Barbell Shrugged - Why Weightlifting is Exploding on the World Stage w/ Morghan King, CJ Cummings , Anders Varner, and Doug Larson — Barbell Shrugged #420Why Weightlifting is Exploding on the World Stage w/ Morghan King, CJ Cummings , Anders Varner, and Doug Larson — Ba

Episode Date: October 9, 2019

Morghan's love for sport goes well beyond weightlifting. She is a big advocate of staying active to help create positive self image and confidence. In 2018, she was a Role Model at the Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires. Being able to use her passion for weightlifting and sport has allowed her to use her platform to inspire the younger generation. She believes that if we can create a safe and fun environment in sports, its ability to teach life skills will benefit them in the future. When Morghan isn’t in the gym, her love for the outdoors, yoga, meditation and cooking allows her to find a good balance in life.     In this episode of Barbell Shrugged, CJ Cummings drops in to chat weightlifting, setting dozens of records, and why the USA is making a run on the global stage in the sport of weightlifting.   Minute Breakdown:   1-10 Why Anders disrespected Morghan King at the One Ton Challenge 11-20 Nutrition Coaching with Dr. Andy Galpin 21-30 Do you want your kids to be an Olympic Lifter 31-40 Training regimen for the Olympics 41-50 CJ Cummings joins the show  51-60 When CrossFit meets olympic level strength    Connect with Morghan King   Connect with CJ Cummings   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”   “How do I Start the One Ton Challenge” ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Show notes at: http://www.shruggedcollective.com/bbs-king -----------------------------------------------------------------------   ► 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

Savage Barbell Shrugged family, you have to get over to savagebarbell.com forward slash shrugged right now because they got the coolest swag in the whole game. I'm wearing the Savage Barbell shirts to the gym on a daily basis and it's kind of like walking in and everybody just knows you're the strongest human in the entire world because your shirt says Savage on it. High quality threads, dope designs, everything you want in a t-shirt. Super quality, I on it. High quality threads. Dope designs. Everything you want in a t-shirt. Super quality. I love it. Dave's an awesome dude. We did a show

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I want to also remind you, we are going to be in Sweden this week. Do you know that? We're going to be in Sweden tomorrow. I'm boarding a plane tomorrow. Flying across the Big Pond, hitting Paris, headed to Sweden. We're going to Alico HQ. So if you are

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Save 20%. We're going to be at Alico. Get to CrossFitHomes.com. Lift the weights with us. See you guys at the break. Have you ever been a part of the beginning of Barbell Shrug no i haven't you can leave whenever you want but if you're here right now you might get stuck for the next hour your friends just gonna be over there at least two hours she's like i'm out of here see see now you're in welcome to barbell shrug i'm anna's warner doug larson morgan king

is the official guest but we picked up what's what's your name? Liz. Liz what? Liz Carlson. Liz Carlson. What's your Instagram handle? LA Carlson. That's it. LA Carlson. She just came and got a lifetime supply of FitAid.

That's right. Because at no other point in time would you be so influenced to get so much FitAid that you're just like signing up for life. Yes. You can do that too at home. Go get the FitAids right now. That was just such a good commercial. Morgan, can you ready? Yeah.

I have to tell you something. Okay. So I organized this fun event and I had to create platforms for all of the people to lift, right? And you're this funky human that's really, really not heavy. And you lift like a heavy person. I try i try and also you don't bench press ever never so you told me your bench press was going to be 40 kilos which is 88 pounds so i was in this ridiculous spot where i had to put people on platforms in a way that I was trying to match people up with the numbers so that the flow of life happened well and also you were the only Olympian to be on the floor which means in

my brain you are the alpha female no no no hold on listen I don't even say no because at the end of this story you know you're the alpha female I didn't know where to put you because I wanted you to have the big spotlight on you as you are King Morgan I know you are the alpha female I know you're the best lifter here by a long shot however I was in a spot where I didn't know if I could put you with these giant girls that are so strong and lifting like the deadlift in the back squat on the bench I didn't know where to put you with these giant girls that are so strong and lifting like the deadlift in the back squat on the bench i didn't know where to put you yeah and then i turned around as i'm introducing everybody i was like you guys are on the wrong platforms no you went all alpha and kicked them out of the first platform oh my gosh no that's actually not true kristen pope i was

like i'm on the middle platform kristen and she's's like, nah, I am. And I was like, she did it. She did it. That's so awesome. It makes me feel so much better up there. And I was like, no, I don't want to be, I don't want to be up there. There's like, no. Oh, see, I, well, cause I turned around and I was like, um, I was like, this is, this isn't right. You're supposed to, and you were like, no, no. And I was like, you call the shot, girl. You get it. Oh, no, that's amazing. You do you. No, Pope looked at me and was, like, just dying laughing.

And I was like, I hate you so much. No, I wanted to put you up there, but I was so scared that, like, these monster 150-pound girls. I was going to bench 35 kilos. And, like, yeah, they were going to be benching, like, double that. I mean, she did. Yeah, she weighed, like, 150. weighed like 150 and it makes a huge difference i was like legitimately like where do i put morgan she's the strongest girl pound for pound not like by the end of the competition you would beat everybody

on power index by like a full point and you like clean and jerked like 225 220 something like that which is like over double body weight something insane yeah and then I was like you are so much more alpha female than everybody here but I don't know what to do because you just wrote that you hadn't bench pressed in five years I don't I literally I literally didn't know how to bench press and I was like okay we'll just keep going up and she was going up like really fast because she's really strong yeah and I was like I got to like the blues 45 so I think they're 45 pounds and I was like oh that was kind of heavy let's add like I don't know five more pounds or 10 more pounds and I was like yeah I'm good yeah all right yep I like my arms yeah I don't we could have like had you you know tear a peck or something right before worlds yeah that could

have been cool. Yeah. I was hoping that. Most coaches appreciate that. I think that's why Wes was going so light. He, like, he put up, like, 300 pounds or whatever it was, like, lightning quick. And then he was like, I'm done. I'm like, that's a smart man over there.

Like, he's got Worlds in eight weeks. Like, if he goes back to Dave and says, like, I tore my peck at the one-time challenge, Dave would fucking kill him. Dave was not pumped. And then I sent a picture, and I was like, hey, don't worry. I'm taking care of it. He's like, you're supposed to be the adult in the room. Oh, sorry. I PR'd my basketball.

We were relying on you for good decisions. Yeah. Will you tell me when you started weightlifting, how did you find out you would be so good at snatch, clean, and jerk? Well, I actually, so I was tricked into a Saturday CrossFit workout. Thank you for joining us. Yeah, nice to meet you. You've made it the pinnacle of your CrossFit career.

You've been on Barbell Shrugged. Oh, yeah, totally, totally. Yeah, I got kind of, I was doing half marathons and triathlons. I loved doing that, but I just started to get bored training by myself like that long for hours and hours on end. And then I moved up to Seattle and a friend of a friend was like, you've got to try this CrossFit thing. And actually, the girl I trained with in California,

she went to the 2009 game. She's like my size, so she's like a little tiny girl. Yeah. And I remember like... What's her name? Breanne Feudale. Don't know. She was a little girl, and she was doing butterfly pull-ups.

Yeah. And it was raining at the ranch that year, and she was doing a butterfly pull-up, and I remember watching the video of her just falling off, like onto her back. Oh, really? Just totally slipped? Yeah. Yeah. And she's so little, they'd like...

The judge picked her back up and just put her back up really just totally slipped yeah and they she's so little they'd like the judge picked her back up and just put her back it was insane it's like what i do with my two-year-old when i'm trying to like be like you can hang on the rings i have my arms around his ribs and i just pick him back up yeah exactly it was just remember i was like dude this thing is crazy so like that was kind of my introduction to it and i was like oh okay but then i got tricked into a saturday partner wad right and they put me with like the best guy who's now a Navy SEAL and I was like oh this is kind of fun we win things like I like this I like winning yeah I like winning every day yeah so um so then

I started CrossFit and then I made the team regionals and then I was just really little and that's when like you had to have like somebody because when you were on the teams like you had the um the pull-up bars and I couldn't reach them yeah so like people would have to get on their knees so I could stand on you know and it was just like a lot of that at that point what what region were you in uh the northwest one ah gotcha yeah cool this was gosh this was when it was actually still, I think, in Puyallup. Yeah, before it became like stadiums and stuff. Yeah, before it was in the Cape.

I remember that. Yeah. We were in Long Beach. It's like 4 billion degrees in a parking lot. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. It's like a fairground parking lot. Yeah.

Yeah. These people out here, they don't know what it's like. They don't know. They don't know. We were rough in it then. It's easy to be good when you have facilities like this. Absolutely. You're grinding it out in the parking lot.

Was the conditioning piece a challenge for you as well? No, I loved it. You came out of the endurance background. Yeah, I loved it. Even though now you're on the full strength side of things. Yeah. But you had that fitness background already. So CrossFit probably wasn't quite as much of a punch in the face as it would have been to some other people.

