Barbell Shrugged - Some Crossfit O.G. Talk W/ Blair Morrison and Ben Alderman — Real Chalk #62

Episode Date: February 12, 2019

I'm teaming up with two CrossFit OGs for this episode, comin' atcha from Wodapalooza weekend! As veterans of Regionals, the Games, podcasting in the fitness community, gym-owning, and everything in between, Blair (@morrison_blair) and Ben (@ironmile_ben) need no introduction—which is why they don't get one. We get right down to airing our unfiltered opinions on Sectionals, Ben Smith's post about event programming, Rich Froning's shoes, Jen Widerstrom, and why the CrossFit community brings together the most awesome people. 🤗 We go way back to the beginning of literally everything: our early gym days, competing, what our moms thought good nutrition looked like, training for the Olympics, starting podcasts, starting families, and what we used to dream about when we were kids. Flash forward to today: we're setting new goals, climbing new mountains, and living far, far away from Jersey. 🏔 Don't worry, it's not just the best shit-shooting session you've ever gotten to listen in to. It's also packed with useful tips for business-building, training safely, achieving epic things, and staying relevant even after you're not actively competing anymore. Plus, if you've ever wondered whether other CrossFitters are unimpressed with HQ's sweethearts, now is your chance to find out. 😉   Enjoy! -Ryan   0:30 Who's the real CrossFit OG here 7:30 The people who win the CrossFit Games are not that interesting 11:00 Ben Smith's thoughts on Sectionals 14:00 The timers are all fucked 19:30 CrossFit is getting generic and it's lame 21:00 The Jamaican bobsled team is actually really funny 24:30 CrossFit Anywhere, and the shift back to mindfulness 29:30 Does anyone care about scores anymore? 33:00 Passion is more important than your career choice 37:00 What happened to Matt Chan? 38:30 How do you mobilize a following? Leverage your network. 45:00 CrossFit's cool because the people are real 51:00 This is where we talk shit about Jersey 52:30 What's next? 55:00 Ryan, the DFC, and a $260,000 room service bill 1:01:00 Beyond the Barbell and the Real CHALK story 1:07:30 Attention spans, and how different social media platforms cater to different situations 1:17:30 Why we all stopped competing 1:25:00 The juice isn't worth the squeeze, but we still have some unreached fitness goals 1:30:00 Where to find these guys ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Show notes: http://www.shruggedcollective.com/rc-morrisonandalderman ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ @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

All right, ladies and gentlemen, can you believe that I am in Canada right now and it is negative 10 degrees outside as we speak, Fahrenheit. I know a lot of you guys are like, well, it's Celsius over there in Canada. Yeah, I'm aware, but it's 10 degrees Fahrenheit right now. Negative 10, sorry, negative 10. It's very, very, very, very, very, very, very cold. The last time i peed i thought it looked like i was peeing on my ball sack and i realized i did have a penis still

and uh it was just very very very small tmi maybe um anyway i'm about to share an episode with you that is going to be teamed up with blair morrison and ben ald. These guys are super OG CrossFitters. Blair placed in the CrossFit Games like a... Actually, I can't remember what year, but I remember when I was coming up in the CrossFit Game, he was like someone I really looked up to, and he was doing a lot of really cool things, including CrossFit Anywhere,

which now is kind of a cooler thing. A lot of people are trying to get out of their gyms and do a lot of things outside of the gym now. And he was doing that way before everybody. So it's really cool. His gym is still called CrossFit Anywhere. And he's still an advocate for doing things outside and taking care of your body on a higher level than I think most athletes have been in the past. It's destroy yourself for all accounts to win.

So he's a great person. He has a lot of great feedback. And Ben has also been a super OG for as long as I can remember. And he's been to regionals. I think he's been there more than I have. I think he's just an OG. And we can't really decide what an OG is on this episode. So we're trying to define exactly what that is.

And we're doing the best job that we can. So in this episode, we hit a couple things about sectionals. We talk about a post that Ben Smith posted on Instagram. We talk a little bit about nutrition, a little bit about our future endeavors, a little bit about pretty much everything. So this is just like a fun hangout conversation with a couple of dudes that have a lot of information, and they've been in the game for a long time, and I think you guys are really, really going to dig it. It's a cool podcast for sure. And we're sitting in the lobby in Miami at Waterpalooza. Just good vibes, and everything just flows really, really well.

So I think you guys are really going to dig it. For the sponsor today, I'm so excited to talk about this new sponsor. We have Sunlighten saunas. The Sunlighten saunas are infrared saunas. So there's regular saunas, there's infrared saunas. The infrared saunas are giving you more heat from the lights inside the sauna versus the actual heat inside of a sauna, where you know where you put the water on and all the steam comes up in that. So these guys have actually sent me a sauna and I have been using it. Can you imagine them? They sent me a sauna. It's so cool. So I've been using it. I've been doing the research on it. Joe Rogan actually has been talking about these a lot and he had Dr. Rhonda

Patrick on his show and talking about the benefits of saunas and some of the information is literally out of control. So this first study shows that frequent sauna use decreased mortality by 40%. So if you want to hear that again, that basically means by all the shit that you can die from in the world, you've just cut that by almost in half just by being in a sauna for 14 minutes a day. I want to leave it just like very awkward for like 5, 10 seconds so you can just feel how ridiculous that is. That's insane. When you put body, when you put your stress, when you put body on your, when you put stress on your body,

whether it's from working out, sauna, extreme cold, doesn't really matter. Your body thinks that it's in a stress mode. It doesn't matter if it's artificial or if it's real. So basically what happens is during these times, Your body thinks that it's in a stress mode. It doesn't matter if it's artificial or if it's real. So basically what happens is during these times, your body is producing these different protein responses. And it's basically a stress-related protein response. So whether you're working out at the gym in L.A. and you happen to be in a sauna or you're in the Sahara Desert and you literally have no water or food and you are stressed out out of your mind, it's basically kind of the same thing because your body has no idea what's going on. It doesn't have eyeballs to check it out. I mean, I guess it does, but it can't

actually decipher what is exactly happening to his body at that time. It just knows fight or flight, let's go, let's fix it. So these powerful anti-inflammatory effects that your body are producing are called heat shock proteins. And it is decreasing the mortality rate by just exponential numbers. It's out of control. There's actually another study from Finland. They studied 2,300 middle-aged men. And they put them into three groups and the men that spent an average of 14 minutes at 175 degrees over the course of the study 49 of them uh were in the sauna once a week and they decreased the mortality rate by 40 out of control just literally the studies keep going

on you guys can go on google and check them out yourself it's real stuff another thing that is really really cool is it increases the blood flow in your body, which is a great thing. 15 minutes in an infrared sauna for 14 days improves your endothelial cell lining by 40% as well. This number 40 is coming up hot all the time. So increased blood flow, decreased mortality rate, 14 minutes a day of your time? Done. I'm in. Let's go. So beyond that, there's better sleep, relaxation, detoxification. Weight loss is actually a big one for a lot of people out there. Relief from sore muscles. Are you ever sore? Yeah. Relief from joint pain, such as arthritis, such as myself. My knee is completely shot. Clear and tighter skin. Yeah, I'll take that. And improved circulation, which you guys have already heard me talk about. So infrared saunas,

new thing right now that's kind of been popping off. Actually, they're really not new, but they've just been getting a lot more popularity, I think probably because of Joe Rogan and Dr. Rhonda Patrick. So if you go to sunlighten.com, S-U-N-L-I-G-H-T-E-N.com, you guys can check out the saunas that they have. You don't have to spend a gazillion dollars on a sauna. They have one-person ones and they have five-person ones. They have indoor ones and they have outdoor ones. So there is like entry-level ones that are not very expensive. And if you use the code SHRUGGEDCOLLECTIVE, you get $200 off and free shipping.

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If you guys have any more questions about infrared saunas, go to sunlighton.com, and there's a whole bunch of stuff on there. And then also go to PubMed and check out the studies that are really being made. I mean, these are not opinion studies. These are real studies that people are doing, and it's insane. I literally cannot get over some of the stuff I've been reading recently just so I can talk to you guys about it. So without any further ado, let's get into this episode with Blair and Ben. We're going to talk about all the things and I hope you guys dig it. I hope you guys tag us on Instagram and yeah, let's go. All right, Chalk Nation. It's your boy, Ryan Fish, back on the

mic. We're still out here at Wadapalooza in Miami. Happen to be in the lobby at the moment. Was cruising around on a moped all around South Beach, jumping off curbs, running red lights. Did a couple things I'm not proud of. But I am here right now, and I'm proud to be sitting down with some super OGs in the house. How old are you guys right now?

Boy, I'm 36. Going on to 37. Yeah, I don't want to talk about it, though, actually. Man, I guess I'm not as OG as I thought. I'm only 32. 32. I get called OG all the time. We were talking about this on another show.

I'm like, let me ask you this. Why am I considered an OG? I feel like if you've been doing this for like 10 years, you're an OG. So at what level, though? Like you've been to regionals a few times or games a few times. Or? It doesn't have to be both. No?

I'm asking you. I'm asking you. I'm posing this to you. I feel like you are the expert. I don't know. Shit, now this is getting hard. But you went automatically and sitting down with some OGs, so you already had, like, this definition in your head.

Well, I remember when I started. Sure. When I first got into it, first off, we were sitting down with Ben Alderman and Blair Morrison. Oh. Yeah, Ben Alderman wants to know,

that's myself, why I'm considered an OG. So when I first got into it, I would look at to see who was good at the time. And I remember seeing your name from the CrossFit Games,

Blair Morrison, and like Nate Schrader, and a bunch of these dudes that I was like, oh my god. These guys are, these are the top guys. These are the guys that I want to look up on YouTube. These are the guys that I want to do this.

I want to do that. And that was 2010. And then I remember getting into the OC Throwdown. Right. That was my first time ever competing. And I got second place. And I beat a lot of you guys. And that was like, I don't know how much you guys know my actual story.

But during that time, I was homeless. And I was sleeping on couches. I don't know any of this was like i don't know how much you guys know my actual story but during that time i was homeless and i was sleeping on couches i don't know any of this i have no awareness of this whatsoever i think this is like the main reason that i have a big following is because like during that time i like admitted that like i was while i was sleeping on someone so this girl's couch for a few months that i didn't know at all like i was i've been trying to get a job for a long time. I couldn't get one. And I had, like, absolutely nothing. All the videos that I turned into the OC Throwdown

to qualify for that competition, they were getting really big on social media and I didn't have any shoes on. And that wasn't because, like, I preferred to have no shoes. I just didn't have any money for shoes. And then I eventually made it. Like, they gave the top three spots away, and I got to the OC Throwdown. And then that whole time, like four or five months going into that,

I was like stealing food from the grocery store. I was like a legit, serious homeless person that had like nothing going for him at all, and I just loved CrossFit more than anything. And that's why like building into it for the for the for i know you guys don't really know i mean i know you guys know the story but that's why it upset me so bad when i freaked out on the judge that one year and i had like so many people were like saying like well he's like playing the victim or whatever it's like no like i literally put my entire life into this like this is my this is like like everything i got man and i felt everything in that moment and after the oc throwdown because of the oc throwdown and because of getting second place

at that event and doing so well during that weekend that is the only reason i had enough money to like stay like alive like i wound up getting a job after that i got sponsored by like progenics and like my whole career in crossfit started after that had I went to that competition and not podiumed and not done well I don't know what would have happened to me like my life would be totally different but that was like a humongous moment for me and then literally like every year after that I just wanted to go to the games more than anything and I was just so fucking passionate about it and I've just always been like a crazy energetic passionate person. Probably like – I'm probably pretty similar to how you like meet Kalipa

because I'm not just like in your face as much. He's like kind of guerrilla-ish. He's just taller. Yeah. He's taller so he can be in your face. Pretty much everybody's taller than me. But yeah, that was like my first deal. And then ever since then, I've owned the Chalk Gym.

And that's just been kind of my thing since then. And I've just been building off and doing different things. Now I have this podcast, and now I'm sitting down talking to you guys in Miami, which is great. A couple of OGs. Yeah, with a couple of OGs. It sounds like, Ben, it sounds like you're OG by association. I kind of think so.

