Earn the Right to Stand Tall: Discipline, Bodybuilding & Becoming a Better Man

In this episode of The iAlpha Project, Pedro sits down with Solomon Davidson to unpack a journey built on discipline, self-belief, fatherhood, bodybuilding, and personal growth.

After years of training, Solomon finally stepped on stage and went on to win the Australian Classic Physique Masters title, proving that the biggest shift often happens before the trophy is ever won. This conversation goes beyond bodybuilding and into the mindset behind transformation, learning to stop comparing yourself, trusting the work you’ve already done, and having the courage to commit when the timing feels right.

Pedro and Solomon also explore what it means to grow as men, fathers, coaches, and leaders. They speak openly about service, community, integrity, slowing down, managing fatigue, and the difference between being busy and actually progressing.

This is a conversation about more than competing. It’s about earning your own respect, becoming a better example for the people around you, and choosing to keep growing, physically, mentally, and emotionally.

00:00 - Solomon Davidson’s recent bodybuilding victories and journey onto stage
02:15 - Growing up in South Africa: social, racial, and economic dynamics
04:40 - The importance of community, support, and acts of kindness
08:00 - Overcoming self-doubt and building confidence through discipline
12:15 - The mental battles of training and competing at high levels
15:30 - Balancing purpose, family, and personal development
19:00 - Transitioning from “hard work” to “smart work” in training and life
22:30 - Coaching relationships: mentorship, boundaries, and growth
25:30 - The role of competition in personal evolution and self-assessment
30:10 - Managing fatigue, recovery, and the importance of slowing down
34:30 - Strategies for consistency and sustainability in training routines
40:00 - Supplements, nutrition, and the importance of community in health choices
44:10 - Future competitions and the philosophy of continuous growth
48:00 - Advice for older athletes considering competing again
53:45 - The significance of character, integrity, and doing meaningful work
58:00 - Reflections on supporting others, building confidence, and community spirit
62:00 - Beautiful moments of connection, gratitude, and shared journeys
65:00 - Final thoughts on being part of a supportive community and pursuing your purpose

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:05

All right, today we have Solomon on. And you guys don't know Solomon just literally won recently last year, this time, 24 months now. 12 months. 12 months ago, Solomon won the Australia Classic Physique for Masters.

SPEAKER_00 0:19

Masters in two novels.

SPEAKER_01 0:21

And two numbers as well. So you won both titles.

unknown 0:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:24

And that was your first time up on stage too.

SPEAKER_00 0:27

First time. First time that lean, first time on stage, first time for a few things, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:32

So basically, I I want to share the fact how I first met you. Um, this was easily over ten years ago.

SPEAKER_00 0:39

I think it's actually 10 years now, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:41

Could work yeah, 2015, 2016. Shit. Okay. So um, and I remember seeing you walking in, I was thinking back then it was Go Health in Springwood, and you were just a beast and you're like solid, you could see, you had genetics. And um, you even approached me, and I was like, fuck that dude's like a gentle giant because you have this presence, but you're also so social, so down to earth and grounded. And then we became friends purely because we found out we were from the same place, South Africa. Except you lived in the beautiful part. Giannisburg is nice, but Cape Town's the place to be. So tell us a little bit about growing up in South Africa.

SPEAKER_00 1:16

Yeah, Cape Town's definitely the place to be. It's the party capital of Africa, and we everyone pretty much all around the world goes to party. Yeah, the party capital, yes, as of late. But back then it is mostly Cape Tonians and all the northerners, Joe Burgers, the Uber Nizer came to party. Yeah, beautiful place to grow up. Uh but I I grew up um off the beaten track in a much lower socio-economic area. As everyone knows, South Africa was a very segregated country, and for the most part, it's still segregated, but more so now. Socioeconomic segregation, uh, where poor people still live in the townships that are vaulting apartheid, and um yeah, so still kind of very much certain racial groups live in certain areas because they just always lived there. So those who could afford to move out obviously moved out, and um those who could move abroad did so.

SPEAKER_01 2:19

So a lot of people escaped abroad, yeah. I think back then I remember growing up doing that transition, and I was finishing year 12, and that's when the Rugby War Cup was on and Mandela became president. And my parents were from Mozambique. So coming to South Africa for us, it wasn't like a massive shift. The segregation was obviously by that stage when high school was kind of like dissolving at that stage, and there was an amalgamation. But I also found that um as much as there was the posity and the changes, the evidence in the classes was more obvious. Violence wasn't a racial thing, it was more of a survival thing. Because there was a lot of things that broke down during apartheid, and one of them was actually the ability that I believe to help a lot of the minority groups with the responsibilities that came with the changeover of the times. So a lot of people find themselves struggling. Everything costs more, and they have to look after themselves more, pushed in the deep end and having to measure up. So back then I actually found that there was a separation not in race but more social and economic status, where people were just forced to survive. And then when you look at that environment, I also think it's social conditioning. Because when you've got a young kid who's one or two years old growing up in that environment, for him that's his norm. So that's how they survive. And there's never an amalgamation or understanding of either side of the story. It all became about me, me, me, me survival. So I think sometimes you only know what you know. So I uh walking through townships, and I was always warned against it. And it's dangerous enough. But when I walked, I never ever had a problem. And there were situations where I was watched, I was definitely monitored and tested. But after that, I was fully accepted and I was fine walking through a township. And you make a few friends, people don't understand that it's not just a violence, it's a protection thing too, because you you protect what you have. But then it's interesting you said that those who can afford to move out move out. But there's also the people that just unfortunately become habituated. So you see a lot of younger generations moving out, but their parents and grandparents still want to stay there.

SPEAKER_00 4:40

Yeah, true, because uh these kind of different living in different in in different areas because like even different countries for that matter, um, because you you're used to a certain sense of community, a certain sense of um a certain sense of uh dependent, not dependability, but you know, people relying on you, relying on them as well, you know what I mean? And just having that kind of support because a lot of people don't understand uh hey, do you have some sugar? Hey, do you have some rice? Hey, do you have some of this? You know what I mean? And that is just the norm norm bring up where I grew up. Neighbors come into knocking on each other's doors, just asking for a little bit just to get them through the week, you know, that those kind of things are normal.

SPEAKER_01 5:26

It's just little things where they see you move and then they come and help you just because they saw you doing yard work.

SPEAKER_00 5:30

Absolute, absolutely, you know, and and people people have this idea that um you just won't get that anywhere else, you know what I mean, and you will be shunned on or looked on a certain way if you do ask for help from certain people, you know what I mean? Whereas um once you actually step out, do you understand that everybody pretty much is going through it, you know what I mean? Everyone, everyone has their has their their own things going on.

SPEAKER_01 5:58

But doesn't that take us right back to just the normal human behavior aspect of it all?

SPEAKER_00 6:03

Absolutely. It's you what do you what you think would be true is generally not not so. It's just what you think.

