Barbell Shrugged - 80- What It Takes to Get to The CrossFit Games w/ 3-time Games Athlete Michelle Kinney

Episode Date: September 11, 2013

On this episode of the Barbell Shrugged podcast the crew is joined by 3-time CrossFit Games athlete Michelle Kinney to talk about her epic comback story and return to the 2013 Games.

This week on Barbell Shrugged, we interview Michelle Kenney and talk about her comeback to the CrossFit Games. 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 here with Doug Larson and Chris Moore. With our guest, Michelle Kenny. Hey, guys. CrossFit Games with eighth place finisher. That's right. That's awesome.

Eighth out of the whole world. We're going to be interviewing her today. Before we get to that, I want to remind you guys to go to barbellshrugged.com, sign up for the newsletter. A lot of interesting things going on. I'm not going to mention them all here and waste everyone's time, but if you're interested in that stuff. It's only marginally interesting, really.

Just to me, it's interesting. Everything we're talking about on here is interesting, but not the stuff we newsletter about. No, I'm just kidding. Really cool stuff going on all the time. You might be listening to this six months down the road. That's why we say just sign up for the newsletter, because six months from now you might hear this,

and we might be doing some new stuff at that time. So it would be irrelevant. That's why, Chris. Jeez. I understand, bro. Second thing, we do have, even though we're talking about relevance. Yeah, after all that, I was like waiting for you to say this. We have Brian McKenzie coming to town

September 21st and 22nd to do a CrossFit endurance cert at CrossFit Chickasaw, Michelle's gym. Our gyms are like five miles from each other. Brian McKenzie is going to come over to Faction on Saturday night and we're going to do a

live audience podcast. So if you're in the Memphis area, come hang out, watch it live. You'll be able to ask some questions and stuff like that. We've never done this before. We may never do it again. It just depends how things happen. You might want to show up. Are we having booze and food and such?

Let's do it. I'm not going to make too big a promise. I can provide beer. All right, we need to make it a party. We need to do the whole thing, probably. any too big too big a promise I can provide beer alright we need to make it a party we need to do the whole thing probably okay we'll have a good time

let's just have a throw down we'll just say it'll be a good time I don't want to make any big promises right off the top of my head there may or may not be strippers

may or may not be bro or hookers or whatever come and be surprised at least there'll be bud light you'll never know warm tepid bud light

from an open keg at least at least at least they'll be Bud Light you'll never know warm tepid Bud Light from open keg at least at least at least that much I'll bring potato chips for the endurance girls for the endurance girls drills oh drills yeah that's the girls too there's something about the endurance community I know nothing about. Is that some things that go, we need to refeed because we're running tomorrow

so this is a carb source for us. Yes. I'm still on the couch with much, much, much. It's Lay's the best. So what is that exactly you're talking about?

Just so you're not, you don't squeeze your hands when you run. That's wasted energy so just relax grip like you're holding a potato chip. I do the whole,

I do the whole like this. Can you actually do that by holding a real potato chip? Is that a reasonable coaching cue? I don't know. It's just a coaching cue. I like just a relaxed thumb position. I'm just seeing some overweight poor son of a bitch running down the road holding two potatoes. He's like, don't eat the chips.

You're trying to be fit. Don't eat the chips. He comes back. He's got bite wounds on his thumbs. I got tired out there and desperate. I got a mile in and I thought all was lost. So you exercise for your willpower as well. Test of self-discipline. Oh shit. All right, so you placed eighth game, eighth games,

eighth place at the games this year. Yes. CTB's back there laughing. The year before, you didn't make it. Oh man. It was almost, I was about to say. Well, to even go back further, you didn't make it. Oh, man. It was almost... What a bummer. I was about to say.

Well, to even go back further, you were a games athlete and then you didn't make it and then you made it again. Right. You had to kind of reevaluate your whole life. Yeah, but last year

it was like expected. It's like a rocket movie. Last year it was like, Michelle Kenny's gonna go to games, of course. Yeah. It was one of those things where you had already been before

and done really well and I was like, well, I'll just make it again. And then when it didn't happen, I was like, oh. Was that just it? Did you think you deserved it? No, I didn't think. Well, I probably thought I deserved it.

