2600: Mike O’Hearn

Summary

Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth

Episode: 2600: Mike O’Hearn
Release Date: May 19, 2025
Hosts: Sal DeStefano, Adam Schafer, Justin Andrews
Guest: Mike O’Hearn
Produced by: Doug Egge

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1. Introduction to Mike O’Hearn [01:03]

Sal DeStefano welcomes Mike O’Hearn, highlighting him as a "juggernaut in the fitness and bodybuilding and strength industry." He praises Mike's longevity and strength, especially impressive given his age of 56.

Notable Quote:
Sal DeStefano [01:11]: "You've been doing this for a long time, man. When did this all start for you?"

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2. Early Career and Influences [03:35]

Mike shares his beginnings, stepping on stage for the first time in 1983 at the age of 17. He attributes his passion to his athletic family background—his father was a football player and bodybuilder, and his mother a martial artist. Growing up with nine siblings, Mike was inspired by bodybuilding legends like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Frank Zane.

Notable Quote:
Mike O’Hearn [04:30]: "I was lucky enough to be in that family. But also understand that when I opened the magazine and I saw Arnold and Frank Zane and Robbie, I go, whatever this is, I want to do it."

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3. Training Philosophy and Longevity [15:44]

Mike discusses his approach to training, emphasizing consistency over extreme intensity. He advocates for working at around 70% of max capacity to preserve tendon and ligament health, allowing him to maintain his strength without injuries.

Notable Quote:
Mike O’Hearn [17:45]: "I lift at a 70 range. I'm practical."

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4. Decision to Go Natural: The Joe Weider Story [10:46]

Addressing the controversy around his natural status, Mike explains his choice to avoid performance-enhancing substances. A pivotal conversation with Joe Weider reinforced his commitment to natural training, emphasizing long-term health over short-term gains.

Notable Quote:
Mike O’Hearn [10:10]: "I would say to the youngsters, though, be intelligent enough to understand this. If you destroy yourself and if you're doing it incorrectly for a bodybuilding trophy, and that's the main thing, it's like, if you're gonna do it when you're in your teens or in your 20s, you won't be there in your 50s doing what I do."

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5. Family and Fatherhood Impact [19:29]

Mike shares how becoming a father transformed his life, providing additional motivation to stay fit and healthy. He emphasizes the joy and responsibility of raising his five-year-old son, integrating martial arts into their family activities.

Notable Quote:
Mike O’Hearn [20:55]: "My son changed my life to. I had more motivation. I don't miss workouts. So it's, it's an amazing thing."

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6. Evolution of Gym Culture [25:42]

Reflecting on decades in the fitness industry, Mike notes significant changes in gym culture, particularly the rise of social media and the prevalence of individuals filming their workouts. While he appreciates the connectivity it offers, he misses the old-school focus on fundamentals and intentional training.

Notable Quote:
Mike O’Hearn [26:15]: "Social media has some great aspects to it and some downside of it, but I think it's incredible that we get to communicate with all these individuals out there now."

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7. Business Ventures and Financial Wisdom [47:39]

Mike discusses his successful foray into commercial real estate, starting young at 28. He stresses the importance of financial independence, allowing him to pursue his passions in health and fitness without financial constraints.

Notable Quote:
Mike O’Hearn [48:10]: "It's one of those things that it's the outside. Take this finance and put it somewhere to where I can build a foundation to where I didn't need to worry about it, about the health and fitness."

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8. Acting Career and Gladiators Experience [40:02]

Mike recounts his acting journey, starting with appearances in "Death Becomes Her" and "American Gladiators." He describes the rigorous and unscripted nature of these shows, which demanded peak physical condition and mental toughness.

Notable Quote:
Mike O’Hearn [42:17]: "The original Gladiators was awesome. It was absolute. They got some great freaking athletes against us."

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9. Nutrition and Diet Strategies [36:42]

Mike emphasizes personalized nutrition, experimenting with various diets like fasting and keto to understand what works best for his body. He highlights the importance of maintaining muscle mass and metabolic health, especially post-competition.

Notable Quote:
Mike O’Hearn [38:09]: "I have no issue if I want to lose 10 pounds of muscle. I can get that back on, you guys know, memory muscle and all that."

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10. Mentorship and Networking [60:42]

Mike values his relationships with iconic figures like Frank Zane and Arnold Schwarzenegger. These connections provide continuous learning opportunities and reinforce his commitment to longevity in fitness.

Notable Quote:
Mike O’Hearn [63:56]: "I can still smell the baby powder and stuff. It's like, wow. So I'm, I'm with Frank and I'm listening and seeing somebody at his age still be that freaking alpha."

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11. Reflections on Aging and Training [55:35]

Mike views weightlifting as a form of meditation and stresses the importance of maintaining mobility and range of motion as he ages. He believes that controlled training allows for sustained strength and health.

Notable Quote:
Mike O’Hearn [55:35]: "It's more of my meditation. It's such a different level of understanding of weightlifting."

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12. Social Media Presence and Memes [67:05]

Mike addresses the humorous aspect of being featured in memes, taking it in stride and appreciating the lighthearted recognition. He acknowledges the viral nature but remains unfazed by it.

Notable Quote:
Mike O’Hearn [68:07]: "I'm fine with them using me as the giga."

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13. Conclusion [72:43]

The episode wraps up with the hosts expressing their appreciation for Mike's insights and achievements. Mike shares upcoming projects, including his role in "Magazine Dreams" and other acting ventures, highlighting his continuous dedication to both fitness and his career.

Notable Quote:
Mike O’Hearn [71:42]: "I'm coming up. It's coming up. Bringing baby mama and a little one."

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Key Takeaways:

• Longevity in Fitness: Mike's consistent and smart training philosophy emphasizes sustainability over extreme measures, allowing him to maintain peak physical condition without succumbing to injuries.
• Natural Training Commitment: Choosing to avoid performance-enhancing substances has not only preserved his health but also set a positive example in the fitness community.
• Balanced Life: Fatherhood has added a new dimension to Mike's life, enhancing his motivation and providing personal fulfillment beyond his professional achievements.
• Financial Acumen: Early investment in real estate has provided financial stability, enabling Mike to pursue his passions without financial pressures.
• Adaptability: Embracing new challenges, such as acting and jiu-jitsu, showcases Mike's versatility and commitment to continuous growth.

Mike O’Hearn’s journey is a testament to the power of dedication, smart decision-making, and the importance of balancing personal and professional life to achieve sustained success and fulfillment.

Transcript

[Mike O'Hearn]

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[Sal DeStefano]

To $15 per month required intro rate first 3 months only, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. See full [e-mail] if you want to pump your body and expand your mind.

[Adam Schaefer]

There'S only one place to go.

[Mike O'Hearn]

Mind Pump.

[Sal DeStefano]

Mind Pump.

[Adam Schaefer]

With your hosts Sal DeStefano, Adam Schaefer.

[Sal DeStefano]

And Justin Andrews, you just found the most downloaded fitness, health and entertainment podcast. This is Mind Pump. Today's episode, a special one. We finally have Michael Hearn on the show. This guy is a juggernaut in the fitness and bodybuilding and strength industry. He's been doing this for a long time. He's a great guy, smart guy, one of the strongest people I've ever talked to, especially at his age. It's pretty insane. So this is a great episode. By the way, you can find him on Instagram ikeohern. Now this episode is brought to you by a sponsor, Legion Supplements. These are supplements for people interested in building muscle, burning body fat, getting stronger and improving their health. And if you go through our link, you'll get 20% off. Go to buylegion.com mindpump use the code mindpump and get 20% off. We also have a sale on some workout programs this month, Maps 15 performance and the RGB bundle, both half off. If you're interested, go to maps fitnessproducts.com and then use the code May50 for the discount. Here comes the show. Mike O' Hearn, welcome to the podcast.

[Justin Andrews]

Finally.

[Sal DeStefano]

It's been a long time coming, man.

[Mike O'Hearn]

Guys, thanks for doing this. Yeah, dude, I feel bad that it's not in person. This needs to be in person.

