Speaker 1: Approche Production. Welcome to Secrets of the Underworld. I am
Speaker 1: Neil the Muscle comments and in this episode I speak
Speaker 1: with Alex Simon form what Australian strong man?
Speaker 2: You're going to like a fucking evil hard place here.
Speaker 2: You're committing to it. I'll tell you a story. I
Speaker 2: don't think I said this publicly. Actually it was over
Speaker 2: ten thousand a day cows the last time I was
Speaker 2: one hundred and twenty. It was sixteen years old. It's
Speaker 2: a big bro, but mass miss mass Oh, yeah, bro
Speaker 2: snacking on family size pizzas. That's my god. Now, i'd
Speaker 2: love to make you say.
Speaker 3: Alex Simon recognized as the strongest Australian in history, I'm
Speaker 3: the third strongest in the world.
Speaker 2: Is that true? A few years ago?
Speaker 1: It is true?
Speaker 2: Not anymore, I would say if fucking skinny vote.
Speaker 1: I feel before we get into like everything about you,
Speaker 1: I'm going to bring this off first. And I don't
Speaker 1: usually do with this with guess one hundred and seventy kilos, Like,
Speaker 1: what the fuck that natural?
Speaker 2: One hundred and eighty one.
Speaker 1: That's so, that's that Google is fucked up? Yeah, inaccurate
Speaker 1: one hundred and eighty one.
Speaker 2: When I want to try this trunks. Man, I weighed
Speaker 2: one hundred and eighty one killers on the day. Yeah,
Speaker 2: four hundred pounds, what the fuck?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I still got like the biggest that being is
Speaker 1: one thirty six.
Speaker 2: Had one feel skinny at one thirty six? Yeah, I
Speaker 2: felt skinny and I wanted to get You're going to
Speaker 2: say for fucked.
Speaker 1: No, I felt too skinny because I get used to
Speaker 1: with me if if I if I put on the size,
Speaker 1: when I get used to that size, I then feel shit,
Speaker 1: I need to get more.
Speaker 2: Gotcha, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: And I've never found I've never found my my size
Speaker 1: that I want to be. I mean no, I've never
Speaker 1: found it because like if I get on put it
Speaker 1: this way, if I get on the once twenty five, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm fucked. I'm having a nightment. I'm depressed. If I
Speaker 1: can keep myself one thirty, yeah, I'm cool, gotcha. If
Speaker 1: I can get up more, Like my goal was to
Speaker 1: be one forty, I could never get there. It was
Speaker 1: one thirty seven about that, okay, but one fucking what
Speaker 1: edie one.
Speaker 2: One one killers, four hundred pounds, that's my biggest natural
Speaker 2: of course? Not what?
Speaker 1: All right, Well, let's talk about you growing off first,
Speaker 1: we'll go back to that. Done, all right, tell me
Speaker 1: about you as a person growing up and no like.
Speaker 2: Fuck me dead. I'm born and raised in Sydney, from
Speaker 2: the northwest, so around Castle Hill area. Grew up around there,
Speaker 2: normal childhood, played rugby league my whole life, A couple
Speaker 2: of close mates.
Speaker 1: When do you say, right, you played rugby league? Did
Speaker 1: you actually like? Were you playing? Nah?
Speaker 2: I didn't end up playing first grade or anything. I was.
Speaker 2: I was descent. I was talented, but just very lazy.
Speaker 2: When I was young, I was fat, so I didn't
Speaker 2: like doing any hard work.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: I was explosive and obviously I had big eyes, but
Speaker 2: I never put it you see fat? What do you
Speaker 2: mean by fat? No, I was a big kid. I
Speaker 2: was a big fat built but still I was fat.
Speaker 2: I was a fatty Oh yeah, I was a little
Speaker 2: fat ALEX schooling Yeah, just normal, jumped out your ten,
Speaker 2: No issues, really suspended a couple of times, just a
Speaker 2: bit silly, yeah, nothing crazy, bro, But no. I was
Speaker 2: a good kid, very quiet, you know, very quiet. Didn't
Speaker 2: like confrontation when I was young, very scared of it,
Speaker 2: you know, very scared. Yeah, I didn't like confrontation at all.
Speaker 2: Hated it. That's why I kind of started getting on,
Speaker 2: you know, putting on size.
Speaker 1: And it's not like confrontation changed their ways when they
Speaker 1: get older.
Speaker 2: You just don't want to be a victim. Bro. You
Speaker 2: got to learn to protect you as a kid. Yeah,
Speaker 2: when I was young, When I was young for being fat.
Speaker 2: There's just one kid. He just kept bullying me in
Speaker 2: primary school. You ever see him since, I'll tell you
Speaker 2: a story. I don't think I said this publicly actually,
Speaker 2: but anyway, Fuck, what's year too? How old are in
Speaker 2: year two?
Speaker 4: Shit?
Speaker 2: I don't know whatever it was, but he kept bullying me.
Speaker 2: And it was a little girl I had a crush
Speaker 2: on and she was my friend ready and then he
Speaker 2: was bullying me for months months his camp and he
Speaker 2: used to come up to me and I was chatting
Speaker 2: to this chick I had a crush on. I was.
Speaker 2: I was eight years old or something, and he just
Speaker 2: started calling me I forgot. It was like fatty fady,
Speaker 2: bumba or some ship, you know what I mean, in
Speaker 2: front of her, and I got real cut, rough, upset,
Speaker 2: and I just put my head down and started and
Speaker 2: we're next to a brick wall, and I just grabbed
Speaker 2: his head and I went bang on the brick wall
Speaker 2: with his head and he's like tooth chipped, like I
Speaker 2: noticed it and it came out anyway. And then I
Speaker 2: seen him again when I was eighteen, right, and I
Speaker 2: left that school in year four. I didn't see him
Speaker 2: since I seen him again. I was eighteen and I
Speaker 2: already had like a couple of fights, and I was
Speaker 2: lifting and a few people started to know me, and
Speaker 2: he knew me. It came up to me and goes
Speaker 2: like real nervously, It's like, hey, bro, you remember me.
