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Are Lifters Funny? (With Tommy DeFea of Massenomics)

Written by David Tao
Last updated on November 11th, 2024

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Today, I’m joined for the second time by Tommy DeFea, one half of Massenomics. They make memes, they sell apparel, they record a podcast, and mostly, they don’t take themselves too seriously. It’s definitely the best multimedia strength sports company from Western North East South Dakota. We talk smelling salts, lifting jorts, and a lot of other stuff that would never touch a normal strength sports podcast. Hope you enjoy.

Tommy DeFea on the BarBend Podcast

In this episode of The BarBend Podcast, David Thomas Tao and Tommy DeFea discuss: 

  • Becoming experts on failure (1:30)
  • Okay, we’ll bite: What is Massenomics? (3:50)
  • Big gym additions, including new squat racks (07:00)
  • Tommy is all about the “boring” basics: squat, bench, deadlift (11:10)
  • People who lift love buying too many clothes. Why is that? (15:40)
  • South Dakota is surprisingly diverse (21:00)
  • How cold does it have to be to switch from shorts in the winter? (21:50)
  • When will Gucci make deadlift slippers? (26:00)

Relevant links and further reading:

Transcription

 

Tanner and I have debates. Tanner says he doesn’t like to even bring up coat with him because he feels like he has to babysit it and watch it. He’ll go the whole winter, essentially wearing a sweatshirt. I don’t play that game. I got to have a coat. Once it’s below zero, that’s cold weather, man. You got to have one.

David TaoDavid Tao

Welcome to the “BarBend Podcast,” where we talk to the smartest athletes, coaches, and minds from around the world of strength. I’m your host, David Thomas Tao, and this podcast is presented by barbend.com.

 

Today, I’m joined for the second time by Tommy DeFea, one-half of Massenomics. They make memes, they sell apparel, they record a podcast, and mostly they don’t take themselves too seriously. It’s definitely the best multimedia strength sports company from western northeast South Dakota. You can bet on that. We talk smelling salts, lifting jorts, and a lot of other stuff that would never touch a normal strength sports podcast.

 

Hope you enjoy. Podcasting is all about mistakes and making your mistakes public. Speaking of a mistake, Tommy, welcome back to the BarBend podcast for the second time.

 

 

 [laughs] I couldn’t have said it better myself. When I got the email asking if I wanted to be out, “Really? He wants to do this again. OK, here we go.”

David TaoDavid Tao

 You and I are both strength sports aficionados, and we’re not afraid of failure. You know what I mean? You try and sometimes the bar’s just not moving how you want it that day.

We’ve recorded 333 episodes of the “Massenomics” podcast and there’s so much failure in there. We’re an experts on failure at this point.

 

David TaoDavid Tao

 I need to charge you for these plugs. That plug was way too early in this podcast recording.

 

Normally, that’s the last 20 percent of the podcast. You’re just coming out of the gates being like, “Yeah, I have my own podcast. Stop listening to this one and please go listen to the Massenomics podcast. We have so many episodes.”

Shameless self-promotion. It’s what I’m all about.

David TaoDavid Tao

 It begins with shameless self-promotion. There will be some shameless self-promotion in the middle, and it is going to end on a crescendo of self-promotion. The likes of which have never been heard on the airwaves before. Absolutely insane. Tommy, because you led with that, what’s going on with Massenomics lately?

 

Oh, Massenomics. Quite a bit, I can’t say that the business has gone through any…We’re not in the music recording industry. We haven’t changed industries. We’re still in the strength fitness industry, but yeah, we’re just pumping out apparel, pumping out podcasts, and still super active on social media.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

I got to ask this because last time you were on the podcast, I had a little bit of difficulty wrapping my head around it. For those of you who have not heard of Massenomics, it’s like in “Zoolander” when Fabio is a model/actor, in that order, and not the other way around. You all do a lot. Some of it’s funny, not all of it, I’m going, to be honest with you. I’m kidding, most of it’s funny.

You’re totally right, a lot of it’s not funny. We try, but…

David TaoDavid Tao

[laughs] OK. We’re not afraid of failure, but how do you describe what Massenomics is? I’m curious if the order of operations has changed.