[Justin Andrews]

I'm glad you feel bad because I was going to make. I was going to make you feel bad if you did it. I was like, I was going to roast. I can't believe I actually got. I saw you on the calendar and I was like, oh, man, I'm so excited to see Mike. And then I got in this morning, I'm like, hey, what time's Mike here? Oh, no, it's Zoom. I'm like, what? So we couldn't get that up here.

[Mike O'Hearn]

Yeah, I know, it's. I, I saw that you had Stan effort in up there, Dr. Ray McLean and stuff. So I thought, man, you do need a guy that's actually muscular and strong, so it would help. Yeah, I'll make it happen.

[Sal DeStefano]

I was down at your. How long ago was it? When I was. A couple years ago. Was it a couple years? Yeah, you got to meet him and Mona and his wife's amazing. Your wife's great. Love her, by the way. Very good people. It was a good time. It was a great time. But, Mike, I want to ask you, I want to know about you, how this all started. I told you this when I was on your show, you know, when I was working out in the 90s, early 2000s, you were one of the guys I looked up to. You were in a lot of the bodybuilding magazines and you were, you know, I looked up to your workouts and kind of what you did. And here we are talking now. You've been doing this for a long time, man. When did this all start for you?

[Mike O'Hearn]

Geez. 83. I stepped on stage. 1983, I stepped on stage. But I always say I was kind of like, bred for this because my dad was a football player and bodybuilder and mom was a martial artist. So there's 10 kids and five and five. So I was following my older brothers and sisters from the start. And so I, I was lucky enough to. I was lucky enough to be in that family. But also understand that when I opened the magazine and I saw Arnold and Frank Zane and Robbie, I go, whatever this is, I want to do it. And. And I knew at that age, 9 years old, 10 years old, and I just, I just committed. And then 83 on stage, by 87 in the, in the fitness magazines. So, I mean, it's. Man, we're closing in on.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

How old are you at that point? So you hit stage at 83?

[Mike O'Hearn]

7. I was 17.

[Sal DeStefano]

18 in 87 already? Yeah. And that's the picture we have up there, right there of him as a As a kid. So now you tens. Okay, so there's 10 of you. You have nine siblings. Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

What was that like?

[Sal DeStefano]

What was it like growing up with such a big family?

[Mike O'Hearn]

It was awesome. It was absolutely awesome. It was awesome. For the aspect of what I do, I'm a gladiator. And so I love to tussle, I love to wrestle. I love the whole concept is, I know you guys probably too young, but there was a TV show, it was the Pink Panther, and he had that, the guy that was always his butler kind of slash Cato. And you walk into the house and you got to check over your shoulder because your brother's going to attack you. And so I love that aspect of having four older brothers. That didn't nurture me. They, they, they pushed me to be better. So if they're going out to play football, I'm quarterback. If they're, they're tussling, I'm putting the gloves on and going against my older brother. So it was, it was absolutely a blessing. And then that's just my brothers. My sister won Miss Seattle. My other sister won the Washington State powerlifting. So it was like my whole family. It was, it was incredible. It was incredible. I just liked, I liked growing up in a big family where, where I was the youngest and I got to watch see the mistakes, be told what, what should do and what you shouldn't do from a young age.

[Sal DeStefano]

Where did you grow up?

[Mike O'Hearn]

Kirkland, Washington.

[Sal DeStefano]

Okay.

[Mike O'Hearn]

Costco, Bill Gates, Michael Hearn, not in that order.

[Sal DeStefano]

So, so, so genetically gifted. Your whole family obviously has got those kind of those athletic genes. You just talked to your sister, your brother, or powerlifting stranger. Now you, you people know you as the guy that you know in the magazines. You're in some movies and tv, kind of bodybuilder, but you competed in judo and in powerlifting. Tell me about that.

[Mike O'Hearn]

Yeah, it was, it was one of those requirements at the house that we competed in martial arts. Fully understand looking back now, because, you know, you got two parents that work and, and they had to have some kind of discipline in the house. So martial arts was kind of a, a forefront for us. And yeah, I started out with taekwondo and karate, and then I hated the point system, and I was a wrestler. And I got lucky enough to meet Mike Swain as, as a young kid. Mike was one of our best Olympics judo players. And I know Mike.

[Sal DeStefano]

I know, I know Mike. I, I did judo at San Jose Buddhist, and he would come by and teach us when I was a kid. Incredible judoka. So you did. So did he teach you?

[Mike O'Hearn]

Yeah.

[Sal DeStefano]

No way.

[Mike O'Hearn]

Yeah, that's, that's how it really. He goes, wow, you're 280 pound guy, you can move your ATH. I was on Gladiators at the time, you know, a 20 year old kid and he's like, let's, let's go. So that's, that's the love of it.

[Sal DeStefano]

Wow, that's great. So you competed there and then when did you do powerlifting?

[Mike O'Hearn]

Powerlifting started in 83 as well. I was a, a young kid and that and bodybuilding and martial arts at that young 13 year old age. I did, I did my first powerlifting meet at, at 13, 14. I won it. Did my first bodybuilding show, Teenage Washington and I beat 19, 19 year olds. And you know, I'm just a pup. And so I was like, I, I'm in, I'm still in. I love it. And it was just, I, it was love, I loved it. Yeah, I love the, the, you know what it was? And you said this best and I wish I could get this quote, but you guys do this better for me, it's the guy that likes the journey will do better than the man that wants the destination.

[Sal DeStefano]

Right.

[Mike O'Hearn]

And, and it was one of your s. I think that's yours.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, we made a T shirt out of it. Yeah. This is one of Sal's famous quotes. The man that loves walking will, will walk further. Yeah. Than the man that loves the destination.

[Mike O'Hearn]

And it, the shows were great. The, the, the magazine, the covers, the, the competitions, the wins were great. But I loved, I loved the grind. I loved the daily preparation, I loved the, the schedule. I absolutely love it. And that's one of the reasons. Well, I, I think it's the main reason I'm still here today, being absolutely not bright enough to figure out how to stop. So I love it.

[Sal DeStefano]

How, how old are you now, Mike?

[Mike O'Hearn]

I'm 56.

[Sal DeStefano]

Holy Toledo. And now I use. So you are widely regarded. Whenever somebody talks about natural and then there's lots of controversy, your name always pops up. Talk about that for a little bit. Why did you not decide to use performance enhancing substances and talk about the role of genetics? I think people don't quite understand the wide degree of what genetics can do. I mean, I use the example of Ronnie Coleman. He was a top 10 Mr. Olympia before he ever took steroids. Bigger than 99.9% of anybody taking steroids could possibly get. Talk about that a little bit. And why did you decide to never use or to not use performance enhancing drugs? And how do you feel about that controversy now? Because it's still. Today, your name's brought up like, oh, that guy. He's definitely on something. He's not telling the truth.

[Mike O'Hearn]

I don't care. Now, on the aspect of you want to say I'm a gassed out of my mind, say I'm gassed out of my mind. You want to say I'm gay. I'm just at that age. You know what I mean? It's like, it doesn't, it doesn't matter what you guys say. It's a cool deal, man. Whatever you want to say. I would say to the youngsters, though, be intelligent enough to understand this. If you destroy yourself and if you're doing it incorrectly for a bodybuilding trophy, and that's the main thing, it's like, if you're gonna do it when you're in a teens or in your 20s, you won't be there in your 50s doing what I do.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yeah.

[Mike O'Hearn]

And that's the understanding of it. And you can, you can say whichever way you want to go with this. But it's. You got so much potential at that age to not rush it. And I was blessed enough to be a freaking monster at 15 years old, you know, 280 pounds, winning powerlifting meets winning bodybuilding shows at that size at that age to where I was like, what Let me. And, and the goal wasn't not to do it. You know, that goal, that, that discussion or, or the choice to do it changed when I had my talk with Joe Weider, and that came on later on, I'll tell you the story, because it was one of those things that was at those aha moments, you know, I was 15. I'm like, I'm. I'm the size of these guys. I'm stronger than these guys. So let me just keep doing what I'm doing right now, and then when maybe I'll venture that next step. But the cool thing was it never stopped. And I kept getting stronger and stronger and still doing 250 pound tricep extensions today where most people can't do a skull crusher by the time they're 35 and 40. So it's one of those aspects of do the best you can when you're a youngster and save anything. That free ticket for when you're older is my recommendation.

