Barbell Shrugged - Mat Fraser: Hard Work Pays Off — Barbell Shrugged #377

Episode Date: February 13, 2019

Mathew Fraser (@mathewfras) is an American professional CrossFit Athlete. With a coined mantra of “Hard Work Pays Off” (HWPO), he has been a dominant force on the CrossFit Games stage since the beginning of his career defining a legacy in the sport. In 2014, his debut year at the CrossFit Games, he claimed 2nd place atop the podium and was awarded Rookie of the Year. In 2015, as the favorite to win, he claimed 2nd place again. Fraser recalls this 2015 moment not as a “win for 2nd” but a “loss for 1st”. In 2016, Fraser hit the competition floor and took 1st place, it was the first historic victory of his career, winning by the largest margin of victory in Games History. In 2017 and 2018 Fraser repeated not only his overall finish but each year has bested his own set record for winning by the larger margin of victory in Games History. In 2016 he led by 197 points, in 2017 he led by 216 points and in 2018 he led by 220 points. Fraser holds accolades in competitive sport before his time as reigning and defending Champ in CrossFit. He is a 3x Junior National Champion Olympic Weightlifter and a former U.S. Olympic Weightlifting team hopeful. In 2008- 2009 he was a resident Athlete at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, CO. With a return from major back surgery in 2011, he retired from his weightlifting career and has been a CrossFit athlete since 2012.   In this episode of Barbell Shrugged, we talk to Mat about the USO tour, what happens when you cut corners in training, the real reason Mat moved to Cookeville, the power of surrounding yourself with a great team, and much more.   Enjoy! - Anders and Doug   Episode Breakdown: ⚡️0-10: Comedy shows, the USO Tour, and doing Fran with the troops ⚡️11-20: Flying on Air Force Two, trying to shoot guns with special force troops, and why a lot of bases don’t have Crossfit style gyms ⚡️21-30: What happens when you cut corners in training and the real reason Mat moved to Cookeville ⚡️31-40: Why the best athletes work with Hinshaw and the power of surrounding yourself with great people ⚡️ 41-50: No one cares how many friends you have, what Mat would be doing if Crossfit wasn’t around, and why it’s important to always perform at your potential ⚡️51-60: The olympic training center and Mat’s experience of breaking his L5 in two places ⚡️61-70: Mat’s injury history, Mat’s thoughts on the new Crossfit format, and the lasting impact of the legends in Crossfit ⚡️71-80: Trash talking and why competitive Crossfitters can be friends (most of the time) ⚡️81-93: The most abs Mat has ever seen in once place and his training journal   ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Show notes at: http://www.shruggedcollective.com/bbs-fraser ----------------------------------------------------------------------- @organifi - www.organifi.com/shrugged to save 20% @sunlighten:www.sunlighten.com "ShruggedCollective" for $200 off + free shipping   ► 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. Matt Frazier, the greatest of all time. I don't know if you saw him smoke that 385 pound clean after the burpees over the bar and dumbbell thruster thing in the open last year, but that may have been one of the most impressive lifts I've ever seen in my life. That was unbelievably cool to watch him hit that 385 clean. That's a lot of weight. He's not a giant dude. Standing next to him, he is kind of normal looking. You would never guess that he's able to do the things that he is actually capable of doing when it comes to lifting weights. Want to start a fun little segment. I get a lot of questions on Instagram from a lot of people about the gym life, about business life, about family life, how to balance it all, how to become a great coach. So instead of just writing back one person,

I'm taking two questions a week and we're gonna start answering them on the pre-roll, the mid-roll, so you guys can get a little bit of a taste of this professional coaching life, how it all fits into just creating the greatest lifestyle that exists. This week, my buddy, Jself, J-A-S-E-L-F, on Instagram, needs some advice as far as a coaching perspective. Last night, my class was doing Jackie,

and one of our members was doing the workout, and another decided to count his reps to herself to see if he was doing all of them. Turns out he's not doing all the reps. Well, I've handled this situation in three different ways. One of them is the way you should handle it. I have yelled at that person before in front of everyone, embarrassed them. Do not do it that way.

I've also done nothing. That way doesn't cause a lot of problems except to the people that are catching other people cheating. You should not do it that way doesn't cause a lot of problems except to the people that are catching other people cheating. You should not do it that way. One way that I have done it that seems to work very, very well is to just not write the RX next to their name. That person clearly values what the RX means to them. They're trying to look very cool and they're trying to be very fast in a very public setting. That way their name is up there all day long being awesome. And if you just take those two little letters away, all the problems seem to go away. And if he has a big problem about it and it makes a big stink about it, you can just explain to him that

you were watching him and you noticed that things were happening a little bit quicker than you would expect them to. And from there, it creates a really good conversation of how to perform reps, quality of movement, why we have rep schemes the way they are. And that way you're also not offending anybody, embarrassing anybody. And the people that are catching them cheating or catching them not doing the reps, they're not bothered by your lack of not doing anything as well. Want to thank our friends over at Organifi. I think they're going to start sponsoring

these fun segments as well as the show. But get over to Organifi.com forward slash shrugged. Save a 20% on all the green juices. I love the show. But get over to Organifi.com forward slash shrugged. Save a 20% on all the green juices. I love the green. I love the gold. I love the red. We call it the shrug stack because if you put them all together throughout the day, sunrise to sunset, you're going to have all the micronutrients you could ever imagine. You're going to feel amazing. And let's face it, we don't have time to get all of our vegetables in every single day. So those three, the green, the red, and the gold, do a phenomenal job as helping me supplement my vitamins and minerals, making sure I'm getting all the micronutrients that I need.

Get over to Organifi.com forward slash shrugged. Make sure you're using the coupon code SHRUGGED to save 20% on your order. Matt Frazier's in the house, friends. Let's get after it. Steady across. It's like, oh, oh, they're calling me dumb. They don't know that I'm supposed to. It's like, that one wasn't that funny.

But it's the same, like, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. You're like, no, no, no, no, no, no. That one wasn't a good joke. Drives me nuts. I feel like they're doing a great job, though, putting... Oh, they're pumping out stand-up routines, stand-up specials. How much... And some of them are really good.

I love... I watch all of them. Yeah, they keep correcting it. If it's too loose. Like Chappelle's, I loved all three of them. Oh, they're really good, dude. Yeah. He came back and fucking smashed.

Horrible. I actually saw Chappelle, like, his third show after coming back. And so I went on a date with my wife thinking I was going to be fucking romantic. And I took her to the play. We went to the play, and we couldn't have been so out of our zone. I was like, I should have just kept this thing in the fucking lane. Like, stay here. We're not play people.

But I was like, I'm going to class it up. We put our nice clothes on, and it was like, oh, bad move. So I remembered after we got out, we both kind of looked at each other. We were like, this is stupid. Like, why are we at this play? And I was like, I'm trying to be romantic. I feel like any time I go to something where it's like a black tie affair, like, you have to, like, rent.

Like, I have to rent a tux. Like, I don't own one. And then I feel like every group of people you get to, you're like, hey, man, how's your night going? They're like, oh, you know, wearing this fucking penguin suit. I'm like, the general consensus is no one wants to be wearing these clothes. Right. Why are we wearing these clothes? Like, let's go throw on something comfy and then we'll have a good time, you know?

Sit back in a recliner. That's where we really want to be. So we leave, and I remember that Chappellelle is playing like two doors down and he's just coming back so we rolled in and there's hundreds of people in there and i'm like man we're never gonna get a ticket stand in line for like half an hour we get to the front and the guy's like it's 100 bucks a ticket it's like here we go here's the 200 bucks fourth row like there was like two seats in the very front open so we're there chapelle walks on and he does like his first six minutes and dude chapelle's kind of yoked now like dude found some

found the gear or something filled out yeah and um he's no longer the little boy in dc so he does six minutes and he comes and he just looks at everybody he goes oh that's all i got like i haven't been on the road. I only have six minutes to do. So what do you guys want to talk about? And for an hour and a half, he just slayed. Just on the spot. Someone would talk to him, and he would just hammer it for like 20 minutes. Just off the cuff and just roll.

That's incredible. It was insane. I've seen some of these comedians. So that USO tour I did, they brought a stand-up comedian. Who was it uh jess jesse i don't know how to pronounce her last name i'll pull it up but um is she that kind of cute blonde like pretty funny yeah oh she was hilarious that's not that's not a very high compliment like is she kind of cute and just pretty funny well there's there's very few females you got nothing going for her jesse jesse palooza oh jesse jesse may pull yeah yeah i know who she is yeah she was on mtv for a while yeah yeah uh she killed she's hysterical and and so she had

she is like raunchy yeah and so like they just like i think they just grabbed a comedian and didn't like watch any of her material. Then when she showed up, it was some of the high-ranking guys were like, hey, have you ever watched any of her stuff? And they're all like, no. Why would we? She's a comedian. We need a comedian.

She fit the spot. And so I'm pretty sure they pulled her aside. They're like, you have to tone it down. And still half of her bit was about b-holes yeah and it was she killed it so she was the first one to go on stage and so like she's having like a thousand soldiers every time just like gut laughing why would you have to tone it down for a bunch of soldiers of all the people because like we were we were flying around with like the Chiefs staff, the highest ranking military guy in the country. And some of the shows were family shows. The first show we did, it was basically like a playground in front.

And there's like 45 to 8-year-olds playing. And so she gets on stage about to start a bit and sees a a kindergarten class In front of her and she's like uh oh But like half of her stuff Was just like off the cusp That's awesome Yeah just talking to soldiers and then she would run with it for a couple minutes Sometimes you forget that stand up Is really dirty

Like my in-laws came My wife and I had just moved in together We had nothing to do and I was like Let's throw on some comedy Put on Louis Cis ck just because i think it's funny little did i know he's going to talk about jerking off for 90 straight minutes same thing like all the time i'll watch it i'll watch something on netflix and i'm like this is hilarious like what and then like my parents will be over and i'm like oh like i i know something that would be good that we can watch while we're eating dinner or, like, cooking dinner.

And I'm like, oh, I love this stand-up. And then you start to notice all of it. Hold it in context. You start to notice what you like, which is jerking off jokes. When I'm watching it with my dad, my dad's got live, but then, like, I don't care. Like, if you're watching that with your mother, you're like, oh, no. This is awkward. Oh, no.

You raised me to like this. This isn't my fault. Right on. Welcome to Barbell Shrugged. I'm Anders Varner, Doug Larson, Kenny Santucci, Mr. Beautiful in the house, and Matt Frazier. Welcome to the show, man. Thank you. We were just talking about the USO Tour.

