Barbell Shrugged - Persistence of a Fanboy w/ Herky Garcia — Real Chalk #66

Episode Date: February 26, 2019

In this week's episode I sit down with a fan boy named Herky Garcia (@herkygarcia). Herky emailed me back in 2015 to work and train at my gym. I said no. He continued to stay persistent and even came down for a visit one weekend and asked me again in person. I said no again. Eventually he decided to just move to Orange County and gamble on this dream of working out at CHALK and hanging out with one of his idols (me). Fast forward to today and he not only has a job here, but we consistently have sit downs where I give him motivating talks and try to teach him as much as I can. The reason I think this show is so great is because like Herky, there’s a ton of people out there reaching out to their idols and trying to make a move like this. In this episode Herky tells me how he had several living situation mishaps while being here including a few weeks where he slept in his car and even the gym. He asks me questions that he’s always wanted to know and I also answer a few questions off of social media. If you’ve ever been a fan of me or anyone else in this space and wondered what it would be like to drop everything and move, then this is the show for you.   Enjoy! -Ryan ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Show notes: http://www.shruggedcollective.com/rc-garcia ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Please support our sponsors: @sunlighten:www.sunlighten.com "ShruggedCollective" for $200 off + free shipping   ► 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

Ladies and gentlemen, I have such a special episode for you this week. We're going to be sitting down with Mr. Herky Garcia, someone who shot me an email in 2015 telling me, I'm going to go to the CrossFit Games and I need you to help me. Not only that, but he wanted to work here. He wanted to work out here. He wanted to be around me and be mentored by me and all these things. And I get a lot of messages like this and I read them and sometimes I write back depending on how long it is. And sometimes I don't write back, but he got

a response from me. It wasn't good. I said, no, you can't come out. I don't have anything for you here. And I don't really have time to be a mentoring anybody, but he kept at it every year. He would just write me again and write me again and write me again. I didn't necessarily remember that it was him every time but he came and visited one time and we worked out together and he started to tell me, hey, I've messaged you a few times

and blah, blah, blah and he showed me the messages and we talk about it on the show and he just like stayed really, really persistent and eventually he just felt like this was the place for him and he moved out.

Didn't necessarily have everything lined up job wise, stay wise, all that stuff. And he's just living in the moment and making it work. And I think it's so applicable to so many people out there who may or may not be in this place in their life where they're ready to make some serious changes and they're scared to do it. And there's someone out there that they idolize and they really want to be mentored by this person. And it's not to say that you should go and just like move to this place and do what he's doing. But I think it's just an incredibly motivating story to hear because he's actually doing something that is so, so rare. And he's really just following his dreams and to see where they go and to be on this road to, you know, the mystery of what is in front of him.

We never know what is in front of us. But if we love something, I have always all for you doing what you love and trying to figure it out in the process. And I'm really excited for him. And I'm happy that he's part of my gym now. And I'm happy I get to see him all the time. He's got a great presence and he's very good with people. So if you guys follow CrossFit Chalk, he's doing a lot of the stories all the time. He's really, really funny. He's always having just great banter with all the other coaches and he's just a great guy to have around. So you guys are about to hear him in a minute. Before we hit the show, I want to hit our sponsor for the show,

which is Sunlighten. Sunlighten is the people, they are the people, who create these saunas that you can have in your house. And it's the infrared saunas. So not the super, super crazy hot, but the light bulbs that create the hotness. So these infrared saunas are really creating

quite a craze in the world right now. Even Joe Rogan has one in his house. I actually have one in my house now. Thank you to Sunlighten. I have one in my garage, and I sit there every day for 15 minutes. The studies have shown that just 15 minutes a day in one of these infrared saunas, this is mind-blowing to me, can decrease your total mortality rate by 40%. That's a four zero. That means of all the shit in the world that could potentially kill you, this is going to decrease that by 40%. Having a sauna for 15 minutes a day,

an infrared sauna specifically, is decreasing your mortality rate by 40%. Literally, if I didn't say anything else about sunlight and saunas or infrared saunas in general, that would be enough for me to be like, I'm in. Totally, totally in. But not only that, these things are really great if you need better sleep, a little bit better relaxation, you're into the detox stuff. It's definitely aids in weight loss, relief from sore muscles, which we all have like pretty much on the reg. And it's great for some of you who have like minor arthritis and a little bit of joint pain, stuff like that. It can even help improve just overall circulation. Well, not help. It definitely

does help improve overall circulation. and it can clear and tighten up your skin as well because it has all these different things going on with the lights and the heat that's creating different types of proteins in your body, mainly your shock proteins. So when you're in this type of heat, your body's not really sure if you're like in the middle of the desert in Dubai or you're actually just inside of a box in the middle of a gym in Orange County, you know? So your body is creating, or the sauna is creating this atmosphere and your body is creating these shock proteins to help aid in your body's ability to survive in that environment. So while that's going on, you're creating these extra life factors in your body and

you're creating just these exogenous factors into your body that normally would not be there if you weren't in this type of environment. Another thing that is very, very important is the blood flow factor, which we talked about. So if your body has better blood flow, you're going to recover faster. You're going to have better oxygen uptake. You're going to be able to lift more. You're going to be able to have better cardio, like all these different things. So another thing about the 15 minutes a day, 15 minutes is like super easy, by the way, you can check your Instagram in 15 minutes while you're in this thing.

Just after 14 days, your endothelial cell lining in your arteries is increased by 40% as well. That number 40 is just following us around. So in 14 days, you are creating significant increase in your blood lining. So between that and the mortality rate, it's insanely worth it. And you don't have to get one of these massive, humongous saunas. They have one person ones that are really inexpensive. And you could just put it like in your room, you could put it in the garage like I have mine, and you can pretty much put them anywhere. They're really, really mobile, and they just plug into the wall. For anybody who is a Shrugged listener, it's Shrugged Collective, capital S-H-R-U-G-G-E-D, capital C-O-L-L-E-C-T-I-V-E, Shrugged Collective. Very basic.

You guys follow that on iTunes, so that's easy to spell. You get $200 off and free shipping. Can you imagine how much money it would cost to ship a freaking sauna? So that's got to be worth it in itself. I'm not exactly sure what the shipping is, but it's got to be expensive. And then it's sunlighten.com. So www.sunlighten.com. So you guys go to sunlighten.com, check out the saunas. I've had mine now for about six weeks and I do absolutely love it.

I have a huge five person one in my garage. So we just have like little chalk parties inside the infrared sauna and people just have like access codes to my garage now and they just roll up and hop in the sauna, and everyone has been really, really digging it. I don't know if anybody can actually feel their 40% less mortality rate, but you definitely feel like you're doing something that's pretty awesome for your body. The relaxation part of it is insane. So without further ado, let's get into the show with Mr. Herky Garciacia the original fan boy who is now part of the chalk nation part of the fam and gets to hang out with me on the reg dreams do come true if you chase them down so here we go let's do it all right chalk nation we are back i'm hanging out right

now in my kitchen with a man named herky garcia herky garcia is someone who emailed me. Is it 2015? 2015, dude. In 2015. And he said, Hey, actually, do you have the email? I do. I do. So in 2015, I was, I mean, I'm young, but I was extra young. How old were you in 2015? Uh, what are in? 19. So four years ago, 19, 18, 19. 18, 19 years old. So the first message that I sent to you, basically telling you I want to be the greatest in the world. Can you help me out with that? Yeah.

And what'd I say? I wrote you this long thing, this like half a page email and you're like, are you close to me? I was like, okay, well I got a response, so I'll go with that. Did you write it back again? Yeah, I was telling you about how I was living in Fresno, and then I'm sure that was like, eh. I didn't write anything back. So then two years later, that was when I hit you back up.

All right, so like many people out there, I get a lot of messages. And basically people tell me, you know, I want to come out there. I want to move there. I want to learn from you. I want to be at your gym. I want to this. I want that. I mean, being on social media and having a bunch of followers,

and I don't have like an overwhelming, ridiculous amount, but 150,000 still, I get about 200 direct messages a day on Instagram. I get, actually Herky helps me with emails right now. He knows I get, 200 direct messages a day on Instagram. I get – actually, Herky helps me with emails right now. He knows I get – Yeah, it's quite busy. I didn't realize how busy you were until – And he's just managing one email account for me right now, and I have three. And it's just a lot of messages, a lot of emails.

So if you guys get a message back from me, be stoked. Basically, I try to go through these messages as fast as I can. The longer the message, the less likely I am to respond. Cause it's like, it's just, it's a really long, long time for me to read that. And I'm trying to fire through like potentially like 50 or 60 at a time. So Herky did email me, uh, and, and message me multiple times and then basically told me he wanted to come out here. And then he actually did show up one day. And then when he showed up, he was like, oh, hey, I'm this guy. And I'm like, oh, yeah, cool.

