SHAWN STEVENSON: Welcome to the Model Health Show. This is fitness and nutrition expert Shawn Stevenson, and I'm so grateful for you tuning in with me today. The legendary Jim Rohn said to take care of your body because it's the only place you have to live. We only get one, and it is housing our spirit. It's housing our potential. It's determining our ability to move and to create throughout this incredible world. Our bodies are very, very special. It's a special gift. Now, of course, we can have struggles with our bodies. Our bodies can act up. We can have expressions of pain and dis-ease and disorder and dysfunction. But we have so much potential to craft our bodies, to change our bodies.

Even with that expression of pain that can be changed. If our heart is still beating, we have the capacity to get better. And today's episode is about the intentionality required to build your body. And we have one of the greatest examples today of what that really looks like and the vast array of the potential expression of our bodies. Some of the bodies that we might see today in popular media like Chris Hemsworth, for example, AKA Thor. This individual has had a major influence on the way that Chris Hemsworth trains and how he takes care of his body. This individual has done this through a means that would seem to be impossible. Now, one of the things that I really strive to do is to bring on a variety of voices and a variety of perspectives within a context of reason of evidence based application as well.

And one of the things that is often dismissed is the potential to build glorious and sustainable muscle on a plant-based diet. We've had incredible athletes and professors and bodybuilders who've taken on an omnivore approach or even a carnivore approach on another extreme. But what about doing this strictly plant-based. Is that really possible? Or a lot of times, one of the arguments is, well, they weren't plant-based very long. They built that body using steak initially, and now they're using the tofu. Now they're using the carrots and the broccoli. All right? But our special guest has taken on a plant-based lifestyle since the nineties, since Jodeci was popping, all right, since H Town was knocking the boots.

All right? And today to see what he just accomplished, and you're gonna hear about the details, I'm gonna save them. You're gonna hear them in the show, what he was able to accomplish on stage as an elite bodybuilder. It's just extraordinary. And to set the bar and a little glimpse into what you're going to hear, this is a true testament to what's possible and the realm of longevity. It's a true testament, and so I hope that today's episode inspires you and reminds you of your true power in your capacity. It's a wonderful story, but it's also filled with incredible nuggets of wisdom that we can take on and apply to our lives. And so without further ado, let's get to our special guest and topic of the day.

Torre Washington is an IFBB pro bodybuilder, a NASA certified coach, and one of the original pioneers of vegan athletic performance. Raised vegetarian and vegan since the nineties, he has built a championship level physique entirely on a plant-based lifestyle, challenging conventional beliefs about strength and nutrition. He's a multi-time professional champion and his accolades include first place at the 2025 IFBB Ben Wier Natural Pro First place in the men's physique at the 2025 IFBB, Las Vegas Natural Pro and First Place at the 2018 Team Universe Men's Physique Championships earning his IFBB Pro Card. Today, torre is a highly sought after coach and speaker, inspiring audiences worldwide to pursue peak performance, intentional living, and a strength focused lifestyle. Let's dive in this conversation with the incredible Torre Washington. All right, the one and only Torre Washington. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: Shoot. Say less man. It's good to be here, man. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Man, it's great to have you. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: Brother. It is been a long time coming, man. I've just been seeing your journey watching you and just learning like, man, this guy is, he's up to something and I'm so honored to be here, man.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah.

TORRE WASHINGTON: So it's a great opportunity and thank you. Thank you for having me. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Of course. I feel the same. I feel the same. We'll, we'll talk a little bit about our origin story. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: Yeah. Yeah. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Shortly. But I wanna start by sharing, first and foremost, can you share with everybody what does bodybuilding mean to you? 

TORRE WASHINGTON: You know, I, when it comes to bodybuilding, it's almost how it came into my life. You know, I was raised in Alabama for like nine years and my mother was seven Adventists. And so we were raised in sort of a very poor state of being, but not that we knew that because you know, we were young, we're kids. We're just enjoying the social aspect of being around different, around people who we knew within our church and what have you. And then my mom got into a situation financially where, you know, she couldn't manage two kids by herself 'cause she needed to get herself right. So her grandparents requested us to come to them in Jamaica. So we moved to Jamaica. And upon going to Jamaica, this is where bodybuilding comes in. Because I get there not recognizing that, you know, I'm different. I don't, you know, you don't know that until you get around kids who see you different and.

SHAWN STEVENSON: They'll tell you.

TORRE WASHINGTON: Pick on you. Yeah. They'll tell you. And so. We looked different. We sounded different and because, you know, Alabama, you got an accent. And I didn't know because I couldn't, couldn't tell. I had a country or a southern accent in Jamaica that was very evident and I was lighter skinned, you know, because not in the sun as much as they're in Jamaica.

And so I didn't know how to express this thing that was happening to me. 'cause I had never experienced someone always picking on me. And so I started really getting into cartoons and comics and we started, me and my brother started watching like Superman and Wolverine. And I wanted to be them because no one messed with them. You know what I mean? And so I was like, Hmm. So I started that and Arnold Schwarzenegger came in, started watching his movies and I understand his story. And I started doing, I don't even know why. I started doing pushups and crunches and sit-ups in Jamaica around nine, 10 years old. And my grandfather was an electrician.

He had this weight, which you used to solder like it was an iron block. He would solder things on it. And I just started curling it and then eventually we moved back to the states because my mother was prepared to have us come into, come back. Of course, my grandparents didn't want us to leave because they wanted us to just continue our life there, go to school, continue going to school, and just be in Jamaica.

But of course we missed our mom. So we went back to the States and we moved to South Florida. So I went from Alabama to Jamaica to South Florida. Once I got to South Florida, we started school. I asked still into the Arnold Schwarzenegger aspect. I asked my mom to purchase something and we got a bench and one dumbbell. That's all she could afford at the time. And so I started reading magazines 'cause back then it was all magazines. So I'm reading magazine on how to work out because I wanted to look like these characters and look like how Arnold Schwarzenegger looked in his days of bodybuilding.

And I saw that bodybuilding got him to a position of where he became this actor. And I was looking at it as, okay, how do I become a superhero? So nobody picks on me. How did I become strong? And when I moved to Florida, I started getting picked on again because now I sound like a Jamaican. And they were like, oh, you come off the banana boat, you know, well, you know, da da da da. And I said, damn. All right. You can win for lose. So I started working out reading magazines and I eventually wanted to compete middle school, high school. And I started going to Gold's Gym in South Florida at Fort Lauderdale. And I remember seeing some of the big time bodybuilders come through there because they were in the magazines.

But Gold's Gym was a mecca like it is out here in the Venice, but it was a Mecca in South Florida as well. And so all the top bodybuilders would come there, you would see them in and out. And it just really translated to bodybuilding became my way of expressing my inner emotions that, of anger and putting it into a place to where I can turn it into a physique that I could appreciate because I wanted to look like those guys but I didn't want to do any of the drugs. I didn't want do any of the supplements. Like I didn't know, I didn't think creatine was natural. I wanted to be natural. And I said, nah, I'm not gonna take those things. And I just kept working out, kept working out, and eventually I got this physique that people were afraid of me. So I pretty much put on and developed that phenomenon that I was wanting to do with wanting to be that superhero. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: And nobody wanted to mess with me anymore. So bodybuilding was my outlet to become that personification of strength that I wanted people to see physically. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Man, already. So that that was your entry into it.

