Dec. 12, 2023

Living the dream with Drug Free Natural Bodybuilder, Master Trainer, Personal Fitness/Mindset Coach & Podcast Host Justin Groth

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In this captivating interview, Justin Groth shares his inspiring journey to become a natural bodybuilder and fitness coach. After an identity crisis in his youth led to anorexia, Justin found purpose in bodybuilding and helping others reach their fitness goals drug-free. He details his rise in competitions, decision to compete drug-free, and current mission to lead others down a healthy, holistic path. Tune in to hear Justin's perspectives on the dark side of bodybuilding, keys to transforming your body and mind, and how to unlock your true potential. His candid wisdom will motivate you to live your purpose and become the best version of yourself.

www.theofficialjustingroth.com

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> Speaker A>Welcome, um, to the Living the Dream podcast with Curveball. If you believe you can achieve, cheat, cheat.

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> Speaker A>Welcome to the Living the Dream with Curveball Podcast, a show where I interview you guests that teach, motivate, and inspire. Today, I am joined by drug Free natural bodybuilder, podcast host, coach, and personal fitness trainer, Justin Groff.

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> Speaker A>Justin has been bodybuilding naturally since 2005, and he has participated in numerous bodybuilding shows, and he has his own gym, so we're going to be talking to him about everything that he's up to and how he's helping others. Justin, thank you so much for joining me today.

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> Speaker B>Thanks for having me, bud. I appreciate it.

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> Speaker A>Why don't you start off by telling everybody a little bit about yourself?

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> Speaker B>I mean, you pretty much summed it up quite well, but, um, yeah, I'm a personal trainer, I'm a natural bodybuilder. I am a podcast host, and there's not much to my name other than those three things. That's pretty much, uh, what I am and what I put my effort into every single day.

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> Speaker A>Well, I have interviewed numerous personal fitness coaches, and you make it a point to, uh, say that you were natural and drug free. So talk about why that is and what that actually means.

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> Speaker B>Yeah, so, good question, Curtis. So, honestly, uh, I am a drug free bodybuilder. Meaning no steroids, no peds of any kind. Um, the only thing that I take is over the counter stuff. So your basic supplements, like creatine, monohydrate, pre workouts, whey protein, branchy amino acids, things of that nature that you can get through any GNC or mom and pop nutri, that was kind of a path that I chose to take early, uh, on in bodybuilding, because when you get started in the bodybuilding scene, you're going to get approached fairly quickly with guys, uh, that want to sell you steroids, and it's kind of a common thing.

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> Speaker B>And me having a background of no drugs, no alcohol, never in my life. I've never drank, never smoked, never done any extracurricular drugs. It was kind of a no brainer for me to also follow that same path with natural, with bodybuilding. And so that was kind of the impetus towards being a natural bodybuilder. And really, to, um, be quite honest with you, I never really respected people that did drugs that increased their performance. I've always been a big advocate and proponent of whatever you can do on your own natural accord is whatever you can do and whatever that looks like, you should be happy with that. And so that's kind of my motto in my own natural bodybuilding quests. And that's what I teach to any of my online clientele, or any of my in person clientele that want to have aspirations of becoming a bodybuilder.

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> Speaker B>Um, I will never advocate for the use of drugs. I don't care if it's for performance reasons or not. Um, it's just something that I don't respect and I'm very, actually prejudiced towards. It's not that I'm prejudiced towards the person, I'm just prejudiced towards the usage or facilitation of drugs to increase the person's own natural abilities. And I don't think it should have ever been introduced to the scene, to be quite frank with you, not only in bodybuilding, but Olympics and everything. Um, so that's my own personal take on it, or personal viewpoint on the usage of steroids and bodybuilding. And I just wanted to see what I could do on my own natural accord, and I wanted to see what I was made of. And when you're natural and you don't have any external, uh, uh, uh, elements that help to increase or give you an advantage, you really take things to the threshold and you really have to, uh, work on your own mental faculties, the things that are innate within you, and it turns the needle in a different direction. It shows you what you can handle, and it shows you what you're made of, and it shows you what you didn't think you were made of.