So I didn't really know who he was. And then he kept asking me for a job. And then basically I was like, no, no, no, I don't have anybody. I mean I don't have any positions available. And then one day he messaged me and he's like hey man i just want you to know that i'm moving out there like regardless i listened to one of your episodes and it just really motivated me and i'm coming i'm doing it and i was like well cool like i don't dislike the guy i just don't have any work for him so he moved out and against all odds of you know someone saying no he decided to

say fuck it and come out and i i commend him for that because a lot of us never really get anywhere without having to do stuff like that and i think a lot of us are scared to do stuff like that and you should be at times uh but it doesn't mean that you shouldn't do it and you can't do it so what was that moment like for you to just be like, fuck it, I'm going? And I know that you lied to your parents and said you had a job. I did. So let's talk about that. I lied. So, well, okay, I went into the mindset with it of to do something super awesome or to be great, you got to lock yourself in that lion's cage and close the door behind you.

Like there's no going out. So moving out here was, like, that lion's cage for me. And, yeah, I told my parents and, like, close family members, you know, I was like, oh, no, like, I got a job. Like, he's, it's all set. I start Monday, whatever. Well, I had moved out there Monday, but I had moved out there with like some cash in my pocket and no job. Luckily I had a place to stay though. A friend of mine, friend of family was super gracious.

Let me stay at their place for a while. And yeah, they were super awesome. So I had a place to sleep for. It was like a month and a half. Yeah. And then till like the end of December, was it two months? Cause I had then to like the end of December.

Or was it two months? Well, because I had come out at the end of October. Uh-huh. November, December. And then December rolled around. That wasn't a hop. At the end of December, I was like, oh, shit. Because I had to... So I was moving out.

Super great. The people I was living with, super awesome. I wouldn't be here, honestly, if it wasn't for that originally. Well, I was supposed to move into another place, and things went south with that, basically, and I just wasn't able to. So it was Christmas time. I had just moved out of my place, and I was going home for like a week because I was gone, and... Your car exploded. car exploded oh my god I forgot

about that yeah and your car exploded so I had this 97 Honda stick shift civic and uh yeah on the grapevine it uh it just wanted to take a dump which sucked so no car at the moment not a lot of cash not a lot of cash now I need a new place to live too. Yeah. My grandpa actually, super awesome, gracious guy, helped me out with the car. And then, but again, still no place to live. I got a car. My hips were honestly, to be honest with you, I was like, well, I'm not going home.

And it wasn't even a bad situation as far as like i had money in my pocket you know what i'm saying like i i could eat things like that but i was like damn like i really don't have a place to stay right now and i remember getting off of work one time and like and i was like where the hell am i going right now so i went to the beach and i got some mcdonald's and then i don't think you know this but i legit slept in my car for like two weeks oh shit i actually didn't know that yeah um take it one step further hopefully i'm not getting fired after this but i actually slept at the gym one time i slept on the couch in the kids room it's fine and this is news to everybody

but and i was like and okay god this is gonna get so embarrassing right now it's fine and this is news to everybody but and i was like and okay god this is gonna get so embarrassing it's totally fine don't worry about it but i've done much worse it was like i set my alarm for like 3 30 um because i knew that the mic was coming in the next day obviously not till like you know class around five but i was like i have no idea what time mike comes in it's like i'm going to be out of there way early. And my plan was literally to come around the corner and then drive up to Jim and be like, oh, hey, Mike. Like I got here at five too. But I don't know.

I missed my alarm or something. Oh, because I had to wait until the cleaning crew came out. Well, the cleaning crew doesn't get out until like, I don't know, 11-ish. So I was definitely kind of tired by then, whatever, knockout. Missed my alarm and I wake up to the sound of Mike coming in the door. But just in that situation, I was like, oh, damn, like, this isn't great right now. Mike ended up not seeing me. I think, like, class started, and I kind of just chilled out for, like, 10 minutes, walked out of the door, and yeah, like just nobody noticed.

Yeah. Smooth move. Yeah. So thank you for that. But we do have a place to live, so we're good. Yeah, now we got a place to live, and now we have a job at the gym. Exactly. So the way the job at the gym came was this girl, Emily, who was working for me, she just had a lot on her plate,

and I just felt like with Herky getting there at that time and he really needed a job and I liked him and I wanted to help him out, she needed to take some stuff off of her plate, which I think it was appropriate at the time. So I just kind of slid him into her position. Not going to lie, he wasn't very good at it in the beginning. And I was like, oh, my God, I think I'm going to fire him pretty soon. But I think I actually told him. Yeah, no, you texted me and then I was like, oh shit. I went on a trip and I came back and I heard that he worked out when he wasn't supposed to. And he wasn't getting stuff done the way I wanted to.

And I was like, all right, just so you know, I'm going to look for somebody else. And in that time, if you happen to surprise me, you can keep your job. But other than that, you got to go. So, I mean, that's just one of the tough decisions that happens as as being a business owner it sucks and you have to be a dick to people that you like but for your business to thrive you have to do it um think to the pace though we're still here yeah yeah doing a lot better now so what was it like basically to make that move because like right now for everybody who's listening right now there's a lot of you guys out there like this is the type of move that you want to do right like

you want to move to a gym that you've like you've aspired to want to go to and work out at for a long time maybe there's someone there you look up to and you're just like oh i would do anything to be there so herky fucking did that right so now that you've made that move you've overcome a couple obstacles right now. You're not at the point in your life where you're looking back and you're like, all right, I needed to do all this so I can get here. You're in the middle of it right now, which is really, really cool. And I was there at one point and a lot of us have been there at one point. But what's important is what you're learning at this time right now. So since you've been here, you had this vision of

what it was like to be at the gym. You had this vision of what Ryan's my life was like that whole time. You're like, oh, I bet he's like doing this or this and like this and this. Like, yeah, I definitely I definitely had some like thoughts. You probably thought I was like having a lot more fun than I'm actually having. For sure. You probably thought there wasn't as many emails as there actually was even close. And then, I mean, you probably thought i worked out a lot

more than i actually do a hundred percent yeah and uh yeah so like what's it like now and then and then just business-wise like i'm sure you see me do things you're like oh man that was rad like or i can't believe like that happened or whatever so like what's it like now you're like you're here you're observing you're trying to learn as much as you can. This is potentially one of the best teaching moments of your life. You're watching someone build a huge business and all these other little side things, and you're helping. So you're really getting a first-class seat. So what's it like? Let's talk about it.

What would you want to tell everybody else? I'm here, and this is what I'm seeing, and this is what drives me. This is the motivation I'm here and this is what I'm seeing and this is what like well this is what this is what drives me this is the motivation I'm getting I think it has to do a lot with um I mean I appreciate the hell out of my mom and I definitely want to make like my mom happy and things like that and not that this is her happiness or anything like that but you know I want to do well in life obviously and that has a lot to do with my mom um same but for me yeah my mom's dope and so since being out here it's just been i didn't want i didn't realize like how much on the go you are that was like that was huge i mean i figured obviously you did stuff you know and you traveled but it's go go go like something's constantly happening with ryan fisher yeah even if i'm

not at the gym i'm probably at home just like and so what i think or whatever 100 and so when i like when i saw that i was like damn i lay in bed for an hour when i get up you know like i mean i'm sure you do that every now and but like that's not probably on your agenda like that's something i actually haven agenda. That's something – I actually haven't laid in bed for like an hour in like a very, very long time. I get up immediately and start answering emails because I need the emails to go away so that I can function for like the rest of the day. Like I just need those off my – Well, because they're there.

My plate, yeah, and it just really bothers me even like when i'm working out like the hard part about owning the gym and all these other businesses and such is like i'll be working out i'm thinking about an email that i opened and then left unread because i have to go back to it and i'll be thinking about that while i'm working out like why did i just fucking answer it yeah i should just answer the damn email you know what i mean like why would i do that to myself like even just like i was doing those sprints i was telling you about earlier and i'm just like why did i what am i doing right now like i need to go do this podcast with Herky right now. You know what I mean? And I'm thinking about that

while I'm going. And that's like the biggest, it's a curse, like really like. Well, seeing, it's honestly, I mean,

inspiring like, and then to see it firsthand to where like, you want to be successful. You want to, you know, have these things that you want. Like the work's got to get put in,

I mean, period. And that's time. That's being productive and not laying in bed for an hour, you know, and I see that really firsthand. And not that there aren't or weren't people around me in life that work super hard. But this is something I'd really like to do. Like, I don't aspire to be a teacher, you know, or something like that. Like I definitely, a man in your position is something I aspire to be. So when you first came out, and this still might be the case, like your aspirations were, I want to go to the CrossFit Games. For sure.

Right? And that still may be there. But is there another part of you now who's like, oh, I want to make like, I want to make an impact in fitness in general, like not just CrossFit. You know what I mean? I remember you telling me not too long ago, you were like, hey, I want to be in this,

but I don't know what my first step is. And for those of you out there, he's working at my gym. I really like him a lot. I don't want him to go anywhere, but do you remember what my answer was uh you about about crossfit like no i was like you know you should do you should get a job at equinox yeah and i was like go be a personal trainer get paid like dog shit for a little bit and then try to take those clients with you which is i'm sorry equinox i know

that's illegal but i had a friend who did that and is doing very, very well for himself. But Herky was kind of like, you know, I want to be in this space. It's a lot harder to get personal clients at my gym. Just so you guys know, it's just people come to a CrossFit gym, they come to a group class place and they want to do group classes. A lot of them do have money in personal training, but they just don't tend to really go there for that specifically. So I was like, you know what? I think this would be a good avenue for you. You can still work out of the gym as much as you want. You can still train. You just go work out. You just go work there for a few hours, gather these big clients. A lot of times, these are people who, you know, they're spending $200 a session at Equinox for a training session.

