I love my routine and when nothing upsets my routine. My dad used to tell me, “I know never to die and have my wake or funeral on a lifting day, because I know you won’t be there.”
Ed Coan is widely regarded as the greatest powerlifter of all time. He has set more than 71 world records in powerlifting. Ed’s best single-ply lifts are a squat of 1,019 pounds (~462 kg), bench press of 584 pounds (~265 kg), and deadlift of 901 pounds (~409 kg), for a total of 2,504 pounds (1135.79 kg). His 901-pound deadlift was achieved at a bodyweight of 220 pounds. Ed became the lightest person in history to cross the 2,400-pound barrier in the powerlifting total, which is the sum of three competitive lifts: the deadlift, bench, and squat.
Were you always good in sports?
When I was a little kid, I had no hand-eye coordination. I had to go to Illinois Institute of Technology at night and wear something like horse blinders because I couldn’t even bounce a ball. I was really little. My freshman year in high school, I was 4-foot-11 and 98 pounds, so I never went out for baseball and never went out for football. I was scared. [Eventually], I wrestled, because there was a 98-pound weight class. That’s when I found lifting.
I could dive into lifting by myself. It was only me and the weights. I’d sit in the basement at midnight on these ad hoc machines with little weights, going nuts for hours because no one was watching me. It was just me.
The way to get the strongest is to lift what is optimal and not what is maximal.
Mark Bell is the founder of Super Training Gym in Sacramento, which is often referred to as “the strongest gym in the West.” Prior to opening his own gym, he studied and trained under the legendary Louie Simmons at Westside Barbell. Mark’s best “geared lifts” in competition include a 1,025-pound (465 kg) squat, an 832-pound (377 kg) bench press, and a 738-pound (335 kg) deadlift. Mark is also a multimillion-dollar entrepreneur and the inventor of the patented Sling Shot, a device used to assist with proper bench press form while also increasing weight and reps.
What is the book (or books) you’ve given most as a gift, and why? Or what are one to three books that have greatly influenced your life?
Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuk: Gary V. had the forethought to recognize the importance of Twitter and technologies that hadn’t come yet to maturity. He talked about how all the then-current forms of advertising would be left in the dust. He also predicted that there was going to be a marketing shift from professional athletes and celebrities to social media influencers. This book made me recognize that I have enough access to make a very large company, even from my house, since everyone has the same access to the Internet.
The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss: It taught me better ways to manage my time and the value of not making myself too busy.
5/3/1 by Jim Wendler: Getting stronger can be as simple or as complex as you want to make it. Jim Wendler did a great job of presenting a condensed, simplified, but effective method for getting stronger.
Somewhere behind the athlete you’ve become, and the hours of practice, and the coaches who have pushed you, is a little girl who fell in love with the game and never looked back … play for her.
Anníe Mist Þórisdóttir first entered the CrossFit scene in 2009, when she finished eleventh at the CrossFit Games. At the 2010 Games, she took home an incredible second-place win before becoming the world’s first back-to-back female champion, claiming the title of “Fittest Woman on Earth” in both 2011 and 2012. After recovering from a severe back injury in 2013, Annie returned to the big stage and finished second at the 2014 CrossFit Games.
What is the book (or books) you’ve given most as a gift, and why? Or what are one to three books that have greatly influenced your life?
I mostly give books about Icelandic nature: Iceland Small World by Sigurgeir Sigurjónsson or Iceland in All Its Splendour by Unnur Jökulsdóttir, with photographs by Erlend and Orsolya Haarberg. I feel like that is such a big part of who I am and where I come from. I believe in the energy, strength, and freedom that nature gives.
What purchase of $100 or less has most positively impacted your life in the last six months (or in recent memory)?
The Five-Minute Journal gives focus on each day. I got it at Urban Outfitters. And maybe the Spiralizer, too. It makes salad so much more fun and interesting to eat.
The actual consequences of your actions matter far more than your actions themselves.
Liv Boree is a poker player, TV presenter, and writer. As a European Poker Tour and World Series of Poker Champion with more than $3.5 million in tournament winnings, she is one of the best-known faces on the international poker circuit and has been nicknamed the “Iron Maiden.” Liv is a member of Team PokerStars Pro and is a four-time winner of European Female Player of the Year. Her biggest passion is science, and she holds a first class honors degree in physics with astrophysics from the University of Manchester. Liv is a strong supporter of the Effective Altruism movement, the philosophy of using evidence and rational decision-making to achieve the most good. In 2014, she co-founded Raising for Effective Giving, a fundraising organization that raises money for the world’s most cost-effective and globally impactful charities.
What is the book (or books) you’ve given most as a gift, and why? Or what are one to three books that have greatly influenced your life?
The Passion Trap: How to Right an Unbalanced Relationship by Relationship therapist and psychologist Dean C. Delis. This was given to me by a friend when I was on the tail end of a very difficult relationship, and it was utterly illuminating. The author examines the psychological forces behind human attraction and explains the most common drives of conflict in intimate relationships. A key takeaway is that it’s rarely any given partner who’s the cause for a poor relationship; more often unbalanced dynamics are to blame. The book offers numerous tactics to overcome these imbalances and I’d recommend it to anyone, whether you’re single, about to break up, or in a perfectly happy relationship.