SPEAKER_01 6:11

Digress the conversation if we touch this subject, but like if you look at people today, the main priority is always independence bullshit. Me, me, me, me, I don't need no one, I'm self-surble. But at a basic instinctive human nature, a law of human is connectivity. We want connection, we want to belong part of a group.

SPEAKER_00 6:33

You know what I mean? Like we are here to serve one another, not be a servant, but to serve one another. You know, that's just that's his that's the main um main sense of humanity, you know, is to help one another.

SPEAKER_01 6:46

And people think that serving means that you need to be always saying there was a guy who was uh quite suicidal, and he rang his sponsor on one day, and he was pretty bad. And his sponsor said to him, Mate, anyone in your building that needs help, like just to know anybody, like right now, if he goes, Oh yeah, there was a lady who she's had surgery, and goes, just put the phone down, ring, give me a ring in about an hour, and go and see if she needs help. Whatever she needs, take the trash out, like whatever she needs, just help her out. The dude was gone for like over two hours. Apparently, the sponsor was freaking out. He finally rang him, he's like, Man, it was amazing, thank you so much. He helped to take the trash out, he sat and spoke to her, helped her prep meals, like, and the two of them just had a massive conversation, but the gratitude she felt and the connection that someone thought of her, and vice versa. And there's nothing you can take for that. There's no core that's gonna give you that.

SPEAKER_00 7:38

Absolutely. It's it's amazing how your perspective can change just by your acts of kindness towards other people. People think that in order for you to feel better, people need to do things for you, you need to achieve things, you need to acquire things. But actually, you feel best once you do acts of kindness for other people. 100%.

SPEAKER_01 7:55

And I I actually think that's something we should teach our kids.

SPEAKER_00 7:59

That's what I try to well.

SPEAKER_01 8:01

I see you with your boys all the time doing that, you know, because and even especially with their siblings, because it's like be kind to everybody. But just because your family's your family, those are the people you need to be most kind to.

SPEAKER_00 8:13

Absolutely, and that's what you practice.

SPEAKER_01 8:14

Majority of the time, people find, well, you're my husband, you're my wife, you're my kid, I can talk to you how I like it. And it's the complete opposite.

SPEAKER_00 8:23

Lena was uh give kindness and respect to others, but you can't give kindness and respect to those others.

SPEAKER_01 8:28

You know, I literally there's things that I have honestly said to my exes, my girlfriends, and things that I've said to my kids, that if I caught anyone else saying those exact things to them, I would lose my mind. I would lose my shit. So if I would, they don't know them. So what gives me the right to speak to them like that? If Kai would lose his mind over what somebody said to his sister, but they don't know his sister, he does and still says those things, that's even worse.

SPEAKER_00 8:58

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 8:59

And then I've made them aware of that. And as far as the gratitude thing, Leila was buying these like colored roses, and she was young, she was about six or seven. They gave her some money, she's standing in the queue holding her flowers, and this older lady looked at her and engaged me. I was like, Oh, those are really those essential favorite colors here. She goes, they're so beautiful. I if I could, I would have some. And she just went in the queue to get whatever she was getting. Layla looked at me and she gave this, I said, Do you want to buy her some flowers? And Layla just lit up and like said, Yes. She goes, Which ones? And I said, just ask her which ones she likes. So Layla asked her. She she grabbed the flowers, paid for them, and then gave it to the lady. Was like, is that for me? And then she looked at me and I like acknowledged it's fine. And she looked and she started like tearing up with Layla and just gave Layla so much gratitude. And my daughter came to me, and my only focus to was like, How do you feel? Why do you feel that nothing she could like it makes me emotional just seeing it because everything she felt was because of somebody else's appreciation. Yeah. And that to me is something that we need to realize in everything that we do with our families and friends. So it's slight digression, like I said. But I think that's also what makes people stick to communities. That was to keep them close to home. Which you have a lot of friends that influenced you in their early years with bodybuilding. You used to train with them, you did it?

SPEAKER_00 10:28

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, and so yes, uh blessing anarchists. Because because um I yes, I've had the pleasure of training with some incredible bodybuilders back home and also befriending a lot within those circles, and um some of which are are known by a lot of a lot of top-tier bodybuilders that have come through South Africa, um, and two of which trained at my gym, and um one young man was uh I think it was mid-2000s, maybe 2005, 60, somewhere on there. Junior, I think he was in 1955, and a guy that I trained with, one of my neighbors, he was junior versus of Africa. Um actually I think he actually won Citizen of Africa as a junior or just finished just uh moving out from junior to opens um and potential um incredible, incredible athlete, and um yes, this is why I did not want to compete because I was comparing myself to these guys and I was like to be competitive I need to be up to that bar, and like I learned a lot from them. I learned a lot about how to train, how much to really sometimes just leave nothing left, you know, push yourself when you need to get to that level and and the mental battles and all that kind of stuff that comes along with it. So like I said, a blessing and a curse. And then coming over here, you know, meeting you, training with you for a number of years. I remember I was talking to one of one of the boys the other uh a couple of weeks ago actually, about how some of our sessions would go, and then we'll go out to the car park, and we'll just actually sit there and just have five minutes, and one day we we were in the car park, not knowing that we're talking almost directly off at each other, and we're both just sitting there and we just like puffing and puffing, and just taking the five minutes, we look over to each other and we just start laughing, and we're like, Oh, I can't see you. Not knowing that we just thanked each other for those are those are the good times, man, those are good sessions.

SPEAKER_01 12:56

I could drive home because now we're seeing that double, man.

SPEAKER_00 13:00

And it's not even I'm not even on the lead to be like a push to shoulder with chest day or back day towards me sitting. It's like, no, those are those are good. That's that's what I love doing.

SPEAKER_01 13:10

It's it's the the intensity that you grow up with because I think back then it also taught you how to stay in the fire, you know, like there was so many things. But I guess over the years I've also learned that some things are better off approached with a smart head too. You know, sometimes staying in the fire too long can cause more damage.

SPEAKER_00 13:28

Absolutely, absolutely, and I think that's something that I that I've definitely taken on board lately because um I think for me my biggest issue is always managing fatigue, because I was always like go, go, go, go, go, go, go. And I've slowed down a lot in so many aspects of my life. Just still working hard, but just making sure that I'm I have a theory about that, actually.

SPEAKER_01 13:53

Yeah, because you know, like that's the one thing most men struggle with. Like let's let's be realistic, you know, never mind relationships, maintaining a relationship, that's hard work. What's even harder that people don't realize is the dissolving of a relationship. So, you know, to be a man that's married and has a life with family and kids, that that takes effort, that takes discipline. But then when you're going through a divorce or separation, that even fuck it's like twice as much. That's the biggest mistake people make, you know, it's too hard to work on my marriage. I just want out. They don't realize it's double the work when you do that if you seriously go. But we cope with that. And the way we cope with it is like, all right, we just got to get it done. There's no escape, we've got to get through it. And we push, push, push, push, push. And I think that's the biggest lesson as men is like, I think the more comfortable and the older we get, we get more comfortable within ourselves. So we get comfortable with more boundaries. Back then, we identified ourselves as having to be functional in order to be accepted. In order to be a man and be respected by the people we care about, we had to provide a certain level of service.