I would love to hear kind of how this thing started and the experience of it. I feel like when you start doing cool things, you do cool things, and then all of a sudden the USO tour shows up, and then you know. You're like, oh, wow. I made it. They're flying me across the ocean to go hang out with the troops. Yeah. So they asked me.

It was literally as simple as I got an email from someone I didn't know, and they were like, hey, we're doing this USO tour. Here are the dates. Like, do you want to do it? And they couldn't give us locations. They couldn't give us, like, specific dates of where we'd be and when. Oh, there you go. Oh, right in your mouth.

There you go. Just put it in your mouth. So, oh, shit. There you go. There we go. Okay. So I got the email. They just asked me to do it.

And I was like, yes. It was a week before I was competing in Dubai. I was already over in Dubai. Okay. So I got the email. They just asked me to do it. And I was like, yes. It was a week before I was competing in Dubai. I was already over in Dubai. Nice. And so I was just like, yes, I'm in. And I handed it off to my manager, O'Keefe, and was just like, make this happen. Yeah. And I'm thinking, like, this is great.

I'm already in Dubai. I don't have that, like, long, like, first 12-hour flight to get over here. And then it was after the competition I had to catch a flight home. I went back to the States for a day. And then come back over. Like, I had a sponsorship, like, agreement that I had already said yes to. So you were in the plane for, for like three days and on the ground for one yeah so at the end of the trip uh they did a tally of how many like planes we were on how many

countries and then and then i had an extra four flights on top of everyone else because i had to fly back to the states and then i had three legs to get to meet up with them in poland and as we hit three continents six countries i had 21 22 plane rides 25 000 miles traveled in six days holy shit how does that all the way around the world dude it was it was are you training and like doing it or you're just going shaking hands and meeting people? No, so this was – I was, like, three days after competing in Dubai. Ah. So that was another reason. It was perfect timing.

Yeah. Because I'm, like, I'm not training right now. Like, a week after competition, I'm not doing anything. So I was just, like – I could totally see you showing up in, like, all these, like, 22-year-old grunts. Like, I'm going to fucking take them down right now. I'm coming after Frazier. That guy's not fit.

I agreed to do this whole thing and never asked, what do you want me to do on your trip? I was weak out of competition, so I'm not putting any mental space towards this. I was just like, yes, handed it off. I'll figure it out later.

I just assumed, they're going to take me to each base. I'll work out with all the soldiers and then go on to the next one. We were doing, for a couple of days, we did three bases in one day. So, like, we're up at, like, call in the lobby of the hotel is, like, 4 a.m. And then they give, like, a six-hour plane ride, bus ride, do a show. Immediately after the show, you're back on the bus, another plane, another bus, another show. So only at one of the bases I got to do a workout, and it was like super last minute, super impromptu. And I'm like, oh, like a half dozen people will show up.

Yeah. And there was like over a hundred and like they had to run three heats they're like hey yeah yeah CrossFit you gotta do all three of them they're like oh like you do CrossFit we'll do Fran you like that I'm like oh no I've been you have to show up you guys are up for like 36 hours sitting on a plane yeah you could go like 80 make everybody, and then they name that. You're like, everybody wants the two-minute one. Fuck. It was cool.

So Sammy came with me, did it. She's taken as many pictures of me of just every dude was like, you're cooking, Paige. My wife is so jealous because Sammy will post out that she made bagels. And they go to their wife, they're like, hey, can you make bagels no figure it out and then like uh sean white that like the only other athlete on the trip he came never done cross it he did fran so it's just like okay and i'm watching him do it he's doing it like strict pull-ups and i was like bro is he really athletic yeah i was gonna say how how is he he he is as good as he is in a sport for a reason that dude like he's an athlete yeah so like like i was like i'm curious about like what he does for training all this stuff like do you do weight training or like agility stuff and uh and it's a lot of

like just hand-eye coordination and reaction time. So he's like, yeah, I don't really do weights, you know. That's surprising. I would feel like at that level of athlete. Yeah, I think he's done some, but he's not like hitting the gym. Or he's not doing like squats, deadlifts all the time. It's probably harder to spin his body if he weighs like 195 versus 155 like like he's he's like he's in shape yeah he's ripped um so i think he does just a lot more

like core work yeah core work balance stuff you know stuff that will help help him when he's flying through the air um but yeah i uh i i was saying i was like bro like your arms are gonna be hurting tomorrow i was like dude as soon as i your arms are going to be hurting tomorrow. I was like, dude. As soon as I watched him go, I walked over to Sammy. I was like, Sean White just gave himself a rap down. He just wakes up with, like, the 90-degree arm. And it was the next morning. We're on the bus. And he's like, guys, like, I can't straighten my arm.

This is it. And I was like, yeah, I could have told you that. Like, three days later, like, the tour doctor is, like, sitting there with a roller, like, rolling out his biceps because they're still hurting. When you're on the plane there, is that – I always envision the USO tour, it's, like, kind of peaceful, but you also get a sense of, like, oh, this is what the military guys are like. Like, you're in the back of the cargo plane, and then they, like, throw you out.

You have to, like like parachute into the place the first the the long flight so like the flights overseas and back were on um air force two so that was just like that's baller yes now we want to know about that yeah what the hell's that look how's the wi-fi on air force two uh it was great until they shut it off so that they could take a call with the president. Yeah, that was like all of our Wi-Fi just dropped. And then one of the guys came back and was like, Instagram's not working, guys. And they're like, oh, sorry. Like we had to shut off the Wi-Fi call with the president. And we're all like, seriously?

Yeah. Like, oh, wow. Can we listen in? Every seat had like had a phone right next to it. And I was like, do you think I could, like, like back in middle school when you're listening in on your seat, I'm going to put the receiver upside down and listen in. But then, like, all the stuff in country or, like, the shorter trips, yeah, it was, like, the planes with, like, the cargo seats and cargo seats and the cargo netting behind you. So when you're landing, everyone just grabs the cargo netting behind you.

And they did the combat lands. So it's like they don't have 10 miles or however long it is to descend. Yeah, it's not very peaceful. Bro, they were like, yeah, it cuts our distance down to 10%. And it's literally like they just tilt the plane on its side, drop, catch, drop, catch. And so you just – Whoa. There's like 40 people on the plane just like ready to just blow chunks.

And it's just like, whew, that's weird. And you're in one of those big old ones with the back door drops open. You have to run out. So we were on – I forget if it was four or five different aircrafts. Another big one, you know, like the giant planes that it looks like it's pregnant. Like the belly of it is just like bloated out. And the whole back drops. It's like the ones where you see there's like five tanks and they drop the back door while it's flying.

And they just wheel out the back and just drop through the air. Those are sick. It was one of those. And that was wild because, like, you're sitting there and it's like you're in a warehouse. It's like 30-foot ceilings. It's enormous. And so it's just this giant empty room. And they just bring in a pallet of, like, business class seats.

So they're all bolted on this pallet. And they just put it in the plane, strap it down in the middle of the plane. So there's like 20 business class seats in the middle of this small warehouse. And so you sit in them and take off, and then we get up in between. We were playing football in this airplane

while we're flying. It's so large. It was basically between playing football or playing Monopoly. We had a couple intense games of Monopoly going. Did they take you guys out shooting at all while you were out there? Did you blow anything up or anything? Dude, a couple of the bases, the special forces guys were like,

you want to go shoot some cool guns? And I was like, yes. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Don't ask these questions. Just do it. And it was one of them. It was like we were getting to our rooms at, like, midnight,

and then we had to be up at, like, 435 a.m. And they just, every base we went to, they were trying to line it up, but they couldn't get, like, the security clearance or something because it was such short notice, and I was there for such a short window. And then the fact that it's at nighttime as well, like, raised some red flags. And I was telling the special forces, I was like, guys, like, just smuggle me out of my room at 1 a.m. Like, this is what you do for a living. That way it's not my fault. You're worried about the guy at the gate?

You're the baddest dude in the world. The guy's just holding a badge that says he's cool. What do the training facilities look like out there? I always wonder when they, I feel like, especially the special ops guys, like they're here in San Diego, Virginia Beach, wherever it's at, and then they're in like the greatest training everything. Yeah. And then they go overseas and it's like, what do they have out there to,

are they just trying to survive? It varied drastically. The first place I went to work out, it was one of these kind of permanent fixture tents. And Rogue rigged up both sides, rubber matting. They had barbells, bumpers. They had all the equipment. And it was a full-on good set. I've seen worse affiliates.

And that was just their base. And then others, it was like they had two dumbbells in the back under a curtain that they had to hide from whoever's in charge because they didn't like CrossFit or something. What? There's still that going on over there? Yeah, there's a lot of just whoever's in charge, if they don't like CrossFit as how you train, then, how you train, then it's, like, not allowed type thing. Or they don't support it.

They don't give you anything for it. They're, like, all old school. You just do push-ups and go rock. I'm not sure. Yeah, I was going to say, what the hell do you do to work out? I mean, it's, like, the one base I went to, the guy was a civilian that had a CrossFit on the base. And he's, like, I don't get any military government funding for this. This is all me.

We just do it off donations. And so he wasn't even in the military. He was just a civilian living over there and was like, I love this. I want to do this and was crushing it. I think CrossFit Kandahar, actually Kandahar or whatever it is, they funded like an entire affiliate. And it was all just donation-based. And over time, it just grew into this like massive.

I think there's like 400 or 500 people there now. Yeah. I mean, some of the spots were legit. And like the soldiers loved it. And then others, like on the aircraft carrier, like they limited everything. It's tight. Everything's got to be bolted down. The guy's like they had like a bar and a couple plates and like a couple dumbbells.

And they're like, oh, yeah, dude, like we clear out this room and just like we go hard. How strange is an aircraft carrier? That thing is like a floating city out there. The whole thing functions just out in the middle of nowhere. I know for myself, I forgot that I was on a boat. And so that was one of the first shows. And so, I've had it in the past where I had to give a presentation in front of people. And I've just passed out.

Just couldn't handle the pressure. Dude, just freaked out and fainted. And so, this is one of the bigger shows and like they were hyped that yeah that all of us were there and so sean and i go on stage at the same time and uh wilmer's asking us questions and stuff and then i'm sitting there as sean's talking and i'm like oh it's happening i'm about to pass out like Like, oh, this is my nightmare. And then I was like, oh, no, that's just the boat moving. I was just kind of getting this feeling.

And then I was like, oh, you're on a boat, dummy. It's cool. So wait, how do they come up with who's going to go on one of these tours? It's you, it's Sean White. Who else is there? I feel awful because I don't know how to pronounce their last names. So Milo, he's on the show This Is Us. Basically, every woman is in love with him.

