Barbell Shrugged - Barbell Shrugged  — The Athlete’s Voice on the 2019 CrossFit Games  — 340

Episode Date: September 22, 2018

Jen Smith, Jessica Griffith, and Cassidy Lance-McWherter are all pro CrossFit athletes, who recently won the 2018 Granite Games Female Pro Team division. In this episode, we hear their thoughts on winning the 2018 Granite Games, how they are working on weaknesses in preparation for the 2019 season, and hear their thoughts on the new CrossFit Games format. We also dive into why the girls are so much cooler than the guys in CrossFit, what does the life of a full time CrossFitter look like, and more.   Enjoy! – Doug and Anders ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Show notes at: http://www.shruggedcollective.com/bbs_athletesvoice ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Please support our partners! @organifi - www.organifi.com/shrugged to save 20% @thrivemarket - www.thrivemarket.com/shrugged for a free 30 days trial and $60 in free groceries @OMAX - www.tryomax.com/shrugged and get a box FREE with your first purchase @foursigmatic - www.foursigmatic.com/shrugged  to save 15% on your first purchase @vuori - www.vuoriclothing.com “SHRUGGED25” to save 25% storewide ► Subscribe to Barbell Shrugged's Channel Here ► Subscribe to Shrugged Collective's Channel Here http://bit.ly/BarbellShruggedSubscribe 📲 🎧 Listen to the audio version on the Apple Podcast App or Stitcher for Android Here- http://bit.ly/BarbellShruggedApple http://bit.ly/BarbellShruggedStitcher Shrugged Collective is a network of fitness, health and performance shows that help people achieve their physical and mental health goals.  Usually in the gym, but outside as well. In 2012 they posted their first Barbell Shrugged podcast and have been putting out weekly free videos and podcasts ever since. Along the way we've created successful online coaching programs including The Shrugged Strength Challenge, The Muscle Gain Challenge, FLIGHT, Barbell Shredded, and Barbell Bikini. We're also dedicated to helping affiliate gym owners grow their businesses and better serve their members by providing owners tools and resources like the Barbell Business Podcast. Find Shrugged Collective and their flagship show Barbell Shrugged here: SUBSCRIBE ON ITUNES ► http://bit.ly/ShruggedCollectiveiTunes WEBSITE ► https://www.ShruggedCollective.com INSTAGRAM ► https://instagram.com/shruggedcollective FACEBOOK ► https://facebook.com/barbellshruggedpodcast TWITTER ► http://twitter.com/barbellshrugged

Shrug family, we're back. Another Saturday edition this time. Jen Smith, Cassidy Lance McWhorter, and Jessica Griffiths. You know why that's important to say? Because seven interviews deep at the Granite Games, rushing to get them onto the microphones after they won the Granite Games, I completely forgot their name. How ridiculous is that? Sometimes I scramble it

You know that feeling when you sit down and then you do something and then you know your brain just went completely blank It's like the most terrifying thing especially when you're surrounded by the most badass athletes in all of the fitnesses They're super cool This was a really fun interview. It's cool to hear kind of the athlete's perspective on what is going on in the CrossFit world these days. And it seems like all of the athletes we talked to really don't care about the changes too much

because they're athletes and they show up, they work hard, and they know that they're going to qualify if they are in good enough shape, and that's all there is to it. It's kind of the mind of the athlete versus the mind of the spectator and wondering what's going to happen. Athletes just show up and do the work. It's pretty cool.

Had a blast hanging out with them, and, yeah, get ready for a fun little embarrassing moment on my behalf where i completely forget the names of some really badass athletes um make sure you get over to shrug collective.com backslash vault we've got 12 programs in the vault and three of them are long term or 11 programs sorry not 12 we have 12 coming right now. We're going to be getting shredded in there pretty soon. But 11 programs, three plus months long. Three of them are 18 plus months long. Three month long programs. There's eight of those. And I am stoked to see everybody in the Facebook group hanging out, getting strong.

And it's great seeing you guys move. You get to listen to us. I get to watch you lift weights. Sounds like the perfect world. ShruggedCollective.com backslash Walt. $47 per month. 11 really awesome programs to make you stronger, fitter, leaner, and all the good things. Enjoy the show.

Welcome to Barbell Shrugged. My name's Anders Varner. Hanging out with Doug Larson. You bet. We're at the Grand Games, the Kill Cliff Grand Games. Make sure we get some super cool sponsorship stuff in there. Hanging out. The unofficial winners of the, what is it, the three women team.

There's like 9,000 divisions here. There's 9,000 divisions. We are women pro group of three, something along those lines. Yeah. Cassie Lance is hanging out over here. What's your last name, your real last name again? You want to know something cool? I did not know your name changed, but my wife did while we were watching you on the TV. Can you hear me?

And she goes, that's Cassie Lance McWhorter. And I was like, huh? Who's the last person you just said? She knew. You're a celebrity to her. Yeah, you said it correctly. Awesome. Brittany? Jessica Griffith. Jessica Griffith.

So wrong. I totally have said this right all day. Hold on a minute. I was like, who's Brittany? I literally have blacked out on names. Get it right on the podcast. It's fine. We need notes.

We need notes. We've talked to some people this weekend. Jen. Smith. Jen Smith. Fucking losing my brain. Cassie Lance. McWhorter.

McWhorter. Her last name. Got it. Man, this is tough. We're really happy to be here. We're really happy to be here. You're crushing the podcast so hard. I got so nervous.

Everybody showed up. No, but seriously, when I have to introduce a big group of people, they could be closest friends my whole life and i forget did you see me just melt i forget their names like it happens all the time i was going through the first part of the intro and i was like oh fuck i forgot i hope this comes to me i'm stalling we'll get you out um how's it going unofficial winners unofficial winners we're good i'm exhausted. You just finished like 15 minutes ago for the record. You guys just got done. Just got off the floor. And it was our worst finish of the weekend.

Oh, really? It was deadlifts, burpees. Well, one of them. You guys crushed it. Okay. So we got. Your worst finish. It was from the penalty box that we were hanging out in.

