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
Stoltman Brothers - Highlands to the World Stage
Get ready for an unforgettable episode as the Stoltman Brothers—Tom and Luke, two of the world’s strongest men—sit down with Flex and J-Roc to share their incredible journey from small-town Scotland to global strongman fame. Discover how they turned challenges into triumphs, from overcoming personal struggles like autism and mental health battles, to breaking world records in Strongman competitions. Expect laughter, inspiration, and surprising insights into their Highland roots, their prankster antics, and their mission to uplift their community and change perceptions around strength and mental health. Plus, stories of breaking records, pranking each other, and a hilarious tale about the Loch Ness Monster!
👉 Tune in for laughs, chills, and inspiration from these incredible giants of strength!
iTunes:
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----- Content -----
00:00 - Intro
00:49 - First Impressions and Travel Stories
07:18 - Diet and Caloric Intake
11:34 - Training and Mindset for Competitions
27:25 - Tom's Journey with Autism
39:57 - Tom's Journey to Self-Acceptance
41:43 - Training Regimen for Strongman Competitions
42:50 - The Importance of Grip Strength
43:37 - The Hercules Hold and Mark Felix
45:18 - Mental Preparation and Sports Psychology
47:09 - Visualization and Buzzwords
50:17 - Breath Control and Cold Water Training
55:12 - Growing Up in the Scottish Highlands
01:09:11 - The Power of YouTube and Social Media
01:15:40 - Balancing Strongman and Oil Rig Work
01:18:20 - A Life-Changing Decision
01:19:20 - The Pain of Loss and the Drive to Succeed
01:23:24 - The Power of Manifestation
01:29:34 - Celebrity Encounters and Fan Support
01:32:29 - Training with Wim Hof
01:37:31 - Feats of Strength and Records
01:53:50 - The Legacy of the Stoltman Brothers
Rock. You know we have some incredibly big guests, but today it doesn't get any bigger than these two here in studio. My friend welcome, luke Stolten, european's Giants Live Champion, and next to me, the SBD three times world's strongest man, tom Stolten. Let's get spicy in here, guys. Welcome to the show.
Speaker 2:The world's strongest brothers are in the house.
Speaker 3:Yes, Thanks for having us guys Come in with that enthusiasm.
Speaker 1:Boom Spicy boys.
Speaker 3:Let's go.
Speaker 2:I thought we were strong brothers, but these guys, these guys really Trumped us as we came in. I was just like wow.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what was your first impression In seeing these guys?
Speaker 2:Massive guys, right? I mean, obviously I've seen some of the shows. I've seen like all the stuff online, but up close and personal, man, these guys are definitely. They're taking up a lot of space.
Speaker 1:Taking up a lot of real estate. That's right. That's right, talking of which you guys just flew in yesterday.
Speaker 4:Yesterday 3, 4 o'clock in the afternoon, so big 10-hour flight. A bit jet-lagged, but we're here and first time in Vegas. Always wanted to come to Vegas, nice to make it over safely and nice to have a Giants live show.
Speaker 1:Well, first time in Vegas, welcome to Vegas. I know this is not going to be your last. You guys are going to love this town, as the town is going to love you. But that flight over, you know, you know listen for me and my little legs. You know economy plus is business class. Business class is first class. So tell us about your flight struggles over here on the way over, on this, on this trip yeah, it was, um what?
Speaker 3:actually, to be fair, it wasn't too bad. There's a, there's a new airline I don't know if it's's Norse Atlantic or something they've just started doing Heathrow to Vegas direct. So it was actually it was economy plus. So when we fly with our wives it's not so bad, you know, because you can spread out a little bit more and you're not too worried about elbowing or whatever. But if you're sat next to a normal person you're, like, you're kind of quite kind of self-conscious, if that makes sense yeah but, um, yeah, but it was fine, it was good because she was my wife was there tom's wife, shenaid?
Speaker 3:I've got my little boy over with me as well, little koa, um, so he, uh, he was okay in the plane, he was okay, it was manageable, got a couple of hours sleep, um, so just trying to get him into the sleeping kind of time zone as well, so it was fine, it was good.
Speaker 2:I mean, we're here, like Tom says, safe and sound, and just get on with it, yeah, I've been following you guys and I've seen a few airline flights where it was like the guys in that row must have been terrified as you guys were walking up like please don't sit here, please don't sit here keeping the head down.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's like.
Speaker 2:Oh no, I'm in this row yeah, I mean, like that must happen also, right, when you're not traveling with the family, right, it's just like the boys and, uh, you know, the whoever, whoever's in that little middle seat or whatever is just stressed out.
Speaker 4:I, I gotta imagine I mean there's a flight back home called logan air, so it's just a scottish kind of flight that they do like, you know, the one hour, two hour flights, and uh, usually there it's a two seats. So usually sometimes, uh, they put me and luke together and uh, that in itself is bad because I sped out to make myself as big as I can.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 4:It's uncomfortable.
Speaker 1:You remind him that you're the world's strongest man as well.
Speaker 4:All the time.
Speaker 1:All the time, All the time yeah.
Speaker 4:Usually when we have someone in the middle again, they just look at us and go, you boys sitting here. Not a very comfortable fight for them. But again, I don't make myself small, I make myself as big as I can. He's not even going to hide it.
Speaker 1:He's so polite.
Speaker 3:We flew back from one comp with. It was Tom, myself and Tom's wife, sinead, from Botswana in Africa. So it was Tom in the aisle, me in the window, and then Sinead was in the middle. We were in economy at the time and we were sweaty and horrible and poor Sinead, you couldn't see her, like the air stewardess would walk past. Oh, excuse me, sir, would you like anything to drink? And to me as well. They wouldn't see Sinead because she was hiding.
Speaker 2:She's like this ringing the bell Help Trying to get air, you know.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, the flyings are to get air, you know. So yeah, the flying's uh yeah, it's just I find it really stressful anyway, you know, like the whole checking in procedure going through, then immigration and all this carry on, and I just, I don't know, I get like super like spazzed out a little bit when I, when I do that. But, um, it's nice when. That's the beauty when we travel together, because we kind of support each other, which is really nice, you know. So if Tom's a little bit stressed, I can maybe do a bit more, and then vice versa. So that's the beauty of that brother aspect. You know, we kind of support each other in flights, unless when I'm sat next to Tom and he's just massive and putting his elbows over me and eating my food.
Speaker 4:I mean six foot eight, over 400 pounds. I need to make myself as big as I can. You don't need to make yourself big, you don't even need to, bro.
Speaker 3:You are that big. That's the thing.
Speaker 1:Listen, I try to make myself big at five foot six. You're not either, there.
Speaker 2:I mean, what do you try to do, like just show off at that point in time when they serve the in-flight meal. Do you guys get three or four of those each, or how?
Speaker 4:does that work? We try and chant three or four, but usually it's just the one, so one's usually what we have. But even this flight on the way out, the meals were really good and they filled me up, which is for a 10-hour flight, all right. So two meals filled me up.
Speaker 3:But yeah, in-flight meals are not the best, but we take some extra food on.
Speaker 4:To be fair, Tom got like a bag of snacks before we flew when you say a bag Like a bag of sweets, all the best sweets in the world, body bowls, skittles, everything yeah.
Speaker 1:I've seen you guys eating backstage. I was like, wow, I missed this sport. I should have not done my bodybuilding route. You guys are just eating everything Snickers, bars and everything.
Speaker 3:Anything we can get our hands on. That's why it's nice coming over here to the States, because you guys in America the portions are pretty nice right, so we can get our calorie content quite easily here. And where we stay in Scotland there's no takeouts. It's such a small town where we stay, so you maybe have one Chinese takeout one. Where we stay in Scotland there's no like like takeouts. It's such a small town where we stay. So there was like you maybe have like one Chinese takeout, one Indian takeout and that's it. But you come over here straight on Uber Eats or DoorDash, whatever it is. You're just and we're like just this is this is.
Speaker 1:I mean he's coming into the world's strongest man hotel. I was like fucking this guy. He was back again. Oh, who was picking up the food in the lobby these two.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was like a continuous flow even when they walked in in my head I'm like man, these guys eat a lot of protein. Yeah, these guys eat a lot of protein, because I eat a lot of protein. But, like these guys eat a lot of protein, I mean, what is the calorie count you guys have to kind of? I mean, you guys are assuming that you have to keep your calories to keep the keep the muscle and the fat right? Um, and I've heard about you doing crazy calorie counts and stuff like that. So, like, what does that look like for you guys on a daily, weekly, like you're?
Speaker 4:yeah, I mean obviously you know going to well straws man, because that's the elite of straw man, but usually what I'm up to? About 10 to 11 000 when I go out Strawers man. And again, this is kind of the extreme side of the diet. This is where there's no kind of good quality food really. It's just burgers, chips, pasta, cheesecake, pizzas. Sounds good to me. I mean so like yeah.
Speaker 4:So my first meal usually in the morning for myself and Luke, is a pancake blowout. So it's basically six to eight pancakes and whatever we want on them. So it can be sweets, bacon syrup, whatever you want. And then the second meal is burger and chips. That's second, third and fourth meal, and then the fifth meal is a lasagna and then a big cheesecake as well. So that's our diet for a week and a half when we're at World's Strollers man.
Speaker 4:But on the other side we do have a healthy diet as well. When we come home I'm on about 8,000 calories and Luke maybe six or seven, but right now I'm on 400 grams of a protein source, 400 grams of carbs, four times a day, and then the only cheat meal I have is the meal before the gym. Obviously, flex is bodybuilding. He was doing it for kind of looks and stuff, but we're doing it for performance. Obviously we need that extra quick carbs, the food that gets us more energy. So a burger and chips for me before the gym, but yeah, 400 grams protein source, 400 grams carbs four times a day, plus a cheat meal every single day is what I usually do, wow.
Speaker 1:I want to go back to that breakfast. Wait, so it's called a pancake blowout. Pancake blowout, yeah.
Speaker 3:No, the blowout. I'm hoping it's not what I think it is. Junior competition.
Speaker 2:Hold on, we take a cheat meal every single day Because I've been seeing online you guys got some real legendary type cheat meals right. So those aren't the same ones you're doing every day, Because I saw some wild stuff online.
Speaker 1:That's just day to day.
Speaker 3:It was like yeah, that's just Tom's normal dinner really. We did an interview a couple of years ago and our diets have kind of changed over the last couple of years. But we're doing this interview and Tom was doing it. I couldn't stop laughing at him. He's like yeah, yeah, you know, after World's Strongest man we come back. Our diet's super clean. You know, I'm only on like one cheat meal a day, which is like a burger. Then I can have like four donuts. So it's like really clean.
Speaker 3:It's like it's not clean, you maniac, like it's, it's just, but like, as you said at the start, flex for and like for us it's all about that kind of fuel in your body. You know, you imagine a world's strongest man, the way it's formed or the way we compete. You maybe do like two to three events a day so you can imagine eating like boiled chicken, boiled rice and some asparagus in between those events. You're not going to get that fuel, you're not going to like get that extra fat. You need that. Yeah, you need that kind of just quick, that fast food and quick intake of calories so you're ready to go again and you know that's. That's where it's a lot different, I guess, from the bodybuilding side of things, because we don't weigh our food out. Usually it's.
Speaker 1:You look at the pack, usually it's just a pack of whatever it is they weigh in packs, bro, that looks big and we just put that on. Not on grams, not on ounces.
Speaker 3:packs One pack that'll do One pack of rice. Yeah, that's kind of what we go for. I'm sure there is a science behind it. We do have a nutritionist that kind of guides us with it. Who is that? Nathan Payton, nathan.
Speaker 1:Payton.
Speaker 3:Shout out to Nathan. Yeah, the wizard.
Speaker 2:If Nathan can get me on donuts and cheat meals every day, let's figure this out Flex.
Speaker 1:Bro. Your face will be twice the size, but you will be strong and big, that's for sure.
Speaker 3:It gets tiring after a while eating that you know it's just day in, day out. You're just eating constantly and you kind of it doesn't. What do you normally say Like, oh, food just starts tasting like lettuce. All food just tastes like lettuce, because it's Even the good food, right.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, yeah, a hundred percent, yeah.
Speaker 1:So you tastes like lettuce, because it's even the good food, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, 100. So you guys know and I want the viewers to know this you know you consume in the off season a lot of calories. Yes, you're obviously training for you're doing your off-season training. It might not have an event coming up in x amount of weeks time, but then when you commit yourself to a show, let's just say it's uh, just say world's strongest man, right? How does Strongest man? Right? How does that? First of all, the diet change and the mentality change, because I know you guys have spoken about mentality a lot. I love that and we love the mentality element of things here. So I'd like to know about the diet change and then how that mentality starts changing, going into that competition.
