More than an Overcomer Pt1

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Now, The Devil's Nightmare. Welcome back to another episode of It's Time to Man Up. Welcome back to the Man Up Show. Nikita Kolov, your host. And you know, when I think about the word overcomer, this man in the studio with me today, I don't know, he might be the poster child. I don't know if you looked that up.

He's laughing. If you looked that up in the dictionary, you might see Freddie Clark's picture there next to overcomer. But Freddie Clark, welcome to the Man Up Show. Thank you, brother. I really appreciate the time and the fellowship we have in brotherhood. Well, it's great to have you here.

And of course, this studio is so much fun for me. I get to see someone face to face. Of course, you know, the old joke, right? I have a face for radio, you know. But anyway, and we had, of course, we had connected just a number of weeks ago, maybe time flies, maybe a couple months ago, let's say, at a Man Up conference, 420 Fire Church.

Yes, sir. And so and then we continued a conversation from there and was fascinated by your story. So I use the word overcomer. It goes back, really back into your childhood and some of the health issues and different things that you had faced.

The prognosis wasn't all that great. I think our listeners are going to be incredibly inspired by your story today. And you've got so much of a story. I don't know that we're going to squeeze it all in one show.

I think we're going to do two shows here to part one, part two. But that said, and hey, by the way, you may be familiar with this. So, you know, it's doing a little research on you.

OK. You know, I just kind of do that from time to time on the individuals I'm interviewing. So are you aware that there's a kind of a famous English rugby dude by the name of Freddie Clark? Did you know that? I never knew that.

Yeah, there is like, yeah, like if you pop that. So, hey, if you go on and Google Freddie Clark, let me just clarify. He is not the English rugby. No, sir. I never mean to. Super.

But he is a very competitive bodybuilder, athlete extraordinaire. We're going to talk more about that as well. But Freddie, let's go back. Let's go back to like for our listeners, like, you know, where were you born and raised? And tell us just a little bit about your family first.

Let's start with that. OK. First of all, I was born in states for North Carolina, went to high school in North Idaho, left. I would go back and forth to college, too, at night school.

I really wanted a good education. Of course, my dad made me do all that. But I have two sisters, two older sisters.

I'm the baby. My mom's still living at 90 years old. Wow.

Yeah. And my dad passed at 2015. And I had to say my dad was my mentor in life. And the three things I can always remember my dad taught me was about Jesus, how to treat a woman and how to make money. Wow. So some very foundational things here. A lot of pause just for our listeners there.

So he talked to you about Jesus. That's the rock, the foundation, right, that life is built on. How to treat a woman. Right. Well, that's critical in today's world and important. Right.

And then how to make money. Yes, sir. Wow.

That's pretty amazing. So he was a mentor and a great role model. Great role model. Everybody loved my dad. Yeah.

They called him Pee Wee Shorty because, of course, we're short. Okay. Anyway, my mom was nurse supervisor all my life in the hospitals and then went on from college, went off first to electrical engineering. I loved it, but it was dead end road for me. I was always into fitness. And I started at a young age at 14 with my plastic weights.

And then a little cement plastic weight. You remember them. So right away, here's something, Freddie, right away. I'm going to interrupt you again there. So age 14, age 12 for me. Okay.

I call it my Sears and Roebuck. That's it. That's it. Yeah.

I could remember, were they filled with sand or concrete or maybe both? Both probably. I don't know, but one or the other, right? Yeah.

I could still see the bar with that little silver sleeve on it. Yeah. Oh my gosh. So that brings back old memories. We're old school, Nikita. We're old school.

That's right. Hardcore sweat box gym. Come on. So started there. And then, of course, I was an athlete all my life. I was a wrestler. And also football. I love football. I'd love to play still today.

Was a linebacker. Unfortunately, my career ended with a bad motorcycle wreck. I've had to restart at 16 and a half, 17 years old. I had to restart my life and learn a lot of stuff over again from that bad accident. So my body started changing. The girl's name was Angel, was my PT girl.

And she said, Freddie, you really need to do something with your body. Angel. Angel. And I'd love to see her this day.

I can't find her. That was at Baptist Hospital here in Weston. Oh, wow. Yeah. And so she said, you really need to do something. And I said, okay. So I got out of the hospital, trained.

Won my first bodybuilding show at 17. Okay. So hold on. Let me interrupt you again.

