0:00 And you're a fat gym owner for like 4 years. Yeah, I had crazy weight swings. I go a fat, skinny, fat, skinny, fat, skinny. It was great for marketing though. Honestly, people they go, "Dude, that's ████ genius." I'm like, "No, I did it by accident." No, it is. Cuz especially when you sold those programs. >> like a totally different level of discipline. >> Yeah. And welcome back to another episode of the Careful Boys and we are in our transition period. Stories about transitions and we're going to talk to Bart right now. Tell us how you became trans. >> trans. >> Resident trans guys, Bart Tran. Bart Bart Tran. >> There was clearly a moment in your professional career where you're predominantly doing everything social media, whether it be the skits, the sketches, the podcast, the talking, the collaborations, the vlogging, all that
0:51 stuff. Mind if I vlog this? I miss vlogging now. >> Of course there was a Venn diagram of a of mixover, but then a lot of which your attention, your energy, your business growth and development and probably money making turned into the fitness space. How did that transition come about? How what were you experiencing during that time and what was just kind of like the meat of that entire time frame? Um I would say there's like a big catalyst moment. So I think oh in the back burner fitness has always been there. I started lifting, working out uh when I was like 15 and I really got into like bodybuilding and then um then in the like with like wrestling we'd do like strength and conditioning and so I just started to be exposed into like different types of training and for some reason I always just gravitated towards it. I don't know why, but I always really really liked it. Maybe it had something to do with like me growing up with asthma too. Where I always felt
1:42 like I was like physically like a step behind, but through the right training you can get a step ahead. And I was like, "Oh ████ like if you tinker with like this Honda this four-banger Honda Civic, you can actually smoke like a ████ eight-cylinder muscle car if you just tinker with it enough." So, I think there's always that part of it that I liked. So, even when we started doing JK, it was always something that like I always worked out before we met and like film skits or whatever. It was always part of just my schedule like non-monetized, no vision, no like trajectory or whatever. Um and I think fortunately with JK, one of the things that people always recognized was like, "Oh, Bart's like uh what drop your workout plan or whatever." This is like back in 2007. Like the the first day we started um doing content, they'd be like, "Oh, Bart Bart's jacked. Like how much do you lift?" That that kind of like the you remember that the meathead ████
2:33 >> Yeah, the meathead memes back in the like, "Do you even lift, bro?" Like from day one, I was already kind of like brought into that world, which is kind of cool. And then the big catalyst moment was uh in 2012, um towards the end of the year. I don't know what it was, but I was like, "What would happen if I signed up for like a powerlifting meet?" I was just looking for something to just do. And then um I signed up for one that was in the beginning of January of 2013. I didn't really know it was powerlifting. I never squatted before either cuz I was just a bro. So, I just did ████ like push-pull type ████ I competed. I really fell in love with the sport of powerlifting. And then um I was like, "Dude, I I this is super cool. I wish there was a gym that had like powerlifting where you were able to do that kind of stuff." And then so at that time, uh I don't know if you guys
