The Brain Behind the Brawn w/ Phil Heath

I hope you’re ready to do some HEAVY LIFTING for this week’s podcast. You are going to hear one of the most INSPIRING stories about DEDICATION and creating the highest possible STANDARDS from one of the most accomplished bodybuilders and athletes in the world. PHIL HEATH is a SEVEN-TIME MR. OLYMPIA WINNER, going undefeated in the competition every year from 2011 to 2017. He is tied with ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER for the second-highest number of wins, just behind LEE HANEY and RONNIE COLMAN who have eight wins each. He has applied the same incredible WORK ETHIC and FOCUS as an entrepreneur and founder and CEO of Phil Heath Labs and the founder of Gifted Athletics, among others. All of Phil’s ventures have the same purpose of helping you HONE YOUR STRENGTHS and ACTIVATE YOUR BEST SELF. As an avid bodybuilder myself, I was especially curious to know what it takes to get to the next level. There are a lot of OBSTACLES TO OVERCOME, and Phil touches on many of them. If you want to know more about what it takes to be HEALTHIER, whether it’s at Phil’s level, or if you’ve got more modest goals, you’re going to want to hear what he has to say about……the right COMPETITIVE MINDSET…dealing with TEMPTATIONS…the challenges of TRAINING ALONE…MENTAL and EMOTIONAL AWARENESS…using VISUALIZATION to help you achieve your goals…and dealing with PAIN (a subject that is often overlooked in my opinion)Bodybuilding is as much a MENTAL game as it is a physical pursuit, and Phil also gets into EMOTIONAL TRIGGERS, what drives him to be the best, and how he continues to create challenging EXPECTATIONS to feed those high-level outcomes. One other important area Phil talks about is his FAITH, and how it has helped him maintain a positive and steady course throughout the years. When you look at Phil, his accomplishments are chiseled into his physique. But what you don’t see is what it took to get him there. This week, you’ll learn what it took for Phil, and how you can apply to your own life what he learned along the way. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Ed Mylett?

  I hear so many small business owners say the exact same thing. They just never have enough time in the day. Well, I measure time differently. I've compressed, condensed, heck, I've bent time. My first day is 6:00 a.m. to noon. My second day starts at noon and goes till 6:00 p.m. And my third day, 6:00 p.m. to midnight. I now get 21 days a week. Stack that up over a month, over a year, over five years, and my life's completely different than it would have been otherwise. And if you want to win as an entrepreneur, you have to compress your time too. And you definitely can't afford to waste it. Waiting weeks on a big bank for capital? Your best bet's to work with my friends at Cardiff. They know how to compress time for entrepreneurs. They get your business approved in minutes and funded the very same day. They're America's favorite small business lender, and for good reason.

• 0:45Ed Mylett?

  Over 20 years in business, over 12 billion deployed to small business across America. Stop letting bank delays slow down your momentum. Head to cardiff.co/ed. That's cardiff.co/ed. Cardiff.co. Real growth, fast funding. Cardiff. Borrow better.

• 1:01Speaker 01

  Mr. President, my company, for me, of the explosion on our rig.

• 1:05Speaker 02

  On October 2nd.

• 1:06Speaker 01

  Causing massive water displacement and triggering a tsunami. They all heap the blame on me.

• 1:11Speaker 02

  Tom Cruise is. Digger got us into this mess. And Digger's gonna dig us up. From the director of Birdman and The Revenant.

• 1:18Speaker 01

  What would happen if I stopped drilling? You stop, you freeze to death, that's what.

• 1:22Speaker 02

  With great power comes great deniability.

• 1:25Speaker 01

  I'm not the first nanny.

• 1:27Speaker 02

  Digger. See the trailer online. Only in theaters October 2nd. Rated R. Under 17. Not a minute without parent.

• 1:36Ed Mylett?

  This is The Ed Mylett Show.

• 1:40Ed Mylett?

  All right, welcome back to the show, everybody. I think when I created the show called Max Out, that was the original title of the show. Now it's The Ed Mylett Show. I'm pretty sure you're the complete and total embodiment of Max Out. And I don't just mean in your athletic career. But having said that, let me properly introduce our guest today. He's a seven-time Mr. Olympia, but I'm going to tell you, I think in researching him more and more, we're talking about one of the greatest athletes of all time in any sport, not just in bodybuilding, because of the way he repeated, his consistency. And the funny thing about him is, that's not my most impressive thing about him. It's his mind. I was telling him when we just started, I said, you are one complicated and complex dude.

• 2:20Ed Mylett?

  And he really is. Today is going to be a ride of insight into success, personal development, peak performance, happiness, and a person and a story with a ton of insight that's going to inspire you. So Phil Heath, welcome to the show.

• 2:35Phil Heath?

  No, thank you. It's a pleasure to be here.

• 2:37Ed Mylett?

  It's so good to have you. Thank you for flying all the way out and making this happen too. So so many of our mutual friends, as you know, are like, you guys got to get together.

• 2:44Phil Heath?

  Absolutely.

• 2:45Ed Mylett?

  Over and over, they repeated that to me. All right, I got so many things I want to ask you, but I want to ask you the craziest thing first.

• 2:50Phil Heath?

  Perfect.

• 2:51Ed Mylett?

  You're training for a show and you're back in the day training. Okay, so everybody here relates to this. How did you deal with the invisible temptations that come your way? So obviously it's your sport, you're the best maybe ever at it. You're in the, you're on the hand, you're on the Mount Rushmore for sure. It's the little temptations though to like eat the wrong thing or wing it a little bit on leg day. Like, did you ever have those temptations like in a quiet moment, no one's watching, it's Phil Heath, he can go grab like a Hershey bar or something in training? Like, how did you resist the temptation of those things? Or did you indulge in those things when you were training?

• 3:26Phil Heath?

  I knew how I wanted to look on stage and I knew that creating that distraction was not going to allow me to have peak performance. And the last thing I wanted to do was to be on stage next to someone who did cross all the Ts and dot all the Is.

• 3:43Ed Mylett?

  Very good.

• 3:44Phil Heath?

  And then have that regret while I'm on stage of thinking, I should beat this person, no question about it. But I had a moment of weakness and I allowed that weakness to make me feel unsure of myself. And now I have zero certainty that I'm going to win. And I love to have certainty, but based on my performance.

• 4:02Ed Mylett?

  Yeah. Why does certainty matter so much?

• 4:06Phil Heath?

  Because as much as I can't control it, I would like to control the outcome. And the best way to put my, my, you know, self in a best position to win is to not deviate from the plan. And that's something that of course, you know, allowed me to earn, you know, those moments on stage where I looked my best. And, you know, overall, I think when you're standing up there with just those little tiny posing trunks on, that's the last thing you want to be thinking is like, gosh, I'm holding on to too much water. It's so much, you know, a little bit of fat here or there. Oh my gosh, I shouldn't have ate those hot dogs. I shouldn't have went to that party.

• 4:46Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 4:47Phil Heath?

  And, and it does, it does suck. I mean, I'm not going to sit here and act like, you know, I, I didn't want to enjoy, you know, fun, fun memories, fun times with friends. I mean, the Mr. Olympia contest is a Super Bowl, the bodybuilding. And typically it would be held in September. So therefore my last weekend would follow either on or be, or, you know, it'd be in July. So like, maybe the 4th of July would be like my last time to do anything. But that's a summer.

• 5:16Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 5:16Phil Heath?

  So I spent like 13 years consecutively, no summers at all.

• 5:19Ed Mylett?

  That's crazy.

• 5:20Phil Heath?

  Yeah.

• 5:21Ed Mylett?

  I just always, last night, I know I'm interviewing you. This is no joke. That question was just for me. I know I'm interviewing you last night and I'm doing intermittent fasting, but I had like, I started my fasting window earlier than I wanted to because of work. It's like 9:30, man. And behind me is like these, like chocolate almonds sitting there. And I'm like, I'm getting ready just to grab, just scarf these suckers. And I literally thought, what would Phil Heath do? And I'm like, ah crap. All right. I won't eat these things. And I went to bed in tears. So.

• 5:50Phil Heath?

  They're still there though. That's the, I think that's one of the things I had to remind myself is that they're still there. You can have them just another time.

• 5:59Ed Mylett?

  There you go.

• 6:00Phil Heath?

  They just don't. They're just not a part of this journey.

• 6:03Ed Mylett?

  Hmm. You know, it's interesting you say that because when I speak oftentimes or I'm coaching people, I'll say, do all the things you don't want to do as fast as you can. So you can do all the things you want to do for as long as you can. So those things are there to be done. They just may not be in this time for you. It's kind of like spending money. I watch a lot of guys, you know, make a little bit of money or people, not just guys, people make a little bit of money and they, they can't resist the temptation to spend it prematurely instead of just, once you're really, really wealthy, you could then go buy that car.

• 6:28Phil Heath?

  Right.

• 6:28Ed Mylett?

  Stop trying to look rich before you're rich because you end up being broke doing it. So anyway.

• 6:33Phil Heath?

  A hundred percent, man. Like no, like I see that a lot in our sport and um, heck, I did it early on.

