MIKE "THE SAIYAN" SMART | Nutrition, Injuries & Advice | Interview | The Athlete Insider Podcast #31

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and then i went with him to the sauna  and we were in there and some guy just   literally walked in and said hey guys what do  you take because it was me and jake i was lean   cali at guys and he came in with this you know  bodybuilder style and we were just like uh what   yo gorillas welcome to the athletes insider  podcast by gornation my name is phil and today's   guest is the real life super saiyan an extremely  special strong ripped athlete and i'm really   happy to welcome you to the show mike smart how  are you doing guys what's up phil yeah thanks   that you took the time uh like uh already since  we started this series there were some people   asking for you and what was quite funny for me was  when i asked you yeah can we do an interview are   you up for an interview you you were like i'm not  like you the other athletes i don't know why you   yeah what you want to do what what was it that  about um well basically it's uh it's more to do   with like when i looked at the athletes that were  being interviewed and if you look at you know cali   athletes and themselves they all tend to have  like a title or they've managed to to compete   in some way or uh you know really some kind of  training program or something like that that's   kind of the only reason why i was kind of like  okay i'm not a competing athlete but sure yeah   okay so you like if you present yourself uh you're  not a professional athlete or like a competitive   athlete let's call it like this maybe yeah um  how do you present yourself to somebody who who   doesn't know you um well i i kind of like doing  the uh the old school way of not really saying   who i am or what i am when i introduce myself  because i it it tends to make people think   certain things assume certain things and yeah  it's kind of like if i was to then say uh i'm   a non-professional athlete that works off of  social media and i kind of look like an anime   character it's kind of hard to explain that to  people so i just introduce myself as it is and   then if they want to know more about me they  ask questions but everyone i'm just mike smart   okay good nice uh yeah and so your full name i  guess is michael smart right yep that's good yeah   it's a lot of people don't actually know that  it's just immediately mike the same yeah like   because um i thought for a long time that  you're like spanish a spanish guy i didn't   know about your uh like you have these english  skills and if you if i listen to your accent   like you're you you talk in english that's like  i directly know that you're not spanish yeah and   so it's actually confusing to some people i've  done uh do you know norden yeah norden from yeah   i've done videos with him and in those videos  obviously he's got a smash audience i've spoken   spanish yeah and there was a bit of debate in  the conversation in the comments where i was from   which was kind of fun so uh you said you're  living in in spain for 18 years now uh roughly   around about 18 years i can't remember exactly but  yeah i'd say something like that and uh yeah let's   let's kick off with the hard facts people always  ask that uh like how old are you yeah okay uh i'm   29 and i i'm guessing the next one's going to be  over my height and weight right yes that's it yeah   you know it um well i mean i've just recently  found out from a friend of mine in italy that   i'm told for a cali dude anyways i'm six foot and  i weigh about 73 kilos sometimes i drop sometimes   i gain one or two kilos but i stay around there  okay and do you know the centimeters of six foot   oh uh i think it's 180 181 okay yeah that's  which from what i've been told is not   common actually six foot and centimeters just  to make sure yeah 182 183 even um okay so i'm   just one centimeter shorter six foot there you  go okay this is annoying actually now that you   say that it's annoying yeah but still like for  calisthenics athletes that's um i would say at   least above average um it's not probably yeah yeah  weight-wise i would say no weight-wise there are   some pretty heavy boys out there yeah especially  for reps and statics yeah yeah as you do mainly um   what's your body fat percentage that's  the last question that people ask   um if i told you i don't know exactly  but i can guess it's from eight to ten   it's um actually more accurately would  be seven to ten because that gives a   little bit more margin of error but yeah it's  about seven to ten percent all year round and   the more i train the lower it gets the more time  i take off and the more i relax the higher it   gets it's pretty obvious okay but i never let  it go too far okay and uh yeah let's get back   to the question where are you born like what's  what was your uh what's your country of origin   all right i gotta take deep breath for this one  um so i was born in singapore wow yeah uh i was   born in singapore was i lived there for six  years so at the age of six i moved to the uk   and then lived there for three years  and then i moved over to spain okay   and your accent comes what is it is it you  is it english british i i think it's neutral   it's fine it's neutral um it's my mom's american  and my dad's english so i've got like like weird   mixture of the two of them okay but it's it's  it's cool i don't like having one accent like   oh english accent oh this accent i kind of like  confusing people with that okay get it okay um and   yeah uh we're here in a calisthenics podcast um so  like the the question to kick off with your story   with your uh personality etc um how did you get in  touch with with calisthenics with street workout   actually i had been training for a very long  time prior to street workout uh previously i   was playing rugby up until 19 years old i took it  quite seriously then due to injuries i had to stop   uh in that period of time i also well due to  injuries i got told because it was my first hernia   i have to stop or i can end up in a wheelchair  so i decided to do something a little bit less   impactful um i went into more bodybuilding  style training but that was boring to me um   and so i started doing uh muscle ups in a park  because i just i saw some in some crossfit   videos and i thought that was kind of cool so  i was trying to figure that out and i just i   couldn't figure it out but then the translation of  skills kind of clicked from hand cleans to muscle   ups it's the same kind of motion just in reverse  um i tried it out and then yeah the the drug of   the euphoria of getting your first move unlocked  uh that that was like the beginning of cali for me   okay and that was what uh what year oh um that  was like eight years ago nine years ago okay   so it would have been when i quit rugby about yeah  nine years ago 20 21 uh 19 20. okay wow um yeah so   muscle up was the the move that got you uh out of  the gym yeah let's call it it was yeah it was the   move that put me into a park and i had no idea  what streetwork i was when we did that because   even when i got asked hey did you stream workout  i was like yeah i trained in the streets like   i didn't know what they were talking about like  should we work out is mean training in the streets   yeah there's bars out here too but then i got into  the community and it was it was a game-changer   okay and you call it a street workout because  in spain the the uh calisthenia is uh yeah and   in i don't think i think it's because in spanish  there isn't really a direct translation a street   workout like it would literally be training in the  streets so they just stick with calisthenics okay   okay that's yeah they generalize all of it it's  just calisthenia okay get it um and yeah after the   muscle up uh what was the the move or the goals  that kept you going um well the one move that took   believe it or not like a year for me to get was  the handstand push-up that was my next big goal   was the handstand push-up uh i just love that  move i really wanted to do it and that yeah   that took a long time because i was first getting  the handstand then it was learning how to control   balance this that the other but after the muscle  up it was definitely the handstand push-up that   was like the next strength move that i wanted to  unlock okay and did you have problems with balance   first or was the handstand itself  easy for you i mean i had a lot of foundation work laid out from when i played  rugby so one thing about my rugby training   was i always prioritize uh shoulder  strength over chest strength because   in the sport you don't really need  much stretch the chest strength but   you do need a lot of shoulder strength  so i was doing a lot of military presses   so when it came to the strength aspect i didn't  have any problems but when it came to balance   yes it's it's completely different when you have  to figure out how to balance with no reference   to gymnastics at all yeah and it was a lot of  self-teaching recording watching it comparing   that was basically the process of how it went