Okay. So the motorcycle wreck was, if I remember you and I talking, they didn't give you a real good prognosis to begin with. It was very serious, right? In fact, didn't you tell me like they couldn't even find your helmet or something? They never found it. Never found the helmet.

Yeah. I mean, did it, oh, of course you don't know. I mean, did it disintegrate in the accident or you just don't know?

Who knows? Never found the helmet. So was there, was there some brain injury prognosis? What was kind of the prognosis there? I had a couple, what you call them, not illusion, but I had a couple problems in football too from getting hit so much. Concussions. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Concussions. And then I had a major one then.

Okay. But I overcome them. And God, you know, I didn't really know, I've been in church all my life with my dad and mom and, you know, and I gave my life to Jesus early. But of course, through life, you back slid some through life. Yeah, that happens, right?

Yes, it does. And nobody's perfect, but the one. Yeah, right. But I went through a lot of stuff through that time. And like I said, I started the bodybuilding career, won a lot of shows up until I was in college.

I had to take a break a little bit. I still train five days a week. Figured out I didn't want to be a electrical engineer or work for companies or whatever.

And, you know, doing analyzations and everything for big companies and made great money. But I come to my dad one day, I said, Dad, I want to open up the gym. And I think I'm gonna buy this gym in Morrisville.

And it's a starter gym. He said, Are you crazy? And I said, No, Dad. He said, How are you gonna make money? You like the money you make now? Because he said, he taught you how to make money. Because for those who maybe don't know, you know, typically a gym may not be the best money maker. I mean, I own clubs back in the 90s. And, you know, they tread water and make a living. Yes. But, you know, if your desire is to get, let's just say to get rich, a gym's probably not the way to go.

There are some other avenues. But okay, so. I said, Dad, I got this.

Watch me. And I went on to California for 18 months for master nutritionist and master personal trainer. And went on the medical side to learn how to read blood work. And I was going to use that in my business. And I train people all the time. Bought my first gym in 1989 in Morrisville. I was first gym there. It was called Clark's Total Fitness. During that time, I competed and won a lot of shows. And it made it a billboard and my body a billboard for my business.

Yeah. So a lot of people come to the gym for Freddie. And I was the gym.

Okay. Because, but all through life, I wanted people to know me, my heart, instead of just the gym business, the gym guy, you know. And so that's what I did. I met a lot of good people through the years. Had a lot of issues.

You know, start off with. I had, you know, I had a heart attack getting ready for a show one time. Fell off once. I won overall. I fell down.

Had a heart attack. How old were you when that happened? Probably 30. 30?

Around 30. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, it didn't damage my heart. So the good Lord is looking after me all through all these tragedies, all these traumas to my body. I took stuff in it. What it does, I didn't have no electrolytes or fluid in my body getting ready for the show. Okay.

And then once I left the stage, I collapsed. So let me interject this. Because people, you know, may not be, you know, they may or may not be too familiar with bodybuilding, but so let's, so you're 17 when you were your first bodybuilding guy. And that was, was that inspired by your nurse Angel?

Yes. Who said you need to do something and you're like, okay, I need to build my body. So I've had this motor, this serious motorcycle rack. I need to build my body back. You embrace bodybuilding and, and, and when your first content, let me, let me, let's go back there for a moment. What was it like to win your first bodybuilding contest? What was that?

It was amazing. And people realize you, you look the greatest you've ever looked on stage. Okay. And that's for 48 hours maybe.

Right. But you feel like crap. All the training, the dieting and all of that, right? And dehydration for two days. I mean it, but to get, I know my body and it took a long time to learn my body. Because, because the dehydration, because again, those who may be not familiar with bodybuilding, we're going to give them a bit of an education here today on the show.

Is, I mean, you've got to, the, the objective is to, to, to look vascular right up there on stage. You want to be hard as you can, showing no fat or water. No fat or water. And you dehydrate the body, you know, the week before the show is called a carbon depletion.

Okay. So the first, let's just say the first four days is nothing but protein. And then your last three days is nothing but sweet potatoes.

And you start cutting your water from two gallons to a gallon to a half a gallon to a quarter gallon to nothing. Wow. And that, what that does, that pulls the water between the skin and the muscle. Yeah. Okay, so there's a science to it. I guess.