[Sal DeStefano]

Tell me about the conversation with Weider. What. What was that like?

[Mike O'Hearn]

It's freaking awesome. So I am there at a photo shoot, and he pulls. Pulls me aside and says, hey, we're Gonna shoot. There was five of us guys there, and four of those guys just got off the Olympia stage. And he says, we're gonna shoot you last because I did something special for you. I said, okay, that's fine. I got no issue. I'm with the Olympia and I got, I got so much respect for anybody that does this, but at that level, it's just true respect. And I'm the kid, you know, I'm a 20 year old kid there. So I'm like, yeah, I'll sit back, wait until my turn to shoot. So the other guys shoot and they, and they leave. And Joe comes up to me and brings in these bales of hay and does this whole big cover of a romance book for me. That's it up. And he said all this and he says, just, just so you know what you are right now, 99 of the world wants to be that. You're going to be on this cover, you're going to be this. Those guys are incredible for what they do, but only 10% of society wants to look like that. And I go, so what do you say? He says, keep doing what you're doing. You don't need to change, you don't need to be like this or that. Just be you and you got a career. And I was like, holy, sheesh. So I can continue to do gladiators and do martial arts and compete in powerlifting and bodybuilding and all this stuff, which I wanted to do and not go any further with any kind of help to take me to another level. I said, great, this is, this is great. And I, I don't know why this is, but it's like, people think that it's, it's health and fitness is all about, or life is all about that muscle. It's about the ligaments. And so if I, I understood enough that this stuff hurts the ligaments and tendons, where if you can just continue to get stronger over a slow period of time, you can strengthen it and you don't get the imbalance of muscle getting extremely strong fast. And your ligaments not because it doesn't work that way. Your ligaments are slow moving. So it was like one of those conversations that he, he hit me over the head and I said, I'm good, I'll just continue this slow path.

[Justin Andrews]

Oh, that had been one of the most pivotal conversations you ever had. Then.

[Mike O'Hearn]

You, you get the Mr. Olympia trophy or you win something, you win the UFC, you win anything like that. For everybody else, that might have been it for me to be told By Joe Weider. What you're doing is perfect. Keep doing that. That was my win.

[Justin Andrews]

Wow.

[Mike O'Hearn]

That was. That was better than any trophy I could have ever gotten my entire life.

[Sal DeStefano]

And it is a testament to, I mean, at your age, to be able to lift the weight that you do without, like, have you had any major injuries? That's wild. I mean, I could pull up a video now working out, you know, inclining inclinations. Every time you do an incline press, it's with four plates, you know what I mean? Or you're squatting with five, and you have never hurt yourself. It's a testament to the strength of your tendons and ligaments. And so what's your training philosophy around that? Is it challenge yourself, go slow, progress slowly. Like, what tips do you have for people that want to be able to continue to perform? Yeah, like this?

[Mike O'Hearn]

Yeah, yeah. The. There's side effects of lifting, and if you choose the path of what side effects you want most, you're going to set yourself up. And you guys know this. You guys have been around enough people and athletes and stuff. I mean, your teens and twenties, you train like an athlete and you push it to that limit. And then if you retire, you should probably switch that training slightly to where you're now not doing so much mileage as you're doing preventative and trying to do the best you can, because it's not guaranteed bulletproofing the body the best you can for the long run. And you, you run into these people that it's, I want muscle, I want to be ripped to the bone and then strength or something. It's. It's the delayed gratification where if you train, in my opinion, think less mileage, more poundage, more volume within it. I'd rather do my seven sets of five than my hypertrophy training. Three sets of 15 or 12 or something. It's like, well, one is going to cause me stress to the whole body, which I prefer, and it will set us up to be stronger in future compared to just the mileage. The mileage. The mileage with the lighter weights. So for me, that's it. It seems to work for not just me, but for people I work with around the world. The bone density, these guys come to me at 40 and 50, and then within five years, their bone density is so much better. And you're like, well, here we go. And then again, it's the mileage, you know, at the end of the day, I know that I've been training since a pub, but I'll guarantee my Rep range. It's as half as a guy that's been lifted for 20 years.

[Sal DeStefano]

Do you, do you moderate your intensity with that or are you going like max out?

[Mike O'Hearn]

I, I lift at a 70 range.

[Sal DeStefano]

Okay, so you're practical.

[Mike O'Hearn]

I'm writing that 70.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yeah. Okay.

[Mike O'Hearn]

I don't do a hundred because, you know, 100 is every once in a while, you know, we all have the hiccups where sometimes those workouts are at 50, but I try to keep it around 70%. And, and like you said, it's like somebody said the other day, yeah, you incline 405. That's all you've been doing. It's like, well, yeah, that's all I've been doing for 35 years. It's like, yeah, I'm all right with that. And that's, I guess that's the true understanding is I'm glad I didn't do it once in my life. I'm glad I got it. So it's like, I'm glad I didn't. I've done 500. The 500 is cool and stuff, but I like the idea that it's 405 for 35 years. It's like, okay, that to me and my lifestyle is better mostly because I have.

[Justin Andrews]

That's more.

[Mike O'Hearn]

I'm a late father and so I got a little five year old that's going to be throwing me around in 10 years and I kind of want to tussle with him in 10 years. And so that means more to me.

[Justin Andrews]

That's actually what I was excited most to talk to you because I know that about you, Mike. I was, I'm not quite as laid of others you. But I didn't, I didn't have my son until I was almost 40 and he's five right now, getting ready to turn six. And you know, I thought at one point, I don't know if you thought too, that maybe you wouldn't ever have kids. I wasn't sure if I was going to. And just has radically shifted my life. I mean, just completely. How has that been for you? I mean, a guy that has built his life around what you've done and all the accomplishments. How much has having a child changed that for you?

[Mike O'Hearn]

You know this as well as I do, man. It changes you tremendously. Or it has for me. It just. I'm a different person. Absolutely. Even more motivated to stay a savage. Started scrapping again a lot because of the fact that I know that I would like to still be in charge of the house in 10 years. Not sure I'm in charge now with Mona, but, you know, it's. It's one of those things. And you're right, I didn't want. Because I come from my family of 10. There's an incredible selfishness to me where I didn't get that nurturing as a kid. And so I kind of go, I, I'm good. I don't need a kid. And then, like, Mona is, is a freak. The remaining gangster, she's. When we met and we got to talking and stuff, I kind of looked at it and I go, wait a minute. She could have a child with me and she could raise this kid by herself without me. And, and the reason why I say that's important is because of the fact that life isn't fair and some things happen and it's like, well, if I have a child with this, are they both okay? And it's like, you don't need to ask that with Mona. She'll be fine no matter what. And so I said, okay, I'm gonna have a kid.

[Justin Andrews]

And.

[Mike O'Hearn]

And she didn't want kids either. So it was just kind of two people that met at the right time. They said, let's have a kid. And then my son changed my life to. I had more motivation. I don't miss workouts. So it's, it's an amazing thing and I think for everybody out there. And I, I'm a dog guy. And I was like, I don't need kids. And then you have one and you're like, oh, it's different. I get it now. I get it now.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yeah. Is he, is your, is your son showing signs that he's going to be into the same stuff as you?

[Mike O'Hearn]

He's, he's five, you know, so it's, it's, you know, it's just fun right now. But because he's estimated to be a 6, 9 kid.

[Sal DeStefano]

Is that what they said?

[Mike O'Hearn]

Yeah. So. And Mona's got seven footers in her family. Oh, wow. Yeah. So, okay, we did, we did coordination wise. Want to get him moving and grooving and understand his body length. So, so we did get him into martial arts, you know, jiu jitsu at 2 years old and wrestling by 4. So it's fun to watch him. But he's, he's the kid that goes out there. He wrestles with somebody, wins or loses, and he's still smiling. He walks off. So it's, it's a fun process right now.

[Sal DeStefano]

That's great.

[Justin Andrews]

Have you caught yourself as a dad in kind of Like a dad moment, realizing how much you're enjoying something that you didn't know that like I didn't think I'd really love this as much as I love it. Have you caught yourself that, doing something.

