I Listen So You Don't Have To: Steve Austin Show Ep. 326

O'Hearn talks bodybuilding with Austin
Photo Credit: Muscle and Fitness

If you’re new, here’s the rundown. We listen to a handful of wrestling podcasts each week. Too many, probably, though certainly not all of them. In the interest of saving you time — in case you have the restraint to skip certain episodes — the plan is to give the bare bones of a given show and let you decide if it’s worth investing the time to hear the whole thing. There are many wrestling podcasts out there, of course, but this feature largely hews to the regular rotation we feel best fit the category of hit or miss. If we can save other folks some time, we’re happy to do so.

Show: Steve Austin Show — Unleashed!
Episode: 326 (May 19, 2016)
Run Time: 1:38:41
Guest: Mike O’Hearn (13:15)

Summary: Austin invited bodybuilding legend Mike O’Hearn to 316 Gimmick Street. O’Hearn opens up about his childhood and dyslexia, then explains how he got into bodybuilding and magazines and signed with American Gladiators, pre-empting a WWF deal. He goes deep on his approach to nutrition, workout routines and being clean before a diversion into his television work. The back half of the episode looks at gym fashion, professional influences, goals, working on romance novel covers and future plans — as well as more about training regimen and approaches.

Quote of the week: “Working out isn’t working out for me, working out is meditation for me. Working out is challenging myself and me talking to myself inside my head as I train, going, ‘Bitch, you better fucking do this today. This is you.’ And it challenges me. What can I do better today than I did yesterday? So it’s my meditation, I’m working on me to get better. So that’s why I cover up, because it’s an art show and I don’t believe in showing the art piece unless it’s completely done.”

Why you should listen: You care about bodybuilding, or getting inside the mind of an American Gladiator/romance novel cover model.

Why you should skip it: Do you even lift, bro?

Final thoughts: O’Hearn has plenty of charisma, and presumably there’s a large chunk of Austin’s audience already familiar with the muscle mag scene and ready to listen to whatever O’Hearn has to offer. I’m certainly not one of those folks, but I do still enjoy Austin having in-person conversations with someone who gets his gears turning. As long as the guest isn’t human garbage — and to be clear, O’Hearn seems quite the opposite — it’s at least entertaining, if not essential.