The TOP Strength Cast with Steve Tripp

The GRIT Network
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Steve and other individuals at the top of their fields denouncing the limitless b******t surrounding the strength and fitness industry while offering a direct, sensible, and authentic approach to becoming the best version of yourself. 

  1. FEB 26

    Allen Collins from Hollow Labs

    Sat down with Allen from Hollow Labs the morning after he set up a table at The TOP Strength Project to set our members up w his products.    Allen struggled w addiction for much of his life but was able to turn things around in a big way.  Today he’s able to share his story and experiences w others. Some thought-provoking topics in this one.  How to create and maintain momentum, importance of seeking challenges, choosing the ‘hard’ path, building relationships and connection w others, and the importance of reflection. Enjoy!!   Time Stamps: 0:01 Intro0:30 Commercial Gyms compared to private “training facilities”2:30 Allen’s back story5:30 Obligatory Reflection9:00 Front Desk/ PT Sales12:30 Finding Success/ Building Confidence13:40 Importance of putting yourself in challenging situations/ getting uncomfortable15:00 Finding Direction16:31 Importance of Connecting w Others18:14 Intentionally Seeking Challenges21:18 “to me, there is no life without physical training”22:05 “doing hard things changed my life immediately”25:00 Social Media vs Reality28:00 The Power of a Good Woman34:14 You are not your past42:50 Life happens for you, not to you45:40 Understanding that we’re a lot more similar than we are different52:40 How Psychological Asymmetries can affect our choices59:00 What Separates Hollow Labs from other supplement companies1:10:00 Where can you find Allen and Hollow Labs

    1h 12m

  2. 06/11/2025

    David to Daviana

    On this episode of The TOP Strength Cast, Jenny and I sat down w Dave: a Marine, competitive Strongman/ Powerlifter, owner of Strength Discovery, a friend to me and supporter of everything TOP Strength Project. Over the last year, Dave has been transitioning into his female form: Daviana. It’s no secret that the entire transgender movement is one of the most divisive topics in today’s culture and political space. Just like anyone else, I have my own opinions and thoughts as to why that is. I was excited when Daviana asked to come on the podcast and communicate his story, experiences, and perspectives along his journey presenting as a female. I encourage all of you to listen. I really enjoyed this conversation. Thanks guys! Strength Discovery/Daviana⁠ ⁠Top Strength Project ⁠ ⁠Steve Tripp Show Notes 0:15 Introducing Daviana/ Dave 1:28 From the top 2:40 How Jenny lost her finger 7:55 “En Vogue” 9:40 Starting to go into public 12:00 Transitioning and the politization of it 15:50 The first post 16:40 “you’re still a man” 20:00 Conflating transgenderism w homosexuality 24:50 Criticisms of DEI 28:02 Transgender Health/ Gender Affirming Care 29:30 Covid 36:20 Dave’s experience in the Marine’s 37:40 Impact of technology on culture/ “reality” 41:30 Bathrooms 47:40 “How is it with your Daughter?” 58:30 Voice Therapy 1:05:00 Other Trans-Related-Issues 1:20:45 Dave or Daviana? 1:23:00 Is Dave cutting his d*ck off?! 1:28:35 How his divorce has impacted him as a parent 1:31:00 “is he less of a dick?” 1:35:00 How do you deal with bullying 1:41:30 Dave’s relationship with his siblings since transitioning 1:45:30 What’s next for you 1:49:15 How do you feel on exogenous estrogen vs testosterone 1:54:20 Bottom Surgery 1:56:30 Male vs Female sexual experience 1:59:29 Relationship dynamics 2:11:15 Trysexual 2:14:00 More thoughts on polarization