• 6:40Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, me too.

• 6:41Phil Heath?

  You know, and I, but I felt like that was a, a good learning lesson. You know, you're going to learn two different lessons in life, right?

• 6:47Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 6:47Phil Heath?

  They're both going to cost you something. One can be inexpensive. One could be extremely expensive lessons.

• 6:53Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 6:53Phil Heath?

  So I, I told myself like, yeah, I'm going to buy that car, but then I realized, ooh, gosh, I better either learn how to make more money or never do that again.

• 7:02Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 7:02Phil Heath?

  And uh, you know, it takes a lot of discipline to have.

• 7:05Ed Mylett?

  Well, you, you've disciplined your whole life though. So I'm reading you. I'm like, okay, this guy's got two degrees.

• 7:10Phil Heath?

  Mm hmm.

• 7:11Ed Mylett?

  This guy was a college basketball player and like a really, really good one, right?

• 7:16Phil Heath?

  Mm hmm.

• 7:16Ed Mylett?

  So there's been this element of discipline that's, I mean, I'm sure it's increased as you got older and the sport got more competitive and you, you know, you were the best in the world at something. But the other thing I was researching, I don't know that I've interviewed an athlete before that I think is more equipped to be in this space, like personal development, helping people, peak performance, those kinds of things. How did it, when did this shift for you? Cause I'm reading about you. You played college basketball. You're a really good player. Then you're like working at Bally's.

• 7:42Phil Heath?

  Yeah, man.

• 7:42Ed Mylett?

  So Phil Heath worked at Bally's and made smoothies, right? So like little do you know, man, when you're, you don't know who you're talking to when you go into these places. How'd you get from there to where you ended up? Were you, were you going to be a pro bodybuilder then?

• 7:56Phil Heath?

  No. Well, yeah. So how it worked out was this, was, oh my god.

• 8:03Phil Heath?

  We're going back, man, twenty years. So right, I went to the university never and, you know, played ball and got the degrees, all that stuff. And then I'm like, what the heck am I gonna do? Yeah. Any job in IT was gone. And, and when I say gone, like after nine eleven, I mean, things started, you know, going to hell in a handbasket. And typically, they would say, oh, you know, you have a, you know, major in IT, you know, with an emphasis in like software engineering, you're gonna make like seventy grand a year. That went down to like forty five. And I was like, geez, like, that's not cool. Like, and then I got general business. I'm like, what the hell am I doing? Right. Then I thought, man, I just want to do something cool. Mm hmm. And a friend of mine was like, I'll just get your job at Bally's, you can be a retail manager. And I thought, well,

• 8:47Phil Heath?

  okay, why not? If I don't like it, I can always leave. Okay. And I end up loving it because, you know, at first you're thinking, yeah, he's making smoothies. I wasn't just making smoothies. I was actually hiring and firing employees because I needed employees to run the pro shop. I was doing all of the ordering. I had to understand all the, you know, the Bali Total Fitness system, protocol, manual handbook, all that stuff. I was actually engaging with those different vendors from Pepsi-Cola or, you know, Worldwide Nutrition to bring in all, I was doing all the ordering of nutritionals. So then I had to actually go through the backend and figure out like, okay, what are we selling? And I used to get into arguments with our regional because I would never hit quota.

• 9:31Phil Heath?

  And I said, my gosh, like, I'm not hitting this quota. Like, what the heck? And everybody else was hitting theirs. And we would have like these monthly meetings and they'd say, yeah, I feel like you're at ninety six percent. Like, and then one day I told her, I said, listen,

• 9:45Phil Heath?

  you're more concerned with the percentage of the quota, but you're not concerned if that same person is keeping the damn lights on. Hmm. See, I can discount this water. Mm hmm. For my friend. Right. But what's the profit margin? There you go. For each store? Mm hmm. I said, let's just focus on that. She, of course, got clowned. Right. And then all, and then. Basically, every other retail manager in the state hated me because they're like, yeah, you you outed us. And I'm like, no, you're like, you guys are losing money. All of them should be fired.

• 10:17Ed Mylett?

  Wow.

• 10:18Phil Heath?

  Because they're hitting their quota.

• 10:20Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 10:21Phil Heath?

  But yet you're losing money.

• 10:22Ed Mylett?

  Mm hmm.

• 10:23Phil Heath?

  So they're like, well, I'm at 54% profit margin for a retail store. That's pretty damn good.

• 10:27Ed Mylett?

  Really good for a retail store.

• 10:28Phil Heath?

  That's really good.

• 10:28Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 10:29Phil Heath?

  You guys are 38%.

• 10:30Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 10:31Phil Heath?

  So who's making money here? So, you know, I I remember thinking of, Phil, you have to embrace that as this little shop is yours. You own this.

• 10:42Ed Mylett?

  What a great lesson.

• 10:43Phil Heath?

  And if you don't treat it like that, if you just treat it just like a job, you'll just be a regular dude.

• 10:47Ed Mylett?

  Mm hmm.

• 10:48Phil Heath?

  But if you treat this like a real, like, this is your shop.

• 10:50Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 10:51Phil Heath?

  If no employee, if everyone walked out on you, and you still show up, which, if this, if Jane went out partying the night before, got sick, who who had to show up? I did. And I did without complaining, maybe a couple of times, you know?

• 11:05Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 11:06Phil Heath?

  But at the same time, it taught me a lot. And it also taught me with with regards to when I wanted to become a professional bodybuilder, those supplement companies that I would end up working with.

• 11:14Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 11:15Phil Heath?

  Which ones do I want to work with? Because I'm like, I don't want to work with you guys. You guys suck. Like, I don't like your products.

• 11:19Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, you knew. You also learned to run a business. So you you such a huge lesson to like bloom where you're planted, right? Like, your dream probably wasn't to work there the rest of your life.

• 11:29Phil Heath?

  Mm hmm.

• 11:30Ed Mylett?

  But you made the most of it and, you know, gained the most lessons from it, grew the most from doing it. There's a lot of people that are listening to the show right now. They're not in their dream right now.

• 11:39Phil Heath?

  Right.

• 11:39Ed Mylett?

  They got a dream, but they're placed right now somewhere else. Well, you end up making this massive dream come true in kind of like an affiliated way, like a vertical, I guess. You went from Bally's to a bodybuilder. But you you gleaned all these lessons from being there. Most people, you know this, brother, they just kind of like they're unconsciously where they are. It sounds to me like you were really conscious. And when we were prepping, I want to talk about how you go from there to becoming a bodybuilder. But then, I mean, I don't think most people, you know, they Phil Heath, seven time Mr. Olympia. It's like, My gosh, the amount of work that must have taken, the amount of mental fortitude. And you say, like, you believe all people were born to do something like really special with their life, right?

• 12:20Phil Heath?

  Hundred percent.

• 12:20Ed Mylett?

  Elaborate on that, but did you think that then? Or have you like sort of realized that now that you've really done something special with your life?

• 12:28Phil Heath?

  A little bit of both. I think I was, um, I had some prophetic moments in my life. Um, one would be, you know, earning a division one scholarship and being interviewed by the Seattle Times. Like, hey, Phil, like, you know, do you have any aspirations going to NBA? I still remember this quote and I said, I was seventeen. And I said, I don't know about the NBA, but I plan on being pro at something.

• 12:50Ed Mylett?

  You did at seventeen?

• 12:52Phil Heath?

  I said, because I want to be pro at something. And I didn't know what that would be, obviously.

• 12:56Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 12:57Phil Heath?

  But I wanted, because a professional takes a level of precision with their craft and, you know, to be a pro at something. That means that that person's no joke.

• 13:06Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 13:07Phil Heath?

  You know, they're not average. And for me, you know, my, I had an old roommate that nicknamed me nicknamed me the gift. And I was like, oh, my gosh, this is so freaking arrogant. Oh, people are gonna, people are gonna lay into me if I use this. And we sat there and he goes, no. You're the gift because you have one. It's completely different than this typical negative stereotypes of a bodybuilder. You come from a different background.

• 13:37Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 13:38Phil Heath?

  And you're able to relate to people in different sports. Bringing them into bodybuilding.

• 13:43Ed Mylett?

  It's true.

• 13:44Phil Heath?

  You speak well, you just look different. And you have a different story. And then one day you're going to share this with people. I mean, he had a moment for sure to see something in me. I was very thankful of that. So I used the nickname and then I realized that, how do I, how do I preach this message to others? It's more of a, we're all born with one, a gift. But it's on us to, when I say, oh, I gotta find my calling. It's like, you already have something special. What you're afraid of doing is working hard at it.

• 14:14Phil Heath?

  You're afraid. And once you step up and you stare at yourself in the mirror and know who the hell you are. And you fail, but you fail forward and you learn. And you keep working at this. You put yourself in a better position to succeed. And then, once you get a, you know, one level, then you go to the next one. See, a lot of people, they stay at that one level because it's comfortable. Yeah. But just like a video game, you know, you took, I talked to kids and they play these games and stuff. As the levels get higher, the difficulty increases as well. Yeah. But you have a choice when you die in the game.

• 14:54Phil Heath?