Speaker 2: I go yeah. He goes were sweet? I go, yeah, bro,
Speaker 2: we're sweet and st.
Speaker 1: I didn't forget that, Oh my god.
Speaker 2: This job when as soon as I left school.
Speaker 1: Butcher, do you know what you do? Look like a butcher?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: You do, like in a good way, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. But you do look like you've worked in
Speaker 1: a butcher like meat.
Speaker 2: Wow. Yeah, I was a butcher. I was doing that
Speaker 2: for a year. Yeah yeah, and then I got fired.
Speaker 1: Like I.
Speaker 2: Cut half my finger off. I wasn't sleeping. I had
Speaker 2: bad sleep happening here from about fifteen to eighteen.
Speaker 1: You lost your job for that? Yeah, you know what,
Speaker 1: you lost your finger.
Speaker 2: None of us got scared. He is like this console
Speaker 2: ability I got rid of me.
Speaker 1: So what tan't you to like be competing like as
Speaker 1: you did? What? What what made you do that?
Speaker 2: But you know what it was was going back to
Speaker 2: what I said I was. I was a scared kid.
Speaker 2: You know, I was very scared. I was still the
Speaker 2: biggest kid around, but I was fucking afraid. You know,
Speaker 2: like even in footy when there'd be pantrens, like my
Speaker 2: heart would start racing, I'm like, fuck, you know, I
Speaker 2: didn't like it.
Speaker 1: Anxiety kind of thing.
Speaker 2: Maybe not anxiety, but just like fear fear, And as
Speaker 2: you get older, I was just like, this is not
Speaker 2: how you should be. So when I hit about fifteen,
Speaker 2: I just kind of you know, and you start hanging
Speaker 2: out with people and you don't always have protection, you know,
Speaker 2: walking around on the streets and shit, and I'm just thinking,
Speaker 2: like you start seeing punch ons and that. I'm just thinking, fuck,
Speaker 2: I need to do I need to change this. So
Speaker 2: I started just training boxing in the off season of
Speaker 2: playing rugby, and I just said like, yeah, I'm going
Speaker 2: to learn how to defend myself. I don't want to
Speaker 2: feel this way my whole life.
Speaker 1: So when you say it, so it got above fifteen,
Speaker 1: your your your hang on with mates? Are they? What
Speaker 1: are they? They are they sporty mates?
Speaker 2: Sporty?
Speaker 1: Yeah, so you kind of wanted to change your ways
Speaker 1: to stay with them in a way.
Speaker 2: Nah, because I've pretty much had like three close mates
Speaker 2: growing up. It was about four of us and we
Speaker 2: all played footage together in the same team, right, and
Speaker 2: they were like my couple other mates from school. But
Speaker 2: these are like my boys, you know, still too still
Speaker 2: to today. They're like my close mates, you know. And yeah,
Speaker 2: that was just we just you know, played footy together.
Speaker 2: They were always training and then I just started just
Speaker 2: going to the gym with them and yeah, I started
Speaker 2: from there boxing training.
Speaker 1: Already in the gym. Yeah, and then you just thought, okay, I.
Speaker 2: Just thought I knew it. I'll start hanging out with them,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 1: So when did they Okay, so you go in the gym,
Speaker 1: When did it start? When did they When did you
Speaker 1: know that? Okay, this is deepe for me. Now, this
Speaker 1: is what I want to do now, this is I'm
Speaker 1: going to push myself to be something now.
Speaker 2: So I had my first MMA fight when I was
Speaker 2: sixteen sixteen, yeah, so I hadn't done weights yet, so
Speaker 2: I was just a footed player. And then I was
Speaker 2: training bit of boxing and then I had this fight
Speaker 2: last minute thing and then I had the fight. And
Speaker 2: then after that fight, when I was sixteen, I think
Speaker 2: that was on a Saturday night, and then I think
Speaker 2: the Monday was the first time my mate took me
Speaker 2: to the gym, and like my first day in the gym,
Speaker 2: I benched one fuck was it one seventy five or
Speaker 2: one eighty for two first time and there was an
Speaker 2: older boy in the gym, and he was just like,
Speaker 2: what the fuck? You know what I mean? I think
Speaker 2: it was one eighty four plates aside for two raps.
Speaker 2: I was a kid, like the worst technique you've ever seen,
Speaker 2: but but you did you did it.
Speaker 1: I did it. Yeah.
Speaker 2: It wasn't fucking hands on spoiling it. It was me,
Speaker 2: you know, legit. And then that's why I'm like, this
Speaker 2: is mad. Everyone was starting to like do these ones
Speaker 2: to me, and my confidence was like fuck great, So
Speaker 2: I just ran with it from there.
Speaker 1: But going back to what you just said down route,
Speaker 1: you did MMA, right, Yeah, you don't like a confrontation.
Speaker 2: So what didn't. But I've been training for maybe six months. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: And I just I was on the drink one night
Speaker 2: and I was going to go up in corner my
Speaker 2: friend fighting right, and i'd actually fractured my knuckle training
Speaker 2: like maybe six weeks earliest. I didn't train in six weeks.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I was on a drink with my mate and some
Speaker 2: random number card man answered it. And I was on
Speaker 2: a loudspeaking next to one of my best mates and
Speaker 2: he goes, hey, mate, blah blah blah, my name's whatever
Speaker 2: from the fight show tomorrow night. Oh, your friend tells
Speaker 2: me you're a big boy. I go, I mean kind of.
Speaker 2: I think I was like, say, one hundred and nine kilows.