TORRE WASHINGTON: Yeah. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: And of course, we'll, we'll talk more about this. It evolved into something much bigger. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: Correct. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: It evolved into service because even that, you know, it's not sustainable. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: Right. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: But channeling that anger and that desire to be intimidating, to be strong versus what it could have been. You know what I'm saying? Which happens for a lot of people that we might grow up with. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: Mm-hmm. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: And so, you know, this is one of the things that really jumped out about you when I first saw you and how we got connected. Chris Hemsworth team reached out to me a few years back and, you know, everybody knows him from Thor. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: Yes. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: And, they reached out to me about, he was launching a new app, a fitness app, and for me to focus on a portion of the app related to like sleep wellness. And they sent over, they was like, we're already working with, you know, they sent over a couple of people and I saw your name. I was like, alright, let me check out Torre Washington. And so I popped over and checked you out. I'm like, oh my god, this guy's amazing. And just your temperament. It wasn't just the fact that you do have this incredible expression of strength and athleticism, but you know, your temperament, your heart was really shining through and even how you were communicating.

I was like, oh, this is a good dude. And so one thing led to another. We got connected. We started, you know, chatting back and forth, and we've stayed in touch for years now, of course. And the crazy thing is this past weekend I was on a date night with my wife, alright? We went to see Crime 1 0 1, Chris Hemsworth, new movie. And I thought about that experience back, you know, four or five years ago, whenever it was of almost coming on board to work with. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: Right. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Chris Hemsworth and the team. And I thought about you. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: Right. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: I come out the movie and I see a text from you. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: Yo. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: And you're like, Hey Shawn, I'm here through Monday and I'm like this Monday? And so I moved the, the world around to make sure that I got to see you and to hang out and to have you on the show. But we just been synchronicity after synchronicity, after synchronicity. And , so that's how we initially got connected. And I would love to talk a little bit about that. I want to talk about your influence because. 

You know, you've helped to transform the health and the body of so many people, including, again, contributing with Chris Hemsworth and he's, people see him as a big part of his allure is his physique as well. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: Correct, right. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: And so how do you go about that? How do you go about training somebody to really express that kind of physical literacy?

TORRE WASHINGTON: You know, it's interesting when you just, when you started with the service par part of it, you know, I've always had a service heart, you know, I've always wanted to help people and I just didn't really know to what capacity I could do that. You know, so, because I was that individual that would stop on the side of the road or someone's there to say, Hey, you need any help, you know. And then as time change, you can't do that anymore because me, my luck of the dreads that come out, they're like, oh, you are probably gonna rob me. You know? So that changed. And so now I'm getting into fitness and, 'cause I started engineering and I get into fitness and I started to be able to do that because people would ask me, how can you, can you help me?

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: And when Chris came around, you know, 'cause Chris contacted me directly through Instagram and I didn't know, because I don't pay attention to the actors and the people, I mean like the character they portray, but I necessarily don't necessarily follow their men in their lifestyle. So when he contacted me, I didn't even know who that was. I had to look and ask my friend, like, who's Chris Hemsworth? And they were like, dude, that's Thor. I was like, oh, okay. I know who Thor is. And so that's when I contacted him and that mesh. And so, you know, a lot of times, 'cause I do recognize that I'm unique. I get it all the time. People are like, man, you could probably eat dirt and look like that. And I know that's not true, but that's just how unique I am as an individual. And I'm, but I do understand that everybody's unique. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yes. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: You know, you can look the way you really wanna look. You just have to put in the effort. And so I'm really on about mindset because a lot of people are encounter, their mindset is not there. You know, they have the desire, but they have to switched their mind and to really fall in that journey or that path to get there. And so when I work with people, I almost have to make sure that you're really serious about it. And not just committed, but like the book you gave me, this gentleman talks about ET being convicted.

You have to be convicted in order to really wanna. Express your physique in the best possible way. And I recognized that one myself because one of the things I had wanted to accomplish was being the top vegan bodybuilder in the world. And I remember saying that, and I didn't think, I just didn't know. You know, you say it and then when it happens, you're like, I really did it. Like I can't believe that actually occurred. And so I have to make sure that people are mentally available to be able to want to really, truly express their physique in the way they need to. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: One of the things that determines your diet more than anything else is your sleep quality at night. Have you ever noticed that when you're sleep deprived and maybe even a little tired, you tend to want to eat a little bit more, A little bit more snacky? Well, researchers at Stanford University found that insufficient sleep can reduce your levels of satiety hormones, namely leptin. And increase the levels of your hunger hormones, namely ghrelin and directly increase your body mass index as a result.

So getting to the heart of our diet choices actually resides in laying down our head at night in getting a good night of sleep. Now what's the number one deterrent today in getting a good night's sleep? Well, it's our technology. A lot of us are up late watching TV on our phones, on our laptops doing work, doing the laptop lab dance, and not understanding how much it is a detriment to our body's production of melatonin and our sleep quality at night.

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SHAWN STEVENSON: Thank you for saying that, bro. Because again, you're starting with a mindset and also you're pointed to, we all have a greater self, we have a genetic potential, right? So you're giving, you're shouting out, of course you got some good genetics, but your body can look very differently based on your choices, right? And so knowing about that coming into working with people, because of course, being young and getting into this field, it's just like you just follow these particular steps, right? But it's really paying attention to the person. And so, again, I, that's one of the things I saw in you, and not only top vegan bodybuilder, like that's that's an understatement at this point. You know, you recently took first place 2025 IFBB, Ben Wier Natural Pro and Men's Physique. First place. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: Right. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: And I went, I did a little digging. You were going against the people with like half of your age. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: Yes. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: And this is like, bro, like everybody, today, there's this conversation about longevity. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: Right.

SHAWN STEVENSON: And it's oftentimes being driven by people who haven't really achieved that or achieved it to the degree of like, what's really possible 'cause you recently turned 50 and you, you're on stage and going against, again, people that are half your age and winning.

TORRE WASHINGTON: Right.

SHAWN STEVENSON: How is that possible? I want to talk about, I wanna talk about your training strategies, because you did mention some people that you could eat dirt and look like this. Okay. It is a little, it is a little joke, but you know, your, your genetic expression is. An advantage, but there is a certain way that you go about things. And so of course for years I know it was a whole, how do you get your protein? How do you get your protein conversation? But it's so much deeper. So I want to talk about training and I want to talk about nutrition. Let's start off with the nutrition piece. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: So, you know, I really didn't start paying attention to nutrition. I mean, I did in it when I was in high school because I started reading the magazines and I see how these guys eat, you know, and being vegan because honestly I didn't know vegan was, you know, because raising my environment, you don't hear that terminology. You know, it's more like a white hippie thing. You're like, what the heck is that? You know, in the seventh Adventist world it was vegetarian, you know? So once I really got involved into the lifestyle of being a Rasta. Rasta is where I really started to research. Okay. I'm gonna call myself a Rastafarian, i'm not that type of individual that wants to say it and not truly live it.

And so I said, let me see what Rasta, mano and a Rasta is all about. Ital eating from the Earth and they don't consume, A lot of 'em don't consume salt, you know, they're very particular on how they don't use things they consider, which is of the world Babylon. They're called Babylon. So and so of the world would be, they don't need dishes and forks. They would use, this is like the area baba dread in the, in, back, in the, you know, in, in the island of Jamaica, like really up in the woods. And you know, they're not really out in an apartment or a condo. They're off the land and they live just from the roots and the food from the earth.