SPEAKER_00 14:58

And also, I think how we view progression. We view progression by if we're busy, if we keep going and we don't stop and we you know what I mean, that means that we're doing better because we're doing more.

SPEAKER_01 15:10

Doing more, right? And and it's not an alignment. We might be just on the hamster treadmill, not going anywhere. Absolutely, yeah. And um, and I think that, and then we're not saying this, it's not that other people were doing that to us, it's just our belief system that, you know, in order for me to be a good man, to be respected by my family, to have the respect, I have to do these things, I have to be at that level, rather than thinking about like what gives myself respect when I look in the mirror, how do I feel about what I've done, the difference I've made. Um, you know, I might be working fucking 12 hour days so my kids can have all the money, but I'm not spending time with them. Absolutely. And then I look in the mirror and I'm like, I'm super proud that I'm providing for them, but how do I feel as a man? Like, how do I feel in my connection? And nine times out of ten, I'd much rather give my salary away just to spend a week with them.

SPEAKER_00 15:58

Exactly right. You end up being in being off service for not being a parent.

SPEAKER_01 16:04

Because we're just trying to like chase what we believe is going to give us that. So the older we get, the more we start to realize this isn't working. And I think for young men, it's actually like right now, be the example to others that you expect from others.

SPEAKER_00 16:21

Absolutely. Like, you know, you like always tell my kids, whatever you want out of out of out of this world, you need to be willing to give it first. Whether it's kindness, whether it's respect, whether it's love, whatever it is, be willing to give it first so that you know the cost. See? And if you don't understand the cost, then you can't expect it.

SPEAKER_01 16:40

I've known you for a few years, and you've always been disciplined with that, especially with your morals. And um and your integrity. Like for me, that's the one thing I've always found admirable about you. And this is what I like about the men I surround myself with. The priority is always that man and his family. So even if men have uh plans with dates, you always prioritize what's best for your friend, never what's best for you. And you support them even if you don't agree with them, but you have the tough discussions, but you always hold your integrity. You've always been a man who respects yourself. But I actually think since you started competing, it wasn't the competing or the winning that made the difference, was the shift that you actually thought, fuck, I'm gonna believe in myself enough to do this. Because throughout the years, you knew you looked good, and you knew that you had the potential. And you trained, like I mean, you you were living the lifestyle as a bodybuilder. And I'm gonna be frank, like, there's a lot of people that weren't like this, but you were already living the lifestyle of the majority of above average bodybuilders. You were strict with your diets, with your routine, with your training schedule, with your split, and you weren't even competing. So it was an easy change. But like you said, you kept comparing yourself to others. But the irony is that every single person you're comparing yourself to was telling you, jump on stage. You have no idea how phenomenal you are. Like you have no idea.

SPEAKER_00 18:06

You have those guys like obvious two.

SPEAKER_01 18:08

You know, and and I found that was really interesting because he has these people that you respect that believe in you, but you somehow still keep that as a boundary. And only since that's kind of like come across, your aura has just come up more and more of this, like someone who's stable, not chasing, not running, neutral, like it's not indifference. It's like uh my purpose, I have a purpose.

SPEAKER_00 18:34

Yeah, that's it's like um like I always knew this, but I never could put it in words. When Cam was just started competing, and I'm like, man, have you heard what this one's saying about it or that one's saying about you? And he's like, I just don't listen to the hype, eh? Like, because that's nothing, just don't listen to hype. And I looked at him, I shook my head. I'm like, that's just that's just me. Like I don't listen to hype. I I always look at what I can do more, what how much how much more I'm able to, you know, if I if I do commit to something 100%, because like you said, I've always been living that life for decades now, and but I know that I wasn't doing it 100%, and that's always like I need to make this change, I need to do that, and I think that once once I got to the point of um I can now make adjustments in my life to make it work, so why not just do it? And um when when Cam just became pro and told me that he's gonna start coaching, all he said was um you're next and I was like, Yeah, but who am I gonna work with? So you told me I'm gonna start coaching, I'm like, sign me up straight up because it was just the right time.

SPEAKER_01 20:00

You know, it was I think you and Cam as well, like you've known each other for so long. I mean, we've known Cam for years as well in the gym. And when you look at someone with that, like Cam for me is just one of those true hardcore bodybuilders. And when I say hardcore, it's not it's not what people think like beast murdered, it's this just gentle presence. It's just a ball of fucking energy walking down, you know. He's always calm and he's passive and he's engaging, he's polite, he's just so present. And there's an authenticism about him. And even on the podcast I have with him, I like to stir the pot sometimes. And I was like, well, and people will just owe me about it, what's they knew? They're just asking about Aaron, ask him about between him and Aaron. And I was like, well, so like in the next show, like you and Aaron, he goes, Yeah, I just I don't even compare, dude. Like Aaron's a whole other devil. In his minds, like Aaron was one of the first ones. He was just so focused on what he could do and what he had control over, and he wasn't worried about catching up to anyone, having to outdo anybody else. And all he had was like just this utmost respect that he wouldn't even indulge the comparison. It's like, well, there's no need to compare, like it's two different things. For whatever reason, like even if the bodies had to be identical, he didn't say this, but the impression I got was he's like, I don't give a shit even if I looked as good as him. We can't compare each other. He has so much more experience. Like, I don't deserve to be in that same boat. Yeah, even if he looked, and and I was like, that's so true, because it's it's not it's everything else that you've managed over your career, and Cam just keeps getting better and better. And you guys have known each other for years, you've he's helped you along the way as well, and so he knows your body, he knows your energy, knows how your mind works.

SPEAKER_00 21:46

Yeah, true, and that's important. That's important. The thing is, like that could that could be a good and a bad thing, you know what I mean? But because he knows and understands me, yeah, and if I tell him something, like he knows, like if I get to a point where I need to mention something, he knows, okay, no, this must be a big deal. So that's you know what I mean.

SPEAKER_01 22:05

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So but he also knows where your resistance is, or when your mind goes into a bit of a victim mentality mindset, like he can call you on that, and it's challenging, it's it's like it sucks. Yeah, but you want to do that.

SPEAKER_00 22:17

He pulls me up before, like there's a few times you're on it, you're you know why it goes, you get to blues, whatever. And I'll just he's like, and that's normal, this is something that's gonna happen.

