E61 | Episode with Mark Henry Part 2 (The World’s Strongest Man)

Donnie: [00:00:00] Welcome to the team behind the team podcast. I am your host Donnie Maib. This is the monthly show focused on building conversations around the team based model approach to athletic performance, strength and conditioning, sports medicine, sports science, mental health and wellness, and sports nutrition.

Welcome back again to the team behind the team podcast. We have part two. this is a follow up from last episode with Mark Henry. This is the second part of it. This part, Billy, man, I’ve really enjoyed this part. He gets into kind of how he was raised in Silsbee, right? Some of the influences in his life to really who he speaks to, who he is, how big his heart is, would you agree?

Billy: One hundred percent. This, you know, he just kind of goes over of, you know, how he gave back and to his community and how he was raised, you know, he, like you were saying, he touched back on how he was raised in Silsbee, [00:01:00] Texas and his upbringing and then, you know, where he got to today and how he became so successful.

Donnie: Yeah. And I think you’ll enjoy this second part of the interview. To me, it just comes down to this, right? With any kind of great, whether it’s an athlete, a business person, a leader, it’s not about, it’s not about your success. You do have to build that foundation of success. To do something great, but it’s really about the legacy.

Right. And I feel like with Mark Henry, he’s a guy, and again, from what I’d known and what Billy’s known and seen, he’s a guy that wants to give back more than he’s taking, he’s definitely taking some, but he’s giving back and it’s rare and hard to find people that want to do that. So it’s so cool.

This second episode, you’ll kind of hear some of his heart from that, how he’s raised influences and then why he likes to give back. He talks about his son Jacob A. Little bit, I think, love to see that he’s, he cares about his kids, but he’s also Billy. He’s a parent that wants to let life kind [00:02:00] of train his kids.

He’s not a right that, that kind of quote of, don’t always try to prepare the path for the child, prepare the child for the path. And I kind of picked that up in Mark so.

Billy: Yeah, I would def, I would definitely say the same. You know, he talks about his family and how he was raised and how he’s trying to keep that parallel, I guess, to how he’s raising his kids in the world today.

and he just touched bases on how his kids are doing and how his family’s progressing and, you know, just kind of going over overall everything in his life.

Donnie: Yeah. lot of good nuggets. this again, two parts series. We appreciate you guys tuning in. Here is part two. Interview with Mark Henry.

Enjoy. So

Billy: going back onto, I guess your family stuff. Kinda wanna talk about Jacob A. Little bit. With, his lifting and stuff and, going to Oklahoma. I know we touched base a little bit on that, but how’s his lifting so far going?

Mark: Man, last week, he was in the football weight room. He was a wrestler.

But he, he in the room where the football players work out. And he did a set of five with 500. [00:03:00] So Jacob could squat like 650, 670, somewhere in there. And, they don’t have nobody remotely as close to being strong as him at, Oklahoma. And they, man, Jacob got a lot of negative programming. You know, he was out there at Lake Travis and, I heard coaches tell us, me and my wife, like, so what’s the deal with Jacob?

What do you mean? Well, we hear he’s a prima donna. It’s like, my kid? Get out of here. yeah, we, you know, like, y’all, you know, it, affects how he’s look, when, you know, people meddle in the prog I said, whoa, wait a minute. [00:04:00] tell me this again, and I’m gonna name names. The coach at Rice told me on a radio show, we both just happened to be at a radio station, same time.

He was like, I heard you and your wife, y’all like activists in Austin. You don’t think that’s going to affect, Jacob getting recruited? And I was like, first off, activists is not a bad thing.

Donnie: No.

Mark: You know, you need activists. You need people that are, trying to look out for people that ain’t getting the proper treatment.

representation, and I’m always, till they put my ass in the ground, if it’s a black person that’s trying to come up and they won’t get recognized because of nepotism, [00:05:00] or they won’t get recognized because they not in the rooms where the deals are getting done, or they don’t know that the test is coming, I’m telling.

I’m gonna push him in the back because I got it. I got help. Why would I not? That’s not a bad thing. No,

Donnie: it’s

Mark: people. But the people at Lake Travis made it seem like it was a bad thing. And it affected him with his recruiting.

Donnie: Yeah, perception.

Mark: Yeah, perception is reality is what I was always taught. And he got some bad propaganda.

but he rising above it, just like, you know, people of color have had to do for centuries now. You just gotta keep on working and rise up.

Donnie: I remember when Jacob was, he brought him in the weight room and he’s real, this dude ran up behind me as a little kid and grabbed me. I’m like, who, where is he from?[00:06:00]

I’m like, this kid is, he’s strong and like, you could tell.