Yeah. And the first week that I started they do like an on-ramp class and so they're trying to get like you know base numbers to kind of go from there and then um uh i think i back squatted like 85 or 90 kilos like the first week yeah and they were like oh that's cool like you know how to squat and i I was like, well, I've kind of been in. You probably weighed 50 kilos at the time. How big were you? Yeah, yeah. I was about 50 kilos. And, yeah, it was just, I mean, it was just super fun for me because I was like, oh, I'm kind of strong and kind of fit.

Like, this is cool. Right. But, I mean, at the regionals, you just realize that, like, I think, what is it? There was, like, hang cleans at, like, 45 kilos. Yeah. It was like cheap. Chief, maybe? No, we had to row.

And then we did a bunch of pistols. Single legs. No, it was like a sprint. It was like cleans. It was like a really fast thing. Cool. And it was, I don't know, it was five rounds or something crazy like that. And I used to train with Rory Zambard.

Cool. And so it was really fun. But then you realize, right, like her and I are so opposite. I'm cleaning my body weight like 40 times. And she's cleaning, you know, maybe half or so. You know, I mean, obviously a little bit less than that. But it does, over time, it mattered. And it was the 200 workout in the 2011 regionals where it

was like the pull-ups double unders yeah and we had i remember the stadium clearing out everyone's like okay they're gonna do a thousand reps i'm gonna go outside and talk somebody right right with like five heats yeah um yeah and so we had i, we had a Marine on our team, so he did like most of the pull-ups and we all knew how to do kettlebell stuff. And then we had a boxer on the team that did all but 28 double unders in a row. Like we were cruising and we get to the overhead squats and we all come from like a weightlifting strength coach background. And that's kind of how like our CrossFit gym, um, did everything. And so we were going full depth squats and because we weren't opening our hips we were getting called no reps remember when that was

like insane you had to like overly throw your hips forward and we ended up not finishing the workout and I remember walking off being like I don't want to do this anymore like I was so bummed and then this like another judge from like another area came over and uh it's like those are the best overhead squats i've ever seen and i just looked at him i was like i can't i cannot right now um and so i was like i just want to get stronger let's see what happens um weightlifting coach at the time was like oh cool well we've got a um like a weightlifting meet i'll teach you how to jerk so two days later i did a competition i think I did like 40 kilos and like 55 kilos or something. Um, and then the coach that had our 2008, um, female Olympian Melanie, Melanie Roach, his name's John Thrush. That was the gym we were at.

I grew up in Washington state. So I heard about John Thrush all the time. I started weightlifting there when I was like 14. So he was always around. No way. That's such a small world. Yeah. So that meet Melanie was making a comeback. She was like, I think she was like 38 at the time or something like that. And they were like, do you know who that is? And I'm like, yeah, of course I do. And John Thrusher came up after me or came up after the meet and was like, I haven't seen anyone move like that since I met Melanie. And he's like, you need to keep weightlifting. So that was kind of that.

Yeah. And then, yeah, my boyfriend at the time, it was just, we were both obsessed with weightlifting. Yeah. So, you know, obviously having somebody that's like your coach and super pumped, like, about what you're doing, like, it just, it's so much fun. And so then from there we went and tried out for Muscle Driver. I know if you guys remember that we do we're good buddies at travis mash and he was with them for a while yeah um yeah we went penly right yep yeah and uh we went and both made

the team and so like within i don't know i remember that time and i was the first time i had ever even thought about weightlifting as like a, a team sport at all. Yeah, yeah. And they, like, broke off from Cal Strength, right? Yes. I think that's how it went. Yeah, Penn Laid was definitely at Cal Strength. And then they moved south somewhere.

One of the Carolinas, I want to say. South Carolina. Yeah, that's right. That's when MASH and them were all doing their thing. I never never ever thought of weightlifting as like a team sport where people build a team and then like John North followed them over and like

when Cal Strength like split, that was a really weird time. Yeah, yeah. Why wouldn't you only want to be at Cal Strength? I never understood it was like that's where they're at. They're going to die in there. They're supposed to die there. Yeah.

At no point would you think anybody's ever going to leave that place. It's the coolest spot ever. Right. Are you close with Travis at all? I mean, I've known him over the years. And then my coach, Spencer Arnold, is good friends with him as well. So, yeah. I mean, we're always kind of around each other.

Okay. Yeah. Travis is a good kind of around each other. Okay, yeah. Yeah, Travis is a good buddy of ours. Yeah. Do you feel like you would be a much more successful weightlifter if you had, like, a really good nutrition coach? Because the guy you're working with right now. Oh, my gosh. Andy Galpin?

Yo, he's the worst. It's just a really good thing. It'd be nice if you had, like, a scientist that was actually. I know, I know. We can talk all the shit we want because he's not here right now. Actually, he was co-hosting with us right now. He'd have a lot to say here. I even told him, actually, I texted him and said, look, I know it's going to

be hard to get you to the CrossFit Games, but Morgan's lifting. We're definitely going to interview her. He was like, yeah, I'd love to do that, but CrossFit. And then, like, he always does. Well, you probably get texted back, right? Doug and and i it takes at least a month to get a text back oh sometimes um but yeah that was like the end of the conversation

he there was no like further joke i was like but morgan's gonna be here what about me come hang out with us um when did you start working with galvin um well okay so this is kind of funny i was actually kind of a fan girl of him because of his body of knowledge podcast and then in 2017 in anaheim and i was like oh he's from washington like he's gotta be cool um but uh did you train with galvin when you're growing up or was it just at memphis no not not in high school we went to college together in oregon and we started training together that was an org guy yeah and college together in Oregon, and we started training together. So it was an Oregon guy. Yeah, and then we studied abroad together our junior year and got super close then

and just been really good friends ever since. I actually have a great story that I'll tell you later about how I met Andy. Yes, I can't wait. Yes. I may have said it on the show before, but I'll save it for off the show. But, yeah, I've been friends with Andy since 2001 or 2002. Oh, that's so awesome. That's such a small world.

I don't know. He's kind of everywhere, though, I guess, right now. He is. He's doing really, really well right now. Yeah. I'd like to take full credit for that. You launched him. You definitely did.

I really just launched him right into out of space. He needs people like you. He does. He really does. He just needs kind of space. He needs people like you. He does. He really does. Like, he just needs kind of like a shitty athlete once in a while. A shitty Olympian. Yeah. He'll be like.

Has he biopsied your muscles? He did. I have a scar somewhere. Right there. This is like how Galpin does it. Look, this is what he does, right? Some people get a tattoo. He's a serial killer.

I'll just cut your leg off. Yeah, and I said, do it. That one's the good one, too. What he does, right? Some people get a tattoo. He's a serial killer. I'll just cut your leg off. Yeah, and I said, do it. That one's the good one, too. What did you come back? You're a very fast witch. That I'm fast, I guess. I don't know. Yeah.

Yeah. What did he learn about you? Like, did he take it? I'm like pretty much the full package, you said. Are you? Yeah. Did you have 0% type 2X? I forget.

Mice and heavy chain and all that? I don't know. I don't remember. He's so disappointed in you right now. I know he is. I'm like, were you paying attention at all? I read it while I was driving. I was like, oh, I got the email.

And then I was like, cool, I'm fast. Cool. He says, I have muscles. we did watch you live this weekend though you are very fast you make it look great too by the way we want we wanted you right up front yeah that's where the beautiful people live yes we um we have a lot of instagram stories that we took and doug got you like really like an awesome of you. It might have been the PR you said. Okay. But most people, when they squat, you see them, like, slowly lower.

And then they get to the bottom. And then they're, like, grinding out PR attempts. Yeah. And you, so beautifully, the way everybody's supposed to squat, you it down 98 of the way and then it's like deload boom and then all of a sudden we spring to the top and nobody would ever know that this beautiful perfect little squat that looks so balanced and there was no hip shift and none of the sloppy things you see was like guys that was a pr like huh what how if i was gonna Huh? What? How? If I was going to set up EPR, my hips would be over to the left, like one leg just off-centered.

It would be a disaster. Yeah. I'm like an all-or-nothing, though. So we track a lot of velocity at – really, you just hit that over here. I'm swatting my flies toward you. You take them. If you catch it, land it on the microphone, trying to steal your game. It's trying to toward you. You take them. If you catch it. Oh. Landed on the microphone trying to steal your game. It's trying to, yeah. You got it.

Okay. Hard knock life out here. It really is. It's so hard here. Flies and podcasting. Okay. So I don't know where I was now. Learning how to squat.

Doing things perfectly. Oh, with the velocity machine. Yeah. So we were testing my max after Guatemala because he hadn't really had any data on me, so he couldn't give me the velocity machine to squat because he's like, I don't have any baseline. And so we did that. This is Spencer you're talking about? Yeah.

And so we maxed out in the back squat, and I hit my my max and then we go up like 5% and completely failed. Like the one before, super easy. It was like 0.5 like velocity, really fast. And then it was nothing. And he's like, that can't be right. And I was like, it's right. Trust me. We did it in the front squat.

