← The Dylan Gemelli Podcast
The Dylan Gemelli Podcast
Episode #29 WHO is Dylan Gemelli?? From prison to prominence, the will to overcome adversity, fighting an eating disorder, a voice for the voicele...
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Dylan Gemelli
Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the Dylan Gelli Podcast. So today is a bonus episode, and as you can see by the title, who is Dylan Gemelli? Who is this guy that kind of popped up on the biohacking scene out of nowhere? And what is he all about? What does he stand for? What's his message? Why should we listen to him? Why is he intriguing? A lot of questions, a lot more answers, so I just want to dig in. I've been a guest on several podcasts in the past few months and I've told good portions of my story. But I really want to let everybody know exactly who I am and what drives me and why I do what I do. Just get into all the nuts and bolts and be as open and honest and transparent about who I am. Because you know what? Through all the ups and downs, through all the bad times, through all the good times, I am proud of who I have become. I am not proud of who I was by any stretch of the imagination. But one thing that I am as accountable and one thing I believe in is learning from your mistakes and. And teaching and inspiring others by the things that we did wrong to help and prevent them from doing those and to show that everybody's human and we can all persevere and overcome if we have the right mindset and the right guidance. Now, let me preface this, and I'm going to say this because I'm going to reference God throughout here. I understand that's not for everybody. And I'm not pushing my spirituality on anyone. So do not take it that way whatsoever. And please, you know, I. I implore you to listen to the story. I feel that more and more people are far more receptive and open about this. I will never apologize for my faith. I will never hide it. I will scream it to the mountaintops, but I also will not push it down anybody's throat. I will tell you this, that I am very God driven. I let God guide me now. I tell everybody, this is not what Dylan wants or decides. This is what I feel like I'm being led by God and by the Holy Spirit to do so. That's where I am now at this time. And like I said, I'm not pushing that on anybody. I just want you to know exactly who I am and why I am the way that I am. So let's go back in time a little bit. I was a only child. My mom and dad asked me when I was very small, I believe, two or three years old, if I wanted a brother or sister. And My mom said my response was, do you have to love them? And she said, well, of course I do. And I said no. So you can see the, the selfishness. As a young kid, I wanted all the attention myself and you know, I just didn't know any better. But anyway, I was raised extremely well. My parents weren't rich by any stretch. It's not like they were broke, but you know, we lived in a very, very average area. I was blessed that my mom and dad, I know now, understanding as an adult the sacrifices that they made, I may not have as a kid, but I know that they gave me everything when they really didn't have everything to give, but they did. Spoiled to a degree. My mom was a teacher and my dad was an assessor. So if you're not familiar with an assessor, there's an appraiser and assessor for real estate. So my dad basically decides how much tax you pay on your house. That's what he did. My mom started off as an English teacher and then it got to the point where she wanted more freedom to, to be around me, go to all my sporting events. So she converted over to be a realtor and there's just not a lot of money in teaching, especially back then. So anyway, I had a brilliant childhood. I was so blessed in such a variety of ways. My dad coached me in all of my sports and I was a four sport athlete. My mom was there for everything, encouraging me. Now she was very, very, very, very, very rough when it came to school, which was a great thing. And my dad was very rough with math in particular on me. So I learned at a very early age. And so in high school I was a four sport athlete. I did develop an eating disorder at an early age. I was overweight. My mom, God bless her, I was from an Italian family. And the one thing I would say that they did let me get away with was eating whatever I want. And it became a problem where I became overweight. And I was always with popular kids at school, popular groups, but I just, you just know when you're overweight that there's whispers. I never had a girlfriend at the time and that, you know, embarrassed to take my shirt off at the pool, super self conscious but still happy and never really let it bother me. But you hear people take shots and then when you start to go to events, like sporting events and things, and people in the crowd making remarks, people making comments, it hurts. As a kid and going into eighth grade I had this very, very big growth spurt. Five foot eight to six foot one, lost like 30 pounds over the summer playing tackle football. And I was always a top athlete, but always terrible, as you can imagine, on my endurance, my stamina, all of that. Terrible on all cardiovascular side of things. Super talented and gifted, but not gifted when it came to keeping up with everybody else. And of course that's going to hinder you. Well, everything changed at that point. The problem was is that at that time, everybody started making these accusations, oh, he's taking drugs, he's anorexic, he's bulimic, doing this. I didn't know what any of that stuff even was. But here's what happened. All of that started getting into my head and then I started to develop this fear of gaining the weight back. So I've got all these ideas and things that I could do now that would help me keep weight off, and I was not going to let it come back. So I developed an eating disorder. And if I gained a pound, I started to live in fear. First