You could ask me this again at the end of the podcast and the order would probably change. I’m going to give it equal footing here. It’s apparel, podcast, and social media. That’s really the three core. Actually, I left one out. There is a gym too. There’s four parts to it — apparel, podcast, social media, gym.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

 First off, that’s a lie because no one gets equal parts. Everyone has a favorite child. That’s just the way it is. What’s your favorite aspect?

You’re making this really tough. Most people probably know us for our Instagram account first. That probably has the biggest following. Then, behind that, a lot of people know us for our merchandise. If you go a little deeper, there is a podcast. Then, if you’re really in the know, you know that there’s a gym.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

Let’s talk about the gym because I asked you to order what Massenomics is and you listed three things that weren’t the gym. Then you forgot that there was a gym. Clearly, that’s the one that’s your least…I would think that’s the one nearest and dearest to your heart because it’s a physical space that you can occupy.

I’m just aware…We’re stationed here in western northeast South Dakota, which isn’t exactly the most popular place in the world. Unless you’re in our very direct area, the gym doesn’t exist and there’s no reason you really need to know it exists. That’s why it always goes last on the list. Even people that live in our community don’t really know about the gym.

 

It is a bit of a secret so we keep that one may be on the down low compared to the others.

David TaoDavid Tao

 I live in Brooklyn, New York and when we’re out and about at a nice fancy cocktail bar, the vibe is, everyone’s always saying, “This is great, but if we were in western northeast South Dakota, they’re like two years ahead on this,” is generally what we think of.

 

We’re like the trendsetters of culture over here. This is peak happening of modern culture in western northeast South Dakota.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

Just to give a sense of how remote where Tommy lives actually is we recorded a podcast over a year ago and the thank-you care package I sent him still hasn’t arrived. I sent that two-day FedEx. Any day now, you’re going to be getting it.

 

OK. I was going to say I don’t remember this care package, but, all right, you’re right. It does take a little extra time so I will be on the lookout for that.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

 It’s the only place you can ship in the lower 48 where a river boat is mandatory. I’m not really sure why. I don’t even know if a river goes to where you all are.

 

 It’s the thought of the river boat. We’re into tradition around here, so you got to get a river boat involved somehow.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

It’s actually a riverboat that’s on top of an 18-wheeler.

[laughs] It’s being pulled by horses too at the same time.

David TaoDavid Tao

OK. We’re going to lean it on the Massenomics gym because I’m going to make you feel bad that you forgot you actually have a gym. How are things going there? What is membership look like? Any new exciting equipment additions that took two years to arrive?

 

 

Membership is a little over 60. Like I said, we don’t advertise it. You got to find it. Unless you’re searching “powerlifting gyms Aberdeen, South Dakota,” you don’t know what’s in the community.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

It’s hilarious because Aberdeen’s population is 12, so you are really expanded.

[laughs] We are being tripled. The entire community goes to the gym. We have about 60, a little over 60 members, equipment. It’s hard for me to remember, I was getting new stuff. I can’t remember exactly what was new the last time we talked, but in the last year, year and a half, we’ve gotten two Rogues. It is at the RM6. We got two of those racks. We got another one of their half-racks.

 

The last time we talked, we maybe had just gotten the Ghost combo rack, which goes to our IP. They don’t exist anymore, but we got one of their custom racks. Gotten a Mars bar. I don’t know if we had the Kabuki Transformer bar when we talk to you. We’ve gotten a lot of things. We have most of the toys, so it’s always something new and exciting.

 

We got one of the Rogue reverse hyper showing up any day now. We’ve been rocking a homemade reverse hyper for the last four years. We’re upgrading that to something a little more substantial there.

David TaoDavid Tao

 I assume that’s just you standing out by the mailbox, looking at your watch, hoping of the truck is going to arrive at any given time.

Yeah. You never know. Deliveries can always be weird, but for the most part, you’d be surprised how smooth that actually does work around here with equipment delivery.

David TaoDavid Tao

I’m just giving you a hard time because I have nothing else to do, but give you a hard time on this.

 

 I know.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

You agreed. You agreed to come on this.

I love it. Lay it on me.

David TaoDavid Tao

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice…

 

 

Can’t get shamed again.

