Barbell Shrugged - 101- Heather Welsh and Joe Weigel Former CrossFit Games Athletes Interview

Episode Date: January 29, 2014

Interview w/ former CF Games atheltes

Hey, this is Rich Froning. You're listening to Barbell Shrugged. For the video version, go to barbellshrugged.com. Welcome to Barbell Shrugged. I'm Mike Bledsoe with Doug Larson, Chris Moore, and our guest, Heather Welsh. Yes, that's how you say it. And Joe Weigel. Both of them CrossFit Games competitors. And we happened to all be down in Miami hanging out, and we were like, hey, come by the house. And they were like, for sure. Less house, more

Coke Mansion, really. This house was bought with cocaine money. For sure. Is that a heated pool? Yes, it's a heated pool. Before we get to talking about Miami and Wadapalooza, make sure you go to

barbellstrug.com, sign up for the newsletter and learn about those eight snatch mistakes you might be making that are keeping you from becoming the best weightlifter you can be. I said that very elegantly today. What else is in the video? Rich running zaps. You'll You said that very elegantly today. What else is in the video? Rich Froning's abs. You'll get to see Rich Froning's abs.

That's if everyone watching this hasn't seen Rich Froning's abs like a thousand times. Yeah, but one more time. A thousand times. He's like, yeah, he's right. She looks pretty excited. So we have two Ohioans here y'all are both from the central east

we've seen y'all compete at regionals because we're in the same region what brings you all the way down to Miami, Florida for me, Guido actually invited me, I was supposed to come down last year and last year you totally blew him off I totally did I had something to make

up to them and um and it just seemed a little bit warmer than than columbus at the present it's a cold winter yeah it's a very cold winter right now we were like negative like 12 i think a week ago i don't even know what that feels like yeah it feels so cold it burns. It takes everything out of you. That's for sure. So it just seemed like a good event. And so here I am. So it's like an excuse to take a vacation and get better at CrossFit. Yes, absolutely.

It's a good excuse. Now, is this something that you actually peaked for? You just like keep your training totally normal. You just come down here, do it for the weekend. Then you just go right back to what you were doing and no change in your training. Because you're looking further into the future to regionals and the games and whatnot. Exactly.

Yeah. I didn't peak for it. It's just, you know, one of those things where I train and then come to Miami. You test where you're at, right? Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. It's a good opportunity to see where you are compared to other athletes.

Don't you think people should do that more often? Absolutely. I think it's an epidemic where people take it so seriously all the time. Absolutely. I really do. Like people take it so seriously all the time. Absolutely. Like you're practicing competing. The audience might pick up me begging the question there because it's actually what I was thinking. I heard the tone of your voice.

What about you, Joe? You guys live two hours away. That's what I just learned. So y'all are both from Ohio, but you're not from the same town. So you're a couple hours away. What brought you here? I got my flight covered. So I'm coming. The truth comes out. Yeah, it a couple hours away. What brought you here? I got my flight covered. I'm coming.

It's a cool event. Awesome venue. I saw pictures and stuff from last year. It just looked like something to be really cool to be a part of. This is like the nicest CrossFit competition I've been to that's not the games. I agree. This is awesome.

I'm having a lot of fun. What got your attention the most? What's the best part of it? Basically, been to that's not the games. I agree. This is awesome. I'm having a lot of fun. What got your attention the most? What's the best part of it? Basically, the best part of it so far has been the Barbell Shrug speaking events. They haven't happened yet, but they're going to be awesome. By the time this posts, they will have happened.

It's just the fact that we're in Miami and the competition is happening down on the water. Is that from Memphis or Ohio. That's awesome. Oh, it's amazing. Yeah. Yeah. There's three of there's how many platforms

are there for competition? Three or four platform stages. Three. Three. One of them is literally just hanging over the water. It's gorgeous. So like three big rug racks, three big platform. Everyone from Miami is complaining about the weather.

They're like, oh, my God, I'm walking around in a t-shirt and everyone's got hoodies and parkas on. And they're like, dude, Mike, you're so hardcore. I'm like, no, I'm just from- Are you sure you're not just injecting those words? I'm pretty sure I heard the words hardcore. I find a lot of people that are from Miami, they're apologizing for the weather. Yes.

I'm so sorry. It's 70 degrees. Never like this. Everywhere else Yes. I'm so sorry. It's 70 degrees. Never like this. Everywhere else, it's torture. Yeah. It's 80 degrees warmer. It's not the fucking thing. My cab driver tonight is wearing a jacket and he's like, how are you doing this?

I'm like, man, dude, I don't think it's that bad. The guy at the sunglass store. That guy's definitely from Cuba where it's even warmer. The guy at the sunglass store, he was like, you're not wearing a jacket? He's like, it's freezing down here. I'm like, dude, it's 30 degrees warmer than where we come from. Yeah. I was telling people, I was like, when I left, I looked out my back door and the swimming pool was frozen.

So that's what I tell people. I'm like, that's the way it was when I left. So this is perfectly fine. They're like, that's how unfair my life is, man. My pool is currently frozen. The best part I like today about the competition of all the things I liked about the competition, seeing the athlete

area. It's dope. It's like very spacious. Oh, yeah. Tents with mad amounts of couches and seating space. Pallets of coconut water. I'm assuming anybody needs refreshment to get coconut water. I'm assuming anybody needs a refreshment to get coconut water in. Are they treating the athletes well here?

