Modern WisdomBritain’s #1 Fitness Model Shares His Bodybuilding Secrets - Ryan Terry
EVERY SPOKEN WORD
145 min read · 28,535 words- 0:00 – 0:30
Intro
- CWChris Williamson
(wind blows) How do you describe what you do?
- RTRyan Terry
Uh, so I'm a professional athlete, um, and yeah, a sponsored athlete as well.
- CWChris Williamson
In what category?
- RTRyan Terry
So I compete in men's physique, which is a bodybuilding class, um, and that transi- transitions from a- a athletic look, um, but as the years have gone on, it's- it's got more and more muscular, shall we say.
- CWChris Williamson
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. What drives you to
- 0:30 – 8:38
What Drives Ryan to Compete?
- CWChris Williamson
do what you do? Why do you choose to do this sport that involves starving yourself down to an incredibly low body fat, that involves off-seasons? You took an entire off-season where you didn't even compete for basically a year and a half in order to be able to come back. Why? Why choose that sport?
- RTRyan Terry
So for me, just a bit of background, uh, about myself, um, I was al- I- I was always brought up around sports. I was very competitive, uh, growing up. That was football, gymnastics, um, swimming, and golf. And it was my life, uh, that competitive edge. I had, um, an older brother and older sister who I always used to compete with at home. It never, never stopped. And basically when I came into my teenage years, around the age of 14, I started to develop a complex about the way I looked, a bit of, um, body dysmorphia, should we say. And I started to join a gym because, for me, I thought training my body, making sure that I'm- got a six pack, looking good, feeling good, that it were gonna help with confidence.
- CWChris Williamson
Just rolling it back a little bit there, where do you think that body dysmorphia came from? Because we're basically the same age.
- RTRyan Terry
Yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
And, you know, we didn't have the same levels of comparison certainly at the age of 14.
- RTRyan Terry
Mm-hmm.
- CWChris Williamson
Facebook didn't even exist.
- RTRyan Terry
No, true.
- CWChris Williamson
There was no Instagram. There was no YouTube really.
- RTRyan Terry
True.
- CWChris Williamson
W- what, what caused the onset of that?
- RTRyan Terry
I think for me it's, it's funny, because me and my siblings have spoke about this before, because we all had the same type of complex, but we don't know why. We had a great upbringing. I didn't have a father figure in my life, um, didn't know my, my dad for about 10 years growing up in that same period. Um, so whether that was a deciding factor, um, we didn't have a lot of money, all that kind of stuff. We never went without, we just never had the best of the best, um, but we had a brilliant upbringing, shall we say. It was not an unhappy upbringing. Um, but yeah, I don't know, we- we always just felt there was something missing or always... And when I- I think when I was 14, obviously girls came on the scene and it became more... I became more aware of myself. I think up until that point I was just so fixated on sports, playing, just being a kid. And I think at the age of 14 I- I had to start work. Um, I was pot washing at the age of 14, waitering at the age of 14. Every night-
- CWChris Williamson
Was that to contribute for paying for the house-
- RTRyan Terry
It was.
- CWChris Williamson
... and stuff for the family?
- RTRyan Terry
Yeah. So I paid rent, um, paid board.
- CWChris Williamson
From the age of 14?
- RTRyan Terry
Yeah. From the age of 14. I was 35 pounds and I earned probably 50, and that was every night I worked. On a Saturday I did removals, uh, furniture removals. On a Sunday I did pot washing all day. And, um, yeah, I mean, we used to take 35 pounds. The moment I- I got to 16, I was paying 50 pounds, so, um-
- CWChris Williamson
Okay. Right. The- the-
- RTRyan Terry
Yeah. (laughs) So-
- CWChris Williamson
... wage increases are really hitting you hard here, right?
- RTRyan Terry
Wage- oh, yeah, it did hit me hard. So we had to, um ... so I- I didn't have an option of going on to- to six form or anything like that. We- I went straight into an apprenticeship, um, and yeah, I learned the value of money and hard work, uh, early on. But yeah, whether that gave me a complex or not when I was younger, I don't know, but from when I was 14 I decided I needed to change things. I was... I wouldn't say I was overweight, but I just... I felt like I was in my head, and I was always looking around. And at school I never understood why I was a guy who used to wear a- a white T-shirt under his shirt, wear a jumper and a coat to try and hide himself in the middle of summer. And it was like, "You're crazy." But that was just something I always did and never knew why or- or understood it. So yeah, so I started training and I saw my body changing quite quickly, and yeah, I became obsessed with the gym and- and trying to learn how to... the nutrition, uh, learn my way around nutrition.