Okay. On our hockey rink. Thank you. You said it was your worst finish because other people did really well or because you guys didn't do as well as you'd like to it Wasn't a great event for any of us. So it it was one workout two scores There it was nine minutes. So one person is always rowing the next person the two others are doing partner deadlifts and burpees. I Hate all three of those movements and I know these girls aren't crazy about rowing. Well, I actually don't mind rowing

I think we just didn't have the best strategy. Oh, yeah? What was the strategy? When we're dying, we'll switch. It's like you put this a little bit closer to your mouth. I'm going to bend this. There we go. There it is.

Look at that. It won't bend. I tried. You tried to bend it? It keeps bending back. Oh. There we go. There it is.

That's better. Nice. We didn't have an amazing strategy. The only name I got right just walked away. Cassidy doesn't have a microphone, so she – We only have four mics. We had five people. We wanted the whole team here. She's back.

We're transferring things around. We're making this work. Yeah, we had a rough plan, and the rough plan kind of worked all weekend, but this one was a little bit trickier. So you had a max distance row in nine minutes. At the same time you're doing 30 or 40 30 20 10 deadlifts and burpees yeah partner deadlift partner burpee do you guys train together regularly where where's everyone from i'm from where do you train from

kentucky yeah um me jessica's from missouri and cassidy's from florida right on so how did this whole thing come together so i did granite games last last year with Meredith Root and Kenzie Riley. Cool. And we won, so it would have been nice for us to get back together and do it again. However, I had prior commitments, and I didn't know if I was going to be able to make it this weekend. Last minute, I was able to make it. Kenzie and Meredith already filled their team with their third girl.

So Jen and I had been chit-chatting, saying, hey, maybe let's do Granite Games. So when I was available, I texted her. Because you guys all just got back from the games. Yeah. They competed, and I did demo team. Oh, dude, that's harder. I don't know if that's actually harder. No, it was amazing.

You could have a lot of fun. I loved it. You still work out in front of everybody. I had a great time. Demo team's rad. You can have a lot of fun. I loved it. You still work out in front of everybody. I had a great time. Demo Team's fun. Yeah. How long have you guys been doing this crazy CrossFit thing? Forever.

What's too long? Yeah. Since, like, end of 2009. Awesome. I've been doing it for five years in August. Talk, talk, talk. How long have you been doing CrossFit? I've been doing CrossFit since 2009.

Nice. How many trips to the doing CrossFit? I've been doing CrossFit since 2009. Nice. How many trips to the games combined in this big circle? I've been to the games five times. Holy shit. One time as a team and one time as a team. So five times for Cassidy, if you couldn't hear that on the mic. I've been twice on a team and once individually and then once on demo team. Demo team is rad.

I don't know why. Check the box. Count it. You literally got it. We all have all the boxes. Yeah, we've all been on the demo team. Yeah, it is rad. I don't know why. Check the box. Count it. You literally got it. We all have all the boxes. Yeah, we've all been on the demo team. Yeah, it's awesome. I've been three times individually, twice on a team,

and then way too many times on the demo team. Way too many times. Wait, where did they pick the demo team from? Like, what is the cool conversation? Dave Castro called, and he's like, I know you didn't make it, but we've got this cool thing. You're going to come and just have fun and be the only person working out in front of everyone.

Yeah, you get an email from Dave and it's like, hey, you want to be on the demo team? I know your training is going really well right now. She took six. Right, pretty much. Yeah, you missed out on the games, but you want to help out. Do every single workout. Yeah. Do missed out on the games, but you want to help out, do every single workout. Yeah.

Do you still get the sweet Reebok package? Yeah. Yeah. I don't think you get as much, but you get most of it. Yeah. They want you to look the part and, you know, match and look like a team. So, yeah. Do you feel like you should have an automatic invite to the games right now

because you won this weekend? No. Well, there is no three girl team that's what we did say though we kind of wish there was a three-girl team because we've had a freaking blast this weekend well and we also said it's kind of sad that this will be a sanctioned event next year because we don't know if there's going to be a three-girl team next year like we're will there no longer be any same-sex teams that's they're so much fun. That's one thing that is really sad about this new structure is that all of the individual people get to do cool team events in the offseason. And now it's so serious that I don't know if that goes away. And it's like our time to still compete but be relaxed.

Yeah. Like our girl time. Right. There has to be other cool things. There always is cool things. So we have to wait and see what the next things are. Yeah. So do the changes make you guys nervous?

Like how do you feel about them overall? I mean, we keep saying everyone's in the same boat. There's no final answer yet. They're still working out the kinks. So I think we're all just anxious to see how it unravels. It's, yeah, sure, unsettling, but again, everybody's in the same boat. So, we're just, it's a

waiting game to see what happens. Are you guys sitting around wondering who's going to move to Belgrade? Who's going to move to Afghanistan? The U.S. is probably going to scatter around the world. How is the national champion thing going to play out, do you think? I honestly think that they're going to have to –

I think it's going to be tied to your passport or, like, some way because otherwise what would prevent everybody from moving everywhere? Right. But why not? At the same time, it's kind of like, go move to Chad. I mean, well, they're doing the whatever thing for the team. That's right. I mean, is there any games athlete from Chad?

And if you are, I apologize, but I don't think we have an athlete from Chad. You have to prepare for the heat in August, whatever the hell it is. Yeah. Especially when it was in Carson. It was like hell out there. Not out there. In the stands, it was hell. I imagine it was even worse for you guys.

Where are you guys from? San Diego and Memphis, Tennessee. That's right. I just moved out of SoCal recently. Okay, you're from Tennessee? Not originally, but Barbell Shrug started in Tennessee and then I moved out to SoCal for about four years and then I had three kids in three years and then I bailed on SoCal and now I'm back

in Memphis, Tennessee. I don't think you know what hell is in San Diego. That's like perfect weather. It is so humid. Kentucky and Missouri. In Memphis, it's like 100 degrees, 100% humidity. You're just soaked to the bone when you're done. Especially if you do jiu-jitsu and you have to wear the fucking big, thick pajamas. No, thank you.

