaker 2:I do want to mention this on the spin of you know work done. You guys really tried hard for the kids. What is it? You went through 12 attempts.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we went through 12 attempts.
Speaker 2:Five egg donors yeah and $500,000.
Speaker 1:So like when we you know we never tell our kids that. But when people are like do you love your kids, we're like you, damn right, never tell our kids that. But when people are like do you love your kids, we're like you, damn right we love our kids, like you know, like we are, you know and I always make the joke I'm like we're gay, like we couldn't have them by mistake. You know what I mean Like we wanted to do this. So we are like fully committed.
Speaker 1:And so I can't wait till they're like when they get their first job and they're like, you know, papa, I want to buy a house and like this is so hard.
Speaker 1:I'm like, well, we spent five hundred thousand dollars on you, so I know what it's like. But yeah, it was tough, it was really tough. Like you know, miscarriages, different doctors, you know, but my doctor said the most amazing thing and this will help you, wanting to be a father, the kid or kids or person or people that are supposed to come into this world, are going to come into this world, like if it happened five years earlier. In a way, I'm like I'm glad it didn't, it took us five years Because, like Silas and Sander, I'm like so happy that they are my kids, you know. So it's tough for a lot of people, but if you don't have to rush the process, and then some people you know they adopt or they, you know things like that. So there's many different ways to help, you know, build a family, but hopefully you can, you know, have some offspring of your own.
Speaker 3:I've pulled the goalie. We're trying you know where we've lifted in God's hands and you know, I guess we're never ready, but I do feel that I have reached a spiritual level, that I am ready.
Speaker 3:Yeah, right, um, and it's taken me a long time to get there, so I appreciate that, yeah and I will say too for me to see a good father and, like flex right, it's really inspiring to me to see a good father and it's I think it's probably one of the best compliments you could get as a man, right thank you bro yeah, but it said you know, I was saying like you're never ready, but you're always ready.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Especially somebody who wants it you know, so, and you, you're gonna, you're gonna be, you did insanity man, You're running for the crazy.
Speaker 2:I love it. I love how we tied it right back. No, you know, sean, okay, I mean no. Well, man, listen, it's been an absolute pleasure. J-rock. Is there anything you want to ask?
Speaker 3:lastly, before we jump off no, I'm excited to see the journey continue and, honestly, when I did see that you were jumping into this fitness world, to me it was like makes sense, like he's continuing on this journey forward and look forward to seeing it in the future.
Speaker 1:I really appreciate you guys. Like seriously, I love it. I love coming to this gym. It's like literally a playground. It inspired me to one day open up my own gym because, I never really had desire to do it because I did at home fitness, and so my next goal is I'm like man, we need something like this in az like this is this feels like really good don't worry watch, watch out, he's coming after you.
Speaker 3:No, no, no no no.
Speaker 1:I'm going to you know. Look, I'm wearing the shirt.
Speaker 2:He is.
Speaker 1:I'm like y'all need to come here.
Speaker 2:This should be your destination. I think that's just a white flag, yeah.
Speaker 1:No, I will plug your gym Like it is sick.
Speaker 2:It is like gym I've ever been to. What I'm looking forward to personally is when I get back out of this and I'm back on track that I'm not doing an insanity workout.
Speaker 3:I don't know if you could either anymore. I got him doing Pilates, though, right, yes, I got him doing Pilates.
Speaker 2:It's a step. Okay, it's a step. It took my wife a year and a half. It took him one conversation.
Speaker 3:He made fun of me at first.
Speaker 2:I did, I did, I did. But listen, I'm excited for us to get that workout in. We've spoken about my friend, but we'll wait until you're a little fluffy after the show.
Speaker 1:Yeah, let me get to that 240 again, let me get to my 240 again. Let's go, all right.
Speaker 2:But we want to wish you nothing but the best. You're an incredible person that everybody loves to see you at the gym Every one of my staff, every one of the guests that have bumped into you. You have nothing but time, um and and um. We hear all the stories again Um, everybody comes to me to to tell me who the good and the bad people are, and you've been nothing but a gracious person Every time you stepped into this gym. And we love having no VIPs at home, but and we love having our VIPs around. But what I love most about my VIPs and people who have, you know, incredible achievements, who step foot in Europe. When fans come up to them, they stop and they talk.
Speaker 1:Yeah, man.
Speaker 2:And that's you to the Sean T.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're good. No, excuse me. No, I love meeting people. I always have time. You know. Obviously, there are days when it gets close to prep where you put at my gym like you just put your headphones on and you go in. But I love that's what I love it Like. I love to inspire people. I love to hear the stories. People are like I know you heard this story before. I'm like you're a completely different person, even if, even if your story is similar, like your process to get to where you got is so different. So, yeah, thank you so much. Like I just I love it. I love talking to people.
Speaker 2:Your staff is great, so we love you too, and you. You said a sentence that I live by at the beginning of the podcast treat people how you want to be treated yourself, and that's that's you, my friend. So I think, uh, from Mr Vegas Damself, j-rock Sean T, straight up, there we are out.
