00:00:00
okay Runners only with dime Harley
00:00:03
Runners only with dom Harvey and Rich
00:00:05
Farrell the madness
00:00:07
that's why they call me sometimes
00:00:10
how did the nickname come about the
00:00:12
nickname oh that goes way back to where
00:00:14
I actually started training for strong
00:00:17
man I had a training partner and uh it
00:00:20
was just me and him and my garage
00:00:21
training and I don't know if you watched
00:00:23
WWF with Macho Man and Hulk Hogan and oh
00:00:27
back in the Glory Days Million Dollar
00:00:29
Man bigger Powers came together
00:00:31
um Macho Man was the madness and that's
00:00:34
just the way I trained when I was a a
00:00:36
little bit smaller and so that's how
00:00:38
that's how the name came apart just
00:00:39
because I just keep smashing big weights
00:00:41
for a little follow me and now now
00:00:44
that's me were you were you a little
00:00:47
fellow you're sitting in front you're
00:00:48
the biggest dude we've ever met cheer
00:00:50
yeah
00:00:51
yeah it's tight fit yeah no you like no
00:00:55
one would ever refer to you as a little
00:00:56
fella now there's nothing small about
00:00:58
you nah I don't know I haven't seen your
00:01:00
dinner tours man
00:01:03
lots of people have but
00:01:08
um nah so my my lifting weights Journey
00:01:12
has been going for about 10 years yeah
00:01:14
um back in the day I was a little bit
00:01:16
faster and smaller I tender 79 kgs so
00:01:22
big contrast from now but now I'm
00:01:24
clocking in currently about 120 usually
00:01:27
about 125 when I'm competing
00:01:29
trying to keep that weight going up a
00:01:32
little bit more yeah right so where are
00:01:35
you ranked in terms of New Zealand's
00:01:36
strongest uh people uh I'm Different in
00:01:39
the top ten uh last year in this
00:01:42
competition here I ended up collapsing
00:01:45
at the comp so right really get very far
00:01:48
in that one and you just hit this
00:01:50
competition here you pointed to your
00:01:51
tissue what does it say New Zealand
00:01:52
strongest man you collapsed yeah
00:01:56
um what happened I went into the comp I
00:01:58
had the flu for the week before and uh
00:02:02
I was like none I'll be right I'll be
00:02:04
right for the day uh
00:02:06
I got to Friday night as I said oh [ __ ]
00:02:10
okay one one last good sleep and I woke
00:02:12
up was like oh I'm not feeling good so I
00:02:14
grabbed my pillow on my duvet I just
00:02:17
went to the conf and hit a sleep in
00:02:19
between each event
00:02:21
and we've got about halfway through the
00:02:23
comp and came up to the deadlift I don't
00:02:27
know if you've seen it online but I just
00:02:29
went down to pick up the weight
00:02:31
and this week good night and just passed
00:02:34
out and then ended up in hospital
00:02:37
um yeah just everything went sideways
00:02:39
there so I had to pull out of the
00:02:41
compost a two-day comp that was just day
00:02:42
one
00:02:43
uh so I ended up coming
00:02:45
last which is 10th place and that opens
00:02:48
for that one so hypothetically speaking
00:02:51
if I was in that competition I would
00:02:52
have beaten you I think you would have
00:02:54
had a good chance all I had to do is
00:02:56
Lift Away to not pass out you would have
00:02:58
had to complete a few other events
00:03:00
before that one before I passed out but
00:03:02
yes I mean if you guys got a chance all
00:03:05
you got to do is turn up on the day hey
00:03:06
so what what was it did they get to the
00:03:08
bottom of it oh it was just the
00:03:09
accumulation of uh things all come
00:03:11
together the flu I popped all the night
00:03:13
and days and the Red Bulls to try power
00:03:15
through and then over exerted myself
00:03:18
dehydration and just the body gave out
00:03:20
so yeah but um that was October uh and
00:03:26
then I hit the world's strongest man
00:03:28
which was another three or four four
00:03:31
weeks later so I had to do a quick
00:03:33
recovery for that one and just basically
00:03:35
rested up for four weeks before I headed
00:03:39
over there and everything seemed to hold
00:03:41
up okay then so it was good right where
00:03:44
were they uh that was over on Daytona
00:03:47
Beach right in Florida did you not have
00:03:48
a doctor saying okay we'd advise you not
00:03:50
to go to this
00:03:52
um no obviously I had to go to hospital
00:03:54
and I got all hooked up on the hat
00:03:57
Monitor and they gave me they're all
00:03:58
clear all right yeah yes I got the
00:04:01
official all clear because the misses
00:04:03
wouldn't let me lift off their headers
00:04:05
said no so what do you remember about
00:04:07
that New Zealand event where you pass
00:04:09
out
00:04:10
um you've got any really recollection or
00:04:11
is it just from what you've seen video
00:04:13
recorded
00:04:15
sort of I sort of remember it I am I
00:04:17
went to go lufton it was
00:04:20
sea and that just slowly got darker and
00:04:23
darker to a pinhole and then everyone
00:04:26
was touching me and lifting me up I was
00:04:28
like oh
00:04:29
what happened here I it was only 300 kgs
00:04:32
I was trying left that's not a big list
00:04:33
wow so it happens sort of slowly like it
00:04:35
wasn't just like bang you blacked out no
00:04:38
I just slowly sort of felt it coming and
00:04:41
um I was like I better get this lift up
00:04:43
real quick
00:04:45
um and I thought I got lift up but I'd
00:04:47
actually just passed out so yeah oh my
00:04:49
God how frightening yeah uh it was a
00:04:52
little bit more frightening for my
00:04:54
fiance than for me it's just part of
00:04:56
what happens sometimes when you're
00:04:57
lifting weights you do sort of pass out
00:05:00
so yeah nothing to be worried about so
00:05:02
these strong man games what do you do
00:05:04
what happens there is that like just
00:05:05
conventional weights or is it like you
00:05:07
see on um oh what am I think like CNN or
00:05:10
something where you're lifting Boulders
00:05:11
and flipping over tractor tires and
00:05:13
things yeah if you think of anything
00:05:15
that's not in the gym and probably more
00:05:17
onto you
00:05:19
um scrap yard sort of stuff lifting big
00:05:22
stones
00:05:23
pulling Big Mac tracks
00:05:26
um lifting just awkward stuff and
00:05:28
running and carrying with carrying it
00:05:30
it's um pretty much anything that's
00:05:32
awkward to lift is what we're doing
00:05:34
strong man yeah just make it a little
00:05:36
bit harder white where uh there has been
00:05:39
in the World's Strongest Man Has it
00:05:40
actually they um I'll Chuck it on the
00:05:42
frame and they carry some fridges along
00:05:44
and stuff like that it goes back in the
00:05:45
days they're a little bit fresher these
00:05:47
days right like back in the 80s when it
00:05:49
was first starting they did look fridges
00:05:51
and stuff so how often do you move house
00:05:53
you'd be a handy guy to have around when
00:05:54
you're moving house uh I have one rule I
00:05:56
have one rule
00:05:58
I don't lift unless it's in the gym
00:06:02
I have gone around and helped lift a few
00:06:05
uh like pianos and stuff but that's just
00:06:07
a one-off yeah yeah so what what does an
00:06:10
average day look like you must be you
00:06:11
must be just eating non-stop
00:06:14
um I do I do put away a bit of food
00:06:15
necessity
00:06:19
um
00:06:19
yeah just out of habit now like I said
00:06:22
I've I've been trying to get big for
00:06:23
about 10 years yeah
00:06:25
um and it was hard at the start when you
00:06:28
just tender 79 kgs and you're trying to
00:06:31
get bigger so you just got to push that
00:06:32
food in
00:06:34
um but after 10 years it's
00:06:36
it's a little bit easier
00:06:39
um probably put away somewhere between 5
00:06:41
000 calories 6000 calories a day
00:06:44
um eating every two hours
00:06:46
oh my God there's just that it's not
00:06:49
like dinner plates right right slightly
00:06:52
small stuff yeah but it's a it's a job
00:06:54
always got to eat
00:06:56
um I miss this is as good at just making
00:06:58
sure I get the food in there on the
00:07:00
weekends yeah she's like you haven't
00:07:01
eaten for a while get there didn't you
00:07:03
you got to get big and stronger she's a
00:07:05
feeder right she's a feeder one of them
00:07:06
yeah
00:07:08
you've got to be big strong Daddy I was
00:07:10
like yeah yeah a big strong Daddy what
00:07:13
is this some sort of weird King thing so
00:07:16
was there um so you've been doing this
00:07:18
10 year 10 years now did you say yes
00:07:21
lifting weights yeah how old are you now
00:07:23
I'm 44. right so you're 30 34 when you
00:07:26
started was there was there a catalyst
00:07:28
for starting like I'm thinking I saw a
00:07:30
documentary with um Mike Tyson and he
00:07:32
started boxing because um you know he
00:07:34
was he was a small boy and he had that