You can wring them out. It's the worst. I have to bring like four outfits. Every single workout, I have to change because I could literally wring out my workout clothes. Wait, where's that at again? I'm in Springfield, Missouri. I crossed the border at 7. Okay, okay.

And then what about you again? Lexington, Kentucky. Oh, yeah. Cool. You guys are a similar boat for sure. Come and hang out. Pacific Beach. It's right there. PB.

I know the gym. It's right there. I can get you guys in, I'm sure. So I actually don't know your guys' backgrounds. Like, we'll start with Jen. Like, how did you get into this whole world starting, like, back in the day? You played sports growing up. When did you start lifting weights, et cetera? Yeah, so I back in the day you play sports growing up? When did you start lifting weights etc? Yeah, I so I played like really all sports growing up and then I ran track at UK

University of Kentucky I run the 800 and I pole vaulted and I didn't know that Spent all weekend together So after this relationship just deep Self-shrug, bringing people together. We spent all weekend together. We didn't talk about it. So after. This relationship just deepened. I saw it happen right in front of me. We've all been 40 foot in the air off of a stick. So after I graduated, I was just running by myself, bored out of my mind.

My brother, he actually went to an MMA jiu-jitsu gym. And I started doing CrossFit with a group of guys there. It was like Cross style workouts kettlebells dumbbells and they had a rope and at the time we didn't have a CrossFit gym in Lexington and I once they opened up I kind of just joined did the classes for several years I got pulled onto the team I didn't know anything about it I was like why are these people trying so hard and exercising so fast my My first competition was at the Arnold Classic. You said that like you're looking at them like, what a bunch of fucking weirdos. Well, I really remember my first event.

It was like a sprint sandbag carry, and I could not figure out why the girls were running so fast with a sandbag. And I was like, damn it, I guess I'm going to have to go faster. And so, yeah, that was my first event, the Arnold Classic. And then I did the team a few years, and then I switched over individually. And then here I am. Dig it. Yeah.

And then I started after I graduated. I graduated nursing school in 2013. And I went from studying, you know, 50 hours a week in nursing school to only working three days a week. I was doing Pinterest workouts and running half marathons. What is a Pinterest workout? A Pinterest sorority girl workout. Like a girl, a girly girl, you know, as a cheerleader.

So like me, cheerleader, gets on Pinterest and says, workout. Yeah. And then I pull up some HIIT workout, you know, off of Pinterest. So I'd go to Globo Gym and do that. And it just wasn't filling my void. And then my sister's boyfriend at the time said, Hey, I think you should try CrossFit. Wait, wait, what, what was the void? Just like not having cheerleading. No. Uh, so I, so like I said, I was studying 50 hours a week in nursing school.

And when I graduated, I was only working three days a week. So I had all this free time and I wasn't getting the like physical results from my Pinterest hit workouts that I wanted I was still kind of voluptuous and I don't know I just wasn't digging it so my sister's boyfriend was like you should try CrossFit walked into the CrossFit gym and because I only worked three days a week I had all the time to pour into it loved it you know typical story walked in was immediately addicted went team team 2015 2016 and then gave it a go in 2017 for individual when you like something you just like go all in right away like the most balls to the wall kind of person like it's routine yeah were you were you professional or not

professional but your cheerleading career is this like the big tumbling thing i love yeah so i was a competitive cheerleader i went to a private christ tumbling thing i love yeah so i was a competitive cheerleader i went to a private christian college so i cheered my freshman year it was not anything fantastic my dream was to be an ohio state cheerleader um i wasn't small enough and so you have to be a flyer i was a base if you know anything about cheerleading we got that i was at the bottom holding the girls up opposed to the oh Ohio State cheerleaders were all the girls on top. Super tiny, super flexible. I am neither. There's no women that are the base?

It's all men? Is that what you're saying? Yeah. I mean, I guess I could have been the first female base. No way. Don't let them tell you no. Maybe I can do it now. I should probably try it now.

As of today, you are definitely stronger than many of those guys. You're right. So I just did it my freshman year of college. And then once the nursing program started, I was working, cheerleading, and nursing school. So I had to cut one out. And so cheerleading it was. So I didn't do any sports sophomore, junior, or senior year of college. I would always make time for fitness.

I'd go in for an hour between study sessions. But no sports. Cassidy. What about you, Cassidy? So I grew up doing gymnastics. Slightly higher right there. There you go. Yeah.

Do you hear me now? There it is. So I grew up doing gymnastics, and I went to the University of Washington on a full-ride gymnastics scholarship. I tore my ACL for the fifth time. Dang. Whoa. Same knee?

Same knee. Yeah. A lot of people know that. Dang. Same knee? Same knee. Yeah. A lot of people know that. You're still competing on that knee. It's torn, but I'm still competing. Wait, right now? Mm-hmm. Dang.

Savage. So squats are the best thing ever. I always have to squat. Anyways, CrossFit kind of saved my life and my athletic background. Someone told me, or the doctor said that I wouldn't be able to walk when I hit 30 and I just turned 30 and I'm doing CrossFit and at the highest level. So that's really cool. Um, but back when, once I got injured, one of the girls was like, you want to get in shape in five minutes, start doing CrossFit. And I was like, there's no way I trained six hours a day for gymnastics.

There's no way. So I went and did my first workout. And I honestly, I don't even remember what it was. It was some type of lunges and running. And I'm pretty sure I cheated on the whole thing because they were so fast. Like shortening the rep ranges or cheating the reps? I totally did. I totally did 20, but you did like 12. Yeah, probably did like two. I know. Shorted the rep scheme and then fell in love, started that. Made the team in 2010 at Northwest CrossFit in Seattle.

And then I moved and took a gymnastics coaching job in Texas and then opened my own gym in Florida. Nice. We're opening a second location currently right now. I'm going to go back and work on that. How do you keep all the training and the gym owning and all of that going? I think I just really like to be busy, so it's like always back and forth. They're talking in the car.

