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Sick Angles for the World’s Best Weightlifters (w/ Steve Galvan)

Written by David Tao
Last updated on August 15th, 2023

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Today I’m talking to weightlifter, coach, and photographer Steve Galvan. Steve is a multi-talented force in weightlifting, and for both the Rio and Tokyo Olympic Games, he was the official International Weightlifting Federation photographer. He’s also known in the community as the photographer behind Sick Angles, which makes sense; he gets the sickest angles for some of the world’s biggest lifts. We catch up about Steve’s unlikely path from photography volunteer to an exclusive seat on the world’s biggest stage.

Steve Galvan BarBend Podcast

On this episode of The BarBend Podcast, host David Thomas Tao talks to Steve Galvan about:

  • Steve’s introduction to weightlifting through track & field (02:50)
  • Announcing weightlifting sessions — in THREE different languages (06:00)
  • Steve’s unlikely path to weightlifting photography (13:30)
  • Overcoming imposter syndrome and caring about the people in the sport (16:45)
  • A commitment to weightlifting, and jumping through organizational red tape to make it to the Tokyo Olympic Games (19:40)
  • Sitting alongside Pulitzer Prize winners (23:10)

Relevant links and further reading:

Transcription

Steve GalvanSteve Galvan

 …when the time for Rio came up, I was asked to go and I said, “Yes, of course,” because you never say no to the Olympic Games. It was just right place, right time, treat everyone right, work your ass off, love the sport, love the athletes, communicate well, and luckily, my language proficiency helped me with the different themes and that’s how I built it.

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 talking to weightlifter, coach and photographer Steve Galvan. Steve is a multi-talented force in weightlifting, and for both the Rio and Tokyo Olympic Games, he was the official International Weightlifting Federation photographer.

 

He’s also known in the community as the photographer behind Sick Angles, which makes sense, he gets the sickest angles for some of the world’s biggest lifts. We catch up about Steve’s unlikely path from photography volunteer, to an exclusive seat on the world’s biggest stage.

 

Before we get to that, I want to give a quick shout out to today’s episode sponsor, Athletic Greens. I first tried Athletic Greens, way back in 2012. It was already a massively popular daily supplement, and since then, they’ve undergone dozens of formulation tweaks, each an improvement on the last.

 

It’s the rare all in-one-green supplement that’s NSF-certified a must for competitive athletes, and also tastes delicious. Interested in trying it? Visit athleticgreens.com/barbend to get a free gift with your purchase. Now let’s get on to the show.

 

Steven, it’s so good to chat. We’ve known each other for a while. Happy belated birthday, by the way. I believe our birthdays are one day apart.

Steve GalvanSteve Galvan

Yeah, mine’s the [inaudible 2:12] . When is yours?

David TaoDavid Tao

The 28th of July, so I remember that. At A&M in 2017 everyone kept saying Happy birthday and we were sitting close to each other and I was like, how do people know my birthday? They were wishing you happy birthday. It was a day early. That’s how I remember it.

Steve GalvanSteve Galvan

[laughs] That’s awesome. Cool man. Both [inaudible 2:29] .

David TaoDavid Tao

That’s a little bit of a preview because we’re going to talk about weightlifting today and you are someone who’s worn a lot of different hats in weightlifting. Coach, athlete, a multi-lingual announcer, and most recently, photographer at the Tokyo Olympic Games.

 

Let’s go way back. How did you first get exposed to weightlifting?

Steve GalvanSteve Galvan

That’s a good question. I ran track in college at Texas A&M in the mid-’90s. I started doing power cleans, and squats, and learning a little snatch. We didn’t do a whole lot as hurdlers. That was my first introduction.

 

Then in 2007, I started CrossFit. Started learning the lifts and I wasn’t very good in it, I was a track guy. I was a 180 pounds and I have no quads. I never had quads. I’m just not that guy. I was a jumper and a hurdler. I was just not known for utmost strength.

