HOW TO START Ft. Mike Rashid & Maxx Chewning

Salam, brother, let's get this vlog started. So me and Louie, we were getting off the plane there, we were talking, we were like, what year of BodyPower is this? You know, like I almost lost track. So this is my 4th year here at BodyPower, and you know, I do so many expos. Like, you know, one of the recent vlogs you saw was the Sydney Fitness Expo, okay? I do expos all over the world, but this is the first one I ever went to, and there's like a sentimental value to it. Obviously, of course, 'cause a ton of my viewers are from Ireland and the UK, obviously, which is this demographic. But there's just something about it. You know, I can look back on all my past BodyPower vlogs and kind of see the progression of my career and my career in the fitness industry and, you know, the different kind of brands and connections that I make. And it's just a trip down memory lane. So I always get so excited for this weekend. And especially because I'm always with such a good crew. So Christian, Max, and the whole Ghost family, She'll be arriving in soon, but right now it's just me and Louie. So the plan for today is right now food and then haircut, gym session, and then today's Thursday, so that will set us up nicely for the weekend. But guys, you can probably tell I'm so excited. I'm like a kid on Christmas. And yeah, I'm just high on life right now. So anyways, give the video a thumbs up and let's get into it. So yeah, we were gonna go to like this steakhouse upstairs. There was a pizza place, but I'm just like, let's be serious. We're going to Nando's. Like we know we're going to Nando's. Like let's stop even looking at other menus. We know we're going to Nando's, come on. We're very well behaved today. We went to Nando's, we ordered the avocado and super grain salad. And then you can order like just that with chicken and extra chicken, but I just love the butterfly chicken. So it may cost a little bit extra, but we're balling out this weekend. So I ordered 2 butterfly chickens on the side. That's a lot of protein right there. I think when you look it up, it's like over like 60, 70 grams of protein, which is good 'cause I haven't hit my protein intake today, or I'm not even near it to be honest.

All right, let's go.

So I'm going now, get a haircut, and then recuperate.

All right, so sharpened up a little bit.

Very tight fade, so should last me a couple days. But now I'm going to go back to the room, going to chill for a little Coffee, pre-workout, nap, and then we'll be good to go.

Not, not in that order.

Yeah, not in that order. Yeah, be literally lying in bed staring at the ceiling.

What time is it?

It's coming up to about 9 o'clock. It is unheard of, unheard of for me to be drinking caffeine after 2 PM, so that, that shows where I'm at. But we know like we're gonna feel better after we do gym session, so we're just gonna go to the hotel gym. Get a quick arm pump in and then we'll chill for this evening. Max is actually here, was chatting to him and he's even too tired to do anything tonight. So tonight is going to be chill night, but arm pump, let's go. Alright, so we finished the workout and we're actually going all around the NEC, all around Birmingham looking for anything. We've been craving a protein bar and a shake and we're like, it's BodyPower weekend and we can't find a protein bar and shake, like what is this?

So we went into the cinema and we're like, have you any snacks please?

And he was like, there's a vending machine down the corridor. Right now, I don't think I've ever seen a longer corridor in my life.

Oh my God, fuck cardio.

I'm never doing that again.

It's nothing but hula hoops and Yorkie bars.

Fuck.

But, uh, so yeah, today is a nice little chill day, travel day, settle in. And I was going to come here actually early Friday morning, but I'm glad I came here Thursday evening. So, but, uh, catch you guys in the morning. Sleep well, bro.

Keep it real.

Good morning.

Okay, let's go.

What's up?

Morning, Max.

What's up, internet?

How's it going? What you got here?

Eggs, pretty sick.

It's for your macros.

It's training now, dude.

Can't wait.

Yeah, keep your carbs low. Did you get a second glass of OJ? Said no to carbs, got water.

Good. You know what, like, I saw this and I was kind of disappointed. I was like, this is what we don't drink, our calories on this channel. Okay.

Oh, they're good carbs.

Good carbs.

They're good carbs, right?

Right.

Let's get breakfast. That'd be the best strawberries I've ever had.

They actually could be.

So we just found these magic strawberries and they are honestly to die for. Birmingham, you officially have the best strawberries in the game. So we're starting off with fruit salad. I just ordered egg whites. Unfortunately, I don't think they have tuna, so the tuna and egg whites breakfast, we'll have them when we get back to Ireland. But for now, it's gonna be egg whites, and I'm gonna get like tomatoes, mushrooms, all that good stuff.