3:23 remember these like fitness OGs, but me, Han Champion, and Ice 1 Cube, two other like jacked Asian dudes, um we're like, "Dude, what if what would happen if we open a gym together?" And then then we could have a place to train and cuz like uh Frank with Ice 1 Cube is super into CrossFit. And if you don't train at a CrossFit gym, they're the type of places that would like everywhere else will kick you out cuz he's doing ████ like hands-down walks, like double unders and ████ making hella noise where most commercial gyms, it's like pretty quiet, you know? And then Han, um he's like a hardcore bodybuilder, so he's like banging like heavy ass weight all the time. I was a powerlifter, so you have to drop weights all the time. And there's just no place that was kind of conducive to that kind of training. And um it was kind of hard to keep this project going cuz uh Frank was a full-time engineer. Han was a um he lived lived in Texas, so he was going
4:14 to manage it part-time. So the idea kind of boiled down real small. And then this is when we had the JK office in Monterey Park where I was like, "Okay, the idea went from like this small to like this big, went right back down to this small. I still really like this idea." And I was like, "What if I just got a container um and just parked it outside of JK? Cuz you know how our parking spots are like they're pretty long cuz they're made for containers. Then I would just get like if all of us is chipping like a couple hundred bucks, then I can have like a combo padlock on there and all of us could just come in and train whenever we want." And uh just through text, I had like 30 people tell me that they're in. I'm in. I'm in. I'm in. I'm in. I'm in. I'm like, "What the f███?" Holy ████ And I was like, "Wait a minute. Maybe this could be an actual gym then." So that's when I pitched the idea to Geo. And then
5:04 and then now looking back, we're like, "Dude, what the ████ were we thinking? None of us have any personal training backgrounds or any history or experience in gym operating business. And we wanted to start a gym." Which is if you think about it, it's crazy. You'd be in the jiu-jitsu equivalent, you'd be a white belt going, "I'm going to open a jiu-jitsu school." It'd be like that, you know? And we're like, "What the ████ were we thinking?" And so we just went to Barnes & Noble, got a business plan book cuz we did everything online, don't know anything about brick and mortar. And we just completed it and we're just like, "You know what? We'll just let the universe tell us no." So every day So we at that time we used to meet at 11:00 a.m. for JK to meet and write and like do all our skits and stuff. So from 10:00 to 11:00, just 1 hour before, me and Geo would meet 1 hour every single day and just kind of progress on the uh the business plan book. And we're
5:55 like, if there is a hurdle that's big enough that's going to stop us, then we'll just stop. We'll just keep going and see what happens. And we went through the city hall process, getting things approved, whatever, and nothing ever was a big enough hurdle that was like, "Okay, we really have to stop this." So, October 1st, 2013, we opened Barbell Brigade, the first one, and it was in the same you know, uh office park as JK, down the street. Those days are ████ cool cuz we would film whatever and just go straight there. Everyone could go work out, come back. It was just literally like you can pop your head out and like hear like weights clanging in the back clanging in the background. So, that was cool. I would say at that time, my um my income was still way heavily JK skewed. Um cuz that thing was like a baby, and I took a a loan from my aunt. I borrowed 50 Gs to buy equipment from
6:45 my dad's sister, so I had to pay that back. Um Did she charge interest? No. Wow. >> cool. Her husband's the one that loves Alfredo, and then he ████ ████ himself. But anyways, um He he loves loves chicken Alfredo. He's lactose, too. >> Too much cream! >> [laughter] >> ████ I know I'll pay for it later. Pretty sick reputation to have. But her husband loves chicken Alfredo. And then um And then so I think Then people start asking for merch. So, a lot of the stuff at the >> [laughter] >> social media times back then, things were really organic, you know? It wasn't really like people like I think they've seen early social media now, and they have this master plan. Back then, it was you kind of just do what the the comment that keeps popping up. >> [clears throat] >> "Are you guys going to drop merch? I want Barbell Brigade merch or whatever."