it was, I'm not going to eat anything. Then it became, well, I'm too hungry. So it turned into a bulimia. And it got to the point where, you know, my parents obviously found out, you're never going to hide that, no matter what age, but especially as a kid. And it didn't go over quite well, as you can imagine. And my dad said to me, if you don't weigh 150 pounds by the time basketball comes around next year, you're not playing. So that essentially forced me to get my act together. But this has been a lifelong battle and probably why I have gotten into the health sphere the way that I have. And I started reading nutrition labels at the age of 11 and it just, it was toxic to me. And food became toxic and not a friend. I, at that time, I did get over it. And it was not an issue for several years, all through high school or anything like that. And it's still to this day a battle, though, and I'll get into that. So I ended up getting a scholarship at a small Division 3 school to play basketball where I hurt my back. And. And honestly, once I started getting in there and realizing the amount of time and effort it was going to take, I really. My heart wasn't there. I was trying to convince myself it was. But I'm not going to sit here and lie to, to you or to myself like I did for so many years. I know now at this point I just didn't want to do it anymore. And I felt like I was letting Myself and my dad down and I ended up taking a year off of school and then going back and trying to play again. And I think I just, the thought of it was more than anything to me. It wasn't the desire. And once again I got hurt. And once again I said, forget it. So anyway, I didn't really know what to do at that point. I was lost and really no path inside. I hadn't really thought long enough term. And my mom had always said, I want you to model, I want you to do this. And you know, you think, well, your mom's always going to tell you that you and think you're the best at this and look the best. And for me, I was very masculine and I thought it was just a little too feminine for me, if I'm being honest. But then I got to the point where I was like, man, I started looking at the lifestyle, look at the, they got girls, they got money, they're wearing all these sweet clothes because I love clothes shopping, high end things. So I said, okay, I went to one of those little modeling events where they notice you and find you and sure enough, they, they pick you and then you realize, well, it's a money grab. They want you to pay and take you to this big event where, you know, who knows what's going to happen? So I went through the whole process. I was partying, drinking, never taking it serious, missing times. And I was frustrating the teachers, but they still were very high on me. And when we got to the competition, it was called IMTA in New York. And you get there and there's like 30 or 40,000 people in this mega auditorium. And you're just sitting there going, what on earth am I doing here? This was such a waste. And then they put all of these people that came through, their celebrities. I believe it was like Ashton Kutcher, Katie Holmes, all these people at the time that were popular that got noticed there. But I buckled down, got up and was the first one up in the morning, which shocked everybody because I was always the one that showed up. Half the time was wasted, come stumbling in hair, not like just not caring. And I performed and I ended up getting fourth place in this whole competition in my age group and signed a contract, went to Milan and started modeling and thought that I was just living the dream. And my life was, get up, go to your agency, get your bookings for the day, go do that all day, go work out, go party, go home, do it again. And the weekends, the only part was you didn't go to the agency and you just partied and worked out if you were able to, if you could function. It got to the point where I couldn't keep up. I, I was spending way more money than I was making. It wasn't even close. So I resorted to selling drugs, going against everything that I was ever brought up, you know, everything that I was raised because I was doing them, I started selling them. Now I think most of you can deduce there's not real good longevity selling drugs. And guess what? Everybody gets caught. And eventually I did too, after many, many years. And I was given a 15 year prison sentence. I believe I was 27. Well, they gave me a suspended sentence. I drained my parents bank accounts, best attorney in the state. You know, I hadn't had any offenses, worked out this great deal for me. But when you have a suspended sentence, if you screw up on the probation they put you on, they can take it and give you the original sentence. I screwed up once. Slap on the wrist, maybe two weeks in jail. That's more than a slap on the wrist. Screwed up again, hundred and some days in jail, more probation. Okay, that's a massive slap. Third time, you just don't get it. Goodbye 15 years. Goodbye. Now, in the state of Iowa, laws are a lot different. They cut your time down, they give you good behavior, they do this, that, this, that. I did about two years and was released. Now my parents had moved to Hawaii, so I got sent to Hawaii. Imagine that you're in prison stripped down to nothing. And I say stripped, I mean, even then, strip searched and just being destroyed in terms of degraded and belittled and sleeping with rats and mice. And I was in a cell with somebody that was in there for murder. When I first got there, I mean, I literally went from having everything to having absolutely nothing, reduced to the lowest of the low of the low and sitting there wondering what is going, what happened? And I'll never forget in there the conversation. I can recite it word for word. I was on the phone with my mom and I was giving her the woe is me, the feel sorry for Dylan stuff. And it was always Dylan first. My, my entire younger years, it was