I’m joined today by Brad Rowe, a professional bodybuilder and trainer to numerous professional athletes and celebrities. In this episode, Brad describes his experiences using the Neubie to help himself recover from various injuries (far ahead of schedule!) and optimize his own training. He then shares how he’s used it to help some other incredible athletes. He talks about his work with Mike Tyson, who Brad trained daily for several months in preparation for Mike’s comeback fight at age 54, as well as how he used the Neubie to help Dexter Jackson compete on the main Mr. Olympia stage at age 50. Plus, now that he’s just retired from professional bodybuilding, Brad gives us a little glimpse into his next project.
[Garrett salpeter] 0:18
I’m [Garrett salpeter]. And I believe that the most powerful and transformative way to help people recover from pain and injury, heal from trauma and reach their highest levels of fitness and performance is to focus on the nervous system. In this podcast, we’ll share knowledge from the frontiers of neuroscience and inspirational stories of how applying that knowledge has empowered people from all walks of life to heal, adapt, and grow. Welcome to this episode of the undercurrent podcast. And I am delighted to share this one with you because we have Brad row, live in person here in Austin, Texas. And we’ve been talking about doing an episode together for months. And we kept saying, let’s wait and do it live next time we’re together.
[Garrett salpeter] 1:02
And then we finally this weekend had a, an opportunity to be together, we’re filming a course canoeing education course here, using the newbie for muscle hypertrophy and all the related considerations there. So I’m super excited to have Brad, quick intro and Brad. Brad is a very accomplished professional bodybuilder and trainer. And he works out in the LA area where he’s lived for the last about 10 years.
[Garrett salpeter] 1:29
And we met during a period where he was going through a challenge, he had literally just torn his bicep, tendon. And we’ll get into that. And so we work together first to help him with some rehab. And then we’ve been able to work together very closely over the last few years. And working with Brad, we’ve been able to push the limits of recovery and performance with some very high end clientele and a lot of different circumstances and situations. And I’m really excited to dive into this one. So thank you, Brad for being here.
[Brad Rowe] 2:01
I want to thank you guys, you know, I say this over and over again. But you guys, you and NeuBe in the new fit have completely changed my life and sent me on a totally different trajectory. So I’m forever grateful for you and what you’ve created.
[Garrett salpeter] 2:16
Awesome. I’m super humbled and grateful to hear that and excited to dive in here and share some of those experiences with our listeners. So let’s talk first about that, that bicep. We were doing a demo at a gym. It’s actually over the Olympia week, right when you know,
[Brad Rowe] 2:37
it was in August. It was right before that. And actually our first real interaction was my ex-wife had the major injury. That’s right. And that’s how I came across. She tore both of her quad tendon insertions into the hip. And was the guy that powerlifted what was his name that connected us? The big powerlifted guy?
[Garrett salpeter] 3:02
Oh, I remember we’ll, we’ll put in the show notes or we’ll figure it out.
[Brad Rowe] 3:09
So anyway, I believe he had reached out to you guys and you know, said, Hey, there’s this great couple there. The wife just got hurt, you know, what can you guys do? And so you guys least as a machine, and with her recovery, you know, she was supposed to be 12 weeks on a walker. And by 12 weeks, she was like pressing at about 60% strength. And then we send the device back. And I thought that was the end of it.
[Brad Rowe] 3:31
And just so happened that I was in Dallas doing a photo shoot destination Dallas for their fifth year anniversary. And I ruptured my bicep and you guys were there doing a demo. And one of your practitioners was like, we got you, we’ll take care of you. So you guys lease me out another machine and had the surgery and using the newbie for recovery. I turned what was supposed to be a 16 week recovery with no direct bicep work into stepping on stage and placing fifth at a pro show. And I believe I was curling about a 45 pound dumbbell the week before I left. So it
[Garrett salpeter] 4:09
Was supposed to be 16 weeks and what week was that when you stepped on stage in 114 weeks? 14 weeks? 1/5 place?
[Brad Rowe] 4:15
Yeah. And that was 16 weeks without any direct bicep work. And I was 14 weeks stepping on stage with a complete physique.
[Garrett salpeter] 4:23
That’s that was that was so cool. I loved I loved seeing that one. So just for context in the beginning, you know we had sent you the machine you’re in LA we’re in Austin. So we were talking with you on the phone and video calls skipping and initially it was the you know, just kind of lower settings try to try to wake up those muscles because after surgery, it’s just as this really interesting we’ve talked about a little bit before on previous episodes, but it’s it’s interesting circumstance where your body you know, even forgetting even the original injury, the trauma of surgery.