Speaker 2: He goes, do you want to fight? This was the
Speaker 2: next day. I go like, not really, I haven't trained.
Speaker 2: I'm kind of on the piss now. He goes, well, mate,
Speaker 2: I can tell you he'd be a teenager and it's
Speaker 2: his first fight as well. And then my friend just
Speaker 2: to pear pressure thing, do it you pussy can't? I'm like, fuck, yeah,
Speaker 2: all right, yeah, sweet done. Hanged up the phone and
Speaker 2: I was just shooting my pants. I was like, oh fuck,
Speaker 2: what have I done? Anyway, the next day came, I
Speaker 2: wasn't even going to go, and then at like four o'clock.
Speaker 2: It was in Newcastle, So at like four o'clock my
Speaker 2: mates rocked up to my house let's go, and I
Speaker 2: was like, ah fuck. I was like fuck it all right,
Speaker 2: So we drove down and I'm looking around in the
Speaker 2: changing We got there real late, like it should have
Speaker 2: been the probably an hour before, so everyone's already like
Speaker 2: clubbed up, warming up. We got there all late and
Speaker 2: I'm looking in the back room. There was everyone's warming up.
Speaker 2: In one room. There was like a bullshit curtain, but
Speaker 2: you can see straight through it.
Speaker 1: You're trying to find it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and everyone was little, bro, everyone was little, So
Speaker 2: I'm trying to scope it up and I'm like, fuck,
Speaker 2: who if I got? Who have I got? And then
Speaker 2: in the very back corner I see the biggest fucking Samoan,
Speaker 2: big afro. But he was not a teenager. I found
Speaker 2: out later it was thirty years old. Really. It had
Speaker 2: nine fights here. I think he knocked out like eight people. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and he's just throwing bombs on this pad boom, and
Speaker 2: my heart just like I went, oh fuck, he's the
Speaker 2: only big dude in the room. I got this. I'm
Speaker 2: just like this can't I'm not going to run away now.
Speaker 2: So I got in now one did it? Yeah?
Speaker 1: And I stopped him as well, feeling I have to
Speaker 1: go through like being all that nervous. And then did
Speaker 1: you want it again?
Speaker 2: Hey?
Speaker 1: Did you want to fight again after that? Because you yeah?
Speaker 2: Yeah? But I was I was cool for a minute,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean. I'd done that and I
Speaker 2: was like sweet little box ticked like face to fit
Speaker 2: one of those things, you know, And then I just
Speaker 2: wanted to start lifting waights for a bit. And I
Speaker 2: was being a little bit naughty at the time, so
Speaker 2: I wasn't too focused on training, just a bit of
Speaker 2: weights for fun.
Speaker 1: You know what size you now? Like you you're starting
Speaker 1: to lift weights, You're starting to get your physic Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's stands to shape up. Now you're getting fit. Yeah,
Speaker 1: how big are you looking?
Speaker 2: Now?
Speaker 1: Well?
Speaker 2: I was sixteen when i'd done that fight. I'd never
Speaker 2: lifted weights, and I was the hard am now so
Speaker 2: I was six three and I was one hundred and nine.
Speaker 1: Killers And you've got a bit of confidence beyond you now.
Speaker 2: I've got a bit of confidence, you know. I can
Speaker 2: knock out a man.
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, so, so are you now getting provoked
Speaker 1: and kind of like entaste by people now who are
Speaker 1: looking at you going like you know, when when you
Speaker 1: when you've got someone who's good at what they do
Speaker 1: and they like fighters it now that they're brought in
Speaker 1: by people to use. Were you used by people because
Speaker 1: of your size?
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 1: No, No one tried to bay entaste you to.
Speaker 2: A couple of times they tried, but I was still
Speaker 2: pretty like on that from me, you know, like I
Speaker 2: could kind of see a snake.
Speaker 1: Because someone got size, would be like, fucking let we
Speaker 1: could use him, you know what I mean?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I got that a lot when I was a
Speaker 2: kid in jail. I got that a lot in jarl.
Speaker 2: I was eighteen, I got that a lot, you know, Okay,
Speaker 2: but not too much when I was a bit younger
Speaker 2: because I kind of just I didn't allow myself to
Speaker 2: get in those situations. I had my tight group near
Speaker 2: of friends and I've kind of just stayed with the boys.
Speaker 1: You know, how are you going before you went to jail?
Speaker 1: Were you any more fights with it?
Speaker 2: With your nor fights?
Speaker 1: So it's just basically now you're hitting the weights, hitting
Speaker 1: the ways hard. Yeah, what was your goal? I didn't
Speaker 1: have one at that stage.
Speaker 2: I was just enjoying putting on size and just being
Speaker 2: the you know, the strong dude at the local gym. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I just I liked the attention because I never got it.
Speaker 2: You know. It was a nice feeling.
Speaker 1: So how did you end up in jailing? How did
Speaker 1: that come around?
Speaker 2: Pretty much? Long story shot. Me and my mate too
Speaker 2: kind of always felt like, I guess, if you can
Speaker 2: say the right word for outcasts, like we didn't feel
Speaker 2: like we're fitting with everyone else, you know, so we'd
Speaker 2: kind of just stick together and you know, as you
Speaker 2: do young kids, you just kind of get up to
Speaker 2: a bit of mischief. Yeah, pretty much. We robbed drug dealer,
Speaker 2: but it was like a home invasion and it was armed.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so yeah, I wanted to what do you get
Speaker 1: for that?
Speaker 2: Two and a half and then I got out after
Speaker 2: about fifteen months? How did that feel? It was all right? Bro?
Speaker 2: It took a while because I was in for a
Speaker 2: little bit and then I was on bail for like
Speaker 2: fourteen fifteen months, and I was on house for rest
Speaker 2: for a bit and then curfew, So it took like
Speaker 2: three and a half years all that. Then I had
Speaker 2: to go back and do another year. Then I got
Speaker 2: out on good behavior parole. So it was bro.