    2h 41m

  3. 01/30/2025

    Natty, Strong, Shredded, Pick Two With Chandler Parsons

    Chandler and I connected first on IG after coming across a post of his that went viral: “Strong, Shredded, or Natty? Pick two.” We ended up exchanging some DM’s and I asked him on a podcast date; so here it is. Turns out he and I had a ton in common. Competitive powerlifter/ strength athlete, coach, and owner of @BackyardBarbell out in San Jose, California. Chandler and I share a lot of perspectives. We went for close to 3 hours and chose to cut it there because we could have went for another three. Looking forward to connecting w Chandler in the near future. Chandler Parsons Top Strength Project  Steve Tripp 0:00 Our first date… 0:12 “Natty, Strong, Shredded, Pick 2” 0:50 Pros and Cons of Social Media 2:30 Balls to Brain Ratio 4:10 Meritocracy, you had to earn it 5:00 The control of information 5:50 “Trauma” and strength sports 7:45 “the problem with tattoos becoming popular is that people who should have never gotten tattooed are getting tattooed…” 9:50 importance of voluntary suffering and community 15:50 Experience w Therapy 17:00 Strength Sports as a Vehicle to Create Direction and Focus 25:50 Training is Honest 27:00 “everything I do, I’m going to do it all the way…” 31:10 King of the Clown Show 34:30 Choosing to Learn from Mistakes and Failures 39:00 Happiness is found in the journey, not the destination 40:50 “a mistake is a mistake only if you didn’t learn anything from it…” 42:40 Not Pitting Time Frames on Reaching Goals 49:25 Aggressive Patience 50:20 “if you could wake up with a 1,000 pound squat, would you?” 53:00 Totaling over 2,000 55:00 PED’s 1:08:00 Equipment Zealots 1:20:00 Backyard Barbell 1:24:00 TOP Strength 1:29:00 How I got involved in Strength Sports 1:33:30 Ironbuild Games 1:34:00 The importance of being a part of something bigger than ourselves… 1:38:20 Focusing providing the best possible service over profits 1:44:00 Jenny and our Group Program 1:56:00 Strongman Circuit 2:04:00 Powerlifting to Strongman 2:11:40 Tom Haviland/ Josh Bryant 2:16:30 … the greatest limitation is believing you have them.” 2:18:00 Ocean State Crossfit 2:21:00 Using Variations in training to address chronic overuse injuries 2:36:00 Where to find Chandler and Backyard Barbell.

    2h 39m

  4. 10/21/2024

    The story behind MST with Shane Jerman

    On this episode of The TOPStrenghCast, I got to sit down with my coach and the man behind @MSTsystems, Shane Jerman. After putting on a great shoulder stab (stability) seminar @thetopstrengthproject, we got on the mic and spoke about what was covered in the seminar, the importance of and how to apply context when building programs for different athletes, rehab, movement prep, and Shane’s personal journey first joining a gym to improve his kickboxing before being introduced to strongman. He immediately became enamored by all things strongman, learning everything he could while connecting with the other top athletes in Europe. This eventually led to the start of MST, and the rest is history. Similar to the seminar, there is a ton of valuable take away concepts and lessons in this episode; so, ENJOY! Thanks guys. Shane Jerman Top Strength Project  Steve Tripp 0:00 Intro 0:40 Overhead/ Circus DB Seminar 2:40 Shoulder STAB (Stability) 8:12 “When I’m done coaching, I’d like to leave some sort of mark on the sport…” 9:00 Approaching Accessories in Training for Strength Athletes 12:02 Training Age/ Impacts on Exercise Selection 14:00 Overuse Injuries/ Understanding Neurological Impacts 20:00 Scalable Rehab: Using Load to Make Postural/ Positional Adaptations Stick 24:30 “Gas Station Ready” (Movement Prep/ Warm-Ups) 30:30 Introduction to Tri-Phasic 32:50 Aspects of the Neurological System 42:45 “You’ve almost got to earn your sends.” 43:12 “Did you get older, or did you get better? 44:00 “I think Lucy’s World’s Strongest Woman” 47:34 “I didn’t want to complete in strongman coz I felt like I was too good for it” 53:30 “Can’t eat my means bro so I’m off” 56:00 Graham Hicks “…let’s bring him down and do some YOKE.” 58:20 James Ward 1:00:47 Squats in Strongman 1:03:56 Coaching 1:05:19 Andrew Triana 1:07:46 MST 1:12:15 MST goes into the open 1:14:33 Imposter Syndrome 1:16:16 I’m Super Competitive 1:18:30 “…. something’s brewing… I’m bored” 1:21:10 When to Send 1:22:14 “That’s how it works, mate” 1:24:15 Training Helps 1:27:42 What’s Next? 1:34:20 Closing/ MST Systems App