And I'm just gonna stare into Max's beautiful face, get excited for today.

Um, so we were annoying and asked for a big plate of egg whites. Then we got some tomatoes, some mushrooms, a selection of meats. This is a lot of protein. And every time I go to an expo, I'm like, Rob, please stay away from the protein bars and all the weird protein foods, okay? So I'm gonna try stick to real foods, you know, actual meals this time, because when I eat too many protein bars, it does all kinds of things to my digestion. So we're gonna enjoy this. Mushrooms, dude, don't tell me you don't eat mushrooms.

They're back.

These are the swans that tried to start a fight on me last year, but now they've grown up, they've matured, and they've had little baby chicks. That is so adorable. Oh my god.

Alright everyone, so we picked up Ali along the way.

Hello!

And we are just about to reach the Expo now.

Now. It's in Hall 6. We're just getting the caffeine in, the energy drinks, because we got 6 hours ahead of us of meeting hundreds of people. So my energy levels need to be higher than they already are, okay?

So we're just about to meet Caroline, uh, we had breakfast with Max as you saw, about to meet the whole squad and have an epic day.

Apparently this year the booth is bigger than ever, so yeah, exciting.

Let's go!

This is the Fit Stage, all about fitness, influencers, and trends. And because of that, we have two very successful and very good YouTubers. We have Rob Lipsett.

What's up everybody?

And we have Big Max Jennings.

Hello! This is what it feels like to be M&M.

Yeah, basically.

Social media, especially yourself, it looks like all you do is go to these exotic places, to Maldives, Australia, again, America.

Absolutely. So what I want to start with, and people often say this to me, is I, you know, they look at me now and they don't look at my chapter 1. And it's like, I would say, don't compare your chapter 1 to chapter 10. For 3 years when I was starting out in 2014, that's when I started YouTube, 2014, 2015, 2016, I didn't go out. Like, not even in Dublin. Like, I didn't drink. I I didn't go out. All I did was create content and work. And I was laying the foundations. So it's like now, when things take off, now people are like, "Oh, he's built up a couple businesses and can travel around." It's like people don't look at the first 3 years of literally not going out. Like not doing anything. So you can look at anyone who's, you know, living a good lifestyle, I can guarantee you there's years of graft that came before that. Unless you're the royal baby, no one is born into just this amazing life. Everyone's had to work for it. You know, there's many years behind me. And this is my 4th BodyPower here. Absolutely love it, by the way. Still absolutely buzzed. This is like Christmas for me. This is my 4th BodyPower. It's like, there's no— there's been years and years put into this.

I've seen Max making videos. So we were in Ibiza. And my guy's just walking through the crowd like this. And then walking backwards. And people are like looking at him. And I'm looking at him. And then when you see it back, I'm like, wow, that looks cool as fuck.

Yeah.

What comes up with your ideas to do these? To get that, capture that angle, how do you know what's gonna work and what doesn't work?

I still have no idea, I'm just kinda going as I, you know, going along with it as I go, but something that I found out like a while ago was that, you know, I don't know if you guys can tell, but I'm not the biggest guy out there, and I'm in the fitness world, and even with the strength, I got to a strength thing, and then because I don't wanna be the biggest guy ever, my strength, it kinda went like this before I started YouTube, but when I started YouTube, it went like this, and now I'm like kinda like this, making little baby gains. I refused to put on any body fat. But I quickly realized that like, I was like, that's not my thing. Like, you know, everyone's out here in the fitness world, like, their thing is, you know, how hard they're killing it in the gym and, you know, how dedicated to their diet that is. And I'm like, that's not me. Like, I like to be fun, I like to be wacky. And my entire life I've been kind of on the weirder side of my humor, my sarcasm. And I was like, you know, why don't I sprinkle a little bit of this in my videos? And I started putting more of my humor, my sarcasm, you know, movie quotes, just really just doing whatever I wanted instead of like trying to fit the this mold of what the industry that I was trying to be in was going. And I see people succeeding at it and I was like, that's just not me. I tried for a little bit, if you go way back in my channel, at the end of every one of my videos I had like a 4-minute motivational talk in a parking lot. And then I learned, I'm just not like, I like to give motivation just by showing people my progression in life and I realized that I wanna make content that is enjoyable and I think that every video doesn't have, at least for me, it doesn't have to be informative. It doesn't have to be motivational, I can just let people for 10 minutes of their day smile, laugh, you know, kind of forget about their problems for a little bit because they're just watching me be an idiot on the internet. So I just, you know, I just make content and then I started falling in love with the creative process of it and then, you know, again, people want to see you evolve on YouTube with maybe your life but also they want to see that you're putting effort in your videos. Just because something worked a couple years ago doesn't mean it's going to work anymore so I mean, I see everyone doing like, you know, these new camera tricks and do all these things and I was like, you know, I'm not a videographer, like I'm not a cinematographer. I was like, how can I do these things that they're doing by myself in a way that people aren't really doing them. So that's why I just try to get creative with all my videos.