down  okay so because we are like we received a lot of   questions about your handstand skills uh because  it seems to uh to impress the people and so like   if i listen it if i hear it right it's um the  first your first advice is to film yourself   to compare and you check your technique your form  etc and uh to actually that would be the second   step the first step for me would be developing a  good foundation a good base level strength because   it's the handstand in itself isn't really  that different to any other form of push-up   it's i mean it's an advanced form of push-up  if you think about it so the key to getting   to it would be developing sufficient levels  of shoulder strength uh when we're talking   about shoulder strength i'm not just talking  about the muscles i mean ligament strength   because when it comes down to anything  calisthenics the stronger your ligaments and   your joints are the easier time you're going to  have otherwise you're going to run into problems then focusing on techniques so having  good levels of strength through just   basic work would be the first step because then  you have it's i like to think of it as you have uh   more to work with like i mean in bodybuilding  they did the comparison you have clay and then   you mold what you want but you do with your body  for me in cali it's like the more base work you do   the more you are capable of trying  out if you will so in my case it was   i had a lot of base work with uh pushing started  push-ups i did a lot of push-up workouts which   sounds really stupid and basic but yeah a lot of  push-up work with that workouts and then slowly   just incorporating that into the handstand and  believe it or not time yeah time it's it's one of   those frustrating things but the progression that  i found in cavi it's it's pretty linear at the   beginning and it's once that connection is  made between your base level strength and skill   then all of a sudden you can just do so  much more so that would be my advice is   get a good foundation and then refine it as much  as you can okay because that's really interesting   especially in uh today's um social media world  for calisthenics athletes where everybody has   a full planche after three months and it's  a lot of really pushing hard high standards   no days off no rest uh you know like yeah i  actually think that's kind of toxic in in terms   of what is training and fitness in itself it's  social media doesn't help i can tell you from a   personal standpoint it really doesn't uh the i  mean especially when you start seeing athletes   just constantly one-upping every single time it  kind of takes away the basic concept of everyone   needs to progress at their own rate and listen  to their own body and do their own thing   yeah um constantly seeing people with the next  move is kind of difficult to calm yourself down   and not be like i need to train you need to turn  into i need to train but yeah i know what you mean   because people always asked for how long  did you only do basics uh when you began   how long did i only do basics what because  i started a long time ago when i started   i mean if you look at like old competitions from  like 2013 2014 the skill sets were pretty low   um we weren't talking like crazy moves or anything  like that so my priorities were not that of like   planching or anything like that like i i was  thinking more along the lines of like i don't   know if you know the barbarians yeah like back in  the day yeah that was kind of like how i was my   mentality towards training back then it was i was  really thinking about just crazy numbers and reps   okay rather than crazy skills because it just  wasn't even in part of the game at that point   was it just a side effect so  like trying out back lever or   front lever and it just works or yeah yeah um it  contrary to gymnastics i think the one thing about   street workout if you will that  kind of like sets it apart is   getting to the next level getting a new move  is highly emotional from what i can see it's   it's very much like i mean that's why you've got  like in the south american community you got like   you know they everyone's screaming for that  720 like you got tony uh tony muscle up   yeah yeah he's he's crazy the energy that he  brings and if you go to competitions you just   see the energy and it's it's very emotional  the way you unlock new things um whereas like   i'd say gymnastics is a lot more form-based you're  told when you're going to go to the next move   whereas in cali or street workout i would say you  feel it yeah you feel you're ready you know you   you you try a progression you're like oh that  was easy i'm gonna try the real thing now   okay that's really interesting because um  it really seems uh like a healthy approach   um not to to sacrifice your  ligaments and attendance uh for   for a quick progress and for the quick uh  straddle planche that you can post on instagram   yeah yeah i'm also on the other end of that  spectrum because i've been on both sides   okay you know understanding what it means to  you know just be like i saw him do it so i'm   gonna do it yeah and then being like i saw him  do it but he's also completely different to me   he has a different training background he  has different nutrition he has different   everything he's not maybe he's not dealing with  injuries don't compare yeah stick to what you do do you want to tell us more about this phase of  your life when you had like this comparison to to   others because i think it's it's quite hard um to  uh if you're like really you have high standards   for yourself but you still see all the other  athletes performing on a really high level and   progressing fast yeah um i mean in terms of what  advice i could give to those yeah out there that   are feeling the same well it's it's definitely a  learning curve uh it's not something that you just   click straight away and you're just like whatever  um with experience i've come to find that it's   more along the lines of it's when you ultimately  are just living your life and you realize   that the things that you see if you didn't see  them would you still be doing things like that   that's that's the biggest question that  i try to ask myself when i see something   and i get like oh i gotta do gotta do i stop  myself for a second and think okay well dude   is this is this what i would have done  if had had i not seen it at that time   when i answered myself honestly with that question  then i can 100 say that's when you'll find out if   you really really want to do it or you're just  pressuring yourself because you saw someone else   doing it and it's being honest with yourself  really because half the time it's ignoring   part of it and just going for you know the showmanship side of things you know what i  mean like it's i mean it's a weird comparison   uh it just came to head but it's a weird  comparison i remember seeing a very cool   video on on on instagram which had nothing  to do with calisthenics or anything like   that but it's the same mentality  uh it was about the playstation 5.   how everything went out of stock everyone went  crazy everyone was continuously going crazy   until one guy came out and said yo just wait it's  going to come out in a couple of weeks it has to   and it was just that thing like it honestly if you  you know ask yourself the question on honestly are   you really that bothered by it and if you are  then do something about it if you're not then   just keep doing what you do because your rate is  always going to reach better results and if you   look back and you look at all the other athletes  out there that have done things and really gone   far in their sport a lot of them tend to just  stick to themselves especially when it comes to   you know preparing for whatever they released or  whatever the content that they released they don't   really you know publicly announce things or you  know talk about it too much they just stick to   themselves they stick to their own lane and then  when they do release it that's when you realize ah   that's his thing so i mean to summarize it all i  mean if you want to look at the athletes that you   admire you'll see that a lot of the athletes that  you admire tend to just try and do things their   own way they're not trying to copy the next guy i  mean it's hard on instagram because you know you   got the post thing where everyone does the same  post or whatever it is but in terms of training   uh i mean i can say from knowing these guys no one  really does what everyone else does they stick to   their own guns they stick their own game and they  they're very honest to themselves when it comes to   how to progress i guess it comes to experience  yeah as well knowing yourself a little bit knowing   how far you can go how far you you can really  take it and if it really is what you want to do   that's true and it also reminds me of the like i  don't know if you know these uh quotes pictures   or something where there is somebody running  behind somebody else and uh it's saying like if   you focus on like winners focus on