Is he like the dad? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. I know my women's trivia. This Is Us, that's the one that my wife cries to every week. Yes. Gotcha. I was trying to like, This Is Us sounds familiar.

Every soldier came up and was like, my wife said, like, I need to get a photo with you. And he's just like, yep, that's my audience, you know? So then Wilmer, who he's on NCIS. He was Fez off that 70s show. Wilmer Valderrama That guy's still relevant Dude he's crushing it he's on NCIS Like killing it

Really made it after Fez Yeah clearly Foreign exchange student But he was known for like That made for a really cool story You know like Sean and I would go up and The main question that we'd get asked All get asked all the time was, like,

how did you turn a negative situation into a good one? And so for myself, you know, that situation was 2015 games, you know, it's like hurry up, find the silver lining and make some corrections. For him, it was his third Olympics. I think he missed the podium completely. So, like, he was just going in, like, you know, one of the last two um so like he was just going in like you know one of the last two times like we're gonna kill it um so that was a big thing and then uh and then it was right before the last olympics he like had hugh jackson just like yeah smashed his face off

and then so he found the silver lining and that came back. And then someone asked Wilmer that question, and he was like, after that 70s show, that was a huge thing for me because he goes, I went eight years of, and that was my only big gig. So that's all people used me for. He's like, I would get casted, and he'd be like, I'm excited I get to expand my character, you know, whatever. And then he would get casted for one thing,

and then he said, like, they've tried to get him to do Fez. Yeah. And he's like, no, like, no, like, I'm more than just that one character. So he found the silver lining, and he's like, it made me into a better actor. I wouldn't be where I am today without having to overcome that. That's true. Yeah. Wait, so for people that don't know the 2015 games story,

what exactly happened there from your perspective? Oh, I went into it just, you know, resting on my laurels, you know. So 2014 season, I got second place. First place was announced as retirement. And I was just like, I got this in the bag, you know. So it was basically just a whole year of cutting corners, you know. Training wasn't consistent, wasn't smart, didn't have a sleep schedule, ate like a complete asshole for the entire year.

And then I showed up and the results reflected that. You know, Ben Smith had a great event. I had some terrible showings. And so I walked away from that just like, oh man i may never get get the gold um but then after that you know it it forced me to do anything and everything possible in my power so like i wasn't leaving anything up to what ifs um so eating eating better sleeping better training smarter um and then that's led to three consecutive wins. Is that when you moved to Cookville? When's that?

Did you move in 16? No, no, I moved last year. So it was after the 17 games I moved. What the hell's going on in Cookville right now? It's like this has turned into like the hot spot of the fitness thing. Like Tia's moving from Australia. You're moving. I don't think it's a new thing, you know.

Even when Rich trained individual, you know, he had this network around him, and it was just like he elevated everyone, you know. And so, like, he always had other incredible individual athletes training with him. Yeah. And then when he went team, know obviously he's like hey i need team members and half the crossfit community was like yep i'll do it done um so people were relocating for that and he i think he tries to take anyone that's local yeah uh like that they are a gym member. They are there in the area.

He takes those people first. He wants it to stay in-house as much as he can. And then it was the 20 after the 2017 games. I started working with a new accountant and he he was like, hey, the first conversation I've ever had with him. I'm not even working with him yet. And he was like, hey, why do you live in Vermont? I was like, I don't know. I grew up here and never had a reason to leave. And he's like, I'll give you nine reasons.

Move now. And so Vermont has 9% income tax and Tennessee has zero. And so he was like, move now. From that conversation, I walked downstairs to Sammy. And I was like, hey, sweetheart, how do you feel about moving? And she was like, where are we going? I was like, hey, sweetheart, like, how do you feel about moving? And she was like, where are we going? I was like, Tennessee. And so, you know, like, if you're a CrossFitter and you're moving to Tennessee, the obvious choice.

And, like, I already know the whole group, so we already have a network in place. And we literally just, like, went on Craigslist and looked at real estate just to get, like, what are the prices, like, what's, what's available, just get a feel for it. And the price of this house that we saw, in California it would have been like a $15 million place. In Vermont it would have been like a $2, $2.5 million place, and it was $500,000 in Tennessee. I think it was three days later. Can I pay cash? Is that okay?

Three days later, we got a plane ticket, went down. Rich gave us a real estate agent that he's used, and, yeah, we bought a house the next day. Yeah. I'm actually in the middle of this story right now, not to go train with Rich. You guys wouldn't want me there. Why is this guy bringing everything down?

No, but yeah, California is fucking crazy, dude. San Diego, when you just look at what's going on, you're like, how do I live here? This is ridiculous. I don't know how, like. Tennessee was on the list. Nashville. Yeah, Nashville. I didn't want to live inside a bachelorette party, so I didn't go there.

Why wouldn't you go, like. Kind of did. More towards a city like. Like, Nashville is not too far from Cookville. It's a hot spot. Sam is just walking in front. Don't worry about all the fans. I had been down to Cookville to train before, and I like the smaller town feel.

Like cities, I hate. After college, I moved to Boston. I made it 23 days, packed up my shit, went home. Like, hate cities. Yeah, so, you know, Cookville was just, it's in Tennessee. Makes sense. So I hit the tax bracket, you know. And then it was just, I knew everyone on the teams, had good people to train with.

Rich has probably the best facility in the world. Yeah. Cookville is going to be the most fit city in the country. It will. Oh, 100%. You guys are changing the whole landscape. Yeah, and it's like half the people that are on team or individuals live on the same road, live on Rich's road. Really?

And then the Henshaws, myself, Haley Adams, and then the two girls on Mayhem Freedom all live in my neighborhood. So we're like, yo, we're good. Let's throw down. Yeah. Speaking of Henshaw, he told us the other day that he almost drowned you. Oh, I mean, he's almost drowned me multiple times. You have to be more specific. He actually had some really awesome stories.

And just the way that you guys are kind of mixing things up right now, his brain is different. Yeah, you know, he definitely stays ahead of the curve. You know, like if I look at my programming that I was doing from him in 2014, 2015, it's drastically different than what I'm doing on a regular basis now. You know, he's always looking at the trends of what's happening at regionals, games, all this stuff, and adapting. Yeah. And making guesses of, like, they could do this. So let's practice for it, you know?

Yeah. Worst case scenario, you're just getting a swim workout that is a little unique. Yeah. But best case scenario that shows up at the games he seems to be the only coach that is really like set up shop down there with you guys and is accepted by everyone i mean you all come from a different place with different coaches but he seems to be the one that has kind of risen to the top that everybody says he needs to be around once again he's he's. He's doing well in the business side of things for a reason.

Yeah. He comes out with a great product. Super progressive. And he's not. I think he's one of the few coaches that, you know, there's so many coaches that they have one athlete that does well, and then you'll see a half dozen other games athletes be like, oh, you have the secret.

It's like, no. Like, that athlete could have gone with probably any coach and had success. Chris is one of few that repeats those results. He always has. He's always producing the best. Yeah. I think he kind of commands that, though, too. It's like he's not really one of these, like, he's not like a Lombardi or something,

but he's like one of these coaches where he starts to talk. I was talking to him yesterday, too, and I'm just fascinated by him. Like I want to hear more. Yeah, you know, I think a couple things that make him great is that, you know, he does attraction rather than promotion. Like how often do you see an aerobic capacity ad flying around? Not too often. He doesn't have to.

His results speak for themselves. He does. It's called podiums. Exactly. He's passionate about it. This is what he loves. How he started, he started working with kalipa this and turn that monster into a breather exactly you know it went that's hard it went

from kalipa showing up to an event and like if there was a long run it's like nope kalipa is not good at this to the following year it's like kalipa is has the motor like that's what he became known for is just having this engine you He won the half marathon row. Yeah. What's he doing? Bananas, right? His triceps are too big for that. He can't be rowing that long. But I remember, like, when Chris first started, he was just working with Kalipa, and he started talking to some higher-ups at HQ, and they're like,

like, oh, how much do you charge? And he's like, oh, I don't. Like, he's like, I don't. Like, I'm still learning. So I'm just giving it for free type thing um but yeah i mean he just has the results he and i have we've hung out for years yeah we talked to him for two hours what was his actual bat was he really good at triathlons and ironmans was he like in the top five yeah he was he was competitive for two hours all we did was talk about the

training guys are doing. I didn't even really get his background. I want to say I know he got second place at the Hawaiian Ironman. Cool. Which is really hard. And I think he may have done it twice. I feel like there was a definite, there was a very competitive background because the way that he was talking about training

you guys and like you guys would get on the track he was talking about kalipa how he would like always be elbowing him so in his brain there's this competitive like i know you're the best in the world but i'm gonna fuck with you because i'm better than you at this thing he would come to vermont all the time he would he would go like if he went to went to boston to do a seminar he would line one up in montreal as well and uh and on the drive you literally drive by my house like literally like you see my house from that drive and uh and so like i remember like i would there would be a knock on the door then i would I would hear some talking upstairs, and I'm like, that sounds like Henshaw.

That's weird. Why is he here? He didn't call. And then, like, he would come downstairs, and I'm like, Chris, what the fuck are you doing here? And he's like, oh, I was driving by. And then we'd end up. I was in the neighborhood.

I'm like, you live in California. How are you in the neighborhood? Passing by Vermont. And he'd be like, oh, i can only be here for 15 minutes i need to go and then we're sitting at my kitchen table for six hours just shooting the shit and like he's like oh yeah i missed that meeting i'm not going like i'm having more fun here such a cool guy but yeah so he does that like we'd be running and when i first started working with him like you know you're coming into the arc of the track and he would just like jut in and

like our relationship wasn't that comfortable yet so i would kind of like throttle back and be like okay like i don't want to like trip him up or like trip me up or anything like that and then at the end of the workout he'd be like you're not aggressive enough like you let me cut in on you i was like oh you did that on purpose i didn't know we were doing that so now like he jokes about of like we'll be running and as soon as we as soon as we start hitting that hitting that bank like he'll still be mostly next to me but like starting to creep in and i'll just like i'm like no get place, old man. How long did it take for you to have the trust in him that, I mean, I feel like when it comes to the aerobic work, you're probably like, that guy's dialed in, but now he's taking over, or maybe not taking over,

but he's a big piece of even kind of like the pacing of workouts, the weightlifting side of things. Like how long does it take before you have the trust and confidence in, in him to, so he doesn't, to go forward. He doesn't do like, like he does my running and swimming. Um, Oh, gotcha. And, and I take that back. He takes, he takes like basically any cardio conditioning. He does all that stuff. I think the trust was there pretty quickly.

