Open it up Justin, open it up. Yeah Can we keep that in there Doug, please if you want to pump your body and expand your mind There's only one place to go Might pop might pop with your hosts Salda Stefano Adam Schaefer and Justin Andrews I had a really good time because after Matt dropped off or you got dropped off here we hung out afterwards and ended up chopping up forever and I love when we meet people like cuz we I've met we've met a ton of people yeah Interviewing us with that and I like pretty much all of them like all of them I like and then there there's like levels of how much I really like some of the best like somebody you could hang out Right beyond this If he was somebody who was up the road from us, you know, I'm saying if we really get on a plane to go see him all Time we were sure we would hang out.  Yeah, I know I know it's I felt the same thing I was a little bit like man.  Oh, yeah, we're like the same guy. No, he's hilarious. It's very sharp-witted He's a competitive. He was an ex-competitor, right? He's to compete in the two-time world champion Highland games Which is a it's a strength sport. I love to even hear him talk about that because the way he makes fun of himself Oh, yeah, he's like, that's not even a real sport.  What's his clothing line called? It's a big but with with the Roman numerals. Yes, H and then V II and it's a very successful I mean he started himself. I love hearing stories like this, right? He was a obviously in a strength sport wanted to turn that into a business somehow Came up with his clothing line, which is doing very well I mean, it's legit stuff like me and Adam both.  We're like going for it man. Cuz it like it's stuff. I'd actually I dropped over 300 bucks on his gear. Oh, yeah Wait, you'll see. I should get it this week. He sent me a bunch of free stuff His uh, you can find his apparel be that guy that kind of friend the hate dot-com But it's hate Roman Roman no Roman numerals. That was weird. It's the Hvi.com He's the three I sorry Hvi I I equal calm. Yeah, you can find him on Instagram at I Hvi I Matt Vincent and he has a podcast. He's actually got a new podcast. He's a good podcast. We were on his too Yeah, we were on his podcast his podcast is called um, so so um and then so you get how it you get how that works, right?  Okay. I just wanted to tell the audience Oh, I just had to spell it out. Yeah, okay I was like you get that Roman numerals. I literally got I literally got it right the second Before oh you did as you read it. You got it. No, Justin's like hate Roman. Oh Roman numerals. Yes, excellent So here we are talking to Matt Vincent. It's the last night. I recorded with Jen Widerstrom and Jeff Nichols my Navy Seal buddy and Recorded at Jen's house and like what do we want to talk about blah blah blah blah?  No, it was that line. Oh, yeah, that was a great You're a funny guy.   I don't know if it's if I'm supposed to believe that's like some weird chain mail But that guy's in terrible shape Arnold you're not gonna fight You know what movie he did a knife I actually had this conversation with my friend the other day because we were huge when I was a kid me my cousin and Our buddy Wes were huge Arnold fans like all action heroes But the one movie that has stood the test of time as predator The original predator is still a badass movie when you watch it. No original predator Yeah, the other side commando like, you know red heat not stuff like oh my god That was a stretch. Well how many years later though predator came quite a way It was quite a bit later than those Prezors not that much later really no not that much. It was after commando. Yes. Oh, yeah Yeah, it was after commando, but it wasn't that much after commando because it was Conan commando. We should find out I know that the order was it Conan. I know Conan's first Breakthrough right? Hercules in New York. Hercules in New York.  Your last name is too crazy. Yeah, Smith He's one of probably a hundred people who tried to make that play and we never know any of the others Just do it like Arnold outside the bilker Predator was in 1987 1987 was predator. Yeah, so what 85 is commando commando was 85. Yeah, I was sweet Carl Weathers. Yep. Yep. Yep. God so many great lines. I'm gonna say the way they split his name up there. That's Shwasi Yeah, memory kicks the door doesn't work throws the knife through the guy and he's like stick around But no it's after Terminator Yes, Terminator because he says I'll be Yeah, yeah Terminator 1984. Which is Yeah kicks the door down knock knock when he blasts everybody what a weird existence like Arnold Schwarzenegger has to have had right like I mean, you're essentially The most famous person in any room you've walked in since like what? 80 yeah, yeah, he's He is the if I'll argue this all day long and I will win this argument with anybody He represents. He's very confident Arnold represents the American dream better than anybody I can think of better than anybody and he's not even American.  Yeah, okay, and then he's like I'm gonna become the governor of the most populous state in the country as a Republican He's essentially running the third larges like the third largest economy on the planet As a Republican he became the governor of California like Democrat land Voting is a popularity content put someone in all right So I believe that within 12 years the rock will be the way on the way, right? Don't you think the only problem I have with that right is I feel like Dwayne's pretty smart and He's gonna see that it's a horrible job. I want that job. Yeah, you know what I think it is. So like yeah You've been to billion dollars to earn a job that pays 400 grand right Oh, you go it's the power. It's the power right because at that point you've accomplished almost everything else It's a terrible job.  It's everybody. I hope it's American idol That's true. Like I hope that guy's not make a decision We'll see what happens. So I I want you to share a story because I know I know I know yes No before we go to that one.  I don't know if these guys know I remember The first time that I came across you was actually I found you I think Joe Rogan reposted your coffee Yeah, I had a coffee might be getting reposted Joe Rogan day show that share that story Taylor was briefly telling me a little bit too about it that you weren't even ready for that No, no not even close, right? So we've we've been in business at that point With hate brand a year The damn near a full year. So we put the coffee mug out and we're still doing stuff like limited release things like that So we think we make this mug. We ordered our standard quantity. We got I think 300 of them I'm like, well, this this is a whole deal Christmas, you know, this is like early like end of October and sure enough like it's yeah, November 2nd 2015 is Joe Rogan day and Like I got a get a text from her friends like holy shit do Joe Rogan just reposted your mug And I'm like, why don't I look it up and I'd taken a photo that morning with like two bags of caveman coffee and my mug and And sent it over to the guy a caveman that I know and he reposted and then Joe reposted man tagged us in it And so like we've got at this point like probably I don't know 150 mugs in stock No, what is the mug say on it? Just as kick today in the day. It's one that we Posted yeah, and so that's kind of being our being our thing right and So he posts this thing and like sales just And so it's like my partner calls me it's like well, we've only got like 140 of these left Like what do you want me to do because we're we've blasted through that in like the first 10 minutes since this thing's been posted Oh, wow, it's that powerful. Oh dude.  It's been that's so how crazy is that the power of and that's a Post like not an organic post by Rogan. Yeah, that was just a repost that he didn't on his Instagram And he didn't even talk about it on his podcast. He didn't even talk about it on his podcast No, no, I'm not even close. Wow. Just to show you the power of one person. That's like Oprah was like that Like if you Oprah could make her break your life. Yeah, if you got on her show and she talked about your book You're a best-seller. Yeah guaranteed. Yep. That's crazy. That's insane. Yeah. Wow. So tell us about Your what you compete in what that's all about and you do Highland Games competition Yeah, so a lot of our listeners have no idea it's a strength sport, but they have no idea what it Like I think it's I consider it one of the most, I mean, you know manly It's good fun, right? So, you know, my background was a thrower in college shop at discus and hammer at LSU and then just spent some years doing some powerlifting did some a strong man was really average at both of them and made my way and found a Highland game to do and Really really enjoyed it took well to it if you threw for ten years prior to getting to the Highland games It's essentially cheating It all makes sense really but instead of you know doing three events. We now have nine So we do two stone throws that are really similar to the shot put we do two hammer throws We do two weights for distance and we do a weight over a bar a caber and the sheaf which is like a 20 pound Hey bail thing you throw with a pitchfork. Hmm. So got into that really really enjoyed it That was 2008 did my first game or 2009 did my first game in November 2010 did a full season essentially traveling around and then Went professional at the end of 2011. How do you become professional at it? Um, it's a little bit of just throw your hands in the air and say I'm now professional But the path that it worked out for me, which isn't I don't even think it's in existence anymore to do it there was something of a federation at the time and And They hosted an amateur world championship I went and did that and won that was right at the end of 2011 and so what I'd understood was if I win that I Get an automatic invite to the 2012 professional world championship.  I'm like, well, that's where you guys are doing it this year He's like, yeah, it's in a couple weeks Which which worlds am I invited to and they're like, yeah, the one in a couple weeks.   How's the vibe towards Americans? Oh, it's fun. Yeah.   