So, I was like, well, us, if I'm gonna say I'm Rasta, I wanna be a real Rasta. I'm not gonna be this, poser like a actor. I'm not an actor, I'm not a poser. I wanna make sure I'm doing it the way it's supposed to be done. And so I took on that aspect and made sure that all the food that I consumed had no eggs in it, no butter, no milk. And then eventually people were like, well, you're vegan. And I was like, what is that? Because I had never really heard that before. And so then I thought, okay, vegan is what I eat. But it turned out it was more than that. Right. So my, when I started to get into the, truly the competition side of it, because bodybuilding was just, I was just lifting.

I was an avid lifter. I went to school, got an engineering degree, so the competitive part of it. Was not there anymore because I was into engineering, but I was still paying attention. I was still a spectator of the sport. I enjoyed it and talked about it, watched it, and then one of my colleagues calls me while I was on at work and says, Hey, one of our friends is competing in Atlanta, and I was living in Alabama. And I was like, I didn't even know he competes. So I went there and saw him compete. But what struck me was how he looked. He was so defined and you could see everything. And I was thinking I looked good until I saw that and I said, I want to take it to that level because I wanted to do it once in my life at least, just to be able to say I did, because I didn't wanna end my life saying. Man, I should have. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Mm. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: I wish I did. I didn't want to be one of those people. And so when I told him, I said I wanna compete, he was like, you're vegan. I was like, okay, I got this far. There's something to my nutritional choice. And he was like, all right. So I was always consuming lots of carbs, you know, potatoes, rice, beans, tofu here and there, veggies, fruits, you know, those were my mainstay because in the vegetarian lifestyle, that's how we ate.

And I didn't think anything of it. You know, I was very active. I was a sprinter in high school, sprinter in college for a little bit until engineering took over. And so I could sprint twice a week and be shredded. And so I did my first competition in 2008. And the only thing I changed at that time, 'cause I wasn't really into the whole tracking my nutrition, I was just, I would eat a certain amount of food. When I wanted to lose the weight, I would bring my portions down. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: And my body would automatically respond. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Seems very logical. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: Right? And so, and I could eat almost the same thing, just less of it. So I could eat bean chips, like bonitos, things like that I could eat. You know, I got into sweet potatoes, but I started eating Japanese sweet potatoes. And that was, I have a, I love sweets, right? So I enjoy sweets. And so I would go Japanese sweet potatoes. I would go into, in Jamaica, we eat yellow yum. We eat dumpling, we eat, you know, pumpkin and all those things. I would eat those rice, brown rice, black rice, white rice. It didn't matter to me, you know? And then I would just do tofu, because tofu was really the mainstay back then.

There was really, there was no seitan, there was nothing. There was no fava being tofu around. And so my first show with that, following that nutritional way of being. I got third place, right? And I said, okay, let's see if I can do second place on the, now another show. So I waited a couple months, did just another show, and I ended up winning that one.

And it's not until, you know, I'm gonna fast forward the nutritional aspect because I did the same thing. I didn't really, I just always had high carbs and I just lowered my portions down. But it was very, my eating was pretty rigid. It was, I would just eat the same thing all the time. I would do a lot of salad, a lot of greens, maybe put some hemps seeds on it and some nutritional yeast 'cause I would never use dressing. I used like apple cider vinegar and lemon. Those are my things I would put on my salads. Right. And then I would have my Japanese sweet potato. I would have my tofu and I would, I would do that almost the entire day. And. It was nothing to me. It was easy for me to do that because I knew the look I wanted to do.

And fast forward to getting into 2017, I actually hired a coach to help me with the, just overall. And he was also like, I can give you macros because macros became a popular, you remember, I don't know if you remember if it fits your macros.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Of course.

TORRE WASHINGTON: It became a popular saying and I was like, what is this about? But once I learned that, it made a lot of sense to me because then that showed that you don't necessarily have to be so rigid. You can include a lot of variety of foods in order to get the same look, but now you're getting more micronutrients and the micronutrients as well. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: And he was having, you have a target now with protein?

TORRE WASHINGTON: Correct. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Okay. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: Because I didn't have a target. My, I was able to do very well and I started looking at it doing about 50 to a hundred grams of protein. Now I'm up to like 190, and which I do see a difference because I was always shredded, but I never was really full. But I had such a great structure. My genetics, I had an elite athlete's look so I could get away with just being super lean and getting on stage, and they're like, man, this guy looks amazing. You know? If he could just be a little bigger, that's what I would get all the time. But they were associated with maybe you need to eat some meat.

They didn't understand that. I just didn't understand the concept of carb loading. You know, bringing up the carbs in order to fill out the muscle bellies and to fill out the muscle cells, which, you know, when you do carbs and water, it brings in a little water to make the muscle look more full. I didn't understand that concept, so I didn't know that at the time, and he did.

So once he introduced me to that, we were able to present an even more phenomenal physique. And that's why when I look at those pictures to now, I'm like, man, I'm so much bigger now because nutrition changed. I started to understand the nutrition more, and so I ended up, started including protein shakes just to make up for the fact that a lot of the proteins within the vegan nutritional space had carbs in it. And we still kept the carbs high, but I didn't, we started to do the carb cycling where we'll bring the carbs down lower and keep the protein where it needed to be in order to inhibit muscle loss because being natural, you're gonna lose muscle a lot easier than someone who's taking, say, Anavar or something like that, which holds onto the muscle as they lose weight.

But I really just started to pay attention to a variety of sources just to make sure I'm getting everything I needed. And to me, it's easy. And when it comes to nutrition, because I think a lot of times be complicated it because there can be so much misinformation out there, so much noise that causes people to get confused. And so they're like, well, I'm listening to this person. I'm listening to this person. What I don't know what I'm doing here I what I'm doing here. And I think it goes down to what works for you and also understanding, you know. Your microbiome, your gut, you know how your body's absorbing it. Your body might not be absorbing what you're putting in, so therefore you feel deficient because of a certain nutritional way you're eating.

But that might not be the problem. It might be deeper than that, and now you're changing it up so much because you're looking for a way based on what someone else is saying. So I've always kept it simple with how I eat, and I've never been that one to tell someone, Hey this nutrition works for me, it will work for you.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Mm. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: You know, so. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: That's wisdom right there in of itself. And it takes a lot of self work to be able to have that perception because I know again, we mean well coming into it and a lot of practitioners, they feel like, if this works for me, this is gonna work for you. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: Right. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: And so you being aware again, that everybody's different, we all have different needs and also that what we need at different times can change.

TORRE WASHINGTON: Mm-hmm. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: And you know, one of the most remarkable things for us to all acknowledge truly is like, you achieving what you did physically getting in 50 to a hundred grams of protein and literally competing, you know, like that is proof positive that it's possible.

TORRE WASHINGTON: Yes.

SHAWN STEVENSON: It's not just this one isolated way of looking at this macronutrient protein.

TORRE WASHINGTON: Right. Right.

SHAWN STEVENSON: And fracturing foods, because we evolved eating foods, not macronutrient parts. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: Right, right. Right. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: And so there's something remarkable about food itself and being able to fuel your body to achieve what your goals are. And for you, you were working to be stronger, you were placing that stimulus on your body and, but the thing is the results are not gonna be the same necessarily for a lot of other people. This fit you at that time. And it should just open the door in our minds, like, maybe I don't need as much protein as I think I do to achieve fill in the blank goal. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: Right. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: With that said, when you focused on getting in more protein, you noticed that you got bigger. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: Right.

SHAWN STEVENSON: And so we do know obviously that protein is a building block. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: Right, right, right. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: For making that muscle. But it's not the only building block. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: Correct. Correct. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: And so with that being said, when you were basically doubling the protein intake, how did you do that? Because again, a lot of, as you know, vegan sources of protein are gonna come along with a lot of carbs, right. And so it might kind of crowd out even the desire to eat the amount of protein that you need to get. So what are some of those protein dense sources that you would go to to hit those macros, to put on the size you wanted to put on and eventually, again, winning, you know, most recently. So what, what were some of those foods?