They're probably pretty well off in life. They probably have some good connections. Just being in California in general, you have a lot of good connections. So it's just a good learning experience for him. And then I was thinking, you know, you get those clients, you either bring them back to chalk or you could bring them to make your own little studio. And it's a good way to get your foot in the door in the fitness industry. And then as you meet people and you make these more connections, all of a sudden, a lot of these doors start to open up and the more that you work and the harder that you work and the more people see that the more doors will continue to open so that was my first piece of advice for you actually 100 and i was i remember telling my mom about it and i was like he actually like wants me to work at equinox like or not not wants me to but like you know you

thrown this idea out there and it was just an idea that was for you. I was just like, that's a good little step. Unless you decided to pull personal trainers, I mean pull personal clients into the gym. Things have actually been going really great lately. Yeah, but I've actually given you all those. 100%. 100%. And with emails and things like that, they'll come up.

But yeah, i can't a lot of people used to ask me all the time how did you get your clients and i'm like i'm in the gym like if you're in the gym like if you're out there right now and you want more personal training clients you need to be in the fucking gym like they call they walk in like that's how you get the clients literally from picking up the phone is probably like I've done half of them. Always. And a lot of the clients I've had, every single time, they've been like three to five day a week clients nonstop forever. And if you treat them well, like the one I gave to Henry, another coach in my gym, I gave him one who literally comes every single day. Completely changed his life as far as income goes.

Yeah. Totally different. I mean he's making double what he was making just because of that one person. So I've actually said the analogy before to people is if you got third place at the CrossFit Games, the amount of money that you take home is actually having two private clients for $100 an hour, three days a week each. So if you worked two hours a day, three days a week, you'd make the same amount of money as if you got third place at the CrossFit Games. How mind-blowing is that? A part of me also, though, is like, I mean, but it's third place at the CrossFit Games.

Like, you don't hold that title, you know, kind of thing. But then when you had told me one time, you were like. How many people do you know, though, that have third place at the CrossFit Games who have thriving, like, gnarly businesses and such? None. You don't. You know what I mean? Because you've thrown every opportunity out the window. Like, when I was training really hard, I literally was like, I would say no to everything.

Oh, you want a personal training? No, I have to i have to train you know what i mean oh like you want me to go do this photo shoot in la for like some company that would be fucking awesome for my career i really have to train later like i have to do these five by five hundred meter rows like all out you know what i mean like you just have to and you really do like if you want to be good like you got to make it like a it's like it's gnarly. So there is a give and a take. I really have a lot of respect for people like Fikowski who are CPAs. Patrick Vellner is like an engineer. These people are –

Ben Smith. Full jobs. Yeah. Well, when you had told me about him, it was like he won the CrossFit Games, but he's not a – people don't know him like Rich Froning. There's about five people maybe in CrossFit that like are big yeah with crossfit and from crossfit yeah other than that even there's some second place people that you just don't ever even hear about you know what i mean it's crazy yeah not at all and so that that actually kind of hit home within the

past couple months too is like and i and i don't mean this isn't like, you know, dreams die or anything like that, but there's for sure more to life than the CrossFit Games. Yes. And it's really, and I don't like to take that dream away from anyone. Definitely not you. Definitely not anybody else that is dreaming of that.

It's more of what I want you to take a perspective on is while you're training to do that and while you're, you know, and while you're you know making more steps to get to that goal just be cautious of what's happening around you like have a plan b have a plan c like you can't have in the only plan be the games because you might get there and all of a sudden it's not that great you know what i mean you get you get done and you didn't really make a lot of connections or maybe you suck as a human being because you're just training all the time you're over trained you're not eating enough like you have all these little issues you're not sleeping

and every time you talk to somebody you're just an unpleasant human you know what i mean you start working out and the endorphins go and you're like you just all of a sudden you're happy you know what i mean like i was great yeah i've been in relationships with girls like that who had problems and like they work out and i'm like oh yeah, yeah, now we can get married. And then like, you know what I mean? But they don't work out. And then it's like, oh, my God, it's like Medusa. So there's like there's things like that that you really need to look out for. And I think that that was one of the things that I'm very grateful that I did during my time. Like I used I fortunately was able to work with and work out next to Kenny Leverage growing up.

I shouldn't say growing up, but the last couple years of my career when I was really good. And as soon as regionals come around, he'd be like, I'm not coaching anymore. You can have all my classes. And I was just as good as him. I was going to regionals too. I was a top five competitor. Did you take his classes? I did.

Oh, okay. And then do regionals as well? So here's what happened. Basically, I would take all these extra classes. I would go to regionals. I'd get like two places lower than him. But I'd have all the relationships from the people in the gym. They all were like, dude, Ryan's my favorite coach.

Probably like a stack more of cash in your pocket too. I mean I had more money at the time, but he would get sponsors and such. So it would kind of equal out. It wasn't like a huge difference yet. But the relationships were being – Yeah, and then like as we got older, we both got hurt. Not hurt, but like broken down. Like my knee is all messed up.

His knee is actually all messed up. He's got a shoulder that's messed up too. So as that started to happen, he just kept focusing more on getting better and getting over these injuries and getting back. Whereas I was like, if I make it to the games next year, great. If not, I really want to have this gym, and I have this vision for this cool gym. And then after the gym, I want to do this, and I want to do that, and I want to travel, and I want to do all these things.

And how am I going to get there? I need this amount of money. And then I would build that. And then amongst building that and meeting people and creating these connections, all of a sudden I had the ability to do other things that I never even thought were possible. Like I'm at a place in my life now where like I didn't even think it was even humanly possible for me to get to. And I don't even know what to do with it half the time you know i mean like i i went i mean you know well yeah being i mean being around you

like like i i see it and and obviously i mean you're a super for those like who haven't met ryan or just see him like on social media like the dude's a great dude you know it's and it's been it's been super awesome to be out here everyone thinks i'm gonna kill them kind of so i've seen the look a couple times but um no yeah i mean you you you changed my life as far as as far as i mean and then just learning constantly i think the the first so remember before i came out here, I had visited like one time, maybe like a month before. That was when I was trying out other coaches. Yeah. Yeah.

And so my friend had just moved out here. I was helping him move, and I was like, oh, damn, CrossFit Chalk's like 20 minutes down the street. I'm going to go. Saw you that day. And I didn't realize how lucky I actually was because you're not at the gym like 24 seven. Yeah. Yeah. You're only, you're only there like a few hours at sometimes. I mean, you're there, you know, here and there, but yeah, I got lucky you were there and you gave me like a 15, 20 minute pep talk on like life. And I wasn't even, I didn't even

decided to move out here yet nothing and i walked out of there and i was like dude where i'm coming like this is yeah this is settled that was i people would pay for like the things for that talk a hundred percent like that that was a seminar type thing and i was like i was blown away i feel like that's my gift is like motivational speaking i just feel like i have a way of like just having like an analogy to tell people who are on that path, like the same path. That's like if they want the same path that I had, I have a way of saying it that make it makes it sound like really, really doable. And and that's like my favorite thing to do. Like of all the things that I do, like selling stuff and owning the gym.

Like my favorite thing is like when someone has a problem in the gym and they want to like come my office and talk to me about it even if it's not fitness related they're just like i have this problem like i've had people you know come and ask me like like they have like marriage issues and they'll like really be breaking down and i and like i just like it's not that i like that that's happening but i'm like i like my response and like my ability to be able to help in that scenario and then also with people like you who are trying to come up i mean i fucking try to motivate you all the time it's it's it's surreal for me honestly because i now i get these like 15 20 minute like pep talks legit on the daily and that's like even like mind-blowing for me

so yeah i'm constantly learning and and i'm always telling all the other coaches too like hey i really want you guys to do this i really want you guys to do that and like the biggest thing for me for those of you out there who are gym owners or you're in this space and you have people who work underneath you and you really want to get them motivated i try all the time and i tell them exactly what to do but i think it's people are really nervous to try something new and they're really nervous to get out of their comfort zone i have a coach who i'm like please go on instagram and do some of the movements and just like talk about some tips and like she literally is like i cannot talk to the camera and i'm like but she's super awesome yeah you're super awesome and you would

legit kill yeah you would crush and she has like this great body, this great personality. Like everybody would dig her, you know? And it's like in this time right now, like Herky's 22, 23. Like that is the age right now. Like people are coming out of college or out of high school and they're just thinking social media, some sort of network marketing, some sort of something that has to do with just technology in general. That's what I want to say. Like anything in that space with computers and electronics and whatever, and especially in the ad world,

like people are making millions of dollars making ads for people who are making millions of dollars. There's just like so many little things that are kind of going on, and they're all coming out, and they're all going into it, and they're all going into YouTube, and they're all going into it and they're all going into youtube and they're all going into these things you have to be really comfortable in your own skin especially now like with fitness so much of fitness is really who you are and what are you selling so i try to tell people all the time personality and character yeah it almost doesn't even matter what your body looks like all the time i mean you definitely have to have some photos where you look really good at one point. Yeah.