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> Speaker B>It reveals things to you that you may not have known otherwise, such as your perseverance, your tenacity, your ability to grit through the grueling sessions, the workout sessions, your ability to have self discipline with regards to what goes in your mouth, what you consume on a regular basis, your ability to set a structure for your life in terms of sleep, hydration, nutrition and training. And it's one thing to do it just as an avid pursuit. Uh, go to the gym, get a good body, transform your body. That's a feat in and of itself, but another feat is to take it to the stage and compete against people that are likely enhanced and doing things that you're not doing. And so anyway, I think that just overall, that's my story, but I think the overall, just somebody that these, uh, young kids that are looking to get into bodybuilding and transform their bodies and gain muscle and lose body fat, I think that's an admirable quest to follow. It's something that's hard, but it's something that's very, uh, worthwhile.

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> Speaker B>But at the same time, I think that they should pay attention to people that have the right state of mind. And I think that a lot of influencers nowadays, especially on social media, they're just not in the right headspace themselves. And they're promulgating, um, these avenues of drug facilitation, kind of low key. And I don't respect that. I just don't respect that. And I think that you should do what you can do on your own natural accord, and that's it. And I think that you should be happy with that. And also, that's a thing to be well respected and admired as well.

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> Speaker A>Well put.

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> Speaker A>So tell the listeners how you got started in bodybuilding in the first place.

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> Speaker B>Yeah, I'll give a little background of my own self exploration of identity. When I was younger, uh, in high school, I was just a regular 165 pound kid, 511 average, uh, weight for my height. And I didn't have any body issues other than, well, I didn't have any body issues, I guess, until I got out of high school and in college. And there's a funny story behind this. It's funny, but it's also the thing that stemmed the whole transformation for me. Uh, in high school, I got coined as, or not, I shouldn't say coined, but, uh, I wouldn't call it made fun of, but people would always say, oh, in sync. They would call me a backstreet boy, or in sync. And I got always compared to this guy named Justin Timberlake. And I'm sure most of your listeners are familiar with him. And I kept finding myself comparing, uh, myself to him inadvertently, even though I didn't want to, because as a young kid, you don't know, you're trying to find your identity, you're trying to find who you are. And when somebody compares you to somebody who is, by society's measures, a good looking individual, talented, wealthy, et cetera, it's almost like you now feel like a burden to live up to that. At least I did.

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> Speaker B>And I couldn't match the wealth, uh, obviously, I couldn't match the talent. He's very talented.

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> Speaker B>But I had this thing going for me in terms of the looks aspect, and so I found myself trying to almost emulate his look and search for my own identity. But I got caught up in his look.

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> Speaker B>I didn't get caught up in, uh, my, uh, own, I guess, breakdown of what I should be for me. I was basing my identity off of him.

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> Speaker B>I thought to myself, well, I have to lose weight because I'm too chubby in my face. This is the weird part. I thought I got too chubby a cheeks. I need to lose weight. And so how do I lose weight? Well, just starve myself, huh, and do a lot of cardio, because I didn't know anything about fitness. And so I did that, and I ended up losing lots of weight. I ended up getting down to a weight of 136 at my lowest, and I was clinically anorexic at that point. And I told my family, I said, look, you got to bring me to a dietitian, somebody, uh, because I'm not going to stop, because one thing about me is I have a very addictive mindset, and once I start going with something, it's really full bore. And quite possibly the reason why I'm glad I never got into drugs or alcohol, because I probably would have been addicted in some way, shape or form to those substances as well. So that's a blessing in disguise, right?

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> Speaker B>And, uh, I ended up going to a dietitian and getting into a trainer.

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> Speaker B>It was my mom's trainer at the time, and she kind of set me up with a rouTine. Nothing crazy, just a little routine, three days a week.

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> Speaker B>And then from there, like I just stated, with the addiction, it spiraled into the other direction, and I started getting addicted to working out and making it a priority. And I started moving into five days a week doing a typical bodybuilding style split, which is for those of you who are unfamiliar audiences, unfamiliar with a bodybuilding split. Typical bro split would be consisting of legs one day, chest one day, back one day, shoulders one day, and arms one day. And I did that for years. And I started adding in supplements like the proteins, the creatine, the glutamine, the branching amino acids, and started, uh, uh, structuring my diet in such a way that was high in protein, fairly moderate in carbs, and low to moderate in fat. And I started seeing great results, and I just started again, uh, spiraling, uh, in the other direction. So I started gaining muscle, losing body fat, and developing more of a physique that was different than what I was trying to, I guess, emulate in the very beginning, which was Justin Timberlake. And this all sounds weird coming out of my mouth, to be honest with you, because I haven't said this and I haven't vocalized this in so long, man. But, um, anyways, I just want to give context to your listeners in terms of why I did this and what propelled me to do it.

