00:00.07 Michael Todd square feet. So, uh, yeah. 00:02.58 nextlevelguypodcast Just a wee bit. I mean, I love watching your and like your training videos and you know the videos that you're focusing on. So um don't mind you swearing. Don't mind mentioning products. How long have you got for just now? 00:15.93 Michael Todd And now I'll probably have about 45 minutes, but we can, we can cover as much stuff as you want during that time. 00:23.86 nextlevelguypodcast So if you ever heard somebody describing you at a bar, what would you want them to say? Like, what would you want them to hear them describe you as? 00:32.68 Michael Todd Oh, man, I don't know. Describing me, i don't know about a bar, but whatever. I mean, I'm a very honest person. I'm very transparent. I try to treat people the way I want to be treated. 00:43.76 Michael Todd um Consistency. I'm extremely consistent. You know what i mean? um I don't think I'm necessarily genetically gifted to to excel in this sport. I just had a disgust for losing that outweighs my opponent's desire to win. 00:59.36 Michael Todd So I'm a hard worker and I'm consistent, you know? So I don't know. I don't, I've never had anybody ask me that question. 01:08.05 nextlevelguypodcast Well, you get these certain morons who assume that, you know, sort of arm wrestling, it's just the stronger person wins, but it's all about technique, tactics, skills, movements, counters, etc. 01:19.78 nextlevelguypodcast For those who don't really understand, you know, this and sport, what is it about the sport? How's it set up? And what is it about it that inspires you so much? 01:30.03 Michael Todd So I was a martial artist as a kid, um and I got my black belt when I was 14 in Taekwondo. And I really thought that I was going to go into like action movies. I thought I was going to be this action martial art star. 01:40.82 Michael Todd But I always loved arm wrestling. And my senior year in high school, I could beat everybody in school. And I was in Bo-Tech, and they said that guy over there second the state. So i went got to capture your table, and beat him. And he said, hey, there's a tournament this week, and you should go to it. 01:53.76 Michael Todd Well, that tournament was just over 35 years ago. Like two weeks ago was the anniversary of that event for me. So I'm in my 36 year competing and it's that one-on-one I've never been good at team sports. 02:04.82 Michael Todd um Um, I want to win or lose on my own merit because I know how hard I'm willing to, to work and how hard I'm willing to sacrifice. And I can always guarantee that my teammates are willing to do the same. 02:15.86 Michael Todd So I never really liked team sports. I like individual sports. Well, this is a sport that, that I oftentimes get to determine the outcome. If I'm willing to work harder, train harder than, um, 02:26.80 Michael Todd You know, I usually come out on top. The thing about arm wrestling is, know, like you said, a lot of people think that it's the stronger man is going to win, but it's about technique. Well, at my level, it's no longer about technique. 02:38.94 Michael Todd We all know the same technique. It literally is the stronger guy wins. 02:42.14 nextlevelguypodcast Yeah. 02:42.53 Michael Todd um We all know the same technique. It's whoever is strong enough to execute the technique, usually. So at the core, it's still a strength sport. It's just you have to have an understanding of the techniques used within the sport. 02:56.16 Michael Todd But everyone at a professional level, they know those techniques. And it just really comes down to how hard you're willing to work. And when they say go, can you outthink or outheart your opponent, you know? 03:09.20 nextlevelguypodcast So is that where the sort of the moniker, the the monster comes in? Do you use that as persona, like a kind of alter ego, that where youre when you get to the gym, you kind of enter into that persona and it lets you train harder, gets up more resilience? 03:24.87 Michael Todd Well, it would be nice if it did. 03:26.87 nextlevelguypodcast yeah 03:27.23 Michael Todd Honestly, here's the deal. I used to be a 200-pound arm wrestler, 198-pound, 90-kilogram arm wrestler, and then I went up to maybe 100 kilograms, whatever. In 2006, I was competing in an event in Las Vegas, and Neil Pickup hadn't seen me a while. 03:41.41 Michael Todd I was about 115 kilograms and all washboard abs and shit, and he saw and he goes, oh, my God, Michael Todd's a monster. and The next day, he introduced me as Monster Michael Todd. That's how it started in 2006, 19 years ago. 03:55.32 Michael Todd Neil hadn't seen me in a while. he saw me. I had put on quite a bit of muscle. and he's like, Monster Michael Todd. Now, what I do believe happens is oftentimes I doubt myself, even though I know how hard I work. 04:06.21 Michael Todd Like, I will second guess myself before get there to the match, before they say go. But when that first slip happens or that first stop happens, like I know I'm in the match and I deserve to be there, there is a switch and that's when Monster Michael Todd takes over. 04:18.97 Michael Todd I'm normal Michael Todd I get up there until I realize that I'm in this thing, that I got a shot at winning. And it's just this this confident version of me, this this guy who just will give it everything he's got, that Monster Michael Todd version kind of takes over right after. Once I realize I'm in the match, that I deserve to be on that stage, 04:40.05 Michael Todd There's a little bit of a switch. 