 

When I did CrossFit, l was good at a lot of stuff, but I was terrible at the lifting. I was, “You know what, I’m super competitive. I want to beat everybody. I want to get better at this.”

 

I just started practicing the lifts more, and I drove up an hour and half to Ursula Papandrea, Ursula Garza, her house, up on Pflugerville, Texas. It’s an hour and a half from my house. I drove up there twice a week for private lessons.

David TaoDavid Tao

Woo, that’s a commute.

Steve GalvanSteve Galvan

It’s a commute, buddy. It was a commitment. It was 210 miles round trip. Then she finally was like, “All right, you don’t have to keep paying me all this crazy money. You can just train with me,” because she knew I was committed. That’s how it started.

 

It was probably in 2011-ish when I started trying to compete as a master. Just for fun. Trying to get better. Then I started coaching people, and it just all grew from there.

David TaoDavid Tao

That explains the coach and athlete part. I’ve seen you coach athletes and you’re very passionate in a lot of stuff you do. Let’s talk about some of the other roles you play. I want to talk about as an announcer and color commentator.

 

We’ve done some color commentary sessions together. It’s been a lot of fun. I’ve also seen you as an announcer at international events. You’re breaking out, doing it in three languages sometimes?

Steve GalvanSteve Galvan

Spanish, Portuguese, decent pronunciation with French. I know a little bit of Russian. Just [Russian] .

 

Just very little. Enough to get me in trouble or get me a beer.

David TaoDavid Tao

Spanish, Portuguese, and then also English. I’ll see you break out in three in a row. Very useful at the Pan Ams. How did you first start doing that? Was there like a call though, “Hey, we need someone who can speak these three languages,” and you were like shoot your hand up?

Steve GalvanSteve Galvan

No. The Federation knew I spoke the languages. Pedro Maloney and I were good friends. Him and I only speak in Portuguese when we’re hanging out. They knew I spoke all the languages. They asked me. They called me and they were like, “Hey, can you do this? You speak all the languages that we need for the Pan American championships so like, will you do it?”

 

I was like, “Yeah.” I think I had negotiated to get paid because I was like, “Look. It’s a lot of work and it’s hard. You have to do something for me.” They hooked it up there, but that was my first [inaudible 6:02] international speaking experience. I run my own meets so I know how to announce a meet.

 

It’s funny, David, at that meet, and I don’t know if I told you is that I was told that it was in English and then Spanish was secondary, and the Portuguese was tertiary or whatever. Right, before we started, 10 minutes they’re like, “Oh, never mind. You’ll have to do the whole thing in Spanish to start with.” I was like, “Whoa.” I was not prepared for that to be my primary.

 

One of the Dominican Republic officials, she sat with me and helped me get off the ground on my first session and then I was good after that. I was flying high.

David TaoDavid Tao

Did you grow up speaking all three of these languages or just later on in life?

Steve GalvanSteve Galvan

No. In 2000 and what was it? I got out of college. I really got to think. 2002 or 2003, I went to Brazil with some buddies for a month and we just went crazy. I couldn’t speak Spanish or Portuguese. I was super lost.

 

I didn’t really have as much fun as I wanted to, so when I got back, I said, “You know, I just spent a month in Brazil and I talked to nobody. I didn’t meet a girlfriend. I was just bored and lonely the whole time.” I was really upset. I said, “That’ll never happen to me again.”

 

I enrolled myself the next week into a language school and started learning Spanish, taking classes, as well as private classes in Spanish for a year and a half. As soon as I got proficient enough in Spanish to run business and to do all the stuff I needed to do, I immediately hired a Portuguese instructor and started learning Portuguese.

 

Man, I went four and a half years bounced the wall with both languages.

David TaoDavid Tao

Wow, doing it as an adult too. Rarely do you see someone develop that mastery because they were self-motivated later in life. Kudos to you.