Yeah, of course and the coolest thing is like I think now More athletes are finding it as like another opportunity to stay in competition and stay doing things And so now there's more information too about like where do you find games? And how do you get into the sport and what are the events and well shit? How would I actually train for that? And so that's been cool to share all that type of stuff, right? Yeah, I actually looked into that and there was like It was like clubs in the local area right have it and they would host it and all that and I was curious Like how do you even like get in you have to get into the club kind of circuit or yeah, and like there's not really It's not like a club or anything like that and there's no federations. There's no any of that with Highland games We're essentially paid entertainment at some festival got it and so which I see okay because so some renaissance festival Or somebody else drinking and doing shit awesome. Yeah, so we have crowds.  They took all their weapons And so these were ways that the clans could meet together and have some type of a physical challenge or a way to train For battle with it not seeming like Smashing swords So you throw rocks and they had you know counterweights from the scale So we threw a we throw a 28 pound weight for distance when we throw a 56 pound for distance and so we throw a 56 pound over a bar, which is For stone or something like that whatever the translation is and these were you know weights that they used to measure grain and stuff like that and you know the weights have Become more of a throwing implement now than what they started as and so a lot of the games You know that I've done in Scotland have been around a really long time like oh, this is a 700th running of Wow, this game and it's really cool because it's also like 700 years. Yeah, holy shit Yeah, and so it's deep and then you have some of those that have done a really good job of Like maintaining things and so you've got Like field records and stuff like that. We're set with that stone. Well, so it's the same stone.  I mean I remember Really learning about the democratization of sports and learning how much equipment Played a role in breaking new records like Cycle, you know cyclists or the or the track or the shoe or the you know The new technique of jumping or whatever and how much that plays a role versus just the physical performance and just how people back Then we're fucking bad asses, too Do have you seen records of some of these competitions where you're like this record has been up here for 130 years There's nothing that long there's some records like older records a tied a Tied one of the stone records for the world record is like 63 three or something like that and Owner of that record is Brian Oldfield. It was like a four-time Olympian world record holder in the shop But oh, so you've got a couple records like that and Jeff cast with another Olympian And these are all guys from kind of the 80s that post track and field had got into something else So they're like peak. Yeah. Yeah, these are legit athletes And so the records have been around long enough that most of the owners now are Pretty much somebody but yeah, but I mean, there's such a difference now I mean most so the average thrower in the professional ranks of the Highland games now is Think someone did the top 20 of us and there was you know, the average is six three three ten Just big dudes big boys, you know, I mean those people didn't exist 600 years ago Yeah, we just didn't have enough food or if they did they might not have come Competed.  You'd be better off having a 300 pound squat and transferring a hundred percent of your energy You know, that's less wear and tear and it's a hell of a lot easier to improve technique in your first two years that like a specialty sport Then it is to add 200 pounds to your squat. Now. That's a very intelligent theory right there How do you apply that in your training like give an example of like how you would do that? So when in doubt go throw more, you know, so it's it's reps It's always going to take reps and I mean, what did I do to get better at the sport? I mean As having a throwing background I managed that, you know I didn't have a coach or anything but I could video and I could critique myself and see where I'm screwing stuff up And I'd thrown long enough that I had enough feel for the sport. So what I did was I would take 60 throws per event a week for the entire year and so it was throw first I'm plenty strong Until I can make this work. Why are we focusing on getting stronger? Everyone goes it's easy to get stronger and that's that's where people default and go there but that's a much more general and a lot of people understand that like there's General foundational kind of adaptations and then they become more and more specific Based on, you know, whatever company sport you're doing. So you can build for example general Endurance, but that doesn't mean you're gonna swim longer than somebody who's got excellent technique in the water And knows how to use that endurance, you know in a swim and the same thing is true with strength You can have some incredible. I mean, it's funny because many times, you know, I was a grappler for quite a while and I was usually stronger than the other person just because I had a background on lifting weights and for my body weight I'm pretty strong for my weight obviously bigger guys than me are stronger than me But if you know, if I'm going against a hundred and ninety pound guy in Jiu-Jitsu typically if we go to the gym, I'm an out deadlift squat bench, whatever but there's guys I would grab and Just pure strength and grappling they would they I would feel like I'd be manhandled Then I'd go take into the gym and I did this many times I take these guys at the gym and we'd lift and they couldn't squat to 25 They couldn't they couldn't pull 300 pounds off the floor. They couldn't bench press over 200 pounds And I remember initially I'd be shocked that these people weren't that strong And then I realized like it's just it's just different to different skill. It's different They can apply their strength differently than I can whereas I can squat and deadlift more whatever But then when we grapple it was a completely different different story, right?   But we're like, yeah, yeah, I should not a big deal Right. However How do I apply a 400 pound clean to something that only weighs 60 pounds and that's leverage That's technique that's trying to figure out.  Not my arm and shoulder and that's technique and that's gonna come from the repetition and What I recommend doing to build that repetition is Keep working how what's the furthest you can throw with the least amount of effort is Where you want to be? Oh interesting. And so most of my training practices working on technique were You know start off really slow and throw out the you know 20 or 40 throws were Let me throw just further than the last row like what's what's the least amount of effort I have to put in to throw just further than the last one Mm-hmm.  That's what looks at one Wow, so you can really feel the difference of your technique like what can you know since it comes out of your hand 100% of the really yeah, if it's a bomb, you know it. Oh, that slows down a little bit You just feel things line up and you finish dead on balance like both feet planted You know that all of the energy and momentum that you created was spinning went into that Oh, that's cool. You know, it's essentially like slamming a door, right? You know when you really slam it you don't move You transferred everything into it, right or it's like hitting a baseball or exactly, right?  It seems effortless, right? No, but now if you blow out to the side or do anything I think that's wasted energy that went this way instead of That now did the 10,000 hour sort of rule apply here Like what do you think when do you think you started to kind of get in the groove of it? I'm sure I got into the groove of it Learning how to throw in college, right? Yeah, you know, so I already knew the point that Everything has to be led with my right hip, you know The further distance that I can create between my right hip and my right arm holding the implement the further It's gonna go. Hmm. So I already knew that But then things came together in the Highland games. I remember During the first full season I competed like things started clicking and I started hitting big throws and then started hitting big throws really consistently And then when they started getting consistent Like that's when things get fun Hmm, like that's the best thing in the world about throwing is when it when it just starts lining up and The techniques there and you've built enough hours into it that I mean, there's a lot of variables in the throw, right? You know, so I've got to think You know shift my weight over the left foot turn. I need to kick the right foot out I've got to switch the hip in front. I need to land keep the right foot turning land keep the shoulders behind You know push the right foot through block with the left shoulder initiate the shoulder push the hand out finish reverse Stay in yeah, you know for sound simple.  No, this is all one side driven. Do you ever go on the other side? You don't have time Yeah, you don't have time for you don't have time to be good. Yeah, just this is your sacrifice to try to be good at a sport Asymmetrical. Yeah. Yeah, there's no such thing as sports at a high-end that are healthy. Thank you. Yeah God, thank you.  No Little different. Yeah, right. So so true man I want to get into your business mind a little bit man because you seem like a pretty savvy business, dude When you started doing the Highland games, did you do it with the intent to build a business? Are you just having fun? No, tell me how that all played out then. How do we get here? So I did my first season Competing and at the time I'm traveling a lot for work and Hanging out with some different people on the road and I would always kind of book meetings around where I had a competition Or there was a gym. I wanted to try to go see what kind of work are you doing right now this so at this point I'm doing outside sales and a oil and gas petrochemical field And so I'm chasing turnarounds doing stuff. Of course you did sales. You're very you communicate very well weird I'm very familiar that what I am professionally as a salesman. I know this is my skill and so At that time I'm traveling and I ended up meeting up and hanging out a lot with Jim Wendler And so as we're chatting in this time and this is this is probably 2009 How did you know him? Hmm. I had done a long trip up the East Coast for sales There's actually a really weird week. I've done like two weeks up the East Coast seeing people from essentially South Carolina all the way up to Pennsylvania and finished the trip.  