TORRE WASHINGTON: So when I started out, like I said, I was, I was doing the tofu only, and then I would add in, you know, texturized vegetable protein, which is tea called TVP, which is, which is also soy protein. And then eventually with a lot of hesitation. I ended up doing protein powders. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Mm-hmm. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: Because I also looked at protein powders, like creatine as a, that's not natural because it, it was, you know, created, it wasn't, you know, brought from the ground and things like that. So that's how I looked at it. But then I had to understand that everything has its place. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yes. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: Right. And it's a supplement. It's not a necessity. You know, I think this is what people miss. You know, they think Nece supplement is synonymous with necessity. That doesn't necessarily mean that you supplement when you, for me it was for more for convenience. You know, I could be flying somewhere and I not able to eat, so I'll have this protein shake to kind of help me make sure I can get in the protein that I need. And so I started supplementing, right. And then of course, companies, once they see you're supplementing like, Hey, you know, we would love to send you some proteins.

I would just get protein from all types of places. And it just, I had it all, I had all these different types, hemp proteins, soy protein, pea protein. And that was, so it turned out to be, that was my only other way, not only other way, my way to add in extra protein. And then once seitan became pop popular, seitan is just vital wheat, gluten. It is way more protein than it is carbohydrates, but it has zero fat and so I started utilizing that. And then now transfer fast forward to now, there's another protein source called fava being protein, which is just protein. There's no carbs. There's no fats. So with that, it makes it so much easier now to not actually have to do protein powders, you know, but I still do them every once in a while to make sure that I'm getting it.

If I'm not able to eat, I would rather prefer eating. And so with competing. You know, I remember I started competing at about 35 and at that time went off 35. I didn't do any master's classes, which master's classes were 35 and over 'cause I didn't consider myself a master. And I remember once I got into my forties and I decided to do one, people were a lot of the other competitors, like, what are you doing Masters? You're not, there's no way. They thought I was like 25. You know? And even I look back at those pictures, I look like 24, 23 at 35. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Falsified that paperwork. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: Right? So I even feel like sometimes is my birth certificate, right? Like, 'cause I don't feel it. Look at, I see people that are my age and like. They look it or they look more and you know, and I know it goes down to how I've eaten, take care of myself, my mindset. And I've started working out at an early age, which we now are seeing as the founding of youth. And so I was getting up there at 35, facing guys 18, 20, 22, beaten these guys. And not only that, once they found out that I didn't consume any chicken, beef, or fish, they were so intrigued. They couldn't believe it.

They're like, how do you look like that? And you don't eat, you don't even eat eggs. I'm like, no. And they would just couldn't fathom how it was possible. Because you understand that in the world of bodybuilding, it has to be animal flesh. There's no other way to get the muscle that you need, you know, to get your amino acids. That's the the misconception out there. And I was breaking those myths. Because I was on stage beating the best of the best. And so when I started doing the Ben Weeder, which is of course, you know, it's all natural. You test it and everything. And I think a lot of times people automatically assume that if I'm vegan, there's no way I'm looking like that. I have to be taking something. You know, there's no way possible. And because I never really discussed my age, so they automatically assumed I was just their age. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: But being vegan, there's no way I look like that. And so once I started to discuss my age, I didn't realize, Shawn, that it was gonna really make a big statement because I was afraid to stuff my age, you know, full transparency. I just felt like it would pigeonhole me, it would limit me to, to reach a larger audience because of like, oh, this old guy, you know? And you know. I made like women younger than me, you know? So when they think I'm older, they're like, oh, he is old. You know? So I didn't want to talk about it, but I had to embrace it.

And so once I embraced it and made a post about it, I didn't realize it was gonna reach, it was gonna get that much love and support because people could not believe that I was that age and that successful in this world. And so it was like vegan. Okay, that's crazy. But then when they said you're 50, there's no way how, and you said something, longevity, because I started doing online coaching and they were like, you need to lead with longevity because you are really showing that that is who you are.

And that is possible. Anything is possible. And it's me recognizing that I owe me, you know, and I owe it to help other people recognize that they can be anything they want. You know, I'm here showing you that it's possible, you know? And so when this, when the win happened, because I've been doing this since 2009 and I didn't know how it would, how it would end. 'cause I remember in 2024, I was like, well, I, I may had just, just go to the master's Olympia for the older guys. And I didn't open that door, didn't open, I applied when they first brought it back, no. People were like, oh, you're a shoe in. You are like successful. You're gonna be in there. They didn't accept me.

I won a couple shows, but they were saying that the caveat was you had to win 40 and over the 40 and over guys are still using and they look good 45 and older now. They don't look like me because they're, it's tearing their bodies down. And I can beat them easy, but you couldn't qualify for the matches. Winning an over 45 show, you had to only win 40 and over. And I would place but not win. And so I was like, well, guess that's it. And when one door is closed, another is open. And I was able to take that Ben Wieder and kill that show and make it to the biggest one of the mall. So Masters Olympia didn't happen, but I'm going to the even bigger stage, the one that's world known, worldwide and globally.

And it was crazy to, like you said, to beat guys half my age because they all were like, what? You're, there's no way. And it just shows dedication, desire, mindset, and you know, of course it was all coupled with my mom's passing, giving me that extra strength to say, you know what, now it's my time to shine. Since she wasn't able to see me on stage due to her religious beliefs, she can now watch her anytime she wants. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah. Yeah. You're represented, man. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: Yeah. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Wow, that's so powerful. So powerful on so many levels, you know, and I'm grateful somebody tapped in with you to, you know, really lead with that longevity piece, you know, because again, this is something that's very aspirational for a lot of people today and, you know, we want to not, but the, here's the thing with the longevity piece, it's not just living longer, but it's the quality of life. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: Correct.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Right. And to see. What's possible in the example that you're setting? You know, like you said, a lot of people like to say that they don't look like you is like, again, that's an understatement. You know, we've got people that are, I mean, struggling and it doesn't have to be like this.

TORRE WASHINGTON: No.

SHAWN STEVENSON: And so being able to just take some of these nuggets of wisdom and to start to apply them because you've inspired me. You have no idea. Even today when I was training, thinking about you and talking to you today, I was, it was different. It was different. And even, you know, just knowing what's possible on the food side. And we, we opened that door already, but I want to take a pivot right now and talk about training because we need that stimulus as well.

And again, to get these insights from somebody who really knows how to build a body. So, again, I know you have your personal experience, and I don't know what that looks like with the clients that you've worked with over the years, but let's just start with yourself. What have you found to be the most effective types of workouts? Is this like a bodybuilding split? How many days are you training? What is the mentality while training? Talk about all that. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: You know, when I first started training, I was, I was in, but I think one thing that really I paid attention to was the biomechanics. I was so into making sure form was proper, you know, because a lot of times people just lift and they don't pay attention to how they're lifting, you know, and they could be damaging themself.

Beyond repair and causing arthritic joints and what have you later on in life. And so I actually didn't, I started out where I didn't really do deadlifts, I did squats, but I did let, and I did pull ups, but I didn't do deadlifts because I think it was just, I had this idea that it was bad for the back. That's, I think it's also because I just didn't understand it too. So I didn't started incorporating deadlifts until way later on. But I did not immediately notice density in the back and the overall muscle building that it does, that it causes with the boost and the testosterone, the growth, you know, the growth that's happens as well.

