The Amazing Lucas

Today I speak with The Amazing Lucas. Calling him a “youtube commentator” is a disservice; he’s much more than that – a bodybuilder, researcher, artist and lover of all things spiderman.

We discuss the origin of the phrase he uses to start each video, his trip to the white house to meet the president, what he’s encountered with some of his commentary, some politics, dating and movies.

Self-awareness and humility are what has allowed him to continue with his daily content and walk the line of providing useful content but also keeping a healthy amount of humility around at all times.

It is telling why he decided to no longer be a personal trainer, and how that applies to those that want to accomplish something in our lives.

Mark Bradford is a coach and creator of the Alchemy for Life™ system.

His contact info –

theamazinglucas on Instagram and theamazinglucas on Youtube.

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The complete transcript of this episode. Subscribe to the podcast to hear the whole thing on iTunes, Spotify

A Conversation with The Amazing Lucas

Mark Bradford: Welcome back. I’m here today with Lucas, who you may also know as “The Amazing Lucas” on Instagram and YouTube. First of all, welcome to the show.

The Amazing Lucas: Thank you very much. Thank you for the invite.

Mark: I’m very happy to have you. As I always ask my guests, tell us what you do, as we know that’s not necessarily who you are.

Lucas: What I do is I try to break things down to a very simple denominator—common sense, that’s how I see it. I see it as 1 plus 1 equals 2, and that’s how I try to see most things that I cover, whether it’s politics, games, or entertainment. I know there’s nuance to everything and shades of gray, but more or less, that’s the route that I take.

Mark: You have your own YouTube channel where you produce content pretty much on a daily basis, which anyone who produces content knows is not easy. Content is king, and to produce it consistently is impressive. You comment on a wide range of things—current events in the news, gaming, and Marvel stuff, which I get a kick out of as well.

A question about that: you start every episode with “Oh my goodness,” and you even have a shirt for it. Where did that catchphrase come from?

Lucas: I’ve gotten that a few times. A lot of the stories that I cover, I was just saying, “Oh my goodness,” because I couldn’t believe what was coming out of my mouth. Eventually, I started elongating it, and it turned into what it is today. Even with “The Amazing Lucas,” people think it’s pompous or arrogant, but I didn’t name myself that. People would comment, “what an amazing video, Lucas,” so many times that I was like, “Okay, I dub myself The Amazing Lucas because Tom Jones 584 said so.”

Mark: I had the same thing happen! My original Gmail account was “a remarkable man,” just a play on my name, “Mark.” When someone saw that, they said, “Oh, we like ourselves, don’t we?” It was just a joke.

Lucas: Can’t joke nowadays, that’s offensive.

On Humility and Having an Opinion

Mark: I think that gets to the meat of some of your videos. It gives you so much fuel. Something you said was very important: you’re really good at walking the line between authoritatively talking about something and having humility. I see that in every video. You say, “Here’s my opinion based on logic and my perspective,” but you also keep it real by saying, “Look, I don’t know everything, what do you think?” That’s more of an art than a science, and it takes real effort.

Lucas: I appreciate you noticing that. I see people out there who are very pompous in their delivery, like they’re the go-to for everything. I don’t see it that way. If anything, I try to do my due diligence and get both sides of the story. Sometimes a story is so ludicrous or asinine you just can’t help but laugh. I’m actually laughing because half of what I’m covering is nonsense. People are so serious nowadays; I feel like there’s a silver lining in everything.

Mark: You do cover some serious issues, and you have to pepper that with some humor. Humor helps people get on board and shows humility. When we’re presented with some of the bizarre stuff happening these days, I think you can’t help but laugh.

The Inner Journey to Success

Lucas: You also have to know your audience. A lot of the stuff I cover is popular stories. I know my strengths and where my weaknesses are, so it kills me when someone tries to post an evil or mean-spirited comment. I probably can name ten flaws off the top of my head about myself that you haven’t even thought of. I don’t want to talk about something that I’m completely out of my field in.

Mark: I think putting up those walls between knowledge is what causes so many issues. It’s much more comfortable hearing someone talk about foreign policy and then say, “Oh, by the way, let’s talk about Spider-Man.” It shows a real person.