- CWChris Williamson
What did you do as a young guy who was trying to find his way in the world-
- RTRyan Terry
Yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
... you know, I think it was less confusing when we were growing up than it is now, but still not totally... like, the guard rails weren't exactly there.
- RTRyan Terry
Mm-hmm.
- CWChris Williamson
Given the fact that you have this decade without a father figure, did you find yourself trying to supplement that with other male role models? Did you look up to other people for inspiration? Where did they come from?
- RTRyan Terry
Yeah. So my brother is two years older than me and he was kind of like the head of the house, kind of. He was... My sister's older as well. Um, so I kind of grew up a couple years older than... like, with people older than me, so kind of a bit ahead of my time. At the time I was 18 I was thinking about having my own house, my own business, when really you shouldn't be thinking like that at 18. You should be still being a kid, going on your lads holidays, all that kind of stuff. But for me, he was always a- a role model for me, but he went in the army at 16, so he left. When I was 14 he left and, um, that for me felt like it's my time. I need to- to fill his shoes and- and grow up and stuff. So- so maybe that was... yeah, what forced me to be more... down another path. Um, and when I joined the local gym, it was a back street bodybuilding gym, very hardcore, and the guys in there made me work for it, but so I was this... the little guy just walking around, the little teenager who- who was just thought they were gonna... I was gonna be gone in six months. But I earned their trust. I- I earned their respect from training every day there, um, and yeah, they took me under their wing, um, and that's how I fell into bodybuilding. And I used to watch them training. And I trained with super heavyweight bodybuilders, 350 pound guys, massive, massive weights, and... but I always loved their dedication and I always resonated with that because of that s- the sport side of- of me, the competing side, sorry.
- CWChris Williamson
Mm-hmm.
- RTRyan Terry
So when competing came up and they said, "Why don't you try it?" I was looking at it just thinking, "I don't have the confidence to take my top off and step on stage." I was an apprentice plumber working on site, never used to do my hair, would never take my top off in a million years. But there was something telling me to face my fears. There was something saying, "Step out of your comfort zone and see if you can do what these guys all around you every day are doing," um, and that was doing a bodybuilding show, dieting down, and I just... I loved... I wasn't inspired by the- the size of them.I was just, um, inspired by the way they, they lived their life. How, how regimented they were, how dedicated they were, how competitive they were. How they had a goal. And for me, I wanted to try it just once, and that was my goal, just to try it once. So I didn't tell anybody, just in case I, uh, I backed out at the last minute. But I started diet- dieting alongside these guys for this show. And I saw, uh, (laughs) this show came up and it was the closest to me because it was only like an hour and a half down the road, Leamington Spa, and I didn't realize, but this show was a, a national qualifier. It was a, it was a big show, but I had just assumed it was a, a small regional show. And, um, yeah, dieted down, didn't tell anybody, registered the night before, and I got down there on the day and I was like this backstage, shaking like mad. And I was like, "What am I doing? What the hell am I doing?" Like, I'm a plumber, I should not be doing this. And then (laughs) , yeah, yeah, I stepped on stage and I don't know what it was, I became somebody else. My alter ego came out. I was walking on stage like this and the moment the lights hit me and I came out onto stage I was like, "No, you've done all the hard work. You deserve to be here. Now it's time to battle."
- 8:38 – 17:02
Challenges of Turning a Hobby into a Profession
- RTRyan Terry
- CWChris Williamson
We spoke before we got started about the, um, challenges that you face if you become too obsessive with tracking.
- RTRyan Terry
Yes.
- CWChris Williamson
Now, whether you're looking at wearables, whether you're looking at the quantified self-movement, whether you're looking at getting blood panels done.
- RTRyan Terry
Yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
Uh, biohacking. I imagine that the level that you're performing at, which is the biggest in the world. There's only one title that you haven't won yet, am I right in saying?
- RTRyan Terry
Correct. Yes.
- CWChris Williamson
Which is the ...
- RTRyan Terry
The Olympia.
- CWChris Williamson
Cool.
- RTRyan Terry
The Mr. Olympia, yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
So there is one title left, basically on everything on the planet that you haven't yet got.
- RTRyan Terry
Everything on the ... Yes.
- CWChris Williamson
So you have probably worked with the best coaches in terms of training, in terms of posing, in terms of nutrition, in terms of sleep-
- RTRyan Terry
Yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
... recovery, rest, mindset, all that stuff.
- RTRyan Terry
Yes.
- CWChris Williamson
Which also probably will have opened up access to all manner of quantified self ideas and stuff.
- RTRyan Terry
Yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
What has your journey been going from, um, eating to feel, training to feel, obsessive tracking, uh, using the wearables, not using the wearables, uh, and what are sort of the lessons that you've taken away from that?
