Can't Be Broken
Can't Be Broken
What If The Injury Is The Test You Need To Win?
What does it take to turn years of pain into a platform for power? We sit with nutritionist, trainer, and competitive bodybuilder Maria Beretta to unpack a journey that starts with teenage loss and spirals into chronic symptoms before snapping into clarity: if the system won’t solve it, she will. Maria breaks down the real face of PCOS—cystic ovaries, acne, mood swings, insulin resistance—and the often-missed reality of hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, where fragile connective tissue makes every step and lift a risk. Instead of accepting a handful of prescriptions, she chose a different map: keto to stabilize PCOS, a hard stop on dairy to cut inflammation, and targeted peptide therapy (BPC-157 and TB-500) to protect her training and speed recovery.
The turning point isn’t just biochemical. It’s mindset. Maria explains how visualization, faith, and ruthless specificity shaped her prep for NPC figure—meal planning without drama, cardio without shortcuts, and posing that balances muscle with grace. She’s candid about the sport’s truths: the expense, the prevalence of PEDs at elite levels, and the monotony few see behind a 20-second stage moment. Then comes the plot twist: a New Year’s Day car crash, a 40% T12 compression fracture, eight disc herniations, and traumatic scoliosis. With imaging to guide her and peptides to support healing, she made a careful, documented return to training and kept the pro card goal in sight.
If you’re navigating PCOS management, EDS training modifications, anti-inflammatory nutrition, or peptide therapy for injury recovery, this conversation delivers practical detail and lived results. Maria’s approach—test, adjust, measure—turns “motivation” into method. We also get real about the mental side: how to set goals that grip you, rehearse the win, and keep going when doctors or doubt say stop. Tap play for a blueprint you can use, whether you’re chasing a pro stage, a pain-free day, or your next personal best.
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What up, what up, what up, and welcome to another episode of the Can't Be Broken Podcast. I am your host, SeaMonster, and uh today we have a special guest that I'm super excited to have here, hear her story, and share with you guys. Uh, she's an amazing individual, amazing person and human being with a story of overcoming adversity. Uh man, I can't wait to share this. Uh, I want to welcome to the show. Uh friend of mine now. Now I met her through a friend, um, but her name is Maria Beretta. I I love that name, Maria Beretta. Because that's what I carried. A gun. Which is a Beretta.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, bang, bang.
SPEAKER_02:Wait, you're not a Niner fan, are you?
unknown:No.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, because that's what they say. Bang, bang, nine again, right? Okay. But you like football?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah. When I have time to watch.
SPEAKER_02:You like the Which is rare. You like the Raiders, right? Come on. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Yeah, Maria Beretta's a nutritionist, personal trainer, uh, a woman of all uh uh, you know. Oh, how can we say that? A woman of all trades. All trades, yeah, trades. No, that I mean, we all are actually because we go into different things um and just getting to know you more uh talking over the phone and having you here. Uh I mean we we can talk forever. So we're gonna try to share what we can in in the next uh hour, hour and a half or whatnot. But welcome to the show, Maria Beretta.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you so much for having me. Yeah, it's been a pleasure to meet you. Yes, but yes, he said, Maria Beretta, born and raised Valley Girl here in Los Angeles. That's right. 818. 818.
SPEAKER_01:Do you have an A18 area code on your phone? No. Oh, you didn't get it, huh? I didn't. I didn't.
SPEAKER_00:They're like 747s now. I'm a 213. 213. Yeah. I changed it when I was working in downtown LA and it just stuck.
SPEAKER_02:That sucks. I don't think they're giving away 818s anymore.
SPEAKER_00:No, no, they're 747s.
SPEAKER_02:I don't know. I'm not changing my number. I love my A18. Uh yeah, Valley Boy 2. Um, yeah, so you grew up around here in the Valley. Uh tell a little bit about uh like kind of the area, what schools you went to, um, and then we'll kind of get right into uh um that you didn't like school.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, never did. Who does? Never did. My sister.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, there you go. Well, you're yeah, and you're a you have uh come from uh a family of seven, yeah, seven kids. So go ahead.
SPEAKER_00:Very large family. Yeah. So yeah, uh born and raised here in the valley. I went to Chatchworth High, which was actually a huge on baseball when I was there to know you're into.
SPEAKER_02:They're still yeah, they're not as great right now, but they're still going to the city championships. And I know they had a a couple people that play in the pros from there.
SPEAKER_00:So yeah, my year, uh Mike Mustack is we were the same, same name. Right there, the big name. Yeah, class of 07. 07. That's okay, good. Did you know him? Yeah, yeah. Really, really nice guy. He was a nice guy? Very nice guy. Yeah, it seems like he's a nice guy. Yeah, no, he is very kind, very kind, always was. Even back then when he was like the superstar, you wouldn't know it.
SPEAKER_02:That's good to hear. That's good to hear. So you went there, Chatsworth?
SPEAKER_00:Mm-hmm. Chatsworth High. Then I did uh a bit at Pierce College, but that's when all uh my life kind of became a mess while I was in college. And you know, I went through crazy trauma with, you know, my my marriage and the loss of you know, pregnancy. And so I stopped school, but like you said, I never liked it. I was honestly, I think it would have been a waste of time anyway. I was an English major. Oh, yeah, there you go. Yeah. What was I gonna do with that? I don't want to teach.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, what do you do with that? Nothing.
SPEAKER_00:Write a book.
SPEAKER_02:Um yeah, so tell uh everybody a little bit about like uh the pivoting change in your life and and uh what occurred and what happened um uh to you and what age was that?
SPEAKER_00:So it started with uh an oops oops, you know. I was on birth control, uh, still got pregnant at 18. Oops. Oops, big oops.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Um ended up marrying the the father of the baby. He's a great guy. We're still friends. Okay. Um, just you know, once I lost the pregnancy, I had a stillborn that drove me crazy. Um diving super far into it, I am not proud of this, but when I found out I was pregnant, I went like psycho. I was like I did not want to be pregnant.
SPEAKER_02:Especially at 17, I mean, no. No, no, I was 18, I was 18. That's right. But no. Were you out of high school or anything during that summer?
SPEAKER_00:I was out of high school. Yeah, yeah. I was already out of high school, but I was still like, I don't want to be a kid having a kid. And honestly, even now I'm 36, I know that I don't want children. It's never been something that's in my life plan. So I was like, my life is over. You know, I mean, I'm an immature 18-year-old. And I remember that night, like I I was literally hysterical, and I yelled at God saying, I don't want this baby. Um later, I accepted the pregnancy. I I, you know, married my then husband and I was happy. I I accepted it. I was like, okay, you know, I made peace with it, and the moment I felt her kick for the first time, it was the first time I've ever felt love.
SPEAKER_02:Now getting to that point of accepting and everything, how did you get there? Was it family that you talked to? Was it religion, or what was your seeking? Like what what gave you that, hey, I have to accept it now, or or was it you just Just reality.
SPEAKER_00:I I'm an Aquarius, I don't know if you you know believe in science at all, but I'm very like nonchalant about most things. Like it could be a little bit dramatic at the beginning, but then I'm I downshift pretty quickly. And I'm very adaptive in every part of my life. So I just I just accepted it, you know, simply like this is your reality. You can't change it. You can't change it. Be happy. Okay, and and I was, and I honestly, because of um my health issues that were still not diagnosed then, yeah, I had an awful pregnancy. Like I was in pain every day. I was super sick, like the morning sickness never went away. I had to be put on medication because I I instead of gaining weight in my pregnancy, I started losing weight.
SPEAKER_02:So were you going to the doctor and trying to see what was going on?
SPEAKER_00:Uh yeah, but they honestly not very helpful. They're just putting me on meds. That's what doctors know how to do.
SPEAKER_02:He, I mean, God, yeah. I mean, they love prescription drugs, and yeah, you go take this.
SPEAKER_00:Even pregnant, which is wild.
SPEAKER_02:But that is crazy.
SPEAKER_00:That's actually a huge reason why I'm now doing what you know I'm doing as far as career is because of my issues that I've had my whole life with doctors.
SPEAKER_04:Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_02:I mean, you know, it's unfortunate, but we live in America and uh, you know, uh I'm nothing against doctors, obviously. Right. Nothing against uh nurses and people that serve that field. But um I I just don't think that prescriptions I mean, not every everybody's different, but uh our health system and certain things suck. Yeah, I I'd rather go to Mexico. You know what I'm saying? Like uh they diagnose you right there, and and there's so many different ways of healing. Oh, yeah. And and it seems like the West, what do they call it, like the Eastern uh philosophy of of medicine and the western is so different, and the western is about prescriptions and drugs. Like, there's other ways. Why don't we open up and have that more often? So but I love the fact that you're that you're a nutritionist, your personal trader, you want to give back, you have passion, and and because of your situations and the experiences that you've gone through, you're willing to help others in different ways. Um, so you got pregnant, married, had a stillborn, uh, didn't know that you had certain things going on that we'll talk about right now at that time. Tell everybody a little bit about uh what you were diagnosed with, and um and then at what age or whatnot um you discovered that you were diagnosed with that.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so that's what's crazy. Like I for years and years was just sick. You know, I was in my early 20s and I felt like I was dying and I had no idea why.