Mark: I used to stick him

Donnie: up. You could tell like he was going to obviously marks his dad. But his mom is, your wife is tiny now.

Mark: Well, she was an All American gymnast though, too. Yeah, so the genetics

Donnie: were there.

Mark: Her dad was a pro boxer and fought as a Charles, was the alternate on the 54 Olympic team.

of course you know who his dad is. he got five, we got five boys in our family that won Super Bowls.

Donnie: That’s winning. I’ve

Mark: never

Donnie: heard of

Mark: that. That is crazy. Four guys that won Super Bowls and five, Michael Strahan won twice.

Yeah, that’s a good family. My cousin

Keevin, and this is on three different sides of the family. So it’s not just one. It’s spread throughout. Yeah. Like Sam Adams, that [00:07:00] Sam played behind my brother at A& M. And Pat was probably the best out of all of us. He just had a career and an injury.

Otherwise, the only person I ever seen that was remotely like Pat was, Warren Sapp and Aaron Donald. So quick, so strong. His nickname was Shorty Strong. Everybody called him Shorty Steel. He’s 6’1 700 pound squat. It wasn’t just genetic. It was how hard he worked. Like he, we worked together. we worked out every day.

Donnie, there were days where I squatted three or four days in a row. And when I lifted at home, in order for me to do a squat, I had to do a good morning first, so my [00:08:00] brother would hold the bench down, I would get under the bench press, do a good morning with 315, and then squat till you fatigued, and then have to do a big good morning to put it back together.

Go try it. I double dog dare you. Nah. All right. It was stuff that I didn’t know that I was preparing myself for something greater. It just happened by accident. I didn’t have nobody training me. You know how I learned how to live? Watching Body Shaping with Jeff and Corey Everson on ESPN. Oh yeah, I remember

Donnie: that.

Yeah.

Mark: Remember that show? Oh yeah. I used to see it. I’d watch the show. Oh yeah, I’m gonna try that. Okay, I’m gonna do those when I get, and I go outside and go work crazy, man. that’s, my life. You didn’t have

Donnie: all the videos today. They didn’t have, man, there wasn’t no

Mark: film study.

Donnie: No,

Mark: I ain’t have access.

I was in Silsby. [00:09:00] It’s only 3000 people in the whole town. Everybody know everybody like Mayberry. Hey, Mark, I’m dead serious. Everybody know everybody. You can’t do nothing. I got so many whoopings as a kid. Maybe that’s all you need to bring back.

Donnie: Cut the phone off and just whoop him.

Mark: Nobody was going to confuse me with anybody.

I was visibly different than everybody else in that town. Oh, a 12 year old kid. Yeah, this dude, he wasn’t, he didn’t look like he was that old. Probably about 230 pounds. Oh yeah, that’s Mark Henry. Throwing rocks in windows. Whooping all my childhood stories. Who would give you a whooping? Would it be your mama?

My mom, my grandma, my uncles, my stepdad. Ooh, [00:10:00] I wouldn’t,

Donnie: I wouldn’t want to whoop you about it. Man, I

Mark: stole a, I can’t eat the candy now to this day. I can’t eat a, what a, God, whatchamacallit.

Donnie: I can’t eat a

Mark: whatchamacallit now because I stole one and got caught. And my mom made me take it back to the store.

I worked for the guy in the store for a week, cutting boxes, mopping floors, cleaning up and straightening up, unpacking. She made, she put my ass to work. That’s a good mama. But she beat me like a rented mule. And then told my grandmother what happened. She whooped me. That’s, you know, that’s a good family.

My stepdad used to work offshore. He was an offshore driller. He came off from work. And they told him what he whooped me. I think this is a secret to his

Billy: WWE,

Mark: to his stardom. So it’s [00:11:00] like, you don’t mess up twice. Cause you’re going to have to, you got to go through that again. It’s like, man, I learned my lessons like the first time.

I ain’t stupid. and my kids, they got discipline. I’ve never whooped. My kids never had to I could say Jacob. I’m very disappointed He’ll start crying. He won’t disappoint me. No, I guess it’s a lot That’s a lot of ice cream just knowing ice cream this week You know, I used the video game.

I’ll put it put that video game under the bed Yeah, you ain’t allowed like I took away the finer things in life.

Donnie: Yeah, I mean, the kids, you take away things that mean a lot to them. It’s just a different generation. Yeah, it’s different. It’s just different. The world

Mark: is different. I didn’t [00:12:00] want to preach violence, and I was a pro wrestler for a living, but my kids knew, well, Jacob didn’t know until he was 12.