I'm ordering things on Amazon for the gym, asking them tons of questions. Yeah, just busy. I like being busy. I don't do well when just sitting there. Do you find the athlete side and like the business professional side kind of grow at the same rate? Or are you drawn to one of them a little bit more? Depends on the season. So right now in the fall, well, off seasonseason, currently if we don't talk about the changes,

I concentrate more on the business and coaching and the membership once it hits regionals and the games, the old season. Then I step back a little bit and focus more on the athletic side. Are you planning on going to Dubai? Do it. We're planning on it, I hope. I would love to go. I'm totally planning on it doesn't mean we're going have you gone before no no i've never been hopefully we're gonna set up you guys ever

been make it happen i've gone twice the past two years it's fun to the event yeah and competed yeah i've competed the past two years it's nice it's a good event like it's really well ran super organized the events are good yeah yeah i've had a really good time there it's really well-ran, super organized. The events are good. Yeah. Yeah. I've had a really good time there. It's going to be hard to qualify this year. I mean, everybody's going to want to go. It wasn't easy to qualify last year. So, yeah. You've got to go win that event.

Everybody that wins that event. I mean, last year was Annie won for the women's. Yeah. Yeah, you're not. It's not bad competition over there. No. I mean, it's good competition. And it's funny, all the girls in the U.S.,

they think that it's going to be like a shoo-in to qualify. Yeah. And even once they get over there, no one knows who all those top 10, top 15 girls are in Europe, but they are good. They are good. And so once you get there, it's not like you qualified, you're going to do well.

Because all the European girls are really good. Well, what happens when, like, just the girls from Iceland show up and they only take one? Yeah. That's weird. I mean, that's going to happen. Yeah. We were talking about that today, saying we all just need to come together

and say, okay, you, you, and you are going to go to that competition. You, you, you are going to go to that competition. Definitely going to be some gaming going on. Right, exactly. Like, let's help each other out. Yeah. Like, oh, Frasier showed up. I'm not going to. One person showed up to that competition. Definitely going to be some gaming going on. Right, exactly. Like, let's help each other out. Yeah, like, oh, Frazier showed up. I'm not going.

One person showed up to that competition. But really. At least they have the top 20 thing at the Open. The top 20 people in the Open are going to go. That way it's not just the top person, the number one person. Did they say that? I haven't heard that. Yeah, that's a brand new thing.

We just learned that this morning. Top 20 in the world of what? Yeah. Well, Cassidy won. Cassidy won in the World last year. Top 20 go. Top 20 in the world of what? Yeah. Well, Cassidy won in the world last year. Top 20 go. Top 20 in the open? You won the open last year? Top 20 in the open.

Go to the games. We'll go to the games. Yeah, that's a new thing we learned this morning, which apparently came straight from Greg yesterday. That's crazy. Right, so that's new news. I feel like that's a saving grace. If it's the top national champion person from each country

and it's the top person from each competition, that's going to make it very difficult to make sure that like the top 40 people in the world are actually at the games yeah uh what we were what we were told is that greg isn't necessarily concerned with like having like the top 40 people specifically he just wants to make sure that the number one person is actually at the games and he feels like with this this setup that will that will definitely happen but at the games. And he feels like with this setup, that will definitely happen. It will happen. But with the top 20 in the Open, I

feel like that really fills that gap at least a little bit. Where there's not like three or four people like looking at the games going, OK, that guy got second place. I could definitely beat that guy, but I just didn't make it to the games because of the structure. Yeah. What did you finish in the Open last year? I think last year was my worst year.

I did not finish top 20. In the Open ever. 21. No, I wasn't the Open last year? I think last year was my worst year. I did not finish top 20. 21. No, I wasn't top 20 last year. I was like 49th or something. I think I was right there with you. Yeah, last year was my worst year. I had one great year in the Open. Cassidy crushed the Open.

Look at Flukowski, though. He barely made regionals. And then he's podium at the games. That's a huge separator. I think also you have to peak for the Open now. What happens when you win the Open in the world? Like what's going on in your brain? Like workout five comes out, you're like, watch, I'm going to win.

There's hundreds of thousands of people. That's insane. Actually, you want to know the coolest thing that happened? Tia messaged me and was like, what was your score? I want to make sure you stay on top. And so I told her my score, and she's like, you're fine. I was like, whew. That is so rad.

Not that it even mattered, but it was just really cool. How many total points did you have? This is like the numbers game that blows my mind i never won anything not not even close to winning everything no no but you like total points is like what 300 200 honestly i have no idea well frazier the only the only like the craziest thing he was like 85 total points oh because it's the Well, yeah. And then it's like you take hundreds of thousands of people that are coming after you in one single workout, and you, like, still have high enough places at five workouts later,

and it's like you took nothing worse than a 20. That's gnarly. I hope you think about this more. That was cool. Well, I get to be on the team with them, so that's cool. We get to be on the team with her. Well, you guys, there are going to be, like, real super teams for the games this more. That was cool. Well, I get to be on the team with them, so that's cool. We get to be on the team with her. Well, you guys, there are going to be, like, real super teams for the games this year.

Which is so cool. Super cool. So fun. Yeah. Are you guys more interested in potentially being on the team and putting together some, like, really rad stuff, or is endo still, like, the way to do it? Team is definitely more appealing to me.

Yeah. We joked about it today already. Yeah. We're like, well, maybe we should consider, because you don't have to be from the same gym this year. You can be from anywhere and be the ultimate super team. So it's like, man,

team's so fun, maybe we should just go team. Do you guys all have sponsors that kind of help this CrossFit journey? Yes. Have you guys talked to them about any of this, and what are they kind of thinking, if you have?, have you guys talked to them about any of this? And what are they kind of thinking if you have? I haven't really talked to the sponsors about team, individual. I haven't really talked to them at all.

I feel like that really gives a lot of the sponsors an opportunity. I mean, we want to get behind events like this. Yeah. Like really push it, but to find cool teams. Right. That's a real thing to. Teams are going to be legit now. Yeah.

That you don't have to train in the same gym. Yeah. However, I mean, look at this year, though, you have to have team chemistry. Team chemistry is one of the most important components of team. And you don't have to be the best individual athletes on the field. If you don't have team chemistry, it does not work. And you can. That was clear in the standings this year.