themselves  and the others focus on winners you know like   uh if you have somebody else in mind you won't  put the energy and the focus on developing your   own style thinning finding exactly inner strength  and um yeah special special things you know like   because when in the end of the day the the drive  comes from you if you find if you find that drive   from someone else then at some point it might fade  yeah because i mean when it comes to looking for   idols or looking for people to look up to it  always comes and goes yeah it comes but if you   yeah exactly if you look for the internal  that's always going to stay that's true that's   true that's uh wise words yeah i think people  will appreciate it um what i'm interested in   on your opinion on um the question what do you  think made makes you like as successful as you   are is it your training method is it your uh your  personality is it your genetics like what what   makes you successful in your um in your career  as an athlete as an influencer you know yeah um that i mean an honest answer that question would  be it would be depending on the people that that   follow me because in the end of the day it's i i  stick firmly to i'm just myself um if i was just   gonna attribute it to something i'd say it was the  fact that i i do things a little bit differently   from everyone else and that um for example the  anime thing the anime thing might speak to a lot   of people i think that's something that a lot of  people you know you see it everywhere in training   there's somewhere there's a little bit of  anime in someone in most areas of training um   maybe the the style the the hair that kind of  stuff if anything i would definitely say the   physique my physique is definitely something that  is probably attributed to my growth uh more more   than anything is because i've way back in the day  i always hated the idea of having a physique and   not being athletic or not showing the physique  you know what i mean if you have your super   superhero physique then at least do superhero  things to a certain degree or at least   try yeah don't just you know have physique  for the sake of having a physique because   that's not exactly mentally healthy but um yeah  if it'd probably be my physique because it wasn't   when i first came like onto the scene i guess  super lean physiques wasn't exactly normal for   the calisthenics it was sort of kind of like  a bodybuilding thing when you saw someone that   was really lean it wasn't normal to see someone  look like a manchester guy that did cali i think   max true is one of the other guys that did men's  physique yeah yeah yeah or something like that   yeah he did some some bodybuilding  competitions some some months ago yeah   yeah so you you'll find that it's like it's not  something that's that there are some athletes   that have really good physiques and calisthenics  and there are some that don't but i think it's   definitely the physique thing okay more than the  skills it's definitely not the skills because   there are some really skillful guys out there  that's interesting that you think that but um   yeah i'll come back to this later um do you think  everybody can have the physique that you have um to certain degree yes or no i mean it's impossible  to say what people are going to look like   based on genetics i can say  for certain there are probably   people out there that might look better  than me because of the bone structure   because of i mean i mean when i competed  in uh men's physique i was in ifbb amateur   and you can really see genetics plays a part in  that sense so to say can you look like someone can   you do this like that's in my opinion it's  a very bad way of looking at it it's more working towards having a similar sort of  look that's 100 possible yeah yeah i would   say that's 100 possible it's not easy and it  requires patience a lot of it a lot of it and   a certain degree of insanity i would say that it  would be lying of me to say that um there isn't   a certain degree of insanity in a lot of these  athletes when they go to the highest level because   i think ct fletcher said it best you got to be a  little bit crazy to be good at what you do yeah so   it's 100 possible but it's depending on  how much you're willing to put into it   like how much you're willing to tolerate the  pain the discomfort all that kind of stuff okay   if we're talking about discomfort uh what does  your typical week look like uh how does your   workout schedule look like how does your  profession look like like just a normal   regular week um i mean it has changed quite a bit  in the last couple of months due to two reasons   the obvious one being corona and the next one  being due to corona my inability to move around   so much um it's basically made it harder for me  to train i was a personal trainer which made it   very hard i had to completely scratch that  um right now a typical week of mine would be training at around two like midday because  it's usually the quietest time and it's also   getting cold as [ __ ] at  the moment i really hate this um i used to train six times a week and the split  would be basically whatever i thought was okay   so whatever wasn't tired now i go for about four  times a week i give myself a little bit more   rest in between due to um dealing with  other issues trying to start other my own   company etc etc nice um yeah i mean in the end of  the day you can work out your entire life but got   to deal with life too so yeah a typical day would  be that training working on some projects doing   some design ideas with my girlfriend and looking  after my dog nice right now it's pretty cool okay   um yeah interesting um so you don't do online  coaching right now um i i find online coaching   difficult to grasp because of the time i spent  as a personal trainer you know the time i spent   actually being with the client and you know the  intricacies of each person um how to successfully   get them to one from point a to point b it's for  me just on a moral level it's really hard to just   write some numbers down on a piece of paper i'm  not criticizing anyone that does that because   it's all it's to reach their own but unless i can  provide something that i have complete faith in um   it's very hard for me to write any kind of program  or nutrition guide because i don't know the person   that's getting it therefore i don't know the  results that they're going to be getting and   when i started personal training i was  very much about the personal side of it   because it is something very very beautiful  if you do it right you know if you can really   change someone's life if you do it right  so no problem no programming for me for now   um not until i figure out how to do it  properly okay get it um and concerning   your workout uh do you also work out legs or  is it uh just not uh yeah yeah i i have to um   i'm not sure if you're aware of this uh it's i've  got a hernia post-operated yeah i've already had   an operation it came back out um if i don't train  legs i suffer mentally okay it's the my glutes are   highly connected to my lower back so you know if  i go and i just decide to planche every day or do   cali every day where you know there's an extreme  level of compression going on in my spine   and i don't look after my legs which takes  away some of the weight from my lower back um   i suffer i i definitely suffer immensely  from that you know not being able to bend   over properly let alone doing calisthenics okay  it's just living at that point so i do train legs   i think every set every time i train i  do a little bit of legs i go about 60   just do it a little bit just to keep  my legs moving a lot of mobility okay   and uh where did it come from um like uh  because people also asked about the the injury   um the hernia looks it's a long story it's been  around for a while um the first time it came   about was in rugby uh i tackled a big fat [ __ ]  and shouldn't have done that i picked them up i   was a bit angry and i tackled him and he was 120  kilos and it was wow um yeah it came from a match   uh it wasn't like an immediate thing it was just  gradually over time i started feeling pain it   got worse and worse and worse and worse until  one day it just slipped out and that was about six years ago and after that it was two years  of doing what i could and oddly enough it was   handstands handstands was the only thing i could  do that wasn't actually pressuring my lower back   as hardcore because front lever you got up and  down sometimes you got up and down and handstands   i was as long as i kept my core tight i was good  and uh then when i got that operating on that was   one year of recovery i should have probably taken  longer in in retrospect because i felt pretty good   i was back into training everything was fine but  the uh my spine in itself wasn't ready yet and   something a mistake happened it stepped out again  but it's been about eight years that i've had that   injury wow yeah it's sorry it's it's at that  point you can't really complain about it it's   there's no point you know at that point just