00:00.39 Michael Todd What happened? 00:00.51 nextlevelguypodcast yeah It just reloaded itself for some reason. 00:03.24 Michael Todd It completely restarted the recording. 00:05.92 nextlevelguypodcast Yeah, I've still got the original... 00:07.63 Michael Todd Okay, yeah, yeah. 00:07.66 nextlevelguypodcast Hmm. 00:08.27 Michael Todd But yeah, so um it for me, just the sport itself, um has changed so much because trying to continue to to pick yourself up and and get back going, that was something I always did. Like, it's just, no matter how many times I got knocked down, I got back up. 00:26.76 Michael Todd If someone thought that they were gonna do this sport and be undefeated forever, it was a delusion. Like, everyone's gonna lose. I'm not defined by my losses, I'm defined by, my willingness to dust myself off and get back up and reinvent myself. 00:40.66 Michael Todd And that's what I've done throughout my career. The last 15 years of my career, my right arm was severely damaged through multiple fractures and I had lost 19 inches of range of motion. where a lot of people would have retired because they did not have a ah properly functioning right arm. But um I didn't, there was no such thing as quit for me. 00:57.93 Michael Todd So I just had to find a way to win. It just so happens my path to victory was a move that people hated to see, but it was in the rules. And then recently you've you've had a lot of the Europeans, there's been a whole lot of back and forth talks with the organizations and how they don't want the rules to change or this or that. 01:14.26 Michael Todd And my wife and I were laughing the other day. I'm like, for the last 10 years, every time I showed up to a tournament, they would change a rule to try to keep me from winning. They're like, oh, the King's move can't do this. It can't do this. 01:24.94 Michael Todd And then these younger athletes talking about how they don't want the rules to change for themselves. I'm like, for the last 10 years, every time I showed up, there was a new rule against me. So what did I do? I just dealt with it. I just adapted. you know Because what what are you going to Cry about it? 01:38.66 Michael Todd You're just going to compete, man. I love to compete. If I wasn't arm wrestling, I'd be competing at something else. Like I've got, know, I've got basketball goal here in my gym. We got, you know, ping pong pool. We're over here playing cornhole bago, whatever you want call it. And I'm just as competitive in all those things as I am at arm wrestling. 01:54.99 Michael Todd I just hate to lose, you know. 01:57.42 nextlevelguypodcast ah Do you think that's something that you utilize? it's That's the monster side. that you know When people hate me, you can leave that at the table and then you're Michael outside of that. 02:09.79 nextlevelguypodcast Or you know does the hate bother you? do you know Does it annoy you that people focus on this move rather than just improving it and finding something that works for them? 02:21.30 Michael Todd For a long time it did. For a long time it bothered me a lot because I wasn't being hated for being a character. i was being hated for being me. Like was being hated for a person who who wanted to win. 02:33.40 Michael Todd And winning within the rules, I never cheated. arm wrestled within the rules. You just might have thought it was unfair, but the rules didn't say it was unfair, know what mean? So when I was being hated for just being me, I didn't understand it. I'm like, guys, tell me what's so bad about a guy who just continues to work hard and wants to win. 02:50.26 Michael Todd But now, um sometimes i let the I let the hate fuel me, and sometimes I just, you know, I pray for him. Hey, they just don't understand, you know, um I'm better off praying for them than anything else. So for me, it's just ah I have a blessed life. I live every day with my best friend. 03:07.55 Michael Todd She and I get to live an extraordinary life because of this this obscure sport that I started 36 years ago. And um I'm just thankful and blessed, man. 03:16.37 nextlevelguypodcast Because you've said in another interview that that's the bit that you love. it's the You wake up each day with the person that you love. You have your kids, your grandkids. 03:28.99 nextlevelguypodcast you know A lot of us focus on the wins, the losses, where you seem to have a focus on your legacy, you know what you're going to give back, or this bigger picture. Is that how you avoid letting losses affect you in such a primal sport when it is about win-losing, about you know masculinity versus masculinity? 