[Garrett salpeter] 4:54
The body doesn’t understand that you’ve actually been put back together and things are in better shape now that they’re stronger. The body just knows that there because it’s been cut into and torn apart, and there’s all this trauma and in response to that trauma, it shuts down everything. That’s why there’s so much atrophy. And so getting the newbie on there to wake back up, those muscles that normally would be shut down would have significant atrophy just changes the whole trajectory of the process. So can you can you walk us through? You know, obviously, we know that the conclusion of the story you stepped on stage at 14 weeks? But can you walk us through kind of just even just roughly some of that timeline of how that how that surgery recovery went? Yeah,
[Brad Rowe] 5:30
You know, so I was, I was wrist to shoulder and a forecast. But once after, I believe the two weeks post op, we took the cast off and just went to brace. And once we took the cast off, and I could actually get to skin, I would just put the pads on the lower part of my forearm or the upper part of my bicep. And I would just sit there and just let the current run through, you know, and with that you’re increasing blood flow, you’re loosening everything up, you’re kind of just getting things moving. So you’re reducing inflammation.
[Brad Rowe] 6:02
And as you know, DC current kind of has some natural healing modalities to it. So you know, for the first few weeks, before I could actually get any movement, I would just sit there for about 30 minutes at a time with the newbie, just running at a very low current, just trying to flush things through and reduce that inflammation and try to facilitate some of those healing modalities. And then once we got into actual movement patterns, you know, we did you know, your typical scan and search and find the neurological deficiency spots, and just move through just simple movements, getting things firing and getting things activated again. And then slowly progressing on to very light strength training with it. And then as things got stronger and more secure, then we ramped up the strength training with that as well. So
[Garrett salpeter] 6:51
And So originally, it was supposed to be no direct bicep work till about 16 weeks, when did you actually do that first direct resistance training with the bicep,
[Brad Rowe] 6:59
I think at the Olympia was really the first time so that was about five weeks post op was when we were all at the Olympia together. And we started doing some light banded work with some strength training, and then really trying to stretch things out and get some muscle recruitment with it. And then it was just kind of a slow process. And I would say probably at about eight weeks, I was back to you know, be able to do some light bicep work isolation work with that arm, but I was able to train back and train all the other body parts with really no issues whatsoever. So it was it was pretty remarkable.
[Garrett salpeter] 7:40
That’s awesome. That’s awesome. Thank you for sharing that. And this time, unlike the previous where they’ve been telling the story of the staff and the quads, if you send the machine back this time, we were able to get those
[Brad Rowe] 7:52
Yeah, I was so blown away, you know, more of the training experience, right? Not only with recovery aspect of things. So because I didn’t use the newbie at all during that process for actual hypertrophy training. It was strictly just rehab, you know, some strength training on the bicep itself.
[Brad Rowe] 8:08
And I’d never use on any part of my body. It wasn’t until after the show that I still had the device and I was getting ready to go out and I did an arm workout with it. And I was so crippled during that hard work out. Because no one told me that not to go all out. And I did an all-out arm workout. And I was literally stuck like T Rex tried to walk around with this music festival with my wife at the time. And I couldn’t move my arms and like, oh my god, this thing is amazing. So between the recovery process and how effective that one workout was, I was like, I need to buy one, I need this. And the rest is history.
[Garrett salpeter] 8:49
So and since then we have gotten on the same page to make sure that you don’t
[Brad Rowe] 8:57
Destroy yourself.
[Garrett salpeter] 8:57
We know that we know that.
[Brad Rowe] 8:59
There is a ramp up phase,
[Garrett salpeter] 9:00
There’s a ramp up phase that’s right. To soar out of the gate. Yeah. And so you then I’m just to continue your story before we even created something that’d be Yeah. So you then competed a few more years and you’ve been using it in your training. Yeah,
[Brad Rowe] 9:14
So I started utilizing it my training. And again, you know, I’m not that old, but I’m getting to a point my age where, you know, things start to break down a little bit years and years and years of wear and tear. You know, as I tell people that it’s not my age, it’s the mileage that I put on my body, you know, beat my body to death from a young age. And there was just so many aches and pains like I need a I need a shoulder replacement on my left shoulder. So training was becoming extremely difficult.
[Brad Rowe] 9:47
I have an issue where I have weak hamstrings from like a tearing standpoint, they continuously tear. So there’s been so many instances throughout the beginning where I was able to overcome some of these nagging injuries and issues that I’ve had. And the newbie allowed me to train and train successfully. And really not miss a beat. I mean, even during that, that show prep for Romania, when I, when I first originally tore the bicep, I tore my hamstring in the middle of prep, and I would sleep with a newbie on with low current, and I’d be able to wake up, touch my toes, and be able to train.
[Brad Rowe] 10:26
And so I didn’t miss a beat whatsoever because of that. So when I finally decided to become a practitioner, actually cut my one vacation that I’ve had in 10 years short, to come out here for the certification course. And then I went to gold’s Venice and started tried to try to build a business and you wouldn’t imagine the looks and the stares and the comments and the talking behind my back that I got from within the gym and within the industry. Everybody said I was selling snake oil.
[Brad Rowe] 11:03
And you know that I was just a fraud out there screwing people over. And so I took the brunt of a of a lot of backlash from an industry that’s just very old school and doesn’t want to progress and new age technology. But thankfully, I’ve created enough great relationships with people that are very well respected in the industry, that trust me, like Shawn Rhoden is one, Dexter’s another who saw me and said, Hey, if Brad’s pushing this thing around, it’s, it’s gotta be for something because he’s on a bullshit kind of guy.
