Straight Outta The Lair - Dom Cardone

What'S up guys, uh, hey guys, ifbb pro dominic cardone here, i'm originally from brooklyn new york. I was born and raised there and moved here out to las vegas. Two years ago, 2020, i'm a professional bodybuilder, i'm also online coach and nutritionist for the last 12 years. I work with amateurs, pros lifestyle, clients and yeah. My whole life is revolved around the fitness community. How did i connect with flight? It'S actually funny. We have a long history, so at 18, when i did the eastern usa, 18 years old um, i won the team class. I won the novice light heavyweight i placed in the open light heavyweight. This was 2011 eastern usa ben francis um. After all was said and done, and i won somebody from gaspari, nutrition came backstage with a bag and a sweatshirt said: hey would possibly like to sponsor you um and we got in a phone call the next day and i signed with gaspari nutrition and the following Year i actually met flex for the first time at the arnold, and you know from there on he kind of looked at looked out for me from a distance. You know, if he's seen any stuff in social media, he'd message me: hey bro. I think you should do this and that, but we really got close over the last year and a half since he's moved to vegas and he's brought the gym here to uh to vegan the dragons laid in vegas. My main reason of moving to vegas was actually to get back into competing um. It'S been five years since i competed that show was disaster, which you know there's plenty about it online. I did step away from the sport for a bit just to get. You know myself right mentally, financially and just get my life together and really be able to focus on competing and new york really isn't at least where i'm from in brooklyn way. Back in the day, it was great for bodybuilding. You know it was very conducive to what you've done, you're surrounded with the right people, and i wanted to get out environment. I wanted to be around people who were trying to chase at the same goal or already achieved what i'm trying to achieve. You know like flex and hoffa and many of the other people coming to the gym, and that was my main motive for moving here to really just surround myself with people who i would like to achieve these same goals that they've achieved, and you know the only Way, you can do this surrounding yourself with the right people. You can't do it alone. In my opinion, i mean it's been. It'S been a long. Five years lasting peter was new york pro 2016., my mom passed away three weeks out. I still did the show. I did absolutely horrible in the show, but i finished what i started and mentally i kind of just went off. I signed out for a bit we'll say um so mentally. I had to really come around after a few years financially when my coaching started becoming full-time and everything started coming together at the same time. But then, when i moved to vegas you know i obviously had my health issues. I had health issues going on for two years that nobody could figure out which turned out to be mercury, poisoning, um and some other small things in between. I had a back surge in 2018 and that didn't even happen in the gym, because i wasn't even training. So it's been a long road, but everything happens for a reason and i'm honestly glad everything happened for a reason, because i learned from every single thing: i've gone through over the last five years, mentally physically and even spiritually, and i truly feel that you know i'm Still 28, i just look a lot older um, you know everything i've gone through is going to not only help me become the athlete that i want to be and that i've always aspired to be but help others as well, because i coach people as well um And i want to be an example to people around the world one day that if there's at least one person who's in my shoes that you know they can learn from what i've learned and say: hey, you know what he did it. So why can't i? So? I actually have a pretty in-depth video on my youtube that flex wanted me to throw in here, but pretty much. You know it started with stomach issues, early 2020 um and then no pumps, and then it turned into severe mental issues which i've been pretty open about. Flex hooked me up with a gut specialist early last year and was actually found by accident um from that i got in touch with jason huh, who was a great pro from years ago because he went through it, and i quote, you know we spoke on the Phone, he told me the treatment to look for the type of doctor everything to expect and after that conversation was like a million pounds just taken off my back and the treatment lasted from last june to uh november and it was pills and iv um chelation therapy. Dilation therapy, so chelation chelate is: is it greek, it's from another language and it means claw and it means claw. So basically, when you take these pills or get the intravenous medication, it goes throughout your organs. It grows throughout your skin, your muscles, and it pulls out these heavy metals, these toxic heavy metals and good metals as well. So you can body can excrete it out because it basically just sits in your body and causes damage most of them. Some people have genetic issues where they can't detox them. Naturally, so that's the only way to really get them out. You know, and hopefully safely so back in 2015. I really that actually not only with my journey over the past few years, but even in 2015. Nobody was really talking about health supplements, other than dante, trudell who's, a great mentor of mine with the health side of things. I always love to shout him out and i really started you know, learning from him and other people about reading blood work, properly. Uh supplements to take to mitigate some of the damage from certain things um, you know, because when you go to doctors today, you know, if you know, if you have diabetes type 2 diabetes, here's a pill, you know here's i mean, there's a natural diet, nutritional and Supplement you know age. We can use to really help our you know become healthy again and, as bodybuilders are very taxing on the body, you know you're eating a lot of food, you're training, hard you're at sizes, the body's - not you know supposed to be so testing is especially with my Clients