Barbell Shrugged - Wes Kitts Eating, Training, and Triple Days in Prep for the 2020 Olympics w/ Wes Kitts, Anders Varner, and Doug Larson and Jackie Perez - Barbell Shrugged — Barbell Shrugged #417

Episode Date: September 18, 2019

Wes Kitts, 2018 and 2019 Pan American Olympic weightlifting champion. Kitts was born in Knoxville, TN where he played high school soccer and football before going on to play Division 1AA football for Austin Peay State University. He began his weightlifting journey in 2014. In 2016 Wes moved to San Ramon, California to begin training at California Strength. He currently competes in the 109kg weight class, having moved up from 105kg class due to recent changes made by the IWF. Kitts holds multiple national titles including 2015 American Open Champion, 2016 National Champion, and 2016 American Open Champion. Kitts is currently coached by Dave spits and looks to make a run at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games.   In this episode of Barbell Shrugged, Anders, Doug, and Jackie Perez discuss the lead up to 2019 Worlds, the 2020 Olympics, and how in the hell Wes Kitts got so strong.   Minute Breakdown:   1-10 NFL or Weightlifting for power athletes 11-20 The introduction to Dave Spitz and Cal Strength 21-30 Eating and Training for Triple Days 31-40 Competing on the Olympic Stage 41-50 Preparing for One Ton Challenge  51-60 Strongman as a sport and eating to be huge   Connect with Wes Kitts   Connect with Jackie Perez   Anders Varner on Instagram   Doug Larson on Instagram ----------------------------------------- 20 REP BACK SQUAT PROGRAM ----------------------------------------- Please Support Our Sponsors   Savage Barbell Apparel - Save 25% on your first order using the code “SHRUGGED”   Organifi - Save 20% using code: “Shrugged” at organifi.com/shrugged   WHOOP - Save $30 on 12 or 18 month membership plan using code “SHRUGGED” at checkout -------------------------------------------- One Ton Challenge    Find your 1rm in the snatch, clean, jerk, squat, dead, bench.    Add them up to find your One Ton Total.    The goal is 2,000 pounds for men and 1,200 for women.    “What is the One Ton Challenge”   “How Strong is Strong Enough” ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Show notes at: http://www.shruggedcollective.com/bbs-kitts -----------------------------------------------------------------------   ► Subscribe to Barbell Shrugged's Channel Here ► Subscribe to Shrugged Collective's Channel Here http://bit.ly/BarbellShruggedSubscribe 📲 🎧 Listen to the audio version on the Apple Podcast App or Stitcher for Android Here- http://bit.ly/BarbellShruggedApple http://bit.ly/BarbellShruggedStitcher Shrugged Collective is a network of fitness, health and performance shows that help people achieve their physical and mental health goals.  Usually in the gym, but outside as well. In 2012 they posted their first Barbell Shrugged podcast and have been putting out weekly free videos and podcasts ever since. Along the way we've created successful online coaching programs including The Shrugged Strength Challenge, The Muscle Gain Challenge, FLIGHT, Barbell Shredded, and Barbell Bikini. We're also dedicated to helping affiliate gym owners grow their businesses and better serve their members by providing owners tools and resources like the Barbell Business Podcast. Find Shrugged Collective and their flagship show Barbell Shrugged here: SUBSCRIBE ON ITUNES ► http://bit.ly/ShruggedCollectiveiTunes WEBSITE ► https://www.ShruggedCollective.com INSTAGRAM ► https://instagram.com/shruggedcollective FACEBOOK ► https://facebook.com/barbellshruggedpodcast TWITTER ► http://twitter.com/barbellshrugged

Oh, what an epic weekend it was. 2019 Mr. Olympia FitAid One Ton Challenge. OTC2. Man, Vegas. What an awesome weekend. Thank you to all the lifters. Thank you to FitAid. Thank you to Savage Barbell.

Bringing all the athletes. Bringing all the fun. We had such a good time. And we're going to see a 400-pound squad out of a lady here very soon. Leah Cassiano hit 375 in front of everybody. It was so savage. She also cleaned

260. That girl is so strong. Wes Kitts is on the pod today. Talking about strong people. This guy is going to Worlds. Hopefully going to be at 2020 Olympics representing the USA. He also smashed it in OTC1 at the CrossFit Games. He was coming off winning Pan Ams,

winning gold at Pan Ams, flying across the world, literally across the world from Lima and showed up in Madison. Come squat 600, pull seven or something crazy. So it was very cool that he was able to come out and compete in the one-ton challenge with us. I want to thank our sponsors today. Of course, Organifi.

They're the greatest. Get your greens, get your reds, get your golds, get the protein. Get over to Organifi.com forward slash shrugged. Got to make sure you're getting your micros. You got to make sure you're getting your vitamins and minerals. That's why we partnered up with Organifi. That's why you get to save the money. That's why they've been with us for like two years now because everyone loves them. And the more you can support Organifi, the more you support the show, the more you support the one-time challenge, and the more weights we get to lift. That's pretty sweet. Organifi.com forward slash shrug save 20% on your first order. And of course, our friends

over at Whoop saving $30 on a 12 or 18 month subscription using the coupon code shrugged at whoop.com. They got the brand new 3.0, all the live app features. So you can go in, turn your camera on, show the world how great your HRV is. It's the only device that tracks your recovery. So you're getting your sleep, HRV, your heart rate throughout the day. And of course, the daily strain, which is a very specific thing to the Whoop app and the Whoop band to see not just how hard your workouts, but the metabolic stress that your body is under throughout the day to ensure that you're tailoring your intensity to how beat up your body is and how well recovered

you are. So get over to Whoop.com. Use the coupon code shrug. You're going to save $30 on a 12 or 18 month subscription. And where I will be over the next couple months, we are going to be, I'm going to be in Texas at CrossFit Revoke Grand Opening hosting and emceeing the One Ton Challenge there. Then we come home for a couple days. We're going to be in Tahoe at the Spartan World Championships in Lake Tahoe at Squaw Valley, hosting the Media Fest with Spartan Up podcast, which is really cool. I'm going to be speaking. I've also got some

panels I'm going to be hosting. And we're going to be doing tons of podcasts, tons of shows, just crazy content coming out of there. And then we're going to Sweden doing tons of podcasts, tons of shows, just crazy content coming out of there. And then we're going to Sweden. So if you're in Sweden for some crazy reason, I'm going to be at Alico Headquarters in Halmstad, also in Copenhagen. We're going to need some gyms to hang out in. And then another one-ton challenge coming December 7th at CrossFit Surmount, Raleigh, North Carolina. December 14th, one-ton challenge, Strong New York, Kenny Santucci in Solace, New York. Woo! It's a lot of travel, friends.

It's a lot of being on the road, a lot of hanging out, lifting a lot of weights, meeting all the people. Wes Kitts is on the show today. Can't wait to do this. He's the strongest dude I've ever met in my whole life so radical we'll see you guys at the break it's like USO but it's called Armed Forces Entertainment they take cheerleaders and this and that

three years ago a general in Iraq wanted cross-fit-ish stuff fitness and they called us out and we went found Jackie Perez that's probably good how often are you gone? stuff, fitness, and they called us out and we went. Found Jackie Perez. There you go. That's probably good. How often are you gone? So they're two weeks away.

What do you eat for breakfast? Two a year or something like that. I ate some burnt bacon. Don't worry, Brett Contreras was the last one on there. I hope you got that. That's my let's see if you follow Brett Contreras' Instagram joke that most of the time bombs. But sometimes it hits.

That's why I stick with it. Because if it hits, it hits well. Like, everyone's like, ooh, Brecken and Tritt. Does he, those girls with the butts? You know Brecken and Tritt? You know what we're talking about? I don't know. Come on.