And so my body band, I was doing two days, two a days. I would do two body parts in the morning and two body parts in the evening. And I enjoyed it 'cause I was just enjoying training. You know, I've always wanted, I always was very much into kaizen, you know, continuous improvement, always improving, always improvement, getting better, getting better. And so now my routine or my regimen when it comes to body, it's really sculpting. And I, I'm very much into sculpting people. I like to work with people who already have an idea of how to lift. They just need that extra tweak, they need that control because a lot of times people just lift mindless not mindful.

And I like to be connected to my muscle when I'm training. And I think a lot of times we talk about, we hear my muscle mind connection, but a lot of people really don't understand how to really control that. And so when I'm working with people, I want them to understand that concept. Like seriously, because it's so important when you connect with that muscle, you can develop it more because it's just like manifesting your thoughts, you know? So you can manifest that muscle to grow by connecting with it because it's you. It's part of your body. And so I train now with a split more of, I do legs about twice a week because of I'm in men's physique. Men's physique is really was, in the beginning it really was nothing about legs. And so that's what they could wear.

They could get it with board shorts. It was more of a beach body look. And I didn't like it because I started out bodybuilding with the, they call it the banana hammocks, or however you want to call it. Some people call it ponti. And so I started out there in, and, and I love the art form of posing and really presenting your physique in the best light, showing all your strengths, hiding your weaknesses. 'cause it's all an illusion. It's just how you present it. You know, you could have a better physique than me, but if I know how to present mine better, I beat you. Because I know how to showcase it all. Showcase it better than you do. And that's why it's such an art form that I think people don't recognize.

And a lot of times the guys on stage don't even know it. They don't even know how to, I'm looking at them like, man, you have such a great physique, you're just not presenting it well. And so posing became really a part of it. And once this men physique came out, it changed up my training to where now you wanted more recovery to train your shoulders more, your chest more and your back more 'cause D and your abs, because those are the body parts that really create this symmetry that you're looking to have wide shoulders, small waist, and your legs don't need to be too pronounced.

But that's changed now. They now want legs to have some look to it to complete it because I've always been a, had a physique that was balanced and so that's how I would win over someone else because I didn't have a standout body part. I was complete, everything was symmetrical and proportionate to one another. And so that also happened with my training. I would train very symmetrically. You know, I would do, let's say if I did back, I would do back and shoulders, you know, with some abs, just because I wanted to get at least two to three body parts in a day to allow myself to do it again sometime later on in the week because I know with, when it comes to muscle building and growth, two to three times a week to allow it to grow, especially if it's a lagging body part.

And for me, I always looked at my back as being a lagging body part. 'cause I wanted it to have more depth, not with, when I was younger, I wanted it to be very wide so I can jump off a cliff. I used to envision myself jumping off a cliff and just open my lats and gliding, you know, so, and that's how I was able to get it wide. And it's crazy because people used to be like, man, your lats are wide. But it was all visualization. I was focusing on it and mentally connecting with wanting to be wise. So now I focus on wanting it to be a lot thicker because in men's physique you only turn around to the back and to the front.

You don't do the posing, which I loved in bodybuilding. And, but with IFBB, you know, 99.8% of 'em are using enhance enhancements. So, and I'm not doing that, so of course their body's gonna grow muscle, but the protein sensor is gonna be fa a lot faster. And so it's gonna take time with me. So now I train back about two to three times a week. And legs. Two to two, what? Two times a week. I do chest about two times a week. Shoulders, shoulders get hit almost with everything because you know, you are on chest and you do back, you get in your front belts, you get in your, your rear doubts. Medial, maybe not so much. All depending on the movement. I do shoulders as much as possible.

I train abs about three. I used to train abs every day. Now I do it almost every day. And I do glutes, which. Men used to not train glutes because they were like, why? We can do that with squats. But now when it comes to bodybuilding, you're very much focused on isolation because you want to develop that muscle so that it can really pop on stage, you know? So it, it has, and it sometimes it evolves, it changes, but it pretty much is very simple, basic movements that I stick to. I don't really go into the fancy training methodologies that are out there because people get bored, and I think they'll recognize that linear progression is where it's at. But they want to do all these, you know, crazy things just to stimulate themselves because they don't have the pure love for just the growth of it.

You know, because in, if you're not training with the intensity, you're not gonna really get the results. And I've seen people train where once they work out with me, they're like, man, I don't do this on my own. And I think it's 'cause they may not have as much of a love for it, but when they do get it, they get it. You know, because that intensity is what really helps you get the most out of your workout. And it doesn't necessarily have to be where you are crawling out of the gym every day because you're still stimulating the muscle. And when I work with people who are looking for their changes, it's all about changing the stimuli in order to get the result.

You know, it could be from their nutritional aspect, the training aspect, the cardio aspect. And cardio for me is another thing that is not a necessity. I think people automatically assume it's a necessity because to lose weight for the vo, the heart, that's different, you know? But when it comes to, as far as it being used to.

Burn fat. It's a tool that we incorporate later on because we wanna focus on the, the workout and your nutrition in order to get the result before we start to add the cardio in. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Amazing, amazing. Again, it's, it's, it's too simple. I. That's the thing. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: Yeah. And I think that's the, the scary part is that it is so simple that people, they're just complicated, man.

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SHAWN STEVENSON: You know what I'm really hearing as well is for us to be, be very intentional. And to be mindful of our purpose. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: Yeah. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: If it is to build your body right bodybuilding and to get the most we can with hypertrophy. That mind muscle connection is so important. Of course, just that manifestation piece, but even just the technical piece of the muscle doing the movement. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: Mm. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Because our bodies are very good at hiding and sneaking in and compensating as well. And so, and that's okay if you're just wanting to move the weight. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: Right. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: And to get through and you're just focus on strength and being able to do a certain thing. But you can get both, of course, you can get the bodybuilding and the strength piece if you have that mind muscle connection and actually use the muscle that you are targeting. And so, but with that being said. You know, again, with bodybuilding, and you mentioned this as well, this is, I, people don't think about how much of an art form it is and also the competitive piece to it. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: Right. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: And how you guys are going at each other essentially on stage. And there's a big mindset piece backstage as well. And you know, what you have is so unique because you have the physique and you have the wisdom as well. And so being able to like see, oh, like, oh, he's really developed very well, but he doesn't know how to use it. He doesn't know how to pose to really accentuate his gifts. And so, you know, you have, that's dangerous. It's a dangerous combination, man. And I saw, actually, I heard you say this, I was looking at one of your interviews. You said, once I turned 50, I felt like I turned 20. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: Bro. I felt like I just started like I, because it's like everything started happening. When I turned 50, once I embraced it and recognized that it's okay, because when you think, whatever you think becomes your reality, because if you give it enough attention, it becomes truly your reality.

And when you think of it as being old, oh, you'll be old because that's your mindset. And so once I saw so many doors open that turning 50, I was like, oh man, this, and I feel like I just started everything. And so it's, it's, you never know when it's your time. You think, man, if I just started back when I, because that's when I first left corporate America, I was like, man, I should have done it earlier, but it wasn't time. It was that time was that time that happened. I was, I meant, I was meant to do that for 14 years to learn something from it and move on to the next level. Because, you know, we always want it to come fast. We want it to just happen right away, you know? And when it doesn't, sometimes we feel like we failed and accomplishing it, because when things aren't happening the way you expect 'em to happen, you think you're just, you're not doing it right.