00:07:37
lisp and he was self-conscious and he he
00:07:40
loved pigeon racing and there was like a
00:07:42
bully that um in the up killing one of
00:07:44
his pigeons in front of him and he
00:07:46
thought he didn't want that to happen
00:07:47
again so he started training to become a
00:07:50
boxer so he could stick out for himself
00:07:51
was there any sort of like psychological
00:07:53
reason like that do you think that you
00:07:54
started like this the subsection with
00:07:57
being big
00:07:58
yeah uh well it didn't I didn't start
00:08:01
off with the opposition of being big
00:08:03
um yeah because you're quite quite old
00:08:05
when you started I guess on the big
00:08:07
school of things yeah yeah
00:08:08
um
00:08:09
like you hear about that strong man
00:08:11
strength that sort of starts at about 30
00:08:12
to 40. so I'm right in the right spot to
00:08:15
get big and strong but um
00:08:17
uh like a lot of people that lift
00:08:20
weights or go to the gyms you see them
00:08:21
and they're quite dedicated to the same
00:08:24
weights there's usually
00:08:25
some sort of story behind that so
00:08:29
usually it's a mental health issue
00:08:31
that's pushed someone into that and they
00:08:33
start lifting weights to
00:08:35
have control of something in their life
00:08:37
and lifting weights and eating food is
00:08:38
quite a good way to gain control of your
00:08:41
life so my one started I back probably
00:08:45
like my early 30s I had a
00:08:48
not the best marriage sort of
00:08:51
that came to an end and just destroyed
00:08:53
me
00:08:54
and I sort of lost myself and I got
00:08:56
deeply depressed uh Stefan suffered from
00:08:59
anxiety depression went to a deep dark
00:09:04
place there and um that
00:09:09
um
00:09:11
yeah I got to a point where I wanted to
00:09:14
take my life
00:09:16
and I tried to I tried to and um
00:09:21
fortunately that
00:09:23
didn't work yeah so I had to
00:09:27
I basically started from Rock Bottom had
00:09:30
you had you um before that marriage
00:09:32
break had you been
00:09:34
um like how'd your mental health been
00:09:36
before that mostly okay or
00:09:38
no I had actually been dealing with
00:09:40
mental health
00:09:42
from about the age of 25 right with
00:09:45
depression and anxiety which had
00:09:47
obviously been before that but it
00:09:49
came right to life I'm about 25 when I
00:09:53
stopped and faced it and so through the
00:09:55
whole marriage I also had to battle that
00:09:57
and
00:09:59
battle not the best marriage right um
00:10:01
yeah so
00:10:03
once
00:10:05
I'd got a divorce and out there around
00:10:07
it just
00:10:08
went right to the bottom and like I said
00:10:10
I
00:10:12
I try to do a
00:10:13
drug overdose
00:10:15
um
00:10:16
which didn't work and when
00:10:20
when I did that
00:10:22
um
00:10:23
I
00:10:25
obviously passed out and I
00:10:27
I woke up like that and I was just like
00:10:30
shit's got to change like I've gotta
00:10:33
I've got to make a change from now and I
00:10:35
started right from that moment but I
00:10:38
didn't feel like it's like you had a
00:10:39
second chance yeah like um every every
00:10:42
man has two lives and the Second Life
00:10:45
starts when you realize you only have
00:10:47
one and that was that moment for me
00:10:50
um as uh has that I've been stuffing
00:10:53
around
00:10:54
with this first one I was like I have to
00:10:56
make the most of my life so
00:10:58
put the hammer down and uh
00:11:02
just started lifting weights and eating
00:11:04
right and I was like I said I was only
00:11:06
like 79 kgs yeah so it took quite a
00:11:09
while
00:11:10
um about three years to 79 what are you
00:11:13
now uh I'm clocking in a 120 at the
00:11:16
moment so that's like so 41 kilos
00:11:19
heavier now than what you were then
00:11:20
there's a lot of blocks of cheese yeah
00:11:22
yeah I like to measure on sex of
00:11:24
potatoes yeah
00:11:25
for four sex wow
00:11:29
so yeah I spent I spent about three
00:11:33
years in what I've sort of caught my
00:11:36
recovery stage from that drug overdose
00:11:39
um
00:11:40
and just building going to the gym day
00:11:43
and day out
00:11:44
um nothing else mattered I suppose it
00:11:46
gave you something to hyper fixate on
00:11:48
yeah because my life had fallen apart
00:11:51
right like I
00:11:53
previously I had a house and a marriage
00:11:55
friends and over that time of being
00:11:58
depressed in their marriage all that
00:12:00
sort of disappeared I lost everything I
00:12:02
was back to I was back to square one so
00:12:04
I had to literally Build It Up
00:12:07
how did you lose everything
00:12:09
uh just some missing marriage and then
00:12:12
um
00:12:13
that spiral depression drinking and then
00:12:16
the drugs for the drug overdose yeah
00:12:19
um it just
00:12:20
lost it all lost my mind so I lost it
00:12:23
all and couldn't hold on to anything or
00:12:26
did you like get started getting hooked
00:12:28
on like drugs to try and like numb the
00:12:30
pain or Escape escape the misery that
00:12:32
was your life at the time yeah yeah
00:12:34
because I was drinking as well like um
00:12:37
one stage I was drinking one and a half
00:12:40
liters to two liters of spirits a night
00:12:43
[ __ ] off really am I Peak and um on a
00:12:48
day off how are you not like how did
00:12:50
that not kill you I don't know on my day
00:12:52
off so it'd be like half a
00:12:54
literally oh my God
00:12:58
I don't know I sometimes I think I'm
00:13:01
just a horse I can take some punishment
00:13:02
that's why I like training I like just
00:13:04
to give it to myself so how's your
00:13:06
organs now have you been blood tested
00:13:07
are you are they okay I get I get the
00:13:10
blood tests done
00:13:12
um every few years and everything seems
00:13:14
to be checked out okay yeah right wow
00:13:16
yeah so it's like built up a good
00:13:19
resistance I think so we might find out
00:13:20
when I'm like 70 or 80 and it might be a
00:13:22
little bit different oh if you made it
00:13:23
to 70 already you'll be doing it right
00:13:25
yeah well life's amazing now so I think
00:13:27
I will make it for 70 or 80. yeah but
00:13:30
yeah so like um
00:13:31
you know I just built up for three years
00:13:33
of rehab just
00:13:35
starting small lifting little weights
00:13:37
and just
00:13:38
slightly getting bigger and bigger and
00:13:40
then I just decided maybe it'll be cool
00:13:42
to be like 90 kg so I like
00:13:45
it's real hard to get up to 90 kgs and
00:13:47
say oh this is pretty cool I've seen
00:13:48
some results and then
00:13:50
hung there for a little bit another sort
00:13:52
of year I was like I'd be pretty cool to
00:13:54
be a hundred so built up to that
00:13:56
obviously getting a little bit bigger
00:13:57
and stronger and that's about where I
00:14:00
Charmed into strong man so it was three
00:14:03
years of training
00:14:05
um and I've been doing strongman for
00:14:07
about seven years now
00:14:09
um so it's been 10 years since I
00:14:12
um try to take my life there uh so seven
00:14:16
years of strongman and I hung around in
00:14:20
the there's a few divisions like under
00:14:23
80s under 90s under 105 and then open
00:14:26
division so I was hanging around the
00:14:28
under 105 sort of lieutenant
00:14:31
then I just like if I'm gonna do this so
00:14:34
you might as well go back I might as
00:14:36
well get to the top and so I just
00:14:38
started to put on the weight to
00:14:40
try to compete with the best yeah
00:14:43
what's what's your relationship look
00:14:45
like with alcohol and drugs now is there
00:14:46
any relationship or are they a thing of
00:14:48
the past no I think
00:14:50
I think you've got under control now you
00:14:52
managed to have a like a healthy
00:14:53
relationship yeah like I said it beer at
00:14:56
lunchtime today yeah like it's it's no
00:14:58
problem it's the it's when that mental
00:15:01
health isn't under control that those
00:15:03
things become advice right so you're
00:15:05
taking them for the wrong reasons yeah
00:15:06
yeah yeah but now like I said my life's
00:15:09
amazing now so all those things are
00:15:11
under control I just put those in
00:15:13
compartments and
00:15:15
that dealt with so
00:15:18
um I spent a lot of effort a lot of time
00:15:21
and effort on my mental health to get
00:15:23
that strong yeah
00:15:25
um how did you how did you do that what
00:15:27
did that Journey look like
00:15:29
um I was originally I started off with a
00:15:33
um a counselor yeah
00:15:35
um moved on to a psychologist
00:15:39
and at my
00:15:40
Peak I think my worst time I ended up
00:15:44
with a psychiatrist for about
00:15:48
I was about three years or something
00:15:50
like that so working quite hard on that
00:15:53
which was all self-funded unfortunately
00:15:55
yeah that's how much was each session
00:15:57