No, I mean, that's true. Yeah. And I've been on team and I've had on team, and I've had good team chemistry. I've had bad team chemistry. And our best team did the worst because team chemistry is a real thing. Just didn't work. You're going to like each other? Yeah.

Clearly, you guys won this weekend. Chemistry. Oh, our chemistry is off the charts this weekend. Crush it with chemistry. Maybe too much. We're going to win that one. If there was a fly on the wall in our hotel room, it would be us. We kept saying we could have made millions.

In doing research, in doing the research for the show, while I was forgetting all of your names at once it's probably because someone took a shirt off last night or something yeah freaking cassidy's posting i think it's my fault cassidy likes the temperature to be like 75 degrees in the room 75 75 i look at it and i crank it down to like 65 she was roasting us and then she turns back up and we were like fine we're just gonna take her clothes off i can't do this i can't even because it's 70 would have been nice she called for extra blankets four well that's part of it even go in the middle that was 63 63 that's actually one of the best reasons to sleep in

a hotel you don't have to pay the bill to turn the ac all the. Oh, 63. 63 degrees. That's actually one of the best reasons to sleep in a hotel. You don't have to pay the bill to turn the AC all the way down. It wasn't actually 63 degrees, though. Like, there's no way. I had goosebumps. So I called for an extra blanket. Jen took her shirt off. I woke up to her shirt off.

It was fine. It worked out. You want to know a secret, though? Can I just catch a break on the fact that I forgot? She woke up because she was cold. Yeah. I turned it up. See?

Did you see how embarrassing that was? Rachel. I called Jessica Griffiths. Rachel. That's ridiculous. It's not easy. It's not easy getting on this microphone all the time. I have to know all the names. Actually, it's just really embarrassing when you do stupid stuff like that.

Get over to musclegainchallenge.com. There's a badass ebook in there called How to Get Really Strong. Muscle gain challenge is super cool. You're going to put on a lot of weight. It's a critical mass gain program that you need to have in your repertoire if you're trying to add mass add weight get strong doing all the big lifts make sure you get over to musclegainchallenge.com download the free ebook i am stoked to see all of you in the group after you get there after you get huge musclegainchallenge.com. Get the free e-book. Back to the show. I figured.

No one can sleep when it's 64 degrees. No, that's the best time. Yeah, you're all cold. You're all cold. But we're in a hotel, and there's not extra blankets. Like, when you're at your own house, you can, like, pile on the blankets. You can cuddle with someone's foot. Just kidding. Jen wanted to cuddle with my foot, too.

So it's fine. How does one cuddle with a foot? You just, like, you know, you want to, like, have a foot. Oh, you're like, you're playing footsie. Yeah. Gotcha, gotcha. What do you guys, I heard there's supposed to be 16 competitions. Yeah.

Outside of the Granite Games and Wadapalooza and, of course, Dubai. Where are these other 13 competitions coming from? No clue. No idea. And that means we have to be 100% fit all year round. Right. Which sucks. Which means you need to sign up for Dubai or Wadapalooza.

Granite Games just happened. That's what I'm saying. We need to come together and be friends and help each other out. I don't think it's going to be that way this year, though. Are you guys friends with everyone? I try to be friendly with everyone. Yes, you're friends with everybody, but everybody still wants to make it to the games.

So I still think that this year, all the uncertainty, people are going to just be doing competitions, and there's not going to be any, like, friendship and planning. They're going to be, like, panicked wanting to go to the games. That's just what I think. Yeah. The Granite Games being one of them. So they're saying the Granite Games is going to be, like, panicked wanting to go to the games. That's just what I think. Yeah. The Granite Games being one of them. So they're saying the Granite Games is going to be the last sanction event.

It is. Which is scary. And then Dubai is number one. Chaos. And in between there, there's China, Australia. Are we really traveling to Australia? That's what I'm saying. So it's going to be so.

If you don't make it and the Granite Games are the last one, you've got, like, two shots left and, like, you've got to go to Australia. Or you just go team. Go team. Rally up your super team. But your team has to qualify as a team at an event. Yeah, it's tough. But it's going to be better, right?

Maybe not this coming year, but like two years, three years. So are there only going to be 16 teams? No, but it's going to be similar to? No, but it's going to... I don't know about that. I think it's going to be similar to... Well, there might be. It might be only 16 teams because I think what they're trying to do is create a situation in which people actually know what the fuck is going on when you watch the team competition because right now, it's just chaos out there. Well, the teams of four, I think, was more interesting to watch.

Very much so. Six is a lot. Six is a lot. It's a lot of people. Anytime there's like a rope climb event and there's five people on the ground looking up at 15 people spread out across and you're just like, who's winning? Yeah.

Who's even like you don't know anything. Right. I think the team of four is going to be great, but I think that people sticking to super teams for multiple years in a row so that they can actually develop. They'll build that chemistry. Lots of chemistry and fan base. Oh, yeah.

We need fans. Oh, yeah. It'll be like little football teams. We're talking about this. I want booing. Oh. I want people in the stands. I want booing.

I don't boo. I don't boo. I want people standing up like PR clean, about to put her over the head like, you suck. Boo, drop it. We don't have that. No. I know.

Nobody at CrossFit is angry. That's not what Greg Glassman wants. He wants community. Yeah, there's no community. There's no villain in CrossFit. Right? Dave Castro is the only one. He's out doing something right now.

We keep saying we want Pat Vellner to be the villain because secretly he's kind of an a-hole. Is he? And Pat, I love you. Hold on. We need some dirt now. What's the behind the scenes thing? He looks like the nicest human. He's the nicest.

He is the nicest. But he's a sassy little human. Yeah. He talks shit really well. He talks shit. Yeah. He does talk shit. I mean, but he's the best.

I freaking love him. I feel like you guys spend so much time in the gym that talking shit has to be part of the skill to only make this thing fun. I would never guess Pat Villner, though. Frazier looks like the best shit talker. Who's the best girl shit talker? The guys are good at it. Yeah. Girls get too offended.

