Barbell Shrugged - Barbell Shrugged  — 4 Time Weightlifting National Champion Jessica Lucero  — 329

Episode Date: August 11, 2018

Jessica Lucero (@jessicalucero9) is a 4x USA Weightlifting National Champion, a world team member, current American record holder in the snatch, clean & jerk and total, and has dreams to go the Olympics. In 2017, Jessica cleaned and jerked double her bodyweight at USA Weightlifting in the 58kg weight class. In 2018, she swept Gold for the 4th time in a row and snatched 200 lbs. in the 63kg weight class. In this episode, we talk about chasing Gold From Day 1, mental toughness and overcoming mental barriers, what it's like living the life of a professional athlete, giving back to the future generations of olympic weightlifting, her olympic hopes for 2020, and more. Enjoy! - Doug and Anders

Another Saturday edition of Barbell Shrugged. We're hanging out with Jessica Lucero. Look, you need to know something about Jessica Lucero. She is a boss. She's literally the strongest girl in the country in her weight class. She has the American record in clean and jerk, American record in snatch, and the American record in total.

That means literally of all of the Americans that weigh as much as her. That have ever existed on this planet. That really like lifting weights. None of them. Literally none of them are as strong as her. Yeah. That's awesome awesome that's incredible it's incredibly hard to be as good as she is at lifting weights it's so hard that nobody in the history of this country has ever done it before she's literally the best of all time in her weight class at lifting weights. It's incredible. Super stoked to hang out with her. I hope you guys really enjoy listening to this

podcast. I think there's, um, I always enjoy any time the podcast goes from like, we're learning all the things to, we all just became friends over the last 30 minutes 45 minutes and then we just really have like an awesome um just as if we're all training partners conversation and we're just hanging out talking about our love for lifting weights um if you get to the point where we were asked her what her favorite weightlifting memories are i i remember the moment she's talking about and, um, it was, it was very cool to know that she was like kind of an integral part and she looked up to the same people that I looked up to in the weightlifting world. Um, and anybody that

can talk to you about Natalie Woolfolk, um, is just gets an A plus in my playbook because that name goes a long ways in the weightlifting world. And it has a lot to do with when you found Olympic weightlifting and the search for people that were had great technique. And she was just like a, a masterful dancer around the barbell. Still to this day, it's one of my like favorite videos is watching Natalie lift in coach Bergener's gym and just watching what like pure speed under the barbell looked like. Um, really loved hanging out, um, with Jessica and, um, hope you guys enjoy, make sure you get into the vault. We've got 12 programs in there now. Um, it keeps growing. The number of people in the pro or on the programs keeps growing. We've got an awesome Facebook group where 12 programs in there now. It keeps growing. The number of people on the programs keeps growing. We've got an awesome Facebook group where we are in there answering questions, doing technique adjustments, giving you guys advice.

I really enjoy seeing everybody grow and progress through the programs. It's been a blast. So get in there, shrug collective.com backslash vault. If you want to go over to muscle gain challenge.com, there's some free eBooks in there on how to put on how to build strength, how to build mass, uh, muscle gain challenge.com. Uh, if you want to go straight to the vault, you're going to shrug collective.com backash vault. 12 programs, $47 a month. Anywhere from three-month-long squat, pull-up, strongman, mobility, nutrition,

macro counters, grocery lists. The list goes on and on to 18-plus-month programs, Olympic weightlifting, mass gain. And we've got flight weightlifting, muscle gain challenge, and the shrug strength challenge, which is kind of an all around program. So we've got the CrossFit piece, you've got mass gain piece and muscle gain challenge. And then you've got flight weightlifting for much more Olympic lifting focused program. Make sure you get into the vault. It's awesome. $47 a month, unlimited access to 12 programs. ShruggedCollective.com backslash vault.

We'll see you guys at the break. Welcome to Barbell Shrugged. I'm Anders Varner. Doug Larson's in the house. Dr. Andy Galpin. We're across at Chalk in Newport. Should we call it Newport or Costa Mesa? Costa Mesa.

Costa Mesa. Costa Mesa. Property value is down 10% because of that name. A couple miles away from Newport, which we could claim if we were here. Hanging out with Jessica Lucero. Do you want to know something really funny? The first time I met you, I was coaching my very first athlete at a national level weightlifting meet, Salt Lake City, three years ago. And I showed up in the warm-up room and thought that I was, like, an okay weightlifting coach. And we're warming up.

And, like, I had everything. I was, like, we had everything counted out perfectly and I had only coached at like very local meets where no one does any of the fucked up things that you guys do in the back room and the game playing you mean yeah like selecting weights I thought that like all the coaches were like really in this together and fucking community like we're i hope you pr today that would be great and the vibe in the warm-up area was very different than anything i had ever been a part of and we were going through and we're counting and i'm like doing my thing and i thought i was good at this coaching thing and then um they called my athlete's name and i looked over and she still had her sweatpants on.

And like the six lifts that I was counting as being a part of that and every single person jumped like five kg and I was looking at her and I was like they all moved. We're going.

They just called your name. You get what you pay for as an athlete. You just called your name. And I literally. You get what you pay for as an athlete. You hire you as a coach. I literally wanted to just, like, write her a check for her plane ticket and be like, I'm so sorry. I ruined your entire thing. We bombed.

She came back, and I was like, so what do you think about clean and jerk? Like, should we, maybe let's just forget about that. I literally walked up to Waxman and I was like, dude, I wish I had like an online course to teach people how not to suck at this sport because where I coach at, at the little tiddlywinks game at my local gym and this national level thing is way different. Yeah.

And then even international is like way different. It's like crazy. It's not that friendly back there. No, no. This isn't a game. God, the way that people liked each other. No, this is competition. like way different it's like crazy it's not that friendly back there no no this isn't a game liked each other no this is competition um but yeah i mean a little we kind of like each other yeah i mean you do like it's cool like everybody was friendly you were you were locked in you were

staring at a wall you turned your chair around so you couldn't see the people i was gonna ask you was i nice because like if like in that well i wasn't I was going to ask you, was I nice? Because, like, in that scenario. Well, I wasn't really expecting you to be nice. It was more like my first time back there. So, we, like, see the people. And you're like, oh, we're, like, at the Nationals. And we're in, like, we were in the A class or whatever, A group. And it was baller.

I felt like I was cool. I was like, I'm a weightlifting coach. Like, I needed, like, the sweatpants that they wear. Like, the warm-up suit. three years ago so yeah salt lake i think it was salt lake yeah so yeah well when you said that and it was nationals yeah yeah so you probably won and we qualified it was her it was her did yeah and the girl that i was coaching like we were all so so young but uh so young we were so inexperienced she had only done one weightlifting meet before ever.

She was just a crossfitter that was super strong. And she qualified for nationals. And then next thing you know, we were in the A group. And, like, she went from, like, regionals, team, athlete, to A group at nationals, weightlifting. And it was like, oh. Yeah. KRS-One.

Step into my world. You like that, right? One of the dopest songs ever KRS-One. Step into my world. You like that, right? One of the dopest songs ever. Pre-show. See, KRS-One just brought us together. Hey, actually, there was a DJ at that, Nationals. Do you remember that? No, because I was crying.

Actually, I was crying right next to Maddie Rogers because she didn't do so hot now and either. She made me feel better about myself. I was like, oh, I wasn't the only one that didn't do so hot today. Not really. I just saw her and she was, I was like, it made me like, oh, even really, really good people. But did you learn from it?

Yeah. Never go back. Oh my gosh. No, I honestly, I sold my gym probably six months after it happened. And then now I just talk about working out. All right, let's zoom out for a minute. Tell us, for people who don't know who you are, if someone doesn't know who you are, who are you?

What's your background? How'd you get here? I'm Jessica Lucero. I'm a weightlifter for USA. And I don't know my background. How many national championships of weightlifting do you have? Five? Four.

Four. In a row, consecutive consecutive now we're getting four consecutive national titles in weightlifting and now you're on the world team is that what you said um well I've competed on the world team two years in a row um we qualify we have our like qualifying meet for worlds in September in Vegas so hopefully a third time So this is a big year for you. You were saying before we hopped on the mics, what's going on? Yeah. So they changed the qualifying procedures for the Olympics. So now we all qualify individually instead of from Team USA. And so in previous years, like if you didn't qualify for the world championships, it wasn't the end of the world because you had to have two international competitions the year before the Olympics to be eligible. And then as long as team USA qualified the spots, if I earned it at the Olympic trials, I got to go like in that way. But

now I have to go to the world championships and qualify my spots individually. So I have to be at every competition possible, internationally um and place well and do well so it's going to be an interesting two years for sure so is that like the big goal you want to go to the olympics or have you been to the olympics yet I have not okay so is that a big goal of yours yeah so I started weightlifting when I was 14 with the intention to qualify for the olympics like from day one you were, I'm going all the way to the top. Yeah, actually, I was trying out for my high school soccer team, and I was like not really going to soccer because I had met this girl,

and she was a weightlifter, and I met the coach, and the coach was like, hey, do you want to make the Olympics? And at the time, I was like, oh, I'll make it for soccer or whatever, but I wasn't that good at soccer. And so as soon as he said that, I was like, yeah, I do want to make the Olympics. He was like, all right, quit everything you're doing and focus on this. And so, like, ever since then I've been, like, super focused on that. So that person saw you lifting and was like, oh, they could spot something in you.

They saw something where they were like, okay, this person has the potential to go very far in the sport. Yeah, pretty much. You, like, raised your arms and they were like, mm, proportions the potential to go very far in the sport yeah pretty much you like raised your arms and they were like proportions i don't know i don't have like the the most ideal proportions for weightlifting i don't think but i think that like my my motivation and my drive was part of that and then like how hard i worked and like not a lot of girls at 14 are that focused on a sport they're like oh boys oh my friends and i was like i'm making the olympics so i remember in probably 2006 watching you and it was like okay there's a very clear difference in strength between all these girls yeah that was the thing that stood out about you. Technically, maybe you were a little bit behind or whatever.

Right. I don't know if that's fair. It is fair. But there was a clear difference, particularly in your clean. Yeah. All that. It's like, wow, she's just not. Yeah.

I guess I'm not being fair to myself. I think that I am naturally stronger. I can develop my strength a lot easier than I think other people aren't not everyone but above average so I think that's were you losing weights before you learned about snatch and clean and jerk no oh you just went right into it yeah good after so how'd you well CrossFit wasn't like there no no but where where did like the base of strength come from or was it just you played sports a little bit more competitively than everyone else yeah i played soccer on our travel team so i was like competing nationally and stuff with soccer um and i was really fast like that literally the i tried out for travel

soccer like for the a team and there's like a b and c teams like if you're good enough i had never played soccer ever and they picked me for the A team because of just how fast I was. We're like, they can teach her the rest. Just kick it a long ways and outrun them. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, I guess that's why. What about genetically? Like, do you have siblings that are also super athletic,

or were your parents particularly athletic? My dad wrestled in high school, and then my mom, like, my parents, like, couldn't really afford to play sports, but they both were, like, really interested in sports. So, like, they played in high school, but then once they graduated, they weren't able to, like, pursue that further. So it's hard to know for sure. But, like, looking at their body types and stuff,

I could assume that they would have been really good at whatever they chose. Yeah. So in the beginning when you decided like i want to go to the olympics and you're you're in your teens at the time like how did you find a really good coach back then because before crossfit got popular it was hard to find good way lifting before there was internet all that stuff it'd be impossible i was so lucky because at my high school there was a club team for waylifting um you know since we were talking about maddie rogers her coach danny camargo was my first coach oh wow he had his club team out of my high school so basically it was my

only option and he happens to be an international level coach and was he the guy that said do you want to come yeah go to the olympics yeah actually i got in trouble one time for drinking in high school and i actually wasn't drinking it's a long story but i was around we've got time yeah i'm innocent everybody else was drinking they're the bad kids if danny was here he would like be arguing with us about it because i was like holding a drink in a picture but literally i was picking it up to be cool but i literally wasn't drinking because i was not that like i was never i want to go to a party or whatever. I was not like that. So it was funny. But Danny was like he like kicked me out of the gym for a month and I was in trouble. And he made me write like an apology letter and stuff. And in my apology letter, I was like, I want to be the first Olympian that you have come from you and like all this stuff.

And so I think about that like all the time now, even though he's not my coach anymore. It's just like he still was my, and he still introduced me to it, and I still love the sport so much that I appreciate everything he's done. So, yeah. Shows you how important it is to have those programs in high schools. Yeah. No, 100%. That's, like, one of my goals.

How many other desk luceros do we not have now? Didn't you guys have a program in high school? Or was it just your coach? I was super lucky that I had a strength coach in high school who learned from Coach Bergner. So I learned to weightlifting since I was about 14. I was a strength coach in high school who learned from Coach Bergner. So I learned weightlifting since I was about 14. I was doing sling jerks really poorly for, like, trap development. That was, like, the only thing I knew.