And he was like, Dad, I’m so tired of you losing, and I was like, Jacob, I’m putting on a show. And I ruined it. I told him Santa Claus was not real. Yep,

Donnie: you did.

Mark: But I had to do it. Because he was at the impressionable age of what’s real and what’s not. And his perception of me was That I was losing.

Donnie: Yeah, why is dad losing?

A little bit of skepticism right there, yeah. And I’m like, Jacob. Right, right, right. Yep.

Mark: You do know that if I grab somebody’s skin, I can pull it off. It wouldn’t be fair to fight me back then. Am I prime? No. I, Mike Tyson, anybody. I didn’t care, and it wasn’t nothing that they could have done to [00:13:00] stop me from doing whatever I No, I remember

Donnie: being around you some, when you were then.

And it was just, you had this aura and this, and again, you weren’t like mean or nothing. I wasn’t no bully. I ain’t never been no bully. But there was this like, unbeatable mentality and presence. I felt bulletproof. Yeah.

Mark: I really did, and that’s dangerous. Tell

Donnie: us, who’s your, Best favorite person you like to wrestle with like who is the oh my god Would you get in the ring with you really?

Yeah,

Mark: Ray Mysterio.

Donnie: Why him?

Mark: Ray Mysterio 5’4 145 pounds and we would tear the roof off of buildings because We will use it. Wrestling is a psychology based business. You can’t be a dummy and be a wrestler. You can’t be, but you won’t be any good. You got to learn how to tell stories with action. The term Broadway comes from wrestling.

You know that

Donnie: [00:14:00] I didn’t know

Mark: because Broadway is a one hour wrestling match. That’s what that is. And you read the Bible?

Donnie: Oh

Mark: yeah. That’s pro wrestling. Good versus evil.

Donnie: Stage. It’s a stage. Story.

Mark: There’s a story behind every story. Then you have the prequels, the precursors to the story. That’s what we do in wrestling.

We tell the precursor we have a match, and then we tell the backstory once it’s over with, and then people get emotionally involved and. I would play the, I was the bad guy. Ray was a good guy. He had a cross on his helmet, on his, mask. Ray Mysterio. And if I grabbed him [00:15:00] and pushed him down to the ground and stood over him, however many people were in there would stand up and boo the hell out of me.

I was like, oh, this is gonna be easy. And we just had him, and I always found a way to, for him to shine, and that’s the beauty of psychology. Is when you tell those stories, you have to pay off the story and I lost because good is supposed to triumph over evil and you know, so I’m telling Jacob that day he sat quiet and looked at a wall for like 20 minutes, just couldn’t wrap his brain around and then he would come back.

He would go. So you, know, who’s going to win. And I said, yeah, Jacob,

and then he [00:16:00] looked at the wall again, be quiet. And then about five or 10 minutes later, he’d come back. So the time that you, and then he would start playing him. He replaying everything and he bringing it back. Dad, how do you, how did you trick me? I said, Jacob, I didn’t trick you. You love it, right? Yeah. I said, keep loving it, but just know that if you ever do this, I’m gonna have to teach you how to sell.

And he said, sell what for like for money. I said, no, Sell as in your reaction to. Whatever stimuli that comes your way, is it positive or negative? If that cup drops and knocks over, Oh man,

God,

like that’s selling something. You know, if the [00:17:00] cup fall over, And nobody reacts, how interesting is that?

It’s boring, yeah. It’s, so You gotta be a showman. You have to be a showman, but not a chess beater. they

Donnie: two different things. Who, is, so going back to the wrestling, anybody in that circle of your time good at lifting like you were, decent?

Billy: Who are some of the strongest guys that you went against?

Mark: John Cena was really strong. Did you ever train with him? I mean, 700 pound squat. Wow. At 275. Yeah. That’s pretty stout. Where’d he get that from? He also had a, plus 550 bench. Oh, wow. Brock Lesnar was incredibly strong, but then there were guys like, you know, Bruce Wilhelm, who wrestled a little bit.

He was a Olympic, weightlifter. you had Bill Kazmaier wrestled a little bit, you know, not, didn’t make a [00:18:00] career out of it. One of the best strong men of all time. Ted cei. Doug Furnace. Doug Furnace. I think he won a world championship in power lifting.

Billy: Okay. And Ted cei, he was the first man ever benched 700 Ben 700

Mark: pounds.

Yeah. Yeah. Wow. So it is been some really strong people, but you know, the people that are strong, that were strong to me were the genetic freak people. Big show. Like big show. Yeah. Like I watch big show. Do. reps with 500 pounds and he would put one plate on 135, 225, 315, 405, 455, 500. And then he wouldn’t lift again.