  Continue or game over. It actually gives you a choice. Yeah. You actually have a choice in your life.

• 15:02Phil Heath?

  So I chose to keep going. Just to see. And when I started, you know, looking better and feeling more confident and trust me, my first competition, I had so much false bravado, let me tell you, I did not, I thought walking out there on stage and just having this, you know, like Terminator look and I'm gonna, it was so much insecurity in my heart. Really? That's why I did that. Really? Because I wasn't sure of myself. And then the crowds laughing. At you? See, I thought the same. Okay. They're laughing because I didn't smoke the whole damn show. You did. But see how your mind and you're, and you know, with your reality is two different things. Yeah. I was so scared, man.

• 15:47Phil Heath?

  That I didn't know. And then until this lady screams out, she goes, smile, you're beautiful. And everybody starts laughing again. I was like, oh, I guess I do look good. But the whole time, my training partners are saying, dude, you're gonna smoke this, but I didn't want to believe. It took another person to tell me that in my time of vulnerability, literally wearing trunks and stuff. Yeah. With no mirror in front of me to see if I'm doing it right.

• 16:12Phil Heath?

  And then I owned it.

• 16:17Ed Mylett?

  That's one of my favorite things anyone's ever said on the show. That whole piece right there. What you just said. And I've done a lot of shows. But the fact that we all have a gift in us.

• 16:27Phil Heath?

  Yes.

• 16:27Ed Mylett?

  And that it's identifying that gift and that so many of us are afraid. You know. Do you think that the fear afraid of doing the work? Think they're afraid of doing the work? Are they afraid they're gonna fail like? It's almost like if I don't know what my gift is, then I can sort of stay in the space of like, I don't know. You know, I'll figure it out eventually.

• 16:44Phil Heath?

  You're BSing yourself the whole entire time and then you're gonna hate yourself later on. Cause you're gonna see that person get what's yours.

• 16:51Ed Mylett?

  Wow.

• 16:52Phil Heath?

  They're gonna get there like you got a very nice watch on. I love it. I wanna get one one day, right? Well, if I quit, I ain't gonna get it. Then I'm gonna be jealous.

• 17:02Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 17:03Phil Heath?

  That guy got the girl that I wanted or that guy got the vacation for his family that he wanted. What's preventing you from doing it? You.

• 17:10Ed Mylett?

  You.

• 17:11Phil Heath?

  You. You're telling me that that man, that woman is any better than you? No, they just did the work, especially when no one was watching their ass.

• 17:23Ed Mylett?

  That's the big thing about your sport, bro. It's not a team. It's a team sport, cause I suppose you sometimes train with other guys, but I bet in your case, you trained alone a lot.

• 17:30Phil Heath?

  I'm.

• 17:31Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 17:31Phil Heath?

  Like Chuck Norris, man, like I do this alone.

• 17:33Ed Mylett?

  Right. And is that part of that reason? Like you didn't wanna know what you were doing? You wanted to know how you looked or is just you wanted the solace of just being in that mode by yourself?

• 17:40Phil Heath?

  I. Well, I was raised as an only child.

• 17:44Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 17:45Phil Heath?

  So.

• 17:47Phil Heath?

  I enjoyed especially playing basketball, you know, hanging out with your friends. But when it came to bodybuilding, I knew that I'm gonna be standing on a stage alone. And they have an entourage. So they're so used to having everybody pump them up.

• 18:00Ed Mylett?

  So good.

• 18:01Phil Heath?

  Tell them how great they are. You know, oh, come on, champ. You got it, champ. And I'm thinking, no. It's just me and the weights. If anything, I'm gonna go insane and I'm gonna talk trash to these weights. Then I'm gonna look at myself in the mirror of saying, do you? Do you have one more? I'm literally that nuts like I'm like. You want more, don't you? Hell yeah, let's go. Or, man, that was, that was great. Or, wow, I'm going through a really tough time. And I don't feel it's necessary to have someone carry that for me.

• 18:35Ed Mylett?

  Or you, yeah.

• 18:36Phil Heath?

  I don't want them to do that.

• 18:38Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 18:38Phil Heath?

  Um, and then also, I don't want to be responsible to saying, hey, Ed, I'm training at 2:30 and then I get in a, a meeting and then I'm late. And then now you're like, gosh, like I really wanted to train with you, Phil, but I got a wife and kids at home. Like I, I got other stuff to do. Now I done screwed you over.

• 18:53Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 18:53Phil Heath?

  And I damn sure don't want you doing that to me.

• 18:55Ed Mylett?

  Dude, you're super interesting to me, man. Like you, you said this thing on the video game levels.

• 19:01Phil Heath?

  Yeah.

• 19:01Ed Mylett?

  Okay. Well, you got to the highest level of that game. What happened as you went higher? Take, take us through for a second, like,

• 19:10Ed Mylett?

  and I did, I played college baseball, division one college baseball. That's a certain level of baseball. That is

• 19:14Phil Heath?

  Oh, yeah.

• 19:15Ed Mylett?

  absolutely not major league baseball though, right? So I know what took to get to that level. But I also know these other levels and then to get to the big leagues of, to, to give a metaphor, but the major leagues of bodybuilding is to get your pro card.

• 19:28Phil Heath?

  Right.

• 19:29Ed Mylett?

  And then to win a contest is a big deal. But to then win the major, you know, to win the Arnold would be a big deal, but then to win the Olympia.

• 19:36Phil Heath?

  Yeah.

• 19:36Ed Mylett?

  Then to repeat and win it again, then to repeat and win it again and again and again and again, and to do it seven times. This is a level of the video game that is bonkers for most people, right?

• 19:46Phil Heath?

  Yeah.

• 19:46Ed Mylett?

  So what's the separator between, and don't be, I know you're humble, but don't be for a minute. What did you do? Oh, you got the gift. You've already always acknowledged genetically, I got a good hand dealt to me. But what was different at that level? Cause there's a lot of people, they want to be that in their business, that in their family, that in their church.

• 20:04Phil Heath?

  They're lying.

• 20:06Ed Mylett?

  They don't really want it. Is that what you're saying?

• 20:08Phil Heath?

  Yeah, because.

• 20:10Phil Heath?

  Do they, are they really saying that for themselves or they're saying that for the world?

• 20:18Phil Heath?

  I think they're saying it to sound cool. I think they're saying it to sound, they're trying to um maybe do it for their parents. Who held them to a higher standard. That maybe they were young and um the love was very conditional. Meaning you perform, I love you more. Exactly. Yeah. I think the world is like that. Totally. But God ain't like that. So I leaned on my faith a lot, but also I got called out. Because I can tell you, if anyone's out there and they want to see how I, I had imposter syndrome. Twenty ten Olympia, uh two thousand nine Olympia, I had food poisoning. So I did everything in my power to like still compete.

• 21:00Phil Heath?

  EMTs are at my room, you know, till four, the five forty something in the morning and I. It's like, God, please, you know, like I, I just want to, I just want to compete because I just met all these fans from all over the world at the meeting green. I don't want to let them down. So I competed and got fifth. I was like, okay. And then I did the Arnold Classic, got second. So I'd say, okay, I'm getting momentum. And then it's just myself and um Jay Cutler. Who's a friend of yours. Yes, who definitely was, he's an iconic figure in our sport.

• 21:32Phil Heath?

  And Joe Weider is up there on stage as well. And they're getting ready to read off the next name, being at the, you know, Olympia, and they said Jay Cutler. Now.

• 21:44Phil Heath?

  I was actually happy he won, not because we were friends, but because of how heavy the head that wears the crown. Really? Holy smoke. Because you realize when you're friends with someone that is the champion. And he lost his in oh eight and then regained it in oh nine. But I saw Ronnie Coleman with his number eight and, and I've seen like how, how fans treat people. I've seen how reporters treat people when they're multi-level champions and stuff. You go from the hero to the villain sometimes, you know, because people just, oh, I just want to see someone else win. Yes. You know, the total Tom Brady effect. Yes. You know?

• 22:24Phil Heath?

  And I saw that play out and I thought, man, I don't truly feel, I didn't know this right away. I dissect not just game film and basketball, I dissect myself in bodybuilding. See, I don't think a lot of athletes do that in our sport. They're posing and stuff, but do they really rewind the tape? Not in admiration, but in critique of their body language. I went by my body language. I exhaled when they read that name. So I started to ask myself, why did you exhale?

• 22:57Ed Mylett?

  You're relieved?

• 22:59Phil Heath?

  Exactly.

• 23:00Ed Mylett?

  Wow.

• 23:00Phil Heath?

  I was relieved because of what? I was more concerned of the fact that at prejudging at the Arnold Classic six months prior, I was in the lead of beating Kai Green. Then I lost and I felt, I'll be honest, I felt like I got robbed. And I said, I'm never gonna lose to this guy again. Well, I didn't lose to him again.

• 23:22Phil Heath?

  But I didn't win the Olympia. My goal should have been.

• 23:25Ed Mylett?

  Wrong standard.

• 23:26Phil Heath?

  Yeah. That's been there, done that, like, who cares?

• 23:29Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 23:30Phil Heath?