 

Steve GalvanSteve Galvan

Yeah, it was tough but I also learned that I do have a knack for learning languages. Some people are just better at things than others. That, to me, it became very easy comparatively speaking, for me to learn those languages. I’m good at languages, I know that. It’s a blessing. It’s opened so many doors for me.

 

This is why I’m in this podcast, right? I could speak some languages. It’s crazy.

David TaoDavid Tao

We’ll get back to the conversation in just a moment. First, a quick shout out to our episode sponsor, Athletic Greens. Athletic Greens is daily all-in-one supplement with vitamins, minerals, probiotics, adaptogens, and more to help your body perform at the highest level. It makes it easily taste delicious.

 

As a personal favorite for me to start the day and yes, I actually am a repeat customer. Visit athleticgreens.com/barbend today to check it out. Now, let’s get back to the show.

 

Let’s talk a little bit about having to do commentary or announcing in three different languages. Did you have brain fry? I know the answer here because I was with you those days. I would imagine you had to be dragged out of the chair because your brain was switching gears so many times.

Steve GalvanSteve Galvan

Yeah, so I went through that. Once I learned Spanish, then I transitioned over to Portuguese, I actually wasn’t very good at Spanish afterwards. My brain couldn’t slip back and forth, but it took a while. I don’t know, eight months to nine months or so, and then I was able to do both.

 

After you announce the session even in English, I think your brain is fried. Think about the clock and the rules and the juries making a stop. You have to be ready for all that, so you’re on high alert. Doing it in three languages, it puts a little more strain on you.

 

Luckily, it’s a little more scripted. You know what you’re going to say and you know how to say it. I was mentally tired when I was done but honestly, it wasn’t monumental for me. It was something I can handle. I really enjoyed so it was a lot of fun.

David TaoDavid Tao

It’s interesting because I remember back to that Pan Am. Sorry, I’m flubbing over my words in English. Clearly, I need to work on my mastery of a single language here. I’m thinking back to that and it was in South Florida, not far from Miami, but not in Miami.

 

We’re basically as someone put it, we weren’t quite in the Everglades but we were in a glade.

Steve GalvanSteve Galvan

Right on the swamp. That was weird, it was way out there.

David TaoDavid Tao

I saw an alligator close to where we were, no fooling. I actually saw one. I was like, “OK, I don’t see that New York City a lot.” Maybe in the sewers. Maybe you just don’t tell anyone about that, but it’s interesting to me, because when I got there, I spent some time in Miami before that, in South Florida before that.

 

I don’t speak any Spanish and I’m just used to not knowing what’s going on. You get there and you hear a lot more Spanish than English.

Steve GalvanSteve Galvan

It’s crazy, every single Uber driver I had was all Spanish speaking, the people at the gym that I went to, they’re all Spanish speaking. It’s another world down in Miami, down in South Florida.

David TaoDavid Tao

I also remember, it ended up being a very pleasant experience. I remember the folks being really friendly, the weightlifting community and obviously the International Weightlifting community, super, super friendly, the Pan American Federation. It did flood, the outdoor training hall did flood.

 

I just remember there was no way to get cool. I know they had the air conditioning going, but, man, in the swamp, in the middle of the summer, late July. I don’t know how the athletes did it. I was sweating sitting there.

Steve GalvanSteve Galvan

You have to remember too, a lot of the athletes from the South American countries and the Caribbean, and even Central America, they’re used to it. When you go to Pan Ams in Ecuador or Colombia, it’s a sweatbox. I was a team leader at Junior Pan Ams and Guayaquil in Ecuador. Then out the stadium was an outdoor stadium.

 

That’s where we lifted it, it was insane. They’re totally used to it. The Yankees like you up in the East Coast, you’re not used to the humidity and heat, man. I’m in South Texas, I’m used to dying in the summer.

 

You’re right. It does take its toll on you. It’s hot and humid, and it’s really hard to cool down because when you run an AC system that pulls out humidity, you have to run it super, super cold for a long time to get that humidity out.