You were in football or what? Oh, just bro shit. Oh, okay. Yeah. I want to have huge traps. Yeah, different sports. Chicks dig traps. Calvin almost just teed one up for me to look really bad right there.

I love how you picked up the beer or whatever it was, like, just for the picture to look cool. Like, the exact fucking opposite of what I would have done. I've been smashing beers in high school. If someone had brought it on the camera, I would have been like, oh, shit. Put it down. Set this down. Smile like I'm not doing anything wrong. Quick, give the beer to Jessica.

I know. I was, like, arguing with Danny, too, because I was like, Danny, I swear, like, I really wasn't doing it. And he was like, I don't I really wasn't doing it and he was like I don't believe you like at all oh dang it's interesting punishment too though like most kids in high school view going to the gym as like the thing they don't want to do when they just want to go play sports yeah that's what he took away from you I know I was like miserable I like hated how many girls were in the gym with you doing snatch and clean and jerk and like squatting um okay so in I grew up in Florida there's a high school program in Florida where it's bench and clean and jerk so we had a high school team what high school is this

so that's like one of my goals post career is like to like make that good for you yeah yeah but um so at our high school we had a ton of girls but our high school training was like right after school and then i would like go to the like the gas station and grab snacks and then come back for olympic style weightlifting and olympic weightlifting was there was like like 15 other girls there's a good amount like we were really yeah and we had all different ages like some of them were in college and some of them were in high school. I think it's super cool because, like, you look at, what's the guy, Hassle Free Barbell. Kevin Doherty.

Oh, yeah. Doherty, yeah. Those guys have, like, really cool programs. Yeah. That are, like, super small. Yeah. And they're in the schools. And it's, like, they're just finding these people to come lift weights with them.

He's killing it. Yeah. I told him he's, like, my dream person to do an internship with because like he's he's doing exactly what i want to starting people at a really young age teaching them how to move a little bit i'm like even if they don't take it as far as i have they're still giving kids in inner city situations an opportunity to travel the country that they wouldn't like otherwise have and that's invaluable right yeah so you because I will actually would love to hear more of the this origin story I don't know any of this stuff you're you're 14 or 15 you start going you start how many how many records do you have American records

three all three all three right what's your weight class and what are your numbers for people that can't see since we're not doing video for the show? Oh, sorry. So, 58 kilos. And my records were 93 in the snatch, 116 in the clean and jerk, and 208 total. So, I didn't do the snatch and clean and jerk in the same competition. Fair enough. Yeah. We'll give you a pass.

What was the snatch? 93 kilos. 93 the same competition. Fair enough. Yeah. We'll give you a pass. What was the snatch? 93 kilos. 93. That's a good number. Yeah. So you did that and, yeah, not 93. But you were on a bunch of junior world teams. I mean, I remember you and I, for something separate,

had to go through your list of, like, how many. It was like, oh, yeah, world team. No, no, keep going. Oh, yeah, four of these. Oh, yeah, eight of these. And then the numbers just kept going with with all of your words so with that in mind you at 14 you started with this guy when did you start competing and how like how did this thing go um at 14 or 15 or when 14 so i had and it's the year so in weightlifting it's like the year you turn a certain age and so I was only a youth lifter for like one year because it's like the year you turn 16 or

whatever I don't remember I don't I think they've all changed since then or maybe not I haven't really paid attention to be completely honest but I only had one year as a youth lifter and or no two and the first year I was trying to make 48 kilos and I didn't make weight and Danny I remember we were talking about it we were like all right you normally weigh like 50 kilos I'm literally the same exact height that I was when I started weightlifting like 5'2 and so like that's pretty tiny to be 50 kilos and then to cut down to 48 but we were like let's do it I have a better chance of meddling so I drop all the weight and then we get in there like right at the last second because I'm saunaing all the way till and I weigh in and it's 48.01 and I don't have any more time and my my

assistant coach who's a female she's like literally wiping my like naked body like of all the sweat that I was just trying to sauna off and I like still didn't make it. So that was my first ever weightlifting experience, like nationally. And, um, it's like a UFC when somebody shows up and they all of a sudden have a shaved head, you're like, yeah, he's going to miss weight by like five pounds, but they shaved his head anyway. Like that hair is going to be what you need. But, need but um yeah so then the second time I honestly don't even remember but yeah I think I went to two youth nationals and then like four or five juniors but then when I graduated high school I got into Northern Michigan University and so and I was still a junior for the rest of that year. So I had like junior nationals that year.

We had like a junior Pan Ams meet. And then I had university nationals and I had senior nationals because I had qualified for that too. Even though I wasn't a senior, it's like still really good. Like to be around those other girls and like watch them lift and stuff. It's a really good experience. But I like did so bad in school because I was traveling like every other month. And I like could not bad in school because I was traveling like every other month and I like could not focus on anything but that you started competing pretty quickly after just learning

the lifts like yeah yeah um Danny was all I don't know if he still feels like that but he was always like the more competitions you do the better you can get it's terrifying when that many people are staring at you right and so you get comfortable and in Florida we have so many competitions and there's like such a crazy huge community and weightlifting there that it's like so loud. Like when you're, when you're lifting, people just get so behind you and like, you just get used to that adrenaline. So like now I think about that a lot when I'm going out there and there's like fans in the sport all of a sudden, and I'm coming out there and people are screaming that I don't know. It's like exactly like how it was when I was little.

And it was just Team Florida. So it's kind of cool. That's what weightlifting needed for a long time. Yeah. Fans or energy. Yeah. So quiet up there. Yeah.

Stop looking at me. What was the first major competition you won? If you remember. Nationals. How old are you? Senior Nationals. That's a good one. Yeah. I think it was Nationals. I think I was the best are you? Senior nationals. Um, yeah, I think it was nationals in the country.

Senior nationals was my first cause junior nationals. I won the snatch or I'd win the clean and jerk, but I would never like always win the whole competition junior. And then I took like, I had like a weird weird couple years of transition from junior to senior, and so I didn't win my first senior championship until 2015, that competition we were just talking about.

Oh, cool. Yeah, so, like, that one, like, is special to me, because... You set a record or two there. Was it clean and jerk? No, I attempted a clean and jerk record, but I didn't make it. Yeah, that was probably...

Yeah. What, um, so you're with Danny, and then you eventually switched and spent a long time with Amy and Greg, right? Yeah. Was there any other coaches in between? How did that? Yeah, so, well, and also at the time, Danny was, like, really encouraging of going, like, I'm your developmental coach, like, move on.

So he encouraged me to move to northern Michigan, which had an Olympic weightlifting program. So Andy Tisch was the coach there. I was there for, like, a year. And then the government dropped our scholarship program for Olympic Hope Pools. And so we couldn't really afford to go. So I dropped out of there. We ended up going to Idaho for, like, a couple months. And then we went to Colorado. And I was training at the Olympic Training Center with Zygmunt Smolsters.

And so he was my coach for two or three years. And then Amy and Greg recruited me to come out while I was there. And so Greg was coaching me for a while. And then I ended up like wanting to move home for personal reasons. And Danny and Greg were working together with me. And when I met my husband, we moved to Colorado. And so I was kind of like, well, like I'm kind of in between coaches right now anyways. And Amy was a good friend of mine. And so she just kind of offered like, why am I not coaching you? It makes, it's like a perfect transition it makes sense so yeah I

started working with her um she helped me get to where I was like I worked with her for like six months and then I won my first nationals made my first world team um all the like major successes I had through with Amy so it it was, it was good too, because she was really like emotionally supportive and she helped me with like that side of being an athlete, like the developmentally or develop mentally improving the mental side. Um, yeah.

Do you know how many people come up to you and remember all the catalyst athletic videos of you learning. The Weightlifting Girls video thing? Yeah. Oh, my God. Savage, right? So funny. Yeah.

It's, like, not even relevant anymore. I watched it the other day, and I was like, wow, that's not even how weightlifting is anymore. You should totally just keep reposting it, like, every week, though, because it's awesome. It's still funny, yeah. Yeah, it's very funny. So those are people that were there then. You get it. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, that was, like, the majority of the education was coming out of like two or three places like bergner um greg was putting out a ton of good information and then if you were i guess in socal like waxman was kind of getting into things and starting to do it but there was no resources and you mentioned um a little bit of the funding issues that you came into yeah this is probably the first time and maybe ever that weightlifting has like a decent amount of funding that can agree make people like people don't have to have second jobs or yeah and and like only a select number of people have that opportunity for sure still but like i've been really impressed because weightlifting is trying so like usa weightlifting as a governing

body they're trying so hard to like figure out a way to get more athletes more money like constantly like it's constantly growing and we're constantly getting more and more so like I just think that they're doing a great job and it's going to continue to grow but when I left Catalyst actually like when you guys saying that because people do talk to me about that a lot they're like oh well and they'll be like I know you left Catalyst but we still like know you from this I'm like I know that's great like I didn't leave them on bad terms you know it's just time to move on and so it's just kind of funny that I mean it's good because you have new coaches now right yeah I do have new coaches yeah so as you're changing coaches like that was a lot of people you

just mentioned but that's that's a long evolution i'd imagine as as you're getting new coaches every so often and you're getting more and more experience like that your your style of training your approach to training your approach to competitions has changed and evolved over time as you've gotten more experienced yeah like what did that evolution look like how did you used to do it and kind of how do you more think about it these days um i mean you're right that's i'm glad you said that because it has been like 14 years so like it's a long time to like be with one person but not even not even that like it's me being wishy-washy or anything it's just like that's a long time things change um I I think that every coach I've learned something from and I try even in like my future when I want to be a coach I try to like remember

the things that they've taught me and the things that I really liked how they did that or how they handled it and so that I have that for the future and my memory bank also um you want me to tell you like all the different things if you had some if you had some top of mind then then we could go there first but like you know how how does your how has your mindset changed how you approach training you know maybe how how have you how has your actual programming changed like how have you how have your workouts changed like how has your body changed like having more muscle mass and more injuries or like did you have surgeries along the way like yeah like how did it how did it all play out for you so i think with danny he was

really good at teaching me how to love the sport and love the community and respect it he like always encouraged me to know who the best lifters were to understand like the rules of the sport and to honor like all those details and pieces of it and i think that's, like, so good for a developmental period in your life. And to have fun in the sport. Like, I loved training with – he was always, like – it was always fun when he was there because he was, like, always making it, like, hyped up. I don't know. That's good. You're just constantly bringing good vibes to the training.

Made it fun. Like, you want to stick around because you're having a good time. Yeah. But, like, so then I was young. I had like a more immature mindset like it was just this pure I want to make the Olympics and like bright-eyed starry-eyed kid who didn't understand like you know you have to be a little bit tougher than just wanting to do something like you have to be like dialed in to an every level not just say that you're dialed in and so like that was like a learning process that I think I'm still kind of figuring out um Amy Amy taught me how to

learn that mental piece she taught me how to be more like in touch with my thought process in my self-talk and my coach now Russ he's really good at teaching me how to be like a professional at what I'm doing so like it's not just the mental side. It's not just enjoying it. It's like having respect for the movement, having respect for like the professional side of Olympic weightlifting and like the level that I've made it to. When you say the professional side, you mean like the ultra-disciplined side of it? Like you're not going out with your friends because you've got to get enough recovery, train in the morning, that type of thing? Yeah.

Well, that and like that as much fun as you want to have in weightlifting and as much as you love the sport and are in the sport, at the end of the day, like my goals are my goals and no one's going to do it for me. So like everything around me has to be kind of like set in stone. So there's nothing like, oh, I don't know what your plan is for the next three months. He's like, no, like I have everything written out. We have a plan. We have a goal. We can adjust it every day based on, you know, how your body is and how you feel and all that. But, but, you know, the, he's trying to get me to those goals by having like a structured training plan I guess what about nutrition wise you structure that out with similar level of detail yeah and he's involved in that too so he talks to my nutrition coach I work with working

against gravity yeah we're good friends with the d yeah yeah so like I've been with the d for four years and so she's gone through kind of some of these progressions with me. And my, speaking of that, my body has changed a lot because when I was breaking those records and stuff at, um, in 2016, I was in 17, I was a 58 and I've gained a lot of muscle mass since then, specifically in my shoulders. Cause I've been trying to implement more like bodybuilding and like actual strength development because my legs had always been strong but i was it always case for you that you could clean it no problem but then jerking it was the tough part 100 percent um for context i cleaned the senior american record when i was still a junior um i didn't even come close to attempting the jerk until like five or six years later.

Dang. Um, so there was like a big gap there. Yeah. Um, yeah. So, um, and then like overall health, like I have had a lot of injuries and like most of them had been in my shoulders, elbows and, and wrists. So adding that bodybuilding was like really helpful for my health too. Um, I kind of lost my train of thought, but my body's changed. Did you ever do a lot of gymnastics along the way?