live  your life and try and smile as much as you can you're impressive because uh first of all i didn't  know that uh like 29 you said um 29 years old   that's uh impressive for me uh like no no no  front but 29 years it's always uh yeah for me   it's impressive like seeing your physique i didn't  think that you're 29 years old that's actually   something that's kind of funny because the the  fact that i i chose the the natty route this is   something that's happening around my area quite  a bit oh god um i'm seeing a lot of people my age   look a lot older because they decided to go down  a different route when it came to their physiques   so yeah if i look younger it's it's i decided to  stay the natural way so yeah okay because that   was also a question that we received it's really  funny you know like we have some athletes where   it's asked and i think okay um yeah but i still  wanted to ask you because i know that you can   you talk about it yeah you can explain it and yeah  do you take steroids i do not take steroids i have   never taken steroids a lot of people think that  i have you know to be honest like these days it's   pretty [ __ ] weird when it comes to that kind of  subject uh you've got films like generation iron   coming out where she's and you know all these  youtube channels like nadia not this that the   other having thrown so many opinions around  on how to judge people um the end of the day you don't know the person until you know  the person i mean you can look for signs   sure um but for me personally i never wanted to  or never really saw the need for it a because if i   took anything i would probably die it was already  that lean i mean like realistically i was like i mean when it comes to that  kind of stuff like for example   being tall and lean and not that big is  completely plausible it's something that you can   do it's when size comes into the occasion when  you get like that mass and and whatnot and yeah it's it's just a really tricky subject to  be honest it's getting even more tricky as the   days goes on because like okay first of all when  it comes to calisthenics me personally i haven't   done much research onto it but from what i can  tell based on what i've seen in bodybuilding   it would be completely counterintuitive to what i  do a i'd get bigger which i don't really want to   get bigger um and from what i've seen uh and  know of your muscular strength increases but   your ligament strength doesn't so callus  i mean street workout in itself being so   you know joint and ligament strength based i mean  how many athletes can you see out there that are   the skinny guys but then you see them doing  insane things and it's just like that guy's   got strong shoulders yeah you know what i mean  like yeah that guy's got some strong shoulders   they're not big but they're strong yeah and i just  thought it would be stupid it would literally be   stupid at that point because you know if you push  yourself and push yourself and push yourself and   your muscles are getting the strength but your  joints are not and then all the moves you're   doing are based around your joints then you're  just going to be snapping left right and center   yeah it's just not i don't know it's not something  i think is necessary that's true yeah if you think   it that way that's really interesting um i i had  really i had to love really when when max drew   told me that he's asked where what kind of  uh like steroids he takes like people just   if he does just what he does yeah  i saw that i thought that was funny   hey bro can you can you recommend me one uh  i'm looking for for a friend you know like   yeah yeah just some guy i know he's looking to be  really lean um kind of like you just you know for   a friend yeah it's uh yeah like i said it's  one of those things where it's just like um   as we like i said you're getting so many of these  natty or not natty or not it's just becoming super   easy for people to just pigeonhole like oh good  physique boom he's in the performance announcement   oh not so good physique but he's strong then we  don't think of it but the fact is is that if you   look into american football you got linebackers  they're big boys they've got some body fat in them   yeah i think it's a well-established fact that in  america football people you know take performance   announcement drugs so it's kind of like basing  off the physique is is a misconception totally   a misconception you've got people pulling  out ridiculous numbers in whatever it is   they don't necessarily have a six-pack so to  relate the physique with you know performance   enhancement i'd say that's just making an easy  excuse for yourself mentally not you know really   going into training understanding what it is  it's just making an excuse like oh yeah he's that so yeah i i in the max true comment was pretty  funny actually i like that it's funny yeah but   some people just don't care i swear to god the  the the level of respect when it comes to saying   things to people was just slowly dropping yes it's  just on the internet i guess like i don't know if   you also visit some events and stuff like that i i  think that they're not in the events no never wow   okay in the event everyone is super nice yeah yeah  this is what i thought yeah that's what i thought   you know like on an event nobody comes to you and  says hi mike i'm phil do you take steroids can you   recommend me or something i mean nobody does that  it happened to me once with uh with jay spartan oh   small spotted and like because we're friends and  uh when i was living in the uk he hated that i   was training so much oh this is when i was really  taking it seriously like seven days a week nonstop   and you know injuries are  getting pretty bad so he was like   bro come with me we gotta go to  virgin we're gonna go to the sauna   so i was like all right and then i went with him  to the sauna and we were in there and some guy   just literally walked in and said hey guys what  do you take because it was me and jake i was lean   carriage guys and he came in with this you know  bodybuilder style and we were just like uh what it was awkward because it was in a sauna  too we were all wearing towels like yeah i've had that question before but  in a different circumstance entirely okay   but still a nice story okay um yes let's  come back to training um people asked um   to get some skills like you also do some  advanced skills like planche front lever   um like uh how strong should should one be to us  be able or to start training like attack planche   and uh struggle plans with band like is there are  there some numbers that you can say or is it like   one basis and afterwards and  what can you tell the people   well oddly enough i wouldn't associate it with  numbers like i know a lot of people that can do   super high reps in pull-ups or whatever it  is but when it comes down to you know front   lever they actually can't do it at all um i'm  i'm actually one of those people for example i   i can do pull ups muscle ups just fine but  due to injury i can't do one out and chin ups   so when it comes to those skills  uh i'd say the time to move on   is when you feel comfortable like it sounds really  general and very hard to apply but it's it's like   so when it comes to the tuck if you lean forward  and you feel it's comfortable to bring your legs   in and you don't feel like you're going to  fall on your face because you've done you know   enough leaning exercises you you prepared your  wrist you prepared your shoulders to lock out a   little bit and stuff like that you've got a  little bit of that mechanics going on right   that's probably and you understand it that's  probably the best time to move into that area   like onto the into the next level so to speak it's  it it's hard to explain it's more of a feeling   because when you're doing it you can you know  exactly what you're talking about you know what   i'm talking about when you're actually there  and you're leaning forward and your feet kind   of lift off the floor a little bit and you're  like okay okay i can lift my feet off the floor   a little bit that's something yeah like it's pop  pop it's just starting the the move in itself is   starting to develop because this is one thing  i don't think a lot of people realize is cali   is a central nervous system sport it's more  than it is a physical sport um a lot of the   times that i'm helping someone with a skill i'll  always say get a feel for it get a taste of it   i don't care if you do it right get a taste for it  because once even if i'm helping you and you got   the bands there once you've felt it once you've  got a taste for what it feels like to do it right   something in the brain i don't know if it just  clicks but then after that all the progression   work towards it just it seems more like like  there's an objective that you're walking working   towards like you know the feeling that you're  working towards so biggest tip would be just   try okay try like try don't obviously don't go and  try and do a one-armed flag if you've never done a   one-arm handstand that