Same thing, like buried after my like PR. I was like, what is going on and so the last um what is it the last like seven weeks or something uh he's been having me at really high fast squats but now i'm learning to actually push through the full squat so i would get like above parallel and be like i'm cool like i got it like no big deal yeah but now it's like and that's helped me with like cleans and like everything it's amazing how much that changes but you know being able to grind at a slower rate is that what you mean like below 0.5 meters per second what do you know it has to be above so he'll set a baseline of like you can't if you're not hitting a 0.5 or above you have to

stay at the weight that you were doing it at so he's like gearing it towards yeah like the power like for me strength isn't a thing. It's more of like the technique or like the rhythm of things. So like if I get out of rhythm or like if I catch a clean on my heels and have to like reset and come back up, like that's a lot of time under tension. So like if I'm able to press out of like the front squat from the clean a lot faster, like we're saving so much energy for the jerk. Right.

So that's been really, really huge for me. And so, like, I mean, that's maybe why I was able to just be like, oh, pounds, I PR'd by one kilo. Can't do the math. Yeah. It's hard. Math is hard. Will you tell me about the Olympics?

Okay. Well, did you ever? That was like sort of the question. I'm just so excited because I have no chance of ever going to the Olympics. So if you could tell me what the Olympics are like. One, did you ever think you were going to the Olympics? I feel like a lot of people go to the training center, like going to go be Olympians.

Right. But you were playing CrossFit. During that like pivotal moment, it was like, I'll try this CrossFit thing, which isn't really on the path to yeah uh i mean i've always been like like when the olympics are on i'm like yes this is like a magical moment do you watch like five hours of curling absolutely i'm with you i'll do that too like that's my next sport really yeah no uh i was serious i would be on your curling team i mean we could there's like a really big curling thing up in seattle like that's a big thing yeah actually i met some of the curling guys at the training

center now that i think about it and i asked them how they got into it and they said they were super wasted at a hockey game and it was an advertisement. I was like, yes, America's best. Bring them in. Most of curling is, it's like lawn bowling. Like you're supposed to drink. It's just they're doing it in frozen places. Right, right.

Where they have nothing else to do. And it's acceptable to fall. You have to. It's ice. It's not even drunk. It's just ice. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

So you get the Olympics. Oh, yeah. Back to that thing. Yeah. So, like, I mean, I remember where I was when I watched, like, the women's gymnastics in 96 and, like, Michael Johnson. And, like, I was a big figure skater fan. I thought I was going to be a figure skater, obviously that's like kind of the body type yeah um were you a gymnast I was a gymnast till I was like nine so that's pretty pretty pivotal high five me too same deal I think

everybody needs to be a gymnast at some point in their lives right like even putting all my kids in gymnastics at least for the first couple years just to like give them a good base of body weight awareness acrobatic skills flexibility some upper body strength and then they can go do whatever they want.

How about just teaching them how to fall? No. Have you ever watched like an adult fall? It's fucking heinous. They have no idea how to get to the ground

but in gymnastics they teach you to fall all the time. Just like a way to not die when you hit the ground. I mean but it is I think the worst part is that people love Gymnastics, they teach you to fall all the time. It's like a way to not die when you hit the ground. Right. I mean, but it is, I think the worst part is that people love watching children fall because it's kind of funny because you know they'll be okay.

Yeah. I'm like whispering right now. I drop mine. It's not even her falling. I just drop her. You're like, she's okay. She'll bounce. She'll land on her feet.

Yeah. So maybe that's on us. We started really young and we're like no it's okay to fall like that because it's funny yeah yeah so maybe not it's cool yeah it's an adult male it's not when did you do figure skating no um back to that no i didn't but i would always go like you know during the winter and be like i'm a figure skater and uh you know not so yeah but i can spin when you were at at the Olympics, were you single? I mean.

We want to know. You're like, I wasn't. But I could have been. I had been dating a guy for, what, five years? Six years. Yeah. We were talking about this the other day. I feel like if you're at the Olympics and you're single,

you're just looking for, like, where are the other super alpha people that I'm gonna procreate with and make super olympians we were actually a lot of my my friends we were like trying to match people up because we were like okay yeah if oh you guys would be fantastic athletes if you did this like weightlifters it's like i mean you definitely got to find like short people right for the most part well west, Wes Kitts does not. Wes Kitts is not short. I mean, yeah.

He's like 5'10". Yeah. 5'11". Oh, he's going to hate me. He's 6'1". He's 6'1". There you go. He'll like that, yeah.

He's 245 pounds with a six-pack. He'll be okay at 5'10". Yeah, I think he'll be okay. Yeah, I guess he is. Well, some Southwell and Russian. Yeah, I mean, I think he'll be okay. Yeah, I guess he is pretty – well, some – well, and Russian. Yeah, I mean, I guess. But for the most part, like, limb length, you want obviously shorter people. But my kids won't be weightlifters, so it's fine.

Why not? I'm really selling this sport right now. No, I mean, they'll definitely use it as, like, an accessory to other sports. Yeah. But I don't want to specialize my kids at all. No. Like, there's no – They might find it one day. Right, right. And, like, I want to specialize my kids at all. No. Like, there's no... They might find it one day.

Right, right. And, like, I mean, I found it at 26. I think gymnastics is the way to go about that, of, like, you're not specialized. You're just teaching, like, a broad set of skills. Yeah. Learning how your abs are supposed to work. Yeah. Control your body and space.

Right. And then go play sports. Right. Get very, very general. Right. And then your body type will probably direct where you need to go. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, and that's kind of like what it was for me. Mine was directly to podcasting. Oh, I mean. You have the body shape of a podcaster. I know. I know. I'm here. It's not a big deal.

Yeah. I mean, I was definitely, I have an older brother who's three years older, so I always wanted to be him. Yeah. So, I mean, I played every sport that you could think of as a kid. And then, like, you know, at 11 or something, it was, like, right when it was, like, you've got to go to, like, five a day or six a day gymnastics, like, four hours a day when you're, like, 10 years old. Or continue to play, like, track and soccer. And I think I was playing softball at the time, too.

So then I went into select soccer, and I liked that. That was fun. I liked running. I like running a lot. Were you good at soccer? I played in college. Oh, that's good. Yeah.

It was all right. I feel like that sport is not something I would, like, expect to lead into somebody that's very good at olympic lifting like you're sprinting but it's also a game that you are running probably like six miles yeah with 40s dropped in the middle yeah yeah i mean yeah that makes sense but i mean it's still a really powerful sport like you have to be super dynamic to go do you think that like olympic weightlifting is easy and one thing that i really think about like like uh dugs into the the fighting

scene and like understands mma and as you get older you start to realize that like it's not just your skill set in the sport that separates you there's like a level of like professional aggression that develops and soccer is one of those sports where like there's like youth leagues where kids are like yeah yeah you're going to play soccer and then you watch actual soccer players it's like those are men yeah that very much understand how to be angry and will hurt you. They just happen to be playing soccer. They happen to be fighters. They happen to be weightlifters.

It's like, have you noticed that in yourself, like the intensity that you can bring to the barbell or like how you view what you do has like really been changed over the years? Yeah, I mean, it's funny to me now, and it might also, like, I mean, I don't think I'm, like, I don't walk into a gym and somebody's like, oh, she's going to, like, lift me out of the way. Yeah, you called me off as the MC. You're like, no,

shut your face, Anders. I'm on platform one. That's how this thing's going to roll. No, I did not want to be there. No, but, and I... I was a little confused by that. Like, by you telling me that, I was like, really? Like I could have sworn like 15 minutes earlier she was like, oh, we're very nervous and I don't want to be in front of the crowd. And then she fought her way up front. I didn't get it.

Yeah. I asked you. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. That's funny. Yeah. Yeah, I didn't know that. I really thought you claimed it.

No. Well, that made me – it sounds really cool then. I claim this. I am King Morgan. No, I mean, I think as you get, well, women are different. Yeah. I mean, I think in all sports, like the way we learn things, like we're very, very detail-oriented, not saying that men aren't.

But, like, I have always been the one that's always asked, why? Why am I doing this? I need to know why I'm doing it and how it's going to help me in the lift or what I do, like soccer or anything like that. And that's probably a huge pain in the ass. That's why I ran all the time. Because, like, if I didn't know what I was doing, I'd get bored. And so then I'd just, like, fuck around and get in trouble.

And then they'd be like, go run. like cool something to do um because i would run after practice like i just i don't know i guess i have a lot of energy maybe yeah you sit still well yeah i do can you tell yeah um but uh but then i think as you start to understand things, I get into this insane mental... I ended up having to put headphones in for white noise because I talk to myself so much. It's crazy. It probably actually is probably crazy. You mean like mental chatter? Yeah.

You're just sitting there going in circles in your own mind? Yeah. If my headphones are in, you could come and talk to me, and I would just be like, dude, this is happening right now. But it was funny when I met Spencer. Spencer was like, oh, you got to take the headphones out. You get too serious. Because sometimes I get so in my head that I'm overcorrecting myself.

But I think I'm more intense in practice. And then I have to find that balance when I lift. Like, I listen to, like, Sia and Coldplay and A Tribe Called Quest for snatches. That's why Galpin likes you. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, we're OGs. Yeah, when you drop the tribe. Yeah.