I didn't necessarily expect it, but the thought didn't cross my mind too often that I wouldn't make it. It just seemed like during the Open, and I knew better than to make this mistake, but during the 2012 Open, it was like a clear top three in all the events. So Open workouts one through five, it was Julie Foucher and Lindsey Smith and me, and there was like a huge gap between us and anybody else. So I it was just gonna be a matter of who placed one for a second or third and I thought I was kind of it but I in the back of my mind I knew that you don't ever want to like just think that you got it but I kind of thought that I had it but that didn't mean I wasn't working hard trying to do the best that I could but there's kind of a shit storm leading up to that

anyway so yeah it was like the perfect storm I guess is what I called it factors came together is that something you want to talk about or is that I mean I guess no it's not a secret um I blogged about it but just had quite a hectic beginning of the 2012 that's when I was um trying to open CrossFit Chickasaw and that's pretty stressful that's what i hear yeah starting new businesses yeah it's not easy business podcast and i knew it i knew it would be stressful and uh i guess i just didn't think that it would impact it impact me and my energy levels the way it did but it did. I don't want to be like that's the reason why I didn't make it. No, I mean, people forget, man, that they assume that things going on in your life that

aren't training related won't affect your training, even though you can't separate these things from who you are as a person. So, of course, stress manifests as everything you give to that thing you can't give to your training. It's just how it goes. People forget that. No doubt. And I mean, if you're not excited to train then that was another part of it is it i was

taking on each training session like it was my job not something that i enjoyed or had fun with so the fun eluded me as well and um but i had the opportunity to train a lot because i didn't have a job so and then which of course comes with not having a job, not having a paycheck and there's stressors related to that. But then, See, people beg for that. They go,

if I could just train full time, I would do all this shit. Don't you hear that every, like every day? Oh, you're so lucky. Yeah. If I could train like Rich Froning, I'd be Rich Froning.

I feel like. Delusional asshole? No, you wouldn't. Some people walk in the gym like, if I could train as many times as you do, I'm like, okay, let's do that. Let's see.

So you can. Yeah, yeah. Like anyone can do it. They just have to set things up. Yeah. So love and passion and considering how your life is balanced is as important as anything you do with a barbell. People just forget how important it is.

It really does have an impact. But, you know, completing 2011 was my second year at the Games. I was a little bit disappointed with my finish at the Games. But then after 2012, I was like, that idiot. I would have loved to have just been at the Games in 2012. And so it kind of was a lesson learned. But my training took a big turn. And then I didn't really have the time for that to actually come to fruition in 2012.

So I had to change in coaching, but that started in January. So I had from January to May to kind of get my shit together. Wasn't a lot of time to fix the big, gigantic holes that I had. So we filled them in a little bit, but then 2012 regionals was pretty heavy, or at least for me, and that was kind of like the nail in the coffin right there. That was kind of your weakness? It continues to be, but it's definitely. That's the hard thing for you, just the absolute strength side of things.

The absolute strength, or it's improved, but the 30 hang cleans at 135. Oh, yeah. And then the 70-pound it wasn't it wasn't like the one rep max event we are always anticipate doing poorly on that one um but the other events that they throw at you that's more of a test of conditioning but if i can't pick up the barbell and move it just regardless of how big my gas tank is doesn't matter so yeah that was a huge hole i saw this year when what's his name did those deadlifts at the end of the men's competition with the i forget the names i'm just a powerlifter uh the seal uh josh bridges josh yeah he's like trying to pick up 405 how much

does that guy weigh 170 165 something like that he's little you got a big motor but not enough horsepower sucks man they went super heavy on those deadlifts. You can or you can't. It's just that. Yeah. I mean, it doesn't matter. One of the girls at that moment, too, where she kept, God bless her, man, she kept trying, like, repealing.

She's like, I'm just not going to stop. I'm just going to pull this until something pops. I've been there. Yeah. It's like, it just ain't going to happen. God bless the effort. Yeah, for sure. What was the weight for the ladies on that last one?

265. 265. So, five sets of five at 265. How'd you do on that one? I did fine. That was, I'm fine with deadlifts. Good job. How heavy was the deadlift box jump workout at regionals?

At regionals, 205, 205 or 225. 205, I think. You did really well at that WOD, right? Yeah, I won that one. Yeah, you crushed that WOD. Yeah, it's excellent. Shit. So it used to be a weakness has kind of become,

well, maybe not a strength. It's not a strength, but it's not the big. Not a strength for you. Yeah, yeah. A lot stronger than other ladies. It's funny, because there's a horrendous picture of me in 2011 on the rope climb clean ladder event, where the clean got heavier, but you did fewer reps and the 155 i

failed the first rep of and then i finally got it but you see my legs as wide as can be it's like this nasty catching position and then um there's a picture of me at the clean ladder and this year 2013 at 195 same position but it's it's 40 If it makes you feel any better, almost any picture ever taken of me ever is unflattering. So you're still doing all right? Yeah. I'm not worried about the flattering part, but it's just like, yeah, my technique still sucks. I've gotten stronger though.

What's changed? What changes did you make? What goals did you set between 2012 and 2013? And how did you attack that, I guess? After 2012, it was a very big pill to swallow. It was a couple months where I just kind of didn't like CrossFit and didn't want to train and had this kind of resentment towards it. And then finally, a friend of mine, Maria, was kind of like,

are you going to do any off-season competitions? And I was like, I don't know. You know, kind of down on myself. Didn't think that I was good enough anymore. Like I was having that type of self-doubt. And Summer Crush Games was coming up. And I was like, what the hell? I'm just going to go do it and see what happens.