David TaoDavid Tao

Two things about that. First, that’s the first time I’ve ever been called a Yankee on this podcast. I probably deserve it at this point. I’ve lived in New York for a decade. The second thing I’ll say is one benefit of lifting in very humid weather, I got a couple workouts in when I was down there. Man, my squat positioning was about two inches lower than normal. I feel like I was already lubricated and warm.

Steve GalvanSteve Galvan

You warm up so much faster. As a coach, I’m a big proponent of a really extensive warm up to get the body warm. Considering if you’re working out in a normal 70-degree gym or 68-degree gym. You got to warm up, people don’t do that.

 

A lot of my athletes always hated all the warm ups I made them do because it’s actually better for you. You move better, you get lower, you can lift more when it comes down to it, it’s a good thing.

David TaoDavid Tao

Let’s transition a little bit and talk about yet another career you have in weightlifting. Should I address you as your alter ego @sickangles on Instagram?

Steve GalvanSteve Galvan

Let’s give the people what they want.

David TaoDavid Tao

I’m talking to Mr. Angles himself here. I thought I knew everything you did at a certain point in weightlifting, and then suddenly you’re the official photographer of weightlifting at the Olympic Games for two Olympics in a row. Let’s talk about that.

Steve GalvanSteve Galvan

You want to know how it started?

David TaoDavid Tao

Of course.

Steve GalvanSteve Galvan

It was 2014 and I was in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at a bar with Mr. Hook Grip, Nat Arrow.

David TaoDavid Tao

[laughs] OK.

 

Steve GalvanSteve Galvan

[inaudible 14:05] out, we’re buddies. I’m staying at his place, and we’re just out, out on the town. He’s not a big drinker. I’ve been known to party, but I wasn’t drinking a ton. I have a couple of drinks. I had a shot. I was like, “You know, I really want to go to the World Championships in Kazakhstan.”

 

Ilya is going to be there, [inaudible 14:25] is going to be there, Benson Young, Pat Mendez. A lot of people I knew, a lot of people I idol, they’re all going to go. He’s like, “You should just go.” I was like, “Well, yeah, but it’s Kazakhstan, I don’t know anything. I don’t speak the language. I had nothing.”

 

He’s like, “Just get a ticket. Maybe I can get you a press pass,” and he can help me. It shouldn’t be a problem. I was like, “All right.” I had a couple drinks. I just bought a ticket online to Kazakhstan.

 

Who cares, right? I got an Airbnb. I showed up in Kazakhstan, and he introduced me to Lila Rusconi who was the Media Communications Director for IWF. She’s like, “Yeah, I can get you a press pass. What are you going to do?”

 

I was like, “Whatever Nat tells me to do, I’ll be the second shooter.” He gave me a second camera, and he gave me a video camera. He’s like, “Film as much as you can, take these pictures here, the setting’s on the camera, just do it.”

 

I covered the 2014 Weightlifting Championships in Almaty. After that, they were like, “Hey, Steve, we love you, you’re hilarious, you’re awesome. Everybody loves you. Can you do this again?” I’m like, “Sure.” “OK, great. We’re going to fly you out to Peru for the Youth World Championships in Lima. Be there, be square.”

 

That’s how it all begins. I just said yes to every assignment they sent me on. I got to go all over the world. Then when the time for Rio came up, I was asked to go and I said yes, of course, because you never say no to the Olympic Games.

 

It was just right place, right time. Treat everyone right, work your ass off, love the sport, love the athletes, communicate well, and luckily, my language proficiency really helped me with the different teams. That’s how I built it.

David TaoDavid Tao

In basically two years, you went from having never photographed weightlifting to being the official weightlifting photographer at the Olympic Games. Is that the IOC approaching you or the IWF approaching you for that?