Just because he was... A big thing for me was he was willing to help me and had nothing to gain from it. He never asked for hey, can you post on social media and tag me? Can you promote me? Can I get your coach's band to the game like he

never asked for anything in return and it was purely he was just passionate about it he wanted to help people in sport and you could tell he's super passionate about it like the way that he thinks about like he was getting into the the warm-ups and talking about measuring the how high you jump off the ground for double unders to how you warm up and working on like plate jumps and i'm just like dude i just want to work out yeah i just want to be here a little bit oh yeah he loves it he geeks out over it like that's what he enjoys doing so you usually when your hobby is something you enjoy you're gonna you're willing to put more time and effort into it um but yeah i mean even when we're not in the gym or working out, like he and his wife live

stone throw from us in the same neighborhood. So he comes over for coffee in the morning and they'll be over for dinner at night. Yeah. One thing that you guys have started down there, well, maybe not started, but has attracted of bringing all the champs together is like Haley Adams. There's a couple of like the kids in there that are winning the games in the teen division. How impressive is that seeing kids that are 17 years old just out smashing it?

I think I know with Haley's situation, especially with the new format, she kind of said like, you know, the odds of me making it as an individual in the like open division are probably pretty slim. And so she was looking for a lot of experience, and she was like, you join the Mayhem team, your odds of going to the games just went through the roof. But so she gets to train with Rich.

Is she on the team right now that's beating Rich's team? Yeah, Independence. Baller! Yeah, so. I hope she's talking mad shit to him. Rich, you're a child. Back up. Get off my stage.

I hope to God she's doing that. Yeah, so, you know, she's training with a good group. And so, yeah, she's getting some good experience. And hopefully that will lead to another year or two when she develops. She doesn't even know what she's learning right now. She doesn't even know. She's just in that room. Like, that room.

Like, in order to get into the room, you have to be a champ. Yeah. No. No. Not at all. No, Rich, the crew he's with, a lot of them develop into crazy athletes because they're working with him. And, you know, kind of that work ethic just gets reflected in everyone else around and basically if you don't have that work ethic you're not going

to last yeah um but but training there they there are a lot of people that are just friends that they just bring a good vibe yeah they're just good people they're people that you want to spend your time around that's my thing are they doing like. Oh, that lizard scared the hell out of me. Oh, shit. Right on. Oh, wow. Wow. Yeah, I just saw it like pop up over your shoulder on the tree behind you.

I was like, oh, my God. Welcome to Miami. That's a dinosaur, man. A two-foot iguana. That is dangerous. That's a serious animal. How much are you and Rich mentoring the other people, especially the younger kids? Like, are they just coming in and working out? There's really high expectations.

And so they kind of rise to the occasion. Or are you like sitting down and having, long-form conversations about them, like you are their coach? Or how does that dynamic work? On my end, not at all. So Rich and his teams, they train up at Rich's barn mostly. And they're always doing team stuff. And especially now that T is in town.

I mean, when I first moved there, I would go up to the barn every once in a while and train with them, but, like, they're doing their team stuff. I'm doing my individual stuff. It was more just as company. And now, like, they were prepping for this. I was getting ready for Dubai, so they're doing team stuff. I'm doing individual. And now that Tia's in Cookville, like, we just train together every day.

So we usually meet at at the gym like late morning and uh and shane tia's husband and coach would just like write up the stuff they want to do for the day every once in a while i'd be like oh you know i have this piece that i want to do um and they just like wipe off one of their sections put put my piece in but yeah it's just t and i go to mayhem and train there every day how is uh just kind of your workload and and managing all of that with you have some more there's more expectations on you now not just on the fitness side of things but the business side of things and um doing this interview people want to talk to you more you're on on the road more. You know, the stuff that gets put on my plate is very minimal. You know, I have the best team around me,

and they've been there right from the get-go. So every year after the games, I get a picture with the check and the medal and my support team. So it's Matt O'Kee and sammy yeah and it's the same picture every year and i i take pride in that you know i don't i don't give a shit how many friends someone has how many friends have you had for 10 years yeah you know and uh it's like when someone has a whole new wardrobe of friends every year it's like something's wrong yeah there's probably something that's not good going on um so you know my network is

so small uh the amount of people i see on a day-to-day basis nine out of ten days i see sammy and then i see tia at the gym well i met i met that years ago when he was doing uh the red line and i remember him telling me he's like dude i got this kid mad he's gonna be an animal and blah blah blah and i'm like oh that's when i started to like follow you through the regionals and stuff what gave you the trust in him where you're like oh this guy knows what he's going to be an animal and blah blah blah and i'm like oh that's when i started to like follow you through the regionals and stuff what gave you the trust in him where you're like oh this guy knows what he's doing he's so probably once again you know same essential of uh he he was doing things that he was benefiting nothing from it and uh and it was just to help me yeah um so you know early on early on it was odd because he was doing stuff to help me um something as simple as buying me a pair of shoes you know i didn't have

a pair of crossfit shoes i'm working out in air max 90s with a bubble and he's like yo you can't do that like here now you have your own shoe and he's like yo yo i got you these shoes and i just gave him i was like no i i don't want them. And he's like, what are you talking about? I'm like, those are $160. Like, no, I can't take those. Like, you're going to want something in return, and I have nothing to give. And he's like, no, no, no, I just want you to be comfortable out on the competition floor. I don't want you to look like you don't know what you're doing.

And so the big, big thing was, so he had Redline gear, and I was sponsored. Like, they were one of my first sponsors. They sponsored me head to toe. But they're a small company, you know. They were always super generous. Like, when I first met them, they were always like, oh, here, wear this. I didn't even know Matt O'Keefe was the guy that owned that. I always knew that you were posting about their stuff and had their gear on,

but I didn't know following his kind of path through this that makes a lot more sense so uh so i you know they it was a small contract but like for me at the time it was huge and uh and then it was after my first year of the games you know some of the bigger guys start knocking on the door like nike reebok and and my my first thing i was just like oh sorry like i can't i't. I'm sponsored by this company. And O'Keefe pulled me aside and was like, yo, I can't compete with them. He's like, if you want to sign with them, I'll void our contract and you can go with them. And I'm like, that's doing nothing but hurting your business. Like, you're losing an athlete.

You signed me when I was nobody, and then I went to the games, got on the podium. So, like, that worked out well for you. You took a gamble. I took a gamble, and it panned out, you know. And so he was just like, nope, like, forget. He's like, yeah, if you want to stay with me, like, I'm not going to stop you. I would love to have you. But he was like, I can't compete with these guys.

You know, they're offering stuff I can't offer. So we'll just void our contract contract and you can go with them have you picked up a pretty good radar for who's bs in this industry through kind of being around the right people early and now you can kind of you can almost like smell it when they walk up to you i i feel like i've always before across i feel like i was always a good judge of character. Yeah. You know, of course, there's exceptions and rules of, like, someone that the first impression just for some reason wasn't good. And then it's like, okay, like, now I'm going to keep you at an arm's length until something else changes. Yeah.

But, you know, I'm not, I don't have, like, a thousand friends. You know, I like keeping a close network yeah I'd rather have like two lifelong friends than a hundred acquaintances for sure

well I feel like a lot of people don't realize what a like normal down to earth guy you are and like what would you have been doing had CrossFit not have

come along what would Matt Fraser be doing I'd be sitting in a cubicle crunching numbers as an engineer. No doubt in my mind. Really?

Yeah, going into, I want to say it was my rookie year, 2014, I was working as an aerospace engineer, sitting in a gray cubicle, gray carpet, gray ceiling, getting fucking TPS reports. I know what that color gray looks like. Like going through these government contracts, and it was unreal. And it was that, you know, I was still taking CrossFit casually

and just like training every once in a while, that type of stuff. And then it was like after a month there, I was like, I took all my chips and just pushed them into the CrossFit thing. I was like, I don't want this for my life. Like it was just the classic, the classic like someone comes up to your cubicle on Monday, and it's like, someone's got a case for the Mondays. Fuck off, Karen.

It was just miserable. And it just wasn't for me. Some of the other people, they loved it. They had a good salary. They had a good job security, insurance, benefits, all that. And that's what they wanted. They liked doing the contracts. For me, i was like

nope this is miserable yeah this is a very similar situation like you start sitting there and you're like is this what my life's going to be for the next 30 years yep they find the most soulless color gray it's not just gray yeah it's not like the gray of your t-shirt it's like deep here yeah here's how you will hate your life gray oh that's a very specific color and i mean like i i talked down on that job just because i didn't like it it was a great opportunity you know like i'm i'm in my last year of college or i was sophomore junior year i forget which but you know right off the bat i'm at this aerospace company that's making actuators for missiles. Talk about first job experience.

Pretty fucking sweet. Yeah. But it just wasn't for me. So what was the actual competition like in Dubai for you? This year? Yeah. It was way different than years prior uh you know years prior it was i remember when i did it in 2016 i was more beat up after the 2016 dfc than i was the games it was awful like 15 events and they're all heavy they're all like they're all like 10 minute workouts with like just the heaviest the weight they think you can handle

without breaking and then like i remember in 2016 i puked on the competition floor in mid workout like it was disgusting yeah what was it in that workout that that did it to you so it was it was three workouts back to back it was supposed to be 30 minutes straight, but they did. It was like a seven-minute time cap, three minutes rest, seven-minute time cap, three minutes rest. And the last workout was 10-minute time cap, and it was just an AMRAP. No, I don't think anyone finished. So it's like I'm finishing the workouts up at like the six-and-a-half-minute mark, so I have like three-and-a-half minutes to rest.