He wouldn’t do bench again for like a week.

Billy: What about Dwayne Johnson? Was he ever a guy that you got to see? He was pretty. Yeah. He was pretty. He was, he

Mark: was pretty. The rock was [00:19:00] beautiful. Yeah. Like, you know, he was the stone. He was, Hey man, his, when he came from Canada, his first day. He came, he has 7 to his name,

Donnie: which

Mark: his company is called Seven Bucks Entertainment.

And he didn’t have enough money to get a hotel. He, you know, he hadn’t got his first WWE check yet and he moved in with me. So people see The Rock, lived with me for 10 months, and then we got rid of our apartment in Connecticut and went to Memphis and worked for Jerry Lawler’s Territory. But we was employed by WWE,

Donnie: but they,

Mark: they would, you know, send talent to go get experience.

And so we, I and Dill ended up being in Memphis, but [00:20:00] like he, he wasn’t strong like that. He worked out, but he worked out more like a bodybuilder. Yeah. A lot of reps real lightweight. Didn’t ever push it look good on stage and on during the show. Yeah, man, they,

Billy: look like tar and play like Jane when you, I love it.

When you started and got into the game at wd, I’ve heard a couple stories. Is it true that you, you hung up on Vince McMahon when he gave you a phone call? I did.

Mark: I didn’t think it was that it was Vince, can you tell us

Billy: a little bit about that with your starting, because I’m a

Mark: wrestling fan?

Billy: Yeah.

Mark: So everybody in our dorm knew that on Mondays and Saturday mornings that I was in the rec room watching wrestling because they knew not to come and turn the TV because I would be bent out of shape.

You know, we had one TV, it was like jail at the Olympic Training Center. So like I’m sitting there an hour sometimes before wrestling came on just so that people wouldn’t turn the channel. Because [00:21:00] if you came in the room and something was on, you couldn’t turn the channel. That was the rule. So, I would just go post up.

I was gonna watch my wrestling. So, for Wes, I thought it was Wes Barnett, cause I remember Wes. Wes was our, heavyweight, under me. I, just knew it was Wes. Acting like he was Vince, and I was like, yeah, right, Wes, and hung up. That’s crazy. And Vince, Terry Todd called me back, and Terry said, did you hang up on Vince?

And I was like, what? And he was like, yeah, Vince McMahon is trying to call you. And I went, that was Vince for real? And he, I was in shock. I was nerd, man. I was standing, we had a payphone in the hallway. I’m pacing in front of the phone. Like, man, I can’t believe this, man. I can’t believe [00:22:00] I hung up. And then the phone rang.

I was like, hello? He was like, is this Mark? And I was like, yes. He said, would you hang up on me? I said, man, I’m so sorry. I was like, I thought it was one of my guys. He just busted. I laugh. Boom. That’s hilarious. And that was a

Billy: start to your contract right around that era. He was calling you just to, well, to get information on

Mark: 95.

Okay. he, you’re still competing. I was still competing and he, was like, Hey, we wanna, we see you. This is before social media. I was getting so much attention back then that it got to them and they were like, this dude is everywhere. And I’m competing in celebrity slam dunks. I’m doing Hollywood stuff.

I did Arnold before the Arnold classic. Arnold used to do a thing on muscle beach in Venice. And I [00:23:00] went and there was a guy that used to hang out on the beach and do curls. and out curl everybody cause his body didn’t produce a lot of lactic acid. So you’re a kinesiology guy. You understand what I’m saying?

for y’all that don’t understand lactic acid is the thing that makes you lock up when your body starts to get tired and the oxygen is out of your blood. There’s waste that stops you from being able to perform at a high level and it will make you cramp. It’ll make you lock up. So that’s that guy. He was out there doing his thing and I went out there and I was like sitting back watching him and I said, you know what?

It’s a trick because I just knew I was like, I said, I’m a challenge him to something else other than curls. I was like, let’s see how long [00:24:00] he can hold. The dumbbells out inverted straight out like this, because he don’t work those muscle groups like that. I do. So when I got him to do that, he was like, he was fighting it.

And he’s like, and I beat him and I’m still like this. I’m like, come on, man. You ain’t done. I’m talking trash and people that got back to Arno and other people. And it was like, man, that dude is a showman. He, meant for wrestling. And so like the kind of the legend, the Mark Henry started getting out there

Billy: with you, with your career and telling about your story, how you got found, I know over the years and in the past 10 years or so in recent years, you’ve actually kind of developed and found a lot of athletes for the WV.