Steve GalvanSteve Galvan

IWF. The IWF gets essentially in Rio they got two spots for photography. I got one of them. Then in this Tokyo games, they only got one. I was the chosen one. Just super blessed, super lucky. Sometimes I wonder how do I get picked?

 

Then when I start working, and I know everyone. I know all the coaches and I know the federations and I know the athletes, and I speak their language. I treat them right and I send them the pictures, and I just start busting my butt for them. Then I realize I do belong here because I care. I care about my job. I care about the athletes, I care about the coverage, I care about the sport.

 

Really, who else better to do it than just a grassroots guy from Texas that loves the sport and is willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done?

David TaoDavid Tao

You certainly have a warm and friendly personality, and you make friends pretty easily. That much I know. Let’s talk a little bit about contrasting your experience in Rio with Tokyo, which is the games that took place under, maybe what’s called slightly different circumstances.

Steve GalvanSteve Galvan

It was under duress. Then, a lot of the Japanese people weren’t in favor of the Games. There was the sentiment that this shouldn’t be happening. This is silly. This is reckless. Looking back on Rio, it’s funny because people forget this, right before Rio, there was the Zika outbreak, remember Zika?

David TaoDavid Tao

Yeah. I had completely forgotten about that.

Steve GalvanSteve Galvan

Everybody forgot about that. Because it really hadn’t killed a bunch of people and it wasn’t taking over the world like, the coronavirus did. People were like, screw it, I’m going to the Games no matter what. Rio was no one really thought about Zika and so when I got there, it was a free for all man.

 

I had to book my own place and I had to pay for my own accommodations. Stayed in a two bedroom apartment with five people and Nat was one of them. It was one bathroom for five people. It was tough man. It was rough conditions.

 

Staying there, one of the girls on their trip got sick. It got food poisoning and she was [inaudible 18:35] . We only have one toilet so, we were peeing in the sink. It was hilarious like, it was just a comedy capers. Rio, they had there’s tons of security because you have to in certain countries that have history of violence, like some South American countries do.

 

They had the full force military out to protect everyone and make sure that nothing really crazy happened to the people visiting. It was the full Olympic experience, David. I got to go to the American house party with the Team USA, on the beach in Ipanema Beach.

 

My wife got to go with me. She got at full access to all the events we get to go to track and field. We did it up and it was awesome. That experience is one of the best experience I’ve ever had in my life.

 

Then you fast forward to Tokyo where you don’t know what’s going to happen. You’re afraid to get coronavirus there, because you’re a foreigner. I had to buy repatriation insurance, to make sure that if my body if I died, that my body could be shipped back.

David TaoDavid Tao

[laughs] That’s some heavy stuff right there.

Steve GalvanSteve Galvan

It was like, people a lot of people are like, are you sure you want to go like this isn’t good. When you love the sport and you’re committed to making things happen, someone’s got to cover it, so might as well be me.

 

You get there, I had to jump through hoops to get there man COVID tests before they had to be timed. I had a canceled flight 12 hours before I left that was going to screw up the whole trip. Getting there you get tested. When you get in the airport, you get tested every single day.

 

You can’t go anywhere. You got to wear a mask everywhere. It was a challenge, it was a more of a mental challenge to get through all the barriers just to walk around in public and they don’t want you out. You go to the venue and you go back to your hotel. That’s the only place they want you. They keep dibs on you.

 

People are spying on you like, “Hey, this person’s out. They shouldn’t be.” We’re getting emails. “You shouldn’t be out.” At the end of the day, the athletes need you to be there, so you show up. The cool thing about Tokyo, David, that was different than Rio was that, you have much closer access. It was a much more personal feel because there’s less people there, there’s less crowds to battle with.

 

I could go anywhere I want. I would be surprised if they wouldn’t let me in the drug testing room while they’re peeing, and just be there hanging out. That’s how much access I had to everything. In Rio, it’s not as much. I couldn’t even go to warm-up room without getting checked out. I was able to roam around freely, cover the sport, and take the sickest angles possible.