Our athlete village is on the beach. We got chairs set up right on the water. You got your personal athlete village set up. We're going right there to the beach. You don't get that shit in power up in the weight room. No, they give you just the floor. And a very crowded warm-up room with not enough weights and it's in the back of

some shitty hotel conference room. You know, I mean, how many times have you been in one of those? This is luxurious. Plenty of times. Alright, Joe, how'd you do today so far? The end of day one. Are you drinking booze? Yes. And you compete? Like I said, it's not regional.

We're the ones talking. I don't get to go to miami okay enjoy yourself yeah how often am i gonna get to come to miami so i figured i might as well enjoy myself i you know i don't even know what place i'm in uh i think the first one i was like fifth the second one i think i was around fifth so i haven't i haven't seen the overall leaderboard myself i don't know what are you looking to get out of it, though? I just want to see how I stood up against some good athletes here. You've got to temperature check, right?

Yeah, see where I'm at. I'm going to keep my training focused on regionals, but it's good to be able to participate in stuff like this. Do you have anyone here specifically that you're like, that you're looking at to see like how you match up against? No. That you've been like chasing for a while or anything like that? No, there's, there's,

I'm the only guy from the central east that's here. So. Do you think that's indicative of what might happen at regionals? That's a pretty open ended question. In terms of the weather? Well, there's some competitions where you go to it, and then you might place 50th.

But then if you were to show up to regionals that same weekend, you'd place third. You know what I mean? I don't think you can read too much into these kind of competitions. I think it's great competing, but Scott Panchak got fourth at the same competition last year, and he's been fourth at the games the past two years. So, you know, I'll take it for what it is. It's a good comp, good time to get out there with good athletes. in competition last year, and he's been fourth at the games the past two years.

I'll take it for what it is. It's a good comp, good time to get out there with good athletes, but regionals comes as a different beast. I'm not going to look at it like if I get first, you're like, oh, man, I got this, or if I get last, I'm screwed. You've got to stay focused on what regionals is. The wise man once said, don't count your chicken before they're hatched. Whatever that means.

Don't put all your ducks in one egg. That's the one I heard. You come here not to compare, not to do whatever. You're seeing where you're at. You're making sure you're ready. There's no glaring weakness before you go into this competitive season. The thing I always say in the recommendation of powerlifting and weightlifting,

is go in just having fun. You're picking one target, one meet. If you're a weightlifter, it's maybe two years out, four years out. If you're a CrossFitter, maybe it's the games next year. These acute events really mean nothing, to your point. Yeah. It's mostly about getting comfortable, mixing it up, and having fun meeting all these people, building relationships.

Yeah, and it gets you prepared for that. You still get that nervous feeling before competitions and you know, that's something you got to deal with at regionals every year. So more used to that. So we never actually got your guys' backgrounds coming from you. So maybe we'll start with Heather. Like tell us a little bit about yourself, like how you got into CrossFit and just give a little bit of like kind of your,

your stats and like your big moments that way everyone that's watching that doesn't really know you that well, kind of gets an idea of really who you are yeah i um excuse me i i started uh i i've always been an athlete my whole life but um but after i have two children and after my second um the women in my neighborhood they were talking about this this exercise class that they do and you know you had kids, you got into CrossFit? Afterwards, yes. Yeah. And so they invited me along, and honestly, I thought it was,

I pictured it, CrossFit, to be a glorified boot camp that they did in a field. And I don't know where the field came from, but in my head. Oh, boy. Things our imaginations come up with. Yeah, exactly. It our imaginations come up with. Yeah, exactly. It was 2009. Okay. Yeah.

So I started in the first gym I walked into was Graham Holmberg's gym. Oh, yeah. One that he was just coaching at. Oh, you lucked out. Right? Yeah. Yeah, like, hello, nice to meet you. I had no idea. That explains why four years later you're where you are.

Right. And he had just gotten back from his first games. And so, you know, I was kind of taking this all in. I just love the intensity of it. You know, it brought me back to, you know, the days that I played volleyball at Ohio State. And that kind of training and goals. Oh, you're an Ohio State girl. I'm a Buckeye.

Hell yeah. Oh, man. Every time I go to Columbus, I can't stand to see all the Ohio State stuff. There's nothing else but that. There's nothing else. Is there something wrong with being proud of your home team? No, no, I get it. There's nothing else.

There isn't. You're right. Y'all are committed. That's not true. You've got that big ass sandwich they sell near the doppelganger or whatever. It's this giant sandwich that they have near the Ohio State stadium. It whatever. It's this giant sandwich that they have near the Ohio State Stadium that's a challenge.

If you can eat it, you can find it for free. That's a burger place. There's only one other town that I'm familiar with that is like Columbus, Ohio is about the Buckeyes and that's Pittsburgh

and the Steelers. Oh, and the Steelers, yeah. Those are the only two cities I know of where they're all in on that one thing and it's just like The Steelers thing is everywhere though. People take that shit really seriously. Yes, I know. Sorry, I'm sorry to cut you off

but the Buckeye thing just got me all fired up. Go Bucs, that's right. You can say it. I'm not going to say it. So yeah, in a nutshell that's how I got involved into crossfit and um you know they asked me to be a part of the team that year and that's when there was still you know sectionals and regionals that it was kind of like all over the place everybody did

their own region oh they're sectional that was a fun year it was a fun year it was great but so different from what we do now. So. Yeah. And then the following year, just kind of trained towards making it as a team to the games. And we did. And then in 2012, I made it as an individual. And 2013, I finished eighth at regionals. So I'm working my way back up to. It sounds like the bug bit you pretty quick.