Speaker 4:Yeah, for me, I mean, World's Strongest man is always the show that's on my mind throughout every competition we do. That's obviously the pinnacle of straw man and it's, you know, what you want to win. So for me the diet starts really clean. Nathan kind of cleanses my body out in the off season. So you know, I'm not really on the kind of the burgers, the chips, the cheat meals. It's more, it's a lot more. You know foods that stop the inflammation, all the. You know the chicken, the steaks, the good pastas, rice and all that kind of stuff. So I'll do that maybe to four, six weeks reduce the calorie wise, just get my body kind of, like I said, inflammation away, just lose a bit of weight as well, to try and get that kind of, to try and get my cardio and all that kind of stuff up as well. Because obviously you know in off season you can get big but you don't want to be, but you don't want to be heavy, but if you don't want to be going into the season unfit and unprepared. So that's my mind. So I'm maybe, I'm maybe down to five, six thousand carries for the first, like four to six weeks of the prep, say it's 12 weeks to prep for world shows man. Then it's the last four to five weeks is when I really kind of the mental kind of side of things starts taking a kick. Because for me the first four to six weeks easy, you know, it's 6 000 carries, nice and easy for myself. And then it's right, I've got a job to do. It's well, show as man. And that's when he'd really just it's not like a slow process for me from going from six, seven, eight thousand carries it's five thousand carries all the way up to eight to nine thousand carries, just like that. So you know, friday I could be finishing my six thousand carry calorie. And then on the Monday there's 9,000 calories. You have to start that for five weeks and that's where the mindset really kind of comes into play. Because you know 6,000 calories, you're kind of comfortable with it. Then you go into the uncomfortable, the kind of you have to sit there for 20 minutes each meal, you know, munching it all down and stuff. But in the back of mind that's the of. You know you have to do this to be the best in the world and that's kind of all I'm saying throughout all.
Speaker 4:But for me the food things, food is the hardest part of it all, especially going from the six thousand to nine thousand, just like training as well, peaking your diet, peaking your mindset, peaking everything like that it's very, very important as well. So for me it's that, for I don't have that kind of slow cruise up to it, it's just going from straight from one extreme to another. And just the last six weeks is where I'm really tapped into my mindset. I'm really not missing any meals. I write all my meals down. Everything's out in front of me so I can see it.
Speaker 4:But it's always has that well straws man, well straws man, well straws man in my mindset to keep me. So I don't cut corners. Because you know, when you start cutting corners and missing meals, that's when stuff kind of goes downhill, even if it's one. If you miss a meal on monday, your whole week's going to be then, I agree, out the window. So that's why I have it's really, really important to have that kind of vision, that goal of you're doing this for a reason and that's for me it's obviously the world's strongest man and to get to those high calories it kind of has to be burgers and some of these things.
Speaker 2:Right, I mean 11 000 calories, a lot, there's a lot of calories. I mean and I've had these conversations with flex before when he was competing he was blending his chicken and rice into into ketchup just to get all the meals down. So I I mean I imagine it must be hard just getting all that food in yeah, yeah, I think.
Speaker 3:Well, I think that's a difference, isn't it? Because it's the like with you guys. It's a lot cleaner like the bodybuilder, it's like super clean. So when we're like calorie dense food, you know we can have that calories and you know a kind of lighter meal, if that makes sense it's probably more enjoyable, too, than chicken and rice with nothing on it, right? Like he's. That can't be nice. That must have been well, here's the thing.
Speaker 1:It goes back to what you just said. Right, I had a job to do and I was going to do it, no matter fucking what. My goal was to win that Olympia or defend that Olympia, and whatever was in front of me was fuel, you know. And to what you said, tom. I would sit in front of my meal for about an hour sometimes and I would be like talking to myself. The training, the cardio, the suffering, no problem, it's just part of it. But the eating, it's the same thing that we're talking about right now. The eating is such a job in itself Because, I love, we all fell in love with the weight room, right, or we were attracted to the weight room, but then there was this, another element that I didn't know that came with it was oh, you have to eat all this food.
Speaker 1:I mean, you guys are just taking it to the next level, but taking it to the next level, but for me, I had no appetite and I really had to force myself throughout my entire career. So have you guys and I'll speak to you on this, luke is this something you struggle with, appetite-wise? Because I know you said Tom had his diet change as well, is that something you guys do together as well?
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, for sure. I mean we're very fortunate. The brother aspect we do a lot, pretty much everything together. You know which is amazing, but we'll see Tom being slightly larger than I am. He's a little bit more.
Speaker 1:You're big too, bro, Don't worry no.
Speaker 3:I'm, okay, slightly larger. Yeah, it is a struggle for me. I find it harder when I'm in a warmer climate to get the calories in. So I really struggle in the summertime and it's just that I don't know what it is. It just doesn't do it for me as much. So I'm the same. You know, I'm like breakfast when I'm waking up in the morning. Right, you've got your 10 eggs, whatever is in front of you, got that, then a bowl of porridge or oatmeal, whatever it is again, but you're just, you just got to consume it. It's just and it's that mindset.
Speaker 3:As Tom said, you know, it's world's strongest man is our olympics, it's our mr olympia, it's it's the, the, the pinnacle of what we do. You know, going back to you, remember when you've been young, being like five, six years old, watching it with our parents. Imagine being that, oh my god, he's the strongest man in the world. Like strongest man in the world, fastest man in the world, whatever. It's one of the coolest titles, um, to have, and like to think that's what our job is. It's like you, you had a job to do and you know, growing up it was a dream, it was like a pipe dream. You're like, oh, if I could just do that, man, that'd be so cool. And now we're getting to sit here and do that. So if we can't just said you before, just sack it up and get on with it, do our job to the best of our abilities, then we shouldn't be doing this. We wouldn't be sat here, tom wouldn't be sat here as three times world's strongest man. I wouldn't be sat here as two times Europe's strongest man. So we've got to do that and that's what Tom does.
Speaker 3:It's amazing, the, the, the snap, the, the switch from the, the mindset, from like kind of 12 weeks before world's strongest man, that's like your period isn't that 12 weeks. And then it's just full like berserker mode. It's like tom, just he goes from like being you know, being strong and big, whatever you know training hard, but to this gigantor, juggernaut guy coming into the gym and it's, it's insane, like I can't speak. You have to see it, you know. It's just that, that transition, it's just boom every week. You're just going boom, boom, boom and like everyone can see it around them and that. And that's where I get my kind of mindset change.
Speaker 1:When I see Tom do that, I'm like right, look, it's time to step up, mate, Come on, so you see the mindset change in him first before you feel it in yourself.
Speaker 2:Big time yeah man, you guys inspire each other, right? It's like through training and whatnot.
Speaker 3:I'm 40 years old in November. I mean I wouldn't be competing if it wasn't for Tom, if Tom's, you know, tom's 30, he just turned 30. I'm sitting here at almost 40. Still feel young, still feel amazing, but like seeing this guy kind of come in smashing the gym, going through all the adversity that will get on later on, you know, but like that's true, kind of that's a good shit right there, man.
Speaker 1:That's what I get kind of pumped up for. I want to know, though when you said, you know that 12-week mark there's a lot of things that obviously the diet and stuff like this but what is it that you? See with Tom more than anything else that you know, like he's here, what is it?
Speaker 3:Just that belief, that self-belief that he has, it's just has, it's just like it's amazing man, like it's funny. I don't think I've probably said this to Tom, but every prep like Tom, in Tom's head he's like, oh, that was brilliant, I just did a PB there and it wasn't a PB. I know in my head he's done more than that. But every time he's like, oh, that was the best I've ever done. At that it's a pb. So it's that, that might that that ability to just tell himself he's better than he's ever been. He's better than he's ever been. So if he's better than he's ever been, he's going to beat everyone else because he's already won world's strongest man three times, which is insane.
Speaker 3:But for I don't know if you ever noticed that, but but it's just in my head. I'm like I've seen you last year do like six reps at that. Well, he's just done five reps, ah, new PB smashing it. But it's just the intensity of the workouts. You know we kind of you see that intensity and that level of fitness, strength, like resilience. You know you go into, you know how it is right you go in. Sometimes you're like tired, fed up. You know, maybe having struggles at home, wife, whatever it is Kids.
Speaker 3:Yeah, whatever it is. Life, yeah, life, of course it is. But you've got a job to do. Without doing your job, you're not going to have, you know, the house, the wife, whatever the niceties that you can do. So we've got to get it done and that's where I can push Tom and Tom can push me. It's such a cool thing to do and it's through years and years that we've done this. And now we get to sit here and chat to you guys on a podcast which is wild man. It's like a couple of guys from little town in scotland, little town in wales.
Speaker 2:Exactly what it's, just what happens I've seen, uh, I've seen, you guys are got the little brother and he's. He's getting in the mix now too, and so we got another.
Speaker 4:We got another brother coming, another stoke man another on the podium I mean I said to him don't start tired of tire, because I don't want to happen. To look what happened. I mean I said to him don't start tired of Tyre because I don't want to happen.
Speaker 4:To Luke what happened, harry, I think he's got a lot of pressure on himself and he says that with myself and Luke. Obviously, what we've done, he's one of them. He just likes to be deserved. He doesn't like to be in the limelight. He's off social media and it is quite hard when people go up to him and go. Are you going to follow and look in Tom's footsteps? And there's a lot of pressure on you. Know him as well. He's got a kid, so right now he's enjoying the gym. He is a very, very strong boy as well. We've seen him lift some insane weights in the gym and I think he could walk into like a Scotland Strongest man qualifier and you know, qualify for Scotland Strongest man but right now he's enjoying the gym. He's enjoying life and that's the main, main thing about it. If you're going to the gym and enjoying it, if you're enjoying life, then just keep doing it. Maybe in a few years he might do strongman, but for now he's big enough as he is and I don't want him to. How big is he?
Speaker 3:Six foot five man.
Speaker 1:Wait, wait, wait. How big is he, big family, six foot five, how big. Six foot five he's, I don't know 120 kilos.
Speaker 3:Oh, speak English In pounds.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the metric system, I don't know I left the UK, bro, come on 270, maybe Roy, what's yours? You're big. Yes, what 270?
Speaker 3:270? Six-five, it's big, he's 20. He'll be 29 in October.
Speaker 1:Oh, he's just younger than you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, you're you. Yeah, all right. So you had no interest up until recently. Up until a few years ago, harry actually went through a bit of hard times and, um, he used to work in the rigs and the oil rigs. So, um, he went for a bit at a divorce you know all this stuff. And um, we said, look, come and work with us. You know work with with us in the business. And, um, fortunately he said yes, so he's doing all like the clothing stuff, all the, which is so cool to have him doing that. He's such a solid guy. And then he started training and it really helped him mentally A lot of guys we struggle and whatever but it gave him a focus and he's just a really solid guy.
Speaker 3:Last year we did in Scotland. There's these historic stones, so there's a set of stones called the Dinny Stones, so really like historic. So we went down last year and these stones are heavy. They're like £550, £600 in one hand and I don't know whatever it is. It's really heavy stones and people from all over the world come and try them, right. So we went down.
Speaker 3:It was a Dinny Stone day. So I was like, harry, do you fancy? Just we'll give them a little tickle, let's see what happens. So I went up. First I did them, lifted them up, so it's like a ring and you've got to do a hook grip, lift them up. So then Harry went up and tried them. So he messed up the first lift and then he did it the second time. I was like, see the scream that he let out, man, it was like all that kind of that stuff that's happened, all that hardship, all the bullshit that happened. He just let out that scream. Man, I was, I was in tears watching it screaming and then I was so happy because I did it. Harry did it.
Speaker 4:The worst thing is, I was sunbathing chilling.
Speaker 1:Wait, it's the fucking sun.
Speaker 2:That's got to be sunbathing. If these guys are doing it, I might as well go over there and make an hour real quick.
Speaker 1:I don't think the sun that's got to be sunbathing man.
Speaker 3:It was 12 degrees that's the summer right and, uh, I didn't.
Speaker 4:Yeah, harry did it and I was like, wow, I have to do it now and then, but I did a wee 360 spin.
Speaker 1:Oh, of course he did right, of course he did just to show you know, of course I'm the daddy love the outfit still, eh yeah, but, mate, you know we've, I've been around Tom um Luke and when we were looking at Tom competing. There is nobody, there is no prouder brother you have than this man here, because every time I, every time you've lifted, you know you guys are supporting one another. But I try to get close to him because I love the fucking energy and there's just there's such a true big brother passion and when you were talking about Harry too, you could see that excitement in passion. And when you were talking about Harry too, you could see that excitement in that story when you were telling it. It's so great to see you're so proud of your brothers and you know a lot of people will say that, but I watched him physically just get so emotional.
Speaker 1:Obviously, when he won last time. You know it was a tear jerker for everybody, right? That was the first time Tom won it. So look at that Last time, you know it was a tearjerker for everybody, right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but anyways, that was the first time Tom won it, so look at that, you can see it there. So that was me embracing, tom.
Speaker 1:Oh, yes, that's a dope photo. You're kissing him and giving him a hug, right yeah? I'm actually giving him a headlock Should have been me mate.
Speaker 3:But, yes, it's cool, you know, doing the brother stuff and like, I'm 10 years older than Big Tom and you always be that big brother, right, so it's like, yeah, seeing him do like it's doing the impossible, like making the impossible possible. I think that's what Tom's done for so many people in the world. You know, you know, being part of that journey and doing my own thing as well, I'm very proud of what I've achieved and what I've done. But seeing what Tom does, man, that's the cherry on the cake. It's amazing, yeah, just a beautiful thing that he can do that. You know, with so much Like, oh, it gets you. You know, with so much like, oh, it gets you, it gets me every time I have to wear my sunglasses a lot of times because I'm tears coming down my eyes. Oh, we still see it, bro, don't worry, we still see it, tom, do you ever have moments like this?
Speaker 1:I don't know, maybe it's just you with a dog or something and it just hits you. It's like wow. I'm the world's strongest man, or three-time world's strongest man.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I mean, I do it a lot, I manifest it a lot, but you know, obviously we'll touch on it again later, but having autism most of my life, it was yeah. When I went into the gym and when I started the strongman career, it was more just. I was going to do it for myself, do it for the, you know, get mentally strong and just be able to talk to people and do something that I love, so to be able to obviously in 2021, win World Straws man for the first time and then to go back and defend it and win it this year for the third time. My thing was the first two I didn't keep my trophies in my house. I wanted to keep them away from my house too, so I don't get too laid back and go look, I'm the best of all, I don't have to work for it. But this third one I put it in my house and I put it in a place that every morning, when I walk into the you know, into the living room and I'd glance and go like, all this hard work, all this kind of sacrifice from the wife, the family, all the time, you know, being by myself in the gym is worth it.