You can't. You can't go there because then you're just mean. You're making fun of things. Yeah. Girls are too catty. And it's like, we're all working so hard. Is there a girl? Alex Parker could be a shit talker.

Just because she's so funny. Yeah. And you know it's a joke. It wouldn't be a thing. There's some sarcasm involved. Yeah. Do we have a shit talker? We don't really have a shit talker.

I don't know of one. We were, like, telling each other, you're doing terrible. I am. This weekend. But then we laugh about it. I feel like the female CrossFit Games is a hundred times more interesting than the males. They say girls are tougher. You guys actually look like you're having a lot of fun out there.

The guys don't? No. They're like machines. Like, they're all – so, like, way back before it became, like, a real thing, there was, like, a lot of personalities. You guys still have personalities. The guys, they all look the same. Yeah.

They're all really, really, really good. They're all exactly the same size and the same box. But the females are different. I find that interesting because I think it's opposite. I think the girls in the back in the warm-up area are – Damn. You know how to make things up. There you go.

I think the guys in the back are way more relaxed than the girls in the back. That's true. Of the warm-up area. She sabotaged you. You did that on purpose. Didn't you? I'm totally embarrassed of this guy. I think it's cool to watch the girls.

And I'm actually not interested at all in the guys' competition. Yeah, so I kind of agree with you. I think it's cool to see girls who a lot of times aren't necessarily that huge doing really strong and impressive things. You guys are sabotaging. Like, the guys look the part, you know? Like, how about Margo deadlifting over 400 pounds? Hold on.

The marathon row. 210 for like three hours. Insane. What the? That's freaky. What did you row in? Oh, the marathon row, I went through a range of emotions. It was not a good time for me.

You're supposed to. A range of emotions is what you're supposed to do. Like hour one, you're like killing it. Hour two, depression. Pure depression. Bring over the drugs. Bring over something to keep, like a better song, something to pick me up. Hour three.

I had a plan A but no plan B. So when plan A didn't happen, it was like, oh, my God. What pace were you trying to keep? My plan was to row between 215 and 220 the whole time. Plan A didn't happen. I got the largest blister on my foot, melted down mentally. Perfect. I got, like, diaper rash from my shorts.

It was like anything that could go wrong did. Well, you had three hours for it to go wrong. And then my plan A didn't happen. I remember, like, looking out in the stands like scanning for anyone that i knew and i and towards the end i was like nobody loves me nobody cares about me i don't see anybody that i know and then after i finished i turn around my parents are in the stands behind me and i pointed and i like, why were you back there? Yeah. Oh, no. That's the worst feeling.

Yes. And my mom was like, I'm sorry. I thought you didn't want to see us, didn't want to see you. I needed someone. I needed support. I don't think most people think about that when they think about a games athlete doing any event. They think about, like, they're so mentally tough, like the toughest people on the planet. No, you want to see your family.

I don't know. Well, definitely. But, like, I think people think that you don't have that range of emotion while you're at an event because you're, like, at such a high level that you would just be like, got to go faster. Got to go faster. Got to go faster. But it's not like that. Oh, no. I broke down.

Three and a half hours, you go through a lot of emotions. I almost cried. I mean. Did anybody cry? You cried? Savage. After I finished, I went up to Chyna, and I hugged her and started crying. I was like, that was so bad.

Are they going to make us do anything tomorrow? Please, please nothing. Did you cry on the rower, Cassidy? CJ. Or afterward? I cried afterward. Two shows in a row, CJ's interrupted now. Come on on.

We can't miss our podium. Oh, is it? No, I thought it was in 30 minutes. He's just messing with us. No, he's fucking with us. You guys are missing it. CJ does this all the time. Every event.

Yeah. We should just put him on the show. He's been on a few times. Now he's just jealous. No, he's joking. I think that was a smile. Send a text. Go ahead.

Marathon row. Yeah, I didn't cry on the rower. But me and Emily Bridgers were fighting for not to be last place for like a good two hours. And then Emily somehow got a second wind. She advances. And then I see Jen's name on and I'm like, what is going on here? What's Jen doing back here? And my plan was great.

I held 220 the entire time. But afterwards, I went in the car and I just broke down crying uncontrollably. And then my ab cramped and it was the size of a baseball sticking out. Oh my God. It was terrible. It was the worst thing. I mean, I said it the night before at dinner or two nights ago when Dave announced it or before he announced it, I said, I'm never doing a half marathon again. And then he announced it. And I was like, I quit. But no one quits.

No one stood up. No one ate anything. No one drank anything. Oh, I ate the entire time. There was people with crates of food. The entire time. Yeah, we all had it. But no one took a break.

It was just like one hand off the rower. I had baby food. And I would put the bottom in my sports bra and, like, suck it out of my sports bra as a hand. Right, as you're going. But no one took, like, a two-minute break. You're right. I just literally, when Margo finished, it was, like, 2.10 for three straight hours.

I did the half marathon just to see what it was like when it happened however many years ago. And it was like, oh, my God. Like, that was literally the worst thing I had ever done in the gym. Yeah, well, Whitney Glenn was, like, 150. She would sprint. I don't know what she was doing, but I had the best view in the back. But Whitney Glenn sprinted at, like, 150 pace, and then she would go to, like, 215, and then she would sprint again.

And then this lady is holding second place the whole time and i'm back here i'm like oh my gosh you're doing amazing yeah the meanest thing i think is they had the little boats up on the screen that was good you like that well i like that top 20 i thought that was rude i like that in 2013 they're actually back there drowning. Yeah. You can't see them. I liked that in 2013 because Cassidy and I both did the half marathon. Gotcha. Oh, wow. You were prepared-ish.

It was, like, kind of motivating to see where you were. I mean, this year it obviously didn't work for me. I didn't do great. But I think that was motivating for a lot of people to see how many meters ahead the person was in front of you and how many meters behind the person was behind you it was good i watched it on tv and i was just sitting here thinking like if i was doing this and you saw someone just creep like a little ahead you're like i'm sucking wind i don't care about that boat yeah that boat's stupid i'm not following them because it just it's so painful after two hours um what did you guys clean this weekend? Clean the snatch.