Yeah. That's all right. I'll take it, though. How do we attain OG status? It is. There are certain things that OGs do as well, too. So, like, at regionals the other year when we had to do the 225 overhead squat, handstand walk and all that, everybody was clean and jerking it. You were trying to snatch it?

Yeah. That's super OG. Yeah. Well, I was also behind. So I thought, hey, if I snatch this, I can catch up a little bit. Right? That was OG. Also stupid. Yeah. It was also dumb. Also not smart, hey, if I snatch this, I can catch up a little bit. Right? That was OG. Also stupid.

Yeah. He's also dumb. Also not smart. OGs do stupid shit, though. Yeah, we do. Because you're an OG. We do. It's like old man strength.

All right. Cool. I'll take that. I guess old man strength to do stupid stuff. Been in the game for a little while. Like today, we were working out in one of the spectator workout areas. And we were just trying to move, right? Because neither of us have been feeling very well.

And Ben's like, well, before we leave, let's just build up to just a heavy power clean so I can lift something heavy. So I'm like, okay, let's do it. And he's like, 10 minutes. And I do not like these shoes

for lifting heavy and explosive. No qualifiers. We're on crappy ground. It's like, whatever. Not ideal situation. Everything has a qualifier. Even sanctionals have qualifiers. So we start building up and we're just kind of throwing weights on.

And I'm tapped out at about 275. He keeps going, and we're not sure how much weight's on the bar, but it gets up to. It's a LECO equipment, so everything's in kilos. So nice, too. Yeah, it is nice. It feels really good. So we got up to 330, and he hits his power clean, and he just throws on, I think it was 10 more kilos. It would have been 352.

Yeah. 352. And just goes for it, right? This is like within the span of. 10 minutes. It definitely wasn't even 10 minutes either. Just built up to it. And it was sketch.

Did not get it. No, I didn't get it. I mean, it was like trying to save it above a squat. Knees were in. Feet were out. out, and then like smartly let it go. Let it go. But it was – if doing stupid heavy stuff is an OG move, that was for sure. I'm going to get to a 352 power clean in like six and a half minutes. I don't know.

And I'm going to go for it with terrible shoes and bad footing. Not terrible shoes. I do not like these for looking heavy. No offense, Rich. No offense. I've never wanted to buy someone else's shoe so bad. I actually really like the way that shoe looks. It looks like a skate shoe, bro.

I just hate that it's Rich's shoe. Does it look like a skate shoe? It's cool. It's just a cool-looking shoe. Right? I kind of feel like it looks like a skate shoe. Yeah. I mean, it kind of looks like a skate shoe a little bit.

A little bit. But you don't like that it's Rich's shoe? Like a DC? No, I just don't like buying someone else's shoe. Like a DC logo right there? Oh, yeah. It is really similar, yeah. Yeah, I mean, it kind of looks like a skate shoe a little bit. A little bit. But you don't like that it's Rich's shoe? Like a DC? No, I just don't like buying someone else's shoe. Like a DC logo right there? Oh, yeah. It is really similar, yeah. Yeah, I mean.

I don't know. I've actually never talked to Rich. Ever. In your life? No, no. You're not missing anything. It's so weird. I'm just kidding.

Rich is an awesome guy. I've never talked to Rich or Matt Frazier, but I think I've talked to literally every other person besides them. Oh. Well, they're pretty tough to, you don't just see them walking around. That's part of the problem. I've seen Frazier walking around quite a bit already. Yeah. Well, they're pretty tough to – you don't just see them walking around. That's part of the problem. I've seen Frazier walking around quite a bit already. Yeah.

Like, he's everywhere. He's – so Frazier is – He just doesn't look like someone I want to talk to. He doesn't want to talk to you. Yeah. That's the thing. Right? Do you agree, Ben?

Like, he's a nice guy, but – He just doesn't look like he wants to talk to anybody. He's all business, man. Which is fine. Yeah. Yeah, he's not super motivated to talk to anybody. No. And you can't fault him for that.

Everybody's the same. Well, it's like what he said. He's like, I want to be at my house and shoot my guns and work out. And, like, that's not super motivated to talk to anybody. No. And you can't fault him for that. Not everybody's the same. Well, it's like what he said. He's like, I want to be at my house and shoot my guns and work out. I'm like, that's it. I don't need the – He knows who he is. He doesn't want to impress anybody. He has zero care.

He's not going to try to be a jerk, but sometimes people perceive it that way, I think. And really, he's just like, I'm just not about it. It's not entertaining to me. Why do I want to do something that doesn't sound fun? It's weird, though. I'm always so surprised by the people who win the CrossFit Games almost every single time. They're not super interesting people. How so?

Like Miko? When Froning first won, Miko wasn't very interesting. But that almost made him interesting. Yeah, he was in his closet rowing 5Ks at 5 in the morning. That's really interesting. That's fucking OG. That guy's fucking OG. That guy's real OG. Anyway, at 5 in the morning. That's really interesting. That's fucking OG. That guy's fucking OG. That guy's real OG.

So anyway, he was in his closet. You know what else is OG? Like when we're still here and we're not competing. We're just here and we look like we're competing. Everybody says good luck. And we can probably still walk in the athlete area. Like that's pretty OG. Yeah.

Anyway. What was I talking about? I blacked out. People not interested. They're not interested. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. So when Froning first won, he wasn't interesting at all. It's just funny that he couldn't do a rope climb.

And then, like, he kept doing good, kept doing good, but there was nothing. He was never, like, in the limelight. You never saw any of his workouts. You never, like, heard from him. And then he would just crush the games and then gone. And then Ben Smith won, and you're like, I think CrossFit refused to even put any limelight on it, which is really bad. And then all of a sudden, when Frazier won, everybody's like, who the fuck was he? Where did he come from?

And then he was just shooting guns and being in the woods and stuff. And then you're like, it's so weird. In any other sport, when the person's dominating, they're just capitalizing on that. Follow my program. Buy my drink. Even freaking Kelly Slater is selling perps energy drinks. You know what I mean? There's so many things, and I think it's so interesting

that none of them even want to try. Well, so I think in Rich's case... Well, now he has everything now. He's capitalized majorly, but the reason he's so good is because all he wants to do is, like, he's got almost like an ADD where he needs to be moving, doing something. It's like an addiction for him. So he works out all the time.

That's all he really wants to do. That's what makes him happy. And that's why he was so good is because he combined this crazy need to move with, like, really high-quality movement and, like, competitive spirit. So he's just great at CrossFit, and he wanted to keep doing it all the time. And I feel like people are trying to copy that blueprint, right? And Matt is about as competitive a person as I've ever seen in person. People say Michael Jordan was competitive, would fight you on the court.

That's kind of how I feel when I look at Matt Frazier. But your point is well taken. These guys don't want to be superstars. They avoid the stardom. Whereas if you look at the women, Annie Thor's daughter loves the spotlight. Katrin loves the spotlight. Camille loves the spotlight.

So CrossFit is at least held up on the the stardom and you can see the results like i'm surprised camille's voice over time has not gotten any better her accent is still just as thick as i'm still just like damn it i want to like you so much more but your voice is just painful i mean and they have my life they have the stars on the women's side. I'm sorry, Camille. That's the thing, though, right? Yeah. So the men, I mean, it hurts us, I guess. It doesn't hurt us, but it hurts CrossFit's brand in the sense that there's only been two guys to win the games.

And be dominating. And then you have Ben Smith in the middle, who they just chose to, like, not showcase at all. Which sucks for him. Because I think he would have really liked to be showcased. I know for a fact that that hurt his well his feelings speaking of ben smith he just posted on his instagram i'm super excited to talk about this yeah he posted like hey uh just a heads up this sanctional thing is sounds like it was maybe a cool idea but right now you have people competing and in in a sanctional event that their coach basically programmed, right? Like, you're creating biases in the sport, like, immediately, right?

So for someone like Ben to say that, like, really blew me away. Yeah. I was just, like, on my feed, like, cruising through my gram, and then all of a sudden I was like, whoa. Yeah. I thought he reposted it, and then I was like, no way, he posted this, like, legit. That's right. And I was like, damn, that's really impressive on his part.

And it's totally true, and I didn't even think about it. Hey, how OG is this pose? No shoes, feet up on the couch. Yeah, I wish this was a video show. I'm actually jealous. It's almost like eating the whole wheel of cheese in the movie Anchorman. I could do that, too. Yeah, but, no, you're right.

Ben's not usually the guy to make waves. Yeah. I actually heard him murmur some things we ended up in Hawaii at the same time about his thoughts behind the competition the year he took second and he just kind of had some ideas and he wouldn't even

pose it as like a complaint or as like a negative thing but you could tell he just held it back and all it was was me, my wife him and his two brothers sitting in the back of our Camaro that we rented. And like, they can't even fit in the seats, you know what I mean? And they're just like, he's like, yeah, but did you think about this and this and this?

And I'm like, are you upset? And he's like, well, I don't want to say anything. You know what I mean? And you're like, I was trying to find out, you know, but I really can't say that he was or wasn't. And if he was, you know, downplaying somebody else's performance or anything, he was just kind of like starting to poke. But his mind's always going, and then he posted that, and I go, he popped.

He couldn't take it anymore. Now he's like, no way. This is not okay. Well, I feel like the favoritism in CrossFit as these type of events start to happen might kind of break apart a little bit. Yeah. And I think, I mean, even the photographers aren't allowed to be on the floor. There's, like, only specific photographers that are allowed on the floor.

And if you take photos, you can, like, be, like, arrested. Like, one of the guys I was doing photos with the other day for HyperEyes. Arrested? Yeah, you can get, like, fined and arrested. Bro, in California, you can steal a gun, and it's a misdemeanor. I know. California's insane. Well, I mean, how can you get arrested for taking a picture?

Dude, I don't know. It's weird. Of people working out. The guy Luke was telling me that yesterday. He's like, dude, I can't take any photos of anybody. Like, if they find out that I do that, I'm like banned for life. Wadapalooza is controlling that? Yeah, if you're a photographer, like a professional photographer taking photos of athletes and you're not on their media list or whatever, you just get in serious trouble.

This guy was terrified to take a photo. Well, that's what they were doing at regionals the last five years, right? CrossFit controlled all the media. But now it's more serious with these sanctional things. Interesting. I wonder why they care. I have no idea. It's really weird.

Do you think they would want more media to get out without them having to pay for it? I have no idea. But did you guys hear about the other thing that happened yesterday with the timing eyes? No. With the what? So people were coming out of the water from the swim, and someone came in in front of, one of the girls came in, like literally two seconds before Noah Olsen,

and her time stamp said that she came in five minutes after him. You guys didn't hear about this? This is a huge thing right now. It's massive. Like literally the whole swim event is completely fucked. Is that why it took so long for them to post the results of it? Yeah, so they're going off of video footage when people came in to try to change the times. What are they doing, asking people who are taking videos, can you submit your footage so we can get them?

Yeah, so, like, they have no Olsen's time coming in at, like, 15.02 or something, right? And then someone else's time would be, like, 20.02, and they came in, like, they're in the same photo. Oh, no. And then, I guess what it came down to was, like, everybody's thing was messed up, and they came in like they're in the same photo. Oh, no. And then I guess what it came down to was like everybody's thing was messed up, and they were just like, well, that is just what it is. I guess that's what it is. And now all the scores are totally messed up. They've got to pull that event.

Yeah, they should just wipe it out. You've got to pull that event and say, hey, nobody knew. Me and Jen Widerstrom were just talking about this at lunch like earlier. Yeah. So like all the girls are all freaking out right now. Jen Widerstrom? She's the girl in the gold pants that we were just at the fitting?

I'm just kidding. She's painfully attractive. She called me OG a second ago. She did? Just kidding. She's an OG. She's a fucking

American gladiator. Yeah, I know. That's OG. That's OG. That's OG. I don't even know. It's not even in regards to crossing OG.

Yeah, ladies and gentlemen, she's a legit American gladiator. She's going to be not even in regards to CrossFit. Yeah, ladies and gentlemen, she's a legit American. She's going to be on the show in a couple hours. Oh, man. Precipitous drop-off after us. Yeah, I know. How are you going to deal with her? She's another person that's not interesting.