And I finished second, like a point behind andrew andrew agar so that was helped provide some confidence like i was like okay i can still do this i just need to kind of get my mind right and like start going towards these goals and kind of find the fun back into the sport so from there um with with, with, with CJ Martin, he always is his like mottos, full effort, full victory. And, um, I guess I kind of more took that on as my personal, um, way of living and way of going about just my competition. And, uh, but literally having that, uh, mentality of if, if this is literally the best that you can do then you should be satisfied with the outcome because you don't have control over how

your competitors do or what program or what workouts they throw at you or how heavy that barbell ends up being but as long as you give it your full effort then you should be happy with that so why'd you start with him I started in January 2012 but it wasn't, it took a while to kind of understand what he was, his, the way he goes about things, and kind of accepting his approach, but then also his credo, like, you gotta,

like, because after our regionals, we had a conversation, and I was, you know, obviously really disappointed, and he was just like, you did the conversation and I was you know obviously really disappointed and he was just like you did the best you could you know this is just you can't control what happens and I was just like whatever you know like I just wasn't hearing it but then finally something got got through to me whether it was um going into team competitions with some of the Invictus people and just being around them more and then going to the athlete camp, it really started to be like, oh, I get it now. Like, this is the mentality that I need,

not this every day I have to crush myself or PR or do the best that I can. And if I have a bad workout, it ruins my day type thing. You started showing yourself some compassion and kindness. A little bit. It rewards you with actually showing some good, getting you back to the games. It's amazing how that happens. Yeah, I was like, I mean, I had bad workouts.

I'd be like, oh, well. It's amazing how often people do this, and it's the easiest thing to do. It's scary how easy it is to do that. One little acute event goes not like you perfectly planned it, training being that one, and all of a sudden you feel like now you are a failure. That is such a thin margin for reasonable patience with yourself like yeah oh no matter how little i ate how loud my baby screamed all night long and how bad work was i expect to fucking crush this wad that's just so unfair sometimes it's not gonna happen every day yeah there's no doubt about it

and i don't know that being fresh i would have done any differently at regionals. But, you know, it was, I guess, like I wasn't like afterwards. It was like, oh, you got to be fired up now. I was like, no, I'm not. Like, I don't even know if I want to continue to do this anymore. But it took some pushing and nudging from those close to me to, like, get me back into the swing of things. And then CJ really helped with that as far as like being just that supportive coach and just you know it was always like hey champ how you doing and you

know constant positive you know because I'm the big my I'm my biggest critic anything that I do badly I'm hard on myself so yeah nobody else needs to be I don't need that person screaming you fucked hard like i'm already yelling that at myself what do you think i did you're a piece of shit thanks coach i guess i'll try harder now i was reading some uh sports psychology stuff a while back and they were talking about they were looking at the people who the athletes that were the most successful and they all had you know it's kind of hard to tell what they're thinking in their heads. Like in between some, say, tennis players,

they just, between having a successful match and a not so successful match, the ones that happened to be the most successful most of the time, the best ones, did the same exact thing in between sets. They went through the same exact rituals and stuff like that. So I'm sure there's an emotional thing tied into those physical acts, you know what I mean? Oh, for sure. So if you have a bad workout

and then you throw a temper tantrum and throw your shit down and all that kind of stuff, you're now doing that thing that's no longer a good rejuvenation ritual. Yeah. But I think a more experienced athlete, the key there is doing the same thing after you work out every time. If you have a bad workout, don't go slam a beer instead of a good place to work out a

shake. You know what I mean? So just the little things. If I remember the details from that, I think that was in the Powerful Engagement. Is that right? Yeah. And he was talking about how the most elite tennis players, they would turn away from the net, and he was basically suggesting that those guys were able to forget about what

just happened. And it's not a big deal. It's in the past, and now they would be able to just focus on what's coming up next. Right. And they would do that after every single set. Yeah. So not being consumed by the past. Whether it was a good or bad match.

Yeah, good or bad. They were just like, okay, it's already happened. It's over. It doesn past. Whether it was a good or bad match. Yeah, good or bad. They were just like, okay, it's already happened, it's over, doesn't matter what it was, next thing. Yeah, that's actually a great thing that I kind of compare my two regionals from 2012 to 2013. 2011, or sorry, 2012, it opened with Jackie. No, not Jackie, that was this year.

Diane, which one is it? What girl? It was Diane, deadlifts and handstand pushups, which I'm like, I'm. That was this year. Diane. Which one is it? Jackie Long. What girl? It was Diane. Deadlifts and handstand pushups, which I'm like, I'm going to fucking crush this, and I'm going to start off on a good note. Well, I bombed. Oh, really? And it was really- And now the thoughts start, right?

