Furious Pete is an exercise celebrity with a monster personality, who has a colorful history with food. This is how he’s learnt to chew and train to fight cancer.
Furious Pete – Vital Stats
Age: 31
Height: 6ft 2in
Weight: 240-250lb
Bodyfat: 10%
Furious Pete’s final battle
At the time of this interview, I am about to go into my final session of chemotherapy, having battled cancer since 2014. I first discovered an irregularity in one of my testicles, which was almost four times bigger than the other. It was diagnosed as cancer and I had surgery to remove it. There was also a lymph node the doctors were suspicious of, but they left it.
In the summer of 2015 a cancerous growth formed. I chose radiation treatment because it was faster and easier to handle. I got the all clear, but was put on surveillance again. Afterwards, life was amazing, and I was stronger than ever, hitting a 700lb deadlift.
However in January of 2017 we discovered another growth. This was not easy to accept, and even harder to tell my family and fiancée. I know I’ll be fine. It’s been a tough battle, but I’ve had amazing support along the way. I continue to raise awareness for this topic and will keep at it for the rest of my life.
Staying furiously upbeat in the hard times
If you watch my videos, you’ll see the mind-set I have acquired is to succeed – I tell myself there is someone out there who has it worse. Chemotherapy is extremely tough to get through and it’s been a very difficult couple of months.
I love to work, and focus on all my businesses – Furious Pete, Furious Apparel, Furious Formulations, New Age Performance and investments – so when I can’t do that because of how
I feel during chemotherapy, it becomes challenging mentally. Now, I don’t stress about the little things. There is so much i appreciate more, especially when i can travel, see amazing new cultures and try delicious new foods.
Better to be safe than sorry
If you’re reading this right now, make sure you consistently check yourself down there. If there is something that feels unusual, see a doctor. Testicular cancer has one of the highest cure rates, and it’s even higher if you catch it early. I say this for two reasons. First, the average male takes five months to seek help if they see something wrong. Second, the sooner you catch it, the less of a chance there is that anything has spread to other parts of your body.
Fitness beginning
In high school I worked out in a casual sense, mostly training to become a stronger skier. Eventually, I built up my quads so much my friends made fun of me, saying they were folding over my knees. I didn’t care; my performance on the slopes was getting better.
Changing food relationships and goals
I eat to perform across all my platforms. Once i was a competitive eater, so it was about eating as much as possible in the shortest period of time. A lot of people who watch my content think I eat an insane amount of food all day long, but that’s really not the case: I eat clean as often as I can. But because I am into powerlifting, I don’t need to keep everything super strict and calculated, like when I was cutting and trying to maintain a six pack.
The type of food I eat will directly affect the type of energy I will get, so my diet consists of mostly lean proteins, greens, berries, healthy fats, and complex carbs based around my workouts. That said, when I feel like it is time to eat something with friends that maybe isn’t quite as healthy, I don’t hesitate to get involved. After all I’ve been through, you truly understand you only live once, and you have to enjoy yourself. In moderation, that is.
Strength will prevail
Powerlifting has been my passion throughout this and I do it three days a week. The other two days is a bodybuilding-specific regimen. The powerlifting routine is broken up into a deadlift day (my favorite), a leg day made up of squats, and a chest or shoulder day where I focus on bench or overhead presses. I’ll do 10-15 sets of these exercises with 50% of the sets at a working heavy weight.
Some days I will be focused on higher reps at 60-70% of my 1RM, and other days I will be doing a lower rep range at 85-100% of my one rep maximum. I’ve learnt patience is everything and mobility and technique are major contributors to successful lifting and overall maintenance of body mechanics. Over the last year-and-a- half I’ve focused more on maintenance and it has made a huge difference in my training and achievement of my goals.
My supplement stack
I use a multivitamin, a pre-workout, protein and BCAAs. For many years, I’ve reviewed supplements in an unbiased way, which my fans loved. So naturally, I created my own products under the Furious Formulations banner, after trying hundreds of different combinations to create super clean energy with intense focus.
Strength to keep going
My fans are the driving force of what I do on a daily basis. Every morning I wake up with a feeling of accountability that I attribute to them. On days where I don’t feel as motivated, I use my fans to remind myself why I do what I do. Of course I do it for myself, but a large part of me also does it for my fans.
5 Facts About Furious Pete
1. My mantra
Dedicated for life – i don’t believe in excuses, even in the toughest of times.
2. My psych for personal best
When i’m going for a heavy lift, I imagine there is someone or something pinned underneath a heavy object. My 700lb deadlift happened because I was figuratively lifting a truck off my dog. There was no way I was going to let him down.
3. My pre workout meal
One cup quinoa, one chicken breast, one cup vegetables and a small salad.
4. My go-to post workout meal: the naked burrito
Put some mexican spiced rice in a tray, sometimes some refried beans, top it up with some shredded lettuce, lots
of tomatoes, peppers, onion, jalapeños, corn, black beans, cilantro, salsa, guacamole, and top it o with your favorite protein, such as chicken.
5. My go-to smoothie: ice and berries
I load up my shakes with a lot of ice and use almond or cashew milk for multiple reasons, but mainly because it makes the shake thicker. I add a scoop of protein, a lot of frozen berries (usually blueberries or raspberries). Sometimes I use peanut butter depending on my diet.
That’s generally all i put into my shakes; i keep it simple. There are times where i throw in ginger or some extra vitamins for more nutritional benefits.
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