[Brad Rowe] 11:38
So I had a few people give me an opportunity and allow me to get on them. And they were absolutely blown away with the results that they had. And slowly, but surely, it became accepted. And I wasn’t that crazy guy pushing around this machine with wires everywhere it was improving people’s lives. So it was it was a challenge at first for sure. You know, I think I was probably one of the first few people to really progress on the hypertrophy training side of things.
[Brad Rowe] 12:09
And, you know, there was a lot of challenges, learning how to navigate how to, like, how do you keep pads on yourself, when you’re when you’re training, you know how to, you know, all these little tips and tricks that we explained in the certification course, yesterday, are all things that I had to figure out on my own. And there was times where I was so frustrated, I would like pads have fallen off. I couldn’t keep them on I’d like want to throw machine across the room. And I’m like, I’m not I’m like, nope, the workouts are so good. I got to deal with it. And finally, after a few months, I figured out a system and I figured out how to make things work smoothly and more efficient. And, you know, glad that I kind of just stuck to it and was stubborn and didn’t just give up because it’s like I said, it’s completely changed my life.
[Garrett salpeter] 12:54
That’s, that’s awesome. Yeah. And figuring out with that much sweat and hot environment and using spandex and the right kind of tape. And there’s a lot of variables that go into just practically speaking, even knowing
[Brad Rowe] 13:06
How to run the wires through your clothing and all this stuff and how you’re not tripping over wires. You know, because it’s not like, you guys are in a pretty controlled environment here. Yeah, here I am trying to walk around Gold’s Gym one of the busiest gyms in the world. And going in between, you know, different machines and training multiple clients at a time. And you know, there was just so much to navigate to, to in order to become successful. But we found a way we got around.
[Garrett salpeter] 13:36
And that’s that’s one of the many reasons I’m grateful to you that you were definitely the first pioneer in, in really implementing the newbie in this setting, you know, working with working in a really meaningful way in the bodybuilding community.
[Garrett salpeter] 13:56
And there’s so many people there that need it, because like you said, the mileage you put on your bodies, I mean, you were a high level division one football player even before bodybuilding, even without that background, the mileage, the breakdown. And so it’s so cool to be able to help people feel better, be able to train again, be able to to work through those. Those aches and pains and injuries and compensatory patterns and the things that just cause people to get so frustrated because they feel like they’re running an uphill battle. Like they’re constantly banging their heads.
[Brad Rowe] 14:30
They hold us back and they forced us in early retirement or they force us into never achieving our true potential.
[Garrett salpeter] 14:36
Yeah. Speaking of avoiding early retirement, that’s a good segue in that you mentioned Dexter. So let’s talk about Dexter Jackson who won Mr. Olympia in 2008. Yes, and competed in how many Mr. Olympia has
[Brad Rowe] 14:49
He hit 2020 Mr. Olympia when he Mr. Lin that is absolutely unheard of. Never be accomplished again. He is just an absolute icon in this work?
[Garrett salpeter] 15:01
Yes. Can you can you talk about your experience work? Yeah.
[Brad Rowe] 15:04
So, you know, Dexter, when we started working together, you know, DE was a little older. And as we know that as we get older, the first things that goes our legs, you know, neurologically, we start having a lot of impedances. Because we have compression issues in our spine and our hips and things like that. So neurologically things aren’t firing efficiently in the legs. And you’ll see that as athletes get older, their legs get a little smaller, a little softer, a little less detail. And Dexter was struggling with that he was he was on the brink of being forced into retirement because his legs were extremely subpar.
[Brad Rowe] 15:39
So I was on his case a little bit, like, just give me a shot. Let me get you on the workout once. So we got one quad workout in. And he was blown away at how sore he was for the little amount of work that he did. And, but but Dexter was DEXA was kind of a tough, tough one to crack because he absolutely hates the feeling of the newbie. Well, at first, at first, you know, like it’s, it’s a strong vibration. It’s not painful whatsoever.
[Brad Rowe] 16:05
But some people just don’t like that feeling. And so he hated trading on the New Beat, but liked kind of potentially what he saw. So, going into the Olympia, in 2019. He said, Alright, I want to hire you to come train me just once a week on quads. So I would he was still being trained by Charles glass. So I would just join the session, and I would hook him up. And I would let Charles run the session.
[Brad Rowe] 16:36
No, it was Charles, the head trainer. I’m just I’m just there. Obviously, at first I had to dictate to Charles, you know, how much volume we were doing and how hard we’re pushing it. Because, as you know, there’s a ramp up phase, and you just can’t do what you normally do right out of the gate. So Charles at least trusted me for that process of hey, you know, we’re only working at 60% this week and the slow ramp up phase.