03:48.84 nextlevelguypodcast You can focus, you know you've got the bigger thing but about what you're giving back, but also what you've got the you know you gratitude for what you have in your life. 03:59.63 Michael Todd Yeah, so I mean, arm wrestling doesn't define me. Like, it isn't all there is to me. I'm a much deeper person than just arm wrestling. Arm wrestling is just a a a vehicle or an outlet that I use to, you know, 04:06.28 nextlevelguypodcast Yeah. 04:13.25 Michael Todd really basically just you know let my competitive side, my competitive nature you know have have an outlet. But you know at end of the day, if my entire life was based on wins or losses, that would be a pretty shallow life, right? I wouldn't have a whole lot of, ah to me, it's just, I'm going to win or lose. 04:34.37 Michael Todd I'm most likely not going to die. My arm might break, something might come apart. Well, that's already happened to me. So worst case scenario, it's just something I've already been through before um If I win, my wife's going to let me celebrate for about a week. That's about it. 04:49.57 Michael Todd If I lose, my wife's still going to love me. My grandbabies are still going to love Big Papa. mean, I'm still going to come home and still get to live my life with my best friend. Now, that doesn't mean go in, you know, saying, hey, if I lose, whatever. 05:02.14 Michael Todd No, I'm wanting to win. Like, I'm always wanting to win. But. If I do lose, it's not the end of the world, right? because I know there'll be all our other opportunities. I'm 52 years old, um but I honestly think I'm just now getting to my, I think my right arm now is stronger than it's ever been. 05:16.81 Michael Todd And I think it's just a matter of time before I'm a world champion again, either in the heavyweight division or one day I get a shot at LeVon and I prove the world all things are possible, you know? 05:28.07 nextlevelguypodcast And is that the big thing for you for creating the monster factory that you see that there's this generation of athletes who are too focused on the, the media, like the, you know, the minimum where they're not looking at the bigger picture. They're, they're not challenging themselves by having that sort of three area principles in their life. Do you think 05:50.79 Michael Todd So the monster factory started and it had nothing to do with any of that. It was just, was a place that I wanted to, to, as a kid, I always wanted to have my own, own space, right. My own gym. 06:01.66 Michael Todd And I've been blessed to have my own home gym, commercial size gym, probably for the, like the last 18 years, it's just continued to involve. and And now it's something just bigger, bigger than me. Right. Um, 06:13.41 Michael Todd What it is for me, it's a space for for me and my friends to to get together and train, to fellowship, to to you know give each other shit and and motivate each other in and train our butt off, right? And just get to a a place where we're not judged. We're not at a a local gym where a little uncle arm's going to go off or whatever. We can just be us and have a good time and and get good workouts and get a good train. 06:38.70 Michael Todd and get good fellowship. Now, I do have some plans for this space because we have created a space here that think is pretty special. um So I think we are going to open them up to weekend experiences called Monster Factory experiences, ah kind of like people do weekend hunting trips or whatever. 06:56.37 Michael Todd We'll minimum of eight, maximum of 12 people for a 48-hour period. We feed them, and we train them, we put them through nutrition, we have competitions, we fellowship, we have a good time, right? um And then I also think that we're going be doing men's fitness weekends ah where we we bring people in for a weekend. We teach for everything we know about nutrition and training so they can take that back and and live healthier lives. 07:18.82 Michael Todd Women's fitness weekends. And I do think there might end up being some Christian fellowship weekends here as well. I'm not sure. I don't know exactly how everything's going to play out. But we have a space that we can utilize to bring people together. 07:34.03 Michael Todd the thing is, I didn't do any of this to be an inspiration to anyone. I just did this because not doing it, mediocrity disgusts me. So me just being normal never made sense. My mom's like, you've never been normal. 07:46.96 Michael Todd And I didn't. I've never been. I've always... I wanted to be more. I wanted to do more. I wanted to accomplish more. I wanted to ah fulfill my potential, really. But throughout that process and that journey of watching myself take wins and losses, it has turned somehow turned into and inspirational story for others. 08:03.72 Michael Todd So when I get messages from people how I've inspired them or I motivated them or something, that's just icing on the cake. But now I do have an opportunity to actually help people, you know, 08:15.49 Michael Todd you know supersede my level of success, do more than I did. be a kind you know and all it is is just teaching people principles that that I've lived most of my life by. And it's just hard work and consistency, right? 08:27.91 Michael Todd And creating that habit. So I don't know, man. I don't know what God's got in store for me. I know we're blessed where we're at right now. I know I have several doors that look like they're about to open for some pretty cool stuff to happen. 08:39.91 Michael Todd But at the end of the I'm still training every day, trying to get that world title back. You know, the East versus West world title is the only world title from the professional leagues that I've never won. 08:51.07 Michael Todd And honestly, it's probably because since they came into inception, injuries and injuries. you know, nerve damages and all that stuff. And now that I have a healthy arm, um I think ah think I can go down to heavyweight if I want to and and become the heavyweight world champion. 