And it was the final workout. I knew like I'm watching Ben Smith. And I was like, all I have to do is stay ahead of him. And I win. And it was burpee box stepovers with dumbbells. And it was like 70 pounds or 80 pounds in each hand. And it was just, you're like like there's four minutes left i just got to do these for four minutes and i remember i was going down for a burpee and like you're in full

blackout mode you're like this is it for the week you know four minutes and then i'm done and i just remember like puking before i went down and then i was like but now i'm just gonna lay in this just got you just you're like yeah like i i're like, I can't move my box. I can't do anything. I'm not going to stop and clean it. So you're just like, all right, I guess I'll just keep going. You mentioned just staying ahead of Ben. How much when you're competing is that a factor,

where you're trying to just stay ahead of the competition to save yourself for future events later in the week versus going as fast as you possibly can all the time? So that scenario was just because it was the last event. You know, I try to just compete at my potential for every event. I'm not worried about saving myself for the next one, anything like that. And I know early in my career I did that, and I think it took a big change

because I feel like earlier in the years of the games, it was the final heat was 1 through 10 in the rankings for that event. Now, you go through all 15 events of the games, and usually number one for each event is in heat one or heat two. So even though I'm racing the dude to my left and right, in the overall standings, there's guys in the first heat that are winning the event. They may not be overall as fit, but they're the specialists that hit home runs. And so I forget what it was. Oh, I mean, perfect example was the heavy thruster and double under workout at the games in 17, I think it was. Oh, I mean, perfect example was the heavy thruster and double under workout

at the Games in 17, I think it was. It was like heavy 17.5. And Josh Bridges was in heat one. And no one going – we got to heat four and no one had beat his time. So it's like if I'm just racing the dude to my left and right and then just stay one rep ahead of them, hit the finish line, congrats, you got second place. It's like, no, I have to be racing the dude in my left and right and then yeah just a one rep ahead of them hit the finish line so congrats you got second place it's like no i have to be racing the dude he won uh so in dubai two years ago it was a unique situation because it was last event i knew the points i was up and i

like i could get second to last place if ben got last place i'm winning the event i just had to stay in front of him so that was a unique situation but usually it's just blinders on going my pace you mentioned ben smith a couple times i think that that guy has he's been there like 10 years now in a row i think he's the first and only to go 10 consecutive years i think becca voight she skipped it was up skip the year yeah i think she was it's not like she she didn't make it one year. I'll take a year off. I'll let everyone go play. I think Becca Voigt has gone ten times now.

Yeah. But she missed one year. Yeah, I think she finished sixth or something like that. Yeah, at regionals. Two years ago. Yeah, I want to say Ben's. I could be mistaken. I'm not good at this stuff. For him to keep that going that long is very, very impressive.

Incredible. Because what I really wanted to, like, your thoughts on just from six years ago, being at your first regional and just seeing not just how much better you've gotten over the years, but as a field trying to fight that off. Like, the difference between, like, the top ten now and the top ten six years ago is ridiculous. Like, they could all be matt frazier like they're maybe not matt frazier sorry but they could all be like they they all would have won it five years ago yeah yeah like the number three guy would have been smashing people oh i mean yeah i mean you look at the or 2016 whatever like you you look at the – Or 2016 or whatever the hell it was. You look at, like, especially the very early years at the ranch,

and it's like if you took a games athlete and put them at the ranch, like it would have been crazy. Those snatch videos were so embarrassing. The most impressive stat, it was the year at regionals we had the snatch ladder, and it started with like 10 reps at one weight than eight six and uh the first women's weight was 135 i want to say yeah and uh probably nobody could do it very few and and they said the max weight at the first year of the games in the snatch was 145 and now they're doing 10 reps at 135 into like eight reps at 155 like and then what was the other one it was like

yeah so the first year of the games the max snatch was 145 i mean i could be wrong on the numbers but and then it was then they said and the average weight of snatch this year at the games was 155 for the 14 year old girls oh girls. Oh. That's crazy. And it was like, holy shit. Haley Adams put up 230 overhead, and I was like, what the hell is going on? She snatched 230? No, no. Jerk.

Yeah, rack jerk. Yeah. Well, I remember there was just one year where it just went fucking chaos. Like, 255 in my region for snatch was like a two. Like, you took second place, and everyone was like, oh, you're strong. And then the next year at the Granite Games, if you snatch 275, you took 12th.

And 10 people did it. I was like, we hit a tipping point. I don't know what happened in December, but all of a sudden everybody showed up in January and snatched 275. Well, when you see regional guys snatching like 315, you're like, when you see regional guys snatching, like, 315, you're like, and you're not at the games? Yeah, like, what else do you need to be good at?

Like, a team guy, I want to say he's from Invictus. I'm not sure of his name. But he snatched 335 or 341 in Dubai. That's impressive. That's legit. Coming from the training center, the ability to snatch and clean a jerk like that and do all these other things, guys in the training center aren't doing that.

And CrossFitters are now putting up very respectable weights that usually somebody would be like, dude, you need to go to Colorado and move in. Be on the Olympic team. You have a future in this. I mean, hitting big lifts for an Instagram video and then doing it consistently in training and being able to produce on the platform are two widely different things. Can we talk about training center?

When I live in Colorado? Yeah, absolutely. I'm fascinated by that life. You basically live in, like, dorm rooms, right? Yeah, so my first year uh i was under a slot called the training special so i was like i was on a temporary status the whole time so it's basically like i could be booted out any moment yeah and so i think it was old air force you were in colorado right yeah yeah i lived in colorado and michigan so colorado is the olympic training

center and then michigan is the olympic Education Center. So I live two years at each. What's the difference? So Colorado, it's like you're here to train and only train. You can go to school but it cannot interrupt your training schedule even by a minute. You're here to train.

Michigan, they require you to take a minimum of 12 credits. So be considered a full-time student. And you can like... Are they funding the education side of it? Not anymore. It was under a grant called the Stupak Grant. And everyone's education got paid off that.

And then it was something that happened. I think weightlifting has kind of lost a lot of funding over the last couple years all so the olympic weightlifting funding was the same as every olympic sport and so everyone's educational grant got cut um yeah so my first year in colorado i was i was a training special so i lived it was like old air force dorms And so it's literally a cement brick room. And there's three beds. Like it's the size of a dorm room, like tiny. And there was three single beds and a sink.

And then it was like community bathroom and showers and stuff. So that was miserable. I really love picking up the weights, though. I'll live in that cell over there. I was watching one of the documentaries that uh someone who's interviewing you and you were saying how much you started to hate weightlifting and you kind of walked away and walked away from your friends from it and stuff and then you made this lateral into crossfit where that where'd the hatred come from where and i i

don't want to say it was hatred you know it's probably a lot more fueled by like uh embarrassment and like the feeling of failure uh because i like i left the sport you know so at the end of my career i broke broke my l5 in two spots and so you know just everyone was like oh he's done he's washed up done like basically you're out um so i got the surgery and then it was basically i came back after that surgery so i i do have six screws and two plates in my back now holding everything together um but they i basically came back from that surgery uh out of resentment out of like these people wrote me off they wronged me i'm going to prove you wrong so it wasn't like a secondary reason of like i'm passionate about this sport and i want to prove you wrong it was just it was all out of hatred of like i'm going to prove you wrong

so for an entire year you know going through that going through that rehab to come back you know the first week after surgery i can't i'm sleeping 23 hours a day just like they have you so drugged up you're just you're sleeping and then for two weeks i moved back back home and it's like i couldn't do anything and then even when i moved to michigan uh i'm in a dorm room like a regular college dorm room with my roommate and he would have to pick me up out of bed like my alarm would go off and i have to go to class and he would have to come up and like hug me like sit me up when i walked to class to class, I couldn't take a backpack. I couldn't pull a miniature suitcase.

So I would take four sheets of loose-leaf paper, stick it in my pocket with a pen, and then try to walk and not slip on the ice to class. So I'm not sure what all my teachers thought of this kid's not showing up with a book, no backpack, no nothing. I'd just pull out four sheets of paper and a pen, like, all right, teach, you know. We're going to take a quick break. We're going to come back. CJ just walked by, fucked me up, saying hi and stuff.

Yeah, we'll be back in a minute. Cool. Question number two. Ask AV, the new segment coming to Barbell Shrugged. I just made up Ask AV right now. That's so good, right? Amy Morrison, True Core Health. What is the biggest regret or failure I have had in my career?

Well, of course, we all know the real answer to that is that we don't have failures. We don't have regrets. We have learning experiences. But since I know what you're asking, I'm going to answer it the way you would like me to. And the truth is, is that there is one thing that I have always wished that I had done better or not done at all. And that is when I rebranded my gym many moons back. It was like four years ago now. From CrossFit PB to San Diego Athletics. And the reason it is a regret has

nothing to do with rebranding the gym or moving away from CrossFit. It has everything to do with not trusting my gut at the time. There were so many things going on in my brain and just a gut feeling that I needed to leave CrossFit. I needed to leave the gym business. I had done everything that I had wanted to do in the gym business. I had proven that I could build a successful gym. I had proven that I could learn how to run a business. I had proven that I could coach people, change people's lives. I knew that I was capable of doing those things. And the conversation about San Diego athletics was a much bigger question on how do I change fitness and how do I change the conversation about San Diego Athletics was a much bigger question on how do I change fitness? And how do I change the conversation of health, longevity, wellness, strength?

And I wasn't prepared to answer those questions at the time. Had I taken two years off, gone on a journey of understanding what life is outside of CrossFit, I would have had a much better answer at the time, but I didn't. And I rushed into San Diego Athletics. The transition was very choppy. The messaging of the gym, the culture of the gym, everything shifted. And because I hadn't gone on the journey to finding out what I wanted San Diego Athletics to be, I rushed into it.

And it started to create a lot of less than ideal vibes about the gym. The true CrossFitters didn't like it. Even the non-true CrossFitters that were just looking for health and longevity didn't really understand it. And I kind of bit off a little bit more than I could chew. Whereas if I had just sold the gym that day and not done the rebrand, I think I would have probably saved a lot of the thing that I learned the most is that I can trust myself. If I have a feeling that I need to leave a situation or that if something in my life is not serving my greater purpose, I am very comfortable leaving those things now. I'm very comfortable with those big

breakups, those life-changing moments where as soon as they happen, you're never the same. I'm never going to own that first gym again. I'm never going to be in that position again. And if it were to happen again, I'd be very comfortable figuring it out in that kind of two-year period going on the journey, which at the time I was not very comfortable and that's why it was rushed but that's the big thing I can trust myself now and the reason that Amy Morrison TrueCore Health the reason she got her question on because she is a huge fan of the sunlight and saunas she's got one in her garage I am getting one in my garage and here's the reason why i'm super stoked about working with sunlight and saunas i love the three-in-one infrared sauna why because sunlight and patented three-in-one technology offers near mid and far infrared in one place for detox energy and weight loss and

much more in the ultimate biohacking tool solo carbon three-in-1 technology offers the highest dose of therapeutic infrared heat, proven 99% effective. Seven preset health programs for detox, weight loss, cardio, anti-aging, pain relief, relaxation, and custom blend. Near infrared LEDs for precise targeting of cell health, anti-aging, and muscle recovery. Android control panel with built-in media apps. You can stream Pandora, watch Netflix, unbelievable Bluetooth compatibility, so you can watch your heart rate, calories burn, listen to barbell shrug in the sauna. So exciting. Energy efficient, low maintenance, single plug-in, and heat design.

So, are you ready to sweat? Sunlighten infrared saunas are the most effective for deep cellular sweating, the key to detoxify and energize your body. Visit www.sunlighten.com. That's www.sunlighten, S-U-N-L-I-G-H-T-E-N.com to check out their far infrared and full spectrum saunas. Mention Barbell Shrug and receive $200 off any home saunas. I'm going to be doing all kinds of Facebook Lives.