Not interesting. Right. Not an interesting person. Yeah. She does literally everything. She does everything. Knows everybody. Yep.

Yeah. Everything. How does something like that, like, you know, there's a few people kind of like her. You know, just stay engaged with whoever they're talking to. You know what I mean? Like, everybody. I feel like she talks to everybody. She does.

And gives you 100% of her attention. Mm-hmm. There's not people like that. She kind of has that star-struck kind of attention, too. Like, when you look at her, you just know she's famous. Her teeth are perfect. Yeah, her teeth, like, they're too perfect. Too perfect.

Yeah. I don't know if those are real. Sorry, Jen. No, for sure. We should talk about that on the podcast. Yeah, we could. I could ask her. I'm sure that she would love that question.

She would love it. Sure. Yeah. What were we talking about? Oh, Ben Smith stuff. The incident with Ben and then basically how the timing guys. And the chip timers, yeah. So now, yeah, now you have this thing that is potentially athlete biased,

depending on who your coach is. And then now you have these, like, small little things that could be happening here and there. So it really comes down to the same thing it's always been coming down to the whole time is judging. So, like, I wonder how that plays a factor, too. I have a lot of people. I heard a lot of people complaining about judging I heard Sam Dancer recently freaked out on a judge I don't know that story

I've been trying to get to the bottom What happened? That was in Dubai, right? I think so, yeah I heard he was getting no reps and he thought they were right Kind of like me And then just fucking lost his mind And I heard he was freaking out And it was a huge deal

But then no one said anything about it What's freaking out mean? He was cursing, like, freaking out, and it was, like, a huge deal, but then, like, no one said anything about it. What's freaking out mean? Like, what was he doing? He was saying, like, cursing at him and freaking out and saying he was going to kill him like I did, I guess. Do you know Sam pretty well? I don't really. So we've had him on the show a few times, and, like, I've always told Ben.

I've talked to him a few times. I've always told Ben that Sam, he reminds me of a guy who is. Looks like Fred Flintstone right now. He's always, like, walking the line of... He's a guy that's on the razor's edge all the time. He's, like, this incredible balance of super intense and, like, super calm that you know you could, like, tip him either way at any given moment. So when I heard that he freaked out, I'm like, well,

something tipped him, like, off the super calm to the super intense side that he's like a lion in a toothpick cage at all moments yeah so could you imagine being trapped in a small room with that man if he was angry with you i do i mean he's sure yeah he just looks like he's been on like a threeday meth trip. He just always looks fucking really haggard. His feet right now, he looks like a hobbit. He's living like a hobbit. He's not wearing shoes for anything. He looks like he's walked through New Zealand for three months with never washing his feet.

Carrying a ring. I'm going to start calling him my precious for sure. Sam Baggins or whatever. Well, I mean, okay, so this thing with Ben and this thing with the judging, it's kind of what we expected, right? This new sanctioned event series or whatever you want to call it is without plan, right? It's just being thrown out there as the new way to do it, but there's no organization to it. Like CrossFit, right now they're sanctioning these events without any oversight. You know, or very, very minimal oversight.

Nobody from CrossFit is here, like, enforcing anything. No, I haven't seen Castro. I haven't seen Greg. I haven't seen any of the head judges I'm used to seeing. Justin Berg was here. Yeah. But at the very least, what I thought was going to happen or what I think will happen is that a CrossFit employee like Boz or Chuck, one of these guys that's super senior in the judging world, will be required to be at that event.

Like your sanctioning fee that you're paying to CrossFit is in part paying for that judge to be there to make sure shit doesn't go AWOL, right? To make sure at least the stuff on the floor is on the up and up. Because otherwise, you are opening it up for, like you said, favoritism from the programming. I think the fact that they're doing this programming by collective is a joke. Like, that's ridiculous. That is really bad. You should have one team that is doing all the workouts so you know that they're well balanced. And, like, it's your stamp that's on it.

You're totally diffusing responsibility for the most important part of your competition. It's terrible. Well, what sets your competition apart, right, is kind of like the mind behind what. Now I can actually hire all those same people for my competition with the role on the West Coast. It's so generic. And now it's generic. Yeah, that's lame. Like, what's great about the PGA Tour is Pebble Beach or Augusta or whatever, right?

And it makes it unique. And you actually remove that. You actually had a chance to make it unique again, but now you're allowing people to make it generic. Right. Dumb. What do you think about the whole system on actually qualifying now? So you have the top 20 in the world.

You have the sanctional events. And then you have number one in your country. And then there's four wild card spots. I think the number one in your country thing is stupid. And I don't think that'll last. I think that's insane. Yeah. It's so dumb.

It's so dumb. It's insane. So, like, I don't know if you guys know this, but in 2010, I trained with an Olympic bobsled team. That was, like, what don't know if you guys know this, but in 2010, I trained with the Olympic bobsled team. That was, like, what I did from 2005 to 2010. I was on the Olympic skeleton team. What's that? That's head first on the bobsled track.

Okay. Wait, you went from Olympic training to homeless to OC throwdown? It gets even better. You don't know my whole story. Dude, when you're on our show, we're going to dive into that. I'm telling you that much. I was a helicopter we're gonna dive into that i'm telling you that much i was a helicopter pilot first then i was on olympic team and then from there came into crossfit and then lost everything eventually oh my it was actually really it was actually part of how i couldn't get a job was i was the overqualified guy right they'd look at my resume like this guy's fucking like a captain

america he's gonna leave us yeah something like that Have you seen Cool Runnings? Oh, yeah Okay, alright You didn't have anybody in your corner saying Like, I see pride I see power I see a badass mother Yeah, I know the whole deal

Everyone thinks it's really like that It's like It's probably not It's really not I have met the entire Jamaican bobsled team, though Oh I met all the guys that are like Supposed to be in that movie

Oh That's cool Are they funny? Are they cool? Yeah, they're actually super funny. Very, very unathletic. They can run in a straight line as fast as any black man running from a cop. And then they just jump in a sled and they're cold as fuck all the way down.

That's hilarious. I was talking on one of my other shows like i've i've never realized like how white my neighborhood was until i just came to miami like i'm from newport beach california and there's like in the entire county there's probably like two black people yeah it's the oc man and there's two that go to my gym and one his name is jerome and the other one's name is parfait parfait stop i swear i love his name more than anything. I mean. That's the actual birth name?

That's his birth name. Parfait. And it's spelled just like a McDonald's Parfait. Have you talked to him about this? Yeah. You should have him on the podcast, too. He's so awkward, too. Like, he looks like a fucking Parfait.

Like, if one could look like a parfait, parfait is killing it. Oh, my gosh. Well, dude, I love Miami. I feel like the vibe here is so good. It's pretty cool. I actually try to tell people. You have a little Spanish swagger to you, though, so I feel like. Blair's really irritated.

I'm not irritated. He's not irritated. He's observant. I'm observant. So I've noticed that we're both painfully white now. We're very white. My middle name is Patrick. So Ben and I traveled together.

We're walking through the airport. We have a layover in Dallas. We obviously arrived in Miami. And I just noticed that we're passing security checkpoints, obviously, and people that work for the airlines or work for tsa at the airport itself and like ben being of polynesian descent and me being of white descent definitely there's a noticeable difference in the way like we are addressed by like minority employees of the airline and the airport right and like not that i felt like I was being disrespected in any sort of way. It was just that there was like this coolness that they gave to Ben

that they didn't give to me. We embrace each other, man. It's funny. It's just deep down our DNA we know that you caused most of the problems. Your people did. Your people ruined everything. Right, man. Just can't get around it.

Yeah, I actually started to notice it once you pointed it out. I didn't realize that, you everything. Right, man. Just can't get around it. Yeah, I actually started to notice it. Once you pointed it out, I didn't realize that, you know. Right. But then what's cool is white people are cool with me too. So I get it from both ends. Right. Yeah, you're not dark enough for me to be racist towards you. Yeah, exactly.

But you're not, like, white enough for me to just be like, for someone else to, like. I can't invite you, like you on my boat in Newport. Oh, man. I'm just kidding. I don't have a boat, but if I had a boat, if I was that white – You have to have an explanation. There's an explanation. Hey, that's my friend Ben.

He's – I let him on. We might not shop at J.Crew together or something like that. I thought that was just a catalog. I didn't know there was actually a store for J.Crew. You know what I think is interesting in the space right now is for blair i think when you were doing the crossfit anywhere thing and you were like really just doing your thing like outdoors and like it was so far ahead of its time that's like one thing that i always remember about you uh-huh is you were doing all the things that everybody wants

to do now right i feel like everybody wants to be like cool and outdoorsy and like spreading their like fitness out into like other realms so i think you have like when i first got into crossfit 2010 2011 my first regional was 2011 i remember like it was either like you did crossfit all day every day and you wanted to go to the games and it was just like all you cared about and and like that was it there was no like recreational crossfit like if you went to the crossfit gym you just wanted to go like everybody wanted to compete now you have half the gym like really really want oh no let's take that back now like five percent of the gym really wants to compete 90 just wants to look good like naked and just have good time and there's like now there's like there's a whole new like form of people now coming in that just like want and just have good time and there's like now there's like there's a whole new

like form of people now coming in that just like want to be really good at life and this they want to incorporate crossfit into their life so they can just right be like more universally like good at everything uh-huh and i think that's interesting like when you first did it i don't think it took off as well as like if you do it right now i know if i didn't have three kids and a wife at home i'd probably be able to do it more. Don't you kind of agree, though? I feel like that whole world is, like, shifting there now. Yeah, I do. I do.

And I think what it is is you had, obviously, like, the CrossFit Games was a shiny new toy, right? That people, when they first saw it, they were just obviously very impressed and, like. It seemed attainable, though. It seemed attainable. People were only snatching, like, 205. Right. People were doing wads. That's what Blair snatches.

Still? Yeah. Sorry to hear that. Stop. No, I'm just kidding. I mean, a lot of the wads that people were doing, you could do. Right. Like, Pyramid Double Helen.

Like, it was a 53-pound kettlebell and pull-ups and running. You know, like, we could go to the track. Like, I live in California. Like, we can go down to, like,'m i live in california like we can go down to like usc or something and like go do that workout right now like you can't do the workouts anymore it's like swim across the bay like run down like the entire like south beach fucking 20 miles and then come in and snatch 225 for 10 reps and then hit time and now it's like man like now i know for sure that i just don't have enough time for this.

It's like a professional event. But then let's say you put all the time into it and you, like, literally, like, dedicate your entire life to it and you get second. You get, what, 50 grand? And then it's like 250 for first, right? So, like, even 50 grand, like, and let's say you made another 50 grand in sponsors. Like, that would be a good year probably for someone like that. You just, for 100 grand, it's, it's really not a lot getting back.

So I feel like the competition factor has to start dying out pretty hard. Well, I think part of it is there's people that have been around long enough to have matured away from the pipe dream that is being CrossFit Games champion. You've seen enough guys win it multiple times and girls to know that, well, it's really not attainable for everybody to win, right? And so you still have people that come into my gym that are amped on competing. And it's not to get to the games, but they want to do a local competition. That motivates them to work out.

But after you've done it for a while, what you're saying comes to fruition, where, hey, man, I want to live well. Right. And CrossFit actually is the best mode for me to do that. It's the best training methodology that's there. In a certain amount of volume. Right. So long as you have like a coaching staff that understands what you are capable of and what you're not capable of and can adapt the workout to you.

So if it's done properly, there's nothing better. Right. Yeah. So you have this maturation process. And I really do believe that. Yeah. Me too. I've always preached that crossfit even though crossfit like tried to ruin my life back in the day like i still love crossfit i still own a gym that i preach crossfit like i'm yeah i love it's done right there's nothing better and so i think there's there's a generation and a group of people that have just matured beyond the obsession with

competing and for a lot of the reasons you pointed out, you just realize that it's probably not worth it. But I will say that I think, and Ben and I have talked about this with a couple other people on our show, that there's going to be this trend towards mindfulness, right? People that are being sucked into their cell phones and to the moment, to Instagram,

where it's just like constantly a new thing that evaporates and not actually centering themselves on what they're feeling. And the only way that I know how to do that is to be outdoors. Like you have to be out of like conditioned space to really center yourself and feel what it's like to be alive in that moment. You can combine that with exercise, which is what I do. That's what I love to do. And that's what you're kind of alluding to back in the day. That works for me. But other people will do this wad on the waves thing.