Speaker 4:So, like you said, I'm the greatest British straw man of all time and I'm 30 years old and I've won this three times. It's yeah, it's kind of a dream. You know, I sometimes still pinch myself and go wake up from this dream because this can't be real. But yeah, it's unbelievable, I think, for me. You know that Luke always talks about you know how proud he is of me, but I also have to say how proud I am of myself, with, you know, obviously having a good family, a good support system, good friends growing up and you know my whole life. But to be able to flip autism and stuff on the side and to be able to do what I've done and to kind of do it with all the adversity I've had when I was younger and growing up, it's been incredible, an incredible journey for myself as well.
Speaker 1:I'd like to talk about that, since we're going to talk about it, obviously in the episode, but since we're here, Growing episode.
Speaker 4:But since we're here, um, growing up, did you get diagnosed with autism? Yeah, so I got diagnosed, I think, when I was 10, 11, I don't really know much about it, but you know, being diagnosed at that age for me was just, it didn't really change my life because where? Obviously, where we were from was a really small town, the school I went to was really small and I had a group of friends that you know, I kind of knew, and I mean, at 10, 11 years old, you're just kids mucking around, playing around, and when I was younger, football was my life. So obviously, soccer in America, football back home. But, um, since I was born, all I wanted to do was play football, and I was a normal kid when I played football.
Speaker 4:So, for example, harry would sacrifice all this time. He hated football with a passion, absolutely hated that sport. But he would come out for three or four hours with me after school and play football. My dad worked on the rigs as well. He'd come home play football with me. Luke would sacrifice a lot just to play football with me. And when I played on a football pitch I could talk to my coach, my players, as soon as I came off hood was up and that was it and that's the only thing in my eyes. Eyes was the only reason I was living was I want to be a professional footballer. I can make it as a professional and school, like I said, I was in school but all I did in school was look forward to breakdowns so I could go play football.
Speaker 4:I wasn't academically smart. I got bullied a wee bit and then it was kind of doing these episodes at home. You know, when you have four other siblings. I think it's because I had a bigger family. Luke was very successful in getting jobs. My other two sisters, who were older, were boyfriends, getting jobs, and then me and my brother were kind of close age, obviously, and he wasn't acting up like I was acting up and I was thinking to myself asking my mom, why am I doing this kind of things? Why am I different? Wrestling as well WWE. When I was younger I thought it was real, so like I would actually like jump off tables and physically hurt my brother physically hurt Luke.
Speaker 2:And like I A bunch of bulls in a china shop. I can imagine. Can you imagine that house?
Speaker 1:With this guy jumping off a fucking table.
Speaker 4:So all this kind of like in shops and stuff, I would like go and smash things, but a lot of people just thought I was a misbehaved kids and how was? How are these other four siblings acting, you know good, out in public? And this guy's not. And you know, 12, 13 years old came and when I started going into the academy, the bigger school, that's when it really kind of started dawning on me like it's like you know, I couldn't sleep over at my friend's house. I couldn't travel five minutes to another town, I couldn't get on public transport myself. Whatever my mum was, I had to be. If Luke went offshore, I had to phone him to make sure he was doing exactly what he was saying he was doing. My sister was out. I'd have to phone her saying if she was saying she was going to be at home at 10, she was home at five past ten. I would take a flip out. So all this kind of stuff. My whole life was just kind of planned. It was always a plan and whenever something went wrong I would flip out completely.
Speaker 4:So 12, 13 years old, when I went into the bigger school, I was in school maybe one or two times a week and this was when it was really hard, because a lot of my friends were like why is Tom getting extra support? Why is he not doing this school? Why is he getting home at 12, 1 o'clock, why is he not doing full days? So I went up to my support teacher and said look, I need to tell my friends this because I don't want to hide this anymore. I don't want to have this over my shoulders anymore and if they're my friends, they'll stand beside me and went into a room with them. There was like seven or eight of them and I told them and every single one stayed in the room. I just said you know, if you don't want to be my friend, there's a door, go out. None of them none of them left the room and the weight that lifted off my shoulders. Then it felt like I was reborn, that 13 years of my life were a whole waste. But this is the day that I was reborn. And then they understood me. I started staying over at my friend's for the first time ever. They put things in place. I did a train journey, which was a five-minute journey from Invergordon to Fern, and my whole family celebrated like I had won the World Cup, and it was these amazing things that people take for granted, but for me was the hardest things in the world. I said I went to college, ending out of college, you know, at school, and it'll work.
Speaker 4:But then, at 15, 16 year old, that's when another dark place came, because football had gone out my life, because all my friends had left and I had nothing. I was like I'm going to go into care, I'm going to take my life or I don't know what I'm going to do. And then you, you know, it was for two or three months. I was like a prison. My mum and dad were handing me food through my room, I was just playing the Xbox and that was it. That's all I thought. Right, this is me. You know, I've got autism, my wee brother's flying, my brother's flying and my two sisters are flying.
Speaker 4:And then it was Luke that said Luke knocked on my door at 16 years old, saying you know, let's go to the gym together, let's try something and see if it will make you feel happy. You know, my mum and dad asked Luke, let's try and see what we could do with Tom. And when he knocked on that door at 16 years old, my first answer was that is the worst idea. I mean having someone with autism going to a gym with mirrors, girls, men, these big guys and I was like that's intimidating Even Luke walking, knocking on my door and opening the door and seeing how big he is. It's like, so you expect me to go to the gym where you, and you said you think I'm going to look like that in a few years. But anyway, I went and for some odd reason, there was a voice in my head that's saying don't quit, don't quit, don't quit. I had my hood up every single day. I went, the only person I. I would go myself, but it would be a struggle, but my mum would just drop me off at the door, push me in, and that was it.
Speaker 4:And then, within a year, I got so addicted not, I didn't care about the six, but I didn't care about being muscly, it was. I could talk to cameras, I could talk to new people, I was learning things I didn't learn in school and for me that was, you know, unbelievable. And it's seen smiles on my mum and dad's faces, seen smiles on on my family's faces, and seeing a smile on my own face was unbelievable. So yeah, 17, 18 years old.
Speaker 4:Watching Luke do straw man and his first competition at 18 years old, I was like this is what I want to do. I don't want to be a bodybuilder, I don't want to do this kind of posing stuff. I want to lift cars because watching your brother it's like watching the Hulk and Superman, isn't it? You know when you're a kid and when he wants. And then I did the competition a year after, I think, when I was 19, and I came fifth and I made Luke win the Scotland Strollers man in my first competition. I had to load the last stone quicker than the other guy and that would cement Luke the title. And in that scenario there I was like I've just helped my win Scotland's Strollers man in my first year. And then let's just say 2021 and stuff.
Speaker 4:And when I started winning World's Strollers man, I really kind of took control of my autism.
Speaker 4:I mean, I put myself in an uncomfortable situation.
Speaker 4:I turned my gym into a studio, I put different flashing lights in it, I tried to get different people to distract me and just do things that made me really uncomfortable, because my first few years in Strawman I should have been better than I was, but I wasn't, because of the interview stuff, because of the other stuff that came with the sport.
Speaker 4:But in 2021, when I stood on top of that podium, you know and like, looked down at like the 29 other people and looked and just thought to myself like you know, all this kind of booing, all this people calling me like disabled, all this kind of booing, all this people calling me like disabled, all this kind of labels I've been getting, I've now changed autism into a superpower. You know, I'm the best in the world and I've got the superpower which only a percent of people have in the world, and I am the best in the world and I, since, since that day, I've changed it to a superpower and it's changed people's lives. It's changed my life and I've helped a lot of people open up about autism. Moms and dads understand autism more. So, yeah, that day in 2021 really helped me understand autism and being on that top with that golden trophy just was like I can beat these normal people, and that's kind of in a nutshell.
Speaker 2:Anyways, it's a big nutshell. It's a big nutshell, but there was a sentence there.
Speaker 1:He said well, I want to do the pa stuff.
Speaker 2:I want to lift cars. That fucking sentence right there. I don't want to do the posing stuff. I got the look right when he said it Lift cars.
Speaker 1:I was like what a sentence right there. Right, who decides that Anyway?
Speaker 3:That's the only choice you have in life. You either pose or you lift cars.
Speaker 2:But I have a question, right, and was there other sports that you guys were into, because obviously you guys are big guys, right, guys, your size in the US or in the NFL, or probably where you guys are from, they're playing rugby or some of these other things Was that in your mind before the strongest man kind of came about?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, we've always been quite into sports like football, golf. Actually we've been playing a lot of golf.
Speaker 2:We see, we saw Happy Gilmore.
Speaker 3:I've tried to play golf. I've tried to play golf. Tom's been playing golf a lot and he's like I'm amazing at golf Every Monday morning.
Speaker 4:New PB. Yeah, new PB.
Speaker 3:I just eagled the fifth hole. I'm like, no, you didn't count them. So when we were younger we played golf, tennis, not at any level, but just. Mum and Dad had quite a decent-sized garden, relatively speaking from where we're from. So we were out playing tennis, golf, a little bit of rugby, but it was more football. We were all into the rugby side of things just didn't kind of.
Speaker 1:I'm shocked. Yeah, nobody discovered you two in rugby.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it would have been good. It would have been good fun.
Speaker 1:I don't know, bro, I think you guys have done okay. We're missing the old soccer and football, shall I say, and rugby.
Speaker 2:I'm trying to think about these guys running at full speed and trying to stop them. It's like the jogger knot.
Speaker 1:You know, terry Holland was a rugby player too. Yeah, he was great and he was very good and obviously, fair play to Terry. He's won a few hats in his life being a professional rugby player, professional strongman, and then chasing his pro card with bodybuilding too. So that's the evolution of a strongman for him and what I've seen with you guys.
Speaker 1:You've just evolved and only going off what you were just saying, tom, the fact that, and going back to the autism because I think this is a very good conversation to have and I want to stay here for a little bit the fact that you know you embraced a lot of things that scared the crap out of you, right, and made you uncomfortable, but you knew that these things were, you know, in your way and standing in your way to see the better version of you. So you've done what you said you set up lights, you had interviews, you set up all these different things to get comfortable in the uncomfortable, and a lot of people don't have that mindset. So you know, again, we're talking about the whole mindset side of things, right, but with Tom going through the autism, obviously we just heard that story and there's a lot of things that I didn't know. So thank you for telling that Tom. From the Big Brother perspective, how hard was it to see Tom growing up with autism?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean it's Because you just want your family to be happy and just, safe and secure. And you know, watching Tom grow up, it's funny because Tom's always full of joy, you know, you see Tom, I described it the other day actually I was speaking to someone and when Tom was growing up it was like autism, had like chains and locked him up. That was his, like he wasn't free. You know it was. He didn't have that magic key to open the chains and locked him up. That was his, like he wasn't free, you know it was. He didn't have that magic key to open the chains and let him go because it controlled him.
Speaker 3:But now you see him, and Tom is one of the most carefree guys because he's embraced it, he's overcome that. He's like this is who I am. Tom knows who he is, which is a powerful thing to know really who you are. So then he's opened up those chains. Boom, this is me. I've got autism. I'm also the best strongman that the UK's ever produced. I'm the strongest man on the fucking planet. So that's who I am and that is amazing. So you know, watching him grow up, yeah, it was difficult but I always saw joy. Like the sport brought him, like any sports, anything that Tom wanted to do sport-wise, he was going to be successful. It's just fortunate that we both found a passion, a real passion for the gym. And yeah, here we are. You know, it's incredible to see because it was such a. It was a rough time, but I'm trying to be an optimist and you know, tom had to go through those times because, with an easy You've got to find yourself right.
Speaker 2:You have to get to that place where you're good with yourself and nothing anybody else says to you really matters. It's about your family and it's about how you feel inside, right? You've got to get to that place in life, yeah that's the I think that's the key ingredient in life.
Speaker 3:If you can have that and that family and people you love and trust and you can open up and be yourself with them. That's it. We all have to put a mask on sometimes when we're out in the public domain because we have to protect our soul, us. I think that's important. But when we're at home and generally speaking, if we can be who we're supposed to be and that's who the big guy there there is, man, he's so good.
Speaker 1:It's just amazing to see from that knock on the door at 16 years old and you know, forcing him to go to the gym. I think, uh, I think that trajectory it all worked out.
Speaker 2:I have a question from being, you know, the outsider guy and obviously, like you guys are hitting, you know like a normal gym, right, like you guys, how is the training different getting into strongman versus you know typical bodybuilder being in the gym? Like, are you guys doing the same kind of lifts, deadlifts and these sort of things, right, um? Or because obviously I see you guys picking up cars, right, so how do you start training to pick up cars from deadlifts, right, so how does that work?
Speaker 3:yeah, it's, I mean picking up cars usually gets in trouble with the police back home there's a few stolen cars around scotland.
Speaker 1:You can pick up.
Speaker 3:I know a couple police cars flip no big deal, sorry officer just just just a fun one, um, but yeah, generally speaking it is kind of, I guess, monday to thursday it's. We've got a gym back home so it is deadlift, squats, overhead press, your main compound lifts. We do Monday to Thursday and then we have like a warehouse where we go to do our event stuff. So that's when we'll lift up cars, do yokes, log press, big dumbbell pressing, atlas, stones throws, whatever it is. We kind of keep it for that Friday.