200 300 300 plus it's the [ __ ] thing
00:16:02
isn't it because it's like there's a lot
00:16:03
of people that could do really really
00:16:05
well out of therapy but just can't
00:16:06
afford it or don't have the means to
00:16:08
yeah I was fortunate enough to yeah have
00:16:11
a pretty good job that I was just
00:16:13
holding on to when I was in a bad time
00:16:15
that I could afford to do that
00:16:18
um it was a lot of money for me but I
00:16:21
could afford to go to these sessions and
00:16:23
pay for them myself because I tried to
00:16:24
go through
00:16:26
um some government funding or something
00:16:27
like that and I just I didn't know isn't
00:16:30
it it wasn't there it was just easier to
00:16:31
pay for it myself and I thought that was
00:16:33
the most important thing for myself was
00:16:36
to make sure I
00:16:37
sort out that mental health
00:16:40
um so yeah thousands of dollars later
00:16:43
than years of therapy I
00:16:46
I did it I came out the other side and
00:16:49
every penny was worth it I was
00:16:52
awesome glad you did so I don't know him
00:16:55
and how much detail you want to go back
00:16:57
to this because it's the darkest moment
00:16:59
of your life but the um the suicide
00:17:01
attempt what what was the drug what
00:17:03
drugs were you taking
00:17:05
um yeah so like I just
00:17:11
I don't mind going back there it's like
00:17:12
that's good to good to share it with
00:17:14
people I actually haven't shared this
00:17:16
with
00:17:17
anyone except for my really close Circle
00:17:20
which is maybe five or six people so
00:17:24
um
00:17:25
it's going to come out now
00:17:27
um but I was just in a real dark place I
00:17:31
was living down in Christchurch by
00:17:32
myself
00:17:33
and there's a street down there where
00:17:35
you can get anything oh Manchester no
00:17:39
um maybe I can't quite remember
00:17:52
it's just in a real bad space and I just
00:17:55
walked down the street one time I was
00:17:56
just like hey I just wanna I just want
00:17:59
to get some relief um what should have
00:18:01
you got and then take him into this
00:18:04
dodgy house and
00:18:06
ended up being some pretty serious
00:18:09
Strokes
00:18:10
um
00:18:11
and just in the state that I was in I
00:18:13
just wanted the Pain to End so I ended
00:18:16
up being heroin
00:18:18
and is that your first time taking that
00:18:20
yeah yeah I I never done that sort of
00:18:24
[ __ ] before yeah how do you inject or
00:18:26
smoke
00:18:27
um right yeah
00:18:32
yeah so I was there and I was just like
00:18:33
oh in fact let's let's just do it
00:18:35
and um but it was only a short time it
00:18:38
was maybe a couple of months but it was
00:18:42
deep all the time and then it was just
00:18:45
anything that could get hold of any
00:18:46
opiates or anything that came along and
00:18:50
if you ask right questions you can pick
00:18:52
that stuff up pretty easily off the
00:18:53
streets and so it was a pretty hard fast
00:18:57
dark couple of months yeah yeah every
00:19:00
every time it was just
00:19:04
just wanted to paint in and you hope
00:19:06
that
00:19:08
it's time when you go to
00:19:10
sleep don't wake up you don't wake up
00:19:11
yeah
00:19:13
um so we just kept on building
00:19:16
up and up and up until
00:19:18
that last time which was
00:19:20
the
00:19:22
massive dose
00:19:24
a sort of
00:19:26
knocked me
00:19:28
um
00:19:29
like I remember I remember it like it
00:19:31
was
00:19:32
like it was yesterday I think about it
00:19:34
every day for the last 10 years that
00:19:36
that doesn't go away
00:19:38
in a good way it's positive now but um
00:19:44
I remember I remember it was a sunny a
00:19:47
sunny day
00:19:49
and
00:19:50
it took it and just collapsed and when I
00:19:53
woke up
00:19:54
it was like the middle of the night so
00:19:56
it was like six or eight hours had
00:19:58
passed and
00:20:00
um
00:20:01
yeah I was
00:20:04
had this massive
00:20:06
dream while I was unconscious
00:20:10
um
00:20:11
that sort of took me through my whole
00:20:13
life Journey from a young age to a
00:20:16
to where I was now and never think of
00:20:18
between perhapsulate your life flashing
00:20:20
passion I was like you hear about it
00:20:24
people that nearly die life flashes in
00:20:26
front of their eyes
00:20:28
yeah I I was I had that sort of moment
00:20:31
where
00:20:33
I ran through the whole life
00:20:36
and
00:20:37
asking questions myself of what was
00:20:39
happening and stuff and
00:20:41
what was it doing like what are you
00:20:44
doing with your life what the hell are
00:20:46
you doing like
00:20:48
you can't go you've got [ __ ] to do you
00:20:51
got people to you got people that love
00:20:52
you
00:20:53
um
00:20:54
but
00:20:55
um
00:20:57
these little kids that are my friends
00:20:59
they're just absolutely love me
00:21:02
and I was gonna
00:21:04
be selfish and just
00:21:06
leave
00:21:07
this Earth
00:21:09
so
00:21:10
with that thought like that this I don't
00:21:13
know how long this dream was of a split
00:21:15
second whatever
00:21:16
um I was just like I can't I can't leave
00:21:18
these little kids they look at they look
00:21:20
up to me
00:21:21
who are the little kids
00:21:24
um they just
00:21:25
look
00:21:26
I'm a real good girlfriend and
00:21:29
um a mate and it's their kids
00:21:32
I've been friends with them for about
00:21:35
half my life 25 years or something like
00:21:37
that it's just third kids right so why
00:21:39
did they why did
00:21:41
this is the funny thing so you um you
00:21:43
you were loathing yourself at that point
00:21:45
yeah what what have they seen you that
00:21:47
you couldn't see in yourself
00:21:50
um
00:21:52
they they always just saw
00:21:55
I just wish for this yeah yeah
00:21:58
because um
00:22:01
even through all my my [ __ ]
00:22:04
um
00:22:05
it's been a good person inside
00:22:06
[Music]
00:22:07
um
00:22:08
and like
00:22:12
when I was
00:22:13
when I was down there by myself like
00:22:17
like crying because it's depressed and
00:22:19
stuff like that I would um
00:22:21
I'd rang them up and be like I need help
00:22:24
I need some help
00:22:26
and
00:22:28
like these little kids would come on be
00:22:30
like I love you I love you I love you
00:22:32
Uncle Rich I can't wait to see you yeah
00:22:34
and that
00:22:36
they would they'll like give you enough
00:22:38
energy to
00:22:40
to go for another week or something I
00:22:43
then that would fade again and I saw
00:22:45
that cycle just keep on going so that's
00:22:49
just the short version of um why those
00:22:52
people were like so instrumental and
00:22:55
yeah making that change and when I was
00:22:57
dreaming in and when I woke up I was
00:22:58
there
00:22:59
foreign
00:23:04
so yeah like he
00:23:08
he I was like his hero like big big
00:23:11
strong guy even though I wasn't not as
00:23:13
big as I am now yeah because this is
00:23:15
before you wait in general yeah yeah
00:23:17
yeah yeah
00:23:18
um so that's
00:23:21
that that was the drive to get out of
00:23:22
the hole
00:23:24
um one of them
00:23:25
um was just
00:23:28
show this little boy that I could
00:23:33
if I could be the man that he wanted me
00:23:35
to be yeah yeah be a person be the
00:23:37
person that he that he that he thought
00:23:39
you were that he saw in you yeah he just
00:23:40
didn't seen yourself yeah I didn't see
00:23:42
myself yeah because there was a lot of
00:23:43
times I I just
00:23:46
stand in front of the mirror and I
00:23:47
wouldn't even know
00:23:49
I couldn't even recognize this person
00:23:50
like it literally looked like a
00:23:52
different person that I was talking to
00:23:54
in the mirror how do you mean what do
00:23:55
you mean
00:23:57
like I just
00:23:59
didn't recognize him like I was a
00:24:01
different person I got
00:24:03
have conversations and I just thought I
00:24:06
don't know who you are
00:24:07
um so that's that's the sort of battles
00:24:09
that I was having at that time yeah
00:24:11
that's it was a strange concept I think
00:24:13
about that quite a lot
00:24:15
um yeah is there any way you can
00:24:18
elaborate on that like do you mean you
00:24:19
like you've gone so far away from who
00:24:22
who you knew you were at your core or
00:24:24
who you thought you should be at your
00:24:26
core I think I think that's what it was
00:24:28
yeah like um
00:24:31
I was this
00:24:33
sad
00:24:34
skinny drug fact person
00:24:39
quantum
00:24:41
just my life was
00:24:43
over like well not yet but it was um it
00:24:47
was down the toilet and I was just
00:24:49
looking to myself what's happened to you
00:24:50
wow
00:24:52
you used to be all these things like it
00:24:54
used to be
00:24:55
Sports person don't cry and loving life
00:24:58
and lots of friends and now you're just
00:25:00
sitting in this bedroom for months on
00:25:03
end not talking to anyone locked away