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> Speaker B>After that, I began building a physique.

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> Speaker B>I started getting in a bodybuilding competition. And again, I'm still natural. I've always been natural.

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> Speaker B>So I competed against guys that were in my area. And, um, I'm in the Central coast of California, so what's local to me is LA and San Francisco. Well, fairly local. All of the natural shows were in the Midwest that I knew of at the time, and this is back in 2009, 2011.

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> Speaker B>So I just competed against, I took my chances and competed against guys that were enhanced because it was the closer of the two shows in proximity to me. So I competed in LA and San Francisco, which were all untested organizations.

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> Speaker B>And I was blessed to do very, you know, I never wanted to take it to the next level and try to have my hand at becoming a pro or anything like that, because I knew what I would have, um, had to do if I competed in those organizations. I would have had to get on steroids. So what got me into personal training was at my local gym.

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> Speaker B>When I would work out, people would come up to me and they would ask me what exercise I'm doing, what it's working, and if I would watch their form on doing a certain exercise or what have you, because they saw something in me. Like they saw that I developed a physique. And that was very humbling to me. And it showed me that one, when they would come up to me and ask me, I stopped what I was doing and I paid attention to them. And, uh, that was a little bit foreign to me because I'm very self absorbed. But for some reason, when people would come up to me and they would ask me a genuine question about fitness, it humbled me because it one told me that they trusted me. They trusted me with what I had developed at the time in my physique. And it showed that they were, I'm sorry, um, submissive enough to come up to me and ask me, and there is a reciprocity effect tethered to that, and I just very much attached myself to that. I was fulfilled when I spoke and poured into that person, fitness. And so I just listened to that. I listened to that calling, I listened to that fulfillment factor, and that's when I started personal training. And I thought I should do this for a living. And the means behind it was to never become rich. It was just to do something that I love to do and help people along the way. So that's the impetus behind me becoming a personal trainer.

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> Speaker A>Well, I know you've competed in numerous competitions, so talk about some of the competitions that you've competed in and how you've done in them?

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> Speaker B>Yeah. So I competed in, my biggest stint was in 2009. I did six shows, basically back to back. And for some people that are listening, that are our bodybuilding competitors, they're going to see that as crazy. And, uh, just because there's no time off really in between, there's about a few weeks off in between each show. But again, there was that addictive mindset coming in and just bulldozing through the scene because I wanted to and I could. And it got to the point where at the fifth and 6th show, I was becoming so emaciated looking because of the long stent of dieting, that that's really the only reason why I stopped competing in that year, because I could still have done like another show or two, uh, in terms of what they were offering for the year. But I just decided to pull out after six shows. And I took about, I don't know, four months off and then competed again in 2010 a couple of times, and then took several months off after that, competed again in 2011, and that was my last show. In 2011, I took first.

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> Speaker B>Um, it was at the, uh, LA Fitness convention. They have a show there.

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> Speaker B>It was called the, um.

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> Speaker B>Forgive me, I forgot, it was so long ago, 2011, but I was blessed to do very well. I always placed at least top five, top four in my class. Um, a couple of times I won my division. And again, these are against guys that were enhanced and I can't even believe I did do that well. But to be honest with you, most of the judges told me that it was because of my lower body, that my lower body was in such good condition and I had big legs for the guys that I was competing against. It took me above most of the competition that I was up against.

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> Speaker B>Um, again, always placed around top four, top five. I've gotten numerous thirds, numerous seconds, and a couple of firsts.

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> Speaker B>And, um, there was one show that I actually got smoked in. I mean, I think I got like dead last. The competition was so stiff on that show. That was in July and July.

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> Speaker B>A lot of the people that are getting ready to compete at the national level, they do that show that I did in July as a warm up to compete at the big show in Vegas. Um, uh, I got wiped out on that show. But yeah, I've been blessed to do real well with my competition, but that's kind of behind me now. The competitive days are behind me. I always thought I might compete again, but I knew in my heart of hearts I was done with it.

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> Speaker B>Uh, it's not something that I care about any longer. I care about different things nowadays. I care about building a family. I care about building my business, building onto more businesses on top of the business that I have.