SPEAKER_01 22:27

Like you're just gonna have to find a way to and I'm like, okay, yeah, just but this is what I like about coaches like that, and uh even as a father, because he's a dad too. Uh I got bought my son's attention to something he was doing in relation to his girlfriend. And he was unconscious in doing it. He was just behaving in a self-protective manner. I was like, Did you realize like this is what you did? Or why did you get involved? The reality is it's my job. And I don't care whether he likes it or not, but I'm calling him on something that I can see he's doing that he's unaware of. And his response to me was, don't ever stop. Because he wants to be aware of his reactive behaviors and stuff. So don't you want to coach like that when you come into them with excuses about what you can do?

SPEAKER_00 23:14

I'm glad you said you compared that to the whole coaching thing because I was just gonna say too, that at this point with you, you and your son, you're at that coaching phase now, you know what I mean? And then what comes next is the friendship phase because this is the part where you're giving him those skills to perform at his best, to be his best, you know what I mean? Because first you start as the teacher, then you um become the the mentor and the coach, and then you become a friend, you know what I mean? It has to be the natural progression can't be any other way because you're gonna mess it up. And this is the part where you just give you the last bit of skills, coaching him, but of guidance, and afterwards, when he's you know out on his own, that's when he can become friends. But as of for now, there's still a little bit of lessons to be taught, and it's important to understand the dynamic.

SPEAKER_01 24:09

I agree with you 100%. Like, yeah, I've always been my son's always been my best friend, but and even when he was 10 years old, he would tell me, Are you my best friend? But it was a different kind of friendship. It's not what people say, friends. It's like I'm your father first, and I'm your father, and I'm your friend. But you it's almost like it's gonna sound so bad, but it's almost like you have to earn the right to be my friend. When you are 21, are you gonna be the type of person that I want to be friends with? That's something that you've got to do. That's something I've got to do. If I'm bringing up a real man, I've got to make sure that this man wants to be my friend when he's when he's older.

SPEAKER_00 24:51

Those labors of love.

SPEAKER_01 24:52

It's a two-way street, you know. But along the way, I have a responsibility, which is like it's not a the hardest thing about being a parent, and sometimes this is a dynamic I feel again, I'm gonna be in trouble for. And it's not for bad reason, it's good reason because moms and dads are different. But sometimes moms forget it's not about how you feel about your kids or their discomfort, it's about your responsibility, about teaching them what they need to learn to survive on their own, regardless of what they think of you and how they feel about you.

SPEAKER_02 25:24

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 25:25

You can always deliver it better, and I've been getting better at my delivery as I get older, so no argument there. But I think that's a responsibility of a coach. You pay them because you are trying to be truthful to chase something you want to chase, whatever your goal is. And they've got to be honest enough with you to help you explore what your um limitations are, what your self-perceived limitations are.

SPEAKER_00 25:50

If a coach doesn't tell you what you need to do to improve, he's not a good coach.

SPEAKER_01 25:53

And sometimes they might not know what you need to do. I can tell you what you need. See, like, can for me, uh uh, I've never worked with him posting now regardless. We've spoken as coaches, and he's always struck me as somebody is like, if you hit something, he'll say, This is what I think would help. How hard would that be for you, or what would suit you better? Like he will navigate a solution to it with what you would feel more obliged to do, but he'll always tell you what he perceives will be the best result, as opposed to a coach who goes, the only way is this way.

SPEAKER_00 26:26

Yeah, true.

SPEAKER_01 26:27

And I think that's the healthy dynamic is I'm calling you on your ship, I understand why it exists, it's part of the process. The next step is figuring out how to adjust it for yourself. Yeah, this is my advice. How do you feel about it?

SPEAKER_00 26:40

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, learning learning to I think for me, I'm quite in the I would say I'm quite an adaptable person, um to the most degree. But um, I think I think the thing that a lot of people struggle with is adapting, adapting to change. I mean I I know and understand that despite the 20 makes you sound old now, 22, 23 years of training, and I did start training in my 20 years. Uh 20 20 years of training is that um there is so many ways to skin the cat. Like and if if there's a way, if there's a way to get better without completely, utterly relaxing yourself, why not try it? Why not try it? And like it doesn't it doesn't mean that you negate it from hard work, you're still going to work hard, but you're gonna work smarter too. You're gonna find a way to do the same amount of work, but just making it making it that you can actually progress without being absolutely trashed, and that was me. Well, you know, and I like in my 20s and 50s, you know.

SPEAKER_01 28:06

That was I was like, you know, I need to be completely so that was the irony, that's what helped me is because you know I was I work hard, I want to work hard, that's where I'm going. You know, you need a rest. No, I want to work hard. And I realized, you know what, it was actually harder for me to stop.

SPEAKER_00 28:23

Slow down, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:23

Just low down. That was hard, like literally, even mentally, like to just not feel guilty, to not feel like I'm slowing down, to not feel like I was missing out on progress. That was harder than going and busting my ass. So it's kind of a hypocrisy. If I want the hard work, then why don't I just sit my ass down? You know, and that's oh fuck well, let's do that. And that's also one reason why you need to slow down is to reassess if you're doing what you need to be doing to get to where you want to get. Like, are you are burning or like is this still the right trajectory? Am I putting too much time into other things? You need to stop, you need to have that time with yourself, that uncomfortable time that you later become comfortable with. But um, I think that was the the one thing is sometimes that's the harder part is stopping us.

SPEAKER_00 29:12

I didn't just slow down in my train, I slowed down with everything else because and this is only because I spent a lot more time alone. And what I realized was that my day would start at 4, 4:30, sometimes 3 in the morning, yeah, and I would not literally stop until dinner at night, which would back then would be like eight, eight at night, and then I'll have uh after dinner have a little bit of time relaxed, relaxing, have a shower, and then bed. So for myself, I had between an hour to an hour and a half where I actually just still didn't do nothing because I had to you know clean the kitchen, do the dishes, all that kind of stuff, and then do whatever I need to do for the next day. So literally some days I had no time or half an hour to sit down and do nothing. And I was like, why am I doing this to myself? Spending what's that 70% of my day just moving, moving, moving, moving, training this hard. Come on the weekend, I'm so tired, I'm exhausted, and I still want to train in the weekend too and I'm gonna do this, one or that, and it just didn't make sense to me anymore. So I just found ways to make everything else work, and then luckily might go to the exact same thing on my training plans, and it's worked. Yeah, it's worked.

SPEAKER_01 30:37

It does, it brings you back to you that you're center again, I guess.

SPEAKER_00 30:41

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 30:41

So you're getting ready to compete at the end of the year.

SPEAKER_00 30:44

Absolutely, we are getting ready for number two. So much from the first time, so why not do it again?

SPEAKER_01 30:50

So, like I have to say, admittedly, I've seen that like the progress from last season to this season, you've made some really good, considerable gains, and you've kind of held your condition quite well with the amount of size you've put on in such a short amount of time. How did you find that rebound process?