David TaoDavid Tao

 …can’t get shamed. You have shame immunity. That’s how that works.

 

Here’s a question. A powerlifting gym. You get new equipment. The first week, it comes in. It’s hot. It’s fresh. You get that Transformer bar and you’re using it, you’re trying all the configurations. You’re changing the pin location. You’re doing all this stuff, right?

 

Then does it just go in the corner and is not used for four or five months again, because that’s what I’ve noticed every powerlifting gym does.

This is a very good question and it ties in with the home gym community too when they think they need like specialty bars. What specialty bar do I get next? I got to have this lineup of 10 bars that I need to purchase. To an extent, yes, you’re 100 percent right. The new toy shows up. Everyone gives it a try and 95 percent of the people never touch it again after the first couple weeks.

 

Where you see specialty bars and specialty items like that stick around is there’s always one person or a couple of people that have that shoulder problem, that knee problem, or that back problem. That specialty tool is the one that helps them work around whatever injury is in their training.

 

That’s where you see it gets used the most consistently, is people that need to use…A good example is the Duffalo bar. I never have shoulder issues squatting. It never bugs me at all, but there are a few guys in the gym that their shoulders are banged up all the time. The difference between squatting and not squatting is a lot of times using that Duffalo bar.

 

For those guys, that is the perfect thing. They’re using it all the time. Me, personally, not an issue. I never touch it, but that is the beauty of having a gym with all the stuff is the things are there. If you need the tool, it’s sitting there waiting for you.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

That is such a humblebrag. Look who’s got healthy shoulders in the powerlifting community. It’s Tommy, folks.

 

I think you got to be lift heavy enough to bang them up, but I haven’t got to that point yet. Maybe, there’s a chance for me still.

David TaoDavid Tao

You’ll graduate from the PVC pipe pretty soon. I’m not…

 

Exactly.

David TaoDavid Tao

I’m not too worried. I think that is a good point. It’s sometimes, specialty equipment you have, it’s like that minimum effective dose. It’s right for those few people in the gym.

 

I’m going to ask, name names. Who has mobility issues in your gym? Let’s violate all confidentiality here. I’m absolutely joking. What is one piece of equipment you’ve gotten fairly recently that you, Mr. Fresh Shoulders, like the day he was born with an infant’s mobility, which piece of equipment have you gotten recently that you integrate into your training pretty regularly?

Pretty regularly. Oh, boy. This is another thing. When people ask, I’m like the most boring training person. I just stick to the basics. I very rarely deviate from the power rack, a power bar, and a few dumbbells. I keep it pretty simple.

 

For me, we have a Ghost combo rack. I love benching on the Ghost combo rack. It has the spotter arms built in. It gives you a little more confidence if you don’t have a spotter that day to watch you. I use that thing multiple times a week. Other than that, I’m just in the power rack. Nothing too crazy. I’m not an exciting person to ask these questions, do with that. I’m pretty boring.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

We’re talking about powerlifting here. That’s what Massenomics is focused. You all love all strength sports. You give…

 

We do.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

You give due to all strength sports in all disciplines and manifestations of strength. At the end of the day, you all are for powerlifters, bi-powerlifters when it comes down to it.

 

 I’ve done a Strongman competition. There’s several guys in the gym that regularly compete in Strongman. We have all that stuff too. If I was getting ready for a comp in that, I’d definitely be using more of that. Right now, I’ve been on a pretty heavy…Just getting back into the swing of things with powerlifting. I don’t deviate a whole lot from that at the moment.

David TaoDavid Tao

That’s on me for asking a powerlifter what’s exciting about your training. Ultimately, it’s a sport where it’s like..

 

Boring. [laughs]

David TaoDavid Tao

 

I’ll squat and then I might bench.

 

 I’ll probably bench three times a week. Do some squatting, two to three times a week, then deadlifts peppered in there a little bit. Some accessories here and there. It’s the go-to.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

You talk to powerlifters when they become specialists. That’s when people get really boring. When you can’t keep three things in your head and you only want to keep one. You know what? You never come across the squat specialist. It’s always the deadlift or the bench specialist.