would be a bit of an  exaggeration but like i mean if you if you want   to know if you can plunge maybe lean lean and then  see what happens when you keep your arms straight   your core straight and your glutes tense and  maybe maybe your legs will start to lift up then   you start getting the taste for it and then you go  okay i can i can try the band now put it around my   waist oh that was comfortable i can try a tuck no  bands that kind of stuff it's it's whenever you go   ah okay that wasn't as difficult as i thought i'll  do the next thing okay so basically also listening   to your body uh trying out it's it's real trial  and error especially with cali it's like i said   we don't have gymnastics yeah we have the template  yeah but we don't have the systems that they use   do you think this is the main difference  between uh kelly and gymnastics 100 uh that   and age like i mean you got kids in gymnastics  start from a much younger age and the emphasis   is on different aspects they're not thinking about  strengths or anything like that that highly mobile   uh quite explosive as well i think they train  a lot of plyometrics at from a young age   coordination is just ridiculous for kids as his  age i mean if you've ever seen kids in gymnastics   places it's just it makes adults just go huh yeah i mean i've seen a couple of kids doing  straddle punch presses and they were like   five wow which just blew my mind i didn't  even know that was physically a thing   so yeah i i think that's the biggest difference is  that the age that which they start at is they they   the move is built into them so much earlier so  that whole time aspect is just it's hard as kids but you're seeing it a lot more now in cali yeah and now the the 1820 i mean uh vitelli  uh from ukraine yeah melanie melanic he's   on a different level and he's one of the guys  that started from very very very young age   yeah that's true that's interesting that's like  there was also another athlete who said it in   the interview that um the the main difference  between calisthenics and gymnastics is the the   age to start with um which i'm thinking is there  no professional gymnast who started as a as an in   an older or uh age or oh god i think there is but  i can't remember i can't like i i if there was he   wasn't a gold medalist that's not that much i can  say like he was competent probably um but i would   never put them in like a gymnastic competitive  sense because from what i can tell now they're all   they all start from a young age and they  just continue down that route but then again   they also retire really early too yeah okay  interesting um yeah let's uh let's uh talk   about some pr's from you do you do sometimes some  max outs pull up yes um dips so i haven't done   any prs for weighted stuff in a while because  of my back yeah except for handstand photoshops   so just the basic stuff yeah i understand yeah  i i'd say with handstand push-ups my pr for reps   is what was it i didn't film it which was really  irritating but uh it was like 33 i think it was   33. wow yeah that's why you sent me the the battle  of youtube yeah when i saw that video video i was   like i want to do that too um it was about 33 but  i did it i i don't do the in a certain amount of   time i see how many i can do in one go and i think  33 is my max at the moment um when it comes to   holding statics weighted stuff like that  everything was better before my hernia but   now it's sort of like at a nice even level  i can't really push it for health reasons um   where did dips i think i'm at 70 kg anything  after that next day i'm not walking um   pull ups 50 kg for three reps then even  then i don't want to train him very much   because it's very very detrimental  to my back i mean you have to imagine   i'm pulling up well i've got weight coming  down it's yeah it's it's pretty gnarly and before that i i had this thing because of my  rugby days uh that out of pride i needed to do   my squats and my deadlifts even if i have my  hernia so i wouldn't go crazy with the weights   and i would only do it on a day  that felt good but uh currently   1 60 for the deadlifts and 120 for the  squats wow anything after that and i'm done   okay but i i definitely don't do pr's prs  would destroy me at this point yeah okay   get it and make sense uh do you do uh like  um uh max reps pull ups uh with bodyweight   yeah um my wax wraps at the moment is  clean or with a bit of kipping clean is um it was like 35 a little bit of keeping oh a little  bit of clipping i went up to like 50 something   50 wow but with a bit of kipping and  that was i attribute all of that to   grip more than anything else because in the  end of the day the thing that's going to   like leave you fastest is your grip yeah  the amount of times that i've just been   frustrated as hell just holding onto the  bar going i literally can't move my hands   i couldn't even let go of the bar properly  i knew that if i did anything they were   stuck they were like locked into place  because of the pump i was like oh crap so uh dips dips i'm pretty good at  dips have always been good because   of the handstand training um my  pr for that was 80 at one point and i haven't really trained it since due to  facilities i haven't got any facilities around   me to really work on my dips okay so right now  you would do some home workouts with push-ups or   how do you train yeah uh right now my training  consists basically mostly in using the bands   and uh advanced form of push-ups oh yeah yeah  straddles branches all that kind of stuff   now hopefully i'll be able to install a pull-up  bar coming up which is cool yeah and uh then i can   work on my reps again nice sounds good sounds like  this it i i hate seeing all these back workouts   where they you know use a towel and yeah it's just  not realistic if you're going to be working your   back one of the best things to do is pull up so  it's just as simple as that i hate seeing all   these silly back workouts it's like nah just do  some pull-ups for her yeah yeah that's true um we already talked about injuries um but your  nutrition that's something that people asked   about and uh yeah how do you stay so  lean what do you eat um yeah yeah um sorry i just had to laugh to myself a little  bit because it's just the awareness of of   how many people have talked about the subjects and   the things that they've said and  just how much of it is just like making easy excuses to not have to talk about it   so nutrition-wise if honestly uh i don't eat  that much it's just something that i i do fast   okay to a certain degree so there's three yeah  there's three aspects to my dieting which helped   and then the final aspect which is consistency  because that is definitely the one thing because   one thing about dieting is it's a terrible concept  if you think about it because the dieting is a set   amount of meal and set amount of calories instead  amount of everything and it's not a lifestyle it's   just following orders and eventually you can't  follow those orders you know every single day   so for me more than anything else it's  a uh i restrict my my calorie intake to   basically around my workout and then  after my workout because that's really   kind of when it matters so a typical day would  be wake up have a coffee don't eat anything   maybe an hour or two before i train i'll eat very  simple carbs and proteins nothing with too many   complicated fats like really simple [ __ ] oats  and proteins basically because i don't want to   mess with the rate of absorption i just want that  energy for that workout done okay after my workout   again calories keeping it to the macros that  i know i need and waiting it out having a good   dinner also having the right supplementation i  i don't understand why people are so nitpicky   with supplementation uh especially when you've  got things like extracts you know just straight   up extracts or you know tea green tea extract  or ashwagandha extracts and stuff like that   you know having the understanding supplementation  and understanding when to take certain things to   benefit from the most uh i think that's essential  so for me personally i like to do a lot of   anything that's not well not thermogenics but  like green tea coffee um anything to boost my   metabolism in the morning i'll take that when i  when i'm fasting 100 that that isn't like i'm not   that's not an argument for me i i've been doing  that for years now years um then when it comes to   training you know understanding pre-workout is  definitely a help because you know low body fat   energy levels are kind of whack for me so  pre-workout definitely helps in keeping me   having a normal energy level because otherwise  it's about 10 minutes of activity i'm just like   okay i'm done bye really yeah it's if  i'm at a very low body fat percentage   yes i find it very easy to do things but i run  out of energy really quick unless i ate before   so nutrition wise i i'd say i definitely provide  for the moment that's really how it's been   and it's been like that for a long time like a  long time like 10 10 plus years so it's