SPEAKER_02:Sick like that, like if you had a flu or cold or like pain or pain, pain.
SPEAKER_00:I was in constant pain. I was always just easily injured, tearing ligaments, breaking bones, just like it sliding on a puddle, like it just there goes my ligament in my foot.
SPEAKER_04:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:So it was always painful, right? It was always very painful. I was first diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome um back in like 2020, which is very late because that usually starts in puberty, right? Which is actually looking back now, it makes sense. I was put on birth control at 16 to control symptoms. But they never said, oh, you have PCOS. It's just okay, you have um, you know, a bunch of these symptoms. We're gonna mask it with the birth control. And honestly, that whole experience with the birth control, it made me crazy. Like it made me super crazy. My body just couldn't handle the progesterone mentally. Okay, mentally.
SPEAKER_02:What is PCOS then? Is it genetic or out?
SPEAKER_00:No, it's anybody can get it. Anybody can get it. Unfortunately, I think it's like one in three women now have PCOS. It is called polycystic ovary syndrome. So it's uh So you gotta have ovaries in order.
SPEAKER_02:You gotta have ovaries, yeah. We can't get it.
SPEAKER_00:You're safe. I'm safe. Safe. Okay, so it's um a symptom-based diagnosis. So some women experience certain symptoms, others don't. Me personally, for example, I have extremely cystic ovaries. So I have more than 30 cysts on each ovary, which, if they rupture, can be extremely painful. Um, but it also for me caused a lot of hair loss, like male like pattern baldness. Um, it caused like massive cystic acne on my face, really, really, really painful periods, like where it was pretty much like debilitating. Yeah. Um, really bad PMS just as far as mood. Just not fun. Not fun.
SPEAKER_02:And then how does somebody um obviously they didn't diagnose it?
SPEAKER_00:Not at first. So it wasn't until they gave me birth control, like, oh, that's that's normal, right? You just have tough periods where you give you birth control, it'll help with the symptoms. And it does, but it's not a cure, right? It's just like putting a bandage on the symptoms, and that's it. As soon as you come off of the birth control, which I did, and because I couldn't handle it mentally anymore. Like I when I discovered, like, I think this is what's making me crazy, I'm gonna stop it, right?
SPEAKER_02:And what when you say crazy, like what kind of thoughts or things were you having? Like, were you just having like self-confidence problems? Or like, no, were you having like hallucinations? Or what kind of thing? Like, what did it look like?
SPEAKER_00:It was pretty severe. Like, I would I felt like I was bipolar. Like I felt like I was clinically bipolar. I was like self-harming. Wow. And I just wasn't not happy. I would cry for no reason. I was easily angered, super angry all the time, all the time, over like little things that would be, you know, apparently insignificant. I like it was just such a huge deal to me. It was it was awful. I became a terrible teenager. I went from being like this perfect 4.0 kid, perfect attendance, like gifted honors student, to like ditching school and like, you know, like just doing things I knew that I wasn't supposed to do. You know, being raised like in a Christian household, and I went like full 180 and was just like ditching is not awful.
SPEAKER_02:Ditching is kidding. Um so then like how did how did um so then what I'm sure your parents and family got involved? Like, what's wrong with you? Like, let's go take you to church and the the vamos a mandar a Mexico, you know what I'm saying? Like like all the the uh Hispanic culture is like, hey, you're not acting well here, you got it good, let's send you to Mexico so you can see how it is. Right, how it is where they get involved in in saying, like, hey, how can we help you? Um, did they try anything?
SPEAKER_00:Did like they tried, but me being the stubborn person that I am even then, yeah. Um, I left when I was in my senior year. I went to live with my boyfriend. Oh, okay. I was like, I can't handle these rules. My my parents were very strict, especially my dad. Um, and I just completely rebelled and left, broke his heart. Sure. I disappeared for a while and then ended up leaving that boyfriend because he went to go play um like football at Berkeley and and then I met my later to be husband. It was a mess. It was a mess. But and it's wild because this the moment I stopped taking that birth control, I felt the change mentally. Like it's it still took me a lot of therapy because you know, I I didn't get seek therapy for like 12 years after um dealing with the trauma that I did with losing the baby. So I was, you know, a mess for a while.
SPEAKER_02:But how did they diagnose it? Like, did you with the PCOS? Yeah. Like how did you say like we're doing endocrinologist.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I had to go to an endocrinologist. Um, I was over at UCLA, uh, great doctor. She like right away, you know, just did an ultrasound like, well, you have success ovaries and your symptoms are consistent with PCOS, with the exception of weight. So, usually, typically for women with PCOS, they're a lot heavier. They have a hard time losing weight, um, usually hold a lot of weight like in the middle. And here I am, you know, always have abs.
SPEAKER_02:Yep. You're elite now. I'm elite. Just looking at you right now in front of me. She's uh like curling her arm just to like just talk. And the bicep is like just popping out. I'm like, Jesus Christ, does she have a like a softball in there? You'll see the pictures uh when this episode comes out of her. Uh um, but that's amazing because you're leaned out right now.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah. I mean, I'm I'm six weeks out of a show, so I don't typically look this lean.
SPEAKER_02:And when you say a show, you're talking about bodybuilding.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, competitive bodybuilder. Yeah, yeah. That's the the love of my life there.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah. And then we'll get into that, how the other H E D S um uh affects all these different things and PCOS and all that. So uh let's go back really quick. So you got you're 16, 17, 8, I'm sorry, 18, and then how long before you got diagnosed? Like how long did you live with this and kind of like craziness in your head, even though once you stopped the birth control, you felt better mentally, but you were still going through stuff physically. Yeah, yeah. So how long was the gap? How long is the gap before you got diagnosed? And then uh uh some things changed there. 20.
SPEAKER_00:Uh about five years. Five years. Okay. So you were living with it five years, not even what the hell is wrong. Yes. Okay. Yes. So then once I got the diagnosis for PCOS, um the doctor being a doctor, you know, and like you said, I'm not claiming that doctors are evil. I think that they're products of environment. They practice what they're taught. Yeah. But uh her response was to put me on five medications. Um, metformin, because in its root cause, PCOS is an insulin resistance issue. So they're that's their answer is metformin, right? To make you a little bit more uh sensitive to insulin. Also back to birth control. And um I always mess up this name, something like spiralactone, um, which is typically prescribed for high blood pressure, but used off-brand for women with PCOS. It helps control like acne and um brings down uh like testosterone levels and stuff like that.
SPEAKER_03:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Um but I knew better. You know, I told her, you know what, no, thank you. Like, first of all, I like being happy. There's no way that I'm going back on birth control. I've enjoyed my peace for these past five years, even though I've been, you know, in pain and struggling with other symptoms. Um I told her, thank you for the diagnosis, but I'm gonna go do my own research. And that's actually when my passion for nutrition and you know learning wellness to treat conditions started.
SPEAKER_03:So you never took any of this they prescribed. Thank you. I just don't want to take it with it. I don't want to take it, yeah. That's so awesome.
SPEAKER_02:That's so awesome. Good job. Thank you, thank you. Um, and so then uh let's talk a little bit about uh and we'll kind of I I just want to introduce the other uh thing that you were diagnosed with, so then we can kind of put it all together.
SPEAKER_00:Um you were diagnosed with HEDS, which is hypermobile Ellers Danlow syndrome, which is a connective tissue. Tongue tissue. I know, say that five times.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I think every medication and doctor, like they make it on purpose to call it something you can't remember. Right. What are you on? I'm on uh uh lack a lateral. Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_00:That one, right. That one, okay. Um and so then what is that? It is a connective tissue disease. Um there's no cure, it is genetic. Um and it's it's a tough one because it affects all of connective tissue, which is your entire body. Yeah. So what how I explain it to people is um Mr. Glass. Yes, it's a less gonna say that yeah, less severe form of that. There are, I think, almost like 30 types of Ellers Stanlow syndrome. I thankfully have the least of the s severe. Okay. Um which going through what I've gone through and thinking this is the least severe, like I can only imagine how awful people with you know, worse kinds. Like I can't imagine.
SPEAKER_02:And what does that do to you?
SPEAKER_00:It makes your skin thin. Um so my nerve endings are more exposed. So for example, like if I touch something that's hot, you might it might not burn you, but it feels like lava to me, right? It affects my joints, my my ligaments, my tendons, so I I tear easily. Um it affects my bones a little bit thinner, so they break easier.
SPEAKER_03:How about muscle?
SPEAKER_00:Muscle also, I mean, I'm I they strain easier. Yeah, yeah. So for me wanting to be a bodybuilder, right?
SPEAKER_02:No, yeah, exactly where I was going. What an amazing story of overcoming. Yeah, exactly. And you chose the one that you're just gonna lift weights to break bones, ligaments, tissue, it hurts. Yeah. I mean, and so yeah, let's get into that. So you okay, so H E D S is genetic. Do you know somebody in your family who had it? Or like how does that work? Does it skip, or do you know of anybody that no, honestly?