    1h 42m

  5. 10/17/2024

    Beyond 5th Set with Swede Burns

    On this episode with the Swede and Sin, we talk about Swede’s first exposure to weight training, body building, and eventually the creation of 5 th Set. It didn’t take long for the conversation to shift more towards mindset, culture, impacts of media and social media, and how Swede and Sin both leverage their values while navigating through life experiences. I really enjoyed this conversation. Hope you all enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed having it. Thanks guys! Swede Top Strength Project  Steve Tripp 0:00 Intro and Swede’s Origins 1:00 Hulk Hogan Weight Set 1:30 10 Sets of 10… of Everything 6:00 Swede Meet’s Jim Davis 9:15 Experimenting w Bench Shirts 9:50 “It’s Called Raw” 11:20 Miss Jordan 14:00 Finding Value in our Failures 19:50 “Being an Active Participant Rather Than a Victim” 21:30 Starts Coaching 24:00 The Battle w Brian Page 28:45 “Turns out I hate losing much more than I love winning…” 32:00 The type that responds to positive reinforcement or negative reinforcement 39:45 What got Sin started 45:00 Writing 5 th Set 45:45 Prison is the only place where you have legitimate control for experiments on human beings” 46:20 Training through Covid 47:55 Assimilating back into society after “time away” 49:49 “What the F**K is an iPod?!” 53:05 “You can draw a through line from that to everything good” 59:19 “a degree of difference over a lifetime is an entirely different end game” 1:03:00 Are you playing an active role in your life or are you a victim 1:04:24 Voluntary Suffering/ Mile Marker Goals 1:09:30 Short Term Goals/ Long Term Goals 1:13:50 “the universe always provided me with what I needed….. not what I want” 1:20:00 Developing Values 1:22:30 Repentance 1:25:30 the line between good an evil goes directly through the middle of every man’s heart 1:30:00 Pride 1:34:25 Passion 1:40:35 The Coddling of the American Mind 1:44:00 Polarized Society 2:01:00 Closing

    2h 6m

  6. 10/07/2024

    Value in Labor With Eric Dawson

    This episode I had the opportunity to talk with Eric Dawson: Owner of Titan Barbell, mentor, coach, husband, father, and role model to many. Eric is extremely well spoken and I really enjoyed this conversation. As it turns out, he and I share very similar backgrounds: both high-school and college athletes, grew up working multiple trade/ labor jobs, and both ended up training in a corporate gym setting not because it was something we necessarily planned to do, but needed where our previous jobs were no longer feasible. After spending the first half an hour discussing that process, we talk about getting involved in Strength Sports, again, both at 27. In Eric’s case, getting involved in competing is what led to him starting Titan out of his garage and eventually expanding to their current location in Stoneham. Help Create a Positive Environment for Each other Help Create the Space that You Would Want to Lift In Clean Up After Yourself How we came to opening our own private training facilities and eventually expanding into full-service fitness centers. Titan Barbell Eric Dawson Top Strength Project  Steve Tripp Eric Dawson Episode Notes 0:00 Introduction and Eric’s Athletic Background 3:30 Introduction to Strength Training and Working Labor Jobs 4:30 Value in Labor 6:14 “Nothing that I do in a physical day (today) is going to match what I did growing up…” 8:00 Training in the Heat vs Cold 8:48 Eric’s “Hot” Pre-Workout (secrets) 9:50 Football and College 11:40 The Original Manhattan Uber Eats 14:30 Getting Started in Coaching/ Personal Training 19:55 “Strength Training Should Not be Used to Substitute your Mental Health” 23:00 Competing in Strength Sports 23:45 How Eric and I Built our Training Businesses: Lifting Heavy Weights 26:00 From Bally’s to TPS 30:00 The Start of Titan Barbell 43:00 Our Shared Vision 45:20 Seeing the Vision Come to Life 48:20 “The Strongest People, Don’t Care Where They Lift” 52:50 Cultivating Culture and Community 58:00 “There’s Nothing Special About My Weights” 1:02:30 Running Competitions 1:04:00 What’s Next for Titan and for Eric as an Athlete 1:07:00 New England Strength Expo 1:12:55 Competing in Strength Sport as Gym Owners 1:14:40 Patience 1:17:00 Changes in Mindset and Training as You Progress as an Athlete 1:23:00 Wood Carving Analogy 1:27:05 Closing