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> Speaker B>Um, there's just things that are more important to me now. And in fact, if anything, I have more of, I guess, a disdain for the bodybuilding industry, if anything, because a lot of it is drug ridden, and there's such a big red curtain behind the actual, uh, industry in general. And I just don't respect it because of the drugs. And again, this is coming from a competitor. It's not like I've not been full fledged immersed in this scene, and I'm just speaking out of pocket.

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> Speaker B>And I've been in this scene, I've done it, I've lived it.

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> Speaker B>And that's why I just don't respect it, because I don't respect the, it's not that the people are bad, it's that what their choices are. I believe their choices are ill willed and not ill willed. I'm sorry, that's the wrong word. Their choices are, um, less than healthy, let's just put it that way. And I think that if you're about fitness and health, you shouldn't be about drugs, simply put.

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> Speaker A>Well, speaking of that, let's talk about some of the health issues that people can face when they do these PDS or drugs or steroids.

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> Speaker B>There's numerous, depending on what drug you're doing.

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> Speaker A>Uh.

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> Speaker B>So the main drug that a lot of the competitors use is testosterone. And testosterone is a highly anabolic and androgenic aid. Uh, it puts on muscle tissue quite rapidly, but it can also increase, uh, red blood cell count and red blood cell count when it gets too thick in the system or in the vasculus in the body. Rather, it can develop thick, uh, real thick, viscous blood through the veins that can cause, uh, blockages in the arteries, et cetera. So just think of it as if all of a sudden a bunch of sugar was dumped. This is obviously a bad illustration, but just so your listeners understand, if a bunch of sugar was dumped into regular, thin blood and it thickened it up, it would now be hard to move through the vascular structure of the body or the vascular system. Now, that causes build up, that causes a very thick blood flow. Uh, and so you have more of an easier time getting a heart attack, stroke, et cetera, because your blood is obviously not made to have that thick of, uh, your blood is not made to have be that thick. And what happens is you end up getting blockages et cetera. And then there's growth hormone. Growth hormone, uh, is an aid that grows all tissues in the body, so it's not prejudiced against all your internal organs. And most of the problem, though, stems from heart attacks with the guys that are in bodybuilding because of the thickening of the arteries, the thickening of the red blood cells, the accumulation of more red blood cells in the body.

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> Speaker B>And, um, I just don't understand why people would want to put their bodies at risk and also shorten their lifespan.

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> Speaker B>And it's, uh, just not something that I've ever understood, especially when they're in health and fitness. But in reality, people that go into bodybuilding, they're not going into bodybuilding for health and fitness. They're going into bodybuilding for vanity, for ego, et cetera. And I mean, that's the reason why I went into bodybuilding, because I wanted to look better naked.

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> Speaker B>I wanted to feel better. It wasn't about let's be healthy, because if it was just about being healthy, I would just have adopted a routine of calisthenics and eating a, uh, Mediterranean style diet.

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> Speaker B>But so, uh, the, yeah, I mean, there's, there's a myriad of issues that are, that are attached to doing drugs, and some that I'm not even well versed in because it's not my wheelhouse. But you don't need to know everything to know that this is wrong. You don't need to know all the negative side effects to know that drugs are bad. And they tell you that from an early age. And, um, just because you develop a very imposing prowess with the drugs that steroids are, doesn't mean that you're healthy internally. It doesn't mean that your organs are working, uh, efficiently. There's a lot of stress placed on your organs, your internal organs, when you develop that much lean muscle mass as well, your body's not meant to carry around 50 pounds more muscle mass than you could otherwise naturally accrue.

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> Speaker B>So there's just a myriad of issues, and I just don't understand why people would put their life at risk and shorten their lifespan to have a few years of glory days of being, uh, looking like the Hulk, for lack of a better illustration.

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> Speaker A>Absolutely.

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> Speaker A>What tell the listeners about your online fitness program.

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> Speaker B>So I have a couple, um, I'm obviously a personal trainer. I do train online. I do personal training, uh, in, uh, studio where I live currently. I also do mindset coaching. Because mindset runs in tandem with being your best in terms of your transformation, in terms of your physique. So, um, I also starting this new venture for trainer mentorships and trainer consulting. The, uh, consulting practice will be held at different gyms around the area that have fitness teams. And the trainer mentorship will be for the individual online.

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> Speaker B>It's probably going to mostly be online, um, but mainly right now that's in the making right now. Currently, uh, we haven't launched that yet, but the other one is definitely something that I do right now. Currently, it's what fills my days up predominantly is the fitness coaching and the, uh, mindset coaching.