SPEAKER_00:I have a feeling that my little sister also has it. Um she is 33 now. Okay. 33? Oh. She's gonna kill me if I can't remember.
unknown:Okay.
SPEAKER_02:You have a lot of uh lot in the family.
SPEAKER_00:So she was born in 91.
SPEAKER_02:91. 24, or depending on the month, I think 24. No, wait, 34, I'm sorry. 34, not 24. Um depending on the month. Yeah, yeah. We're getting close to two more months left. Right.
SPEAKER_00:It passed, it passed. She's maybe.
SPEAKER_02:So did you get diagnosed with that later on?
SPEAKER_00:Later, not until 2022. Oh, recently. Recently, yeah.
unknown:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:And it's crazy because my very first memory as a child when I was three years old, is of me being unable to walk. Like I became temporarily paralyzed from my legs. And that's my first memory as a kid. And so I've had it my whole life. I dislocated very easily. That that's another thing. It causes dislocation, subluxations. Um it it was pretty bad. Like just from you saw me walking with my big gallon jug here. Just from carrying that, my shoulders would dislocate. My my knees also sublux very easily, so I don't run. So yeah, it's just painful, right? It's painful.
SPEAKER_02:My hips you don't want to be an ultra runner then.
SPEAKER_00:No. I did do one marathon.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, did you? Holy crack, that's great. 2016, LA. I mean, I'm sure every time you because there's uh when you run, um one foot or one side of your body carries three times the body weight every time you you're hitting or pounding. Yeah. On concrete, especially, it's it's a lot harder. So you must have when you ran it, were you in pain? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. That was a dumb question. Sorry. I also didn't train for it. Oh. I just did it. Yeah, it's yeah. And what time uh what time did you get? Do you remember?
SPEAKER_00:Five and a half.
SPEAKER_01:That's pretty good for the training. It's not bad. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And I honestly I hate running. I always say I only run if something's chasing me.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, how old were you then when you did it?
SPEAKER_00:Oh god, it was in 2016, so 10 years ago. Okay, 10 years ago. 26, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:So you were 20 something, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Okay.
SPEAKER_02:That's good. The uh so you did the the Dodger Stadium to the Santa Monica. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And like right off the bat, starting at Dodger Stadium, I got shin splint like right there.
SPEAKER_02:I was like, oh god. Yeah, I was gonna say, yeah. But you just pushed through. Push through, push through.
SPEAKER_00:Power of the mind.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, power of the mind. So um diagnosed 2022. Uh diagnosed 2020 with uh PCO OS. Um besides the physical part, obviously, that you're dealing with um physically uh pain, you know, physical pain, not only in your ovaries and all these different things that are causing different mood changes and whatnot, but to ligaments, tendons, everything, the whole kinetic tissue. Um what did that do to you mentally as well?
SPEAKER_00:Like it was really hard. Just I I've never wanted to adapt a victim mentality. But before being diagnosed, it was really hard to just deal, honestly. Like it was especially because I tried, I wanted to do a bodybuilding show.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, how did that come about? Like, how do you like, oh yeah, I want to put myself more torture? Because just let like people work out, yeah, like working out is torture, right? Yeah, of course. It's it's not gonna be easy. You wanna you wanna change? Yeah, you know, you want your body to your muscles to grow, you want to get better, you uh all these different things. It's just in itself is hard.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_02:And then you are diagnosed with these two do you call them diseases or they're diseases? Okay, two diseases, and you choose more pain. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Why? How? Because honestly, like the the love for bodybuilding started long before this diagnosis, right? So and I mean, you know, after having gone to therapy, it's it's funny now, but uh my therapist said I associate being thin with not being loved. Because as a kid, I got made fun of a ton for being skinny. I'm a complete ectomorph. Like in women are gonna hate me for saying this. They always do like must be nice. I can't gain weight.
SPEAKER_03:Well, you have on you have in muscle.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, this this has been a lot of work. But for yeah, for 10 years, like it's something that I wanted to do. And I would go through this process of hiring a coach and then getting injured and losing all of my progress like every six months. So it was mentally like to not give up and have to go from like, oh hey, you know, likeness reflection. I'm I'm growing a little bit to boom, start at zero again over and over and over again for 10 years. It was hard. It's to not fall into like a depressive state because here I go again, you know. But again, I didn't want to accept like defeat, and I also didn't want to be a victim. So that's when I started working to figure out, okay, what is wrong with me? Right. This is can't be normal. Just always feeling tired, the fatigue that comes with both of those conditions, it's it's it's massive. Like just um it got to a point. So let me preface that by saying when I got diagnosed with PCOS, which came first, right? I upon researching found the keto diet. So I was keto for almost five years.
SPEAKER_03:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Strictly keto. Um, and all of my polycystic ovary syndrome syndrome symptoms went away. But because it was keto and I've never suffered digestive issues with dairy, I was heavy dairy. Because who doesn't like cheese, right? And it's like, oh now I'm keto, I can have all the fat I want. Great, right? So I was like chugging like 16 ounces of half and half like it was water, you know, and like give me more. Give me more. But my joint pain and my fatigue became worse. And because you're you're no carbs.
SPEAKER_02:I mean, there's some carbs in there, no? Yeah, I was at like 25 grams a day. All it is is keto is just more fat. More fat, yeah. A lot of protein. A lot of protein. Green vegetables. You gotta stay in ketosis. Yeah. Were you checking? Yeah. Yeah. The blood? Blood. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Yeah. But then do you fast?
SPEAKER_00:Uh depends. Okay.
SPEAKER_02:Like once uh like a 24-hour uh not right now, but did you at times?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, like twenty no, no, no, no, no, no. I mm-mm. Yeah, yeah. I eat like a large man. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Even when I was 100 pounds, like because fasting is fasting is really good for you.
SPEAKER_02:Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I've heard I would love to try it.
SPEAKER_02:The landing dismiss pen, obviously. Uh it does uh stuff for uh clearing out old cells, yeah, you know, all these different really great things that they see. Oh, yeah. You have to get it there first. Uh what do they call it? Gosh, I'm I'm phone blank right now. Oh but um, yeah, it does wonders if you fast. Uh I I try to do it once a week. Uh I love to eat too, but so I I don't get it in as much as I can. And right now I'm not training. Um, but I have uh something I just signed up for yesterday, which is high rocks. And I'm like, okay, I'm gonna back on my training. So this was been a great year of like golfing so far. So yeah, we gotta enjoy life, you know? Yeah, yeah. I'm older and I'm just like I've I've done all these different events in a short amount of time, which I love, and I was really disciplined, and and and it takes a lot of your time. Right. But uh different chapter, yeah, and then we'll close that chapter and keep moving on forward. Um so then you chose bodybuilding, but you were lifting already, like I was already lifting.
SPEAKER_00:You already Yeah, my first experience with weightlifting was when I was 16. Uh in Chatworth High, I would weightlift with the football team.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so and I knew I liked it then, you know. But then again, my life became a disaster and it kind of got put on hold. Um, but so it wasn't until like 2013 that I really wanted to like I want to do this, you know? Like I want to get big, I want to be a monster.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah. Um so what was your normal weight like before? Oh man. Because you said you had a hard time gaining weight.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Yeah, even as a kid, I had my mom take me to 70? No, no, I wasn't that. I'm 5'7, so I'm I'm pretty tall. So then probably like uh 100. 100, 108 pounds, yeah. Especially when I went keto, I was like 100 pounds. My normal weight, like eating whatever the heck I want is like 115. That's right now. No, right now I at my heaviest on my bulk, I got up to 156. Super proud of that. It's the biggest I've ever been.
SPEAKER_02:And body fat?
SPEAKER_00:Um, 16. 16. Yeah, 16.
SPEAKER_02:Are you 16 right now?
SPEAKER_00:No, I think I'm down to like 10.
SPEAKER_02:Maybe you're trying to get down to six, you say. Seven. Seven percent although six is my favorite number.
SPEAKER_00:I'd probably die though. And you're six weeks out? Six weeks out, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, so uh tell everybody about bodybuilding. Um, where you're gonna compete, if you don't mind, uh all that stuff. And then let's get into a little bit of that of like how hard it is, obviously, to manipulate like what you're trying to do on stage and have everything show all right, like from the nutrition aspect to the lifting and whatnot. So tell everybody about body lifting, what do you do, how do that all work? Because I'm super excited to hear about like there's age and I'm sorry, there's age, but also weight requirements that you're in, or how does that work?
SPEAKER_00:Uh it depends on the division. So for women, it's not there's no weight cap. Uh, it goes in the amateurs by height. So you have the division and the height class. So for me, for example, I'm going back to NPC Nationals in Dallas. Lucky 1212 December. Super excited. Super excited. Yeah. I was that's my birthday. Really? 12-12, yeah. No way!
SPEAKER_04:12-12.
SPEAKER_01:I love it. I'm gonna take that as a good omen. You're gonna win.