7:36 So, everyone thinks like the apparel, I mean, um yeah, everyone thinks like the apparel was like this thing, and then the gym came, whatever. It was actually the other way around like the gym was the idea but people wanted merch and then so we're like, "Okay, we'll start creating merch." And we started selling merch and I think two or three years in, we didn't even realize it cuz we're so me and Joe are so focused on JK. We did have a whole separate team that we built for Barbell. But it kind of like started scaling on its own without us really keeping tabs on it and I think like three [clears throat] years in it crossed seven figures on e-commerce. Wow. What the Holy moly. >> We keep buying more hoodies and we just sell out. We're not really paying attention to it cuz we just think, "Oh, it's just merch, right?" And we didn't realize that there's like this actual movement going on because there's there's the birth of fitness on social
8:26 media and there's no like true identity or brand that people can kind of like um like like represent, you know? Cuz that was the that era is the birth of the other giants like Gymshark and all those guys, you know? And so we're like, "Oh, ████ What the ████ This is crazy." And then that's when we started to put a little bit more effort into it into apparel. And then I don't know when but we crossed like the 2 million mark. And we didn't really even pay ourselves really cuz I just kind of adopted the JK model. I think like you just keep pushing and you never really even look at your finances and then you don't think about and when you're young at at that time, you also don't think about long-term. What about retirement? You just think about money and you go, "Oh, be just went to build this but you don't think about there is going to be one day where your fruit tree dries out. So you
9:17 hope that you have a lot of canned fruits in the back. You never really think about it in that way. So we just kept pushing pushing pushing but then eventually um I think as we started to go, "Okay, we want to build a family or whatever." We started paying ourselves and I would say like in 20 For a we started actually paying ourselves and then I think my then my income skewed more fitness. And then with the the fitness stuff, it was like it's a much more like much less of a this is my perspective much less of a magic show and maybe you might even feel the same way with June B because with content you don't know what's going to be viral, you know, or what's going to be good and you're just kind of doing your best trying to be as funny or whatever as you can and you just put it out there and then you don't and you
10:07 kind of wait for the universe to kind of like repay you but or not pay you but like pay I pay you back I guess but then with e-commerce or business in the other sense there's actual data. You're like, oh ████ shorts sell really good in the summer or like you know, they really like black hoodies. Let me do more of that. So it's just way more easy to like incrementally build and then that that became kind of like a full-time gig and then that went that to supplements to us moving out of the old gym into the new gym and then the fitness industry is its whole other monster cuz you got to go to all the expos and stuff like that. But yeah, but that's how that was like my transition from doing like the comedy stuff and then into more of the fitness and you're a fat gym owner for like four years. Yeah, I had crazy weight swings. I go a
10:57 fat skinny fat skinny fat skinny. >> great for marketing though. Honestly, people they go dude, that's ████ genius. I'm like I did it by accident. >> [laughter] >> No, it is. Cuz especially when you sold those programs >> like a totally different level of discipline. >> Yeah, like a willingness. >> He meant to do it. >> Yeah, but I didn't mean to. >> it on purpose. >> I wasn't. >> You were doing it to to be like, all right, here's another program that you could use. I'm going to use it right now. Look at me. Yeah, the the cool thing was some uh some of them they were but some of them was just like me living life and I'm like, oh ████ I got carried away. I'm ████ over 200 lbs now. That's dope that it happened to work that way. >> fitness though, right? Cuz it's like people will fluctuate weight all the time and sometimes when they see someone like you going through the process, doing it over again, and seeing that like all the different iterations of that is like really important.
11:47 >> realistic example to follow. >> Yeah, cuz that's real life, you know. But you were able to do two things that were pioneering at once. That's crazy, yeah. >> I I I I I think this fool single-handedly brought Asians to the powerlifting game. 100%. Yeah, cuz before that it was just like white truckers and stuff. >> Cuz even even my cousin's company, they heavily looked up to you. They still do. Kind of Fit Kind of Fat? Oh, really? That's your cousin? >> They're still like all every one of them looks at Barbell Brigade as like they put them on the map kind of deal. And Yeah, I think there were only a handful of powerlifting gyms in all of Southern California. That's probably the first hub, right? For powerlifting in Southern Cali? >> Yeah, it was Yeah, I would say there's like the old school and then the new school and I do think we were the start of it. And it's cool to see like other uh personalities and
12:40 people kind of like um like give us a shoutout. Like if you go to uh Alpha Lion in Houston, Texas, they they've done whatever we've done to the nth degree. Wow. Cuz it's a giant campus ████ like I don't know even how many acres, maybe 30 acres with a gym space and ████ >> Cost him like a third of how much you had to spend in Cali. >> California. Probably. >> Most priceless thing I feel like is to know that you could have played a difference in whether or not some Asian guy out there was fit or not. Yeah. That's pretty ████ major. >> That's true. Like that changed his whole life. Because he saw you and went, "Oh, I guess Asians can be that buff." Like cool. I almost wished Change the paradigm. Yeah, I almost wished that like what I experienced Or I think maybe that's what subconsciously I was trying to do. Cuz the guys that changed my paradigm was the Bally's in Rosemead
13:32 that me and Joe used to work out at. >> But they were like Asian ex-convicts though. Like they were >> the one that buff Dora was at? Yeah, that's where I met him. It was It was a collection of the buffest Asians you've ever seen. They all came from jail. They're all like Tong Lee. Uh he trained at the uh 24-hour at Monterey Park 24-hour. But all the same city, right? And these guys were like another 10 years older than me, but it was cool to see like those guys that who I would consider like I guess my OGs. But I think because you're goofy, it's way more approachable. Yeah. Cuz you know like some some people might see a like you could see a buff Asian any ████ anywhere, really. But it doesn't look like they have the lifestyle that you have. >> Yeah, for sure. >> Doesn't look like they're, you know, the fact that you still seem like you're not 100% fitness, that you do make time for other things, yet you could still attain that goal. And I still get fat.