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> Speaker A>Well, tell us about your podcast and also any current upcoming projects that you're working on that people need to know about.

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> Speaker B>Absolutely. So the podcast is called Straight from the Chest, and it's a personal development self improvement podcast. And there, I divulge, with a lot of things that I've dealt with, current dealing with currently, or I have dealt with experiences and things that I think that other people need to be aware about to make themselves more of a formidable opponent in this world and to be their best version. And, uh, the podcast is always a little bit different. But that podcast airs twice a week on Spotify and Apple SoundCloud. Basically, any platform that exists, we're likely on there. It's called street from the chest again. And, um, if you're looking for personal development, if you're looking for self improvement, hit up that podcast. I think you'll find some value in it.

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> Speaker B>And, um, the only upcoming project that I do have that I'm working on right now is that elite trainer mentorship program. And, uh, that will be hopefully in the works next year. Um, and I will likely say there could be a book coming out.

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> Speaker B>Uh, the book I'm in talks right now with a publishing company for my first book as well.

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> Speaker A>Okay, well, so listeners can check out your podcast, sign up for your programs, and keep up with everything that you're up to.

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> Speaker A>Throw out your contact information.

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> Speaker B>Absolutely. So the best way to reach me right now would either be on the website, which is the officialjustanggroth.com, or you can, uh, shoot me a direct message on Instagram. And that's going to be my handle is going to be Justin Craiggroth. There's no underscores or anything, just straight Justin Craiggroth that's on Instagram.

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> Speaker A>Closest.

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> Speaker A>That was some final thoughts? Maybe if there was something I forgot to touch on that you would like to talk about it. Just any final thoughts you have for the listeners?

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> Speaker B>No, uh, you definitely navigated the conversation real well. I appreciate it. Curtis?

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> Speaker B>Um, I think a lot of things, but, um, I would say that more often than not, I think that people that listen to these podcasts, such as yours, mine, uh, and others that are centered around being a better version, I think that people need to know that there's more that's interlaced within them and that it is their job to extract what God placed in them. I'm a spiritual person, and when I see spiritual, I mean, I believe in God, and I believe God gives us all talents and gifts. And I think that those talents that reside in us, we have an obligation and a duty to extract them, identify them, and bring them to fruition.

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> Speaker B>And I know that people that listen to these podcasts, that read books, that are centered around self improvement and just being a better iteration of who they are, I think that. I know that they're lost a little bit. Like I've been lost. We've all been lost at times trying to find who we are, what we're made of, and why we're here on this earth, try to find our footing. And I just want to tell your listeners that the thing that you have that you possess, just because it doesn't look like somebody else's talent or somebody else's way of life, and it might not be popular and it might even be controversial. The way that what you are good at or what you do, what you yearn to do, what you have an urgency to do, it doesn't mean that you shouldn't still do it.

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> Speaker B>You, uh, should. Because those feelings that you're feeling, like when I told you that I, uh, had this fulfillment when I would teach people about fitness, I didn't think twice about how much money it made me.

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> Speaker B>I only thought about the feeling that it gave me. And I know as men, we shouldn't feel as much as we should do, but this feeling is different than you just feeling emotions or feeling the struggles of the day. This is a feeling that's inseparable to your purpose, and it's something that you need to follow, but, um, not something that you should entertain. It's something that you should chase down. And more people need to just chase down, regardless of its popularity, regardless if it's controversial. They just need to chase down what they have, this innate tether to what they would love to do, even if money weren't an issue. That's what you should do with your life. And finances will come, the money will flow, it will come by default. If you just do the thing that God placed in you and you know what God placed in you when you feel that fulfilling factor when it presents itself.

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> Speaker A>Absolutely. Ladies and gentlemen, theofficialJustanggroth.

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> Speaker A>Uh.com. Please be sure to follow rate review Share this episode to as many people as possible, especially those fitness people out there. If you have any guests or suggestion topics, CJackson 102 UH@Cox.net is the place to send them. As always, thank you for listening. And Justin, thank you for coming on and sharing your amazing story.

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> Speaker B>Thanks, Curtis. I appreciate you, man.

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> Speaker A>For more information on the Living the Dream podcast, visit www.djcurveball.com.

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> Speaker A>Until next time, stay focused on living the dream. Dream.