Speaker 1:Nothing you can buy off Amazon. Sorry, Kurok.
Speaker 2:But I'm thinking to myself these guys' grip strength must be incredible, because I do jiu-jitsu and stuff and grip strength is a thing you need to really work on and picking up cars and giant boulders, I'm assuming that the grip strength and even when you shook my hand, you know the grip strength.
Speaker 1:It wrapped around. Yeah, just have a look. Show your hands to the cameras.
Speaker 2:Meat hooks.
Speaker 1:What are they? Meat hooks.
Speaker 2:Have you ever?
Speaker 1:had your hands measured. No For gloves.
Speaker 3:I mean the one guy in Strong, Mark Felix. He's. Oh my gosh Mark.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3:Mark's an A4 piece of paper, like from pinky to thumb I think it's the full width.
Speaker 1:I believe it. Mark Felix, and this guy is Benjamin Button. Yeah, how old is Mark Felix? Like nearly 60? He's almost 60,. Yeah, yeah, and he does. Oh my gosh, what's the whole the Hercules? The Hercules hold Listen I don't want to sound like a casual. The Hercules' hold Listen. I don't want to sound like a casual, you know, hercules' hold what's the Hercules' hold.
Speaker 3:Gents. So it's kind of biblical sense, can you pull?
Speaker 1:that up to us. Oh, we don't have the teleprompter. Okay, sorry, sorry, tom Luke.
Speaker 3:It was with Samson and the lions, oh yeah, when you had to hold the pillars handles and you've got to stop them from falling. Basically it's like they're right. 200 odd kilos in each hand, um, and mark is like the king the king, honestly. He's almost 60 years old and, as flex says, you know, he's just like benjamin button. He looks incredible. Like you would say, no way is that guy almost. He looks probably in his 30s. He, he is incredible. He's such a humble guy. He's a plasterer to trade, so he comes in plasters and then by weekend he's one of the best strongmen, or was one of the best strongmen in the world and he's got just these massive hands. Man, it's insane. So, yeah, that's the Hercules.
Speaker 3:It's quite a fun event to watch, but it feels like your shoulders are getting ripped apart. That was one that you kind of struggled with, that mindset. It was like when it kind of, because you don't want to let go, you've got to let that rip from your hands. So I think that's what happened with you. It was kind of getting You're struggling and then Tom just let go and that was like something with with your autism. I think you had to kind of reprogram that, reprogram yourself to be actually. I don't let go and and just, you had some key words. You spoke to a psychologist that helped.
Speaker 1:Helped with that and I was gonna ask that you guys have worked with sports psychologists.
Speaker 3:Sports psychologists, clinical psychologists as well, just to kind of understand how our head works, you know, because it's.
Speaker 2:It's a real thing. You get the mind right before you're going into these competitions, right?
Speaker 3:Yeah, man, it's 100%, you can see it though. You see it when you go into the competition, either like sink or swim, you know, because there's over 10,000 people watching sometimes in these shows we do back in the uk and like that's quite intimidating. You go out, you're like, oh, wow, okay, if I mess up, it's not just in front of tom or like my gym buddies, it's in front of 10 000 people, it's going out at christmas time to millions of people.
Speaker 3:But yeah, you've got to really be mentally strong to do that and yeah um, you know, fortunate we were, but it's just understanding things and, um, it kind of really worked for you, I think.
Speaker 4:Speaking to the yeah, I mean so. I started clinical psychologist just before world's strongest man 2021. Luke had been talking to her for a wee while and obviously, with me being on autism, new things are a massive risk and Luke was going back and forth and he just said try it. So I think I tried it for, tried her for six to eight weeks out of well strollers man and for me it was a cheat code. It was made my mind unbreakable.
Speaker 4:I wrote on Facebook, I think two days before I went to well strollers man Tom Stoltman well, strollers man 2021. It was on Facebook so everybody could see it and even Eddie Hall did an interview with me after I think it was the first day of the qualifier, saying you know, I've seen. You wrote Tom Stoltman, world Strollers man on Facebook and that's how confident, that's the confidence she put into me and that was kind of that vision I had was me if I do my job and turn up there. And yeah, it was so, so powerful. I never in my life went to the depth. She put me in my into the mindset and it was a cheat code for myself do you mind saying some of the stuff that you worked on?
Speaker 4:yeah, I mean, it wasn't she, just she. She started. So the first few weeks was just understanding my autism, how can I, like certain things, distract that, how how I could improve it in the gym and stuff. So there was was a lot of. It was a concrete thinking for myself.
Speaker 4:So, going back to like when I'm I'm so OCD when it comes to world. So, like you know, luke, maybe with the business, luke might get distracted with that, but for me it's like you've got one job that's World's Strongest man. So these eight weeks, your tunnel vision, your black and white, and that's it. It was more buzzwords. So for Luke's side, with the grip stuff, and that it was right, be aggressive. So as soon as my coach would say to me, or Luke says, be aggressive, that's when my mind would switch and I would literally lift anything that was in front of me, whereas if it was like right, you need to put your feet, like this, you need to do this, you need to do that, my mind would be like what the hell's happening? Happening. So it was like be aggressive, switch on.
Speaker 4:And there was another one and those three words like by the 2021, I think first day in the final, I had the biggest lead anyone's ever seen in the final and it was just seeing these three simple words, the kind of concrete thinking of you've got something in front of you, you're picking it up and you're visualizing it. And visualizing was a massive thing that I learned as well about visualizing how you're going to lift each thing. But yeah, the three buzzwords in that visualization was incredible. I, when she said that be aggressive, she said go to the gym. And someone said that was like you're talking bullshit, like this is this is not going to work.
Speaker 1:But yeah, he said be aggressive and it changed my life completely unbelievable, wow well, we've had a lot of athletes sitting on the sofas talking about, you know, working with sports psychologists and people. In that.
Speaker 2:That line of work, excuse me, I'm not getting too chalked up, I mean, to the beat, to be the best in the world at anything, your mental game has to be there right, like it has to be on point. You have to be mentally disciplined and and hardened into also visualization, right, because, like, like like you were saying, a lot of fighters now have these type coaches and it's like they're visualizing the fight before it happens and they're visualizing how that's going to happen and they're seeing it play over and over in their head. Also the nerves right Like the nerves can get the best of you and so you're not pushing out to your fullest because you're mentally not there. So it's always interesting to me and I like to surround myself with gentlemen like yourselves who have mentally pushed yourselves into being the best in the world at something.
Speaker 1:It's just an incredible thing. And to add to that, before I choke myself to death, thank you for recovering me there when I was choking. That's my boy. He just jumped in knowing I was going to get my words out. To add to that, we've had athletes sitting in the same chairs as you that have had psychologists, sports psychologists, and when they're in the fight and they feel themselves losing, you know whether it's getting caught up in the crow, the big lights, or they've done certain things. Some they don't talk about, they keep it closed circles, but some people will touch themselves. Like you know, as a guy, diego Lopez will touch his throat when he's fighting. It's for him to get back being present. Is there anything you said buzzwords? Is there anything that you do outside of that so you stay present, or is it buzzwords?
Speaker 4:yeah, I mean it's, it's actually a lot of breathing as well, I think it's. Um, I actually talked to a new sports psychologist this year as well, and Last year I didn't talk to a psychologist, lost my title, and then this year I re-talked to him. But this guy really kind of told me how to switch on when I breathe, how to switch off if I breathe as well, and that was channeling my brain and breathing and really understanding the breath work, because when you're just breathing for the sake of it, you're not engaging with it, you're not understanding your breath. He told me it was just to do the visualization when I'm warming up and to really over-exaggerate my out-breath. So if I was getting a bit tired or losing a bit of the mental clarity, it would be really just sit in a corner and just go, so I'm actually feeling the breath and can feel it working.
Speaker 2:And again, that really paid off as well for myself. Yeah, I, I saw online that you guys do some wim hof training, right, and I also saw some, uh, some cold weather, some cold weather training. But that that breathing training, that wim hof style, right, like it's so important our breath, right. We just had gary brecca on recently, who who was talking a bit about this. But tell us a little bit about that, that that you know the breath but then also like that same breath as you're getting in that I saw the lake.
Speaker 2:It's like the lock, I think they call it or something, and you guys are going in there. That thing's got to be crazy 20 degrees below or something like that. Right, like, tell us a little bit about that yeah, I mean that's, tom, I mean your breath.
Speaker 3:If you can control your breath, you can just control everything. Then you know it's like you know. So in the cold water stuff, you know, one of the biggest dangers is going into shock. If you get dunked in the cold, you're like Right, and that's the worst thing you can do. You know we can control everything we have in our body. So it all starts with that breath and that's what Wim Hof, when we're with Wim, that's what we did with him. It was that like it was a lot more deeper. I would say it was more like going into a trance state with Wim, which is one thing as well. So I think that's that's fantastic for allowing emotions to come out as well when you're in that breath. Work doing that, just doing that, and and then you got, you get hold your breath and I think we held our breath like three minutes, which was pretty wild, wow, but like it just gives you that. That's something solid to focus on, doesn't it? You know nothing else matters. All you're doing is controlling that through the nose out through the mouth.
Speaker 2:it's powerful and you you actually get a little bit high from it, right, like you feel the euphoric feeling that happens and the focus, like you said, is a real thing. We've been talking about this. I'm trying to get flex on a morning program with these breaths because it is real and it's charging your red blood cells also.
Speaker 3:It's just so basic, we go back to a few hundred years ago. It's charging your red blood cells also right, it's just so basic, we go back to a few hundred years ago. It's like primal, it's like what is the most important thing and what we can do is breathing. That's why we're alive. So big breaths and that nasal breathing, that nose. We're all mouth breathers now, aren't we, which isn't a good way to be. You see everyone taping their mouths up now when they're sleeping, and I haven't done that. I don't really feel like doing that I don't think I've done it.
Speaker 1:I don't think I'd wake up I've done it, your friends.
Speaker 2:Actually the hostage tape, because my, I snore.
Speaker 1:Not a sponsor of the show.
Speaker 2:Not a sponsor, it was more so it was more for the snoring in my, in my girl, but you know this guy, his fucking non-sponsors in the show.
Speaker 1:Well, they could be a sponsor, yes, they could be. Hit us up in the DMs. Anyways, moving on.
Speaker 3:Do you do much cold immersion, cold water? Yes.
Speaker 1:I got a cold plunge in the house. I have a sauna. I cranked that up to about 220.
Speaker 2:It's exploded here in the US. A lot of people are now into that. I cold plunge as well and do that whole breathing process through there. It really is a clarity thing that I wish I would have found earlier in my life. Going in the lock, though, looks a little.
Speaker 1:It's next level. Yeah, it's next level. I watch these guys because obviously you guys are a little further ahead in time than me. When I wake up, I look and I see both of these guys submerged with their camera phone and I'm thinking I've messaged you a few times. I'm like how cold is that, bro? And he's like you gotta come. So I'm definitely coming to see you guys, that's for one, but I'm going to wait for warmer climates. Let me tell you, scotland in the summer is still fucking cold. Scotland in the summer is still fucking cold. Okay, scotland in the winter? Forget about it. So I'm doing my research for the podcast. You guys have been in that lock since a very young age, so you've acclimated to that, because I read that you guys didn't go on vacation to Spain or anything like that for years, many years later, but your summer holidays were spent in Scotland.
Speaker 2:Is that Loch Ness, like where the Loch Ness Monster is? Yeah, that's where you guys are going. Yeah, makes sense.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that was like when we were growing up you know we didn't have like loads of money growing up, you know so we spent a lot of time going camping and our mum, she didn't like going to swimming pools, she didn't like chlorine, you know. So it was always swimming in the locks or swimming in the sea. So I remember like my summers were like I was so excited as my mom can we go to the beach? Can we go to the beach? So she'd always take us. And like I remember one time I looked down at my feet and my feet were like blue with the cold and I was like, oh, that can't be good, yeah, so.
Speaker 3:I was like, I'll be fine, I'll just play more, whatever. And that was life back then. It was just simple, you know. It was like go to the beach, we'd have a little disposable barbecue, whatever it was. Mum was there. Sometimes dad would be there if he wasn't working. He worked quite a lot and mum, we had five, there's five, there's five of us. You know, there's two sisters, three brothers, so you can imagine the cost to. You know, fly out to Spain, it was probably tens of thousands, you know, to do that. So, like, a lot of our time was just spent around Scotland, in the highlands, which was which is where I find my peace now.
Speaker 3:I find my inner peace, my joy, that wholesomeness. That's where I connect with mum. Mum passed away in 2016. So when I'm going to the sea or the loch, seeing the sunrise, that's where I'm like all right, mum, how's it going? I'll have a little cry or get a bit of emotion out, and then sometimes that's when I just chat in the camera it's just things come up In the cold water. It makes me feel at peace and just have that reset and I'm able to function for the day ahead. Sometimes, if I don't go in the cold water. The guys at work that we work with are, uh, uh, are in the office. They'll they'll know that I've not been in because I'm a little bit grumpy, pissed off. Yeah, yeah, a little bit pissed off, like like a bull in a Chinese shop.
Speaker 2:I'll be like fuck sakes, why is this not done? But if I'm, it's an attribute to, to the mindset and and and what you guys bring with you. Cause I know, for me, when I go on that cold, you know, sometimes I'm sitting there negotiating with myself like all right, get in there. All right, get in there. But it's that mental, like I'm doing it, you know, and it's that mental you're getting over something. Delayed gratification, in some senses right gets you mentally strong.
