The Art of Manliness - #172： Scottish Highland Games & Training for Performance

00:00:00.000 brad mckay here and welcome to another edition of the art of manliness podcast so you've probably

00:00:19.340 seen on tv or on the internet the highland games probably didn't know they were called the highland

00:00:23.320 games but you've seen the events in the highland games it's the guys who are wearing the kilts

00:00:27.640 they're throwing the giant telephone pole looking thing they're throwing hammers over their head

00:00:31.580 they're throwing big burlap sags over the head with a pitchfork just a really interesting strength

00:00:36.200 sport out there it's one of those fringe strength sports along the lines of strongman or power

00:00:39.820 lifting it's really fascinating i've always wanted to get involved with it somehow get in touch with

00:00:43.700 my scottish ancestry anyways today on the podcast i have a world champion highland games competitor

00:00:49.440 his name is matt vincent and today on the podcast we discuss the highland games what's involved with

00:00:53.860 them how you can get started if you want to try throwing a caber while wearing a kilt the type

00:00:58.920 of training you need to do strength training to get ready and prepared for highland games competition

00:01:03.920 and we also talk about his programming that he's created called the hate and we'll talk about why

00:01:09.040 he calls it the hate as well in a bit really fascinating podcast so without further ado matt vincent

00:01:14.120 highland and highland games

00:01:44.120 all right matt vincent welcome to the show yeah man stoked to be here really really been looking

00:01:50.300 forward to this one right i've been following you on instagram uh you have an entertaining instagram

00:01:54.840 feed but also some of your work in the other other places online so you are a highland games

00:02:01.020 competitor so not a champion and before we get into talking about what highland games are because i

00:02:06.280 think very few people are they've probably seen it they don't know it's called highland games

00:02:11.180 yeah yeah that's kind of pretty standard right right let's talk about your athletic background

00:02:16.860 first how did you get to be a guy who throws around cabers uh around the world so like anybody

00:02:24.100 you know through high school and you know growing up basically playing everything i could

00:02:27.540 and uh to some i guess extent of uh being decent at a lot of things but not very good at any of them

00:02:34.520 um so you know through high school i ended up playing football and doing track and having some

00:02:41.040 more success actually as a shop putter and so that's what brought me to college on a track and field

00:02:46.260 scholarship to uh lsu down here in louisiana and then post college um i gave a run at owning a bicycle

00:02:55.100 shop and uh that didn't work so well and so after doing that got into a normal job in the oil and gas

00:03:03.180 industry and started getting back in the gym and it seemed like the the thing i wanted to do was a

00:03:08.260 was strength training still so i did a couple years of strongman and a couple years of powerlifting and

00:03:13.620 uh got a chance to go compete in a highland games uh you know as a thrower like in college you you

00:03:19.360 kind of always know about the highland games you know it exists and it's one of those things it's

00:03:23.240 like well how do you ever do that kind of same as strongman is but now with youtube and the internet

00:03:28.400 it's a hell of a lot more accessible and so went and did a game and had a great time and then

00:03:35.560 got a hold of some people and located some more games and traveled and did that for i guess about

00:03:41.140 a year and a half as an amateur and then uh got invited because i won an amateur world championship

00:03:49.120 to the professional world championship in 2011 and i took second place at that and i've been

00:03:54.140 doing it ever since fantastic so i mean how did that first invite happen it was just like hey you

00:03:59.100 want to go do this i mean like it's so it's such a weird thing to like get into i think so how did it

00:04:05.280 come up where someone's like let's you should do this so like any of the the fringe uh strength sports

00:04:13.180 you know strongman powerlifting there's there's competitions all over i mean there's a highland game

00:04:17.640 usually every weekend and they have a they have an amateur class and they have a novice class and novice

00:04:22.360 i mean basically just like anything else you just sign up and go and uh you know somebody who i was

00:04:29.280 strength training with at the time said you know they have a highland game coming up about an hour

00:04:32.740 from here and i was like oh no kidding we should uh we should look into going to do that and uh it was

00:04:38.400 we ordered kilts and went and had a good time all right so let's talk about the specific highland games

00:04:43.360 because i think people are familiar with caber tossing so can you give us like a brief background of

00:04:48.420 what the highland games are and like the specific events of them sure sure so we we do there's eight

00:04:54.920 traditional events and in the states we do nine um so you have two two stones that you throw exactly