Come on. You're not standing on stage in a bikini doing that one? No, I don't know that one. He's just known for getting chicks nice butts for the bikini shows. He's doing it right. He invented the hip thrust. So he has gigantic asses everywhere. What's his name?

Breckatress. He did. I think he was at the Sorenex Summer Strong. Probably. That sounds right. Two years ago. was at the Soarnex Summer Strong. Probably. About two years ago. Talking about the hip thrust. The hip thrust. Yeah.

He's invented a bunch of equipment and stuff, but he has a PhD in butt. Ass. I was trying to think of, like, he studied the glute. And if you make that big enough, all the girls will share it. We went into the glute squad one night. It was the most broken conversation we've ever had. Like, you're in a room with just, like, 15, 20 girls and all of them. Like, you just have to, like, double take.

You're like, wait a second. That thing protrudes a lot. It's unbelievable. How did you do this he's good at what he did he obviously makes it happen very good as that welcome to barbell strike i'm andrew tarner doug larson jackie perez dude west kids what's up generally what i would like to do with this show is just kind of like ask one question like how'd you get so strong well i worked out I worked out for a really long time. Yeah. Dude, you just got back from Pan Ams, Lima?

Lima, Peru. 477 pounds. That's 217 kg. Clean and jerk. Yes. And that got you gold, right? That got me gold, yes. Is that PR for you as well?

No, that's six kilos off my PR. Oh, dang, really? Yeah, so we actually, World Championships is in eight weeks, so we can't really prioritize events that close. So we had to, we call it training through, but basically we are on program that doesn't peak you for a meet for that one. So it actually, I mean, it's stressful because we're not, you know, we're used to getting ready.

We do heavy singles. Like we practice our meet attempts. And for this one, we basically were just like training. To be fair, the three of us have never peaked for Pan Ams either. Yeah, you know, it's to be fair. So we're all on the same playing field, I guess. I've actually never seen 217 on a bar before, much less sitting on someone's throat.

Oh, yeah? That was a pretty cool thing. Thank you. Pretty cool thing. Thank you. In, what was it, Guatemala, about four months ago, I hit 223 in count for the first time. So that one we actually did peak for,

and that was one key OPR on a competition. How in the world did you escape, like, the NFL and found a barbell? Man, NFL, it's tough, and even, like, when you get in, it's even tougher. So I'm not, you know, I get to see the NFL guys at Cal Strength. Dave does a combine. Dave Spitz does a combine class. And, you know, it's just tough. So the barrier to entry is super high,

and then the barrier to stay on a team is that much higher. So it's not necessarily all bad. I'm pretty happy. Like, you know, it didn't work out. Yeah. I started a little gym and make my way to Cal Strength and find this, which I love. Like, it's awesome being able to wear the USA colors and get the national anthem played for everybody.

That stuff is just tops. For sure. Football is great and I miss it all the time, but honestly, I couldn't be happier. Where did you play at? I played at a school called Austin Peay in Tennessee, a double-A school. Is it P-A? Yeah, P-E-A-Y called Austin Peay in Tennessee, a double-A school. Is it P-A? Yeah, P-E-A-Y, Austin Peay. I thought I'd been saying that wrong my whole life.

Every time March Madness rolls around, I'm like, Austin Peay? Is that right? Question mark? No, just Peay. Let's go Peay. When were you doing a bunch of the lifts in high school, college? I assume the clean and jerk came somewhat natural to you. Yeah, so I started working out.

I was probably like I think I was 12. We had a bunch of this stuff in the basement of my house. So my dad just kind of showed me the lifts. I was super interested. I wanted to work out. But I wasn't snatching, cleaning. I was just like just doing, little kind of bro stuff. I was, like, making up my own workouts, just, like, just going in there for fun.

In high school, I was first exposed to the clean at a very low technical level. So I'd pick it up there. And, you know, of course, for football, you squat, deadlift, bench, all that other stuff. And that got maintained through high school, through college. Actually, I did my first snatch one summer in college because we picked up LSU's training program, and they were on there. So there was like two weeks I did a snatch. I had no idea what it was or that I'd ever do it again. And then after that, I found a CrossFit gym

where I trained for the combine that I did, and that's where I met weightlifters. When did you walk into a CrossFit gym? What year was that? That was 2014. Oh, the owner definitely looked at you and was like, we could go to the games. You're the strongest person in the world. Was that like you're walking into that gym with the intention of competing in weightlifting, or you just needed something else to do, and then weightlifting kind of became your thing yeah so i i went to school for kinesiology so when i

graduated like towards the end of that process you do an internship and uh it was crossfit knoxville i'm from knoxville tennessee so i went in there to do my internship i told him what i was training for and he kind of helped me out with that i i was naturally gravitated towards the weightlifters because they were strong. They liked doing cleans. I liked doing cleans. So it was just like it was easy to go hang out with those guys. I don't know.

That's what I like doing. They had a little Lebanese weightlifting coach. He would cook some chicken on Saturdays. They'd do their big session. He'd bring in a bunch of chicken. Fajitas. Dude, it was fun. But that was where I was first exposed to snatch and I learned there and and really jerks as well split jerk I picked up after college when you started uh hanging out on

the youtubes and learning and watching weightlifting was like John North was that you're like your dude you were like I have to migrate to Cal Strength I have to go find Dave dude I hate to say it but I never I wasn't a YouTube guy so I like when you weren't reading like Shanko's poems I had no idea

for sure it's like Shanko's talking to my soul right now I'm embarrassed to say it you used to listen to those back in the day yeah for sure It's like Shanko's talking to my soul right now. I'm embarrassed to say that. I know. You used to listen to this back in the day? Yeah. For sure.

The Shanko complex in slow-mo. He's like, the barbell is my life. The voice is so great. Yeah, like I wish I had all of them memorized. But, yeah, dude, all those videos out of there, like John North blowing himself out the back through the wall, like missing cleans. I've seen them since because the guys showed me the highlights. But, yeah, like I just didn't know.

I didn't even know weightlifting existed, honestly, until I met those guys at the CrossFit gym. But even after that, I got on a grid league team. That's where I met Rob Blackwell, who's been at Cal Strength for like a decade now, training. And, you know, he told me at Cal Strength for like a decade now training and you know he told me about Cal Strength he said like I could I could maybe come out there and lift for him I was like well that's that sounds cool but I didn't know anything about Cal Strength so I asked my roommate who had seen all the YouTube he

was a he's a veteran he's a big Cal Strength fan he's like dude it's like it's like the pinnacle of weightlifting. You have to go. This is like you need to do this. I was like, oh, shit. You're going to find the cal strength, dude. It's like the hollow ground. Yeah, I didn't even know, man. So it's a little embarrassing. But, yeah, I like it.

That's all right. You can tell Dave now. You're like, dude, this gym was nothing. I didn't even know about it. You're lucky I showed up. Nobody would know about it you're lucky i showed up nobody nobody would know about this place but yeah i mean it's just a super awesome opportunity it kind of like i got lucky a little bit but uh yeah it's just what do you mean you got lucky i mean i just i didn't you get like

something that great just kind of like like came to me like i didn't like i didn't even know to look for it i didn't know what i was missing out and then i just was fortunate that that rob uh thought that i looked uh strong enough with bad enough technique that i could be helped he's like this guy really sucks at weightlifting but uh he's pretty strong he's moving his bar pretty fast. Maybe we can teach him something. How hard was the decision to leave the grid league? Just lapse it off. That wasn't a real question. Kind of.

I know. It kind of just stopped. The grid was an interesting time. The grid left me, man. That was cool because all the strong people, I mean, Klokoff showed up. Like, you were actually introduced to real weightlifters in that. That's clearly part of the process.