[Brad Rowe] 16:58
So we got in, I believe it was 16 quad sessions, before the Olympia. And once a week just went once a week. I think I think we were like 14 sessions, actually. And I can send you the photo so you can pop in here. But the changes that Dexter’s legs are just absolutely out of this world phenomenal. Like there’s no way a 49 year old man improves his legs that much in such a short period of time. And it was changing no other variable.
[Brad Rowe] 17:31
Right? Right, it was the talk of the town. And on top of that, you know, Dexter had suffered from a lot of knee pain, you know, like training was very difficult to wrap his knees all the time and just suffered with severe pain, days on end after training. And he wasn’t feeling any pain whatsoever. It was the first time in 10 plus years that he wasn’t dealing with debilitating knee pain, because of training with a newbie, you know, our loads were a little lighter at first, and he ended up working up to a place where he was at pretty much full load.
[Brad Rowe] 18:02
But everything’s firing efficiently. So you know, you’re having proper displacement of that load. Instead of when things aren’t firing efficiently, you’re having displacement on certain parts of your knee, which is going to cause more wear and tear and more inflammation. So things were firing more efficiently, which was, you know, putting that load throughout the entire leg and not focus so much on the knee. And so from not only from a physique standpoint, but from a quality of life standpoint, he was so blown away. So we continue to work together.
[Garrett salpeter] 18:36
So that Olympia, so he was 49 years old, 49 years old how he fared and
[Brad Rowe] 18:41
So he ended up getting fifth and that Olympia, and everybody had projected him to be close to being outside of the top 10. You know, and fifth at the Mr. Olympia that you’re competing with guys in their 30s You know, late 30s, as a bodybuilder, your prime is from 33 to about 3738. And here he is at 14, right here he is at 49. Competing with kids, you know, years younger than him, you know, so it definitely revitalized his career.
[Brad Rowe] 19:14
And we continued on and we prepped again, just quads only into the Arnold. And then COVID Hit in the world kind of got turned upside down. And he was preparing for his final Mr. Olympia and was so happy with those results from what we did with the quad workouts that he trusted me to train him every day on the newbie, going into his final Olympia. So and I was his head trainer, which was for me such an honor.
[Brad Rowe] 19:41
You know, I mean, Dexter was an icon one of those guys that I looked up to for years and decades and I actually trained together for a little bit when I was young and upcoming amateur. So to have someone like that, trust me with their training for their final show was just that was such an honor to me, you know, I was so grateful to be a part of that. So, and, you know, he went out, he got really placed seventh, I believe this year. You know, it wasn’t his best showing there was some other factors that kind of played into him not liking his best, which, you know, I’ll say here part of it was training on the newbie every day drastically increased his metabolic output. And his nutrition didn’t support that, you know,
[Garrett salpeter] 20:29
You need more, you need more fuel, he needed more fuel.
[Brad Rowe] 20:31
So, he, he was he was catabolic a lot and kind of lost his pop, you know, but during that whole time phase, he was so happy because all of his joints felt great. He was trained, he loved the train, he actually got to a point that he learned to love the feeling of the newbie, like if you ever train without his command, I just I don’t mean like training without it anymore. I used to hate this thing.
[Brad Rowe] 20:53
Now, I don’t want to train without it. So it was, it was a hell of a journey. And I think he still has the desire to do one more show. He has a really large fan base in Brazil, and it’s the one show he hasn’t done. So I’m hoping I get can get redemption and get him back one more time to do things properly this time and make sure that nutrition matches output so that we can really show what training with it will do.
[Garrett salpeter] 21:20
That’s awesome. And I mean, I just have to acknowledge the work that you’re doing. I mean, you can take this machine, you can you can put it in the hands of someone else. And you can you maybe get some good results in other areas. But to really apply it, I mean, you have done a lot of the work to really perfect or at least refine and optimize the ways to apply the newbie in this realm of high level bodybuilding.
[Garrett salpeter] 21:48
And we’ve been able to work with people like Dexter. So it’s been, it’s been a team effort, it’s definitely not just the machine of anything that’s, you know, the icing on the cake for your skill set and your knowledge and your experience. And so you know, I love the partnership that we’ve been able to cultivate and the way this ways ways we’ve been able to work together in this realm.
Ad Break 22:08
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[Garrett salpeter] 22:42
another person that that you’ve been able to work with, and really kind of combine that same, that same work that you’ve done to optimize how to implement the newbie, in training, and also blend in some rehab and everything. Another person who’s able to really positively impact is Mike Tyson. So I know several people listening to this podcast, have seen some of the videos of you working with Mike to help him prep for the fight that he had with Roy Jones, Jr. coming back into the ring at 53 years old after being out for more than a decade. You know, Can you can you talk about your experience working with iron Mike.
[Brad Rowe] 23:25
So, my, my first introduction with Mike was kind of an earlier story. So there I was at Gold’s Gym training, and I have a client that had just gone into a business venture with Mike. And he texts me. He’s like, what are you doing? Like, I’m working. He’s like, you got to get down to Tyson ranch. He’s like, I told Mike about the machine and he wants you to come. I’m like, okay, so I just I cancel my next couple clients. I pack up the newbie, I head down to Alpha Go. No, it’s only 15 minutes from where I was. And I show up. And Mike being Mike is sitting there on the couch, smoking this gigantic blonde, high as hell on mushrooms.