And then people can kind of follow your journey. Like if you're going to go through a bulking stage or you're going to do this, you're going to do that. Or you've been traveling a lot and you don't have a shredded eight-pack at the time. But people are like, I really like this guy. I like what he's doing when he's traveling. Or maybe they just – I see people all the time that have like a million followers. They don't even look that good at all. And I'm just like.

I kind of get mad sometimes. But I, there's, the only person I get mad at is myself. Yes. Like a hundred, you know, just. And all of you guys in the gym, like you've seen my hiring process. Like, what is that like? So I'm actually, well, question for you. Why did like I get like the nod to like.

To work at the gym? Yeah. Because I think that you have, you have great people skills okay so which is thank you i mean i people like you right away and you have like um what is that word like when oh you have like an inviting personality like you want people to talk to you like and you're excited to talk to them and that's like the number one thing like people ask me all the time what's your favorite or no what's your top quality when looking for a coach number one people skills personality i mean you told me that the first time like we talked my seventh and eighth grade science teacher mr thomas told me that when you guys get out of college or

you guys get out of high school when you sign an application and it says what are your best qualities or what are your best qualifications actually i should say he said the first thing you put is that you are that you communicate well with people he said that will always take you farther than anything else and that was like 15 years ago and it still holds true like you could say like harvard this that blah blah blah blah going on and on actually you're a shitty person dude i actually knew a girl who graduated from harvard and mit wow and wanted to work and i literally was like i cannot be in the same space as this person she's a fucking space cadet like literally could not talk to people and it just was painful so it's rough yeah that's why the first thing i do it's almost

like a gift though i mean yeah he's practiced i mean i'm sure she's like incredibly smart yeah just can't communicate she needs to be like in a lab or something you know what i mean we need people like that for sure but i mean and then like i have somewhat of a personality but i'm genius levels a word that i don't even come close to. So yeah, I feel like there is those skills or those give and takes for sure. But that's number one. I mean you can't sell anything if you're not fun. You're not inviting. Like you can't get people to work out at the gym if you can't talk to them in such a way that makes them excited.

You know what I mean? Like I want people to walk in the gym and be just as excited about it as you are your first day there. Like to you, it was like the mecca of functional fitness, right? It was the mecca of CrossFit. And you walked in and you're like, oh, my God. So when someone else says, like, what is this place? How easy is it for you to be like, this place is the fucking best? Every time.

I get hyped. I mean, you see me, like, when somebody, like, you know, comes in every now and then you'll see me. And I'll talk to them. And then they'll leave. But I'm like, I get hyped about it. Like i i enjoyed the conversation that me and that person just had and i think it i feel it went really well yeah so yeah because in in but it's it's like i said it's easy to do that when you're in a place that you love and it's i mean it's surreal every day for me kind of thing yeah it's a huge thing um so that's like that's always my number one I've I've had a million people ask me about the coaching deal

so I mean your qualification as a coach come definitely after your people skills and then even before that because this is a question that someone's actually asked me on social media like they wanted me to hit it on the show um after after after your communication skills, I really want to know how quickly, not how well, but how quickly you can make scaling options for other people and coach them on movements like on the fly. Like at Chalk, we have a 20-minute strength section and like a 15- to 20-minute WOD. So you only have 20 minutes to warm up. And like if there's anyone new there, like they need to know what they're doing within that 20 minutes while everyone's getting warmed up. And someone's going to come up to you and be like, I can't squat today. What do you think I should do? With like 30 seconds left, like you're

about to say three, two, one. Like how fast can you get on that and know exactly what to say? You know what I mean? Like those things happen all the time and how fast can you change stations and stuff if there's 30 people in class and you only have you know x amount of rowers or x amount of bikes or x amount of dumbbells like those things are really really important being able to coaches you have though are extremely great at that yes they are definitely are for sure and they have to be and you've seen me like when someone does start coaching i literally am there watching them coach for like a month and just like on them about it and on them about it and it's just like

i hate hiring coaches it's like almost like an interview month-long process kind of thing yeah i hate hiring the coaches because i have to coach like an extra month you know what i mean and i'm really getting in there but at the same time i get to connect with my people again and it's it's super fun part of making the gym yeah go yeah for sure so my next question to you now is what do you think that i've done since you've been there that has created this gym to be the way that it is and how can you convey to other people out there listening right now, like, why, like, tell them what chalk is to you and, like, why it's different from everywhere else and why you, and how you think I made it that way. Your opinion on it since you're right there all the time. I think the energy one is huge. Like, that's, that's gotta be, you walk into that place and, I mean, music is going and, like, people are working.

People are getting things done. And, I mean, you come – even that time that I came to visit, like where I was, I knew absolutely nobody. And I was dropping into a class basically. I actually remember the workout now. It was the dumbbell snatch row in the same minute. Dude, I practically had a boner the whole time working out right next to you. Because I was working out, yeah, in the class yeah that was that was crazy for me um but yeah i'm not i'm not being biased i think that we do have crazy energy in the gym we do crazy energy yeah absolutely and i mean

in in really though also though too like the bread and butter behind it the workouts are it's not just i mean like you just just say you know a strength session and then like a metcon type of thing but it's not hey we're doing i jackie today you know or whatever or hey we're doing because i actually used to an old an old crossfit guy that i worked for night and day difference between chalk in his gym like just wasn't wasn't the greatest and so i've seen the completely other side of it. And so it was just, it was like extra mind blowing being here and like, yes, this is how it's supposed to be run. This is what effort into your gym looks like. Absolutely. Um, and, and the way that you've, I, you, you get involved, like you're not just stopping by to do the work you have to do you know you're not just stopping by to

say what's up for a quick sec like damn I want to work out like I'm going to join I'm going to join the whatever 12 o'clock class I'm going to join the four o'clock class which I think is super cool like I mean that's the then yes you like fitness but at the end of the day that's also the owner like that you're working out right next to kind of thing. So, yeah, you keep the energy. I actually forget about how important that is. So now that you reminded me, it makes me think like, oh, man, I want to work out tomorrow with class. Being involved is – yeah, I think that's awesome.

Even the coaches. I mean all the coaches like great personalities. They're involved. It's not just, hey, here's the warm-up. All right, go ahead and get started. I love that all the coaches want to do the workouts every day. And everybody does them. Seriously. Yeah. You and Henry want to do them every day. Memory does the sweat workouts every day.

Every day. Yeah. Mike loves the sweat workouts. Everybody loves the workouts. And I think that's so cool. Every gym I've ever been a part of, we always made our own workouts. Like, you know, as on the competition side, I don't compete anymore, but like Henry does and Herky does. And it's like their first thing they want to do for the day is the class wad and then, and then do other stuff.

And then we'll get our own in. But yeah, that's a good point. I do love seeing that. And I love doing the class workouts as well. What else is there going on in there that you think that is different from everywhere else? And then did the other gym owner, did he not do classes very often? So he would do – I was actually the – he had two coaches, one being me, one being another guy who didn't have his level one.

Which I think is fine. Because the level one is – it's painful. Kind of whatever for sure yeah and it's it doesn't take a whole weekend um but excuse me he would coach classes oh my god okay so i have this really bad this this was him and this is this is a normal this was normal him it was like a 5 a.m class one time oh so he ran like a boot camp class too okay um so but they would go on like at the same times i remember one morning i was coaching the boot camp class

they both started at five crossfit and boot camp and he i was like okay like he's not here yet it's like five but whatever like we're all together so i'll just kind of start the warm-up. You know, warm-ups, whatever, 15, 20 minutes. This dude came in at like the end of the warm-up, started writing the CrossFit workout, like the workout that they were going to do for that day. Whoa. Then started writing it on the board. And then was – and it was something – oh, like right at that moment, some lady had walked in and was like, hey, like sorry I'm late. I saw that like i had this coupon you know to do like a free class and he like turns to her and is like oh i don't like people coming

after the warm-up and in my head i was like you just got here after the warm-up what are you talking about so but it was and it was just things like so did he turn her away uh i think she ended up he was like oh i guess you know like yeah like and i was like, oh, I guess. You know, like, yeah. And I was like, dude, you own this gym? Wow. But, I mean, he was writing my checks at the time. So what was I going to say? Nothing you can do about it. And just little – like he would be on his phone during like the class.

It was – That's like a big epidemic right now with CrossFit gyms. A lot of them are just exuding like a very less than professional vibe. Like a robot almost kind of thing. You know what I mean? I understand though. Sometimes I have so much to do that I just literally just don't want to – I just don't have the energy to give anybody anything good.

