85: The Happy Body and Olympic Weightlifting with Jerzy Gregorek

Jerzy Gregorek is a World Record Weightlifting Champion. He grew up an alcoholic adolescent in communist Poland before weightlifting saved his life. Later, his wife and him fled to the USA and settled in Southern California where he began his personal training career. A few world championship titles later, he wrote “The Happy Body” which inspires millions worldwide on how to live a healthy and fulfilling physical and mental lifestyle. In this episode:

  • Learning obedience at an early age in war-torn and communist oppressed 1970s/1980s Poland
  • Falling into alcoholism as an adolescent
  • Entering the fire department at 19 years old
  • How weightlifting saved his life from drinking
  • Suffering temporary paralysis from a squatting accident
  • Finishing high school at age 24
  • Snatching 115kg at 132lbs
  • Finding a best friend through strike and then losing him to torture and murder by the government
  • “Truth, Love, and Forgiveness”
  • Traveling through Europe as a refugee making his way to the US with his wife
  • Bringing Olympic Weightlifting to Southern California
  • Winning 4 World weightlifting championships
  • Why the snatch lift is the purest form of power and his favorite exercise
  • Starting the UCLA weightlifting team
  • Forming The Happy Body and sharing his methods throughout the world
  • “Hard choices, easy life. Easy choices, hard life.” Aligning with stoicism – our responsibility to become the best version of ourselves and serve the planet.

You can learn more about Jerzy and The Happy Body: https://thehappybody.com/