Like you got into the bug.. You got right into it. You got on a team and before you know it, you're in the games. Yeah. I was fortunate enough to have Graham there just working with me. He recognized that I was an athlete and that I could potentially do good things and

perform well. I just kind of walked in the right place at the right time. I was very lucky. You made the games the year previous to this one and you didn't make it this year. You placed 8th at regionals. Now something similar happened to Michelle Kenny. Yes.

We had her on the show and she had that big comeback this past year. What do you think about that? Do you feel the same way? That would be great, obviously. That's what I'm training for is to make it back to the games as an individual. However, I'm in

a different place in my life than I was last year. Last year, I'm a teacher. I teach second grade. Bless you and your amazing levels of patience. It's the best job in the entire world, besides being a mom. Podcast looks pretty cool. I don't know.

Podcast looks pretty cool. I see that, yes. I bet you can also bake a perfect apple pie. You're shaping up to be like an all-American mom. I crush wads, here's fresh apple pie. There's Chris's imagination running away with him here. He's lodging a step.

Last year, I stopped teaching. I ran a Cross. But, you know, last year I stopped teaching. I ran a CrossFit gym. And that was, you know, besides my children, my entire life was CrossFit. And this year I'm back to having more balance in my life. And that works best for me. So who knows if I make it to the Games. Are you teaching again? Yes.

Okay. So that's balance. I have balance in my life. Yeah. You know, when I'm in the gym, I have, you know, like two hours and those are my two hours. And if I don't get in,

but I need to get in, then I don't get in. So just training at the gym, you're not coaching or, or doing any administrative or management stuff. I'm, I'm coaching just one night in a week, just two hours.

So it's, it's, it's good. So maybe it was a little, it was a little bit of burnout, like too much of exposure to like a little distraction and too much. I think I lost the fun in CrossFit. I didn't do any competitions.

You know, I was doing a lot of volume all year and it was CrossFit, CrossFit, CrossFit. You know, my whole day was structured around it, around my training. And, you know, I kind of lost sight of what's important in the big picture. Yeah. It's funny. So you go back to that and then the results come back. Yes. That's what's beautiful.

Like people are obsessed that if I'm not working as hard as I can, I'm not going to get the results I want. It's just not subjectively, demonstratively not true. Exactly. Yeah. And you feel better, you know, and it's not so. I was crushed when i didn't make it to the games this past year you know really really crushed um and i feel like this year it's there's

not so much emphasis on i've got to make it to the games or that's it you know it's just more of like i'm doing this for fun and it brought me back to the roots of why i actually started crossfitting awesome yeah yeah very cool cool. So that is actually different than maybe Michelle Kinney a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. But, you know. Everyone's got their own path and journey. Absolutely.

Yes. Yeah. Without a postcard. I think everyone's got their own path, man. Your path is this one. Quote me. What about you, Joe? Your background.

I started in I think 2008 I was a senior in high school go up to the mic there you go there you go started in 2008 you gotta nuzzle it

or I get something else you're close you're getting intimate with it man 2008 senior in high school I think I tried how old are you

I'm named 24 oh fuck you're so young oh shit he's a kid yeah that's how you know you're fucking old dude that's how I know I'm named 24. Oh, fuck. You're so young. Shit, he's a kid. Yeah. That's how you know he's a fucking old dude. That's how I know I'm old when I go like 24 years old, man.

You are long in the tooth. I wish I was 24 again. No, you don't. Look at you. You got this beard and you're here. There's so many great things happening in your life and shit. I don't know. I don't know.

It's not very convincing. Sorry, Joe. Go ahead. Yeah, so one of the, I think one of the shit? I don't know. It's not very convincing. Sorry, Josh. Go ahead. Yeah, so one of the, I think one of the first workouts I did was Fran. Of course. Yeah, you know, everybody seems to do that one first. Then it took me like 11 minutes or something. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I didn't, you know, I was doing kipping bulbs, you know, with my hands like facing this way and like

doing a froggy kip and stuff, you know, and I was like, man, I just, I got crushed on that, you know. I was like, anything that feels that bad has to be good for you so so uh and i was always really competitive so yeah it seemed like something i could do that would uh you know be a good avenue that i could compete at do you have a sporting background in high school and everything? I played sports in high school, yeah, but nothing after. Nothing after high school. What did you play in high school? I ran cross country.

I played football. You ran cross country and played football? Yeah, different years. Okay. Yeah. So all the athletic ability is there. What did you compete in in cross country? I assume there's different lengths of running.

No, it's all 5K. 5K? Every time, yeah. That's different lengths of running i know it's all myself with the running it's all 5k 5k every time yeah that's a lot of kids yeah every every time it's another 5k get up all the k's i've ever run i don't think it's fine i don't blame you yeah much more fun anyways so that's that's when i started um and then i've pretty much been competing ever since i just wasn't very good at all at first you know i was just a skinny little kid like 170 pounds or something so that's that's kind of my background how i got started what do we know uh 195 yeah so you just started crossfitting in 2008. And just kind of, were you at a gym that was focused on like training for the games or was it just kind of like show up and do the 45 minute water?

Uh, you know, when I first started, I was doing it in the high school weight room. Okay. And so you didn't start the crossfit gym. Well, one of the teachers at the high school, he kind of started an affiliate out of the gym, out of the weight room. Okay. And so you didn't start the CrossFit gym. Well, one of the teachers at the high school, he kind of started an affiliate out of the gym, out of the weight room. Oh, cool. That's very interesting, actually. It started there and then it progressed, you know, to the actual facility eventually.