SPEAKER_02:My special birthday gift is gonna I'm gonna think of you and say ever win. Winning. Thank you, thank you.
SPEAKER_00:Winning.
SPEAKER_02:Winning.
SPEAKER_00:Winning. So then go ahead. So I competed at that show last year. Uh, it was my first national show. So I actually, after that long crazy process of trying to compete, I was finally able to get my health under control once I had been diagnosed and figured all of that stuff out. And I competed at my first regional show here uh in Riverside uh last year in June. Um, I won there. Um one of my categories. I came in second in another. Thank you, thank you. And those placings there qualified me for nationals. So I went to nationals and I placed fourth in my uh my class. Okay. So placing fourth automatically qualifies me for nationals this year without having to compete at a regional show again, which is nice. Um, because you know, you know what happened to me on January 1st this year. Um, but yeah, so nationals is the road to turning pro. So if I win there, I'm officially an IFB pro, which is the dream. When you when you win. There. When I win there, I love that. When I win in December, I will officially be a pro. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And it's and then when you become a pro, there's like they say it's a pro card. Yes. So does that last like a year, two years, or did what does that mean?
SPEAKER_00:Well, you in order to keep it, you have to pay a fee, of course.
SPEAKER_02:Of course. A yearly. Oh, you want to be a personal trainer? Yeah. Every two years you got to reunion. You gotta do a research. I'm like, why? I already learned everything. I'm doing it now. I don't know. Everything's about money.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, yeah, of course, of course. Which I mean, you know, it's all right, it's a business, but it's a small fee for the year. It's okay. Okay. But so you have to pay to maintain the card. But it's it's crazy to me because I I would say close to maybe like 70% of athletes who are in my position now who are compete at the higher but like amateur level, um, once they get their pro cards, they never compete as a pro. They just want the card, and that's like that's it, you know. And to each their own. I want to compete as a pro. One of my coaches. You think honestly, if I can push it until like the very end, I've what some of my idols are like in their 70s, still on the stage.
SPEAKER_02:So I know I've seen some people, men's women's divisions, uh, I'm just like, God damn, they look great. Yeah, yeah. How old is that dude? 40? And he's like, 70. I mean, holy gross it's wild. That is honestly like it's is that even like uh is that healthy though still? Because you have to put your body through so things to do it that late?
SPEAKER_00:Um, on it depends on how heavily supplemented you are. I think by that point, you'd probably definitely want to stay natural um as much as possible, right? But there's yeah, I mean, there's definitely risks in the sport. But if it's something you love, you know, try to do it as healthy as you can, you know, not push your body too much as far as you know substances go. But it is a part of the sport, unfortunately. Yeah, um they don't check. No, so there there are natural eastern.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that's testosterone blisters or something, just h higher dosing of something that like is it illegal?
SPEAKER_00:No, no, so it's not illegal. So they don't know you can do it. Okay you can do it. Everyone, everyone, even in the amateur level at the national stage, is on some type of PED. Yeah. Everyone, everyone. Um, there are natural leagues. So, like, for example, the OCB is the largest, I would say, of the natural leagues. They are heavily tested, but unfortunately, it's it's not the same. Like, you know, it's not like like the big one is IFBB. You want to be IFBB pro.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Yeah. I mean, and and then looking at people in that category, there's a difference in the body?
SPEAKER_00:Huge.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Yeah, which is yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Unfortunately, especially as a woman, there's just the body can't naturally do that.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:You know, and don't get me wrong, there are I know natural athletes who look incredible, yeah, but they're gonna grind for twice as long to look that way.
SPEAKER_02:And genetics has a big factor to do with that too.
SPEAKER_00:Which is what I'm fighting because I have skinny genetics.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, to back you up with what you said earlier, like, oh, people are gonna hate me if I see this. It's hard to it's hard for a men and women to gain weight than it is for somebody to lose weight. Yes, it's easier to lose weight. People don't get it, but it's hard to gain muscle and keep it. You know what I'm saying? Like, it's hard. You have nutrition that plays a big factor, you have the training that plays a big factor, consistency, all these different things. Yeah. Losing weight, yeah, it's not easy. Right. It sucks. Yeah. And it's hard on the person mentally and all these different things because you're like, oh, well, you know, you want to lose weight, and it's whatever. But once you lose the weight and you keep working out, you can maintain it off with a good diet. But to gain the muscle and you get there and then you get injured like you have been, goes like that.
SPEAKER_00:Instantly, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Gone. I mean, I I know I've had surgery on my knee, and I'm like, what happened to my right thigh? You know what I'm saying? Like, yeah, my quads are gone, you know, and you gotta rebuild them.
SPEAKER_00:That was scary too. After I tore my right MCL and I remember how skinny that quad got. I was like, oh my god, what's going on? Yeah. It's never gonna be symmetrical. And honestly, like, what, six years later, I it it's still a little bit weaker than my my left one, but working on building it. Yeah, but yeah, it's hard. And I appreciate you saying that because, you know, again, like I'll mention, you know, I can't gain weight, and people are like, must be nice. I'm like, it's not though, because I want to be a bodybuilder. And like it's and like you said, to put on masks when you have a metabolism like mine is incredibly difficult.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Incredibly difficult.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. And so then um do you have you have a trainer?
SPEAKER_00:No, you have a I have I have two coaches. Um I don't have a in-person trainer because I am a trainer myself. Yeah. I don't feel that I require, you know, like the that external motivation on the daily. I I want nothing more than this. So I'm I'm pretty freaking motivated.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And, you know, I'm aware of um like, you know, the movements and how to properly execute. But I do have two coaches. Um I have a my coach, Darren Starr, who is out in Tennessee. Um, he's the one that, you know, gives me like my meal plan, my supplementation, my workout routines, um, keeps all of that in check. Um, he's pretty much there year round. There isn't a, you know, I do weekly check-ins with him, have been since all of last year. And then I also have a posing coach. He is um out in Houston.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Love him. Um, I recently hired him on, um, but he's like the king of posing. He comes from like a dance background, and I needed to work on my being feminine. It's a interesting place to be in my division. I compete in figure. And we're um, I would say like the third most muscular when it comes to like women's divisions. So to have the muscularity, but to also be very feminine on stage, it's it's hard.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So I I yeah, I need I needed the the direction when it comes to posing. And I think honestly, it's made a world of difference.
SPEAKER_02:Does it get expensive? Like to release coaches and stuff? And obviously, I mean that's just one aspect of hiring a posing coach and then some hire a trainer or another coach that's physically there or whatnot. Then you have the nutrition part of like what you're taking in and on a daily basis. Um, so it can what what's what are the some of the figures you think it can get into?
SPEAKER_00:It's funny you asked me that because one of my coworkers uh two days ago asked me that. And I had never like put it on a spreadsheet, you know. Like I don't, I don't know. I just know it's expensive, right? And he's like, let me know everything, like food, your um all the show costs, right? Because especially as a woman, like my bikini was$900, you know, like just for the suit that I'm gonna wear one time.
SPEAKER_02:For like uh like a G string? Yeah, exactly. A bedazzle.
SPEAKER_00:I guess I guess the less you wear, the more it costs. Okay. So he told me about he's like everything. I'm like, everything? He's like, yes. I'm like, for the year, he's like, yeah, for the year, because you're training this whole year for that one show in December, right? And I said, Yes. Twenty thousand dollars.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:It's an investment. It's an investment. Wow, and it's it's hard.
SPEAKER_02:It's not, I mean, yeah, it's it's a lot. Um, but a lot of the things like if uh an Iron Man just to sign up for registration can be sixteen hundred dollars. Really? And then you know, you have to invest in a bike if you don't have one, right? Those bikes go on the cheapest. Like mine was you know, not even mid, uh 2,000 to 20,000.
unknown:Dang it.
SPEAKER_02:Then you have the nutrition part because you're gonna be training on it. Right, yeah. You got fuel, but these are endurance events. Then you got shoes you go through probably every month or a month and a half, depending because you gotta put five to six hundred miles on them running.
SPEAKER_01:That's right, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Then you have the swimming stuff that you're doing. And then that's just you know, and then you like the nutrition and all that. And then if you have a coach, whether it be a swimming coach, a bike coach, or uh an endurance coach or running coach, yeah. I mean, and you're signing up, uh if you've never done one, probably a year out, if not six months. I mean, it's crazy. And then you gotta travel to wherever that you're at. Right, yeah. It's crazy, it's crazy, yeah. That's crazy. Um the you said that obviously they were trying to give you prescriptions for for some of the stuff, and you're like, I'm gonna read, I'm I'm gonna educate myself on the research stuff. What are the things that you do now or researched that started helping you and uh where you're at now? Like how did you what do you do now?