And so when I hit 50 and all that started happening for me, I was like, oh man, okay. And now it, it just, I'm here with you. You know? So it's just like, you know, once you start to understand that you have to be intentional and deliberate, you know, and I learned that from Eric Thomas too. And so that was, that was, that's, that's, that's powerful. You know, so it's just stay that course. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Man, incredible. So obviously again, we're talking about the basics, right? Squatting, chest press lab, pull down. So we know the exercises and, and to target these particular body parts. But is there some secret sauce in here? Like if you want to get the most out of the time, outside of the typical stuff, is there anything else that you would add to the mix with a client, for example, or with yourself, maybe some eccentric for focus. Maybe some drop sets, maybe some super sets. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: Yes, yes, yes. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Gimme some secret sauce here of like, something that you would like utilize. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: You know, so a i, I like. Failure, a lot going to failure and drop sets I think very, are very effective because drop sets, you know, a lot of times people ask the questions and I'll be, I'll be honest, sometimes when I'm training people don't ask no questions, let's just work and because I just want 'em to get the work done. And, but then they're like, why are we doing it? But I, you know, when it comes to drop set, you know, it's fatiguing the muscle in every fiber, all the fibers. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: So share what drop sets are. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: So a drop set is, let's say you start very heavy. For example, let's say you're doing bench press and you're doing three 15. Right, and you're doing three 15 and you can only max out six reps and maybe the sixth rep. You're having a slight, you know, spotter to help you. And so that's, you just fatigue the mu, the major muscle group. 'cause that big muscle had to come into play to help you. Of course you have your ex uh, auxiliary muscles helping your shoulders and your triceps and, and you're back to a certain extent.

So you get that weight to six reps. You rack it, you take off. Sometimes you can take off 10% or more. And then you go and you do as many reps as you can, higher than what you just did. So if you just did six, your goal is to go from eight to 10. And so then you get that eight to 10, you drop the weight again, 10 to 12, you drop the weight again, 15 to 20, you drop the weight again, and you go as many as you can. And what you're doing is you're fatiguing every muscle fiber to the last point of failure. And you have really just trained that muscle all around. And I think a lot of times you see it, especially with people that are working out to that capacity, you can see it in their development because you see the difference between someone who's just powerless and someone who's really paying attention to their design, the sculpting of the body.

They look different. You know, a power lifter will just be big and massive and a strong, but a bodybuilder. We're not power lifting. We're sculpting our physique to make sure every sin you, every tendon, every fiber is sew, is able to be visible to the naked eye when you're on that stage. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: That's great, man. So with the drop set, and when you mentioned we are hitting all these different muscle fibers, so of course people know the general slow twitch fibers. Yeah. The fast twitch fibers. But we have a range of intermediate fibers as well. So you're, you're tagging all of these boys. Bad boys. It's basically recruitment. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: Correct.

SHAWN STEVENSON: It's strategic recruitment. And it's a very efficient, but very difficult Yes. In the mindset piece. You know, you've said this a couple of times in the intensity, right. And even you said, you opened this up by saying, I like failure. Right. And that's something that we shy away from in all areas of our lives. Yeah. I know. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: You're right. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: And so it's symbolic, but you know, we have the reps and reserve paradigm, but also going past that to where your muscle actually is, just like, this can be a great catalyst for growth. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: Mm-hmm. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: But you've gotta be mindful of what's right for you. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: Right. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: And also your recovery.

TORRE WASHINGTON: Right. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Right. So all of these pieces, you know, it's an equation. You know, but the best way to find out what's gonna work for you is to give it a try. Yep. And so big fan of drop sets, I haven't done them in, I don't know, a couple of years. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: Wow. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: But just even bringing this up and you jumping on that particular one 'cause actually I was doing some eccentric stuff today. Right. Which I have, you know, I do from time to time. Yeah. I really been heavy in ISOs because for me Yeah. The physique, the physique piece is important. For me, but for me, I'm training more for like performance, for 

TORRE WASHINGTON: Yes. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Athleticism, for competing for hooping with my son.

TORRE WASHINGTON: Right, right.

SHAWN STEVENSON: You know what I'm saying? And just, you know, getting out there and dominating. Like I did, you know, the other day, this truth, my wife. So I went to the park just to shoot around and do some drills or whatever. And you know, a couple of guys, it was like three guys. I, I'm pretty sure they were Slovenian.

TORRE WASHINGTON: Mm-hmm. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: And uh, they was like, Hey, you want to, you know, run teams and you know, I was like, it's cool. And one of them. He was built like Luca, he was just a little short. He was probably like 6 1, 6 2. And, but I saw, and I saw him just kind of just whooping the other two guys asses. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: Right, right, right. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: And, you know, so I, I was like, so outta you two, who's the best? You know, the other two guys, because I wanted him to be with me, right? Because I see Baby Luca over here cooking and I wasn't even there for that. And, you know, they agreed that the guy, which he never took his hoodie off, it was hot. Alright, this is already a warning sign for me. All right. So, but anyway, so he went with me and, the other guy had a cigarette first before he start, you know, got on the court. And I'm like, oh, that's a good sign, right? It's gonna be even. And so, you know, before you know it, man, I came out, you know, we're playing. You know, the 15 ones and twos, but I hit four shots really quickly and I knew Baby Luca did not like that. 'cause at first I hit the first two. He is like, oh, he was still kind of bubbly.

Now he like locked in, his face changed. And so like, we're really competing out there, man. But just being able to, at the drop of a hat to do something like that and to perform and you know, to compete and to have fun and me training because life, you, you have to qualify yourself to be able to do certain things. And you know, it's, my point being with, even with the story was they had no idea that I'm twice their age. They had no idea. All right. And when I got back home, my wife asked her, she was like, how was the park? I was like, yeah. You know, some guys asked me to run, you know, um, two on two. And of course, you know. You know, I gave 'em a little Spanky, but she was like, did you get their number? Like, 'cause she's like, guys are gonna hang out and talk. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: Right, right. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: She can't understand that just going and playing a pickup game mm-hmm. Is just like, these guys do that. Because, you know, for her it's just like, you gotta have all this other stuff.

TORRE WASHINGTON: Correct, correct. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Hey, do you want to play with me? You know, they're like this kind of energy, you know, and I think it's so cute, but, you know, it's really important for us to understand why we're doing what we're doing. And to create that unique formula for us. And I'm so grateful to bring you on because a lot of us, and myself included, we want to express beauty and the potential with our physique. We want to feel good in our bodies and we have so much potential, like our bodies are designed to adapt and to grow when we give it the stimulus. And also the recovery piece.

TORRE WASHINGTON: Right.

SHAWN STEVENSON: So that's my next question. Yeah. What is your secret sauce when it comes to the recovery piece? 'cause I know you love to train. You're about that life and obviously your nutrition is just like, it's a world class. Very intentional. What about any other recovery protocols that you have? 

TORRE WASHINGTON: You know, it's interesting, so maybe about three, four weeks ago, I don't know what I did, but I was training back, right? And I was doing a little shoulders, and then I was doing other movements, extracurricular activities that kind of, it impacted my shoulder and my shoulder was like stuck. It was like hard to do this and do this, and I didn't know what was going on. It felt. I had fluid in it. Like, you know when a knee gets inflamed and it gets like that, almost that field. 'cause I had ACL injury and I had ACL surgery back in 2010. And 'cause I, you know, ran track and I attempted to do American football 'cause in Jamaica we called football, soccer is called football.