It's a lot better than you get at most high school gymnasiums. Like we say, usually it's like a very loose interpretation and a bad utilization of like bigger, stronger, faster, whatever the old program was. When I was like in the late 90s, I was in high school. Everybody did this program because it came out of some mysterious coaching association. Well, shit, it's what you need to do. That was the very first time I ever heard of a cleaning jerk was at a bigger, faster, stronger convention in a high school weight room. I remember us executing that program the classic way. Strap that bar up, pick it up,

get that weight swinging, get it swinging, and then reverse curl. Now you are a fucking powerful football athlete at that point. I have literally been taught that. I know exactly what you're talking about. I'm not kidding. Like 15 years ago, that's exactly what I was taught. Slam it off your thighs and just pick it up right to here.

You don't want to bang your collarbones, though, so keep I was taught. Slam it off your thighs and just pick it up right to here. And that is? You don't want to bang your collarbones, though, so keep it out here. That's not so hard. Wait for your collarbones. That's bad. Well, you see, very fortunate, man, to get exposed to something that's, you know, a lot of people argue about getting in the weeds about what's the best thing for athletes. But I think for well-rounded, competitive, sporting folks,

teaching you good technique and a clean and jerk and a snatch and where else can you get that as a high school kid in most areas of this country? Yeah, it's rare. Same with the soccer mom,

same with the busy 45-year-old office worker. When would you ever learn a clean and jerk in any other reality other than if it was through crossfit?

So I always fought back on that. So if you were doing D1 volleyball, you said, so you guys have a dedicated strength coach, and were you doing cleans and stuff before you ever came to CrossFit? Yeah, yes, absolutely. Okay, so you had a good background coming in.

I did, I did. You know, everything was taken off of blocks, though. So not directly from the floor. I can see that being okay for a pure volleyball player. Yeah, for volleyball, it was great. It was great, but I hadn't, oh my goodness, I hadn't done that since in like years, probably like five years.

Yeah. And so it was an adjustment coming back. But once I just picked up the bar and just started working again with, you know, my movements, it came back pretty quick. So you say years, you've got a couple kids. Yeah.

How old are you? 31. Oh, I didn't think she was going to tell you. I thought she was going to go, shh. I can't believe you asked the lady how old she was on the radio. I know. That was ballsy. This is being recorded. It's okay.

I had to ask. It was just like, man, I was starting doing math in my head and it got hard. So I had to ask. You're the one. She must be either 22 or 34. So it's obvious that all that came back relatively quickly because that is a pretty steep ascension to games like just three or four years.

Yeah. So the work came back quick. It did. You know, I think that just with, I think the biggest hole that I had was, you know, endurance in volleyball. We really didn't run long distance a whole lot. And so the longer workouts kind of

sat me back and those are the ones that would... What's a longer workout? Well, back in the day, it was like 20 minutes. That's a long workout for me. Right, like where I excelled at the eight minute workouts. You're like, go. And I'm good.

I'm with you on that one. It's the most fun. But but yeah and so last year i hired doug katona and at the time he was with crossfit endurance and um and he really you know built my engine up so that i could handle the longer workouts and more gave me more endurance what'd you guys do to build the engine oh my gosh i ran and ran and I ran. Yeah, and then I ran some more. A lot of... I know Doug and

Brian McKenzie are both big fans of a lot of sprinting for building the engine. That's what we did and I did a lot of 400s, 800s and then it put me in a very uncomfortable position

which is exactly where I needed to be in order to kind of to build that engine to where it is now and and so now

he's no longer my coach but you know I think that that work it's paid off right so

I think people assume that if you if you hadn't had it it's somehow a a disadvantage like I never ran so maybe I can't give this a go it's actually I don't think that if you hadn't had it, it's somehow a disadvantage. I never ran, so maybe I can't give this a go. I don't think that's actually true because what do you have? Moving really well, athletic ability,

a toughness. You can dedicate yourself to whatever because it's not easy. I was a college athlete. It was kind of a shitty one, but I was a college athlete. It's hard to survive college. It's actually tough when you're going to study all, and you're doing all the mandatory hours. You're going to class at like 8 a.m., 6 a.m.

I had like 4 a.m. to like 6 a.m. conditioning sessions. It's really tough. You can come out of that, and you have a new challenge. Like, I have something I've never done. 800 meter sprints or whatever. People think, well, you suck at that. Well, actually, no. You have a new, ripe area of adaptation

that you take that experience to and put it to with no expectation other than I've got to make it work. And that's how you get a huge increase in that ability. Absolutely. It's not true that you haven't done it

so you're somehow going to suck at it forever. It's not true. I agree. It's like me. I went back from doing a powerlifting and then over low bar style squat

doing high bar squats. And also I'm squatting like a brand new person. It's not true that if you haven't done it, you're not going to be good at it. That actually brings up another thing. You guys live in Columbus, which is where Louie is. Do you guys go over to Westside and train over there at all?

I've never been over there. Oh, really? Yeah, it's crazy. I should go say hi to Louie. You totally should. Tell him that we sent you over there. I will. Hey, Barbo him that we sent you over there. I will. Yeah, tell him we can.

Hey, Barbo Shucks sent me here. You're shaking your head. He won't remember. He's met me three or four times. He'll be like, who's that guy? That's right. That's right. Not a bad one.