Dylan, Dylan, Dylan, Dylan, Dylan. And I said to her, I said, this is horrible and I'm miserable and this and just complaining about everything under the sun. And she said two things that I'll never forget. The first one was, do you realize how selfish that you are? Do you have any idea what your actions have done to everybody else around you that cares about you? That loves about you, that's worried about you and that you let down. And then she proceeded to say, were we really that bad of parents? And, I mean, I just sat there in silence and I, you know, I. I felt tears rolling down my eyes. And I'm not that I'm not against emotion or not that I've never cried, because I certainly have, but I. It's not something I do often. And I didn't know what to say, and I never don't have anything to say, and anybody that knows me knows that. And I just sat there and that moment is when the switch flipped. And I had always gone to church and things, but I didn't, you know, I wasn't living properly or anything. And I started to read more at the time, but that's not really when it hit me in terms of my relationship with God. It certainly developed it better. But I knew right then and there that I needed to start using my time in there, figuring out what I was going to do, how I was going to fix this. I didn't have a set plan when I got out of there, but I knew that I was going to make amends. So when I got out, I got sent to Maui. And of course, having two felonies, nobody's going to hire you. I would get job after job after job. And in Hawaii, they do it different where after you get hired, then they check your record. And I would just get these letters saying, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. So I finally, eventually got a job selling cell phones. But at night I found bodybuilding forums and I started studying and reading and contributing. And before you know it, one of the owners of the big supplement companies came to me and he said, hey, we have a plan for you. We want to make you something. We want you to do something, and we're going to build you up. And I said, I'm all ears. You know, I'm all ears. Well, we want you to start a YouTube channel and we want you to start talking about steroids. And I said, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I just got out of trouble. That is the last thing that I want to do. No, no, no. And so anyway, after finding out you can talk about any of these things, obviously you can't sell them, and I wasn't ever going to go near that. But there was nothing wrong with what I was doing so rapidly. Nobody was really talking about. Very few people on there talking about it. And I, you know, I had a pretty good personality for video. I mean, at the time I go back and watch some of the stuff and I laugh and I'm embarrassed, but it resonated and it worked. So I ended up doing starting two channels, both of which had about 500,000 subscribers and both got shut down in 2017. I'm not going to do the pandering and the crying as to why. There were several things going on. I got into some verbal altercations with some people that I should have never have. And then some companies felt like I was hurting their business and so people started reporting my channel to get it taken down and eventually it worked, rebuilt it 2020 hits goes down again. After I started rebuilding, getting close to like back up to maybe a hundred thousand, I believe it was a little under there if I remember right. But anyway, speaking freely in 2020, which I wasn't doing anything government related, but you, it just, there was a big takedown of many, many channels that were kind of speaking out on different things. And even though I wasn't talking about anything Covid related or the sword, I stay a million miles from that. You still. They were looking for anything and everything. So that's when I started to work on my Instagram and that's when I started to build, build, build and start to look at different aspects aside from just steroids and PEDs and, and SARMs, which I was known for. I had learned about peptides early, before anybody knew about them. And it started to be a bigger craze and I thought, you know what? I'm going to start just shifting my things to Instagram, working there, working more on peptides, working more on some health things, different things. And I started building my Instagram up a lot more than my YouTube. And I started to get opportunities. People were noticing me more. I was talking different, I was coming across different. I didn't have such a I'm perfect attitude. And just things changed. I evolved as a person. I grew up, I started being selfish and started being more caring. I started realizing that it wasn't all about Dylan, it was about everybody else. And you know, in that time when I was in Hawaii, I met my wife who was the polar opposite of me. And one of the biggest blessings I've ever had, she stuck by me. She loved me when I was in my mom's basement. And we have grown together and built our life together over all this time. And she's been one of my rocks and everything to me and I owe her a great deal or I wouldn't be here right now doing what I'm doing. And, you know, my dad passed away unexpectedly. My best friend. And I've taken care of my mom. She gave her life for me. And I've made it a point to. To do all of these things that I feel are right and that I want to do, and I need to do that. I can never pay them back for my wife's loyalty and her love and my mom's whole life she gave me. And it got to the point where last year, as an influencer, so to speak, I just don't like that term. But I got invited to speak at the Mr. Olympia, which to me was a culmination. I was up on stage with doctors and practitioners, and then Dylan Gemelli, the YouTube guru or whatever the hell people called me, you know, and I just laugh because I'm no guru. I just, you know, I know what I know and I know what I don't know. And about a year prior to that was when I really started to put God first and I started to study the Bible, study the Word, and try to change my life and live it right. And things just kept falling into place, falling into place. Now, mind you, this whole time I'm struggling with my eating. Miserable, basically. I had developed a fat phobia where I wouldn't eat fats. Even though I was a nutritionist coaching people to eat fats, I was eating way less calories than I should be. I'm working out five days a week. It used to be six and seven, but as I got older, I realized, like, you just. You have to stop. But 90 to 100 minutes of cardio, five days a week of steady state, another hour, hour and a half of lifting on paper with your resting, burning over 4000 calories a day and barely eating. 