00:05:02.100 like the shot put one of them is a heavy stone and one of them is a light stone and uh the heavy stone

00:05:07.500 is anywhere from about 22 to 28 pounds and you throw it just standing just like a shot put throw but you

00:05:13.560 know you don't uh you don't get an approach um and it's just measured for distance uh then we also

00:05:20.060 throw uh the lighter stone which is 16 pounds and it can go up to 18 i mean they're stones so they're

00:05:26.640 not perfect um and you get a full approach like that so it's exactly the same rules as throwing the

00:05:32.240 olympic shot put and then we throw two weights for distance and these are a little different and don't

00:05:37.240 look like anything else so they're basically a steel block on the end of a chain with a ring

00:05:41.280 and you throw it with one arm and uh they weigh 28 pounds for the light one and uh 56 pounds for

00:05:48.160 the heavy and you spin twice and throw it as far as you can uh then we have another distance of it

00:05:53.900 where we throw the hammer which is a steel or lead ball on the end of a stick and um usually like a

00:06:01.140 rattan handle handle or something like that and it's 22 and 16 pounds again and you kind of anchor

00:06:06.840 yourself into the ground with some with boots that have a like a blade on the front of it

00:06:12.660 so uh when this thing is spinning around your head it doesn't pick you up and throw you on the ground

00:06:17.480 right um we do the caper of course is the one everyone knows it looks like the telephone pole

00:06:23.160 we also throw a 56 pound weight up over a bar for height with one hand and then we um the one that

00:06:30.460 kind of rotates in and out is called the sheaf and it is a 22 pound bag or a 20 pound bag we throw with

00:06:36.260 a pitchfork for height all right so yeah so these these so you talk about you wear kilts when you do

00:06:42.840 this so these came from scotland do you have any idea like how the scots invented this stuff like why

00:06:49.640 did they come up with like i'm gonna throw a giant pole or i'm gonna take a a big giant burlap bag and

00:06:55.820 like hoist it over with a pitchfork what's going on there do you have any idea about the history of

00:06:59.840 highland games yeah so the history of the highland games the way it kind of really started was you

00:07:04.920 know it was a test between the clans i'm sure which developed just from you know farmers basically

00:07:11.120 coming up with you know being bored and not having nearly the distractions that we do now uh you know

00:07:17.140 i bet i can throw this rock further than you and so this continued to grow as men team uh tend to find

00:07:24.540 challenges and things like that to do against each other but they're similar either you know

00:07:29.680 type of battle things like throwing rocks to defend yourself or you know the weights actually

00:07:35.340 were um the old 56 and old 28 you know these are all part stone weights right so stone is 14 pounds

00:07:42.840 so two stones is 28 and then uh like four stones is 56 and so these were used as counterbalances at the

00:07:50.240 feed market okay and so as things moved on i'm sure someone took one and said i think i can throw it

00:07:57.060 further than you or higher but that's what the original ones were actually looked like and uh

00:08:02.320 they were just counterbalances for the side the other side of the scale and then the caber the caber

00:08:08.020 has a lot of i think it was used for this but it was uh you know crossing a stream uh you would you know

00:08:16.600 flip it so that it would land one end and then fall the other side directly across the stream and you

00:08:21.100 could get across i still don't see how that would be the most efficient way to do it well it's one

00:08:26.580 way to do it but it's definitely one way to do it um so that's that's the gist of it and then you

00:08:32.360 know the hammer was you know was actually like a sledgehammer and then i'm sure it developed into

00:08:38.060 i think i can do this better than you yeah all right so boredom probably was the the impetus

00:08:42.900 and you know drunk guys i'm sure talking a little noise to each other decided to put it to the test

00:08:48.800 right so is there an event that you specialize in particularly i guess i'm guessing the the

00:08:53.480 throwing ones the yeah um for me i i really like throwing the stones that's probably been the event

00:09:00.340 that i've been the best at over the last couple years as well as uh the weights for distance

00:09:05.500 those have been those have been i guess my most consistently top ranking events right is there

00:09:11.720 one in particular like that's like really hard to do you're just like man that sucks i'm really 0.88

00:09:15.140 bad at the hammers you know and look it's relatively bad right i've been chasing the

00:09:19.460 same guy in the number one or number two spot in the world for the last couple years is that mcdaniel