Right. I mean, just, like, that thing pops up. I happen to try out and go, and then Rob happens to be there. What were your events? Obviously, you were lifting a lot of weight, but what was, like, the 275 snatches, I think, where it was kind of like the minimum for the big guys. Yeah, they would have like some heavy single things where you run out and do one big one or two big ones,

and then you can tag out. But at the time, I was still like training a little bit of CrossFit, so I had some capacity, but not like – I was still like a very anaerobic athlete. So basically, I would run out and do a bunch of reps on a barbell until i couldn't breathe and then i would come back yeah so three but uh yeah like uh you know they sold me on like dude all you gotta do is lift big weights it's gonna be great then i get there and like of course, when you're real strong, you can also move the, like, lighter stuff real fast.

Yeah. So, yeah, it was just like, Wes, go out there. I want you to run into the wall and then crawl back. So that's what I did. Find the big workhorse. Yeah, lots of reps, get real tired. When you were in the CrossFit gym, were they trying to – did they look at you and they were like, oh, you're strong enough.

You go sit on the rower for an hour and let's try and like get your aerobic capacity higher they never really they didn't really try to sell me on it because uh at that time I was still like pretty seriously like into the more football stuff and then once that stopped I uh I kind of went and made my own like little spot I wasn't training CrossFit, but I would train athletes. So when you're in a small town, you know enough people, and they've got kids. Like, well, you played football. You can run fast. Teach my kid.

So I made a pretty good little training spot for myself and was training out of there and making enough money to make it work. It was real fun. Did you ever do CrossFit? I think I did one CrossFit Open. I did one CrossFit Open. I hope it was the burpees. God, I hope it was the burpees.

The first one was really like 75-pound snatches with something else. Double-unders. Yeah, it was that one. But, yeah, that was my only open. I think I didn't finish that one. One round, you were like. Too much heart rate here. Dude, when you walked into Cal Strength, what is, I guess,

what's your relationship with Dave at that point? Did you guys talk and he knew who you were? Did you just kind of show up and he looked at you and was like, well, you might be able to do something here? No, so basically, you know, the first communication was with Rob. And so he gives me Dave's number. He was like, hey, call Dave. We're going to set up a visit.

So I get Dave on the phone. We talk a little bit. He's like, yeah, come out for a weekend. We'll see how you like it. I'll show. We talk a little bit. He's like, yeah, come out for a weekend. We'll see how you like it. I'll show you the ropes a little bit. And so that's what I did. I just scheduled a weekend trip down and went down, had a nice weekend, learned some stuff. Tarakti was actually there at the time working on his seminar stuff with Dave.

So I got some lessons from him and his buddy Putzoff. And it was a great weekend. But I could just see myself being on a weightlifting team, and I like Dave, and we're hitting it off pretty good. So that was my only really exposure. What is it about that place? Why is it so special? I feel like there's something in the walls there that just attract humans like you

yeah in the walls it's actually uh black mold so john north's back but um honestly man the the gems of meat grinder like you the guys that come there like they're i mean it's where you go to quit weightlifting like yeah honestly like you, like, do something and you're going to be good or you're going to get burnt out and crushed and quit. Like, it's that hard. Like, and it's that kind of atmosphere. It's very cutthroat. And you're not just, like, the weightlifters in there

are the strong guys, but also the football guys, these super accomplished athletes are coming in there and training as well. So there's,'s like a standard of like ability i mean you can't you have to be talented but you also have to to work your ass off or you just there's no way you're not going to stay there at any given time in there when you look around are you are you still are you like comfortable in there or do you feel like there's a pressure to perform every single day um and i guess in a

way like there's professional nfl guys over there and you're just i feel like no matter anytime i show up here i'm like oh there's like fuck west kids is hanging out like we better like there's just always this like next level of athlete that is always walking into places like that yeah like uh so the the practices it's like it's like a it's a professional practice like if you go in there like you're supposed to make your lifts you're supposed to do your program so it's always like just it's already like you do your stuff when you come to the gym like you're training you're a professional and you act like it um but the nfl guys like the first couple years like meeting them and seeing the guys come back is a little intimidating because they're like dudes you see play on TV.

But after you start getting to know them, they're just bros. Like honestly, they're all just like muscle bros, especially the ones that keep coming back to Cal Strength. Like they like working out. They like football. They're just dudes, you know. So it's really cool to actually get to know those guys. And, like, they like to hang out. They like weightlifting.

We like football. Like, it's pretty cool. There's just, like, a vibe about that place. Oh, yeah, you train there as well. Yeah, because I go in there. But, like, I always feel like those come from the top, right? Like, you can't be a douchebag coach and have that kind of vibe in your gym, even though you have really good people.

But Dave is just so awesome. But he means business, and he also is just an awesome guy so you feel that when you come in and you just get like you say either comfortable or you're not either this is your place or it's not which most gyms i feel like you walk into a gym you're like this is my place you're like yeah right you just feel the vibe yeah you feel the vibe dave does a good job setting that culture yeah dave's just awesome he's just i mean, the pressure's on, you know. I mean, he tried that with me one time. He's like, if you fucking build it, he's like, you're going home.

I'm like, bro, I don't mind going home. I'm traveling next week anyway. I'm not that kind of ass. Anyone else would be like, fuck, I don't want to go home. I was like, bye. I got shit to do. I got to go. He'd be like, don't fail in front of my pregnant wife.

I was like, yeah. It's just a fun vibe, but it's serious, and it's a lot of hard work. Was adopting that professionalism, was that a big step from where you were, or were you already pretty much living the life in anticipation of weightlifting becoming the thing? I had no problem jumping in and just getting on program

and doing it because playing team sports, like, you already have that mentality. Like, what the team does, you do. And you're on time to your practices or you get your ass chewed out. You know what I mean? Like, you perform well at your games or you get – I mean, like, there's always pressure to do your stuff. So, like, when I got to the gym, I was already used to that pressure and it was easy, like, just to go to practice do what i'm supposed

to do like perform at meets like you know there's been used to being held accountable so it wasn't uh it wasn't a tough thing for me imagine that's a really easy system to get yourself kicked out of there if you can't adopt easily just the life along along with the weight lifting well yeah and everyone has not had the same background like everyone doesn't play team sports before they weightlift. You know, some people have just been weightlifting, and they think they can do it. You know, they've been weightlifting five years. They're pretty strong.

Like, they show up to the gym, and now you have to lift two a day or sometimes three times a day. You have to be there every day, no matter how your legs feel or no matter what hurts, and you better make your lifts or dave's gonna shit on you are you for the most part training by yourself or do you have like a few people that you consider to be your training partners or it's like a practice like how do you structure your your day-to-day it's more like a practice um different levels of athletes like we'll have different amounts of practice that they do um for the highest level athletes in the gym, we practice all the time,

and we're practicing together, so our start times are set, and we're expected to be there. But then some of the younger guys only come to the night sessions. So, you know, it depends on where you're at, but there's always, like, bigger and smaller practices, but the times are set. So Dave knows when to be there. We start at the same time.

Our warm-ups kind of kick off together. So it's definitely like a team. That's two days for the most part? So right now there's basically two formats outside of the taper that we run, but we'll do three sessions, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and one on Wednesday, Saturday. So that's when we're trying to get a lot of work in. We'll do that format.

And then when we're doing a little less, getting ready for a meet, we do two sessions, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, one Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. So three sessions in a day? Yeah. Four days a week? That's our accumulation training right now. How does a single day look? Three sessions.