  Not only am I never gonna lose this guy again, I'm gonna win this freaking show. I'm gonna get back, I'm gonna get some real get back.

• 23:35Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 23:35Phil Heath?

  See, I also focused on just getting some get back on Kai.

• 23:38Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 23:38Phil Heath?

  That I was comfortable being just friends with Jay because also I recognize how people treated Jay when he was chasing Ronnie all those years. They always love second place. Oh, you almost had it, Ed, you almost had it, man. Like, you know, come back next year, we love you, bro.

• 23:53Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, but don't you think you can oftentimes in life be getting so caught up in beating someone else that you cheat yourself out of the capacity of what you could have been had you were just trying to be your best?

• 24:02Phil Heath?

  Exactly.

• 24:03Ed Mylett?

  Right?

• 24:03Phil Heath?

  Run your own race.

• 24:04Ed Mylett?

  When you say that race, though, when you say, hey, I wanna unpack what you said there. So I said, hey, a lot of people are saying right now they wanna be that level. And you go, no, they don't, they're lying. Is it because you know what's required to do that and most people are not willing to pay that level of price? And that's what they're lying to themselves about?

• 24:22Phil Heath?

  Yeah. I truly feel that when it's between you. And that opportunity, or you and that person who's going for that job, that promotion? How competitive are you really?

• 24:36Phil Heath?

  With yourself? Yeah. You truly have to know who the hell you are to exude that confidence. Not arrogance, but that confidence, because you did the work. And you're willing to receive the good, the bad, and the ugly that comes with that job. Yeah. When, I'm no military guy, but I love our military. When, when we see in a film and they say, I need five men to go do this mission, and they all stand up. Yeah.

• 25:03Phil Heath?

  Are they scared? No, I don't think so. There might be another person that's scared, that didn't stand up. Or maybe one person out of that five is like, I guess I'm, but I don't think so. I think when they stand up, they know what the assignment is. They know that they may not make it, but they're gonna do it because they trained to do this. And they love to do this. And in 2010, I definitely looked great. I mean, I looked awesome. In fact, I look back and I'm like, man, I maybe could have won that, you know? Yeah. But mentally, I wasn't ready and emotionally. See those emotions, I should never claim something that I'm not emotionally conscious, emotionally equipped. I should stand up there. So, so to fast forward.

• 25:48Phil Heath?

  I told myself,

• 25:51Phil Heath?

  you're the biggest wimp. You're a chump. Really? You'll never do another interview with Flex Magazine Muscle and Fitness. And say you're gonna be the champ. Oh, I'm, you know, you do the hype thing, like, oh, yeah, beat your chest. Yeah, man, I'm going for the title next year. Yeah, this is mine. It's like, really? Because you just punked out right there and no one else caught you this time. Maybe the next time their asses will. And you don't like living with yourself.

• 26:19Phil Heath?

  See, so I didn't like living with myself with those terrible standards. But the world, see, the world, second place, man, ain't too bad. Right. You're just right there. You're so close. Yeah. Sponsors, second place ain't bad, Phil. Second in the, second in the world will go ahead and, you know, renew your contract and stuff. Whatever you need. What do I want?

• 26:44Phil Heath?

  Looks cool to see what Ronnie Coleman did.

• 26:49Phil Heath?

  I was there when he won number eight.

• 26:51Ed Mylett?

  You were.

• 26:52Phil Heath?

  And I got a chance to hang out with him till 7:30 in the morning and I love that. That the fact that I got to see it. I got to eat the same food and I got to go to the nightclub. I did all this stuff.

• 27:02Ed Mylett?

  I could see it on your face.

• 27:03Phil Heath?

  And I'm just pumped, man. And I'm thinking like, oh, he was able to. Man, he owns a house. He owned his mom's house. Like, he was able to buy the cars he wanted. Like, he was able to travel the world and have lines longer than train smoke to meet with him. I met with Ronnie in 2004. I was waiting in that line for four and a half hours.

• 27:21Ed Mylett?

  You were. Wow.

• 27:23Phil Heath?

  Then I meet Jay and I see Jay accomplish these things. I'm punking out, man. Don't I want that?

• 27:29Ed Mylett?

  Right.

• 27:30Phil Heath?

  And I'm probably doing a disservice to every person who's ever poured energy into me.

• 27:39Phil Heath?

  I'm punking out, man. So I'm not, so, but I still gotta choose.

• 27:44Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 27:44Phil Heath?

  Because they'll still be okay. Because they've never achieved it.

• 27:48Ed Mylett?

  You're right.

• 27:49Phil Heath?

  Your high school teacher? Hell, no.

• 27:51Ed Mylett?

  There you go. Yeah.

• 27:52Phil Heath?

  So I had to make a, I had to plant a flag. I said, hell, no, this is mine. And it wasn't even about beating Jay. It was about being the best version of myself. Because I don't care. And we're going there. I didn't give a damn if Ronnie would've came back. I didn't care who was gonna step on that stage. If Dorian Ace was reincarnated, whatever. You know, Arnold, whoever. I was like, I'm going against King freaking Kong, man.

• 28:17Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 28:17Phil Heath?

  And that's what I, I just felt it in my spirit. And I owned it every rep, every set, every freaking workout, every cardio session. I knew what it was gonna require. And then when I won.

• 28:32Phil Heath?

  Every, it's like.

• 28:36Phil Heath?

  The synapses in my brain, like it went to like childhood, early adulthood, all these different whys in the road. Brought me here.

• 28:48Ed Mylett?

  You did, you like flash.

• 28:49Phil Heath?

  It was like super flash. It went all the way back when, you know, I was just a kid and seeing violence, seeing this, seeing my parents split up when I was three, like what that felt like, like to being told, you know, later on, like you didn't make the basketball team, to being on the team, to winning state, to, you know, to going to play college, didn't like your coach, like how it made you feel, going through mental health issues in college, like to get into bodybuilding, to turning pro, to, you know, meeting Joe Weider, to then literally, uh, well, even before that, like having no money, you know, because, you know, you have no money, you know, had no money, but finally met Joe Weider, got a, got a signed contract, literally had a car that was flooded and, and, and had no forms of transportation to sign with Joe

• 29:34Phil Heath?

  Weider, taking that, taking that five grand check, getting a, buying a 2001 Lincoln LS8.

• 29:44Ed Mylett?

  Nice.

• 29:45Phil Heath?

  Bringing that car back, wearing the shorts, wearing the tank top, wearing the bandana, looking like Sean Ray, and I get, and I get in an accident two and a half later, two and a half hours later. I get rear ended.

• 29:56Ed Mylett?

  That's awesome.

• 29:57Phil Heath?

  I get rear ended, right before I turn pro, like two weeks out, having to go through, oh my gosh, my back goes out a week before, to all these different things.

• 30:06Ed Mylett?

  Your back went out the week before you won the Olympia?

• 30:08Phil Heath?

  No, the one, before I won my, uh, uh, pro card.

• 30:11Ed Mylett?

  Oh my gosh.

• 30:12Phil Heath?

  So I'm like, I did all this stuff.

• 30:15Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, to lead to that moment.

• 30:16Phil Heath?

  To lead to that moment, I was like, man, I didn't give up, man.

• 30:18Ed Mylett?

  That's so awesome.

• 30:19Phil Heath?

  Thank God, man, I didn't give up, man, because I'll tell you, like, if I would've gave up and I would've just been comfortable, that would've been my new comfort of being second.

• 30:28Ed Mylett?

  Oh wow, it's so good.

• 30:29Phil Heath?

  I would've never gone there and.

• 30:32Ed Mylett?

  Oh, this is good.

• 30:33Phil Heath?

  That, oh my gosh, that feeling.

• 30:36Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, dude, you, so you didn't immediately feel, I'm just curious, so you win, your dream happens, so you're saying, making your dream happen, say this for everybody, or let us in on it.

• 30:46Phil Heath?

  Mm-hmm.

• 30:47Ed Mylett?

  Exceeded, met, or didn't meet your expectations, like emotionally when you hit it?

• 30:51Phil Heath?

  I had arrived.

• 30:53Ed Mylett?

  That's cool.

• 30:54Phil Heath?

  That's how I felt. It was all worth it. This is your new start. Because now you're Mr. Olympia. You're not these guys. You've already beat them. You've already caught that. That's that's in your rearview. And fans may look at that as like, oh, that's cocky. It's like, no, man, I did the work. I know the I know the secret to my own success.

• 31:13Ed Mylett?

  You found your recipe.

• 31:14Phil Heath?

  Right. And can I tweak it now? Absolutely. How did Ferrari win all those championships? They tweaked it.

• 31:20Ed Mylett?

  Very good, Phil.

• 31:21Phil Heath?

  Right?

• 31:21Ed Mylett?

  Very good.

• 31:22Phil Heath?

  What was it? Zero to sixty in eight seconds, the first car? And then, you know, they got better and better and better. That's I look at that and I say, well, why not me?

• 31:30Ed Mylett?

  Very good.

• 31:30Phil Heath?