SPEAKER_00 31:05

Uh, like I said before, don't listen to the hype. So Luke, um, I don't yes, now probably more than before. I'd go back and look at pictures, especially when coach says something, you know, really, and I go back and okay, yeah, maybe. You know, that's a lot of different. Um, but yeah, I just man. I had probably after the show, I told my coach, look, yeah, just give me a few days, just want to get my head straight. Obviously, I had a few personal things we haven't had the time to. I need a week to get my head straight. I'm gonna probably take the whole week off of training, I'll see what I feel like later in the week. But at the moment my body was just like I was exhausted mentally, physically and took that week off, came back the next week and pretty much went straight back on plan, and we started working. We um the plan was really set before the before the competition.

SPEAKER_01 32:04

But even when you say you took a week off, you don't go crazy. Your foundation's always been there.

SPEAKER_00 32:18

Yeah, look, I I'm such a regimented person. I've always been also very systematic. Um, like I've got everything planned out in my head if it's not already, you know, just muscle memory. Um, which is a good and a bad thing because I always I know exactly how long it takes me to get everywhere, so I know if I system obviously finds our plan according, I'll plan everything, everything's already set up.

SPEAKER_01 32:43

I do the same thing, I even know the order that I'm gonna do something, and then you've got to lose this.

SPEAKER_00 32:48

Whether it's back in my lunch, which part of the meal goes in, which so if you look at my lunch boxes from Monday through Sunday, they're always if you look at that down the bottom, that that that you know, it's all um with that system at the end.

SPEAKER_01 33:00

The ones for the the ones that are gonna be later in the day, closer to the ice packs compared to the other ones, I'm the same, dude.

SPEAKER_00 33:06

And somebody like a lot of people ask me why I do it. This I say it's because like why wouldn't you? You don't have to think about anything, everything is muscle memory. So you ever you just get up, do you just everything just flows, you don't have to think, you don't have to stutter, everything just goes.

SPEAKER_01 33:23

Discipline creates consistency, and when you have that sort of consistency, because everything's predictable, you know what you have to do now.

SPEAKER_00 33:32

You don't want to think of anything. No, you don't want to just predict. Yeah, and I think that's something that really helped me the first time around.

SPEAKER_01 33:40

That was also something that was also one of the reasons why you wanted to compete too. I remember we had this discussion a while back, and then I've always said that that's a really good reason. Even um uh Jay and she just did a six-week challenge, and for a while she'd been wanting to do some sort of challenge, and she wants to compete in CrossFit. So she challenged herself to up-level her game because she was struggling with her routine. This girl eats her meals, preps her food, like it's consistent with the training, but sometimes getting the steps in was harder, amalgamating work. So she made this commitment, and for the six weeks, she completely smashed it, dude. Like she absolutely owned her results for off the chart. But not even just she was upset, typical because of oh, the weight didn't drop as much, but her body fat percentage was huge and her the composition changed drastically. But more so than that, her performance went through the roof. And she didn't falter once throughout the segment.

SPEAKER_00 34:39

That's the thing.

SPEAKER_01 34:40

But that's the thing. Now that she's gone back to her normal lifestyle, she may have dropped to 15 to 20 percent at most. But that's still so much more than what she was doing prior, you know, and that's what people don't realize when you compete. Look at it as a way to push yourself so that you can do more of the things you like to be than when you start this on the journey, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:05

And if you put it in that sense, you think there's something we proven.

SPEAKER_01 35:08

Yeah, I think I definitely do. And if you the more diligent you are, the better your offseason will be too, because you maintain that. But you've got to, I think you have to make the conscious choice of like, this is what I'm this is one of the skills I want to learn from this type of challenge.

SPEAKER_00 35:22

True.

SPEAKER_01 35:23

Yeah, um, and obviously, when you won the first year, you went with Gavillarex, you jumped on board shortly after.

SPEAKER_00 35:30

Yes, yeah. So um I I was using the products before I actually became part of the team. And um so when I did join, it was like really organic, you know, it was wasn't even a question. They just they send me the offer and I was like, hell yeah, I'm like I'm ready. Like, send me the paper, let me sign up, you know. And um it's it's not just something that I that I just join, I just um use the prize because I I joined the team. I actually it's trying to test it, I use it throughout my prep. And you know, it's it's what pretty much what got me through that.

SPEAKER_01 36:07

I I the car powder, like I guess you know, with my food and everything. Yeah, I've got you said for your birthday that one yeah. Um and I've tried like, and there's a lot of good car powers out there, but until I was given the Gabriel Rex one just to try, it was amazing like the way it sat in me, and that's why I gave it to you. And I was using their products for ages purely because of the benefits I felt from them. And um, like you said, you don't spell like nowadays. But what I liked about it was every time we had to load on carbs, we would always spill and get a bit pudgy, and then there would always be that excess we have to pull back or flush it out a little bit. But Gorilla Rex, you don't really have that side effect. But then when they started to show me their other products and things like that, it's like you said, I I don't personally align with anyone that I don't use their products. And whether I was an athlete or not, I would still have Gorilla Rex in my cupboard. And um But what I liked about them was also their approach to the health and fitness industry. It wasn't just about we're here to sell supplements and be cool. It was like this gesture approach like, what do you need to be better? What can we do to help your nutritional needs? And from every aspect, because they look at sleep, they look, they're looking, there's just so many different things coming up with digestions. Um, they've got the new digestive proteins coming up and their vegan proteins. And because of the way I fed, um, they took a really good interest in how their supplements were processed. So every single client I've given it to, they get great results. For me, my favorite thing would have to be the car powder. It's second to that. I'm addicted to the burn drink.

SPEAKER_00 37:46

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:49

No, I use that in the mornings because it doesn't give me, there's no crash for me. So I like to have half a can in the morning and then another half a can a morning, uh, my morning tea meal. Um, but I also love their aminoes. Their amino is very simple because they've got everything, but I like the electrolytes in it because I always used to have the hydrolyte.

SPEAKER_00 38:07

Yeah, same. I I'm a big fan of the amino blend. Um even have it on non-training days, on hard days, man, it's best kiwi strawberry uh flavor. Flavor that'll be the end of me. That'll be that'll be the end of me.

SPEAKER_01 38:23

Yeah, it's gonna be bad, but like I I like red bowling vodka, that's what I used to drink back in the day. And then I tried one of the lime coil uh cards, the RTD ones, and mixed that, and especially if you put it in the freezer for a while, it's like a bit slushy. So dirty. And the best part is like at our age, it keeps us awake past 10 o'clock.

SPEAKER_00 38:45

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, no, I'm I'm I'm man, I'm a big fan of the aminos, the kiwi strawberry, and the pineapple pump. I don't know what these are mean, all these tropical flavors all of a sudden, but the pineapple pump, man, that like I eat even one nose I don't really touch um, I don't often use Tims. Um but um I I always use always use pump formulas.