00:09:24.120 and he yeah that's mckim yeah yeah daniel mckim daniel yeah he's very good at the hammers he's got

00:09:29.500 world records in both of them and so you know i'll throw well and throw a pr and then lose by 15 feet

00:09:35.940 so i've really spent a lot of time over the last couple years trying to improve that event and um

00:09:44.340 it's been a relatively futile attempt right i haven't got much better at it but you gotta keep

00:09:49.960 you gotta keep striving what are you gonna do just quit that doesn't make any sense and i think like

00:09:55.380 uh the mountain from game of thrones does this sort of stuff as well you've competed against him

00:09:59.820 yeah he um he's done a little bit of stuff right so he's done the weight over bar which is

00:10:05.960 of all the ones with any you know like uh i guess if you're just going to be a brute and come out and

00:10:13.080 give it a go that one's your best bet of being able to figure out not to mention that guy throws

00:10:17.580 kegs for height so right he has a relative of the move plus people in iceland seem to know how to move

00:10:23.520 heavy stuff and so he's done a couple of those with us and i think actually has the world record

00:10:29.460 for standing weight over bar not technically as a highland game athlete weight over bar but has

00:10:36.280 thrown it higher than anyone else in history gotcha so i'm curious to like how i've always been like

00:10:42.200 i've wanted like i this is something i want to do like i'm like i want to try that out how does someone

00:10:47.160 want to like if they want to get started with highland games how do they do it like what's what are

00:10:51.540 your what's your advice for someone who wants to start throwing cabers and hammers around

00:10:54.740 my my actual advice is to find a local game next to you and go in and compete as a novice

00:11:01.980 even if you're going to be super friendly even if you've never touched any of it okay the people

00:11:06.540 that's what novice is for right you you're you're brand new to this and i always recommend that to

00:11:12.740 people i mean if you're look if you're moderately fit and you're working out and you're athletic yeah

00:11:17.120 just go go give it a shot and see if it's any fun before you start investing a bunch of time and

00:11:22.040 energy into you know accumulating you know accumulating some implements and starting to

00:11:26.520 think about training for it go see if you actually like it first or if you like the environment

00:11:31.020 and then from there you'll actually meet some people and perhaps find a training group

00:11:36.080 it's really it's really the easiest way to go about it uh there are some training groups and uh you

00:11:41.480 know heavy events people or groups on facebook that are pretty easy to find just with a group search

00:11:46.780 i think and uh that gives a lot of direction too gotcha so what is your uh so you've written a

00:11:53.500 lot of books you've written some books on strength training um you've got content online about strength

00:11:57.880 training i'm curious what does your strength training program look when you are training when

00:12:04.240 you're also competing in highland games like has it has it does it change any from like when you were

00:12:08.920 like a college athlete or is it pretty much the same it's it's very very similar to when i was a

00:12:15.680 collegiate athlete um you know and by what i mean by the same of that is i'm really not that concerned

00:12:21.880 with say my gym prs or maxes or my power lifting total like i'm a performance athlete and so

00:12:29.680 since you know the amount of weight on the bar doesn't do me a lot of good in a contest because 0.50

00:12:36.440 we're not lifting bars i'm trying not to focus so much on it other than just using as an indicator

00:12:42.080 of progress in the gym so i can't just get as absolutely strong as possible i can do that but

00:12:48.020 i'm also going to gain a bunch of weight and lose some mobility and be slower but i need to be quick

00:12:52.540 and i need to be flexible and i need to be strong and so i've i've kept that focus and then i've taken

00:12:59.340 some of the stuff i learned over the years of power lifting and strongman that were really effective

00:13:03.260 for getting stronger and i added those to the program that i didn't do in college like we really

00:13:08.620 didn't deadlift much in college we did a lot of olympic lifts but dead lifting really wasn't

00:13:13.820 uh shoot i probably i don't think i honestly deadlifted till after college and i think it's

00:13:19.620 a very valuable lift i think i think you'd be crazy not to have it in your program right so i mean you

00:13:24.440 said like you need quickness for the highland games and what what i mean it seems like it's what

00:13:28.680 what aspect is quickness or athleticism come into the like throwing some a sheaf over your your head

00:13:34.880 so the highland games is really all about application of force and power

00:13:39.960 and what i mean by that is you know accelerating mass so you look at someone who say has a you