You know what I mean? You see like when a telemarketer calls me on the phone. Have you ever seen my reaction? Or when someone comes in to sell me something i'm like you have 30 seconds to impress me the dude who's the guy that came in to fix like he was asking about the lights or something and he was he was like okay like what lights and you're like oh yeah they're in that room right there and there's like your office and maybe like the stock room you know that's just open and he's like well can you walk with room, you know, that's just open. And he's like,

well, can you walk with me? And you were all, it's literally right there, like five feet away from you. I was like, yeah, I'm going to fucking walk with you. I remember making him feel like I was like rolling. No, like behind like the pillar. But yeah, that definitely happens a lot. You get to that, that point. But in reality,, what you have to do, and especially as a coach as well, is you have to just like – you have to put the happy face on. You have to wear that suit, like the happy suit for that moment. You know what I mean? You can't get anywhere with that, and you can't be a great waiter at a restaurant with being a dick. If you want tips, you got to be nice.

You know what I mean? It's very rare that you just see a restaurant with a bunch of asshole waiters all the time yeah i mean they might go home and literally fucking kill a baby i have no idea but that's possible let's hope not but um but they're not like that while they're serving you know you have to put that on so i mean i've had a coach before who absolutely hated me but you thought that she loved me while she was there she'd walk out and be like i fucking hate that guy what ashley i don't think i ever used to work for me near the i mean she likes me now but at the end she's just a coffee lady i love that story coffee lady you'd this was like one of the first times hearing you too where you were this lady kept showing up like right in class at time and you were like you told her you have you got to

stop that like that's not a thing you can't just show up right when class starts yeah and she did it again and you were like you can go get me coffee and you're not getting paid for this class i actually know yeah yeah that like made me fear ryan fisher it's that one it is that one yes yes yes yes that is really funny though um so yeah like that's just something that you have to do and i and i feel like if you can't do it you probably shouldn't even show up that day. And on another note on that is like Orange Theory, Barry's Boot Camp, SoulCycle, like these big companies who crush, right? The reason that they crush is because it's the same service every single time. You know what I mean?

Super high energy, friendly. Super high energy. It's friendly. It's like almost the same vibe when you walk in. You know what to expect. You super high energy it's friendly it's like almost the same vibe when you walk in you know what to expect you want to be there yeah and you want to be there like i want to be at chalk i don't want to go to the global gym because it's like everybody's trying to see who's got the biggest stake in the gym yeah kind of thing dude i don't care dude i fucking hate the global gym so like for those of you out there i've been trying to make a new book for

24 hour fitness or gold's gym or just a Globo gym in general. And the hardest part about working out in there is not watching everybody else. I'm watching someone on a calf machine literally do leg press. He wasn't using his calves at all. He was just using his legs. Or the leg press, trying to press it as a shoulder machine or something. Yeah, I've seen people do the most ridiculous things. Or, God, when they grab the cables and just start doing like...

Or they're swinging it to the side. I understand they're trying to improve their golf swing or do abs or something. But it looks like they're fighting a ghost or something. It's just the worst thing I've ever seen. And then also there's that one guy who's like 5 foot tall and like 180 pounds. I mean, I'm

5 foot 5 and I weigh 180, but they're shorter than I am and they're the worst small man syndrome ever. They're just throwing the dumbbells and they want you to watch them and I'm just like, what is happening in here? This place is a fucking zoo it's a circus but bro i don't care nobody does yeah it's so bad but regardless um you don't go to those places for that you go you're going to these group fitness classes and you know exactly what to expect from these big companies. When you go to chalk, it's the same. Like me, Jason Kalipa, uh, um,

Peril Mutter, Peril Mutter, what is his first name? JP Peril Mutter. He owns the brick, the brick CrossFit gyms. A lot of us, like we've, we've created a structure and we expect it to be pretty streamlined across the board. The only thing that you're going to find potentially at my gym, you might have a coach who's sick that day and he doesn't have great energy or he's just tired. He's just tired, but

the workout's going to be dope. I mean, it's Henry Damney every time, but... Take it back. Alright. Him and Henry just go at each other all the time. At the end of the day, Henry's a good coach and he can lift some kind of weight. That's all I'll say. The energy's going to be good.

The WOD's going to be good. And the people are always going to be really friendly, and the coach is going to have some good pointers for you guys. So, I mean, that's absolutely crucial. And if for any reason I felt like anything like that was being compromised, like a coach wasn't up to par anymore or his energy was not on par, I would just be like, you know what? You're either fired or I don't want you to work today. I'd rather have somebody else work it. Well, there's been, I mean, like I've definitely seen you be like, Hey, like,

you know, maybe a coach's energy wasn't the best. You're like, what's going on today? You know, like, let's do this, you know, let's figure it out real quick. And I'm not very nice about it. It's not that I'm not nice about it, but I'm very direct. For sure. I'm literally like, hey, what's wrong? Like, what's going on? And then I remember this is memory for sure. And I was telling memory, I was like, hey, what's going on?

What's wrong with your energy today? And she's like, I'm fine. And I was like, are you tired? And she's like, no, I'm not. And I was like, are you tired? And she's like, no, I'm not tired. I'm like, are you sure? And then I just went in my office and I didn't talk to her anymore. And then like two days later, I saw her

and she was like, you know, I got really bummed that day when you asked me if I was tired. And she's like, you're not like upset with me or anything, are you? I was like, no, I just felt like you weren't really putting the best version of yourself out there. And i wouldn't want anyone to ever think that you weren't the best coach in here and she literally looked at great she looked at me and was like damn and i was like i was like you don't understand like every single day that you coach

you should be fighting to be everyone's favorite coach every single day i think that's like that's the best coaching quality you can have if you're nervous that someone else is going to be a better coach than you, you're going to be the best coach on the floor. I mean, people wanting to come to your classes. Yes. And, I mean, I can't tell you how many times I've given coaches like $100 just randomly, and I'm just like, yo, I really, really appreciate it. You've just been throwing down.

Thanks for doing awesome. And I'll do that all the time. You know what I mean? Yeah, you do do that. I've done cool shit. cool shit yeah i bought you a bunch of clothes and stuff before way way blessed yeah that's i think that stuff goes a long way you don't have to like give anybody a fucking car or anything but you just let them know that you care you know what i mean it's a big deal but i it also i mean i think from a business standpoint not that i obviously own a business but like it definitely not that it's the only thing motivating me because I obviously love being here, but at the same time, it's nice to know that like

I'm seriously valued here at Chalk. Like it's cool to know that like I can text you and you can be like, and you'll be like, yeah, like, hey, like what's up, man? It's not, oh, you'll respond in a couple hours or anything like that. Like you legit respond to my text within 10 minutes or whatever it may be. But it just – I think it legit shows that you care, and it definitely – I think it makes me and coaches want to be there more and just want to do better in general because, I mean, you're awesome.

So we want to do good for that – I don't know, like your boss kind of thing or you know your work you want to do great for your work the one thing i wish that i could do better in the gym is have like a little bit more meetings where we're sitting down and talking but it's so hard to get everybody together and i don't like the phone meeting i'm not a huge fan of the phone meeting yeah we are we are though kind of like all as far as just times yeah that's kind of rough is there anything else out there that you think like if if you hadn't met me you didn't get this chance to come out here that you would want to know that you don't know now is there anything that you actually don't know right now that you want to

ask me i just want to know what the the big so i've listened to a good amount of your podcast definitely like the biggest ones where you talk about your life and things like that. I had actually, when I got done listening to that Sisu podcast, I had sent you a random text and I was like, hey man, I don't know if you remember me, but I'm moving out there. Yeah, I do remember that. And for those people out there who don't know what that was, that was basically a podcast about just my life. Like literally had nothing to do with really fitness at all. And how I didn't know who my dad was until I I was 18. And then I met him when I was 24. And it was just kind of like a little bit more of a sad story. It's a great, it's, I mean,

it's motivating for sure. You can take a lot away from it. And I'm motivated me to, that was kind of like the, uh, almost like the final straw, right? Like let's go do this herky you know let's let's uh commit um but that so anyways on those podcasts you've talked about how after oh you were working not really making enough money and then boom this relationship with this guy you would like you had built with he's like hey you can do this, and I'll basically just write the check. What was that? So the day he tells you this, did just everything explode? Like what was that?

Actually, no. I didn't actually want a gym at the time. Really? I actually kind of said no. Oh, wow. And I didn't even have any – I mean I was just starting to get my personal training going. Uh-huh. And I was starting to make money and I was working at a gym called Orange Coast CrossFit, which is like – I don't know.