He'll be like, the little guy. He'll go, oh, oh, the little guy. The crazy guy who did power cleans off a chair. Against bands. That's right. I was the only weightlifter willing to come in and do like banded power cleaning jerks. The beauty about Louie is that he's a completely

open-minded guy, actually. He'll try anything if he thinks it'll help people get better. He's telling you what he thinks will honestly help you. There's not actually much of an agenda there. It's very good. If you're looking to switch up your training and you want some more variety for your strength work, you will walk out of there with a bunch of shit you've never done before. Yeah.

He once suggested that Doug do 100 leg curls. Yeah. All at once in one sitting? He told me to do 100 leg curls. All right. First he told me to build up to a one rep max super ultra wide, legs

locked out, sumo deadlift. As wide as I could go, feet all the way to the bumpers, knees locked out sumo deadlift like as wide as I could go like feet all the way to the bumpers knees locked out and just bend over and pick it up it goes build up to that and then do a hundred leg curls alright I've never done that before I got what I needed he didn't do it

that's why he didn't pull that record deadlift never PR'd ever again he could have been a world record powerlifter. I know. All right, we're going to take a break real quick. When we come back, we're going to find out the secret interval system that you were given by Doug Katona that made you a great athlete.

And we're back. Oh, Tanner Tennyson just put his hand in my ass. Lucky. I don't know. Let's cross over symmetry, guys. He's so symmetrical. All right. Tanner's just happy you got a plug on the show.

That's how you get plugs on the show. You just, you know, you goose me on the way out of the room. You just feel it, Mike, and he won't stop talking about you. That's right. What are we supposed to talk about? That's putting a lot of pressure on the guests. No idea. The special interval system.

Oh, top secret interval training. Oh, yeah. Do you have any secret supplements you take? Perfect food bars, yeah. That's your secret power? That's my secret power. Can I say, you keep some in your fridge. You keep some in your fridge, and we some in your fridge and we go over there

to shoot the show and I eat like five. My wife hates you. She said you have any of my last time I said that. Bring your own fucking perfect food bars this time. That's probably what she said. We actually have the perfect foods bar set up in my fridge at the house.

Like every flavor. Oh yeah. When you open the fridge. Like a vending machine. We podcast at my house. We have the studio set up there my fridge at the house. Like every flavor. Oh yeah. Like a vending machine. During the podcast at my house we have the studio set up there and we do it there. And we just eat the bars in between shows. That's really all it is. We're sitting there eating bars. This one's good. This one's the fucking honey one.

I tell you what, since I started eating food bars, I've gotten better abs. How about you? Have your abs gotten better?, I've gotten better abs. More perfect. How about you? Oh, yes. Have your abs gotten better? Abs have gotten better. Yeah?

They have. Oh, shit. It's not just me. What's your favorite flavor? I eat the peanut butter. I just crush peanut butter. Is that technically paleo? I don't care.

Is it actually perfect if it's not paleo? Yeah. No. Okay. I don't know. Who gives a shit? You know, after our workout today, we go out to our chairs and there is this giant rat that runs out of Heather's bag.

And we're like, what was it doing? Holy shit. I was like, it was eating the perfect food bars. And it was. We found one. Was it jacked when it came out? It was the size? Holy shit. It was eating the perfect food bars. And it was. We found one. Was it jacked when it came out? It was the size of a cat. It was the biggest rat I've ever seen in my life. It was like the size of a cat and it was shredded probably.

It was? They had Cuban rats down here, you know. You do. It's steroids. They speak Spanish. They're well tanned. They manscape. Ready for the beach. They wear neon. They love cocaine. They love Spanish. They're well tanned. They manscape. Ready for the beach.

They wear neon. They love cocaine. They love cocaine. It was wearing a neon thong. Absolutely. Is that what I heard? And it went and ran right into the water. So it's going for a swim.

There you go. Can I ask, what's your, and this is maybe like the vaguest question ever, from a diet perspective, so other kind of supplements, what's your general take on supplements and food? Like what's your general approach? Do and food? What's your general approach? Do you count up all the units of the

zone thingy? What do people do with the zone with the units and the blocks? They take grams. Do you measure everything like an obsessive weirdo? They take grams and convert them into confusing blocks. Do you go paleo? Do you go paleo and go, well, if it's natural, I just fucking eat all I want because you can't get fat if you do that.

That's the justification I give myself on Friday nights. Like, well, it's dark chocolate. If you really think about it, I can eat two bars, and it's really only like one bar of regular chocolate. What's your approach? You know, it's taken me, honestly, some time to figure out what works best for my body. And for me personally, it's timing of what I'm eating and when. It wasn't necessarily...

That's unique to you. To me, yeah. And that's what I think. I don't think that a paleo does not work for me. Oh, man, I'm a moody bitch on paleo. Let's get into that because that's the current theme. Why were you a moody bitch? Your words.

My words. Just reminding you. Yeah, I'm just reminding you. My words. Why were you. Yeah, I'm just reminding you. My words. Why were you such a moody bitch? I was a moody bitch because I felt tired all the time. Go on. I was exhausted.

I felt weak. I didn't feel like I was strong. And so, you know, like failure doesn't work for me. And so. That's like doing two a days or just training once a day or. That's. With two a days or just training once a day or... That's... That's training... With no workout shake.

Yeah. Just like every day how I'm feeling. You know, not necessarily... Too little carb? I honestly think so, yes. It's tough to eat. Everyone comes to that conclusion. It's hard to eat like 100% paleo

and get enough carbs to do like CrossFit... Absolutely. CrossFit athlete training. Right. Which is different than doing a 45-minute one. Right. Or going in for 45 minutes.