Lucas: Yeah, some channels are just 100% politics; that would kill me. My channel actually started off as a fitness channel. I was like, “I’m going to be a fitness guy,” but I couldn’t do it. There are only so many times I can tell someone how to do a proper squat. I realized I like working out myself, not necessarily showing someone else how.

A lot of guys get into the gym thinking if they build a big body, they’re going to get lots of girls. The only problem is that it’s false advertising. If a girl sees you and you look like you have it going on, but then she starts talking to you and realizes you’re a man-child, it doesn’t work. It starts from the inside and works its way out. Once you want to improve yourself, you want to improve your physical self, then your mental self, then your spiritual self, then your financial self. It has a ripple effect.

Mark: That is all connected. I just published a book called The Status Game II, and it’s all about how each person has their status items, like dials on a dashboard. Someone can be physically attractive, but if the other stuff isn’t there, it doesn’t matter. You also mentioned “Fool’s Gold” in one of your videos—that’s what you’re talking about. Someone looks the part, but when you get close, you realize it’s not what you thought.

Lucas: I feel like those people are one-dimensional, and one thing you hate in a movie is a one-dimensional villain. It’s like, “I hate him.” “Why?” “Because I’m the bad guy.” That’s it? There’s nothing else going on in your life? I have many facets to my character. I’m a nerd at heart. I’ll go to Comic-Con, I like animation, but I also like politics and knowing what’s going on in the world.

There’s a certain maturity that happens over time. You go from “I just want a girl” to “I want a hot girl.” Then you get the hot girl and realize that’s not all it was cracked up to be. Then it evolves into wanting a girl who’s attractive, has social status, a good credit score, and so on. It’s the same thing with money, or even with your body. I started off wanting to be as big as the Hulk, then I got a good size and realized my mobility sucked. You tone it back down to find a balance of what you can achieve versus what you can sustain.

Mark: It’s interesting you say that because balance became very important to me, and I started this coaching practice as a “balance coach” to help people find that balance between their health, fun, learning, and spirituality. You’re one of the people who clearly took that path of realizing there’s more to life.

Often when I interview people, I realize, “Oh, it’s another one of those”—a dual-brained person. Someone who has the creative side and also the logic side. It sounds like you do exactly that.

Lucas: You have to nowadays. You’re forced to adapt. But that’s also a curse because people are adaptable, so some people adapt to really horrible situations, whether it’s relationships or finances, and they get complacent. It really goes down to your social circle, your top five friends. If you hang out with Lazy Nancy, that’s going to rub off on you. I realized I have to filter who I’m around. If I want to be a millionaire, I need to be around someone who’s doing better than me or at least has aspirations to do so.

On Politics, Media, and Persuasion

Mark: It goes back to status. People’s wants and needs change. A woman might be attracted to the poet with long hair playing his guitar, but once they have children, his ability to generate wealth and take care of them suddenly becomes far more important.

Lucas: I believe it’s those priorities. It goes back to politics. You have those people who are like, “Republicans are evil, they want to destroy America,” and others who say, “Democrats are evil, they want to destroy America.” I don’t think that’s the case. After speaking to a lot of Democrats, the reason they want certain policies is because they feel it’s the best for America. It’s the same reason Republicans want certain policies. Both people want the best for America; they just have different ways of going about it.

Mark: But there’s no money in nuance.

Lucas: There’s no money in that, no.

Mark: And speaking of politics, you were recently at the White House, is that correct?

Lucas: Yes, with Candace Owens and a few other conservatives. We were invited to see the president. He was honestly like a rockstar there, signing books and caps. It was a surreal experience. Every once in a while, I wake up and I’m like, “Wait, Donald Trump is the president of the United States of America.” It’s just funny saying that sometimes.

Mark: I watched a video you did where you were very tight-lipped about it, explaining that you wanted to see what it was about first before just jumping on a train. I thought that was very interesting.

Lucas: I’m not going to get behind something willy-nilly without finding out what it’s about. I think it’s that freedom… man, I get the whole “F-you money” thing because you don’t have to worry about a boss or someone calling up corporate. It’s like, “Yo, I’m my own person. You either like it or you don’t.”