This was a Friday You know, we need someone here Monday morning at 9 o'clock to come look at these drawings and You know see what we need for this upcoming work Cool. You're in st. Louis. Mm-hmm. I'm in Philly. That is not on the way home So drive over the weekend and since I'm on the week It was up in Philadelphia where there's a gym iron sport Steve Pulsinella runs and he knows Dave Tate and the guys from elite So he connects me and he's like hey a buddy of mine is gonna come through do you mind if he trains? So I end up training it elite over the weekend and while I'm in there Wendler comes through and we hit it off So we hit it off over I don't know was a really awful day of running prowler At that time like everyone kind of dies during it and then he and I are just still Running and going so we end up shooting the shit going to dinner and hanging out and have just been friends since Oh, and at the time he's like anybody ever written a book for Highland games And I'm like nope. He's like are you gonna? I was like, I don't know And he's like you should otherwise. I'm going to All right, I was like, I don't even know how you'd go about doing these guys easy So we talking stuff like that and so he kind of mentored me through it And so wrote a book basically laying out my training for the games the training for the games at that point like essentially Everybody was just meatheads and so those guys doing different powerlifting stuff like this to get good at the games I'm like, why wouldn't you just train like a thrower? Yeah, the way we did in college. It's different. We compete 20 times a year You know, you don't do for Contest like the way you do in powerlifting so part of competing 20 times a year and trying to peak for three games of the season is Some of these you're not going to be your best at right because you train straight through them This is an organized practice for you to get used to competing And if you don't look at it that way, I'm not saying you're not going to throw well But you may have done 10 sets of 10 on squats, you know 48 hours before the competition Right. Wow. So you actually account for that. Oh, you have to yeah, like this contest doesn't matter. Yeah You're doing 20 of them Peek for 20, you know most seasons I did 22 23 games So I mean you just can't peak for 23 weeks from May until September now are there some that help your ranks more than others as far as the events are concerned No, no, not so far as the events are concerned The ranking always came from because we do the same nine events every week It's not like strongman, you know, it's never a change and so you could rank people the Catholic style scoring Throughout the country no matter where they threw and so that gave you your top 10 Is this common to compete so much in the in the Highland games? Yeah, okay Yeah, it's not nearly as physically abusive on the body as strongman or powerlifting or any of that, right?   Here's how you would you know build a speed and power program Here's how you would do strength cycle. Here's how you would do your off season Mm-hmm, and so put that out and sold sold some copies and one of the things I wrote about in the book Was the hate the mentality kind of where the brand had come from and you know basically describing that like You know these athletes like your Jerry Rice your guys like these that you'd hear these stories about that like you know Despite the Jerry Rice is the best, you know wide receiver in the history of football That this guy is still out running hills. You know at 4 a.m. He's catching bricks He's still practicing routes and like that fucking guy hates himself more than I do You know you know be willing as an athlete to own that that like be willing to outwork your competition I mean I I can't be any taller I can't do any of those things so I can either dwell on that or say what can I do and what I can do is show Up on time I can I can outwork you and I can put in the effort put in the reps and You know so hate yourself more than the next guy, you know a little bit of self-loathing goes a long way And so I mean that's essentially where the you know the mentality came from and so talked about that and so wrote another But the brand is born at that yeah at that brand right so wrote another book throwing lab which broke down all the throws from a technical standpoint is A good book.  There's not that many people It's silent games. I'm selling dozens of these much group of people. Yeah, yeah number one Highlands game But it is selling but it's a weird spot because nobody's done this right with the games And so they you know the old guards a little pissy like it was this guy coming in here Telling people I don't be the authority of everything. Yeah, right and so I put this book out Like here's how I'm training for the full season did it want a world championship. Oh Which is also really weird because success doesn't teach you very much Failure teaches you a shitload. Mm-hmm.  Where was I weak? Where do I do this? I win the next year? I'm like, all right Well that worked.  I don't do that Like I don't have time to ship stuff like I have a job Yeah, that pays well and in a career and like I don't have time to go ship Go to the post office every day this week just to sell one shirt a day You know what I mean, right? A lot of people don't realize that like so I try to start three different clothing lines as a kid growing up where I'm at now And I remember when mine pump really started taking off that was you know, all the fans are like, oh make the shirts Make the shirts.  You look at it as more advertising Yeah, I mean, yeah, and it's it's it's gone. Well So we we did that and essentially some like I don't want to do it because I know I don't have time And I'm not gonna be able to do it well.  Yeah, that's no problem.  So we did it sell 50 shirts over the the one week that I've got pre-sale up Rolled those into more shirts bought more shirts It's just been doing that since oh wow Ever since then it's just pink right now. Have you left the other job completely and that's all yeah So they they decided they fired me in March of this year And like I can sell that anyway. I want to I mean they didn't want to keep pursuing pursuing stuff in Louisiana where I was about four and a half hours from the main office and You know, they just weren't growing that way and didn't want to put an office by me and fill it with people for me to actually sell Whereas all my competition in the area has that so if I'm trying to compete like I've got a paper Deum to a group of guys who comes and does the work just not competitive and so They let me go and I didn't get fired because I was like stealing from them or anything But as far as I'm concerned, they decided one morning that they weren't interested and give me a paycheck for my job anymore That's getting fired.  So that's that's essentially what I do for a living now Is that and you know YouTube and podcast and I've got some sponsors and stuff like that What do you so what are you liking about that because this is a total career shift when you think about it? It's great.  What's gonna make me a better me and that's really what I'm chasing. That's cool What are the things that you're doing now that to make you a better year? What are things you're into? It's it's really trying to surround myself, right with you know, like-minded people, but not the same mind I'm not I'm not looking to be validated by the people I talked to or books. I read or anything like that I want something new. I want a new insight. I want new life experience. I want those type of things and really enjoying Getting feedback and helping other people realize that they can do the same, right? And travel has always been big for me and now that I don't have this other job. I kind of travel as I want to But it's it's meeting new interesting people like your Kyle Kingsbury who's got a complete different outlook on a lot of things than I've had and Just opened everything right like the way I feel about it is like show up be a novice Have you always been like that open-minded for growth or is that something that did something a pivotal time in your eye for you?  I mean, I feel like I've always have been but for sure pivotal role I guess would be I'm 34 now be 35 in April and when I was 31 Or just turned 31.  And uh, how old is your dad when he died 62?      Mm-hmm So let's go.  What can I do more of to not? Waste any of that time. Mm-hmm. You have kids. I know you're married No kids. No kids. No kids yet. We spent about a year and a half trying and unsuccessfully and so that gets weirdly stressful, too So essentially we've kind of pumped the brakes on that and like if the universe decides that we're gonna have kids We'll have kids with nothing I can do about it.  I'm like, oh cool You guys went to go watch a a Wiggles reunion Man, I went I thought it's so true my wife and I went to Italy for the weekend Our story just the same thing I get it. Oh, you're broke My girl and I said we've been together for seven years We're 36 and 37 say it all the time and we're not anti-having. Yeah, right Like you said the universe lets it happen. It happens type of deal But right now But we had those exact same because all you see everyone married and having kids now Oh, it's the best thing ever and I'm like really cuz I mean look I think honestly like if I would have had that you know The fucking the first job that I had in the petrochemical industry as a sales guy like if I'd have had that job And that was gonna be it for the next 30 years, right doing that grinding it out Oh, I'd have kids by now.  