Speaker 1: It was it wasn't too bad, but from someone of like,
Speaker 1: I'm going from someone who's you know, insecure. Now you're
Speaker 1: going into jail. Okay, you've got a bit of size on.
Speaker 1: But were you in control of yourself? Were intimidated? We
Speaker 1: were you? Were you scared or you are?
Speaker 2: Look, but when you get arrested, you go to police
Speaker 2: station and then that night it's you know, at refuse,
Speaker 2: all right, you're going to fucking jail. Yeah, and you're
Speaker 2: eighteen and I've never been arrested once, never done do
Speaker 2: or anything. And then you go in that jail truck cufft.
Speaker 2: It was like fuck, it's on, you know. So I
Speaker 2: was nervous the first night, but then you get in
Speaker 2: there and you kind of you learn to go pretty quickly.
Speaker 2: You know, you speak to fi older boys, they take
Speaker 2: you under their wing. Yeah.
Speaker 1: No incidents inside, No, really, someone your size, you've got
Speaker 1: no incidents inside?
Speaker 2: Not really, Bro. I didn't get involved in drugs in there.
Speaker 2: I didn't disrespect kept yourself, not kept to myself like
Speaker 2: I'd make friends and chat. But you know, look, if
Speaker 2: you're not if you don't take shit and you're normal,
Speaker 2: you'll be fine, you know what I mean. If you're like,
Speaker 2: if you're a weak count and you let someone kind
Speaker 2: of cross that line, you're going to have a rough time.
Speaker 2: But you know, for example, if someone tried to stamp
Speaker 2: before their food or something, if you have a crack
Speaker 2: with them, at least the count will respect it. Even
Speaker 2: if you lose, you'll get respected and then it probably
Speaker 2: won't happen again. If you let someone walk all over there,
Speaker 2: you're gonna have a very rough time. So as long
Speaker 2: as you just kind of, you know, defend yourself and
Speaker 2: stand up for yourself and then you don't get involved
Speaker 2: in any drugs in there, should be okay most of
Speaker 2: the time.
Speaker 1: How does your family feel when you win?
Speaker 2: Yeah, they were crushed. Yeah I got nice parents. Yeah,
Speaker 2: my mum was very upset. It crushed me. First time
Speaker 2: I seen her and she started crying in the visit.
Speaker 2: I was like, fuck, you know, let her down. But
Speaker 2: when you're.
Speaker 1: Inside, is that when things started to turm for you?
Speaker 1: Like when you get out you knew what you were
Speaker 1: you're going to do, or you still didn't know what
Speaker 1: you're going to do, Like when was it? Then you're
Speaker 1: going I want to be a powerlifter.
Speaker 2: So when I was on bail, I forgot off house arrest.
Speaker 2: I started training after work and I met this bloke
Speaker 2: who still to this day is my waistcoach, Sebastian or
Speaker 2: an Australian strength coach. He's the best waits coach in
Speaker 2: the world. So I actually met him when I was eighteen.
Speaker 2: When after I got out after a few months and
Speaker 2: I was on bail, I started training where he used
Speaker 2: to work, and like I was training with one of
Speaker 2: his friends and I did a deadlift and it was
Speaker 2: like two hundred for like one rep and it was shit.
Speaker 2: And then it came up to me and he's like
Speaker 2: really intense and he's like, bro, you can do more.
Speaker 2: I'm like, fuck you reckon. He's like fuck yeah, let's go,
Speaker 2: and he started screaming at me when I was doing it.
Speaker 2: The whole gym stopped to watch, and from doing one
Speaker 2: rep like ten minutes later with him screaming in my face,
Speaker 2: I got like seven or eight reps and I was like, fuck,
Speaker 2: this is hectic. So I was training with him for
Speaker 2: a little bit and then I have to go back.
Speaker 2: And then as soon as I got out, I knew,
Speaker 2: like I want to link up with him and give
Speaker 2: it a crack.
Speaker 1: You know, it's fine, Okay, So what size he now? Now?
Speaker 2: I just did a fast on one hundred and thirty nine.
Speaker 1: When he was training you? Was it? Was it his
Speaker 1: plan to get you bigger? Or was it you still
Speaker 1: going to want it to be bigger? You know what
Speaker 1: I mean? Like, one eighty one is a fucking big number.
Speaker 2: It's a big especially I was young as I was
Speaker 2: twenty four at the time, twenty four when I got
Speaker 2: the record.
Speaker 1: Why so fucking like, I know you got to be
Speaker 1: big to lift big, But that's fucking huge.
Speaker 2: It's a big bro. But mass mis mass?
Speaker 1: What would you die for that?
Speaker 4: Oh?
Speaker 2: Fuck? Dirty?
Speaker 1: Dirty?
Speaker 2: Fuck? Yeah dude? Was it? Oh yeah, bro? Snacking on
Speaker 2: family size pizzas.
Speaker 1: So to tell, So tell me a day for that?
Speaker 1: What you're you're eating? Planned with beef?
Speaker 2: That look pretty much? You know it changed. I didn't
Speaker 2: have any plan. It's just more calories. Get him in, bro,
Speaker 2: sweet you feel sick? Fuck your now, it's some more chocolate.
Speaker 2: Get in the calories. Yeah, it wasn't good. It's not healthy,
Speaker 2: but served its purpose and it worked. But pretty much
Speaker 2: i'd wake up, i'd have a fat like masskin a shake.
Speaker 2: I'd drive into it because I was full time patine
Speaker 2: at the JIM I trained out of, so I'd have
Speaker 2: a big maskin of shake in the morning and then
Speaker 2: i'd go in. I'd get like three bacon and egg
Speaker 2: rolls at a cafe and go to work for a bit.