[Brad Rowe] 24:08
And I walk in, and he’s like, who’s this big multiple? Like, he’s like, what are you doing here? He’s like, what is that thing? He’s like that thing make you look like you? I’m like, yeah, that’s how I that’s how I look like this. Because of this. He’s like, let’s do it. Mike has been dealing with a really bad lower back pain and then some shoulder pain. So I put him through a little demo, just getting his back loosened up getting the shoulder loosened up. And Mike was was so high. He didn’t remember anything. He had this.
[Brad Rowe] 24:42
He had this fake plant that was sitting there and I hadn’t do it rose just reaching forward. He just kept grabbing leafs off this plant just ripping this plant to pieces. Back up, head back up a couple feet, and then slowly start like shifting back to and just tearing apart this Got a plant that he had, like, oh my god, if like, he’s not going to remember anything, but I got the experience of like, whatever it was worth it, you know, it was an opportunity. So I left and also the next day, Mike wakes up. And he’s like, my back feels good. My shoulder feels good. It looks like he goes. I feel good today because like, yeah, you remember that guy? He’s like, what guy?
[Brad Rowe] 25:23
The guy with the machine. He’s like, well, guy with a machine, like brings us back. So I get a text, like, Hey, can you come back and see when you’re like, Okay, so I had sober Mike this time, and worked out him and his wife, her and I exchanged numbers. And she’s like, you know, we’d love to have you come and work on Mike like three times a week, do some rehab work on him. So that’s how the relationship started. So I would go to either Tyson Ranch, which is in El Segundo, not far from my house, or I’d go down to Newport where they live, and work on him. And, you know, it was pretty consistent for a couple of months, and then COVID hit.
[Brad Rowe] 26:03
And, you know, he went miaa because everything got shut down. And I didn’t know if I was ever going to see him again. And then I don’t know if you guys saw that one first viral video that went out of Mike boxing, where he looked so phenomenally quick. And but in that instant, Mike there was backup. So his first time back with the mitts on, and in the ring, he looked phenomenal, but he was crippled. So I get a call, Hey, can you come to the house, Mike can’t move. So you’re out of the house. Mike’s laying there and his whitey righties on the bed. I can’t move, you got to help me. So I hook him up, get a move in.
[Brad Rowe] 26:42
And we start the process again, of just rehab a couple times a week. So I explained to Mike, I was like, Hey, Mike, let me try this on you one day, like, Let me Let me warm up your hips, your legs and your shoulders before you get in the ring. I promise you, you’re going to move a lot more efficient. It’s going to save a lot of time on the warm up. And it’s going to increase longevity. So he trusts me. He’s like, Okay, let’s do it. So I did this little protocol where you got his hips and his lower back and his legs and his shoulders, everything warmed up firing efficiently. He went to the ring. And within 30 seconds, he stopped.
[Brad Rowe] 27:18
And both of his boxing coaches stopped and looking to go, what the hell did you just do? Like he improved by about 25 30% in like that. So now it was you’re coming to the office every single day. And you’re going to warm him up with the machine before he gets in the ring a couple weeks go by. And I was like Mike, yeah, he was talking about weight training. And he just kept like straining stuff. And he was weight training like Mike like this is is also great for weight training as well. Like, link get you on it. He’s a kept kind of just dodging and dodging it. And so amazing story which will parlay into this eventually. But I was off to go make my pitch to my investment, my now Investment Group for my facility that I’m that I’m creating. So here I was about to make a pitch to this group to ask for a huge lump sum of money to support my vision. And
[Brad Rowe] 28:16
Mike looks at me and he’s like, Hey, what you are doing tomorrow, like working wise, like, my weight trainer just moved to Phoenix. He’s like, you’re not my weight trainer too. And I’m like, Okay, so on the same exact day, Mike hired me full time as nutritionists strength coach, rehab coach, and I landed an enormous investment into my dream location. So that was a was a hell of a day.
[Brad Rowe] 28:44
So from there, you know, I was I’m with Mike every day, twice a day. So I go to his office in El Segundo where he has his boxing ring set up and I warm him up on the newbie, it’s about a 1520 minute process is really quick but keeps moving and you know, significant reduces that that wear and tear from all the warm up and all the energy expended and warming up. And then he takes a little break. And then he comes to my house because when COVID head I end up building out a home gym, because I have to work. And so he comes to my home gym and weight trains a couple of hours later. So I’m with Mike twice a day, five days a week. If he travels anywhere, if possible. I traveled with
[Garrett salpeter] 29:24
Him. And I was there. I tell us about the shark week.