  So I put something out there that was nuts. I said, I'm gonna win ten of these damn things. And people were like, this guy freaking arrogant, a-hole, blah, blah, blah. I'm like, well, wait a minute. If your kids tell you, dad, mom, stranger, what do you want to be when you grow up? And they say, doctor, lawyer, I want to be entrepreneur, YouTuber, whatever. You don't piss on their parade.

• 31:55Ed Mylett?

  Right.

• 31:55Phil Heath?

  So who are you to tell me any different?

• 31:57Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, throw it out there.

• 32:01Ed Mylett?

  What do you think? I'm gonna ask you a couple of things about this. You are saying some things in this interview. There's some of my favorite freaking things I've heard. It's got some credibility because it's you, right? Like, because you did this. This isn't theoretical. But so why don't most people repeat in life? Like, I think of entrepreneurs. I know a lot of people that used to be rich that aren't anymore. I know a lot of people that were really, really doing well for a while. Then they weren't. I know I work with a lot of athletes that win one major golf tournament and never win another one. Or they get to a title belt in UFC or in boxing that I've worked with, and they can't repeat as champion. What is it about repeating? So was repeating harder or easier?

• 32:45Ed Mylett?

  And was, you know, keep climbing, right? Winning two is better than winning one. Winning five is better than winning four. So not only did you win, but you repeated. So you sustained a level of excellence over an extended period of time. So in life, most people never touch their potential. But the few that do, very few of them then exceed it and continue to stretch it out further and further and further. Go to the next level of the video game. What what is it that made you do that? Was it just a mental thought of I got the recipe now? I'm gonna tweak it or was it this? Do you threw out the big goal? So you hit the one goal of once? You're like, forget it's not one, it's 10. So the the finish line got further away or got bigger?

• 33:29Ed Mylett?

  And that caused you to do the work? Do you know what it was?

• 33:32Phil Heath?

  Yeah, when I did my first Arnold Classic, I put it out there that I wanted to be top three.

• 33:36Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 33:37Phil Heath?

  Being top three got me fifth.

• 33:41Phil Heath?

  See, so sometimes you say like, oh, I want third. It may not work out like that.

• 33:45Ed Mylett?

  Very good.

• 33:45Phil Heath?

  And got fifth. See, I know. I won't mention his name. Friend of mine, he won one Mr. Olympia. And he said, all I wanted to do is win one. And that's all that happened. So you sell yourself short and and you know, I I think that's okay. That's their dream, whatever. For me, hell, no. I looked at it for what it was. I I was, you know, young enough. And I was good enough. And I didn't have any injuries at the time. It was more like, why not?

• 34:16Ed Mylett?

  Why not? Do you fall in love with the process and not just the destination?

• 34:19Phil Heath?

  For sure. It was like, I mean, how can I transform this body into into this is crazy like?

• 34:25Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 34:25Phil Heath?

  And it comes from hard work, discipline, all that. But when I recognized that I could do this better. Again, I'll talk about video games. It's like, the best thing is not just to get your, you know, I'm like old school arcade guy. So like, we go to arcade. Oh, I got my name in the in the game. But you're 10th, dude. Don't you want to be a number one? And that's how I looked at it. It was like, okay, well, I have I have an opportunity. If I choose to, to play that game again. And just challenge myself, like, how big can I go? I mean, it could be, you know, in anything. It could be literally anything. Just how competitive with myself can I do this? How how can I gamify this?

• 35:09Ed Mylett?

  You you, there's a level of competitiveness with you that's almost scary. Even when I first said to you, hey, there's all these people that think that want to be the number one in what they do. Not only did you say they're lying, but you said it with a level of like disdain and almost anger. Like, you don't know what this is. And that's mine. There's a the great athletes that I work with or that I know, or even the elite business women or businessmen that I know, they are psycho competitive. They want to beat everybody, but they also want to find this their. They want to explore their capacity.

• 35:39Phil Heath?

  Yes.

• 35:40Ed Mylett?

  And that's, I mean, you just kept exploring it and exploring and exploring it. I'm curious, like physically training.

• 35:46Phil Heath?

  Mm-hmm.

• 35:46Ed Mylett?

  So for me, I've never felt smaller in my life, sitting across from you. I was telling the producers, I was telling Sarah here, like, when he gets in here, I will never look smaller in my life. But I know for me, that when I'm training for something, I train harder than when I'm just training. And I'm, I'm an amateur at any sport I do, right?

• 36:04Phil Heath?

  Right.

• 36:04Ed Mylett?

  But I mean, or I've got some real clear goal, like right now, I'm trying to go from like, I was like 226. I want to just see what it would be like to get my body at 185. I'm just curious as to what it'll look like, and then I'll play with it when I get there. People are like, why do you want to do that? I don't really need to lose the weight. I just want the physical challenge of doing it. I want to see if I can express my body differently.

• 36:22Phil Heath?

  Right.

• 36:22Ed Mylett?

  At 50 years old, right? So I'm trying to do that. So I'm training more focused because I've got this clear goal. I'm curious, when you would physically train, you're going in there to do which the hardest thing for everybody is leg day. Are you, is there a part of you like flashing? I'm not kidding either. I want to know this. Are you like flashing to the Olympia, you're going to be on the stage? Like, as you're grinding through legs, are you just doing the process? Or is there part of you that like, kind of visualizes the dream? Maybe just even like a flash of it when you're training, or when you're driving to the gym? Or when you're going home? Are you in a continuous state of thinking about the ultimate outcome? Or do you just execute all the time?

• 36:57Phil Heath?

  Um, I sit with myself prior to training for a comp. And I try to visualize based on what I previously have done.

• 37:09Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 37:10Phil Heath?

  What I want to improve on. So you mentioned leg day. So one of the things I realized was I had really good leg development. However, I wanted to maximize it to neutralize another competitor's leg development.

• 37:24Phil Heath?

  See, so my mind was thinking like a boxer of saying, this guy's got a great jab, man. Now, my jab may not have to be as good as his, but I got to be able to move accordingly, just to do the counter. And if I can neutralize his strength, now he's got to do with mine.

• 37:39Ed Mylett?

  Very good.

• 37:40Phil Heath?

  So when I'm doing, you know, legs, my mindset was, you must treat this day better than any other day.

• 37:52Ed Mylett?

  This one right in front of me?

• 37:53Phil Heath?

  This leg day, because average person, if I say by raise their hands, who wants to train arms with me? Everybody's going to raise their hands. If I say chess, if I say legs.

• 38:03Ed Mylett?

  That's right.

• 38:04Phil Heath?

  They start squirming.

• 38:05Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 38:06Phil Heath?

  So I recognized that I was probably the same. Mm hmm. So I wanted to produce a challenge to myself. So I did legs twice a week. You really? And cardio. So you're not in the most advantageous scenario where, you know, your legs are fresh, right? Right. You're like dying and I'm thinking, but I need that pain. I'm gonna go to a different level. Very good. Of like, do you really want this? And there was days that I remember one time I'm training in, uh, San Jose, in California with my old trainer, Honey Rambo, and he's putting me through the paces.

• 38:51Phil Heath?

  And he says, okay, do walking lunges. And my girlfriend at the time, now fiancee, Cherie, was just like, um, you didn't tell him when to stop. He goes, I know.

• 39:04Phil Heath?

  He goes, but he knows. He's just gonna keep going. That's awesome. So we kind of know like, okay, do four sets of 50 yards, this and that, you know? He trusts me. It's more like Phil Jackson and Jordan type of thing. Yep. I just kept going. And I just went until I had tears in my eyes.

• 39:25Phil Heath?

  And, um, you know, they thought, she thought it was sweat. And then she realized he's like wobbling and this and that. And I'm like struggling to get up. And then she like ran over and honey, I could hear him in the background because I have headphones on. And he was like, no, told her no.

• 39:44Phil Heath?

  And I looked back and I was like, I kept going until I was ready. We get in the car, we go eat. And then she later on asked me, what was that about? And I said, well, he may not tell you, but like he and I kind of, we understand each other. He knew I needed that. She's like, well, what is that? I said, my dad had just died. And I heard him.

• 40:08Phil Heath?

  Say, keep going. You ain't done. And he was a tough dude, man. So I was like, I had already made a commitment that I was gonna go the extra mile.

• 40:21Phil Heath?

  To make him proud. And then I thought, well, I gotta go to a place where I'm almost hallucinating. Yeah. Right? Yeah. And I'm in my spirit.

• 40:33Phil Heath?

  And then I could keep going. And that was like so special for me because I went to another level. That I know damn well, other people aren't willing to go. And they talk about the zone. So you can be in a zone playing hoops, right? You know, you hit unconscionable threes, you know, like Steph Curry this and that. You just keep shooting these like, man, I can't miss. You do that in bodybuilding, too.

• 40:57Ed Mylett?

  Do you really?

• 40:58Phil Heath?

  Yeah. Oh, yeah, you've had guests like Joe Dispenza and stuff. Totally. You trick your mind and you stay in your spirit and stuff. And who's to tell you that you have to stop at 12 repetitions?

• 41:10Phil Heath?