One thing I can’t stand is people who have an opinion based on fallacious stories or bias. I try every day to find out what the other person is saying. I get Fox News, that’s cool. But what is CNN going to say? I want to know what is being told to other people. I love someone calling me out, like, “Yo, that’s not true.” If I’m always right, when do I learn from that? I’d rather be wrong than right half the time because now I can go research it and actually find the truth.

Mark: Three things: you’re aware there’s a bubble, which means you can’t really be trapped in it. And two, I know on LinkedIn and other places, I could post an article with a politically charged title, and the article itself could be a recipe for chili, and people would comment, “Yeah, I agree!” because no one reads the article. They just want that confirmation bias.

Lucas: 100% correct. And I think that’s the beauty of this administration, honestly. It’s showing people this cognitive dissonance. You look at some of the headlines and you’re like, “Okay, I know for a fact that’s not true,” or it’s so ludicrous, it’s above clickbait. As an American citizen, how am I supposed to come to a rational conclusion if I’m basing it on faulty information?

Mark: We are more empowered now to find things for ourselves than ever before, though it takes a bunch of work. You can do the due diligence, and you start to find which sources make more sense.

Lucas: But at the same time, why would you do that? That’s work. I’d rather believe what I want to believe than go down the rabbit hole and be like, “Wow, I didn’t know that happened.” Then it changes your reality. It’s like being unplugged from The Matrix.

Mark: It makes you take a certain pill…

Lucas: Exactly. When you go into discussions, you either come from a “win” perspective or a “persuasion” perspective. A lot of times, I’ll come from a win perspective, just wanting to show someone how dumb he is. But your goal in any debate should be persuasion. Even if you can’t win over the person you’re debating, maybe you’ll say something that resonates with the third person in the back who’s listening. It’s that great art form of persuasion.

Mark: There’s no money in not creating conflict or being sensational.

Lucas: It’s all about that conflict. And most of the news articles now are from the perspective of fear. “You better read this because that thing is happening!” when everything’s an apocalypse. The world has ended like 50 times already. You just gotta laugh sometimes.

Mark: I applaud what you put up with because I know you’re consistent, you try to see both sides, and you post some of the comments people write to you. It’s one thing to disagree and another to say some of the things they say.

Lucas: You have to understand they feel that they’re fighting Hitler, so they feel it’s a righteous cause. That gives you the right to do certain things. It’s a license. As Nietzsche said, “If you label me, you diminish me.” That’s exactly what they’re doing.

I hate hypocrisy so much. You can’t be like, “Well if this person wants it and they have a ‘D’ behind their name, that’s good, but when the same thing they want has an ‘R’ behind their name, it’s bad.” It’s like playing a game of checkers where the rules only apply depending on which side of the board you’re on.

Quick Questions

Mark: I have to bring it around now, as I’m running a bit out of time. A couple of quick questions. First, are you looking forward to the Infinity War conclusion?

Lucas: I am. I absolutely am. I’ll tell you what I’m not looking forward to is that Captain Marvel trash, but yes, Infinity War, absolutely. But I’m going to steal that line you used, “I don’t want to take much of your time.” I’m going to use that when I don’t want to talk to someone. It’s like, “Yo, I know you’re very important, so I’m going to leave you be.”

Mark: [Laughs] And since you attempted to call me out…

Lucas: No, no, I know you’re actually being sincere! I’m just saying I’m going to use that for my advantage. Someone hits you up in the gym and is going on and on, it’s like, “Oh, you’re a very important person, your time is valuable. I’m going to let you go.”

Mark: We could probably talk for a long time about the Marvel stuff. There’s a lot of theory about shoehorning in a character that’s infinitely powerful when we’ve waited 10 years to watch other characters have arcs. But I do wish I had more time with you. You’ve met Stan Lee also, and there’s just a lot to talk about.

Lucas: Mark, you’re very in demand, I get it. Humble brag.

Mark: [Laughs] Not at all. I do know the humble brags, though, and they annoy me. So, I’m going to let you go shortly, and hopefully, you can come back at some point so we can continue.

Lucas: Absolutely, we barely scratched the surface.

Mark: That would be fun. I really appreciate it. Is there anything you want to shout out before you go? I’ll have all your contact information in the article.

Lucas: Yeah, the YouTube is “The Amazing Lucas.”

Mark: Awesome. Well, perfect, thank you so much, and I hope I can nag you about coming back because you’re a lot of fun.

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