09:07.35 Michael Todd And I also think there although it might be slim in most people's minds, I really want to pull Levant. I want to see if ah ah six months prepped me fully focused on a match Levant can do what most people think is impossible. And that's beat Levant. So we'll see. 09:26.73 nextlevelguypodcast Do you think that's something that sets you aside? 09:29.64 Michael Todd Thank you. 09:30.10 nextlevelguypodcast Because when you look at your social media, you know, you've made some amazing transformations. You've you've gone from being the chubby kid, as you called it. mean, I'm still the chubby kid now, to this ripped mass of, like... 09:43.88 nextlevelguypodcast you know controlled anger and pure like talent on on the mats. But, you know, you've come back from the gnarly air things, you know, you you've, you've treated the sport, not like a sport, almost like a craft. 09:58.46 nextlevelguypodcast You've built these amazing training rituals to work on your skill and that. Is that something that you think's helped you that ability of making it part of your persona rather than just doing a sport? 10:12.45 Michael Todd See, I don't even think that's what's helped me. is That's the only reason I'm able to achieve the level of success that I have is because, like I said, I wasn't genetically gifted. I wasn't someone who, if I did not treat myself like a professional athlete, I would not have this level success. 10:25.27 Michael Todd So all those things kind of went handin hand in hand. Just me taking a very professional approach to being the best version of me that I could be ah is what's allowed me to have the success that I've had. 10:32.68 nextlevelguypodcast Mm-hmm. 10:35.47 Michael Todd there's a lot of i got a lot of friends who can go out party and drink and eat like crap and whatever and still show up to tournament still be one of the top guys. I've never been that dude. like i have to be My nutrition's got to be on point. My sleep's got to be on point. like All these things have to be in order for me. 10:49.33 Michael Todd And as an aging athlete, you know, as a 52-year-old athlete, I mean, I a daily ice bath, hot tub, sauna. I have a hyperbaric chamber upstairs. I do everything I can for recovery so that I still can give myself the best opportunity for success. 11:02.65 Michael Todd um But, yeah, I mean, if it's just there's really no – there is no Michael Todd. There is no monster Michael Todd. I'm just all one guy. Like, it's just in certain instances that more competitive, more confident, more – and i don't want to say aggressive side comes out that that 11:23.10 Michael Todd it's, I don't know, man, it's just different. So I don't i don't really know, I can't, my my wife might be able to say and explain it better than I can, but I'm the same guy day in, day out. If something pissed me off today, two weeks from now, if that same thing happened again, it's most likely gonna piss me off, right? 11:37.94 Michael Todd Like I have evolved and i have grown, but as far as consistency, you will never find a more consistent person than I believe I am. I'm very consistent. I'm also very black and white. 11:50.29 Michael Todd And I don't know why that is, but, and I'm also very literal when someone's like, oh, I know a guy, his arms are twice as big as yours. I'm like, oh, he's got 44 inch arms. Those are huge. I've never seen 44 inch arms. You know what I'm saying? 12:01.20 Michael Todd Because they're not being literal when they say the guy's arms are twice as big as mine. They're just saying that his arms are big. But I heard the guy has 44 inch arms because my arms are 22 inches. 12:12.93 Michael Todd So if they're twice as big, they must be 44 inches, right? Because I'm so literal. But don't know. 12:17.49 nextlevelguypodcast so 12:18.32 Michael Todd It's just my character, I guess, my personality. 12:20.70 nextlevelguypodcast I think that's good. In a way, you you remove the emotion from it. They try to be that sort of petty, pick a fight, etc. and Where you're just kind of like... You just let it slide and just... Yep, okay, cool. 12:33.30 nextlevelguypodcast I'm just doing my own thing. I'm doing my own thing. you know my My approach... Do you think that's like something that you could teach the people that listening? Like, how could we ensure our sleep's dialed in? How can we make sure we're eating's on point? 12:47.08 nextlevelguypodcast What be found about consistency that are like little gems that might work for athletes who are maybe struggling in that area? 12:55.52 Michael Todd So when it comes to nutrition, the best thing to do, in my opinion, is get a meal plan that you can follow because the best meal plan is the one that going stick to. Right. 13:06.11 Michael Todd So what might work for me may not be the one that works for you. So find the one that you can stick to. But then have a date, have a deadline to achieve whatever level of fitness that you want achieve. Because if you don't have a hard date, you will give yourself an excuse to cheat or to Or to fail daily, right? 