They're like 10 or 15 miles away from me now. But at the time, they would be like less than – they would be like 800 meters away from me now if they were still where they were. They moved to a different different area after i after i moved in so um basically he tells me this and i'm inside i'm excited but i'm looking around and i'm on crossfit.com looking at the affiliate map and i'm like fuck there's so many gyms here like you knew the work that had to go into it for sure i'm like how could this even work you know and then i used to drive down to la to work out at brick or work out at some of these other gyms in la that were just really fancy and they were cool and i liked going there because

the gym that i worked out at had a gazillion members orange coast cross but they had so they had more members than like anyone but we had the shittiest equipment and did that go over how was that like it was weird like the owner just didn't put the money back in and it eventually ruined him like actually like the wall balls were falling apart people were getting pissed because they knew that he was crushing yeah and he just wasn't taking care of the gym wow and you've been you haven't even been at my gym that long and you've seen me get new wall balls new bikes yeah like everything like seriously and i and i do it all the time but uh time and i think i do that because i'm scared i don't ever want that to happen to me i don't ever want anybody to think that like i don't care about the gym so basically i thought to myself after he offered

this to me i was like you know what what if i made me, I was like, you know what? What if I made a gym that was like a million dollars? When you're younger, you're like, you go straight into the Austin Powers, pinky under your mouth, you're like, one million dollars. I'm just telling him, that's basically me. I was like, I need one million dollars. This gym's going to have baristas. And he's like, I'll give you $1 million, but you do realize how this works, right? And I was like, I have to pay you back.

And he's like, yes. I was like, but you're going to get this percentage forever. Why would I have to pay you back? And he's like, son, this is just how this works. You know what I mean? There's other options that we can go into, but this is how this one works. This is going to be the best option for you. Thank God I was in a scenario with a guy who legitimately wanted to see me succeed. He didn't want to screw me down the road.

You're saying the guy that offered this to you, right? My business partner. Same guy. Yeah, his name is Aaron, and he helped create MySpace and sold his portion for tens of millions of dollars. He drives an F-150. He looks like a totally normal guy you would never know. Comes to the gym, right? Yeah, at 7 a.m. every day.

He's from New Zealand. He has a New Zealand accent. And super nice guy. Definitely talk to him. He's worth like $100 million. You'd never know. Well, and so one time, you actually weren't there. He had come around the corner.

I hadn't met him yet. He had come around to the desk and just hopped on the computer. And I'm like, what the hell is this guy doing right now? Who is he? And then although he seemed – he knew what he was doing. So I looked over at memory and I was like, hey, who's this guy? And she's like, oh, he's part owner. Do your thing, dude.

Do your thing. Go ahead. Do your thing dude do your thing but um yeah i what happened actually is i started thinking about putting all competition plates and having 10 assault bikes and 10 rowers like in my mind i was thinking about having all these cardio pieces because i had never seen a gym that had more than, like, one or two assault bikes. At the time, no one did. No, yeah, for sure.

People had, like, five rowers. Like, a lot of people had, like, a lot of equipment. And I didn't even know how many members I was going to have, right? Like, why would I need 10 bikes and 10 rowers if I didn't even have 300 members? Like, what's the point? The point is this. Have you ever been to an Orange Theory that had fucking two treadmills, two rowers, and two floor exercises? No.

They open up hot. They have 10 of everything, 12 of everything most of the time. They have 36 people classes. And they just fucking go for it. You ever see a grocery store that has fucking half the groceries there? You know what I mean? Yeah, you wouldn't. Like that shouldn't be a thing. Yeah. that has fucking half the groceries there? You know what I mean? Yeah, you wouldn't.

That shouldn't be a thing. Yeah. Have you ever been to a barber that doesn't have a fucking mirror? Just a chair? You know what I mean? There's just certain things there. Which makes total sense as far as... There was no assault bikes

at the last gym that I was at. Yeah. And if there is one, it's like the competitors use it. You look at it like it's a fucking museum. Nobody like that's doing it. 90% of the actual classes won't touch it. It's like the Mona Lisa.

You can't even touch it. You have like fucking glass around it. You're like, don't touch it. Sub two minute frame time. Ryan's going to use it at 4.07 PM. You know what I mean? It's like... Dude, I came in and you would show...

Oh, I didn't use the Elinko bars yet. Yeah. When I got here. And I think you were like, oh, grab one of those bars. And I was like, oh, no. Like, I'm okay. Those are like yours. And then I had seen Henry grab it one time, and I was like, oh, no, I can grab one.

I'm good. It's totally fine. The banter between you two is hilarious. I wish that he was on this show right now. But, yeah, so I started thinking about that, and I was like, wow. You know what? I think I could create a gym where you would walk in, and you'd be like, this is where I want to be. Because when I was coaching classes at the other gym, people would walk in, and they knew it was CrossFit, but they'd look around.

They probably had never been in a CrossFit gym before, so they hadn't really ever known how much it cost. So they were like, well, how much is it? It looks cool. It looks hardcore, and I'm in. But how much is it? And I bet that's $200 a month. And they'd be like, excuse me? And I'll never forget being embarrassed to tell people that.

I used to always be embarrassed. I'd be like, oh, my God. I have to tell them it's $200 and I have to fucking, I have to literally act like it's not a big deal. And I never wanted to do that anymore. When I opened my gym,

I was like, I want to say $200 and be super confident. I want them to walk in and know that this place costs money. And I want them to be able to see the front desk. You know what I mean?

Like a lot of places don't have like a definitive like desk. It would be – Like a place to go and be like, hi. You know what I mean? Everywhere that I've seen, it's always like a coach will just let the class continue for a sec while they talk to whoever walks in the door. Yeah. Kind of thing. So that was my vision.

And I still wasn't excited yet. And then all of a sudden my business partner was like, I have a friend who owns this building and I think we should go check it out. And I'm like, I'm like, where, what's the address? And he's like, it's this. So I look it up on my phone real quick and I'm like, Oh my God, I know that building. And it was a half a mile down the road for me. So I ran there actually in jeans and flip-flops to go check it out. And I was like, oh, my God, this is the spot. Like I know this spot.

I'm like, is this for rent? And he's like, no, it's not. But we're going to give him like a six-figure check, tell him to leave. And I'm like, do I have to pay that back? Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute here. Wait a minute. And he's like, yeah, but it's going's gonna be worth it you've seen this place and i'm like yeah it's fucking sick you know but fuck like we're gonna spend like the six figures before we even start i haven't even bought the equipment yet or

anything so we take a walk inside and i'm like oh man you know and the guy's telling us you know they did about 750 000 and tenant improvements and I put another $250,000 into the gym. So now you have a million dollar gym. And it looks like if you've never been to chalk, it looks like a million dollar gym from the outside. You're like, whoa, this is nice. Yeah. It's super pimp.

Seriously. There was actually those big squares that are on the outside, those big metal squares in the front of the gym. There was two big photos in there that I took down. Of what, you? No, it was a girl doing push-ups and then a guy doing a sit-up or something. It was very tacky. So I took them down, and those things are still up there. I have to take those down someday or put another photo up.

But yeah, that was my vision and i remember sitting in the gym indian style all the time every single night for weeks trying to vision where the rigs would be i'm not an artist by any means and i'd be sitting there drawing and like it might look like this it might look like this it might look like this this might might look like this. It might look like this. This might be here. This might be here. And then I realized like where I was sitting was actually a great spot for a pull-up bar. And that's where the center one. That's how the chalk bar actually became a centerpiece now because I was just sitting there a lot. And this girlfriend I had at the time, Jesus, she's like a pain in my ass. She could have had such a dope life right now.

She fucked up. But she just kept telling me, like, you don't need to go in the gym anymore. You don't have to do this. You don't have to do that. Blah, blah, blah. Why do you have to wait your time?

Let's go out to dinner. Blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, yo, you just need to chill for a little bit. Like, I'm about to set us up forever. Like, this is about to be dope.

Like, sit back and enjoy the motherfucking ride. You know what i mean i'm not cheating on you i'm in the fucking gym like it wasn't what we an empty gym an empty gym you know like what the fuck but anyway i figured it all out i ordered all this shit from rogue and as i did that i would i made a truck instagram and I was like, I just bought 40 grand worth of Oli plates. And I literally just put it on there and tagged every gym in Orange County. When did chalk open?

I didn't tag them. I just put the hashtags. If you looked up another gym in Orange County on the hashtag, you would see my post. And I knew that at the time. I took social media as an advantage and i and i was like i wasn't trying to put anybody else out of business or anything i just wanted people to know that i was going to be there this is what my gym is going to look like i remember having a photo of the pull-up bar like in the back of a pickup like all fucking strapped up and whatever

like i want to have this custom bar and then i started like putting pictures up of the when we started painting it and the bathrooms and the locker rooms and the kids' room. And I started just marketing everything. And everybody was like, wow, this CrossFit gym is going to be out of control. Then if we reverse to the beginning of this conversation, like maybe 20, 30 minutes ago when I was coaching all those extra classes when Kenny wasn't. Okay. Now when it was time to open my own gym, I didn't say shit because I knew that I was going to get shit for telling people I was opening a gym.

And I knew I was, I was going to be that guy who was a giant D bag for stealing all the members. But you have them all. I just went and opened my gym and, but you had built the relationship with those people. Yeah. So everybody just asked like,

where'd Ryan go? You know what I mean? Like when I left, everybody would just ask, where'd they go go you know what i mean like when i left everybody would just ask where'd they go where'd he go and people would say like he opened his own gym and then everybody was like well shit i have to go check it out yeah because i'm here for ryan ryan was the one that coached all the classes ryan was the one that had that gnarly energy every time he coached like he was funny he was was this. He cared about us. You know what I mean? That's the one thing my mom told me that I'll never forget. She said, I don't care if you work at McDonald's, but you better fucking kill it. You know what I'm saying?