You want to talk about that a little bit? Some people that you’ve scouted

Mark: out, just what I was saying, like the way [00:25:00] that it was for me is the way that I scout. Like they asked me to help when I got injured one time. Hey, we, you know, we want to use your connection to the Olympics. You think that they’ll allow us to come in and, go to the Olympic games and scout talent and so forth.

I said, yeah, if we call them. So I ended up calling the Olympic committee. And. Working it out that we can go and scout the Olympic games and man, I ended up scouting a lot of people, but I told him that they system was flawed because some of the guys, they only would pick the girls that they thought were hot.

They didn’t have no athletic ability. They couldn’t put a sentence together. The face look good on TV, but they couldn’t perform for anything. Man, they couldn’t perform. They couldn’t do nothing but look pretty. And the dudes. They might look good, but [00:26:00] man, if you hit one of them by accident, like they’re going to cry and fold up and go home.

I said, you need to get competitive athletes that look good. And you can’t just get the ones that just look good. You need to get people that when you hear them before you see them. So I gave them all these criterias of what I thought. how you pick a talent should be, and that’s where we go by still today.

I picked hall of famers. Like, you know, I didn’t Brian Danielson. I can’t claim him because he was just good. And I was like, Hey, y’all need to see this dude. I saw this guy wrestle. He was awesome. All I did was open the door. Hey, walk in, boom, he going to be in the hall of fame. Apollo crews and rich swan [00:27:00] were in Japan.

They were very entertaining. I was like, you got to get these dudes. Then I said, go get them. And I was like, so am I paying for this? You know, so it was one of them that I got them, flew them to Orlando or Tampa at the time. They signed them. Both of them became world champions. Then, Braun Strowman, he was a strong man, and I saw him, and before I saw him, I heard him.

Come on guys, big country is in the building, I’m finna do this or this. I was like, that dude right there got it. He looked the part, he was 6’7 330 pounds, and big dude, but a lot of personality and a ton of confidence. And I’m like, yes, I want you to wrestle. He was like, no, I’m gonna be world champion. I said,[00:28:00]

bro, you know, I don’t want to be a dream smasher, but I’m gonna tell you, Brian Shaw is 25. He’s going to be world champion for a long time. Eddie Hall is in his early twenties. He’s going to be champion. They’re going to go back and forth after half door was coming along. he was not there yet. But two years later, now you got three of them, three headed monster.

And then the Jonas Savickas came, I said, bro, like, I’m, trying to get you paid like a year and a half later. He called me. Hey, Mr. Henry, you think you can still get me in the wrestling? I said, yes! Where are you? And how fast can you get to the airport? Flew him to Tampa. He became world champion. his highest year, he made a million.[00:29:00]

His lowest year, he made 500, 000. And that was 10 years ago. That was a good jump. So you go from being broke and in a car that don’t work, he was like, well, I hope you don’t want me to drive because my car is not, you know, I don’t know if I can put it on the road, you go from being broke. That’s what I enjoy changing people’s life.

And, then Bianca Belair, she was a CrossFit athlete.

Crazy. She’s at the nationals. And, you know, in CrossFit, you do an apparatus, put that down, and then you step over and you go to the next thing. She did a cartwheel to get to the next thing. She’s wasting energy before. She’s wasting energy trying to be entertaining. Wow. Then she would do that and lift, and then she’d do a backflip, and then she’d go to the next thing and do V ups and [00:30:00] stuff.

And I said, Wow, this, is the most entertained I’ve been in a while. And if I’m entertained and you teach them how to wrestle, they’re going to be entertaining. Shoot, Main Event at WrestleMania, world champion, Jay Cargill. They call me. A friend, a mutual friend of ours called me and said, Hey, this girl, she, she wants, she, you should look at her.

She’s incredible to look at y’all Google Jay Cargill, WWE,

unbelievably striking to look at. You just go, Holy cow. God make those. She incredible. Yeah. Your wife is not going to get mad at you for looking at your wife. We’re going to look at her like, God dang. Wow. She’s put together [00:31:00] incredible. And I thought she was too pretty. I said,

my experience, people that look like that, they’re going to quit easy. He don’t waste our time. And I told her, I said, look, if you serious, I need you to go to Indianapolis. She was in Atlanta. I said, I want you to work out with this guy named rip Rogers, hall of fame. Wrestling coach, but he’s crazy, batshit crazy.

And please go Google rip Rogers. And I’m sorry. Now I’m just apologizing for introducing you to this guy. He’s nuts. I love him though. He put her through a workout and he called me. He said, Hey, fat bastard. That’s what he always called me. Fat bastard. He said, where’d you find this one? And I was like, you know what?