No. It's so upper body dominant and so shoulder stability and mobility dominant. My husband's like so annoying about that. He's always like, you need to be doing handstands and you need to be doing this. On and off, yeah. Since like 2015, since I met met him i've been doing like dabbling in a little bit of that but i'm definitely not naturally gifted at gymnastics we're going to take a little break i want to talk about some injuries though when we get back

and i want to hear your plans and what weight class you're going to go into and if he gives you a hard time i got slightly distracted because your husband's a pretty badass athlete himself. Yeah. And he totally racked the bar and got the J hooks on the wrong things, which is like no matter how fucking awesome you are at weight room, you are going to screw the J clips up every single time. Yeah. I think I've gotten that combination, like line them up properly. Like balance. Yeah. Like 5 percent of my total squatting career even when you sneak around to the side and you kind of look at it like you're like eyeballing you're like yeah i think that's

good then you set it down the bar's all crooked you're like he literally pulls the plate off and then looks at the bar and i was like oh that's fucked up don't don't put it on you're gonna be pissed i have a secret to fix that like when you you tape on there, don't you? No. I just put my arms on it like this. I can feel if it's off or not. If I learn one thing today. That's the takeaway. There it is. See, back in my day, those racks used to have numbers on the holes.

Ah, genius. In weightlifting, they have numbers in their holes. In the squat racks, they have one, two, three. The squat rack that you use, is it like a cage or is it the standalone? Stand. Stand. Come on. Real weightlifter over here.

She's a lifetime weightlifter, bro. You know that answer. The first time you go to one of those, you're like, is this really going to hold? What am I going to do here? The two independent ones, right? Not connected. I've used those too. Yeah, at the OTC, they have those.

They're really scary, especially when you're going heavy and you're barely making it to the rack rack i'm like oh i'm gonna die i'm gonna die just run just putting it in a run what was the what was the movie the bulgarians like the little pocket hercules you see them squatting and then what's the name all those old iron mine videos yeah these are so awesome i used to watch those growing up all the time how are those little stands gonna hold this and then you see a guy that's like that like He's 4'11". 4'11", squatting, 600 pounds. That's how tall my mom is. Yeah. All right, we'll be back in a minute.

We'll take a break. OK. you We were nervous that people would think we met Morgan King. Yeah. She's our friend, so we were like, nah. Yeah. Yeah, anyway. That's a tough one. Dig it.

Welcome back to Barbell Shrug. We're here with Jessica Lucero at CrossFit Chalk. And we're learning Spanish. We did learn a little Spanish at the break. Are you Spanish? Nothing? No. I know.

My coach actually speaks Spanish. Both coaches at my new gym speak Spanish, and, like, almost everyone on my team speaks Spanish. So I've been, like, trying really hard. But, no, I don't. Does Christian speak Spanish? No, he doesn't. You guys are terrible.

Don't let him fool you because he thinks he speaks Spanish, but he does not. Drunk Spanglish? He called a book library yesterday, and then my coach was like, so you're talking about a library? The biblioteca. That's right. This guy, you took junior high Spanish, biblioteca.

No, no, Spanish to get home from spring break, from bar to hotel in Mexico. Let's get there. I haven't been abducted yet. You know, when you lift weights and weight, you have to lift heavy weights all the time. It leads to a lot of injuries. You talked about wrists, shoulders. Yeah. What have you been dealing with?

This is like a career of things. When you I see that face where you're like, oh, God. Where do I start? What haven't I dealt with? Okay, but I've been really lucky, honestly. I haven't had any surgeries. I've had one thing where they suggested that I could have surgery, but I didn't need it. So I've been really lucky because obviously some people have injuries where they're like, okay, you literally can't do another thing or lift your arms up unless you have a surgery.

In 2008, I tore my labrum in my left shoulder that one seems to go really well with weightlifting it does labrums don't do well with heavy jerks all the time um that's the exact same thing by the way 2008 labrum tear from weightlifting surgery yeah see but i don't want to blame a facebook group because i wasn't doing my accessory work yeah Yeah. Yeah. And my shoulders were, like, super skinny. Your coaches are like, thank you. It wasn't my fault.

No, no, no. It wasn't. You just see it on the paper. You're like, no, I don't need that. I'm awesome. And also, like you were saying earlier, like, my technique was not, like, matched to where my strength was at that time.

So I was lifting more weight than I was, like, probably should have been lifting. So that's part of it, too. Like, the technique is important. Is your labrum better? Mostly. It gets sticky. It gets flared up sometimes,

but it doesn't ever prevent me from doing anything. It'll just kind of get really tight and hurt, but I can deal with that. I have some floating bones in my wrists that just kind of lock up sometimes that was giving me a lot of trouble before 2017 worlds the one in anaheim um was that one is that one no that's 17 okay is that one of those things where like your wrist is totally fine but then like um like this happened by my little brother he had a torn meniscus and he had he had a floating loose body in there and

then yeah every once in a while like it would be totally fine then it would just it would just, like, catch really funny and, like, be extremely painful. And then it would, like, he'd kind of shake it out and be totally fine again. Yeah. Like, I literally can, like, squeeze it and then, like, move it like this. And I'll hear it move. And then it's fine. But, like, before nationals, it was so swollen and, like, messed up. Or before worlds.

That, like, every time I would snatch and i'd have the bar overhead and have pressure on that i would like i would block out like literally um and like the pain like i can handle pain right it's just i can't literally can't see and then like my wrist wouldn't open all the way so i would be like twisting a lot which was like making everything else hurt so it was really annoying and it was right before worlds there's not really much i could do like i got a cortisone shot but it didn't really help so but now it feels fine so that's good um yeah they think i've partially torn my meniscus before nice but um when i take like i have like a lot of ibuprofen at night it usually goes away

so very scientific over there so wait your knee your knee was hurting you went to see somebody they did an mri or or what they did an ultrasound um because i don't have health insurance so really at all no why um it's not usa weightlifting want to do that they do that for the olympic team yeah that's the distinction yeah which is fine is fine. It's fine. Like a health insurance sponsor. Yeah. Yeah, there is a health insurance sponsor, but it's like, I don't know. Is this still currently the way? Yeah.

Interesting. Yeah, currently the way. Yeah, there's sort of multiple levels. World team, Olympic team, and then below that. And all the stipend, all the benefits, ability to to go to OTC all that changes depending on where you're at so it's really important for them to do well at all of those certain meets so that you can stay in those tears yeah and like when we had the Olympic Training Center it didn't matter if we had insurance or not because they had

access to all that stuff there we had doctors we had MRI machines we had everything available to us and so when the otc went away like all of that medical went away too like when we go to competitions there's medical staff there but it's like chiropractors massage pts but not like they can't see internally what's going on so were you happy about that so maybe i'll back up for those not privy a couple years ago they decided weightlifters had a home in Colorado Springs and then they decided to disband or disfund that kind of spread that out was that were you when I first heard that I thought oh that sucks but maybe maybe that's better because they're giving more resources to

coaches who are not we're doing great things like Danny and the other coaches but they're not at the OTC right where did you stand on that um I was in between because like obviously I grew up thinking like the OTC was where you wanted to be when you were training for the Olympics and I had the opportunity to train there for a lot so I understand the benefits of being there but also at the time that they ended it I felt like there were some athletes abusing the situation a little bit and they weren't necessarily the ones that needed the funding the most in that particular time and so there was some like they definitely needed to make a change but i just didn't and not every athlete wants to move to the otc they're happy with their club coaches or their personal coaches or whatever they're they're they're content and they feel like they're

getting better so they don't want the national coach to be their coach. So in this way, like more of us are getting funding, which before it was only them. Like no one was getting stipends really. It was just the athletes at the OTC got a stipend and then that's it. And now there's like, I don't know the stats exactly, like 20 more athletes or something getting funding. So I think there's a lot of good and a lot of bad. Yeah. Well, you're part of the crew who, when you first

started having a lot of success in weightlifting, this was still a time when there was no fandom, there was no social media, there's nothing happened. And all of a sudden you went to a place now where it's, you could be very, very, very popular. Uh, I mean, I don't know your social media stats are, but they're huge're huge like this is something how weird has that been to watch the sport being like wow this is something that nobody used to do and no one was in the stands and now i've got all these fans everywhere and i'm kind of like pseudo famous a little bit it's like really cool but also that with that comes like a lot of other stuff that some of the coaches that have been in american weightlifting for a long time don't know know how to help, like help the athletes with that.

Like, for example, for example, if there's a bunch of fans asking for autographs or whatever, right before you go compete, like there's no good way to handle that where you're like being respectful to them and being sweet and nice, but also taking care of things you need to take care of. And then there's also on the other side, there's a lot of judgment. Like there's, you know, meme accounts now making fun of everybody on team USA or not even on team USA, just like famous weightlifters. And that's like, that's hurtful. And there's a lot of people that like, like we have to handle stuff like that now like as if we are famous but we're just athletes like i don't know so it's tough i think but good i think it's really cool

though how far weightlifting has come and you've remained clearly at the very top of the game even though nationals went from a very small event. The competition got way deeper and you stayed at the top. They did it in a bowling alley or something five years ago. I actually did really bad at that one. It wasn't a bowling alley, right? It was a roller rink. Roller rink, there we go. It was terrible.

There was weird roller skate paintings on the wall. I thought it was a bowling alley because of the back. Like, the bowling alley always has, like, a weird thing where the pins come down. Yeah. It was, like, a really bad local meet, basically. And, like, there was, like, this little tiny, like, maybe up to my hips, like, border between the warm-up area and where the, like, people were sitting to watch. It was awful. Like, it was seriously awful.

Wait, how long ago was this? It was 2014 Nationals 2014 nationals oh really that wasn't that long ago no and then the year after was 15 which was at salt lake and it was gorgeous in a casino that was the first nationals i went to was salt lake so we were hanging out and i was like the salt lake was really nice like that was three years ago yeah so phil um do you guys know phil andrews he's the ceo of weightlifting and he he kind of took over all of that and ever since he took over like everything has gone like so much better so much uphill like every every time i tell i see him i try to tell him like you're doing such a good job because like everybody else before they still love the sport and they still tried but like like you were saying like with weightlifting now

with all the fans and stuff they have a higher expectation of what like their viewership should look like and phil has like really stepped up with that and he's like you know what if there's going to be a hundred thousand people watching olympic trials we're going to put a cool light show up we're going to have a dj we're going to do all this stuff and they did have a dj this year at worlds yeah killing it right they made streaming possible pretty reliably all that shit he was very helpful with our study trying to get things going like he's been awesome yeah stuff with yeah um but yeah with the number of new people coming in and you being able to remain at the top of that conversation what does the pressure look like when Nationals goes from, like, this tiny little thing to now, man, there's, like, thousands of girls.

Yeah. Trying to come after – well, maybe not come after you, but they're looking to be their best and compete with you. I think that there's pressure at all stages. Like, there's – to be the top in your weight class, people look at you and they're like, I want to beat you. I want to beat those numbers. Even as an American record holder, that's what everyone is chasing. So it's like kind of understanding that it's not a personal attack, even if they say it's a personal attack,

even if they use those words, because mentally that's what helps them. For me, it's kind of like, you know, if I'm continuing to get better every competition then it doesn't matter what's happening around me or behind me um behind you i like to say behind me but i have goals right so like if i'm just staying still i would expect someone to beat me and even if i wasn't standing still i expect competition so it's just part of sport i guess but yeah there is for sure pressure but there's pressure any way you look at it even if I wasn't standing still, I expect competition. So it's just part of sport, I guess. But, yeah, there is for sure pressure. But there's pressure any way you look at it, even if you're not the number one. Going into the world championships, there's pressure.

Going into, like, hoping to qualify for the world championships, there's pressure. So it's just learning how to deal with it. The world stage. What are the numbers that you're looking to get to? Is that something that's like my goal numbers yeah um well maybe not even the numbers but the the process in which you're the process in which you're trying to get there and then of course i want to know what you're gonna snatch would be awesome yeah okay so well i'll tell you my current goals like i think that i think that for now like i've never gone six for six at a national competition.

That's my number one goal for this year. That's cool. Yeah. At some competition. It doesn't really matter which. But a national event. And we technically only have two more. So, one more.

Yeah. So, that's my main goal. Numbers coming from that, as long as i'm qualifying for the world championships i'm happy with them my every competition i'll reevaluate like what numbers i want but obviously i want to come as close to the podium as i can at the world championships so that will look like somewhere around 100 plus in the snatch and 120 plus in the clean and jerk so for those that don't know every 15 or so years i the international weightlifting federation decides to just change all weight classes they just did that again so now a lot of people like yourself have been in limbo for almost

a year not knowing what they're going to do because you don't know what the weight classes will be for 2020 yeah let alone 2019 world championships so they just came out a week or so ago and you have not made this public but you're gonna break the news right now what weight class you gonna be in i'm gonna go 64 64 yeah so i i have had trouble for the last year like since I've been doing the bodybuilding basically, to make 58. And I decided that if the weight class was anything below 60, I'm moving up for sure. And we decided that after Worlds, and actually they decided before Worlds even, that there was no point in me cutting weight if that's going to be happening. And so it's about the longevity of my athletic career and not just like instant gratification.