David TaoDavid Tao

Let’s talk a little bit about some of the standout performances you’ve photographed. A lot of which you’ve taken at two Olympic Games. Between all the events that you’ve photographed at this point, what are some standout performances that if you could relive, you would in a second? That you’ve been able to capture?

Steve GalvanSteve Galvan

That’s a good story. You were talking all of them? From both Olympic Games, or from Tokyo?

David TaoDavid Tao

Yeah. Let’s say all of them. You’ve seen a lot of impactful historic lifting.

Steve GalvanSteve Galvan

Yes. My first World Championships in Kazakhstan when watching three World Records stood down in the 105 class with Ilya, Nurudinov, and Bedzhanyan from Russia, watching three World Records get popped. Then watching Ilya on his last lift after missing his second clean and jerk, successful clean and jerk to win the World Championship.

 

That was insane. That was goose bump insane. His coach, Toyshan, his wife and I became friends on that trip. It was like, you felt you were part of the Ilya fan club. You felt like you were part of their success, one of their team. They welcomed you in. That one, to me, was electrifying.

 

The first session in Rio, the 56 class when the Chinese, Long…I don’t even know how to pronounce his name. He wins on the last lift against Om Yun Chul. You’re like, “Oh my God, this is the Olympics.” I watched this go down. I’m at the Olympics. I’m in the sea of Getty, Reuters, and AP guys. All the bad asses in the industry.

 

One of the guys that I was shooting with from Reuters was with a Pulitzer Prize winning photographer from the year before. You’re talking about the world’s best, and you’re sitting there. I’m like, “How did I get here? I don’t even understand this.” After a while, it’s sad to say that you get a little numb to it. It becomes like, “OK, I’m covering it. That was cool, but when’s the next session?”

 

Watching Salini in Rio argue with the officials, go out to the jury table, and get upset at the head juror, and I like, “When does this happen?” You couldn’t stop Salini. Everyone’s chanting, “Shame on you.”

 

The whole Brazilian like Army or Marines, whatever branch, they were come out with machine guns, surrounding the platform because they weren’t sure if the Iranian fans are going to storm out of their seats and start throwing things. They’re mobbing.

 

Nobody knew what was happening. It was insane, and you’re like, “This is crazy. I can’t believe I’m covering this.” World Record performances are cool, but the stories to me, like those moments were cooler.

 

Watching Figueroa from Colombia, win his first gold medal, watching him cry on the platform. You’re talking like these athletes put in their years and years of hard work, their entire lives for a piece of metal, which is insane.

 

You’re like, “Wow, it’s a metal. It’s just a metal.” That’s what we’re going for, but it means the world to him. It could mean their future and their country if they get paid in…Look at Diaz. I’m watching Hidilyn Diaz from the Philippines when the first gold ever in the history of the country, not in the history of the sport, in the entire country.

 

Then watching Meso win the first gold medal for Qatar. Then they had a high jumper. A few days later, a high jumper shared the gold for Qatar, too. Their second. It was being a part of that and having Meso text you after him like, “Let’s go party. Let’s celebrate this gold medal.” You’re like, “Wow, I’m a part of this thing.”

 

Being a part of all the volunteers, all the technical officials, all the people that make the sport go, all the years that they spent, I’m just a guy that jumped in seven years ago, and gets to be a part of the craziest ride where people spent 30 years to get there. I’m blessed and fortunate. I’m just happy to be there and help share the experiences through photography with these people.

 

These are memories that they’ll have forever, and it’s because of photos. Your brains are only going to work for so long, but these memories will last forever. I’m really proud that I’m able to do that for the sport and represent at the highest level. It’s amazing to me.

David TaoDavid Tao

I got to ask one tough question. We don’t have to get too much into this because a lot to be determined, but weightlifting’s place in the Olympics moving forward is, let’s call it, tenuous.