Speaker 3:Just that little tick, yeah, a little tick, check the box and then at the end of the day I kind of check in. Now it's like how many checks have I done? Oh, I've ate well, trained really well, did the cold water good day at work, spoke to my wife about stuff, oh oh, tick, tick, tick. That was five ticks. Oh, that wasn't bad. I'm not so much of a fucking idiot as I thought I was. I don't think that's the case, no.
Speaker 1:But what I will say about you guys is you've truly stayed true to your Scottish roots. You know a lot of people get a little fame. You know I had to come to the United States to chase that. I had to come to the United States to chase that. Unfortunately, doing it from Wales was not going to happen, so I had to come here, do my thing and I ended up moving here for my life to turn into what it is. You guys have done everything from the area you guys have been brought up in Pretty much right. You've not changed anything, anything. I I think that, oh, you tell me, has that? Has that given you that? That that local humble support to, to get you to where you are, is other reason why you stayed in the area and not moved over to the us. Is that balance part of the, the strategy to to the greatness? I?
Speaker 4:think it has to be, doesn't it? Yeah, I mean a hundred%. I think also it goes back to the mentality thing as well. I think when we kind of first started Strongman up in the Highlands, there was none Like my first atlas stone was half a stone with these sharp things cut out and we were doing an uneven floor in my dad's kind of old shed that he had and we broke the concrete and we were deadlifting on like deficits and stuff. So whereas then we could have went to Glasgow, which had everything on their doorstep and I think that was the kind of mindset you know, being from the Highlands we were like we're making this really really hard for ourselves.
Speaker 4:But when we go to these places like Glasgow and the big cities, we'll step into a gym that's got everything and we'll be like this is, this is easy and yeah, the community for us is. I mean, mean, it's unbelievable. I've always wanted to live, stay in the Highlands. I like the quietness of it. When we go to London it's all the big, there's fog in your head and it's just you're all right for a day or two. But, yeah, proud from where we're from, you know we've got signs now and it's Invergordon town as well, and I mean, if we were to leave, that would be you're gonna have to take the sign with you.
Speaker 4:I know we've got, you know, our, our merchandise office, our shop, we've got the gym. So we just want to try and make Invergordon a place where people can actually come, enjoy and know that there's. You know, being from there that doesn't mean it's end of the world. You don't have to travel to the states, you don't have to travel to England, glasgow, to do things. You you can actually be rooted in Invergordon and be successful as well, and that's what you know. We're trying to put that message out there.
Speaker 3:Yeah, big time. We're Highlanders. You know that's the thing it's like. It's a special place in the world, like you've all you know Braveheart, mel Gibson, all that stuff you know giving it laldy and but for me that's where my home is. I can't. I want to raise my son there.
Speaker 3:We live all within ten minutes of each other, so five siblings, we're all so close and nowadays we're so fortunate, right because of social media, travel's so much easier now so we can set up something. And with Strongman we're very lucky that it's so popular easier now so we can set up something. And with Strongman, we're very lucky that it's so popular in the UK, you know so it's people in the UK just love it. It's just like we had a. We did something on the weekend there at Scotland's Strongest man and I think it was like a 75-year-old lady that bought a cat from us. She's like I'm your oldest fan, but it's like having that. And then the demographic of that interest. You've got great grannies and then you've got young kids really interested in it as well. And to be still in Invergordon in the Highlands is something that we're both as Tom says, we're both really proud of and hopefully it is showing other people from the area that you know.
Speaker 3:When I was growing up, I had the mentality that nothing should happen successfully from that area because it's a small town, so remote. Nothing's going to happen and we don't want people to have that mindset. We want to show people, young kids that are growing up look guys, it doesn't matter if you're from from here. Make it part of why you're going to be successful. Yes, it's harder. You don't have all the glitz and the glamour and all the the other stuff that can help you, but also you don't have anything to distract you. So if it's fitness, if it's sport, if it's strength, like immerse yourself in that, like just do that and then you'll be successful. It's not rocket science, I don't think.
Speaker 2:And get your ass in the lock every day. I gotta ask Flex what? Is there any Loch Ness Monster stories?
Speaker 1:I had to ask. Well, let's just say this the last sighting was when, exactly when, these fucking two were in.
Speaker 4:That answers your question right there. That's every day for Luke.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Exactly when these fucking two are in there that answers your question right there, that's every day for Luke.
Speaker 3:Loch Ness is a cool place, man. It's 26 miles long, it's beautiful, oh man, if you guys ever come.
Speaker 2:I love outdoorsy stuff. Flex loves that. It's beautiful. We'll avoid the cold one, though, yeah.
Speaker 1:So you mentioned Loch Ness. All the Scottish love to keep that alive. Any thoughts of, or have you had anybody that's seen it around you?
Speaker 2:Come on, there's got to be some goods. Give us some good stuff Come on.
Speaker 3:I wish there's a guy that stays on the banks of Loch Ness he's from England, he moved up in 1990, early 90s and of Loch Ness. He's from England, he moved up in 1990, early 90s and his life mission is to find the Loch Ness monster. So he stays in a little caravan on the banks of Loch Ness and I don't think he's seen it.
Speaker 2:He's been there his whole life.
Speaker 3:Keep going, mate, keep living your dream.
Speaker 2:You ever be in that water and you're, like you know, looking around as a kid, right Especially as a kid like you've got to be a little bit scared of it, right.
Speaker 1:Do you think the Loch Ness scene them guys? They're going to hang out next to these people.
Speaker 2:As a kid, as a kid as adults.
Speaker 1:I don't think they were small as a kid.
Speaker 3:Tom was six foot when he was born. Yeah, but when you went it's a lot nicer. Scary because like it's.
Speaker 4:so you walk in for about two or three meters and all of a sudden it just drops, so like, and it's dark, like the water's dark, so you can't see below it and I get petrified of obviously what like if I can't.
Speaker 3:That shelf.
Speaker 4:So I think the first few times I went in there, luke was like come to cold water. So this is easy, this is easy, and all of a sudden bang. I was like I just drowned and I was like this is this, ain't it. He didn't know, but anything could be under there. I was like the Loch.
Speaker 2:Ness, the Loch Ness monsters under there. I have seen that in that, in there that there's a drop off and it goes really, really deep and that's why they say the monsters down down there in the depths waiting to get you guys. I'm sure it's there.
Speaker 3:You know we don't want to ruin Scottish tourism.
Speaker 1:It's there, it's there. We've seen it. Yeah, I was hoping that you said you'd seen it to increase the tourism.
Speaker 3:We actually ride it. You know, Tom, as soon as it I'm like, yeah, that would make sense.
Speaker 2:Glad you had.
Speaker 1:That would be cool.
Speaker 3:I wish we had some footage of that, but our camera dropped in the water or whatever, so never thought that would happen.
Speaker 1:Yeah, don't worry, it's the one that got away. Yeah, that's it. Keeping the myth alive. You guys are always laughing and causing jokes. I mean, I've been around you guys enough, but who's the biggest prankster of you two?
Speaker 4:Luke, 100%. I just I'm the story of that spicy stuff and all that, all right yeah spicy. Do you test spicy food? But spicy stop ones is the name.
Speaker 3:But yeah, he'll tell you tom's tom's really easy to prank, though he's quite bless him. He's very trusted, so um we, so we got the like the spicy stolen thing came from we were at uh seeing the cats.
Speaker 3:Okay, the chilies and the oh yeah thing came from. We were at, uh, the chilies and the oh yeah, that's the catch for us spicy stoltmans, but, um, 2019, world's strongest man. One of the videographers found out that tom found tomato sauce ketchup spicy. I'm like what do you mean? He said, oh, just some ketchup's really spicy. So then she made a t-shirt saying spicy stoltmans. So like that stuck and then we got tattoos, as you do. So, yeah, we do a lot of pranks and you know I ordered some spicy stuff off Amazon and some really spicy sauce. There was a we were making breakfast for Tom one day fried eggs so I put some like really spicy stuff in the yolk and then Tom ate it and he was like oh you got me.
Speaker 3:Oh, it's spicy. I was like oh sorry, mate, sorry, I've got some chocolate. I ordered some spicy, like daily.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh here. Wash it down with this. Yeah, there's some chocolate, that helps you.
Speaker 3:And then he ate the chocolate buns and they were really. It's like Carolina Reaper. Oh, that's vicious bro.
Speaker 1:I don't even know if that's a prank.
Speaker 3:I know that probably could have died, but I mean he's here.
Speaker 2:That's how you get explosive diarrhea, oh shit.
Speaker 1:Unexplosive left bro.
Speaker 3:That's not nice. The spicy challenges man. We just get tied to doing that. I've seen yeah, tell us about this. I've seen that. I've seen yeah, tell us about this. It's so. We did one with Eddie Eddie Hall. Eddie's like we're down in London. He says oh hey, guys, do you want to? We've got a really nice restaurant booked for us tonight. We're like oh nice, steak whatever.
Speaker 1:You were the Eddie too, by the way, so you know.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so we're like I don't know if it's nice. It was renowned for doing challenges anyway. And there was these spicy chicken wings and you know, you know it's bad when the guys come out and like hazard some glass.
Speaker 3:And we had like an event on the following day which was like so we had these and it was the spiciest thing I've ever had in my life. It was brutal and Eddie was just pissing himself off, whatever. But then the following day, like you know, you're trying to interact with people and say hello but like every like 10 minutes having to go off the toilet and yeah, it wasn't nice, but it's just. That's the. That's a frustrating thing because we're not really that good with spices. And but yeah, getting getting Tom in pranks. It's funny, sinead Tom's wife always gets him get frights every single time keeps my heart in shape or she jumps and frightens him.
Speaker 4:She gives me frights walking up the stairs, or she hides behind, because she's only five foot, so hide behind doors, screams at me, and it's some of the, or if you're sleeping on the sofa like, and she's like, ah, and so I'm like oh, worst things ever, Is she filming every one?
Speaker 1:of these too. She's probably got like a catalogue of frights as my wife does too.
Speaker 4:She put about 20 of them on TikTok oh.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but you want to have, you just want to smile and have a bit of fun and just laugh, you know, because it is quite a serious thing. You know, when you're, you know as, when you're training, it's serious, it's, it's so like mentally consuming. You know it's nice, we can have a bit of fun in between and just enjoy life. And, um, you know, it's something that we think about an awful lot training, but in the same time you have to make time for that. Just little things in life, that daft things. And if I can get get one over and tom, because it's not often I I get one over on him in competitions, now that he's oh, so that's what it is.
Speaker 4:Huh, I'll keep getting one over in competitions, that's fine.
Speaker 3:That's fair.
Speaker 1:But you guys and I've noticed this with a lot of strongmen now, you know, with Brian Air D, mitchell Hooper, evan everybody's got a big focus on the YouTube pages and with the strongmen, over the last couple of years I've noticed people have blown up, not just by showing what they can do in the lift, but also doing stuff outside of the gym too, showing your personality, going around, doing different challenges. And you guys, you've thrown yourself into so many different sports training with different athletes. I love that, obviously, but you're not scared to try anything and you know, dare I say it, make a fool of yourself in some cases, right. But then the food challenges. The food challenges I think them are the ones that everybody loves, right. But you guys have got your YouTube channel, the Stockton Brothers YouTube channel, and you've got tens of millions of views, probably more. I've only counted up the tens.
Speaker 1:But the videos that you're putting out right now again, was that hard? I think there's a double question here. Was that hard for you guys to have that new age mindset? Because you know us coming from the uk me growing up in bodybuilding I was covered up dorian yates mentality you just go in, you train, you kill it and then you get out yeah, and there was nothing filmed, there was no photos taken. That was the era I came from. No, in bodybuilding you have to pause the fucking most muscular every day and show the world. You have to do a you know, a cheeky front double bicep in the strongman world. These new endeavors and all these new chapters have happening. Was it hard for you, being in scotland, in the highlands, to be creative and and get on youtube? Um, or was that in a benefit for you and then tell us how that has evolved in in the last couple of years on your youtube channel?
Speaker 4:I mean, for for me it was the worst, the worst thing in the world, I think. Uh, obviously, when we started YouTube, I think it was what, a few years, two, three years All I wanted to do was I just wanted to lift weights. I didn't want any of that camera distractions, I didn't want anyone following my life around. That's what. Obviously, having autism, I really did struggle with that. You look back at the old videos. Then I said three or four words max and I let him do all the talking, and it's obviously changed now.
Speaker 4:But I think we'd done it because we knew we had to jump on this. You know the YouTube bandwagon back then, obviously with COVID as well. It was massive when we kind of started it as well. So we really had that advantage there.
Speaker 4:But man, it was really hard to have a camera in your face. Training was all right, but to see following your life around when you're like just sitting at home chilling with the wife doing stuff, that was really hard for myself. But, like I said, we had to do and I kind of took to it quite quickly the good thing about it we had each other and we could do all these kind of jokes we had with each other. We didn't. We did a lot of filming stuff, but we tended to feel like people wanted to see, like I said, personalities. The eating stuff's massive and yeah, now it's just, it's a thing we have to do every single day. We have to put our lives out there. But, yeah, I really enjoy it now. But back in the first few weeks of doing that was was how I think our first video was. Luke had a good idea. Well, luke had this idea of going up to a place up in Skye which is two hours north of us and it was to go into like a was it like a teenage?
Speaker 3:no, it was no. No, that's it. It was right. No, I was fuming, it was no, we were going to stay the night there. Remember that wasn't part. It was just in the Isle of Skies, a really popular holiday destination in the in the summertime. So like accommodation was pretty scarce, we kind of booked it last minute and the only place was a hostel.