16 to 1700. And basically all of it was vegetables, oatmeal, yogurt, protein powder and peanut butter. Barely any fats at all. Just depriving myself of anything and everything I possibly could. So we've got this problem and, you know, me finding my way. So I get to speak at the Mr. Olympia. And I really held my own. I really did when I. I first got invited there for that. But then the, The. The man that was running it, Dr. Michael Palmieri, who gave me my. My chance, he called me and he said, hey, I've got somebody I want you to meet. And that's. I said, sweet, you know, and it was Monica Brandt, former Ms. Olympia. He said, talk to her. So I met her, talked to her. She invited me to co host with her at the Mr. Olympia for her podcast. I said, yeah, count me in, let's do it. So I get there and she's being sponsored by a company called STEM Regen who was one of at the time, I didn't know, but one of the biggest and most well known companies in the biohacking sphere. I don't even know what the heck biohacking was at the time. And I met them and hit it off in a major way. They watched me speak, got to know him well. Anyway, I got home from Mr. Olympia on a Sunday, so pumped for what was going to come. I met all these people, wanted to collaborate me, work with me and I got Covid right when I got home, I was sick in bed and I started to do this woe is me stuff. And then I finally at that point was like, there has to be a reason for this God. And I'm not, I'm just going to trust now. And you know what? I laid there and I started reading and I started looking at STEM Regen and there's their owner Christian DePro and reading what he did. And I discovered biohacking. And it all came crumbling down in a positive way that wow, I finally figured out what I'm supposed to be doing, finally. And it hit me like a ton of bricks. And this was in October and I made it everything and anything to me that I could possibly do to make a massive impact. And in this space that I know today and love, called biohacking, and it has went from zero to a million as fast as humanly possible. And I am the most humbled and appreciative person that people in that space, the big names that I've interviewed so far and the people that have given me the time of day, the agents that I've signed with now that see something in me, even though I may not have had the biohacking numbers that they gave me the opportunity that they have. See, I've had to start from scratch multiple times. I've had to endure, I've had to overcome, I've had to fight, scratch, claw every single thing. And I'm not scared to do it and I'm equipped to do it. And that's one of the things I realized. I always tell everybody, and excuse my language, that I've just been a get shit done guy. That no matter what, it's Dylan. People come to me when they need something figured out. And I've used that against people like my mom and my wife. And I always tell them, well, who do you go to when there's something in it instead of being appreciative that they trust me to come to me. And that's another selfish characteristic that I dropped. And I tell my step kids the same thing. I don't care what time of day it is, how busy you think I am. You got a problem, you come to me. We'll figure it out together. I've made it a point to not give my word without keeping it. I don't say things I can't do. If I can't, I won't. But my passion and what drives me is all of you listening to me now. And I am no conspiracy theorist. I am no Mr. I hate the government. I hate everybody. I've got my beliefs and call it what you want, you know, categorize it how you want. I'm a down the middle. I've got a set of beliefs. I don't care what, where they fall to, to what side of the, the, the line. It falls on all that nonsense that, that, that stuff doesn't exist to me. When you have to belong to a group or whatever to, to convey your beliefs, I mean, that's to each their own. That's not my thing. My thing is to believe, you know, in my heart what I think is right and follow upon that. And however that falls, it falls. You know, I don't, I'm not a judgmental guy. I don't get into all that. That's nonsense. That's not how we're supposed to live nor meant to live. And that's been something that has been put on all of us to turn us against each other when we never should. We're all different. Every doctor and practitioner or speaker or whatever that I respect. I still have different opinions and I respect the heck out of them. And I learn and take bits and pieces from them. It doesn't mean I agree with everything. That doesn't matter because nobody is always right. Nobody. And you know why nobody's always right? Because we're all different. I can give one person a diet protocol that doesn't work for the next one idea or thought that may not be conducive to one because of a condition or experience or whatever the heck else they have. The point is, is knowing and understanding people knowing and understanding that we're all different. We all have different feelings, we have different emotions. We have good days, we have bad days, we have conditions. We have exceptional things going for us that maybe are anomalies to where some people suffer and we don't. We