Barbell Shrugged - Adrian Conway: One Ton Challenge, 3 CF Games Podiums, and Building a Supplement Business in CrossFit w/ Adrian Conway, Anders Varner, and Doug Larson— Barbell Shrugged #419

Episode Date: October 2, 2019

Adrian Conway has always been self-driven to succeed. His early passion for training and dedication to team sports brought him all the way to college football, where he was a running back at Weber State University. In 2008, Conway’s focus on athletic training became a full-time job, and he took on a variety of athletes from 9-year-old tennis stars to those at the collegiate level. In 2013, Conway was hired as a member of the CrossFit HQ L1 training staff and began traveling to different training sites to spread his knowledge and help develop coaches nationwide.   In this episode of Barbell Shrugged, Anders and Doug take a deeper look into FNX Fitness, Crocket Proteins, standing on the CrossFit Games podiums and the One Ton Challenge.     Minute Breakdown:   1-10 Crushing the One Ton Challenge 11-20 Standing on podiums at the CrossFit Games 21-30 Why old preteen powder is so gross 31-40 Wes Kitts the strongest man in the country 41-50 FNX Retreat and company culture  51-60 The CF Level 1 staff tryout    Connect with Adrian Conway   https://fnxfit.com   Anders Varner on Instagram   Doug Larson on Instagram ____________________________________________ 20 REP BACK SQUAT PROGRAM ____________________________________________ Please Support Our Sponsors   Savage Barbell Apparel - Save 25% on your first order using the code “SHRUGGED”   Organifi - Save 20% using code: “Shrugged” at organifi.com/shrugged   WHOOP - Save $30 on 12 or 18 month membership plan using code “SHRUGGED” at checkout _____________________________________________ One Ton Challenge    Find your 1rm in the snatch, clean, jerk, squat, dead, bench.    Add them up to find your One Ton Total.    The goal is 2,000 pounds for men and 1,200 for women.    “What is the One Ton Challenge”   “How Strong is Strong Enough”   “How do I Start the One Ton Challenge” ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Show notes at: http://www.shruggedcollective.com/bbs-conway -----------------------------------------------------------------------   ► Subscribe to Barbell Shrugged's Channel Here ► Subscribe to Shrugged Collective's Channel Here http://bit.ly/BarbellShruggedSubscribe 📲 🎧 Listen to the audio version on the Apple Podcast App or Stitcher for Android Here- http://bit.ly/BarbellShruggedApple http://bit.ly/BarbellShruggedStitcher Shrugged Collective is a network of fitness, health and performance shows that help people achieve their physical and mental health goals.  Usually in the gym, but outside as well. In 2012 they posted their first Barbell Shrugged podcast and have been putting out weekly free videos and podcasts ever since. Along the way we've created successful online coaching programs including The Shrugged Strength Challenge, The Muscle Gain Challenge, FLIGHT, Barbell Shredded, and Barbell Bikini. We're also dedicated to helping affiliate gym owners grow their businesses and better serve their members by providing owners tools and resources like the Barbell Business Podcast. Find Shrugged Collective and their flagship show Barbell Shrugged here: SUBSCRIBE ON ITUNES ► http://bit.ly/ShruggedCollectiveiTunes WEBSITE ► https://www.ShruggedCollective.com INSTAGRAM ► https://instagram.com/shruggedcollective FACEBOOK ► https://facebook.com/barbellshruggedpodcast TWITTER ► http://twitter.com/barbellshrugged

Oh, I looked like a Rocky Balboa and cliffhanger all in the one movie at Spartan World Championships this weekend. Hey, friends, if you were hanging out with me all weekend long out in Tahoe and you're a podcaster and I was on your podcast or you were on a panel or you saw me say hello to all the podcasters at the Spartan World Championships Media Fest. Thank you for coming out. Thank you for showing up. It was the coolest weekend of all time. I hope you hiked that 10-mile mountain with me. There were so many of us. I hope I got around to saying what's up to everybody.

Thank you for coming out. Good Lord, that was cool. We got to thank the sponsors. While I was climbing that hill, guess what I was wearing? Savage Barbell gear. You know why? Quality clothing, great products, dope name, Savage Barbell. Those are my friends.

That's why I wear all their gear. You want to wear their gear, which you totally should, get over to savagebarbell.com forward slash shrugged. That's where you're going to save the 25%. That's where you're going to look like a savage. That's where you're going to save the 25%. That's where you're going to look like a savage. That's where you're going to buy the coolest clothes and fitness. Savagebarbell.com. And over at Organifi right now, I have this awesome box sitting out in my living room because I haven't opened it.

I'm going to do it on the Instagrams at Anders Varner. But Organifi just sent me my shipment and it has so many greens and reds and gold juices in them. It's insanity. I'm going to have so many micro vitamins in me. Micro vitamins, micro nutrients, vitamins and minerals. Those are the micros we're talking about. You can get over to Organifi.com forward slash shrugged. You're going to save 20%. On the podcast today is my boy Adrian Conway. Let me tell you about Adrian Conway. The dude has a zest for life and the barbell is just so rad. At the one-ton challenge, my man PR'd six lifts in two hours.

He's been training for like 20 years played D1 football been on the we've won the games three times yo six PRs is insane you can check him out at FNX fit they've got all kinds of cool proteins and fun stuff over there I hope you enjoy the show I know you're going to it's's super rad. Savage Barbell. Organifi. Go save the money. Let's get into the show. We're going to talk about the one-time challenge a little bit. I love it. Let's chat about it.

Oh, thank you. Thank you. Dude, that's gnarly. That's so gnarly. You smoked it. Tommy did it. I was like, I can do that. Let me throw some weight on this bar real quick. It was funny because I was in the gym and I was like, I mean, I can do that. Let me throw some weight on this bar real quick. It was funny because I was in the gym, and I was like, man, I need to do some lifting just to check and see where some things are

before I get out here and do this thing on Friday night. And I was like, I'm going to just load up all the bars, and we'll see what happens. So I loaded them up, hit a couple lifts. I ran upstairs, and I was like, hey, man, Chase, one of the young guys that works with us at FNX. And I was like, hey, man, you want to do something fun with me real quick? And he was like, sure, man. I was like, hey, man, Chase, one of the young guys that works with us at FNX. And I was like, hey, man, you want to do something fun with me real quick? And he was like, sure, man.

I was like, cool. I was like, you're going to spot me on the bench. And we need someone else to hold a camera. I'm going to just do one rep at each one of these lifts. I'm going to do it as fast as I can. He was like, cool. Sweet. We let it roll.

When we first put it out and people started doing it for time, I was like, dude, it took me two days. And I was hopped up on this is a fun part of the story i think i've never even told but we rolled into did you hear the background of it like i did it at cena's john cena's gym and yep uh we trained together for a while so go to his house he's like oh you're gonna do this and i was like fuck like not only did cena fly me out here like private jets and like the ballerest vacation ever, but like, oh, now I can get my name written on that door? Like, no way.

So we showed up, and he handed me a pack of like something. He didn't. His trainer did. It was like all the – it was like NO Explode plus C4 plus. And I was like, here we go. Like my whole body temperature raised like 4 degrees it took me 2 days to hit 2009 and you went

20.50 in 47 seconds and I was like if I'm like in Walmart I'm really strong but when I'm like around my friends I'm like I hate being at the bottom of this that's strength training from like 15 years old I've been building up the base I'm like around my friends. I'm like, I hate being at the bottom of this. That's strength training from like 15 years old, though.

You know what I mean? I've been building up the base for a long time. Yeah. I mean, and there's, yeah. Yeah, it started when I was 14, too. It's just there's some people just when you get to that, like, when did you start training? Like, what was it for? Football? Dude, it was for, yeah.

So I've been playing football my whole life, a ton of sports. My dad was always in the weight room doing his thing, more like bodybuilding type stuff. But I was in eighth grade, and I actually shattered my humerus. So my left arm is substantially shorter than my right, which has definitely been a little bit of an issue in CrossFit. But that's what started me in the weight room is I shattered that. I shattered all my growth plates and the top of my humerus. And so to get back, to get ready for ninth grade, I had to start doing some weights.

So I was kind of introduced to it formally through PT, physical therapy. And then from there it was like I played basketball that season, and we were in the weight room three days a week during basketball season. And once basketball season was over, it was like, did you have like a real strength coach? No, man, just my pops. You know, and we were talking like chest and triceps on Monday, back and biceps on Tuesday, legs and so on.

We did all that back in the day. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was what you did. Yeah, we hit the steady rotation. And then as I got older, I was fortunate enough to be – so I'm from a super small town in central Pennsylvania where a college called Juniata College is. Okay.

And so – Let's put it slightly more in front of your mouth right there. Perfect. Got it? There you go. Oh, so crisp now. I like it. I like it slightly more. Oh, yeah. In front of your mouth right there. Perfect. Got it? There you go. Oh, so crisp now.