There it is. Yeah, so it's, like, kind of like this. I have to get drop the tribe. Yeah. There it is. Yeah. So it's, like, kind of like this. I have to get into the rhythm. Like, the snatch is the rhythm, right? If you don't have it, you're fucked. Yeah. You're, like, totally fucked.

And then, like, clean and jerk, you know, it switches, and it's a little bit faster. And, like, it's kind of more of just, like, this aggression thing that as soon as you do well in the snatch, then you're not as angry going into the clean and jerk and you can have fun with it whereas like sometimes like i would do really really terrible in the snatch and i would get so pissed and like spencer was like okay you have 10 minutes to freak out right now and then we got to start going again yeah okay fine okay fine but you'll comment on the the rhythm piece you just mentioned about snatching. The snatch. So I'm very much like a visual learner. So, like, you could tell me anything and I would just stare at you.

But, like, the way I learn, I'm like, okay, I'm doing what and I need to be doing what. And so Spencer, you know, or Dean would show me how to do it. And so then I go back in my head and I start seeing it. And if I can't see it in my own body, I picture lifters that I, like, respect or that I know have really good form. And I see them lifting. And I'm like, okay, if I do that, if I can bring the bar back in here. So then, like, you'll probably notice me if you ever watch any of the, like,

weightlifting feeds. Like, I'll be in the back like kind of doing like this twisting my wrist and like twitching and then like before i snatch and clean and jerk actually um like i'll twist my wrist like i have bracelets on but it like starts to remind me of that rhythm and then like i'll do like a breathing exercise and it brings me down and then i drop my shoulder like it's this huge like insane rhythm thing and then like drop my shoulder. Like it's this huge, like insane rhythm thing. And then like, I don't know, we probably look like crazy people out there. It's so technical that you have to get in. There has to be some sort of rhythm to get your body to like snap into that like muscle memory.

Right. Well, and you have, you know, you potentially only have a minute in between your lifting. Yeah. Or you could, you know, you follow yourself. Or sometimes like in world championships in 14, I had 20 minutes in between my first and second snatch like that's so long right so like that mental clarity of like okay don't forget what that feels like and you have to go back and like power some lifts like it gets crazy back there so it does i mean if you don't have that and like that's kind of one of the reasons why I'm thinking about going into sports psychology,

is that extra 10% that when things do go shitty, you can bring it back in. And I think that's what separates a lot of athletes. They're insanely talented, right? And could do any sport there is, but just can't get that extra part. Can't forget our friends at Whoop. I can't wait to see what my Whoop score is going to be after a red eye. From the east coast of the beautiful United States all the way to Paris. Holy crap.

I bet I get like negative seven. No one's ever gotten a negative seven sleep score. That's probably what I'm going to get. Sleeping, sitting straight up in a middle seat. Oh my lord, it's going to be brutal. But, track and sleep, be brutal. But track and sleep, super important. I don't know if you are aware of what your sleep score should be every night. You got to get those eight hours. HRV, heart rate variability, heart rate, everything

you need to know is on the Whoop. It's got a super awesome app that goes along with it. So you can track your intensity. You can track your daily strain. That way, your workouts are tailored to the actual stress that you're feeling in your life, not just the workouts. You got to be able to track your recovery. And Whoop is the best app for tracking recovery. The band is super dope. I love it. It's comfortable. I wear it all the time. And you can get over to whoop.com and use the coupon code SHRUGGged to save $30 on a 12 or 18 month subscription. Friends, get the whoop.com. Save 20% or save $30 on a 12 or 18 month membership using the coupon code shrugged.

Back to the show. And I'm not saying that I have it at all. I was going to say, have you struggled with that in the past? Absolutely. Not being able to come back from a mislift or carrying it over? Yeah. Carrying it over for sure. And because I, I mean, if you know any of my lifting,

jerks have always been my thing. I just don't make jerks. Wait, you said you don't make them? I don't make jerks. Oh, they look phenomenal on jerks. Right. Wait, you said you don't make them? I don't make jerks. No. They look phenomenal on Friday night. Good. I remember watching and being like, she's a professional. Oh, good.

That looks great. Did you hear that, Spencer Arnold? Yeah. If I was your coach, I would have nothing to say. Oh, thank you. That's why you hire real coaches. Yeah, it's true. Yeah, because I looked at him.

I was just like, looks good. Looks good. Next video. Just want you to be happy. Obviously feelings coming your way. No improvements necessary. That's funny. Hope you keep hiring me.

I'm unneeded now. Yeah. Yeah, no, he, it was funny because I missed my last jerk in this last competition, and I really needed it. Like, I mean, I got on the world team, but that would have, like, solidified it so I didn't have to, stress out for four days um but he's just like oh yeah just uh just wait till you see your program I'm like I know it's coming like yeah but it's like for me it's always been like oh that's my like crutch I'm like I don't know how to jerk I don't know how to jerk so if I have a shitty

snatch day right I'm like oh my god now I have to make it up and something i'm not good at which i can clean like anything that i need to um but uh but yeah so i'm just i'm working on that like mental like i mean i've been doing i always i've always read books um and i've been working with a guy actually it's um andy galpin's buddy who's that um his name's lenny do we know lenny i know lenny i don't he hasn't been on the show yet but i know you're talking about get your hands on you yeah he's amazing like he and he's just like super chill like we have very similar like personalities or like he can tell when i'm just like freaking out and trying to keep it together and he's like okay like keep talking it's fine um but yeah so he's been amazing and

it's funny because with weightlifting like you don't realize how tired you actually are like you know in crossfit like you run yourself to death so like you're falling on the ground tired yeah like we're just like oh my body's like really sore and then like you know you get into the meat of your cycle and you're just like, I want to cry all the time. Or, like, I want to sleep for six days straight. And, like, you can't, like, there's some days where I have, like, three cups of coffee and I'm walking into, like, training and I'm, like, yawning. And I'm like, oh, my gosh. Yeah.

This is crazy. Like, you need to rest. What does training look like? Like, how many sessions, hours? Monday, Wednesday, Fridays are two-a-days. So, we have, like, nine and four is usually. And we, like, squat. like like how many days how many sessions hours uh monday wednesday fridays or two a days um so we have like nine and four is usually and we like squat and then we have um we do separate lifts so we don't do the lifts together usually and if we do it's on fridays um max out friday yeah which is always a complex which sucks max out complex Friday. I had, because I kept missing jerks.

Yeah. I had, what was it? I think it was one of the girls had like two cleans, three front squats, and one jerk. And I think I had two cleans, two front squats, one jerk. And, oh my gosh, it was awful. And it was like hot as crap. Yeah. In there. And it was just, oh gosh it was awful and it was like hot as crap yeah in there and it was just oh it was miserable like i remember i i had like my fitbit on and i was like oh my god oh my god i'm gonna i'm gonna have a heart attack my heart rate says i should stop it was like at 128 you

know like that's where like nobody here like when, oh, yeah, my heart rate gets really high. It's like 128. They're like, oh, okay. 220 minus you still have 80 to go. Yeah. I mean, my resting heart rate is like 45. So that's pretty awesome. Sometimes I think I'm dead. No big deal. Yeah.

That's like my pride right now because I've been wearing this thing. Check out my HRV. Yeah. No big deal. Yeah. Yeah. Nobody on the team has that. So double days, three days a week? Oh, yeah. Right. We're back there. And then Tuesday. Nobody on the team has that. So double days, three days a week? Oh, yeah, right.

We're back there. And then Tuesday and Saturdays are one a day, and then we have Thursday and Sundays off. I'm always amazed at how much you guys actually lift weights. Are you only a weightlifter? Are you coaching people? Yeah. I just weightlift.

I was actually just talking to a bunch of guys last night about this. There's, like, this crazy balance. And, like, after the Olympics, I definitely felt it because they're like, oh, what's your brand? Who are you? Like, what are you going to be, right? You've, like, reached the pinnacle of your career. Yeah. Now what?

And there's, like, all this pressure and, like, especially internal pressure of, like, am I going to do another four years? Or, like, do I want to just kind of go on the circuit and kind of just continue to promote myself and lift for fun? I don't lift for fun. There's a circuit that you can do, like, exhibition lifting? Oh, yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I didn't know this. Well, I mean, you can literally do whatever you want when you're an Olympian.

Like, you can make, like, whatever. Dang, that was a trump card. No, no, no. Oh, my God. No. Don't you know who I am? No, no. Oh, my gosh.

You can even get on barbell Shrugged. I'm humble, I swear. DJ Lucky Lou, look at this. Dude made it. Dude's in the house. No, I just meant like you can make up like any kind of like tour that you wanted to. And people that are your fans will like totally dig it. They're like Mick Jagger.

I get it. Yeah, exactly. I've got moves like them. Oh, good add on. Good add on to the joke. Yeah. But yeah, so that kind of was like a really weird transition. And then, you know, and then I get all the time like, do you coach?