So they were like, yo, come out for the team, man, you're fast. I was like, all right. But I didn't know how to play football. And so I got injured in scrimmage. I didn't even make it to a game. I probably could have been, you know, amazing at it because of my size and speed. And so I got that done. And so when this happened to my shoulder, it felt like my knee, like when it's inflamed, it's harder to move it.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Mm-hmm. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: And so I started getting a little more body work done. 'cause I have a guy that I would go to that would, you know, really work on getting everything. 'cause training is so heavy, everything gets tight. But sometimes the body build, we like that tight feel 'cause we feel like we. Looking good. You don't, we don't understand that we should be flexible because then when you come up to bring the muscles together, they actually will look bigger because now the muscles have been stretched.

So then when they do contract, they look better. You know? And a lot of times we don't understand that 'cause we spend more time training than we do with recovery and the stretching and the nuances of working on your hip flexes your hip joints and your knee joints. And so those things are now are important to me. The eccentric movements, you talk about isometric holding, you know, all these things help to develop the tendons that we need to be healthy because the tendons are attached to the muscle bellies and attached to the joints that, I mean to the, to the skeletal frame. And so once this happened, I started doing that work and I decided to incorporate more cold plunging just to kind of see. Man, after the second day it was gone. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Mm. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: And the third day, totally no problems anymore because I was worried like, I got an Olympia coming up, I gotta be ready, I need to train intensely. So that really opened my eyes to you need to take care of that more, you know, because you can't just be in the gym constantly all the time. Banging, banging, banging, and not recovering more than just rest and nutrition. But you still need to work on like recovery protocols, you know, the cold plunging, the um, the, the body work and things like that. Nature that really plays into keeping you healthy and being able to, at the drop of a dime, take a jump if you have to, because a lot of things, I'm also an athlete.

I like to be able to just spring into something, catch the hoop. If I want to just catch the hoop. I mean, I'm short, I can't slam, but I could, I used to, I can grab that hoop just from my jump and i'm a sprinter, so I love to sprint, so I'm competitive in that. I'm, I taught that game. It was like, we can go, we can go and get that a hundred meters real quick if you wanna do that. You know? 'cause I like to be able to run fast and I was racing my son and I said, when you can beat me, you'll be fast. Nevertheless, he could beat me now and you know, so, and I know he was so excited to be able to do that.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Of course. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: You know, because he used to smoke 'em all the time, all the way up till he was about 17. And once he got past the 17 to 20, he can take off now, you know? So, so I, I relate to when you're talking about playing, playing ball with your son too, so. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: It is. Now I'm making sure that that's there because I also have a client and a friend, they have a cold plunge in their home and they live very close to me. So they're like, you know, come whenever you want. And understanding that, you know. I like to do it prior to a workout, not necessarily after, because I'm so much more focused on the information being a process of increasing muscle size and that information is necessary after a workout. And so, you know, seeing the research is coming out more about cold plunging after workout is not as beneficial depending on what you're looking to do, you know, especially when it comes to hypertrophy.

So it, it's man, it changed my, once my shoulder healed up that quick, because I understand once you get in there, your body's like heal because it's under such an attack of that frigid water that it, I love it. I love it now. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah. That's, thank you for sharing that, man. That's great. Because again, we, there's so many different tools to utilize and your body responded 

TORRE WASHINGTON: Yeah.

SHAWN STEVENSON: To that particular tool we've had on Dr. Kelly Starrett, who's really to say he's a pioneer in. Physical, and physical therapy is, you know, again, he's like a superstar in the space. And he's very much performance driven and like a lot of incredible physical therapists that are listening to the show right now, they are likely to have his book or one of his books, like the Sup Becoming a Supple Leopard.

It's like a, one of the Bibles of physical therapy. Right. And he's one of the first people, because in school they're taught rice, rest, ice, you know, compression elevate. He's like, no, the, I, we are changing that. The ice piece. After we, we don't do that anymore. We are blunting. We are, we're interrupting these pathways. Yes, you might get some relief, but we want the body to heal. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: Mm-hmm. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: And so the icing in particular, and he's a cold plunge guy, but he puts it in a pocket. He doesn't do it after training. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: Right. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Right. And also this isn't looked at, looked at as a means of, you know, trying to, you know, to heal, you know, an blatant injury. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: Right.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Per se. It's the response that your body is getting. It's like an adaptation to a stressor. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: Hmm. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Right. And so it's stimulating all of these kind of immune factors because it's the immune system that's gonna heal the body. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: Correct, correct. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: And just looking at it like that, you know, whether it's cold plunging, whether it's sauna, whether it's the body work, but these are those inputs that our nervous system, these are things that we missed out on in our culture today.

Yeah. 'cause everything's so climate controlled. Right. And, you know, but we evolved having temperature stress too. Yeah. You know what I mean? And so it's just like tapping into these innate healing factors. And so sharing that is very special, man. You know, just being able to talk to you is incredible in and of itself, and thank you for sharing about your approach to training and also your nutrition. I want to ask you about this because, you know, you reached out to me, around this time because you knew I, I shared about my father passing and impact that it had on me. And it was right before the release of my Family cookbook, the Smarter Family Cookbook, and he's a chef.

So he was a big inspiration, like unconsciously for me to focus on this and to focus on family. And I come from a very dysfunctional family. You know, but I wanted to use my experience and to take the beauty from the pieces that I did have because, you know, he made something outta nothing so often in the kitchen and it was beautiful. And also, even though, you know, drugs, alcohol was a big part of my experience with him. He also had this very childlike nature as well. And so he was the dad that was out there hooping with the kids. Nobody else's dad was out there, but mine was. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: Right. 

SHAWN STEVENSON:  And so his work really, his, his, his work in life carries on through me and my ability to impact people and to just strive to do a little bit better. And you mentioned your experience with your son as well, and you know, there's this wonderful sentiment that your father's the only man who's going to want you to be better than him. Yep. And I know that holds true for our parents in general and what your mom wanted for you. And so when you competed recently in the show and, and mentioning she hadn't gone to any of the shows before, and being the seventh day and being on a Saturday.

A lot of these shows, but being there with you now, so what does that mean for you? You know, and having your mom with you in this different capacity and showing up and showing out and showing what's possible, how do you feel right now knowing that your mom is with you and watching what you're doing?

TORRE WASHINGTON: You know, I was very much like a loner when I was younger, you know, and I, I really got into the school of thought where, you know, death is just, it's inevitable, you know, it's gonna happen. You know, it's almost selfish for us to miss that person because we just want them physically back, but now their time is up and it's for them to go on to the, to their next phase of their, their being. And I had always lived with that. Like, yeah, that's nothing. That'd be easy, you know, whatever. And so when it finally gave down to that actual moment to where my mom passed away, I was like. This is interesting. I never thought I would feel like this, and so it really didn't hit me until I had to go do the eulogy for her funeral.

And when I was on the plane, me and my cousin had wrote it together and I was editing it and I lost it. Like I, I didn't think I would do that, but I lost it on the plane and I was like, wow, this is, I didn't think this would happen. And so then I get to the funeral and I had to do the eulogy. And man, that was probably the toughest thing I could ever do to, I had to get up there and walk on stage and my whole family, like her siblings had to come and like, hold me so that I could actually get through that process. And I'll never forget my cousin, she was like, I'm coming, I'm coming, I'm coming. I could hear her and it was just like, wow. And so I said with that, you know what I'm gonna make you proud because I know of how much you struggled to get me to where I am today. And you know, you don't think about it at the time because you're just going through life and she was working her butt off to get there.

And so I know that she probably wanted to be there, but she couldn't be there because she was very strict about her religious belief. And I know I'm strict about certain things too. So that comes from her as well. And she was very much a person that'd love to give her all to other people then and not take care of herself.