I like it. I like it. It was like a drug. There you go. Now I'm hooked. Wait, did you like fall off a ladder or get in a car accident or something? Like how do you shatter your humor? So it was literally I dove to tackle a guy, kind of almost like a horse collar type tackle

from behind him. I drug him down and my elbow hit just the right spot. Didn't dislocate the shoulder, but shattered that thing clean across, like right underneath the ball, that ball and socket joint in your shoulder. Yeah, man. It was gnarly. I bet it was. Good story, though, because it introduced me to the weight training.

All right. Wait, did the bone pop out of the skin? No, no. It wasn't a compound. We're not talking. No, no. That'd be nasty. I probably wouldn't even tell that story if it was that bad.

Do you remember the guy at the March Madness like two or three years ago? Made a jump shot, landed, and then his – Yes. Like the tibia just went like straight out. Tibia straight through. Oh, it's bad. It was like stuck out like a plank. It's like, yeah.

Yeah. That's the nastiest. Wait, so you started doing PT for that, and that's how you got into strength training? Yeah. Is that what you said? Yeah, physical therapy through that. They were like, yeah, you can do this stuff. You know, parents asking the questions

like how do we keep this going how do we make sure you're strong enough stable enough whatever right and so they were like well you can do this stuff in your weight room or whatever and went to the high school not a lot of equipment and did you play college football basketball I did football yep yeah I played running back at Weber State University wait where is that I've heard of that Utah I've heard of that and that's where I'm at now so that's what took me there I went to high school in Phoenix. I moved all around the country growing up, man, unique childhood. But it took me to Utah to play college football, and I've been there ever since.

And you met Tommy right after that? Yeah, yeah, yeah, because my school is basically, you know, Tommy's a few years older than me, but Weber State's probably like 25, 30 minutes north of where the University of Utah is. Dude, what goes on when you meet Tommy Hackenbrook? I feel like all the people from the beginning of Ute CrossFit have all gone on to do really epic things. It's like he was like the magnet for really motivated.

It was like he was putting out a vibe for a specific type of person, and like six to eight of them showed up, and you guys are all doing really cool stuff now. No, I think it's true and it's unique. I think, you know, a lot of us that are still involved in the fitness space and doing many things now, even not so much on the performance side but business side, like can thank Tommy for like kicking down some doors for us. But it was like, I mean, he's smart, right?

Yeah. You can listen to him talk and you get the idea. He's like a real legend. But unless you ask him the right questions, you're not really going to get it. But then you ask him a couple questions, you're like, okay, he's got an eye for talent, he understands hard work. And so I think that whether it was like identifying people at competitions, like, hey, why don't you come train with me for a little bit

and see where we can take this thing. And that's kind of how it was for us. It was like I went after regionals in 2011, finished sixth. That was my first CrossFit competition. And then the guy whose gym I was at, Damon Stewart, who had overseen the Southwest Regional for many years until just like two years ago before they shut down, he introduced me to Tom. He was like, listen, man, you've got to go train with this guy.

He's going to help you level up. And the first time I went and worked out with him, I got destroyed. Absolutely left in the dust. And I was like, I hate this dude. I don't like him. I don't like getting beaten. Why would I want that? He's kind of like a big dude.

Why would I want that? Yeah. And he probably said something smart after. Yeah. Like, I don't like him. I don't like getting beaten. Like, why would I want that? He's kind of like a big dude. Why would I want that? Yeah. And he probably said something, you know, smart-ass. Like, yeah. Yeah. But I was like, no, I need this. And he was really honest with me. And I think this is why people are drawn to him, too.

He's, you know, pulled no punches. But he was like, listen, man, I think you can make it to the CrossFit Games next year as an individual. You'll probably finish mid-pack, though. And who remembers mid-pack? Yeah. He was like, but if you come down here and we train and we do a team, we can win it. We can probably win as many times as we want if we keep doing team together, too. And I was like,pack, though. And who remembers mid-pack? Yeah. He was like, but if you come down here and we train and we do a team, we can win it. We can probably win as many times as we want if we keep doing team together, too. And I was like, okay, yeah.

And you guys did, right? You won a couple times. Yeah, we went 2012 and 2013. Yeah, so that was special. And I got a lot out of it as an athlete because I developed. We pushed each other a lot. I remember when you guys did that, and I told Kaz you this when we interviewed him last year. Yeah.

But I remember all you guys went team and i was like oh they did it they're the ones making money yep you were the only people in crossfit except like froning that made a single dollar competing in crossfit yeah and i just remember being like they're geniuses it was it they were all middle of the pack yeah and then they won money yeah like it's incredible it's true it was like he unlocked the code. Yeah. I mean, that's – yeah, I tell people that a lot. I'm like, listen, I mean – What were you doing, like, professionally at the time?

Were you just training and coaching? That was it, man. I was a bum. Thank God my wife was patient with me. But, yeah, man, seriously. I mean, you know how it goes. I hope my wife's listening. We're still doing it.

We just make a little bit more money now, but it's all about just being in the gym all the time. That's it. Passion. Passion. You're feeding your passion. But, yeah, man, I had a dream of going to the NFL when I was a young guy. And I played two years of arena football, fell in love with CrossFit because I was like, I can still compete at this. But my personality is really like an all-in or all-out type personality.

So it was like, well, I'd like to make it to the games. I think I could beat these guys. So I dove in with learning as much as I could. And I studied, you know, human performance at Weber State University. So I had, like, some ideas. Like, oh, I train myself this way. That's smarter than this way. I'm not going to just follow.com.

I'm going to do a little extra, sprinkle this in, sprinkle that in. And so, yeah, that was kind of where I was coming from. But mainly it was performance enhancement stuff. I was doing a lot of speed and agility coaching, working with youth teams. Right on. Are you still pretty close to all the people that you won the games with back in the day? You know, we've definitely got some distance between us now like we're all doing our own things But it's like if we strike up a text conversation, everyone's responding

You know what I mean or something happens and it like brings like You know some some kind of memory out like you can tell it's very obvious and someone reaches out and we're all We're all communicating. Everyone's got their own lives, but the love's still there. 100% Yeah, we were unique. I think a lot of teams, like you see a lot of people, like all of us had our own families, though, you know, and most of our members had children, and so it's very easy. When you're not together, it's out of sight, out of mind,

because you're focused on your own team. Totally. Who all was on the team? Back in the day? Yeah. So we had Taylor Richards-Lindsey, Mary Lampus, Aaron Bennion on the female side, and then myself, Michael Cazio, and Tommy Hackenbrook. Right, right.

I knew all the guys, but I wasn't sure about the ladies. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And the ladies, I mean, gosh, those ladies were talented. Clearly you guys know, especially early in the game, 2012 and 2013, it was like they're making the hay for you, really. Yeah, right. So, you know, yeah, it was great. They were awesome.

What was kind of separating, like, I imagine internally into your training sessions, it was like something that made you guys build the confidence that you were going to be able to go out there. What was the preparation for that stuff? Because you guys were, I think when you guys took the floor, it was like, we're going to win. There was like an air of confidence that you guys developed inside your training. Was that a lot of tommy writing the programming or what was kind of the the team aspect that gave you guys the confidence to to win back-to-back years i think we just had one when we had unique chemistry i think right like truly when i say about our women they were all workhorses like work capacity through the roof

some skills here some skills there but work capacity high as can be so like we we're all dogs man like we like to suffer yeah honestly right and that's why a lot of us are drawn to crossfit anyways but we had that ability like when it was in the gym it was business because people were taking time away from their business their family their job whatever it was it's like all right we're gonna do this work and we had that almost football team camaraderie though so it was like we knew i knew you were willing to die for me and so i was willing to sacrifice for you and and it was like that cohesiveness i think think, drew us together.

And then because we had that dog-like mentality, we loved to compete. So I wasn't going to take the back seat to Tommy in a workout, even though I knew he was going to front squat. I'll front squat me every time. But I was going to die for, you know, if he was going 405, I was going to hit 375 that day at least because I couldn't let him brag too much. You know what I mean? And so I think that – and it was healthy.

It was healthy, and we all looked at it that way. So it was like, yeah, we're growing from this. And I think Tommy playing Division I football, myself, Taylor had been a Division I basketball player. Mike had dabbled in some baseball even at the University of Utah. And so it was like our athletic backgrounds, I think, really allowed that to shine. Mary played soccer at Purdue. Why is that little area kind of like a little hotbed for –

I don't know, bro. What is it? I couldn't even tell you. What's there? There's some fitness in Salt Lake City. I mean, yeah. Training center? No, no.

Isn't there an Olympic training center or something? Not in Salt Lake. No, Denver. Colorado Springs. Colorado. Yeah. But it's like – Hold on.