5 minutes, it depends. Whatever, whatever, whatever this guy, however much he edited that, edit it down.

So you never do any editing? You got people that do your editing for you?

I've done it, but you know, I mean, so I got— I'm full on with, uh, 2 of my businesses, so I, I don't have the time. And I have talented people around, so if It's just perfect, you know what I mean? Keep everybody busy.

You gotta—

I got a really dope team, so, and it's fun. We got a really cool environment. Like, if you come to my office, it's just silly, it's fun, goofy music, you know, I'm cracking jokes. I gotta stay away from the office sometimes because I make it too light, you know what I mean? So I gotta, you know, stay at home sometimes. But we just try to have fun, you know. It's like, I could— there's a lot of things I can do on my own. There's a lot of things that I do do on my own. My own. But, you know, we have the means to provide opportunities, and by providing opportunities, our end product is better. Because a jack of all trades is an ace at none, you know what I mean? So I know, and I'm friends with really talented people. Let's, let's all do this together. It's just better like that for me, you know what I mean? I don't like, you know, there's been times when I just did everything alone, travel alone, did everything alone. It's just, it's kind of boring. It's lonely.

It's lonely. Yeah.

So we travel the world together, like there's a bunch of us, you know, it's just fun. I enjoy that process. Um, like Max was saying, uh, I love the creative process. Like, for a minute I was editing a lot, and every video I was getting better and better, and I was really enjoying it. But once somebody— you got somebody close to you that can do it better than you, it's like, go ahead, I don't want to bother you, just, you know, do your thing.

So yeah, delegating is something— sorry, excuse my voice. So glad to be meeting you guys all day and like seriously such good crowd this year at BodyPower. So can we actually just clap it up for all you guys today?

Oh yes!

You just got to make it exciting about the party. I'm like a kid in a candy shop.

I'm like a kid in a protein shop, literally. But no, so yeah, delegating is very important. Again, sorry the voice is gone, but delegating is so important. I know at the start you're going to be doing a lot yourself, but as things go on you're going to get to that point where It's just not feasible. You're gonna need people like my boy Louie over here. You're gonna need people editing. You're gonna need people here managing. And you know, so whatever business you have, it's a very hard thing to do. It's kind of like giving away, you know, it's kind of like letting go of your baby or whatever it is. You know, it's you have to give away something that you care about so much. But I think it's crucial to scale.

So yeah.

But you gotta ensure you have the right people around you.

Oh, that's just the biggest thing. Yeah, so probably like a couple of years, to be honest. Like, I've never deleted a video. All my first 7 videos are still there. You can go back and watch them, and it's like, they're very— I actually cherish them. Like, they're very important to me to, you know, see where you came from. But every second word was, uh, own. There'll be some stages where 3 seconds go by and I just look at the camera and I'm like, and anyways, it's like I didn't know how to edit. So they just left it in there, me staring at the camera. So, you know, I'm like a goldfish. But like, so it went on. It was like that for years. And I do, you know, talk seminars, events in the gym and everything, and I record them and put them on YouTube. And some of my first ones are there as well. And again, I found it difficult to speak for 8 minutes. You could tell I just wanted to get off that stage. Just, I spoke so fast, you know, I wasn't enjoying myself. Now I put on my own events and speak for 6 hours in a day. You know, we put on 2 events in Ireland this year and 1 international event. You have speakers who talk about their journey, and I MC the whole day and speak for 6 hours. But so you can look back at the progression, and it's literally just about getting better over time and tipping the boat out that little bit further. Naturally, when you first start anything— the gym, anything— you're not going to be great at it. But you gotta keep going at it. You'll see yourself improve over time. But honestly, it took me about 1 or 2 years to get fluid on camera, and I still, to this day, I still mess up on camera. Often. Louis knows all about it.