And I do that to a certain capacity as well. And so now, you know, I had to really recognize that now she can actually see me on stage. And that's why it's like at 50 I'm doing this. Like, wow, I'm doing this now. And she was so excited when I became an engineer. But you know. It means so much more that my mom can be there and see, you know, and, and we say that because we truly don't know, but it's of, it's that sense of, well I feel like she can, you know, she's there with me and able to witness meme, make history, you know, because yeah, when I recognize that I've made history, it's like, wow, you know, this actually happened.

So it means more than, I can almost put in words that my mom can be there to, because your mother is that person who no matter what you've done, she's always gonna love you. You know, it's like unconditional. And you know, your parents in general, because a lot of times we feel like our fathers don't, but they do, and they just, they just have that hardcore exterior that sometimes on their upbringing, they don't know how to express that.

I have to tell my son that too, because I was. My mom was always at work, so you know that, and my father wasn't there, so I didn't, I didn't even know how to be that father figure, you know, you just kinda go with the motion. And so it means a lot. And I, I'm just gonna continue to shine as for as long as possible, you know, that I can, while I'm able to exist here and help as many people as I possibly can, because it was a, it was also a fear of mine to help people 'cause you know, when you, you don't wanna fail, you know, you know you, but we, like you said, like I was just talking before, I love failure, but it's, it's being able to apply bodybuilding and what I do to life, and that's where I'm working on as well too, so. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Thank you for sharing that, man. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: No, no, thank you. I almost done, I almost lost it to, I was coming. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: You know, just being able to, you know, because it's a, it's a choice. You know, what we choose to believe and you know, that, that choosing that your mom is with you and you know, I share that, I share that sentiment. And I know, and you know it too, that she is very proud of you and you know, you, you are a history maker. Like you've changed the world. You've done exceptional things that haven't been done before. Like, that's not, that's extraordinary. And I just want to acknowledge you for that man to truly just give you your flowers, man. Like for real. It's special, man. And I knew that from the moment I saw you and we connected the first time, like, oh, you're different. You're different. And despite your circumstances, despite what you went through, you know, you just kept taking that step forward. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: Right.

SHAWN STEVENSON: And finding a way to turn the hurt and the anger into something positive. And we can all learn from that. So I appreciate you, bro. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: No, thank you. And you know, you had said something earlier when you said you were inspired on your training and I, sometimes you hear people say they're inspired by you, but sometimes you don't. It doesn't really click. And I have people that say, Hey, I want to compete now. And I'm like, why? And that's because they see what I've been able to accomplish and they're like, I could do it too. And I, it's a great thing. And it's also like, okay, wow. I didn't think that it was gonna cause that, but it's acknowledges that we all can inspire someone. Your story, your journey inspires someone. Someone needs to hear your story, your story, just as important as anyone else's. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah. That part. Where can people connect with you? Get more information. Just stay in touch with you. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: Torre Washington, TORRE, Washington, on every platform. And you know, my next thing I, we talked about this before, is like, gotta get this book out, man. I was so afraid to put a book out before, and now that I've sort of gotten 30% of the process done, it's just getting the rest done. And I know it'll, it'll get done. You know, just like we talked about. It's that time will happen when the time is supposed to happen, you know? So, and, you know, Vegas, you gotta come to Vegas, man. September 24th through 27th. That's the Mr. Olympia. It's gonna be at the Palms Hotel. Ooh. You know, from here it's like a 45 minute flight, probably not even 50 bucks. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah. Not even. Yeah. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: And, it's a historic moment for me, man, to really, I don't even know if I'm, I keep saying to myself that it's probably gonna be a cry fest for me on that stage, because right now I realize it's gonna be, I probably will have the most people who are close to me as in the audience than anyone else, because everybody has fans. But I'm gonna have family friends that are, and vegan family who I've met throughout the year that they can't wait to see the first vegan athlete on this huge stage. It's a prestigious event that it's, you know, it's been around for. And Arnold Schwarzenegger and all these guys have won it. And so I'm actually gonna be on that stage.

And so it's, it's exciting too. So anyone I can talk to 'em, it's like, hey, just come. Just come. And the main part I'm looking for is to get in that jacket and to finally say that I'm an Olympian. And so, and I'm, you know, they also give you like your own table where you can meet the Olympian. So I know it's gonna be fun. It's gonna be fun. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Amazing. Amazing. I mean, 1000% bro. Like my wife has been looking for an excuse to come to Vegas. Hey, you know, so I keep hearing that, man, thank you so much for sharing your heart, sharing your wisdom. And we already know, man, much continued success. It's already done. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: Yes. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: And you know I got your back when it comes to this book.

TORRE WASHINGTON: Thank you. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Well, thank you. So I got you. 

TORRE WASHINGTON: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. 

SHAWN STEVENSON: For sure. The one and only Torre Washington. Everybody, thank you so much for tuning into this episode today. I hope that you got a lot of value out of this. If you did, you already know what to do. Share this conversation. This is paradigm shifting stuff here.

All right. My man, Torre Washington is over 50 years old and competing at the highest level of bodybuilding with people decades younger on paper, or even saying it out loud, it shouldn't even be possible, but it's not just possible. It's experientially lived. And dare I say, it's probable by applying certain principles on what's possible for us in terms of longevity, in terms of fitness, and remembering it is never too late to say yes, to say yes to yourself, to start to invest in you, and to start to change the way that you are thinking, because truly, all of these outer examples or expression that you're seeing with Torre is a result of his thinking.

If we keep thinking what we're thinking, we're gonna keep getting what we're getting. We've got to change our mindset when it comes to our own health and fitness, and also just taking on some of these principles that he shared as well. You know, adding in a few more plants. All right. He expressed and I caught it.

Just a little bit of his love for the Japanese sweet potato. Alright, he's a bit, he said it, he's a sweet tooth. He's a sweetie, you know, guy that likes to go after the sweets and those Japanese sweet potatoes are fantastic. I think that I helped to kind of popularize them because I was talking about them, you know, over a decade ago on the Model Health Show because they start to show up more prominently on store shelves, but just delicious foods that we could add in, you know, and targeting variety when it comes to these inputs with these different foods because they're going to be another key word that he used today. He talked about the microbiome.

They're going to be feeding our microbiome and giving these data points and just experimenting more, adding in more diversity when it comes to our foods. Eating a little bit more seasonally, you know, just picking up these little nuggets and just trying things. And also when it comes to our training, if what you've been doing is just getting the same old, same, let's switch it up. Let's switch it up. Let's do something different. Let's add in some drop sets. Let's do some more eccentric training. Let's add in some isometrics. Let's, instead of training one body part once a week, let's reduce the volume that you're doing in one day. Do a couple of body parts and do that multiple times a week.

You know, at least two times a week. Training a body part so it can keep getting that, that stimulus to respond, to grow, to adapt, because our bodies are adaptation machines. Getting that input once a week can get you a significant amount of the way. But what if we. Made an adjustment. What if we did something different?

What if we gave more action points for our body to respond to? Based on the data, you're gonna get better results. So again, I hope that this was encouraging. I definitely encourage you to check out Torre's work, follow him on social media and all that good stuff. And again, share this out on social media. Take a screenshot of this episode, tag Torre and tag me. I'm at Shawn model on Instagram. I know that he would love, he'd be blown away to see the love that can come from the Model Health Show community. So I appreciate you so much for that. We've got some incredible masterclasses and world leading experts coming your way very, very soon. So make sure to stay tuned. Take care, have an amazing day, and I'll talk with you soon.