Jen PR'd at 250. Oh, yeah? It was a seven-pound PR. Damn. I also cleaned 250, and Cassidy cleaned 235. And we won. Yeah. The clean event was so fun.

It was so fun. Did you expect to PR? Were you, like, peaking strength-wise? God, no. It was one of those she didn't realize. Full surprise. I cleaned two weeks ago in the gym. I took, I don't know, a couple weeks off after the games,

and then I started training again, and I was like, oh, my God, this is a bad decision doing the Granite Games. This is such a bad decision. Why did I agree to this? So I cleaned a couple weeks ago, and I worked up to 205. It felt like the world. And so it was a complete surprise this weekend. Why do you think it happened then uh i think well i mean the atmosphere the adrenaline working out alone in your gym

coming off the games like semi-depression uh yeah for the most part um well leading up to regionals i had a really good training partner at my gym who also qualified to regionals. But then leading up to the games, it was just training alone. And since then – so my training partner, she went into dental school. So now I still train alone. Yeah. Who do you train with? I train at CrossFit 417 in Austin – so I just –

I've been up in St. Louis the last two years. I just moved back to Springfield, Missouri to 417. And so Austin Kahoe and I both follow Misfit. And so he'll be my main guy. But there's like 10 athletes at the gym that are phenomenal. So anyone. That's nice. Yeah, it's a lot of fun.

When are you moving? Me? Yeah. You've got to move to hang out. I know. I know. Come play. Are you guys all – well, you own a gym.

Are you guys like professional CrossFitters or do you have regular jobs? I have other income. Yeah. I coach at CrossFit Maximus. Cool. And I coach more in the fall and then leading up to regionals and the games, it kind of like goes down a bit, but I still coach year round. And then I do remote coaching online.

What's Matt's gym? Yeah. What's that? What's Matt's gym? Matt Sharp.'s that? That's Matt's gym? Matt Sharp, yeah. Matt Sharp. Yeah, he actually just moved to Texas. So he's one of the owners.

Him and another guy own the majority. That's right. I haven't talked to that guy in a couple years. Yeah. Good dude. How many athletes are you coaching? Right now I have six. And so I wanted to keep it small.

I actually just started, like, maybe six months ago. And so I didn't want to take on too many many I just wanted to be able to focus on them so um yeah I have six right now and it's going really well it's really fun yeah and so I probably will only take on a few more but yeah is this like a new thing like learning programming or something you've been geeking out over for a while no I mean I've programmed for a while. So I've coached since probably 2013. I've coached at CrossFit Maximus. I moved to Boston, worked at Reebok CrossFit One for two years,

and then moved back to Maximus. So I got so much better at coaching and programming, learned so much in Boston. I think it just took a little bit for me to actually, like, make the leap and start programming for people. You just question it. But once you start doing it, it's been, like, really fun. I'm really enjoying it.

One of the girls that I'm programming for, she's like, I just PR'd my clean by seven kilos. And I'm like, what? I PR'd my clean by seven kilos? That's like 15 pounds. That's awesome. I'm so good at this. I'm the best programmer. Yeah.

That's awesome. And so, I don't know. It's's really fun and I can do it when I travel which is amazing so I wanted to be able to like travel and compete and also make a living so yeah it's working great Jessica do you do anything online so yeah

I was a nurse for five years and I just stopped back in March I at the time had nutrition clients on the side remote online coaching um so when I quit my nursing career I amped up my nutrition clients so I do that and then sponsors and then winnings like this weekend are sufficient income yeah you're up right now tell us we want to know about your gym we want to know how why your gym so successful you've got two of them coming or you've got one and you're building a new one yeah the second one

will be open on September 18th so I'm gonna go back and set everything up so that will be to waterside locations and then I do online coaching as well so that's been really great for the past five years i've been doing that and then picking up on the ladder app as well for online coaching people really like working off the app um it's a little bit uh more close-knit yeah when did you open your first gym uh we opened in 2017 so it's been a year and a half and now we've got two coming yeah we have two and she's been like working her butt off all weekend on the phone, setting things up, getting internet, Wi-Fi, the iPad, the stand.

She's been working her butt off. Grinder. Yeah. Moving into these upcoming competitions, like, you don't exactly know, like, which competition you're going to qualify for or maybe even which one you're going to sign up for. Like, how do you prep for that since there's so much unknown around, like, when you're going to qualify for, or maybe even which one you're going to sign up for. How do you prep for that, since there's so much unknown around when you're going to be competing?

And what do you feel like you need to work on this year? That's tough. That's a really tough one, because we don't know the schedule. All we know is Dubai and Guadalupuzan, those are coming up quickly. The bigger question is, do we have to do the online qualifiers for those? Oh, yeah. Which those start normally we get invited and do games athletes get invited

and we can do team or individual. The online qualifiers start next week, so we have to be prepared for that. So I think it's just going back to normal training, probably not like two a days or anything, but normal intensity, normal, you know, good lifting session, good gymnastic session and then a water to keep the conditioning up so be kind of i mean crossfit always says it be prepared for the unknown but now we're definitely in the unknown yeah totally yeah what's the what's the hole in your game right now that you're trying to improve on um for me honestly it's always

running rowing long endurance but i've been working on it and improved tremendously over the past year so but that's always something everyone needs to work on but for me that's one thing that's always been a weakness so that you have a coach specifically for that like you ever reach out to Hinshaw or other similar people yeah he Hinshaw doesn't coach me but tell me about your Hinshaw coaching yeah can i give the force the front story so we're running we had a 5k this weekend and we're jen and i are running running and i hear this athlete behind me and i almost turned around i didn't know who it was and i almost turned around and said you need to slow down because we're only a mile in and you're clearly dying.

Well, come to find out, it's my teammate Cassidy. She's like, suck it up and let's go. But Jen Dancing came up to me after and was like, hey, do you ever practice your breathing? I was like, oh, my God. I literally melted like a snowman on the ground. So the funny thing is I used to hold my breath and people say you need to work on your breathing. And I'm like, OK, great. But what does that mean? So actually at Power Monkey Camp this past April, was it May?