00:25:04
from the world
00:25:05
[Music]
00:25:06
um
00:25:07
so yeah it was just a different person
00:25:09
like I was quite out of experience
00:25:13
yeah it wasn't even like there's no
00:25:15
drugs there was just depression I was
00:25:18
just looking at I just didn't know who I
00:25:19
was
00:25:20
completely lost my way yeah it's funny
00:25:22
hey because you you get depressed and
00:25:24
then um you do things there um I suppose
00:25:27
numb the pain but they make you more
00:25:29
depressed take you further away from
00:25:31
your potential yeah so it's just it's
00:25:33
how the like the spiral begins that's a
00:25:36
that's a good word
00:25:37
um
00:25:38
take away from your potential yeah
00:25:40
because I've always had a lot of
00:25:43
potential but not applied it so that was
00:25:45
that's a that's a good point there yeah
00:25:48
so so
00:25:50
um you shoot up that um massive load of
00:25:52
heroin and an attempt to take your own
00:25:54
life when that goes in your arm
00:25:58
um are you thinking thank God this is
00:26:00
going to be it or are you like oh [ __ ]
00:26:01
what have I done
00:26:03
no can you remember do you think
00:26:04
anything at the time or were you just
00:26:05
like nah it was just like it works like
00:26:08
that
00:26:08
okay it goes straight to the system and
00:26:11
just you basically okay like a split
00:26:14
second sort of thing yeah you collapse
00:26:16
basically straight away yeah I was doing
00:26:18
it standing up and I woke up on the
00:26:21
kitchen floor
00:26:22
um but yeah nah um at the time
00:26:25
going in
00:26:27
as it's like
00:26:29
and this is going to be a good one
00:26:32
um no regrets
00:26:34
just go for it but obviously after when
00:26:38
I got out the other side as I say
00:26:40
okay
00:26:41
yeah
00:26:43
it's quite funny actually I suppose you
00:26:45
could you could be either either two
00:26:47
ways I suppose if you were like truly uh
00:26:51
suicidal you'd wake up and think
00:26:53
oh
00:26:55
still here yeah um but for you waking up
00:26:57
and going all right I gotta take I've
00:26:59
got to take drastic action this is no
00:27:00
[ __ ] good I suppose it means that you
00:27:02
didn't actually want to no except no and
00:27:05
I think I think about that every day
00:27:07
like
00:27:09
um it's been 10 years I got this tattoo
00:27:11
just relax on your right wrist yeah for
00:27:14
10 years just after the going to the
00:27:17
strongman games
00:27:19
um just to Mark the anniversary and I
00:27:22
think about it every day about how lucky
00:27:25
I am that I I get a second chance
00:27:28
and how how good life actually is like
00:27:32
when when you're
00:27:35
when you take time to appreciate every
00:27:37
little thing like just walking outside I
00:27:39
see the trees I appreciate those every
00:27:41
day every day I'm grateful for just
00:27:44
being alive for waking up
00:27:46
that once upon a time I didn't want to
00:27:48
wake up and now I'm grateful every
00:27:52
morning to wake up near everything
00:27:54
everything is good eh yeah everything
00:27:57
goes good well it's the thing if you um
00:27:59
practice gratitude and start to look for
00:28:01
those uh little moments like you
00:28:03
mentioned before the trees which is like
00:28:05
a lot of people can get through the day
00:28:06
you're looking at your phone or you're
00:28:08
walking around and wrapped up in your
00:28:10
own [ __ ] and you may not even notice
00:28:11
things like the the trees but if you
00:28:13
start to practice gratitude and then you
00:28:15
you find you start to notice even more
00:28:17
little things a little sip a coffee and
00:28:19
you'll be like this is a good coffee ah
00:28:21
yes just being presentating yeah great
00:28:24
for it like don't take anything for
00:28:26
granted because like every day is not
00:28:28
guaranteed like tomorrow could be your
00:28:30
last day yeah
00:28:32
um so just make the most of it yeah so
00:28:36
um we'll wind the clock uh right back so
00:28:39
um
00:28:40
what were you like at school
00:28:44
um
00:28:45
in school yeah yeah I'll say I was
00:28:47
pretty good looking
00:28:49
pretty pretty good with ladies
00:28:54
were you a bad kid a good kid nah um
00:28:57
just a note like normal average standard
00:29:00
uh I didn't really apply myself yeah um
00:29:02
I did have enough Brands to pass exams
00:29:05
without studying but I didn't apply
00:29:07
myself I was just a little bit loose and
00:29:09
free there I ended up dropping out of
00:29:11
high school actually and um
00:29:14
uh
00:29:16
yeah everyone say I was pretty I was
00:29:18
pretty good cat yeah they all love me
00:29:20
I've got some I've got some amazing
00:29:22
friendships
00:29:23
to this day from high school so I think
00:29:26
that says a lot about who you are that
00:29:28
is
00:29:29
um you can bring those through 20 25
00:29:31
years yeah 100 100 yeah you never trust
00:29:34
anyone that only has new friends I yeah
00:29:37
new friends all the time
00:29:39
um Can Flopper throw up a few Flags yeah
00:29:42
yeah but everyone has their own story so
00:29:44
yeah yeah you can't judge anyone um some
00:29:46
people go through a lot like um yeah
00:29:48
like at me at one stage I
00:29:51
I'd lost a lot of my friends when I was
00:29:53
dealing with my [ __ ]
00:29:55
um you I suppose you just sort of like
00:29:57
even if it's not consciously yeah you
00:29:59
just said push them away a bit yeah um
00:30:01
you go and hide
00:30:02
um because you don't want to see you
00:30:04
um you don't want to deal with that
00:30:06
stuff and
00:30:07
you don't want to lie
00:30:09
um you know because when you're dealing
00:30:11
with depression
00:30:12
yeah
00:30:14
you become a great actor
00:30:16
um like you like wearing a mask
00:30:19
um you've got to put on the front um
00:30:22
everyone thinks yeah yeah
00:30:24
life's going good that's okay and then
00:30:25
you get back home you'll say
00:30:28
that was tiring
00:30:30
and get tired of doing that so that's
00:30:31
what you start hiding yourself away
00:30:34
um
00:30:35
so you just set people ask how you and
00:30:37
you're like Yeah I'm
00:30:39
um
00:30:41
yeah yeah but you mentioned you
00:30:43
mentioned before with uh when you're
00:30:44
talking about your friends that have got
00:30:45
the kids that really look up to you like
00:30:46
you'd say to them I need help yeah yeah
00:30:49
does that just come towards the tail end
00:30:51
of your depression that you become good
00:30:52
at asking for help so I
00:30:55
pretty lucky I this girl um she's been a
00:30:59
girlfriend since as a teenager so that's
00:31:04
25 30 years and
00:31:07
we've always
00:31:08
gone out for coffees and caught up over
00:31:11
the years and just talked and stuff like
00:31:13
that so quite lucky to have
00:31:16
someone close like that that I could
00:31:18
just talk to so that's that's why I
00:31:20
could reach out yeah um but I also I try
00:31:23
to reach out a few other times actually
00:31:26
to some friends and families and
00:31:30
um because I suffered like domestic
00:31:32
abuse in my marriage and stuff like that
00:31:34
like physical abuse and stuff like that
00:31:36
I tried to tell some people about that I
00:31:39
sort of laughed it off and like okay
00:31:41
just
00:31:42
get back in there that like you don't
00:31:44
need to worry about the stuff and
00:31:46
um so I done that a couple of times did
00:31:49
they really laugh it off just because
00:31:50
it's like oh come on you can yeah
00:31:52
whatever you can just like grab a rest
00:31:54
or whatever although so this is your
00:31:56
previous relationship your partner now
00:31:57
like she's a commonwealth games boxer if
00:31:59
you told anyone that you're a victim of
00:32:01
domestic violence there I think they'd
00:32:03
take that seriously she would she would
00:32:05
[ __ ] you up I reckon oh she she dropped
00:32:07
some bombs but uh when you get the meter
00:32:11
that's why I love her she's an absolute
00:32:13
angel in real life and then changes to
00:32:17
this absolute beast in the ring which is
00:32:20
amazing which is amazing yeah controlled
00:32:22
aggression yeah that's what you need
00:32:23
yeah um like because I only deal with
00:32:26
calm people relax people good people now
00:32:28
I don't have time for any of this
00:32:31
bravado pretending and stuff yeah pick
00:32:34
up on the Good Vibes and those are the
00:32:36
sort of people that I have in my life
00:32:37
now yeah like my fiance yeah
00:32:40
so the reason I asked what you like at
00:32:42
school just I'm doubling back to that is
00:32:44
because um in the mid 90s uh when you're
00:32:47
17 you lose your um older brother on a
00:32:50
car accident yeah so he was he was quite
00:32:52
quite a bit older did he feel like an
00:32:54
older brother or did he feel like an
00:32:55
uncle he was like you were 17 he was 27.