So our single three-day session. Looks like me broken in half. You get get a little broke but it starts in the morning we'll do like an hour hour and a half of accessory work and core so we come in and get that first so it's pretty light-hearted you know take some coffee down hang out and do the the small things after that we'll do a slightly heavier session but it's it's light compared to like our big day so it would be like power so partial range movements maybe some squatting and uh you know again the morning session is a little more lighthearted than the evening session which is going to be like a two and a half three hour session like full range movements um usually big squatting or pulling um so it basically just like ramps up as the day goes and gets harder and

heavier dude what are you eating well not only did you have a huge week in lima but you also right afterwards posted a an ab selfie on Instagram. I was like, dude, you're not supposed to put that much weight over your head and have a six-pack. What the fuck? That's not right. Leave some room on Instagram for the rest of us. Yeah, dude, just a little bit of red meat, some vegetables. You got to eat some carbs, too, a little rice.

But yeah, just to try to keep it clean i would eat like some dirty meals a couple times a week just to like when i get real hungry and it gets it gets dark you know three training sessions how much you can get away with it yeah three training sessions in a day and what do you weigh right now i like 250 is what i like kind of what i walk around it's not just meat and vegetables like you're you're smashing food all day long to be able to keep that thing moving forward. Yeah, lunch is big. Dinner is big.

There's a before bed meal. Breakfast is big. Some snacks, some shakes. You do the wake up in the middle of the night thing ever and smash a shake and go back to bed or anything? No, I'm not into that one. You don't need to? No, I'll do the stuff your face right before you go to bed so you, like, can't even roll over.

Yeah. Beautiful. You're 109? Yeah. We're in competition. That's 240, so you're, like, 10 pounds over right now. Just walking around. Yeah, that's, like, my biggest.

I'll get up there, and then I'll slowly cut it off as the meet gets closer. So, like, in Lima, I only weighed 111 kilos the whole time, so that's, like, 245, I think. Yeah. So it's not, like, a huge cut. It's an easy cut. Yeah. You just don't drink some water, and you're there.

Yeah, and weightlifting, you only get that two-hour turnaround, so you can't, like, you can cut aggressively, but you definitely pay for it. Have you done that? Like, cut too much and then been like, fuck, I got to back down? Most recently in Japan, I cut an extra kilo. Like the food out there is pretty small portions. They don't have people like you out there.

I can't. I wish I could show everybody. So you get like you order a meat, like your little meat shish kebab, and it's kind of like a long toothpick with like maybe four ounces, four little pieces of like chicken on it. So then you get like, you know, a bunch of shish kebabs or. How do I say 30 in Japanese? I'll take all of them. What do you have left in the kitchen?

So they're more about like perfectly cooked, like small, nice things. And it just didn't work out. The consumption lifestyle is different. Yeah, I need like the American like small nice things and uh it just didn't work out the consumption lifestyle is different yeah i need like the american like big meat diet right meat in a pan with some cheese that's a huge one guacamole on top lots of calories do you have somebody that like does all your nutrition for you is it just eat until you get a week out and then kind of i've done it i've done it there i've done it on my own long enough to to where i know like uh you know i've counted like on on what's that one called uh my fitness pal yeah i've counted on my fitness pal i did that for like

probably like six seven months before i pretty much like you get a feel for it you can take shit every day yeah i can just hop on the scale and see, like, oh, shit, I ate way too much yesterday. Or, like, this is not quite enough. It's not I ate way too much. It's I'm going to be very strong today. Or, like, after the, like, huge pizza dinner, it's like I'm not going to weigh this morning because I know it's going to make me feel like I ate too much, and I know I did. So maybe less meat today.

Maybe some chicken. We'll do some chicken. How do you feel heading into Worlds in eight weeks? I feel pretty good, honestly. The clean and jerk I did at Pan Ams was a lot more than we had yet trained for, so it makes me feel very confident that I'll be able to hit some big clean and jerks at Worlds. So you weren't planning on hitting that number, like walking into that meet? makes me feel very confident that uh i'll be able to hit some big cleaning jerks at worlds um so you weren't you weren't planning on hitting that number like walking into that meet you just like

hit your second i'm assuming you're doing your third lift yeah yeah so you hear your second lift and you're like fuck i feel great throw it on well it was like uh i was uh coming from behind after the snatch i was i was had a pretty large deficit to come back from. And the clean and jerks had to go well for me to even medal. So when we were talking before, Dave was like, hey, dude, you might have to clean and jerk 224 today. And I'm like, oh, shit, we only trained up to 210. So I was definitely hoping I didn't have to do that much because I didn't really know how it would go.

But honestly, after the way 217 felt, it was very smooth. I very confidently hit it. So I think that this training cycle is going to be a good one for me. When I get to Worlds, I should be in pretty good shape. How long had it been since you hit that 223? I did that in the spring. I think that was like maybe March I did it. That was, like, three months ago-ish? Is that right?

Four months ago? This year, March this year. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, okay. Yeah, so after, like, basically after you peak for a meet, we come back down in the weight, and we do more, like, volume. So it's more reps, more sets. So you're doing, like, clean and jerk doubles

or, like, a ton of squatting. So you can't – you don't train the heavy singles. So we're just gotten back up to, like, 210 in training. I had done it a couple times. Yeah. What about injury-wise? Like, all your joints are feeling good and all that? Are you nursing anything?

I wouldn't say nursing. And, you know, as a weightlifter, there's always, like, something you're working on. So, like, yeah, I'm working on my left leg, focus on that, right shoulder, I think. I have to do some extra mobilization for it. But it's not like – I don't feel like I'm beat up. You know what I mean? Like, it's just like, okay, this is getting a little tight. Like, stretch it more.

You know? Yeah, right, right. What's going on when you walk onto the platform? There's, like, a big emotional thing happening when I watch you walk up to a barbell. Man, I don't know. I get excited about lifting weights. Well, I feel like before people walk up to the – before people address the bar, there's always, like, a process that they go through.

Yeah. Very few of them look like you though. Yeah. There's like a – I almost, with all due respect, feel like you are about to potentially cry. Like you're like emotionally involved in what you're about to do. Very few people are looking at the crowd, trying to get people super focused. Then you look at you and you're pacing. It's very emotional. It looks like you're well in tune

with the crowd. I think it's just from the football stuff, you feed off that. You know what I mean? 477 pound clean and jerk. Fly fucks with a log out of it.

But, like, you know what I mean? Like, you kind of, like, the crowd gets loud, and you're ready to, like, run somebody over. You know what I mean? It's, like, it's fourth down, and you need a yard. Everybody's yelling. Like, it's, like, part of it. So, when I lift weights, I like to feel that adrenaline.

I, like, I of it. So when I lift weights, I like to feel that adrenaline. I love to just get the chills and, like, feel, like, on top of the world. Like, it's my favorite thing. Yeah. And, you know, when you're taking the last attempt for a gold medal, like, you better believe I want all you guys yelling right now. Yeah. Like, give me something. Like, make me want to hit this right now. You know what I mean?

So I just, like, I get into it, man. I, like, I just, I don't know. It's just, like, I like the way that feels. And I just love doing that. Like, dude, third attempts for the gold is, like, it's fun, man. Yeah. Like, there's, like, very few things are like that. It is the moment.

Yeah. Like, yeah, that's it, man. Can you explain a little bit of the process um in case people don't know like how you actually get to the olympics in the united states for weightlifting um because leading up to pan ams like these are really important meets for you to be able to actually qualify for the olympic team yeah so uh they they just changed it probably uh every year, it's every year. But like a year and a half ago, they set this new one in, and it's the way.