And so That's that's what I'm into and so make a run at it and see what we can find that's such a great attitude You got a fantastic when we first started I remember people couldn't put it together where we we didn't know A lot of people don't know this so this was the first time I think I think we share this on the podcast that You know, we had to we had to front the money to flot we flew our guests in we how we did everything to get them to come Because when we were small and we're just getting started Fuck yeah, it was mine pump or okay, I'm gonna come on your show. And so we had to we had to actually I mean it was a major hustle and we would go any we still do that. We just got back from la We did a 10 shows in three days and and so one of that shit's cheap. Yeah. No not at all It's not it's not cheap. It's a lot of it's a lot of work and it's a grind But it's also super rewarding too. I think you right you have to know because what the mindset you have right now like Man the amount of growth that we've gone through in the last three years with meeting all these really really cool people Have you had anybody that? Just totally wowed you that you weren't that you weren't ready for and you were like Oh, I did not expect that that person to be like this. Um, probably kelly stirrett.  I was a dude. I got an idea for a project I'd really like to do and I like traveling I know some interesting people and I've definitely got connections to other interesting people through that network And so I wanted to film, you know, this uh, the drift to lift a series that I've got on my youtube channel And so we do it about once a year. So this is 2014 Something whatever and so I've decided like we're gonna go do this and so I talked to my buddy We're gonna fly to california. We're gonna interview kelly. We're gonna view mark bell and go talk to jesse burrick And I've known mark and so then I know jesse and I know kelly.  So I Super random. Yeah, it wasn't over stretching And so since then I mean like mark kelly and jesse are are really really close friends And I would say more than anyone else like I really get along with kelly very well. We uh He's as close to kind of mentor role for a lot of stuff that I've ever had And um, he's he's great people. They're wildly positive.  Well, we were up there a couple weeks ago and uh in July or june my wife will no better We've got a 16 day rafting and camping trip in the grand canyon with kelly and julia And a bunch of other people and that should be that should be really really good. Have you done that before? I hear that's amazing. Yeah. Yeah, it's like no phone disconnect. Yeah.  Let's drive out to arizona to do it She's like, yeah, and I'm like look man After 16 days of of like disconnect and and this environment of this close-knit group and kind of this tribal thing that you get from that And in getting to actually know these people I just don't know that I can stomach going to the airport.  Oh, so I like going places But if we could if we can't the japanese could stop building machines We could have sex with and come up with teleportation. Hey, hey, we're making progress there, buddy That's what I'm saying.   That's funny. Yeah, we can't stay on the airport No, it's the worst That's actually that's actually a really unique strategy that I don't even know if I would think about when you put it out There like that that makes a lot of sense. You just have this incredible You know being disconnected from tech and others and you're in nature and you're with a tight group Like you're saying to get right back on a plane and otherwise And yeah hurting cattle at that point versus riding home with your wife or you can probably download all the stuff that you guys Exactly right and I've got you know, we got a rooftop tent on the truck So we'll drive through a couple national parks and camp and hang out. That's awesome, you know and Like that's that's what I want to do I mean look, I've it's really interesting because of the change of things and and after 20 years of You know competing and lifting and doing stuff like that Now that I'm essentially not throwing anymore because of my knee like I'm still interested in lifting that that's not going anywhere.  Yeah, I remember the first time I did that me and my uh, when I owned a personal training studio Me and my partner Had kettle bells and it's like hey, let's take these apart just chuck them and I it was the most fun I'd ever had with weights.  Did you did you grow up small town? Or are you yeah? Yeah? Yes, you did it's Louisiana's there's not like if there's a lot of options for metropolis The whole state has like four million people in it and now you're doing Denver's and New York's and austin's and san jose's I mean, what what's your take doesn't make you like where you're at where you live even more Or does it make you want to move to somewhere else? It's always a double-edged sword and so the way I've looked at it and I've talked to different people Is like I mean if I could pick a place To live I really really do like norcal. I really like where kelly and them are at However, my budget's not fixing to buy myself into sam rafael. Oh my god, you know, it's getting worse I don't have two million to drop on a house from the sixties that needs to be gutted So not crazy right and so You know I started looking at stuff like that because you know after I'd lost the other job There's nothing really keeping me there. I mean as long as I have my phone attention Yeah, I can work and so you know we talked about it a little bit and then we built the house a couple years ago and Realized that like we built the exact house we wanted Uh with you know our nice backyard and set up and we're in a neighborhood that only has 30 houses in it It's not getting any bigger. I'm an hour from an international airport And my house was like 280 grand.  Yeah, and it's home. I like louisiana.  I go to my house See family Yeah, and so whether I'm at home or I'm here It's this four mile radius I live in and occasionally you go and do really cool stuff So I can live there and get on a plane to go do really cool stuff All right, right, right what I what I've noticed more recently I've never traveled as much as I've traveled since we started the podcast. We're probably on a plane Every month right almost every single month. Yeah, I average like 40 flights a year Okay, so here's a crazy thing that I noticed that I never realized before. Um, we started doing this was that you know The the country we live in america is so massive. Yeah, it's huge It's so big and every state is almost not quite but almost like another country in the sense that you can sense and feel Different culture In like the state culture hundred percent and even in california you go to you go to southern california different culture It's totally different in orca. Oh, yeah, you go to texas Austin is totally different from dallas and you go to colorado and that's different and you go to florida and that's different It's like and you can almost start to feel You know like floridians or different the californians that are different than texans that are and it's very interesting Have you noticed this 100% right and and that's really cool You know, and I've got to spend some time, you know in scotland and you know in the uk and then you know iceland and some other countries and Like states or countries over there.   Oh, I think it's something like like Greater la area could hold all of the people physically. Oh, that's crazy Yeah, most of the most of the population is like on the coast and in a few states Otherwise, it's like we follow water. Yeah. Otherwise. It's super sparse. What are what because you're from Louisiana What are people from Louisiana like? What are some of the stereotypes or good and bad? um I mean, it's a state. I've always wanted to visit by the way. I plan on going to some time there. Yeah, I mean You've watched like swamp people or anything like this, right? Like tv show, you know, it exists, right?  It's also fucking sketchy New Orleans gets real sketchy really fast I think it's most I think it's currently the most dangerous city on earth, which is we're winning All right Well, I know I know stocked in california is like was rated number one on yahu like two years ago Is the worst city to live in?  I love california.    Wow Wow, you don't need a sauna. No, no, it's pretty cool. Oh cool heat shock proteins. I'm just going the attic for fun So matt you you mentioned, uh, kelly start being kind kind of like a mentor to you now where you're at in your life What about like growing up like what what turned you into the man that you are today? Like did you have was your was did your father play a big role in that or did you have mentors like? You know, I think a big part of my brother, right? Um, we we always been really close and so andy's Four four years older than me or five years school wise. So we were never in high school together Which was probably great And he was a shitload better at sports than me and so Like seeing him excel and never get in trouble and not be a piece of shit Like that was like, why wouldn't I follow this path?  So well, you've got soccer tomorrow. Like, oh, okay, soccer starts and um You know, I think that and I think with my parents.  These are yours to choose on how the how you'd like to act And you know and then expectations with school and grades and there was never an expectation from sports side of thing That was just a thing we did Yeah, we just happened to have some decent genetics and enjoy doing it. So it worked out well Did start with throwing uh played football stuff like that growing up, right? Like, um you know football and track through high school did football and track in middle school and then Got recruited by some smaller schools For for college for football But I mean nobody was looking for six foot 270 pound linemen that weren't that fast You know at schools. I wanted to actually go to right and so I was a much better track athlete and so lsu had recruited me So I went there on a scholarship and competed for for four years Excellent. Yeah, it was fun. Tell us about your podcast. When did you start it and why did you start it? I am a sweet Seven episodes in yeah, you're new. Yeah, it's a brand new. It's called um, so I'm so yeah, so like that Just kind of talk about anything it was you know It was just kind of an expansion on getting to do this and you know with travel and talk to these people and you know, maybe have a little bit more in-depth conversation and It's it's stuff like you know being influenced by what rogan does which I love is that long format Conversation, you know and like I mean look man.  