What’s going on guys? Mike the Machine here with another long overdue episode of the Maximized Man series. If you’ve been following the videos lately, you’ve seen that I’ve been focusing on my deadlift again. I got away from deadlifting about a year ago after I pulled my maximum lift of 650. Then all of a sudden I got the bug again, so I’ve been focusing on deadlifting a lot and hopefully to pull 675 which, no, I will pull 675 this coming year. But I’ve kinda gotten away from what else is dear to my heart – and that is trying put out these videos and teach all of you how to be a better man and a maximized man – one of physical strength as well as character.

So, one thing I want to touch on that I’m asked a lot via emails and other social media is: at my age, of almost 40, what drives me to keep pushing as hard as I do? It all comes down to your core values as far as what makes you tick. What drives you to the point of getting up in the morning and maybe, you’re a runner, you want to run….You’re gonna run in the cold in the snow or you’re gonna push your body to extra limit. For all of you that have followed my videos and you know my background, it all started when I was a kid from watching my father, my biological father, beat up on my mother and just put our childhood, my brother’s and my childhood, into a horror movie if you will.

Along with that and, of course, going through school and being ridiculed and being made fun because of the big ears I have which looked like handlebars and this weird-looking Afro pipe cleaner haircut that I had. They called me human pipe cleaner. You know, dealing with kids beating up on you besides just verbally but physically, I got into wrestling. And I loved the way that the wrestlers the size of these guys and how big and nasty and muscular they were. And I figured, “hey, you know what, these guys probably never got picked on or beat up.” So, that was my start. That’s what laid my foundation of wanting to become bigger and stronger.

So, then my weightlifting bug began in about 1987 and what actually got me into lifting weights was not just the wrestlers, but it was actually that Marvin Hagler / Sugar Ray Leonard fight. I loved the way Hagler looked. Sorry, guys, I wasn’t a Leonard fan, but I was Hagler fan and I wanted to be ripped and build up like that, so between the wrestlers and watching that Haggler / Leonard fight and, of course, Mike Tyson because as I got older people said I had similar build as Tyson. That started the foundation. So, what makes me tick now? What keeps me going now at almost 40?

Well, number 1 is vanity. You can be vain and not be cocky. I love the way I look. I love the way I feel. I love the way that after I have a workout, your muscles are swollen. You’re pumped up and you just look good. You feel good. That’s very important to me. That’s one.

Number 2, health benefits. I hardly ever go to the doctor. In our society today, with so many people, you know, often you can’t tell the difference between a woman and a man anymore because the women cut their hair short and they all look like either an A or an O. And with their hair short and the guy is built like an A or an O and the woman has got her hair short, she looks like an A and O, and the guy has got boobs hanging down to his belly just like the woman does, you can’t tell the difference between a woman and man anymore. Well, and I know it’s not politically correct, but I’m not politically correct. I’m telling you the way it is. I don’t want to look like that. Ok? I want to look like a V. I want to be like this. I want to have nice shoulders, nice back, small waist, good legs and be healthy and be able to see my feet and tie my own shoes, okay? I don’t wanna have a big huge gut looking like a cake coming off my waist.

Another thing is I love setting goals and achieving them. I love the discipline of making myself get in the gym and train and then looking at the accomplishment, looking at the results afterwards. It’s like molding yourself in clay. It’s like making a statue. It’s pretty cool when you can go to the gym and it’s not a chore. When you love something so much that it becomes an addiction, but it’s a good addiction to have. It’s not a bad one. I’m like anybody else, you know, we need days off. I need days off. You need to let the body heal and you need to rest, but most of all the life lessons that you need through life, you can learn in a training hall. You know discipline, setting goals, consistency, work ethic. All of these things, learning how to deal with failure when you set a goal and you don’t achieve it, but instead of quitting, you work your way back up and you achieve it anyways. These are all the reasons why I do what I do. I know where my core values are in my heart. I know what my character is and I know what makes me tick. So, I’m asking you. What makes you tick? Shoot me an email. Shoot me a video response and let me know what’s the driving force that makes you you. I’m the Machine. This is the Maximized Man. I’m getting out there. Getting ready to get my training session on. Keep the faith.