Speaker 2: Then i'd go have lunch, you know, a couple burgers,
Speaker 2: and then i'd go and get the family not the block,
Speaker 2: the family sized block of Cadbury chocolate. And when I
Speaker 2: was training cars, sitting down and teaching them how to square,
Speaker 2: i'd just be eating that. I'd polish that, have another shake,
Speaker 2: and then there was a pizza shop there, so I'd
Speaker 2: go and get the family sized pizza for the trip home.
Speaker 2: I'd polish that, and then when I got home, i'd
Speaker 2: have my dinner my missus made me, and then some
Speaker 2: ice cream and finish it off. That's kind of a
Speaker 2: rough guide. It was over ten thousand a day, Carls.
Speaker 1: Wow, Yeah, and I'm ready. I was a training.
Speaker 2: We do once a day, sometimes twice today, probably two
Speaker 2: days a week. I'd trained twice a day, about two
Speaker 2: hour session in the morning, hour and a half at night.
Speaker 2: Probably about five days a week. Yeah, because when you're
Speaker 2: lift in real heavy you do need a bit more
Speaker 2: recovery time.
Speaker 1: I don't know how a power left would train like
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, because me, I go to
Speaker 1: the gym to try and fucking get big with fucking
Speaker 1: you know whatever I try and do. What What was
Speaker 1: your training regime for that? Was it just doing deadlifts?
Speaker 1: Was it doing what? What?
Speaker 2: So? Palatin's the sport of performing one rep maximum weight
Speaker 2: of a squat, bench press and a deadlift. So all
Speaker 2: you got to do is get on stage and you're
Speaker 2: doing one rep as heavy as you can squat. You
Speaker 2: get three attempts. So say, for example, my biggest squat
Speaker 2: I performed in competition was four hundred and thirty five killers.
Speaker 2: So I'd warm up in the back. You know, you
Speaker 2: do a couple of sets body weight to try and
Speaker 2: get the blood flowing. Yeah, couple sets barbell to try
Speaker 2: and get the blood flowing. One plate, ten reps, two plates,
Speaker 2: six reps, three plates, three reps, four plates, one rep,
Speaker 2: five plates, one rep, six plates, one rep, seven plates,
Speaker 2: one rep and then whatever your kind of you get
Speaker 2: to about the three hundred and three fifty KO and
Speaker 2: then you've got your plan for the day, whatever it is.
Speaker 2: Say all right, today, I'm going to lift three hundred
Speaker 2: and eighty for four. So you're taking about ten minute
Speaker 2: breaks in between each set, and then you're just switching
Speaker 2: on for the main set. One main set, four reps.
Speaker 2: Let's fucking go, let's gee up, loud music on everyone watching, everyone,
Speaker 2: giving your energy. You do one set, done, done. I
Speaker 2: used to love one set, but it's a fucking big set.
Speaker 2: And then depending on what you know exercise it is,
Speaker 2: you can come back and do accessories at night, because
Speaker 2: that set takes so much out of you. You know,
Speaker 2: it's a big set. It's a lot on the nervous system.
Speaker 2: So then, for example, if I just do one set
Speaker 2: of squats, it took me two hours to do one set,
Speaker 2: and I'd come back that night and do you know,
Speaker 2: high rep, lake press, hammi curls, just a little bit
Speaker 2: of accessories to get blood flowing, more body building and stuff,
Speaker 2: you know, But that's kind of the basis. It's two
Speaker 2: hour sessions and you're not getting many sets in. Wow.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So when you only done the powerlest because it
Speaker 1: says when the strongest man, is that just from what
Speaker 1: you were doing? Or are we doing? Are we doing
Speaker 1: the strongest man?
Speaker 4: Now?
Speaker 2: It was just a power off, that's all I competed.
Speaker 2: I trained a bit of both, but all I competed
Speaker 2: was the power lifting. Okay, yeah, so that was your
Speaker 2: main goal, yeah, to do Oh yeah, yeah, I wanted
Speaker 2: to be when I started, I SI, I want to
Speaker 2: be strongest in Australia.
Speaker 1: So what year did this happen?
Speaker 2: Twenty seventeen.
Speaker 1: Talk me into that day, that day that you got it,
Speaker 1: you achieved in.
Speaker 2: Yeah, luckily it was Actually it was the biggest comp
Speaker 2: in the world that year. Luckily for me it was
Speaker 2: in Melbourne, so all the Russians Americans had to fly
Speaker 2: to Australia and just had to go one hour. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so that was a very big advantage, not being in
Speaker 2: a plane for a day. But yeah, I just went
Speaker 2: to Melbourne, had buffet breakfast at the Crown, probably ate
Speaker 2: like twenty pancakes covered in the tower. Felt sick, went
Speaker 2: to the show, Probably had like I used to have
Speaker 2: these caffeine tablets. I used to abuse them. There was
Speaker 2: one little tablet and there was probably about three coffees
Speaker 2: worth of caffeine and one tablet, so I'd have about
Speaker 2: three tablets before each main lift. So that day I
Speaker 2: probably had like the equivalent of like twenty five coffees.
Speaker 2: Fucking like.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Because I was an aggression lifter, so I used to
Speaker 2: love getting jeered up, high caffeine, high energy, one set,
Speaker 2: like I used to his head, button the bar and
Speaker 2: just you're going to like a fucking evil, hard place.
Speaker 2: You know you're committing to it. You're not going in soft.
Speaker 2: A lot of people do, yeah, but each I was
Speaker 2: an aggression lifter, so I used to love getting high energy,
Speaker 2: high intensity. My coach is high energy. Used to smack
Speaker 2: me in the head, smack me in the back. I've
Speaker 2: seen them do so yeah, and it worked, Yeah, it worked.
