If you guys follow any sort of fitness influencers Mike has been one of the most controversial yet most interesting examples in my opinion. He was on the original American Gladiators show as THOR and then when they did the reboot around 2007 / 2008 he was Titan.
The big thing about Mike that sort of became a fitness joke is that he always claimed that he was natty and wasn't on drugs. His physique that he has achieved over the years isn't naturally obtainable and everyone has sort of speculated on what he has used over the years.
I even remember people talking about the way he looked and the way his skin was 8 or 10 years ago saying that wasn't normal for a man in his forties. He is now 56 and I look at his skin and his physique and it is quite remarkable.
The Reason I Didn't Like Mike
It really was because he had initially kept saying he was a natural when everyone sort of knew he wasn't. I have always legitimately been natural and have never done any sort of performance enhancing drugs. A lot of that comes from being in athletics and I just sort of respected the honor of sport I guess you could say. Also the guys who typically are using some sort of performance enhancement that is some sort of testosterone or growth hormone related thing suffered the side effects and essentially could never go off the drugs. It can destroy your bodies natural ability to produce and can destroy your endocrine system.
I think at the time frame that Mike was coming up through acting and fitness it wasn't popular to disclose that they were on various substances. Now a lot of influencers come straight out and tell people what they are on. In a lot of ways I kind of respected those guys more because they were honest but I feel like with Mike he kept doubling down on saying he was natty.
Mike is 6'3" and it never says how much he weighs but I would say his normal walkaround weight could easily be 260-270lb even in that cut up look. He is huge for sure.
His whole physique is INSANE..... and for 56 years old. UNREAL
So What Can We Learn????
Well we really don't know what Mike is on. He hasn't suffered the gut descension (Bubble Gut) effect of human growth hormone usage that we have seen over the years with the Mass Monster body builders. We don't see a bunch of the kinked up veins that we see on some of the heavy users. Also his skin looks vibrant and healthy even at 56 which in a lot of ways is one of the hardest things I would say to accomplish because your skin loses it's ability to retain moisture and Mike has lived in places like LA it seems for a long time and incurring the photo voltaic damage of the sun or tanning beds would be an issue with keeping your skin looking decent.
He has certainly had procedures done on his face but even if he is doing laser procedures on his whole body all this would be tough to achieve.
Longevity ...... Will It Kill Him Early?
The more I recently watched some of his videos I actually agree with a lot of things Mike says about lifting heavy and working out and just the general positive advice he has given to other lifters about goals and various other topics.
Will 40 plus years of this actually allow him to live longer or kill him early. It is really hard saying. I think it is a combination of both but we also have to look at one of the guys Mike Trains with periodically is Robby Robinson who is 78 and was a 70's era body builder.
He is still out there lifting heavy and somehow survived the drug usage over the years. As a case study it is interesting not only from their look and their physique at those ages but their capability. I see guys in their 20's who can't do this stuff and as someone who goes to the gym I myself have to make the young bloods respect. Then you see some of these guys that much further along age wise and still being note worthy cases.
Should You Use PEDs At Some Point?
We have seen a huge rise in guys using stuff at all ages but I would say there has been a huge rise in guys using TRT (Testosterone Replacement Therapy) in their 30's, 40's, and 50's and beyond. Robert Kennedy Jr is on TRT and I'm not sure what else but personally I think someone should get as far along as they possibly can before they start taking anything like that because some stuff we don't know the full effects and what that fully looks like until we have more of these case studies we can look at.
Personally when I think about it and gauging how other guys have aged and been able to perform naturally vs these guys on drugs I can certainly see a case for getting on something like TRT possibly when someone is in their 50's and beyond.
It is hard to gauge by the normal population because the diet of most people is so bad but if I just looked at guys who eat diets like steak and eggs and they lift heavy and naturally have high testosterone levels it could get them pretty far. Likely all the way through their 40's just naturally.
What Are You Trying To Do?
Everyone's goals are different but I think at the end of the day people want to maintain a youthful look and maintain their mobility as they age.
Lenny Kravitz at 60 is pretty insane and not an over the top roided up unnatural look. Looks a solid 20 years younger if not more.
Seems like he focus a lot on his diet. Someone in the comment section did mention the ability to not have a normal job and not having all that additional stress from that. I would agree. Regular jobs honestly do kill people. A lot of the forced situation of having to get up and not get enough sleep is a huge problem.
For myself I'm still hitting PRs in the weight room and I regularly challenge the best basketball players in my area to 1 on 1 and ultimately they are shocked at my overall game and ability to win against faster, taller, and younger players. That's all just part of the testing and process. Based on others experience I would say I could athletically compete at a pretty high level for another 5 years or so and then after that I honestly think it would be more about fitness and still maintaining good base power.
It's a tough process and most give up but I always say that my mind and my body are my best assets. Even if I'm zero'd out and had no physical possessions I would be better off currently than 99% of the population. I would survive.
My Advice
I think that everyone should try to eat as clean as they can, get plenty of rest, be cautious on too many drugs. Also try to hydrate your skin with natural substances like coconut oil. I rub it all over my face every night. I'm not on an sort of pills or any of that. I drink some caffeine and I'm not on any pharma drugs. No PEDs. I drink, and do THC in moderation. I'm on a slow progress with any recreational drug because I observe and ask questions and see what happened to people who took various drugs. Same thing with the whole PEDs. I will observe what happens to these guys like Mike O'Hearn.
A lot of stuff is relearning what we already knew. You are what you eat. That is why I eat a lot of Steak to build lean muscle. After decades of lifting I'm still hitting personal records in the weight room without the aid of ever taking performance enhancing drugs.
At some point my journey will become more about health and longevity compared to upper end performance. Right now I'm still unlocking new abilities. In regards to Mike O'Hearn. I used to get upset about the guy but now that he is at the age he is at and somewhat defying age he becomes a useful case study along with a lot of these other guys documenting their journey. He obviously had a high genetic threshold and has been consistent for decades and also gives respect to the guys that are decades older than him on the same journey. His advice on lifting I think is pretty solid honestly and I do agree with him on a lot of things he says. He is a big proponent on incline bench vs flat bench and I have always been in that camp as well. He has also seeming avoided some of the catastrophic injuries despite lifting heavy which is also note worthy.
At the end of the day I'm going to keep getting after it and it certainly seems like I could enjoy several more decades of healthy living if I stick to being active and eating right.