13:23.39 Michael Todd And the biggest thing for me is every single day, I try to, even if it's all I did, I successfully ate right, I successfully did my cardio, I successfully did my nutrition and or I did my workout. I go to bed that night and I check it off and I go to bed feeling like a success and I'm excited about a new day. 13:38.45 Michael Todd So you don't have to do it weeks at time, months at a time, it one day at a time. I successfully completed a day. Okay, cool. I believe it's going to take me 90 days to achieve what I want to achieve. I'm one day close to reaching my goal. 13:49.66 Michael Todd I get through tomorrow. All right, I'm one day reaching close to my goal. And just just set yourself up for those daily successes because the success is what keeps you motivated and keeps you going. If a person constantly fails, they're going to give up. 14:03.17 Michael Todd So make it to where you succeed, set yourself up for success, right? But by having a hard deadline, like I tell people do a photo shoot or do a fitness competition or do something or do some physical test on this day so that I know that I have to be there by this day so I'm gonna do the work. 14:20.23 Michael Todd I'm not gonna slip, I'm not gonna sack, I'm not gonna, you know, oh, well, this bad meal is not gonna hurt me or this alcohol weekend, I'm gonna drink all week and that's, you know, if you have a deadline or a hard deadline, 14:31.06 Michael Todd you You don't let yourself do that. So all you're doing is teaching yourself discipline and self-control, right? And when you teach yourself that, it's no different than anything else you do in life. Like once you get used to doing it, it's something that you can draw upon. It's a habit that you have. 14:45.00 Michael Todd it's ah It's a character that you've created. Like I can i am willing to to do this because I've done it before. It's not going to kill me. I can do it. So I'm going to put my head down, blinders on, going to focus on the goal, you know? 14:58.87 Michael Todd So it's just... I mean, I tell people all the time, it's just prioritizing that goal, that thing that you want to accomplish, and just being consistent with the effort and the work. 15:13.27 Michael Todd But celebrate the successes. Celebrate the fact that you made it through the day without without you know slipping. And then wake up tomorrow super excited and see if we can do it again. And just before you know it, you've ran 60, 70, 80, 90 days together. 15:25.70 Michael Todd And now, oh, my God, look at my body. have to completely transform my body because I put the right fuel in it. And the other thing is I tell people, if you bought a $100,000 sports car, would you put regular electric gas in it or would you put premium fuel? 15:36.21 Michael Todd Well, no, going put premium fuel. Well, why would you treat that car better than you do your body? Put premium fuel in your body, you know? So I don't know. 15:42.75 nextlevelguypodcast oh I love the way you look at it because you you come alive when you're talking about the you know the the nuances, the the the focuses. 15:53.60 nextlevelguypodcast i mean There's so many people here who they they they don't care about the small things. 15:57.18 Michael Todd Thank you. 15:59.54 nextlevelguypodcast You know, it's like, it's like you're the party and the they going out. How do you measure this? Because you said when you go to bed, you, you look back and you take it off. Are you journaling? Are you are using visualization? Are you using any kind of like mental techniques? 16:16.21 nextlevelguypodcast Are you measuring anything particular or is it just, I know I gave my best for today? 16:22.67 Michael Todd Used to, I wrote down everything I ate. I had spiral notebooks next my bed for years of sticking to my nutrition, right? And then after, for so long, I just knew what good nutrition was. 16:34.92 Michael Todd I knew what good meals were. I knew what my macros were. knew that what my workout was supposed to be. I knew the goal I had to set. And so now it's just, I know ahead of time what tomorrow's gonna be. 16:46.58 Michael Todd And then when I get up tomorrow, I start off the day You know, and and I get going and I do the things that I know I need to do. And in my free time, you know, I might sit and watch some TV with Rebecca or lay in the bed with my dogs or go lay out by the pool or whatever. 17:01.59 Michael Todd But I'm going to get the work done. You know, the work's going to get done. So I don't think it's anything visual. It's just it's a habit I've created, you know. 17:10.53 nextlevelguypodcast No, I mean, it's a lot of people, they don't look at the, you know, they're not grateful for what they have in their life. They are they don't look back. They are always looking forward at the next goal. They always have to be driving forward this hassle stupidity mentality that a lot of people have at the moment. 