I had people in my family that were wealthy. My grandma was super wealthy. I knew what it was like to have money or to not have money, but I knew that you couldn't get there without having this like crazy work ethic. You know what I mean? And absolutely. I just felt like having coached that way gave me the opportunities to get what I had.

And then from there I opened this gym. All the people came, I opened it in my own vision. And that's basically how that just went down. I don't know if you knew that story or not, but that's kind of how it went. I didn't know that whole concept. My first day, I had 89 members. Wow.

And at the time, it was cool to have 100 members at your gym after a year or two. So I was the first person to have 100 members in a day before I before i was even open but then i mean then you killed that in what like the next couple months by the end of the year i had 300 which was like completely unheard of and then people were like what the fuck's going on here and then that's when things started to just kind of get get really cool and get really good and then um now classes are mean – Yeah, classes are packed and the gym is great. And the gym is a worldwide brand now. But I'm on to bigger things now that you know of that we're more than welcome to talk about. And, yeah, it's exciting now. I'm, like, turning into, like, this giant household name for fitness.

It's cool to see that, man. Like, and it's – I tell you off podcasts all the time where it's just like yo this is surreal for me or this is this is awesome because to go from to go from seeing it being done by somebody else like somebody you just follow when i was just following you on instagram yeah that's like what i really want people to know is like what it's like to go to be following someone that you really look up to it doesn't have to be me like and i don't want to talk about myself on this podcast but like it just happens to be this way because herky happened to you know yeah it was really i mean you know you see i'm sure everybody follows at least a few people for

motivation for like damn that guy's doing what i want to do damn that guy's badass kind of thing or that person whatever and then just see it and then just to be motivated by it but then to come out here and then be like oh damn we're doing i mean i'm side by side with him as he does the things that i used to watch on social media and And then to learn those things and to, I mean, see my life change as far as the work that I've seen you do, it almost like, it just makes me want to work harder. Because I see firsthand what can come from it. So it's super motivating, just astronomically motivating to be here and then to see that and implement implement it into my own life i feel like whatever it is that you want to do right now like maybe you still don't even know what it is and i talk about that all the time on social media

i'm like you don't have to know what it is if you're doing everything the best you can at that time because i didn't know what i really none of that happened until I was 27. But you were just doing what you love. Yeah, and I crushed it. You know what I mean? And there will be a coaching opportunity eventually when someone does something else and you'll be the first one up and then you do that and then God knows what happens after that.

Is this how we're telling Henry he's fired? I feel like right now though, like if there was something that you wanted to do that was in the fitness realm you might be scared you might not know what the first step necessarily is but i feel like you know what to do just because you're around me and if you don't know exactly what to do you know you could ask me yeah it's not like it's off the table the hardest part for me was like i hadn't really watched anyone run a gym i didn't really know how i didn't really i didn't uh uh with all my book sales and all my stuff like i didn't know how to run an ad i still don't know how to run an ad to pay people to run ads but like there's there's people who are really bad at running ads or people who are really good at running ads.

And I just happened to find someone who's really good. And you go through this trial and error. And then you meet someone who does this for you and then does this for you. And it's all these different things. But it really just comes with time. So at this point, I feel like I could do anything I wanted to just because I know what the steps are to get there. And I feel like for you, like you're in that, you're in this place where you could ask those questions. And that's so dope. Cause I never could ask. I never could find out the answer.

I had to do this trial and error forever, you know? And I'm finally at the point now where I'm like, this is sick. And I feel like I could help so many people right now. But I can't necessarily because I don't have the time. But you are sitting in front of me and you have this opportunity all the time. I think that's fucking dope. It is crazy because in that first email that I sent you, I mean obviously just being a young kid and throwing everything out there. But I was like – honestly, I was calling you Mr Fisher too in every single email trying to like be official. But I was like, Mr. Fisher, like I guess at the end of the day, I'm kind of asking for like a mentor slash life coach.

And I mean you kind of keep at something. It's kind of where I'm at now like that kind of thing. So it's – I hope it's good. I mean you're talking about some. So it's... I hope it's good. I've been talking about some stuff where it's just hilarious. Yeah, I mean, yeah, there's... I think people don't understand how much banter and just ridiculous things go on at the gym. It's like slash pornographic Joe Rogan.

Joe Rogan, like, comedy show type. Jim Car Jim Carrey situations for sure. I wish we had a camera at all times at the gym. It is an unreal place. So I basically went on Instagram and I said, hey, guys, I have this guy Herky. He was somebody who wanted a job at the gym for a really long time. I said no. He basically relentlessly was like, I'm going to be there. So get ready for me.

So I said if you could be in his shoes and you were someone who said fuck it and you moved out here and you're about to do a podcast with me like we just did, what would be some of the questions that you would ask? So I'm going to cruise down my Instagram right now. We have a couple questions. If I read it, by the way, and I don't like it, then we're just going to skip it. But I'm just going to go through some that we have here. I heard you say you've never talked to Matt Frazier. If you could get him on the podcast,

y'all's attitudes are actually really similar. It would be insane. That wasn't a question, but thank you. Matt Frazier, where you at? You always talk about... matt uh he was on shrug collective though with with anders and some of the other guys you always talk about how music is so important in the gym i agree now i have two questions how do you handle a client who wants the music to change because they don't feel like listening to it even though the rest of the class

doesn't mind well suck it up if the majority of the class likes x you have to go with that i mean we definitely have classes like there's some classes that i would never put like edm on for like i know that they love hip-hop i just know they do like the majority of the class loves hip-hop but there might be three people in that class despise hip-hop well and then there are classes that love the edm type thing yeah there's classes that like country you know what i mean i love country music but i love it too it just depends on like the style of the music but uh yeah like there's we definitely have times where we'll throw country music on and it's cool and there's times where we'll throw country music

on and it's not cool but you have to play with your population the people that are in your classes and i really think it's a big deal to just know what the majority of them want because if the majority are are in rule here that's one two people aren't yeah i mean it just is what it is all right number two she says if a client doesn't scale weights appropriately for a workout and can't finish in the time domain and wants you to add time so they can finish, what do you say? I want to tell them they are shit out of luck. That's what she says. Oh. I think you're doing it right, coach.

I actually agree. They have to put lighter weight on to try to finish in the time domain. Or I feel like then you can just kind of find, look, you clearly didn't finish in the time domain. Yeah, you're not going hard enough. Or that weight, obviously, you wanted to pick your own weight. So clearly wasn't right. At Chalk, we definitely tell you that you suck.

You should go lighter. It's pretty aggressive, actually. We're like, you are not allowed to lift that. Straight up. Let's stop. Let's just stop and take a couple of those weights off. Even when you keep going after the clock at chalk it you kind of feel it's kind of embarrassing people are people are like what are you doing like like stop you know because we have a lot of chance to go hard yeah we have a lot of long time caps so if

there's a shorter time cap that day they just have to suck it up and not get that stimulus in that day what qualities and actions would a coach have to display? I already went over that. What drives you each and every day to put your best work and what's your favorite thing to do outside of fitness? I think we kind of hit that. Yeah. I think we hit that. That's pretty, pretty out there. Out of everything you've learned through your career education, what do you think has been the most beneficial in being a gym owner? What advice would you give someone with a dream of owning a gym? I guess that's two questions. He says, but fuck it. All right, well, the best thing that I've learned as far as owning a gym

is working out at as many gyms as possible. As soon as I wanted to own a gym and I knew I was going to own a gym, I went on like a rampage of going to every gym I could possibly go to. I was already a pretty big athlete at the time, so i was already traveling and going to different gyms but i when i was whenever i was like home like i would just go to my gym all the time but once i knew i was opening one i like would i drove to la and i would like work out like four times a day like four different gyms and then i would go to san diego and do the same thing and then i mean i was literally all the different ideas i was doing class wads like multiple times a day just to check them out yeah and i just like feel out coaches and see if the owner was there and like i went

nuts for like really a couple months it was crazy uh but i learned a shit ton and like i clearly worked and i literally learned like what not to do there wasn't a lot of people doing things that i wanted to do i was like all right don't want to do that don't want to do that don't want the warm-up to be like that there was a place i went to where the warm-up was on the board every day and no coach even coached it they just did it yeah they're like that's the warm-up and not only that that was the warm-up for the week wow and it had like bear crawls and all this shit in it and i was like what if you're snatching like we need to do a barbell warm-up. You know what I mean?

Yeah, specific for your… I could see if you just opened a gym and you don't have a lot of time, you're the only person coaching. Kind of like how I didn't have any coaches when I first started. So you were doing all of them. That would be amazing, right? I'd be like, all right, guys, let's do that. And then I'd be hanging out for a little bit to catch my breath.

But you can't do that. And then his second question was what advice would you give i think you should do the same thing i think you should go check out as many gyms as possible and i think that you should start out hot right don't have two rowers two bikes come out hot and and really go for it if you want to make a career in this thing you really have to you have to you have to come out hot you can't come out with fucking half you know if you're gonna give a girl the d just give her the whole fucking thing. Not just the tip.