Speaker 1: Before you Who was the Australians stronger.
Speaker 2: Del Manual big Lander from Queensland. He had the record
Speaker 2: for about.
Speaker 1: Ten years, so that day you took it from him.
Speaker 2: I took his record. Yet so it's based off the total.
Speaker 2: So the biggest squat you do, the biggest bench press
Speaker 2: you do, the biggest deadlift you do, you add up
Speaker 2: the numbers and you get your total biggest total wins? Wow?
Speaker 1: Yeah, how did that feel?
Speaker 2: It was? It was a relief. I wanted it for
Speaker 2: so long and I had a really hard prep because
Speaker 2: I was so big. I couldn't sleep. So I was like,
Speaker 2: it was fucking ten hard weeks, bro of a anxiety.
Speaker 2: You're going to sleep every night thinking like I'm going
Speaker 2: to die because I cannot get airing because my face
Speaker 2: and shoulders and neck is that big and bloated. It's yeah,
Speaker 2: it was tough. It was just a sign of like,
Speaker 2: thank fuck, that's done. I flew the time end the
Speaker 2: next day just to start sweating and dropping weight. Oh
Speaker 2: so straight straight after you want to drop the weight? Yeah? Bro, yeah,
Speaker 2: I could not be that way for very long. It
Speaker 2: was very hard.
Speaker 1: Was that the last time you ever did? That? Was
Speaker 1: my last come? I got my record and I said
Speaker 1: I'm good, I'm satisfied.
Speaker 2: That was it. That was it? Bro.
Speaker 1: Oh you didn't want to carry on?
Speaker 2: No, no, fuck down on to fight and drop weight?
Speaker 1: You know what I mean?
Speaker 2: Sleep and get healthier. Okay, Yeah, being that way as
Speaker 2: it's not good? So has anyone broken that yet? So
Speaker 2: the blog that I beat, he came back and he got.
Speaker 1: It again, you know, doesn't make you want to do
Speaker 1: it again.
Speaker 2: No, I beat him.
Speaker 1: Him, you know, so then you moved on to what
Speaker 1: what did you want to do?
Speaker 2: Now I'm focusing on the fighting, you know, So what boxing?
Speaker 2: I like? MMA. I'm going to stick Tom. I've had
Speaker 2: fights in boxing, kickboxing, mm I've had nine altogether.
Speaker 1: I'll bring up the boxing fast because I found something
Speaker 1: on Google about this, okay, and it was a big
Speaker 1: controversial what happened in that fight? Which one you got disqualified? Oh?
Speaker 2: Yeah, that ship.
Speaker 1: I looked at it and I just went, what the fuck?
Speaker 1: And I read up on it and then okay.
Speaker 2: That's a ship fires awkward. But now I hit him
Speaker 2: with a big shot. He went back into the ropes,
Speaker 2: and then I just went for a big caveman swing
Speaker 2: and he was grabbing me the whole fight. Hit and
Speaker 2: just grabbed me. He was the mm A fighter too, okay,
Speaker 2: So it was just like it was an ugly box.
Speaker 2: There's nothing sweet science about it. But you just kept
Speaker 2: grabbing me and obviously not meant it in boxing. And
Speaker 2: then I hit him. He went back against the ropes.
Speaker 2: I threw a big swing and he all came under
Speaker 2: me like rugby tackle and I almost went down. And
Speaker 2: it was the second round, but he'd grabbed me like
Speaker 2: ten times, and I just like I almost went off balance.
Speaker 2: So I just thought, fuck this. So I just ankle
Speaker 2: tripped him, pretty much like pretty much, don't fucking grab me,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean. So I just ankle tripped him.
Speaker 2: And because we trained MMA, when you trip someone, you
Speaker 2: hit him on the ground, it's just drew it in.
Speaker 2: So I ankle fucking picked him and he fell down
Speaker 2: and then I like, I threw it, but I pulled back.
Speaker 2: I pulled back. I didn't hit him on the ground.
Speaker 1: I haven't seen the foot I can show after.
Speaker 2: But they said I hit him on the ground, and
Speaker 2: they said not, you hit the coun on the ground
Speaker 2: and you're the square fight. But I didn't, And props
Speaker 2: to the opponent straight away he said, no, he didn't
Speaker 2: hit me, but the ref's lot idea. So they sacked me.
Speaker 1: Wow, So it was that your last fight that you
Speaker 1: had them boxing. But just as you before, boxing is
Speaker 1: just not for you, but you prefer MM Now.
Speaker 2: I've had a couple, but I'm not. I'm not a
Speaker 2: school for boxer. I'm not.
Speaker 1: You're more like a brawler.
Speaker 2: I'm a brawler. B Yeah, I got decent kicks. I
Speaker 2: want to wrestle someone pick him up.
Speaker 4: You know what.
Speaker 1: That's a question I have. Why wouldn't you go into wrestling, Like,
Speaker 1: why wouldn't you go and try and get like a
Speaker 1: contract overseas.
Speaker 2: I got asked in twenty fifteen if I want to
Speaker 2: go to I think it's in Orlando. I think in
Speaker 2: Florida ww A headquarters. I got asked there was a
Speaker 2: mutual link and someone there contacted me. I think he
Speaker 2: started seeing some of my powerffs and videos and I
Speaker 2: just used to get angry and head butt shit. And
Speaker 2: I was a tank and so he would have seen
Speaker 2: those videos that were doing the rounds at the time.
Speaker 2: And I got asked, He's like, do you want to
Speaker 2: do a trial? And I was still on parole at
Speaker 2: the time, and America get in in.
Speaker 1: You wouldn't have got in, nah, So did you tell
Speaker 1: them that?