[Mike O'Hearn]

Like that every day?

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Mike O'Hearn]

How wild. I, I, I, I, I, I set myself up pretty good for the life I wanted to live. And so the one really cool thing is that I get to enjoy a lot of time with him and his events and. Yeah. So it's just like, it's the silliest things. It's just like him catching for the first time baseball or, or playing football and just, yeah, all those moments. I, I kind of, I'm trying to really live in it because I, you guys are all understand this, it goes fast.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yeah, very quick.

[Mike O'Hearn]

And we were just, we were just talking about having a kid and now he's five so it's like, wow, this is, it moves.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

Talk about the comparison too of, you know, because I, I talk to a lot of young, young men who are thinking about settling down or thinking about having a kid and I really, I'm really happy being an older dad because I think about like you, I was, I, I was selfish growing up and I was aware I was self, I knew I was selfish. Grew up in a big family also. We came, we came from hardly anything and so a lot of my early 20s was, and 30s was about myself and I can only imagine if I brought him in at, you know, 25, how less of a father I would have been as an older fellow. So when you think about the younger version of you, can you can, can you already compare and contrast like things that you would have done differently? Like oh, if I was 25 and this scenario was going on right now, I probably would have handled it like this versus the way you handle it now.

[Mike O'Hearn]

I, I would have been a terrible father. Me at 25, 30, 35, 40. No, no go. I'm so glad being an old father and I know that a lot of people, youngsters that haven't lived yet go, wow, you blew it. You, you waited too long. Well again, life doesn't work that way. We know 25 year olds that have their kid and then two weeks later it's a car accident. It's, none of this is guaranteed. But I'll say this, being an older father, I'm so living in it and I'm such a different person. My 20 year old self would have tanked, would have tanked this. And so it's, it's lucky time. I, I Look back and think of my parents. Two parents, both worked, raised 10 kids, fed us, kept a roof over our house. I'm like, gosh, you guys are savages. Mostly in that time and era. And I can appreciate so much of what I have now because of what they set me up to do. But I'm trying to do the very best I can as a father to set him up for things that will benefit him in the future. It's just all, it's overlaid. It's like, you know, we live in America and I'm like so appreciative to have traveled the world and realized how lucky we are just living here first off and then having a baby mama that's from a communist country that comes here and goes, you Americans are weak. It's like, yeah, she's going to raise a strong kid that's going to do well and, and it's going to be a fun time. And yeah, old fathers, it's an amazing thing.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yeah. Looking back, I mean, you've been working out in gyms for a long time, for decades. So you've got to see gym culture change and shift through the decades. Explain some of the differences. I mean, I mean, I was working out in the 90s as a kid, you've been even longer. And the gym culture has definitely shifted. There's definitely been some shifts. What are some of the big things you've noticed just in the culture of the gym, in the weight room in particular.

[Mike O'Hearn]

The obviously cell phones change so much and, and social media, and I think social media has some great aspects to it and, and some downside of it, but I think it's incredible that we get to communicate with all these individuals out there now, compared to. I was blessed enough to be around the greatest power lifters in the world when I was growing up. Not knowing. I wish people would search out the information just a little bit because remember back in our day, or at least my day was there's no dumb questions. Well, that's changed. You know, there's, it's like, wow, the, the level of, sorry to say, the ignorance of this when you got so much capability right at your hand to find out that it's the basic stuff that works and it's the basic stuff that works for a long time. So that's one thing I miss about the old school mentality, that it was basics, and basics really set you up to win with more information. We didn't get smarter, we got a little bit dumber. And I noticed that in the gyms when I talk to people or watch people work out. It's a painful thing because I did come from a time where people.

[Justin Andrews]

Moved.

[Mike O'Hearn]

With purpose in the gym. And now it seems like a large percentage just move to move. They don't move with any kind of purpose. If I go through this motion, it will work. And we all know that, well, you can go through a motion and do nothing except mileage, right? So I, I miss that and I miss the, I miss that intensity in the gym. I don't need, I don't need 90s Gold's Gym, Venice. You know, everybody button heads, which was awesome. But, but I would like some kind of intensity back. Mostly because I'm still at Gold's Gym Venice. You know, it's. I miss, I miss that era.

[Sal DeStefano]

Oh, you still go into the same. You still go to Gold's in Venice?

[Mike O'Hearn]

I still go to Golds in Venice.

[Sal DeStefano]

Are they, do they let people. Because I go to, I go to a local gym here and I'm always surprised. You know, I go in there 7am, 6:30, and I'm surprised two or three people will bring a tripod in there with their phone and film their workouts, you know, film exercise and make content. And they're not making money off of it. They don't have like this huge stuff, their business. So I'm always surprised to see so many people filming themselves. Is it like that at Gold's now too? Do you see a lot of people posting up phones and.

[Mike O'Hearn]

Yeah, it's a non stop movie set. You know, everybody's filming and doing something and again, I, I think it's a beautiful thing. I think social media in that aspect, if you want to share, I think that's great. It's. It's up to the people out there to watch and go, okay, this guy, this guy's got genetic arms. So that workout technically won't work for me, but to understand the breakdown of it. But yeah, it's, it's a non stop film production. And I just, most of the time I think that the kids are the kids or anybody and not kids. Everybody's a kid to me. But they're pretty decent about it. You know, they try to stay out of each other's ways and they do their thing and I think it's all right.

[Sal DeStefano]

Any favorite workout partners from the past? You've worked out with a lot of people.

[Mike O'Hearn]

Wow.

[Sal DeStefano]

Have you worked out, have you worked out with. You probably worked out with most Mr. Olympias since the 90s, I would imagine.

[Mike O'Hearn]

Yeah. Trained with Dorian Lee Frank Zane Arnold.

[Sal DeStefano]

All different, all very different.

[Mike O'Hearn]

I trained. My first training partner was Tom Plaz when I got to la.

[Sal DeStefano]

You're kidding me.

[Mike O'Hearn]

Yeah.

[Sal DeStefano]

So his, now, his workouts, from what I've read, were, I mean, legendary, right? This guy's, this guy would do, I mean most training partners would die working out with the guy. What was that like?

[Mike O'Hearn]

It was perfect because again, I came from first and foremost. I, I, I was a power lifting mindset. And coming from a powerlifting championships up in Washington down to California and winning the Calif. California's as well, I, I loved that and I love the intensity. And also being a martial artist, it's like I liked tussling and so it was always a tussle. It was always, you do 315 for 50, I'll do it for 51. You know, you do 500 for 20, I'll do it for 20. It was that mentality and that for me, I freaking loved and I loved pushing the body, especially at that age, to that level. And so, and again he, you got this knowledge lifting isn't lifting. When you get to a certain level, lifting is a mindset and it's a battle, it's the inner voice. You know, it's the third round of wrestling. How much do you have left when the other guy's beating you and you're freaking tired? That's the stuff that I love. And, and so being introduced to Tom from the get go in LA was beautiful.

[Sal DeStefano]

By the way, those, those numbers are real numbers you threw out. 315 for 50 platts would do. 500 for 20 platts would do. Those are all real numbers. Did he teach you anything?

[Mike O'Hearn]

He taught me that. He taught me there was a different level. I was lucky enough. Like my, my teen years, I was training with Jeff Magruder, Doyle Kennedy, Doug Furness and Ed Cohen would fly in. And I'm just a young 15, 16 year old kid and, and so the level of who I was training with and training under was such a pinnacle. And then coming down here and training, you know, next to Chris and Flex Wheeler and training with Tom and these people, it just, it just showed me again, you're on the right track, kid. What you're doing right now is enough. Just keep putting in the work. And I think I just keep going back to that. Just, just get up today, put in the work, move on. You're not as great as you thought you were last year. Last year's last year. Whatever titles you won, it's over. What are you right now? And that was my goal. My goal was basically I, I didn't want to have to put on a suit and tie for anybody unless I wanted to put it on, you know, and I wanted to be able to work for myself and lift. So they just kept teaching me that I was on the right track to be around those kind of individuals, from Arnold Schwarzenegger, you know, to Robbie Robinson is my training partner now. And it's like, wait a minute. I know that I'm an old cat to most society, but Robbie's got, you know, 20, 25 years on me, so I can still do this.