Not just half. You know what I mean? Someone's going to quote that somewhere. How can you survive working for such a bae? Is that a question out here? Yeah, it's some girl. I love all the ladies out there. You can DM me anytime. Anytime. But I only take negative DMs. That's some girl. I love all the ladies out there. You can DM me anytime.

But I only take negative DMs. That's the thing. Okay. And only – I got to filter them first. Yeah, Herky has to make sure that they're good enough. So if you have saggy titties – I'm sorry. We still welcome this. What do you use for meal prep services and do they deliver nationwide?

I actually do not do meal prep. Sorry, my man. What's a good fitness side hustle? Personal training. Personal training is great. I think getting group personal training outside, like at a park, at a beach, stuff like that is great. Or starting to create your own specific workout program. So for me, I have the high-intensity interval bodybuilding, right?

What's cool about that is no one else is doing that. Like you could look all over the world right now, and it's not going to pop up without my name next to it. It just is the way it is. You look up functional bodybuilding, it's going to pop up with Marcus Philly. It just is like that. So don't make your own HIIT training. Don't make your own HIIT training. Don't make your own bodybuilding training.

Like make your own fucking Herky Fit or whatever, right? The brand. I feel like that's actually a huge thing I learned coming out here is like you yourself, you're a brand. Like Herky, that's the brand. Herky Garcia is a brand. Yes. And that's damn near everything. It is.

Especially in this social media fitness type thing you have to be unique you get kind of lost in this pool of people who are kind of all in that same deal it's like going to a bodybuilding hashtag there's going to be hundreds of millions of them

and it's like how do I figure this out but if you go to HerkyFit hashtag it's so much different what are some of the things as a coach you should be doing on a regular, on the regular in order to become the best coach you personally can? Also, if your experience level is fairly low, what would you tell your younger self as a coach that you should be doing to get to the next level? I've never been thinking about becoming a CrossFit coach because your last post along with all your other content you post regularly due to your passion of fitness.

She kind of wrote it weird, but basically if you – what should you do to be the best coach you can? I've already said this. Be the best people person of all fucking time. Be able to work quickly on the fly and be a team player. Make sure that you're fucking cool with everybody in the gym. I want you to know what everyone's favorite coffee is, what their favorite breakfast is. Know all that.

Know how to be quick on the fly. And that's it. I think that's really the magic sauce. And you have to be able to do all the movements. Let's just say real quick. Let's say you could do all those other things, but you can't do an overhead squat. It's going to be really hard for you to grab people's attention with it.

I know that like if somebody is trying to – I mean I don't know. If I have a personal trainer and you're 250 pounds and like really overweight, I'm going to look at you and be like you're an idiot. Like why am I going to believe you? You know, kind of thing. So, yeah, that's for sure being able to just own your craft, basically. This last question is an easy one for me. How do you stay focused on dieting, working out, and your business, etc.? My man. I love this question, and I'm like winding up for the fastball right now. That's why I'm like being a little hesitant on this question and I just like I'm like winding up for the fastball right now that's why

I'm like being a little hesitant on this question so to stay focused and to stay motivated in my business and all these things is so easy for me because it is literally who I am like Herky and Henry were just asking me the other day like hey can you come out with us we want to go do this thing and like we're gonna be out till like probably two in the morning or whatever and Henry's like dude why you always say no and I'm like you want to know why and they both I honestly well I knew why because I had heard you say it when you went to go visit your family this past time if I come up to like that same conversation yeah and I was like watch he's gonna say this yeah kind of thing so you already knew what i was gonna say more or less yeah but i literally was like dude i make money off of how i look like if i don't look good i

won't make money if i don't make dope workouts tonight to post for tomorrow i won't make money like if i don't live this style like if i just decide tomorrow that i'm i mean i love fucking hiking and i love snowboarding if i just decide tomorrow i'm gonna move to aspen and just snowboard the rest of my life or i'm gonna go move to norway and hike mountains forever like no one's gonna want like my following will be dead no one's gonna be all of a sudden be like oh he just went and hiked he's just gonna hike mountains forever now i'm still gonna follow him he's totally dope yeah no no they're gonna be like probably 80 of my people will be like oh he's not doing fitness stuff anymore next and the other 20 are like i really like him i'm gonna watch him climb mountains you

know what i mean or like oh he looks like he's not taking his nutrition seriously anymore yeah and like that's a scary thing and for me it's very scary like i definitely think someday someday or sometimes i'm like fuck like what if i don't have like a fucking apac like what if i get older and i have to get an ear replacement and during that time i get soft as fuck or like what if i just like all of a sudden just can't do a lot of these things anymore it's gotta happen maybe someday i mean i hope not yeah but yeah that's that's obviously though there's so much more to i mean this dude with the crazy abs kind of thing maybe that's a whole another podcast yeah but but as i get new followers though you know that's true

like my people who've been known they've known me for a while it's not that hard for them people all the time are like when i talk about doing hip thrusts or something else besides squatting, they're like, what happened to your knee? Because I'll say I have a hurt knee. And I'm like, these people just don't know. You know what I mean? And there's a lot of people out there right now who listen to my podcast who are like, dude, Ryan, I'm tired of fucking hearing about your story. I've heard it a million times. I'm like, well, I get a lot of new listeners all the time, and I just like to throw a little bit in there.

How many times have you heard Gary Vee not say the same fucking thing every day? He says the same thing every day gary if you're listening to this you say the same thing every minute of my life you know what i fucking love it you know what i mean you're always motivating if you don't like my story then go fuck yourself yeah no that's what he says though and i mean it's true and he says that too and he has his like his little wine up, his little story that he did to get to where he's at. Sometimes you literally can tell someone the same thing a hundred times and they still don't do it. So I like to motivate someone a hundred times until hopefully they fucking do it. You know what I mean?

So if I said the same thing a few times, then fucking I will send you a straw and you can suck it up. Give me your address. You can play with it for a bit. All right. I'm really stoked on some of the questions that you guys sent me. Unless Herky has anything else to say or anything else to ask, you can ask me anything you want. Say anything you want. I think we're good then.

I think, yeah. I've gotten my fanboy questions out of the way sweet dude well not only did you get to move out here got to be on a podcast and get to be part of the gym oh get to hang out with me on the reg help me with business stuff now you're on the podcast you're in my house man you get to dude when i walk out yeah when i walked in today i was like i remember a video of you posting like on the podcast. You're in my house. Man. You get to jump off the balcony into the pool? Yeah, when I walked in today, I was like,

I remember a video of you posting with a GoPro jumping off your roof. And then, I had what, come a couple weeks ago and I was like, oh my god,

this is the house. Yeah. Like, this is what I saw on Instagram. It's so cool. I can't imagine without, like, there's people that I would love to be

at their house and just be like, oh fuck, this is dope, you know? Well, dude, and I even told you maybe like last thing here, but like I'm a huge Conor McGregor fan as are millions of people in the world. But the other day, like when we did the open, and I was like, dude, to see you go ham, I mean you weren't the happiest with your score. But like you were going ham.

Yeah. Like there was some hurt in that workout. In the end, I went at it. Yeah. And it was like for – I don't know. Maybe it was like watching like a Conor McGregor spar. You'd be like, holy shit. I'm right here and I get to just watch this.

Hell yeah. So that like – That is dope. It's crazy. Makes you wish I was better. One day it had to go. Everybody says, you know what? One day you're going to grow up and you're not going to be able to do that anymore.

Or this or that. Or blah, blah, blah. You're going to regret this. And I'm like, fuck. I'm getting older and a lot of these things are right. It's such bullshit. But I keep thinking that science is going to help us out. It's like, you know what?

Can you just give me a drug to just make me fucking 25 again? Let's go. Let's do it real quick. It hasn't happened yet. When I – we did a – for the i uh we did a for the listeners we did a body weight workout and i actually beat him one time and a hard on the rest of the night he did he did beat me in a workout although in ryan's defense i think he had done like three 20 minute amraps right before i did some stuff you did something my shoulders are pretty smoked and

we were doing handstand push-ups and pull-ups and he beat me in the workout. But hey, if it was me and I was working out with Rich Veroning or someone really cool, I'd be like,

yep, I won. That's all that matters. In case anybody's wondering. That's all that matters. But all right, ladies and gentlemen, I hope that you know what it feels like

to be someone random in the world to just come and just live the fucking dream. You just said, you know, Herky said, fuck it. He decided to come out here. A lot of things are starting to work out for him. And I think that it's good motivation for a lot of you out there who maybe either want

to do something similar. It doesn't have to be in the fitness field. It doesn't have to be a person that you look up to or a gym that you look up to. But there's something that you really, really want to do. And you hear these stories from me and Anders and everybody else on the network about how all these things work out if you put all this energy into them. But it's not even just that. It's just doing. And even if you were to do and you were to fail, you would know that you tried and you would never regret it. And that is the most important thing that you can do, is try not to regret. So I hope that you guys don't regret anything in life and i hope

that this helped you and i hope that uh you share it with all your friends and i hope it's uh i hope it's the fucking bee's knees thanks for having me on man yeah all right guys talk nation over and out