Like people are going to feel so alive being outside on a boat, going to the Bahamas, that that's the kind of thing they're going to look to do to kind of like break away from their habit. It could be, I mean, people can meditate. You can go on a hike. There's more of those things that are becoming popular and becoming in vogue again because of the extreme that we've gone to with comfort and technology, I think. So to add to that, do you own a gym too?

Yes, I do. You do, right? You own a few, don't you? Yeah, a couple gyms in Sacramento. Right around Blair. Okay, cool. So for both of you guys, would you say the scoreboard is getting like less and less important? Oh, 100%. Like on the whiteboard? Like just scores in general,

when people are done, like don't you feel like they're way more apt to just like leave and not put their score? That is. Like more than ever. Like when I put my score in back in the day in 2011, I was like, yeah, you know, and then like, and everybody else wanted to put their score in. But I have Wattify, right? And I have thousands of online members. And I have my one space that I have in Orange County, we have almost 400 members.

And it's a 30, well, it's 5,500 square feet. The floor space is only like 3,300. It's not as big as everyone thinks. So there's a shit ton of people there. And by the end of the day, 30 scores are in. It's not as big as everyone thinks. So there's a shit ton of people there. And by the end of the day, 30 scores are in. Really? For the men. I've not seen that kind of drop off.

My drop off has not been that much. We write them on the whiteboard and take a picture. There is an online option, but people don't use that. But the coach writes the scores up on the board. And then whoever had the best score for the RX, we circle it. And whoever had the best score for the RX, we circle it. And whoever had the best score for our scale, we circle it. That's crazy. And people, not everybody, but people check, like, our Facebook bulletin board

to see kind of who was the winner. Well, I have, like, my certain classes. Like, my 6 a.m. class is very competitive. They all go online and check it every day. Right. You know, and then it kind of just, like, teeters off. I just have, like, this one class. Like, it's my 6 a.m. class, and I have 10 classes a day. Like, that's the class where everybody goes to just dominate each day. Right. You know, and then it kind of just like teeters off. I just have like this one class. Like it's my 6 a.m. class and I have 10 classes a day.

Like that's the class where everybody goes to just dominate each other. Yeah. And then everybody else is just like, I just want to look good naked and go to the beach. Right. You know, and it's pretty much like just like that. And even Miranda and Julian, who own Street Parking, they were saying how they have 10,000 members and they only get maybe like 100 people that put their score in. Right.

Well, that makes sense to me. But I think that's bringing people down into like less stress in their life, more mindfulness, more of like the enjoyment of life and all that stuff. Which I think is cool. I just kind of wanted to twist that into what you were saying. Yeah. I mean, it makes sense to me, especially for Julian and Miranda, because they're marketing people that don't like the competitive side of CrossFit, right?

They want to be able to do workouts that are safe, easy to create and to run. But I like what you're saying. Do you guys both have classes that are not CrossFit? Yes. Yes. What are they? I have like a cardio endurance class, which basically, you know. What's it called?

We change the name all the time. Mine's called Sweat. I like it. Ours is called Anywhere X Anywhere X? yeah is it outside? no

oh okay it goes in and out like a normal program for a gym but people are starting to like that right? mine's insane like

it's insane so like I for a long time it was zero barbells at all like we didn't do anything with a barbell

right just dumbbells kettlebells and I have like bikes, rowers, skis, and we run and jump rope and all that stuff, and then body weight. Right. And I have those rogue bricks, and we do like all sorts of stuff on the rogue bricks. That's cool. You know what I'm talking about? Yeah.

You ever see like the A squats where you jump, the brick is in between your feet? Yeah. You hit your butt on the brick, you jump up, stand on top of the brick, come back down. I call them T-Bags. Yeah, that's what I think of. They're actually called A-Squats, but I just got really interested in calling them T-Bags. They went viral on my Instagram when I posted them and called them T-Bags. Went way more viral than A-Squats.

So, I mean, all that really matters is your views. That's true. Yeah, like that type of stuff is really exploding and i think it's i love the five-year mark like i'm just so interested to see where it is like five years from when we crossfitted nobody was podcasting like nobody was like had online programming nobody had this nobody had that like everybody everybody who was on instagram early like andger and, like, some of these people, they had, like, hundreds of thousands of followers. And they're like, oh, my God, I missed the boat, you know. But, like, we're at the forefront now. And we're smart enough because we're in the game a little longer.

And, like, we can kind of see what's happening. Whereas the younger generation, like, I was just talking to, like, Chandler Smith, Chand Chandler Blacksmith, like some of the 25-year-old guys. And like they don't really know like what's kind of going on as far as like the whole business of everything. They're in the same shoes that we were in. We were 25, 26. They just want to work out and get it going. But I think it's cool like as you get older, you start to like you're really paying attention to everything. And I think it's cool how like I didn't even know you guys had a podcast.

And I'm like, oh, yeah, they totally should have one. Like they probably have such good things to talk about. And, like, a lot of us now. Jason Kalipa's got one. I mean, Jason's got everything kind of going on. Yeah, Jason does have everything going on. But it's just cool to see everyone doing all that stuff, you know. And I, like, I get excited now for people who have, like, all these cool things.

I'm like, oh, man, that is cool. Like, I get excited for them. And I get excited to, like, want to, like, grow towards my own business and all that. Just like I used to want to get'm like, oh man, that is cool. Like I get excited for them and I get excited to like want to like grow towards my own business and all that. Just like I used to want to get better at Fran or something like that. And I feel like I love how he called his thing Amrap mentality because I feel like that is like such a really cool thing. And it's very much him.

Yeah. Right. It's very Jason, right? Yeah. Which is cool as we're getting older and maturing out of just chasing the CrossFit Games or something like that. You sort of become more in tune with exactly who you want to be. You know what I mean? Like how you want to express yourself, the way you want to be and podcasting and online programming.

Or your Instagram becomes vessels for that, not just for staying competitive. You know what I mean? And I think that like Jason totally knows who he wants to be you know which is cool we're in such a cool world right now we're like what you want to be and if you're really passionate enough about it it can be as lucrative as you want it to be yeah I actually said something on my Instagram the other day where I was like walking down the beach and I remember like just being a kid and driving around with my mom and I just and like especially during Christmas time we'd always go down to the beach and like drive by like see all the beach houses like all these expensive houses just like they always had the dopest christmas lights and i remember just like driving around i was like man

like how do those people have so much money like to have all those lights what is what does that person do for a living like you when you're little you just that's all you think about is like how do i get the house like what do they do they're doctors they're lawyers there's this they're that and i remember i was on my instagram just making this video and I wound up, it was in my story. And I was like, you know what? I need to put this on my actual gram. And I remember saying, I was like, you know what? I'm 32 years old now. And I look at these houses and I don't think that at all anymore. I know exactly how to get it if I really wanted it. And the only limiting factor is how much time and effort I want to put into a project

and when i have kids one day and i drive them around and i show them the same houses like i will not tell them the way to get that house is to become a doctor or become a lawyer it's to be really really passionate at whatever you want it to be and i think that's such a cool conversation to pass down to the next generation because you don't need to be that anymore to make enough money to buy that house anymore which i think is like insanely interesting and the only reason i'm tying that in now is because there's a lot of us now who aren't competing anymore and getting that love for the sport like we used to with our bodies but now we're transitioning into other things and i think it's such a cool it's such a cool time to see all the other people who are still hanging out

and still doing like things like this. Yeah. And I remember talking to Don Hasselbeck. He was in charge of the Reebok partnership for a bunch of years. And I remember talking to him. It was right around the time that we were talking about Matt Chan. So Matt Chan. I haven't heard about him in a long time.

So Matt Chan was on seminar staff, and he was a firefighter in Denver, and he owned his gym. And at the time, Matt was quitting his job as a firefighter and selling his gym, and he and his wife Cherie were going to go on this road trip, right? And he bought an Airstream. I remember the Airstream. Everybody does. We're like, wow, that's so cool.

That's so cool. Yeah. Right. And so I was talking to Don, who's a guy, he's an NFL veteran. Both his sons played in the NFL. The guy's got a lot of experience with athletes. And what he was talking about was, he's like, Blair, I like what you're doing. He was giving me a compliment in this conversation.

He said, I like what you're doing with your Anywhere Fit trips, right? Because you are doing something that will live on beyond your career as an athlete. And that's what I just brought up. Yeah. I remember that. Right, you remember it. He's like, honestly, I don't see that nearly enough from our CrossFit team, right? And I don't see it a lot from – it's a well-documented problem that you see with NFL athletes

because they think their career is going to be longer than the average NFL career is only three years it's like you guys when you have this platform you got to understand that it's very short-lived and you need to have a plan for what you're going to be beyond your athletes like I don't he's like I don't understand what Matt's doing he's like he has something that is super stable and that gym will run beyond his career as an athlete and he is getting rid of it to go do – he couldn't comprehend it. And I remember we talked about guys like Noah, Noah Olsen. We talked about guys like – who were some of the guys that were young at that time? I mean, Rich.

It's kind of what you were saying. Like, Rich didn't really want the spot. He just kept winning, so it didn't matter. He was getting – When you are literally the best. Right. It doesn't matter. You can just be the spot. He just kept winning, so it didn't matter. He was getting... You are literally the best. It doesn't matter. You can just be the athlete. But the point is, you have a lot of these athletes who think that having a big

Instagram following is enough. That means they've made it. My point to them is, if they're listening, it's how you mobilize that following. Andrea Ager, you brought her up. She was on a games team one time. She's famously critical of herself as an athlete, really wanted to make it, but she took her following and she turned it into something, right? I mean, she did Project

Ager Bomb. She did something with it. Christmas Abbott, right, is another person who got Insta famous, right? Instagram famous. And she turned it into a supplement line. Like those things will live on beyond your career as an athlete because it's going to be short-lived and then with this new format like who knows like how many more years ben smith can can can go to the crossfit games like if that's the only thing that sponsors see that's of value to you to them they're going to cut you i still have a contract with reebok because of our podcast right right i haven't i haven't been to the crossfit game since 2011 dude i've never been to the crossfit games and i have a contract with Reebok because of our podcast. Right. Right? I haven't been to the CrossFit Games since 2011. Dude, I've never been to the CrossFit Games, and I have a contract with Reebok.

Right. Right? Except for last year, but that was not part of it, right? FitAid, still contract, you know, with FitAid. I thought you made it one time, but obviously not. Really? How many times do you think I made it? I thought you just made it one time.

This is a running joke, actually. But you were on a team, too, or no? No. No? I'll get right on. This is so great. People think I made it all the time. I went to regionals seven times. So, yeah, so people think of you as a games joke, actually. But you're on a team, too, or no? No. No? I'll get right on. This is so great. People think I made it all the time. I went to regionals seven times.

So, yeah, so people think of you as a games athlete, right? And then you get confused and you're like, oh, you know. People are like, oh, I got confused by multiple games athletes that have been to the games multiple times. Yesterday, Michelle Latondra was like, well, you've been to the games a bunch of times, right? I'm like, no. Blair just rolls his eyes. Just to finish my point. It makes me feel better.

I was the alternate three times. Oh, man. I got fourth twice when it was top three, and then I got sixth when it was top five. But if you remember. To finish the point, Ryan, you said that there's the ability now to have that house where you find something you're passionate about. But timing is everything. And people, the main reason why people don't get that house or get to where they want to go is because they don't take advantage of what they have at the right time.

Because you can be passionate and passionate and passionate. And if it's not synced up right it's not going anywhere and right now there's a lot there's more ways than ever for for these athletes in crossfit to take a passion like be it online programming i mean there's nothing easier than that right writing ebooks like you're doing you find something that works and you hammer it right you go all in on it and you believe in it and you really put your passion into it in such a way that everybody knows that you're very passionate about it. I used to always think that I wasn't good enough to put my stuff out there because I wasn't Rich Froning or whatever. And then one day I was like, dude, fuck that.