If you hit it wrong, you're going to look like crap. Yeah. And, and were you doing this all on your own? Did you have a trainer? Did you have somebody kind of coaching you along the way? Well, I had one guy, Mark, back in the day from my first show.

Then I went off to California. Okay. Right. Then I had mentors, Rich Kaspari. He won the first Arnold ever. You know, I've met all the pros and we've sat down. I've sat down with Ronnie Coleman, which was the biggest guy and bodybuilder in the past. Yeah. God bless his soul.

He's crippled now. But anyway, you put your body through a lot of stuff. And a lot of people think it's all about steroids they're taking. It's way more than that.

People don't have a clue about that word. Well, and again, and that may factor in. Yes. I mean, I, I remember back in, in my high school college days, more in the college days. And, and not just, not just in bodybuilding, because again, you and I have a lot of relatability there in, in that, you know, for me, and I think I told you the story, but at age 12, I picked up this magazine called Iron Man, which was a bodybuilding magazine. Yes, sir. And I was enamored by the guys in the magazine.

And I remember saying one day I'm going to look like one of those guys, right? You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. Nikita Kolof here, and I am excited. Did you hear the huge announcement, the big announcement?

Well, maybe it's a minor announcement. Anyway, Facebook, go look up my new fan page, Nikita Kolof Fans, and like it and follow today. If you would like to support Kolof for Christ Ministries, for a gift of $25, Nikita will send you his two CDs, Adoration and Declaration. For a gift of $50, Nikita will include his book, Wrestling with Success.

And for a gift of $100 or more, Nikita will include a signed copy of his newly updated life story, A Tale of the Ring and Redemption. Go to www.kolof.net and donate today. Would your company, business, or you personally like to partner with me in supporting Kolof for Christ Ministries, the Man Up Show and Man Up Minutes? Go to kolof.net and click the donate button. You can give monthly, annually, or one time. God bless you for making a difference around the world.

You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. Now at the time, I might have been 100 pounds dripping wet with rocks in my pocket, not a big kid, right? But fast forward 12 years, the day I walk into Jim Crockett's office and introduce myself, only having had a five minute phone conversation with Jim and introduce myself. Now I'm 285, 8% body fat, 34 inch waist. And so what would have been your body fat in that first contest and or what was your target or your goal of body fat like for all of the competitions that you? So I wanted to conquer the middleweight class first.

So I went out and won a lot. I'm probably, I would say 15 maybe as a middleweight and I'd had tight down to 176. Okay. I conquered to try to get my body fat low as possible and still be healthy after that.

Which would have been about what? What approximately? Approximately. I've never been over 8%. Wow. You've never been over 8%. No, sir.

I've had 31 inch waist and I've had 31 inch waist for the last 35 years. Wow. Come on. Yes, sir. So your health is very important to you.

Yes. I mean, obviously we might say spiritually because we've had that conversation, your spiritual health, but your physical health. It means so much. I want men to take care of their body. That's a temple and they got to take care of them and their family and their loved ones and they got to man up because we don't know what the world's going to face. Oh, yeah. I like that. They got to man up. Oh, the man up show. Hey, we're in the right place here.

You're in the right place. Well, and you know, that said, you know, it's interesting that scripture, 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 16, it poses a question. Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit? Yes, sir. And then a couple of chapters later, chapter six, six versus 19, it says, or do you not know?

Because in other words, I'm thinking like, okay, maybe you don't know your body's a temple and you should be taking care of it. Right. So, okay. So, so you've, I'm right now.

I'm just like, all right, I'm just like blown away. You've never been over a percent body fat. That was as big as 254 at five, eight. And I had legs over 30, 30 inches.

Okay. Now look in the shower and I was like, whose legs are these? As you get older, those are legs for you. Those are tree trunks. They were then. That's like road warrior animal had, had, had tree trunks hanging off his shoulders, you know, like legit 23 inch arms.

That's awesome, man. And him and road warrior Hawk between the two, of course, Hawk was taller, little leaner, a little more vascular, you might say animal was heavier, you know, tip the scales around 300 pounds and maybe not as ripped. Cause that was a goal on, on, on the bodybuilding stage. Right.

To be, that's a term, right? Ripped. And then once I conquered the middleweights, I went to light heavy, which you had to die down to one 98.

So I would try to get around two 30 and I would lose 30, 30 some pounds in 10 weeks. Wow. For sure. Wow.