We all know how to lift Thank you. Yeah, what else right? Why do we do this? It's that's one of our favorite things when we meet a guest So we just like again, we just got back from la we saw this and we saw people like Drama from fantasy factory and uh, who else do we see that was like totally opposite of what we would normally Nothing to do with health and fitness, right? And I they're always they're always scared to talk to us at first because I think we're gonna just talk about barbells and dumbbells Well, sure, but I mean like I mean, but that's kind of that, you know I don't want to meet a bunch of people that You know, otherwise it's just sitting around smelling my own farts, right? Yeah, you know, which is fun But yeah, it's great. You know your own brand. Yeah And I want to meet people that don't have my background that don't do what I do that don't Have any of this. I want, you know, it's my opening life experience. I want some, you know insight into something and You know, I'm not gonna gain anything You know only talking to someone who mirrors me, right all the same people, right?  You know, this is a conversation.  What do you like? You like you like these Here's the same politics stuff. Oh, you like to loop, man Yeah, you and and then it gets and the the more you get that right the more confirmation bias you have There's the harder it is for you to break free of that And so I can't stress that enough to listen or especially the younger generation coming up the importance of Seeking out people that you you might not agree with or seeking out people that do nothing related to what you do Right making sure that you're always doing that and then even when you get good information is seeking out the opposing information too I I can't stress how important it is. It's becoming comfortable being uncomfortable. It's part of it Of course, but that's growth. That's right.    Which one of those is going to make me stronger and ain't the one You know do more work. Mm-hmm. Well, that's interesting because what you see now is everybody making sure they capture it and put it on instagram Right, great. You have to otherwise doesn't count. You're a great person to ask that question too What are some of the things in since we've avoided our field with our obvious field that we're all in What are some of the things that drive you crazy that you see going on right now? For the life of me.  Right. This is a really easy way for us to manage a clear line Right here. We don't have to debate anything. You're right. Yeah, you know, I also don't understand the sport that women allow that Butthole shot that they have to The cross leg yeah, they're like, yeah, it's so weird. Yeah. Yeah This is part of your sport.    I just have to be lighter than the next time in browner Like come on man Like I love you, man. I wish we could get away from that So I share this on the show all the time right when I uh, so I competed if you didn't know that already and I used it as a platform to do what we're doing right now Like and I remember I I met a few people who ended up being friends and I've remained friends With them because they were there's less than a handful so I can count on one hand how many people I've met and from amateur all the way to professional level that Saw it the same way I did like, okay. This is getting a ton a ton of attention It's a growing sport. These are all the covers of the magazines.  This is how you push yourself. This is how you Manage discipline and stress and do all these other things.  Well, you know what I mean like what I was blown away by was the The amount of body image issues poor relationship with food and poor relationship with exercise that I found You would have thought that okay.  These guys are doing so much damage.  Yeah And it's all the way through to the professional level and I cannot believe that I saw more of that In the competitive world than I ever saw in the thousands of clients that I trained my entire career Right, so I thought that was really crazy and fascinating. So it's a lot of what we talk about on the show and I agree with you man It's a it is it's a it's a crazy sport.  I don't get it.  Of course, right?    I mean with money for example Once there is a particular basic me needs just like 75 or 80 grand something like that I think they said 70,000. I think they said 70,000 dollars for a household in america Beyond that there is no more.  So you're putting away 200 bucks a month Away from your expenses and rent and stuff like that maybe if you could even do that maybe yeah And okay cool. Well, so you also don't have a vehicle. That's terribly reliable So you end up with a flat tire and now need a new tire wheel and alignment Everything I've saved in the last six months is gone. It's absorbed right away.  So now they're millionaires, but they're still or bro. Yeah, most of them actually go broke. Yeah Jim Kerry said I've quoted this a several times now Jim Kerry recently said I wish everybody could get rich and famous so they could know that that's not the answer Right. Yeah.  I essentially had you know hate brand was was paying me As much as the real job.   That's a high score That I don't touch Anyway, I mean it's never I'm never gonna be a guy that's like well got enough.  Yeah to the end of this road And I believe it or not the faster you get there. I think that the sooner you die too I believe that too, man people live a little bit longer when I have a job to do. I had no purpose That's a fact actually. Yeah, again back by side.  You know what you do die Right, great work.  That's how it is. That's why I tell people to have no plans of retirement I'll be doing something till I die.    That sounds cool though. No, just say consultant. I just say unemployed Job it doesn't matter saying you're a writer I'm an artist. Oh, you're you're unemployed. It's like I say it and I feel like but we're doing really well I feel like I have to We're doing good man I love it when I tell people I have a podcast When I first met my girlfriend the hell do you make money? Yeah when I first met my girlfriend's dad he's like so So you have a podcast. Yeah, what else? What else do you do? That's all I do How do you how do you how does that make money you guys like uh? Like people pay to listen to your podcast. No, no, no, it's a free podcast anybody can listen.  Dude, I think about this all the time, right?  He's like so so how's things how are things going like well? I've got an apparel company. He's like, oh, that's great. You know, uh, do you guys have a store? No All right, no store.  So people buy it and you ship it out and I'm like, well, I don't personally Like I've got a place that ships it out. Well, they're in Kansas. I've never been there They're who met them. No.  It's like I take the goddamn information from the customers to the engineers that they don't have to interact.  Is that Adults are taking gummy vitamins, right? Yeah Children shed some light on what it's like Do and I know you don't you don't like to be labeled that or attached to that But I think there's a lot of people that have a misconception of either one how easy is oh I'll just come out.  So you had an audience first Yeah, I had an audience first. I was already doing some youtube stuff I was already, you know writing books and had done these type of things and people relatively knew who I was Through through a bunch of different animals, you know avenues and this is pre instagram stuff like that And so you would you had grown into being a big fish in a small pond by now So even though your pond is not huge, right? Yeah. Yeah in the highland games Yes, right and then I was able to transfer that by starting to go meet You know leave my comfort zone to go meet guys like kelly and mark and this and that and then be on mark's podcast It's not hard to meet awesome people It's the tricky part is being someone they'd like to hang out with a second time Great point. That's a good point. Great point, dude.  However it plays god, that's such an important point man Your true net worth is your net circle.  Am I gonna make it? No? I think it's lame So it's my it's my part. Yeah, right, you know what I mean?  Yeah, they smell it especially today.  I don't have a good enough memory to be a liar Yeah, do you design all your own stuff because I think a lot of your stuff is really cool Um creative side of it. Yes. So typically I will come up with concept and I'll sketch And do that and I am a terrible digital artist But I've been really lucky that uh some guys that I had worked with years past as I tore managed for a band They are very good at it. What kind of band? Um, just rock band Toured around and did did that for a few years and uh was fun and then Drew the guy who uh who was a singer for the band now owns a creative agency uh this company slash and I've known him for 12 years and so the beauty of working with him is I can show up with What I've got sketched out and since he doesn't have to go. Hey, man. Give me five designs from scratch Like what what do you want just anything?  Do you have a favorite or a bestseller? um The original shirt we ever did uh, is this kind of craft beer labeled looking Uh hate shirt, you know, it says you know handcrafted in the dirty south And uh that shirt we've kept on the site forever and it has always sold really really well. That's cool. Excellent You seem like a growth-minded individual what are things or areas that you're Currently exploring or growing and have nothing to do with fitness. Um So business wise or life wise whatever either. Yeah, okay. Um, what excites you the most I guess right now adventure Adventure new experiences. That's that's the big one. That's the one I want to chase and and that for me is What was the last like big adventure for your experience? Uh, we were in iceland for 10 days Um over over over the summer beautiful went with a group of like eight of us and uh It was fun and it was it was a learning experience to try to have that many people Involved in something and I didn't care for it.  Well, now what's the story? And the story was you're experiencing this awesome place with the people that we were with Not this weird plan that we had set out with before and so I mean if anything I want to learn to be a little bit less in the driver seat You know, maybe take back and just Let's let's do what happens or you were you uh, did you feel like you were control freak before?  