If you would like to get your question answered about training, coaching, running a gym, I've been there. I have done that. I would love to answer all your questions. We're going to do it on a bigger stage than just in my DMs or on the Instagrams. So get over to my Instagram at Anders Varner. Hit me with all your questions. We're answering to a week. This brand new little segment that I just coined, Ask AB. Thank you, Sunlight and Saunas for the sauna that's coming to my beautiful garage. I'm going to sweat my butt off in there and i'm gonna do all kinds of fun instagram lives and probably these reads back to the show

matt frazier honey pack like three days ago yeah dude i got sammy ordered one right uh you know she's just running around working all week and uh so she ordered one and she she put it on and she kind of like did like a mom And I was like, you look ridiculous. And then I was like, oh, man, that looks super. Can I get one in hot pink? I was like, that looks super convenient. I think I look ridiculous with it, but it's so practical. It's so stupid, but it's perfect.

I keep nothing in my bag. It's like my quads and ass don't fit into shorts, as it is. And now it's like you put keys knife like wallet phone you carry a knife yeah you're a fucking gangster it was in tennessee i know i i feel like that's somebody has given me a knife as a present i'm like you want me to kill myself like i'm gonna hurt myself just carrying i have i have so manly to carry a knife i probably i have like 10 or 12 like nice knives that it's like, depending on the outfit of what the occasion is,

I have different ones. In SoCal, we don't have to deal with real life things. There's no reason. Everything's concrete, 90 degree edges. Everything is just created. There's no reason for a knife. They made everything nice and easy for us. Dude, we take a five minute break here 15 people roll up to you this is part of life now we're just before the break talking about

how you were kind of see but but it's it's not it's it's foreign to me because it never happens because i see the same people every single day you Yeah. You know, like, I go from my house to across at Mayhem, and I'm usually at Mayhem when it's, like, closed to the public. So it's just TNI training. Yeah. And then I go back to my house. Well, this part of it has got to be somewhat interesting now. Two years later, leaving the training center, you're injured.

You never think you're going to be lifting weights again. And now this rebirth of the fitness thing. Yeah. So, you know the every surgeon i talked to was like oh like sports career's over like you're done uh the surgeon that i ended up working with he he was signed with the olympic association at the time so he worked on all the every big big name professional athlete and uh oh thank you. Sammy's bringing all the waters and Fit Aids and Focus Aids and all the things. Thank you.

Thank you. Keep this train rolling. And so, yeah, he told me he was, I think even he was skeptical about, like, me coming back as a weightlifter. And so, you know, I was told by every surgeon that, like, light jog, maybe. Yeah. But beyond that, you're not doing anything when they're telling you this are you like yeah fucking right like i got this or are you like oh man maybe no i mean i mean when when you're told like hey your back is broken like you know if it were a broken arm

there and they're telling me like yo you can't recover from this a bit yeah all right like i'm going to yeah um but yeah so broke my L5 in two spots. So I lived in a full torso brace. It was from hips to nipples. It looked like a just plastic turtle shell all the way around. It was the most miserable I've ever been because

your lats are hanging over it. So every time you sit in a chair, it's just pinching. Yeah, they didn't design that for someone with lats like you. They built it for the little soft person. It was that slow progression to insanity. I remember

getting in my car, and my car had seats that wrapped a little bit. I remember just getting in there, and it was just like it's not a bad thing, but just a little nip. It was like two months in i remember like just grabbing the steering wheel just like trying to rip it off scream like i literally was perfectly fine got in the car and then just like it was that one millionth and one pinch and just grab a steering

wheel screaming i'm like i can't live like this and it was four months of that and then and then i went back in for another x-ray to see if it fixed it. And they're like, oh, yeah, that brace did nothing. You need surgery now. And I was like, what? Excuse me? Wow. I've been, like, hating my life for four months.

And he was just like, it was just. And now you're just getting started. So routine, so casual. Okay, yeah, the brace didn't work. So now we need to look into surgery. And I was like. And then you probably had to wear it again with the episode. So the one after the surgery was a soft brace.

Okay. And, like, at that point, I wanted to wear a brace because it's like, if I slip and fall, like, I could re-break this thing. Because the surgery I had, it was basically they went in and re-broke the bones. So I didn't get fusion. They went in and re-broke the bones. I didn't get fusion. They went in and rebroke the bones. I was told it's a 50-50 chance of recovery. At age 23, it's a guaranteed not going to work. At age 13, it's a guaranteed fix.

And I was 19, so they're like, we give you maybe 50-50. At 19, they take somebody out of the training center that's at, like, the peak of performance. Like, you'll never be able to run again. Yeah. That's run again. Yeah. That's fucked up. Yeah, it sucked. Body's resilient.

I hate when they hear stories like that. It's like, you're never going to do it again. I'm going to be the fittest in the world. How about that? You watched the video of the surgery. I have a full videotape of the whole surgery. And if I were watching that video, I would have said, yep, no fucking way. It's brutal.

You're just a piece of meat on the table and he's sitting there with the drill just like drilling the bones out like uh he was like retrofitting the plate like i thought it was like a lot more scientific he's literally using black and decker tools drilling out drilling out and then and then the metal plate that he's putting in my back. So there's two in there. And they don't have to look out for nerves or anything around it? I don't know, man. That's for smart people.

I've been in the room for a total knee replacement, standing there watching it. Exactly what you're saying. It's a total ball of surgery. They look like carpenters. They're just sawing things off. So they take this flat piece of metal, and they put it in, see how it fits, and they take it out.

You see him kind of bending it, puts it back in to see if that fits, and then he bends another piece. And then once it sits flush, he just gets his impact wrench and just like. Jesus. Drops in three lags and then goes the other side does the same thing yeah it was it like there's there's part of the video where he's re-breaking the bone so when the bone broke it healed but not back together so the two ends of the bone just got calloused over and they're butted up next to each other so now how's it does that affect you at all

now like when you're working i mean like i might have one day a year where i'm like oh it's kind of achy but it stops me from doing nothing like that's impressive it's yeah in the grand scheme of things no it has no effect had any injuries kind of through the crossfit journey i i blew up my lcl in 2017 at the games. That's pretty unique. And you still won. Yeah, I blew it out on day one. Oh. Yeah, that was.

Hold on, LCL, which one does that do? It's on the side here. Gotcha. So basically when I picked up my leg to the side, my knee just drooped in. Yeah. So that was definitely awkward. Yeah. Surgery on that?

No, it healed healed itself so i just had like three three or four months and like a full like one of those braces with hinges on the side yeah um but yeah it just healed itself and it's back like 100 like 100 secure how have you been able to kind of maintain all the training volume that you have to do and stay injury free i mean are you just um free genetically that you're able to kind of handle it? I mean, I've dealt with the injuries that a lot of people have. You know, like when I was 14 or 15, you know, I tore my meniscus. When I was 18, I broke my back.

2017 games, I tore my LCL. So, you know, I've dealt with injuries. I've just realized, like, I need to put in a lot of time and effort into the rehab, the prehab, warming up, stretching, rolling out, you know. Yeah. Just maintenance work. Just being in the gym and doing stuff. Like, we're lifting a lot of weight. We're doing high skill work. There's very little room for error and uh so i i take that

into account and try to try to do what i can to matt what all the changes going on in crossfit and stuff what's your opinion about a lot of this stuff like the way the it's formatted the the format change um there's a lot of it that i love. You know, you always heard those sob stories in years prior of, like, this person that is a favorite to qualify for the games, and they just happen to get the flu the week of regionals. And so it's like if they're week one of regionals and they get the flu, well, like, all right, you're done. Your season is over.

And I'm sure they're sitting there like, yo, let me compete in california on week three like i'll i'll qualify yeah but i'm just sick right now and something i don't have control over or you know like they took a misstep and twist their ankle yeah it's like dude give me two weeks to heal this and then i'll do the regional workouts i'm not looking for a pass but let me compete later so like there's a soft spot for stuff like that of like these saw these bad stories of just someone was just had a bad stroke of luck and uh so now i i like the idea that uh like when i went to dubai i had five other competitions lined up that if dubai doesn't

go well like two months later i'm competing here if that doesn't go well, a month later, I'm competing here. A month later, I'm competing here. Like I had all of that lined up. Like I had that plan in place. Whereas if I go to regionals and I have a misstep or like something doesn't go right or I just get beat, I have another opportunity, you know? But like when regionals were a thing or like even during the Open, you know, you heard

those stories all the time of like like someone in january had to get elbow surgery and it's like yo your games aren't till august come august i will be one of the fittest and i'll belong at the games but it's like no you didn't qualify in february so you can't you know there's a lot of people like putting off these procedures or doing whatever doing whatever life events they need to do. Yeah. But they can't because they're like, no, I got the Open. Now I have regionals. Then I have the games.

So your offseason was so short. Well, now that you have a long time to prep for the games, how do you attack that differently than what was this six-month season? Are you in it right now or are you kind of down? Honestly, I probably won't change too much of what I'm doing. You know, I went to Dubai because I like taking the earliest opportunity, getting it done, so I have that security plan in place. So I was always planning on doing the Open,

and now we found out the Open qualifying spots trump the sanctional qualifying spots. So it's like, okay, good. I was planning on doing the open anyways. So hopefully I get a qualifying spot out of there, whether it's top 20 or national championship. Who knows? But, yeah, you know, my offseason probably won't change too much. You know, I have a little more time to do, like, a longer strength cycle or a longer endurance cycle, that type of thing. But I'm planning on still competing in, was in march or or may no it may uh at the rogue event cool so

that'll be that'll be super fun yeah i mean it's just rogue doing rogue things well they have that like the the legends event yeah so you know they're doing i think they're doing 10 invite spots and 10 qualified spots for the elite division then they're doing, I think they're doing 10 invite spots and 10 qualified spots for the elite division. Then they're doing the legends event, which I am so psyched about. I'm stoked on that too. Like, a lot of the guys were the guys that, like, helped me out my rookie year. Like, they knew my 2014 was their last year. And so a lot of those guys, like, they hold the spot in me. Like, the type of thing now, I'm like, we haven't talked in three years,

but you did something for me way back when when you had nothing to gain. I'll do whatever I can to help you. And I stay in touch with some of them. Always love interacting with them. And, like, I'll always hold that close to me of, like, how nice they were to me early on. Who's one of those guys? Like, when you first got there and you're this young kid and you're like, I don't even know what the hell I'm doing here.