SPEAKER_00:So first and always first, nutrition. Yeah. Um with the first diagnosis with PCOS, I mentioned I went keto and that helped me with that, but it caused my EDS symptoms to get worse because I didn't know I had EDS yet, right? So the dairy was killing me. Yeah. So when I got diagnosed with EDS, that specialist told me, You're keto, you are 80% of the way there. Like you're way better than you know, everyone pretty much that gets diagnosed with this thing as far as diet, right? And she told me, try something for me. Give up dairy completely. And I mean completely for 30 days, and then reintroduce it. See how you feel. So I was like, okay, yeah, no problem, right? But I was like, oh my, I was being dramatic. I went to my mom, I'm like, mom, it's over. I'm like, now I can't even have dairy. Like, what am I gonna eat? Just meat. Just meat? Oh yeah, so dramatic.
SPEAKER_01:And she was like, ooh, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:But I did it, right? So I I got rid of dairy and I reintroduced it. 20 minutes into eating a small piece of cheese, I was in excruciating joint pain. And it it's that quick. So in people with EDS, dairy sometimes causes what's called mast cell activation. And you react in different ways. For me, it's it's like knives through my joints. Incredibly painful. So I'm like, well, there's that. There goes dairy, right? Because like, what do I want? Like, what do I want more? To eat cheese or to be a bodybuilder, right?
unknown:Cheese.
SPEAKER_00:Cheese, cheese, cheese. So that was number one was the diet, 100%. And in getting rid of the dairy, my pain was gone. Pain that I had been in for like eight years, and I mean chronically. Like I would wake up in pain, go to sleep in pain, and do it all over again for eight years.
SPEAKER_02:You think dairy, not just for you, but you think dairy is a a cause for many people's pains or inflammation?
SPEAKER_00:100%. Yeah. It is delicious, but very inflammatory.
SPEAKER_02:I'm not a big cheese person. Good for you. Good for you. Yeah. Or bread. Or bread. Good. My my wife is, she's a big bread person. Bread person. And cheated at that, but more bread for sure.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Yeah. Um, which, I mean, for somebody who's healthy, I always say all things in moderation, nothing in excess, right? But for someone like me, like I had to make that choice, right? And I realized, like working with clients, how difficult that is for some people. You know, like I unfortunately have seen, you know, clients that are extremely like end stages diabetic, like on dialysis, still eating desserts. And like and it it breaks my heart. Like, I'm like, how can I make you understand? Like we you should eat to live, not live to eat. You know, but I think humans are just super addicted to stimulation. And food gives you that dopamine hit, you know, and people are addicted to food. And a lot of people just aren't willing to make that, in my opinion, simple change to better their lives. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Well, how many people have we seen go to the doctor and the doctor's, hey, you gotta get on a healthy diet and you know, so and so, or else uh, you know, uh this is what's gonna happen. Yeah. And they don't.
SPEAKER_00:They don't, but they'll say, Give me a pill so that they can keep eating what they're eating.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And it's it's it sucks, you know? But that was definitely the first step. So then I started there and I was like, okay, like my pain is gone. Awesome. But I was still getting injured. So my next step was to further research, right? Like, what can I do? Okay, yes, I understand. There is no cure for this.
SPEAKER_02:So what are some of the things that you found out for you that work for you that are healthy and non-prescribed by a doctor? Peptides.
SPEAKER_00:Peptides. Peptides changed my life. Yeah. A hundred percent. You're researching it.
SPEAKER_02:Or you also like talk to some people. Were you weary about it at first? Like peptides?
SPEAKER_00:Honestly, no.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Like after being in pain for so long, it's like, I'll try anything. Yeah, you know, and people are like, weren't you scared? Because they they are injected, right? Like subcutaneously, like into the fat. People are like terrified of that, right? Just like, no, that's crazy. And I'm like, that's crazy, but you drink alcohol every day. That's not crazy.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Do you drink?
SPEAKER_00:No, no.
SPEAKER_01:Did you drink before, obviously?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I mean my young 20s, you know. Yeah. Being here in Hollywood. You can say it when you were 17. I actually waited till I was 21.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, you did? Okay.
SPEAKER_02:When you're you didn't drink when you were ditching?
SPEAKER_00:No, no, no.
SPEAKER_02:How's the ditching party for? A little bit of weed, but oh weed, all right, all right. Mom shared weed, all right. She knows everything.
SPEAKER_00:Sorry, mom. I actually don't even like weed anymore. Now it's legal, right? But no, I mean, like, I will have a glass of champagne to celebrate my win in December for sure. So it's not like I'm not, I'm not like sober or anything. Um, but once in a blue moon, you know, I enjoy the flavor. But like I'll have two drinks and that's a peptide. Oh yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Lightweight, a cheap date.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, oh yeah. Um, so then peptides. Peptides, yeah. A little bit of like uh how you discovered that, obviously researching it and like what peptide you felt was gonna benefit you.
SPEAKER_00:For me. So it is a combination of the big ones, BPC 157 and TB500. Together. Together.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah. Tell a little bit about tell people, because I know what that is, but tell people what that is and then how often you take it, uh, and what a peptide is actually.
SPEAKER_00:So a peptide in its simplest form is just a amino acid. It's obviously very concentrated and only effective if injected. There are the only uh peptide to my knowledge that you can take orally is BPC 157 because it is naturally produced in our digestive system, so it won't die going through it.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, a lot of people claim to have like NADs or some other stuff orally, but I don't think they're affected.
SPEAKER_00:No, I don't either. I think it's just uh money grab. Yes, a money grab, exactly. Because NAD is very expensive. Yes. Yeah, yeah. And peptides are expensive. You know, I'm I've been blessed. Um, I'm actually currently sponsored by a peptide company called Premier Peptides USA. Um, so they help me out a lot because I've been on those peptides specifically for two years now.
unknown:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:So ABC and uh T500. And what else? T500. Those those are the only peptides that I use in treatment for my EDS. And I mean, I can't tell you like the difference they've made. It's like night and day. Like I went, like I said, like being injured like every six months pretty much for years to being injury free for the whole two years that I've been on the peptides. Like that's unheard of. That's incredible.
SPEAKER_02:What do you inject it?
SPEAKER_00:Uh into my thigh, usually. Um, I used to do it into my stomach, but especially right now that I'm this lean, there's not there's no fat there.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, there's nothing there.
SPEAKER_00:So I have to find some fat. Yeah. But yeah, it's just into fat. So you can inject it anywhere into fat um for a therapeutic dose, right? I have also um the only like little injury that I had was not like bodybuilding related. I was going down the stairs at my parents and I slid on the stairs and I caught myself on the guardrail with my arm kind of funny, and I hurt my rotator cuff. And I started using BPC to treat it acutely. So I would inject it into the shoulder, right? As close as possible where the pain was. I did it at a higher dose for a week. What's the done pain gone? What's the dose you do? So, my for me personally, my therapeutic that I do, and I've been doing this every other day for two years consistently. I don't remember. Every day it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter when it's like morning, night, both. Um, usually I do it like midday. Once a day. Yeah, just once a day. Just once a day I combined. Um, but I do 250 micrograms of each a day. So it's a fairly small dose.
SPEAKER_02:What is that, like 10 10 or 15 mls or 20 mls?
SPEAKER_00:No. They're micros. They're it's tiny. Tiny, tiny. So up to like the point two on an insulin needle.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, that's yeah, okay, point two.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. Yeah, so it's it's a small dose. Um, but that just with that, like I was able to stay injury free and finally make it on stage after trying for 10 years. I mean, that's like what what doctor's gonna give me that? Yeah, you know, granted, yeah, like the diet definitely helped, right? First to get rid of the like PCOS symptoms. Um, cutting out carbs in that case was what needed to happen with PCOS. And then the dairy for the EDS, right? But yeah, peptides, I mean, I'm a huge advocate for them because I've seen it in my own life, right? How it it legitimately changed my life. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Would you recommend peptides um to everyone, or it depends on what they want to do? Um and and do you cycle off? Are you supposed to like I guess what I'm trying to get to is people have a negative connotation to some of this stuff because it comes from a needle. Right. It's like I'm injecting. What are you taking? A steroid or a drug? Right, right. Uh no, these are actually stuff that our body uh produces or sometimes stops producing as you get older and you're trying to help it out.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Um, like nets, yeah, um and BPC. Um so how do we inform people that the this is not like that? Like this is not so the I guess the question is do you cycle off or or no? Obviously, you take it consistently.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it depends on the peptide. Um, and yeah, like your your goal, right? So for me personally, because EDS is not something that I'm gonna cure, yeah. Um, I do have to stay on them forever. Forever. There are other peptides, because there's peptides for everything. The big ones right now are semaglutide, which is osempic. There's triceptide, there's retotrutide peptide, yeah. Those are the like the big weight loss ones, right? And um, I currently am also on retotrutide in cutting for my show and cutting fat. Peptides are the future. They revolutionized so many things. And being here in Los Angeles, we're lucky. Like, I I don't go through a doctor to get my peptides.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, you don't have to.
SPEAKER_00:You don't have to. No.
SPEAKER_02:Usually they're not even FDA approved.
SPEAKER_00:They're not FDA approved, correct.