I put a lot of time into these workouts. I know they're good. I've seen other people's. I know mine's better in my eyes or whatever. So one day I just put it out and it just fucking boom. And I just was like, holy shit. This is why I'm alive right now. This is my thing.

This is my career. This is what I do now. Well, Gary Vee, I mean, you guys know who that is, right? Gary Vee. Yeah, he would just say, go fail. Go fail. Yeah, just go. But you know, the other thing he said was, I just do like an eight minute podcast he

had. It was why 80% of NFL players will go broke, right? Eventually. And it was eight minutes long. It was eight minutes long. I love that. That's so cool. Right? And all he did was splice together a bunch of things he had answered and broke, right, eventually. And it was eight minutes long? It was eight minutes long. I love that. That's so cool, right? And all he did was splice together a bunch of things he had answered,

and here's number one, reason number one. And part of it was they didn't take advantage of the network and the people that they were having the opportunity to rub shoulders with. Right. Like, if you're an NFL player, you get to talk to the, like, you get to talk to the people that I could never dream of talking to. Well, I dream of it, and I know I could, but I'm just saying, like, it's really hard for the average person to do. And then you're just like, oh, I'm just a carriage football.

That's all I do. You know what I mean? You're like, dang, man, that's not all you do. Yeah. You could break your leg tomorrow. You could snap that twig and never be able to play again and lose all your money. What are you going to do? If you treat people good, if you find a way to kind of tell them who you are and be authentic

and real, man, you might develop a relationship that you can actually monetize and take care of yourself and your family for a long time. That's been one of my favorite things about having this podcast is every time I meet people, I feel like I make some sort of connection with the person on the show or we talk about somebody that they know on the show and then we link up or something and I'm like, oh man, this is like the coolest thing ever. The podcast to me has been so fun as far as networking goes. Because there's value in networking. Yeah. there's a ton of value networking i think about it too heaven forbid

something happened to my gym or uh if you're working somewhere else if you have a good network and you need to make a living like how many more people do you know you can like hey man like who value you in your relationship and your skill set and like i didn't work out so well for with you with chalk or with whatever, Iron Mile or anywhere. But you know what, dude? You're a good human being, and I like the way you work and all that stuff. And so you don't have to fall as far because you've got a great safety net.

It's just people, right? It's people. And this is a great group of people. The CrossFit community is tight. It is. 100%. And I think people, when Ben was talking about the NFL players, the access that you have as an athlete is probably the most valuable commodity.

Yes, you have your reach to your fans, but the access you have within the community to rub shoulders with people that have influence and will have more influence than you, like owners of companies, right? Like anybody that's ever sponsored you, if you know the marketing director, you've got to foster that relationship so it's more than just a business relationship, right? I'm speaking to the athletes now. You need to become personally related to that individual because they have a lot of influence. Even if you're no longer sponsored with them, like if you build a friendship,

maybe they're not going to give you money, but they're going to keep giving you access to things that you want, right? If it's podcast, you can get interviews, right? Interviews with their new athletes. And it goes on down the line with other athletes, like guys like Rich or Matt, people that are going to be legends, like Mount Rushmore type figures. If you have a friendship with those people because you competed with them or alongside of them and you have mutual respect, that friendship will outlast their career and your

career, right? And then you will still have the ability to call on that person if you need a favor or get them on your show or have them sign your book or whatever, right? And it can't be overstated how important the personal relationship is because that's what people want famous people people that have influence they want to be treated like normal humans they don't want to be like lauded and applauded like a fan right they want you to like respect them and expect respect back so if you develop that right now like while you have your your platform it is going to

support you in like whatever business you go into and like you said the crossfit the crossfit network is is awesome and they're the crossfit community is awesome and like people don't see that our community is basically breeding hard workers good people because you can't be fake and do what we do you know i mean like it's hard like it weeds out at least the most fake and pretentious people. You know what I mean? Yeah. There's not a lot of like Insta famous,

like models and stuff doing podcasts and like being intellectuals or like, or like you don't actually see them working out like for real. You know what I mean? Like you might see one of us working out the illegal thing, power going on three 35. Yeah. Yeah. And then having a great conversation on the podcast. Like that's a pretty well-rounded person. Yeah. I think that, you know see one of us working out at the Alico thing, PowerGram 335. Yeah. And then having a great conversation on the podcast.

Like, that's a pretty well-rounded person. Yeah. I think that, you know, for me, like, my newest project is within our gym. I look at the social network that we have, both professionally, socially, economically. And I'm trying to work to bring the at-risk youth in my area into the gym at no cost to them. Because I feel like you played sports growing up, I assume, right? Or you had to have. How many kids that you played sports with were foster kids?

We don't have a lot of like that. Exactly. You don't have a lot of that. But my point is most of us didn't play with any of them because, honestly, it's really hard for them to have the resources and the attention of the people in their life to actually take care of them and let them do something cool like play football or to go and be part of Boy Scouts. And they would probably be really good at it.

Dude, I mean, and they just get forgotten because there's just not a lot. And the people who are willing to serve, they're, like, in get forgotten because there's just not a lot. And the people who are willing to serve, they're like inundated because there's too many kids. So now that you have like a group home that's got like seven kids in it, 12 kids in it, somebody there, a group home worker is expected to take all those kids to practice every single day of the week because missing one practice. So what I want to do is my – and they end up with the worst social network. Their friends are bad right the attention they get is negligible it's zero yeah right and they get to meet with a county worker i'm not saying anything bad about county workers but they're in a day with a ton of work and so

they can't be super focused yeah right so they have what if i could bring them in and i can introduce them to the attorneys in my gym and they just work out and show that guy he can work out really hard. Or the contractors or the whoever. Right now, all of a sudden, those kids, when they age out of whatever program, you know what I mean? They have a network now. They have a network. Yeah, they have a good network. It's not a bunch of drug dealers or, you know.

I was wondering where that was going. That was pretty solid. Yeah. Or kids that don't care about school or whatever. They have plans and a future and all that. So, no, I think the CrossFit community is good for so many reasons, both if you're an athlete or if you are a kid or whatever you're doing. There is so much to be said for an athlete as far as a job goes.

100%. Like that pain and suffering gets transferred into anything. Oh, and role playing, right? So if you're on a team, if you're playing basketball and you're a power forward and you are at a high level, dude, you know your role. You can execute. You can practice. You can get along.

It's huge. Yeah, that is huge. Yeah, I mean, it's hard. But unless people have done it, they're not going to understand. So if you have a network, like Ben's saying, created from the gym, and you have something you can co-suffer, you know? Yeah. It's like with military vets.

There's like a huge network of people hiring veterans because, you know, they know what they've been through. And there's this like shared suffering component where, okay, I get it. Like I know that you're going to follow orders, right? And across the gym, like you know people are going to work hard. Otherwise, they wouldn't be there because it's too hard. Yeah. It's just not fun when you're in the depths of that workout.

And if you see somebody going through that, that's a bullet point on a resume that's really hard to – Fake. Yeah, you can't fake that. Yeah, I mean, even if you were in an interview with somebody who happened to do CrossFit at some higher level, like a CEO or something like that, right? And you had an interview and the guy's like, what are you into? And you're like, oh, CrossFit. He's like, oh, I do CrossFit.

Yeah. Interesting. Where did you start? Well, the first work I ever did was Fran. It took me 12 minutes. What do you do now? Well, I train every day. I eat right.

And I got a sub-three-minute Fran. Immediately, that guy who's hiring knows the kind of work ethic you have. Right? I mean, there's a little bit of that. It's not to say that he's going to go, you're hired. But he's going to say, oh, I know something about you. You know where my mind went when you were saying that? I was thinking about how much I would want to work for that guy.

Because I know he doesn't mind getting his hands dirty. He's not like a white-collar, hands-off type of boss. He's actually going to be doing work oh you were interviewing him while he was interviewing you right it's like superman took the powers away from the guys outside the chamber but really he was they thought it was oh yeah it's good i know that's what i was thinking i felt very inception like just now i was just falling deeper and deeper into the ivy league education over here so it's hard to keep up did you where'd Where'd you go? I'll translate for you.

I went to Princeton. You went to Princeton? Oh, nice. Where in Jersey were you from? Tom's River. Dude, famous for the Little League World Series. Little League World Series. Some of my friends.

No way. Eric Campisi. Yeah. Dude, Jersey's an interesting place. I don't know if you want to talk about that, but Princeton is the the ultimate like country club it's like there's a bubble around it and like five of the worst towns camden yeah camden yep uh trenton i mean new brunswick ain't great no newark ain't great newark's definitely not great they say ain't are you really from ivy league school and you use ain't twice and ain't great within six seconds

the only thing i have left from Jersey is I say, I say water instead of water. Water. That's a super New Jersey thing. That's the only thing I got left. But I had my mom on my show recently and she still lives in New Jersey. And we talked about like what her first recollection of like what nutrition was.

And we went like on and on and on. I just, I started pulling things out of the fridge in my mom's house, like on the show. And I'm like, mom, you realize this mayonnaise is not really mayonnaise. This is soybean oil mixed with like blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

And then I'd show her her ketchup and like the first ingredient was like high fructose corn syrup. And then I started showing her like her pasta sauce was like high fructose corn syrup. And I'm like, I showed her her maple syrup. I'm like, this is not even maple syrup. This is literally corn syrup, corn solids, corn this, corn that, corn that. I'm like, this is literally a bottle of fucking corn. How'd you like it?

And then she was like, Ryan, I don't give a fuck. She's just like freaking out, all super Jersey. Her nails are all long. She's like smoking a cigarette. And then like, it's like one of my best episodes ever. She crushed it. But that's what I think of when I think of New Jersey. I think of my mom.

She's insane. But so what's like, what is the next stages for you guys right now? Like what are you guys looking to get into right now? Like what makes you guys excited right now? We're going to host a competition, a large-scale CrossFit competition in Northern California. A sanctional? Yeah. Well, I mean it's not sanctioned yet, but we expect it to be sanctioned hopefully in the next – I don't know, next year or the year after.

I feel like you guys have the right ties for that. Yeah. Possible. Good connections. We're going to do – it's going to be in Sacramento. If everybody we know at HQ doesn't get fired. Right. And then we – you know.

Honestly, I think either way. I think Northern California needs a major event. We haven't had one since the regionals left San Jose in 2014. It's the birthplace of CrossFit. There's tons of CrossFit gyms. The density is crazy. There's lots of people that show up for competitions on the local level. I've never even been to Sacramento.

It's not weird. It's not a bad city, man. Yeah. And it's really grown a lot since they built the new arena downtown for the Kings. We have great food. Yeah.

I mean, great food. I've been to San Francisco a lot. Just never been anywhere. Great food, but we have different kind of great food. Right. The farm to fork stuff is...

It is. That's true. The farm to table is out of sight. Really? And the coffee culture is huge. In Sacramento. Yes. Farmer Fork Capital.

Farmer Fork Capital of the U.S. Farmer Fork and coffee is like my jam. All right. Have you guys been to Portland? Yes. Is it like that? Yeah. No, it's not like Portland.

Really? We're better than Portland. It's not – Portland is like – like keep it weird, right? That's like – Yeah, that's weird. Yeah, they want to keep it weird. Sacramento is not like Portland. Portland is like, I would say, way further to the left.

Way more progressive than Sacramento is. Okay. Like more on the hipster side. More hipster. But you guys have the same stuff, same quality, but just like a little bit more modern. Yeah. Well, we have more farming. I have to see this place.

It's so interesting to me right now. Yeah. You should come. So anyways, we're going to do it. It's going to be in June. Come to our competition. We're going to have an online qualifier in April. We haven't really released any right now. Yeah. You should come. So anyways, we're going to do it. It's going to be in June. Come to our competition. We're going to have an online qualifier in April. We haven't really released any of the information yet.

Oh, this is happening soon. This is happening soon. Oh, wow. We're doing it this year. This is something all your listeners know about. Yeah. Okay, cool. I just didn't even know about it.

So yeah, we're going to have an online qualifier in April. Basically, we're targeting anybody in the region. We want to have California because there's nothing in California this year. I mean, they're going to have one in Del Mar next year. There's nothing in California this year? No. Nothing major. Oh, wow.