Now the engine starts churning. I think I got eighth in that event at regionals, which should not have been the case, and I was just freaking out from there on so it was like pressing and like stressed from there like i have to do better at these events that i'm not going to be so great at because i fucked up in the event that i was supposed to be good at and lizzie smith's gonna beat me in this event no doubt and like just all his thoughts literally went through my head like no way this is what i do cool no way not cool yeah so the difference sorry dude we open poor Matt yeah love us while you fuck with them so um yeah that's very very true and then like this this year it was

it opened with Jackie and I was like I don't know how I'm gonna do it this and then I ended up getting second and I was like sweet so that kind of eased my nerves going into the overhead absolute strength event yeah and um there's some drama there whether i was going to open with a 175 bar or the 155 and i had the cushion to open with 155 and it ended up being fine and i was good and relatively fresh for the burpee muscle ups which i finished lower than I thought I would, but we had five women finish that event. And I don't think any other region saw more than one or two finish the event. So it was just a crazy event. I thought that was going to be your event.

Yeah, I did too. But afterwards, after day one, I look back, I'm sitting in. I was tied for third, but I would have lost the tiebreaker. But just kind of like my strongest day is day three and kind of looking forward, not turning around, looking at the net, so to speak. So that was a very, I didn't consciously do that, but it went that way. Nothing you could have planned. Going into it, you had planned it as good as any qualified coach and athlete could have had a plan.

Who would have thought in this one instance there'd be so many ass kickers just showing up and manifesting and everything was working for them. Like you can't control it. There's no sense in getting uptight about it exactly so not not looking at the net and you don't look at the you have a solid endurance background before you start a crossfit right correct just just briefly before i ask my question like what exactly did you do in the endurance world oh okay um well i ran cross country for saint benedict here in memphis and played softball um i ran cross country kind of against my will, but it was, it was my first, my first race, my freshman year, I finished second on the team and coach Bingham picked me up and swung me around and was like, you're going to be a runner. And I was like, damn it. Cause I had ran cross country in seventh grade and didn't like it.

You're really good at something that sucks. Yeah, it's not fun. But anyway, I went on to like, I won state as a sophomore and did really well and got a lot of attention from college coaches for distance running. So I went to Mississippi State on a track and cross country scholarship. Made your parents super happy. Yeah, they did. So I wanted to play softball, but wasn't getting the scholarships for that. So after two years of running track and battling with stress-related injuries,

Achilles tendonitis, stress fractures in my feet, I was like, I'm going to switch to softball. And then I ended up playing softball, having a grand old time, and kept my scholarship, so that was pretty cool. Oh, wow, sweet. Softball coach was like, yeah, I'll put you on scholarship. I'm like, sweet. That's awesome.

Yeah, that's my endurance background. It sounds like a Bo Jackson type accomplishment. Like, I want to just casually play all these sports that we did in one school. That's right. That's pretty good. That's pretty awesome. I grew up playing softball, so that was one thing I had. And I love softball, so I was content with if I needed to ride in the bench or being a pinch runner.

But it ended up I got some playing time. Not a ton, but I was having fun with it. Did you win the softball throw? I did. In the games three years ago? Yeah, 2011. So yeah, when they said softball throw, I was like, what? Are you fucking kidding me?

That's awesome. I'm going to win this event and it's not going to beat me up. Yeah. Fantastic. Yeah, totally. Would you like to see them do like a T-ball hit for distance? Yeah.

Or like home run derby or something. I'll be honest with you. I think it's an incredible thing to be able to hit. Even if it's the ball, just sitting there to be able to hit it for distance. They should take a golf ball drive for this. That shit is hard. It is hard.

It's accuracy. Other silly shit. Why don't you do some other silly shit too? It's all cool. That would be a fun competition. I would love to see who could drive a golf ball for this. Yeah, CrossFitters golfing. Yeah.

Why not? I don't know. Is it any less interesting than jumping out of a fucking pool and doing pull-ups, which never is going to fucking happen in your life? That was strange. I don't know. It'll happen.

That's right. I've seen it happen. You've seen it happen once in it'll happen i've seen it happen you see it happen once again yeah but yeah hit twisting and hitting with accuracy with power is a cool test it's like what happens chop up chop up here's 10 trees the first asshole to chop this tree down wins that little rogue mallet that's right give you a hatchet not a hatchet no, that's what they should give you. Yeah. So I actually didn't watch very much of the games this year because I was getting married in Colorado. He was kind of busy. I was tied up.