See, the problem there is they don’t have a squat-only comp. You have bench-only comps. You could do deadlift-only com, you can do a push-pull, or you combine the two of them. I think if they had a squat-only competition, maybe you’d get some squats specialist.

 

David TaoDavid Tao

I should clarify. You have people who are known for their prodigious squatting, like Ray Williams is known for being the heaviest, completely raw squatter of all time. Not using the mono rack, actually walking it out. Blah, blah, blah.

 

I wouldn’t call him like a squat specialist. This guy is also benching well over 500 pounds and deadlifting like…His deadlift is only limited by the size of his squats, because he has to loop the bar around it.

 

Yes.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

I don’t know if it’s fair to call him a squat specialist.

 

The thing is, once you guys get big enough to squat that much weight, you’re just so strong in general. It’s hard to let your other less leg behind.

David TaoDavid Tao

Do you have any lift specialists at the Massenomics gym?

Yes, we do. We definitely have. We have some guys that can bench a lot. We have several guys that can bench over 450. We had a guy not too long ago, bench 500. He has the title of the strongest bench in Massenomics gym.

 

We have a few guys that can pull a lot of weight in that six to seven hundred range. A couple of guys that can even go just a little over 700 when there are other lifts are quite a ways below that.

Those would be the two specialists you have there.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

My deadlift was once more than 200 pounds more than my back squat.

 

Wow. That’s…

David TaoDavid Tao

 

That’s bad.

 

The build? You were deadlifting 900 pounds, though, right?

David TaoDavid Tao

 

Sure, yeah.

Hook grip. Tommy, you’re being a buddy, I appreciate it. Because you live in the Dakotas, is the diet of the Massenomics gym members just mostly beef?

 

Yeah. Beef, baby. Might make some of that rice, but [laughs] the diet is pretty simple. Beef and rice, maybe some veggies. Keep it easy.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

 Even rice and beef, if your cholesterol is high, add some vegetables there. It’s pretty simple living, if for the powerlifting community.

 

We’re talking powerlifting. It is simple stuff where you lift weights and eat.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

Let’s talk a little bit about apparel. OK, I’m opening it up for the shameless plug. We’re going to move some merch on this podcast.

 

All right. Let’s do it.

David TaoDavid Tao

There’s one thing strength athletes love. This is across sports. I don’t care if you’re in a weightlifting, powerlifting, CrossFit, strongman, bodybuilding…bodybuilding, no, because you’re not really wearing anything. I should clarify. People who lift love buying too many clothes. They love buying clothes that tell people they lift.

 

You all are famous for selling some overpriced clothing based around lifting. Some of it’s funny. Some of it’s just very expensive. How are the apparel sales going? How’s the mansion you’re building?

[laughs] Apparel sales are going really good. So far this year, we’re on track for our best year ever. The Arnold happened again this year. We got to get out and meet a bunch of people there. That’s obviously a big weekend for sales, too. That was a ton of fun.

 

Apparel, it’s going great. We have all types of new stuff. Just yesterday, we came out with the first-ever Massenomics lift jorts. We had a pretty awesome release for those. We got to team up with the people at board primitive to make that happen. We’re excited about that one. It’s been a really fun year for us, releasing new, different, unique items.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

OK. Give me a list, if you don’t mind, of all the different types of apparel you all have released, like shorts, shirts, jorts. What are all the different categories that you remember?

The main item is t-shirts. We always have new t-shirts coming out every single month. It’s a lot of t-shirts. Shorts are the next big, most popular item. We’ve done a variety of mesh shorts over the years. We had our jorts come out. We had some custom cut and sew shorts come out earlier this year. That was quite the learning process getting that going.

 

Depending on the time of year, sweatshirts, joggers. Headwear too, beanies, caps, that type of stuff. Then, we have all types of accessories. For home gym owners, banners, flags. We got stickers, koozies, all types of…We’ve done different ammonias over the past. Different scented ammonias. You can’t just have scented ammonia. It’s got to have a smell to it.

 

We’ve done some fun things there too. We’re always trying to do something new and different.

David TaoDavid Tao

I want you to make ammonias that are scented like those old Yoplait yogurts...

 

.like key lime pie, white chocolate raspberry ammonia.