Speaker 4:But he was laughing his head off because he knew as soon as he said that I was like we are not doing this. So anyway, we went, walked in. He walked in. I had this room and it was had, I think, pee on the bed sheets. I was like, oh fuck you. Luke walked in with somebody, but he was. There was someone in his the room that he was sharing with doing all. He was just in his pants.
Speaker 3:Yeah, he was just in his pants, just in his pants, and I don't think he had a shower for like a couple of weeks I text Luke saying let's leave this.
Speaker 4:So we just bolted out of there, and I mean because, well, it takes like three hours, three or four hours to drive there.
Speaker 3:So we thought, right, we'll just stay for the night and do our filming the next day. There's a really nice place called the Fairy Pools, which is like a beautiful river. It's got these beautiful pools, so we're going to do a swim there. So we thought we're not staying in this hostel because it was disgusting and I'd been offshore for like 17 years and some of the rooms offshore in the rigs were horrendous, but this was even worse, oh jeez. So 17 years and some of the rooms offshore in the rigs were horrendous, but this, this was even worse. So we're like, right, stuff, it, let's just go and do the filming. So we drove off to the the fairy pools, did some filming and then got home about two o'clock in the morning, um, so yeah, that wasn't very nice. But, like as tom was saying, like with the youtube stuff, it's like so I had a job 17 years in the oil rig. Yeah, I was gonna speak about that. What about that? What a tough job. Tough job, man. It's like.
Speaker 3:And I was getting to the point in 2019 where I'd said to my wife I'm not going offshore anymore, but I had to have something else to take that income in. So, like, what was I going to do? So you look at, like Brian Brian Shaw, eddie, you know how successful they are, and Half Thor as well. You know how successful they are, and Half Thor as well, you know. So they're doing their YouTube, they're doing their clothing, and how many income streams can you get? And that's what I needed to be able to do to give up that.
Speaker 3:So we had a discussion, tom and I. We said, right, we'll start doing some clothing. None of us knew anything about, so we had to learn how to do that. Then the YouTube stuff came on social media. So we took on, so a videographer started working you know the usual kind of stuff and then it just kind of you know, the whole pandemic thing happened and like, oh shit, I've just given up a well-paid job to go full-time strongman. And then the strongman we weren't sure we were going to be able to do any competitions, but fortunately everyone was at home then, weren't they? So it was like more eyes on views and people were watching and it went really well. And yeah, fair play to Tom, it was a struggle for you at the start. I would recommend go back and watch the first couple.
Speaker 1:Are we going to put it on B-roll? I'm joking.
Speaker 3:He was like he didn't say anything, and now it's the complete opposite Like I can't say anything. Oh really, he just shuts me up, he just keeps speaking. I want to be centre of the attention.
Speaker 1:I think if you walk in the room all eyes gravitate to both of you.
Speaker 3:But as you're a little bit tall, I think you know you're doing well in that.
Speaker 1:I think he's doing okay, he's got that covered, the big bastard. Can I circle back on the oil rig stuff, Because it's very impressive to me that you became as successful as you were by spending. Is it three months on, three months off? Is that the timelines?
Speaker 3:Sometimes further afield. If I was overseas I'd maybe do three months away the last few field. If I was overseas, I would do three months away the last few jobs. I was in the North Sea. You can do up to three weeks, so it's usually three weeks and maybe a week or two weeks off depending on the contract or the project. So I worked all over. I was working in Angola, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, South Korea was the last overseas project I had, so that was a year I was out there. For I actually flew back from South Korea to come back to compete at Britain's Strongest man and then flew back straight the next day after.
Speaker 2:They got gyms on the oil rig or what.
Speaker 3:I was just going to say what can you even do when you're on the oil rig. I mean, there is gyms, it has to be, because you have to have some type of physical activity, but I think now, health and safety, certainly in the North Sea. In the UK you can only have up to, I think, 35 kilo dumbbells, so it's about 70 pounds, yeah, there and thereabouts. But I used to always take out resistance bands, bands with me so I could deadlift more, so you'd stand in the resistance bands, get more resistance, but in the North Sea it's very stormy, so you'd be on like an accommodation barge and like the storms would come in and it'd be like and like, honestly, it was just deadlifting Like you're on one of them vibrating beds, or they'd just close the gym.
Speaker 1:you know it'd be like lifting, like one of them vibrating beds or they'd just close the gym.
Speaker 3:It'd be closed for four days because of the weather and you were just stuck twiddling your thumbs. You're like, jeez, I've got World's Strongest man to prep for in a month. Fuck, and you see everyone. It got to me because I saw everyone else training in the best conditions, the best gym, in 2019, the reason why I stopped working I said I wasn't going to work anymore because Tom got invited out to do an incubator program out in Dubai for a month, so all-inclusive, everything paid for, and I had to go offshore. I was out in the soil rig, so it's in bunk beds, you know. So I was in, fortunately, the bottom bunk, but the beds are like just so narrow. My shoulder was over a hang in the bed. I'm on social media. I flicked on Instagram and I see Tom in like Dubai mall living his best life. I'm like this motherfucker.
Speaker 1:I'm quitting.
Speaker 4:I'm done.
Speaker 3:I'm like this motherfucker, I'm quitting, I'm done, I'm off to Dubai. So I literally text or phone Cushy. I said, look, cush, I think this is it. Man, I'm done. I don't want to be like 60 years old saying, you know, I've been 60 in the bar, saying to the guys that could have been me if I didn't, you know, if I wasn't working offshore, that would have been me and I didn't want to be that person. And by that time Mum had passed away as well. So I wanted to like, mum wanted us to be happy, you know, not just do something just for the sake of it. So I was like, right, I'm done. I had a contract to fulfil back home up until March in 2020.
Speaker 3:And that was the last time, like, when that day came, got my boiler suit, my coveralls, my hard hat, put them all in a garbage bag and then chucked them in the bin. And that was me. I was so happy, like that moment. I remember saying to the guys I'm not working offshore anymore, I'm done. Like, yeah, whatever man, yeah, shut up. Were you going to be a strong man? I was like, yeah, I'll be a strong man. And then you know, here you are.
Speaker 3:And you know.
Speaker 1:I thought when you said I'm done, I'm going to get off this whole rig. When you said that sentence to me, I thought it was because you run out of resistance bands. You fucking snapped them off, I mean how many resistance bands do you?
Speaker 2:think this guy went through a thick resistance band.
Speaker 1:But just think of this Rock right? You know, as Luke said, you're watching all your competitors having the luxury of just turning up at a specialized strongman gym with equipment that they will be lifting on at X event, giants Worlds, whatever it is. And then here's Luke, there, trying to do what he can do on shaky ground at times, training for that show. That just goes to show your mindset and commitment to your craft, my friend, and train everything possible and anything possible to get you to that next chapter and, needless to say, man, I think that this is all plays part of. We've got two incredible, best of the best strongmen sitting on our sofas right here.
Speaker 1:Two different stories too. Yes, the guys have come together and supported one another, but you have your unique story. You have your unique story and I think that this is what makes this relationship so special, because you know you've had to go through your hardships, tom has gone through his hardships and you've both, kind of, at 2019, came together. Um, you know, when you said, mum passed as well that year, um, would you say that all that played a part to evolve both of you to then being more focused than ever and fulfill your goal of becoming world's strongest man. You know british. The best in britain, best in europe yeah, 100 I mean it's like that.
Speaker 3:You need that, like I, I, when I, you feel pain, like that's all part of pain and like that's what I've realized. I don't just this last few weeks I need to feel pain, to like you feel numb, you think you're doing okay and you're just kind of coasting in life. You know you're just like offshore, like I was numb doing that. I was like, yeah, the money was, you know, I was earning money, but it was just numb, I didn't feel anything. It was like, yeah, yeah, blah, blah, blah, but like giving up that it was like it was really difficult to do that. But when my mum passed, that that was pain, training's pain, going through all this stuff Tom growing up with autism was pain for him. And the more pain that you can endure, that's when the good times come. If you can keep going like right, I'm going to wake up today, and if I can just function and get through this day, that's a win, that's a good one, I'm happy. And then once you start, once I start doing that, then I start to get more enjoyment from that. I'm like, oh okay, actually life is pretty cool seeing a sunrise, like walking out, when you're like our dad just planted seven or eight thousand sunflowers in memory of her mum, because her favourite flower was sunflowers. Seeing them blossom every morning, I'm like life was pretty cool, man coming to Vegas to compete in our passion, in our sport.
Speaker 3:Life's not bad, but we had to go through that, we had to endure that. We had to watch mum for three years die from cancer and see the pain that she went through. That's not. That's like what we do is superficial, isn't it? It's not real pain. But when you get diagnosed with something like real, that's nothing. You can't get rid of that pain, no matter what. You take morphine painkillers, that's done. Your life is, we're all going to die. But like, when you get that terminal notice, you're done. And like seeing how mum kind of held herself, like she was so stoic, so like so scottish, just scottish, just a, a solid highlander, and that's what we've got to be. Now you know we're not. We can't give up, we can't stop because something's happened. Like we've got a job to do. We've got mum's memory to to fulfill and to keep going and to keep keep doing what we can do. And you know that's why tom is going to win six times world's strongest man and be the greatest strongman in the world. That's why.
Speaker 1:Love it. What do you think about that, tom? 100%, 100%.
Speaker 4:Love it Six times.
Speaker 1:You said law of attraction earlier, didn't you? You've got to put it out there to believe it. You've got to manifest, manifest it out.
Speaker 4:Six times to be the greatest strongman of all time. Be good, eh. Three more to go Halfway there.
Speaker 1:The fact you're only 30 is what blows my mind.
Speaker 2:When I was looking it up and I was like dude, he's so young.
Speaker 1:He asked me he's like is Tom really 30? I said yeah, he's 30. It's wild.
Speaker 3:I wish I was 30. Jeez, we all do.
Speaker 1:All of us that are not 30 wish we do. Yeah, yeah, oh, it's so nice to be 30 again. Can I just on the back end of that and this is not don't excuse this as like a morbid conversation, because I think this is a beautiful one. You know, mom got to truly bring up five kids, you know, and you were saying about the summer holidays and my mother also went through breast cancer three times. She's on the other side of that, thankfully, but we all thought we were going to lose her too, and that fear and that thought nearly had me go home.
Speaker 1:You know, when I was here in the United States, In fact, they hid it from me because they knew I'd be on that first flight home and my mother wanted me, just like you guys, to live your best life. So when I found out about it, it was actually my coach, neil Hill, that told me he's like your mom is not good. I was pissed, I was mad, because everybody knew and they didn't tell me, so they didn't expect my mom to take the turn that she did. I go home, she's in hospital and what my mom told me was I will fight this, welsh mentality, celtic mom mentality, mom mentality. I will fight this and I will be there for the Mr Olympia. So the Mr Olympia found out about this story and not only did they, was she there for the Mr Olympia, but they put her right behind Joe Weider for second row so I could see her in on stage looking down cheering me on Full circle, moment you know.
Speaker 1:For me to mentioned, you know, that was that was a real fight. What I was doing, getting up every morning, was self-inflicted. Was it hard? Absolutely, but it was nothing, nothing. What my mom and your mom went through, um, and you mentioned earlier about the buzzwords and stuff like that is that stuff that you use on competition day something, maybe a memory of mom to get you amped up?
Speaker 4:yeah, I mean for me it was, um, you know, when she away. Obviously she was my biggest kind of go-to person growing up, but I said to myself that I need to make a promise to her. So I said, in 2019, me and Luke would be the first brothers to make World's Strongest man final 2020. I would podium in 2021, I'd win. I said that in about 2018. So and I was like you know, I don't want to break a promise, but I don't want to break a promise to the person I love the most. And again, you know, manifesting that, saying that and actually doing every single thing possible. And, like I said, it came true 2019, first Brothers go to the final 2020, podium in 2021, won my title.
Speaker 4:And that was the three years that I was like this is where you're going to see the best Tom Stoltman. This is three years that I was like this is where you're going to see the best Tom Stoltman. This is where I'm going to put what's happened to my mum and turn it to the positive. You know, think about the smiles she did to me. I got tattoos of her to represent her, using that promise as fuel, as fire, to be like she's there with me every single step of the way, if I break this promise, I'm basically dead inside as well. So I really kind of went to those kind of you know, those kind of places in my head as well and, yeah, that promise was the thing that really got me through the prep for the next three or four years after she passed away.
Speaker 3:So yeah, and like it's just that that pain thing that really got like got me because mum said, um, she like drove up to the hospital. She said she was a maniac man. She like she's got five kids right and we all live within ten minutes of her, like mum, if you need anything, we're here. But she drove up the hospital by herself. She drove up get chemo by herself. There was one time she had to go and get I don't know the medical term, but it was an injection in her spine to stop her from going paralysed because the tumour was. It was all over her body basically. So she had to go up get this big mad needle in her spine. She came back and, we didn't know, went and saw her in the evening and she told me she said, oh, I had to go up to the hospital, oh, it was quite sore. And she would never say things were sore. And I was like fuck, that must have been really painful.
Speaker 3:And that story really sticks with me because, again, what you said, you know when we're self-inflicted, when we're like hurting because we've got another rep to do, we've got another set to do, it's like well, it's going to pass. You know, after a minute I'm going to be okay, like I keep going back to that thing for mum and every time again it's. That's what kind of gets me like riled up inside. Is mum family, like anyone doing anything bad to my family? That's my, that's my thing, you know, because I die. I was thinking that this morning, looking at my son Cole, I was like, oh mate, see, if anyone did anything to you I would do. I would do anything to make sure you're happy in life. And that goes with Tom brother, harry sisters, jodie and Nicky, my dad, anyone I would do anything for them. And that's my thing. That gets me aggressive.