SPEAKER_01 39:10

But the I Steven use uh the pump formula, I use it pre-eat, but I'll also put in, depending on my post meal, if I train legs or back, but I'll always put in either half a scoop to a full serve of pump as well. In my post workout, I always like, why'd you do that? I'm saying basically just because of the vasodilation properties that it has. So if I'm eating and there's a lot of blood there, and I remember reading a study years ago that that improves absorption rates. So for me, it's like my way of getting the food up quicker. Um, but their carbs, dude, I literally have close to 40, 100 and yeah, 150 to 200 grams of their kilorate coffee during a training session from pre to the end. And that's a lot of carbs. But um, and I have no version, obviously, I have a lot of water when I train, I train for long hours, plus it's something that I've developed with my system, like I feed through a pig feed. So everyone has to do their adjustment levels.

SPEAKER_00 40:07

And getting in a knee fanatic, yeah, obviously, um, getting in the part of carbs makes it easier to get more food in, especially when you're busy trying to put in some size.

SPEAKER_01 40:19

Yeah, and yeah, and the fact that it doesn't have to be it's easily digested, you know. I'm not having that stability of that bloating or that uncomfortable feeling. So I love their stuff, and you're gonna be getting their products again all the way through.

SPEAKER_00 40:31

Absolutely. Um yeah, so like you said, there's a lot of there's a few new products coming, um, coming up.

SPEAKER_01 40:40

They've got a cookie coming out.

SPEAKER_00 40:42

Yep, they've got a they've got a cookie coming out which will be um really excited to try. Far enough of prep, put close, but far enough of prep to to uh definitely give them all a taste test with the boys. I think I'll do it.

SPEAKER_01 41:02

Just take a nibble and then put it into a bucket.

SPEAKER_00 41:04

Oh take a nibble and give the give the rest of the boys. I don't use it. We'll do a live live taste review with the boys. Yeah, a lot of things I'm looking forward to. And um, yeah, just well like I'm the great thing with my myself and my coach is I don't have to think one much. Um, and if something does come up, we'll have a talk about it. Um if it's something that's um not worth changing or change. You know, sometimes you just you just get you like you just want to do something different, it's the sake of doing something different. You want to try a different food in there, you know what I mean? Like if I want to try some different foods, you're like, yeah, we can change that, whatever. Or if it's like no real point in doing so, it's only because I'm being a bit fussy, you know. I'll just suck it up and but like I'm I'm I'm so so easy going when it comes to my food. I eat everything, so I don't really have any issues. Food is real, and my food, my food choices are so amazing too. Like, I don't have any cravings, and I've like I'm a self-professed sweet tooth. I love ice cream, I love cakes, I love pastries, you know, and like I'll walk past the patissity and not even being talking, you know what I mean? I wouldn't even bother me before it all past uh the pastry shop when they've got almond croissants. I'm dipping in dipping for almond croissant in the coffee.

SPEAKER_01 42:35

Right, yeah, I've noticed that with a lot of my clients when they're first start off. And when people have cravings, it's because your body's missing something. And if you actually on a diet that you're getting the right amount of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats, your cravings will subside quite a bit. And then when you get it, just take the time of day that you're getting them, and then just work out where your meal times are off. And then you can navigate that because people think I have a sweet tooth, which I do too. But um, but there's moments where you're craving savory, right? So that's when you realize I'm knowing so early and more. And I think that's where the craving stems from. So what people don't realize is being bodybuilders, it's not just being a bodybuilder, it's the fact that it teaches you about food and how you feel with food rather than not how you emotionally feel, but how you physiologically feel.

SPEAKER_00 43:24

Yeah, true. Your body's always gonna crave something that you need in its simplest form, like if you have a sweet tooth, it's because your carbs are probably not that great or your timing, like you said. I mean, look, like I said, my food is so good. The variety of my food is amazing too. And I mean, if I can have three tubs of ice cream in the freezer and the untouched, you know, I think I think we're doing really good, really good food choices. And now, like I said, I love ice cream.

SPEAKER_01 43:51

Yeah, well, that's the first thing when I spoke about the protein cookie that just came out, was making one of those ice cream sandwiches with it. That's the first thing I had in my head.

unknown 43:59

Oh, yes.

SPEAKER_01 44:00

So are you thinking of competing overseas at all?

SPEAKER_00 44:02

Um look the commerce the conversation uh is up in the air. Uh will just depend on I think uh what lines up and um how this next couple months go. Um I would love to. I'd definitely love to just for just for the experience. Look, I haven't traveled for quite a number of years. So it would be, you know, two birds, one stone, just getting away, getting away for a bit, and then also yeah, having the privilege to compete and uh just standing. Just get to the experience. Yeah, it'd be would be a fun experience. The cards. Um not on the cards, I'd say it's definitely something that could be on the cards, but we'll like I said we'll see. We'll see what happens in the next couple of months. Because um, as you know, you man, like life um sometimes life just gets hectic and time goes by so quickly, and you haven't planned anything, we haven't, you know. So we'll see it. It's definitely something that I I want to try. Whether it's after this season, um, I'm not sure, 100% sure, but I'd definitely love to do it.

SPEAKER_01 45:12

Yeah, I think I think it's one of those things where it's like you can argue divine timing, like you'll know that when your energy is ready to put that investment in, it will come to fruition.

SPEAKER_00 45:23

Yeah, right now. And also what yeah, what what lines are there's quite I think there's still quite a few shows because that would be just I think I think just after the Olympia. Um so there's quite a few shows still happening then.

SPEAKER_01 45:38

So um that'll be a great experience to go and watch the jump in and compete there at the amateur at the same time. Oh, that'd be I remember being in Armand in Columbus, and that was like such a beautiful experience.

SPEAKER_00 45:50

So the the um the amateur Olympia is the week after the week before when is it's around the same time, I know. I know it's around the same time. We need to check their calendars. I did speak to someone about this the other day and they did tell me, but I can't remember.

SPEAKER_01 46:09

But yeah, I'll be guessing. I somehow I feel like it's before, but I honestly feel like it's been guessing.

SPEAKER_00 46:14

Yeah, look, that could be a possibility. I don't know. I really don't know. Um, because obviously, as as you know, all I need to do is just do a regional. Um I don't need to do nationals and qualifying.

SPEAKER_01 46:28

Yeah, knowing you you still want to bring your best package.

SPEAKER_00 46:30

Absolutely. Look, I'm just looking I don't irrespective how in my head I think I think I I think I um I look if if it's something that I'm gonna plan to do, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna do it. So um yeah, so if if it's something that I'm gonna commit to I'm gonna follow through. Um but yeah, it's just in the ideal world that's a yes. But yeah, yeah, you'll see.

SPEAKER_01 47:06

Look at where you are now. By 10, 20 years you probably wouldn't have thought so.

SPEAKER_00 47:13

If you asked me, if you asked me 10, 15, 20 years ago if I'd compete, I'd tell you hell no.