So to qualify for the Olympics, they have the Roby points is what they're calling them. So there's like this formula based on world records that earns you points. So like depending on what percent of the world record you're hitting, it's worth a certain amount of points. So they're using this like round robin scoring system to qualify lifters through multiple meets to go to the olympics so uh so there's like two years out you have to lift two meets every six months um you don't have to lift it all you just have to show up that way you're available for testing savage barbell ha savage barbell brought like five athletes otc2 in vegas and

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So, like, you lift eight meets, you score four, and whoever's the best gets to go to the Olympics. How many spots are there for guys this year or next year? So every country gets four men and four women, but you're not guaranteed four men and four women. So you're only, like if you've got eight people that can lift at the Olympics that are great, you only can lift four, so you have to pick. It looks like right now a U.S. team might be three men or might be four men.

So we're not sure if we'll qualify a whole team or not yet, but there's, you know. So the women might not have anybody? No, the women are better. They'll get four. I thought they had, yeah. They crush it. But, yeah, so we'll see. The goal is obviously to qualify full teams, but they're not guaranteed spots.

And the scoring goes all the way out until I think May maybe. So there's not going to be any people named to the teams until then. Yeah, so at this point are you in pretty good shape to be able to get into the qualification? Yeah, so I'm looking really good. It's like the continental champion, so like Pan Am is where I was just at. The winner of each group of continents in those regions gets a spot. So in that route, I'm looking really good. I'd love to crack the top eight and go that way.

It's like, I don't know, it's more prestigious, I'm looking really good. I'd love to crack the top eight and go that way. It's like, I don't know. It's more prestigious, I guess, but honestly, a ticket to the Olympics is a ticket to the Olympics. Yeah, so I'm looking really, really good through the continental side, and then hopefully I'll crack the top eight at Worlds. You just won Pan Ams, which is is I think it's like Pan Ams, Worlds, and then the Olympics. Those are like the big three, right? Right. So you've got every year

there's Pan Am Championships, World Championships. Every four years there's a Pan Am Games and Olympic Games. So basically the Pan Am Games is the Olympic committee version of Pan Ams, and the Olympics is the Olympic committee version of Pan Ams, and the Olympics is the Olympic Committee version of Worlds. Gotcha.

On the global stage, where do your numbers stack up? Is it something where you're looking at 2020 as like, I can go take kids' lunch money? Dude, you know, that's the goal. So I've placed, I think I was 8th at world championships in anaheim and then i placed 10th at this last one um and uh my highest placement in any lift was fifth in clean and jerk so um and uh i'm hoping to get a little better and you know maybe take a crack at some medals obviously like well not obviously but for me like if'm going to go do a competition, I want to win. Yeah. Like, you know, whether it's crazy or odds are against me

or not, like, I'm going to try to win. So I know what numbers I need to get to by the Olympics to be in position to take a crack at some medals. So that's what I'm going to work towards. How long did it take you to kind of learn like the game of weightlifting like being strong is like a piece of olympic weightlifting what goes on in the back on the platforms and the gamification of picking numbers and and all that i've had people out coach me so incredibly bad back there at the American Open like three years ago, four years ago, and it was just like, get this rookie out of here. It was so embarrassing.

Yeah. Called my athlete. She was still wearing sweatpants. I was like, ah, sorry. Sorry we spent all this money to get here. But did it take you a while to learn all the nuances of the game? So for me, I don't actually, like, as the lifter, I don't even have to think about it.

You know, the coaches handle it. So, I, like, I've picked it up, like, just being in these competitions and seeing, like, what changes are made and stuff. Like, you kind of, you learn, and you learn all the different rules about how you can come up and go down. But, like, the way Dave's so good at it, like, I don't even – I never have to think or worry. I mean, he's always, like, taking care of stuff.

He knows what the other guys can hit. He, like, he'll run, like, bluff attempts and stuff. Yeah. Like, it's pretty involved. Like, even, like, for example, at Pan Ams, after my second attempt, Dave put in a 220, and I only took 217, right? So the guy that went after me, he had missed his second, right? And Dave was like, you want to rest, you take 220,

and then my guy will have to take it to beat you. And that guy knew that he didn't have a chance to hit that, so he had to stay down there and take his third attempt on a one-minute clock instead of the two minutes that he didn't have a chance to to hit that so he had to stay down there and take his third attempt on a one minute clock instead of the two minutes that he should get so like i mean it's just like it's very involved and the more weightlifting you watch if you pay attention to the board you can maybe start picking up on it but there's just like there's little nuances like that the coaches know about that they do um that is just very involved in something I don't even have to think about. You know, I'm just – I'm back there.

I'm warming up or I'm sitting in my chair listening to some music. Like I don't even like – Just get fired up. Do you guys do anything specific in training to be ready for the time so you have to take another max attempt on a one-minute clock? Yeah, so we'll do like – we call them – what do we call those? It's like – man, like we'll basically'll set timers, like, in the snatch. So, like, every two minutes we'll take another snatch.

I forget what Dave calls those now. Conditioning. Yeah, basically. But we'll lift, we'll snatch, we'll snatch heavy, like, every, you know, on a two-minute. Or we'll do, like, we'll do clean and jerk waves or snatch waves where you go up and then come back down in case you have to re-warm up in the back. Because sometimes you take an attempt and then you're eight minutes out. So you have to go and, like, do another set of warm-ups for even that second attempt.

But, yeah, like, it gets very specific as we get closer to a meet um and we even run like uh we call it a mock comp where we warm up and lift on separate platforms and uh dave likes to goof around and pretend he's the announcer and he usually says like dumb shit to distract us it's one of his favorite things but uh, yeah, so we definitely, like, we're thinking about competition in our last cycle as we're training. And even, like, we know our warm-up numbers that we're going to take. And in training, every time we warm up, it's through those numbers. So maybe we stop at, like, the last warm-up in the back

or we go up to second attempt on this day. We go up to our heaviest attempt on this day. So it just, like, it kind of keeps going up, a little less up, and it's always through those same numbers. How involved are you in your own program? I wouldn't say, like, significantly involved, but after and before everyone, me and Dave discuss, like, what it's going to look like, what we want to work on, what looks good right now. So it's going to look like um what we want to work on what looks good right now

so um it's definitely a it's a partnership but dave takes off and does it on his own so you know he produces a program based on like what we see and talk about and feel from the previous one so yeah but i imagine the i mean great athletes pretty much kind of know where they're supposed to be going, and then the coach just – I mean, they have their genius. Yeah, for sure. Like, when we talk about it, we usually feel very similarly about, like, what movements we want to put in the next cycle, what's going good, what's going bad.

But, I mean, like, for to program something like shitty for myself, like sets 10 on back squat. 20 rep back squats? Yeah. Let's do it. I'm not going to make myself do three cleans, one jerk, no matter how bad I need it. So it's important to have somebody that's going to give you that push.