Yeah, right. You learned you got to where you're at by being that guy Right, right, right, you know, we're all that guy.  Let's just go I'm just gonna say we're going here So that that decision is made or like We're getting gas and then doing this That's it, you know, like Most people are like, okay, cool You know and so, you know, it's learning from that. Um, they're trying to figure out where to eat with your girlfriend You know and as much as I'm trying to get new experiences from shit like that and travel And and those things I'm very interested in also Diving deeper into me and like what makes me tick and why do I feel this way and those type of things? And so there's definitely some Interest I've got in in psychedelics and some stuff like that kind of going forward. Is that more recent very recent Oh, that's a real recent thing for me. I've got no experience with it from a younger years in my life or anything like that. And so What's it done for you? Um in it, man, I'm still really fresh And so there's there's been just a little bit of like micro dosing mushrooms or something like that And so you haven't gone full on. No, I haven't gone full full barge. Um Had some cool moments in my backyard with clouds And then, you know, had some insightful stuff, you know That I thought about while while being pretty high And then, you know I've I've dipped a toe in the water enough to go like, yeah I want to see where that goes and I'm glad at 35 and relatively confident in who I am and secure with my own feelings on things about Where that journey will be, you know, that I'm along for the ride. I'm not here to drive that boat either Right, right. Yeah Anything anything right now that you, you know, when you say you're unpacking about yourself, right or digging deeper into yourself That tends to come back or you have triggers for and you've got to constantly like remind yourself like I gotta I gotta pull back on that.  I mean hell, you know, since since I got hurt with my knee I've dropped 60 pounds.  I'm like, I'm not throwing anymore Right, you know, so that's that's been a lot of lessons and what have you done to lose the weight? Are you just changing your diet training? I mean, look I did ketogenic style diet But I'm always weird about saying that because I didn't track ketosis The whole time you just drop carbs up your fat.  Hey, what'd you do to lose weight?  Yeah, and if it's both, yeah, well, there you go one of them cried some frog That's it if it if it crawled ran swam or you know, you know any of those things if it's it was self-propelled Or is it a green plant I can eat as much of it as I want People don't tend to binge on steak and kale crazy, you know or broccoli, you know, I've done it Oh same, you know with with that said, I mean, I'm a garbage disposal.  Well, maybe not the room you walk into weird friends.    I'm strong and stuff like that and it's Weird having some strange shadow of abs that's never existed But like I've flirted into kind of the mid-2 30s and stuff like that and like went into a store Recently and had picked up a shirt and like got home and put it all on As an as an XL and it was bigger than I like shirts to fit and I was like We're not going to larges So time to get back in the gym boys That is so I could so identify with that for sure because I'm gonna I'm an XL guy I'm probably the lightest I've been in the last three years right now and I've been totally good with it I've been totally fine.  I am not going to large dude back at the gym That was literally my my mentality last week. I swear to god.    I feel this way again Right, you know and at 45 and 50 All right, I tell you something Abraham Lincoln, man, I have no respect for a man that's no wiser today than he was yesterday Yeah, you know lived by that something I don't know man. There's something great about your 30s as a man. I feel like that's kind of when you I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but I feel like it's when I like I really feel like me comfortable yourself Yeah, like I'm really me and it makes me actually look forward to the next Right, like I what's that going to be in my 40s? Shit, I feel like at 30 you really you've just turned the switch on to start trying to learn about yourself The first 30 years I thought I figure who this is.  I don't have any of these things and so I'm not gonna get drafted off to war Right And so, you know, you can you can focus on that and try to be part of that growth and then you know Worry about your own ego, right?   We don't need to survive All right, we're not stacking in the bar.     Right. Yeah people. Yeah people I think that's why people freak out so much with the whole offending and all that stuff. It's because We're wired to Be under stress and because there is now we got to make it up. You gotta create it We have to create we have to invent it so soft. Yeah, well, this is why we see the rise I think of things like the spartan race and so that I think I mean it's artificial. It's amazing Yeah, it's exploding and I think it's because We've become so plugged in and we're we're so detached from our own selves that we need to feel again It's a mud in my face. I need to hurt a little bit. I need to fall, you know I'll never forget my kid was he was let's say he must have been six. He was young And uh, they were just an art, you know class or whatever drawing and stuff Maybe five maybe a younger and he drew a picture of You know the school and then there were kids and they were shooting machine guns and grenades were flying And we got called into the office. It's happening to me too. No, we got called into the office with for my five-year-old with a meeting with the principal because There's there's bombs and guns and stuff and there's a picture of the school Have you seen the news and I'm like, yeah, and I'm like I said, listen, I said my kid's five He's five. He's a boy five-year-olds do you know what I used, you know, do they not sell army men anymore? Is that not a thing? I bet they don't know Okay, I I dressed up I dressed up as a for Halloween I dressed as a mobster like you know gangster, right?    Uh, we used to shoot each other with BB guns It was the one pump rule.   Yeah, you got thrown in jail likes the church strong people there's a saying what is it that tough times make Uh, good men good men make good times good times make weak men weak men make bad times And the cycle starts over and over. Yeah, there was a I had a Crosses my grandparents lived across the street from us growing up and um, so it was my grandfather my grandmother and her sister and I remember asking My my aunt I guess is what she technically is or great aunt or something like that, right? And sister is what we called her and um, I remember asking her like, why are you never married?   You've got brilliant minds inventors whatever Men make up a larger percentage of either and sure because and some and scientists will say It's because our brains are designed to be a little bit more or designed or evolved or whatever you believe in Are a little more extreme and the reason the behind that and the prevailing theory behind that is because men are expendable because you could have A society where you have 10 women to every man and it would it would survive and flourish You could not have a society with 10 men to every woman because It just it just wouldn't work because it does not procreate It doesn't procreate very well and it's because we we died Killed each other through wars and shit like that all the time and not saying that it's a good thing But no, but it is a fact. It's a fact and because and because we don't have lots of challenges the same way that we had before Uh, it does it's it's interesting. It's we almost have to create Challenges for ourselves fake challenges. It's like, uh, it's like that scene in the matrix when Uh, you know, he's talking about the first matrix.    No, it's a double-edged sword It's like you have because you have this free time because you have things are so awesome compared to human history throughout human history You can either choose To to try to grow Uh in ways you want to not in ways you have to like I don't have to grow in in hand to hand combat because it's not necessary But I choose to grow in the way I learn things or the way I treat people or whatever Or I can sit here and choose to just be complacent and not grow Which is not it's bad. It's terrible. It's terrible for the brain terrible for the body Um and terrible for society. Yeah, I mean Yeah, like you said get comfortable being uncomfortable. You know, that's that that's what a lot of it's about.  So if you had seven you pretty much did everything I would have done everything except replacement. Um So the last time I competed in the howling games, I took second at a world championship And then essentially it was like, okay, cool. I'm never throwing again And it's been I've done four acls. They just don't take A body just rejects them.  We're not gonna have one of those Um, but I did the 10 years I competed I did without an acl I tore it post college and uh or a tort in college got it fixed and then tore it again While I had a bike shop and no money. So I'm not fixing that um And then torn meniscus Uh really late in my career. I guess at the end of it now that it's late in my career because I'm not doing it um So got that fixed went to fix the acl Did this oats procedure to try to uh implant some cartilage on the femoral head And it's just never quite been right.  We're shitty too And so it's just you know, it's been ongoing and and you know, that's been a real struggle and a lot to learn from of like Okay, cool I'm gonna walk with a limp for two years and not squat and not deadlift and how do you stay metabolically intact?  I don't get to compete anymore. This is what I loved and Blah blah blah blah blah. I mean, let's just be clear in the last 10 years after winning two world titles I've met all my favorite people I got to travel around the world and compete in a silly sport I got to make a few bucks. I wrote a book about it that now is a business that I run That essentially pays my life That's worth money.  