Like, okay, I could be a 58 at World Championships and I could place this high or I could lift as a 63 place wherever um and or around the same place and not kill myself to do that when that's not going to be my weight class at the olympics anyways and we're still two years out so um I was already considering moving up to 63 or whatever that next weight class was going to be. 64 is going to be really big for me. I'm going to have to gain a lot of weight because, like, this morning I was, like, 62 too. But it'll be fun because I can get some muscle in my arms. Getting jacked is way more fun.

You've mentioned the bodybuilding thing a couple times. Is that a big piece of your training right now? Yeah, like, It's insane. So I train twice a day, every day except for Friday and Saturday. And my accessory work is probably longer than my actual in the morning and in the afternoon. I'm doing a lot of core and shoulder and hamstring, like just accessories, like all of them. Yeah. What's your normal day?

Like walk us through both workouts in a day. Okay. My first workout is going to be a little bit lighter, maybe powers, hang powers, muscle snatch, something like that. I'll usually do a front squat in the app and then a bunch of accessory work like are these like uh double doubles triples what are you um right now we're still in like high volume phase because we're still kind of far away from ao3 um so yeah it's like triples or more like we're doing these complexes right now they're like miserable but i feel like i'm gonna get really good hopefully um otherwise

i'm like suffering for no reason um it's gonna work it better work and then it's funny because my coach will just write three but it's like it'll be like below knee snatch power plus snatch or whatever so like there's nine reps there bitch yeah don't call that three don't call it three it's not three yeah we got into an argument about that actually the other day. Not like a real argument, but like we were all laughing because, yeah. So I would have that and then like a clean and jerk complex where I'd have like three hang cleans and then three jerks or whatever. And then in the afternoon, it would be just like heavier versions of similar exercises.

So some sort of press, some sort of snatch, some sort of clean and jerk, and then back squats, and then five to eight accessory stuff. You're doing eights, tens, twelves for the accessory? How many reps? How many sets? Twelve. Four sets, twelve reps usually. Oh.

Yeah. I know. Getting super jacked. And I for sure, like on Thursday, so I like, full disclosure, I cry when I'm tired. I'm still gonna do everything. But I cry. Like, just don't bother me. Like, don't, don't be upset. Middle of the workout. You're tired. And you just cry. I just start to cry. I'm like, it's like a once in a while thing. Or like a once a week thing, twice a week, every day. No, no, no, no. Like once a month thing maybe. But like when I start crying, I like have to like don't come talk to me or like ask me if I'm okay. Like I'm not okay, but leave me alone so I can finish the work and like just like mentally get to where I need to be. And I did that. Not okay, but not quitting either. Right.

So I got there on Thursday morning. And this girl, Caitlin, she's also on Team USA with me. She's training with us now. And we were both training in the morning, and we had, like, a really hard session because we were together, and we could push each other. And, yeah, I was like, Caitlin, like, I was, like, crying. And she was like, I had one of those days yesterday.

It's okay. I was like, okay, well. Andy does it too. Constantly. Not even when I work out. Yeah. I mean, in the middle of teaching class, just halfway through. She just starts crying. I'm tired. I i'm still gonna teach class be nice i can't talk about macros anymore please science be nicer i've

been there i won't lie what nutrition's made you cry no way it's a female athlete i don't believe it yeah well trying to manage weight yeah cutting weight for like the last going up in a weight class is nice isn't it it It's pretty nice but it's also really frustrating because like one day I'll wake up 63.7 and the next day I'll wake up 62.2 and I'm like what the heck? I ate the exact same amount of macros

and my body's just like I don't know what's happening you've been in a deficit for four years. Actually yeah anytime like a wrestler came into the gym and wanted to be competitive i'd be like dude just go get the peanut butter and just start eating it non-stop because like your body's just so used to cutting weight that it just becomes its default state almost i'm totally hijacking i'm going somewhere else okay i got questions uh i have so many for

you i would imagine there are a lot of female weightlifters that look up to you. Maybe. I know there are. There are no maybes about it. So I'm sure you get questions a lot too. But what are some of the mistakes or things that female weightlifters, you see all the time, like, oh, man, don't do this. Maybe just a better question.

What advice could you give to some of those? I think the two most prevalent would be cutting weight when it's not necessary, especially since we were just talking about that. I think that sometimes it's more about aesthetics and what you feel comfortable weighing or looking like than what's the best place for your body in a health perspective, in getting better at weightlifting perspective? And the other thing would be comparing themselves to others. Like, I think that because the sport is so new in popularity, people don't know that

I've been lifting for as long as I have. For example, they probably think that I've just been lifting for four years and or a couple of years before they started. that I've just been lifting for four years and or a couple years before they started. And I just magically got this good. And that's not what happened. And so like comparing themselves to how good I am now versus where they are in their career isn't fair to them. And it's not fair to where they could be or what their potential is. And I think people get discouraged. That's not saying I think everyone should take as long as I've taken to get where I am.

But everyone's different. And like Maddie Rogers, she got really good really fast. And that's just, she's just that talented. But everyone's not Maddie Rogers. But it doesn't mean they won't be as good as her. It's just like everyone's different. So you can't compare yourself to the girl next to you or the girl in front of you. After a million clean and jerks and snatches that you've done in your life, what are you still learning about the lifts? Oh, literally all I do is learn every day. Um,

so with my new coaches, it's like all about technique and moving like an elite lifter and I think it's so challenging for me because I have habits and I have tendencies and weaknesses and imbalances and so um doing what they want me to do and with still with speed is challenging so I think that some of those weaknesses what are they oh good one i was gonna go there right um good hustle i'm here good job smart people working together it's good i thought of it too it's okay it was in there somewhere it's not your fault please like me it's not your fault it's not your fault it's not your fault mainly my thoracic spine is super tight. My left shoulder from my injury is a little tighter than my right shoulder. So I have trouble being in like a really good position overhead. And then in my clean.

My clean, I have a hard time like keeping my elbows up high enough and keeping my chest up without like it cutting off my neck and passing out. That's my favorite, blacking out. Oh, I hope it don't go backwards. Under an American record, yeah. Yeah, and I do that a lot on my cleans. I've never actually fallen and passed out, thankfully, but I do get really dizzy, and when I get dizzy,

it's super distracting because I'm like, wait, where am I? What am I doing? Fair enough. With 260 on the bar? I don't even know. I can't see anything. Let's double enough with 260 on the bar i don't even know i can't see anything double your body weight sure i'm gonna set this american record with no oxygen watch me no blood why is everybody looking at me so do you guys know who hooker is like the yeah of course

okay so like nat the guy who runs it he sent me like the videos of 2017 nationals when i broke the clean and jerk record and he showed me like my because i made all through my clean and jerks so he showed me like the all of three of them like side by side and he was like this is 116 was the fastest that i've ever seen you go from clean to jerk and i was like yeah that's because i got really dizzy and i was like just get it off my chest get it off my chest be done there's only one left yeah so that's that's that that's that. That's like the scariest thing ever when you, I mean, I used to do it all the time in front squats and you, like, take it out.

You're like, oh, no, I'm going down. Watch out. Yeah, it's scary. I always had to give it a little bit of a, just, like, toss it off my chest just for a second just to, like, suck in some air. Yeah. Just a second ago you were saying that for the advice you were giving to other women in the sport is to not look at other people who have been doing it for 10 years longer than you and try to compare your, your ability to their ability. Cause it's

not a fair comparison. Has that been something that you've been good about over the years, comparing yourself to, to how good you were yesterday and not to how good someone else is today? I think that that's something that I have to think about a lot, which is why I think that it's advice that I would give. I am a really competitive person, and so I get to that place pretty easy. And I compare myself to who I was even. Like, if I'm not, like, for example, if I had just competed and then we're in, like, a building phase, so the volume's really high and we're not testing our lifts and we're not

higher in percentages right now. Like for example, right. The second week, we haven't gone over 80% in like three weeks probably. And so that's a scary place to be. Cause like I spent the last couple of years where like every Saturday we would kind of test to see where we're at. And even if I wasn't around 100%, which I rarely was unless we were peaking, I still could feel like, OK, like I'm still really close to like at least 90%. Right now, like I really don't know, but I feel really strong and I feel really healthy. And so it's kind of just like trusting the process and trusting your coach with your career. Do you feel like you're getting stronger

or just eliminating more weaknesses at this point? I feel like I'm getting stronger. Yeah. So like for context, my best ever back squat is 175. I did that just before Worlds. Mine too. But we did like a... Oh, no, sorry, 170.

Oh, I got you. You got five kilos. And I was weighing about 60 kilos but we did like a really long strength cycle. 60? What do you weigh? 98?

197 right now. You're 90 kilos. Okay. She's like laughing. No. I squat the same as you. I squatted 425 one time. Okay. If you're comparing you to me, I'm going to say that

I did. I thought we weren't comparing. No, but Doug just made fun of me. I feel so vulnerable over here. Wait, how old are you? I'm on an island. Ancient. Now we're just really good. No, no.

I mean, because also there's like. How much of a has-been are you? No, in weightlifting. 35. Okay, so in weightlifting, that's masters. That's really good. Oh. Ah.

How do you like that? How do you like that, guys? Yeah. She knows how to play to the ego. Yeah. You're the best guest we've ever had. Self-talk. You trick your mind to believe anything.

There you go. Lying to yourself and other people. That's the key. That's the key. Yourself first and others will believe it. Oh, I'm dying over here. Like on any given day basis, on a normal basis, I'm pretty confident that I could squat 150.

I've been doing this, this back squat cycle just for like three weeks, about three weeks. And I've done 150 for a triple, like without a belt twice this week already. So for context, like that's, I'm pretty happy with that. Like my leg strength is getting better and my leg strength was already good and my push presses I did my best push press ever is 95 and I just did 90 for a triple so oh dang or sorry 90 87 basically 90 sure what's your best front squat my best front squat is 143 oh and so like I did a 123 triple front squat without a belt last week so like I feel like I'm getting stronger it's just we're doing strength lifts right now we're not doing like pushing my clean and jerk by itself

we're pushing like the complexes so that I can maintain those like hard positions with this good technique now and like I've made a lot of technical changes like hopefully at the next competition no one's going to talk about my early arm bend, for example. How many years have you done that? Were you doing that on purpose, the early arm bend though? I went through a phase where I was doing it on purpose because I had tried to fix it at one point. And I wasn't confident enough in what I had to think about to fix it that it was like making everything worse. And so I was like on purpose trying to not do it or to do it.

But no, yeah, it's not on purpose in general. Well, what's your, is the jerk still your biggest limiter? I mean, surely it's not the front squat anymore, right? Like that's always been your. Yeah, my front squat's okay. Is it snatch? I mean, what is the biggest? biggest yeah i think it's my jerk i think my jerk has gotten a lot better but it's definitely i have the most like all right focus

in right here like i have to mentally try harder on my jerk like i think i was telling somebody the other day that i like i don't even know if I think about anything in my cleans or I used to not I do now because now we are training like professionals but um yeah with my clean I would just kind of like all right let's go so I can jerk it it's all about yeah yeah um snap yeah my snatch my snatch has like always been like increasingly getting better it's just like my consistency is like struggling a little bit while I was trying to focus on my technique last year. Um, but I feel really confident in my snatch right now. Um, honestly with my clean, the new clean technique that I'm, that I've been working on, um, is the hardest thing for me right now. Yeah. You've got a very long training age in the

sport, but yet you're still getting stronger. You're still injured. That's really difficult to do. Yeah. Is that, I mean, do you do something, the fact that you're training this much is something that you took on a decade to build to, right? So this training twice a day is not something

you're two years in and all of a sudden you're blowing up to. No, absolutely not. So how do you manage that overall volume? Is it a recovery stuff that you do or do you just naturally pretty much recover from a recovery stuff that you do or do you just naturally pretty much recover from these things or do you have anything special naturally recover I wish um yeah so I am like super obsessive about my recovery um any I'm like super aware too so

like any me standing here I'm like okay my back's So like me standing here, I'm like, okay, my back's getting tight. Like as soon as I'm done with this, I already know what the stretches I'm going to do and like things I want to do for after, um, like things like that. So I'm constantly, if I'm not training, I'm thinking about what I can do to recover for the next workout. Um, and I don't wait on someone else to do it for me. That's like a huge thing that I learned later in my career. Um, like if I don't have access to sports med now, like I can't wait around to my coaches like, Oh, like you're really tight. You should like, let me go find you somebody. It's like, no, that's my responsibility as the athlete. So I bought my own cups i have my own hot grips i have like everything on my own

and i figure it out so what all stuff do you use do you foam roll do you ice you normally like what what all things you like yes i norma tech i cup i ice i sauna i hot tub, I swim, I stretch, I foam roll. Did I say that? All of it. Name it. 24-hour day job. Do you dry needle? You dry needle? No. Okay, this is probably like,

I don't know. Don't do this at home. We did buy dry needles and we do... Oh, I like where this is going hope you guys are loving the show i really like hanging out with jessica he's so radical again she's literally the strongest person in the country that weighs as much as her that's insane uh just a quick reminder shrug collected.com backslash vault. Make sure you're getting in there. We've got 12 programs in between three months and 18-plus months long.