giving   my body what it needs when it needs it and being consistent as [ __ ] like really consistent  to the point of it it hurt as you can tell it and   it does hurt it it does physically hurt  when your body's saying no don't do this   like don't don't restrict yourself so much we  need this we need that at that point it's just   a question of you know are you mentally do you  mentally want it enough because the body will   do it whether you like it or not it adapts as  simple as that the body of that so at first they   might complain then i'll get used to it and once  you've made it like a habit and then that's it   so yeah my nutrition would be intimate fasting  timing my meals around when i need the calories   and i don't i'm not dieting just understanding  nutrition itself understanding macronutrients   no i'm not going to say eat clean all the time  because that's stupid honestly i think that's dumb   okay i i hate it when people say that yeah eat  clean eat clean eat clean i ate clean for a long   time and i can tell you that you're gonna find  it so hard to get results if you just eat clean   like why it's because the amount of calories  that you get from clean food is so much less   than it is from junk food that every now and  then having that you know shot of sugar or   shot of cheat i guess you can call it even then  if you want to call it a cheat meal you can just   go to a restaurant have a really dope meal that  can be considered a cheat meal because they're   going to be using butter all these other kind of  things they're going to cook a proper meal for you   nothing's going to be limited so cheat  meals are necessary just because they have   a higher calories b there's a greater  variation of macronutrients and c because   it's just not a realistic  thing to eat clean all the time   it's just not realistic at all you know i  have a life i mean i when i did that i didn't   feel like i have a life i was doing a family  event and just being like yeah can i have my   [ __ ] bodybuilding meal or something like that  like nah i want to eat cool food nice food just   in those cases make sure that whatever you're  eating is going to be for something you know   it's not difficult it's more of a i mean the  analogy the famous analogy is the car right   if you think your body is a car the fuel that you  put in should be the fuel that you use why would   you put in more fuel than what you're going to use  in a car yeah it just overflows after that yeah   so yeah those those are my biggest tips in  nutrition okay and how i eat basically how   often do you do cheat meals right now do you have  something regularly or is it just when you now   it's more definitely more regular i would say it's  definitely more regular because uh food is comfort   i mean i'm lean and i'm the first person to  say that food is comforting as hell it makes   me feel good so when it comes to cheat meals uh  i guess whenever i train i'll have a cheat meal   because most of the time i'm keeping it pretty  pretty restricted if i'm not training because   i don't need the calories that day uh if  i do train i will train as hard as i can   for two three hours and then i'll earn that  cheat meal so this week like i'll i'll earn   the surplus of calories i'll make sure that  my body's in a state where it's just like yo   just give me give me [ __ ] i need i need i need  stuff to repair now come on let's go yeah and it   just feels better after that as well you know you  enjoy it more and it's just it's another thing i   disagree with as well it's like the need to post a  cheat meal as if it's like you're saving grace or   like you're doing so good having a cheat meal  no you know you're just having fun eating bro get it okay um yeah makes  sense makes definitely sense   um do you have like do you follow  any um i don't know vegetarian vegan   clean only good meat diet nutrition well  for me i didn't see it diet nutrition yes no i mean you said vegan and then the  only thing that occurred to me was that i   i would go over vegan powder protein powder um  any day of the week over whey or anything like   that because i'm not a fan of drinking protein  like i don't think it's natural so to speak   like it's not something that you would naturally  do it's just drinking a high amount of protein   in a shake how often in in the world are you  going to see that um for me personally it's   more of eating it i like to eat it doesn't  mean i do anything different so in terms of   anything special uh i use vegan protein  powder because it you can cook it   that's basically it you can cook with vegan  protein powder and i like eating my you know meals   i don't want to drink it just not satisfying okay  but not i don't follow anything specific no okay   get it um yeah then um a lot of people asked about  your your friendship with daniels you know like uh   because yeah i couldn't i couldn't know big b  because he's he's huge compared to me so okay   um yeah so uh because i also really enjoyed  the video series that you did together   was it in spain when he visited you  yeah yeah it was here it was here in   spain that's uh like and people asked here  um what is it uh like your your friendship   uh let's let's start with this question so a  friendship is pretty much i would say it's like   you know you have like your levels of friends  and then you've got that one friend who's so   close that he's kind of like a family member and  they don't seem as close yeah that basically so   i call him my little brother he calls me big bro  and it's quite literally like a little brother big   relationship like he does his thing i do my  thing um yeah we're close friends we talk   and we were gonna do more video content but then  valencia got shut down so yeah that sucked okay   because he was he was supposed to be coming over  i think november december these two months and   yeah he wasn't able to which really it sucked  because i miss him as a as a little bro but   yeah if anyone has any doubts uh in his videos  just check his wrists he's wearing same pride   every video so okay that's yeah the relationship  is like a little brother big brother relationship   so we we were definitely pretty  tight when he came over like a   a good connection was established and you  know each other from social media right oh   we met each other through like i guess a bit of  a freak accident um so he came over to valencia   yeah no he was the guy that asked us about  steroids he was like hey guys hey you and jay   he cut himself in all the mist and he was like  what do you guys think um he uh he showed up in   valencia with tom rosenberg uh three years ago  three years ago something like that i don't know   and he was living with luis luis becker mm-hmm  who at the time competing all this kind of stuff   and they wanted to meet up well we all met up  at the park and we didn't know how or why people   found out about daniel's going to the park but i  was there training and then suddenly it just got   packed it was just packed and i'm like oh god it's  and then i text my friend is daniel supposed to   be coming to the park today yes okay so as the  instant medium so like not giving a crap that he   had a following because it for me if you  eat breathe and [ __ ] the same as me i don't understand why i need  to be treating you like oh so   for me it was like hey bro what's up there's a  lot of people over there are you ready for this   and so yeah we kind of vibed after that like  it was a good connection and then eventually   he was needed a place to stay and i was like oh  do you want to stay at my place and yeah that's   basically just what happened we didn't even know  each other before that it was just i happened to   be the only guy that spoke english okay so yeah i  spoke english we had a lot of things in common and   then that's the rest is on youtube i guess okay  nice sounds really good um and yeah youtube will   you ever do youtube people were asking about your  youtube career uh how does it look like yeah um   it is something that has to happen uh i want it to  happen it has to happen i've got everything ready   for it to happen um i think the only thing right  now is fear is almost paralyzing to me because   of not knowing the you know the way the current  the currents of the current ocean of social media   yeah i don't know what's going on right now so  in hindsight yeah i'm kicking myself a little bit   for not coming out earlier i'm doing a youtube  video because it would have been so much easier   but now that it's kind of like a requested thing  and i'm not unaware of it i'm very aware of it uh   it is gonna come soon very soon  it's just finding out you know   what to say um finding out what kind of content  people not looking for but what they want to see   from me more than anything else and yeah i  want to do it so it's my content obviously   so that is what i put out but at the same time  you know it's always good to have an idea of   what's going on around you know that little world  and youtube what people are doing because it's   it's a strange world from what i can tell and yet  right at the moment