- RTRyan Terry
Yeah, so, so for me, when I started obviously competing in the early days, um, it was just about the enjoyment of it and for self-confidence. It wasn't about, um, building a career out of it. I didn't realize I could, I could build a career from it. Um, I just did it for the enjoyment and it kept me on a, on a level where I was happy. So while I ... Well, whilst ever I was in prep and enjoying the whole process of training and just having that accountability every day, I was happy and my best results and, uh, the, the growth of, of my career happened so fast when I was in that state of mind, um, and again, if you look back at them, I was very relaxed in how I trained, so it was all about how I feel, how I pump up, my strength, tiredness, all these basic things on how I feel, just being at one with myself, like looking in the mirror thinking, "Right, things need to change. I need to l- work on this. I'm not feeling great today, do I need more sleep? Um, right, I'm not feeling strong, we're gonna back off the, the heavy weight sets, we're gonna look for more time under tension or more volume sets," just to go off how I feel. But as I grew and got more and more, um, well, more competitive in, in, in the bodybuilding career and winning more titles, teams came on. Teams wanted to help. They wanted to know your body fat. They wanted to know all these other things and I let 'em come on and it became ... I don't know, it ... It was un-enjoyable for me-
- CWChris Williamson
Mm-hmm.
- RTRyan Terry
... because it, it was taking away why I started it and why I did it which was, again, for self-confidence and the enjoyment of it and every day we're waking up and we're tracking this, we're weighing this and it just ... It took it away from me and it just became monotonous and a job for me. And I'm obsessed with bodybuilding. I, I love it, but it's a lifestyle. 365 days a year I've done this for the last 20 years and I enjoy it, but when I went through that stage, I lost the enjoyment and that for me was a big thing. And if you look over my career and, and my placings, I had a two-year lull, um, and it was because of that, because I just ... I was answering to other people. I lost confidence in myself because I was thinking, "I don't know the answer to this," or, "Do I need to change this? What ... Do I take this food out?" Or, "Oh, no, there's a variable here, what do I do?" Whereas normal- normally and now, I just adapt accordingly 'cause I know my body, um, and as I'm getting older, my metabolism is changing, but that's the beauty of bodybuilding. Like everything changes from time to time.
- CWChris Williamson
The interesting thing that I've been playing with as well since starting doing this show ... You start off doing something that you love-
- RTRyan Terry
Yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
... right? And you end up being competent at it-
- RTRyan Terry
Yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
... or semi-competent at it. And then you start to work a little bit harder and you think, "Wow, I'm accruing more gains than I feel like I should be." You know, your first show. You shouldn't have won your first show.
- RTRyan Terry
Yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
Like most people don't.
- 17:02 – 24:17
How to Stay Driven When You’ve Reached the Top
- CWChris Williamson
one of the things that I'm interested in, y- y- you know, you are, uh, getting toward like the peak of your career now-
- RTRyan Terry
Mm-hmm.
- CWChris Williamson
... with regards to marrying business, still doing the thing that got you famous-
- RTRyan Terry
Yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
... all of your obligations. You're living in the UK, which is a great country, but does have a little bit of a cap-
- RTRyan Terry
Yes.
- CWChris Williamson
... in terms of the ceiling of success, right? You are far and away probably the best known physique competitor coming out of the UK.
- RTRyan Terry
Yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
How have you managed to keep your goals growing with you-
- RTRyan Terry
Yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
... given the fact that you're outstripping pretty much all of your competition? The reason I say this is that there will be a lot of people listening, by definition, they're listening to this kind of a podcast, that means that they're already selected out into the top 0.1% of people thinking about personal development, thinking about improving themselves.
- RTRyan Terry
Yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
How can someone, how did you, and how can someone who doesn't necessarily have that, um, community of competitors and, and encouragement around them, wherever they live-
- RTRyan Terry
Yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
... continue to push themselves as their goals get bigger as they progress?
- RTRyan Terry
(sighs) That's a hard question, that is. Yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
Well, how did you do it?
- RTRyan Terry
So, so for me-
- CWChris Williamson
Why, why were you so driven? Given the fact that you kept on beating everybody, why were you so driven?