[Sal DeStefano]

Is he in his 70s? My mindset, Robbie's in his 70s. Still lifting, huh, ladies?

[Mike O'Hearn]

Late 70s now.

[Sal DeStefano]

Wow, that's incredible. So he, he's still in pretty phenomenal shape.

[Mike O'Hearn]

315 squad 15 deadlift. Yeah, listen, you don't got 20 year olds doing that.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yeah, that's.

[Justin Andrews]

That's badass.

[Sal DeStefano]

That's remarkable.

[Justin Andrews]

Hey, Mike, how did you. And when did you and Stan link up and become friends? Tell me the story about that. Tell me how you guys met, became buddies. I love Stan.

[Mike O'Hearn]

Who's Stan?

[Justin Andrews]

Stan efforting.

[Mike O'Hearn]

I'm sorry, I'm not putting the name in the face. So. Believe it or not, Stan is a Washington boy. And I loved his. He did a, a nice little F. Michael Hearn video, which I thought was awesome because there was a lot of correlations because our ages, you know, right next to each other and stuff. And we linked up not knowing this. He came into the gym and I knew who he was and he was doing a photo shoot and he's over there by himself with the photographer and stuff. And, and I go over there and introduce myself, not knowing he hated me and, and I started cheering on him on for the lifting and stuff like that. And before we knew it, we had him close up to 800 on the deadlift. And I'm just pumping them up and getting the whole gym to support him and stuff. And gosh, that was decades ago. But the point was that we were in competition and I didn't know it because I'd win the Washington State and then he would compete and then he tried out for Gladiators and I got Gladiators. And so there was a lot of back and forth that I didn't know about. And so when he showed up, I guess that changed it because I was a fan and, and supporting him like that. And we've been friends ever since, close friends. That's how it kind of, that's how the whole relationship and I.

[Justin Andrews]

So he, he admits that he didn't like you initially. So initially he didn't like you before you guys met?

[Mike O'Hearn]

Yeah, from what I understand, because I.

[Justin Andrews]

Didn'T know how much of that was played up for social media and you guys just with each other and having a good time, because I know you're buddies now, but it sounds like he was competitive with you before he, before he ever even met you.

[Mike O'Hearn]

He was. He was, in a sense, and I was a fan. And so, yeah, so when we did meet and, and I was supporting him on that, he. He kind of went and messaged me later. He goes, man, I. My bad. You're a great guy. So it was, it was. It's been a cool, fun relationship. And I like the aspect that. That the majority of people don't realize it's a friendship and, and us old school guys like to bust each other's balls and stuff like that. So it's. People don' f Michael Hearn thing.

[Sal DeStefano]

That's awesome. So, I mean, it's funny because, you know, you've been doing this for a while, Mike, and now you're. You're kind of a picture of longevity, whereas in the past it was strength and muscle aesthetics, and now it's like Michael Hearn longevity. No major injuries, still training hard. Talk about diet with us. What does that look like for you? Were you ever into, like, the huge amount of calories, got to eat, you know, 500 grams of protein? Was that ever a thing for you? What does it look like for you now? Has it changed now that you've gotten older? You've been doing this for a while?

[Mike O'Hearn]

No, the one, the first thing I do with weightlifting and nutrition and with any of this is. I don't believe I can speak on it unless I do it. And the one thing is that I. I'm lucky enough to be such a big guy that I have no issue if I want to lose 10 pounds of muscle. I can get that back on, you guys know, memory muscle and all that. So I have tried every type of nutrition. I've tried fasting. I've tried keto. I've tried, which, you know, all these aspects, and I try to learn from it and understand what it does for me, which is great because then I can speak about it. But, yeah, in my young eight days, and this is what we will do, and we have been doing with Titan, is that when you're a youngster, put that size on when you're in your teens and your 20s, I don't want you fasting. I don't want you on the low carbohydrates. I would like you to have some fats and some carbs. Get that size that you can retain that muscle throughout your life. So that's one of the biggest things. And then for me at this stage, I'll still go in the off season and take in that 320 grams of protein and try to get my carbohydrates up there. And I always say that it is me trying to fix my metabolism because you guys know, this is, people think when you're doing a bodybuilding show, oh my God, you look amazing, your body's functioning perfect.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yeah, right.

[Mike O'Hearn]

Well, it's not. You're doing two hours of cardio, you're in a deficit, you're starving yourself, you're training like a madman. And so you're, you're overworking your body and not feeding it enough so you can get sliced and look like a million dollars. But afterwards, you got to fix that again. You got to try to teach it to go well. Some amount of carbohydrates is necessary, I'd like to think, and I'd like to be able to move and have energy. So there's those, those moments that I still go back to that. So we did this movie that comes out next week and when I got the call and, and booked the movie and got the audition and everything, I had very limited time to be ready for this movie. And it wasn't just the character I was playing, but it was the physique, it was everything because I played the champion in this movie. So it's a, it's a 55 year old guy playing a 35 year old guy. And so I had to force and, and change my nutrition dramatically. And like you guys know, can you get in shape in six weeks? Well, sure you can if you're motivated enough. And so I did go into the fasting. One day high protein, the next day fasting again, just so I could be completely sliced in six weeks. So that's how I play with nutrition. I play with it going. There's times I need to be ready and look a certain way, and then there's times I need to fix my body. And I still believe in fixing my body at this stage.

[Sal DeStefano]

So they wanted you to really get lean for that and kind of bring your size down for the movie.

[Justin Andrews]

Was this one of the biggest roles Mike, you've done?

[Mike O'Hearn]

Yeah, yeah. This one's, this one's gonna get some. Not for me, but it's gonna get Some Oscar buzz for the movie itself and for the main actor, Jonathan Majors comes out next Friday called Magazine Dreams. And it's gonna be, it's gonna be incredible. I'm excited. I'm excited about this. And this one was probably one of my biggest to date. So we're still doing it, though. And we started another movie April 1st where I play a champion boxer. So we're having fun. I'll say that. When everything, that.

[Sal DeStefano]

When did you first get into get on screen? Because you did magazines first. When did it move into TV and movie? What was that like for you?

[Justin Andrews]

Probably Gladiators.

[Mike O'Hearn]

So let's go back to, let's go back to your quote. It's the guy that likes walking. Right? So powerlifting, athletics, bodybuilding was. Was fun for me and easy for me. I was, I was already, you know, teenage nationals in 87 Mr. Universe by 20. What hasn't been easy and I stayed in. It is 1990. I booked with Bruce Willis, Goldie Hawn, Meryl Streep, Death Becomes Her. And then weeks later, I also did, you know, started American Gladiators. I've never not acted.

[Sal DeStefano]

Hold on. Were you, you were in Death Becomes Her.

[Justin Andrews]

I know. I'm trying to remember what part I.

[Sal DeStefano]

I, I've seen that. I remember you from Workaholics.

[Mike O'Hearn]

I'm one of the buff guys. There's six of us.

[Sal DeStefano]

Oh, wow. Okay.

[Mike O'Hearn]

Yeah. So. And I think this, hopefully this helps the people out there. No matter the time it took. I never not went out for auditions. I never stopped classes. I never stopped trying to act. It just didn't happen for me quickly, except for like, you know, Gladiators and Battle Dome. And that's just because I had to kick everybody asses. So, you know, that was fun. But the projects are slow and slow and only in the last couple years with Divinity with Steven Soderbergh, with this and these other projects, it's taken a long, long time, but I never gave up.

[Sal DeStefano]

Talk about Gladiator. What was that like getting in on that show? How real is it? Is there any scripting? Because sometimes reality tv, scripted or whatever. So what was that process like?