 

That could be an option. We have some plans for some different flavors. So far, we’ve done a beer-scented ammonia.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

By the way, I like how you say flavors. Please don’t eat the ammonia, folks.

[laughs] Yeah, don’t eat them.

 

 Some scents in the works, yeah. So far, we’ve done a beer-scented ammonia, and last black Friday we did a hot sauce-scented ammonia. We got some other things up our sleeve.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

Was that you just pouring Tabasco in the ammonia canisters.

 

 [laughs] It’s just spicy air. You got to spice it up. That’s what we do.

David TaoDavid Tao

I love it. OK. What about singlets? Is there…

 

We do have a custom singlet that you can order. We’ve talked for a long time about getting actual singlets going like an in-stock item and we have some ideas there. Just we always want to do something crazy, but singlets are tricks because people don’t want anything too crazy because they got to wear it on their meet day and not look like a total goof.

 

That’s something that’s in the works. We’re playing around with some ideas there.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

I’m going to throw out some other items. I just want you to give me your gut reaction shooting from them.

 

Yes, I like this.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

By the way, Tommy does not control Massenomics outright, although he’s working on a political coup in order to exert ultimate influence.

 

This is my chance to just flex my muscle on all Massenomics control here. Tanner’s not in the discussion right now.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

Just pretend that this is not a cheerocracy. This is a cheer-tater-ship. Is really the goal here. OK. I’m going to name some items, like a beer collab with a local brewery.

 

 We actually have talked about that before, too.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

Oh, damn.

 

The problem is our local breweries are pretty small around here and then the next problem is that we’d love to ship it. I think there’s a lot of hoops you got to jump through to ship beers around. That one, logistically, there was some issues.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

 What about belts? Lifting belts?

Lifting belts are awesome. We would probably do something there. Just got to come up with that cool unique thing. I’m not sure what that is yet.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

You’ve done jorts.

We’ve done jorts, yes.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

What about the Canadian tuxedo?

Like a lightly branded or embroidered denim shirt combo.

 

I think that’s a great idea, actually. You’re 100 percent right. We’ll get the lift patch, somewhere down the corner. It would tuck into your jorts. You’d be looking like a man on a mission then.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

The thing is it has to be classy. You know what I mean? You can’t…

 

Oh yeah. There’d be a nice collar. Maybe some shiny buttons on it. It’d be good.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

They can’t be like a t-shirt where the entire front is a patch. It has to be a little bit more subtle.

Oh yeah, it’d be left chest, for sure.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

Understated is the brand you’re going?

Yes, subtle, understated. That’s what we’re all about here.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

When you’re wearing more than one piece of denim, understated is really what you’re going for. You live in…Are you in the Midwest? Are you in the mountain west? What is the region, besides West, Northeast, South Dakota?

We’re in the Midwest, for sure. Where South Dakota is a little unique is that once you get on the West side of the state, most people say South Dakota’s Midwest, but the West side of the state feels nothing like the Midwest.

 

It feels more like Colorado. You have mountains and pine tree forests, and it’s a whole different vibe over there, but yes, we think of South Dakota as the Midwest.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

I’m trying to think of other items that would be specific to the Midwest. You have a lot of cold weather gear?

Oh, we are in one of the cold…This is what’s amazing is a week or two ago. The temp was 105 and crazy humidity too. What you have to consider when you live here is, you have an August, late July day where it’s about 105, and then six months later, the temperature will be 140 degrees colder.

 

It’s not unusual for us to hit a week or two in January where it’s -30. You factor in windshield, you can be -40, -50, so we deal with the temps around here.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

People still slog it to the gym. They still make it there?

 

[laughs] You do. That’s the thing that keeps you going, otherwise, you get hibernated up and you get that cabin fever going, so the gym’s what keeps you going.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

 If you’re looking for a three-hour warm-up?

 

Yeah. [laughs] You put on all the sweats, you work hard. If you’re lucky by the end of the workout, you’re getting a sweat, just then.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

Do you have to have those disposable hand warmers, next to every major muscle group? On the quads, on the glutes?

That’s not a bad idea. I don’t do that though. I don’t know many people that do use those things. I should keep that in mind.