[Brad Rowe] 29:27
Yeah. So I get to go to the Bahamas with him while he film Shark Week. And I was kind of his right hand, man. I had the newbie on the boat, getting him warmed up before he got the dive suit and got in the water. And that was a hell of an experience. I got to see the bad side of Mike. And I kind of spoke up and I put him in his place. And I didn’t know if I was going to get knocked out or respected but later that day, he came up to him put his arm around and he’s like, thank you so much for putting me in my place.
[Brad Rowe] 29:59
He’s like I need that reality check. You know, we won’t go into the details what happened, but let’s just say Mike was literally scared to death of sharks and did not want to be there. So I had to kind of talk him off that cliff. And, you know, it’s just, it’s been an amazing experience, you know, working with Mike, I mean, I’m not one of those people that that gets caught up over celebrities, like, I don’t really care. And we all put our pants on the same way. You know, there’s no difference between a homeless person and the rock in my eyes. But just getting to know Mike as a human being was, is definitely the best part of all this.
[Brad Rowe] 30:33
He’s such an in depth, individual, you know, like, people think Mike’s on educated but he he’s, he’s highly intelligent. He’s a major history buff. He’s studied all these ancient kings and warriors, and just trying to figure out the human condition of why we are the way we are. You know, he’ll just start spitting out stuff. And you’re like, where does this come from? You know, so that was definitely one of the most intriguing things about being around Mike. And he’s got a huge heart. You know, people think Mike says, this big mean guy, I’m sure he’s got his moments. But you know, you got to remember, he’s been in the spotlight his entire life.
[Brad Rowe] 31:11
And all he’s had his people using him abusing him. But Mike has such a big heart. And he’s such a caring, loving individual, you know, he really takes care of those people that are in his circle. And once you’re in, you’re in, like his assistant, Tommy’s, like, I got to, I got to fight Mike, like, it’d be walking down the street and Michael, see a homeless person, just pull it a water, like 500 bucks and just hand it to him. And they’re like, like, Mike, that guy’s a drug, like a drug addict, you can just give him cash.
[Brad Rowe] 31:32
You know, but that’s type of person, Mike is, you know, and so, definitely the greatest experience is getting to know him. But after the fight, so the Roy Jones fight came up. And, you know, unfortunately, things didn’t go the way that we had hoped, because of COVID. As far as like, he wanted to do the walkout, with the machine hooked up to all the cords. And both of us with our shirts off walking down with me pushing the newbie to the ring. But with COVID, we weren’t allowed to do any type of a walkout, he was only allowed to have two guys in his corner.
[Brad Rowe] 32:07
So I had to warm up Mike on his hotel in his hotel room, before he went down the elevator, got in the car and drove over the Staples Center to go, you know, into the fight. So from a publicity standpoint, we didn’t get to make the big impact this time around, but we got to fight May 29. So we’ll see what happens then. But the most rewarding thing have had in years was at the end of that fight, Mike was just so happy. I’ve no one in a circle seen him that happy in years. Just because he made it through a fight. He made it all eight rounds. And you know, he had fun doing it. And he stayed healthy. And that was like the, the pinnacle of his comeback from what he’s been through 350 pound coke addict two years ago to stepping in the ring and fighting again, when he never thought he would even live to see those next two years. And that was a journey.
[Garrett salpeter] 32:58
And it’s incredible. You played a big role in that transformation. I know, when we were when you first were telling me about it that that was you know, being able to help him get out of pain and help us backfill better was a major catalyst in that transformation. So pain can be whether you’re Mike Tyson or anyone I mean, chronic pain is just still your will to live at the negative extreme. Yeah, without a
[Brad Rowe] 33:23
Doubt. And, you know, Mike, Mike has looked me in the eyes and has told everybody over and over again, there’s, there’s no way he could have done that without the newbie without me. So, you know, he’s, he’s forever grateful. And, you know, he’s, like, he told me, he’s like, you know, I got a lot of millionaires and I got a lot of really rich friends and really high profile people that can really use you, but I’m keeping you to myself as long as I can. So, you know, he loves the technology. And we’re going to see what we can do see if we can potentially make him heavyweight champion of the world. And he’s like, he’s got his eyes set on that.
[Garrett salpeter] 33:57
And it’s it. It’s pretty incredible and exciting to even think about some of this stuff. But it’s possible. Yeah. So So you mentioned that he’s trying to keep you in his corner, you know, keep you secret. But you do have a platform for ways to help more and more people beyond Mike and the people who can work with one on one. So can you talk a little bit you mentioned this investor group and your project, talk a little bit about what you have on the horizon personally,
[Brad Rowe] 34:27
so and again, truly I owe this to you and your technology that you created. But when I came across new fit, I’ve always been focused more on the health and wellness side. Even when I was in bodybuilding, you know, I never took things to the extreme because I cared about health and I care about longevity with all my clients. I’m really big on bloodwork and proper supplementation to support organ function and things like that. And
[Garrett salpeter] 34:55
Let’s actually let’s, let’s talk about that a little bit because one of the interesting things that you I have done I mean, you know, bodybuilding most commonly we see people, you know, eating six plus meals a day. And there’s a need for that there’s a reason they do it. But you’ve totally flipped the script. And you’ve gone keto, I mean, you’ve done different things, really to try to help with digestive health overall health. I mean, do you actually talked a lot about that too?