She reached out to me. He said, [00:32:00] she’s going to make so much money. They’re going to have to start printing new money. And I was like, what are you talking about? He said, man, I hit her across her back as hard as I could hit somebody without going to jail. And she said, that’s all you got old man. And I went, are you serious?

He said, Mark, she tough. And I was like, well, tell her to call me. She called me next day, Florida, Orlando got a tryout with the WWE. They didn’t sign her. She got signed by AEW. And work with Cody Rhodes and became highly successful, was at one point 50 and 0 wrestling. Got over, then of course, her deal was up, now the WWE wanted her.

And then they signed her and she’s already been, she [00:33:00] went to WrestleMania and she’s already been world tag champions. Everybody that I picked, they win because I understand what you need to be in my business. And that is, I think that’s, one, another one of those. gifts that God gave me to, keep it going because it’s so easy to fall off.

Once one thing leaves, if you don’t have something else, man, that’s why they say you got to diversify your portfolio. You got to put all your eggs in one basket. It’s a thousand of them. I never was able to, not put all my eggs in a basket. But when I do. I ain’t dropping the bag. Like I’m willing to work the long hours.

I’m going to be there before you get there. And I’m [00:34:00] going to be there after you leave. Like that mentality is the key to success. And a lot of people don’t realize success is not easy. But it’s attainable if you’re willing to sacrifice what it takes to have it most people not it’s sad Yeah, I

Donnie: mean even today.

I

Mark: mean you got 85 people on that UT football, right?

Donnie: Right

Mark: only three or four gonna go to the NFL.

Donnie: Yeah, small percentage like less than 2 percent Yeah,

Mark: and they only gonna be in the league for three to four years those three That make it.

Donnie: Yeah, so you better have something else.

Mark: So you better have something else.

Donnie: So what’s, for Mark Henry, what’s next for Mark?

Mark: Man, I’m, I want to continue to do really good in radio. I’ve been courted [00:35:00] about doing a, a radio show here in Austin.

Donnie: Okay.

Mark: I’m focusing on my website. the Mark Henry show is going to be on themarkhenry. com. I, booked for all Caribbean wrestling or I picked the talent for all Caribbean wrestling.

And, we got shows in the Bahamas and Trinidad and Jamaica. I still, you know, go to the Arnold every year and MC the world’s strongest man, like I stay busy, man. Like I’ve done some. Comic Cons and stuff like that now, which I really never did a lot of that. but job wise, like I just love the radio, man.

Like, what we’re doing right here is, [00:36:00] I do it every day, and three hours a day, every day. So, we’re, you know, busted open. We’re on seven days a week. I only do three days, but, I say only because I can sit and talk all day long. You know, you have a plan. Oh, I’m gonna be there for an hour. And I leave in two hours because I just can’t help it.

Donnie: Yeah, you kind of touched on, you know, I’ve always looked up to Arnold. You obviously know Arnold. Yeah, he’s, done like, he’s done what you said. He’s diversified his career from being the athlete, the actor, and then to politicians, you know, Bill

Mark: and business man.

Donnie: Yeah.

Mark: A lot of people don’t realize how much real estate.

Like Arnold Owens and, his company that his son, works for him and, how the Arnold classic itself, Jim Larmor, [00:37:00] God rest his soul died last year. and Arnold is the guy and that the Arnold classic probably with Lloyd Davis and all of his team. There’s probably about 40 of them, 40 people have a full time job running one

Billy: event.

I think it’s the biggest beside obviously trade

Mark: show in the world.

Billy: Yeah, because the Olympics is every four years, but I think on an annual basis, it’s the biggest sporting event in the world. Yeah, they have more athletes than

Mark: that competing in Olympic games. Yeah, at the Arnold. So, I mean, it’s like just to wrangle and pay for flights and, you know, the economic growth of Columbus, Ohio is, Man, it’s way worth more than his weight in gold.

I think they 70 million dollars, 70 million dollars a weekend. Yeah, every year. Oh [00:38:00] for the economy. That’s

Billy: one weekend out of every year. And then he started a series. He’s got a series of the Arnold UK Arnold South America down in Brazil, Arnold, African, South Africa, Arnold, Europe, all around the world.

They’re doing. So

Mark: that brand is huge. And I, they don’t have to hire some more people because Lord Davis is a friend of mine and he’ll go some, like when they have the Arnold the next weekend, they do back to back the Arnold. He sleep about two hours, three hours a day for two weeks. Lloyd. Oh, wow. I said, bro, you look like you been hit by a truck.