Exactly. And I think that it's great for people that need that lifestyle change. You know, that are possibly overweight and they need something. You said that in the nicest possible way. I'm trying to be. Possibly overweight. People who need a lifestyle change who could be overweight, gravity. I eat. If you're a fat guy like I was, you should be in strict pay. who need a lifestyle change who could be overweight gravity sex them.

If you're fat like I was you should be in strict paleo. You don't need the fucking potatoes bro. Lay off. But I think paleo is great

for people that need a lifestyle change. Not necessarily for me. Gotcha. Yeah. It seems like CrossFitters geek out on energy systems

a lot and being a predominantly glycolytic sport for the most part, which is a super carb-dominant sport, it's weird that they would be, at least the competitive athletes, so paleo-friendly and not very carb-friendly if it's a carb-driven sport. It's kind of a disconnect.

So all competitors eventually realize that paleo most of the time is a good thing, but you still need higher carb paleo, if you will, if you want to be competitive at a high level. Yeah. And if you want a cookie, have a damn cookie. Oh, God bless you. Can I have a high five? To that point. I think paleo installs the lesson of quality. You've got to think of

quality, but after that, you need the surplus to feel what you're doing. Sure. That said, you've got to have a delicious go-to cheat meal. I want to know the frequency. I want to know. Sure. That said, you got to have a delicious go-to cheat meal. I want to know the frequency. I want the details, the dirty, dirty details of every morsel. What do you go for?

Pancakes. Fuck yeah. That's a good one. It's honestly like pancakes are my favorite. So you like pancakes better than French toast? Yes. Oh shit. I don't know, man.

French toast is pretty damn good though. Yeah, that's mine. If I have pancakes or French toast, French toast is... damn good, though. Yeah, that's mine. You probably have pancakes or French toast. French toast is... What you do is you take... Here's a good one. You get like a fucking pound cake. You cut it into slices.

You make French toast with that. You dredge it in the egg. Whoa. You fry that shit in Kerrygold butter. That's next level. You top it with whipped cream cheese, and you hit it with a little honey. Next level shit. Ooh, honey.

That's the voice most experience right there. Joe, what do you do for nutrition? Don't get you naughty by accident, bro. What do you do for nutrition, Joe? Anything I want, anytime I want. Well, you're fucking 24. This question is not valid for you, dude. When you become 35, they don't want to know.

Every evening usually includes me eating peanut butter or Nutella. Like half the spoon, peanut butter, other half Nutella. This dude's life is a cheat meal. Yeah. Well, every guy that was, was one 70 has been trying to put on weight for the last couple of years.

So eating whatever the hell you want is actually probably beneficial for you. Keeping on as much mass as possible, especially as young as you are. Yeah. The Mitch Froning school of dieting. Fuck, I need calories. Hamburger.

How do you feel? How do you feel about fruity pebbles? Oh, I'll eat them. They're gluten free, right? I'll eat them. And now non-GMO. They took the genetically modified shit out of them. Whatever that's worth. That's why I feel good about eating

Fruity Pebbles before I go to bed. You're a cereal guy. I eat cereal. Right before you go to bed? Yeah, I eat cereal and popcorn're a cereal and popcorn guy. Right before you go to bed? Yeah, yeah. I eat cereal and popcorn. He's a cereal and popcorn guy. Doug, what's your favorite current cheat? Favorite cheat?

Yeah, when you're having that Doug moment. I mostly wouldn't call this a cheat meal, but I'll go out and eat either sushi rolls or Thai curry with a ton of rice. Those are my favorite meals. It's so crazy. I know, it's crazy. It's a fucking boring cheat meal. Dude, I don't even think I'm cheating if I do that.

Me either. Me either. I'm like, man, I'm doing so good. It's a question near and dear to my heart. And I think, what is my preferred cheat? And over years and years of eating ridiculous amounts of bullshit, I think carefully arrived at the idea that really all comes down to ice cream. God, man, there's just nothing. If you now assaulted caramel ice cream, I'll do whatever you want.

I'll give you, you can have whatever you want of me. I have to remember that. Actually, I guess I left out the obvious. I left out the obvious on mine. I like little kid candy like Skittles and Starbursts. They're not a meal, but I love Skittles. Yeah, what about Swedish Fish? Oh, Swedish Fish are delicious too. All the

candy candies. I love that shit. If you want to do a business negotiation with Doug, bring Skittles and push them across the table. I hear your terms. This guy can't keep Skittles

in his house. If there's like a pound of Skittles in his house two days later, gone. What I do is if I eat one, then I like really want them.

So I only eat them right before I leave. I'll eat a few and then I'll get in my car and I'll drive away. And by the time I get back to the house like that, like, shit, I wish I had more Skittles feeling has gone away. And then I can kind of contain myself for a while. So I figured out how to trick myself. My strategy is like, it's like you bring like tiramisu or some shit to my house.

I go, this is only one pack. How often does someone bring tiramisu to your house? That's what I want to know. Hopefully more often. If you bring anything over to my house, I'm like, I can't stop.

I have one path and that's to make sure this is gone in the next hour. That's the only way I can survive. I got to get this gone out of my house.

If it stays here, I'll eat a little bit every day and I'll be 10 pounds heavier by this time next week. So do you have a cheat meal or a cheat day? I need to dial it back to a cheat meal. Like I said, I'm getting ready for my bodybuilding show.

It's 65 weeks away. 185 weeks away. Usually it's the biggest thin crust pizza I can find, and one to two pints have been engaged. You know who's got the best cheat meals? The best cheat meals come from the fucking Rock's Instagram feed. I agree.