00:32:58
yeah yeah so Gage gave it their age
00:33:00
group uh my I've got three brothers
00:33:02
they're all
00:33:04
10 years plus
00:33:06
um
00:33:07
excellent
00:33:09
or mum just didn't have a good one so
00:33:12
she just had one last try and she got
00:33:15
this the miracle child Miracle child
00:33:18
yeah yeah
00:33:19
um yeah he was 10 years old of me so I
00:33:23
was in the closest one to me so I was
00:33:26
quite close to him and he died in a car
00:33:29
crash when I was 17 I didn't really
00:33:30
dropped out of school there and um we
00:33:34
lost him in that car crash and that had
00:33:37
from that point on with that paid quite
00:33:39
a big effect on me I think yeah you
00:33:41
think there was if you had to pinpoint
00:33:42
like a tuning I know if you see you've
00:33:44
done a lot of work do you you think you
00:33:46
can pinpoint that as the moment I think
00:33:48
tracking back yeah after
00:33:52
going through all my therapy and stuff
00:33:54
is that's probably one of the catalysts
00:33:57
of my depression and yeah I didn't
00:34:01
really notice it
00:34:02
from that age in my early 20s because
00:34:05
I was just running away partying and
00:34:07
having a good time and not really
00:34:10
dealing with life
00:34:12
I try to
00:34:13
do you think there was like standard
00:34:14
standard early 20 staff or do you think
00:34:16
you'd like your brother's
00:34:18
um like you know death was a like a
00:34:20
catalyst in that yeah I thought I was
00:34:22
going to die the same way as my brother
00:34:24
why did you think then
00:34:27
um
00:34:28
I don't know why I thought that I just I
00:34:32
think it was the relationship that I had
00:34:33
with my brother that I loved them so
00:34:35
much right that
00:34:37
um
00:34:38
I spent a lot more time with him than my
00:34:41
other brothers and
00:34:42
he was he's basically an identical twin
00:34:45
but 10 years older than me yeah um
00:34:48
so I just had that closeness and I I
00:34:51
don't know where I got that thought from
00:34:53
but it's something that stayed with me
00:34:55
all through my 20s
00:34:56
until
00:34:59
till like about 27 years old I decided
00:35:04
to go visit my brother's grave and
00:35:08
because I've never been to his grave
00:35:09
before why hadn't so 10 years have
00:35:11
passed why haven't you been
00:35:13
too hard
00:35:15
just didn't really want to
00:35:19
be a little bit raw
00:35:22
um I always carried them here I believe
00:35:25
and a little bit of spirituality we you
00:35:27
carry the people close to you in here
00:35:29
and once the past
00:35:30
so I always knew it was close to me and
00:35:33
my thoughts and stuff but I decided to I
00:35:35
should go have a visit and ended up
00:35:37
being
00:35:38
about the 10-year anniversary which was
00:35:42
when I was like 27 28 I can't remember
00:35:44
yeah so this is when you you thought you
00:35:46
were going to die at the same age like
00:35:47
there was a moment there where you
00:35:50
thought okay [ __ ] this this I'm not
00:35:52
going to die at this age
00:35:53
yeah I was sitting there having a chat
00:35:55
with them on the on the grave site there
00:35:56
and I looked up and I was like
00:35:59
yeah I thought
00:36:00
I thought I was going to be dead
00:36:02
by this time maybe
00:36:04
maybe there is a little bit more to life
00:36:06
maybe maybe I've got a little bit more
00:36:08
than me
00:36:10
um so I had to
00:36:11
sort of change my team by life a little
00:36:13
bit then
00:36:15
um redirect myself and stop doing the
00:36:19
party and living fast and hard and try
00:36:21
and knuckle down a little bit
00:36:23
um so yeah that was
00:36:26
probably I started and I was going
00:36:28
through my
00:36:29
therapy and stuff at that time as well
00:36:31
so all that well yeah what was the
00:36:34
Catalyst to get you started on that
00:36:37
I was at the relationship breakup I was
00:36:39
probably getting married
00:36:44
in a funny way
00:36:46
um it was probably a bad thing at the
00:36:48
time but probably ended up being the
00:36:50
best thing for me right yes I was just
00:36:52
trying to deal with the whole life and
00:36:55
deal with the wrong choosing the wrong
00:36:57
person to marry right yeah but do you so
00:37:01
you look back on that relationship
00:37:02
because I said I think you bring you
00:37:05
bring people that I don't know not maybe
00:37:08
not you what you deserve but you break
00:37:10
you're attract a certain person into
00:37:12
your life at a certain time like your
00:37:14
fiance at the momentary uh you you both
00:37:16
seem beautifully happy and she's sitting
00:37:17
in the room with us and she's supporting
00:37:19
you so you obviously had to be in the
00:37:20
the right frame of mind yourself to
00:37:22
attract someone as amazing as her into
00:37:25
your life so do you look back on the on
00:37:27
the toxic relationship and recognize any
00:37:30
part that you know you played in
00:37:31
bringing that person into your life 100
00:37:33
yeah 100 I I yeah you're nailed it there
00:37:37
I say
00:37:39
you attract what you are at that time
00:37:41
and at that time in my life I I wasn't
00:37:43
in a good space
00:37:44
um so I didn't attract the the best
00:37:46
things into my life made a few bad
00:37:49
decisions there
00:37:51
um and so I
00:37:54
didn't get what I deserved but
00:37:56
I got what I put out to the world yeah
00:37:58
yeah yeah yeah
00:38:00
um like you said now now life is good
00:38:03
and I've got an amazing fiance
00:38:05
because life is good and I'm putting out
00:38:08
the good and getting the good bet yeah
00:38:10
yeah it's beautiful and she could [ __ ]
00:38:12
you up she won't but she could just know
00:38:14
that okay
00:38:15
if you ever cheat on her or anything
00:38:17
yeah you mess with her
00:38:20
she's a goddess yeah okay so um so so
00:38:25
um you reach Rock Bottom in Christchurch
00:38:27
with that um suicide attempt how long
00:38:29
after that does the strong man Journey
00:38:31
begin
00:38:32
I yeah it's like pretty instant or nah
00:38:36
nah it's not not instant at all I did
00:38:40
so I I was down there living in an
00:38:42
apartment by myself yeah and
00:38:45
I basically just locked myself in my
00:38:47
apartment for
00:38:49
um
00:38:50
three four months because I couldn't
00:38:52
trust myself to go outside what do you
00:38:54
mean uh just Temptations
00:38:57
and and that so I how are you getting by
00:39:01
like what were you doing for money
00:39:03
um I I love a savings right yeah yeah
00:39:05
which luckily I don't squander at that
00:39:09
time yeah
00:39:11
um so I I managed to just bring food in
00:39:14
I literally
00:39:17
um would
00:39:18
part of my rehab would be I'd watch an
00:39:22
hour of something scientific on YouTube
00:39:24
and then I'd do about an hour of
00:39:28
religion just like all sorts of
00:39:29
religions just to learn the spirituality
00:39:32
side of things and then
00:39:35
um about an hour of some sort of
00:39:37
self-help stuff and then I'd always
00:39:39
finish it off with some sort of stand-up
00:39:41
comedy or
00:39:44
where did you get that idea from
00:39:47
uh
00:39:48
just sitting by myself yeah right just a
00:39:51
plan you came up with I just need to
00:39:53
just start thinking properly yeah
00:39:56
um need to get on top of it
00:39:58
first thing was like I have to do some
00:40:00
self-help I was like I need to be able
00:40:02
to laugh again because I wasn't laughing
00:40:03
so those are quite important to me and
00:40:05
then I was like uh
00:40:07
there's always something that you can
00:40:08
find in all the different religions so
00:40:10
just started studying all those as well
00:40:12
and yeah you ended up you're a
00:40:14
Scientologist now I believe so you end
00:40:16
up settling on Scientology yeah number
00:40:18
number two behind Toms
00:40:23
I'm definitely a little bit more
00:40:25
spiritual now yeah oh yeah yeah yeah
00:40:27
yeah yeah yeah not quite a hippie or
00:40:29
anything like that but um I'm definitely
00:40:32
believe in like that what you put out is
00:40:35
what you get back yeah oh absolutely
00:40:37
yeah yeah
00:40:38
um so I did that for did that for quite
00:40:41
a few months
00:40:42
um
00:40:43
and there was down in Christchurch by
00:40:45
myself
00:40:46
and then