No, there's – Wait, the Luz or something is there, right? Oh, yeah, yeah, for those winter sports. Yeah. Yeah, there's some stuff that goes on there. That's up in Park City. Because Ryan Fisher came out of there too. Yeah, right.

Fisher used to train with – Fisher was still there in 2011. So in my first year, we were out at regionals together. Yeah. Yeah, so he came and trained at my gym after he left you guys. Yeah. And I just remember being like, what the fuck is going on out there? Those people are freaks.

Yeah, man. It's wild. Hanging out on the loose and the skeleton. Even last year you had a team not affiliated to Ute, and not even Wasatch, right? Because we had Wasatch. That was us in 2017 that won the cup up north, so that's where we were at a Wasatch CrossFit.

But last year you had SLC. You had two teams. Wait, why did you leave? Well, so for me, in 2017, the last time that we won the Affiliate Cup, it was like it was going to be a one and done. Yeah. 100%. It was a stage of life thing, a season thing.

Totally. I physically needed a break, mentally needed a break, and we basically were starting the company FNX. Yeah. And so we launched while we were at the games, and for me, I was like, okay, I'm going to step back from coaching and that day-to-day hustle and grind of trying to be a competitive athlete, and I'm going to try to build something more on the business side

that's like a long-term play. Yeah. And so I was stepping out. We found out Mikayla North was pregnant five weeks at the games when we won. So clearly she was going to be taking the next year off. You're busy. Yeah. And then, you know, we had a couple people that were planning already moving out of town,

and we had a guy, Brennan Fjord, move down to Brazil. I remember him. And now settled and gotten married. I remember him. What a freak of nature that guy is. Is he even doing it moved down to Brazil. I remember him. Now settled and gotten married. I remember him. What a freaking nature that guy is. Is he even doing it anymore? I mean, he does it. He's just keeping his pecs primed.

He's just looking good all the time. When you see people that have been in this game that long, and you know what it takes. You look at Frazier, and he's on year four right now, and it's going to be really hard for someone to beat him. And then you look at Froning, who probably could step on the podium tomorrow. you really put him to the test he could push himself to get there like how are these people's bodies holding up like you know what it takes to

get there and that just physical and mental commitment to just the grind every day it's so impressive it's impressive and i think it even like we're having a conversation and you guys know but it's like it's it's it's not just the mentality and the mindset and like that ability to suffer because there's a lot of people that have that but it's it's genetically being being a little predisposed to like the movements that we're constantly exposed to yeah right when you look at the anthropometrics of rich of matt like their build their torso their femur their their arm like not that that's why they're great, but sustainability-wise, they move very well.

They put a lot of time and effort into that, and then it's like, okay, it doesn't cost them the same thing to overhead squat. Look at their arm position. Look at their scat position. Look at how, like, that's stable and safe versus, like, the other guy who could overhead squat that much. That wrecks him, though. It's different.

That's so real. Like, you think about the Open when there's a quarter million people, 500,000 people, whatever it is. Doing the Open, it self-selects for people with that size arm, with great work capacity and all that. Did you – I mean, in the beginning of days, you could just go work really hard for a year to two years and make it to regionals.

That's me on the radio with my arm raised saying, I made it to regionals because I just – but once there's enough people, it all of a sudden just becomes like, okay, you were good enough to be in college. Okay, you played low-level pro. Oh, now you're Rich Froning and Matt Frazier. And it all has to match in there to be able to withstand the grind. Absolutely.

And I think we're starting to see even, you know, it's interesting now because I think this is funny because we always used to joke about it, but, like, man, this is probably bad to say, but Tommy and I used to walk around. We used to walk around, and we'd get to a CrossFit event and just get the blood would boil. We'd be like, man, we hate all these midgets. It's like, oh, these short people. I hope there's a run.

I hope there's a vertical jump. I hope they test some, like, real athletic prowess here. Like, let's get it on. And I think you see even, like, when you look at now, the average height and average size, like, these guys are – it's adapting a little bit. It's changing. It's evolving.

And I think that's just an interesting conversation to have about, like, how, okay, now we're seeing guys that are 5'10", 5'11", and that's kind of, like, par for the course instead of, like, them looking like a behemoth out on the floor Because everyone else is five seven five eight or whatever it is So yeah, and then you get to the games and it's a whole different story because you do have to run you do have to move Objects transitions are longer and bigger so it's like yeah You're rewarded for being able to cover some space and do some things I think having heavier weights at the games actually brought on taller people as well

Which is kind of counterintuitive because taller people just tend to be bigger people So like if the average crossfitter five years ago was 185, 190 pounds, and now the average CrossFitter is like 210, 215, then you just get more people that are 210, 215 that are, they're not 5'9", they're 5'11". Right. You know, so they got a little bit taller because they just need to be bigger people. Totally. Yeah. It's different, man. It's different. Dude, you talked a little bit about FNX. What uh kind of the history of the the company and you stepped away from being the elite athlete competing and focusing on that what what spawned that um so interesting interestingly enough it was my partner skylar farn sliding

into my dms on instagram literally that's where it started there it is so i caught you got real creepy one day that was it and then we that was it. And then we started a business. It was creepy. We started a business. We've had some kids in the meantime. Not together. No, but truly so. I found myself 2017 putting together this group. And that started at 2016 regionals. We had a conversation like literally finishing regionals.

It was like, look, man, we should just go team next year. I think Brennan would be on board. I think we were already talking about who would be and through that year um i had concluded some relationships i had in the space as an individual like when it comes to sponsorships and uh they weren't really interested in renewing some of my contracts so i was like hey i'm not going individual next year this is my plan i think we'll have a really good team though so if you want to help support us that'd be awesome and they kind of were not interested not interested. Yeah, the affiliate competition was, it didn't really get any coverage. Even though you guys were very much pro athletes.

Sure. You're putting in the exact same amount of work, but it didn't get the coverage. Well, listen, I tried the Tommy Hackenbrook model, so here's how this happens. In 2012, 2013, we're getting sponsors because Tommy would call someone and say, like, hey, we're going to win the CrossFit Games in July. If you want us to talk about your products and stuff,

hook us up with some free stuff and then help us travel. This is how it goes. Nice. And they were like, cool with that. So I was trying to throw my weight around and do the same thing. And people probably weren't, you know, as responsive to me. And so, nonetheless, when Skylar reached out, it was literally to the point where, like, hey, man,

I'm trying to start this brand this is my vision I'm local to Utah I'd love to get you some products I'd love to get your feedback that's how Innocent started and at the time it was two products a protein and a pre-workout and so I come on board and I'm like giving them some feedback I'm shooting them some ideas and literally through the course of about a month we negotiate a deal so I'm coming on to help start some of the company and co-found it in its infancy we shot a plan out we started designing some things that were unique to the space we kind of I think I would say kicked down the door with our cricket protein a lot of people were very

curious about that the purpose the reason what it was going to offer them I'm definitely interested in it tell me about it yeah bro I mean it's great crickets are like a superfood right not only when we're talking about this but yeah I feel like it was on like shark tank and i was like there was one on shark tank i was like cricket people not really saturated the market on cricket protein is not really saturated so i think there's plenty of room for more people to cricket protein yeah well and the one on the one that initially was there was chapul uh chapul was a bar it was a cricket bar and so when it came to the states it's coming on and having it as a powder in a protein form was very new and nuanced especially in 2017 now it's a little more popular and people are doing it.

But really we wanted to create an alternative to people who were struggling with dairy products and were still dealing with, on an okay basis, with what whey provided for them because, of course, they might not be as responsive to whey as they were milk or cheese on pizza or whatever. And we were like, listen, there's an alternative for you. And essentially it's better for your body.

There's more omegas in it. You're getting a full branch chain amino acid profile because it's a whole food. And people in other countries, I know we're Americans, we kind of turn our nose up to, like, the idea of eating bugs. Like, this is how people are surviving. It's a great way for us to increase sustainability when it comes to our planet. What did you hear when the the first time it was like we're gonna go cricket pro team were you like what yeah oh really no literally when i'm

putting my name behind i was like um i don't i just don't think it's i you know i was very honest i don't know that it will sell yeah i don't know that are people ready for this yeah um it's going to take a lot of education infographics which of course we learned on the way and like yeah you just gotta when they know and they understand and they see and they see the value. And then you get it in their hands and they taste it. They look at the powder and they're like, okay, look, this is – this looks like my whey protein. Yeah.

And when you drink it, the texture's smooth and it's a little thicker. So all of our flavor profiles are like chocolate mousse, which is like a pie, right? Yeah. Or blueberry muffin on the muffin side. So there's that natural texture. It's a little bit thicker, but you're okay with it because you're like, okay, yeah, it's like a muffin. Yeah.