00:13:46.520 know a 700 pound squat and if that person's going to squat and kind of grind it out and take two

00:13:52.160 seconds on the way up right like a big hydraulic slow strong lift that doesn't translate very well

00:13:57.860 to me throwing something that weighs 16 pounds true i need to be able to accelerate that object

00:14:03.800 in as short amount of time as possible so i need horsepower and then i've also got to be able

00:14:08.980 to be quick enough to use the momentum of me moving my body and spinning or rotating

00:14:13.340 so that i can apply force for a longer time whereas like you know if you're going to throw a punch you're

00:14:19.980 not just going to have your shoulder square to the object you're looking at and then throw a six

00:14:23.740 inch jab you want to turn your you know turn your shoulders away from it and push the hips first and 1.00

00:14:29.220 then really throw a haymaker that makes sense you need that that speed to apply that force instead

00:14:35.800 of just you know a 600 pound bench press right right so i mean so how do you balance with your

00:14:42.140 programming um how do you balance athleticism with getting big and strong because i'm sure getting

00:14:48.500 big and strong helps in throwing more weight um so but there's there's a fine line or you said like

00:14:53.320 you can just focus on getting big and stronger and get fat um but that could be a detriment or just

00:14:58.880 bigger just bigger right or mass a lot of times always you know can can lead to some impingement

00:15:03.700 movement and things like that that are going to keep you from hitting positions that would be better

00:15:07.820 so how do you know what i do okay i keep um i i keep conditioning in my program i like being able

00:15:13.740 to move um i also like uh doing box jumps and things like that where i'm going to do some

00:15:22.920 mobility i'm going to do some sprints i'm going to do some bounding uh and make sure that i'm still

00:15:27.840 moving my body i think it's really important as an athlete that you knowing how to manipulate your

00:15:33.320 own body weight is kind of key you know how to how to adjust yourself in space and move quickly

00:15:39.280 and so i do speed work as well as the olympic lifts to keep moving weight violently and fast in one of

00:15:47.500 your books you talk about your programming it's a five-week program that can be used by you know any

00:15:52.560 athlete really and it's called um the hate the hate but it's you spell it you spell it h with roman

00:16:00.140 numeral eight and i'll be honest like i finally figured this out not too long ago for the longest

00:16:05.040 time i was because you have a brand right it's called the hate as right i always thought it was

00:16:09.160 like heavy i was like oh he's like spelling heavy different like with the then i was like oh no hate

00:16:13.900 okay that makes sense so this started my brother and i actually kind of talking about it it was always

00:16:19.760 something we looked at athletes right and athletes that had that different drive than than your normal

00:16:26.640 people those guys that were willing to get up and do the work and push themselves harder and

00:16:30.780 i mean look man if i if i was really happy i would just lay on the couch full of video games

00:16:35.780 right just be content and that would be great but for some reason my brain just isn't going to allow it

00:16:41.240 so i'm going to get up and do what i can to make myself better go train by myself in the garage or

00:16:46.560 you know get up when it's cold and do those necessary things they're not always the most fun

00:16:52.040 but it's you know for the greater good and so my program the hate was really basically is a condensed

00:16:58.600 version of my program the long program uh with strength lab or training lab that here's five weeks

00:17:07.400 quick rotation and just allows you to you don't want to think about a whole lot or reprogram every

00:17:14.580 five weeks it was my answer to my version of five three one basically okay and you know this is going

00:17:21.780 to build strength and power you're still going to get the olympic lifts you're still going to do some

00:17:25.300 speed work and you're still going to work on max strength so how does it differ from like say five three

00:17:31.420 one five three one doesn't focus on any olympic lifts and with a three-day program uh my hate day three

00:17:37.900 is olympic lifting you're going to snatch and clean gotcha and it seems like uh your your approach is

00:17:44.420 also like sub maximal load yes which is very five three one right that's that's one of jim's big

00:17:50.700 principles jim's been a huge influence and been a really good friend for the last five or six years

00:17:55.600 and you know i had a weird spot right in the program because i knew there were a lot of similarities

00:18:01.060 to it and at the end of the day i mean it ain't broke i'm not going to rewrite it just so that

00:18:07.060 i can say this is original right right so can you for our listeners who aren't familiar with it like

00:18:11.580 what is sub maximal loading and like what's the benefit of doing it for me and what i believe