Speaker 1:When I left I was going to say calm down now, fucking hell.
Speaker 2:Calm it down now. You see it go in. You mess with my head. Oh fucking hell. Calm it down, luke, I'm going to go flip your car over.
Speaker 1:He was like if anybody does anything to you, I was like, well, it's not going to happen. Don't worry, hey, he's looking at me. I was like hey, fucking hell bro, I'm only fucking interviewing you.
Speaker 2:But you're one of those guys Like first time you know me and Flex will work out a lot at the house, real casual we and like first couple times I went into the gym with him. He's a different guy, like it's a totally different kind of workout. There's no joking, it's not the fun workouts we do at the house. He turns into somebody else. It's a little different.
Speaker 3:He's a little scary.
Speaker 2:He's a little scary, he's a little scary, yeah, I mean like anybody around us who sees him working out are like what the fuck? They're scared. I just took a picture of this guy now he's an asshole.
Speaker 1:It's my job, talking of which, with you being in the public. For me, being as short as I am, I can kind of hide behind people. If I'm out and about, if I get recognized, I stop. We take photos. How hard is it for you to just go out? There's only a few Chinese places, indian places in your local village town. How hard is it for you to do normal stuff?
Speaker 2:There's no hiding.
Speaker 3:I mean it's, it's not too bad where we're from, and I'm regarding because, like everyone knows everyone there, it's one of those times you know, so it's, it's, it's nice, but like when you go to Like a city Glasgow, and so it's nice, but like when you go to like a city Glasgow, london, yeah, it's pretty wild People do, because it's like you see Tom walking and then me next to him. It's like two big guys. What's the storm? There's blue, there's blue.
Speaker 1:They're not great. In the UK they do that. I go home. Yes flags fucking go.
Speaker 3:It's mad.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they don't stop for the photo they just go past on the horn. It's great, it's great.
Speaker 3:Sorry, that's why it's so nice to do that, but it's I mean people, it's weird. I mean again, we didn't ever think and same with you, you don't ever think that it's going to happen. And if people want to get a photo with us, of course, 100%, man, it's quite embarrassing. Sometimes it's still quite kind of Not like that, but it's almost overwhelming that people want to do that. It's so cool, but I mean, long may it continue. I guess the more photos you get, the better job we're doing at kind of getting things out there and the profile raised and stuff.
Speaker 1:Is there any celebrities that you've been shocked that came and said, hey, can I get a photo with you guys? You're like holy shit, but inside you're like oh my god.
Speaker 3:Arnie. I think Arnie was.
Speaker 1:Arnie came up and said can I get a picture with you guys?
Speaker 3:When we were computing at the Strongman show. I was doing a log press and he was like recording my log press. It was the heaviest log press of the day and I was like fucking hell, man, what's this? What is my life? Why are you recording me, mate? And then he's like, yeah, yeah, it's all in the head, isn't it? I was like, yeah, yeah, what did he say? I mean, it takes a little bit of training as well, mate, as you know, but that was cool, wasn't?
Speaker 4:it. Even Sylvester Stallone. We met him in the UK. That's my guy Again. You think for him being such a high profile guy, he was unbelievable. We walked in. I think his jaw dropped when we both walked in and he was like you can be my bodyguard. We just nice, wee talk for five, 10 minutes and got a photo and it was. He was really respectful and you know a lot of people wouldn't think that of these high profile guys, but he was unbelievable. He had time for me in Luke. He was really cool, he was such a nice guy but he's so, so smart. I see in movies. You think he's a big guy but what was he like?
Speaker 3:I think, well, back in the day, he's a bit older.
Speaker 2:He's only like 5'10 and a half, I think.
Speaker 3:Just like when you put your hand on his shoulder. It felt quite kind of. I was like please meet his sight and then give him a pat. I don't know why I did.
Speaker 2:I don't know why I patted him like a dog it's okay, because I did the same thing when you came in and I was like, yeah, so dense but yeah, it's just.
Speaker 3:I mean, one of my biggest ones is Wim Hof. I remember 2019, 20, whenever it was, we wrote on the whiteboard who we'd want to do collabs with whatever, and obviously you were one of them Flex and then underneath that was Wim Hof. I just loved him and we went out last year to film with him and, ah, man, it was just just what, you see, is what you get with him. You bring him to the lock. You've got to bring him to the lock. Well, he stays in Holland, so in Amsterdam, so we flew out there, but he's coming over to Scotland in November. So I think we're going to hook up and do some.
Speaker 2:I've seen him in some crazy Antarctica type stuff too.
Speaker 1:It's like he's doing some crazy stuff. So you guys went out with him, right? What kind of stuff did you do?
Speaker 4:Him and Luke together were nuts like the Scottish Wim Hof and the real Wim Hof. So I like cold water. I love the hot and cold contrast. For me that's what I do it for. I do it at nighttime.
Speaker 4:So when Luke said we were going over, I was kind of like let's see how good this breathing thing actually is, because you didn't do it in your house and it's not as effective. But Anyway, we went over soon as we met him on the airport. He's just Cuddling, yeah, he's just in his sandals, shorts, going absolute mental. We were driving, he was interviewing and he was had no hands on the thing. Going on this expression, I was like this guy's nuts, are we gonna make it to his house? Anyway, we got to his retreat and, like it was unbelievable, we did the breathing thing and I just laid down there and, like Luke said, it's the first round, it's just getting into it. Then the second, third round, more intense. We were holding our breaths for 30 seconds, a minute, minute and a half, two minutes and he had his brother there who's playing the drums and by the fourth round I woke up, it was finished and I thought he had amputated my lower half of my body.
Speaker 4:I was like to my character. What the hell's happened here? I couldn't feel anything. I was crying with laughter. I was just like Wim Hof has done something to me, but it was the most intense, powerful thing ever done in my life. And then the next day as well, we did it with these fitness people he was filming with as well, and again same thing happened. But I seen two of the girls run out the room crying. One of them had a kind of like fit thing and I was like this guy is basically controlling people with just his breath and it was scary but very, very interesting what he was doing. I was just it was, it was just nuts, it was just like a big room of just people crying, feeling sick, laughing, running away. I was like he was laughing his head off. He was oh, it was just, it was, it was just mental.
Speaker 3:It's like anything to do with strength, like as soon as we got there, he's like oh Holland, holland's really flat. And he's like we don't have mountains, but now we have two mountains. But like he was doing all these, like he was doing bicep curls, he's got his own like.
Speaker 4:It's like Flintstones on the trees. He has it made out of all pulleys.
Speaker 3:But he's just. He's like 68, I think, or 65. He's expecting a little girl in two weeks.
Speaker 1:What a stud Wow. Fucking hell them cold plans. You've been sparking the ball, sack Fucking hell.
Speaker 4:He does the splits, doesn't he? So you have to let your. You know shouldn't wear underwear. Need to let them hang free and stuff.
Speaker 2:I've seen him talk about the direct sun on the nuts too. I've seen it.
Speaker 1:Well, I avoided that clip. I don't know if it was too graphic for my liking.
Speaker 2:I didn't watch, I didn't see a visual, I just heard him talking about it. Okay, okay, okay, diddy, okay did he? Okay, oh, cancel, oh shit.
Speaker 3:Skip over that. I just like how he's almost 70. What a stud. And he's just doing life. His message was really pure. That's what I really liked. He's like it doesn't cost anything, go and jump in the sea, go and jump in the lochs, go in cold water for inflammation, for respiratory diseases, and reducing the inflammation. It's amazing. It's like when I was younger you hurt your arm. Your granny would say just go, put some ice on it, put it in the water, give me a kiss. Bone sticking out, you'll be fine, you'll grow back. But yeah, he was just a class. It's sticking out, you're good, you'll be fine, you'll grow back, grow back. He was a class.
Speaker 3:It's nice when you see someone that has that same energy on and off camera as well. So I met him. It was like and then he let us. He's got this retreat place in Holland and it was just Tom and I and our videographer that was with us and he's like right, guys, I'm off to go to my house, I'll see you tomorrow about 10 am. We're like you stay here, you make yourself at home. So he left us the whole place and we were like chilling, playing in the gong and playing with the guitars and he's got this cliff. I don't know if you've seen the jumping off the cliff and everything. It was class, it was just very welcoming and that was a really special kind of experience with him. So hopefully in November we'll hook up again with him and do some more Cold Water stuff, much to Tom's enjoyment Crazy things yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, we've gone through the whole podcast probably the most non-Strongman podcast. You guys have been on for a while, I'm sure, and we've not talked about any feats of strength and obviously, our viewers. We've got a mixed bag of viewers. We've got people in business, bodybuilding and everything in between, so you guys have broken many records. Obviously, I can give you the floor Whoever wants to go first. Can you tell some of the viewers what you've done? Feats of strength-wise?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I mean, for me it's obviously the Atlas Stones Shocking.
Speaker 4:I'm quite good at the Atlas Stones Quite good. So it was yeah, so I did the. So it was in Arnold's Classic, I think it was. When did I break the first one? A good few years ago. It was to break Brian Shaw's record of 265 kg Don't really know pounds, but it's a heavy Atlas stone anyway. So I did that. One got it over and then I think it was two years later I had the chance to break it and go for 286 kg, which you know, in strongman competitions we go up to 210, so you're talking another 60, 70 kilograms on top of that. And yeah, that's probably one of my proudest records was I did 286.
Speaker 4:I actually loaded it very comfortable as well, and I'm just going to be waiting to try and do a 300 kilogram at the stone. That is my goal, because for me, I think a 300 kgkg Atlas stone would be just as impressive or more impressive as a 500kg deadlift. I think you look at the athletes that can deadlift. There's a lot of athletes that can have it and maybe in a year's time could deadlift 500kg, but with an Atlas stone I think there is only one person on the planet that can do that and that is myself. I think having the 286kg I've had that for three or four years and I think the heaviest stone below that is about 260, 265 kg.
Speaker 1:Can I tell you how much this stone weighs? 631 pounds, bro. 631 pounds, bro.
Speaker 2:Yeah, people can't even deadlift that In my head and I'm also thinking to myself as I'm hearing you talk and obviously you've been the strongest man three times. Is it an advantage to be big in this competition? Right, because you know, like you know, we saw darren, you know, and darren's an og bro right, he's an og, and he's six foot tall, right? Oh, he's five, six fucking right. But but is there an advantage?
Speaker 2:right because I know, I know for you know, like smaller guys in the gym sometimes it's like's like you have to go less far and they can hit up a little bit heavier. So is it an advantage or is it a disadvantage having long arms, long legs, because it's obviously different kinds of lifts, right?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think with strongman is size. So the saying is mass moves mass. So you've got someone like Tom at six foot eight. I mean 400 pounds whatever, plus um, that's a big man. So he's going to move some massive objects and then with Tom's wingspan they're, they're big, but relatively speaking it's not abnormally big. Um, tom's just gifted in pretty much everything he does, which is, yeah, really cool to see. But like Atlas Stones for Tom, I always think in my head when I watch you, when I watch Tom doing Atlas Stones, they're all the same shape, so they're all spherical, so Tom almost doesn't concentrate on the weight of them. It's just okay. Okay, it's the same shape. I'm just going to pick up and do it. And not only has he done the heaviest atlas stone in the world, he's done the fastest. I don't know how many. He's done the fastest ten atlas stones. He's done the fastest ones in World's Strongest man. He's done the fastest ones in Giants Live. You know, the atlas stones is just incredible. When you see Tom Flying, it's literally 600 pounds.
Speaker 1:No, no At the World's Strongest man. He had done all five stones and celebrating whilst somebody was on the food. I believe it. It's just unbelievable, but you were an incredible presser with the logs. Yeah, you know, I think you've done. What is it?
Speaker 3:487 pounds British the most I've done in training is 228, 228 and a half kilos, which is whatever, 500 plus pounds yeah, 500 pounds so the official British record is 221 kilos, which is almost over 500 it's 487.
Speaker 3:487.
Speaker 3:And then I've got records in 150 kilos for reps, for repetitions in a minute. I think that was eight or nine reps I think I did. In that we also hold the one arm, so we do these one arm dumbbell presses. So you've got like a three inch diameter handle. You pick it up onto your shoulder. There's that grip strength. Yeah, like this bro, it's ridiculous. And I think we did 132 kilos last year, which is like probably 280, roughly 280 pounds with one hand. So that's pretty cool.
Speaker 3:So anything pressing I'm really and I guess, because my arms aren't hugely long, I'm pretty good, I'm decent at squatting, but those records I'm pretty good, I'm decent at squatting, but those records, yeah, I'm pretty chuffed to have them. I want to come back next year and give the world record a little tickle again because I still think I've got a, yeah, iron Bibby, who's a massive guy, he's just Big press, I tell you, phenomenal shoulder strength, just insane. But I think I can push him because it's such a technical lift, the log press. It's not just about shoulder strength. You've got to get that explosive power in your legs and I'm very explosive. So I think if I can train for a few months just prepping for that, I think I can give Bibby a little run for his money, which would be pretty cool to see you two going at it mate, if it was in the Royal Albert Hall too, that would be incredible.
Speaker 1:I mean that atmosphere there. And, just to let you know, the Royal Albert Hall is a theatre world world renowned. It's had the best of the best singers, orchestras, all been done there. It was designed to be acoustically incredible. So at the Royal Albert Hall there was going to be a one-and-done Strongman event. And to actually get a Strongman event in the Royal Albert Hall was just a feat in itself.