SPEAKER_02:And that's another thing that people will be like, well, it's not it's dude, we approved all kinds of dumb shit. Yeah. Like, oh, and you think that's good for you? Right, exactly. Exactly. Well, people just take, you know, a lot of people just search for like approved like a stamp. It doesn't mean it's good for you. No. Like Coca-Cola. Like selling in the fucking supermarket, coke, you know? Like, what? Yeah. You can go buy the like people just get sugar high, all, you know. Oh yeah. You know, but oh yeah. But you're scared of peptides?
SPEAKER_00:Exactly. Exactly. No, I know. Yeah. And that's what, you know, I hope to do is to open up awareness, right? And but here in Los Angeles, there are actually avenues that you could go through through a physician if that's something that, you know, you feel that you need to have. We're lucky here in LA, like we're, you know, pretty modern when it comes to that kind of stuff. And I think people are starting to awaken in, you know, trying alternative methods because they actually want to live longer, but also be healthier, right? Which is great. But there are there are certain doctors that will um administer them.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, and LA, I mean, we are the capital of like trying to stay young and healthy. I mean, you know, you walk around Santa Monica or anywhere around. I mean, people are working out, right? You know, um, and doing all that stuff. So yeah, we're super like trying different alternatives of staying healthy in a healthy way. Yeah. You know?
SPEAKER_00:Um which makes me happy because that's that's you know where I want the rest of my life. That's what I want. I want to encourage people to seek different ways to improve both mental health and their physical health, right? Yeah. With changes that, you know, are essentially they're they're simple, right? It's hard, but they're simple. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, you have to do the research. I love that you did your research for you. Yes. And uh and whatnot. And then um state the name of the peptide company that you're currently uh using.
SPEAKER_00:Premier. It's Premier Peptides USA. Yeah. They could be found online. They um will ship directly to you. Yeah. And it's, you know, it's yeah, people are like, oh, you know, it's scary, but you're out there smoking cigarettes, doing drugs, and like that's fine. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:People question people you go get a shake, right? And you're like, what's in there? Like, oh, it has kale, spinach, whatever it might be, right? Something healthy for you. And be like, yeah, well, how many, how many calories does that have? Or like what what do you you know, maybe you know, fruit or whatever. Like, yeah, but you have like fruit in there, so there's sugars, like, but you won't question the fucking burger from a doctor's display. Right. Get the hell out of you, you know? So you always want to question something healthy that you're putting in your body. Yeah, yeah. But not the bad shit of like alcohol.
SPEAKER_00:Right. But that's like that's the programming. Yeah. Like that's yeah, 100%. Yeah. Like that's what people, that's what they want. That's what they want, you know. Oh my god, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Um you found peptides, you take it. Oh, it's okay. Um, and um I I love peptides too. Yeah, I took BPC 157. I had some knee problems going on. I'm like, shit. That was stopping me from it was just probably like tendinitis in my knee from like overuse and doing it, especially running some trails coming down. Like stuff. Uh took a full cycle of it. Um, but I should just keep doing it anyways. But you d you're right, it does get expensive. Like, it does get expensive, yeah. Yeah, I think I was doing two doses, I think, morning, afternoon for five days a week, and then like not on the Saturdays, Sundays. But yeah, there's different ways.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, no, that's for some for an injury, yeah, 100%. And then that would be, like you said, short term, right? Because you're not gonna keep injecting your knee after you feel good.
SPEAKER_02:Like, yeah, yeah, correct. Right. So I stopped right now.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:But I want to uh I feel like almost coming back, um, but not the pain that I had. Right. Um, but we'll see.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I had to use it as treatment also. I mentioned to you, um, that's another big thing for me this year. It's been quite the year. I started off with a bang on January 1st. I was in a crazy car accident.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, that's right.
SPEAKER_00:Mm-hmm. And that also, you know, speaking on peptides, like I don't think that I'd be able to be six weeks out of this national show without the peptides. Because in that car accident, like I, you know, thank God that we didn't die because it looked like we could have. But I did um break my back. I have a 40% compression fracture of my T12. Holy eight discarniations and traumatic S-curve scoliosis from the car accident. Whoa. I got quite the mouthful there, right? Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And obviously that's all magnified.
SPEAKER_00:Because of EDS. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The person driving, um, totally fine. Totally fine. Oh. Yeah. And I'm yeah, I mean, I'm I have EDS, so I'm obviously you know, more prone to severe injuries in car accidents. But not not sure the quite the superhero I want to pick, but yeah. Gotta play the cards we're dealt, right?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, you have to. Yeah. Oh my God. Um, but man, amazing how peptides.
SPEAKER_00:I was back in the gym in two weeks.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, with scoliosis, partial scoliosis, uh broken back.
SPEAKER_00:Holy crap. Yeah, it was I'm obviously and I I'm still easy again right now. Like, send me 10. Send me 10. Yeah. I'm because I they did um recommend surgery for the fracture because it's causing all kinds of imbalances, right? Like that scoliosis. And honestly, like even on my therapeutic dose, I'm still in pain every day. Um, I've had to push through it against Dr. Shorters again, right? Like when I saw the specialist, um, he obviously recommended surgery and he told me, like, well, first of all, you have EDS. You can't be a bodybuilder. That's not you shouldn't be doing that.
SPEAKER_02:They were wrong.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah. And then he's like, and you've been lifting with a broken back, like you need to stop. And I told him, okay, look, what I need from you right now, because I'm not gonna listen, I'll tell you right now. Yeah. What I need is the MRI from the injury to now, after I've been lifting for three weeks, am I worse? He said, No, it's actually better. That's all I had to hear. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:I have a buddy who's who's going, who just got diagnosed, or not diagnosed, who had uh he had an MRI, uh, tore his medium meniscus and had a cyst based on the tear. Yeah. Um and they said, okay, well, uh surgery. Yeah. Um do you think BPC 157 could help that or is that sometimes like what does it actually do to try to I think it definitely can.
SPEAKER_00:It helps with uh cell regeneration and overall healing. So when you inject it into an acute injury, right? Right, it actually creates new blood vessels that lead directly to that site. And that's what we want, right? We want oxygen, we want blood flow to help heal, right? And I've always been a huge advocate for if you can stay away from surgery, stay away from surgery. Yeah, 100. Every time I've torn a ligament, that's what they recommend, right? Because yeah, of course, pay me for the surgery, right? But I've I've never had surgery for any of my torn ligaments. My shoulder dislocations, um, now that I've built the delts, they don't dislocate anymore.
unknown:Of course.
SPEAKER_00:It's like it's it's crazy, you know? And that was always like an argument with them. Like, do you listen to what you're telling me, doc? You're telling me I shouldn't be a bodybuilder. But at the same time, you're telling me, oh, if your quads weren't so developed, your knee dislocations would be much worse. Well, how do you think I develop my freaking quads? I have to lift. Yeah. Right? So it's like there's like some kind of disconnect there.
SPEAKER_02:There is. I just think, like you said, there's programming already from these doctors who think like, well, don't go out and if it hurts, don't run and work out. Right. What?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Like, like this whole COVID thing, uh-huh. It was so crazy because they were telling people to stay indoors, don't socialize. It's like we need to right now, because of this, uh stimulate our immune system and get exercise. And you're telling us not to. So you're closing out parks, trails, like where I can be in total isolation on the Resita trail by myself running, not infecting anybody. Right. But you're closing it down and telling me to go home and stay home and and just take your medication. And alone, people that live alone, like you're just alone. It was the worst time. Like humans are pack animals, we're supposed to be in groups. I was still open here for business. I was I was uh good uh, you know, it just sucked for certain things, and people were scared, and once again, the you know, the news and all these uh things were just oh yeah, all the fear mongering.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_02:Um well that's that's that's an amazing story right there in itself, like starting off the year uh with a car accident, crazy. And then your show is when again in the first time. December 12th. Your birth. December 12, yeah, that's right. Yeah. Um and then, you know, you've gone through so much at a young age, obviously uh stillborn baby, get married because you thought that was the right thing to do, forward, um, being diagnosed with um PCOS and um H E sorry D S. H-E-D S, car accident, all these stuff, doctors diagnosing you, all my own. Tell me I can't do it. Can't do it, exactly.
SPEAKER_00:That's all I hear. You can't, you can't, you can't.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Did you how did you how you know you have such a positive mindset? Um, and obviously, doctors that you feel are I don't know, went to school obviously for that. In your own mind, did did like how did you say, nope, you're wrong, no, this is the way, like, is it something internally? Did you grow up like that, your family? What kind of personality trait like led you to just kind of push forward?