00:40:48
and then I ran out many
00:40:50
um so had to happen sooner or later or
00:40:53
later so I ended up back at my mom's
00:40:56
place up in Hamilton
00:40:58
um I moved in there for a couple of
00:40:59
weeks I was like Mom I just need to sort
00:41:02
myself out this is I hadn't told her at
00:41:05
the stage in like until I got back up to
00:41:08
Hamilton I was like oh this
00:41:10
this is what's happened
00:41:12
um I just need a little bit of help
00:41:14
she's like what do you know I was like I
00:41:16
just need a couple of weeks to
00:41:17
get here because I was in a slightly
00:41:20
better place so I was like I'll get a
00:41:22
job
00:41:23
um
00:41:24
so
00:41:25
I ended up managed to find a job which I
00:41:28
was pretty lucky at quite quickly
00:41:30
um
00:41:31
and then mum was like
00:41:34
wait get out you said you only gonna be
00:41:37
here for two weeks it's like three weeks
00:41:38
now I was like three weeks oh man really
00:41:42
I was like um I haven't even got your
00:41:43
age yet are you being honest about the
00:41:45
timeline wow she really wanted you out I
00:41:48
think she's pretty funny
00:41:50
she wouldn't kicked me out but yeah she
00:41:52
gave me she gave me a couple extra weeks
00:41:53
though she gave me four weeks here and
00:41:56
then um
00:41:58
managed to get a job and find an
00:42:01
apartment and so
00:42:04
um I literally had nothing I had a
00:42:07
suitcase and my snowboard and the car
00:42:10
that I drove so that's all like all I
00:42:13
had so I had to build my life up again
00:42:16
um one brick at a time so I started off
00:42:18
with
00:42:20
the things that are most important for
00:42:22
recovery and your mental health which
00:42:24
was number one was sleep so my first
00:42:28
paycheck I bought the best bed that I
00:42:30
could afford with that one paycheck
00:42:33
um
00:42:34
and then the next thing was I bought
00:42:37
some knife and forks and some pots and
00:42:38
pans and like really nice ones and just
00:42:40
started cooking all my food and started
00:42:42
eating [ __ ] and takeaways and stuff like
00:42:44
that so I did all that meal prep and
00:42:47
then the third thing was just to get
00:42:49
back in the gym yeah
00:42:51
um and that's where it started um
00:42:54
right from there just going and having
00:42:56
control
00:42:58
of doing each rep each set day after day
00:43:03
after day that's all I did for
00:43:06
um three years when I lived in Hamilton
00:43:09
um just Jim Jim was everything I slowly
00:43:13
started to reconnect with a few friends
00:43:15
and starting to get some sort of life
00:43:18
back together
00:43:20
um
00:43:20
obviously
00:43:22
um I was a little bit jaded from what
00:43:25
I'd been through so
00:43:26
friendship's a little bit hard to
00:43:29
work on there but we got there reconnect
00:43:31
with a few old people got a few new
00:43:33
people in there so that was real good
00:43:34
and then
00:43:37
um
00:43:38
like I said I was back in Hamilton
00:43:40
that's not where I wanted to be
00:43:43
um I wanted to be over the mount living
00:43:45
at the beach lifting weights
00:43:48
find a hot girlfriend or something no by
00:43:50
the way just um not that there's
00:43:51
anything wrong with Hamilton shout out
00:43:53
to our Hamilton listeners
00:43:57
[Laughter]
00:44:00
if you want to live anywhere you want to
00:44:02
live at the beach right yeah yeah like
00:44:05
something about it it's good for the
00:44:06
soul I'm from I'm from Palmas North
00:44:08
which is landlocked like Hamilton okay
00:44:10
um there is something about being close
00:44:12
to the beach eh yeah yeah I'm not sure
00:44:15
if I get palmy or Hamilton oh no
00:44:17
Hamilton's a lot better than Patrick
00:44:18
yeah yeah yeah but um I got I got over
00:44:21
to Hamilton oh I'm not sorry I got over
00:44:24
to papamoa I moved over there and that's
00:44:26
where
00:44:27
that's where I had a massive growth like
00:44:29
I've done that hard three years in
00:44:32
Hamilton yeah and then just being at the
00:44:34
beach
00:44:34
just catapulted now exponential growth
00:44:37
exponential what do you think that was
00:44:40
um it was just the ability to reconnect
00:44:43
with the ocean and the sand and
00:44:46
slowing down life like I
00:44:50
I bought the calm to my life I've been
00:44:52
able to sit on the beach
00:44:54
wash away the days and the ocean just
00:44:57
really relax really relax no big cities
00:45:01
nothing like that it's just nice and
00:45:03
quiet gave me time to lift baits
00:45:06
relax
00:45:07
and start to meet some good people yeah
00:45:11
a lot of people are going to be
00:45:13
listening to this going okay well that
00:45:15
sounds very nice relaxing on the beach
00:45:16
lifting weights rinse repeat how do you
00:45:19
how do you afford that how are you
00:45:20
funding that well I would say I'm still
00:45:22
I still work
00:45:24
um yeah I got a day job as a project
00:45:26
engineer okay okay so you're just
00:45:29
prioritizing these things then yeah
00:45:30
you've got the normal day-to-day
00:45:32
commitments like everyone else yeah well
00:45:33
I've got a beautiful work-life balance
00:45:35
yeah and our employees I work for trimax
00:45:39
day
00:45:40
they um prioritize work-life balance as
00:45:44
well they don't want people wearing
00:45:45
themselves out so it's it's a real good
00:45:47
mix they allow me to
00:45:49
take time off and train for strongman
00:45:51
and travel
00:45:53
um so I couldn't really ask for anything
00:45:55
more there I could always do it for some
00:45:57
more money to help Chase these strong
00:45:59
man James and stuff like that um slowly
00:46:01
working on that if you look at something
00:46:03
we're all working on mate yeah like
00:46:05
every Sports person in New Zealand uh
00:46:07
there's not enough money to go around
00:46:08
yeah
00:46:10
Sports people and podcasters never
00:46:12
enough money to go around so were you um
00:46:15
are you on any sort of meets now or were
00:46:17
you ever on Mets for the mental health I
00:46:19
was I can't remember what they were yeah
00:46:21
um but yeah
00:46:22
popping a handful of pills every day
00:46:26
right
00:46:27
yeah
00:46:29
yeah like I said I can't remember where
00:46:30
they were but they were quite quite
00:46:32
strong ones yeah so I think there's like
00:46:34
there's a lot of people like that have
00:46:36
um like a true chemical imbalance in
00:46:38
their in their their brain and they need
00:46:40
they need medication to balance it out
00:46:42
and they might be on medication for the
00:46:43
rest of their life but then there's a
00:46:45
lot of people who uh actually probably
00:46:47
almost everyone I think that at some
00:46:48
point in your life something's going to
00:46:49
rock you and you're going to have like
00:46:51
circumstantial uh mental health issues
00:46:54
maybe it's a shitty relationship or a
00:46:56
job loss or something like no one no one
00:46:59
gets out of life scot-free
00:47:01
um and for for those people like you and
00:47:04
for me you don't necessarily need
00:47:05
medication I think you you can get your
00:47:08
way out of it with a like just a good
00:47:09
mentally health plan like build that
00:47:11
resilience get some good structure
00:47:14
um it's amazing that you had that thing
00:47:15
about like an hour of religion a day and
00:47:17
an hour of comedy and an hour of
00:47:19
self-help yeah that was a good plan yeah
00:47:21
it was I had lots of time so
00:47:24
um it's a little bit harder to get four
00:47:25
hours of my day to sit down and watch
00:47:27
YouTube now yeah but um yeah if I had I
00:47:30
had a conversation with my psychiatrist
00:47:32
I just like I
00:47:34
I think I want to stop the pills
00:47:37
I think I think I've got this I should
00:47:39
say okay yeah okay we can we can try
00:47:42
that so we stopped um so I told her what
00:47:46
I wanted to do and it seemed to work and
00:47:50
um 10 years no medication now
00:47:53
um
00:47:55
I'm perfectly heavy yeah amazing oh good
00:47:57
for you and not that not that I'm
00:47:59
ashaming anyone that's on that's on
00:48:00
medication like my brother in Perth he
00:48:02
uh
00:48:03
he's on antidepressants and he was like
00:48:06
I'm feeling really good I'm going to get
00:48:07