00:18:17.280 sub maximal training is right is you're gonna use less weight and do more reps and not quite like a

00:18:23.400 bodybuilding style i'm not talking about doing sets of 15 or 20 to really get the pump you know i'm

00:18:28.740 doing stuff at you know 75 85 and 95 percent weight i'm very very rarely if ever going to take

00:18:35.440 anything to a max single i really save that for the platform i may as well if i'm going to risk

00:18:40.280 getting hurt with a maximal weight i may as well do it and earn you know do it on the platform while

00:18:44.340 i'm competing so it takes a lot of ego out of training especially me training alone in my garage i'm

00:18:51.160 not missing any lifts in training and not missing lifts for me is the accumulation of work that's going

00:18:58.160 to make you stronger i feel like singles and heavy singles are more of a test than they are an actual

00:19:02.300 strength building exercise and so the sub maximal aspect of that is what i do to build my program

00:19:09.600 is i take you know my uh my true max and then i multiply that by 90 and i treat that as my training

00:19:17.900 max and then i build all of my program off of that number and what that allows me to do is like i said

00:19:25.060 never miss a rep during training because man life gets in the way i'm you know i'm not

00:19:28.700 19 years old or 20 and i'm not in college to where i'm just uh you know eating and sleeping and going

00:19:36.740 to track practice i've got other things and responsibilities in my life and not every day

00:19:40.800 is great and so what this does is just allows me to kind of auto regulate a little bit more and say

00:19:46.380 i can get the work done and if things feel great on the last set i can push a rep max

00:19:51.380 but the key is that accumulation of work with the lighter weight instead of you know putting

00:19:58.480 something on the bar and saying oh shit you know i think i can go for a pr and add you know add 15 0.83

00:20:05.340 pounds and risk you know the injury which you know a max a max weight is going to be a higher risk of 0.98

00:20:10.700 injury for an athlete than than a lower weight right and so doing that is going to allow you to

00:20:18.520 you know be a little bit smarter in training and think which one actually makes more progress

00:20:23.440 should i go for that pr so that i can be excited that i put more weight on the bar or do i hit what

00:20:30.520 i was able to hit for three now for five right right um so who's the uh the hate for is like for anyone

00:20:37.820 like like even if someone doesn't compete myself yeah um the hate you know it's it's kind of a

00:20:45.760 personal mantra right so it's a little bit of self-motivation through self-loathing and it's

00:20:50.960 just not listening to your own uh your own brain trying to get in your own way of you know i'm tired or

00:20:58.520 you know i i you know i i need to rest or i deserve this or this and that and the truth is you don't

00:21:06.320 you know what you should do is work and do your job every day and if that thing you care about is

00:21:10.920 training get in and do the work and some days aren't going to be great and some days are

00:21:14.740 but you've got to do all of it to make the good days good right right so i mean this program for me

00:21:21.520 is any athlete looking to perform better okay you're doing a bodybuilding routine this probably isn't for

00:21:27.300 you all right so if you're concerned about six-pack abs and being chiseled no clue what that's about

00:21:34.200 and what that's about anyway all that happens in the kitchen anyway it has nothing to do with

00:21:38.860 your gym time right exactly that it's that's something i've learned uh i think it takes a

00:21:44.360 long time for you to like finally learn that it's like okay just diet well yeah i wish that i could

00:21:48.740 just say like man if i just get on the treadmill a little bit more right these exercises i'll get

00:21:53.160 these abs i mean it's amazing to me that the logic of you know if i want my biceps bigger right

00:21:58.520 i can do you know say curls and do a bunch of sets of curls say do a couple you know do a hundred reps

00:22:05.940 a day of curls of some sort and my biceps will get bigger however people believe that if they want

00:22:11.980 their stomachs to shrink they should do the exact same thing with their abs muscles don't react that 0.93

00:22:18.040 they grow right and so i mean what i mean that's kind of like that's an interesting question with

00:22:25.660 your uh the the competition that you do what how does your diet look so i'm sure it's not looking

00:22:32.200 like a bodybuilder's diet i'm sure you're eating for performance correct and you know and it's look

00:22:38.220 vanity plays itself into my head plenty and i don't want to be totally gross but at the same time i know

00:22:45.800 that i compete my best when i'm between 270 and 280 pounds and so whatever i can do to stay in that