And he’s like, man, I slept three hours yesterday. They, I got to go over here to the building right now, man. I’ll talk to you later. And I’m like,

Donnie: that’s a lot. They

Mark: wearing, they wearing them out. They work hard, bro. Like, and I [00:39:00] love hard workers, but I believe in smart work too. Like, you can’t never let it get dangerous.

Donnie: Yeah, like you said earlier, you want to live a good life, a full life, not a short life.

Mark: Man, that stress.

Donnie: Yeah.

Mark: The stress will take you out.

Billy: You want to be a Swiss Army knife in your life, you know. You want to have all different kind of pockets and windows kind of go down avenue throughout your life.

You don’t want to just stick to one thing. Like you’re saying, Arnold, he was a, he was bodybuilding as, his lever to start his career. Yeah. And you use powerlifting to get into weightlifting and then the straw man. And then the, you know, you got a

Mark: springboard from one thing to the other.

Billy: Yeah.

Mark: And if you’re going to be great, then you’re going to have to like focus and narrow it down.

You know, I told both my kids, I say, listen, y’all can play volleyball. She’s playing volleyball now, track basketball, and she wrestles. I said, you’ll senior year. You may be able to do two of those. You ain’t gonna have time. [00:40:00] And the coaches that are gonna offer you a scholarship, they not gonna want you to take all that risk of getting hurt.

So they, Jacob told me, no. Like, most boys, They know more than they dads when they get 17.

Billy: Yeah, I know that. I know that. I know that feeling too. He’s looking over at you, Billy. Yeah, I know that feeling. I know that. I look over at

Mark: Billy. And like, all of a sudden, they just geniuses. Yeah. He clues. It doesn’t work out too easily.

They ain’t live much life. Hey, you had girls. You got lucky. Yeah. Them boys. Golly, Donnie, that’s my grandma. You said, Oh, you smell in your peers. Yeah. Like you, you think you’re a man. Now you can tell us what to do. Like boys do that. I don’t know what is wrong with man. These men today, Donnie, I sound like my mama.

Now they, Jacob thought he knew more than me at some times. [00:41:00] And I would say, okay. You do it and I will let him fail because that’s not normal.

Donnie: Most parents won’t

Mark: the greatest medicine for being an athlete is losing. I told you now you want to do it my way.

Yeah, I guess he’s so irritated and then when I, when we have success, then it’s like, yeah, I did it. And I’m like, you did. I’m very proud of you, man. You helped. But yesterday he called my wife in tears. Thank y’all so much! I’m prepared, I was ready for this, and I’m handling this, and my wife was, and he got some big news, and I’m not gonna break his news, but something happened to him yesterday that was big for him.

That’s awesome. [00:42:00] And, he called us thanking us for preparing him and getting him ready. And I was like, a little pat on the back, you know, my wife just in tears, bawling. And I was like, you should be happy. Why are you crying? it’s just a feel good story. I was like, menopause, that’s menopause, lady.

Donnie: I tell you that, that’s so good, Mark. I mean, that’s the quote. Of the century right there. You really need to prepare the child for the path, not the path for the child. You know, that’s it.

Mark: And sometimes you can’t give them off ramps. You get on that road. I need you to finish it out. Where it dead ends is where you going.

I invested my time, my money and my belief and prayers for you to have success. And [00:43:00] now you want to quit. What is that? You ever seen me quit anything? You ever seen your mom quit anything? And then they go, no. And then they get it. Like that’s, you can’t go through life quitting. Yeah, but you don’t learn a thing.

You gotta fail. You don’t, yeah. I’d rather you fail. Then to quit, go and do it to failure. And then you say, well, that wasn’t for you. It’s time to go on to something else. But that, woes me. I ain’t, I never, I, that’s the most, that’s the most expensive thing that I can think of. Entitlement. I can’t afford it.

It’s too expensive. I can’t afford that. It’s hard for me. I have empathy. I feel sorry for people. But I don’t pity anyone you had your chance to make a decision and [00:44:00] you didn’t, and you didn’t have a dad like me telling you, no, you’re not doing it. No, you’re gonna finish it. And that’s we all need it. My dad, Terry tied kick me, man.

You know how many times he verbally kicked my ass. Mark, you, can’t do it your

Donnie: way. It’s so good though, Mark. It’s been a great conversation. so to our listeners that want to follow you, learn about you, what’s the best way?

Mark: The best way is to go to themarkhenry. com to my website.

I’m the Mark Henry on all things, social media, on X, Instagram, Facebook. I’m pretty easy to get a hold of. What about your show that you do every What’s your show? My show is on Sirius XM channel 156. Okay. it’s called Busted Open. we have the number one podcast. And, somewhere around [00:45:00] 300 to 500 listeners a week, a thousand listeners a week.

we, Howard Stern is the only person on Sirius that’s got a high rating than my show.