Anything from CrossFit, Strongman, Olympic weightlifting, mass gain, nutrition, grocery lists, meal prep, all of it. Mobility, you name it, we've got it in there. 12 programs, $47 a month, shrugcollective.com backslash vault. And back to the show we do have a PT sticking needles in my leg

14 inch long needles you guys this is so not safe don't do it but like we have a PT that we work with when we lived in Denver and we'll FaceTime him like if we cannot get something to fix itself on our own and we've tried everything else we'll FaceTime him. Like if it, if we can not get something to fix itself on our own and we've tried everything else, we'll call him and be like, Hey, help me with this. But

there's obviously some things that are off limits. Like he won't let us needle my traps if he's not there. For example, like it's pretty much just my knees or my quads. You got a lot of room to work there. Yeah. Yeah. You know, i do know you can say that if you want but i can't oh yeah well you stick stuck that huge thing in my my leg say what so he did this test to test my um muscle fibers oh you got biopsied if she brings it up biopsied yeah that's the word she's a part of the study and you're not you're not allowed to bring it up, but she can talk about whatever she wants. She can talk about whatever she wants. Oh, cool. Oh, yeah.

I have multiple of those. I've always wondered who you were hanging out with. Yeah, we're friends. Luckily, you never tell us, but she's letting it out of the bag. That's good. Yeah, she can do whatever she wants. So you had a chunk of muscle stolen from your thigh by this man. Yeah, and he was laughing at me because when he was doing it,

he was like, did that hurt? And I was like, no, it felt kind of good. Yeah, I was going to say, I've always wondered if what he does hurts. Repeat that one more time. Everyone shut up. Say that nice and loud again multiple times. It felt really good.

It felt like somebody was needling me somewhere I needed it to be needled for like ever. Beautiful. Thank you. So all you little bitches out there whining about how much it's going to hurt. I'm not worried about the pain. I'm worried about why you don't want my muscle fibers. Thank you. So all you little bitches out there whining about how much it's going to hurt. I'm not worried about the pain. I'm worried about why you don't want my muscle fibers.

Mark Bill. You only want real athletes. Has been messed up. Well, I mean, let's compare here. You squat the same. She called me old. Not old. Master.

Master. There it is. It's a fact. Is 35 really Masters? Yeah, 35 and up. Bollard, I'm the young kid now. Masters Worlds is in Barcelona and actually we're going. Really? That's awesome.

How long after I biopsied you did you start squatting again? Wait, are you allowed to say that? She brought it up like it now. Like the next week, I don't know. Not that bad, right? And only the week after, but only because I took the week off after Worlds. Yeah, you could have squat. Thank you.

Yeah. Thank you. I wasn't sore at all, actually. See? Myths dispelled. Love it. Get over it, everybody. Get biopsied.

And then you got to figure out how many fibers you had of stuff. Yeah, it was actually really, really interesting. After I did it, too, and I got the results, I was like, ooh, I want to do it again because I had switched coaches. Oh, yeah, come back. So I was like, yeah. I live here now. Oh, that's right right do you remember what your fiber type breakdown was and all that a little bit yeah i remember that it was way more off balance than it should have been

and it was like kind of eye-opening like fast switch yeah like 90 percent yeah it was insane weightlifting for what yeah three. 10 straight years? Yeah. Yeah, but like, so as context there, obviously we would expect her to be extremely fast twitch. That's not the surprise, particularly you, even compared to all the rest of you, because of your background, right? Right.

This is, of all things that, when you think of Jessica Savageo, this is what you think of. I'm sorry, Lucero. That's okay. Same thing. Sorry. That's my maiden name in case you didn't know okay um but like the quads are the things that just pop out right and

you're being so brutally strong we clearly expected her to be primarily fast switch but to see a female athlete that was legitimate i can't remember your number exactly but i think it was legitimately very close to 90 it was yeah pure 2a uh that's beyond in fact i literally think i gotta see this with pretty good confidence i think that's the highest we've ever seen yeah particularly in a female i don't know is that good for males and females that's the highest percentage of fast foot yeah type 2a fibers you've seen you do not see that high of a person you see dominance you see 60 65 70 yeah but to see an athlete that's 90 particularly female yeah like i literally think it's never been done what does that look like on like maybe normal across the board and

Olympic weightlifting at like just a national level we don't know um do you remember what your numbers were yeah i do i'm generally like 78 yeah you're pretty you're a pretty explosive person you do weightlifting for a long time i don't remember what my numbers were the interesting thing to me was that like it showed on there the world team girls that did it and mine was like insanely higher than theirs but when I was looking at it and also like I had friends that did it so I would ask them like the I won't say them but like the world team girls that I I knew who everyone was when I was looking at it and so it was really interesting because I was like oh well you know this person did this well at worlds and this person and then versus me. And so I was like,

maybe I need to be more like that or like be more balanced in certain ways. So yeah, I mean, I got a lot of feedback, I think. Given that you, you stated earlier that you were really fast, you know, even back like in high school and all that. Is it accurate to say, Andy, that fast people have more fast twitch fibers than strong people? That's probably true. I would say fiber, this is what we think anyways. The difficulty is, again, we had no, prior to Jessica and everyone else doing this, we had no context at all on female strength or power athletes. So we didn't know.

Very little on weightlifters in particular. And we have almost nothing on speed people. But I would say, given what we understand what fiber types actually do we think it would be much more predictive of speed than it is strength but we still saw and you'll see this soon and you saw this in the report there is a very clear distinction between

the world team girls and the national team girls the fiber types were very different even between that small of a difference, a clear distinction there. And so there's something very interesting happening with that. The challenge now becomes, okay, how do we use that then to come back to Jess and say, okay, then therefore I think do this with your training or make this change. Because it's sort of one way or the other.

Are you so good because you're 90%? Or is the 90% maybe stopping you from breaking those world records? We don't know yet. It's very interesting. And or is there something that she's doing in her training that's putting her a cut above fiber type percentage-wise compared to the other girls, or is it genetics, or how do you know what's going on there? Well, obviously genetically you had something going on. I would have loved to have biopsied you when were 14 i know well because that's a great comment

well but that only if i had met you when you were 14 or when i was playing soccer because that was in middle school like when they were like oh you should be on the a team and i had never played soccer in my life i was like eight or nine and like i i didn't no one's taught me how to run i was just running. I don't know. They were just like run to there. And I was like, okay.

And then I was trying to be faster than everybody else. One thing we're going to try to figure out is, I don't know if you remember, but we talked about this when you came in is one thing I think that has an immediate application of it is how you handle your taper and your back off phase. So my, my guess,

and this is totally guessing, is those girls that have the most fast-fetched fibers probably need the most back off and the most taper. And then I think you remember you actually had started tapering more, right? Yeah. So what's that actually look like? Yeah, so specifically with Amy, she was the one who noticed that without all this information. Fuck your science, Andy.

We don't know no no that's fine jessica that's fine i just mean like well at 2015 nationals for example i only made one clean and jerk and i told her that i how i felt so like after my snatches i went three for three and then i opened i missed my opener i made my second attempt and then we tried for the american record and i missed and i felt like lethargic. I didn't feel like I had enough energy and I didn't feel like I had like the, basically just the energy that I needed to like be able to fight for cleaners, cleaners take way more energy and then snatches for sure. Um, and so she was like, okay, well, let's back off when we are tapering for worlds.

She was like, let's back you off like 10 days out instead of the week out like we did for nationals. And I felt way better, but it wasn't perfect. And so we kept just kind of playing with it. And, um, yeah. And then, so like, I'm interested now because like when we travel overseas, it's, it's, it's really tough. Like you have to be more adaptable like you can't just be like oh 10 days out and I can't I can't do my clean and jerks now it's like well

10 days out I might be flying 14 hours and then I'll have to do it after a 14 hour flight who knows so I kind of want to make sure that I'm like not so dependent on that that I can still like make at least you know up to my opener at any given time during my taper and then still like come out and mentally have what I need to clean and jerk it's tough can you walk us through what that like last 10 days of training looks like you know so 10 days out are you half the volume are you taking whole days or you're sitting on the couch because how do you go from training two times a day six days a week yeah to just like every other day training you're not gonna do that right no what does that whole last week look like um well luckily so things are gonna change now because i

now i have a new coach too but like before what they looked like is because i was also cutting weight i didn't have the energy to train twice a day anyways. So we'd start backing off when my calories started to go down. And I would do like 10 days out, I would do my last heavy day, for example. So I would do a max out, snatch, max out, clean and jerk, like as heavy as I can. Ideally close to my third attempts, if not over over them and then like the week out so that would be like a Saturday then the following Monday it would be like openers my first or maybe second attempts and then Tuesday would be first attempts and then like after that it's like a huge drop

like definitely no squats for those 10 days but But, like, maybe light snatch up to, like, 80 kilos, which would be, like, 78%. And then clean and jerk up to 100 kilos. And we'd do that for, like, maybe two days. And then we would do powers. And then, yeah. But it is. It's, like, really drastic. But we don't go from, like, every – we don't go from like every we don't go from

twice a day to every other day it's definitely every day still um are you doing a lot of barbell work then too just moving or and no accessories i assume right uh so i'm like what's written is no accessories no other barbells for me there's a smile here that says something that's coming yeah yeah look at those guys she's not taking your coach is about to fire you so careful no my oh no she knew so like after um i would do my first workout i would be like downstairs and i'd just be like thinking about weightlifting thinking about the competition and i'd be like okay can i go back out and do more and she'd be like sure just don't like go back out and do more? And she'd be like, sure, just don't like go crazy. So I would go out and do like snatch technique

or like just something with the barbell. And then I'd for sure still do my accessories. I felt like- You son of a bitch. I know, I felt better doing my accessories. I would definitely pull back the volume of them and like I wouldn't go as heavy for sure. But like if I was doing lateral raises, for example,

I would do them with like five pounds, like just to go through the motions of doing it and make me feel like I'm getting blood flow to my shoulders. Still, my shoulders just feel healthier when I do that. Is this the first year that your first maybe quad that you've programmed out completely? Yes. It is. Yes. And now that they have the two new requirements with its worlds.

Is that right? International requirements. So there's like gold tier competitions, silver and bronze. And so they're all like split up. So I don't know them exactly, but like world championships would obviously be gold. And then maybe like the Pan Am championships would be silver. And then like a Grand Prix or something would be bronze. So all of those will count and then like so if i can do all of them then all of those points go towards my score so this is the

first year you've done that though right i had to think about yeah um how has that changed from the past a little bit longer range yeah so like like going into this we're like i don't know what competitions i'm doing because like they just pop up and they're like okay here's a grand prix and then we're like all right we've got to go so it's kind of interesting but I'm just trusting that my coach like has all that in mind and that he's gonna like put me in the right situations how much does Pyrrhus and the the Olympic team help you with that do they say hey Jess like we want you to go to this one or not or is that yeah yeah they like will call and they'll check in um and they'll ask like how training is going and then they'll say like hey like i just got an email

the other day like um assuming that you make tokyo would you want to go out these many days earlier these many days early or early at all like they're they're like constantly like involved um and talking to my coach about like what our plans are because my coach my coach is a lot like me in the sense that no one's going to do it for us so he's like all right i don't know when the grand prix's are but here's a competition that i found in puerto rico i want to figure out when like if it's going to be a qualifies as a brown bronze thing i'm going to tell us a little thing that that's what we're going to do i'm going to fundraise and figure out how we can send you there because you say the thing's not

going to send us to like a non like usa meet or whatever um so like yeah that's what's happening that's a challenge yeah it is and so like really it's it's a challenge to make sure that i'm focused on my training every day and I'm just doing what I can control because like the last Olympics like my major thing was that I was like so anxious like I felt like I had to control every little thing because I was scared that something would we would miss something like USA would say you have to go to this Grand Prix in China but then not like me not know about it so So I had to always be like, okay, is there anything else I can be doing? Like talking to you? I say, well, thanks. So now I'm just kind of like, okay, my coach has got this. I'm just going to work as

hard as I can and get as good as I can. And that's all I can do. On the day of competition, what's your, what's your mental state? Like, are you, are you super nervous or like, are you used to competing now where you kind of of you're kind of more chill and you're relaxed leading up to it like where do you what do you like on game day um i do get nervous yeah um i get every competition's a little bit different but i like it depends on what time i'm competing too if i'm competing in the morning i feel kind of like anxious nervous like i feel like I have to rush to do everything. If I'm competing later in the afternoon, I feel like, Oh, I just want it to be time already. Um, if it's like midday and I have time to do like my normal routine where I'm like journaling

and reading and like all of this stuff and stretching and meditating or whatever. Um, I feel like it's perfect, but I'm still like in this weird trance um actually at Olympic trials was like my favorite story about that because Christian was with me my husband and he um I like asked him to leave because I was like he was like do you want to listen to music do you want to watch a movie do you want to do this do you want to do that and I was and we weren't competing until like five and I was like um no and I was like I kind of want you to just stop talking and he was like okay he was like okay I'll stop talking and then I was like we were just sitting in silence for like hours and I'm like this is really like awkward for me but can you like go downstairs so I can just like be

alone like I wanted to just like look in the mirror and like go through my movements and stuff without having to feel like anyone was looking at me I I don't know. It was just kind of like a funny thing, but it ended up being a really great day, but every competition is a little bit different. That's really awesome though, that you're at that level where you can self-identify those things. This is what I need. And of course, hopefully you have a relationship with your spouse where you can ask things like that. And he's like, Oh yeah, of course. Like, yeah yeah he's the best about that yeah for sure are you doing any coaching or anything um not right now i do like i i work for brute strength actually like i'll help i do their brute only um someone else is writing the programming but i'm helping with like the technique side and like communications with the athletes

um and i'm running their facebook page and i have like a couple like online programming clients but not like day-to-day stuff no you excited to get into that though yeah i am i really enjoy it um like every once in a while i'll be like i just want to do a seminar and i'll just do it for free like i'll just be like um dang like i i did it in oregon like right before i moved i was like talk like, let's just do it. You should up your price. I was like, I want it to be like an all women's clinic and just be free.