Steve GalvanSteve Galvan

It’s in grave danger, man. Honestly, it’s in grave danger right now.

David TaoDavid Tao

You are someone who has had, I don’t know to say a platform-side seat at the last two Olympic Games. You’ve seen up-close and personally the passion these athletes have for what they’re doing. You said, “They put their whole lives into it,” and that’s not an exaggeration.

 

I was going to say, do you agree weightlifting’s place in Olympics is in danger? Obviously, yes.

Steve GalvanSteve Galvan

00 percent it’s in danger. I know things that probably a lot of people don’t know because of how close I am with the Federation, and knowing a lot of the executive board members and a lot of the technical officials. Sarah Davies is a good friend of mine.

 

Knowing what goes on and knowing the conversations that happen, yeah, it’s in danger man. There’s no way around it.

David TaoDavid Tao

If weightlifting is a part of the Paris Olympics, which is not guaranteed, right? I think a lot of people have seen that weightlifting has reduced quotas, and they think that weightlifting is on the chopping block, potentially, for Los Angeles. It’s not guaranteed for Paris. This might be a rhetorical question or an easy answer, would you photograph another Olympic Games?

Steve GalvanSteve Galvan

Absolutely. I might even go to Uzbekistan in December. December’s the date for the World Championships. It’s not going to be in the most interesting meet in the world, but these are all life experiences that when I’m old, or when I’m dying, and people are going to ask me, “Hey, did Steve live a good life? Like what did he do? What’s his accomplishments?”

 

I’ll be able to say, “Yeah, I went to X amount of Olympic Games. I went to 35 world championships.” I was all over the place covering something that I loved and helping other people create memories forever.

 

Absolutely. I’ve done some assignments where is not that much fun, but you do it because you love the sport. 2019 in Thailand, I wasn’t a big fan of the city. There was not much to do. It wasn’t anybody in the stands. I’ve seen more people in the stands at the last session of the Arnold’s, that [inaudible 28:33] 11 o’clock at night.

 

This was a very poorly attended World Weightlifting Championship. In the midst of the chaos of all the controversy with Ion, the German documentary, and all of that. I showed up and did it anyway because you love the sport and you want to help the athletes. So, yes. Will I be at every single event I can be at? Absolutely.

David TaoDavid Tao

Steve, where’s the best place for people to follow along with the work you’re doing in weightlifting, and hopefully in many more competitions and Olympic Games to come.

Steve GalvanSteve Galvan

@sickangles on Instagram is pretty much my only spot. I haven’t posted a lot yet from the Olympics, because being a photographer and a former gym owner, that doesn’t create a lot of cash for you. I have to have a [inaudible 29:22] job.

 

I’m a full-time residential real-estate guy here in South Texas in San Antonio. That’s my priority, and I’m actually very busy right now. Photography is a hobby, posting things on Instagram which makes me zero dollars.

 

Unfortunately, I don’t have the attention and the time to put into it. They can follow me there, I will be starting to post a lot of my work from Tokyo there in the next few weeks. I’m a little weightlifted out right now. I just need to get back to work. [laughs]

David TaoDavid Tao

I appreciate you taking the time, Steve. I’ll let you get back to work. Have a great rest of the day. Always a pleasure chatting, my friend.

Steve GalvanSteve Galvan

Awesome day. Thank you so much for all that you all do for the community, for all streets sports. I know you guys just acquired a magazine. Was it…

 

David TaoDavid Tao

Breaking Muscle is actually our website.

Steve GalvanSteve Galvan

Right, dude, congratulations. That’s so cool and I know you when you just started BarBend. Dude, you got a great story too. One day, I’ll get big enough. I’ll have a podcast and I’ll have you on it.

David TaoDavid Tao

Any excuse to talk to you, Steve, I’ll take it. Sounds good to me.

Steve GalvanSteve Galvan

Thank you, brother. Thank you so much, man.

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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