Do you program? And I've been like pretty adamant of like just being, um, just being present in what I'm doing, going a hundred percent and everything I do. Like, I just, I want to offer the best that I can possibly be to whatever I do. Yeah. Um, and not saying that obviously if people do do that that they're not but for me personally like i'm all or nothing yeah and um and maybe eventually like um i'll start to learn it and like i mean i i understand it but uh the stuff that spencer does is incredible and it's really fun so um it's cj coming oh dude oh my. Does he want to hang out? CJ, hi.

Hey, what are you doing? Put those microphones on real quick. Welcome to Barbell Straw. What up, dude? CJ Cummings. Dude. You know this girl. You know who that is. She's a somebody right there. He is the buddy. I know. I know. I'm aware. He's kind of the big deal.

Dude, like five years ago, I want to say I was at the American Open, and you were in front of me getting Starbucks coffee, and the girl that I was coaching, are you getting ready to go on the morning show? I have no idea. He's just getting told where to be. You've had the mics on for like three minutes, and that was the first thing you said.

Tell us everything. Who are you? CJ Cummings. I'm an Olympic winner there. Four-time Junior World Champ. I hold 26 or something around there. American records and, you know. Can't even count the number of records.

Yeah. Somewhere around there. Mm-hmm. And just continue, yeah. Yeah, you were standing in front of me at wherever we were. It was the American Open in Reno. Is that right? Yeah, I think so, yeah.

Like three or four years ago, five years ago? I'm going to say yes no matter what. You know how many times he's competed? Yeah, I mean,. Like three or four years ago, five years ago? He's going to say yes no matter what. You know how many times he's competed? Yeah, it's silly. I mean, it's scary. I'm with you on that. Enough to have 26 American records. Right, exactly.

And the girl that I was coaching was like, that's CJ. But you were like four years younger than you are now. And I was like, that child lifts that much weight? Like, no way that's him. I was like, I just assumed you were a giant, but you're. We look bigger. I couldn't believe that I was standing behind you. I was very starstruck, and I was like, I should be stronger than him.

If you just walked up to us, you would think I. No, not even close. I get that a lot. Everybody's just like, oh, I thought she was, like, taller. I'm just like, no. Where are you at in your season? Have you been competing lately? Yeah, I just, I mean, like, I think, like, taller. I'm just like, no. Where are you at in your season? Have you been competing lately? Yeah, I just, I mean, like, I think, like, three weeks ago,

I just got back from the Junior Pan Am, which is in Cuba. And next month, I'm traveling to Thailand for the Senior Worlds. Yeah. Killer. Where's World's at? It's in Thailand. Oh, yeah, he just said it. Yeah, yeah, he did.

It's fine. Yeah. And then are you going to the Tokyo thing before? Or do you know it yet? I think they already had it. Because I know West Kits and Marissa. Oh, no. The training camp.

There's going to be a training camp before. I think it's only a couple of days. How did you become an interviewer here? Hold on a second. Well, I mean, someone's got to do the job. You're doing a great job. Do you guys ever train together? No.

We don't even live that far from each other. Oh, really? Yeah. You live in Savannah, yeah? I mean, yeah. It's like 45 minutes away from Savannah. Yeah. Yeah. So we're like I think four hours from each other When did you start first start doing the lifts? I started when I was 10 And it was like you're gonna be the one I mean I mean at first I was just doing it to like get strong at football

But then I started doing it more and more than like that's when I realized I was like, yeah I'm pretty good. This is gonna be a thing. Yeah. Yeah yeah yeah I mean how old are you now I'm 19 19 dude and how was junior pan ams you smash yeah it was pretty good I mean it was hot but you know other than that it was pretty good the food was good the people was good like the place we was at overall was just like amazing yeah you feel like you performed well yeah six for six had a good competition dang there you go there you go six for six yeah it's fine you should have go. Six for six. Yeah, it's fine. You should have done better. Seven for six. For the people that don't know you, what are your best numbers in your body weight and all that?

So right now I'm at 73 kilos, so that's like around 160. My best snatch is 154, so that's like I think around like 340-something. And my best clean and jerk is 194, which is 425, I believe. Dang, dude. That's why he has all the records. Yes, 26 of them. Those are all junior records? Are those senior records as well? Junior, senior.

He just breaks them all at once. That's what happens. They're like, oh, he's still a junior, that's right, but he's still breaking senior records. It's only 13 lifts, but it breaks 26 records. That's what happens They're like Oh he's still a junior That's right But he's still breaking Senior records It's only 13 lifts But it breaks 26 records Yeah That's pretty awesome Yeah

Yeah dude Where's this thing going Are you going to the Olympics Next year Yeah it's the goal Like right now I'm like lined up Cause like

They changed the system It's like based on like It's based on Roby points now So I don't know how it works But like Right now I'm like Yeah I'm like right now

I'm ahead of like I guess I'm ahead of everyone. So, like, I just have to keep doing my thing. Where's Wes Kitts at? Let's go, child. Well, no, so you can take four. Yeah. Yeah, and only one per weight class. Yeah.

So, like, Wes is the top of his. Harrison Morris is the top of his. Are we actually going to put four guys in this year? I hope so. You could. Yeah. You definitely could. I think, I mean think three for sure.

I think that women will too. You guys typically get four in, right? We got three in 2016. With the talent that we have now, it's incredible. Isn't it strange that Americans are good at weightlifting now? Well, I think

because we get to choose whatever we want to do, like the sport. Now, and, and especially with CrossFit, like, there's getting so much exposure. And, like, if I would have known that, like, I probably could have gone to a D1 soccer school. But, like, nobody wants a 93-pound kid, right? Right. But if you have weightlifting, like. Yeah. Is weightlifting in college?

I know there were some schools, but is it a bigger thing at the collegiate level now? Do they have more programs breaking out? They're working on it right now. I think most of the club teams. I mean, I know Fisher lifted in college. I know there's a couple schools that have programs. You guys probably had one of the best ones. We had Tiger Barbell Club, but it wasn't like the D1 football team.

Same thing. It's just like it was available, but it's not like a part of the university in the same way that basketball and baseball and all that are. You're in the back of the pamphlet. Right. And Doug's in the back room lifting weights. That's right, in the basement. Nobody knows what he's doing.

Yeah, I believe it has something to do with the NCAA rules and then the nonprofit of USAW paying the athletes. So, like, there's that, like, in between. You probably know a little bit better. Yeah, it does have to do with, like, the NCAA because, like, you know, I think if you, like, go on a trip, like, USAW has to fund it. But with the whole world like that, it's just, like, a big problem. Yeah, it's almost like they're sponsoring you kind of in the eyes of, like, the NCAA.

Who's the other potential for the guys? You, Wes, and Harrison, and who else do you think might have a chance? I believe – oh, gosh, this is a hard one. Nathan. Yeah, Nathan potentially. It could be Jordan. Kane maybe. Jordan Cantrell.

If we didn't give Mast a shout-out in here, he'd be mad at us. He's listening to this right now going, come on, guys. Throw me a bone. I have eight people at Worlds. Say something about me. That's right. Yeah, I mean, the guys, I guess same with women. There's like a big jump.

It's, what, 81 to 89? Or is it 81? Yes, 81 to 89. Is it? That's massive. Yeah. Like, it's a big. Would you even get there?

Me? Or like, did you even get there? Me? Or, like, did you put on, like, 16 pounds? I mean, we all sit probably, like, a couple of kilos heavier while training. That's just a big jump. Yeah. And, like, based on the Roby points, like, you end up having to kind of play this game of, like, going in between weight classes if you are. Yeah. Because, I don't know, the way it's ranked like i mean it's it's intense like yeah the way they've decided to

do all of this but um yeah i mean i think this is the best potential team that we'll ever have yeah you see that guy how much do you think that guy cleans right there. He cleaned a lot. 155. A lot is good. Kilos? Pounds. Kilos. Are you kidding me? I don't know. I don't even know. I know.

No, 155. No, yeah. But he deadlifted a crap ton yesterday. 495. That's insane. Did you hear about the one-time challenge? When are you coming out? Are you going to be in Olympia?

No, he can't come because then I'll lose. That's a true story. Yeah. You're not invited next year. You're invited any time you want. No, we're doing it in Olympia and we're he can't come because then I'll lose. That's a true story. Yeah. You're not invited next year. You're invited any time you want. No, we're doing it at Olympia and we're doing it at the Arnold. Do you want to come hang out? At the Arnold?

Yeah. Is it Arnold? Maybe. Yeah. You're invited. You can do a bunch of co-hosting. Hopefully I'll be doing, you know, a meet or two. Yeah.

One and or two. Your initial sport first. It's kind of like a one-time challenge is a lot along the lines of like uh you find fitness and then you go and like do the crossfit you're like oh i'd probably be really good at olympic weightlifting so then you go to the olympics yeah and then once you're like this sport's probably not going to take me to the place i want then you graduate to the one-time challenge that's like the pinnacle that's the pinnacle of weightlifting is this thing that we just made up.

Yeah. So I dipped my toes in that this year so I know what's coming. Yeah. Yeah. All right. All right. Yeah, dude. Did you hear about it on Friday night here?

