Natty, Strong, Shredded, Pick Two With Chandler Parsons

Allen Collins from Hollow Labs

Sat down with Allen from Hollow Labs the morning after he set up a table at The TOP Strength Project to set our members up w his products.    Allen struggled w addiction for much of his life but was able to turn things around in a big way.  Today he’s able to share his story and experiences w others. Some thought-provoking topics in this one.  How to create and maintain momentum, importance of seeking challenges, choosing the ‘hard’ path, building relationships and connection w others, and the importance of reflection. Enjoy!!   Time Stamps: 0:01 Intro 0:30 Commercial Gyms compared to private “training facilities” 2:30 Allen’s back story 5:30 Obligatory Reflection 9:00 Front Desk/ PT Sales 12:30 Finding Success/ Building Confidence 13:40 Importance of putting yourself in challenging situations/ getting uncomfortable 15:00 Finding Direction 16:31 Importance of Connecting w Others 18:14 Intentionally Seeking Challenges 21:18 “to me, there is no life without physical training” 22:05 “doing hard things changed my life immediately” 25:00 Social Media vs Reality 28:00 The Power of a Good Woman 34:14 You are not your past 42:50 Life happens for you, not to you 45:40 Understanding that we’re a lot more similar than we are different 52:40 How Psychological Asymmetries can affect our choices 59:00 What Separates Hollow Labs from other supplement companies 1:10:00 Where can you find Allen and Hollow Labs

David to Daviana

On this episode of The TOP Strength Cast, Jenny and I sat down w Dave: a Marine, competitive Strongman/ Powerlifter, owner of Strength Discovery, a friend to me and supporter of everything TOP Strength Project. Over the last year, Dave has been transitioning into his female form: Daviana. It’s no secret that the entire transgender movement is one of the most divisive topics in today’s culture and political space. Just like anyone else, I have my own opinions and thoughts as to why that is. I was excited when Daviana asked to come on the podcast and communicate his story, experiences, and perspectives along his journey presenting as a female. I encourage all of you to listen. I really enjoyed this conversation. Thanks guys! Strength Discovery/Daviana⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/strengthdiscovery/] ⁠Top Strength Project ⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/thetopstrengthproject/] ⁠Steve Tripp [https://www.instagram.com/strippcam/] Show Notes 0:15 Introducing Daviana/ Dave 1:28 From the top 2:40 How Jenny lost her finger 7:55 “En Vogue” 9:40 Starting to go into public 12:00 Transitioning and the politization of it 15:50 The first post 16:40 “you’re still a man” 20:00 Conflating transgenderism w homosexuality 24:50 Criticisms of DEI 28:02 Transgender Health/ Gender Affirming Care 29:30 Covid 36:20 Dave’s experience in the Marine’s 37:40 Impact of technology on culture/ “reality” 41:30 Bathrooms 47:40 “How is it with your Daughter?” 58:30 Voice Therapy 1:05:00 Other Trans-Related-Issues 1:20:45 Dave or Daviana? 1:23:00 Is Dave cutting his d*ck off?! 1:28:35 How his divorce has impacted him as a parent 1:31:00 “is he less of a dick?” 1:35:00 How do you deal with bullying 1:41:30 Dave’s relationship with his siblings since transitioning 1:45:30 What’s next for you 1:49:15 How do you feel on exogenous estrogen vs testosterone 1:54:20 Bottom Surgery 1:56:30 Male vs Female sexual experience 1:59:29 Relationship dynamics 2:11:15 Trysexual 2:14:00 More thoughts on polarization

Natty, Strong, Shredded, Pick Two With Chandler Parsons

Chandler and I connected first on IG after coming across a post of his that went viral: “Strong, Shredded, or Natty? Pick two.” We ended up exchanging some DM’s and I asked him on a podcast date; so here it is. Turns out he and I had a ton in common. Competitive powerlifter/ strength athlete, coach, and owner of @BackyardBarbell [https://www.instagram.com/backyardbarbell/] out in San Jose, California. Chandler and I share a lot of perspectives. We went for close to 3 hours and chose to cut it there because we could have went for another three. Looking forward to connecting w Chandler in the near future. Chandler Parsons [https://www.instagram.com/bybb.chandler/] Top Strength Project  [https://www.instagram.com/thetopstrengthproject/] Steve Tripp [https://www.instagram.com/strippcam/] 0:00 Our first date… 0:12 “Natty, Strong, Shredded, Pick 2” 0:50 Pros and Cons of Social Media 2:30 Balls to Brain Ratio 4:10 Meritocracy, you had to earn it 5:00 The control of information 5:50 “Trauma” and strength sports 7:45 “the problem with tattoos becoming popular is that people who should have never gotten tattooed are getting tattooed…” 9:50 importance of voluntary suffering and community 15:50 Experience w Therapy 17:00 Strength Sports as a Vehicle to Create Direction and Focus 25:50 Training is Honest 27:00 “everything I do, I’m going to do it all the way…” 31:10 King of the Clown Show 34:30 Choosing to Learn from Mistakes and Failures 39:00 Happiness is found in the journey, not the destination 40:50 “a mistake is a mistake only if you didn’t learn anything from it…” 42:40 Not Pitting Time Frames on Reaching Goals 49:25 Aggressive Patience 50:20 “if you could wake up with a 1,000 pound squat, would you?” 53:00 Totaling over 2,000 55:00 PED’s 1:08:00 Equipment Zealots 1:20:00 Backyard Barbell 1:24:00 TOP Strength 1:29:00 How I got involved in Strength Sports 1:33:30 Ironbuild Games 1:34:00 The importance of being a part of something bigger than ourselves… 1:38:20 Focusing providing the best possible service over profits 1:44:00 Jenny and our Group Program 1:56:00 Strongman Circuit 2:04:00 Powerlifting to Strongman 2:11:40 Tom Haviland/ Josh Bryant 2:16:30 … the greatest limitation is believing you have them.” 2:18:00 Ocean State Crossfit 2:21:00 Using Variations in training to address chronic overuse injuries 2:36:00 Where to find Chandler and Backyard Barbell.