- RTRyan Terry
So for me, I was always driven to be number one in the world, and until I get that title, until I've won the Olympia, in my eyes, I've, I've not, I'm not the best in the world. I'm not, I've not achieved what I've, I've set out to achieve. So everything I've ever set out to achieve in this, um, industry, I've achieved so far other than the Olympia. So my goal was always, every show I've ever done, to never do a lesser show in prestige. So that was...... how I grew quite quickly, because I was very strategic on, in, in the, the shows I did. I did my research before and I wanted to be known straight away. I wanted to go against the best straightaway. I wasn't someone who wanted to just make the numbers up or have an easy qualification, easy route to Olympia. I wanted to go against the best as quick as possible to know my worth and to know if I'm good enough to be up there. Because again, uh, I, I wanna win shows. I don't wanna be there just to, to make the numbers up. And that always drove me. So, I was very fortunate early on. I was, like I say, I was the first pro from the UK for ... I held ... The first pro from Europe. I held that for five, six years before anyone else. It was me against the Americans for so long (laughs) , um, and that was just a driving force in itself. I felt like I had the UK behind me, like pushing me and pushing me-
- CWChris Williamson
Pressures and expectations of an entire nation.
- RTRyan Terry
Yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
Very good.
- RTRyan Terry
And it was, but it was phenomenal. I loved it. And even now, I still have that drive, um, but I'm realistic 'cause I have other obligations with family now, and I know I need to provide for them, and I know I need to, um, always be there for them. And I don't wanna be a selfish dad. I wanna be the best, um, husband I can to my wife. So, things change along the way and it has become so much harder now. But if I want it, which I do, I will, uh, I'll keep going and just keep finding a route, and that's how I like to do. I don't overthink it. I need to be ready in six week or seven weeks time, uh, for my next show. It's not been announced yet. The things I'm doing now, I've got five businesses and obviously a, a young family. I've got my wife who's pregnant, who's due in three months, and I'm doing something huge project too, which I can't talk about. There is so much at stake here, but-
- CWChris Williamson
I know what it is. I know, I know what the project is.
- RTRyan Terry
(laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
It's pretty cool.
- RTRyan Terry
But I thrive off it. I absolutely love it and if, if I didn't have that, I would go insane. That's ... I've always worked at such a high capacity 'cause-
- CWChris Williamson
Mm-hmm.
- RTRyan Terry
... it's the only way I know how. I think because of that work ethic being instilled from the age of 14, if I get too complacent, I get, I get stuck, I lose my head, and I need to be constant.
- 24:17 – 34:58
Ryan's Top 10 Exercises
- CWChris Williamson
Okay. Let's say y- you are someone who has spent the last 20 years focusing on training, especially for hypertrophy.
- RTRyan Terry
Yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
You are someone that has won pretty much every single title on the planet. You have 10 exercises that you can do for the rest of your life in order to maintain as good of a physique as you can. What are they and why?
- RTRyan Terry
10? That's very specific. (laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
10. I just figured, I just figured that that would be enough for you to get each different muscle group.
- RTRyan Terry
... right, okay.
- CWChris Williamson
So what are the, what are the longest levers that you can pull when it comes to maintaining size or increasing size for muscle growth?
- RTRyan Terry
So a lot of obviously compound lifts. So you're looking at your deadlifts, uh, your bench press, um, and your squats. They're, they're always good. Again, these are things what I have, I've had to adapt over the years because of, um, injuries and things, training silly when I was younger.
- CWChris Williamson
Okay.
- RTRyan Terry
Um-
- CWChris Williamson
There's three.
- RTRyan Terry
There's three there. Um, h- hanging leg raise for core is one of the hardest midsection... If you do it properly, I think it's one of the hardest, uh, midsection exercises, but it's phenomenal for your transverse abdominis, your upper and lower abdominals, everything. Just, it's a great... I, I feel like that was something that helped me build my, my midsection quite heavily.
- CWChris Williamson
So you've got one of the, like acclaimed best midsections in all of fitness.
- RTRyan Terry
Mm-hmm.
- CWChris Williamson
What are the cues that people get wrong when they're doing hanging leg raises?
- RTRyan Terry
So they create momentum, the swing, which, um, I think that has a bit to do with CrossFit with this kipping or malarkey and momentum stuff. That, that came into play a fair few years ago. But, um, yeah, I think swinging, um, I think using the hip flexors instead of the, the midsection.
- CWChris Williamson
How do you know if you're doing that?
- RTRyan Terry
You'll feel it. You'll feel it down your quads. Um-
- CWChris Williamson
What's the cue? Someone's doing a, a... Someone's listening to this hanging from a bar right now, what is the cue for them to go from, "I'm hanging straight," to, "I'm doing a leg raise," that makes it work appropriately?
- RTRyan Terry
So it's tucking the hips in-
- CWChris Williamson
Mm-hmm.
- RTRyan Terry
... and making sure you're contracting, uh, your upper and lower abdominals before anything else. So it's always keeping them fully contracted. Mind to... Mind to muscle connection is, is a huge thing. I believe in that so much. Um-
- CWChris Williamson
Yeah. Mike Thurston does the same.