[Brad Rowe] 35:19
Yeah. So you know, I started doing fasting in Quito, in between transitions between offseason and contest prep, things like that. It’s a down phase where you’re trying to let your body heal and recover you know, as bodybuilders we have to take in so much food to support our recovery and, and our muscle building. Or you’re, you’re starving yourself to death and you’re doing putting your body through so much stress while you’re in contest prep.
[Brad Rowe] 35:48
So in between those phases, I you know, I, I did a lot of research, and I picked up keto and fasting just to kind of detox my body, you know, reset things hormonally. And when I actually right around the time that I was introduced to the newbie, I decided that hey, I’m going to try to go full time, keto.
[Brad Rowe] 36:07
So I actually prepped for two bodybuilding shows, doing keto, which is almost unheard of. In the last show that I did. I was fasting at least 16 hours a day, five days a week. And again, there’s no way that my body could have supported that without training on the newbie every single day to promote muscle growth and to help promote the recovery and everything else that that was needed.
[Brad Rowe] 36:33
So as I was getting into my first kind of experience in the bio hacking world was when I joined you guys at the Bulletproof Conference. And so I had already had this desire for kind of health and wellness and longevity. But when I was introduced to everything at the Bio hacking Conference, it was like this light bulb just clicked. I was so amazed at all the different technology to you know, improve cognitive function to improve recovery to improve sleep, everything. And while I was there, I ended up coming across one of my now clients and then one of my great friends, Damien.
[Brad Rowe] 37:15
Damien and his buddy, were just there at the conference, checking things out, Damien’s Buddy was ex-Navy Seal, you know, special ops body’s been through how mine has been through how PTSD and everything. And Damian had actually was really big into the bio hacking world because he was trying to create a program to help some of these special ops veterans recover from these major injuries. And I remember meeting him and traumatic brain injuries. So right around that time, I had kind of started thinking about, you know, the world needs a facility that has everything in one, you know, especially living in LA traffic, so terrible.
[Brad Rowe] 37:53
So if you want to work out, and then you want to get your cryotherapy, then you want to get your IV and then you want to get a massage, you got to go to four different places. And that’s just not time consuming. So I kind of came up with this concept of what if we do in all in one place with all the best technology of all the bio hacking world plus a high end Performance Training Center, plus all the hormones and recovery modalities in one spot, and Damian and I were talking about, and he’s like, that’s literally the vision that I have. So he, he and I embarked down this journey of coming up with what right now we’re calling the beaker for my center.
[Brad Rowe] 38:33
He was my original investor and things. So, you know, I hired a brand developer, we put together a business plan performer. And as we were looking for properties, that’s when Damian get introduced to Tyson. And he went down this business path with him and had to put a lot of money but more or less a lot of bandwidth, a lot of time and energy. So you didn’t have the time and energy to focus on my thing.
[Brad Rowe] 38:59
But Damien connected me with Tyson. So it’s a win win. And literally within two days after Damien saying that, he had to back out I was training some other clients, these kids and I was telling them I, my investor backed out, like, like your business plan, like Yeah, like shoot it over. So I shot it over to them. And I get a text a little later, like, hey, you know, let’s have lunch this afternoon. Like okay, so I sit down and have lunch and the boys look me in the face they go do you know we are like so they explained to me who their family was. And let’s just say that they have a few dollars to their name.
[Brad Rowe] 39:39
And they said, we love this project. We love the concept of it, but more importantly, we believe in you. So, you know, we talked to our family and we talked to the heads of the investment group. And we want to pursue this. So then I embarked on that path with them and you know, hooked up with their CFO and we spent months working on a bulletproof business plan, we hired outside consultants, they’ve literally given me the best of the best to make sure that we have a successful business.
[Brad Rowe] 40:18
And hopefully, very soon we’ll be in the process of signing a lease and, and getting things going. Obviously, with COVID Hit that set us back, you know, 10 plus months, which kind of has been a blessing. You know, as much as I want to get things rolling further along. Throughout this last year, my network has grown, I’ve made a lot of connections within the professional sports world within the celebrity world, you know, and those are the type of people that I’m going to need to add to my facility in order to make this a big splash and a national brand so that we can reach the people that we want to reach. So here we are, right now, one of the other reasons why I’m in Austin is because we’re looking at some potential business properties here.
[Brad Rowe] 40:57
And I was in Miami last week. And we have a location in LA that we really love. So we’re all hands on deck, hopefully, we have something signed, sealed, delivered within the next 30 days as far as location, and we can, we can get this process going. You know, and one of the biggest attributes of this place is we’re going to have a ton of newbies, you know, I want to have at least 10 to 12 newbies on the floor at all times, you know, because that is truly the basis of what is built this concept for me, you know, from the recovery to the therapy to the performance and hypertrophy training encompasses everything.