The workout was released of the triple three and Hinshaw took me privately and we just counted out my steps and he made me force my breath out loud so it's one two three four one two three four and we got it down where then I can hold a pace it's not perfect but I am loud and I am in control everyone makes fun of me because they're like you're not in control I'm like but I'm so in control. I love it. It sounded horrific. The loud breathing was on purpose. It was on purpose. It's on purpose, and it's not – I need to work on it, but from regionals to the games until now, there hasn't been any practice to control the volume inside. So now it's like, there's my step.

I have to breathe out loud. There's my step. I have to breathe out loud. But I run faster, and I'm not burned out. Well, if he made Kaliba a good runner, he can do it. Yeah. Everybody calls him now. I don't know if one day.

I mean, he did one day, but hopefully I'll go back to him. It's definitely attracting a lot of people to it, whatever it is. Yeah. Breathing that loud is good. I mean, Jen Dancer had to look at my belly make sure I was alive teammates had to call out time and be like

we're two miles in you have one more to go 8.2 to go what about you Jessica what were you working on rowing for sure I don't know I was like

an okay rower and then post games it's just gone I rowed for a 10k the other day and couldn't get under 222 and I was really embarrassed by that.

It's bad for me. You would have been last place on the marathon. I would have been very last place. You would have been us three fighting for last place. Which, before the games, I did like a 40-minute row and did a 213. So I'm like, I don't know. If I went this past week, definitely would have been dead last. But you guys like lifting weights.

Love lifting weights. That's the thing. I like, but 65-pound thrusters are my fave. When did you guys learn Olympic lifting? Or when did you? When I started CrossFit. I had never snatched. I didn't know what the heck a snatch or clean was when I started CrossFit.

But you're a good jumper from cheerleading. I was, yeah. I was, like, I'm powerful because I would do all the back flips and back handsprings. Yeah. So, super explosive. Thank God. And my dad was a bodybuilder so I could have the genetics like onstage bodybuilder Can you still do that? Oh, yeah, I went tumbling very recently and it was so fun Right now we hadn't tumbled since before CrossFit and you got in now in CrossFit shape and you would try it again It was lazy. Yeah, so when they announced the handstand walks at regionals,

we went to a gymnastics gym to practice handstand walking. And you can't put a tumbler on a spring floor and not expect them to play around a little bit. So I did a couple flips, and I still had it. And even, like I said, it was super powerful and even more so when I was a cheerleader. So I kind of wish I found lifting before or when I was a cheerleader. What about you, Jen?

What are you working on right now? God, what am I working on? I've got to get good at running again. So it turns out if you ran track in college, it does not transfer over if you don't run. So I'm going to work on running a lot more. Operation get good at running this year. What was your 800 in college? 212.

Wow. But that was the worst race in the entire world. Yeah, so you're, like, not skinny enough to run the mile, and you're not fast enough to run the 400. So they're like, oh, we'll just throw you in here, the 800. I mean, it was so fun. And I joke that it was, like, i i joked that it was like 20 pounds ago but it really wasn't um i actually only weighed like eight or nine pounds less than i do now when

i ran track which is crazy but my i look so much different wait yeah you just weigh more muscular and leaner at the same time i'm way leaner than i ever was i was almost like sort of like skinny fat or like puffy. Like I was really small. Right. But. Were you watching what you were eating in college as much as you do now?

Not really. Yeah. Nobody does that. No. Not really. Not at all. You guys have to go cash some checks.

We do. Sorry to cut. I feel like there's so much we could talk about today. Podium ceremony calls. Unfortunately, we have to go get our podium. Are you guys going after partying? We have to get a gold medal soon.

Are you guys going after partying tonight? Jess and I are. Cassidy's flying home. She's got a gym to open. She's got a gym to open. Busy. But, yeah, I think Jen and I will be. Back to work.

Down to clown. Where can people find you? Down to clown. Jen, where can they find you? Jen Smith. I got the name right. Yeah, you finally got it right. That's so embarrassing.

Like my Instagram handle? Yeah. JenSmith008. If they want to get personalized programming and CrossFit coaching from you, what do they do? They can contact me on Instagram or they can email me. It's Jennifer at CrossFitMaximus.com. I'll probably only take on like a few more clients just to keep it small. But yeah, it's just basic CrossFit programming.

Yeah, it's CrossFit programming. And it's honestly like as much or as little as somebody wants. I have a couple clients that want to work out 60 minutes a day and then i have another girl that wants to work out like three hours a day so and then i've got like a 50 year old guy that just wants olympic lifting and so it's really like whatever the client wants yeah yeah relationships yeah i love it yeah jessica i'm not britney not britney i usually get jennifer so i'll take britney this time i'm here i'm at jessica r griffith on instagram uh to contact me i've got my email my link in my bio yeah that's pretty or dm link in bio that's like the it's like the 2000 click the link in my bio always 2000. Click the link in my bio.

Always. Just click the link in the bio. Take you where you need to be. My email is Cassidy at CrossFitWaterside.com. And then Instagram, as always, Cassidy underscore Lance McWhorter. And what's the name of your gym if people want to come drop in? CrossFit Waterside. CrossFit Waterside.

Do you coach people outside of the gym? Yeah. Do you do online programming? Of course. How can they find you? Same email? Same email, same Instagram. Awesome.

Basic CrossFit programming? I do a lot of gymnastics and a lot of Olympic lifting, but we do basic CrossFit too. Awesome. Thank you, ladies. Thanks for having us. Thank you. Doug Larson, where can they find you? I'm on Instagram at Douglas E. Larson.

I also have my own website, Doug Larson Fitness. Mostly nutrition and movement-related courses on that site. Technique Wads every Sunday, Barbell Shrugged every Wednesday, sometimes Saturdays, and everything Shrugged Collective, posting shows every day. Get into the Shrugged Collective, iTunes, leave us a five-star review, say something positive. If you're really lucky and you say something really nice,

all three of these ladies will come hang out with you. Definitely. Guaranteed. Teach you how to clean 250. Right on. Thank you so much for coming on the show, guys. We'll see you guys next week.