- RTRyan Terry
Yeah. And the thing is, the last few years I've done that so much more now. As I've got older and more mature, I'm not just trying to lift heavy weight and trying to ego lift. And since I've done that, the muscle maturity and, and how my body's developed is just exponential. I just wish I'd done it five, six years ago. Um, so yeah, so I think that's very important, mind to muscle connection.
- CWChris Williamson
With hanging leg raises, are you going to an L? Are you going up to touch the bar?
- RTRyan Terry
So either. So I used to do all the way to the top, um, but I alternate now, so I just do a bit of both. Um, I think there's a, there's a place for both of them, but I think that when you go past a certain point, you are recruiting other muscle groups. Um, so if you want to just isolate your midsection, just go to 90 degrees.
- CWChris Williamson
How do you do progressive overload on that? Or do you?
- RTRyan Terry
You would, you could add weights to your...
- CWChris Williamson
Do you?
- RTRyan Terry
I don't personally, no, because I was obsessed with my midsection growing up. As you can see, Rob Riches was the guy who got me obsessed with it. So I wanted to be on the front covers like Rob was, I used to see all the magazines and I tried to treat my midsection like any other muscle part. Some... a lot of people think with the midsection, you should, um, train for 30 minutes after every session or... Why? Every other muscle part we train, we, we train to break the muscle fibers down heavy, uh, a lot of load. We break the muscle down heavy, we let them recover two, three, four days before we hit them again. And that's how I looked and viewed my midsection. So I'd give them two full hour sessions with a three to four day rest between, and add... the six to eight rep range really heavy. The thing with that, I started to develop really chunky abs, blocky abs, but in the end it started to look a bit distended because I'd gone too far with it and I was causing so many back problems. I had slipped discs from it, and basically it's because I was too front heavy, too front strong. So it took a lot of years to start having to, uh, hyperextend. For every crunch I did, they said I had to do two hyperextensions.
- 34:58 – 41:42
Ryan’s Morning Routine
- CWChris Williamson
your morning routine? Take me through it. From waking up, what time? What do you do? What are you eating? What are you drinking? What movements are you going through?
- RTRyan Terry
Yeah. So typically around 5:00 we get up. Um, I do a black coffee. I'll go down, I'll have, uh, EAAs and L-carnitine, and that's like f- 15 minutes before I go and do my fasting.
- CWChris Williamson
Is that oral L-carnitine or injected?
- RTRyan Terry
Uh, oral.
- CWChris Williamson
Yep.
- RTRyan Terry
Yeah, oral. Uh, through liquid, liquid form. And then 15 minutes after that I'll go and do an hour fasted cardio. So 30-minute cross trainer, 30-minute incline walk. And-
- CWChris Williamson
What sort of heart rate zone to?
- RTRyan Terry
Again, I don't look at that. No, that, that's... I'm very basic in that thing.
- CWChris Williamson
Okay.
- RTRyan Terry
It's a low intensity, it's nothing too, too strenuous in that way.
- CWChris Williamson
Understood.
- RTRyan Terry
Uh, I'll do 30-minute core work or, um... it's have a 30-minute core work or 30-minute, uh, stretch mobility work after that hour. Um, and then it's 30 minutes, uh, posing. So you do your posing.
- CWChris Williamson
And what time is it now?
- RTRyan Terry
So that is 7:00-ish. Half 7:00.
- CWChris Williamson
Wow. Okay. So it's a very regimented morning.
- RTRyan Terry
Yeah, yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
Okay. 7:00-
- RTRyan Terry
And then half seven. Yeah, so then half 7:00, I'll go in, I'll have (laughs) yeah, massive breakfast, but, uh, to most, most people it's massive, but for me it's, it's nothing but, uh-
- CWChris Williamson
What does that typically consist of?
- RTRyan Terry
So I'll always make sure, uh, my first meal has every source of a proto... so we've got a good, um, source of protein, bioavailable protein. We've got so... like a whey protein or a whey isolate. We've got complex carbs, so oatmeal, um, we've got essential fats through almond butter or almond flakes. We've got blueberries, antioxidants, um ...
- CWChris Williamson
Are you blending all this together or you're eating it separately?
- RTRyan Terry
No, I eat it all together, uh, in... I don't blend it.
- CWChris Williamson
Yeah.
- RTRyan Terry
We, we cook it.
- CWChris Williamson
Yep.
- RTRyan Terry
I put the protein in. I let the... I cook it all first, let it cool down, then put the protein in, not to, to degenerate it too much.
- CWChris Williamson
Yep. Okay.