Speaker 2: I don't think they wanted to try and pull strings
Speaker 2: or like a not a certainty, you know. Yeah, if
Speaker 2: there was like a done deal, I think they could
Speaker 2: have got me in. Yeah, but just to have a tryout,
Speaker 2: you know, it's going to take a while and expensive
Speaker 2: legal bills and shit. Yea, so nah, but yeah, I
Speaker 2: wouldn't want to so.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so now you're concentrating on MMA UFC kind of thing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'd like to make the UFC. That's my nextest weight.
Speaker 2: So the heavyweight limit in UFC's one hundred and twenty kilos.
Speaker 2: What the fuck heavyweight limit.
Speaker 1: That's a big drop.
Speaker 2: MA can't brockles they were in at one twenty. That's
Speaker 2: a big, big drop, bro. But I'm kind of wait now,
Speaker 2: and that's the reason.
Speaker 1: So so you will drop that.
Speaker 2: I'm going to try. I'm going to try and get
Speaker 2: active this year, get a few wins, and hopefully get in.
Speaker 2: So I look at this way, if I can get
Speaker 2: to about I'm one thirty nine now, if I can
Speaker 2: get to about one thirty four one thirty five, say,
Speaker 2: and that's my new kind of normal weight, which I
Speaker 2: can drop another five off this frame. If I can
Speaker 2: have say, eight weeks notice for a camp for a fight.
Speaker 2: You want to find eight weeks you have, sweet, you
Speaker 2: drop about one to zero point a zero point seven
Speaker 2: a week for that time, So you're going hungry. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and then the week of the fight with a water cut,
Speaker 2: I can do it. You know, it'll be hard, it
Speaker 2: won't be the best thing, but everyone cuts weight with water,
Speaker 2: so especially at a heavier frame, I could drop you know,
Speaker 2: eight to ten. So a lot of people drop eight
Speaker 2: kilos in water a lot lighter, so it is doable.
Speaker 1: But you think the fighting scene in Australia for this
Speaker 1: kind of what you're doing has got it, Like don't
Speaker 1: you have to go overseas to America if you want
Speaker 1: to make it in this sport?
Speaker 4: Nah?
Speaker 2: So a lot of boys start in Australia and if
Speaker 2: they can just get a few good wins on you know,
Speaker 2: the local circuit, yeah, they can get picked up, especially
Speaker 2: me because I kind of got a little following and
Speaker 2: a marketable my size tatoos. So like, for example, if
Speaker 2: I can knock out three dudes this year, I'm sure
Speaker 2: I'll get in. You know, videos go around quickly, you know.
Speaker 2: So that's your goal, that's my goal. Now, I'd love
Speaker 2: to make your So.
Speaker 1: My main concern, like one hundred and twenty kilos.
Speaker 2: It's a big job.
Speaker 1: It's a fucking huge job.
Speaker 2: Big job, and I lose a lot of what I got,
Speaker 2: which is power.
Speaker 1: And all I've ever seen in the view is massive. Yeah,
Speaker 1: like I know that's one hundred and twenty is still big,
Speaker 1: like you know for people, but not not for someone
Speaker 1: like you. For that's like that's like saying, like for
Speaker 1: a normal person like me, if I got eighty kilos.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the last time I was one hundred and twenty,
Speaker 2: it was sixteens old. Now I'm merely thirty, you know. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but it's what I want to do. It's my sport.
Speaker 1: Is it is what it is, Bro, I'll try and
Speaker 1: get it done. Is there all planned out? Because I
Speaker 1: know you've got to fight. You had my message a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks ago about the fight that we supposed
Speaker 1: to have to a.
Speaker 2: Hopper and just pulled it out two days ago.
Speaker 1: He's just pulled out.
Speaker 2: Well, I don't think he pulled out. I think he
Speaker 2: just asked for like.
Speaker 1: Just the second time. Now it's been now it was.
Speaker 2: Postponed the first time, and now it was it's booked
Speaker 2: in for April fifth. But the promoter messaged me two
Speaker 2: days ago saying he's out. He tried to like hit
Speaker 2: him up for way more money, so I think he
Speaker 2: I think it was more he's seen twice to himself.
Speaker 1: I think he's seeing he's fighting myself.
Speaker 2: But he's hard. Can he'll fight anyone. But I don't know.
Speaker 2: It's a bit disappointing, but I'll get it.
Speaker 1: So what are you going to do now? Then?
Speaker 2: Now we'll get a match. So I just keep training,
Speaker 2: keep dropping a weight. Knock on wood, we don't get injured,
Speaker 2: and let's sit, bro, we'll get back in there.
Speaker 1: What do you want to achieve in twenty twenty five?
Speaker 2: For you? By my birthdays in December. By December, if
Speaker 2: fucking get signed to the UFC, that would be a
Speaker 2: lifelong dream of mine. You know. I want to keep
Speaker 2: improving my mental strength, my mental health, all that shit.
Speaker 2: I'm very passionate about now at this stage of my life,
Speaker 2: and fucking drop the weight, get active with the fighting being.
Speaker 2: I've had a bad, bad run of injuries, like really bad,
Speaker 2: you're west injury that you've had. Oh, Bro, I had
Speaker 2: a boxing fight. Ten seconds into the fight, I disslocated
Speaker 2: my sholder ten seconds in the first round. It was
Speaker 2: this big island who's one hundred and sevent The killers
Speaker 2: hit him hard and he came on me, helped me.
Speaker 2: I pushed him off my hard. My shoulder went out.
Speaker 2: So had to fight two rounds with a dangling shoulder,
Speaker 2: and then I went to the hospital. Was trying to
Speaker 2: yank it back into place for like two hours. Couldn't
Speaker 2: get it in. They knocked me out, put me on ketamene.