off them as soon as he got off them he
00:48:09
was like oh no that's why I was feeling
00:48:10
good yeah yeah yeah so for some people
00:48:14
it's an uh necessity but um if you can
00:48:16
get by without them I think it's a it's
00:48:18
an admirable thing uh yeah
00:48:20
um yeah sometimes it's chemical
00:48:21
imbalance and yeah
00:48:23
you've got to do a lot of work though if
00:48:25
you're in that sort of state of mind
00:48:27
um you can't just be like I'm going to
00:48:29
be happy you've got to actually practice
00:48:31
something and
00:48:33
learn how to handle your emotions and
00:48:35
yeah yeah I agree and it's um I think
00:48:38
it's definitely different for everyone
00:48:39
you've got to work out what's right for
00:48:40
you and yeah what's right for you may
00:48:42
not be right for the next person yeah so
00:48:44
so the strongman thing why why like why
00:48:46
that out of all the things in the world
00:48:48
you could do it seems like you're good
00:48:49
at a maybe you've got an addictive
00:48:51
personality or maybe you're good at like
00:48:52
like sure setting your mind on something
00:48:54
and fixating on it and doing it but out
00:48:57
of all the things to do one the [ __ ]
00:48:58
that
00:48:59
um
00:49:00
I have got a laser focus mind when I
00:49:03
pick what I want to do
00:49:05
I've done that all my life when I
00:49:07
decided I want to do something I'd do it
00:49:09
this one I sort of just stumbled across
00:49:12
it actually what do you mean on a TV
00:49:14
thing or at the gym more uh
00:49:16
close close eyes obviously lifting
00:49:19
weights I've been lifting weights
00:49:20
religiously for three years so I'd build
00:49:23
a pretty good foundation and then I was
00:49:26
just scrolling on Facebook and I saw
00:49:28
this comp of an otara when I was living
00:49:32
papamoa I was like oh yeah go do some
00:49:34
deadlifts I love deadlifts
00:49:36
this log which wasn't strong I think I
00:49:38
don't even know what that is
00:49:40
yeah how can it be and I just jumped in
00:49:43
my car show up to otara
00:49:46
um
00:49:47
so you're reasonably big big then you've
00:49:49
been lifting weights for a while no no
00:49:50
that was
00:49:52
maybe 90 kgs right 90 kgs and um that's
00:49:56
when up there I found this like Little
00:49:59
Gym that was tucked away in this
00:50:02
sketchiest place with all these
00:50:04
mechanics and stuff I was driving down
00:50:05
the driver I was like what the hell is
00:50:07
this place that's the last song cover
00:50:09
movie or something and then I found it
00:50:11
and I just sort of
00:50:13
pop my head in the window and there's an
00:50:17
absolute massive
00:50:19
Salmon's smashing the biggest weights I
00:50:22
was just like holy [ __ ] and then they
00:50:25
saw me I was like
00:50:29
hey I just hit list some weights and I
00:50:32
was like come on in here little white
00:50:35
boy they're probably like oh we thought
00:50:37
it was the ubereats guy yeah yeah I'd
00:50:39
probably look like one back then now I
00:50:41
eat all the ubereats but um yeah so they
00:50:43
took me in and um lifted some weights
00:50:45
and did that comp and I I did okay and
00:50:48
in my first comp and
00:50:50
um
00:50:51
detected the addictive personality I was
00:50:54
just like I love this what do you mean
00:50:55
you did okay
00:50:56
um I won surprises I don't want in my
00:50:59
division but I won some prizes right
00:51:00
right I did okay on my my list compared
00:51:02
to everyone else I was like oh yeah
00:51:04
I've got something here and um so I just
00:51:07
started buying all the equipment down in
00:51:09
papamoa and I keep in touch with the
00:51:12
crew at the otara strength pit and um
00:51:15
it's been seven years of a family
00:51:17
friendship there and lifting weights and
00:51:20
I just got bigger bigger and
00:51:23
um
00:51:24
like I said just build I got addicted
00:51:26
from it I just try to do every comp I
00:51:28
could
00:51:30
and that first year but I actually
00:51:32
actually suffer from anxiety
00:51:34
um
00:51:35
so for me to compete in front of
00:51:37
everyone
00:51:39
used to be quite nerve-wracking
00:51:42
and I decided I was like this is what I
00:51:44
want to do
00:51:45
um
00:51:46
so if I'm gonna do it
00:51:48
I better get good at it so for the first
00:51:50
year I competed in every strong man
00:51:55
powerlifting comp that I could find like
00:51:58
I was doing a couple of months as I said
00:52:01
I just got to get out in front of people
00:52:02
and Trust try to get used to it and now
00:52:04
now I love that [ __ ] I've just got this
00:52:06
Alter Ego the madness and when it's time
00:52:09
to listen to switch on I just go out and
00:52:11
lift weights and yeah that's so it is
00:52:14
it's like the wrestlers we talked about
00:52:15
right at the beginning yeah like an
00:52:18
alter ego uh definitely it helps me
00:52:21
immensely
00:52:22
um
00:52:23
yeah yeah because you sort of when
00:52:26
you're going through that mental health
00:52:28
stuff
00:52:31
with all that
00:52:32
that depression and stuff like that and
00:52:34
just trying to lift some weight so you
00:52:35
have to try to switch that off yeah and
00:52:38
concentrate on lifting weights which is
00:52:40
a good Escape for a little bit as long
00:52:42
as you're only escaping to do that and
00:52:44
then you're dealing with your [ __ ] later
00:52:46
on yeah
00:52:47
um so that was that was sort of me I was
00:52:49
just like Escape that stuff
00:52:51
become the madness lift some weights and
00:52:54
um I just continued it through the last
00:52:57
seven years and it works a treat for me
00:52:59
amazing and what's the goal like how far
00:53:01
can you take this thing
00:53:03
um
00:53:04
I would love to win New Zealand's
00:53:06
strongest man
00:53:07
um in the opens uh this one trying to
00:53:09
get bigger
00:53:10
um hopefully I'm going to get up to 130
00:53:12
kgs this year
00:53:14
um
00:53:15
that's quite small by the way
00:53:17
um
00:53:18
like when I went to Worlds I was the
00:53:19
smallest person over there at 125 kgs
00:53:22
and the next smallest person was like
00:53:25
140 150 kgs and then it goes up from
00:53:28
there so is it all muscle or how much of
00:53:31
this fat oh there's a little bit of
00:53:32
fluff right a little bit of fluff yeah I
00:53:33
was going to say because the strongest
00:53:35
man competitions it's like these big
00:53:36
dudes everyone's got an engine right
00:53:38
yeah oh you got to have an engine for
00:53:40
some events but it just depends on what
00:53:43
you're doing yeah but um you try not to
00:53:46
get too too fluffy yeah there's got to
00:53:48
be a lot of muscle underneath here it
00:53:50
can't just be fluff
00:53:51
um so yeah uh the goal is to be the
00:53:54
strongest man in New Zealand
00:53:56
um like I said I'm in the top 10 at the
00:53:58
moment I'll just keep on pushing that
00:54:01
um I'm 44 so I'm also in the Masters so
00:54:06
um I compete internationally at that
00:54:08
level
00:54:10
New Zealand
00:54:11
my I passed out at the last comp but uh
00:54:14
yeah I'll I'll won that this year
00:54:17
uh write that down we'll get back to
00:54:20
that one
00:54:21
um I went over to Oz earlier this year
00:54:22
and won the as International Masters
00:54:25
comp over there
00:54:27
um so yeah that's that's where I'm
00:54:29
heading clean all the Masters and try to
00:54:32
dominate the opens amazing is there an
00:54:34
age where you sort of reach your peak in
00:54:36
the sport
00:54:37
uh that's what that 34 is is when you're
00:54:40
peeking that old man's strength right um
00:54:42
what do you mean
00:54:44
what does old man's strength mean you
00:54:46
know like this guy's guy's a strong one
00:54:48
though right at 48 bracket is right on
00:54:52
the money right there's some top guys
00:54:54
that are still like 52 still yeah yeah
00:54:59
yeah so as long as you look after the
00:55:00
body a you're gonna
00:55:02
you can keep going and um my body's
00:55:05
holding up pretty well yeah um yeah if
00:55:07
you're keep moving it'll keep working
00:55:10
for you
00:55:16
can you give us an idea in terms of like
00:55:18
a like a squat or a bench or a dead lift
00:55:21
bench I don't really do much bench but
00:55:23
last time was a 175 kgs right
00:55:26
um squat 250 deadlift 345.