It takes a while, but you have to also remember that like YouTube, you don't have to be perfect on YouTube. People aren't really looking for perfect, they're looking for relatability. I mean, a perfect example is, you know, you ever watch like the Apple events? And, uh, like, you know, the people that are talking about their products, they're just like it's like a script they memorized, it's perfect, and like their, their vernacular is just immaculate. But then you watch Elon Musk in the recent Tesla, you know, unveiling, and every third word, you look like he's never given a speech in his life. But everyone in the comments like, wow, he's like a real guy, like, you know, he messes up. And like, people aren't looking on YouTube for, you know, a perfect public speaker. They're looking for people who they can relate to, they can have that escape from. And, you know, I think that's a— relatability should be like the number one thing that you try to focus on because you just got to be yourself. There's a million people out there that are just like you who are nervous, who, you know, maybe are, you know, trying something new and they see you going after it, they see you trying it, they see you, you know, they see you trying. And I think that's the most important thing is if you go, like anyone, if you go way back in the videos, you're going to see like a nervous, you know, probably a quieter Max. But just over time you kind of learn And then, you know, feedback from the people are going to be great. A lot of times like, hey, I think you can improve by doing this. I think you can get better by doing this. It's a community that helps everyone kind of rise up.

And oftentimes we're our own worst critics. Like, you'll watch your video back, or who's ever heard their voice on camera for the first time?

Yeah.

And everyone hates it. Like, everyone. And it's just like, bro, that's just what you sound like. So everyone hates it, you know. And so we're often our own worst critics. You'll watch a video of yourself speaking back for the first time and you'll hate it. But it's, from an outsider's perspective, it could be great. Like, you could be really well-spoken. So oftentimes we're very hard on ourselves. And there'll be times where I'll like have a full video done, post it, and I'll be like, "Oh no, no, I'm not uploading that. I'm not cool with that." And you know, Louie or someone would be like, "No, this is legit a good video." I would tell you if it wasn't. But we're just so hard on ourselves. So you could be just being hard on yourself, man. Be sure of yourself.

I love to think that the YouTube, like, personalities that, like, they put on this persona that they're like, you know, the most outgoing person ever, but it's not always the case. Everyone has insecurities. And also, not everyone's like an extrovert like you might think they are. Like, like, if me and Rob were spot— we're about to go— I got a sick party we're gonna go to tonight, and we go there, and I think Rob's the only person that I know In my head I'm like, Rob, please don't leave me. Like, when we get there, like, because if he leaves, I'm not the type of person that's just like gonna go up to a random room of people and just be like, hey, I'm Max. I'm like, I'm gonna sit on the phone. Like, you know, I'm like an introvert when it comes to that kind of stuff. And I think a lot of people think just because I'm like walking around with a camera that like I'm like the biggest people person in the world. And you know, I am when I'm in a zone where I'm comfortable and like maybe people know me or something like that. But throw me in a room of like people I have no idea who they are, they have no idea who I am, and I'm just like, I don't want to be here.

I've seen Max at a party and he is awesome.

So what he's referring to, I don't know if a lot of you follow me or have any idea who I am, but, uh, I, I started YouTube right when I graduated, uh, university, college, I don't know what, whatever it goes through here, but, uh, I started YouTube and social media right at the time that I was graduating from, uh, university, um, and I, at the time, like, you know, I was I was very, very new to it. It's definitely not something that I was making money. I was just literally just starting. I had just like, you know, 100 followers, 200 followers, started growing. And right when I graduated, I got a job right out of school doing technical recruiting, basically hiring people for other jobs. And I did that for 3 years after school while also doing YouTube for the first 3 years. While also, you know, at the time I was in a relationship balancing that. I was also starting the clothing line that has grown what it is today. And I was also trying to have a social life, I was trying to balance my training, I was trying to make videos, and I was putting out 4 videos a week while working a 9-to-5 where that part of my day was completely taken up. So like, whenever someone's like, "I don't have time to make YouTube videos," I'm like, "Trust me, you do." Because I was, you know, going to work from, you know, 8 to like 5:30, getting home, and that was when I could start really putting out my passion. But it all comes down to like how bad you want it, how much you're willing to put into it. Because, you know, you can always find time for something if you make it a priority. You know, you've heard that a million times, but if I— like I said, if I can do it, anyone can do it. And then once I— I managed to balance everything for about 3 years, and once it started taking off, I still kept putting a passion into it. That's when I took the leap to do it all full-time.