I wasn't allowed to watch the games for the most part. I understand. So I actually didn't see how you did in the row, but I figured that might be something that wouldn't be so intimidating for you coming from an endurance background as some of the other athletes. It wasn't, but then as aower is just it's measuring power output so the bigger athlete's gonna have a little bit easier time on it but um that endurance mentality definitely took me a long way on that so i finished 17th in the 2k which i was stoked with like you know that's a sprint i mean everybody

was sprinting the 2k what was your time uh 747. So I PR'd my 2K on that. That's good. That's real good. I was like killing myself. Like I was wheezing. I wouldn't even row a 747 if I knew I was going to have to row for another hour and a half. And so I just thought and I knew that my endurance could kind of hold me because I've got an hour 37 minute half marathon run. So I was like, I'm going to do well. But it did turn out that the bigger athletes still had an easier time on the row.

So I ended up finishing 15th in the half marathon row. Yeah, I noticed some athletes that weren't exactly known for their endurance, but were just bigger, did well in that event. You make that running, and it's a very different ballgame. So for those big athletes, I can't see. I'm sure. As a big person, I agree that I would rather row than run. Yeah, yeah.

So it's. It's lame. Yeah, I wasn't really intimidated by it. I was like, this is going to suck. Because I initially, because he was like, who's run a half marathon? And I was like, oh, yeah. And he was like, who's rowed? And I was like, no.

It was like the biggest roller coaster of emotions at that one moment with Dave Cash's little grin. But that road taught me a lot about myself. That was very painful and mind numbing. Did you look at your monitor the whole time or you did? Well, because when I would look away and I'd peek back at it, I would drop five seconds off of my 500 pace. You needed the pacing, huh? I needed it.

That sucks, dude. I wanted to go somewhere different, but I don't know. It ended up being all right. I was wishing I was running at that moment. How bad was the ass cramp towards the end of that? It didn't bother me until I got off the rower And once I got off the rower It was like I had a stick shoved up my ass

You could not stand up straight right? No I couldn't and then they were telling us to get our bags And get out of there because there was some cycling event coming in And I was like limping to my bags We're the fittest people on earth Oh fuck Can't stand up straight but whatever Alright guys we're going to take a break real quick

And then we'll be back alright whatever with it that's what I fucking have to do I haven't had it in a while I want some I actually didn't think

I was gonna like force I ended up loving force I was like well I'm not real big on pre-workouts I don't like stimulants yeah that's the other reason

I don't take it but it's only 100 milligrams of caffeine it's not that much so it's like the perfect amount I wish they made a forced XL. Take it on Saturday mornings.

A forced XL would be fun for me. Like just dial everything up a notch so I don't have to eat four packages of it. Just show me an option for like scaling up. More drugs. Fuck you. Rx Plus. Drugs Plus. And we're back.

All right. We ready? Progenics. Drugs. Take your train to the next level with fucking illegal drugs. How'd you lose your progenics sponsorship? I'm just pitching ideas. This may not be the best idea.

You might want to edit some of this out, CTG. It's just marketing. Yeah. Now go. All right. Welcome back to Barbell Shrug. I'm still here with Chris Moore and Doug Larson as the co-hosts. I'm Mike Bledsoe.

Interviewing Michelle Kinney. Hey. Whoa. Before we go any further, just want to remind you guys, we're doing a Brian McKenzie interview September 21st, 2013 at Faction. He'll be in Memphis at CrossFit Chickasaw doing the CrossFit Endurance Certification seminar. And then he's going to hop over to Faction with us every night. We're going to have a good time.

Ask some questions. Yeah. It'll be fun. You're going to get a chance to ask Brian McKenzie some questions. You have his attention, so don't. Not do that. Don't not do that. I don't understand why you wouldn't be there.

I don't want to hear any runners complaining about no run coaching going on. Because the best guy in the world is going to be in town. No doubt. Rabble, rabble. Yes. All right. So we actually talked a lot about the first half of this. We talked a lot about just mental preparation and just accepting defeat

and kind of just moving on mentally. What are some things that changed about your training? You switched over to C.J. Martin. Episode 67? Yeah. Right before, what, four months, four or five months before regionals, so not really a big chance to fill in those gaps like you were saying. What were those gaps that you were talking about,

and how did you go about changing them or what do you think CJ planned for you? Partially having faith in my coach and trusting everything that was written and just giving it my best effort every day. So whatever was on the spreadsheet to do for the day, I did to the T. So it was just like I never questioned it I just

you know having faith in the program goes a long way so it's like which I didn't have up until that point um so you know knowing that you did you have like instant faith with CJ or is it something that had to build over time um it built over time I didn't necessarily I wasn't I don't know enough about it to to question I could kind of see where his programming was going and I was lifting a lot and I was like, seems right, I should be doing that. You guys didn't sit down ahead of time and talk through the whole structure,

like here's kind of how I'm mapping out your training and why I'm doing it the way we're doing it? No, it was, I mean, when we sat down for my initial interview, he just had a lot of great questions to ask me about my life. It was like the first time a coach was like, your life, like Chris was saying, it plays a part. So how much time can you devote to this? Where are your priorities? Is your first priority your family, your job, and then your job, and then CrossFit?