Donnie: That’s incredible. Good stuff, Mark. Well, dude, this has been, incredible. Thank you for making time. Anything

Mark: for you, man. you’re one of God’s chosen.

Donnie: I appreciate it. I tell you what, there’s not another Mark Henry, never will be.

And I know, you know, all things aside, Texas, you know, you’ve always, you know, You’ve been a special place in my dad’s heart, my heart, you know, aside from who you are as success, but as a human being and as a man of God, I appreciate you, Mark. So thank you so much. And

Mark: I appreciate you sharing your dad with me.

Your dad was special, man.

Donnie: Well, good stuff. Well, Billy, any closing thoughts? I

Billy: just want to say as well, I feel honored, you know, to be on the panel with obviously [00:46:00] Coach Donnie and also with Mr. Mark Henry, y’all are both two legends in coaching and sport in general. And, I just want to say I’m very, honored to be on this podcast.

Donnie is underrated

Mark: in the world of physical coaching. He truly is. like he ain’t gonna toot his own horn.

Billy: I talked to you at the Arnold and when I told you I was going to Texas, you’re like, you know, with coach Donnie. And the first thing he said, he’s like, he’s the best in the business. I was like, he is.

So.

Mark: Look at volleyball. Look at the women’s sports at this school. Like, not just volleyball, but all the women’s sports. Like, man, it ain’t an accident that they winning. That they doing good. It come from preparation. And

Billy: training. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. We get Donny has us here. We get here early in the morning. We get everything set up.

We get it going. And then, like

Mark: I said, longevity, like you, you don’t play the short game, you know, I want you to get your money, but you at that age where you got to put in [00:47:00] a sweat equity and you got to prove that you’re worth. This come this business. I say this company because Texas is not just a college.

It’s a business. Yes, sir Oh, yeah so if you want them to value you and give you that watch in 30 years like you’re gonna have to sacrifice and Sometimes take a pay cut sometimes like you have to work multiple jobs Like they don’t want you to do everything just to prove you worthy Definitely,

Donnie: definitely.

That’s good wisdom. Good wisdom, not only for Billy, but for our listeners. For everybody. Yeah.

Billy: Yeah, definitely.

Donnie: Well, Mark. I appreciate y’all, man. Yeah, that’s it. And, thank you so much. And that’s it from the team behind the team podcast. Hey, the world’s strongest man in the house today, Mark. We love you.

Appreciate you. Hook em.

Mark: Hook em. Hook em.

Donnie: Well, we hope you enjoyed that interview as much as Billy and I did. Billy, did you enjoy

Billy: that? I truly did. It was, phenomenal talking to Mr. [00:48:00] Mark Henry for, two hours, you know, the world’s strongest man. if y’all want to go check him out and, find out more about Mr.

Mark Henry, obviously go on YouTube, look stuff about him there, or go to the Stark Center website and check out the Arnold Classic website as well. They’ve got some articles about him and his phenomenal lifts and career on there. but overall coach Donnie, what else do you think?

Donnie: No, just, I really enjoyed it.

it’s been one of my most memorable interviews. We’ve been doing this podcast since 2020. And so I re I mean, the time flew by. He just a man is a wealth of knowledge, history. accolades and accomplishments. So definitely you can tell when you’re in the presence of someone great, they have that impact on you.

Mark Henry is that guy. He is that person. He is that human being. So we were grateful for our time with him. Just like Billy said, check out those websites. I highly encourage you to do a little more research on Mark. If you ever get a chance to connect with him, he’s pretty, pretty approachable.

Wouldn’t you say, Billy? I would

Billy: say so. Yes. He’s, a very charismatic guy. He’ll have a joke coming at you once you talk to him for a couple

Donnie: of minutes. Yeah, [00:49:00] he’ll, squeeze your, trap real hard too if you’re a guy and make you feel like, yeah, I’m not going to make this guy mad.

But again, hey, hope you enjoyed the interview. Appreciate you tuning in to the team behind the team podcast. Share this episode on your socials. Hop on there on the website. Give us a rating and review, please, when you can. And hey, y’all have a great one. We’ll see you on the flip side. Thanks so much for tuning in and listening.

To this episode of the team behind the team podcast for future episodes, go to iTunes, Spotify, Google podcast, or Stitcher. We definitely want to keep having great guests on the show and great content. So if you have a moment, please go to iTunes, leave a rating and review and let us know how we’re doing.

I’m Donnie Maib and thanks so much for tuning in.