And it just be like about like empowering women and talking about one of those recently. Yeah. In Oregon. And it was really fun. And it was like so fulfilling. I was like, I got my coaching kick. It was perfect. Yeah. Uh, you mentioned in the beginning of the show,

you have this dream of creating like a camp school thing, getting kids involved in this. Um, what does that look like? And when, when is this happening? Um, not that you have to put a time limit on your career. No. Yeah. I know. Cause if you asked me if this was my last Olympics, I wouldn't be able to give you an answer. Um. I don't know when I would want to do it. But I think like, I will for sure want to work in the school systems to have weightlifting to be more common in high schools around the country and not just in Florida and and then the coaches that are coaching them have more access to education because I think like that's the biggest problem right now is that there's there might be a lot of coaches that love the sport that have been introduced through CrossFit or whatever other avenue or maybe just because they've seen it on YouTube I don't know but um I think that they need more time learning how to count attempts and how to coach competitions. That was backhanded.

We call that a callback. Yep. Yeah. But, no, that's not your fault. You should have more access to that. Yeah. She's making fun of me again. Stop.

You can keep going. American weightlifting is so new that they just, like, don't have, like, think about it, sports schools in Cuba, for example. If you're an athlete in Cuba, you go through the sports school as an athlete and you go through these different tiers you qualify into the next group go on to the next group and then eventually you graduate when you retire from sport you go back to the beginning and coach the beginning lifters and then when you get the lifter to the next level you're allowed to coach at the next level too. And so it moves on. And so you get this like huge learning curve for like how to coach lifters and competitions, how to develop an athlete,

how to communicate with an athlete. And in USA, it's just like everyone has their own opinion on how to develop an athlete. And then when they go to competitions, it's like learn as you go. And that's, I mean, honestly, unfortunately, it's not really fair to the athletes because they're trying to develop into the best athlete they can be. And they need to be able to trust that the coach knows what they're doing,

but the coach has to learn somehow. So, I mean, there's just got to be a better way to figure that out. And I haven't quite figured that out yet. I think it's super cool in the position that you're in and that you have kind of a large online following and so much success in the sport that now that weightlifting is cool, there's such an opportunity where before there was just, there wasn't even eyeballs on the sport. And now girls that are coming up clearly know who you are and you can create a path for people to, to follow.

But there's so much more to like, we can even make the sport more cool. Like, imagine if they had, like, a media program where, like, they knew us all individually more and they did, like, how CrossFit does behind the scenes. Why don't they just steal CrossFit's game? Yeah. I mean, just. Not all of it.

But the marketing piece of. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And, like, they do the really cool things where they do features on athletes and you learn about them and then you get behind them. A simple documentary about your life. Even the weightlifting documentary

that Greg did was awesome. Right, yeah. I watched that. So did I. I have it. I bought it. Yeah. I watched it multiple times.

And then everyone who watched was like, you watched this? I was like, yeah, like six times. You can come up to Fullerton and keep to my club anytime you want. Cool.

Okay, if I ever have an extra day, I'll do it. That's probably never, huh? That was a subtle way of saying I'm never a cop. It's like 11 miles away, but I'll never make it there. It's not that often. Never. Not making that 90 minute, 11 mile drive. I'll totally be there. Are you in Costa Mesa now?

Newport? Around here? Yeah, around here. Our gym's in Santa Ana. What? Mm-hmm. Okay, so you're even closer then. Yeah. You're right. I'm super close.

Oh, my God. So actually, you know what's funny? As I drove up to Disney- But she couldn't be further away from you. Absolutely not. In desire, right? Yes. Like totally right there.

No. 700 feet away, a million miles mentally, though. Cool. I literally went to Disney for lunch the other day with a friend, and I was, like, thinking about how close I was to you guys, and I was like, but I had to make it back for afternoon training. I didn't have time to, like. Oh, yeah, because, you know, you couldn't train in our facility.

Of course. You know, you'd only change the life of all the females who were trying weightlifting for the first time in my club, and it's their first introduction to sport you would only change their life and everything but that's right you couldn't lift at all hasn't she done enough she gave you her muscle fibers whatever i gave it back yeah i gave you a piece of my leg christian doesn't think that my muscle is gonna grow back i'm pretty sure it's grown back by now he told me he's like you're gonna be a different athlete for the rest of your life. Stronger. That's so mean.

Physiology. Four grams lighter. There's always a negative side. There's always a negative side. I learned that from you. Maybe I could make 59. Oh. Yeah.

Because I got this biopsy done. We'll just have to take a lot more biopsies. That's a whole lot. How many hundred milligrams at a time? Can you take them out of her legs and put them into her shoulders? Oh. Oh, solid. Muscle transplant?

Anybody? You know, we have biopsy deltoids in the past, so that could be our next venture. You can't take anything out of these. I need them. By the way, if he tries to talk you into a tendon biopsy, do not do it. Don't do it.

We've done that before. That one hurts. Talk me into it one time. It cost us a couple of years. Really? Yeah. I couldn't bend my knee for like of years. Really? I couldn't bend my knee for like a year. Really? Solid.

Easy. Maybe when I retire from sport. I'm not doing them ever again. Don't worry. Okay. Is there a difference? Yeah. Well, tendon versus muscle.

No, I got that. But what are you studying? Yeah. Well, you can't study muscle by upswing a tendon. Sometimes the logic is just so obvious, yet I'll miss it. No, the thought was actually looking at the tendon, patella tendon in weightlifters and powerlifters compared to other people to see if, of course,

if the training is enhancing patella tendon quality. Didn't shake out to shit. And you couldn't squat for two years. And I crippled my friends. Hey, now, mine was in that same study. That's true. It helped him get his PhD. I'm happy I did it.

So think about what you sacrificed for our friendship, and then think about what he sacrificed. And then you can't even make it up seven miles, four miles now because you're in Santa Ana. She'll be there. Put it in the schedule. I'll be there. I'll figure it out.

I'm telling the entire club. I've already sent an email out, actually, on my phone you there and then when you cancel i'm going to send them directly to your social media i will tell you though there's a girl that came to a seminar that i did at crossfit costa mesa um like last i don't know last month i just did like a pop-up seminar and she was from your club and i was coaching her and she got a PR that day and she was like she was like I like I train at your club or this club and and it's so much fun but I've like always wanted to meet you or something it was really cute and then she like posted that she got a PR and she's like I couldn't have not PR'd it was so cute see these are the lives you'd be changing I know I'll go I thought she was gonna say I finally had a good coach. No. Finally has a coach.

Where can people find you? Instagram, at JessicaLucero9. What's the nine? Yeah. Who are one through eight? This is a funny thing because Christian's sister used to be GenesisLucero9. So when we got married, I was like, Jessica Lucero was taken. So I was like, I'll just do that too.

But my email has always been, so when I was little. Oh, be careful now. No, no. Be careful. Okay. Okay. When I was little and I had AOL and some Messenger. Oh, what was your screen name?

It was jbaby979. Yes. Jbaby. The strongest girl in America, jbaby. 979. the strongest girl in america jay baby nine seven nine so the nine is kind of like always been around but i don't know why it just like whatever i've tried to change the story yeah that's really good but now i can't change it because then like everything would be weird people couldn't find me there's all you have to grow up out of your AOL screen name. I bet kids do that now with their Instagram. It's like, no longer Jbaby.

I have to be Jessica. I was in an airport one time with Laird. And he got to talk. Fucking name drop. Like, what right there, dude? No, this is why it's awesome. Laird Johnson. Laird Johnson.

Yeah, regular guy. Dad's friend. Fucking name drop. No, but I say the name because this is the funny part about it. We're in the airport, and there's this funny thing, actually. The cart that brings all the food and stuff on it, the plane had boarded, and a cart slammed into the plane. So we had to deplane the whole plane, come off the plane,

get a whole new plane because the cart had smashed into the thing. So we're sitting there, and there's hundreds of people in a space like this and we're waiting. We don't know where we're going, all this stuff, and Laird starts talking to this guy and they're talking for like a half an hour. And then we go to move to board the next plane and Laird's like, oh, hey, yeah, like email me, let's talk, whatever. And he starts shouting out his email

like across hundreds of people. He's like, yeah, just email me at blah, blah, blah, blah at AOL.com and Gabby like hits him in the face and it's like, Laird, you just shouted out your public email address to hundreds of people as they're all like, eyes are up. Someone's recording this right now. Did he get weird emails?

He doesn't check his fucking email anyway. Then that's fine. He's Laird Hamilton. Emails at AOL.com, that tells you how I'm off Laird Hamilton's email. Well, that means you're like super OG. Like, I don't know. Yeah.

He's the only one that can make it. Yeah. I think Bill Simmons still has the AOL that he like drops every once in a while. It's like if you can do it, keep the AOL. Yeah. I loved AOL. I thought it was the coolest thing. Yeah.

I ate my cereal in the morning and then in semesters. What was your go-to away message? Okay i'm a lot of tests right yeah do whatever you want so um this is the real meat of the conversation here so do you guys know nathalie bergner is yeah okay so she was my favorite lifter when i was growing up my away too that's not a joke really yeah okay i used to throw down in mike's gym i used to, the hang snatches she used to do, I was like how I used to teach speed to people. Like, do what she does. I still show her video in all my classes every semester.

Me too. 100 kilo. Oh, I don't have a class. The first record. People would be like, I don't know what you mean by go fast. And I would just put that up and be like, do that. And she was so consistent. Like, she was slow.

Beautiful. Like, perfect, control, control, control, and then fast. It was like, you wouldn't know the difference between 35 or 105 kilos. So there, like at the time there wasn't like YouTube or Instagram or anything. So we didn't know, like we would only see her do big lifts when we would go to competitions. And we were all youth lifters. So we didn't go to the same competition she would go to. But someone had heard through the grapevine that she snatched 105.

And so every single one of my friend youth lifters, whether they were in Florida or around the country, which most of them were not in Florida, our away messages were all the same. It was Natalie motherfucking Bergner snatched 105. That was like... Well, it was Natalie Woolfolk. Yeah, it was Woolfolk. It like... Well, it was Natalie Wolfolk. Yeah, it was Wolfolk. It was. Yeah, it was Wolfolk.

I was going to ask if you remembered the maiden name because that was how I remember it. Wolfolk. Yeah. But I still watch her videos sometimes when I'm like, can't sleep. I'm like, well, look at old way listening videos. Dude, those videos were so savage back in the day. Yeah. But there's only like five.

It's sad. Yeah. Her positions were so just everything was so spot on she would have been a so like a megastar yeah like even now her numbers are still so competitive like if she would have done 105 and 125 like at worlds this year she would have meddled it's like insane um but anyways she when i went to the OTC, she was still lifting. It was like after the 2008 Olympics. So she was like coming back from surgery and she made me train with her and she would tell

me like every day, like, don't. I saw your screen name. Well, no. I saw your away message. I don't think that she knew that. But like I went to a youth. Well, wait, I have so many stories about her. Aren't you Kbaby979?