- RTRyan Terry
Um, and then, yeah, I'll take my multivits, um, so we've got multivits, CLA, uh, Omegas, all that kind of stuff, um, around, yeah, my meal.
- CWChris Williamson
We're now at what? 8:30?
- RTRyan Terry
It'll be about 8:00.
- 41:42 – 46:08
Running a Blood Testing Business
- RTRyan Terry
um, Blood Lab, which is, um, a healthcare clinic company, and then RJT Limited, which is all my sponsors and obligations there. So we address all of those-
- CWChris Williamson
Where can people go if they want to get blood work done in the UK?
- RTRyan Terry
So it's called, uh, The Blood Lab. If you look on Instagram, you'll see. But we have pop-up clinics all over the UK, Scotland, Ireland. So we have about 40 to 50 clinics running through the year. Um, and then we've got a full-time HQ, which I've just, uh, built in Hale, Manchester. So that's open 24/7. Um, we've, we've got over 20 phlebotomists now, we've got four doctors-
- CWChris Williamson
So you have to go, uh, to w-
- RTRyan Terry
To the website, book on, um-
- CWChris Williamson
Yeah. But you have to go in terms of getting a blood draw? It's not like in-
- RTRyan Terry
No, no.
- CWChris Williamson
... the US where you can g- go to LabCorp-
- RTRyan Terry
Yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
... or there are local places that can take the blood and send it to you?
- RTRyan Terry
Yeah. So you can have, uh, you can have it done at your house or we can send people out to you. So we, we've partnered up with R- uh, Randox now, so huge, huge company who actually can come to your door, take your blood work, or you can do it yourself, uh, and send it off. We like-
- CWChris Williamson
That's brave.
- RTRyan Terry
Yeah. (laughs) They'll obviously not do it yourself, but get a phlebotomist to do it, but send it from-
- CWChris Williamson
Right. Okay, okay, okay.
- RTRyan Terry
... from, from, yeah, send it from home.
- CWChris Williamson
Okay, understood.
- RTRyan Terry
Um, (laughs) yeah, you can do it yourself.
- CWChris Williamson
What's the website for that if people want to get blood work in the UK?
- RTRyan Terry
Uh, so yeah, thebloodlab.co.uk, um, go onto there, and like, you'll see we do everything now. So we do ECGs, echocardiograms, um-... we do minor surgeries, TRT, HRT, um-
- CWChris Williamson
Wow, you're like a British-
- RTRyan Terry
... IV.
- CWChris Williamson
... Derek from More Plates, More Dates.
- RTRyan Terry
(laughs) So yeah, we're doing a bit. I'm still learning all this side of it. This is something, as I've got older, I've took more pride in, um, like my blood work and, and that sort of thing.
- CWChris Williamson
Mm-hmm.
- RTRyan Terry
Um, but yeah, it's exciting.
- CWChris Williamson
Talk to me ab- talk to me about ... uh, I mean, if you, you have access to these bloods, what sort of numbers do your test levels and everything else get down to as you're right at the bottom end of prep?
- RTRyan Terry
Yeah, fair enough.
- CWChris Williamson
Just how ugly does that look?
- RTRyan Terry
Well, I tend ... so th- this is the thing as well, I never look at them whilst I'm in prep. So I've got, I've put my, my faith and trust into my doctor, which, uh, I've, I've worked with ... I met him on a Gymshark event in Australia, would you believe? (laughs) And we've, we ca- came back and we started working together. And I just said to him, "Look, I don't need to know that. As long as I'm healthy and I need, know where I need to be, don't ..." Again, you know I said to you about I don't want to concern myself with numbers and analytics is that I wanna just focus on-
- CWChris Williamson
Unless I'm outside of range, and there's something-
- 46:08 – 52:56
Experiences of Fatherhood
- CWChris Williamson
how is that informing the way that you show up as a father? You've mentioned that you've got a young son who is just now gonna be starting to ask questions-
- RTRyan Terry
Yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
... uh, you know, wanting to do things, maybe even looking at hobbies and, you know, going into-
- RTRyan Terry
Daddy gym.
- CWChris Williamson
Yeah.
- RTRyan Terry
Daddy gym every morning. Daddy gym. That's what he says to me.
- CWChris Williamson
(laughs)
- RTRyan Terry
I'm like, "Yes, I am. I'll be back in an hour." But, um-
- CWChris Williamson
Okay.
- RTRyan Terry
(laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
So, what are the values that you hope that you instill into your son? And what are the things as well that you hope that you don't, given, you know-
- RTRyan Terry
Yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
... the 10-year absence that you had of a father figure?