The whole season. That is very interesting. Yeah. What are the other ones? So we had Dubai. You guys ever been to Dubai? Never. I went there three times for the championships before with a sanctioned event.

Oh, really? It was super fun. I had so much fun, actually. My first time actually going out there was me, Kenny Leverage, Annie Thorisdottir, and Lindsey Valenzuela. Annie won that year, right? Yep. Yeah, I do remember that. That was super fun.

They invited us out and just... Took care of you. Oh, my God. What does that mean? What does that mean they took care of you? Dude, check this out. So, I'm actually super excited to talk about this on the show. Kenny and I got invited out.

We stayed in this room that was like $4,500 a night. And the first Dubai competition was three and a half weeks long. So you had to do the qualifier, and then the competition was two weeks after. You had to do the qualifier, and then the competition was two weeks after. You had to do the qualifier in person. Yeah. There. So you couldn't just fly home. Was the Sheik watching you?

Yeah, pretty much. I remember this. Wasn't it like treadmill and burpees? It was so interesting. There was so many. And there was plyometric push-ups where you push-ups onto blocks. Oh, you were loving that. It was super just fitness stuff.

It wasn't like super crossfit. They called it the world championships of fitness. Right. So they flew us out. Our room was $4,500 a night. I remember that. Everything was controlled on like a controller. It's the Armani Hotel.

It's in the bottom of the Burj Khalifa Tower, which is the tallest building in the world. Yeah. They told Kenny and I, Kenny Leverage, we're in a room together. They're like, whatever you guys want, it's on the house. Right? Like whatever you guys do for a room together. They're like, whatever you guys want, it's on the house. Whatever you guys do for room service, it's fine.

And then we're going to go out every night and we're going to do stuff. Whatever you guys want to do, we're going to do it. We got like two-hour massages every day. I'd wake up. I would wake up and legit order two racks of lamb for breakfast. It would be like $1,000. It was like 500 bucks a plate, right? When the three and a half weeks was up, Kenny and I got our bill.

It was $260,000. Are you serious? And I remember Kenny was like, dude, we're in trouble. He's like, we're not going home. I don't know what to do right now. And then the guy comes over and he's just like, here, give this credit card to them, and you guys are good. And then we just left. And literally, Kenny and I looked at each other, and we're like, oh, my God, oh, my God, oh, my God.

We were freaking out. We literally thought we were going to get beheaded. Because it was our first year there. Our parents were both nervous for us to go to the Middle East. There were so many weird things, and we just spent $260,000 of their money. And we were just like, oh, my God. Is this $260,000 American dollars? Oh, yeah.

Because it's the Armani Hotel. Everything is just cranked up, right? And then we had these chauffeurs, like these G-Wagon Mercedes, and they would just drive us around everywhere. Everywhere we went, there was one following us, and we just went everywhere. That was $55,000 for the trip just for that. And then, like, our food bill. And then, like, one night we invited a bunch of the other CrossFitters with us,

and we ate dinner, and we got this steak. It was, like, 11 pounds. You shared it? And it was $2,000. Yes. Just for the steak. Do you know Justin Aarons? Yeah.

He owns Treeline now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He was there at the dinner When we bought that steak And then There was a couple other guys there That were there They were just It was an insane time

Did you have any reason To leave the hotel Other than to train I mean I would If you Just to Yeah just to go train Pretty much

But then we went and did The indoor ski resort We went to Those two words Don't usually go together No For three words. Yeah, in Dubai,

everything's indoor. It's insane. When you go outside, it hurts. It's so hot. You're just like... It's so hot. And then,

which I saw when they were doing the run in the sand. I was like, oh my God, it has to be awful. But anyway, yeah, we did that.

We went to Atlantis and did like... The islands out there are man made people made the islands and then there's like tubes that go through shark tanks

and we like and then there's the Burj Al Arab Hotel which is the only six star hotel in the world so it's like beyond a five star all the walls are

24 karat gold when you're inside the building oh jeez I mean it's absolutely insane 24 karat gold there's a giant like helicopter pad that just like sticks, sticks out.

And then, like, I think every room. Looks like Tony Stark's building. Right. Dude, it's insane. It was literally insane. And then the next year, we got invited out again, but it wasn't the same treatment. Like, we just got, like, they just gave us money to stay in a hotel and then for us to travel. And, like, that was it.

Yeah. Lame. I know. I thought it was interesting. Our very first time out there, they gave Kenny and I both $10,000 to get first class tickets to fly out there. But they gave us the $10,000. And I was like, and this is when I was broke as fuck. I had just gotten over being homeless and stealing and being a complete degenerate.

And I was like, I just got $10,000? I'm a flying coach. I am flying coach for sure. Yeah, 100%. And Kenny's like, dude, they're10,000? I'm a flight coach. I am flying coach for sure. Yeah, 100%. And Kenny's like, dude, they're going to find out that you did that. I was like, I'm going to get there the same time as you. And I'm going to get off that plane, and I'm going to pocket. Because my flight was $1,600.

Right. So I got, I don't know, $8,400. $8,400. Yeah. Now, that year, didn't they? And Kenny flew first class. And I flew coach, and we both got off. And he's like, dude, I got to lay down in a bed and, like, all this stuff.

I was like, I don't care. I have $8,600. You know what I mean? I was losing my mind. That would take me, like, eight months to coach that. Right. You know? And he was making fun of me because he's, like, telling me how comfortable he felt and whatever.

And I was like, I don't care. Do you ever want to go back to that degenerate lifestyle and like steal again and like doing that stuff? I mean, do you have that in you? It is really hard. Like when I go to Whole Foods now, like sometimes I'll have like 50 bucks worth of stuff. And I'm like, man, I could just walk by this counter right now. Yeah, exactly. Because I know I've done it. Because I've done it before.

But it was a different time now. Like now I like feel the karma of it or whatever. I don't know. I just feel like more adult, I guess. That's good. I may have done it once or twice just to see what it felt like. I heard you were telling a story where you're on a moped today and you're just spinning donuts or whatever in somebody's yard.

It gets a little bit of that out in you. Have you ever hung out with Hunter McIntyre before? I've never hung out with him, but I've heard he's pretty wild. I worked out with him at the games. We did a workout at the FitAid booth. He wants the wild card spot very badly. He's not very adult. No.

Juvenile. He's a juvenile. He's a juvenile. Yeah, he's like way too much at times. We're actually rooming together right now. It's like a stepbrother situation. Before we go to bed every night, we talk about the most ridiculous things. I'm like, dude, we have to go to bed.

Like, I have to go to bed right now. Like, my eyes are red and I am done. Like, we were talking about, like, throwing shit at each other or something. Like, he was shitting in bags and lighting it on fire. And then I was like, dude, I need to go to bed. Like, tomorrow's a big day. Why are we talking about this right now? Yeah, it was ridiculous, you know?

Sleep is much more valuable. Insane. Okay, so you guys have the sanctioned event is the it was ridiculous, you know? Sleep is much more valuable. Insane. It's okay. So you guys have the sanctioned event is the next big thing that you guys want to get into. Yeah. You guys are, you have your own podcast that's called Beyond the Barbell. Beyond the Barbell. How often do you guys put out shows?

About once a week. Yeah, about once a week. Once a week? Yeah. You guys ever want to get into doing more than that? I have the idea that maybe we should do two times a week. But then Blair has been analyzing, being the smart one, and looking at how much our downloads are affected when we go to multiple times a week. And we see that there's a little bit of a drop-off.

Really? Yeah, if it's because of our content or if it's because we haven't done it long enough. But, you know, we think about it. Yeah. So we'll get more downloads in some, but per episode. It doesn't equal out to be in your advantage. It's not double. We're not doubling it. Yeah. And part of the problem is, like you doesn't equal out to being your advantage. It's not double. Right, we're not doubling it.

Yeah. I mean, and part of the problem is, like you said, you want to have good content. You don't want to just release stuff just to release it. Yeah. And we both own multiple gyms that we're trying to operate. It gets hard, man. It gets really hard.

We've got families and kids. It's like once a week is kind of a sweet spot. And we come to Waterpalooza and we go to the games and we bank content and that kind of helps. We can keep that up and that's steady and you know a couple fridays from now for the next couple fridays we won't have to meet up unless we want to talk about other things you know like the competition and whatnot but we won't have to do podcasting and podcasting is not like a have to it's like suppose something we really enjoy doing is talking but at times when it falls into the point of an obligation you kind of of go like, oh, I don't want to do that right now.

Yeah. You know? I think it's funny. Let's release that Ryan Fisher episode. Yeah, exactly. He asked me like how did you get into it? And I was like, dude, honestly, my first episode was me explaining nutrition to the members in my gym. I got on and I was like – because so many people asked me a question.

Like, hey, what do you think of this? What do you think of that? What do you think of this? And I was like, ah, there's got to be a way to just get this out. I started writing a book and I wrote a nutrition book. That was my first e-book I ever made. I made a nutrition book. It just had everything in it that I thought was important.

And then I would just send it to all my members. And then I wanted it to be more personal. So then I just created an episode that got put into a podcast format and then it was super funny like i had a whole bunch of just ridiculous funny jokes that happened along the way and it just got super popular and then people like can you talk about this can you talk about that i started talking about like cooking oils when you go out to eat. Like, the things that most restaurants are cooking with. And I got all these statistics on, like, when people say you're using olive oil when you eat out, it's 70% chance that the restaurant uses a canola oil, olive oil mixture.

And then I started, like, geeking out on, like, all these oil things. Like, when you go out to eat, like, you have to be looking for this particular thing. And then, like, it just started, like, snowballing to this really cool thing and then that's when barbara shrugged would like dude your show's really rad we want to have you on ours and i was like oh my god this is really really cool but it wasn't something i really planned on and i think that most things that we do is like really not really planned well no i mean you stumble into a lot of things we talked about earlier timing timing and passion like those things have to when they up, you are a talkative person and a funny person. You have a good personality for this sort of medium.

So it's just like turning you loose is pretty much what it comes down to. It is really fun. I do like it a lot. My next thing that I'm really excited about is I really want to get into YouTube. Only because I don't like the work of YouTube because it's like more work. It's more social media. It's more posting and stuff. Right.

But I just like how you could be anywhere doing fitness and post it and potentially be cool. Or even just we could be talking about the Zoom H6 right now and videoing this episode. And like that's what you did for the day. Let's talk about YouTube for a second. Right. Because we're about to start a YouTube channel for my three-year-old daughter who is – Little people are crushing. They crush.

Yes. There is a little kid that makes $9 million a year. You saw that? Yeah, who just plays with toys. Plays with toys. And it's terrible. I watch it. I'm like, what?

And then everybody's kids love it. They just watch it over and over and over again. Where did that get showcased? Because I had a bunch of people in my gym that were like, did you see this kid? He made $9 million last year, and I hate him. And I'm just like, what? I've literally had this conversation like 15 times this month,

and I don't understand where it came from. But it must have been showcased on the news or something. Well, kids are – the problem with it is – let me back up. I feel passionate about this. My kids are going to start a YouTube channel too. That's what they want to do. Okay? The reason why YouTube videos of kids playing with toys is so popular and they get paid so much is because kids are bumping those views up.

Because people are just sticking their kids in the corner with a cell phone. Yeah, and what do they want to watch? They want to watch videos of you working out or him running up a hill and working out right that's stupid to them they're like i want to watch this kid play the toys yeah right it sucks because you're by doing it like my daughter is highly entertaining like she does some objectively very entertaining things a huge personality but like by putting her channel out there and like you're basically we're feeding into this thing that we all criticize which is kids being obsessed with technology and like not using their bodies right so it's like do you really want to be part of that well for nine million dollars a year like maybe

because that pays for college like take a zero off of that it'd still be pretty stoned yeah i mean and not everybody's gonna get that get that, but YouTube is a medium that lives forever, which we love. It's a long-form medium, so it allows you to really show more of yourself, right? And most of the things you're going to be YouTubing is going to be you, obviously. So I think it's a good idea that way. It's a giant tug-of-war right now between social media. You have Facebook trying to do stories. Well, Snapchat was taking over the whole story life.