Oh my gosh. So embarrassing. No, I have so many stories about her because she gosh this is so embarrassing no I have so many stories about her because she cheered for me at a meet one time and I was lifting and I was like so nervous because I could hear her and I think about that now like when I'm at meets I'm cheering for people I'm like whether they know me or not like if they do know me this was special to me at one time and like I want to pay that forward yeah but Natalie, like, I'll never forget this. She had me lift on her platform with her every single day. And she'd be like, you can't just idolize me.

You have to try to beat me. Like, you can beat me. Try to beat me. So like every day I was training with her and she was reminding me that. And it was crazy. And it's just like, I don't know. And then when she retired, she like specifically told me, she was like, it's time for you to step up, like step up. And I never forget that. it's time for you to step up. Like, step up.

And I'll never forget that. Is she still coaching? I don't know what she's doing. I know she has a bunch of babies. And I think that she's, like, working out and doing CrossFit. But I don't know if she's coaching or not. You should send her this podcast. Okay.

I mean, she came, her and her husband, Casey, they were like my favorite lifters but they came to watch me at 2017 nationals and like I told them that it was like I could hear them cheering for me when I was out there and I was like it just means so much to me that you guys like like they only came to my session they drove from Michigan to Chicago to watch me lift like that's so special because of them the first time I moved out here I literally like made a point to go to bergeners just because i thought it was like it was the mecca of where you needed to be if you're a weightlifter for sure and staring out over the mountains and i was like natalie used to live here this is so rad i didn't even care casey was putting like 400 pounds breaking national

records or close if i was his size i could do that yeah yeah yeah of course not at all you know the cool thing about that is like it was so hard for him to stay that weight. He would, in the middle of the night, go to Taco Bell that was across the street or McDonald's. Well, he lost so much weight as soon as he retired. It was just like it just shredded. Yeah. What else you got?

Yeah, tell us everything. Like what? Well, we just found out an hour and a half into this thing that Natalie Wolf Walker is your idol. Oh, yeah. I don't know what else to say. I don't know. All right. I got to train.

Okay. So my favorite video ever, a lifting video that I still watch sometimes. I don't know who made it, but it's on YouTube and it was like this like Eminem song was playing in the background and it was like Cara Heads um Casey Bergner Natalie Woolfolk Carissa Gump like all these like OG legends and they were all training at the OTC when like the OTC was the place to train and it was like the most inspirational video I've ever seen like still to this day I'm like oh I want to watch it and even though like now like now at this level when you watch stuff like that you're like it's it's not they don't look the same that they looked to you then yeah like then I would look at them and be

like they're perfect and now I look at them I'm like oh like they should have they could have been a little better at this but like in a good way like I'm learning I learned from that but like and then that's also encouraging for me it's just like I'm not perfect even if I'm trying to be and like other people see that and of course on Instagram anyone can say whatever they want to say so like people are always like wow you have an early arm bend or whatever so it's like kind of nice when I see those videos and I'm like okay like that's they just couldn't do that back then they couldn't like hate on them back then you mentioned earlier about how it's tough for people or some of the coaching and weightlifting people are doing online you're like I think it's making it worse are there any resources that you would point people to you say this is a good place a

book or a website or people or anyone where people who want to learn more about it but they want to learn the proper stuff about weightlifting what would would he like? It's, it will, it's so challenging because like there is, there are resources out there like Catalyst that are giving out really great information. And I think that that's, that that's good information to be getting and anywhere that you can find anything. But I think that personally, the most that you can improve as an athlete is having one person there with you that's helping you and like knowing what to say. But not everyone has that. And so like understanding all the different types of weightlifting and the types of technique, the more educated you are, the better. So even if you go to a John North seminar versus like a Chad Vaughn seminar. They're going to be very different, but you can learn something from each of them and you can make your own

opinion about it. Right? Like just like politics, like you're learning, you, you make your decision based on education. So that's my best advice. Who do you train with now?

Like my training partners. I love my training partners right now. They're so cool. So Allie Ludwig, she's a 90 kilo lifter for Team USA she went to Worlds with me Caitlin um Hogan she's a 53 so are you training at number four where are you um no so she she she owns number four and then she's um training with us like twice a week or as much as she can in Costa Mesa here in Santa Ana oh god that's right yeah

Christian trains oh yeah at the Academy of Weightlifting. Oh, this is all making so much sense now. Yeah, so Barbells for Boobs started this Academy of Weightlifting, and their whole mission was, like, to create kind of, like, a program so that elite athletes have an opportunity to work afterwards. And it's kind of like they're trying to create it like a sports school in a sense that they love this sport so much they want us to be able to like have opportunities for work outside of that and then also to help raise money for barbells for boobs in general um so it's like a really cool program i'm like really happy to be a part of it

but yeah all these athletes are like coming in um there's two athletes that just moved there um christian and daryl christian used to train at east tennessee um he's an 85 lifter and um daryl was at lindenwood and he was he just won nationals at 62 um and then john downey won nationals at 85 this year and he um is lifting with us now too those are the people that are like so strong yeah like 85s just monsters yeah and and and like in weightlifting they're not tall they're not a tall 85 they're like a tall they're like a thick 85 thick um and then we have like a ton of masters lifters that qualify for Masters Worlds. We have a girl that competes for Mexico's in town training right now.

She's a 58. So, yeah, we've got a lot. You've got one more coming too that you don't know about. I know. I can't say yet. You can tell me later. But I know that there's two girls that are really, really good that are coming to drop in train with us for a little bit but i don't know if they're staying or not

galpin always got that smirk on his face like he knows something yeah is it one of those people maybe oh i'm so excited but yeah the environment she'll be happy you'll be happy they're like making it like an olympic training It's, like, it's legit. It's cool. It's awesome. And, like I said, the coaches are super professional. Like, Juan, he learned coaching in Cuba, and he's coached in Cuba and Mexico, and now he's coaching here.

You've met Juan, I think. I think I have. It was a long time ago. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. He's great. Super nice guy. And Russ learned coaching in Dominican Republic.

So it's, like, they're they're very experienced group of coaches and they have high goals for all of us and like our goals are their number one priority not like making themselves bigger or seen or noticed or anything at all really it's just about us and i think that's like really refreshing very cool we can sit around and talk weightlifting. So your Instagram and what other stuff you got? I was letting her wind up. I was going to shut it down. Yeah, I was letting her wind up. Keep going.

What other, you know, make sure you plug your stuff. Well, I just started a blog, actually. Oh, snap. Here comes another hour. I'm ready. What are you talking about? What are you talking about? What are you writing about?

Friends episodes. Probably. Favorite Friends episode. Wait, you like Friends better than Seinfeld? Yes. Oh, no favorite friends episode wait you like friends better than Seinfeld yes oh no looked at you like you were insane sorry guys I just don't it's a good thing you lift weights my coach tells me I like do like really ditzy things in the gym all the time and he's always just like good thing you're strong and like pats you on the back like our workout said like 10 a.m and like like Julyuly 10 a.m and then july 10 p.m

and i looked at it and i was like we have to train at 10 p.m and everyone was like jess that's the time i mean the date um you're strong we have to yeah so the blog is called grace and whispers and it's like about a bunch of things like i, I have a thing about, like, my opinion on what, like, the priorities of a coach should be. And then, like, I have a couple things. Do you want to talk about that? I can if you want me to. I would love to. Grace and Whispers.

Graceandwhispers.com. Dot com. It's mostly, like, the – I love this song, by the way. Squirrel. See? Good thing I'm strong. My opinion is that I think that the coaches need to be putting the athlete first and foremost. So if the athlete feels something, it should be heard.

If the athlete needs something, it should be recognized. Not that the athlete should run the coach by any means. I think the athlete needs to be respectful and all of that. I just think that a lot of times because weightlifting coaches don't get paid, sometimes it's challenging to balance, like, how do you get paid as a coach, but then how do you put your athlete above yourself? And I think that that gets confusing for coaches these days. And so my whole thing was basically about serving the athlete as the coach. And so like me, when I'm a coach, my goal would be like, say I have a 16 year old Jordan Dela Cruz and she walks into my door and she's this amazing athlete. My goal isn't going to be to be like, I want to get

her to the world championships or the Olympics because I want to be her coach. It would be, I want her to, because she deserves it because she's good enough. And like, that's the priority. And every decision I make, everything I say to her, everything I do is with that in mind, not my own self-promotion, my own self gain orain, or anything that has to do with me at all. The coach is always secondary to that athlete and that athlete's potential. Jordan just got second at Junior Worlds? She did. She's a savage.

Yeah, she did. Those Junior Worlds just won. Team USA just won Junior Worlds for female. Whew, guys. Bright future. What's your favorite weightlifting story? Casey Bergner. Yeah.

Well, I have a bunch with Casey, actually. When he made the Olympics, even though he didn't technically make the Olympics and everyone thought he did. So the background is the USA Governing body told us that we had three spots right three for the men um we really only had two and then we were going to ask for a like wild card spot um but they told them before Olympic trials we have three so Chad Kendrick and Casey were all lifting they all assumed like those three were going to make it casey does exactly what he needs to do on his second clean and jerk to make the third spot um and then he scratches his third attempt because he doesn't need to beat anybody else in the rankings he's on the team according to the usa wheel things i remember this yeah so when he makes it coach bergner runs on stage natalie runs on

stage because natalie had previously made the o the Olympics that day too and they all just like collapse on stage crying guys that was my favorite for sure um like personally my favorites Olympic trials 2016 um because well one in my snatch I didn't make my first two, and so it was kind of like do or die. Either you make the snatch and you make the Olympics or your Olympic dream is over and you don't even get to clean. I mean, you could clean a jerk, but it wouldn't matter. And I made it, and it happened to be an American record,

so that was cool. And then I came back in the clean and jerk. Hold on. What a jerk. Hold on. What a swing. Hold on. Wow. You missed your first two attempts. Yeah.

It's like I'm either going to be like all the way done. Yep. Or I'm going to qualify and set a record. I have to make this American record snatch the most ever by a female ever to make my, Oh my God. Yeah. Yeah. So talk about pressure.

What does that feel like when you hit that lift? How did you not just cry? You stick it. I did cry. Oh yeah. I did. Yeah. Marston actually got a video of me.

Like I, I made it and I started jumping up and down like an idiot. And then I just like ran and just fell into Christian and he like carried me off. And I was like, I laughed around him. It was like really, ran and just fell into Christian, and he, like, carried me off, and I was, like, I laughed around him. It was, like, really cute. It's, like, my favorite video, I think, ever. Yeah, it was really stressful, and then when I go out for my opening cleaning, oh, so, like, warm-ups were kind of crazy in my clean and jerk, because Morgan just did a crazy total. I could hear that she did it, but I had headphones in, so I didn't know, like, does that

mean that I don't have a chance, or do I still have a chance I'm just gonna pretend I do have a chance but I knew she did a great total because everyone was screaming and she came back crying and screaming and freaking out and like the whole room like stopped it was like this weird like I'm like well it's fine I can still make it and then um I missed my I missed two warmups in the back. And I remember asking, like, I pulled my headphones off. I was like, Christian, how much was that? Cause it felt like, it felt like a lot, like it felt like what my opener was going to be or something. And wait, yeah, it felt like a lot. And I thought it was like really light. Like I thought it was like 95 kilos or something. And so I was kind of freaking out, like, oh, I have so many more attempts to go and I just missed 95.

Like I'm this is not going to be a good day. And then Chris, I like asked him and he was like, oh, it was 109. And I was opening with 110 or around 110. So I was like, OK, we're fine. We're fine. And then I got this huge adrenaline kick and I was like, everything's fine. We're good. And then we open at 112.

And Amy told me when I was going out, she's like, this will this will put you on the alternate spot. And I was like, okay. And so I went out, I nailed it. I came back and I was like, all excited. I think she lied to me because I don't think that it did. And then she came back and then she told me 115. So in my mind, like my next attempt would put me on the Olympic team. I didn't know really, she didn't really say that, but in my mind, so that's what it was. And then I missed it the first time and I made it the second time. And that was another American record at the time. And so I was like super stoked because in my mind, I made the Olympics. You set two American records.

You set the American record in the snatch, American record in the clean and jerk. You would just assume that would put you on the team. What can you do? How are you not the best at that point? My 112 clean and jerk opener broke the American record total that had been there for, like, 13 years, too. So, like, that was another part of, like, okay, I'm an alternate and I did this, you know. So, it was really cool. But, yeah, I didn't know, like, when Morgan did that total, it was just, like, kind of impossible for me to.

Yeah. For people that own the backstory, you, kind of impossible for me to. Yeah. For people that know the back story, you were kind of dead in the water. Yeah. There's no way you could. Yeah. Different weight category, but it was points and things like that, right? Yeah. And nobody's going to tell me in the back before I go to my clean and jerk.

No way. But it's over. But it's over. Yeah. Good luck. Now go set that American record. Yeah. Just go out there and have fun.