Or where are you at with that? So that was really eye-opening so i think he that that trust and faith started from the moment i started talking to him and it just kept duplicating until you know going to the athlete camp out there it was just like um this is truly something i believe in and can get behind and i'm fortunate to be a part of the Sea of Green as an honorary member. So his, you know, we've worked on a lot of barbell movements. I was squatting or squatting and Olympic lifting

for four out of five training days for the entire year. So I was lifting, a barbell was in my hand a lot. My hands, I had calluses and weird places and wasn't from pull-ups. Yeah. Yeah, a lot of times people who maybe aren't as good at weightlifting are like, oh, I'm not that good at it. I should probably do it more, maybe two or three times a week. I'm like, you've got to be snatching and clean jerking at least three or four days a week. Or else, that's a skill that's not going to develop.

Yeah. And much to my surprise, even approaching the games, I would front squat in the morning and back squat in the afternoon, and I was just like, this is a lot of squat volume. But it worked. I mean, there was never a second where I was like, I'm questioning this. I don't know if this is what I should be doing. So, I mean, I kept seeing numbers go in the right direction,

and so I kept going with it. Yeah, we interviewed Max Elhaj last week. Oh, yeah. And that was one of the things he said is one of the things that make the best performing athletes, not always, but tend to not ask that many questions. Right? And he's like, they just do it blindly and then, you know, give good feedback. Right. You can give good feedback without knowing exactly why

or everything's happening or exactly where you're going. That's why I ask in the program for me so I don't have to worry about that part. I mean, it's a lot to worry about going into the gym. Like, well, this is what I've programmed for myself. And then you walk out of the gym and then have those questions in your mind. Was that the right thing?

I'm like, every time, I'm like, that was a good day. i'm like every time i'm like that was a good day even if it was a bad session it was a good day so yeah a lot of time and effort goes into program design i know i was talking to guys before it was like probably takes me like an hour a week to program like a week for an individual yeah um to put just time and care into it yeah but then if i was programming for myself, it would probably take longer. Halfway through the week I would change it. Yeah, totally. You second guess yourself all the time. That's how I do.

Not possible. Yeah. I just like relying on somebody, somebody I trust. Makes it nice. That's one thing people don't realize about individual coaching, one on one in person coaching. The standard is if you coach someone for an hour,

there's probably another hour where you're not with that person that you're planning the training session and getting ready for that training session. And the same thing goes for online. Like there's so much time put into someone's program when you're not actually speaking to that person and that person's like, I mean, remote coaching,

obviously you're not like one-to-one, but there's a lot more kind of in the background, in the shadows that people will never ever see until they actually get into a situation where they're coaching a lot of athletes and and they just run outside yeah that's out yeah you do all your programming in the bubble bath right mostly in the bubble bath i got like a little thing makes my ipad you know uh waterproof and that's what i do on my program well that helps repel the water.

Actually, I have a question. So do you feel like missing that year, not making it to the games in 2012? Do you feel like not making it to the games actually motivated you to the point where you placed much better than you would have if you would have gone to the games in 2012 like you got eighth place because you're super motivated to make it to the games and then to fix all your all your goats so to speak you feel like if you would have made it to the games in 2012 like you would have made it in 2013 also maybe not even placed quite as high because that motivation wasn't there to the same extent uh definitely uh there's the motivation was in the fact that after i missed 2012 i understood how much it meant to me to be at the crossfit games i made it every year i tried i'd done fairly well every time so you could have caught me in 2012 prior to regionals and be like

how much does it mean to you to go to the CrossFit Games? And I'd be like, oh man, everything. After missing, I understand how much it meant to me. And yeah, yeah. I mean, you can be dramatic and say everything, but how much, it was interesting to find how much it meant to me to get back there. And just to be involved in that and feel the feeling of walking out, now into the

soccer field or into the tennis stadium and just being there was such a huge accomplishment so my approach to 2013 was just simply making it there not necessarily a certain level finish but just simply getting back that was my goal 2013 and then I finished eighth which was icing on that that cake like so throughout and then throughout the games in this year like I'd have a bet I hope we open with the swim bar muscle-up and I finished 25th in that and I was like cool you know like I swam faster than I've ever swam like I'm not a good swimmer and I just did the I did did awesome. Like I, my PR 500 meters or 500 yards swim. It's embarrassing to say it was around 15 minutes. And, um, I don't know what that means.

It sounds fine by me. If anybody, if anybody's been in the water without floaties, they understand I was, uh, and then with the bar muscle ups, um, so my time for that event was 30 bar muscle-ups and 500-yard swim. It was like 1840, 42. So I clearly swam faster because there's no way I did those 30 bar muscle-ups in less than four minutes. Potentiating. Yes. That's what bar muscle-ups were.

I guess this all begs the question, Michelle. So, are you going to shit the bed next year because you made it again? What changes? What changes? What you made it again? What changes? What changes? What changes? What do you learn now? What will be different now than in 2012?