Instagram stole Snapchat's fire, created their own video. Then Facebook was like, we're going to create videos. No one ever really latched onto it. And then Instagram's like, all right, how can we compete with YouTube? Because YouTube is crushing. People who make money on YouTube are making more money than anybody else right now. So then IG was like, all right, now can we compete with YouTube? Because YouTube is crushing every – people who make money on YouTube are making more money than anybody else right now. So then IG was like, all right, now we're going to make IGTV. IGTV's taking a shit.

And now I think it's like you either like short-form or long-form content. And then the long-form content is either in your car or at your house. So YouTube is like your new TV. When you're driving, podcast is your new radio. And then when you're on the toilet or you need something quick, Instagram is your jam. And then most people in general

just are very high. I don't like to look at things for a long time. I don't even listen to my own podcast because it's too long for me. Plus you were there the first time. Yeah, I was there the first time. I feel like I hate my voice.

You listen to your own voice, you're like, oh, it's awful. It doesn't sound like you. Yeah. It doesn't sound like me. Who was that person? Do I? I remember I listened to a lot of our episodes when we first started off just to make sure we didn't suck.

I listened to a few of my own. And then I stopped because it's the same thing you're talking about. You're like, oh, we do suck. It doesn't help at all. We're not any good. What am I listening for? How do I stop being me? We're terrible.

Who am I anymore? Whatever. My voice is terrible. Back to the guy who was playing a guy who was playing another guy. Are you going to do – do you know what you're going to do on YouTube? It's going to be like – so I find that YouTube is successful if you do informational stuff. People go there to learn things. I use YouTube all the time from working on my house.

When I don't know how to do something, I YouTube it. And there's hundreds of thousands of views on how do you replace a light socket or whatever it is that you want to learn how to do. And it's horrible, horribly boring content. There's no production value, which is the beauty of it. So you go that route. You don't have to hire anybody. It's just set up a cell phone and teach somebody how to do something and then just let it run.

It doesn't cost you anything. Or you go the entertainment route where you're trying to be I'm entertainment route. funny. You're going to be entertainment route. Just because I

That makes sense. I just happen to live in Newport Beach which is super rad and like cooler than 99% of the other places on the United States and probably the rest of the world.

And then on top of that I am like a super gnarly travel person. I travel all over the United States and probably the rest of the world. And then on top of that, I am like a super gnarly travel person. I travel all over. Even my background on my phone right now, this is me climbing a mountain in Norway. You can't really see it. There's a bunch of messages right now. Yeah, I climbed this mountain in Norway.

I flew a drone around and took photos. I was like, you can't really get that photo. And then I've been all over. I've climbed pretty much all the flew a drone around and took photos. Like, you can't really get that photo. And then I've been, like, all over. I've climbed pretty much all the biggest mountains in the world right now, except for... Everest? No, except for, like, the Big Seven, where you need to, like, go for weeks on end.

And have oxygen and everything. So I've been planning on doing Denali, but I just don't know if I can get away. It's 21 days on the mountain. Yeah. I just, like, don't know if I can get away. And, like, you could get ruined halfway through with weather. Yeah, there's so many weird things that go with it.

I don't really have any interest in Everest just because a lot of bad things happen, like, very randomly. Yeah. But beyond that, too, like, I do, like, a ton of mountain biking. I have one of those one-wheel skateboards. I cruise all over my neighborhood on it. And, like, I just have a lot, a lot of toys at home, and I have a lot of fun, and my life is pretty cool to follow, I feel like. Have you ever met people who are like, they act like they've climbed,

like, Mount Everest or something like that? Have you ever met people like, oh, yeah, I've done that before? I mean, I've literally met people that are, they're kind of like fake, like they're Navy SEALs or, you ever met people like that? Oh, the Navy SEAL impersonation happens a lot. Really? It's, like, really sad. Yeah.

Well, maybe I've been duped by that. Pretty much everybody who's been in the military with Special Forces. Yeah, I got a buddy. Yeah, I was in just Special. I can't really talk about it. I was an Army Ranger. It's usually just like recon. Yeah.

But a recon Marine is not really like a recon Marine. There's a different name for it. But they'll just say, oh, yeah, I did recon or something like that. I got a buddy who was an army ranger and he said you know most people you meet that are navy seals they're lying he said you know if you meet an army ranger or there's actually a record of who went to those

training and you can search their name if you want to and you know but people are lying about it I hate that I hate that I'm hearing this right now I've never heard that before you're like more likely to run into an NFL player than an active Navy SEAL. You know, which I thought was... Well, we just ran into two NFL players.

Unless you're in San Diego. Yeah, that happens a lot. A little different, you know. But, you know, if you ask somebody, the same guy, he likes to pick people apart in what they say because he knows a lot about a lot. He said, yeah, I was talking to this guy at the bar, and I had just met him, and he was in the middle of telling a story about how he climbed Mount Everest. He's like, I didn't know the guy.

He's like, hey, he's like, what did you do for the three, that's a long time. How did you get away from. It's 47 days long. Yeah. How did you get away from your life? And the guy's like, well, he's like, it's just like a week, you know, whatever. You get up the mountain, come back. And he's like, no, he's like, it's just like a week, you know, whatever. You get up the mountain, come back. And he's like, no, he's like, you have to fly to Nepal or whatever.

And you have to stay like three weeks at base camp. And then you move up to another base camp. And if you're okay there, then you get to summit the mountain. Maybe it's like 60 seconds. I don't know. It's long. It's like three months. Yeah, it's three months.

It's like three months of your life. And the kid was like, oh, I got some money from my grandparents. They flew me out of there. He's like, okay. The story's getting worse and worse. He's like three months. Yeah, it's three months. It's like three months of your life. And the kid was like, oh, I got some money from my grandparents. They flew me out of there. He's like, okay. The story's getting worse and worse. He's like, whatever. And everybody's like. That's really sad.

Yeah, I've been to the CrossFit game six times. Right. I'm a games athlete. With a straight face. That's my new one. So you've got the sanctioned event. Kids are going to be going on YouTube soon. Right.

I'm working with foster youth, man. I like that idea. That's really cool. I'm working with that. That brings up something I wanted to ask you about. Like, do you see yourself having a family? I actually really want one. Why do you say actually?

You feel like people don't expect that of you? I think people just think I'm a little bit crazy a little bit. I'm always all over the place. I don't think he wants to settle down anytime soon. But I would if the right girl came along. I just keep getting these girlfriends that don't work out. They got to go. They got to go.

The last girlfriend I thought for sure was going to be the one, but just some things happened. It didn't work out. How long was it? We were together a year and a half. There was a lot of great things about Okay. So that's about the time. There was a lot of great things about her. She just kind of had, like, a series of events kind of happened to her where I just kind of had to pull myself away from it.

She had kind of some things she was going through. And then, yeah, like, I grew up, and I didn't know who my dad was until I was 18, I found out. And I didn't meet him until I was 24. And then I just, like, I had a whole bunch of, maybe, like, eight brothers and sisters kind of growing up, and, like, my whole, like, growing up was just kind of weird. Right. So I just always thought it would be really cool to do.

Have a solid family. Yeah, to do something that I didn't really have, like, to pass on something that I didn't really have when I grew up. So that's definitely something I really want to do for sure. And, yeah, I've actually only talked about my childhood on one podcast the sisu way with uh with scott mcgee uh-huh and it's like terrifyingly sad if you listen to it you'll for sure cry it doesn't matter who you are everybody who listens to it's like oh my god dude i got so many like real true fans of mine after that show because they never like heard that side of me i can't tell the story without crying there's like nothing

it's like impossible right And then everybody else is crying listening to it. It's just a complete... It's insane. And then I found out that everybody that he brings on the show cries, pretty much. That's his angle. He's only bringing people on that he thinks he can make cry. He just goes deep, dude. He's an FBI agent. He's like...

He's law enforcement. He starts asking me questions and I'm like, how do you know the answers to these questions? And then he's like, I talked to your mom. And I was like, you did? How did you get her phone number? And nowadays, like, oh, I just DM'd her mom. I'm like, fuck.

You can DM my mom. I slid into her DM. I slid into your mom's DM. God damn it, mom. I'm so wrong. You're not supposed to answer those. Don't you have a private Instagram? That's amazing.

You know what I mean? Yeah, mom, you're supposed to have a private Instagram. Oh, my God. Well, that's great, man. I hope that happens for you. We talk about that a lot on our show, like how our families impact our business and our careers, right, when we were competing. And your thought processes, you know, everything. It's just weird.

It's a fun, I mean, it's definitely a fun and different challenge. So I'm glad. Prioritizing life, I feel like, is much more important. Yeah, I was just talking to somebody that you're going to have on the show soon. And so, you know what I mean? But we were talking about this, the kids thing, you know? And I told this to Blair, you know? And I said, I was looking at my my

youngest son who's actually he's like right in the middle because i have twin girls so he's like he's the middle kid because whatever and like i looked at him and i could almost cry thinking about being so excited to see who he's going to become he's eight years old right now right and i was just like like fired up and like overwhelmed and all this stuff. I'm like, dogs are like my kids. And I'm like, dogs are not like kids. Yeah. You know what I mean?

Like you don't look at your dog and go, man, one day you're going to be something. You know what I mean? Like you never do that, you know? That's a good point. You never do that. You don't stay awake at night except for if they're barking. But you don't stay awake at night like worrying about who they're gonna be you know what i mean like what if they bite somebody my life's gonna be over nope you're like i'm just gonna take it to

the shelter and put it down i'm gonna shoot myself or whatever then maybe people gonna be mad at me for saying that but you know yeah it happens it happens it happens people get mad for saying things yeah that is definitely an insane thing i i feel like i'm totally fine with working out for 45 minutes and being like, I'll just work out again later. But if I had to prioritize my life a little bit more where I had to hang out with the family later or something like that, I'd be like, all right, well, if I don't get it in now, it's not going to go in. That's it.

And I remember Blair being the one person in CrossFit who was at the time was like, I'm only working out an hour today or whatever. And I remember everybody else was like, no. And then you got like fifth of the games or something, right? I worked out every other day. I took a day off after every workout. Do you still feel like that was a great way of doing it? And do you do that now at all?

I feel like it was a great way for me to stay healthy. Now I don't train nearly to the intensity that I would. Like those days that I trained, I would do like three sessions. Yeah, I remember that. But I loved it so much, but I just didn't have – I don't have the capability of doing it. I'm like, I'm going to get worse on that day off. Well, I think it was proven to be – I think it's proven to be not the best way to be great at CrossFit. The way to be great at CrossFit is –

205 snatch. I've snatched 265 pounds. Thank you very much. But not right now. I didn't see a video. You did so see a video. You're a jerk. Anyways.

No, it's been borne out that training more because people are able to increase their capacity without injury, that's the best way to do it. And it's been proven. I just don't know. I mean, this is a whole other topic. I think that a lot of people are I don't know how they're not getting hurt. So that's what I was going to ask

you guys. The last thing I wanted to do on the show was I'm done because my left knee is bone on bone. You can actually see bone protruding out right here because my bones keep hitting so much that I'm growing extra bone. My knee's been like this for like the last – probably the last three times I've been at regionals.

I just – I know that I'm going to get no wrapped on squats and stuff because I just can't go below parallel anymore, and this knee just hurts too much. So I'm just like, well, I'm done. Nothing I can do about it. It's over. What made you guys stop competing? You just got over it, or

do you guys have any injuries? I'm more solidly over it than Ben is, I think. He competed at the Games last year as a master, 35-39, and I'll let him talk about that. For me, I qualified for regionals nine consecutive years, the last two of which I chose to do

on our team from our gym, because it was more fun. And I found that the regional competition is so insanely stressful as an individual, no matter who you are. The only person that I can remember that looked like they literally did not give a flying you-know-what was Teasdale. He was there, and he just, like, didn't care. Everybody else cares when they're there. That was the job that saved me, by the way.

Yeah? Yeah, that was my first job after OC39. I worked with Ronnie. So I got to the point where I was having way more fun being a team competitor, and I knew I could train less and allow for the rest of my life to happen. So my last two years were 16, 17 on the team, and that was the time that I had my daughter. We had her in at the end of 2015, and so it made a lot more sense for me to have less training time, right?