Yeah. Yeah. Those last couple years of training, no big deal. Just give it, give them a good effort. That's why. And remember I told you that story earlier about me being like super quiet that day. It was like, it was like too much emotionally to handle because like at that point it was like, I'd been lifting for 12 years.

I've wanted this day was like, I've been like my entire career was like sitting on this day. And so like everything was like it's do or die like it's either now or never and then like I really thought that I would retire after I made the Olympics so I was like this is these are my last two competitions of my life like make it count and so have you thought about life after weightlifting yeah what does that look like the older I get the more I think about it yeah um that's good yeah I think it's the older you get the closer it gets it does and like recently like after not making the olympics and stuff you kind of re-evaluate

your life or you're like like you're you're living breathing everything rests on making the olympics or not you think that your self-worth relies on it. And I realize that it doesn't. Like, it is my goal, and I have put in a lot of work, and I'm not going to, like, give up. And I'm not going to, like, attack it any less hard just because I don't necessarily think it's, like, who I am. You're also kind of playing with house money right now

because if you look at it on paper, you're still absolutely unequivocally one of the most successful female weightlifters in American history. Thank you. Like, that's not, I'm not being nice. Like, that's just objectively the facts. So it's like you could retire now and be like, oh, you didn't make the Olympics. But, I mean, geez. Right.

What more could you ask for in a career? Right. And I can feel confident in that I've really tried everything. And that's partly why I have switched coaches recently. Just because I think that I need more technique work or whatever it is. I'm going to figure out a way to attack all avenues that I believe would make me the most successful. And like you said, I am older in the sport. I don't have time to mess around. And hopefully it goes well or hopefully I can get better without making changes.

Like, that's just not how things work at this point. And so I can't really just be like, I have to be sensitive to people's feelings. It's like, I need to do what I need to do. That sounds like an incredibly easy thing to say, but for a coach like Amy, who was also so incredibly close to you on a personal level, how hard was that? Was close to you on a personal level. Yeah. How hard was that? Was that, was it a pretty easy conversation because you were so close? Um, it was easy because she was understanding like of what I was feeling and what I needed. And we weren't doing a good job of communicating leading into the world championships. And she recognized that.

And so when we like talked about it, like the conversation, we weren't saying everything that we wanted to be saying or what we should have said. So like it it went smoothly because not everything was said. And then like we had a hard time for a few months later, like at the Arnold. We were like she was there and I was there and we had like a little fight afterwards. But like now we talk all the time about it and we're both really open about it. And she like she tells me about the things that hurt her about the situation and the things that I felt and whatever.

And so she's supportive now of like me needing this. And she thinks that's good for me if it's what I want to do. She's like a really, um, like she, she wants me to be successful. Like, and that's,

that's her main thing. And so she, if she feels like this is the right place for me, then wants me to be there so we could keep going but we got to go home we got babies we got things we can't we've only been talking about weightlifting for the last 72 straight hours freaking awesome life we live you ever think about how much you talk about weightlifting no yeah i like dream about weightlifting? No. Yeah. Sure. I like dream about weightlifting. I don't know. Like there's nothing else in here.

Yeah. Nothing else is going on here. No. It's awesome. Um, what's the name of the website again? Grace and whispers. And Jessica Lucero nine.

Yep. And J baby. No, I don't have that anymore. Totally looking. Yeah. I'm sending emails that can you download as a messenger? I have no idea. I hope so, I don't have that anymore. I'm totally looking. Yeah. I'm sending emails to that address. Can you download InstaMessenger?

I have no idea. I hope so. Check out uofn9. That was mine. Uofn? Yeah. Like school? Yeah.

I didn't even go there. My dad did. Oh, my gosh. So I like Nebraska football. That was my hockey number. And you want to know what my away message was? What? Getting swole.

It would be. It didn't matter if I was getting swole or not. I was still getting swole. You are. Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. What was your away message then?

Getting swole. No, that was your name, I thought. No, you have been nine. University of Nebraska nine is where my dad went to school and my hockey number and my away message. Okay. Whether we were playing beer pong or whether we were at the weight room, it was always getting swole. We were very different people. Stop it.

Stop it. Yours was about Natalie Wolfork's Nastian 105 and mine's getting swole. It doesn't seem like too much of a leap. That's true. That's fair. But what you were actually doing versus what I was actually doing was probably pretty different. Set in beer America records.

Set in beer pong records. How weird is it that you are the strongest, one of the strongest women that has ever walked the, like, in this. Yeah, America is like a large place with a lot of people who lift weights. You do it better than all of them. Ever. Yeah. Ever. Thanks.

That's pretty awesome. Thanks. You should be stoked on that. Yeah, I i'm happy but i want to be better all of the things that go into that are i think are the really important stuff i imagine you probably thought a lot about those character traits that allow you to be the best yeah and i'm constantly like what can i do better like all like with everything all the time see my everything. You're counting steps? I don't know what that was.

Please don't say counting steps is, like, a thing. No, it's just, like, it tests, like, my recovery. So I always know, like, oh, I need to sleep more. I need to do this. No, there's a good book out on that. You should think about it. I actually, yes. You know what my favorite is?

When I look at Andy Galvin. It's okay. Go ahead and plug it for me. Be on Instagram. No, and, like, so we were actually just recently talking. We were in the sauna at the gym. You know how you get 12 plugs for your website? What?

We plug it, and then we go on another 20 minutes. We shut down and keep talking? Shut down, keep talking? Okay, we can talk about it later. No, keep going. No, no, no. What do you mean later? You won't even drive four hours or four miles to go see Galpin,

and we're going to do a podcast. I'm literally across the street from your gym and you won't even cross the street. You know what? We'll do this next week. Yeah. When? When you're right next to Andy and you don't go see him. When I'm free.

When are you free? Never. Oh, okay. Hey, we should hang out sometime. She said when she has extra time. In between training and training. We should hang out sometime. Yeah, totally. What's your number?

No, I'm not giving you my number. Cool. Jbaby 9. 7-9. Yeah, totally. What's your number? No, I'm not giving you my number. Cool. JBaby979, hit me up. What about it? I'll just send a DM to Christian on his Instagram. Maybe that'll work. Yeah, he reads his DMs more than I do. Fair enough.

If I were you, I probably wouldn't ever read mine. I would definitely probably just block them all if I were you. People are mean. Oh, yeah, I'm sure. I'm amongst other things. So just block them off. People are mean. Oh, yeah, I'm sure. Amongst other things. So Sundays I have off. But you guys probably don't lift on Sundays.

Anyways, I was going to say that in the sauna at our gym, we were talking about how we all wanted to do, like, Brian McKenzie's seminar. And then I was telling them about the book and, like, all these different things. And, like, everybody's so stoked on it. So I'm trying to figure out a way to, oh at what gym oh oh yeah we'll come down anytime you don't want no part of brian mckenzie he's got another friend brian diaz fuck that guy too okay you want no part of either one of them christian's best friend but it's fine yeah no that's totally absolutely uh it was like uh i don't even know what it was, months ago. And I didn't realize that you guys were friends.

Yeah. And he said something like, he was texting me, I think it was for UFC fights. He's like, hey, we're going to come over or whatever and watch. I'm like, yeah, great. And he's like, the Luceros are in town. And I was like, ooh. No, I don't think that. No.

We're booked. I don't know if you guys didn't come or whatever. No, we did. Yeah, we can come down anytime. Okay. Do an art of breath down there. Do some other stuff. You guys can pop over.

You guys can come over like Anders did to my house and jump in the freezer. Get in the freezer. For real. But also, like, more than being uncomfortable and cold, which I really dislike, I do want to get better at that. But also, like, the breathing app. Oh, my gosh like i do head space but i like that's next level i want to do that i know a guy what's it called again dang it i don't know anything about the app i've done headspace before right when no no no whose app is this no no no brian mckenzie's brian mckenzie's got an app didn't

know he had one is it it out yet, though? No, it's not. Oh, okay. That's why I can't talk about it. That's why I said yesterday. I was like, you guys need an app. Because somebody was like, it's out already. And I'm like, no, it's not.

Brian did yesterday. Because he told me I could use it. Well, Diaz probably gave him the YouTube link. That's probably why. But that's why I was like, because I knew that he would let me use it early. Because you're so special. No, because we're friends. Yeah, yeah.

It's cool. No, because you're so special. No, because we're friends. No, because you're the strongest. Oh, my gosh, no. Because we live at his house, basically. I'm calling Brian McKenzie right now and let him know, hey, just so you know, Diaz is giving your shit away to people all the time. Send him a private link. No, just one person.

That's why Brian just sent him away. That's why Brian fired Diaz. Did he kick Diaz out of town? Absolutely, fired him. Twice. All three of the companies they own together. He fired him all the time. Oh, my gosh this is all my fault i shouldn't have come here this is my favorite a horrible mistake my favorite

part of the show when we get past all the questions and then we really start digging into our real lives we're not gonna ask you about your website anymore i gotta go home the website is like i literally have just done it just say it no I just made it and I've only like written things on it like maybe twice. So like it's a work in progress. But it's like I'm really excited about it. It's just I don't have a lot of time to work on it. You got an athlete Facebook page. I imagine all that stuff.

You're everywhere. Yeah. I'm around. Is Instagram the big one? Instagram's the big one. I like Twitter, but. How many people follow you now? Like 90,000. God damn, that's a lot of people. It's not big one. I like Twitter, but... How many people follow me now? Like 90,000.

God damn, that's a lot of people. That's not that many. If we put all three of ours together, we still don't make it. Not even 90,000. Not even close. What about your podcast? Do you guys have an Instagram? We do.

Shrug Collective. Shrug Collective. You're doing my job. All right. So proud of you. You should hire me. AndyGalpin.com. What are we doing?

We need a social media person. Yeah, that'll work. That's enough. Douglas E. Larson. What are we doing? That's it. Douglas E. Larson on Instagram. You can go to DougLarsonFson.com. What are we doing? We need a social media person. Hey, that'll work. That's enough. Doug L.C. Larson, what are we doing? That's it. Doug L.C. Larson on Instagram. You can go to DougLarsonFitness.com.

I have all kinds of cool things on that site. Go check it out. Doug and I are doing a weightlifting seminar, and we are announcing it right now that Jessica Lucero is going to be there. Oh, my gosh. Wait, when and where is this? At Masha's place. It's at Travis' place.

North Carolina. North Carolina. Come to Barcelona. Jessica will be there signing autographs. We'll go to Barcelona if we can find some funding and hang out. Me and Andy have been to Barcelona together. I would love to go back. For weightlifting?

No, just for fun. Mostly for beer. Hey, it's Masters, Qualify, and then Fun Race. Old people are still way stronger than me. I can't even think about that. As soon as I quit CrossFit, you know what the very first thing I stopped doing was? Weightlifting. Jerks.

Yeah. You know, I used to joke that the first thing I would stop doing is snatches. We totally just went 20 more minutes. Here we go. No, no, I'm done. I'm done. No, you're good. Go ahead.

But I used to say that, and then I started working on my mobility. Damn it, you're too personable. Yeah. And now my snatches don't hurt anymore. The first thing I think everybody does when they quit competitive weightlifting is you stop doing jerks right away. Yeah. Because it's like whatever this thing is, I'm going to snap my low back in half.

I can help you with that. You're not doing that right. I'm fucking twerking. I'm not doing that right. I'm not worried about my weightlifting. She'll help you, but won't help my club. I'm getting low. Word up.

I'm at Anders Varner. Come to Shrug Collective. ShrugCollective.com All the podcasts every single day of the week except Saturday and Sunday. So that's five out of seven days. And then we've got Technique Water on Sundays. Proof every other Monday. Real Chalk Blog on Tuesdays.

Barbell Shrugged on Wednesdays. All the things. Programs in the Program Vault. Program Vault. ShrugCollective.com Backslash Vault. Yeah, 11 programs Ooh, you know, you should do do this real quick. Make sure you get into the program vault at truck collective.com backslash vault That's so many words. That's a lot of words. I was just trying to get a free promo wait Jessica Lucera says Have a plug flight weightlifting flight weightlifting. Well, that's my greatest weightlifting program you've ever heard of in your life Well today that's the last two hours.

Yeah, she won't even say it. You can't even sell out. Flight weightlifting. Thank you. She's like, I don't say shit until I have a check in front of me. Oh, my gosh. Like, flight weightlifting? That's so true to USA Weightlifting athletes.

Oh, yeah? No, no. I was like, what, really? Is that why I never see them on commercials? Yes. This is why she doesn't want to come to my club. She's like, yeah, y'all totally come up. Where's the check, bitch?

Yeah. All right. Get into Shrug Collective.com and Shrug Collective everywhere. Like, subscribe. Leave us a positive comment. If not, Jessica Lucera is going to hunt you down. That's right. Make you look bad under the squat rack.

Yeah, yeah. Talk to you next Wednesday. Thank you for coming on the show. Thank you. That was awesome. Thank you. Thank you.