14:22 >> [laughter] >> Well, yeah, because people want to be like they wanted to be like you all around. They didn't want to be buff. They're like, "Oh, he looks like he has a great time." You know? Cuz it seems like you got to sacrifice one for the other. Yeah, one of the coolest things I I heard was uh from my buddy Russwole. Shout out Shout out to Russwole. He's probably going down in history books. >> Russwole's dope. He's one of the goats of powerlifting. And he said when he was building his gym and his brand uh at their team meetings, they would have like they would play replay the making of Barbell Brigade. That's so funny. >> Cuz we we had like a four-part series of building the gym and list all of our trials and tribulations, us shopping for spaces. This place isn't good, you know, ordering turf. What is that even like? Cuz we don't have experience. We're just like there's no playbook. We're just inventing things out of thin air. Like imagine like someone going, "Hey, you I need you to order like [snorts] 30 bars
15:14 and Rogue Fitness doesn't exist." And you're like, "How does that How does that even work?" We just have to invent it and figure that ████ out, you know? >> barbell store Yeah, you're like, "Where do you go to buy barbells? Like there's no Amazon during that time. It's like what the hell do you do? And it was cool for him to like watch it and then get like inspired by it and and like kind of be able to take whatever we've done and then surpass it. It's pretty cool. Bart Kwan It's cooler than making like Asian kids be like I want to be a dancer too. It's not the same. No, dancing is more cooler. Dancing is more cooler. Compared to that Have like an eight pack that's kind of tight. No, dancing is cooler. Fitness transcends to everyone. Anthony is about to go on his fitness arc too. Stay tuned. You know what's funny? Hannah's like every single time I see Chad buff Asian staring at you. She goes for sure they're JK fans. And it's because they have a sense of humor from us, but
16:05 they also have the fitness from Barbell. So That's probably what a lot about what I think people identify with most was the fact you're such a clown. Just like to ████ around. Well, because that's how like some people like fitness seemed so serious to me growing up. I never wanted to do it because it's so serious. It would like take something out of you. Change who you are. It's so intense. I had the same thing too. Like part of me was like oh if I lift weights I'm going to be like a ████ robot. I'm not going to I'm not going to have any personality. I'm going to lose who I am. But you realize that's ████ nonsense. Yeah. It doesn't make any sense. The combination was great that it's like you have fitness, you're funny, but the branding is cool. It's the perfect trifecta. It's not up its own ass. It's but it looks really cool. >> Cuz fitness stuff before that was pretty lame. Like the the boldness, the black, the you know, it looked like everything
16:55 looked like pirate flags. I was like oh that's cool, but it's not pretentious. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you guys. >> Yeah, good work. And now he's a real estate now he's a real estate agent. For [laughter] part two we'll see how now he's in his Remax mode. Peace. Breaking barriers. >> [laughter]
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