SPEAKER_00:Push forward. I am a person that once I like set my mind on something, like I don't care. Like I'm I'm gonna do it. And even like small things in life, you know, like I believe in integrity. If you say you're gonna do something, no matter how small, do it. Right. And that's actually a big issue that I have with a lot of people nowadays. Like it's so easy for people to just cancel something or you know, just like, ah no, never mind, right? But that's that's not me. And especially because it's it's something that like I when I say it's the love of my life, like it's the love of my life, right? And something that you love that much, like nothing's gonna keep you from it, right? But yeah, I mean it was especially. Especially like those ten years where I kept getting injured and stuff, it was really hard. And there were multiple times where like I almost accepted defeat, right? Where I'm like, well, maybe it's not the life for me, right? Like maybe it's I'm wrong and I shouldn't love that, right? Because I can't do it. Like I'm always injured, or but I'm like, no, you know what? No, no, no, no, no. And there's a certain stubbornness, right? But also like, especially and I did have like a falling out, like I said, when I was going through all my my stuff, like, you know, my um relationship with God. But now especially, like it's it's a huge foundation for me, right? And I I pray every day, you know, multiple times a day. I try to do it when I wake up before I go to sleep and just live in a state of gratitude. Right. So and obviously life gets hard, right? Like it did after that accident. Like I felt myself slipping into like despair again because after being pain free for two years, I was right back to I'm in chronic pain again every day because of this accident, right? And it it was hard. It was hard to not fall back into like that like fear, right? Of thinking like, oh God, again. It was a trigger. Yeah. Yeah. A huge trigger. You know, it's like and and there was a point where I was scared. I'm there just there's no way that I'm gonna be able to do my show. And then people are like, dude, the stage is always there. There's always next year. And I'm like, Yeah, I started to kind of accept, well, maybe you're not gonna be able to do you, dude. You have a broken back. You know, like maybe you should take some time off time off and have the surgery, recover, start back at zero again, you know. But I decided, like, you know what? No, these doctors don't know me. They don't know what I've had to overcome to even get to this point where I'm at now in my bodybuilding career, right? They have no idea. They don't know how hard I can push myself, right? So it was just a simple decision that happened in my own mind to say no. Like it's only pain, right? And I want this more than anything. And my mom, you know, my parents aren't, you know, being like pretty traditional, they're not very gung-ho about my bodybuilding, right? Because I'm a girl and I should want to be feminine and why all these muscles, right? Which is fine. But they they accept it, right? And my mom told me, like, you know, you really want this, don't you? And I told her more than anything, mom. And she said, perhaps this accident was like a final test from the universe to see if you really want it. You know, and I honestly I believe that to be true. I think that it was like one final, like, do you really? Because a lot of people would have given up, give up after that, right? Like, maybe not forever, but for the time being. Like I consider doing, right?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Like with such a severe injury. But I think that in making that decision to push, even though some people, especially doctors, would call me stupid for doing that, because you know, I could have hurt myself worse. But I was very careful. You know, I kept getting imaging done to make sure that it wasn't getting worse. And I um I have a chiropractor I work with every single week. Um so I've been careful, right? And obviously, like the supplementation with the peptides. So I've been I've been careful, but I think it all comes with just making a decision, right? Like the power of the mind is incredible. Incredible.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, also self-acuity, you know yourself.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Nobody knows you know, uh themselves besides you. Right, right. So you know what pain threshold you can take, what you can't, and you still are to self-diagnose of what is right and what is wrong for you. Exactly. Um, where doctors are just diagnosing something that you're telling them and like, hey, this is what we see, but you're like, Yeah, I I know you see that. It's cool, I see it, but I'm good. Let's keep moving forward. Yeah. But what a mentality that you have, what a mental fortitude you have to say, this is my passion, this is what I want, and nothing's gonna stop me.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And you keep pushing forward. And here we are this year, cup uh two months out.
SPEAKER_01:Two months out, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Yeah. Crazy. And it's it's true, you know, and but like I said, you know, like being um faith-based, like it helps, you know, to feel like I have someone in my corner, right? And to give me strength and seeking, you know, strength from from that, right? When I feel weak in my in my body. Because it's like I mean, I have good days and I have bad days, you know. Like sitting here right now, my back hurts, you know. But it's like I know that tomorrow I'm still gonna hit legs at 120%, you know, like Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I think a lot of people shy away from like pain and discomfort and uh try to avoid catastrophes, um certain things that we go through. But I feel that through you know, obstacles and failures and catastrophes and things that go wrong, you grow.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And you need that. Yeah. And and through everything that you've gone through has made your mind, you know, strong, a calister mind. Yeah. A mind of like overcoming adversity. Looks like my hands.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Oh yeah, there you go. Me too. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Me too. Yeah. My feet, actually.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, yeah. I'm always barefoot. And if you guys check my Instagram out, I'm always barefoot.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. No, me from running, my toes. Oh, yeah. Sometimes you get blisters, you lose nails, you know. Well, it's all good. It's all good. It's all good. Yeah. You're like, I was, I remember when I f lost my first nail, I was like, hell yeah, you know. I was showing pictures, like my wife's like, why are you showing those things? Do you think people want to say? It's a badge of honor. Yeah, it is. Like the guys that wrestle, they have the ears, you know. Oh, yeah, the cauliflower. Yeah, it's a badge of honor. Yeah. Um, you know, you went through a lot of things. You've grown up, you've changed for the better. Um, but if you could give your younger self some advice, you know, 16-year-old, 17-year-old, you know, uh ditching girl, what what what would that advice look like? What would it be?
SPEAKER_00:I would have told her not to waste her early 20s on partying. You know, but I think I would most of all tell her that she's loved and that she deserves to be and that she can do anything as long as she puts her mind to it. And that she has a very, very, very powerful mind. And to just stay on the path, you know, and focused and that everything's gonna be okay. She's gonna do it.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Unfortunately, you know, like I tell people, it's like um, I can tell you, you can tell somebody that but sometimes it seems like we need that failure. 100%, you know, unfortunately, you know, because like wouldn't it be great to just grow without all the catastrophe stuff?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, yeah, of course. Just cruise through life and like knowing it.
SPEAKER_02:You're right, I'm gonna be different. But then some shit happens, you're like, I because we've all heard the great advice from your parents, I'm sure. 100% from teachers, mentors, and all this, but we continue on our life of like, whatever, I know better. And then shit happens and things happen, and you're like, oh, yeah. You go back, you're like, Yep, here's the advice I would have given myself, uh, you know, 10 years ago or something. Yeah. Um, what what's the best advice you think you can give someone now that's trying to either, you know, compete or uh or whatever, or is going through something to stay disciplined, to stay committed, um, to push forward when they want to give up.
SPEAKER_00:When they want to give up. Honestly, it's goal setting always, but it has to be a very clear goal, right? Like as specific as possible, right? Like very specific, very specific. Just set that goal for yourself and like just sit there with it and just envision it actually happening, right? So, for example, like recently I've been battling with fatigue, you know, being like 10 weeks into a cut, right? Like cutting this weight. I've lost like over 20 pounds. And it's hard, right? And just the fatigue starts to set in, you're on no carbs, right? And like low calories. And so I experience that too, right? Even like being the tough person that I am mentally, I I deal with that too. And I'll stop like between my sets, right? Like when I'm at the gym and I just like close my eyes when I'm like feeling like, I don't know if I could do this other set, right? I don't know how I'm gonna do this, I don't know how I'm gonna do this. I just close my eyes and just like pretend I'm holding up that pro card, right? And just feel that genuine joy that comes with that that vision, right? And I think that's super important. Like we we can program our own minds, right? So I think definitely like I would say just have a specific goal. Yeah. And if it's something that you really want, like you will find a way. And it might not be because how many times I've said, oh, you know, I want to be, I don't know, a dolphin trainer, right? Like Dolphin trainer. But it's like awesome. Do I really though? You know what I mean? There's some things that, and you won't, you'll never know until you try. Yeah. Right? I always say don't knock until you try it. But you you won't know until you try. And I had an ex-boyfriend who was a pro bodybuilder, and he told me before I had like competed at my first show, one of two things is gonna happen. Either you're gonna go through the prep, you're gonna do the show, and you're gonna say, no, I'm never doing this again, or you're gonna fall in love. But you never know until you try, right? But I promise you that if it's meant for you, it will be yours.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. That's great advice. I mean, you're right. Goal setting is super important to not only goal set, but to get specific about it. Specific, yeah. And visualization. Um, what I also like is re-visualization. Um, as far as for me, for like running or doing some some long distance running or triathlons, um, things are gonna go wrong. Right. You know, uh things are gonna hurt during that time. You might get injured, you might pull something, um, you might have not have taken in enough calories or something throughout the beginning of your race. You didn't hydrate well, something's happening with your body, the weather or whatnot. So I like to revisit revisualize myself during that race, something going wrong and how I'm gonna fix it. Because of course I've already visualized the end, right? Me finishing. Yeah. But now in the process, I want to re-visualize what is probably gonna can go wrong and how the hell I'm gonna get through it. Right. And then when I'm there and something did go, I've already seen that happening. Let's go, I gotta eat more. You know what? I gotta do this more, whatever it is.