  Every now and again. Just go. As long as you're not hurting yourself, right? You know, we're talking about tendons and ligaments and joints and stuff. Doing that, then there's a problem. I was in the zone. And yeah, I, I heard my pops. And that kept me going and I'm glad he showed up for me.

• 41:31Ed Mylett?

  So cool.

• 41:31Phil Heath?

  I didn't grow up with him. So to hear him show up for me like that.

• 41:35Ed Mylett?

  That's incredible.

• 41:35Phil Heath?

  I was like, hell, yeah, like, no one's gonna, no one's gonna tear me alive. Like, I'm, my soul's on fire, man. These guys are gonna have some freaking hell to pay come September.

• 41:46Ed Mylett?

  I love it.

• 41:46Phil Heath?

  And I whooped their ass. This was 2013. You know, the 2013, 2014, 2015, like, you know, like, I'm, I'm like, these guys have no chance. Because I'm willing to go to places where they won't mentally. They think, now, mind you, you watch a YouTube video, the guy could be training, you know, 800 pound squats, I'll never do that. 500 pound bench, I'll never do that. But the intensity.

• 42:14Phil Heath?

  I would outlast them, no question about it. We pick a certain weight and a certain given time when they don't want to do it.

• 42:20Phil Heath?

  You know, I, I was just, and I embraced that. As our friend Tim Grover would say, the, the dark side.

• 42:27Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 42:27Phil Heath?

  I freaking love that part.

• 42:29Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, brother, you, there is so much depth to you. And your ability to articulate it is unbelievably special. And I'm over here like, ready to literally to punch you and let you punch me back.

• 42:37Phil Heath?

  Yeah.

• 42:39Ed Mylett?

  I'm, I'm just, I, I have to tell you, like, there's so much to unpack and things you say. So this idea of hallucinations.

• 42:48Ed Mylett?

  Hallucinating is such a great thing to do. It's such got such a bizarre connotation for people, but great people hallucinate a lot. They hallucinate about what they're capable of. They hallucinate about what it's going to be like when they get there. They hallucinate about their, how they're going to get through different painful situations. It's such a really unique word that you used. I have hallucinations all the time and I think they're beautiful. It's, it's a form of dreaming, but it's also a form of inspiration. The other thing is when you push past certain barriers in your life that, you know, most people or even ourselves think we're not capable of. That's when beautiful moments like this gift from your dad showing up reveal themselves to us. And it's, so both of those things happen for a really unique reason.

• 43:29Ed Mylett?

  Man, I, I just love how you phrase things and I love the fact that you've done all of them. None of them are theory for you. Let's talk about, one of the things about bodybuilding and we're not going to, we're, we're talking about bodybuilding, but we're really not today, right? We're talking about life, it's a metaphor. But it's, you have to, someone like you has built, or maybe you're unconscious of this too. You've built a relationship with pain that is unlike what most people have with pain. Your relationship with it. In other words, everything that you have to do requires pain. That's not true in every other sport. It's not true in most careers. There's elements of it, but you develop, maybe you're not conscious of it, but I'm going to make you be conscious of it right now.

• 44:11Ed Mylett?

  You have a relationship with pain that is remarkable because you went through it every single day, over and over and over again. So how do you view pain? Have you thought about that? Like everything you did every single day required extreme pain most of the time. So how do you think you have a relationship with it? Like you run towards it every day. You habitually embraced pain. If you think about it, in the gym daily.

• 44:36Phil Heath?

  Yeah.

• 44:37Ed Mylett?

  Isn't that interesting?

• 44:38Phil Heath?

  Very. I appreciate the opportunity to answer this. I loved it.

• 44:44Ed Mylett?

  You loved pain. Look at your face. It's dawning on you right now.

• 44:48Phil Heath?

  Yeah, like the sweat, that, you know, because it just reminds me of like how many people they, eh, they BS. Oh, the blood, sweat and tears is like, what blood, what sweat, man? What are we really talking about?

• 45:04Phil Heath?

  We're talking about like doing the work when you are at your most vulnerable in your personal life or in your business. When you don't feel like it. When your friends have turned against you.

• 45:22Phil Heath?

  When that business partner lied to you. When you're going through divorce.

• 45:28Phil Heath?

  And people are judging you, shaming you.

• 45:32Phil Heath?

  And all I have is the gym.

• 45:36Phil Heath?

  And being in gratitude, thanking God that I have the gym to unleash all of that. And be my most authentic self in that process of pain.

• 45:47Phil Heath?

  I'm not out drinking and partying and hurting someone else. I'm actually using a pair of dumbbells and barbells and machines and loud Metallica and hip hop to build something. And hoping that

• 46:06Phil Heath?

  what I'm doing is going to create a physique that people will enjoy.

• 46:15Phil Heath?

  And do it with a smile on my face. And I think with the pain

• 46:23Phil Heath?

  is just necessary. To feel it

• 46:28Phil Heath?

  brought me pleasure.

• 46:31Phil Heath?

  Because I know that it's required. It's gonna suck, no different like playing basketball, being in practice and he says, on the line and you're like, I really gotta run. Yeah.

• 46:45Phil Heath?

  And then eventually you, it's almost like you have to trick your mind into becoming a psycho and saying, more, more, more, more, and then you mean it. I want more. If it requires pain.

• 46:59Phil Heath?

  Inside to become better outside.

• 47:04Phil Heath?

  What better message to my creator and to help other people to deal with theirs? Because people are all dealing with freaking pain.

• 47:13Phil Heath?

  And they're scared to to stand in front of it. And it ain't like I don't have demons either that I gotta address, right?

• 47:19Ed Mylett?

  Sure.

• 47:20Phil Heath?

  And I've learned that when you hide. Or you try to, you know, put them under the rug. That's burning me up inside. So if I gotta feel some pain now. What's on the other side of it?

• 47:37Phil Heath?

  Triumph. I want the triumphant moment. I have to have it. Because I'm tired of living in this pain.

• 47:46Phil Heath?

  And um, yeah, that's how I, I mean. I'm not getting ready for a show right now, but I would, if I was in the gym, I'd.

• 47:55Phil Heath?

  People would be like, damn, this guy's a machine, but yet I'm like. That's just what I do.

• 48:00Ed Mylett?

  What you do. You built this familiarity with pain. And you enjoyed it because you know, on the other side of it was growth and benefit. And everyone should re-listen to this and you should share with anybody that you could care about it, anything in life. Because if you can adjust your relationship with pain. And understand that the mere presence of it is actually a really an opportunity for growth on the other side of it. And that's not some hokey, you know, theoretical weird thing to say. It's an actual truism in life. And I don't, I I'd like to think I have a good relationship with pain. It's not like yours, because you've you proved it over and over and day in and day out. That I think, you know, you were called the gift. And I, you're this unique nuance, man.

• 48:41Ed Mylett?

  When I didn't know you, I thought this dude is not cocky, but wow, a really, really confident dude. I don't think, if you're proven it, it's not cocky, right? It's it's real. But as I've gotten to know you and meeting you, such a high degree of humility with you too, and vulnerability, like you're really a kind, gentle man for being so big and strong. My favorite people nuance that line really close.

• 49:07Phil Heath?

  Mm hmm.

• 49:07Ed Mylett?

  They nuance tremendous self-confidence with the degree of humility because confidence without humility, if you have no humility, it means you're not curious, you're not going to grow, you're not going to improve. But then we all have those friends that are really humble but have no confidence. You're always having to pick them up and drag them, right? So there's this right in the middle are the people that I like. They got a lot of confidence combined with humility. You seem to have that. You agree with that?

• 49:27Phil Heath?

  Absolutely. I think those people you just mentioned, I'm like squirming in my chair because I'm like,

• 49:34Phil Heath?

  they have no clue how great they can be and that can inspire others. Because they're so afraid of someone else's opinion.

• 49:48Ed Mylett?

  I think most dreams are stolen because of people's concerns about what other people think about them.

• 49:53Phil Heath?

  Yeah, it's calling yourself humble all the time and this and that and, you know, man, what do you really want?

• 50:01Phil Heath?

  You know, I used to tell people like, um, I remember watching the Sugar Shame Mosley Floyd Mayweather fight.

• 50:08Ed Mylett?

  Remember that fight?

• 50:09Phil Heath?

  And there was a moment in time where he stunned Floyd.

• 50:12Ed Mylett?

  He sure did.

• 50:13Phil Heath?

  What did he do though after? He stopped. He like, he kind of like looked like, did I just do that?

• 50:19Ed Mylett?

  I remember.

• 50:20Phil Heath?

  Oh, my God. And I remember everyone, we were all watching, it was actually, um, a weekend where all the pros actually get together at an event and we all guest post together. So we watched the fights together and we're all like, this is the moment. And then I said, nope, he's going to recover and it's over now. And we saw what happened and then we're all kind of like stunned and I, and I stand up and I go, you guys don't get it.

• 50:47Phil Heath?

  That window of opportunity.

• 50:50Phil Heath?

  All he needed to just go through that window, but then as he goes through it, it's open. Everything is open now. Through a needle, he thread the needle. He had his chance and that never came again. We've never seen Floyd get rocked like that.