Joe Rogan talks about that. Oh, he's got an Instagram feed of the Rock. He has like 48 donuts so let's eat them. Oh, shit. Oh, donuts are so good.

I love donuts. I love them. I love them. Krispy Kreme? Jesus. I get Timbits from my kids little donut holes

and I'm like, I'm not getting a donut and I don't get a donut. But I ask them for a donut hole. How do you approach... It's like zero calories. Right, but one donut hole, I'm like, oh, if I have six, that's

not a whole donut. They disappear into your mouth magically. I can't stop. How do you approach dark matter? It's not real. It didn't happen. I'm a parent as well. I don't know what the hell you're saying, but I'll agree with you. My second kid's on the way. You mentioned your kids.

How do you deal with a kid who won't eat shit other than cheese crackers? My kid's a little bit weird. He will only eat fruit and crackers. He won't eat macaroni and cheese. He won't eat meat. How old is he? He's like two. He'll only eat fruit and crackers. He won't eat macaroni and cheese. He won't eat meat. How old is he?

He's like two. He'll be two and a half in a couple months. He's in a dip. He's body training. He took his first shit in the toilet. He's very proud of him. Max, my boy, brought a tear to my eye. But man, they're picky. Man, you need some protein. I'll give him like I'll shake up more muscle and milk and give it to him. He loves that. It causes a shock

at milk. But Other than that, all this shit you say you're going to tell your kids doesn't quite work when your kids don't eat. No, it's the most frustrating thing. You're not alone in that. I think every parent... What the fuck do you do with them? What do you feed them?

Honestly, I don't have the answer to that. I'm about to get judged by all the daily moms in the world. My kid won't eat the zone units of berries I'm feeding him. What do I do?

He's about to be retarded, right? There's a block of strawberries that's bigger than you are. Eat it. I just think that every kid goes through that stage where they just won't eat anything. But eventually that you know I think every kid goes through that stage where they just won't eat anything but eventually

you know you want them to be kids and enjoy childhood right because otherwise they're going to get to middle school and they're going to

go to that lunch room and they're going to get the macaroni and cheese and the pizza and the stuff that you've deprived them of so I just say what if they never

go to school it becomes a limit sorry the stuff that you've deprived them of. So I just say. What if they never go to school? Might be a thing as possible. Here comes the libertarian, man. Sorry. Sorry for the weird spin on you. I don't know. She's like, well, that's a bit of a jump from what I was talking about. But okay, well, they don't miss school.

Not really. I mean, she went on like the whole, they go to school and they get exposed to these things. What if they were never to get exposed to those things? Do you think you'd do it different? No. I think that I enjoyed my childhood because my parents let me be a kid and have, you know, not necessarily the most healthy food. I mean, we ate healthy, you know, but I was able to have candy and I could have macaroni

and cheese and pizza. I feel like if you can sneak in enough good stuff, the little metabolisms are so amazing. They just crush everything else. My kids aren't getting anything but 100% paleo. Do you have children right now? No. Let's talk what you're doing. Here's what the fuck he's talking about.

I know I don't know what I'm talking about. I'm just playing. That's the funniest thing is when some of my friends that are pregnant or just having babies, they're like, oh yeah, I'm going to do my, you know, whole make, I'm going to bake everything and freeze it. You don't know what you're talking about. And I'm like, yeah, we'll see about that.

The best line about that is Louis C.K. when he's, he's like, have you ever seen, like, a mom at McDonald's and the kid's, like, just left, and the kid, like, the parent snaps and goes, shut up, just shut up. And you go, what did that poor kid do? And he goes, what you don't know is this poor little shitty kid has been torturing this woman all day.

What I think is like, what did that shitty fucking kid do to that poor woman? And they probably act like that. He kind of gets it. And he goes, you're tired. You're so tired you won't sleep. You're so hungry you won't eat. And you got to take a shit so bad you won't shit.

That's what I'm dealing with with my little boy. He's constipated. Like, eat 18 prunes. How you can't shit that's what i'm dealing with my little boy he's constipated like 18 prunes i fucking saw you how are you constipated how's it possible but yeah it happens he's always so tired he won't sleep i doesn't make any sense to me here so we'll get the topic on nutrition but we'll switch over to eating during a competition we get questions questions from people all the time about how do you eat during a competition, especially if it's like a three-day event. What do you do all day long if you have to have a WOD in the morning, maybe in the middle of the day, and then again at nighttime?

How do you guys manage that? We'll start with Heather. It depends on how far apart the workouts are. Like today, we didn't really start. We got there at 10, and we didn't have our first workout until 2. And so I just ate normal. I grabbed a bison burger and some veggies and ate like I would on any other day if I was at school or at home.

But once the workouts get closer together, I try to really keep my stomach a little bit light. Not try to be hungry, but at the same time, nothing really that's going to weigh me down at all. So what is that usually for you? Like, what are you eating? That's, that's light. That doesn't weigh you down. Like, I know some people like to eat like mashed sweet potatoes or something like that. That's easy to, easy to digest, easy to, easy to just take a few bites here and there, but it isn't like something heavy, like, like a bison burger, like you were talking about,

like what did you eat today? Um, after the bison burger, like right before that first wad, right before the first, um, I had a banana and a perfect food spot. There you go. That's right. She tells the truth. Yeah. And usually, um, some protein too, about, about a half an hour before, before I work out. Okay, and then right after that WOD, do you try to get some food in you as soon as possible? That way it's settled before the next WOD? Or how does that work? Right after I work out, I don't have much of an appetite, actually. It takes me about

an hour to kind of calm down. Oh, you're missing that critical carb window and shit. Yeah, I know. Science tells us if you don't do that, you die. You don't drink that shake, you fucking die. Yeah. And so then I'll eat something, you know, maybe have some more protein.