SPEAKER_00:So yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:It's different, right? Because it's a different like you're visualizing, finishing the set. I'm visualizing obviously finishing the the thing, but also so many things that can go wrong in between. From your shoes, you know, so many differ from blisters, uh losing toes, and I mean just a lot of different things. If you're running in the in the rain, cold weather, yeah, you know, now you're freezing at night. Okay, well, I gotta get through this, and I have this other clothes on my drop bags that I have to pick up and I'm chafing. I mean, so many things that can happen. But you're prepared. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I've I've already seen it. And that's another thing, preparation. Preparation. Yeah. Like you have to set yourself up for success from the beginning. Yeah. Right. And like no shortcuts. Like if your coach or trainer tells you you're gonna do 35 minutes on of cardio, you do the 35 minutes. You know what I mean? Like you don't like, oh.2 seconds was left. No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:You do it. You know what I mean? Like little things like that. Because if you start like giving yourself leeway on something that small, it just kind of snowballs, I feel like, you know? And yeah, I mean, just setting yourself up. It was meal, meal prepping, right? Like planning out like before. Yeah. Like you have to. That's the thing with bodybuilding, your entire life is on a schedule.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Every day. Every day. And every day's the same. So if you don't like monotony, it's probably not for you. Like people think, you know, like, oh, it's exciting. Yeah, being on stage for 20 seconds is exciting. Heck yeah. I mean, I've and people tell me, they're like, how what was it like, right? Were you nervous? I thought I was gonna be my first show. The moment I stepped on that stage for the first time, I've never felt like I belonged more than at that moment. Like there were no nerves, like it felt like this is me. Like my whole 36 years on this life led me to this point. Like, this is who I'm supposed to be. So for me, it just like like that was it, you know, like this this is it. But yeah, I mean, it's but uh the the day-to-day, that's not glamorous.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I mean, I tell people when you run a marathon, that's why that they have the point two. You think you ran a marathon 26 miles? Oh, yeah, the point two is the hardest, right? Because you already think you finished it. You haven't finished anything yet. You gotta go through point two more, right? And um, you're like, oh, that's so awesome. You ran a marathon. Yeah, but you didn't see the six months of training when I had to get up and put 18 miles and I had to get up at three, four in the morning because I still had something going on, and I I I was on a training plan and I had to be somewhere that was really important at 10 o'clock. So I gotta get up. Yep. And the weather doesn't care. No, yeah, like nothing you gotta get up and do it. It's windy, you know, 70, 50 to 70 mile per hour gust winds. Yeah. That's your training plan. You gotta get it done. Yeah if you want to come, you know, uh place and or you want to uh finish 26.2. Yeah. Whatever it is.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Oh, 100%. And that's what, like, especially right now, obviously, you know, my training changes through the year, right? Like during uh a bulk phase, like I'm not doing like cardio every single day. I still do cardio, but it's maybe three times a week, right? But when I'm in this phase that I am now, everything just gets multiplied, right? Like I'm doing cardio every day. I lift for three hours a day. I and then I still have to hit a certain number of steps, right? And sometimes like I'll do my my my lift and then I'll go to work and I don't hit my steps. So what do I have to do? I get home at 2 30 in the morning, gotta hit those steps, go walk three miles, girl. You're tired, so what? So what? Exactly. So what?
SPEAKER_02:So what? Get out of your own feelings, you know what I'm saying? Exactly. Um, who are some of the people that um either growing up or now or have changed that are your mentors, you look up to?
SPEAKER_00:Definitely my mom. Yeah. Number one hero. I've developed a wonderful relationship with my mom, um, which I I appreciate her so much now as an adult.
SPEAKER_01:Of course, yeah, yeah, yeah. Hard attacks you gave her, but you're good now.
SPEAKER_00:A couple heart attacks, I'm sure.
SPEAKER_01:But yeah.
SPEAKER_00:But definitely my mom. Um as far as in the professional world, um, there's a few, like, you know, but ladies in my division that I like really look up to. They're like you say goals, right? Um, Wendy Fortino, she's big in um like the media part of it too, as far as bodybuilding. She's so and I love that. Like I someone I look up to, you know what she's been able to do. She's been competing for forever, you know, she still looks freaking amazing. Um, still going to the Olympia, you know, which is the Mecca, right? It's like the epitome of of bodybuilding. Um, Jessica Reyes Padilla, another figure lady. And of course, Sid Gallian, she's, you know, eight-time Olympia winner in in this division. But yeah, I mean, just they're they're just beautiful, you know, like beautiful people and just that I mean their their goals 100%. And especially Wendy though, she's you know, I've met her um and every time she's just like you can feel how much of a genuine person she is, you know, and and I love that. Yeah. Because like she obviously has not let success get to her head. You know what I mean? Like I've met some other athletes where I'm like, uh you can like feel the douchey, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:But she's she's so genuine, and like I I like that because yes, there is like the the athlete you, but then there's also the human you, right? And she's yeah, she's amazing.
SPEAKER_02:Just fucking be real and be cool, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. I can tell you some other people and before that. I was like, what an asshole. You know what I'm saying? Pete Rose was one of them, even though I idolized him, you know.
SPEAKER_00:Isn't that the worst? That's the worst.
SPEAKER_02:Meeting like your idol, and you're like, oh man. Yeah, and I had met him before, but like he never changed. I'm like, maybe he's changed, he's older, you know, he's trying to get into the hall of fame, and uh he he was who he was. And he had a hard upbringing as well, and that's just the way he grew up and stuff. And but I don't know, you have fans, you know. You people idolize you and they put you up on a pedestal, and unfortunately, the best way to give back is to open up that and and share, and and he was not like that, you know. Um but he was a great baseball player, so I'm not knocking for that. He's passed away recently, but he's he was an asshole. And he played the game that way though, sometimes too.
SPEAKER_00:So but you know what I saw recently says like as an adult, you know, you say, Yes, we're products of environment, right? That flies when you're a kid, but if you're 40, you're choosing who and how you want to be. Yeah, so quit blaming your past.
SPEAKER_02:That's true. That's true. Yeah, when you're a kid, yeah. You're right. 100%. You have a fucking choice. Yeah, 100% perspective and and how you want to see things. Yeah. Um, do you have some credos or things that use, you know, any anything that inspires you or or a saying or a quote or anything from the Bible that you live by?
SPEAKER_00:Um, I actually have it tattooed on me. Love never fails.
SPEAKER_01:Love never fails. Is that the one on your ribs? It's no, it's on my ribs. Yep, she's on your ribs.
SPEAKER_00:I do. She's mad, but she's magic.
SPEAKER_01:She's mad, but she's mad. And then the old one's on your ribs.
SPEAKER_00:On my ribs, yeah. First Corinthians 13, verse 8.
SPEAKER_02:Is it big?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, about this big.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, does it show when you like does it? When I'm competing. Yeah. Yeah. You can see it. Do they do they markdown for tattoos?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, no. There's people that are like covered from head to toe. Oh, really?
SPEAKER_02:That's good. Because you could go back to the old school days and say no tattoos. Right, right, right. Do things like that.
SPEAKER_00:But personally, I think bodies look like on stage, bodybuilders look better without tattoos. Yeah. A hundred percent. Because you the tattoo shading kind of changes the way the muscle looks and it's just shadows, you know. But yeah, if I could go back, I probably wouldn't get tattooed. But they're mine are all pretty small. So that's good.
SPEAKER_02:That's good. Um what an amazing story. Oh my god. Um what uh a continued path of overcoming adversity and inspiration you are for everybody listening. Um and people that you're gonna affect that you won't even know. But hopefully they they reach out if they do have a question or are looking for something. How can they reach you um if they want to get a hold of you?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. So um I've always this is like like I said, the love of my life, all things health, wellness. I can talk about it all day, you know. Um on Instagram, you can find me at at beretta.official, the last name, B-E-R-R-E-T-T-A dot official. My site is um in the works right now, so it's gonna be MariaBeretta.com. Okay. And you can find the link also through my Instagram. So yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, you guys can reach out to me. Obviously, I can't be broken um or UAG fit. Um, and I can forward anything to her. Um good luck on your next venture because it's gonna be a great one. I can't wait to hopefully maybe collab and send you some clients in different ways uh of that. Um, because it it you're an amazing person, by the way. Thank you so much. You're an amazing uh human being. Um, I can feel the energy. Uh I can't wait to uh see the results on 1212. Yes. Uh I will be I will be reaching out. Um I was supposed to compete that weekend also. Really? High rocks here in Anaheim, but yeah, when I signed up, it was all sold out within an hour. Oh I just recently signed up for one in Phoenix. Okay, now training begins. Okay. Yeah. Um but thank you very much for taking time out of your busy schedule. Yeah, thank you for having me. Yeah, I'm so glad we met. Uh, we have a person, a cousin, you're your cousin. My cousin, yeah. Yeah, friend in common. And that's awesome that she reached out and says, Hey, I've somebody that uh would be a great story. And and not only was it a great story, but a continued story of overcoming adversity and obstacles. Uh, what an amazing mindset, uh, a callous mindset you have, uh, and continuing to say no to the wrong things and yes to the right things. Um, so I I thank you for for sharing. Of course, my pleasure. Vulnerable and being real um and uh and helping me understand um the diseases that you had and bodybuilding in general, because I was like, even though I have some friends, I just never asked them, you know.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:But thank you so much. Of course, thank you so much for having me. Yeah. And for everybody listening, uh, just remember that uh we're all gonna go through hard times, that things are gonna happen, that that's gonna change you. You have to have a callous mind, and just remember you can't be broken.