And it was more fun. And even those two years on the team, I just wasn't satisfied with our outcome. Like there's a lot of factors. A four-person team will be way better. The six-person team, it is really, really hard to have that many people that are good. Just have that many people show up on game day.

They can be good, but have a bad day. You've got six variables like that. It's just really easy to get frustrated. I've never had that many good girls in my gym ever. Guys all day, but girls? It's tough. I just got to the point where, for me, I felt, A, I was not getting better anymore. I was holding my capacities, but I wasn't getting better.

And I felt fairly healthy. I had little things like I had my ankle redone, like cleaned up. That's probably more from football than CrossFit. Elbow, same thing. My knee's actually from a snowboard accident. So I just felt like,

I'm kind of just, I don't feel the drive to do it. Right? I just didn't feel the drive to do it. So last year, we qualified a team for regionals and I did not participate on it. And I just coached it.

And I was, because I was fine with it, I knew I was done. Like, if I was, like, not fine with it and just pissed and, like, stewing the stands, like, didn't enjoy watching them, I would know that I needed to do it again. But I was fine with it. I liked being there. I liked supporting them. I was frustrated when they didn't do well, and was excited when they did when they did do well um and you know i since then i think i competed in i did your event last year ben yep i did gabe's event in as like just like a local thing and i got enough out of that and i think i'll probably

do those from time to time when my body feels really good but as far as like the the high pressure high stress we really gotta train and get up for it, it just doesn't ignite me the way it would. That's cool. I was just wondering. And how was your master experience, Ben? It was different, right? So because I feel like there's a lot of people who do think that I've been to the CrossFit Games as an individual on the main floor, and I hadn't been. I think I was always training for that, right?

And I expected the Masters competition to be more of a derivative of what we saw at the individual level. And they're more relaxed? It's not more, they're like open workouts, dude. Or maybe like high-paced regional workouts. Oh, yeah, they're not as heavy and stuff, right? Yeah, and they're not as, like you're competing against the guys, not the workouts, right? Like sometimes I think in the individual, it's like I can't believe Dave is making us even try this.

Like regardless of who's on the floor with you, you're like I got to sit on a rower for this long or I have to do a pegboard climb or I have to do like a 405 deadlift or – With kettlebells. Yeah, I mean like all this stuff, right? you know, like a 405 deadlift or kettlebells. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, like all this stuff, right? So the implements or the elements themselves were challenging. And I expected that to kind of be the case with Masters, with the Masters. And I thought like my athleticism would maybe play out a little bit better. Some of my higher skill stuff would be because I feel like I'm good at that stuff.

High strength, high skill and would be more of a factor. And it just wasn't like that. It was much more like every second counted. That's a great point, man. I never really thought of it like that. But the way you phrased it, competing against people rather than the workout, that's the way regionals is. And that's why it's so stressful.

At the games, when you get to the games, everybody there, with the exception of like two or three people is trying to survive the weekend and be able to thrive at their event the one that lines up well for them and that's what makes it fun is the pressure is a little bit off of you you're not you're not competing against the people as much as you are against what's programmed that's a good point and i think that the fact that that's not there, it doesn't make it feel the same. It took it away a little bit. I'm like, I've already been to regionals before. You know what I mean?

That's what this felt like. It felt like regionals where you're racing across the line for that last second count on every workout. So did you like it? It was okay. It was okay. It was fun. I think, you know, top ten.

Even if you won it, would you feel it wouldn't feel the same as like winning? It definitely would not feel the same. Yeah. But I'll tell you what, Kyle Kasperbauer is legit. Oh, you know, top ten. Even if you won it, would you feel it wouldn't feel the same as, like, winning? It definitely would not feel the same. Yeah. But I'll tell you what, Kyle Kasperbauer is legit. Oh, yeah. He's insane. He's legit. He's still really good.

He's got it. You know, he's got some good skills. I've worked out next to the best in the California region for a long time, the guys who went to the games. I've seen what they can do. Kyle Kasperbauer is still really good. So that would be a great, like, feather in the cap. So the only thing I can say is I beat him at a couple workouts.

You know what I mean? I would do anything to compete still. I love it so much. I want to do it so bad. I just can't. It's fun because I enjoy training, and, like, the byproduct of training for me is validating it or at least seeing where it stacks up against other guys who love to train too.

Right? Like I did, I fought for a long time and I, I was fighting and I was just training with like the pros, you know, at Uriah Faber's gym. And eventually when I said I was, I'm not really going to fight. I'm like, sparring is enough. But you get to the point where you're like, dude, I, I have to test myself. Yeah. Like with a referee and with another guy who i don't know looking across the ring at me and going like hey

i'm gonna jack that guy up and he's singing the exact same thing and it's like all right now it's like three two one go and like i just felt like i had to test myself not because i enjoyed the testing process itself but because i feel like it validated everything i did in the gym and the way i i stepped into the gym the intensity that I brought to the floor. Yeah, constant testing is good. I think so too. I feel like I test my knowledge sometimes. I get really, really smart people on the podcast.

We're talking – we're geeking out on like – because I was an exercise physiologist major in college and I have two degrees, that and I have a nutrition degree. So I can geek out just as hard as anybody else. Right. And sometimes I get kind of excited if i'm scheduling somebody on the show who i know is going to be like really gnarly like i'll go home and study and stuff like that and it it does like keep me in check and i like those little tests have you had physical or mental what's that have you had hinshaw on the program before who chris hinshaw oh no he's really fun to talk to and he's got like all kinds of really cool ideas about programming and how you can manipulate people's rest and recovery.

And he basically has this great foundation of knowledge. Then he springboards into experimental things that he then vets against using the elite athlete. And it's just like he starts talking. He loves it. And you just go. And then as soon as you think of an objection, you say it. And he goes, yeah, but blah, blah, blah. And then he just keeps going. And then it's just like he starts talking. He loves it. And you just go. And then as soon as you think of an objection, you say it. And he goes, yeah, but blah, blah, blah. And then he just keeps going.

And then it's really fun. Oh, wow. You should have him on. You'd like that. He was just on Barbell Shrugged, though. So I was like, I don't know if I want. I hate kind of interviewing the same people that they interview. But it kind of depends.

I always have my own way of talking than they do. So it's all different. My last thing I'll say about not competing anymore is I did start to worry to worry about getting hurt yeah i did start to worry about it because you can feel little things after you get a little bit and like it's just you know that at that level you're gonna for me when i get hurt is when i have to push for a heavy load like i don't get hurt when i'm doing muscle-ups or pull-ups i still love to do those things and i i fight i try to find the same challenge that ben's talking about in like attaining like being able to press the handstand or try to like do something cool that way but it's a little more controlled i started to get worried that like you know i like for me for ben be able to walk up

and power clean almost power clean 350 today i was like like the amount of impact that i have to put on myself to still to even do regionals man. Like, it's just, I got scared. You know, I got worried that I don't want something really bad to happen that's going to impact me for the long term. So as soon as I felt like it wasn't, you know, a drive, like... The juice wasn't worth the squeeze. It wasn't worth the squeeze. Yeah, there you go.

I mean, do you guys have still something in the fitness realm that you want to accomplish or is all that basically done at this point? Benchmarks or? Dude, honestly, I never wanted to win the games. And everybody says they want to win the games. I don't believe them. Well, what's your new thing? Like me, I want to snatch 315 and clean and jerk 405.

Still? I still want to. I want to get there. Yeah, I want to get there. I'll be 37 on July 25th. Hopefully, whatever my wife plans for my birthday allows for me to have a couple hours ago, the gym, and I can do both those things on my 37th birthday to be literally the best I've ever been at those things. Right. For

me, does that mean I'm really good? Turns out in the space, if you can do those things, that's still a really respectable number. So it's cool. But if I was still at 280 or whatever, I would still have something. It just happens to be those things are kind of cool numbers. I don't know. I just like adventurous stuff. I'll be down for a photo on top of any mountain. There you go.

Or, I don't know. I just want paragliding. Is there a certain mountain that you want the picture? I think the top of Denali is pretty sweet. I'm doing... There you go. That's your 315-405. I'm doing Mount Rainier as soon as the snow melts.

That's a couple days. It has a very similar view to the top of Denali. I haven't done it yet, but... Have you done Whitney? I've done Whitney a few times. Whitney's really good. It's got a good view at the top. Wow.

I don't have anything like that that I can think of. I think more for me is like I've been very motivated this last year to like grow our business on the gym side of things. I've been getting competitive with the numbers. Oh yeah, that's cool. I've been telling Ben

we've had this really great reporting software. Wadhopper is like we transferred to them last year and they've been awesome. And I can see every dollar that's coming in, every dollar that's where it's coming from. And it's like a game. I'm like, oh, my God, look how much people are buying sweatshirts this month or whatever. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's cool.

And so that's been kind of motivating. That's been kind of a file. I feel like I'm getting competitive the same way I would get competitive in school where, like, you turn in, like, a report card. Yeah, that stuff can be fun. Yeah. I have a bunch of stuff like that we'll get into a little bit later. Yeah.

But, yeah, guys, thanks so much for being on the show. I just kind of bumped into these two walking around Waterpalooza over here. Yeah. And just figured we'd just have a little chat. Just being respectful OGs. We always oblige. That's right. So where can the world find you guys right now?

So obviously you guys have social media. Pretty soon your kids will have some YouTubes we can drop down on another show in the future. And then you guys have your own podcast. Yeah, so our podcast is Beyond the Barbell. We have an Instagram account that is not very active. We don't use it that well. We're too OG to really run our Instagram. We don't know how to use these.

The personalities are really what's more important here. What's your personal handles? Personal handle, Morrison underscore Blair. And then my gyms and our travel channel is AnywhereFit underscore. And I am Iron Mile Ben. At Iron Mile Ben. That's right. Ben's got a great Instagram channel.

If you guys don't follow Ben, it's good. He does a great job of showing some of his family, some of his training, and then some of his humor because he's a really funny guy. Cool. He's good at it. I try to be. Instagram is cool. I hate when you meet somebody on Instagram or from Instagram and they're not the same. Yeah, it happens a lot.

That's like 90% of the time. Right? I'm like, I am all about faith, family, and my fitness. And you'll see that on my Instagram all the time. Awesome? I'm like, I am all about faith, family, and my fitness. And you'll see that on my Instagram all the time. Awesome. Nothing different. Well, I think my Instagram definitely reflects me pretty well. If you guys don't follow me on Instagram,

you've personally hurt my feelings. Dude, I just started following you before this. Like two, three weeks ago, I started following you. Oh, really? Cool. Yeah, I did. Did you like it? Yeah. I actually, I'll tell you why quickly. I know you're wrapping this thing up, but the reason why I follow you is because I feel like you're very authentic. Like, you're Yeah. I'll tell you why quickly. I know you're wrapping this thing up. But the reason why I follow you is because I feel like you're very authentic. Like you're you.

People really tell me that a lot. And I'm like, I wonder what that means. But it's just who I am. So I guess it's a good thing. I'm not going to tell you why I say it. Because you don't need to know. Because it's just you being you, man. My stories are really funny.

I don't really watch people's stories. I don't have a lot of time. Yeah, your stories are funny. Sometimes I save my own stories because they're so funny. All right, guys. Well, we'll wrap this up. And then for those of you out there, I'm actually going to be on their show pretty soon here. So you guys can check out their show.

You guys are on iTunes? We are. Just search me on the barbell. And then like any other platforms? Because people get bummed when they have an Android and they're like, how do I get your podcast? We don't talk to those people. No? No, we don't talk to those people. All right, guys. If you have an Android and they're like, how do I get your podcast? We don't talk to those people. No? No, we don't talk to those people.

All right, guys, if you have an Android, you're fucked. All right, well, thank you guys again. I'm still going to be out here at Waterpalooza for the next couple days, and then I will be on WOD on the waves. If you guys need or you guys want to hear me talk to anybody specifically on WOD on the waves, please DM me, Ryan Fish,

or send me an email at ryan, R-Y-A-N, at crossfitchalk.com. I'll get these people going. Shoot me some questions. All right. See you guys later.