I mean, I think I heard something about it, but I mean, I didn't like actually. Morgan did okay. Yeah. Did all right. I beat Wes Kitts in the power index. Oh, yeah. And I PR'd my back squat by one kilo because pounds. That's good. Yeah, pounds. That I PR'd my back squat by one kilo because pounds. That's good.

Yeah, pounds. That is hysterical. Because pounds. Yeah. I mean, thanks to the barbell weighing two extra pounds. Oh, yeah. That's good. This girl PR'd.

Yeah. Big deal. Yeah. Super total. Yeah. You can come and do it. Yeah. We're going to be at Olympia.

Do you know when that is in Vegas? No, I don't. When is it? I don't know. September 12th to 15th. That's pretty close to seven weeks. That's pretty close to Worlds. That's literally Worlds.

Don't go to that one. Yeah. That's like literally Worlds. Is that the next one at the Arnold's? Yeah. Well, there'll be some stuff in between that. We'll be in touch. Arnold's in March?

Bring that camera. I will Yeah, oh yeah, I'm starting it back I mean like I kind of stopped for a while cuz I was like busy with like going into college and stuff So I'm starting to bring it back. You're going to college Sweet yeah So you're already at the top of the game college is cool though. though. Yeah. College is great. College is great. It's good for you. It is.

Yeah, I learned a lot. Where are you going? Dang, you just, like, went into mom mode. You were like, no, he's going to college. Yeah. You were, like, so chill about it. About what? About him going to college.

Like, yeah, that's dope, bro. Like, cool. Yeah. Do it. I've got my opinions on school. Yeah. All right. Especially if you're already the best at something.

Yeah. He's 19. Do you know what you learn about business? Nothing until you go start a business and you make it happen. You're already doing it. Do you have an Instagram account? Do you have sponsors? What the fuck do you need college for?

Oh my goodness gracious. You're already doing it. Don't listen to him. He's terrible. You don't need a bachelor's degree when you have 26 records. Actually, you should go to school. I'm sorry, Morgan. Oh my goodness.

Listen to all the good people. All the good role models. Are you doing a YouTube channel thing? Yeah, I'm starting it back. I'm starting it back because I had one that I kind of stopped posting because of school and stuff. But it's coming back. All right.

All right. The people will love it. Yeah. What do you do on it? Just show the life? Are you doing coaching bids? No, I just show the life, training, you know, get my everyday life. What does that look like?

It varies. I mean, it all depends. It could be crazy. It could be super chill, busy. It just varies. What's your training look like these days? Right now, I'm just, you know, I'm in a cycle. I think I'm about, like, on 80%.

So, right now, I'm gradually building up because we got the Worlds coming up. Yeah. And then, like, a week or two from that, I'm going to start to taper. And then, you know, it's showtime for the Worlds. Showtime for the Worlds. What's your week look like? You doing, like, doubles Monday, Wednesday, Monday Wednesday Friday kind of what she's doing or how do you structure your week? Oh, I just do like I started off, you know heavy cleaning jerks that oh like my name Heavy snatch that day didn't just like do assist the exercises for both lifts

You know Wednesday Thursday and Friday will usually be leg day. So, you know try to pound the legs get that back up Oh, you still do five days a week? Yes. Okay. Yeah. He only trains five days a week. Who's right in your program right now? Are you six?

Coach, show me that. We have double days because when you're old. Oh, you're actually only five sessions. Yes. Yeah. Gotcha. Yeah, he crushes it. Got it.

Yeah. Cool. Rad man. Well, you probably came back here to do something. I just. Yeah. We snagged him. We stole you. We actually set up shop

Right here So when someone comes around The corner like Now Yeah Yeah I was just walking around Yeah

Yeah exactly I was like I know him Put those on See I'm like Project manager I don't know what I am

Organteer Stage runner Stage runner Show runner Show runner There you go Right Yeah

And now Clearly the personality I'm just kidding We need someone like you runner stage runner show runner show runner there you go right yeah yeah and now clearly the personality we need someone like you this is great sweet dude winter worlds again oh my goodness gracious we have gone over this I know I remember the exact date

September yeah it's like September 17th. So it's the same weekend. Yeah. 17th to the 28th. Yeah. Come on down to Thailand. I would love to.

I would love to go to Thailand. Pitch yeah? We actually have been talking about going to, I mean, we're really close with Mass. So every time something cool happens to him, he's like, do you guys want to do shows? We're like, well, is USAW sponsoring us like you? Yeah. And they're not. Not yet.

Not yet. Yeah. But we haven't made it to Lima. We're not going to make it to Thailand. We're going to Vegas. I hear Vegas in September when it's 174 degrees every day is really nice. You walk out.

It's nice and dry. Yeah. You sweat, but you never feel water. No. Yeah, it should be interesting. Never sweat or feel water ever. On you. Because there's nothing.

Just prune. Sick, dude. I appreciate you hopping on here. Yeah, no problem. Thanks for coming. We appreciate it. Well, thank you for having me. Morgan is doing a great job.

Yeah, what are you doing? Do you know? Like, you know what you're doing right now? I mean, I was told I was coming for, like, you know, a little podcast. So that's why I thought this was it. Is this it? Where's the them? What's happening?

I don't see Kenny. This was not the original podcast that you were going on. I came back with Eric. Sick, dude. Where can people find you and all that good stuff? So you can actually do what you were supposed to be here for. Instagram at CJ underscore underscore Cummings. Killer, dude.

I appreciate it. Or you can just Google him. Great to meet you. I'm glad we did it so professionally. Literally just Google him and it'll show up. Thanks, bro. Thank you for having me. You're going to see him and just be like, whoa, how did that just happen?

How did that get over his head? Yeah. You'll be surprised. He would crush me in the Power Index. Like, seriously. Well, we we're gonna do it right now you have the world record world record i always come to the inaugural add that one to your record list yeah exactly yeah i beat wes kits in power index so it's like not a big deal yeah yeah so he knows nobody in crossfit has really ever seen anyone put over 400 pounds over their head like

it's just not something that happens in the crossfit world and well first off the first one he did was like a 600 pound back squat which to west is like it's like oh i ate breakfast today i squatted 600 and then like i wrote an email like it's just nothing yeah and he walks 600 out and i watched him do it and then i looked up and there was just like a wall of cameras. We're like at Cal Strength on a normal day. There's like 20 people probably squatting that. It's like, when do we start lifting, guys? But the CrossFit world was just so, just like, whoa.

Then he jerked like 420 or something like that. Nobody had ever seen that before. It was so awesome. Yeah. That was pretty cool. What does it feel like to miss your first two snatches on a big stage? You ever done that and then had to go out and nail number three and you're just like, fuck, I hope I get this?

Well, we actually talked about this for this last meet. I like opening a little bit more aggressive in the snatch because I know for a fact I'm going to make one of them. There's never a time where, and I don't know if for you, CJ, like there's never a time when I go out there and I'm like, fuck, I'm not going to make this. Like we've made it usually in training or pretty close to it. Yeah.

So it's like, I don't know, that mentality of like, you fucking miss this. Like really? Like I missed 80 last weekend. That was the first time I had missed 80 in six weeks like and i did 13 snatches at 80 like a week before i was like like that rhythm like that rhythm yeah it's the rhythm and then like talking about that like mental clarity of like oh i've done this a million times so then you still have to be present in the lift right that um but yeah it's just kind of crazy yeah you don't really i mean right what was your best snatch again

compared to the 80 uh ever yeah yeah um i snatched 90 in training um i've snatched 85 in a competition right yeah so if you snatch 90 in, then 80 doesn't seem like it's that crazy. Right, right. That's a normal lift. Right, yeah. So, but it's mellow, I mean, for the most part. We talked at the beginning about your squats, and you were on, like, the bar speed path thing. When did you start doing that? Because I saw it on your Instagram feed as well. Yeah, just this last, like, whatever, eight weeks. Do you like that?

I love it. It's fun. It's like a game, though, game though like for me because we squat so much yeah that like sometimes it just gets boring yeah so you squat so much um the first time i had seen one of those machines it was when we were down in um jamaica and do you want to know a cool experience? I raced Johan Blake in 60. Really? Yeah. He's fast. And did you win?

Tell me more about that experience. He's very, very fast. It looked like a wounded deer getting chased down by a cheetah. Oh. He gave me a really good head start, and I just, he, it was like Wes Kitts squatting 600. Oh. I thought you were going to say it's like Wes Kitts running 60 yards.

Yeah, it was just so simple. No, that's different. But it was the first time I had ever seen one. Is that the man you're looking for, Mr. Beautiful? Oh, yes. Are you doing a show with him? Yeah. Oh, word.

Peace out, dude. Thanks for coming to hang out. Thank you for having me. Yeah. You're on Barbell Strugged. We're going to do this again for real. Okay, yeah. We'll make it happen. Yeah. Thanks, word. Peace out, dude. Thanks for coming to hang out. Thank you for having me. You're on Barbell Strugged. We're going to do this again for real. Okay. We'll make it happen.

Thanks, buddy. I won't be here next time, so it's not for real. How do you know you won't be here? Yeah, we'll get her back. Oh, okay. Co-host. Yeah. All right.