[Mike O'Hearn]

The original Gladiators was awesome. The original. I was on the, the original. And first of all, just watching those guys in front of me learning, and then, yeah, it was full on. You're going ballistic because it's a game show. There's. You can't pull back on one guy and go harder on another guy. That's, you know, kind of the contracts they have with game shows. There's no cheating. And so that was incredible. And again, it, it was one of those learning moments as well, because, you know, you sit there and you, and you beat these people and there's only five of us guys. And you have to understand, if you're injured, you're off the show, they don't need to baby you. They don't need to cuddle you and go, hey, well, maybe take the weekend and come back on Monday. We have a show to run here. If you get injured, you're off the show, Goodbye, we'll get the next guy. And again, I appreciate that kind of growing up and mentality and I can accept it. And that's the one thing I saw with the two TV shows they did. I did a documentary, 30 for 30 on Gladiators and there was another one done as well. And I liked the aspect that you got to put in the work. You got to stay as healthy as you possibly can and it's you and the responsibility of yourself. But you're replaceable, you know, and I know that's a harsh reality, but we're all replaceable. You know, the world can, that's the one thing they say, you know, you, you pass and the world continues without you. So that was the one great thing I learned as a young kid. And again, I kept that mentality through this whole thing. How many champion bodybuilders do we know that win shows and they're irrelevant after that because they didn't continue to do the basic work? Well, I want to show I should be famous. I should be on the COVID of the magazine. Well, there's a lot of guys who want to be on the covers of the magazines. Does that make sense to you guys?

[Sal DeStefano]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Sal DeStefano]

So when you get on Gladiator and, and you're, you're, again, there's no act, there's no script on that. Right. You're actually trying to win. They're trying to beat you. Yeah. What was that, what was that competition like?

[Mike O'Hearn]

The original one was great. It was absolute. They got some great freaking athletes against us. And then I went on to another show after that with Terry Crews and it was his first acting gig, a TV show called Battle Dome, which took Gladiators and we stepped it up even another notch. And so that one was even more violent. And it was perfect too, because I was, you know, this, at this stage, I'm a 30 year old kid, you know, and it was just like the only thing bad about Gladiators or Battledome or any of these shows is you got to wear spandex. But besides that, you get to get up and go fight six guys in a day and get paid crazy money for it, and you get to do these games that, you know, nobody gets to do. So it was tremendous. It was. It was crazy. And then it was also just great that when we came back again on the new American Gladiators, you know, that was NBC. And that took my. Again my name and out there and put me up another notch. Mostly being coming back and being the team captain for American Gladiators. So it was. Yeah, it's just fun. Just all that stuff is fun. Like you guys were saying earlier is like TV shows like Workaholics or Sunny in Philadelphia. Being on these shows with Danny DeVito, you know, somebody I grew up with. And just. These guys are, again, you realize why these people are still working today. You know, at one point they were good. At another point to continue that career. It's character. Just good people.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yeah.

[Mike O'Hearn]

I gotta ask, so what was your favorite event in the Gladiators? Because there's a lot of really cool games you guys did. Yeah, Joust was always nice because it was just me. Yeah, they're on the pedestal. Somebody else. I remember. Yeah, I remember that. That was awesome. But.

[Sal DeStefano]

And you're blasting each other. I mean, those. You're knocking the. Out of each other with those.

[Mike O'Hearn]

I'm psyching them out before the fight starts. I'm setting up left in South Paw and they're like, wait a minute. What? Wait, hold. What's up? And then, you know, the. The ref is starting to count it down. I go, you ready? You ready lose, man. And so you just play with their eyes and stuff. So it was. It was a blast. And yeah, the joust was just tremendous. But Powerball, you're just taking guys heads off.

[Justin Andrews]

Is that what the tennis ball you're.

[Mike O'Hearn]

Shooting them with or.

[Justin Andrews]

No, no, that's where they put the balls.

[Mike O'Hearn]

I didn't get to do that one. I. I did the athletic ones. The little ball in the holes.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Sal DeStefano]

Oh, yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

And they basically had like football tackle them from doing it. They got to put it in the. In the little, Little holes. Yeah, that was.

[Mike O'Hearn]

Right.

[Justin Andrews]

That was a cool one. Yeah, that would. That one probably requires the most athleticism, I would think.

[Mike O'Hearn]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

Just because it's higher rate.

[Sal DeStefano]

Highest rate of injury on that one, I would assume.

[Mike O'Hearn]

Yeah. A lot of blown knees on that.

[Justin Andrews]

Mike, Mike, talk a little bit about the business side for you. Like, you've done so many things that's generated revenue for you, what has been the, the most consistent thing for you business wise, cash flow wise over all these these years?

[Mike O'Hearn]

Wow. I, yeah, it's, it's the stuff I did with outside the health and fitness world.

[Justin Andrews]

Oh, interesting.

[Mike O'Hearn]

Yeah. I, I come from a family that respects money and I put my money away but got involved in real estate and commercial real estate young and so I started buying up apartment complexes as a, a young, young pup and, and continued to do that throughout the decades.

[Justin Andrews]

How old were you when you bought your first complex?

[Mike O'Hearn]

28.

[Justin Andrews]

Wow. Good for you.

[Sal DeStefano]

Wow.

[Mike O'Hearn]

Yeah. So it's, it's one of those things that it's the outside. Take this finance and put it somewhere to where I can build a foundation to where I didn't need to worry about it, about the health and fitness because that was one of the things is like you can't make a living from health and fitness. Well you can if you're smart. You know it's not the shows that win it, it's, it's the what you do with yourself and your personality and your, and your image.

[Justin Andrews]

I love that. Did you have is with somebody in your family already into commercial real estate or how did you educate your. Nobody you taught yourself self taught or.

[Mike O'Hearn]

What not self taught. Being around people. When I got to la and one thing I did know, I knew early on that that was one of Arnold's biggest things he did in the 70s and Arnold was already beyond set before 75 and 80 Mr. Olympias and it was because of that. And you know when I, when I got to California I, I could see that the people that were winning were doing that. And so it's just again I, I, when I first got to la, even though I got American Gladiators, I still personal trained, I still put myself around these businessmen and then I listened, listened, listened ask questions and then put the stuff away.

[Justin Andrews]

What's the, what's the best cash flowing property that you have? Is it the very first one you did or did you find other ones that ended up doing better? Do you know the best one off the top of your head?

[Mike O'Hearn]

Yeah, I got a couple places in Sherman Oaks that have, have stayed consistent and taken care of themselves.

[Justin Andrews]

Are they single family or they are those multi unit? Yeah, multi unit.

[Mike O'Hearn]

We're, we're actually up to levels of where some of Monona's places are. 250 to 500 units. Wow. Wow.

[Justin Andrews]

This is such an important conversation I feel like because there is this thought a lot of times that these guys that get famous on covers of Magazines and this, like, the money just pours in from there. And that's. They make so much. And, you know, being around that myself, it's like, boy, it's. You don't get a lot of money for a lot of these gigs that you do. And so being smart with your money and investing it to where you can, I mean, it sounds like you, you know, you get to take. It doesn't matter if you get paid a lot of money enough for it. You get to do it because you love it, because you've been smart by investing for a really long time.

[Mike O'Hearn]

Yeah, I think that's, that's a great point. But I think when we do this or health and fitness, what has allowed me to stay on the slow path, I guess I call it, is the understanding that. And I think you guys have probably said this a hundred times if you're doing it for money. And I never did health and fitness for money. And I didn't do it for fame. I did it because I loved it. And, and, and so I figured out a way how to make finance from it and then put that finance somewhere else to where I can continue to get up and train. And for us to sit down and chat like this and, you know, as we're sleeping, we're making money kind of aspect of this. And you're right. Health and fitness, if you sit back and how many guys have we seen sit back and go, I won this, I deserve this, I win this, I deserve this. And it's like, it doesn't work that way.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Mike O'Hearn]

And it's not up to you to make it work that way. It may work that way for some people, but it's not by choice. It's by, you know, the people outside of you. And again, for everybody that's on social media, it's like, I'm going to be famous on social media again. It's. No, you're not.

[Justin Andrews]

It's.

[Mike O'Hearn]

It's not up to you. All you can do is go out there, film your workouts, do whatever it is, start a podcast, whatever that is. But it's about society going, we like these guys. We're going to tune into these guys. We're going to make these guys huge. That's not you guys doing it. You guys are just doing something you love. It's the society that makes you guys famous.

[Justin Andrews]

It's true. So true.

[Sal DeStefano]

How did you meet your wife, Mike?