But usually pretty light. Like tomorrow it'll be light because we have three workouts and within like an hour or two of each other. So you're kind of snacking on fruit and like whey protein. Yeah, absolutely. Exactly. Yeah. Perfect for the bars, of course. Of course course of course okay cool what about you joe yeah i eat pretty late um my normal training all we're not shoving down you know peanut butter nutella eating light yeah well and that's after

that's after so normal day of training is kind of the same as a competition and i'll work out in the morning and then take a little break and then work out again in the afternoon, evening time. So I just try to eat the same that I do then, which is breakfast. I eat PB&J, glass of milk. That's beautiful. Then I usually come back from the gym. I'll have some kind of sandwich. And then I'll go back, work out again.

Yeah. Oh, Yeah, always sandwiches. Then in the evening is when I just, whatever. Whatever I feel like. A lot of meat, a lot of carbs, sugars, everything. You sound like a bachelor. I'm actually in college. I'm getting married

in June. You're a bachelor now. You guys ever been to Tom and Chee in Cincinnati? No. It's the grilled cheese fast food place. They have the grilled cheese donut, which is like one of the most delicious things I've ever eaten in my whole life. If I'm ever there, I'm going to go to that. The grilled cheese donut is so amazing.

It sounds good. It's incredible. It's incredible. I had my doubts. Plug for Tom and Chee. We went to the one in... Cincinnati. Describe what it is. We were in Kentucky when we went. There's two of them

I think at this point. I don't know where we were. We were between Memphis and Columbus. That's right. Driving to Columbus probably for the Arnold. But yeah, we got a grilled cheese donut, which was amazing. It's incredible. That's the ultimate cheat meal.

If you're in Cincinnati or Louisville or wherever that one is in Kentucky, go to Tom and Chee, get a grilled cheese donut. It'll change your life. How do they make that? I've seen it made where you cut the donut in half and you flip it around and you grill the formerly inner part. We were eating it, Chris,

not making it. Listen to me. Listen to me. The fans at home all know how to make it themselves, right? So I know you can cut it in half and flip it around, and then with all the sugar parts on the inside, and you put your cheese there, and you can, like, griddle it. How'd they make it? How was it presented to you? I don't exactly remember.

All I remember of that is it was beautifully salty and sweet at the same time, and crunchy, but doughy. Like, all the ranges were perfect. I think they put bacon on it, too. It was crazy. It was so crazy good. You could eat probably 45 of them. To be fair, the flavors were so strong.

It probably was extra good, the fact that I just had a bite or two and we shared one. Something that has a really strong flavor, it's really good for a couple bites, but then it's overwhelming. You get a really strong chocolate cake or something like that. It's too rich. Kind of like that. It's too rich to eat a lot of it, but for a couple bites, but then it's like overwhelming. Like if you get like a really strong chocolate cake or something like that. It's too rich. Kind of like that. It's too rich to eat a lot of it, but for a few bites, it's unreal.

Something like that is best at 3 a.m. after you come out of the club. You know what? I'm going to die if I don't eat that. I'm going to fucking die if I don't eat that thing.

You need the show. 3 a.m., I'd fight over one of those. Yeah, for sure. All right, guys. That's my new favorite cheat meal. We're going to wrap this up. You guys have anything

you want to promote before we go away? Gems, right, guys, my new favorite cheat meal. We're going to wrap this up. You guys have anything you want to promote before we go away? Gems, websites, blogs, political parties, Facebook pages, recipes,

do not promote a political party unless I agree with it. You know, just my sponsors, Perfect Blue Bars. I'm sponsored by Pursuit Rx, which is a diamond-tized line just for CrossFit. Oh, cool. Yeah, it's fairly new. It's pretty great.

Cool. Yeah, so, and Reebok, obviously. And the precious little second graders who you love so much. And, yes. Which you'll probably say, don't watch that because they say fuck the whole time. Well, I also, I teach at a Christian school, so no. Kids are savvy. At a Christian school,

so probably they won't be watching this. I hope. I hope not. When the mom's going to be Googling your name, I won't be teaching anymore. We're really good at Google search. Sorry. That's right.

The fat one says fuck a lot. I know. I know. He's confused about where he's going in life and what he's doing. It'd be like the Columbus Times. Barbell shrug gets Heather Welsh filed from teaching. Yeah, that'd be amazing.

That'd be good for us. We'd get good ratings. That's right. That's the kids. Good for us. We'll take it. All right, Joe. Check out my athlete Facebook page.

That's all I got. I need to promote it. You post a picture of your daily PB&J you should do that I'll follow if you do that I think my most recent picture is of Nutella peanut butter

jelly and bread hell yeah it's like it's all I got for this weekend see I'm so excited I would hit the share button I would just hit the share button

yeah God bless you God bless you and your young pristine metabolism I'll be fucking so jealous I'll be 585 pounds if I ate that every morning alright Joe God bless you and your young, pristine metabolism. I'm fucking so jealous of that shit.

I'll be 585 pounds if I ate that every morning. All right, Joe. All right, Heather. Thanks for coming on. Thank you. It was a great pleasure talking to you. Appreciate it, guys. It was fun.

Cheers.