It's delicious. But it tastes great and people just got to give it a chance and if you if you're out there and you're you know not not taking in the dairy products but looking for a quality protein that's going to actually help you recover yeah that's the way to go is that like one of your flagship products or is that just you just happen to mention that product first is that like the company's kind of centered around that that as a product no no so another thing is being in the space is of course you guys know it's very competitive anyone and their mom can start a supplement supplement line really to be very honest about it and so what we wanted to do is create a unique line so we tried to continue to

roll that out and we did so like the next step was like an am protein so we have an am protein that has a natural caffeine blend and also nootropics with 22 grams away the flavor profiles are crazy so people love them to death. But it's a wake-up. You shake it up, and you enjoy it in the morning. And then we continue to branch out. We still have your traditional whey proteins as a recovery product, but we kind of lace it with some casein,

so you still get the slow digestive properties of that. We've got pre-workouts. We've got greens. And I would say, honestly, it caught us all off guard, but we've got a product called Rebalance, and it's just a micronutrient greens product, a super greens guard, but we've got a product called Rebalance. And it's just a micronutrient greens product, a super greens product, but it tastes great. So people are into it.

You know, it's like there's a lot of products out there, but compliance is key. I mean, you guys know this with training or anything else that you're doing, nutrition, whatever. Like, okay, anybody can do something for 30 days. But if you're going to continue to do it over time, that's where you see the real results. And so we've got a great digestive enzyme that's a part of our greens. And because of the taste, I think it just keeps people back and they're they're on board with it so that's actually our best seller to be honest it's called rebalance yeah were you a supplement person before um like creating fnx of course yeah and so that's part of my passion is like i didn't know much but i was just putting whatever in my

body kind of thing um i told you my dad dad was in the gym grinding, doing his thing. I remember being a little boy, watching him stir up some powder and some milk and being like, yeah, can I get some of that? And he'd let me drink it. It tasted awful, but I thought it was cool. Back in the day, man, some of that stuff was so bad. Oh, so bad. I can't even imagine now thinking back.

It didn't mix. It tasted like shit. Yeah, all of it. All of it. Leave the protein shaker in the car, open it up. Oh, my God. You throw it away. You throw it away. At this point, it's not even salvageable.

That's kind of where it started. I took a lot of protein supplements growing up and was always trying to look and be innovative and figure something out like what was going to work best for me. How do you get into creating a pre-workout? How do you get into it? How do you design one? Is your partner more onto the design of the actual products?

Oh, yeah. Yeah, we have a great chemist that specifically shoots us ideas and, you know, creates, like, you know, whether he's utilizing studies that he's seen that have been produced with high turnover so it's more of, like, a trusted source, he'll kind of mimic and clearly recreate those. Some of that stuff's terrifying. I put up an Instagram post the other day about, like, I'll give you a free T-shirt for the best pre-workout story. Yeah.

And I think, like, 80% of the comments that came back were, like, I poop my pants. Like, the majority of people, like, it was like there was a lot of very young 20-something military people that are, like, on all night long shifts. And then their story would be, like, so it was, like, 3 a.m. And we were on a shift. And I pooped my pants. But then I still had to kick the door in and go kill people. It was, like, so our military is running off of like C4

and like NO Explode. Scary. Terrifying. Scary. Our whole freedom sounds like NO Explode to me.

Yeah. It might have cost some innocent lives if they got kicked in the door on the good stuff. They might be like C4,

this stuff's no joke. Yeah, man. And for us, it took a lot of tampering. You know, like honestly, like we had to figure out the appropriate caffeine, beta-alanine mix, because it's like we're in the sport of functional fitness, man.

Your heart rate's jacked. You're moving. You're sweating. You're out of breath. We don't want people to go quite there. Because I still want you to be you and do your thing, but I need to create that state of arousal that's like, okay, look, I'm better than I was when I got off my work shift or whatever.

So, yeah, it's taken a lot of like try this, I try it, I'm a personal guinea pig, go smash the workout. Too much. Too much. We've gone too far. Three minutes into a 12-minute workout, I wanted to throw up. That's not normal for me. So, yeah.

My brother took beta-alany for the very first time and didn't understand the dosing at all. I just thought it was like any other random powder. You just get like a regular spoon. You put a spoonful, maybe two in there because he couldn't find the dosing at all. I just thought it was like any other random powder. You used to get like a regular spoon. You put a spoonful, maybe two in there. Yep. Because he couldn't find the scooper. And he had sent me a text that I didn't see

and didn't get back to him in time. So he didn't realize it was like a one-gram scooper. And he was going to take like two or three of them maybe. Especially the first time you take beta-alanine, you take too many scoops, like your whole body is going to be on fire. Oh, my gosh. Yeah, it's crazy. He took two regular spoonfuls.

So he probably took like 20 or 30 grams. Like fucking too much beta alanine if you know anything about beta alanine he said his whole body was on fire just got the tingles everywhere super strong and then like was was driving to the gym had to pull over to a grocery store ran inside and just like just blew it out yeah just destroyed a grocery store bathroom you quote unquote didn't see the text. Yeah. I'm like, yeah, you're good. You're good. I can't wait to see

what he says after this. That's amazing. How often do you guys come out with like a new product or meet the demand? Like, what is that process

for you guys? That's a legit question. So, I mean, we've learned a lot. We're only two years old. We turned two years old today. So that's pretty awesome.

Congratulations. Thank you very much. And so, with that, you know, through through the timeline like it's like, you know We get a vibe for what consumers are looking for and they like variants It's kind of like their fitness right like they they like choices They're telling us they love this within you're noticing like oh they haven't purchased for three months Like what can we do to help entice that and it's like creating that variety Which which is also an investment of risk and so it's like this making that decision so i would say honestly this this year so far we've

tried to be pretty consistent with something new whether it's a new flavor or a new product design one a month oh wow yeah whole yeah that's that's good frequency develop a new product yeah every month not not new product but even a new flavor profile it's not always something new it's just a new new something right like new something to a new degree new flavor profile. It's not always something new. It's just a new something, right? Like new something to a new degree. So, yeah, man. And it's good. People get pumped about it.

You know, it's just something different. And so last week, the last month they had vanilla. But, yeah, this week they definitely want that cherry limeade. And it's only limited time. Cherry limeade sounds good. There you go, man. Can't argue with that. I'll have it.

How do you differentiate yourself? I mean, the cricket protein is pretty differentiating in itself, but from all the other pre-workouts, from all of the supplement industry, like you mentioned earlier, it's just, God, stuff everywhere. From differentiating kind of the marketing and who you're talking to, are you very direct to CrossFit-specific athletes? Yeah, I would say honestly. So the way that we started, clearly, it's like we're targeting all things CrossFit, right?

And one of the rational decisions that we made, which I think was spot on, is that it's the community. And so what we wanted to do, our goal was to create an FNX community within the functional fitness community and support that and use that as our true identity. So our goal is FNX stands for Phoenix, right? So we're trying to help people rise up. Recovery is the name of the game.

If you're in the gym grinding, you've got to be able to recover to continue on. And so what we bank on setting us apart is the community vibe that we're creating. We've got an ambassador side of our business where it's like we're bringing people on to help promote and build our brand. And we're also treating them well when they do that right it's like discounts that they're offered limited limited uh you know access to products that aren't available to anyone else or early release products yeah um we're about to have an fnx ambassador retreat uh in utah coming up it'll be in park city and it's going to have a handful of our influencers from brookends camille will be there camilla blanc bazinet jake hebner cole sager dude he's not there i'm not yeah yeah oh. We got to get Easy.

I mean, you know, it's just like can we get him to separate from his kids or get all the kids out at the same time as well. So it's like – See, this is what we were talking about. Every time I see him, he's got the whole crew with him. Whole crew. They'll all be here this weekend, he told me. They're all front squad too. Yeah, he was at the booth when I left.

Just now he was at our booth. So I was like, yeah, man, whole family's coming out. He's one of my favorites. He's the best. They're amazing. He's lifting tomorrow too, huh? Yeah. They're all on the same platform. That's right. I love it. Dude, what are you going to do? Oh, you guys are on the the best. They're amazing. He's lifting tomorrow too, huh? Yeah, they're on the same platform.

That's right. I love it. Oh, you guys are on the same platform. I mean, all the kids will probably be there too. They'll probably open up with some barbell lifts for us. I don't know. Easy's kid front squats in the garage gym every morning, it looks like. Their bar path is straighter than mine.

They haven't been through all the years of getting jacked up. Both their arms are the same length. They have no long bone development yet, so their torso is still twice as long as their femur. That's true. Lucky. The beauty in that. Yeah, come on, man.

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has no personality traits but it does track recovery better than anything in the game so get over to whoop.com they sponsor the show you're going to use the code shrugged just like all the other codes shrugged and you're going to save 30 bucks on 12 or 18 month membership guess what that's going to get you a real live reading on your recovery hrv daily strain you name it it's got it it's going to help you tailor your intensity tailor your workouts to how tired you are how well recovered you are it. It's a beautiful thing. Whoop.com, use the coupon code SHRUG. You're going to save $30 on a 12- or 18-month subscription. Back to the show.