And you know, I get the only true way you can change body fat is submerged in water. The lowest I've ever been in my life, and I'll never do it again was for the nationals when I won the nationals in Virginia. And that's a very big show. How old were you? Roughly?

I'm going to say 35, 36, mid thirties. Okay. All right.

And then I was 2.39%, 2.39 and I will never do it again. Wow. Because people don't want to be like, so, so I had guys reach out to me and they wanted me to compete, you know, back in those wrestling days and whatever, and, or, you know, I came from, from what was known, really known as the Mecca of the Midwest. It was called the gym. It was, it was in the Minneapolis area. My buddy, uh, Jim Youngner, who graduated a year ahead of me, uh, once he got out of high school, like you, he wanted to open a gym.

So he did. And, and all, I mean, everyone from bodybuilders to, to, to powerlifters, eventually pro wrestlers, as all of us got into wrestling, we all gravitated to the gym or, and of course then he promoted a professional bodybuilding contest there in Minneapolis and it became just the Mecca. I mean, all, all over the gym, there were, there were, there were, uh, placards and trophies and Ms. World and his wife ended up, I think, one of Ms. World one time.

And, and, uh, so, yeah, so, I mean, it, it just became such a thing there in, in Minneapolis and, you know, not only from our high school, but from the whole five state area. And I say all that to say, I watched guys like you, Freddie, go through that whole dieting thing. And I'm like, man, I ain't doing that. I like eating too much, man.

There's no way I want to cut what you just said, cut from 230 down to 198. I'm like, uh, uh, that, in fact, let me just say this real quick. You talked about wrestling, right?

Yes. Of course we're, you're referring to the amateur stuff, right? I watched all you guys, uh, you was one of my fans, so you're a big fan of pro wrestling. Big fan, growing up. So, well, uh, the high school coach at Robbinsdale, his name was Pete Gragelko. That just sounds like a wrestling name, doesn't it? And he had no neck because all you amateur guys, like, you know, big old shoulders, traps and no neck.

Right. And he wanted me to go out for, for the high school wrestling team. And I'm just like, again, I'm like, I saw the guys, I saw you guys put on those, like, like I guess sweats, sweatsuits or what, what were they where you're a sauna type suit and you're wanting to sweat all the time. I wear a hoodie all the time.

I didn't want nobody talking to me for two hours. And then I did cardio at night, chewing on a rubber band, spitting in a cup, chewing on a rubber band, spitting in a cup to make weight, to just cut weight, to make that last few days. Yeah. Yeah. For, for the wrestling now we're talking about. So it, which, which kind of made me set the stage for your eventual bodybuilding.

But see, I saw that. I saw those guys like sweat, sweat, but they were like, like wetsuits or something. I mean, it's kind of like a sauna sweat suit. Yeah.

Keeps some moisture in the body. Yeah. Oh man, no, no way. Coach Kugelko never appreciated me after that. I was not on his favorite list. Well I ended up using the gym as a billboard for business and this, I've been very successful. I've had five gyms.

I've cut it down to three now. We have Statesville, Mooresville and Concord, North Carolina. What are the name of the gyms? 24-7 Total Fitness.

24-7. So where are they again? Mooresville, Statesville and Concord.

Mooresville, Statesville and Concord, North Carolina. And I'm guessing there's a website, is it, you got a website for that? Yeah.

It's 24.7totalfitnesscenters.com. Okay. Okay. But we're getting back to the injuries. I just want to say God's blessed me. He's been there a whole way with me. I've really humbled myself probably in the past 10 years more than ever because he's gotten me through so much.

And I had to give him the glory because between the concussions, a motorcycle wreck, I was doing 2,000 pounds on leg press back in 2000. I had an aneurysm and it popped and they rushed me to Baptist because that's the closest place to Mooresville. They were going to cut my head open.

My dad said no. He brought his men of the church in, his deacons, and they prayed over me. And the next morning they was taking me in to cut my skull open to fix me.

And dad said, nah, go get another MRI. And they did. And it was healed.

Supernatural. And they were going to realize, one, the power of prayer and godly men and women who pray and believe that God still heals today. And I introduced you in the show as an overcomer.

So you've overcome a motorcycle wreck, overcome. You mentioned the concussions. This is funny, right? To me, it's funny. You know, all the protocol, concussion protocol they have now versus for us, it was, you remember when they used to crack a little smelling salts thing?