Of course it is. Of course it is, but I just think they're fucking real short-sighted Yeah, you know, I mean the thing I've always said to people is Like when I look back at throwing in college, right like that was book 14 years ago Right, like those memories are like looking at something in third person And that's not me the same way I feel about looking back at high school football That's not me anymore.  That's a different chapter and that chapter is closed So what the fuck's next so many people have a hard time with that right? What a great what a great Attitude on things. Do you do you like to read? Yeah, do you do you what are some books that you're into now? um I say, yeah, so I do more books on tape with traveling. Um Same difference. Yeah, same idea. I'm loading the information The books I've I've I've tried recently. I end up like halfway through a lot of stuff.  Yes, and I got about two hours into it.  Right. It's just I want to consume more information whether that or youtube or any of these other type of things And like I stick I stick with that like book wise man.  He did. I mean what he did was you referred to podcasting is I mean He just took all his podcast basically and the information there and put it in a book. It was really smart. Good work, tim Yeah, I know right, you know, yeah, we might steal that one later on. Yeah, right on. It's a brilliant idea for sure It's another way for people to digest information. I mean I mean, what's the last real new innovation that's come in lifting?  I'm not I'm not your target audience Nor are you mine, right?   Yeah, you know, I have more in common with you Than I do someone who doesn't right and You know, it's it's that information and you know, what is you know, maybe nothing maybe there isn't a lot new out there As far as those things but there really isn't when you think about what we see It's all about how you can resurrecting.  I'm good I can you know, hey, man, how do I get strongly?  You'll be just fine You know, that's great. I think you just wrote a book. Yeah Chapter one and done Right. Well shit, man. Awesome talking. Yeah. Yeah, man. Good time. Dude. This is great Obviously won't be the last time we do this look for you hanging out with you more often Let's uh, I said we go get some lunch and then I love lunch Friends forever. We don't get to get lunch very often. Let's do something else in common Let's do some lunch and then we'll come back and hang out some more man. Excellent. Excellent.  Thank you for listening to mind pump. If your goal is to build and shape your body Dramatically improve your health and energy and maximize your overall performance Check out our discounted rgb super bundle at mind pump media dot com The rgb super bundle includes maps anabolic maps performance and maps aesthetic nine months of phased expert exercise programming designed by sal adam and justin to systematically Transform the way your body looks feels and performs with detailed workout blueprints and over 200 videos The rgb super bundle is like having sal adam and justin as your own personal trainers But at a fraction of the price the rgb super bundle has a full 30 day money back guarantee And you can get it now plus other valuable free resources at mind pump media dot com If you enjoy this show, please share the love by leaving us a five star rating and review on itunes And by introducing mind pump to your friends and family We thank you for your support and until next time. This is mind pump


presents my fellow history and archaeology nerds. Welcome back. Today we're gonna be talking about something that's apparently pretty popular in modern Mayanism circles, that is the New Age Maya movement, not the historical study of the Maya. People do tend to get those two mixed up sometimes. The Hunapku is a weird thing and there's a lot of misinformation and just downright false beliefs about it, mostly coming from people not having a proper understanding of the ancient Maya religious system, its processes, symbols, and beliefs. But before we take a deep dive, let's do a quick rapid fire of some important points. First point is, Hunapku might be a Mayan word, but the symbol that's used in New Age circles, you know, that weird circle swiggly thing, is actually Aztec, not Maya. And they're very different cultural groups. The second point is, the symbol was originally a square design that's featured on some Aztec priest robes and arguably had nothing to do with any deity. And the third point being that the New Age interpretations of Hunapku come mostly from the 1953 book A Synthesis of Maya Philosophical Thought by a guy called Domingo Martinez, which asserts the Hunapku as a monotheistic idea, which underlies much of the New Age belief on the subject. So with that, let's get started. Most of you watching right now are probably still asking but what is Hunapku? Believe it or not, that itself is more complicated than a lot of people think. In Mayanism circles, it's usually shown as a symbol and is widely presumed to be a Mayan representation of a major deity or force, while also representing the center of our Milky Way galaxy. Pretty cool stuff. But whatever it was, it must have had a lot of cultural significance. Even today, it still uses a textile pattern in a lot of native Mexican artwork. It's quite mesmerizing. The first time the symbol was brought into New Age thought was in the work of Martinez, who in the 50s and 60s believed that the concept was evidence that the Maya actually believed in a single deity or supernatural force rather than the usual polytheistic system. He had some kind of weird ideas too though, believing that the Maya pre-system was linked with Freemasonry and notions of alchemy, especially the Masonic interpretation of God, and a great architect of the universe. Now, Martinez went majoritably unnoticed and his work never really gained any traction until Jose Arguez published the Mayan Factor in 1987, which brought the whole symbol and context surrounding it directly into public eye, and more importantly, into New Age thought. Arguez explained that in 1968, he visited a town called Tiochilan de Valet near the Zapotec site of Manse Alban in the mountains of Oshaca in central Mexico, and was shown two rugs with the pattern on them, which the local shopkeeper told them was a kind of Mexican yin and yang, inspiring him to recreate the symbol in a more cyclical or circular fashion to better match the tower's concept. Here's where the whole shebang gets a little wonky though. The symbol most Mayanism circles use originally didn't have anything to do with the monotheistic interpretation of the Hunabcu. In fact, Hunabcu was a separate concept enforced entirely when that Arguez never actually explained in his book. Followers of Arguez who associate the symbol with the deity were likely influenced by modern Maya daykeeper Hunbatsmen, who was a close personal friend in a collaborative of Arguez. In 1986, Hunbatsmen published his own book on the symbol where he explained that the Mexicas, by which I think he meant Aztecs, worshipped Hunabcu, and they, as well as the mixed texts, also worshipped the Milky Way. A lot of Mesoamerican archaeologists disagree though, with anthropologist Herbert Spindon arguing that the symbol was simply a design representing sand and water. Okay, sure. Great. But what's the symbol's relevance to its actual creators? Well, the earliest evidence of the symbol itself comes from a 16th century Aztec document called the Codex Maglia Bacchiano. In it, you can find different patterns of the original rectangular design.  Historians say that it was a design for ritual cloaks used in festivals. So basically, the link between Hunabcu and the symbol we all know is kind of just a modern misunderstanding that I think the locals were using to make a sale. I mean fair play to them for pulling such elaborate ruse. Credit where it's due, I guess. So despite everything Martina's Arguez and the Hunbats claim, there's no known representations or evidence of the Hunabcu symbol that had been documented in any ancient Maya source. In fact, it might even be purely Aztec motif that the Yucatan Maya had no knowledge of whatsoever. That said, just because the modern symbol may have come to us by way of a touristy sales gimmick or a misunderstanding of history, that doesn't mean Hunabcu itself or the New Age revival around it is devoid of spiritual meaning. So far, when we've mentioned the concept Hunabcu, it's as a reference to the symbol. But actually, the real Hunabcu is much more ancient and makes things a hell of a lot more interesting. So without further ado, let's talk about the Maya religion for reels, or at least what we actually know about it.  So I'm certainly no expert on Mayan religion, and its nature is strongly debated in archeologically circles. Just wanted to throw that out there. But if any of you guys watching are, we invite you to share your experiences below and even enlighten us to, well, basically on anything we may not cover today. The reason for this debate, though, is that archaeology has absolutely zero agreed upon theoretical or methodological framework for dealing with prehistoric religion, or spirituality in general. It's just one of those weird gray zones. You have the running joke of, well, if you don't know what it is, say it's for ritual purposes. But other than that, you have some scholars who deny the importance of religion entirely and focus only on material evidence, and some who look for imaginative ways to reconstruct ancient beliefs to suit personal fantasies. At the end of the day, it's all just a messy guessing game. One of the biggest problems with reconstructing ancient Maya spirituality is that the majority of sources on it were written by Spanish conquistadors and priests. You know, those guys with the funny hats who searched for the fountain of youth who, in classic 16th century Christian fashion, burnt most of the indigenous stuff to the ground because they were found to be the work of savage heretics, which means that most Mayan sources are written by outsiders rather than the actual Mayans themselves. Now, the first aspect to try and narrow down when talking about Mayan spirituality is the idea of a pantheon of gods. When most of us think about a polytheistic religion, we think of it in terms of the Greco-Roman one, or maybe the Avengers, where you had a family of humanoid gods all existing at the same time, who