time theory is paralyzing me   not knowing that it is something that i have to do  okay yeah i mean i'm very honest when i say things   i don't care if saying fear is paralyzing me  because i there's a hunt i 100 there's people   out there that have the same situation that they  can't that they want to do something they need   to do something they have to do something but  it's just the fear about them it's just it's   it paralyzes them somehow and i don't want  to be like yeah i'm some kind of superhero   that doesn't experience those things yeah we all  experience those things and right now that's fine well okay um yeah i can just tell you  people are asking for a transformation video   um and they will never get that because i am too  old and i never took pictures back in the day   i mean there's like a couple of pictures here  and there but i mean it's the same thing have you   seen those annoying meme ones where it's just like  some guy posts a picture of a sperm yeah and then   himself when he's 20. yeah it's like this is my  20 year transformation like i mean if i i wanted   to i could post a 10 picture from when i was like  12 years old that's cool and say this is me at 29   but it has nothing to do with anything so i mean  the best transformations are always like how   i develop from 30 kilos at eight years old to i  don't know yeah you know at 60. i've seen some of   them and they you know people are just like yeah  good job bro and i'm like good job on growing up yeah it's like saying a transformation video when  like for example if there's a picture of you as a   kid and then all of a sudden there's a picture of  you with a beard here's my transformation video   yo you definitely look older yeah thanks  bro yeah okay so i don't think there'll be   a transformation video and if you need proof  of that if you just scroll on my instagram   all the way down to 2013 there's very  few times where you'll see me changing   i i think the only time i physically changed  was when i got an operation like on my back   that was because i was in a hospital by every  two months so okay understandable yeah like one   thing that i can tell you a first video with  an faq would be cool because people can you   can get a sense of what people want uh maybe  do a like a question sticker like we had uh   yeah i i bet you will receive i don't know 500 1  000 questions then you can pick the best oh god   just thinking of how many times how many times  i'm going to get said plunge tips bro yeah   shoulder give me give me a shout out bro yeah   did you get those yeah yeah  yeah good times good times daily okay um yeah also a question that  i'm also really interested in what   what role does anime play in your life that's a bomb of a question  um what role does it play damn i was trying to simplify as much as i can it's  i mean a lot of people think that it's really   childish for some of my age to be into anime and  that's also not understanding what i like about it   you know there's there's two like  there's being a fan and then there's   being something called an otaku which is like  basically imagine like a super marble fan   that kind of guy okay so for me anime is more than  anything it's a really good point of reference   to just morals certain morals um it's because it's  so easy to see it's so simplified there isn't any   text that complicates things there's no ulterior  motives when you see the hero of the story it's   their intentions their morale their belief  system it's pure yeah you know it's easy to   find motivation in the way that they think if that  makes any sense so that's probably why anime is   easy for me to connect to because it's emotional  i'm a highly emotional guy so i'm more likely to   i find it easy to understand and easy to sort  of absorb if it will um it's also fun you know   anime isn't real it's it allows your mind  to always see something past what you do   so yeah sure you know i get one of the funniest  things for me was that when i started doing this   dragon ball thing that people were like no bro  you can't fly for real like for real i was getting   people saying like yo you can't say this about  anime because you can't shoot energy out of your   hands and i'm there going i wasn't intending  on doing that but okay but it's it's yeah the anime for me is just it's a good yeah like i said it's a good reference  point for you know a not chaining yourself down to   what you see in human society so like there's  a little bit of freedom in there because it is   a cartoon and because the you know the the the  belief systems the way that these guys are it's it's almost easy to apply to yourself do you know  what i mean like when you see these guys just like   striving for more you can see that and you can be  like i can i can apply that [ __ ] to myself yeah   you know i i can understand [ __ ] screaming i can  understand the rage the anger i can understand the   need to protect other people the want to protect  other people and yeah it's not human it's not like   the real world it doesn't work like that in the  real world young guys screaming and you know shout   your special move and punch someone in the face  and your family say but in in certain aspects it   is a good way of like motivating yourself to keep  going because in the end of the day it's those raw   emotions that they put forward so that's that's  my anime influence that's why i find it very   okay easy to relate to okay and your favorite is  dragon ball right oh no no not even okay no it's   one of my favorites that's for sure because  i grew up with it um i find it i can't find   anyone or not anyone but it's really hard to find  people that didn't watch it as kids yeah these are   the weird kids it's really these are the weird  kids the ones who didn't watch it you kind of go i've always found that the people that  really hate anime or they really dislike   it from a young age or whatever it is  that they tend to be very serious people   but either way i find it very difficult to  find anyone that hasn't watched as a kid   um but me personally i read it more than  anything else wow yeah i'm a manga fan   um the one i would recommend for a lot of  people when it comes to training is baki okay   which is on netflix i wouldn't recommend the  show i recommend the reading it it's cool   because it opens your mind into possible ideas of  training it's realistic-ish if you want to put it   that way and it just talks about training okay  it's just different ways of training the body i'll ask you afterwards if i don't  find it for the people who want to   look it so uh who will want to  check it it's in the description um okay um is it uh like i think it's cons it's  connected to this one uh like your your hair   color and your style in general um like yeah  let's let's go to the point where you decided yeah   i will color my hair and i want to  look like a like an anime character   so uh i guess that would be answering another  question which is when the first time i got   related to an anime character  because it didn't just happen   um when i was in london doing cali it was one  of the few well to be i had crazy blonde hair   crazy wild blonde hair and i was doing calorie  and everyone's just like yo super saiyan broth   that was just like the start  of it was a joke you know okay   and uh then from there it was actually  daniel's daniels was the one who recommended   it because uh he was like it just suits  you bro like this whole anime thing and   so i switched my name to the saying and the white  hair came about because uh it's actually three   characters that i really like and they all have  white hair so i was just like i'm gonna do the   white hair thing um goku did the master ultra  instinct which was like the whole the first the   thing that made it famous was that goku went  silver hair so whatever um then devil may cry   i don't know if you know that game dante dante  was always been one of the coolest dudes to me   and uh god who was it oh god i can't remember  his name ah i do know his name but i don't know   it's it's really obscure it's another manga it's  another character that i really liked he just had   a very very interesting way of looking at life  and i just thought his haircut was really cool   okay it really wasn't that complicated  it was just like that's a cool haircut okay like i didn't have to look at like  any reggaeton styles or anything like   that nowadays and do that and you know  no i just thought so would look cool   nice interesting that's uh really nice and uh  is goku your favorite character from dragon ball   he used to be but he used to be but  um like in z you have to know a bit   about anime to know this but in z he was the  goat like in dragon ball z he was very cool   um then i don't know what happened but then they  came out with dragon ball super the last one that   just came out and they made him stupid okay like  he's a bit dumber than usual you just i want to   fight i want to fight so actually i would say  vegeta is one of my favorite characters now wow   because they made him a complete character  okay so yeah not that has