 

David TaoDavid Tao

 

That’s because you’re a native. You’re…

…the other region. You’re grizzled.

Tanner and I have debates. Tanner says he doesn’t like to even bring a coat with him because he feels he has to babysit it and watch it. He’ll go the whole winter, essentially, wearing a sweatshirt.

 

I don’t play that game. I got to have a coat. Once it’s below zero, that’s coat weather, man. You got to have one.

David TaoDavid Tao

I’m sorry. This is the craziest phrase I’ve ever heard, “Once it’s below zero, that’s coat weather.” You should probably wear a coat. You’re a different type of person. I’m a soft east coaster at this point. This is why we can’t meet in person, because I know I’m too scared.

 

If we’re at a several 100-mile distance, I can be on my high horse and poke fun, but as soon as we’re in the same room, I’m going to be the most timid person you’ve ever met.

 

Oh, no, no, no. It’s Midwest people. We just got that niceness to us. You got to just smile and be nice about everything. You got nothing to worry about.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

Well, you also got to repress the feelings until they bubble up into a volcano.

 

Buried deep inside. Yeah, that’s what you do. [laughs]

David TaoDavid Tao

Yeah, it’s like I cried once when I was a child. [laughs] OK, what is coming? You’ve mentioned that there’s some things you all talked about. What’s coming up for Massenomics? Could be on the social media front, could be on the apparel front, could be on special guests, celebrity appearances at events front that you wouldn’t admit to anyone except to talk about it on the BarBend podcast.

 

Give us some juicy details. Come on.

OK. Special guests, we do… we’re working out the final details. As of yesterday, texts were being exchanged, but someone that is fairly well known in the powerlifting, coaching, personality lifting space. Sounds like they’re going to be making a trip to western northeast South Dakota here in the next three weeks.

 

I can’t say the name, for sure. I don’t want to put too much heat on him, but we should have a pretty special guest coming to shoot some video, do a little collaboration with us, and we’re very excited about that. We got that to look forward to.

 

On the social media side of things, social media is so tough right now. So weird because Instagram is just trying to be TikTok and I don’t know. You get stuck playing whatever game that is. Maybe you’ll see some more reels from us right now. We still stick to memes pretty hard, but maybe you’ll see some more reels. We’ve talked about some…we’ve been brainstorming some ideas there.

 

Then apparel. We have a fun collaboration coming up with — I can’t spill the beans yet — another really cool apparel company in the powerlifting space that I think a lot of people that are fans of us and this other company are going to really like and that’ll be coming out in September. September is got some exciting stuff on the horizon there.

 

David TaoDavid Tao

 

Just OK. If it’s the Gucci collab, nod lightly, is what I wanted.

 I’m winking both eyes. [laughs]

David TaoDavid Tao

 

Yeah, the Gucci/Massenomics slippers. Those are going to be…

 

People have been demanding it. We’re finally going to make it happen.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

 The deadlift slippers. The Gucci deadlift slippers.

 

Yeah, I like that. That could be something there.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

What do you deadlift in?

 

 The most I’ve ever deadlifted is 540 pounds.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

Oh, I said what do you deadlift in?

 

 Oh, what do I deadlift in?

David TaoDavid Tao

I don’t actually care. Believe it or not, I actually don’t care about your numbers, you do you?

 

I was surprised. I’m like we really changed pace there, but…

David TaoDavid Tao

 

Oh, no, no, no, footwear. I’m sorry. What footwear? You’re strong, you’re awesome, but I’m more interested in what you’re rocking on the platform.

This is a very timely, relevant question right now because for years, I have believed that the best powerlifting shoe has been the…now, doesn’t exist anymore but the Reebok TR Live high-top. We’re talking like…this was prime powerlifting in probably 2015, 2016, somewhere around there. That thing was a classic.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

You can’t run in those. I tried once. You will literally die if you try.

 

I don’t got to worry about that. That’s not a concern at all. I’m not running here. I’ve had a pair of those that have only…they’ve never seen the light of day. They just been in the gym since I got them, and that’s been my go-to forever, but as of…today is Friday, two days ago…have you ever heard of the company Barefoot?

