From Cocaine Dealing & Prison To #1 Health Podcast In The World, With Dylan Gemelli.

**Ben Greenfield** (0:00)
My name is Ben Greenfield, and on this episode of the Boundless Life Podcast.

**Dylan Gemelli** (0:05)
I got a 15-year prison sentence when I was two.

**Ben Greenfield** (0:08)
No way.

**Dylan Gemelli** (0:09)
The first thing I saw was a guy with a big swastika tattooed on his chest, and I'm just going, what am I doing here? So 15 years ago to this Fourth of July, I got released from prison. That's where I started completely from scratch. And I studied, and I mean, I studied. Well, within a year, I had a million subscribers on YouTube, because there was like two or three guys talking about steroids and nobody talking about sarms or peptides on YouTube.

**Ben Greenfield** (0:32)
Welcome to the Boundless Life with me, your host, Ben Greenfield. I'm a personal trainer, exercise physiologist and nutritionist. And I'm passionate about helping you discover unparalleled levels of health, fitness, longevity and beyond.
My guest on today's show is Dylan Gemelli. He's a big figure in the fitness and biohacking industry. He is the creator of the Dylan Gemelli podcast, which is a popular one, number one in health and fitness right now, actually. Expert in peptides, hormone optimization, sarms. And he gets into his story, which is intriguing on this show. Everything from prison to Dylan cocaine to becoming an influencer in the bodybuilding world. This one's juicy. All the show notes are at bengreenfieldlife.com/dylan. That's D-Y-L-A-N.
Let's go talk with Dylan. I've been on your podcast. Obviously, a lot of people have been on your podcast. Last I checked, you had like the top podcast in health and fitness, which is crazy. That's difficult to do. So congratulations on that.

**Dylan Gemelli** (1:44)
I appreciate it.

**Ben Greenfield** (1:45)
But you know what, even though, like when you interviewed me, I learned about your interest in heart health. I know that you talk a little bit about peptides, your past life as a gym rat. But I don't know that much your backstory, man.
Like you just kind of like, in my opinion, like came out of nowhere, you're all over the health world now. But where did you come from originally when it comes to your health background?

**Dylan Gemelli** (2:07)
I was just an all out sports guy growing up my whole life. My dad started training me when I was three with, you can go back, I got pictures with my Hulk Hogan weight set, training with my dad. He was a college athlete. So we started young, man. And he started training me on baseball. Then it was basketball, football, tennis. And that's what I did for sports in high school. But you know, like junior, senior year, you got to start condensing it. It's just too much.
So I went with basketball, even though football was probably my best sport. That was my, you got to love what you're doing. So I don't want to sit here and act like I got this, woe is me. I had a great childhood. I mean, my parents weren't rich, but they gave me everything. So I don't have this, oh, I came up from this terrible upbringing and everything. My mistakes were Dylan caused, that I'll get to. So I want to make sure I preface that when I get to the part of the bad shit, everybody will say, oh, you overcame, but I didn't overcome what I caused. I just got through it, right? So I played college basketball. I broke my back twice.

**Ben Greenfield** (3:14)
Oh, no way. I didn't know you played college ball.

**Dylan Gemelli** (3:16)
Oh, yeah. Small school, D3 in Iowa, and then NAIA Division, what, three or whatever.

**Ben Greenfield** (3:23)
But by the way, I played NAIA Division one tennis. So familiar with with NAIA. Yeah.

**Dylan Gemelli** (3:29)
Oh, sick. See, I didn't know you played tennis either. Honestly, if I could go back, that's what I wish I would have done the most, because the longevity and the fun and the sport, you know.

**Ben Greenfield** (3:38)
Yeah. You talk about when you say longevity, you mean the fact you can play it for your whole life or that racket sports are actually associated with living a long time.

**Dylan Gemelli** (3:47)
I mean, I used to play in tennis leagues with dudes that were 60 and 70 and still, they outsmart you, you know what I mean? You can be as fast as you want, and those guys are so savvy playing the net, and you're just, but it's just great.

**Ben Greenfield** (3:59)
Yeah, it is a great sport. I want to get back to your story. I got invited to play with a bunch of collegiate tennis players tomorrow night, so I'm a little nervous.