[Mike O'Hearn]

She stalked me. So she ran Muscle and Fitness, hers backstory. She comes from Romania during the civil war, gets out of there, gets Herself to New York, makes herself a successful businesswoman, owns a high end steakhouse out there for 17 years, becomes the editor in chief of Muscle and Fitness hers. And then she was running the magazine and stuff and, and she knew of me and somehow we were around each other a couple times and it just, it clicked. And, and that's how we, the short version of how we met. But if you want a true success story, she's unreal. What she had to go through as a, as a young kid growing up by herself, raising her brother and sister at such a young age of 14, 13, 14, 15, and then getting herself to America and then doing what everybody should do in America is make yourself a success. Because it's an incredible place.

[Justin Andrews]

You know, while we're on the subject of building wealth, partnership and stuff, you know, I've noticed this pattern as I've gotten older. A lot of the men that I've met that are extremely wealthy many times became that way after they met their partner. And I know personally I was successful before I met Katrina, but I'm exponentially more successful since I've met her. And I definitely attribute a lot of that to our relationship. I couldn't do it. I couldn't be who I am without her. How much did she impact you that way?

[Mike O'Hearn]

We've been together now 10 years and obviously my career was already set and finance and everything. She's made life tenfold better. Better because of teaching me, because I come from a family of 10 and you're a little argumentative or something if things don't go your way and stuff. And, and then I learned way later, not until her, the points of she, she doesn't argue such a weird thing. And it's like, wait a minute, I'm, I'm, I'm a Catholic kid from 10. You not only argue, you get a little fist fight with your bro and stuff. She's like, nah, you don't. No, life's too good, man. Life's too good. You don't do that. You figure out the issue, what the problem is, and then you solve it. No point to do this next step. And I was like, wow. So she taught me a lot. And, and I enjoy life much better at this stage.

[Sal DeStefano]

That's awesome. Let me ask you this, Mike. Does working out get better as you get older or does it get worse? We got a lot of, a lot of people that listen to us who are, who ask us about fitness as they age, and they're, you know, they're worried about it. You know, can I still, can I do this at my age or whatever? What's it like now at your age versus when you were younger? Is it, is it, is it different? Is it better?

[Mike O'Hearn]

Yeah, it's more of my meditation. It's such a different level of understanding of weightlifting and, and I'm like, darn it, I wish I knew all this when I was 20. You know, it's like, holy sheesh, what I could have became. And, but it's one of those things where I would say you're more of a badass at this stage. And so the weightlifting is a necessity that you have to have and, and life teaches you to be tougher and stronger and understand that some things you have to do. This is my point of view of weightlifting for every guy out there and women, and even more so the women because of the bone density. But you have to do it. You got to stay moving, you got to stay mobile. You got to have that range of motion. The amount of weight is not as important as how you're doing something and the range of motion. You're doing something and have the purpose of it and you just got to stay consistent on it. It you don't. I don't need, I don't need the guy that goes to the gym at 100 and that was me as a 20 year old. If I can go back, I'd say chill, just go to 70, go to 70, you're good right there. There's, there's a, there's a level of controlled rage that gets you to a level that most can't, where you guys know the guy that's at a hundred, he's not going to be there forever. He's there for a couple years and then he's done. But the guy that's just a little bit more so those are the things I think and I think for anybody that's watching this, no matter what age you're at, start, I don't care if you're 50 and you start, but start, start getting that movement going, start getting the best range of motion you can. Have some purpose in the movement and then, and then from there stress the body with the amount of weight that you use.

[Sal DeStefano]

Let me comment on the range of motion thing. I noticed that with your training you always use a very full range of motion, very controlled full range of motion. Where often you see big strong guys kind of using the shorter range of motion they'll cut. Yeah. Is that always been a focus of yours? And how, how have you been able to maintain it just through Practice.

[Mike O'Hearn]

You maintain it by doing it. That's the first thing. The things that confuse me now are, are what a lot of those experts say out there. They're like, no, just come down to portions. Just come down to this. And it's like, well, you're not doing a portion when you're putting the peanut butter up on the top shelf. You're not doing, it's, it's, it's such a, a big thing to me, but a minor amount to everybody else. Keep the tension on the muscle. Well, it's not the muscle I need to worry about. It's the, it's the scar tissue, the, the bone spurs, the arthritis that at some stage, most likely all of us will have. And it's like I need that full range to force the blood into those movements. And yeah, I, I got more extreme on the range of motion as I got because when I'm 20 it's like, okay, I want to power lift, I want to get this deadlift. I want to get the most possible. So let me just shorten the range of motion. And at this stage it's like now I'll put myself up on blocks. I'll try to get those hips down so low and I'll try to really utilize the glute hip. So it's, it's those kind of things that has kept me healthy. And it's like I'm not just doing, you know, 250 pound tricep extensions. I'm trying to do a full range of tricep extensions with that range. Now I know that's ridiculous numbers and nobody needs to do that. And if you can tell me how to stop, I'll stop. But it's, I love the full range of motion and setting these things up in those ways to where the incline presses even harder because I put a block behind there because then my shoulders are rotated around the block more. That means I can move it more. And I noticed this stuff too, tremendously when I go roll and, or, or I'm wrestling or I'm rolling and, and I can just feel, okay, this range, you know, he's got me here. And that arm isn't strong enough to pull back in a situation to where I don't get locked up or anything like that. And I just absolutely love that. And so again, the reason I think I talk about health and fitness so much now still, when this isn't necessary necessarily what I have to do is because I wish more people would be able to live like this. Like the Robbie Robinsons. And be able to enjoy 80 years of being able to, you know, walk into the gym like a stallion like he is and, and others and it's like continue to live that life and have these kids, you know, we got a couple five year olds and be able to tussle with them in 10 years.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yeah, that's awesome.

[Justin Andrews]

Mike, when was the last time, can you recall somebody dropped wisdom on you or gave you something of great value in, in regards to training, overall health, your fitness journey that unlocks something for you?

[Mike O'Hearn]

Can you recall the last time Frank Zane doing pullovers? Yeah, just a little while ago. Frank's a friend and again being friends with these people is just unreal, you know, because I'm still, I'm still that 14 year old kid walking into the powerlifting gym and I can still smell the baby powder and stuff. It's like, wow. So I'm, I'm with Frank and I'm listening and seeing somebody at his age still be that freaking alpha. Because you think of Frank and you think, well he's the, the professor, you know, very kind and stuff. Well, yeah, there's some kindness to him but he'll still go, he'll talk some smack, he'll talk about out squatting Arnold, he'll talk about this stuff. And he was talking about pullovers. I believe in pullovers. I believe in behind the neck press for me. I believe in that range of motion. I believe in if you don't want to do behind the neck press, but can you move, can you put a stick behind your shoulders or neck or anything like that or did you just completely stop and you stay in the safe zone and that's it, that's all you're going to do. This, this is as far as I'm going to move. And Frank, he was doing pullovers and then he was teaching me how to do pullovers and I go, well a lot of people are going to say this is going to hurt you. And his, it was just improv. It was, they may get hurt, I won't. And I loved that because again you're, you're around somebody, you can't talk about something, you can't say that you're smart about something if you haven't been a success in it. So you got these health and fitness people out there going, hey, this is how you should do it. Dude, you're 150 pounds overweight. Shut up. Right? But you got Frank Zane, that's not only healthy now he's, he's done this journey and so I love Listening to that. And so that was one of those moments again where you're around these kind of people, if you just listen and you don't even have to ask, you just listen to them talk and you just like, there's a nugget. That's a good one, you know, and, and being around Arnold and how he is, it's like I, I keep going back to die as young, as late as possible. That's what this is. But we're still kids at, at heart, you know, I can imagine as a father, you see your 5 year old do something, you're like, oh, I want to, you know, get down there with him and do something. And so I think the knowledge is there with all these kind of people. Put yourself around, Put yourself around those kind of people. That's, I think that's one thing I didn't realize I was doing from the start of this journey, is that I was putting myself around these guys that were the greatest in the world at all different levels, from real estate to powerlifting to bodybuilding to all this aspect. I was just with Jocko the Navy this weekend, and we're talking about being parents and how he had his kids do BJJ and how I'm doing it and stuff. And it's like, this is pretty cool, man, to be able to have these kind of discussions with those kind of people.