04:42.82 nextlevelguypodcast I love that you noticed that. Is there a certain moment that it comes in? Is it before, like, as you're getting introduced? Is it the connection with the arms? 04:50.95 Michael Todd No, it's it's seriously, it's when after we shake hands and grip up, when I say go and the match slips somewhere near the center of the table, at that moment, I know I'm in it, right? Because the guy didn't just run over me. Then we get in the strap. And then the moment that they say go on that match stops and I didn't get flashed, pretty much right then is when it happens. 05:11.29 nextlevelguypodcast And do you think you've just become a kind of master on the, like, where you put your foot position, how you get hold like ready to pull the guy into you, controlling the inside space? Is there things that you do that gives you that step up over your opponents? Or is it just pure, unadded rage that you you can control? 05:33.69 Michael Todd So, like I said, if I was arm wrestling a bunch of non-arm wrestlers, foot placement, hand position, all those things would play a big role. But at this level, we all know, like some people know how to to cheat the strap setup, to cheat the referee setup, to do a lot of things. I've never practiced that. always just wanted to be the stronger guy. 05:52.63 Michael Todd And realizing now that it's becoming more and more a facet of the game is, you know, getting the best, manipulating the setup the best you can. I'm not that good at that. um That's something I still need to work on. But at this level, um we all know where to put your feet, where to stand. 06:08.67 Michael Todd What happens, man, is when they say go, when they say go and the match stops, 99% of the time, and I just said this previously, my disgust for losing will outweigh their desire to win. 06:09.40 nextlevelguypodcast Yeah. yeah 06:21.77 Michael Todd Their desire to win will give up before my disgust for losing will cave. Like they'll want to win, they'll want to win, they'll want win, but I'm going put them in deep water and I'm going going to bleed them out. 06:33.96 Michael Todd And oftentimes you see that level of just confusion and just like, what am I in for? Cause they'll get me so close to beating me and they, they just, they think they're there. And then it's, they still have that another half an inch or an inch to go and they can't figure it out. 06:50.13 Michael Todd And then they, you just see this state of bewilderment take over. And that's oftentimes when I shine. 06:57.21 nextlevelguypodcast I love that. Because I love how you talk about it's mindset over muscle, where it's you say it's more than strength, it's that kind of will. 07:01.10 Michael Todd Thank you. 07:06.48 nextlevelguypodcast How do you work on that? Because you push yourself so hard in gym, but how how on earth do you keep challenging yourself so this love of winning, this pursuit so of avoiding losing comes in? How can we adopt that mindset? 07:22.29 Michael Todd So for me, it's always just been, um i'm never am in competition with other people. I'm always in competition to be the best version of me possible. So every day I wake up, I just try to be better. you know i try to I try to get one step closer to being a stronger version of me, a healthier version of me, a better husband, a better, you know brother, son, father, whatever, grandfather, you know I got five grandkids. 07:41.83 nextlevelguypodcast Mm-hmm. 07:44.65 Michael Todd um it's just and i tell people I say this all the time. um People wonder what it takes to be a world champion or anything. and anything It's no different than what it takes to be a successful businessman, to be a multimillionaire billionaire. 07:58.11 Michael Todd It's just whatever your priorities are. Mine are God family getting shape, God family training, right? If it's not your top three priorities, you're probably not going to be super good at it, you know? 08:10.41 Michael Todd But if you prioritize whatever that goal is, whether it's financial security, whether it's success in a sport or whatever that that that goal as long as it's in that top three or top four or five of your priorities and you're going to consistently put work into reaching that and accomplishing that goal. 08:27.08 Michael Todd that's what it's It's just consistency. there's no It's like people have you know the whole thing about the iceberg. You see the iceberg, but underneath it you see a much larger portion or you see the duck floating on the water but underneath his feet are just kicking. 08:38.88 Michael Todd You don't see all the hard work that it takes to be the champion. You see the gold medal, you see the crown or you see the belt or whatever. But it's all the work and discipline and days that you woke up and trained when you didn't want to train and and sacrifice not getting to enjoy this meal with your family or whatever because you're on a strict nutrition plan or whatever it is that you have to be the performance of professional athlete. 