The story behind MST with Shane Jerman

On this episode of The TOPStrenghCast, I got to sit down with my coach and the man behind @MSTsystems, Shane Jerman. After putting on a great shoulder stab (stability) seminar @thetopstrengthproject, we got on the mic and spoke about what was covered in the seminar, the importance of and how to apply context when building programs for different athletes, rehab, movement prep, and Shane’s personal journey first joining a gym to improve his kickboxing before being introduced to strongman. He immediately became enamored by all things strongman, learning everything he could while connecting with the other top athletes in Europe. This eventually led to the start of MST, and the rest is history. Similar to the seminar, there is a ton of valuable take away concepts and lessons in this episode; so, ENJOY! Thanks guys. Shane Jerman [https://www.instagram.com/mstsystems/reels/?hl=en] Top Strength Project  [https://www.instagram.com/thetopstrengthproject/] Steve Tripp [https://www.instagram.com/strippcam/] 0:00 Intro 0:40 Overhead/ Circus DB Seminar 2:40 Shoulder STAB (Stability) 8:12 “When I’m done coaching, I’d like to leave some sort of mark on the sport…” 9:00 Approaching Accessories in Training for Strength Athletes 12:02 Training Age/ Impacts on Exercise Selection 14:00 Overuse Injuries/ Understanding Neurological Impacts 20:00 Scalable Rehab: Using Load to Make Postural/ Positional Adaptations Stick 24:30 “Gas Station Ready” (Movement Prep/ Warm-Ups) 30:30 Introduction to Tri-Phasic 32:50 Aspects of the Neurological System 42:45 “You’ve almost got to earn your sends.” 43:12 “Did you get older, or did you get better? 44:00 “I think Lucy’s World’s Strongest Woman” 47:34 “I didn’t want to complete in strongman coz I felt like I was too good for it” 53:30 “Can’t eat my means bro so I’m off” 56:00 Graham Hicks “…let’s bring him down and do some YOKE.” 58:20 James Ward 1:00:47 Squats in Strongman 1:03:56 Coaching 1:05:19 Andrew Triana 1:07:46 MST 1:12:15 MST goes into the open 1:14:33 Imposter Syndrome 1:16:16 I’m Super Competitive 1:18:30 “…. something’s brewing… I’m bored” 1:21:10 When to Send 1:22:14 “That’s how it works, mate” 1:24:15 Training Helps 1:27:42 What’s Next? 1:34:20 Closing/ MST Systems App

Beyond 5th Set with Swede Burns

On this episode with the Swede and Sin, we talk about Swede’s first exposure to weight training, body building, and eventually the creation of 5 th Set. It didn’t take long for the conversation to shift more towards mindset, culture, impacts of media and social media, and how Swede and Sin both leverage their values while navigating through life experiences. I really enjoyed this conversation. Hope you all enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed having it. Thanks guys! Swede Top Strength Project  [https://www.instagram.com/thetopstrengthproject/] Steve Tripp [https://www.instagram.com/strippcam/] 0:00 Intro and Swede’s Origins 1:00 Hulk Hogan Weight Set 1:30 10 Sets of 10… of Everything 6:00 Swede Meet’s Jim Davis 9:15 Experimenting w Bench Shirts 9:50 “It’s Called Raw” 11:20 Miss Jordan 14:00 Finding Value in our Failures 19:50 “Being an Active Participant Rather Than a Victim” 21:30 Starts Coaching 24:00 The Battle w Brian Page 28:45 “Turns out I hate losing much more than I love winning…” 32:00 The type that responds to positive reinforcement or negative reinforcement 39:45 What got Sin started 45:00 Writing 5 th Set 45:45 Prison is the only place where you have legitimate control for experiments on human beings” 46:20 Training through Covid 47:55 Assimilating back into society after “time away” 49:49 “What the FUCK is an iPod?!” 53:05 “You can draw a through line from that to everything good” 59:19 “a degree of difference over a lifetime is an entirely different end game” 1:03:00 Are you playing an active role in your life or are you a victim 1:04:24 Voluntary Suffering/ Mile Marker Goals 1:09:30 Short Term Goals/ Long Term Goals 1:13:50 “the universe always provided me with what I needed….. not what I want” 1:20:00 Developing Values 1:22:30 Repentance 1:25:30 the line between good an evil goes directly through the middle of every man’s heart 1:30:00 Pride 1:34:25 Passion 1:40:35 The Coddling of the American Mind 1:44:00 Polarized Society 2:01:00 Closing