00:55:31
pull 1510 tracks and lift 200 kg Stones
00:55:35
you know stuff like that
00:55:37
yeah good good for landscaping lifting
00:55:40
those big Stones yeah well I suppose
00:55:42
you've got a career after this yeah it
00:55:44
could be a Furniture remover a landscape
00:55:46
Gardener I do do it but Landscaping at
00:55:48
home that's quite good just like pick up
00:55:50
the whole tree instead of cutting it
00:55:51
down just carry the whole tree out of
00:55:53
the air yeah get a job I I break down
00:55:56
Services where you're just pushing cars
00:55:58
or something I don't know yes I got that
00:56:00
so do you win any money what's the prize
00:56:02
at these events was it just for the
00:56:04
pre-stage in the prizes for the glory
00:56:06
yeah yeah now when you um when you get
00:56:09
to like New Zealand strongest man and
00:56:10
obviously over in the states
00:56:13
a few thousand might be yeah okay not
00:56:15
enough to cover the experience it
00:56:16
doesn't doesn't even cover right a few
00:56:19
months food yeah yeah yeah so always got
00:56:22
to try and work on that obviously if you
00:56:23
do a few more comps you might click a
00:56:25
few more money but you gotta win yeah
00:56:28
you don't get money for coming last yeah
00:56:30
yeah so it must be a crazy hit how did
00:56:33
you and your your fiancee re mate so
00:56:35
you're you're in this uh you're in this
00:56:37
bizarre sport strong man
00:56:40
um she's a boxer as I said competed at
00:56:42
the Commonwealth Games almost made it to
00:56:44
the Olympics how did you guys get
00:56:45
together
00:56:46
ah well
00:56:48
when you're when you're single you know
00:56:51
you gotta you gotta do a little bit of
00:56:52
hunting on the Tinder
00:56:54
you do go through a few uh a few Baddies
00:56:59
and if you're lucky enough you might
00:57:00
just come across a queen and I I caught
00:57:03
a queen
00:57:04
um and it was magic that was three and a
00:57:07
half years ago what was that like who
00:57:09
how does that work do you have to match
00:57:10
on each other or do you just gotta match
00:57:13
on each other right right okay so were
00:57:15
you um I made the first move I've got
00:57:17
some friends that used to like um um
00:57:19
play the numbers game so that that'd
00:57:21
swipe swipe right swipe right's the good
00:57:22
swipe I can't remember it's been so long
00:57:33
The Good the good one yeah we'll say
00:57:35
right okay right I had friends that
00:57:37
would just like swipe on everyone
00:57:39
without even looking at them and let's
00:57:40
let's say like it once you've got enough
00:57:42
matches then you can you know just date
00:57:45
on mess and find someone were you like
00:57:46
that or were you more Discerning no I
00:57:48
don't need swapped swiped two times
00:57:51
and then I went on a date with someone
00:57:53
else first
00:57:54
and that didn't work out luckily and
00:57:56
then my second match was uh Ari oh I'm
00:57:59
coming
00:58:04
it was true for the second time that I
00:58:06
was on time yeah yeah yeah so I did go
00:58:08
off it for a little while because I had
00:58:09
some terrible stories so yeah yeah I was
00:58:11
just like I'm off dating but when I got
00:58:13
back on that that was sort of true yeah
00:58:15
so so you met you're talking for a while
00:58:17
before you meet um you send her a dick
00:58:19
pic
00:58:20
um yeah
00:58:21
no I think I sent her a lifting video or
00:58:24
something
00:58:27
yeah and then we just uh we just met
00:58:29
down at the mount hot pools you know the
00:58:31
ones yeah yeah right at the foot of the
00:58:33
Mountain of course yeah and um
00:58:35
she wanted to do it because she just
00:58:37
wanted to check me out make sure that I
00:58:39
was legit looked like my photos so I had
00:58:41
to get me on my Speedos so we're down
00:58:43
there and we just met down at the pools
00:58:45
and had a chat and the rest is history
00:58:47
yeah amazing amazing match it must be uh
00:58:52
must help each other both being uh
00:58:54
competitive people I if someone selling
00:58:56
them because if someone's having a flat
00:58:57
day the other person lifts them up vice
00:58:59
versa yeah yeah that's really been magic
00:59:01
both for Ari and myself
00:59:04
um because I've had previous girlfriends
00:59:07
where I was trying to commit to a strong
00:59:09
man and taking a lot of time and then
00:59:12
coaching some people doing strongman so
00:59:14
a lot of my time went into that and
00:59:15
there was a big strain on the
00:59:17
relationship
00:59:19
um
00:59:19
but they're made in Harry who's someone
00:59:22
that's dedicated she trades more than I
00:59:25
do she she walks in the door at about 8
00:59:27
30 9 o'clock every night during the week
00:59:30
um and so it was just really good to
00:59:32
have someone that's focused on the same
00:59:34
goals and it's just like whatever it
00:59:36
takes you've got to go do it you go do
00:59:38
it I'll be here yeah so I just make life
00:59:41
so much easier awesome and some people
00:59:44
go in the same direction yeah and
00:59:46
actually Eric come over here come over
00:59:48
here real quick
00:59:57
so just taking a little break I come
00:59:59
back from com games and needed a bit of
01:00:01
a rest and Recovery I got a back injury
01:00:03
so I've just had cortisone injection
01:00:05
about seven days ago
01:00:08
um but be back into it soon come back
01:00:10
faster and fitter and stronger hopefully
01:00:12
nice how did the um how did you go the
01:00:14
commonwealth games um it was amazing
01:00:17
um I first round was up against the
01:00:19
Olympic
01:00:21
um bronze medalist so very tough
01:00:23
opponent from India so she ended up
01:00:26
coming up better off but um yeah it was
01:00:28
incredible amazing first experience yeah
01:00:31
oh good stuff and you you what's your
01:00:33
next aspiration is that uh Olympics
01:00:36
um unfortunately at this stage I I not
01:00:39
unfortunately that I turned 40 this year
01:00:40
but um as an amateur boxer that your
01:00:43
Once you turn 40 you can't box
01:00:46
um so I had four profits So the plan is
01:00:50
to turn pro again
01:00:51
yeah go from there amazing oh good luck
01:00:54
good luck thanks very much and when are
01:00:56
you guys getting married uh 2025 yeah
01:00:59
23. oh you're good don't rush into it no
01:01:02
no but you've got a date
01:01:05
um March
01:01:08
yeah no amazing hey well um you seem
01:01:12
like a great couple you seem really good
01:01:13
for each other I think so
01:01:15
um and it's been great to meet you today
01:01:17
the madness yeah it's been great to meet
01:01:19
you too
01:01:20
um one of New Zealand's strongest men
01:01:22
um physically but I think also
01:01:24
emotionally and mentally maybe as well I
01:01:26
like to think that's one of my strengths
01:01:27
is my mental strengths I hope to help a
01:01:30
lot of other people with that as well
01:01:31
especially lifting and friends and
01:01:34
family and stuff like that as well yeah
01:01:36
yeah Rich Pharrell thanks brother all
01:01:38
right thank you
01:01:39
[Music]
01:01:42
thank you
