Bradley's Influencing Story

Bruce Von Stiers

I'm not really too much into the fitness world. I do exercise daily, utilizing a weight machine, a combination exercise machine and various floor routines. But I do this at home, not at a gym. So, I'm not very familiar with the culture that surrounds the world of weight and fitness training. I know it's out there, but I've never really exposed myself to it.

That brings me to what I am writing about today. I was given the opportunity to review a film about a guy who is a fitness influencer and an international social media star. The guy's name is Bradley Martyn. The film is a documentary about Bradley, his life, and his background.

The title of the film is Bradley Martyn: The Influencer. The film is from Generation Iron, a media company that specializes in fitness content. Not too long ago I reviewed a film from them about bodybuilder Tony Pearson.

The production companies involved in the film were the Vladar Company and the Generation Iron Fitness Network. It was directed by Vlad Yudin. It was edited by Scott Hardison. The cinematographer was Evan Rosenberg. The associate producer was Vin Sorrentino and the film was produced by Vlad Yudin and Edwin Mejia.

The film opens with Bradley driving a car out to Irvine to be on a podcast. He meets with Kyle Forgeard, the founder of Nelk Boys. This meeting is going to be for the Nelk Boys Fullsend Podcast.

There are opening credits and then the film moves to 2019. We are visiting Zoo Culture, which, according to a written line on the screen, is a premier gym in Los Angeles. We see Bradley working with a guy, spotting him on a barbell. Someone was filming him and then he views the footage. Then he does it with another guy, this time swatting the guy on the butt as he begins to lift a barbell. Apparently, this is something that Bradley does. Goofs around yet gets to the point of assisting the person lifting the weights.

From there the film goes into Bradley's life and his back story. Various people are interviewed. Mike Tornabene, himself somewhat of a social media personality, calls Bradley a social media powerhouse. One of the Zoo Culture employees, Shannon, talks about Bradley doing insane stunts to “catch people's eyes.” Things like lifting weights while on a hoverboard and lifting over his head a woman who was curled up in a ball. Someone being interviewed says that Bradley is exactly the same off camera as he is on camera, presenting a larger-than-life persona.

We learn about the various businesses that Bradley has started and built up. Those include Raw Gear, a clothing and apparel company.

Bradley grew up in Pacifica, California, just up the road from San Francisco. His father committed suicide when Bradley was six years old. His father was clinically depressed and died at age thirty-six. Bradley himself suffers from depression at times.

The film shows Bradley's house and the production areas in it. He has meetings daily with his content partners to maximize the production of the content Bradley provides via podcasts and videos. He and his partners set up a house together so that they wouldn't spend hours traveling between home and the production areas.

The film also covers what Bradley and other fitness professionals endured during the pandemic. All non-essential businesses were shut down. And that, despite the government mandated shut-down, Bradley opened the Zoo Culture gym.

Bradley takes us through his time in high school, discovering he liked the gym life and then trying to pursue a business degree at various colleges. When nothing really gelled for him in college, he decided to forge his own path. This included promoting and selling supplements.

We find out that due to him opening the gym during the lockdown, Bradley was charged with over forty counts of criminal conduct. The film shows Bradley going into court over the charges. And he provides some context as to why he found the rules that had been sent down were too restrictive and arbitrary at best.

One key thing that Bradley states of his life and business philosophy comes in about a third of the way into the documentary. He says that to be really successful, a business needs to “have real heart in it…it needs to really be able to speak to people.”

And he talks about how he struggled financially, even living in his car for a while. And that through the adversity in his life, it became a focal point to becoming successful and help other people as well.

Some of the parts of the film deal with Bradley's opinions and attitudes towards the pandemic lockdowns. His open defiance of the Covid rules that were set down and how his opinions drove his commitment to keep the gym open provide some insight into Bradley's passion for fitness and helping get others healthy. And, being able to make money while the pandemic was going on.

I have probably already given up too much of the content of the film, so I'll stop here. But I do have to say that this was a very interesting film. It shows how Bradley was able to take his passion for fitness and weight training and turn it into a profitable business. By having a physical location gym location, Zoo Culture, developing product lines, and providing informative and entertaining content via the Internet and social media has allowed Bradley to reach an unimaginable amount of people. The people interviewed for this film certainly seemed to embrace Bradley's passion. So it seems that Bradley is indeed the influencer that the film's title suggests.

Bradley Martyn: The Influencer is currently available on major streaming platforms such as Amazon, Google Play and Apple TV.

To learn more about Bradley, visit his official website at https://www.bradleymartyn.com/

You might also like to check out the Generation Iron website. That website can be found at https://generationiron.com/

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© 2023 Bruce E Von Stiers