Dude, you're going to be on a platform with EZ and Wes Kitts. Do you see Wes Kitts? Yeah, so literally I just saw him. I was walking out of the – Oh, he's here right now? No, he was at the CrossFit Games. Oh, gotcha. So I left the arena.

I was like – I didn't feel him walking. Saw this big dude right here, and I was like, that dude looks familiar. I was like, Wes. And he looked at me, and I was like, what's up, man? I'll be listening with you tomorrow. Congratulations. You know, he just crushed it and did his thing.

And so I'm pumped. 477. I'm pumped. It's crazy. It's crazy. Dude, have you ever even pulled 477 off a front rack or, like, off pins into a front rack? You know, I'm going to say no. I don't believe I have.

I've tried to do some training with holds and heavy, but I don't. 477? I have like right now there's real man crush because not only did he do that. I've said this like too many times today, but then the next day he posted the ab selfie on Instagram right after. And you're like, wait a second. You cleaned your 477 and you don't have like power gut? Yeah, come on, bro. You're supposed to have something.

Something. At least stick it out a little so that everybody feels better about the six pack what are you doing crazy you're just a big ass dude what's wrong um man so i'm excited but also a little sad right because i'm gonna be at my max he won't quite be ready to warm up yet kind of thing but it's all good we're gonna be to be bros tomorrow. What are the goals? What are you looking at? Squat? Dang, man, I don't know. I mean, the heaviest I've squatted in a while. I mean, because, you know, listen, you're hitting me at a time

where I haven't maxed out consistently for a while. I haven't maxed out, but he did it in 47 seconds. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The 2,000, that's in my wheelhouse. Yeah. But the maxes, I don't know. I mean, I'd love to be over 465, 470 for the back squat. That'd be awesome.

My deadlift's strong. I'd love to be able to pull over six. That'd be awesome. I've hit 605 before. Strong. Clean and jerk. My best is 355, so I don't know if we'll be quite there tomorrow. Snatch best is 275, but that's been a while.

265 probably about a month ago. I'm excited to see. I mean, clearly your platform is loaded with humans. I tried to get all the strongest people on the same thing because, like, I don't even know what Wes does for back squat. Like, I shot a video of, like, potentially how you guys could try to get through just so, like, people understood, like, try and keep it.

Like, 135, 225, 315, 405. And then I was like, if Wes goes straight to 495 on set five, we're all fucked. Yep. Like, how do you get to 650 or whatever he's going to do? Exactly, whatever. Who knows? Who knows? When he walks that thing out, I'm just going to be like.

Yeah, that's what it looks like. Exactly. That's what strong is. That's exciting. That's why you guys are doing the event, man. Yeah, how was it presented to you? Matt talked to you about it? Matt did.

Matt was like, hey, see, you want to slang some weights at the CrossFit Games? I was like, hold on, man. What you mean? Like in front of people? Because I like to do those things, so of course. But yeah, he let me know what you guys were doing, and I was like, oh, I'm on board for sure. Literally, I hopped on and listened to a podcast about what the One Ton Challenge was in general. Saw that there was a program.

I was like, man, what a community event. I love it. Yeah, absolutely. Dude, we're really excited about it. We have all of our people that are on the program right now are maxing out their back squats, so it's like an eight-week meso for each lift. Yep.

And there's people that flew in from Australia and whatnot that are actually here this weekend that are coming to do it with us. That's so sick. So it's really rad. All of it matched up with this weekend so well. We didn't plan it that way, I promise. But it's pretty rad. It seems genius, right?

It literally does. I was like, oh, this was a very big plan and execution throughout the year. So even if that was smart. Yes, you do tremendously. Will you guys do this continually? So we're doing it here, and then we're going to Olympia, and we're going to try and get a lot of the bodybuilding community into it. Nice.

And then we're going to the Arnold. So those are the three that we've got slated out right now. And then ideally we're going to be kind of going around doing, like, seminar type thing. But instead of, like, people will be learning snatch, clean and jerk, all that fun stuff at the seminar. But instead of, like, PVC pipe for form, it's like, why don't we just go lift some weights and have some fun absolutely i love that man so that's cool yeah i was like i want i want to get people on my gym on this program and like let them you know what i mean like it's it's cool it's gives you a reason to

train well we hate conditioning yeah i mean well i mean there's you know there's a piece of conditioning that's okay but i'd really just like to lift weights. Everybody loves to sling weights. Everybody does. What does your training look like now, now that you have this business that's growing very quickly? You're here at the CrossFit Games. The fact that you have a marketing budget to have a booth.

Yep. Yeah, imagine life is very busy. Yeah, life is very busy. I also got two little ones, man. I got a two. Game time. Game time. Game over. A two-year-old and then a five-month-old.

Yeah. You're in it. How'd you break free? The company's two years old. I'm grateful for my wife. That's how. I'm getting the best sleep I've gotten in a while here. Yeah.

Hopefully this doesn't go out before I get home. Otherwise, I'll be in trouble. But truly, you know, it's like it's not so much training. It's working out, truly. And that's what I tell people. It's like that's the difference, right? Training, I'm committed to it. There's a certain time that I have to be in the gym.

Out of the gym, I'm very focused and dialed in when I'm there. I'm working out. So I'm like hopping into the gym, the WOD at the gym that I program still for our classes. Do you own a gym? I do, yeah. Oh, my God. Living Victory CrossFit. Now, the beauty there is that, you know, in all honesty, we started FNX.

We got where our offices were going to be, had some available space. We were like, we've got to start an affiliate. I've got a great team that runs the affiliate, though, so I'm pretty hands-off with all that stuff. And so it's great to be able to dabble in it, be able to get down there on the floor. I still coach like two classes a week. I actually miss coaching a lot.

I love it, dude. I love it. Yeah, I believe it. I joined miss coaching a lot. I love it, dude. I love it. Yeah, I believe it. I joined my first CrossFit gym two weeks ago. I just bought a new house, a new area, moved to the East Coast, and joined a gym. And it was just like you get to be around healthy people, motivated people.

Even if they're not elite athletes and all that, it's just like surrounding yourself with people, coaching is such a great way to just be in it. It's my favorite thing, honestly. It really is. How many classes are you coaching in a week? Just two. Oh, right on. Just two a week, bro.

It's like the perfect amount. I go down at lunch. You know, I try to make sure all our new employees at FNX, as they start to come onto the team, are down there experiencing the grind of what CrossFit is and what it's like, if they're unfamiliar with it at all. And, you know, we've built a good community in the two years that we've been there and it's like for me it's it's way more I love to coach elites that fires me up I love to get people out on the

floor living their dream doing their thing but like you know it's the people that you can get into that first real full depth air squat that like that's the magic and that's what like you know you see their face light up they're like oh my gosh I didn't know I could do that to the first pull-up or whatever it is and so that's that's really where my passion is and i still do some i still do some coaching for crossfit as well i still teach some level one seminars and stuff for them it's much less often as it used to be for me i was i was on the road a good bit even when i was still competing but um now it's like if i can stay home i'll stay home and keep my my skills fresh for those guys but how old's your affiliate two years dude everything

what happened two years ago where you decided this is life's about to take off yeah brand new kid kids business dropped out of competing yep affiliate yep and fnx yeah children man and then like just like being smacked in the face trying to see a future you know what i mean right it's like okay future like this stuff crossfit was great for me as a competitor i love it i love it it would just be a little too selfish for me right now to not try to build something for the for the kids and for the family and and i'm still involved i still get to do what i love but it's like i had to i had to figure some things out and i still still work for brood even you know i still do some programming for those guys and help oversee the games prep and compete group and the master's group um but a lot of that

stuff is just because that's what i really love yeah you know what from the the competitive side of things i always find it super interesting when athletes the business is almost just like that sport we get to play for the rest of our lives and uh that transition from almost like the ego of competing and being in front of people and the big stage transitioning. Did you struggle with that at all or was that pretty seamless? I mean, honestly, it was it was probably seems more seamless than it was for me. I think I think everyone deals with it a little bit. Last year was kind of hard. And that means so we went a full calendar year. I didn't even do the Open last year, and I stepped in.

I was here at the games but not competing. Everyone else was like, why aren't you competing? Like, why aren't you? You know, and it was one of those things where I still truly believe in myself that I could, but that just doesn't mean that I should be out there. You know what I mean? And so I realized that it was a choice I made for myself. I think it's easier than, like, I'm not good enough anymore.

I can't put together a team that can make it anymore. So me knowing that it was like, okay, I'm doing this on purpose and with good reason, then I was okay with a lot of that stuff. Are you stoked to coach your kids? You got a five-year-old right now? Have you started doing any – Two years. He's only two.

Oh, I thought you had a five-year-old. Five months. Oh, five months. Yeah, bro. Yeah, bro. We were two under two for a while. That was – yeah. Yeah.