• 51:07Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, right.

• 51:08Phil Heath?

  And Floyd, because Floyd learned like, shoot, like, he's stupid.

• 51:12Ed Mylett?

  And the truth is.

• 51:13Phil Heath?

  He gave me, he gave me an opportunity to get back. He could have wailed on me right there.

• 51:17Ed Mylett?

  And Shane was never the same after that either.

• 51:18Phil Heath?

  No, because he was, and, but we, we look at their demeanor.

• 51:23Phil Heath?

  Now boxing is much different, but they're selling a fight and this and that.

• 51:26Ed Mylett?

  Great analogy.

• 51:27Phil Heath?

  But.

• 51:27Ed Mylett?

  It's a great analogy.

• 51:29Phil Heath?

  Did, did, did Mosley put in the work? Absolutely. He's a, he's a multi-champion as well.

• 51:34Ed Mylett?

  Great fighter.

• 51:35Phil Heath?

  But he was so nice. We'll always say that. Man, he was nice. What we say about Floyd, we say all kind of crazy stuff about Floyd. But we, we can't say that he was a loser. He was a winner. They could say, oh, he picked this fight, he's still won.

• 51:52Phil Heath?

  And when someone had the opportunity to knock him off? They didn't. And if he would, I swear, if, if, if we got Sugar Shane in a room, he'd probably admit it.

• 52:07Ed Mylett?

  He'd say, I had him, I should have jumped on him.

• 52:08Phil Heath?

  I should have pounced on him and beat the hell out of him.

• 52:11Ed Mylett?

  You're unbelievable, bro, because that's such a great metaphor in life. It's very true. These little windows open up in our lives and they're not going to keep coming. And when they open, you better jump on them. You better get through them because if you don't, they may not come again. And I think in those moments is what you said earlier. I think in those moments, there was something in Shane that was different than there was something in Floyd. Cause by the way, Shane, Sugar Shane Mosley was a great fighter. There was that moment in that fight. And by the way, Shane was a little bit maybe past his prime in that fight. But there was a part of Shane that I think didn't think he deserved to beat Floyd. Exactly what you said earlier, and you're nodding yes, and Floyd still believed he deserved to whoop his butt in that fight. And that window opened up for Floyd. He jumped on it and the rest is history. Floyd kept winning fights after that. So, man, what a great analogy.

• 52:54Phil Heath?

  Right?

• 52:55Ed Mylett?

  You use that a lot. I was reading, you were saying that you like, you, you, part of your work that you do, and by the way, you know, you should be following Phil because if you want to. The ultimate, there's, there's lots of different people in life. There's motivational people, there's inspiring people. Then there's the motivating and inspiring people are awesome. Then there's people who their being, their life is motivating and inspiring. You're both, you're a motivating and inspiring person, the way you behave and what you talk about. But your actual example of your life is motivating and inspiring, right? So I'm like, what unpacks that? How does this happen? And you said, there's something about like reality and emotional triggers, which sort of feeds into what you were just saying a little bit. Talk about that for a second. What do you mean by that?

• 53:35Phil Heath?

  Well. People have to recognize how they, what triggers them to do this or that. I think, and I had to learn this. When dealing with adversity, how do I respond? Do I respond or do I react? They're two totally different things.

• 53:55Ed Mylett?

  What's the difference?

• 53:57Phil Heath?

  Sometimes when you react, you react very poorly. You react out of insecurity, you react out of anger. You, you know, your emotions are out of check. When you respond, you're, you're at peace with yourself. You've already practiced this. See, when, when someone says, hey, you know, Mariah Carey goes sing this. She knows how to respond to that. Eminem goes spit a verse, he knows how to respond to that. Someone that's unprepared, they react like, oh.

• 54:27Phil Heath?

  You know, they react. Why, why now? Why now? Like, hold on, I'm not ready yet. Let me pull up my, yeah, so da, da, da, da, da, you know. No, you know how to react. I want to respond.

• 54:37Ed Mylett?

  Really good.

• 54:37Phil Heath?

  How do you respond to the challenges in your life? And that takes practice. But it's, it's really unpacking like your darkest.

• 54:51Phil Heath?

  Your darkness. The things that prevent you from succeeding. The, the times that you procrastinated and that window of opportunity passed you by. And a lot of the time, I mean, look, like, I can't say that that hasn't happened to me.

• 55:08Ed Mylett?

  Me too.

• 55:10Phil Heath?

  But I learned from it. And I think as, as soon as you learn from that stuff and you do a, we, we call like a forensic audit on your emotions.

• 55:21Phil Heath?

  And you write that stuff down. My standards have always been high.

• 55:25Ed Mylett?

  Obviously.

• 55:27Phil Heath?

  My insecurity has been high as well. And I've used both.

• 55:31Ed Mylett?

  Even in the peak of your career, you still have insecurity?

• 55:34Phil Heath?

  Yeah, because I'm not secure with the, you know, well.

• 55:39Phil Heath?

  The peak, oh, man, I mean.

• 55:43Phil Heath?

  When I won number four out of seven, started to get some mad chirping going on. And that was around the time where people started like, like you heard a couple of boos.

• 55:55Phil Heath?

  And I thought, oh, man, I remember our, our league president, Jim Mang, and said, ah, the hell with them. You're like Tom Brady, man, just take the trophy and you won it fair and square, this and that. Don't let that bother you. Well, I did.

• 56:06Ed Mylett?

  It did bother you.

• 56:07Phil Heath?

  It did bother me. And then the false narrative started coming out like as if I wasn't deserve something. And then there was a documentary out a year prior, Generation Iron, that made me look like I didn't earn anything. And I was gifted, I was gifted everything.

• 56:18Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, you're just naturally gifted.

• 56:19Phil Heath?

  So I was just like, oh, my gosh, I'm not being appreciated for my hard work. So I was having like my Kanye moment where I was just like, I want my respect.

• 56:25Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 56:26Phil Heath?

  You're going to respect me. And then I thought, you know what? The more you speak on this stuff, Bill, the more people are hating on you more. You're attracting these demons, these devils. And then I went into a darker place and I said.

• 56:42Phil Heath?

  I can take it. And I'll flip it around.

• 56:44Ed Mylett?

  Leverage it.

• 56:46Phil Heath?

  Because at that.

• 56:48Phil Heath?

  Phase of my life. I had, you know.

• 56:53Phil Heath?

  Dad passing.

• 56:56Phil Heath?

  Divorce, which was very expensive. A business that failed, very expensive. Stepmom passed.

• 57:05Ed Mylett?

  Sheesh.

• 57:06Phil Heath?

  And I'm supposed to be the best one. These are like three, four consecutive years, things are happening. And I wasn't really vocal about it. Cause I grew up as an only child and I just was kind of taught just to keep it to yourself and just focus on the craft.

• 57:20Ed Mylett?

  I appreciate you sharing that.

• 57:21Phil Heath?

  So I, yeah. So I ain't no different than anybody else.

• 57:24Ed Mylett?

  I love that you say that because I think people would think you are.

• 57:28Phil Heath?

  Oh, hell no.

• 57:29Ed Mylett?

  And I think, I think the gift sort of sometimes makes people think that, right? The fact that you're really vulnerable today, brother, I really appreciate that because even for me, it's inspiring. I, I have tons of insecurities. I have learned to leverage them. In our life, all the decisions we're making are either to gain pleasure or avoid pain. Both are great mechanisms. So I have things I want to chase that I'm dreaming about, that I visualize, that I'm moving towards. That's gaining pleasure, right? It's going to make me happier, more blissful or whatever. That's wonderful. Also, avoiding pain is a powerful emotion. It's a powerful mechanism to move us. The fear of losing is not always a bad thing because it can cause you to train hard to avoid the pain of losing.

• 58:07Phil Heath?

  Losing a business.

• 58:08Ed Mylett?

  Right, so a couple of things, last things, because like we're, we can go eight hours with the wisdom that you have. And like, I've got to like 20% of the things that I wanted to ask you. But one of the things I did want to know about was your faith. You've referenced it a few times today and I know how important it is to you. Is that a new thing in your life? And how, how important and what role does faith play in Phil Heath's life?

• 58:32Phil Heath?

  I always had it, but I think I, um, I don't want to say afraid of it, but because I think when you say afraid of it, it's just that you don't want to be held accountable.

• 58:41Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, you may be afraid to let God down sometimes too, right? I've had that. It's like, wow, people, I don't want to let God down too much.

• 58:47Phil Heath?

  But then I don't want to be a false prophet either.

• 58:48Ed Mylett?

  Right, yep.

• 58:50Phil Heath?

  So I think as I've gotten older, I realized like, how do I want this? Like I'm 42, so I figure, well, theoretically, I'm on the back nine of this golf course. How do I want to end it? Because I can't bring none of that stuff with me. It's gonna be, it's gonna stay here. The trophies, all that stuff. I want to know that I have a real relationship with my Creator and know that I'm appreciative and I'm being in more gratitude. Because to do what I've done, obviously it requires a lot of hard work, but I mean, I've been injured. I had a couple of hernia surgeries. I was, you know, I dealt with that. You know, I had, you know, I had a torn MCL and I still competed through it.