08:57.10 Michael Todd It's those sacrifices, but it's that daily consistent grind. That is what makes you successful in life and in sports and in everything. i mean i think you literally can just pull it out and replace it with whatever you want. 09:10.66 Michael Todd And it's still the same thing. It's that consistent daily grind is how I think people become, you know, because why be ordinary if if you have a chance to be extraordinary? 09:22.27 Michael Todd And I feel like God blessed me with an opportunity to be extraordinary. Like, I feel like I'm being disrespectful. to my Lord and Savior if I don't fulfill my potential. And I think my potential, I've never thought I was better than anybody, but I felt like my best was as good as anyone else's. 09:31.23 nextlevelguypodcast mean, 09:35.97 Michael Todd So when I would see other people achieve something, I celebrated their success. I wasn't envious of it. I thought, hell, if they can do it, I can do it. I just got to want it bad enough. I got to work hard enough. 09:47.68 Michael Todd And I've always just been that way. 09:49.66 nextlevelguypodcast mean that says a lot. 09:50.07 Michael Todd No many times I get knocked down, I didn get back up, you know. 09:53.04 nextlevelguypodcast I mean, that says more about your character, you know, that strength of par of personality of your desire so that you only focus on yourself, that you can actually be happy for others. I mean, do you see that with other people who are the also runs, the ones who are always jealous comparing? 10:11.32 nextlevelguypodcast how How do you get them to focus on that goal against who they see in the mirror? 10:17.46 Michael Todd but So a lot of it for me, when I talk to people who have that, like, because we live in a world now where there's, you don't see as much people celebrating other people's success, right? 10:27.68 nextlevelguypodcast Yeah. 10:28.21 Michael Todd We look around social media we see this, we say that. When we see somebody have something bad happen to them, they celebrate it or they laugh about it. And what I tell people oftentimes is, why are you wasting energy on someone else? 10:44.75 Michael Todd If they're successful and they've got something that you want, just go work hard and go set up. And it's not even just work hard. Working hard without a plan could be wasted effort. But if you have a plan and like you don't set a goal here, you have to set a goal here, and then have to set a goal here, then you have set a goal here. 11:01.01 Michael Todd And before you know it, all these goals add up into this goal, right? But you can't just set this goal with no path how to get there. 11:04.18 nextlevelguypodcast Mm-hmm. 11:06.13 Michael Todd You have to set the short-term intermediate goals. And I just can't waste time with being concerned about other people and what they may have that I don't. That time could be better used me working towards getting accomplishing that for myself. You what mean? so It's just a difference in thought. I don't waste my time thinking about the what-ifs or what might happen. 11:32.99 Michael Todd my wife and daughter will worry about, say and this is completely off topic, something else, say something something happens. Well, what if this happened? What if that happened? Well, they've done spent two or three days. What if worst case scenario and stuff? And I'm like, hey, it's in God's hands what it's supposed to bell be. 11:47.47 Michael Todd I'm just going to keep doing what I'm supposed to be doing. And then if that does happen, we'll deal with it when it happens, but I'm not going to worry about it if it hasn't happened yet. You know what i mean? So it's just a waste of my energy when that energy could be more productive somewhere else. 12:01.71 nextlevelguypodcast And do you put that down to a specific moment? Was there this kind of the first time that happened that you thought, I'm different, I can focus my energy elsewhere? was it Is there a defining moment that you could put that down to? 12:16.55 Michael Todd I honestly don't think so. um I was a short, chubby kid growing up. So like my ninth grade year, I was like five foot four and 150 pounds. Now I was a martial artist already and I was already a black belt and I was very proficient. I was in an adult class and I was i was really good at martial arts. I could do the splits up against the wall. 12:33.67 Michael Todd But at that that teenage year, I wanted to be the popular kid. But instead, I was a kind of chubby kid, right? Now, if things got nasty, I could pretty much whoop everybody in school because I was the proficient martial arts guy. 12:46.36 nextlevelguypodcast Hmm. 12:46.44 Michael Todd But I wasn't the most popular kid. I wasn't the kid that had the best physique or whatever. So fortunately, the next year, I grew from 5'4 to 5'9. And I came back to school. and It was a very small school. 