I had three kids in three years. I get it. I get it. I get it. So, yeah, I have a four-year-old now, and he's kind of just to the point where I can start, like, you know, I can put a broomstick in his hand and be like, yo, put it overhead. Spot down. And I start, like, tweak him a little bit.

Sure. I can see how that's going to get more and more fun over time. Oh, yeah. Being someone who's a great coach, and, like, you seem like an archetypical coach like like personality wise like you coach you if you weren't in crossfit you'd be coaching someone in something else something else man so i feel like having that personality type are you just like pumped to coach your kids once they are old enough yeah i am i am that's right we're saying hi to the class hi everybody that's morgan Morgan King. Yay. Morgan King.

She's going to lift tomorrow. Come see her. Yeah. She weighs like 103 pounds. She snatches like 198. She kills it. Yeah. You put a barbell in her hand, she grows four inches, puts on 40 pounds.

It's like amazing. People get all angry. People turn into machines. Yeah. Oh, that's Wes over there. Fuck. Yeah, that's Wes over there. Fuck. Yeah, but I am excited. I am excited to teach, to coach the kids.

And I just don't know. It's interesting because I'm always thinking about it. I'm like, okay, so how will I go about this? What will this look like? And people ask me all the time, oh, my gosh, your son, he's going to grow up and be a great CrossFit athlete. And I'm like, no, no, no, no. Hold on now.

He's going to play real sports. I hope that he's right. And I mean, I played CrossFit. I can say that. I can say I played CrossFit. So that's cool. No, no, no disrespect to anybody still out there playing CrossFit. But it's just like I want him to pursue, you know,

sports that aren't going to be around his entire life. And CrossFit will always be there. Of course, he's going to do some CrossFit because he's already in the gym and asked to go to the gym at two years old. Me and his mom will take him. We take him to the gym when we get to work out together on Saturdays and no one else is around, and he just likes to jump on plates and do the thing. So I want him to play as long as he can before I come in and start trying to play.

I feel like a lot of CrossFit athletes, people that see it, they're like, oh, they're going to be great CrossFit kids. And you're like, or they're just going to go play soccer and baseball and football. And they're just going to be really athletic and just smash everybody and everything. Right. And if lifting weights happens, they'll lift weights too. Yep. Exactly.

In general, I think athletes are just drawn to weightlifting and CrossFit specifically because there aren't many other sports that adults can play at a relatively high level. Like, it's really hard. I get really pissed off, actually. Like, I want to go out into my neighborhood, and I want to, like, play pickup soccer. Right.

But no one does that. Right. They only have – everybody just goes to the gym. That's it. So that ends up being the sport we all have to play. It's like fitness. It is. And thank God for CrossFit.

Yeah, if I had the opportunity to just play an actual competitive game of like flag football. Yep. But the only league that does that is like the drinking league down the street that no one cares about. Right. And now the only friends that will do that with you are your CrossFit fans. Yeah.

Because they're the ones that are like, oh, cool. At least we'll go try it. They probably can't catch a ball very well, most of them, but you know what I mean? Remember when they tried to throw? Oh. Softball throw. This is one of the favorite events ever. Oh, my God.

It's 2019. We're still talking about that. Jason Kalifa's throwing with his elbow. What are you doing, bro? Jason, what are you doing? Quarter extremity. That's disrespectful, Jason. I love it.

I wish they would do that every year just to see who's out there. I don't know if you can learn how to throw a ball at that age in life. Like if you're already hardwired to just throw with your elbow. There's hope, bro. If we can teach people how to squat snatch, you know, we'll figure it out with the baseball. We'll figure it out. Your back leg's important, buddy.

You have to push off of it. That's so good. That's so good. That's so good. I remember watching The Ultimate Fighter when they were trying to get all the MMA fighters. Like, the very first season to run sprints, and they looked so janky. Like, wrestlers traditionally, like, aren't super coordinated for – that's a super stereotype. But, like, watch a wrestler play basketball or something like that or, like, run sprints. They just don't do that that much.

And I remember watching that show and being like, man, these guys are world-class athletes, but their sprinting technique is just garbage. It happens, right? You can be great, a specialist at something, and then you get hit with some general movement, and you're just like, yeah. Two left feet on that one. Dude, tell me about this summit. What do you guys

have going on out there? You're getting everybody together, but do you guys have a big speaker platform? Oh, this retreat that we're doing? Yeah we're gonna keep it small it's gonna be a pretty intimate group but essentially what it is it's like it's it's a fun retreat you know so so we're gonna get up into the mountains of park city we're gonna show people around the fnx facility and kind of tour them and do the thing uh share some meals together we're gonna be boating one day we're gonna be getting some atvs we're gonna go shooting at a gun range so the goal is yeah yeah it's the end of the summer so right what's it is it is it summer. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's the end of the summer.

Oh, rad. Is it Labor Day? Yeah. Is Labor Day at the end of summer? I believe so, yeah. It's during Labor Day weekend. There it is. There you go.

I'm forgetful. I need a calendar in front of me to know. Park City is the coolest spot. Oh, it's so cool, bro. Utah – I'll say this, guys. Utah is a hidden gem. It is. Hold on. I've done Utah twice.

I did once. I've done Park City two or three times, which is super rad. A little Atticus coffee shop. I ended up spending way too much time and probably too much money and whatever there. Like way too much money for a coffee shop. Right. And then I went and did Arches and Moab and camped and hiked. And, dude, Utah is legit.

It is, man. Truly. I think it is. I mean, we're starting to get more traffic up there. The population is growing. You know, houses going up everywhere all the time. But it's like people sleep on Utah, and I love it. That's why I've been there since 2004, 2005.

It's like a new home for me. Yeah. You mentioned earlier that you were moving around a lot as a kid. Yeah. What's a little bit of that story? So, you know, I grew, I was born in central Pennsylvania, very small town. My parents were divorced when I was three. And basically from the time I was five years old on, I had two families. And so, you know, my dad was

in a relationship that he stayed in until he died. He passed away when I was 16. But then my mom, when I was five as well, was in a different relationship. And my stepdad was in the Air Force. So the way custody worked between those two was in a different relationship. And my stepdad was in the Air Force. And the way custody worked between those two was that I spent a year with my mom and her family. Then I went and spent a year with my dad. Oh, wow. And I did that until I was in 10th grade. Wow.

And I had this stationary family in central Pennsylvania. But then my other family moved around. And so I was coming from Pennsylvania, hitting different targets. Ohio, California, Arizona. Yeah. So it was interesting. A lot of lessons. I grew up really fast.

I was going to say, I feel like at the time, I mean, I'd love to hear what you think, but later in life, we always look back on our childhood, and we can either be, like, the victim of that, or it can be something that's, like, a power that you have of, like like experiences and this story that is uniquely yours um how how did you feel about being transferring around so much as a kid i mean it has its ups and its downs right like as a kid it was hard it didn't get hard until like you hit that like 12 13 ish area where it's like okay you're old enough now like you really got some good bonds with some of the boys you're starting to get interested in girls like and then you just all

of a sudden got to move away and there's a chance that when i go back to pennsylvania my family won't even live in ohio anymore so i might not even get to go back and see those friends so it was like it was it was it was a challenge um it was definitely unique now when i look back i'm super grateful yeah super grateful because like i learned how to talk to people dude that's a real real thing you had to make new friends every year. Yeah, dude. You've got to be better at making friends than a lot of people. You just have more practice.

100%. Yeah, and I had to get used to being okay being alone sometimes. Before I made some friends, I had to be okay with just being me and doing what I wanted to do. And sports for me were huge growing up because of that. That was the way I made friends. So I was like, all right, I'm going to get on the soccer field and show these guys what I can do. Dude. In that circumstance, especially.

And just be in the top, like, couple percent of people on your team. Yep. You don't have to worry about a whole lot of things. No. No, it's like a cheat code. You're not getting picked on that much. It's a cheat code in life. It really is.

If you're the best player on the team, everyone wants to be your friend. Yeah. It's hard. Yeah. It's so terrible, but it's so true. It's true, man. You know what I mean?'s hard yeah it's so terrible but it's so true you know what i mean it really is it really is it's so true were you like were you open and extroverted even when you were younger or were you like is that you seem like that now like you seem like you're easy to get along with you make friends really easily but like is that

a result of that upbringing or are you always kind of extroverted and you made friends easy i think it's more of a result um because younger, I definitely, my parents actually drew it out of me. So the older that I got, I think the more that I became aware, like I do have that ability, and then I could pick when I wanted to be extroverted and when I didn't want to be, or when I wanted to be a showboat in a sport and didn't want to be. And so I think it was something that was learned. The older I got, the more comfortable I got in my own skin.

