One of the rising stars in the fitness world over the last couple of years has been Andrew Jacked. While he’s become very popular both online and wherever he travels, there’s a lot of mystery surrounding the 6’2” bodybuilder. Dennis James brought him on to the latest episode of The Menace Podcast to get some answers – including if “Jacked” is actually his last name.
“It was a name while growing up,” he told DJ at the beginning of the show. “It’s like a childhood name. So, I just put it as the family name. So, it’s my real name.”
Growing up in Nigeria, he’s currently based in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. He told James that there isn’t much difference between the two places, but he moved to Dubai for other reasons beside a change of scenery.
“Just pursuing my dream and passion. That’s it,” he said. A former electrical engineer, kickboxer, and CrossFit athlete, he’s now in hot pursuit of achieving IFBB Pro League status. At the filming of the episode, Jacked was in Las Vegas, where he’d recently trained with seven-time Olympia 212 champion Flex Lewis. His next contest is the 2022 Arnold Amateur, which is a pro qualifier. That alone is an amazing accomplishment considering that he hasn’t focused on bodybuilding for very long.
“Last year. After receiving some comments from people like pros and top athletes, I decided to give it a shot,” he said. He told James at the time of the interview that he weighed 130.5 kilograms, or 288 pounds. He explained that he has had no help getting to this point, except with one prep coach for a couple of weeks. He uses his engineering experience to help him figure out how he can become his best.
“If you see something works, you use it. If you see something that doesn’t work, you don’t use it,” he told the host. “I use myself as a lab rat.”
He’s been able to travel and train with many of the best athletes in various sports. When asked who the strongest man he ever trained with would be, he was quick to answer that it would be the one and only Larry Wheels.
“I’ve been with so many people, but I would say that universally, if the world was to give an award for the strongest athlete, I think it’s Larry Wheels.”
The two men talk more about Jacked’s profession, passions, nutritions strategies, training, and more. Catch the full episode, as well as every episode of TMP over at the Muscle & Fitness YouTube channel.