all took care of different things. And even that isn't technically accurate, but hey, that's another video. With the Maya, it wasn't really like that. While there's still a lot of debate over whether they had personal gods in the sense we know them, or if they worshipped impersonal nonhumanistic natural forces, most historians either think that Mayan religion was animistic, believing in essences and spirits of the natural world, or animatistic, believing in impersonal spiritual forces. Another big slice of the problem pizza was that the early Spanish writers had absolutely zero understanding of the royal ancestor cults, where the Maya and Zapotec worshipped dead kings. And one of the funny things that came out of the whole thing was that in town after town, the Spanish fires wrote down the names of these deified rulers, thinking that they had seen the idols of human like gods from some kind of pantheon. And that's why people think the Mayan had over 250 gods. And that's a few too many if you ask me. The other thing to bear in mind is that the Mayan spirituality transformed a lot through its history. So while some people argue that the classic period Mayans had no humanoid gods, it's an entirely different ballgame when talking about the Spanish perceptions of Maya, since the classic period ended 600 years before the Spanish even arrived there. I mean, just look at how much our society has changed since the 90s. By the time the post classical Mayan society, at least when the Spanish dudes were writing about the religion, people like Bernadito de Sahagún talked about how the nearby Aztecs believed in both impersonal and personal gods, and even Fitfels actually pointed out that Chilpel can prefer to both God or divinity in the concept of spirituality and sacredness in general, unconnected to a personal form. So basically it's just a confusing dumpster fire because apparently the Spanish had more than a few pyromaniacs. While images of gods do appear on classic Mayan pottery, not much appears in writing since all the tablets or statues that are inscribed were mostly political monuments. Now there is considerable support for the idea that the phrase is actually just a Spanish invention that was used to convert the Maya to Christianity, as it's a colonial word that means one god in the Mayan language. The phrase is unknown in any pre-conquest inscriptions in Mayan writing, and it only appears in writings that are heavily Christianized, suggesting that, you know, the Spanish Colonials probably had their figure in this culture super investigating here. While this is the default view for a lot of people, I think it's eternally possible that Hunabcu was simply the post-classic name for a concept that was always present in Mayan spirituality way back into the classic period. Most scholars will argue that the use of Hunabcu, literally one plus suffix plus god, for the singularity of god is linguistically similar to the oneness of the father, son, and holy spirit. It does appear in a lot in missionary writings, but at the same time it's not set in stone that Hunabcu could also refer to a non-Christian deity. After all, the term was only joined up with Yahweh because it was remarkably similar to meaning universal oneness, and perhaps it just made sense to the Christian missionaries. So Hunabcu doesn't necessarily mean one god in the sole Christian sense, but can also mean single spirit or sole divinity, which arguably has more in common with the concept of oneness spoken about in many spiritual circles. That said, it's probably more appropriate to think of Hunabcu as either a unified creator or force. Interestingly, the Zapotecs also seem to have a similar concept of an invisible creator or spirit, so it's kind of a common thing in Mesoamerican spiritualities. Since Hunabcu was this super cool, detached, and invisible creator, no images or statues unfortunately were ever made of it, since it was without form and couldn't really be pictured, and this could account for it not being present in the archaeological record prior to being written down by the Spanish. Based on classic period Maya writing, there is a specific god written with the hieroglyph Ku, which is often identified with God-C, as in the letter C. Don't ask, it's kind of a long weird story. Rather than being a specific deity with its own mythic cycle, God-C appears to embody the ancient Mayan concept of spirit or creating consciousness, same as Hunabcu. Funnily enough, in the rare events he's shown in pictures or carvings, it's in the context of other gods or ritual items or temples, implying that, while he wasn't a god in the sense we know it, he was kind of the concept of spirit itself, like the thing that gave other things a divine or sacred quality. Hunabcu isn't just a spiritual force or universal soul, since the Maya also had the word ik, which meant breath, wind, or soul. So Hunabcu is definitely more of a one among many kind of god, but was also the concept of vinity and spirituality in itself. Maybe Hunabcu was just another name for the other creator god, Yichamna, which is definitely a possibility, or maybe it really was just the Mayan name for the Christian god, or perhaps it was a universal spiritual force that was present in all things. While the Hunabcu symbol might be a bit dubious, the concept itself expresses an element of Mayan spirituality that tells us that potentially everything is connected and part of a single divine force, which, if you ask me, is always something worth exploring. Toodles!


What's going on guys welcome back to the channel critical overload here We're gonna be talking about the insidious franchise here in this video today going over a scoop that was shared with me from MTD shout out to you You know who you are now we know that in cities five is coming later this year But I'm also gonna go over the future of the insidious franchise here in this video So the conclusion to the Lambert family is coming later this summer in July with insidious the red door Patrick Wilson is making his directorial debut and reuniting with his Lambert family counterparts Dalton We know will be away at school in college and their past demons from the further come back to haunt them both including the lipstick face Demon now this exclusive first image was revealed by Fandango not too long ago And I'm excited to see what happens in the upcoming fifth entry But here's something that probably will be the first time you've heard about it Because I put out a tweet to let you guys know this video will be coming the sixth entry is already apparently written It's gonna start shooting later this year and it's already got two huge cast members a part of it now This currently is titled thread and insidious tale. It's a film that will be joining the growing insidious franchise sometime in the future I don't know when it's gonna come out But more or less we already again have a sixth entry in the insidious franchise That appears to be on the way the film is again is set to shoot in Canada later this year in August a Recent casting call dates it for May as a posting for it. So I'm guessing the writer strike will not impact this shoot Here's a brief plot synopsis for what I'm gonna call insidious six for now With the help of a mysterious stranger a couple reeling from the loss of their daughter Zoe Journeys into the terrifying realm known as the further in a desperate attempt to change the past and save their family Now here's some info about Zoe coming from this casting call They're looking for someone who is seven to eleven years old or around that age group somebody who can play pass that off She is of mixed race the daughter of other two characters here Nick and Maddie And I'm gonna reveal those actors next reveal who's playing Nick and Maddie So Zoe is the kind of radiant delightful kid who sings all day in the backseat Zoe is a joy the daughter of Nick and Maddie She's a cheerful bundle of energy who likes to make sure the squirrels are well fed while her parents unpack for their Weekend trip at the cabin inside Zoe suffers a tragic drowning accident while exploring in the backyard Afterwards her parents risk anything and everything to change the past and bring their family together again Now I would assume that there's some sort of time travel that's gonna factor into insidious six now Here's who is playing Nick and Maddie Nick and Maddie will be played by Mandy Moore and Kumal Nenjani I believe that's how I was pronounced Nenjani Mandy Moore being a part of the insidious franchise can't wait to see how that plays out now Again, if I'm wrong about this that I'm just wrong However, I'm gonna leave a link to something in the description for you guys that backs up That this is part of the growing insidious universe because of the fact that it has Blumhouse attached to it It has atomic monster attached to it It has Sony attached to it all the core players a part of the insidious Franchise and again, it's currently titled thread and insidious tale It doesn't specify who this person is helping them But I'm starting to wonder is it somebody from the events of insidious five that's going to transfer over into what? I guess you consider one of one of our first major insidious spin-offs Well, I guess we've had spin-offs in a way if you want to count three and four spin-offs They're not really spin-offs, but this would be our first official Attempt to kind of do what the Conjuring universe is doing because it's still a part of the insidious realm When you're diving into the place known as the further once again But we'll see how this all goes down when this film starts shooting out in August later this year again It would appear that in cities six is already ready to go It's gonna start shooting in August out in Canada Mandy Moore is a part of the project You guys let me know again what you think about this down in the comment section below How do you think insidious five could factor into the events of insidious six if you haven't a real course? Make sure you subscribe turn on post notification numbers video in the description. I will have links on social media accounts I'm on Facebook Twitter and Instagram you can message me there Of course, let me know there's any movies news or reviews let me to cover in the future and with all that in mind guys I will see you in the next video