David TaoDavid Tao

 

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Barefoot, they’re actually our neighbors to the north in Fargo, North Dakota. They sent us over a little surprise package with their Versus high-top shoe. It’s a very, very minimal, very…I think it’s a cool-looking shoe. They sent us that Wednesday night. I’m going to the gym shortly after this podcast and I’m going to try that out. I’m excited to see what that’s about.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

I will say I am not so rude that I would get on this and ask you about your…unless you’re a record-breaking athlete, just berate you about your lifts and your training lifts.

 

Oh, fuck. You suck, man. Try again. [laughs]

David TaoDavid Tao

 

 That’s not my goal. I mean awesome. That’s great, but I care more about what you look like when you lift.

I know. That’s really at the end of the day what matters, right? Style?

 

David TaoDavid Tao

 

Style, yeah. When I do corner commentary for USA Weightlifting, I’m always commenting on peoples’ headbands. I’m a big headband guy. We literally get comments about the broadcaster, “Can the commentator shut up about the headbands?”

 

That’s the thing. In competitions, there’s only so many options you get to express your style. Especially I would assume at a higher level, they maybe have a designated single to have to wear. You have headbands and outside of that, there’s not a ton of options.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

You’re a man rocking hair on the longer end of the spectrum. Are you a headband guy?

 

 I’m not really. I don’t really wear headbands. It’s never something I’ve done, but I do have pretty long hair. You have to try it. Maybe that would make my life better if I did. Maybe I should try that.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

You have hair that’s long enough to tie back. My hair grows up. Unless I want to do the…one of those little toys, the little trolls where their hair looks like a light bulb, toward the top. Then I have to use a headband because when it gets sweaty, it falls down into my face.

 

 If you ever let it get past that stage, eventually gets long enough before it’s too heavy to stand up, and then it does finally come down. It does take some time.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

 Like a neutron star if I get to that point, my head will collapse in on itself due to gravity. We’re trying to avoid that in a public setting.

 

That sounds like a problem.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

 [laughs] Tommy, this is the part of the podcast where I allow you to give the plugs if you don’t mind. Where can people learn more about Massenomics, which is, I understand it is, social media, then apparel, then if you want to go deep, a podcast? Then if you want to go real deep is a physical gym space where yes, you can, in fact, lift weights and connect with like-minded people.

 

 You recapped that actually really well. I was almost thinking you were trying to trick me and change the order, but I do think you got it right there.

David TaoDavid Tao

I think so.

Online, you can find us at massenomics.com. People know how to use Google. Type in Massenomics to find us. We also have apparel, lots of apparel, new drops coming out every single month. You can find that on the website. The podcast, we’ve recorded a new episode of the podcast every single week. We’ve done that for 333 straight weeks.

 

You can find that wherever you find podcast. Spotify, Apple podcast, wherever that may be. Finally, if you ever find yourself in western northeast South Dakota, make sure to hit us up. We’ll get you into the gym. You could have a pretty good lift.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

In my mind, your gym is located in an abandoned nuclear bunker and I don’t know why.

 

[laughs] You’re not entirely wrong. The building, I think, was built like in the ’20s or ’30s. It’s right on the edge of a railroad. I assume it was a big warehouse at one point, but we are in the basement. The basement has 10-foot ceilings. It’s rather large, and there are actually nuclear fallout shelter signs scattered throughout the building. You pretty much got us spot on there.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

 I’ve been secretly stalking you all which is difficult to do from this distance, let me tell you. [laughs]

 

 [laughs] You did a great job. You’re doing it.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

That’s the validation that I need as a millennial. I appreciate it. Tommy, it’s always a pleasure chatting with you. I have a lot of fun, and I hope people follow along with Massenomics. You had a lot of laughs to a community that sometimes takes itself too seriously. I really appreciate what you all do. I appreciate you coming back on the podcast.

 

 Hey, thanks for having me back on and you nailed it. That’s exactly what we’re trying to do. Just have some fun with powerlifting training in the weightlifting space.

About David Tao

BarBend's Co-Founder and CEO, David is a veteran of the health & fitness industry, with nearly a decade of experience building and running editorial teams in the space. He also serves as a color commentator for both National and International weightlifting competitions, many through USA Weightlifting.

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