Skateboarding can change the world. Enjoy the ride.
Tony Hawk is arguably the best-known skateboarder of all time. He was the first skateboarder to land “The 900,” a 900-degree aerial spin, which he did at the 1999 X Games. The Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater video game franchise is one of the most popular in history and has surpassed $1.4 billion in sales. Tony’s other enterprises include Birdhouse Skateboards, Hawk Clothing, and Tony Hawk Signature Series sporting goods and toys. The Tony Hawk Foundation has given away more than $5 million to more than 500 skate park projects throughout the United States, which serve more than 4.8 million kids annually.
How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success? Do you have a “favorite failure” of yours?
When I first set out to help create a video game that features skateboarding, I had very discouraging meetings with various publishers. Some bordered on contentious, and I found myself defending skateboarding in general, as opposed to pitching a game based on the sport I love. In hindsight, it wasn’t the right timing anyway. A couple of years later, I was approached by Activision to be involved with what would eventually become THPS [Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater]. If that first round of pitches had worked, I believe that we would have released a game to an audience that wasn’t interested in skating … yet. As crushing as those first meetings seemed, they were exactly the motivation I needed to set myself up for the right opportunity.
If you could have a gigantic billboard anywhere with anything on it, what would it say?
“Skateboarding can change the world. Enjoy the Ride.”
Steve Jurvetson is a partner at DFJ (Draper Fisher Jurvetson), one of the top venture capital firms in Silicon Valley, Steve has been honored as a “Young Global Leader” by the World Economic Forum, and as “Venture Capitalist of the Year” by Deloitte. Forbes has recognized Steve several times on the Midas List, and named him one of “Tech’s Best Venture Investors.” In 2016, President Barack Obama announced Steve’s position as a Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship. He sits on the boards of SpaceX, Tesla, and other prominent companies. Steve was the world’s first owner of a Tesla Model S and the second owner of a Tesla Model X, following Elon Musk.
What is the book (or books) you’ve given most as a gift, and why? Or what are one to three books that have greatly influenced your life?
Gift #1: The Scientist in the Crib by Alison Gopnik. I give this to any fellow geek about to have their first child. Gift #2: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. A gift to all of my Apple ][ programming buddies from high school and Dungeons & Dragons comrades. So many of the geek references from the early days of personal computing brought back a Rush 2112 of Proustian 16K memories, from the Trash-80 to cassette-loading games.
Most influential books on me:
Out of Control by Kevin Kelly. Introduction to the power of evolutionary algorithms and information networks inspired by biology.
Always ask: What am I missing? And listen to the answer.
Strauss Zelnick founded Zelnick Media Group (ZMC) in 2011, which specializes in private equity investments in the media and communications industries. He serves as CEO and chairman of the board of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc., ZMC’s largest asset and the video game developer of blockbuster hits including Max Payne, the Grand Theft Auto series, and WWE 2K. Strauss is also a director of Education Networks of America, Inc., and sits on the board of Alloy, LLC. Prior to forming ZMC, he was president and CEO of BMG Entertainment, at that time one of the world’s largest music and entertainment companies with more than 200 record labels and operations in 54 countries. Strauss holds a BA from Wesleyan University, as well as an MBA from Harvard Business School and a JD from Harvard Law School.
What is the book (or books) you’ve given most as a gift, and why? Or what are one to three books that have greatly influenced your life?
How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie, the founder of the business self-help movement. Archaic references and overweening title to the side, it’s actually a great guide to leadership and salesmanship.
If you could have a gigantic billboard anywhere with anything on it, what would it say?
“Always ask: What am I missing? And listen to the answer.”
If you dare, then you have already gotten further ahead than 99 percent of all the others.
Daniel Ek is the co-founder and CEO of Spotify, the widely popular streaming platform, which has more than 140 million monthly active users. Daniel has been called “the most important man in music” by Forbes magazine. As a teenager, he created websites for businesses and ran web-hosting services out of his bedroom. He dropped out of college and worked for several web-based companies before founding Advertigo, an online marketing firm that he sold in 2006 to the Swedish company Tradedoubler. He then established Spotify with Tradedoubler’s co-founder, Martin Lorentzon, and became CEO.
What is the book (or books) you’ve given most as a gift, and why? Or what are books that have greatly influenced your life?
Black Box Thinking: The Surprising Truth About Success, by Matthew Syed. Since reading this book, I’ve literally incorporated this approach to problem-solving into every day. I’ve always encouraged those around me not to be scared of failure because I believe it’s the most valuable learning tool.
The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho. I spent an inspiring evening with Paulo in Switzerland, around the time we were launching Spotify in Brazil. It was fascinating to talk to him about how this book came to be such a hit—he never backed down, and he allowed people to read it for free in order to then boost sales—much like how Spotify’s freemium model was perceived in the early days.