But that's where you're at now, right? Like what was the difference? I think McKee might be failing every other year. Shit the bed, go ahead and do it. I hope I don't. That way if you do fail next year, you can be like Saul, part of the plan. Michelle Kinney dropping a bar on her face.

Why did you do that? Confusion. I must learn this lesson. Mostly self-flagellation and masochism as well. Pretty much. Because those are a dark two months for me after missing. It was horrible. I've never been that kind of place before.

During the whole games in 2013, I sat there and saw people, whether they were veterans, mostly it's the rookies getting bent out of shape about a bad event, but I definitely saw some veterans getting bent out of shape. I'm like, this is a long goddamn weekend. One event makes no difference, and we saw that with Rich Froning. And at the most point, he knew that.

And he knew that. Why am I going to try to do so awesome at this thing that I don't care about? It's not going to matter towards the end of the event anyway. Yeah, exactly. So I finished 25th in the swim and then 17th and then 15th in the row parts. And after day one, I was around 20th. And I was like, that's top half. That's pretty damn good.

You know, like if I stay in the top half, I'll be happy. And then throughout the week, every workout, like I was like, cool, I did awesome. Or, you know, oh, I did the best I i'll be happy and then throughout the week every workout like i was like cool i did awesome or you know oh i did the best i could tied a pr clean and jerk dead dead dog tired i was like everything went awesome so and then at the end of the very final event i went in in 11th and came out eighth and i was like that's amazing so it was it was just how i approached the games and then knowing how much it meant to me. So when things got tough, it was like, this is a big deal to you. Don't give up on it. And kind of staying focused with that.

It doesn't sound like you set goals depending on placings. No, you can't. Yeah, because you can't because there's too many variables, right? Exactly. As we were talking about earlier. So what is your goal right now? My goal right now is to continue to have fun. You know, I went to Big Sky and had fun with that.

And then I've got a... The McG Team WOD? Yeah, yeah. The McG Team WOD was a lot of fun. Throwing people over the wall was awesome. CTP cam number what? Yeah. 18?

18. Going to a Front Range competition this weekend in Denver. So that will be, you know, just starts with a ruck run. So secretly happy about that. And then we're not so secretly. And then I've got to. That's a competition coming up this weekend. Yeah.

Oh, okay. So just having fun with those and my training. I probably will get back on board with a really, with CJ probably in a few weeks, I guess. You've been kind of on your own. He's having a good time. Yeah, he's got a new baby boy, so I don't want to trouble him too much. But I also wanted to have that good reset button and not get crazy about training. It's a long season.

I needed a break mentally. Don't rush back into it. No, trust me, I'm not. Everyone's like, when are you getting back to training? I feel like everybody else is rushing me back into it. I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa. Yeah. Like, going up to the games, I was like, oh, my God, I can't wait until I have, like, you know,

time when I can go ride my bike if I want to and not be dog tired. I was talking to McG the other day, Mike McGolder. Yeah. He was like, last week he was super excited. He's back at it. I'm going to start hitting it again. He got real excited. And then he comes to me, like, two days ago. He goes, yeah, I'm going to start hitting it again. He got real excited. And then he comes to me like two days ago.

He goes, yeah, I'm back on break. Yeah, yeah. He was like, we thought I was recovered, but obviously I'm not. So I got four days of no training. Which must drive him crazy. Yeah, he's got a lot of energy. When we were at his birthday party, he was like, yeah, I started back. But then I was really tired today.

And I was like, dude dude don't rush into it you just had like he had to experience the injury and had a lot of stressful you know issues going on so i'm like first games yeah a lot of peaking going on a lot of emotional calls oh for sure so i was like just you know ride it enjoy it i mean we literally have a ton of time between now and the open and I don't know I'm lifting enough to maintain that strength or you know trying to work on yeah you know some ollie technique stuff on my own and then do a little conditioning here and there but ultimately I'm like what do I feel like you're doing today so I didn't know you skateboarded yes I have like four skateboards it's ollie joke ollie is a maneuver skateboarding but I do have four skateboards really off guard I was like how

did that even get into the conversation? I'm sure you might saw a little picture of Ollie here. Maybe if the technology allows. Like a little... I'm going to show you my skateboard when we walk out. All right. Skateboard's pretty cool. What kind of changes did you make to your recovery and to your eating habits and everything

that's not training that you think helped? Anything? I ate less clean. So I didn't really... It's something that most athletes eventually come to the conclusion is a good idea. Don't feel bad about saying that.

That's pretty common. No, I don't, but people feel, oh, you must be super clean. I'm like, I had two beers last night and cheesy poof, so I don't know.