- RTRyan Terry
Yeah. So that is the reason I wanna be the best dad in the world, because of me not having that when I was younger. Um, so that is my number one priority now. People say, "Oh, is that why you, you probably won't win the Olympia? Have you lost that drive?" But I think the opposite. I wanna prove to people, uh, and I wanna prove to my son ... like, he's massive motivation for me. He's my driving force, to be able to provide for him, f- for him to be proud of me. He was, he was at th- the seat 1A. I'm getting actually emotional talking about it. 1A, um, at the Arnold Classic, which meant he was behind the head judge, which every person who loves bodybuilding would want to sit there. I had my son, who was one years old, sitting there. I, I pulled every string I could to have him sat there because I wanted him to see his, his dad and to be proud of, proud of him, me to win it in front of him and stuff. So, he's been a big driving force for me to carry on and to keep getting better for him personally. And with the businesses and all that kind of stuff, one of the business' is in his name. So he doesn't know it. He's the director, and he, it will be his company when he's 18.
- CWChris Williamson
Youngest director in the UK.
- RTRyan Terry
Exactly. So it's called ALTA, which is Alfie Lewis Terry Aesthetics. So for me, these are all things which I never had. And, and I told you about growing up with, with, yeah, we didn't have a lot of money. I, I was ... from the age of 14, I was told I had to work, and, and I was instilled that hard work. And yeah, there was times where I would say we never had the best things. We never went without, but we appreciated money, and we, we-
- CWChris Williamson
Mm-hmm.
- RTRyan Terry
... yeah, we never had the, the big holidays, all that kind of stuff. So, this is something I wanna be able to, to give my son to have the life I didn't have. But at the same time, I've said to my wife, "Please don't let me get carried away just because we've done well and, and we're financially okay now, that he doesn't appreciate the value of, of money."
- CWChris Williamson
So this is the next question that I've got for you, mate.
- RTRyan Terry
Yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
How is it, given the fact that you have managed to be an incredible success in spite, because of the limitations and the challenges that you had to face-
- RTRyan Terry
Yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
... (sighs) you want to pay forward your success to give your kid the chances that you never-
- RTRyan Terry
Kids.
- CWChris Williamson
Kids. That you, the, uh, in the future.
- RTRyan Terry
Yeah, the future one. (laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
Um, the chances that you never had, the opportunities you never had, the quality of life that you never had. And yet, both of us, the things that we went through when we were kids have driven us to do things that, in retrospect, we're incredibly proud of-
- RTRyan Terry
Yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
... and very well may not have achieved had we not-
- RTRyan Terry
That is true.
- 52:56 – 59:30
Insights on Nature Vs Nurture
- CWChris Williamson
stuff.
- RTRyan Terry
Okay.
- CWChris Williamson
So, uh, the number one behavioral ec- uh, behavioral geneticist on the planet, a guy called Robert Plomin ... So he was the fourth most cited psychologist of the 20th century. That's a century-
- RTRyan Terry
Okay.
- CWChris Williamson
... that had people like Sigmund Freud in it, right?
- RTRyan Terry
Yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
So the fourth most cited. He basically has teased apart the differences between nature and nurture more than anybody else in history. Okay?
- RTRyan Terry
Okay.
- CWChris Williamson
Every single pair of twins born in the UK between 1991 and 1994 were enrolled into this study.
- RTRyan Terry
Yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
They've ended up tracking ... I think it's somewhere in the region of about 50,000 pairs of twins.
- RTRyan Terry
Wow.
- CWChris Williamson
Some of these were separated at birth, taken into adoptive or foster families. And when you do that, especially if you've got monozygotic twins, you have one person in terms of their genes but two environments, right?
- RTRyan Terry
Yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
So it allows you to tease apart what are the differences, et cetera, et cetera.
- RTRyan Terry
Okay.
- CWChris Williamson
When you control for everything, including socioeconomic status, household income, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, the school that you send your kid to-
- RTRyan Terry
Yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
... accounts for between 1 and 3% of their academic outcomes.
- RTRyan Terry
Oh, wow. Okay.
- CWChris Williamson
So if you were to send them to the worst school in the region or the best school in the region ... Now, the problem that you have here ... 1 and 3% doesn't sound like much.
- RTRyan Terry
No.
- CWChris Williamson
Another thing to fold in is that the, um, nurture part of nurturing, when you raise your kids-
- RTRyan Terry
Yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
... doesn't come from you and it doesn't come from your wife.
- RTRyan Terry
Okay.
- CWChris Williamson
It comes from the friends that they hang around with.
- RTRyan Terry
Right.
- CWChris Williamson
It comes from the, uh, father of the cool kid that he likes to go and play with. It's like, "My dad's lame 'cause my dad doesn't play guitar, but John's dad lets him play guitar."