And he does it through the program. And when I get my program, it's like my personal challenge to complete every rep he's laid out for me. Are there things that you work on, like technical, or is it really just a focus on just getting brutally strong and growing? Yeah, technical learning never stops. like so the way the the program kind of looks so when we get out of a competition we do our volume so there's less worry in the technique when we're doing all the heavy squats we're doing like like bigger sets on the on the

snatch clean and jerk so like sets of two and three like we're we're doing like challenging stuff and we're just accumulating like hard work yeah so on in those phases the technique is sort of less worked on we think less about it then as the meat gets closer we start getting into the singles you have to kind of retool your movement um and as you get stronger you kind of you get different balances and it's like your weight changes like things change so you always have to like have your ear to the ground like like changing like and feeling like what what's good what's bad right now like what did I forget that makes me lift well like you know you you kind of you figure out like what to think about that

produces a good snatch and then like you do many squats, you don't think about it. Like, you're just, like, fighting. Like, you're just battling to hit your reps and stay in the game. So you kind of, like, you lose track of what makes the best lifts off the floor. You know, maybe you don't do a lot off the floor of that cycle or just whatever, but you always have to be, like, retooling your lifts, and you should be thinking about your technique, you know, as frequently as you can you can yeah how often are you doing non-weightlifting specific strength stuff you know heavy deadlifts farmer's walks maybe yoke walks you know powerlifting strongman type stuff yeah

the uh so the strongman type stuff and then the powerlifting that'll come like in the accessory work we when we do pulls we don't usually do like conventional deadlift or uh or sumo sumo that'd be awkward we do clean pulls we do clean pulls or clean grip deads uh same thing it's snatch grip deads uh we'll do those a little bit but um i mean uh honestly it's like we do a little like we squat all the time you know like that's power lifting right so like squatting is our accessory work that we do almost every day um you know front squats back squats are basically happening like every day all week long so uh um yeah we do a lot of that stuff and then like the farmer carries overhead we'll do them by the side. We don't usually load that stuff up super heavy

because it's more just to, like, fix imbalances when we do it. But, yeah, I mean, we got to do that stuff just to, like, just to stay level, stay even. And honestly, it kind of breaks up the monotony of snatch, clean, and jerk every day. Yeah, I was going to say psychologically, at least you get a little variety. Yeah, do something fun, silly, a little bit. I don't know, whatever. After stepping off the stage at Pan Ams in Lima, Peru, psychologically at least you get a little variety yeah do something fun silly a little bit just yeah i don't know whatever after stepping off the stage at pan ams in lima peru and like you've

gone on this big adventure the real competition's tonight though yeah this is exciting stuff right i mean it's a big time fletcher's gonna be in your face all night dude i'm gonna show up and do 80 ct fletcher's gonna command you to grow right now. I'm such a C.T. fan, man. Yeah, when I used to be dead tired, I'd watch his – there's this one video of him and this giant dude that he calls the Hulk doing bench press, and, like, he's yelling at him. Like, it's my favorite, like, C.T. video. But, yeah, I'm a big fan. I was so juiced to see that he was going to be there.

So I'm actually really excited about that. A bucket list item for you. CT Fletcher called you a motherfucker in front of a big crowd. Please, could you do this just one time? Can you record it? I can't wait. Say it. I command you to grow.

Yeah. It's really exciting. One thing that's really nice about this specific event is we don't have to worry about, like, who the strongest male is going to be i think we know like it's probably you might you might have the highest total um have you ever lifted i think one of the coolest parts of it that was like you get to lift have you ever do you know who adrian conway or easy i mean easier buddies we play we're on the same grid team oh sick yeah so you guys get to live together again yeah me, me and he's your buddy, so that'll be fun.

And I haven't met the other guy. Adrian, he's a good dude. I like working out, so I usually like bros that also like to work out. Yeah, right? It'll be fun. I just want to, if I was strong enough, I would train with all of you. Right. And be able to hang out. Like, that's the coolest part.

Yeah. Just go have a bro session, just max out six lifts. Right. How close do you think we're going to get tonight to PRs? If you PR tonight, that would be absurd. But, like, in six lifts, two hours straight of lifting, that's almost kind of not even working out for you at this point. Dude, it's like you're going to give me 20 minutes and then have to turn around and do something else. Like, that's almost kind of not even working out for you at this point. Dude, it's like, you're going to give me 20 minutes

and then I have to turn around and do something else? That's going to be tough. You might see me sucking some bad air out there, hands on my knees. If you heel over and you're doing the I'm tired, that would be awesome. I feel like we accomplished something. We broke him.

He couldn't handle it. When was the last time you bench pressed heavy? I did my last bench press in 2014. It was right before I started weightlifting. 2014? Good lord. What are you going to bench?

Not much. Four? Absolutely not. Four or five? Four or five would probably kick my ass right now. What are you going to squat uh do you have numbers of like what you would like to do over this i'll do adventure i'll first squat i'll do at least 550 uh maybe maybe it depends how it feels i'll crank it up that's the first one yeah so i don't know what happens if you max your squat and then go snatch right after i feel like that's like it doesn't i I mean, who knows?

Like this is what, I don't know. I don't know. Do you guys always do the kind of the Olympic movements, snatch, clean and jerk, and then squat after, or do you ever switch it? Sometimes we'll squat first, but it won't be like it won't be a high-intensity squat. It'll be like a little bit of work

just to sort of like prime your body to to lift so we might do like some like 70 80 front squats just a few of them to start a session but never like a one rep max back squat yeah right when uh i mean you're you're lifting with caffeine and kilos when did you start working with them i think uh we've been hanging out for at least two years but um they're good friends of Cal Strength so as soon as I was at Cal Strength I met those guys they're coming out on Fridays Charlie and Danny and I actually met Dean last but um yeah they're just like they're great dudes yeah we met Danny and he had so many good stories I met him like a year, year and a half ago. And being in Cal Strength for that long, he's just got endless, endless stories.

You're going to be a part of the new ones. Barbell shrugged in like 2025. I'm like, well, I remember that time Wes showed up. I remember. Yeah, I'm stoked for tonight. When was the last time, I guess, lifting with Easy? Did you guys ever – he's not on your level, like strength-wise. No.

Well, it's not fair because I only do the lift. Well, I don't know how strong Easy is. He's just the strongest CrossFitter. Yeah, he's definitely like. That's why. Yeah, he's a strong guy for sure. I'm not putting EZ down. He's one of my favorite humans.

But, yeah, I'll take care of him. Love that. Yeah, dude, have you ever done a super total ever? No. Oh, it's so exciting. Yeah. Brand new. Yeah, this is going to be an adventure. Right adventure right off the plane right off the plane right off of me yeah yeah no big deal 550 who knows um right um dude tell me um like what expectations going up to worlds

how do you kind of keep all of these i guess dave's doing a lot of your programming but mentally staying in the game for focusing on world which is the next piece of the puzzle yeah um knowing that 2020 like do you ever just get tired of waiting four years dude i it's like not for me like honestly like like i said every program is like a is like a challenge to to the whole thing, you know, and then, like, every meet is a challenge to win, right? So there's always something in weightlifting, you know, whether it's a snatch you need to hit, a clean drag, a squat, like, there's always something to get better at to work on, so you just stay addicted to growth.

And the only time it's not fun is when you start getting beat up or you get a little hurt or whatever and you have to like take a step back That's those are the days that are the toughest but honestly like when you're feeling good You're lifting good and there's always something to attack. It's yeah What do you feel like the weak link is in the chain right now that like is the the limiting factor to the next PR? I right now I need to I need to get my snatch moving better again It used to I used to be the snatch guy. It's like a speed thing, or what do you mean?

Well, honestly, I've lost a little bit of feel. We changed weight classes, so I moved up. Honestly, it changes. Once your mobility changes, just little things can make so much of a difference in the way one fluid motion can feel. If you stretch your hamstrings a lot, much of a difference in the way like one fluid motion can feel right so like if you stretch your hamstrings a lot all of a sudden you don't feel the same tension at the same time and you just have to like reformat the the way you feel the way you pattern your movement so um i want to really attack the snatch and get that thing moving

like it should be again um and hopefully I can put a big one together down there. The clean and jerk, since we've, I mean, going up in weight, tends to help stability a lot, especially in the jerk. So, you know, that one's been, like, really good lately. So, you know, hopefully I can just put a lot of thought into the snatch. The clean and jerk will just keep, like, crawling up just from working, and I can put it together a nice performance were you feeling unstable before but putting on a little bit of

weight helped kind of normalize that um i wouldn't say unstable but it just makes it easier like i get adding weight instantly like when you've got a belt on like when you're squatting like whatever it is like you just feel like you're filled out better like you like it's just it it feels good to jerk on a big old body so like and that was the same thing i said earlier about like if you do an aggressive cut like you you tend to feel it in the clean and jerk just the weights are heavy um you know you get a little thinner a little less stability and a sudden, like, that jerk gets really tough. The windows start shutting, it gets dark, closing in on you. You black out.