17:29.73 nextlevelguypodcast I mean, you' you've had to sort of step back with some injuries. you know You've had some fractures. you've You've had some gnarly injuries, as we talked about earlier. But you've taken yeah you know you've alluded to how you've worked on your kind of recovery, your rehab, your focus on yourself. 17:48.98 nextlevelguypodcast ge Is that a big part now that you've taken and sort of recovery as part of a professional athlete? you've built You've focused on hyperbaric chambers. 17:59.57 nextlevelguypodcast You've looked at stem cells. You've actually looked at, live it you know, you know you can give back, so you need to do it for the long term. 20:24.76 nextlevelguypodcast Yeah. 20:57.44 nextlevelguypodcast but yeah 21:10.02 nextlevelguypodcast Thank you. 22:55.65 nextlevelguypodcast That was 23:24.50 nextlevelguypodcast I mean, I would argue that your and six it like the reason you're on that star is is almost because of the man that you've become as much as the sport, that you've shown people what's capable if we devote ourselves to like the higher principles, you know if we chase things rather in life rather than the Kardashians or the jealous of our friend they've got a better car than us. 23:48.03 nextlevelguypodcast You know, you... you are driven by providing for your family, for being happy, for being the best version of yourself. For very single people like myself, have you any tips of finding our own version of Rebecca, that person that drives us, that inspires us, that you have this sort of, because you say on your website, you know, that this is your true love of life. 24:09.57 nextlevelguypodcast How can we find our own versions? People who are looking for that companion in life. 25:32.88 nextlevelguypodcast Yeah. 26:44.45 nextlevelguypodcast I love that. I love how like you've set up a life of, I just want to be with my person. I want to have my dogs. I'm grateful for everything, for for what I can do, what's happened to me, but also now what's coming forward. 26:59.05 nextlevelguypodcast And you've gone through some horrific injuries. You've tragically lost your mom. you But you mentioned about ketamine therapy back then and You know, you is that when you look back now, the the you know the religious beliefs that you have, the the the love that you have with your your family, looking at them as your kind of guiding rock as much as that's kept you coming back, that you're you know you're now transitioning away from the sport, that you don't feel the need to get one more title? 27:34.93 nextlevelguypodcast It'd be behave good if it was, but you're just happy with what you have in life. 28:36.99 nextlevelguypodcast Yeah. 29:28.62 nextlevelguypodcast Yeah. 30:18.31 nextlevelguypodcast That is beautiful. I'm so chuffed at how you found your way back. When you were down at that dark moment, because I've suffered a lot with intrusive thoughts, depression, etc. 30:30.82 nextlevelguypodcast is how How have you found your way back to the light? yeah know have you found you know like What was it about ketamine that opened that kind of the door for you in a way? 31:48.36 nextlevelguypodcast Jeez. 31:58.00 nextlevelguypodcast but 32:31.76 nextlevelguypodcast That's beautiful. and I think you are ah ah sort of a shining light for a lot of people who are struggling, but you're also, you know, like you could probably tell the love that she had for you and how proud she is of what you do. And I think that's what helps you is you're surrounded by your people. 32:48.16 nextlevelguypodcast You know, you have some amazing training partners, the love of your life. ah You focus on the relationships. Is that how you think a lot men could improve? It's finding their band of brothers, finding that love of their life by focusing as a community and what we our legacy that we leave rather than but we what we win on the mats. 34:48.51 nextlevelguypodcast Yeah. 35:33.47 nextlevelguypodcast Yeah. 36:32.09 nextlevelguypodcast No. 36:37.34 nextlevelguypodcast It's that where you kept. 36:44.40 nextlevelguypodcast What? 36:53.67 nextlevelguypodcast i I mean, I honestly mean this. I truly find you a remarkable man. There's so much more than just the competing, the wrestling. I we're moved completely away where I was going to go with this. But there's so much more to you deep down that I think we need to show more of to to inspire people. 37:10.72 nextlevelguypodcast Is this where you... Because you've said... When you've been through everything I've been through, it's not just strength. It's patience, breath and believing you can all surge again. That's the difference. That's Monster. monster I know we're coming to our time, but is that what you want people to remember from this? 37:28.19 nextlevelguypodcast Like going forward as a summary of this message that you want to out? 38:14.28 nextlevelguypodcast Amen. 38:50.26 nextlevelguypodcast And for those who want to find out more and follow you on this amazing journey, who want to come along to the training sessions that you mentioned, the fellowship events, etc. How can we get in touch? How can we follow you on social media, your website, and just see this amazing life and obviously the amazing training facility you have? 39:28.57 nextlevelguypodcast Thank you. 39:58.01 nextlevelguypodcast Perfect.