00:22:52.120 once i get below that i really start feeling weak and i you know your leverages all change on the

00:22:57.800 events you know how far i have to lean or how hard i have to sprint stuff like that so in that window

00:23:03.440 is really where i perform my best and so i keep my diet to keep me in that range i just keep trying

00:23:08.700 to lose fat but stay there gotcha and what i've found that works you know the best for me and you

00:23:15.060 know not just works the best for me but you know it's conducive to the life i live right i do travel

00:23:21.660 quite a bit and i like enjoying myself man i mean abs are cool and all but i wouldn't skip some

00:23:26.320 delicious dinners with my wife to have abs you know so i follow a real like more keto approach

00:23:34.780 which is uh you know high fat high protein and very limited carbs i pretty much will just save my

00:23:40.700 carbs for bourbon right whatever the time's right there you go um i have a question about

00:23:48.380 the the mental aspect of your sport and your training uh it's like how do you deal with that

00:23:55.520 i mean what is there i mean how do you overcome plateaus how do you deal with setbacks i mean

00:24:00.020 what is your mental game like so mine's mine's a little different um i mean injuries are going

00:24:06.840 to happen right i mean that just kind of comes with the territory and look father time's undefeated

00:24:11.800 no one's going to make it out of this thing all the way without scars if you did you probably lived

00:24:17.180 a really boring life and injury is going to happen and setbacks happen it's you know you just keep

00:24:23.400 trying to figure out whether you know you take one step back to make some steps forward or you take

00:24:27.640 a side step you know if my knee's bothering me maybe i box squat for the next two weeks you know a

00:24:32.920 little high i mean i don't have anybody in my gym tone you know giving me white lights and i don't

00:24:37.480 have the ego anymore to say like well i've got to bury all these squats what i want to do is perform

00:24:41.960 better and i perform my best when i'm not hurt right i can still fatigue my legs and still get plenty

00:24:48.460 of work in without having to you know squat all the way to the bottom gotcha and what completely

00:24:56.920 below parallel right and like what keeps you going right like so you're saying you're chasing daniel

00:25:03.140 right in the competition what keeps you like is it like trying to beat yourself or do you like you

00:25:06.920 really want to beat him one day i mean what how do you deal with that aspect it's trying to be the

00:25:11.460 best i can be that's really my concern is just it's self-optimization it's just i want to be

00:25:16.320 i want to give it the most i've got while my body is still willing to give it a go i don't ever want

00:25:22.460 to look back and question of like maybe i should have done this or what if i had trained harder or what

00:25:26.540 if i would have done this i i know i'm i'm doing everything i can to give it a go and the cards

00:25:32.480 are going to fall where they fall i mean dan and i are different athletes and i beat him some and he's

00:25:38.280 beat me some right and none of those things how far he throws is completely has nothing to do with

00:25:45.840 how far i throw i mean that's that's his goals and his things now some days the cards are i'm going

00:25:50.940 to throw really well and the cards fall in my favor but i've also had days where i've thrown very

00:25:54.900 very well and been proud of it and just didn't have enough to beat him and yeah i'm not interested

00:26:01.580 in him doing poorly so that i succeed right right yeah it seems like there's a lot of camaraderie in

00:26:07.060 that that sport and the highland games of course and that's man that's all of the fringe strength

00:26:12.600 boards i've found um you know you're strong man power lifting and especially toward the top end right

00:26:18.260 your your professional classes in those those sports have it a lot more there's i guess

00:26:24.220 we've all been been part of sports at this point um that we understand that no one really cares

00:26:30.980 yeah and that eliminates a lot of the ego like i'm not going to be famous i'm not gonna

00:26:35.680 you know i don't need to go have a discussion with you know reese hoffa for example you know

00:26:42.020 olympic shot putter about how we're both world champions right he he is yeah i do this other

00:26:50.780 thing i'm very good at it and i love the highland games but keep in perspective what we're doing i

00:26:55.980 throw rocks in a field and so that that helps me keep that and the camaraderie is great because

00:27:03.840 there's probably only 20 of us that are at the top end in the world and so every time i go to a

00:27:11.520 contest you know 17 or 18 times a year it's some 12 of us out of that 20 guys and so you see the

00:27:18.660 same guys every weekend and i think you know it's not we're not really head to head so everyone's just