anything to do   with calisthenics but yeah i like both of them  i like both of them that make me choose i won't   it's weird because everyone calls me the  goku guy and i'm like i don't even like them nice um yeah and the last question before we  jump to the quick questions quick answers uh   what are the current goals that you're working  on what is something that you want to achieve   in 2020 or maybe early 2021 you said that  you're working on your uh company right now   yep uh the same pride it's something that i've  been playing with for a while now for two years   and hopefully in 2021 i'll have a few products to  be able to release onto the market not something   that's common in the calisthenics world  at least that much i can say for sure and   uh goals well one of them is you've already said  at youtube i think that's uh that's a pretty   logical goal at this point you know with my age  to say i want to hold a 40-second front lever   let's focus on life now a little bit um yeah  youtube um my company same pride fitness and   general health actually because i'm  starting to realize that the more intense   that i am now i'm really starting to see yeah i'm  gonna feel this when i'm older especially with   the current injuries that i have so it's more than  anything it's just looking after myself a bit more   okay literally it sounds anti everything  i've just said but at the end of the day   your physical well-being if it's not there then  you can't do any of the things that i talked about   true and mental that's another thing nowadays  definitely have to focus on that it's hard yeah   i can imagine that's true yeah good luck for these  ones i hope to see you soon on youtube also all   the best with uh saiyan pride and uh yeah let's  get to the serious questions uh what do you prefer   pizza or burger burger okay maybe you answered  already but are you a dog or a cat person   both animal lover boy okay i have your cat  in my mom's house and have dogs with me okay   um what's your favorite location for holidays  very location for holidays i would say spain just need to travel around spain okay  although i would love to go to asia japan is like   number one out of spain i have to go to japan  you've never been there i'd love to never been   well no not only china but i also  like china showed me in a lot of   things why i want to go to japan because asia in  general was really nice shanghai was really nice   um but uh yeah i'm also really looking forward  to japan i don't know if it's because of anime   or just like that i i think it's just everyone  sees it from outside and just goes wow you're so clean that's true nice um what's the worst exercise  for you the the nightmare exercise that you hate   oh uh the minute would be one-arm  pull-ups because i just i can't do them   okay because of shoulder operations when i played  rugby it's just something i can't do so it's like   i'm annoyed that move annoys me because i can't  do it i just go okay get it um do you have a   favorite calisthenics athlete or a hero or like we  talked about it about idols etc but still is there   anything i have uh two two or three people that  i definitely highly highly rate highly rate um   one is he was basically my inspiration for all  the push work that i was doing side monster   yeah sign monster for me is just  he's one of the goats of cali yeah um   i'm a very very very big fan of victory melanie  it's like yeah i'm a big fan of his i just i   love his style i really do i think he's he's  got what this sport needs that next level um   and on a not so common note i very highly rate uh  the rosenberg twins wow um more than anything for   mental reasons i rate what they do  mentally you know spreading positive energy   positive vibes like i just i think they're really  it it's healthy what they do so yeah those are   my three big influences right now especially  dan dan is really pushing the positive stuff   i really enjoy his content at the moment  that's great to hear he'll be happy   one last person one last person i didn't mention  him but he is sort of like a dark horse on the   underground uh he's from israel his name is  guy guys underscore dh he worked with dan yeah   crazy video editing yeah that's  that's i was gonna say that like   in terms of where this sport needs to go  you've got melanic on the style side you've got   dan with mental you've got guy with the  editing it's just each guy each person   really brings their own aspect to it but yeah  those are the four athletes i would say i'm really well they'll be happy when they  have to do this nice and simon's yeah nice um do you have a favorite book do  you have a favorite book uh yes yes i do um   it's so nerdy that no one's gonna know it oh god  it's called wizard's first rule okay yeah it's a   it's an old yeah it's an old school book that my  dad gave me um from way back in the day and it's   it's just good old-fashioned fantasy stuff okay  yeah okay i'll also ask you for the link for so   for the nerdy people who are interested in that  in the comments nice um yeah best calisthenics   event you've ever been at so far uh battle  uh out of the boss was it battle of the boss   the w yeah wcr battle of the boss it was  actually the only event that i was part of   um oh crap now that i think about it i  am technically speaking a title winner it was the only time they did the event  yeah like now that i think about it like   i did win a title holy crap at the end  of the interview i'm like oh yeah i did   they did like an uh filler event where  they did like a rap battle the wco   and i i won that which was cool um but it was  definitely that event because that was when   daniels was competing against a pretty tough  opponent um and he was wrecked like really really   really just completely he was so tired so it was  a pretty cool event for me because i remember him   coming up to me and just like not even knowing  what to he couldn't even speak he was so tired   i was just like he was like what to do like what  do i do it's like it's cool stay you haven't made   a mistake don't make any mistakes like it was  one of the only times i really felt like part   of the event so battle the bars 2018 in the  body power expo okay that was my favorite   nice and then the last quick question  um if you have to decide between reps   and statics what would you choose reps reps  okay wraps you can do for the rest of your life   okay good i've seen a lot of old people  do raps yeah yeah yeah i mean uh one of   them's from germany right um god what's  his name the guy who can do front levers looney bars yeah yeah yeah marcus yeah he does  reps yeah so if you can keep it up for the rest   of your life that would be that would be nice you  know yeah it would be nice to be able to like i   think uh max said it right i want to be able to  train with my kid yeah that's a good call i think   every every guy out there that trains that has  an idea of having a kid wants to say that yeah wow an amazing interview thanks already so if it  went off topics sometimes no i'm i'm really happy   and i know that people will appreciate it's  one and a half hours which is a lot but uh it   was full of photo full of interesting topics uh  interesting stories uh thanks for sharing so much   um the question before we come to an end is how  can people get in touch with you how can they   ask you stuff um yeah uh just messaging me on  instagram uh i go through my message requests   okay quite frequently so if there's if it's  a serious subject then i definitely will   you know address it straight away that some  people come up to me with bad problems and i   try and help out as much as i can great nice we  will put the link in the description for your   instagram page and as soon as you have youtube  you send me the link or you just tell me and i   put the link in the description so everybody who  listens to this till the end i think they are   quite big fans then uh they can uh they  can definitely see that yeah and see your   youtube channel great um yeah we're coming to  an end thanks a lot for your time mike thanks   a lot a lot for yours thanks a lot to  everyone listening to this till the end   it's one and a half hours it's like really  for me it's insane that people put this time   in it sorry for dragging it out no it's it's it's  something positive really it's something positive   i i know like um when we published the interview  with uh maili from italy um the uh the people   wrote oh why why only 40 minutes or 45 minutes  uh why so short and you know like they will be   happy i think and so yeah a lot of people watch  podcasts nowadays so maybe that makes sense   yeah yeah and it will be on on spotify on  apple podcast so they can also listen it uh   yeah just just the audio so yeah well i hope  i hope i entertain some people with my stories   you entertain me thanks a lot and if you like  this episode you can like it you can comment it   you can share it this helps a lot and yeah mike  you can end the episode say goodbye to everyone   i want to say thank you to everyone and bye  bye see you guys and thank you for listening peaceful