So Chris Spieler, he was just so amazing to me. You know, I think it was early, early on in the game's week. I think it was just like a small comment of like, hey, if you need to know where anything is or like you need to be introduced to anyone give me a shout i was like oh thank you like that's and and he was one of the names that i knew like uh he was on the cover of a crossfit magazine and it was on on our coffee table in the gym and so it's like i saw him every day i'm like dude he's on the cover of a magazine this dude's famous gotta be awesome yeah uh so he he did you think he was like a huge guy like oh spieler i can't no you're like oh you're tiny little guy no i so i competed against him in one of my first big meets and that was the first time

i met him uh but he was just he had nothing to gain from helping out a competitor yeah and then it was the day after the games uh we like my whole family and I were going out for breakfast, and we bumped into him, and he pulled me aside and was like, hey, shit's about to change. You're about to get offers, stuff like that. And so it was he and Kalipa were both great to me with, like, if you get a contract and you want someone to look at it, or you want to know if that's fair market value, if they're trying to like rip you off or whatever um they they were both great to me um basically just

wanted to help uh to make sure i wasn't getting screwed over or like i need to get in contact with someone they they were like here's my contact info you stay in touch some of the stuff that's really cool about that you're kind of one of the rich towards the end of his individual but you walked into this thing and it was like business on day one i mean once you won it the sport had already developed to a point where it's like you could become a professional and those guys were kind of the grinders before that had to figure it all out so there's great people yeah they're the guys that develop the sport. You know, and I've always stayed in close touch with Kalipa. Not close.

We're not, like, Skyping every day. But probably, like, once a month, I'll get a random text from Kalipa of, like, hey, how's it going? He does that. He got one, too. And I was like, man, I feel so cool right now. Just genuinely nice. Yeah.

Why were you thinking of me? So stupid. You have things to do and then the the other one that like i idolized when i started was uh tommy hackenbrook he was like he was one of like he he was a bit different than the typical crossfitter because like he came from like that super competitive football background and so like that friendly trash talking was part of it. And I remember it was one of the first events. I didn't know who he was really. I knew who he was, but he and I are chirping each other back and forth,

so that was just immediate fun right away. And even still, I'll get a random chirp from him of just Tommy Hackenbrook shit talking. It's like, I can't say anything back. The dude will eat me, you know? He's just a huge human. Is that a big part of training cookbook, by the way, like the trash talk, friendly trash talk in the gym? Between T and I.

Oh, yeah? Yeah, but besides that, nothing. Why do you think that doesn't exist in the sport? Because it's friendly banter at the end of the day. Oh, no, it happens now. I hear a lot of it. Is there anyone that's actually really good at it? You hear them talk trash and you can't stop laughing?

Savan said you're the best. And if Savan says it, he's around everyone. He knows. There's a few names where I'm like Savan. But Savan, when he says it, you're like, Frazier's the best. Trump card. Championships. I'm in full support of, like, Valner and I.

We'll trip each other back and forth. You know, like, we stay in contact. And we'll trip each other back and forth between the two of us. If someone, like, posts a video on Instagram doing it, I'm like, all right, you're fucking dead to me. I'm like, we're doing that because we're friends. I don't want to start that trash talking on a public level. It's too easy. That's not my vibe.

I don't want anything to do with it. Let's show up and work. But the guys that I'm close with, it was the whole week at the games was last year. It was basically Vellner, Fikowski, and I. We're just together in a group the entire week. Our warm up in the athlete area are right next to each other we're in the corrals next to each other the entire week like you know we're just at each other's hips whether we like it or not and so like yeah we were constantly constantly chirping each other but but

it was because we're friends if someone that's not my friend comes up and starts trash-talking, I'm not going to be laughing at the end. Like, no. Is there anything that, I guess, with you guys all battling it out so close together in the top three or four every year, are you guys cool talking training? Or is there some, like, secretive pieces to that of, like? Day-to-day training, we don't really talk too much about.

You know, like no matter how much we like each other, we're competitors. Yeah. Like whoever's the best is getting the paycheck. Yeah. But so like perfect examples, like this year going into regionals or, yeah, 2018 regionals, a lot of these workouts are coming out, and I was doing them with Dre, who's on Mayhem. But, you know, I'm like, okay, Dre and I are doing these, but, like, are these good times? I don't know.

And so I'm texting Vellner, and, you know, we're kind of both, like, beating around the bush. We don't really know. We're feeling each other. And Vellner was finally like, yo, man, we're not competing not competing against each other anymore like we don't have to hide our times yeah and then we just like listed them out like he sent me a text with like event one two three four like his time his time his time notes with each one i sent him the exact same thing back and then basically after regionals like we're like we're enemies now like we're competition now so like we're not sharing times anymore but going into regionals we're enemies now. We're in competition now. It's done. We're not sharing times anymore.

But going into regionals, we're not competing against each other. Yeah. So who cares? Like, let's just help each other out. Yeah. And even on the competition floor at the games, who knows what's coming. So it's kind of like a – you want someone to show up and bring their A game. So, yeah, at the games, I think a big reason why there's still, like, friends in the sport is because there's no physical contact. You know, like, any other sport.

Castro, where are you at? Any other sport where, like, there's physical contact where it's like, yo, you just took a cheap shot on me. Like, you know, like, you got a football player trying to bend someone's knee backwards. I don't care if you're his buddy or not. You're going to be pissed at him. If you need an enforcer, I know some people.

Vellner, back up. You're too close. But it's like, dude, like, you could have ended my career by doing that cheap shot. I'm going to fucking hurt you on the next play. Yeah. In CrossFit, like, it doesn't matter what Vellner's doing in his lane. It doesn't affect me in my lane. And so we're able to still have that camaraderie and be buddies.

Well, I always say, like, people always talk about what's the evolution of crossfit and i was saying well what if it mixed with something like american gladiators what if you were doing something where you guys are starting to go head to head i remember one year at the world's strongest man competition they put in sumo wrestling really like? I don't remember that. That was wild. Dude, these hulks of men are grabbing each other and just like, I don't know if you've ever seen a 440-pound man get flat spun out of a ring. Just tossed, and you're like, what? That would be sick.

It was crazy. I think that was the only time they ever did that. Immediately, they were like, this is not smart. I could see you guys jousting up there. It's like finals of the CrossFit Games. It's like a jousting call. Well, there has to be some way that they kind of do the survival of the fittest in there. If we have a pyramid or a match play.

Bracket style wrestling. I'm sure you're getting so many like, now that, you know, you got these titles and you're three years in here, people are probably offering you the craziest shit, like WWE contracts and stuff like that. No, not quite like that. You know, I've been asked to be on American Ninja Warrior

like a dozen times. The Rock just came out with a show. Yeah, what about this? I got asked to be on that. It's an easy payday, I feel like. I don't know. Do you get paid? I don't know.

I think they do get paid. I think they get paid something. They got to get paid something. They got to get something. It's a huge network. I think that's one of those situations where they know, hey, we're a huge network. Part of it? You want to be on our show.

Yeah, that's true. Yeah, so I got asked to do those, and I just have zero interest in doing something like that. If Cookville's your home, L.A. definitely is not your home. Dude. L.A. is hell. Everyone. Everyone. When I said I was moving to Cookville, I bought a house.

People were like, oh, you're moving to little old Cookville? I'm like, dude, the population here is like three times the town I live in, Vermont. I'm moving to the big city, guys. Give me a house. People are like, oh, you're moving to little old Cookville? I'm like, dude, the population here is like three times the town I live in, Vermont. I'm moving to the big city, guys. Give me a minute. I'm like, yo, they got a Walmart and a Target. And the clientele is unbelievable. It's hard to get you out of New England, though, when you're there. What do you mean?

Well, I mean, I have tons of buddies from – I went to high school in Massachusetts. And, like, to get them to go anywhere besides, like, Boston or their town within 30 miles of Boston, it's hell. They don't ever leave. Because there's no such thing as a direct flight. I remember the first time I took a direct flight, I had to go from somewhere in Florida to Atlanta. And I remember I had TSA pre-checked for the first time. And so, like, and I didn't check a bag.

So it was literally just walk in, like, 10 minutes before your flight and just, like, right on the plane, up, like, 30-minute flight, up, down, and then you get off and I was, it was so easy.

I was like, wait, was that it? Like, is that our whole trip? I don't have to go get my bag? Because flying out of Vermont, unless you're flying to JFK, there's no such thing as a direct flight. So it was wild to have that experience and be like, yeah, that's just the airport situation, man. And good luck driving in Boston.

Have you ever seen the aerial view shot of New York City? It's a perfect grid system. Because we want you to know where you're going. And that's an aerial view of Boston. And it and it was like because fuck you that's why actually i heard about boston that they actually they took the the cow paths before we had cars and they just laid roads over the old cow wouldn't surprise me at all no it everything's built in almost like a circle and then there's different lines. If it wasn't fucked up enough, and then they put it all underground. That just ruined people. I was there when the big dig was happening, and it was like, oh, man, these people are not friendly, and they don't like this.

Well, it was like that project, the tunnel going underground, is like the most corrupt construction project in the history of the world. It was like, I forget the numbers, but it was something astronomical. Like, it wasn't like a 20% increase in price. It was like the price tripled. As it progressed? Yeah. I feel like that's the only place that mafia is still relevant. It's like the Irish mafia.

It's still pretty relevant right now in Boston. Yeah. At this point in your career, do you get nervous prior to competition? Like, do you sit there and ruminate and worry about things, or is it just like you're still cold about it? I dry heave before every event. Do you? I'm an insecure nerve, balling nerves the week before.

So, you know, that support system, that's where they come in and take care of me, and, like, they prop me up while I'm not doing it myself. But if you're dry heaving, you're nervous, are you able to eat enough to feel fueled to perform at your best? Oh, yeah. So it's like as we're in the corrals, I go to the back of the corral. I give myself a little pep talk. I say the things I say to myself before every event. And then it's like I'll usually dry heave, just a quick little throw up,

and then it's like stomach is solid and good to compete. What do you say to yourself? Am I sharing that? Is that top secret? Yeah. I mean, it's nothing crazy. It's just a little prayer I say to myself. I analyze the situation, realize what I have control over and and how i'm going to take control of that and uh

you know basically it's that effort effort is a decision you know on how much do i want to apply myself to this workout am i willing to hurt am i willing to go and uh realizing going over like you know i i can't i don't have control on if I have a good ref or a very stingy ref, and so it's just accepting this ref could make me pause at the top of every ref on thrusters, and it's like I just have to accept that. You know, I can't change that situation. So stuff like that. Yeah.

You and Ben work on that a lot? Like the only focus on things you can control? Yeah, I mean, that's a big thing that we did. So I haven't worked with Ben in probably a year, year and a half. Okay. You know, like we're still friends. The split there, there's no real story behind it. Like I saw him yesterday for the first time since I moved to Cookville.