all have a special ability and A special talent that we have to find within us and utilize. We have to share that with each other. We have to trust in ourselves and believe in ourselves and know that no matter what, things will always get better when they're down. And that's the message I try to bring. Perseverance and understanding, guidance, you know, a person that doesn't believe they're any better than the next. I want to humanize myself. I want to teach you, I want to help you. You know, when that Mr. Olympia time came, that's when I flipped my diet. I walked into my wife one day and I said, you know what? When we got home after I figured things out, I said, I'm done. I'm done having this fight with food and this terrible relationship. And I am thriving right now. You know, I have a good friend. You guys know, his name is Ben Azad. He's one of the most talked about, just well versed people in the, in the world, I would say on, on diet, nutrition, at least one of the most popular and well known to me. He is a brilliant, genius, true brother to me. And you know, I talked to him in great deal about this and he was so happy to hear it. And we talk about that lipophobia and being scared of fats. And I told him, I said, ever since I made these changes and I went from eating 20 grams of fat a day to 130, I have never been this cut or lean since. I actually use steroids and my blood panels are beautiful. And my point too in going there was I want to be able to teach people the ways that we've been deceived or misled. Deceiving and misleading people is wrong, especially for the reasons people do it. If it's accidental, it's least forgivable. If people are just being misled themselves and, and pushing it out, then yeah, it's on you to do your due diligence and understand. But if it's not intentional, at least it's semi forgivable. And, and as a Christian and a Catholic, of course we're supposed to forgive everybody, but it's a struggle for even me when people are blatantly trying to hurt others and you only hope and you can pray for them that they'll stop and get on a better path. And, and, but the fact remains that that stuff does exist. Now, do some people believe things exist that don't? Sure, of course, I mean that happens. But you have to understand that there are a lot of bad things that go on and people are misled and hurt. And I want to be a voice of reason and reckoning and one that helps others to get past that and to not have to deal with that. I want to show people how to improve their quality of life, enhance it, live to the fullest. I want to bring people in front of you of all walks of life. I get authors that cover so many specialties. Gee, I got shoe influencers that come on because I love shoes. You know, like Jordans that I collect. I get some of the best cardiologists and doctors, peptide experts, whatever they may be. I try to bring you people that are intriguing, that are going to bring something genuine to help you. I want to keep you excited. You know, I respect so many people that do their podcasts and I'm not trying to tell you that I do anything any better than anybody else because I, that's, that's not what this is about. But when I do these, I do things a much, much, much different way. I make every single guest do pre calls with me so that I can learn about them. I don't script a thing that is non existent in my world, but I build rapport with people, learn about them, see what drives them, and then you know what I do? I go study them and I record many per week. So you can imagine the lack of sleep I'm getting, which I don't advise. But I spend that time reading and researching and really, really taking each and individual appearance for people on my show to the highest level of respect and seriousness for all of you and for them and for me. Because the more that I learn, the more I can convey and teach to you and the better the interview is, the more you're going to want to watch and the more you're going to gain from it. Not just throw something together and throw it out there and whatever to get numbers or clickbait or anything. I don't need that, nor want that. That does nothing for me. It certainly doesn't help me sleep at night. I'll tell you what does though. Knowing that I am doing God's word and his will, making the right decisions, doing the right things and helping every one of you in the right way. And that's why I'm driven. And that's what I do, what I do. And it's going to continue. I'm going to deliver to everybody the very best that I possibly can, day in and day out. And one thing you can do is count on me to always be honest up front and you're gonna get what you get. Some people love me for it, some people hate me for. But I tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear. Because if I tell you what you want to hear, not what you need to hear, then I just don't care. And I do care. So anyway, that is a brief synopsis of who I am. You might have fallen asleep, you might have turned it off right away, or hopefully you got enthralled and listened and find me intriguing or enjoyable. Or watch because you can't stand me. I don't know, whatever the case may be, I would prefer everybody like me. But I'm here to teach and educate and help and hopefully put a smile on your face, bring some spirit into your life if that's working for you. And if not, I just want to make everybody happy and improve their quality of life and bring some joy into your life. Every single day or every time that you listen to me, I want you to look forward to it, as I do with every single guest that I have on. So that's a short description of who I am. I could go into a longer version, but I don't like talking about myself too much. But I do feel that a lot of people wonder just who I am and where I came from and why you should even want to listen to me or give me the time of day. So anyway, that being said, stay tuned for plenty more to come. Dylan Gemelli signing off.