is a must, you know getting the proper blood work. You know if you're getting to a certain size, getting the hard skins and everything like that. Um and just you know, you can't when your body - and one thing i have to you know tell people from example, is if your body's giving you signs that something is off. Listen to it! It'S not if something's, not normal, listen to it. Go to the doctor. Seek out the proper help, because if you let it go on for too long, it's going to create damage like my mercury poisoning did like my sleep, apnea did um, you know a lot of people, don't talk about these things and i feel um people have turned A blind eye to it because they're afraid to know the truth, um on what's going on inside their body. So with my clients, you know, bodybuilding is an extreme endeavor, extreme hobby, extreme sport, whatever you may consider it, but there are ways we can try to mitigate some of the health. You know detriment detrimental parts of it to the health um and just try to be a bit safer, because you know the one thing i have to say to a lot of people out there from what i learned from all my mentors - and you know there is Life after bodybuilding there's a lot more to life than bodybuilding. You know the suit of armor. Slash muscle is not going to be there for the rest of your life, but you know me personally: i want to have my own family one day. I want to be able to be successful, you know, even when bodybuilding is over and um, you know. I just feel like not a lot of people are talking about and if they are, are they really being genuine about it? So, in a hundred the health issues, i've had has expanded my knowledge way beyond what i had before, because you know when i wasn't getting answers from doctors. I i'm not one to sit around and cry and complain i like to take action. I need to figure something if you're not gon na figure out, i'm going to try to figure it out, because me sitting here complaining and crying about something. You know it's not going to do anything and i think that's a big problem in today's society. Is people just want to sit around and wait? You can't sit around and wait because if you sit around and wait for too long, that's too long may become. You know never again for you, you know. So you know it has been a while um i've gotten a tremendous amount of support from people that have followed me ever since i turned pro when i was young for those i turned pronouns 21. I wanted to have very class at nationals, and i've had an amazing support system of people. Since then - and you know a lot of people even my time, away from bodybuilding have supported me and then there's a few people who think i'm not telling the truth. But you know my story's out there now, but why i haven't competed, but i'm hoping end of the year um, i'm actually gon na let flex and my coach aj pick my show you know flex is a mentor of mine and um. You know he's been there done that seven times over seven times, mr olympia, on top of everything else, so right now, i'm just growing. I mean i really really need to make sure i step on stage at my absolute best, because my goal is not to just compete. My goal is to win, and you know, as it should be, for most people, if it's not hey, but i you know really want to win. I want to be successful and if i'm going to put my time, energy and money into something i'm going to push to be the best at it. So you know i'm going to let flex and my coach aj sims cement factory pick my show, but if not at the end of this year, then definitely early next year, because the goal is to get to the olympia at the end of next year. 2023.. I mean i love motorcycles. I'Ve been riding, you know motorcycles for a while. I have my harley. I have a 2016 dyna street bomb um. I, like i enjoy guns, especially ever since i moved here in las vegas, where you know it's legal to buy and carry um and honestly i really i love to eat so my girlfriend competes too. So we love you know whenever she can have a cheat meal. We love going out to eat and trying new places. I love to travel, so traveling eating going hand-in-hand and being able to experience. You know different cultures, i'm pretty simple. You know i'm pretty simple. I love riding my bike. I love guns. I love eating. I love traveling and you know i really just like spending some down time. You know especially my girlfriend, like you know the end of the night we watch our show or we go out to eat uh. I, like i'm, being very simple these days. You know i'm happy with my bike: harley yeah, it's a harley 2016 street bob, it's a diner. They don't even make diners anymore and i'm from new york and from brooklyn there's a lot of traffic um. You have to weave in and out of traffic over there. Here it's a bit different. You have open roads. Um, like i said, i'm simple. I love my bike and you know i can go out right now and maybe get like a road glide or a street glide, some sort of bagger or whatnot. But i love my bike. You know it's my first harley. I have a lot of memories on that bike. Any of my friends from back home know um. I still have that bike um, i don't know. Maybe down the line. I'Ll have a dream bike, but i'm i'm happy with my bike. Oh my god pick one thing: yeah, oh yeah, one of many things, um he's actually uh introduced me to ufc. So anybody that knows ufc flex. Excuse me he's a very, very big fan of the ufc, so last year he turned me into say: listen why don't you watch these fights and uh? We actually went to the fights. He brought me to my first and only fight here in vegas and i was hooked. You know um listen. I love bodybuilding but, like i said, there's more to life than bodybuilding and i like having that disconnect. So you know watching the ufc learning who the fighters are. It'S a whole new world which i like, because there's so much to learn. It'S always changing um. A lot of those guys have great stories, um great success stories. A lot of them come from nothing um, but yeah. One of many things he has turned me on to was you know watching ufc. So i think i should call that a hobby right on this, so i want to travel the world like yeah, like i really just. I want to travel the world and try all diff so um me and my girlfriend. We have this thing like when i get back on stage. We