It was a big hug. He sat down at dinner with us, catching up, asking how the kids are and that type of thing. I haven't been coached by him in a while, but when I did, a lot of it was that exact thing. Who's writing a lot of your weightlifting programs? I do all my own weightlifting stuff yeah um you know that that's just a department that that was my career for 10 years

you know better than most and so so i'm comfortable when i when i find a weakness in my weightlifting i'm i'm comfortable correcting it um when when it was something like uh i wanted to work on on my power lifting uh and you know that's something that i'm like i did olympic weightlifting i have when it was something like, I wanted to work on my powerlifting. And you know, that's something that I'm like, I did Olympic weightlifting. I have no idea how to work on my powerlifting. And I literally just like put the feelers out there of like, hey, who's the best in the world?

And who's willing to help? And so Chad Wesley from Juggernaut, he helped me out there. Those guys have some of the coolest stories. Dude, that. Max, training back in. Yeah. That's wild times.

You guys interviewed him? We did. Yeah, Chad, like, dude, this dude, he sent me, like, deadlift accessory work. And, like, he sent me, like, a lot of deadlift programming, but he sent me this list of deadlift accessory work. And one of the things, I didn't know what it was. it was and so i'm like hey can you explain this or whatever he's like i'm in the gym i'll send you a video of it so you know you can see what to do this fucking guy is doing so like my weights on these are like maybe like 225 250 for like my heavy sets type thing. He sends me a video.

He's in like deck shoes and like regular like dicky shorts. And he's looking at the camera. He has 405 on and he's talking to the camera as he's going through with 405. And I was like, all right, like you are way more manly. What are you doing? It was just like a variation of the deadlift, but just to activate different muscles and to kind of trigger staying on your heels or whatever he was looking for.

I couldn't fathom doing this exercise with 315, and he's just talking through a 405. The 20-rep back squat program, I assume you've done this in your life fuck no i've never done that that is so dumb um he came out to a competition one day and they were selling the whole thing of like chad's gonna do a 20 rep back squat with 500 pounds and i watched him do it and he could have done 30. Yeah. He could have done 35. There was just 500 pounds was 225 to him. Yeah.

Like it just meant nothing. Yeah. Weight, it's so weird when you're around people or like you see people are like, oh, we don't have, we're talking about lifting weights, but it's so different. Like we can't be in the same conversation because he's different like he's just one of those guys like it's the the same thing as like when you hear the stats of the guys at strongman like brian shaw yeah was he six foot eight 440 he posted a picture of himself on a plane the other day yeah yeah next to that woman and he's terrified he flies economy oh dude did you watch the andre the giant documentary yes where they showed him on the plane? You're like, how miserable must your life be being 7'4", or whatever it is, and 500 pounds. Like, you can't live.

You can't go to the bathroom on the plane. No, but even if they weren't first class. You can't get on the plane. Even if you weren't first class, it's still too small for you. But, yeah, like, Chad's one of those guys that, like, you see his height and weight, and you're like, oh, it's a big guy. But, like, you can't comprehend it because, like, you've never seen it. Like, you see how big he is, and you're like, who made you?

What does your mom look like? Were you a 15-pound baby? Dude, it's like all the Anderson brothers. Oh, yeah. Where did they come from? Dude, that poor mother. Their mother is the tiniest, most petite woman. And then she just plopped out these five monstrosities of sons.

And then they have a sister that's built just like this petite little. What genetics are they floating around in that family? They're all just monsters. One of my favorite stories was I went alex's house for dinner one night and uh and he was like dude this is like the moon's aligning because uh he's like all my siblings are home like we haven't all been in the same place at the same time in like years and uh so i walk in and alex like like gets in the house and just like takes off his shirt sits on the couch and then ZA comes in who's the biggest brother he's like hey Fraser like hug takes off his shirt

sits on the couch and then three more that are built just like them all come in what's up man take off the shirt and like I'm sitting there it's a sectional couch and they're all just huge human beings they're all like half laying on each other just I'm sitting there, it's a sectional couch, and they're all just huge human beings. They're all, like, half laying on each other. I'm like, I've never seen this many abs in one place at one time. They're all super athletic, too. Crazy. It's wild. I've heard you mention a couple times in interviews that you,

in this CrossFit space, like, you're here to compete. And the coaching thing, like, you're not coming out with some online programming, and that side of things doesn't really interest you. Has that changed at all? I mean, I think, so while I'm still competing, I'm competing. I dedicate all my time, you know, I pass up a lot of, I'm assuming, what would be lucrative opportunities. Yeah. Because I want to focus.

Yeah, I don't want to half-ass two things. I want to whole-ass one thing. And so competing, that's what I focus my time and energy on. You know, who knows what I'll be doing in another couple years. If you ask me six years ago, what are you going to be doing in six years? You'll be world champion at working out. I'm in a brace right now. I don't know if that's possible. I mean, not even that.

It was just like I had no interest in doing CrossFit, competing in CrossFit and now my life literally revolves around it. Who's to say what will happen in three to five years or whatever? I did start writing down all my training

the last year and a half which through my entire weightlifting career i never wrote down what i did a single time through my first four years in crossfit i never wrote down a single workout uh this year was the last season and a half where the first times i kept journals dated it everything i did so i left that door open is that annoying to you now i hate doing it yeah but i know like if down the road i know there's a possibility to make something cool out of that so i was like i i may i may do it i may not do it but at least the door's open and the opportunity's there yeah so we'll love it hey man this has been really cool yeah thank you guys for

having me yeah we've been uh i don't know, we're going to get out to Cokeville, but Miami's pretty sweet too, so I appreciate your time. Yeah, this event is so. Have you done this one before? I've never competed here. I've never been here. This is the first time you've done any or had to do any of these, like, I guess they're legit now, but kind of the side off-season competitions.

Now they're in season. Yeah, I used to do a ton of off-season competitions. Now they're in season. Yeah, I used to do a ton of off-season competitions. Wadapalooza is one that I just didn't like some of the stuff going on, so I just avoided it. But then now with this, this is the first time I've been to a competition just to hang out. Yeah. So it's been a crazy experience for me

because usually before the Games 4 regionals, I get a ton of texts from friends and people traveling in. Hey, we're going to be there. I'm like, all right, thank you for coming. I appreciate the support, but I'm not going to see you. Yeah. And so I got here on Monday, and I've just been nonstop all day every day

hanging out with all these people that I've been meaning to hang out with for the last six years. So it's just awesome catching up. How do you handle all of that? That's a lot of energy out when usually I assume you have pretty good barriers up around you to protect you from that. Because I know it's ending tomorrow, I'm just like, I'm going to ride this until the wheels fall off. I think if I were here for longer, I would probably be ending my days at 8 p.m. so I have some quiet time before bed. But the last four or five days, it's been getting back to the room.

We're throwing a party on Sunday night if you want to blow it all out. Monday, you're like, no, no more talking. I'm hitting Vegas. I'm going to a shot show in Vegas on Sunday. Nice. So that's another. Meeting up with some friends down there just to do some cool stuff, hang out. Bring a camera and make it happen.

Right on, man. Where can people find you? All that fun stuff. You can find me on Podiums. Just drop it right there. Where can people find you? Podiums. I think the one I use Where can people find you? Podiums. I think the one I use the most is Instagram, Matthew Fraz, Matthew with one T,

and then basically, yeah. Kenny Santucci. Same place, Kenny Santucci. Not as interesting as Matt's, but it's up there. Strong New York. Yeah. Promote Strong New York. Tell the people about it.

Oh, yeah. It's a little event I came up with. Promote Strong New York. Tell the people about it. Oh, yeah. It's a little event I came up with. We do in New York. We always support a charity, so we try to raise some money for charity. The next one we're going to do, we're going to try to raise somewhere between $12,000 and $15,000. Beautiful. I'm looking to do something with the kids, something for the kids this time. I like it.

Yeah. Last time we did the Alzheimer's Association, and, you know, obviously we had you guys out there. Barbell Shrug was out there. Beautiful time. Killer event. Can't wait to come back. Yeah. So we're going to do some more.

Maybe we'll get Matt out there. He can come speak and chat with the people in New York. Do you ever get out to New York much? God, no. Cookville to New York is a big jump. Like New York City? Yeah. Oh, no.

You won't see me there ever. Have you ever been? Yeah. Oh, yeah. That's how I me there ever. Have you ever been? Yeah. Oh, yeah. That's how I know. I always say I'm a city guy. Just like you were saying about L.A. I can't do L.A.

Basically, if I pull up to a stoplight and there's more than three cars deep, I'm like, I'm over this. Traffic. Yeah. Traffic. Yeah, but check out Strong New York. Yeah. It was an awesome event.

Everybody should go and check it out. Doug Larson. Right on. Yep. Catch me on Instagram as well, Douglas E. Larson. Also got my own site, Doug Larson Fitness. Barbell Shrugged every Wednesday. All things Shrugged Collective.

Yeah. I'm Anders Varner, at Anders Varner. Get into Shrugged Collective. iTunes, YouTube, subscribe, like, leave a positive comment. I don't care if it's negative. I'm going to read it and laugh at you anyway. So we'll see you guys next week. Shrugged family, that's a wrap.

So stoked I got to hang out with Matt Frazier. Matt Frazier, if you are listening, thank you. There is this really cool thing that happens on Barbell Shrugged. When Barbell Shrugged was first started, they used to go hang out at Rich Froning's house because they were in Memphis. Froning was in Cookville. You could take a little road trip, go get a bunch of cool footage,

interview the champ, all the things. Interviewing the champ is kind of like a rite of passage on Barbell Shrugged. Man, you were the first one I got to interview, and I'm so stoked about it, and I'm very appreciative. Thank you to the Shrugged family. Once again, 2019, we're smashing things. The lineup right now is so hot. We're just entering the Wadapalooza phase. Make sure you get over to our sponsors, Organifi.com forward slash shrugged.

Use coupon code shrugged to save 20% on the shrugged stack. The green, the red, and the gold. Sunlight and saunas. Get over to sunlighton.com and mention Barbell Shrugged to save $200. Also, get into my DMs. Shoot me the questions. Best questions we're answering to a week. Each week on Shrugged.

Sponsored by our sponsors. Because that's who sponsors things. And make sure you take a screenshot. Tag me at Anders Varner. Hit me with the hashtag. Go long. The shows are smashing. I'm freaking loving it.

We have so many cool things to announce in the coming weeks. And I am so grateful for all of you for tuning in and being a part of this ride. Thank you. We'll see you on Wednesday.