And then for some reason specifically, I remember in high school, this was like my junior year, my coach asked me to talk to all the parents. I thought that was really weird. But then I did it, and I did a pretty good job. And I got, like, people applauded for me and then came up and told me, like, hey, you did a really good job at that. And so naturally when that happens, I was, like, clicking. I was, like, oh, I'm good at talking to people. That was the conclusion I drew.

Really, I had no other experience, but that's just what I thought. And so it got easier and easier for me to talk to people because people affirmed like hey you did a good job at that yeah so I just kind of rolled with it you know what I mean and so yeah that's an instance that stands out specifically to me that's that's the best skill set you could ever want as a starting point for any service business especially the fitness business like you're going to gym and you can make friends really fast like you're gonna be successful at some level like you can find people that know how to do fitness stuff if you didn't know how to. You do know how to.

But learning how to make friends is a much tougher skill to learn how to do if you're not very good at it already. Right. Yeah, no, it is, man. And I see people all the time that really struggle with it. And they're great talking about a particular subject, and you put them in a room full of people, and they're like deer in the headlights. And I've tried to think about some applicable ways to help teach and guide people through that experience

to help them enhance that ability. But it just – it blows my mind, you know, when you think about it and you look at it, man, they're so talented and then they become handicapped in front of someone else. Well, you run a gym, so you have coaches. You've got ambassadors, F and X. Yep. Like, you have to teach people how to do this a lot of the time.

Absolutely, yeah. Do you guys have a process at your gym or an internship type program that you're putting your coaches through? Nothing formal. You know, a lot of exposure, you know, which means you try and try again type thing. Yeah. I try to think that time around me helps a lot of people because they understand and then they get to ask. And for me, it's a lot more of a genuine expression where I'm just like, listen, the first thing you got to do is be comfortable in your own skin. You got to understand that people aren't trying to look at you and dissect

you. Right. They're trying to actually learn something from you. So especially even when I'm on level one seminar staff, like, and I'm giving my first lecture up there that I was very nervous about. And at the time I was already like pretty quote unquote, a good speaker, but there was a lot of anxiety for me. And the thing that I could do for myself to make it break down and be simple is that, okay, these people paid for a service. They're relying on me to help them through this to get this end result, which at that is their level one. And so I'm just going to try to help them the best I can. I'm not going to worry about that flow master in the corner.

I'm not going to worry about Chuck Carswell or Sheree Chan or one of these legends in the CrossFit space that's dissecting every word I say. Try to forget about them and focus on the people and just give them the best service that I can. Dr. Sean Pastuch in our Facebook group, we bring him in for a lot of the rehab stuff because he's awesome. Oh, Sean is my man. Good friend.

And one of the quotes he had in the group because we had one of our athletes was getting ready to start teaching kids, and she was like, I don't know if I'm prepared. And he was like, you only need one more day of experience than the person you're teaching to guide them in a better way. And I was like, that is the simplest, most obvious, and in a way just profound thing. I was like, of course. Why would you be worried about coaching kids?

You don't actually have to know anything. You just have more experience than them. It's true. They don't really care about fitness. Right. You just want them to play a little bit. That's it. Like, you're doing it if they're laughing.

Right. And our parents are hoping just for the same thing. Like, make my kid move a little. They like you. And he throws up a team better. Like, do the thing. Will you just watch them for me? If you make them laugh, that'd be cool, too.

But I'm going to be over here being quiet. Yep. Like, that's all I want out of a kid fitness coach. Yeah, man. Well, kids, and this really goes for adults, too. Like, really the all I want out of a kid fitness coach. Yeah, man. Well, kids, and this really goes for adults, too, like, really the first thing is just getting them to have fun so they want to come back. Yeah. If they want to come back, they'll get better.

Even if you're not the best coach in the world, if they keep showing up, they're going to improve independent of you. If they don't come back, then, well, then you got nothing. Yeah. And I think being passionate. Dude, that's huge, right? Like, I'm a passionate dude. Like, only, I'm a passionate dude.

I'm very blessed to do things that I'm passionate about, whether it's with FNX or Brood or I'm coaching level ones. I'm passionate about fitness and health, dude. And so that helps me present it. Dude, the level one. Tell me about the level one these days. Yeah. I'm expired.

Oh, bro, come back through. I'm actually not expired. I just haven't used it in a long time. I got you. I think I got it in 2015. I just haven't used it in a long time. I got you. I had, I think I got it in 2015. I got re-upped. What does that cert look like these days? I remember when I went back, day one was like, I still was like so bought in on day one. What is fitness is still, I love that.

I love that first hour. People just went to that first hour and then left. I think it would radically change. That's a beautiful hour-long lecture. Absolutely. I mean, I'll be honest. I bring members in from my gym just to talk with them and basically give them the What Is Fitness lecture

just to spark up their journey a little bit. But the Level 1, the certificate course, is – I got you. I got you. Don't worry. Nailed it. I'll tell you what. It's evolved tremendously. I've you. Don't worry. Nailed it. I'll tell you what. It's evolved tremendously.

I've been on staff since 2013. I was interning while we were trying to win that second games affiliate cup. And, you know, it's evolved tremendously. You know, the lectures change. They're constantly being updated. You know, we still get together, not annually, but basically bi-annually to do a summit to get all the trainers together, the best trainers and coaches in the world to get together and pick our brains and learn and think about ways

that we can not just enhance the participant experience, but further the education that we can actually cram or get into those two days. So you go back through the course. I think you'll notice some definite changes, especially in 2015, from 2015 on. Yeah. Well, from 2001 or 2005, whenever I first got it. No, 2010 to 2015, and it was radically better. Right.

Radically better. So I imagine you're always making progress. Yep. And the process to get on staff is hard and ruthless and brutal, man. It is. It's like, you know. I don't know if people realize how hard that process is. Dude, they'll eat you up.

It can be like a six-month, very, very intense experience on, like, your character development. Absolutely. All of it. Coaching, the words you use. I don't know if you know Matt Loden. Of course. So he was one of our very first coaches.

He was, like, our head coach at the gym for a very long time and dude i just remember that process that he had to go through it was like six to eight months yep and i couldn't believe how intense it was and matt's one of the best out there you know what i mean so for it to be intense for him someone like that like you already know it's it's you got to know your stuff but just you gotta you gotta have a particular skill set to be able to. I just had this conversation with someone, but you could be in here and be the best coach of that class like anyone has ever seen. But then you're in a seminar and it's a whole different vibe.

Yeah. Because now you're coaching the coach and your ability to see and correct movement and not just do that but tell you how to do it and be an example to you how to do it. Yeah. That's a unique skill, man. And the lecture pieces are, I feel like the beauty in, especially day one, because it's so much theory, and there's coaching pieces in there, but the theory stuff, like you have to, it's very, very deep, but also very obvious.

And they try to make a very logical approach to what is fitness. And it's, if you can't deliver that message in extreme simplicity so the dumbest person in the room that's never worked out understands that constantly very functional movement done at high intensity is the right way to go about chasing lifelong fitness and getting from sickness to wellness to fitness like all i should fucking be on the level. You're ready, bro. Listen, I'm going to send Dave Castro an email after this and see. I feel like that's like a real skill that you only get by a lot of reps

in front of a lot of people, and then they tear you down afterwards. Yeah. I mean, and it's – Tear you down to build you up. Yeah, they tear you down to build you up. I mean, honestly, being on staff has taught me a lot of life lessons because of that yeah um you know words matter the things we say to each other really matter not just in the gym but like all the time i'm more selective with the words i choose to use you know to be honest with

you and i think it's made me hopefully a better human better husband and yeah and father because of that but um yeah it's a hard lesson to learn when you're just up there you're talking about something you think you know a thing or two and you're like yeah i'm gonna use this fancy word oh slide that in there yeah check out this example watch my air squat uh and then like you know sheree pulls me to the side and she's like so i got some feedback for you want to go over that now or you want to wait let's do it now no later i don't want to hear it but i was confident though you know like i'm on it i'm, crush this. And then it's like 35 minutes later, straight up, like what I missed, what I didn't do, why the cue didn't work on the guy, and I told the people that it did work.

Because she was like, so did he really stay in his heels then on that rep? And just looking at me like, you know, straight up, like killer eyes. I'm like, no. She's like, well, then don't tell him that he did. And show him and get him in his heels. And this is how you should have done it. And I love her for it. And literally what's crazy is that seminar with all that feedback

and all what I thought was a negative critique and like, man, I don't know if I got what it takes. She was like, you're going to be a great trainer on seminar stuff and I'm giving you the green light. You're going to get hired. All I got to do is clarify it through Dave and Nicole. And so it was like, man, I got all this feedback and ways to improve and ways I need to grow, but she still saw, like, but this is what it's about.

Every weekend, these are the same conversations we have now. It's, like, constant. We're just trying to get better, trying to level up. You think a large component of that was, like, as she's giving you feedback, she's realizing how coachable you are as well. And, like, you want to coach other people that are coachable, and you also need to be coachable yourself. You can't think you know it all.