Yeah, you never know. But, yeah, it's just like, I don't know, weight definitely helps in the clean and jerk. No guarantees in the snatch, I don't think. Are you focusing on where you're going with your weight? Are you trying to stay where you're at, or is it just eat big, get big, see where it takes you? Yeah, so they reformatted the weight classes when they did the qualification for the Olympics. So they added four kilos to mine. So basically as soon as they did that, I had to like hammer it in the kitchen and like eat up.

And I'd still like to clean up a little bit. Like, I don't feel like I've been at 109 long enough to, like, fill it out muscually to the point that I want to. And the cut's still a little bit too easy for me, I think. So I'd like to get a little more muscular and fill out the class a little better. But I'm done with, like, the big gain. I'm up here, so now it's just like. Eight pounds after you've been eating that much is a lot. It's a lot of weight to put on.

Yeah, it was significant. I didn't walk around at 105 kilos before I started weightlifting at Cal Strength either. So, you know, as soon as I got there, it was eat up. I got, like, two years or so. Just bringing the buffet as soon as I got there, it was eat up. I got like two years or so. Just bringing the buffet every day. Yeah, so then it was eight more. But, yeah, I mean, it's just like if the classes were, if it was at 109 when I started weightlifting,

I would just weigh 109. So when they were redoing them, I tried not to think too much about it. Like they say it's 109, I'm going to weigh that, and I'm going to try to weigh it the best possible way I can with as much muscle as I can. I feel like in the higher weight classes, especially heavyweight, eating is half the job. We were watching that Born Strong documentary last night. Brian Shaw and all the rest of those guys that are over 400 pounds. Eating really is the job. They train, but then eating is the other

22 hours of the day. Those dudes are next level too. They train, but then eating is like the other 22 hours of the day. Yeah, those dudes are next level, too. Like, they are so huge. Like, I mean, I don't honestly know. They sit down to those big rice and meat meals and just, like, go in on it. But I guess you get used to it. Dude, if you want to be 420 pounds consistently, you have to eat so much fucking food. And with abs. Eddie Hall's got abs.

Yeah. Guys, it's crazy. Have you ever met any of them? Mm-mm. I would love to. I like the big strongman stuff. You've got to get them at Olympia. That stuff's fun.

Get them lifted at Olympia. One-ton challenge. Dude, I'm going to get Eddie Hall snatches. Oh. Just picks up. With one arm. One arm. Just doesn't bend his elbows.

Like this? Like this? 350? Yeah, those guys are incredible. I mean, to be 420 and train as much as they do, I mean, that's 12, 13, I don't even know

how many thousand calories. Do you ever count? Where are your calories at on a daily basis? Do you know? Yeah, I don't eat like crazy. It's like 30, 300, 3800 calories. It's not crazy. No, it's not crazy at all. How do you grow so much?

I don't know. You just got to eat it. You got to eat good, I guess. I can't tell you. I mean, at 3,200 calories, I'm staying at the same weight. So, like anything I eat in excess, I can gain a little bit from there. Yeah. What would you like to be walking around at now that 109 is there?

Yeah, I think it would be good to, like, probably cut down from, like, a really solid 114. And right now, like, at 114, I'm pretty doughy. So, we got to work on that. Right on, dude. I'm stoked to watch this thing tonight. It's going to be fun. I'm excited to do it. CT Fletcher in the house. Fit 8 throws a great party.

Jackie's here. They bring her out. She just threw a party over there, getting people fit. What's going on with you these days? Oh my goodness. Honestly, I've been gone so much. I forget. I was actually with StrongFit for a while, traveling with them, which is, I love those guys. I gone so much. I forget. I was actually with StrongFit for a while traveling with them, which is I love those guys.

I learned so much just from being around those guys. And I always send people to that barbell show because they're like, what's StrongFit about? And I'm like, because they evolve so much. You know how Julian is. He can't stay in one place. So they've evolved so much that I have to bring people back to like, go to these two episodes.

And this is like the foundation. And then if you can grasp this, then you can evolve with them them but they're just on some like next level stuff that i'm just like mind blown like i think they're so smart and they changed a lot they're they changed so much for me as like a crossfit coach and just an athlete just like tension over positions just things you should have been doing a long time ago like everything just made sense and i was like i really like these guys so i just started traveling with them i was just in dubai all through europe oh dubai as well yeah so i did a utrecht because i based out of utrecht now and then i did an internship at a gym in vienna with them for like a few weeks and then i went to dubai with them that was the last trip like two

weeks in dubai um and it was just cool it's cool to see their little community all over the world yeah so what are you uh you're doing something with the military yeah so we do uh we do It was just cool. It's cool to see their little community all over the world. Yeah. What are you doing? You're doing something with the military? Yeah. You're telling us about it? We do these little tours that we go. And it's not CrossFit, so we teach fitness to the people on base. Yeah.

And sometimes we'll take over their PT. The Army just changed their PT test, so more than ever do they need to know how to deadlift. They did, right? What is that now? Trap bar deadlift. Don't they have kind know how to deadlift they did right what is that now trap our deadlift they have like kind of like a belt system for it or something like that similar to jiu-jitsu is like four or five levels yeah like weight wise and how many reps you do but they i mean i think there's like a ball throw there's like a kettlebell carry there's a sled drag it's a little more functional it's not just jogging and body weight push-ups and whatever else yeah

pull-up thing yeah Yeah, sit-ups. That's kind of like they're trying to phase that out. But it's hard because, like, we go over there and you watch people move. And I'm like, man, if these people had a trap bar deadlift, like, everyone's backs are going to be screwed. You know, because you're on a base and there's not a lot of instruction. So you have a globo gym. So whatever you do, everyone's walking around, you know, with, like, huge arms. Yeah.

Like, if you're out there and something happens, like, you got to carry somebody. You know, like, you got stuff you got to do so it's almost like it's been cool to try to like change their minds about that kind of training because there's everyone's got such a negative thing to say about that kind of training no it's done blah blah and then we we put them through like a little workout we're not that embarrassed and they think we're just there to like embarrass them like no we're going to teach you to move well yeah that's it do a little workout and like maybe some like everybody wants to learn how to snatch and clean and i'm just like well there's so much work to do you know that's so much of a foundation to do so we do that and it's been really cool because they've responded really well to it but

it's hard yeah that's an entire organization that has to change its culture that's the problem that's wild and it's and it's not a small organization no and it's been going on the same way for so long, and people get stuck, and they don't want it to evolve and change. They've been doing it for so long. So the fact that they're even taking on a new Army test is huge, but there's got to be support for that. You can't just make these people who haven't been doing this say, well, now you've got to do this.

So there's a little bit of a gap. Yeah. What do the gyms look like over there? Are they actually pretty well outfitted? So the funny thing is some have, like, a CrossFit affiliate. Some are actually affiliated. Some, like, we're at Eielson Air Base in Alaska, and they have, like, this huge, like, turf football field

and, like, a track on top and, like, a little CrossFit section and, like, a little globe. So some are like that, and some are just, like, you get a container in the middle of Djibouti. Like, we're in Djibouti. Djibouti is like as big as this room but it's got no roof. And so it's so. A billion degrees.

