Seven months ago he had 700 followers. Now he has three million, a nickname from an American Gladiator video from a military driving class, and daily death threats in his DMs — and somehow he's still one of the most relentlessly kind people you'll talk to. Malibu went from Army veteran to gym trainer to overnight viral fitness influencer, and he's trying to figure out how to stay himself through all of it.

We connected with Malibu after our sons recognized him instantly from their own feeds. Turns out he'd been on our radar longer than Joe realized.

We cover the origin of the "Malibu" nickname from an Army driving class two decades ago, what it's like watching your follower count explode by 3,000x in half a year, losing nearly every old friend once fame hit, why he calls personal training "almost like being a therapist," the childhood moment at age seven when he refused to sign a hate list against a neighborhood kid, growing up moving constantly between states and countries including high school and college in Japan, and his answer to real online threats — meeting evil not with evil, but with relentless, deliberate kindness.

LINKS
Malibu's training app — malibufit.org

REFERENCED
Arnold Schwarzenegger's Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding

TIMESTAMPS
0:00 — Cold open — Oxford Pennant, appreciation, and Josiah's excitement
4:00 — The origin of the Malibu name — an American Gladiator video and a driving class
8:00 — What actually matters to him day to day — gratitude and giving back
12:00 — Life exploding overnight — the good, the hate, and losing old friends
17:00 — What "protecting your heart" actually looks like in practice
22:00 — Being a trainer as being a therapist — sleep, meals, and real conversations
27:00 — Two mentors — Arnold Schwarzenegger and his mother
31:00 — The hate-list story from age seven and refusing to sign it
36:00 — Growing up moving constantly — New York to Japan and back
41:00 — Real threats, real fear, and choosing kindness anyway
47:00 — Trusting two strangers with no social proof
51:00 — Tattoos, the Army, and Tattoo Paradise
54:00 — What's next — acting, wrestling, and staying himself
56:00 — The walkaway

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The Most Interesting Person in the World — hosted by Rush Witt & Joe Keller.