I just live fearlessly, and when I want to do something, I do. I make it happen. Like a lot of the questions that you guys have answered— I mean, ask— you guys can answer it yourselves, you know what I mean? Uh, like, just in all honesty, in all honesty, like, my very first, uh, business in the fitness space and YouTube and all that, I just figured it out, you know what I mean? I really wanted to figure certain things out, and I used the most powerful tool that we all have, my phone, to Google everything, you know what I'm saying? And I just kind of figured it out, you know what I'm saying? So So, but you can do the same. Anybody here can do the same thing. But, uh, but now, but I, I'm a normal person just like everybody else. I think that's why I show my life so much, because it's not cars and all of the crazy high-end things. I don't show any of that, you know what I'm saying? Uh, I just show real life, you know. It was a time when I would like show it here and there, and then I'm like, what am I, what am I doing that for? I will pull up to the gym in a certain car and people will, oh, I want to talk about my car. And I'm like, is this a car?

You know, people say things are oversaturated. It's like, so is everything. You want to be a doctor, a lawyer, a mechanic, a personal trainer? There are very few new, brand new professions, you know. So when people are like to me, uh, Rob, is YouTube saturated? Is the fitness industry saturated? I'm like, bro, everything is.

Like, everything is saturated.

So even though do it or come to one.

So it's like, that's my take on it personally. And if you truly want to do it and you're going to excel at it and you're really into it, then you got to do the religious cues. So, and I think that also makes things a lot more fun. Like, you can go back to my first ever videos, still speak the same, I still wear gym gear 90% of the time, and I think that makes it just like a lot more cool to never lose. You know, like, I got a body part my 4th year in a row, it feels like my first year, you know. And I think that makes things a lot more enjoyable and also a lot more relatable. So yeah, that's just the way I look at it. I think it's cool to always take that attitude about it, you know. It's like, you know, yeah, you may progress in life, but it's cool to always look at things the way you did at the beginning. That's cool to never stop being like, you know, shocked and amazed and just blown away by everything. Like, I can't believe— I honestly can't believe that people were lining up to say hello to me today. I can't believe Like, I actually can't believe it. So it's crazy. And like, you see how much good's happened. I think it's because I kept that attitude.

Right guys, well, we've run out of time. We've completely gone over. The next person's waiting. That's all right. First of all, I have to say that was very insightful. Hopefully everyone's took a lot away from that, especially about YouTube, about building content, about what to do and what not to do, and about how to just be yourself. So can we just get a massive round of applause for everyone?

So we've been looking around for food for a long time, and then we got the genius— I got the genius idea of coming to the hotel that we're staying at, which is so nice, and I just got some steak and veggies.

So there we go, nice little meal before our Muscle and Fitness Purrs party. Is that what it's called? Uh, yeah.

Our lovely friend Heidi Summers on the COVID Yeah, awesome. We're not at all.

We're not.

Well, do you think a magazine would ever want like an average looking guy with mediocre gains to be on the COVID of magazine?

You're gonna get on the COVID of Flex magazine one day, bro. I believe you with those forearms.

But anyways, this looks amazing.

Oh, amazing.

Thank you. So this looks so good.

We're gonna dig in now. See you next clip. All right, so we are gonna get out of Tank Tops, shower, get fresh, then meet the team in about 30, 40 minutes, and then we're going to that Muscle Fitness HERS after party. So see you guys there. So we're about to go to bed now. We have the biggest day of the expo tomorrow. It's Saturday. It's gonna be the longest day. So we're gonna wake up tomorrow fresh. Gonna have a little bit of breakfast. I'm gonna kill the expo day and then big night out, man. That's bodybuilding.

Run home straight, man.

Kill this day.

Smashed it.