Speaker 2: Finally got it in and then I have to come
Speaker 2: back to Sydney. I still couldn't move my arm, so
Speaker 2: I'd torn heaps of ships. Had another surgery that's probably
Speaker 2: the worst one. Torn both biceps off the bone, right shoulder,
Speaker 2: front and back, calf ankle twice. No ligaman in my knee.
Speaker 2: I've had a few bro bulging this low back neck.
Speaker 2: I'm in pain.
Speaker 4: Jesus Christ, I'm in pain. But just keep training, Just
Speaker 4: keep going. Any regrets in your life, na, they learned
Speaker 4: from it, Bro. You just learn from it. Yeah, you
Speaker 4: just learn from it. Is what it is.
Speaker 2: You can't turn back time, so just try to make
Speaker 2: the best of it, learn the lesson and move forward.
Speaker 1: What would you what would you? What would you describe you?
Speaker 1: In two wards?
Speaker 2: You know what? Honestly this will surprise you. I'm a
Speaker 2: big EmPATH. Yeah, yeah, big time. I feel a lot. Wow, Yeah,
Speaker 2: I feel a lot. Bro. I'm going to do a
Speaker 2: lot of stuff in the mental health mental strength area
Speaker 2: as I go forward.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you like, do you like helping kids and all
Speaker 1: like that?
Speaker 2: Yeah, Bro, I do juvenile like mentoring. It's important work,
Speaker 2: all the good ship you know should do. I'm into it, bro. Yeah,
Speaker 2: because I'm a sweet kid. I'm a sweet guy. I
Speaker 2: am a gentle giant. You know. Obviously I can if
Speaker 2: you switch on if I need to. I don't want to,
Speaker 2: but if I need to. That's what I kind of
Speaker 2: trained for my life, just to keep myself safe, you know,
Speaker 2: I mean, protect myself. But I'm a sweet guy. You know,
Speaker 2: I've got a gentle heart. So I really want to
Speaker 2: try and be, as you said, quite a beast, but
Speaker 2: help people and humble and you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: Because you knew what it was like when you were
Speaker 1: a kid. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Correct, that's right. I've been on both sides, you know.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I'm a i'd say i'm an EmPATH. Well yeah,
Speaker 2: that's a good one.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I like that, you know what, Bro.
Speaker 1: I love that, you know, because this interview was fucking good.
Speaker 1: And the fact is you're very humble guy.
Speaker 2: Bro.
Speaker 1: Yeah, bro, like I got like if I if I
Speaker 1: didn't know when I first met you, like I found it.
Speaker 1: I didn't find it hard to talk to you. But
Speaker 1: you've got to stand offish proana about you, do you think? So, yeah,
Speaker 1: there's unless you get to know the person. It's like
Speaker 1: you get you have to you have to trust that
Speaker 1: person first before you'll open up to that person fair enough.
Speaker 2: You know what I mean, Like kind of keep to myself.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know you're private, but you're also how can
Speaker 1: I say you you srust people out before you want
Speaker 1: to open up a bit more to them, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean.
Speaker 2: Sometimes, especially if I'm not closed back.
Speaker 1: You know what I mean. But like, and I know that,
Speaker 1: as I said, when we were there, there was other
Speaker 1: people there, so it's a bit different. But as I've
Speaker 1: got to know you since then, like I've seen you
Speaker 1: and even on your videos too, that you you are.
Speaker 1: You're a very humble guy.
Speaker 2: Mate. Yeah, bro, Like I'm just being myself. You know,
Speaker 2: I'm not trying to impress anyone. Like whatever someone thinks
Speaker 2: to me, I don't know, it's not my business. I
Speaker 2: don't care. I am who I am. I'm a dad,
Speaker 2: I'm a good dad. I'm a sweet guy, you know
Speaker 2: what I mean. I'm trying to make my dreams as
Speaker 2: a fighter. I was a strong man. Blah blah Blahlah.
Speaker 1: I am who I am. I'm a good person. I've
Speaker 1: got a good heart. And I'll just tell it how
Speaker 1: it is. You think you'll ever do barlifting again?
Speaker 2: Maybe one day when I retire from fighting, if I
Speaker 2: can achieve my fighting dreams, I'll get jacked again. So yeah,
Speaker 2: I still love it. It's in my blood and it
Speaker 2: will take me like twelve weeks because you look.
Speaker 1: Like who wants that title back again? Or you just
Speaker 1: want to do it for the fun of it, the
Speaker 1: love of it.
Speaker 2: Probably the love of it. I don't know if I
Speaker 2: want to get that big again.
Speaker 1: Specially you need to get that big again to get
Speaker 1: that title.
Speaker 2: Probably not. I think I'm more of a technician now.
Speaker 2: You know then I was. Back then it was a
Speaker 2: bit more brute strength. Now I'm a lot more technical,
Speaker 2: which helps. I need to get heavy, but I don't
Speaker 2: think I need to get that heavy again. We'll say,
Speaker 2: I'm sure I will compay it again, but I don't
Speaker 2: think strong man like the strong man competition. I love
Speaker 2: that ship.
Speaker 1: Would you do that?
Speaker 2: Yeah? I would?
Speaker 1: That's see. I can see you doing that me too,
Speaker 1: but then again you've got to put those hounds on
Speaker 1: it again.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I wouldn't look I wouldn't be as as heavy
Speaker 2: or as fat as I was because I do care
Speaker 2: about my health. You know, I've got young kids. I
Speaker 2: want to be healthy for them. But I do love
Speaker 2: it bro being big and strong and jack. It's good man,
Speaker 2: it's fucking great. It's great, and I love it, and
Speaker 2: it's in my blood. You know. It's very easy for
Speaker 2: me to get strong and it's a nice feeling. So
Speaker 2: one day I'll be back.
Speaker 1: Thanks man, Thank you, b Yeah, thanks for having me
Speaker 1: appreciate it.