12:57.16 Michael Todd And they're like, who's the new kid? And I've been going to school since I was in kindergarten. I just i had changed so much. growing out of that short chubby kid into a taller athletic kid and then i was 6'1 then i was six three so by the time i was a senior in high school i had ah was the strongest kid in school i was one of the most fit guys in school i was still very proficient in in my craft martial arts and stuff so throughout that time i just saw that hey i'm given this opportunity if i just stay consistent with my work and then what's crazy is as i've gotten older like if if 13:29.01 Michael Todd If I would have had the discipline that I have now or I've had for the last 20 years, when I was a teenager, i feel wholeheartedly there would there's no professional sport I couldn't played. And I'm only 6'3", but I think I could played professional basketball if I would have had the same discipline there and knowledge about nutrition. 13:45.19 Michael Todd I didn't learn about nutrition until I was probably in my mid-20s. And then I understood macros and protein protein and carbs and fats and how everything affects your body. um If I'd have had that knowledge when I was a kid, I think I could have went and been a professional in any sport I wanted just because I had the discipline and work ethic to do so, not because I was genetically gifted. 14:05.24 Michael Todd I just always had that, you know, if I put my mind to something, very seldom do I come up short. 14:15.30 nextlevelguypodcast And do you think discipline is something? 14:16.35 Michael Todd But it's because I'm willing to sacrifice, you know. 14:18.37 nextlevelguypodcast Right. I mean, can that that be taught, do you think? 14:18.72 Michael Todd Sir? 14:22.68 nextlevelguypodcast Or are you born with it? 14:23.48 Michael Todd I believe so. Oh, and I mean, I believe it can be taught. I just think it's just like something becomes a habit. know After three weeks of doing something, oftentimes they say that that makes it a habit. 14:35.51 Michael Todd It's just creating discipline in your life lifestyle, creating structure, creating... um And it just comes down to priorities. Because I've ran a personal training business for the last 25 years as well. And people come to me, I'm like, hey, it's God family getting shape. If it's not that high of a priority, don't do my program. 14:50.57 Michael Todd And they they don't understand. I'm like, listen... Every single day, we can give ourself an excuse to fail with our nutrition. We celebrate food for every occasion in this society. You hadn't seen somebody while, hey, let's go grab something to eat. Let's go grab on the drink. You're never like, oh, well, hadn't seen you while. Let's go for a hike. Let's go for run. 15:04.27 Michael Todd Let's go for a workout, right? It's food. Food is our celebratory act, eating, right? And the discipline it takes to not be normal. 15:15.98 Michael Todd in today's society when comes to making healthy decisions of food to food. You have to be abnormal to be someone who follows a healthy meal plan because most of society eats what they want when they want. Like, you want? 15:26.35 Michael Todd don't know, what do want? Like when someone asks me what I want to eat, I pretty much know because I haven't had that food in so long. I'm waiting to have it again, right? Because I'm trying to follow strict nutrition plan. But it's just so sacrifices and that structure and that discipline over time just makes it a habit. 15:40.91 Michael Todd So I think it's very much a teachable, a trait that someone can have. 15:46.04 nextlevelguypodcast I mean, that's good to hear because a lot of people think you're either born with it, with the skills, or you're not. But I like how you can you understand your abilities, but you know that it's more mindset over over the muscle. 15:57.93 nextlevelguypodcast And is that why you think you've come back from some of the gnarly injuries you've had that you don't let you know losses affect you, that you know you're focusing on a bigger mission? 16:08.84 nextlevelguypodcast Is that something you see a lot of athletes struggle? They focus on the small parts rather than the bigger... what legacy they're going to leave, how them they they don't have their priorities set straight. 16:21.51 Michael Todd I mean, possibly. So what's different now? Because like I said, I'm in my 36th year of competing. It's only since social media have I been hated. I've never was hated before. 16:34.10 Michael Todd People looked up to me and watched love, watched me arm wrestle and everything else. And then somehow people saw this version of me that, that beat Devin in 2018 and, and use the Kings move to do it. And somehow I must've been a cheater. 16:48.36 Michael Todd And then I'm a poor sport because I stand up for myself when someone makes bad calls or when I pulled Jerry cataract in 2019 and he forcibly fouled and kept his elbow off the pad. And that was the end of the match because those were the rules because I complained and was, wasn't willing to give it. 17:04.74 Michael Todd It was $15,000 to win that match. So you want me, I've already won it. I've provided that $15,000 for my family, but, You say there's something on my character because I'm not willing to do it again when he did that on purpose. 17:15.54 Michael Todd And then the year before when we arm wrestled, I fouled out. And I said, do you want to win that way? He's like, absolutely. So when he tried to flip that the next year,