It's just like, yeah, so depending on where you go, either they put a lot of money into those programs or they haven't put any money. Or it's all donated by the members. I feel like 80% of the audience didn't know Djibouti was a country. Yeah. Djibouti was. Who's booty country googling it on the way to work that was an interesting place but yeah they have a good chow hall so I always like you get to eat in so many different places I mean yeah you realize how they eat you're just like I couldn't wait to come home and eat a fucking vegetable like I just want a real because everything is like canned and yeah I would eat the meat and they're like don't eat the meat they're like we call it mystery man like all right. And, you know, I would eat the meat, and they're like, don't eat the meat. They're like, we call it mystery meat.

I'm like, all right. So I'd make a sound, like, don't eat that. And I'm like, I've eaten, like, grilled cheese. Can I eat anything? I was eating grilled cheese sandwiches or fried chicken, and that's the safest, you know. So that's what I was eating. Yeah, we have a couple people that follow our programs that are, like, on base somewhere. And they're like, what do we eat?

I was like, find me cheese is gonna be okay like a flour tortilla just eat it like get some carbohydrate they're like quesadillas got it okay whatever you have like just find that combination it's the lowest easiest level of food that you can eat just five of those a day yeah Yeah. You'll get strong. I promise. It's pretty hard because it's the same thing for them every single day. It's the same. I'm just like, God, you've got to lose your shit after a while. When you started going to these places where you just totally, like I was telling Wes, we talked to Matt Frazier and he was on like the USO tour.

Yeah. And he was like, yeah, it's totally fine. Yeah. Until it's not. Yeah. And then it's really bad quickly. Yeah. So we, our first tour was Iraq. yeah it's totally fine yeah until it's not yeah and then it's really bad quickly yeah so we our first tour was iraq and so we got to go um to all the bases out there which is cool because like

we took military choppers everywhere we went and you have to fly blacked out at night because you don't want to get shot at so it's just like i can't handle that crazy yeah but for me like it wasn't like you hear gunshots all night but it's just like oh they're training the iraqis and they train them at night because it's so damn hot during the day. But we never felt like. We did go to the green zone where they bombed Saddam. And, like, we took these helicopters.

And there was, like, two dudes with machine guns just sitting there, like, looking out. And we're sitting there. There's no door, no window. And he's, like, 18 years old. Yeah. And I'm like, I wish I had a GoPro on right now because you're flying over Iraq and you're just like.

And then they took us upstairs and they're like, just, I had a GoPro on right now because you're flying over Iraq. And you're just like. And then they took us upstairs. And they're like, just you can't be exposed. They're like, because this is the green zone. But that is the red zone. And they're like, and they're snipers. So it's like, but it's real. So it's not. Yeah.

So it's kind of we didn't get anything weird. They took us to the two swords. And I mean, like, they jammed there. They're like, there they are. And they jammed us back because it was just such a bad play. It was just crazy. But it was cool. It was one of the coolest things I've ever done.

Wes, you ever shot anybody? No. No. That's good. Glad to see you're fighting for our country. It sounds like Jackie's doing a lot more. Jackie is. You may be representing us, but Jackie's doing a lot.

You're entertaining. They probably would much rather see, you know, like Jackie than like me. Yeah, right. Jackie's the only girl in the country. Yeah, that's probably pretty nice. Everybody take two girls and two guys just to like balance it out and be like. It's funny. A lot of guys don't want to listen to girls. They're like, I don't want to be coached by you.

But they want to look at them. So it's like you can't just bring all guys. You're going to have to work with us a little bit. Right on playing the game. Yeah. Dude, this was super fun. Thanks for coming to hang out. I'm really excited to watch tonight.

Yeah. Make sure CC yells at you. Yeah, please. Do you think we should have a strict curl competition at the end? I mean, it's his best. That was his thing. That was his thing. That was his thing.

Can you believe that he can make a career out of that? 1.9 million Instagram followers. Like, CT, what do you do? Well,

I say, motherfucker, really well. I command you to grow the best. The best. If you are the best at saying that word,

you'll figure it out. The promo he did last night was rad. He's doing a promo at the games tonight in the middle of the Energy Center. I might have to go watch. It's pretty exciting. That's great.

Get everybody to come watch. You get huge. Right on, dude. Where can people find you besides Olympic lifting stages? You can find me on Instagram. There is Cal Strength posts me a lot. And then my own, WestKids22. Sweet.

Do you have any sponsors you want to tell people about? Absolutely. Caffeine and Kilos brought me out here to do this, so that's awesome of them. They're very good fellas. Bodybuilding.com and other. You work with Bodybuilding.com? Damn, that's so radical. I don't even know if it's good sponsorship.

You've been around forever. That's where everybody found the articles. Yeah, they're great. The forum. They wanted some weightlifters. They want to expand from just, like, bros in gyms to, like, everything. So they're trying to get people representing all realms of fitness. So I was fortunate enough to get picked to do their weightlifting. That's right.

It's very awesome. They're great. They help me out a lot. Virus sends me cool stuff to wear. So I've got some nice training equipment. Yeah, super tight pants, which is important for tight pants for weightlifting. It's a big part of it. Did I miss anything?

No. Radical. That's it. Jaggy, tell the people. My usual, my FitAid, the same one, the FitAid, PowerDot. Oh, we were talking about you. We don't care about FitAid. We only love them. Everybody knows we love the FitAid. Yeah. No were talking about you. We don't care about Fit Aid. We only love them.

Everybody knows we love the Fit Aid. Same old Jaggy 585, same as always. So good to have you back on the barbell shrug. Yeah, I know. It's been years. The people missed you. Doug Larson. It's just so embarrassing.

If I had to talk about what's changed from then, I'd be like nothing. I still drink almond champagne and I still work out and have a good time. It's all the same. I'm older. Yeah, I'm older. I've aged. That changed. Same passions. No, you're still hanging out. Well, now you're hanging out in helicopters and flying through war zones. Yeah, now I'm doing really cool shit. A lot changed.

The interest didn't change. Yeah, no. Doug Larson. You bet. Find me on Instagram at Dougal C. Larson. I'm Anders Varner. You can find me at Anders Varner. We're the Shrug Collective at Shrug Collective. OneTonChallenge.com. Go there. Get strong. You bet. Find me on Instagram at Douglesee Larson. I'm Anders Varner, so you can find me at Anders Varner. We're the Shrug Collective at Shrug Collective. OneTonChallenge.com. Go there. Get strong.

Six lifts. 2,000 pounds for men. Squat. Jerk. Dead. Bench. Snatch. I did them so fucking backwards.

Wow, that was way out of order. Snatch. Clean jerk. Squat. Dead. Bench. Got them. Hey, I have a question. What up?

Can we clean and jerk? No. They're separate? Yeah. Wait, do you not know how to take it out of the rack? No, I do. You've been doing this a long time. I know. I can a question. What up? Can we clean and jerk? No. They're separate? Yeah. Wait, do you not know how to take it out of the rack? No, I do. You've been doing this a long time. I know.

I can do it. I can teach you. It's fine. No, it's fine. As long as you don't put 217 on the bar. I could, but I won't. Can you take this out for me and show me how to do it? No.

No, I will not walk that out. OneToneChallenge.com. We're going to make this thing happen tonight. Super exciting. We will see you guys next Wednesday. That's a wrap, friends. If you're going to be in Houston, Texas this weekend, CrossFit Revoked, grand opening One Ton Challenge going down.

I want to thank our sponsors over at Savage Barbell. SavageBarbell.com forward slash shrug save 25% on your first order. Organifi, the greens, the reds, and the golds. Organifi.com forward slash shrug, save 25% on your first order. Organifi, the greens, the reds, and the golds. Organifi.com. Forward slash shrug, save 20%. And then Whoop, saving $30 on a 12- or 18-month subscription at Whoop.com using the coupon code shrug. Friends, we'll be back next week. Morgan King, CJ Cummins.