• 59:35Phil Heath?

  Didn't even know I had one until I got the MRI and they're like, "Yeah, this has been going on for a couple of years." You know, I've had a lot of, a lot of stuff and I'm thinking, well, I didn't do this on my own. When I was in my subconscious mind, was I just in my subconscious mind? Or did I have a little push from the Holy Spirit? So, you know, so I recognized that later. And then I realized who has been in my corner the entire time. The people that were put in my life at a specific season of my life.

• 1:00:12Phil Heath?

  And wow, I couldn't have orchestrated this. That's beautiful. You know, I found bodybuilding, I mean, looking back at it, I should have been doing it when I was a teen, you know, because of my genetics and stuff like that. I never thought of that, but everything had a purpose. So, you know, in my documentary, Breaking Olympia, we go through all those things. You know, and we go through my quote unquote last dance.

• 1:00:39Phil Heath?

  And that wasn't on me. That's beautiful. So I recognize now that I'm older.

• 1:00:49Phil Heath?

  Got a little wisdom.

• 1:00:51Phil Heath?

  What if I max out on my faith? I love that. Let's just see how further I can go. And especially with what I see happening in the world today with very timid men. Very timid. And I'm not saying they're the baddest man on the planet, I'm not. But I'm man enough to admit that and to work on that and to receive love and to give it. And, you know, that couldn't have happened without having a strong faith and understanding that it's not about how many trophies I can win, it's about how I can make people feel about themselves and produce some principles in their life.

• 1:01:35Phil Heath?

  With some reassurance that, hey, it takes one to know one, right? You know, I can't just, you know, do this and do this. You're gonna have the certainty of this. It's like, huh, man, like, this is what I did. When I was going through divorce, this is what I did to kind of maintain focus. Oh, when you're, when you're, when I was guest posing in two thousand and, two thousand and fourteen and I've, it just passed. March twenty ninth, twenty fourteen, I'm guest posing at Dave Lee Rubin Show in Cleveland, Ohio. Get in the car, find out that my dad just passed. And I knew he was gonna pass, he passed young, he was sixty five. But I get to the hotel and I realize, oh, wow, I have to be a professional because I have a VIP event at a restaurant and I'm gonna meet two hundred people. So what do I do? I had a choice.

• 1:02:19Phil Heath?

  I could either A, and I did this, I lifted up my laptop. Where do you think I went? I went to Facebook. I typed out one sentence and I slammed that damn thing. And I turned it off, almost threw it. I was so angry with myself because I said, "The world doesn't need to know this right now. How do you feel? Right now? You haven't even, you immediately go to social media. Yeah. These people don't care about you, Phil. How do you feel right now? Okay, give myself a moment. I didn't share one tear. Okay, was that because you're callous or this? No, love my pops. We were just starting to reconnect after all these years of not him being absent.

• 1:03:00Phil Heath?

  Hmm, okay. Get a shower, get this stupid bronzer and tanning off and see how you feel then. No tears. Then Phil, it's not time yet. Because you got 200 people downstairs at this restaurant that have paid money to see the man.

• 1:03:18Phil Heath?

  Called him my best friend in college. Best friend to this day. Put him on FaceTime. I told him what happened. We raised a glass, did my shot and went to work. And I didn't tell that story until later because, you know, it wasn't necessary. And then that's where, you know, I, I felt like, um,

• 1:03:38Phil Heath?

  you know, my faith was stronger because I recognized that my dad did live.

• 1:03:45Phil Heath?

  And he is not gone. He is with me more.

• 1:03:51Phil Heath?

  And he probably gave me some boost in that moment and said, "Don't worry about it. I'm good. You go do..." Because that's what he would have said, like if he could have just appeared, he'd have been like, "I'm good, I'm not sick anymore, but you got these people down here. You better go take care of them." So for me, it's, um, it's paramount because I want to touch the world in a way that has zero to do with flexing your biceps. I just want them to remember who the hell they are, who the heck they are, man. I want them to be energized about life and to understand that there's going to be wise in the road. You're going to fail, you're going to have people doubt you, you're going to have people pulling for you. But if you do believe in a higher power, if you do believe in Jesus.

• 1:04:36Phil Heath?

  You definitely gonna have something more powerful than you can ever imagine. It's just been some doors, some opportunities if you allow him to drive.

• 1:04:43Ed Mylett?

  Bro.

• 1:04:43Phil Heath?

  So that's just me. I don't push it on people. I'm just saying it's impacted my life. And in this stage of my life, in this season, I know that it's going to yield some incredible things. And it already has. I'm already here. I'm alive and I'm showing more gratitude of what I've accomplished. And in fact,

• 1:05:06Phil Heath?

  for a long time, I didn't even stare at my trophies. And I always felt like, well, who cares? It's all about the next one. That's true. But man, can you just celebrate a little bit and acknowledge what you did? Like acknowledge it? Because if you get into that habit of not acknowledging the victory.

• 1:05:27Ed Mylett?

  You're not gonna wanna keep doing it.

• 1:05:29Phil Heath?

  And then when you, and then when you lose, you're gonna lose hard.

• 1:05:33Ed Mylett?

  You got it.

• 1:05:33Phil Heath?

  And I lost hard. So I know what that felt like. So therefore I will not do that anymore. I will stare at those trophies and say, each one of them has a story. Each one of them has a, has a story that I can help maybe somebody else, help a friend or someone else and whoever wants to listen or whatever. And now I get to share. And it did, you know, come with a lot of pain and torture and blah, blah, blah, a lot of sacrifice and

• 1:06:02Phil Heath?

  but most importantly, I was able to thank God for my body. Cause I put it through hell and back. And I think that's, I know that's where I'm at right now is to just be like, man, like I still train and you know, and people are like, man, you, you doing Olympia this year later on, you know, cause I, I, you know, I'm 260 pounds right now. I could easily get it back up to 280 and drop down. And then I think to myself, it's really cool to be in control of knowing that you can do it if you choose to. And if you don't, you can do something completely different.

• 1:06:33Ed Mylett?

  I think what you just did today, brother, I, I'm just sitting here blown away. Just to be really honest with you, like, I'm blown away. I knew your IQ was super high. I knew you had a deep faith. I knew you had unbelievable to communicate, ability to communicate, but today was unbelievable.

• 1:06:46Phil Heath?

  Thank you.

• 1:06:47Ed Mylett?

  Look at me. I'm telling you, unbelievable. And um,

• 1:06:52Ed Mylett?

  No pun intended. You were a gift today for a completely different reason than you've been for many, many years in the bodybuilding world. And, you know, I was thinking about, you know, your dad, how proud he must be of you, you know, and you said that you, you know, that you had this kind of recognition and realized your faith or the profound impact of God being in your life the whole time. The power of what you just said and who you are is you just helped a whole bunch of people for the first time themselves realize that with the story that you told. So I gotta ask you one last thing. We gotta do it quickly. What are the chances of you making one more run to catch Coleman, right? He's, you got seven, he's got eight. Just because today was all about life, not anything about bodybuilding.

• 1:07:34Ed Mylett?

  But my bodybuilding audience is gonna wanna know, like, if you don't ask Phil Heath, then you made a mistake. So percentage chance, one to a hundred, that you at some point, go make a run for eight again?

• 1:07:45Phil Heath?

  I like that last part. You said at some point, because it doesn't have to mean today.

• 1:07:49Ed Mylett?

  Correct.

• 1:07:49Phil Heath?

  Um, 5%.

• 1:07:51Ed Mylett?

  5% at some point?

• 1:07:52Phil Heath?

  At some point. It could, you know, but

• 1:07:54Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 1:07:55Phil Heath?

  Right now, it's staying at five.

• 1:07:57Ed Mylett?

  Okay. I love that. And I have to tell you that I, for some reason, think that, I hope you, if you wanna make a run, that enriches your soul, do it. But you found your calling. And I think bodybuilding, all the way from your upbringing with the way you were raised with your parents, with your dad, and they were a little bit distant, all the way through, you know, basketball, to ballets, to your bodybuilding career, to all of this stuff, to all the reading you do, all the praying you do. He's a self-improvement addict. I just feel like you've been in preparation for this season of your life the whole time. And that was just the pro, that was the backstory that's gonna give you credibility to teach all the lessons you did today. So Phil Heath, thank you so much for today, brother.

• 1:08:35Phil Heath?

  Thanks, brother.

• 1:08:36Ed Mylett?

  Exceeded my expectations. Go follow Heath, uh, Phil on everything on social media, and keep your eye out for Breaking Olympia documentary that'll be out at some point soon, where you can get even more of the backstory on this man's incredible life and incredible journey. So, hey, everybody, make sure you're sharing this show. This is one of these where you're like, you gotta hear what the heck Phil Heath said, because it's not what I expected. There's some stuff today. I did not know Phil Heath was gonna cover with Mylett. And make sure you go out and get my book, The Power of One More, because it's gonna change your life as well. It'll help you do all the stuff that Phil talked about today, especially those one more reps in the gym. God bless you all. Max out your life.