I used it all the time. They cracked the smelling salts and the ammonia to wake you up. Hey, how many what? How many fingers am I holding up? Exactly.

Three. Okay, you're good. Get back in there, right?

Yeah. I mean, that was our concussion protocol. So you've overcome concussions, overcome a heart attack, overcome this aneurysm.

Okay, now we're not done yet. I've got both knees replaced, both quads reattached and left elbows fake, both hips, right elbows got seven screws in it. And I had pancreatic cancer, stage four, and six years ago, and they took half my pancreas and all my spleen. And I was in the gym five days later. Five days later.

With a tube and a bag on my side. Freddie, you are not, look, some might say right now, you are superhuman. Here's what comes to mind.

Of course, I'm aging myself here. There used to be a show called the Six Million Dollar Band with Lee Majors. Lee Majors.

I'm like, I got Lee Majors sitting in the studio with me here today with my gosh, right? So knees, hips, elbows, aneurysms, heart attack. The last thing I had, I was moving a piece of equipment, working on it in Concord Gym, 480 pounds. This lacks October.

It'll be a year, a year ago or so, okay. It fell on my skull, busted my skull, I had a TBI. I had a stroke there when it happened, and another one got to the hospital and they done the MRI. Two days later, I went to a prayer conference with 420 Fire. They laid hands on me, they prayed for me, and I walked back to my seat.

By myself. I mean, gosh, you have seen the hand of God work in your life in many, many, many ways. And so here's the deal, see, we're going to do a part two because you got so much to your story. And so I want people to understand, you're going to want to come back for part two of Freddie Clark's story.

If you hadn't already been blown away by the overcomer that this man is, all that he's been through and how God has just moved and walked and operated in his life. Not only is he passionate about taking care of his temple, his body, and of course, spiritually and his health clubs and those sorts of things, but there's something else that he's passionate about as well. And that's the rescue. I'm going to kind of tease our audience here to make them come back next week about the rescue of women and children, right?

And this whole epidemic, if you will, of trafficking, right? And so you're very involved and engaged in that as well. And when we come back, part two, I want to dive into that and hear about your passion for that. Why?

Like why you got involved in that. And so before we go one more time, so 24-7 Fitness, where are they located? Concord, Statesville, and Mooresville. Concord, Statesville, and Mooresville, North Carolina. And so people can, if you're in that area or passing through, they can pop in and maybe they'll see you in one of the gyms, actually meet you face to face and give the website one more time as well.

It's 24.7 totalfitnesscenters.com. Okay. And so Freddie Clark in the studio with me here today, and my gosh, now I'm looking at the scars on your knees, Freddie, and I'm like, okay, I think I'm seeing the knees there. And hey, let me ask you this just before we sign off. So approximately how many bodybuilding contests have you been in to date? I'm pretty sure it's close to, it's over 30 that I've either placed first or won the show. Over 30.

And powerlifting on top of that too. That you've either placed first or won. Is there, do you have like a, well, I guess if they come in your gyms, they might see some of that history. Oh yeah. There's pictures and then there's pictures of all my pros up on the wall through the years that I've communicated with and build relationships with. Yeah.

Talk to them from the Arnold on up. And I know you mentioned a couple of names, Gasparri and Ronnie Coleman. And Lee Haney is a great, great guy.

And he's a man of God too. Yeah. Is he? South Carolina. Oh, he's in South Carolina. Yeah, Spartanburg. Oh yeah.

Okay. I think the last time was Atlanta was the last time I saw you. Yeah, Atlanta. He used to be in Atlanta. Yeah.

He had a gym there. Okay. Lex Luger, the total package. Package, yeah. Oh, yeah. He was a Lee Haney fan. Oh yeah.

Of course, he and Lee knew each other well. All right. Well, hey, come back for part two and you're not going to want to miss as we talk about trafficking Freddie's passion in his heart for rescuing women and children out of that epidemic. Thanks for tuning in today and live a God-filled, God-blessed life today. This podcast is made possible by the grace of God and your faithful prayers, support, and generous gifts. May God bless you for your continual contributions. Go to Kolob.net and donate today. If you are enjoying the Man Up show, would you help us spread the word? Tell your family, tell your friends, tell your neighbors to download, subscribe, and leave a comment. Nikita Kolob here.

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