[Sal DeStefano]

How long you been doing jiu jitsu?

[Mike O'Hearn]

About a year. I, I picked it back up. I picked back up when I realized I'm gonna get my ass kicked in another five, 10 years. So I better get back into the whole tussling and stuff, because I took a break from martial arts after this last Gladiators. And when you take a break, a week turns into a year, that turns into a couple years, and you're like, holy schnikes, man, I haven't tussled in a bit. And so we got back into it.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yeah. Did you, when you went back in. Of course. You're a big guy, well known. Did you, did you get humbled? Was anybody like, all right, let me show you some stuff? Or what was that experience like for you? Because jiu jitsu is a tough sport.

[Mike O'Hearn]

You know what? Again, all my friends are like Josh Barnett and Rampage and all these kind of guys.

[Sal DeStefano]

Oh, you're kidding me.

[Mike O'Hearn]

And I'm intelligent enough to understand that. I walk in there and it's like, oh, your dessert. Yeah, I want a piece of that. And. And I got to a good school and Alicio Silva is my master. And so I got some great monsters around me. Great monsters around me that are. Understand like you guys said, it's like you walk into a couple places like I work with the Machados and those guys. It's like I'm around pretty level headed guys and that, that, trust me, I, I give props to knowing that they can wrap me up and lock me out. But I haven't. I, I know in time when I start doing tournaments again, I'll run into those. Oh, I get a pcu.

[Sal DeStefano]

Have you rolled, I can see have you rolled with Barnett because he's a big dude and he's, he, he's man, he puts the pain on, on people.

[Mike O'Hearn]

Yeah, we've been. He's a Washington state kid too, so we kind of grew up together and stuff and. Dear friend and yeah, he's a, it's great. He's a monster. But yeah, I, I get to. Which is fun for me is that I get to go over and team up with these kind of individuals. I get to go over and, and Paulo Costa is a good friend and roll with him and spar with him. I got to go roll with Josh Barnett and also on top of it, I get to have my kid do that. And I'm sitting there thinking back to when I started at 9, 10 years old, it's like, well, this is great, but wow, what can, how can I set him up if he decides to do anything athletically with these kind of people and have him with the smart, intelligent people. And it goes back to that whole, you know, your guys's point of view on social media as well as mine is like, there's some great information out there. There's some good people out there in all aspects of life, but you got to be intelligent enough to choose the right ones.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yeah.

[Mike O'Hearn]

Yep.

[Sal DeStefano]

That's awesome. You know what I like seeing a lot, Mike, is that because you've been around for so long and you're so recognizable that you're be. You're used a lot in memes now. And where there's like this one, you know what I'm talking about, where there's a one where you're kind of looking at the camera and people will say.

[Mike O'Hearn]

Oh, I do what you're talking about. Yeah, you do.

[Sal DeStefano]

I see it. It's cracks me up every single time.

[Justin Andrews]

Do you.

[Sal DeStefano]

When you see yourself used like that on social media just for all, like, how do you feel about that?

[Mike O'Hearn]

It's again, it's society. I think it's hilarious. And, and you know, this started and like my team Said, my team's young. The team I have around me is very young and they're in hip and into that stuff. And this thing started a couple years ago and they go, well, these viral things are around for about a week and then you're done. And this thing's still two years later, still going.

[Sal DeStefano]

Have you guys seen it? Yeah, the ones where he's looking at the camera. Yeah, that's hilarious. Kills me.

[Mike O'Hearn]

But they have fun with it. And this thing went. And this is a great thing. This thing went so ballistic that a great writer in the UK got funding and everything. And we're going to be going over to film in June a. A movie and to where I'm the meme guy. And this whole thing plays out like. Wait a minute, hold on, wait a minute.

[Sal DeStefano]

What?

[Mike O'Hearn]

So, yeah, it's kind of a. It's a. It's a pretty cool concept. But yeah, the memes are great. They're fun. Again, this is. Wasn't up to me, but I'm. I'm fine with them using me as the, the giga.

[Justin Andrews]

Any. Any business projects that you've done, Mike, and you did it one time and you go, I'll never do that again. I'm over that. Like, you've gotta, you gotta have done some things that you went into, maybe excited about or thought you'd like. And then you did it and you're like that, I'm never doing that again.

[Mike O'Hearn]

Oh, that's a. That's a great one. I think that's. I've worked with people and again, this is another one of those things where, where Mona teaches me that the finance. The finance shouldn't outride the energy. I know that sounds lame and stuff or, or whatever, but it's like if you don't get along with somebody or there's just something up, even though the money's good, probably step away from it. And so I've dealt with things where I thought they were great. I did a thing called the Frog where it was a machine.

[Sal DeStefano]

Oh, I remember that.

[Mike O'Hearn]

Push out. So if you ever do it, not look at it, but if you ever do it, you are going to get destroyed. It's unreal. And it's just the core strength and your body strength and everything about it is just, wow, that's a second level. But again, unless you do it, you look at it and you go, that's a cheap thing. That's, that's not. And it's like, well, the owner was out of his mind and the machine was too much for the average person to look at. And so, you know, there's the hiccup again. It's like the machine was great if it was kind of promoted in a different way or something. But yeah, it's, it's the person, it really is. And I think, you know, the older I get, it's like I just want to be around those people that are fun and somehow you'll figure out the money and you'll figure out everything else. But if you're having fun with this stuff, yeah, it's. You're golden.

[Sal DeStefano]

You get in the supplement business. You ever, you create and sell supplements. How do you feel about that? I.

[Mike O'Hearn]

We did this. I did it with a buddy of mine, Whitney Reed. And what was great because we did it during. And I've done it throughout my, my, my life a few times. But it's, it's one of those things, you know, the attorney and somebody pocketed all the money and stuff, but I did something with Whitney Reed, which within a year, during lockdown, we were in Walmart and everything. We killed it. We killed it. But I know the company itself had a hardship. The main company had a hardship, and so they had to cease. And that's always a good thing. I think. Here's the, here's the one thing about food and supplements for me, I think basic stuff done day in and day out is better than the, oh, this is the greatest thing in the world. And you can't financially pay for it or buy it, but if you do this, you're golden. I don't think there's a trick. I think protein drinks are great. I think they're really great. If you're flying somewhere or you're, you know, going somewhere and you're in a rush. And I don't think they need to be so crazy high end to where it's like, well, this protein drink is tenfold better than the next one because of this, this and this. It's like, well, you give me some protein, I'm golden.

[Sal DeStefano]

We're good. Awesome. Mike. It's a good time talking to Mike. We got to get you in the studio.

[Mike O'Hearn]

I'm coming up. It's coming up. Bringing baby mama and a little one.

[Justin Andrews]

Is the movie in theaters or streaming? Where's it gonna be found? Where's gonna be at?

[Mike O'Hearn]

So Magazine Dreams comes out next Friday and it will be in theaters worldwide.

[Justin Andrews]

Okay, cool.

[Mike O'Hearn]

Awesome. Exciting, you guys, you'll hear about this. You can watch. Con man is on Amazon. I play Mr. Green, a hitman Divinity, where me and Stephen Dwarf figured out the code for longevity. Odd, right? And what else we had, we had a couple documentaries that are out right now. 30 for 30 gladiators. Yeah. So we got some stuff that's moving and grooving.

[Sal DeStefano]

Yeah.

[Justin Andrews]

Busy man.

[Sal DeStefano]

Thank you, Mike.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, yeah.

[Sal DeStefano]

Great time, man. I really enjoyed visiting you guys down there and I'm glad you finally came on the show. Can't wait to see you up here, man.

[Mike O'Hearn]

Yep. Thanks for doing this, guys. I appreciate you guys. Time.

[Sal DeStefano]

You got it, brother. God bless, man. Say hi to your wife for me.

[Adam Schaefer]

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 to optimize your overall performance, check out our discounted RGB super [e-mail] 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 [e-mail] if you enjoy this show, please share the love by leaving us a five star rating and review on itunes and by introducing introducing Mind Pump to your friends and family. We thank you for your support and until next time, this is Mind Pumpkin.