    1h 33m

  7. 09/23/2024

    Finding Purpose After Competition with Ken of Cerberus

    On this episode, I have my second sit down with Ken of Cerberus Strength. I saw Ken share a post on his social media that he was struggling with his identity. He competed at a high level in strongman for many years. It was a huge part of his life. Eventually, as other aspects of life came into the fray, coupled with injuries that had accumulated from pushing so hard for so long, the fire that once motivated him to train and compete wasn’t there anymore. He and I talk about the valuable lessons we’ve learned over the years of burning the candle at both ends, and sometimes in the middle. The power of reflection, community, purpose, and basically realizing that there’s more to life than just being an athlete. There are also many other ways we can still contribute to the strength community through other endeavors. Thanks for listening, and Enjoy! 0:47 old men getting back into competitive strongman 2:00 Ken as a strongman 4:30 Weight Class Athletes 6:20 “105kg is the most competitive class in strongman…” 6:50 Strongman’s evolution as a sport 8:55 USS Nationals 2029/ Running shows 18:30 The 2020 Arnold and Covid 19:50 Ken’s Last Show 20:30 Pain and Injury 23:20 Stepping Away from Strongman and into Other Things 27:00 Grieving Process 34:10 The Cow and the Buffalo 35:55 Bravery and Courage 36:45 Trauma 39:40 Why Did you Start Strongman? 47:40 Age and Responsibility 49:15 Training w a Home Set up vs at a Gym 51:35 Developing Systems and Procedures 57:45 Get out of Debt w Strippcam… 1:02:20 Feeling “Lazy” 1:07:50 Finding Fulfillment in “Unenjoyable” or Obligatory Tasks through Effort 1:13:30 Visualization Practices 1:18:45 Managing Stress and Angst When Competing 1:24:20 How a Poor Workout Can Ruin the Rest of Your Day 1:26:20 Recent Adjustments to Training Approach 1:29:45 Understanding Patience 1:39:00 Unintentional Hypocrisy 1:40:20 Ken’s Slight Caffeine Dependency 1:49:00 Ken’s Accountability Post 1:57:00 The Need for Human Interaction 2:01:45 Closing

    2h 3m

  8. 07/02/2024

    Comfort Kills Growth With Trevor Jaffe

    In this episode I sit down w Trevor Jaffe: competitive strength athlete in strongman and powerlifting with a primary focus in powerlifting. As a coach, Trevor has coached over 29 all-time world records through 8 different athletes and currently holds the masters ATWR total in the 181 class, affectionately known as “the deadlift whisperer.” The day before recording this episode, Trevor put on a great seminar at The TOP Strength Project. I personally saw it as an extremely valuable experience being able to take a ton of valuable strategies that I was able to implement right away. He is an outstanding couch and invaluable resource to anyone in the pursuit of strength. We talk about our own journeys and experience through strength, working with some of the biggest names in the industry, mindset, injuries, training natural vs enhanced, humility, cold exposure…. And dozens of other topics. GREAT eposide. I hope you guys enjoy listening as much as I enjoyed putting it together. Thanks guys! Trevor Jaffe Top Strength Project  Steve Tripp Trevor Jaffe Show Notes 00:50 Westside Barbell Experience 01:40 Trevor’s Seminar at The TOP Strength Project 02:20 Accumobility Seminar/ Ski Crash 04:30 Old Man Injuries 08:10 Learning as a Coach 13:50 FRONT SQUATS!!! 15:30 Charlie P 17:27 Changing Training Strategies Based on Training Age/ Ability 19:24 24-32 Rule 21:50 Strength Work is Skill Work 23:15 Discipline While Peaking for a Meet 24:45 How I First Became Interested In Powerlifting 27:15 321 Peak 28:10 Neurological Fatigue vs Tissue Fatigue 28:20 Enhanced Athletes Recovery vs Natural 35:48 Trevor’s “Origin Story” 36:00 WTF Happened to Pro Wrestling?! 47:00 Lessons in Humility 51:30 Competing Against Time 53:50 Aggressive Patience 54:15 Strength Athlete Year Round 55:50 Do We Get “Stronger” When We Hit a PR? 57:20 Paying Yourself First 1:01:45 “The Difference Maker isn’t Age, It’s Responsibility” 1:02:50 Tim Ferris’s “Four Hour Work Week” 1:04:40 Cold Exposure 1:07:45 Anabolic Window/ Static Stretching 1:11:20 Working w Hypermobility 1:12:30 The Majority of the Process is Found in the Gray Area 1:14:29 Think About One Thing At a Time 1:15:05 “Sell Them What They Want But Give Them What They Need” 1:19:05 Psychological Associations w Somatotypes? 1:23:30 Comfort Kills Growth 1:26:40 Collaborations with Ocean State Crossfit 1:29:45 Interference Effect Myth 1:33:00 The Ceiling of Training Only Sagittal Plane 1:34:00 Closing

    1h 40m
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Steve and other individuals at the top of their fields denouncing the limitless b******t surrounding the strength and fitness industry while offering a direct, sensible, and authentic approach to becoming the best version of yourself. 

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