Speaker 1:And the promoters I mean the people who were running the Royal Albert Hall they're very particular who goes in there. So you know, strongman coming in all this heavy equipment coming in with all this historic you know history and stuff that's there, they were a little bit nervous about moving all this heavy stuff in. Let me tell you something and I've heard this from so many different people they were so blown away by the show that these guys done at Royal Albert Hall that they were like when are you coming back? And we want to lock in a multi-year. They broke the crowd, broke the decibel record inside the Royal Albert Hall and you can imagine, you've got operatic singers that are breaking glasses when they're singing high notes.
Speaker 1:And then these guys come in and I think it was Ian Bibby that done it right and then they think they broke a record on I Am Bibi when he went for a second attempt. But what an incredible thing. But just goes to show, and this is kind of like a nice segue into the fans in Strongman I'm blessed to have the fans that I do in my world of bodybuilding and stuff. But what I didn't expect when I came to the first World's Strongest man was how many bodybuilding fans are Strongman fans. And then these fans in particular like they're just a incredible group of passionate fans that were standing there at five o'clock in the morning two years ago in the rain in Daytona Beach waiting for the gates to open to see all these guys coming in the buses and just to wave at them and wish them well and stuff the fan support you guys have got. You know, tell us about that, oh, man, it's wild.
Speaker 3:They're so passionate Like they know everything, you know, like these fans are just I don't know what it is. It's like they get so invested, I think, because I think it's attainable. You know being strong, you can attain it, you can do that. And they realise it's hard work, it's consistency. You just keep turning it up, keep doing it, and they get so invested in the personality aspect and they know, when guys and girls come up and speak to us, they know everything about us.
Speaker 3:It's like how was that meal you had in Dalmore Farm cafe back home? Like how would you know that? Um, but it's, it's so nice to see. And you know, without those guys, you know I'd I'd still be working out in the rigs and I wouldn't be sat here and it's just so nice to see. And again, like it's nice that the American fans it's mad over here at the Shaw Classic a few weeks ago. It's huge there.
Speaker 3:But the UK it's just, like you say, in the Albert Hall, man, and we've got one in Glasgow in October in the Hydro in Glasgow, scotland, and the first year we did that, tom and I came out together. Oh man, it was the bagpipes playing oh Go Spots. It was just, and everyone can have a drink as well. So you combine that passion with a bit of alcohol and everyone's buzzing man In Scotland. It was just, it erupted and again you go out there and you think I get emotional. You're like we're just a couple of guys from a little town in the Highlands and they're going mental and it's so overwhelming.
Speaker 3:Sometimes you don't really appreciate it. And, as Tom shared, you know the story about autism, the amount of people that come up to him, families that come up to him and say, look, this is my little son. He's got autism but he's starting to speak now. He's starting to be able to do life because of watching Tom and how open he is about it. And that's the amazing thing. You know you don't really start something and appreciate what changes you can have in someone's life and you know, seeing what Tom's done and how open he's been and the difference difference for families, that's a good thing. That's the real heartwarming stuff. And that's where we know that Mam's looking down smiling, that all her hard work done in getting Tom the help that he needed and the support that she gave Tom growing up, that's it all paid off. That's the reward now that we're giving back, which is really cool to see. But yeah, the fans are the fans, man, it's just, it's so cool man they come with gifts.
Speaker 1:Even I got gifts, bro. They knew everything about me. They got me all. Like you know, I talk about sort of crisps right, we don't get them much over here, but they found them. I mean anything that they found online that I've talked about on a podcast. They knew and, like, I got given gifts, t-shirts, and I was like I'm coming back next year and I did, and I got more gifts. You guys have must have had some very interesting gifts. All right, from the fans, I'm sure. Yeah.
Speaker 4:I mean, like you said, it's like they're an encyclopedia. They know everything. I mean, every single time I turn up, they're like they know. I used to go to like as soon as I come to America, I buy sweets, so fans would be waiting at the door for me saying, oh, we got you a gift box full of Swedish fish, haribo. I'm just like this is crazy. You don't see this in any other sports. It's just and all the and, like you know, you can just stand there and talk to them for five, 10 minutes and they something back as well. But yeah, it's every single time I turn up to a competition, someone's always handing me sweets, because they know they watch the youtube, they know I love my sweets, I know I've got a sweet tooth and you're like this is crazy we up brock.
Speaker 1:We didn't get to see this fish.
Speaker 4:This is unbelievable, so it's unreal. I love it how it's such an age range from like two, three years old, all the way up to 70, eight year olds, and every single person loves watching it, because it's an entertainment show as well, and it's it's unreal to see.
Speaker 2:I'm excited to see this is gonna be my first one, guys you know, this is the first time I get.
Speaker 2:I have a chance this Saturday so I'm really stoked, you know, to go check this out live and you know I know a lot of. I got friends and and a lot of other guys you know Who've never been before they've seen maybe world's strongest man, because you know that that brand in the United States. You know who've never been before they've seen maybe world's strongest man, because you know that that brand in the united states you know is is really well known. But, um, a lot, of, a lot of new faces gonna be there. Seeing what you guys do, I'm I'm pumped up. Man, all the pyro techniques and stuff I see in the show looks awesome it's scary something's when those go off.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that bang at the end, whatever, and you're on podium like jeez oh, jeez, oh man, give us a warning, but yeah, you get right into it.
Speaker 3:You know, after the first events kind of started, you know it's like oh jeez. And then the crowd and everyone. It's like a lot of passion and like when we compete, like all the guys, you know we do give 100% and you'll see us. You know we're shouting, screaming, we sound. You know we're shouting, screaming, we sound quite chilled now you know whatever. But like come Saturday evening ripping shirts off, you know, just getting really pumped up, aggressive and again, as Tom says, that's what we've got to do. You know, you've got to get that process, isn't it? Yeah, you've just got to find it. And yeah, I was going to say I don't know with the fan thing. That we're so passionate is because they have quite a lot of access to us. So, like I don't know what in your bodybuilding, obviously you've got to do the meet and greet stuff and everything, so you're probably quite accessible to the fans then as well.
Speaker 1:I try to be all yeah.
Speaker 3:Which is probably why that you know you're so well received. But like in football, basketball, soccer, you can't. I guess I understand with the money and everything, but it's not the like. The fans are really invested in you because they have that personal connection, right, I think it's that blue collar mentality right, Because, like you mentioned, everybody can get stronger.
Speaker 1:You know, in bodybuilding there's a big generic component to structure right For bodybuilding. Obviously there's a genetic component to strongman too right, but anybody can get stronger and I've seen fans of all shapes and sizes that have stood in line and took photos with you guys and been excited. Is there anybody being a fan that stood in line Because I can tell these stories to in bodybuilding that have stood in line for me? Is there anybody who's been a fan, stood in line because I can tell these stories to embody Berlin, that are stood in line for me? Is there anybody who's been a fan, stood in line, took a picture and now is standing next to you competing against you?
Speaker 3:there's a guy in Saturday, scotland's Strongest.
Speaker 4:Man, scotland's Strongest man. Someone called Chris Beetham, our early career in Scotland's Strongest man. He had gone through the ranks in Scotland with us. He took a photo with us as well and, yeah, he's now won Scotland's Strongest man and going to be competing with us next year at Britain's Strongest man. That's incredible.
Speaker 2:It's awesome he's from Scotland too, so you guys inspired him to get in right.
Speaker 3:It's awesome We've been doing it eight years, eight years he's been competing for and this is like his kind of first year of like being like the strongest in scotland now and um, yeah, big shout out to chris man, he's, he's a great guy, um, so happy to see him win. Um. And then there was another guy that actually came fifth. We did a few years ago like a training day at the gym and he came along to that just to try strongman and that's him now competing. He came fifth fifth in Scotland, strongest man, which is cool man. It's nice to see that. And it is again.
Speaker 3:It's just get back to work, just get into the gym, just turn up every day and that's all we've done. There's nothing. There's no secret sauce or anything, and I guess the brother aspect obviously helps. But yeah, it's just nice to see that next kind of guys coming up through the ranks, because that's what we want. We're so passionate about strongman, strength in general, especially in Scotland. You know it's like we need more Scottish guys, we need more Celts, we need that warrior mindset to come back to the nation and just turn up and get it done. I love it and I think that's where the joy comes in. You know if you're turning up every day getting it done. And again, I said earlier, that's when you can check in at night like fuck, that was a good day. Man turned up, deadlifted a new pb, um, or whatever it is. Whatever it is your new pbs, new pbs every day, every day, that's the mindset there.
Speaker 1:Well, we in wales we've got gavin builton. I don't know where big gav came from. He's not your cliche welsh guy, that's for sure. I mean, I don't know what, what uh test he'll be fell out of, but you know, I'm very proud of him flying the flag for for us welsh guys.
Speaker 1:I'm there and, um, you guys are doing the same in scotland, so, uh, in in the last final question before we land the plane on this podcast, and there's rock us and something else to ask outside of Strongman what is the legacy that you want to leave on this earth?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I mean, for me it's obviously the autism thing. It's while I've been doing the kind of Strongman it's been, I've been changing a lot of people's lives and that's kind of how I want to leave. You know, leave this. Trophies are nice but you know I could die tomorrow and not have this trophy. But I could die and say like this Tom Stopen's the one that changed my life, tom Stopen's the one that got me out the house, and that's how I want to be remembered. And yeah, if I can do that, then that's a massive bonus.
Speaker 4:Obviously, growing the business, growing our merchandise, having a HQ where people from around the world can come to the Highlands, but the number one for me is changing that kind of aspect of autism, saying it's a superpower. But I've already done it. But I want to do it on a bigger scale as well and take it into schools as well, because still to this day I think schools are still far behind in it a lot and there's not enough kind of education out there. But for me to be the blueprint of this kid with autism didn't leave his house, to now be an excelling in this sport, and it's just for me, it's just amazing that people can come up to me now and go like what you've done for my child's unbelievable even just not just child-ful, but for men and women as well. So I wanna leave. That's my biggest legacy is to inspire people with autism to leave this earth and hopefully change a few people's lives my man.
Speaker 3:I think you've done that pretty much.
Speaker 1:I think he has.
Speaker 3:I think it's amazing to see. I think, yeah, just, you know, in the UK and Scotland especially, we've got like a a real crisis with men's mental health, so that's something I can battle. You know, quite open about stuff and like it's just, it's amazing what you learn through through just talking to other guys and like sitting down, chatting shit, like what is it that makes men like not happy, but just okay, just being able to function, you know, and if we can do that, um, you know that's a good day. So, like, just keep talking about that's. What I want to do, um, is try to get the government in the uk or try to get more stuff done for men, because we get such a bad, we get such a bad rep in life like men, toxic male masculinity a lot of the time men can't open up, men can't share, men can't, can't, can't, can't, can't. I'd like to try and flip that and say that men can do that stuff. You know men can. We don't have to all open up and share stuff. It's just looking at the individual and see how we can make things better. Because, you know, a couple of days ago we were driving down to Scotland's Strongest man. There was a bridge, someone was jumping off the bridge, a young man jumped off the bridge and took his life. So like we shouldn't be doing that. So it's trying to find more joy and wholesomeness in life and um, like by kind of being open and talking about that. I think that's hopefully a few people can kind of take that on and see, see a change and help them change.
Speaker 3:Um, and yeah, as tom says, you know, just try and keep growing um, doing mama, uh, kind of mom's memory proud. That's the biggest thing, I think. And you know, my, my little boy koa, I just want him to grow up and be able to watch. Some's the biggest thing, I think. And you know, my, my little boy koa, I just want him to grow up and be able to watch some of this stuff. That I think dad's actually all right he's.
Speaker 3:He's a bit mental, he walks around in a, in a robe, most of the time in a poncho and his flip-flops, but you know what. And budgie smugglers, but you know, dad's actually okay, he's not a bad. So, um, that my, like my life now is my son and making a kind of a life where he's happy and joyful and safe, and that goes with all the other guys in the UK. We want everyone to be safe and happy and joyful and if we can give a little bit of that back, then I think that's not bad. It's not a bad legacy to kind of leave this world and, yeah, say we've done okay.
Speaker 1:Well, you've done more than okay and you've got obviously plans for the future too. But Rock anything you want to ask before we land the plane.
Speaker 2:No, I just appreciate. You know what you said about us men and you know honestly being able to talk about our feelings, talk about things that bother us. You know that's what I have with Flex. You know our relationship. You know we talk about Diddy too, but we talk about a lot of things and we talk about I had to throw it in, but we talk about everything, right, and you have to have that. And I feel like with men it's been hard for us in the past. We just bury everything. You know I was us in the past. We just bury everything. You know I was in the marine corps. I've gone through a lot of things in my life and it took me a long time to be able to speak about them, to talk openly, to have friends that would understand. That wouldn't be. I wouldn't be embarrassed to tell about things that are going on and we have to have those conversations and you know you got your brothers, I got mine right here, so on that note.
Speaker 1:That's the way you end this fucking episode, right With it. First of all, like, how do I end this? It was one in hell, one hell of an episode. We talked on so many different things, but suffice to say guys, you truly have have been incredible guests. I really appreciate it. I should ask this before I leave Is there anything you want to push promote?
Speaker 3:talk about before we get off the show. The floor is yours. I mean, if anyone wants to follow us, by all means. You're on social media, tom and Luke Stolten. We've got our YouTube channel, stolten Brothers, if you want to support us in our clothing, stoltenbrotherscom. But yeah, just tune in Saturday, saturday evening, giants Live see Big Tommy and me do the business. Hopefully, we'll get a new world record as well, which will be awesome. And keep being spicy. Keep being spicy keep being spicy.
Speaker 1:On that note, this is Flex, this is Rock and this is the Stoughton Brothers, the world's strongest brothers. We are out.