Thanks, CJ. Thanks, bud. Bye. I'll see you soon in like a month and a half. What is that machine that you guys are using? Because it was the first time I had seen it. It was down in Jamaica. And then how did you guys settle on that being like the metric you were using for squat cycles?

This hurts my brain. Well, Spencer is a strength coach at a high school, and they had it, I think, is how it all started. Really? Cool. So he started doing a bunch of tests on his high school athletes and then took it to us. He was like straight to the Olympia. Yeah, and then, well, he was using it for two other girls on my team that have been with him a lot longer, and it was super beneficial for them. And so he was like, well, let's do it with you.

And he's like, you don't have a problem coming out of squats. And I was like, just let me do it. I want to do it. And so for him, it was just learning, like, okay, if we need to do speed, it needs to be this high. Like I need to make sure that she's pressing through her, you know. So it would be like.5 if we're going fast,.3 if I'm trying to grind out of something, grind out of something.

But, yeah, so, I mean, it's just really fun for me, honestly. I just really enjoy it. I like being a science experiment. Are you measuring velocity on your lifts on like a daily basis? Not on snatch and like clean and jerk or any of that. Just in the squats or the pulls. I haven't done the pulls yet, but we have athletes that do. Right are all the things that you you do with that um yeah so we just do um front squat back squat and then like a clean pull or a snatch pull i mean with like the with the data like how do you you analyze the numbers and go oh here's how we're going to make

tweaks to our training yeah yeah and i think for spencer it also allows him to see kind of where our muscles are like our muscle fatigue is at so he's like oh on wednesdays she's usually dead like friday mornings for me this last was the only time that i ever didn't make the squats because i was just so fatigued from the rest of the week but then my lifts would be all right because you know you're i mean you're tired because you've been working strength but then when you go to the lifts like it's obviously less so the power is a little bit easier um so yeah i mean for the most part i made him um but he doesn't set him so unreasonable that like you can't hit him some days it feels like that. But for the most part, you know, you can hit him. So, but, yeah, so we can, like, the first cycle that I did with Spencer last September worked really, really well for us. And so we, so he has all the data on that.

And that's when I was still in Arizona, like, training without him. And then when I moved, we did, we went into, like, a strength cycle, I think. Strength, power, and then when I moved we did we went into like a strength cycle I think strength power and then strength again and then we kind of dropped into this meet but what worked in that first one we ended up putting in this last cycle too which was awesome and it was like the front squat plus jerk or like just really I think adding a little bit more volume my body responds really well to volume like I can I mean I used to do back squats at three sets of three at 135 and my best back squats 140 like so like the capacity for me is a little different or like I did this last cycle I did uh 124 front squat for three at a high velocity. And my best front squat is 130.

Wow. Yeah, dang. If you can lift it at all, then you can just keep lifting it. Right, right. So, yeah, it's really weird in that. So how do you – it's almost like counterintuitive of being an Olympic lifter that you'd be able to like do that, right? Because the idea idea I mean

how do you I guess increase that top end if you're already able to have like multiple reps that close to your 1RM um I think I in my case personally I think it would be like work capacity and then also like I drop weight so I have a reserve tank right yeah so if i do lose i don't know 10 of strength or something i still i'm still able like i'm not even like close to my clean and jerk max right so that's kind of more um mentally for me it makes me feel better if i'm strong whereas there are like we have girls that their front squat is the same as their best clean and jerk. And it's like, what?

Like, I would die to have that. Yeah. And everyone used to say, oh, if you can front squat it three times, you can clean and jerk it. I was like, oh, yeah, 124, okay. Like, all right. I've heard that so many times. Right?

Yeah, it's like an old standard. Yeah. I've heard that my whole life. That's absurd. I wonder what Wes's. Wes's could be close. It might be. I mean, he squats in the sevens, right?

700, which is like high threes. But if he's a front squat, I wonder what his front squat is. Right. Well, if it's a factor of his back squat and he squats 700, he's probably front squatting 550 for doubles, triples, 225. Yeah, okay. That's exactly. So, maybe men it's closer.

Yeah. Like, women are just kind of all over the place. We have such crazy, I mean, so do men. But, like, I feel like women's body types are insane. Yeah, I feel like you guys can really handle a lot more volume. And something for you that's interesting, like you get, if you stay healthy, I feel like your longevity in sport is like you get stronger. Yeah. As the time periods.

Yeah. Like me, I'm not getting stronger. Yeah. I'm just holding on. But you'll have the ability, or like women seem to have the ability to continue to develop strength for a very long period of time. Yeah. Yeah. And like, I mean, my buddy, my old training partner, Alex Lee, used to always be like,

oh, you just need more time, more time, like in weightlifting. And I'm like, yeah, yeah, okay. And like it was so frustrating because, you know, you're like, I don't have time. Like I'm 26. Like and now I'm like turning 34 this next year. Like I'm like, like, and now I'm, like, turning 34 this next year. Like, I'm like, oh, my gosh. But now, after whatever, six or seven years of weightlifting, like, now you're, like, getting comfortable. And you're like, oh, I understand these lifts.

Yeah. And, like, my knees, knock on wood, don't hurt as much anymore. Like, I'm just so much, like, more efficient, it feels like, that things don't hurt as much. And I think that's super key. And that's also like, I don't think cause I didn't specialize in anything. Yeah. Like I still,

I mean, technically I still don't specialize in weightlifting. I just don't do anything else. If that makes sense. What does that mean? Well, like, I mean,

I could go out and do things. I just choose not to, like, I don't think like weightlifting would hinder me from doing anything else. Like, you know, a lot of people are like, Oh,

like I can't go run. Cause I weight weightlift like you just don't enjoy any yeah enjoy but you have no interest yeah i mean i used to so with my dogs in arizona because it would be so hot like at one point like right when i met spencer like that summer i was running like 25 miles a week with the dogs which i love that's a lot yeah but it was fun for me like that's not blazing heat yeah summer bod that's kind of thing you know when you cut weight how how much does that affect your strength on the platform um i wouldn't say it affects my strength a ton i just don't like i don't like being hot and i don't like sweating so that's more of the stressful part for me of, like... Like you need to use a sauna type of thing?

Yeah, I do baths instead, just because I don't like my head being hot. So if I can, like, put something on my head or, like, ice on my head while I'm sitting in the bath, I like doing that better. But, yeah, when you get into, like, South American countries, you're not sure if you're going to have hot water or anything like that. Like, at Rio, I had to sauna, and that was awful.

And, like, you didn't know what food you were eating too at the Olympics because they didn't have like any signs or anything and uh right so I was eating I was eating like fudge bars for like a solid five days because I knew what was in that um we were joking on earlier but how much are you guys working together in those weight cuts and like oh every hour oh wow a couple hours yeah he's been my saving grace and we we switched up the way i was doing things and then we brought some stuff back in that was actually really good for me um yeah it's been night or day and like during trials and the olympics um one of my legs cramped, and it looked like my VMO was in the middle of my leg. Whoa. Not a small cramp.

No. No, no, no. I couldn't straighten my leg out. If you watch one of my last clean and jerk at Olympic trials, my jerk is super short, and I don't actually lock out my legs until I decide to dip because my leg was cramping so bad that I couldn't lock it out um yeah and that same thing happened to me at the Olympics and I was like I mean two of the highest is that because of like a water cut just sodium we don't know I haven't cramped since knock

on wood um but like what I've been doing with Andy in the rehydration process and, like, all of that has just been a lot different. Like, I was very much, like, low-carbon protein before, like, the week before. And it's kind of the opposite, actually, now. Carbs are coming back. Carbs have had a huge, like, year and a half, two years. For a while, they got hated on. They really did. They're coming back, though.

Yeah, they're coming back. So, I mean, that might be a big thing for me but yeah i mean it's it was super painful but i would be a lot lower in weight for a longer period of time whereas now we don't do that which might be also the case to feel better like sometimes because you want to feel the weight at a lighter body weight but like in reality like what andy says it is he's like morgan it's a pound it's two pounds like right which is funny because like a pr snatch like you know a kilo you're like yeah yeah but then you think about like getting that weight off and you're like oh it's not that much like it's not that big deal yeah right but what are you doing for supplements these days and how do you select your supplements knowing that

you're going to get tested at a very on a very strict standard going to the olympics yeah um everything i take is informed choice um it's the company that like backs products they do like rigorous testing and third-party testing um and then they have to also be tested um i think regular i want to say monthly if not every three to six months um their facilities are tested. So, you know exactly what's coming out of them. And the company I work with is X endurance. I love their products, their immune boost and like their joint supply has been amazing for me. And then I just really liked their creatine. It's a lemon lime flavor. So I like mix it and I take it during, which I know a lot of people either take it before or after,

but I don't know. I really like it. So, yeah, that and an electrolyte drink. Just chill. Nothing crazy. Yeah. Yeah, salt seems pretty standard. Yeah, yeah.

I don't take anything crazy. I did have to take a lead. She just winked at Anders, by the way. She just winked at you. Oh the way. She just winked. Oh, my gosh. You're horrible. I'm never coming back. She gave me a little elbow bump, a little nudge.