And that's the kind of people they want on staff, I'd imagine. Absolutely. Super humble. I mean, hungry and humble. You know what I mean? Like, you've got to be hungry. Go after it. Feed your brain the knowledge.

Get the experience. And then, like, when you're told that this is what you're doing, but this is what you should be doing, can you pivot and do that? And if you can, then it's like there's your potential on seminar staff, really, I think. Because you've got to, you know, get some bad feedback next week. Come back stronger, be better. Could you imagine a life where you're not doing exactly what you're doing right now? Your passion for FNX, the gym, level one, it comes out of you. Thank you.

Could you imagine doing anything else right now? If you had not found CrossFit, it would have been wild. No, literally. I have no idea i mean this is no stretch i have no idea like what i'd be doing i don't know if i'd be like selling cars i don't know like i don't know you sell the shit out of it hey man listen if you can if you can hustle and do the thing that's some good money you know we're in the wrong industry you sound like you need another job right now

um no yeah i really don't i really don't so i count my blessings every day truly and i You know, we're in the wrong industry. You sound like you need another job right now. No, yeah, I really don't. I really don't. So I count my blessings every day, truly. And I just, I think that's a lesson that I learned as a kid. You know, my parents, I told you guys, I grew up in a small town. I grew up with some folks that really hated what they did, to be honest with you. They had stories every night.

They came home and they were like, man, you know, job, whatever. Like this is, and it brought some things home that they probably didn't want to have at home. You know what I mean? Like it's just that angst, small-town life where it's like you don't got many options. And so I was told immediately, like, find something that you love and do it. Don't worry about the paycheck. Don't worry about the insurance. Don't worry about the whatever.

And it's like do something that you're passionate about. And so I think they gave me that freedom and that permission to, like, I'm going to dream some things up. My goal was to make it to the NFL, of course. I didn't quite make that. But, like, it got me a college education, which I was the first in my family to do that and get exposure. Like, okay, I'm out of this small town.

I'm doing the thing. I got potential, and I wanted to keep seizing it the best I can. That's still some of the urgency that I have is, like, I've gotten opportunities that a lot of other people in my family and friends and people that I see and know personally even haven't. And if I don't capitalize on those things and, like, make something happen, I'll feel like I wasted some of my juice, you know, or some of my sauce. Yeah, and being a dad, do you think about that stuff when you, like, the way you speak to your kids even though one's five months old?

But you're a two-year-old, I assume. Like, you're two years into the learning curve already. Yep. I have a 13-month-old, and I've never thought about it more than I do now of, like, that exact message of, like, no, you don't have to do what – just figure out what you – but she doesn't understand English. That's okay. She does, though. Bro, she does, though. That's the thing.

And then, like, in four months, when she starts speaking it back to you, you're going to be like, oh, she was listening. Yeah. She heard some things because it blows my mind on what they pick up on, man. You know, like, the small thing that you're doing and then like you look over and he's like trying to do it like you're just trying to mock me sometimes and yeah it does make me mindful and i'm just i'm trying to because this is tricky man there's probably nothing more insecure that i am than as a dad i'm super like worried about like what i'm gonna do to influence my son or daughter to like do the right thing or the wrong thing or like yeah will

i be too overbearing will i you know will i not be a great example and maybe my shortcomings will be why they're like man screw that like he was only x y and z you know yeah because what i don't want to do you know and i had this growing up a bit was like my dad my dad was was great at telling me what to do and not like in a in a demonizing way but like he didn't follow his own advice type way and so i you know i grew up with a dad i was like you know keep your head on straight do the right thing but then like he'd be kind of doing the other thing and and so i don't want to be that i want to be someone that's like true to their word and non-hypocritical and like so i try to be selective but it's it's it's gonna be a battle and a journey so man i might be reaching out to y'all for advice i'm telling you listen that's

what i do with my friendships man i'm trying to beg borrow and steal everything i can from everybody it's like he's got three boys well dude i feel like in the middle of like all dads are in the same boat like nobody knows what the fuck they're doing yeah you do what you think is the best available option but you don't really know if it's the best thing or if it's the right answer if there is such a thing like you just you just figure it out as you go yeah i appreciate that i think you're right i think that's what i feel like that's what most dads that really know what they're doing say. Other dads are like, all right, here's a rule book. Watch this. Every night, mix their applesauce with pickle juice.

He's going to be an NFL player, son, I'll tell you. Lots of cheese and peanut butter before bed. You're good to go. Once you think you have all the answers, that's a surefire way to let people know that you don't have the answers. You ain't got it, bro. I just already feel like I have no control. I'm just like, you're just going to, oh, Jesus,

this ball of cells is going fast. Yep. I'm just going to play bumpers and try and keep it somewhere near the middle. Well, to your point from a second ago, you were talking about your dad, he was telling you one thing and then doing something else. I actually really do think the opposite of that is the best approach. Just being the best role model of that is the best approach. Like just being the best role model possible, being the best person you can be,

they are going to see how you treat other people. Right, right. I mean, that's one of the defining things in my mind. Like if my kids get older, how they treat people is going to be like the biggest key indicator if I did a good job. If they treat people fantastically well, then I did a good job. If they treat people like shit, I fucked up. That's it. Like there's many other things you could consider, but that's like a big, big thing for me. So like me focusing on my personal development and my communication skills, my leadership

skills, and just being the best person I can be, I think is the number one most important thing. Because they're going to see on a daily basis how I treat my wife or how I treat my friends, business partners, phone calls. Am I screaming to somebody on the fucking phone yep and swearing at them and you know i swear but like yeah but they can they can tell if like you're swearing and you're it's fun and you're laughing or if you're like angry and fucking pissed off absolutely so being a role model i think is number one yeah i i love it i appreciate it i think it's true that's almost any facet of life right you might as well you know actions

actions lead man do you feel from kind feel from bouncing around when you were a kid that you've developed a really good bullshit meter when you're around people and have that innate understanding of we're all on the same team or steer clear? I'd like to think so. Yeah. I mean, I think we can all fall victim to the salesman of somebody. But, you know, it's like for the most part I feel like, yeah,

I think I really do have a good meter for that. And a lot of it's just like I grew up figuring out how to listen. Yeah. I think because of that, I was a new kid a lot. Like people would ignore me or not ignore me, but I wasn't like the one that needed to lead the show or in the front of the room. So I would just like watch the people and i would watch the clicks and

see like oh yeah oh he's cool with him she's cool with her but like he's totally not like you know what i mean and like just kind of like watch people and be very observant and i think that uh yeah it helped it helped me develop a lot of those characteristics yep um rad dude i'm gonna let you get back to your booth whatever you guys got going on tonight. This has been really cool. I'm really glad to catch up. I've been a fan for a long time. Thank you. I mean, I've been a huge fan of you guys,

so it's kind of surreal to be on your podcast and be chopping it up with y'all. So I appreciate you for having me on. We're going to lift some weights tomorrow night. Yeah, man. Slang and bang. I'm stoked. One-ton challenge. Right.

Where can people find you? FNX? Bro, at FNXfit underscore, or I'm sorry, at FNX underscore fit on IG. We got FNXfit.com. And then for me personally, Adrian underscore, at Adrian Conway underscore on IG. Where's your gym? What's the name of it again? North Salt Lake.

It is Live and Victory CrossFit. There it is. Well done. Doug Larson. We need to make a Salt Lake trip one of these days. It's on the list. Especially if Park City is on the scheme. Hang out. We can make an event of it. We can do some things. Listen, we the list. Especially if Park City is on the scheme. Hang out.

We can make an event of it. We can do some things. Listen, we'll just put together. One-ton challenge. We'll put together. Look, one-ton challenge at our gym. We'll put together another retreat. We'll get a retreat going.

Do the one-ton challenge. Go up to Park City. Do the thing. Look at this. It could either be in the winter. We can hit the slopes. When his business partner slid into the DMs, it just happens.

It just happens, bro. It manifests from here. Yeah, yeah. We'll make it happen. I'm totally down. Let's go snowboarding while we're there. I'm going to have to ski though. Or you're going to have to teach me how to snowboard.

As long as you don't do the jumps. I'm too old for jumps. I just get scared. I haven't skied since I was like eight. I would love to go skiing. I haven't done it in so long. I've always snowboarded since high school. I've never been on two skis. Let's do it.

That's amazing. Snowboard is the only thing, yeah. We'll make it happen. Doug Larson, where can people find you? You bet. Find me on Instagram at Douglas E. Larson. You can find me at Anders Varner, because I'm Anders Varner.

We're the Shrug Collective at Shrug Collective. OneToneChallenge.com. Come hang out. We'll see you guys next Wednesday. Friends, that's a wrap. OneToneChallenge.com. Snatch, clean, jerk, squat that bench. I need to know. Tell me your numbers.

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