- RTRyan Terry
Right. Okay.
- 59:30 – 1:03:14
What’s Next for Ryan?
- CWChris Williamson
so what's next? What can people expect from you next?
- RTRyan Terry
So we've got an exciting year this year. So, like I say, we were talking about this on the, on the cab drive over. Um, I, the last two years, I don't know what it was, where I felt like I'd achieved everything I wanted to achieve other than the Olympia, and I kinda just sat back on my laurels a little bit. I, I'd, I'd financially got into a place I wanted to be, the, the companies were doing, doing okay and stuff, and I kind of, yeah, just lulled a bit for two years, and that's just not me. And the longer I did that for, the more I was getting agitated, the more I was just not happy in myself. So this year, and I said to my wife at Christmas, I said, "Look, I need, I need to go back to who I am," and, and that's keeping busy, keeping progressing in life. And that, it's not necessarily financially or competing, it's just I need to still fulfill and keep doing things, like, I need to keep progressing moving forward.
- CWChris Williamson
Mm-hmm.
- RTRyan Terry
So, I took on some big challenges this year. So again, I've got a huge project which is gonna take me all year to do, but this is, yeah, setting me up for, for the next 10, 20 years. And it's, it's always been a dream of mine which I've wanted to do, and it's just I've never had the right time to do it what with traveling, being in a different country every week and having different obligations and stuff. But I feel like now, with, with the young family and, and wanting to be at home more, it's a perfect time to do this. So that's as much as I'm gonna say on it, but it's, it's gonna be like, like nothing the UK has seen, so it's gonna be phenomenal. And at the same time, we've got the Ryan Terry British Championship. So again, this is a legacy-
- CWChris Williamson
You own your own federation now?
- RTRyan Terry
... own my own show.
- CWChris Williamson
Okay.
- RTRyan Terry
So, it's the, it's the finale. I won this in 2013 and it's the British Championship. So it's basically the best of the best amateurs in the UK all go head-to-head to win the British title and you win a pro card and you go into the pro leagues, which can then take you through-
- CWChris Williamson
Which federation is this?
- RTRyan Terry
This is the IFBB.
- CWChris Williamson
Right.
- RTRyan Terry
Uh, it's, it's affiliated with the IFBB, but it's TUBROWZ. But Gymshark have kindly backed me this year. So I've done it for four years, um, on my own. It's been very difficult, very hard, and it's always just been a, a passion of mine. I never made money out of it. It was just because I love bodybuilding-
- CWChris Williamson
Here comes Ben Francis swinging in last minute-
- RTRyan Terry
Swinging in. That's it.
- CWChris Williamson
... slipstreaming all of the work you've done.
- RTRyan Terry
Exactly. But it's gonna just put bodybuilding, like, UK bodybuilding back on the map. And for me, that's what it's about. I'm not, I'm not bothered about taking money from this at all. I just want there to be a show where everyone goes to and just comes out of it thinking, "Oh, my days." That's what it used to be. 'Cause I grew up around bodybuilding from 14 and I used to go to Southport to the Mr. Universe, used to go to Batley, Brierley Hill, all these dives. But they were just brilliant bodybuilding shows. And the standard of, of athletes, the... You had thousands of people filling village halls and stuff, and it was just brilliant. And we've lost that. It became a money thing, it became, I hate to say, a bit, bit political, a bit (sighs) cliquey.
- CWChris Williamson
Yeah.
- RTRyan Terry
And we just lost that authenticity. So my goal, taking money out of it, is to bring that back and I'm gonna do everything it takes. Some of the things and some of the people who are coming to this show already is just gonna be off the rich turn. We've got the Manchester Arena, which we're abso- we're looking at doing this weekend with the lift event. We've actually hired that out again, um, for, for the bodybuilding show in October. And yeah, I'm so excited for that.
- CWChris Williamson
Unreal. Ryan Terry, ladies and gentlemen. If people want to keep up to date with the stuff that you do, where should they go?
- RTRyan Terry
Yeah, you can follow me on social media, uh, RyanJTerry on Instagram. Um, that's kind of my main platform on YouTube, all that kind of stuff. But yeah, well, thank you for having me. I appreciate it.
- CWChris Williamson
Ryan, I appreciate you. Thank you, mate.
- RTRyan Terry
No worries. Take care.
- CWChris Williamson
(upbeat music) What's happening, people? Thank you very much for tuning in. If you enjoyed that episode, then press here for a selection of the best clips from the podcast over the last few weeks. And don't forget to subscribe. Peace.
Episode duration: 1:03:14
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