SPEAKER_01 47:21

You've bought one of the most insane packages. Like you came out of nowhere and you won everyone's lips like four weeks afterwards. Which is and not just because of how you looked, but also your demeanor and how you carry yourself. You always admire the respect from your peers more so than the likes on Instagram. That's a b a credit to your character that I kind of like.

SPEAKER_00 47:45

Absolutely. It's like it's I just I've always been a stand believer in like I said before, like whatever you want out of the world, just give it first.

SPEAKER_01 47:55

So what advice would you give to anyone, but particularly anyone I'd probably say, arguably in the maturer ages where they've trained their whole lives and they've always played around with the die the the desire or the idea of competing? What advice would you give to them that for them to consider in order to make sure it's not something they're gonna miss out on?

SPEAKER_00 48:18

I would say if it's like for me, the the thought of competing is always this ear one, you know? And um there's always this desire to want to do it, but I've always had tons of excuses, you know. Um I would say just find a good coach, get on a plan and just take your dailies and do it. Like it's it's really it's not as hard as you would make yourself believe it is if you can commit to your dailies.

SPEAKER_01 49:04

Well if it's something you want to do.

SPEAKER_00 49:06

You can com if you can commit to your dailies, like yes, obviously it's a big that it costs a lot of money to compete and all of that, it also costs a lot of money to eat takeaway three times a week. You know what I mean? It also cost uh like everything costs a lot of money, like no matter what you want to do. Change your investment, absolutely, and I I think that you will you will know yourself differently if you commit to something like this, because there's very few things in life that that will change you the way the way and I and I'm not saying that it's uh it's going to be the most difficult or the craziest it's just you need to commit.

SPEAKER_01 49:56

When I first started, I never believed I'd ever win a show because uh my coach was just I got on stage to try to get over my fear of my tube, of owning my tube. And um the one reason why I continued to compete, in all honesty, was because I wanted to be the best possible version I could be with regardless of my limitations. Like I wanted to build myself up to, I guess, prove doctors wrong, everybody else wrong. But comp actually helped me in that progress. It's kind of like martial arts, you know, like when you when you go to a tournament, you're not there to win the tournament, you're there to gauge how much work you need to do, you know, what else you need to learn, where your strengths are, where your weaknesses are. It's just like a little exam test to see where you are in the journey. And that's what comp was to me in my bodybuilding journey, if you want to call it that. Is competitions yes, there's always that competitive side that we have, but my main drive was because the better I do this, the better I'll be afterwards. And it's almost like Nitro is for your progression. It gives you what you can do in 12 months and you compete in one season, if you if you commit to it, you'll make better gains than if you were consistent all year round without competition.

SPEAKER_00 51:18

Absolutely, yeah. Like um like for me when back when you myself and Peri used to train together those Saturday mornings, and Peri would be like, Why why don't you open stage? And I was like, Man, I was like, I want to be when I compete, I want to be able to stand tall among giants. And he looked at me and he's like, he's like, I think I know what that means, but what do you mean by that? So I said, I want to be so good that I want to stand among a good athlete, I can still be seen. Hold my own, you know what I mean? And um that just me and my character I'm the kind of person who I don't care what many things I'm gonna by people, but when it comes to my how I am with my family, and people close, how I treat my family and people close to me, and also my work, you know. There's a saying that one of my managers said a long time ago work as though it's the only thing people remember you by when you're gone. And that's how I've always applied. That's you know, I've always applied the kind of effort to everything I do. So in that sense, I wanted to make sure that I worked so hard that everyone could see that this guy really did his of the best, and it you know, he deserves to be on stage.

SPEAKER_01 52:57

You wanted to earn the right to be on stage, you don't want any other way. I'm the same way. When I can be in Columbus, I don't want to win or lose. I just wanted to look like I belonged up there. I look like that people, oh yeah, he should be up there. He's he he looks like he should be up there, and that's what I've always wanted.

SPEAKER_00 53:11

Yeah, and and the trophies and the middle is all that secondary, you know what I mean. You I want you want to feel that you've you've put in that effort, you've put in that work, you've done it.

SPEAKER_01 53:21

I haven't gone from my kids on one of the cards, and they said to me that the one thing they admire about me the most is how I continue to become a better person, I continue to become a better man. And so it's very humbling when you realize that your children can see your flaws but can also see your growth. And I think that's actually setting the right example. So when you were saying, it's not about doing the work, it's not your job as much, it's more so do the work with becoming better all the time. And so that people looking and remember, no matter what, Solomon was always growing. Solomon was always changing, always trying to be better, always encouraging, and and not just because you want the accolades, because that's how you see yourself. And I think that's the same thing that everyone to follow. You want to compare exactly you have to set the example, you know. People to be when they're angry at you, you want compassion from them. So you have to do the same when you're angry. It's it's a two-way street, and that's the work that you have to continuously do. Continuously working to challenge yourself so you can find out more about your shadow self, so that you can make a better difference in the world. I think that's what bodybuilding's done for me in that aspect. And I'd arguably out here for you too.

SPEAKER_00 54:36

Absolutely. Um like the way, like we said earlier, the way people view progression is not gauged by consist um consistently being busy. It's about the growth, it's about like prepping for a show. Yes, your body's going to change, but that's not the only change that's gonna happen. There's so much things that's going to, there's so much perspectives that are going to shift, there's so many paradigms that's going to shift, you know what I mean? And a lot of people that haven't taken that journey won't understand.

SPEAKER_01 55:14

And um, but it's just up to you to just show up for yourself and just and it doesn't even have to be it's a selfish endeavor, but the the It's selfish because people see us posing in front of the mirrors and they're in grasping tonight. What it is, everything in life is selfish, whether you want to be the CL of a company, you want to make a million dollars, want to be the world's best murder cross rider, the world's best MMA fighter. It's a selfish endeavor, this sacrifice. It's you have to put yourself in that conditioning phase. You have to acknowledge there's one driver in the 4 million one team, but there's a whole team of people behind them. There's nothing different in any endeavor that we do. Uh we do have a I think for me it was having this selfish endeavor of wanting to achieve something for myself, but in order to create something better for my family, while all the while still maintaining what I thought was my responsibility for them and the desire to be with them. And that's what competition taught me how to amalgamate the two, because it's not just about shutting everything out and doing that. It doesn't matter whether it's competing in bodybuilding or trying to make a team for basketball or trying to learn self-defense or take up jujitsu classes or whatever it is, just challenging yourself to grow that little bit more.

SPEAKER_00 56:33

Yeah, and and there's absolutely nothing wrong with like for me too. I did it for myself. I did it because I I wanted to experience it. I wanted to experience the the stage, I wanted to experience the the prep. Like I've never in my life been that lean ever. Like I've I've never come close to that, and I wanted to see if my body could actually do it, and surprisingly, it did. As into you, maybe, and I thought it'd be a lot harder than I thought it would be, but meanwhile, I didn't know that I was already doing whatever I needed to do, you know what I mean. I thought that it's going to take so much more. Like, I didn't take a single step on the stairmaster my entire life. I didn't spend hours doing hour-long cardio sessions.