Sounds like a fucking awesome Saturday night. It's the story of a lot of games athletes yeah so well regionals what'd you call it earlier dirty dirty paleo is your favorite word yeah that's what i like to call it yeah i guess that's kind of like that's kind of what i started doing my son my son is now two years old and we're trying to like as much paleo things as possible but good luck making a kid eat that stuff it's like yeah paleo if he needs goldfish crackers, give him the fucking goldfish crackers. Shut him up. Shut him up.

Yeah, because he's burning at least as many calories as Michelle is. Totally. Easily. So basically you- You talking shit about my kid, yo? Straight punched you with a handful of goldfish crackers. I'm going to go grab beers. So more or less you're eating more carbohydrates, is the easy way to say that?

Pretty much. Just more calories in general and yeah exactly yeah well pretty yeah i try to much more alcohol tons more um i hear gluten's a bad thing is that should i not be drinking as much beer as i does it not matter at all should i just drink beer and shut up is that how it goes don't let him derail you just keep going although i did i was out to dinner one night and there's some cyclists out there and of course they're known for their their health but um there there's a study that beers uh uh just as good of a recovery beverage as chocolate milk and i was like neither a good recovery that's exactly what i said i saw that single study a long time ago too but yeah i ate a ton more carbohydrates and I didn't get too uptight about my diet.

I just, for the most part, tried to eat as clean as I could, but just ate whatever. What's your favorite carbs to eat after training? I still like sweet potatoes a lot, and I got kind into the the baby food just with like easily accessible especially if I had to start coaching later on but um sweet potatoes are still my favorite go-to carb but like I wasn't shying away from rice and and and white potatoes I'd eat like regular white potatoes a lot too so all right you still avoid like gluten heavy stuff not really no okay it doesn't bother you sometimes it does and then i knock back you know whatever if i start to notice that i'm eating too much because i'm feeling bad or seeming seemingly more inflamed than usual then i'll cut back on what i'm eating i basically like

just adjust as as i feel necessary did you ever go through a period where you're like strict paleo or lower carb and then one day you're like i've just got to eat more and then you start to eat more and it's like oh yeah you tell a big difference. Yeah definitely I would I would get too small like I was like down to 130 low 130s um weight wise going you know last in 2012 because I was trying being a competitive female CrossFit athlete that's. Like you're a smaller athlete than most of the people on the field. Yeah, and visually, it looks like I'm a shrimp out there,

but it turns out everybody's posting their weight at 135. I'm like, bitches, I'm 140. Liars. I was like, you are not 130. Maybe you are. I don't know where I'm keeping my weight. I don't know.

I've definitely seen some girls just post up whatever weight they think they should be and then not worry about it. Sounds like we're talking about girls. Well, the guys too. I think some of those it's like, there's like every male competitor is 195 pounds. I was like, that's interesting. Nobody's over 200.

Oh, they don't want to see themselves being too big? I don't know if you have this like I snatched so many pounds over body weight. I don't know what the reason is, but I'm like, I'm 140. I can see that. I don't know. Yeah, if anyone ever asks me about my Olympic lifts, I make sure to let them know what weight I was at when I hit that, you know?

Yeah. Yeah. Lie a little, you know, whatever. Well, it does make a difference. Like, so like Elizabeth Ackinwally, she's like, she snatches 185. I'm like,

holy crap. I'm like, oh, that's how much she weighs or she weighs 175 or it's just like, oh, okay.

It makes more sense. Talking shit about Elizabeth, huh? No, no, she's incredible. She kicked my ass. I'm just joking.

No, no, I don't like to talk smack. That's big and powerful. oh, I squat an XX at 10 times this. You weigh 130 pounds, asshole.

I mean, it's not too hard to do. The fatter you get, the more that shit doesn't work that way. Of course you can lift a lot. It's like saying, of course you can do lots of pull-ups. You don't weigh anything. Like the world record clean and jerk for the super heavies is like body weight in half. But for like the super light guys, it's like triple body weight. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That's just how it shakes out, man. Far from linear. We're slowing down. Speaking of shaking out... We're going to wrap this show up. Michelle, anything you would like to promote, plug, sponsors, whatever? Is there any big events happening at your gym

that we want to... Maybe in a couple weeks. There's a few weeks. Brian McKenzie, if you haven't heard already, will be coaching in an endurance seminar at, or during

September 21st and 22nd at CrossFit Chickasaw. So, be sure and get to that. He's doing the live podcast

with the Barbell Shrug dudes at Faction that Saturday night. So, and that's going to be something you don't want to miss. Hookers and cocaine and Brian and drugs and talking on the podcast. Not all that stuff, but it'll be fun.

Come on out. Yeah, no doubt. And then just thanks to Progenix and Pure Pharma for sticking by me even when I didn't make the CrossFit Games in 2012. And CJ. Oh, yeah, CJ. He got a lot of 2012. And CJ. Oh yeah CJ. He got a lot of

props. He's the best. He's a good guy. Cool. Alright guys. See you next week. Cheers.