[Garrett salpeter] 41:33
Fabulous, and we’re so excited to see this come to life. Not just because there’s newbies there because of this my passion and enthusiasm for your vision. And because I love that combination of having this be a part of that holistic performance and wellness and optimization. Combination is just I think it’s wonderful. And I’m so excited to see it come to life.
[Brad Rowe] 42:01
I’m excited and nervous. Yes, a big undertaking. Yes,
[Garrett salpeter] 42:05
Definitely. You’re, it’s an it’s a new chapter and you’re I know you’re stepping outside your comfort zone on this one. And I think that’s, you know, going out to go out on the limb, that’s where the fruit is, yeah, I’m optimistic you’re going to find a ripe fruit I’ve,
[Brad Rowe] 42:18
I’ve, I’ve never been more confident in anything in my entire life that I know this is going to be an absolute home run, hit. And I know that we’re going to revolutionize not only how athletes train and perform and recover, but just how everybody approaches life, you know, and hopefully, we can get to a point where we can scale this to make it much more affordable for everybody to get on.
[Garrett salpeter] 42:40
Yeah. And that same thing we’re thinking about with the newbie, a lot of things in life, start with professional athletes or out racehorses, or just start with those and then kind of trickles down, like you get that proof of concept. And then you’re able to scale it make it more accessible to everybody. And, yeah, gosh, I would love that imagine how, how much better the world would be if everyone had, you know, access to these things to really equip themselves in their biology, to have energy to be less reactive to do the things they want to do in the world.
[Brad Rowe] 43:12
And that’s, you know, my, my original what I named this was like a performance of wellness center but but really, it’s it’s life optimization center, life enhancement center, because we’re, we’re doing everything mind body, and hopefully, some spirit part of it as well. You know, that’s another journey that I’ve been down as is working on the spiritual side of things. And you know, how that can improve, you know, performance in the workspace and how it can improve interpersonal relationships and things like that. So we want to, we want to heal you and make you better from head to toe inside and out and how you believe.
[Garrett salpeter] 43:50
I love it. I love it. And I think when we when we do a part two, well, let’s go further down that, that line of conversation as well. From now, when if, if people want to look you up, what’s the best place to check out Brad row, see what you’re up to?
[Brad Rowe] 44:07
Instagram is the easiest way to get a hold of me. It’s Brad B as in boy, Row,
[Garrett salpeter] 44:13
Row, Row. WEROWE.
[Brad Rowe] 44:15
Yeah, read the row. Hit me up. Their DMS are kind of hard, but my email is in my profile. And I’m always responsive to emails. So any questions? Fire away?
[Garrett salpeter] 44:28
Awesome. Awesome. Well, thank you so much for sharing this. I think it’s, I think your perspective and your experience is so valuable for our listeners to hear and I’m super grateful to you not only for coming on and sharing today but for your partnership and friendship over the last few years and the work that we’ve been able to do together you’ve contributed immensely to the growth of new fit and our movement.
[Garrett salpeter] 44:51
And we are excited to support you in the growth of your next venture and looking forward to to lots of success and impact in the future. I am stealing that. I’ll get you the news. So if you’re just listening, we have this lightning bolt light bulb thing here. So we’ll get you on as a grand opening gift.
[Brad Rowe] 45:13
Yeah. So for those who don’t know, I was I was dubbed the name of the electrician. One of my, one of my clients call me electrician and I just started calling myself that and then the icing on the cake was one day when I was in working on Mike, his two boxing coaches and Mike they all started laughing like, Yo, like, we thought of a name for you.
[Brad Rowe] 45:35
Like what is it? They go, the electrician I go, you got to be shitting me like, look at all my hashtags. It’s solid. This is it. So you guys are grateful enough to make me some of the electrician shirts that has the lightning bolt on it. So that’s why I’m pretty keen to have in one of these. Maybe above my bed. I think that’d be a great spot. I
[Garrett salpeter] 45:54
Love it. I love it. Yeah, that’s a good yeah, it’s it’s not too bright either. So that was great on when Tyson was on the Joe Rogan podcast and he called the electrician
Ad Break 46:05
Mechanic, electrician, Mike. Thanks, Mike.
[Garrett salpeter] 46:10
That was great. Thank you, everybody for tuning in. It’s an absolute honor and pleasure to be able to sit here with Brad and share this with everybody. Hope you got some value out of this episode. And we’ll definitely do a part two, we got more ground to cover. Yeah,
[Brad Rowe] 46:26
We need a cover. Oh, that’s where we cover that as
[Garrett salpeter] 46:29
Right we’ll do the debrief. You’re actively recovering from this right now. Yeah, we’ll do the debrief when that’s over. And we’ve got more ground to cover next time. Thanks again, Brad. Thanks, everyone, for tuning in.
[Brad Rowe] 46:40
Thank you so much. Awesome. Goodbye.
[Garrett salpeter] 46:44
Thank you so much for listening to the undercurrent podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review and be sure to subscribe to stay up to date as we release future episodes.