SPEAKER_01 57:28

Yeah, but that's because you paid attention to the small things.

SPEAKER_00 57:31

I yeah.

SPEAKER_01 57:32

You did it all the time. Your normal lifestyle was healthy, was making sure you get steps in, was you were already doing that. So all you had to do was bite up with what you were already doing. You didn't really have to change massively.

SPEAKER_00 57:44

All I did was add in a add in a few minutes of cardio a day and added more steps. I think that the biggest jump for me wasn't even the cardio, it was just adding 3,000 steps above what I was doing. Yeah, which if you think about it, 3,000 steps is really not that much as opposed to I see people doing hours on on the Stare Master, which I was like, but if but then again, like I don't know, I don't I don't know their wise. And exactly right. It's not I'm not I'm not judging them, it's like they did it, and and I think my hatif, I think my hat if to anybody that's willing to do, and it's hard. For me, I speak for myself, Steemaster for me is hard on a normal day. In prep would be a nightmare, so I'm glad I didn't have to do it.

SPEAKER_01 58:35

I think at the end of the day, it's also like there's a lot of reasons why some people get great results from Stare Master, and they really do they hit the numbers and do things right.

SPEAKER_00 58:44

I got the best hamstring separation and glute separation because of that 45 minutes around the steam master.

SPEAKER_01 58:50

There's also people out there that are using the steam master because they haven't really committed to the two weeks prior. So now they're stuck on the same master. It's kind of like you you if you are hitting your numbers consistently, you you only have to do what your body needs to do. And some people, unfortunately, it might be the steam master because of how their body responds, and for other people, it's because of how you responded to your diet.

SPEAKER_00 59:13

At one point, I thought I might have to resort to that because I told Cam Buddy, I'm not getting on stage unless my glutes said I hated. He said, Well, you're gonna have to dig deep. I'm like, your point I go. Like, whether it's climbing Mount Cutha daily or Stairmaster, I'm like, you just don't want to need to do that.

SPEAKER_01 59:33

Um I did 250 lunges a day for like literally six weeks just to get those glutes and the funny thing is, as you know, that was the last thing to come in.

SPEAKER_00 59:46

And when it came in, we were just like, sweet.

SPEAKER_01 59:50

There we go.

SPEAKER_00 59:51

There we there we go. We know what's there now, we know we can do it, and um, yeah, it was well.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:00

We're definitely gonna be following you on this one, and we're gonna keep recording it. I want to see it. I think you're gonna bring in another package. There's a really good athletes coming out. I think this would be really good to watch. I think there's gonna be some good buddies up there.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:13

It's definitely gonna be statues. There's quite a few guys from the last show that are doing this one, and those guys are looking amazing. So the last show was definitely not a walk in the park. Uh me and me and um me and the guy that went up against the guy went up against for the true novice in the true novice category. We were up there for 15 minutes, maybe even longer, just getting pose for pose for pose for pose. And I mean, that said, like it wasn't nothing, was a walk in the park. People showed up, and like I've I've I feel um privileged and blessed to be able to have to be that one too, you know, be up there and come back back to back to back. I don't think there was any other comparisons um that went that long. I literally that went that long.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:10

I lost to Mike Gully um at stage, and same thing, like comparison, comparison, comparison, comparison. And then uh he beat me and deserved the new show, and I was ecstatic. I was like over the moon, I was like, like, it's Mike Gully, bro. They kept this on stage for ages. Like, are you kidding me? Can they make him in general? Are you kidding me, dude?

SPEAKER_00 1:01:37

He's gonna be one one of the one of the one of the guys.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:42

Maybe we'll just make Pedro feel good and we'll make him turn a few times so he can feel good about himself.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:47

Absolutely. Mike, Michael's definitely a legend.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:49

Uh I left there super pump just from that. So like back you go when you show up.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:54

And I mean being a friend of yours too is amazing, you know what I mean? Being up there and getting to go back to back with, not just a friend, but the one of Australia's best.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:02

I've got pictures of him and Logan that Dallas Olsen took in the old magazine of them training arms in Ashmore. And my very first cop, I had that, I literally bought two magazines, once a keep, and the other one I told the pictures up and put up in the kitchen. So that was my motivation with the two of them. And then when I competed with my galley, it was not only that I was seen standing next to this like five-time Mystery Australia back then.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:24

It's was that his last his last show he done? Yeah, what twenty was that 26? Because I came to watch you at um at Sharks Club, and then he showed up and you didn't know that he was competing.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:37

We actually did. We we we actually um knew that we were competing, but we we kind of pushed each other. Yeah, and the best compliment was I knew he was competing, then I just kind of like getting up my game. Like, I need to earn the right to be on stage next system. Um and for him, he he actually said to me, like, always brought good condition, so it forced him to manage to finish something. He's been in touch with me the whole time, and vice versa. And and arguably I was as good on that day because of him, because I was competing, because if he wasn't, I wouldn't have pushed as hard. And Rogan was my coach, he'd be my coach. So here I am with these two men that I was like in total admiration of. So for me, that's the one, you know. It's but and which is why I struggle to relate to this Instagram bullshit about rights, and you know, having those two guys on stage treat you in that manner and show you that kind of respect and and care and consideration. That to me trumps any trouble. Yes, honestly, I think that's cheesy. That's the way I feel, bro. And it's it's wonderful seeing like all the guys that we all known each other for so many years, KMU, like we're all in the same sort of field, we're pushing each other to be ourselves and be more of ourselves. There's no competition.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:57

100%, man.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:58

Like, and I think that's what I want to share more of, you know.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:01

Yeah, like I I had I had um unbelievable support leading up to the show, um, leading up to the regional show. Couple of guys from the uh couple of body walls from the gym Marielle, Viet, um Viet come up, I think Viet come up after nationals, I think, to sort Ranger, but there was quite a few guys, and even after the regionals, having so many strangers reach out to me, and um just those words of encouragement was amazing, and um, yeah, it just it's good, but it also makes you want to work hard and like you know, just do an extra bit more just to you know it motivates you, yeah, yeah, absolutely, definitely definitely motivates you to push. I think and also gave that sense of of belonging, you know, and and feeling as though that maybe I've got maybe I've got the good, maybe I maybe I sh I should do this, you know.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:04

Yeah, I think that's you that's a really good thing to end up with. Be in a community that constantly inspires you to be more of yourself to and supports you to do that and you support each other. I don't think it's I think that's what I loved about this brother.

unknown 1:05:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:19

Well, thanks for coming, moment. We'll definitely be following you on Instagram, right? Solomon Davidson. Yeah, I if that was the case, I'd have 76 after mine.