00:27:25.640 trying to go out and do their best and i mean enjoy the fact that i mean we get paid to travel and

00:27:30.920 there's prize money and and all this for this sport that not that many people know about it's fantastic

00:27:37.980 i've loved every minute that i've spent doing highland games so you mentioned you know time

00:27:43.200 time is is fleeting for you i mean are you in your 30s i'm guessing yeah i'm 30 32 be 33 in april

00:27:50.480 all right that'll be quick yeah yeah we're the same age then um so i mean how how much longer you

00:27:55.640 think you'll be doing this and what do you plan on doing after you have to hang up your your caber

00:28:01.300 tossing shoes after hang up the kilt huh right hang up the kilt you know i i don't know um i think

00:28:09.460 when i'm done doing this that strength will become less of a uh focus for me and i mean look i'm 280

00:28:17.200 pounds i'm not interested in being a 280 pound 45 year old that's that's a really bad idea much less

00:28:25.460 it's a much worse idea to be 280 pound 50 year old they tend to die right so i'll probably work on

00:28:32.420 losing weight and doing some body composition stuff and i'll find something else i'm into whether i get

00:28:36.640 into some crossfit or i get more into cycling like i have been yeah i'm definitely not an endurance

00:28:42.880 athlete but i like spending time on the bike and so i'll find something else to do to you know care

00:28:48.600 more about diet and try to figure out that when i don't have to worry about being strong right do you

00:28:53.100 think you'd be can like stay connected to the sport in some way like as a coach or a mentor i mean what

00:28:57.400 you know i don't know that's never been the goal but i mean as long as i can still be valuable

00:29:06.180 and help people out i've really enjoyed the online coaching and stuff i've done the little bit that

00:29:11.900 i've done of it and as far as how long do i can i see myself doing this i mean i've seen guys

00:29:18.860 be competitive on the world scale and you know almost 40 i'm gonna stop when it's not fun anymore

00:29:24.040 and right now it's still a lot of fun i still my body hurts my body's gonna i think quit before i'm

00:29:30.920 willing to quit and that's just from i've just abused my body for the last two decades and not

00:29:38.280 been that nice to it it's only probably been the last three years i've understood recovery

00:29:41.800 and properly doing things like that you know um but when it's no longer fun whenever i'm not willing

00:29:50.160 to do what it takes to train for it i mean i'm not gonna be a guy that just phones it in i just i

00:29:58.040 can't see myself becoming a guy that's finishing 10th in the world and still still grinding at that

00:30:09.480 i'll probably very happily hang up my shoes and be ready to watch whoever's next

00:30:15.900 gotcha so matt this has been a great conversation a lot of insights about a sport that i knew little

00:30:21.840 about um where can you find find out more about you and your work out there um best place to find me

00:30:29.240 would be um matt vincent.net or uh the hate.com and that's spelled with the h-v-i-i-i

00:30:36.080 uh youtube i've got a lot of information going up and that channel is matthew vincent

00:30:41.540 um those are really your best places uh instagram is i hate matt vincent spelled the same way as

00:30:47.860 before and i try to i try to vlog and document and kind of do everything i'm doing you know i've been

00:30:53.100 very fortunate to be part of a sport that allows me to travel around the world and do some pretty

00:30:57.440 awesome stuff and try to share as much of that and that the connections i've made over the last

00:31:02.740 couple years in strength training to some other really awesome people awesome well matt vincent

00:31:07.480 thanks so much for your time it's been a pleasure yeah it's great man had a great time my guest today

00:31:12.760 was matt vincent he is a highland games champion and competitor and you can find more information

00:31:18.040 about his work at matt vincent.net just search for him on instagram he's got a really entertaining

00:31:22.620 instagram feed as well as find him on youtube well that wraps up another addition to the art of

00:31:30.680 manliness podcast for more manly tips and advice make sure to check out the art of manliness website

00:31:34.540 at theartofmanliness.com and if you enjoy this podcast i'd really appreciate it if you give us

00:31:38.580 a review on itunes or stitcher and really help us out in our rankings there and as always i

00:31:42.940 appreciate your support and until next time this is brett mckay telling you to stay manly

00:31:46.920 you

00:32:00.380 you

00:32:00.880 you

00:32:05.300 Thank you.

The Art of Manliness - January 26, 2016

#172： Scottish Highland Games & Training for Performance

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