Never. Nothing too crazy. Never coming back here. Ruined my reputation. Weightlifting actually has, was it last Olympics that things got really crazy on the drug front? Oh, yeah. So that's when Icarus was coming out. Yeah.

All of that was happening during the Olympics. What did you think of that movie? Crazy. Crazy. The first half, you're like, cool, cool, cool. And then you have your hands on your face the whole time, like, what is happening? Yeah, you were there.

It was nuts. Well, it was happening before, right before we were going. No, I know, but it was happening on site, too. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Was it at the Olympics? Yeah. Oh.

Because they were passing the bad samples through the hole in the wall. No, but that was in Russia. Oh, am I in the wrong Olympics? Yeah, you're in the wrong Olympics. Ah, damn it. That was Sochi. Yeah. And so that's what, yeah.

I got the wrong year. Yeah, that's what prompted everything. I'm a summer athlete. That's right. Sorry. Oh, my gosh. Weightlifting could be in the winter. They do it on the inside. Yeah. They do it on the inside.

Yeah. We do it on the inside. Dude, we should petition to get into the Winter Olympics. Yeah. Then we get to go to all those really cool places. I love snow. Do you love snow? I love snow so much.

I wish I could have been like a snowboard Olympian. That would have been great. Still time. Still got time. You've got a gymnastics background. Let's go. Still living the dream. Could be like a little combination figure skating-ish.

Yeah. Twirling. Got it. Yeah. Probably not. No. But, yeah, that was crazy. And then they went back and dread tested everyone.

And then I believe they took 96 spots from the weightlifting from last year. Yeah. All of that. So now we have 96 less this time. The United States always does well, though. We do. Especially weightlifting, which is really hard. We don't really ever get anybody popped on the weightlifting side.

Yeah. More CrossFit athletes than weightlifters. Yeah. We get tested all the time. I think that's actually a true statement. You mean when they come into weightlifting? No. I'm saying like at the highest level.

Oh, maybe. You guys are typically like yeah you don't make the news too often no i mean once once you're in the drug testing pool with usada like it sucks you get tested how often what is that what is the process of getting into usada well just like you're you're already an olympian yeah they know you're going to go to the Olympics again, or at least try. Yeah. You're going to go. Yeah. Um, and they're on you for four years. Yeah. They know everything where you're at. You have to turn it in. Yeah. What is it? What are like all the things that you need to do to get to, to stay clean or like stay legal? Um, well, so one, you have to be like, I think, I think it's like top 50 athletes or something.

And then you get, you request to be in the drug testing pool for the most part, or they are like, you're good. So go in this, like, you don't have a choice. Um, but like, if you want to compete internationally, you have to be in that registered drug testing pool. And then from there, um, it used to be international and national, which had two separate, like, things they needed you to do. But now we have to put in a 60-minute time window that we have to be at that place every single day for an hour.

So, like, mine is at, like, 6 a.m. at my house. Like, you can come between 6 and 7, wake me up. But you're not allowed to leave. Yeah, well, if we're not there, you can get a missed whereabout failing. We get like three of those and then. Yeah, I think it's two or three. Yeah. I'm not sure.

But, yeah, and so, like, I mean, they could show up right now if they wanted to and test me. Like, they know I'm here. I mean, not at this booth, but hey, if you're listening. No. But. We have proof. We recorded it. Yes.

I was here. But, yeah, so I tell them where I'm at whenever I travel and like internationally you have to tell them, um, our governing body, if we travel as a team, like for worlds, they usually submit it like, Hey, these people are going, but it's, I mean, it's a hundred percent on you, like whatever you ingest, whatever, you know, all of that is, is your business. Um, but I mean, I like it, like, I don't mind it. I get, you know, all of that is your business. But, I mean, I like it. Like, I don't mind it.

Yeah, you're clean. Yeah, and, like, I mean, you're relevant if they're testing you. What do you think of all the CrossFitters that get popped and then they have the, like, I had contaminated food. Oh, I mean, that's similar in weightlifting. Yeah. What do you think of the – I mean – You have to eat the same food i assume that they eat right um i mean you know what like it's up to i mean it's up to you how you want to spin your story really like you know the

people that like you are going to believe you the people that don't like aren't like it doesn't matter like i mean if you're good people are going to talk about you either way if you're you know yeah if you've been popped or not like it doesn't matter so uh i mean it's it's however you want to go out really it's up to you you do you um but it's it's i mean we had a there was a mexican um a couple of mexican teams that got popped and they were saying it was in the meet at the training camp and like my friend who's a There was a couple of Mexican teams that got popped, and they were saying it was in the meat at the training camp. And my friend who's a PhD in dietetics was like,

do you know how much meat you would have to eat that's contaminated? So, I mean. Yeah. Education. Just educate yourself and know what you're taking. That's the best thing. I like it when they come up with the excuse. It's a fun one, right?

Oh, you ate 17 pounds of infected grass-fed beef. Yeah. I mean, I'm not going to lie. I think if you ate Subway like three times in a row, though. That could potentially, yeah. Wash it down with a Big Mac, you'd probably get something. Yeah, absolutely. It's possible.

It's true. King Morgan, where can we find you? King Morgan on everything. On everything, including, yeah, I don't know. Awesome. I don't know what it is. Hey, you're super fun. Oh, my gosh.

Thank you so much. I didn't know that I was going to, like, really enjoy hanging out with you like we have this weekend, and it's been super cool. Yeah, I like surprising people. We'll just go with that. There it is. super cool. Yeah, I like surprising people. We'll just go with that. There it is. Yeah, my whole life, just surprising people. They're like, oh, you're actually kind of nice.

I assumed you'd be nice. You don't look so nice. You're responsive on email. That makes me happy. Oh, yeah. I have to flag those so I remember that. I would appreciate if you did a little bit more Instagramming. I know.

I disappeared for a little bit there. I would appreciate it. I might disappear again. We can start with a selfie bit more Instagramming? I know. I disappeared for a little bit there. I would appreciate it. I might disappear again. We can start with a selfie of you and Doug and I. Okay. I'll put that on there. That would be great because as I'm trying to tell the world how amazing you are at lifting the weights.

Of the weights. Your resume is your Instagram profile. It is. And it's, I wouldn't say it's lacking, but there just isn't much there. I just, I like just weight lifting. You don't like it. You just like lifting the weights. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. There's a lot of noise on that thing. Come on. Really? Yeah. A lot of noise. Well.

Yeah. Come follow me. I'm loud. But I love, I love everyone that follows me because they're amazing. Yes. And they want it. But I will, I do have some beef, actually. Uh-oh.

What did I do? This is like three years in the making. No. Oh, Jesus. I couldn't handle another feeling bad about something I did to you. No. Okay. So back in 2016 when I did my first back squat PR at 140, super pumped, really easy.

I was like, heck yeah. This is going to go viral. Like badass. Right? Put it on there. No one likes it. And then the next day I put a damn selfie up and it gets like three times as many likes. And I was like, this is some bullshit.

Y'all are following me for weightlifting. Not my face. Like that shit that i posted yesterday see i'm the i'm the yeah i'm the opposite if i write if i put a picture of like something i wrote on twitter yeah lots of comments selfie zero darn i'm not attractive but people like the way i think i i'm not sure she didn't know where to go with that I'm not sure how I should take that But whatever At least you're good looking

Good work People like you for you Go me If people don't start liking my weightlifting videos I'm going to go on a hiatus forever Don't do it King Morgan Doug Larson

Find me on Instagram You can find me at Anders Varner You know why? Don't do it. The people won't know what to do. King Morgan. Woo! Doug Larson. You bet. Tell me. Find me on Instagram. Douglas C. Larson. You can find me at Anders Varner. You know why? Why? Because that's your Instagram handle?

Because I'm Anders Varner. No way. We're the Shrug Collective at Shrug Collective. OneToneChallenge.com. What was your best squat? What did you PR the other day? Pounds. I don't know.

141 kilo back squat. That's 3. 310. 310. 310. I don't know. 141 kilo back squat. That's 310. 310. 310. Savage. With a 305 deadlift that I've never done before. Two PRs? Let's go.

I mean, I've never deadlifted before. Two PRs. Two PRs. Count it. Baller. OneTonChallenge.com. Squat that bench. Snatch clean jerk.

Men, 2,000 pounds. That's a gold 1,200 for you ladies. And get in there. Put your PRs on the leaderboard. We're going to see you next Wednesday. Later. That's a wrap, friends. I really hope that I get to see everybody in Sweden.

I'm super amped to get over to CrossFit Holmstad and run the One Ton Challenge. Life is so good. We get to travel the world and see people lifting the weights. And our families are coming with us. So incredible. Whoop.com. Use the coupon code SHRUG to save $30 on a 12 or 18-month subscription. Also, Organifi.com forward slash SHRUG to save 20% on the greens, the reds, the gold,

and the pumpkin spice most importantly. And then our good friends over at Savage Barbell, SavageBarbell.com forward slash shrugged. Save 25% on your order. Killer t-shirts. Friends, we're going to be in Sweden. I can't wait. I hope to see you.

Let's go lift some weights.