want to compete together in different parts around the world. So aside, with with doing what we love, we're going to be able to eat and enjoy these different cultures, but even when i'm done bodybuilding, i want to really just i want to really travel the world. I mean different parts of europe. South america, asia, like it, doesn't i don't really have like a dream location like i just want to go everywhere. I possibly could because you know what who not a lot. There'S many people out there who don't have that opportunity and who never will you know and i'm thankful and to have that opportunity to be able to pretty much do what i want um and enjoy, because i just that's to me and the most important thing. I'M seeing as i get older and being surrounded like people like flex is, you know enjoying life and you know life isn't promised you know anything could happen to any of us. You could walk outside get hit by a car, and you know, god forbid. You know, like my mom being diagnosed with cancer or something so i just i just really just want to enjoy life, oh man, so it used to be sushi uh. But you know, with the mercury poisoning thing that kind of changed. Like my dream, when i was younger was i want to go to japan and try all the authentic sushi play like rick, the best places they have in japan for sushi um. But if i was to pick a second one, it's so hard. I just love food. I'M gon na go with italian food, like i have i'm italian, my family's from italy, so i've yet to go to italy, but that's i would say yeah if i was to pick a trip right now to go somewhere. It'S gon na be to italy to eat. Yeah i love pizza. I mean i love pasta, uh, rigatoni rigatoni, my favorite sauce is uh vodka sauce. You know you have the normal penny alvac i like to tell to make the rigatoni with the vodka sauce and throw some chicken uh breaded chicken in there. Oh, i hate oats. I you won't catch me eating eating oats. I will, i am definitely cream of rice all day like cream or flavored cream, or if you have the flavor cream cream of rice is out there um. I i look at oats from when i'm i think about when i was younger, i'm like oh no. I can't do that. Some people love it. It'S not my thing. I love creamer rice, um plus two. I i like i said i love food. I love enjoying my food, so even pre-contest. I like people, think you have to be hardcore and eat your plain food and this and that, but that's not the case, you can make your fruit taste out. You know it could be still be healthy and prep friendly and taste good, because i just when i sit down to eat that's my time and i want to enjoy it. You know steak yeah steak. What do you like? More chicken steak? Yeah steak? I hate chicken. I eat it, you know i like the seasoning. I like turkey, breast too there's turkey cutlets, which are a little hard to find, but i love steak like i i mean we go. I go out to eat, i'm usually getting a steak steak burgers, but red meat. I can eat every meal. I love steak, oh man, i mean i learned so much over the past few years. I mean you know, get out there. You know if there's something you want to do you do it because, as i said you know, life is just not promised for any of us like you could walk outside and that's it you know. So if there's something you really want to, do you have to do it if there's something you want to say to somebody say to them, because they may not be here tomorrow, and i think you know we all just have to really be a bit more grateful. Um we get caught up again in social media and seeing what other people have and what other people do and we get caught in this negative um this this whirlwind of negativity and what's going on around us instead of honing in on you know, what's important to Us - and i think a lot of us have to really start being a bit more grateful, especially in recent times. You know a lot of people have passed away over the past few years with you know: uh the covey thing and um a lot of people being mentally affected by the lockdowns and losing their businesses. And you know things have been rough the last few years. I think for everybody in some way, so you know take care of your health. Enjoy life experience it but be grateful. You know everybody you, someone out there all of us go through something in life um your story. All of our story may be similar, but everybody has their own story and one thing i think i've really learned to really summarize all this is that you know so. I just watched a video lesson mike tyson talking about this, but you learn more with losing things than you do with winning and gaming right. You know you win something: oh wow, okay, like what did you really learn from it, though other than you know, you worked hard, but if you lose something you know, there's a lot to learn from loss like you really figure out who you are when you lose Things and lose people in your life, and you just really got to be thankful for not only the good times, not only the time you win, but you know even for the bed too, and in the moment like it may it may suck. You may be like why me this and that, but you just got to keep the faith and realize that there's always a light at the end of the tunnel and just be grateful that you're going through those that experience, because if you allow it to it'll, be The greatest lesson, your life, possibly so, if we as humans learned that our losses can shape, who we are, and we can learn from those losses and even better would be to pass those lessons on to other people so that they could learn and such and so Forth, um that gratitude will come back to you tenfold. You know, so it's just just appreciate everything, the good and the bad. I think that would be the biggest message. I have to tell everybody because everybody goes through something, and you know it may be something small. It may be something big, but whatever it is, it's your story. Um, so just be grateful for it all, and you know, keep your head on tight, keep your head up, because you know if you fall down, you got to get right back up because be thankful that you're getting back up because right now somebody's taking their their Last breath um, but you still have yours so, let's you know, i think we should be a bit more grateful for the the hard times and the good times.